W. Kenyon- Photographer

Montgomery County, Indiana USGenWeb Project

BIOGRAPHY

W. Kenyon- Photographer

Wylie Kenyon was a Crawfordsville photographer, we know he was in business on April 20, 1870, because a photo he did is dated, (that of J. A. Coleman).(See Bios section)

Wylie Kenyon was the father of Anna Kenyon, (who married Thomas B. Nicholson, another Photographer) and was wedded to Mary O'Neall.

Wylie Kenyon was my great great grandfather and Mary O'Neall (note the TWO 'L"s). Indeed he was an early photographer. His life seems to have been quite varied. I don't have the entire bio at hand right here. He was born in Indiana to a James B. Kenyon. Among other things, he went on the Oregon Trail a couple of times, was the first mayor of Salem, Oregon, tried his hand at inventing, married my great great grandmother Mary after his first wife died, and apparently ended up doing odd jobs at Wabash (my own alma mater) late in life. He also built furniture -- two examples of which are over at Lane Place. I don't know how much information you would like about him. Frankly, I would be very interested if you have information on any Kenyons from the early 1800s. A Sanders Kenyon went to Wabash in the 1840s but we don't know if that was Wylie's brother, cousin, or what.

Other family connections in our family are Abijah O'Neall (TWO "L"s) in Yountsville (where the 1848 house on SR 32 and Fall Creek/300W? still stands), Kenyon, James Ray Thomas (the first superintendant of the power plant), Nicholson (Thomas, Kenyon, Lawrence), Ames, and some other not-as-close people.

While I seem to stress the spelling a bit, it's because there were other O'Neals/O'Neils/O'Neills in the area who spelled it with only one "L" and it gets confusing. I'm assuming the obit spelled it incorrectly as they are wont to do.

Let me know what you might need. Again, thanks for providing this!

G. B. Landrigan
317.809.3655
gb@landrigan.com

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