He looks like a Cowboy but looks can be deceiving. Ken & Kermit Maynard were born at 505 Liberty St., Vevay, Indiana. Lots of wild stories have been told about Ken being a National Champion bronc rider and roper. There is a web site ( www.b-westerns.com/ ) that is very accurate in telling the stories of Ken's Westerns and his younger brother Kermit's Westerns. The Maynard boys were raised in Indiana, their mother Emma Mae Stewart was born in Craig Township, on the family land. Her mother Emma Abrams died when she was very young and her father Simeon Stewart married my great grandmother Geneva Ayers who raised his three girls along with her daughter and their three boys it was a yours, mine and ours family.
Ken has proved to be a challenge in one way although I have postcards and letters from his mother to Geneva I have not been able to figure out exactly how many times he was married. I know of only two wives Arlie Harlan from Monroe County, Kentucky was the first. Grandpa Stewart said he married a beautiful Kentucky girl.. Below is a clipping sent to me by a Don Butler who is related to the Maynards but neither he or I are sure how. The Maynard family has been difficult to trace, we know there is a Butler connection but are not sure what it is. -- Submitted by Sheila Kell.
Dateline:
[Tompkinsv]ille, Monroe County, Kentucky
A Frequent Tompkinsville Visitor
Friends and relatives here of Ken Maynard, 77 star of Westerns, recently received word that he had died recently [March 23, 1973] in the Motion Picture Hospital in California.
The news brought back a flood of memories. Ken was not born in Mission, Texas, as his press agents would have you believe, but in Vevay, Ind., on Jul 21, 1895. He was reared in Columbus, Ind. His sister, Mrs. Trixie Strange, of Memphis, Ind., says that while not then in his teens he got a job feeding a man's horses and the first thing you know he was trick riding with them. At the age of 12, people would bring him horses to break. He ran off from home shortly after this and joined a Wild West Show.
Maynard was related to the John T. Butler family in Tompkinsville, and often visited them. He first appeared locally in show business at the Monroe County Fair where he was the main attraction. Here he engaged in trick riding, roping, and bull dogging. Tall and muscular, with dark blue eyes and coal black hair, he usually wore a white ten gallon hat and a black cowboy suit and charmed his spectators with his performance.
It was in Tompkinsville on December 8, 1916 that Ken Maynard was married to Arlie Harlan of Tompkinsville. Arlie was an extremely beautiful young girl, and is remembered as one of the prettiest girls that ever grew up in Tompkinsville. (Incidentally Arlie was the sister of my brother-in-law, Wick R. Harlan.)
Prior to his marriage Ken had dated a popular young Tompkinsville girl, Grace Palmore, now Mrs. Pascal Keyes.
After his marriage Ken worked neighboring county fairs and appeared in rodeos throughout this area. In 1919 he and his bride moved to Louisville, Ky., and he was stationed for a time at Camp Knox, now Fort Knox. After starring some time with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, Fox brought him to Hollywood. Fox never used him but he soon found a job. He made his film debut in 1924 in "Janice Meredith." He became a star immediately and for 30 [?] years appeared in one Western series after another. He, Tom Mix, Buck Jones, and Hoot Gibson were called the "big four" of Westerns. All had two things in common. All were range cowboys and all came to pictures from Wild West Shows.
Between 1924 and 1944, Maynard was in [unreadable] movies. His first 27 films were silent. His biggest hits were said to be "Wheels of Destiny" and Texas Gunfighters." He will long be remembered as the world's champion roper and bronc rider and as the first singing cowboy and the first fiddlin' cowboy.
His peak salary was $3,000 a week, but he netted as much as $4,000 a week when he was operating his own company. Unfortunately, he lost a lot of money when the bank of Italy failed during the depression.
Strangely, the fact that he once made a film in Monroe County, is not so well known. The film entitled Kettle Creek [alternate title: Mountain Justice], was made on Kettle Creek in Monroe County in 1927. This was shown at the Plaza Theatre in Glasgow, and the writer well remembers going to see it. I especially enjoyed the part where they danced to the tune of "Buffalo Gals."
Before his arrival to make this film, Ken had wired relatives to find him rooms in the finest house in Tompkinsville. It was decided that Mrs. Maggie Evans' home fitted this description and arrangements were made for him to stay there and ride back and forth to location. Mayard insisted on paying $16 per day for these accomodations which he said was the amount he customarily paid. Mrs. Evans, a devout member of the local Methodist Church Church [sic] contributed the entire amount received from Maynard to the Building Fund for the New Methodist Church, then under construction.
My brother, Abe Carter, was a teen ager at this time. Abe literally grew up in the saddle and the beautiful black horse he owned evoked Ken's admiration. Abe was thrilled when Ken asked and received permission to ride the horses.
Only last summer, "Sunset" Carson, a cowboy movie star himself, was the star, producer, and director of Ken's last Western, "Marshal of Windy Hollow", filmed in Owensboro, Ky., Ken plays a chief in the Texas Rangers in this while Carson plays the Marshal. Maynard does no trick riding or singing in this, just sits behind a desk and gives orders. (This was due to his physical condition.) The movie has not as yet been released. Throughout his career, all of Ken Maynard's films have projected a shining, untarnished image of him. He refused to play anything but the "Good Guy." Tarzan, Maynard's remarkable horse, is certainly worthy of mention. He performed flawlessly.
Ken's last years were spent in a trailer in San Fernando, Calif., about 15 miles north of Hollywood. His second wife, Bertha, died in 1964. He and his first wife were divorced.
Survivors are three sisters, Mrs. Trixie Maynard Strange, of Memphis, Ind., Bessie Maynard and Willa Stattler of Louisville, KY.