Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Summary Information

Repository

Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections

Creator

Kuykendall, George Benson, 1843-1931.

Title

George Benson Kuykendall Papers

ID

Cage 60

Date [inclusive]

1881-1931

Extent

10 Linear feet of shelf space, 20 Boxes

Language

Collection materials are in English.

Abstract

Correspondence, reminiscences, addresses, essays, notes, drafts, clippings and photographs of a pioneer physician, local historian, and genealogist, George Benson Kuykendall.

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Biography/History

George Benson Kuykendall was born in Indiana in 1843 and emigrated to Oregon with is parents in 1852. He graduated from the Willamette University Medical School in 1872 and began his first medical practice as Agency Physician on the Yakima Indian Reservation at Fort Simcoe, Washington. In 1883 he left the Indian Agency and established an independent practice at Pomeroy, Washington, where he remained until his retirement in 1920. He died at Portland, Oregon, in 1939.

While at Fort Simcoe, Kuykendall began collecting Indian legends and stories. In later years this project was to be expanded into an effort at collecting local history and reminiscences. Some of Kuykendall’s historical and ethnological writing can be found in The West Shore (1887) and the Oregon Historical Quarterly (1918). Although Kuykendall continued to collect some local and personal history until the mid-1920s, about 1905 the main object of his research became a genealogy and history of the Kuykendall Family in North American. The family history proved to be a large project and ultimately it involved 15 years of research and considerable travel. Eventually, Kuykendall was able to trace his ancestors to New York in 1650 and was able to establish the connections between the Kuykendalls, Coykendalls, Kirkendalls and other variant names. The results were published in 1919 in the "History of the Kuykendall Family since its Settlement in Dutch New York in 1646, With Genealogy as Found in Early Dutch Church Records, State and Government Documents, Together With Sketches of Colonial Times, Old Log Cabin Days, Indian Wars, Pioneers Hardships, Social Customs, Dress and Mode of Living of the Early Forefathers" (Portland, Ore.: Kilham Stationery and Printing Company, 1919).

Not satisfied with a simple genealogy, Kuykendall attempted to make the family history more completed by interspersing American social history in such a way as to provide the backdrop for the lives of the various generation of Kuykendalls. His effort, however, were not very successful and the result was an unconnected section of the book filled with several chapters of social history, some of it of rather legendary nature. Additionally the book contained long passages consisting of quotations of letters which Kuykendall received in response to inquiries for information. As he neither transferred the information from the letters to a narrative nor completed the attempted at social history, the book appears to have been published before it was complete, with large portions of it appearing more like notes than a completed text. Disregarding the literary merit of the volume, it does contain considerable information about many plain Americans over a span of 250 years. Moreover, while it may not be the best of the lot, it is exemplary of the products coming out of the wave of genealogical activity in the United States in the early years of the 20th Century.

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Scope and Content

The greater portion of the papers of George B. Kuykendall consist of notes, drafts, correspondence and photographs used in the preparation, publication, sale and distribution of the Kuykendall Family history. Additionally the collection contains Kuykendall’s personal correspondence for the years 1903-1918. Also among his personal papers are several diaries which the chiefly concerned with travel, circa 1900-1914. The collection also contains drafts of approximately 200 essays, speeches or articles on religious, civic, moral and historical topics. Among the historical essays are several reminiscences of Kuykendall’s personal experiences in Oregon and Washington.

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Arrangement

The papers are arranged in three series: Personal papers; Essays, speeches and compositions; and Kuykendall family history.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections  © 2022

https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open and available for research use.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Acquisition Information

The papers of George Benson Kuykendall were donated to the Washington State University Library in 1949 by his son, Judge Elgin V. Kuykendall.

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Related Materials

Related Material

Elgin Victor Kuykendall Papers, 1892-1956 (Cage 59)

Separated Material

Garfield County Pioneer Association Records, 1909-1948 (Cage 66)

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Names and Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

Subject(s) :

• United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Yakima Agency.

Family Name(s)

• Kuykendall family -- Archives.

Geographic Name(s)

• Pomeroy (Wash.) -- History.

Personal Name(s)

Subject(s) :

• Kuykendall, George Benson, 1843-1931 -- Archives.

Subject(s)

• Frontier and pioneer life -- Washington (State) -- Garfield County.
• Overland journeys to the Pacific.
• Physicians -- Washington (State) -- Pomeroy -- Correspondence.
• Washingto (State)
• Oregon
• Overland journeys to the Western United States
• Native Americans

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Detailed Description of Collection

Series 1. Personal Papers
				box
Certificates, diplomas, medical licenses 1872-1905  8 items.				1
Mortgages, notes, account books 1890-1925  100 items.				1
Clipping scrapbooks re: G. B. Kuykendall, family members and close associates. Many are obituaries. 1885-1927  5 items.				1
Diaries and journals of eastern trips for medical training or family history research 1903-1914  10 items.				1
Personal correspondence 1903-1922  500 items.				2
Personal correspondence 1923-1931  500 items.				3
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Series 2. Essays, Speeches and Compositions
				box
History of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Pomeray.  1 draft				4
M. E. Church history notes and correspondence, circa 1910  250 items.				4
Photographs used for M. E. Church history.  30 items.				4
Religious essays and speeches.  60 items.				4
Civic, scientific and moral essays and speeches.  100 items.				5
History essays, 1900-1925				5
The Pioneers’ Retrospect (poetry)				5
Death of the Wisham Chief’s daughter				5
Notes on Enoch’s Secrets of the Pacific				5
Soft Breezes of Oregon (poetry)				5
Some recollections of Southern Oregon experiences				5
Addresses to the Garfield County Pioneer Association, 1911-1920				5
Pioneer reminiscences of other days in Garfield County				5
Fort Simcoe recollections				5
Incidents Occurring in Medical Practice at Fort Simcoe				5
Reminiscences of Pioneer Medical Practice				5
Epidemic of Eubro-Spinal Meningitis in 1888				5
Pioneer Medical Experiences				5
Bedbug Experiences				5
Reminiscences of Home Life				5
Trip From Fort Simcoe to San Francisco				5
Reminiscences of Early Days at the Old Umpqua Academy				5
Teaching the Indian Children by Means of Charts and Pictures				5
Indian Customs and Legends (3 vols.)				5
Indian Cemetery at Cascades				5
Indian Subjects to write upon				5
Copy of Letter Written to Rev. T. F. Royal, together with other reminiscences, 1905 February 13.				5
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Series 3. Kuykendall Family History
Family history research, letters received, circa 1907-1918
				box
Alabama-Illinois  500 items.				6
Indiana-North Carolina  500 items.				7
New-York-Tennessee  500 items.				8
Texas-Wyoming  500 items.				9
				box
Family history research and sale, letters sent 1913-1916  500 items.				10
Family history research and sale, letters sent 1916-1919  500 items.				11
Typescript transcripts of letters received re: family history, including some original letters and notes, 1907-1918
				box
Alabama-Pennsylvania  500 items.				12
Tennessee-Wyoming  400 items.				13
				box
Clippings re: family history  250 items.				13
Notes and drafts for family history 1910-1918  1000 items.				14-15
Engravings from family history illustrations, with notes on captions.  100 items.				15
Photoprints and negatives collected for family history (plus contact prints, 12-80), circa 1850-1914
				box
Scenes, mostly New York and West Virginia.  100 items.				16
Eastern members of Kuykendall Family  150 items.				16
Midwestern (including West Virginia) members of Kuykendall Family  100 items.				17
Southern members of Kuykendall Family  100 items.				17
Western members of Kuykendall Family  100 items.				17
Unidentified members of Kuykendall Family  75 items.				17
Photographs of George B. Kuykendall  25 items.				17
Photographs of Umpqua Academy, 1856  8 items.				17
				box
Correspondence re: Kuykendalls in WWI.  200 items.				18
Mailing lists.  7 items.				18
Testimonial letters re: family history, 1919-1920  100 items.				19
Letters received re: sale and distribution of family history, 1919-1925  350 items.				19
Genealogical charts. (oversize)  50 items.				20
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