The Kuykendall Family Collection consists primarily of the papers of Dr. William K. Kuykendall, born in Wilbur, Oregon in 1855, the son of John and Malinda (Stark) Kuykendall. John Kuykendall (1820-1895) was born in Indiana and was a carpenter by trade. He brought his family overland to Oregon in 1852, traveling with his brother George. He worked for the Federal Government in various Indian agencies, including the Klamath Agency around 1874. In 1876 he lived for a time in Santa Rosa, California. He and his wife Malinda had nine children and eventually settled in Drain, Oregon, in 1883.
John and Melinda's son William K. Kuykendall, a physician, graduated from the Cooper Medical College, San Francisco. He began his practice in Drain, Oregon in 1878 and continued there until 1888 when he moved to Eugene and practiced there for the next forty-six years. In 1876, he married Mary Ada Alysom with whom he had eight children. In addition to medicine, Dr. Kuykendall was the mayor of Eugene in 1898 when he was elected to the Oregon State Senate where he served for nine years, 1898-1906. As an Oregon State Senator, he introduced the first bill establishing high schools in the state. In 1897, he founded the first hospital in Eugene, and with a group of physicians he founded the Eugene Hospital and Clinic in 1922.
Among the children of William K. and Mary Kuykendall was William Alysom Kuykendall (1877-1960) a druggist in Eugene and later in Portland. In 1898 he married Abigail (Abbie) Hemenway, a member of a large Eugene family. They had two daughers, Jean Alysom Kuykendall (b. 1911), who worked as a nurse in Portland; and Helene Kuykendall Deadman (1899-1998), who graduated from the University of Oregon in 1922 and married William Webster Deadman. Other children of William K. and Mary Kuykendall were: Delmon Vernon (1878 -1952) a judge in Klamath Falls; Sybil (b. 1880) who married Robert Smith, a Portland banker; Nellie (1882-1884); John Eberle (1885-1919) who practiced medicine in Eugene with his father until World War I, when he served in the Ninety First Division and died in France; Mabel (1886-1978), who married to R. Dell McCarty, a grocer in Portland; Robert (1891-1930), a lawyer in Klamath Falls; and Ada (1893-1898). Among the family of Abigail Hemenway Kuykendall was her sister Ida, who married Frank B. Hale, who worked for the water department of the City of Portland.
The Kuykendall Family Collection includes correspondence, photographs, and ephemera from several branches of the family. The bulk of the materials relate to Dr. William K. Kuykendall, his son William Alysom Kuykendall, and William A. Kuykendall's daughter Helene Kuykendall Deadman. Also prominent in the collection are photographs and papers related to the Hemenway family. Of note is a transcript of an 1874 diary of John Kuykendall, written while working on the Klamath Indian reservation; and his original 1876 diary, written while living in Santa Rosa, California. There are also photographs of the Kuykendall house and property in Santa Rosa. There is a set of photographs relating to the Bull Run Dam, circa 1927, collected by Frank B. Hale, who worked for the Portland water bureau. Helen Kuykendall Deadman's materials include photographs and memorabilia from her years at the University of Oregon in Eugene, 1918-1922. There is also a set of photographs taken of soldiers departing Eugene for service in World War I, 1917. Also among the photographs is a set of cabinet cards of family members dating from the late 19th century. Among the family ephemera is a broadside in German, 1918, stating the allied peace terms at the conclusion of World War I. This was probably collected by John Eberle Kuykendall during his service in France.
The collection is divided between papers and photographs, although the
"Family history notebook" contains photographs in addition to letters,
clippings, and genealogies. The collection contains the following series:
The collection is open to the public.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library prior to any use of reproductions. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use of reproductions may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright holders.
Kuykendall Family Collection, Coll 161, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Most of the materials in the collection were passed down from Helene Kuykendall Deadman to her son William Webster Deadman, and hence to the Hale family, who donated them to the Oregon Historical Society.
Acquired 2006, Library Accession 26074.
Artifacts belonging to the collection are housed in the Artifacts Collection of the Oregon Historical Society. These include: 8 linens, 1 quilt, 1 coverlet, lace and clothing items, 1 rose plate, 2 doll dresses, 1 medicine box, 1 glass tube, 2 trunks from the Oregon Trail in 1852, 1 bottle of log cabin sarsparilla, 1 snuff box, 1 cup from the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, 1 ticket to the Exposition, and World War I insignia.
Photographic negatives (both cellulose and glass) are stored in photographic negative storage area, Oregon Historical Society; daguerreotype, possibly of John and Melinda Kuykendall, stored in daguerreotype storage area, Oregon Historical Society.
Six additional pictures of members of the Kuykendall family can be found in Org. Lot 238, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Includes genealogies, photographs, ephemera, letters, and clippings. Photographs of Kuykendall house in Santa Rosa, California, circa 1876, included.
Possibly the work of Helene K. Deadman
See also additional University of Oregon materials in "Photographs" series
Removed from original album, with corresponding page numbers written on backs of photographs. Includes one later image, of Helene Kuykendall, taken around 1900. Original album in box 6.
Pictures were removed from original album, which was badly deteriorated at time of acquisition. Original order of photographs was recorded in photocopies prior to disassembly.
Includes: William A. Kuykendall with high school team, 1895; William A. Kuykendall in university group, circa 1900; Abigail Hemenway (?) in graduation gown; group photographs from Eugene Public Shools, class of 1894; Harold Gordon Brumfield; Frances Hemenway Brumfield; Helene and Webster Deadman.
Includes: Sybil Kuykendall Smith, Mary Ada Kuykendall, Hazel Kuykendall, and Frances Hemenway Brumfield.
Includes image of four generations: William K. and William A. Kuykendall, Helene Kuykendall Deadman, and William Webster Deadman, circa 1933
Includes family cabin at Triangle Lake
Includes William K. and William A. Kuykendall, Chester Hemenway and his family, and group portrait of William K. Kuykendall with his four sons.