Dublin Core
Title
Book of poems by William C. Kenyon
Description
Poet Laurete of Maynard. Compiled for copies of the Maynard News by Birger R. Koski, typed by Mrs. Winnifred Hearon and the typwriting class of Maynard High School
Date
1915-01-01
Contributor
Donated by Birger R. Koski.
Identifier
1999.1787
Document Item Type Metadata
Text
William C. Kenyon was basically a Poet, but made his living working in Textile Mills in New England and Virginia. His poetry was not classic but exuded feeling and emotion of the common man - that could be understood by the common man.
The years that he Iived in Maynard brought forth from his pen around fifty poems. No doubt he wrote poems before coming to Maynard (of which we have have no record) and after he left (of which we have one, composed eighteen years after his departure from our fair town). For a Poet does not come full blown into this world - and does not cease his endeavors in mid Iife.
Our research (inadequate though it is) reveals that his Father was of English origin and the Mother Irish. He was born in Rhode Island. He married Eva Wilson (a relative of Pres. Woodrow Wilson) in 1895 - Had one daughter, Lucy, that died eight days later. She is buried in BelIingham, Mass. His sojourn in Maynard starts in 1908 or before (a dog license in 1908 is issued to him). He left for North Bellingham around 1919-1920, then to Ettrick or Suffolk, Virginia around 1930.
He was of a tall, thin frame - a wool shearer in the Mill - living on Elmwood Street. We believe he was a member of the Maynard Cricket Club.
Our Historical Society has a prized photograph in its possession of Eva and William Kenyon with Mr. & Mrs. William Byron.
The Poems composed in Maynard were printed in the Maynard News - a Weekly. The last poem in 1938 was written in Virginia in Memoriam to his Wife Eva.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are indebted to the following people for the above background on William C. Kenyon:
Ralph Sheridan of the Maynard Historical Society
William Byron of Gleasondale, a relative by marriage
Florence McCracken of the Bellingham Historical Society, related to Eva Kenyon.
For typing the poems from the Maynard News we are grateful to Winnifred Hearon, her daughter Ellen Waldron and the 1975 High School Typing Class of Mary Hayes.
Birger R. Koski
Maynard Historical Society
Index of Poems
A NEW YEARS TOAST
KING ALCOHOL
LABOR
THE IMMIGRANT AND THE FLAG
REMORSE
JAILS, GOLD AND POVERTY
CHILDREN
FATHER TIME
SCRAMBLED EGGS
COST OF EGGS
COLD SNAP
THAT POOR HARD-WORKING LABORERS PAY
EARLY DAYS
A KNOCK AND A BOOST
ANTICIPATION
A SOLDIER BOY'S SOLILOQUY
A PLEA FOR MOTHER
PAYING THE PRICE
A PROTEST
THE WAR
THOUGHTS IN THE NIGHT
BELGIUM
DO WE NEED A LARGER NAVY
TOWN ELECTION
ONE ROAD
THE WAIL OF THE WETS
BY THE ASSABET RIVER
THE BANDSTAND CONTROVERSY
POWDER MILL EXPLOSION
ONE SUMMER'S NIGHT
20 YEARS WED
SEARCHING FOR A TENEMENT
ONE THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER
DICKY DEE AND SANTA
ANOTHER YEAR
RECOLLECTIONS
HIGH SCHOOL FIRE
INCONSISTENT MEN
WHO'S TO BLAME
READ THE ADS
AMERICA AND THE FLAG
IN THE AIR OVER THERE
MAYNARD'S WOOLEN MILL
YANKEE COURAGE
BEREAVED MOTHERS
GOOD-BYE JOHN
AUTO SUGGESTION
MY WIFE (IN MEMORY OF EVA, BY HER HUSBAND)
The years that he Iived in Maynard brought forth from his pen around fifty poems. No doubt he wrote poems before coming to Maynard (of which we have have no record) and after he left (of which we have one, composed eighteen years after his departure from our fair town). For a Poet does not come full blown into this world - and does not cease his endeavors in mid Iife.
Our research (inadequate though it is) reveals that his Father was of English origin and the Mother Irish. He was born in Rhode Island. He married Eva Wilson (a relative of Pres. Woodrow Wilson) in 1895 - Had one daughter, Lucy, that died eight days later. She is buried in BelIingham, Mass. His sojourn in Maynard starts in 1908 or before (a dog license in 1908 is issued to him). He left for North Bellingham around 1919-1920, then to Ettrick or Suffolk, Virginia around 1930.
He was of a tall, thin frame - a wool shearer in the Mill - living on Elmwood Street. We believe he was a member of the Maynard Cricket Club.
Our Historical Society has a prized photograph in its possession of Eva and William Kenyon with Mr. & Mrs. William Byron.
The Poems composed in Maynard were printed in the Maynard News - a Weekly. The last poem in 1938 was written in Virginia in Memoriam to his Wife Eva.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are indebted to the following people for the above background on William C. Kenyon:
Ralph Sheridan of the Maynard Historical Society
William Byron of Gleasondale, a relative by marriage
Florence McCracken of the Bellingham Historical Society, related to Eva Kenyon.
For typing the poems from the Maynard News we are grateful to Winnifred Hearon, her daughter Ellen Waldron and the 1975 High School Typing Class of Mary Hayes.
Birger R. Koski
Maynard Historical Society
Index of Poems
A NEW YEARS TOAST
KING ALCOHOL
LABOR
THE IMMIGRANT AND THE FLAG
REMORSE
JAILS, GOLD AND POVERTY
CHILDREN
FATHER TIME
SCRAMBLED EGGS
COST OF EGGS
COLD SNAP
THAT POOR HARD-WORKING LABORERS PAY
EARLY DAYS
A KNOCK AND A BOOST
ANTICIPATION
A SOLDIER BOY'S SOLILOQUY
A PLEA FOR MOTHER
PAYING THE PRICE
A PROTEST
THE WAR
THOUGHTS IN THE NIGHT
BELGIUM
DO WE NEED A LARGER NAVY
TOWN ELECTION
ONE ROAD
THE WAIL OF THE WETS
BY THE ASSABET RIVER
THE BANDSTAND CONTROVERSY
POWDER MILL EXPLOSION
ONE SUMMER'S NIGHT
20 YEARS WED
SEARCHING FOR A TENEMENT
ONE THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER
DICKY DEE AND SANTA
ANOTHER YEAR
RECOLLECTIONS
HIGH SCHOOL FIRE
INCONSISTENT MEN
WHO'S TO BLAME
READ THE ADS
AMERICA AND THE FLAG
IN THE AIR OVER THERE
MAYNARD'S WOOLEN MILL
YANKEE COURAGE
BEREAVED MOTHERS
GOOD-BYE JOHN
AUTO SUGGESTION
MY WIFE (IN MEMORY OF EVA, BY HER HUSBAND)
Original Format
Paper, 65 pages.
Storage
VF99