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Cover: Maple Grove Farm from a watercolor by J.R. Hamil
J.R. Hamil, American Watercolor Artist. Maple Grove. Kansas City North, Missouri. Printed
courtesy of the artist. Copyright J.R. Hamil. All rights reserved. http://www.jrhamil.com/
An original watercolor of Maple Grove by J.R. Hamil hangs prominently in our home as a reminder of our family’s history.
John Allen Dillingham An Anthology of Family History, Reflections, and Memories
by John Allen Dillingham
Additional Information
www.DillinghamBook.com
Legacy Link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gHl-oYvQCaOKfzPYJEzWZmiM79XQGIqv?usp=sharing
Private Printing: December 2019, at Woodneath Press, Mid-Continent Public Library, Kansas City, MO
Copyright © 2019
by John A. Dillingham
All rights reserved
Image of John Dillingham courtesy of Bruce Mathews Photography
Our 50th Wedding Anniversary
John and Nancy, along with children and grandchildren on their 50th wedding anniversary in Jamaica.
Front Row: Lily, Lucas, and Jack Dillingham. Back Row: Keri, Bill, John, Nancy, Allie, Sandi, Allen, and Mollie.
In June 2015, Nancy and I took a 50th Wedding Anniversary trip back to the Half-Moon resort in
Montego Bay, Jamaica, where we stayed on our honeymoon following our wedding on September 4,
1965. Our sons, Allen and Bill, with their families, joined us for our return trip to Half Moon.
We had a villa on the beachfront with a maid and butler. All breakfasts and some of the other
meals were served on the beachfront porch. The villa had a huge swimming pool and two golf carts to
get us to lodge restaurants and other places to shop.
Dedication As I began this effort, my thoughts were with our two sons, their great wives, and our
five grandchildren. Bill and Allen are raising families and building careers – they have not
reached that time in life when reflecting on family history is a priority. My grandchildren,
Allie, Mollie, Lucas, Lily, and Jack, tolerate some of grandpa’s stories, but understandably,
their lives are filled with excitement and challenges that far outweigh too many grandpa
stories.
This said, maybe one of them will eventually become the family historian and take
the files and memorabilia I have collected and add more insight into our family story.
My efforts focus on our lineage through the Dillinghams and Thompsons with
references to Nancy’s family, the Abbotts, Edwards, and Dears. There will be plenty of work
for the next family historian, including Nancy’s family, to complete her side of grandparents;
then the Wright family for Allen’s wife Sandi; and, the Lucas family for Bill’s wife, Keri. The
grandchildren have four different lines to research – and that is before they even start
families of their own.
John Dillingham
December 2019
Table of Contents John Allen Dillingham ................................................................................................................. iii
Additional Information ............................................................................................................. iii
Our 50th Wedding Anniversary .................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v
Preface ......................................................................................................................................... xiii
Book 1 | My Story, John Allen Dillingham ................................................................................. 3
Growing up on the Farm ........................................................................................................... 4
House Rules ................................................................................................................................ 4
The Farm .................................................................................................................................... 5
Maple Grove Stock Farms -- Late 1800s .............................................................................. 6
Maple Grove Stock Farms -- My Home ................................................................................ 7
Inside the House ........................................................................................................................ 9
Family Outings ......................................................................................................................... 10
The Town of Nashua ............................................................................................................ 11
Early Family Vacations ........................................................................................................... 12
A Childhood Filled with Animals ............................................................................................ 12
Hobbies and Legacies ............................................................................................................... 15
School ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Smithville High School Hall of Fame ................................................................................. 16
Baseball During the Summer.................................................................................................. 16
Basketball ................................................................................................................................. 17
Scouting .................................................................................................................................... 18
Activities with Friends ............................................................................................................ 19
Religion ..................................................................................................................................... 21
Wentworth Military Academy ................................................................................................. 21
University of Missouri ............................................................................................................. 25
ROTC .................................................................................................................................... 25
Fraternity Life ...................................................................................................................... 26
Summer of 1961 on Senator Symington’s Staff in Washington ....................................... 27
Mom and I Visit Washington D.C. ...................................................................................... 27
Graduate School ................................................................................................................... 28
Military Service ........................................................................................................................ 30
Heading to Korea ................................................................................................................. 30
Chapel Officer ....................................................................................................................... 32
Walter Dillingham ............................................................................................................... 33
Life in Camp .......................................................................................................................... 35
Military R & R -- Rest and Relaxation in Hong Kong ........................................................ 36
The Army after Korea ........................................................................................................... 37
Stuart Symington’s Re-election Campaign ............................................................................. 40
Rudy Patrick Seed Company ................................................................................................... 41
Meeting and Marrying Nancy Abbott ..................................................................................... 42
Branch Manager for Rudy Patrick Seeds in Illinois .............................................................. 45
Alfie’s Fish and Chips ............................................................................................................... 46
Traders National Bank ............................................................................................................. 47
Our Family Grows ................................................................................................................ 48
Garney Construction ................................................................................................................ 49
Moving to the Stockyards ......................................................................................................... 49
John A. Dillingham Entered into the Congressional Record ............................................ 51
Book 2 | Nancy Abbott Dillingham............................................................................................. 52
Book 3 | Jay and Frances Dillingham ........................................................................................ 61
The Wedding of Two Pioneer Families .................................................................................... 61
Jay B. Dillingham ..................................................................................................................... 62
The Depression of the 1930s Stayed with Dad for a Lifetime ........................................... 64
Frances Thompson Dillingham ................................................................................................ 72
The Name of Frances ............................................................................................................ 76
A Sterling Ladle and the Woods .......................................................................................... 78
Book 4 | Reflections and Memories ............................................................................................ 79
Air Conditioning and Television .............................................................................................. 79
American Royal ......................................................................................................................... 80
Boy Scouts ................................................................................................................................. 82
Christian College ...................................................................................................................... 85
The Civil War in Our Backyard ............................................................................................... 86
Civil War Stories – Part of Every Family’s History ........................................................... 87
General Order No. 11 ........................................................................................................... 88
Clay County Millennium Historical Board ............................................................................. 89
Clay County Courthouse – Rooney Justice Center ................................................................ 89
Clay County Election for a New Constitution ........................................................................ 90
College Boards........................................................................................................................... 91
Dillingham Enterprises, Inc..................................................................................................... 93
Family Politics .......................................................................................................................... 96
Family Barns ............................................................................................................................. 99
Family Lore – The James Boys Visit the Farm ................................................................ 101
Family Connections ............................................................................................................... 101
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area ........................................................................ 102
General George Washington’s Sword ................................................................................... 103
Harry S. Truman Scholars National Alumni Association .................................................. 103
Highways and Markers ......................................................................................................... 105
Kansas City Stockyards ......................................................................................................... 107
Liberty Memorial Association ............................................................................................... 108
Life on the Farm..................................................................................................................... 111
Man-of-the-Month Fraternity ............................................................................................... 113
Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City........................................................... 114
Places Called Home ............................................................................................................... 114
Platte Purchase ...................................................................................................................... 115
Playing Cards ......................................................................................................................... 116
Scholarships ........................................................................................................................... 116
Sigma Alpha Epsilon ............................................................................................................. 117
The SAE Distinguished Service Award ............................................................................ 118
Sons of the American Revolution SAR ................................................................................. 120
SAR Supplementals -- Revolutionary War Soldiers and Patriots .................................. 121
St. Pius High School .............................................................................................................. 122
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ................................................................ 123
The Way Things Were ........................................................................................................... 125
Truman Library Institute Board .......................................................................................... 126
Waddell & Reed ...................................................................................................................... 128
William Jewell ........................................................................................................................ 129
Book 5 | Cemetery Visits .......................................................................................................... 131
Highland Park Cemetery ....................................................................................................... 132
Oak Grove Cemetery .............................................................................................................. 133
Mount Moriah ......................................................................................................................... 135
Platte City Cemetery ............................................................................................................. 135
Smithville IOOF Cemetery.................................................................................................... 141
Second Creek Cemetery ......................................................................................................... 142
Notes on Other Family Burial Sites ..................................................................................... 146
Book 6 | NSDKC Oral History Project .................................................................................... 149
Book 7 | The State Historical Society of Missouri Oral History Project .............................. 163
Book 8 | Dillingham and Allied Families in Central Kentucky ........................................... 220
Forward ................................................................................................................................... 220
Dedication ............................................................................................................................... 222
Background .............................................................................................................................222
Madison and Estill County Families .....................................................................................223
Dillingham/Harris...................................................................................................................223
Grubbs .....................................................................................................................................226
Oldham/Rice ............................................................................................................................226
Oldham/Pepper .......................................................................................................................227
Grubbs/White ..........................................................................................................................228
Clark County Families ...........................................................................................................229
Roundtree/Gordon ...................................................................................................................229
Baber/Martin ...........................................................................................................................229
Baber/Lampton .......................................................................................................................230
Bush/Vivion/Gholson ..............................................................................................................232
Patton ......................................................................................................................................233
Skinner ....................................................................................................................................234
Addendum to Original Book – Phineas Skinner’s Tombstone ........................................ 236
Bourbon County ......................................................................................................................237
Garrard/Mountjoy ...................................................................................................................237
Montgomery County ...............................................................................................................239
Tipton .......................................................................................................................................239
Reynolds/Oldham ....................................................................................................................241
Darnall .....................................................................................................................................242
Turpin ......................................................................................................................................243
Thompson ................................................................................................................................244
Harrison County .....................................................................................................................245
Wiglesworth.............................................................................................................................245
Shelby County .........................................................................................................................246
Ford/Yeates .............................................................................................................................246
Laurel County .........................................................................................................................248
Chesnut....................................................................................................................................248
Mason County .........................................................................................................................250
Arthur/Gow/Dye ......................................................................................................................250
Dye ...........................................................................................................................................250
Woodford County ....................................................................................................................251
Goodloe ....................................................................................................................................251
Goodlow/Monett ......................................................................................................................254
Goodlow/Woods .......................................................................................................................255
Book 9 | Missouri Ancestors and Family of John A. Dillingham ..........................................258
Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 258
John H. Dillingham and Anna L. Oldham ........................................................................... 259
The Elihu Dillingham Family ............................................................................................... 263
Elihu Park Dillingham (1830 – 1916) with Grandchildren ............................................ 264
The Francis Marion Oldham Family .................................................................................... 265
Joseph B. Dillingham and Edna Chesnut ............................................................................ 266
The Chesnut and Dye Families ............................................................................................. 269
The David and William Chesnut Families ........................................................................... 269
The James and John Dye Families ................................................................................... 270
James Dye ........................................................................................................................... 271
The Democratic Nomination of Guy B. Park for Governor ................................................. 272
Governor Guy B. Park Memorial Grave Site State Marker ........................................... 275
Isham Baber and Benjamin Lampton .................................................................................. 277
Phineas Skinner, Kemp M. Woods Sr., Kemp M. Woods Jr. .............................................. 279
Isaac Buford Thompson and Charlotte Jane Lampton ....................................................... 281
Allen Melvin Thompson and Froncie Woods .................................................................... 281
William West and Mary Belle Thompson......................................................................... 286
Jay B. Dillingham and Frances Thompson .......................................................................... 287
Jay B. Dillingham .............................................................................................................. 288
Frances Thompson Dillingham ......................................................................................... 290
John A. Dillingham and Nancy Jane Abbott ....................................................................... 292
Nancy Jane Abbott Dillingham ......................................................................................... 293
John A. Dillingham ............................................................................................................ 294
Allen E. Dillingham and Sandra L. Wright William K. Dillingham and K. Lucas........... 297
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 303
John A. Dillingham Curriculum Vitæ .................................................................................. 305
Awards and Board Appointments Received by John and His Father ................................ 313
Nickname Index ..................................................................................................................... 314
Image Index ............................................................................................................................ 315
To My Grandchildren ............................................................................................................. 326
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. 329
Additional Information .......................................................................................................... 329
xiii
Preface In the spring of 2012, I began what I thought would be a straightforward project – find a
way to copy and distribute to my children a one-hour audio biography DVD that I had
recorded in a local studio as part of an oral history project for the Native Sons and
Daughters of Greater Kansas City. I had no idea of the journey I was about to undertake.
It didn’t take long for the project to expand. I believed that the family history contained
in the DVD would be more useful if transcribed. And, at the same time, I wanted to use the
information on the DVD as the basis for a presentation I had been asked to make for the
annual meeting of the Clay County Museum and Historical Society. It soon became
apparent that I needed to expand on the oral history that I had begun on the original DVD.
That summer, I scheduled an oral interview project through the State Historical Society
of Missouri. That interview was completed in my office at the Livestock Exchange Building.
The interview was extensive and included nearly six hours of recordings. I had both that
interview, and the original DVD history transcribed, and they are included in this
anthology.
Upon receipt of the digital transcriptions of the two oral histories, I began to organize
the two interviews into a single document. Once that was completed, I took the digital file
and edited the hardcopy, assigning my long-time friend, and very competent administrative
assistant, Wanda Brooks, to make the changes.
And then, Wanda reminded me of some earlier work I had done on our family history! I
believe Wanda’s comment was, “I wonder what you want me to do with the three books I
have on my computer that I transcribed from your dictations while on summer vacations?”
Indeed, I had dictated extensive notes on family genealogy, history, traditions, and
family lore while on family vacations in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Those notes
immediately changed the definition of the project. They are included in this anthology as
Book 4 | Reflections and Memories.
However, the project soon even grew larger!
Since the mid-1990s, I had made an earnest effort to research and record our family
history with assistance from experts in Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia. I had overseen the
publication of three family books: Missouri Ancestors and Family of John A. Dillingham,
Dillingham and Allied Families in Central Kentucky, and Kentucky Beginnings, Ancestors
of John Allen Dillingham. The first two of these books are included in this anthology. The
third one will be found in our online resources, as referenced later.
By the end of the summer of 2013, we had two oral histories, three books of memories
and reflections, and three published family history books. I worked with a local publisher,
Frank McMillian, to combine the various efforts into this anthology.
xiv
If publishing these various books wasn’t enough, I asked Wanda and Frank to assist me
in organizing more than 1,000 pictures that I had taken – both current events and digital
images of family pictures I had framed over the years. The original thought was to publish
these images as an independent addendum to the present anthology. Later, however, it was
decided that these images would better serve the effort if they were included in the
anthology as a support to the stories. The reader will be pleased to know that this anthology
only comprises about 200 images. Additional images will be made available in the online
resources.
I don’t think in chronological order or family tree lines. My regard for a ninth-generation
grandfather is just as real as that for my great-grandfather. The books, interviews, and
summer reflections span family lines and many generations. For example, I may link a
comment about my mother to her aunts, uncles, and grandparents, sometimes nine
generations in the past, all in one paragraph. Hence, a lot of time has been spent adding
family trees to the book so a reader can have a guide through the generations.
I want to acknowledge the assistance of Heather Paxton and Christie Kennard in
helping to organize and review my writings. Still, it has been essential to me to keep these
writings in my own words and thoughts, so final editorial decisions rest with me. Also,
because I want the chance to add to this story, this book has been produced as a Microsoft
Word document instead of a more standard book publishing program. I am told this decision
has limited the use of some standard book layout options.
I often catch myself telling the same story from a different perspective. As such, you’ll
find the same story in various books in this anthology, but I trust the facts will remain the
same.
As we finish this long-term project, I am already filling yellow pads with new stories
from current research. A sequel is undoubtedly on the horizon.
John Dillingham
2019
John Allen
Dillingham
An Anthology of Family History,
Reflections, and Memories
3
Book 1 | My Story, John Allen Dillingham By John Allen Dillingham
This story must begin somewhere – with
roots and branches of the family tree going in
all directions. I was born on January 9, 1939,
at Research Hospital in Kansas City,
Missouri. At that time, Research Hospital was
located on Gillham Road, near where the
present-day Children’s Mercy Hospital is
located. In later years, Research moved to its
current location on Meyer Boulevard.
Because of Mom’s lack of punctuality at
times, she was put in the hospital two weeks
early, “just in case.” Everything worked out
fine, and I came along. Dr. Arch Spelman delivered me. Dr. Spelman was a leader in the
medical field. Among his accomplishments, he founded the Smithville Hospital in 1938 in
downtown Smithville, Missouri -- the first hospital built in the Northland. Later, when the
new hospital was built on the hill south of town, Dad served as chairman of the building
committee for the hospital. Dad and Dr. Spelman did much of the planning for the hospital
on the dining room table at Maple Grove.
After Mom and Dad’s marriage in 1935, they
lived for a brief time at the home of Dad’s parents,
Joseph B. Dillingham and Edna Chesnut, at 3524
Terrace in Kansas City. Dad told stories of having
enjoyed growing roses at his parent's house, but he
never had time to do much gardening once he
married and had a family.
Mom and Dad soon rented an apartment two or
three blocks to the south on Karnes Boulevard.
Naturally, I wouldn’t have any memories of the
apartment, but it was on the third floor, and before
air conditioning. One family story has Dad accidentally knocking the alarm clock out an
open window during one hot night. In any event, they did not stay in that apartment long.
I remember spending much time at my grandparents’ home in the city. My childhood
name for Joe was Boopoo, and for Edna, Gumma. The house on Terrace is still there and in
great shape.
Gumma and Boopoo’s house at 3524 Terrace in Kansas City.
4
We lived in the city for a few months following my birth, but by April 1940, we had
moved to Maple Grove, which I have always considered my childhood home.
Growing up on the Farm
When I reflect on the early days of Mom and Dad’s marriage, I am reminded that they were beginning their marriage and starting a family at a time when the
country was in an economic depression. The Nazis would enter Poland about the same time I was born; Franklin Roosevelt would be elected for a third term as
president; the family would move to Maple Grove; and, and America would enter World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Although I spent the first couple of months of my life in Mom and Dad’s apartment on
Karnes Boulevard in Kansas City, the family moved to Maple Grove by 1940. The rural farm
life of Maple Grove in the 1940s and 1950s was a significant influence on my childhood
development and probably on much of my adult persona. Growing up somewhat isolated on
the farm and surrounded by family likely bolstered the impact that my parents had on my
life.
Dad worked for the New York Central Railroad for ten years before going to work at the
Kansas City Stockyards in 1937, two years after he and Mom were married. The Kansas
City Stockyards and the Golden Ox Restaurant, along with Dad’s commitment to civic and
political challenges, were part of our home life. Its influence on me is apparent.
While Mom’s career was that of a traditional homemaker and housewife, her
engagement with civic and political causes was also influential. Her commitment to family,
with an emphasis on her only son, me, was a constant in my life until her death.
House Rules
Mom was the disciplinarian. I never challenged Dad
because he was too big. As a result, he never spanked me.
My intuition said it was smarter to stay alive and in one
piece, so I never got too far out of hand.
Frankly, in my upbringing, I guess I felt sorry for myself.
All my friends seemed to have done more with their parents,
and almost all had siblings. Dad worked most weekends, and
I didn’t see him a lot except on Sundays. Most of the other
kids' dads attended Boy Scout meetings and ballgames, but I
didn’t have that luxury. I missed my dad immensely while
growing up. I’m not resentful about it, because I understand
the big picture of what Dad was doing. He and I would talk
about that occasionally, but not very often. He was not one
to philosophize, as I do.
A bookend cut from a picture of me on a tricycle.
5
I’m sure those days enabled me to achieve what I did at Wentworth Military Academy
and throughout life because I was familiar with discipline. Grandmother would ask me to go
out and cut the sticks that she used as switches. I can’t believe I was dumb enough to do it.
It made sense to play by the rules. That was my early foundation. My parents said I
could do what I wanted during my high school years, as long as I fed my animals, morning
and evening, seven days a week.
In all fairness, farm life wasn’t total isolation. Mom made sure I was active in many
social programs, especially music. I sometimes had friends stay at the farm. My cousin Dave
Dillingham (the oldest son of my Dad’s brother, David Mack Dillingham) came out, as well
as schoolmates Chuck Elliott, Homer Lee Williams, Nick White, Larry Rule, and later, Tom
Wainwright from Wentworth.
The Farm
Our water came from a hand-dug well up on the hill next to the big barn. A pipeline,
aided by the power of gravity, sent it down to the house. The well was initially about sixty
feet deep and ten feet wide, but during the drought of the 1930s, it was extended to ninety
feet deep with brick lining.
We had a large coffee bean tree in the backyard at the northeast corner of the yard near
the house. It was huge, maybe three or four feet wide. (I have several now that seem to be
taking forever to grow in our yard.) The tree was much older than our home, which dated
from 1876. One night, the tree fell on the back porch and the edge of the kitchen, damaging
the roof. That was the end of the tree.
When Aunt Roxy (Great-aunt Addie Roxy Thompson), my grandfather Allen’s youngest
sibling, was born in 1882. Her parents planted a cottonwood tree in the front yard, south of
a small pond that was used years earlier for family baptisms. During my childhood, it was a
huge tree. It lived almost as long as Aunt Roxy. In the early 1970s, it blew down in a storm
about a year before Aunt Roxy died.
Outside, we had a water hydrant on the east side of the house. That was the only place I
could hook up a hose. Sometimes I used two short hoses and then buckets to water plants
spread over a three-acre plus yard. There was a small garden to the northeast enclosed with
a fence. It was surrounded by lilacs that my grandmother Froncie (Woods) Thompson had
planted in the 1930s. We always kept the yard mowed. There was a hedge around the house
I had to cut by hand while standing on a box. We didn't have electric trimmers back then.
There was also a higher hedge in the long front yard that was half-privet and half-Osage
orange. The hedge ran alongside the highway. It was removed when Cookingham Road was
widened. On the west edge, there were maybe one-hundred yards or more of Privet hedge.
That is the domestic type hedge you see today. The east half was the Osage orange that we
kept manicured. There were spiders in it, and it always seemed to have a sticky substance
6
oozing out after it was cut. As with the hedge around the house, I’d had to get up on a box
with hedge shears to prune it.
Mom used to pay me a nickel to the rake leaves. She always had young boys around, so-
called “help.” We had tenants on the farm, Mr. Drake at first, and then Ed Wilson toward
the end of my high school years. They took care of all our farm needs, but there were still
chores with calves and all the other things that go with a farm.
When I was little, Ben Wagner, who worked for my grandfather, Allen Thompson, would
mow the yard with a sickle riding mower pulled by two horses. Once I was older, I did all the
mowing next to the house with a push mower. It was an early model push mower with no
motor, just a set of blades that rotated as the wheels rolled.
Later, we had a little Ford tractor, followed by a Farmall A, and even later a Model H. I
remember as a young teenager when we bought the Model H. I wanted to go up to the barn
Maple Grove Stock Farms -- Late 1800s
The original Thompson home built in 1876 at Maple Grove Stock Farms, west of Nashua.
Maple Grove Stock Farms was my mother's family farm. The house that I called home was built by my great-grandparents, Isaac Buford and Charlotte Jane (Lampton) Thompson. It was a wood-frame house built during our nation's centennial in 1876. The farm is located on the part of the land that had been settled in the early 1800s by both the Thompsons and the Lamptons.
The new home was located about a half-mile south from our family's historic barn and near the home where Isaac Thompson’s parents, John Hedges Thompson and Mary Ann Thompson, lived during the Civil War.
My grandfather, Allen Melvin Thompson, was seven when he moved into the new home with his siblings, Wilk, and John. Addie Roxy, born at Maple Grove in 1882, known in our family as Aunt Roxy or Aunt Box, was very close to Mom all her life. She married William Clay Woods -- not related to the Woods family in Mom’s family tree. They built a house at Locust Wood Farms, a half-mile west of Maple Grove, on land originally settled by Benjamin and Mahala Lampton. The Lamptons and the Thompsons had strong social and political connections from the 1850s to the 1950s.
7
on top of the hill (which was later destroyed when the highway was expanded) and try out
the tractor. I hadn’t opened the east barn doors, and when the tractor started, it was in gear.
It pushed the large twelve-foot white sliding doors, which were hinged on the top, to a forty-
five-degree angle. I finally managed to shut it off and thought I’d catch the devil from Dad. I
don’t remember what happened, but luckily it wasn’t fatal.
As mentioned, we had a hand-dug well at the top of the hill. There was one under the
house in the basement that had been closed off, but I remember seeing remnants of it. We
also had a well down in the west pasture near the feedlot at the creek. That creek was a
tributary that eventually flowed into First Creek. We had a pump that Pi (my Grandfather
Allen Thompson) had built 100 feet southwest of the feedlot near the creek area. That pump
provided water to a tank that was probably ten to twelve feet across and three feet deep,
with at least an eighteen-inch concrete wall. The tank was fed by a pipe that stuck up in the
Maple Grove Stock Farms -- My Home
Maple Grove Stock Farm was named after a soft maple grove in front of the red barn northwest of the house. My grandfather Allen Thompson joined his father in farming the property and increased the size of the farm to more than 600 acres. In the mid-1950s, I changed the name to Maple Grove Angus Farm to reflect our family’s farming interests at that time.
The house has been torn down, but Maple Grove, with the maple trees still there, is located at Cookingham Drive and Highway 169. It was home to four generations of our family from 1876 to 1969.
Maple Grove Farm as it appeared during my childhood. The original home, built in 1876, still stood but surrounded with additional rooms and much remodeling. The annex is behind the house.
Maple Grove Farm as it appeared during my childhood. The original home, built in 1876 still stood, but surrounded with additional rooms and much remodeling. The annex is behind the house.
8
middle. I used to catch large bass and keep in there to watch them grow. The cattle would
drink there, and occasionally, the bass would bite the cow’s nose.
We nearly always had cattle in the feedlot. Dad was continually raising stocker feeders.
I remember George Buell would come out to spray. Dr. Harold Pilcher, who was located in
Gladstone, was our veterinarian before Dr. Bill Lowery in Smithville. Reed Kenagy was the
International Harvester implement dealer in North Kansas City. I’m guessing we bought
our feed from Harvest Gold in Liberty and later in Smithville—maybe from Morton’s store
for my animals. A store in Liberty brought trucks loaded with cattle feed for Dad’s cattle
when we had them. They would use a long pipe to blow the feed into our bins, either in the
white barn or down at the feedlot.
We had a pond on the southeast edge of the yard. Mom used to talk about how they had
skated there when she was a girl. In those days, they used the ice for the kitchen and
cooling. During earlier years, family baptisms took place there. I’d see snakes and take my
ducks down there, but occasionally a turtle would get my baby ducks. There was poison ivy
on the southeast side of the dam. I don’t remember catching any fish.
On the west side of the yard, there was a long driveway, which ran approximately 100
yards to the highway. Two huge stone lions, larger than real ones, guarded the driveway.
They disappeared when the highway was widened. I’d love to find them. Pi got them from a
bank that went out of business, possibly in the 1930s, in St. Joseph. I have some pictures
and stories about them in my files. They weighed at least a ton, and they were mounted on a
white brick pedestal that was about three feet high. There was an attached white brick wall
that ran south, close to the pavement. At the end of the wall, there were elevated flowerpots
planted with geraniums and petunias. My summer job was to water the flowers and keep
them alive. In later years, we had a mailbox at the end of the driveway on 71 Bypass.
I grew up on the farm with Dad going to work between 6:30 or 7:00 every morning. The
snowy weather could be a real challenge. The electricity would go out periodically. When I
was little, we did have tenants who lived on the farm, Ben Wagner or Mr. Drake. Eddie and
Mildred Wade lived in the annex before I came along. Eddie was later my scoutmaster in
Nashua. When I was older, Ed Wilson lived in our tenant house to the east on the hill near
the barn and well. They did a great deal to keep the farm going, such as mending fences,
tending to the cattle, plowing, mowing, baling hay, removing snow, or whatever else was
needed.
Once in the winter, while I was home from the University of Missouri (maybe just before
Christmas), my friend Homer Lee Williams, who was attending Kansas State University,
came out, while there were a couple of feet of snow. Dad made a deal with us for a steak
dinner, probably pound steaks in those days. Homer and I had to shovel the driveway. It
had to be 100 yards up to the house, but we did it. Living on the farm is not like living in a
9
town where you have all the services of trash removal or snow removal. As they say, you
fend for yourself on the farm.
I spent a lot of time up at the barn. We had a tool shop back on the northwest corner and
kept the hay up in the loft. It was a real show barn, and it was beautiful. I learned that
when it “opened” in the late 1910s, there were customary big dances in the loft. I later
discovered that it was the replacement for the original show barn that Isaac Thompson, my
great-grandfather, had when he had his Galloway herd. The first barn burned in 1914.
Shortly before Mom died, she told me that she had to babysit her one-year-old sister, Louise,
while everyone else went to the barn to tend to the fire. I had never heard that story before.
Mom was reminded of it when she saw a rocking chair I had just restored. She had used
that very chair to rock Louise during the fire!
Inside the House
We remodeled the bathroom when I was a youngster. It was “modern” with fluorescent
lights next to the mirrors over the sink. We had a guest room upstairs (which used to be
Mom and Aunt Louise’s room in their youth) as well as a bathroom. Again, no air
conditioning. When Dad thought the tub had been running too long, he’d always holler to
shut off the water. We had bathtubs, and the water was never more than five or six inches
deep, at the very most.
Early on, I had a small bedroom upstairs on the front southeast corner above Mom and
Dad’s room. There was a tall evergreen near the south window on the outside of my room.
Once, Dad used a shotgun to blast a black snake that was crawling up the tree to my room.
In 1953, I moved to Pi’s room on the north side at the top of the stairs. (His desk was in my
room. I could use it, but I wasn't allowed to open the drawers.) The downstairs had a huge
living room as Pi had added onto the house in the 1920s. I guess the dining room was
originally the office for the Galloway cattle business. It later was joined to the east side of
the house. We had a small east porch and a larger front porch.
The house wasn’t very well insulated. Often in the summertime, Dad would put a
mattress on the concrete floor on the east porch to sleep because it was so hot inside. It was
cold in the wintertime, but we never thought much about it. When I was a little boy, we had
a coal furnace located on the west side of the basement. Someone would go down in the
morning and fill the furnace with coal. We finally put in an oil tank in the backyard that
was filled periodically.
When I was very young, we had a wood-burning stove for heat and cooking. Then we
switched to a General Electric stove. It seemed we were always the last to come into the
modern world. Dad would not spend the money. That is understandable because he grew up
at the very height of the Depression.
We had Bessie Story helping around the house, and later Mrs. Ruth Hoy. We always
10
took our laundry to Mrs. Pressley in Nashua, and later up to North Oak, north of Gashland,
because, even in later years, Dad would not buy a washer and dryer.
During World War II, gas was rationed, and we only had one car, an old Chevy.
Mom insisted that I play the piano. She said if she could hear me play, she would know
where I was and wouldn’t be in trouble. I started taking piano lessons from Miss Nadean
Rule when I was four-and-a-half years old. In later years, I had many responsibilities,
including school, chores, Scouts, 4-H, and sports, in addition to practicing the piano for an
hour a day.
Early on, I played a black upright piano that Mom and Aunt Louise had used. Before I
got married and left home, Mom bought a baby grand piano. She kept it for decades, and
then I gave it to Columbia College. We had an old Victrola that played all the 78 records. I
converted it from a windup to electric and built a stereo cabinet for my room. I had speakers
all over my room, including one built into the wall with woofers. I installed speakers on the
porch and in other rooms, including the bathroom. I presume the Victrola stayed at my
parents' home, but I don't know where it is now. My cabinet is in our home basement.
Until late in life, Mom still talked about that stereo system. I had wires strung
everywhere. I even put a large antenna that I made out of copper wire on the fence along the
backside of the chicken yard with a wire that was more than 150 feet long strung into the
house. When I camped out in the yard in the early 1950s, I found a way to hook onto the
telephone line with an Army telephone (EE-8 model), so I’d have a remote. The telephone
company found out about it and put me out of business when they threatened Dad with
cutting off service.
Family Outings
We lived out on the farm back in the days when there were only two-lane roads. During
World War II, we just had one car, and there was gas rationing. We usually would go out to
dinner on Saturday nights. Our favorite restaurants included Slim’s Castle at Nashua,
McHenry’s, (which was at the entrance of what is now Kansas City International Airport),
the Manor House at the edge of Liberty, or Jim Henry’s restaurant (on North Oak in
Gladstone). Maybe we went out on Saturday nights because it was a tradition that after
church on Sunday, there would be a big spread in the dining room. On Sunday evenings, we
had grilled cheese sandwiches or something similar. There were a couple of good restaurants
in North Kansas City. One was the Snack Shop on Burlington (now North Oak). Mom used
to take me there sometimes after a recital or an event. Until I could drive, Mom would
always take me to baseball games, 4-H, Scout meetings, and other school activities.
When I was little, I had to go to the Kansas City Philharmonic. (That was not of my
choosing, but my views weren't considered relevant.) Hans Schweiger was the conductor in
the 1940s. I remember going to the movies once with Mom and Pi. I believe it was a musical.
I couldn’t have been very old at the time.
11
The Town of Nashua
Nashua used to have a rail depot. Pi had a bank there and owned property across the street,
where there was a delivery business. The story is told that as the Lamptons and Thompsons were the original landowners in the area it was proposed that the town be named Thompson. Mr. Thompson didn’t want that, so they named it after Nashua, New Hampshire.
We got our mail in the early days at Mr. St. John’s General Store next to a vacant lot. I remember going in there with Pi and seeing a big potbellied stove. Mrs. Ruth Hoy lived to the north of the store and came to our house to work. She was a great lady.
We have pictures of Pi and Froncie boarding the train in Nashua to go on their honeymoon to Colorado. The train track is the diagonal road behind North Oak to the east. If you are going east along Cookingham Drive, you can see a hump in the road. That was the track that came from Smithville.
I attended twelve years at the Smithville grade and high school. I took my lunch for the first six years. Mom drove me to school most days, but
sometimes I took a Greyhound bus from The Dutch Mill, a gas station and restaurant, across from our barn at Cookingham Drive and Highway 169. I
later learned that BooPoo once owned it.
The post office was later moved across the street a half a block to the south. Ethel Maxwell was the post mistress. She had two boys, Bob and John, both older than me, who went to school in Smithville.
Right between those two on the northwest corner, the road forms a “T” one block south of North Oak and that was where the old Nashua Bank was. It was later a two-story brick boarding hotel. During the firemen’s strike in the 60s or 70s, the hotel “caught” fire and burned down. Pi served as president of the Bank of Nashua in 1905. During that time, the bank held the American Royal account. We still have that checkbook which I have given to the Royal for safe keeping. Our family has saved a tremendous amount of paperwork from that era. Recently, I found what I believe to be my grandmother's birth date while going through the documents from 1909 that pertained to the American Royal.
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Not long after that, Pi had a stroke. We kept him at home for a while in a downstairs
bedroom. Later, he was in a sanitarium on Paseo that I vaguely recall visiting. Pi died in
December of 1946, just a week before Christmas, when I was almost eight years old.
In 1948, when I was nine, I went to my first wedding. Kemp Minor Woods, who was
Mom's first cousin, married Mary Wanda Dillingham, known as Mi, who was Dad's first
cousin. I had my picture taken with Aunt Jennie Dillingham. She was actually my great-
great-aunt (Mary Jane Dillingham), a sister to John Henry Dillingham. She was a piano
teacher who lived to be nearly 90. In her youth, she had polio, and she never married.
On the weekends, Dad and I went to the farms, and we would go up to Platte City and
see Aunt June and Uncle Henry (Henry Dillingham and his wife June.), Uncle Bill, and
Aunt Jennie (who lived across from Uncle Henry’s house). I spent a lot of time with Mi and
Kemp. We saw them a lot along with Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay (Aunt Roxy’s husband,
William Clay Woods) and Gumma and Boopoo. Occasionally, we would see Cousin Buford
and Cousin Margaret (Buford Thompson and his wife.). We would go to Waldron in Platte
County and to Forest City in Holt County to see the crops. Boopoo had land he had acquired
in the 1920s or 1930s in the Waldron area in Platte County on the Missouri River. Later
that became part of Jodill. Boopoo was afraid he would lose it, as he had borrowed money
and the Depression hit, so he put the Waldron land in the names of Dad and Uncle Mack
(David Mack Dillingham). They farmed it and grew crops. Dad even raised potatoes.
Early Family Vacations
Once, Mom and Dad took me to the Ozarks to go fishing. We fished only one day without
much luck. At night, we slept in a two-bedroom trailer. When one of us rolled over in bed,
the other woke up. The next morning, I told Dad we could do better at home. So, we left.
That is the extent of our family vacations involving all three of us – a single day! He did
encourage me to do it differently with my sons, Allen and Bill. I was afraid he would think I
was blowing money, which he probably did.
A Childhood Filled with Animals
Dad always seemed to have a run-in with some animal. He claimed every dog he saw
wanted to bite him. I never had a dog that bit me. I had Susie, the little shepherd, and
Blacky. I had some small collies, but a few of them were run over on the highway. One got
its collar and leash caught on the garden fence and choked to death. Those sad events
taught me to plan for contingencies.
I had Streak, a medium-sized Shetland pony. Once, I was riding bareback in the chicken
yard following a windstorm, and Streak got spooked. We were heading toward a cherry tree
that had broken off about four feet off the ground. I made the decision that I didn’t want to
be impaled on the tree stump. I rolled off my pony and, luckily, wasn’t hurt. Dad had a big
black horse, Duke, who was very smart. We kept both horses in the chicken yard at the back
of the house. Duke could stick his head under the tin at the back of the annex in the chicken
13
yard. He could do that even though the tin was weighed down with a big rock on a wooden
feed box.
When I was in grade school, we raised chickens and sold the eggs at Morton’s in
Smithville. I kept records of the sales. It was how I made a little money when I was seven,
eight, and nine years old. I had geese for a while, as well as the chickens. We had an
outhouse next to a little shed in the chicken yard. The one time that I tried to use it, there
was a groundhog underneath it. I don’t know who was more scared, but I didn’t go back
there again. One night, Mom and Dad and I returned home from dinner, and the chickens
were all upset and squawking. I got my high beam flashlight, went out, and saw beady eyes
north of the chicken house towards the creek. It turned out to be a fox in the chicken coop.
You’ve heard that phrase, but that time it was for real.
I shot a fox when I was eight or nine with Dad’s new rifle. My eyes were not that good at
the time, but we didn’t know that. Dad saw something down by the creek behind the feedlot,
which was to the north and west over the hill from our house. I took a bead on it, shot and
killed it. That would have been a marksman shot, but I would never do that again. The pelt
of the first fox I ever shot was attached to a piece of green felt, which was tacked to the
ceiling above my bed. You can see it in pictures of my old room at Maple Grove. I don’t know
where that pelt is now. Maybe we will find it someday.
When I was a freshman in high school, my FFA project was hogs. I had Minnesota
(reddish) hogs. I know they weren’t Hampshire (black with white backs). We had two litters
of those. In 1953, I went to the FFA National Convention, where newly elected President
Eisenhower spoke.
I remember having sheep and baby lambs. Many times, they would have twins, and
sometimes the mother couldn’t take care of them. I rigged up hay bales in our basement and
made a little room for the little lambs. We’d get a coke bottle, fill it with milk, and put a big
nipple on it. I’d feed and raise the lambs until they were able to be with their mother. Mom
would feed them during the day when I was in school, and then I would take over at night.
I had one old sheep I called Buck that I got from Uncle Clay, Aunt Roxy’s husband. Buck
had one horn broken off, so it was round and stuck up straight. We would get down and butt
heads, but not in combat mode. When he got rambunctious, I’d stop. When I went to Scout
camp, Mom had to go out and feed him and feed the chickens. Buck would want to play.
After he rammed her once or twice, Dad found someone to buy Buck from me. With that
money, I bought a White Plains Mint stamp sheet block for twenty-five dollars. Today it is
worth six hundred to eight hundred dollars.
I raised cattle and remember selling my first calf when I was nine in 1948 on the south
side of the Livestock Exchange building. Today, it’s the Golden Ox parking lot. Edgar Wile
was a commission buyer, and Dad said, “Tell him to get off his horse, get down and feel that
14
animal because it’s worth more than he’s offering.” He did, but only for me, and gave me an
extra two pennies a pound. That was my first calf, a Hereford, as I recall.
I was very active in 4-H and was the president of the Nashua 4-H Club. In 1954, I had
my first Angus heifer, Trixie. I showed her at
the American Royal, brought her home,
slimmed her down, bred her, and kept her for
a long time. I had two steers, Fat Stuff, and
Big Stuff. Fat Stuff’s picture is downstairs in
our house. We won at the Clay County Fair
and then went on to the American Royal. I
believe I showed at the American Royal in
both 1955 and 1956 in the 4-H Division. I
never won, but I did pretty well. I handled all
of the paperwork and named the cattle. Of
course, Aunt Roxy had given names to all the
Galloway cattle forty and fifty years earlier.
Fat Stuff had pneumonia, and we couldn’t
show him at the American Royal in 1955. I
nursed him back to health. For my seventeenth birthday in January 1956, Mom and Dad let
me show him at the National Western Show in Denver. Elton Baldwin, who managed Staley
Farms, and Mr. Orin James of J.C. Penney, and James Angus in Hamilton, served as my
chaperones in Denver. I had to show the steer in the open class and got maybe ninth place.
The most difficult time was when we had the auction. Somebody bought him. I petted Fat
Stuff, took off his halter and walked away. I swore at that time I would never raise steers
again because they become part of the family. I had heifers from that time on.
My only claim to fame was that Sam Barr of Kearney, who owned the Blue Sky Farms,
bought several of my cows. He bred them, and one of them produced the Grand Champion
Bull at the Missouri State Fair. That’s the best I ever did, and that was indirect.
Looking back, we always had cattle at Maple Grove. Dad set it up that way so I could
make some money, and it wouldn’t cost him anything. I had my Angus herd, and he had
stockers and feeders. The cattle ate the grass for free, and my labor was free. It was a good
way for Dad to shift some funds to me, as well as responsibility, as I later realized.
I had an Angus herd for ten years through high school until I came home from Korea.
My first Angus steer, which I acquired from Uncle Clay Woods, died after being struck by
lightning up at the barn. Later, while I was away at college, Ed Wilson took care of the herd.
It was up to a hundred animals, which probably got to be a challenge. Luckily, we had two
separate buyers who each bought half of the herd.
Fat Stuff, my winning steer at the Clay County Fair; also shown in the American Royal, and at the National
Western Show in Denver during the mid-1950s.
15
Hobbies and Legacies
Dad never really had a hobby, but I did. I would buy savings stamps to buy a U.S.
Treasury Bond. The $18.75 bond eventually would be worth twenty-five dollars. I had a lot
of those, and so did Nancy. I collected stamps. My grandmother, Gumma, introduced me to
the hobby in 1949. I have collected first-day issue covers religiously by subscription since
then. I have collected coins off and on. I do like to collect things and keep them as
keepsakes. When Nancy and I went to Rome, we got little pieces of stone and marble, which
came from the original Roman Coliseum. I had those embedded in a piece of plastic to give
to the boys. I do framing and cataloging of different things, thinking it may be of interest.
I wish I had things that my grandparents or great-grandparents had made or collected.
Stories they had written or told, like the ones I am telling here. I do have a few mementos,
and I have put brass plaques on some. My ancestors didn’t leave keepsakes, so I am doing
this for future generations, to give them a little feel of life in an earlier time.
School
Line drawing of Smithville High School by Homer Williams for the 50th class reunion of the class of 1956.
I began Smithville Grade School in the fall of 1943. There wasn’t a kindergarten then.
Before I was five years old, I shared a class with many students, some of whom were a year
older than me. That made it socially challenging.
Mrs. Kerr was my first-grade teacher, and Colonel C.F. Kindred’s wife (Lula Bethene)
was my substitute teacher in the first grade. C.F. Kindred, Jr. and his wife Lou are still
alive at the time of this writing. He is near ninety years old and has gone by the high school
nickname of Colonel his whole life. His father, C.F. Kindred, was the original owner of the
Chevrolet Dealership in Smithville. Lou continued to teach at Smithville well into the late
60s or early 70s.
16
Bill Hansford’s mom taught my second and third-grade classes, and Mrs. Stoner taught
the fourth grade. Miss Nell Golden, a tough gal who had been there forever, taught fifth and
sixth grades.
I attended twelve years in Smithville schools. I took my lunch for the first six years.
Mom drove me to school most days, but sometimes I took a Greyhound bus from the Dutch
Mill, a gas station, and restaurant across from our barn at Cookingham Drive and Highway
169. I later learned that Boopoo once owned a gas station.
When I first started going to school at Smithville, they had separate buildings for the
grade school and high school. When I was in junior high (seventh grade), they built a
cafeteria connecting the two buildings.
I was probably in the seventh grade when I started taking the school bus. It was an
hour-long ride to school because the bus went west from our house to where the airport is
today. Repeating that same route in reverse, it took an hour to return home.
I was elected president of the student council at Smithville, my first “political” race. It
was fun, and it allowed me to go to a three-county conference (Clay, Platte, and Ray) at Park
College. Charlie Broomfield was elected our first president of the three-county student
council. Charlie was from North Kansas City High School, which was a large urban school.
He is still active in Clay County politics. I was elected vice president of the three-county
student council. We thought that was “the big time.”
At school, I played basketball and lettered in my senior year. I wasn’t allowed to go near
football, because I wasn’t that fast. I did participate
one year in track (mainly mile and half-mile races).
Smithville High School Hall of Fame
In January 2015, I was the first class of
former students to be inducted into the Smithville
R-II Educational Foundation Alumni Wall of Fame.
My other two “teammates” were Mack Porter and
Dr. Bob Williams. Bob may have passed away by
that time, but his son David and several other
family members attended. A year and a half later,
May 18, 2016, I took Homer to the school to
celebrate our sixtieth graduation anniversary, tour the school, and visit with Assistant
Superintendent Wayne Kruger.
Baseball During the Summer
Baseball was always my favorite sport. While I was growing up, Dad and I used to play
catch until I threw too fast. After that, Dad used to hit balls to me by our house. Later, we
would go out in the west pasture, which I had to mow. He would bang away, and I would
My plaque on the Smithville Alumni Wall of Fame.
17
catch those fly balls. There were very few balls that I couldn’t catch. Growing up on the
farm, I was always throwing things. When I was young, I played a lot of softball and
hardball. I could out-throw anyone my age. At Boys State and Boy Scout Camp, I would
challenge anyone.
For two or three years, I played on the American Legion Baseball Team in Smithville.
My first baseball uniform was blue and white, and it hung in Aunt Louise’s closet for years.
I still have it. I was both a pitcher and a third baseman. Somewhere, I have the scrapbooks
that Mom kept, which have news stories from the Smithville Democrat-Herald. It wasn’t
unusual for me to pitch a three-hitter or even a two-hitter. We won many games. We played
at the American Legion Park, east of downtown Smithville. This was before we had
backstops or lights. I had Karlton Nash, who was probably the fastest guy in the Northland,
as my center fielder, and his younger brother, whose name escapes me, on our team. They
went to North Platte High School. (Karlton’s wife, Donna, is a former Platte County
Collector.) Bud Warring was our coach. Toward the end of my baseball career, it was a great
thrill to play at Waterworks Park, which still exists. The baseball diamonds were on the
west side of the hill, where North Oak descends into North Kansas City. The park had
lights, and that was the first time I had pitched a game under lights. That night, I thought I
was in the major leagues. My pitching days were over when I threw my arm away. That part
of the Waterworks Park complex is no longer open. Instead, there are new baseball
diamonds across the road, west of Highway 9.
I wanted to be the batboy for the Kansas City Blues, a minor league baseball team. Park
Carolle, the manager, and Dad were friends. They discussed it, but there was the problem of
how I would get to the games. It wasn't going to happen, but I had fun thinking about it.
Basketball
After we got rid of our chickens at home, we had a basketball goal built behind the
house. We had the annex in the chicken yard. I had a white backboard that was nailed to a
post ten feet high. It was anchored to a big soft maple tree. I would put a chain on the back
of the tractor and drag a heavy metal frame across the dirt in the field to smooth out the
“court.” I was always practicing my shots.
In high school, I played junior varsity basketball. Stan Thomas was our math teacher
and basketball coach. Later, he served in the Missouri Legislature. (Stan is a graduate of
William Jewell College, and he used to go to all the games when Bill was playing there.) In
the eighth grade, we went to play at Park Hill High School. The gym was unbelievably big.
In Smithville, the walls, bleachers, and stage were three feet from the boundary of the
basketball court. For safety, there were a few large hanging pads under the baskets. The
bleachers were on the south side of the gym, and the auditorium stage was on the north
side. All of our activities in high school, in addition to basketball games, were in that gym.
18
In high school, I may have made the team, but all the guys were taller and larger. Of
course, I was a year younger than most of the people in my class because we didn’t have
kindergarten in Smithville. I finally lettered in basketball during my senior year.
I can’t remember whether I went out for the basketball team during my freshman year
at Wentworth Military Academy. I made the varsity team at Wentworth and lettered during
my sophomore year. I have two of my letter sweaters, as I was inducted into the W Club.
(We had an S Club, or something, at Smithville.) Those were the only two claims to fame
that I had in high school sports. I have my letter sweaters with Dad’s letter sweater from
Platte City High School.
Scouting
I began Cub Scouts in 1948 with Smithville Troop 412. My cub scout leader was Mrs.
Krauss Justus, Sr. While I was a scout, they changed the eligible age to start Boy Scouts
from twelve to eleven. I got through Cub Scouts with my Wolf, Bear,
Lion, and Webelos in two years. Soon after that, I started Boy
Scouts, Troop 412, with Artie Logan as Scout Master. Later I moved
to the Nashua Troop.
The Boy Scout Troop in Nashua was Troop 413. Nashua was
closer and a smaller troop. Eddie Wade was our Scout Master. In
later years, when we went to Osceola, I was the camp troop
scoutmaster. I was in high school and had about every post
available. I became an Assistant Troop Scout Master and then an
Assistant Scout Master.
Harry Balthasar of Nashua Nursery east of town was Chairman
of the Troop Board. We would meet in the basement of the Baptist
church. Many times, a bunch of us would play softball on Monday
nights before the scout meeting on North Main. That street was the
main highway before the transition in the 30s to the current
Highway 169.
I received my Eagle badge in 1955, and later received six Palm
awards and the God and Country award. I made the Mic-O-Say
tribe in 1955 and later received my Warrior and Fire Builder claws
with orange paint.
Swimming didn't come naturally to me. The ponds near our
home weren't clean. Gumma said, “Don’t get near the water,” so I was somewhat afraid of it.
When I was eleven years old, I darn near drowned (I felt!) at my first overnight at the Boy
Scout Camporee in Excelsior Springs. As I recall, I was homesick and cold. At Osceola, I
earned my lifesaving and swimming merit badges. Without scouting, I wouldn't have
learned any of that.
My Boy Scout sash with fifty-five merit badges.
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That was the end of my scouting experience for almost two decades. In the mid-1970s, I
was recruited by Harry Balthasar to become the Great Frontier District Chairman and
served on the Kansas City area Board for Scouting. I am now an honorary director. H. Roe
Bartle, Kansas City mayor and “Big Chief Lone Bear” of Mic-O-Say, remained a large
influence over scouting during my years as a scout and during the time I spent on the board.
In the 1980s or 1990s, I received the white paint and became a Sachem in Mic-O-Say.
(Additional details about my participation in Boy Scouts are included in “Book 4 |
Reflections and Memories”)
Activities with Friends
I performed in many piano concerts with other kids on the eighth floor at Jenkins Music
Store in downtown Kansas City. (It's now only a storefront.) During those early days, I
remember Mom having me take tap dancing and drums in addition to the piano. I played
the piano at many schools and church events, solo, and as accompaniment, in addition to
dance bands. I was in the Missouri State FFA chorus and wanted to be in the national
chorus, but I missed it by, supposedly, one tenor. I was in the State High School chorus,
which I enjoyed.
Homer Williams played along with me on the drums. Homer and I were called the Dixie
Land Duo, with our piano and drums, at Smithville High School. Claude Radar was our
music teacher. “When the Saints Go Marching In” was our theme song, which I had learned
from Aunt Roxy, who was a fabulous piano player, playing music way ahead of her time.
I played the piano as accompaniment for the productions we did in high school. We also
had a dance band outside of school. Scott Merritt played the trumpet, Homer was drums,
and Charlie Erickson was our so-called leader. That was back in the days when Lawrence
Welk was popular. Charlie had no musical talent of any kind, and probably still doesn’t, but
today is a successful lawyer in the Northland. As our bandleader in front of the microphone,
all he could say was “Ah one, Ah two,” etc. His dad, Ollie, was a teacher at Smithville High
School. However, Ollie got promoted to North Kansas City High School, and Charlie went to
school there. Smithville didn’t have kindergarten, so when Charlie transferred schools, he
had to start again in kindergarten. Even though he is one day older than me, I graduated a
year earlier, 1956-1957, because I didn’t attend kindergarten.
In the early 1950s, I sang in the choir at Grace Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in
downtown Kansas City. Clayton “Porky” White lived in Nashua, and he had one of the best
boy tenor voices you ever heard. We sang at midnight masses on Christmas Eve. He sang “O
Holy Night” at Grace and Holy Cathedral, and that about put me away.
Mike Rogers and I played a duo piano. He was from Excelsior Springs and went on to
the Julliard School in New York after he got rid of me. We played “The Battle Hymn of the
Republic,” and Porky sang. The three of us played a lot of places.
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For two or three years, Homer Lee Williams and I went to a Christian church camp in
the Ozarks. (Homer Lee Williams was my childhood friend and mentor – I use the term very
loosely. His older brothers, Maurice and Bob, were his mentors. He was four months older
than me, and I was always trying to keep up with him. We have remained lifelong friends
and still visit each other frequently.
Homer was very busy. He had jobs at Campbell’s Grocery Store, Hendrix Ford
Dealership, and also delivered newspapers. He worked and earned everything he could so
that he could go to school. Homer later went to Northwest Missouri State University and
Kansas State University. His dad couldn’t afford to send three boys to college, even though
he was the superintendent of the Smithville schools. All three eventually earned advanced
degrees – one a surgeon, one a dentist, and the other an architect! Homer went on to earn a
Ph.D. after he retired as a renowned architect.
We played softball in Nashua, in what is now the parking lot south of the Nashua
Baptist Church. Nashua wasn’t big – maybe one hundred people, and not many were my
age. My good friends were Colleen McCorkle, Dick Jones, (who lived east of the farm in
Nashua), the Pritchards (Roger and Nancy), the Marshall family (Jim, Shirley, Brenda, and
John), and Floyd Brown, who was a classmate of mine, along with Jimmy Meek, who was
probably the fastest runner in school.
Swimming was something you were supposed to enjoy, but it wasn’t handy for me until I
was sixteen and could drive. My first car was a 1956 white-and-pink Ford, and the next one
was a red 1958 Ford. Both cars had a vent on the hood that could be opened with a lever
from the inside (under the dashboard next to the windshield) and hand-cranked windows.
One of the options on the 1958 Ford was to add an air conditioner to fit under the dash. I
paid for both cars myself. Once I had a car of my own, I would take the younger kids to one
of the three places where we could swim. One was the North Kansas City public pool; the
other two were in Excelsior Springs: Lake Maurer, which is an outdoor swimming pool, and
the indoor Hall of Waters located downtown that was built by the Works Progress
Administration during the Depression. As far as I know, those were the only options other
than ponds, north of the river between Kansas City and St. Joseph. My friend Homer swam
all the time, jumping off the high dives and doing all sorts of weird things, but he had two
older brothers who led him into trouble – or kept him out of it.
Colleen McCorkle moved into the old Billy Weeks home across the road and a half-mile
west of us on 71 Bypass when I was a freshman at Smithville. Her house was midway
between our house and Locust Wood Farms, where Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay Woods lived.
Colleen was in the eighth grade then. We were both only children. Colleen and I call each
other “Windy” because we talked on the phone at length. I don’t know who is “Windy One”
and “Windy Two,” but that is why we call each other that name.
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In those days, the telephone service was different than it is now. We were on a party-line
with Aunt Roxy and a few other area families. You had to take turns to use the party line.
One day, I wanted to talk to Colleen or call Homer or another friend. There were two women
talking about some recipe. One of them had just made a pie and put it in the oven. I listened
to the women for a while, and they kept talking. I finally piped up and said, “I smell your pie
burning.” One of them said, “Oh my goodness, I have to go.” They both hung up. Of course, I
had no way of knowing if it was burning, cooking, or even in the oven, but it got them off the
party line.
Religion
Mom and I went to Sunday school when I was young. Of course, we were usually late.
When I got older, we just went to church. The church would fill up in the back, and we
would have to walk to the front. They were taking communion at that time, so that is one of
the reasons I did not get overly anxious about going to church in later years, even though I
was quite active in my high school years.
I remember going to church at Second Creek, where Sam Marsh and I were baptized at
the same time around 1954. We may have been sophomores at that time. While in the choir,
I was the backup organist for Mrs. Marsh, Sam’s mom.
I was also an assistant minister when Rev. Milan went on vacation. When I delivered a
sermon, Mom, Dad, Gumma, and Boopoo came to church. That was the first and only time
any of them had been to church together, at least in my lifetime. Luckily for me, they sat in
the back row. If lightning had struck, it would have wiped out everybody.
Wentworth Military Academy
I graduated from Smithville High School on May 18, 1956. I’m not sure why I always
remember that date, but I do – and I always contact Homer on that date and remind him of
our graduation anniversary.
After graduation, I was undecided about what
college to attend. I suppose I was leaning towards
the University of Missouri, but fate and an
afternoon of fishing changed all that.
Anna Gibbons was the “outside lady” or
“hustler” for admissions at Wentworth Military
Academy in Lexington. Several years earlier, she
had visited the academy with me. She had hoped
I would consider going to Wentworth during my
senior year of high school. I had worked too hard
at Smithville for eleven years – baseball,
The administration building at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, MO.
22
basketball, scouts, music, and student council – to give it all up to achieve what a year at
Wentworth might provide.
However, one day, Dad and I were going fishing. The car was loaded with all the gear,
including freshly dug worms, when Mrs. Gibbons from Wentworth came unannounced up
the driveway at Maple Grove. I said to Dad, “Let’s go out the back way before she gets to the
house.” Dad said we could not do that. We stayed, and we signed an agreement. I made the
twenty-five dollar down payment – not for a senior year – but my freshman year of college
starting in 1956. Now I could go fishing!
I wanted to go fishing so much that I signed an agreement to attend Wentworth Military
Academy. When it was time to choose where to go after high school, I did not want to lose
the twenty-five-dollar deposit, so I went on to Wentworth. On top of all that, I had to write a
check from my personal bank account for the deposit.
The Cadet Corps numbered 550 students from
eighth grade through the first two years of college. I
had friends or acquaintances also attending Wentworth.
John Callison, Mom’s first cousin, and John Cochran, a
friend from Columbia, were going there. Also, Chuck
Elliott, whom I spent time with, and whose parents
were good friends of Mom and Dad’s, was a student
there, as was Nick White.
Nick and I started first grade with Homer Williams.
Around the time we were in fifth grade, Nick moved to
Versailles, Missouri. His mom, Mrs. Bonelle White,
went to Columbia College, as did Mom. His father,
Andy, had been an agriculture teacher at Smithville.
Andy was a great guy and had been quite a football
player in the late 1920s or early 1930s at Wentworth.
Knowing I had friends there made enrolling easier.
During my two years at Wentworth, we stayed in
Headquarters Company for the band barracks at the
bottom of the hill. B Company was above us.
That first year, I was in a four-man room – I know a four-person room would be the
correct reference today, but believe me, it was “four-man” when I went to school. I roomed
with Denny Collins, whom we called “Torch,” Gene Eaton, who played football, and Frank
Miller from Nebraska. The Torch was from somewhere in Missouri. He used to set small
things on fire on our desk during study time.
Celebrating Dad’s election as president of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
in 1956 while I was a junior college freshman cadet at
Wentworth Military Academy.
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I played the bell lyre, which is a type of glockenspiel. The steel instrument was about
two feet wide by three feet high. It had six-inch metal bars that I would strike with a mallet
to make different tunes. I wore a “holster” in front, somewhat the way a person would carry
the flag. I held the back of it with my left hand and hammered it with my right hand. We
marched in the American Royal Parade in Kansas City and the Governor’s Inaugural
Parade in Jefferson City. I remember that well as it was bitter cold, and we weren't allowed
to wear coats! We also went to the Arkalalah Festival in Arkansas City, Kansas, an area
with rich Native-American history.
My grades were okay, but I spent most of the year regretting my decision to go to
Wentworth. However, as I prepared for the final flag-lowering ceremony of my freshman
year, I realized how important the academy had become to me, how much I would miss my
friends who were graduating, and how important my friends who would be returning to
Wentworth the next year were to me.
I went back to Wentworth for my sophomore year, and it was very productive, possibly
the most productive year of my life. I was asked to be the drum major of the marching band,
as I had been at Smithville. I rose in rank to be a master sergeant. We played many places
representing the academy. I also played piano in the Cavaliers, a dance band.
That year, I lived on the second floor with Tom Wainwright, who was from Mangum,
Oklahoma. He became the company Sergeant Major. His parents were great to me. Later at
ROTC summer camp in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during the hot summer days, I spent several
weekends at the Wainwrights’ home, enjoying the air conditioning. They lived about two
hours west of camp, and Mrs. Wainwright made the best homemade pies.
Mom and Dad came down to visit me once at Fort Sill during an ROTC/Basic Training
camp. Tom's father, who was a small-town doctor and surgeon, died unexpectedly. We went
to Mangum to see Tom and attend the funeral. Tom and his bride ended up getting married
on the same day as Nancy and I did --
September 4, 1965. We haven’t seen each
other in fifty years, but we still exchange
Christmas cards.
I helped start a math fraternity, Mu
Alpha Theta, and served as its president.
Captain Dick Gwin was our math teacher.
During my sophomore year, I took two
semesters in math, physics, and chemistry, as
well as studying differential equations and
maybe calculus. I made straight A’s and
ended up as Salutatorian of my sophomore
class at Wentworth. Because of my hard work,
Colonel J.M. Sellers presenting me with the Honor Graduate Award out of a class of 600 at my
commencement ceremony in 1958.
24
I won the Park Mathematics Award, and I received a physics scholarship to the University
of Missouri.
I achieved one thing that was challenging. I was the only cadet that went through that
year without a single demerit in the whole corps. As the year was coming to a close, I knew I
was getting close, and anybody who outranked you could “stick” you, as we called it; give you
a demerit. So, I was on my best behavior. I couldn’t let anyone know! (I understand that
General Douglas MacArthur did the same at West Point.)
I did not wear glasses in those days, and nobody knew I could not see. When I led the
band outdoors on the parade field, I looked for a cottonwood tree or something else that I
could use as a guide. In basketball, the coach noticed I always did better when I was closer
to the basket. I could not tell him the reason was that I could see it. I knew my teammates
because they had red jerseys. I could never tell the time, or what the score was. Looking
back, that could have been handled better. I didn't start wearing glasses until I was at
Missouri University.
I played college varsity basketball and lettered that year. Tom and I won the Best Room
award. One spoiler was that someone stole some of my medals from the wall of our room.
Upon my graduation from Wentworth, I was given the Ted Messmore Outstanding
Graduate medal.
Wentworth was a two-year college.
Following graduation, I took three courses
at William Jewell College in the summer of
1958. Philosophy was one, and I think I
may have taken sociology because I thought
I would need it to graduate from Missouri.
A second reason I went to summer
school was to readjust to females being in
our classes, as well as to the big,
impersonal classes at MU.
That summer, I studied upstairs at the
desk that had been Pi’s desk in his later
years. (Later, it was in Mom’s room.) I had
to buy an air conditioner for my upstairs
bedroom at Maple Grove. We put it in the
north window. Dad would not spend the
money to have central air conditioning.
I only spent one summer as a student at
William Jewell, but years later, I became In my dress uniform towards the end of my sophomore
year at Wentworth.
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an Honorary Alumnus of Jewell. Coach Larry Holley played a role in that. He was Bill's
basketball coach. Twenty years later, Coach Holley still attends activities held by the
families of the teams that played in three Final Four National Championship tournaments.
University of Missouri
Going from Wentworth to the University of Missouri in 1958 was a major turning point
for me. I had to make a lot of new choices as I headed off to Columbia. I thought about going
into a fraternity. John Cochran and others had heavily promoted the Betas. My Wentworth
roommate, Tom Wainwright, from Mangum, Oklahoma, was going to Oklahoma University,
where he was a Beta. I was told my name came up. However, I was a junior, not a freshman,
and I was told that one guy blackballed me because I was too old. As it turned out, that was
probably a blessing.
Captain Terry Buck had been my first HQ Commander and later Battalion Commander
at Wentworth. He was my roommate in McDavid dormitory in Reynolds Hall on Sixth Street
during our first year (my junior year) at the University of Missouri in Columbia. That living
situation did not work out very well, but we survived.
I decided to change majors. At Wentworth, I had won a physics scholarship to Missouri.
I had straight A's in forty-three hours of classes such as math, physics, and chemistry. The
scholarship did not include a great number of funds, but it seemed like a big honor at the
time. I began as a physics major at Missouri but found the courses way over my head. Then,
too, my interests had changed. I switched to political science, which pushed my graduation
date from the spring of 1960 to January 1961.
At my undergraduate graduation, I received my commission as a second lieutenant in
the Army Artillery. I continued my activity in campus ROTC, but my active duty
requirement was postponed for eighteen months while I went to graduate school. I stayed at
MU and completed my M.S. degree in public administration at what is now called the Harry
S. Truman School of Public Administration.
ROTC
During my undergraduate days at MU, I went to a summer camp at Fort Leonard Wood
and Fort Sill for ROTC training. These training camps were like a boot camp for future
officers. I did not go to camp following my junior year because I had my appendix taken out.
Dr. Spelman recommended that I have it removed because the painful episodes were
becoming more frequent. The day I had surgery, I called Fort Sill from the hospital to let
them know I could not be coming to camp.
As an ROTC cadet at summer-camp in Oklahoma, I served on KP duty, starting at 6:00
a.m. and getting off at 10:00 p.m. My nickname was “Pots and Pans.” I had forty-five
minutes during the day to eat. I could spend the forty-five minutes any way I wanted. I
could take all forty-five minutes at one time or take three fifteen-minute breaks. It was
26
hotter than hell in that kitchen with no air conditioning, doing dishes and peeling potatoes.
Luckily, this did not last forever.
Fraternity Life
In summer of 1959, before my senior year, four Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) members
came by the house on the farm: Roger Crouch from St. Joseph, Missouri, who was later the
house president; Clint Summers; Kent Whittaker, who became my pledge father, though I
have not seen him since; and Dick Ullery, a track star at Missouri. Each of them wanted to
talk to me about joining a fraternity during my senior year at MU. Several family friends
had visited with me on that same subject: Senator Harry Darby, who made a case for Phi
Delta Theta; Ed Shook, an attorney who favored Sigma Nu; and John Cochran and others
for the Beta’s. After a heated rush, I had to decide between SAE and Phi Delta Theta. I
pledged SAE in the fall of 1959. That was the beginning of my senior year. I had a dorm
contract that I could not break, so I did not move into the house until my first semester as a
graduate student (or fifth-year senior) in the fall of 1960.
My time as a pledge was free of most of the hassles that first-year students suffer.
Because I had completed two years of ROTC at Wentworth, I was able to take senior ROTC
at Missouri. (I even received a ribbon for some achievement. I was told that I qualified to
apply to West Point, but I passed on that option.) I outranked all the active members of the
fraternity, including Sam Smith, Layne Phillips, Wayne Goode, and Roger Crouch. In those
days, every student – including the pledge trainer and all the senior actives – had to pass all
his classes and the ROTC to receive a commission. The unwritten and unspoken rule
between us was that if I had a good pledge year, they would not get any static from me, as a
captain in ROTC.
I was a recording secretary in the fraternity in 1961. Bob Dickeson was elected president
of our house, the first member of our pledge class to hold that office. I followed him as
president in 1962, while I was in graduate school. These were semester-long positions. Burl
F. Engleman, who was known as Jim, was our so-called student advisor in graduate school.
He was my roommate before I became president of the house and moved across the hall to
the E.A.’s room. Jim and I became great friends.
SAE entered Savitar Frolics with the Pi Phi’s in 1961 and the Thetas in 1962. We had a
dance band in the house in which I played the piano. Clark Brown played the steel guitar
and also made recordings. One of my big moments was when we played “Temptation” under
the bright colored lights on the stage of Jesse Hall during the “Miss Mizzou” contest. Our
candidate was a good-looking Delta Gamma blonde, who had transferred from Columbia
College. She wore a white bathing suit and a white fur stole. We won the contest.
The house entered the Interfraternity Sing, which was also held at Jesse Hall. It seemed
as though the Beta’s always won. They wore tuxedos. I rented white dinner jackets (like the
ones waiters wear) for the members of our group. I asked the guys to wear socks for a
27
change, along with white shirts and ties. We won the damned contest! Charley Babcock,
president of the Beta’s, was halfway down the aisle when the winner was announced:
“Sigma Alpha Epsilon.” All of our guys stood up and gave him a one-finger salute as I went
to receive the trophy as SAE president. Charley may have been the Beta that “balled” me
during rush!
I remain an active SAE alumnus. In 2015, the first John Dillingham Award was
presented. It was the first award given in anyone's name for the Greater Kansas City area
SAE Alumni Association.
Summer of 1961 on Senator Symington’s Staff in Washington
I spent the summer of 1961 as one of Senator Stuart Symington’s staff in Washington,
D.C., as an assistant for agriculture. I lived on East Fifth Street. I walked between the
Library of Congress and the Supreme Court every morning and evening. As long as I got my
job done during the day, I could go on the Hill and attend the hearings that featured the
new cabinet officers. After dinner, I could sit on the East Capitol steps and listen to the
Army or Air Force bands. I was twenty-two, and this was an exciting time for me.
I roomed with Joe Western, who was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Joe was
from Kansas City. His former roommate, Dan Miles, was later Senator Ed Long’s
Mom and I Visit Washington D.C.
Mom and I shown with Senator Frank Carlson (left) and Representative Bill Avery (right). Both Carlson and Avery represented the State of Kansas.
Mom and I went to Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1961, when the cherry blossoms were blooming. We met Congressman Bill Avery, who was later the governor of Kansas, and Senator Frank Carlson. I have autographed pictures of those two on the wall of my office at home. There was a front-page story with some pictures about some of the young local interns who were serving in Washington in the Sunday edition of the Kansas City Star. One of my fellow interns was Dick Bond, who later served as Kansas state senator and majority leader and is still a friend today. These were great experiences for a twenty-two-year-old from Nashua, Missouri.
28
administrative assistant. I was there at the beginning of the New Frontier as President
John F. Kennedy had described it in his inauguration speech. Years later, after my time in
the Army, I would work in northwest Missouri on Senator Symington’s 1964 re-election
campaign.
The highest and lowest ranking staff members – and only those two – were allowed on
the floor of the Senate. I was the low dog, so I got that “privilege.” One time I rode the rail
(tram) car with Senator Barry Goldwater, who was going from the Senate Office Building to
the Capitol.
On another occasion, I was asked to take some top-secret pictures in a sealed envelope to
Senator Symington. The photos depicted a recent May Day Parade in Moscow. Afterward,
Senator Symington went over and talked to Senator Goldwater about them.
I once nearly cold-cocked Vice President Lyndon Johnson. I was running, because I had
something to give to Senator Symington. The doors leading into the Senate Chambers were
almost opaque. You couldn't see through them, but you could see the light and shadows. I
was moving pretty fast, and I almost had my hand on the saloon-type door when I saw this
shadow. I stopped in my tracks. The Vice President had no clue that I had almost hit him. I
can’t imagine what would have happened if I had. Fortunately, I didn’t.
Graduate School
My graduate school thesis was a study of the 1948 campaign of President Harry S.
Truman, the famous Whistle Stop Campaign. I spent all my free time away from the SAE
house working on it. I even rented a downstairs office to study at the Tiger Hotel off-
campus. Going beyond that, I changed the date of our SAE elections – the sooner we had a
new president, the sooner I would have more time to focus on my schoolwork.
Following my summer with Senator Symington, Dr. Wells, my graduate school advisor,
saw my picture in a local paper as president of SAE. He commented that I should be in the
library. I told him that my major was public administration, and I was rehearsing with “on-
the-job” training. He laughed and said to keep my grades up. Later, I talked him into letting
me write about my experiences in Washington. I received three hours of research graduate
credits for that project. As I see it, I got a two-for-one there.
It wasn’t all work. Once, the Russians sent a small delegation to Missouri University. I
wanted to meet them, so I told them I could play the piano as entertainment at a dinner at
the Student Union. I told them I would play “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Russian
composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It worked out! They gave me a little medal that hangs
in a frame in my office at home.
I spent much of my time doing my research at the Harry S. Truman Presidential
Library. One day, Dr. Brooks, who was the director of the Library, asked if I’d like to visit
29
with President Truman, who maintained an office in the Library after leaving the White
House. I said, “Of course.”
When I knocked on President Truman's door, he said, “Come in.” He asked what I was
working on, and I told him the ‘48 Whistle Stop campaign. He leaned back in his swivel
chair, laughed, and said, “That is the one I was supposed to lose.” The two of us spent forty-
five minutes in his office talking about General MacArthur, the bomb, Korea, and –
obviously – the campaigns. We had a great visit because our families had been friends. I
looked at my watch, and I said, “Mr. President, I could spend all day here, but you have
important things to do, and I need to get out of here.” He said, “Do you have your
commission?” I replied, “Yes, sir.” He asked, “Where are you going?” I should not have said
this, but it just crawled out. What I said was, “Mr. President, thanks to you, I am going to
Korea.” He burst out laughing. He noticed that I didn't see any humor in that. He said,
“When you get settled, drop me a note and tell me what you see.”
After several months in South Korea, I wrote him a four or five-page letter. He wrote
right back and thanked me for it. Later, I sent my thesis to the Truman Library at the
request of Dr. Brooks, who wanted the president to see it. I got a note back from President
Truman thanking me for my work. I wished he had autographed it, but he could not do that.
Fifty years later, I was on the Harry S. Truman Library Institute Board, serving on the
executive committee as chairman of the nominating committee. I left the board in 2016 as I
had reached the limit of time to serve on the board.
“President Harry S Truman took America from its traditional isolationism into the age of
international involvement. Despite his power, he never forgot where he
came from. Today, visitors can experience the surroundings Truman
knew as a young man of modest ambition through his political career
and final years as a former president.”
From the website of the Harry S Truman National Historic Site
30
Military Service
I received my commission as a second lieutenant in January 1961, when I earned my
undergraduate degree, but my active duty requirement was deferred until I completed my
graduate degree in 1962. After completing graduate school in 1962, I didn’t have much time
before I went to Fort Sill in the summer for the Basic Officer training course. At that camp,
we were officers, which meant we were treated much differently than we had been when we
attended the camps during our undergraduate years.
After the basic course, I stayed for two or three weeks for an introductory course on
nuclear armaments. Before that class started, however, I responded to a questionnaire in a
survey the general sent to all the officers and young lieutenants asking how we felt about
the camp. I made the mistake of writing that I thought the kitchen and everything in the
mess hall could have been better. The general passed that information along to the colonel
who was in charge of us. When all the other guys left, I didn’t. During the next three weeks,
I was the assistant mess hall officer, with instructions to improve it if I knew so “damned
much.” I did. As it turned out, it was a good experience. (I know where Bill Dillingham gets
some of his blunt honesty.)
I was allowed to go home briefly in September or thereabouts. A short time later, I was
headed for a year in Korea. I will never forget leaving Kansas City’s Municipal Airport. I
can’t imagine Mom and Dad’s feelings. When Mom was 102, she still talked about my
absence that year.
Heading to Korea
I left a day early and stopped in Denver to visit my high school friend, Homer Williams,
and his wife, Linda Ervin. At the time, Homer was working as an architect and living in
Colorado Springs. He picked me up and took me to their house. I had been the best man at
their wedding, and later he would be the best man at mine.
The next day I left for San Francisco. I can’t remember the name of the Air Force base
where I spent the night, but it may have been Travis AFB. I do remember the roaring
engines of jet planes all night long. When we boarded our plane the following day, I did not
know anybody. The four-propeller driven plane made three stops -- eight hours to get to
Hawaii, eight hours to Wake Island, and eight hours to Tachikawa, Japan. It seemed as
though three or four weeks passed before I stopped hearing propellers.
Upon arrival in Korea, I was stationed at Camp Alex Williams, Sixth Missile BN/Eighth
Artillery, north of Seoul and Uijeongbu, which was First Corps headquarters and south of
Camp Casey, near Dongducheon, which was HQ of the Seventh Infantry Division. I stayed
in the officer barracks in Quonset huts. They were shaped in the form of an “H” where the
bathroom was in the bar of the H. Then there was another bar off that bar, which was the
bar. It was all convenient and close.
31
I had an opportunity to teach at
the University of Maryland Far East
Division in Korea. Because I had a
master’s degree with the proper
recommendations, I qualified to be a
college government instructor. I did
this twice. We met the first time at
Uijeongbu, south of Camp Williams,
and the second time at Camp Casey
north. We met two nights per week
for six weeks, and we covered three
chapters per night.
Some officers spent their
evenings playing cards and drinking.
Far too many returned home as
alcoholics. I had no free time after
dinner, as I was preparing lesson plans each night or teaching. The only downside to
teaching came when I flunked a colonel. He didn't take the time to do his assignments, and
he didn't do well on his exams. He was not happy, but I knew I was not going to be a career
officer. He called my battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Smith, and raised hell.
Colonel Smith called me in and wanted to know what happened with a grin on his face. I
told him, and he agreed that I did the right thing.
Later that year, an Officer’s Club was built at the top of the hill. I would play cards at
night to kill time when I was not teaching. The year went fast because I was busy. I didn't
have time to feel sorry for myself.
While in Korea, my main assignment was that of the communications officer. It was a
captain’s slot, and I was a second lieutenant. My mission was to communicate with the
firing batteries, the Fire Direction Center, and the forward observer, which would be at the
front near the enemy. Colonel Smith thought we should be out in the field more – as it
turned out, almost one-third of that year, nearly one hundred and twenty days. Once, we
were going away for a week, and it was seven degrees below zero the morning we left. I
thought there was no way we could make it, but we did.
I was also the crypto-security officer, which meant I encrypted or encoded messages. We
had two AM radio trucks that would drive to the top of a hill or mountain. In the
wintertime, snow or ice was a challenge. We had a Lacrosse guided missile.
As we had nuclear capability at our compound, the area was furnished with features
such as a double-wide fence, guard towers with lights, rolls of barbed wire, and maybe even
German Shepherds. We were only a few miles below the 38th Parallel/DMZ. All of us knew
Uijeongbu, South Korea -- approximately thirty miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea.
Camp Williams, marked by the asterisk in the picture, was roughly halfway between Uijeongbu and the DMZ.
32
we would be the first target if the “balloon” went up again. The shooting war had been over
for nearly ten years. We were at peace, which was held together by an armistice, not a peace
treaty. It is still that way today.
Another one of my duties was to
“entertain” a nearby orphanage (further south
on the Yellow Sea) for two or three days in the
summer. Just before I left Korea in
November, the orphanage teacher came by
train through Seoul (a long trip) to Camp
Williams, where we were located to give me a
little Korean engraved silver cup and saucer
as a thank you. Today, it is kept in our china
cabinet and is a special memento for helping
others. Even though I can’t read the
inscription, I’ll never forget the effort the
teacher made to say thank you.
I was also “promoted” to mess officer as a
side duty. No one else wanted it. The real boss was Master Sergeant Hill, a top-notch NCO.
We won the Best Mess award in Korea during my last month there. I don't know how many
competitors we had, but I was proud of that. I guess my Ft. Sill experience and exposure to
the Golden Ox came in handy. Johnny, who was Korean, worked in the kitchen as our baker.
We were not supposed to allow the Koreans to handle food because the Army was concerned
about tuberculosis and other health and hygiene issues. I would “inspect” Johnny's work,
and it always tasted good.
I was also the battalion historical officer, which was not a big job. I oversaw the
celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Armistice in July 1963. I held several classes for
our battalion on the history lessons related to the Armistice.
Chapel Officer
I had more jobs than the other six lieutenants put together, and then I was made a
chapel officer. We built a Quonset hut chapel. I used to play a field organ, which was about
three octaves wide. There were two-foot pedals to pump it on the base. It was not electric. I
finally acquired an electric two-keyboard organ from San Francisco.
I remember coming off a field problem and getting ready for the dedication of the chapel.
Master Sergeant Robinson was my head NCO in the communications platoon. He had five or
six hash marks on his sleeve. That meant he had spent up to three years in actual combat,
probably in Korea. I was a new Second Lieutenant, out of Nashua, Missouri. The respectful
way to address a top sergeant is “Top,” even when your own rank is higher. I said, “Top, I
know you’ve forgotten more than I will ever know. I’m sure there are certain things you’d
like to do, like go to the village at night, and as long as you make our group look good, I’ll
A silver cup and saucer engraved and presented to me by a Korean orphanage that I worked with during my
stay in Korea.
33
give you any damned thing you need, as far as I can do it.” He said, “Lieutenant, you are a
lot smarter than I thought you were. We are going to get along fine.” We did.
There was one particular field problem that arose as we were coming back to Camp
Williams from a field exercise. Master Sergeant Robinson said, “Lieutenant, I do not know
how it happened, but I found many radios that belonged to the unit that camped next to us
out in the field. They are in our “‘deuce and a half” (army for a two-and-a-half-ton truck), but
I do not know where they came from. However, I’ve learned that they also have a lot of extra
white and green paint.”
I had been complaining that I needed to paint the chapel so that it would look like a
church. I said, “Top, I don't know anything about it, but I guess you are thinking about
making a trade, their radios for their paint.” He said, “Lieutenant, I had not even thought of
that, but it is a brilliant idea.” The chapel had a green roof and white walls in time for the
dedication ceremony.
Rank in the service is taken very seriously, and you do not mingle with superior officers.
However, there are always exceptions. The chapel brought one such exchange. Captain
Fassel, who lived down the hall in the same Quonset hut I did, was Catholic, and I was
Protestant. We decided to see who could get the most folks to come to church. He had
forgotten that I was also a mess officer. I invited the families from the villages that were
north and south of us to come for Sunday services to the chapel – and I encouraged them to
show up a little earlier, with their children, at the mess hall. I’d give them fresh oranges and
anything else I could scrounge up. I ended up having more people at church than the captain
did. He never could figure out why. They checked in through the front gate, walked a short
distance to the mess hall, and then up the hill to the chapel. Further on, about the same
distance, there were nuclear warheads. This would be unthinkable today!
Before our dedication of the chapel, we had a bunch of Katusas, (civilian Koreans), doing
manual labor. The head guy was called Honcho. He could speak a few words of English. I
said, “Honcho, we need some landscaping. Where can we get some flowers?”
Walter Dillingham
While traveling to Korea, I placed a call to Mr. Walter Dillingham during the layover in Honolulu. Walter's father, Benjamin, had built a canal to create Waikiki Beach. Walter had given the Eisenhower Library a million dollars. Granddad always said they were the rich side of the family. They were all Republicans, so we probably weren't related. Senator Darby had introduced us.
When I talked to Walter, he asked if I could come by to visit. I told him I couldn't, because I had my orders, but maybe we could get together when I returned. A year later, I requested orders that would allow me to make a stopover in Hawaii and visit Walter. As the Army saw it, my request provided them with the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. They strapped a 45-pistol on my waist, handcuffed a top-secret briefcase to my wrist, and flew me to Hawaii on a four-engine jet. I carried out my duties, but when I called to schedule a visit to Walter, I was informed he had died three weeks earlier. I managed to visit his widow by phone.
34
When I arrived on the morning of the dedication, there were flower boxes made of
flagstone, and they were full of fresh flowers. There was a little flagstone bridge at the
entrance to the chapel, and that was very pretty. There were small pine trees and junipers
all around. The landscape was unbelievable. By contrast, there was nothing growing in the
hills of Korea. The vegetation was destroyed during the war. (I am sure everything is
different now, more than fifty years later.)
I said, “Honcho, where did all that come from?” I was horrified to learn that it came from
the mayor’s house and yard in the village. Everything had been removed at night, of course,
when the mayor was asleep. All I could think about was the possibility of an international
incident. I said, “As soon as the visiting generals come, and we have the chapel dedication,
get this crap out of here. Then I’ll go down and apologize to the mayor.” I took an interpreter
with me, and I met with the mayor. It all worked out, but I was scared to death.
Many years later, after chairing a successful election campaign to build a new jail in Clay County, my friend Anita Gorman told me, John, you are one of a very few
people who have built both a church and a jail. I remember her commenting that in both cases, there was an extreme need. The Koreans, less than a decade following a
terrible war, needed a place of worship. Many decades later, Clay County's jail facility was in such bad shape that the courts would not allow prisoners to be housed
in it. The committee I chaired was able to mount a county-wide election campaign that provided the funding to build a new jail in Clay County.
35
Life in Camp
All the women in the village had to be checked regularly for various social diseases. They
had to carry little green cards, which showed that they had been to the doctor that week. If
the doctor could not guarantee that the women were healthy, the whole village was off-
limits. That is not politically correct in today’s world, but it was a reality then.
Frank lived across the hall from me. A big, blond-haired, good-ole-boy from Alabama. He
thought Governor George Wallace was the greatest thing since Christ. Al Chisolm lived next
door to me. Al was African American from Washington, D.C. He was very intelligent, and he
may have attended Georgetown. He kept vodka in his room, and every night he would have
a little nip (well, maybe more than a little) before he went to bed. Frank would come rushing
in after getting letters from home. He would tell us what Governor Wallace was doing to
“the brothers.” Al took it all in and was probably out of it at those moments. It was just wild
to watch that happen. Many times, on free weekends, the three of us would go into the
village. We would hike, take pictures, and do crazy stuff that no one in the military would
ever do today. We were all good friends. Frank may have been a redneck back home, but
when he was in Korea, he saw Al as a neighbor, friend, and another second lieutenant.
I dated one lady while in Korea. Believe it or not, it was a very platonic relationship. Her
name was Jan Chang. Her uncle had been a Defense Minister of Korea at one time. Her
mother was president of Ewha University, which was the top women’s school in Seoul. Mom
and Dad were certain I was going to bring her home. She worked in the bookstore in the I
Corps at Uijeongbu Headquarters.
The members of the upper class in Korea told their families not to associate with the
Americans. In their eyes, we were a bunch of animals. No doubt, some of us were. I know the
enlisted soldiers were always going to the village at night. They would “fall in love.” Often,
they wanted to take their girlfriends back to the States. Jan and I spent our time together
visiting museums, art galleries, and parks in Seoul. Colonel Smith even came down to the
Eighth Army officers club in Seoul and had dinner with us.
Ford Maurer, who was there at the same time, met Jan later. Ford and his wife,
Christine, always liked to pull my leg about Ms. Chang. Later, Jan met some colonel and
married him. They moved to D.C. The last I knew, maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, was
that she was no longer married and that she was in the real estate business there. My son,
Allen, and I once had lunch with Jan. She gave us gifts for Nancy and the rest of the family.
Her younger brother was a prize-winning artist in Korea. We have an oil painting in our
downstairs bathroom that he brought to our house fifty years ago. I was not home when he
visited, so I never met him.
We had two houseboys, Kwan and Mr. Lee, in our BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters).
They mainly polished our boots and kept our clothes clean after field problems. I once gave
Kwan, our houseboy, a cigar as a thank-you present. He went away inhaling, coughing
36
loudly and blowing smoke as he made his way down the hall. “Peggy-san” was our barmaid.
She had her eyes “Americanized” as a Christmas gift for all of us. I could not believe that.
I have been a leader in calling for Korean representatives on the Truman Library board.
I feel I am repaying those experiences from many years ago.
Military R & R -- Rest and Relaxation in Hong Kong
Another lieutenant was Mike Pharr, who was a Stanford graduate. He was tall and thin
and had blond hair. He and I took a two-week R&R in the summer of 1963, first to Hong
Kong and then to Tokyo. We had been in Korea for seven or eight months, and it was the
first time we had “been civilian” (worn clothes that weren't a military issue) since arriving.
Mike and I still exchange Christmas cards. He lives in California now.
Hong Kong is composed of many islands. We went to Hong Kong Island and then took
the ferry across the bay to Kowloon. When we got to Hong Kong, they had water rationing.
The only time we could get water in our hotel (for the toilet, tub, and sink) was in the middle
of the afternoon, and then only for two or three hours, at most. We dined at the Aberdeen
Restaurant. It was a very colorful sampan boat, where there were tanks of fresh fish,
lobsters, and shrimp, among other delicacies. We picked out our dinners as we boarded the
restaurant. Then we were seated, and the wait staff took our selections to the kitchen. We
also went to Victoria Heights and got to peer across into Red China. At the time, what
struck me about Hong Kong was the high-rise buildings and prosperity. (Hong Kong
reverted to China on July 1, 1997, and I'm sure much has changed since then.)
We may have stayed at Tachikawa Air Force Base in the western part of Tokyo. That
was where we landed when we came from the United States. Once, we took the subway in
rush hour, probably to go to downtown Tokyo. There were no signs in English, so we just
boarded the train. I can’t imagine doing that today.
In addition to my R & R, I attended a Bob Hope USO Show at Camp Casey in 1962. I
remember it was around Christmas, and I sat on the ground with lots of other troops a long
distance from the stage. It was colder than hell, but I remember all of us enjoying the show.
We went to several bars and nightclubs, and the restaurants were good. I ate Kobe beef
for the first time while we were there. One night at a restaurant, Mike Pharr put a warm
bottle of sake inside his coat jacket. When we walked out, he tripped over the curb, and he
was drenched with sake.
We toured the Sony factory, and I was impressed. The company was the first maker of
the little portable black-and-white TVs. The last guy on the assembly line had a little
mallet. He would plug in the TV and then hammer it. If the screen didn’t flicker, the TV
would receive Sony's seal of approval for sale. I either called Dad or wrote to tell him that I’d
like to buy some Sony stock. John Latshaw, who was with E.F. Hutton at the time, didn’t
37
think that was a smart idea. Of course, it would have been a tremendously lucrative
investment. John was a good friend. He died in 2010.
We also visited Suntory Liquors. All the tourists were invited to try the company's wines
and liquors. Mike liked to drink. He had a little shot glass, and he sampled every one of
their products. He couldn’t even walk at the end of the trip. Mike and an Australian man
were the last to get on the bus. The Aussie took
the last seat in the very back. The bus drove
down alleys, hitting numerous potholes. Every
time we hit one, we would hear this Aussie in
the back saying, “bloody” this and “bloody” that.
Soon, he was desperate to get off the bus. He
hollered and pulled stop cords until he got the
driver's attention. The last we saw of him, he
was dashing for the bathroom.
Every place we went, we were treated very
well until almost the end of the trip. It was
about 6:00 a.m. when we arrived back in Korea.
Before we could get through Immigration, we
were given a bunch of shots with long needles. I don't know why especially given that we
were coming back to Korea from Japan. We had to do something similar on the way out as
we were leaving for R&R.
The Army after Korea
After I returned home from Korea in early November 1963, and before I reported to Fort
Riley in Kansas, President Kennedy was assassinated. I remember hearing the news on our
old Phillips radio in the living room at home on the farm at Maple Grove.
At Fort Riley, I was assigned as an aide to the First Infantry Division Artillery
commander, Brigadier General Bernard Waterman. I believe Senator Harry Darby made a
call to John Montgomery to get me an assignment that was close to home. Mr. Montgomery
was both the civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army and the publisher of the Junction
City Union newspaper. My friend Homer Williams happened to be living in Junction City at
that time with his wife, the former Linda Ervin. She was working for her uncle, a local
architect.
Right around my twenty-fifth birthday in January 1964, I was promoted to First
Lieutenant.
Receiving 1st Lieutenant bars from Brigadier General Waterman (right) in January 1964.
38
As it turned out, General Waterman went to
Fort Totten, New York, after three months. At the
same time, the assistant division commander,
Brigadier General Charles Meyer, needed a new
aide to replace the previous one, who had been
promoted. I was asked to go to headquarters to be
an aide to General Charles Meyer, who was known
as “Monk.” In 1935, he was a football hero at West
Point and was a runner-up for the first Heisman
Trophy. He stood five feet ten inches tall, weighed
138 pounds, and wore glasses with lenses as thick
as Coke bottles. To look at Monk, you never would
have guessed that he was an athlete. When he was
a plebe (a freshman) at West Point, he beat General
William Westmoreland, who was the Cadet
Captain, at basketball. Later, I would meet the
general and his wife, Katherine. She could not
believe I had been Monk's aide. She thought I
looked too young.
Some years ago, General Norman Schwarzkopf
was autographing books at a luncheon in Kansas
City. When I told him that I had been “Monk”
Meyer’s aide, he looked up over his glasses at me
and said, “Son, you must really be tough.”
The BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarter) at Fort
Riley was a big old two-story stone building with a
sitting room, bedroom, and a kitchenette. I had a
window air conditioning unit, which made a lot of noise, but I was glad to have it.
As my service came to an end, General Charles Meyer awarded me the Army
Commendation Medal. Dad and Mom brought out a bunch of Golden Ox steaks for dinner to
celebrate. In addition to “Monk” Meyer and his wife, Ann, the guests included Senator and
Mrs. Darby, Dr. and Mrs. Spelman, Mi and Kemp Woods, Kemp’s sister, Dorothy, and her
husband, Major Ernie Stoelzing, Major General Jonathan O. Seaman (division commander),
General Seaman’s aide, Captain Jack Little, John Montgomery of the Junction City Union
Newspaper and his wife, Tom Griffith, who was a Republican guru in Manhattan, Kansas,
Ed Rolf and his wife, who was Senator Carlson’s daughter, and my friend Homer and his
wife, Linda.
Monk had the reputation of wearing the treads off an aide every six months. I was his
aide longer than that. Near the end of my Army career, Monk was promoted to Chief of Staff
A map of Korea I found on the back of the door in an empty barracks room as I was preparing to leave Korea. It hangs in our basement now as a reminder of the opportunities my Army service has provided me, but also a reminder
of how far away I was from home.
39
of the Sixth Army at the Presidio in San Francisco. He wanted me to come with him as his
aide. I told him I was already committed to going to Washington to be on Senator
Symington’s staff. For many years, I always called him on his birthday and Christmas.
Nancy got to meet him at his retirement party in Monterrey, California. (I once helped his
son, Bob, catch a flight to go to West Point. Bob later had a career in water management in
Oregon and is now retired.)
Being in the Army brought me many great opportunities, but I'm glad I don't have to
repeat that experience. More than fifty years later, I was involved at Fort Leavenworth,
where I served as a member of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee and as a founding
trustee on the Command General Staff College Foundation. At that time, I also was active
on the Truman Library Board. At this point, I have reached the term limits, and so I am no
longer on these two latter boards. However, it is unlikely that I would have been a part of
any of this, if not for those two years of military service.
Receiving the Army Commendation Medal in 1964 with Mom and Dad to my right and my grandparents Joseph and Edna Dillingham to my left. I received the medal as I finished my Army career in the
1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.
40
Stuart Symington’s Re-election Campaign
After leaving the Army in the summer of 1964, I became a staff member of Senator
Symington’s re-election campaign. I was working in the Sixth District, which is in northwest
Missouri. From then until November, I was traveling all the time, while living back home,
after eight years away. I had fun calling on newspaper folks, the county Democratic
chairmen, donors, and other VIPs in approximately twenty counties.
During my free time, I planted a lot of trees on the farm. Mom had to water them when I
was traveling. It was a large yard of many acres with no irrigation. A lot of them lived. Some
still survive today. Throughout my life, I continue to enjoy planting trees. That was
something Mom liked, too. Dad had enjoyed growing roses at his parents' house, but he
never had time to do that in later years.
We were planning on a big blowout at the Roubidoux Hotel in St. Joseph. (It has since
been demolished.) I asked Uncle Dude, Boopoo’s younger brother, to introduce me to some
prominent people in St. Joseph. I met him at the Roubidoux Coffee Shop. When we left to
get into my car, he handed me a quarter and said, “First, let’s get your car washed before we
go see anybody.” That was typical of Uncle Dude. He used to own the Dill Wood Buick
Agency in St. Joseph. Walter Chrysler offered him a job as a top sales manager, but he had
refused, saying there were only three good cars – all started with a P – Packard, Peerless,
and P(Buick). It was hard to believe Boopoo and Uncle Dude were brothers. Boopoo never
washed a car or changed the oil.
In 1964, Senator Symington won. The same year Lyndon Baines Johnson trounced
Senator Barry Goldwater in the presidential election. Senator Goldwater's campaign was
the beginning of the modern conservative Republican movement. He was a major general in
the Air Force Reserve, and he flew jets. Despite being portrayed as being from the Stone
Age, he was a very modern and progressive man in many ways, and, in my view, a
tremendous man.
Occasionally, I would pick up Senator Symington's son, Jim, and we would go to a rally
where he would stand-in for his dad. Jim was a talented guitarist and singer, and he would
perform for the crowds. His career included serving as a congressman, as Assistant Attorney
General under Bobby Kennedy, as Assistant Director of Food for Peace under George
McGovern, and as Chief of Protocol for President Johnson. When I was chairman of the
nominating committee of the Truman Library, we asked him to join the board. He agreed to
it, and I was tickled to death to get to see him again. (Jim's older brother, Stuart, Jr., was on
the University of Missouri Press Board with me.)
Stuart Symington should have been president. John F. Kennedy offered him the vice
presidency twice. However, rumor has it that Sam Rayburn, the Speaker of the House from
Texas, told the young Democratic presidential nominee that if he wanted any of his New
Frontier legislative package to get through Congress, he needed to consider Rayburn's boy,
41
Lyndon B. Johnson. So, Senator Johnson of Texas, who was the Senate Majority Leader,
was picked to be the vice-presidential candidate. It could have been – and should have been
– Stuart Symington who succeeded Kennedy as president, but it wasn’t.
Rudy Patrick Seed Company
In July 1964, Roy Edwards, Jr., offered me a
position with the Rudy Patrick Seed Company. I
accepted the job following Senator Symington’s re-
election in November 1964. I was what we would call
today an “intern.” I was the first intern in
management to be sent to all the company’s major
branches in the country. Beginning in early 1965, I
started traveling across the country. I journeyed from
Moses Lake, Washington (in the Willamette Valley
south of Portland), to Atlanta. I went on road trips to
meet with Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois area
managers, and I also went to Texas. Some of my trips
to the far West lasted for two weeks. If I were away
from home on the weekend, I would borrow a car and
see the sights. Among the places I visited were
Mount Rainer in Washington and Mount Hood in
Oregon.
When I started working at the seed company, I
had already known Roy for years as the son-in-law of
Senator Darby. Later, we would become related by
marriage.
Roy Edwards, Sr., founder and chairman of Rudy Patrick Seed Company, and, as I would
learn later, Nancy’s grandfather, “Papa.”
The Rudy Patrick Seed Company headquarters in the Kansas City West Bottoms still stands.
The company established by Nancy’s grandfather Roy Edwards, St., was acquired by
the W.R. Grace Company. I officed in the building in 1964 when I joined the company.
42
Meeting and Marrying Nancy Abbott
Following a year in Korea, a year at Fort Riley, and six months on the Symington re-
election campaign trail, my life began to calm down as I settled into my new job at Rudy
Patrick Seed Company. I called Harry Gibson, the oldest grandchild of Senator Darby, and
asked him if he knew any eligible women to date. He named two. Nancy Jane Abbott was
the first one, and I can’t remember who the second one was.
I decided to go in alphabetical order, and I gave Nancy a
call. She lived with Mary Ellen Kirtley at the Villa Serena on
the Plaza. (It's now the Raphael Hotel.) She was one of two
secretaries to Mayor Ilus Davis – a job Nancy enjoyed very
much.
Nancy was very popular. I finally had a date with her
sometime in the fall of 1964. I recall we were engaged
around Valentine’s Day of 1965, but she may know better.
One night, Nancy invited me over to her house – I think
the occasion was a summer dinner – and I got a big surprise.
I had been hired by Roy Edwards, Jr., to work at Rudy
Patrick Seed Company. I knew his father, Roy Edwards, Sr.,
who was known around the office as “Pappy,” was the
chairman of the board. What I hadn't realized was that “Pappy” was Nancy's grandfather!
Her mother was Helen Jane Edwards Abbott Dear, (Roy, Jr.’s sister). Nancy's father, Navy
Lieutenant, William H. Abbott, had died during World War II, and Nancy’s mom had
subsequently married John K. Dear.
Many people gave parties in honor of our
engagement. The one that stands out in my
mind was held at the old Kansas City Club.
Senator Darby and his wife, Edith, were the
hosts, and the guests included President
Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess, who later
gave us a silver bowl. The bowl, with their
calling card in it, is now in the china cabinet
in our dining room.
Like myself, Nancy was an only child, and
our wedding was a big event for both families,
which included our grandparents, aunts,
uncles, and cousins. We were married on
September 4, 1965, at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church in Kansas City, Kansas. The
Nancy Jane Abbott.
Silver bowl, a wedding gift from President and Mrs. Truman.
43
Reverend Harris Collingwood was the minister. (His brother, Charles Collingwood, was a
famous reporter in New York.)
At that time, practical jokers often played pranks at weddings. This had happened to
several couples Nancy knew, so she and her friends formed a clandestine “committee for
peaceful weddings.” The pranksters had their own committee. In those days, long before the
internet, we received mail-o-grams outlining their plans. For example, they threatened to
put curse words on the soles of my shoes, which would be visible when we knelt at the altar.
This was very distressing to Nancy's mother. I can't say she was paranoid, as she had good
reason to be upset. As it turned out, the wedding ceremony went off without a hitch.
Due to perceived threats, John Cochran acted as my bodyguard. We took an unmarked
car to the reception and later to the airport. Jack Dear arranged it. The reception was at the
Townhouse Hotel in Kansas City, Kansas. There were probably six or seven hundred guests.
Mayor Bartle, who was a very heavyset man, had to sit on two chairs. The busboys ran back
and forth, making sure he never ran out of bourbon. Dad kept saying, “Give them a tip.” His
friend Mike Flynn (a commission man at the stockyards) started by handing out dollar bills.
Before the evening ended, Mike had only twenty-dollar bills. He was giving those away, and
that got to be expensive.
The pranksters struck at the reception. A dentist named Dr. Pete Wiklund handcuffed
himself to Nancy in the receiving line, just as Governor Bill Avery approached. Our best
man, Homer, was furious. He was ready to punch Pete in the mouth so that the dentist
would have needed a dentist of his own. Afterward, the police came. They cut the handcuffs
off Nancy, and they had a car in the alley to take us to the airport.
We went straight from the curb of the old downtown airport to our plane. That couldn’t
happen today, because of the security checks. We were off on our honeymoon, first to Miami
and the Eden Roc Hotel, and then on to the Half Moon in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The
weather was great. The crabs, or whatever they were, left mud tracks across the pillows,
causing a problem, but we had a lot of fun anyway.
In 2015 Nancy and I took our children and grandchildren back to the Half Moon to
celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. The resort remains one of the island’s premier
tourist destinations and is a gated resort. During our stay, we met a photographer and a
waiter who had worked at the resort when we stayed there fifty years earlier.
44
Mrs. Nancy Abbott Dillingham.
45
Branch Manager for Rudy Patrick Seeds in Illinois
On our return, we moved to a place of our own, not in Kansas City, but Mount Vernon,
Illinois. I had the choice of staying in the Kansas City home office or transferring. I took the
opportunity to become the branch manager for Rudy Patrick Seeds in Mount Vernon, a town
of 25,000 people. My territory covered all of southern Illinois. The main product was farm
seeds. We also processed red clover, soybeans, and sunflower seeds for bird feed.
Some of the factors we
considered in making this
decision included the fact that
the families were so close (both
geographically and
emotionally). Nancy and I were
only children, and Nancy was
very close to her mother. It
seemed to me that it would be
best to get “out of Dodge” for a
while. When we returned from
our honeymoon, we spent a
weekend packing and then
moved to Mount Vernon, where
we spent nearly three years.
Our first home was a little
apartment at 805 Harrison, just off the square. Nancy had a job she enjoyed, which I helped
her find. She was the secretary to the president of the Bank of Illinois, a new bank in town.
All the folks – both sets of parents and Nancy's grandfather, Mr. Edwards—came for our
first Thanksgiving as a married couple in 1965. We had a good feast.
We moved to 18 Northbrook in 1967. We acquired Bolivar, our collie dog, out in the
country south of Mount Vernon. We gave him the formal name, “Mr. Bolivar of Northbrook.”
While we lived in Mount Vernon, I was elected to the board of directors of the Chamber
of Commerce. Shortly after that, I became president of the Chamber managed by Bob
Poisall. I remember Dad and Cardinal John Cody came to Mt. Vernon for a special business
luncheon. I had a busy but productive year.
During our time in Illinois, Nancy and I lost three of our grandparents. Boopoo died in
October of 1966. Nancy and I had been back a month earlier when we celebrated our first
anniversary. We had a picture-taking day with Dad, Boopoo, and me. We had never done
that before. In October, we returned for the American Royal activities. Boopoo went to
Smithville Hospital with a heart problem. We skipped the American Royal performance and
went to see him. I remember that during our visit, he wanted to make sure I would not vote
Our dog Bolivar with Nancy and me.
46
for any Republicans, so I voted for Senator Douglas in
Illinois. Nancy voted for Senator Percy. We arrived
home on a Sunday evening, and Dad called the
following morning. He said, “We lost Pop.” I had left
Kansas City thinking he was would be discharged on
Monday. We went back for the funeral.
In the fall of 1967, Dr. Arch Spelman passed
away. He wasn't one of our grandparents, but he had
delivered me when I was born. I was close to him, and
I went back to Kansas City for his funeral. Not long
after that, Nancy lost her grandmother, “Other Momma,” and then my grandmother,
Gumma, died in May of 1968 at Saint Mary's Hospital. Uncle Clay died the day we buried
Gumma.
Alfie’s Fish and Chips
In 1968, Bob Thedinger, who was my boss at Rudy Patrick, encouraged me to go into
restaurant management. (Perhaps he just wanted me out of the family business). My three
partners were Dad, Jack Dear (who was Nancy’s longtime stepfather), and my old friend
Homer. Together, we created Show Hawk Industries. We had the licensing rights for Alfie's
Fish and Chips for all of Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas.
Nancy and I moved back to Kansas City. We found a
place under construction in Carriage Hills at 3519 Northeast
61st Terrace in Gladstone. That is where both of our sons
grew up. I have many great memories of our times there.
Homer and I shared an office at 3805 North Oak
Trafficway, which is now a barbershop and salon. I
remember negotiating the lease over the phone for Alfie’s in
Lawrence while Nancy was in labor having Allen on
December 12, 1969. At the time, I didn't think there was
anything I could do to help her. She thought I should have
been with her – she probably was right!
We had a grand opening of our first store around 1969 at 12th and Baltimore in
downtown Kansas City and established stores in Lawrence, Jefferson City, Columbia, and
Sedalia. The Lawrence operation, at 6th and Maine Street, had the second-highest sales
volume in the nation at one point. Unfortunately, there was a mini-recession during the
Alfie’s Fish and Chips logo.
Dad and my grandfather taken in September 1966 at the celebration of my first anniversary of marriage. My
grandfather passed away a month later.
47
years 1968 through 1972, and small shops like ours struggled. Worse was the fact that Carl
Zucker, who was both the founder and the national franchisor, had other plans.
As the national franchisor, Zucker was expanding and planning a stock offering.
However, as founder and chairman, he took all of the franchisees' collective deposits –
monies that were not supposed to be commingled – and, as rumor had it, left the country.
We heard he went to Tijuana to open a strip joint with all our money, but who knows?
Zucker's actions destroyed Alfie's Fish and Chips. We closed down our franchise
partnership, as best we could. Thanks to Jack Dear, we avoided the legal entanglements
that were related to twenty-year leases and five franchise agreements.
Traders National Bank
Former Mayor Ike Davis had offered me a position at Boatmen’s North Hills as the
number-two man. Dad suggested that I ask Ray Evans, president and chairman of Traders
National Bank (and another of Senator Darby's sons-in-law), what he thought about that.
When I saw him, Ray asked if I would like to work at Traders. I said, “That is not the reason
I came here, but I’d love it.” I took the job in 1972 and stayed there until 1979. I was a vice
president and commercial loan officer. My basic job was to call on people, find new business
clients, and keep the long-term customers happy. I was the youngest by a generation, or
more, on that floor of officers.
One guy down on Southwest Boulevard, who had been a client with the bank for more
than fifty years, remarked that I was the first person from Traders to ever walk in his door.
The job went well until Ray Evans, due to illness and other problems, left the bank.
Ray's replacement was a man named George Lehr. I had called George some politically
incorrect names when he offered to help Phil Snowden in his congressional race. A few
weeks later, George volunteered to organize a fundraiser at the Kansas City Club. I was
asked to put the event together, and he did nothing. George became my boss and passed in
front of my desk daily. We didn’t speak for a year. I finally got an opportunity to move on
when the bank was sold.
48
Our Family Grows
By the time Traders National Bank sold, and I began a 16-year career at Garney Construction, Nancy and I were the parents of two boys. Allen was born in 1969, one hundred years after his great-grandfather Allen Thompson. Bill was born on July 27, 1974, on the 105th birthday of his great-grandfather.
Top Image: Allen and Bill standing in front of a portrait of their great-grandfather Allen Thompson. The boys
are holding the award Allen Thompson received at the 1907 American Royal.
Middle Image: Family picture from the 1980s in the backyard of our new home on Claymont Drive.
Bottom Image: With my boys at a formal dinner in the early 2000s.
A brief history of both boys and their families is included in Book 9 of this anthology, Missouri Ancestors and Family of John A. Dillingham.
49
Garney Construction
Traders Bank was sold to General Bancshares, Inc. (later Boatmen's Bank) in 1979.
After that, Charles Garney, who had been a customer at Traders, offered me a position in
his large water/sewer construction business. After discussing it with my family, I took the
job at Garney Construction and remained with the firm for sixteen years.
I became senior vice president for marketing, sales, and recruiting. I traveled all over
the country, from the Midwest (Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska) to other states,
including Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, and
Arizona. I was looking for bidding opportunities and visited universities to recruit
construction graduates. The professional curriculum for construction had evolved in
engineering schools, with each college having a slightly different program.
During the next few years, I oversaw the company newsletter, which was sent quarterly
to 3,500 recipients. I added most of the people to the mailing list after visiting their offices.
At about the same time, I worked on the project to create Garney’s ESOP.
We moved to 4040 Northwest Claymont Drive in 1981. The house was designed by
Homer Williams. He was our best man, and that was his wedding gift to us. I took him up
on his offer -- fifteen years after we were married. That house remains our home.
In 1990, while I was working for Garney Construction, I was appointed by Governor
John Ashcroft to serve on the Kansas City Police Board of Commissioners. I stayed on the
board for five years, eventually rising to vice president. In June 1995, I left both the police
board and Garney Construction. That was more than twenty years ago, which doesn’t seem
possible.
Moving to the Stockyards
I moved to the office next to Dad's in the Livestock Exchange Building on the grounds of
the old stockyards. Dad’s office was Suite 926, and mine was Suite 924. We were together
there for ten or eleven years. We had a party for his
ninety-fifth birthday in the back room of the Golden
Ox. I planned a party at the Golden Ox for his 96th
birthday, but just before the party, he went into the
hospital. He never came back to the office. I spent
some of his money to refinish the furniture, remove
the floor tiles, the radiator and window air
conditioner, and bring his office into the twenty-first
century. Then his office became my office. My father died on Monday, August 13, 2007, at
the age of 97. MoDOT draped the road sign bearing his name on I-670 eastbound bound
south of the stockyards, with a garland of plastic flowers.
MoDOT draped a garland on the sign in honor of Dad when he passed.
50
51
John A. Dillingham Entered into the Congressional Record
HONORING JOHN A. DILLINGHAM HON. SAM GRAVES
of Missouri IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Mr. Graves of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I pause to honor a constituent of Missouri’s 6th Congressional District and someone I am especially proud to call my friend, John A. Dillingham, upon being awarded as the 2015 Northlander of the Year by the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce.
John Dillingham grew up with a strong 6th generation Missouri heritage in Clay and Platte County, Missouri, with an education from Wentworth Military Academy, Smithville High School, and my alma mater, the University of Missouri. John also enlisted in the U.S. Army and served with distinction in Korea as a 2nd Lt. in the Lacrosse Guided Missile Battalion of the U.S. Army, was the 2nd Lt. Aide-de-camp, Division Artillery Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, and was presented with the Army Commendation Medal for his service.
Corporately, John has been a Vice President of Loans for Traders Bank of Kansas City, Senior Vice President of Garney Companies for 16 years, President of Dillingham Enterprises and has served as an independent Trustee of Waddell & Reed.
John is so widely respected throughout Missouri that he has served Republican and Democratic Governors, Senators, Congressmen and Mayors in positions such as the Kansas City Board of Police Commission, the University of Missouri of Extension Advisory Board, the Kansas City Agribusiness Counsel, Children’s Mercy Hospital, and was a Charter Board Member of the Clay County Veteran’s Memorial built in a park named after his good friend Anita Gorman. He has also served as an Honorary Director of the Heart of America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area Chairman and the Governance Chairman of Harry S. Truman Library Institute, as well as serving on the Kansas City Crime Commission and the National World War I Museum National Advisory Board.
John has also been honored as a member of the Missouri Academy of Squires, an Outstanding Kansas Citian by the Kansas City Native Sons & Daughters, an Outstanding Missourian by the Missouri State Legislature, the Silver Good Citizens Medal by the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, an Honorary Director for Life of the American Royal, the Meritorious Service Award from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, as a Sachem in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, the Silver Wreath Award from the National Eagle Scouts’ Association, and the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
Mr. Speaker, I could list at least 50 more organizations that John has guided and worked with over his very distinguished lifetime. However, I ask that you join me, John’s wife, Nancy, their sons, Bill and Allen, their families and the entire Northland community in congratulating John A. Dillingham on this accomplishment wishing him God’s blessings in the years to come.
52
Book 2 | Nancy Abbott Dillingham Interview with Nancy Dillingham (2018)
by Heather N. Paxton
Nancy Abbott Dillingham was born in
October 1941 to Helen Jane Edwards and
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade
William H. Abbott. Like her husband John,
she is an only child. “I was spoiled,” she
said. “I was the first grandchild. I lost my
father in the Second World War. Because of
that, everyone did everything for my
mother and me.” Her father was an only
child who had grown up in California. His
uncle lived in Kansas, and he decided to
attend the University of Kansas, where
Helen Jane was also a student. Lt. Abbott
died in January 1945. He was listed as
missing in action for six months before he was reported killed. Nancy was too young to have
any memories of that time. “John will tell you that he can remember when he was three,”
she said, “I certainly can’t.”
Nancy’s mother, Helen Jane, was one of three children of
Bertha Miller Edwards and Roy A. Edwards, Sr. Her siblings
were Virginia Harding and Roy A. Edwards, Jr. Their father was
the president and owner of the Rudy Patrick Seed Company. “It
was one of the largest seed companies in the world. When I say
seed companies, I mean field seeds, such as bluegrass.” Mr.
Edwards had started the business with two other men, Vernon
Rudy and Charlie Patrick. The company bore their names, but
not his, because that was his preference. The office was located
on 12th Street in the West Bottoms. As a young child, Nancy
was an advertising model for the company. “It was a new
seed,” she remembered. “I was sitting there. You could really see the red in my hair. I was
holding this platter with the seeds on it.” A slightly later memory Nancy has is the
aftermath of the 1951 flood: “That area was flooded – and all that seed! Do you know what
that seed did? It sprouted!” Years later, the Rudy Patrick Seed Company was sold to W.R.
Grace. Nancy recalls her grandmother described the sale as “the beginning of the end.” As
Nancy noted, “She was very right about that.”
Nancy with her father, Lt. J.G. William Abbott and her mother, Helen Jane.
Virginia Harding, Nancy’s aunt.
53
Nancy’s family tree with the extension of her father’s family lineage, the Abbotts.
Ladies day out. From the left: Nancy's Mom, Helen Jane, Nancy, Mrs. Arthur Maurer, Christine Maurer, and Nancy's aunt, Virginia “Ninna” Harding.
54
Nancy’s grandparents played a big role in her life. “My grandparents lived on Hoel
Parkway, and my aunt and uncle lived right across the street from them. We all lived within
a block of each other. It was a very close-knit family,” she stated. “I called my grandmother
‘Other Momma.’ She was my second mother because I spent so much time there.” Helen
Jane had her own career. “Mother worked for Bigger Insurance on Minnesota Avenue. My
father’s uncle owned it, and Mother just started working there because she had to have
something to do. She worked there literally until the day that I called and told her I was
pregnant with Allen.”
In 1949, Helen Jane married John
Kenneth Dear, who was known as Jack.
“He was really my father – he was the
most wonderful man. He was a lawyer
in Kansas City, Kansas,” Nancy said.
Jack was a graduate of the same law
school (now part of the University of
Missouri – Kansas City) that her future
father-in-law Jay Dillingham had
attended, but they were there at
different times. They both went to law
school at night; Jack’s day job was
reading gas meters. His legal career included a variety of roles. “He was a magistrate judge.
He was also the public administrator. He was in the Army. He was in the JAG Corps in
France and England.” Nancy has a photo of Jack in a tufted wig, a souvenir of his time
abroad. Jack died in 1996. Helen Jane lived until 2007.
Of her childhood, Nancy said, “That was back when Kansas City, Kansas, was an
absolutely phenomenal place to live. I loved every minute of living in KCK.” Her first home
was on Oakland. After the Dears were married, the family moved. She grew up in
Westheight, a prosperous neighborhood. “We were kind of on the edge of Westheight. We
were literally one block off State Avenue, on the street called Nebraska – 2212 Nebraska
Avenue.” Even now, Nancy sometimes drives there, just to see how the “beautiful old homes”
have held up as the decades have passed. She went to Mrs. Christianson’s preschool and
then to Mark Twain Grade School (or Elementary School), Northwest Junior High School,
and her mother’s alma mater, Wyandotte High School. Except for her years at Northwest
(which was located on 18th Street near Quindaro), Nancy could walk to school.
“Wyandotte High School is the most beautiful high school in the world,” Nancy declared.
During her years there, she was active in drama. She described her grades as “probably a
little bit above the middle.” Students were required to eat lunch at school – and in only
twenty minutes. Nancy recalls gobbling her food as “Autumn Leaves” played in the
background, the music of the leaves’ descent perfectly timed to the raising and lowering of
Nancy with her stepfather, John Dear, and her mother, Helen Jane.
55
her fork. Her hangouts were Roeder’s (a diner of the Airstream trailer style that served
hamburgers) and Swede Haine’s Drugstore (the owner really was Swedish). Other students
went to Fritz’s, where the hamburgers were delivered by a toy train. She had the same
boyfriend for about three years while he was in school. Football was an important part of
Wyandotte High School, and the basketball team won the State Championship. Nancy
graduated with the class of 1959, which had almost 600 students. By contrast, John
graduated in a class of twenty-eight students. He was amazed the first time they went to
one of her class reunions. The reunions are held every five years. Nancy isn’t convinced they
need to be held that often. Her opinion is that most people are interested in seeing the
friends with whom they were closest. She still gets together with three chums from high
school.
Nancy started her college career at Colorado Women’s College (later Temple Buell
College, named for the architect of Cherry Hills, and now defunct) in Denver, Colorado.
Helen Jane had told her, “KU is not ready for you, nor are you ready for KU.” After two
years, she transferred to the University of Kansas. Helen Jane had been president of Pi
Beta Phi sorority. Entering as a junior, Nancy didn’t pledge a sorority. Like many young
women in that era, she was encouraged to go into education, but while taking classes, she
Nancy as a young model in marketing and advertising literature for Rudy Patrick Seed Company, founded by her grandfather, Roy Edwards, Sr., and later managed by her uncle, Roy Edwards, Jr.
56
quickly realized that she didn’t want to be a teacher. She majored in speech pathology
because she had taken speech at Colorado Women’s College.When she graduated, she knew
she wasn’t interested in being a speech pathologist. Nancy described herself as “a fair-to-
good typist, back in aught one.” She went to Kansas City Business College to learn
shorthand. “I didn’t mind being a secretary. I had worked in a bank.” When she finished her
course, she was offered a job in the office of Ilus W. Davis, who was the last part-time mayor
of Kansas City, Missouri. (Recent mayors have found it to be a full-time job – and then
some.) Nancy was interested, and Mayor Davis had been a schoolmate of Helen Jane. When
she went for an interview, he asked, “Nancy, where do you live?” When she told him Kansas
City, Kansas, he said, “You need to move.” She asked, “When do you want me to move?” His
response was, “Yesterday.” Nancy was a BOTAR (Belles of the American Royal). With a
close friend and fellow BOTAR, Mary Ellen Kirtley, she moved to the Villa Serena (now the
Raphael Hotel) on the Country Club Plaza.
At the time, the mayor’s office had few employees and virtually no security, a situation
that would be unthinkable today. “There were two secretaries. I called myself ‘the
undersecretary,’’ Nancy recalled. This was a nod to the fact that Betty Van Buskirk was the
mayor’s longtime legal secretary. “Ike Davis would work in his law office on Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday, and then come into City Hall Thursday and Friday,” she said.
Nancy was in the office on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was
killed in Dallas, Texas. In those days, the Kansas City Star had a room staffed with
reporters adjacent to the mayor’s office. “I was the only one in the office. The mayor had
gone to lunch, Betty Van Buskirk had gone to lunch,” she recalled. A Star reporter “came
flying through the door.” There was a counter at the front of the office, and he basically
hurtled over that, too. She was terrified by what he told her: “Turn on the television! The
president has been shot!” There was a television in the mayor’s office, one with a tiny screen.
The reporter wanted to know if Nancy knew where to find the mayor. When she told him
she did, he advised her to call the mayor and have him hurry back to the office. She did.
When Mayor Davis returned, he dictated a letter to Mrs. Kennedy. Nancy wrote it down,
using what she described as “my minimal shorthand.” About fifty years later, Nancy and
John were in Washington, D.C., at the National Archives. She mentioned the letter to a man
there, and he offered to find it for her to see. She declined but appreciated the fact that it
had been saved and his willingness to search the files for it.
Nancy remembers Ike Davis fondly. “He was such a gentleman,” she said. Working in
his office gave her the opportunity to meet visitors from all over the world. Perhaps more
importantly, for a girl from a prominent Kansas City, Kansas, family, it allowed her to
encounter and learn more about the movers and shakers on the other side of State Line. Ike
Davis enjoyed the ribbon cuttings and dinners that came with the job. His wife, Beatrice
Buecking Davis, was very nice, but not interested in those activities. Nancy still knows the
Davis family’s address – 1001 West 59th Terrace – because she had to hand-address
57
Christmas cards from Mayor Davis to all city employees during the year when they were
striving to get the earnings tax passed. She noted with concern that the earnings tax was
still under attack by politicians in 2018. “It’s a necessity to Kansas City, an absolute
necessity,” she said.
Nancy’s cousins, Susan and Barbara Edwards, had
already begun teasing her that she was in danger of
becoming an old maid – at the age of twenty-three!
That changed after Nancy, still “the undersecretary,”
met John Dillingham. Family ties led to more family:
“Susan Edwards’ mother, Joan, was a Darby. They
have a gazillion cousins on the Darby side of the family.
One of the cousins was Harry Gibson. John came back
from Korea and Fort Riley and asked Harry – Harry,
because of Harry Darby -- ‘Do you know anybody I
could take out?’ My last name began with an ‘A,’ so I
was the first choice.” Nancy and John began dating in
July 1964 and were married on September 5, 1965. “I
guess it was meant to be,” she said.
“John called and asked me, ‘Well, can you go out Saturday night?’ I said, ‘No, I can’t, I’m
sorry. I already have a date.’ ‘Well, how about Friday night?’ I said, ‘I have a date.’ So, then
he said, ‘How about Sunday night?’” This conversation took place three weeks in a row. For
their first date, they went to the Hilton Hotel, near The River Club in Kansas City,
Missouri. “We sat and talked. We talked for a long time,” she remembered.
At the time they were dating, John was working for Rudy Patrick Seed Company.
Apparently, the topics they discussed on their dates never included his work. John didn’t
realize that his boss was Nancy’s beloved “Papa,” her Edwards grandfather until he
attended a family event.
“We had an enormous wedding,” she remembered. “Ike Davis couldn’t come to our
wedding. He called me up – he knew where we were, our rehearsal dinner was down at the
Muehlebach – and he told me, ‘I just wanted to tell you, good luck.’ The wedding plans led to
Nancy and John’s first big fight. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Kansas, wasn’t
air-conditioned. Nancy wanted John’s attendants, resplendent in cutaways, to also wear
gray gloves. John absolutely refused. A compromise was reached. Each groomsman wore a
single gray glove. Mary Ellen Kirtley was Nancy’s maid of honor. She had Karen Daly and
Ann Fothergill Wiklund and her cousin Barbara Edwards as bridesmaids and two cousins as
junior bridesmaids, Sarah Harding, and Susan Edwards. She recalled that the ceremony
took seventeen or eighteen minutes. The reception was at the Town House Hotel on State
Avenue. The chef was from the Greenbrier in West Virginia, but the guests stayed so long,
he was serving canned peaches by the end of it.
Nancy in the Chief’s locker room trying on Leon Sandcastle’s helmet during a tour.
58
Nancy and her friends had a history of high jinx
involving newlyweds. When Ann Fothergill Wiklund
(Helen Jane’s goddaughter) and her new husband, Dr.
Theodore “Peter” Wiklund III, arrived at their
apartment after their honeymoon, they found that the
furniture had been moved. The bed was now in the
living room. Perhaps most distressing, every can in
the well-stocked cabinet had been stripped of its label,
meaning that dinners would be a seemingly endless
set of surprises for weeks to come. Given all this, it
probably isn’t surprising that Pete handcuffed himself
to Nancy at her wedding reception, or that it took the
police to remove the handcuffs.
1965 saw Nancy and John married and went off to
live in Illinois. 1966 was a year of sorrow for both of
them—people they loved died. Nancy’s grandmother
died that February. “That left a hole in my heart like you wouldn’t believe,” she said. That
spring saw the loss of her uncle’s mother, Grandma Harding. Later in the year, John’s
grandfather died. Those three were all members of an older generation, unlike Karen Daly,
who was the next to die. “Thanksgiving Day of that year, one of the gals who was my closest
friend, who was in my wedding,” was killed in a traffic accident, along with a young woman
named Carol Strickland. The two died after Carol apparently fell asleep at the wheel on the
Kansas Turnpike near Lawrence, Kansas. They were on their way to Kansas City from Vail,
Colorado. “Every time that phone rang over in Mount Vernon, it just sent chills up my spine.
I mean, to have all that happen in one year,” Nancy stated.
Despite both the losses of 1966 and the difficulties of life in Mount Vernon – including
hours spent at the laundromat, Nancy feels their time there was a positive experience. “My
grandfather, he was the smartest person in existence. He knew if I stayed in Kansas City,
this marriage probably wouldn’t last, because I would have my mother, and John would
have his father. Literally, we got home from our honeymoon on Sunday, and we were headed
for Mount Vernon, Illinois, on Thursday. There was no time to even think about it.” John
was in charge of southern Illinois for the Rudy Patrick Seed Company, and she was
employed in a bank and then with the Illinois Power Company – at one time, she worked the
switchboard. For Nancy, being away from home was a chance to make new friends. “There’s
a Mount Vernon in every state, did you know that? We met people who were in our same
situation, where they were sent to Mount Vernon to head up a branch office of a much larger
company.” Nancy noted that she and John got together in the spring of 2018 with two
couples they knew from those days.
Nancy and her mother Helen Jane.
59
After a few years away – long enough to cement a marriage – Nancy and John returned
to Kansas City. John’s parents and Helen Jane would be part of their lives until after their
40th wedding anniversary. “I loved my father-in-law. He and I got along like peas in a pod.
My mother-in-law was a lovely lady, but she was always late: the late Mrs. Dillingham,” she
said, noting that her mother served as “a buffer” for her in all situations. Soon enough,
Frances and Jay Dillingham and Helen Jane and Jack Dear would become grandparents:
Allen was born in 1969, and Bill in 1974. Dr. Van Robinson delivered both boys. The young
family moved to 4040 NW Claymont Drive in the early 1980s. The house was designed by
Homer Williams, John’s best man, as his wedding gift to Nancy and John. It was built
fifteen years after their marriage, and they have lived there for nearly forty years.
Nancy thinks that it’s because they both grew up as only children that she and John
have the same belief—each believing themself to be right. She suspects some of their
differences may be based on the zodiac. “I’m a Libra. I tell you, I weigh everything,” she said,
citing the example of trying to make everyone in the family have an equal amount of
stocking stuffers during the holidays. “John is a Capricorn.” Despite – or perhaps because
of—the strong opinions and sense of independence that they both have, they have created a
partnership that has lasted for more than fifty years.
Nancy in a picture taken by her grandson Lucas, at her birthday party at the River Club, October 2019.
60
Mr. and Mrs. Jay B. Dillingham’s wedding picture on September 28, 1935, at Maple Grove.
61
Book 3 | Jay and Frances Dillingham Compiled by John Allen Dillingham and Heather N. Paxton
The Wedding of Two Pioneer Families
Jay B. Dillingham (born March 8, 1910) and Frances Thompson (born July 17, 1909)
became engaged in August 1935 and were married on September 28, 1935, at Maple Grove
Farm, near Nashua in Clay County, Missouri. Frances was born at Maple Grove and grew
up there with her younger sister Louise. This was a joining together of two Missouri pioneer
families of Platte and Clay counties.
David Mack Dillingham, Dad’s older brother, was the best man. Mom’s sister, Louise
Thompson, was the maid of honor. Camilla Belle Singleton, her piano teacher from
Columbia College, and Norma Miller, her violin teacher, played at the wedding. Dr. William
Baxter Waters of Liberty, Missouri, officiated. Governor and Mrs. Guy B. Park of Missouri
attended, and their daughter Henrietta was part of the wedding.
Mom told me that Maple Grove,
her family's farm, had a lot of
visitors around 1935 when her
father, Allen Thompson, whom I
called Pi, had his Old Age Assistance
job for the State of Missouri. He was
the first local leader of what later
became Social Security. People
didn’t have a dime, and they would
come by for a dollar or two. Between
the Depression and the farm
drought, times were hard in the
1930s.
Dad was employed by the New
York Central Railroad for ten years
before he went to work at the Kansas City Stockyards in 1937.
When I reflect on the early days of Mom and Dad’s marriage, it reminds me that the
Nazis would enter Poland less than a year after I was born. Franklin Roosevelt would be
elected for a third term as president in 1940. The United States would enter World War II
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. And, amid all this international turmoil, our
family would move to the peaceful environment of Maple Grove.
62
Jay B. Dillingham
Jay B. Dillingham was born on March 8, 1910, in
Platte County, Missouri. His parents were Edna
Chesnut Dillingham (1887-1968) and Joseph
Dillingham (1883-1966). Dad was the youngest of three
sons. His brothers were John Chesnut Dillingham, (who
was called Chesnut and also known as “Spec”), and
David Mack Dillingham, (who was called Mack). Spec
was born on August 3, 1906, and Mack was born on
July 3, 1908. Mack was Dad's best friend, in addition to
being his older brother. Dad had three first cousins. The
youngest of them was Uncle Dude's daughter, Dorothy
June, who was ten years younger than Dad. She was Ed
Douglas’s mother, and she passed away on the day of
Mom’s funeral, November 10, 2011. Lucile and Mary
were Uncle Henry and Aunt June’s daughters. In the
next generation, I'm the second oldest of Boopoo and
Gumma's six grandchildren.
The Dillingham home originally was on South Fourth Street in Platte City. Later, they
moved north to the old David Chesnut home that was across from the schoolhouse. That
house burned down in the early 1930s. Because the fire occurred during school hours, many
of their possessions were saved, thanks to the schoolchildren. (One family picture was found
some thirty-plus years later in the barn, protected by the studs and tin. It was a portrait of
Judge David Chesnut with his daughters Edna and Liz, taken in the early 1890s.) By the
mid-1930s, Edna and Joe were residing at 3524 Terrace in Kansas City.
Dad was large for his age and thus was able to start work at eleven years old. 11. (He
eventually was 6' 3" and weighed more than 250 pounds.) As a youth, he worked at the
grocery store six days a week, often twelve hours a day. His duties included unloading
railroad cars. He claimed he also worked on Sundays for free to ensure that he would have a
paying job on Monday.
Dad played basketball, baseball, and (secretly) football at Platte City High School, where
he graduated in 1926 at the age of sixteen. I'm not sure how he was able to complete his
coursework at such a young age, but it is possible he skipped a year. (I have a letter sweater
of his in my closet, maybe from basketball. It is black and orange wool with a heavy, high
neck. Moths got into it years ago. I had it redone and mothproofed.) The old Platte City High
School building is now the Platte City Civic Center. It is located at Fourth Street on the
south side of Highway 92 (also known as Branch Street) in Platte City.
Beginning in 1927, when he was seventeen, Dad worked for the New York Central
System, starting as a typist/stenographer. To learn those skills, he attended Central
Jay B. Dillingham.
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Business College in Kansas City, along with his brother Mack, who also worked for the
railroad. (I believe the railroad later became part of the Penn Central through acquisitions
and mergers.)
During the year that their father Joe was bedridden with tuberculosis, the three
Dillingham boys helped their mother Edna deliver milk. They also tended the livestock and
handled other farm-related duties. Times were tough. Roosevelt had closed the banks. The
Wells Bank of Platte City wanted to foreclose on Joe Dillingham’s land.
Dad was nineteen in 1929. He worked hard. Every dime he earned, he tried to keep. His
family didn’t have anything.
Dad had always threatened to be a barber, which didn't amuse his parents. His dad
thought he should attend law school. With the mentoring and encouragement of Guy
Brasfield Park, judge of Missouri’s fifth judicial circuit, and later Governor, Dad did just
that and enrolled in the Kansas City School of Law.
During that time, all the professors and students worked during the day and went to
school at night. You didn’t have to go to a four-year college in those days but instead could
go directly to law school. Dad claimed the lowest grade he got in law school was from John
B. Gage, attorney and later mayor of Kansas City. In later years, Dad and Mayor Gage were
great friends. (Mayor Gage was an SAE fraternity brother, first Honor man of mine, and
president of the American Royal. The Gage family has been very active in Kansas City for
several generations.) Dad received his bachelor's and master's degrees. I know he graduated
with honors with the master's degree and his thesis work because I have certificates framed.
The school later became the University of Kansas City and finally the University of Missouri
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– Kansas City School of Law. In 1932, he received his LLB degree from the old Kansas City
School of Law in downtown Kansas City and, in 1935, his LLM with honors.
After Mom and Dad’s marriage in 1935, they stayed for a brief time at Dad’s parents'
home in Kansas City. They soon got an apartment two or three blocks south on Karnes
Boulevard. Naturally, I wouldn’t have any memories of the apartment, but it was on the
third floor, and this was during the time before air conditioning. One family story tells of
Dad knocking the alarm clock out the window during a hot night. In any event, they did not
stay in that apartment long.
William H. “Billy” Weeks was Allen Thompson's closest friend. Billy lived across 71
Bypass (later Cookingham Drive) from the Thompsons. Billy was vice president of the
Kansas City Stock Yards Company. His duties included overseeing the American Royal
because the stockyards were the landlord. Allen asked Billy to offer his son-in-law a job. The
two of them “conjured” Dad into going to work for the stockyards in 1937.
A little history on the stockyards: at one time, the headquarters had been in a building
that was in Kansas. At least, most of it was in Kansas: the state line dividing Missouri and
Kansas ran through the lobby and was marked with colored tile. (It was just west of 1600
Genessee Street, where the Livestock Exchange Building is now.) Several factors led to the
move to Missouri. Kansas enacted a law to tax every animal weighed in the state, leading to
a big lawsuit. The 1903 flood damaged the headquarters of the stockyards severely, as well
as the Union Station railroad depot in the West Bottoms. In 1910, a new building was built
in Missouri, 100 yards to the east of the old one. The Kansas City Stockyards Company, in
its heyday, was the second largest of its kind in the world. It was one of the largest
businesses in Kansas City. Some 25,000 jobs in packing houses, stockyards, and allied
industries depended on the continued success of the business.
Dad turned down the first offer, but he finally accepted and went to work for the
company in April 1937. When he started working there, it was 200 acres of stockyards with
a railroad. Dad said he would take the job on the condition that if it didn’t work out in six
months, he would leave. Originally, it was agreed that he wouldn't have to be involved in
the American Royal, but that promise couldn't be kept. As time went by, Dad became their
The Depression of the 1930s Stayed with Dad for a Lifetime
Because of the timing of the Depression and his personal life, Dad always worked so he (we) would never be in that box again, and I understand that. It’s hard for people today to grasp that sacrifice. We didn’t have things at home that other people had, and he was president of one of the largest Kansas City businesses. He didn’t have a vice president at the stockyards because he felt he didn’t need one or want the cost.
I bought our first television when Gumma and Boopoo got rid of theirs. I bought my own air conditioner, bike, first and second cars, and that probably wasn't bad. It was good training and good discipline. At the time, I might not have fully grasped it. Dad never took vacations. All his travel was work-related. As I recall, we took only one vacation. Occasionally he and mom would go on a business-related trip and visit the Morrises in Chicago or the Beavers, who were lawyers, in Wichita. They also visited the Raymond Adams family at Maple Hill, Kansas, and Bill House in Cedarville, Kansas, who was President of the American Hereford Association.
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landlord. He was the president of the American Royal in 1960-61 and was an officer or
director for nearly sixty years.
Dad became the president of the Kansas City Stockyards Company and the Kansas City
Connecting Railroad Company on January 1, 1947, when he was thirty-six years old, until
his retirement at age sixty-five in 1975. After Dad retired, he and Mom were on railroad
retirement, as opposed to Social Security. For nearly seventy years, his office was in the
Livestock Exchange Building at 1600 Genessee Street. The company offices were on the
second floor until the 1951 flood. At that time, Dad moved his office up to the seventh floor
on the northeast side. After he retired from the stockyards, he moved to 926 Livestock
Exchange on the top floor, across the hall from the elevators. In 1995, I moved to Room 924,
so our offices were side by side for the last eleven years he worked.
A lot of Dad’s activities were an extension of his responsibilities in the business world. It
was truly a bipartisan, bi-state function, as the stockyards were in both states. At any given
time, he might be working with the governors of two states, the mayors of both Kansas
Cities, several members of Congress, and four senators (including Harry Darby, among
others). Crosby Kemper, Sr. and Crosby Kemper, Jr. of Kansas City were two of the
prominent men on Dad’s board. Democrats and Republicans – Dad found ways of working
with all of them. Senator Harry Darby once told me the only real difference between local
Democrats and Republicans was that I had Angus cattle, and he had Herefords.
Dad opened and operated the Golden Ox
restaurants as a subsidiary of the Kansas
City Stockyards Company. The first one
opened in the lobby of the Livestock Exchange
Building in Kansas City in 1949. The Denver
branch was launched in 1958. It was located
on East Colfax, and I can remember eating
there. The address for the one in Washington,
D.C., was 1615 L Street. It opened in 1961
when I was on Senator Symington’s summer
staff. Vice President Spiro Agnew, Coach
George Allen of the Washington Redskins,
and others used to go there. It was between the Statler and Mayflower Hotels. The lease
was allowed to expire as the stockyards was being liquidated in the late 1970s. It was in a
prime spot to be bought out, torn down, and replaced with a high rise, which is what
happened. These restaurants were all successful. There was even one in Nashville,
Tennessee, for a brief time in the late 1960s.
Dad hired Paul Robinson out of school from Oklahoma to be his manager for the Golden
Ox. Paul later left and formed Gilbert Robinson Restaurants, partnering with Joe Gilbert,
My retirement gift to Dad in 1975 is the carpet and logo from the Golden Ox now framed in my office.
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who owned and operated the restaurant at the downtown airport. It became very famous
and did well. Paul died in 2011.
Kansas City took a double whammy in 1945 and 1951. We lost a lot of bomber plant and
other manufacturing jobs at the end of World War II in 1945. Six years later, a major flood
changed the lives of as many as 50,000 people. One result was that people didn't come back
to downtown Kansas City. When I was growing up, that was basically where all the movies
were, as well as Santa Claus during Christmas. Shoppers flocked to Macy's; Emery, Bird,
Thayer; and The Jones Store, among others. That area continually went downhill for the
next thirty years as other parts of the city grew. The flood on Friday, July 13, 1951,
eventually doomed the stockyards, with the end coming on Halloween in 1991.
The waters came up very quickly on that Friday the 13th in 1951. Dad evacuated the
building and, with another man, exited from a third-floor window into a motorboat. The
water was three feet deep on the second floor. City officials promised that all the electricity
would be out. Instead, the lights came on right above them as they got in the boat. There
was a fast current. Boxcars, animals, and oil tanks were floating quickly past the building.
The 1951 flood changed everything in the West Bottoms. The stockyards were literally
underwater. I was twelve years old then, and I didn’t see Dad for three weeks.
Much has been written about the 1951 flood, and Dad is often mentioned. The American
Royal was a tenant of the Kansas City Stockyards Company. It was the public market of all
the businesspeople in the Midwest who had livestock, cattle, hogs, and sheep. There were
very few auctions in those days. The American Royal usually started in the third week of
October, during what was historically known as harvest time, and often just as we were
experiencing the first frost of the season. Dad's job in 1951 was to make sure the American
Royal opened on schedule, and he did. Three months after the flood, there was a full house
for the Royal. That sent the message to the world that the “Kansas City Spirit” was alive
and well.
The work Dad did in those frantic weeks was greatly appreciated by Kansas Citians. For
example, Louis Rothschild, who had Rothschild's men's clothing store downtown at 10th and
Main, told Dad to go down to his store and pick out the best suit on the rack and charge it to
him. Dad would never do that, of course, but that's how much Dad’s efforts meant to Mr.
Rothschild.
The good news is the 1951 flood became the catalyst for today’s second-leading industry
in both Missouri and Kansas. That is, recreation, tourism, and flood control, all centered
around the new big lakes and dams. Today, some studies report this to be the second largest
industry in both states.
Agriculture remains the number one industry. In part, the progress that was made is
because the two presidents who served from 1945 until 1960 were from the two states: Mr.
Harry S. Truman and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In Kansas, Tuttle Creek was
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established first. Then the Milford Reservoir, John Redmond Reservoir, and Perry Lake,
among others, were built to stop the water from coming down the Kansas River. The mid-to-
late 1950s saw the creation of Table Rock Lake on the White River in Branson, Missouri.
In the early 1960s, Dad was appointed by Governor John Dalton to the Missouri Water
Resources Board, which authorized the Harry S. Truman Reservoir, Smithville Lake, and all
Corps of Engineer’s flood control projects. Many federal dams and reservoirs were built
while he was on the board. That couldn’t be done today, because of the so-called
environmentalists. Among these projects were the Clarence Cannon Dam and Mark Twain
Lake. To augment the Lake of the Ozarks and Bagnell Dam, the Kaysinger Bluff became the
Truman Reservoir. It was successful politically because it carried Mr. Truman’s name, and
therefore made it through Congress in 1970. I have a picture in my office of LBJ in the
White House Rose Garden with Dad and Senator Symington during one of the eras in which
Democrats and Republicans worked together as Americans to resolve problems. I watched it
happen first-hand.
A disastrous flood occurred in Smithville in July 1965. Thanks to all the efforts of our
Congressman Bill Hull and Dad, the Smithville Lake was built. It is twenty miles from
downtown Kansas City and has thousands of visitors each year. Dad served as president of
Photo from the White House Rose Garden in the 1960s. A delegation went back to get money for the Kasinger Reservoir from President Lyndon Johnson. (Dad at left on the second row and Senator Symington in the back row). They came
back with money for the Truman Reservoir which was the final leg of the flood control projects on rivers through central Kansas and Missouri following the 1951 floods.
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the Mo Ark Flood Control Association for one year, during the time that Lew Paramore was
CEO.
Serving on boards was a big part of Dad's life. I was a student at Wentworth when he
was elected president of the Greater Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and Colonel Lester
Bascom Wikoff brought me to Kansas City for the inauguration dinner. I have a picture of
the two of us on the wall of my home office. Dad was only forty-six when he took office. Cliff
Kaney of the Swift & Henry Livestock Commission firm had been president several years
earlier. As far as I’m aware, they are the only two chamber presidents from the stockyards
in the chamber's long history. In 1968, Dad was president of the Kansas City, Kansas
Chamber. So far, he is the only person to be president of both organizations.
Dad was president of the American Royal for two years. He and Senator Darby, who was
on the board of the stockyards, played a major role in running the Royal. The two of them,
one Republican and one Democrat, made a great team. I remember fundraisers for the
Governor’s Exhibition Building. In 1958, Jack Benny performed with President Harry S.
Truman and the Kansas City Symphony at a fundraiser for the Royal. There was also a
dinner fundraiser with Bob Hope. Dad and Senator Darby worked together and
accomplished things. We have to get back to that type of cooperation before we disintegrate
as a nation.
I remember Dad holding a check (I took a photo of it) for the stockyards land he sold to
make way for Kemper Arena. Lots of different locations were up for grabs, but he and his
team won. Stockholders thought he gave it away – uptown folks thought they paid way too
much. Dad could see that the stockyards were slowly going out of business, so he, along with
many other people, worked to split the two apart. It was arranged so that even the
stockyards would be history, and the Royal would survive. The city owns the property, and
there is probably a ninety-nine-year lease. Today, the American Royal is 119 years old and
is on its own.
In 1978, Dad was appointed by Governor Joseph Teasdale, a Democrat, to the Missouri
Department of Transportation (MoDOT). He was elected chairman at its first meeting.
When Christopher Bond, a Republican, took office, Dad offered to resign. Governor Bond
asked him to continue. He finished his term as chairman in 1984. During his tenure, he
played a major role in securing Doniphan Memorial Highway (M-152), the Heart of America
Bridge, and finally, the new Chouteau Bridge. Dad was credited with being the "father" of I-
435. He had heard that planning money was available. The state highway director of
Kansas was John Montgomery, a newspaperman from Junction City and a good friend of
ours, Montgomery went to Washington, D.C., along with Governor Robert Docking. They
asked Congress for funds and were successful.
He was followed by Gene Feldhausen of Platte County, who was a great friend and
attorney. Gene surprised Dad by having the commission name the Missouri side of the
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newly built I-670 in honor of Dad’s service. At the time of the dedication in 1986, my son Bill
was just old enough to go to Osceola Boy Scout Camp, so we took him down to camp
afterward.
Thanks to my fraternity brother Senator Bud Burke (who was majority leader in
Kansas), Senator Dick Bond, and others, the Kansas legislature finally followed Missouri's
lead. (It took two tries, but it happened.) Dad wouldn’t have agreed to it had he known what
was going on, but he didn’t – I didn’t tell him. In 1990, we dedicated the Kansas portion of
the Dillingham Freeway. It was a bitter, cold January day, and Governor Mike Hayden was
there. I asked him what he had done about Senator Harry Darby, and he said, “Nothing.” I
told him I had an idea that I-635 should carry his name, given that it goes through
Wyandotte County, Kansas, and his hometown of Kansas City, Kansas. Governor Hayden
agreed. I later talked to Governor John Ashcroft in the Oval Office in Jefferson City and
asked if they would honor Kansas in naming that little portion of I-635 through Riverside
after Senator Darby. It was similar to what Kansas had done for Dad. Governor Ashcroft
agreed.
In civic affairs, Dad was president of the Central Industrial District, Kansas City. He
was vice-chairman of the original Metropolitan Planning Commission that created the Paseo
Bridge more than sixty years ago. He was chairman of the building committee when the
Spelman Memorial Hospital (now part of Saint Luke's Health System) was constructed in
Smithville. He was on the committee that created the Metropolitan Community Colleges
system, and he insisted on having a campus in the Northland. Today, that campus is Maple
Woods Community College.
Dad was the recipient of the Kansas Citian of the Year Award and was presented the
Key to the City in both Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri. Governor Mel Carnahan
presented him with the Missourian Award, along with David Glass and John Q. Hammons.
He was elected a Missouri Squire and Kansas City Man of the Month fraternity (later, I
would be the second generation to receive these honors).
Dad was active on many boards and in many different community groups. In some cases,
I've followed his example. He was on the Children’s Mercy Hospital board, and later I was
on that as well. He and I both served on the American Red Cross board. The Native Sons of
Greater Kansas City gave him the Outstanding Kansas Citian (OKC) Award. I received it
twenty years later, in 2009. We both won the Silver Medallion Award from the Sons of the
American Revolution. I have both these awards mounted together in my office at the
stockyards. He also won the Spirit Award from the Gillis Center and the Yates Medallion
from William Jewell College Economic Development, as I have. We both received the Look
North Award from the Clay County Economic Development Council.
I had a 96th birthday party planned for him on March 8, 2006, but the party was
canceled because he had just left the hospital and wasn’t up to it. He didn’t return to work
70
after that. He worked at the Livestock
Exchange Building for almost seventy years.
From March 2006 until August 2007, he
stayed at home.
Dad spent a week or two in the hospital
just before his death. During that time, he
was good mentally with no memory loss and
had always been healthy. I don’t remember
him ever being sick when I was growing up,
except for the time he went into the hospital
to have his teeth removed.
He died at home 100 NE Normandy Lane
in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 13, 2007.
I went to a Waddell & Reed board meeting
that Monday. One of his home health care
attendants called to say he wasn’t doing well.
He had been home from the hospital for less
than a week. I went to see him and told him
that Glendon Johnson, a W&R board member
from Salt Lake, sent his hello. He smiled and
acknowledged that. Mary Shepherd was the
housekeeper for health care. (She was in
charge of five or six other women). Mary called
a couple of hours later, around 10:20 p.m., while I was watching sports, to say he was gone.
Dad had a great life. He lived to be ninety-seven and a half. We had the services at
Newcomers Funeral Home, (formerly Stine & McClure), where Gumma, Boopoo, Aunt Roxy,
and Aunt Louise had had theirs. The Reverend Bob Meneilly, the Reverend Emanuel
Cleaver II (then a congressman after having been the first African American mayor of
Kansas City), Anita Gorman, and Gene Feldhausen spoke. The burial took place at Second
Creek Cemetery on Friday, August 17th.
I decided to bury him at Second Creek because it was right across from the Curry
properties, we bought from the condemnation money Dad got for I-435. The only other choice
would have been Platte City, but because all of Mom’s family was from Second Creek, I
made that selection. I purchased a red granite stone because that was his Mom's favorite
color. We had several plots there that Pi (my grandfather Allen Thompson) had purchased
seventy years earlier when the highway went through, and the entrance to Second Creek
from the south was opened.
The last picture Dad and Uncle Mack taken together Photo from the late 1990s. Uncle Mack lived to be
ninety. Dad lived to be ninety-seven. Uncle Mack was roughly two years older than Dad. They were a great
team and very loyal to each other.
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Dad lived a very full, productive life. He was always
interested in making life better for the family and the
community. The things he did in the community were
for the community and not to help himself. If a path
appeared to be to his benefit, he would change course to
be sure there was no question of his purpose. He was
often quiet about his efforts to serve the community,
and I still discover projects that he worked on behind
the scenes to make them a success.
Being an only child on the farm, I was around Dad’s
world and a lot of the players. He was always trying to
leave his campsite better than he found it, as we would
say in scouting. Some would say that these were long-
term investments made at the sacrifice of his family in
some cases, with the expectation that they would pay off
big time for future generations. Years ago, I would have
said that I wished for at least a little balance. Years
later, I understand.
Jay B. Dillingham in his office located on the Ninth floor, Room 926, at the
Stockyards.
After dad retired, I took his office in the Stockyards Building, and
Bill moved into the adjacent office that I had used since moving into
the building.
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Frances Thompson Dillingham
Frances Thompson Dillingham was born on July 17,
1909. She was the oldest of two daughters of Froncie
Woods Thompson and Allen Melvin Thompson. Her
younger sister, Louise, was born in 1913. Mom spent her
childhood and more than half of her adult life at Maple
Grove, the Thompson family homestead. Her
grandparents, Charlotte Jane, and Isaac Buford
Thompson had built their new wood-frame house during
our nation's centennial in 1876. It was situated about a
half-mile south from where the Thompsons lived during
the Civil War. Frances' father, Allen Melvin Thompson
(July 27, 1869-December 18, 1946), was only seven when
they moved, and he lived there for the rest of his life.
Mom's aunt, Addie Roxy Thompson Woods (also
known as “Aunt Box and Aunt Roxy”), was born at Maple
Grove and grew up in that home with her brothers Wilk, John, and Allen. (She married
William Clay Woods, who was known as Uncle Clay. Aunt Roxy and Mom were close.)
Mom's mother, Froncie, and paternal grandparents died at Maple Grove. Maple Grove is
located at what is today Cookingham Drive and Highway 169 and was home to four
generations for ninety-three years, 1876 – 1969.
Mom’s mother, Froncie, had two brothers. Phineas Skinner Woods (called “Phinney”)
was the oldest, then Froncie and Walton Woods. (Walton went on to be a doctor, but I never
knew him. Dad saw him at the stockyards from time to time. He and his wife and son lived
way out south. I never heard anything negative about him, but, for whatever reason, our
Frances Thompson Dillingham.
73
families didn't get together.) Mom was one of six close-knit cousins – Mom, Kemp, Aunt
Louise, Dorothy, Phinney (Kemp's brother, who we called “Skinner”), and Billy. She was the
oldest of the cousins. Mom, Kemp, Aunt Louise, and Uncle Billy spent a lot of time together.
Kemp had a lot of friends, as well. Kemp’s dad, Uncle “Phinney,” took Kemp to the grand
opening of the Liberty Memorial in 1926. I was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the
National World War I Museum and Memorial eighty years later.
Mom attended the elementary school in
Nashua, which was about a mile away from
Maple Grove. To get there, Mom and Louise
either rode their horse, Silver Mane or used the
little buggy seat that Pi acquired from a car
manufacturer or assembly plant in Ohio. It had
springs that were of a new type, and he wanted
to try them out at the American Royal for the
wagons and show ponies. Every day while I was
growing up, I saw the little seat from the wagon
that Silver Mane had pulled. It was painted
white and sat on our east porch. I decided to
restore it to its original condition, put a plaque
on it for our grandson, Lucas. It now sits in his room.
Mom graduated from Smithville High School in 1927. She was the first girl to be
president of the senior class. Mom played the piano and the violin, in addition to singing.
I'm not sure whether she went to middle school in Nashua or Smithville.
Aunt Roxy attended Christian College in Columbia, Missouri (later Columbia College),
and so did Mom and Louise. Mom graduated in 1929. When she was a student, the school
had a new grand piano. Long afterward, when she was on the board of trustees, she made it
possible to have the piano reconditioned. Our family attended the first concert for the
piano's "re-birth."
In 1970, while she was on the board, the school's name was changed to Columbia
College. (It also began admitting male students.) Years later, the school wanted to honor
Mom for her loyalty, and for all the time and money she had given. In 2005 or 2006, Bill,
Allen, Nancy, and I went there to dedicate a conference room in Mom's name on the first
floor of Missouri Hall. The dedication provided the opportunity to honor all seven of the
women in the family who had gone to Christian College: Gumma, Aunt Roxy, Aunt Boo,
Mom, Aunt Louise, Cousin Margaret Thompson, and my cousin, Barbara D. Landingham.
In 2010, I went through Pi’s desk. It had been in my room when I was younger, but it
had always been off-limits to me. There I found two large – three-foot-long by a foot high –
black and white Ivy Chain graduation pictures of both Mom and Aunt Louise. They are in
Buggy seat used with Silver Mane to take Mom and Louise to school.
74
mint condition even though they were taken in 1929 and 1933. I
had those framed. They now are hanging in that conference room,
along with the pictures of the seven women. When Gerald
Brouder was president, he asked me to join the board, but I
declined. (Jerry and I served on the board of the University of
Missouri Press, and we're good friends.)
During the first years of the Great Depression, Frances
returned home and taught elementary school at the nearby Woods
School, which was north of Maple Grove. The schoolhouse was in
a large schoolyard, in the center of what had been the original
3000-acre farm of her great-grandfather, Kemp Woods, Sr.
The school was a half-mile east of Fred Woods' farm. Fred was
our cousin, and he served on the school board. The farm, located
on Highway 169, now belongs to Kay and John Callison. John and
I are also cousins. We are related through Froncie Woods. Capt. Kemp M. Woods, Sr., is our
common great-great-grandfather.
Tragedy struck the family on May 23, 1933. Froncie Woods Thompson, the mother of
Frances and Louise, suddenly became ill and died from heart failure. The Thompsons had
recently purchased an untested milk cow. In the days before
pasteurization, the milk was unsafe to drink. Her death
allegedly was caused by the medicine to treat what was later
identified as undulant fever. (Brucellosis, also known as
undulant fever, is a disease caused by drinking unpasteurized
milk. The fever, which takes its name from the fact that it
comes and goes in waves, is brought on by exposure to the
bacteria Brucella.) At the time, Louise was preparing for
graduation from Christian College. Instead, the college
president brought her home for her mother’s funeral.
Throughout her life, Mom remembered the last time she
saw her mother before her fatal illness. Froncie was sitting in
the big chair that was in our living room in Maple Grove. When
I was little, the two of us would sit in it together, and Mom
would read to me. The last time I saw Uncle Billy Woods, he
was sitting in that chair. He was in El Paso, Texas, when he
died of an aneurysm during World War II. (The chair has been
recovered several times since the 1930s. Now it is in Sandi and
Allen’s living room.)
The school bell used by Mom while teaching school.
The family chair from Maple Grove that Mom remembered
seeing her mother sitting in the last time she saw her. My last memory of Uncle Billy is
his sitting in the chair. Happier memories of the
chair include Mom and me sitting in the chair while she is
reading to me.
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Mom never spoke much about her Mother, and I never did understand that. It is possible
that Froncie was the disciplinarian. Mom most likely resented orders of any kind. (She
would not have done well in the military. In addition to resisting authority, she was
incapable of being on time.)
Mom and Dad met at Missouri Hall at Christian College. Mrs. Chesnut, Gumma’s
mother, who was a housemother at the University of Missouri, introduced them. With Dad
in school in Platte City and Mom in Nashua and Smithville, their circles probably would not
have crossed in their younger years. Pi and Uncle Henry Dillingham were good friends and
active in the Clay/Platte/State Democratic circles.
Pi was also the chief of staff for Governor Guy B. Park. Mom later was in his daughter
Henrietta's wedding in the Governor’s Mansion at Jefferson City. Henrietta was the only
daughter of marriageable age, and Mom walked down the steps with her. I know Dad's
cousin, Mi, was involved in the wedding, and probably Aunt Louise was, as well.
Pi had to sell a piece of land during the Depression. He sold the land west of Aunt
Roxy’s in Platte County to Jim Nugent. It was part of the original purchase made by
Benjamin Lampton in 1842, the first year when Platte County land could be owned and sold.
After the sale, the Nugents lived there and built their house. I believe Mrs. Nugent, who
was known as “Aunt Bob,” was the sister of Dora Cochran. Mrs. Cochran's grandchildren
were Carolyn and John Cochran. John and I are Wentworth brothers, and he was my
“bodyguard” on my wedding day.)
During their younger years, Mom and Louise assisted their father during his many
years as manager of the National Championship Horse Show at the American Royal. Mom
spent a lot of time with Pi in later years, as did Aunt Louise when she was home from New
York for the American Royal and going to shows. When Dad was active in the Royal and the
stockyards, Mom hosted many luncheons for relatives, director’s wives, and out-of-town
Froncie Woods in a picture thought to have been taken when she was 12 years old.
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guests. Mom's dedication to American Royal activities spanned seventy years, a record
matched by few people.
While I was growing up, Mom was involved with my activities: school, boy scouts, 4-H,
FFA, piano lessons (among others), and general farm projects. I was born one hundred years
after Mom's grandmother, Charlotte Jane Lampton Thompson. Interestingly, Frances'
grandson Allen was born one hundred years after Frances' father Allen Thompson (1869),
his namesake was born. Bill, her other grandson (and Allen's younger brother), was born on
Allen Thompson's 105th birthday (July 27, 1974).
Mom played the piano and violin and sang at various events. She was very active as a
third-generation member of the Alpha Club, a literary group for women that previously had
included Froncie and her mother, Lilly Wiglesworth Woods. Like her mother and
grandmother, she belonged to garden clubs. Mom was a charter member and first president
of Crossroads Garden Club, which drew members from Smithville to Mission Hills, Kansas.
She was involved in Missouri Extension, serving first as president of Local Homemakers
Extension and then as president of Clay County Extension Clubs. Occasionally, Mom’s
garden and bridge clubs would have picnics around the area in the summertime.
Her interest in art led her to be a docent for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (usually
called “the Gallery” in those days) and a volunteer with the Kansas City Museum Musettes.
She was also a member of an auxiliary of the Kansas City Art Institute, a member of the
The Name of Frances
Mom was born in 1909. Her name and Aunt Louise's came from their favorite aunt, Frances Louisa Wiglesworth, who was the youngest sibling of Froncie's mother, Lilly Wiglesworth Woods. They all called her Aunt Fanalou. I couldn't believe that Mom had never heard of this.
Nancy and I met Lilly early in our marriage at her home on Richmond Road in Lexington. She wore a great big diamond (maybe horseshoe) stick pin. I understand she was quite an individualist. Even though Lilly's younger sister was an aunt, she and Froncie were roughly the same age. Mom's mother's name was Froncie, which had to come from Frances and then her mother, Lilly, and her given name was Frances Eliza Wiglesworth. Her mother was Mary Frances (Fanny) Goodloe, which would be a second great-grandparent in Kentucky. They are the only ones of the great-great-grandparents who are not buried either in Second Creek, Smithville, Weston, or Platte City (Clay and Platte County).
Fanny Goodloe's mother was Frances Eliza Monett, who married Henry Goodloe. They are buried in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery on the Woodford County Line Road to the north across from Faywood at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. I've been to that cemetery.
The continuation stops with Mary Wayland, whose initials on the tombstone are M.M. She married the Rev. Doctor Samuel Monett, Sr. (These ladies' initials are on the silver ladle that Mom liked to use for her birthday.)
The name Frances does not appear on those lines back to the Waylands. Maybe the name Frances came from another line. They used that line quite a bit. The line does not exist in the Goodloes either. Perhaps it came from the Wiglesworth line, and I don't spot it on that one. One place it does appear is on the Woods side. Catie Goodloe's mother was Frances Diana Kemp, so it could have been a derivative of that name.
Mary Frances Goodloe's grandmother-in-law, however, was Frances (Franky) Vivion. She also was Vivion Goodloe's mother. Maybe that is our answer to that. Even though Kemp M. Woods, Jr. married Lilly Wiglesworth, they have Frances Diana Kemp in both of their family trees.
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Young Women for the Kansas City Philharmonic, and a charter member of the Philharmonic
north of the river. She also served as a trustee of the UMKC Conservatory of Music.
Mom gave numerous talks on antique sterling silver dining room settings, mainly
English and Early American patterns (one hundred years and older) to groups, such as the
DAR and literary and garden clubs. At these events, she displayed pieces that had belonged
to earlier generations of her family, including Aunt Roxy Thompson Woods, Kemp Woods,
other Thompson relatives, and members of the Skinner line and the Monett line. The
Monetts were from Kentucky, and she delighted in visiting relatives there. Mom enjoyed
traveling to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Switzerland, as well as throughout the
states.
Mom had a lot of nice silver. We recently re-silvered a pitcher that was always in my
parents' living room, both in Maple Grove and in the house they owned later. Her
grandmother Lilly gave it to Mom as a wedding gift in 1935.
When Mom turned 101 on July 17, 2010, she had been unable to get out of bed for about
a year. She was in good spirits and still had a great memory. We could still talk about many
subjects. That was very unusual for someone that age. Dad was the same way until the end
of his life. I hope that trait passes on to the rest of us.
To the end of her days, Mom remembered Maple Grove very well and quite favorably. It
was special to her, and she talked about it often. Life, while difficult, was always filled with
family and cattle. We found a lot of little pictures (including some with the ponies).
Of course, the Roaring Twenties were good times in America. The stock market crashed
in October 1929, only a few months after Mom graduated from college. Farming was difficult
due to severe heat and drought in the 1930s, and there was no air conditioning. During the
Depression, it was fortunate that Pi had a good position with Governor Park and later was
appointed the first Old Age Assistance Commissioner for Missouri (the forerunner of today’s
Social Security).
After Froncie died in 1933, Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay
became almost like surrogate parents for Mom and Aunt
Louise, because Pi was busy working in Jefferson City.
Grandmother Lilly may have moved into the house
sometime after 1933 and lived there until Mom and Dad
moved back to Maple Grove. She played a significant role in
Mom and Dad’s wedding because Froncie couldn’t.
All of these relatives drew together to take care of Mom
and Aunt Louise. Mom continued to teach for a time after
her marriage. Dad may have helped her grade papers.
By 1937, Aunt Louise was in New York, supposedly running an antique store.
Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay in their living room on the front of the
house. The piano is behind them with Uncle Billy's picture on top of
the piano.
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A Sterling Ladle and the Woods
A sterling ladle that has been passed down for five or six generations
on my mother’s side of the family.
Mom liked collecting silver, and she enjoyed sharing her knowledge of antique sterling silver. For her birthdays near the end of her life, she insisted we use an engraved silver ladle that was at our house. We had remodeled our kitchen, and we had to go through the boxes to find it.
The significance of the ladle is that it has her initials on it as well as Froncie’s, her mother and those of her mother, Lilly Wiglesworth Woods (Mrs. Kemp M. Woods, Jr.), and then her mother, who was Frances Goodloe, and then her mother, who was Mary Monett. That would be five or six generations.
It skipped going to Nancy -- maybe it’s the oldest female heir that gets married who gets this ladle.
Mary Monett was the mother of Mrs. Goodloe east of Versailles in Woodford County, Kentucky. I went to a house where the present owner lives in the old remodeled home. I should mention that the mother of Kemp Woods, Sr., died in Clay County in 1850 and is buried on the back of the Woods’ Farm.
The husband of Caty Goodloe Woods, Alexander Woods, is one of my supplementary lineages in the SAR. The Goodloes had a family cemetery behind their house. Over the past two centuries, the land, including the cemetery, had become a hog lot. In recent years, the man that lives there and farms the ground discovered remnants of the cemetery. He has tried to remark the cemetery, and when he finds a headstone or burial marker, he tries to place them in the cemetery plot -- once again fenced-in and with no hogs.
I remember seeing a footstone in the Goodloe Cemetery that had an MM. She would be my third great-grandmother because Lilly was my great-grandmother. It would be five-greats for my grandchildren. Of interest, Mom’s grandmother was Lilly, and our granddaughter is Lily.
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Book 4 | Reflections and Memories By John Allen Dillingham
This book is a collection of recollections of our family history I dictated while staying at our summer home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, during the summers of 2012 and 2013.
We have owned our house at 1887 Steamboat Boulevard since 2008. -- JAD
Air Conditioning and Television
Growing up at Maple Grove, we didn’t have air conditioning or television. When I was
very young, we did improve our heating by converting the coal-fired furnace in the basement
to oil.
In late summer the weather was very hot. We had small floor fans, but they didn’t help
much. Dad would put a mattress out on the east porch to sleep. It would be very comfortable
by morning. My room was upstairs in Pi’s old north bedroom. Many times, I would sleep in
the upstairs guest room, or what I called Aunt Louise’s room. It was across the hall from my
room on the south side. I would open all the windows at sunset and try to get some cross
ventilation.
I came back from Wentworth in 1959 to attend summer school at William Jewell. I
studied upstairs at the desk that used to be my Grandmother’s room. It had been Pi’s desk
in his later years. It was hotter than the devil, so I bought an air conditioner and installed it
in the north window.
I also remember that we bought an air conditioner for Aunt Roxy to use in her bedroom
after Uncle Clay died in 1968 so she would be more comfortable in her later years. She
would shut all the connecting doors, and the cool air would flow into the bathroom to her
sitting room where she watched television.
A year or so after Nancy and I were married, we moved into an apartment in Mount
Vernon, Illinois, at 18 Northbrook, and we had a window unit installed in our bedroom.
I recall the Basic Officers Quarters at Fort Riley was located in a large old stone
building with a sitting room, a bedroom, and a kitchenette. We had a window unit that
made a lot of noise, but it was better than being as hot as the devil.
My first car was a 1956 white and pink Ford. The next one was a red 1958 Ford. Air
conditioners were available to buy and fit under the dash. The cars also had air vents that
would open with a lever from the inside front under the dashboard next to the windshield on
the hood. The car windows opened manually with a small crank inside the door.
Most of my friends had a television. Uncle Mack had a television in the late 1940s, and
we’d go to his house to watch the World Series. It was usually the New York Yankees versus
the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yogi Berra was the catcher for the Yankees and Roy Campanella for
the Dodgers. They were both great teams.
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Gumma and Boopoo also had a television. That was surprising to me because Boopoo
was like Dad and not a spendthrift. When he bought a bigger television, I bought his old
one. I know I bought it and not Dad. We put it in the living room where Dad and I watched
Perry Mason. Mom and I would also watch Lawrence Welk. There were still a lot of test
patterns in those days. You’d sit there like an idiot after school and watch the still test
pattern – all black and white.
That is how we lived during the 1950s and 1960s.
American Royal
According to Pi’s records, he was the first president of the American Royal after its
incorporation in 1905. His father had the largest Galloway herd in America. They entered
the show in 1901 following the Herefords in 1899, and the Shorthorns in 1900. The fourth
breed was Angus in 1902.
In the early 1900s, the largest Galloway herd in the country was at Maple Grove west of
Nashua, (as it is referred to today).
In 1899, Isaac B. Thompson, Allen’s father, was elected by his peers as the chairman of
the Missouri House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. Before cars and highways,
the farm-to-market roads were under that committee. Is it is safe to say that it was because
of Isaac Thompson and his Galloway herd that the Galloways became an original part of the
Royal?
Allen Thompson was one of the first officers and later became the first president when
they were incorporated into the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show. I’m confident he
made the horse show that was floundering in other places, the evening social event, in
contrast with the judging of all the various breeds by the men during the daylight “working”
hours. He left the position as perhaps the general manager around 1912. In 1920 he rejoined
the Royal as a manager of the horse show and remained there for more than twenty years.
He was president of the State Fair board in 1908.
In 1899, when Isaac B. Thompson was chairman of the Missouri House of
Representatives Agriculture Committee, there was important legislation affecting Missouri
stockyards. Mr. Morse, president of the Kansas City Stockyards, had to testify in Jefferson
City. He had ignored Mr. Thompson’s efforts to get acquainted for years. I later learned he
was a Union colonel from Boston and schooled at Harvard. Mr. Thompson was a
Confederate colonel with an eighth-grade education from Kentucky. Anyway, something
must have occurred in the hallway of the Capitol, as the Galloways, a much smaller breed,
became the third leg of the new livestock show in the American Royal in 1901.
Dad came to the stockyards in 1937 after having been promised he would not have to get
involved with the Royal. The promise was altered in six months or less because the
stockyards company was the landlord of all the buildings and ran the American Royal in
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those days. Billy Weeks, who was vice president of the stockyards and ran the Royal, lived
west of Maple Grove, where Colleen McCorkle Morris grew up. He was Allen Thompson’s
best friend, and they lured Dad to come to the stockyards after ten years with the New York
Central Railroad.
John Henry Dillingham rode in the Horse Show before it became part of the American
Royal in 1898. We found a program that the Royal started as a Hereford Show in 1899.
There had been earlier livestock shows in the early 1880s. The Royal, even though officially
110-plus years old, can claim to have had an active livestock show for more than 130 years.
Nancy was a BOTAR in 1963 and became
president of the BOTARs in 1973. I had shown
cattle in 1955 and 1956 with Little Stuff, Trixie,
and Big Stuff. I showed the Angus steers in the 4-H
Division. Later on, in 1960 and 1961, Dad was
president of the Royal. He and Senator Harry
Darby played a significant role in decision making
at the Royal during the 1960s and 1970s, with
George Shepherd as the executive secretary. They
were all great friends. Dad and George would call
each other Poncho and Cisco from the TV series,
“Cisco Kid,” that was popular in the 1950s. Senator
Darby was chairman of the board for about fifteen
years. Today that role rotates every two years.
I was appointed a director of the American
Royal Board in the 1980s. I served a term of two or
three years. I wasn’t asked to do anything else
when my term expired. I’ve always felt, but who
knows, there was some degree of concern by the
“older folks” that as Dad and Senator Darby had had
such a dominant role, they would run the show from
behind the scenes if I were an officer. That wasn’t something that would interest Dad.
Later, my sons, Bill and Allen, were BOTAR escorts. When Mollie was six, she rode in
the “Mutton Busting” contest. In the fall of 2009, when Allie was nine, she was a BOTAR
page at the BOTAR Ball with three other young girls. In the fall of 2011, Mollie was a
BOTAR page again. I feel very confident in saying there have been six consecutive
generations of our family who have been active and involved in the American Royal. I am
not aware of any other family that can say that. Recently, Allen was a director and named to
the executive committee in 2015. Also, for several years, Bill has been chairman of the
Youth Horse Show. Nancy also has stayed active and involved.
Nancy and I are dressed to attend an American Royal event while Nancy was
president of the BOTARs in 1973.
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Boy Scouts
On Dad’s first campout as a Scout, they had beans for
dinner. He said, “Hell, I can get that at home.” I understand
he left the camp. That was three miles out in the country,
but that wouldn’t faze him. He walked home, and that was
the beginning and the end of his scouting career in Platte
City.
I lasted a little longer. I joined Cub Scout Pack 412 in
Smithville when I was nine, along with my friend Homer
Lee Williams. While I was a Cub Scout, the age requirement
to join Boy Scouts was reduced from twelve to eleven years. I
completed my Wolf, Lion, and Webelos Cub Scout ranks in
two years so I could join the Boy Scouts. I remember doing
the Pinewood Derby.
The Scout shows were big and held on the lower south
side of the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
One of the things I remember from Cub Scouts were the
meetings held in Mrs. Justus’s house in Smithville.
In 1948 I attended the Cub Scout Festival at the Antioch Christian Church where Uncle
Mack, Aunt Vic, and their family attended. I was impressed with the size of a big Cub Scout
event held behind the church. Following Cub Scouts, I joined Boy Scout Troop 412 in
Smithville. Artie Logan, who was the Smithville Fire Chief and lab technician at the
hospital, was the scoutmaster. He never married and was highly regarded by a lot of boys.
The flagpole at the Spelman Memorial Hospital, now St. Luke’s North, was dedicated in his
memory when he died. I don’t know if the plaque is still there.
Although I can’t remember what my patrol was, I remember my first Boy Scout outing
at Lake Maurer in Excelsior Springs. As I mentioned, I hated swimming and being cold.
Mom and Dad didn’t have any camping experience, so I didn’t have much sleeping gear. I
was homesick and afraid of the water. Art Reppert of Liberty was the overall scoutmaster.
He held that position for maybe thirty years. A highway patrolman in uniform conducted
the inspections of the tents and so forth. It was quite a tradition, and I’m sorry they did
away with it. I suppose when Lake Maurer was sold by the Chiles family, it came to an end.
Later, I joined Troop 413 in Nashua. It was a small troop, relative to Smithville. Eddie
Wade was the scoutmaster. Russell Decker and Jim Lytle were assistant scoutmasters.
Before long, I was the oldest one there.
I always went to Boy Scout Camp at Osceola, Missouri, for ten days with Jim Bob
Marshall, Roger Pritchard, Ronnie Decker and some of the other guys. We would usually
have enough for one eight-man tent.
My image on the Royals’ jumbotron as I received the Ewing
Kaufmann Distinguished Eagle Award in 2015.
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I did achieve the rank of Eagle Scout but can’t
remember the name of the Eagle Scout sponsor. Back
in those days, you had one Eagle Court of Honor
annually for all of Kansas City at the Music Hall. I
wish they still had it because it built unity. There has
been some discussion about bringing back the concept.
Today, you have an Eagle Court of Honor in every
troop, and that defeats the purpose of scouting. Most
people who are older remember their sponsors. Howard
McHenry was the first Eagle, and I was the second
Eagle in Troop 413.
I went to Osceola and was called into the Mic-O-Say
Tribe. My name was Growing Heart, and Homer was
Least Perching Robin. The next year, in 1956, I was
going after the rank of Warrior. Homer happened to be
on staff and was a Runner (Blue Paint on Claws) at
that point. In those days, they weren’t worried about things like today, i.e., safe conditions,
political correctness. They ran us on the parade ground at night, which was full of rocks, and
we are supposed to keep silent. Homer made all sorts of politically incorrect comments to
me, and I wasn’t supposed to laugh. I earned my Warrior and Firebuilder (Orange Paint)
levels before I was too old. I received my Eagle in 1955. I earned six Palms, one every six
months. My tribal name, Growing Heart, came from the leaves of the redbud trees that
surrounded my campfire, as I spent the night in the woods by myself during the Mic-O-Say
initiation.
I became the Assistant Junior Scout Master and later Assistant Scout Master of Troop
413. We’d meet at the Nashua Baptist Church basement and usually played softball or
baseball before going to our meeting. It was a tight-knit little community of guys. Of course,
the gals in the neighborhood joined in the pre-meeting festivities. I finally got my God and
Country Award, and then Homer had to do the same because I was ahead. He claimed the
only reason I got it was Reverend Milan’s daughter, Sharon, at Second Creek, was going to
the Prom with me at Smithville. Homer earned his Eagle badge quicker than I did because
he had older brothers. We both had a great scouting career, and both have received the
Silver Beaver Award. From the little “ole” Smithville area, that is quite a rarity. I later
earned White Paint – a Sachem in the Mic-O-Say Tribe.
In the late 60s, Harry Balthasar, who was on the Boy Scouts District Committee and ran
the Nashua Nursery, recommended me to become one of the district chairmen. They hadn’t
had a district chairman for several months. Paul Degenhardt, President of the Gladstone
Bank, was my Friends of Scouting fundraiser. I did that for a couple of years when we had
two districts north of the river. I was chairman of the Great Frontier district, and the other
I received my Eagle badge in 1955, and later received six Palm awards and the
God and Country Award. I made the Mic-O-Say tribe in 1955 and later received my
Warrior and Fire Builder claws with orange paint.
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district was Broken Arrow. They merged, and now it is called North Star district. I have
helped with several Friends of Scouting campaigns locally by sending out letters to
encourage giving. Later, I was on Kansas City’s Heart of America Council Board.
Several years ago, when my term was up, they elected me to the Honorary Board, so at
least on paper, I remained part of scouting. Allen and Bill are both Eagle scouts from Troop
354, of which we are proud. They had great experiences. Nancy was a Cub Pack Leader for
Troop 354. Allen went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico for high adventure training.
The night he departed from Union Station, he weighed eighty pounds, and his pack weighed
forty. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. They had three adults in charge: Steve Crain,
who is now gone, Judge John Hutcherson, and Steve Fuller. All three were lawyers.
Bill, on the other hand, went to the
National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Bowling
Green, Virginia. President George H.W. Bush
attended. Bill was quoted in the local
Richmond paper. I don’t know how he did it
because there were thousands of boys there
and a reporter stumbled into Bill’s tent.
Ironically, they had an ad running for
barbeque sauce on the same page with Dad’s
picture. I have the picture framed in the back
hallway from the garage. Later, Bill was on
the staff at Camp Osceola for one summer.
Homer came down to camp in Osceola
when Bill was called to be a Brave in Mic-O-
Say. Homer had his Runner’s claws on and
went out to see him on the Point. One of the
Runners said, “ I don’t know who this old
gray-haired devil is, but he claims to be a
Runner and wants to see Bill Dillingham.”
Later, at the campfire, I don’t know what he was eating or emitting, but the crowd got so
rowdy on our side, because of Homer, that Medicine Man Lone Star stopped the ceremony.
He pointed at us and asked the crowd to hold it down. No one on the bleachers was within
four feet of Homer. Despite it all, Homer claimed he was innocent. It was a typical evening. I
remember in older days when Homer was always dating these blondes who were no older
than Allen. One night he brought Susie by the camp at Osceola and looked up Bill or Allen. I
can’t imagine a normal person doing those things, but nobody ever accused Homer of being
normal anyway. Those were great memories of the things we did in scouting.
Silver Beaver award and Sachem (white paint on warrior’s claws) in the tribe of Mic-O-Say with coups
(beads) representing years of involvement in scouting.
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Christian College
Christian College is now Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri. It was started by the
Christian Church. It was a very elite women’s school following the Civil War, and seven
female family members of our family attended there. Mom was on the Board of Trustees in
the 1960s and 1970s. She was an alumni representative for the Kansas City area. Not only
did she sponsor some scholarships but oversaw the rebuilding of the largest concert grand
piano I had ever seen. It was new when she attended. We attended the first performance
after it was rebuilt. I remember Henrietta Park Krause was there and some of Mom’s other
schoolmates. I even played it after everyone left, which was a whole different and great
experience.
Mom graduated from Christian College in 1929. In 2009 she had her eightieth alumni
weekend. The college president, Gerald Brouder, personally brought her a vase of roses on
her 100th birthday. She was very active and close to the school her entire life. Missy
Montgomery from the school’s development staff visited Mom routinely. They also sent roses
to Mom for her 101st birthday. I gave them some money to further fund the scholarships.
For her generosity over the years, they dedicated a little private meeting room in Missouri
Hall as the Dillingham Room.
Nancy, Allen, and I attended a dedicatory luncheon there. I displayed pictures of the
seven women in our family who attended the college. I found the Ivy Chain graduation
pictures of Mom in 1929 and Aunt Louise in 1933. I gave those to the school in good
condition to have them framed and hung in the Dillingham Room.
Mom met Dad at Christian College in Missouri Hall. At the time, Dad’s grandmother,
Mrs. David Chesnut (Maggie Dye), was a house mother at one of the colleges in Columbia.
The families were close, and she kept insisting that Dad meet Mom or vice versa, and they
had their first date there.
Aunt Louise had a sad situation at the time of her graduation from Christian College.
Froncie, Mom, and Louise’s mother died during graduation week in 1933. The president of
the College brought Aunt Louise home for the funeral. I can’t imagine what that could have
been like for both of those sisters, one nineteen and the other twenty-three.
Aunt Roxy also attended Christian College and graduated around 1902 or 1903. Gumma
attended Christian in 1905, but I don’t think she graduated. I have a picture of her in cap
and gown under the arch at St. Clair Hall. Her younger sister, Elizabeth Chesnut
Farnsworth, also attended. Cousin Margaret Thompson, who was Cousin Buford’s wife,
graduated around 1920. She was that much older. Her maiden name was Brown, and her
family was from Liberty, Missouri.
Lastly, Cousin Barbara Dillingham, Uncle Mack’s daughter, left after her first semester
and ran off to marry Dick Landingham.
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I was asked last year by the college president Gerald Brouder if I would consider serving
on the board. I declined, but I was honored. The school has meant a lot to our family and has
a big place in its history.
The Civil War in Our Backyard
One hundred fifty years ago, Osceola, Missouri, was a town the equivalent in wealth and
size to Kansas City with 2500 people or so. Osceola had steamboat traffic on the Osage
River, as Kansas City did on the Missouri River. A United States Senator, Waldo Johnson,
lived there. The town was relatively prosperous for those days.
As the Civil War heated up, the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, Missouri, was
won by the South on August 10, 1861. Lieutenant Isaac Buford Thompson, my Great-
grandfather, fought there. The next significant victory for the South in Missouri was in
Lexington on September 12, 1861, known as the Battle of the Hemp Bales. Lieutenant
Family members at Christian College (Left to Right). Top row: Roxy Thompson Woods, Edna Chesnut Dillingham, Elizabeth Chesnut Farnsworth, Margaret Brown Thompson. Bottom Row: Frances Thompson Dillingham,
Louise Thompson, Barbara Dillingham Landingham.
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Buford Thompson was promoted to captain, we think, and given a sword for capturing the
courthouse.
As the troops with the Missouri Guard, who were allied with the Confederacy, moved
north, they recruited. They did so in Osceola, which was in St. Clair County and on the way
north. After many able-bodied men were recruited and left the area with Confederate forces,
James H. Lane, who was the first senator from Kansas in 1861, and commander of the Jay
Hawkers, attacked Osceola on September 23, 1861, burning most of it to ground. A battle
occurred with as many as a dozen people killed. In my thinking, it set off a chain of events.
William Clarke Quantrill had been a schoolteacher in the area near Lawrence, Kansas.
He arrived possibly from Ohio. In reaction to the burning of Osceola, Quantrill conducted
retaliatory military raids throughout Kansas. The spark that ignited Quantrill’s attack in
Lawrence in August 1863 was when a hotel turned into a women’s prison for Confederate
spies located in downtown Kansas City collapsed.
The Union forces had rounded up families of women, wives, and sisters of Confederate
rebels, arrested them, and incarcerated them in a building located near 14th and McGee.
One of the prisoners was Bloody Bill Anderson’s favorite little sister, Josephine. She was
quite “mouthy,” so they put a ball and chain on her leg. The building collapsed on August 14,
1863. Four young women were killed. Among them was Josephine Anderson. The loss of his
sister infuriated Bloody Bill Anderson, who urged Quantrill to raid Lawrence, Kansas.
A death list of Lawrence targets was drawn up. The first man on the list was Senator
Jim Lane. Women and children were off-limits. A very bloody attack took place on August
21st when Quantrill and 450 guerillas descended upon Lawrence. Senator Lane escaped into
a cornfield and survived. After the battle, he made it to Kansas City and went to what is
now the River Market area where Union forces were headquartered.
The federal protector of the area was General Thomas Ewing, who was the brother-in-
law of General Sherman. Senator Lane found Ewing and threatened him, saying, “when I
get back to Washington your job, and career is over as an army officer.” Ewing was given
command of the District of the Border in June 1863. The border district was comprised of
Kansas and was then Missouri counties. On August 25, 1863, General Ewing issued Order
No. 11, which called for vacating the rural area of Jackson, Cass, Bates counties, and part of
Vernon County on the Missouri border with Kansas. Residents were given until the 9th of
September (fifteen days) to remove from their “present places of residence,” Later, the
Civil War Stories – Part of Every Family’s History
I recently learned that my childhood neighbor, Colleen McCorkle Morris’s great-grandfather, John McCorkle, rode with Quantrill for three years. He also lost a little sister, named Charity, in the collapse of the women’s prison. Both sister’s names are listed on the Native Sons and Daughters of the Greater Kansas City memorial sign south of the site near the Sprint Center.
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property was confiscated and burned. The purpose of displacing the populace was to rid the
area of Southern sympathizers.
The only way to seize control after Quantrill’s raid was to get rid of all the “bad people”
on the western edge of Missouri, most of whom were innocent. Ironically, George Caleb
Bingham owned the building that had collapsed. Bingham called Order No. 11 “an act of
imbecility” and in 1868, painted the famous “Order No. 11.”
Following the war, Ewing ran for Governor of Ohio in 1886. Bingham created many
lithographs of Order No.11. With his daughter, they went to Ohio, sold and widely
distributed them. Ewing narrowly lost the election for governor.
General Order No. 11
Bingham’s General Order No. 11
A large lithograph, created by Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham, had been stored for nearly 150 years in Columbia, Missouri. Bingham had borrowed money from his friend, James Sidney Rollins, to print the lithographs. (Rollins later became the father of the University of Missouri.) Rollins excused Bingham’s debt and received about twenty unsold lithographs. Today Rollins’ great-granddaughter is selling them four or five a year so as not to inflate the market. They are one hundred forty years old and in excellent condition. It is thought they have been stored in the attic of the Rollins’ home in Columbia. Patsy Moss told me of their availability. I bought one with a required minimum distribution from my IRA.
It is hanging in my office in the stockyards building. It is museum quality. Mary Cohen framed one to hang in the Freedom’s Frontier office in Lawrence. It is an excellent investment. The last time I made such an investment was on a smaller scale. I purchased a Thomas Hart Benton lithograph with “football earnings” when my son Allen was born in 1969. Allen won all the pots on whomever we could make pigeons into our athletic wagers.
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Clay County Millennium Historical Board
The Clay County Millennium Board was created during the nation’s millennium (2000),
as its name would imply. Bob Sevier, Clay County Recorder of Deeds and SAE brother,
helped me present the concept to the Clay County Commissioners when Tom Brandom was
presiding commissioner. We’ve done a few things without a budget. We have had a loyal
group of men and women appointed by the Clay County Commission to serve. Beth Beckett,
of the James Farm & Museum in Kearney, Missouri, has been our day-to-day executive
secretary. I have been chairman of the Millennium board for almost twenty years, and it’s a
good time to hand it over to someone new.
I hope we have done some good in preserving, protecting, and promoting the great
history of Clay County. In 2011, we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Raid of the
Liberty Arsenal, located south of Liberty, with a Native Sons and Daughters marker. We
recently learned that the first public meeting to discuss the Platte Purchase was held at the
Weekly Dale farm, north of Liberty, in 1835. In 2014, the Native Sons and Daughters
erected a marker on that site near Liberty Hospital overlooking I35 and Hwy 69. We have
marked two significant events in our nation's history that were unknown by most people.
One of the key projects we have done is to participate in the Alexander W. Doniphan
Community Service and Leadership Award. Members of the Millennium board have joined
with representatives of the Liberty Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
to form a committee to present the Alexander Doniphan Award. Judge Ken Elliott, an expert
on the history of Doniphan, was not able to attend, but he received the first award. John and
Mary Pritchard, Juarene Hester, and, more recently, I received the award. Later, Dr. Chris
Sizemore, Preston Williams, and Ray Brock received the award.
In 2018 we honored former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth of Missouri. We are trying to
honor Senator Kit Bond for his role, while Missouri Governor in 1976, in lifting the
“Extermination Order” of the Mormons that had been issued in 1838 by Governor Lilburn
Boggs. Doniphan played a major role in the Mormon Church and life of Joseph Smith, the
founder of the Latter-day Saints, including his disobeying a direct order to bring Smith and
his followers to Gallatin, Missouri, for hanging in 1838.
Clay County Courthouse – Rooney Justice Center
For several years in the 1980s, various Clay County grand juries would inspect the jail
and find it inadequate. Finally, the state ruled that our Clay County jail had to be closed.
The prisoners were shipped out and housed in other jails, and the county was charged for
their residency. It was not a good economic action for the county. There had been many
failed bond capital elections, which require a two-thirds majority. We never could achieve it.
I was the foreman on one grand jury. We handed down twenty or thirty indictments. As
foreman, I was given a hashish pipe as a thank you that I have framed in my office. I was
asked by the County Court to co-chair an election for a new jail with Jewett Fulkerson who
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raised Hereford cattle and was Mr. Republican in Clay County back when the Republicans
couldn’t do anything. He and Dad were great friends, as was Mac McCorkle, Colleen’s dad. I
told him it was, in reality, an Angus and Hereford cattle election. He laughed. He was Dad’s
age, so I took the lead on everything, even though both our names appeared on everything.
We ended up winning.
On election night, there was a picture of my son Allen that appeared in the paper when
he was only nine or ten. I wrote on the blackboard, “Clay County wins.” I know we won by
81% and in every precinct. People were anxious for it to end. It resulted in the construction
of a new complex that houses the jail and the judicial courts. The old Courthouse on the
square became the administration building for the county.
Clay County Election for a New Constitution
The people have a right for a petition for a change in their form of government through
the election process, or the county commission can order an election. That happened in two
cases about ten years ago. First, the people did it, and the second time, the county
commission did it.
In a democracy, the deck is stacked against making changes, which is probably healthy.
Both times I appeared before the presiding circuit court judge. He asked me to form a
commission and then walked out of the room with no other instructions. I was vice-chairman
of the commission. John Dodds represented the Republicans, and I’m not sure who
represented the Democrats. During a year of evening meetings, we went around the county
asking for input and came up with a hell of a document. I was asked to chair the election.
We had all kinds of support, and it was moving. I forgot what groups were opposed to
change, but there weren’t many.
However, we ended up losing by one-tenth of one percent. We went over to John Parry’s
house to have our election watch. After I received the call saying we had lost, I remember
Mike Mahoney, from KMBC Channel 9 news, sticking a mic in my face and asked, “how do
you feel now that you’ve lost.” That would have been a perfect place to make some politically
incorrect quotes that wouldn’t have been on the news at 10:00. That was an interesting
experience.
With the election being that close, I asked specifically not to be on the commission a
second time. I thought it was important for other folks to come up with their own answers,
so the results didn’t look stacked. They spent a lot of time and revised the first petition. It
was reported back to the judge, and it was slated for the next general election. I should
mention that during the first election, the County Election Board screwed up. They “forgot”
to put it on the ballot. John Dodd and others went to the Circuit Court to tell them what had
happened, and they called a special election. Of course, when you call a special election,
nobody shows up except the “agineers.”
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In the second election, the head of the UAW in Claycomo went to work to defeat it. We
heard that the union people were coming to the polls to vote no. The petition lost by a good
margin. Nothing major happened, but there was one result. The Circuit Court had a position
for a circuit clerk that used to be elected on the administrative side. Fortunately, that
position went to the judicial side where it belongs. There have been other constructive
changes from time to time. Of course, when various officeholders get in the news and
overreact, that is the perfect time to re-examine one of these issues.
Our charter, which was created in 1822, needed to be streamlined. It makes no sense to
have administrative personnel elected because they are not chosen by the three
commissioners, but by the voters. A bureaucracy lacks the economy and efficiency found in
the business world. I have a box filled with all the paperwork of our first election in my
vault. The paperwork on the second election is not as voluminous and fits in my office files.
The only other time this was tried was in 1969 when Anita Gorman and Ray Brock tackled
it. Someday this issue will raise its head again and may be successful. It is a throwback to
the early 1800s when everyone knew everyone and traveled to Liberty to shop and handle
their affairs. Today it’s a cumbersome, costly, and inefficient process with built-in personal
conflicts.
College Boards
I have served on numerous college boards. I served on the Board of Trustees of the
Wentworth Military Academy board for sixteen or seventeen years, as well as being its vice
president. I took Ike Skelton’s position sometime around 1976 when he was elected to the
Congress. Later, when our Superintendent and President William “Mac” Sellers, Jr., became
ill, we had money and enrollment problems. By luck, as we were dedicating I-635 for
Senator Harry Darby in 1990, I was seated at the family table by Joan Edwards with
Lieutenant General Robert Arter and his wife, Lois. Even though we hadn’t met before, I
told General Arter that we had a problem at Wentworth. The bottom line was that he acted
as our interim superintendent during the Gulf War.
I don’t know if others appreciate the real significance of what General Arter did. The
school was under fire by the U.S. Army. Ike Skelton and the Early Commissioning Program
were probably keeping us open. Ike Skelton was very loyal to Wentworth. Ike evolved from a
lad who had polio, lived in Lexington and went to Wentworth, to become Chairman of the
House Armed Services Committee. When General Robert Arter, a retired three-star
lieutenant general, hung his hat at Wentworth, it all stopped and went away. It was during
the time of Desert Storm, and he was going back to Washington quite often but played a real
role. At graduation, he asked me to join him in “Reviewing the Troops.”
Our board of trustees consisted of Joe Basore from Bella Vista, Arkansas, Dave Amos
from Oklahoma City, Eddie Chiles from Fort Worth. Eddie was the owner of the Texas
Rangers and played a major role, including a million-dollar stock gift to Wentworth that was
never properly acknowledged.
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When President Sellers later sold the stock at a loss, Eddie made up the difference. In
another instance, I know he made his plane available to the Bush family when the daughter
of George H.W. Bush, Sr., later president of the U.S., fell ill and later died. The Chiles and
Bush families were close in the early years in west Texas oil. Eddie was the Chairman of the
Western Company. Later, Eddie sold the Texas Rangers baseball franchise to George W.
Bush in 1989, who later became Governor of Texas and then the 43rd President of the
United States. Eddie’s wife, Fran, is still living in Fort Worth, and we exchange cards. I
usually call her after I get her Christmas card.
When Eddie and Fran would fly into the Kansas City downtown airport, in their jet for
a board meeting, I would pick them up. Eddie’s nickname for my Colonel Sellers was ‘Major
Mac.’
At the University of Missouri, I served on the Development Fund Committee, which was
an interesting experience. In 1992, Donald W. Reynolds, founder of the Donrey Media Group
in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, gave us the Alumni Center. The $9 million Center now carries his
name. After that, I was on the SAE House Board. We had an all-nighter one night when we
kicked a bunch of boys out of the house. Later, the top of the house burned, and we had to
rebuild it. I was vice president for ten years. M.U. President Jim Olson asked me to head the
external review of 4-H when the University Extension came under fire from Governor Joe
Teasdale for their extension work. The external review of the extension, specializing in 4-H,
a division of overall M.U. Extension was staffed by Martin MacDonald, who had been a
director at Ernest Shepherd Youth Center when I was their president. He and I had a
chance to work together again. We both enjoyed that, and I know he was responsible for me
receiving the Faculty Alumni Award when I stood up next to the Good Housekeeping
president getting the same award around 1980.
We wrote a kind of a new bible for 4-H. Later, I was on the Missouri 4-H Foundation,
and later chairman in 1985, for the State of Missouri. We asked the current governor to be
the honorary chairman of the 4-H Foundation. The governor was John Ashcroft. Later,
Martin MacDonald, with Russ Weathers, went to Washington, D.C., to the National 4-H
Council offices, and I was on the National Development Committee. I remember the
chairman was John Rock, who was the head of one of General Motor’s major divisions, or
one of their top people, and was strong “like a rock,” and that is where that name came from
for their television ads.
In more recent years, I served on the board of the University of Missouri Press. Shortly
afterward, due to a lack of money, they shut down the board function. Former University
President Dr. James C. Olson appointed me, along with Woody Cozad, Stuart Symington,
Jr., Bert Bates, Mel George, and Gerald Brouder of Columbia Christian College.
I also served on the foundation of the University of Central Missouri (UCM) at
Warrensburg. Dr. John Sutton, Department Head, asked me to serve as the first president
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of the Construction Advisory Board when I worked at Garney Construction. I hadn’t
majored in construction, but I chose people from the public sector, such as George Satterlee
at MoDOT and professionals from the Corp of Engineers, private engineers, and contractors.
The Construction Advisory Board is alive and well today, and I still receive notices of its
meetings. I am proud that I helped start it, and it has remained successful.
Dr. John Sutton, the head of the Construction Faculty, arranged for me to receive a
Certificate of Appreciation from UCM. When Ed Elliott became President of Central
Missouri, I served on the foundation, and there was also a Charles Dillingham from Blue
Springs. I knew we had to be related, but I never pursued our possible family ties. I served
for three years.
After that, I was asked by Mike Polakowski (down the hall in the Livestock Exchange
Building) to serve on the Metropolitan Community College Foundation Board (MCC). Two or
three presidents later, I was chairman. I invited Mary Hunkeler, Bill Dunn, Jr., Wynn
Presson, and later, Tom Brusnahan, to serve, and later, they would follow me as president
to build some stability into the board. Of course, MCC included the campuses of Penn
Valley, Maple Woods (which Dad helped create), Blue Springs campus, and Long View. It
was a good experience. The bylaws required board members to serve for three 3-year terms.
In total, I served six terms or eighteen years.
More recently, I helped create the William Jewell Athletics Cardinal Club to recognize
athletes by accepting donations for Cardinal athletic events. We also discussed sponsoring
the Townsend Trophy, which was awarded to the winners of all head to head sports
competitions between Park University and William Jewell. The Townsend Trophy was in
honor of Guy and Julie Townsend’s dad, Harold, who was the publisher of the Gladstone
Dispatch and served on the board of Park University back in the 1970s. The concept was
good, but we now have to find a way to keep it going.
Those are my college-related service activities ranging from serving on boards of a
private military academy, to the University of Missouri, from central and regional
universities to private colleges, to the public community college system, and finally, the
fraternity organizations and some of the things in between. It’s been an interesting and
varied exposure to education at many levels.
Dillingham Enterprises, Inc.
There are two pieces of ground related to the Dillingham family in Platte county, now all
tied together. One in Platte County on the Platte County line, now North Platte Purchase
Drive at Cookingham Road. That property includes Cousin Buford’s farm of one hundred
acres or so to the west of North Platte Purchase. That land had belonged to Buford’s
father,Uncle Wilk Thompson. It was land-granted by the U.S. Government and acquired by
Uncle Wilk's grandfather, Benjamin Lampton, in 1842. That was the first year that settlers
could have a permanent deed to lands that were part of the Platte Purchase.
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The Platte Purchase of 1837 had annexed the land belonging to the Pottawatomie tribes
and added that land to Missouri. In October 1837, the Missouri General Assembly created
Platte County.
In 1842, the Clay County commission selected Major John Doughtery of Multnomah and
Benjamin Lampton to be the road overseers to remove stumps and chugholes and widen the
new road from the county seat of Clay County in Liberty to the new Platte County seat in
Platte City, Missouri.
Records indicate that the road went through the Staley Farms, today Shoal Creek, up to
Nashua, across to our farm and west. The county line, which is North Platte Purchase Road
ran north from Cookingham Drive about a section and ended on the northwest corner of the
Lampton farm. It stops there today. The road is abandoned but goes north to the end of our
farm. You could drive down that lane and see hedge trees on the left, north of Cookingham.
You would come to a cattle guard, take a right to Aunt Roxy’s and go past the pond where I
caught all my bass. Allen, my son, caught his first bass at the Locust Wood farms. You could
continue around the pond toward the house until I-435 took over that area.
Aunt Roxy told me several times that her father, Isaac Thompson, who served in the
Missouri legislature, had a change made in the line of the road. I have never quite
understood what she was telling me. North Platte Purchase Road is not straight. The county
line, which before the Platte Purchase was the western edge of the United States, had to be
straight (or was it?), but the road bends near 108th Street.
I am sure the Lamptons were the first ones on the road because they lived at the end of
it and carved out a trail to get down to the town Barry, where they picked up their supplies
and mail on horseback or wagon. They had to dodge the creek in the rainy seasons. If
traveling further, they took Military Road, constructed in 1827, which is today Barry Road
and 152 (Doniphan Highway), to buy their groceries at Fort Leavenworth. That road went
north past Cookingham, and there is a lane there that’s fun to walk down.
It hasn’t grown up that much on the west edge of the property that was Aunt Roxy and
Uncle Clay’s farm. Roxy Warren was a tenant of the Nugents, whose farm was located on
the far northwest corner at the end. (There was a story about the Lamptons vacating their
home during Civil War battles. It is possible they hid out between 1861-1865.)
A road must have existed to the west because it ended up going behind Second Creek
Church across Robinhood Lane north of Cookingham with the entrance going south into
Second Creek Cemetery on the northwest corner. Today, the entrance to the cemetery is off
of Cookingham Drive (formerly 71 By-Pass) on the south side, opposite the early north side
entrance of the cemetery.
Dad finally persuaded Mom to get the farms (today’s Dillingham Enterprises) out of
their name, perhaps in the 1980s. It was appraised by Bill Davis for $780,000 or $390,000
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each. They deeded it to Nancy and me as part of their million-dollar exemption. In those
days, we had to subtract the estate value on Dad’s death. We didn’t have to pay taxes
because it all went into a trust for Mom.
In addition, Nancy and I were given a little 5.84-acre triangle from Cookingham, North
Platte Purchase, and First Creek, now along I-435. There is an easement road into it that
the Highway Department granted us. The sewer easement was done in 1969 when I-435
was built, and now 50 years later, they have built the sewer. I immediately created
Dillingham Enterprises that my son, Allen, named.
We had one hundred acres of cousin Buford’s farm divided by I-435. Dad had purchased
cousin Buford’s land with money received from the condemnation of our barn, the tenant
house, and the well by the State of Missouri (MoDOT) while broadening Highway 169 back
in the 1960s. We didn’t want to pay taxes on the capital gain, so we deferred it by buying
Cousin Buford’s, which was great for his family because they were struggling financially.
The IRS allows that in the case of public condemnation.
Later on, when I-435 went through our farm on the north side in the 1980s or early
1990s, the condemnation money went into buying our second farm, the Second Creek Farm.
It was located across from the River of Life Church and Second Creek Cemetery, from our
good friend, Ray Brock, head of the Curry Company.
Second Creek Farm was roughly 200 acres. It was bisected by I-435 again. Several years
ago, I had a chance to sell twenty-eight acres along Cookingham Drive from Second Creek
Church on which I had encouraged the church to build their “Crystal Cathedral.” The
church was going strong with a church/school facility that they wanted to separate. Randy
Reed, the General Motors dealer, was their blessing in disguise. Later, the church split. We
received a call that the church needed to raise some money and cut expenses and might
come back on the market.
I immediately went to the south side of I-435 and bought two parcels of land and doubled
the acreage that adjoined us on the west side of First Creek and south of I-435, Cousin
Buford’s original farm. It was a major acquisition in terms of purchasing something the
Missouri Department of Transportation had condemned, bought from Dad, and wasn’t
accessible until now. Also, by using the sale money, I was doubling the acreage, especially
along I-435. The two pieces, now, all tie together.
I received back fifteen acres or so that we owned across the creek that was inaccessible.
We had tried to build a dam across First Creek for years, but without a steel or rock bridge,
it wouldn’t stop the spring rains and would always wash out. Dad diverted First Creek in
that area years ago to straighten out some of the bends. Three or four years ago, I sold seven
or eight acres, and also Aquila leased another eight or nine acres next to the west bank of
the creek and the south side of Cookingham until Aquila went out of business. I can’t recall
if KCP&L bought it or not, but it was going to be a power station in the future. Once we get
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a sewer system in place, it will be a good way to jump-start the land. It would also require
the user to lend the city street east of the creek where it now dead-ends on the south side of
I-435 and east of Robinhood Lane and is open access to our holdings west of First Creek.
I’ve taken almost all of the stock out of my name and put into the names of our two boys
and their five children. That is the goal for Dillingham Enterprises, and as Whitney Kerr
once told me, it could easily be the next Corporate Woods of Kansas City on the north side of
town. I have always felt the big triangle formed by 169 Highway, Cookingham Drive, I-435,
along with North Platte Purchase Drive, would be the next big destination point for Kansas
City North.
Family Politics
Tonight, is August 5, 2010, and Allen Dillingham had his first campaign rally at
Chappell’s Restaurant in North Kansas City. He is running for the City Council of Kansas
City second district at large, which is basically Platte County and a little of Clay County.
They have to redistrict, so we are not quite sure how that will pan out, and it has to be done
before the election and later use the new census data to tweak it.
Anita Gorman and Crosby Kemper, Jr. were the co-chairs and Carl DiCapo, the
treasurer of Allen’s campaign. The hosts at Chappell's were Jim Chappell and Homer
Williams. Sixty people attended. The donations came to nearly $6000. Anita and Gerald said
Allen’s speech went very well. We were sorry to miss it as we were in Steamboat Springs for
the summer. Allen thought it went well.
The primary was Tuesday, and Allen has used Chris Marino as his campaign consultant.
The invitations were mailed only a week earlier, but yet Allen felt very good about it. In the
general election, the current Councilman, Ed
Ford, held onto his seat. It was an at-large
(citywide) seat. Allen won the Northland area.
However, the districts south of the river were a
factor in Ed Ford’s winning.
The tradition of family service can be traced
back to Governor James Garrard (1749-1822),
the second Governor of Kentucky (Dillingham
family tree), and then Mr. Benjamin Lampton
(1802-1866), my great-great-grandfather on
Mom’s side. Benjamin was elected to the
Missouri Legislature in 1858.
The 1858 election was the first election with
its representative coming from the western side
of Clay County, and not Liberty. It would be
interesting to see which candidates canceled Allen with former Mayor Richard Berkley.
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out each other from Liberty, allowing Benjamin Lampton to win. I am amazed at the
outcome. He defeated Major John Dougherty from Multnomah, a large landowner from the
area of what is now known as Shoal Creek. Dougherty was a former member of the Missouri
Legislature and, in 1842, as a neighbor, was a road commissioner with Benjamin Lampton.
Benjamin Lampton was possibly re-elected in 1860, but I don’t think so. In 1860,
Abraham Lincoln, a Republican president, was elected. Benjamin was a Whig at the time.
Mr. Lincoln didn’t receive any Republican votes in Clay County, maybe Platte as well.
Lampton left the Missouri Legislature in 1861 because General Lyon and the Union
forces surrounded the Capitol in Jefferson City, and all the southern-leaning legislators left,
leaving a lack of a majority. I believe those folks went to Carthage. The Jefferson City
legislature recruited people who were not elected, so Missouri had two legislatures for a
brief time during the Civil War. One was rightly elected, but not a majority, and vice versa.
Benjamin Lampton died on February 11, 1866, following a stroke.
In the 1880s, Isaac Buford Thompson, Benjamin Lampton’s son-in-law, ran for the
Missouri House of Representatives from Clay County. I understand Isaac’s son, my
maternal grandfather, Allen Thompson, was a page at the state capital. Isaac ran
successfully again in 1899. We found his journal indicating he was Chairman of the House
Agricultural Committee. A State Fair for Missouri was proposed and passed by a committee
to go to the House, which I felt was the start of the Missouri State Fair. Those relationships
probably resulted in Allen Thompson’s election as president of the Missouri State Fair in
1908.
The American Royal started in 1899 with the Hereford Show. The Galloway cattle,
America’s largest herd, was being raised on today’s Cookingham Drive. The Galloways
became the third leg of the Royal in 1901, following the Short Horns in 1900. As I indicated
earlier, on Dad’s side, his great-grandfather, Judge William Chesnut, was Presiding Judge
of Platte County for a couple of terms in the 1880s, and also, may have been an alderman.
His son, David Chesnut, Gumma’s father, was twice presiding judge in Platte County in the
early 1900s. He later served in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Of course, Dad’s other grandfather, Sheriff John Dillingham, was deputy sheriff twice,
then elected sheriff. He was shot and killed in the line of duty in August 1900, in Farley.
My grandfather Allen Thompson never ran for elective office but was on the State
Agriculture Board under two governors. He was appointed Chief of Staff and personal
secretary to Governor Park in 1934-35. He was also the first Old Age Commissioner for the
State of Missouri. His name was in the papers as a candidate for Commissioner of
Agriculture for the State of Missouri.
Privately, he was the first president of the American Royal. It was incorporated in 1905.
Beginning in 1908, he served two terms as president of the Missouri State Fair board. Later,
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starting in 1920, he was the general manager of the
American Royal Horse Show for twenty years. His badges
are framed and hung on a wall in our house. Allen
Thompson was the last of that generation to serve in any
public office in Missouri.
My grandfather, Joseph, said several times that Dad
would have made a great governor, and Granddad
Dillingham was not politically inclined at all, so that was
quite unusual. I totally agree. Dad had been mentioned
several times for Mayor of Kansas City. He could have won.
In my case, several people have suggested that I run for
City Council. In 2006, or so, my name was in the paper as
being undecided about running for mayor. The late Adele
Hall asked me several times to run.
That same week I happened to have a one-on-one luncheon at Fort Leavenworth with
General David Petraeus, the Commanding General of the Command and General Staff
College. He said he saw the article and asked me what I was going to do. I said, “I don’t
know.” He said, “If you have anything to offer, you should give it a run.” He said, “as for me,
I have had plenty of opportunities.”
Five years later, that was an understatement. General Petraeus has a Ph.D. in
international relations from Princeton. I’m sure he has had many opportunities. He said he
still has a couple of things left to give to his army. I never will forget that.
Shortly after that, President Bush appointed him to command the International Security
Assistant Force in Afghanistan. That earned him his fourth star. Of course, he brought the
Surge with him, the field manual he had written for Counter Insurgency while commanding
Fort Leavenworth.
Basically, he took the war issue off the presidential election table.
Allen Thompson was president of the American Royal in 1905 and the Missouri State Fair in 1908
earning these badges.
Dad being sworn in as MoDOT chairman by Missouri Supreme Court Judge Andrew Higgins. Judge Higgins and my Father were friends and had grown up in Platte City.
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Family Barns
I am going to start with the barns at Maple Grove. The first barn is one that I didn’t
know about until this year. It was the so-called show barn that was on top of the hill that
later Highway 169 cut through. Mom had never mentioned it, but one night when I showed
her the little solid oak rocker that had been restored, she said, “Oh yes, I remember sitting
in that the night the barn burned.”
Apparently, Mom was sitting in the rocker as the family
was having dinner, and they received word that the barn
was on fire at the top of the hill. Everybody ran out, but
Mom stayed in the house. She remembered rocking Aunt
Louise in this rocker, which told me that Aunt Louise, who
was born in 1913, would have been about a year old at the
time the barn burned. When Froncie, their mom, came back
to the house, she said, “Frances, what are you doing?” Mom,
five at the time, remembered that as she was rocking her
little sister, Louise.
I found an article in Pi’s clippings that had been stored
in the temporary mailbox that used to be in Mom and Dad’s
closet at home (off-limits, of course). I went through it and
found many articles. One short article talked about the barn
burning and another about Mr. Isaac Thompson having the
largest Galloway herd in the country. I gathered he was not
a promoter, but maybe he became one when he teamed up with his son, Allen.
The barn was later replaced by the big white barn I described earlier. It had places for
the bales to be thrown down from the second-floor hayloft, a “V” to the 1st floor, feed trough
bunks parallel to the front doors so cattle could be on either the left or right. Hay would
come down in a V-shaped trough, and then you would throw grain in a horizontal trough in
front on either side. You could divide the area east of the barn into a holding pen on the
northeast corner. Beside the front doors, it went three-quarters of the way back, and there
was a breezeway with big doors ten to twelve feet high with sliding doors on the east and
west side. On the north side, there was one pen for grain. In the middle, you could store
grain up top. You could pull up a board in a little trough, and grain would come out into a
bucket through a series of chutes. It was very ingenious.
On the northwest corner of the barn, there was what I called the tool shop. There was
another stairway in the back corner going up to the granary. Through this east/west
breezeway was a stairway that would take me to the south in the hayloft. Mom said the
barn was dedicated in the 1920s, and they had a big barn dance in the loft. The loft was
immense, and I used to play up there when I was younger.
Mom’s rocking chair from her childhood. She recalled sitting in it
the night the barn burned.
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The next barn on our place was the smaller red barn that was west of our house as
opposed to the big white barn to the east. It burned from a possible lightning strike to the
fuel tank we had for the tractors and equipment. I always enjoyed going down to it. We kept
some livestock there and a tractor.
To the west of that area is a grove of trees where there was a tenant house for the farm.
There used to be one on the corner from the east side. There was a tenant house on the west
side. I’m not sure who lived there. It’s been vacant my entire life. Upstairs there were some
old trunks. I recall seeing letters there that were quite dirty. I’m not sure what happened to
them or what was in them.
Several hundred yards to the northwest where I talked about the concrete water tank
was a feedlot, and a vertical silo was there. The round base foundation was still there, but I
never saw the rest of it. It might have blown down before I was born. The feedlot was open
to the south, and there was a long shed. On the east end, we constructed a feed room so that
when trucks of feed would come, they could auger through the holes up high on end, and it
would fill up the bins where we would shovel food into the buckets and take it out to feed the
cattle.
There was a barn at Uncle Clay’s house that was kind of a show barn. He had his Angus
cattle and his shop there. It has since collapsed, but it had some neat weathervanes on top of
it. There were some trunks and things that we salvaged and took home. They are not in the
basement but in the garage, protected from the elements. Uncle Clay parked his Oldsmobile
on the east bottom side.
The last barn I want to mention is the
Isaac Buford Thompson barn. It was a
quarter-mile or so to the north of Aunt Roxy’s
place, and the Thompsons lived in a home
near the barn in the late 1850s.
Isaac’s older brother, John Albert
Thompson, who never married, lived there
with Isaac, and his wife, Charlotte Jane. Aunt
Roxy’s place was the Lampton place
originally. When the Thompsons moved out to
build their new home in Maple Grove in 1876,
they had lived there for almost twenty years.
The mystery to me is that their parents
arrived before the war. I recall seeing John
Hedges Thompson’s name, who would be my great-great-grandfather, on a census record for
another tract next door. I have no evidence or recollection of any other so-called home site.
The barn that sat on the original Thompson homesite before the Civil War. It will be re-erected in Shoal Creek
by Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation.
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Maybe it was to the west. The county line (formerly State Line) was close by, west of us, and
the real end of North Platte Purchase Drive.
All that is standing today is the barn that is thirty feet tall. The hayloft upstairs is made
of walnut or native oak timbers resting on limestone rocks. It has wooden pegs for nails. Jim
Hamil painted a watercolor of it thirty years ago that hangs in Mom and Dad’s living room. I
want to donate the barn to Shoal Creek. The tin roof needs to be replaced. A foundation will
have to be poured, and it will probably have to be disassembled because of the various wires
and lines and other obstacles before moving it to Shoal Creek. A story behind the barn is one
where we had an onsite psychic discovery. The psychic saw a lady with a child in there. The
pictures were taken with a new digital camera, but only dots appeared. They thought the
camera was defective, but the physic likened the dots to ghosts if you will. She also saw a
big barbeque held there. Members of the family and others would hide under the barn
during the Civil War. Some of the rocks on the east side are removed, acting as sentries in
case Union troops came.
Family Connections
Uncle Billy Woods (William Clay Woods), Mom’s cousin, was the son of Aunt Roxy and
Uncle Clay. He was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Missouri University. I have
his active pin framed in my downstairs collection. He attained the rank of captain during
World War II and died of a brain hemorrhage in El Paso, Texas, at the end of the war.
His wife, Libby Morrison, gave us their seven-piece bedroom set. I last saw Uncle Billy
at our Maple Grove home sitting in the big chair in our living room. That chair is now in
Allen and Sandi’s living room. Mom used to sit with me in it and read stories. She could
Family Lore – The James Boys Visit the Farm
Our family shares a story of Mr. Benjamin Lampton, my great-great-grandfather, who died of a stroke on February 11 in 1866. Two days after his passing on February 13, 1866, three unannounced breakfast guests came to pay their respects—Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger. It was probably the day of Benjamin's funeral and burial on the farm. They put their horses in the barn during breakfast.
My great-grandmother Charlotte Jane noticed they had a neighbor's horse. They said they had bought it, but she knew better than that. After breakfast, they left our farm to go to Liberty where they committed the first daylight bank robbery in America. I say they stopped by our house to have breakfast on their way to work. I hope to erect a bronze plaque at Shoal Creek where that barn will be re-erected to tell this story. I felt they might have come back to unload the heavy gold, but several years ago in the old cemetery location (now a cornfield, west of Aunt Roxy's house), a backhoe turned up nothing.
According to Aunt Roxy, there was another rumored story about a bank robbery where the 'haul' was buried west of the house along the old roadbed. Mr. Lampton owned land stretching into Platte County (north of Cookingham), which Pi sold to Jim Nugent in the mid-1930s.
Maybe someone can check this out someday with a good metal detector.
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remember the last time she saw her mother in it before her mother died after being in bed
for a week.
Many members of SAE have played important roles in my family's history, but I didn't
always know of their affiliation with the fraternity at the time. Granville Richart, the
former sheriff of Jackson County, was an SAE at the University of Missouri in the early
1930s. His wife was Lucille “Cile” Dillingham Richardt Wells from Platte City. After
Granville's death, Cile married W. Gates Wells in 1960. Cile was the oldest of Dad’s first
cousin, Uncle Henry’s daughter.
Beginning in the 1930s, Jack Merriman was Boopoo's partner in what became Jodill.
Jack Merriman was the president of the SAE house corporation in the 1940s. I didn't know
that until I stumbled upon the chapter record book one day in the first-floor coatroom. I'm
sorry I never had a chance to tell him we were both SAE’s from Mizzou and that I was vice
president thirty years after he served as president. His son, Joe Jack Merriman, was an
SAE at Northwestern University. Joe Jack was the head of Waddell & Reed in the 1960s
and appointed Dad to the board. Fifty years later, I'm now serving on that board.
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the first National Heritage Area –
Illinois and Michigan’s Canal. Reagan referred to the National Heritage Areas as “a new
kind of national park” that contained recreation and economic development. Congress
approved areas to be designated as National Heritage Areas without buying land but
appropriating a small amount of money to allow citizens in certain geographic areas to tell
an important historical story that would otherwise be lost. Kansas and Missouri represent
the Border Wars, which led up to the Civil War in 1861. In 1854, Democratic Senator
Stephen A. Douglas drafted the Kansas/Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri
Compromise of 1820. Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the issue of slavery was to be decided
by “popular sovereignty,” which finally led to the Civil War.
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area was authorized on October 12, 2006, to
preserve, conserve and interpret historical and cultural landscapes about the Missouri-
Kansas Border War and the enduring struggle for freedom. Freedom’s Frontier encompasses
twenty-nine counties in Kansas and twelve Missouri counties totaling forty-one counties. I
was asked to be the vice-chairman representing Missouri. Judge Deanell Tacha from
Lawrence is a retired United States Circuit Judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Tenth Circuit. Judge Tacha became our chairman. In 2011, I was elected chairman
as she retired from the bench to become Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law
from 2011-2016. Judy Billings of Lawrence became the first executive director of Freedom’s
Frontier. When she retired in 2012, we hired Fred Conboy.
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We worked on a plan for two years with the National Park Service that sat on the desk
of the Secretary of the Interior. Their hands were full with the oil spill in the Gulf, but once
Freedom’s Frontier gets national recognition and appropriations, we can solidify our efforts
to tell the stories in the forty-one counties, which will make a much bigger story. The result
will be a boost to tourism and economic development as well as much-needed education.
With the big rivalry between Kansas and Missouri football and basketball games, there’s a
bigger story to tell that caused and created the real border war. It began with Lane’s raid on
Osceola on September 22, 1861, which led to Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence on August 21,
1863, and eventually, Ewing’s General Order No. 11, which vacated four border counties,
including Jackson County. Then the post-war period of Jesse James and his gang of ex-
guerrillas forms a very interesting story that needs to be captured before it is lost. That
effort is ongoing, and I hope we are laying the groundwork for future generations to enjoy
and expand on local history.
General George Washington’s Sword
During William Jewell College’s Capital Campaign, we
earmarked our gift of money to go to the preservation and
display of Chaplain John Gano’s sword in the Gano Chapel.
When Dr. Chris Sizemore was president, a Gano relative called
one day and asked if William Jewell would like to have
“grandpa’s sword.” Chris said, “Sure.” The Gano Chapel is most
likely the only building in the United States named for
Chaplain John Gano of the Revolutionary War. He was George
Washington’s chaplain. General Washington asked Chaplain
Gano to announce to the troops that they had won the Battle of
Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. General Lafayette had
presented a sword to General Washington, and Washington, in
turn, gave it to Chaplain Gano. The sword now hangs at
William Jewell. In the Chapel, there is a plaque acknowledging
Mom, Dad, Nancy, Bill, and me for preserving the sword.
Harry S. Truman Scholars National Alumni Association
In the late 1970s, I helped sponsor a young lady, Pam Miller, whose mother was Betty
Miller. Betty was a city councilwoman in North Kansas City. Pam currently works at the
PKD Foundation and is now at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Her father was a retired military
person. She was the first person I appointed to the Earnest Shepherd Youth Center Board
when I was president in the late 1960s. After leaving North Kansas High School, she went
to Rockhurst University, applied for the Truman Scholarship, and won. The Harry S.
Truman Scholarship Foundation was created by Congress in 1975. Pam might have been in
the second or third class.
General Washington’s sword, on display at William Jewell, under
a picture of Chaplain Gano baptizing General Washington. Washington presented Gano his
sword for his service.
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This year was the twentieth anniversary of the Truman Scholars. Janet Napolitano,
United States Secretary of Homeland Security, and former Attorney General of Arizona
spoke at the event. She was in the first class of Truman Scholars, and we had the pleasure
of meeting her. In recent years, I helped with getting Janet elected to the HST Institute
Board and even sat next to her at her first board meeting. Also, Ernest Corcoran, the
Chairman of the Board of Regents of the State of Arizona, was there. He was also in the first
class of Truman Scholars, and he introduced Janet at William Jewell. He attended school at
Arizona Northern University and was president of the student body. His mentor was my
fraternity brother, Dr. Bob Dickeson. I was invited for a pre-lunch reception at Jewell, and
visited at length with Ernie, as well as meeting the secretary. We had pictures taken.
I decided after Pam received the Truman Scholar’s four-year scholarship, that we should
create an organization to keep the future recipients connected. I was the creator of the
organization and held the checkbook. John Synder of St. Louis, former Secretary of the
Treasury in the Truman administration, didn’t think we needed a separate organization. I
told him I would hold the checkbook and guard it closely. Jeanette Meyer was president.
Later, David Adkins became president, who later ran for attorney general of the State of
Kansas, and later served as a senator. He currently leads the Council of State Governments
in Lexington, Kentucky. David was not in a fraternity, but I pledged him as an SAE on the
floor of the Kansas Senate. (The Supreme Council of SAE approved my proposal to make
him a brother SAE). In his college days, he went to the University of Kansas and was
president of the student body. He graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law,
served in the Kansas House from 1993 to 2001, and was a Kansas state senator from 2001 to
2005.
In the beginning, the Scholars attended a reception at the Truman Library,where they
only received their certificates, and then went home. They didn’t even stay in the same
hotel. I couldn’t understand why they would even meet at the Truman Library if they didn’t
have any connection with one another. Over the years, the Truman Scholars Alumni
evolved. The Truman Scholars started having dinner the night before the ceremony and
breakfast the next morning. We traveled to Washington, D.C. for one ceremony, and I was
on the stage with San Antonio Mayor, Henry Gonzalez. All other ceremonies have been held
in Kansas City.
Thanks to the Missouri Congressman Tom Coleman’s administrative assistant, twenty
years ago, they created the weekly educational program at William Jewell that led to the
support of Truman Scholars. They finally realized it was important for the Truman Scholars
to stay together in some informal, communicative way. Pam Miller gave me a certificate a
few years ago that hangs on my wall downstairs in our house. I incorporated the
organization and kept it alive for years.
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Highways and Markers
There are several roads I have played a role in naming. Of course, Dad, as Chairman of
MoDOT, under Governors Teasdale and Bond, played a large role as well, in a different sort
of way.
When Dad stepped down, our longtime good
friend, Gene Feldhausen, a Platte County attorney,
became chairman. He wanted to recognize Dad for
his efforts, so he suggested naming the new
extended bridge that goes across the West Bottoms
by the Stockyards, I-670, in Dad’s honor. In those
days, the Missouri Highway Commission could
name structures and did so by naming the road the
Jay B. Dillingham Freeway, which connected
Missouri to Kansas. (I-670 was built out of concern
that I-70 across the old inter-city viaduct might be
closed. The State of Kansas thanked MoDOT for
their interest in honoring Dad, but since half the
highway was in Kansas, they rejected the name.)
Bud Burke, a Kansas Senate majority leader,
introduced legislation to name the Kansas portion
of the highway for Dad. Burke was a good Kansas SAE and local SAE Honorman and
worked with the Kansas City SAE alumni and me. Dick Bond, then-Majority Leader, an old
friend from Washington fifty years earlier, and others introduced the name of the highway
as legislation in both committees of the House and Senate in Kansas. Later, the Governor
vetoed the first vote because he heard that Dad had given money to his opponent. On the
next vote, the name of the highway was a rider on the Pony Express Bill. The Kansas
governor didn’t wish to veto it. Therefore, as I recall, Kansas passed legislation in 1990.
Missouri dedicated its portion of the highway several years earlier.
We drove Bill for his second year of camp in Osceola after the Missouri ceremony. We
have a lot of pictures of that trip. Interstate 670 carries Dad’s name now in both states.
For the dedication of the Kansas portion, it was a cold January morning in 1991. (The
Missouri side was dedicated in 1987 because Bill would have been new to scouting.) At the
dedication, Kansas Governor Mike Hayden was next to Dad and me standing on the
elevated freeway. I said, “You’ve lost a great Kansas Republican. I’m a poor Missouri
Northlander Democrat, but we ought to find a way to honor him.” He said, “What are you
talking about?” I said, “Senator Harry Darby. What about Interstate 635 that runs through
his hometown and home county?” The Governor said, “That’s good enough for me. It will be
done.”
Dad looking over the top of “his” sign. George Satterlee, MoDOT District Engineer (left), and Gene Feldhausen, Chairman of MoDOT (right)
below the sign.
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Later, as Chairman of the Missouri 4-H Foundation, I was in Jefferson City in Governor
John Ashcroft’s office and asked him if he would honor the wishes of the State of Kansas for
that little section of I-635 that goes across the river into Riverside. He said, “I didn’t know
Senator Darby, but I knew of him and what he did.” He continued, “Yes, you have a green
light.”
So, that is how a little portion of I-635 in Missouri carries a Kansas Senator’s name.
Ironically, Dad and Senator Darby, Democrat and Republican, were doing all they could for
highways and flood control with both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. You don’t see
that today in politics today, but that’s just the way it happened. They got along, and they
worked things out. They were teammates from day one, so ironically, the spirit of
cooperation of states that you hear about now was first evidenced in those two roads going
east and west, as well as north and south, in each state. I-635 and I-670 bear the names of
two guys who worked together.
One day at a luncheon at the Golden Ox, I asked Senator Darby the difference between
Missouri Democrats and Kansas Republicans. He answered, “You have Angus, and I have
Herefords.”
Dad also played a major role in getting the four-lane Highway 152 to replace Barry
Road, which had grown so congested. It took me eighteen months. I wanted it to be
associated with the name of General Alexander Doniphan. I lined up about twenty
supporters in Clay and Platte counties, and we successfully named it in eighteen months.
We had the dedication at the Doniphan Elementary School in Liberty. Dad thought the
dedication would be held on the highway itself. I had a different idea. We brought a big
highway sign to the library at Doniphan Elementary, and Clay County Circuit Judge Ken
Elliott, whose hero was Alexander Doniphan, spoke to the boys and girls at Doniphan
Elementary. Ed Douglas was on the commission then. I am proud that we had a chance to
start the ball rolling to honor Alexander Doniphan.
My first venture in naming things was the county road on the Clay/Platte county line,
formerly a western border of Missouri. It ran into Cookingham Road that was on Cousin
Buford’s farm. It used to be named Baughman Road. I learned from Dad that he was a “stick
man” for Pendergast. He ran the pool tables and maybe even some cat houses. I thought we
could do better, so I suggested the name North Platte Purchase Drive. I anticipated the
potential confusion with the state line north and state line south, so I named it North Platte
Purchase. At the time, only three or four people lived on the road that goes from Barry Road
and Route 152 to our farm. I testified that the original road was probably laid out by my
great-great-grandfather Benjamin L. Lampton. It starts at his farm and goes to Barry
(originally Military Road), where he got his mail and groceries. It bends at 108th Street.
Aunt Roxy told me a story about her dad, Isaac Buford Thompson, who represented Clay
County in Missouri legislature passed several related actions regarding the North Platte
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Purchase Drive in 1880 and in1898. In 1898, he changed the line a little bit. I have never
figured it out, but we put the name on it.
A couple of people opposed this transaction, but I probably couldn’t pull it off today.
When Dad was commissioner, he christened the new Heart of America Bridge with bottles of
champagne in 1987. The Heart of America Bridge replaced the ASB Bridge.
The South of the river folks wanted to name it after former Mayor John B. Gage. The
“powers” to be south of the river handled the matter poorly. The committee went north and
asked Clark Ferguson, the mayor of North Kansas City, what he thought of naming the
bridge since half of it was in his town. He said, “With all due respect, I’ve never heard of
Mayor John B. Gage.” Gage starting practicing law in 1930 and served as mayor of Kansas
City from 1940 to 1946. He was Dad’s good friend, and the proposal to name the bridge after
him could have been successful with Clark, going through Dad, but the guys handled it in
typical southland fashion. They didn’t take into account the other half of their city.
Bill Dunn came up with the name Heart of America Bridge, and it remains so today.
Kansas City Stockyards
At one time, the stockyards was one of the largest businesses in Kansas City. In 1876,
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a railroader, and descendant of U.S. Presidents John and John
Quincy Adams, of Boston, became president of the newly reorganized Kansas City
Stockyards Company, a position held until 1902. In 1879, Adams appointed Charles F.
Morse, general manager of the stockyards. Morse was another Boston railroad honcho and
Adams family friend.
At one time, the headquarters of the Kansas City Stockyards was located in Kansas. At
least, most of it was in Kansas. The state line dividing Missouri and Kansas ran through the
lobby and was marked with a colored tile. The building was just west of 1600 Genessee
Street, where the Livestock Exchange Building now stands. Several factors led to the move
to Missouri. Kansas enacted a law to tax every animal weighed in the state, leading to a
federal lawsuit. Fairbanks-Morris, the manufacturer of the weighing scales for cattle, was
instructed by the court to move the scales into Missouri only a block or two east of the state
line near 1600 Genessee.
The 1903 flood damaged the headquarters of the stockyards severely, as well as the
Union Depot in the West Bottoms. In 1910, a new building was built in Missouri, one
hundred yards to the east of the old one.
In its heyday, Kansas City Stock Yards Company was the second largest of its kind in
the world. Some 25,000 jobs in packing houses, stockyards, and allied industries depended
on the continued success of the business. When Dad was there, the stockyards took up 200
acres and had its own railroad. Dad not only became president of the stockyards in 1948 but
also president of the Kansas City Connecting Railroad Company.
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Liberty Memorial Association
In the mid-90s, Carl DiCapo managed the Italian Gardens restaurant downtown before
it closed. Willard Snyder, who grew up in Nancy’s Kansas City, Kansas neighborhood, would
meet me at the Italian Gardens in the late afternoon. Carl would bring out goodies at five
o’clock and ruin my dinner. We planned a friendly takeover of the Liberty Memorial.
We have had two presidents over the last thirty-five years. Chas Waldron was president
for twenty-five years and had served on the board with me of the SAE house at the
University of Missouri. John Owen was on the board for ten years. They both were good,
dedicated men, but new ideas and energy weren’t present as they met once a year for lunch.
The Memorial developed some structural damage. Over the years, salt had damaged the
concrete with steel underpinnings. The Memorial was closed for safety reasons. It was
determined there wasn’t a basement, but only dirt around it. The friendly takeover didn’t
work that well as we were trying like the devil to make it a very positive experience, but it
never happened. At a special election meeting at Loose Park, Carl DiCapo won. The City
had a successful bond issue, and it reopened. Carl DiCapo was inducted as the first new
president on Allie’s first birthday. I didn’t attend. General Richard Myers, who was
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time, and SAE fraternity brother of mine from Kansas
State University presided over the ceremony. Later, Mayor Kay Barnes put on a $20
million-dollar issue for a 26-million-dollar project on the ballot. The bond issue was passed
to build a two-story museum under the Liberty Memorial Tower. Later, Congress approved
it as being the official National World War I Museum and Memorial.
At the same time, Congress
was approving the National
World War II Museum in New
Orleans. Marine Brigadier
General (retired) Steve
Berkheiser, whom I had helped
get a job at the Red Cross when
I was on the board, was hired
as our executive director after
the bond issue passed and
construction could begin.
We have a partnership
relationship with the Kansas
City, Missouri Parks and
Recreation Department. They
own the grounds, and we own
the collection. Thanks to Carl,
we found Major General
Mary Davidson Cohen, General David Petraeus, James Bernard, II, and myself attending a meeting during the rebuilding of what has now become the National World War I Museum and Memorial in 2010. Cohen, Bernard,
and I would each serve a term chairing the board overseeing the development of the new Museum and Memorial.
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(retired) Neal Creighton, who led the way in 2011 and agreed to be there for one year. (He
volunteered his service for that year.) Earlier, he ran the McCormick Foundation in
Chicago.
During that time, Union Station gave us free offices in their basement. We had a lot of
timely good breaks. However, at the same time, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was
building the Bloch building and raising money in huge piles, and we were dead in the water.
I recall that at one point, the Liberty Memorial had only $2800 in donations from the 100
Governors of the Liberty Memorial Association – supposedly our closest friends.
We hadn’t had any active participation from young people in two generations. We were
literally starting from scratch.
We received National Historic Landmark status. Mrs. Jeannette Terrell Nichols donated
one million dollars for the Nichols Auditorium. The Kemper family donated generously to
the theater. Slowly but surely, we raised enough money for our six-million-dollar
commitment that was added to Kansas City’s very successful twenty-million-dollar bond
issue.
Carl DiCapo was the first president and afterward remained on the board as a
consultant. Willard Snyder became the next president for two years during the time I was
president of the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City. I followed Williard as
president after he finished his two-year term. The Native Sons held a fundraiser at Union
Station before I became president of Liberty Memorial to benefit the National World War I
Museum and Memorial. It was unheard of for a non-profit to help a non-profit at the time.
My job was to finish construction under BG Steve Berkheiser’s great leadership and proceed
to the ribbon cutting of the museum.
About six months before the grand opening in December 2006, Steve Berkheiser and his
wife, Margarita, who had been an unofficial office manager, suddenly resigned. Nancy and I
were on a three-day vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona, when I received a call from the Kansas
City Star reporter, Matt Campbell. Fortunately, I had heard the news from Carl DiCapo.
Luckily, Mark Cox, who was in the number two position, picked up the ball, and we didn’t
miss a lick.
The dedication and ribbon-cutting were on December 3, 2006. We had a big celebration
the night before chaired by Anita Gorman. The next day I was on the reviewing stand with
Congressman Ike Skelton; Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas; Mayor Kay Barnes; and
General David Petraeus, who was then Commander of Fort Leavenworth. Ralph
Applebaum, who designed the Holocaust Museum, was the designer of the National World
War I Museum and Memorial. He also designed the Nashville Hall of Fame and the Clinton
Presidential Library. He was a world-class guy. He hit a home run with interactive tables
for young people with many attractions.
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Senator Jim Talent of Missouri played a big role in getting us national recognition. He
and his wife, Brenda, came on a Friday night from St. Louis and attended a big party. It was
a real success.
Later, we got Pete Lemke of EFL Associates, to head a search committee. We hired
Brian Alexander, Jr., from Colorado Springs. On Veterans Day in November 2007, I handed
over the gavel to Brian Alexander, Jr., our new CEO and Tim Kristl, our new chairman.
Anita was in line to be chairman and then Gary Sherrer, who was the former Lieutenant
Governor of Kansas. I wanted some people in Johnson County to serve on the board. Later,
United States Vice President Dick Cheney visited the Liberty Memorial. Brian showed him
around. I had a photo taken with Senator John McCain during the presidential election.
General Barry McCaffrey, General Richard Meyers, and General David Petraeus, among
others, visited at different times. Even presidential candidate Barrack Obama drew 75,000
people shortly before his 2008 election, at an outside event.
We had a rock concert that caused problems in some circles because of the damage
caused to the grounds, but it’s been moved to the west and is a great success. With the
Federal Reserve Bank being built to the south at I Memorial Drive, it has secured our back
door, if you will. It was built on the site of the old St. Mary’s Hospital, where Gumma had
passed away in 1968.
Many people, both locally and nationally answered the call to rebuild the Liberty Memorial and expand the museum into what is today a national treasure. Pictured here are Admiral Thompson; Matt Naylor, CEO of Liberty Memorial;
General Richard Meyers, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Ike Skelton’s wife, Patty; myself; and Steve Harrison of Edward Jones. Steve and I became good friends, and he has been generous to Liberty Memorial.
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The Liberty Memorial Association has been fun. I am still on the board, and we meet
quarterly. I helped Tom Butch from Waddell & Reed get elected to the board. He is now
chairman. He created a traveling World War I truck to visit seventy-five cities for Waddell &
Reed’s seventy-fifth anniversary in 2011. This was our first exposure going national in
eighty years. At one point, we were going from hand to mouth, not able to raise money. Now
we have come a long way very quickly. I hope I played a role, and the Association will
continue to grow.
Life on the Farm
Mom always wanted me to play the piano. She said if she could hear me play, she’d
know where I was and knew I wouldn’t be in trouble. I avoided trouble because I didn’t want
to stir the wrath of Dad because he was a big man. I started at age four and a half and
played through high school and at Wentworth Military Academy. I also played at the
University of Missouri with dance bands and other functions, so I suppose piano lessons
were a good investment. I was part of a local dance band with Homer Williams on the drums
and Scott Merritt on the trumpet. I was even organist at the Second Creek Church. I
secured two organs and played for church services in Korea in the new chapel that I oversaw
and built as our battalion chapel office.
In the early days, before I could drive, Mom would always take me to baseball games, 4-
H, scout meetings, and other school activities. We would go to church, but she wasn’t very
punctual. I remember coming in late, and they would be having communion. The back of the
church fills up first, so we would have to walk down the aisle while the ushers were walking
in the opposite direction, passing out the collection plate.
When I was little, I also had to go to the Kansas City Philharmonic, which was not of my
choosing, but that was not relevant. Hans Schweiger was appointed Music Director to the
Philharmonic in 1948. I remember going to the movies with Mom and Pi. It was a musical, I
believe. I couldn’t have been very old because Pi died in December of 1946 when I was
almost eight.
Moving out on the farm was interesting because it was when there were only two-lane
roads. During World War II, we had only one car. There was gas rationing, among other
things. We would usually go out to dinner on Sunday night to either Slim’s Castle at
Nashua, to McHenry’s up at the entrance of what is now KCI, east to Pleasant Valley, or the
Manor House near the edge of Liberty or Jim Henry’s restaurant on North Oak in
Gladstone. There were a couple of good restaurants in North Kansas City. One was the
Snack Shop on Burlington (North Oak). Mom used to take me there sometimes after a
recital or some other activity. Maybe we did all that on Saturday night because it was a
tradition that after church on Sunday, there would be a big Sunday spread in the dining
room. Sunday evenings, it was grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. Occasionally friends like Tom
Wainwright from Wentworth and others would stay overnight. That tradition has been pre-
empted now by Sunday night pro football.
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Dad and I visited the farms on the weekend, and we would also see Aunt June, Uncle
Henry, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Jennie across from Uncle Henry’s house. I spent a lot of time
with Mi and Kemp, who were both first cousins to Mom and Dad. Mi was Dad’s cousin, and
Kemp was Mom’s. Aunt Virginia, Mrs. Phineas Skinner Woods II, was the mother of Kemp
M. Woods III, and sister-in-law of Froncie Woods Thompson. She lived her final years with
Mary and Kemp in their upstairs kitchenette apartment south of Smithville on 169
Highway. I used to visit her frequently. I remember a week before Christmas when Pi died
in 1946, spending the night in the upstairs bedroom and sleeping in a high four-poster bed
that a stool was needed to get into bed, and then I had a fear of falling out of bed. She would
read “Lobo, the Wolf” stories to me as we sat on the front porch swing. She kept a record of
my growing height penciled on the inside of the kitchen door. Her husband died in 1923. At
one time, she was a housemother at William Jewell, perhaps for Kemp’s fraternity, Phi
Gamma Delta. I also heard she babysat Governor Park’s grandson Park Krause during Mom
and Dad’s wedding in 1935. He took his first steps there. She is buried at Smithville. In
1948 I attended my first wedding. I was nine and had a picture taken with Aunt Jennie. We
saw them often along with Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay, Gumma, and Boopoo. Occasionally,
we’d see Cousin Buford and Cousin Margaret. Mom’s garden and bridge clubs would have
picnics around the area in the summertime.
The home built by Isaac Buford Thompson in 1876, our nation’s 100th birthday. Aunt Roxy is on a tricycle indicating the the picture would date to the late 1880s.
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Dad also worked most weekends, and I didn’t see him much except on Sundays. A lot of
other kid’s dads were at scouts and ballgames, but I didn’t have that luxury. I missed it
greatly growing up. I’m not negative about it because I understand the big picture of what
Dad was doing. He and I would talk about that occasionally but not very often. He was not
one to philosophize, nor do I, on subjects.
We always raised cattle at Maple Grove. I had my Angus herd, and Dad had stockers
and feeders. We’d go to Waldron in Platte County and to Forest City in Holt County to see
the crops. Boopoo had land he had acquired between 1920 to 1930 in the Waldron area in
Platte County on the Missouri River. Later, that became part of Jodill. Granddad was afraid
he would lose it as he borrowed money. When the Depression hit, he put the Waldron land
in the Dad’s and Uncle Mack’s names. They would farm it and grow crops. Dad even raised
potatoes.
Man-of-the-Month Fraternity
I was named Man-of-the-Month in the late 1990s. At that
time, the ceremony took place at the old Kansas City Club.
Dad was a member and past president. Dr. Jim Olson,
former University of Missouri president, was my sponsor
and nominator. Dad and I were only one of three or four
father-son entries at that time.
It is an organization of leaders of the Kansas City
community in both Missouri and Kansas, nominated one at a
time, and elected by the membership. I’m sure it used to
meet monthly when all the businesses were downtown.
Today we meet four or five times a year when someone new
is inducted.
Man-of-the-Month includes City leaders, private and
public, from all walks of life, with some being more active
than others. We usually have thirty people at lunch. The
membership is now around seventy or eighty men. We meet at the “current” Kansas City
Club, which is the old University Club, between Ninth and Tenth Streets on Baltimore.
(Recently we moved our luncheon to the River Club.)
I was the president for five years. I was elected right before Dad passed away. Jim
Nutter and Karen Daly of his office operated it, keeping the books, handling the money,
sending out the ballots, and the mail. They were a nice group of men, and I’ve made many
good friends. It gives us a chance to hobnob with the leaders of the City in an open and non-
political environment. I usually ask somebody who has been in the paper to share his
opinion about a hot topic. It is a nice occasion and a great organization. I finally stepped
down at the end of 2011 and handed over the reins to Al Mauro.
I became a member of the Man-of-the-Month fraternity in 1999 and later served as president of the organization for five years,
2007 - 2011.
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Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City
I became a member of Native Sons and
Daughters of Kansas City around 1990. Dale
Helmers, an SAE older mentor leader from KU,
along with Bill Lucas, SAE of M.U., nominated
me. (When Dale died, I asked if I could speak at
his funeral. For some reason, the family agreed. I
talked about the role he played in SAE and read
“The True Gentleman,” the creed of SAE, by John
Walter Waylands. The church was packed. Bill
Lucas was carrying on the same mission as Dale
at M.U. Both were very dedicated selfless,
longtime loyal brothers.)
I became a board member sometime after
2000 and later president of Native Sons and
Daughters in 2003. During my tenure, I created
the Scouts of the Native Sons of two or three
under forty young men and women. Some folks
didn’t understand its purpose, so it declined in
the last couple of years. I created a project for
them and raised some money with backing from
the Kansas City Star for a bronze statue of
President Truman on a pedestal outside Union Station. We had a mock-up made of it. Dan
Sturdevant and I had been pushing to get the statue out of the basement at Union Station to
be exhibited in a public place to keep the dream alive. We installed it inside of the Jackson
County Courthouse in a prominent spot. We had a ceremony to dedicate it in 2011 with
county executive Mike Sanders.
I received the Outstanding Kansas Citian Award from the Native Sons and Daughters in
2009. We had dinner on the second floor at the Golden Ox in the old Livestock Bank Room.
More than two hundred people attended. All of our family was there, including Allie and
Mollie. Dad had received the same award twenty-five years earlier. Both of those certificates
are hanging in my office next to each other.
Places Called Home
At Wentworth, we stayed in Headquarters Company for the band barracks at the bottom
of the hill. B Company was above us. Next, I went to Columbia, Missouri, in 1958 to attend
the University of Missouri. I was in Reynolds Hall in McDavid Dorm, then over at the SAE
House.
Recognition for my service to the Native Sons of Greater Kansas City as president in 2009. Later, in
2014, I received the Outstanding Kansas Citian award from the organization. (The organization later amended its name to the Native Sons and
Daughters of Greater Kansas City.)
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In Korea, we stayed in the officer’s barracks in Quonset huts. They were shaped in the
form of an “H” where the bathroom was in the bar of the H. Then there was another bar off
that bar. It was handy and close. At Fort Riley, I stayed in the basic officer’s quarters, a two-
story stone building.
Returning from the Army, I stayed at home while working for Senator Stuart Symington
in 1964. That gave me a chance to be at home after eight years of being in school and the
Army. I planted a lot of trees, and Mom had to water them when I was gone. It was a huge
yard of many acres with no irrigation. A lot of them lived and still survive today if you can
find them in our old yard.
When Nancy and I were married, we moved to Mount Vernon, Illinois, and stayed in
new apartments at 805 Harrison. It was just a block off the square. With my help, she had a
job as the secretary to the president of the Bank of Illinois, the new bank in town. She
enjoyed the experience and did a great job.
After a year and a half, we moved to 18 Northbrook in 1967. We lived there when we got
Bolivar, our Collie dog, in the countryside south of Mount Vernon.
After we had got a chance to come back to Kansas City, we found a place under
construction in Carriage Hills at 3519 NE 61st Terrace in Gladstone. Both our boys grew up
there and had a great time.
In 1981, we moved to 4040 NW Claymont Drive. The home design was done by Homer
Williams. He was the best man at our wedding, and the design was his wedding gift to us. I
took him up on his offer fifteen years later, after we were married. We have remained there.
Those are all the major places where I’ve lived, and we’ve lived as a family. I hope this
will give you a little flavor of life going from the farm to the city. I continue to plant trees
and do things outdoors. I enjoy it, and that’s me. I know Mom used to enjoy it too.
Dad moved to 3524 Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri, after their house burned in Platte
City. He grew roses there but didn’t have time to take care of them. Mom told him he needed
to stop raising roses.
Platte Purchase
One of the earliest discussions regarding the Platte
Purchase was made near Liberty by leading figures of that
era. That meeting was commemorated in a luncheon in
the State Capitol in Jefferson City. In 2013, while chair of
the Clay County Millennium Board, I oversaw a study to
determine the location of that meeting. Once the location
was identified, I was able to ensure that the Native Sons
and Daughters of Greater Kansas City placed a
permanent marker at that location.
Platte Purchase marker at the north edge of Liberty overlooking I-35 and
U.S. Highway 69.
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Playing Cards
I have been playing solitaire when we are at our home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
It reminded me that Boopoo and Gumma used to play cards often in their little dinette just
off the kitchen and the dining room, where we always ate our meals. They would often play
before dinner time. Gumma kept score and claimed she always won, but Boopoo wouldn’t
pay her. He played a lot of cards in later years at the stockyards at the Hoof and Horn Club.
When he passed away, Dad noted that he had no entries for cash in his checkbook. He had
won all his spending money by playing cards. In Korea, we used to play either poker or gin
rummy in the officer’s club on the hill, right off the “head” just to kill time. I know Dad
would play periodically, and in later years would play solitaire at the office. So, that is
where I learned cards. I haven’t played gin rummy for a long time. These are the two card
games I played – along with a little poker.
Scholarships
Our family has established several scholarships. In no particular order, there is one in
my name that Mom and Dad funded at the Metropolitan Community College Foundation.
One of the things I try to do each year is to invite the winner and his or her advisor to the
Golden Ox to have lunch and get acquainted. Dad established a scholarship at the UMKC
School of Law, where I do a similar thing each year and include the Dean. If we are in town,
I present the scholarship to the winner at the law school’s graduation ceremony. Mom and
Dad established three scholarships at Columbia College. I just added some money to them
this year. One is the Edna Chesnut scholarship, and we added Aunt Boo. Secondly, Mom
established a scholarship for Aunt Roxy, and later Aunt Louise.
Mom also established a scholarship in the name of Miss Camilla Bell Singleton, who was
her music teacher. She was only a couple of years older than Mom when they met and was
from New Orleans. I remember meeting her. Mom always remembered her with great
fondness. She used to visit at Maple Grove. They possibly doubled dated during their high
school years. After Mom’s passing in 2011, we combined all the scholarships into a
Dillingham family scholarship. They annually have a music concert in Mom’s name. I know
she would be amazed and proud.
At William Jewell, we established one for Pi (Allen Thompson).
Lastly, Mom and Dad set up a scholarship in my name at Wentworth Military Academy
several years ago. The $10,000 corpus disappeared when we were having difficulties keeping
the doors open. I was able to convince Wentworth to reestablish it nearly twenty years later,
without interest. To simplify the requirements, the recipient will be the cadet who becomes
the drum major. I set this up last year at Wentworth and had lunch with the winner in
September. I spoke and presented the scholarship in front of the Corps. I think this will
become a tradition for WMA and me. (Our Wentworth closed in 2016 -- all is history.)
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Sigma Alpha Epsilon
In 1959, during my senior year at the
University of Missouri, I pledged the Alpha
Chapter.
I had attended Wentworth Military Academy
for junior college for two years (1956-1958). As a
new junior at MU, I expected to go through rush
and be a Beta as John Cochran and my
Wentworth roommate, Tom Wainwright, had
done. I heard I was blackballed by one Beta Active
because I was a junior.
I had a dorm contract and couldn’t live in the
house as a senior when I pledged SAE in 1959 and
had to honor my dorm contract. I went to pledging
activities while living in the dorm, going over at
certain times and, fortunately, missed a lot of the
hell that goes on. Since I was in ROTC and had
gone to Wentworth, I ended up outranking the
senior officers of the house who were also in
ROTC. They knew I could impose fines, penalties,
and demerits if their shoes weren’t shined, etc.
Anyway, we had a pretty good, unspoken agreement on my pledging.
Later on, I moved into the house as a senior and was elected to be the recording
secretary. The following semester I was elected SAE President, or Eminent Archon,
following my pledge brother, Bob Dickeson. I gave up that post a little early at the end of
1962 because I was in the final months of graduate study so I could finish my master’s
thesis work at the Truman Library.
The one thing I do remember is that in my final year before I was president, my
roommate, Jim Engleman, who was our Scholastic Advisor, left for Decatur. Just before
leaving, we had our room “Hoovered” - dust all over everything. It’s amazing what an
electric sweeper, plugged in with detached bags and turned on, can do in a closed room!
We decided to enter Inter-Fraternity Sing. I rented white dinner jackets from nearby
Tiger Laundry because we couldn’t afford tuxedoes like the Betas. Unbelievably, we won the
thing. We sang Violets and some other SAE songs. The Betas’ president was halfway down
the aisle at Jesse Hall because they were always accustomed to winning the contest, but we
beat them. Our brothers stood and extended a “finger” greeting. We also had a dance band.
Clark Brown was very gifted on the steel guitar, with Steve Kopcha, who was on the
In 1987, I was appointed to fill a vacancy of a director who had resigned during his term of the
newly organized National SAE Foundation in Chicago. I served those two years and was then
nominated to serve an additional four-year term.
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saxophone. We won the Miss Mizzou contest with a Delta Sorority girl who graduated from
Christian College.
Later on, I was active in the Kansas City Alumni Association (SAE), eventually
becoming president. I was Deputy Archon to the Province Zeta, Missouri, and Kansas
chapters under John Miller. Dumont Reed was also Deputy Archon. That was at the time
the Rockhurst, Missouri Delta Chapter was created. I was on the SAE House Board at
Missouri for upwards of ten years, and in the end, I was vice president of the board. I
remember some all-night meetings and some other challenges. We had a serious fire that
destroyed the upper floor of the house. Gumma had made a needlepoint cover for the long
narrow piano bench. After the fire, I found out the guys were using the piano bench for a
weightlifting platform, so I brought the needlepoint home.
Later, in the 1980s, I was elected president and later became the Honor Man of the
Kansas City Alumni Association. In the late 80s or early 90s, I was appointed to fill a
The SAE Distinguished Service Award
Receiving the SAE’s Distinguished Service Award from Bill Chapman, the Deputy Eminent Supreme Archon.
When I was nominated to receive the Distinguished Service Citation, there were only seventy or eighty given nationally. Bill Chapman, who was the Deputy Eminent Supreme Archon from Oklahoma, decorated me. Later, Bob Dickeson, who followed me on the Foundation, also received the Distinguished Service Citation. Bob and I are the second set of pledge brothers from the same chapter to win the highest distinction awarded by SAE in its 150-year history.
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vacancy of a director who had stepped down for the first term of the newly organized
National SAE Foundation in Chicago.
Chuck Larson was our executive director and a wonderful friend. I served those two
years and then four more of my own term for six years. He nominated me for the
Distinguished Service Citation. Until that time, there were only seventy or eighty given
nationally. Bill Chapman, who was the Deputy Eminent Supreme Archon from Oklahoma,
decorated me. I have a picture of that event. Later we surprised Bob Dickeson, Brother
Whale, as we called him (I was called Brother Abie!), who followed me on the Foundation,
with a Distinguished Service Citation. He was very capable and did a great job. Other than
Ben Allen and somebody else in Ohio, Bob and I are the second set of pledge brothers from
the same chapter to win the highest distinction awarded by SAE in its 150-year history.
I also have received the Order of Minerva.
In 2006, Bob and I, along with some others, received the National Merit Key at the
150th anniversary of the founding of SAE. The presentation was made on the front porch of
Mother Chapter at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. That was a great thrill. I have
received more honors than one can imagine for someone who accidentally pledged SAE as a
senior in college and not Beta Theta Pi!
In recent years I have played a role in keeping the Kansas City Alumni Association alive
by hosting luncheons at the Golden Ox. They surprised me this year with a new national
award, Order of the Minerva, given locally. I have it on my office wall. I have been active in
the fraternity since 1959 -- for over sixty years. In 2009 I received my fifty-year certificate. It
has been a wonderful experience, and I have met a lot of great “brothers.”
I suppose I should add that Uncle Billy Woods was an SAE. I have his badge at home.
He was probably the final reason I chose Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Also, Cile Dillingham Wells
first married Granville Richart, Sheriff of Jackson County, in the 40s. Granville had gone to
M.U. and was an SAE. After a lot of effort by a lot of people, Edgar Shook encouraging
Sigma Nu and Senator Harry Darby promoting Phi Delta Theta; I picked SAE. It has been a
great opportunity to meet a lot of fine gentlemen. Of interest, the Beta Theta Pi Chapter
didn’t even rush me! Can’t say I’ve missed them, either!
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Sons of the American Revolution SAR
Thanks to genealogical research, primarily that of Ann Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, I
have at least thirty-five supplemental lines in the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).
The primary one that I started is Joshua Dillingham, who would be my fourth great-
grandfather. I do not know how many people have thirty-five or more SAR lines in Missouri.
Ann’s research also helped Nancy and Mom qualify for the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR). I mention this in part because Allen, Bill, and the grandchildren can
“piggyback” on our qualifications without all of the necessary work we’ve done in “proving”
our lineage to 1776. I have accumulated our family genealogy over the last twenty years
with the help of Ann Todd of Lexington, Kentucky, and Beverly Whittaker of Kansas City.
Also, of great help was Dona Wilson of Versailles in Woodford, County, Kentucky. I hope our
grandchildren will further this study of our family. We are the “offspring” of the previous
generation and collectively carry their talents, habits, and faults.
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
Silver Good Citizenship Medal received in 2010.
Congressman ‘Ike’ Skelton (center), and Chris Sizemore at the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the
Corum Chapter of the SAR in Liberty, Missouri.
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SAR Supplementals -- Revolutionary War Soldiers and Patriots
My primary lineage into the SAR through Joshua Dillingham of Virginia.
Approved by National Society, Sons of the American Revolution
Joshua Dillingham of Virginia (Primary) Hezekiah Rice of North Carolina
Henry Harris of Virginia Richard Oldham Sr. of Virginia
James Harris of Virginia Samuel Pepper of Virginia
Higgasson Grubbs of Virginia Jabez Tipton of Maryland
John Oldham of North Carolina John Tipton of Maryland
James Garrard of Virginia William Tipton of Virginia
William Garrard of Virginia Alexis Lemon of Maryland
John Chesnut of Virginia Alexander Woods of Virginia
William Mountjoy of Virginia Henry Goodloe of Virginia
Obediah Baber of Virginia Matthew Patton of Virginia
John Gordon, Jr. of Virginia Phillip Bush of Virginia
Randall Rountree of Virginia John Gholson of Virginia
James Wiglesworth of Virginia James Wiglesworth, Jr. of Virginia
John Damall of Virginia Robert Goodloe of Virginia
John Martin of Virginia John Vivion of Virginia
John Wilhoit of Virginia Adam Wayland of Virginia
Peter Carr of Virginia John Ford of South Carolina
John Gum of Virginia
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St. Pius High School
Around 2000, Dr. Bill Duensing, who lived across the street from us on Briar Cliff
Parkway and Claymont Drive, was on the board at St. Pius and asked for my help with
fundraising. I said sure even though I’m not Catholic, and that started a very long
relationship, especially with Mary Ann Litras, who runs their Development Department at
St. Pius.
I agreed to chair their first capital campaign. I don’t remember the amount of money
raised. Ned Carlin was the principal and has since retired. During the second campaign, I
asked Anita Gorman to join me as chairman. Anita was a Methodist. Bill Dunn, Sr. was a
Catholic. I was the third co-chairman, as the Bill Clinton “token heathen,” so we would cover
all the bases. Pius was growing and was the only private high school north of the river.
Although it is a Catholic school, I would argue it is a co-educational school with discipline.
They couldn’t do that, as they have to say St. Pius is first a Catholic high school. Everybody
north would go to Rockhurst and other places in the old days when we had Catholic families
who transferred to work for Cerner, TWA, or Farmland and other companies. They lived
south but worked north. St. Pius was started in the 1950s, and they did everything in-house.
The diocese took care of them without public funding and wasn’t involved in anything
publicly. I changed that and started getting them listed with other groups. They had to raise
money from the community as they had an asbestos problem. The school needed to build an
addition, which in the first fifty years wasn’t a problem. Athletically, they played way over
their heads size-wise. It was a real success story that they kept to themselves. It was fun to
be part of something that was a no-lose situation.
One funny story was when my picture was taken
standing behind Bishop Boland, who was the bishop
of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese. When I saw
him later on another occasion, I asked if I might have
our picture autographed. Mary Ann and some of the
ladies were standing around. The Bishop asked why I
wanted his autograph. I told him fifty or sixty years
ago growing up in the Northland, there were only two
people dressed like him – one was the “clan,” and the
other was the Pope. I told him, “Obviously, you aren’t
the first one. Folks won’t know when I tell them this
is the Pope. Your pay won’t go up any, but at least
some people will think you are the Pope, and you are
here north of the river.” The women were horrified
that I would say anything like that to Bishop Boland.
The Bishop, who seemed to be a good ole boy thirty
years ago, cracked with laughter. Nobody does that
anymore. I mentioned that because there were very
It was a pleasure to work on a project with such broad support, and an opportunity to meet many new Northlanders. It even gave
me the opportunity to share a humorous moment with the Bishop of the Kansas City –
St. Joseph Diocese.
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few Catholics in the Northland in the forties and fifties, and there were also fewer Jewish
people or African Americans. It was a Protestant, white, and good ole boy world that had
started in the 1830s. I have pictures of me and “the Pope” on my wall in the exercise room.
The friendship of Mary Ann Litras paid huge dividends, even though I didn’t do it for
that reason. She happened to be on the Council of Philanthropy gets involved in the
community. Three or four years ago, Nancy and I were the Honorees in the volunteer
category. It was a large luncheon of 1500 people. To be singled out and be awarded for a
major accomplishment in Kansas City, and it was all because of Mary Ann. You become
involved in things because it’s the right thing to do, not anticipating any reward. It wasn’t
my religion, but I thought the community needed it. I feel I have received way more payback
than I deserve. It has been a great experience. I am amazed that so many people in the area
know that I have helped them out.
One other funny story centered around when we were making calls to raise money. The
principal of Pius, Mary Ann, from the development department and I called on Bill Nelson,
who was chairman of the First National Bank (later Bank of America). I had forgotten that
Bill’s son went to Pembroke Country Day School and played football. Pembroke and Pius
were big rivals. Suddenly, Bill was very animated and asked the principal why his team
“sandwiched” his boy, who was a fullback in the recent football game. Finally, things cooled
down, and we later learned we received a generous donation of $50,000 from Bill Nelson
over five years. I saw Bill less than a week later in the food line at the River Fest that
Nancy was chairing. I thanked him for his time and told him I was curious that “If Pius
hadn’t sandwiched your boy, would you have given us $100,000?” He nearly died laughing.
Ned Carlin told me he had personally gone to the locker room and admonished the troops to
play clean, “don’t sandwich,” etc. Anyway, that was a fun time. It’s still a personal world –
will always be – you always need to think ahead about personal relationships, avoid traps,
and always concentrate on positive relationships, and forget the negative ones.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In the 1970s, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought a large parcel of
land along Highway 210, between what is now I-435 and Highway 291. The owner, James E.
Burke, had been a Pendergast lawyer and real estate developer. The real estate transaction
took place while I was chairman of the Clay County Economic Development Council.
I was in my early thirties, married, and still living in Carriage Hills. Pat Howard was
the EDC-CEO. Church leaders wanted to come to Kansas City, announce their purchase at
three or four media outlets, and then finalize the purchase. This purchase was going to
make the Church the largest landowner in Clay County, and I wanted to host a large
luncheon announcing the acquisition. After several weeks of discussion, all parties finally
agreed to announce the purchase at a luncheon. The night before, six or so of us were to
have dinner at the Kansas City International Hilton. I suggested inviting Joe Roberts of
Liberty, the real estate editor of the Kansas City Star, to join us at the dinner so he would
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have time to write an article as opposed to having a two-hour deadline following the
luncheon the next day. He attended and wrote a two-page story. The luncheon was a success
with about two hundred attendees. One of the Church members visiting Kansas City was an
Elder Howard Hunter. He announced the purchase at the luncheon. Coincidently, he later
became the president of the Church.
Approval of the land purchase occurred that Thanksgiving when all the Church leaders
were in Salt Lake City, and everything fell into place. Approval usually doesn’t happen so
quickly because so many people who travel the world have to approve it. Tony Sarver was
the primary real estate person. Over the next thirty years, Tony and I became close friends,
and he would accuse me of ‘Divine Intervention’ as I would come up with off-the-wall ideas.
He arranged for several of us, including Ed Bauman, who was our presiding commissioner,
to go to Salt Lake City and meet with Spencer W. Kimble, the president of the Church. That
doesn’t happen to the average person. Years later, Tony and I worked with others in Clay
and Platte counties to create the Alexander Doniphan Award and the Doniphan Highway.
Over the years, my relationship with the Church grew.
Decades later, I was asked to help break
ground – hold a shovel - for the new Temple of
the Church built at I-435 and Shoal Creek.
My path crossed with what is commonly
called the Mormon Church once again with
my work at Fort Leavenworth. I was a
founding member of the Command and
General Staff College Foundation. While
serving on its board, Hyrum Smith, the great-
grandson and namesake of Hyrum Smith, the
brother of Joseph Smith, served on the board
and was its president during my tenure.
In 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W.
Boggs issued an extermination order against the Mormons, who had settled in the state in
the early 1830s.
After tumultuous years in Jackson and Clay counties, the Mormons had primarily
settled in Caldwell and Davies counties. For various reasons, the governor had sent troops
to Far West, Missouri, to force the removal of the Mormons from the state and to arrest the
leaders of the Church – circumstances generally referred to as the Missouri Mormon War.
The Missouri Militia quickly surrounded the Mormons in Far West, demanding that
they leave the state and arresting the Church leaders, including Joseph Smith and his
brother Hyrum. In the course of events, General Lucas, commanding the Militia at the
The temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on I-435 at Shoal Creek Parkway.
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orders of the governor, held a mock trial of the Church leaders and found them guilty of
major crimes and ordered General Alexander Doniphan to have the leaders executed.
Doniphan refused the orders, and after heated arguments between Doniphan and Lucas,
the leaders were transferred to the Liberty Jail to be held until a civilian trial could be
convened. This story is well documented in Missouri history and the annals of the history of
Mormon Church.
Although the original Liberty Jail was torn down, the Mormons have rebuilt a Visitors
Center at the site. The Alexander Doniphan Award Committee held meetings there for
many years. Until recently, we also had our annual awards ceremony at the Visitors Center.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to work with Hyrum, through our Fort
Leavenworth connection, to possibly have Mitt Romney assist the Doniphan Committee in
recognizing former Governor Kit Bond. We were never able to make that connection come
together. Still, in 2012, Hyrum was the keynote speaker and introduced that year’s
Doniphan Award honoree, General Robert Arter, at the award ceremonies.
My involvement with the Mormon Church has had many ironies, but it’s been most
intriguing. As I told Tony Sarver, our house in Steamboat is one hundred yards south of the
Mormon church. The yard is well maintained, and the structure is beautiful.
The Mormon Temple that now stands outside of Liberty is 130 feet tall and lighted at
night. When it opened, it had 95,000 visitors before it was closed to non-Mormons. It was
interesting being a part of the historic groundbreaking in 2010. Even though I’m not active
in Church, Nancy is an Episcopalian, and I belong to Disciples of Christ, I have enjoyed
playing a role with the local Catholics and Mormons. Only in America can this happen.
The Way Things Were
In the 1950s, Dad, and Mike Flynn, who was the commission man at the stockyards,
helped pave the way in the Northland for Catholicism. They spoke highly of Mr. Cascone
when he wanted to build Cascone's on North Oak and needed a liquor license in Clay
County. Apparently, it helped.
We were all products of the Depression and maybe, more so, products of the South. Our
side lost the war, and everybody just went back to farming. The winning brought in
railroads from the East. For instance, the stockyards were owned by Charles Francis
Adams, Jr. of the Quincy Adams family of Boston. Only after the 1903 flood did the Morse
family of Chicago buy the stockyards and moved all the Fairbanks-Morris scales into
Missouri because Kansas passed a law taxing every animal weighed at the stockyards.
Union Depot in the West Bottoms was flooded, so they had to move the railroad that was
north of 12th Street. It later became Union Station on Pershing in 1914.
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The Livestock Exchange Building was built in 1910, with its one-hundredth anniversary
celebrated in 2010. The Union side had won the Civil War and prospered all over the
country. The Confederacy just melted away. I always say that winners write history, and
losers fade into history. There is a lot of truth to that regardless if it’s a basketball team or a
nation. It’s human nature only to remember the winners. However, losers have long
memories, whether it’s a school, area, or country, depending on how the “game” was played.
Human nature always “gets even” – someday or in future generations.
I liked the Blues, Kansas City's minor league baseball team. I remember taking a photo
of Vic Power, the first baseman, who made the All-Star team. I asked him to come out of the
dugout so that I could take a picture with my little Brownie camera. He was black and may
have been from Puerto Rico or Cuba. I enlarged the photo to an 8” by 10”, and I showed it to
Gumma when I got it framed. Of course, those were the days when all of my family, both
Mom and Dad’s sides, were descendants of southern sympathizers for the Confederacy.
African Americans did not live in Smithville or attend school. The town marshal would
enforce a policy that all were required to be out of town by dusk. If you were black and went
to the bank, you had to use the back door. We rarely saw black people. It was the same for
Jews and Catholics through the 1950s and well into the 1960s.
Truman Library Institute Board
I served on the Truman Library Institute Board
thanks to former Independence mayor Barbara Potts.
She was a great friend of Dad’s due to their Missouri
Department of Transportation involvement with the
highways that were built under Dad’s administration.
They both championed the widening of Highway M-
291, and possibly I-435.
Barbara had always been active on the Truman
Library Institute Board, and as head of the nominating
committee, she got me on the board. I now serve on the
executive committee and am chairman of the
nominating committee. I played a role in getting
former congressman Jim Symington on the board. His
dad, Senator Stuart Symington, was the first Secretary
of the Air Force in 1947 and was Democratic United
States Senator from Missouri from 1952 to 1976. Mr.
Symington and Mr. Truman were longtime friends.
I did my thesis work at the Library in 1962 for the
Whistle Stop Campaign of 1948. I interviewed
President Truman for my thesis. We talked about
General Douglas MacArthur and Truman’s decision to
While president of the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, I
initiated a project to commission a bronze statue of President Truman to be placed on a pedestal outside Union Station. To date we have not been able to complete the project, but a maquette of the statue
is displayed in the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City.
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drop the atom bomb instead of invading Japan, and other various subjects. Allen Thompson
first introduced me to Harry Truman in 1944. I was at Union Station with Mom and Dad.
My grandfather’s friendship with Truman went back to the late 1920s when Truman, as
presiding judge of the county court, initiated a successful road system called “The Good
Roads” movement. I was five or six years old that day when Mr. Truman returned from the
Democratic National Convention, where he received the vice-presidential nomination. Pi
asked Harry to “come over and meet my grandson.” He knelt, and I’m sure we had a brief
worldly visit.
Sixty years later, I was involved with the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas City. I
made a motion to put Mr. Truman’s statue on a pedestal that has been in front of Union
Station for almost one hundred years, with only the pigeons knowing what to with it. That
was vetoed by the historical folks who said that was one hundred years ago. Anyway, the
pedestal is a few feet from where I first met Harry Truman.
Mr. Truman came to one of the pre-wedding dinner parties that Senator and Mrs. Harry
Darby held for our families at the old Kansas City Club. We have a silver bowl in our china
cabinet with a calling card from the Trumans.
I found letters from Senator Truman to Pi in his collection of letters from the 1930s.
Allen now has Truman’s letter congratulating me on Allen’s birth in his home office. Uncle
Henry Dillingham wanted to be a United States marshal. Mr. Truman had another
candidate in mind, Fred Canfield, yet the Roosevelt administration and other folks in the
Democratic party backed Uncle Henry, contrary to Mr. Truman’s wishes. Dad thought there
were always some negative feelings there – but maybe not. Also, Uncle Clay Woods was said
to have loaned Mr. Truman money when Mrs. Truman was hospitalized for the birth of their
daughter Margaret.
Margaret’s son, Clifton Truman Daniel, is
the Honorary Chairman of the Truman
Library Institute. I found a picture of Truman
and Uncle Clay on the river inspection boat on
the Missouri River. Mrs. Truman was a Gates
family relative. Lucille Wells married Gates
Wells, and in later years, Cile would play
bridge with Mrs. Truman. Family
relationships made it fun to be a part of the
Truman relationship. Recently, Clifton
Truman Daniel, after hearing my story, said
his son is named Gates.
Serving on the Truman Library Institute Board has provided me the opportunity to support the legacy of the person to whom I have been acquainted since my childhood. As we complete this book, the Museum is
undergoing a year-long renovation. Shown in the picture is the office in the Library Truman used after
his service as president.
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We recently attended the sixtieth anniversary of Mr. Truman’s decision to go into Korea.
General David Petraeus came to speak, thanks to Ike Skelton’s invitation.
I had a ten-minute private visit with General Petraeus with Jim Bernard and Mary
Cohen about the Liberty Memorial. I have a picture of the four of us in my office. I
remember being the only student on my school bus in 1948, when I was nine years old, who
thought Mr. Truman would win. Of course, I grew up in a very partisan Democratic family,
so I’m sure I wasn’t overly objective. Anyway, I was right. Supposedly, Mrs. Truman didn’t
think he would win, either. I feel a kindred spirit to the president, and I wish we had him
back.
Waddell & Reed
I am currently on the Board of Trustees of the Advisor Funds as an Independent Trustee
for Waddell & Reed and have been since 1997. Dad was on the board from the early 1960s to
1995 for thirty plus years. He served as chairman of the nominating committee, among
other things. Joe Jack
Merriman was the head of
Waddell & Reed in those days.
He was the son of Jack
Merriman, who, as the owner
of Merriman Mortgage
Company, was at one time the
biggest customer of Commerce
Bank. He was a partner of
Boopoo in the 1930s, and they
created what is today JoDill
Corporation. It started in Holt
County, Missouri, and that is
where we ended up. Through
that relationship and
friendship, Dad was elected to the board and enjoyed it. He put Eleanor Schwartz on the
board, who was Chancellor of UMKC, and currently serves on it with me today.
Ron Richie was chairman of the board and chairman of Torchmark that owned Waddell
& Reed in the 1980s. Linda Richie Graves was Richie’s daughter. Dad put her on the board,
and she later married Bill Graves, who became Governor of Kansas, and she was First Lady.
A year or two after Dad stepped down, Ron Richie came down to the office with Keith
Tucker, who would later be chairman. He asked me if I’d have an interest in joining the
board. I said, “Yes.”
The Board of Waddell and Reed, when David Gardner was the Chairman. Dad joined the board in 1963, and I joined the board in 1996 or 1997. Dad
and I served on the board collectively for more than 50 years.
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Bill Wise, who retired shortly after that, was the head of the nominating committee at
that time and lived in the Scottsdale area. By luck, Nancy and I were taking a trip to
Phoenix, went to their house, and had an “interview.” I was later elected to the board.
Between Dad and myself, we’ve had over fifty years of board involvement. It pays well
and allows me to do other functions. It has also been a great experience, and I have met a lot
of great people. The company has grown and has been highly successful.
William Jewell
Two or three years ago, the wife of Bill’s
basketball coach, Ann Holley, passed away very
unexpectedly. Larry Holley had a tree planted with a
little marker in Ann’s memory. We went to that
ceremony, and it gave me an idea. I suggested that
Jewell create a Tree Legacy Audubon Society of
graduates who like greenery. Several years ago, a
tornado ripped through our backyard and headed
east, damaging the William Jewell campus taking
down 200 trees. I thought the Tree Legacy society
could help replace some trees. East of the President's
house, we planted a red oak. I call it a “Cardinal” Red
Oak, with a bronze cemetery marker, since I didn’t
like the markers. I saw that weren’t permanent. Our
family has a long history with William Jewell: Mr.
Lampton had a son, John, Charlotte Jane’s younger
brother, who graduated from William Jewell in 1859
in philosophy. This was perhaps the maybe the fourth
graduating class of five to ten people. He went on to
practice law in Richmond and thought there would be
a connection with Doniphan since he was a lawyer
there after the war. He is on the plaque.
Allen Thompson attended William Jewell in the
mid-1880s. I can’t find records of either of his
brothers or cousin Buford, whom I had always heard
attended William Jewell, but there wasn't a record of
that. Pi never graduated because he had to return
home to help his father with the herd. That would have been from 1886 to 1887.
Kemp M. Woods III was in the first class of the recipients of the Yates Medallion award
and was the first and only alumnus to be honored that year as a graduate thirty years ago.
Later, Dad received the same recognition and was on stage with the great opera tenor
After finishing his freshman year of college at Wentworth Military Academy, Bill
attended William Jewell his final three-years. While at Jewell he played on the
basketball team at three Final Four NAIA tournaments, and was president of the
Kappa Alpha fraternity. Today he is chapter advisor. (Bill’s time at Wentworth was cut
short when the Board, of which I was a member, discontinued the Basketball
program for budgetary reasons.)
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Luciano Pavarotti. The rumor was that President Gordon Kingsley seated them on opposite
sides of the stage to balance their weight.
I put Dad’s name on the marker, and then I received the same achievement award
around 2000. There are three in our family who are recipients of the Yates Medallion. Nancy
and Patty Garney had gone to Africa that year for the first time and missed the festivities.
A few years ago, William Jewell College made me an Honorary Alumnus. Coach Larry
Holley played a role in that. There are six of us serving, with Bill being the last one. He
graduated in 1997. He did very well and went to three final fours in NAIA basketball. We
went to two of their games in Nampa, Idaho. He was president of the KA House and now is
chapter advisor. He had a great college experience and still has a lot of close fraternity
brothers and teammates who played under Coach Holley. Out of the six people on this
plaque, I am hoping others will achieve similar recognition. Dad and I are a small group of
father and son honorees.
Jay, at the White House, standing in the rear near the open door, with President Eisenhower in the Rose Garden in the mid-1950s.
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Book 5 | Cemetery Visits (Originally dictated by John Dillingham in August 2011 and transcribed that same year)
The tradition of past generations has been for living families to honor past family
members at Memorial Day, Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries. I started going with
Mom to the Second Creek and Smithville cemeteries in the early 1950s.
In recent years, I’ve become involved in family history and gotten to “know” many of
these folks. Including Nancy’s side of the family, we go to six cemeteries, and I take thirty-
plus geranium plants. I water them and leave them at the gravesite for a week. We bring
them home and plant them in a single flower bed at the northeast corner of our house. At
Christmas, we place wreaths on the graves.
This is written as part of a series of books sharing the history of our family. Thanks to
their hard work, personal sacrifices, and a little good luck by those who came before us, we
have benefited from their investments and effort. The least we can do is to recognize who
they were and to say thanks in our own way.
John visiting the gravesite of Kemp M. and Sara Jane Woods at the Woods family cemetery located on the original Woods
farm south of Smithville. That farm and other properties, now in Platte County, were settled shortly after the Platte Purchase extended the state of Missouri boundary to the Missouri River.
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Nancy’s Family Cemetery Visits
Highland Park Cemetery
Kansas City, Kansas, near I-635 and State Avenue.
• Jack and Helen Jane Dear, Nancy’s step-father and mother. Helen Jane died in 2007
at the age of ninety. Jack died in 1996. We put a flag on his grave in recognition of
his service in World War II.
• Joseph and Gracie Dear, the parents of Jack Dear, Nancy’s stepfather. I did not know
either of them, but we put a small flower on their graves.
The tombstones of Helen Jane Dear and Jack Dear, Nancy’s mother and stepfather.
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• Roy A. Edwards, Sr., and his wife Bertha
were Nancy’s maternal grandparents.
Roy died in 1975 when Bill was only a
year old. He always called Allen
“partner.” Bertha, whom I often called
“other momma,” died in 1966, shortly
after Nancy and I moved to Mount
Vernon, Illinois. She was the first of the
family to pass after we were married.
“Papa,” as Nancy called Roy, was the
president and later chairman of the board
of Rudy Patrick Seed Company. His son,
Roy Jr., became president and hired me for my first job after I left the Army. Roy, Jr.
became the son-in-law of Senator Harry Darby when he married Joan Darby. Joan
Edwards, Roy, Jr.’s wife, lived into her early nineties.
• Roy A. Edwards, Jr. was Helen Jane’s younger brother. We put a small flower and a
flag on his grave for his military service. Roy, president of Rudy Patrick Seed
Company, was my first boss.
• Harold and Virginia Harding. Virginia was Helen Jane’s older sister and husband.
Uncle Harold died in 1974 shortly before my son, Bill’s birth. Virginia, “Ninna,” died
in 1999. They played a big role in Nancy’s life after she lost her father in 1945. We
visited with them frequently, and they were included in all of our family events.
Oak Grove Cemetery
Kansas City, Kansas, which is on Third Street, north of Quindaro, a couple of blocks, probably the original city cemetery. (When we pull into the right, almost in front of you, on
the left, are the Francis Millers, just as you go around to the right and to the east. There are five Millers here with a big Miller stone.)
• Nancy Jane Knepp Miller. Nancy’s great-grandmother and namesake. She was born
in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and died in 1926.
• Irwin and Myrtle Moyer, “Aunt Myr,” sister of Bertha Miller Edwards and Nancy’s
grandmother. Aunt Myr and Uncle Irwin’s house was on State Avenue north of the
Brotherhood Building that Roy Edwards, Sr. purchased and turned into a parking
lot.
The monument marking the tombstones for Roy Edwards, Sr., and his wife Bertha. Another nearby monument marks the burial place of his son and
daughter-in-law, Roy Edwards, Jr.
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If you continue to follow the road to the north and west around the bend to about the fourth
row, there is the monument and tombstones for Nancy’s biological father’s family.
• William Houston Abbott was Nancy’s father. He died as a Navy Lieutenant Junior
Grade at sea July 15, 1945, near Manila on the naval ship Louis S. Dyke. The Dyke,
an ammunition ship, was attacked by a Japanese Kamikaze airplane. Nancy was
only four at the time her father was killed. William was born on July 18, 1909, one
day after my mother was born.
• Emma Bigger Abbott, William’s mother, is next to him. Several years ago, when the
family went to San Diego, California, we visited where his father, Harry Abbott, is
buried. He is in the Naval Cemetery at Point Loma overlooking the Bay in San Diego.
He moved there after divorcing Emma. They were Nancy’s paternal grandparents.
• Margaret Drought, Emma’s sister, is next to her. She died in 1947.
• Tom and Stella Bigger were Nancy’s great-aunt and uncle. He was born in 1877 and
died in 1948. She was born in 1901 and died in 1980. We remember her very well.
• William and Grace Bigger, Nancy’s great-grandparents. William died in 1917 and
Grace in 1932.
The family monument and plot for Nancy’s father, William Abbott, and other Abbott and Bigger family members.
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John’s Family Cemetery Visits
Mount Moriah
Highway 169 at 108th Street
• Kemp Minor III and Mary Woods. The boys called them “Mi” and “Ta.” She was Mary
Dillingham, a first cousin to Dad, and Kemp was a first cousin to Mom. Bill’s middle
name is Kemp, a name with a long history in the Woods family.
Platte City Cemetery
Platte City, Missouri, north of the courthouse
• Lucille Dillingham Wells, “Cile.” She was Uncle Henry and Aunt June’s oldest
daughter, and Mi’s sister, and a first cousin of Dad. She was born in 1904 and died in
1996. The grave is located on the east side, west of Circle Drive.
• Governor Guy B. Park and Mrs. Park and their daughter, Henrietta. Although not
directly related, we have placed flowers on this grave for years. Henrietta was in
Mom and Dad’s wedding in 1935. Mom had been in Henrietta’s wedding at the
Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City when Governor Park brought Henrietta down
the big staircase in the mansion in 1933 to marry John Marvin Krause.
My Grandfather, Allen Thompson, was Governor Park’s Chief of Staff and later first
Old Age Assistance Commissioner for the State of Missouri in 1933 and 1935.
Monuments for the Chesnut and Dillingham families including the tombstones of David and Maggie Chesnut as well as Joe and Edna Dillingham in the Platte City Cemetery.
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Governor Park was nominated to the Democratic ticket when Frances M. Wilson, a
former law partner and Democratic nominee for governor, died unexpectedly six
weeks before the election. The election was in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt was
elected president for the first time.
Governor Park was probably a third cousin. He used to refer to Uncle Henry
Dillingham as “cuz.” Henry H. Dillingham, the father of Elihu or my third great-
grandfather, married Charity Park. That was how we all were related.
Charity’s father, John, and grandfather, Ebenezer Park, and perhaps other relatives,
were found buried with family members near Richmond, Kentucky, Madison County.
• Henry and June Dillingham. Henry was the oldest son of Sheriff John and was my
grandfather Boopoo’s oldest brother. He is buried to the north and a little west of
Governor Park. Henry was born in 1877 and died in 1948 very shortly after Mary,
and Kemp Woods were married-- the first wedding I attended as a child. Aunt June
died in 1959. We used to go to Platte City, and she would always have cookies for us
and other good things to eat. We saw her with some degree of regularity when I was
in high school and later in college.
• William and Bess Dillingham, my great-uncle and aunt. They didn’t have children.
Uncle Bill was born in 1879 and died in 1959. He was a stockman selling cattle and
hogs at the stockyards. He was a great trader, very strong but not a big man. Aunt
Bess died in 1948. I don’t remember her at all. All the boys lost their mom and dad
at a very early age, teenagers or less, and turned out to be successful citizens.
Uncle Henry, the oldest, was only twenty-three when his dad was shot.
Uncle Bill’s “office” was below the courthouse on 2nd Street, to the west, on Main
Street in Platte City. His house was south of Highway 92 on 4th Street on the west
side of the road. It was a one-story bungalow.
Uncle Henry was north of the highway. The Dillingham house on the hill was on
the northeast corner of the intersection. Now it is an apartment building, but there
is a weathered sign out front. Across the street, west from Uncle Henry’s, was a
little one-story bungalow, the second house from the corner, where Aunt Jennie
(unmarried younger sister to John Henry Dillingham) lived. She died in December
1960 at ninety years of age. She was their aunt and Sheriff John’s little sister.
Our picture was taken together with my great-great-aunt Mary Jane “Jennie”
Dillingham at Mi and Kemp’s wedding in 1948. She taught piano. She was crippled
from polio and never married. We saw all of these relatives quite often.
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On the west side of the cemetery on 3rd Street at Lilly Drive. You will come up to a circle around some spirea. I always stop there to deliver the rest of the geraniums or wreaths in
Platte City.
• Edna and Joseph B. Dillingham, my grandparents. The first gravesites you see. I
always called them “Gumma” and “Boopoo” from my childhood. She was born in 1887
and died in 1968, just a year and a half after Boopoo passed. He was born in 1883
and died in 1966 when we lived in Mount Vernon, Illinois. We spent a lot of time with
them, and they were just wonderful to me.
• David and Maggie Chesnut, parents of my Grandmother Edna, are buried next to
Edna and Joseph. He was presiding judge in Platte County for eight years and later
served in the Missouri legislature in the early 1900s. He was born in 1857 and died
in 1922. Maggie Dye Chesnut was born in Weston in 1868 and died in 1948.
• Elizabeth Chesnut Farnworth, Aunt “Boo,” was my Grandmother Gumma’s little
sister. She was born in 1888 and died in 1971. She and Gumma went to Christian
College. She gave us the chair that sits in our bedroom.
• The grave of Ella Morton Chesnut, the first wife of David Chesnut, is located to the
immediate south of Elizabeth, marked with a white limestone stone eroding from the
weather. Ella died after the birth of their son, Pryor, who managed the Chamber of
Commerce in Fargo, South Dakota. I don’t remember him, but Dad always liked him.
Her husband, David, married Maggie Dye, following Ella’s death.
• The graves of William and Lucinda Garrard Chesnut are located to the west of Ella
Chesnut. They are my great-great-grandparents and Gumma’s grandparents. He
was presiding judge of the Platte County Court in the 1880s. He was a Confederate
officer during the Civil War. His wife, Lucinda Garrard, was a granddaughter of
Governor James Garrard, the second Governor of Kentucky. William and Lucinda
The tombstones of my paternal grandparents, Joseph and Edna Dillingham.
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married on November 2, 1847, in Laurel County, Kentucky. We have large oil
paintings of both of them. I have been in Governor Garrard’s house at Mt. Lebanon,
near Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Lucinda was a favorite of Gummas. She died
in 1894 when Gumma was seven years old. Gumma remembered her grandmother
very well and had her oil painting over the mantle in her home.
• The grave of Edward S. Dillingham, Uncle Dude, is located down the hill to the
north. He was born in 1887 and died in 1969. He is the grandfather of Ed and Dick
Douglas of Chillicothe. Their mother was Dorothy June Douglas. Dorothy was Dad’s
first cousin, who was ten years younger. I don’t remember Edward’s wife, Nancy Lou
Miller, but they had a little daughter, whose tombstone is in between theirs, named
Mabel Mae, 1915 to 1919. I have a picture that Dorothy June gave me of Mable Mae
with her Grandfather Elihu Dillingham holding her in about 1916. Dorothy June
died on November 10, 2011, at the age of ninety-two. They lived in St. Joseph, where
Uncle Dude operated the Dill Wood Buick Agency at 1701 Frederick. Dorothy died
one day after my mother’s funeral.
• Francis Marion (F.M.) and Sarah Reynolds Oldham are another set of great-great-
grandparents. Francis was born in 1830 and died in 1904. His wife, Sarah Reynolds,
was born in 1835 and died in 1915. Their tombstone is directly behind Uncle Dudes.
Their daughter, Anna, married Sheriff John Dillingham. She was the mother of
Uncle Dude’s mother, as well as to Boopoo, Uncle Bill, Uncle Henry, Bessie, and
Cleland.
• Zollie Jones. His grave is next to Francis and Sarah Oldham. Zollie’s wife was Anna’s
sister. Zollie and his wife were court-appointed guardians of Boopoo and his siblings.
Four of the children were under twenty-one when both parents died.
• About twenty yards to the east are Elihu
Park Dillingham, Sr. and Mary Jane White
Dillingham, my great-great-grandparents.
They are buried next to Aunt Jennie. Elihu
came from Kentucky in 1854 and lived in
Clay County north of Liberty near an older
sister, Elizabeth Keller, before moving to
Platte County in 1858. Elizabeth is buried
in the Fairview Cemetery in Liberty.
Elihu had several children who survived.
One, William Joseph, a Commission Man at
the Stockyards, was born in 1855 and died
The tombstone of my paternal great-great-grandparents, Elihu and Mary Jane Dillingham.
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in 1905. He was a character, from what I heard. He never married, and granddad
claimed, incorrectly, that he burned up in a “cat house” in St. Joseph.
William may have had a son, Charles Dillingham, who owned the property where
Zona Rosa is now located. Charles’ mother is not known, but Uncle Dude legally
“vouched for” him. Dorothy June had never heard this story. Did Uncle Dude know
him? He must have if he signed the official document.
In a meeting I was chairing of the Kansas City Municipal Assistance Corporation,
held in the City Hall in downtown Kansas City, I had to disclose this story when
Zona Rosa applied for bonds.
• West of Elihu is his son, Sheriff John Henry, and his wife, Anna Oldham Dillingham.
He died in August 1900 in Farley after being shot by Dr. Harrington. He was born in
1855 southeast of Richmond, Kentucky, on grounds I
believe to now be the Federal Bluegrass Army Depot.
His wife, Anna Oldham, died in 1891 at age thirty-
four. We have a charcoal drawing of “Annie” upstairs
in our home.
Uncle Dude was four years old, and his older
brothers were teenagers when their mother passed.
Nine years later, they lost their father. One of the
boys, Uncle Henry, was a deputy sheriff, aged
twenty-three. He completed the final two years of his
dad’s term as Platte County Sheriff. His siblings were
teenagers and had to fend for themselves.
One son, John Cleland, was born in 1880 and died in
1906. I’m not sure of the cause of death, but he was
only twenty-six years old when he died, unmarried. Bessie, the only girl, was born in
1885 and died in 1923, unmarried. Dad would have known her because he would
have been thirteen years of age when she died. It was a real tragedy, but the
remaining boys survived and did very well.
• Rebecca Reynolds, the mother of Mrs. F.M. Oldham, is buried south of Elihu. Her
headstone is in the form of a vertical marble log, approximately one foot wide and
three feet tall. She died in 1890 and was eighty-one years of age. Her burial site is
located behind the four columns of the Smith family, right next to the Jenkins about
thirty feet from William McClung Paxton. Nobody knows anything about her, but she
would be a great-great-great-grandmother of mine. Her husband died in Kentucky.
Tombstone of John H. Dillingham.
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A trip to the Platte City Cemetery is a trip down a large part of our family tree – with family name not only of the Dillinghams, but the Millers, Jones, Oldhams, Chesnuts and many more. The Dillingham tombstone in this photo marks
the gravesite of Uncle Dude and Aunt Nanny Dillingham.
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Smithville IOOF Cemetery
On the west side of 169 Highway, north of the Little Platte River
• Kemp M. Woods, Jr. (1847-1912), and Lilly Wiglesworth Woods (1859-1943), my
maternal great-grandparents, are buried next to the flagpole. They were married in
Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1876. They were Froncie’s parents and Mom’s
grandparents. We had our pictures taken at their home at Woodland and 169
Highway and 132nd Street, between Smithville and Nashua, with Mom and
Grandmother Lilly in 1943 just before she died. I was only four years old. She
became a “step-mother” to my Mom after Froncie died in 1933 until their September
1935 wedding. In later years she may have lived in Maple Grove.
Mom used to take flowers to the Ristine and Ecton graves over on the northwest
side, but I’ve stopped doing that. They were great friends of Froncie’s, and the Ectons
were perhaps close friends of the Woods. They had a little place on East Highway 92
that is called Ectonville.
Other Woods family members buried nearby are half-brothers of Kemp Woods Sr.
(who is buried at Woodland). He lost his wife when Kemp, Jr. was born in 1847. He
remarried to Sarah Hamilton, the mother of the younger children.
The Woods monument in the family plot at the Smithville Cemetery.
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Second Creek Cemetery
Second Creek Cemetery is east of the River of Life Church and behind the old Second Creek Church on Cookingham Drive (old 71 Bypass), Platte County, east of Linkville. There are
three family areas in Second Creek Cemetery, all on Mom’s side, the Thompsons and Lamptons. The original entrance to the cemetery was on the northwest corner of the
cemetery. It was the original road before Cookingham Drive was constructed. You’ll see a hedgerow on the north off of Robinhood Road.
• Jay B. and Frances Dillingham. Jay
was born March 8, 1910, and died on
August 13, 2007. Mom died on
November 5, 2011. Her footstone is
next to Dad’s. We planted some
peonies on her grave. Other than the
weed eater getting one of them, most
have lived.
• Clay and Addie Roxy “Aunt Roxy”
Thompson Woods. Clay Woods is not
related to the Kemp Woods family.
Aunt Roxy was the little sister of
Allen Thompson, my grandfather.
She was thirteen years younger than
The entry to the Second Creek Cemetery.
The Dillingham monument marking the gravesite of Mom and Dad in the Second Creek Cemetery.
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Allen. She was born at Maple Grove. They lived next door (half a mile to the west)
and built a house in what they called Locust Wood Farms that was the home site of
the Lamptons, and where her parents married in September 1858.
• Billy Woods (William Clay Jr.), Aunt Roxy’s son, died in 1945 during War World II in
El Paso of a stroke. I put a flag beside his stone.
• Allen Melvin and Froncie Woods Thompson were my maternal grandparents. Allen
was born on July 27, 1869, and died on December 18, 1946. Froncie Woods was born
in 1880 and died a young age in May 1933. They bought an untested cow with Malta
fever, and the disease was passed along to Froncie. Mom was twenty-three, and Aunt
Louise was nineteen when their mother died.
• Froncie was the daughter of Kemp Woods, Jr., of Smithville, and attended
Georgetown College in Kentucky. Reportedly, she was engaged to J.C. Penney for one
day until her parents found out when attending a Christian College event in Camden
Point, the home of her great-grandparents, Phineas and Polly Skinner.
• Louise Thompson, Mom’s younger sister, was born in 1913 and died in 1994. She
never married, although she had many “beaus” and, in later years, spent most of her
time in New York and then in Miami, Florida.
• Buford and Margaret Thompson are across the roadway to the north. Buford was the
only son of Wilkerson B, the older brother of Allen. Wilk was born in 1859 and died in
1924. Cousin Buford was born in 1899 and died in 1971. Dad bought their farm that
is now Dillingham Enterprises.
• Wilk and Sally Thompson, whose home was on the southwest corner of Cookingham
and North Platte Purchase Drive. Bill and Keri built on there in 2017. This is where
cousin Buford grew up and later lived with cousin Margaret. The land was initially
purchased by Benjamin Lampton in 1843, the first year that individuals could
purchase land in their name after the Platte Purchase.
• John Buford Thompson, Allen Thompson’s second oldest brother, was born in 1861
and never married. When he died in 1911, he left my mom $500 for a piano when she
was only two years old.
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• Benjamin and Mahala Baber Lampton. They were
originally buried on the farm where Aunt Roxy lived. I
have his original tombstone next to our garage. He was
born in 1802 and died in February 1866. His wife,
Mahala Baber, died in 1895.
We have their oil portraits. Aunt Roxy had her
grandmother’s painting over her mantel. After Aunt
Roxy died, we found both paintings and had them
restored. They both hung in Mom’s living room until her
death.
Twenty-nine years after Benjamin’s death, Mahala died.
By that time, the Second Creek Cemetery had been
established, and they removed Benjamin’s remains from
the farm and buried both of them at Second Creek.
Aunt Box told a story that during the Civil War, Union troops would come by looking for her father, Isaac. Charlotte Jane was horrified when her little sons, Wilk and
John Buford, would start singing “Dixie.” Supposedly, she hid them under the bed!
Another story she often told was that her grandfather, Benjamin, served in the Missouri Legislature, representing Clay County from 1858 to 1860, just before the Civil War. He had won the election defeating his neighbor and friend, Major John
Dougherty, whose property is now Staley Farms.
Aunt Roxy would have been twelve or thirteen when her brothers dug Benjamin up in 1895. They put him in a wagon and raced to the cemetery on their horses with her older brothers. “They almost bounced grandpa out of the wagon to get him to Second Creek,” she said. I also have at home the small tombstone of Mary, their daughter,
who died in 1850 when she was forty days old.
• John Albert Thompson, Isaac’s older brother, was born in 1827 in Montgomery
County, Kentucky, and died here in 1892. He lived in the back of the original
Thompson home and never married. Charlotte Jane lived there when Isaac Buford
Thompson was at war. John raised Uncle Pete West, Norris West’s father. Mary Bell
West and William West are buried here. Mary Bell was Isaac Thompson’s sister. I
recently found another sister, Matilda Thompson Purdy, and her little daughter, just
west of Benjamin Lampton.
• Isaac Buford and Charlotte Jane Lampton Thompson were my great-grandparents.
Isaac was born in 1828 and died in 1904. He fought in four battles of the Civil War,
was a Clay County administrative judge, and later served in the legislature for two
Tombstone of Benjamin Lampton, my great-
great-grandfather.
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terms. He was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee for the State of
Missouri in 1899. His son, Allen Melvin, served as a page during a term in the early
1880s.
Charlotte Jane died in 1919 and was one of Mom’s favorites. Mom would have only
been ten years old when Charlotte died, but she remembered her.
• Vanda Thompson, 1876-1878. Aunt Roxy’s older sister, who died when she was two
years old. She may have been born at Maple Grove. Aunt Roxy was born in 1882,
four years later.
• Joseph Woodson Thompson. A brother of Isaac. I don’t know much about him. I am
still researching him. He was born in Kentucky in 1834 and died in 1865 at thirty-
one years old. Perhaps he was involved in the Civil War. Beside him are two children
of the West family that I don’t know.
• The graves of John Hedges and Mary Thompson are to the far north of the West
stone. My great-great-grandparents came back from Jessamine County, Kentucky,
around the time of the Civil War in 1865 and lived at their son’s home for a while.
John died in 1887 when he was eighty-nine years old. His wife, Mary, died in 1880.
The picture we have of the old house, later Maple Grove, in Mom’s bedroom shows
John Hedges Thompson living there shortly before he died.
There are other Lamptons and relatives located here, such as Benjamin Lampton’s
younger brother, Beverly, David Link, Matilda Lampton, and her family. These were all
sisters of Charlotte Jane. They were buried in this same area. Lying to the north and
slightly west of John Hedges Thompson is Beverly Lampton. He was the younger brother
and died in 1865. He was only forty-two years old, maybe younger. He stayed in Cooper
County south of Booneville, Missouri, where the family settled to manage their affairs when
Benjamin sailed on the Missouri River to Clay County. Their mother is buried someplace in
Cooper County. I tried unsuccessfully to find her grave south of Boonville, where the
Lamptons are buried.
Benjamin and Mahala lived on what is now North Platte Purchase Drive. The Lampton
house was at the very north end as they traveled to Barry to get the mail, and to
Leavenworth for groceries. The Clay/Platte County line was the state line when they came
here in 1832. The west edge of their farm and the Lampton cemetery were between that line
and the house. It didn’t become the Clay/Platte County Line of Missouri until 1839.
Ten years ago, I was able to change Baughman Road to Platte Purchase Road, even
though technically, it is the old state line. (Which brings up a question, why isn’t Platte
Purchase Road a straight-line Road, since it was once the western border of Missouri.)
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Aunt Roxy told me that her father was involved with the line project when he was in the legislature in the late 1800s. In 1842, Mr. Lampton and Major John Dougherty were
appointed by the Clay County court as road overseers on what is today Cookingham Drive. Mr. Lampton bought Cousin Buford’s land in 1843, which was the first year that buyers could purchase land following the Platte Purchase. Bill and Keri built a new home on the land that was first purchased by his great-great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Lampton.
Notes on Other Family Burial Sites
Kemp M. Woods, Sr. (1815-1897) and his first wife, Sarah Skinner, born in 1813 in
Kentucky, were married in 1842 and died in 1897. They are buried in the pasture in a
family- fenced cemetery. Kemp’s mother, my great (3) grandmother, Caty Goodloe Woods
(1777- ca. 1850), is buried there. Captain Woods was banished after the Civil War, along
with the family of Jesse James. He owned perhaps as much as three thousand acres of land
before the Civil War. Reportedly, he made his money by driving mules to St. Louis under a
contract from Fort Leavenworth. He was on the building committee in 1848 for the First
Christian Church in Smithville. Trustees for the newly proposed Baptist college in Liberty
asked him to help back in 1849. William Jewell College’s founding Trustee was Alexander
Doniphan, a member of the Disciples of Christ Church in Liberty.
The tombstone of Sarah Hamilton Woods (2nd wife) and Kemp M. Woods, Sr. in the private family cemetery north of Smithville on 132 St. west of Highway 169.
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A phone call from Shirly Kimsey in Platte City on
October 30, 2010 – my grandson Lucas’s third birthday,
informed me about the grave of great (3) grandparents,
Phineas Skinner (1801-1856) and Polly Patton (1805-
1878) in Camden Point. Phineas’s farm was several
miles east of I-29. There was also a grave of their oldest
grandson, Phineas. Skinner Woods, four years older
than his brother, Kemp M. Woods, Jr., who was
ambushed and killed during the Civil War after a
picnic at his grandmother’s farm. The tombstones are
in good shape, and I re-erected all of them.
Near Weston, Platte County, Missouri are my great-grandparents, James A. Dye (1834-
1925) and Lucy J. Guthrie (1840 – 1882). He was a Confederate officer. I have a document
promoting him to First Lieutenant almost 100 years ago before I had the same promotion in
January 1964. They are buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery north of Weston. Dad
remembers him standing on his head for his ninetieth birthday.
According to records, my great-great-great grandparents, John Dye (1799-1874) and
Parthenia Frances Gow (1800-1866) are buried north of Weston (near Dye Store) in Moore
Cemetery. I’ve been there but haven’t verified the location of their graves in the pasture
behind a mammoth red granite stone.
William Guthrie (1784-1853) and Mary Yates (died in 1851) are also my great-great-
grandparents. They are somewhere in the Weston area but must be buried on their farm,
which I haven’t located.
Near Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky, Mary Jane White’s (Elihu’s wife’s) parents
are buried in Estill County to the east, as are her grandparents, James Grubbs (1784-1828)
and Mary Oldham (1791-1839). The Dillingham home is now taken by the Federal
Bluegrass Army Depot. I have driven in the area.
Tabitha Taylor Lampton (1770-1842) died in Cooper County near Boonville, Missouri. I
visited the area with few results in 2011. Her son, Benjamin, moved to Clay County. His
brother, Beverly, stayed in Cooper County to help the family before coming to Missouri. Her
husband, John Lampton, Sr. (1766-1827) in Clark County, Kentucky, was the brother of
Mark Twain’s grandfather. His was mother was Jane Lampton, first cousin to Benjamin.
Someplace in northern Platte County is the gravesite of Isham Baber (1785-1862) and
Eliz Gordon (1792-1862). They were in-laws of Benjamin Lampton. Mahala had a brother,
Randall Baber, who was near New Market, north of Platte City. They are buried in Platte
County (SW Quarter of Section 3, T53, R35), but I have not found the location of their
graves. I have located their farm on a map, but to date, I haven’t driven there.
A video of John’s visit to the Phineas Skinner gravesite is available at the online
resources, www.DillinghamBook.com.
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I’ve mentioned Lucinda Garrard Chesnut. I visited her grandparents’ home in 2004
“Mount Lebanon,” four miles south of Paris in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Governor James
Garrard (1748-1822) and Elizabeth Mountjoy (1751-1832) lived here when Garrard was
Kentucky’s second governor. Both are buried at their homesite, which was built in 1795.
They are my great (4) grandparents.
Henry Harris Dillingham (1791-1851) and Charity Park (1793-1831) are my great (3)
grandparents. I visited their graves several times and most recently in 2006 at Red Hill
Cemetery, Panola, Madison County, Kentucky. They are the parents of Elihu (tenth child).
Their son, Henry, and family are buried in Richmond Cemetery in Richmond, Kentucky. Her
parents, John Park (1773-1828) and Mary (Polly) Peeler, are buried in Estill County,
Kentucky. Her grandparents, Ebenezer Park (1747-1839) and Tabitha Mills (1753-1826), are
buried near Drowning Creek in Madison County. I understand his grave was found several
years ago – my great (5) grandfather.
Higgason Grubbs (1740-1830) and Lucy Harris (1745-1830) are in Fort Boonesboro,
Kentucky, on the Kentucky River in Madison County. His sister, Anna Grubbs, married
Squire Boone, a Baptist preacher, who was either related to Daniel Boone and a
predecessor, I presume, of Congressman Ike Skelton. Higgason Grubbs is my great (5)
grandfather. I am not sure of his grave location. George Boone, my great (8th) grandfather,
supposedly, is the older brother of Daniel Boone.
Lilly Wiglesworth Woods (1859-1943), the mother of Froncie, was born in Woodford
County, Kentucky, and married there in 1876. Her parents, William Thompson (1822-1893)
and Mary Frances Goodloe (1838-1905), are buried in Lexington, Kentucky Cemetery.
Froncie would visit her grandparents when attending Georgetown College around 1900.
They are the only set of my great-great-grandparents not buried in Clay or Platte counties.
Mary Frances’ parents, Henry Goodloe (1800-1866) and Frances Eliza Monett (1810-
1892) are buried in Mount Vernon Baptist Church Cemetery on the border road of Woodford
County and Fayette County. I have been there. They are my great (3) grandparents. I
visited their home place in 2005 and saw the family cemetery where the headstone (in the
hog lot) had M.M. for Mary Wayland Monet (my great (4) grandmother) buried at Goodloe
Cemetery. Living there now is Winston Carl, whose home is on Paynes Mill Road. I took
pictures. Mom had M.M. engraved on the handle of the sterling silver ladle. It has been
handed down to the oldest direct female relative and engraved with her initials.
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Book 6 | NSDKC Oral History Project
Dictated for the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City
(Original video available at www.DillinghamBook.com)
Narrator: John Dillingham
Date: June 6, 2012
Transcribed by Teresa Bergen
[Begin Recording.]
This is John Dillingham. Today is the sixth of June in 2012. Seems like this is the
anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy, where Nancy and I visited several years
ago, which was a great experience. Today I want to talk about our family tree. And the
occasion follows my speaking to the Clay County Historical Society annual get together last
Sunday at Mount Gilead Church, which is on Plattsburg Road, north of 92 Highway west of
Kearney and about a mile north or so. We had been there before with the Clay County
Historical Millennium Board, of which I chair. So, they had kind of a silent auction, a church
service, and in this old church, it must be the 1830s or 1840s when it was constructed. An
outdoor barbecue, so to speak. Sandwiches, and so forth.
And then I gave the remarks. And I didn’t realize it
was their annual get together. But anyway, it was. And
they asked me to talk about our family heritage in Clay
County. And I told them I wanted to branch it into
Platte County as well.
I had three pieces of paper that Beverly Whitaker,
who helps me with my family historical digging out of
information, I handed out three pieces of paper. One, a
pedigree chart that is most current. Not totally accurate, but anyway, a start, featuring six
generations of our family collectively. And you have to keep in mind while this is really done
for our grandchildren, Allie and Mollie, Lucas, Jack and Lily, in their case, what I’m doing
today is only one-fourth of who they are. And hopefully, one of them will have an interest in
filling in the blanks. And of course, Allie and Mollie’s will be different than Jack and Lucas
and Lily.
The second sheet I’ll refer to quite a bit as we go along, and I handed this out, is a pie
chart, a half a pie showing five generations and not six. That way, the print, the dates were
bigger. And I used color so we could follow along and it could make some sense.
A video of this presentation is available at the online resources,
www.Dillinghambook.com.
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And then the last sheet will be the nine counties in Kentucky that are mainly around
Lexington and the bluegrass, as it’s called, and the various families that came from one of
those counties, such as Madison County to the south, which Richmond is the county seat.
There are six families, or eight or nine or ten, depending on how you look at it, that came
from that area. And while Bourbon County had just the Garrards and Mountjoys, which
Paris is the capital, county seat of that. But anyway, it will give you a feel.
I’ve been very, very lucky in that this work over the last, let’s say, twenty-plus years
really is simple in the respect compared to other families in that it comes from Virginia,
mainly, especially to Kentucky and then before the Civil War in the 1830s or so, migrating
to Clay or Platte County in Missouri.
It’s interesting on the pie chart that of the five generations listed in the various four
colors, other than the Wiglesworth on the very bottom, in the yellow, everybody else is
buried in Clay or Platte County. Every one of them. Plus, some others.
I’m going to start now on the chart. And the first will be the Dillingham side. Of course,
being a surname, that may be the one that has been of greatest interest. And I’m going to
refer to a family tree series of eighty-three pages that Ann Todd in Lexington, Kentucky,
and Beverly helped fill in.
The first Dillingham arrived in Maryland, near Annapolis, in the Chesapeake Bay. And
his name was Robert. And I have been physically there. They landed in Anne Arundel
County in Maryland. And I think there were two Roberts. I found that Robert, Jr. had two
boys. Maybe one was Robert, and another one was William, which is our line. And there’s an
Early family tree developed by John.
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All Hallows parish church which I’ve been to which probably was a part of the Church of
England before the Revolutionary War. And their names are recorded there.
I think he was born in 1714. And he got into some problems, the French and Indian War,
which was in the 1750s. And several, I guess, English soldiers maybe arrested a bunch of
colonists. Anyway, William got off, or perhaps he didn’t.
But anyway, the next thing we heard about him, he and his family show up in southern
Virginia, in Henry County. I think it’s on Highway 58. And we do have an old family coin
that Granddad gave me that was supposed to be handed down to the first male heir. But he
had it, and he was not the first, and I was not the first. And it was done, I think, in 1755 or
thereabouts, right around the French and Indian War. And I’ve read stories where the
French, and it was a Spanish silver dollar, was not allowed, or those in the upper part of
France or Spain, to be in the United States. How did he get this? It was illegal to hold. Who
knows?
After the five children and William moved to southern Virginia, Joshua, who is one of
his sons, came across the Cumberland Gap and moved, married for the second or third time,
moved up into eventually Estill County and Madison County, on the line, Drowning Creek.
And we have several things in our file on that. And I should say that I have voluminous files
on all these individuals, more or less. As time goes on, I can find more material than I can
remember.
Joshua married possibly for the third time when he settled in southern Kentucky. His
wives had died. And then he moved to, as I say, Drowning Creek. They had, and I might say,
one of his brothers was called Michael, the Baptist preacher. And through generations, part
of his family is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in the south part of Kansas City. Michael and
Joshua are brothers.
Joshua died in Madison County in 1819. His son on our line is Henry Harris Dillingham.
Henry was born in 1791 and died in 1851. He’s buried in the southern part of Madison
County in Panola Cemetery, or Red Hills Cemetery near Panola. I’ve been there probably
three or four times.
His grandfather was Henry Harris, and that’s who he was named after. Henry Harris is
buried near Panola as well, who died in 1833. There’s some feeling that Joshua maybe gave
the land where this cemetery is. I’ve never been able to verify that. But that’s something for
another day.
Henry Harris Dillingham married Charity Park. And that is our relationship to
Governor Guy B. Park of Platte City. He and Uncle Henry used to call each other “cuz” all
the time. But Charity and Henry are buried there. I do have etchings of those stones in our
office, framed. And I think their tenth child was Elihu Park Dillingham. He was born 1830
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in Madison County, and I think he moved to Clay County around eighteen, I think, fifty-six
or so. He married Mary Jane White in 1852 in Madison County.
The little town in the northern part of the county, I think, where they were, has been
taken up by the Bluegrass Arsenal, or anyway, it’s an army arsenal. And I can’t think of the
settlement it was called. But I have been there several times.
Anyway, Elihu stays with his sister in Clay County for four years. And then in 1858,
moves, right before the war, to Platte County. His land, I think, was right north on the part
of the airport ground today. And later he lived on Fourth Street, I think, in later years. He
lived until 1916. He was age eighty-six. He was six-foot-four to six inches tall, according to
something we read. We’ve just recently gotten a picture from Ed Douglas. His mom passed
away, Dorothy June, who was Dad’s first cousin. And they have a picture taken, we think, in
1916 when Dad was six and Uncle Mack eight, Uncle Spec ten, Cile was twelve or thirteen,
or Mi was, and Cile was, say, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Dorothy June had not come along yet
because she was born in, I think, 1920.
But Elihu was an interesting guy. And I’ve forgotten how many children he had. But the
oldest was John Henry Dillingham, who would be my great-grandfather, and whom I’m
named after. He was born in 1853 in Madison County, Kentucky. And I don't know when
they moved up here, but as I say, probably 1854, shortly after he was born.
John Henry married in 1876. Ironically, another set of my great-grandparents, the
Kemp Woods, married in 1876. And then the Isaac Thompsons built their home at Maple
Grove on the hundredth anniversary of our country, 1876.
And I should say that Elihu, as well as their son, John Henry, are both buried in the
Platte County, Platte City, cemetery. I do take flowers at Memorial Day and wreaths at
Christmas to at least four or five cemeteries in the Northland. And probably take twenty
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plus each time to aunts, uncles, and others that I knew, and/or who are my grandparents or
great or great-great-grandparents.
John Henry was Sheriff of Platte County twice and killed in the line of duty in August of
1900. We took little Allie when she was, I guess, three months old, to that ceremony that
was on the one-hundredth anniversary. Which would have been her great-great-great-
grandfather on the one-hundredth anniversary of his death, as far as we know, in little
Farley. This is the only law enforcement officer in Platte County to lose his life in the line of
duty while on duty.
One of Elihu’s sons, Joseph William, was a commission man in the 1870s in the
stockyards. And, I think, quite a character.
Another one, Aunt Jennie, was the youngest, I think, daughter. She had polio when she
was quite young. She was a piano teacher. She died around 1960 at almost ninety years of
age. She lived just a couple of doors west of Uncle Henry’s house. In fact, she and I, my first
picture, at my first wedding of Mary and Kemp Woods, there’s a picture of me when I was
nine years old in 1948 with my Aunt Jennie, who would have been an aunt to my
grandfather.
Speaking of my grandfather, Joseph Bobley Dillingham, there were five boys and one
girl born to John Henry and Anna Lea Oldham. Anna died in 1891. I’m not sure whether she
had consumption or what, but she was very young, thirty-six years old. And with five
children. And later, the sheriff died in 1900. And so, Uncle Henry was maybe twenty-three.
And he was the deputy sheriff who shot Dr. Harrington, who had shot his father, the Sheriff,
down in Farley.
And then there was Uncle Bill, who was a livestock trader and lived on South Fourth
Street, in Platte City. John Cleland, who died, I think, in the 1920s, he maybe was thirty
years old, but not much more, my grandfather Joe and then Uncle Dude, who was a car
dealer first in Leavenworth and then in Saint Joe. And Walter Chrysler had offered him a
job once, and he turned it down because he said that there are only Packards and Peerless
and Puicks, the three Ps. And since Walter Chrysler had Chrysler, Uncle Dude didn’t think
it would last.
Their only child, Dorothy June, really, they had one earlier, and she is buried with Uncle
Dude and Aunt Nan, I think, in Platte City Cemetery. As with all the others, Uncle Henry
and Uncle Bill, that I leave flowers for. And Uncle Henry’s daughter, Cile Wells.
Bessie was the only girl. I think she taught school. And I never knew a whole lot about
her. After the kids’ parents died at a very early age, Zollie Jones, who was married to Anna’s
sister, became a guardian for two or three. My grandfather Joe, in particular, didn’t like her.
And my granddad, BooPoo, I called him, gave me a dollar that had been left in Zollie Jones’
estate, so my granddad would know that he had not been forgotten.
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And on to my dad from my grandfather Joe. I should say that during the Depression of
the 1930s, Granddad had a lot of land. And again he was, he made it through the eighth
grade, lost his parents. By the time he was seventeen, and really was on his own mentally,
and lived his life like that, bought a lot of land down in the Waldron Bottoms of the Missouri
River, later in Holt County below Forest City and towns up there. But mostly bottomland.
When he died in 1966, he was farming or owned over 10,000 acres of land. He was 83
years old.
My dad, Jay, who was born in 1910 and passed away in 1997. Or, excuse me, 2007, and
he was ninety-seven and one-half. He was a graduate of the Platte City High School in 1926.
He was the youngest of three boys. Uncle Spec and Uncle Mack were his older brothers. And
he went straight into the law school of Kansas City at that time and graduated in 1932 with
honors. And then he got his master’s degree with honors in 1935.
He started work with the New York Central Railroad and worked there ten years during
the Depression time. Everybody from teachers to students worked during the day and went
to school at night. There wasn’t much time for a social life. But Day, as the boys called him,
was not that socially inclined, anyway. He’d worked his entire life.
And after ten years in New York Central, he went to the stockyards. Billy Weeks, who
was our next-door neighbor out on the farm in Maple Grove where Colleen McCorkle Morris
owns today, he was vice president of the stockyards and talked my grandfather, Allen
Thompson, who was probably his best friend, into working out a way for Dad to go to the
stockyards. And he did. And he was president there for twenty-eight years, from 1948 to
when he decided to retire in 1975 when he was sixty-five.
He started out on the second floor, but in 1951, the flood destroyed it. They moved to the
seventh floor. When he retired, he moved to the ninth floor and officed there until 2006. So,
he’d been in that office, well, thirty years. After he retired, and now I office in there now and
cleaned it up. Modernized a little bit.
Hopefully, that will, I might say on the Dillingham pie chart, again, the FM Oldham’s
are buried in Platte City. And they would be the parents of Anna Oldham, who married
John Henry Dillingham. Anna’s grandmother, who is not on the chart, is Rebecca Reynolds.
And she’s buried very close to them and close to Mr. Paxton in the west side part of the
Platte City Cemetery. And she would be my great-great-great-grandmother there in the
Platte City Cemetery.
On my grandmother’s side, Edna Chesnut, her grandparents, William Chesnut and
Lucinda Garrard, William Chesnut, was an officer in the Confederacy. Presiding judge of
the Platte County Court for, I think, four years. And his wife, Lucinda Garrard, was the
granddaughter of Governor Garrard of Kentucky, I think. Or, excuse me, Kentucky, living in
Bourbon County near Paris, Kentucky. And Mount Lebanon is the name of his home, which
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was built in 1795. His painting is over the mantel. It’s pictured in the Garrard book. And I
told the lady when I went through there in 2005 that this book also has a little picture of
Lucinda Garrard. And we have that oil along with her husband that I’ve had restored. So,
Governor Garrard, who’s buried there on his place at Mount Lebanon, would be my, I guess,
fourth or fifth great-grandfather.
On William Chesnut’s son, David Chesnut had an Aunt Delia and a Garrard as brother.
And I’ve forgotten the other sister. But David Chesnut was presiding Judge or
Commissioner of Platte County after the turn of this century for eight years. And then he
was in the legislature. And I think he was on the committee that helped rebuild the Capitol
or the statehouse.
Maggie Dye, his wife, her father, was James Dye. And he was promoted to first
lieutenant within a few days of one-hundred years ahead of me, one-hundred years later.
And of course, his was during the Civil War. And his father, John Dye, is buried in Platte
County. And I can’t remember, I think Moore Cemetery. I’ve been there, but I haven’t found
him. And then his wife, Lucy Guthrie, her parents are buried someplace in Platte County.
And I haven’t found them yet.
The Dyes were in the Weston area and are buried there where the Chesnuts are buried
in Platte City, and then David Chesnut as well in Platte City.
My grandmother, Edna, that I called Gumma went to
Christian College and got married in 1905. Supposedly
ran off to Oskaloosa. Allen and I, on the one-hundredth
anniversary of that, went out there and found out that
they’d actually been married by a Methodist minister
and not a justice of the peace. And we found the
marriage license in the courthouse. And it was a little
more legitimate than he gave on. But for some reason,
they did go out to Oskaloosa. And why they didn’t get
married in Platte County or even Leavenworth County
beats me.
But Gumma was very talented as an artist. We have
several oils. And then in later years, for the Red Cross,
during the Second World War and Korean War, she
made socks and sweaters. Wool socks. She did a lot of
needlepoint. All the girls as they married, daughters-in-
law and so forth, granddaughters-in-law, got needlepoint dining room chairs, bell pulls,
other things like that. She was very, very gifted. And I spent a lot of time with them. And
she died a couple of years at the most after BooPoo in 1968. And she was at Saint Mary’s
Hospital, which later went away, next to Children’s Mercy. Whereas Granddad was at the
A framed picture of Uncle Mack, Uncle Spec, and Dad (left to right), in a frame that always set next to Gumma’s bed.
(ca. 1920).
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Smithville Hospital. And Nancy and I visited him just a couple of days before when we came
back. We’d only been married a year. And showed him the picture that we had taken with
him, Dad and me, which he never would have done in earlier years. And thought he was
going to come home. And Dad called and said we’d lost him. So, hopefully, that covers that
side, my dad’s side of the family.
I’m going to jump to Mom’s side and start first with John Hedges Thompson. The
Thompsons came from Montgomery County, Kentucky. And they and Polly Turpin are
buried at Second Creek. They worked their way through Jessamine County from
Montgomery County. Had four or five children. When they got here, well, that many came. I
think they came in 1856 to 1858. They lived back of the Lamptons where the old barn is that
I’m going to give to Shoal Creek.
And I should say, to fast forward, that the family barn was there during the Civil War.
And Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger supposedly came by two days after Mr.
Lampton died, which was February 13, 1866, and had breakfast at the house unannounced.
Left their horses in the barn. And then after breakfast went on to Liberty for the first
daylight bank robbery in America.
Grandmother Thompson noticed that he had a neighbor’s horse, and he said well he
bought it. And of course, she knew that he would have never sold it.
There were several incidences of friendship with the Jameses. I’ll regress a minute and
say that Mr. Lampton’s son John was in the class of 1859, William Jewell, and the Reverend
Robert James, their father, was one of the founding trustees of William Jewell College.
Isaac Thompson, that I will hit now was a county judge in 1887 and 1889, I
think. I found his certificates signed by Governor Marmaduke. He’d been a
legislator in 1880. He later was elected to the legislature in 1898-99, in which
he was chairman of the House ag committee, and which all the roads came
under. And he had fought in four battles of the Civil War at Wilson’s Creek,
Lexington, Pea Ridge, and Westport. Had been a lieutenant [or] captain, and
some article said promoted to colonel. He commanded the unit that captured
the courthouse in Lexington, Missouri, where the cannonball is. And for that
was promoted, I guess, to captain, and given a sword, which I have put in a
shadowbox.
He went to Scotland to get a bull and a couple of cows to start the Maple
Grove Galloway herd, which became for a brief time around the turn of the
century the largest in the country for Galloways. It was on Cookingham Drive.
And they were the third leg of the four legs that became the founding herds of
The family sword that was presented to Isaac Thompson when he commanded the outfit that captured the courthouse in Lexington, Missouri, during the Battle of Hemp Bales in 1861.
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the American Royal, the Galloway. Even though the Herefords and Short Horns were much
bigger breeds.
I think he opened the way for Allen Thompson, my grandfather, who was a page for a
while with his father in Jeff City. Went to William Jewell, came back, didn’t graduate
because his dad needed him on the farm. And he got involved in the very beginning of the
American Royal since his father and the Galloway breed was breed number three in 1901,
Allen Thompson became the first president when it was incorporated in 1905. And also, at
that time, brought the horse show back then to name it the American Royal Livestock and
Horse Show.
In 1908, he was president of the State Fair Board in Sedalia. He’d been on the state
agricultural board. I don't know a number of years. Appointed by Governor Major and
Governor Polk, I think. I could be wrong on that.
Later, under Governor Park, he was the first old-age assistance commissioner. He’d been
the manager of the horse show at the American Royal maybe upwards of twenty-eight years.
He was first Governor Park’s personal secretary and then became the first old-age
assistance commissioner, which was the forerunner of social security. His name had been
mentioned prominently to be the director or secretary of agriculture. But that didn’t happen.
He was referred to as Colonel, where his dad was called Judge. He had a little license plate,
as I recall, it was forty-two or something, that he always had. But he died when I was seven
years old, I believe. And I think he’d had a stroke.
On his mother’s side, the Lamptons, we have oils of Benjamin Lampton and Mahala
Baber that hung in the Mom and Dad’s house. Had them restored. Sidney Larson down at
Columbia College restored them.
Benjamin Lampton came out in the 1830s. I think the Babers. Maybe he married down
there. I’m not sure. But anyway, he was elected to the legislature in 1858 for two years,
which was customary. Charlotte Jane and Isaac Thompson married at the Lampton house,
which is where Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay lived, to the west of us. In 1858, I took Allie and
Mollie out to the site, specifically in the living room, where the site would have occurred on
the 150th anniversary of that in 2008.
The Babers, I think, lived in Upper Platte County. And Isham Baber, and we haven’t
located their graves, but they’re around. On the Lamptons, most of the Lampton family
coming out of Kentucky stopped at Cooper County, Boonville. And I went down there a
couple of years ago, south of Boonville, and met a genealogist and got the general idea of
where the Lamptons lived. And Mrs. Lampton, Tabitha, is buried there someplace. Her son,
Beverly, stayed and did a lot of family things and then came on out later after Benjamin
came out in the early, I guess mid-1830s.
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And Benjamin was, besides being in the legislature, had been a road overseer with
Major John Dougherty, which is Multnomah, the Staley Farms, and Shoal Creek. In 1842,
on the new road from Liberty to Platte City, after the Platte purchase was enacted. And
then bought the farm that was Cousin Buford’s that is part of Dillingham Enterprises today,
that’s been in the family, thanks to Benjamin Lampton, since 1842.
And then Beverly moved out here maybe in the 1840s or so. And he’s also buried at
Second Creek with Benjamin.
Benjamin died, after they released the slaves, he had to go out and get up hay, and he
had a stroke. And died on the eleventh of February. West of their house, we found his
tombstone and a little daughter Mary who died at forty days of age in 1850. Have those both
next to our garage at home.
Mrs. Lampton, Mahala, died in 1895. So, twenty-nine years later. They had eight or nine
or ten children. Charlotte Jane Lampton was kind of one of the middle children, who
married Isaac Thompson. But Mahala, and I could be wrong on this, one of them
[married]David Link of Linkville, the beautiful house there leading into 435, Miss Thatcher,
I can’t remember, Duck Thatcher or whatever they called her, they built the house where
Mary [and] Kemp Woods used to live, right on the edge of Smithville, south edge, 169 on the
west side of the house or road. And they’re buried behind Kindred Chevrolet. And their son
was Ben Will Thatcher, who was the first cousin of Allen Thompson. In fact, I think he got
his new 1905 or 1906 Cadillac convertible after the wedding of Froncie and Allen, which
occurred at the Woods home at Woodlawn. And maybe his first cousin took them to the
depot for their honeymoon. And I think Allen and Froncie went to the Brown Palace in
Denver and maybe Pike’s Peak, I’m not sure.
Another Lampton son, John, graduated from William Jewell in 1859. And we put his
name along with other family members under a tree that we donated at William Jewell
right east of the president’s home and put his name on stone. Dad and I both got the Yates
Medallion, and Kemp, of course, got the first class of Yates Medallion. Bill went there in the
1990s and went to three Final Fours playing basketball as a KA. And then John Lampton,
1859, and Allen Thompson in the 1880s. So, six of us have a connection to William Jewell.
A memorial stone at William Jewell College placed under a
Cardinal Red Oaktree we planted. Seven family members attended William Jewell from
John Lampton, in 1859, through Bill in 1997. Three of us, Kemp
Woods, Dad, and I have received the William F. Yates Medallion for Distinguished
Service, the highest non-degree award the college bestows.
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Another Lampton girl was Aunt Emma Frye, who is an artist. And we have some of her
works. One side comment on Allen Thompson, before he married Froncie, he was dating a
lady from Smithville, Sister Patterson. And the Pattersons’ home is still there, right next to
the bridge and the river, on the main street of Smithville. And it’s kind of a museum today.
And anyway, Sister Patterson painted Dot of Nashua, one of our heifers or cows of the
Galloway. And it was probably three feet across or more, an oil, and had it hanging in the
dining room. And when they married, when Froncie came into the family, she didn’t see any
use of having Sister Patterson’s artwork in the dining room, so it went to the basement of
our house. And then later, Mom and Dad’s basement. And literally, it was in a basement 100
years. Literally falling apart. And I had it restored.
And in my speech, Sunday, the grandchildren of the Justus family, who had been Sister
Patterson’s roommate who had come to Smithville because of them, asked about maybe a
possible loan of that portrait to the Patterson Museum in Smithville since Sister Patterson
did it. So, that might be better than just sitting in a back room someplace.
The next, from Allen Thompson, I’ll go to Froncie Woods. Clear back, on the great-great-
grandparents, another one of my great-great-greats is Katie Goodloe Woods. I should
mention, and she’s on Woodlawn Farm, which John Callison owns today, but that was part
of the farm of Captain Kemp Woods, her son.
And I have a SAR qualification on Alexander Woods. And I didn't mention it earlier, but
I think I have thirty-five SAR or more, starting with Joshua Dillingham.
Anyway, Katie is buried there. And she, like Mrs. Reynolds in Platte City, their
husbands are back east someplace. But these are great-great-great-grandmothers.
Captain Kemp Woods, Senior, was quite outspoken. Came out as a youngster on
horseback by himself. Was banished during the Civil War with Jesse James' family, the
Samuels. I think probably, I know he went to Kentucky. And that might have been where he
met the Wiglesworth. Because then Kemp, Junior, who was born in 1847, he would have
been fifteen when he went to Kentucky being banished, married in 1876 Lilly Wiglesworth.
And I’ve put a brick at the Woodford County Historical Society in their name. She lived at
Faywood, which is right on the border of Fayette County and Woodford County, leading up
to Mount Olivet, or that’s not right. Cemetery and church where I think Henry Goodloe was
married and buried. And maybe the Wiglesworth family lived there.
On Kemp, Senior, he married Sally Skinner. And ironically just yesterday we met at the
Skinner Farm two miles east or so of Camden Point, Missouri, where the seven-foot obelisk
of Phineas Skinner, who died in 1856 right before the Civil War, the family cemetery’s there.
And I want to erect the stone that Jerry Taylor lives there now, and by accident, all of that
came together.
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Also, Phineas Skinner’s grandson, Phineas Skinner Woods, who is four years older than
Kemp Woods, Junior, was shot and killed following a picnic with his grandmother. You have
to remember that Sally Skinner died in childbirth in 1847. So, when her oldest son came
back, his mom was gone, and maybe his dad was off fighting. And the grandfather was gone.
And he ends up dying after his picnic, along with another private, when he was twenty
years old. And found his tombstone there on the family farm as well.
So, that will be my first great-great-great-grandparents. And Phineas Skinner was one
of the founders of the Christian academy or Christian school; I think it was a female school
at that time, at Camden Point. The first such Christian related school in the state of
Missouri, which eventually became William Woods College, along with others, I guess, in
Fulton, Missouri. So, that was fun to explore and find.
Kemp, Junior, was a banker or realtor, an entrepreneur, he still has an addition named
after him in Smithville. And as mentioned, he was married in 1876 to Lilly Wiglesworth,
who is buried, both of them are buried in Smithville, in the Woods section. And their
daughter Froncie] had an older brother Phineas, or Phinny, who was Kemp III’s dad and
Aunt Virginia. And then Froncie and then Walton Woods, whose son was a doctor. And I’ve
never really known them very well at all.
Froncie went to Georgetown, Kentucky, college. I went there just to visit it. She was
there, I think, in 1898. They married in 1907 at Woodlawn, which was a historic home of
Kemp Woods, which later burned, unfortunately. Which is about the equivalent of 132nd
Street and 169 Highway, heading toward Smithville.
Anyway, Froncie and Allen, after they married and so forth, had two girls. My mom,
Frances, who passed away last November at age 102, and Aunt Louise. Mom went to
Smithville High School. She was supposedly the first girl to be president of the senior class,
which was in 1927. She went on to Christian College and graduated there.
Aunt Louise graduated in 1933, except Froncie died the week of her graduation. The
President brought Aunt Louise up for the funeral. They had purchased a milk cow, untested.
Froncie got Malta, or undulant fever and died very quickly. She was only fifty-some odd
years old, fifty-three, I believe. And that changed that whole world.
Mom stayed very loyal to Christian. She was on their board on their alumni council.
Honored by them. Set up a couple of scholarships. In fact, three. And we, since she passed
away, gave her piano and some drapes of Aunt Roxy’s and some other things to Columbia
College. They named a room in her honor. And we have seven ladies altogether of our family
that have gone to Christian or Columbia College.
I hope I haven’t skipped too much. I’ve tried to wing all of his. But the marriages of
parents and great-grandparents, being in the neighborhood, have been fun. And I’ve tried to
bring our girls into it.
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I might say when Froncie died, Lily, who lived until 1943, became really, the mother of
the bride helping Mom out when they got married in 1935. I can’t imagine the Depression, a
very severe drought, losing your mom or wife. Allen Thompson was then getting luckily a job
with the governor and other state appointments to keep an income coming in. The crops had
to be horrible because the grass, they had no rain. So, I just can’t imagine the times. Plus,
the Great Depression. Somehow, they survived it, and we’re all the beneficiaries of that.
Well, hopefully, I, as I scan my family tree, have not overlooked too much. I should say
on Benjamin Lampton that his cousin Jane Lampton Clemens, first cousin, was the mother
of Mark Twain. And they had some correspondence, I think. I’ve found no record of it. But I
would hear about it.
The friendship of the James family and the Thompson family, I use “friendship” loosely,
but maybe I don’t. Dad would comment on James Dye that when he turned ninety back in, I
guess, 1914 or something, or twenty, maybe, he died in 1925, so it would be 1924, Dad
remembers him standing on his head. So, he doesn’t remember anything else about him, but
that’s intriguing as well.
I guess the thing that I would say, I hope that one of the five grandchildren someday will
pick up the ball and run with this, remembering that you’re only hearing a fourth of who
you are. You have a very distinguished family. Believe it or not, we really didn’t find any
shady characters. Which is just amazing. And all of them have had distinguished careers.
Haven’t been in jail that we know of. And you have a lot to be proud of. A lot to live up to.
They left life better for you. You don’t have to go hand to mouth. You don’t have to worry
day by day. You have a very good existence, a very good opportunity to build on it. And of
course, in today’s world, it’s so easy to blow it overnight. So, I hope this hasn’t bored you too
much. I hope you will get something out of it. I probably have overlooked a lot of things. But
I’ve tried to go through and pick out various things and tell a few stories of relevance. And
I’m sure there are a lot more stories, and I’ve been writing some books as well that maybe
will have a few more stories in them.
Like Allen Thompson being in the banking business, in the Bank of Nashua, and the
National Bank in North Kansas City as president. And I was appointed to that board years
ago and found out that he’d been president of it eighty years before that or so.
Dad’s work in helping build the hospital at Smithville or being one of the guys to get
Maple Woods where it is, or even KCI, where it is when they were supposed to put it out in
Clay County west of Liberty. Dad’s role, as Allen Thompson did in getting 169 to go to
Smithville. We had the first paved road in Clay County, from Nashua to Smithville in the
‘20s. And he gave six or seven acres of land to the state of Missouri so the highway would
miss his neighbor Winn Scott to the north. And then later, when they came up with a four-
lane road, it took the house out anyway. But luckily, they were gone.
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Dad’s work on the flood control and the lakes and dams and reservoirs. Truman Lake, he
was on the water resources board of the state of Missouri, appointed by Governor Dalton.
Later appointed by Governor Joe Teasdale as chairman. His first meeting of the Missouri
State Highway Commission and was many places credited with being the father of 435. I
know he played a major role in 152 Highway. Very possibly the Heart of America Bridge.
And maybe even the Chouteau Bridge and other updates on that.
One of his big things was to try to get the traffic dispersed off of I70. So, he kept pushing
for four lanes on 36 Highway from Saint Joe across to Hannibal and onto Chicago.
So, the family has played a big role in a lot of things behind the scenes. And you’ve had
Mr. Lampton in the legislature and then Mr. Thompson. And then also Judge Chesnut in
the legislature in the next generation. Judge Thompson also is a county judge. Allen
Thompson, as a state official. And being on numerous boards.
I’ve been involved in a few things myself, which you can read about. And hopefully, that
makes life better and not necessarily easier, but more opportunities for you to really do some
good things. As we’re taught in the Boy Scouts to leave your campfire a little better than you
found it. And of course, like the golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do
unto you is really, when you get into life, is so important. And do things, do your good turn
each day. And do them without the thought of anything in return. Just do it because it’s the
right thing to do and help somebody out. And I can guarantee you that you’ll be rewarded
many, many times over. And especially when you’re not expecting it.
So, I think I will sign off. I’ve probably gone over an hour. And this will be enough to
bore you. So, hopefully, some of you will find some interest and some good out of this.
Thanks for listening, and good luck.
President Jimmy Carter spoke at William Jewell College and then attended a private reception at
Charles and Patty Garney’s home. (ca 1980)
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Book 7 | The State Historical Society of Missouri
Oral History Project Narrator: John Dillingham
Interviewer: Jeff Corrigan
Date: May 15, 2014
Transcribed by Teresa Bergen
[Begin Interview. Begin Track 1.]
Corrigan: This is Jeff Corrigan, oral historian for the State Historical Society of Missouri.
And I’m here today on Thursday, May 15, 2014, in the office of Mr. John Dillingham in
Kansas City, Missouri, in the Livestock Exchange Building to conduct an oral history
interview. This is the first time that I’ve interviewed John. We’re also joined today by Frank
McMillan, who is a friend of John’s and is also the one who put this interview together. Let’s
begin. Could you start by telling me when and where you were born?
Dillingham: January 9, 1939, at the old, I guess, research hospital. Which was located on
Hospital Hill, which is, I think, close to Children's’ Mercy Hospital of today.
Corrigan: So, just north of where we’re at right now?
Dillingham: South.
Corrigan: Oh. South, okay.
Dillingham: South of Crown Center and east of Crown Center.
Corrigan: Did you have any siblings?
Dillingham: No.
Corrigan: Now, could you start by telling me a little bit about your father? His name? Where
he’s from, what he did for a living?
Dillingham: Dad was Jay B. Dillingham. He originally was Joseph Bobley Dillingham,
Junior. But at some point, he went to Jeff City and changed his name to Jay B. He was born
in 1910 in Platte City. Went to the local high schools there. Then to the old school of law,
which is now part of UMKC to get his bachelor’s in 1932. And I think master’s in 1935.
During the time, that was the recession. And the Depression and everything else going on,
both on the farm and in the country. So, everybody worked during the day and went to
school at night. In his case, he worked for the New York Central Railroad, which is now
gone. And I think he was maybe there for ten years. I don't know how old he was when he
started. But he was six-foot-three and big and probably looked older than he really was. The
irony, one of his teachers who practiced law during the day was John B.
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Gage, later to be mayor of Kansas City. And Dad always claimed that he got his worst
grades under Mayor Gage. But they were very, very close friends. And he and I were
fraternity brothers, as I later learned. Dad came to the stockyards in 1937. I think there was
an evil plot going on with my grandfather, Allen Thompson, who lived out at Nashua and
Cookingham Drive today. It was off the old 71 Bypass. And his next-door neighbor, Billy
Weeks. Mr. Weeks was vice president of the stockyards. And in those days, and for many,
many years, the stockyards not only was the landlord and owner of all the buildings at the
American Royal because they started it, but they also, at Royal time, in the fall, in October,
would staff it. People, I guess, looking back, took their vacation by going to the American
Royal and running that. Anyway, they coerced Dad to come down and consider it. And he
said he would try it for six months. And if they didn’t like them and vice versa, they would
part friendly. But anyway, he stayed around here close to seventy years. And he was elected
president in 1948 when he was thirty-eight years old. Opened a Golden Ox restaurant,
which is sixty-five years old this year. We opened it in 1949. The 1951 flood came in
eighteen months and put three feet of water on the second floor of this building and his new
restaurant completely underwater. But—
[End Track 1. Begin Track 2.]
John in oral interview with The State Historical Society of Missouri representative, Jeff Corrigan in John’s office (formerly Jay’s office) on the ninth floor of the Livestock Exchange Building.
165
Dillingham: --they survived that. And he was president until he was sixty-five. And then he
elected that it was time to retire. And he moved upstairs where we are now, on the ninth
floor. Their offices were on the seventh floor of this building. And when I was real little and
used to come down on a Friday night to pick him up so we could go to a movie or something,
they were on the second floor. Well, with three feet of water on the second floor during the
flood of 1951, the offices moved up to seven. And then, when he retired, he came to the ninth
floor and stayed here in his retirement for twenty years or so. So, being an only child and
living on a farm, you didn’t have a lot of options, anyone to play with other than at school.
And you always, on a farm you had work to do. That meant animals and other farm-related
things. So, and he worked all the time. And like during the flood, I didn’t see him for three
weeks because he had to get Kansas City’s largest business back operating and get the
Royal cleaned up and ready to go that October, which it did open to a full house on time. So,
in those days, everybody worked until Saturday noon. And so, as far as family life, from
Saturday noon to Sunday evening is when I saw him. And other than that, not a whole lot.
Corrigan: Now, you mentioned the farm. Could you describe where you lived, where the
farm was, what type of farm? Just can you kind of describe all that for me?
Dillingham: This land was settled by Mother’s grandfather, Isaac Thompson. And next door,
which was all contiguous, by her great-grandfather, Benjamin Lampton, who came out from
Kentucky in 1832. And then as it turned out, his son-in-law, next door, came out, oh, 1856.
It was basically a livestock farm. It was located at Nashua, Missouri, which is today 169
Highway and Cookingham Drive. I have to digress a minute to last time I saw Perry
Cookingham, who is our very historic and able city manager of Kansas City. I sat next to
him at a dinner. And I was congratulating him on 71 Bypass, which ran in front of our
house, being renamed Cookingham Drive. To which he answered, “Well, once I’m gone, you
can just change the first four letters to Dillingham, and everybody will be happy.” So, he was
a character. My grandfather Thompson got that road. In fact, the first paved road in Clay
County was from Nashua to Smithville, where A, we lived, and B, we went to school and got
our mail in those days. And he was very active. And this is Allen Thompson, in the good
roads movement to get Missouri out of the mud as Mr. Truman was in Jackson County. And
that’s where they became friends. But the farm, back to your question, was a livestock farm
as opposed to row crops. We had other family farms on the Dillingham side that were all row
crops. And we still have that. We had everything from cattle and hogs and sheep, and I had
a goat that knocked Mom over when she had to take care of him when I had to go to Scout
camp, and that didn’t go over too well. Buck was his name. I had a pony. Dad had a black
horse called Duke. And I had geese. The chickens—
[End Track 2. Begin Track 3.]
Dillingham: --if I didn’t mention that. And of course, we would have foxes in the chicken
coop, literally. And I’ll generalize, but Dad would say that I could do anything I wanted, as
long as I did my chores twice a day, seven days a week. Well, that leaves you somewhat
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inflexible. Well, I ended up doing both. I wanted to do my things. But the rule of the road
was I had to do his things first. I called it his things. So, I did both. And I guess that in part
is why I’m in so many things today. I don’t look at it that way. You just have to be efficient
with your time and move on and not dilly dick around. That’s a Smithville phrase, for
Frank. And but I was a member of FFA for one year, freshman year, and that was 1953.
President Eisenhower came out to speak to the convention and later dedicate the Hereford
Building and [appeared at the] American Royal. I attended that. That’s something to hear
“Hail to the Chief” and see the gates swing open, and the President of the United States
walk out. That’s never happened before or since. Security was different in those days. Secret
Service looked to Senator Harry Darby, who had arranged all of this. A great friend and
Director of the Stockyards. And Secret Service asked him who was in charge of this visit,
meaning the president. And he turned and pointed at Jay and said, “Oh, Jay is.” And went
on back to some other conversation. And that’s the first Dad had heard about it. And you
think of presidential visits today. They’re not quite that loosey-goosey.
Corrigan: Was there a particular, was there a connection between the cattle you were
raising and the stockyards? Was it a large operation? How big was the farm? Did you have a
certain breed of cattle?
Dillingham: Yes, and no. The farm itself was
200 acres or so. And 169 divided it. And
there’s a side story to that that my
grandfather gave, and I use that word “gave,”
six or seven acres to the state of Missouri to
move the road a little bit and go through his
farm so it would not go through his neighbor’s
house and barn and so forth. But gave, that’s
an unusual phrase in today’s world. I had a, it
evolved into a registered Angus, Aberdeen
Angus, herd. My Uncle Clay Woods next door
had Angus cattle, and that’s where I got
started. And I had two sows that were
pregnant for my FFA project. But most of all of my stuff was 4H as it turned out. I did show
my steers and a heifer at [the]American Royal in 1955 and 1956. And I think either January
of 1955 or 1956, Mom and Dad gave me a trip to Denver to the National Stock Show to show
my Angus calf that had gotten pneumonia and wasn’t ready for the Royal. And I nursed it
back to health. And that was my birthday gift for my sixteenth birthday or something, to go
to Denver and show. One thing I remember there that I had to be in the open class as
opposed to 4H. And sold it at auction. And took the halter off and walked away. After doing
all that work. And it’s more than work. I mean, it’s like your family dog. It was part of the
family. So, from then on, I never had steers again. I would show heifers and then thin them
John sitting at his desk during oral interview with The State Historical Society of Missouri.
167
down and go ahead and breed them. So, I had probably one-hundred head. And then when I
got in the service and overseas and Dad was busy here—
[End Track 3. Begin Track 4.]
Dillingham: We had a guy on the farm but the one-hundred head of animals and having
calves and all that sort of thing. So, luckily, two people came along at different times but
bought the herd. Part of the herd went to Sam Barr in Kearney, who had Angus. And one of
the cows, I think, produced a maybe state champion of something at the Missouri State Fair.
That was my only claim to fame. I don’t even remember what I had there. But anyway, the
Angus herd that I had was nice. And of course, we had tags on them and chains and all that.
And I remember going out on one winter night. It wasn’t that cold, and it was snowing. And
I guess I was home from school or something. And walk out in the pasture at night. No
flashlights. Maybe there was a moon out. I don't know. But, and you’d hear the tags in the
light snow. But walk through your cattle. Which looking back was probably not a smart
move. But they were all friends, so I didn’t worry about it. So, I did have sheep and other
things. So, I always had chores to do. But they all were related to livestock. We had a
vegetable garden which I guess wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small, either. Four or five times
these rooms. So, that takes a while. In those days, you had water only through a bucket or a
long hose. Today, I have irrigation every place. I mean, that was one of my goals 60 years
ago. There’s bound to be a better way. I’ll find it and do it, so I have. And some of the things
I do today probably are, in my landscaping, I call it, are a direct relationship to my
experiences or lack of experiences on the farm. (laughter)
Corrigan: Now, could you tell me a little bit about your mother? We kind of talked a little bit
about your father. But could you tell me her name? A little bit about her?
Dillingham: Frances Thompson. She was the older sister of Louise. Two girls that their dad,
Allen Thompson, had a Galloway herd. His father had the largest Galloway herd in the
country at one brief time. And I don't know much more than that. And he had been elected
to the legislature twice. And the Galloway became the third leg of the American Royal
behind the Hereford and the Short Horn. And it was, well, today 15 minutes away from
where we are. So, and is part of Kansas City. And I should say on that phrase, it’s taken 150
years since the Civil War for that part of the city to be part of the city. And that’s a very
subtle thing. But I’m maybe more sensitive than others. The South lost, and everybody
basically north of the river was Confederate. As in Jackson County, where we sit, everything
east of the Little Blue River was Confederate. And that’s why there are two courthouses of
Jackson County today that nobody thinks about. So, saying all that, I don't know which
bridges, the Hannibal Bridge was open in 1869. But how did they get their cattle and their
livestock to the stockyards? It’s ten miles away or something. I don't know. But anyway,
Mom grew up in that environment. Her father was the first president of the American Royal
when it incorporated in 1905. And then later president of Missouri State Fair in 1908. And
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he would have been under forty at that point, I guess, also. Mom went to Smithville High
School. Supposedly was the first girl—
[End Track 4. Begin Track 5.]
Dillingham: --to be elected [president]of her class. She graduated, Dad graduated from
Platte City High School, Mom from Smithville High School. And I think she graduated in
1927 or so, let’s say. She went on to Christian College, which today is Columbia College in
Columbia, Missouri. Basically, with great interest in music and, mainly piano and violin.
Her music teacher, Miss Singleton, was, looking back, not a whole lot older than Mom. And
they became good friends. And later, we established a scholarship in Miss Singleton’s name
at Columbia College. My grandmother on Dad’s side had gone to Christian. My Aunt Roxy,
who I referred to earlier, wife of Uncle Clay Woods, she had gone to Christian. And then
later, Aunt Louise went to Christian. I guess it just seemed to be the tradition. I don't know
who started it or how. But anyway, Mom followed through on that. And that was probably
her greatest continuing interest. Dr. Brouder, [President] came up and presented her a vase
of red roses on her one-hundredth birthday. She lived to be 102. Dad was ninety-seven and
one-half. So, they averaged about one-hundred. And in reasonably good minds. So, they
were lucky. And my doctor says I’m lucky. (laughs) Anyway, Mom was, and I didn't see Dad
a whole lot, as I referred to earlier. I played a lot of baseball and other school things, but he
was always working. And that’s a product of the Depression. People today didn’t have a
Depression; at least they aren’t aware of it. So, family life is a whole lot different than it was
two generations ago. But I was in Scouts all the way from Cubs clear through to Osceola and
Eagle with Six Palms and Tribe Mic-O-Say, I think. And I’ve been honored by scouting over
the years. I’ve been on their board. Four H, I was active in that as a youngster. Then
president of the 4H Club and later president of the 4H Foundation of the State of Missouri.
And chaired the 4H extension report for the University of Missouri that Dr. Olson asked me
to do. On revising the 4H branch of the University of Missouri Extension when they were
under siege. I think under Governor Teasdale’s administration, I can’t remember. But those
things all started out on the farm, so to speak. Mom was also involved with Extension and
the garden club. She liked gardening and flowers and that sort of thing. And music, she
always enjoyed that. And so she started me taking piano when I was four and a half. And
we’ll get into that later. But that’s where that all started. Dad didn't have any music ability
at all that I ever heard, of any kind. And Mom’s Aunt Roxy, who lived next door, that was
my Grandfather Thompson’s little sister, she was extremely gifted on the piano. Could play
any piece that you would mention that she at least had heard of, in any key without music.
And when she was at Christian, after graduating, her mother, I presume, took her to
Houston to perform in a minstrel musical around 1900, when she was eighteen years of age.
And you had to be pretty good. There were no roads or—
[End Track 5. Begin Track 6.]
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Dillingham: --airplanes or anything. And she either played with Blind Boone or [Scott
Joplin] the guy that, gosh, was around Columbia, I’ve forgotten. That played “Maple Leaf
Rag” and things. She was almost ninety when she died, and she could play rings around me,
and I played all the time in dance bands and so forth. So, apparently, that’s in part where
that came. And I gave Mom’s piano to Christian and her violin. And we’ll talk more about it
later, if you want to, create a Dillingham recital. And it had its second showing last fall, I
guess, at Columbia College. And we’ve combined the scholarships, and I’m adding to them
over a planned period. And one of the ironies, the last thing our Mom, she was in bed for a
number of years. And I went by every day. And we had in-house help. And I’d do payroll
every Friday. And Missy Montgomery, Carberry, now, from Columbia College, she was one
of the young development ladies who was always very good to come by and see Mom. Or, as
Dad would say, hustle Mom. But Missy came on a Friday, and that was the last visit Mom
had with anybody. And lasted eight days without eating, drinking, anything. And then
passed away. Eight days. Which I thought was somewhat unusual. And Missy was her last
visit. And that’s probably appropriate. But Christian College was very special to her. So, I
tried to perpetuate that and keep that going. We had seven girls in the family overall that
went to that. We’ve taken all their pictures. We have a Dillingham Room down there, and
I’ve got all their pictures because I would find stuff at Mom’s house going through that.
Frame it, and so forth, and give it to the school to hang in that room. A whole Ivy Chain
pictures of graduation and stuff like that. They were in mint condition. Hadn’t been unrolled
in eighty years. (laughs) So, anyway, that’s the story on Mom.
Corrigan: So, there’s a room at Columbia College called the Dillingham Room? Where at on
campus?
Dillingham: Missouri Hall.
Corrigan: Okay. So, there was quite a connection between not just your mother but a lot of
family members to Christian College and then Columbia College.
Dillingham: Yeah, the women. My grandmother on Dad’s side and his, and her sister. And
then, Mom and her sister. And then their Aunt Roxy. And then a cousin of Mom’s on Aunt
Roxy’s nephew, Cousin Margaret, went there. And then I had a first cousin Barbara that
went there. So, there’s seven altogether. Girls.
Corrigan: Now you mentioned just briefly a little bit ago about the great flood of 1951, what
happened down here in that. And your father was working here. But could you tell me a
little bit more about, you would have been twelve, maybe?
Dillingham: Yeah.
Corrigan: Can you tell me, did you ever come down and see the damage?
Dillingham: No. You tried to get away from it. I guess maybe after the fact you did. But
most everybody was getting tetanus shots and all that sort of stuff. It was before air
170
conditioning. And I think it was Friday the thirteenth, ironically, when it hit. And the yards
closed on Halloween of 1991. So, it took forty years for the flood to finally win out. One
footnote that I would add, at the end of the day, the river, whether it be the Missouri, and/or
the Kaw, rules Kansas City. Now maybe today, maybe not. But Union Station’s celebrating
their hundredth anniversary—
[End Track 6. Begin Track 7.]
Dillingham: --this year. It’s because the depot got flooded in 1903, and they finally got
around, eleven years later, to building Union Station. And you think of it because you have
to go uptown and then down to Union Station. It’s probably on the same level as this one
here because trains don’t go up and down hills too well. This building was built in 1910. The
old building was, well, you can’t see it, but just a block and a half behind here. And the state
line ran through the middle of it. And so the river caused that. And around 1903, I’m
guessing around the turn of the century, I haven’t studied it that much, but eighty percent
of Kansas City business was located here in the bottoms. And there’s a book being written
by Ed Matheny right now on the history of the stockyards. And he asked me to do the
foreword of it. And I’m going to take that picture to him. I couldn't find the picture I wanted.
And the irony, the Kansas City public library has a stockyards exhibit at the same time as
the book is being written. So, twenty, twenty-five years later, somebody finally said we
better get something down. And eighty percent was right down here. And the stockyards
started, the American Royal, as a place for you to show the world that your cattle were
better than Frank’s. Ironically, we started Final Fours uptown in 1932 or something. More
final Fours have been played, basketball in Kansas City. But that was a way to show the
world that your team was better than Frank’s. The referees wore black and white, time
clocks, whistles. Down here they had Stetson hat, boots on. No time clocks. But there were
organized ways to prove that your cattle or your basketball was better. Kansas City had a
major role in those two events. And then somebody got the idea well we need to get more
youth involved in agriculture. So, right down the hall, because this, at the very end,
historically was the president of the stockyards. There’s a fireplace, nobody knows about
that, they have down at the end of the hall. Someplace between this office and that office
was the creation of the Future Farmers of America in 1928. So, the stockyards is gone, but it
created [the]American Royal and the FFA for the purpose of organized whatever. And so
when the 1951 flood came, it took forty years just for the economies to finally change things.
Highways and transportation and all that. But, and I might say on the stockyards itself, and
I don't know this, but I’m guessing if you and I had a large packing plant, whether it be
Armour or Swift and Henry, or Cudahy, it probably was getting, I won’t say obsolete, but
new techniques were coming. And you had this great big massive structure that you had to
heat or cool. You couldn’t cool, I guess, but whatever you had to do to it to maintain. And the
flood comes along and really, and maybe halts the operation. And you had it insured. Well,
would you rebuild it like it is because you get this once in a lifetime check. And the answer
is probably not. And this is just my conjecture. You decide instead of shipping and paying for
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the grain to come here, if I could put the cattle next to the grain, out in Kansas, let’s say,
and knowing that—
[End Track 7. Begin Track 8.]
Dillingham: --the Ogallala aquifer was fairly close to the surface then, fifty years ago. And
transportation with trucks now, today, would I not be in feedlots and so forth with cornfields
literally next to you, it would not make sense to put my packing plants out there or
wherever. So, I’m guessing that was the mindset in several of these. Dad even built an
auction center, an auction ring out back, which, to stem the tide a little bit. But the
Stockyards was an interesting place. Two hundred acres of brickyards and one conjecture
that I’ve had, with that many cattle, and I might say at one point I read that where the
actual stockyards started in 1871, by twenty or thirty years at the most, there was a million
dollars a day being exchanged one-hundred years ago in dollars then. So, then I read where
eighty percent of Kansas City’s businesses were here. The heart was the stockyards. And so
in my foreword of this book that Ed Matheny is doing, I inadvertently refer to this as the
first shopping center or mall of Kansas City. And if you look at the buildings, whether it’s
John Deere or some plow, oh, the scales, I’m drawing a blank. But anyway, you came to
town to buy or sell your cattle, let’s say. And while you were here, you needed a new spring
on your tractor or you need a plow. You need this. You need that. So, your shopping center
was here. And eighty percent of Kansas City business was here. So, that meant that people
must live here to work here. They didn’t live in Johnson County or up north. There were no
cars. So, a lot of action was going on here. And I would conclude by saying that Dad and I
put this in my foreword, that heard J.C. Nichols twice say publicly that if there hadn’t been
stockyards, there sure wouldn’t have been a plaza, Country Club Plaza, that today’s
generation doesn’t even know there was a stockyards. It’s been gone now twenty-three
years. But it at one point was the heartbeat. And our farm was twenty miles to the north.
And so all of my relatives, and back in those days, most everybody lived on a farm. So, it’s a
whole different world today. The good news is that one farmer can feed 200 or more of us.
The bad news is that people don’t appreciate or understand that. They think food comes
from Price Chopper, and it comes from someplace else before it gets to Price Chopper. So, I
probably jumped all over the board on your question. But the stockyards are the major
place. So, Dad, in the stockyards book over there that I found that I’m going to take to the
author, Dad had a great-uncle, Joe Dillingham, that had a commission firm and other sort of
things here in the early 1870s. So, we’ve been around this place 140 years on both sides of
the family collectively.
Corrigan: Now, on my drive here, I came across the highway. And it’s named after your
father. When did that take place?
Dillingham: 1990, I think. Look over your shoulder there. Right, yeah. Is that the Missouri
one or the Kansas? That’s Kansas. That was 1997. The Missouri side was 1986 or seven,
and—
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[End Track 8. Begin Track 9.]
Dillingham: Again, the Kaw River, behind you, is historically where the state line of
Missouri was, where the Kaw is, the Missouri. And all the way to Iowa, and all the way to
Arkansas. And that was 1821 or so. The Platte Purchase of 1836 or seven brought in Platte,
Buchanan, and six counties over to the Missouri River. Our farms north would be Mission
Hills, Kansas. South, they never had any reason to go west as we did up north because of
the river. The state line has stayed the same, but the river has moved. And so there’s some
land behind our building that’s now in Kansas. But everybody thinks well that’s all
Missouri. Well, technically, it’s not. And that probably was caused, I make a joke of it that
with all the cattle and all the things that cattle do every day, you’ve got to keep your yards
clean. The best place to put all that poop is in the river. The EPA and others would frown on
today because people get their drinking water. But that little piece back there maybe came
from all the cattle over years. I jokingly said if I had nothing else to do, I’d like to own it and
grow roses in it and irrigate it because it would be the best for vegetables, best ground in the
world.
Corrigan: Not to skip ahead, but because you were talking about it a little bit, could you talk
about this area right now? You know, after the, since the twenty-three years since it’s
closed, was there worry that it would be abandoned or desolate? You kind of saw what
happened. Could you tell me about that?
Dillingham: Well, Bill Haw that owns this building, is our landlord. He and I go back to MU
days. He’s been with Commerce Bank in his early career. He and others in American Royal
have stayed around. The Golden Ox stayed around. And other businesses did start. And so,
and you have to realize that it’s three miles to the American Royal from the Missouri River.
It’s on 23rd Street, give or take. And then it’s probably, oh, a mile and a half, or, give or
take, wide. So, that’s a pretty healthy area. And while a lot of things went away, others
didn’t. And so that’s the first step. And then as downtown fills up, and I use that phrase
loosely. And I tell people that I’m waiting for apartments or townhouses or anyway, living to
occur down here. Some people say, “Well, that’s stock area.” And that’s when I say, well, if
eighty percent of Kansas City business was down here one-hundred years ago before cars
guess where probably eighty percent of the population was. I don't know that, but I can
make an argument for it. A lot of them were Catholic. That’s conjecture. There’s a two-story
brick building one block over, right on the edge of the freeway. And I think it was a Catholic
school. And people would say well for hogs and cattle? No. For the people who walked to
work, either the packing plants or the stockyards. And then when their houses made out of
wood were flushed away, the brick school didn’t flush away. And today, you have all the
Mexicans living on the west side and all the Croatians living on Strawberry Hill in Kansas
City, Kansas. And the evolution of Kansas City, Kansas—
[End Track 9. Begin Track 10.]
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Dillingham: --that’s another subject. When Leavenworth was, and Fort Leavenworth was
here way before all that. And that’s where the center of population was until this down here
started growing. But I think it’s a matter of time with the interstate and Dad under
Governor Teasdale and later Governor Bond was chairman of MODOT for six years. And
he’d always been a big supporter, as my grandfather had and others, of roads and
transportation. So, after he got off the commission, they surprised him and put his name on
it. And I find this interesting. They named the whole thing for him. Well, the folks in
Kansas, again, it’s the state line, the folks in Kansas said, well, that’s nice, but this is our
road, not yours. And somebody put it on some bill. And I’ve forgotten who the governor was
at the time. Dad had supported his opposition, supposedly, so the governor vetoed the bill.
Well, some good friends and fraternity brothers of mine were in Kansas. So, they introduced
another bill that put this as a rider on a bill that the Governor was for and so forth. So, he
didn’t veto that one. So, I think that right in the middle over the ox head is, and I think
that’s the Kansas one. And then at the, as you see, some pictures and editorials about it.
Governor Hayden was there to dedicate the Kansas portion of it in 1990. And it was colder
than hell. A January day standing up. And the three of us, Dad and the governor and
myself. And there I mentioned to the governor, and I said, “You know, I’m a poor Missouri
north of the river Democrat. But you had a great Kansas Republican that’s now gone,
Senator Darby.” And he said, “What are you driving at?” And I said, “Well, I’d like to
propose that you put his name on 635. Runs through his home town and home county.” And
he said, “I’ll do it.” And then later I was in Jeff City for something. And Governor Ashcroft at
that time, I asked John if he would honor what Mike had done in Kansas as they honored
my dad. Would he honor then in reverse what Mike’s going to do on 635. And he said you’ve
got it. And I said, “Did you ever meet him?” He said, “No, but I’ve always heard of him.” So,
it’s interesting in today’s world, a Missouri Democrat, Dad, and a Kansas Republican,
Senator Harry Darby, who was chairman of the American Royal for thirteen or more years.
That’s unheard of. Who got Ike to come to town, he played a big role in getting Ike to be a
Republican nominee. He was chairman of the Eisenhower Museum, built all that out in
Abilene. But two highways, one going that away and one going that away, a Missouri
Democrat, a Kansas Republican, being honored reciprocally in both states. Fast forward to
today. And I grew up in that environment. And I’ll be over our conversation coming up with
some other ideas. But if Dad had anything to do with it, he would not have let that happen.
But he didn’t. He was out. They did it. So. And I remember when we did the Missouri side,
Bill was supposed to be at Scout camp, but he stayed, and he was in Scout uniform. And as
soon as the ceremony was over, we took him to Osceola to go to Scout camp. But the
highways, the highways will be the key initial step to redevelopment of this area. And if I
referred to it as the city’s first shopping center, I tell—
[End Track 10. Begin Track 11.]
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Dillingham: --people when they said, well, you know, it’s this and that. I said you’ve got to
look at it that it was this and that. Way ahead of your thinking. You know, it was uptown,
so to speak.
Corrigan: Yeah.
Dillingham: So, what the folks now need to do is rebirth it and bring it back. It’s not
bringing something out of nothing. This was something. So, that’s the message I’m trying to
get out. And it’s a natural. And it ties the two cities together. And the stockyards was in
both states and both cities. And that’s the reason Dad was the only person to ever be
president of the [Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, [Kansas] chambers.
Corrigan: Oh. The Chamber of Commerce? Okay.
Dillingham: Mm-hmm. Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, both. The only one.
And because the business was there all the fighting that goes on today between the two
states, which goes back to the Civil War. The Stockyards and I can go into much greater
length on that one, because nobody knows that story, either, straddle the state line. And so
he had two governors, four senators, and they were all close friends.
Corrigan: Okay. Now let’s go back a little bit. We kind of skipped ahead a little bit there.
But going back to your childhood, can you describe, you had mentioned baseball, and you
said music played a part. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit more on the different, you’d
talked about the chores. But now let’s talk about maybe hobbies and activities. And even tell
me about, start to tell me about where you went to grade school and that experience.
Dillingham: Well, first was school at Smithville, which was where Mom had gone. And in
those days, and the buildings have since been torn down. But the grade school, for the first
six years, I took my lunch. And Mom usually took me. Because the bus was an hour both
ways, the school bus. And in later years, I would take the Greyhound bus from Nashua to
Smithville because it took fifteen minutes or so. And then they built a cafeteria at the end of
my sixth or whatever grade. We went next door then for, I guess it would be junior high,
middle school, whatever it’s called today. Seventh and eighth grades. And then all of high
school. I was president of the student body my last year. Gone to Boys State prior to that.
And it was a good experience. We had, the only sport I really played was basketball. I wasn’t
allowed to play football. Which today would grab a whole new mindset. But anyway, I
wasn’t. And I started piano lessons when I was four and a half. And I was younger than
some kids in my class were a year older. Anyway, I started maybe when I was four and a
half or five. And we didn’t have kindergarten. We just started first grade. We had a dance
band and later on in school I played for all the assemblies and musicals and stuff like that.
Later on, I was active in the chorus and in band. I was drum major my senior year there, as
I was at Wentworth later on. I can’t, well anyway, I went twelve years to Smithville. I
started in Scouts at Smithville. And then transferred to Nashua, where we lived, which was
smaller. And that’s relative to Smithville. Maybe it was a thousand people. Nashua was a
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hundred or, anyway, less. I transferred to Scouting there. I did all my 4H work in the
Nashua area. And as I mentioned earlier, was in FFA—
[End Track 11. Begin Track 12.]
Dillingham: --one year, and it was my freshman year. I got out because I had to take other
courses. And I think timewise they conflicted. I was better off to either take accounting or
something in farming. I’d go from Wentworth, I mean Smithville, to Wentworth for junior
college. And later was on the board there for upwards of twenty years. In fact, I took Ike
Skelton’s spot on the Wentworth board. And we’re trying to honor him today and his
memory and legacy.
Corrigan: Now going back just a little bit, do you remember how many kids were in your
class, about?
Dillingham: Twenty-eight.
Corrigan: And could you tell me a little bit about, did you have a favorite subject or teacher
in grade school or middle school or high school?
Dillingham: Not really. I didn’t have any unfavorites. And got along with all of them. And I
could give you all their names. I liked almost all subjects. I always did well in math and
science-related, as I later did at Wentworth. But I don't know, maybe it’s just me or my farm
background or what, but it was kind of like doing your chores. You don’t check with the
weatherman to see what the weather is. You go do your chores. And then once you finish, if
you have time and you’re curious about the weather, you listen in. But regardless of what’s
going on, you’ve got work to do. And I just took that for granted. I had no options. (laughs)
So, whoever my teachers were and whatever subjects I had to take, I did.
Corrigan: Now, how would you describe yourself as a student? Did school come naturally to
you?
Dillingham: Yeah. Whatever that means.
Corrigan: It wasn’t difficult?
Dillingham: Not really.
Corrigan: Okay. When did you, well, when did you graduate high school?
Dillingham: 1956.
Corrigan: Now, had you, your mother, had gone to college, your father had gone to college.
When did you start thinking about going to college? Or how did you end up at Wentworth?
Can you kind of tell me about that?
Dillingham: Well, the only thought you had about college was where would you go. The lady,
Mrs. Gibbons, who was the hustler for students at Wentworth, was always coming by. And
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Mom, I think, wanted me to go, I don't know if she or I don't think Dad, he wasn’t into that
that much, wanted me to go my senior year. And finally, I agreed to go. But after I graduate.
I was going to be president of the student body and all these other things. And you worked
11 years to get to that point. And I wasn't going to give it up. And one of the reasons, I
always assumed, even though I’d looked at some other schools, that I’d probably go to MU,
coming out of Smithville was quite a jump. Like Phil Snowden coming out of North Town.
And this probably won’t mean anything to you, but fifty years ago, Smithville High School
and North Kansas City High School, even though they were ten miles apart, Snowden goes
on to be quarterback at Missouri and later the Orange Bowl. And he’s a neighbor and close
friend of mine now and Janie. Now he was in another world in high school. And all those
guys. So, coming out of Smithville, I just knew the big jump. And you know, Saint Louis
people and all this and that. So, my mindset was that Wentworth would be—
[End Track 12. Begin Track 13.]
Dillingham: --an interim academically. Well, it was more than that, as it turns out. The
discipline, the military stuff. And that didn’t really bother me. I hated it my first year. And I
finally had a little [positive feeling] on the final flag-lowering ceremony my first year. And
then, but I liked my roommates and all that. So, I was there two years. I did exceptionally
well. I probably did better there than I’ve ever done in the rest of my life. This was in a short
period of time. And as I said, I was on the board later. And I’m helping them now try to
honor Ike and other stuff. I have a bad habit of hanging around stuff I’ve been in. And at
this stage of life, as you see my resume, that’s challenging. But Ike was this way. He was
buried with his chieftains’ claws on [Tribe of Mic-O-Say]. And Masons had a ceremony for
him. He touched a lot of different people. So, one of my traits, whether it’s good or bad, I’ve
never been, I started using the word “ashamed,” that’s probably the wrong word. But I
belonged to Nashua 4H or the Scout troop in Smithville. I’m happy to tell you I did. I’m not
ashamed of it. Because that’s who I am. For better or for worse. So, after you’ve been in the
game for fifty or sixty years and got all of these things like I was on the Red Cross Board
here. And they’d call Nancy and would join with Dr. Sallee at William Jewell to host a
reception for north of the river folks in a couple of weeks. Yeah, I agreed to do that and got a
letter thanking us and so forth. You know, and all the things you’ve seen on that, sometimes
it gets overwhelming. And that’s what I do, day in and day out. But it started there. And you
know, I’ve never been ashamed. And I’m happy to record whatever I did.
Corrigan: Now, can you tell me a little bit more about Wentworth? You spent two years
there. But you already had known that was just an intermediate between that and the
University of Missouri. Is that correct?
Dillingham: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Probably.
Corrigan: Okay. I wasn’t sure.
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Dillingham: The chances were, you know, there were other schools that I kind of looked at,
but not seriously.
Corrigan: So, really, that was really the only one you really considered seriously was the
University of Missouri?
Dillingham: Yeah.
Corrigan: Okay. Now you made a comment about making that big jump from Smithville.
Was it just because of sheer size? Or was it, did you think you were prepared academically?
Or what did you mean by—
Dillingham: All of the above. Social and other. I was again a year younger than some of the
kids in my high school class, grade school class. And being an only child, you know, I watch
it between Bill and Allen, and our grandchildren now. Nancy’s also an only child. You live in
a different environment. You’re expected to do a bunch of things, and you do them. But
there’s not a lot of horsing around time. Who do I horse around with? And so the social
aspect is very important. And that’s one of the things that, with Twitters and all this other
stuff, are losing out is that interpersonal relationships. And so Wentworth was a great
experience. As I said, I did very well there. In fact, I got a physics scholarship to go to MU.
And after about the first week or two sitting in some of those classes, I knew that wasn’t my
thing. And yet I loved it. But these were, oh, I’d guess, academic types. I don’t even know
how to describe them. But they weren’t my type. And so I switched into—
[End Track 13. Begin Track 14.]
Dillingham: --social sciences, I guess I would call it, government and history, to get my
degrees after physics.
Corrigan: is that like political science?
Dillingham: Yeah. Public administration.
Corrigan: Because you had gotten, is it your undergrad in—
Dillingham: Political science.
Corrigan: And then you master’s in public administration?
Dillingham: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Corrigan: And what years were those?
Dillingham: 1961, because I had to go another semester for the bachelor’s and then June of
1962.
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Corrigan: Okay. Now what was it about the social sciences or political science, you were into
physics, but what was it that intrigued you about that? Or what was it that you thought
that, or what interested you, I guess, to go into that?
Dillingham: I have no idea. Same answer would be all the things that I’m in today and do
today. I should have been a city manager or something like that, some people tell me that,
for that degree. But my interest in history and government and all those related things, if
you can give me an answer of why I do what I do today, then that would be the answer to
your question.
Corrigan: So, now could you tell me a little about your experience at the University of
Missouri? Just kind of describe it. Did you work, were you involved in any clubs or
organizations? Did you, again, have a favorite professor or class? Can you just kind of
describe your time at MU?
Dillingham: Well, I was there four years. And ironically, my first year moving down lived in
the dorm. And lived with our battalion commander at Wentworth. In those days, rank was
real. Like it is in the military today. So, then I finally got [Terry Buck], and his dad was our
Dean at Wentworth, Dean Buck. But going to the first semester or so and the change. And I
think there was a girlfriend problem that she was here or someplace else or not there. And
all that was going on. And I didn’t get along with my roommate that well because we were
just different. I finally got out of that. I went down, also, with the idea of going through rush
week. And I wanted to pledge Beta because two friends and a former roommate at
Wentworth. I learned later I got balled because I was too old. I was going to be a junior. Not
a freshman. And there’s more to that story, which I hope I will remember to get back to. But
anyway, at the end of my first year at Missouri, as a junior, and I was changing majors and
all these things, I had renewed my dorm contract. And four guys came by the house. I was
home on the farm. They were SAEs, Sigma Alpha Epsilons, which was this one over here.
And so I went through rush the next year. And end up pledging that because my Uncle
Billy, who lived, who was Aunt Roxy’s son, they were next door and they were very, very
close. He had died in World War Two. And he was an SAE at Missouri, as well as another
cousin, Dad’s cousin’s husband. So, I went to all the houses and really got great rushes. I
picked SAE and moved into the house. I had a dorm contract, so I couldn’t break it. So, I
went through pledging living in the dorm. But there’s some advantages to Wentworth. I was
in ROTC as well. And all of the leaders of the house, when I say all, and Wayne Goode, who
you would know, “Goody” was at the house. We’re the same age. And I don’t see him much,
but we’re SAEs and he’s really had a great career—
[End Track 14. Begin Track 15.]
Dillingham: --in the legislature. In fact, he’s president of the Board of Curators now, I think.
[I would have taken any bet] fifty years ago on that, but that’s another subject. Anyway, we
all were in ROTC. And because of Wentworth, I outranked them. So, they were actives, and
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I was a pledge. But I was a captain, and they were not. And back in those days, you needed
to complete your ROTC requirements to graduate, and vice versa.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: All or nothing. Well, do you get the feeling that probably I had a pretty good
pledging?
Corrigan: Mm-hmm.
Dillingham: I did.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: And two years later, president of the house, we decided to enter Inter-
Fraternity Sing. And the bait is, always—
Corrigan: What is it again? Inter--
Dillingham: Inter-Fraternity Sing. And we did it at Jesse Hall in those days. And Betas, of
course, wore tuxedoes and so forth. Our guys, you had trouble getting them to wear socks at
dinner, even on dress-up nights and stuff. A bunch of animals. So, I’d go down to Tiger
Linens, which is still in Columbia, I think. Tiger Laundry. And get white dinner jackets. The
cloth ones that waiters wear. Had the guys in bowtie. And had to wear socks. And anyway,
we entered Inter-Fraternity Sing. And I’ve forgotten what we did. And we all were sitting,
awaiting the results. And of course, they get up, whoever does all this, and I think the
president of Beta house was halfway down the aisle when they announced Sigma Alpha
Epsilon had won. And our guys all get up and congratulated them [with the middle finger].
And I thought that was quiet justice that they balled me because I was too old. And I
thanked them two years later. Those are little side stories. But on fraternity, I’ve stayed
very active and been on the National Foundation. My pledge brother and I are the only
[second SAE set of Pledge Brothers in the nation, since 1856, from same Chapter, to receive
the highest Fraternity Award, the Distinguished Service Citation (DSC). First was Chapter
in Ohio]. And he was president of the house the year before me. And he went on to become a
university president and other important things.
Corrigan: What’s his name?
Dillingham: Bob Dickeson. Dr. Bob Dickeson [brother whale]. And but our Alumni
Association, I told them I was going to keep it alive even if I had to eat by myself. And two
years ago, we got the best Alumni Association in America and other things. So, that’s one
thing that, you know, I couldn’t have told you years ago that I’d even be in that fraternity,
maybe not even in a fraternity. But fifty years later, I have been. And I’ve been, I’ve been on
the Development Fund at MU. I mentioned that I was on the [Missouri] 4H Foundation and
later chairman of that. Dr. Olson, Jim Olson, asked me to do the 4H review when the
university was under siege by Governor Teasdale. And that’s when Brice Ratchford ran
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Extension. And they thought it was a political arm of the University of Missouri. And they
got carried away. But that happens in America. I was on our Fraternity Board at Missouri
for nine or ten years. I received the Faculty- Alumni Award in 1980. I don't know why.
[End Track 15. Begin Track 16.]
Dillingham: I look back, and I’m standing on stage with the publisher of Good
Housekeeping. You know, I felt out of place. But I’ve put up four or five people, three or four
that won. I just got turned down this week. I put up Woody Cozad, whom you may know.
Corrigan: What’s the name?
Dillingham: Woody Cozad. He doesn’t even know he’d been put up. And we’ll try again. But I
stayed involved with that. I’m sure I’m overlooking some things that—the ROTC thing is
another part of the question. That led to two years of active duty. Summer camps, I guess
we did some deal at Missouri, down in Fort Leonard Wood. But summer camps were at Fort
Sill. And later, my basic officers’ course was at Fort Sill. Now I might add that as I was
doing my master’s thesis at the Truman Library, and I’m on the Truman Library board
today, the institute board today, I did it on the 48 whistle-stop of President Truman. And
when I’m finished, and I might add that my Grandfather Thompson, Mom, and Dad took me
to Union Station in, I guess, November or whenever of 1944 when I was five years old to
welcome Mr. Truman back on his receiving the vice-presidential nomination of the
Democratic Party. And my grandfather said, “Harry, I want you to come over and meet my
grandson.” And he kneeled down, and we had some “worldly” visit. And so fifteen, sixteen or
seventeen, whatever, years later, I do my thesis there. Dr. Brooks said, “Would you like to
visit with the president?” And, you know, hell, yes. So, for forty-five minutes, we did. I
knocked on the door. And he said, “What were you working on?” I said, “Your ’48 whistle-
stop, Mr. President.” Then he threw his hands over his head, and he had a swivel chair. He
said, “Oh, yeah. That was the one I was supposed to lose.” I mean, he knew they had done
that dozens of times. So, we visited about McArthur and the bomb. Wish I’d recorded it.
Later I noticed I’d been in there forty-five minutes. And I told him, I said, “I’ve taken way
too much of your time and you’ve got stuff to do. I’d stay all day.” He said, “Do you have your
orders?” I said, “Yes.” I said, “We’re both artillery officers.” And he said, “Well, where are
you going?” Well, I shouldn’t have said this. It just crawled out. But I said, “Well, Mr.
President, thanks to you, I’m going to Korea.” And he broke out laughing. Noticed I didn’t
have any humor in it at all. So, he said, “Once you get settled, would you drop me a note and
tell me what you see?” So, I sent him a four or five-page handwritten letter. And within ten
days, give or take, I had a franked envelope from President Truman back and his letter
thanks, enjoyed your letter, and thanks for keeping me posted, or something. I’ve got to find
it, too. I know I’ve got it. And then later, when Senator Darby had a wedding party for,
before we got married, for Nancy’s family, our family and his family, guests at the Kansas
City Club were President and Mrs. Truman. The senator was the senior Republican national
committeeman in the United States. And I later thanked him by putting his name on a road.
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But at this dinner, President Truman. Today, it wouldn’t happen. The irony of that, both
were officers in WW1 of the United States. This past presidential race, none of the four, vice
president or president—
[End Track 16. Begin Track 17.]
Dillingham: --candidates have any military relativity at all. Zero. I try to determine both
captains or majors in combat. There’s a message there. I haven’t quite figured it out. Today
we don’t talk and argue, and nothing happens. ’51 flood became the catalyst for the second
leading industry in Missouri. Agriculture was number one. Recreation and tourism is
number two in both states, thanks to the leadership of Truman and the do-nothing Congress
and Ike with LBJ and Speaker Rayburn stuff happened. And they built Tuttle Creek. And
that picture right up there is of the rose garden when they went back to get money for
Kaysinger Bluff. And LBJ said, “I think I’ll give you some money for Truman Reservoir.” So,
Kaysinger Bluff became Truman Reservoir. So, all those things happened. The ’51 flood was
the catalyst. Couldn't do that today anymore. And we’re not even going to be able to go to
the moon. Putin said we’re going to stop it in four or five years. And they were the only taxi
for us, America, to go to the moon. I’m digressing from your question. But I hope our
grandchildren catch on and have the vision of people that I watched as I was growing up.
[Stuff happened?].
Corrigan: Can you tell me a little more about your conversation with the president. That
just seems, you know, pivotal. How far into your thesis were you at that point, do you
remember?
Dillingham: I was done.
Corrigan: Oh, you were done. Okay.
Dillingham: And so, I told Dr. Brooks and thanked him, who was director at that time of the
library. And that’s when he said, “Would you like to visit with the president?” That was, I
don't know. We went on for forty-five minutes. My Uncle Clay Woods at the bank, his dad,
the chairman, had hired Mr. Truman as cashier. And were the same age. So, you know they
had to be friends. And then later, my Grandfather Thompson, who was getting Clay County
out of the mud on the good roads movement, as Mr. Truman was in Jackson County, that
apparently was the tie of brothers-in-law introducing Mr. Thompson and Mr. Truman. And
apparently the reason why, then we went to Union Station, 1944. They’d become friends.
And I found little letters in Mom’s stuff that Truman had written my grandfather and vice
versa about different stuff. And so ironically, Dad’s Uncle Henry was named U.S. marshal.
And he was the oldest son of Sheriff Dillingham. And when he was shot, my Uncle Henry
was the deputy sheriff and shot the doctor that killed his father. All Farley deserved. And
later, Roosevelt appointed Uncle Henry Dillingham ahead of somebody else. So, when I told
Dad I was working at the Truman Library, he said, “You might not want to say it, because
Uncle Henry got appointed, and his buddy didn’t get appointed.” But that never came up.
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Corrigan: So, did you talk about the actual thesis? Or was it more the relationship between
the actual acquaintances?
Dillingham: I don't remember. It had to be all of the above for forty-five minutes. I mean,
that’s a long time. And when you’re twenty-two years old or whatever—[phone interruption]
Corrigan: Let me start again. Okay, we just took a very brief pause there for the phone to
ring. But go ahead. You were saying, for forty-five minutes.
Dillingham: We probably talked about a lot of things. Because in fact, my Uncle Henry’s
oldest daughter, Lucille, her first husband, died, and she remarried a Mr. Gates, who was a
banker in Platte City. And the Gates family is—
[End Track 17. Begin Track 18.]
Dillingham: So, that wouldn’t have happened probably at all had not that relationship been
forged right here in Kansas City. I’m doing a similar thing on the Mormons up north.
Doniphan and Joe Smith and Hyram Smith. That wouldn’t have happened anyplace else.
The Mormon Church might not even exist today had it not been for Alexander Doniphan
against a draft order from the governor to execute them. He was their lawyer. So, I made a
joke out of it, said lawyers have trouble hanging their clients, or whatever. (laughs) But
those are two little things, but they’re not little at all. In fact, one story, I’ll digress, when
General Order Number 11, Mr. Truman, when he was going, I guess, to summer camp, and
later with Eddie Jacobson, I guess got his new blue uniform, let’s say. And called his
grandmother and wanted to come by and show it to her. And I’d always heard the story that
when she saw him, she said, “I don’t want you to ever come back in that Yankee uniform.”
And that’s all I knew of the story. Well, I learned recently, and I use the word “learned”
loosely, the reason she said that was on General Order Number 11, they were one of the
houses burned by the folks, the Union folks from Kansas that tried to run all the
sympathizers they presumed of Quantrill, following the Quantrill [raid]. From Brush Creek,
four counties south along the line. And they gave you twenty-four hours or something to
take all your worldly possessions and leave, or they would take them and/or burn them.
Well, Truman’s grandmother, years and years later, I guess Grandfather died, and I don't
know whether it’s the grandparents of Truman or his mother’s side, I don't know. She got a
check from the government saying, “We’re sorry we burned your house.” He remembered
this story as he was implementing the Truman Doctrine and later what was to be called the
Marshall Plan because Europe was flat on its back after we spent 80 billion in World War
Two. And we need to spent another 10 billion because the communists were wanting to come
in. So, the Marshall Plan was created in part of the reason, and Truman said they need
money right now. And help was that Grandma got a little check after leaving her house
right there in 1863 or whatever. So, as Truman always said, if you read and understand
history, you’ll know which fork [to take] when you get it. He understood history. And
Secretary Panetta yesterday referred to that. Truman read the Bible two or three times.
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And the president’s glasses, his dad wouldn’t let him go out and play baseball. And he
couldn’t see without them. So, he stayed in and read. Think about that. So, little ditties like
that keep popping up. But the idea on the message on that, I mean, you and I get here, well,
how did we get here? Something happened there.
Corrigan: Now before we leave kind of a discussion of MU and that and your thesis and that,
at this point did you, you’re writing your thesis. It’s on the whistle-stop campaign. Did you
know what you were going to do afterward? Did you have an idea what you wanted to do
post-college yet? Or no?
Dillingham: Well, never. As a matter of fact, never had known. (laughs) I just knew I was
going into the army for two years. So, no.
Corrigan: So, that, okay. You knew that, though. You knew, okay, you were going in the
army for two years. So, before we kind of leave and go to your service, I was wondering, is
there any other stories or things that you wanted to talk about or that you remember from
your time there at the university? Kind of before we move on.
[End Track 19. Begin Track 20.]
Corrigan: Because we’re going to change kind of subjects here. I didn’t know—
Dillingham: No, I don’t. Fraternity life, and then ROTC and you asked one question earlier.
Dr. Wells, as I recall, was my advisor, I guess, for my master’s. My picture was in the paper
one day. I guess Columbia Missourian. And most graduate students, of course, hunker down
in some cave someplace. And here I was in the paper. So, he saw it and brought it up. And
you could tell, there was a little twinkle in his eye, you know. So, my answer was, I said
well, I’m majoring in public administration. And I thought that was just OJT requirements
for me to do this and that publicly, which I didn’t know or implement. But there was my
picture in the paper. I was just doing public administration work. (Corrigan laughs) Yeah,
that’s what he did. But we had a great relationship.
Corrigan: And his name was Dr. Wells?
Dillingham: Yeah. I think it was. I can’t remember. But he was in the [B and PA] building.
And I think the Truman School is there now.
Corrigan: I believe it’s called Middlebush now. But I think it is, it’s the Truman School of
Policy or—
Dillingham: Yeah, something.
Corrigan: Something. So, that was the building?
Dillingham: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Corrigan: Is that where you spent most of your time, then?
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Dillingham: Yeah, in the later, you know, after you get through your elective. I will say of
the school, between Wentworth and Missouri, I went to William Jewell for summer school.
And that’s where Bill went, and Grandfather Thompson went. And the whole mindset was
two things. One, to get some requirements out of the way. Again, going to a big school like
Missouri, you know, I just didn’t know. And then being in school with all the boys to kind of,
you know, get back into the real world again. It was summertime and on the farm at our
house, which my great-grandparents had built. And that was the clock in my office that was
in their house that I’ve had redone. 1876. And so Grandfather Thompson then remodeled it
some. Anyway, my room on the farm was my Grandfather Thompson’s old room. But non
air-conditioned days. Summer school. Studying. So, I bought our first air conditioner for my
room. A window unit. And I bought my first bike. I bought our first television. Here Dad had
one of the best jobs at that time in Kansas City. But I bought those things. And there’s a
good message there. I live a pretty good life now because we lived a fairly conservative life
then. And he worked all the time. And again, that was an aftermath of the Depression. I
know it affects people in different ways. But if you’re of a certain age and the world
collapses, it makes an impression on you. And knowing him, he vowed that it would never
happen again. We’ll be prepared next time.
Corrigan: Did your parents, did they talk about it? Or referencing, you know, how bad the
Depression was or what—
Dillingham: No. (laughs) We never discussed anything. Just this is the way it is.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: Yeah. Dad and I, I would tell people, you know, kids today argue with their
parents and this and that. Not me. I’ve forgotten, oh, it was Bill Dunn the other day, Mr.
Dunn of [J.E.] Dunn Construction. I don't know where we were or what we were doing, but
he made some reference. Anyway, I told him that Dad, I never got a spanking--
[End Track 20. Begin Track 21]
Dillingham: --from Dad. And he said, “Your Dad was awfully big.” I said, “You caught it.” I
said, “At six-three and later, 250 or more, to argue with him?” I mean, that’s like some
middle linebacker. I mean, you want to get on with the program? No! I’m going to lose.
(laughs) I mean, I learned that way early in life. So, he never spanked me. I mean, he’d
make some suggestions. So, when I got to Wentworth, I kind of lived in that. In fact, I’ll add
that in Wentworth, I was the only guy that year, and there were around 550, 600 cadets,
only one in the academy to go through without a single demerit my last year. And I won a
bunch of other awards, too. But I got the Outstanding Graduate Award. I guess that’s luck.
But Ike always kidded me, “kids” the wrong word. He got the second-highest award, and he
said it must have been rigged and so forth for me to get the highest award. But I learned
that I was getting close to going through without a single demerit. And when anybody who
outranks you – and that’s anybody, I don’t care how old they are – if they outrank you, they
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can give you a demerit. And if you look at them cross-eyed, they can come up with some
excuse. And it stands. Well, with that kind of environment, I made it through. Well, it
started at home. We didn’t debate things. In fact, even later years, I’d come in here when
he’d be 90. And we very, I don’t remember ever really sitting down and discussing
something or debating or whatever word you want. You’d ask him, you know, “Is the coffee
hot?” And he’d say no. End of message. (laughs) I grew up in that sort of world with him.
Corrigan: So, they didn’t talk about things like politics. You mentioned that he was a
Democrat, right?
Dillingham: Truman. And today I say a Truman Democrat. Whatever that means.
Corrigan: Okay. But I didn’t know if they, you know, talked about politics or why you should
be a Democrat or a Republican or it didn’t matter, or—
Dillingham: No. It’s just the way it was.
Corrigan: But you knew it, though.
Dillingham: Oh, yeah. I mean, it was not for debate. You are. Not for discussion. (laughs)
Today we discuss everything and decide nothing. In those days, that’s the way it is. It’s not
subject of debate. That’s a difference of today, and then, too, I think, for a lot. And maybe
that’s a product of the Depression. I don't know. But it’s different. Well, I, at Wentworth,
today, I asked the question about enrollment and so forth. And today, something to the
effect, they said, “They kids, if they don’t want to, they say, ‘We’re not going.’” Well, that
wasn’t the case in my situation. But back in my era, if the old man said this and that, that
was the end of the discussion. There was no debate. (laughs) Not even time for debate. There
was no debate. And life was much simpler. The rules of the road was very simple. And our
country needs a little bit of that, frankly. So, that’s one big change.
Corrigan: And so then at William Jewell, because I see some things around here that say,
William Jewell, you were attending summer school in between your time at MU, is that
right?
Dillingham: Wentworth and MU.
Corrigan: Oh, okay. Got you. Okay.
Dillingham: Social as well as academic, to clear up. I’ve forgotten what I took there, whether
it was Spanish or I don’t even remember. But I took three courses, as I recall. But part of it
was just to get acclimated to a small, Smithville I went from twenty in my class to at least
600 at Wentworth to at Missouri. And you got guys from Saint Louis, and you met them, too,
come from monster schools, whether Ladue or Frontenac or what all. And I never—
[End Track 21. Begin Track 22.]
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Dillingham: --in the fraternity, we had as many guys from Saint Louis as we did the rest of
the state. And their guys would say, “Well, I’m from Ladue,” or, “I’m front Frontenac.” Or
whatever some of the others are. And they never said that over here. They said, “Oh, well,
he’s from Kansas City.” And Saint Louis plays that big of a role today, I think, at Missouri,
at the whole university. Two different worlds. So, Senator Darby, I think, was the one that
coined the phrase, you know, my wife has said, and she’s said it publicly. And we’ve said it
in some kind of strange places. But the Arch should have been in Kansas City, that this is
the gateway to the west. So, people say that—[clock chiming] I’ll tell you about that. Saint
Louis is the back door of the east, and we’re the front door of the west. (laughs) So, you have
all of these little worlds going on.
Corrigan: So, people in Kansas City don’t describe themselves or where they’re from by a
geographic region. As opposed to saying in Saint Louis. Is that what you see here?
Dillingham: Well, who knows, but—
Corrigan: But from your perspective.
Dillingham: Those two worlds are different. I mean, you see it at the legislative level. At
Missouri and again in the fraternity. Now the interesting thing with half of our house
literally from the Saint Louis area and their other half from the rest of Missouri,
Springfield, Saint Joe, Kansas City, today our alumni association is doing very, very well.
And it encompasses Kansas and Missouri and all sorts of schools. And the Saint Louis group
doesn’t even exist, hardly. And it ought to be the opposite, and they ought to be huge over
there. They ought to be active and huge. Neither. So, I don't know what that means. Maybe
they can’t get along and talk or don’t care. I don't know. So, the two worlds are different, at
least from my perspective.
Corrigan: Okay. Okay. So. Okay, we took a brief little break there. We were just talking
about William Jewell. You were going to the summer school there. You were finished up at
the University of Missouri in 1962. So, I kind of wanted to move to, is if you could start
talking about your service, your career, your two years you had to put in. What you did,
where you were. Could you just kind of explain?
Dillingham: As I mentioned earlier, I had informed Mr. Truman, thanks to him I went to
Korea. Was going to Korea. And I did. I went to Fort Sill immediately after graduation. And
went to officers’ basic course, I think it was called. And ironically there, and I can’t
remember whether it was summer camp or there because I went twice to Fort Sill. But we
do a critique at the end of it. And that critique goes straight to the commanding general.
And they ask how things were. And so I made some not real positive comment about the
mess hall, and/or the food or something. Well, it really upset him. I mean, to the point he
came to the colonel and then the colonel came to me. The bad news was that I had another
class that I had asked for, I guess. So, I stayed on after for, say, two or three weeks to take
this other short class at Fort Sill. All these other classmates gave their critique and then
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left. But I was still around. And I’d complained about the mess hall. Well, the head of the
mess hall, after getting berated by the general—[phone rings]
Corrigan: Okay. Perfect. Okay. So, we took a little break there. And you were just about to
start telling me—
[End Track 22. Begin Track 23.]
Corrigan: You were, about the mess hall we were talking about. And you had to stay on, or
you were on two or three—kind of go from there.
Dillingham: Yeah, yeah. Two or three weeks that I had to stay over for this class. And I
think it had something to do with nuclear weapons. The colonel was so distraught, or
whoever, that, anyway, I got assigned to the mess hall. And the basic message was, if you
know so damn much, let’s improve it. Which was a great response from them towards me.
But I gave them an honest opinion from my point of view. So, anyway, I don't know that I
improved it any. But anyway, I worked hard at it. And then after oh, a short break at home,
I went to Korea. And that was, in those days, a four-engine constellation, as we would say
with TWA. Not jet. And we went to Hawaii, and then to Wake Island for breakfast, and then
on to Tachikawa, Japan. I think each leg was roughly eight hours. And all I could hear were
the engines in my ears for the next three or four weeks it seemed like. When I got to Korea,
and you had no idea where you were going, at least geographically, I stayed maybe in
downtown Seoul, but I can’t remember, for one night. And then we were helicoptered out to
Camp Williams. I think it was called. I was assigned to a [Lacrosse guided missile]
battalion. It was very small. Two hundred or so, maybe 200 people, led by a lieutenant
colonel. And they should have had, maybe they had three or four captains and three or four-
second lieutenants, as I recall. I don't think we had any majors or first lieutenants. And my
main job was a communications officer. It was supposed to have a captain, but here I was a
second lieutenant. I never will forget the first day there. Our master sergeant and I can’t
think of his name at the moment, had, oh, four or six hash marks on his uniform. Which
meant each of six months of combat. Sergeant Robertson. And we had a visit our first day or
so. And I might say that our communications platoon consisted of a wire, roll of wire for
putting you in touch with radios or so. You had to string wire between the old telephone
wire. And then we had a crypto-security entity that was on a mobile could be mobile. And
then just the plain crypto-security abilities. And maybe we had twenty or thirty, I’ve lost
track now, people. But anyway, Sergeant Robertson and I talked, and I called him [“Top”],
but a lot of, in those days, you did that out of respect. Even though you outranked them,
they had far more age and experience and know-how than you ever would know. And I was
hopefully smart enough to know that. So, as we visited, I told him, I said, “You know way
more than I do,” and so forth. And I said, “I will give you all the passes you want to go to the
village or what all.” I should say that our compound had—
[End Track 23. Begin Track 24.]
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Dillingham: --two villages, one on the north and one on the south, and we were surrounded
by rice paddies. And these small villages maybe had thirty or forty people, I don't know, but
small. I said, “I’ll give you everything you
want, as long as you make us all look good
and don’t embarrass us.” And he said,
“Lieutenant, you’re a lot smarter than I
thought you were.” And we got along great. I
later was appointed by the colonel to be our
mess officer, and I never did understand that.
And then the chapel officer. And then the
battalion historian. And my other lieutenants
didn’t have any of these things. Of course, I
had been deferred for a year and a half to get
my master’s. So, I was a little older, I guess,
but nothing else. Well anyway, we would go
on field problems. We were there for a whole
year. The colonel wanted us to be out at least,
I think, one of three days out in the field. So,
for there a year, we were out sleeping out
three months, four months of the year. I remember leaving one time. It was maybe seven
degrees below zero. We were supposed to be out a week. And I thought there was no way
we’d survive. But apparently, we did. On the big AM deuce and a half, two and one-half ton
trucks, that was kind of, we had an especially made facility for our radio systems, and with
our missiles, when we actually did a shoot, we would position these on a high hill so they
would have contact with the Fire Direction Center, which was kind of the brains of it. And
then a connection communication-wise to the firing battery. And they were not necessarily
next to each other at all. In fact, sometimes a long distance, a mile or so apart. And if you
had bad weather and Korea, all the mountain ranges go north and south. And Manchuria
was north of us. And of course, North Korea was north of us. And that was all a product of
the breakup of World War Two and the spoils, if you will, between Russia and the US and
the 38th Parallel. We were very close to the 38th parallel. And we knew if the balloon went
up, as we said, we would be one of the first targets. We did have nuclear capabilities. Which,
looking back, seems kind of eerie. I’ll digress to say that Senator Symington, whose staff I
was on in Washington in 1961 and then later his reelection campaign staff in 1964, I think,
called me one day from Washington out on the farm. I don’t get calls like that every day. He
had been a nominee for vice president for Kennedy. And that lost out to LBJ. But he was on
the Senate Armed Forces Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Had been
my boss and so forth. And he calls and says, “Did you have nuclear weapons when you were
in Korea?” Which I thought was kind of a pointed question intelligence-wise and security-
wise and twenty-three years old. But with all the things that he represented; it wasn’t like a
terrorist asking you. So, I said, “Yes, we did.” And he said, “Thank you very much.” And I
Paintings I purchased from 'artists' in the villages near our post north of Uijeongbu. The top picture shows one
of the villages outside our fenced, guarded nuclear compound that was surrounded by rice paddies. Local
artists would sell these oils on wood paintings for a few dollars. I had them framed after I returned home.
189
never did know why he asked and where that went. On the chapel office, we built a Quonset
hut chapel. I played the field organ for the services, Protestant services. And later was able
to get an electronic two-keyboard—
[End Track 24. Begin Track 25.]
Dillingham: --from out of San Francisco organ. That was a big thing, at least at that point. A
field organ that you pump with your feet as you’re playing with your hands is sure different
than electric, big two-keyboard organ. And Captain Fassel who you didn’t really hobnob
with captains because they outranked you. But we were friends. And he lived in the other.
We lived in Quonset huts joined by a Quonset hut bathroom in the middle. And I’ll try to
remember that story to come back to it. But Captain Fassel was Catholic. And we finally
had a bet that I would have more Protestants going to church than he had Catholics. And we
opened it up to the villages, who would dress up and bring their children. Well, I ended up
winning because I was also the mess officer. And I suggested to the mamasans and their
kids that they come a little early and we stop at the mess hall and eat some oranges and
whatever and then go onto church. Well, I got a bigger showing than Captain Fassel did for
his group. But I had two or three generals come. And Anita Gorman kids here that I’m the
only person she knows that built a chapel in Korea and helped build a jail in Clay County.
So, I guess that’s true. Our mess, we had a Sergeant Hill when I took it over. And Johnny
was in the kitchen, and he was a Korean. And you weren’t supposed to have Koreans in the
kitchen because tuberculosis or heaven knows what. But he was a hell of a cook. And he
made pastries. And God, he was good. Well anyway, within a month before we, my year was
up, we won the Best Mess in Korea. Thanks to Sergeant Hill. He was really good. So, my
year went by quickly, being out in the field that much. And I did run into a nice young lady
down at the library at [Uijeongbu], Miss Chang, who, Jan, I think, was her first name. So,
we would go places on the weekends and do things down in Seoul. And her mother, I think,
had been a university professor at Ewha University in Seoul or something. But this is 50
plus years ago. So, my year went quickly. And it was busy. And hopefully productive. When
I came back, I was assigned to the Big Red One for nine months, Fort Riley. First Infantry
Division. And I wasn’t there very long until I was asked to be interviewed, really
interviewed is the wrong word. I think I had already been picked to be the aide to the
artillery commander, General Waterman. And then he, that was at Camp Funston, as I
recall. And he later was assigned to Fort Totten, New York. And then the assistant division
commander, his aide went on to run a company, I presume, in the army. And so General
Meyers, Charles Meyers, called me to ask if I would be interested in being his aide. And he
had a horrible reputation of running an aide off every six months. But somehow, I did it. We
clicked. I learned that he was a first, he was the runner-up to the first Heisman Trophy,
1935 or six. He was out of West Point. He wore thick glasses. “Monk” was his nickname. And
later on, General Schwarzkopf, when I told him I was Monk’s aide, said, “Son, you must be
tough.” And then General and Ms. Westmoreland gave me a lot of static. General
190
Westmoreland commanded Vietnam. But Monk would beat him in basketball when captain
of the corps, I guess, Westmoreland was there, Monk was—
[End Track 25. Begin Track 26.]
Dillingham: So, I’d run into all these people who would give me a lot of static. But that told
me that they had a great admiration for him. And he retired as a one-star. And he was great
to Nancy’s parents in later times. And we went out to visit him. And he was wonderful to
me. So, and I got the Army Commendation Medal from him. And we had a little
dinner/ceremony. Dad took steaks out. Senator and Ms. Darby went out. Dr. and Ms.
Spelman from Smithville went out. Mary [and] Kemp Woods went out. And Homer
Williams, who, we were each other’s best man, he was living there in Junction City. And his
wife, who later deceased, I was their best man as well. And they were at the wedding, I
mean, at this ceremony at Fort Riley at the Officers’ Club. And I think there was June or
July of 1964. And so I had a great experience there. And today, I’ve recently stepped down
As my service came to an end in July 1964, General Charles Meyer awarded me the Army Commendation Medal. Dad and Mom brought out a bunch of Golden Ox steaks for dinner to celebrate. In addition to “Monk” Meyer and his wife, Ann, the guests included Senator and Mrs. Darby; Dr. and Mrs. Spelman;, Mi and Kemp Woods; Kemp’s sister,
Dorothy, and her husband, Major Ernie Stoelzing; Major General Jonathan O. Seaman (division commander); General Seaman’s aide, Captain Jack Little; John Montgomery of the Junction City Union Newspaper and his wife; Tom Griffith, who was a Republican guru in Manhattan, Kansas; Fred Bramlage of Junction City, Kansas; Mr. Scupine, who founded
a company that would later become Sprint; Ed Rolf and his wife, who was Senator Carlson’s daughter; Mike Flynn; Gumma and BooPoo; my friend Homer Williams and his wife, Linda; Linda’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ervin.
191
from the Command [and] General Staff Foundation up at Fort Leavenworth that General
Petraeus got started. And General Patraeus and I exchange emails from time to time and
letters and have become good friends. And so, and General Arter, who is kind of the
Chairman of the Foundation and Army Civilian Aide, I guess, to the Secretary of the Army
for eastern Kansas, was sitting at the Darby table when we christened or whatever we did to
the opening of 635 for Senator Darby. And I told him that we needed a superintendent of
Wentworth. And it turned out that he went down to do that on an interim basis at the
beginning of the Gulf War. And he and I stayed friends for almost twenty-five years now.
And wonderful retired three-star general. And so thanks to a great experience of my two
years, fifty years later, I’m still hanging around Fort Leavenworth. And now exchanging
letters and so forth with Commanding Generals and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs and so
forth. That would not have happened had I not had a good experience, kind of like the FFA,
and all these other things, I never seem to get too far removed from them. And they might
pop up after twenty or thirty years. But that doesn’t make any difference. I’ve gotten some
nice recognition relating to the army. And I guess that would be my army story. But it, I had
a good experience. And met a lot of great people. I don’t see any of them. I guess we do
exchange Christmas cards with Mike Farr, who had gone to Stanford. He and I took an R&R
and went to Hong Kong and Japan for a week in between all that. But other than that, I
don’t hear from any of them. But it was a good experience, and I think I probably later told
Mr. Truman it was a good experience as well.
Corrigan: That’s probably a good stopping point if you want.
Dillingham: Okay. [pause]
Corrigan: All right. We just took a break for lunch. We just finished with your military
career and your two years in Korea. I’d like to talk a little bit now about your actual career.
You had given me a copy of your resume, and I went over it. And you broke it kind of down
into different areas. And I kind of want to do that now is tell me a little bit about after
Korea you came back to Kansas City, and you had your degrees done. And I’m just curious,
what were your plans or what was your initial thought when you got back to your
hometown? What were you going to do?
Dillingham: Well, after Korea, which was a year, I spent nine months at Fort—
[End Track 26. Begin Track 27.]
Dillingham: Riley, which is next to K State. In Manhattan area. I think I had a job that July
on the campaign staff of Senator Symington. And my role was Northwest Missouri, which
today would be the Sixth Congressional District. Besides knocking on doors and trying to
raise money and driving all over Northwest Missouri, we had a big blowout at the Robidoux
Hotel, which was a landmark institution that’s no longer there in downtown Saint Joe. It
would be like the Muehlebach would be in Kansas City. And he won reelection. At least I
didn’t hurt him any that I knew of. And then I was offered a job, ironically, from Nancy’s
192
uncle and grandfather that I didn’t know at the time because I had just started dating
Nancy, I guess. Not knowing the tie between her family and my boss-to-be. But Rudy
Patrick Seed Company, which was located right north of here on 1212 West Eighth Street,
some of the old buildings are there now. The company went out of business forty years ago
when it sold out to the W.R. Grace Company. But I was there a short time and had the
opportunity to, well, what do we do? And so one of the opportunities was to go to Mount
Vernon, Illinois, which is the hub of southern Illinois, and run a branch. And I thought that
made a lot of sense. Nancy and I were only children. She was very close to her mother. And
had lost her biological father in World War Two on an ammunition ship that was sunk by a
kamikaze. So, anyway, we went to Illinois. And we were there two and a half years. I think
we went in the fall. We got married in 1965. So, after our honeymoon, I think we basically
took off. And I had worked at Rudy Patrick maybe since the fall of, after the election of 1964.
And so I had been with the company let’s say eight or nine or ten months and had this
option opportunity. So, we moved to Illinois, and I rented an apartment, a new one. And
figured she needed a job. I don't know that I asked her about it. And anyway, got her a job at
the local bank, a new bank. And she was the secretary to the president, which was a natural
for her and she fell right into it. Town of 20, 25,000 people, I guess, today. And I was
responsible for the sales of field seed, like alfalfas, grasses, legumes, to all of southern
Illinois, up to Decatur and Springfield. I, later on, would have test plots down at Carbondale
at Southern Illinois University. And for weekends occasionally we’d drive to Saint Louis, the
big city, along route 460. And we, in fact, watched the arch being built. I don't know how,
and I think I was twenty-seven or twenty-eight at the most, yeah. Right in there. Anyway, I
was asked to go on the board of the chamber. And Bob Poisall was the manager at that time.
And did. And within a year, he wanted me to run and be president. Well, I wasn’t even
thirty years old. That wasn’t my town. Etcetera, etcetera. And he said, “That’s an
advantage.” I wasn’t biased or anything.
[End Track 27. Begin Track 28.]
Dillingham: So, I did that. And it was a neat experience. One of the things I remember doing
was Cardinal Cody was the, I think, had been maybe the bishop here in Kansas City. But he
was the archbishop, or maybe cardinal at that time, out of Chicago. And he and Dad were
good friends. And somehow we worked out some big luncheon. I don't know now why or how.
But anyway, we pulled it off. And the cardinal came to speak at Mount Vernon. And Dad
came over and they, we had this big luncheon. And looking back, I don't know why I did it,
or even how I did it, but we did it. So, between my business career there and my, I don't
know, side, which took a lot of time, obviously, we were busy. We hadn’t started a family yet.
We had Bolivar, our collie dog, who we’d gotten down in West Frankfort or someplace south
of Mount Vernon. And about mid-1968 or so forth, she had lost her grandmother. And then I
lost my grandfather. And my grandmother was in the hospital or not doing well. And so we
came home after a little under three years. And I worked in so-called home office here,
which is only four or so blocks north of where we physically are now. The company later was
193
sold, as I mentioned, W.R. Grace. And when I had come back, I think, I can’t remember now
whether it was before or after, maybe before, but I was the first young recruit, I guess, that
was sent out to all the branches all over the United States to see how they operated from
Alabama to ones in Texas and ones out in Oregon and Touche, Washington, and so forth.
And I’d be there during the week and then borrow somebody’s car and go to Mount
Rushmore or go to the Alamo and do something else on the weekends. So, I stayed there
until, I guess, late 1968 or sometime. Maybe 1969. I’ve lost track. And then I had an
opportunity. I guess an offer to get in banking from Mayor Ike Davis up north of what
became Boatman’s North Hills. They needed to find, and I guess they were recruiting
somebody to be president. And he offered me the vice president’s job. And I had not been in
banking. So, at kind of a last-minute, Dad said, “Well, have you talked to the chief about
that?” And at that moment, he was referring to the chief, meaning Ray Evans, who had been
president of the chief’s red coaters, and, again, was one of Senator Darby’s sons-in-law, as
Roy Edwards, my first boss, was. So, I went up to see Ray and tell him I had a job offer from
Ike Davis and what did he think about me getting into banking. And he said, “I didn’t know
you were interested in banking. How would you like to work for me?” And I said I didn’t
come here, and he said, “Well, I understand that. But now that you have, how would you
like to work for me?” And I said I’d love it. So, I turned Ike down and took Ray’s offer. And I
was young. Oh, I think at least a minimum of a generation younger than the other officers
on the floor at that time. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes worked upstairs, and I would
help them. And the NAIA banked there. And I would help them. And so that was a fun
experience. And I went out and called on people that hadn’t seen their banker forever, in
some cases. And stayed there until, I guess it would be, I think I was there—
[End Track 28. Begin Track 29.]
Dillingham: --maybe from 1972 to 1979. And I guess I ought to inject, I just thought of, that
after Rudy Patrick and W.R. Grace, Bob Thedinger, who was my day-to-day boss, Vice
President at Rudy Patrick, somehow through friendships and relationships, knew about a
fish and chip franchise called Alfie’s. And I’ve forgotten the original one in California. It will
hit me in a minute. H. Salt. And H. Salt was from England. It was a no-seat, takeout-only,
shopping mall entity. And some of the people for Alfie’s, as it was later called, wanted a
freestanding building, parking, come on in and sit down and eat philosophy. And so we
ended up buying the state of Missouri and parts of Kansas they threw in free. Well, that
part of Kansas was Lawrence and the University of Kansas, which later after I got the store
built, was at one point second in the nation. The rumor was, the founder of our company, the
big company, and again, we were licensee, and then we would build stores and sell
franchises to franchisees. But the found of all of this, Mr. Zucker, reportedly took all of our
deposits from new stores and other things and absconded with it and opened a strip joint in
Tijuana or who knows what the truth is. But anyway, we had no leadership, and we were
supposed to go public as an overall company. And that went down the tubes. And I had to go
around to various people. And I had five stores. One downtown in Kansas City, one in
194
Columbia at Fifth, next to the dorms where I used to live, and Walter Williams Park. I can’t
think now what the side street, it was Fifth Street. And we had one in Lawrence, one in Jeff
City. And then one in Sedalia. And then I had to go around all those stores and somehow
break, and that’s the wrong word, negotiate out a twenty-year lease that we had just done
one or two or three years earlier. So, that was an interesting exercise. But we did that. And
then at that point, I guess when I had been at Trader’s Bank following the Alfie thing for
seven years or so, Ray Evans had some health issues and had to step down and George
Lehr, who went on to be county executive of Jackson County and maybe ran for state office,
I’ve forgotten now, but he was quite a political success story. And anyway, I was to help put
together a party for Phil Snowden, who was running for Congress. And George Lehr had
said he would host something at the Kansas City Club. And that ended up not working out.
And I mouthed off to his secretary. And he was appointed chairman of the bank two weeks
later. And he walked in front of my desk, coming and going, and we did not speak for one
year. And finally, I got a job offer from Charlie Garney, who had a construction company up
north. And he had banked at Trader’s. So, I accepted that job. And told George he’d won out
and I was leaving. So, George had the Topsy’s franchise. I had the Alfie’s franchise years
before that. So, we knew each other. He was, some felt, had some legal concerns. And I’ve
forgotten—
[End Track 29. Begin Track 30.]
Dillingham: The Teamsters named him head of their overall pension fund. And the attorney
general’s office said, “We’ll be watching you. Your job is to clean it up.” And he did. And then
he died shortly thereafter. So, anyway, I was at Garney’s for seventeen years, I believe, until
1995. And I also was appointed to the police board in 1990 by Governor John Ashcroft. And
that took a lot of time. And for eighty-four Dollars and thirty-four cents every two weeks
after taxes, there’s a story in that. But I won’t talk about it here. And Garney, I was, I think,
a senior vice president. And I was in charge of finding business opportunities, business
development, whatever you want to call it, marketing, and then college recruiting. And
before it was over with, from Florida to University of Maryland. And I should say that while
I was in the army, I had been eligible. And so I pursued it that I taught school twice in
Korea at night for the University of Maryland, teaching American government. And the first
time I did, it was horrendous. You had three chapters every night and two nights a week.
And the lesson plan to get ready. But the second time I did it, then my lesson plans were
ready. So, I got a little pay. And I put all that in the bank. There ain’t nothing else to spend
it on over there. But I recruited there for Garney. I may have, I know I did Rolla once, but I
was K State, for sure. Nebraska. We didn’t have much, though, at Missouri. So, Rolla once.
Corrigan: What kind of company was that?
Dillingham: Oh, I’m sorry. It was a heavy construction company. Water and sewer lines.
And maybe wastewater treatment plants. But water, sewer-related. Heavy construction.
Texas A & M, when you go to the University of Missouri, and maybe go to one or two stories
195
in the Student Union or something like that, and then go to Texas A & M, and have lunch
with recruit possibilities on the ninth floor, all of a sudden you know Texas is a little
different than Missouri. Big leagues down there. And same holds true for athletics. I went to
Arizona State. I was one of the first ones there. And maybe Colorado State, I’ve forgotten,
where, in Colorado. But anyway, you can tell all over. And I was growing with that. And I
was trying to find business at the same time as people to staff those businesses. I later
learned, we’d gotten a lead, and I pursued it from here, [an officer] ate at the Ox, he was
with General Motors and somehow worked out a deal where he was in on the new Saturn
plant at below Nashville. Well, he worked it out where I was on the approved bidders’ list.
And we met somebody in the near town in his garden and worked out the deal where we got
to do the water line from that town up to the new Saturn plant. (laughs) It all started here
at the Ox. Another one I wanted to do stuff in Florida, and I asked Lee Derrough [Worlds of
Fun] if he knew anybody at Disney World. And yes, we’re on the American Theme Park
Board together. So, he put a call or wrote a letter. And the bottom line, I got access to being
on the approved list for Disney World. They did a, built a, under a bridge under the road, as
opposed to above it. And I don't know. It was a fiasco. And the guys—
[End Track 30. Begin Track 31.]
Dillingham: --lost money, and they didn’t want to ever work there again. And I think they
lost money on the subs they used. But I’d gotten them a good opportunity. We just didn’t do
it very well and blew it. But again, using friendships and relationships, which the company
was basically wanting to read about something someplace. And bid something, all public
bids. And I was going to worlds where relationships and other goodies were the keys to the
door. One little story on Nashville and the Saturn line, I’ve forgotten the young man. But,
and our jobs, I ought to say, lasted six months, sometimes a year. They were not just an in
and out job. They were big. And in the meanwhile, you’re young, and you fall in love. So, one
guy maybe got married or something. And then he came home and said, “Great news. We
are going to El Paso” or someplace. And the wife said, “Who’s we?” And she said, “I have a
job, and this is my home.” So, he ended up quitting and working for some local company
there. So, that told me I needed to recruit around places we had jobs and/or an office. And
that way, our young officers then could be home over the weekend or something. You can’t
screw around with Mother Nature. I learned that. And that’s about the time I left the
company. But I think it was interesting. I don't know whether was a fifty-year reunion or
something of the company. It’s been a huge success. An ESOP was created. We’d go out to
lunch tailgate parties to tell the good news about the possibilities of ESOP. I’ve forgotten
how many millionaires had been created there, just boys and girls alike. And in this reunion
we went to, two or three or four people came up. And I’d been gone, oh, gosh, sixteen,
seventeen, eighteen years along. I’d been gone longer than I worked there now. But a
handful of people came up and said, “You recruited me.” Well, I didn’t even remember them.
But that was amazing [that they’d] been there that long and stayed. And the company now,
I don't know, is doing four or five hundred million a year. And maybe is the largest in the
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country for what it does. So, maybe I played a small little role there. After the police board
and Garney, both ending in June or July of 1995, I, I won’t say retired, I just started doing
stuff for no pay. And stayed busy for the next nineteen years doing that.
Corrigan: Now I saw that did you become, was it an independent advisor for Waddell and
Reed, is that correct?
Dillingham: No. Independent trustee.
Corrigan: Oh, trustee.
Dillingham: Director. They change from time to time. But I was asked to go on that Board,
I’ve forgotten whether it was 1997 or sometime. Dad had been on the board up until 1994 or
1995. So, I told Hank Herman last year that other than a small interruption, he’s had Dad
or me for fifty years now on there. And we’re a trustee for the funds and not the company.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: So, we represent the shareholders, as opposed to the owners.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: But I’ve been on that, well, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen—
Corrigan: I think I have down here 1917, or 1997 to present.
Dillingham: That’s seventeen years.
Corrigan: Then I saw on your thing that you put together, is it JoDill & Company, and then
Dillingham Enterprises? Is that right?
Dillingham: The JoDill is the farming—
[End Track 31. Begin Track 32.]
Dillingham: --operation of the Dillingham side, started by my grandfather. We had land in
Platte County in the Waldron Bottoms. And all the row crops. We had, somebody did have,
did have somebody, Shorty Pike and later Joe Ulich and Dutch, I’m drawing a blank on
Dutch’s last name [Oberhelman]. But anyway, ran the operation. And there were probably
1200 or 1300 acres or so of bottomland on the river but protected by federal ag levies. And
that’s as opposed to homemade or state or what all levies. They’re done with very specific
rules of the road. And thereafter you live with it. We also had land in Holt County, which we
still do. We may have had the first [federal]ag levies in the State of Missouri. And I don't
know how Granddad pulled that off, or Dad. And during the last big floods, water did get in
underneath the levies and through seepage or can’t think of the technical term. But a geyser
would come up of some sort. But other than that, nothing would happen to the levies. Some
levies, I-29 was shut off for a period of time. We weren’t. And that particular relationship,
the JoDill, started with a partnership, and I never have understood it, with Jack Merriman,
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whose grandson Michael Merriman is a big landowner in today’s downtown. And I didn’t
know this at the time, but when I was on the house board at the SAE house in Missouri,
found an old shingle that Jack Merriman had been President of that Board. And I never
knew, he and I never got to talk fraternity. He died before that. And I found out later. But
that was Granddad’s partner. And Jack, I think, through the Merriman Mortgage Company,
which eventually went into Commerce Bank, during the Depression, and maybe afterward
during the 1930s, let’s say, had to take back a lot of farm ground that he had loaned money
for. And somehow ran into my grandfather that I called BooPoo, who did the day-to-day
farming. It’s one thing for a mortgage company to take back the farm, but what the hell are
you going to do with it now that you’ve got it? It’s yours. So, he had to find somebody. And
Granddad somehow had all these relationships that he’d built over time. And today Allen
and Bill and I are running that. We’ve gotten, due to a lawsuit, all the rest of the family has
been split off. And we are running the whole county operation on a handshake. So, I’d say
that’s been going for at least, maybe seventy years. Maybe more. I don't know.
Corrigan: So, these are old family farms that have never left the family.
Dillingham: Correct.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: And the Dillingham Enterprise is Mother’s side of the family. And it’s urban,
even though it’s rural still. We now are putting sewers in. That’s been an uphill fight for 50
years on First and Second Creek. And Mother’s, on Mother’s side, and my great-great-
grandfather, Benjamin Lampton, was picked, selected by the county court in 1842 along
with, I’ll think of it in a minute, Major John Dougherty, that today we know as Shoal Creek
and Staley Farms. Those were the two road overseers in 1842 to develop the road, which I
guess was a trail that today we call Cookingham Drive. And to get—
[End Track 32. Begin Track 33.]
Dillingham: --chug holes out and stumps and all that. In 1842 is the first year after the
Platte Purchase. And this is just over the county line into Platte County. And It’s east of
today’s KCI airport. 1842 is the first year that the government gave permanent land grants.
So, he bought this farm that is today Dillingham Enterprises and has been in the family
since 1842. Was a road overseer. And the thing I didn’t know, a book just came out on Major
Dougherty, who was the man that suggested that Colonel Henry Leavenworth, where he put
his fort, which was not where the army had told him to put it. But Mr. Lampton beat Major
Dougherty in Major Dougherty’s last race for the statehouse. Both of them later were both
Reps in the House of Representatives for the state of Missouri. And this was back in the
days when you didn’t do it as a career, but it was your turn in the well. Public gesture. And
they were both neighbors and friends and ran against each other (laughs) after they had
done the road job. So, that’s one of the reasons I had an interest in the history. I wish that I
had Mr. Lampton’s book. And I should say, before I forget it, that Benjamin Lampton’s
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cousin, first cousin, Jane Lampton Clemens was the mother of Mark Twain. So, I’ve recently
found out that my eighth great-grandfather on Dad’s side is the brother of Daniel Boone.
And on Mother’s side, his first cousin’s son is Mark Twain. So, our family, kids, boys, at this
stage kind of roll their eyes when I tell them this stuff. But the bigger message here is that
you’ve got a great legacy of achievement. And one, you shouldn’t blow it, which is easy to do.
And two you have perhaps a responsibility since we’re not on food stamps to give back and
help others that need a little help. Because obviously somebody gave us help along the way
to do things. So, as you learn of these people, and that’s the reason today, when I go to the
cemetery, either on Memorial Day or at Christmastime, either geraniums and wreaths,
counting Nancy’s side, I go to six cemeteries and make thirty-three stops. And there are
other stops I could make because I’ve gotten to ‘know’ these people. And as I tell the boys, if
some of those great, or great-great or great-great-great-grandparents hadn’t come along,
they sure in hell wouldn't, either. It’s that basic, just like farming. So, after I’ve gotten to
know some of these folks, and they were the ones that built the foundation that we take for
granted, that we use to do whatever we do today. And hopefully, somebody else will use us
as their foundation. You know, it would be nice if they remembered our name. And that in
part is why we’re doing this. I wish I had a book or even one page for Mr. Lampton, who
went to Jeff City right before the Civil War, 1858, whose cousin was the mom of Mark
Twain. And I think they probably met, or what all. A page or two of his life, at least to me,
would be interesting. And all these other folks that I’ve gotten to know.
Corrigan: Yeah. (laughs)
Dillingham: So.
Corrigan: So, what I was kind of, so we kind of covered your working career. Now I’m kind of
interested in the, you know, you were appointed to lots of things, you were a trustee of lots
of things. Corporate boards, civic boards, all these types of things. I was wondering if you
could kind of touch on some of the ones that you either really enjoyed or, for example, maybe
you thought, we really did a lot with this. Or—
[End Track 33. Begin Track 34.]
Corrigan: I’m just kind of wondering, you know, I kind of saw all the ones we had there and
that. But I’m wondering what you, you know, over the years, are there certain things that
you really enjoyed that? Or are there ones that, you know, we really were able to do a lot
with that. I’m just curious what your if you could comment on a few of them and just tell me
what you thought of them.
Dillingham: I would answer your question in perhaps a little different way than you
intended. But in trying to analyze your question to give you a good answer, the things that I
enjoy doing are things that I can get something accomplished. That can take on all sorts of
different faces. If nothing gets accomplished or if you just occupy a chair, I usually don’t
renew. I’m on a board for three years or maybe a little more. Because you can tell that I end
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up with plenty to do. Usually, because of myself. And I think that would be a genuine
answer. I haven’t disliked any of them, really. I wouldn’t have gotten on it, I guess, if I didn’t
have an interest. And a lot of times the interest is really not the right word. A friend asks
you to get on, and I usually don’t make a habit of turning friends down. And I have a lot of
friends. And so I’m honored anybody would give a damn. And then after I’m on it a while, if
I can be or see that I am being productive, then maybe it’s in the middle of something, I re-
up if I’m eligible. And then like Fort Leavenworth, I think I was on that for six years. And
my term was up. I had no option to do anything else. So, that enters in. The trustees holding
office at Liberty Memorial, I just went off that board last December. And I’ve been chairman
in 1906 or 1905. And when we went from construction to grand opening, that was fun. And
then being named the National World War One Museum. The community college
foundation, MCC, somebody read the bylaws the other day and said you’re eligible for two
three-year terms. Well, at the end of June, I will finish my sixth three-year term. We didn’t
know where the bylaws would care in those days. Just keep the damn thing going. And I’ve
been chairman of that, and responsible to some degree for oh, at least five others, becoming
board members and chairman. So, that was fun to do. And I think I even had lunch this
week with Guy Townsend and Mark James, our chancellor, and Dave Disney, the newly
reelected J.E. Dunn person that’s chairman of the board. To acquaint those folks together on
a big project that could be hugely beneficial for both. So, I do strange things like that. It’s
opportunities. So, I think those are at least several examples of things I’ve been on. And if
I’m in the midst of seeing some opportunities, then I stay on it is because I think I’m maybe
accomplishing something.
Corrigan: One of them you mentioned earlier was the Truman Library Board. And I just
wondered when you’re young, writing your thesis, meeting the president, if you had any
idea, or was it an honor, a thrill, years later to be back at that place helping that
organization move forward?
Dillingham: Well, I never thought about those things fifty years ago. And I don’t, there
haven’t been any really, in the way you ask the question, that—
[End Track 34. Begin Track 35.]
Dillingham: --I tried to be on. I just somehow got on. (laughs) And of course, things that,
again, that I’m interested in, I somehow stay on the edge of those things. Again, like FFA. I
was in it one year. Sixty years ago. And I just got that a month ago [referring to plaque on
wall]. So, you can answer better than I can. I just kind of, I hang around those things, at
least mentally. And something will pop up, and I will say, “Well, I was in FFA like you
were.” Well, I didn’t have to say that. And if I hadn’t had, nothing would have happened.
But you’d say, “Well, you know, there’s this group work, and we’ve got to get this convention
back in Kansas City. Could you help?” “Well, did you go to one?” “Yeah, I went to one.”
“Well, so did I.” And that’s, I guess, how it happens. I’m back on the Ag Hall of Fame Board.
I was on that before I went to Garney, Garney thought I was on too many things, thought I
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ought to get off of some. And I was in line to be president of that. I created a whole large
deal I have hanging there on the [hat rack], Senator Darby’s Hall of Honors induction
medallion that I recently bought. And we did the first one. That had to be back in the late
‘70s. And I went off that. Well, in the last so many months, I’m back on that board. And I
haven’t had time, I’ve had conflicts all over the place. But, and that’s one that has a huge
potential but is now closed for the year. The Congress granted the charter for the Ag Hall,
which is, Dad played a role in helping Senator Darby, who landed it at Bonner Springs. It
could have gone anyplace in the country. And if other people learn about what it’s doing or
not doing now, Texas and California, others will want it. Because there’s only one National
Ag Hall of Fame. Just like the National World War One Museum. We didn’t get any money,
but we got a title, and we look at each other and say, “Now what?” If you have the right
CEO, the right quarterback, you start winning. That’s what we’re doing at Liberty Memorial
now. We’re starting to move. So, I’m off that board. But they made me an honorary
something or other and took this good friend, Steve Harrison, who’s done very, very well
with Edward Jones. And he and I are going to be two national advisory directors and have
lunch with the president and talk about that. And I’m not even on the board anymore. And
it’s interesting. All these things, if you live long enough and your mind doesn’t go, it’s like
the two silos again. You find somebody crossing the fiftieth floor that you kind of relate to.
Well, I mean, the whole world is tied together. If you look at your family tree long enough,
you find some ties.
Corrigan: Well, I was going to ask you about, you’re a member in lots of organizations and
that. But it seemed like several of them surrounded things like genealogy, family history.
What was the one here? It’s the Native Sons in Kansas City here. And I wondered, kind of to
tie them in together a little bit, we’ve been talking about a lot of history today. And I’m just
wondering, did you always love history? Or is this something that’s come on as you’ve gotten
older? Or?
Dillingham: I must have enjoyed it from day one. I don't know. I’ve wondered myself. But
I’ve always enjoyed it. And the more I study it, and of course, I quoted Truman earlier. I’m
convinced, again, like I mentioned at lunch, like the moon, what goes around, comes around.
History repeats itself. It may look different and may be in a different place. But if you grasp
the principle of it, damn if it’s not the same. And it’s scary, and the older you get—
[End Track 35. Begin Track 36.]
Dillingham: And Truman read history all the time. And as I mentioned, because of his thick
glasses and his dad’s concern about injuring him playing baseball, he stayed inside and
read. And we were the beneficiaries sixty years later. So, I grew up around that sort of
thing, and it stuck. I mean, I grew up around other things, but for some reason, who knows
what.
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Corrigan: Now, with the, there’s a notation with the Sons of the American Revolution. And it
said with thirty-five Supplementals. That was an interesting term I hadn’t heard before.
Dillingham: Proven ancestors who were here aiding our revolution. Now you didn’t have to
do much to aid it if you supplied food or maybe rifles to somebody. But then you have to
physically approve. I left this call for Dr. Sizemore. He was going to give it to me yesterday,
and I didn’t know it. And they had given me this [a certificate on the wall], and I have no
clue. I really don’t. I never heard of it. I don't know whether it’s good or bad. I have no clue.
Corrigan: Let’s see what it says.
Dillingham: The Lamplighter Award.
Corrigan: It says, the Lamplighter Award for the Sons of the American Revolution Center
for Advancing America’s Heritage recognizes you. But you don’t know what it was for?
Dillingham: No! Never heard of it. And I don’t go to meetings and stuff. He’s after me too.
And I mean, hell, I just, if I went to everything, is it that I’m not interested? No, that’s not it
at all. I get tired.
Corrigan: Well, how do you decide kind of? Do you take one thing on at a time? Or how do
you balance all these different things?
Dillingham: I have no clue. Like we’re going to, William Jewell and I, luckily, the Doniphan
thing was off. So, I’ll go home and pick up Nancy and go clear back to Kansas City Country
Club for William Jewell. John Priest Green Society deal. And they made me an honorary
alumni several years ago. And I should mention also that in my genealogy I talked about
Mr. Lampton a few minutes ago. His daughter was my great-grandmother. One of his sons
graduated from Jewell in 1859. The school started a year earlier than Kansas City. And ten
years later, I had a great-great, I guess, uncle. So, an uncle in 1959. And my Grandfather
Thompson went there in 1980, let’s say. He didn’t complete it because his dad needed him to
get home and help with the cattle. Then I go to summer school in 1958. Bill goes to Jewell.
He’s a KA. President of the House. And goes to three Final Fours in basketball. That doesn’t
happen in any sport, any place. But he, in his three years at Jewell went to Wentworth one
year, would cut out basketball. And then he comes to Jewell, and his three years goes to
three Final Fours in NAIA basketball. And then a cousin, Kemp Woods, was on the first
board of trustees. No, the Yates Medallion winner. And was first alumni to win the Yates
Medallion. Dad later won it and Pavarotti sang. Pavarotti gave his first American concert at
William Jewell College. First one. Well, I have a picture of Dad and Pavorotti. And my
comment was they both were big so they put them on equal sides of the stage to keep them
balanced. And then I got the Yates Medallion several years ago. So, three of us in our family
have received the Yates Medallion. And they had the tornado and a bunch of trees went
over. And Larry Holley’s wife died. And they put in a tree. And I thought well, I’ll put in a
tree, too. So, I planted a Cardinal red oak there. And put a cemetery bronze plaque under it.
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So, you could mow over. But put all those names I just mentioned on the plaque as family
members that have some connection to Jewell. And I should say that Bill—
[End Track 36. Begin Track 37.]
Dillingham: --was going to basketball, playing basketball, and we were going to all the
games. I learned that the school really doesn’t help [financially] that well. So, I got the help
of two former teammates. One was a federal, or maybe an appellate judge by this time, to
run interference for me. And we created the Cardinal Club, which was the athletic giving
entity of William Jewell College. They’d never had one. And I said, “You guys are all
religious, and you know, you [know there are ] many doors of my mansion if it were not so,
I’d tell you.” I said, “You’ll read that in the Bible.” And I said, “You’re a Bible college. You’ve
got music, and you’ve got the field house with all of these doors. And you play basketball and
stuff. But you don’t have any athletic giving entity.” So, with that, we created Cardinal
Club. You know, Coach Bill Synder at K State went to Jewell. Maybe went to Missouri, lost
his father, kind of went off the deep end. Came by to Jewell to see Coach Patterson. He said,
“You need to go be with your mother up in north Missouri and get your act back together.
And then come back this fall and see me.” The rest is K State football history. William
Jewell. I had him there when we kicked off the Cardinal Club.
Corrigan: Okay. Now I saw you had a connection to my office. You gave the Kimball lecture
in 1999. The Charles M. Kimball Lecture, which has been going on for years.
Dillingham: Yes, I was on the Board of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, which
changed its name. David Boutros, who’s getting ready to retire, been on that Board a
number of years.
Corrigan: Because I saw [the title] called “It’s all about eating: Kansas City’s history and
opportunity,” was the name of your speech I saw.
Dillingham: Yes. They [should have] given the speech to of Senator Darby. But they didn’t,
and [Mayor Wheeler] was on the Board at that time. And he was the one who nominated me.
And that was for the one-hundredth anniversary of American Royal. I had chaired a
committee to write the first and only history of the American Royal back in eighteen, or
1999. I spent more time on that lecture. I kidded Dr. Olson later, Jim Olson [M.U.
President], that I should have worked out a deal to get my Ph.D. because I sure spent the
time to write the thesis. But I had Governor John Anderson of Kansas come, governor-to-be
Bob Holden came. And maybe most importantly, Governor Bill Avery of Kansas. And I had
called, and his daughter found out. And they rented a limousine and went clear off above
Riley, Kansas, or above Manhattan someplace to pick up their dad and bring him to my
lecture. And ironically, he looked through his dad’s lockbox and they found I guess a
program or program’s the wrong word. But anyway, the 1905, I’ll call it a program, for the
American Royal. I’d never seen it. Never. And that was the year my grandfather was the
first president when it incorporated. And Governor Avery’s dad had it. So, my colleague, in
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advising the governor to come, produced that. And when Allen was working for Senator
Bond at the time, got permission to have a day off. So, his job was to kind of take care of
Governor Avery. The limousine pulls up, and we get calls [he’s]coming. We stand there, and
the back door opens up, and the governor gets out, and I said, “Welcome, Governor,” or
something like that, but [the] Governor. Straightened up.
[End Track 37. Begin Track 38.]
Dillingham: That was amazing.
Corrigan: So, that was a pretty big undertaking just to make that speech.
Dillingham: Yeah.
Corrigan: But because of this, you saw that program, or that wasn’t quite the word you used,
but with your grandfather on there. So.
Dillingham: Yeah.
Corrigan: Seems like a lot of things you’re saying, there’s this full circle. And that’s what
you were talking about earlier, too, about something may pop back up again that had
previously—
Dillingham: And it does. I’m at the point of life where it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of
when. It’s scary. So, this particular role, and you see, I took the pictures of the Hereford bull
up there. Some people ask about the title of it. But the whole point of it was that farming
and the Royal and all that, at the end of the day, why do we do all this stuff? And why’d you
breed your cows? It’s all about eating. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s why we do it. And
I also put a comment in there, you shouldn’t look at what’s on our boots, but look at what’s
on the dinner plate. And more people get fed by less[,] people more efficiently, more cheaply,
etcetera, etcetera, than anyplace in the world. And you’re aware of that with your
background. That’s who we are. And this is the center of the nation. Of transportation. And
the Royal is the showplace or should be. The FFA should be still here. And the stockyards
started both of those. The stockyard’s gone, long live the queen or king. But those two things
are alive and well. And they came for the right reasons, just like the Final Four in
basketball. You know, you said my team, my cattle, were the best. Frank said, “Hell, no!
Mine are the best.” Well, how do we find out other than a duel at high noon? Get in the ring
or in the arena. So, whereas the Romans, you know, they threw in the lions and ate all of
them. So, I put a lot of stuff in there. And I was with, at lunch, Mr. I guess Herman
Sutherland, Sutherland Lumber Company, which maybe you’ve seen around, and he was on
Dad’s board. And they got them or did have them all over the country. So, I said, I presume
the one down by the Royal that’s no longer there, was the first one in the country. Oh, no, we
had one up here and maybe Iowa or Nebraska and one in Oklahoma. This is the third one.
Well, I had to go back and revise my comments because I wanted accuracy above anything. I
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had Dad proofread it. He finally gave up after six or seven proofreadings, said, “I’m not
going to do it anymore.” But I spent a lot of time. A lot of time.
Corrigan: And did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy giving it? Did you enjoy—
Dillingham: I guess so. (laughs) You got to be dumb to keep doing it. But it’s something, you
know, I’ll probably never do again. But I, and there’s a lot of stuff in there. And stuff, this is
true today in here fifteen years later, doesn’t seem possible, either. But some will still make
reference to it and pick it out as you did there. Which amazes me. And some people will have
kept it, and that amazes me. So, a lot of stuff in there. A lot of history and a lot of future
opportunities, as I saw.
Corrigan: Now you’ve mentioned a few times, but I kind of want to flesh it out a little bit.
Can you tell me about your family? You’ve mentioned first names here and there. But can
you tell me about your wife? Can you tell me about your kids, their names? You know, what
grandkids you have? Can you kind of, you mentioned you got married in ’65. But can you
kind of just tell me that for the record? Their names?
Dillingham: Well, Nancy Abbott, Nancy Jane Abbott, and it will be forty-nine years this
September the fourth. That used to seem like a hell of a long time. I told somebody the other
day when they—
[End Track 38. Begin Track 39.]
Dillingham: --the newspaper interviewed Dad on their seventh wedding anniversary, and
they made it seventy-one years, they asked him what do you attribute that longevity to.
(laughs) His answer was, at my age, there’s no trade-in value. (laughs) So, anyway, I’m at
forty-nine now, almost. Our two boys, Allen is forty-four, will be forty-five in December. And
Bill, our youngest, will be forty this July. And when I think back, Dad was the president of
the stockyards when he was thirty-eight, now puts it in perspective. You know, that was old
when I was five years old or ten or what all. But now, looking backward, you know, and
they’re the same age or older. And I have to remind myself, and I think that’s normal for
parents. Nancy periodically will want to call or want to do this or that and does. And I said,
“You know, they’re forty, forty-five years old. What the hell? They can figure something out,
surely.” I said, “If they can’t, we’re all in trouble.” So, Allen married Sandi Wright. And they
have two daughters, Allie and Mollie. And Mollie was born on my birthday. She was born in
2002. And Allie in 2000. Allie will be graduating from the eighth grade this year, and
Mollie’s in the sixth. And both have done very well. They also are into swimming. Allie’s into
also ballet. And Mollie has done soccer and several other things. They both are really good
little athletes as well as students. I should mention on Allen. He was born, I’ll go to Bill in a
minute. I had another thought on Allen, I’ve forgotten. Well, Allen was born in 1969. And
this was, he’s named for Allen Thompson, his great-grandfather, who was born in 1869. And
then Bill was born on Allen Thompson’s 105th birthday of July 27th. I think I’m right on
both of those. So, the coincidence of that. Everybody for a long, long time, my great-
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grandmother, was born in 1839. I was born in 1939. Allie missed. She was born in 2000 in
May. So, I guess her mother was expecting in 1999. But I programmed those coincidences.
There are seven generations or something where Mom was born in 2009, and so it’s a little
eerie. And I don't know what it means if anything. Allen worked for [Ike Skelton] one
summer. I told him I wanted him to be around a Democrat, at least, a Truman Democrat.
And then he was on the advance team for Dan Quayle running for vice president. In fact, he
was at Arlington Ballpark. The Texas Rangers, I think, got to see Eddie Chiles, who owned
them who was on the Wentworth board with me. And Eddie said, “Would you like to meet
the new owner?” Who was, at that moment, George W. [Bush] later to be Governor and
President of the United States. Allen later was on John Ashcroft’s staff and Kit Bond’s staff
and ran Kit’s office a couple of different times.
[End Track 29. Begin Track 40]
Dillingham: He works for the Builders Association today. And Mayor James appointed him
as a park commissioner maybe two years ago now when Mayor James was elected. Allen ran
for the city council then and lost to Ed Ford even though Allen won north of the river and
beat Ed both times. Ed beat him in the general. Bill and I should say Allen went to Colorado
College. He was an AFS student going to Martredwitz in Germany. Both boys are Eagle
Scouts. Allen went to Philmont. Bill went to the National Jamboree at [Fort] AP Hill in
Virginia. Both are graduates of North Kansas City High School. Bill went to Wentworth one
year, and then we cut out basketball. And then he went to William Jewell. And, as I
mentioned earlier, played in three Final Fours of basketball under Coach Holly in NAIA.
Was president of the KA house, the chapter at William Jewell, which ironically is [one year]
older than the one at the University of Missouri.
Corrigan: Is that Kappa Alpha?
Dillingham: Uh-huh.
Corrigan: Okay.
Dillingham: They’re across from the Sigma Chi’s on Columbia campus, on the northeast
corner of the campus. Where the Beta house and all those, I can’t, if that’s College
Boulevard or what.
Corrigan: Yeah. College Avenue. Yeah.
Dillingham: Closer to Stephens, whereas we’re clear out in west boondocks. Bill worked for
Northwestern Mutual and then went to Hartford. And Hartford dropped their division that
Bill was in on long-range estate planning and other things like that for men and women.
Prudential bought them. This last year, 2013, he was in the top fifteen percent in the
country of his peers and [took] on Keri [on] a trip to Hawaii for a week. He likes to ride
horses. And on the weekend, keeps those in Kearney. Have three kids. Lucas Jay, named
for, I guess, both this great-grandfather’s maiden name, the Lucases, he was born shortly
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after Dad passed away in 2007. Dad had told Keri he was going to stay around for the
parade. That was his comment. He said it twice. But he didn’t make it.
Corrigan: And Keri is his wife’s name?
Dillingham: Yes. Thank you.
Corrigan: And what was her maiden name?
Dillingham: Lucas. Keri Lucas. I didn’t say that. And so Lucas is her maiden name. And
then in, I guess, 2010, yeah, Keri and Bill have twins. Jack or John Wayne, and Lily. Or
Lilly and I’ve forgotten what her middle name is now. She’s a piece of work. They both are
different as night and day. And Jack is fair-skinned and almost kind of a sandy red hair.
And Lily is darker skin, dark eyes and, I mean, there’s no way to know they’re twins at all.
So, Keri had three under three at the house running loose for a while. I guess she’s going to
live, but it’s just amazing. Both of the wives taught school. And Keri is teaching dance now
and loves to do that. She’s a great athlete. And then Allen’s wife, Sandi, is an administrator,
I guess part-time teacher at Saint Paul’s Episcopal, where the girls go to school. And Allen
lives in Briarcliff West, which is five minutes to the west of us. And Bill and Keri live
north—
[End Track 40. Begin Track 41.]
Dillingham: --on Indiana, north of 152. So, they’re maybe fifteen minutes away. And both
other sets of grandparents live within five minutes of us. So, for better or for worse. Sandi is
an only child. Keri has a brother, Jeff, whose wife Darcy and their little girl, they live fairly
close. So, all of the families, collectively, are close. Which is rare in today’s moving around
society.
Corrigan: And the one that was here earlier is Bill.
Dillingham: Bill.
Corrigan: Okay. The one that has the office next door. Okay. Okay.
Dillingham: He’s on the move all the time.
Corrigan: Okay. I was just trying to keep which one, try to keep them straight. That was the
one that was here. Okay. Where you didn’t actually say this, I don't think. So, where do you
and your wife actually reside now?
Dillingham: We’re right across from Briarcliff. We’ve been there thirty-three years. We built
the house. Homer Williams, who was our best man, his gift as an architect, was the design
of this house. And I waited ten or some odd years and then called him on it. (laughs) Maybe
longer than that. What maybe would have been a small house when I asked for it got bigger.
So, we moved in. It was thirty-three years. And I’m continually landscaping and doing other
207
things, as you can tell. I mean, you think you’re going to be finished and damn if I don’t
come up with some other project.
Corrigan: (laughs) Okay. And then where did you and Nancy live prior to that?
Dillingham: Well, Illinois as I mentioned earlier—
Corrigan: Yes, Mount Vernon.
Dillingham: --and then we came back and found a house in Carriage Hills, which is in
Gladstone. It’s still North of the River. That’s one of my [(]mandatory[)] requirements. I say
that with some tongue in cheek. And north of I-35 as it splits from I-29 and northeast of the
old Antioch Shopping Center. And we were there for oh, maybe nine or ten years. A long
period of time, relatively. And then we found this. And got it designed and built and so forth.
Corrigan: And that was from your best man, you said?
Dillingham: Mm-hmm.
Corrigan: Okay. Now, we’ve kind of talked a little bit about this. But what’s an average day
for you? Do you come to the office all the time or--
Dillingham: Yeah. I’m usually here, oh, a little after nine, if I don’t have to go to a
chiropractor. And then I like to get home by five or thereabouts. So, maybe I get on my
Schwinn Aerodyne. But then like to be finished and watch the 5:30 news. Why, I’m a
creature of habit and consistency which, to some people, that’s horrible. But I usually, I
meant to take you back and show you at lunch in the Dillingham Room there’s a full picture
of Dad in that. But I eat a lot of a lot of my lunches downstairs. And it’s rare, now tomorrow,
I think, and Monday, tomorrow I’ll eat by myself, but that’s rare. So, if I have a board
meeting someplace or something that, if I don’t, you know, it’s some cause. (laughs) But
yesterday was the Truman lunch uptown. But I had a fraternity thing a week ago Monday,
and then I had the chancellor and Guy Townsend and President Disney down. On Tuesday,
the Nonprofit Connect luncheon uptown. On Wednesday, Owen and Jinny McCoy invited us
to the Chair Event for the Salvation Army. And Laura Bush was there to take—
[End Track 41. Begin Track 42.]
Dillingham: --table next to us, and that was fun to see. And then I had a guy come who’s a,
oh, a farm real estate guy. And I hadn’t seen him in years. And he kind of handles this area.
So, we ended up going for lunch on Friday. So, it’s just all across the board. You’ll be able to
guess the subject as well as I can. But it keeps it varied. And now that I, you know, will
come [to] something if I need to do, or I don’t need to do, but I end up doing.
Corrigan: But you like to keep busy, but have a structured
Dillingham: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the good news now, I go to my iPad for ancestry.com and
stuff. But if I didn’t have that, what would I do? And some people, I don’t play golf. Dad
208
never did. So, that’s why I didn’t. I think he played a little tennis when he was much
younger. And I guess I did at Wentworth. But my whole environment was around somebody
that was busy all the time. And no, he and I would fish, growing up. And we only took one
family vacation, for instance. And that was for one night. We went to the Ozarks and stayed
in some small trailer. And either time I or he turned over, the other one would wake up. And
we weren’t catching any fish. And I said, hell, I can catch more fish at home. So, we had as a
family one night of vacation in my life. So, I just didn’t grow up doing these things that
maybe a lot of others when they retire do. So, I’ve got to do something to keep busy. And I
don’t, you know, go to the bars and drink. So, I get busy on this other stuff.
Corrigan: Could you tell me just a little about some of your current projects? I know you
mentioned briefly that you want to put the statues up. But are there any little projects
you’re working on right now, something similar to that?
Dillingham: Well, the other statue project is
at the roundabout, next to the Mormon
temple. It’s new. Ironically, the Mormons
were run out of Clay County. And I make a
joke it could be my relatives, I don't know,
that ran them off. But Alexander Doniphan
saved their life. And I think, at least in my
estimation, saved the church. Now Joseph
Smith then went to Nauvoo, and an angry
mob finally killed him. And oh, what’s his
name, [Brigham Young] took all the Mormons
to Salt Lake. I’m drawing a big blank. You
know him as well as I do. So, the church was
saved. And that’s an interesting story there.
Nobody wanted Salt Lake. I mean, the
government didn’t want it, the Indians didn’t
want it. And the Mormons said, “We’ll take
it.” And anyway, after 150, sixty, seventy years of being run off, they come back and build
the temple. Ninety-two thousand people go through it. They had to keep it open longer
because if you’re not a Mormon, you and I can’t go there now. I mean, the heathens can’t go
there. And it’s just for special occasions, for members. (laughs) But 92,000 people from the
governor on down went through. It was a roundabout before. I mean, you come off the
interstate, go around it, and the temple’s here. It had to be, it’s 80 feet, it’s on a parkway,
which the park department and Allen, as the commissioner, oversee. It hit me that it would
be natural to put Joseph and Hyrum Smith as bronzes, perhaps with water, flowers, lights,
and Doniphan. And they spent four cold winter months in a Liberty jail, and today it’s a
shrine. And he produced some of his revelations there. I’ve been honored. I’ve received the
Doniphan Award
In 2005 I received the Alexander W. Doniphan Community Service Award.
209
[End Track 42. Begin Track 43.]
Dillingham: --and received it on top of that old jail, ironically. And I’d put Doniphan’s name
on the highway a number of years ago. It took fourteen months to pull that off. But when
you don’t have a secretary, you just roll along and do the best you can. The irony, my
Mormon friends kid me about having Divine Intervention. I was asked to be one of the
twelve or fifteen folks to hold a shovel to break ground for the Mormon temple. You know, I
tell them, you know, being a heathen that’s—
Corrigan: Is that the shovel back there? Or, no, it says something else.
Dillingham: No, that’s one that Dad had—
Corrigan: Oh. Okay.
Dillingham: --I think Kemper Arena or—
Corrigan: I have seen a shovel, just happened to be on your wall.
Dillingham: I have to look. That could be for the Bruce Watkins Freeway. But—
Corrigan: So, different shovel. Okay, different thing.
Dillingham: Different shovel. (laughs) Okay. Well, I raised the question at our Doniphan
meeting. I said, “The Lewis and Clark statue has Sergeant York, Sacajawea, Lewis and
Clark, and a dog.” I said, “So, do these three have a dog?” Well, somebody said, “No, but they
got a horse.” Of course, somebody else said, “Yeah. Bronze? You got to be kidding.” So, we
didn’t conclude anything. And the next morning, driving to work along the river, flying
across the river, parallel with me as I’m going south, parallel, is a bald eagle. The symbol of
our country. I mean, how many bald eagles do you see around Columbia or here? You don’t.
Side by side. So, I called my co-chairman, told him of this. I said, “All my friends gave me all
this static about Divine Intervention, but that happened. They didn’t have a dog. We can’t
afford a horse. That’s the symbol of our country. And with Doniphan later to be in the Hall
of Fame at Fort Leavenworth for his unbelievable things in the Mexican War,” I said, “I’ll
leave it up to you, but I wanted to be the messenger to pass along what just happened.” Oh,
and Clint called the sculpture maker for the Mormon Church, I guess, in Salt Lake. And the
guy said, “I’ve done the statue for Joseph and Hyram.” But he said, “You won’t believe this,
but within the month, last month, I had a dream that I was to do a statue of Doniphan. And
you called.” Well, he’s giving us all that at cost once we raise the money. He then created a
little bust that we presented, free. Bust for a Doniphan presentation in February. That’s
where we are so far from something that hit me that we ought to do. It’s happening. Oh, and
the Smith families meet on an annual basis. And there’s maybe a thousand or two thousand
relatives who get together for a picnic. And I’ve got it set up where General Arter can call
Hyram at the right moment and ask if the family would like to pass the hat. Which I don't
know where we’re going with this, but it’s far from dead.
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Corrigan: And is that something you’d like to see not just there, but statues and historical
markers? You said something earlier about some other type of markers.
Dillingham: Well, my Truman thing there. But then like the Platte Purchase. We’re going to
do that. Right north of the Liberty Hospital, I asked my urologist one day. I said, “Do you
know what happened right out this window?” And he, “No.” I said, “They had a parade and a
picnic for the Platte Purchase. The idea started there formally. And Senator Thomas Hart
Benton, the uncle of the artist, and somebody else carried the ball against northern folks
who said Missouri was already too big.
[End Track 43. Begin Track 44.]
Dillingham: --and [Southern?] and all these things. They passed it. And this may be the only
time Congress officially added land to an existing state. But, the size of Delaware. The first
picnic, so the Native Sons are going to put a marker there and a transportation MODOT lot
or whatever that’s right over the hill from this site. And that’s in the northern part of
Liberty today. We put a marker a couple years ago on the south edge of town for the Liberty
Arsenal Raid that occurred that really kicked off the Civil War in Missouri. In hindsight, it
was done, who was led by Colonel Henry Routt. And the weapons never were found. But it
took a week for the armory to be cleaned out. It was a federal arsenal. Fort Leavenworth is a
federal something. From there upstream, you and I could drive it in thirty minutes, or let’s
say an hour to be safe. So, how long did it take to get from Leavenworth to there? And why
over a week did no one show up? No one’s ever raised those questions. Some books say that
they warned him up there, “If you do, you’re next.” Another one said, “Well, we paid him off,
and he looked the other way.” Who knows? And the people in Saint Louis didn’t know there’s
even anything out here, much less arsenals. And that started some riots in Saint Louis. And
then those people went to Wilson’s Creek and had battles. And luckily, General Lyon, who
created a lot of that, was the first American Union general killed in the Civil War. At
Wilson’s Creek in Springfield. Of which Mr. Thompson fought there and then at Lexington
and then at Pea Ridge and then at Westport. And so I get intrigued, that was before he got
into the Galloway cattle business. Of which he went to Scotland to buy a cow and a bull in
1880. Did he fly? No. (Corrigan laughs) I mean, I can’t even picture doing that. But he did.
And as you learn each one of those little things, all of a sudden you get a picture of those
relatives that you wouldn’t be here had they not come along. So, all of that ties together
eventually. And then certain things all of a sudden a road is there or something. And I’ve
forgotten, there’s some example, well, several, but once you learn, those people learn the
circumstances, you know what happened, and know that they did it and why they did it.
And so nothing new. Just, again, a different place, different time, different personality. But
it happened. So, I enjoy tying those things together. And President Truman, as I referred
earlier, did that his whole life. So, he knew, again, the Marshall Plan and things. He heard
enough. There’s a better way to do it. He wouldn’t have known that had Grandma not given
him hell. So, that’s the difference between the current day and past commander in chief.
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Corrigan: But then I suppose your hope, though, is by putting these permanent statues and
markers there that it will make people realize that something took place here. I mean, that’s
why you would do that.
Dillingham: Well, and there’s a bigger picture. If somebody comes along and says, well, hell,
that’s no big deal. But somehow, in the back of their mind, it dawns on them that somebody
had an idea. Maybe they wanted to put a university there or something. So, they start. And
try something. You know, and years later, hell if it didn’t work! And the average human
being thrives on—
[End Track 44. Begin Track 45.]
Dillingham: --recognition. The average human being thrives on recognition and justified
praise and so forth. And so if you give people a chance to do good things as opposed to the
news only talking about murders every night. You know, you’d probably have less murders
if you started talking about doing good things. Some people might like to emulate that, as
opposed to shooting somebody. For instance, that drawing. That’s an original. And the
founder, James Rollins, of the University of Missouri, where you are, I’m drawing a blank,
was a very close friend of—
Corrigan: Bingham’s
Dillingham: Bingham. And loaning the money to do these drawings, which were done in
New York, these lithographs, they got late, Ewing, General Ewing, that issued the order,
was running for governor of Ohio. Bingham thought he was a complete idiot for what he did,
which was shortly after the Quantrill Raid. I mean, like within a week or so. After the war
was over, he was running for governor of Ohio. And obviously to be a candidate for president
of the United States. And so Bingham, with his daughter, goes to Ohio to campaign against
him. He orders these lithographs that come in late. And the later, I think founder of the
University of Missouri, was a close friend and paid for it. The election was over when he still
had. I don't know, maybe I’m guessing now twenty, twenty-five leftover. Those surfaced just
in the last two or three years. In Columbia. And the family was selling five a year, only. And
I’ve forgotten the girl’s name. She moved to the state of Washington. But she was an art
dealer, and she ran into it. So, we sold one to Freedoms Frontier, and I just went off that as
chairman last November, I think, or December. National heritage area. One is out there.
And I bought one and had it framed and put the best glass and preservation and so forth.
And God, I wish I could think. But one of his best friends, I think, was the founder of the
University of Missouri. And he couldn't, he didn’t use them all. He couldn’t pay his debt off.
And whoever I’m talking about said, “Why don’t you give me those and we’ll be even?”
Corrigan: Was it Rollins?
Dillingham: Maybe. James Rollins. It might have been. Might have been.
Corrigan: I might be pulling that out of—
212
Dillingham: No, I think you may be right, though.
Corrigan: James Rollins.
Dillingham: And this is his great-granddaughter or somebody that kept them up in the attic.
Can you believe that? I used my IRA RMD that I have to take now, the required minimum
distribution. Bought that. (Corrigan laughs) Instead of spending it, I bought that.
Corrigan: Purchased artwork. And you’ve been to our office to see the original, right?
Dillingham: Oh, you want to know another? You bought it out of hiding after sixty years
stored. Those are my words. But sixty years you’ve had it stored?
Corrigan: The engraving?
Dillingham: The original. No, the original. General Order Number 11. Of Bingham’s.
Corrigan: Well, it’s always out. It was the first time it’s ever left the—
Dillingham: Okay.
Corrigan: It came to the Truman Library for that exhibit. That was the first time it had ever
left in probably sixty—
Dillingham: Sixty years.
Corrigan: Yeah.
Dillingham: Well, I told that board meeting the story of Grandma and the Marshall Plan.
And I said, “Isn’t it ironic that its first stop in sixty years was the Truman Library?”
[End Track 45. Begin Track 46.]
Dillingham: Let that sink in.
Corrigan: And that’s the only place it’s ever gone since—
Dillingham: I know.
Corrigan: Yeah. The Truman Library. Yeah, that’s correct.
Dillingham: And yet the smokestacks one of them could have been Grandma Truman’s
home. Think of that. That’s a little eerie. I told the board meeting, I just learned that so-
called fact. And I said, “This is coming out. We’re all going to get to see it today or
sometime.” And I said, “There may be a time.”
Corrigan: The other thing they have out on display right now is the actual metal engraving
stone of that. It’s actually hanging up right now.
Dillingham: Mm-hmm.
213
Corrigan: That made that exact, made your piece right there. And they actually have that
one up right now. So, they actually have the original one, the plate, the engraving plate, and
then the lithograph. Just like the one you have there. That’s up right now in the art gallery.
So, all three of them are together.
Dillingham: Yeah. Well, it may be Rollins. But anyway, it’s a name that you and I would
know. And he loaned the money. The guy doing it was late. The election was over. And he
took what was left. And now they’re just 150 years, sixty, whatever.
Corrigan: Resurfacing.
Dillingham: So, you’re tied to that, son. (laughter)
Corrigan: One of the last things and there may not be an answer to this question, or maybe
more it’s a though tor a concept, but I’m just curious – it’s a big question, too – whether it be
for your children, your grandchildren or your community, what is it that you would like to
be remembered for?
Dillingham: Well, it’s a great question. I don't know. I think about that periodically. You
know, I first said earlier if I had a one or two-pager that Mr. Thompson or Mr. Lampton or
my grandparents Dillingham had written about their life, you know, at least it, to me, would
be interesting to read. And again, we stand on the shoulders of others. And when you don’t
know who that is and you don’t know whose shoulders it is, and you take everything for
granted, as we talked at lunch, we came from cavemen, and Adam and Eve, and some people
will say from the trees. Wherever we’ve came, we’ve progressed. And the older you get, you
realize it was not the tooth fairy that made those things happen. Somebody did something.
And it usually was not easy. It usually had resistance. And somehow, like your milking,
went on whether it was hot or cold every day of the year. It happened. And it’s interesting to
find those people as I’m researching them now and a little bit about them. To find out we’re
related to Daniel Boone and Mark Twain and some others. Well, we all are a part of all
those genes. And you have to hope and wish and wonder which of their genes did you inherit
or not inherit. But saying all that, in Scouting, you’re always taught to leave your campfire a
little better than you found it. So, you would hope that that’s what you’re doing. I know from
things that my dad did. And maybe me, a little bit. And the boys are periodically, well, it
happens with some frequency, running into somebody that did something. And I’ll give you a
specific—my mind has stopped. The guy that writes for the Star, the old-timer, Guswell.
Guswell. Who writes every Sunday or so. Ironically, a classmate of Charlie Garney. One of
the girls at Mom’s house called—
[End Track 46. Begin Track 47.]
Dillingham: --maybe for her hundredth birthday, Guswell’s office to say we’d like to buy an
autographed book for Mrs. Dillingham for her hundredth birthday. Well, the day after, I
think was the day after, Mr. and Mrs. Guswell personally came with four books. And I’d
214
known Gus. And after he’s traveled all over the world and done all these really strange
things, but thank God he has, anyway, we walked out to the garage. And I said, “Why in the
hell did you do this?” And I said, “We most appreciate. But why?” He said, “Well, that’s
easy.” He said, “When I was a cub reporter,” you know, he’s eighty now, so, “cub reporter, I
was assigned to the American Royal. I didn't know anybody there. And I ran into your dad.
Told him who I was and so forth. And he took me around and introduced me to everybody
and said, ‘You need to talk to this guy about this,’ and so forth.” And he said, “I’ve never
forgotten that.” So, there’s his answer. Now the message to the boys and the girls and so
forth, you learn, at least I did, you can do good deeds, or you can do deeds, let’s say the word
“deeds.” And if they’re good deeds, generally speaking, they will not be forgotten. Now, will
they be repaid or this and that? Maybe not. But maybe so. Any particular time? No. The
time’s got to be right. On the other hand, if you screw up and tip over somebody’s outhouse
or whatever the thing is, they’ll remember that. And they’ll remember forever. A lot of our
global conflicts started, the Ottoman Empire or something when somebody did something to
somebody in the year 1200. You know, the Jews and the Palestinians and all that. And the
older I get, I do see these things. And the Guswell example is a huge one. That had to be a
minimum of forty and maybe fifty years earlier. And he gets a call. He never had forgotten.
Perfect timing. So, that’s a great story. And I’m convinced, too, I know people remember
when somebody screws up. I’m pretty much convinced they also remember when somebody
helps them. So, you can live your life in a doggy way, and you’ll get repaid. Don’t know
when, but you can write her down. Or you can do a good deed every day. I told my luncheon
with Mark James and Dave Disney, Dave has been really active in Boy Scouts. I said, “You
guys might wonder why I’m doing this.” I said, “Guy Townsend’s been a friend.” I didn’t tell
them that Allen bought his magazine, the North magazine from him. And I tried to establish
the Townsend Scholarship, a competitive thing between William Jewell and Park University
[years ago]. And when I was chairman of the EDC forty years ago, I asked Mr. Townsend do
be my vice-chairman. And I told Dave, I said, “You’re an old Boy Scout.” And I said, “This is
my good deed for the day, and maybe several days.” Because Guy’s got this national
scholarship that he’s won or whatever, fellowship, on the subject of community colleges. My
intuition was, and correctly that he didn’t know either of you in his town. You all didn’t
know him. And so if I get you two together, and he’s going to Washington this week, he can
go there saying, “I’ve touched base, talked to,” whatever, “our community college here and
they’re going to be supportive of me and give me input and so forth that I can use as a
framework to do this national study.” You both win.
[End Track 47. Begin Track 48.]
Dillingham: I said, “Get you all introduced to each other. I get the hell out of the way and go
back to work. I’ve done my good turn today.” Or maybe two days, or three. (laughter) So,
now I got nice thank you, IOUs, emails, from all three. I can guarantee you, and I don’t have
a clue, I go off the MCC board here next month after eighteen years. I don’t want anything. I
don’t need anything. But I can tell you that one of the three, or maybe all three, at some
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point, would do some little something. Even to the point, I’ve watched this happen my whole
life. If you’re up for a board and you happen to be on the nominating committee or in the
room or what all and your name comes up, and if you’ve had some relationship, this guys
says, “He’s a good guy. Get him on here.” Or, “He’s an asshole. You don’t want him.” You
never know. That happens, though. So, little goodies like that, they’re insurance policies.
But I do it not for that reason at all anymore. But they really are insurance policies. And
you do enough of them every day and you, over some period, if you live long enough and your
mind doesn’t go, you have little Christmas presents every day the rest of your life. It works.
It’s amazing. And if you tip over outhouses, hang on the rest of your life. The average person
is funny. The makeup of nations or people, they remember. No need to write it down.
Guswell, forty, fifty years earlier, it was something totally easy for Dad. I mean, a non-
event. To Gus, brand new, rookie reporter, huge. He went back and wrote a hell of a story.
And I’m sure all his boss said, “God, how did you do all that? You didn’t know anything
about the Royal.” “Well, I’ll tell you someday.” (laughter) I mean, I can just hear it happen.
So, all these different things you get in. if you can make life a little better, whatever that
means. It’s amazing. Down the road, you don’t come into something. I remember something
old Jeff and I did. And you pick up the phone and call Jeff, say, “Are you still hanging
around doing this?” “Yeah.” “Give that guy a ring. I think he’d like to hear from you.” Like
Mrs. Gorman, you know. That is a natural, and that could be big for you. And big for her to
tell the story if she wants to. So, you never know when those opportunities present
themselves. But if you do enough little goodies, every day or at least every week, out of the
blue will be a surprise. And it will be a positive surprise, not a negative. So, every day that I
come to work, heaven knows who’s going to call or what all. Elmer Dennis had called this
morning. He’s been busy in his, he’s ninety-some-odd, Friends of Sacred Structures, saving
old churches and stuff. And he’s most curious about the Ag Hall of Fame. And again, he was
an FFA national officer in 1937. Came to Kansas City. So, I had him down for lunch. And
the president of the American Royal, Bob Peterson, who I found out was also an old FFA boy
from Iowa. So, I got them together, and I said, “We’ve got to do something, the Ag Hall. And
I want to get the FFA, somebody, back here to town. This is where it was started, created.
It’s supposed to be here and we’ve got to rescue it.” Well, you know, I was talking the
company story. They’re both old FFA boys. So, you never know. Every day is a little
different, but—
[End Track 48. Begin Track 49.]
Dillingham: --all these little opportunities. And other people wouldn’t look at them as an
opportunity. It would be a pain. “But I want to go play golf today.” Well, that’s fine. But
since I’m not into that, thank God. (Corrigan laughs) So, that’s my golf. Or my landscaping.
Corrigan: That’s your equivalent to it. Yeah. That is your golf. That’s a good point.
Dillingham: Yeah. Yeah.
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Corrigan: It’s your form of golf.
Dillingham: Uh-huh. I don't know if you’d call it relaxation or what. But I look forward to
coming to work – I just don’t get paid – I look forward to coming every day. But I have no
clue who’s going to call.
Corrigan: And is your son here every day for the most part?
Dillingham: No. No. He went out to Wichita or Goodland or Liberal. He hustles. Oh, God, he
put on three or four or five hundred miles on his car. But that’s him.
Corrigan: But occasionally you work with, he’s next door.
Dillingham: Well, and it’s not untypical, he could be next door, he might as well be out in
Kansas, you saw how much time we got with him.
Corrigan: (laughs) Yeah.
Dillingham: But that’s him. I mean, the phone will ring. “I’ve got to take this.” I mean, every
once in a while I’ll catch him, and he’ll eat lunch with me. But that’s rare. (laughs) I saw one
thing this morning after I got past him. I had it at home. But I had one of those from Korea.
I had it engraved. And I forget that I have it. I do little weird things like that. But we’re
talking fifty years.
Corrigan: So, last missile fired, April 12, 1963.
Dillingham: Fifty-one years.
Corrigan: Annual service practice. South Sea Range, Korea. Sixth MSLB is that Sixth
Missile—
Dillingham: Battalion. Yeah.
Corrigan: Battalion. Eight—
Dillingham: Eighth artillery.
Corrigan: Oh, eighth artillery. Okay. I had to switch it in the light there so I can—
Dillingham: Well, it was just, you know, you unscrew those and screw on a warhead.
Corrigan: So, this is the last one you had done?
Dillingham: Uh-huh.
Corrigan: And this, you—
Dillingham: And so there it was. And they’re just going to take on junk.
Corrigan: So, you’ve kept it all these years?
217
Dillingham: Uh-huh.
Corrigan: And did you just recently get it engraved? Or—
Dillingham: No. I found it the other day.
Corrigan: So, pulled it back out and brought it to your desk?
Dillingham: I did it shortly thereafter. Because I mean, I wouldn't have remembered all of
it, wouldn’t have had the date and all that stuff. I do a lot of little strange things like that.
But I found all of our, all is the wrong word, but a lot of my school class ring, Mom and
Dad’s, a gold ring similar to this, but that my Grandfather Thompson wore. Maybe
something else. And it hit me, I took it to a friend that’s in the business, and we made a
little shadow box where they could be removed but yet closed up. And I put a little plaque
under each one whose ring this was and what it was. That way, they wouldn’t get lost. A
great-grandchild or somebody will find it. And to them, that will be hog heaven stuff. You
know. Mom kept everything. And I inherit that, I guess. I don’t keep everything. But Dad
threw everything away, so to speak. Luckily, he didn’t throw all the stuff that was down
here in this building. And now they’ve got 5,000 items at the downtown library. They’ve got
an exhibit now open.
Corrigan: And this is from the Royal or the stock exchange?
Dillingham: Stock. And they’ve got $102,000 grant for archival and other related stuff. So,
that’s underway now. And luckily, it didn’t go to the trash.
Corrigan: So, your dad was the one who threw everything away, but your mom was a keeper
of things?
Dillingham: I’m generalizing. Some stuff he kept. Paperwork, legal stuff that looked
important. And of course, to Mom, she had no use for any of that. But she kept papers. Their
basement was loaded, and I mean loaded. And I went through every paper. I mean, you
couldn’t —
[End Track 49. Begin Track 50.]
Dillingham: --tell whether she kept it because there was something important in it or she
just hadn’t gotten to it. Well, that was the case in most things, but I didn’t know that until
I’d open it up. If it was something that she wanted to save, it was one or two pages, only
folded up. And if it was something she hadn’t gotten to, it was the whole paper. So, after a
while, I mean, you’d look, and if you didn’t see anything, you’d toss it. But I mean, this room
would be full. Literally. In between sneezes and all the rest, geez. But I hope this has given
you some. Do you have any other general or specific questions?
Corrigan: No. Really, the only, the last thing I usually ask is there any other, you know,
something you’d like to add here at the end? Or something you thought we’d discuss and we
218
didn’t yet? But just kind of an open opportunity for you to make sure we touched on as much
as we could today? But if there’s anything else you want to add, go ahead and add it right
now.
Dillingham: Well, I don't know that there is. And I can tell as I, you know, I think of things
that I probably should have added at a certain time. Like looking at this paperweight, that
came from Korea. But I’ve been on a lot of different things in Columbia. I was on the
Mansion Board in Jeff City for a term. And I’m one of the hundred living Squires. And the
governor needs to call us back someday for the annual lunch. They’ve kind of disregarded,
and that makes no sense because these are Supreme Court justices and all sorts of
important people. And other than expensive lunch, I mean, they have leaders like that that
never see each other. Get together, and I mean, you never know what might come out of
that. It’s worth the effort. And I remember once going upstairs and being with Matt Blunt
and his wife and Jean Carnahan. I don't know why I did, but just the four of us. And that
doesn’t happen every day.
When Governor Park, Guy B. Park was from Platte City. And Mr. Wilson, I think, was to
be the, was the Democratic nominee in 1932. When Roosevelt was also running against
Hoover. And Mr. Wilson dies unexpectedly [six weeks before the general election]. Uncle
Henry, who I guess, I don't know what he was at that time, but he was a leader in the
Democratic Party in the fourth, or now sixth district of Missouri, called up Mrs. Wilson and
said, “What do you think about your husband’s partner, Guy B. Park, Judge Park, running?”
My 2004 induction into the Missouri Squires during a luncheon ceremony in the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City. Membership is limited to 100 living Missourians at any one time. Governor Bob Holden recommended me for membership. Dad and I were members at the same time, although Dad had been inducted 30 years earlier.
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She says, “Sounds great to me.” And she called somebody else that you would recognize. And
anyway, he summoned all of the county or area leaders to his house. And Dad was there,
just out of law school, back in the kitchen pouring drinks. Before the evening was over, they
all were standing up on the second or third step in their house, the landing, giving seconding
speeches. [phone interruption]
Corrigan: Clean up here. Okay, we took a brief pause there for a phone call there. But kind
of in conclusion, I really want to thank you for today. This has been really enlightening for
me and educational. And I really want to thank you for taking your whole day out. And I
think this will be a great addition to the historical society’s collection. I think it will go well
with our oral history collection. Your experiences and your connection to Kansas City, I
think it’s good to get down and document for history and get it available to the people. So,
thank you.
Dillingham: You’re welcome.
[End Interview.]
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Book 8 | Dillingham and Allied Families
in Central Kentucky Edited by Ann Todd
Research by Ann Todd and Dona Adams Wilson
Compiled and Formatted by Dona Adams Wilson
(This chapter was originally printed as a separate book in 2003. It has been left in its original
format with the exceptions that the table of contents and index have been removed, and the
contents incorporated into the current anthology and table of contents.
Forward
John Dillingham
This part of my family history represents many years of research by myself and others.
It has always been of interest to me to try and find the when-where-who of my genealogy.
Ann Todd, one of my Kentucky researchers, says it’s like working a jigsaw puzzle: each
name, place, and date represents a piece of the puzzle, and the picture that emerges is you.
All the families in this Vol. II came to Kentucky in the years following the Revolutionary
War. They settled in what is now twelve counties in the Bluegrass area, lived there a
generation or two, and then came to Platte and Clay counties in Missouri before the Civil
War. You have to wonder how these pioneers could, or would, travel so far when basically
there was no way to do it. And you wonder why they settled where they did in each place.
Land grants for Kentuckians who served in the War of 1812 were located in Missouri.
Through federal land grants and the “relocation” of the Indians, a quarter section of land, or
more, was available. These early residents, in general, are the parents and grandparents of
my great or great-great-grandparents that came to Clay and Platte counties in Missouri.
The first permanent settlers in central Kentucky either came overland through the
Cumberland Gap or down the Ohio River. And, if you carefully examine the maps, you can
see it is possible to navigate the Kentucky River beginning at Boonesboro, into the Ohio
River, follow the Ohio to the Mississippi then to now present-day St. Louis, up the Missouri
to Clay and Platte County, debarking at Liberty Landing or Parkville. We don’t know if that
was the route they took or if it was a land route. In Paxton’s History, family tradition has
Kemp Woods riding a horse from Woodford County, Kentucky to Missouri while still a very
young man, returning to Kentucky to bring his mother and sister, and becoming a successful
citizen owning land in both Clay and Platte County Missouri. He was banished during the
Civil War and, I am guessing, illegally returned to Woodford County, Kentucky, until the
war was over.
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Wealth was generally based on land ownership, and either law or tradition usually
meant the oldest male heir inherited the family home place. The younger family members
who were ambitious and wanted to establish their own landholdings found it necessary to
re-locate. Virginia Land Grants for service in the Revolution, early exploration of Kentucky,
and the abundance of rich land made this area appeal to them. These early pioneers were
landowners in Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, and to date, thirty-four men have
been recognized by the Sons of the American Revolution as soldiers in the Army, suppliers of
material to the troops or service in the Civil Government. They came west and became
leaders in the communities they established in central Kentucky. They were farmers who
improved cattle breeds and crops. Some owned mills and later, distilleries. They served in
government posts, improved roads, and established churches and schools. So far, we have
only uncovered one whose conduct was questionable - Wesley White, who spent the greater
part of his life trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to benefit from his wife’s legacies.
When more settlers came in, like Daniel Boone, who said, “Kentucky was too crowded”
and left for Missouri, these same families moved west, bought large tracts of land, and
became good citizens. Members of our family with Kentucky roots can claim a judge, a
sheriff killed in the line of duty, state legislators, businessmen, and farmers. They can also
point to three Baptist preachers and other church leaders. Kemp Woods Sr. was on the
original building committee and donated land for a Christian (Disciples of Christ) church in
Smithville. And family tradition tells that Alexander Campbell, a former Baptist who is
credited with being one of the founders of the Christian Church, was a guest in the home of
Judge William Chesnut and/or Mrs. B. L. Lampton and son-in-law, Isaac B. Thompson when
he came to Missouri to visit the Christian churches.
Another central Kentuckian, Rev. Robert James, was a Baptist minister and
founder/Trustee of William Jewell College. He was a graduate of Georgetown Kentucky
College and married Zerelda Cole, whose family had an inn (tavern) in Woodford Co., KY. It
is interesting to me that my grandmother, Froncie Woods, also chose to attend Georgetown
College. Rev. James lived in Clay County and was well respected. My great- grandfather,
Isaac Buford Thompson and Frank James were in the Confederate forces and fought
together at the Battle of Lexington, Missouri. He held Rev. James in such high regard that
when his sons - Jesse and Frank James - would pay a visit to their parents’ homes, he would
hear them riding across the back of his farm but would never inform the authorities that
might be pursuing them. It is also said if he happened to meet them, he would exchange
personal greetings and later inform the searching posse that the James boys went in a
“different direction.”
I have been asked many times, “why do this research” or “who cares about all this family
stuff’? My answer is that I feel gratitude for those who have preceded me and a
responsibility to my two granddaughters, and hopefully, others to come, who someday may
want to know about their family. It is an open-ended project because there is still much we
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don’t know about our ancestors, and with continued good luck, much more to be told about
the present generation.
It is always interesting to speculate about the “hereafter.” Religious doctrines suggest
we will all meet in heaven someday. Where do our souls come from and go to? Each
individual personality is different. Do they come and go from other solar systems - maybe
it’s not science fiction? Anyway, we learn that we have a proud heritage and stand on the
shoulders of those before us. We hope and trust hundreds of years in the future, they can
say the same about us. As we were taught in the Boy Scouts, we should leave our campsite
better than we found it. I definitely feel I can say that about my forebearers.
Dedication
Ann Todd and Dona Adams Wilson
Every researcher should have a client like John A. Dillingham. He urges, inspires,
sometimes insist, you do more even when you are convinced that every single fact has
already been uncovered. And, more often than not, he is right. No person, date, place, or fact
is too obscure to interest him. And, collateral relationships, human interest stories, current
events of the time, or the mere mention of a watercourse in an old deed is enough to set him
off in a new direction to pursue every person vaguely connected with his family. This work is
not finished, and it never will be as long as John is there pushing to learn more. Thank you,
John, - you have made us better researchers as you have taught two native Kentuckians
more about their heritage as well as your own.
Background
By 1775 Daniel Boone and others had established a fort on the Kentucky River and
encouraged others to join them on the frontier. A series of forts or stations soon followed,
and at the close of the Revolutionary War, the great western migration began. Virginians
claimed land grants awarded to them for their service in the Revolutionary War, and these
lands were primarily in Kentucky. North Carolinians, encouraged by Boone in his many
trips back and forth over the mountains, soon followed. The Ohio River on its northern
boundary provided an easy way to migrate to the west, and the early settlers from New
Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania came over land or down the river in flatboats to settle.
Central Kentucky attracted settlers from all these areas not only for its land but also
because it had already established traditions. In 1780 Transylvania Seminary was
established as the first institute of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains. The
second dry goods store in Kentucky was opened in Lexington in 1784, and the first
newspaper was published in 1787. Land was fertile, inexpensive, and available. In addition,
timber was abundant, and the easy accessibility of the streams and rivers made it easier to
market.
After land was cleared, it was planted in corn and other crops. Mills were built along
many of the fast-running streams. These enterprising pioneers soon learned that grain could
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be ground into meal but could also be used to make a more profitable product — whiskey. In
1789 a Baptist Preacher, Elijah Craig, was also a successful mill owner in central Kentucky,
and he named his product Bourbon Whiskey.
Until 1792 Kentucky was a part of Virginia and had only three counties: Lincoln, which
covered the area south to the Tennessee line and west to the Ohio River, Fayette that ran
east to what is now West Virginia and north to the Ohio River, and Jefferson. The formation
of the 120 Kentucky counties is such that a settler could own land and with the division of
county lines, could live in the same place for many years and be part of five-six counties.
Madison and Estill County Families
Dillingham/Harris
Joshua Dillingham, the earliest proven ancestor of this branch of the family, was born
ca. 1742, probably in Maryland. This is based on extensive research done by Margaret
Wallis Haile and published in 1979 her book “Dillinghams of Big Ivy, Buncombe County,
North Carolina, and Related Families. ” She assumes that he is the son of William
Dillingham who came from Maryland to Virginia ca. 1755, and I do not disagree with her
assumption, but no definitive proof of this has been found. Joshua Dillingham first appears
on the tax lists of Pittsylvania County, Virginia in 1767. He was probably married by the
time he first owned land, but no marriage record has been found, and the name of his first
wife is unproven. From Henry County, Virginia records, Ms. Haile believes Joshua
Dillingham had the following children from his first marriage:
1. Archibald 2. Lott (possibly William Lott) 3. Arthur 4. Elizabeth married Zebulon Norris 5. Nancy married William Cox
6. Vachel
His first wife died, and he married Winnifred Harris in Virginia. She died either before
or shortly after their arrival in Kentucky, and this marriage produced two children. The last
record we have in Henry County, Virginia, is November 1794, when he sold two tracts of
land.
We do not know what prompted the Dillingham family to leave Henry County, Virginia,
and come to Kentucky. He and other family members owned land, and he was credited with
giving supplies in the Revolutionary War. In Lincoln County, Kentucky, 26 May 1789, one
Joshua Dillingham married Esther Chapman. A little over four years later, Esther
Dillingham married Abraham Dyer, which leads to the conclusion that this Joshua was
probably the son of Joshua and died as a young man. The Dyers subsequently moved to
Christian County, Kentucky, and lived near the Vachel Dillingham family. Lincoln County,
Kentucky tax records in 1800 show Lott Dillingham and William Cox as landowners.
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Joshua Dillingham married as possibly his third wife, Mrs. Mary Ely Brassfield, widow
of Leroy Brassfield, 26 October 1796 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. By 1799 this family
appears on the tax list in Madison, and in the 1800 census, made up of tax lists, Joshua
Dillingham is listed as head of household. In 1802, he acquired 170 acres on Drowning
Creek, which ran between Madison and Estill Counties and lived in that area until his
death in 1819.
Joshua Dillingham was married in Virginia to Winifred Harris, daughter of Henry and
Anna Bird Harris. They had two children, Winifred, who married Zebulon Morris 4 Dec
1809 in Madison County, Kentucky, and Henry Harris Dillingham, born in Henry County,
Virginia 7 July 1791, and died Estill County, Kentucky 7 Mar 1851.
Henry Harris, born 16 June 1742 in Orange County, Virginia, died Madison County,
Kentucky 1833, served in the Virginia Line and was awarded a pension (S 16399) for his
service. Interesting to note that Henry Harris and Joshua Dillingham were about the same
age, which helps lead to the conclusion that the marriage to Winifred Harris was his second.
Joshua and third wife Mary Brasfield had two children, Lucinda, who married Thomas
Walker, and moved to Jackson County, Missouri, and John.
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Henry Harris Dillingham was born in Virginia, 7 July 1791, and moved to Kentucky
with his father and lived in Madison County until his death 7 March 1851. He married
Charity Park aged twenty-four on 24 September 1812.
Charity Park was born 22 December 1793 and was the daughter of John and Mary
Peeler Park from Rowan County, NC. John Park was born 19 Nov 1773 in Rowan County,
NC, and died 1828 in Estill County, Kentucky. John Park was the son of Ebenezer Park and
Tabitha Mills, married 6 Jan 1772, Rowan County, NC, and both died in Estill County,
Kentucky. Charity Park Dillingham died 5 May 1831 and is buried in Red Hill Cemetery,
Panola, Madison County, Kentucky.
Henry Harris and Charity Park Dillingham were parents of ten children, all born in
Madison County, Kentucky:
• John P. Dillingham, born 25 July 1813, died 4 Feb 1864, married Amanda Grubbs,
no children.
• Paulina Dillingham, born 27 Jan 1815, married M. C. Covington 22 Jan 1833.
• Elizabeth Dillingham, born 1 Dec 1816, married J. M. Keller 27 Feb 1838. They
moved to Clay County, Missouri
• William Dillingham, born 28 Feb 1819, married Maranda Walker in 1842, died 13
Aug 1844 in Jackson County, Missouri
• Joshua Dillingham born 25 May 1821, died 15 Nov 1841, unmarried
• Henry B. Dillingham, born 17 Sept 1823, died aft. 1909, married 5 Nov 1846
Margaret Ann Gates. He was the only one of his surnames to remain in Madison
County, and both Henry and Margaret are buried in Richmond Kentucky
cemetery.
• Amanda F. Dillingham born 1 Dec 1824, died 18 Jan 1863
• Solomon Dillingham born 13 Mar 1826, died 15 May 1831
• Vachel Dillingham born 4 Feb 1828, died 15 May 1831
• Elihu Dillingham was born 16 Apr 1830 in Madison County, Kentucky. His
mother died when he was about 13 months, but his father was still living on 23
Dec 1852, he married Mary Jane White born 25 Nov 1835 in Estill County,
Kentucky, daughter of Wesley White and Martha Ann Grubbs. They remained in
Kentucky for about two years and then moved to Platte County, Missouri, where
Elihu died 1 Sep 1916, and Mary Jane died 21 Dec 1899. Both are buried in the
Platte City Cemetery.
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Grubbs
Higgason Grubbs, son of Thomas and Susanna Hearne Grubbs, was born in Albermarle
County, Virginia ca. 1740. He married ca. 1763 Lucy Harris, daughter of James and Mary
Hands also of Albermarle. James Harris gave support and civil service during the
Revolutionary War and died in Albermarle County, Virginia, in 1792. Mary Harris died in
1819. By 1778, Higgason Grubbs was living in the fort at Boonesboro. Both he and his wife
Lucy are cited in records of the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Kentucky, as
‘defenders of frontier forts’ and, according to these same publications, “Lucy Grubbs was as
good a shot as her husband.” They reared a family, and Higgason Grubbs died 30 Jun 1830,
and Lucy died after that, both in Madison County, Kentucky.
July 10, 1812, Higgason Grubbs gave a deed, Deed Book I, p. 249 Madison County,
Kentucky, to his wife, Lucy, relinquishing “all my claim as husband to a one-sixth part of
the estate of her father, James Harris, deceased, of Albermarle County, Virginia” and gave
any interest he may have had as her husband to his wife and her eight surviving children
“Nancy Boon, Thomas Grubbs, Mourning Boon, James Grubbs, John Grubbs, William
Grubbs, Jesse Grubbs, and Lucy Grubbs.” This was done “for the love and regard for my wife
and her children and for the sum of one hundred dollars paid...”. James Grubbs transferred
and assigned any interest he may have in the estate to Squire Boone (brother of Daniel
Boone) 11 Nov 1812, Deed Book I, p. 250 Madison County, Kentucky. Court records show
that Higgason and Lucy Grubbs were appointed to care for the poorhouse apparently for the
sum of $150 per year. In November 1830, the Madison County Court ordered the Sheriff to
pay fifty dollars to Lucy Grubbs, who had acted as keeper of the residence for one-third of
the time.
Oldham/Rice
James Grubbs, born 11 Mar 1784 in Albermarle County, Virginia, married 29 Apr 1815
in Estill County, Kentucky, Mary Oldham, born 22 May 1791 in Caswell County, NC.
Refer to Grubbs Family Tree Above
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Mary (Polly) Oldham was the daughter of Capt. John Oldham, born 10 Nov 1757 in
Prince William County, Virginia, married 24 Feb 1783 in Caswell County, North Carolina,
Annis Rice, born 4 Mar 1759 in Caswell County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of
Hezekiah Rice, born around 1739, and died after 1790, who served in the North Carolina
House of Delegates in 1776 and also in the militia. John Oldham, son of Richard Oldham
and Elizabeth Bayse of Caswell County, North Carolina, was a Capt. in the North Carolina
line, and after his death 17 November 1831, Annis Rice Oldham applied for a widow’s
pension # W 8492. She gave the names and birth dates of their children, two of whom were
deceased when she applied in 1840. Mary Oldham Grubbs died in August 1839.
In 1907, W. H. Miller wrote: “Captain John Oldham would make no application for
service in the Revolution saying, “he was opposed to the pension law and would not accept
its benefits, that it was the rightful duty of every patriotic citizen to defend the liberties of
his country - that the soldier in time, received their regular pay for service,” and he held
that “this sacred duty was degraded by the pension law.”
John Oldham is credited with building the first brick house in Estill County, Kentucky,
and with his brother, Richard, and other neighbors were successful in hiring a Welsh
schoolteacher, Mr. Hutchison, to establish a school in his home.
Oldham/Pepper
Richard Oldham, another son of Richard Oldham and Elizabeth Bayse, born 1 Mar
1745/46 in Prince William County, Virginia, moved from Caswell County, North Carolina,
and settled in Estill County, Kentucky. He married Ann Pepper born ca. 1753.
Ann Pepper was the daughter of Samuel Pepper Sr. and Elizabeth Ann Holton, who was
the daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Holton of Prince William County, Virginia. Samuel
Pepper Sr. died (probably) 16 Jul 1799, and Elizabeth Pepper died 6 Jul 1820 in Mason
County, Kentucky. Samuel Pepper is recognized as a Patriot for giving supplies and
rendering patriotic service during the Revolution.
Richard Oldham received a pension (S 14053) for his militia service in North Carolina.
His application states, “he served under his brother, Capt. John Oldham, in a Caswell
County, North Carolina unit”. He served three, three-month tours in that unit and in one
unit for six months and another for three months. Richard Oldham died 17 Jun 1839 in
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Estill County, Kentucky. The date of Ann Pepper Oldham’s death in Estill County,
Kentucky, is unknown. Their son, Richard Oldham, Jr., and wife Sallie Williams moved to
Montgomery County, Kentucky, and are listed with those families.
Grubbs/White
Refer to Grubbs Family Tree Above
James Grubbs died 20 Jul 1828, leaving a daughter Martha Ann, born 22 Dec 1818 and
died 1 May 1837, probably in Estill County, Kentucky. John Wesley White and Martha Ann
Grubbs were married 4 Sep 1834 and had a daughter Mary Jane White born 25 Nov 1835.
Estill County,
Kentucky Court records show a number of instances where Wesley White borrowed
sums of money, giving as security “any interest my wife may have in the property of
Higgason Grubbs.” His record of repayment was the basis of several lawsuits asking for the
return of money he had borrowed and not repaid.
Mary Jane White was entitled to inherit from James Grubbs’ estate since her mother
and grandmother, Polly Oldham Grubbs, were both deceased. There was considerable
property in the estate, and John Wesley White was appointed guardian for his daughter.
This bond was revoked in 1841, and John M. Moore was appointed guardian for Mary Jane
White.
The Court re-appointed Wesley White 7 Sept 1846. Subsequent Court cases show that
Mary Jane White was entitled to sums of money as heir to the estates of her parents and
grandmother. In 1843 after the sale of land and slaves, Wesley White, guardian, was paid
$1,722.80. He left Kentucky taking the money and failed to inventory or account for his
actions. He lived in Tennessee for two years, remarried, and moved to Texas.
Court records show he was on a riverboat with his family in the spring of 1852 and was
in “an ill state of health,” unable to get out of bed. He fell overboard and drowned during
this trip. His wife was left with only thirty dollars, and the passengers on the steamboat
took up a collection for her of about fifty dollars when she left the boat to be with her brother
and other family members. At some point, Mary Jane White lived in Platte County,
Missouri, with relatives and came back to Kentucky in 1845 when she was ten years old.
John P. Dillingham gave a deposition stating she had lived with him since her return. He
had supported her completely except for John Grubbs paying for her schooling. He also
testified that Wesley White came to see her in 1846 before he left for Texas, was destitute,
and borrowed twenty-five dollars from his young daughter. On 23 Dec 1852, Mary Jane
White married Elihu Dillingham at the home of his brother, John P. Dillingham, in Madison
County, Kentucky. After two years, they moved to Platte County, Missouri, and lived there
until their deaths.
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Clark County Families
Roundtree/Gordon
Randall Roundtree was born 1730 in Virginia and died 15 December 1788. He and
his wife Sarah (surname unknown) lived in Goochland, Albermarle County, Virginia, where
he was credited with civil service during the Revolution. Their daughter Mary was born 14
Apr 1761 in Albermarle.
Mary Roundtree married 17 Aug 1783, Goochland County, Virginia, John Gordon Jr., son of
John Gordon and Judith Moracet. The Will of John Gordon Sr., dated 18 Jul 1803, is of
record in the Clark County, Kentucky Clerk’s office. Judith Gordon, who apparently
survived him, was given all his property for life, and upon her death, it was to be distributed
equally between their nine children. An additional legacy was given to their daughter
Judith “in consideration for the many particular services she has rendered to me tending on
me.”
John Gordon (Jr) was born 26 Sep 1763 in Goochland County, Virginia, and served as a
Pvt. in the Virginia Militia and was issued pension certificate #3127, dated December 15,
1832, in Clark County, Kentucky. The pension was in the amount of Twenty-Six Dollars and
Sixty-Six cents, payable semiannually. They had nine children, and in a codicil to his Will,
dated 5 Feb 1839, he specified that “all-Negro slaves I now hold or shall be any part of my
estate shall be equally divided between all my children or sold amongst themselves and not
out of the family.” Both are buried in Clark County, Kentucky. He died 5 Feb 1839, the date
of the codicil, and Mary Gordon died 10 May 1851.
Baber/Martin
The immigrant ancestor of the Clark County, Kentucky, Baber family is one Robert
Baber, born 1654 in Bristol, Somerset, England. He came to Virginia as a young man and
was living in Rappahannock County, Virginia when his son Thomas Baber was born in
1688. Obediah Baber, a direct descendant, was born 1760 in Fluvanna County, Virginia,
married his neighbor, Hannah Martin, daughter of John and Rachel Pace Martin, ca. 1782.
They had three children before moving to Clark County, Kentucky, sometime around 1790.
Obediah Baber served in the militia during the Revolution and was at Yorktown with Gen.
Washington. His widow drew a pension for his service. He died 28 Jan 1822 on Four Mile
Creek in Clark County, Kentucky. Hannah Baber lived with her daughter and son-in-law in
Montgomery County, Kentucky, where she died in 1847.
John Martin, son of Valentine and Jane Bridgewater Martin, was born in 1740 in
Goochland County, Virginia. In Lower Howards Creek, published by Dr. Clifton R. Smith of
Winchester Kentucky, John Martin “was one of the most noted entrepreneurs” in early
Clark Co. “He knew the area well from previous explorations with Daniel Boone before there
was a fort.” He was at Boonesboro in 1775. He served as a Lt. In the Virginia Militia from
1777 to 1779. He was a member of Virginia landed gentry, and inherited his father’s estate.
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He married 3 Jan 1757, Rachel Pace, daughter of William and Hannah Booten Pace, in
Cumberland County, Virginia. They had thirteen children.
Martin sold his Virginia land in 1782 and moved to the lower Howard’s Creek area of
Clark County, Kentucky. Dr. Smith says, “the trail through Cumberland Gap wasn’t wide
enough for wagons, so he used horses to ride and pack mules to carry the family’s
belongings. The first records in Clark County list sixteen slaves in 1794." He bought and
sold land, built the largest gristmill on the creek, a distillery, and the first limestone house
in the area. At times the distillery operated round the clock, and he built a number of homes
for his workers. Some of this property is designated in the Bluegrass Nature Conservancy,
and parts of the mill, some portions of his home, foundations for employee homes, and
primitive roads are still in evidence. Rachel Martin died 26 Jan 1820, and John Martin died
26 Jan 1821. Both are buried on Sheely Farm in Clark County, Kentucky.
Baber/Lampton
Isham Baber, son of Obediah and Hannah Martin Baber, was born 1785 in Clark
County, Kentucky, shortly after his parents moved there from Virginia. Isham married 21
Jan 1808, Elizabeth Gordon, daughter of John Gordon Jr. and Mary Rountree Gordon, born
11 August 1792 in Clark County, Kentucky.
Their daughter, Mahala Baber, was born 8 Apr 1809 in Clark County, Kentucky. On 7
Feb 1828, she married Benjamin L. Lampton, born 24 Feb 1802. His grandfather, William
Lampton, was born in England aft. 1706, and came to America with his brother Samuel ca.
1750. The Lampton brothers were purportedly heirs of the Earl of Durham. After settling in
Virginia, William Lampton married Sarah and died 1760 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
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Their son, William Lampton, was born 1733 in King George County, Virginia, and in
1763 married Martha (Patsy) Schooler, daughter of John and Martha Wharton Schooler in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia. At a February 1781 Court in Spotsylvania County, Virginia,
William Lampton proved his service as Soldier in the Militia of the Colony 1755-1760.
Shortly thereafter, William and Patsy Lampton moved their family of nine children to
Kentucky, first settling in Lincoln County before moving to Clark County, Kentucky, where
he died 25 Feb 1790. Patsy Schooler Lampton was born ca 1742 in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia, and died 26 Jan 1811 in Clark County, Kentucky. The home of their son, James
Lampton, on Muddy Creek Road, is featured in Old Homes and Landmarks of Clark County,
Kentucky, written by Kathryn Owen.
Although this is not a direct ancestor of Mr. Dillingham, it is interesting to note that
Benjamin Lampton, son of William and Patsy, married Margaret (Peggy) Casey, daughter of
Col. William and Jane Montgomery Casey in Green County, Kentucky. Their daughter Jane
Lampton born 18 June 1803, Adair County, Kentucky manned John Marshall Clemens 6
May 1823 and moved to Missouri, where their son Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born.
He, of course, is better known as Mark Twain. Thus, Benjamin L. Lampton, the
g/g/grandfather of Mr. Dillingham, and Jane Lampton Clemens, mother of Mark Twain, are
first cousins.
John Lampton Sr. was born 8 June 1766 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and came
with his parents William and Patsy Lampton when they moved to Kentucky. He married
Tabitha Taylor ca 1787. Various biographies state this marriage was in Clark County,
Kentucky, but the county was not formed until 1793, and it is my opinion that the marriage
is of record either in Fayette or Bourbon County, Kentucky. They were the parents of twelve
children. John Lampton Sr. died in Clark County, Kentucky, 22 Dec 1827, and Tabitha, his
wife, died ca 1842 in Cooper County, Missouri.
Their son, Benjamin L. Lampton, was born 24 Feb 1802 in Clark County, Kentucky. He
married 7 Feb 1828, Mahala Baber, daughter of Isham and Elizabeth Gordon Baber. They
lived in Clark County, Kentucky, for several years before relocating to Platte County,
Missouri, where he was a successful farmer and State Legislator. Benjamin L. Lampton died
11 Feb 1866, and Mahala Lampton died 12 Mar 1895. Both are buried in Second Creek
Church Cemetery in Platte County, Missouri.
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Bush/Vivion/Gholson
John Bush and wife, Elizabeth Stokes, left Wiltshire England and immigrated to the
Jamestown Colony, where he died 9 December 1624. Descendants were early settlers in
Clark County, Kentucky, at the end of the Revolutionary War. Phillip Bush Jr. was born 26
Feb 1737 in Orange County, Virginia, married 6 Oct 1778, Frances Vivion, born 5 Aug 1761.
She was the daughter of John (Jack) Vivion IV and Martha Gholson. Both were born ca 1738
in Orange County, Virginia. They settled in Fayette County in the area that became Clark
County, and he died ca 1790, and she died after 1820 in Clark County, Kentucky.
Martha Gholson Vivion was the daughter of John Gholson and Esther Cooke, both born
in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. John Gholson served under General George Washington
in the campaign of 1754 in the French and Indian War and is recognized as a patriot by
furnishing supplies during the Revolution. He was born 1713, and his will was proven in
1790 in Orange County, Virginia.
Philip Bush Jr. was the son of Phillip P. Bush, Sr. and Mary Bryan, who is a descendant
of Francis Bryan III from County Clare, Ireland. Through this ancestry is a direct line to the
Barons of the Magna Charta and the Plantagenet Kings of England. Phillip Bush Sr. died 10
May 1771, and Mary Bryan Bush died bef. 1772, both in St. Thomas Parish, Orange County,
Virginia. The will of Phillip Bush Sr. was witnessed by James Madison, father of President
Madison.
William Bush, son of Phillip and Mary Bryan Bush, was a companion of Daniel Boone
and was at Boonesboro during the building of the fort in 1775. He made a number of trips
from Orange County, Virginia, to the frontier in Kentucky and urged his neighbors and
other family members to come and settle on the fertile land he had seen. After one such trip,
a large number of settlers agreed to come and “Capt. Billy” Bush came on to Kentucky.
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There on the frontier, he found the Indians had aligned with the British, and raids on
settlements had become commonplace.
He became alarmed and sent a messenger back to Virginia to warn them of the danger
and ask them to postpone their move until the danger of Indian attack was over. Philip
Bush Jr., his wife, and a large number of settlers had already left their homes in Orange
County and were intercepted in December 1780 at Wolf Hills, present-day Abington,
Virginia. They settled there for over two years and established a church that was affiliated
with Elijah Craig’s “Traveling Church” of Baptists who were being persecuted in Virginia.
After news of the surrender at Yorktown reached them, they started in Sept 1783 for
Kentucky.
They went first to Craig’s Station, but Rev. Craig and his group had resettled and left
the station for them. There, 3 Apr 1784, they established a church, and Phillip Bush was
elected Clerk. The group stayed at Craig’s Station for a short time and started again for
Boonesboro. Capt. Billy Bush established a station on the north side of the Kentucky River
in Clark County. They formed a church there, and the first worship service was held at
Bush Station 27 Nov 1784. The group worshiped for a time in a log church, and when it
burned, they built a building known as the Old Stone Meeting House, one of the oldest
structures in Clark County, Kentucky.
Phillip Bush Jr. was over twenty years older than his wife. A. C. Quisenberry wrote in
1897 about him: “In his youth, he courted a young lady in Virginia who rejected him and
married Col. John Vivion instead; but she promised that he might marry her oldest
daughter if she would have a daughter, and sure enough he did marry her oldest daughter,
Frances Vivion, some eighteen or twenty years later when he was about forty years of age.”
Phillip Bush Jr. died in 1818, and Frances “Franky” Bush died 24 Sep 1842. Both are buried
in Clark County, Kentucky.
Patton
Matthew Patton was born in Virginia in 1730 and was listed on the “list of tithables” in
Aug 1750 in Augusta County, Virginia. He had bought land from pioneer Roger Dyer whose
daughter Esther (or Hester) he married shortly after settling there. In 1774 he furnished
supplies for Lord Dunmore and was a Captain of Militia in Virginia in 1768. In 1783 he is
credited with importing cattle for his own use on his plantation in Virginia. After his move
to Clark County, Kentucky, he continued to import cattle and crossbreed to improve the
native stock. He produced a superior breed, which became known as “Patton Stock.” His
home was known as Sycamore, where he died 3 May 1803. His grave is encased in a wall of
rock laid in cement.
The Will of Matthew Patton gives us further insight into the type of man he was. After
provision for his wife, children, grandchildren, including children of his deceased children,
the Will (written 2 May 1803, Will Book 1, p. 315 Clark County Court records) states:
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“It is my will and desire that my mulatto man, Cript, shall be free in six months after my death. It is also my will and desire that my mulatto woman’s oldest
children named Ruth and David be free at the age of twenty-four years, and be learned to read the Bible distinctly, also that my Negro man, Henry, shall be free
in ten years, and that my Negro man, David, shall be free in twelve years after my decease, also I give and bequeath my mulatto woman and her youngest children to
my beloved wife to dispose of as she may think proper.”
A codicil was added to this Will on 3 May 1803, which provides for the children of his
daughter Sarah whom “he had forgotten” in the foregoing Will. This codicil was signed with
an “X” on the day he died, probably too weak to sign his name. Esther Patton died after
October 1816, also in Clark County, Kentucky.
Not much can be found on James Patton, but he is mentioned in his mother’s Will by
name and in various settlements made in connection with the two estates. His wife was
named Elizabeth, but no record of this marriage has been found in Clark Co. His will was
probated 25 Oct 1823, and he mentions “Polly Patton, daughter of my deceased son Mathew”
and left her one-fifth of his estate.
Matthew Patton, son of James and Elizabeth, married Sally McKee 8 Feb 1802 in Clark
County, Kentucky. Both James Patton and her father, Joseph McKee, gave their consent to
the marriage, which leads us to conclude neither Mathew nor Elizabeth were twenty-one
years of age at the time.
Polly Patton and Phineas Skinner, son of Cornelius Skinner and Jane Carr, were
married 28 November 1822 in Clark County, Kentucky. They soon moved to Platte County,
Missouri, where they lived the rest of their lives.
Skinner
The Skinners, originally from New Jersey, had lived in Loudoun County, Virginia, before
moving to Clark County, Kentucky. Cornelius Skinner was the son of Phineas Skinner, who
died in 1794 in Loudoun County, Virginia. Two items concerning Cornelius Skinner appear
in the Shane papers, Draper Collection of Kentucky Manuscripts. One item quotes Isaac
Carr Skinner as saying his father, Cornelius Skinner, “came down the river, a single man, in
company with William Forman, the preacher, in 1793. He was here a year, and then his
father wrote for him to come in, he wanted him. He went in, and his father died, and he was
about two years (in Loudoun County, Virginia) settling up the estate. He then came out to
Kentucky.” Another item states Cornelius Skinner “lives on Hood’s old road, the road from
Mt. Sterling to Strode’s Station (present-day Winchester Kentucky) he was married in this
county 15 Feb. 1797. He had started out in October 1796 but was detained at Pittsburgh by
low water and freezings until February following”. The date and place of this marriage are
incorrect; Cornelius and Jane Carr Skinner were married 20 Sep 1796 in Loudoun County,
Virginia, and her father, Peter Carr, was bondsman.
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Jane Carr was the daughter of Peter and Rachel Caldwell Carr of Loudoun County,
Virginia. Her ancestor, John Carr, born 1684 and died 1794, came from County Down,
Ireland, “to the vicinity of Philadelphia ca. 1740 and removed ca 1750 to Waterford
Virginia”. His Will, dated 30 October 1788 - - when he was 104 years of age - was proved 10
February 1795 and is in Will Book E, p. 96 in Loudoun County, Virginia. Daughters of the
American Revolution records show Peter Carr born 20 October 1740 in Ireland and died 28
Feb 1812 in Loudoun County, Virginia. He is recognized as a patriot for his public service
during the Revolution.
According to an undated clipping from descendants in Kansas City, Jane Carr was born
30 July 1769 in Loudoun County, Virginia, and died “in her 91st year”. The clipping states
“in the winter of 1797 Jane and Cornelius Skinner came to Clark County, Kentucky, and on
September 1811 they joined the Sugar Ridge Presbyterian Church, in which he became an
Elder, April 1812. They also were members of the Union Church, organized in 1837”.
Cornelius and Jane Skinner settled on a large tract between what is now Winchester
and Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and accumulated thousands of acres during his lifetime. They
were considered a major force in agriculture and leading citizens of the area. Three of their
children, Sally Skinner, married Richard Chiles and came to Jackson County, Missouri,
Azubah Skinner married his brother Joel Franklin Chiles and removed to Jackson County,
Missouri in Sept 1831, locating on a farm near Old Fort Osage, ten miles from
Independence, Missouri.
Phineas and Polly Skinner removed to Boone County, Missouri, in 1838 and settled in
Platte County, Missouri, in 1840. For over ten years, deeds were recorded in Clark County,
Kentucky, as he sold his interest in the estate of his parents. Phineas Skinner was born 28
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July 1801 in Clark County, Kentucky, and died 21 August 1856 in Camden Point, Platte
County, Missouri. Polly Patton Skinner was born in 1805 and died April 20, 1878 in Kansas
City.
Addendum to Original Book – Phineas Skinner’s Tombstone
The tombstone had laid horizontally in a hog lot for many years. In 2013, Shirley Kimsey of Platte City received a call from the people living there informing her they had found the stone. A crew from St. Joseph erected the tombstone.
Phineas's daughter, Sarah, was the first wife of Captain Kemp Woods. There are eight people buried in the old cemetery. Alongside his wife is his grandson, Phineas Skinner Woods, who was shot and killed with another soldier during the Civil War after he had returned home for a picnic with his grandmother.
In 1848, Phineas Skinner helped to establish the first private female academy in Missouri. That school was later moved to Fulton, Missouri, and became what is now known as William Woods College.
It is also recorded that he took 300 hogs to Holton, Kansas, north of Topeka, for the benefit of the Indians. It might have been the Potawatomie's who have a reservation there.
He also established a ten-square mile area for a post-slavery colony and died in a creek bottom in 1856, very likely a victim of the Bleeding Kansas prelude to the Civil War.
The seven-foot marble obelisk tombstone of my great-great-
great-grandfather Phineas Skinner located five miles north of Platte City at Camden Point, on private property that was once his home.
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Bourbon County
Garrard/Mountjoy
From “Governor James Garrard,” by Henry Esli Everman (1981), we learn many
interesting facts on this family: William Garrard was born ca 1715 in England and settled in
Stafford County, Virginia. He was a moderately wealthy farmer, and a Lt. in the County
Militia, a position that guaranteed social status at the time. The present-day Stafford
County, Virginia Courthouse was built on Garrard land. He was married three times and
served in the Militia in the Revolution. He married, as his second wife, Mary Naughty, and
their son James Garrard was born 14 Jan 1749 in Stafford County, Virginia. His sister,
Mary Ann, was born in 1753, and they remained close throughout the rest of their lives.
At the age of twenty, 20 Dec 1769, James Garrard married his childhood sweetheart,
Elizabeth Mountjoy, born 2 May 1751, daughter of William Mountjoy and Phyllis Reilly,
born 15 Nov 1717 and died 4 Apr 1771 in Stafford County, Virginia. Both the Garrard and
Mountjoy families descend from French Huguenots. The Mountjoy family lived in England
prior to immigrating to Virginia. His father, Edward Mountjoy, was born between1660-1670
in England but was living in Stafford County, Virginia, when, in 1709-1710, he married
Mary Crosby, born 28 Jun 1676, and died 14 Dec 1756. Edward Mountjoy died in 1712 when
his son was only a year old. William Mountjoy was born 17 Apr 1711 and died 27 Sep 1777.
He is recognized as a patriot for his civil service during the Revolution.
Shortly after the marriage of James Garrard and Elizabeth Mountjoy, his sister Mary
Ann Garrard married Elizabeth’s brother, Col. John Mountjoy. The two couples lived close
to each other both in Virginia and finally on estates in Kentucky.
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Young James Garrard studied in the common schools of his community and at home. He
united with the Hartwood Baptist Church near Fredericksburg, Virginia, as a young man
and for years, was labeled a Regular (orthodox) Baptist. He concentrated on farming and
other family interests and very early learned to use a rifle effectively as a result of his
father’s military background. He also developed surveying skills and later used the pole and
chain to acquire land tracts on the western frontier.
Before the revolution, James and Elizabeth had four young children. Despite his family
responsibilities, he enlisted in the Virginia Militia and during his service, was taken
prisoner while commanding a schooner on the Potomac. He escaped and returned to the
militia and was elected to the Virginia Legislature in 1779 and served both in the Militia
and the Legislature until the close of the war. His father, William Garrard, had married for
the third time and had four young children and opportunities in the west beckoned James
Garrard. Land was the measure of wealth, status, and position, and the Indian menace was
fading in the new Kentucky district of Virginia.
In 1783 James Garrard arrived on Stoner Fork of the Licking River and began to survey
tracts on military warrants. By that fall, he returned to Virginia and packed his family for
the move into the area of Fayette County that eventually became Bourbon County. He
continued to survey and claim land, and between 1784 and 1790, he personally claimed
38,000 acres in central Kentucky. He opened a grist mill, made whiskey, farmed, was
elected in 1785 as a member of the Virginia Legislature, and served the newly formed
Bourbon County as surveyor, magistrate, and Col. In the militia.
As an active Baptist minister, he formed several churches, including Cooper’s Run
Church, near his home and served ten years as one of its ministers. He opposed slavery,
advocated religious toleration, and was recognized for his character, integrity, and
magnanimity. Those qualities helped him be elected Governor of Kentucky in 1796 and
again in 1804. During his term as Governor, he pardoned a personal slave who had been
convicted of poisoning food in his home.
In 1786, when James Garrard returned to Bourbon County from the Virginia
Legislature, he found his wife Elizabeth had begun building a stone house across Stoner
Creek. This home was named Mt. Lebanon and is still occupied by their descendants. In
“Kentucky ante Bellum Portraiture ” by Edna Talbot Whitley (1956) Mrs. Garrard’s portrait
is accompanied by this profile: “From the day Mrs. Garrard drove up with her husband in a
carriage drawn by four black horses to become the first mistress of the new Kentucky
Governor’s Mansion in 1799, she dispensed the lavish hospitality for which her descendants
are famous. At a family Christmas dinner soon after, she served two turkeys, a number of
ducks, fifty pounds of roast beef, bacon, vegetables, and side dishes, topped off with her
home-made peach wine.”
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James Garrard died 19 Jan 1822, and Elizabeth died 29 Aug 1832. Both are buried at
Mt. Lebanon in Bourbon County. The Kentucky legislature erected a monument that marks
his grave, and Garrard County Kentucky was named in his honor.
Their son Daniel Garrard was one of the children born in Stafford County, Virginia, 10
Nov 1780, who came with his parents to Stoner Creek as a small child. He married Lucinda
Jane Toulmin 21 Feb 1808 in Mobile, Alabama. She was born in England, daughter of Harry
Toulmin, born 7 Apr 1766 in Taunton, Somersetshire, and wife Ann Tremlett. Harry
Toulmin died in Toulminville, Alabama, 11 Nov 1823. Lucinda Toulmin Garrard died 10 Apr
1849, probably, in Clay County, Kentucky. Daniel Garrard died 20 Sep 1866 in Clay County,
Kentucky. Their daughter, Lucinda Garrard born 28 Dec 1827 in Clay County, Kentucky,
married 2 Nov 1847 Clay County, Kentucky, Judge William Chesnut, born 5 Jun 1826
Laurel County, Kentucky. They moved to Missouri, where she died 5 Sep 1894, and Judge
Chesnut died 5 Mar 1895. Both are buried in Platte City, Missouri (see Laurel County
families)
Montgomery County
Tipton
When you begin tracing your family, you never know what twists and turns your search
will take. But the present-day Dillingham family of Missouri can connect to the Tipton
family in Kentucky three different ways. W. Hord Tipton compiled Tipton Blood Lines after
devoting much of his life to this research. He maintains the first Tiptons were Vikings who
raided Great Britain in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. Some moved into Scotland as
early as 850, their descendants moved on to England and Ireland and from there into
Jamaica and Maryland when Edward Tipton came in 1668 on the ship “Friendship.”
Mr. Tipton writes: “During the period preceding 1282, the Welsh people were subject to
English rule. The English were powerful enough to conquer them, but shortly the English
army would leave, another rebellion would soon be in the making. Anthony Tipton, a
descendant of the Scotch Tiptons, was a member of King Edward’s army, and at the battle of
Snowdon Mountain in December 1282, he was credited with killing Llewellyn, the last
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Prince of the Welsh, who was the leader of the rebellion. The next day, December 11, 1282,
for his bravery and valiant conduct, Anthony Tipton was knighted on the field of battle by
King Edward 1 as Sir Anthony de Tipton and was given a coat of arms.” In 77ze Tipton
Family by C. B. Heinemann, published Washington DC December 1934, it is stated that
from this family has descended a great line of fighters and pioneers.
Three descendants of this family are established patriots of the Sons of the Revolution:
William Tipton Sr., John Tipton, and Jabez Murray Tipton. They came to Kentucky from
Maryland and Tennessee and first settled in the mountainous area of Madison County that
became Estill County, Kentucky. There is a Tipton Road, and Tipton Ridge in this rural area
and the families had a reputation of keeping to themselves, sticking together, being good
friends, but terrible enemies. A number of the family were tall, big-boned, and blond,
possibly reflecting some of their Viking heritage. Some of the family moved on west, and
there is a Tipton, Illinois, and a Tipton, Iowa named for the early settlers. Another of the
family is credited with establishing Indianapolis, Indiana, and for a short time, Columbus,
Indiana, was known as Tiptonia. Very near Booneville, Missouri, where Daniel Boone lived
is a Tiptonville, Missouri, and speculation is that some of the family accompanied Boone
when he left Madison County for the west.
John Tipton, the great-grandson of immigrant Edward Tipton, was born on 6 July 1726
in Baltimore, Maryland. On 6 Feb 1849, he married Martha Murray, whose birth is recorded
in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as 26 November 1726. She was the daughter of Jabez
Murray, born 1699, died 1804 in Baltimore, and his wife, Mary Wheeler, born 1701. He was
owner of farmlands in Maryland, where the city of Baltimore now stands. The land was
leased, but no deed was ever given for it. John Tipton signed the Oath of Allegiance in
Baltimore County, Maryland, 8 Feb 1778. Sometime after the war, John and Martha moved
to Madison County, Kentucky, and settled on Otter Creek, where she died 7 Nov 1802, and
he died 18 Nov 1808. John Tipton’s Will was dated 4 July 1807, and probated 5 Dec 1808, in
Madison County, Kentucky. He leaves five shillings each to his son, Jabez, the heirs of his
deceased daughter Tabitha and to his daughter Ruth. He leaves the rest of his estate to his
grandson Alexis Tipton, son of Jabez.
Jabez Murray Tipton was born 17 Nov 1754 in Maryland, married 23 Jan 1781 to
Rebecca Lemmon, born 31 January 1755. Rebecca Lemmon was the daughter of Alexis
Lemmon, born 1716 in Ireland/England, and died 30 May 1786 in Baltimore. He is credited
with patriot service during the Revolution. Jabez Murray Tipton took the Oath of Allegiance
the same day as his father, 28 Feb 1778 in Baltimore and is a recognized Revolutionary
patriot. Although family tradition is that he served in the Army, no record has been found.
Both father and son signed the Oath signifying their loyalty as well as the fact they
probably were not then in active service. Rebecca Lemmon Tipton died 10 August 1786, and
Jabez Murray Tipton (named for his maternal grandfather) died 25 Dec 1818, both in
Madison County, Kentucky. Tipton Blood Lines states:
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“Jabez Murray Tipton moved from Maryland to Tennessee, back to Maryland, then back
to Kentucky and finally settled in Madison County, Kentucky, about 1790. After the death of
his first wife, he married Elizabeth Mitchell and they had fifteen children.”
William Tipton, son of Mordeci Tipton, was born 1 Jan 1754 in Maryland. His pension
record states he enlisted 1778 in Frederick County, Virginia, and served three months;
enlisted June 1779, summer of 1779; enlisted 1 Aug 1781 served three months, fought the
Indians at Wheeling and at the siege of York. William served under Generals Morgan, Long,
and Washington. His pension was issued in 1833. After the war, he moved to Kentucky, first
settling in Lincoln County, Kentucky, but later moved to Montgomery County, Kentucky,
where he and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Porter, lived the rest of their lives. Their home was
four miles south of Mt. Sterling, and both are buried in the Tipton graveyard one mile south
of the town. William Tipton is the great-grandson of Jonathan Tipton I and Sarah Pearce, as
was Jabez Murray Tipton, who settled in Estill County, Kentucky.
Sarah Lee Tipton, born 25 August 1786 in Virginia, the daughter of William and
Elizabeth Tipton, in Montgomery County, Kentucky married 19 August 1806, her distant
cousin, Alexis Lemmon Tipton, born 4 Mar 1786 in Maryland. He was the son of Jabez
Murray Tipton and Rebecca Lemmon (see Estill County families). Alexis died 12 Jan 1843,
and Sarah died 21 July 1866, and both are buried on the family farm in Montgomery
County, Kentucky.
Reynolds/Oldham
William Reynolds was born 1802 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He married
Rebecca Lee Tipton, the daughter of Alexis Lemmon and Sarah Tipton, born 9 July 1809 in
Montgomery County, Kentucky. He died 16 March 1856 in Montgomery County, Kentucky.
After his death, Rebecca left Kentucky and settled in Platte County, Missouri, sometime
before the Civil War. Rebecca Tipton Reynolds died 6 August 1890 and is buried in the
Platte City, Missouri cemetery.
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Their daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds was born 24 July 1835 in Montgomery
County, Kentucky. She married in Montgomery County, Kentucky, 25 Oct 1855, Francis
Marion Oldham, who was born 17 September 1830 in Estill County, Kentucky, the son of
Richard Oldham Jr. and Sallie Williams. He was the son of Richard Oldham Sr. and Ann
Pepper of Estill County, Kentucky. After their marriage, Francis Marion Oldham and wife
settled in Platte County, Missouri, where he died 16 December 1904, and Sarah Reynolds
Oldham died 12 January 1915. Both are buried in the Platte City cemetery.
Darnall
Descendants of Edward Darnall, born ca 1671 in England and died ca 1754, and his wife
Sarah Robey, born ca 1683 and died 1738 in Maryland, came to what is now Montgomery
County, Kentucky after the Revolution. Their son, Thomas Darnall, born 1713 Charles
County, Maryland, and died 1790, and his wife Sarah McQueen born ca. 1716 died ca 1795.
His Will was probated 28 June 1790 in Charles County, Maryland, leaving the bulk of his
estate to his son Thomas with the stipulation that he care for his mother throughout her
lifetime, “who cannot do for herself and is unsound and week of understanding.” The estate
was not closed out until 1795 when Thomas followed his brothers to Kentucky.
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John Darnall, son of Thomas and Rebecca, was born ca 1736 in Maryland, and his Will
was probated 6 March 1798 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. He married ca 1761 Mary
Ann McDaniel (McDonald), daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Stewart McDaniel. The family
was living in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1776, and when he and his brothers moved on
west is unknown. In his pension application, he states, “he was drafted into the army in
1781 from Washington County, PA”. Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. II, p. 200, 7 July 1784,
states: “John Darnall, private 5th cl. Capt. James Craven’s Co., 5th Batt., Washington
County Militia.” As John Darnall he was granted 844 acres of land in Jefferson Co.,
Virginia., (now Montgomery County, Kentucky) at Grassy Pastures on Lick Creek, on May
17, 1780, which was reaffirmed as a Lincoln County, Kentucky entry in 1783. Despite the
fact that John and Mary Ann had a family of sixteen children, he left the bulk of his real
estate to sons Cornelius and Henry Darnall, presumably to look after their mother and
younger brothers and sisters, some as young as ten years old. This is further proven by the
fact that before Cornelius removed to Lincoln County, TN, he deeded his share of the estate
to Henry.
Turpin
See Family Tree for Darnall Above
Susanna Darnall, born 27 Feb 1777, married Isaac Turpin, who was the brother of the
wives of her brothers Henry and Daniel. Isaac Turpin was born ca 1777 in Frederick
County, Maryland, and was the son of William Turpin, born 1748 and died 1789, and Nancy
Hanley, born 1743, died 1788 in Maryland. William Turpin was the son of James Turpin
and Sarah. The date of the marriage of Isaac Turpin and Susanna Darnall is unknown, but
their daughter Mary (Polly) Turpin was born ca 1802 in Montgomery County, Kentucky.
Sometime later, Isaac and Susannah Turpin moved to Jessamine County, Kentucky, where
she died in 1824. On 14 January 1835, Isaac Turpin married Nancy Pilcher, daughter of
Lewis Pilcher, in Jessamine County. The 1850 Jessamine County, Kentucky federal census
shows the Isaac Turpin household with Isaac age sixty, Nancy age fifty, and Eliza
Danninger aged twenty-one. According to Vital Statistic records, Nancy Turpin died of
consumption in July 1854.
The Will of Isaac Turpin was probated in Jessamine County, Kentucky 5 Mar 1856, and
is as interesting for what it provides as for what it doesn’t tell us. He charges his four
children, Polly Thompson, Wilkerson Turpin, Anderson Turpin, and Amelia (?) Tate with
gifts of slaves and personal property. He provides $2,000 to Eliza Darringer for “her kind
and faithful service to myself and family during our afflictions ever since she has been living
with us.” He leaves the rest of his estate equally to his four children during their lives or the
lives of their spouses and then to his grandchildren, which he named. The part of the estate
which was given to Anderson Turpin was left in trust with his son Wilkerson as Trustee.
The spouses of Polly, Wilkerson, and Amilira were named as well as their children, but no
spouse or children was mentioned for Anderson Turpin, and it specifies that his debts be
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paid from the proceeds and the principal be held in trust during the life of the Trustee,
Wilkerson Turpin. He states “my servants be divided between my children if possible but in
no event are they to be sold out of the State of Kentucky and in no event are any of them to
fall into the hands of Sabina Turpin, and I decree that my Exor’s attend to this part of my
Will.” To date, this person has not been identified, and it is believed all four of his children
were from his marriage to Susannah Darnall.
Thompson
John Hedges Thompson was born ca 29 March 1798 in Montgomery County, Kentucky,
the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Thompson. He married Mary A. (Polly) Turpin, probably in
Montgomery County, Kentucky. However, the record of this marriage has not been found.
They lived in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and we assume removed there along with her
parents, Isaac and Susanna Darnall Turpin. We know they were thereby November 1828
when their son Isaac Buford Thompson was born because his tombstone in Second Creek
Church Cemetery in Platte City, Missouri, states he was born in Jessamine County,
Kentucky. In July 1856, just four months after Isaac Turpin died, John and Polly Turpin
Thompson deeded “any interest they may have in the estate of her father” to their two sons,
John and Joseph Thompson. The same day, the two brothers, in turn, deeded one-third
interest in the estate to their brother, Isaac Buford Thompson, of record in Deed Book S,
pgs. 381 and 382, Jessamine County, Kentucky. This may or may not be the approximate
date of their move to Platte County, Missouri. Polly was born ca 1802 in Montgomery
County and died 14 Aug 1880. John Hedges Thompson died 13 November 1887, and both are
buried at Second Creek Cemetery in Platte County, Missouri.
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Harrison County
Wiglesworth
James Wiglesworth, Sr. was born 1730 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the son of John
Wiglesworth, who died about 1752 and Mary Holiday. He married ca 1751, Mary Durrett,
who was the daughter of John and Catherine Goodloe Durrett. In 1768 he donated land for a
Baptist Church in Spotsylvania County and is a recognized patriot as a member of the
Committee of Safety. On 3 Nov 1772, John Durrett gave slaves to his daughter Mary, wife of
James Wiglesworth. In his Will, Mr. Durrett gave the remaining property to James
Wiglesworth “for trouble he has had or may have with me, and he is to pay funeral
expenses.” James Wiglesworth’s Will was dated 8 Dec 1815 and proved 18 Jun 1822 in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
James Wiglesworth Jr was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and served as a Lt. in
the Virginia Line in the American Revolution. He married 1779 Mary Thomson, daughter of
William Thomson and Ann Rodes of Louisa County, Virginia. He settled in Harrison
County, Kentucky after the war and died there 19 Mar 1825.
Their son, John Wiglesworth, was born 12 Nov 1781 in Virginia. He settled in Kentucky
while a young man and married 11 Oct 1808, Jane Bush, born 16 Mar 1792, daughter of
Phillip Bush and Prances Vivion (see Clark County families) in Clark County, Kentucky.
They lived in Harrison County near Poindexter and developed a large farm from what was
then a wilderness. He died 6 May 1846, and his wife Jane died 21 Jan 1851. Both are buried
in a family cemetery on the original farm.
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William Thompson Wiglesworth was born 20 Mar 1822 on the family farm in Harrison
County, Kentucky. He married 1 Feb 1858, Mary Frances Goodloe, born 25 June 1838, in
Woodford County, Kentucky.
Mary Frances was the daughter of Henry Goodloe and Frances Eliza Monett, a
prominent Woodford County, Kentucky family. After the marriage, they moved to the family
farm in Harrison County, Kentucky, and lived there the remainder of their lives. His
brothers, John and Tandy Wiglesworth, had bought a distillery in Poindexter, and William
T. Wiglesworth bought an interest in it, which he retained until his death in 1893. His wife
died 30 Mar 1905 in Woodford County, Kentucky. William Thompson Wiglesworth and Mary
Frances Goodloe, his wife, are buried in the Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky,
Cemetery.
The Wiglesworths’ apparently lived in Woodford County, for a period of time after their
marriage because their daughter Frances Eliza (Lilly) Wiglesworth was born there in 1859.
She married 24 Oct 1876 Kemp Minor Woods, Jr. born 29 May 1847 in Woodford County,
Kentucky. His father, Kemp M. Woods, was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, but moved
to Missouri as a young man. Kemp M. Woods, Jr. died in Clay County, Missouri, in 1912.
His wife, Lilly, died 1 Oct 1943, and both are buried in Smithville, Clay County, Missouri.
Shelby County
Ford/Yeates
Thomas Ford and wife Jane Milstead lived in Fairfax County, Virginia. We do not know
if either of them were immigrant ancestors, nor do we know whether they came to America
from England. Thomas Ford was a vestryman in the Episcopal Church, Truro parish in
1765, 1772, 1774. He held this office until his death and was succeeded by his son, Edward.
The first record of him is found on February 12, 1725, when he was granted 282 acres by
Lord Fairfax. He was probably born ca 1710 and died in Fairfax County, Virginia, with his
Will, dated 29 Aug 1774, and probated 16 Dec 1776. His Will mentions his wife, Jane, who
survived him and seven children, among them a son John.
John Ford was born ca 1728 and inherited land from his father’s estate. At some point,
he moved to South Carolina in the Spartanburg District. The date can be set between 1765
when he was a vestryman of Pohick Church and 1772 when his son William went back to
Fairfax County to visit relatives. While there, the Indians were giving up their prisoners to
Virginia officials, and William obtained permission to send Cassandra Ford of Maryland to
her father in South Carolina.
John Ford was appointed Justice of the Peace in South Carolina in 1776 and is
recognized for this service by Colonial Dames of America. He is credited with patriotic
service during the Revolution. John Ford (designated as John Ford, Sr.) gave power of
attorney to his son, John Ford, to go to Virginia and sell and otherwise settle his portion of
the estate left to him by his father, Thomas Ford. This instrument was recorded in Fairfax
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County, Virginia, 17 Apr 1786. A deed from John Ford, Attorney, to Edward Ford for three
hundred pounds, dated 13 Mar 1786, was recorded the same day as the power of attorney.
John Ford was married twice or possibly three times. Family tradition has been that he
was married to Rachel Spencer, probably in Virginia. The deed mentioned above gives his
wife’s name as Ellenor. There is no record of either marriage extant. On 19 Sep 1792, John
Ford and Catharine Garace, widow, recorded an agreement in Spartanburg County, SC,
whereby each agrees to make no claims on property obtained previous to their impending
marriage.
The family subsequently left South Carolina, and by 9 Jan 1794 were in Clark County,
Kentucky, where John Ford gave permission for his daughter Verlinda to marry Benjamin
Yates. One of the witnesses to this consent was Tobias Bright, later of Shelby County,
Kentucky. Benjamin Yates was the son of Joshua Yeates (Yates), who settled in
Montgomery County, Kentucky. Joshua Yeates is reported to have served in the Revolution,
but this service has yet to be proven.
John Ford and his family then moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, where he lived until
his death in 1803. In his Will dated 13 Apr 1803, probated in October 1803, he names his
children, including a daughter “Finny.” His wife Catharine survived him, and he provided
she should keep her present dwelling for life or widowhood and gave her furniture and some
livestock.
In a deed dated 15 Oct 1798, Benjamin Yates bought one hundred acres on Fox Run in
Shelby County, Kentucky, from John Ford. He lived there until his death before Jan 1839
when his will was probated. A deed dated Feb 1837 does not give a dower interest, and it is
assumed Verlinda had died previous to that date.
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Benjamin Yates gave consent for his daughter Mary to marry William Guthrie, 5 Mar
1822. They moved to Platte County, Missouri, where they are buried in Mitchell Cemetery.
According to tombstone records there, William was born 1784 and died 8 Jul 1854. Mary
was born 1801 and died 1851. In his book American Guthrie and Allied Families, Laurence
R. Guthrie states William Guthrie was the son of Thomas and Mildred Howell Guthrie of
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. Thomas Guthrie died in Woodford County,
Kentucky, in 1837. Guthrie states, “...his wife Mildred appears to have been deceased Mar
1824 as she is not a party to the deed of Thomas Sr. of that date to his son Thomas Jr.”
Laurel County
Chesnut
William Chesnut was an early settler in frontier Virginia, appearing in Augusta County,
Virginia records before 1750. It is estimated he was born ca 1723 and died after Jan 1783.
Some of what has been written about the Chesnut family refers to “first wife unknown,” but
from court records, we do know he was married to Catherine Callahan, daughter of Daniel
Callahan, whose estate was administered beginning 22 Mar 1779 in Augusta County,
Virginia. On 27 Apr 1777, William Chesnut “receives proportional part of the estate of
Daniel Callahan for his four children in right of their mother Catherine, daughter of said
Callahan and late wife of Chesnut.” William Chesnut’s Will was proven 24 Feb 1783.
William Chesnut owned several tracts of land and in November 1772 and deeded one
tract to William Chesnut, Jr. on the War branch of Dry River, and the next day conveyed
400 acres to son John Chesnut. John Chesnut married Patience Gum, daughter of John
Gum originally of Sussex County, Delaware. John Gum settled in Augusta County, Virginia,
and was appointed road surveyor in 1779 and 1781. This qualifies him with civil service
during the Revolution and will be filed with the Sons of the Revolution.
In the Augusta County, Virginia court docket of March 1791, Joseph Malcom vs. Joseph
Beith, the record shows “John Chesnut and Patience Chesnut are about to remove out of the
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state 17 September 1790. It is assumed this is near the date they left Virginia, settling first
in what is now Greene County, Tennessee, before moving to Knox County, Kentucky, where
John Chesnut, born ca. 1749 in Augusta County, Virginia, died 5 May 1805. His wife
Patience Gum Chesnut, born bef. 1750 in Delaware, died 1821- 1830 in Lawrence County,
Indiana.
Their son, Abraham Chesnut, born 17 Feb 1782 in Augusta County, Virginia, came to
Greene County, Tennessee, with his parents. He married first, 13 May 1801, Ester Evans,
and they had a family of eight children. Abraham, along with his parents, John and
Patience Chesnut, brothers Benjamin, William, John Jr. and Jacob, and a sister Nancy
Chesnut purchased land in Knox County, Kentucky, in the portion that is now Laurel
County, Kentucky. This land was called the Talbott survey and contained approximately
2,500 acres. The Chesnuts bought nearly all of the survey.
Of the eight children of Abraham and Esther Evans Chesnut, two of the daughters
married Blakelys. Interesting, since after the death of Esther, Abraham married Elizabeth
Blakely, born 4 Oct 1802, who was some twenty years younger than him. They married 12
Apr 1824 in Knox County, Kentucky, and they too had a family of eight children. There were
two or three Blakely families in southeast Kentucky at the time who came from Virginia and
settled there. There are records of the Blakelys in Augusta County at the time the Chesnuts
lived there. At least two of the Blakely family in Virginia were soldiers in the Revolution,
but as yet, we have not definitely proved Elizabeth Blakely is part of this family.
Judge William Chesnut, son of Abraham and Elizabeth, born 5 Jun 1826, married
Lucinda Garrard, born 28 Dec 1827 in Clay County, Kentucky. They married 2 Nov 1847 in
Clay County, Kentucky, and Moved to Platte County, Missouri (see Bourbon County
families).
Oil paintings of Lucinda Garrard Chesnut, my great-great-grandmother, and her husband, Judge William Chesnut. Gumma had Lucinda’s painting over her mantel. After Gumma died, we found both paintings and had them
restored. They are now at our house. She was the granddaughter of Kentucky’s 2nd governor. He was a Confederate officer in the Civil War. In 1880 he was elected for two terms as Platte County Presiding Judge, now
referred to as a County Commissioner.
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Mason County
Arthur/Gow/Dye
The first record found on William Gow was when he married Mary (Polly) Arthur, 10
October 1796, Mason County, Kentucky. Matthew Arthur was the bondsman, and we have
found no consent given. We do not know the birth dates or places of these individuals but
can pinpoint their death dates. William Gow was a volunteer in Capt. John Baker’s
Company, Boswell’s Regiment, Kentucky Detached Militia in the War of 1812 and died in
service 19 June 1813. At a Mason County Court, December 1813, Polly Gow was granted
administration of the estate of her husband with Matthew Arthur as her surety.
Matthew Arthur was assumed to be the father of Mary Arthur Gow, but additional
research has shown this not to be the case. There are two different Arthur families in
Virginia that are of interest. Barnabas Arthur was a Revolutionary War soldier and had a
son Matthew; this family, however, settled in Georgia, and I do not believe this family
connects to the Mason County group. There is another Barnabas Arthur, also of the
Revolution, but he does not have a son Matthew. It is my theory that Barnabas had a
brother that may have been the father of Matthew and Mary, but this is unproven.
Mary Arthur Gow died January 1832. Matthew Arthur deeded the property to her six
children in August 1832. Matthew Arthur died, and his Will dated 15 December 1838 leaves
property to four of these heirs and names them as “his nephew William Gow” and “his
niece.” By this time, Parthenia Gow Dye and Arthur Gow had both moved to Missouri.
Dye
The Dye family is of German ancestry and came to New York before 1644 when Laurens
Duyts, born 1610 in Denmark (now part of Germany) and wife Ytie Jansen, lived in the
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Dutch settlements where their son, Hans Laurensen Duyts, was born 28 Sept 1644. The
family continued to live in New York, Staten Island and in Middlesex County, NJ for three
generations William Dey/Dye, son of John Duyts/Dye and Anne Brown, was born in Staton
Island 6 July 1718 and died 6 Sept 1784 in South Amboy, Middlesex, NJ. His wife was
Sarah Margaret Salter, born 5 Aug 1720, and died 16 Jun 1799 in South Amboy.
It was their son, Kenneth Dye, born 18 Mar 1757, who married Jane Vanderbeck, born
1765, who came to Mason County Kentucky and settled there with other members of the
Dye family. Paxton’s Annals of Platte County, Missouri, states his wife was Phoebe Monteer,
and “beloved wife Phoebe” is named in his Will. Whether or not there were two marriages is
unknown. Kenneth Dye died 15 Mar 1817 in Mason County, Kentucky. His will names,
among others, son John Dye born 4 Feb 1799 in Mason County, Kentucky.
John Dye married 17 Sept 1817, Parthenia Frances Gow, born 15 Feb 1800 in Mason
County, Kentucky. Her Mother, Mary Gow, gave consent to this marriage in Mason County,
Kentucky. John Dye and Parthenia had moved to Missouri before the deed in August 1832
from Matthew Arthur because it states, “...Parthenia Dye, late Gow, of Missouri... and
Arthur Dye of Missouri”. The other four heirs of William and Mary Gow all lived in
Kentucky. John Dye died 9 June 1874, and Parthenia died 13 June 1866. Both are buried in
Platte City, Missouri.
Woodford County
Goodloe
Of all the central Kentucky families whose descendants moved to Missouri, perhaps the
Goodloe family is not only the most prolific but also one of the most interesting. Their
genealogy twists and turns, skips generations, then marry into another line of the family,
starting an entirely new branch of the family tree.
George Gudloe born 1637 in Lancashire England, married 1670 Mary Weeks (or
Gibson?). They were in Middlesex County, Virginia, by 1675 when their son Henry Goodloe
was born. George Gudloe died 7 December 1710 in Middlesex Co. Henry Goodloe married
1698, Christ Church Parish, Elizabeth Weekes, born 1678. She was the daughter of
Abraham Weeks, born in England and his wife Millicent (or Mildred?). They married about
1650 in Virginia. She died 3 Dec 1751, and Henry Goodloe died 23 November 1748 in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Their son, George Goodloe, Jr., born January 1710/11 in Middlesex County, Virginia,
married 13 Jan 1727/28, Diana Minor, born 22 Jun 1710. She was the daughter of Garrett
Minor, born March 1678/79 in Middlesex County, Virginia, married 17 October 1706, Diana
Vivion born 1680, daughter of John Vivion Sr. and Margaret Smith. The Vivion family came
to Virginia before 1675 and were descended from Sr. Richard Vivion in England. George
Goodloe died 11 December 1741, and his wife Diana died 2 August 1755 in Caroline County,
Virginia. After their marriage, George and Diana Goodloe settled upon land that had been
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patented by his father in St. Margaret’s Parish, Caroline County, Virginia, some of which
extended over the line into Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He served as a road supervisor in
1733 and was appointed a Magistrate by Sir William Gooch, Governor of Virginia, in 1734
and served until his death in 1741. He also was appointed by the Governor, in 1737, High
Sheriff of the County and serviced for one year. These civil services make George Goodloe Jr.
a qualifying ancestor for Society of Colonial Wars and other hereditary societies.
The Kentucky Genealogist, Vol. 1 - # 2, pps. 3-13 gives an account of the life of Henry
Goodloe, son of George Goodloe Jr. and wife Diana Minor, who was born 1730 in Caroline
County, Virginia, married Frances Diana Kemp 27 Sept 1751 in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia. They had seventeen children. As a young man, he associated himself with the
Baptist denomination, and in 1772 Rev. John Waller (1741-1802) was arrested and brought
into Caroline County Court for preaching at the residence of Henry Goodloe in St.
Margaret’s Parish. His family, considered of the “major gentry” was not sympathetic with
this association, and Court records reveal his relatives thought he “must be crazy to be
taken in a ‘new light’ religion and moved the Court to have him declared insane.” He
continued and became a Baptist preacher and was widely known as Parson Henry Goodloe
due to the many marriages that he performed.
He is credited with both military and patriotic service during the Revolution and is
recognized for this service by the Sons of the American Revolution. He served as a Sgt. in
the Virginia Cavalry and received payment and furnished supplies for which he was paid by
Public Claim certificates. He died in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1820, and there was
a dispute over probation of the Will. Two of the witnesses to the Will settled in Harrison
County, Kentucky, and it is from family Bible records and the pleadings in this case that the
names of his children and their spouses have been determined.
One son, Vivion Goodloe, was born 6 Dec 1760 in Caroline County, Virginia, married 5
Aug 1784 in Lincoln County, Kentucky, Dorothy (Dolly) Tompkins, born 1768 in Virginia,
the daughter of John Tompkins and Mary (Dolly) Goodloe. They were first cousins, once
removed, both the great-grandchildren of Henry Goodloe and Elizabeth Weekes. Mary
(Dolly) Goodloe, born 1743 Spotsylvania County, Virginia, died 1780,was the daughter of
Robert Goodloe born 11 May 1771 in Middlesex County, Virginia, died 5 Nov 1790, Berkley
Parrish Virginia. Robert Goodloe is established for his patriotic service by the Sons of the
American Revolution.
John Tompkins died shortly after moving to Kentucky, and sources state he was a
Revolutionary War veteran, but this service has not been proven. He descends from
Christopher Tompkins II, who immigrated from England to Maryland before 1662. His wife
Joyce Read was born 6 Mar 1700/01 in Glouchester County, Virginia, and died 8 Aug 1771
in Caroline County, Virginia. She descends from George Reade, who was at Jamestown and
his wife Elizabeth Martain, daughter of Nicholas Martain, a French Huguenot.
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By tradition, Vivion Goodloe came to Kentucky in 1781 in a group of Baptists led by Rev.
Lewis Craig. According to Ranche’s book “The Traveling Church, ” they came as far as
Abington, Virginia, and joined up with a group who had been there for several months
waiting for the Indian threat to be abated. (See Clark County families). He and his wife
Dolly settled in Woodford County, Kentucky, where he died 25 Apr 1819, and she died 15
Apr 1832. Both are buried in old Goodloe Family Cemetery, outside Versailles, Kentucky, in
Woodford County, Kentucky.
A letter dated 24 Jul 1888 written by a grandson of Vivion Goodloe, Judge John Kemp
Goodloe, and published in the Goodloe Genealogy, by Paul Miller Goodloe II, Ph.D.,
(published 1982, Gateway Press, Baltimore) p. C-58 gives us additional insight into the
personality of his grandfather:
“My grandfather, Vivion, loved horse-racing and grog-drinking, as a young man. He
raced away many acres of fine Woodford County land.
My grandmother, Dorothea Tompkins, was a pious, strong woman, who abhorred the
Cavalier life of her husband. She did her best to reform him and received from him more
than one promise of amendment. But a good horse, with fine points, and the excitement of a
contest of speed, as often overthrew the good resolutions and put good intentions to flight.
At last, the woman disheartened, discouraged, distressed, and worn out, said to the man one
day: ‘If you don’t reform your life, give up your racehorses and boon companions, I’ll take my
two babies (babies were coming very fast) and return to my father’s house. I’ll not bear and
raise children to a gambler and a drunkard.’ This sobered grandfather for a while, but soon
he met some of his wild friends, and they had a royal spree together, and he did not return
home the day he left, nor the next day. Grandmother well knew why he did not.
On the morning of the third day of his absence, she directed a Negro boy to catch two
horses and taking her two children, and she rode off to the home she had left when married,
leaving word for her husband that she had gone home to stay permanently. Her husband
came home in the evening of the day she left and received the message left for him. The next
morning, he mounted his horse and followed his wife. He found the woman true and tender
and loving, but most firm and resolute. She laid down this ultimatum: ‘Give up the horses,
gambling, roistering companions and join the church.’ Upon those conditions and terms, she
would return with him, not otherwise, and they must be kept. The promise was made, and
homeward this young, loving wife and her husband set out. Suffice it to add that
grandfather performed all his promises and more, and Vivion Goodloe became and remained
until his death, one of the most exemplary pious men of this community”.
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Goodlow/Monett
Vivion and Dolly Tompkins Goodloe were parents of six sons and six daughters, one of
whom was Henry Goodloe, born 30 Apr 1800 in Woodford County, Kentucky. He married ca
1833 in Adams County, Mississippi, Frances Eliza Monett, born 16 May 1810 in Chillicothe,
Ross Co., Ohio. She was a descendant of Pierre Monett born ca 1640 in Poitiers, France, who
fled to London, England, during the Huguenot persecution. The Monett family immigrated
to Calvert County, Maryland, about 1700.
Frances Eliza’s father, Rev. Dr. Samuel Monett, Sr., was born 7 Feb 1778 in Calvert
County, MD, and died 22 Aug 1823 in Darien, Georgia. He married in Madison County,
Virginia, 22 Sept 1801, Mary Wayland, born 23 Jun 1777, and died 23 Marl 851. Mary
Wayland Monett is buried in the Goodloe family cemetery in Woodford County, Kentucky.
Mary was the daughter of John Wayland. Born ca 1752 in Virginia, died 1841 in
Madison County, Virginia. John Wayland married Rosanna Wilhoit. Born ca 1754 in
Culpepper County, Virginia. Her father, John (Johannes) Wilhoit born 1 Jul 1713 in
Germany, married ca. 1736 in Culpepper County, Virginia, Margaret Weaver, and died 4
Oct 1777 in Madison County, Virginia. John Wayland was the son of Adam Wayland born ca
1725 and died 15 Oct 1781 in Culpepper County, Virginia, and Elizabeth Blankenbaker,
who died in 1775 in Madison County, Virginia.
Both Adam Wayland and John Wilhoit are recognized patriots by the Sons of the
American Revolution. The Wayland, Wilhoit, and Blankenbaker families were part of the
Germanna settlements in Virginia, and many of their descendants settled in Kentucky.
Bailey’s History of Woodford County, Kentucky, p. 417, states that Frances Eliza Monett
was the only daughter but had five brothers, all of which adopted the medical profession.
255
One of them, Dr. Wesley Monett, was a graduate of Transylvania College and made his
home at “Sweet Auburn,” a plantation in Mississippi. The Goodloe Genealogy relates family
tradition that Henry Goodloe first met his future wife when he came past where Dr. Samuel
Monett was camped between the Goodloe home and Versailles with a very sick child. The
Monetts were on their way back to Chillicothe, Ohio, from Mississippi and asked about a
doctor for their twelve-year-old son, Edward. Henry Goodloe rode horseback into Versailles,
but when the doctor arrived, the boy was dead of yellow fever. Henry offered a burying
ground for the boy, and the Monetts broke camp and went away to Chillicothe. Henry
Goodloe, who had fallen in love with Frances Eliza, followed them and secured her promise
of marriage. They married in Mississippi, had four children, and lived the remainder of their
lives in Woodford County, Kentucky.
Henry Goodloe died 16 Mar 1866, and Frances Eliza died 7 Dec 1892. Both are buried in
the lovely old Mt. Vernon Baptist Church Cemetery in Woodford County. Their daughter,
Mary Frances Goodloe, born 25 Jun 1838 in Woodford County, married 1 Feb 1858, William
Thompson Wiglesworth. (see Wiglesworth family data in Harrison Co).
Goodlow/Woods
There is a double connection between the Goodloe/Woods branch of this family involving
two of Rev. Henry Goodloe’s seventeen children: Vivion Goodloe and his sister, Catherine
Goodloe, who married Alexander Woods. Her grandson, Kemp M. Woods, Jr., married
Frances Eliza “Lilly” Wiglesworth, the great-granddaughter of Vivion Goodloe. By my
calculation, they were second cousins, once removed. However, even closer relationships
between families were the norm in those days. By and large, families tended to live close to
each other, and it was natural for the young people in those circumstances to many
neighbors, even those distantly related. It makes for interesting and confusing genealogy.
256
Some years ago, John Dillingham located a family cemetery near Kearney, Missouri, and
one of the graves marked was Catherine Woods, wife of Alexander. The dates fit for her to
be the mother of Kemp Minor Woods, Sr. but, at the time, we had no proof. Further research
uncovered one of the most interesting stories of all the families of central Kentucky who
later settled in Missouri.
The Goodloe family Bible of Parson Henry Goodloe lists the birth of Catherine Goodloe 1
Mar 1777. She was married by her father, 4 Jun 1790, to Alexander Woods in Spotsylvania
County, Virginia. Much of what we have learned of Catherine Goodloe Woods and her
husband has been taken from the Court records concerning the division of property in the
estate of her father. Exactly when or why they came to Kentucky is unknown, but Alexander
Woods is listed in the 1810 U. S. census from Clark County, Kentucky. There were Woods
families in early Madison County who came from Virginia, but no connection has been made
to date. Henry Goodloe received military warrants for his service, and they may have been
given some of this land, but to date, no record of land ownership has been found in central
Kentucky for Alexander Woods. Records of David’s Fork Baptist Church in Fayette County,
Kentucky, near the Clark County line, founded by Squire Boone in the late 1700s, has
Alexander Woods and wife Caty dismissed in May 1812.
From estate papers filed in Champaign County, Ohio, August 1814, Chancery Court,
Alexander Woods went there to open a store to sell goods to the Indians. He died before that
date, and Catherine Woods was named Executrix of her husband’s estate. She named four
children as his heirs - Sally Woods, Francis Woods, Kemp Woods, and Catherine Woods. At
that time, she believed he had a large estate, including merchandise that he owned in
partnership with one George Fithian. The case continued for several years and by 1826
when a final auction was held, the expenses of the administration, fees and various bills
that were unpaid at the time of Alexander Woods’s death depleted any assets, and as nearly
as I can determine, Catherine Woods and her children received very little if anything from
her husband.
The Virginia State Archives furnished a record for one Alexander Woods dated 22 Mar
1786 wherein it states he is entitled to land “allowed a private of the Continental line who
enlisted for the war and served seven years.” Another document certifies, “Alexander Woods
enlisted in the Fourth Virginia Reg’t for the war for which time he served. Enlisted March
77” and signed Clough Shelton, Captain. A military warrant # 4495 for 200 acres is listed in
Kentucky Entries and Deeds, p. 371, in the name of Alexander Woods. This was the amount
of land generally awarded to a Pvt. who was in the Revolution. However, there are more
than one Alexander Woods in that time frame, and the Daughters of the American
Revolution will not accept this service as this man without further definitive proof, which, to
date, has not been found.
Catherine Woods and her children lived in Woodford County, Kentucky, during all this
time until her son Kemp Minor Woods, born 1813, first went to Missouri when he was a boy
257
of about nineteen. He came back to Woodford County and brought his mother and sisters to
Missouri, where they lived in Clay County, Missouri. Whether they lived with some of the
Goodloe relatives or how they made their living is unknown. However, there is a deed dated
2 Mar 1837 from Kemp Woods to Henry Goodloe for 101 acres of land adjoining Henry
Goodloe “on the waters of Elkhorn Creek.” This land sold for Three Thousand Seven
Hundred and Eighty-Nine Dollars, and one of the boundaries was ‘the Woods heirs line.’ I
cannot find the source of this land whereby Kemp Wood acquired it but believe it to be part
of Catherine Woods’ legacy from her father.
Despite an early widowhood, and four young children to rear, she must have been able to
support herself in some fashion. When Catherine Woods died, she left a Will which mentions
property and named slaves that she gave to each of her children or their heirs. This Will was
dated 20 Sept 1845 and probated 2 Mar 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. She never
remarried, and her story was untold before Mr. Dillingham found the family cemetery.
Catherine Goodloe Woods, my great-great-great-grandmother. She is buried in the family cemetery of her son, Captain Kemp M. Woods, Sr., north of Nashua.
258
Book 9 | Missouri Ancestors and Family
of John A. Dillingham Compiled by John Allen Dillingham from earlier work by Ann Todd
(This book was originally compiled in 2003. has been left in its original format with the exception that the table of contents has been removed, and the contents incorporated into the current
book’s, table of contents. The images were added as part of this anthology.)
Introduction
As the 21st Century began, the Platte County Historical Society launched a project to write
a historical account of the county, with three-fold historical accounts -
• Family Histories
• Church, Club or Other Organization Histories
• County and Community Histories
This is the first county history since William M. Paxton published his Annals in 1897.
Familiar with this volume’s multiple references to several of his ancestors, John Dillingham
was pleased to learn that Paxton kept additional records after the publication of the 1897
volume until his death in 1916. Anticipating this as a source of additional information on his
family, John went to the Kansas City Public Library to make inquiry. The manuscript was
found in closed stacks of the Special Collections Department and was subsequently
published by the Platte County Historical Society in 2001: Addendum to The Annals of
Platte County, Missouri, from its exploration down to June 1, 1897, first published in 1897.
Now in 2003, John was invited to update details of his family as a part of the new Platte
County history. For assistance in the project, John called upon Beverly Whitaker, a
professional genealogist in Kansas City North. Beverly, who has researched her own family
lines since 1976, was already familiar with John’s families, having researched them in both
Clay and Platte counties for more than two years. She suggested they approach the subject
by starting with the earliest of John’s Platte County settlers – Baber, Chesnut, Dillingham,
Dye, Oldham, and Skinner. Through accounts of families in Clay County with whom they
married, John completes his Missouri family tree. What began as a few articles for the
Platte County history evolved into twelve chapters, now bound into this book, highlighting
the experiences of John’s Missouri ancestors and family.
259
John H. Dillingham and Anna L. Oldham
John Henry Dillingham, Platte County Sheriff, was born at Richmond in Madison
County, Kentucky, on September 29, 1853, the oldest child of Elihu Park Dillingham and
Mary Jane White. His first marriage was to Anna (“Annie”) Lea Oldham, daughter of
Francis Marion Oldham and Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds. Anna was the oldest of their
children. Her siblings were Mary, Alice, June, Richard, Benjamin, and Laura.
The Platte City Landmark gave a detailed
account of John and Anna’s marriage on
Tuesday evening, August 31, 1876, at the
residence of Anna's parents near Platte City.
On Friday night, the bridal party held a
reception at Elihu Dillingham's.
John and Anna (August 3, 1856 - January
20, 1891) had six children: Henry L. (1877),
William W. (1879), John C. (1880), Joseph B.
(1883), Bessie A (1885), and Edward S. (1886).
Henry had two daughters; Joe had three sons; Edward (“Dude”) had one daughter. Anna
died January 20, 1891, at age thirty-four, after a long illness, leaving six children age 13
down. She had been a member of the Methodist Church. Paxton described Anna as beautiful
and interesting. Various siblings became guardians of Anna’s children. A black lady named
Caroline, who had been with the Oldham family, cared for the children and became their
defacto mother; she was held in the highest of esteem. No one knows today her last name or
burial place.
John Henry Dillingham and Anna L. Oldham.
260
On December 16, 1888, John acquired the Morin
Stable. In July 1892, he erected a handsome two-
story frame house on Block 40. He was a member of
the Nebraska Lodge, No. 12, I.O.O.F. John married a
second time, to Miss Kate Nash, March 8, 1893, no
children.
The writer of this subject, great-grandson John, is
the sheriff’s namesake and Joe’s grandson. Edward’s
grandson and namesake is Edward Douglas,
currently chairman of Citizens Bank in Chillicothe,
Missouri, whose mother was Dorothy June
(Dillingham) Douglas of St. Joseph.
As a young man, probably in the mid-1870s, John
Henry Dillingham went out to Nevada in charge of
some fine stock for his father and remained in the
West for some time. Following his return to Missouri,
he married and turned his attention to the quiet
vocation of farmer and owner of a livery stable.
Apparently, in the early 1890s, for unknown reasons,
he went to Butte, Montana, where he was appointed
deputy sheriff and for several months assisted in
keeping law and order in that new and wild country.
He was elected Sheriff of Platte County in November
1896 and sold his stable in Platte City to Joe Moore
and Richard Harrel. In November 1878, his father
Elihu had run unsuccessfully for sheriff, losing to W.
H. Hunt. John rode in the horse show in Kansas City
in 1898, a forerunner of the American Royal.
John’s family lived adjacent to the jail during his
term as Platte County Sheriff. Many stories were
written about his courage, dedication, and tenacity as
a Law Enforcement Officer. His pursuits on horseback
of outlaws through numerous states, and then
capturing and bringing them back to Platte County,
are legendary.
Sheriff Dillingham was killed in the line of duty at
Farley on August 20, 1900. The oldest son, Henry, only
twenty-two, was the deputy sheriff. Standing over his
dying father, Henry shot at close range and fatally
John and Anna’s six children with the children’s caregiver, Caroline. The six kids with Caroline after their mother died and before the Sheriff was shot. He left and
became a deputy sheriff in Butte, Montana. Bessie died early and then John Cleland died,
my grandfather Joe is on the left. Ed Douglas's grandfather, Uncle Dude, who is the youngest is on the right. Uncle Henry is
the oldest in the middle. Uncle Bill is the next oldest on front left. (ca. 1890)
Historical marker at the site where “Marsh’ Dillingham was killed in the line of duty. The
marker recognizes ‘Marsh’, John Henry Dillingham and his son, Henry Dillingham.
261
wounded Doctor Harrington, who had shot Henry’s
father, the sheriff. He was the first officer in Platte
County killed in the line of duty. There is a
prominent marker at the site of the shootout at the
general store on Main Street in Farley. His name
also appears on the Missouri Law Enforcement
Memorial in Jefferson City, as mentioned below, and
our Nation’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. As a
young man in his early twenties, Henry finished his
father’s term as Sheriff of Platte County for two
years.
Henry became President of the Platte County
Fair, owned along with Joe the drug store and telephone exchange, was Justice of the Peace
and later U.S. Marshall, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Many years later, Henry and his father “Marse” John became the inspiration for the
Law Enforcement Memorial, north of the Capitol in Jefferson City, dedicated in 1994.
Missouri’s Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson of Columbia was the namesake of his fallen grandfather,
Sheriff Roger Wilson, Boone County. He pushed through the Missouri Legislature necessary
authorization and appropriations for the memorial. In the 1990s, Henry’s picture on U.S.
Marshall Lee Koury’s Wall in Kansas City had reminded him of the tragic loss of “Marse”
John, and that became the spark. Long-time family friend, architect Homer Williams, WRS
Architects, who was formerly of Smithville, designed the project at no cost. Both sheriffs are
listed near each other on the memorial, in the top center, under the dedication plaque.
As U.S. Marshall, Henry encountered an
ugly scene at Plattsburg, Missouri (Clinton
County), of disgruntled farmers that were
losing their land during the depression of the
1930s. Fortunately, cool heads prevailed, and
the mob was dispersed. Henry was also the
official to “check-in” Tom Pendergast of
Kansas City into the Federal Penitentiary at
Leavenworth. Henry wrote humorous small
articles weekly for the Landmark Newspaper,
where, to some, he was known as the Platte
County “Landmark.”
Henry married Mary June Cockrill, June
15, 1901. Four children were born with two
daughters surviving - Bessie Lucile (May 5,
1904 - August 10, 1996) and Mary Wanda
The Law Enforcement Memorial on the north grounds of the State Capitol in Jefferson City,
Mo. Marshall John H. Dillingham was the inspiration and is the first name entered on
the monument, designed by Homer Williams.
Henry L. Dillingham, appointed as the 19th U.S. Marshall for the Western District of Missouri
on August 3, 1939.
262
(February 19, 1907 - July 27, 1993). Lucile first married Granville Richart, who served as
Sheriff of Jackson County, and later after his death, Gates Wells of Platte City. They moved
into a relatively new home that Gates had built for his first wife south of town on Maple,
where they lived only a short time before he passed away. Gates was a cousin of Bess
Truman with whom “Cile” enjoyed bridge from time to time and the friendship.
Mary married Kemp M. Woods III (30 March 1912-30 October 1999) at Henry and June’s
home on February 7, 1948, shortly before Henry got sick and died. They lived in the old
Thatcher home, one mile south of Smithville, where Kemp was a very progressive farmer at
“Fairview” and an active member of the community. He was founder and sixteen-year
President of Earnest Shepherd Memorial Youth Center in Liberty. He also was a fixture for
years in the popular Clay County Farm Tour and Barbeque. He served for years on the
Farm Bureau, Smithville Hospital, and Citizen’s Bank Boards. He was instrumental in the
Great Books Program for the Youth Center and William Jewell College, where he was a
graduate and Yates Medallion recipient. His mother, Virginia (Mrs. P. S. Woods), was a Phi
Gamma Delta Fraternity housemother. In the 1990s, when Kemp finally retired from
farming, he and Mary moved into Kansas City North.
A wedding picture of my great uncle Henry Dillingham and his wife Mary June Cockrill who were married on June 15, 1901.
263
The Elihu Dillingham Family
Elihu Park Dillingham (April 16, 1830 -
September 1, 1916) brought his family from
Kentucky to Clay County in 1854, bought
some land and settled near Mosby near an
older sister Mrs. James M. (Elizabeth “Betty”)
Keller, but in 1858 moved to Platte County,
locating on a farm five miles East of Platte
City (near KCI). They later moved into Platte
City, where for thirty years, they occupied a
home on Fourth Street. Elihu, who owned
several parcels of land, was both a farmer
and, like many Kentuckians, a fancier of fine
stock. Legend says he was 6’ 6” tall. He was
the youngest of ten children of Henry Harris Dillingham (July 7, 1791 - March 7, 1851) and
Charity Park (December 22, 1793 - May 5, 1831) of Madison County, east of Richmond,
Kentucky. In that same county, in December 1852, Elihu
married Mary Jane White (November 25, 1835 - December
21, 1899), daughter of Wesley White. Their children were:
John (1853 - 1900), William Joseph (1855 - 1905), Amanda,
Sallie, Maggie (died 1886), Elihu Jr. (1863 - 1915),
Mary Jane “Jennie” (1870 - 1960), Mattie (died 1886),
and Simpson (1874 - 1882). Both parents and most children
(including separately John and his wife Anna and their
children) are buried together at Riverview Cemetery.
Elihu’s parents are buried in Red Hill Cemetery, at
Panola, Kentucky, on Drowning Creek, the border of Estill and Madison counties,
supposedly the original land of Elihu’s grandfather, Joshua. Joshua’s wife, the daughter of
Henry Harris, was Winifred Harris; she died in Henry County, Virginia, after which Joshua
came to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap, in 1795. Joshua (1742-1821) served in the
Revolutionary War and is the primary line for membership for his 4th great-grandson, John,
in the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution).
Elihu’s oldest son John, Sheriff of Platte County, was killed in the line of duty in August
1900. Joe (William Joseph) was a livestock trader in the commission firm of Dillingham and
Ecton in the 1880s at the Kansas City Stockyards, in the building prior to the current (1910)
one.
Maggie was a Daughter’s College graduate in 1881 (formerly the Platte City Female
College, 1870) and a teacher who, with her young teenage sister Mattie both died of
consumption four months apart in 1886. Jennie had a mild case of polio as a girl, walked
Elihu Park and Mary Jane (White) Dillingham.
Mary Jane ‘Jennie’ Dillingham’s tombstone at Riverview Cemetery. She was my great-great aunt and
lived to the age of ninety.
264
with crutches, and taught piano for many years in Platte City. She never married, lived by
herself, west two houses across 4th Street from her nephew Henry. She was “Aunt Jennie”
to three generations. She was almost ninety years of age when she died in 1960.
Elihu Park Dillingham (1830 – 1916) with Grandchildren
Elihu Dillingham and grandchildren.
Great-great-grandfather Elihu Dillingham (1830-1916) Left to right: My dad, Jay, Uncle Mack, Uncle Spec; their Cousins Lucile and Mary D. One other great-grandchild, Dorothy June (the mother of Ed and Richard Douglas) had not been born at the time of this picture. Mary D. later married Kemp Woods. Dad was born in 1910, and this picture was likely taken shortly before Elihu’s death in 1916.
265
The Francis Marion Oldham Family
Francis Marion Oldham (1830 - 1904) was a son of Richard Oldham and Sallie Williams.
He and Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds (1835 - 1915) were married October 25, 1855, in
Montgomery County, Kentucky. In 1872, they came to Missouri, to Platte County. Both died
in Platte County and are buried at Riverview Cemetery. Mrs. Oldham's mother, Rebecca
Tipton Reynolds, also came to Platte County, died in 1890, and is buried at Riverview,
creating today eight generations with direct Platte County ties. Her husband William is
buried in Kentucky.
The children of F. M. Oldham and Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds were Anna Dillingham,
Mary Rice, Alice Miller, June Jones, Richard (married Mary Eddie Wren), Benjamin, and
Laura Hammonds.
William Paxton, in his Annals, referenced an account in The Platte County Argus of an
incident in April 1894 in which James Harvey Jones was killed by F. Marion Oldham. Jones'
only child, Zolly Jones, had married Junie Oldham, a daughter of F. Marion Oldham, and
had rented him some land. Oldham and his son Richard, with Zolly Jones, were plowing in
that field when James H. Jones approached and for unknown reasons, fired one shot at
Richard, inflicting a wound in the left arm. He then faced F. M. Oldham, pistol in hand.
Oldham was armed and began firing. Four shots hit Mr. Jones, a fatal one piercing Jones'
neck.
The 1898 appointment of John H. Dillingham as Platte County Sheriff, by Governor Lon Stephens. Dillingham, my great grandfather, and namesake was the son-in-
law of Francis Oldham, my great-great-grandfather.
266
Joseph B. Dillingham and Edna Chesnut
Joseph B. Dillingham, son of John H. Dillingham and Anna Oldham, was born in Platte
County on February 23, 1883. He was twenty-two years of age, and Edna Chesnut was not
yet eighteen when they “ran off’ in a horse and buggy and married before a Justice of the
Peace at Oskaloosa in Jefferson County, Kansas, June 15, 1905. They became the parents of
John Chesnut, 1906 (Stockton, Kansas); David Mack, 1908 (Kansas City North); and Jay B.,
1910, who lived at Nashua, now in Kansas City. There are six grandchildren: Joe and Ann;
David, Barbara, and Bill; and John. Joe told his grandson John in the early 1960s that he
didn’t know until forty years later that his mother-in-law was upstairs packing for them to
secretly “run off.” Both Joe and Edna are buried at Riverview Cemetery in Platte City, near
their parents, three pairs of grandparents, and a great-grandmother.
Edna, born November 25, 1887, and her
younger sister Elizabeth, were daughters of
David A. Chesnut (1857 - 1922) and Maggie
Dye (1868 - 1948). Edna graduated from
Christian College in 1905 at Columbia, now
Columbia College. She died May 24, 1968, at
St. Mary’s Hospital in Kansas City. She was
exceptionally gifted in oil painting and later
needlepoint. She made a complete set of six
seats for the dining rooms for all daughters-
in-law and granddaughters. She also did “bell
pulls,” ladies’ purses, and piano bench
cushions. During World War II, she knitted
socks and sweaters for the American Red
Cross. She loved to grow roses. A scholarship
at Christian College was established in her
name.
As a young adventurous 21-year-old, Joe
went out West, perhaps following his father’s
route, to prospect for gold, possibly in
Nevada. Fortunately, he found nuggets and
had them melted for his wedding ring with JBD initials, with an identical bracelet for his
bride. On the back of the bracelet is engraved “JBD to ETC - Nov 25, 1904” (her 17th
birthday).
Joe never got far from the soil. He even had hog serum vaccination equipment once,
ahead of True Davis’ Anchor Serum Company of St. Joe. When he died October 17, 1966, at
Edna was very artistic, leaving paintings, sewing, and needlepoint pieces for family members. A red cardinal
oil painting, John’s favorite, hangs in his kitchen.
267
Smithville Hospital, he was farming/overseeing
over 10,000 acres of cropland, for others as well
as his own, in Platte and Holt Counties, Missouri.
He had also acquired land for what would be the
Lake of the Ozarks as well as settling arguments
on the right-of-way between contractors and
landowners so 1-70 in Kansas could be built. He
was co-owner and operator in the 1930s of at
least five “Dutch Mill” filling stations and
restaurants in Missouri and Kansas, within a 30-
mile radius.
His own land, later the JoDill Corporation (a
blood family only entity) was Missouri River
bottomland in Missouri near Waldron (Platte
County) and Forest City (Holt County). Protected
today by Corps of Engineer Levees, it was
comprised of over 2000 acres of fertile land. He
had the first such levees in the State of Missouri.
Today, both areas are operated by the same
families of over fifty years, our tenant partners,
only on a “handshake” of trust and respect, with
no written agreement, the Mengs in Holt County,
and the Oberhelman/Yulich families in Platte
County. Six grandchildren and nine great-
grandchildren are now stockholders of JoDill. Joe
once told his grandson John, in the early 1960s
that in Waldron during a massive flood, before
the large levee protection, he waded out in the
flooded bottoms to determine where the good silt
was settling, and later he bought those farms.
The Platte River now enters the Missouri River
at Farley, but it used to flow through the bottoms
(now JoDill land) emptying out near Parkville.
Joe owned 200 acres of hill land overlooking
Waldron and the Missouri River, and bottoms to
the west that he said was the highest point on the
The children of Joseph B. Dillingham and Edna Chesnut. Top, from left: Jay B., David Mack, and John Chesnut. Middle, from left: David Mack, John Chesnut, Jay B.
Bottom, from left: Jay B. and David Mack.
268
Missouri River between Rulo, Nebraska, and St. Louis. After planting fruit trees, he
informed Edna this was to be their new home site, to which she replied, “You’ll be by
yourself.” He turned the hill into a limestone rock quarry, selling nearby bottomland to
Massman Construction of Kansas City, who had Corps of Engineers river rock stabilization
contracts for their Missouri River office and dock. He threatened to lower the whole hill to
bottom levels and plant corn, and for the next forty years, he proceeded.
When their home in Platte City, across from the high school, burned in the 1930s, they
moved to Kansas City to a house he owned, planning to go back to Platte City, but never did.
In Kansas City, Judge Harry S Truman of Jackson County (administrative) Court helped
Joe with his home tax assessment that he thought was too high, and Joe helped him pick
out a suit because “the Boss,” Mrs. Truman, said he needed a new one. Joe loved to spend
time and play gin rummy with friends at the “Hoof and Horn Club” and eat at the Golden
Ox in the Kansas City Stockyards. On the farms, under a shade tree, he liked to eat lunch
(sometimes a can of sardines, Limburger cheese, and a cool bottle of beer) and take a nap.
Although he did everything else fast, he never drove over thirty miles per hour or washed
his car.
Governor Park appointed Joe the receiver in the bankruptcy for an insurance company
in St. Joe during the depression, which saved many farmers from losing their land to
foreclosure. The company itself survived and later was sold to General American Insurance
in St. Louis.
Stained glass window from the Golden Ox.
269
The Chesnut and Dye Families
The David and William Chesnut Families
David Abraham Chesnut (July 23, 1857 - 1922), born at London, Laurel County,
Kentucky, was the son of William and Lucinda (Garrard) Chesnut and grandson of Abraham
and Elizabeth (Blakely) Chesnut. David was a farmer and breeder of mules and purebred
shorthorn cattle. He inherited a part of his father’s place, bought the rest, and owned 620
acres. David's first marriage was to Ella Morton; she died October 20, 1884, leaving one
child, W. Pryor Chesnut, born 1880. He was Executive Director of the Chamber of
Commerce in Fargo, North Dakota - died and buried there.
On September 2, 1886, David married Maggie Dye (1868-1948), daughter of James and
Lucy (Guthrie) Dye of Weston. They had two daughters, Edna (November 25, 1887 - May 24,
1968) and Elizabeth (October 2, 1889 - 1971). Edna married Joseph B. Dillingham on June
15, 1905, in Jefferson County, Kansas. Elizabeth’s husband was H. R. Farnsworth of Neligh,
Nebraska. David and Maggie and both daughters are buried at Riverview Cemetery, Platte
City, Missouri.
In 1896, David was vice president of the Wells Banking Company. He was elected in
1906 and re-elected in 1910 as presiding judge of the Platte County Court. He later was
elected in 1914 to the Missouri Legislature and was on the House Committee to rebuild the
current Capitol. Always a Democrat, he was also a member of I.O.O.F. and BPOE (Elks). He
was president of Platte County Fair Association.
David's father, William Chesnut, was born June 5, 1826, in Laurel County, also as David
in London, Kentucky, died March 5, 1895, in Platte County, Missouri. On November 2, 1847,
William married Lucinda Garrard, born at Union Salt Works, Clay County, Kentucky
(December 28, 1827 - September 5, 1894). She was the daughter of Daniel Garrard, a soldier
in the War of 1812, and a granddaughter of Governor James Garrard of Kentucky, under
whom her maternal grandfather, Harry Taulman, served as secretary of state. William and
his family came by wagon and riverboats to Platte County in 1858 and settled on a farm
east of Platte City. Early during the Civil War, William raised part of a company for
Winston's Confederate Regiment. William was elected presiding judge of the County Court
(as later was his son, David) in 1878 and re-elected two times, resigned in 1884, and moved
to Platte City. Beginning in 1884, he was elected for several terms as alderman and spent
much time and his own means improving the streets. William served as president of the
Fair at least three terms.
William and Lucinda are buried at Riverview Cemetery in Platte City, Missouri.
Children: Garrard, Kate Clemings, Bettie Cockrill, Delia French, David.
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The James and John Dye Families
James Dye was born in Mason County, Kentucky, February 13, 1834, came with his
parents to Platte County in 1844. James was extensively engaged in breeding saddle horses
and purebred Jersey cattle. The Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865, lists James Dye,
Missouri: 1st N.E. Cav. Price's Co. M; 1st N.E. Cav. White's Co.; Inf. 3rd Bn. Co. D. He
became a First Lieutenant in 1861. Coincidentally, his great-great-grandson John
Dillingham was promoted 100 years later, in 1961, to First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army
artillery at Ft. Riley, Kansas.
On October 9, 1856, James Dye married Lucy Jane Guthrie, born January 1, 1840, at
Independence, Missouri. Lucy died September 2, 1882, leaving four daughters: Florence
McAdow, Fannie Hillix, Eva Winbum, and Maggie Chesnut. Both Lucy and James are
buried at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Weston. James married second to Elizabeth Hamilton
in 1884; she died in 1890 without issue; James married third in 1896 to Rofina Myers.
James served as president of the Fair Association and died in 1925, age 91. Jay B.
Dillingham remembers his great-grandfather being able to stand on his head on his 90th
birthday.
Lucy's parents were William Guthrie and Mary Yates (married March 5, 1822, Shelby
County, Kentucky.) The family came to Missouri from Kentucky between 1838 and 1840 and
moved into Platte County when Lucy was two years old, about 1842. Children named at the
time of William's death July 8, 1853: John, Mary, Nancy, Linna, Martha, Lucy, Elizabeth,
Moming (?), and Sarah (?). Their Platte County gravesites are yet unknown.
Lucy's husband James was the son of John Dye (born February 4, 1799) and Parthenia
Gow (born February 15, 1800). They were married September 17, 1817, Mason County,
Kentucky. They came to Missouri by 1851 and located in Platte County after a journey made
entirely by way of the river. John's original tract of 160 acres of timberland north of Weston,
in Marshall Township, was increased by many acres. Both John and Parthenia were devout
members of the Christian Church. They were the parents of nine daughters and three sons.
He died June 9, 1874, and Parthenia in 1867; they are buried at Moore Cemetery, located a
quarter-mile east of Mt. Bethel Church, northwest of Weston. Dye store and Dye Road today
carry his name. Today, at least eight continuous generations have Platte County ties.
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James Dye
A newspaper account of the death of James Dye, my great-grandfather. According to his tombstone in Weston, he died in 1925. The full contents of this article were not included in the available image.
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The Democratic Nomination of Guy B. Park for Governor
This is the story behind the 1932 race for governor of Missouri. Henry Dillingham, local
druggist in Platte City, was also a leader in Northwest Missouri Democratic circles. Henry
had two sisters-in-law. Ida Cockrill had married attorney Francis M. Wilson, originally of
Platte City, and Lucy Cockrill married Kimbrough Stone, a Kansas City attorney, later
Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Francis Wilson wanted to be U.S. District Attorney under President Woodrow Wilson,
and Henry Dillingham wanted to be U.S. Marshall. The president would not fill both
positions to brothers-in-law. Henry stepped aside and didn’t receive that appointment until
August 1939 under President Franklin Roosevelt.
Appointment of Henry Dillingham as U. S. Marshall by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939.
Francis M. Wilson, in 1932, received the Democratic nomination for governor of
Missouri; however, he died of a heart attack one month before the November general
election, forcing the Democratic State Committee, by law, to replace the nominee within
twelve days.
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After Francis Wilson’s funeral at Platte City, a group of men gathered for food, drink,
and considerable discussion at Henry’s home on 4th Street in Platte City just one block
north of 92 Highway on the east side (known today as the Dillingham house). Among those
present were “Doc” Hartley of The Kansas City Star, E. J. Breen of Parkville; Charles
Clarke of Kansas City; and Henry’s younger brother, Joseph B. Dillingham.
The AP reporter who was a fishing buddy of Henry Dillingham’s asked the “Judge,” as
Henry was often called, what would the Party do - and at this late date, who would receive
the nomination? Henry, rather matter-of-factly, said “Judge Guy B. Park - Platte County’s
Circuit Judge.” Park had once practiced law with Wilson and made speeches on behalf of his
old friend, “France.” (I should add that “cousin” Guy as they called each other, was Henry’s
second cousin. Henry’s great-grandfather Henry Harris Dillingham, for whom he was
named, had married Charity Park in Kentucky, whose brother Elihu was the grandfather of
Guy B. Park.)
In the AP reporter’s presence, Henry called his newly widowed sister-in-law Ida Wilson
and asked the simple question, “If the Star calls you and asks if Judge Park knew more
about Francis’ program for Governor, would you agree?” She said she sure would. Next, he
called U.S. Senator from Missouri, James Reed, with the same question and got the same
answer. With that support, Henry called numerous members of the Committee that would
make the selection from various parts of Missouri; all agreed.
To keep the evening running smoothly and on even keel, Henry had his nephew, Jay B.
Dillingham, fresh out of Kansas City School of Law (later UMKC) fix food and tend the bar
in the kitchen and let people in the back door. Jay B. must have done well because some of
the men who at first were non-committal even mounted the steps and gave seconding
speeches well into the evening.
The AP wire went out - “Judge Guy B. Park of Platte City will be the Missouri
Democratic Party Nominee.” Park had served ten years as circuit judge and had practiced
law in Platte City for thirty-five years.
Contrary to popular belief and stories, the Tom Pendergast Democratic machine of
Jackson County in Missouri was the last to know. It was a done deal - all sewed up. “How
can we get in?” was Pendergast’s message to Platte City. With firm support already lined up
for Judge Park, Henry Dillingham asked Emmet J. Breen, a prominent banker in Platte
County, if he would contact his friend Tom Pendergast. The Riverside race track in
Southern Platte County was operating, and Breen knew Mr. Pendergast was there most
mornings to watch his horses work out. Mr. Breen called Mr. Pendergast and asked him to
stop by to see him at the Bank at Parkville several miles west of Riverside the next
morning, which he did, coming in through the back door of the bank. Mr. Breen advised Mr.
Pendergast what had taken place the afternoon before at Henry Dillingham’s Mr.
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Pendergast quickly responded, “You people have this thing sewed up; how do I get on the
bandwagon?”
The Northland’s and Platte County’s only Governor, Guy Brasfield Park, and the
Democratic Party were on the way to victory in Missouri, along nationally with Franklin
Delano Roosevelt in Washington that November of 1932.
Later, in the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City, the Parks’ only child, daughter
Henrietta, married Marvin Krause. She was the first offspring of a governor to be wed in the
Mansion. Frances Thompson (now Dillingham) of Nashua was a bridesmaid. Henrietta and
Marvin had three children: Park, Peggy, and Mary Marvin.
Former First Lady of Missouri, and later U. S. Senator Jean Carnahan, in her book, If
Walls Could Talk (1998), wrote a wonderful story about Guy Brasfield and Eleanora
Gabbert Park and Henrietta.
Mrs. Park’s portrait hangs prominently in the Mansion today. Governor Park died in
1946, Mrs. Park in 1984, and Henrietta Park Krause in 1997. They are buried together at
Riverview Cemetery in Platte City.
Jay B. Dillingham, most probably the only living first eyewitness to the “nomination” in
1932 of Judge Guy B. Park. In July 2002, wrote Governor Bob Holden an account of the
events from 1932 suggesting the correct story be told in the official manual for the State of
Missouri. “I knew him well, and having been involved in his selection, campaign, and
election, he deserves a better record and certainly correct.” To date, no reply has been
forthcoming. (Judge Park was the reason Jay B. Dillingham entered Law School and
received a LLB in 1932 and a LLM in 1935.)
Guy Brasfield Park 38th Governor of Missouri
In office January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937
(Governor Guy Park. Courtesy of Missouri State Archives Image Number: Box 14 Institution: Missouri State Archives)
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Governor Guy B. Park Memorial Grave Site State Marker
In the fall of 2016, while at the Alexander Doniphan Award dinner, I learned that past Missouri governors were eligible to receive a tombstone marker signifying their service to the state. As fortune would have it, one of my
fellow co-members of the Doniphan Award committee works in the Missouri Attorney General’s office. I placed a call a few days later to Jeremiah Morgan, and he assisted me in contacting the correct state department to have
that honor bestowed upon Governor Park. It took nearly a year, but in October, we were able to honor the Northland's only governor with this tombstone cover. -- JAD
John at the dedication ceremony, October 17, 2017.
John’s Remarks at the Dedication
Today’s ceremony started about a year ago when I learned at an Alexander Doniphan dinner at William Jewell that the State of Missouri recognizes and honors the final resting place of the Governor.
Therefore, after 71 years, today we’re here. This will give me a chance to perhaps “correct” history. I should add my 3rd great-grandmother in Kentucky was Charity Park. Apparently, our families have been close. Charity’s Brother, Elihu, who was fifteen years younger, was Governor Park’s grandfather. His GGF, John Park, was my 4th GGF.
I think Francis Wilson and Guy B. Park were early law partners in Platte City. In 1932, the year of FDR vs President Hoover and the Great Depression, Francis Wilson was the Democratic nominee for Missouri Governor. Just six weeks before the November general election, Francis Wilson dies. This is where the stories change.
My grandfather’s oldest brother, Henry Dillingham, was close to then Circuit Judge Park. They called each other “cuz”.
You might recall 32 years earlier, Deputy Sheriff Henry shot and killed the killer of his father, my name sake, Sheriff John Henry Dillingham, in 1900 in Farley, Missouri afterwards acting Sheriff Henry, age 23, and was thrust into politics.
In the 30’s my Dad said he was Chairman of the Democratic Party in NW Missouri – now 6th District.
On the news of Wilson’s sudden death, Uncle Henry plans a rally at his home on 4th Street just north of the highway. Dad told me this story that he was 22 and in law school and pouring drinks in the kitchen. Before the evening was over, many stood on the platform on the staircase giving seconding speeches for Guy B. Park.
Continued on next page
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Uncle Henry had called Mr. Wilson’s widow and Nelle Donelly, widow of the famous Senator James A. Reed, to receive their strong endorsement before the rally. Following that event, there was a call to Tom Pendergast’s office for him to come over to Howard Breen’s bank office in Parkville when he left his horses in Riverside, a daily event.
Hearing Howard’s recount of yesterday’s rally, he said, “You boys have this all sewn up. How do we get on board?” History books said Judge Park was a “lacky of Pendergast” – Dad said no way.
With three weeks left to campaign, he obtained one of the largest Missouri margins of victory with over 300,000 voters, including, normally Republican of St. Louis.
I asked Dad years later to write Governor Bob Holden to tell him the real story as he knew it for accurate history.
In the late 1920’s, Dad used to visit the Parks’ to take Henrietta to the movies, but got sidetracked, being intrigued with the law, delivered by Judge Park. Maybe that’s why he later went to law school?
In the 1930’s, governors served only one term. Mother’s Father, Allen Thompson, was his Chief of Staff and later Missouri’s first Old Age Assistance Commissioner, forerunner to Social Security.
Mom was Henrietta’s bridesmaid in her wedding in the Mansion, the Parks’ only child. Granddaughter Peggy, my age, and her older brother, Guy Park Krause have passed away. The youngest granddaughter, Mary Marvin, lives in California.
Great-granddaughter, Maggie Adams, is also in California and couldn’t be here today but will get a video.
When my parents married in 1935, Governor and Mrs. Park were there at Mom’s ancestral home, Maple Grove Stock Farm. Henrietta was a bridesmaid.
In later years, we stayed close to Henrietta’s family as she and Mom went to Christian College. We would see each other here or in Columbia. Later on during holidays, we’d visit Mrs. Park in her home just east of here and Aunt June Dillingham.
Governor Park’s picture hung in my Grandfather Thompson’s bedroom which later was mine. Both died in 1946. I’ve decorated their graves for decades twice a year when visiting my family here.
I’m glad fate brought us together today. Hopefully, among these young folks present, Guy B. Park someday won’t be the only Northland Governor.
Governor Guy Park’s tombstone with the honorary plaque presented by the State of Missouri.
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Isham Baber and Benjamin Lampton
Isham Baber was born December 25, 1782, at Fluvanna County, Virginia, son of
Obadiah Baber (about 1760) and Hannah Martin (April 11, 1761) - married in 1782. Four
years later, the family went to Clark County, Kentucky. On January 11, 1808, Isham
married Elizabeth C. Gordon (born August 11, 1792).
In the spring of 1839, Isham appeared in Platte County's Assessment Roll of Personal
Property. Isham was an original trustee and helped build the Old Flintlock Church, 1846, on
State Road from Platte City to New Market; the Church of Unity began in 1840.
Isham and Elizabeth were in the Weston area in 1850 and 1860 census. Isham died June
28, 1862; a receipt for a tombstone has survived, his burial site unknown, but listed as five
miles East of Weston, on his farm. Isham’s wife survived him; her tombstone, located on the
Baber farm, shows her death date as August 1, 1865. Their children: Mahala, Randall,
Mary, John, Thomas, Elizabeth, Lucy, Louisa.
Mahala Baber was born near Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, April 8, 1809. There,
on February 7, 1828, she married Benjamin L. Lampton. Mahala was a member of the
Christian church and was one of the charter members of the church at Second Creek.
Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ (some being
called Campbellites), came to Platte and Clay, probably before the Civil War. He was from
the Lexington/Versailles area in Kentucky. Reportedly, he visited with Judge William
Chesnut in Platte and stayed with the Lamptons in Clay.
In 1836, the Lamptons moved to Missouri to a section near and west of the present area
of Nashua, Missouri (now Kansas City). It was originally on the state line, later Clay/Platte
line, after the Platte Purchase. Since this period was the beginning of the Platte Purchase,
which relocated Indians to various areas out of Platte County and others North for all the
settlers moving in, Mrs. Lampton's daughter Charlotte Jane Thompson recalled seeing
small groups of Indians (probably Sioux) riding through the farm occasionally.
Benjamin Lampton acquired land in both Clay and Platte Counties. In 1842, only three
years after the Platte Purchase created Platte County in Missouri, he acquired land by
federal land grant in Platte County (now Cookingham Drive and N. Platte Purchase Road)
that is still in the immediate family. Also, in 1842, he and Major John Dougherty of
“Multnomah,” adjacent landowners, were appointed Road Overseers by the County Court to
widen, get chug holes out and remove stumps on the Liberty to Platte City Road. Platte
County had officially begun in January 1839.
The Lamptons lived three miles North of Barry, location of the General Store and Post
Office on Military Road, which was built in 1827 (now Barry Road). Today, it is the junction
of Cookingham Drive and North Platte Purchase Road in Kansas City North, and still
owned by direct heirs. Since Mr. Lampton lived at the north end of today’s N. Platte
Purchase Road, and Barry was their main source of supplies, it is very possible that he laid
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out that road -
mainly on the old
state line, now
county line. His
brother Beverly
lived on the way.
The Lampton
farm in the early
1900s became the
home of their only
granddaughter,
Roxy Thompson
(Mrs. William Clay
Woods), home of
“Locustwood” for
Angus cattle. The
old brick home was
beyond repair, so
the Woods built a “modern” wood frame home next to the old home site and beautifully
landscaped their home from a Kansas City nursery (Cloverset). Mahala’s oil portrait hung
over the mantel and fireplace in Roxy’s home.
Benjamin (February 24, 1802) was a first cousin to Jane Lampton Clemens, mother of
Mark Twain. Benjamin’s parents were John Lampton (June 8, 1766) and Tabitha Owsley
[Taylor] (February 27, 1770). Benjamin was a member of the Missouri Legislature, from
Clay County, in 1858 to the beginning of the Civil War. He preceded Mahala in death by
many years, dying February 11, 1866, and was buried at the old home place. She died March
12, 1895, one mile to the East at the home of her son-in-law, Isaac Buford Thompson. At her
death, Benjamin’s body was exhumed, and they were buried together at Second Creek
Cemetery. Their granddaughter Roxy recalled laughingly the race with her brothers and the
springboard wagon to Second Creek, almost bouncing “Grandpa” out. Benjamin’s original
tombstone was found by a plow over 100 years later, in excellent condition, along with that
of little Mary F. (forty days old in 1850). They are in the possession of John A. Dillingham,
his great-grandson.
Children of Benjamin and Mahala were: Matilda E. Link, Elizabeth T. Brooks, Louisa
Thatcher, John B., Charlotte Jane Thompson, Adalade, Benjamin L. Jr. (married Lettie
Couch), William M., Mary F.(lived 40 days), and Emma Fry. An oil painting of Aunt Emma
is currently in John A. Dillingham’s dining room. Emma’s daughter Emily went to
Hollywood and worked for Cecil B. DeMille.
Painting of Locustwood Farm, home of Roxy (Thompson) and W. Clay Woods. It was built around 1916 on the homesite of Roxy's grandparents, Benjamin and Mahala
Lampton. Image from a painting by Libby Morrison Woods Snyder, ca. 1960.
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Phineas Skinner, Kemp M. Woods Sr., Kemp M. Woods Jr.
Phineas Skinner (son of Cornelius Skinner and Jane Carr, both of Virginia) was born in
Clark County, Kentucky, July 28, 1801, died August 21, 1856, at Elk City, Kansas. On
November 28, 1822, Mr. Skinner married Polly Patton, born in 1805, a daughter of William
and Sally Patton of Tennessee. The Skinners came to Boone County, Missouri, in 1838 and
to Platte in the autumn of 1840, settling east of Camden Point. Skinner built a mill upon
Platte River, and a spacious brick homestead. He was one of the original supporters of
Camden Point Academy and had large tracts of land throughout northern Missouri. He
established stores at Ringo Id and Elk City, Kansas, where he died unexpectedly, August 21,
1856. Mrs. Skinner survived her husband by more than twenty years, during which time she
gave considerable support to the orphan school at Camden Point. She died April 22, 1878,
and was buried by the side of her husband at the home place east of town, in an unknown
location. Phineas and Polly had eleven children: Jane, Sarah, Mary A., Adaline, Emily,
Phineas, Margaret, Isaac, Azubah, Fannie, James.
In October 1842, Sarah "Sallie" Skinner (1826 - 1847) married Kemp Minor Woods Sr.
(1813 - 1897), a prominent Clay County citizen. Their three children were Phineas Skinner
(died 1864), Mary C. (died 1846), and Kemp Minor Jr. (1847 - 1912). Sallie died probably in
childbirth in May 1847, burial at rural, private Woodland Cemetery, two miles north of
Nashua in Clay County. Also buried there is the mother of Kemp Woods Sr., Catharine
“Caty” Goodloe Woods (1777 - 1845), wife of Alexander, who is believed to have died in Ohio.
Kemp had gone back to Kentucky to get his mother and sisters and bring them to Missouri.
Woods' second wife was a widow, Sarah Jane Chiles Hamilton. Their four children were
Mary E. (died 1855), John B. (who later had “Elmwood Stock Farm” where descendants live
today), Henry A., and Cornelius H. At age 19, Kemp Woods Sr. rode a pony alone from
Woodford County, Kentucky, to Clay County and bought 800 acres of land in Kearney
Township for $10 an acre. In 1835 he went back to Kentucky for his mother and sisters. He
traded his land in Kearney Township for 320 acres in Platte Township, south of Smithville,
and at one time owned over 3,000 acres in Clay and Platte counties and carried on general
farming and stock raising. He was an original trustee and helped build the Smithville
Christian Church, 1848. Before the Civil War, he built “Woodland Hall,” a schoolhouse, with
the object of furnishing advanced educational advantages for young women. Here music was
taught as well as arts and sciences. It merged into the Camden Point Academy, whose
Trustee was father-in-law Phineas Skinner.
When the Civil War broke out, Kemp Woods Sr. served as Captain of the Home Guards
of Platte Township and was known thereafter as Captain Woods, having earned his title by
actual service.
In 1848, Capt. Woods, in the natural setting of locust trees, built his beautiful old brick
“Woodland” home. The brick used in construction was made and fired on his farm. All
spacious rooms had huge fireplaces; it had a beautiful old walnut stairway, wide halls, and
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many panel windows. “Woodland” was one of the oldest homes in Clay County when it
burned ninety-six years later, in 1944. During the Civil War, it was ravaged many times by
the Yankee soldiers. At one time, as many as fifty meat hogs were confiscated from the old
brick smokehouse nearby. As many as fifty slave cabins at one time stood on the farm.
During the War when Capt. Woods was banished, the family kept the farm running. In
September 1943, “Miss Lilly” (widow of Kemp M. Woods Jr.) died, mistress of “Woodland” for
more than fifty years. Perhaps the heart of “Woodland” vanished with her passing.
In the late 1850s, Mr. Woods debated Alexander Doniphan on whether Missouri should
secede from the Union. An abolitionist, Kemp argued for secession, but Doniphan, who also
came from Kentucky, ironically argued on the side of the Union and emerged the victor.
Captain Woods served in the Missouri Guard. Special Order No. 70, March 14, 1865,
resulted in the banishment of K. M. Woods and family, published in Special Orders No. 9.
With modifications, he was expected to remain in loyal states North of Ohio River and East
of the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, not to return to Missouri during the continuance
of the Rebellion. His banishment occurred at the same time as Dr. Reuben Samuel and
family were banished (stepfather and mother of Jesse and Frank James).
The oldest son of Kemp Woods Sr. was Phineas Skinner Woods, born about 1844, died
November of 1864. A private in General Sterling Price's army, he was on weekend furlough
with a fellow young soldier (Throckmorton) from their unit in Independence, on Price's last
campaign in Missouri. They visited his grandmother near Camden Point, Mrs. Phineas
Skinner. Taking their lunch to return to their command, one mile from home, they were
surprised by a company of federal militia, commanded by Pace, said to be a Methodist
preacher, killed the soldiers by shooting them in the back. Mrs. Skinner and daughter
Margaret found the bodies and with some difficulty and personal concern for safety, buried
them.
After the War, Woods drove a large herd of mules from St. Louis to Ft. Leavenworth and
used the profit to buy land.
Kemp M. Woods Jr., a banker, and entrepreneur at Smithville, Missouri, married Lilly
Wiglesworth (1859 - 1943) of Woodford County, Kentucky, there, in 1876. In 1887, Kemp
and Lilly and their three children moved to Liberty into the upstairs of the old bank
building situated on the Northeast comer of the court square. On February 13, 1866, the
Farmer’s Bank of Missouri had been the site of this nation’s first daylight bank robbery,
attributable to the James gang of Kearney. In 1888, Woods opened a private bank along
with a real estate and loan brokers business. Earlier, he had been a banker and
businessman in Smithville. He was also president of a private bank at Holt, Missouri, and
was president of the Clay County Mutual Loan and Building Association. He also was
connected with the Farmers Bank of Smithville (president) and the Bank of Nashua. He was
a member of IOOF and was a county statistician for years.
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Kemp Woods Jr. had the first telephone in Smithville in 1882, a crude affair of the tack-
hammer and nail type. In 1886, Southwestern Bell constructed a line to St. Joseph and
Omaha from Kansas City by way of Smithville, thus the only intermediate station between
the cities.
Phineas Skinner Woods II (Phoeny), Froncie, and William W. were the children of Kemp
Woods Jr. and his wife, Lilly. P.S. Woods, apparently named for his Civil War uncle,
married Virginia Williams of Plattsburg. Their three children were: Kemp M. Woods III,
Phineas Skinner Woods III, and Dorothy Dalton Woods who married Ernst Stoeltzing, a
career Army officer. In the 1920s, P. S. Woods was chairman of the Building Committee of
the new addition of the Smithville Christian Church; and, in 1927, his was the first funeral.
His grandfather, Kemp M. Woods Sr., in 1848, was an original trustee and builder of the
first church.
Froncie Woods married Allen Thompson in 1907. They had two girls: Frances (Mrs. Jay
B. Dillingham) and Louise.
William’s wife was Leona Walton. They had one son, Dr. Walton Woods (died 1994), who
married Kay (1916 - 1999) of Raytown, Missouri, in 1942. Walton Woods was a doctor for
T.W.A. (Trans-World Airlines).
Isaac Buford Thompson and Charlotte Jane Lampton
Allen Melvin Thompson and Froncie Woods
Isaac Buford Thompson was born November 16, 1828, near Nicholasville, in Jessamine
County, Kentucky. In 1854, with his brother John Albert (1827 - 1892, born in Montgomery
Co., Kentucky), he purchased 200 acres in Platte Township in Clay County, which by his
death March 27, 1904, had grown to 475 acres.
In November 1855, following clashes in Kansas Territory (before statehood), numerous
uprisings occurred - who would govern? - anti-slavery or pro-slavery groups? James H. Lane
and John Brown Jr. were the leaders of the former, with a force numbering 800 men. The
short-lived Wakarusa War never started, even though 1500 militia and volunteers quickly
assembled to ride to the hotbed of Lawrence to see that Lane and Brown's forces would not
overrun the Territory. Among those, Buford Thompson, of Clay County, was made First
Lieutenant.
At her home September 7, 1858, Charlotte Jane Lampton (October 25, 1839 - September
29, 1919) married Thompson. It must have been a festive affair since her father Benjamin
was or would be representing Clay County in the Missouri Legislature.
On the night Charlotte Jane was born (October 25, 1839), her father, Benjamin
Lampton, stepped outside to observe a comet streaking through the sky. He recalled his first
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cousin Jane Lampton Clemens remarking of a similar occurrence when her son Samuel
Clemens (Mark Twain) was born in November 1835 when Haley’s comet entered the sky.
(Note: Haley’s comet returned upon Mark Twain’s death in 1910, as he had predicted.)
When the Civil War broke out, Thompson entered the Confederate Army, serving for
four years. Charlotte Jane stayed at home with two small sons, Wilk and John, living not too
far from her parents. An older brother of Buford, John Albert Thompson, lived there also.
Thompson served for a time as Captain of a company in Gen. Sterling Price’s Division,
fighting in 1861 at Wilson’s Creek, Lexington, and Pea Ridge. Following the Battle of
Lexington, he was promoted to Colonel and awarded a sword for his role and command in
taking the Courthouse there. His great-grandson, John A. Dillingham, proudly displays this
sword.
After the war, there were two incidents (handed down) relating to Frank and Jesse
James. Frank had also served at Lexington. Their father, Rev. Robert James of Kearney,
was one of the founder Trustees of William Jewell College. On one occasion, Frank and
Jesse, on horseback riding at a fast pace, approached the farm. Mr. Thompson exchanged
greetings - “hi Frank” and “hi Jesse” - response “hi Blu. We're being chased -would you tell
them, as Jesse pointed, we're going this way - and we'll go that away?” “Be glad to,” said
Blu. Secondly, one morning unannounced, the brothers stopped by for breakfast. Charlotte
Jane quietly observed one was riding a neighbor's horse. With great discretion, nothing was
said. They ate a good breakfast and left.
The Thompson home, which was purchased from
the Howdeshells, was adjacent to the Lampton farm, a
one-half mile to the north-northeast. The original bam
near the home site on a hill with a 180-degree view,
built with pegs, still stands, now covered with tin.
During the War, “Blu” came back to see his wife and
now two boys, by cover of darkness, since the Feds
were always watching the house.
On one Federal visit, the boys were singing “Dixie,”
and Charlotte Jane hid them under the bed. On
another such visit, the Lamptons hid out on the back
of their farm; in the hurry to leave, a jug of wine was
left on the back porch. Neither side would touch it for
fear it had been poisoned - what a waste.
Allen Melvin Thompson, born after the war, (July
27, 1869 - December 18, 1946), was named after Dr.
John Marshall Allen, Regimental Surgeon and close
The Allen family lot in the Fairview Cemetery, Liberty, Missouri. The tombstone of the
namesake of my son Allen, Dr. John Marshall Allen, is in the lower-left corner. In the
background is the memorial-tombstone of Alexander Doniphan.
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friend to his father Buford, serving together during the War. Still unsolved: Dr. Allen’s first
post¬war child, a girl, was named Melvina; Allen Thompson’s middle name was Melvin.
Who was this important person, probably serving together during the war, in their lives?
The Thompsons built their new home in 1876, later called “Maple Grove Farm”
[Cookingham Drive and Highway 169], Buford’s youngest son, Allen M. Thompson, father of
Frances and Louise, later owned the farm with his father, which grew to 600 acres.
Like his father-in-law Benjamin L. Lampton before him, I. B. Thompson served in the
Missouri Legislature (two separate times). As a Democrat, Thompson represented Clay
County in the 31st General Assembly (1880) and was again elected in 1898, this time as a
member of the 40th General Assembly. He also served as Clay County judge
(administrative) for six years.
In 1881, following a trip overseas, I. B. Thompson imported a purebred Galloway herd
from Scotland, the first cattle of that breed in this section of the country. For a number of
years, near the turn of the century, the Thompsons held the record for having more
purebred Galloway cattle than any other breeder in the United States. They placed their
cattle in twenty–six different states. They were on the show circuit (Sedalia State Fair, Des
Moines, Lincoln, Topeka, Pueblo, American Royal, and the International in Chicago) before
highways, using the Railroad. In 1902 at the American Royal, their “Pride of Goodrich” was
Grand Senior Champion. Following the 1899 Hereford show and the 1900 Shorthorn show,
the Galloway breed entered the forerunner of the American Royal in 1901. Following
Buford's death in 1904, his youngest son Allen, a Galloway breeder, was elected in 1905 by
the Hereford, Shorthorn, Galloway and Angus breeds, the first president of the American
Royal Association. The “American Royal Livestock Show” - in a tent - had the first night-
time horse show. Prominent in the American Galloway Association for over twenty years, he
served as president and director.
In 1890, the I. B. Thompson family helped build Second Creek Christian Church’s
present-day structure (on Cookingham Drive). His parents, John Hedges Thompson (1798 -
1887) and Mary “Polly” Turpin (1802 - 1880) who came from Kentucky after the war, with
all Thompson and many Lampton descendants, are buried at Second Creek Cemetery.
The Thompson children were “Wilk” Wilkerson Benjamin (1859 - 1924) married to Sallie
(1869 - 1927) who lived across the line in Platte County on the farm his grandfather entered
in 1842; John Buford (1861 - 1911); Allen Melvin (1869 - 1946); Lotty Vandah; and Addie
Roxy (1882 - 1972). Wilk had a son, Buford, whose wife was Margaret; Allen had Frances
and Louise, and Roxy had W. Clay Woods Jr. (Billy), whose wife was Libby Morrison.
Roxy Thompson attended Liberty Ladies and Christian College in Columbia. She took
music as well as playing the new sport called basketball. At Columbia College, a scholarship
today honors her memory, along with that of niece Louise. Roxy once accompanied her
mother, Charlotte Jane, to Waco, Texas, where she participated in a minstrel, playing the
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piano and singing. Her father had her piano converted to a desk that sits today in the living
room of her great-nephew, John A. Dillingham. When a young man, they would play duo
piano on numerous occasions, but even at almost ninety, she could “play circles” around him
- by ear and in any key, while she sang.
Roxy also kept the books at Maple Grove on their registered Galloway herd and helped
in the naming of most - rumor is that the names of some old “beaus” found their way into
the herd. One of Allen Thompson’s early “beaus” was Sister Patterson of Smithville, who did
a 3' x 4' oil of “DOT of Nashua,” a prize Galloway cow in their herd. Even though it was
framed, Allen’s wife Froncie had it hung in the basement, where it stayed for decades.
Allen’s grandson John in the 1950s and early 1960s had a registered Angus herd and
showed in 1955 and 1956 at the American Royal and once at the Western in Denver for his
sixteenth birthday.
Allen Melvin Thompson (1869 - 1946), was the youngest son of Isaac Buford Thompson
(1828 - 1904) and Charlotte Jane Lampton (1839 - 1919). On June 12, 1907, Allen married
Froncie Woods (1880 - 1933), daughter of Kemp M. Woods Jr. (1847 - 1912), and Lilly
Wiglesworth (1859 - 1943). They had met in Liberty when she attended Liberty Ladies
College. The wedding took place at “Woodland,” home of her parents. (Marriage License,
Jackson County.) Allen’s mother had married at his grandparents’ house, and later his
daughter Frances would marry at his home - all three generations within three miles. Roxy
also married at “Maple Grove,” to W. Clay Woods, and used the same caterers as her niece
Frances used some twenty years later. “Maple Grove” also saw at least three births - Roxy,
Frances, and Louise, as well as at least three funerals - Froncie, Charlotte Jane, and Buford.
Frances and Louise called their grandmother Lilly, “Danmah,” and their father Allen, “Pi.”
Froncie Woods of Smithville attended Georgetown (Kentucky) College. She stayed with
her grandparents, William F. Wiglesworth (1822 - 1893) and Mary Frances Goodloe (1838 -
1905) nearby at the family farm, “Faywood,” east of Versailles and west of Lexington,
Kentucky, on the county line. Mary Frances’ youngest sister Frances Louise (only one year
older than Froncie) was a favorite of the family, living in later years in Lexington, Kentucky,
on Richmond Road, wife of Simeon Drake. Known as Aunt Fan Lou, one suspects Froncie’s
two daughters (Frances and Louise) carry her name. The Wiglesworths lived at “Faywood,”
a beautiful stock farm on the county line between Woodford and Fayette counties on Piscah
Pike Road, where it intersects with Franklin Pike, across from Mt. Vernon Baptist Church,
where Rev. Henry Goodloe preached.
Allen M. Thompson of Nashua attended all-male William Jewell College in the late
1880s. Well known in national agricultural circles, he served as director and president of the
American Royal Livestock and Horse Show and the American Galloway Breeders
Association. He was one of the few founders in 1899 of the Hereford show. He spent more
than forty years in various offices managing the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show.
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Even though he said this was his “hobby,” he attracted many national figures to Kansas
City and set the foundation for today’s 104-year-old show.
Three stories handed down: Allen with daughter Louise, met at the Munger Hotel in San
Antonio with the Governor of Texas. In the late 1920s, Allen and Froncie were the guests of
New York Governor Al Smith in the Governor’s Box at the horse show in Madison Square
Garden. Also, in 1933, Allen visited the luxurious home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Fisher,
Vice President of General Motors and President of Fisher Body Corporation, in Lexington,
Kentucky, to see their fine stables and horses.
In the early 1900s, he served for six years under two governors (Folk and Major) on the
State Board of Agriculture of Missouri, which oversaw many of the state entities that are
separate boards or commissions today. He was president of the Missouri State Fair
Committee and active on the Public Roads Committee, the forerunner of today’s Missouri
Department of Transportation (MoDOT). In the mid-1930s, he returned to be president of
the (now independent) Missouri State Fair Board for two years. The fair was in trouble
during the depression, and Governor Park asked Allen to “fix it or shut it down.”
He was instrumental in founding and was the first commissioner of the Old Age
Assistance Commission (forerunner of Social Security) in the State of Missouri. His first
director was Jerome Cohen, later a great public servant in Kansas City. Thompson also
served as executive secretary, today’s chief of staff, to Governor Guy B. Park for a period,
and was a “Colonel” in his administration. Years before, he had also served on the State
Banking Board, the Eleemosynary Board of Missouri, and was appointed by President
Hoover as a member of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for Missouri.
Allen Thompson, my grandfather, along with his ribbons and medals from the American Royal, and the American Royal Cup that he received in 1907 for the best Galloway cattle feeders. The two president pins-American Royal (1905) and
Missouri state Fair (1908.)
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He was president of the Bank of Nashua, organized in 1905. John B. Woods was
president of the Farmers Bank of Smithville. They were on each other's boards. Allen M.
Thompson's mother-in-law, Lilly, and John B. Woods’ wife, Lela, were sisters. Allen was also
president of the National Bank in North Kansas City, where seventy-five years later, his
grandson, John, would serve on the board.
Thompson was a strong advocate and an ardent supporter of the good roads movement -
“Get Missouri out of the Mud" - worked with Judge Harry S Truman, who was doing the
same in Jackson County. The first unit of Clay County's extensive system of hard-surfaced
roads was in 1922, with the completion of six miles between Nashua north to Smithville.
Thompson gave the State of Missouri eleven acres, so the road would miss the home of his
friend Winfield Scott.
Allen Thompson, according to daughter Frances, was known as the “Kissing Cousin” and
enjoyed traveling to California, Kentucky, wherever, to stay in touch personally with all the
relatives.
William West and Mary Belle Thompson The West family is related through Isaac Thompson’s sister, Mary Belle. Mary Belle married William West.Their son, Pete West, came to live with his Uncle John Albert Thompson. My grandfather Allen always thought the world of him. We had a big black and white charcoal framed picture of Uncle Al hanging in our hall at home. I can’t find it at Mom and Dad’s house. Uncle Al took Pi to St. Augustine, Florida, when he was a young man. We have a picture of them there.
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Jay B. Dillingham and Frances Thompson
Jay B. Dillingham (born March 10, 1910) and Frances Thompson (born July 17, 1909)
were married on September 28, 1935, at “Maple Grove Farm,” near Nashua in Clay County,
Missouri, where Frances was born and grew up with her younger sister Louise. This was a
joining and a gathering of Missouri pioneer families of Platte and Clay counties.
Isaac Buford and Charlotte Jane Thompson, Frances’ grandparents, had built their new
home, a wood frame, during our nation’s centennial in 1876. The new home was located
Wedding picture of Jay B. Dillingham and Frances Thompson. The bride and groom are flanked by the bride’s father Allen Thompson and her sister Louise.
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south about a half-mile from where the Thompsons had lived during the Civil War. Frances’
father, Allen Melvin Thompson (July 27, 1869 - December 18, 1946), was only seven when
they moved, and he lived there for the remainder of his life. Frances’ Aunt Roxy Thompson
was born there and grew up in that home with her brothers Wilk, John, and Allen. Frances’
mother and paternal grandparents died there. “Maple Grove,” located at today’s
Cookingham Drive and Highway 169, was home to four generations for ninety-three years,
1876-1969.
David Mack Dillingham, Jay’s older brother, was best man at Jay’s wedding. Frances’
sister, Louise Thompson, was Maid of Honor. Camilla Belle Singleton, Frances’ piano
teacher from Columbia College, played the piano, and Norma Miller, her violin teacher,
played the violin. Dr. William Baxter Waters of Liberty, Missouri, officiated. Governor and
Mrs. Guy B. Park of Missouri attended, and their daughter Henrietta was in the wedding.
Jay B. Dillingham
Sometime following his wedding, Jay, legally changed his name from Joseph Bobley Dillingham, Jr., to Jay B. Dillingham.
Jay graduated from Platte City High School in 1926 at sixteen years of age, where he
played basketball, baseball, and (secretly) football. Because he was large for his age, he
started working at the age of eleven. He eventually was 6' 3" and 250 pounds plus. As a
youth, he worked at the grocery store six days a week - often twelve hours a day - which
included unloading railroad cars. He claimed he also worked on Sundays for free to ensure
he would have a paying job on Monday. During the year his father Joe was bedridden with
tuberculosis, he and his brothers, Chesnut ("Spec") and Mack, helped their mother Edna
deliver milk, tended the livestock, and handled other farm-related duties for their father
Joe. Times were tough; Roosevelt had closed the banks; the Wells bank wanted to foreclose
on Joe's land.
A picture John found between the walls in a barn where the Chesnut home used to stand on 4th Street east across from the old school in Platte City. It is a picture of Judge David Chesnut and his daughters, Gumma (Edna Chesnut) on the
left, Aunt Boo (Elizabeth Chesnut) on the right. The photo was taken around 1890.
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The Dillingham home was on South 4th Street and later north of that, directly across
from the schoolhouse at the old David Chesnut home. Fortunately, when fire took that home
in the early 1930s, it was during school hours, and many of their possessions were saved,
thanks to the schoolchildren. One picture was found some thirty-plus years later in the
barn, protected by the studs and tin, of Judge David Chesnut and daughters Edna and Liz,
taken in the early 1890s.
Even though Jay B. had always threatened to be a barber (his parents were not
amused), his dad, with the mentoring and encouragement of Circuit Judge (later Governor)
Guy B. Park, thought Jay should attend law school. In 1932 he received his LLB degree
from the old Kansas City School of Law in downtown Kansas City (later the University of
Kansas City and UMKC) and in 1935 his LLM with Honors.
For ten years, starting in 1927, at age seventeen, right out of high school, he worked for
the New York Central System, starting as a typist/stenographer. He had attended Central
Business College in Kansas City along with brother Mack to learn those skills.
Following Jay’s marriage to Frances in 1935, his father-in-law Allen Thompson asked
his closest friend and farm neighbor at Nashua, William H. “Billy” Weeks, Vice- President of
the Kansas City Stock Yards Company, to offer Jay a job. Although Jay turned down the
first offer, he finally accepted.
In April 1937, Jay started a career that would see sixty-six years officing in the
Livestock Exchange Building, 1600 Gennesee, Kansas City. He was promised no
involvement in the American Royal, but over time he became their landlord, was president
in 1960/61 and has been an officer or director for nearly sixty years. He served as president
of the Kansas City Stock Yards Company and the Kansas City Connecting Railroad
Company for twenty-seven years until his retirement at age sixty-five in 1975.
The Kansas City Stock Yards, in its heyday, was the second largest of its kind in the
world. The Friday, July 13, 1951 flood doomed its future eventually, with the end coming on
Halloween 1991. Some 25,000 jobs in packing houses, stockyards, and allied industries
depended on Kansas City’s largest business to be open. The October 1951 American Royal
opened on schedule three months after that disaster to a full house, sending the message to
the world that the “Kansas City Spirit” was alive and well.
During the same period, Jay opened and operated the Golden Ox restaurants in Kansas
City (1949), Denver (1958), Washington DC (1961), and Nashville, Tennessee (late 1960s),
as a subsidiary of the Kansas City Stock Yards Company.
In civic affairs, Jay was president of the Central Industrial District, Kansas City,
Missouri-Arkansas Flood Control Association, Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City,
Missouri (1956), and Kansas City, Kansas (1968) - the only one in history to chair both.
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Jay was vice-chairman of the original Metropolitan Planning Commission that achieved
the Paseo Bridge 50 years ago. He was chairman of the Building Committee that built the
Spelman Memorial Hospital (now St. Luke’s) in Smithville. He was on the committee
creating the Metropolitan Community Colleges system that insisted on a campus North,
now Maple Woods.
He was appointed by Governor John Dalton to the Missouri Water Resources Board,
which authorized the Harry S. Truman Reservoir, Smithville Lake, and all Corps of
Engineers flood control projects.
In 1978, Jay was appointed by Governor Joseph Teasdale, a Democrat, to the Missouri
Department of Transportation (MoDot) and was elected chairman at its first meeting,
finishing his term as chairman in 1984 under Governor Christopher Bond, a Republican,
who asked him to continue, refusing his offer to resign. While serving as Chairman of
MoDot, he played a major role in securing Doniphan Memorial Highway (M-152) and the
Heart of America Bridge, then later the new Chouteau Bridge. He is credited with being the
“father” of 1-435. Highway 670 bears his name in Missouri and Kansas.
Jay was the recipient of the Kansas Citian Award and was presented the Key to the City
in both Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri. Governor Mel Carnahan presented him with
the Missourian Award, along with David Glass and John Q. Hammons. He was elected a
Missouri Squire and Kansas City Man of the Month fraternity, along with, later, his son
John.
Frances Thompson Dillingham
Frances graduated from Smithville High School in 1927, where she was the first girl to
be President of the Senior Class. She graduated from Christian College in Columbia in 1929,
where Aunt Roxy had also attended, as well as Louise. Frances later was a member of the
Board of Trustees, where she made possible the reconditioning of a concert grand piano that
was new when she attended Christian but by then unplayable. The family attended the first
concert for the piano’s “re-birth.” While Frances was a member of the Board of Trustees of
her Christian College, the school’s name was changed to Columbia College.
During the first years of the Great Depression, Frances taught elementary school nearby
to the North, at Woods School, straight East and a half-mile down the road from the Fred
Woods’ farm. The schoolhouse was situated in a large schoolyard, in the center of what had
been the original 3000-acre farm of her great-grandfather, Kemp Woods Sr.
Tragedy struck the family when, on May 23, 1933, Froncie Woods Thompson, mother of
Frances and Louise, suddenly became ill and died from heart failure, allegedly caused by the
medicine to treat what was later identified as undulant fever. An untested milk cow had
been purchased recently before, and in the days before pasteurization, the milk was unsafe
to drink. Louise was preparing for graduation from Christian College, but instead, she was
brought home by the college president for the funeral.
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Frances and Louise assisted their father at the American Royal in Kansas City, where
Allen was the manager of the horse show for many years.
Later, as mother to their only child, John Allen (born January 9, 1939), Frances was
busy with his school, Boy Scouts, piano, and other outside activities as well as 4-H, FFA,
and general farm projects. John was born one hundred years after Frances’ grandmother,
Charlotte Jane, born in 1839. Interestingly, Frances’s grandson Allen was born one-hundred
years after Frances’ father, Allen Thompson (1869), and is his namesake. Bill, her other
grandson (and Allen’s younger brother), was born on Allen Thompson’s 105th birthday (July
27, 1974).
Frances played the piano and violin and sang at various events. As a third-generation
member, she was active for years in Alpha Club, a literary group for women that earlier had
included Froncie and her mother Lilly Wiglesworth Woods. She was also involved in
Missouri Extension, Garden Club, the Kansas City Museum Musettes, and in American
Royal activities for seventy years. She was a charter member and first president of
Crossroads Garden Club that had membership from Smithville to Mission Hills, Kansas.
Frances was president of Local Homemakers Extension and then president of Clay
County Extension Clubs. She was a docent for the Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery and the
Kansas City Museum, also a member of the Art
Institute. She was a member of the Young
Women for the Kansas City Philharmonic and a
charter member of the Philharmonic North of
the River. She was a member and trustee of the
UMKC Conservatory of Music.
Frances gave numerous talks to DAR,
literary and garden clubs, etc. on antique
sterling silver dining room settings, mainly
England and Early American patterns (one-
hundred years and older). She used family
pieces as props - from her Thompson line, as
well as from Aunt Roxy Thompson Woods, plus
those from Skinner, Kemp Woods, and Monett
(Kentucky) family lines. She enjoyed travel to
England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and
Switzerland as well as in the states and
especially to see relatives in Kentucky.
The wedding of Jay and Frances as reported in the Jefferson City News and Tribune society page.
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John A. Dillingham and Nancy Jane Abbott
John A. Dillingham (born January 9,
1939) married Nancy Jane Abbott (born
October 12, 1941) at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church in Kansas City, Kansas, on September
4, 1965.
John, of Nashua, Clay County, Missouri, is
the son of Frances Thompson and Jay B.
Dillingham. His grandparents are Edna
Chesnut and Joseph B. Dillingham and
Froncie Woods and Allen M. Thompson.
Nancy, of Kansas City, Kansas, is the
daughter of Helen Jane Edwards (born
September 3, 1916) and William Houston
Abbott (born July 18, 1909), who married
June 5, 1940, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
in Kansas City, Kansas. Her grandparents are
Bertha Miller and Roy Anderson Edwards and
Emma Bigger and Harry Alonzo Abbott
(September 20, 1877 - April 16, 1955). Along
with Helen Jane and Bill being married at St.
Paul’s, her daughter Nancy and son-in-law John, and oldest grandson Allen and his bride
Sandi were all married there. Her parents, Bertha and Roy Edwards Sr., were married in
the original St. Paul’s, thus four continuous generations at the same church.
Nancy’s birth father, Lt. J.G. Abbott, was lost at sea in the South Pacific in World War II
in 1945 during a Japanese bombing raid on a munitions ship carrying the young officer. Bill
had attended the University of Kansas, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta
Fraternity. Helen Jane also attended the University of Kansas, where she served as
president of her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.
Nancy’s mother remarried in 1949 to Kansas City, Kansas attorney, and World War II
veteran John Kenneth Dear, in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, at the Episcopal Church. While
he was still in Europe at the end of the war, he was elected a local magistrate judge. He was
Democratic Party Chairman for fourteen years and was elected public administrator for
Wyandotte County, Kansas, for several terms around the 1990s. As a delegate to two
National Democratic conventions, he participated in 1960 in Los Angeles in the nomination
of John F. Kennedy for the presidency of the United States.
John Allen Dillingham and Nancy Abbott Dillingham.
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In later years, Helen Jane and Jack traveled extensively
throughout the world and especially looked forward to family
vacations (which included their grandsons) at their second
home in Sun Valley, Idaho. Jack Dear died July 12, 1996,
and is buried along with Bertha and Roy A. Edwards, Sr. at
Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas.
Roy Edwards Sr. was a founder and later chairman of
Rudy Patrick Seed Company, the largest field grass and
legume company in the country in the 1960s.
Emma B. Abbott is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in
Kansas City, Kansas. Harry Abbott, a veteran of the Spanish
American War, is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California, on
Pt. Loma. A memorial stone for their son Bill is next to his mother’s grave at Oak Grove
Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas, the city’s first, on 3rd Street. Bill is the first name on the
World War II Memorial Campanile on the University of Kansas Campus overlooking the
football stadium.
John and Nancy have two sons: Allen Edwards Dillingham (born December 12, 1969)
and William Kemp “Bill” Dillingham (born July 27, 1974). Both were born at the North
Kansas City Hospital and graduated from North Kansas City High School.
Nancy Jane Abbott Dillingham
Nancy grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, attended Mark Twain Grade School, Northwest
Junior High School, and Wyandotte High School, graduating in 1959. She attended Colorado
Women’s College in Denver in 1961 and the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1963.
Nancy was a Den Mother with Boy Scout Troop 354 and the mother of two Eagle Scouts.
She was a self-employed Fashion Consultant with Doncaster for eighteen years. Nancy has
been active in the Kansas City, Kansas (now Wyandotte and Johnson Counties) Junior
League for eighteen years serving as corresponding secretary, treasurer of Harvestland, the
first cookbook, and a performer for four years in the Children’s Theater. Nancy has been
active in the American Royal for forty years, which included BOTAR, where she served as
president and was “Concert for Champions” chairman.
In addition to being an active member of PEO Sisterhood, Nancy has been an officer
and/or director of Shoal Creek Association (treasurer); Briarwood Homeowners; Old Pike
Country Club; PTA (at Briarcliff, Chapel Hill, Eastgate, and North Kansas City); United
Way; and the Children’s and Northland Fountains Capital Campaigns.
Nancy has chaired Jazzo for the Kansas City Zoo; Harvest Ball; Achievement Day for
William Jewell College; and Founder’s Day Banquet at Park University.
Helen Jane and Jack Dear.
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Recently, Nancy served as a member of the Kansas City Municipal Art Commission;
Friends of the Zoo Board (two terms); trustee and board secretary for the Kansas City
Museum; Science City at Union Station; Northland Community Foundation.
Nancy has received the Ann Robb Townsend Award, Look North Award, Tri-County
Mental Health Service Award, and the Spirit of Philanthropy Award.
John A. Dillingham
John attended Smithville Public Schools, graduating from high school in 1956, where he
served as President of the Student Council. He attended Wentworth Military Academy in
Lexington, Missouri, graduating with an A. S. degree in 1958, as Honor Graduate. He
served as Drum Major and received a physics scholarship to the University of Missouri. At
the University of Missouri, John received a B.A. degree in Political Science in 1961 and an
M.S. in Public Administration in 1962. He was a member and President of the Sigma Alpha
Epsilon Fraternity, Missouri Alpha Chapter.
Through his high school years, John raised a purebred Angus herd at “Maple Grove
Farm” besides horses, chickens, lambs, and hogs. He showed his calves twice, 1955 and
1956, at the American Royal, as well as in Denver for the National Western on his sixteenth
birthday. He was in FFA and was president of his 4-H club.
Starting at the age of four years, John played the piano, on through his college career,
including having dance bands as well as solos in numerous places such as Missouri Boy’s
State at CMSU in 1955 and the annual Wentworth Military Academy show in Kansas City
at the Municipal Auditorium Arena in 1957. At Smithville High School, with friend Homer
Williams on the drums, the “Dixie Land Duo” performed for PTAs and Northland Groups.
John took lessons from Nadean Rule of Nashua and played duo piano with Mike Rogers of
Excelsior Springs, who studied at Julliard for college.
John sang in Grace and Holy Episcopal Cathedral Boys’ Choir in 1950 and 1951. He also
attended twice the Missouri All-State Chorus in high school as well as being a member of
the Missouri FFA Chorus in 1954. John was a backup organist, as well as a member of the
choir, at Second Creek Christian Church, where he was a member. For credit to obtain his
Boy Scouting God and Country Award, he delivered the sermon.
Receiving his ROTC Army Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1962, he served one year
in Korea with a guided missile battalion - 6th Missile Battalion/8th Artillery. At night, he
taught American Government (two terms) for the University of Maryland Far Eastern
Division. Besides his duties as communications, mess, history officer, and chapel officer, he
built a new church in Korea and played the organ for Protestant services.
For the remainder of this two-year tour, John served as Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier
Generals Waterman and Meyer at Ft. Riley, Kansas, home of the 1st Infantry Division (the
Big Red One).
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During the summers of 1961 (in Washington) and 1964 (in Missouri’s 6th Congressional
District), John was on the staff of U.S. Senator Stuart Symington as the agricultural
assistant in 1961 and with the campaign in 1964.
In Mt. Vernon, Illinois, from 1964 - 1968, John was a branch manager for Rudy Patrick
Seed Company. He also served as president of the Mt. Vernon Chamber of Commerce.
From 1968 - 1972, John was president of Sho-Hawk Industries, an area
licensee/franchisee for Alfie’s Fish and Chips.
John was vice president of Traders National Bank of Kansas City from 1972 - 1979. He
was senior vice president for Sales, Marketing, Recruiting at Gamey Construction Company,
1979 - 1995.
John has served or is serving as chairman of the Kansas City Municipal Assistance
Corporation; Clay County Industrial Development Authority; Friends of the Aquarium; Clay
County Millennium Historical Board; Metropolitan Community Colleges Foundation;
Metropolitan Community Colleges Capital Campaign; Native Sons of Greater Kansas City;
Clay County Economic Development Commission; Missouri 4-H Foundation; Statewide 4-H
Study for University of Missouri; and Citizens for Clay County Reform.
On Public Appointments boards, John served on C.E.T.A. (Comprehensive Employment
Training Act); Mayors’ Corps of Progress; University of Missouri Extension Advisory Board;
Kansas City Conventions and Visitors Board; KCCID;
Kansas City Agribusiness Commission; Kansas City R.U.D.A.T. Commission (Regional
Urban Design Assistance Team). He has also served as chairman of eight city/county
issue/candidate campaigns.
John led the effort to name or establish
the permanent marker for the F.F. A. in
downtown Kansas City; the J. Harold Hamil
Scholarship; the Sen. Harry Darby Memorial
Highway for 1-635; the North Platte Purchase
Drive on the Clay/Platte County Line; the
Cardinal Club at William Jewell College; the
Clarence Kelly FBI building; and the
Alexander W. Doniphan Memorial Highway
for M-152.
John served as vice president of the
Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners,
appointed by Gov. John Ashcroft; on Kansas City Mayors’ Fast Forward Committee;
Gift from the family of K.C. Police Chief Clarence Kelly presented to John for his efforts to name the FBI
Building for Kelly in Kansas City. This was his personal pistol. He was the director of the FBI.
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Clay County Vision 2010 plan; Kansas City 150th Anniversary (KC150) steering Committee;
Clay-Platte Trails Initiative; Missouri State Coordinating Board for Higher Education’s
Commission on the Affordability of Higher Education; Platte County Millennium
Commission; PIAC Commission for Kansas City; National Center for Indigenous Cultures,
at Line Creek; Co-Chairman, Clay County Veterans’ Memorial; Clay County Constitutional
Commission; and Clay County Enforcement Advisory Board.
As an Eagle Scout, John has served in numerous capacities. He has a Sachem in the
Tribe of Mic-O-Say, has received the Silver Beaver Award, and was awarded the Silver
Wreath from NESA (National Eagle Scout Association).
He was on the board of the American Royal for six years. He chaired the committee to
write its first and only history book on its one-hundredth Anniversary in 1999. For twenty-
five years, he has been active on the BOTAR Community Advisory Board and was made a
Lifetime Honorary BOTAR in 2002 for the Royal.
John has served, or is serving, on the boards of the Liberty Memorial Association;
Children’s Mercy Hospital; Red Cross; Salvation Army; Ft. Leavenworth Alumni and Hall of
Fame Selection; Western Historical Manuscript; Northland Regional Chamber; University
of Missouri Press Development; Missouri Institute of Justice; Kansas City Kings’
Goldcoaters - Professional Basketball (president) Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity National
Foundation; National Agricultural Hall of Fame (vice president); University of Missouri
Development Fund; Central Missouri State University Foundation; Charter Board of the
Northland Community Foundation; Earnest Shepherd Memorial Youth Center (president);
Missouri 4-H Foundation (chairman); DARE Inc. of Kansas City; and Missouri Alpha
Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon House Corporation at the University of Missouri (vice
president).
John and Nancy on a Truman Library Institute Trip to Hyde Park, home of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
297
Allen E. Dillingham and Sandra L. Wright
William K. Dillingham and K. Lucas
Allen Edwards Dillingham was born on December 12, 1969, at North Kansas City
Hospital in North Kansas City, Missouri. He was the first of two children born to John and
Nancy Dillingham.
Dillingham grew up in Gladstone,
Missouri, in a neighborhood called Carriage
Hills. He attended Oakhill Day School for his
pre-school education and then attended public
schools in the North Kansas City School
District (Chapel Hill Elementary and
Eastgate Middle School). His talents revolved
around science and sports. He once wired
almost every room in the house for his stereo
system in his bedroom, and he had a favorite
train set that covered an entire ping pong
table in the basement. He enjoyed all sports,
playing organized baseball (at third base),
soccer on a championship team called “The
Rowdies,” and YMCA basketball. Basketball
became his true joy. Many summers were
spent at basketball camps (like Walt
Shublum’s Kansas City, Kansas Community
College camp, and Larry Brown’s University
of Kansas basketball camp).
Another activity Dillingham participated in during this time was Scouts. His mother
served as Den Mother when he was in Cub Scouts. In Webelos, he earned every badge and
award offered, the only one to do that in his den.
In December of 1981, in the middle of a recession in the United States (when interest
rates were hovering around twenty percent), Dillingham and his family moved five miles to
the west to a neighborhood called Briarwood in Kansas City, Missouri. He was currently
attending Eastgate Middle School.
1984-1988 were the years Dillingham attended North Kansas City High School. He
participated in many activities there, including basketball (he was the high scorer on the
sophomore team), yearbook staff, Spirit Club, AFS, Debate, track, the Young Businessman’s
Club (which he co-founded) and National Honor Society. He graduated with distinction in
the top ten percent of his class.
Allen and Sandi with their daughters Allie and Mollie around 2006.
298
Dillingham headed west to attend The Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The school secured his enrollment by being only one of three schools in the nation that
operated under the Block System (where one class at a time was taken for three and a half
weeks), by offering him a spot on the varsity basketball team (where he lettered as a
freshman) and giving him small class sizes in a beautiful setting. While there, he was a
member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, was elected to student government as a write-in
candidate (he became president of the junior class), and was elected to serve as editor in
chief of the college’s campus newspaper, The Catalyst. Dillingham graduated in 1992 (he
finished his classes in less than three and a half years) with a degree in World Political
Economy and went back home to Kansas City.
Once back, Dillingham quickly joined the advance team of Vice President Dan Quayle.
He traveled for five months, going to fifteen states. His duties included arranging private
receptions for the Vice President, large banquet dinners and speeches, and sometimes the
motorcade. That tour of duty ended abruptly on November 3, 1992, when Bill Clinton and Al
Gore defeated George Herbert Walker Bush and Dan Quayle.
Once again, in Kansas City, Dillingham started a desktop publishing business and
rented office space in North Kansas City above Armour Road. In the summer of 1994, the
Ashcroft for Senate campaign asked him to join their team in managing the 6th
Congressional District for the campaign. Governor Ashcroft won the election handily
defeating Congressman Alan Wheat. Ashcroft soon consolidated his state offices with
Senator Kit Bond. Dillingham served as the Senators’ Field Representative in the 6th
District, traveling to all twenty-eight counties of the district every month. After a year and a
half, he was promoted to Kansas City Office Director. He left the Senators’ office to attend
the University of Missouri- Kansas City full time to get a Master’s in Business
Administration but returned in the middle of his MBA program to manage the office for
another year.
During his time in the Senators’ office, he met a neighborhood friend at a wedding in
Omaha, Nebraska. Her name was Sandi Wright. After two years of dating, they were
married at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Kansas, on August 2, 1997.
Sandra Lynn Wright was born on November 8, 1971, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
When she was very young, her parents, Ron and Mary Lynn Wright, moved to Kansas City,
Missouri. Sandi spent the majority of her childhood growing up in Briarcliff, a neighborhood
up the street from Allen Dillingham’s. She attended Briarcliff Elementary School, Eastgate
Middle School, and North Kansas City High School. At Northtown (what locals called the
high school), Sandi excelled in cheerleading and Pom Pon and was elected vice president of
the student body her senior year. She also was active in Spirit Club, Fellowship of Christian
Athletes, Debate, and the newspaper staff. She graduated in 1990 and headed south to
Springfield, Missouri to attend Drury College. At Drury, Sandi joined the Pi Beta Phi
Sorority, was a student ambassador, and was active in student government. Her senior year,
299
she was chosen to chair the school’s entertainment committee and was elected president of
the Student Union Board.
In 1994, Sandi graduated from Drury with a major in elementary education. She moved
back to Kansas City and took a formal teaching position in the Park Hill School District as a
teacher’s assistant at Union Chapel Elementary. She then signed a contract to teach in the
North Kansas City School District, teaching fifth, third and first grades at Oakwood Manor
Elementary School over four years. She was loved by her pupils and admired for her
teaching skills and compassion by the staff at Oakwood Manor.
In November of 1997, Allen and Sandi moved into a new home they had built in The
Oaks subdivision in Gladstone, Missouri. They started life together by warmly bringing a
golden retriever puppy into their family; they named him August for the month they were
married.
In 1999, continuing a family tradition of public service, Allen co-founded Young Friends
of the Northland (YFN). YFN is an auxiliary organization of the Northland Community
Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. It was founded to meet
the volunteering and philanthropic needs of young adults in Kansas City’s Northland. It has
grown to be one of the largest organizations for young adults in Greater Kansas City and the
only young adult organization based on philanthropy.
On May 25, 2000, Allen and Sandi gave birth to their first child, Allie Lynn Dillingham.
Shortly before Allie’s birth, Sandi resigned her teaching position with the school district to
become a full-time homemaker. Allie was joined by a sister on January 9, 2002. The new
baby’s name was Mollie Jane Dillingham. Mollie’s arrival came on her grandfather John
Dillingham’s birthday. The whole family was thrilled with that occasion.
William Kemp Dillingham is the younger brother of Allen. He was born at North Kansas
City Hospital on July 27, 1974 (sharing the same birthday as his great-grandfather Allen
Thompson). He is the second and last child of John and Nancy Dillingham.
Like his older brother, Bill attended Eastgate Middle School and North Kansas City
High School. Since his parents moved residences, he attended Kindergarten at Chapel Hill
Elementary and then finished his primary education at Briarcliff Elementary School.
In high school, Bill was recruited by the basketball, football, and baseball programs; he
had a natural athletic ability and possessed a larger frame than his peers, courtesy of the
Dillingham family genes. He quickly decided that basketball would be his primary interest,
and then baseball could be played in the off-season.
Bill moved briskly through the high school levels, becoming a member of the varsity
team his sophomore year. Under his leadership, North Kansas City won Districts his junior
year. Bill was noticed by the media as one of the standouts in Kansas City high school
basketball and was voted 1st Team All-Conference twice.
300
After high school, Bill was recruited by
Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington,
Missouri (where his father was an alumnus) to
play basketball. Bill attended Wentworth for
one season and then transferred to William
Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. The NAIA
Hall of Fame coach Larry Holley liked Bill’s
athletic skills on the basketball court and
recruited him to play for the Cardinals. While at
William Jewell, Bill had the incredible
opportunity of making three Final Four
appearances for the NAIA, Division II. To top
off his basketball career, Bill was voted All-
Conference his senior season. Off the basketball
court, Bill majored in Communications and
Public Relations. He also became a member of
the social fraternity Kappa Alpha Order and
was elected president his senior year.
After college, Bill took a job with
Northwestern Mutual Life. He married his high
school sweetheart Keri Lucas on September 4th, 1999 (the same day his parents were
married thirty-four years earlier). Bill and Keri were married at Northminster Presbyterian
Church, her family’s place of worship in Gladstone, Missouri.
Keri Lucas was born on August 29, 1975, in Ames, Iowa. Her parents, Wayne and Nancy
Lucas, were living off the Iowa State University campus while Wayne was working on his
doctorate in criminal justice. The family soon moved to Kansas City.
Keri had one sibling, an older brother named Jeff. Jeff and Keri attended Davidson
Elementary School, Antioch Middle School, and North Kansas City High School. It was at
Northtown where Bill and Keri became acquainted. In high school, Keri possessed a bubbly
personality that won her many friends. She exhibited a natural dancing ability on the
school’s Pom Pon squad; she was selected captain her junior and senior years. Keri also was
active on the Yearbook staff and was chosen as a member of the National Honor Society her
senior year.
Upon graduation, Keri chose Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville,
Missouri, to continue her education. Like her mother, who was an elementary school
teacher, Keri soon realized she also liked working with children and chose elementary
education as her major study. She joined the sorority Sigma Sigma Sigma. She also
continued her interest in dancing by joining the university’s Pom Pon squad—called the
Bill and Keri with their children, Jack, Lucas, and Lily in 2019.
301
Steppers. During her freshman and sophomore years, she entered the national Steppers
dancing competition and was chosen All-American Stepper twice.
After college, Keri went back to her high school alma mater to coach the school’s Pom
Pon squad with a friend. She coached five years and during that time, worked as a teacher’s
assistant.
For the 1999-2000 school year, Keri was hired to teach freshman history at Winnetonka
High School. She later was assigned other grade levels at Winnetonka. Her love of life,
natural teaching ability, and hard work ethic has won her much attention at the high school
and in the North Kansas City School District.
Mayor Richard Berkley with Bill (left) and Allen (right) in the mayor’s office in 1982.
(From the left) Colonel Sellers, Sr., Wentworth Commander; Marlin Perkins, famed television host, and a Wentworth
graduate; myself; Bill and Allen. (ca. 1985)
302
303
Appendix
• John A. Dillingham Curriculum Vitae
• Nickname Index
• Image Index
• To My Grandchildren
• Acknowledgments
Speaking at the Agricultural Business Council at the University Club shortly after Dad died in 2007. The Council established a Jay B. Dillingham
Award in Dad’s honor. Nancy and the boys attended.
304
305
John A. Dillingham Curriculum Vitæ
Updated: October 2019
Career History
• 1997-Present Dillingham Enterprises, President/Director
• 1996-1997 Central State University, Graduate-level consultant for construction
issues
• 1985-Present JoDill, Inc., President/Director
• 1979-1995 Garney Companies, Inc., Sr. VP Sales & Marketing,
• 1972-1979 Traders National Bank of Kansas City, V.P. Commercial Loans
• 1968-1972 SHO-HAWK Industries Alfie’s Fish & Chips Franchise, President
• 1964-1968 Rudy Patrick Seed Div., W.R. Grace & Company, Branch Manager -
Mt. Vernon, IL
• 1964 Senator Stuart Symington Campaign, Staff Member for 6th District
• 1962 – 1964 United State Army
▪ 1963-1964, 1st Lt Aide-de camp, Asst. Division Commander of 1st
Infantry Division, Army, Ft. Riley, KS, Army Commendation Medal
Recipient
▪ 2nd Lt. Aide-de-camp, Division Artillery Commander of 1st Infantry
Division
o 1962-1963, 2nd Lt., Communications, Mess, Chapel & History Officer,
Lacrosse Guided Missile Battalion, US Army, Korea
▪ American Government Instructor, 2 terms, University of Maryland,
Far Eastern Korea Division
• 1961 Senator Stuart Symington Staff, Agriculture Assistant, Washington, DC
Education
• University of Missouri, MS, Public Administration, 1962
o Thesis: President Truman’s 1948 Whistle Stop Campaign
• University of Missouri, AB, Political Science, 1961
o President, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity; member, Pi Omicron Sigma and
National Society of Scabbard and Blade
• William Jewell College, Summer School, 1958
• Wentworth Military Academy, AS, Honors, Honor Graduate, 1958
o Physics Scholarship to University of Missouri-Columbia; Drum Major,
Member Phi Theta Kappa
• Smithville (Mo.) Elementary and High School, 1956
o President Student Council, Drum Major, Basketball Letter
306
Public Corporate Board, Trusteeships and Appointments
Current:
• City Trust, Board of Trustees (Mayor James appointment)
• Clay County Industrial Development Authority, former Chairman
• Clay County Millennium Historical Board, Chairman
• Clay County Sheriff Advisory Board
• Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame, Board of Governors
• Kansas City Municipal Assistance Corporation, Board Chairman
Former:
• American Red Cross, Kansas City Chapter
• American Royal, Director
• Association of the United States Army, Kansas City Chapter
• Bank of America, Northland includes board positions on 3 predecessor banks
• BOTAR Community Advisory Board
• Boy Scouts of America, Heart of America Council
• Boy Scouts, Honorary Director
• Central Missouri State University Foundation
• Central Missouri State University, Construction Advisory Board, Founder/President
• CETA Kansas City Board and Mayor’s Corps of Progress (Mayor Wheeler
appointment)
• Chamber of Commerce of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, President, 1967
• Charter Board Member Clay County Veteran’s Memorial, Gorman Park, Co-Chair
• Children’s Mercy Hospital
• Clay County Grand Jury, Foreman
• DARE, Inc. of Kansas City
• Earnest Shepherd Memorial Youth Center, President
• FFA Organization, Kansas City Advisory Board
• Freedom Frontier National Heritage Area, Chairman 2007-2017
• Friends of the Aquarium, Co-Chair
• Harry S. Truman Scholarship, Founder of the National Alumni Association
• Hydrofair Task Force of Smithville Lake
• K.C.C.I.D; Kansas City Agribusiness Commission and Kansas City R.U.D.A.T.
Commission (Mayor Berkley appointment)
• Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, Vice President, 1990-1995 (Governor
Ashcroft appointment)
• Kansas City Convention & Visitor’s Board
• Kansas City Kings Professional Basketball, Goldcoater, President
307
• Liberty Memorial Association, 2-term President, ($26 million capital campaign for
official WWI Museum)
• Metropolitan Community College Foundation, (1996-2014, past Chairman and
elected Director Emeritus)
• Missouri 4-H Foundation, Frank Graham Leadership Campaign Committee
• National 4-H Council, Resource Development Committee
• National Agriculture Hall of Fame, Executive Committee,1979
• National Center for Indigenous Cultures at Line Creek
• Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, President, 2002
• Northland Community Alliance, Vice President
• Northland Community Fund
• SAE Fraternity National Foundation, 1987 - 1993
• United Missouri Bank, Northland Board Advisory Director, 1998-2012
• University of Missouri at Kansas City, Marketing Advisor Board
• University of Missouri Development Fund
• University of Missouri Extension, Advisory Board
• Waddell & Reed, Advisors Funds Trustee 1997-2017
• Wentworth Military Academy, Secretary
• William Jewell Cardinal Club, Founder
• William Jewell College, National Annual Fund
Civic Boards, Trusteeships and Appointments
Current
• Alexander Doniphan Community Service Award, Co-Founder, Executive Committee
• Briarcliff Community Alliance, Board of Directors, 2015
• Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area, Executive Committee, former Chairman
• Harry S. Truman Library Institute, former Executive Board/Governance Chairman
• K.C. Jazz Orchestra, Honorary Board 2015
• Kansas City Crime Commission
• Kansas City Police Department, Honorary Director - Athletic League
• Metropolitan Community Colleges Foundation, former Chairman
• Missouri Institute of Justice, Inc.
• National WW1 Museum, National Advisory Board 2014.
• Union Cemetery Historical Society, Advisory Board, 2013
• Western Historical Manuscript, UMKC
Former President:
• Citizens for Clay County Reform Charter Issue
308
• Clay County Development Authority, Chair
• Clay County Economic Development Commission
• Metropolitan Community College Foundation
• Metropolitan Community College Vision Capital Campaign
• Missouri 4-H Foundation, Chair
• Missouri 4-H, Study for University of Missouri
• Missouri Institute for Justice, Inc.
• National WWI Museum/Liberty Memorial Association
Former Member:
• American Red Cross, Kansas City Chapter
• American Royal, History Committee Chair (During Centennial year; published first
book on AR’s 100 years)
• Boy Scouts of America – Great Frontier District, Chairman
• Children’s Mercy Hospital
• Citizens for Clay County Reform, Election Chair, 2002
• City of Kansas City, Missouri, Wet Weather Community Panel (Mayor Kay Barnes
appointee)
• Clay County Appointee to Lewis & Clark Commemorative Events Steering
Committee
• Clay County Law Enforcement Advisory Board (Recommended by Clay County
Sheriff; Appointed by County Commission)
• Clay County Vision 2010 Plan, Steering Committee (Clay County Commission
appointment)
• Dr. Arch E. Spelman Memorial Research Foundation, 1968
• Fast Forward Committee 5 Years (Mayor Emanuel Cleaver appointment)
• Ft. Leavenworth Command and General Staff Foundation, Founding Trustee
• Kansas City Kings Professional Basketball Goldcoaters, President
• Kansas City Public Safety Facilities Committee, Advisor (Mayor Kay Barnes
appointment)
• Kansas City Stormwater [Revote] Campaign, Co-Chair (Mayor Emanuel Cleaver
appointee]
• KC150 Steering Committee (Honoring Kansas City’s 150th Birthday)
• Metropolitan Community Colleges Foundation
• Missouri Commission on the Affordability of Higher Education
• Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education
• Missouri Mansion Preservation, Inc.
• Mo-Ark Flood Control Association
• MoStars Advisory Board, Charter Member
309
• Northland Betterment Committee, Chair
• Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Honorary Director
• PIAC Commission, 2nd District (Mayor Kay Barnes appointee)
• Platte County Millennium Committee, Member from Clay County
• SAE Missouri Alpha, Chapter Board Vice President
• SAE Province Zeta, Missouri-Kansas Vice President
• Salvation Army Executive Committee, Treasurer
• University of Missouri Press Development Board
Honors
• Alexander W. Doniphan Community Service Award
• American Royal, Honorary Director for Life,2014
• American Royal, Honorary Lifetime BOTAR
• Boy Scouts of America -- Heart of American Council, Honorary Director
• Boy Scouts of America -- Troop 413, Nashua, MO, Honor Scout Award
• Boy Scouts of America Tribe of Mic-O-Say Kansas City, Sachem
• Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout with six Palms, God and Country Award,
Assistant Scout Master
• Boy Scouts of America, Silver Beaver Award
• Central Missouri State University, Outstanding Service Award
• Clay County Development Commission, Look North Award
• Future Farmers of America (FFA), Honorary American Farmer
• Gillis Center, Kansas City Spirit Award
• Harrah’s Constellation Award, Nominee
• Ingram’s Magazine, 100 Most Influential Persons in Kansas City
• Ingram’s Magazine, Recognized as one of Kansas City area’s most significant
producers, March 2003
• Kansas City Alumni of SAE, Honor Man
• Kansas City Chapter of Fund-Raising Executives, Co-recipient, Spirit of
Philanthropy Award
• Kansas City Police Department, Meritorious Service Award (Presented by Chief
Steve Bishop, 1995)
• KC Metro Area Law Enforcement Memorial Gardens, Honorary Co-Chairman, 2017
• Loose Park, Honored with White Oak planted on Arbor Day
• Man of the Month Fraternity of Kansas City
• Metropolitan Community Colleges, Visionary Leadership Award
• Mid-Continent Public Library Woodneath Campaign, Honorary Co-Chairman, 2017
• Missouri Academy of Squires, 100 Living Missourians (Inducted by Governor Bob
Holden)
310
• Missouri House of Representatives, Outstanding Missourian, 2007 (Sponsored by
Rep. Jerry Nolte)
• National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA), Award of Merit
• National Eagle Scout Association (NESA), Silver Wreath Award
• National SAE Fraternity, Award of Merit
• National SAE Fraternity, Distinguished Service Award
• National SAE Fraternity, Order of Minerva
• National Society Sons of the American Revolution, Silver Good Citizen’s Medal
• Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, Outstanding Kansas Citian
• Northland Chamber of Commerce, Nominee of Excellence in Education Award
• Northland Chamber of Commerce, Quality of Life Award
• Northland Neighborhoods, Inc., J.B. Dillingham Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013
• Park College, Community Service Award
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, One of nineteen featured on front cover of The
Record, the fraternity’s national quarterly magazine
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon, University of Missouri Wall of Fame
• Soldiers Award
• Spelman Medical Foundation of St. Luke’s Hospital Northland, Honorary Co-Chair
for Women’s Wellness Center Capital Campaign
• St. Pius High School, Pearl Award
• St. Pius X High School 2nd Capital Campaign, Honorary Co-Chair
• St. Pius X High School and Capital Campaign, Honorary Co-Chair,
• The Kansas City Star, Member of the “40 Years Ago” column organization
• University of Missouri Extension, State Friend of Extension
• University of Missouri, Faculty/Alumni Award
• Wentworth Military Academy, Distinguished Alumnus
• Wentworth Military Academy, Ralph Conger Sportsmanship Award, 2018
• Who’s Who in America
• William Jewell College, Honorary Alumni, 2003
• William Jewell College, Yates Medallion for Public Service
Other
• “Cowtown, Cattle Trails and West Bottoms Tales” by Ed Matheny, wrote Forward to
book, 2014
• “Union Cemetery” book, Chapter Author, 2014
• American Red Cross – Kansas City Chapter, Co-Chair Genevieve Byrne Lecture
Series
• American Royal Lifetime Achievement Award, Co-Chair, 2012
• American Royal Parade, First-time Judge for at Arrowhead Stadium, 2015
311
• American Royal, Honorary Director for Life, 2014
• Central States America Lung Association Awards Dinner Commencement Address
• Charles Kimball Lecture, Presentation of article, “100th anniversary celebration of
the American Royal”
• County or Citywide elections for issues and candidates (10), Chaired or Co-Chair
• Daughters of the American Revolution, Westport Chapter, Nancy and John,
Community Service, 2015
• Ewing Kauffman Distinguished Eagle Award, Received at Royals Stadium with John
Holtz and Lon Lane, 2015
• Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oversaw naming of new Kansas City FBI Building
for former Director Clarence Kelly
• Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame Selection Board, Board of Governors
• Harry S. Truman Library Institute “Wild About Harry,” Co-Chair
• Immacolata Manor, Couples Award Nancy and John, Annual Dinner 2014
• Judge Cordell Meeks, Sr. Memorial Plaza, Kansas City, KS, Key role in creation,
fundraising and unveiling ceremony of
• Kansas City Beautiful Award for landscape in our home yard – the “George”
Commissioners Choice 2007
• Kansas City Rose Society, Two Friendship Roses to be planted in Rose Garden at
Loose Park given by the Gormans and Board of Directors of KC Rose Society in
recognition of “Northlander of the Year”
• Kansas City Royals, Buck O’Neill Legacy Seat Program recipient, 2019
• KC Jazz Orchestra, Nancy and John, Honorary Chairs, 2014
• Law Enforcement Memorial Garden, Co-Chair
• Longview Community College, Commencement Address
• Maple Woods Community College, Commencement Address
• Metropolitan Community College Foundation, Director Emeritus, 1996-2014
• Metropolitan Community College, Director Emeritus (Active 1996-2014)
• Missouri and Kansas, Led project to name I-635 in Missouri and Kansas the “Harry
Darby Memorial Highway”
• Missouri Department of Transportation, Led effort to rename Missouri 152 Highway
the “Alexander W. Doniphan Memorial Highway
• Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation, Played early role with U.S.
Marshall Lee Koury and later, Governor Roger Wilson in creating the monument
north of the Capitol in Jefferson City 1994
• Missouri, Led renaming of former Clay-Platte County Line Road and Baughman
Road to North Platte Purchase Drive
• National Future Farmers of American, Member of selection committee for permanent
marker at founding
• Northland Community Fund, Led effort to establish Hamil scholarship
312
• Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Northlander of the Year Award, 2015
• Park University, Founder’s Day Co-Chair for retiring President, Don Breckon
• Sigma Alpha Greater K.C. Alumni Association, Established the John Dillingham
Award; Brian Gettinger named as first recipient, 2014
• Smithville High School, Inducted in the first class of the Hall of Fame with Dr. Bob
Williams and Mack Porter, 2015
• Townsend Communications, named one of thirty-five People Who Made a Difference
in the Northland
• Wentworth Military Academy -- Ike Skelton Legacy Event, Co-Chair with Larry
McMullen, 2014 (The only time the event was held, as the school closed.)
• William Jewell Achievement Dinner, Co-Chair
• William Jewell College, Led creation of sports booster group, The Cardinal Club
Memberships
• American Legion
• Americans of Royal Descent
• Barons of the Magna Charter
• Boonesborough Society
• Business Executives for National Security
• Colonial Order of the Crown descendants of Emperor Charlemagne
• Honorable Artillery Company
• Man of the Month Fraternity
• Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City
• Plantagenet Society Kings of England
• River Club of Kansas City
• Society of Descendants of Knights of the Garter 2002
• Sons of the American Revolution SAR with 35 Supplementals, William C. Corum
• Stars & Bars Confederate Officers Descendants
• Veterans of Foreign Wars
313
Awards and Board Appointments Received by John and His Father
• Academy of Missouri Squires. Limited to 100 living Missourians and named by the
Governor, usually annually, when vacancies occur. Dad named by Gov. Kit Bond. I
was named by Gov. Bob Holden, 2004.
• Children’s Mercy Hospital, Board of Directors.
• Clay County Economic Development, “Look North” Award
• Man of the Month Fraternity (Jay was president 1969-70. John was president 2005-
2010)
• Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, Outstanding Kansas Citian
award (Jay 1981. John 2009)
• Northland Chamber of Commerce, Northlander of the Year
• Sons of the American Revolution, Silver Good Citizenship Award
• Waddell & Reed, Independent Trustee, (Our combined service lasted more than 50
years, ending in 2017.)
Recipient of the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat Honoree at Royals Stadium.
314
Nickname Index
Boopoo (Paternal Grandparent) Joseph Bobley Dillingham
Gumma (Paternal Grandparent) Edna Chesnut Dillingham
Pi (Maternal Grandfather) Allen Melvin Thompson
Mi (Dad’s first cousin) Mary Wanda Dillingham
Daughter of Uncle Henry and Aunt June
Ta (Mom’s first cousin) Kemp Minor Woods, III
Great-uncle Henry (Oldest son of John H Dillingham Henry Lea Dillingham
Aunt Roxy or Aunt Box (Great-Aunt) Addie Roxy Thompson
(Sister to my Mom’s father)
Aunt Jennie (great-great-aunt)
Sister to my great-grandfather John Henry Dillingham Mary Jane (Jennie) Dillingham
Uncle Clay (great-uncle) Aunt Roxy’s husband. Not related to the Woods family in Mom’s
family tree William Clay Woods, Sr.
Uncle Mac (Dad’s brother) David Mack Dillingham
Uncle Spec (Dad’s brother) John Chesnut Dillingham
Uncle Bill (great-uncle) Second son of
John Henry Dillingham. William Wesley Dillingham
Uncle Dude (great-uncle) Third son
of John Henry Dillingham Edward Sallee Dillingham
Day (grandfather to Allen and Bill) Jay B. Dillingham
315
Image Index
An original watercolor of Maple Grove by J.R. Hamil hangs prominently in our home as a
reminder of our family’s history. ........................................................................................ Page ii
John and Nancy, along with children and grandchildren on their 50th wedding anniversary
in Jamaica. Front Row: Lily, Lucas, and Jack Dillingham. Back Row: Keri, Bill, John,
Nancy, Allie, Sandi, Allen, and Mollie. ............................................................................. Page iv
Family Tree: John Allen Dillingham. ............................................................................... Page 3
Gumma and Boopoo’s house at 3524 Terrace in Kansas City. ......................................... Page 3
A bookend cut from a picture of me on a tricycle. ............................................................. Page 4
The original Thompson home built in 1876 at Maple Grove Stock Farms,
west of Nashua. .................................................................................................................... Page 6
Maple Grove Farm as it appeared during my childhood. The original home, built in 1876,
still stood but surrounded with additional rooms and much remodeling. The annex is behind
the house. ............................................................................................................................. Page 7
I attended twelve years at the Smithville grade and high school. I took my lunch for the first
six years. Mom drove me to school most days, but sometimes I took a Greyhound bus from
The Dutch Mill, a gas station and restaurant, across from our barn at Cookingham Drive
and Highway 169. I later learned that BooPoo once owned it. ...................................... Page 11
Fat Stuff, my winning steer at the Clay County Fair; also shown in the American Royal, and
at the National Western Show in Denver during the mid-1950s. .................................. Page 14
Line drawing of Smithville High School by Homer Williams for the 50th class reunion of the
class of 1956. ...................................................................................................................... Page 15
My plaque on the Smithville Alumni Wall of Fame. ....................................................... Page 16
My Boy Scout sash with fifty-five merit badges. ............................................................. Page 18
The administration building at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, MO. ......... Page 21
Celebrating Dad’s election as president of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in 1956
while I was a junior college freshman cadet at Wentworth Military Academy. ........... Page 22
Colonel J.M. Sellers presenting me with the Honor Graduate Award out of a class of 600 at
my commencement ceremony in 1958. ............................................................................. Page 23
In my dress uniform towards the end of my sophomore year at Wentworth. ............... Page 24
Mom and I shown with Senator Frank Carlson (left) and Representative Bill Avery (right).
Both Carlson and Avery represented the State of Kansas. ............................................ Page 27
“President Harry S Truman took America from its traditional isolationism into the age of
international involvement. Despite his power, he never forgot where he came from. Today,
visitors can experience the surroundings Truman knew as a young man of modest ambition
316
through his political career and final years as a former president.” From the website of the
Harry S Truman National Historic Site .......................................................................... Page 29
Uijeongbu, South Korea -- approximately thirty miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
separating North and South Korea. Camp Williams, marked by the asterisk in the picture,
was roughly halfway between Uijeongbu and the DMZ. ................................................ Page 31
A silver cup and saucer engraved and presented to me by a Korean orphanage that I worked
with during my stay in Korea. .......................................................................................... Page 32
Receiving 1st Lieutenant bars from Brigadier General Waterman (right)
in January 1964. ................................................................................................................ Page 37
A map of Korea I found on the back of the door in an empty barracks room as I was
preparing to leave Korea. It hangs in our basement now as a reminder of the opportunities
my Army service has provided me, but also a reminder of
how far away I was from home. ........................................................................................ Page 38
Receiving the Army Commendation Medal in 1964 with Mom and Dad to my right and my
grandparents Joseph and Edna Dillingham to my left. I received the medal as I finished my
Army career in the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas. .................................. Page 39
Roy Edwards, Sr., founder and chairman of Rudy Patrick Seed Company, and, as I would
learn later, Nancy’s grandfather, “Papa.” ........................................................................ Page 41
The Rudy Patrick Seed Company headquarters in the Kansas City West Bottoms still
stands. The company established by Nancy’s grandfather Roy Edwards, St., was acquired by
the W.R. Grace Company. I officed in the building in 1964 when
I joined the company. .................................................................................................... Page 41
Nancy Jane Abbott. ........................................................................................................... Page 42
Silver bowl, a wedding gift from President and Mrs. Truman. ...................................... Page 42
Mrs. Nancy Abbott Dillingham. ....................................................................................... Page 44
Our dog Bolivar with Nancy and me. ............................................................................... Page 45
Dad and my grandfather taken in September 1966 at the celebration of my first anniversary
of marriage. My grandfather passed away a month later. ............................................. Page 46
Alfie’s Fish and Chips logo. ............................................................................................... Page 46
Top Image: Allen and Bill standing in front of a portrait of their great-grandfather Allen
Thompson. The boys are holding the award Allen Thompson received at the
1907 American Royal. ....................................................................................................... Page 48
Middle Image: Family picture from the 1980s in the backyard of our new home
on Claymont Drive. ............................................................................................................ Page 48
Bottom Image: With my boys at a formal dinner in the early 2000s. ........................... Page 48
MoDOT draped a garland on the sign in honor of Dad when he passed. ...................... Page 49
Nancy with her father, Lt. J.G. William Abbott and her mother, Helen Jane. ............ Page 52
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Virginia Harding, Nancy’s aunt........................................................................................ Page 52
Nancy’s family tree with the extension of her father’s family lineage, the Abbotts. .... Page 53
Ladies day out. From the left: Nancy's Mom, Helen Jane, Nancy, Mrs. Arthur Maurer,
Christine Maurer, and Nancy's aunt, Virginia “Ninna” Harding. ................................. Page 53
Nancy with her stepfather, John Dear, and her mother, Helen Jane. .......................... Page 54
Nancy as a young model in marketing and advertising literature for Rudy Patrick Seed
Company, founded by her grandfather, Roy Edwards, Sr., and later managed by
her uncle, Roy Edwards, Jr. .............................................................................................. Page 55
Nancy in the Chief's locker room trying on Leon Sandcastle’s
helmet during a tour. ......................................................................................................... Page 57
Nancy and her mother Helen Jane. .................................................................................. Page 58
Nancy in a picture taken by her grandson Lucas, at her birthday party at
the River Club, October 2019. ........................................................................................... Page 59
Mr. and Mrs. Jay B. Dillingham's wedding picture on September 28, 1935,
at Maple Grove. .................................................................................................................. Page 60
Family Tree: Thompson and Dillingham. ....................................................................... Page 61
Jay B. Dillingham. ............................................................................................................. Page 62
Family Tree: Joseph B. (Jay B.) Dillingham, Jr. ............................................................ Page 63
My retirement gift to Dad in 1975 is the carpet and logo from the Golden Ox
now framed in my office. ................................................................................................... Page 65
Photo from the White House Rose Garden in the 1960s. A delegation went back to get money
for the Kasinger Reservoir from President Lyndon Johnson. (Dad at left on the second row
and Senator Symington in the back row). They came back with money for the Truman
Reservoir which was the final leg of the flood control projects on rivers through central
Kansas and Missouri following the 1951 floods. ............................................................ Page 67
The last picture of Dad and Uncle Mack taken together. Photo from the late 1990s. Uncle
Mack lived to be ninety. Dad lived to be ninety-seven. Uncle Mack was roughly two years
older than Dad. They were a great team and very loyal to each other. ......................... Page 70
Jay B. Dillingham in his office located on the Ninth floor,
Room 926, at the Stockyards. .......................................................................................... Page 71
After dad retired, I took his office in the Stockyards Building, and Bill moved into the
adjacent office that I had used since moving into the building. ..................................... Page 71
Frances Thompson Dillingham. ........................................................................................ Page 72
Buggy seat used with Silver Mane to take Mom and Louise to school. ......................... Page 73
Family Tree: Frances Thompson. .................................................................................... Page 72
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The school bell used by Mom while teaching school. ...................................................... Page 74
The family chair from Maple Grove that Mom remembered seeing her mother
sitting in the last time she saw her. My last memory of Uncle Billy is his sitting
in the chair. Happier memories of the chair include Mom and me sitting in the chair while
she is reading to me. .......................................................................................................... Page 74
Froncie Woods in a picture thought to have been taken when she was 12 years old. . Page 75
Aunt Roxy and Uncle Clay in their living room on the front of the house. The piano is behind
them with Uncle Billy's picture on top of the piano. ....................................................... Page 77
A sterling ladle that has been passed down for five or six generations on my mother’s side of
the family. .......................................................................................................................... Page 78
Nancy and I are dressed to attend an American Royal event while Nancy was president of
the BOTARs in 1973. ......................................................................................................... Page 81
My image on the Royals’ jumbotron as I received the Ewing Kaufmann Distinguished Eagle
Award in 2015. ................................................................................................................... Page 82
I received my Eagle badge in 1955, and later received six Palm awards and the God and
Country Award. I made the Mic-O-Say tribe in 1955 and later received my Warrior and Fire
Builder claws with orange paint. ..................................................................................... Page 83
Silver Beaver award and Sachem (white paint on warrior’s claws) in the tribe of Mic-O-Say
with coups (beads) representing years of involvement in scouting. .............................. Page 84
Family members at Christian College (Left to Right). Top row: Roxy Thompson Woods,
Edna Chesnut Dillingham, Elizabeth Chesnut Farnsworth, Margaret Brown
Thompson. Bottom Row: Frances Thompson Dillingham, Louise Thompson, Barbara
Dillingham Landingham. ................................................................................................. Page 86
Bingham’s General Order No. 11. .................................................................................... Page 88
Allen with former Mayor Richard Berkley. ..................................................................... Page 96
Allen Thompson was president of the American Royal in 1905 and the Missouri State Fair
in 1908 earning these badges. .......................................................................................... Page 98
Dad being sworn in as MoDOT chairman by Missouri Supreme Court Judge
Andrew Higgins. Judge Higgins and my Father were friends and had grown
up in Platte City. ............................................................................................................... Page 98
Mom’s rocking chair from her childhood. She recalled sitting in it
the night the barn burned. ................................................................................................ Page 99
The barn that sat on the original Thompson homesite before the Civil War.
It will be re-erected in Shoal Creek by the K.C. Parks Department. .......................... Page 100
General Washington’s sword, on display at William Jewell under a picture of
Chaplain Gano baptizing General Washington. Washington presented
Gano his sword for his service. ....................................................................................... Page 103
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Dad looking over the top of “his” sign. George Satterlee, MoDOT District Engineer (left), and
Gene Feldhausen, Chairman of MoDOT (right) below the sign. .................................. Page 105
Mary Davidson Cohen, General David Petraeus, James Bernard, II, and myself attending a
meeting during the rebuilding of what has now become the National World War I Museum
and Memorial in 2010. Cohen, Bernard, and I would each serve a term chairing the board
overseeing the development of the new Museum and Memorial. ................................ Page 108
Many people, both locally and nationally answered the call to rebuild the Liberty Memorial
and expand the museum into what is today a national treasure. Pictured here are Admiral
Thompson; Matt Naylor, CEO of Liberty Memorial; General Richard Meyers, former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Ike Skelton’s wife, Patty; myself; and
Steve Harrison of Edward Jones. Steve and I became good friends, and he has been
generous to Liberty Memorial. ........................................................................................ Page 110
The home built by Isaac Buford Thompson in 1876, our nation’s 100th birthday. Aunt Roxie
is on a tricycle indicating the picture would date to the late 1880s............................ Page 112
I became a member of the Man-of-the-Month fraternity in 1999 and later served as
president of the organization for five years, 2007 - 2011. ............................................. Page 113
Recognition for my service to the Native Sons of Greater Kansas City as president in 2009.
Later, in 2014, I received the Outstanding Kansas Citian award from the organization.
(The organization later amended its name to the Native Sons and Daughter
of Greater Kansas City.) .................................................................................................. Page 114
Platte Purchase marker at the north edge of Liberty overlooking
I-35 and U.S. 69. .............................................................................................................. Page 115
In 1987, I was appointed to fill a vacancy of a director who had resigned during his term of
the newly organized National SAE Foundation in Chicago. I served those two years and was
then nominated to serve an additional four-year term. ................................................ Page 117
Receiving the SAE’s Distinguished Service Award from Bill Chapman, the
Deputy Eminent Supreme Archon. ................................................................................ Page 118
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Silver Good Citizenship Medal
received in 2010. .............................................................................................................. Page 120
Congressman ‘Ike’ Skelton (center), and Chris Sizemore at the 30th Anniversary of the
founding of the Corum Chapter of the SAR in Liberty, Missouri. ............................... Page 120
My primary lineage into the SAR through Joshua Dillingham of Virginia. ............... Page 121
It was a pleasure to work on a project with such broad support, and an opportunity to meet
many new Northlanders. It even gave me the opportunity to share a humorous moment with
the Bishop of the Kansas City – St. Joseph Diocese. .................................................... Page 122
The temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on I-435 at
Shoal Creek Parkway. ..................................................................................................... Page 124
While president of the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, I initiated a
project to commission a bronze statue of President Truman to be placed on a pedestal
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outside Union Station. To date we have not been able to complete the project, but a
maquette of the statue is displayed in the Jackson County Courthouse in
downtown Kansas City. ................................................................................................... Page 126
Serving on the Truman Library Institute Board has provided me the opportunity to support
the legacy of the person to whom I have been acquainted since my childhood. As we
complete this book, the Museum is undergoing a year-long renovation. Shown in the picture
is the office in the Library Truman used after his term as president. ........................ Page 127
The Board of Waddell and Reed, when David Gardner was the Chairman. Dad joined the
board in 1963, and I joined the board in 1996 or 1997. Dad and I served on the board
collectively for more than 50 years. ................................................................................ Page 128
Wentworth Military Academy, Bill attended William Jewell his final three-years. While at
Jewell he played on the basketball team at three Final Four NAIA tournaments, and was
president of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. Today he is chapter advisor. (Bill’s time at
Wentworth was cut short when the Board, of which I was a member, discontinued the
Basketball program for budgetary reasons.) ................................................................. Page 129
Jay, at the White House, standing in the rear near the open door, with President
Eisenhower in the Rose Garden in the mid-1950s. ....................................................... Page 130
John visiting the gravesite of Kemp M. and Sara Jane Woods at the Woods family cemetery
located on the original Woods farm south of Smithville. That farm and other properties, now
in Platte County, were settled shortly after the Platte Purchase extended the state of
Missouri boundary to the Missouri River. ..................................................................... Page 131
Family Tree: Nancy Abbott. ........................................................................................... Page 132
The tombstones of Helen Jane Dear and Jack Dear,
Nancy’s mother and stepfather. .................................................................................... Page 132
The monument marking the tombstones for Roy Edwards, Sr., and his wife Bertha.
Another nearby monument marks the burial place of his son and daughter-in-law,
Roy Edwards, Jr. Page ............................................................................................................ 133
The family monument and plot for Nancy’s father, William Abbott, and other Abbott and
Bigger family members. ................................................................................................. Page 134
Monuments for the Chesnut and Dillingham families including the tombstones of
David and Maggie Chesnut as well as Joe and Edna Dillingham in the
Platte City Cemetery. ...................................................................................................... Page 135
The tombstones of my paternal grandparents, Joseph and Edna Dillingham. ......... Page 137
The tombstone of my paternal great-great-grandparents,
Elihu and Mary Jane Dillingham. ................................................................................. Page 138
Tombstone of John H. Dillingham. ................................................................................ Page 139
A trip to the Platte City Cemetery is a trip down a large part of our family tree – with family
name not only of the Dillinghams, but the Millers, Jones, Oldhams, Chesnuts and many
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more. The Dillingham tombstone in this photo marks the gravesite of Uncle Dude and Aunt
Nanny Dillingham. .......................................................................................................... Page 140
The Woods monument in the family plot at the Smithville Cemetery. ....................... Page 141
The entry to the Second Creek Cemetery. ..................................................................... Page 142
The Dillingham monument marking the gravesite of Mom and Dad in the
Second Creek Cemetery. ................................................................................................. Page 142
Tombstone of Benjamin Lampton, my great-great-grandfather. ................................. Page 144
The tombstone of Sarah Hamilton Woods (2nd wife) and Kemp M. Woods, Sr. in the private
family cemetery north of Smithville on 132 St. west of Highway 169. ........................ Page 146
A video of John’s visit to the Phineas Skinner gravesite is available at the online resources,
www.DillinghamBook.com. ............................................................................................. Page 147
A video of this presentation is available at the online resources,
www.Dillinghambook.com. .............................................................................................. Page 149
Early family tree developed by John. ............................................................................. Page 150
Family Tree: Elihu P. Dillingham, Sr. .......................................................................... Page 152
A framed picture of Uncle Mack, Uncle Spec, and Dad (left to right), in a frame that always
set next to Gumma’s bed. (ca. 1920). .............................................................................. Page 155
The family sword that was presented to Isaac Thompson when he commanded the
outfit that captured the courthouse in Lexington, Missouri, during the
Battle of Hemp Bales in 1861. ........................................................................................ Page 156
A memorial stone at William Jewell College placed under a Cardinal Red Oaktree we
planted. Seven family members attended William Jewell from John Lampton, in 1859,
through Bill in 1997. Three of us, Kemp Woods, Dad, and I have received the
William F. Yates Medallion for Distinguished Service, the highest non-degree
award the college bestows. ............................................................................................. Page 158
President Jimmy Carter spoke at William Jewell College and then attended a private
reception at Charles and Patty Garney’s home. (ca 1980) ............................................ Page 162
John in oral interview with The State Historical Society of Missouri representative,
Jeff Corrigan in John’s office (formerly Jay’s office) on the ninth floor of the
Livestock Exchange Building. ......................................................................................... Page 164
John sitting at his desk during oral interview with
The State Historical Society of Missouri. ....................................................................... Page 166
Paintings I purchased from 'artists' in the villages near our post north of Uijeongbu. The top
picture shows one of the villages outside our fenced, guarded nuclear compound that was
surrounded by rice paddies. Local artists would sell these oils on wood paintings for a few
dollars. I had them framed after I returned home. ....................................................... Page 188
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As my service came to an end in July 1964, General Charles Meyer awarded me the Army
Commendation Medal. Dad and Mom brought out a bunch of Golden Ox steaks for dinner to
celebrate. In addition to “Monk” Meyer and his wife, Ann, the guests included Senator and
Mrs. Darby; Dr. and Mrs. Spelman;, Mi and Kemp Woods; Kemp’s sister, Dorothy, and her
husband, Major Ernie Stoelzing; Major General Jonathan O. Seaman (division commander);
General Seaman’s aide, Captain Jack Little; John Montgomery of the Junction City Union
Newspaper and his wife; Tom Griffith, who was a Republican guru in Manhattan, Kansas;
Fred Bramlage of Junction City, Kansas; Mr. Scupine, who founded a company that would
later become Sprint; Ed Rolf and his wife, who was Senator Carlson’s daughter; Mike Flynn;
Gumma and BooPoo; my friend Homer Williams and his wife, Linda; Linda’s parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Ervin. ................................................................................................................ Page 190
In 2005, I received the Alexander W. Doniphan Community Service Award. ............ Page 208
My 2004 induction into the Missouri Squires during a luncheon ceremony in the Governor's
Mansion in Jefferson City. Membership is limited to 100 living Missourians at any one time.
Governor Bob Holden recommended me for membership. Dad and I were members at the
same time, although Dad had been inducted 30 years earlier. .................................... Page 218
Family Tree: Elihu P. Dillingham, Sr. .......................................................................... Page 224
Family Tree: John Wesley White. ................................................................................. Page 226
Family Tree: Oldham/Pepper. ....................................................................................... Page 227
Family Tree: Baber/Lampton. ....................................................................................... Page 230
Family Tree: Bush/Vivion/Gholson. .............................................................................. Page 232
Family Tree: Skinner. .................................................................................................... Page 235
The seven-foot marble obelisk tombstone of my great-great-great-grandfather Phineas
Skinner located five miles north of Platte City at Camden Point, on private property
that was once his home. .................................................................................................. Page 235
Family Tree: Garrard/Mountjoy. ................................................................................... Page 237
Family Tree: Tipton. ....................................................................................................... Page 239
Family Tree: Reynolds/Oldham. ..................................................................................... Page 241
Family Tree: Darnell. ...................................................................................................... Page 242
Family Tree: Thompson. ................................................................................................ Page 244
Family Tree: Wiglesworth.............................................................................................. Page 245
Family Tree: Lucy Jane Guthrie. .................................................................................. Page 247
Family Tree: Chesnut. .................................................................................................... Page 248
Oil paintings of Lucinda Garrard Chesnut, my great-great-grandmother, and her husband,
Judge William Chesnut. Gumma had Lucinda’s painting over her mantel. After Gumma
died, we found both paintings and had them restored. They are now at our house. She was
the granddaughter of Kentucky’s 2nd governor. He was a Confederate officer in the Civil
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War. In 1880 he was elected for two terms as Platte County Presiding Judge, now referred
to as a County Commissioner. ....................................................................................... Page 249
Family Tree: Arthur/Gow/Dye. ...................................................................................... Page 250
Family Tree: Goodlow/Monett........................................................................................ Page 254
Family Tree: Goodlow/Woods. ........................................................................................ Page 255
Catherine Goodloe Woods, my great-great-great-grandmother. She is buried in the family
cemetery of her son, Captain Kemp M. Woods, Sr., north of Nashua. ........................ Page 257
Family Tree: Sheriff John H. Dillingham. .................................................................... Page 259
John Henry Dillingham and Anna L. Oldham. ............................................................. Page 259
Historical marker at the site where “Marsh’ Dillingham was killed in the line of duty.
The marker recognizes ‘Marsh’, John Henry Dillingham and his son,
Henry Dillingham. ........................................................................................................... Page 260
John and Anna’s six children with the children’s caregiver, Caroline. The six kids with
Caroline after their mother died and before the Sheriff was shot. He left and became a
deputy sheriff in Butte, Montana. Bessie died early and then John Cleland died, my
grandfather Joe is on the left. Ed Douglas's grandfather, Uncle Dude, who is the
youngest is on the right. Uncle Henry is the oldest in the middle.
Uncle Bill is the next oldest on front left. (ca. 1890) ..................................................... Page 260
The Law Enforcement Memorial on the north grounds of the State Capitol in Jefferson City,
Mo. Marshall John H. Dillingham was the inspiration and is the first name entered on the
monument, designed by Homer Williams. ..................................................................... Page 261
A wedding picture of my great uncle Henry Dillingham and his wife Mary June Cockrill who
were married on June 15, 1901. ..................................................................................... Page 262
Henry L. Dillingham, appointed as the 19th U.S. Marshall for the Western District of
Missouri on March 1, 1934. ............................................................................................. Page 261
Elihu Park and Mary Jane (White) Dillingham. ........................................................... Page 263
Mary Jane ‘Jennie’ Dillingham’s tombstone at Riverview Cemetery. She was my great-great
aunt and lived to the age of ninety. ................................................................................ Page 263
Elihu Dillingham and grandchildren. ............................................................................ Page 264
The 1898 appointment of John H. Dillingham as Platte County Sheriff by Governor Lon
Stephens. Dillingham, my great grandfather, and namesake was the son-in-law of Francis
Oldham, my great-great-grandfather.. ........................................................................... Page 265
Edna was very artistic, leaving paintings, sewing, and needlepoint pieces for family
members. A red cardinal oil painting, John’s favorite, hangs in his kitchen. ............. Page 266
The children of Joseph B. Dillingham and Edna Chesnut. Top, from left: Jay B., David
Mack, and John Chesnut. Middle, from left: David Mack, John Chesnut, Jay B. Bottom,
from left: Jay B. and David Mack. .................................................................................. Page 267
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Stained glass window from the Golden Ox. ................................................................... Page 268
A newspaper account of the death of James Dye, my great-grandfather. According to his
tombstone in Weston, he died in 1925. The full contents of this article were not included in
the available image. ........................................................................................................ Page 271
Appointment of Henry Dillingham as U. S. Marshall by President Franklin
Roosevelt in 1939. ............................................................................................................ Page 272
Guy Brasfield Park 38th Governor of Missouri............................................................. Page 274
John at the dedication ceremony, October 17, 2017. .................................................... Page 275
Governor Guy Park’s tombstone with the honorary plaque presented by the
State of Missouri. ............................................................................................................. Page 276
Painting of Locustwood Farm, home of Roxy (Thompson) and W. Clay Woods. It was built
around 1916 on the homesite of Roxy's grandparents, Benjamin and Mahala Lampton.
Image from a painting by Libby Morrison Woods Snyder, ca. 1960. ........................... Page 278
The Allen family lot in the Fairview Cemetery, Liberty, Missouri. The tombstone of the
namesake of my son Allen, Dr. John Marshall Allen, is in the lower-left corner. In the
background is the memorial-tombstone of Alexander Doniphan. ................................ Page 282
Allen Thompson, my grandfather, along with his ribbons and medals from the
American Royal, and the American Royal Cup that he received in 1907 for the
best Galloway cattle feeders. The two president pins-American Royal (1905)
and Missouri state Fair (1908.) ...................................................................................... Page 285
Wedding picture of Jay B. Dillingham and Frances Thompson. The bride and groom are
flanked by the bride’s father Allen Thompson and her sister Louise. ......................... Page 287
A picture John found in a barn between the walls where the Chesnut home used to stand on
4th Street east across from the old school in Platte City. It is a picture of Judge David
Chesnut and his daughters, Gumma (Edna Chesnut) on the left, Aunt Boo (Elizabeth
Chesnut) on the right. Gumma was born in 1887 and Aunt Boo in 1888 suggesting the photo
was taken around 1890. .................................................................................................. Page 288
The wedding of Jay and Frances as reported in the Jefferson City News and Tribune
society page. ..................................................................................................................... Page 291
John Allen Dillingham and Nancy Abbott Dillingham. ............................................... Page 292
Helen Jane and Jack Dear. ............................................................................................. Page 293
Gift from the family of K.C. Police Chief Clarence Kelly presented to John for his efforts to
name the FBI Building for Kelly in Kansas City. This was his personal pistol. He was the
director of the FBI. .......................................................................................................... Page 295
John and Nancy on a Truman Library Institute Trip to Hyde Park, home of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt...................................................................................................... Page 296
Allen and Sandi with their daughters Allie and Mollie around 2006. ........................ Page 297
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Bill and Keri with their children, Jack, Lucas, and Lily. ............................................. Page 300
Mayor Richard Berkley with Bill (left) and Allen (right)
in the mayor’s office in 1982. .......................................................................................... Page 301
(From the left) Colonel Sellers, Sr., Wentworth Commander; Marlin Perkins, famed
television host, and a Wentworth graduate; myself; Bill and Allen. ........................... Page 301
Speaking at the Agricultural Business Council at the University Club shortly after Dad died
in 2007. The Council established a Jay B. Dillingham Award in Dad’s honor. Nancy and the
boys attended. .................................................................................................................. Page 303
Recipient of the Buck O'Neil Legacy Seat Honoree at Royal's Stadium. .................... Page 313
Our grandchildren at our 50th Wedding Anniversary in Jamaica. ............................. Page 326
My grandchildren: Lucas, upper right; Allie, upper right; Lily, center; Mollie, lower left;
Jack, lower right. (2019) .................................................................................................. Page 327
326
To My Grandchildren
Our grandchildren at our 50th Wedding Anniversary in Jamaica.
The purpose of my recording the family history is for each of you -- Allie, Mollie, Lucas,
Lily, and Jack -- to have a greater understanding of your family. Although you think of
yourself as a Dillingham, that history is only a small part of who you are. Your family tree
goes far beyond the family whose last name you now share.
I thought it was important that I record some of the things I’ve learned about my
ancestors to give to each of you an idea of what your forbearers have accomplished and
perhaps sacrificed; the successes, trials, and tribulations they endured. I hope it will give
each of you the opportunity to go forth with confidence in what you will add to this family
history.
327
My grandchildren: Lucas, upper right; Allie, upper right; Lily, center; Mollie, lower left; Jack, lower right. (2019)
328
329
Acknowledgments
Cover Maple Grove Farm from a watercolor by J.R. Hamil
J.R. Hamil, American Watercolor Artist. Maple Grove. Kansas City North,
Missouri. Printed courtesy of the artist. Copyright J.R. Hamil. All rights
reserved. http://www.jrhamil.com/
Printing David Burns
Woodneath Press
Mid-Continent Public Library
Kansas City, MO
Administrative Coordinator Wanda Brooks
Publishing Assistance Heather N. Paxton
Publishing Assistance Christie Kennard
Publishing Coordinator Frank McMillian
Editorial contributors to individual books within this anthology are acknowledged in the introduction of each book.
Additional Information
Additional information: www.DillinghamBook.com
Legacy Link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gHl-oYvQCaOKfzPYJEzWZmiM79XQGIqv?usp=sharing
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