Kaye, John Brayshaw 1941 - 1909

KAYE, GREENE, BAKER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 1/8/2023 at 15:14:41

Source: Decorah Republican April 29, 1909, P2 C3

DEATH’S TOLL IS LARGE
GRIM REAPER HAS ENTERED MANY HOMES, TAKING LOVED ONES.
JOHN B. KAYE DIES AT CALMAR
Mrs. Wm. Hilleman, Mrs. Jos. T. Shipley, Mrs. Enos F. Barfoot, are Numbered with the Great Majority.
JOHN BRAYSHAW KAYE.
John Brayshaw Kaye, the fifth child and fourth son of Abram and Mary (Brayshaw) Kaye, was born in Yorkshire, England, June 10, 1841. In the following year the parents came to this country, and after three years’ residence in Maryland moved to Wisconsin, and found a home near Lake Geneva, which continued to be the family residence until the death of the parents. The influence of Lake Geneva and its beautiful associations had its effect upon the life of Mr. Kaye. It inspired him to attempt poetical labor, and was the theme of his earliest verses. Soon after attaining his majority ill health caused him to make a trip to the far west. In April, 1863, he joined a wagon train and on the 27th of the following July he arrived at Virginia City, Nev., where he remained for three years, at varying sorts of labor such as burning charcoal, carpentering, &c. Later on he made another trip to the far west, this time visiting California. In 1871 he came back to Wisconsin. The following year he came to Decorah, and continued a course of reading law in the office of Baker Brothers—F. E. Baker being a brother-in-law. In 1872 he became a member of the bar of Winneshiek county and at once located in Calmar, which remained his home until death visited him.
Mr. Kaye was elected county attorney just as statutory prohibition was going into effect, and it fell to his lot to engage in a protracted series of suits against dealers in intoxicants in which he met and vanquished the ablest lawyers of the Winneshiek county bar. Single handed he prosecuted all cases until the attorneys of the liquor dealers were so wearied that they were glad to cry quits. The result was that these suits caused an addition of more than 812,000 to the revenue of the county. He was also engaged in a number of the most noted legal cases tried in this county. Among these were the Solberg bond case, the Cater murder case, both peculiar and intricate cases, in the trial of which he exhibited a high class of legal talent. His successes won him fame and brought him into the light so prominently that for a considerable period he was a very busy man.
Early in life Mr. Kaye began writing fugitive verses and in time these became so numerous that in 1874 they were brought together and published in a volume entitled “Facts and Fancies,” by the house of Geo. Macdonald & Co., Chicago. “Songs of Lake Geneva” appeared in 1882 and was published by the distinguished firm of G. P. Putnam’s Sons of New York city. Both of these works contain poems of high merit and won him no little credit and praise from those who were then and still are recognized as competent critics. But Mr. Kaye’s best work was done on “Vashti,” a story based on the Biblical story of Esther. Of its merit there can be no doubt. It far exceeded all prior efforts, and established for its author a fame that is genuinely deserved.
We may add that had he lived, a fourth volume would have soon been put into print and given to the world. Mr. Kaye was anxious to have it a home production, and to that end had submitted the copy to the REPUBLICAN office and negotiations entered into that would have ended in a publication the present year. This last poem was a rehearsal in metrical form of the story of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of his master Jesus, the Christ. Contrary in the current opinion Mr. Kaye did not accept the idea that Judas intended to betray Christ, and the poem is a defense of Judas, in which the entire story of the trial before the Sanhedrim and Caiaphas is rehearsed with a clearness that adds much to the Biblical account. The critic might not accept Mr. Kaye’s version of the translation, but he would see in it a volume of more than usual poetical power.
Mr. Kaye, in 1872, married Miss Fanny Greene, on April 11th, and to them were born three sons and seven daughters, of whom seven survive. Percy grew to maturity but was for years an invalid, and finally yielded to the great destroyer. Their youngest son, John Brayshaw, Jr., was drowned in 1900, and one daughter, Helen Marjory, has since passed away.
Deceased was a public spirited citizen. The Calmar Manufacturing company is evidence of this. He was active in its organization as a stock company; was a large stock holder and has served it for many years as its president. Its cost was $30,000; had a working capital of $10,000, and gives employment to thirty operatives when in full blast.
Besides his four years’ service to the county as its attorney, Mr. Kaye has been a Justice of the Peace for eleven years, mayor of Calmar town for two years, town recorder for a dozen years, and has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for upwards of thirty-seven years. Politically he has always been affiliated with the republican party, and publicly as well as privately an active supporter of the ideas and principles it has maintained.
Funeral services, of which S. V. Potter took charge, were held from the family home on Tuesday, Rev. H. H. Green of Decorah officiating, and included a solo by Miss Kate Magee of St. Paul. The Masonic fraternity took charge of the services at the grave, and the remains were followed to their last resting place by about three hundred members of the Masonic and M. W. A. fraternities.
Relatives and near friends from out of town who were present were Wm. Kaye, Mrs. James Reek, Mrs. Addin Kaye, Harriett Kaye, Charles Kaye, Mrs. John Grier, John Greene, all of Lake Geneva, Wis., Mrs. David Ledger of Elkhorn, Wis., Eber Strayer and son of Cresco, Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Baker, Harriett and Harry Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Magee and daughter, all of St. Paul, Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Baker and son of Decorah.

Source: Decorah Republican April 29, 1909, P7 C3
Mr. J. B. Kaye, the well known lawyer of this town, died at his home Saturday of pneumonia and heart failure after an illness of about three weeks. The funeral was held Tuesday afternoon at the house, Rev. Green of Decorah delivering the funeral sermon, and the Masons and Woodmen conducting the service. Mr. Kaye leaves a wife and seven children to mourn his loss.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he died April 24, 1909. He is buried in the Calmar City Cemetery.

Calmar City Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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