Albert Kenney

KENNEY SPAULDING MAHIN PARCEL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/15/2010 at 20:06:59

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Albert Kenney
By Mrs Harold I Nielson

Albert Kenney was born January 6, 1880, in Greene County, Iowa, the youngest of two sons and one daughter of George and Loretta (Spaulding) Kenney. George died in 1882, and Albert grew up in his maternal grandparents home near Clinton, Iowa. In his teen years, Albert moved to Cushing, Iowa, to be near other relatives. Rhetta (Mahin) Kenney was born May 25, 1880, in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, the oldest of six daughters and one son of Charles and Alice (Parcel) Mahin. The Mahin family moved in a covered wagon to a farm near Cushing in the early 1900’s. A short time later, Charles Mahin bought a farm and moved his family to the area known as Windy Hill, near Bronson, Iowa. Charles and Alice lived there until retirement, when they moved to Correctionville, Iowa.

Albert Kenney and Rhetta Mahin were married on Christmas Eve, 1902, and their first home was on a farm near Bronson. They farmed in the Bronson and Climbing Hill areas and in about 1906 moved to a farm near the Windy Hill school, east of Bronson. At that time they had two children, Lester and Faye. Five more children were born on the Windy Hill farm; four sons, Everett, Cecil, Boyd and Donald, and one daughter, Dorothy. Everett died in infancy.

Albert retired from farming in the spring of 1943 and died the following October at his farm home near Bronson. Rhetta later lived in Bronson and Sioux City and spent much time visiting her family. She lived to almost 93 year’s of age, the last nine years in a Sioux City nursing home. She died March 13, 1973.

Of the six Kenney children, three still live in Woodbury County. Lester ‘Les’ and Cecil ‘Bus’ both bought farms near Bronson. Les still lives in his farm house, but rents out the land. He and his wife, the former Violet Wilkinson from Moville, Iowa, had no children but made a home for several children of relatives and friends. Almost anyone who needed a home could stay with ‘Les’ and ‘Vi’. Les served 15 years on the County Board of Supervisors. Violet died in 1969.

Bus and his wife, the former Rena Bryant of Bronson, lived most all their married life in Woodbury County with the exception of seven years spent on a farm near Hartington, Nebraska. They are now retired from the farm and live in Bronson where Bus ‘dabbles’ in antiques. Son, Pat, and one daughter, Bonnie Mitchell, live in Sioux City. Daughter, Joan Fouts, lives in Bronson. Daughter, Mary Ann, died at age two years.

I, Dorothy, am the third member of the Kenney family to be living in Woodbury County. I met Harold Nielson while attending I.S.T.C. (now U.N.I.) in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We were married in 1937 and our first home was in Kingsley, Iowa. We moved from Kingsley to Spencer, Iowa, and later to Waterloo, Iowa. We returned to Woodbury County in 1942, moving at that time to Sioux City where we have lived since. We have three daughters: Jean Seaton of Sioux City; Nancy George of Waterloo; and Ann Thompson of Tacoma, Washington.

Incidentally, both my sister and I began our teaching careers at the Windy Hill school. Faye later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She graduated form nursing school and worked as an RN in Wisconsin, Iowa, and California until retirement. She now lives in San Mateo, California.

Both Boyd and Don also live in California. Boyd’s wife, the former Leona Goodrich of Climbing Hill, was killed in an automobile – pedestrian accident in 1952 and Boyd moved to California a few years later. He worked for the American Airlines until retirement and now lives in San Mateo. Two sons, Douglas and Albert, live in California. Daughter, Karen McKissock, lives in California.

Don and his wife, the former Frances Nitzsche of Storm Lake, Iowa, live in Fresno, where he recently retired as a partner in an insurance agency. Two sons, Mike and Tim, live in California and daughter, Holly, lives in New Mexico. Their youngest son, name Rhett for his grandmother, lives in Sheldon, Iowa.

Albert and Rhetta Kenney have over 50 direct descendants, many of whom still live in Woodbury County.