Herbert W. Chittenden

HERBERT W. CHITTENDEN came to Western Kansas from England about thirty years ago and, beginning as a homesteader, achieved unusual success as a farmer and stockman, and is still identified with agricultural interests, though for the past seven or eight years he has used his experience and ability in managing a large business in real estate, loans and insurance at Hays.

Mr. Chittenden was born in Yorkshire, England, June 16, 1852. His father, Thomas Chittenden, was born in London in 1836. As a boy he left home to enlist in the Seventh Hussar Regiment, and served all through the Crimean war when England fought Russia to prevent that country's aggressive designs against the Dardanelles. He rose to the rank of an officer in the Hussars, and upon leaving the army he entered the British civil service and finally retired on a pension. He died at Filey, England, in 1909. He was a liberal in politics, a member of the Episcopal Church and very devout in his religious observance. He was also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Thomas Chittenden married Margaret Walton, who was born in Brompton-on-Swale, England, and died at Catterick at the age of twenty-eight. Her children were: George Walton, who died at York, England, at the age of sixty-six; Horace Joseph, a merchant tailor at Bradford, England; Herbert W. and John H., a prominent business man of Hays, Kansas, elsewhere mentioned.

As a boy Herbert W. Chittenden displayed an unusually independent spirit and at the age of twelve years left home and school to go to work in a printing shop. He later followed different occupations and for seven years was in service with an English nobleman. He came to America in 1886 and at once homesteaded 120 acres near Hays. From that nucleus he built up a large estate, comprising at one time 1,020 acres. He finally sold the bulk of his farm lands, and since the fall of 1911 has been a resident of Hays. He has conducted from that point his extensive operations in real estate, insurance and loans, and has also been active in local affairs, serving one term on the city council and two terms as mayor.

Mr. Chittenden is a republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Hays Lodge of Masons, the Royal Arch Chapter and Aleppo Commandery of the Knights Templar at Hays, also with Hays Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Hays Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Chapter of the Eastern Star and Knights and Ladies of Security.

June 17, 1894, at Hays, Mr. Chittenden married Miss Susan S. Broomfield, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Logan) Broomfield. Her father was a Scotch attorney and banker and died in Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Chittenden are the parents of eight children: Margaret Ann, a graduate of the Hays High School, now a senior in the Fort Hays Normal School, and is assistant teacher of domestic economy there; Elizabeth, in the first year of the State Normal School; David John, now in the Student Army Training Corps at Fort Hays Normal School; Mary, a sophomore in the Hays High School; Susan, a freshman in high school; Thomas, Eleanor and Herbert, all in grammar schools at Hays.

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