David C. Kay

DAVID C. KAY. An honor and distinction that will be increasingly appreciated in the years to come is that associated with the founding and establishment of a town. Not only was David C. Kay largely responsible for founding the town of Morland in Graham County, but he has been conspicuous in every phase of its development and improvement. He has been chiefly concerned with his duties as cashier of the Morland State Bank, which he also helped to found.

Mr. Kay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, January 3, 1863. His father, James T. Kay, was born in that city in 1833, grew up and married there, and was a tailor by trade. In 1872 he brought his family to America and was engaged in the glassware business as a traveling salesman, keeping his home at Philadelphia, where he died in 1888. He was punctual and devout in his religious duties, and was a Presbyterian.

James T. Kay married Jeannette Riddle, born at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1836 and died at Philadelphia in 1903. They had the following children: Margaret, unmarried, and a bookkeeper in Philadelphia; David C.; Alfred, a salesman in Philadelphia; Agnes, unmarried, and a dressmaker in Philadelphia.

David C. Kay secured his early education in the public schools and night schools of Philadelphia. At the age of nineteen he started out to make his own way in the world. At Chicago he clerked for three years, and then for five years was head waiter in the Metropolitan Hotel at Kansas City, Missouri.

With these experiences behind him, he came to western Kansas and located at what is now Morland. He entered the land where Morland stands as a government townsite, and he and his wife deserve all the distinction that goes with the founding of the town. After the town had a population of 100 people and $20,000 worth of improvements, proofs were submitted to the Government and the town lots were divided, Mr. Kay receiving 238 of them. He has been one of the leading dealers in real estate and he also owns a good wheat farm southeast of Morland.

Mr. Kay was one of the founders of the Morland State Bank in 1904. After it was organized and opened for business he continued as cashier and has had the active management of the bank ever since. The bank is capitalized at $10,000 and its prosperity is indicated by surplus profits of $30,000. The president is B. W. St. John and the vice president is Timothy Waggoner.

Mr. Kay is a republican in politics. During the populist days in western Kansas he was elected and served two terms as county clerk, from 1895 to 1899. He is now mayor of Morland, and is serving his third term in that office. For ten years he was justice of the peace, and in that capacity one of his chief and probably his most pleasant duty was marrying couples in the early days. He was one of the founders of and is an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Morland. He was the first master of Morland Lodge No. 414, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is also affiliated with Salina Consistory No. 3 of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Morland. On June 7, 1886, at Chicago, Mr. Kay married Miss Eva St. Clair, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James St. Clair, the former new deceased. Mrs. Kay's mother is still living in Chicago. Mr. St. Clair was a Union soldier and lost an arm in the Civil war, and for many years was a sanitary policeman in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Kay have one child, Fremont, who was born at Morland, then known as Fremont, in 1888. He has spent his career in his native town, is an expert electrician, and is now in charge of the local electric plant. He married Ethel Fuller, born in Graham County, a daughter of John B. and Mary Ellen (Chidester) Fuller. Fremont Kay and wife have three children, Elaine, David V. and Enid.

Pages 2328-2329.