Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 286  

MRS. MARY A. KAY, the widow of William Kay, is living at No. 838 South Topeka avenue, Wichita. She was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1820, and is the daughter of John and Mary (Ward) Gibb, and a granddaughter of Christopher and Mary (Bolton) Gibb. Her maternal grandparents were John and Ann (Cooper) Ward, natives of England. Her father and paternal grandfather were extensive farmers in England, where the latter spent his entire life. Her father, however, emigrated to Canada about 1833, remaining there three years. In 1836 he removed with his family to Scott County, Ill., where he died in September of the same year. Her mother continued to live there until her death in 1872. They were the parents of four children, three of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. Rebecca Lambert, Mrs. Kay and John. 

     Our subject was thirteen years old when she left England with her parents, and was a young lady when she went with them to Scott County, Ill. She was afterward married to Barney Groves, and ere many years left a widow with one child, a daughter, who married W. H. Ranson, of Wichita. Mr. and Mrs. Ranson have five children, namely: Della, Lena, Ellsworth, Bertha and Jessie. 

     May 6, 1850, our subject was married to William Kay, a native of England. His father, Joseph Kay, was a cabinet manufacturer in his native country, England, where his entire life was passed. William Kay learned the cabinet-maker's trade of his father, and after pursuing it awhile in the old country, came to the United States and settled in Scott County, Ill., where he engaged in the same occupation. After his marriage with our subject he purchased a farm of 130 acres, and engaged in farming in addition to cabinet-making, continuing these occupations until his death in 1865. He was widely known and honored throughout the community as a man of inflexible honor and stability of character. He was an influential and worthy member of the Christian Church. To him and his wife were born five children, three of whom are now living - Harriet, Ellen and Horace. Harriet is living with her mother; Ellen is the wife of Cornelius Jones, of California; Horace is living in Wichita. 

     Mrs. Kay is a woman of good business ability, and by sound judgment and excellent management, has increased the property left by her husband. In March, 1884, she moved to Wichita with her family, and the succeeding six months lived on a rented farm five miles north of the city. She then bought a farm of 130 acres one and one-half miles south of Douglas avenue; twenty acres of this were under cultivation, and on the farm was a small house containing two rooms only. They remained on the farm, with the exception of one year, until the fall of 1887, in the meantime building a fine house and greatly improving the farm. Since her purchase three additions have been laid out on the farm and the property has greatly increased in value. In 1887 our subject built her present fine residence in the city at a cost of nearly $5,000. It is tastily furnished, fitted up with the modern conveniences, and very conveniently arranged. Mrs. Kay is a conscientious member of the Christian Church.

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