Jennie Grace Sitton
Jennie Grace Sitton February 20, 1882 - February 17, 1968
(married Lawrence Hugh Kuykendall)
"Jennie Grace Sitton was born on the "Old Sitton Place" in the house that her father, Nathan Koontz Sitton, built in 1872, but her family moved to the new home across the creek while she was still young. Her father was one of the earliest Oregon pioneers and her mother was his second wife, Mary Shelley (Laughlin), a widow with two children from a prior marriage, she married him on 31 January 1871. By the time Jennie was born on 20 February 1882 there were 7 children from the first marriage, 2 Laughlins, and two older brothers and a sister from the second marriage, so she came into a world filled with companionship. That may have contributed to the security which she displayed in her personality.
Her education was acquired at the old No. 8 School, where she finished grade school. In those days riding a horse was the standard mode of transportation to and from school.
Jennie and her younger sister, Sena, who was 2 years her junior and the baby of the big Sitton family, were close all their lives. When their mother, Mary Shelley Sitton, died on 1 July 1904 following their father's death on 10 July 1902, Jennie was 22 years old and Sena was 20. At that point they struck out on their own and moved to McMinnville, where they resided at 602 N. Davis Street until Jennie was married.
Jennie worked in the Old Howe's General Store at Carlton and also at their half-brother, Leslie Laughlin's, grocery store in McMinnville before her marriage.
Hazel Kuykendall of Yamhill and Sena Sitton of McMinnville connived together to get Hazel's brother, Lawrence (an old "bachelor" farmer and Rural Mail Carrier) and Jennie to meet each other. From the meeting grew a friendship and then a courtship. Jennie left the store to become a farmer's wife. Her lady friends in McMinnville made up a scrapbook about a city girl going to the country.
The wedding took place at the Christian Church in McMinnville. Ward Sitton, Jennie's brother, gave her away. The flower girls were Marjorie Warren and Alice Sitton. Alice's little sister, Anne, was ring-bearer. The other attendants were Ida Mae Smith, maid of honor, and Charles Kuykendall (brother of the groom), best man.
Jennie was 35 years old and so was Lawrence when they were married on 26 September 1917.
At 37 years of age Jennie became pregnant for the first time, a dangerous situation even in the days of advanced medical procedures and even more so in 1920. Sena moved in with Jennie and Lawrence to give Jennie the extra needed help.
As the delivery time drew near Jennie labored hard, but to no avail. So, Lawrence's brother, Charles, took Jennie, Sena and Lawrence to the depot to go by train from Yamhill to McMinnville.
Dr. Wood told "Miss Jennie" (as he still called her, having known her for many years) that he was going to make sure she had this baby. After 4 days of labor -- on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1920 -- Robert Sitton Kuykendall was born a strong little fellow.
Two years later, April 20, 1922, a second son was born to Jennie and Lawrence. They named him Wayne Marion Kuykendall. His early days were precarious and he spent six weeks in a Portland hospital. However, he lived to be a strong, healthy man who served in World War II and is still living, as is his brother, Bob, in 1980.
The boys grew up on the farm and attended the Christian Church with their folks. Lawrence served as an elder in this Yamhill church for many years, and Jennie taught Sunday School in the Primary Department.
Lawrence belonged to the Odd Fellows Lodge and served on the school board. Like his wife, Jennie, he was a descendant of one of the early pioneer families in the Willamette Valley. His maternal grandfather, T. C. Davis, was born in Missouri in 1821 and came to Oregon in 1845. His mother, Eliza Jane Davis, was born 17 November 1855 on the Davis donation land claim, just west of the town of Yamhill, which included a part of the present site of Yamhill and the Christian Church. She was married to Charles V. Kuykendall on 24 April 1875 in Yamhill.
Charles V. Kuykendall was born in West Virginia, 2 April 1851, and came to Oregon with his widowed mother by way of the Isthmus of Panama, arriving at Vancouver, Washington, in 1868. He taught school for two years, farmed in Polk County for three years and, after he and Miss Davis were married, farmed the Davis claim. The couple had twelve children: Lena M., Estella B., Zilla B., Lawrence H., Kathleen E., Jean, Hazel, Mollie L., Charles D., Opal, Marvin G., and a child who died in infancy.
Both Mr. & Mrs. Charles Kuykendall were fine people, very active and loyal in church work. Mrs. Kuykendall was a charter member of the Yamhill Christian Church.
Charles V. Kuykendall died in April 1926 and Eliza Jane Davis Kuykendall in May 1931.
Their son, Lawrence, Jennie Sitton's future husband, graduated from the Yamhill High School in 1901. He carried mail on Route 1 west of Yamhill for 5 1/2 years, 1906 till 1911. He started running his father's farm in 1917, the same year he was married. After he and Jennie were married they lived for 14 years on the place that Arnold Eidsmoe occupied in 1948; then, after his mother's death, they moved to the Kuykendall home place [Maple Crest Farm, just west of Eidsmoe's] where they lived out the rest of their lives. Lawrence farmed with horses the many acres of part of his grandfather, T. C. Davis's, donation land claim.
Jennie Sitton Kuykendall had creamy skin with brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. Her husband, Lawrence, was a ruddy faced, blue eyed man with dark auburn hair and fair skin.
Jennie and Lawrence were loving and lovable people with many friends and anyone, at any time, was most welcome at their fireside. Their love and hospitality included Sena Sitton as a member of their household until death parted them.
Lawrence Kuykendall died February 13, 1962, and he was laid to rest in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery (Pike) -- just west of the town of Yamhill.
Sena Sitton had died 6 January 1959, so when her husband died, Jennie was the last of that generation left. Her husband and all her brothers and sisters had preceded her to the Great Beyond. She was blessed in having her son, Bob, his wife, Shirley, and their two daughters living close to comfort her last years. Finally, on 17 February 1968, she joined the rest of her family. She is buried with Lawrence and her sister, Sena, in Pike Cemetery." Sources: Family records of Bob and Shirley Kuykendall [quoted in its entirety from: The Sons & Daughters of N. K. Sitton, Oregon Pioneer of 1843 by Veronica C. E. Sitton (Mrs. Gordon R. Sitton), Corvallis, Oregon, 20 July 1980, Second Edition 1984.]
