40 – Longevity

In the past longevity was sometimes a problem: old age could bring poverty and extreme hardship; my Kenyon great-great-grandparents made sure this did not happen. This photo of Austin Pardon Kenyon and Harriet Brewer Kenyon was taken in the first decade of the 20th century; they appear to be enjoying retirement on their front porch in Fairwater, Wisconsin:

Austin Pardon Kenyon 1820-1909, Harriet Brewer 1827-1911

Born in the early part of the 19th century, Austin lived to age 89, and Harriet to age 84. Both died at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, before the advent of antibiotics; given the state of medical knowledge at the time, neither would have seen much benefit from visiting a doctor. It's likely both may have lived even longer with medicines available today to reduce blood pressure, tests to find cancers, vaccinations against pneumonia and flu, and all the advances we enjoy today.

They did not have an easy life. Both were born in central New York State, Austin in 1820, Harriet in 1827. According to family lore, Austin drove mules on the Eire Canal as a young man. When Austin was 26 he married the 19 year old Harriet Brewer, who was living in a nearby town. After a first child was born in 1847 they moved to Wisconsin, to territory recently opened by treaty with native Americans. There they started a farm, and helped build the town of Fairwater (known as Metomen then). 

Hannah Jones Kenyon, Austin's mother, had died at a young age, though we don't know exactly when; Pardon Kenyon, Austin's father, had married again, but succumbed to smallpox at about 40 years of age. Lovinia Tifft Brewer, Harriet's mother, died at age 25, a year and a half after Harriet's birth; her father remarried, but only lived to 57.

As far as we know, neither Austin nor Harriet smoked; both escaped smallpox, and Harriet successfully birthed 4 children. There were no wars in which Austin had to risk his life. Unlike their parents, and with some luck, they both had made it to their eighties. But what about their final years?

On the 17th of October 1894, at the ages of 74 and 67,  Austin and Harriet deeded their farm to their youngest son Louis for $1, in exchange for Louis agreeing to:

 ...properly clothe support maintain and take care of during health and sickness and pay all proper and necessary doctors bills and nursing and care during sickness for and during their lives and each of them and to pay all necessary burial expenses...

...pay or cause to be paid to Allen Kenyon... the sum of eight hundred dollars on or before three years from the date of this deed without interest...

...pay a note secured by a real estate mortgage on the land above described given to one William Miller for the sum of twenty five hundred dollars on or before ten years from date with interest rate of 5% payable annually...

Allen was their oldest son, but was living in Beloit as a carpenter, so the $800 was probably his part of the farm inheritance. The farm had a $2500 mortgage which Louis was to take over. And in exchange for the farm, Louis was to provide all the support Austin and Harriet needed, for the rest of their lives. Louis had married years prior and was presumably doing the farming (the lack of the 1890 census makes this a bit murky, he was 20 and living on the farm in 1880). In the 1900 census we see Austin and Harriet living in town, and renting out a room to a boarder for some extra money. 

This agreement must have been satisfactory to everyone, and lasted until 1908 when it needed updating. Louis was now running the Fond du Lac County Farm, the county's mental health facility, and had decided to sell the farm. In exchange for Austin and Harriet releasing any claim on the deed so it could be free and clear in the sale, they created a new legal "Agreement to Support" document that contracted Louis to provide the same support as specified in the deed. The new contract was drawn up on the 3rd of March, 1908, and signed by all parties. Interestingly Austin and Harriet sign their surname "Kinyon," while their son Louis and his wife Ida sign as "Kenyon."  

Excerpt from "Agreement to Support"

Signatures to the "Agreement to Support"

Other elderly people were not so lucky to have successful offspring to support them in old age. Some ended up in the Fond du Lac Poor Farm – that is, until the Social Security Act was passed in 1935, and we start to see some of those Poor Farm residents checked out with that new means of support. However, it wasn't until thirty years latermor, in 1965, that Medicare and Medicaid were created, and seniors were guaranteed health care. Austin and Harriet basically had their own "Social Security and Medicare" deal with their son Louis to cover them in their old age, and solve this longevity "problem."

Austin only lived a year longer, passing away 17 February 1909 in Fairwater, about 3 weeks after his 89th birthday. Harriet, 7 years younger, lived another 3 1/2 years, until 13 August 1911; she was 84. But they both were able to live their last years knowing someone would take care of them.