Hampton R. Kenaston, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1128-1131 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HAMPTON R. KENASTON, M. D.  

	Dr. Hampton R. Kenaston is a pioneer physician of Bonesteel and 
throughout the years of his active practice has kept in touch with the 
trend of progress of the medical profession, so that his efforts have 
been of far-reaching benefit and value. He was born in Elmwood, Cass 
county, Nebraska, March 24, 1870, a son of Dr. James A. and Caroline E. 
(Scanland) Kenaston. The father, who was born April 2, 1826, was a 
practicing physician and pioneer settler of Nebraska and took up his 
abode there in 1868. He was descended from Scotch ancestry, although 
the family was founded in America in colonial days. He had an uncle who 
was a member of the famous "Boston tea party." Dr. James A. Kenaston 
was one of seven sons and at the age of fifteen years with three young 
companions made his way westward through Illinois and Wisconsin to 
upper Iowa. In Warren county, that state, he studied medicine and 
during the years 1863 and 1864 was an active representative of the 
ministry. In the latter year, however, he put aside all other interests 
to espouse the cause of his country, enlisting as a member of Company 
H. Forty-fourth Iowa Infantry. In 1870 he secured a homestead near 
Weeping Water Falls, Nebraska. His life was ever one of great benefit 
to the community in which he lived and the spirit of helpfulness 
actuated him in all that he did. That his fellow citizens were 
appreciative of his worth and ability is indicated in the fact that in 
1871 he was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention. He 
died June 30, 1911, honored and respected by all who knew him.  

	Dr. H. R. Kenaston pursued a public-school education in his 
native state and in 1890, when a young man of twenty years, settled 
upon a homestead in Boyd county, Nebraska. Before proving up on his 
claim he had begun the study of medicine under private instruction and 
later attended the Sioux City College of Medicine for a year and 
subsequently the U. S. Grant University of Chattanooga, Tennessee, 
where his father was practicing at the time. He was graduated from that 
institution in 1898 and made his way direct to Bonesteel, South Dakota, 
although at that time it was but a small village of about one hundred 
population. In his practice he had to take very long and tiresome 
drives. Dr. Kenaston is the pioneer physician of Bonesteel and for some 
years was the only member of the medical profession in Gregory county. 
In the early days to make his visits he would ride horseback, while 
later, when the roads were somewhat improved, he used a buggy to visit 
his patients, traveling through all kinds of weather—summer's heat and 
winter's storms—in order to respond to the call of those who needed a 
physician's assistance. This was then a wild cattle country, but he has 
seen the county develop into a prosperous and populous district, in 
which there are now eighteen practicing physicians. As there was no 
drug store in the county he compounded and dispensed his own medicines 
and thus gradually became engaged in the drug business, opening his 
store in 1902. He is a registered pharmacist and a member of the South 
Dakota State Pharmaceutical Association and has a well appointed and 
liberally patronized drug store but still continues very active in 
practice. He has ever made it his purpose to keep in close touch with 
the advanced work of the profession and takes post-graduate courses in 
the leading cities of the country in order to keep abreast with 
scientific discoveries. He has a splendidly equipped office containing 
all of the modern instruments used in surgical practice and a most 
complete and up-to-date library. He has his own electrical plant and 
makes a wise and effective use of electricity as a healing agent. In a 
word, medical progress finds in him a strong exponent and his efforts 
have been of increasing value and usefulness.  

	In 1912 he was appointed to the board of health by Governor 
Vessey for a term of five years. When the two boards of health and 
medical examiners were voted out of existence one year later and the 
board of health and medical examiners was instituted he was appointed 
by Governor Byrne to this board and on the 1st of July, 1915, was 
elected its president and has been reappointed by the governor for a 
second term. He was also superintendent of the county board of health 
from the time the county was organized until appointed to the state 
board in 1912. He served as coroner of Gregory county for seven years 
from its organization and has been surgeon for the Northwestern 
Railroad Company from 1902 until the present time. Aside from his 
extensive practice and his mercantile interests he has been the vice 
president of the Citizens Bank of Bonesteel since its establishment in 
1902.  

	On the 8th of November, 1899, Dr. Kenaston was married to Miss 
Jean May McKee, of Butler, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Thomas V. McKee 
and a graduate of the State Normal School at Clarion, Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. Kenaston, who like her husband, is a registered pharmacist and is 
also a registered optometrist, belongs to the women's section of the 
American Pharmaceutical Association and also to the South Dakota State 
Pharmaceutical Association. She had the unusual distinction for a woman 
of being appointed to the committee on botany and medical plants and 
she is also a member of the outlook committee of the national 
association. She is a brilliant, cultured woman who occupies a 
prominent position in social circles and at the same time has marked 
business and executive ability. She is a member of the Eastern Star and 
is now writing a history of that organization. To Dr. and Mrs. Kenaston 
has been born a son, Hampton Ray, now in school.  

	The Doctor and his family attend the Congregational church. In 
Masonry he has attained high rank, being connected with the commandery 
as a Knight Templar and with the consistory as a thirty-second degree 
Mason, and he is a member of the National Masonic Research Society. He 
also has membership with the Mystic Shrine at Sioux Falls. His 
political allegiance is given to the republican party. The only public 
office that he has filled outside the strict path of his profession is 
that of president of the local board of education, for the cause of the 
schools finds in him a stalwart champion. Along strictly professional 
lines his connection is with the Rosebud Medical Society and the South 
Dakota Medical Society. He is also a fellow of the American Medical 
Association and a member of the American Association of Railway 
Surgeons, in which he is serving on the judiciary committee, and is a 
member of the American Public Health Association and the Northwestern 
Surgical Association. He keeps step with those who are marching 
steadily forward in the profession and to whom research, study and 
investigation are continually bringing new truths concerning the laws 
of nature and the treatment of disease. The work that he has 
accomplished places him among the eminent representatives of the 
profession in the state.