Mini Bios of People of Scots Descent
Hampton Ray Kenaston, M. D. Biography

HAMPTON RAY KENASTON, M. D., who is successfully engaged in the work of his profession in Bonesteel, Gregory county, was born near Elmwood, Cass county, Nebraska, on the 24th of March, 1870, and is a son of Dr. James and Caroline Kenaston, the latter being now deceased. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom eight were sons, and of the number ten are yet living. The ancestors of the Doctor in the agnatic line came from Scotland to America in the colonial epoch of our national history, the original orthography of the name having been McKenaston, and the prefix having been dropped by the American branch. At the outbreak of the war of the Revolution the grandfather of the subject was but eight years of age, his parents being at the time residents of Vershire, New Hampshire. His eldest brother was a member of the famous Boston "tea party," and, with others of the older brothers, rendered valiant service in the cause of independence, as a soldier in the Continental line. The Kenaston family followed the march of civilization westward through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, and the year 1855 found them in Warren county, Iowa, while the father of our subject served as a valiant soldier in the war of the Rebellion. He removed from Iowa into Nebraska, locating in Elmwood, Cass county, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, and where he passed the remainder of his life. The subject of this review secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his home town and there remained until the death of his mother, in 1889, after which he accompanied two of his brothers to the Pacific coast, passing a year in Washington and Oregon, and returning home through the Canadian northwest. The Doctor then located in Butte, Boyd county, Nebraska, where, in the spring of 1891, he began the study of medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr. A. S. Warner, of that place. In 1893 he was matriculated in the Sioux City (Iowa) College of Medicine, where he continued his studies for one year, completing his technical course in the medical department of the U. S. Grant University, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was graduated with honors, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine on the 22d of March, 1898. In the following month he came to South Dakota, and located in Bonesteel, Gregory county, where he at once began the practice of his chosen profession. He has been most successful as a general practitioner and has built up a large and representative professional business, while he has the confidence and high regard of the people of the community. In 1902 he received a certificate as a registered pharmacist, after examination before the state board of pharmacy, and has since conducted a drug store as a complement to and base of supplies for his professional work. When the Citizens' Bank of Bonesteel was incorporated in May, 1902, the Doctor was one of its incorporators and was chosen a member of its directorate, while in May of the following year he was elected vice-president of the institution. In Ig02 he was appointed local surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. In the autumn of 1903 he took a postgraduate course in the New York Polyclinic medical school and hospital, in New York city. In 1900 Dr. Kenaston was appointed vice-president of the Gregory county board of health, and the following year was made superintendent of this board, which incumbency he still retains. He is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and upon the organization of Gregory county was elected coroner, in which office he has ever since continued to serve efficiently. He is a member of the South Dakota State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, while on February 20, 1904, he was appointed a member of the national auxiliary congressional and legislative committee of the latter association. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity.

The Doctor has an especially well-equipped office, in which is found a fine sixteen-plate X-Ray machine and several other electrical instruments. He is essentially a self-made man, having depended entirely upon his own efforts and resources in securing his education. He has ever been foremost in lending his support to those measures and enterprises which have for their object the enhancement of the material prosperity of the community and the bettering of humanity. He is imbued with distinctive literary taste and has a splendid library.

On the 8th of November, 1899, Dr. Kenaston was united in marriage to Miss Jean May McKee, who was graduated in the State Normal School at Clarion, Pennsylvania, as a member of the class of 1892, and who was prior to her marriage a teacher in the public schools of Butler, that state. Dr. and Mrs. Kenaston have one son, Hampton Ray, Jr., who was born on the 13th of October, 1902.