Speaking to the Future:
Kenneth Scott
Kenneth E. Scott was born in Missouri, and moved to Baldwin, Kansas, before he started school. His father, John Scott, went to Baldwin to run a coal mining operation. Then his parents bought land in Arkansas, they lived in Arkansas for about three years. They first came to Elbert County on the May 13, 1915, but went back to Kansas. They moved to Colorado permanently in 1922. Mr. Scott’s mother was Flora Harris, and her family came from Illinois to Missouri. Kenneth Scott had finished school in Kansas, and planned to attend the University of Kansas for electrical engineering, but he began working on the farm with his parents, and never went back.
The interview begins with Mr. Scott talking about his family history, and how his family came to Elbert County. He discusses farming in the area in the early 1900s, the families life on Commanche Creek in Elbert County, Colorado, and the cost of land then and now. He goes on to discuss his career as a trucker and the Great Depression.
Mr. Scott also discusses his own family. His wife was Lindle Denning, and they had three sons and a daughter. They lost one son to cancer in 1986, one son lives in Elizabeth, Colorado, and one son in a veterinarian in Great Falls, Montana. Their daughter lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Mr. Scott talks about the First and Second World Wars, including friends and family who fought; prohibition and the making and sales of liquor in the area. He mentions Sheriff Roy Brown and Charlie Daisy and his still.
Scott also talks about Dr. Lusk in Kiowa, Colorado; Dr. Denny in Elbert, Colorado; an osteopath named John Baulm and Josephine Albus from Kiowa who was a nurse and midwife. Mr. Scott then discusses floods from 1894 -1933 in Elbert County. The interview goes on with a discussion of churches, schools, and ends with a discussion of politics in the United States and Colorado.