Clesson Selwyne Kinney (1859-1913)

 

From The Irrigation Age, Volume 17, published in 1902.

    A distinguished figure in Utah legal circles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Clesson Selwyne Kinney also served one term in the Utah State House of Representatives, representing the county of Salt Lake beginning in 1905. Both before and after his time on the political stage Kinney maintained an avowed interest in a rather unusual non-political subject, irrigation and water rights. Viewed by many of his contemporaries as a true scholar on the history of irrigation in both ancient and modern times, Kinney authored many irrigation-related articles in agricultural periodicals of his time and is honored today as the newest biography to be added to the site.

    Born and raised in Ohio, Clesson Selwyne Kinney's birth occurred in the town of East Townsend on December 5, 1859, a son of Edwin and Elizabeth Godden Kinney. His education began in the Huron County school system and as a young adult studied at both the Dennison University and Oberlin Colleges. After spending a four year period (1877-1881) in the employ of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company he enrolled at the University of Michigan and graduated in the class of 1887, having earned his bachelor of arts degree. Following his graduation Kinney spent several months teaching mathematics

at a high school in Leavenworth, Kansas and later decided upon a career in law, being admitted to the Kansas bar in 1888. He married in Chicago, Illinois in December of 1889 to Antoinette Brown (ca. 1862-1946), with whom he would have one son, Selwyne Perez Kinney (1890-1976), later to become notable as an engineer and inventor. 

   Removing to Salt Lake City, Utah soon after his marriage, Kinney established a law office in that city and over the succeeding decades would devote himself not only to the practice of law, but to the "law of irrigation and water rights." Kinney became interested in the study of irrigation shortly after settling in the arid climate of Utah, and after years of study developed a reputation as one of the nation's foremost experts on water rights and irrigation properties. 

    Not content to just specialize in water rights as an attorney, Kinney also authored a four-volume masterwork on irrigation and water management, "Kinney on Irrigation and Water Rights", first published in 1894. Kinney's work gained him wide praise and it became "a standard, and is cited as an authority in all the courts of the West, and also the U.S. Supreme Circuit and district courts." He also authored numerous articles related to this subject for the Irrigation Age illustrated journal between 1896 and 1912, and in 1903 completed "Kinney's Digest of the Utah Reports" an extensive index for the twenty-six volume law reports of the Utah State Supreme Court. Active in the Utah State Bar Association for many years, Kinney served as the Secretary of that organization beginning in 1894.

  Kinney took no part in politics until November of 1904 when he was elected as a Republican to the Utah State House of Representatives. Taking office in January of 1905, Kinney served as the chairman of three house committees during his one term, those being the Judiciary, the St. Louis Purchase Exposition Commission, and the Committee on Rules. 

From the Irrigation Age, Volume IX, published 1896.

   After the conclusion of his term in 1907 Kinney returned to his law practice and continued to write, beginning work on the second edition of "Kinney on Water Rights and Irrigation" which was eventually published in late 1912. His later years were marked by his memberships in the Knights Templars and Shriners lodges, while also serving as Masonic Grand Master. In October of 1912, Kinney was a featured speaker at the National Irrigation Congress, where he would give his last public address. 

   Burdened by years of overwork writing and revising his manuscripts, Kinney left Utah in December 1912 out of concern for his health, vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii. He spent the first two months of 1913 here and on February 17th died at age 53, being felled by illness at a dinner that was being given in his honor at the home of a local judge in Honolulu. After being cremated, Kinney's ashes were brought home to Salt Lake City by his wife Antoinette, and following her death in 1946 was buried along with her husband at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in that city.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, February 19, 1913.

Wehrli Douglas Pack (1889-1975)

From the January 10, 1937, Salt Lake Tribune.

  Blessed with a truly unusual first name, businessman, Mormon leader, and political figure Wehrli Douglas Pack was for many years one of Holladay, Utah's most distinguished citizens. A one-term member of the Utah legislature, the exact meaning behind Pack's odd first name "Wehrli" is unknown at the time of this writing, as are several other details in regards to his early life. The son of Ward Eaton (1834-1907) and Selena Carpenter Pack (1864-1900), Wehrli D. Pack was born in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii on July 28, 1889. Ward Eaton Pack was the father of seventeen children and was a prominent figure in the early days of the LDS Church, being one of the first Mormon missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands during the 1850s. He served in the Utah territorial legislature in 1876 and 1880 and later made a second trip to the Islands during the 1880s.
  Wehrli D. Pack returned to Utah with his family at age two, according to a 1937 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune, and as an adolescent attended the Uintah Academy and the Summit Academy. He continued his education at Brigham Young University, though his exact graduation year remains undetermined at the time of this writing. Pack later spent time in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, and for the majority of his life was a prominent businessman in Salt Lake County, being the president of the "Pack-n-Save" market in the city of Holladay. This market (with its wonderful play on Pack's last name) had its grand opening in 1935, and in addition to serving in this capacity Pack was a "master mechanic, radio engineer, and farmer." He was the founder of the Utah Radio Products Company and in 1926 filed an application to patent a type of loudspeaker. Five years later he was issued a patent for his invention, and is recorded in his Salt Lake Tribune obituary as a "pioneer in radio."
  Pack married in Salt Lake City in 1917 to Lucile Adelia Hart (1890-1921) a native of Bloomington, Idaho. Their marriage proved to be short-lived, as Lucille died in July 1921 at age 30. In the year following her death, Pack remarried to Ruth Mildred Fisher (1902-1956), to whom he was wed for over thirty years. Wehrli Pack was the father of several children, including Douglas Hart (1918-2000), Ramon Hart (died in infancy in 1919), Lucile Bernice Pack Slack (1921-1999), Mildred Pack Jolley (1923-1999), Ward Elden (1925-1998), Wallace Dean (birth-date unknown), Lillia Pack Martindale (birth-date unknown), Annette Pack Frederickson (birth-date unknown), Melvin (birth-date unknown) and Donna Gail Pack Eggertson (1943-1999).

From the September 10, 1936 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

  Active in Holladay civic affairs in addition to his grocery business, Pack served as the President of the Holladay Civic League for several years and also was the finance committee chairman for the Mount Olympus Latter Day Saints ward. In 1936 Pack was elected as one of Salt Lake County's representatives to the Utah State Assembly, taking his seat in January of the new year. In a Salt Lake Tribune notice on his election in November 1936, Pack is quoted as describing himself as a "conservative progressive" and that he favored a "direct primary law and changes in the law enforcement setup with a view to eliminating waste and inefficiency". During his one term in the legislature, Pack took part in a study of "proposed laws affecting Utah grocers" as a member of the committee of the Utah Retail Grocer's Association. 

   In 1938 Wehrli Pack was named as a Bishop for the Mt. Olympus ward of the Latter Day Saints Church. He succeeded Charles E. Coxe, who had died some weeks prior. In December 1940 the Murray Eagle published an article denoting the creation of a new place of worship for the parishioners of the ward, with Pack and his counselors trying to "uphold the standards of the ward and continue the splendid work begun under the leadership of Bishop Coxe". Busy as both a legislator and church leader, sources of the time denote Pack's personal hobbies as "scientific experiments" and tinkering in a workshop in his home. The Salt Lake Tribune also notes him as being a skilled fisherman, mountain climber, and a member of the local Masonic fraternity and the Utah Sons of Pioneers.

  In 1956 Pack's wife of over thirty years died. Following Ruth Fisher Pack's death, Wehrli remarried for a third time in March 1957 to Louella Pederson (1904-1977), a native of Big Cottonwood, Utah. Little could be found on the later years of Pack's life, although it is known that he authored an extensive history of his family entitled "A Bit of Pack History" which was published in 1969. Wehrli Douglas Pack died at his home in Holladay on October 23, 1975, at age 86, and was later interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He was survived by his third wife Louella, who died two years later at age 73. Lucile Hart Pack and Ruth Mildred Fisher Pack are interred at Salt Lake City Cemetery as well.

From the Murray Eagle, December 1940.