— Submitted photo Pictured above is the burial stone of Webster City's founders, found at Wilson Brewer Park.

By DARLENE DINGMAN

Editor’s Note: The City Council of Webster City and the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors are slated to meet at 6 p.m. tonight at the Council Chambers at City Hall, 400 Second St. in Webster City, to discuss the operation of Wilson Brewer Park. Currently, operation and expenses are projected to be handled by a board of trustees, backed by the City of Webster City and Hamilton County.

This article is to touch on the history behind Frank Bonebright, an entrepreneur with lineage dating back to the founders of Webster City — Wilson and Margaret Brewer — and Kendall Young, who was one of the most prominent residents in the city’s younger days. Both individuals gave back to Webster City in different, yet similar ways.

Lately, a comparison has been made between Frank Bonebright and Kendall Young, both benefactors making significant donations to Webster City. How alike were these two men?

Diving into the digital archives within the Kendall Young Library, there is a 1915 book titled “Kendall Young and the Kendall Young Library” and the Brewer genealogy research, which was prepared by Dr. Dale L. Lange, Ph.D.

Frank A. Bonebright was born in 1868 in a cabin in Webster City, on land that his grandparents Wilson and Margaret Brewer settled on after traveling from Kokomo, Indiana. These first settlers originally called the town New Castle, but it was later changed to Webster City. Frank married Katherine Poe and they had no children. Frank spent his entire life of 66 years living in Webster City. His interest in collecting and preserving the items used by the pioneers was quite well known. The Brewer/Bonebright land and two cabins he built were his entire estate which he donated to Webster City to become Wilson Brewer Park in honor of his grandfather Wilson Brewer, the founder of Webster City. The agreement for this transfer was entered into by Frank, his sister Harriet, and Webster City in 1932.

Kendall K. Young was born 48 years earlier in 1820 in Eden, Maine, and came to Webster City in 1859. He married Jane Underdown and they had no children.

Prior to his settling here, his travels took him from Maine to Wisconsin, to California, back to Maine, to Illinois, to Albion and Irvington, Iowa, and finally to Webster City. When he died at age 76, he owned many farms, gold, money, and other assets that he gave to Webster City for the purpose of building “a free Library.”

The Youngs enjoyed entertaining, traveling and planting and taking care of many trees and flowers on their property on Willson Avenue.

Frank Bonebright died at his home on Ohio Street in 1934. He and other Brewer/Bonebright family members are buried at Wilson Brewer Park in the burial mound on the southeast corner of the park.

They are buried on the exact spot that the Brewer pioneers built their first cabin in about 1850. The headstone is a large boulder that Frank picked out from the Bridgeman Mason farm east of Webster City.

The brass memorial plaque containing the names was dedicated by the Happy Land Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists on Oct. 11, 1961. The plaque identifies seven adults, but does not include the deceased children of Wilson and Margaret Brewer, who are also buried there.

Kendall Young died at Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1896, and his body was returned by train with his funeral being held in his home. Kendall and Jane are buried in Graceland Cemetery. Their large monument of gray granite arrived in 1898 over the North Western Railroad from Westerly, Rhode Island. It weighed 10,000 lbs., had a base eight feet by five feet and was six and one-half feet tall. At that time, the stone cost $3,100 and was one of the finest in the county.

Frank Bonebright served in the Spanish-American War and was a 25 year member of Company C of the Iowa National Guard. He was an excellent marksman and won many shooting contests.

During his working career, he was a livery clerk, farmer, dairy farmer, and electrician. He ran an Electrical Supply Shop, ran a rock quarry, was the City Electrician and was the official Weather and Crop Reporter for Hamilton County.

Kendall Young served two months in the Aroostook War of 1838 to 1839. For his service, he received land warrants for Kossuth and Hamilton County, plus $18. During his working career he was a sailor, sold dry goods and groceries to fishermen, farmed in Wisconsin, panned for gold in California, ran a paper mill, loaned money and sold merchandise in Rockton, Illinois.

In Irvington, he built a saw mill, opened a general store and platted the town. Finally settling in Webster City, he owned several farms, ran a general merchandise store, co-owned a bank and was president of another bank for 25 years.

Kendall Young and Frank Bonebright certainly lived very different lives, but at their deaths, they gave back to Webster City.

Kendall Young’s library has endured for 118 years.

Frank Bonebright’s cabin museums and park has provided education and enhanced the lives of the citizens of Webster City for 89 years.

The difference was that Kendall Young provided enough extra money to maintain the library so that its success was guaranteed. Frank Bonebright gave the City all that he had – land, two cabins with museum artifacts, and nothing else except his trust in the City that it would maintain the park.

Now that four of the six buildings in the park have been renovated through community donations, the City Council of Webster City is presently discussing turning the park’s expenses and operation over to a city/county Board of Trustees.