Background
Kenyon was born in Elyria, in Lorain County, Ohio. He moved to Iowa in 1870 and attended the public schools. After attending Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, he graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law at Iowa City, Iowa, in 1890. After gaining admission to the bar in 1891, he commenced practice in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in Webster County.
He married Mary Duncombe in 1893, one year after beginning service as a prosecutor for Webster County. In 1894 he was elected Webster County Attorney, and served in that position for two periods, the second after the elected county attorney left to serve in the Spanish-American War.
He was elected to a judgeship of the eleventh judicial district of Iowa in 1900, and served for two years, before leaving to accept a position with his father-in-law, J. F. Duncombe, who was Iowa counsel for the Illinois Central Railroad. Kenyon succeeded his father-in-law as the railroad's Iowa counsel upon Duncombe's death in 1904. In 1908 Kenyon was promoted, and served as the railroad's general counsel for all lines north of the Ohio River. Then in 1910, he was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General of the United States.
Read more about this topic: William S. Kenyon (Iowa Politician)
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