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- Isaac Newton Melia
Source Bucklin Library Bucklin,Kansas Centenial, Page 114, Meade County Marriage License Records, U.S. Census report of 1900, and as told to his children before his death.
He was born January 25, 1868, in Preston, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada, and as a child moved to Freeport, Michigan. At the age of 12. he moved to Bavaria, Kansas, west of Salina (in 1880). With his father, Patrick Henry Melia, in the fall of 1884, he left at age of 16 to go to Ford,Kansas, to break sod. Newt and Patrick returned to Ford with the rest of the family to live, in the Spring of 1885. . It took 2 weeks to make this trip by horse and wagon. They lived in the newly constructed Sod house in the pasture approximately 1 mile east of the present home place of John A. Melia for 5 or 6 years.
In August 14, 1897,at age of 29, he married Grace Birdie Bisbee(note Meade County Marriage records)who he met while working on the building of the Rock Island Railroad west through Kansas, and whose sister Leona Bisbee, married Unce Jim Melia(Emmerson Verne) on Jan 2, 1906.(Actually on January 1, but because of the holiday, the license says January 2.) This made their children "double first cousins as brothers married sisters. Also see record of Meade County Marriage License records.
He first shows up on the Census report of 1900 at the age of 32, Grace being 25, and Jessie 1 year and Gordon "11/12" year old. See copy.
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The following is excerpted from "The Melia Family" by Kay Melia by permission. Kay is Crandall's first cousin and Newt is also his Grandad. Much of this was obtained by Kay from his Aunt, Pauline Lathan, youngest child of Isaac Newton Melia and Grace Bisbee Melia, and other family records, as well as public records..
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".....now to concentrate on the life and times of my Grandfather, Isaac Newton Melia, born January 25, 1868 in Preston, Ontario, Canada, the second eldest of Patrick and Catherine Melia. He was obviously named after Catherine's father, Isaac William Bergey. The "Newton " part was the logical addition to the name Isaac because of the then renounced life of Isaac Newton, famous scientist. My Grandad was always known as "Newt" by friends and family alike.
I shall tell of a few things I know about this man, which in some instances is less than what I have learned about other members of his family. I of course, knew him quite, well during my formative years, until he passed away on May 1, 1949 at the age of 82. I was 19. (Crandall was 15)
Grandad may have been the first of the boys to kick out on his own, which would have been shortly after Patrick and Catherine had moved off of the old homestead into that frame house just west of there. And while he spent some time working for other farmers and ranchers, then next ten years of his life (1887 to 1897) consisted of mostly being a railroader. Railroad jobs were plentiful in the immediate area and the jobs paid very well. Grandad's first railroad job was probably helping to build the spur line between Bucklin and Dodge City, the line that connected the Rock Island passing to the southwest through Bucklin, to the Santa Fe, passing through Dodge City and on west, was built in 1887. His job on that line was that of a "tie spacer," or one responsible for correctly spacing the big creosote soaked wooden ties onto which the rails were secured.
The Rock Island line was completed as far west as Liberal by 1885, and this short spur from Bucklin to Dodge City was built to connect with the Santa Fe so that there could be some business transacted between the two lines. The Rock Island trains would arrive in Bucklin, one of which each day would take the spur to Dodge City, pick up or deliver whatever merchandise there was, return to Bucklin, and proceed on southwest. For a few years, it was a very important part of the Rock Island service. The spur was still in service when I was in High School, and we used to ride it to Dodge City, mostly just for fun. We called it the "doodle bug." In the 50's business subsided and the tracks fell into disrepair. It was abandoned in the 60's; but in the 80's somebody obtained an old engine and a club car or two and developed a kind of tourist attraction. For a price you could ride the re-fabricated train from Ford to Dodge City, back to Bucklin, and then back to Ford. On the last leg from Bucklin to Ford, you were served a very fancy dinner in the club car, as the owners attempted to give people a chance to remember the old days of Pullmans and Coal smoke. The idea was used mostly by the local folk, and soon lost favor and went out of business. It is said recently that everything has now been sold, including the track itself and that the entire bed will be abandoned.
Grandad helped build that line. He also worked for railroads in the Black Hills for at least a year, but would return home to help extend the Rock Island beyond Liberal to at least Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
It was during Grandad's ten year span of railroading that his two brothers, Henry and Al would make the run to the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma. (1893) I don't know why Grandad didn't go, too, but I always kinda figured that Grandad was just making too much money to worry about the hardships of riding a cow pony into Indian Territory in search of free land, with no guarantees.
It was because of his railroad jobs that Grandad met Grandma. Grandma happened to be Grace Birdie Bisbee, the second eldest child of Benjamin Franklin Bisbee and Rebecca Grisson Bisbee of Plains, Kansas. B.F.Bisbee was somewhat of an Icon in Meade County. He was affectionately known as the "Big- bellied Wheat King of Meade County," and was one of the county's largest landowners and wheat growers. His story, I'm sure , is just as interesting and colorful as my "other"great grandfather Patrick Henry's, and I always felt privileged to call him that, although I know practically nothing about him and never met him. His statue has not been documented, nor that of his wife Rebecca, but all of their offspring were short. My Grandmother Grace, Newt's wife was 4' 10".
As previously related, Grandma Grace was a waitress at a cafe in Meade or Plains that lots of railroad workers accommodated. Grandma Grace got her sister Leona involved( with Uncle Jim) as previously noted and the sisters married the brothers' Melia.
No question about it....Grandad Newt worked hard through those twn years from 1887 to 1897, and he had apparently saved most of it. To say that he and Grandma Grace just "moved in" to that new layout about 4 1/2 miles north of Bucklin, is surely stretching the point. There was 560 acres of pretty good farm land on the place and Grandad had apparently acquired quite a bit of government grassland, up in the sand hills area north-east of the home place. There were horses to buy...there was farm equipment to locate....and there was a farmstead to build. Farm land was selling anywhere from five to ten dollars an acre at that time, and while Grandad's acreage may not have been the most expensive in the County, it was certainly better land than the original homestead.
There is always the chance that Patrick and Catherine were able to help financially, or perhaps Grandma Grace's parents, the big wheat farming Bisbees over in Meade County offered some assistance.
Grandad Newt was 29 years old....grandma was 23. That August day in 1897 when they were married simply had to be the most exciting time of their young lives. The new century was just a couple of years away...a young Scotch-Irish Republican, William McKinley was the president of the United States....America was moving west at lightning speed...Agricultural products were in great demand. And here was Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Newton Melia with the world at their feet.
In my eyes, Grandad Newt was a big man. He was the kind of a guy who was always in charge of any given situation. When there were decisions to be made, he wanted you to know that he was the one to make them. And so, he loomed much larger to me physically than he really was. In my mind, I had him pegged at 6 feet tall or more, and it wasn't until 1986 that I learned differently. My Uncle Elmer's wife Pearl wrote that he was probably not over 5' 7" tall and probably never weighed over 130 pounds! In reality, I was aware that he wasn't a big man, but he always seemed that way to me.
I don't know that he was a very religious man. His offspring all belonged to the Christian Church in Bucklin, and I understand he made a significant contribution in the building of that church building. In her later years, Grandad's mother Catherine was very active in the Ford Congregational Church. Grandad Newt's language was of the salty variety, and he never worried too much about who heard him use it(perhaps cultured during the years working on the railroads) I saw(and heard) him work mules and horses with language I'm sure only THEY understood. Democrats, particularly Franklin D. Roosevelt in his later years, bore the full brunt of Grandad's audio thought process.
But you know, I NEVER heard one of his kids mouth a foul word. Never did. I knew my dad for many years and never heard him say anything stronger than "dang it!" I was around Uncle Elmer a lot too, and his language was just fine. (in fact HE used to have a saying that "if you had to use profanity to make a point, the point probably wasn't worth making.") Grandad Newt obviously commanded the respect of his children and despite his one freedom with the English language, apparently taught his children differently.
There were six other children born to Grandad Newt and Grandmother Grace. After Jessie, came my dad, Gordon Bisbee Melia on January 30 1900; then Mabel Alice on October 21 1901, then Oscar Vernon, June 5, 1904; then Russell Elmer on March 16, 1906,; then Eugene Emerson on April 14, 1908; and finally, albeit a little late, it was Pauline Virginia on March 31, 1922. All seven children were born at the farm in the same house. Later, my brother Max, and I, were also born there as was Elmer's kids, Crandall and Elaine.
All of Grandad Newt and Grandma Grace's kids went to country school...all of them to Fonda, just a half mile north and half mile east of the house. All were high school Graduates, (Bucklin High School) unusual in those days, and all received some college education, which was even more unusual. At least four of them were college grads, and most of them were teachers, at least for a short period of time
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1868 - 1949 (81 years)
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