Kalton active in the art of geneology

By Marlys Barker Contributing Writer

If you walked into Vivian Kalton’s apartment at Windsor Manor in Webster City on any given day, you would likely find the little white-haired beauty, 97 years young, with headphones on watching her television.

Asked what she likes to watch on a recent afternoon, Vivian leans over and whispers with a smile. “Murder mysteries on Oxygen,” she said, of the television channel that airs shows about investigations and cold cases.

It’s not surprising that Vivian is drawn to that type of show. Vivian herself was an investigator of genealogy for many years and has an impressive resume when it comes to tracing family history.

It all started when her husband, the late Robert Rankin Kalton, was looking at a Webster City directory shortly after the couple moved to Webster City from Ames.

“He said, ‘Look here, your ancestor started Webster City,’” Vivian said.

Her husband was talking about Tolman Wiltsey, a significant name in Hamilton County’s history. Wiltsey was Vivian’s maiden name.

“I said, ‘I don’t think so,’” she recalled about the answer she gave her husband. But she wanted to search out information to see if she could connect that man to her family. “I never did (make the connection),” she said, “but my daughter found out this past year that he was a relative — a brother to one of my great-great, I’m not sure how many greats, grandfather.”

She is glad her daughter finally solidified the connection. “I knew there was going to be one, because I was, for a long time, studying the same county in New York for both families.”

The loss of some of her eyesight and hearing caused Vivian to give up her genealogy hobby around three or so years ago.

But it was a great pastime for many years. She said it started right after she and her husband moved to Webster City in 1973.

At that time, there wasn’t a genealogy group in Webster City or Hamilton County, so Vivian got involved in the Story County Genealogy group. She had friends in Ames, where the couple had lived from 1942 for most of the years up to 1973. Her husband was first finishing up his degrees in agronomy at Iowa State when they first moved to Ames. After graduating with a doctorate in 1947, he took a position in Texas for two years, but then returned to Iowa State University as a professor in agronomy. “We came back at Christmas time, 1949, and he started there in 1950. He was a professor for 10 years,” Vivian said.

The family also became devout Cyclone fans — all five of their children graduating from ISU. “My husband had seats in the Williams Stadium from 1944 until the new Jack Trice Stadium was built, and then we had seats there.” Her youngest son, Martin, still holds the tickets for those four seats.

Vivian Kalton holds a photo of her husband Robert, who died in 1996. Photo by Marlys Barker

As one might imagine for a woman that was once so heavily involved in genealogy, Vivian has an impressive ability to remember dates, which you pick up on in talking to her about the past.

“I know the date each of my grandchildren was born and my great-grandchildren,” she said.

The Kaltons continued to live in Ames even after her husband left the university professorship to work in private industry. “He had five children to support, and he thought he could do better (financially) in the commercial world,” Vivian said. Robert did very well indeed, working with the Rudy Patrick Seed Company and, eventually, Land O’ Lakes.

Four of the Kaltons’ children graduated from Ames High School; the youngest graduated from Webster City High School. It was just before her last child graduated that Vivian became involved in genealogy, something to help occupy her time with no children at home.

Her love of genealogy took over an entire bedroom of her home. “It was a small bedroom, but I had bookcases and a file cabinet and two desks, one for my computer (in later years) and one for other things, and a huge commercial copy machine,” she said.

She was the reporter for the Story County Genealogy Society, and also for the Hamilton Heritage Hunters, of which she was a founding member. She needed that copy

machine to put out the groups’ newsletters. “I remember buying that from a man in Fort Dodge who wanted $200 for it,” she said.

Her search for family history took her all over the United States, and she visited nearly every library in Iowa, as well. “My father’s family was all in the Cedar Rapids area, so I became a lifetime member of the Linn County genealogy club, too,” she noted.

“When I found out my dad had so many relatives, I could go to any county and find a relative. His original two brothers, who came here before Iowa was even a state, each had 12 children, and their name was Usher. Today there’s an Ushers Ferry Park in Cedar Rapids,” she said.

“I made many, many trips to many counties in New York, and I went to Salt Lake City, Utah, six different years for two weeks at a time.” The Mormons, she noted, have incredible genealogy-related records in their library.

Two very good friends of hers from Ames, Lucille Wahrenbrock and Jackie Nelson (both deceased), often traveled with her, which made for fun times and interesting conversations.

Her favorite part of genealogy, Vivian confided, was “collecting the information.” And you never knew what you were going to

find. When asked about those “aha” moments, she leans over and whispers, “There were skeletons.”

Skeletons? Vivian’s eyes light up as she says it, “A murder.” Vivian found out that a brother of her great-grandfather murdered the hired man in Cedar Rapids and went to prison for it. “That’s part of the interest,” she said. She pulled up all the newspaper articles she could find to read about it.

No matter what you find out about your ancestors, it’s all fascinating to uncover in Vivian’s opinion. A Methodist, Vivian said she is drawn to genealogy just like the Mormons. “You’re supposed to know your family.”

For those who are in genealogy today or those who might have an interest, Vivian said the internet has made it an entirely different process. In her day you traveled all over the state and country to obtain information and records, “now you just sit at a computer.” One thing Vivian advises is that the work of looking into the past, while exciting and gratifying, is also addictive. “If you ever get involved, you will never leave it. … You will want to know everything you can about who you are and where you came from.”

Vivian Kalton looks at a family photo. Vivian has five children, nine grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren. Photo by Marlys Barker