Many small towns settled in the nineteenth century in Utah had their own flour mills. Kaysville, Utah was no exception, with its first mill built in 1866, about fifteen years after the first families started building a city center that largely still exists today. Kaysville is located in Davis County, about 16 miles north of Salt Lake City. 

Early families enjoyed many connections with each other as the city incorporated and began to allow for business growth. That first mill had been built by Christopher Layton, an English immigrant who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842. His son Christopher Layton Jr. was the bookkeeper at the mill. Ownership changed several times until it was closed due to out-of-date equipment.

Christopher Layton’s granddaughter Sarah Barnes Layton was born in 1891, and was a young girl when the Kaysville Milling Company was organized in 1905 under the direction of Henry H. Blood. Both the Barnes and Blood families became known for banking and public service, respectively, in Kaysville and Davis County.

Sarah married Clifford Duncan Strong in 1917. He had already been working in the Kaysville mill as a “sacker”, according to the 1910 Census. His father, an immigrant from Ireland, was “naturally adapted to clerical work” and did bookkeeping in Salt Lake City. By 1920, Clifford had moved up to be the mill’s bookkeeper, the very position held by his wife’s uncle, and following after his father’s profession. He would maintain that position for several years and be a manager by the 1940 census. In a 1941 newspaper article he was listed as the secretary-treasurer of the Kaysville-Layton Milling Company, an entity created in 1921 to consolidate the Kaysville Milling and Layton Roller Mills companies.

In a trademark registered in 1934 for the mill’s White Swan High Patent Flour, a “C.D. Strong” submitted the trademark to be used “as a flour brand on the face of our flour sacks,” including a cut out piece of the sack attached to the Secretary of State’s register page. At this time Henry Blood was busy in his second year as Governor of Utah during the Great Depression. Although he was re-elected president of the milling company in 1941 after his term as governor was finished, he unfortunately died just a few months later. Clifford died in 1965 with “Office Manager in Milling” listed on his death certificate. He and Sarah’s only child, Allen, also worked at the mill as a young man, though eventually he became a manager with the Westinghouse Electric Supply Co. Sarah died in 1984 and all three are buried in the Kaysville City Cemetery.

“The manager of the concern, Mr. Strong, may be depended upon to give his time and energy to the development of the city, and he has already made many valuable contributions along that line. Mr. Strong’s civic spirit is well-known to his many friends, and the appreciation of the entire city is due him for his good efforts.”

Pioneer Firms of Davis County, Davis County Clipper, May 14, 1937

This is the first in a planned series of posts to highlight the full range of trademark registrations from the 1880s to 1970s. This time period is one of growth and change in Utah and the U.S., especially in the areas of business, marketing, and mass consumption.

Sources

Barton, Alice Williams. Daughters of Utah Pioneers Sunflower Camp, Kaysville, Utah, Vol. 2. 2 vols. FamilySearch International, 1997. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/44241-daughters-of-utah-pioneers-sunflower-camp-kaysville-utah-vol-2.

“Clifford Duncan Strong (1889–1965).” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KWC6-FFN.

“Davis County Clipper | 1937-05-14 | Kaysville-Layton Milling Co. Landmark.” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1295892.

Gatherum, Doneta MaGonigle. “Kaysville.” Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994. https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/k/KAYSVILLE.shtml.

“Henry Hooper Blood (1872–1942).” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWCW-K53.

“Kaysville, 1894: Sheet 01 | Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=321293.

National Archives and Records Administration. “United States Census, 1910.” Database with images. FamilySearch, June 24, 2017. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJ3-4PB?cc=1488411&wc=QZJY-V38%3A1037609301%2C1037442301%2C1037939501%2C1589333026.

———. “United States Census, 1920.” Database with images. FamilySearch, September 14, 2019. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJ3-4PB?cc=1488411&wc=QZJY-V38%3A1037609301%2C1037442301%2C1037939501%2C1589333026.

———. “United States Census, 1930.” Database with images. FamilySearch, December 8, 2015. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZH-D34?cc=1810731&wc=QZF7-BSB%3A648802901%2C649097801%2C649107601%2C1589282323.

———. “United States Census, 1940.” Database with images. FamilySearch, n.d. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MB-G4PL?cc=2000219&wc=QZXT-DFH%3A793301501%2C792764501%2C794095701%2C794095702.

“Salt Lake Telegram | 1941-02-27 | Milling Firm Reelects Blood as President.” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=16896919.

“Sarah Barnes Layton (1891–1984).” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KWC6-FFV.

Strack, Don. “Flour Mills and Milling.” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://utahrails.net/industries/flour-mills.php.

Utah. Secretary of State Trademark Registers. “Volume 6: Marks 1888-2227, September 1934-July 1936; Kaysville-Layton Milling Co Page 11.” Secretary of State, October 29, 1934. https://images.archives.utah.gov/digital/collection/p17010coll69/id/2270/rec/3.

Utah State Archives and Records Service. “Clifford Duncan Strong Death Certificate.” FamilySearch, June 22, 2020. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDK-R938-4?cc=1747615.

“William Jacob Strong (1863–1903).” Accessed January 29, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K2QX-P9V.