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Name: STANTON, Athol Alfred
Nee: bro of Herman Armin Stanton
Birth Date: 30.6.1877 Kimberley, S. Africa
Death Date: 1969 Grahamstown, SA
First Date: 1906
Last Date: 1963
Profession: Bought land at Molo and started to farm. When referring to those early days he mentioned that there were no roads, no horses and no mules so they had to walk everywhere. There were no doctors nearer than Nakuru & no butchers.
Area: Molo, Turi, Mau Summit, Kericho, Kaplamur Lumbwa, 1906 Dimbula Molo
Married: In Mombasa Cathedral 1907 Ruth Caroline Rigby b. 1880, d. 1968 Grahamstown, SA. North says b. 1878 Ceylon
Children: Hugh; Betty O'Rorke (Tennent) (Molo 11.8.1908); Athol Aspland (1911)
Book Reference: Gillett, SE, Gethin, EAWL, Red 25, Hut, Red 31, EAMR, Curtis, Playne, Red 22, Gazette, Leader14
War Service: In 1914 joined the EAMR - F Sqdn. 20/8/14 - To Town Guard. Scout in Boer War
General Information:
So the settlers lived on game which they cooked on stones as there were no stoves. If going by train, he sent a message to the Guard to wait for him and pick him up at a certain point. After WW1 farmed at Lumbwa.
SE - A.A. Stanton - April 1910
Gethin - 1908 - 'Near the station [Molo] was a South African named Stanton with his wife and family, and no other farm occupied until you got to Drury's farm about 10 miles distant.'
' ..... My father had a great friend, Major B.F. Webb, who had gone up to Kenya and found a lovely farm at Molo, so he wrote to my father and suggested that he come up and buy the next farm to him - (Captain Tryon, Major B.F. Webb, A.A. Stanton). My father did just that and arrived in Molo in 1906. The hilltop with the forest to one side was named "Uldaguite" by a Dorobo, Arap Kararook, who grew up on my father's farm and who became a great shot - known to most Molo people as "Hiawatha". From time to time my parents would receive a 'runner' with a note in a cleft stick, with the request - could Hiawatha come and shoot a leopard which was killing their sheep. Arap Kararook gave the place name "Turi" which means 'the meeting place of the valleys'.
My father built the two dams near Turi station. .... later my parents moved to Mau Summit where they had a small wheat farm, then Kericho and later Lumbwa. .......' 'My father worked for Major Grogan at his sawmill - Turi - and later his sawmill at Maji-Mazuri. Incidentally my father built the trolley line from Mau Summit to Maji-Mazuri. The trollies laden with kuni for the wood burning engines of the K.U.R. were hauled along by teams of oxen. Extra wide yokes were made, which straddled the line in the centre, making it easier for the oxen walking on either side. ...... ' Extract from a letter from Mrs Betty Tennent
Hut - 1919 - Equator Sawmills
Curtis - p. 105 - 'Memories of Molo and Lumbwa' by Mrs Betty Tennent
Playne - Mapumulu Farm - Where the children can go, there the only really permanent settlement can be made. It is pleasant to hear that the district in which Mapumulu Farm lies is most healthy and that children do very well there. The Stanton brothers came from South Africa in 1906, and bought the farm from Mr C. Palmer. It is about 5,000 acres in extent, and about 4 miles from Molo Station. There is plenty of water all over the farm, and the rainfall is about 50 inches per annum. It is 8,500 feet above sea level, very hilly, and an ideal place for sheep. ........... Both Mr H.A. and Mr A.A. Stanton speak hopefully of the future.
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Nairobi District - A.A. Stanton, Victoria Hotel
Gazette - 3/12/1919 - Register of Voters - Rift Valley Area - A.A. Stanton - Farmer - Molo
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