A look at Dec. 1922 in Afton

Star Valley Independent Dec 29, 1922

Found this copy in the Wyoming Newspaper Project site.  The "Daddy Long Legs" Play has many actors we recognize, including Martha.  If my dates are right, Bev would be a toddler about this time, there would be the 5 older kids at home.  The family would have been living in the white house on the place at the mouth of Graveyard Canyon.

 If you visit the newspaper site, check out the 1901 Star Valley Pioneer.  W. H. Kennington is selling lime at the Tithing Office.  Why the Tithing Office instead of at his farm?  Is lime just for outhouses?  I'd love to know more about his side jobs, you know,  the little details we drop off histories but which give us a more rounded look at their life. 

Well, that's about it for 2012...

Thanks everyone who commented, emailed or dropped a line.  

We appreciate this year's adventures discovering our Kennington and Weber heritage and we are grateful to those who made them possible.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

and 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The old Kennington House is no more

Thought you might like a final look at the old Kennington house site on the Swift Creek Road. The lot hasn't looked like that in 107 years.   Time marches on...

Can't make comments...

I've been told the site won't let comments happen.  I'm going to fix that right now.  If it continues please let me know.

Now don't panic - there is no reunion. 
I've been trying to add a few labels to make this site easier to search...and for some reason this reunion blog jumped from its home in  2010.  Don't ask me why - this is just magic.
Anyway, now hopefully we'll be able to call up a work like Kennington or Seward or  Weber and well have almost everything with that label come up.  I can't seem to get farther back that 2010.  Would one of you tech-savy folks help me out?

Reunion Time rolling around again...

The Kennington Family about 1930
L-R Bert, George, Ida Kennington Jensen, Lon, Molly, Henry, Hyrum

A couple good shots of the Kennington family enjoying reunions. We should all try to snap a group shot for our grandchildren this summer. They'll want something to look back on in 50 years.

Kennington Family 1940’s or early 50's (?)

Back: Osborn Low, Harv Matthews, Ira Kennington, Henry Kennington, Alonzo Kennington, Bert Kennington. Front: Adolph Jensen, Ida Dixon Kennington, Bell Blanchard Kennington, Stella Call Kennington.

Thanks to Carlene and Gary for the correction on the Ida Kennington Jensen and Ida Dixon Kennington.

Weber Purse

Purse crocheted from shoelaces

This purse is finding a new home at the DUP Museum.  Crocheted from shoelaces, it is an artifact from the Weber family.  It is believed to have been made by Maria Weber, grandmother to Martha.
Maria and her daughter Eliza came to America with Samuel and Verena as converts to the LDS Church.  Maria passed away in 1881 at Salt Lake.  The purse would have been a tender momento for Martha.  If anyone has more information on it, please leave a comment.

Forrest about 1937-38 High School

We tend to focus on the tragedy of the Depression,  loosing one's father and WWII when we tell the Kennington story.  But there were many happy times.  The Kennington kids were healthy and active individuals with their focus on school, sports and friends (not necessarily in that order).
Forrest's lifelong friend, Paul Clark, sent these pictures to Mom with the comment that they had a wonderful childhood together. 

Forrest, probably McKay Burton and unknown.  Photo by Paul Clark

Forrest sleigh riding above Afton during high school.  Photo by Paul Clark

Forrest with homemade bow.  Photo by Paul Clark

George on his 49th birthday...

The Crooks brought out another treat the last time we visited.  This was the end sheet for the Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith.    The inscription gives us a glimpse of what group of kids were growing up when George was  Bishop prior to moving to the brick house.

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Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:

AFTON SOUTH WARD was organized June 22, 1919, and consists of the south half of Afton. Gilbert Tayson was the first Bishop; he was succeeded in 1921 by Christian J. Call, who in 1926 was succeeded by George S. Kennington who presided on December 31, 1930. On that date the Afton South Ward had a membership of 575, including 145 children. 

If my math is right, George was born 29 Sept 1879 - so this book was presented to him in 1928. 

Because of artifacts like these, we can flesh out the history which may seem sort of dry with just dates and facts.  
It's a delight to see how many artifacts still exist  - just out of sight.  They cause me to pause and think about the debt we owe to our families who paved the way for the next generation. 

July 7th, 1913

Signature found inside the book, Character by Samuel Smiles

Before they were married, George sent Martha to a sewing school of some sort according to family traditions.
 In the letter from Myra (a Weber Cousin) to Gwen Kennington Ray Los Angeles, Ca. 7 October 1989,
"Then I heard at school one day that 'George Kennington was sending Martha Weber to Salt Lake to a fancy dressmaking school (Bessmer, or some name) to take a sewing course.'  She was gone a long time (1 1/2  -3 months).  I don't remember if he went down to meet her and get married at the end of the course or if she came home for a while first.  They never returned to Freedom to live.  He was now working in Burton's store in Afton and they went to Afton to live."

Gary and Karlene brought out a red book, Character, by Samuel Smiles which had been in Esther's collection.  On the inside page was the inscription.  There is our evidence that Martha was attending some sort of classes in Logan (rather than Salt Lake) in July of 1913.  She and George were married October 23, 1913.

By the way, I think that's a pretty smart strategy.  George was marrying a girl much younger that himself who had never been away to school.  Giving her an opportunity to have some experiences on her own could only have a positive outcome on their marriage.

From Esther's Album - The Middle Kids

Gwen and Bev about 1925

Forrest about 1925

Bev about 1923-24 Summer

From Esther's Album - Haying and Teams

A close up look at the hay crop about 1920 (if the little boy is Garth).  The girls are Clarissa and Berniece.  Their father George is standing back in the hay to give an idea of the height of the hay crop.  The hills tell us it is on the old Kennington place at the mouth of Graveyard Canyon.

From Esther's Album - Fall is in the Air

Garth, Gordon and Beverly Kennington

Gordon Kennington

Garth Kennington

By the way, notice that in the few years these kids grew older, the shed was removed from the east of the white house.  Compare with the shots in the last blog.

Esther's Album - Annie Rebecca's Home

Clarissa and Berniece with Garth and Gwen in front.

 Looking west, this photo (above) gives us an idea of how far back from the lane the white house was about 1918.  Below, the wood pile view shows a shed right off the east side of the house.  In the bottom photo, the south view of the house shows just how close the little shed was.
Remains of the house's foundations are still there among all the trees and bushes.

The wood pile with a wagon load ready to go.

Annie Rebecca's home on the west end of the block.  

Kennington Family Cars

The George Kennington Farm from Esther's Album

 Looks like Gwen and Garth in the back seat.  Driver needs identified.  Does it look like George?

Kennington Family on Picnic  from Esther's Album

From Esther's Album

Hy Kennington, Berniece and Clarissa, George Kennington holding Gwen's hand, Jen Low, ............................., Esther Matthews, Garth Kennington, and ..................................

Group shot of a Kennington outing  about 1918 or 1919?   They're all dressed up - so it's likely a special event of some sort (when compared with the casual clothes in picnic photos).

Cliss and Berniece look about 7 or 8, maybe 9.  Gwen looks about 2.

Looking at the dry irregular lay of the ground, could they be over by Auburn stopping at the sulphur springs area?  Their brother, Hy,  (Joseph Hyrum, 1878) raised his large family in Auburn.

Since  Esther is in the shot, would Hy's wife, Sarah Jane or George's wife, Martha have taken the shot?  Could the lady on the right be Isabelle Blanchard Kennington, wife to Henry, the oldest Kennington brother? Since Jen is there, could the lady in the middle be her mother, Molly Kennington Low?

If anyone recognizes these folks, please leave a comment or email me at this blog's gmail.

DUP Museum

As I mentioned before, we stopped by the DUP Museum before our final trip to the old brick house.  Here are a few of the items dealing directly with our Kennington Grandparents.  Annie Rebecca was George Kennington's mother.

A sequined collar worn by Annie Rebecca Seward Kennington.  On loan from Charlene Jensen

A shawl worn by Annie Rebecca Seward Kennington.  On loan from Charlene Jensen

     Annie Rebecca Seward Kennington's Dress Top.  Donated by Dorothy Kennington

 

 The top was the one all of us girls wore to the Primary Parades until we grew out of it - about 4th grade.  Annie Rebecca must have been an awfully tiny woman.

Silver Stein used for sacrament water in Afton North Ward Church of Jesus Christ  of Latter-Day Saints.

Last Visit to the Old House #2; The Letter

This is the attic of the attic - you'd need a ladder to get up there, but that was the spot where we found lots of letters and magazines from the Low period - 1908 - 1917.  Forrest's bedroom is on the right below the attic.

 A few weeks ago both Gene and Craig said the older brothers had their beds upstairs while the girls were down in the north east bedroom.  They remembered Forrest having the bedroom over the stairs. It was our first clue as to where anything from Dad might be  located.

Bear in mind, if you haven't seen the upstairs,  it is an unfinished area.  While the owners after the Kenningtons kept a very nice house downstairs, the attic area seems to have been left alone for all those years except for a little storage.

The room over the stairs is rather odd shaped with the eve of the roof taking away a good chunk of room on the right of the window.  In addition,  a chimney stack is about 5 feet away from the window coming up from the parlor and what was the master bedroom.   The walls are done in rough cut lumber.  (Perhaps surroundings like that inspired him to be a carpenter)

Because Saturday was our last trip to the house, we focused on his room which we had skipped on the other trips. We tried to think how Dad (Forrest) would have set his room up.    We remembered his shops and how methodical he was wherever we lived.  Anything he did would be logical and the most direct.  We assumed he would have centered activity around the window - maybe a chair or stool or desk near the window for light and fresh breezes.  (I hate to think how cold it would be in the winter)

Chimney stack in what was Forrest's bedroom.  Window is now boarded up.

Looking south from the bedroom door.  Chimney stack is on the far left.

 When we examined the south side of the chimney stack facing  the window we were delighted!
This was one time a kid could be forgiven for writing on the walls! 

Believed to be K and F for Forrest.

Right below is a very plain "Kennington" with the hook typical of his signature.

THE LETTER

We thought it couldn't get better than that, then Carson again came through (he discovered the first letter).  He checked the floor boards under the window and there was a lovely letter from Forrest's Sunday School Class offering condolences at his father's passing in July of 1939.

 His father's death came when Forrest was 15 years old.  He keenly felt the weight of providing for his Mother and younger siblings.  One could imagine him sitting near that dormer window catching a July breeze while he read the letter after his father's passing.  He would try to make the family dairy pay, but it was a loosing battle.  He left school and headed out to work in Evanston,  then on to Arizona with the General Contractor, Schumaker-Evans and last to the Marine Corps.  He sent the balance of his pay back to his mother for the family over the next 5 years - through the end of WWII.

We were touched to imagine the 15 year old Forrest pondering that letter one final time before slipping it under his window where it would lay undisturbed for the next 73 years.  And we were so grateful for its discovery.

Somehow it seems fitting that a tender letter to our father be our family's final memento of the old  brick house.

Donna and Lynette reading the letter.

Transcript of the letter:
We wish at this time, Forrest, to offer our sincere sympathies to you.  In these hours of bereavement we hope you will not be discouraged, but that your will always look on the bright side of life and know that what is done now or anytime is done for the best by the hand of One who knows what is best for us.

We understand that a lot of the responsibilities that your father had will now fall on you, and we hope that you will be able to carry on just as your father would have done if he had not been called and we know you will.

We all know what a wonderful father you had!  We all know how blessed you are to have had such a person to guide and direct you.  And the things which come up in your life to puzzle you, although    you won't have his direct counsel,  think "If I do what my father would have done,  I will be right."

Forrest, He is not dead!  
I cannot say and will not say that he is dead.  
He's just away, 
With a cherry smile and a wave of the hand, 
He wandered into an unknown land, 
And left us dreaming, 
How very fair it needs must be, 
Since he lingers there.
 And you, Oh you, who fondly yearns,
 For the old time step and the glad return, 
Think of him faring on as dear in the love of 
There as the love of here. 
Think of him still as the same I say
He is not Dead, he is just away.

.........ly,

...Sunday School Class


Note:  Poem quoted is Away by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

One last visit to the Old Brick House #1

Donna arranged for us to have one final go through of the old Kennington Home.  We just wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything.  We did a quick visit at the DUP Museum on our way.  They are getting a fabulous collection.  It really put us in the mood to look for old stuff.

Not much had changed since our family reunion last month.  The trees around the house are starting to be cut down.  But I doubt if anyone had been inside since the reunion. 

Below is a quick swing around the front room.

The Kennington Place at the mouth of Graveyard Canyon

Garth

 Visited with the Crooks this summer.  They were kind enough to share some of Esther's photographs with us.

Esther Matthews was George's niece.  She was raised by her mother's parents,  Annie Rebecca and William Henry in Star Valley while her older siblings were raised by the Matthews in Liberty.  (The letter in the last post from AH Matthews was from her brother)

After the grandparents passed away,  she lived with George and Martha's family. Esther attended college, taught school, completed a mission and was  a well known educator.

Luckily she had a camera and enjoyed photographing the  cousins as they came along.  The pictures also show how wide open the country was then.  The original Kennington barn is in the background.

Garth and Gwen

Dairy operations on the Kennington farm.

 Garth was born in 1915 and Gwen came along in  1916.   So this photo was about 1917-1918.  They look pretty dressed up.  The shadows show it is late afternoon.  Notice the shadow of a man and woman - man slightly taller with a brim on his hat and the woman with a hat or hair in a bun at her neck line.  Could be George and Martha watching as Esther takes the photograph.  Feels like a Sunday afternoon.

William Henry had passed away in 1914 and Annie Rebecca in 1916.  George's uncle, Dick Kennington lived in the little white house until his death in 1919.  Then George and Martha made it their home from 1920 till they traded Lows for the red brick house north of town in 1930.

The Dairy Industry

The dairy barn and milking cows morning and evening stayed the focus of family activity for some 50 years 1890-1940. George and his kids still milked at both places if I understand it right. Two generations sustained themselves with the Dairy business.

George's brothers continued to farm and milk cows after 1940, but after his death, George's children gradually moved out of agriculture.

The Graveyard Canyon photo:

1. Photo was taken from across the lane from the old barn to the north, probably near the white house. 
2. A large potato patch was planted at the base of the mountain each year to sustain the family according to Cliss.
3. After WWI a shooting range developed at the base of Graveyard Canyon.
4.  Note the bare hills.  David drew our attention to them.   Now the north slope is now (90 years later) covered with mature pines.  Were these bare hills the result of fire or timber harvesting?
5. Signal fires would warn early polygamists to  head for the canyons whenever the law came from the Idaho side.  Graveyard Canyon had some sort of little lean to for that purpose.  It would of been relatively convenient for William Henry.  From the looks of the timber even 40 years later, those fellows had quite a hike.

From the north of the old barn on the Kennington place looking east to Graveyard Canyon.

We touch the past...

And then it happened... on the last trip over to lock up the house till it is torn down, a crumpled envelope stuffed behind one of the chimneys in the attic caught Carson's eye.  It was a letter to Uncle Garth from 1937- something we could actually touch had been sitting in the old brick house for 75 years which connected us to our Kennington past! 

That was all it took.  We rounded up flashlights and headed back just before twlight with any able bodied man we could find. 

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Papers and letters had fallen or were stuffed by kids between the floorboards in the attic and in that upper attic above the two small south rooms. 

What a treat!  I’ve been dusting the papers clean and putting them in plastic sleeves this week.  The papers are so fun because they really show a slice of life – things usually considered boring and easily discarded in the moment,  but which seem vivid from a historical perspective -  One hundred plus years now.

The material fits into 3 groups:

1.  The Low material includes  several scraps of letters from  high school buddies and cousins, crumpled pages from newspapers, magazines, etc.   The Earliest material dates from 1908 when Jen was about 12.  For some reason the letters are only to Jen.  Maybe she used the upstairs as a hideaway ....  There are questions about the babies - a direct reference to when Molly and Osborn Low opened their home to care for Cliss and Berniece before George married Martha. 

2. The Kennington material ranges from about 1928 - 1941.  They must have carried some stuff over with them when they moved.  It includes scraps of newspapers, there was a 1933 hunting license for Uncle Garth, a class schedule and a chemistry test for Forrest,  lots of church material, some school material, a couple of cancelled checks, etc.   

 Craig  filled us in a little on how the house and attic were used: "

--> The kitchen and front room were in the center of the house, with the kitchen to the back; parents' bedroom was on one side, the parlor at the front, and then the girls' bedroom on the other side.  The upstairs was all one big unfinished room with four alcoves with a bed in each alcove. It was also kind of a storage area.  The big porch or varanda went along the front of the house.  The kitchen, at the back, was over the root cellar, and had a back porch.  The cast iron cooking stove was against the kitchen wall.  There was no indoor plumbing and they brought water in from the hydrant outside.
 Craig said he remembers he and your dad [Forrest] playing ball upstairs one day, and when they came downstairs there was ceiling plaster all over the kitchen table.  Their Mother was not happy!"  (Craig & Helen Via email 2012) So there we have evidence that the attic was a boy's domain.

3.  The last group of material is from the Shorter family who lived there from about 1943 to 1980's.  There are magazines, an old income tax form, a bank book belonging to a sheep herder from Rock Springs, etc. Mrs Shorter kept the main floor of the house very nice.  Even now the carpets are nice and things were not roughed up.

Back in the attic we also found an awl, a child's shoe, and a doll shoe.  There was also a  fancy glass decanter or vase with the neck snapped off under the floorboards too.  I bet some little person had a guilty conscience…  But which family ?

Child's shoe and doll shoe found in attic

Page 1 of Matthews letter.  Transcript below.

Page 2 Matthews letter

Page 3 of Matthews letter - mentions Grandparents and "Uncle George"

Page 4 of Matthews letter.

 Transcript of Matthews letter ( sorry it won't tab to the right):
 -->Liberty Idaho
Nov 11, ‘13

Miss Jennie Low,

Dear Cousin Jen,- I was certainly glad to receive your letter the other day and also glad you have forgiven me for failing to answer your last letter.  I have no excuse to offer and I fear none would be …to be excuseable and would only make things …se so … the past be as it is and in the future will try and do better.

..ay this find you well, happy and in extra good temper else fear my efforts to interest you with this bunch of nonsence will be …and I will have to go fishing for an answer to th…

first I want to say that it is raining and for bear now don’t know what rain is  I will just say it is “Wet stuff from above” that makes mud in this country and I suppose snow in yours.  Ha Ha  I have been to Fielding and learned several deffinitions like the above.   So …have.. I learned to walk up our walk with out rolling all over the side hill Ha Ha

We are having some sporty times out here now dances in the Fielding Academy are much better that they were when you was here and the Olsen Hall is filled to over flow.  The new dance hall will soon… and Grandma and Grandpa say I would like to see them.  We got a letter from Grandmother she said Uncle Geo. had gone to get married  Who is he froze onto this time.  I hope his girls are well.  Tell Esther I am going to write to her in a day or two.  I am plowing every day have got about 60 acres plowed for Oats next spring.

Well Jen, I am wondering what it was I have told you not much I suppose and believe me I can’t think of much it is as scares as hin teeth or flea hair.

Well I am going to have a hair cut and shave Friday and the “Wet stuff” is still coming so good night.  Answer soon.  What is Bill, Bertha and all the rest doing?

 [in margin above]  (It is Snowing for a change)

Now after getting all these notions out of my system I am prepared for a good night’s rest.
Love to All from
A.H. Matthews

Page 1 Missionary letter from Osborne Low Jr to Jennie

Page 2, Missionary letter

Garth's hunting license

Cancelled Check

Update: Sept. 8, 2012.  Gene told us his parents stored their cancelled checks upstairs on the north side of the attic.  The younger kids would pretend the checks were real money.  So that's how some found their way into the floor boards.  KKH

Page 1 Ballantyne to Garth

Page 2  Ballantyne to Garth

Page 3  Ballantyne to Garth

Envelope Ballantyne to Garth

Above is the letter Carson found behind the attic chimney which prompted a closer look and opened the possibilities of forgotten papers in the house.

 Uncle Garth was on a survey crew with a Jenkins boy in the summer of 1937.  He told me they would work long hours and camp out where ever the work ended.  One night they pulled along the creek bottoms between Cokeville and Kemmerer and threw out their sleeping gear without making a fire because they were so tired.  Sometime during the night they were jolted awake by the scream of a train whistle.  All they could see was the bright headlight of the engine coming straight for them.  They didn't know if they were camping on the track nor which way to roll.  They froze in terror and the train roared past. But there was no more sleep that night.  In daylight  they could see they were right along the track but not far enough to recognize it.

Reciept for pants and a shirt at a mens' store.  Perhaps school clothes for Forrest who would be about 16?  His signature is faint just below the word Tax.  He left to work in Evanston about this time.

An infamous milk check which was so low as the years wore on.  Not enough to support the family.

   -->Notes from Garth:  "The next year the Depression hit full force.  Milk Checks which came every 2 weeks went from the neighborhood of $60 - $80  down to $12 to $14 and on down to $5….  The family was hit hard…"

 

Possible rough draft for a talk in Martha's hand.

A short poem - author unknown - in Martha's hand.

Update on the above verse - it's part of a nursery rhyme.  Here's the whole thing:

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Five Little Chickens

Said the first little chicken,
With a queer little squirm,
"I wish I could find
A fat little worm."

Said the second little chicken,
With an odd little shrug,
"I wish I could find
A fat little bug."

Said the third little chicken,
With a sharp little squeal,
"I wish I could find
Some nice yellow meal."

Said the fourth little chicken,
With a sigh of grief,
"I wish I could find
A little green leaf."

Said the fifth little chicken,
With a faint little moan,
"I wish I could find
A wee gravel stone."

"Now see here," said the mother,
From the green garden patch,
"If you want any breakfast,
Just come here and SCRATCH!"