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.