Headstone Mystery Explained

 Esther Sarah Frewin's head stone at Liberty, Idaho has a 1905 death date on it.  (See 12 May 2013 entry)

That was a little disconcerting because the 1905 date seemed to indicate that Esther Sarah must have been left behind by Annie Rebecca in the move to Star Valley in 1885-86.  That seemed out of character with the family, especially since Annie Rebecca was Esther's only daughter.

Our records showed Esther died in the fall of 1885, relieving Annie Rebecca of her family obligations to her elderly mother (if she was in poor health) and enabling Annie Rebecca to follow the family to Star Valley.

So which was right - family records or  headstone?

Further research shows  Esther Sarah's 3rd husband, William Henry Hancock  died on  March 6, 1905 at the age of 90.

Now the mystery is solved - some sort of mis-communication occurred between the headstone people and whoever in the family had that beautiful little headstone installed.

It supports the quote  "William and the boys built a house for Annie before she moved to Star Valley.  It consisted of two rooms []  The boys hauled shingles from Montpelier for it." (A History of Annie Rebecca Kennington by her children, her daughters-in-law, Isabell, Ida and Esther Crook, and Jenny Gardner, no date)

And it also fits with the quote in A History of William Henry Kennington, according to his sons, Henry, Alonzo, Albert, and Ira and his daughter Ida K. Jensen, as told to granddaughter, Maud K. Ranzenberg,   "Now William was a polygamist.  He had to keep away from the United States Marshals so he had to move Aunt Tib (as Elizabeth Ann was nick-named) to Star Valley.  He stayed with her part of the time.  They lived in a log cabin on the south side of the creek where Frank Call's barn now stands.  They bought the land from A.B. Clark who was homesteading it, and then finished homesteading it."

We can't pass up the "evading the law" story on the same page:

"Once after William was a polygamist he drove a team from Liberty, Idaho to Montpelier to do some trading.   On the way to the store he stopped at the railroad station for about an hour.  When he got to the store there were two United states Marshals looking for him.  

"One man said, "Do you know a man by the name of William Henry Kennington?"
William said "Yes, I'm well acquainted with him,  In fact I saw him down to the railroad station a little while ago.  I'm going that way now.  Won't you ride down with me?"  The Marshals rode down with him.  When they got to the stations William bid them good bye and drove on home to Liberty.  If he had been caught he would have been fined $200 or if he couldn't pay the money he would have had to go to jail for six months or a year.  He then moved his second family to Star Valley."

I believe in this context, the second family refers to Annie Rebecca's since Elizabeth's was the first moved to Star Valley.  And I believe it is logical that concern for and perhaps care of Esther Sarah Frewin, Annie Rebecca's mother, may have played into the timing of Annie's move to Star Valley.