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.

Liberty, Idaho Cemetery and Esther Sarah Frewin

We headed thru Liberty and Ovid, Idaho en route to Star Valley this weekend and took a little side trip to the Liberty Cemetery.  The Cemetery is on a beautiful hill with a great view in all directions.

Esther Sarah's grave.  For some reason the death date is in error.  She died in 1885 according to family records.

Esther Sarah's grave near the Poulson family. 

View south from Cemetery - looking down the hill

The Buckeridge Cousins

Here's another insight into the Frewin family - Annie Rebecca had Buckeridge cousins who were raised in Theale, Berkshire, England.  

 Their mother appears in different family documents as the postmistress of Theale.

Henry Ballard of Logan, (who had been introduced to the Church by Annie Rebecca's step father, Josiah Kimber) returned to the Berkshire area in 1886.

In his journal as quoted in Douglas O. Crookston's Henry Ballard, the Story of a Courageous Pioneer,  Ballard mentions:  
"Went to Thatcham...visited the old Church Yard where my brothers and a number of old acquaintances lay.  I then went to visit a Mr. Edward Pinnock, his wife was my Bro Charles [Niece] by his second marriage... (pg 144)  
"March 1:  We left Newbury and went around by Midgam and ...then called on Mrs Buckeridge at Theale and got tea and then walked on to Reading..."  (pg. 145)     

While researching the story of the Buckeridge Cousins of Theale, I became reacquainted with the fact that Annie Rebecca's cousin,  Annie Frewin Buckeridge  also  joined the LDS Church and came to Salt Lake.  She married Ebenezer Beesley as his second wife.   Beesley's father in law was Henry Hancock who was married to  Annie's mother in their later life at Liberty, Idaho.  They all came from the same area in Berkshire and were old acquaintances.


I did not know the story of Maria Buckeridge and her daughter Gertrude however.

Excerpts from the book,  Catchers of the Light:  The Astrophotographers’ Family History, by Dr. Stefan Hughes.  Paphos, Cyprus:  copyright S. Hughes, 2012.

“…By 1884 Alfred Rordame had moved from Eureka to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he resided at the corner of Fifth South and Third East Streets, earning his living as a musician.  It was here that he married Gertrude Alice Buckeridge from Theale in Berkshire, England in 1890, raised his family and spent the rest of  his life.  In later life he gave up music as a profession and worked for a while as a collector for the local Lighting Company.  The Rordame family still live in Salt Lake City, among whose members are Alfred Rordame III and his son, Alfred Rordame IV.

“Comet 1893/N1 Rordam-Quenisset appeared as a naked eye “smudge” in the constellation of the Lynx in the summer of 1893.  A number of observers saw the comet and who could arguably lay claim to its discovery.  However, it was officially discovered on the evening of the 8^th of July by the violinist Alfred Rordame of Salt Lake City, Utah… (pg. 1296)

“…On the evening of the 8^th of July 1893, Alfred Rordame was returning home after perfoming in a concert when he noticed an unknown object in the obscure constellation of the Lynx.  What he saw turned out to be a new comet now known as C/1893 N1 Rordame-Quenisset.  He at once reported his discovery to the Warner Observatory in Rochester, New York, and within a day or two the news had been communicated to astronomers throughout the world…

“Sometime around 1910, Alfred Rordame began taking Astronomical photographs with a variety of telescopes and portrait cameras…(pg. 1293)

“Alfred Rordame died without warning of a heart attack at his home 1031 East 3^rd South Street, SLC on the 30^th of November 1931.  He was survived by his widow, Gertrude Alice Buckeridge (1870-1953), and four out of the seven children born to them.  He was one of the first great pioneers of amateur Astrophotography. (pg. 1295)

“Alfred Rordame [] was the first person to photograph features on the cloud shrouded planet Venus…” (pg. 1280)

                                             

 Rordame’s wife, Gertrude Alice Buckeridge, was Annie Rebecca Seward’s cousin Maria's daughter. 

So summing up our history lesson for the day:  Two sisters, Annie Frewin Buckeridge and Maria Frewin Buckeridge came to Salt Lake from Berkshire. The older, Annie, married Ebenezer Beesley as a plural wife.  Her sister, Maria, came as a single woman with a daughter, Gertrude.  Maria married Charles C. Seal, also as a plural wife.  Her daughter married Rordame in 1890.

In a twist of fate, (which is probably very logical if we knew the dynamics of Liberty, Idaho at the turn of the century), Gertrude’s son marries a girl born in Liberty.  That makes it a small world – from Berkshire, England to Liberty, Idaho for all four of the Frewin cousins.  

If you have more information or questions  about this story,  please feel free to comment and add to the conversation.  We would love to hear from you.