Land Commissioner

During the early years of the last century,
William Henry Kennington was a United States Land Commissioner for Wyoming at Afton.
Above is one of the documents he filled out.

A grand son, Forrest Kennington related the following: "In 1952, Carl Cook, a lawyer practicing in Afton, filled out deed papers for me and told me this story: He, Carl Cook, visited the land office in Afton and filled out papers for people settling in the Etna area. (Carl Cook was one of the men who selected the name of Etna for the town...). He said he wondered why William Henry wrote so slow.
With a smile Carl started writing and said that when you are old, you just write slow."

This document gives us a good look at William Henry's penmanship as an older man (he died in 1916 at the age of 74); the letters are still firm and the script even and flowing.

The old Kennington Barn

Found this on the S.V. Historical Society Site. It's the most complete label I've seen for the barn.
There are so many things I think I know, and remember talking to Dad about, but when it comes to actually putting them down on paper now, I don't trust my memory. The lesson is to label things now while they're fresh on your mind. Lucky for us Dad did that.

I believe in August of 2010 we also ran a photo of the barn. You can get a close up on that one and see a little more detail.

How would you feel about preparing some material on your parents? I think we could benefit from seeing and learning about each aunt and uncle. All we'd need is a childhood, adolescent wedding or, mid life and mature adult photos. I have Uncle Garth's trunk - have been going to write something for about the last - hmmm- 7 years or so. We could also get Aunt Ruth's photos out and scan them again.

I know you folks are a little shy about admitting you're out there - but think about it seriously.

William Henry Kennington barn and old cabin on Afton place

William Henry Kennington moved his families to Star Valley in about 1885. He took up land at the mouth of a small canyon on the east of the Upper Valley. His history is well documented. He raised a large family and instilled a solid value system in the children. Their descendants are spread far and wide.

When one of his sons died suddenly, he buried the boy at the southeast corner of the homestead; the land became the Afton Cemetery - and Graveyard Canyon took its name. The National Guard Armory sits on the northeast portion. Homes occupy the potato patch on the east, and the old barnyard. The old fairgrounds and now the hospital and nursing home are on the south west corner.

If William Henry hadn't donated the cemetery ground, the whole land usage in that area might have been different, perhaps industrial instead of residential. Luckily we can still have a good idea of what the Kenningtons saw 100 years ago as they settled the valley.