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.

Temple Announced for Star Valley

A shot of the major buildings in Afton with Star Hill in the background.
The high school (below) was built to the east of the public school.

The Tabernacle

What a great day for Star Valley - a temple announced by Pres. Monson at the Sat. Conference session. I would bet tears were shed by everyone who has a tie to the valley. What a great convenience it will be for the western side of Wyoming and I would imagine eastern Idaho.

Speculation would be fruitless because the behind the scene work has been done and the site is chosen. But it's still fun to wonder - there's the Temple Bench tradition (flat plateau behind the High School at the mouth of Swift Creek Canyon), the Tabernacle has lots of room to the east and maybe to the south (if that land reverted to the church after the high school was torn down), or maybe someplace high (but snow removal is a real concern several months of the year) or some beautiful spot in the Lower Valley (which has grown so much in the past 30 years).

We'll just wait and see. In any event, wonderful changes will be coming to Star Valley.

George Kennington's growing family about 1922

L-R Front: Garth's shoulder, Gordon, Bev, Gwen.
Back: Cliss and Berniece