John Benjamin Kendrick

Born in Cherokee County near Jacksonville, Texas, the son of John Harvey and Anna (Maye) Kendrick, Kendrick was orphaned when he drove cattle from Matagorda Bay, Texas, to Wyoming. In 1879 and settled near Sheridan, Wyoming. He married Eula Wulfjen, daughter of a Texas rancher, in 1891 and they had two children, Rosa-Maye and Manville. In 1883 Kendrick returned to Texas, invested in a herd of cattle, and drove them back to Wyoming to establish his own ranch. Eventually, the various Kendrick ranches covered over 210,000 acres in two Wyoming counties (Sheridan and Campbell) and four in Montana (Powder River, Custer, Big Horn and Rosebud). His ranches included the OW, LX Bar, K, the Forks, the 76, Hanging Woman, the 77 and Cabin Creek. Kendrick held positions in state and national livestock associations. He served in the Wyoming Senate from 1910 to 1914 and, as a write-in candidate, was elected governor in 1914 and United States senator in 1916. He was reelected to the Senate in 1922 and 1928 and served on the committees on Agriculture and Forestry, Public Lands and Surveys, and Appropriations. Kendrick was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1912, 1916, and 1924. He died in Sheridan, Wyoming, on November 3, 1933. Today, his prominent home in Sheridan and the LX Bar Ranch are maintained as a Wyoming State Historic Sites.