John Benjamin Kendrick (September 6, 1857 – November 3, 1933) was an American politician and cattleman who served as a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from Wyoming and as the ninth governor of Wyoming as a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

John Benjamin Kendrick was born near Rusk, Texas to John Harvey Kendrick and Anna Maye on September 6, 1857. He grew up on his family's ranch and attended a public school in

Florence, Texas Florence is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,171 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Since 2000, the territorial limits of Florence have grown by 8%. Florence is located approximately north from ...

until the seventh grade. In March 1879 he was employed by Charles W. Wulfjen to move cattle from Texas to Wyoming.Peterson, p. 5. He arrived in the

Wyoming Territory The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The ...

in August 1879 and settled on a ranch near Sheridan, where he raised

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

as a cowboy, ranch foreman, and later cattle company owner. In 1883 he returned to Texas and bought a cattle herd to establish his ranch in Wyoming. He married Eula Wulfjen on January 20, 1891. In 1895 he purchased the property in Nielsen Heights for his future home, and in 1908 began construction on the home, which came to be called Trails End. In 1970, Trails End was added to the National Register of Historic Places; in 1982 it was donated to the state of Wyoming for operation as a museum. Kendrick worked as foreman for his father-in-law's cattle company from 1879 until 1883. He was employed by and invested into the Lance Creek Cattle Company and the Converse Cattle Company which he later became owner of in 1897. Kendrick became president of the First National Bank of Sheridan in 1900 and served until 1902.

Politics

In 1909 he moved to Sheridan and was elected President of the

Wyoming Stock Growers Association The Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) is an American cattle organization that started in 1872 among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de ...

. He was a member of the

Wyoming State Senate The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 31 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyom ...

from 1910 to 1914. In 1911 he was given the Democratic Senate nomination by acclamation by other Democratic members of the legislature, but was defeated by incumbent Senator

Clarence D. Clark Clarence Don Clark (April 16, 1851November 18, 1930) was an American teacher, lawyer, and politician from New York. He participated in the constitutional convention for Wyoming's statehood and was that state's first congressman. He served as bo ...

. He was given the nomination again in 1912, but was also defeated by Senator

Francis E. Warren Francis Emroy Warren (June 20, 1844November 24, 1929) was an American politician of the Republican Party best known for his years in the United States Senate representing Wyoming and being the first Governor of Wyoming. A soldier in the Union ...

. He was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

from Wyoming in 1916 and 1924. He then served as

Governor of Wyoming A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

from 1915 until he resigned in 1917, having been elected as a Democratic candidate to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in 1916. During Kendrick's time as governor, various labor laws were introduced. Kendrick was reelected to the Senate in 1922 and 1928 and served from March 4, 1917, until his death at Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1933. In 1932 he received an honorary law degree from the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

. He was credited with beginning the investigations into the

Teapot Dome scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a political corruption scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Warren G. Harding. It centered on Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, who had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Do ...

, a bribery incident that took place from 1922 until 1923, and was considered as a candidate in the 1924 and 1928 presidential elections. During the 1924 presidential election, Wyoming's six Democratic delegates were instructed to vote for Kendrick at the

1924 Democratic National Convention The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden (1890), Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took ...

and did so for the first three ballots. During the

1928 presidential election The following elections occurred in the year 1928. Africa * 1928 Southern Rhodesian general election Asia * 1928 Japanese general election * 1928 Persian legislative election * 1928 Philippine House of Representatives elections * 1928 Philipp ...

, he was considered as a possible vice presidential nominee, but the nomination was later given to Senator Minority Leader

Joseph Taylor Robinson Joseph Taylor Robinson (August 26, 1872 – July 14, 1937) was an American politician who served as United States Senate, United States Senator from Arkansas from 1913 to 1937, serving for four years as Party leaders of the United States Senate, ...

at the convention. He served as chairman of the Committee on Canadian Relations (

Sixty-fifth Congress The 65th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1917, ...

) and member of the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys (

Seventy-third Congress The 73rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1933, ...

). He introduced legislation that helped create the

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is a national park of the United States in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. G ...

in northwestern Wyoming.

Personal life

His daughter Rosa Maye married army officer Hubert Reilly Harmon. On November 2, 1933 Kendrick fell into a coma and was initially diagnosed with a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

, but they later determined that he suffered a

uremia Uremia is the condition of having high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess in the blood of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, which ...

and died the next day. Governor Edwin C. Johnson praised him for his service as senator and Kendrick was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Sheridan, Wyoming. First Assistant Postmaster General Joseph C. O'Mahoney was appointed by Governor Leslie A. Miller to fill the vacancy created by Kendrick's death and won the Senate special election to fill out the rest of Kendrick's term in 1934. Kendrick was inducted into the

Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American W ...

in the

National Cowboy Hall of Fame The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and Native American art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Amer ...

in 1958.

Electoral history

References

External links

* Bartlett, Ichabod S. (1918). History of Wyoming. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
History of Wyoming
* Peterson, C.S. (1915). Men of Wyoming. Denver, CO, C.S. Peterson Publisher
Men of Wyoming: The National Newspaper Reference Book of Wyoming Containing Photographs and Biographies of Over Three Hundred Men Residents

Trail End State Historic Site (Kendrick Mansion)
*

* ttp://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_kendrick/406266 Govtrack.us: Sen. John Kendrick
National Governors Association

John B. Kendrick Papers
at the

American Heritage Center The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West (including politics, settlement, Native Americans, and W ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendrick, John B. 1857 births 1933 deaths Candidates in the 1924 United States presidential election American cattlemen Democratic Party United States senators from Wyoming Democratic Party governors of Wyoming People from Rusk, Texas People from Sheridan, Wyoming Democratic Party Wyoming state senators 20th-century United States senators 20th-century members of the Wyoming Legislature