Kendrick was a true Western character and stands apart on those regards from many of Wyoming's early politicians. He was a Texan who had left school after 7th grade to become a cowboy and arrived in Wyoming with a heard of cattle in 1879. Having come up on a trail drive he stayed on in Wyoming and became a ranch foreman. Marrying his employer's daughter, he invested in a series of ranches and did well enough to ultimately invest in a bank as well.





In 1909 he became president of the very powerful Wyoming Stock Growers Association and entered the legislature the following year as a Democrat. That party affiliation likely disadvantaged him when he ran for the Senate in 1913 but that did not hurt him when the Progressive wave began to sweep that party and he became Governor in 1915. In a move you could not do now, he ran for Senate the following year and won, and hence his resignation on this date. He occupied that position until his death in 1933. He was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in the 1950s, a honor he no doubt deserved.







