KENDRICK, JOHN BENJAMIN (1857-1933). John Benjamin Kendrick, rancher and politician, son of John Harvey and Anna (Maye) Kendrick, was born in Cherokee County near Jacksonville on September 6, 1857. He attended public school in Williamson County and subsequently drove cattle from Matagorda Bay to Wyoming. In 1879 he settled near Sheridan, Wyoming, and on January 20, 1891, married Eula Wulfjen, daughter of a Texas rancher. They had two children. In 1883 Kendrick returned to Texas, invested in a herd of cattle, and drove them back to Wyoming to establish his own ranch. He became a prominent rancher in Wyoming and 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. The latter election required his resignation from the governorship, on February 4, 1917. 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. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1912, 1916, and 1924. Kendrick died in Sheridan, Wyoming, on November 3, 1933.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dictionary of American Biography. Who Was Who in America, Vol. 2.

Clinton P. Hartmann