Johnson County Wyoming Free Genealogy Research

Johnson County

Johnson County Wyoming Free Genealogy Research








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The G.J. Jones and Simon Morgareidge families traveled
 together from Nebraska to Wyoming in 1888. Jones, a 
Union sympathizer, and Morgareidge, a Confederate, 
bickered the whole way. Mrs. Jones worked to establish
 a post office, which she named after William 
Worthington Morgareidge and her daughter May. 
The post office, and its location, was called Mayoworth.
The Mayoworth Post Office was established on 
July 16,1889 with first postmaster Charlotte L. Jones. 
I believe I have said this earlier but is still worth
 repeating in the time periods of Territorial, Statehood
 and after Statehood approximately 258 post offices in 
Wyoming were established by women. I have seen the use
 of post mistress however the post office apparently has
 never changed their designation from postmaster. 
I hope that those who continue to post on this site 
can relate stories like this one which brings more
 meaning to just the post office name and first postmaster. 
 
Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr,
 my grandfather, me (Don M Ricks)

A narrative thread, slender but certain,
 weaves Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr,
 my grandfather, and me into the history of
 western Wyoming.
In 1889, a few weeks after the bank in 
Telluride was robbed, Cassidy walked into
 the Amoretti bank in Lander and sat down
 with the young assistant manager, 
E. A. Amoretti Jr. When Cassidy left he 
had opened an account with a large cash 
deposit, had made a new friend, and had 
been hired to work on Amoretti’s EA Ranch, 
five miles north of Dubois.
In 1922, the rough wagon road through 
Togwotee Pass was upgraded to a rough road
 for motor traffic. Amoretti established 
the Lander-Yellowstone Park Transportation
 Company. It hauled tourists from the new
 Chicago & Northwestern terminal in Lander
 to Jackson Hole. He built the Brooks Lake
 Lodge for his guests, as well as the 
Amoretti Inn at Moran, near the site of 
what one day would become the Jackson 
Lake Lodge. My grandfather, Cody Simonson,
 was one of the young men in Dubois who 
Amoretti hired to drive his motor stages.
In 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr visited 
Jackson Hole with his family, noticed the
 Grand Tetons, and was inspired to create
 a national park. The historical record 
confirms they travelled from Lander and 
stayed at the Amoretti Inn. It does not 
disclose the name of their driver.
I wish I could report that, like Butch 
Cassidy and my grandfather, I once worked
 for Eugene Amoretti Jr. But that would 
not be true. In 1950, when I was 13, 
Francis Amoretti hired me for the summer
 as chore boy on the EA Ranch. That was 
in June. Her husband had died in March.
Photos: In this photo taken at the EA 
Ranch around 1890, the man wearing the 
white hat is believed to be Amoretti. 
The man seated next to the door is believed
 to be Butch Cassidy. That cabin is likely
 the one that served as the unofficial 
post office for the Dubois area at the 
time.—A motor stage like the one my Grandfather
 drove for Amoretti—The “upgraded” 
Togwotee Pass road. 
(Photos: Wyoming Tales and Trails)



 

The Kaycee Post Office was established on January 27, 1898 with first postmaster George Kaltenbach. The first application was turned down because it was presented as the letters K. C. and the postal service stated the name needed to be spelled out to be accepted.











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