A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
Coroners are public officials who are elected in order to carry out post-mortem investigations. The duties of coroners include: declaring death, cause of death, notifying the next of kin, filing death certificates, and keeping records. As the first official coroner served in England in 910 A.D., and the first American coroner wasn’t until 1637, it’s safe to say that the position has changed somewhat dramatically.
Up until the 1850s, the coroner field in America was much like the Wild West. There were no standards or requirements for becoming a coroner. As the position was elected, anyone could become a coroner, and stay a coroner, as long as they were popular with the public. Without much oversight or regulation, corruption became very common for early coroners. They could call unnecessary inquest juries who got paid by the case, and would then split the money with the coroner. They also could make under-the-table deals with undertakers to send them bodies in return for money. In 1860, Maryland, the home of the first American coroner, passed a law that demanded its coroners be medically trained. The rest of the states followed suit, and in the following decades, additional restrictions were placed.
But not every state has a coroner. In fact, the United States is split between states and counties that have either coroners or medical examiners. In 1877, Massachusetts replaced its coroner office with the medical examiner. Unlike coroners, medical examiners are appointed rather than elected, and are required to have a background in medicine.
The coroners in Fremont County have a legacy as well. Every Fremont County coroner since Riverton was founded in 1906 has had preexisting ties to either the funeral business, law enforcement, or forensic/medical training. Some states have a sharp divide between coroner and sheriff, while other states merged the two. Historically, many of the sheriffs in the United States also worked as a coroner at the same time, and in 48 of California’s 58 counties, that’s still the case! However, the original purpose of the coroner was to serve as a “check” to the sheriff, and in states like Indiana, the coroner remains the only law enforcement officer who has the authority to incarcerate the county sheriff and take command of the county jail.
In Riverton, while some coroners served as sheriffs, the undertakers that they worked with frequently owned furniture stores as well. During the early 20th century, almost every undertaker in the United States was attached to a furniture or hardware store. If they could make coffins, they were capable of making furniture as well. But in 1915, Wyoming established its embalming board to monitor and regulate embalmers and funeral directors. Just a decade later, the Wyoming Health Department decided that funeral businesses should be separate from furniture businesses as a safety concern.
The Riverton Masonic Temple, built in 1919, included the Fremont County coroner’s furniture and mortuary company located in the basement of the temple, run by the corner Niels L. Olesen. A legend passed down by the Fremont County Coroners tells how, if an unidentified body was brought into the morgue, it would be placed in the window of the temple in the hopes that those walking by on the street would be able to identify it. However, there is no actual evidence of this taking place, and it most likely wouldn’t have been allowed to occur for very long.
Fremont County Coroners
Samuel Iiams: 1884-1885
James Irwin: 1885-1888
W. A. Feiser: 1889-1890, 1893-1894, 1911-1914
H. P. Brower: 1891-1892
E. M. Rhodes: 1895-1896
J. W. H. Schoo: 1897-1904, 1907-1910
John W. Thompson: 1905-1906
O. L. Middlekauf: 1915-1919
Newton Ripper: 1919-1920
John A. Benson: 1921-1928
E. E. Davis: 1929-1952
Floyd G. Payne: 1953-1954
Percy T. Davis: 1955-1960
Larry L. Lee: 1961-1998
Edwin R. McAuslan: 1999-2014
Mark Stratmoen: 2015-2021
Larry R. DeGraw: 2021-2022
Erin C. Ivie: 2022-Present
Author: Kevin Scannell
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
September 28, 10:30am at the Dubois Museum, “Kids Corner: DIY Bookmarker” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
October 3, 6:30pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Wolves of Yellowstone: By Catherine Barr” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
October 16, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “Fremont Haunts: By Alma Law” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
October 19, 11am at the Dubois Museum, “Kids Corner: Pumpkin Carving” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
October 19, 5:30-7pm at the Riverton Museum, “Downtown Riverton Haunted Adventure Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
October 19, 5-8pm at the Riverton Museum, “Pumpkin Trail”
October 18 & 19 6-9pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Halloween Night at the Museum” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution to be used specifically for the benefit of the museum of your choosing by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.
Samuel Iiams, the first Fremont County coroner. (Image credit: Pioneer Museum)