The Fremont County Coroner’s Office has currently over 6,400 case files on record, going back to the year 1885. Records vary in amount of information or completeness, but all as of 2009 have been entered into a computerized database with search capacity along specific parameters.
- Old undated photo from the Coroner Files – Hand-written note on back says: “Alexander Ranch on East Fork, cowboy killed when team run away”
The displayed photo may be the first photographic evidence of a “Single-Vehicle Roll Over”… unfortunately it was not dated.
The first documented homicide is from 1885. The first documented suicide is from 1887. The first documented accident is from 1888. Older files are for the most part Coroner Inquests, as these were (and still are) the only documents required to be filed with the District Court. As such, information has survived through the Wyoming State Archives. The Archives have been of great assistance in providing information and copies of a historical nature.
Record keeping has improved and expanded over the years, and providing information on past cases, especially to relatives, descendants, & family members, continues to be a part of the service from the Coroner’s Office to the public.
Below is a list of elected coroners for Fremont County:
1868: Wyoming Territory Created, 1884: Fremont County Organized
1884: Sam Iiams
1885-1888: James Irwin
1889-1890: W. A. Feiser
1890: Wyoming admitted as the 44th State
1891-1892: H. P. Brower
1893-1894: W. A. Feiser
1895-1896: E. M. Rhodes
1897-1904: J. W. H. Schoo
1905-1906: John W. Thompson
1907-1910: J. W. H. Schoo
1911-1914: W. A. Feiser
1915-1919: O. L. Middlekauf
1919-1920: Newton Ripper
1921-1928: John A. Benson
1929-1952: E. E. Davis
1953-1954: Floyd G. Payne
1955-1960: Percy T. Davis
1961-1998: Larry L. Lee
1999- : Edward R. McAuslan