Tombstone Tuesday Children's Grave

I was going through my mother's pictures and found this.  These are the children of George Washington Roberts and Katherine Roberts.  There had been no death dates for these children, and my mother when she took the picture did not know who they belonged to.  I have proved them on Census records and now I have their death dates.  Sometimes random acts are helpful.

Sharing a Slice of Life 'Fires'

Texasblu gave us the prompt fires.  As she says, there are many fire stories in my life, some which I will share this winter to warm you while it is snowing outside. 

The story which goes with this time of the year is when I was 5 years old.  We were renting a house in the country, while my mom applied for college and my dad was trying to get back to productive work after loosing his leg, a story I told about here.  There wasn't trash pick up in those days, but we had a 50 gallon metal can my dad had fashioned into an incinerator. (I see your minds; they are starting to put two and two together.) I need to further advise you of where our house was.  Pawnee is built in the Sandstone Hills Region of Oklahoma.  Our house was near the top of a hill.
With this background, I will continue.

This particular day was probably, according to my mom, not the best day for burning trash.  It was windy and dry.  She had started the fire, then went back inside for more paper to burn.  She was easily distracted and had not put the wire lid back on. When she came back out, the wind had picked up a piece of trash from the burning trash and had sent it into the field.  Everything was so dry that the fire was already spreading down towards our neighbor wildly.  My mother at first beat the fire out around the butane tank.  When she had that safe, she looked around and saw me wide eyed and as usual bare foot behind her.  She bent down and told me to stay near the house.  She could not take me because I didn't have on shoes.  She was going to run down to the neighbor's house, (which was not close) and use their phone to call the fire department.  I nodded and watched her take off at a run down the road.  I was scared and just looked at the fire spreading.  Then I had a sudden flash in my mind what I needed to do.  I took off running to the barn yard where everything was fenced in.  I proceeded to let the rabbits, cow, chickens, and anything that was caged up loose so they could escape if the fire got to the barn area.  Then I went down by the mail box to wait for my mom to come back. 
I was crying and I remember one of my dad's friends a black man, stopping by to talk with me and comfort me telling me that help was on the way to put the fire out.  I don't remember my mom coming back, but I have always remembered the kind hearted friend who stopped to comfort a little girl. 
Men from all over the area came to help put out the fire.  I can remember their faces which were black from the soot of fighting the fire.  They gathered off an on at our the house and I took them cold water to drink in my little red wagon.
The fire never came back towards the barn, but my dad told me he was glad I thought of turning the animals out for safety.  My mom always told me as she was half way to the neighbors. she realize she had left me with the fire and a butane tank in between. She could only push herself to run faster.  In the end, we were all thankful that only woods and fields were burnt, no houses or people.

The experience has always stayed with me.  To this day, I am still leery of burning bush or anything out in the fields. Smokey the Bear was my friend and I always followed his instructions.  Children today would do well to know him...
And with that, I wish you a "good day"!

Sentimental Sunday The Hero and The Scuba Spear Gun

It is August and the summer is nearly over so I need to tell a summer time fun story.  The Hero loved scuba diving.  We never could afford it after we married so I know that was a disappointment to him.  He had several stories, but he never told his mother until he was in his fifties about some of his escapades.  : O...








 
As a exercise to keep their scuba skills up, the Hero and some of his high school buddies decided to go diving in the ship channel of Houston.   He  readily admitted that the small dinghy and the ship channel were not the safest, but they were their outlet when they wanted to try out something.  Of course it was a different era too.  It was in the mid 1960's. 

They rode in their small boat out near the Galveston Bay, but still in the channel.  Pulling to the side they got out and began donning their gear.

Two were in the boat getting the spear guns ready. 

The Hero went out into the water to get his goggles ready, and his brother was on the shore doing something.  We will pause here for a scuba safety warning. 

The hero was bent over with his face in the water when all of a sudden something was different.  He felt for his goggles and "They were gone!"  He looked back at the boat in bewilderment only to see the wide eyed fearful faces of his friends.  They began to yell, "Are you okay?"  He said, "What happened?"  "Well, Bobby was setting his gun when it when off and the spear went clean through your goggles."  (Here, I would interject that he was probably a bit weak in the knees at this time realizing the close call, but he never admitted it.) The Hero said he thought Bobby (fictitious name) was going to faint he was so white.  All was well, no one was hurt, but they didn't feel so perky any longer.

At that point, the day was done, and they packed up and went over to the Prince's Hamburgers  to console themselves.  Of course, that was the best hamburger place in Houston at the time. 

 

That was a story he never told his mom. (surprise.)

Sometimes moms don't want to know.  ;)

Surname Saturday Roberts

I have had a couple of family names that confused me at first glance.  The first of such was my great grandmother Katherine Roberts Humphries Roberts.  The family thought that she was a Humphries at first, but after research, it was revealed that she had married a Humphries when she was young, did not have any children, and after his death, married my great grandfather George Washington Roberts.  Her maiden name was Roberts.  This gave way to speculation, were they related?

The census revealed that George was a veteran of the Union in the Civil war and had settled in Kansas with his land bounty from his service.  He was born in Jackson Co., Michigan, a descendant of Capt. Lemuel Roberts of Connecticut/Vermont who wrote his Revolutionary War Memoirs. (Michigan people I have decided I may need some help with Jackson County I am running into challenges with probate records)



Katherine on the other hand was born in Lawrence Co. Kentucky, her Roberts go back to the Roberts who came in the early 1700's to Virginia. 

Connecticut, Virginia...nope doesn't look like a cross.
Below is my grandmother's ancestry line back 5 generations.

Click on the picture to view it larger.

Wordless Wednesday Phillips 66 Cowboy

This is as best I can get. It give the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce participants names at the end.

COG August Scrapbooking Your Family History Oklahoma Land Lottery Love

I saw Linda's post at Flipside and decided I would try my hand at Scrapbooking some of my family pictures.  I wasn't aware I was going to discover new information about my grandparents.  I always knew they were married in Oklahoma Territory.  I had heard that my grandmother's father Levi Gildon in the upper left hand corner had participated in the Oklahoma Land Lottery.  I have not been able to get hold of the records to confirm that he did win a piece of land.  My findings included that up until at least June of 1901 Levi and his family lived in Freestone County, Texas.  I thought they had come earlier.  The land lottery was in Aug 6 1901 in Kiowa Lands of Oklahoma Territory.  Benedict Langley in the lower right hand corner already lived in Cloud Chief, Washita Count, Oklahoma in the 1900 census.  My grandparents were married on September 9, 1901 at her parents house in Washita County.  It appears that Levi came up to Oklahoma from Texas for the Land Lottery and his daughter fell in love and married an older man, my grandfather, he was 7 years older.  She was only 16 when they married. 
Thank you, Jasia over at Creative Gene for the challenge, I would not have caught this if I had not been trying to be correct in my presentation.

Whether I made the carnival or not it has been worth it!  Awesome night!

Sentimental Sunday The Hero and The Floor People

This is a PG rated post.  LOL.
The Hero was a man of unlimited imagination.  He could come up with some great story lines.  While he was sick, he had to spend a great deal of time in the restroom at work.  One day he came home very excited!  I waited and the story line came.  He had been sitting looking at the floor in the bathroom with he saw a face, then he saw another and another, and a whole story came to him around these faces. He even took pictures of the floor people to work the story around.   My daughter spent a long time with him and him telling her his plot, so I won't spell out the details of the possible storyline, but I can tell you a wee bit about it.

He, with a smile, told me the floor people were at war with the wall people.  They were real people who lived in another dimension.  The floor people worshiped the moon...they first saw it when the young son bent over to take his bath.  The hero just died laughing at that; he thought it was so funny.  Then he decided it was too risky, so he would have to come at it from another angle.
I tell you sometimes I would swear he was still 13.  ; ) Ya all have a good evening and watch it when you go to the restroom you never know.....


This is his picture of the floor people ruler.