My Journal #2

Family History

A Page from History.

It hard to believe that it was in the mid 1990's that I became interested in researching my family history. I had only a few bits of information about my ancestors from my mother. She told me my Great grandfather served in Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and that he and and my grandmother lived in Sundance, WY before moving to Portland, Oregon in the early 1900's.

Not much to go on I began to look at every list I could find of Teddy's men. Months of reading books in the library. (Internet wasn't that advanced yet.) I finally discovered a small book with his name listed under Torrey's Rough Riders.

Torrey, trained the cavalry before they were sent south to Florida to fight in the Spanish/American war. Finally Roosevelt said, "Send them. As long as they can ride and shoot that's all the training they need."  So Off on a train to Florida Walter Robinson went. 

Upon reaching Florida, the train was in a wreck and the men ended up camping in the swampy Everglades. Walter contacted Tuberculosis. Six months or so later he was released from the army and sent home.

I don't know what they did back then. I've researched what they did in the 1940's. They quarantined the person. Usually sending them to a hospital or a ward of some kind keeping them away from family. I think he came home and Great Grandma Carrie took care of him, with the help of his army buddy Sam.

Sam moved to Wyoming from Texas to be with him and support his family.  In 1898 my grandfather passed away an alcoholic probably due to the disease. My grandmother married Sam Redifer (a younger man)and he took over the raising of my grandfather and his brothers.

They continued to live in Sundance and for a time were caretakers of a out post. It was a General store/hotel and post office all in one building.  Family members of Sam came from Texas to visit and said they found the place crawling with bed bugs and lice. They didn't stay long.

Carrie and Sam moved back to Sundance to be near her family. It was at this time her brother-in-law attended a church meeting in Nebraska on one of his travels.  He took their paper and read it, then brought it back to his wife and her family. They sent to Portland, Oregon where the paper came from and received the regularly printed subscriptions. 

In it they read about how the power of God changed peoples lives. Drunks gave up the bottle, men addicted to cigarettes no longer had any desire to smoke. There were criminals that were changed and repented of their criminal activities. Some never even had to serve jail time as they began to make restitution.  Healings and miracles as well as personal testimonies were printed.  The paper was passed from family to family to read and they felt a longing to be part of these people. To experience what they had.  Grandma's parents decided they were packing up and moving to Portland.
It didn't take much persuasion for her daughters to pack their families and join their parents and brother.

Three sisters and their families arrived in Portland and attended the church services. Their lives were changed and they made their home from then on in Portland.  Out of those three sisters families one grandson became the Overseer of the church organization. There are still family members involved in all aspect of the church work. Including me.

I have a heritage that cannot be ignored.  One that I am responsible to continue. In my own lifetime I to have seen miracles and God work in miraculous ways.

I have included a story about Walter's grandparents moving from Mt. Pulaski, IL to Linn Co. Kansas and how they found their new home. 

"The War is Over"