Russell/Smith family genealogy

Mystery Solved - Maybe, Probably, Yes!

2012-01-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

A longstanding mystery has been solved by a very distant but dear cousin of ours, Barbara Rogers, an Arkansas native and cousin on the Smith side of our family. She has pulled together from various sources enough information to finally identify our own Elender Jane Keeling Buckhanan, born about 1837-1838 in Roane County, TN, to William Weldon Keeling and his wife Elizabeth Hyden Keeling. Elender married John Littleton Trout Buckhanan on April 3, 1856 in Madison County, AR and became the mother of five children including our Sarah Frances Buckhanan Smith before she (Elender) died while still a young woman sometime between 1866 and 1870.

Because she was listed on the 1860 federal census for Madison County, AR as E. J. Buckhanan and then never appeared on the 1870 federal census we've had a lot of trouble identifying her. Fortunately, there were Keeling family members living with E. J. and John L. T. Buckhanan in 1860 so we had a clue about her maiden name but the only E. J. we knew of was E. J. Perry who married Weldon Keeling in 1853 - close but no match.

The final pieces of the puzzle were in our own family records but it took our cousin Barbara Rogers working closely with Mary Simms to piece it all together and finally give our E. J. a full name and a family we can research. We still have not found her burial place or date, nor do we have a photograph of Elender, but with any luck (and the discovery of a missing family bible) we may learn more about the life and death of Elender.

We have many people to thank for the bits and pieces of the Keeling family and Buckhanan family histories which have led to the identification of our gr-gr-grandmother Elender Jane. For a more detailed accounting of this search and discovery please read Barbara's post on Genforum at http://genforum.genealogy.com/keeling/messages/1220.html And please, if you know anything more about this branch of our family send me an email.

Smith Clan Reunion Calendar 2012

2011-12-03T17:45:00.001-08:00

Hi folks,

The Smith Clan Reunion Calendar for 2012 is now posted here. Click on the Calendar photo to go to the individual months.

Please Help Identify this School

2011-12-03T07:06:00.001-08:00

This is an old school house near Turner Bend in Franklin County, Arkansas. Do any of you know its history? This wonderful photograph was sent to me by a woman who is interested in knowing more about the building, whether it was once a Cass school, when it was built, when it was last used as a school, and what its use is now. I'm hoping someone out there is familiar with this lovely old building with its stone foundation and fence. Write me at pamruss@frii.com if you can help.

Elias Russell in 1958 Article about Old Gold Mine.

2011-06-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

Is There Gold Near Cass?

A long-ago search for hidden treasure in Franklin county was fruitless but gave rise to some questions still unanswered.
Only another prospector, with mining in his blood and money to invest in an abandoned mine, is all that is needed to start a new gold rush in the mountains near Cass.
Now a ghost town, Cass was a flourishing lumbering center when interest was aroused over a Spanish legend, near the turn of the century.

(Caption under Elias' photo reads: "Mr. Russell who protected Mexican Charley from the mob, was deputy sheriff 22 years. He once hauled nine men 17 miles in his wagon to jail and two others being sent to the penitentiary.)

According to the legend, Spaniards prospecting for gold during the Civil War feared bushwhackers and hid a large number of gold bars and a huge gold cross in a partitioned room underground, somewhere in the mountains. Strange markings high up on an overhanging ledge and a deposit of a peculiarly red earth underneath the ledge, were said to indicate the location.

Dr. Tobe Hill, then a practicing physician at Mulberry Station, now Mulberry, 30 miles south, became so interested in the legend that he quit his practice and devoted 20 years and a tidy fortune, searching for the gold.

Floyd Turner, 72, who was born and reared on 160 acres where the mining claim was staked, said his grandfather, George Turner, first owned the land. He went to war and never came back. Then his father George Washington Turner, bought the interests of the other heirs and sold the land to Dr. Hill for $750.

Dr. Hill visited mining centers in the West looking for someone who could read the strange markings and brought back a man, part Pueblo Indian and part Mexican, known as “Mexican Charley.” Charley said he could read the markings and locate the gold by a much worn blueprint he brought with him. He was placed in charge of the mining crew. When news about Mexican Charley and his blueprint spread, it became necessary to emply men with guns to keep the crowds of people back so he and the miners could work.

The country went wild with excitement when Mexican Charley announced he had located the cap rock, that it would be raised on a certain day and that everyone present could look down upon the gold. A hurried trip was made to Little Rock to arrange for delivery of the escheatage to the state and to obtain police protection in handling the gold.

When the day came to lift the cap rock, the cove was filled with an immense, expectant and excited throng that milled about for hours, waiting for Charley to appear. But Charley was not to be seen by them that day. Prewarned of the possible danger that might result from a deception, he remained in hiding. Before the day ended, it became necessary to give Charley official protection when the angry crowd began calling for him to mob him. He was given orders the following day to leave the country and never return.

Later, a man, Joseph Palmer, who said he could locate the gold by witching, came to the mine. To test Palmer’s powers, some coins were hidden, and he was asked to find them. His witching rod was a three-pronged peach tree switch. He slit each prong near the end and placed a silver coin in one slit, a gold coin in another and a copper coin in the third. He held the switch in his hand, with coins level, as he walked about the grounds. He finally found the coins but said the switch pulled harder toward the mine. He wanted to witch over the mine but was not permitted.

Dr. Hill paid big wages for laborers to work in the mine – as much as $5 a day in that time when wages were low – and kept six to 30 men working, eight hours every day, for many years. He died believing the buried treasure he had not found was still somewhere in the earth.

His Lonquil Mining Co., it was said, sold at least 232 shares of stock at prices ranging from $25 to $100 a share, to people in Ft. Smith and other towns in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. J. L. Henson and J. H. Johnson, both of Ft. Smith, were president and secretary of the company.

Following Dr. Hill’s death and the failure of the mining company, interest in the mine lulled for a time. But through the years an occasional prospector had drifted in and started operations again.

The last to own and operate the mine were G. W. Glaze and his wife, from Salt Lake City. He was a prospector and artist-sign painter. Both he and his wife mined for the gold. Mrs. Glaze died in their cabin near the mine, from a heart attack, about three years ago. Soon after her death, Mr. Glaze left as suddenly as he had appeared, apparently abandoning everything, and has not been heard from since.

Mrs. Sarah Arbuckle, a widow at Cass, who lived near the mine when her husband worked there has vivid recollections of the mining boom and events that took place. “I knew Marion Hammond, George Martin and John Morehead who dug for gold many years – until they died, also a man named Douglas who burned to death in a house near the mine, and Charley Austin who was accused of squandering some of the mining company’s money, pleaded insanity and still lives somewhere back in the mountain,” she said.

Mrs. Arbuckle owns a share of the mining stock. “But never got anything out of it,” she declared. Her idea about the whole thing is: “When interest in the legend ran high and they started mining ore was brought from Joplin, Mo, and hidden in the dirt. That fired the works.”

Elias Russell, still active at 85, has lived within three miles of the mine all his life. He hauled lumber from his sawmill to the mine and was deputy sheriff 22 years during the mining operation. It was Mr. Russell who protected Mexican Charley from the hands of the mob. “Interest in the mine was high here and everywhere then,” he said. “Women, as far away as Dallas, Tex. Sold their feather beds for money to buy the mining stock, and lots of people would buy it again if it got started again. I always thought the place was just an old Indian village site and what they found were Indian bones and trinkets.”

The mine is in a picturesque, timbered, rock-strewn cove, walled in by mountains. The cove is, roughly, a quarter of a mile long and 200 years wide, with overhanging ledges and perpendicular cliffs, 50 feet high in places, on either side. Sparkling Cove Creek cascades down a gulch between the mountains and flows into nearby Mulberry river.

Seven tunnels, on both the north and the south sides of the cove, large enough for the small donkey-drawn cars on which the dirt was hauled out over narrow gauge tracks, extend far back underground from the bases of the cliffs. Some of these tunnels are filled with muddy water, while others have become springs. One is 20 feet deep.

While the old mine is seldom talked about any more by anyone in the locality, certain questions lie dormant in the minds of many old-timers who witnessed or were a part of the prolonged search for the gold. The strange markings high up on the ledge, the witching rod that pulls toward the mine, (Mrs. Arbuckle said: “I saw it pulling”, Charley’s blueprint and the origin of the legend itself, have never been explained to their full satisfaction.

Many thanks to Robert Myers for providing this 1958 magazine article, written by Steele T. Kennedy.

Today is the Big Day!

2011-06-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Today our Smith Clan is gathered over in Moffat County, Colorado, north and west of Maybell at a location best known as Bear Valley. Between approx. 1915 and 1923 several families of our relatives from Oklahoma and Texas homesteaded in that high, barren ground of northwestern Colorado but after a series of tragic deaths and failure to thrive in that remote and arid land the family packed up their homemade covered wagon and with the older children driving the cattle horseback set out to cross the Continental Divide in late fall of 1923. They all made it through the snow and cold to settle in Purcell, Colorado, now a prairie ghost town and never much more than that.

The survivors and descendants of that rugged band of pioneers are visiting the old homesteads and erecting signs with names and dates of the ones who lived and died there so that in years to come the grandchildren and great grandchildren will find it easy to locate those tracts of land in that uninhabited valley where dinosaurs once roamed. Yes, this land is just east of Dinosaur National Monument and south of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and adjacent to that infamous Browns Park, Colorado where outlaws once holed up from the law.

But most tourists who visit those three famous sites will never know of Bear Valley, also known as Bare Valley, and rightly so. It's off the beaten trail, privately owned land with unpaved roads and no trees in sight. But it means a great deal to those of us whose grandparents and great-grandparents took their hopes and dreams up there only to come away beaten and heartbroken after leaving three of their own buried at the little cemetery in Craig.

My thoughts are with you today, my Smith Clan relatives who made the big trek to Bear Valley today. May the good weather hold, your tires stay aired, and the click, click, click of cameras echo through the valley.

Those Damned Smiths!

2011-04-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

On the surface there doesn't seem to be much similarity between my husband and me and our backgrounds. He's a Colorado boy, son of a farmer with roots firmly anchored in one place, eastern Colorado. I, on the other hand, grew up in Illinois and moved from place to place throughout my childhood, rarely attending the same school two years in a row. But we do have one interesting thing in common - both of us had mothers whose maiden name was Smith.

We have never found that we have a common ancestor in the Smith lines, so it's not like we're cousins. His Smiths are from Oklahoma and Texas whereas mine are from Illinois and Kentucky. But we have discovered that both of our Smith families were the objects of scorn and put-down by their spouses.

Bob grew up hearing his father cast aspersions on his wife's family, criticizing their lifestyle of coffee drinking, card playing, and cigarette smoking. Despite his dad's attitude, Bob says his experiences with the Smith clan were always happy times and that they were fun people to be with, loved to tell jokes and laughed a lot.

My dad was also critical of his Smith in-laws, finding fault with each and every one of them. I really think Dad's hostility stemmed from his jealousy of my mother's love for her Smith family. Dad made fun of the Smiths and made them the butt of his jokes, trying to elevate his own status in the process, but I know he loved them dearly, as did each of us four kids.

So we have a little private joke between us, Bob and I, a way of acknowledging the similarity in what we heard around the dinner table as we were growing up - "those damned Smiths!" says it all.

2011 SMITH CLAN REUNION

2011-03-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone is invited to join with the friends and descendants of William Franklin Smith and John Alvin Smith on June 17, 18, 19 for the 2011 Smith Clan Reunion. We will headquarter in Vernal, Utah. This promises to be the best reunion yet.

Join us at 6 pm on Friday, June 17 for supper at the Golden Corral in Vernal, Utah.

Join us on Saturday morning, June 18 for a pilgrimage to the old Moffat County homesteads where we will erect historical marker signs.

Join us at 6 pm on Saturday evening, June 18 for supper at the Golden Corral back in Vernal, Utah.

Join us on Sunday morning, June 19 for a visit to the ancestral graves in Craig, CO and Steamboat Springs, CO.

If you need further information, please contact Mary Simms:

By phone at 803-996-3567

By email at mrsimms@peoplepc.com

By snail mail at 431 Beechwoods Dr., Lexington SC 29072

Please RSVP and let us know when to expect you. We will leave the light on for you! (To enlarge Wanted poster below click on the image.)

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GENERAL INFORMATION

SMITH CLAN REUNION - VERNAL, UTAH

-JUNE 17, 18, & 19, 2011-

The friends and descendants of William Franklin Smith and John Alvin Smith will gather on June 17, 18, and 19 for the 2011 Smith Clan Reunion. We will headquarter in Vernal, Utah.

DEDICATION - This reunion is dedicated to the memory of our most common ancestors: William Franklin Smith [1865-1921], his brother, John Alvin Smith [1868-1953], and their father, Alvin Smith [1827-1868]. Without Alvin, Frank, and John, none of us would be here today. Alvin was a Texas Ranger and died when on duty. Frank participated in the great OK Land Race in 1893. He and his brother, John, homesteaded near Noble, OK in the late 1800s. Frank later homesteaded near Weatherford, OK, Sentinel, OK, and in Moffat County, CO.

AGENDA-

Friday evening, June 17, 6 pm - supper at the Golden Corral in Vernal, Utah
Saturyday morning, June 18 - pilgramage to the old Moffat County homesteads where we will erect historical maker signs.
June 18, Sunday morning - trip to Steamboat Springs to visit ancestral graves in Craig and Steamboat Springs, CO
June 19, Sunday, about noon - lunch at Wendy's in Steamboat Springs
June 19, Sunday afternoon - The Smith Clan Reunion will come to a close in Steamboat Springs, CO

NITTY GRITTY

Vernal Airport is recognized by most online travel agencies.

Transportation - fly into Vernal Airport and rent a car, or fly into Denver Airport and rent a car and drive to Vernal, UT; or, drive your own car.

Rental Cars are available at the Vernal Airport - best to reserve a vehicle in advance. There is an Enterprise franchise along with several other non-chain car rental companies.

Lodging - The most reasonable lodging found thus far was located online through Kayak.com at Travelodge. Motel 6 also has good rates and a good location. There are numerous other chain motels: Day's Inn, EconoLodge, Best Western, Roadway Inn, Super 8, and Holiday Inn plus many private motels.

Food - All meals are Dutch Treat.

Friday, June 17 at 6 PM - Supper at Golden Corral in Vernal, UT - located at 1096 West Highway 40.

Saturday, June 18 at 9 AM - Pack a bag lunch plus bottled water as we will be eating our noon meal at the old Moffat County homestead site. Meet in Golden Corral parking lot at 9 AM.

Saturday, June 18 at 7 PM - Supper at the Golden Corral in Vernal

Sunday, June 19 about noon - Lunch at Wendy's in Steamboat Springs - located at 225 Angler's Drive

There are numerous fast food franchises in Vernal: Taco Bell, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Burger King, Arby's, KFC, Blimpie, and Subway.

Homestead Pilgramage - Saturday, June 18, we will convoy approximately 43 miles from Vernal to the Moffat County homestead sites. Leave Vernal at 9 AM and spend the day erecting historical markers and locating various homesteads. Return to Vernal for supper.

Tour Guides - On Saturday, we have two excellent tour guides to help us locate the homesteads - Doris Burton and Eldon White. Both grew up in this area and are familiar with the location and history of the homesteads.

Cemetery Guides - On Saturday, Wes & Jana Brosman will serve as tour guides at the Craig Cemetery, and Bill and Beth Reynolds will serve as tour guides at Steamboat Springs Cemetery.

Weather can be a bit fickle in this region in June. It may be cool and rainy or it may be hot and dry. Be prepared for about anything.

Clothing should be cool, casual, and comfortable. Blue jeans, slacks, shorts, T-shirts, polo shirts, sports shirts, etc. - whatever you prefer. There will be no need for fancy or formal clothing. Long trousers, a hat, and hiking shoes are suggested for the homestead pilgramage.

Clan History & Photos - There will be many opportunities to look at old family photos and hear tales of what life was like over 100 years ago. Those interested in the Smith Clan history will find a treasure trove of information available at the Reunion. If you have old family photos or know any old family legends, please bring them to the Clan Reunion and share them with others. Bring your cameras, tape recorders, old photos, and your memories - or just come and look, listen, learn, and enjoy yourself.

Arrival in Vernal: When you reach your motel or other overnight facilities in or near Vernal, please phone Nancy Miller at 513-702-2692 [cell] and let her know that you have arrived. We do not want anyone to get lost and fall through a crack in the floor during the Vernal Clan Reunion!

For Further Information, please feel free to contact Nancy or Mary. We would love to hear from you. Hope to see all of you in Vernal, UT on June 17, 18 & 19, 2011.

Please RSVP to Nancy or Mary so that we will be expecting you and have the red carpet rolled out! We will leave the light on for you!

YOU ALL COME!

Phone Mary at 803-996-3567 [home in SC] or

Email Mary at mrsimms@peoplepc.com

Phone Nancy Miller at 513-7002-2692[cell phone]

PS - If you have difficulty printing this out, please let us know and we will be happy to send a paper copy to you!

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Click here to see photos of the old Bear Valley homesteads from years past, and here for recent photos taken by Bill Reynolds.

Does Anybody Still Whittle?

2011-02-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

Several of the Russell boys were excellent whittlers, maybe all of them. This story is about two of them, Doyle and Harold, and the wooden dancing girls they whittled during the cold Colorado winters, holed up in a small frame house on the prairie awaiting spring. I know about this because my husband Bob, Doyle's son and Harold's nephew, was a young boy in that house who witnessed the creation of these little wooden dolls and watched them dance on the handsaws held between the knees of the whittlers.

Doyle and Harold were competitive when they were whittling, each with his favorite knife kept sharp as a razor blade and as pointed as a needle. They selected their raw wood carefully, probably from a supply they brought to Colorado from the old home place in Arkansas. The dancing dolls are folk toys similar to jig dolls or limberjacks, whittled into separate pieces, arms and legs jointed with tiny metal pins, and a string attached to the top of the head. Positioned over a hand saw and held by the string, the dolls dance when the saw is thumped or vibrated.

The two dolls shown above were found in an old sewing box forty years or more after they were made, the only two still in our family. Doyle and Harold whittled more than a few of these dolls during the winters of 1945 and 1946 but that wasn't all they whittled. They made sets of tiny wooden scissors, all connected to one another, long chains, balls in baskets, and puzzles, many types of puzzles. They also made arrows inside bottles, like the ships made inside bottles, and arrows stuck through small holes in a different kind of wood, leaving one to wonder how it could possibly have been done. The photograph below is a cabin Doyle made with his son, Bob, and in front of that a team of oxen pulling a sled made of corn stalks.

There was a time when all farm boys had pocket knives and knew how to use them well. The same knife that a boy used to skin a rabbit would cut strings on hay bales and slice an apple. Whittling was a way to hone his skill with a knife and express his creative nature. Nowadays boys don't carry pocket knives, at least not to school. Whittling is another lost art.

Bertie Lee Russell 1902 - 1981

2011-01-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

Bertie Lee Russell was the first of twelve children born to Elias L. Russell and his wife Addie Jane Mahaffey Russell. Born at home in Cass, Arkansas on April 22, 1902, Bertie lived a long life, did some traveling, and had interesting jobs, but never married. By the time I came into the Russell family Bertie was a stern, seventy-year-old woman with a reputation for being eccentric, mean-spirited, and old-fashioned. I know the woman was a much more interesting and intelligent person than the caricature I have in my mind based on a few family tales.

Recently I came across a small, brown notebook that once was Bertie's. It was in my father-in-law's possession until he died, tucked away with his own diaries. Most of the entries in this little notebook, recorded by Bertie between the years 1919 and 1925, were the kind of ditties young people wrote in autograph books, like this one,

"Spell as you wish
Write as you will
Send me your photo
By the next mail
B. L. R."
and
"A rock of salt
A rick of wood
A kiss from you would
Do me good.
H.E.M."

And there are a few gems in this little notebook too, glimpses into the private life of Bertie as a young woman. The photo I've included in the post is a scan of the last page in the notebook and tells a little of Bertie's love life. "4, 5, 6th of Aug, 1920. First time to go with Virgil Morgan of Mulberry, Ark.
___________________________________
Nov 11, 1923. first time to go with Rev John L. Isaacs lasted to Nov 20th 1925"

There are other entries about men she dated and a few about memorable events in and around Cass and Ozark, Arkansas such at this one:

"December 7, 1919 The school house at Cass burned Sunday morning at 4 o'clock, having had only one week of school. Much was the loss of books and lodge tools or emblems - had plenty of black boards and everything to promise a good school."

Bertie also recorded birthdates and marriage dates for her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. I know from reading some of her early entries that she was pals with her cousin Minnie Marie Mahaffey who was just two years older than she, which makes this entry especially poignant:

"Minnie Marie Mahaffey
Apr 30, 1900 - Dec 31, 1920
age 20 yrs & 8mo."

Elias and Addie Russell had daughters too

2011-01-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

Elias Russell and his wife, Addie Jane Mahaffey Russell, had four daughters along with the eight sons shown in the stair-step photo in my last posting. The girls were Bertie Lee, born in 1902, Bonnie Sue in 1905, Nannie Elizabeth in 1908, and Nellie Mae, born in 1911. Recently I received an email from one of Bonnie Sue's great-granddaughters - what a wonderful surprise! I know so little of Bonnie Sue's life after she left home and married Robert Butner. I believe they moved to Tennessee where the Butner family was from to raise their two children. This granddaughter is hoping to find a relative who has a better copy of the family photograph I've posted here so that it can be reproduced and enlarged, suitable for framing and displaying on her wall. She has provided me with a little more information on her family than I previously had and has promised family photographs as soon as she gets her scanner fixed.
Amazingly all twelve of the children born to Elias and Addie Jane lived to adulthood and most had long, healthy lives. They were all delivered into this world by Elias' mother, Mariah Tennessee Turner Russell, or "Aunt Tenn" as she was known by many, a skilled mid-wife who was wise to the uses of herbal medicines and home remedies. She also chose the names for each of the twelve Russell children. My father-in-law, Doyle J. Russell (pictured above as the boy on the far right side in the photo), greatly admired and loved his Grandma Russell, especially the spunk and courage she showed in divorcing her husband of twenty-seven years for selling some of the land left to her by her own father, and doing so without her permission, even though this left her to bring up their twelve children without a father. At the time of her divorce the oldest child was twenty-six and the youngest was an infant, so the older children pitched in and helped their mother. Doyle felt as strongly about the love of land and the pride of land ownership as his grandmother did.

Russell Family of Cass, Arkansas

2010-12-16T08:34:00.001-08:00

I've been using this blog site to talk about our Smith Family and have neglected the other half of my husband's relatives - the Russells. They are a big family centered in northwestern Arkansas, in the towns of Cass, Ozark, and surrounding areas but, like most families they've dispersed widely and younger Russells now live in far flung places. We live in eastern Colorado which is where Doyle J. Russell, my husband's father, came to live in the early 1930s, and stayed to raise his family. Doyle was one of twelve children born to Addie Jane Mahaffey Russell and Elias Russell, eight of whom were boys (see photo above - Doyle is second from the left). They were a healthy family and all those children reached adulthood and thrived. I know more about the boys than I do the girls simply because Doyle told me more stories about his brothers than his sisters. I plan to post additional information about this interesting branch of the family tree in the upcoming weeks - stay tuned.

Rosie the Riveter - Smith Family Version

2010-10-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

(photo - Betty Jo Barton and her mother Julia Ellen Smith Barton, circa 1944)

Cheryl Moore, genealogy line....{FRANK....JULIA....BETTY....CHERYL} has a wonderful family photograph of her mother, Betty, and Betty's mother, Julia, taken in 1944 when both worked as riveters on airplanes at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, OK. Cheryl has offered the photograph and letter written by her mother for publication here for the Smith clan to enjoy. By the way, this subject came up just the week before Halloween because Cheryl's granddaughter, Liza, has chosen a Rosie the Riveter costume for Halloween this year.

Here is Betty Jo Barton Gaston's letter of approx. 2005:

In May of 1943 I, Betty Jo Barton, graduated from Wilson Consolidated School #2. This was a country school 12-1/2 miles SW of Frederick, Okla. My father, TJ Barton, managed the country gin called Red River. That summer he accepted a job with the Coop Cotton Oil Mill at Okla. City and we moved there. We lived on 23rd St. which is a segment of old Highway 66. Traffic zoomed past our house 24 hrs. a day, but I don't remember it bothering anyone because you can and do get used to almost anything.

Now I had to decide what to do. My mother, Julia, and I went to work at Tinker AF Base. I was a clerk-typist and she drove for the civilian motor pool. After a year she became unhappy with her job there and wanted us to apply as riveters. I said, "Mother, are you crazy? We don't know how to rivet?" She said they'd teach us and we entered their 10 day training program. When we finished, they put us on the production line at the Douglas plant there at Okla. City. I think they said the bldg. was a mile long and there wasn't one window in it. That was so we could have worked during a black-out. We were put on the 2nd shift which was from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 but they wouldn't allow kin to work in the same dept. I worked on the tail section and she on the dorsal fin. All our work was with flush rivets. We were only allowed like maybe 40 min. for our noon time. That had to include eating--going to the restroom and smoking. I developed a terrible habit of eating too fast which has stayed with me through the years, and that was 60 yrs. ago!

The pay? My base rate was .75 an hour--but we felt liberated in that we were getting jobs that up to then had only been for men. My future husband, Gwen Gaston, was helping fight the war in France and his monthly pay was $20.00. It was very hard work and very noisy, but so what? WE WERE HELPING WIN A WAR! We worked 6 days a week until our boys hit the Battle of the Bulge and then it was 7 days a week until that crisis eased up.

Life was very hectic at our house. My aunt lived with us and she worked the "grave yard shift" which was from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Juanda, my sister, rode a bus to the downtown highschool. Rose, the younger sister, took a bus to the nearest Jr High school. My little brother walked two blocks to his grade school. He had this huge German Shepard dog that made the trip with him each morning and then returned to school at 3:00 to walk home with him. Part of the time my Dad was in the OKC office but through the week he was mostly on the road as the field representative, visiting the state gins to buy cotton seed.

I do not think the lights nor the stove were ever turned off! We also had to deal with the ration books that were issued to each family member. Certain stamps were designated for canned goods--coffee--sugar--shoes and gas. I don't remember meat or vegs being rationed but you had to go to the ration board and get down on your knees and beg for a permit to buy a tire. Mother and I drove an old 1930 something Ford that had serious fuel pump problems. As we struggled with it one night I told her I felt sure I had nearly pushed it as far as I had ever ridden in it!!

But in some ways the times were good--that people did have jobs. We weren't afraid to shop the stores at all hours of the night..and I hardly remember that we locked our doors. It's a different world today. We've lost so much that we had then. We did have some crime but it was not the "front page" "big time" issue that it is today. How I wish God would grant us some easier times in the coming years.

Betty Gaston

Post Reunion Comments

2010-09-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

The second annual Smith Family Reunion in Oklahoma City was well attended and from what I hear enjoyed my many. Attendees came from across the country - Massachusetts to Northern California - and met in Oklahoma City to see one another again. Our Matriarch, Rosie Ellen Farrell, was there with copies of her autobiography and her children and grandchildren. The descendants of John Alvin Smith came out in force - it was wonderful for these two branches of the Julian Alvin Smith family to finally meet and share stories and photographs.

Next year's reunion is planned for Steamboat Springs, Colorado, sometime in June 2011. Preliminary plans call for making the trek from Steamboat Springs over to Moffat County, about ninety miles west of Craig to the homestead sites of James Wesley Smith (and his parents William Franklin and Sarah Frances Buckhanan Smith) and his brother Thomas Alvin Smith (two separate homesteads) in Bear Valley aka Bare Valley. There will also be visits to the cemeteries in Craig and Steamboat Springs.

June 2011 seems far in the future, long after Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010, but we all know how time has a way of excellerating and thrusting us into the future at an alarming rate so please make a mental note to mark your calendars in January for the Third Annual Smith Family Reunion in June 2011.

Any of you who took photographs at this most recent reunion in Oklahoma City - please send them to me, Pam Russell, at pamruss@frii.com, or write me for a snail mail address, as I would like to incorporate them into a 2011 calendar.

For a preview of what you might see at the homestead sites, or at least what previous visitors found go here Homesteads in Bare Valley.

2010 OKC Smith Clan Reunion

2010-06-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

You are invited----------

TO WHAT? The 2010 OKC Smith Clan Reunion!

WHERE? Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the HomeTown Buffet located at 3900 NW 63rd Street, OKC. [See directions below]

WHEN? August 13-August 15, 2010

WHY? This reunion is dedicated to the memory of our most common ancestors:
William Franklin Smith and his only full brother, John Alvin Smith. Without Frank and John none of us would be here today.

GUEST LIST? All descendants of Tom Smith, Ernest Smith, Rosie Crain, Julia Barton, Dovie Reynolds, and Addie Auwen plus their friends and families are invited to attend.

AGENDA?

Friday, August 13---6 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet. [Attendance optional]

Saturday, August 14---11 am---Lunch in private dining room at HomeTown Buffet. [Main Event! ]

Saturday, August 14---3 pm---form caravan for drive to Noble OK for pilgrimage to homesteads and grave sites. Meet up at Frank Auwen’s home located at 107 North Fifth Street in Noble. Cousin Frank Auwen will direct us to sites. [See directions below]

Saturday, August 14---8 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet. [Attendance optional]

Sunday, August 15---11 am---Lunch in private dining room at HomeTown Buffet [Main Event]

Sunday, August 15---7 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet . [Attendance optional]

NOBLE PILGRIMAGE? On Saturday, August 15, after lunch---about 3 pm---we will caravan to Noble OK to visit John and Frank’s old homestead sites as well as the cemeteries where numerous ancestors are buried. [Attendance optional]

LODGING? The best lodging—for cost and location—found so far is at OKC Airport Motel 6.

FOOD? All scheduled meals are “Dutch Treat” at the HomeTown Buffet. For the Main Events we will have a private room at lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. Optional meals---everyone is welcome to join the Smith Group in the open dining area at HomeTown Buffet for supper on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—or you can eat elsewhere. Your choice.

WEATHER FORECAST? HOT!!! Wear cool, comfortable clothing and stay in air conditioned buildings or at least under a shade tree!

CLOTHING? Dress cool. Clothing should be cool, casual, and comfortable. Blue jeans, slacks, shorts, Tee-shirts, polo shirts, sports shirts, etc. No need for fancy or formal clothing.

QUESTIONS? Information will be posted on http://viewoftherockes.blogspot.com/ If you have questions, contact your personal Mini Host or Email the Reunion Coordinator at mrsimms@peoplepc.com or phone 803-996-3567. We would love to hear from you!

PLEASE RSVP to your personal Mini Host so we can roll out the red carpet and welcome you with open arms!

YOU ALL COME---YOU HEAR

DIRECTIONS FROM WILL ROGERS AIRPORT TO HOMETOWN BUFFET---

Take Meridian Avenue north from Will Rogers Airport. Turn Right on NW 63rd Street. Go short distance on NW 63rd Street. HomeTown Buffet will be on your left.

DIRECTIONS FROM HOMETOWN BUFFET TO NOBLE PILGRIMAGE SITE, 107 N. 5th Street, Noble, OK ---

Leave HomeTown Buffet and head EAST on NW 63rd Street to Interstate 235.

Go SOUTH on I-235.

Blend onto US 77 S.

Continue on US 77 S exit Noble.

Turn left on E Ash Street.

Turn Right onto N 5th Street.

107 N 5th Street is on the left—[Frank & Adele Auwen’s home]

Alvin Smith of Cork Ireland

2010-06-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

We have a relative who has gone missing. Yes, the trail is rather cold at this point but I still have hopes of finding traces of his life, and perhaps his burial place. Alvin Smith came to America from Cork, Ireland, probably in the early 1800s. Supposedly he took a Cherokee woman as his wife and they had a son, Julian Alvin Smith, born in Missouri in 1827. Next we find the son, Julian Alvin Smith, in Oklahoma Territory, married to Julia Addeline McConnell and the father of a son, William Franklin Smith, born November 15, 1865. Another son was born to this couple, John Alvin Smith, January 17, 1868, just three weeks before his father's death. From 1827 to 1865 I have no records showing where Alvin Smith or his son Julian Alvin Smith lived, worked, married, etc. Julian Alvin Smith died February 7, 1868, age 41, in a border clash between Indians and settlers, leaving a young wife and two small sons. But did he have another family before his marriage to Julia? And what became of his father and Indian mother? Did they have other children? What a mystery.

As for why Alvin Smith came to the U.S., there is a good website about Irish Immigration that explains it better than I can. I don't know how much time passed from when he arrived on the eastern seaboard until he fathered a son in Missouri in 1827 - maybe just a year, but I'm guessing it took five. That would have him setting sail from Cork about 1822. I'm assuming he was single since he married a Cherokee woman in the U.S. but did he travel here alone? Family legend says he and his wife and young son continued west out of Missouri to Indian country, later known as the Oklahoma Territory. My challenge is to find evidence of this in public records.

By the way, this young son I speak of, Julian Alvin Smith, is my husbands great-great grandpa. Of course this makes Alvin Smith of Cork, Ireland his gr-gr-gr-grandpa.

Oh, How I Miss Frances in April

2010-04-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Spring has come slowly to northeastern Colorado but it has come. As I see the fresh green shoots of perennial plants pushing up through the hard, dry clay soil in my yard I'm reminded of my mother-in-law, Frances Russell, who passed away twenty years ago this month. Reminders of Frances abound in April. She always had chickens in the yard and loved those cantankerous setting hens who hid their eggs around the yard in old tires and buckets, hoping to raise a little family of chicks. But Frances would hunt them down and move their clutches of eggs into the chicken yard so the skunks and raccoons wouldn't eat the eggs and kill the vulnerable hens.

April was when Frances started her tomato seeds in little flats or styrofoam cups and set them on the windowsill of the west-facing window in her living room. They were spindly and pale but she coddled them and when she set them out in late May they thrived in her little garden on the south side of the house.

Frances' yard was unique and those of you who knew her remember it, I'm sure. She grew tulips and lilacs and other hardy flowers nestled in between the rocks, bicycles, tools, and car parts that littered the yard - Doyle's storage space for items he wanted to protect from theft. I miss the walk from her gate up to the front door of the house for I knew that I would always be warmly welcomed and fed her wonderful homemade meals once I got inside.

As I work in my yard today, moving the water hose from tree to tree, trying to keep alive the hardiest of my plants in this drought my thoughts are on Frances, that energetic, bright-eyed, lively woman with a hearty laugh that was a cackle, who could tell a joke with the best of them, and whose presence I miss in my life, especially in April.

Smith Family Calendar for 2010

2010-01-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hi family,
The 2010 Smith Family Calendar is now available online. Click on the photo (above) of the cover to go to the calendar. Please check it over for your closest relatives to make sure I have their birthdays on the calendar and in the right place. Very soon I'll print out some copies of the calendar to mail. Please email me at pamruss@frii.com if you find an error or have any comments about the photographs.

2009-11-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

Dan---Jess---Randy---Mary---Tyler---David

Once again Mary Russell Simms has hosted a visit from a far-flung relative, her nephew Randy Raasch of North Dakota and his daughter Jess, who just graduated from boot camp in South Carolina. Jess's boyfriend Dan was also out in South Carolina to see Jess graduate. Mary's son David and his wife, Faye, opened their home to the Raasch family and all enjoyed the opportunity to become acquainted.

Smith Family Cousins - Simms & Gleason

2009-08-31T18:37:00.001-07:00

Mary Russell Simms recently hosted a first-time get-together between her immediate family, the Simms, with a distant and newly discovered cousin Benjamin Gleason and his family. This August 2009 gathering took place at the home of David and Faye Simms in South Carolina. Mary told me that her new cousins are super nice, very friendly, really fine cousins.

Bob Russell's Birthday

2009-08-30T16:57:00.001-07:00

Bob Russell just celebrated his 67th birthday. Our daughter-in-law, Alejandra Russell, created a lovely video to commemorate the event. See it here Grandpa's Birthday

Rosie Ellen Farrell and Bud Stratton

2009-06-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

We had a delightful visit in June, 2009, from Rosa Ellen Farrell and Bud Stratton. They were on their way back to Idaho after attending a wedding in Las Vegas and then a visit with Bud's family in Denver. Rosa Ellen is the daughter of Rosa Smith Fairchild Crain who was a sister to Bob Russell's grandfather Tom Smith. Rosa Ellen is the only living Smith family member who lived over in Moffat County during the years between 1915-1924 when the family homesteaded there. Rosa was just a tiny baby when the family made the big move from the Youghal community west of Craig to Purcell, Colorado in Weld County. Rosa and her parents traveled by automobile while her cousins, the Tom Smith family, made the trek on horseback and pulling wagons, herding cattle over Rabbit Ears Pass late in the fall. See photos and stories of that trip http://www.viewoftherockies.com/CraigtoPurcell1.html

The photograph I'm including here shows Rosa Ellen and Bud standing next to an oak secretary that Rosa's father, Art Fairchild, brought from Nebraska to Moffat County in the early 1920s for his bride, Rosa Jeanetta Smith Fairchild. Many years later Art gave this lovely piece of furniture to Frances Russell and she in turn gave it to her son Bob Russell. Rosa lovingly touched the secretary while she told us their gold-rimmed oatmeal bowls use to be stored on the second shelf and inside her father kept his stamps and letters.

Rosa is a beautiful and gracious lady and her companion, Bud Stratton, is a fine man who has known Rosa since she was fourteen years old. Bud is a brother to Shirley Stratton who married Ollie Smith, Frances Smith Russell's brother. That makes Bud a shirttail relative.

2009 Smith Clan Calendar online

2009-03-03T20:18:00.001-08:00

Click on the cover (above) to go to the full calendar online.

The 2009 Smith Clan Calendar is now available online. It features photographs taken at the 2008 reunion in Oklahoma City and birthdays for most of our Smith relatives. If you want your name and birthday added please drop me a note and I'll gladly add you to the calendar.

We Have a New Son!

2009-02-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

***Jen, Zak, Vivian, Lucas, Randy, Bob, Isabella, and Jess***

In mid-January of this year, just about five weeks ago, Bob got a heartfelt email from a seventeen-year-old girl telling him that she is his granddaughter, one of the children born to his son whom he's never known. She explained that her dad is Randy Raasch who was given up for adoption by his birth mother back in 1965 and who is now married with a family of his own, a family who wants to know Dad and Grandpa. Bob was thrilled to learn he has this family - a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren, two girls and a boy, and I was equally happy and excited to welcome these wonderful people into our hearts and home. Over Valentine's Day weekend they drove over five hundred miles to come visit us and what a fun time that was. Our other son, Patrick, and his wife and two children came up to meet and get to know their new family. We are now exchanging emails and phone calls as we learn the details of their lives and they learn about us. Our next gathering is planned for Easter weekend - how exciting!!

Annalee Auwen, my Smith family cousin

2009-02-10T21:47:00.001-08:00

William Franklin Smith had just one brother, John Alvin Smith (1868-1953). John Alvin married Minnie May Culwell and they had seven children who lived beyond childhood, Nolen Brinkley, Julie Addeline, Adah Dovie, Annie Veria, Jimmie Nannie May, John Edgar, and Frank. The photo shown on the left is a rare photo of the entire family taken at a family reunion in California in 1939. (Click on the photo to view a larger image.) This photo was recently sent to me by Annalee Auwen, the wife of Alton Auwen, who is a son of Julia Addeline Smith Auwen and John Johnson Auwen. Annalee has generously shared several of her very special family photographs with me and I'll be featuring them on a separate website very soon. I'll post the link when the site is up. Thank you very much, Annalee.

old newspaper articles 1923-1924

2008-10-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

The Thomas Alvin Smith family left the Blue Mountain community in Moffat County, Colorado in October of 1924. Their last couple of years there were tough. I recently searched microfilmed articles from the Craig Empire newspaper for the years 1923 and 1924 to learn more about those last two years. Living in Youghal and at times Cross Mountain, in addition to Thomas Alvin Smith was his mother Fannie Smith, his brother Ernest Smith, his sister Rosa Smith Fairchild, his sister Julia Smith Barton and the Robert Morris family You'll find transcribed clips from Youghal and Cross Mountain at this webpage: http://www.viewoftherockies.com/YoughalCrossMountain.html

Smith Clan Reunion 2008 is now history

2008-09-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated Smith Clan Reunion in Oklahoma City came together last weekend and was a huge success. Sixty-two people attended the two day event and by the time of this writing they've all made it back home safely with the exception of the Brosman family who are driving back to Washington State by way of southern California with a few stops along the way.

Most of the folks who attended were from Oklahoma but there were two from Washington State, three from California, three from Ohio, two from Texas, one from Massachusetts, three from Colorado, and two from South Carolina. (Thanks to Mary Simms for the statistics.) The activities started with brunch at the Golden Corral Restaurant in Oklahoma City on Saturday followed by a gathering at the American Legion Building in Yukon (thank you Joanne for that indoor facility on a rainy day).

Sunday we met at the Hometown Buffet in Oklahoma City for a few hours of good food and friendly conversation. Around three o'clock some of us accepted Belle Rawson's invitation to continue the fine conversation at her home in Yukon while six carloads of us caravaned to Noble, Oklahoma. We met at the home of Adele and Frank Auwen in Noble. Frank Auwen is the grandson of John Alvin Smith - the only brother of our ancestor William Franklin Smith. The Auwens led us through the countryside to a spot about twelve miles from Noble where the brothers William Franklin Smith and John Alvin Smith supposedly homesteaded. We now know that they didn't really homestead those parcels of land; instead, they bought out homesteaders who relinquished their land. We still believe that somewhere in Oklahoma William Franklin Smith did homestead but just where is still a mystery.

Adele and Frank Auwen also led us to two cemeteries where we searched for the graves of Sarah Frances "Fannie" Buchanan Smith and her daughter Lillian Vernetta Smith Moore. Only after a fruitless search did Mary find a note in her records that Fairview Cemetery is where we will find those graves. That search will have to wait for another day, perhaps a reunion in 2010!

Photos taken at the reunion are trickling in. There are about 136 of them on this Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdpamrussell/2864661282/ Keep in mind the photos appear in reverse order with the last one taken posted first (I don't know why Flickr works that way.)

No Place Else by Floyd Wesley Brosman

2008-06-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

Floyd Wesley Brosman has written a sensitive and moving memoir "told in short stories and based on true events" about growing up in the cotton fields and labor camps of southern California during the 1930s and 1940s, a hard life for any child but for a skinny little boy whose severe hearing loss was at times ignored and other times ridiculed this life was terribly painful. Wes has described these years with humor and irony, the same attitude which helped him survive and eventually thrive. Today he lives in Washington state and devotes much of his time to being an activist and advocate for the handicapped.

Since this is a genealogy website I should explain Wes's relationship to the rest of us. He is the third-born child of Ola Mae Smith Brosman and Virgil Wesley Brosman. Ola was a daughter of Thomas Alvin Smith and a granddaughter of William Franklin Smith.

To order this book contact Wes Brosman at wesbro@olynet.com "No Place Else" retails for $18.00 - ISBN: 978-0-9815220-0-5

The Smith Family Curse

2008-06-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

"THE SMITH FAMILY CURSE"

by Mary R. Simms

143 YEARS & SIX GENERATIONS OF DOCUMENTED

HEREDITARY HEARING LOSS

1865---2008

ONE COMMON ANCESTOR AND HIS

270+ DESCENDANTS TRACED

DIAGNOSIS: DFNA

AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT NONSYNDROMIC HEARING LOSS

ALSO DIAGNOSIS: DFNA1

GREATER HEARING LOSS IN LOWER FREQUENCIES

TWO CASES OF

SUSPECTED SPONTANEOUS MUTATION

All Inquiries Welcomed

OVER 100 PAGES OF RESEARCH

For further information, please contact mrsimms@peoplepc.com

Smith Family Reunion update

2008-04-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

WANTED

ALL DESCENDANTS OF
WILLIAM FRANKLIN SMITH

REWARD: 2008 William F. Smith Clan Reunion!

DESCRIPTION

William F. Smith (1865--1921)

Known to be a former Texas Ranger and homesteader---also suspected of being the the MOST COMMON ANCESTOR of over 267 descendants.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT

for persons suspected of having any of the following ancestors:

TOM SMITH---ERNEST SMITH---ROSA CRAIN---JULIA BARTON

ALSO: OLA SMITH MAY---FRANK SMITH---OLLIE SMITH--FRANCES SMITH RUSSELL---WILLIAM SMITH---MARION SMITH MILLER---ADA SMITH SPENCER---BELLE SMITH RAWSON---VERNA SMITH CHOATE---JOHN SMITH---ROSA FAIRCHILD FARRELL---AMY FAIRCHILD BOYER---JACK CRAIN---FLOYD CRAIN---BETTY BARTON GASTON---JUANDA BARTON MIDDICK---ROSE BARTON HUNN---TIL BARTON JR.

ALL PERSONS ANSWERING THIS DESCRIPTION ALONG WITH THEIR FAMILIES ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND THE BIG WILLIAM FRANKLIN SMITH CLAN REUNION TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 13 AND 14, 2008, NEAR OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA.

IF YOU KNOW OF ANYONE FITTING THIS DESCRIPTION, PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THE NUMBERS LISTED BELOW FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

mrsimms@peoplepc.com pamruss@frii.com jwright@weconvey.com

Phone 803-996-3567 Phone: 970-484-9368 Phone 405-373-2134

Seldon Russell has passed away

2008-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sad to report that Theron Seldon Russell passed away April 19, 2008, in Ozark, Arkansas. He was 86. Seldon was the eleventh child of Elias Russell and Addie Jane Mahaffey Russell and the last one to pass from this earth. His siblings were Bertie, George, Bonnie, Doyle, Nannie, Nellie, Bill, Carter, Sidney, Charles and Harold. Seldon married Mary Hazel Wisdom in April of 1948 in Paris, Arkansas, and their children are Jimmy, Sue, Patricia, Nancy, Teresa, and Judy. Mary Hazel Russell passed away in 1982. Seldon married Mary Emily Wright in February 1984 and she passed away in 2007.

Upcoming family reunion in September in Oklahoma

2008-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

The Smith side of this family is having a family reunion in Oklahoma City the weeekend of September 13 and 14, 2008. We are still in the planning stages and no invitiations or announcements have been mailed so please don't feel left out if you've not heard about it. The event is being planned by Mary Simms of South Carolina, Pam Russell of Colorado, and Joanne Wright of Oklahoma. Mary is the only one of the three with Smith blood in her veins. Pam and Joanne are married to descendants of William Franklin Smith and his wife Sarah Frances Buchanan Smith. The photo at the top of this post is of the three reunion planners.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. We encourage everybody to come and bring the kids and grandkids. Please email Mary Simms with any questions or comments you may have - her email is mrsimms@peoplepc.com

Smith/Buchanan family research

2008-01-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Mary R. Simms is doing extensive research into what she calls "The Smith Family Curse" which is a genetic hearing loss suffered by many members of our extended family. In the last six months Mary has contacted numerous cousins and second cousins, many she has not seen or heard from in decades. Part of the reason for her reaching out to these cousins is to get to know them better and to share family facts, photos, and stories. But she has another reason too. She has asked them to complete a questionaire about that the status of their hearing, whether or not they wear hearing aids, and if they have an audiogram to copy and send to her. Mary plans to compile all this information and submit it to an expert in the field of genetics, particularly the genetics of audiology. We suspect this affliction came into the family from the Buchanan aka Buckhanan aka Buckhannon line. We welcome input from any Buchanans out there interested in this topic.

Cass, Arkansas and the Mulberry River

2007-08-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

I found a great collection of photographs, offered as a slideshow, taken along the Mulberry River near Cass, Arkansas in Franklin County, AR. My husband's father, Doyle J. Russell, was from there and he talked about it often. Check out this link.

Mulberry River and it’s tributaries

Found a cousin

2007-03-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

I was doing a little internet search for information about a cousin in Arkansas who is also related to a friend here in Fort Collins, trying to see how this friend and my husband are related when I stumbled upon the writings of yet another distant cousin named Lee Cowan. She now lives in Fox, Arkansas, with her husband Mike where she has an art studio and Mike grows grapes and makes wine. A few years back Lee worked as a psychotherapist in Little Rock and I think that's when she began writing. The first story I read is at http://www.stonecountyart.com/scn/scnpunishment.htm and that's what got me interested in her life and work. But my favorite story is about her Aunt Flora Turner who is a woman I've heard about from my father-in-law, Doyle Russell. Flora and her husband, Champ, operated a store at Turner Bend and Doyle talked about them several times to me. This story is at
http://www.stonecountyart.com/scn/auntflorascn1.htm I like the way Lee writes.

Last Russell Uncle

2007-03-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

We got an email from Ken today saying that his Uncle Seldon has suffered a series of strokes recently and is in a nursing home near his home in Ozark, Arkansas. Seldon is the last of the eight Russell boys, the sons of Elias and Addie Jane. There were four girls in the family, too, but they have all died. It seems that strokes caused a lot of the deaths. In fact, I don't think any of the kids died of cancer - heart disease seems to be the main culprit. I'm assuming that if someone dies of a stroke that it is considered heart disease for statistical purposes. I might be wrong about that. I sure did hate to hear that Seldon's health was not good.

Day Two

2007-02-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, a thank you to Barbara for her inquiry about her father Samuel Travis Russell. As far as I can tell he (and you) are not related to us. My database is not complete; I know there are a lot of distant relatives I don't even know about, but our Russells didn't come from Alabama and I just don't think we are related.

I received in the mail from my sister-in-law Mary her transcribed pages from Doyle Russell's diary of 1965. Doyle kept a daily diary for most of his life and we have saved some of them. Unfortunately, many were lost. This one for 1965 is almost complete and quite readable so Mary's transcription is valuable to those of us who love family history. I plan to find some family photos taken in 1965, insert scans of them into the text, and print the pages off for interested family members. I've done that already with some of Doyle and Frances's diaries from the '40s. I wonder what Doyle would think if he knew his diaries were being illustrated and printed for others to see. The diary entries are mostly about what he did, who he saw, and what he bought. They aren't the really personal sort of entries that could prove embarrassing. In fact, Doyle rarely tells about how he feels about something. Mostly, these are hard facts without editorializing.

Introduction

2007-02-26T10:14:00.001-08:00

This blog is about the genealogy website I have at http://www.viewoftherockies.com I'm hoping that anybody related to or interested in the extended Russell/Smith family will drop in to comment on our family history.

There are lots of Russells and Smiths out there, obviously, so I'll start by telling you a little about our Russells and Smiths.

Jennie Frances Smith (known by all as Frances), born in Craig, Colorado, in 1918 to a mother who died a couple of weeks later of the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918, married James Doyle Russell (known by all as Doyle), born in Cass, Arkansas, into a large family trying to eke out a living on the thin, rocky soil of northcentral Arkansas. Frances and Doyle met on the high, dry plains of eastern Colorado near Purcell about 1932 when Frances was only thirteen years old and Doyle was twenty-five. They married four years later and that's how the Russells of Arkansas/Tennessee/NorthCarolina/Kentucky/Virginia joined hands with the Smiths of Colorado/Oklahoma/Missouri/Texas to become our extended family.

Frances wrote the story of her life in a self-published book she titled "From There to Here". You can find it online at Frances Russell's Autobiography. Of course, there was a lot more to Frances's life than what she put in her book, and I'm hoping some of that will come out in this blog.

Doyle didn't write a book but he led a full life, a hard-working man who became a successful farmer/rancher and Colorado businessman until his death in 2000, one month shy of his 93rd birthday. What a story he had to tell, and tell it he did to his kids and grandkids and anybody who stopped in to buy car parts or grain or sell him a horse.

Frances and Doyle had four kids - two boys and two girls, each as different from one another as four siblings can be. They are all still living, healthy and hale, a living testament to the successful mix of genes in the Russell/Smith gene pool.