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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Galveston to Fort Worth

Why would my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers, move from Galveston TX to Fort Worth, with his wife, Ada Rogers and children?  He was the bookkeeper for a Wholesale Fish business at the time of the census of 1910, and had built a lovely home for his family. 

Rogers home built by George Rogers, Sr. Galveston, TX

In 1916 there were two events which were pretty momentous...his oldest son, Elmore (10 years old) died of an accidental drowning just 3 weeks after Ada Rogers gave birth to her only daughter Ada Mary.  My own father, George Junior (called Junie) was 2 years old at the time.

But little Ada Mary's life was short and by records that exist today on Ancestry, probably had a tragic ending.  For a family which relied upon prayer and not medicine, according to the death certificate, her having glaucoma for at least 8 months probably affected her brain.  Whether medicine could have offered anything besides pain relief, I don't know.  She died in 1919 just short of 3 years of age...in Houston, TX.  That was where my grandmother's mother was  living and offering healing as a Christian Science practitioner.

I think my grandmother and her daughter probably spent a lot of the last months of Ada Mary's short life in Houston. 

I believe my grandfather worked as a bookkeeper at a meat packing plant in Fort Worth for a Mr. Dumble.  The Rogers moved from either Galveston or Houston between 1919 and 1920 so were living in Fort Worth, TX by the census of 1920.  My father was only 6 at the time.  And two years later their youngest son, James, was born in Fort Worth.

The announcement was no surprise to industry analyst Steve Kay ...
Beef in a meat packing plant in Texas
My cousin, Patricia Rogers, has posted on her Ancestry site the following about the George Rogers Sr. family.  Her source was probably her father, James.
They resided in Galveston until 1918, at which time they moved to Meadowbrook Drive in Fort Worth, Texas, where he (George Sr) was employed by the Fort Worth Packing Company as office manager. This began a friendship with the company Manager, Norman Dumble that lasted twenty-five years.
George Jr at Dumble's Ranch

I believe the Dumble ranch was a favorite place for the young men to learn how to hunt.  My father (Junior) is pictured above, and there are also pictures of him and my mother before they married in a similar setting.

George Jr & Mataley on 2
My parents before they married, probably at the Dumble Ranch

4728 Meadow Brook, Ft Worth, TX
The Rogers home

There's also a story about the Fort Worth home that burned and how my grandfather once again built a brick home for his family, while they resided in a garage.

The Rogers family endured hardships, which weren't unusual for that time in US and Texas history.  But as I knew my grandparents when I was young, they always had a positive attitude, and were cutting jokes at every opportunity.

So this is my contribution to a meme dealing with butchers and packing plants.
 
This week's Sepia Saturday post...click to see more!

12 comments:

  1. I'm interested in dated examples of prints with those geometric art deco style borders like your. Very interesting, thank you.

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    1. Sorry, all I have are the digital images, but these are dated from the album pages at least. They lived in San Antonio and Dallas TX in early years of my parent's courtship and marriage (before me!)

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  2. what a hard life yet examples for us all

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    1. I know, finding details of their lives I miss the everyday joys and mundane ups and downs, like doing laundry, fixing 3 meals a day, etc.

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  3. I love the picture of before they married , with the car!

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    1. Sorry it was not enlarged, hope you see that my mom even is holding a rifle! I never heard that she could shoot, so perhaps it was just a pose.

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  4. Things were a lot harder back then. You shared some real gems (photos) with us.

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  5. Thanks, Mona. It's good to have these saved over at Ancestry!

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  6. You portrayed so poignantly the tragic story of your family rising through the dreadful death of such young children - unfortunately an all to common a discovery in our family history research.

    Family History Fun

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    1. Thanks Sue...I was beginning to wonder if Sepians were reading my blog today. I was kind of late posting this week. Yes, family research tells us stories our grandparents and parents weren't able to, probably because it was too painful for them.

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  7. Collecting family stories and lining up dates often uncovers the difficult, even tragic, events that tested our ancestors. The snapshot of your parents could pass for one of Bonnie and Clyde!

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  8. I tried to comment the other day but it doesn't seem to have gone through. I thought perhaps your grandparents might have been glad to move away from a place where they had sad memories of loss and start afresh. That interesting polychrome brick pattern in your last photograph is not unusual in old houses here in Melbourne.

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Thanks for your comments...