We always trumpet the pioneers of Wilfornia and my great-grandfather was such a pioneer.
In the 1910 census, when he was 18 years old, he was living with his parents in Texico.
In the 1920 census, when he was 29 years old, he was living on the farm he was buying near Hollene.
In the 1930 census, when he was 38 years old, he was living in his permanent home in Clovis, where he lived until his death.
He had three daughters (my grandmother was the second girl) by his first wife Tressie Stuffings, who passed following the birth of the last girl. He married a 19-year-old Nellie Daniels who raised the girls as her own.
There is an interesting entry in the 1920 census that lists an infant in the household called Robert, which none of the girls ever spoke of. My brother found a gravestone for young Robert at the Texico cemetery, died at 9 months old, apparently Nellie's only child. Perhaps the infant's death was so traumatic, no one spoke of it.
Robert served as mayor of Clovis and is reported to have been very well respected in the area. He died when I was only two years old, so I don't remember him at all.
His daughters (including my grandmother) all lived near Clovis until their deaths as well. I am the only one of Bob's decendants that still live in the area.