In a message dated 8/29/04 5:26:34 PM Central Daylight Time, Kerniep@aol.com writes: > > I know I should be grateful for what I have; however, I somehow am not quite > > satisfied with Grandpa's secret life, especially since I had always looked > on > him as a knight in shining armour. He evidently told his family he was > going > to KC to trade or ? And also, was he a gambler like you see on the tv. Ah, > > well, those things I will probably never know. Mama always said he was > buried > in Muskogee, but when my husband and went there in 1994, we could not find a > > trace of him. > Also, his oldest son, Lee, was a lot like him, and the last time my Mom > and > his Mother saw him, he was supposed to be going to either Arizona or NM. to > try to get over TB. They never saw or heard from him again. He left his > family in Creek Co. OK. and in 1995, I found his son, Leo Ragon, in Mesa, > AZ. and > he said he and his wife had tried to trace him, and had even used an agency, > > and could not find a trace of him. I guess like father, like son. > I know I will have to be satisfied with what I have. > The parts of this family that I know are that the youngest son, Oscar, > died > at age 27 of TB, > in Oklahoma. Really, I wish I could have met some of this family. My > Mother > was a wonderful person, and I treasure her memory. > Here is maybe one part of this family you may help in. My Grandma, Lizzie > > Ragon (her maiden name was Benus) had a Dad who came over from England with > his brother and their family. On the way over, on the boat, there was a > disease > of Cholera and the parents of these two boys, and maybe others of the > family, > died, and were buried at sea. This is probably an unsolvable thing too, but > > I would sure like to find out the parents of the boys, and also to find out > what happened to the brother. It was said that the two boys (ages 10 and > 12) > were put off the ship and told they would have to shift for themselves. I > did > find the one boy, who was my GGrandfather (never met him), but some > relatives > who knew him said he was close mouthed, and would never speak of the > incident > on the ship. Who knows, it was probably too traumatic to him. I am > probably > snatching at straws! I have searched ledgers of ships, and can't find them. > > Probably I have more than some folks have. > You are most kind to have listened to me. Perhaps if anyone knows > anything > that might help me, they could contact me. Thank you kindly. > Allene/AZ. I wish I had some idea of how to help you. But, I'm afraid you're in over my head lol. I have some brick walls as well. But mine are in TN and until I can find some court records from around 1867 to 1879 to find out about a murder that happened over gambling in Knoxville TN, I'm stuck with my gggrandfather's alias. He committed the murder, and we think just added Smith to his name, but without finding those records and who was really wanted for the murder, we'll never know his true name. Anyway, good luck with your search, and if you do find anything let us know how you found it, it might help others. :) Bobbi Dunn http://myfamily.150m.com Volunteer for RAOGK in Creek Co., OK http://www.raogk.org/ alternate email: bluerose68@yahoo.com Proud Member of: IBSSG http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/ Webmaster for Depew PTA http://depewpta.150m.com