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My Indian Grandmother
My Grandmother, Bessie (also known as Bettie) Ross Miller Bates Wolf, was born June 19, 1889 in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. Her father was George Lowery Ross, and her mother was Ruth Belle Springston Ross Evans. Grandmother had an older brother, Commodore Wade Ross, and two half-brothers, Albert Lee Evans and Henry Evans, along with a half-sister, Mattie Evans Barnes. Mattie’s husband, John Barnes, was a sheriff. Bessie Ross married my Grandfather, an oilfield worker, Charles Howard Miller, on the 29th of June 1907 in Sperry, Oklahoma. They had three children, Fred Albert Miller, born December 30, 1908 in Kiefer, Oklahoma, Gladys Ruth Miller, born February 7, 1915 in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, and Robert E. Miller, January 4, 1918 in Healdton, Oklahoma. My grandmother and her children moved to Long Beach, California in 1923, to join her husband who was working in the oil fields there, constructing oil derricks. My Grandmother found work, too, outside the home. She worked in a tailor shop from 1925 to 1928. Sometime in 1926, she and Charles divorced. She married Archie L. Bates in 1928 and moved to Redondo Beach, California. I remember that they had chickens, ducks, a frog pond, and a large vegetable garden. I also remember having Sunday dinners at Grandmother’s house; she had fried chicken, mash potatoes, milk gravy, and fresh corn and lima beans. One of those Sundays, I remember my brother, Warren Lee (Bud) and I running behind the garage where my Grandfather had bee […]
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MY MOTHER, RUTH MILLER HORLACHER
MY MOTHER, RUTH MILLER HORLACHER Gladys was born in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, on February 7, 1915. Her Mother was Bettie Ross Miller Bates Wolf! Everyone called her Grandma Wolf. Gladys had two brothers, an older brother, Fred Albert Miller, and a younger brother, Robert (Bob) E. Miller. According to Uncle Bob, the family traveled by train from Oklahoma to Long Beach, California in 1923. They moved into a house on Willow Street. My Mother and Uncle Bob went to grade school at Bernett School. In 1924, the family moved again, to Atlantic Boulevard, still in Long Beach. My Mother and her brothers often went to a newly built movie theatre, the Brayton Theatre, to watch silent picture shows and to sing along with the “bouncing ball” on the screen, following the words to the songs. Gladys’ Father, Charles H. Miller, built oil derricks for the oil fields on Signal Hill in Long Beach, and in nearby Huntington Beach. Grandpa Miller completed his last Signal Hill contract in 1925 and moved his crew to Huntington Beach to begin a new contract. While making a final inspection, Grandpa Miller fell from a platform and was seriously injured. That ended his career in the oil derrick contracting business. In 1927, the family moved to 10th Street, still in Long Beach, where they rented a house from an “old lady,” called Grandma. According to Uncle Bob, he and my Mother stole “Grandma’s” cookies and other goodies from her pantry! While living on 10th Street, […]