Family History of Brandon Ireton | |||
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by Brandon Ireton July 19, 2006 The Ireton family name is one that has been in America for about 175 years. I will focus on the Ireton’s because a distant cousin named, Mark Ireton, has developed a website of my great-great grandfather and his sons to which I have accessed. Some information comes from his website (www.iretonfamily.com), while other information comes from my grandmother Margie Griffin and my mother Ronda Ireton. My family is one of Irish decent and can be traced back to the 1600’s. This is the story of my family. The Ireton’sFrank Austin Ireton was born on January 21, 1867 in Chicago, Ill. His parents were immigrants from either England or Ireland. Jim Ireton and wife Eunice traded land for a yoke and oxen and took their son Frank with them and migrated west. The family was looking for opportunity. They settled in New Port Landing, which is now Kansas City. They moved again two and a half years later to Olethen, Kansas. Seven years later the family moved again to Waverly, Kansas. Each moved the family started a farm. I have a strange feeling the Oregon Trail resembles my family. My great-great grandfather bought a farm in 1883 and worked on it with his brother until 1888. He married Eda Verna Forbes on March 3rd, 1888 in Burlington, Kansas where his farm was. Eda was born on February 22, 1870 in Michigan. Not much information is given about my great-great grandmother and not much research has been done about her. His family moved around traveling from Burlington, Kansas to Putnam Oklahoma. In the year 1912 they moved to New Mexico, but quickly moved back to the farm in Oklahoma because of health concerns. They finally moved to Texas and first stopped in Roaring Springs and then to their final destination of Ropes. He moved around so much because of his health problems, but no specific details are known of the problems. Frank Austin died on June 2, 1931 in Ropesville, TX. He died of the illness malady for which he struggled with for many months. The obituaries speak very highly of my great-great grandfather. He was well loved throughout the town, and was a man of strong faith in God. The couple had seven sons together and adopted one daughter. The seven sons are Austin Arthur, Rolla Chester, Jim Frank, Elmer Scott, Elic Ray, Henry Forbes, Carl Vernon, and Edith who was adopted. Each of their sons had nicknames given to them by their father. My great-grandfather, Elmer Scott Ireton, or Nick, was born on October 3 1885. He grew up in Ropes until the age of 16 when he left home to follow the wheat harvest. When he was 18 he joined the Navy. He enlisted on September 24, 1917. He fought during WWI and he was stationed on four different ships. Nick was stationed on the U.S.S. Wisconsin, U.S.S. Carola, U.S.S. Drayton and the U.S.S California that was renamed the U.S.S. San Diego. The U.S.S. San Diego was one of only two ships sunk during WWI. It sank in 28 minutes and Elmer was in the water for several hours before being rescued. He developed pneumonia and later tuberculosis because of his time in the water. He was honorably discharged on July 2, 1919 with the rank of 2nd class. He married Maggie Mae Taylor on July 25, 1920. They lived in Lamesa where Elmer was a realtor. He never was open about his parents or brothers, but was very proud of his family and home. He and my great grandmother gave birth to four sons and one daughter, Elmer Taylor, Ray Lewis, Jack Bailey, Donald Gene, and Mildred Marlene. Elmer passed away on February 27, 1942 due to the tuberculosis he contracted. Maggie was the pianist at the First Baptist Church in Lamesa for many years. She never remarried and raised four children by herself after the death of Elmer. Maggie outlived my grandfather Jack Bailey and my family said it was extremely hard on her when he died. She passed away on April 25, 1983 in Lamesa, TX. My grandfather Jack Bailey was born on August 30, 1926 in Lamesa, TX. When he was 17 years old he wanted to enlist in the Navy but was to young, but my great-grandmother signed the papers, which allowed him to enlist. My Granny feels that he joined the Navy because his father was in the Navy. He left school early and went to boot camp in San Diego. He was in the Navy for about 3 years and fought during WWII. After my grandpa got out of the Navy he went to Sul Ross and received his degree in business. He and my Granny Margie Jean Louder married in Lubbock TX on May 17, 1950. They lived in Stanton and had two sons, my uncle Dennis Lee, and my dad Danny Keith. He worked at First National Bank of Stanton for 16 years. During his time there he was held up at gunpoint in 1962 The robber stole over $5000 and later committed suicide a little over 2 miles outside of town. Later that year he changed jobs and started selling cars at White Motor Company in Stanton. My Granny thinks that my grandpa changed jobs because of the robbery. My grandpa went in to have gallbladder surgery in April of 1982 and never recovered from it dying on June 14, 1982. The storied I hear about my grandpa is that he was a kind hearted man but firm when it came to discipline. My Granny was born on March 24, 1929 in Stanton, TX. She has lived in Stanton all her life. She has been secretary at White Motor Company for the last 50 years. She remarried John Griffin in August of 1987. My dad, Danny Keith Ireton was born on March 21, 1960 in Big Spring, TX. He, like my Granny, has grown up in Stanton his entire life. He graduated high school and went to Howard College for about a year and a half, but went to work at White Motor Company in 1981. He married my mother Ronda Carol Shankle on July 3rd, 1982. They have lived in Stanton for the last 24 years. My dad still sales cars, but is a deacon at First Baptist Church Stanton and also on the school board. Both of my parents enjoy small town life and wanted to raise their children. My mother grew up in Rankin, TX. When she graduated high school she went to Texas Tech and received her degree in secondary education. She opened a daycare in Stanton called Ronda’s Rocking Horse, but it closed after a few years. My mother was a housewife while me and my brothers were little. She is now secretary at White Motor with my Granny and has been for 10 years. They have three sons, Brandon Seth born December 20 1984, Matthew Hunter born April 6 1987 and Jonathan Caleb born January 19 1990. I was born on December 20, 1984 in Odessa, TX. My life was hard at the beginning considering I was eleven weeks premature. I survived two months of struggles and went home on February 20, 1984. I grew up in Stanton and went to Stanton schools until I graduated high school in 2003. I had a very eventful high school life being involved in numerous clubs and sports. I went to Howard Payne University in Brownwood, TX in the fall of 2003, where I currently live. I will be completing my degree in May of 2007 and hopefully continue adding to my family history. Obviously there is more research I can do about my family history. My mother is working on obtaining more information about the Ireton’s but also about her family trees. The one constant thing that I have seen throughout my family and it isn’t really shown with the details I have given, but every generation looks to better the next. My great-great grandfather migrated west for better land and for a better life. My great grandfather and grandfather fought in WWI and WWII to protect freedom. My parents look to give me every possible advantage they can, and that is something I have learned and will look to continue. My map of family movements, thanks to mapquest.com shows most of the travels of my family since my great-great grandfather.
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