IRETON FAMILY
HISTORY
Compiled by Merion Frank Ireton son of Rolla and Lillie Ireton.
The Name Ireton comes from England and the from the House of Shirley and
Eatington. Henry, eldest son of Fulcher, of Susulo, Lord of Eatington, (anno
1079) sold his birthright to Sewallis, from whom the Shirleys are descended.
Henry died in 1192. Under old English law the eldest son inheritance. Fulcher,
living in 1192 Held Ireton under his uncle Sewallis had 2 brothers Nicholas and
Robert. Fulcher had a least three sons one named Fulcher de Ireton, Lord of
Ireton who in turn had three sons. Fulcher de Ireton, John, Stephen. No mention
of John and Stephen. Fulcher de Ireton, Lord of Ireton had one son, Henry de
Ireton married to Clementia and they had three sons, Thomas de Ireton, Lord of
Ireton, Henry de Ireton, Lord of Little Ireton married to Elizabeth, daughter of
William Knifteton, William de Ireton married to Helen , daughter of Henry de
Chaundoys. From this union is the first mention of the shield and crest. William
was evidently a Knight of Edward II. Henry, Lord of Ireton was killed in the
battle of Chesterfield in 1266. Henry de Ireton, Lord of Ireton son of Henry de
Ireton and Elizabeth married Helen, Daughter of Langton and they had at least
one son Robert de Ireton who married Cecilia Cockyney. Records show a Son, John
de Ireton Lord of Ireton married to Alicia and serving Henry V. bearing the
Shirley coat of arms. Records show two, sons Richard de Ireton, Lord of Ireton
and John de Ireton Lord of Ireton and John de Ireton, Lord of Ireton married to
Anne, daughter of Curzond. Two brothers came from Ireland and settled in
Chicago, Illinois on the site where the Pullman Coach Works is to-day. they were
either shipwrights or wood carvers. One was named James (Joel, Jim or Joab which
may be nicknames) and the other John. They were reported to have been born in
Ireland in 1830. They traded the Chicago property for two yoke of Oxen and
traveled west. James married Eunice and they eventually settled in Kansas.
Records do not show if they went directly to Kansas or by the way of Ohio as
there are quite a few Iretons in Ohio and at least one John. James did not know
where John settled but there were Iretons in Kansas but seemed to be distant or
unrelated. James had at least five sons and there is not a record of girls. one
of boys unknown name) was lost in the woods when he quite young and when found
was insane and little is known of him. The other boys names were Ed, Win.
Charles and Frank Austin (My grandfather). Frank was born January 21,1867 in
Chicago, Illinois. Jim and his brother traded the land for a yoke of Oxen an
migrated South and West. They were separated along the way and apparently were
never united. James arrived in Kansas and the other either stopped in Ohio or
traveled on West and could be the ones that settled in Garden Valley. Idaho and
formed the Marsh-Ireton Ranch. It is unknown at this time whether all of James
(Joel) and Eunice's children were born in Chicago or some were born in
Burlington, Kansas. Frank Austin Ireton married Eda Forbes, Daughter of John A
Forbes, born in Ireland July 28, 1841 and Catherine Storing, a Dutch Girl, born
December 26, 1844 in St Lawrence County, New York who were married at Altona,
Illinois July 4, 1867. They had six children, three boys and three girls. Eda
was born in Calhoun County, Michigan February 22, 1870. Frank and Eda were
married in Burlington, Kansas March 3, 1888. They had seven sons and adopted a
daughter. The sons were: (nicknames in parenthesis)
Austin Arthur Ireton, born December 25, 1888 at Burlington Coffey County,
Kansas(Man)
Rolla Chester Ireton, born March 10.1891 at Burlington Coffey County,
(Kid) Kansas
Jim Frank Ireton, born August
4,1893 at Burlington Coffey County, Kansas. (Jim)
Elmer Scott Ireton, born October 3. 1895 in Burlington Coffey County,
Kansas. (Nick)
Elic Ray Ireton, born July 18, 1898 near Putnam, Dewey County, Oklahoma.
(Shug)
Henry Forbes Ireton, born February 11, 1901 near Putnam, Dewey County,
Oklahoma. (Migs)
Carl Vernon Ireton. Born April 23, 1905 near Putnam, Dewey County,
Oklahoma. (Winks)
Edith Ireton, adopted daughter, Birth date unknown born somewhere in
Oklahoma and may have been a relatives daughter. She ran away from home at an
early age and Rolla found her and brought her home. Little is known about her.
Frank and Eda operated a coal mine near Coffeyville, Kansas until February of
1896 (could have been 1897) when they decided to homestead in Oklahoma. They
left Kansas in February with Austin and Rolla, ages eight and five in one wagon
and Frank and Eda in another wagon with Jim, age two and Elmer about six months.
It is unknown if they had any other livestock or how long it took them. but
Rolla remembered stopping along a river to camp and water the horses and that it
was cold. They homesteaded 160 acres Southwest of Putnam in Dewey County,
Oklahoma about 200 miles Southwest as the crows flies but probably longer the
route they had to travel. In 1913 or 1914 they loaded a separator (threshing
machine), a saw mill, livestock, and belongings in a immigrant railroad car (a
boxcar in which the family and belongings rode in) to Cedarvale, New Mexico.
Rolla and a friend
followed three months later by team and wagon. the trip from Oklahoma to
Cedarvale took 21 days. Frank, Austin. Rolla, and Jim homesteaded 160 acres and
Frank set up a saw mill. The boys all delivered trees to the mill while Austin
and Rolla hauled in cedar logs with Oxen and horses, threshed and drilled wells.
Frank built a house and Rolla an Lilly lived in a tent the first winter. Feed
for livestock was scarce and they burned the spikes off cactus for feed. The
next spring Rolla built his house and planted pinto beans to prove up his claim.
Due to limited rainfall beans rows were five feet apart to qualify for more
acreage. Houses were built with lumber vertical and smaller dimension planks
over the cracks without insulation the houses were drafty and cold. Frank always
said the tent was warmer than the house and he liked to come over and sit in the
tent in the winter. Of course it was smaller
and the old wood range kept it warm.
About 1915 or 1916 Frank and family and Rolla and family moved to Roswell, New
Mexico where they had a farm and dairy. January 9, 1921 Frank had an auction and
sold 22 head of cattle, 8 head of Horses and Mules together with other livestock
and farm machinery. They moved to Roaring Springs, Texas where Frank operated a
general store and Rolla operated a blacksmith shop, a garage and sold Ford cars.
Since Roaring Springs did not have electricity the blacksmith shop had an
electric generator powered by a Model T engine which Rolla used to furnish power
to the store, barbershop, hotel and other commercial buildings in town. Jim was
a section foreman on the railroad at that time. Jim was in the Army and Elmer
was in the Navy during WWI. Frank moved to Ropesville, Texas where they operated
a gas station and grocery until his death June 2, 1931. Frank had nicknames for
most of his boys, Austin was Man, Rolla was Kid, Jim was Jim, Elmer was Nick,
Elic was shug, Henry was migs, and Carl was Winks. Eda Died at Custer City.
Oklahoma December 16, 1948.
Rolla Chester Ireton and
Lillian Dale Foust
Rolla Chester Ireton , the second son of Frank & Eda Ireton was born in Coffee
County Kansas March 10th 1891. In February 1896 the family moved to Putnam,
Dewey County, Oklahoma in two wagons and some livestock. Austin age 8 and Rolla
age 5 drove one wagon with Frank and Eda in the other with Jim Frank 2 years 6
months a Elmer Scott 5 months old. Rolla's memory of that trip was quite good
even in his 80's. The family farmed on a homestead Southwest of Putnam. Rolla
attended school in Putnam. He met a young lady by the name of Lillian Foust at
her family's farm Northeast of Putnam. He had gone to buy turkey eggs. She and
her sister Stella were out gathering eggs when they met. Lillian or Lilly as she
was called was born July 23rd 1894 in Pickins County at Oakland near Madill,
Oklahoma in Indian Territory. Lilly attended Fairview school North East of
Putnam and one mile and a half from their farm. Lillys Mother died quite young.
Rolla and Lilly were married May 10th 1911 and she and Rolla took her young
brother James Lewis Foust (Ted) to Raise. On May 28th 1912 Elva Clearita was
born to Rolla and Lilly while they were still living in Putnam. In 1913 or 1914
they joined Frank and Eda to move to New Mexico. Lilly, Elva. and Ted joined
Frank and Eda with the other six boys in an immigrant railroad car with all
machinery and livestock to Cedarvale New Mexico. Rolla and another man took a
wagon and team through the Texas panhandle and central New Mexico. They stopped
in Texas to pick cotton to buy feed and supplies. The trip took them 21 days
from Putnam, Oklahoma to Cedarvalle New Mexico. Rolla , Lilly, Elva and Ted
lived in a tent the first winter and built a weatherboard cabin on their claim.
Frank and the boys ran a saw mill and Austin drilled some wells. The boys drug
the cedar logs from the forest by horses and oxen to the mill. Most of the
lumber was sold locally and Rolla hauled some to the neighboring towns and
freighted fruit and produce by team and wagon to Cedarvale from as far as
Roswell, New Mexico. In 1915 Rolla and Lilly with Elva and Ted moved to Roswell
where they farmed with Frank and Eda. Alma Rose was born to Rolla and Lilly in
Roswell February 4, 1915. In 1916 the moved back to the homestead to prove it up
and lived there until 1917 moving back to Roswell and in 1918 moved to Quannah,
Texas where Rolla worked in a mill and operated a garage and service station. In
1920 they moved to Roaring Springs Texas where Merion Frank was born February
16, 1922. Rolla operated the blacksmith shop, garage and light plant furnishing
power to the barbershop, general store run by Frank and the hotel and a few
other business places. The light plant consisted of a Model "T" Ford engine and
generator in the garage and blacksmith shop which ran the machinery during and
the electric generator at night until about ten o'clock .Rolla was a dowser
being able to find water with a willow branch and in 1924 a rancher who could
not find water on his ranch offered him five hundred dollars to dig a well on
his place he accepted and took another man out and located place to dig and
about twenty five feet down where they found a nice stream of good water and was
producing water fifty years later. In 1925 they moved to Whitedeer.
Rolla drilled a city water well and moved to Sudan Texas. In Sudan he formed a
Trucking partnership with Marion Shelton, his brother-in-law, Stella's husband.
In 1927 Rolla and family, Frank and Eda, Roy and Gladys (Lilly's sister) Hileman
took their trucks and followed the wheat harvest living in tents as far North as
Potter, Nebraska. They camped in the City Park when Warren Hileman, small son of
Roy and Gladys decided to light a kerosene cook stove in Rolla and Lilly's tent
to heat some water. The stove caught the tent on fire and destroyed the contents
including Elva and Alma's school clothes they had been accumulating. They all
returned to Sudan Texas and on November 3 1927 Alma's appendix ruptured and she
died of perienteritis. In 1928 he sold his interest in the Sudan trucking
business and moved to Muleshoe Texas where he purchased a small acreage and
hauled fruit and produce from Northwest New Mexico and Central New Mexico while
Lilly and Elva operated a dairy they had leased near a community called Y.L.
which was named after the Y.L. Ranch and delivered milk to Muleshoe. They moved
back to Roswell, New Mexico where Rolla and his brother Elic truck farmed.
January 2 1932 Charles Edward was born and they moved back to Muleshoe, Texas
where Rolla continued truck and started to drill irrigation wells. Betty Jo was
born December 7, 1935. Rolla continued to drill irrigation wells throughout the
area. Merion Frank, Burton and I.B. Shelton (his nephews) aided him in drilling
and pump and well repair until the World War 2 started. Frank and Burton joined
the Marine Corps and I.B and His brother Jack joined the army. Rolla sold his
acreage and drill and he and Lilly, Charles and Betty moved to Redwood City to
be near Elva, and her Husband James Gregory who had moved there from Texas.
James was employed in South San Francisco at Western Pipe and Steel building
cargo boats named "Liberty Ships. Rolla also gained employment in the same
company, and they carpooled to and from work together. Rolla's job was
maintaining grinding wheels and hose on the ships that were under construction.
Even with gasoline rationing the were able to make weekend trips around the area
site seeing. With the war ending and shipyards closed Rolla and James began
looking for a good place to settle. They made several to Northern California
looking at ranches then made two trips to Idaho with Charles and James' son Bill
. They visited with Lillies brother Ted whom she and Rolla raised and many of
their old friends, They were impressed the irrigation and agriculture there and
both families decided to move to Nampa, Idaho. James and his brother John begin
building a home for James and Elva and continued in the building trade for a
while. Rolla worked a short time at the Stibnite mine sharpening tools and bits
and in two weeks he found he did not like being away from his family. When a
mail plane came in to deliver mail and supplies the pilot ask if anyone wanted a
ride to Boise. Rolla said wait until I get my bedroll and told them to mail his
check. It was his first ride in an airplane. He worked for the sugar
factory in the fall and winter and purchased a small dairy. He continued that
until 1978 Charles and Betty were married in June 1957. James died September 26
1984 and Elva died July 23, 1991 Lilly died in February 17, 1981. Rolla died
March 19, 1984. Rolla was known by all his friends as R.C. in his latter years.
R. C. had one brother Henry alive at the time of his death.
Frank Ireton