CHAPTER 16
The Tracy Family History
the Tracy - Wiltsey Line
Myron M. Tracy, man of mystery, and Matilda Knabb Wiltsey Tracy
To follow the Tracy line you need a program to understand all
of the players. We start with Jacob W. Knabb, who was born 28 January 1795 and
died 18 January 1864. He was married but we don't know anything more except that
there were the following children: Sarah A., born 23 November 1820; Mary, born
15 November 1822; E.P., born 12 August 1827; H.M., and Matilda. That is all the
information we have at this point except for Matilda.
Matilda Knabb was born 17 February 1834.
She married Adolphus Wiltsey on 1 June 1851.
His father was Jacob Wiltsey, born 28 January 1795. Adolphus was born 27 January
1839. They had the following children: Curtis (Alonzo) Adolphus, born 5 March
1855 and died 18 February 1860; Angelina Maria (Auntie Reed), born 7 September
1857; Enoch P., born 4 February 1865; James Henry, born 26 February 1867; Jacob,
of which we only have his date of death being 4 October 1853.
Adolphus Wiltsey dies 28 December 1870. Adolphus and Matilda
were married 19 years and had 5 children. Matilda then marries Myron Tracy on 12
October 1871 (family records, however, official records show marriage on 3
November 1871 in Springfield, Illinois). They have a son Alva Tracy (Granddad
Tracy), born 17 August 1872 (The family ssays in Galesburg, Illinois.) The 5
Wiltsey children now become Granddad Tracy's 1/2 brothers and 1/2 sister.
Myron Tracy, with a partner, owns some land in Texas. The two
go to Texas to sell the land but only the partner returns. The partner tells the
story that they sold the land and divided up the money. Myron was to stay in
Texas for awhile and the partner returned home. Myron Tracy is never heard from
again.
The family tries everything possible to find out what
happened to Myron Tracy. They even hired a private detective agency to
investigate, but with no results. They always believed that the partner had
murdered Myron for his share of the money.
I tried to find out the name of the detective agency and get
the records, but without any success. I got hold of the land records for Texas
covering those years and could not find any land transactions for any Tracy, let
alone a Myron Tracy.
Granddad Alva Tracy, believed his father to be an irresponsible person who
simply abandoned his family. Virtually nothing is known about Myron Tracy: When,
or where he was born, parents, brothers and sisters, nothing. Granddad Alva,
said he was a house painter by profession. Auntie Reed said that Myron told her
he was four years older than her mother, which means he was born in 1830.
Myron and Matilda get married. Granddad Alva is born shortly
thereafter. Myron disappears and then on 5 June 1876, when Granddad Alva is
three years old, his mother, Matilda, dies. She is 42 years old. Family
traditions say she died of a broken heart.
You will remember that Granddad Alva has four 1/2 brothers
and one 1/2 sister. The 1/2 sister, Angelina Maria (Auntie Reed) is now 19 years
old and she becomes Granddad Alva's surrogate mother.
Granddad's new mother marries a William Strode on 12 October
1873. So Granddad also has a new father. They had one child, Jim Strode, and
that is all the children Auntie Reed will have. William Strode disappears from
the picture somewhere along the line. He probably died, as divorce was uncommon
in those days. Then she marries a man named Reed. Nothing is known of him and he
also disappears from the picture somewhere along the line. Again, we must assume
that he died.
So now Auntie Reed is raising Granddad Alva Tracy, her own
son Jim Strode (I don't have a birth date on him but estimate he was two years
younger than Alva.), and her brothers, the Wiltseys. As mother said, "She had
them all."
My mother, who is was 86 years of age and in reasonably good
health at the time this story was written (year 2003), knew Auntie Reed quite
well. We are now getting down to the generations where mother knew most of the
characters.
(Note: My mother passed away in December of 2003).
Auntie Reed and what is believed to be one of her husbands. But, which
one is not known: Is it Strode, or is it Reed?
At a very young age of 19, she would take over the raising of her brothers, her
son, and her ½ brother, Granddad Alva Tracy.
Granddad Alva Tracy as a baby and an adult.
(Left) Henry Wiltsey, his wife, Nettie, and baby, Ethel.
(Right) 3rd from left is Jim Strode, Auntie Reed’s son. 4th from left is his girlfriend. I love the expression on the face of the girl to the left. This must be the Strode version of the Mona Lisa. Can you figure out the reason for the half-smile?
(Left) Henry Wiltsey and brother, Enoch, 1/2 brothers to Granddad Tracy.
Auntie Reed and part of the brood she raised. Photo taken in California when
they had all reached middle age.
Standing (L to R): Granddad Alva Tracy and his ½ brother, Henry Wiltsey.
Sitting: ½ brother Enoch Wiltsey and Auntie Reed.
Mother says this photo does Auntie Reed a disservice. She has
a stern look on her face. In reality, she was a very warm and friendly
person.
I told you earlier that in the frontier days
almost everyone did farm work. What I am about to tell you may sound strange for
today, but it was not unusual for the1800s.
Granddad told me that he worked hard, very hard as a child.
At the age of 12 he decides to go on his own. He doesn't run away from home but
simply leaves home and starts doing farm work. According to the custom of the
day he received room and board, plus a daily wage. He has by this time only a
third grade education, which was considered sufficient for the day. Being able
to do the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he becomes a voracious
reader and will eventually educate himself far beyond a third grade level.
Eventually, at the age of 18, he winds up in California in
the area of Red Bluff. Like Uncle Billy, he likes California and tells his
family to come out to God's country. And that they do, leaving, I believe, Iowa,
and coming to California, also to the Red Bluff area.
Granddad Tracy will live in this area for the next 72 years.
Auntie Reed will settle in Chico. By this time she has become a nurse working in
peoples' homes. She will invest her money wisely in apartment houses and becomes
well off financially.
Somewhere along the line, Granddad gets a job as a forest
ranger with the government. This will be his life long career. He will
eventually retire with a government pension, which will supply him with a good
income even during the Great Depression. He would buy a
new Dodge car every year.
On 4 May 1898 he married Minnie May Elam at Hunter. As you
will recall, Minnie was the first born of the Elam children. Aunt Hattie, from
whom I got most of the family history, was the last of the 10 children and
nearly 20 years younger than Minnie. Again, this was normal for the times.
Granddad buys property in the mountains 20 miles west of Red
Bluff and builds a house. This he called Saddle Camp. A short distance away was
a higher mountain, Tom Head, on which sat the fire lookout station. Then, as
now, this area has serious potential for forest fires and must be monitored
constantly during the summer.
Minnie, my Grandma Tracy, doesn't spend much time at Saddle Camp.
Throughout their long marriage she spends most of her time in Red Bluff. She can
not take the air at the high altitude of Saddle Camp. Neither can her sister
Hattie, nor sisters Mag and Mary, both of whom will spend their lives living in
the San Francisco Bay area at sea level. Their father is an Elam, but their
mother is a Moon, Lusannie. The Moons were a sickly bunch.
They will have two children: Austin Alva, my father, born 19
January 1899 and aunt Beulah, born 19 January 1900.
Austin is a sickly child, afflicted with polio and unable to walk the first few
years of his life. The doctor says, "Not to worry. The day will come that he
will start walking." And one day, just like that, he starts walking.
He doesn't have a name for his first few years. He is simply
called "Baby" or "Boy." The proudest day of his life is when it was decided to
give him a name. He now ran around to everyone proudly announcing that he was
then to be called "Austin!"
Throughout his life he was plagued with mental illness. As a
teenager he would spend a year in the Loma Linda Psychiatric Hospital in Los
Angeles. Then, as now, the Seventh Day Adventist Church runs this hospital. Mom
said with some dismay, "I don't know how much it cost Granddad Tracy!" This
experience would have a profound effect on Austin Tracy.
He developed the idea that his mental illness could be cured
by diet. A far advanced idea for its day. In his early years he would watch his
diet carefully, shunning tobacco and alcohol.
Austin, and Beulah, were raised during the summer months at
Saddle Camp, which was not only a ranger station but a vacation spot for the
wealthy of California. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnet, would vacation at Saddle
Camp and become a close friend with Granddad Tracy.
Wrigley owned timber and mining property in the area. Some
were in partnership with Granddad Tracy. Everyone in those days had a gold mine.
Remember that gold mining was mainly in the mountains of Northern California.
Mom's dad had two gold mines. Few of the miners ever found gold, but that didn't
stop anyone from trying.
Wrigley and his wife would vacation at Saddle Camp, which not
only afforded them a holiday but also allowed him to look after his investments
in the area.
UPDATED, September 2007, from Tracey Saucy, Salem, Oregon--
I thought you might be interested to know that William Strode
did die, but not before Maria married a second time to the man Reed.
I am researching burials in Cloverdale Cemetery, south of
Salem, OR. William Strode, son of Levi and Samantha (Vaughn) Strode, married
Mariah Wiltsey (Mariah/Maria Angeline Wiltsey) on 12 Oct 1873. They are
enumerated in Kelly, Warren Co., Illinois in 1860 and1870. In 1880 they are
found in Middle Fork, Ringgold Co., Illinois, with 5-year-old son, James L.,
along with Alva Tracy, and Henry Wiltsey.
At some point they must have divorced, as William is
enumerated in Brooks, OR in 1900 with his second wife, Hettie. William and
Hettie were divorced in 1913 or 1915, and William died in Salem, OR on 29
February 1916. His death certificate lists the informant as J. L. Strode of
Chico. CA.
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