The Klu Klux Klan and my Family History

[2050z]

Great read. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Goldeneagle]

Great read Rob!

Sadly, after years of research, my mother found that we were deeply rooted in the Klan.

[aggie2000tx]

Awesome read Rob. A very rich Family history indeed.

[Texas Tracker]

Great read Rob Rich family back ground. You need to do more wright ups. I miss the hunting story's from area 59. I too come from a sugar plantation family from Kingston Jamaica. Sometimes I feel that I am paying for the sins of my fore fathers. I know that they must have treated people less then human. I planning a trip to see the old plantation soon. Its something on my bucket list.

[Sneaky]

Yes Dale, my Mom's surname was Roberts and her side landed in North Carolina somewhere during the English\Irish wave during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Great Grandpa was Texas Oil Company lawyer, retiring from the firm in Chico Texas and Grandpa was a bit wild, ending up in the US Navy from a wild Friday night somewhere back in the 1917 - 19 period. Great Grandpa was a solid business lawyer, Texas oil during the period when Texas oil started in East Texas at Spindletop. Grandpa was 15 years old when his time with GreatGrandpa was severed, and life for Grandpa changed. Grandpa and his same aged High School buddies found a bottle or two of whiskey and an old first generation Ford pickup. They got drunk, started rolling around downtown Chico, dirt roads and old front porch - Wild west era architecture (all wood).....and a box of dynamite. Well needless to say, these young men lit and tossed sticks of dynamite as they tore up and down main street in downtown Chico, blowing huge holes in the dirt and probably scaring everyone within earshot. The law busted them and Great Grandpa, being the upstanding Oil Lawyer businessman that he was...persuaded that Grandpa have two options...JAIL and or MILITARY. Great Grandpa, the Judge and Grandpa all lied about Grandpa's age when he joined the US Navy. Grandpa was 15 about to turn 16 when the military required all to be 17 years of age to join. Grandpa Roberts joined, served 37 years...through the entire Pacific War theater of WWII only to help Japan rebuild, post war period before he retired in the 50s. Great Grandpa passed away, while Grandpa sailed the Pacific. Grandpa Roberts earned a Bronze Star, earned an Officer's Commission from enlisted ranks, and basically only shared his experiences of that war engagement with me before he passed away from lung cancer way too young in the early 80s. I never was able to get all of the details from him concerning his early life, Great Grandpa and or all of the infinite details of the war....the things he passed to me about the war were absolutely unbelievable! Iwo Jima, Battle of Coral Sea onboard Lexington number one, Gunboat skipper fighting island to island and storms at sea.........all I remember was his cold blue eyes turning into solid rings of tears as he shared to me.....after so many years of holding it all bottled up.

I served, following Grandpa Roberts lead and earned my Commission from Enlisted and doing my duties to serve my Country first, under my families new beginning as a Zabroky.

I have no idea why tonight...I'm unloading tonight here? I'm so grateful for what life has provided to date.

Dude...this is one hell of a story. You really need to dump every iota of memory you have on this topic onto paper before it gets fuzzy.

Thanks for sharing!

[NotJose]

Great write up. You r very fortunate to know that much family history, many dont.

[ducks-and-bucks]

Where and how do you even figure out all this stuff?? I would love to find out the facts and info on my family coming over from Germany.... There is no info on it though with our family. The story was never told to next generations about what happened.

[Charlie6Delta]

Awesome read Rob, thanks for sharing. I love family histories.

[Goldeneagle]

Great read Rob!

Sadly, after years of research, my mother found that we were deeply rooted in the Klan.

But she did find some very cool stuff about our family settling in Texas. She found a letter from someone in her family that told of being guided by Sam Houston to Texas. They traveled along the Brazos. Sam was called away and him and some of the men left to fight for our Great Republic. Thats why most generations of my mothers family are from the Hillsboro - Waco area.

[huntmaster]

cool stories, so Dale and Rob, y'all are kin to the Roberts that have the BIG ranches up in Jack county?

[nathank]

Thank you so much for the stories I am in absolute aw of your family history.

[Bill]

The Klu Klux Klan and my Family History

Rob,

It's great you're tracing your family roots, I've gotten into it myself. Genealogy.com has an amazing amount of information, and old census ledgers included employers and addresses.

I don't agree with your theories, however. I had 3 grandparents enter the US from Eastern Europe in the early 1920s. Every documentary I've seen shows the mass flow of poor immigrants from Eastern Europe during that period. It could not have been a Nazi party issue- the National Socialist party rose to power in Germany in the 1930s and it wasn't until the 1939 invasion of Poland did anybody realize what they were doing.

You're right the KKK was tied in with the Democratic Party, buy it was the southern Democrats where there was political strength. In the northern cities the KKK did not have the political power. With the anti Catholic and Jew position, that was at odds with the Democratic political leadership themselves. I grew up near NYC and never read about any KKK involvement in politics or immigration. There was however a significant KKK presence in rural NJ and pictures of large KKK rallies with cross burnings in the 1930s. True much of it was anti immigrant, anti Catholic and foreigner sentiment but these were local people mad because immigrants would offer to do the job the did for 10 cents per hour for 5 cents.

Maybe I'm wrong, too.

Check out genealogy.com. The public libraries in my area have a subscription so I can access it and download great information for free.

[Bowhuntin_Toona]

Great write up Rob!!

[BigWes]

Awesome story. Family histories are fascinating. Put them all together and you get an amazing picture of what really happened in our nations past. You really should write your story down on paper. My Great Grandpa did this about 10 years before he died. He gave all of his kids, grandkids and great grandkids a personal copy. It's one of my prized possessions. I'm sure your family would prize yours as well.

[Tony Pic]

Amazing family history. You are fortunate to know what you know.
Have you made a family tree and broken down the branches for each family still out there?
When you said you had deep roots in the Harper area...I had no idea how deep!
Congrats on knowing what you know and I hope you get to fill in more blanks as you go along.