The rest of the story about Rufus Ireton. (That I know of.)

You know that I have been blogging about my wife's grandfather, David Rufus Ireton. I have been into genealogy the last few years and the Census records of 1900, 10, 20, 30, and 40 indicate that Rufus was in prison four times in four years. At 19 in Leavenworth in 1900, then Albuquerque and McNeil Island, then Folsom at age 60 in 1940. Jackie and I never met him and the Iretons that we met never spoke about him. He was sent to Leavenworth for larceny involving cows. He went to McNeil Island for conspiracy to use the mails to defraud. I have not been able to get anymore information about his crimes and prison times.

On my recent trip to Oklahoma I met a cousin. Jerald Moore. Jerald had a book titled the Iretons of Kansas and Oklahoma. A weekly newspaper, the Alex Tribune was published for some twenty years from 1905 to 1925. Every mention of Rufus in the Tribune is repeated in the book. It adds up to four pages of stuff about Rufus.

Minnie Ann Johnson

After Rufus got out of Leavenworth at age 20 he settled down, married Minnie Ann Johnson, had children, and got rich. How rich? In 1908 he contributed $50 to the Methodist Church. That is $1200 in 2013 dollars. In 1909 he had erected the 14 foot high angel monument over his parent's graves in the Ireton Cemetery. I have been told that it took 12 teams of horses to pull the monument from the railroad to the site. It was made from the finest Italian marble. Sounds like a lot of money to me. Just to feed the horses.

In 1910 a brother took a shot at him. Missed.

Rufus and his family moved to Texas and back several times. Jackie's Father Payne was born in Texas.

Minnie filed for divorce in 1919, altho the 1920 Census listed them living together

Rufus was always buying and selling cattle.

In 1918 he was in the Army at Fort Logan, Colorado. I have seen a refernce to a picture of him, on a horse, guarding the water supply for Cheyenne, Wyoming. He would have 38. Seems old to be in the Army. He was a member of the American Legion.

He died in 1950 at the age of 70 in an auto accident in Bakersfield. He is buried in Bakersfield at the Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery.

He lived the last twenty years of his life in California. He lived a busy seventy years.