(Widower 3) My Dad. Charles Abner Monson 1881 to 1957.

These are some of the startling things I learned about my Dad from my genealogy studies and from my cousin in Kansas.

My Dad was born in Covington, Kentucky. My Dad came from a broken home and was adopted by his uncle early in his life. He was raised in Stirling, Kansas with many cousins. In the 1905 Kansas Census he is living with the Knowlton family in Stirling and was the hired man. This a picture of the Knowlton Family taken around 1905. My Mom is the teenage girl on the left.

                                         
After Mom became pregnant, she and Dad headed for California. They stopped in Elk City, Oklahoma for the birth of my oldest sibling, Nita, in 1907.

Dad worked for years in the Redlands-Riverside area on farms and ranches. His 1918 draft card indicates that he was working in Holt, California in the Imperial Valley at that time. He then moved north to the Pomona-Chino area. About this time (1920s to 1930s) he had a team of horses and did contract work in the orchards around Pomona. He was successful and had good income.

Then came the Big Depression. I know Dad worked for the WPA at a time. And was on relief at a time. I can remember going to a food dispensing facility to obtain food. I particularly remember canned salmon. I had meals of canned salmon and soda crackers, I have always associated canned salmon with hard times and being poor.

One morning I awoke to find that Dad was having a severe stroke. He lived the last 17 years of his life with his left side paralyzed. I understand that he tried to commit suicide and was unsuccessful. He stopped eating and passed away in 1957 at the age of 76.

Here is a picture of my Dad and Mom in happy times.

PS

I just ran across these photos on the Thomas Munson Foundation Facebook page.

They are photos of Thomas Munson Family reunions held at Yale University. Thomas was first noted as being in America in 1637. He was a member of the Pilgrim Militia in the Pequot Indian War. The bottom photo is of the reunion held in 1887, the top photo is of the reunion held in 1987. These years are the 250th and 350th anniversaries of Thomas arriving in America. I was an active fulltime RVer in 1987 and would have been at the 1987 reunion if I had known about it. In 1986 we went to Maine and 1987 we went to New York.  But I did not even know about Thomas Munson (my 8th great grandfather) until I got into genealogy in 2007.

The next large convention at Yale is scheduled for 2037 on the 400th anniversary. If I live to be 112 years old I will be there!