For Descendants of Christopher (Doc) Cranston & Bess Melby
Many thanks to Patrick “Pat” Melby, the middle of the five children of Tip and Ruth Melby, for sitting down to record these recollections. What follows came out of a long conversation about his parents and the Missoula mill neighborhood where he grew up, and it carries what no record or document can: the rope […]
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Many thanks to Diane (LaVelle) Hamilton, daughter of Karen and the oldest grandchild of Tip and Ruth Melby, for setting these recollections down. What follows came out of a long conversation about her grandparents, and it carries what no record or document can — the sound of the lathe in the garage, the sparkly cup […]
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The First Families of Ohio (FFO) is a lineage society recognizing descendants of individuals who settled in Ohio by 1820. John Cranston and his family settled near Columbus, Ohio in 1815. FFO is administered by the Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS) that honors descendants of the earliest settlers in the state. Membership is open to any […]
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This is an image shown on the cemetery site for the, Hermon Christian Church Cemetery, Hermon, Knox County, Illinois, USA. I think we now have an image of “Aunt Jo.” The headstone at the cemetery is shown below. Here is Josephine Park Cranston Again
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From Galesburg to Newport The Direct Line of Charles Edward Cranston, Eight Generations Back to Mary Clarke — with One Important Correction * * * * * For years our family papers have included a handwritten genealogy page — the “40 Generations” chart — tracing the Cranston line from Charles Edward Cranston of Galesburg, Illinois, […]
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Daughters of the American Revolution A Cranston in the Revolution A Rhode Island Certification of 1897 — thecranstonline.com Among the documents in the family archive is a single sheet, issued at Providence on May 4, 1897, over the seal of the State of Rhode Island. It certifies what the state’s own Revolutionary War records show […]
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We have added new documents to the archive — a page-by-page description of a compiled research packet covering the Painter and Cranston lines from 1859 to 2008. The packet itself is not one document but forty-three scanned pages gathered together over the years: four ranch stories written down by Robert L. Painter and Kenneth Haraldsen […]
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Here’s a link to a couple of “Google Earth” maps that show where the Painter Ranch, the Willitt Place, The Jett Ranch, where Marion, Helen, Bill and Tip were born. Just click on “Location of Cranston Family – North Dakota and South Dakota” below. Locations of Cranston Family – North Dakota and South Dakota
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The Killer Wolf A story of Lewis Levi Painter, Harding County, South Dakota Author: Robert Lewis Painter, grandson of Lewis Levi Painter Story told by Joe Painter, son of Lewis Levi Painter (the author’s uncle) Subject: Lewis Levi Painter Setting: Harding County, South Dakota Submitted by: Melinda Painter NOTE ON METHOD Transcribed verbatim from the […]
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The Panic of 1907 How Lewis Levi Painter got his money out of a closed bank Written by a grandchild of Lewis Levi Painter — author not yet identified Subject: Lewis Levi Painter, who signed himself L.L. Painter Event: The Panic of 1907, fall of that year Place: The Painter ranch on the Little Missouri […]
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Marion Painter’s Story As told to Donna at Tamarin Square, Durango, Colorado Provided by Melinda Painter Subject: Marion Cranston Painter Parents: Christopher and Elizabeth Cranston Born: Harding County, South Dakota Recorded: Tamarin Square, Durango, Colorado — 1983 or later Recorded by: Donna Marion Cranston Painter told her life to a woman named Donna at Tamarin […]
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Jingo Bill Painter and his son Joe, mounted on Chaska and Upset, driving the Fosberry bull toward the Little Missouri with pitchforks braced against their saddles. Harding County, South Dakota, circa 1912. Illustration. Transcribed as written – in Bob’s voice , with only minor punctuation cleanup. Provided by Melinda Painter. * * * * * […]
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It was sometime in the fall of 1947 or thereabouts. I was six years old and at the Battle Mountain Auto Camp, alone in the office. My grandfather, Ole Melby, was outside tending the gas pumps. My grandmother, Bess, was somewhere in the house. All of a sudden a man walked into the office. He […]
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Dan Painter – Sealing to His Parents (Logan Temple, June 29, 2006 — four months before his passing) Daniel Preston Painter is pictured in the chair in front. In the photo – from left to right: Marla McCain (sister in law) · Mary Lou Jacobs (sister) · Claire Painter (sister in law) · Clark Henrikson […]
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Here’s “The Gang” along with Wood and Stuart Jett in the early 1930’s in the Badlands.. From left to right we have: Tip, Wood, Bill, Marion, Helen, Stuart.
Read More…This recording was made during the summer of 1956 in Galesburg, Illinois. Helen, Susanne, and Charlie visited Grandpa Christopher “Doc” Cranston at his little home near the Willsies in Galesburg. The recording quality isn’t so good – I apologize. We were limited by the technology of the time. I did a “best effort” to transcribe […]
Read More…This recording was made in 1956 when we visited Knoxville, Illinois. Susanne, Helen and Charlie visited “Doc” in Galesburg and went to Knoxville to see Auntie Pearle and Uncle Frank. Here’s the best effort for a transcription of the recording. Galesburg, Illinois, 1956 Auntie Pearle, Uncle Frank, and Jane Swanson Best-Effort Transcript Source: […]
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See if you can recognize some of these characters and put the names in the comments.
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The Place Bess and Ole Melby Bought when they Sold the Ranch This is a mini-history of what the parents of Marion, Helen, Bill and Tip did when they sold their ranch and left for the Black Hills to enter the tourist business. The Battle Mountain Auto Camp (BMAC) sat on the north side of […]
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In the early 1960’s, Ned and Dan Painter played football for Lead High School. Dan was honorable mention All-Conference.
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Chris and Charlie Pick Up a Body in Rapid City Rapid City, South Dakota — Summer, 1958 The summer between my junior and senior year I worked at McColley’s Mortuary in Hot Springs, South Dakota. It was steady work. Some of it was interesting and some of it was creepy, and a boy of seventeen […]
Read More…CAROL PAINTER A Record from the Newspapers, 1966–1973 Part Four of Four · 1971–1973 Daughter of Preston E. and Marion Painter of Rochford, South Dakota Clippings submitted by Melinda Painter The four items below carry Carol Painter from her last spring at Lead High School to a gallery wall in Rapid City, a wedding at […]
Read More…CAROL PAINTER A Record from the Newspapers, 1966–1973 Part Three of Four · 1970 Daughter of Preston E. and Marion Painter of Rochford, South Dakota Clippings submitted by Melinda Painter The three items below all fall in 1970, from July to December, and together they mark the high point of Carol Painter’s record in these […]
Read More…CAROL PAINTER A Record from the Newspapers, 1966–1973 Part Two of Four · 1969–1970 Daughter of Preston E. and Marion Painter of Rochford, South Dakota Clippings submitted by Melinda Painter The three items below cover November 1969 through May 1970, the year Carol Painter turned from a 4-H club member into an officer, a Girls […]
Read More…CAROL PAINTER A Record from the Newspapers, 1966–1973 Part One of Four · 1966–1968 Daughter of Preston E. and Marion Painter of Rochford, South Dakota Clippings submitted by Melinda Painter The three items below cover the earliest surviving notices of Carol Painter, from August 1966 to March 1968, when she was a girl on her […]
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A Photograph from Moscow I served aboard USS Ray, SSN-653, a fast attack nuclear submarine, during the Cold War. Years later I wrote a book about it. I called it Super Nuke! The book was never about me. It was about the crew. Men who stood watch in a steel pipe under the ocean and […]
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On a Monday evening in January of 1938, Ruth sat down after a long day of teaching and wrote to Tip. She had traveled all night by bus to get back to her school — a stage from Deadwood, a late connection at Cheyenne, a wash and a comb at the schoolhouse before the children […]
Read More… In January of 1975, at the ranch outside Crawford, Nebraska, Marion sat down to tell her cousins that her husband was gone. Preston had suffered a stroke on Tuesday the seventh and died on Sunday the twelfth. What survives is seven handwritten pages — a letter to Cousin Frances dated January 29, a second letter […]
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The Saga of Johny Jergeson meets Uncle Tip A holograph account by Bob Painter · Scottsbluff, Nebraska · May 19, 2016 Transcribed from the two-page manuscript. Original spelling, punctuation, and paragraphing retained. In the spring of 1937 (I think if I remember correctly) Uncle Tip came home to the ranch in Harding County (the old […]
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Charles Edward and Keturah Cranston Charles Edward Cranston was born April 19, 1833, at Woodstock, Ohio, Champaigne County, and died at Galesburg, Illinois, on August 5, 1805. He married Keturah Taylor Parke on March 15, 1860 in Milford Center, Ohio. She was born on March 30, 1835 and died on September 18, 1902. A certified […]
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Homeward Bound Words and music by Marta Keen Thompson Melinda Painter suggested this piece for Dan’s page. It was a favorite of his, and it belongs here. People often take it for an old hymn or a traditional folk song. It is neither. Marta Keen Thompson wrote both the words and the music in 1991. […]
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This photo was taken around 1920. The photo includes (from left to right) Marion, Helen, Bill, and Tip
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Tip’s Story The Recollections of Sidney “Tip” Melby — A Life on the Northern Plains As told to John Ashford Tip Melby was born in 1915 in a sod house on the line between North and South Dakota, the son of Christopher Cranston and Elizabeth Lillian Campbell. He was raised on horse and sheep ranches […]
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Tip’s Musings for His Grandchildren A Grandfather Sits Down to Talk In the early 1990s, Sidney “Tip” Melby sat down and began to write to his children and grandchildren. He was born in 1915 on the high plains where the two Dakotas meet Montana, the son of Christopher Cranston and Elizabeth Lillian Campbell. What he […]
Read More…These are notes taken by Carol Painter from a phone conversation with Bob Painter. From January 14, 2012. Carol’s Notes from Bob Conversation with Bob — 01/14/2012 Transcription of two pages of handwritten notes — Cranston/Painter/Borell family papers Page 1 T/C Bob 01/14/2012 Mae Borell — 2 sisters 1) Maude Borell Richards — Elmer Richards 2) […]
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“Dear Family” A Letter from Ruth Doreen (Painter) Henrikson to her family Bountiful, Utah — October 2, 2008 ARCHIVIST’S NOTE: The following is a verbatim transcription of a letter written by Ruth Doreen (Painter) Henrikson (b. September 13, 1951) to her brothers and sisters and their families, dated October 2, 2008. Ruth was one of […]
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Helen Josephine Painter was born March 5, 1947, in Hot Springs, South Dakota, the fifth of ten children of Preston and Marion Painter, cattle ranchers in the Black Hills. She graduated from Lead High School and attended Black Hills State College, where she met James (Jim) Watson; they were married nearly fifty-three years. After a […]
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Mary Lou Painter was married to Cliff Swanson in Durango, Colorado on January 31, 1972.
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On November 22, 1965, Mary Lou Painter was selected as Twin Cities Junior Miss.
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