On this day in our ancestor's lives...
28 February 1870, Robert Emmett Stiff, was born in Brandenburg, Meade County, Kentucky. He was the third child, of twelve, born to John Clayton and Margaret Clara Rachford Stiff.
His first seven years were spent in the Meade County, Kentucky area. Then in 1877 the family migrated west to Morse, Johnson County, Iowa and in 1892 the family moved to Cedar County, Iowa. They lived in several different Cedar County communites, West Side, Rochester and Buchanan.
Robert Emmett was the adventuring type, his youngest daughter described it as, wanderlust. About 1894 or 1895 he struck out on his own and traveled to Texas to visit relatives. He worked for a while on a ranch in Collin County, Texas. The ranch was owned by his aunt and uncle, John and Mary Rachford Rasor. He also worked on a Riverboat during his travels, which could have been as far south as Beaumont, Texas.
His travels took him through Missouri and either on his way to Texas or on the trip back home to Iowa, he met his future wife Stella Bertha McLane. They married on the 24th of December 1896 in Benton County, Missouri. Nine children were born to this union.
More on the adventures of Robert Emmett Stiff in my next posting...
When scanning the Stiff-McLane family photographs that are in my great grandparents trunk at the homestead ranch several years ago, I found this one taken at Stack Rock School on October 30, 1914. My grandfather Bert Stiff is on the far left of the photograph. I was surprised to see that they carved pumpkins back when he was a child. This is one of the few photos that we have of him as a child.
