This would have to be when Darlene and I were collaborating on our family history book, The Edward Riley Family, in 1998. And, by the way, if we ever get around to doing a second edition like we've planned, it will be retitled The Edward and Elizabeth (Whitaker) Riley Family. I don't know what we were thinking when we eliminated the matriarch's name from the title!
Back in February 1996, Darlene and I were separately pursuing our own individual Riley lines, with limited success. Darlene posted a query on the web stating simply that she was looking for other researchers with Riley ancestors in TX, NM and OK. When I responded, we began to compare notes, and in short order we discovered our connection. Darlene is the direct descendant of a "one-armed Riley" in Jack County, Texas (her great-great-grandfather, William M. Riley). My great-grandmother, Josephine Riley, had lived in Jack County at the same time, and later entertained her grandsons with the tale of her one-armed Riley relative. As her story went, he was so agile, he could hang on to the horse with his legs, duck down and shoot from under the horse's neck with his one arm. Bingo! Darlene and I discovered we were "fourth cousins once removed" and we were off and running into the world of Rileys. Little did we know that in the course of 2-1/2 years, we would be condensing reams of Riley data down to a 350+ page book which lists 2,600+ documented descendants of Edward Riley.
After doing lots of intense research and meeting face to face at family reunions a couple of times, Darlene and I decided we were ready to compile our family history book. We had found many, many relatives via the internet and had amassed lots of photos and family stories. Rather than just a listing of names, dates, and places, we attempted to make our text come alive with short biographies and snippets of insight into our ancestors' personalities whenever possible. We asked many people to contribute stories about their family members. My dad wrote a touching tribute to his brother Max and my Aunt Leora wrote a beautiful story about her Grandmother Josephine, telling about how as a little girl she would go with her grandmother in a horse and hack to peddle fresh vegetables and milk, homemade butter and cream to the town housewives. One relative wrote his memoirs as he sat for hours and hours hooked up to a kidney dialysis machine.
We heard lots of comical family stories about Darlene's great-grandather (son of the one-armed man), who was a unique character in his time. He was rumored to be a cattle rustler and once when he was outrunning a posse, he hid underneath a bridge as they rode over it. When they were safely out of range, he came out from under the bridge and stumbled. When he did, he accidentally shot himself through the foot but still got away. Another time he was in his house surrounded by a posse, and he asked if they would at least let his wife leave without difficulty and he would then surrender. The lawmen agreed, so he dressed up in his wife Lula Belle's clothes and walked away scot free!
We found excerpts in history books about the Rileys, including a first-hand account about how the one-armed Riley had lost his arm in an Indian attack and another vivid account of an Indian attack on two Riley brother and their families; in which one of the brothers died and the other was disabled for the rest of his life. The State of Texas has erected an historical marker commemorating the Riley massacre. We located newpaper ads for a pioneer blacksmith shop run by one of our ancestors, and ads taken out by our relatives running for political office.
We interviewed a 100-year-old lady by telephone who was the sole survivor of a family of six that was killed when the New Mexico dugout where they were living caved in on them one night. We became good friends with a man whose grandfather was left to die as a 10-month-old baby when his parents were murdered in an Indian attack. The baby was found two days later by his grandfather, who happened to visit the family when he made the 20-mile trek by foot. Family legend says the grandfather was horrified to find the baby crawling over his mother's war lance pierced body, his tiny clothes drenched in her blood. The baby had apparently kept himself alive by nourishing himself at least once from his dead mother's breast.
Writing and compling our book was quite a time-intensive project and I remember staying up many nights until the wee hours of the morning. My husband wasn't a happy camper for much of this time as I would spend many hours at the computer in my office, immersed in my own little world and buried under stacks of paper and photographs. But the whole experience was so invaluable and I wouldn't give it up for anything. The collaboration with Darlene was rewarding; the education about our ancestors was priceless. We charged only what the books cost us to print, and we sold every copy of the finished product in three separate printings. We finally decided not to reprint it anymore, as we had discovered so much new material in the meantime that we planned on eventually writing a second edition. That hasn't happened yet, but it's definitely on my "bucket list."
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