I began to write this ‘story’ in response to the observation that since Dad and Mother have passed on, there is little occasion to share the stories from their lives and the early life experience of us (their family). Maybe this concern is typical of the stage of life I am at but I suspect that it also is do to changes in the role of family in our society. Whatever the reason we don’t tell the stories of our parents and grandparents much anymore. I began this to preserve some of the stories I recall for my children and publish it here to share with any interested descendants of Howard and Ella Roberts.

In recent years I have received from various sources, genealogies for both sides of the family. The work of Kenneth Bruce has been particularly helpful. But these are not the story of a family but rather limited information about several generations of families. Several persons contributed stories and other information about Dad’s family. Thanks to all who contributed to this effort. I intend this as a work in progress. I expect to add and revise it from time to time so I invite anyone with a story to add or correction to one already entered please submit it/them to me for inclusion in the ongoing revision.

As one of the children of Howard and Ella I write this from a personal perspective and make extensive use of the first person tense. I started to edit it to a third person tense for the benefit of the next generation but the story seemed to loose meaning in the process so I leave it as I first wrote it. I trust readers can transpose Dad and Mother to the appropriate pronoun for their situation.