Charles Thompson & Flossie Beck & Family

Today it is raining and has been for the past several days, so I thought I would take some time, to write and post pictures of my favorite, great grandparents, and their children. I have very hazy memories of grt. grandpa Charles. One is of him sitting in this rocking chair, in their house in Auburn, Washington. I used to crawl up on his lap, and I remember thinking how big he was. I had to tilt my head way back to look up at his chin.
You have seen this picture before of my twin sister and I. This was taken at our great grandparents house. The rocker just spoken of, is in the background. It was given to my Grandma Lillie, as well as the table you see there, after her parents passed away.
Here are Flossie & Charles, at a bit younger time in their lives, when they were still active. By the time I had the memories I did, of grt. grandpa, he was already ill. The only other memory of him that I have, was standing by his bed looking at him as he lay there, right before he died.

I remember going to their house with Grandma Lillie, and being warned not to go upstairs, for honey bee's, had taken over a bedroom, and I would get stung if I bothered them.

Grt. Grandma Flossie, was a very sweet, but very short little lady. She was only 4' 11", but Grt. Grandpa Charles was 6' 5". Flossie used to take my twin sister and I out the back door of their house, across a rather old rickety porch, and down through the blackberry brambles to the chicken house, to gather the eggs. Flossie always had lots of chickens roaming about and they would come right into her kitchen and try to perch on her dining room chairs. When we showed up to visit, she would sometimes shoo them out with her apron, saying shoo, shoo! It really made me laugh, to see her do it. She called them her biddies.

A story was told me, by my Grandma Lillie, of how on one visit, Flossie and my mother got into an argument. It was about a plate of rabbit that Flossie had fried up, and wanted to give to my twin sister and me. My mother was already trying to be a vegetarian, or had some religious qualm, about rabbit being unclean meat, or some such thing. Anyway, she told Flossie that we girls could not have any, but it was too late. When they looked at the table, what should they both see, but we girls had each grabbed a piece and were chowing down on that rabbit, just as fast as we could chew. It made them both burst into laughter.
Great Grandpa Charles Oren Thompson was born, May 27, 1879 in Portis, Smith Co., Kansas and he died, October 14, 1963 in Auburn, King Co., Washington, just five days after my fourth birthday.
Great Grandma Flossie Beck was born, January 15, 1889 in Ottaway Co., Kansas and she died, December 31, 1964, just a year and a few months after grt. grandpa. I remember both of them as being such gentle folk, and very kind to me, and my twin sister. Flossie had such spunk, and always such a twinkle in her eyes. I remember crying, because I was never going to get, to go see her again.

This is their marriage license, that Grandma Lillie kept for many years, in a frame on her wall. It is not the original, she told me, but a copy. The original faded away to nothing, and was replaced by this one, which by the time I copied it, it too had faded, until you could barely read the writing. I darkened the writing again, at grandma's insistence.

Grt. Grandma Flossie, must have loved flowers, for her girls, were all named after them.
Grt. Grandpa & Grandma had 5 children:
Sorry this is such a poor picture of Rosa, it was copied from an old worn out black paper photo album.

1.Rosa Juanitta Thompson was born March 14, 1905 in Belva, Beaver Co., Oklahoma  she married October 30, 1926 in Teloga, Dewey Co., Oklahoma, Lloyd Melvin Ratliff.  She died September 25, 1994 in Enumclaw, King Co., Washington.

Of all of grandma's sisters, I remember Rosa the most. We used to go to her house, and have these fabulous dinners, with mashed potatoes, roast chicken, and all kinds of deserts. I remember her husband Lloyd Ratliff, mostly because he was too obese, to get up easily from his chair, and he wore blue overalls. Grandma always said, she thought Rosa fed him to death.

The Thompson sisters, left to right, back row: Violet Darlene Thompson & Grandma Lillie Mary Thompson. left to right, front row: Rosa Juanitta Thompson & Daisy Ruth Thompson.
Left to right: Alta Mae Randolph, wife of Ashley Elwood Ratliff, younger brother to Lloyd Melvin Ratliff, and thus sister in-law to Rosa, Rosa, Daisy, Violet, & Grandma Lillie Mary Thompson.

2.Violet Darlene Thompson was born April 13, 1906 in Belva, Beaver Co., Oklahoma. She married William "Bill" Jacob Furnish. She died March 29, 1990 in Auburn, King Co., Washington.
3.Grandma Lillie Mary Thompson was born, February 14, 1908 Belva, Beaver Co., Oklahoma.
(Now before some of you get excited, about grandma's middle name, it is the name she went by, recorded by the census taker in the 1920 census, in Taloga, Dewey Co., Oklahoma.) m.Gerald Dawson Robison on July 14, 1930 in Guymon, Texas Co., Oklahoma. She died, December 30, 2002 in Newport, Pend Oreille Co., Washington, and her ashes were buried, beside her husband, in the Mt. Si Cemetery, in North Bend, King Co., Washington.

1910 Census Dist: 141. Moffett, Saguache, Colorado - Sheet 13A  Household 52
           Household            Gender     Age                  Birthplace
Head  Chas Thompson     M           36 b.est 1874    Kansas  fb.Indiana  mb.Delaware
Wife    Flossy Thompson  F             32 b.est 1878    Kansas  fb.Illinois  mb.Kansas
Dau     Rosie Thompson   F             5   b.est 1905   Oklahoma
Dau     Violet Thompson   F            4   b.est 1906    Oklahoma
*Dau   Lillie Thompson     F            2   b.est 1908   Oklahoma

1920 Census District: 216 Taloga, Dewey Co., Oklahoma - Sheet 5B Household 103 Line 100
           Household                  Gender     Age                   Birthplace
Head  Charles O Thompson  M             40 b.est 1880    Kansas  fb.Indiana  mb.Delaware
can read & write
Wife   Flossie Thompson       F              31 b.est 1889    Kansas  fb.Illinois (Missouri) mb.Kansas
can read & write
Dau    Rosa Thompson         F              14 b.est 1906    Oklahoma   can read & write
Dau    Violet Thompson        F              13 b.est 1907    Oklahoma   can read & write
*Dau  Mary Thompson        F               11 b.est 1909    Oklahoma   can read & write  Grandma.
Son    Russel Thompson       M             9   b.est 1911    Oklahoma   can read & write
Dau    Daisy R Thompson    F              6   b.est 1914    Oklahoma   can read

Lillie graduated from Canton High School, Canton Co., Oklahoma, April 22, 1926
4.Lemuel Russell Thompson was born, August 05, 1910 near Clearlake, Beaver Co., Oklahoma. m1.July 05, 1932 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, Phyllis Lillian Chase. m2.Kathy ?  He died June 20, 1992 in San Bernardino, California. I have nothing I can add about Russell. I never met him, or if I did, I was too young to remember. Grandma Lillie was very close to her sisters, and lived near them, in Auburn, King County, Washington. Grandma never even told stories that included Russell, so he is a complete mystery.
I know this isn't a very good picture, but it is the only one I had, of Grt. Grandma Flossie on a horse. She is on the left, and son, Russell is on the white horse. Notice there are no saddles, and it doesn't look like much in the way of bridles either. I wonder if the hat Flossie is holding, was for her horse? It made me laugh to see the hat on Russell's. The picture was taken somewhere in Oklahoma. Most likely Beaver County.

5.Daisy Ruth Thompson was born June 13, 1913 in Garber, Cleveland Co., Oklahoma. m1.John Johnson m2.William "Bill" Burrows  m3.February 09, 1932 in Taloga, Dewey Co.,Oklahoma Clifford Thomas Kimball   m4.George Brothers. She died April 18, 2008 in Oak Harbor, Island Co., Whidbey Island, Washington.

Daisy had the most memorable birth of all of the kids, in this family. She was born in a gypsy type wagon, that grt. grandpa had built. They stopped off in Garber, to get the aid of a doctor, when she was born. They were returning from Arkansas, where Grt. Grandpa Charles had gone, in search of work. The work soon ran out however, so they were headed back to their place in the Oklahoma Panhandle, in Beaver or Dewey County.

I mostly remember Daisy and Violet from going to church with grandma, at the Church of Christ church in Enumclaw, Washington. I remember one hot day Daisy passing out in church from the heat, and the ladies wetting her face with handkerchiefs, while waiting for the ambulance.






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