LOYD FEE VANTREESE: B: 10/11/1920 IN COLORADO. MARRIED CHARLOTTE FRANCIS LAMB ON 11/27/1945. THEY WERE DIVORCED AROUND 1961. THEY HAD ONE CHILD, ROBERT LEE, WHO WAS BORN ON 6/16/48 IN COLORADO AND CURRENTLY LIVES IN THE DENVER METRO AREA. LOYD MARRIED MARTHA DIFFENDAFFER IN JUNE, 1962. THEY HAD NO CHILDREN TOGETHER. LOYD SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY FOR FIVE YEARS AND EIGHT MONTHS, FROM 1940 UNTIL 1945. HE FOUGHT IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE AND DID DUTY ALL OVER EUROPE, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND BELGIUM.

     PURL GLEN VANTREESE: B: 11/04/1922 IN COLORADO. MARRIED BARBARA BENNET 8/3/59 (WHO WAS BORN, 1/13/1932, DIED IN 1965). THEY HAD TWO CHILDREN.
JOHN JAY VANTREESE, (B:9/23/1960; D: 1965) AND ALLEN NEIL, (B: 2/22/62).
BARBARA WAS ILL WITH TUBERCULOSIS FOR MANY YEARS AND DIED IN AUGUST, 1979. PURL MARRIED DOROTHY ON NOVEMBER 6, 1981. THEY WERE DIVORCED TEN YEARS LATER. PURL CLAIMS NINE GRANDCHILDREN ALTHOUGH SOME ARE STEP-GRANDCHILDREN. PURL SERVED IN THE MARINE CORP B. DURING WORLD WAR 11. HE ENLISTED IN FEBRUARY, 1944. HIS BASIC TRAINING WAS IN SAN DIEGO. HE THEN SERVED IN THE PACIFIC WAR THEATER, INCLUDING GUAM AND IWO JIMA. HE WAS IN IWO JIMA UNTIL THE ATOM BOMB WAS DROPPED ON JAPAN. HE LEFT THE SERVICE IN FEBRUARY 1946.

     EARL CRETH VANTREESE: B: 9/21/1927 IN COLORADO. MARRIED MARILYN JUNE PICKETT, (B:5/16/1933) ON 2/8/1953. THEY HAD FOUR CHILDREN: LINDA KAY, (B: 12/27/1955) STEVEN RAY (B: 6/19/1957: CHARLES LYNN (B: 9/07/1958); GLORIA ANN (B: 10/20/1961). ALL WERE BORN IN MONTE VISTA, COLO. EARL SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY FOR TWO YEARS AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER. HE WAS STATIONED AT THE 52 MILEPOST ON THE ALCON HIGHWAY.

     ROSA MAE BLOXSOM WAS BORN ON 12/12/1901 IN MINNEOLA, KANSAS. SHE WAS THE SECOND CHILD OF RICHARD HENRY “HANK” BLOXSOM, AND BIRDIE BLOXSOM, NEE OWINGS. SHE HAD A BROTHER, LOYD FEE, WHO WAS A YEAR OLDER THAN SHE, AND THREE YOUNGER SISTERS; GLADYS (ONE YEAR YOUNGER), ILA MYRTLE (ABOUT THREE YEARS YOUNGER) AND JUANITA (ABOUT SIX YEARS YOUNGER). THERE WERE ALSO HALF-SIBLINGS AND STEP-SIBLINGS, BUT THEY WERE NOT IN THE HOME UNTIL HANK’S FIVE OLDEST CHILDREN HAD MARRIED AND LEFT THE HOME.

     WHEN ROSA WAS AROUND NINE YEARS OLD, HER MOTHER DIED AS THE RESULT OF COMPLICATIONS OF A MISCARRIAGE. AS THE OLDEST GIRL IN THE FAMILY, SHE THEN TOOK OVER MANY OF THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HOUSEHOLD, COOKING AND CLEANING AND BEING A MOTHER TO HER YOUNGER SIBLINGS.

     SHORTLY AFTER HER MOTHER’S DEATH, APPROXIMATELY 1911, THE BLOXSOM FAMILY MOVED FROM KANSAS TO COLORADO. THE FATHER HOMESTEADED LAND NEAR BRANSON, COLORADO. THE COLORADO RANCH WAS A BARREN, DESOLATE PLACE WITH BACK-BREAKING WORK FOR EVERYONE.

     THE FATHER, HANK, WAS A HARSH AND DEMANDING TASK-MASTER. HE WAS AN ANGRY, VOLATILE MAN WITH FEW REDEEMING QUALITIES, AND HE WAS NOTORIOUS FOR BEATING HIS CHILDREN. IT IS SAID THAT HE BROKE ROSA’S ARM IN ONE BEATING. THE FAMILY LIVED ROUGHLY AND HAD NONE OF THE CONVENIENCES OR NICETIES OF LIFE. THE FATHER AND THE CHILDREN WERE NOTORIOUS FOR CUSSING AND ROUGH LANGUAGE.

     HANK WAS MARRIED ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE MORE TIMES AFTER HIS WIFE DIED, BUT ONLY TWICE MORE DURING THE TIME HIS FIVE OLDER CHILDREN WERE STILL AT HOME. ROSA HAD TWO STEP-MOTHERS, BIRDIE HOLBROOK (MARRIED HANK IN 1912) AND NOLA BURNHAM (LIVED AT THE RANCH FROM 1916 TO 1919).

     IN 1915, WHEN ROSA WAS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD, HER MATERNAL AUNT, NETTIE OWINGS VOSS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE OWINGS FAMILY CAME TO THE BLOXSOM RANCH, PICKED UP THE FIVE BLOXSOM CHILDREN AND TOOK THEM TO CALIFORNIA FOR THE SUMMER. AT THE END OF THE SUMMER,

     HANK SENT MONEY FOR THE CHILDREN TO RETURN TO COLORADO. GLADYS REFUSED TO RETURN TO THE RANCH AND REMAINED IN CALIFORNIA FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE.

 

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