“My paternal grandfather was born in the OK Territory in 1895. He was 14 and his brother 12 when they rode their horses to Arizona to work cattle on a ranch. He naturally ended up in the cavalry for WWI. Later in the Air at Love Field Dallas. Never knew him, but I have pics of him and. He was a cowboy. Real.”
My paternal grandfather was born in 1881, in then Dakota Territory. Both parents were from Sweden. He left home at about 14 and went west, to Northern Wyoming and Montana.
He wound up working in Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, as an acrobat and cowboy. He registered for the WWI draft in Sweet Water County, Montana in 1918, but was too old at age 37.
Finally settled down at about age 40, married, had two sons, the younger being my father. When my dad was a kid, his father rode horseback inspecting pipelines for Marathon Oil.
Lived out his days in Big Horn County Wyoming, dying in 1967 at age 86 plus/minus. His widow, 20 years his junior, lived until age 95 and died in 1996. Both buried at Cowley Wyoming.
His nickname was “Tex,” but nobody now alive knows if he was ever in Texas. I remember walking with him, through the museum in Cody, and hearing his stories of things he could remember.
Very cool. However, was never happy about Sitting Bull selling out to Cody's Wild West Show. Some claim he did so to keep the Native American culture alive. Then he went back to the reservation to re-organize his tribe and got shot by a soldier. A question mark for the West...much like did Pat Garrett really kill William Bonney?