More Recollections of Life in Douglas, Wyoming

George Rutherfurd (top row, fifth from left) with his high school class in Douglas, Wyoming

In my last post, I quoted from a paper written by my grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith. In it, she recalled memories of her father's childhood in Douglas, Wyoming.  George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd lived in Douglas from his birth in 1895 until his stepfather's untimely death in 1913. In Douglas, he encountered Civil War heroes and notorious cattle rustlers, among other notables. Here, I will continue to transcribe my grandmother's notes.

Three of the Rutherfurd children at their Douglas ranch in 1905. At back, George Rutherfurd. Child seated is likely Archie Rutherfurd. Child to the right is likely Malcolm A. O. Rutherfurd.

One of the characters in ranch life was "Coal Oil Billy." During roundup and branding time Coal Oil Billy came to the ranch to cook for the hands. He apparently did a good job of preparing the meals but spent most of the rest of the time with a bottle. I have forgotten specific episodes, but he managed to cut quite a figure.

School days for the young Rutherfurds at the ranch were overseen by a teacher who came from Omaha each Fall to conduct the "school." In addition to four Rutherfurds old enough to attend school there were about three other students. At Christmas and at the close of the school year little recitals and programs were presented by the children. In looking over some of the programs, I see that they consisted of recitations of poetry, songs and performances on musical instruments. Though the family lived in a very rural situation, education was important. Both parents were well educated and the wish was for the children to be the same.  There was always an abundance of books in the house.

A story that was told to me by Aunt Grace (Mrs. Will Dickson) was of a trip [by young George Rutherfurd] to visit her in Omaha. There was a little girl there who was given a pony.  Everyone was saying how fine to have a little pony. When eight year old George was asked if he wouldn't like to have a little pony too, he said, "Oh no. I have a big horse at home."

On the Rutherfurd ranch in Douglas, Wyoming. 1910.
Figure to the right is most likely Malcolm B. O. Rutherfurd.

Grandmother Annie [Dickson] Rutherfurd had been a nurse before her marriage and many times she was called on to help with a delivery or tend someone ill. She told me she just saddled up a horse and rode to the ranch of the person who needed help.

One of Dad's poignant stories involved a trip into town (Douglas) for a dance at the high school. He attended high school in Douglas during the week and stayed at the home of his grandparents, Mary Elizabeth [Bellangee] and George Dickson, but went home for the weekends. On this particular weekend he had to ride a horse to catch the train to go into Douglas thirty miles away. Just as he came in sight of the train stop he saw the train leaving the station. There was a girl he was disappointed to miss seeing at the dance.

Douglas High School (courtesy WyomingTalesandTrails.com)

Mortimer Jesurun, "Doc Four Eyes," delivered George R. Rutherfurd on a cold January day, 23 January 1895, in Douglas at the hospital owned by his aunt [Elizabeth Dickson]. Many stories were told about this doctor who was thought to have a very colorful past. During the delivery, reportedly, the doctor said it was unfortunate that the baby had softening of the brain. It was a breach birth.

Sometime later, Doc Jeserun droped out of sight. On his return he was thought to be dying.  He came to Auntie's [Elizabeth Dickson's] hospital where Dad [George Rutherfurd] was recovering from an appendectomy. The two patients played chess constantly. A Douglas woman, Peg Stockett, had been reportedly engaged to the doctor. When he reappeared (they were in their sixties), she reappeared. They were married and opened a pharmacy.  He died shortly thereafter of heart problems. Auntie found the ebony and maple chess set that had been used at the hospital and gave it to Dad.

My grandfather, Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd contracted pneumonia in 1913 and died within a few days. My distraught grandmother [Annie Dickson Rutherfurd] packed up the boys and her husband's body and left on the train for California. She buried Grandfather in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were then living in Los Angeles.

Thus ended the Douglas, Wyoming chapter in the lives of the Rutherfurds. I'm so glad that my grandmother took the time to write down these memories that her father had shared with her. These stories and those colorful characters might be lost to history, otherwise.

Douglas, Wyoming in 1909. (courtesy WyomingTalesandTrails.com)

Recollections of Life in Douglas, Wyoming

General Henry Blanchard Freeman, an early hero of my great-grandfather George Rutherfurd.  Source

In sorting through my grandmother's family history files, I found a number of short biographies and mini-memoirs compiled by her and in various forms of completion.  My Grandma, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith, was a writer, too.  She wanted to leave behind personal accounts of family life, and I'm so glad she did.  As all family historians know, we can usually find names and dates, but it's the stories that get lost.  My Grandma was good at preserving stories.

I recently found one document that relates the memories of her father's youth in Douglas, Wyoming. George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd lived in Douglas from his birth in 1895 until his step-father's sudden death in 1913.  Here is what my grandmother wrote about those formative years in her father's life.

Growing to manhood on a cattle ranch in Wyoming left vivid and treasured memories that stayed with my Dad all his life.  He was interested in the Indians and admired their careful preservation of nature.  One of his regrets was leaving behind a fine collection of arrowheads when they left Wyoming so unexpectedly.  I will try to remember some of the things he told me.

As a very young boy he met a retired Army General Henry B. Freeman who told Dad tales of his life in the Army.  He recounted many experiences with the Indians and my Dad relived them all.  General Henry B. Freeman enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.  He became a Major (Brevet Major.  His true rank was 2nd Lieutenant).  He received the Medal of honor for bringing a wounded comrade off the field of battle at Chicamauga.  He spent two hitches in Libby Prison (Confederate).  The first time he escaped.  A sentry spotted him in the river and kept him there for two hours in the icy water before taking him back to prison.  He escaped a second time.  As he was being pursued he approached a southern plantation.  The daughter of the house hid him and when he returned after the war, he married her (Sarah).  He was later assigned to Indian posts in Wyoming.

Freeman served as commander of a military guard getting out timber to build Fort Fetterman.  Freeman and his wagon were ambushed by Cheyennes and Dakotas of the Sioux tribe.  They were surrounded for three days in a southeastern valley before rescue.  Freeman's was the first detachment sent out to rescue Fetterman.  He was also the first unit sent out to help General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn and was the first on the field after the battle.  In both cases Fetterman and Custer were decoyed by Indians until out of range of help and were then cut down.  (Freeman said Custer was an insufferable martinet).

A string of forts was set up from Cheyenne, Wyoming into Montana to protect settlers from the Indians during the 1870s and 1880s.  Freeman spent the balance of his military career in those forts.  He was so taken with the beauty of the country that he homesteaded there after his retirement.  He lived formally with his lovely southern wife in that open country.  It was during his retirement that he related his adventures and taught Dad [George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd] the game of chess.

Dad's aunt Elizabeth Dickson, his mother's sister, owned the hospital in Douglas.  She was a very proper lady but when Mrs. Pike, a rustler's wife, became ill, she managed somehow to allow her husband in to visit her.  He was not supposed to be there because the sheriff was looking for him.  Auntie [Elizabeth Dickson] let the nurse go and eased him in the back door before the night nurse came on duty and then she herself left.  The night nurse told the sheriff Pike wasn't there because she didn't know he was, and Auntie was away and couldn't be questioned.

Famed cattle rustler George Pike.
Image courtesy of the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum, the Douglas Historic Preservation Commission, and the National Park Service.

Some wealthy cattlemen started out as rustlers, among them George Pike who could not reform.  He was always in trouble for picking a good-looking animal to call his own. The sheriff usually had a warrant out for him.  He was brought by friends to Auntie's hospital for treatment of "cowboy's bellyache."  (It was appendicitis!)  Dad was about eleven years old at the time and visiting in town.  Doctor Jesurun was summoned, very hush hush, and surgery was performed.  The patient did not survive.  The rustler's friends gave a very large funeral for a well-loved scallywag.  a large fence was built around his grave but it was decided he needed more than an iron fence, so they sent to Denver for a large stone and had it inscribed as follows:

GEORGE PIKE

Underneath this stone in eternal rest

Sleeps the wildest one of the wayward west.

He was a gambler and sport and cowboy too

And he led the pace in an outlaw crew.

He was sure on the trigger and staid to the end

But was never known to quit on a friend.

In the relations of death all mankind is alike

But in life there was only one George W. Pike.

To be continued...

The Adoption of George Roscoe Griffin

George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd, formerly George Roscoe Griffin

On April 12, 1898, Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd filed paperwork to adopt his wife's son from her first marriage.

Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd

George Roscoe Griffin was born on January 23, 1895. He was the son of Anne Amelia Dickson and John T. Griffin.  His parents' marriage lasted a very short time. They were separated soon after their honeymoon and divorced a year after their nuptials. George never met his biological father. Annie Dickson married a second time, on April 29, 1897. Her second husband, Malcolm Rutherfurd, petitioned to adopt his stepson one year later.

The signature of Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd on the adoption document

The adoption paperwork is very interesting, since it sheds light on the relationship between Annie Dickson and John T. Griffin. While this account comes from Annie's point of view entirely, it's the most comprehensive account of the reasons for her divorce.

Comes now Malcolm B. O. Rutherford [sic], a citizen of the United States and citizen and resident of Converse County, Wyoming, and for the purposes hereinafter stated, would respectfully represent to the Court and Judge thereof,

FIRST:  That he is a married man, a farmer and stock raiser, by occupation, is 24 years of age and is fully able, competent and willing to provide for and assume the relation of parent to the minor child hereinafter named.

SECOND:  That your petitioner, the said Malcolm B. O. Rutherford [sic] doth hereby appear and doth hereby offer to adopt said minor child George Roscoe Griffin, a male child aged about four years, as his own, and to assume the relation of parent, that of a father to said minor child.

THIRD:  Your petitioner would further represent that the father of said minor child is John T. Griffin, and the mother of said minor is Annie E. Rutherford [sic], the wife of your petitioner, formerly the wife of the said John T. Griffin.  That the said John T. Griffin has been heretofore by this honorable court adjudged and found guilty of extreme cruelty; and for that cause has been divorced from his said former wife, Annie, the mother of said child; and the said mother thereafter married and became the wife of your petitioner, and is now a resident of said County and State; and at the time of said decree of divorce, said John T. Griffin, the father of said child, was found to be a cruel and vicious person and unfit to have the care and custody of said minor; and he was there and then, by this Court, judicially deprived of the custody or care of said child; and the Court judicially awarded sole care and custody of the said minor child to Annie E. Rutherford [sic], formerly Annie E. Griffin [sic].

This statement tells us that (a) the Converse County, Wyoming court processed Annie's divorce from John T. Griffin, (b) Annie claimed that John T. Griffin was extremely cruel, vicious and unfit to parent a child and (c) the court agreed with her. Of course, we know that John T. Griffin had already raised five children with his first wife, Ellen Pearsall. While no claims of abuse are on record from that marriage, or his last and final marriage to Elizabeth Rice, we cannot know whether abuse did or did not exist in his relationships. Annie claimed that John T. Griffin was cruel to her, and that's the only account we have of their marriage.

The document goes on to state that Annie Dickson Rutherfurd gives her consent to the adoption. It also decrees that henceforth, George will be legally and for all purposes considered the child of Malcolm Rutherfurd, capable of inheriting his estate, and that his name will be changed to George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.

Malcolm was not the father George might have wished. He disliked Malcolm's strictness, religious beliefs and use of corporal punishment. However, this adoption gave him the only father figure he would have in his life and put him on equal legal footing with his four half-brothers.

Winchester '73 Rifle

An example of a Winchester 1873 Rifle [source: Winchester Guns]

I recently told the story of my second great-grandmother, Annie Dickson.  After Annie's second husband, Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd, died suddenly of pneumonia in 1913, she moved from Wyoming to Los Angeles with her five sons.

My late grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith, left me her genealogy files and family photos. Among her paperwork, I found a letter from her cousin.  This cousin, a child of Annie's son Archie Rutherfurd (1899-1972), relates in his letter a story about events that occurred after Malcolm Rutherfurd's death.  Here is the letter in full:

Upon the death of Malcolm B.O. Rutherfurd in April of 1913, his widow, my grandmother, Annie Amelia Dickson Rutherfurd, made arrangements to leave Douglas, Wyoming with her five young sons and go to Los Angeles, California to be closer to her family.

Ferris Bruner and his father took them to the railroad station.  Ferris was about 14 years old and a very good friend of my father Archie.  They had all of their personal belongings in several large trunks or crates, and strapped to the outside of one of the trunks was Malcolm's Winchester rifle.  This was done probably because it was too long to fit inside.  The station agent told them they could not ship the rifle that way, so they left it with Ferris to be reclaimed when they returned to Wyoming.

In July of 1962, my father, Archie and I made a trip to Douglas.  This was my first time there and his too, since leaving in 1913.  We went to the Ranch that Malcolm and his brother Archie owned and met the current owners, the Pextons.  We asked if Ferris Bruner was still in the area and they said he was and gave us directions to his place.  We looked him up and had a very nice visit for two days.  As we were visiting one evening, Ferris said, "I think I have something that belongs to you" and went in the back room and came out with the rifle, and related the story to us.  I am sure that my Dad had forgotten about it and was rather surprised.  Ferris said that he had never used it and had just been storing it for all those years and insisted that we take it.  I had the rifle appraised about 10 years ago and it was worth about $1700 at that time.

The Rutherfurd ranch in Douglas, Wyoming

I hope someone in the Rutherfurd family still has this rifle, which is over 100 years old by now.

Elizabeth Davock Dickson and the Douglas Hospital

Elizabeth Davock Dickson¹ was the sister of my second great-grandmother, Anne Amelia Dickson. She was born in 1868 in Point Edward, Ontario, Canada.

As a young woman, Elizabeth studied nursing in Detroit.  My grandmother told me that Elizabeth also went to New York to obtain specialty training as a surgical nurse.  When Elizabeth's parents, George and Mary Bellangee Dickson, moved from the Detroit area to Douglas, Wyoming in the early 1900s, Elizabeth went with them.  In Douglas, she founded the community hospital.

Elizabeth never married, and devoted her life to working in medicine.  She was known fondly to my grandmother as "Auntie" and was close with her family until she died in Los Angeles in 1952.

Elizabeth Dickson, at left, with her sister Annie.

Among my grandmother's papers, I discovered a newspaper article that describes the origins of the hospital in Douglas and the role that Elizabeth played in its founding.

The Douglas Budget
Wednesday, July 15, 1992

Memoirs of the Old Douglas Hospital
by David Johnstone

The old hospital was located on South Sixth Street.  It faced east toward what was then the only school in Douglas.  It was a combination of Elementary and High School.

Close by was a small building that housed one of the grades and was nicknamed "Chicken Coup" by the children.  Across the street and a little north was the home of Tom Rowley and across the street on the corner stood the fine brick home of John T. Williams, a stockman and banker.

The hospital has been a very nice residence for the day and age.  The living room, dining room and two bedrooms had been remodeled some but not enough to destroy the original home-like atmosphere.  A four-bed ward on the first floor and two rooms for nurses on the lower floor had been added.

The original operating room was small but adequate at that time.  Some of the staff slept on the second floor.  Facing the east on the front was a very fine porch where convalescing patients could enjoy the good old Wyoming air and sunshine.

In the evenings, the off-duty nurses could entertain their boyfriends.  The hospital staff worked and ate together so much that they were like a big family.  Miss Elizabeth Dickson, a registered nurse, owned and supervised the hospital for several years.  Her brother George Dickson was agent at the Chicago and Northwestern station and was later interested in the hardware business.

In 1908, in order to take a vacation to California, Miss Dickson had a registered nurse from Chicago come to relieve her and to supervise in her absences.  Janet Adams² was her name. She was one of three girls, all of whom were born in Ontario, Canada, and who trained and graduated in the class of 1902 at the Presbyterian and Cook County Hospitals in Chicago.  Mary Brown and Grace Galbraith were the other two classmates.

When Miss Dickson and her father returned from California, Miss Dickson had decided to sell the hospital and retire in California.  In short time Miss Brown and Miss Galbraith came from Chicago to investigate buying the hospital.  A few days later a deal was closed and the new owners took over.

The old Douglas hospital is famous as the spot where the cattle rustler and gambler George Pike died in 1908.  He was a notorious figure in the area, having established a ranch near Douglas where he corralled his ill-gotten animals.  Elizabeth Dickson was running the Douglas hospital when George Pike was brought to the hospital with a abdominal ailment, and her nephew George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd remembered peeking into the windows of the hospital to see the commotion inside.  George Pike did not survive, but his legend lives on in Douglas.

The hospital that Elizabeth Dickson founded and ran is now a private residence.  A larger and more modern hospital is located elsewhere in Douglas. 

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1 I have often wondered about the origins of Elizabeth's middle name, Davock.  It's not a family surname to the best of my knowledge.  I recently found a clue while reviewing the 1865 Census for New York.  It shows young George Dickson and his bride Mary Bellangee Dickson living in the same household with a widow by the name of Maria Davock and her five children.  I still haven't determined the relationship between the Davock and Dickson families, but it seems to have been a close one. (Edited to add: I figured this out, and the post about it is here.)

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2 According to a note handwritten on this article by the daughter of this nurse, her actual name was Janet Adamson.  She was almost certainly the same Janet Adamson who married Elizabeth Dickson's brother, George William Dickson, Jr.^↩

The Rutherfurds in Douglas, Wyoming

Malcolm Rutherfurd (back), his brother Archie (center) and two farmhands in Douglas, Wyoming

I've been writing about my Dickson and Rutherfurd ancestors and the years they spent as ranchers in Douglas, Wyoming.  Recently, I found a newspaper clipping amongst the files of my grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith.  It reveals interesting information about the lives of those ancestors in Douglas, including some anecdotes I'd never previously heard.  People mentioned include my second great-grandmother Anne Amelia Dickson, her second husband (my step-second great-grandfather) Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd, and Malcolm's brother Archibald Aymer Oliver Rutherfurd.  The entirety of the article is posted below.

November 11, 1992
Douglas Budget

The Search for Roots Never Stops
[Column: The View From Pex's Pasture by John Pexton]

The search for one's roots never stops.

As one travels down the family tree, the trail usually weaves all over the country; and on occasion, some interesting stories and events turn up.

Connie and Claude Sipe of [removed for privacy], California were in Douglas last week.  They were hot on the trail of Connie's ancestors, the Rutherfurd family.  I had the honor of helping them climb down their family tree looking for the roots.

We started by going out to where her grandfather, M.B.O. Rutherfurd and his brother Archibald Aymer Oliver Rutherfurd lived.  The Rutherfurd ranch was located on Reid Creek (also called Rutherfurd Creek) 30 miles south of Douglas.  Charles and Gene Pexton are the present owners of the property.

The Rutherfurd trail really starts in Scotland where the brothers were born.  They evidently were from a wealthy family because in reading Archibald's will it mentions a trust.  It is thought that they came to America because of an invitation from the Foxton Family who were also from Scotland.  The Foxtons settled on land presently owned by Jerry Sober and where Tim Pexton lives.  The Rutherfurd name was really Oliver-Rutherfurd as evidenced in the brothers' names.  The "Oliver" has since been dropped.

Buying the ranch from Charles Reid, Sr. (Beef Bolin's grandfather) in 1892, they continued to live there unitl 1909 when the ranch was sold to J.C. Saul.  Do any of you readers know where the M.B.O. Rutherfurds lived between 1909 and 1913?

Connie read for the first time a story about Archibald Rutherfurd.  Since it is the Halloween season, it is a very fitting story to be retold.  Laura Reid, a daughter-in-law of Charles Reid, Sr., recalled the story in an article about Pioneer Cemeteries several years ago. She wrote:

"Archie Rutherfurd was numbered among the early day ranchers of the Laramie Peak region.  In order to get to his ranch, he had to cross a sandy creek bed, which at times had a trick of water, sometimes dry, and occasionally went on a rampage.  Among Archie's friends, perhaps his closest, was a sheepman by the name of Vetter.  While tending his sheep camp one day, Vetter was shot and killed by sheepherder John Koch, an employee of another sheepman.  Koch was apprehended and jailed in Douglas; but upon being made a trustee until the spring term of court convened, he fled the country never to be heard of again.  A short time after the incident, Archie bought a mowing machine in Douglas and loaded it on a wagon to be hauled to his mountain ranch.  Nearing home towards evening, the heavy load pulled by the tired team felt the jar of crossing the narrow creek.  Archie looked back to see if his machinery was okay.  Much to his great surprise and shock, he saw the ghost of his good friend, Mr. Vetter sitting on the seat of the mowing machine."

Mrs. Reid doesn't explain what happened after the sighting, but she does go on to say that, "From that day to this, the creek has been called 'Ghost Creek.'"

Archie (a bachelor) died in 1899 at the age of about 32 in Douglas after a winter's ride to town.  He was found dead in the morning after retiring to his room in the Reid house on North 2nd Street.  He had complained the night before of not feeling well.  Pneumonia was determined to be the cause of death.  Archie is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

M.B.O. (Malcolm Brakspear Oliver) died in 1913 and his body was shipped to Los Angeles for burial.  He had married Mrs. Annie. A. Griffin on April 29, 1897 in Douglas. George Dickson and Dr. Mortimer Jesurun were the witnesses.  The new Mrs. Rutherfurd was the former Annie Dickson, a sister of George Dickson who owned a hardware store and Elizabeth Dickson who built and owned the first hospital on North 6th Street.  After her marriage, Annie used the name Annie Oliver Rutherfurd.

Connie never knew where or when her grandfather M.B.O. had died.  You can imagine the look on her face when we found his obituary in the files of "The Douglas Budget."  Connie's dad's name was also Archie.  She said because of personal circumstances and not because of the kind of person he was, his mother always called him by the nickname of "Odd."   He is buried in northern Utah.

The family story goes on and on.  It was such a delight to meet such nice people like Connie and Claude.  I had the opportunity to smell the roses with them as they dug out their family history.

Anne Amelia Dickson

Anne Amelia Dickson

Anne Amelia Dickson was my second great-grandmother.

Annie was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada on October 27, 1870. Her parents were Mary Elizabeth Bellangee and George William Dickson. Anne was named for her aunt, Anne Amelia Bellangee, sister of her mother, Mary Bellangee.

Annie was the second of the four surviving children of Mary and George.  Their first child, Mary, died as an infant in 1866.  Annie grew up with an older sister, Elizabeth Davock Dickson (b. 1868) and two younger brothers, George William Dickson, Jr. (b. 1872) and Wilfred Bellangee Dickson (b. 1875).

Annie Dickson in 1879 (age 9)

Sarnia is located directly across the St. Clair River from Michigan.  Annie's father, George, was a sailor on the Great Lakes, and the Dickson family had moved from Buffalo, New York to Sarnia some years earlier to support George's career.  Life in Sarnia focused on the river.  "Located in the natural harbour, the Sarnia port remains an important centre for lake freighters and oceangoing ships carrying cargoes of grain and petroleum products." [Wikipedia] Annie surely watched the ships come and go along the St. Clair, and had fond memories of playing on the beach in Sarnia with her siblings during her childhood.

My grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith, knew Annie well and spent quite a bit of time with her grandmother during her childhood years.  She described Annie as rambunctious, opinionated and impulsive.  She told a story about Annie paddling out onto the Great Lakes in a small boat, right in the path of large freighters, and needing to be rescued.  Annie found this incident amusing and exhilarating.  Annie's mother, Mary Bellangee Dickson, was a very refined woman; a true lady.  By comparison, Annie was a bit of a loose cannon.  This is not to say she was not responsible.  She had five sons and was fiercely devoted to them.  She was simply spirited and adventurous in a way that other women of her circle were not.

As a young woman of 23, Annie Dickson was working as a nurse in a hospital in Detroit, Michigan when she met John Griffin. John was thirty years older than Annie, a widower with five children.  Family lore has it that John was a patient at the hospital where Annie worked, and a May-December romance bloomed.  On January 2, 1894, Annie and John were married in Sandwich, Ontario. My grandmother, LaVerne Smith, told me that Annie and John's honeymoon involved a long boat trip to Florida. The specifics of this trip are unknown. What is clear is that the romance quickly faded. John and Annie separated after the honeymoon, and were divorced in less than a year. However, by the time of their separation, Annie was pregnant.

Annie’s parents and siblings had recently moved from Canada to Douglas, Wyoming. It is said that one of Annie’s brothers took a job at a telegraph station there and the rest of the family went with him. The Dicksons were a close bunch who preferred to stay near each other.  Pregnant and separated from her husband, Annie joined her family in Douglas in 1894.  She moved back in with her parents and her sister Elizabeth, who had helped build the Douglas hospital and was working there as a nurse.

Annie (at right) with her sister, Elizabeth Davock Dickson.

Annie and John's son, George Roscoe Griffin, was born on January 23, 1895 in Douglas, Wyoming. There is no indication that he ever met his biological father.

On April 29, 1897, Annie married Malcolm Rutherfurd, a Scottish immigrant. Malcolm and his brother Archibald had moved from Jedburgh, Scotland to Wyoming and were running a ranch in Douglas.  A year after the marriage, Malcolm adopted young George, who was known to most as “Roscoe.” His name was legally changed to George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd. Annie and Malcolm then had four boys of their own, Malcolm, Archibald, Robert and Arthur, before Malcolm’s untimely death from pneumonia in 1913.

Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd

After Malcolm's sudden death, Annie moved with her boys to Los Angeles, California.  Her parents and sister Elizabeth had moved there several years previously, and Annie thought it was best to join them.  She also sent Malcolm's body to Los Angeles via train and had him buried at Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles.

My grandmother recalled that Annie's home in Los Angeles, shared with her sister Elizabeth, was always full of books.  The Dicksons, Annie's parents, were great readers, and this love of literature was passed down to their children and their grandchildren.  George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd was quite a reader, and this trait continues with his descendants.

Annie Dickson Rutherfurd in 1925

By 1940, when Annie was 69 years of age, her heath had declined.  In 1940, the census shows her living at Woodcraft Home in Riverside, California. This was essentially an assisted living facility for the elderly.  I'm not sure what the circumstances were surrounding her stay there, or how long she lived there in total.  She had been living with her sister, Elizabeth, for many years, but sometime between 1930 and 1940, Elizabeth went to live with other relatives and Annie went to Woodcraft Home.  Later, Annie moved north to Oregon, for reasons that are also unclear.

Annie died on August 29, 1952 in Hood River, Oregon.  She died just 24 days after her beloved sister Elizabeth.  She was survived by four of her five sons (her second son, Malcolm, died in 1937) and several grandchildren.


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I've previously written about Annie's mother, Mary Elizabeth Bellangee, and her son, George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd. I also wrote briefly about Annie's relationship with her sister, Elizabeth.

George Rutherfurd

George Rutherfurd was my great-grandfather; the much-beloved father of my Grandma, LaVerne Rutherfurd Smith.  For the first two years of his life, his name was George Roscoe Griffin.  His parents were Anne "Annie" Amelia Dickson and John T. Griffin, and he was the only child of their very brief marriage.  George was born on January 23, 1895 in Douglas, Wyoming, months after his parents separated.  There is no indication that he ever met or communicated with his natural father, John T. Griffin, who lived in Detroit.  When his mother, Annie, married Malcolm Brakspear Oliver Rutherfurd in 1897, George was adopted by his step-father.  His legal name became George Roscoe Oliver Rutherfurd.¹

George as a baby in 1895

George spent the first seventeen years of his life in Douglas, Wyoming.  His mother Annie's family had settled there just a few years before George's birth, when one of Annie's brothers took a job in the Douglas telegraph office.  His stepfather, Malcolm, had arrived in Douglas as a Scottish immigrant intent on owning a cattle ranch.  After Malcolm and Annie were married, they had four boys of their own: Malcolm Archibald Oliver Rutherfurd (b. 1898), Archibald Dickson Oliver Rutherfurd (b. 1899), Robert Leslie Oliver Rutherfurd (b. 1903) and Arthur William Oliver Rutherfurd (b. 1906).  Apparently, George got along well with his half-brothers, but my grandmother always said that he was gentler than his younger siblings; more interested in academic and artistic pursuits.

George and his brothers

The ranch where George was raised was a busy place, and George and his brothers were expected to earn their keep.  From his earliest days, George was riding horses, doing chores and working with the cattle.  However, he liked to sneak away and visit with his maternal grandmother, Mary Bellangee Dickson, who read him poetry and encouraged his interest in literature. 

Mary Bellangee Dickson with her grandsons, George (left) and Malcolm (right)

There is some indication that George may have disliked the strictness of the household in which he was raised.  My uncle Tom Smith said that George, known to him as "Pappy," spoke of being beaten regularly for childhood misbehavior.  He claimed that Malcolm would beat or whip all five boys, something he described as "being beaten on Saturday for all the things they did wrong during the week."  Whether this was corporal punishment typical of its time or rose to another level is unknown, but it seems George objected to it.  George also told his grandson Tom that Malcolm's strict Presbyterian teachings put him off religion for life.

George in 1905, at age ten

George told his grandson, Tom Smith, a tale about growing up on the ranch in Douglas.  One day, Malcolm and Annie were away from the ranch, and a fox approached the family's chicken pen.  When the fox jumped up on the fence to attack the chickens, George grabbed a rifle to defend them.  He knew he was not allowed to use the rifle, but he also knew that he had to save the chickens.  He killed the fox.  When his mother and stepfather arrived home, Malcolm congratulated George on the kill, but then punished him for using the rifle.

The Rutherfurd ranch in Douglas, Wyoming

Malcolm Rutherfurd died suddenly on April 12, 1913.  He contracted pneumonia and was dead within days.  He was thirty-eight.  This unexpected loss had major consequences for Annie and the Rutherfurd boys.  Annie sold the ranch and took her children to Los Angeles.  Annie's parents, George and Mary Dickson, and her sister, Elizabeth Dickson, had moved to Oregon a few years before Malcolm's death, and shortly thereafter had moved again, to Los Angeles.  Upon the death of her husband, Annie decided to join her family in California.  Her parents and sister were soon reunited with Annie and the boys in Los Angeles and helped them settle into a new life.

Life on the ranch.  Malcolm Rutherfurd is second from the left in this photo.

This major life change occurred at a critical time in George's adolescence.  He was seventeen, on the verge of manhood.  Now, he was suddenly partially responsible for supporting his family.  He might never have had the opportunity to go to college had his stepfather lived, but once Malcolm died and the weight of responsibility became clear, that door was conclusively shut.  By all accounts, George was a very bright young man, one who would have loved academia and flourished at a university.  Beyond his passion for literature and poetry, George was fascinated by the sciences.  He had an endless curiosity for botany and geology.  He liked to paint and became interested in photography.  Arriving in Los Angeles, George set those interests aside to focus on earning a living.

At first, young George got work riding a horse in Western movies.  He'd grown up riding, so this was a natural fit for him. However, he soon became disenchanted with the treatment of the horses on set.  In those days, trip wires and prods were still being used to manipulate the animals, and George found it cruel.  Then, he took a job at Pacific Telegraph and Telephone.  He would remain there for the rest of his career.  This choice of employment had huge ramifications.  It would determine which branch of the armed services George entered during World War I, and it was the place where he would meet his wife.

Click to continue reading about the life of George Rutherfurd.

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1 A note about the Oliver Rutherfurd surname:  In the 1700s, the Scottish Rutherfurd family found themselves with only a female heir.  That heir, Jane Rutherfurd, married William Oliver in 1771.  The surnames were then combined, so that the Rutherfurd name would live on, and both were given to all the children in this family for many generations.  While the surname is technically Oliver Rutherfurd, in modern times only Rutherfurd is used on legal documents.^↩