Re: Horrocks from Canada to California
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In reply to:
Horrocks from Canada to California
Ashley Van Trease 3/26/07
I'm Ross Dana Horrocks, Harry Ross Horrocks' 1st son (b. 11/1/51). I have 2 younger brothers, Clyde Morgan H, and Gene Mathias H. We were all born in Alameda California, and were raised in Oakland and Berkeley.
I guess your grandmother would have been my aunt, and that we're 2nd(?) cousins.I'm not sure how that works out...
I was told that dad (Harry) was christened Henry, but born in Scotland (Gyrns, Ayrshire -don't know the spelling). That's where my grandfather Grange/Ross H. met & married the 1st Jessie. I'm confused about the spelling of McBryde as well. Either from his mother calling him Harry (Scottish for Henry), or his Scottish relatives, that's the name he went by. When dad joined the U.S Army in WWII, he officially changed his name to Harry when he became a US citizen.
I don't know if Grange came from Canada to Scotland or from England, but my father was a Canadian citizen when they moved to Walnut Creek Calif.
After Scotland they moved to Germany, where I believe one of my uncles was born. I didn't know my dad had sisters (apparently I have twin Horrocks 1/2-sisters in the Santa Barbara area from a previous marriage.)
From Germany they moved to New Zealand "where you could catch a fish on one side of a stream, and cook him on the the other" dad would say about the hot-springs. From New Zealand (back?)to Canada and then to Walnut Creek where my father spent most of his boyhood on a Ranch (with mean a horse named Blaze), and then the rest of his life in Calif, except for the war.
From what I understand, Grange's 2nd wife was his first wife's nurse at their home in Oakland. From my visits when I was a kid, I know she had a nursing home in a house next to their house or farther down the street.We called her GrandMa Brownie, She was from Oaklahoma. I never knew Grandma McBryde.
There was an old Scottish great grandfather in the house, double amputee from WWI whose 1st name I thought was Ross, but definitely McBryde who had a thick Scottish brogue. He was in a wheelchair.
When I was about 3 or 4, we all lived in the "gray house" in Oakland with my paternal grand parents (Rodenborn). I think they may have eventually moved out. Dad's brother, Uncle Doug, lived next door for a while with Aunt Dorothy (Annie Dot). I vaguely remember meeting Uncle Jim once. I was told he survived the Bataan Death March (WWII), and if you couldn't find him, he was usually on top of a roof somewhere. Also he sometimes would go crazy if he saw an Asian. I'm not sure if that was with/or without alcohol.
That's all I've got for now. -Ross H
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Re: Horrocks from Canada to Calif -> TYPO
Ross Horrocks 4/17/10