My father, John Jacob Whipple, was born April 3rd of 1899 In Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico. He was the first child born to Charles Whipple and Mary Louise Walser. He was born into a polygamist family. My grandfather’s first wife was Annie Catherine Hansen and she already had four children when my father was born to his second wife—Mary Louise Walser. When he was eleven the two families in the little Mormon colony along with the other members of the church were driven out of Mexico by the forces of Poncho Villa. They arrived in El Paso, Texas in very dire circumstances; almost destitute. Aunt Caddi was extremely ill and was admitted to a hospital as soon as they arrived. This left Mary Louse with children from both families; they—at this time—had a total of 14 dollars between the two families. Charles had been asked to stay behind in Mexico to help others receive sanctuary. While they were in El Paso Mary gave birth to a daughter, Eva. Shortly after that her son, Marvin, died. As with the early saints leaving Nauvoo, life was not easy for these saints. When Charles joined them he moved the families to Arizona in the Show Lo, Snowflake area. They lived on a ranch for at least two years when Mary Louise started to miss home, so Charles took her and her children back to Mexico where she could be with her family. Here she had another son named Alma. Mary Louise died when he was six months old. They had very good friends by the name of Ted and Christine Solomon wanted to adopt the baby because they weren’t able to have children. Charles said they could raise Alma but they couldn’t adopt him and change his name. They raised him to adult hood. The children came back out to Arizona where Charles was killed in a tragic accident. He was hauling logs with a wagon and the horses were frightened by an automobile and the wagon was overturned. Which left all of their children to be orphans. John and Louise, the two oldest, did all they could to keep the family together with the help of Charles’s first wife which the called Aunt Caddy. Aunt Caddi had a son named Charles who was very close to John. John and Charles rode the rails to California to try and find work. They were without sums so a kindly Sherriff allowed them to spend the night in Jail were they could sleep. Ruth, one of John’s younger sisters, tells a story about how excited they were when Johnny came home with a bright shiny penny for all of them. During this time he met and fell in love with Emma Ramsay. He went back to Mexico to make a living working in apple orchards. While he was there he decided he couldn’t live without Emma, so he sent her money to take a train from Holbrook, Arizona to El Paso, Texas where he would meet her. They met in El Paso and were married at the home of his cousin Willard Whipple by Bishop Arlo Pierce. They went back to Mexico, unfortunately the apple crop failed that year and they returned to Arizona where their first child John Waldo was born prematurely and lived for only nine days. -Told from my grandmother Anneva Whipple McCain