West Family Tree

Hank & Rebecca were married in Mexicali, Mexico, right on the border between Yuma, Arizona & Mexico.  When I asked if they received a Marriage Certificate because of getting married in Mexico, she said yes.  Rebecca was 16 years of age at the time she & Hank married. She said her mother; Gussie went with them when they married.
Rebecca’s sister, Bette Jean was 15 years of age with her mother’s consent and Uncle Bob Baber was 21.  They were married in Virginia City, Nevada.

Right after the war in the 1940’s, land was cheap in the San Joaquin Valley of California.  Hank & Rebecca went to the valley to visit friends, the Wilkerson’s, and he told them about the land sales.  He wanted to show them this particular property for sale.  She said they just kinda glanced at it, sent the money and bought it; 80 acres for $220.00.  There was one house on the land, called the main house. There were no partitions in the house, no electricity, and no lights. At the time they bought the land, they were living in San Diego, Rebecca was working at the packing house and they were raising Herford cows at a friend’s house.  Rebecca said she took all the Herford’s to Delhi and started the ranch.  She said she was milking 16 cows at the beginning.  She pumped water and milked all the cows until Hank came up.  Hank had stayed in San Diego for about a year because he could make more money there and he had a free house to live in.  While Rebecca was on the ranch alone, she hired a man to help her build fences to keep the cows in.  Bette, Rebecca’s younger sister came to live with her when Bette was 7 or 8 years old to watch David & Tootie while Rebecca did the milking for about a year; 16
cows at first she said.  Hank finally came to Delhi when the milking and ranching became too much for her & she became ill with a kidney infection.

Once Hank arrived, they put in a water well, so now she didn’t have to pump water any longer.  Then they built the milk barn, a hay barn and shed for the tractors & equipment.  Later they bought another 48 acres and the whole ranch became known as “Duncan Acres”.  After Gussie and Ossie were married, they lived in Laguna Beach at the time, they moved up to Delhi.  Rebecca explained that there was this shop in Delhi up for sale. They bought the shop and moved it up on the hill on the 80 acres.  They called it Grandma’s House.  It burnt
down during the late 1950’s.- From the memories of Rebecca Lowrey Wooliscroft from Arlene Teller Duncan

During the Japanese war, Grandma Vance & Rebecca were packing oranges in Lindsey, California when it came over the radio that we were at war with Japan.  They immediately left and returned to the ranch. Rebecca was on the “Watch Towers” for 1 or 2 years watching for any Japanese spy planes that might fly over the skies of California.  It was while she was on duty in a “Watch Tower”, David, Little Tootie, and a cousin went swimming in a small canal they had swam in numerous times before.  Little Tootie stepped into a hole and went under. David was standing on the side of the bank, but because he didn’t know how to swim, he throw her an inner tube.  All he could remember
was her little hand reaching up for the inner tube, but she couldn’t hold on.  The cousin ran to get help.  Hank was on the tractor in the field.  He drove “that” tractor all the way down to the swimming hole.  When he picked little Tootie up, the water was only up to his knees, but little Tootie had drowned.  That was in September of 1943. Hank carried her all the way home. David never got over the death of his little sister. When they had the funeral, so many rose flowers were at her grave site. All the days we were married, David would never go into a church, and he never wanted me to plant any roses. He always said, “Roses have thorns on them”. Years later when I looked into his bible his Grandmother Vance had given him, there was only one passage in John underlined in red pencil, “Why, Oh, Lord, why do I have to suffer so long”. - Arlene Rose Teller

Over the years, “Duncan Acres” became one of the well known ranches in the area.  Late in the 40’s & early 50’s, Hank bought an airplane, put in an air strip and belong to the Turlock Flying Club.  They eventually put in a swimming pool that stretched all the way across the front of the house and David became a really strong swimmer, going all the way across that pool in about 2 or 3 strokes.  They put in a milker’s house next to the milking barn and drove a Lincoln Continental.  They enjoyed the friendship of many neighbors and would
host huge barbeques at their place.

Rebecca believes they were there on the ranch for about 30 years.  In the early 50’s Hank & Rebecca adopted a little blond-headed boy by the name of Alan.  They were trying to hold their married together at the time. However, Hank & Rebecca did divorce in the mid 50’s, with Hank signing the ranch over to Rebecca and went on with his life. Later he married Edna Eklund from Hilmar, California.  Before the marriage to Edna, he bought 7 acres in Hilmar and built a wonderful small rancho called “El Rancho Chico”.  As you drove into an enclosed yard, the main house was on the West side, a small studio house where Grandpa Highpocket’s lived was on the East side, on the North side, circled around was his garage & barbeque/patio area.  On the South, adjacent to Grandpa Highpocket’s house, there was a Woo-tel for the kid’s pony named patches with tack room & all.  Across the back of the house, there was pasture land where he raised goats.  Once or twice a year, he would open up the whole garage and barbeque patio area once again and invite all the neighbors over for a huge goat barbeque.  A lot of visiting and music was always in the air. - From the memories of Rebecca Lowrey Woolliscroft, from Arlene Teller Duncan

Hank died of a heart attack while working on his boat. My mother recalls him but of course I never knew him. - Logan West

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