Narrator: Diana Deen(Janice's daughter, deacon in the Episcopal Church)
Told on: 2026-01-03 · Service timecode: 04:00 to 06:10 · Duration: 2 min 10 s
Preservation source: Memorial service recording, 04:00 to 06:10
And so I want to talk about we the Waldrips.
Because we the Waldrips are people of strength and courage, vitality and vision, who throughout history have chosen to live on the frontiers of change and led progress believing in possibilities.
From the beginning of our history, this family has taken risks and we've lived through amazing challenges.
You know, we first arrived in the United States in the year 1608 with the second supply ship to the newly formed Jamestown, Virginia.
Not long after that, our ancestors actually joined the first communities of both Massachusetts and Virginia.
Our first namesake relative, Michael Waldrop, obviously that changed later on, came from Scotland through England to the New World in 1670.
As a young man in his early 20s, a difficult voyage at best in a place and time of uncertainty requiring great courage.
All of our relatives at that time were members of the first legislative assembly of our country.
They were peers and contemporaries to people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and others.
We've been captured by Indians and escaped.
We fought in the American Revolution.
We bought and sold slaves.
We fought in the Civil War.
We served as Texas Rangers.
And so we are pioneers who have traveled west in covered wagons.
Marvin said the other day, we're the first generation, his generation, the first one not raised in horses, on horseback, right?
We are English.
We are Scottish.
We are Irish.
And even though it's highly remembered and yet to be proven, we are Native American too.
And some of our ancestors are famous or infamous for their acts in U.S. history.
And so ours is the story of America.
So we are a large family, as you can tell.
The account and the questions it leaves
Diana's historical assertions
Each passage below is a recorded recollection, with a question to pursue. Her research files have not yet been examined here; these entries do not establish the family line by themselves.
Machine transcript with family-name corrections. The family recording remains the source. Timecodes refer to the full memorial recording.
- Told · 04:27
Colonial origins / Jamestown 1608 Second Supply
You know, we first arrived in the United States in the year 1608 with the second supply ship to the newly formed Jamestown, Virginia.
Questions to pursue
- What specific published secondary source or family manuscript introduced the 1608 Jamestown arrival date into the family tradition?
- Did earlier researchers consult an abstract of colonial Virginia records that referenced Captain Richard Waldo or another similarly spelled settler?
Diana states a 1608 family arrival without naming a passenger or identifying which ancestral branch she means. Jason supplied the Richard Waldo/Waldrop conflation as a possible explanation. Whether Diana used that identification remains unknown pending her files.
- Told · 04:36
Early colonial settlements / Massachusetts and Virginia
Not long after that, our ancestors actually joined the first communities of both Massachusetts and Virginia.
Questions to pursue
- Which ancestral branch was believed to have settled in Massachusetts, and through which maternal surname line?
- Is there a confusion with the Puritan Great Migration or a New England family that intermarried with Southern branches in later generations?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 04:45
Immigrant ancestor / Michael Waldrop (Wardrope) 1670 arrival and Scottish origin
Our first namesake relative, Michael Waldrop, obviously that changed later on, came from Scotland through England to the New World in 1670. As a young man in his early 20s, a difficult voyage at best in a place and time of uncertainty requiring great courage.
Questions to pursue
- Are there British port registers (such as London or Bristol indentures) from 1668 to 1672 recording the transport of Michael Wardrope?
- What primary document in Scotland, if any, served as the basis for the query submitted to David Dobson?
Diana states a 1670 arrival from Scotland through England. The corpus separately records the 1682 Virginia headright and the unproven connection to Michael of Laurens. Her source for the 1670 crossing and Scottish origin remains to be identified.
- Told · 05:06
Colonial governance / First Legislative Assembly (Virginia House of Burgesses)
All of our relatives at that time were members of the first legislative assembly of our country.
Questions to pursue
- Did family lore conflate appearing in the legislative journal as a land petitioner with serving as an elected burgess?
- Is there another maternal ancestor who served in the colonial Virginia House of Burgesses in a later session?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:12
Historical contemporaries / Founding Era and nineteenth-century leaders
They were peers and contemporaries to people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and others.
Questions to pursue
- Was this intended as an illustrative rhetorical summary of the historical span of the family rather than a claim of literal personal acquaintance?
- Did any family letters describe encounters with prominent political leaders during the westward migrations?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:21
Frontier conflict / Indian captivity tradition
We've been captured by Indians and escaped.
Questions to pursue
- Which family ancestor was the subject of the captivity and escape story, and what was the approximate decade?
- Did this incident occur in West Texas in the 1870s or during earlier frontier periods in Tennessee or the Carolinas?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:26
Military service / American Revolutionary War
We fought in the American Revolution.
Questions to pursue
- Are there surviving pension applications or bounty land warrants for Michael Waldrop of Roebuck's Regiment in South Carolina?
- Do South Carolina probate or land records connect Michael Waldrip of Maury County to Michael Waldrop of Roebuck's Regiment?
On the direct Waldrip line, Michael Waldrip (born circa 1770) was a child during the Revolution, too young to bear arms. Candidate father Michael Waldrop Senior served in Roebuck's Regiment of the South Carolina militia (Accounts Audited AA 8137), though primary parentage connecting him to Michael of Maury County remains unverified. No direct military enlistment on the line has been established.
- Told · 05:28
Slavery / Antebellum property
We bought and sold slaves.
Questions to pursue
- Do county deed books in Wayne County, Tennessee, or Tishomingo County, Mississippi, record slave bills of sale involving any Waldrip family member?
- Are there probate inventories for collateral South Carolina or Texas relatives that enumerate enslaved people by name?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:31
Military service / American Civil War
We fought in the Civil War.
Questions to pursue
- Did Anderson Marion Waldrip participate in home guard or local frontier defense units in Texas during the Civil War?
- Are there pension records or letters from Thomas Abel Waldrip describing his service in the 9th Texas Militia?
While direct paternal ancestor Anderson Marion Waldrip remained a civilian stockman in Coleman County on the exposed Texas frontier with no military enlistment in Confederate or Union compiled service records (NARA M323, M380), and his sons were young children during the conflict (George Thomas was born in 1858), his older brother Thomas Abel Waldrip served in Company G of the 9th Texas Militia (Confederate Pension 01162).
- Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Confederate Pension Applications, Application #01162 (Thomas A. Waldrip, 9th Texas Militia)
- National Archives Microcopy M323, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from Texas (Anderson Marion Waldrip, no enlistment)
- 1860 U.S. Census, Coleman County, Texas (Anderson M. Waldrip, stock raiser)
- Told · 05:33
Frontier service / Texas Rangers during Indian Wars
We served as Texas Rangers.
Questions to pursue
- Are there county court minutes in McCulloch or Coleman counties authorizing payment for local ranging or posse service in the 1870s?
- Did George Thomas Waldrip preserve any frontier equipment, firearm, or badge associated with his service?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:36
Westward migration / Pioneer wagon travel
And so we are pioneers who have traveled west in covered wagons.
Questions to pursue
- Are there written family memoirs or letters describing the specific wagon route taken from Nolan County, Texas to Mountain Park, New Mexico?
- What trail did the family follow when driving cattle into Pleasant Valley, Arizona in the 1910s?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:41
Ranching lifestyle / Generational transition from horseback to modern work
Marvin said the other day, we're the first generation, his generation, the first one not raised in horses, on horseback, right?
Questions to pursue
- Did Marvin and Melvin learn to ride rough stock as young boys in Pleasant Valley before the family relocated to Phoenix?
- What specific memories did Marvin share on tape regarding ranch work in Young?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:50
Ethnic roots / British Isles heritage
We are English. We are Scottish. We are Irish.
Questions to pursue
- Does Y-DNA or autosomal DNA testing across family branches correlate with regional British Isles genetic clusters?
- Which specific maternal lines bring documented Irish as distinguished from Scots-Irish ancestry into the family tree?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:53
Oral tradition / Native American (Cherokee) ancestry claim
And even though it's highly remembered and yet to be proven, we are Native American too.
Questions to pursue
- Which maternal ancestor was believed in family lore to have Cherokee or Native American lineage?
- Have modern autosomal DNA tests of living descendants detected any indigenous North American genetic markers?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 05:59
Family lore / Notable and notorious historical figures
And some of our ancestors are famous or infamous for their acts in U.S. history.
Questions to pursue
- Did the family preserve oral stories regarding Jim Buck Waldrip and the wartime events in the Texas Hill Country?
- What other ancestors did Diana have in mind when mentioning famous or infamous acts in American history?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 06:28
Family structure / Janice's line, cousin cohort, and generational memory
Recently, I shared a story and a message that I am the second oldest of 17 cousins just on my mom's side. And that growing up, I knew many generations of my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles, my great-aunts and uncles, and my great-great-aunts and uncles. But in our generation, there was a posse of us Waldrop grandkids, right? Most of whom now have their own grandkids. And we know each other.
Questions to pursue
- Can a complete family roster of the seventeen maternal cousins be compiled from surviving family albums?
- Which great-aunts and great-uncles in Arizona were primary storytellers during Diana's youth?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 07:26
Kinship and occupation / John Franklin Waldrip as railroad brakeman
John Franklin Waltrip, who is Melvin and Janice and Marvin and Tommy's grandfather and a few others who might be in the room, he actually worked on the railroad, no surprise, right, in New Mexico, and he was a brakeman on the railroad.
Questions to pursue
- Do employment records survive for the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway or El Paso and Southwestern Railroad listing John Franklin Waldrip as a brakeman?
- Did John Franklin work out of the Alamogordo rail yards or at the mountain railhead in Cloudcroft?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 07:43
Mountain agriculture / Clearing pine stumps for orchards in New Mexico
And on his days off from railroading, he worked at clearing land. There were large stumps, pine stumps left in some fields and orchards, and these needed to be taken out.
Questions to pursue
- Which specific orchards in Mountain Park or High Rolls did John Franklin clear under contract?
- Did the Waldrip family maintain their own commercial fruit orchard adjacent to George Thomas's homestead?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 07:55
Agricultural technology / Horse-powered capstan stump puller
And so John had a team of horses and a stump puller consisting of a heavy cable with a drum and a wooden beam. And the drum would be anchored down and the cable wrapped around the stump and the horses simply went around the drum pulling the beam and winding the cable to pull the stump out.
Questions to pursue
- Was the stump puller owned by John Franklin Waldrip or leased from a local lumber company in Mountain Park?
- What team of horses did John Franklin use to operate the sweep?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 08:12
Trauma and accident / Shattered sweep beam and severe injuries
And while trying to pull an extra large stump one day, John was in an accident, and he was behind the beam, which splintered, and a piece of it came back hitting him in the side, breaking his wrist, two lower ribs and displacing a kidney.
Questions to pursue
- Did local newspapers in Alamogordo or Cloudcroft publish a report of John Franklin Waldrip's industrial accident around 1908 to 1912?
- What exact date or year did the accident take place?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 08:29
Oral tradition and faith / Emergency prayer for healing and sons
In this moment of excruciating pain, John cried out to God for help, saying, Jesus, please help me, and let me live long enough for my sons to take over. Please heal me, and I will serve you the rest of my life. As the story goes, his prayers were answered.
Questions to pursue
- Was this prayer recounted by John Franklin during church sermons or prayer meetings in Pleasant Valley?
- Did his sons Floyd and Sherman speak of their father's vow in later years?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 08:50
Medical emergency / Nephrectomy and German surgeon prior to World War I
He was rescued and treated by a German doctor who just happened to be in that little town. His kidney had to be removed and the rib bone splinters picked out of his intestines, but he was okay. After that, the doctor returned to Germany just before World War I and never was heard from again.
Questions to pursue
- Can local Alamogordo or Cloudcroft hospital or sanatorium records from 1908 to 1914 identify a visiting German surgeon?
- Did John Franklin Waldrip's medical file survive in New Mexico or Arizona health records?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 09:10
John Franklin Waldrip / Long-term recovery, chronic injury, and lay preaching
But John Fuller recovered, and although he was always bothered by this accident, he did serve God the rest of his life, preaching when he could and caring for his family.
Questions to pursue
- Which church congregations in Young or the Salt River Valley did John Franklin Waldrip preach at?
- Are there local church records or obituary tributes mentioning his lay preaching service?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
- Told · 10:25
Biographical reflection / Christian faith of Melvin and Tommy Waldrip
So we know that both Tommy and Melvin, toward the end of their lives, found strength in their faith. They were always men of faith in their families and faith in their country. And with time, they became men of faith in Jesus. Following the footsteps of the Waldron's who have gone before them.
Questions to pursue
- What church or pastoral ministries did Melvin and Tommy Waldrip support during their later years in Phoenix?
- Are there personal writings or family tributes recording their spiritual reflections?
Recorded testimony, retained as a research lead. The corpus contains related evidence; Diana's own research files have not yet been examined here.
Subjects Referenced in This Recollection
Archive References
Archival Analysis & Context
An excerpt from the family memorial recording, retained as an attributed recollection.
- Machine transcript with family-name corrections. The recording remains the source.