My Grandmother

Dave (Samual David) and Mollie (Mary Frances Samson) Gregory were married in Haigler, Nebraska on July 4, 1907. They first lived on a farm north of Haigler that they called the Aultman Place, but later took up residency in a house on south King Avenue.

They had 5 children; Frances Matilda, MaryAnna Margaret, William Richard, David Doyle and Elsie Fern.

Frances was named for her grandmother Mary Frances (Goodin) Samson, Margaret's first name came from both grandmothers (Mary Goodin and Anna Belle (Thrasher) Gregory), Richard received the family name of Richard which was passed down to one of the sons for many generations.

Dave owned a team of horses and a dray wagon that he used to haul anything people wanted moved from one place to another.

The year of 1914 was a very hard year for this family. Doyle acquired diphtheria and died in February 1914 at the age of 1 year. In August, Dave succumbed to tuberculosis. Fern, who was born in May, 1914, lived until December and was buried beside her brother and father in the Haigler cemetery in plots owned by Bill (William Martin) Samson, who was Mollie's father.


This picture is of the house where Dave and Mollie Gregory lived in 1914. It was taken in the 1980s during a drive through Haigler with my dad when he was showing me the places he lived when he was growing up in Haigler

Bill Samson owned and operated a hotel and restaurant on the corner of Porter Avenue and Hiway 34 where the IGA Grocery stands today. In order to care for and feed her family, Mollie went to work for her father. It was while working in the restaurant that she met Horace Roach, who was in town working for the C.B&Q Railroad.

Horace and Mollie were married on November 9, 1916. They set up residence on homestead land between Anton and Yuma, Colorado. This is where Marlin Franklin and Horace Quentin were born. In 1918, Horace's job on the railroad took them to Oxford, Nebraska for a awhile. This is where Ollie May and Virginia Jewell were born. They were back in Haigler, Nebraska from 1922 to 1930. Betty Lois was born in 1929 and around the year 1930, they moved north of Laird, where Bud (Lowel Thomas) was born. They later settled in Wray, Colorado where Horace and Mollie lived until his death in 1958 and hers in 1970.


This picture is of the house in Oxford, Nebraska, where the Roach family lived from 1918 to 1922 before moving back to Haigler, Nebraska.

My dad tells a story about when they moved from Oxford to Haigler, they loaded all their posessions on a Model A Ford. Things were tied on top and hanging from the sides and bumpers of this car. He remembers moving into a house that sat on the corner of where Hiway 27 now hooks into Hiway 34, just north of the house "Buck" Ryan grew up in. The last I looked, there is still remenants of a foundation in that location.