I remember the long evenings, sitting on the lawn, children listening, older folks
  reminiscing with neighbors and old timers. Old Bill Horn told us of Stage Coach driving
  days, and hunting wild turkeys with Dad. Uncle Gus Palmer kept us enthralled with San
  Francisco earthquake tales. And Frances remembers sitting on Carrie Nation's lap as
  she visited with Mama.
     When Great Uncle Alex Case came, we learned that Dad had made the long trip from
  Pennsylvania to Kansas without a coat. Following the Civil War, in 1865, Milton H.
  Case took his wife and four year old son, Huston, west. Huston ran off to say "Good-by"
  to friends on that last day, and then found at the very last moment, ws minus his jacket. 
  Grandfather opened a law office in Topeka, became an influential citizen, and rated 
  having his biography in the United States Biographical Dictionary of 1879.
     Aunt Jim Coleman, Mamma's youngest sister, told of the Roberts' family trip west
  from Iowa by covered wagon. Mamma, Blanche, was born on April 29, 1875, soon after they
  arrived in Kansas. John and Rosa Roberts settled in Kowa, and opened a bakery, rearing
  three daughters there. Grandma said she was terrified on Saturday nights, when the 
  cowboys came to town to celebrate. When the shooting started, she hid under the bed 
  with the three little girls.
     When the Cherokee Strip was ready to open, Grandfather was allowed to set up a 
  temporary bakery in Alva, Oklahoma. The Santa Fe Railway ran a temporary track to Alva,
  and our father, a railway mail clerk, rode in, jumped off the train at opening time, and
  staked a claim nearby.
     It was during this time that our parents met, fell in love, and were married in Alva
  on March 20, 1894. They spent their honeymoon driving, by horse and buggy, from Alva
  to Medicine Lodge, where a new home was waiting and where Dad was Agent at the Santa
  Fe Depot. (Later he owned a hardware store, then an insurance agency). At one of the
  overnight stops at a ranch, Dad proved to all to ve the hero that Mamma already knew
  him to be. As the family and guests visited, outside, they watched a baby practice
  his first attempt to run away. Suddenly they heard an unmistakable rattle warning, and
  all froze in fear, excepting Dad, who picked up the ever-ready rifle at his side, and
  fired, killing the coiled rattler near the toddler.
     The house awaiting the bride and groom was to be their family home from April 1, 1894,
  until the death of our mother in November, 1940. To this union eight children were born,
  seven growing to maturity,a nd educated in the Medicine Lodge schools: Milton, deceased;
  Frances, retired fur salon manager; Gordon, retired pharmacist and developer of a marketed
  medical powder; Huston, retired dairy farmer; Brick (Alexander) retired Captain, Marine
  Air Force; Ruth, retired teacher; and Keith, retired businessman.
     Now, when we get together, we, the older folk, reminisce, our children and grand-
  children listenintg to tales of their grandparents' early life in Medicine Lodge; of the
  Case boys' athletic prowness; bad accidents and miraculous recoveries; hunting and
  fishing adventures; picnics at the farm, gathering wild grapes and sand-hill plums for
  Mamma's prize-winning jellies; Sunday nights with popcorn, milk, cake, and toasted
  marshmallows; and gala Thankstgiving and Christmas parties at our house or at Uncle Dr.
  T.A. Coleman's with feasting and dancing. These are protracted loving memories of a
  family growing up in a small Kansas town.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 124 
     Submitted by: Ruth A. Case