The family consisted of the parents, seven sons (Redford, Charles,
     George Dee, Alva, William, Clifford and Gilbert) and two daughters
     (Mary Robinson and Laura McGilliard). Six of the children (Charles,
     Alva, Mary, William, Clifford and Gilbert) have celebrated their
     golden wedding anniversaries. The others were separated by death.
     Isn't this a record for one family?
        Grandfather Theophilus D. Inslee was born near Batavia, New York,
     in 1849. His father was blind, so at the age of twelve years he left
     home to help support the family. He got a job on the Erie Canal, 
     driving horses - pulling the barges up and down the canal. A group
     of settlers in covered wagons and on horseback were going west to
     seek their fortunes. He decided to go with them. That was the last
     time he saw his family. Of course, they wrote letters and sent barrels
     of gifts by train.
        At the age of twenty-one, he arrived in Kansas and settled in
     Pottowatomie County. He did farm work and any other work that he could
     find. He married Emma Harriet Rinebarger in 1879. Farms were being
     homesteaded in Barber County near Isabel. So, in 1884 they and their
     two small sons (Redford and Charles) came to Barber County in a
     covered wagon. They homesteaded a farm that was later known as C.C.
     Campbell farm. In 1890 they bought the farm now owned by William Inslee
     just a few miles north of where they  were living. The farm didn't have
     a house. While Grandfather, with the help of his neighbors was building
     a house, Grandmother took the children back to Pottawatomie County to
     send them to school. After the house was built, the children went to a 
     little country school nearby.
        Grandfather made his living farming with the help of his children.
     The older boys spent most of their time herding cattle, since there
     weren't many fences. While the cattle grazed peacefully, the boys had
     horse races, traded horses, pocket knives, and other things with the
     neighboring cowboys. They also picked up cowchips and anything else
     they could burn in a cookstove. The boys helped plant and harvest wheat
     and corn which took a long time as the ground was worked with walking
     machinery pulled by horses. Some of the wheat and corn was taken to Elm
     Mills to be ground or traded for flour and corn meal. It was a long trip
     down there by wagon.
        Grandmother had a large garden and did lots of canning and preserving.
     She made quilts and did a lot of fancy work besides wasing on the board
     for a large family. They milked cows and made many round rolls of yellow
     cheese, which they sold, ate, or gave to their neighbors. She usually
     had pie and lots of homemade bread and butter to feed her many visitors.
        Grandfather died in May 1913 and left Grandmother with a family of
     four to care for. She finally had a house built in Isabel, where she lived
     with the two younger boys and sent them to school. She died in June, 1942.
 
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 250
     Submitted by: Bertha Inslee Rucker, Beverly Inslee Hewitt