INTRODUCING BOBBI HARRISON

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Under "More Memories of the Past" that Devin Strecker had sent more pictures of the Paradise Hotel, he had talked about the family. Then, he had told me more in an e-mail. I asked him if I could put that on the blog. He said he needed to get permission from his cousin first.

Devin's cousin, Bobbi, is the daughter of Claude Hendershott (later to be known as Kenneth James Marshall).

Devin wrote Bobbi the following . . . .
Bobbi,I don't know if you're aware of the blog paradiseeducated.blogspot.com but it's a site I really enjoy as it has a lot of history and current information about people who are from Paradise. Onnalee, the lady who runs the blog, has posted some pictures I sent her that I got from your site. She wanted to know if she could relate the story about your father but I wanted to see how you would feel about that, and if you would want to tell it yourself. She posted some of the pics of the Paradise Hotel recently so that was how it came out. Check out the blog and let me know what you think. You can always contact Onnalee directly through the blog if you'd like too. Devin

Bobbi immediately e-mailed me and sent these photo's. Her e-mail is below the photo's with more description within the e-mail.

Bobbi described the photo's . . . .

This great photo was a gift to me from Sharen (Saum) Bell. Seated are our great-grandparents, Randolph Foster & Mary (Talbert) Saum. Sharen's grandfather is George Albert Saum, 2nd from the right; my grandmother, Ida May (Saum), wife of George Edmond Hendershott, was their only daughter. This is the only photo that I have of my paternal grandmother.The missing sibling in the photo was the youngest child, Frank Foster Saum b-Oct. 11, 1889 d-Oct. 21, 1897. He was shot & killed at the age of 8 in a hunting accident by his brother George.April 1, 2001 identifications provided by my aunt, Lois (Hendershott) Lindshield. L to R:Alfred Allen, oldest b-1872 d-1940; Walter Jessie 2nd b-1873 d-1939; Charles Isaac 3rd b-1875 d-1929; Ida May 7th b- 1885 d- 1923; Nathan Ernest 4th b-1878 d-1944; Emmett Roy 8th b-1887 d-1925; George Albert 6th b-1882 d-1948; Wilber Lewis 5th b-1880 d- 1933.





3Bobbi's Great Grandmother
Mary (Talbert) Saum.
She is napping.

James and Sarah (Barker)
Hendershott 6




















2nd Lt. George Hendershott
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Saum home becomes Hotel Paradise
These have been on the blog before,
but all of these photo's are from
Bobbi Harrison






















Paradise Hotel Veranda Addition















And . . . . here is Bobbi's very descriptive e-mail.
Bobbi gave me permission to publish this in full on the Paradise Blog.

Hi Onnalee,
I just learned today about your site from Devin Strecker who is my cousin and son of my 1st cousin, Rhonda (Hendershott) Strecker. I left a comment on your site about the Paradise Hotel photo with the 8 people on the porch. I understand you will review it before it's posted. I have 2 MyFamily.com sites for my father's side of my family, one for our Hendershot/Hendershott Descendants and the other is Descendants of Nicholas Saum. I don't mind a bit these photos being shared on your site, but do want the ownership and where they came from to be noted.
I was very fortunate when I discovered my birth roots that both family surnames were already well documented and researched back to our German immigrant ancestors. I was even more fortunate when I began to make contact with my many Hendershott and Saum cousins that I didn't know I had before, that they've all shared many priceless photos and keepsakes that I never had of my father's side of my family.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the various other ways the Paradise Hotel looked, from when it began as my Great-grandparents home (Randolph Foster Saum & Mary Talbert). Also attached is a family photo of them with 8 of their 9 children. Their youngest son, Frank Foster Saum (my cousin, Sharon's, grandfather) was accidentally shot and killed at the age of 8 in a hunting accident by his brother George. My Grandmother, Ida May (Saum) Hendershott is buried next to Frank in the Mount Herman Cemetery, as are many of my other Hendershott, Saum and Dwinelle family members. Vada (Dwinelle) Krumwiede is my 2nd cousin and her grandmother Maude May (Hendershott) Dwinelle was the only sister to my grandfather, George Edmond Hendershott. Attached is a photo of my grandfather as a 2nd Lt. in the Kansas National Guard during WW I. Also of his parents, James Montgomery & Sarah Delilah (Barker) Hendershott who moved from Wisconsin to Paradise, KS in 1882, where they remained until their deaths ...hers in 1921 and he in 1922. It's the only photo I have of them, other than their gravestone photo. He served in the Civil War, as did his 2 brothers and I have the pension files for all 3 of them. Very interesting reading, especially the hand written letters.

I have other photos of the family members that were born and lived in Paradise if you're interested in having them for your site as well. When I finally located my father's only remaining sibling, my Aunt Lois (Hendershott) Lindshield in Lindsborg, KS by telephone in February 2001, it was she who was able to answer the question of why my father had completely changed his name. She has since passed away too, in June 2005. But before her death, she was able to identify a lot of faces in the photos that had been in her brother Everett's collection and oh how well she'd described the Paradise Hotel to me over the phone. For she lived there with her grandparents after her Mom died in 1923, just 2 days after the birth of the twin boys. Lois wasn't quite 3 yet when they were born and their Mom died.

My Mom left him my Dad when I was 18 months old.
You see, I never knew my father because my Mom left him when she came home and found him in bed with another woman! She knew he'd been married before and had a daughter and she'd met his one brother Everett . But my Mom died in January 2000 never knowing that my father lied about what his name was. He married her as Kenneth James Marshall in October 1939, but was born as Claude Eugene Hendershott. My aunt told me he'd been writing bad checks in Kansas and when the family quit cleaning up after him he skipped town , deserting his wife and 2 little children (assuming he left after my half brother Rex was born in Dec. 1934). Ironically, When I finally obtained his death certificate, it has both of his names on it, as it was revised by his then 3rd wife. Probably when she found out his true identity from his brother Everett after his death (my speculation there since they were all deceased by the time I tracked this all down). My Uncle Everett went along with his name charade and my Mom sent him a photo Christmas card the year I was born in 1941 and the envelope was addressed to Everett Marshall in Kansas and then forwarded on to Everett Hendershott. Ironically, this was among the many family keepsakes that my Uncle Everett had saved and that his daughter sent to me after her Mom had passed away too.

Well I don't mind sharing this unusual tale of my louse of a father, who never tried to contact me the rest of my life. But I'm not sure I want all of what he did to be posted on the open Internet, which your blog is. At least on the MyFamily.com sites, they're private, password protected, by invitation only and so we share there a lot that we wouldn't post on the open Internet. Louse though he was to both his wives and all 3 of his children, he was the looser in the end and never knew his many grandchildren before he died in 1964. Even more ironically, he was living in Portland, Oregon at the time of his death.....just 4 hours south of where I lived in Seattle and he knew that's where my Mom returned after she left him, because he'd been there with her too. Plus he'd remained in contact with my Mom's Aunt and husband who knew where we lived, so he could have reached me had he really wanted to.

I never knew my father,
But he did leave me a wonderful family genealogy legacy that I never knew about before. Plus I'm met numerous of my cousins now and have contact via email and phone with many of the others that I haven't been fortunate yet to meet....including my half-sister and my nephew from my half-brother.
Till later....
Bobbi Harrison

PS- my other email bobbih2u@gmail
is the one that's recorded from sending you a posting from your blog, but this is my primary email and the one I use for my genealogy.


Thank You Bobbi for the information, the memories and the photo's.
And . . . . Welcome to the Paradise Blog and the extended family of our
Paradise Relatives and Friends.