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| Ernest Bell Michael, age 69, on the government wharf at Fort Chipewyan, Autumn 1959. Mah's Athabasca Café is behind his cap. There is ice on Mission Bay, and the fuel tanks are in place for Herb Stoger to produce the first electricity for the town. Photo by Paul Kelpin. |
While researching parish records from St. Paul the Apostle Anglican Mission in Fort Chipewyan I noticed many entries for Ernest Bell Michael. Then while planning a trip to Fort Chipewyan with McMurray Aviation an advertisement for Johnny Michaels B&B caught my eye. This reminded me of this photo of Tex Michael buried in my father's slides. So who was he? My memory of him and his family is vague. Time for the internet....
According to the Virginia Register of Births Tex was born to parents Eli and Mary Michael on March 18, 1890 in the North River District of Augusta County. The 1900 census lists him as the third of six children in the Michael family living on a freehold farm in Sangerville Precinct of Augusta County.
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| Tex's birth entry in the 1890 Virginia Register of Births for Augusta County |
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| Tex's father Eli Jackson Michael was born December 19, 1860 in Highland County, Virginia and died December 18, 1938 in Sangerville, Virginia |
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| Tex's mother Mary Ann "Polly" Armstrong was born December 12, 1862 in Highland County, Virginia and died August 19, 1942 in Spring Creek, Virginia |
On his Military Draft Registration on June 5, 1917 Tex states his birthplace as Palo Alto, Virginia. At the time he was working on Tom McGinnis' farm near Bozeman, Montana.
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| Tex's Selective Service Draft Registration Card |
Palo Alto is in the upper Shenandoah Valley deep in the Appalachians, the oldest mountain range in North America. An unincorporated community in Highland County, Virginia, it is less than a kilometer from the West Virginia border, on the south branch of the south fork headwaters of the Potomac River. Set in Virginia’s smallest and most rural county, Palo Alto is a lonely geographical site. At one time the area had a post office — signifying the existence of some sort of community —today there is no trace of an identifiable town.
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| Palo Alto, Tex's birthplace, is on the border between Virginia and West Virginia |
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| Palo Alto is isolated in a narrow valley in a tributary of the Potomac River |
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| Palo Alto today is comprised of these two farms. |
European settlement of this area by Germans and Scots-Irish began around 1745. Tex's great grandparents John and Elizabeth Michael were both born in Highland County in the 1790's, so it is likely their families were original settlers. This area of Virginia had been occupied by Indigenous peoples for at least 12,000 years. During the mid-1700's colonization progressively forced Iroquois and Shawnee tribes further west across the Appalachians. In addition to losing their lands through a series of treaties, their population declined due to introduced diseases, warfare and assimilationist policies. It isn't clear whether any First Nations people were in the area when the Michael family first settled.
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| Highland County near Palo Alto, photo by Mike O'Shell |
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| Blue Ridge Mountains south of Palo Alto, photo by Ken Thomas |
Tex's next appearance in public records is in the 1926 census of the prairie provinces, married but living alone in Fort Chipewyan. In the 1931 census he is married to Gladys Jemima, age 19, with a son 10 months old. They live in a two-room wooden house in Fort Chipewyan with no radio. He states that he immigrated to Canada in 1917 and is a US citizen with Irish roots. The family attends the Church of England, Tex is a labourer doing odd jobs for total wages of $850 in the previous 12 months, and Gladys is a homemaker. Tex was working on June 1, 1931 (this is a specific question on the census form!). There is also an entry "living off the country" which is scratched over.
Tex fathered eleven children in his lifetime, two with his first wife and nine with his second wife Gladys.
Tex Michael died in Edmonton on March 3, 1972, at the age of 81 years. He is fondly remembered by his family as a loving, dedicated, hard-working, independent man with a fascinating history.
Tex' assertion that he had Irish roots inspired me to look for any genealogical research done on his family. The FamilySearch website identifies his ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, Germany and France, going back as far as the 14th century. Notably, his great great great grandmother Christina Rexroth, born in Gernany in 1736 and immigrated to Virginia, is descended from the von Reckerodt clan: landowners, feudal lords and castle men known for their fierce loyalty to the Landgraviate of Hesse. In 1332, in exchange for their pledge of service the family was given title to the Fürsteneck Castle in the Hessian Rhön Mountains. Tex's lineage can be traced to his 14-greats grandfather Hermann von Reckerodt who was born in 1385. Of course, considering that we have 65,536 14-great grandparents this isn't that significant, but still....
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| The von Reckerodt family coat of arms shows a shield split or divided lengthways into blue and silver, on which there are two turned away or separated eagle wings in a mixed color. A silver eagle, crowned in gold, rises from the golden crown on the steel-coloured tournament helmet. The helmet covers are in blue and silver. |
When he arrived in Fort Chipewyan word got around that he had worked on a ranch in Texas, so someone nick-named him Tex, and it stuck!
