Parents

Father: Johann "John" Failner

Mother: Rose Florence Thompson f: Anderson Whitfield Thompson    gf: Richard Thompson    gm: Frances L. Ballard m: Jennie Florence Clark    gf: William Lysander Clark    gm: Mary M. Davis

Siblings

Margarite Marie "Mikki" Failner   +Roland Reed Squires Sr.         Roland Reed Squires Jr.         Ronald Edward Squires         Rick Lynn Squires         Cheri Margaret Squires	Edward Brennett "Ed" Failner	Eva Ruby Failner
John Whitfield "Jack" Failner	Oscar Failner

Family

Wife: Ina Elda Marshall

Children

Debra Ina Failner   +Gary Lloyd Wilkins	George Lawrence Failner	Vaughn Winford Failner   +Millie Yvonne Kilpatrick

Buggy Ride I thought today I would share some more of my father's history. I will give you some background so you will know what is going on. Rose, and the kids all are living in California at this point of time. She is married to Alanzo, and they decide to take a trip to Idaho to visit with Johann, or John my grandfather. Rose and John are divorced at this point of time. So Rose, Alanzo, Win, Mikki, Ed, Eva, and Jack took this trip or at least started to go to Idaho. Win, my father describes the vehicle they are taking as a 1925 Dodge pickup flat bed, something like the movie "Grapes of Wrath", they pack up the bedding and kids and they slept on the seats or ground or whatever. There was not the option of hotels etc. Now I will quote from the history. "So here we are driving down the road. No top on it or nothing. No nothing it's just a windshield there in front that's all. So we were sailing down the road. Had a flat tire. Managed to get it fixed. In those days when you had a flat tire, you took it off patched it right there and put it back up on. And pumped it up. Well we got down the road a piece and then we had another flat tire. And we managed to get up to Olan, California with that car in that condition. With about three flat tires. And a...we...finally the tire went out, and we couldn't patch it no more. There was nothing left, and we had no money to but another tire. So we pulled in along the canal there. And we had some kind of a little shade for a tent that we put up next to the car. And that's where we'd do our cooking and things. For the rest of the living we'd sleep in the car. And where ever we could find a place to sleep. Seemed like we found a guy there that had a car that was enclosed, and he had a bunk inside of it. But there was a lot of people camped along there. That was where there's no place else to stay, so it was a regular open air camp place. But it wasn't officially like it is now. You know they have camping places, but this didn't have any such thing at that time. It was right beside a big canal. We used to do our swimmin in the canal, had a lot of fun there. What we did was go out and pick fruit. And that's where we got our money to get our groceries, and things like that. Seems like we had a pretty good time. And enjoyed ourselves there. But a I don't want you to forget about the Grapes of Wrath. If you haven't seen it, you ought to see it. Cause this was exactly the way we traveled. And that picture of that car where they rode in the Grapes of Wrath, was exactly like the one we had. And it looked just like it piled up with all the things we had on the running boards, or where ever we could get it on. Well we finally wound up with a contract to go up a little further north, and pick some almonds for a guy. And that was an almond tree, and I don't know if probably you never picked almonds. And probably you never picked prunes, but you pick em from the tree. What you do is lay down canvases. And then you'd have a soft big maul hammer, and you'd swing it. And hit the butt of the tree. And that shakes em off. Shakes em down onto the canvases. Then you roll em in that on slant. Then you pull the canvas over onto the slant, and that puts it in boxes automatically. That's how we did it. I guess they've got machines that do it now. That's how we did it at that time. So in the evenings we had this place where we stayed to pick the almonds. There was an old house there and we kind of stayed in there for most of the time. Only we didn't sleep outside. But they had a buggy out there. And that buggy attracted our attention. We used to play with that. We'd get it, an push it, and roll it. Somebody would guide it, and the others would ride it. We seen a little hill over here to the side of it. And so we decided that we would have a litttle extra fun. And so we struggled for all that we was worth to get up to the top of that hill. And the buggy had a long shaft on it for the horses...horse... team of horses. And that's what they used to pull it and guide it. We'd didn't know what to do with that. We didn't want to take it off that's for sure. So we took a rope and we tied it up all so it wouldn't be on the ground. And a my sister and brother got on to the seat. And they were to be the guide...and there was not guide to it, really they was to be up on the seat. And the other two sat on the buggy. And I sat right on the rear of the buggy. And I gave it a shove and let it go. Then I hopped on. Well we was really rollin down that hill. I want to tell ya. And we was screaming to the high heaven. And we got just about to the bottm, and the shaft rope broke, and let the tongue right into the ground. And it pushed the buggy up in the air and rolled it over. And I fell off the buggy and pretty soon the clip come down and hit me on the shoulder...And I guess that was my brother. He lit right on my shoulder we flew throught the air. Well I don't know how we kept from getting killed on that one. But we didn't. And we really...we sneaked the buggy back from where we got it from. And told nothing to my mother about it. But that was quite a show. It have been nice if we had a movie picture of that one. But they was screamin to high heaven on the way down that hill. We had quite a bit of fun and pick a lot of almonds while we was there. And that was a good experience. From there we went back...back to Modesto. The welfare I think paid part of the way or something. I can't remember how we got there, but I do remember this much that they didn't have any place to put us. And so some of us had to go into the children's home or the detention home for over night to stay." Article written by Debbie Wilkins, as told by her father, Winford Threewood "Win" Failner April 8, 2000

Photo Archive

John & William McGee and John Failner Families

Win and Ina Failner meet the McGees

Win Failner Family

General Sources

1. Debbie Wilkins
   Rose Florence Thompson family articleWritten by Debra WilkinsA Grand-DaughterAugust 2, 2000
   
2. Debbie Wilkins
       I thought today I would share some more of my father's history. I
   will give you some background so you will know what is going on. Rose,
   and the kids all are living in California at this point of time. She is
   married to Alanzo, and they decide to take a trip to Idaho to visit with
   Johann, or John my grandfather. Rose and John are divorced at this
   point of time. So Rose, Alanzo, Win, Mikki, Ed, Eva, and Jack took this
   trip or at least started to go to Idaho. Win, my father describes the
   vehicle they are taking as a 1925 Dodge pickup flat bed, something like
   the movie "Grapes of Wrath", they pack up the bedding and kids and they
   slept on the seats or ground or whatever. There was not the option of
   hotels etc. Now I will quote from the history.
   
       "So here we are driving down the road. No top on it or nothing. No
   nothing it's just a windshield there in front that's all. So we were
   sailing down the road. Had a flat tire. Managed to get it fixed. In
   those days when you had a flat tire, you took it off patched it right
   there and put it back up on. And pumped it up.
       Well we got down the road a piece and then we had another flat
   tire. And we managed to get up to Olan, California with that car in
   that condition. With about three flat tires. And a...we...finally the
   tire went out, and we couldn't patch it no more. There was nothing
   left, and we had no money to but another tire. So we pulled in along
   the canal there. And we had some kind of a little shade for a tent that
   we put up next to the car. And that's where we'd do our cooking and
   things.
       For the rest of the living we'd sleep in the car. And where ever we
   could find a place to sleep. Seemed like we found a guy there that had
   a car that was enclosed, and he had a bunk inside of it. But there was
   a lot of people camped along there. That was where there's no place
   else to stay, so it was a regular open air camp place. But it wasn't
   officially like it is now. You know they have camping places, but this
   didn't have any such thing at that time. It was right beside a big
   canal. We used to do our swimmin in the canal, had a lot of fun there.
       What we did was go out and pick fruit. And that's where we got our
   money to get our groceries, and things like that. Seems like we had a
   pretty good time. And enjoyed ourselves there. But a I don't want you
   to forget about the Grapes of Wrath. If you haven't seen it, you ought
   to see it. Cause this was exactly the way we traveled. And that
   picture of that car where they rode in the Grapes of Wrath, was exactly
   like the one we had. And it looked just like it piled up with all the
   things we had on the running boards, or where ever we could get it on.
       Well we finally wound up with a contract to go up a little further
   north, and pick some almonds for a guy. And that was an almond tree,
   and I don't know if probably you never picked almonds. And probably you
   never picked prunes, but you pick em from the tree. What you do is lay
   down canvases. And then you'd have a soft big maul hammer, and you'd
   swing it. And hit the butt of the tree. And that shakes em off.
   Shakes em down onto the canvases. Then you roll em in that on slant.
   Then you pull the canvas over onto the slant, and that puts it in boxes
   automatically. That's how we did it. I guess they've got machines that
   do it now. That's how we did it at that time.
       So in the evenings we had this place where we stayed to pick the
   almonds. There was an old house there and we kind of stayed in there
   for most of the time. Only we didn't sleep outside. But they had a
   buggy out there. And that buggy attracted our attention. We used to
   play with that. We'd get it, an push it, and roll it. Somebody would
   guide it, and the others would ride it. We seen a little hill over here
   to the side of it. And so we decided that we would have a litttle
   extra fun. And so we struggled for all that we was worth to get up to
   the top of that hill. And the buggy had a long shaft on it for the
   horses...horse... team of horses. And that's what they used to pull it
   and guide it. We'd didn't know what to do with that. We didn't want to
   take it off that's for sure. So we took a rope and we tied it up all so
   it wouldn't be on the ground. And a my sister and brother got on to the
   seat. And they were to be the guide...and there was not guide to it,
   really they was to be up on the seat. And the other two sat on the
   buggy. And I sat right on the rear of the buggy. And I gave it a shove
   and let it go. Then I hopped on.
       Well we was really rollin down that hill. I want to tell ya. And
   we was screaming to the high heaven. And we got just about to the
   bottm, and the shaft rope broke, and let the tongue right into the
   ground. And it pushed the buggy up in the air and rolled it over. And
   I fell off the buggy and pretty soon the clip come down and hit me on
   the shoulder...And I guess that was my brother. He lit right on my
   shoulder we flew throught the air.
       Well I don't know how we kept from getting killed on that one. But
   we didn't. And we really...we sneaked the buggy back from where we got
   it from. And told nothing to my mother about it. But that was quite a
   show. It have been nice if we had a movie picture of that one. But
   they was screamin to high heaven on the way down that hill.
       We had quite a bit of fun and pick a lot of almonds while we was
   there. And that was a good experience. From there we went back...back
   to Modesto. The welfare I think paid part of the way or something. I
   can't remember how we got there, but I do remember this much that they
   didn't have any place to put us. And so some of us had to go into the
   children's home or the detention home for over night to stay."
   
3. 1920 Census
   

   1920 Census - Jerome, Idaho - January 7, 1920
   |fm|sa |h# |Name              |rel    |h|s|r|age   |m|    |    |sc|rd |wri|birth  |father  |mother  |trade |type        |em|f#|twp          |pg |date
   |fm|175|178|Failner, John     |Head   |R|m|w|50    |m|1903|1910|  |yes|yes|Germany|Germany |Germany |farmer|general farm|oa|86|Eden precinct|36b|January 21, 1920
   |  |   |   |Failner, Rosa     |Wife   | |f|w|21    |m|    |    |no|yes|yes|Akansas|Missouri|Missouri|none  |            |  |  |             |   |
   |  |   |   |Failner, Winford  |son    | |m|w|4 2/12|s|    |    |  |   |   |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none  |            |  |  |             |   |
   |  |   |   |Failner, Margarite|daugher| |f|w|1 6/12|s|    |    |  |   |   |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none  |            |  |  |             |   |
   |  |   |   |Failner, Edny     |son    | |m|w|9/12  |s|    |    |  |   |   |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none  |            |  |  |             |   |