Yuma County, Colorado
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Yuma County Pioneer Photographs:

Albert M. Troyer, Logan.
 

ONE POSSIBLE -
"History of Henry County, IL: William Troyer came from Canada with his father John Troyer in 1851 and took up Northwest Quarter Section 33. In 1854 and 1855 William Troyer was clerking for Silas Morton in the first store in Annawan. He married in 1855. I built a house for him in Annawan that fall. Then in 1856 he made some improvements on his land. The next year I built a frame house for him on his farm. He made that his home until a frame house for him on his farm. He made that his home until about 1883, then he went to Nebraska and died there October 13, 1899. He was born February 26, 1832 in Canada and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Annawan Township, Henry County, Illinois."

William and Ione Annette (Tinker) Troyer are buried in Fairview Cemetery, Henry County # 57889634.
"Kewanee Daily Star-Courier (Henry Co., Il) Mon. May 1st 1922 p.4
Mrs. Iona Troyer Laid to Rest in Fairview Cemetery
Funeral services for Mrs. Iona Troyer were held at 1:30 o'clock Saturday afternoon at the undertaking parlors of Erickson & McHugh. The Rev. L.C. Trent, pastor of the First Baptist church was in charge, and music was by Mrs. John Pearl. The service was well attended and there were many nice flowers, including floral tributes from California friends.
Bearers were, J.P. Heaps, A. A. Pettitt, J.H. Bowen and Milton Lowery. Burial was in Fairview cemetery.
Ione Annette Tinker was born at Hebron, New York, October 13, 1838. Her father, Charles E. Tinker, as a Baptist gospel minister, later moved to Annawan, Ill., where Ione was married to William Troyer, July 4 1855.
To this union were born two girls and three boys, of whom two boys survive their mother: William L. Troyer, Etiwanda, Calif., and Albert M. Troyer, Fairhope, Alabama. After her husband's decease in 1899 she cast her lot with her youngest son, Leroy E Troyer and followed him to Porto Rico, then to Mexico and finally to Cailfornia, where the son was a faithful missionary of the Cross to the Spanish-speaking people.
After the death of this son she continued to live with her daughter-in-law in Hollywood, Calif., until about eighteen months ago she was stricken with paralysis, at the home of her son in Etiwanda, and died at 5:30 Sabbath morning, April 23, 1922, aged 83 years, 6 months and 10 days. She leaves two sons, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren to keep a green sweet memory of her devoted selfsacrificing christian life. At the age of eleven she was baptized into fellowship with the Baptist church at Oxford, Ill., where her father was then pastor. In her later years her missionary zeal grew intense and no sacrifice was too great if she might thereby save a few pennies or dollars, to send away in response to the heartrending appeals of overworked missionaries.
In the early days of the temperance movement she entered the ranks of the W.C.T.U. and she never appeared in public thereafter without the white ribbon bow. Frances Willard was to her the uncrowned queen among women. And thus passes another noble, bloodwashed soul, a veritable mother-in-Isreal. Her going was swift for the chariot swung a little lower that Sabbath morning and she stepped on board and took a Sabbath's day journey home. "

In 1880 Henry County, Illinois, William Troyer is 46, Iona 41, with William G. 17, Albert M. 13, Leroy 11, and Lulu E. 8. - adopted daughter.
The 1916 publication of the University of Illinois has both Albert Melville Troyer ( acad 1885-6)- sc 1885-6) Mintr Grand Island, Neb (Dorchester Ill)" and "Troyer WIlliam Lincoln ( acad 1883-1884- ag 1884-8) c/o E. A. Robinson Champaign Ill (Dorchester Ill)"

The 1885 Nebraska State Census taken on June 19, 1885, shows Albert Troyer (age 26) born in Illinois to Canadian-born parents is a Mail Carrier and is living in the Town of Dorchester, Saline Co., NE. Living with him are: his wife, Hattie Troyer (age 23) born in Illinois to Illinois-born parents, who Keeps House; and his son, Bennie Troyer (age 2) born in Nebraska to Illinois-born parents. (This must be a cousin or uncle).
In 1890, Leroy plays left end for the University of Nebraska football team, Albert a running back - beating the Omaha YMCA team on Thanksgiving 1890.
1917
In 1897 Rev. L.E. Troyer, '92 and wife of Denver attended a reunion at the University of Nebraska.
Albert scored the very first touchdown for the University of Nebraska football team, in the second half of the Thanksgiving 1890 game.


Albert cash-claimed a quarter in 28, 4S 43W in 1891, and proved up a quarter in 34, 3S 43W in 1894. These are a few miles east of Idalia, Colorado.

Possibly the Albert M. Troyer, with a degree in agriculture from the University of Nebraska.
Albert Melville Troyer of Dorchester, Nebraska was a freshman at the Industrial College in 1887.
In 1892 Elva Dempster was a soprano, and L.E. Troyer a tenor, with the University of Nebraska choir.
In 1900 Lowndes County, Alabama, A. M. Thayer born April 1867 in Illinois, is a farmer, boarding with the C.R. Thorn, "Manager"
In 1910 Baldwin County, Alabama, Albert is living alone, a fruit grower.
In 1914 Albert Troyer of Fairhope, Alabama was the state vice-president of the Nut Growers.
Troyer is a variety of Citrange, a hybrid between sweet oranges and trifoliate orange. These are very cold-hardy. It was made at Riverside, California in 1909. In 1934, it was named TROYER, after A.M. Troyer, place at Fairhope, Alabama it first fruited.
1965 Redlands California "We finally grafted rootstock from one of these Troyer citranges and that did it. The rootstock is not only resistant to cold weather, it's impervious to tristeza. "Almost every orange tree planted in the last 10 years has been Troyer citrange rootstock. "About two-thirds of the two million citrus trees propagated each year are offsprmg of these two trees. "You may wonder about Troyer. Just before World War II, the Russians, asked for a USDA expert to go to the Caucasus, where it's also cold, and help develop a citrus industry. Troyer went over, showed great interest in the Soviet society and took out Russian citizenship. His wife, who later came back to the States, said there was a knock on the door one night and they took him away and he was never seen again."

"Fairhope (Alabama) in the Roaring Twenties" says "Fairhope was a radical town and reflected the revolutionary changes that the decade was having on the nation. In the mid-1920's, Albert M. Troyer, a local citrus grower and agricultural expert, was elected president of the colony. A Socialist, he later emigrated to Soviet Russia, where he disappeared into a gulag."
Anne Miller wrote in 2011 "A(Albert) M Troyer went to "southern Russia," possibly Ukraine area, c 1934 to introduce satsuma oranges to the region. He was arrested by the Stalin regime and apparently imprisoned. Can anyone help me find a lead to exactly where he was and what happened to him? "

Elva Dempster, 38, born in Nebraska, is teaching school in 1910 Seattle, living with her widowed mother Flora, 65.

Albert Melville Troyer, age 41, married Elva Dempster, age 37, in New Orleans July 15, 1912.
In 1920 Fairhope, Alabama, Albert M. and Elva D. are fruit growers. Elva's mother Flora Dempster, 75, is living with them.

In 1930 Fairhope, Alabama, A. M. and Elva Troyer are orchard farmers.


Thanks to Tim Tzouliadis, author of "The Forsaken - An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia"
On February 16, 1938, Elva Troyer, born May 2, 1872 at Geneva, Nebraska, residence Fairhope, Alabama, arrived in New York.
1938 "Senator. Edward R. Burke (Dem.) of Nebraska will confer with Soviet Ambassador A. A. Troyanovsky Wednesday in an effort to gain, the freedom of Albert M. Troyer, 71, former Nebraskan, whose wife asserted he is confined in a Russian prison camp. The newspaper, in a copyrighted story Tuesday, said Mrs. Elva Dempster Troyer, 65, Lincoln, Neb., revealed at Sioux Fulls, S. D., that her husband is serving a 10-year prison sentence on a charge of "counter-revolution." At Washington Tuesday night a government spokesman said the state department, to which Mrs. Troyer appealed, could not help because Troyer renounced his American citizenship aud avowed allegiance to the Soviet last year shortly before his arrest. Mrs. Troyer, who accompanied her husband, a citrus fruit expert, from their Fairhope, Ala., home in 1934 to iSukhum In southern Russia, told the 1 newspaper she had not seen him since his arrest by the Russian secret police June 2G, 1937, and she does not know where he is."


ELVA's FAMILY
In 1880 Geneva, Nebraska, Elva is 8, with J.A. 39 and F.C. 34. J.A. sisters Addie 23 and Caroline L. 20 are with them. Elva's siblings areEdward J. 13, Leroy P. 11, Mable B. 6, and John H. 4.
John A. Dempster, an early settler in Fillmore County, built the Dempster-Sloan House after buying eighty acres lying to the north edge of Geneva. Part of the acreage was developed as Dempster's first addition to Geneva, December 9, 1885. November 11, 1886 he added the second addition and June 22, 1887 fifty three acres were subdivided as Dempster's third addition to Geneva. The Dempster family came to Fillmore County in 1871, traveling across the prairie from Gage County in a covered wagon. They homesteaded the SE1/4 22-5-1 in Franklin Township near the present town of Ohiowa.
Mrs. Flora Dempster's autobiography gives an insightful account of this trip and the accompanying hardships. Dempster was born in 1840 in Dundee, Illinois. He enlisted in the military in 1861, serving in Co. 1, 52 Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In that service he participated in seventeen Civil War battles, as he went with Sherman to the sea. He was mustered out with the rank of Captain in 1865. John A. and Flora C. Paxson were married in Hebron, Illinois, in November of 1865.
Dempster was appointed superintendent of public instruction for Fillmore County in 1872. He was responsible for the organization of public school districts in the county. In 1875 the family moved from the Ohiowa area homestead to Geneva, living in a part of the store in which he had established a business. The business, which provided general merchandise, drugs, and notions, opened in December of 1875. He was postmaster of Geneva from 1878-82. A sister, Addie F. Dempster, came to Geneva to run the post office, which was located in his store. She married George W. Smith and they built a house now listed in the National Register of Historic Places and currently known as the Geneva House (George W. Smith House, NRHP 1986).
Dempster became influential in the development of the city of Geneva, as well as the county. On July 28, 1879, at a meeting shortly after Geneva was incorporated, Dempster was named town treasurer. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1887, serving in the House of Representatives for four years. In 1889 he was elected as councilman for Geneva. The Geneva Foundry Co. was reorganized into the Geneva Iron and Windmill Co. in 1890 with Dempster as its president. Dempster also organized the Geneva National bank and was its first president. In 1890 he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor.
A building on main street Geneva, built in partnership with his brother James, remains today as Dempster's Block 1887. Another half brother to John A. founded the Dempster Mill factory in Beatrice. Geneva High School graduated its first class in 1888 and John and Flora's son Edward was its only member. Following his divorce from Flora in 1892 he moved to Lincoln and later to Omaha in 1898. He died December 21, 1914, in Omaha. At the time of his death he was commander of the National Association of Survivors of the Battle of Shiloh and past department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for Nebraska.
1914 Lincoln, Nebraska "Mrs. Elva Troyer of Mobile, Ala.: Mrs. Mabel Christenson and Mr. J. Henry Dempster of Sioux Falls, S.D. aare the guests of their father, Mr. John A. Dempster, during his illness. Mr. Dempster is slowly convalescing."
John A. Dempster died Dec 20, 1914, and is buried in Omaha, # 37066369.


Elva D. Troyer (Wid Albert) is living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1945.
Elva T. Troyer, age 79, died October 23, 1950 in Washington.


This is L.E. Troyer, another brother minister 1895 Golden, Colorado


May 27, 1896 Golden "We congratulate Rev. and Mrs. Troyer upon the birth of a son. The happy event weurred on Saturday evening last. "

1897 Denver "I am Argie Leroy Troyer. My papa and mamma are Rev. and Mrs. L. E. Troyer. My papa is a Baptist minister. I will be one year old the 24th of next May, but I was only seven months old when this picture was taken. I was born at Golden, but I live at Denver now. I have light hair and blue eyes, and I think that knives were made for little boys to play with. My papa's hat is about the nicest thing I know."
ALBERT's brother WILLIAM
William Lincoln Troyer was also a minister, in Grand Island Nebraska in 1910, with his third wife Mary B. 43, born in New York. Fannie F. is 21, Mabel C. 19, both born in Nebraska, Bessie 7 Nebraska, and Paul Dean 1, Colorado. The last two are probably Mary's kids.
He had married Mary Bell Kent, daughter of Thomas J. Liddle and Margaret Jane McFarean, in Boone County, Iowa, May 31, 1898.

William Lincoln Troyer BIRTH 9 Feb 1863 Annawan, Henry County, Illinois, USA DEATH 3 Apr 1955 Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, USA BURIAL Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum Altadena, Los Angeles County, California, USA PLOT Sunset Lawn, Lot 1391, Grave 7 MEMORIAL ID 210044618.

" Mamma's little diary is back with family again. The story that began with the discovery of an old diary in California linked to a family in Louisville is finally complete. The diary is about a former Louisville resident, Paul Troyer. It begins on Jan. 5, 1909, his birthday, and ends the day he turned 21. The search started in August. Jayne Craven Caldwell of Carpenteria, Calif., found Mary Liddle Troyer's diary about her son in a Ventura, Calif., thrift shop. Caldwell bought it after a couple and a young man decided not to take it. After reading it, Caldwell vowed to find the family of the children in the diary - Fae, Mabel, Bessie and Paul Troyer. Her efforts included a letter to The Louisville Times, which was published Sept. 2. Once successful, Caldwell mailed the diary to the Richard Troyer family in Phelan, Calif, on Oct. 3.
"How this came about and how she got it is just marvelous," said Richard Troyer, Paul Troyer's son. "And then be able to find us in such a short period of time. It had to have the hand of the Lord in it."
Mary Liddle Troyer wrote stories of her son's first few words, every tooth cut and his first steps. And, she wrote stories of visiting the neighbors to hear a 'graph-a-phone' and putting onions on her son when his lungs were bad. Always her tone and expression was of gratitude to God. A key to Caldwell's success was the Family History Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 701 South Boulder Road in Louisville. 'I went to the Social Security Death Index and I found this Paul Troyer,' said Susan Shiner, a family history volunteer helping with the research. 'I was thrilled." The record showed a Paul Troyer with a Jan. 5, 1909 birthday to have died on Feb. 20, 1994, at Phelan, San Bernadino, Calif. It also recorded Mabel Grace Troyer with parents William L. Troyer and Gertrude Robinson. Caldwell started checking the phone book for any Troyers in Phelan.
'Bingo,' Caldwell said, 'I knew we were home,' when the girl answering the phone recognized the name Liddle. Getting the diary back means a lot to the family. 'It's just exciting to me because it opens up the history," said Marianne Troyer, wife of Richard Troyer. 'It makes you feel like they are here again because W.L. and Mary were both wonderful people." W.L. was a circuit rider preacher before he came to Louisville to pastor in 1908. When he moved to California, he would preach and play his pump organ on the comer every Sunday in Pasadena. Every fourth Sunday, he would go to a Jewish synagogue. He is pictured with his long, white beard in the book 'The Grace" by Erik Fngstrom. Mary taught Sunday School almost up until the time she died. She couldn't walk during the last few years, and they took her over to the church in a wheel chair. She would teach elderly women and write encouraging words to those having difficulties.
He and his wife were such godly people,' said Catherine Britt, a granddaughter who grew up in their home with her mother, Bessie. The diary also helps fill in family history holes. 'We didn't know when (W.L. and Mary) left Colorado where they went next,' Richard Troyer said. 'We knew three years later, they came to Etiwanda, Calif., but according to the diary, they went back to Grand Rapids.' And the diary has encouraged a family history gathering. "We could put (Mary's seven or eight diaries) altogether, and we'd get pretty much of a life,' Marianne Troyer said. "I don't know where W.L.'s diaries are, but I'm going to find out.' But the diary also raises questions. Richard Troyer said the family knew about W.L. and Mary's son who died but wasn't sure when it happened before reading the diary. And Marianne said, 'W.L. married Mary after his first wife had passed away and left three children.' However, the diary doesn't say the boy who died in 1893 was theirs and doesn't mention three children.
W.L. and his first wife, Gertrude Robinson, had Fae in 1888 and Mabe! in 1890.
When Gertrude died in 1893, possibly in childbirth and possibly along with the baby, W.L. put the little girls in an orphanage. He couldn't take care of them and preach. Sometime before about 1897 when W.L. and his second wife, Mary Liddle, married, Mary lost her husband and two boys to typhoid fever. One boy was almost 2, one almost 5. When Mary married W.L., she asked him to bring the girls home from the orphanage and she would raise them. Bessie was born in 1903, Paul in 1909.
The First Baptist Church, 200 West South Boulder Road, is also interested in Paul's diary. W.L. Troyer was a pastor at the church in 1909, and his brother, L.E. Troyer, was a minister for a short time before that, according to church records. After reading part of the diary, 'the initial thought I had was how we tend to take life for granted somewhat callously,' Rev. Craig Watters said. 'Back then, they had a little more respect for life. They saw how fragile it was.' Lisa Guinther, a church member who had written to Caldwell, received a partial copy of the diary and has made it available to other church members. 'It has given me more of an interest in our church history and also the Troyer family," Guinther said. She added it has also given her more interest in her own family.
W.L. and Mary Troyer didn't have much money and lived in the Baptist Church, then at Grant and Pine streets in Louisville.
Paul was botn there. He didn't follow in his father's footsteps in the ministry. Instead, Paul became an auto mechanic, electrician and jack of all trades. He spent a lot of his time helping people. He and his wife, Elizabeth Davis, a nurse, were missionaries to Mexico. They often worked in an orphanage and brought clothes there.
(October 1956 Wray, Colorado - Beecher Island items " Mr and Mrs. Troyer, missionaries, will hold a service at the Beecher Chapel Friday evening." That would be only a few miles from Albert's claim.)

Paul's son, Richard Troyer, is an auditor and a minister. 'Lots of people say he looks like W.L. with his long, white beard,' Marianne Troyer said. Caldwell said, 'People shouldn't die and that's the end of that.' So she's writing a volume of stories about 40 of her ances- tors. And she's happy she bought the diary and returned it to the Troyer family. 'I just feel like I have sort of accomplished something, a little mission,' Caldwell said."

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