My name is Charles Patrick DeRoche- Not that I know very much about our ancestors. My Grandfather Charles DeRoche was born in Montreal- around 1840- He married Annie Hughes of Nesquehoning Pa. He had been a professional boxer around Chicago and when the Oklahoma Territory opened up he was in the rush- he settled outside of Oklahoma City at Edmond. He was a Blacksmith. They had 4 sons, George who married and had one son and who lived in Seattle. Jim, who married Clara- and was sheriff in Pawhuska, Okla. Charles J. a bachelor who lived with us in Texas and William Louis, my Dad who was born in Chicago in 1880.

My father, at the turn of the century, was a railway postal clerk- having a 4 day trip from Newton, Kansas to Santa Fe, N M. He Married my mother in 1906 in Wichita, Kansas.

They had five children- Fr. Fred J.. DeRoche, O.M.I. a Catholic Priest, who often gave "Novenas" at St. Jude Church in New Orleans, My sister Mary, who taught school, Married Charles Dorsey- they had five sons, Charles W. a Realtor, James Patrick, died Leukemia in 54, Mike, a lawyer in NO. and Jerry a lawyer in Corpus Christi, Texas. My second sister Annie died in l918. My kid sister Cecelia Teresa- known as "Dolly" She is the widow of Carl L. Williams. She lives in Boosier City, :Louisiana. Dolly has one son living around Dallas. She has kept in touch with most of our mother's relatives.

I was born in l9l6, married Marge Solem, in l944, One son William is a computer specialist for the government. He married Patricia Faller in 1971 and they have one daughter, Annemarie, who is a student at St. Mary's College, St. Mary's City, Maryland. I'm a graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1941 - spent almost four years active duty in U.S. Naval Reserve in the Aviation branch. I Received my law degree from Georgetown U. in 1951 and we have been living here at 3211 McKinley S. N.W. in Washington, D.C. 20015. for 47 years.

My father had an uncle Jack Hughes, a brother of his mother, who lived in Nesquehoning Pennsylvania. He owned a dry good store and at Christmas would send us kids shoes. He had two sons, Lesly and Wesley who grew up with Jimmie and Tommy Dorsey. My mother, brother and I have met them several times - One of the boys had attended Georgetown and whenever the football team would pay in Pennsylvania he would come to the band and we'd have a short visit.

My father's oldest brother was one of the early pioneers in Alaska. He had a gold mine but it was confiscated by the government and he never was able to get title. He camped one winter with a group of miners and one of them was Rex Beach who wrote "The Soilers". with a few tales given by George Hughes. (He used his mother's maiden name I understand due to the trouble with the mine). He settled in Seattle and had one son. My mother talked to them on a visit to Seattle to see my wife's folks- but the Hughes were not interested in talking.