A Little Family History

I know. I said this blog would be "trade show stuff only". However, today is a special day in Milam Family History. As most of you know, my real name is Bob Milam. Trade Show Bob is just a "handle". Today is April 18, 2011. Exactly 105 years ago this morning, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the city of San Francisco. The city was nearly wiped out by the earthquake and ensuing fires that spread throughout the city.

During that week, thousands of families were relocated into temporary tent communities set up primarily by the Army from the post at the nearby Presidio. At the time, a young Sergeant from Texas was stationed there and assigned to look after a few of the families that had been relocated.

One family in particular, had recently moved to San Francisco from Tennesee. And this young Sergeant struck up a relationship with one of the young girls in the family. It didn't take long for them to fall in love and eventually they married. Then in December of 1912, Thomas Richard Milam & Irene Carol Stroud had a baby boy (Frederick Robert Milam) born to them at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco.

That baby boy was my Dad. So, were it not for this great natural catastrophe, Thomas and Irene would never have met, and none of the Milam Family posterity would be around today.

I owe my very existence to a terrible natural disaster (which is what my wife has claimed for years).

TSB