Dorothy's paternal grandmother was  Elizabeth (Sparks) Prince  (1852-1928)   Elizabeth had a brother Jefferson Sparks.  This picture is of  them together.  Here is the  rest of the story  about Elizabeth and Jeff.

Dorothy's maternal grandfather was Albert Ray, a Civil War Veteran.  This picture was taken about 1915 and it is a reunion of  Civil War Veterans of Wayne County. Albert is top-left.

Earliest picture I know of Dorothy's mother,   Ellen Ray   taken about 1892.  She was born June 10, 1882.  She is in the 3rd row, 3rd from the left with the white lacy collar.  This is the Lynn Creek School, Wayne Co., West Virginia.  Here is a  close-up  of Ellen.

The earliest picture I have of  George Prince   is this one of him posing with his good friend Will Thompson, who was later to marry George's sister Emma. George is on the right.

Ellen married George Prince, probably around 1905.  Here is George & Ellen. (Probably taken on their wedding day)

Dorothy grew up in Nebraska, not knowing much of her brothers and sisters. This picture is, from left to right:  Paul Prince, Tommy Prince, Maxine Malcolm, Anzo Malcolm, Floyd Prince (Hurse's son), Mildred McComas, Anna Woodburn, Faye Prince, Nora Prince, Marie Prince, Ella Prince (George's sister), Charles (?), George Prince, Elizabeth Sparks (George's mother), & Dorothy Watts.  Front:  Don Mullins, Kathy Malcolm, Willmer (?), Donald Etna Watts.  Here is a larger picture of   George with his mother Elizabeth.   Taken on the same day, here is a picture of   Tommy, Paul, Faye and Marie.

From all the wonderful pictures I have of  mother in Nebraska,  I know that she had a wonderful childhood.  There were  dogs,   a new 1918 Model T to ride in,  oats to harvest,horses to ride,   chicks to feed  and  lots of time to hang out with dad and the hired man.

Did you ever  ride a pig?

When mother was 12, they moved back to WVa from Nebraska.  This is the  itinerary  of their trip in March of 1926.  They moved to a farm  a few miles out from Chester, West Virginia in the northern panhandle, just across the river from East Liverpool, Ohio, that they bought from a Mr. Paterson.  I suspect they chose that area because Ross' sisters, Emma (Thompson), Nora (Mullins), Anna (Woodburn) and Alice (McComas) were living in that area.  Here are three of the sisters,  Alice, Emma and Anna  in front of their respective husbands.

Left in the old house by Mr. Paterson was an old rocking chair and a set of harness bells.  Little did he know that these two items would be saved and cherished by the Prince family.

There were always lots of visitors to the Prince farm.  Howard and Anna drove out one day in their  1922 Gardner  which even in those days was a rather rare automobile.  That's Howard standing, and Anna in the passenger seat.  The car had a 4-cylinder Lycoming engine and only 5,663 were made that year.

Little did Mother know that this  little white toolshed  would become her home before long!  (But that will be another chapter.)

In 1930, at age 16, Dorothy had her first  professional portrait made.

This picture may very well be the only one ever taken of Mother with her biological father.  Left to right -   Dorothy, Marie, Faye, George & Paul.  And here's Dorothy (right) with her  sister Marie, Margaret (Tommy's wife) and her brother Tommy.

Dorothy was always faithful in keeping a diary.  This is a good account of her life from 1934-1935 in her own words.

Dorothy's best friend, Betty Sarver was maid of honor when she married Fred on his birthday, March 15, 1937.