Randy, my grandfather or is he Sam...

I guess with Autumn approaching, I started thinking about how I celebrated holidays in the past and my family.  Here I've written about both my grandmothers and my great grandmother on my grandfathers side but nothing about the men in my past,. LOL.  That sounds wrong but I did start thinking about my dad and his dad, Samuel Randall.

 I have only one photo of Sam - taken at my mom's sister Virginia's backyard.  It was sent to me by a cousin, whom I didn't know until a few years back.  I don't know much about Sam at all except what a few family members have told me and what information I have found online.  The online info is mostly dry and factual.

He was born Samuel Randall Wederstrandt, although his brother Herndon said his full name was Samuel Jackson Randall Wederstrandt. (Samuel Jackson Randall was a pretty famous national politician - look him up.)   I got this from a letter I found in the Louisiana State University archives. (Marsden papers)  It was in the last box and was written in pencil explaining the genealogy for the Randall -Wederstrandts.  His father was Robert Carroll W. and his mother was Ida Loula Williams.  From another cousin who sent me a note, it was a rather happy family, she had been raised in the household.  Ida died about 1901 (Sam was about 10) and it looks like Herminia, Robert C.'s sister came to live with them).  I found evidence of this from various census. 
Sam was known as Randy during this time, Samuel is not a normal family name - we tend to do Robert, Charles, John, Herndon, Blake and Randall more.  

Sometime around 1914 (could be earlier) Randy met a young German girl somewhere and they married.  I assume Louisiana since dad was born in New Orleans. I have a copy of the birth certificate.   They went on to have two other boys and here's where the trail gets odd.  Since th elast boy was born in 1918, I assumed Sam got into the Army and was out in 1918.  I found references to them in a 1920's census for Dallas where they were living and working.  I also found a census for the three boys in New Orleans at the Protestant Orphans Children's Home for the same year so whatever happened happened fast.  Story goes that Frieda put the boys in the home and left, and Sam followed her.  He went to Los Angeles, California and I found him listed in the 1922 directory where he was working as a waiter. (Frieda dissappears all together).  He surfaces in directories and one odd news story I found in a newspaper log where a movie director who is drunk runs into him with his car.  He has minor cuts and bruises and his car is bumped up badly.  Sam dies in 1947 and is buried in the Los Angeles Veteran's Cemetery.

My family stories take over here.  My grandmother (the fount of all knowledge of this time) told me he was an unpleasant alcoholic who was mean to my mom.  She and Dad had to live with him when they moved to California.  I know he took great care of his house, his garden, with roses and a nice lawn.  Grandmother took me by this house on Patricia and showed it to me and  told me the story of how he broke is plate glass picture window one night by throwing a bottle through it.  It's a nice house.  I know my grandfather was an electrician at a movie studio and got my dad hired to do the same.  I know he's buried in the Los Angeles Veteran Cemetery as a Vet so he served in World War I and I have the unit listed somewhere. (My grandmother took me to his grave when I was living with her.)   But I have no other bits of info.  My dad never spoke of him but then he never spoke of anyone in his family.  My grandmother always called him Sam so I think somewhere he went from Randy to Sam.  Maybe when he became disillusioned with his life.  (Was it the War?  Did he experience something horrible in the war? Or was it Frieda who was German, maybe he never forgave her after the War for being German.) 

So who knows.