High Vines and Pinkie Keeling

High Vines:

Born: March 18, 1901 in Texarkana, Texas

Vision: To have all his children with Pinkie Keeling

Accomplishment: 12 Children - 6 boys, 6 girls

Mother and Father: Lottie Allen-Smith and William Vines 

Brothers and Sisters: Madie, Marthana, Charlie, and Richard Vines

History: High's documented ancestry dates back to his Grandfather, Cipual Vines and Grandmother Rose. Cipual was born about 1820 and was freed from slavery while in Texas in 1865. Rose was also freed from slavery while in Texas after having 25 children. 

Pinkie Keeling:

Born: April 10, 1913 in Texarkana, Texas

Vision: Raise her family in California 

Accomplishment: 12 Children - 6 boys, 6 girls. The family moved to California in the spring of 1943. 

Mother and Father: Pinkie Mathilda Short and Forest Keeling

Brothers and Sisters: Mamie, Percel, Ivy Catherine, Tyler, Leomie, Sullie, Margaret, and Forest

History: Pinkie's documented ancestry dates back to her Grandfather, Lewis Keeling and Grandmother Margaret. Lewis was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia around 1820 and later became a property owner in Texas. Margaret was from North Carolina. We don't know when they migrated to Texas.

Moving to California: 

High and Pinkie moved to California in the spring of 1943, settling in Wasco, California. Several of Pinkie's brothers and sisters had moved from Texarkana to Los Angeles in the late 1930s and early 1940s and owned businesses in the city. 

High and his oldest son, Roger, left for California in early 1943. They got settled, found work in the fields and sent for the rest of the family. All of High and Pinkie's children made the trip except Australia, who had married and started a family in Texarkana. High Vines, Jr. remembers the trip quite vividly, as he was 13 at the time. The children making the trip included: High, Ivory, Alva, Arlene, Octavia, Thurman, and baby William.  Rosemary, Charles and Levon were born in the late 1940s and early 1950s  in California.