The Marriage of Robert and Nettie Black

Rufus Tripp, father of Mamie Tripp Gates, was a cowman, as the musical Oklahoma would describe him. Bob Black was a hired hand working for him. Shortly after Mamie’s father’s death at the age of only 42 of kidney failure, her mother, Nettie Ann Venator Tripp, married Bob Black on Dec. 13, 1900. 

Some questioned Nettie’s short period of grieving and quick marriage to Robert T. Black. She was living at the turn of the twentieth century when few careers were open to women, especially if the woman had children. After only eight years of marriage, Nettie found herself a widow at age 28  with little girls to raise. Her husband had died at the end of October. She faced caring for the livestock with the upcoming winter looming. She already knew Bob Black as a trustworthy worker, and he knew her late husband’s livestock operation. The primary characteristic that many pioneer women sought in men was an unwavering dependability to provide for a family through a stellar work ethic.

Therefore, the only maternal grandfather Mamie’s children knew was really a step grandfather, Robert “Bob” T. Black.  The “sweetest man who grew beautiful tiger lilies” was the description given by one of his step granddaughters, who as a teen deeply grieved for him when he died suddenly. He was a kind, giving man who lovingly cared for Nettie who suffered with diabetes in their latter years to the point of breaking his own health, some have said.
 



Robert and Nettie (Venator Tripp) Black taken at their last home in Fairfax. 

A Tiger Lily Like Grandpa

Black Grew in His Yard.

photographed by Bernadean J. Gates

 



Early in Katherine Heigl’s acting career, she gave a compelling performance as a young widow in the movie, Love Comes Softly. In the first few minutes of the film, her poignant portrayal of a grieving widow reminds me of the level of grief that Great-grandmother Nettie Tripp must have felt in the autumn of 1900. The 2004 movie was directed by Michael Landon, Jr. and based on the first book by Canadian author, Janette Oke. Incidentally, Oke’s book sold over a million copies.