In a previous post, I mentioned knowing Joe Riker, who was the last of 14 children fathered by David Bowman Riker. Joe lived in Belém, but came to Santarém quite often. It may have been his sister, Mayflower, who introduced us around 1985. Regardless, he stopped in to see me many times here where we live on Turiano Meira Street. Joe retired precociously as South American Representative for the The Gideons International because of an vehicle accident in Guyana, as I best remember the details. On one of his visits he presented me the book you see in the attached image, O Último Confederado Na Amazônia, written by his brother, David Afton Riker. The translation of the book in English is, The Last Confederate in the Amazon, referring to David Bowman Riker, who came to Brazil with his father, Robert Riker as a young boy. He indeed became the last of the all the American Confederates to die here in the Amazon. There have been other books written about the Confederates in the Amazon, but Afton's book may be the only one written by a blood descendant of one. According to Afton's historical accounts, he and Joe were always very close because they were the youngest of the very large David Bowman Riker family. Joe always invited me to visit him at his home in Belém, but sadly enough, I never did. It's been years since I've seen or heard from him.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Delano Riker, part 6
In a previous post, I mentioned knowing Joe Riker, who was the last of 14 children fathered by David Bowman Riker. Joe lived in Belém, but came to Santarém quite often. It may have been his sister, Mayflower, who introduced us around 1985. Regardless, he stopped in to see me many times here where we live on Turiano Meira Street. Joe retired precociously as South American Representative for the The Gideons International because of an vehicle accident in Guyana, as I best remember the details. On one of his visits he presented me the book you see in the attached image, O Último Confederado Na Amazônia, written by his brother, David Afton Riker. The translation of the book in English is, The Last Confederate in the Amazon, referring to David Bowman Riker, who came to Brazil with his father, Robert Riker as a young boy. He indeed became the last of the all the American Confederates to die here in the Amazon. There have been other books written about the Confederates in the Amazon, but Afton's book may be the only one written by a blood descendant of one. According to Afton's historical accounts, he and Joe were always very close because they were the youngest of the very large David Bowman Riker family. Joe always invited me to visit him at his home in Belém, but sadly enough, I never did. It's been years since I've seen or heard from him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
What an interesting bit of history. Too bad you never were able to visit. Maybe with the internet, you can reconnect. I found a friend after 32 years!
Dear Mr Alexander, I am David Bowman Riker, son of Joe (cited by you) and grandson of "The Last Southern Seed". I thoroughly enjoyed the bits and pieces of info. on Delano, my cousin. He was very kind to us EVERY time we ventured to Santarém. May I renew my dad's invitation to you if you ever come to Belém.
David, how happy I am to hear from you! I've searched the net high and low for some news of your father, but nothing matched. I did see your name several times, but no contact address. Would love visit with you next time in Belem. I don't go that often, but you'll be high priority when I do. My private address is: amazonto@gmail.com or amazonriver@netsan.com.br
Hello Mr. Alexander,
it's a great pleasure to find some important news in your blog, thanks for it.
Today i went in the Igreja Batista with David Afton, Joe and Norah Riker for a religious celebration, talked about life and family. In Belém.
I am Pedro Rubim Riker's grandson. My grandfather was The Last Confederate's grandson. He's Afton's nephew. Everybody from Santarém.
Take a visit to Riker family, it's great.
Alan Lemos
Post a Comment