Myrtle Rebecca Douglas entered this world on the 20 th day of June , 1904 , in the small , desert mining town of Val Verde ( changed to Humboldt in 1905 ), Yavapai County , Arizona , which is located in the romantically named Valley of the Agua Fria River . It is highly possible that she was actually born in a tent , as it was a popular form of abode at that time , especially for miners and railroad workers . She was the first of four children who would be born to her parents , Robert Douglas , a miner , and Lillie Dell Kilpatrick , a very over-burdened housewife . Brother Kenneth would be born just under two years later in 1906 , Warren would join the family in 1910 , and in 1911 Robert , Jr . would be the last . The births of Myrtle and her brothers are not officially recorded with the State of Arizona , so it is possible that being born at home instead of in a hospital they were never formally reported to authorities . Between the years of 1904 and 1911 this family would migrate between the “ towns ” of Humboldt and Turkey Creek Mining District ( later renamed Cleator ) while Robert , Sr . tried to support his family by mining and working for the railroad . The old stone schoolhouse that Myrtle and her siblings would have attended in Cleator is still standing , so fans of Morojo can make a pilgrimage to at least one standing historic location from Myrtle ' s childhood .
Raising children in these isolated and rustic mining towns would have been very hard on Lillie Dell Kilpatric Douglas , and it is a minor miracle that her four children from this marriage all survived into adulthood . For children , especially small active ones , there were plenty of dangers that could quickly maim or shorten one ' s life , such as poisonous chemicals from the mines , explosives , flash floods , uncovered mine shafts and pits , deep water wells , fast moving horses pulling heavy wagons , broken bones , infected wounds , rattlesnakes , scorpions , wild gun fire , bandits , diseases and illness . Life at home for Myrtle , her brothers and mother Lillie may also have been a very unpleasant and nightmarish experience , as their father Robert , who was infected with syphilis and gonorrhea , began to display some of the horrific symptoms and debilities associated with the disease . There is every reason to believe that mother Lillie was also infected and suffering .
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