Harvey Belshe was born in Spring Garden, Miller County, Missouri, on March 27, 1894. Harvey's father was Samuel Mead Belshe, his mother was Marietta Sparks Belshe and he had two sisters, Alice and Nell and one brother Childress. When he was about four or five years old his family moved to a Bradley, Oklahoma.
Sam Belshe decided to buy land in the Blalock Mexico Colony at the urging of the Russell family who in the early 1900's was living in Cordova, Mexico. The Belshes moved from Oklahoma to the Blalock Mexico Colony in 1909.
During the revolution, Harvey and his family hid in the high mountains at a place that Murdoch Cameron owned. Sam and family made their way from there to the railhead and caught a train to Ft. Worth, Texas. Sam Belshe, his wife, and Harvey and Childress later settled in Benito, Texas, where they could at least keep a watch on the Mexico situation.
Harvey had married, and his son Homer was born in McAllen October 8, 1917. The family then returned to Chamal and Wayne was born there September 8, 1923. In 1924, Harvey moved his family back to McAllen and joined Sam who had already returned there.
Harvey and his wife Susie divorced. Susie kept the house in McAllen as her part of the settlement, and Harvey took the 1926 Chevrolet touring car and his two boys and struck out for Stockton, California.
In December 1935 Harvey decided that he had had enough of the hard times in that part of the country [Stockton, CA.] so he began to make ready for the big trip back to Chamal, Mexico. He had managed somehow to buy a 1927 Graham Bros. truck and was going to let Homer drive the 1926 Chevrolet and Wayne was to ride with him. When it came time to go they didn't have enough money to buy gas for both vehicles so Harvey sold the Chevy for $50.00.
Then, that presented a problem, as there was no room for Homer, Wayne and the dog to ride. Harvey bought some metal strapping and made an extension on the back of the truck about four feet back and the width of the truck, put boards on the metal straps for flooring, framed it up on sides and back and extended the tarpaulin to cover the back, making a small room. He put two padded chairs facing back, and a rug between the boys for the German shepherd. That is the way the boys saw the country for the next two weeks.
When Harvey got to Laredo it took several days of arguing and persuasion to get the Mexican officials to let them cross with all their belongings. After arriving in Chamal Harvey and his family lived at Childress Belshe's house for at least six months until Harvey could get something built for his family to live in.
After clearing the land Harvey put in a corn crop. While the corn was growing he planted seed beds of oranges, which were later transplanted into a nursery and were budded. After the buds grew and' were strong enough he planted the trees out in the field.
