An actor, newspaperman, and lawman, Robert Alvin Neff was born into a family who pioneered their way from the East Coast to the Mid West. This spirited, motivated man led a full life in which his descendants feel very proud, indeed. Like his family before him, he was drawn to the West and became a notable part of the settlement of the territory west of the Mississippi.

Robert was the eldest of four children. He was born in Bloomington, McLean Co., Illinois, in May of 1858, to George North and Mary Elizabeth Hamilton Neff. The Neff's had two more children, while in Bloomington. Sidney George was born in 1861 and Claude, born in 1863. In 1861, when the Civil War came to Illinois, George left his wife and two small children to volunteer his services as a Saddler with the Third Illinois Cavalry. After his tour of duty, George moved his wife and three children, to Colorado during the gold excitement in the late 1860's. After a short stay in Colorado, Robert's father brought the family to Ottawa, Kansas. It was in Ottawa that Robert's youngest sister, Lela Oleva, was born in 1869. By the time the Federal Census was taken in 1875, George and his family had settled in Wichita, Kansas, where they would remain until the Cherokee Land Run of 1893.

Robert in 1869 Tin Type of Robert in Early Days

Robert grew into his manhood in Wichita, KS. He was a newspaperman in 1877 and again from 1889-1890. In 1877, Robert started his own newspaper, The Independence, which "lived about six months when the material passed into the hands of another local newspaper man, J.W. Robbins". From the newspaper to the theatre, we know that Robert also worked as an actor and dramatic manager between 1887-1890.

Missing from the Wichita census for nine years, Robert traveled to make his living in the Theatre. He met fellow actor/dramatic manager, Susan Chase Skinner in Amboy, Lee County, Illinois in 1880. It has been speculated that Robert and Susan were on the road with a Theatre Company when they were married in Bates County, Missouri, in 1881. In March of 1882, a daughter, Roberta Aurora Neff was born in Aurora, Nebraska.

1884