Edward Henry Griffin wasn’t looking for love when he left his home in Cuba, New York. He was only twenty when he arrived in Clinton, Illinois. He wanted a career. He trained to be a dentist in Galena. Then he went west. First to the gold field of California, then to Portland, Oregon.
When Fred Lockley interviewed Edgar Coursen in 1930, Lockley wanted information about Oregon pioneers for a series of newspaper articles. Edgar’s father-in-law, Edward Henry Griffin, came to Oregon in 1850 as a practicing dentist. He was the first dentist in Portland, Oregon.
A news item about firsts in Oregon reads,
“The first dentist in Portland was E.H. Griffin. He offered his services to a suffering public on November 22, 1851.”
Here is a part of the interview conducted by Fred Lockley.
Ed Lockley, Oregon Journal, 4 Dec 1930
Lockley captured the industry of Edward Henry Griffin but not the passion. Coursen recalled the facts of Edward’s moves quite well.
Galena, Illinois
Edward did arrive in Galena about when his father-in-law said. He had letters remaining at the Galena Post Office on January 5, 1846 and March 5, 1846. Here are copies of the Lists of Letters for those dates.
Semi-Weekly Galena Jeffersonian 5 Jan 1946
Training
Semi-Weekly Galena Jeffersonian 5 Mar 1946
In 1845, when Edward first arrived in Galena there were no dental schools in Illinois. The first dental school in the United States was built in Baltimore, Maryland in 1840. It was the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery.
It is reasonable to conclude that Edward learned dentistry through an apprenticeship with an established dentist here. This was the usual way of learning this profession in the United States during the 1840s. He made his living expenses doing work he knew. He gave music lessons while training to be a dentist.
Gold in California
Listed as an Oregon Territory pioneer in 1850, Edward came west on the Oregon Trail. He took a California cut off and ended his trip at Fort Sutter, California. Before there was Sacramento there was a fort owned by John Sutter. Gold discovery near here in 1848 triggered the California Gold Rush. John Sutter sold his property to Alden Bally in late 1849.
The area around this Fort became a busy hub for river traffic and trade. This area would become known as Old Sacramento. Dr. Edward Griffin arrived here in 1849. No doubt, Edward considered mining for gold himself. He practiced dentistry here for about a year. Then he chose to go to Oregon.
From Fort Sutter Edward traveled to San Francisco. From here he sailed along Pacific Ocean coast to his next destination . He boarded theAnn Smith in late August. Sixteen days later on the 2nd day of September of 1850 arrived in Astoria, Oregon. Another passenger had a role to play in the next year of Edward’s life. J. H. Wilbur was also a passenger on this voyage. Here is a newspaper item detailing this trip.
item from Oregon Spectator 2 Sep 1850, p.3. col.1
Emily Roberts
Emily Roberts Griffin described the first time she saw Edward Griffin in a February 27, 1914 interview with Fred Lockley. These interviews were published in the Oregon Journal, a Portland newspaper.
I met my fate two days after arriving in Portland. We put up our tent on the riverbank at what is now the foot of Pine Street. We decided to camp there till father was able to find a house. The second morning I was sitting in the tent doing some work while mother was working over our camp stove. I heard voices and looking out I saw a very handsome young man with a silk hat and Prince Albert coat. He had a large white water pitcher in his hand. He was explaining to mother that he had just come down to the river to get a pitcher of water. He said his name was Edward Griffen and had a room at DeWitt’s City Hotel nearby. He explained while he ordinarily got his water at the hotel, he believed the river water was colder and better. I noticed him shift his position until he could look into the tent and see me. I wondered if his explanation was the real reason why he had come down to our camp. After I married him, I discovered that my intuition had been correct. He had caught a glimpse of me the day before and wanted a nearer view of his future wife.
After Edward’s first view of Emily Roberts, the romance in the man got the better of him. He, being not only a dentist with prospects but a music teacher, went to woo her. He used what he knew. He offered singing lessons and a group to sing with.
Emily had a second interview with Lockley on February 28, 1914. This is what Emily had to say about her second meeting with Edward..
Shortly after we moved into the hotel and while I was singing one evening. Mother who was a master hand with the violin, was playing the accompaniment. Dr. Edward H. Griffin, who had a room at De Witt’s City Hotel, passed and heard the music. He stopped and listened until we were through. Next day he came to mother and said I had a wonderful voice. But it needed training. He said he had decided to start a singing school, and he would like to enroll me for his first pupil. Mother was willing. He was young and handsome and a good singer. So, I was willing.
The singing school was started in the schoolhouse. We soon had a fine crowd of young folks. There was A. B. Hallock and Squire Davis and his wife and Warren and Tom, Davis and the two Davis girls, Sarah and Mary, and George I. Story, who still lives in Portland. He married Sarah Davis.
Edward’s singing school turned into a choir. This was the first church choir west of the Rocky Mountains. This choir sang for the Taylor Street Church, built on Third and Taylor Streets. Edward helped James H. Wilbur build this church.
On December 4, 1925, The Morning Oregonian published an article on page 49. The title was “Covered Wagons Brought Many Settlers Here In 1850”. It listed the pioneers who came to Oregon Territory in 1850. A photo of this first church choir illustrated this article.
Portland, 1850, Emily Roberts Griffin, 2nd from left, front, Edward Griffin, back, far right
Wedding Bells
On October 26, 1851, James H. Wilbur performed the marriage ceremony for Edward Henry Griffin and Emily Roberts. Rev. Thomas H. Pearne assisted. Only a few weddings in the village of Portland occurred before this one. This wedding was the second in the Taylor Street Church.
This Methodist church “stood in the middle between 2nd and 3rd, Facing north… back to the woods. The only way to reach it was by walking on single narrow planks strung lengthwise.”
Early image of Taylor Street Church from the Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Western Washington Hospital at Steilacoom, Main Hospital Building, 1892
Why do these stories sometime take on a life of their own? This story was to be about an institution and an institution is involved. Death of a loved one is a somber time for families, marked with family gatherings, funerals, burials and graves markers. This story involves two stone grave markers both made long after the deceased had died. One marker made for William Wallis Taylor was set in 2015. The marker for Mary Lucinda Taylor Miller was completed in 2006.
I wrote this story about my husband’s 2nd great grandparents and their daughter, Mary Lucina. I searched for years for Mary’s death date and burial place. The institution involved in Mary’s last years was Western State Hospital at Steilacoom. This hospital is located between Olympia and Tacoma, Washington. I had been looking for Mary about 15 years before I found a death date.
William Wallis Taylor’s Marker
Craig, my husband and I became acquainted with one of his cousins. This cousin also traced back to Craig’s 2nd great grandparents, Mary Ann Sayles and William Wallis Taylor. We met and traded records. I had found Mary Ann’s grave site in Springwater Cemetery in Clackamas County, Oregon. The cousin’s family held the bible of William. The dates and places in both our records matched.
Both the cousin and I had found an obituary of William’s saying he had died at the home of his son near Aurora, Oregon on August 11, 1909. William was buried in Springwater Cemetery where his wife Mary was buried. Here are copies of William’s obituary and funeral notice from the Oregon City Enterprise, dated 20 August 1909.
William Wallis Taylor ObituaryPage 2
We were sorely disappointed when we visited Springwater Cemetery and didn’t find William’s burial next to Mary Ann’s grave marker. We searched the entire small cemetery. Craig’s cousin convinced the combination groundskeeper and cemetery record keeper that William Taylor was buried there next to his wife. We had a new marker made. It was placed to the left of Mary Ann’s grave site.
Here is a photo of this new marker.
Mary Lucina Taylor Miller
Before this event, I knew quite something about William and Mary Ann’s first child, Mary Lucina Taylor Miller. Mary was my husband’s great grandmother. I had become acquainted with the cousin’s grandmother, Madeline Taylor Wells. She was the granddaughter of William and Mary Ann Taylor and had family photos of her Aunt Mary Lucina.
Mary Lucina and Siblings about 1865
Mary Lucina seated in the middle
Born in LaPorte County on 7 Aug 1857
Orril Adell on the left
Born in Will County, Minn. on 18 Sep 1862
Otha Beardslee on right
Born Will County, Minn. on 6 Sep 1864
Mary Lucina Taylor and Edward Arthur Miller
Wed in Multnomah County, Oregon on 28 Oct 1885
Taylor Family about 1896 in Springwater, Oregon
Edward Miller on left
Mary Lucina Miller in back
Daughter, Edna Naomi Miller
Born in Dodge, Clackamas, Oregon on 24 Aug 1889
They homesteaded a farm in the Dodge Springwater area
Move to Portland, Oregon
By 1910 the Miller family had sold their farm in Dodge, Oregon. They now lived in Ward 8 of Portland, Oregon. According to census records, Mary and Edward had been married 25 years. Edna Miller, their twenty-year-old daughter, lived with them and their house was on East 35th Street.
In 1912, Edward A Miller and his daughter Edna N Miller still lived at at 192 E 35th Street. This information comes from to the 1912 City Directory of Portland, Oregon, Mary is not listed on this record.
I found Mary in the 1915 City Directory of Portland, Oregon. She is listed as Mary L Miller, widow of Edward and living at 4927 66th SE. Twenty-four years later she still identified herself as a widow of a man named Miller. On her death certificate it is noted that the first name of her deceased husband is not known.
Edward Living St Joseph, Michigan
Edward filed for divorce on 1 December 1917 at the courthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan. The grounds were desertion. Edward was the complainant. His divorce was granted on 22 July 1918. He married Bessie Gadson on 18 August 1918.
Daughter Edna Married
Before Mary entered Western State Hospital in 1929, her daughter, Edna had lost her first husband and married a second, Charles Foster. She brought to this second marriage a small boy, Howard Shelton, son of her first husband. She and Charlie had 3 children. Charlie informally adopted Howard. Howard was a teenager when his grandmother, Mary, lived at Western State Hospital. He visited Mary there and remembered these visits being sad.
The Institution on the Cowlitz River
Many years before in 1854, the “Poor Law” was passed by Washington Territory. Its aim was to find a better way to care for and house for the poor, disabled and mentally ill. It shifted the support of these individuals from their families to the counties where they lived. At first patients were cared for through a contract system.
Twenty-one such person went first to a place in Monticello (now Longview, Washington). It was located along the Cowlitz River in Cowlitz County.
This institution was set up by a pair of businessmen from Monticello. They knew how to make money, but not how to care for “this class of sufferers”. James Huntington and his son-in-law, W.W. Hays built and ran this place. They received a dollar a day for each patient under their care.
A big problem for this enterprise was the location. Here is a quote from Starlyn Stout’s Care For the “Unfriended Insane in Washington Territory (1854 to 1889)”.
The buildings of the asylum were revealed by the elements to be merely temporary. In his history of the region, Hubert Howe Bancroft surmised that accommodation opposite Monticello on the Cowlitz River were inadequate. So much so that an event of melting snow from Mt. Rainier brought on an “unusual flood” in December 1867, in which the improvements were swept away. Huntington’s hastily built buildings were now needing to be hastily salvaged and rebuilt to maintain his part of the contract. They published a letter addressing community concerns about their facility, claiming that they too were victims of the territory not fulfilling its part of the agreement. “The Territory must meet the expenses as per contract… We only ask that our money be paid when due”.
Dorothy Dix
A 19th century social reformer, Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, who was better known by her pen name, Dorothy Dix, had friends inspect this place in 1869. She wrote:
Just as I was prepared to leave for California, I first learned from some military officers and reliable civilians your territory was responsible for a rightly intended provision for certain unfriended insane men and women … It being impossible to visit the place referred to myself, I earnestly requested an experienced medical man and a carefully judging citizen of Oregon to see if the statements … were borne by facts, as they understood right care for this helpless, irresponsible class of sufferers. (“Miss Dix on the Insane”).
It was found that some patients were doing all the cleaning, laundry and cooking. Other patients were confined to their cells. Filthiness was found throughout the faculty.
Dorothy wrote about this. When Dorothy mentions the Doctor and Inspectors, she is talking about Washington county people who were responsible for the asylum.
The patients sleep in bunks, in cells, in a coarsely finished, unplastered building, parts of which are described to me as very little better than a barn … the visitors added that, judging from any efficient and proper standard, they could not consider the institution otherwise than inadequately provided both for care and cure of the insane … badly maintained by parties in charge, who possibly may know no better … The Doctor and inspectors are parties interested in perpetuating the present system; the ‘one by his salary easily earned, the others by trade’” (“Insane Asylum”).
More Letters from Dorothy Dix
She also wrote to two authorities in Washington Territory—Governor Alan Flanders and former Governor Elwood Evans. Changes were made. After relating her assessment of the situation, she said this. “At this distance I can only write to you, sir, knowing your sense of pity for these poor creatures will induce early and, I hope personal attention.
Changes Were Made
Fort Steilacoom, an old army base which had been built in 1849, was out of use and run down. On April 22, 1868, the staff lowered the last flag at this army fort. The fort located in the Puget Sound region near Tacoma, Washington would be the new home for 21 Monticello patients. The new inmates who had lived with the conditions at Monticello bought their stories with them. Even to this day their tales of poor treatment and the demons that haunted them abound.
In 1887, the Washington Territory legislature approved $100,000 to build a new institution on the Fort’s grounds. In 1888 this institution became known as Western State Hospital for the Insane. In 1915 the institution’s name was changed again- this time to Western State Hospital.
My Search for Mary’s Death and Grave
Before Craig and I knew that his great grandmother, Mary Lucina Taylor Miller, had spent her last years in a mental institution, we were puzzled by the lack of results in the hunt for her death date. Because she was a direct ancestor to my husband this lack was an ongoing source of frustration. I had looked in both Washington and Oregon death indexes many times before I found her in the Washington death index. I ordered her death record from the Washington State Department of Health. I did the paperwork showing my husband, who was requesting the record, was her oldest living direct relative. Since Mary had died in 1939 this record was about 75 years old when I finally got it.
Mary had lived at Western State Hospital for almost ten years when she died on March 9,1939. She died of a heart and lung condition. Senile psychosis was said to be a contributory cause. She was cremated on March 14, 1939.
Also, from the death certificate, we learned Mary had entered Western State Hospital on August 27, 1929. She died on March 9, 1939, and was cremated there on March 14, 1939. Her hometown was Washougal, Washington.
Disturbing Article in Spokane Newspaper
The Title, Bill Could Help Families Find Ancestors’ Graves, hints that there was something in the Washington State laws preventing family from locating relatives who died in Washington State’s mental institutions. A Washington State statute designed to protect the mentally ill from shame restricted anyone from getting their relative’s death certificates. This statute prevented a volunteer organization called Grave Concerns from identifying who was buried and where they were buried in the institution’s cemetery. The state had decided these patients were people to be ashamed of and hid their records. Here is a quote from the article.
At Western State Hospital, a facility worker once found a shed full of human remains packed into tobacco tins and canning jars. And at Northern State Hospital in Sedro Woolley. Wash., now closed part of the cemetery was plowed under and farmed.
Cremated remains were often buried together in mass graves, said Laural Lemke, Western’s ombudsman and chair of The Grave Concerns Association, a volunteer group that repairs grave sites. After the 1950s, many unnamed remains were sent to crematoriums.
Making the job of restoring dignity to Western State Hospital’s cemetery was the fact that “many of the state’s records of the dead are incomplete or missing even when records are located…the cemeteries which volunteers have only recently began to recover are often overgrown and in disrepair.
Our Visit to Western State Hospital
Craig and I met Laurel Lemke, a woman greatly involved with the Grave Concerns Association, on March 10, 2015. She described life at the hospital when Mary lived there.
Mary slept in a narrow bed in a narrow room with few personal belongings and a barred door.
Because Western State Hospital grew its own food and kept livestock, Mary had plenty to eat. At this time the Great Depression was causing misery throughout the land. Patients worked on the farm. Mary may have worked preparing food or sewing. Physical labor was considered therapeutic.
From 1911 to 1961 hydrotherapy was used to sedate patients. Bath treatments of 2 hours included hot and cold water sprayed up and down a patient’s spine.
Washington State Hospital’s Cemetery
Before we left, Laurel showed us the cemetery. Volunteers for Grave Concerns had been restoring and upgrading the grave sites for about ten years. It was no longer tangled in blackberries with graves only marked with numbers etched on small concrete squares. The Grave Concern Association had found names to go with the numbers. As they raised money, they replaced the old unreadable number blocks with granite grave markers. These markers showed the patients name, the birth date and death date. Here is an example.
anonymous marker and John Ryan- dignity restored
We were hoping to find Mary’ grave marked like the marker on the right. We had set a granite grave stone for her father, William Willis Taylor buried in Springwater Cemetery.
This was not to be. It is sad to say Mary’s remains were among the unidentified. Perhaps, her unidentified remains were in a canning jar or tobacco tin found stored in the garden shed. Her remains were buried in the mass grave with a large granite marker. Her name and dates were there. We laughed and cried that day. Here are some photos.
Craig and Jill Foster Viewing Giant Grave MarkerMary Miller’s Name on Giant Grave Marker
Foster’s Jefferson House, Christmas 1998, built 1901
Week 13 Home Sweet Home
My husband, Craig and I lived in this house about 36 years. I would like to share what we know about its history.
Local historian, Mike Barnes of Jefferson identifies this old house at 421 North 2nd Street as the Clarence Miller home built in 1901. Clarence Miller about 2 years old in 1901 was the son of the original owner. Archer C Miller was a sheep raiser from Millersburg. Archer’ ‘s father, George S Miller was a pioneer from Illinois of 1852.
By 1910 descendants of the Looneys who crossed the plains in 1843 lived in this house. These Looneys included Benjamin F Looney and his family. His wife, Josephine Hale Looney, his son Evert, his daughter, Georgina Looney Smith and his son-in-law, William Smith made up his family.
The next family, the Smiths are listed in the 1920 census for Jefferson. We have had the good fortune to meet Georgina’s and William’s second son, Benjamin Smith. He shared memories of living in this this house. The 1920 Federal census shows William and Georgina Smith and their three sons, William, Benjamin and Everett still living here.
Benjamin Smith visited us here in the late 1970s and told us what he remembered about the house. His father built wall to wall glass fronted dish cupboard which is still in the dining room. Lumber from the Looney lumber mill provided wood for the house. When he lived here there was a wood store in the dining room. He remembered a chimney fire. An older women resident saved the wood stove from the fire by picking it up and carrying it outside. The house survived the fire with little damage as did the wood stove. Today a bookcase stands where the wood stove once did. Ben said the layout of the house was the same as when he lived here. He and his brother were in the bedroom upstairs above the kitchen. We later found a vintage valentine to Ben Smith in the floor boards in this bedroom. The Smith family moved from Jefferson to Arizona in 1929.
Our house is on the right side next to the telephone pole and behind the trees
By 1972 Robert and Ruth Farrens owned the house. The house had been rented out for some time and was in need of repair and upkeep. The Farrens covered worn walls with Masonite wall paneling, the woodwork with porch paint and the floors with red carpeting.
We returned the walls to wainscoting and wallpaper. The floors were the original old growth fir which we refinished. We removed the porch paint from the woodwork finished it with a clear finish. Some of the light fixtures Robert Farrens added, we loved. He rescued three chandeliers from the old Gearhart Hotel near Seaside, Oregon. About the time he was working on this house, the Gearhart Hotel was razed and replaced with condos. In its heyday this grand hotel from the 1920s was one of the largest convention hotels in the state. One of these chandeliers went in the dining room and two in the downstairs living room.
Robert Farrens as well another neighbor thought this house was used as a stage coach stop in its early life. The Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1913 shows our house and a horse barn west of our house.
I have found horse shoes around our yard. We discovered the family room upstairs had been divided into three small rooms and a hall. When we took up the carpet in this big room, the floor boards had been painted. We saw the pattern of where the walls stood because these lines were not painted. Jefferson had a train stop by 1870 so I doubt the stage coach stop was needed.
In the 36 year we have lived here, we have updated and repaired trying to keep the character of the house intact. In 2002 we had the front yard professionally landscaped by Liz Frances of the Gardens Angels.
Thinking about the mistakes I made in my genealogy research, I’ve made plenty. I don’t think this was my biggest mistake, but it is my most memorable one.
When I retired from teaching in 2004, I started making a family tree on Ancestry.com. I remember the shaking leaf hint button announcing possible resources for my tree. Near the top of the profile I was working on a leaf image would show on the screen. This leaf would shake with gusto. I don’t think there was a ‘ding’ sound, but I was in the habit of leaving my speakers off.
I was working on John Breckenridge Cabell’s family when I made my big mistake. I was on John’s profile and one of these brazen shaking leaf showed up. The hint in the family tree category involved looking at other people’s family trees. I went back in time looking for parents of parents. I started finding Cabells born in the 1500s and getting suspicious. Eventually, I reached a couple with just given names. To my surprise, this couple referred to as Adam and Eve seemed to be the biblical Adam and Eve. After this, I disabled the automatic family tree hints. I became more systematic. I purchased the Alexander Brown book, called The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy (1895). I found this book to be well researched. I also found clues about John’s parents in Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook.
Louis Warrington Cabell and Anna Maria Perkins
Frances Perritt, John Cabell’s daughter, had left clues in her scrapbook about John’s family in Virginia. She left photographs of John’s mother and father which she labeled “my grandfather” and my “grandmother”. Here are the photos.
Lewis Warrington Cabell
Anna Maria Perkins
The Cabell family of Virginia owned plantations spread along the banks of the James River. Some names were Elm Cottage, Green Hill, Struman, Buffalo Station, Clover Plains and Fernly.
Lewis Cabell called two of these plantations home– Struman where he was born and Green Hill which he inherited. The Green Hill plantation was on the south side of the James River in Buckingham County. His birth home, Struman, was on the north side of the James River and in Nelson County.
Lewis’s parents, Frederick and Alice Cabell, lived at Struman when their youngest child Lewis was born on June 12, 1814. Sadly, his mother, Alice died shortly after he was born.
Lewis studied at the University of Virginia in 1837 to 1839. He graduated on July 16, 1839. He was recognized both in the school of Natural Philosophy and the school of Chemistry. In July of 1840, he received a degree from the school of mathematics.
Frederick Cabell, Lewis’s Father
Lewis’s father, Frederick Cabell, left a will probated 25 February 1841. Frederick had died 10 days earlier on February 15, 1841. He was buried at his estate called Struman. He left some of his holdings on the south side of the James River to Lewis.
His will in part says:
I give to my son Lewis W. Cabell seven hundred and fifty acres of my Green Hill tract of land commencing at the stone quarry on James River …also ten Negroes and their future increase, as follow,
Reuban and Fanny, his wife, and his five children
Amy a negro woman
Peter and Cubby, his wife, and one child
Cassidy, a negro woman
Also, an equal portion of my personal Estate after all specific debts are paid.
So, after his father died, Lewis became a southern planter. In pre-Civil War days, this meant he was wealthy, owned a plantation and used enslaved people to farm his land.
There was a house on the Green Hill property. It looked liked these.
1886 Green Hill (Madison Dixon Rebuild
So, after his father died, Lewis became a southern planter. In the days before the Civil War days, planters were wealthy landowners who used enslaved people to farm their land. There was a house on the Green Hill property.
Green Hill burned in 1878. This is a replica built by Madison Dixon. The photo is from the Cabell Society.
Anna Maria Perkins and Marriage
Anna Maria Perkins was born September 3, 1818, to George Perkins and Eliza of Cumberland County, Virginia.
Anna’s father, George owned a summer home in Cumberland County, Virginia called Hickory Hill. There is a marriage bond record for Lewis W Cabell and Maria A. Perkins, dated June 28, 1841, and listing their planned event to be in Cumberland County. Anna Perkins and Lewis Cabell married on July 8, 1841, at Hickory Hill, Cumberland, Virginia.
She and Lewis had these children.
George Perkins Cabell, born first, died as an infant.
Frederick Ernest Cabell, born 1844
George Perkins Cabell, born 1846; died 1850
Anna Maria Cabell, born 26 Jan 1848
John Breckenridge Cabell, born 1850
Lewis Winston Cabell, died as infant
Lewis Winston Cabell, born 1855
William Perkins Cabell, born about June 1857, died as an infant
Only Frederick, Anna Maria, John and the second Lewis lived to adulthood.
The 1850 US census for Mayville, Buckingham, Virginia showed Lewis W Cabell as the head of family number 355. He was a 36 year old farmer with property valued at $15,000. His wife, Ann, was 28. Their children Frederick, Ann and John were 6, 2 and 6 months. Here is a snippet of this census record.
Sadly, Lewis’s farm laborers were considered property. In this census record these enslaved people are shown only by sex and age.
Buckingham County, Virginia slave schedule for 1850
Here is the Buckingham County, Virginia slave schedule for 1860. Lewis’s people are listed in the left column from 21 to 40. In the right column they are from 1 to 8.
New Interest
In January 1860 he owned the Virginia Index a newspaper. The Virginia Index was a semi-weekly journal published in Richmond, Virginia with B. M. DeWitt as the editor.
The Civil War Years
During the Civil War, the Green Hill house was used as a recovery place for wounded soldiers.
Then on January 30, 1878, Green Hill, the home of Lewis W. Cabell and his family, burned to the ground. The family escaped but all the contents of the house were burned. Here is a clipping from the Daily Dispatch. He sold the property not long after.
Lewis died 6 Oct 1890 in Nelson, Virginia, United States. He was buried there.
After Thoughts
When the story becomes morally reprehensible is it a mistake not to tell it? When “his” story of “her” story is your own family’s story should it be shared? Does forgotten history repeat itself?
Lewis Cabell kept Negro enslaved humans. A dozen of such humans were passed from his father to him by his father’s will. Even any children these people would have were willed to Lewis by this document. His enslaved population grew as shown by the 1850 and 1860 census schedules. This way of life even if all the other planters around are doing it is wrong. Lewis Cabell was blameworthy.
Did Katharine Connor’s parents use Finney as their baby girl middle name lest Katharine’s mother family not be overlooked? When Katharine married Isaac Roberts on November 13, 1828, in Charleston South Carolina, what did she think about changing her name to Mrs. Isaac Roberts? When she died in Albany, Oregon on December 1, 1889, and was buried in Sandridge Cemetery, did she plan to be buried in a unmarked grave?
I don’t have answers to these questions but thanks two men who interviewed Oregon pioneers—Edwin C. Roberts and Fred Lockley, I know something of this woman’s character.
Katharine grew up with music. She danced and sang and played the violin. After marriage and becoming a Methodist, she gave up dancing. Luckily, she still played the violin.
Early Life
Katharine Finney Connor was born in 1802 to John Connor and Katharine Finney. Her family lived in Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, Untied States at the time of her birth. During her youth, she learned to play the violin quite well and still played as an adult. Before she married she had been one of the best dancers in the county of Charleston.
Marriage and Family
How and where Katharine met Isaac Roberts is not known. They married far from South Carolina on November 13, 1828. Clancy Smith married them in Jefferson County, Missouri. Their marriage record reads:
Let it be remembered that on the 13th day of November 1828, I Chancy Smith, a Justice of the Peace in and for said County (Jefferson) did join in the state of matrimony Isaac Roberts and Catherine F. Conner. Given under my hand this 13th Nov, 1828, Record Nov 13th 1828, Chancy Smith, Justice of the peace, C Smith clerk.
Dancing days were over after Katharine married this strict Methodist northerner who didn’t play cards or dance.
Their children, all born in Missouri, were Thomas who died as an infant, James Bruffey, Emily Catherine, and Samuel Huston. Samuel Houston was named for a cousin of Katharine’s.
Migration to Willamette Valley– Portland, Oregon
Isaac, Katharine, James, Emily and Samuel Roberts left Independence, Missouri in the spring of 1850.
Katharine Roberts, a pioneer woman of tact, bravery and quick thinking demonstrated these qualities during the trip West in a run end with a Sioux Chief in the Great Plains region. This chief rode into their camp and wanted to trade for their daughter Emily Roberts. Natives often traded with the people going west. He asked, “How many ponies?” Rather than discussing this topic Katharine picked up her violin and started playing. After a while, the chief left without losing face by having been turned down outright.
Katharine, like most settlers traveling by oxen hauled wagons, probably walked much of the time. Roughly 2000 miles separated Independence, Missouri and Portland, Oregon. The pace was slow- 11 to 17 miles per day and the days were long. The trail was more of a suggestion than an actual road. Bumps and holes made riding quite jarring. Katharine’s family arrived in Portland in the fall of 1850. They made a tent camp along the Willamette River near what is now 1st and Pine Street.
Portland, Oregon
Mr. William Warren, who was building a hotel, offered the Roberts accommodation in his building while it was being finished. The dining room and kitchen were finished. The Roberts expecting to pay took his offer; but, Mr. William would accept no money.
Katharine had cooked the long spring and summer over an open campfire in all kinds of weather. Living indoors and cooking on a stove would be luxurious. But William Warren had ulterior motives for his generosity. He was interested in her daughter, Emily Roberts.
Her daughter Emily Roberts had turned down William’s proposal of marriage. Emily had another suitor. Edward Griffin and Emily Roberts married on October 26, 1851. They were married by James Wilbur at the newly constructed Methodist Church on Taylor and 3rd Street. This was the church the Roberts helped build.
By December 9, 1850, the Roberts were living in their own home. Their house was the only house built on the block bounded by 4th, 5th, Columbia and Clay Streets.
The Move to Roberts Bridge
A chunk of land on the Calapooia River 10 miles south of Albany, Linn County, Oregon Territory, USA came to be known as Roberts Bridge or the Roberts Bridge community.
This is the site of Katharine’s next home. Katharine had mixed feelings about leaving her Portland community. Her friends and her church were in Portland. On the bright side, this move presented an opportunity to both her and her daughter Emily.
The United States Congress had enacted the Donation Land Claim Act before the Roberts arrived in Portland. It became effective on September 21, 1850. By this act, Katherine’s son, James Bruffey Roberts who was a white male U.S. citizen over 18 could claim 320 acres of federal land. He needed to take out the claim between 1 Dec 1850 and 1 Dec 1853. James did take out a claim next to his mother and father’s claim.
The plus for both Katharine and her daughter, Emily was that married women could own land by this act. As a married couple Katharine and Isaac took out a 640 acre claim, and 320 acres were in Katharine’s name. Allowing a married woman to own property was uncommon in the United States before this time. Here is a copy of the BLM GLO Land Patent Details.
The last in this family group to claim land here were Emily Roberts Griffin and her husband, Edward Griffin. Since they had married before December 1, 1851, they qualified for 640 acres. Their claim adjoined Emily’s parents claim and 320 acres was in Emily’s name.
Later Years
Katharine and Isaac had lived on their homestead less than 10 years when Isaac died there on September 6, 1860. After Isaac died, she acquired a home in Albany at the corner of 4th and Maple Street.
Her son-in-law, Edward Griffin put this ad in the States Rights Democrat in December of 1868.
Albany Home
Katharine moved from Robert’s Bridge area to Albany. She lived in Albany by the time the 1870 census was taken.
The 1870 U.S. census described Katharine F. Roberts as sixty-eight-year-old widow, born in South Carolina, with real estate valued at $550 and personal property of $1200. Also at this place was James A Warner, a thirty-four-year-old surveyor. Here is a snippet of that record.
In 1880, she was still living in Albany and James Warner is still rooming there too. In this census record, Katharine is spelled beginning with a “K” which was her way of spelling her name.
Death
Katherine died on December 1, 1889. Her obituary reads:
The mother of James Roberts, who died near Shedd on the first inst., was interred at Sand Ridge Cemetery. A sermon was preached by Rev. Gould at the home of James Roberts, where a large number of friends were gathered, many of whom followed her to her last resting place.
Some References
“Interview with Edwin C Roberts in Albany Oregon”. Leslie L Haskin, 1940. wpa-interviews, Linn Genealogical Society.
Lockley, Fred, “In Earlier Days”, The Oregon Daily Journal(Portland, Oregon),28 Feb 1914, page 4 (col. 8 paragraph 4)
A figurative brick wall is a challenging obstacle or obstruction. A brick wall can also refer to a wall made from bricks. In my paternal grandfather’s case both definitions apply. He knew how to build brick walls, and his ancestors are mostly unknown to me.
Thomas’s and Luise’s Brick House
Thomas Steven Lonski, my grandfather, knew how to build brick walls. He built brick walls for two Seattle area houses. I lived in one of these houses with my family during my first eight years of school. The other brick walls were for his house on Lander Street. He, his wife, Luise, and his children, Ruth, Walter and my father, Albert, lived in this house for many years.
The house Thomas built for his family had a partly daylight basement as it was built on a slope.
A living area with a living room, dining room, kitchen, half bathroom and entry hall topped the basement level. Upstairs were 3 bedrooms and a full bathroom. a steep roof topped this home.
Luise in front of the brick house Thomas built for them
Albert’s Brick House
The brick walls he built for my family held up a different sort of house, although this house also sat on a slope. We had a great view of Lake Washington from this house.
Both Thomas and my father, Albert, worked on building this house. Thomas lay brick early in the day. Albert worked in the late afternoon and evening after his day job at Boeing Company.
Sometimes the neighbor who lived directly behind this building project. Thomas told this man named Edward Kennedy that the finished product would be a two-story house with a peaked roof.
One evening, while my father worked on our house, Edward came over asking about the thickness of floorboards, the height of the walls and the size of the attic. Edward looked and sounded decidedly grumpy. My father didn’t know why. Then my father explained that this house was to be a one-story building with a flat roof. Albert showed Edward the building plans, Edward smiled broadly; he knew his view would still be there.
After this, the old man laying bricks at Albert Lonski’s house site became known as a prankster and someone you shouldn’t play poker with.
Thomas Lonski with his grandchildren.
So, my Grandfather Lonski built the bricks wall for my childhood home. More importantly, he was there for me during my formative years.
He took me on outings. If we ate out, we usually ordered French Dip sandwiches—his favorite.
During these times grandfather would tell me about our Lonski family. I remember his facial expressions. When he said his mother’s name, Marianna Napontiac, he looked wistful. His mouth was soft, and his eye pupils widened.
On the other hand, when Grandfather spoke of his father, Michael Lonski, his eyebrows came together, and his voice became louder. He said his father had once been Michael von Lonski. Because of problems with alcohol, he sold the “von” part of his name. Since von in German means from or of, could this mean Michael had owned land and sold his right to it?
When Grandfather was young, his hometown in Poland, was Tuchel (now called Tuchola). He lived with his mother, father and seven brothers—John, Michael, Paul, Vincent, Franz, William (named for the Kaiser) and Joseph. He was a middle child, born on December 17,1880. In 1880, 3,066 people lived in Tuchel. He grew up hearing both German and Polish spoken in his household so was fluent in both languages.
Military School
Grandfather told me he was in the German army from 1902 to 1904. There was compulsory military service for preteen boys in Kaiser Wilhelm’s army.
A young Thomas Lonski at Military School
When Gdansk Was Danzig
He and his two brothers would visit the large port city of Danzig (now called Gdansk) when they were young men. They would roam the streets of this city by the Baltic Sea together looking for fun. Paul, born in 1877, was 3 years older than Thomas. Vincent born in 1882, was 2 years younger. Here is a photo of the three together.
Vincent, Thomas and Paul in town before they went to Canada
Switzerland
He left home in 1910, he said, to avoid further military service. He found work in Switzerland as a tailor working as a cutter and fitter. I remember him talking about cutting many layers of wool fabric with extra-large scissors. I have the thimble he used from this job.
Canada
By 1913 he had migrated to Canada, obtained his British citizenship and lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at Bose 1135. In May of 1913 his brothers Paul and Vincent met him in Saskatoon. they had in New York aboard the SS Zeeland. They had sailed from Antwerp, Belgium. These three young men Paul, a carpenter, Vincent, a plumber and Grandfather headed for Salmon Arms near Kamloops, British Columbia. They staked a land claim and built a cabin.
Paul and Vincent returned to German Poland in December of 1913. Paul returned to a wife in Dusseldorf and Vincent to a brother, Joseph Lonski, who also lived in Dusseldorf.
Grandfather stayed in Salmon Arms a while. He told my mother he lived with a woman there and left her rather abruptly. He went to Vancouver, B.C. where he met my grandmother, Anna Luise Taubert.
Anna Luise Taubert
Luise Taubert
Grandfather said a friend named George wanted to talk to the pretty German girl working for the von Roons. The von Roons were Germans living in Vancouver, B.C., Canada while the political situation in Germany settled down. because George didn’t speak German and Thomas did. Apparently, the things my grandfather said to Luise caused her to take an interest in him. Around this time the von Roons decided it was safe to go back to Germany. Luise decided to stay in Vancouver; Grandfather thought it was because of him.
Thomas crossed the border into the United States in 1816. Luise Taubert came to Seattle separately by ferry. They married at the courthouse in Seattle, Washington on April 18, 1916.
Thomas lost all contact with his family. He always looked unhappy when he spoke of this.
Climbing the Lonski Family Tree
About 20 years ago, I started writing down information about my family on tree forms. I didn’t find anything beyond what Thomas wrote on his application for social security. His father was Michael Lonski. His mother was Marianna Napontiac.
Then came the story of Camp No. 7, located in Tuchel and surrounded by the beautiful Tuchola forests. This was the forest Grandfather thought of when he hiked the trails around Mount Rainier close to Seattle.
Prisoner of war camps were located in and near Tuchel in WWI. Camp No. 7 was a prisoner of war camp ran by the Germans. Poles, Italians, French, and British captured persons with imprisoned there. Conditions there were horrible and many died.
At this time, I thought of genealogy as my hobby, It was supposed to be fun.
Renewed Effort
I revisited the Lonski family recently finding casualty list for German soldiers in WWI. The list (Verlustisten) named German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers who were dead, wounded, caught, missing or returned. I found 6 Vincenz Lonskis on this list. The Vincenz of Tuchel who died October 29, 1914 may have been Thomas Lonski’s brother. There were other men with the Lonski surname. There were 10 men named Franz Lonski, 11 named Johann Lonski, 5 named Josef Lonski and 1 named Paul Lonski.
Then I started having war dreams. I again stopped looking.
Thus, my grandfather, who had built the brick walls for our home, left me with another brick wall. It is the “I’m stuck” kind. But, I am extremely grateful he left Germanic Poland before WWI, knew and loved me and told me his stories.
Mac Goughler and Bessie in living room of Portland home. Mac was Bessie’s last husband.
I met Great Grandmother Goughler and two of her younger sisters in the summer of 1969. This lady, Bessie Reynolds Cabell Curtiss Goughler, was the great grandmother of my fiancee, Craig Foster. The showing of my engagement ring somehow reminded her of the men she had loved and married.
Bessie said,
Do not to grow too attached to Craig as it has been my experience that husbands died. I found another. I married three and I outlived them all.
Later on, I lived part time with Bessie’s granddaughter, Rose Foster, while my husband served in the army. When the topic of ancestors came up Rose would talk about the Coursens and the Cabells. The Coursens were from her father’s side. The Cabells were from Frances Perritt’s side. She said her grandfather, Edgar Coursen played the pipe organ for 43 years at the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. The Coursens did not drink. As for the Cabells and her grandmother Bessie, Rose said they made bathtub gin. I did not find this recipe in Bessie’s recipe book.
Bessie Cabell Curtiss Goughler’s Recipe Book
Among the family papers and other items, I inherited from Grandma Perritt was a loose-leaf leather receipt book. Bessie used it for a recipe book. Bessie typed the individual recipes into 3 and 1/2” by 7” paper stencils and mimeographed copies. Bessie wrote recipe for Plain Cake and her clear distinctive handwriting. Bessie had a stylized way of forming the number 2. She started out with a little loop. I know this because I have her letters and all the 2s have loops at the beginning.
As an illustration, here is her recipe for Plain cake written in cursive with a loopy 2.
Bessie’s Birth
Bessie, born to Margaret and Edwin Reynolds on November 30, 1874, in Baker City, Oregon, was a middle child. George, Addie, Frances and Bertha came before her. Margaret Stewart, Mildred, Louis and Mary Lydia came after her.
The Ferguson Family Bible entry for Bessie reads, “Bessie Ferguson Reynolds girl baby November 30th 1874.”
First Husband-John Breckenridge Cabell
Bessie Ferguson Reynolds married John Breckenridge Cabell on August 23, 1893, at 8 pm in the evening. The Ceremony took place in the Baker city Episcopal Church Rev. Isaac Dawson officiated. She was only 18 while John was 43.
John and Bessie had two children before John died on September 6. 1901.
The Next Five Years
The next five years treated Bessie poorly, ending with the death of her father, Edwin Reynolds on September 1, 1906. These years saw Bessie poor and living with family members in Baker City.
In March of 1904, she took her younger sister, Millie Reynolds, and her son, Rudy, to Portland, Oregon to look for work. In Portland, Bessie Millie and Rudy lived in a room located at 6th and Madison Street. This was not far from where Millie found a job at one of the oldest department stores in the west. This store, Olds and King, was located at 5th and Washington Street.
Her 8-year-old daughter, Frances Cabell, traveled to Juneau, Alaska, with another sister of Bessie’s, Margaret Reynolds Russell. Frances spent an adventurous 8 months there living with her Aunt Tootie and Uncle Ed Russell.
Second Husband—Arthur Marshal Curtiss
Shortly after the loss of her father, Bessie remarried. Arthur Curtiss, older than Bessie by 4 years, had worked as a blacksmith in Baker City.
Since they both lived in Portland they married in Portland on December 9, 1906. Here is a clipping from Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook.
Sadly, this marriage ended in 1916. Arthur died on April 26, 1916, in Portland, Oregon.
Hawaii
Bessie voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands in October of 1917 to see her first granddaughter, Rose Coursen. The 6-month-old Rose, the first child of Frances and Raymond Coursen, lived with her parents, on Maui Inland. Frances had married Raymond in May of the year before. Bessie spent 3 months in this scenic spot. Here she got to know her granddaughter before she returned to the mainland on January 19, 1918.
Bessie Curtiss and her granddaughter Rose Margaret Coursen
Third Husband–George “Mac” Goughler
In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland.
In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland and the owner of The Daisy Press. Bessie was married to Mac Goughler about 30 years. The 1920 U.S. census records show George, Bessie, Rodolph. Helen, George’s daughter from his first marriage, was in this Multnomah County census record.
Mac died on January 19, 1950. This time Bessie did not remarry.
Last Year of Life
She attended our wedding event where her grandson and I were married in December of 1969. She died a year later on December 7, 1970.
Howard Melvin Foster at Jefferson , Oregon in 1986
On the whole, Howard Foster did not display secretive qualities. He willing talked about any topic that came up. He answered questions about himself in detail. If he didn’t know the details he filled in the details. The only thing he knew about his birth grandfather father was the name, John Lawrence Shelton.
Howard Melvin Foster, a glass half full person, was my father-in-law. Also, he was Grandmother Perritt’s son-in-law. I spent some time with him and my mother-in-law, Rose. This was when my husband was in the army, stationed in Shemya, Alaska. My obstetric doctor practiced medicine in Portland, Oregon where my in-laws lived.
Being the positive person Howard was, he was not about to share the unhappy parts of his life. If something bad had happened he quickly forgot about it.
Being the nosy person I am, I asked questions about his life. If the event was good, I got detailed answers. If not, I got half answers.
Howard’s Brother Dick
Charles Richard Foster, his half-brother, was born three years after Howard. They were close while growing up. Charles or “Dick” as the family called him, grew up to be an alcoholic. Howard grew up to be a family man with a house in the suburbs, a business of his own, a loving wife, two sons and a dog named Eagle.
Dick, on and off the wagon, showed up at regular intervals, drunk and asking for money. Howard helped him until he broke with Dick when his boys were under five.
I asked what happened to Dick. Howard said he thought he died sometime in the 1950s and his family lived in Silverton, Oregon. Years later, I was searching for a Charles Richard Foster and found him in a Silverton Phone Directive for 1997.
Dick Foster, Spokane, August 1943
Early Life
A wild story about Howard’s early life came from his half-sister, Jean Wardian. How Howard came to have a half-sister, and two half-brothers is a different story I will tell now.
Edna Naomi Miller fell in love with Carl Shelton in Portland, Oregon. They lived in the same Portland Ward. They were both in their early twenties. When Howard was born on July 31, 1914, in Portland, Oregon, Edna was 25 and Carl was 24.
Back to the wild story, the first part is true. Auntie Jean, Howard’s half-sister, said Howard’s small family moved to a small logging community in the northeastern part of Oregon. They moved to Enterprise and Enterprise is where Carl died and is buried. I found his grave in Enterprise Cemetery. He had died July 24, 1915, just a few days before Howard ‘s first birthday.
The wild part of this story involves the reason they moved. Jean said, “Carl’s parents were well off, well known in the Portland music scene and were trying to get custody of Howard.”
Howard Melvin Shelton at 3 months
New Father
Edna married again on June 10,1916 about a year after Carl died. Howard grew up knowing no other father beside Charles Wallace Foster.
The Fosters used Shelton as Howard surname in the 1920 U.S. census. Here it is for OK Gulch, Wallowa County, Oregon.
1920 census showing Charlie Foster’s Family in OK Gulch, Wallowa, Oregon
Using Foster as His Surname
After Howard started school in Lewiston, Idaho, he used Foster as his last name. Here is the 1930 U.S. census from Mount Pleasant, Skamania, Washington.
1930 census showing Charlie Foster’s family in Skamania county, Washington
A Problem Develops Later in Life
In 1963 Howard needed a name change. He went through the Multnomah County circuit court system to change his name. His birth certificate named him Howard M. Shelton. In life people and institutions call him Howard Melvin Foster.
He graduated from Fort Vancouver High School as Howard Foster.
He studied for four years at Reed College as Howard Foster.
He married Rose Coursen on June 3,1940 as Howard Melvin Foster.
His two boys carried the surname of Foster.
His printing business was called Balwin-Foster Printing Co.
As a scout master from 1961-1965 he was known as Howard Foster.
He served his country in WWII and separated from the army as Private First-class Howard M. Foster.
I don’t know the immediate reason he needed to do this in 1963. I do know his church was planning a group trip to Israel and Rome. Howard would need a passport for this trip and a birth certificate with the name he had used for 45 years.
Certificate of Change of Name
On April 2, 1963, Howard Melvin Shelton, on his own behalf, petitioned the Circuit Court that his name be changed from Howard Melvin Shelton to Howard Melvin Foster. On April 29, 1963, his name was changed, and an official Certificate of Change of Name was issued to Howard.
Going Ahead to 1972
Moving ahead, I spent more time with my in-laws in Portland waiting for the baby. During my last month of pregnancy, my obstetrician wanted me to cut out my trips between Seattle where my parents lived and Lebanon where my grandmother lived. Being consigned to Portland, I had more chances to ask Howard about his life. He didn’t want to talk about his experiences in WWII.
Years later, going through Howard’s papers, I found his separation papers containing a summary of some of what he did. I was impressed. I don’t know if he didn’t talk about this last assignment because he didn’t want to, or he wasn’t supposed to. Here is the quote from his separation papers.
Title-Description-Related Civilian Occupation
Master, Ship: Served with 329 Harbor Craft in European Theater of Operations. Served aboard General McNarney’s private yatch. Was second in command of the boat. Drew all rations and supplies to be used. Acted as purchasing agent and bought on the civilian market. Supplies to be used that couldn’t be secured through the army.
At the time Howard was the Ship Master of this yatch, General Joseph T. McNarney was commanding general of the United States Army Forces, Mediterranean Theater. Howard separated from the army on March 17, 1946.
Howard Foster, center and army friends oversea on leave in France. Taken in 1944 or 1945.
Granddaughter
Then my daughter was born on a hot day in August of 1972 in Portland, Oregon. The grandparents had time to bond strongly with this new human.
In February of 1973, my husband came home from Shemya, Alaska. Soon after we headed to Fort Devens, Massachusetts where my husband finished his enlistment.
The grandparents were grieved with our going. This suggests the emotions in the family legend of Howard’s parents taking Howard away from his grandparents about 58 years ago.
We did come back to Oregon, living and working about 50 miles south of Portland. Howard and Rose attended their granddaughter’s wedding in 1998.
Howard died on December 27, 2000, in a care home in Portland, Oregon. We buried him in Skyline Memorial Gardens in Portland, Oregon. He has a flat bronze veterans headstone marker.
francescabellcoursenperritt.com 