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Tag: genealogy

  • John Cabell and the Census

    Portrait of John Breckinridge Cabell at around 30 years old, photographed in Oregon

    As the son of a Virginian plantation owner with the American Civil War approaching, John B. Cabell grew up with privilege and tension. The plantation, Green Hill, sat on a high grassy hill overlooking the James River. The county where they lived, Buckingham, was in the very center of Virginia. Their plantation came with 750 acres and enslaved workers. John’s father, Louis Cabell, had inherited all this in 1841 from his father.

    Alexander Brown, a Cabell on his mother’s side, wrote an informative book about this family. The Cabells and Their Kin states John Breckenridge Cabell drew his first breath on January 26, 1850.

    Louis W. Cabell and Anna Maria Perkins Cabell named this son John Breckenridge Cabell after the 14th Vice President of the United States. John Cabell Breckinridge, shared second great grandparents with Louis and Anna’s new son. These 2nd great grandparents were Elizabeth Burks Cabell and William Cabell, M.D.

    The 1850 Census Record

    Enumerators for the 1850 U.S. federal census named all the persons living in each “dwelling” they visited. This was a first. The enumerator also recorded the ages of those they visited. This proved to be useful in John’s case as later records suggest that he was younger. In 1850 John’s age, listed as 6 months, would make John born in early 1850. The census visit happened in Buckingham on August of 1850.

    This is the first census secret in John’s record. It revealed his birth year as 1850 unlike his death certificate which listed his birth as January of 1851. This early census record shows he was very much alive in 1850.

    Here is an image of this record.

    US 1850 Federal census, District 2, Buckingham, Virginia, from Ancestry.com

    Between Census Records

    Stories from John’s daughter, Frances Cabell Coursen Perritt, say John’s father, Louis W. Cabell was demanding, temperamental man who caused his wife much grief. After John married Bessie Reynolds, John’s family and Bessie wrote letters to each other. A cousin of John, Clara Lee Horsley, wrote on April 9, 1932. She described some of John’s early life.

    Clara said John’s father, Louis, was erratic. He would call John a bright shining lamp, with a beautiful face and brown eyes like his mother. Then he would turn around and say Johnny Breck is the Black Prince.

    In this letter Clara mentioned two friends of the young John Cabell. She wrote J.B., Jessie Cabell and Susie Campbell made a handsome trio. She mentioned some photos taken before John went west.

    Times Are Changing

    Virginia’s economy relied on slavery to support the lifestyle of the plantation owners like John’s father. In the Slave states white man called the practice of slavery their “peculiar institution”. In the North the idea of a person being the property of another person was fast becoming horrific.

    The Cabells, like the other owners living along the James River, felt this way. Secession would be their only choice if slavery was abolished. They especially felt this way after the election of Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860.

    The 1860 election campaign brought Abraham Lincoln into the office of President of the United States. Lincoln had said he would not allow slavery anywhere in the country except where it already existed. Southerners wanted to take their enslaved into the territories.

    At this time John’s father owned the Virginia Index, a Richmond newspaper. An opinion piece, published on October 12, 1860, stated the slave state position. Part of the article reads, from the time of the nomination of Lincoln it was proclaimed by Southern Politicians…that his election would justify and lead to a dissolution of the Union.

    It went on to say their enslaved Negroes were property like horses, cows and liquor were property. The people of the slave states wanted protection of their property from the government which demanded their allegiance. They did not want denial of their property rights in the territories. Here is a link to that article.

    The November of 1860, the election of Lincoln spurred more drastic measures in the Cabell household.

    1860 Buckingham Census

    On July 6, 1860, when the Buckingham County census enumerator called at Green Hill, the Cabells were not there. The census taker found them living in dwelling number 260 with the William Via family.

    In this record Cabell is spelled Cabble and initials are used first and middle name for Louis Warrington Cabell.

    John’s age, 10 years, coordinates with the 6-month age given in the 1850 record.

    1860 US census for William Via, District 2, Buckingham, Virginia, 6 July 1860

    Louis Cabell’s brother Clifford Cabell is in dwelling number 269. Clifford Cabell’s daughter, Evelyn Carter Byrd Cabell, was someone John kept in touch with after he went west.

    1860 US census for Clifford Cabell, District 2, Buckingham, Virginia, 6 July 1860

    The Civil War in Virginia

    Green Hill, the Louis Cabell Plantation home, served as a recovery hospital for Confederate soldiers. The war began about 8 months after the 1860 census was taken. It started on April 12, 1861, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. John was 11 years old and too young to enlist. John’s older brother Frederick Cabell enlisted. Frederick fought on the Confederate side from the beginning until May of 1865 when the war ended.

    The Confederate capital in Richmond was about 100 miles from Washington, DC. Virginia saw the most war. According to the National Archives Catalog, Virginians saw 123 battles in their state.

    After the War

    After the war, both John and his older brother, Frederick, pursued higher education. They were both interested in mining engineering. Plantation ownership was becoming a thing of the past. Frederick left the States for Freiburg, Germany where he studied mining engineering. John attended Norwood High School, a boy’s prep school preparing their students to attend the University of Virginia.

    In the fall of 1865, one of John’s cousins opened Norwood High School. William Daniel Cabell’s (1834-1904) plantation home, Norwood, became a school for 47 boys.

    John went on to attend the University of Virginia. This university offered a program in civil engineering. In the 1870 census record, John is listed as a civil engineer.

    The Beauties in John’s Wallet

    Not long after, John was photographed by George N. Wertz in Christiansburg, Virginia. The photographer, George, had a studio in Christiansburg in 1872 and in 1873. In this photo, John was about 22 years old.

    I don’t know if John carried photos in his wallet. But I do have some photos of John’s from his younger days. One is him; the others are girls. They are left to right Ridgie, Miss Susie Campbell, Evelyn Cabell Robinson and a cousin.

    John B. Cabell’s 1880 Census Records

    As early as 1873, John B Cabell and his brother Frederick discovered and worked mines in Grant county, Oregon. Here is a link to their mining enterprises in Oregon.

    The 1880 census shows them being in Grant county.

    Occasionally, John visited Baker City. It was not unusual to find him at the bar in the Geyser Grand Hotel. I don’t know if this next photo taken at this bar predates his falling in love. This is written in the back of this photo, “John B. Cabell, person on the right in front of the bar.”

    Bessie’s and John’s Story

    Another blog entry tells Bessie and John’s love story. Here is a link to In the Beginning.

    1900 Census Records

    Interestingly, John is listed in three 1900 Oregon census records. The first time John B. Cabell was counted in the 1900 US census record for Oregon. He was a patient at the Portland Sanitarium in Portland, Oregon. This was on 14 June 1900.

    A few days later, he went home stopping first in Baker City to get his wife and children. They were living with his wife’s parents Edwin and Margaret Reynolds. This was 18 June 1900.

    John’s Last Census Record

    The family returned to their home on a mountain above Granite City, Grant, Oregon. They were counted here on 20 June 1900.

    Being counted 3 times in a census record seems excessive. John had trained as a civil engineer who concerned himself with numbers. He know the purpose of the census was to make a true count of the population of the U.S. More important to him was the reality that he had moved home. This was where he wanted to be counted.

    Even though the triple counting of John affected the accuracy of the 1900 census, it still supplied information about John. This last 1900 record listed his correct age. John was born in January of 1850.

    Sadly, John died a little more than a year later on September 6, 1901 in Portland.

    After Thoughts

    John is the great grandfather of my husband. I have letters and stories saved by John’s daughter, Frances. Without these treasures, John’s census records would have stumped me.

  • Daniel Ferguson-Last Project

    Daniel Ferguson photographed by M. M.Hazeltine of Baker City about 1872

    I have written before about Daniel Howes Ferguson and his family. One post about a steamboat disaster on the Willamette River in Oregon, I called Too Much Fire in the Box. Before this Daniel joined the California Gold Rush in 1849. I wrote about this in a post called Traveling by Mailboat. Here are some other related posts.

    Places the Fergusons lived in include Norwalk and Danbury and in Connecticut. They also lived Yuba, California, Portland, Linn City and Baker City Oregon, the Cascades, Washington, and Lone Pine, California. Every time I open my research about the Fergusons, I wonder and theorized about his death and burial place.

    Why did he die in Maryland when he and Jeannette lived in the state of California? Where was he buried?

    Daniel Ferguson died rather suddenly near Washington DC. The Ferguson Family Bible reads, “Daniel H Ferguson died at Beltsville Station, Prince George County, State of Maryland on 28th day of September AD 1876, aged 60 years 6 months and 10 days”

    Upon Leaving The Cascades

    In my post titled Images, I described the Fergusons in Washington territory. They lived along the Columbia River in a town called the Cascades. Sometimes in the late 1860s the Fergusons left the Cascades.

    In 1868 Margaret’s older brother, James Ferguson, moved to Baker City and went into business with Margaret’s husband, Edwin Reynolds. They established a dry goods store in Baker City. James had been working in Eastern Washington in the Fort Colville area in his father’s shipping, selling and trading businesses.

    While living in Baker City James became acquainted with a young schoolteacher named Jennie Mann. In June of 1870, he married Jennie Mann of Barre, Vermont. This new couple moved into a house next door to Edwin and Margaret Ferguson Reynolds.

    The US census of 1870 for Baker City, Baker, Oregon, dwelling no. 3, family 3 lists James F. Ferguson, age 24, occupation, retail grocer, real estate value, $1500, personal property, $2000, born in New York.  Listed next is Jennie Ferguson, age, 21, occupation, keeping house, born in Vermont.

    The next entry, dwelling no. 4, family no. 4 is for Edwin W Reynolds and his family. Margaret Ferguson Reynolds, age 22, occupation, keeping house, born in New York is listed next. The three children were George, Addie and Frances, all born in Oregon. Lastly, Jeannette Ferguson, age 53, born in Connecticut is listed. Some of the names are spelled wrong.

    Here is an image of this June 28 1870 Federal Census record for Baker City, Baker, Oregon

    In June of 1870, Federal Census records placed Daniel Ferguson in Cerro Gordo, Inyo, California. Daniel, head of family no. 18, owned $300 in real estate and $3000 in personal property. His occupation was listed as “teamster” as were the other two men who were Omie Mair and Edward Foster. Here is an image.

    Cerro Gordo, California

    Cerro Gordo Spanish “Fat Hill” was the name of a mountain in the Inyo range. Daniel was here in the mining camp called Cerro Gordo. This mountain, located near Death Valley, is about eight miles east and 5,000 feet above Owens Lake. Other mining communities in this area were Dolomite, Swansea, Keeler, Olancha and Cartago. These camps were located along the shoreline of Owens Lake. In 1872 there was even a place called Ferguson’s Landing on Owens Lake. Today the lake is dry and the towns are ghost towns. Here is a map.

    Map based on map found in digital-desert.ca

    Getting the Ore from the mine to Los Angeles

    The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 and there were short line railroads in many western towns. This was not the case for the Cerro Gordo mines. Transport was by mules pulling wagons.These wagons loaded with silver and lead traveled more than 200 miles. It was that far from the Cerro Gordo mines to the ports and markets of Los Angeles. On the return trip the wagons carried supplies for the miners. The miners needed clothing, building materials, utensils, dishes, tools, tack, canned goods, flour, sugar, coffee, liquor and other goods. The drivers of these wagons were called teamsters.

    An estimated 17 million dollars’ worth of silver and lead arrived in Los Angeles from these mountain mines. Residents of Los Angeles credit these mines for the size of their city. They say it would not have become the large bustling port town it was in the late 1800s. It would not be the big city it is now.

    In the early 1870s Daniel’s wife, Jeannette and son, James joined Daniel in Southern California at Lone Pine.  Jeannette’s relatives In Connecticut wrote to Jeannette in Lone Pine, Inyo, California in 1873.

    During the 1870s Lone Pine was an important supply town for Kearsarge, Cerro Gordo, Keeler, Swansea and Darwin. Lone Pine was about 5 miles from Ferguson’s Landing and 12 miles from Cerro Gordo.

    The Building of the Bessie Brady

    Starting in June 1872 the Bessie Brady, hauled ore milled into ingots at Swansea across the lake. Before this the 85-pound silver-lead ingots had to be hauled by mule and wagons around Owens Lake.

    In 1872 a shortcut across Owens Lake was orchestrated by James Brady and Daniel Ferguson. I found a credible reference for this partnership. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power had this to say.

    So much silver was extracted that a small steamer, the Bessie Brady, was built in 1872 by James Brady and D.H. Ferguson. (Its purpose) was to ferry the bullion across Owens Lake from Swansea to Cartago Landing, thereby reducing reliance on mule transport.
    Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ,https://www.lawp.com, page 30

    This saved time and money on the 200-mile trek to the ports of Los Angeles. The building of the Bessie Brady involved both men’s time, money, and experience. D. H. Ferguson had knowledge of steamboats and how to build them. My theory is that Daniel’s experience building the ill fated Gazelle, guided much of this project.

    Another project Daniel did in 1872 was acquiring a plot of land at the northwest corner of Owens Lake. He built a wharf there and called it Ferguson’s Landing. The daughter of James Brady, Bessie Brady, christened these men’s boat at Ferguson’s Landing on July 4, 1872.

    After the Bessie Brady was built, she was moored at Swansea. She crossed Owens Lake to both Ferguson’s Landing and Cartago Landing carrying silver-lead ingots.

    This article called “Naming of the Bessie Brady”, provides details about what Daniel and James had been doing. It describes an interesting day in the life of some 1870ers.

    Naming of the Bessie Brady


    By 1872 Cerro Gordo’s bullion output was large. The mode of moving it to tidewater at Santa Monica or San Pedro was by teams, under a general contract. Later this method was brought to precise system; but at that period, it was both unsatisfactory and inadequate. Many tons of bullion were usually pulled up near Owens Lake from the furnaces at Cerro Gordo and at Swansea, awaiting moving. Hauling around the lake was slow and expensive; it takes a twelve-animal team five days to go from Swansea to the foot of the lake…hauling but six tons a load. The need of improvement caused Superintendent James Brady of the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Co and D. H. Ferguson to decide to build a boat. It was constructed in the spring of 1872, at a cost of $10,000. Its dimensions were 85 feet keel, 16 feet beam, 6 feet depth of hold, with a 20-horsepower engine. A 52-inch propeller drove it and with light draft part of the propeller was always out of the water. Though not large the boat was a big step ahead in facilities, for it was able to make a round trip daily from Swansea, at the lake’s northeastern curve to Cartage at the southwest carrying 70 tons of freight.  A comparison with the teaming time and capacity already mentioned is of interest. For nearly ten years, until the coming of the Carson & Colorado railroad caused the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company to quit this field, the boat was a money- saving factor in the valley shipments, both ways for the mines and the valley.
    On the Fourth of July 1872, the valley’s chief celebration centered around the christening of the little ship. Twenty carriage loads of people and many horsemen from Independence and Lone Pine and the country between, left Lone Pin that mourning and traveled the five miles to Ferguson’s Landing before the boat, coming across from Swansea, arrived towing a barge to serve as a temporary wharf. A hundred and thirty excursionists embarked. The little Bessie, daughter of Superintendent Brady, stepped to the bow of the boat and broke a bottle of wine on it, lisping "Bessie Brady”. W. H. Creighton, a citizen with poetic aspirations, read an “Ode to the Bessie Brady”. 
    The first steamer excursion on the lake made its way to the lower end. With the seven-mile speed, the unclouded July sun overhead, an open deck, the reflecting water around and the heat of an unhoused engine to add to its might, it may be supposed that some degree of enthusiasm was required to enjoy the dancing which went on until the perspiring excursionists reached the mouth of Olancho Creek. Disembarking there, the party picnicked, listened to the Declaration of Independence and otherwise spent the time until evening coolness came, and a delightful return journey became possible. The festivities ended at Lone Pine.
    The Silver-Lead Company built a 300-foot wharf at Swansea and others were put up at Cartage and Ferguson’s landing. The lake was then supposed to be unfathomable; but its very gradual deepening made light draft a necessity in the boat. Good water was obtained on the eastern side by boxing an underwater spring so that its water rose several feet above the lake level for the steamer’s use.
    “Naming of the Bessie Brady”, Inyo Independent (Inyo), 29 Sept 1916, Vol.47 No. 21, California Digital Newspaper Collection, archived (http://cdnc.ucr.edu)

    In September of 1872 James Brady sold his interest in the Bessie Brady to John Daneri and Daniel Ferguson. Unfortunately, in 1875 their steamboat company folded and Casper Titchworth purchased Ferguson’s interest in the Bessie Brady.

    Questions and Theories

    Here are my theories about Daniel and Jeannette’s travels to the east coast in 1876.

    Daniel and Jeannette decided to go back east as far as Washington, D.C. Daniel’s mother Fanny Ferguson died in Davenport, Scott County, Iowa on April 30, 1876. I hope he saw her before she died.

    Fanny had moved to Davenport sometime after 1880; her youngest child, Fannie A. Ferguson Stewart and her husband Jacob Stewart lived in Davenport.  The old blue scrapbook held two photos of Aunt Fannie, one taken in Davenport around 1880.

    Daniel Ferguson died near Washington D.C. The Ferguson Family bible gave the date as September 28, 1876,in Maryland.

    After

    After Daniel died, Jeannette did not return to the West directly. Instead she stayed with her brother and sister-in-law. In 1880, she was found in the household of her older brother Albert Keeler and his wife Harriet. They lived in Yonkers, New York. Here is a image of the 1880 U.S. census record for Albert and Harriet Keeler ling in Yonkers,Westchester, New York. Jeannette Ferguson, age 65, is listed as a boarder.

    She died in Baker City, Oregon on April 19, 1894. Family buried her in Mount Hope Cemetery in an unmarked grave next to her daughter-in-law, Jennie Ferguson. Her obituary reads:

    Last Friday’s Oregonian noted the death on the day previous of one of the pioneer women of the state at Baker City,” Mrs. Jeanette Ferguson, aged 79 years, widow of the late D. H. Ferguson, a well-known pioneer of 1853, died of cancer and paralysis. She was born in Danbury, Con., on April 10, 1816, and resided in Oregon City, Or., in 1853.” In the early times before the great flood of 1861 her husband was a prominent businessman and mill owner at this place. When Linn City was flourishing, he was the principal mill owner at that place and many of the old timers remember well both him and his wife. Mrs. Ferguson was a grandmother of Mrs. E. M. Mack (Addie Ferguson) of this city.
    “Chat About Town”, Oregon City Enterprise (Oregon City), April 27, 1894, Image 3, Col. 3, digital images, Historic Oregon Newspapers,(http://oregonnews.edu accessed: April 23,2015)

    Daniel and Jeannette Ferguson were Oregon pioneers, adventurers, parents, and unassuming people. Jeannette was buried in an unmarked grave in Baker City, and we don’t know where Daniel was buried.

    Certainly, Daniel Howes Ferguson embodies the definition of an entrepreneur. A definition reads“a person who organizes and operates a business taking on greater than normal financial risk ”.  In his sixty years of life, Daniel did this many times. His freighting and trading activities coupled with his inventiveness made life in the American frontier easier.

  • Images

    I recently looked through my old treasures from the Ferguson family. I thought I should photograph these four big portraits. These people are related.

    In 2010 after the death of Aunt Betty Coursen Miller (gg granddaughter of Daniel Ferguson), Betty’s children give me family photos from the Ferguson Reynolds side. These photos are large, measuring 16″ by 20″. The images are on cardstock, yellowing, crumbly, and labeled as follows:

    Two photos had writing on the back on the back in what looks like Bessie Reynolds Cabell’s writing. One reads “Margaret St. John Ferguson.” This label gives information about who had the photos copied. It says, “Mrs. J. B. Cabell Baker City, Oregon, crayon, 3-18-02, April del W. Bowston.” April del W. Bowston was the artist who enhanced this portrait with crayon. Mrs. J. B. Cabell (Bessie Reynolds) was the granddaughter of Daniel Ferguson.

    The second photo has, “Edwin Wesley Reynolds married Margaret St. John Ferguson” written on the back. These first two photos made by photographing smaller photos of Margaret and Edwin. These smaller photos were taken in Baker City at Parker’s Studio around 1901. I have 4 /2” by 6 1/2″ photos of both identified as Edwin and Margaret Reynolds. Margaret’s age at Baker City sitting for the original photo was fifty-four.

    The third portrait was a drawing of Daniel Ferguson. It had a masking tape label saying, “Daniel H Ferguson married Jeannette Keller.” It was the one in the most deteriorating condition. It looks like a drawing.

    The fourth portrait shows a young woman about 18-years-old. She wore a white dress and has a mysterious smile . She looks very much like a younger version of Margaret. But the label on this lovely young lady photo reads, “Jeanette Keeler , wife of Daniel Ferguson.

    If this photo was taken of a 18-year-old Jeannette, the year would have been 1834.

    In the end, I decided this, too ,was a photo of Margaret Ferguson.

    None the less, these are some of my favorite photographs.Also they are an useful introduction to the next part of the Daniel Ferguson family story.

    Margaret’s Education

    Chances are greater than not that Margaret learned to draw quite young. 

    When Margaret was a young girl in the 1850s, opportunities for girls and young women were meager. Fewer opportunities exist in Oregon Territory. But in Oregon City just across the Willamette River starting in 1853, there was Clackamas County Female Seminary. Reading, writing and simple math, French, drawing and monochromatics were taught to the girls.   Monochromatics is drawing using shades and tints of one color. To attend this school for an 11-week quarter it cost six dollars. For an extra two dollars, the drawing lessons were offered.

    Some of Margaret’s art has been saved by the family. The drawing of her father, Daniel Ferguson, was probably Margaret’s work. Another piece, a mother and child drawing in the monochromatic style has Margaret name at the bottom of the piece.

    Here it is.

    Margaret signed this as Maggie Reynolds

    In 1857 the school faced financial ruin and was closed for a year. It reopened in 1858 under new management.

    Not long after this Daniel moved his family away from Oregon. Here is an ad placed by W. Blain in the Oregon Argus. It announced that the property on the hill above Linn City was for sale. This revealed that the Fergusons were still in Linn City in June of 1858. The whole family was there when the Oregon territorial census was taken in 1856 and 1857. Daniel, Jeannette, Elbert, James and Margaret left friends, neighbors. They also left a breath-taking view of Mount Hood when they left Linn City. They left for a home on the Columbia River in Washington Territory where the Cascade Rapids impeded river boat travel. And the 12-year-old Margaret probably had to give up drawing lessons.

    View of west side of Mount Hood

    They moved into a new house in Cascade City while still owning a house in Portland.

    Cascade City

    The next year the Fergusons moved to Cascade City also known as “Lower Cascades”. Cascade City developed around the army Fort Cascades. this fort was located on the north side of the Columbia River near today’s North Bonneville. In the 1860s, Cascade City was the largest town in Washington Territory and an important steamboat stop. Daniel’s neighbors, the Bradford brothers, owned dock and portage here. They took advantage of the passengers and cargo that had to bypass the river at Cascade City.

    The 1860 U.S. census listed 142 towns’ people in Cascade City. Also, there were 52 personnel at the garrison at Fort Cascades. At the beginning of the Civil War,this fort was abandoned by the army Then the town took over the fort.

    The Fergusons were listed in this census for Washington Territory, Skamania County and the town of the Cascades. They lived in dwelling number 602. Their surname was spelled incorrectly and written as “Fergerson”. Daniel H. Fergerson, a 46-year-old male headed this household. He was said to be a hotel keeper from New York. His family, Jeannette, aged 46, Elbert, aged 17, James, aged 15, and Margaret, aged 13, were listed next. Also, living at dwelling 602 were Thomas Pike, age 30, a ship carpenter, Albert Perval, age.

    A 21-year-old clerk named E. W. Reynolds lived close to the Fergusons in dwelling 600.

    Image of 1860 census, The Cascades, Dwelling 600 and dwelling 602

    The Teenage Margaret

    The house, mentioned in the 1860 census record as dwelling 602, was a second home for the Fergusons. They still owned a home in Portland, Oregon. This new home, like their other homes, fronted a major waterway used for shipping and travel in Oregon.

    Travel between their Portland home and their Cascades home was easy considering the times. If a person climbed aboard the Carrie Ladd of Captain Ainsworth’s fleet, the trip took a little over seven hours. It took five hours forty minutes to go down the Columbia to Vancouver, then 90 minutes inland to Portland.

    The Columbia River also marked the boundary between Oregon State and Washington Territory. The Fergusons lived on the Washington Territory side of the Columbia River.

     Living in Cascade City was more of a do-it-yourself affair than living in Portland and the Fergusons had hungry boarders. Margaret and her mother cooked on a cast iron stove. So, there was wood to chop, a fire to build and feed. Then, when cooking Margaret needed to monitor the fire to keep the temperature ideal.  To make a chicken dish, the chicken had to be caught, killed and plucked first. There was no refrigeration, so the roast chicken would have to be eaten soon after being cooked. William Moffitt was the area’s butcher, so there was beef.

    A root cellar kept vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and turnips.  More perishable fruits and vegetables would be canned in mason jars. The climate being hot and dry during the canning season made this work hotter. The climate in the winter was cold and wet.                                                                                                                       

    Schools didn’t exist in Skamania County until Felix Iman and John Nelson built a log cabin schoolhouse in Stevenson. Stevenson, about two miles from Cascade City, still exists. The town was destroyed by flooding in June of 1894.  See more about Cascade City.

    Shortly after this census was recorded, circumstances in the Ferguson family changed. This left mother, Jeannette and daughter, Margaret with the work of running their hotel.

    Elbert, sick with tuberculosis died December 9, 1863. The family buried him in Portland, Oregon at Lone Fir Cemetery. In the 1860s, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in Washington County, Oregon.

    James Ferguson went to Portland to clerk for the Harker brothers in 1861. The Harker Brothers, wholesale and retail dealers, sold clothing and dry goods. Their building was located at 53 Front Street, corner of Oak in Portland. James worked there for four years.

    Daniel built businesses in Washington Territory selling goods to miners in this big territory. He also mined for gold himself.

    So, at home in Cascade City, Margaret and Jeannette kept the home fires burning.

    Margaret’s Romance

    The clerk, living in B. F. Bradford’s house or dwelling 600 on the 1860 census record, noticed Margaret and she noticed him.

    The family believes Edwin came west in 1849. When Maggie met him, he was working on a steamer on the Columbia River.

    Edwin Wesley Reynolds married Margaret Ferguson on March 2, 1864. They were married at their Portland house with Jeannette and her brother James Ferguson as witnesses. The Ferguson Family Bible says:

    Edwin W Reynolds and Margaret were married in Portland, Oregon the year AD 1864 by the Rev Mr. Cornelius, a Baptist minister. 

    The young couple are listed in the 1870 census record for Baker City, Oregon.

    They lived in dwelling no. 4. Ed W. Reynolds, age 32, occupation, retail grocer had $2000 in real estate and $2000 in personal property. He was born in New York. Margaret Ferguson, age 22, occupation, keeping house, born in New York was listed next. The three children, all born in Oregon were George P., age 5, Addie J., age 4, and Frances G., age 3, were listed next. Lastly, Jeannette Ferguson, aged 53, born in Connecticut was listed.

    James Ferguson lived next door. He was in business with Margaret’s husband, Edwin Reynolds. Here is a copy of this record.

    1870 Baker City Census showing The Fergusons and the Reynolds

    So, now the Ferguson family is based in Baker City, Oregon except for Daniel. He was gold mining in Cerro Gordo located in California.

  • James Crowley-Encounters with the Law

    James Riley Crowley is a 3rd Great Uncle to my husband. I wrote a biography about James a few years ago. The biography is on Wiki under James Crowley.

    I want to share a part of this biography that tells about three of James’s experiences with the law. He had three such experiences in the space of eleven years.

    James migrated from Ray County, Missouri to Polk County, Oregon with his parents 1864. Here in Oregon, he married, started a family and acquired land. He first owned a farm in Perrydale, Polk County. Secondly, he owned land on Cascade Head, Tillamook County.

    In June of 1882, his troubling times in Oregon courts began. James didn’t see the murder. He heard the gun shots and found the body.

    The Nathan Nott Case

    The first trial involved James’s hired hand who lived with the Crowleys. James was a key witness at two of these trials. In the first trial Nathan Nott, James’s hired hand, was tried for the murder of William Frakes.

    The 1880 census for Salt Lake District, Polk, Oregon shows these people living in dwelling #132 with James R. Crowley, age 37. They are his wife, Martha C., age 31, his daughter Mary J., age 10, and two sons, Walter, age 3, and James R. (Ralph), age 1. Also, living here was a single farm worker from Illinois named Nathan L. Nott, age 30.

    A disturbing news item from the Corvallis Gazette went to print on June 9, 1882. This article featured Crowley’s boarder, one, N. L. Nott.

    Hired Hand commits a murder- Nott trial 

    On Tuesday evening last week, William Frakes, an old resident of this county, was murdered at Bear Camp, on the Salmon River Road, by N.L. Nott, says the Dallas Itemizer. From the information we have been able to obtain it seems that Nott had formerly been keeping some stock for Mrs. Frakes on the shares and some misunderstanding arose regarding the matter. On Sunday last Mr. Frakes started from home to bring back a cow and calf, which had been in Nott’s possession, and which had been left on the range. On Tuesday Nott, James Crowley and Billy McKinney started from Salt Creek with some stock which they were taking to Salmon River. They met Frakes at the place where he was murdered, and it is said that Nott remarked to McKinney that he had a job to attend to, and left him and in a few minutes, shots were heard and Nott came back, announcing that he had killed Frakes

    “Murder”, The Corvallis Gazette, (Corvallis, OR), 9 Jun 1882, p.3, col 1, (https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022650/1882-06-09/ed-1/seq-3/

    A second article printed on June 10, 1882, in the Eugene Guardian continued the story saying,

    A Murderer Under Arrest 

    McKinney was then sent to the house of Mr. Mulligan, about a mile distant, and when he arrived at the camp Crowley and Nott had eaten their supper and were there; Mr. Mulligan was requested to take the body to Perrydale, which he consented to do, and on Wednesday he brought the remains to the place named. Nott, Crowley and McKinney proceeded on their way to Salmon River. John Crowley started after them on Wednesday, and Nott was met by Sheriff Hall at Grand Ronde on Thursday. He claimed he had acted in self- defense and was coming back to give himself up. He was brought to Perrydale, and his examination postponed until Wednesday next. He is now in jail at this place. Frakes received four shots, one in the breast proving fatal. Both arms were broken and he was shot through the thigh It is supposed he was on his horse when shot.

    “A murderer Under Arrest”, Eugene City Guardian (Eugene, Oregon), June 10, 1882, p 5, col. 2 near top (https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022653/1882-06-10/ed-1/seq-5/#words=Frake+Frakes+Nott
    • On July 29, 1882 Nott was on trial for killing William Frakes as the Polk County Itemizer went to print.
    • Two weeks later the Polk County Itemizer reported that Nott had been found guilty of murder in the second degree.

    Naoma Shelton vs John L Shelton

    James’s younger sister, Naoma Crowley, was born when James was 17. On October 25, 1880 Naoma married John Lawrence Shelton at the home of John’s mother. They had four boys. When Naoma was 32 years-old, she filed for divorce.

    James and John had known each since 1873. Both were farmers living in the vicinity of Dallas, Oregon. Naoma met John much later.

    In April of 1891 James rescued his younger sister, Naoma Crowley Shelton, from a house in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon. In Portland she lived with her four boys and her abusive husband, John Lawrence Shelton. James took her and her sons to his home near Dallas, Oregon. She filed for divorce on April 10, 1891. The case came to court on May 10, 1892. Naoma was 32 and still living in Dallas, as did James Crowley.

    James said in his testimony he had known John L. Shelton for 18 years and Naoma all her life. He also said that John had ran through Naoma’s property. She had owned 400 acres of land when they married. John drank and gambled it away. Here is a partial transcript of James’s testimony:

    James’s Testimony

     She wrote me that he was treating her so badly that she could not live with him, so I went and brought her to Dallas. At that time, they were living in Multnomah County. He accused her of being intimate with other men in my presence. When I went after her, she told me that he had been abusing her, that she couldn’t live with him and was afraid to do so. When I went after her, I found her and her children almost destitute of clothing. On a number of occasions, I heard him use abusive language toward her. After she came to my house, he came there drunk and used such abusive language towards her that on two or three different times, I was compelled to put him out of the house.

    Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, Polk County, Divorce Record, Naomi Shelton vs John Shelton, Record # 16009, Case #2247, Oregon State Archives, Salem Oregon, in the files of Jill Foster

    Here is a copy of the last page of James’s testimony with his signature.

    Bowker’s Trial

    James’s next exposure to Oregon’s legal system came in the summer of 1893. The court at Dallas, Oregon subpoenaed him and his sister Naoma Shelton as witnesses at the Bowker’s Trial.

    Charles A. Bowker, who worked the Southern Pacific railroads at the time of his arrest, had been a Baptist preacher. Charles had delivered services at the Baptist Church in Dallas attended by the Crowleys. When he was preaching in Dallas he was respected and well-liked.

    Charles was the fireman on the evening train running between McMinnville and Portland. He was arrested and tried for manslaughter in Portland. It seems he got a young woman pregnant, a seventeen-year-old named Helen Wilson. This happened in Portland, Oregon. Charles was charged with having arranged the abortion which killed Helen.

    In this first trial Charles was acquitted. But, more trials were conducted and he was charged and spent time in prison. In November of 1894, he secured a new trial, and he was released on bail. This case eventually went to the Oregon Supreme Court. The Oregon Supreme Court reversed Charles’s conviction and he was acquitted.

    More Troubles

    It would seem that these three court cases would be enough for one man to bear. But in 1893, James’s wife died.

    The announcement of Martha’s death was made in several Oregon newspapers. She died of cancer at her Dallas home on Tuesday, June 13, 1893. The family buried her at Crowley, Oregon in the Oak Grove Cemetery (Etna Cemetery) on Thursday, June 22 1893.

  • A Matter of Place

    week 28 -Wedding Bells

    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 the Ann 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

  • Institutions

    Hunting for Mary Lucina Taylor

    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 Obituary
    Page 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 Marker
        Mary Miller’s Name on Giant Grave Marker

      • Our Old House

        Week 13 Home Sweet Home

        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.

      • Man Overboard

        Man Overboard

        Week 16 Oldest Story

        The story of Frances Cabell Coursen Perritt’s 9th great grandfather came in bits and pieces. The first hint I had of this man’s existence was from my husband’s mother. She and I were discussing her family history. She said one of her early relatives came to North America on the Mayflower. She thought he was a Cabell. She was sure he was from her mother’s side, that is Bessie Ferguson Reynolds Cabell’s side. She did not know the name of her Mayflower relative.

        A few years later I started reading a picture book to my kindergarten children. In this story a boy who fell off the Mayflower. In this book the boy who fell overboard, John Howland, served the pilgrim’s leader as a cabin boy.  They were traveling to the New World in search of religious freedom. The rescue of John Howland was suggested by an illustration of a boy clinging to a life preserver. In this picture book story, the pilgrims reached Plymouth. John grew up and married Elizabeth Tilley, another passenger on the Mayflower.

        A Connection

        After I retired from teaching and after I had been researching my husband’s family tree for more than five years, I learned the identity of my mother-in-law’s Mayflower relative.

        Grandmother Perritt’s scrapbook left clues. There was a black-edged calling card of Mrs. D.H. Ferguson. The D. H. stood for Daniel Howes. There was a charcoal drawing of Daniel H. Ferguson. 

        The name Howes puzzled me for a long time. I had published a photo of the charcoal portrait of Daniel on my ancestry site.

        Then in January of 2013, a librarian from Morrow County Public Library in Florida contacted me. She wanted to know about the portrait of Daniel. She said,

        The Florida History Room of the Monroe County Library has a collection of letters written by Thomas and Rosalinda Ferguson. These letters are from Thomas in California describing his finding gold and Rosalinda in Key West. I have transcribed the letters.

        Daniel is the brother of Thomas Jefferson Ferguson… We have an original penned letter from Fanny Ferguson(mother) to Thomas J. In her letter she mentions two girls at home and the following sons: Thomas, George, Daniel, William, Albert, Fernando, Fred and Colbert. The letter is marked Danbury.

        These letters were originally found 20 years ago in a tin can at one of our local museums- no one knew then how they came to be there.

        I replied telling her what I knew of Daniel. I was able to send her this photo of Daniel’s portrait.

        She sent me copies of her transcriptions and copies of Thomas’s and Rosalinda’s letters to each other, a copy of Fanny’s letter and another family letter. This last letter was from Malchus Reed Howes of Mobile, Alabama to Daniel M. Howes of New York. Malchus and Daniel Howes were both brothers of Fanny. The letter mentions two other siblings of Fanny’s. They were Nathan and Adelia, who had married William Ryder. Here is my transcription of Malchus’s letter.

        Mobile July 15th 1826

        Dear Brother,

        I have received the Deed from Nathan that you spoke of in your last letter. I have executed it and shall send it in the trunk of clothes that I send to Cornelia that is to be left at Uncle John’s. I wish you to take it [the deed] from the trunk as you have already advanced money to my children and I expect you to advance more for at this season of the year it is impossible to get money that I could pay you with. Cornelia wants money to buy hats and shoes; her other clothes I shall send her. Please do see them well supplied and see yourself well paid in the delivery of the Deed. If there should be any [money] left, let Brother [Nathan] be bound to pay it to Mother [(Ruhamah Reed Howes] to support my boys as they want. Don’t see my children outdone by any for in all probability, they are all I shall ever have and I hope that they have aplenty to maintain themselves. If you think best that Adelia should have Cornelia, I wish you to get her to take her [there] and I will see her [Adelia] well paid. The yellow fever is paying us a visit this summer. There has been very sudden death in a few hours from the time they were taken [ill]. I shall see you next year if I should live as long. Give my respects to all friends. Don’t forget to write.

        Yours Respectfully, M. R. Howes

        Daniel Howes Ferguson

        She sent me copies of her transcriptions. She also sent copies of Thomas’s and Rosalinda’s original letters to each other. Additionally she sent a copy of Fanny’s letter and another family letter. This last letter was from Malchus Reed Howes of Mobile, Alabama written to Daniel M. Howes of New York. Malchus and Daniel Howes were both brothers of Fanny. The letter mentions two other siblings of Fanny’s. They were Nathan and Adelia, who had married William Ryder.

        Here is my transcription of Malchus’s letter to his brother Daniel M. Howes.

        Mobile July 15th 1826

        Dear Brother,

        I have received the Deed from Nathan that you spoke of in your last letter. I have executed it and shall send it in the trunk of clothes that I send to Cornelia that is to be left at Uncle John’s. I wish you to take it [the deed] from the trunk as you have already advanced money to my children and I expect you to advance more for at this season of the year it is impossible to get money that I could pay you with. Cornelia wants money to buy hats and shoes; her other clothes I shall send her. Please do see them well supplied and see yourself well paid in the delivery of the Deed. If there should be any [money] left, let Brother [Nathan] be bound to pay it to Mother [(Ruhamah Reed Howes] to support my boys as they want. Don’t see my children outdone by any for in all probability, they are all I shall ever have and I hope that they have aplenty to maintain themselves. If you think best that Adelia should have Cornelia, I wish you to get her to take her [there] and I will see her [Adelia] well paid. The yellow fever is paying us a visit this summer. There has been very sudden death in a few hours from the time they were taken [ill]. I shall see you next year if I should live as long. Give my respects to all friends. Don’t forget to write.

        Yours Respectfully, M. R. Howes

        The above quoted letter was shared. This letter was well read, shared around the neighborhood and sent on to other family members. This letter from Malchus Howes to Daniel Morgan Howes had been read by another family member who wrote on the letter these words, “I was anxious to hear from Reed (Malchus) and thought no harm in opening this…”

        The deed in this letter refers to an 1827 property sale by the heirs of Daniel Howes, Malchus’s and Fanny’s father.  Here is my summary of the deed.

        1827, 10 Apr. Putnam Co. Deeds, Vol. C, pp. 470-474

        Ruhamah Howes of Southeast was the widow of Daniel Howes (1768-1824) of Southeast. Nathaniel Ferguson and wife Fanny, Thomas Ferguson and wife Phebe of Patterson, Putnam, New York, Nathan A. Howes and wife Clarissa, Morgan M. Howes of Southeast, William H. Ryder and wife Adelia of Danbury, Fairfield Co., CT. Fanny, Phebe. Nathan, Daniel Morgan Howes (1805-1830) and Adelia are the adult children of the late Daniel Howes.  Jacob O., Esther, Lavinia, Reuben W. are the underage children of the late Daniel Howes. Three acres in Southeast were sold to Ebenezer Foster, John B. Foster and Eleazer Sprague of Southeast for the sum of $245 to be divided into 11 parts. Nathan was to be paid 2 parts for his role in managing the deal.

        Soon after this treasure trove from my librarian friend at the Monroe County Library arrived, I worked out that Fanny’s family traced back to John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. John and Elizabeth both arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. Elizabeth had come with her parents and was 14 at this time. Since I had read the picture book of John Howland’s near drowning to my kindergarten class many times, this new revelation seemed awesome.

        The real John Howland almost drowned on his trip to the New World. He was not a cabin boy, but a 29-year-old man and one of two man-servants of Governor Carver. He was swept overboard in a strong storm. He managed catch hold of a rope for a top sail that tailed over the side and under water. He was brought back on to the Mayflower by the use of a boat hook. There is a sourced profile of John Howland on WikiTree

        Here is Mike Haywood’s rendering of the event. Mike Haywood is an artist and  holds a doctorate in Oceanography and specializes in marine paintings.

        Image of an oil painting by Mike Haywood found on a Facebook ad for ordering prints of the painting

        Final Thoughts

        When I was a kindergarten teacher reading that historical fiction picture book to my class, I never dreamed I was telling a family story.

        I made a list going from John Howland to my husband, Craig Shelton Foster

        Some References

      • Big and Little Mistakes

        Week 15 Big Mistake

         

        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.

      • Heinrich Freÿß

        Week 14 –Language–Old German Handwriting

        Lichtenberg Castle, Germany

        By LoKiLeCh – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3551741

        Reading handwritten old German church records is difficult but can be done. You don’t need to know German. You will gain a lot of information.

        Having some patience, I pursued of my Palatine migrant ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. I armed myself with a book written by Katherine Schober and called The Magic of German Church Records. I also used letter charts showing the many different ways old German handwritten letters were formed.

        In 1665, Thal Lichtenberg, which is located near the Lichtenberg Castle, belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. It was known as the Principality of Lichtenberg. Today this area is in Germany. Above is a photo of the still standing Lichtenberg Castle.

        Old German Handwriting

        Heinrich Freÿß written in old German script

        Reading handwritten old German church records is difficult but can be done. You don’t need to know German. You will gain a lot of information from these records.

        Having some patience, I pursued the German records my Palatine migrant ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. I armed myself with a book, titled The Magic of German Church Records written by Katherine Schober. I also used charts showing old German letters.

        On ancestry.com, I found the 1665 church record for Heinrich Freÿß’s baptism at the Pfeffelbach Reformed Church. Heinrich is my 6th great grandfather.

        Nichlaus and Maria Barbara lived in the village of Thal Lichtenberg. They traveled 2 miles to the southwest of their village to get to their parish church in Pfeffelbach. The custom in those days was to baptize their babies about 3 days after their birth. So, on January 29, 1665, Nichlaus Freÿß and his wife, Barbara, brought their infant son to their church. They likely walked the 2 miles to Pfeffelbach where their infant was baptized. There were witnesses. A record was made by the parish clergy. Here is the record.

        The left column, labeled at the top of the page “parentes”, was written in Latin. The translation reads:

        The 29th of January; Nichlaus Freÿß from Thal (Thal Lichtenberg):and Maria Barbara, his wife.

        Parents names are underlined. The double “n” in Hannes is circled.

        Looking at the baptism record’s middle column where the name of the child is located, we see two names. The first, the spiritual name, often was the same as the father’s if the child was male. A common spiritual name was Hans. Hans has many alternates such as Hannes, Johan, Jan, Jack, John. Interestingly, the German word for son is john.

        The second name, the call name, is the name the person became known by. This name is the one that is used almost inclusively. Thus, Hannes Heinrich Freÿß became Heinrich Freÿß.

        The middle letter of Heinrich’s spiritual name looks like a cursive “m” is a fused double “n”. These fused double letters often are in the German Kurrent font. Kurrent is an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing.

        The last column, labeled “compatres”, is Latin for compatriots or countrymen. This column included relatives and close friends of the parents. I can’t find any familiar names in this column.

        Marriage and Family

        Heinrich grew up and married. Like his father he married a woman named Barbara. His wife was called Elisabetha Barbara, and his mother was Maria Barbara. The surnames of these women are unknown.

        They had children:

        • Maria Margretha Freÿß, married Johannes Michael Pees 12 June 1731 in Baumholder
        • Hans Nickel Fräÿß, baptized 4 December 1695 in Pfeffelbach
        • Katherina Elisabeth Fräß, baptized Dec 1696
        • Johann Ludwig Fräis, baptized 20 Nov 1697
        • Maria Elisabetha Freÿß born about 1712, married Johann Nickel Kemmer on 13 Dec 1740

        Death

        Heinrich Freÿß had died before his youngest daughter married. The marriage record for his daughter, Maria Elisabetha Freÿß, shows a cross above his name indicating that he was deceased. So Heinrich died before December 13, 1740. Here is the record. I circled his name. Notice the cross.

        Some References