Document text
Date received
Consignment no.
Shipped from 1,
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WPA L. C. PROJECT UNIT
Form -3
24/01-4--•
Title..
Place of originlaier)-ril
Project worker. -40-11-1 afg,
Collection (or (or Type)
Date_ .2(rn
Project editor
Remarks
L.
vv 1223
N Form A
Circumstances of Interview
Name of worker
Address
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Sara B. Wrenn
Federal Writers1 Project
Works Progress Administration
505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon
Date January 24, 1939
Subject
Early Days in the Willamette Valley.
.111=1PNIEM
Name and aadress of informant Mrs. Frances Cornell.
260 Mission Street, Salem, Oregon.
Date and time of interview January 18, 1939, 11:00 12:00.
Place of interview Above address home of informant.
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Pleasant, well -furnished living room, with bright fire blazing in the fire-
place. The floor was covered with scatter Oriental rugs, and comfortable over-
stuffed furniture chairs and davenport were grouped about. A few pictures
hung on the walls, and books and magazines were in evidence.
The house, of six rooms, is about twenty-five years old. It is painted a
light brown with darker trim. A verandah runs across the front of the house.
The surroundings consist of a corner lot, some 50 x 100 feet in size, with
a lawn in front and shrubbery in the rear. The house faces north, and the neighborhood is
middle-class.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, eaoh bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Form B Federal Writers' Project
Personal History of Informant Works Progress AAmipietration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
Sara B.11rann
505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon
Date January 18. 1939
Subject
Early Days in the Willamette Valley.
Name and address of informant Mrs. France! Cornell
260 Mission Street, Salem, Oregon.
Information obtained should supply the following facts:
1. AnCestry 6. Occupations and accomplishments with dates
2. Place and date of birth 7. Special kills and interests
3. Family 8. Community and religious activities
4. Plaoes lived in, with dates 9. Description of informant
5. Education, with dates 10. Other points gained in interview
1. Scotch -Irish.
2. Near Jefferson, Marion County, Oregon, in 1854. (day and month not given).
3. Father, Jesse Looney; Mother, Ruby Bond Looney. (Both father and mother
were from the South).
4. Marion County, Oregon, all her life.
5. Public schools of Jefferson, and Willamette University, Salem (date not given).
6. Aside from occupation, she was matron of the Oregon State Hospital (insane)
for a number of years.
7. No special skills; interested in general matters.
8. Member of Eastern Star (Masonic) and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She was brought up in the Presbyterian faith.
9. A large, stout woman, of fine appearance. She has gray hair and hazel eyes.
She dresses well. In speaking she terminates her sentences with "eh".
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Form C Federal Writers' Project
Text of Interview (Unedited) Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn Date January 18, 1939
Address 505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon
Subject Early Days in the Willamette Valley.
Name and address of informant Mrs. Frances Cornell.
260 Mission Street, Salem, Oregon.
Texts
As I have already said, I was born here in Marion County. My father and
mother, came to Oregon from Alabama in 1843. They came in the same train with the
Applegates, the Waldos, Nesmiths, Smiths, Fords, Kaisdrs, Delaneys, Lovejoy, and
many others who became prominent in Oregon history, eh. My people were opposed
to slavery. They had six children when they left Alabama. Six more children were
born to them in Oregon, of which I an one. They objected to bringing up their
children where slavery existed. Their wagon train left Independence, Missouri,
on May 22, 1843, and they arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in October of that
year. Indian troubles were threatening when they reached the Whitman Mission,
and they left hastily for Fort Vancouver, where Doctor McLaughlin extended his
usual gracious hospitality. From there, on specially constructed rafts, they left
for up the Willamette river, and father eventually selected his claim of 640 acres
in the Chepulcum valley, 12 miles south of Salem, known generally as Santiam
Valley. Chepulcum, in the Indian language means "Beautiful Valley." Father's 640
acres embraced what has long been known as Looney Butte, where his family -was brought
up and four of his sons maintained their homes until death (same.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
(Form C Mrs. Frances Cornell 2.)
My mother was the first white woman in Chepulcum Valley. Shortly after
settlement in Oregon mother was invited by the Mraldos to a wedding at their place
over in the Waldo Bills, as they came to be called, eh. Mother went, expecting to
enjoy quite a gala affair. She was out in the kitchen with Mrs. Waldo, when the
interested young people's arrival was announced. Mother was a little disappointed
in the lack of preparation, but still looked forward to something of what she had
always associated with a wedding. When somebody called "Come quick, they're getting
married", she got into the front room just in time to hear Mr. Waldo say, "I pro-
nounce you man and wife, by God." Mr. Waldo had the authority through some source
to perform marriage ceremonies, but he hadn't had much experience, And those few
words were all he could think to say. Mother never did get over that, eh.
When the mail route was established between Portland and San Francisco
by the California State Company, my father's farm was used as the first stage
station south of Salem. It took seven days to go from Sacramento to Portland,
with the stages travelling continuously day and night, the relay stations, where
they changed their horses being about fifteen miles apart. First, after Portland,
was Oregon City, then Aurora ("Dutchtown"), Salem, Looney's, Albany and two farm-
houses between there and 'Eugene. Some of the relay points farther south were farm-
houses near the present Grants Pass, Grave Creek, Phoenix ("Gasburg"), Jacksonville,
Ashland. The stages used were of the heavy Concord type, with four to six horses
being necessary where the road was hard -pulling as most of the roads were in
those days, eh—. Sometimes at the relay stations it became necessary to use un-
broken horses, and that was exciting for everybody, most of all the passengers, eh.
The horses were tied, blindfolded and harnessed. The driver clutched the lines as
the passengers scrambled willy filly into the swaying vehicle, the blindfolds ;I'ere
snatched off, and away they went, the stage swaying from side to side, the horses
plunging, until the driver finally wore them down.
(Form C Mrs. Frances Cornell 3).
As the incoming stage drove down the hill to the Looney station, the
driver blew his horn once for each passenger on board. The number of toots indi-
cated the number of eggs to fry and biscuits to bake. There is a marker now at
the old farm, on the highway now known as Route 99 E, shoving where the stage horses
used to drink.
We used to have a lot of fun up here, around Salem, when I was a girl, eh.
Nobody was extremely rich, but nobody seemed very poor either, eh. Are all seemed
to have comfortable homes, with plenty of room for entertaining, and there was
much hospitality. Perhaps because we were a big family of young people, our home
was always open house for everybody, and the young folks of Salem thought nothing
of the twelve. -mile drive out home even though the roads were a far cry from what
they are now.
There was a time in the 70's, I think it was, when what might be called
the society of the capital and countryside went in strong for masquerade parties,
There was one, I recall, given by the Werner Breymans, in their big house on State
street. There were over a hundred masquers at that affair, and the costumes cov-
ered everything from kings, cardinals and dukes to jockeys, among the men, and
from Dienes to Bopeeps among the women and girls. If I remember correctly, I re-
presented Phantasia, eh.
Along about this time we had a fancy-dress party at Jefferson, the town
adjoining us, which we Loneys rather felt we owned, there were so many of us
living thereabout. We had a band out from Salem to furnish the music, and every.
thing was done up in grand style. Here's a clipping from some paper, that I have
saved all these years, about that party, part of which you might like to copy:
"The party broke up shortly after one o'clock, and the Band were invited
to partake of refreshments and spend the balance of the night at Mr. Thompson's
(Form C Mrs. Frances Cornell 4).
the mayor of the city. The proceeds more than paid all expenses, and the ladies
went home happy. 'A word to the wise is sufficient', and I trust that the follow-
ing criticism will be taken and appreciated by those to whom it is due:
"The ladies have been very justly offended at the conduct of two or
three young men at the parties this seasons who make a practice of going out into
the entry during the intervals of dancing, and smoking cigars, until the air earn-
ing through two open doors is thick with tobacco smoke, which is not only dis-
gusting, but sickening, to some of the ladies, and the wraps hanging in the entry
do not lose the offensive odor for days afterward. Now, the ladies think and say that
if any gentleman is so wedded to his cigar that it is impossible for him to spend a
few hours in their society without smoking, that he would better stay at home alto-
gether, or at least take a walk in the open while he indulges in the deadly narcotic.
Mr. Editor, I desire to ask you a question for information. Is it considered just the
thing in the best society of Oregon, for a gentleman to catch a lady around the waist
and hug her while he swings her in a quadrille, and is it tolerated by the ladies of
Salem?"
I forgot to say that this party was one given by the ladies, so it must have
been in a leap year.
Form D
Extra Comment
Name of worker
Address
Subject
Name and address
Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLELORE STUDIES
Sara B. Wrenn
505 Elks Bui1djig4jortZand. Oregon.
Early Days in the Willamette Valley.
of informant Mrs. Frances Cornell
,Date January 24, 1939
260 Mission Street, Salem, Oregon.
Comment:
As the daughter of the early pioneer, Jesse Looney, of Looney Bate,
near Jefferson, Marion County, Oregon, Mrs. Cornell is familiar with the many
phases of life in that section of the country, But now at the age of 85 years
she appears not to care to
Looney clan of which the
one, with annual meetings.
recall much that would be of vital interest. The
recent Senator Steiwer was a member is a very large
The clan's historian, another Mrs. Looney, lives near
Jefferson. Unquestionably, this historian would have much information of both
a historic and folklore character.
TWO items were secured from the personal papers of the informant:
Uncle Jimmy Bates (newspaper article attached).
The Cowboy Caller (poem see Folk Rhymes).
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
Secured by
Miss Sara Wrenn
From the personal papers of
Mrs. Frances Cornell
260 Mission Street
Salem, Oregon
UNCLE JIMMY BATES
Reminiscences about the life of a prominent pioneer.
Mr. Bates WAS born and raised in Washington City, D. C. His father, David
Bates, was from Maine, his mother, whose maiden name VAS Venable, was born and
raised in Washington, D. C. James was the youngest of eight children, four boys
and four girls. Their father died while James was a mere lad, leaving to the
family a large estate. James, being of an eccentric disposition, and the young-
est child, was, no doubt, a spoiled boy. The family, however, succeeded in keep-
ing James at the adademy until he was fifteen years old, about which time a small
book, "Riley's African Shipwrecks", fell into his hands. Up to this time he had
made good progress in his studies and VAS nearly ready for college, but he became
so interested in the adventures related by Riley that he lost all interest in
school. His mind was all absorbed in the matter of ships and their rigging,
with the seas and their monsters, sea islands and their hideous inhabitants, with
hair breadth escapes and daring deeds. His people were shocked and grieved at
this unexpected turn in the affairs of young James, his fine round forehead, his
quick ear, his bright eye and his small but wiry frame had led to hopes of a
brilliant future, but the more his friends and relatives protested the more per-
sistent he became, until a decision was reached to send the boy to Philadelphia
and place him in the book store of his eldest borther ...But all to no avail.
The land had lost all charms, nothing but "the sea, the sea, the boundless sea",
had any allurements for this lad. He embraced the first opportunity to slip away
from his brother, and with but the clothes on his back, and not a penny in his
pocket, he boarded the first vessel that would accept him. This proved to be only
(From personal papers of Frances Cornell) 2.
a coaster... No better opportunity afforded him to get to sea until the follow-
ing year. One day while the little coaster was lying at anchor in Boston harbor,
and young James was rehearsing in his mind the brilliant achievements of that mid-
night party that tipped King George's tea into the harbor and the mighty results
that followed that innocent amusement of our daddies, his thoughts drifted back to
the Mayflower and the struggle of that faithful band of Pilgrim Fathers. He longed
to stand upon the prow of some nobIe ship and look upon a land yet untrodden by
the foot of civilization. Be immediately determined to visit every vessel in the
great harbor and if possible find some opportunity to cut off every possibility
of being apprehended by his relatives. The fortune left by his father was hardly
thought of by this ambitious but rash youth... Finding no opportunity to join
a fur trading vebbel as he desired, bound for the west, he concluded to board
a full rigged merchant ship, loading for Europe, the American ship, George Gebratte.
This gave him the opportunity, at least, to get beyond the danger of being dis-
covered by his friends. June, 1828, young Bates being now 19 years old, finds the
long sought for opportunity to go west on a fur trading expedition. This was at
the time when every adventurer who could pay for a stock of provisions and a few
traps, turned his face toward the Rocky Mountains, and he who could not set up
in business on his awn account, was eager to join some expedition by land or sea
and share with the proprietors the result of his labors. Marshall &Wild of New
York, were fitting out an expedition to the North West in search of furs. Mr.
Bates took employment of this firm, under Captain Pentle, of the ship Budder.
The ship, loaded with old iron, rusty nails, calico, beads, knives and trinkets,
sailed away for the western world. She stopped at Hayti, then proceeded to the
Straits of Magellan° Three weeks'. wind in the straits delayed the passage and
caused the loss of two anchors. The South Sea Islandswere visited. Many old
trinkets were traded for sealskins and tortoise shells, but the objective point
(From personal papers of Francess Cornell) 3.
was Gray's Harbor. This WAS not reached until March, 1829. There the good
ship remained at anchor two or three days. Here was witnessed one of those
unavoidable calamities, which the reader of "Riley's Narratives" could realize
in a new light. The Mary Ann of London, a Hudson's Bay Co. brig, foundered
and twenty-six men were lost. Some of the bodies washed ashore at Chinook
point. The brig came ashore, bottom up, at Sand Island.
The Rudder proceeded up the Columbia. At the first rapids the 1700
pound anchor was lost. The captain traded along the shore with the Indians,
met Dr. McLoughlin at Vancouver, came up the Willamette as far as the mouth of
the Clackamas, where the vessel grounded and had to be unloaded. .The Indians
thought of taking the craw after everything else was landed.
A messenger was sent to Dr. McLoughlin for advice. He persuaded the
Indians to treat the palefaces kindly. Many weeks were spent here, trading
with the Indians. I think this was the first ship ever seen so high up the Wil-
lamette, if not the first one that had ever passed above where Portland new
stands. A 50 pound salmon was bought for a few beads. One bunch of beads was
exchanged for ten salmon, a butcher knife for a deer. From the Clackamas the
ship descended the Willamette to Scappoose Bay (a point below Portland, here the
main mast was taken out and a new one prepared. The mast was cut one-half mile
from the river and conveyed by hand to the ship without the aid of the Indians.
The ship lay in Scappoose Bay about three months, during which time a garden was
planted and grown, which is the first garden that was ever planted on Oregon soil
and the first one west of the Rocky mountains by Americans. I think the pioneers
of Oregon honor Mr. Bates as being the first man who planted potatoes on our
generous soil. However, this VAS an off year for potatoes, as they were not
large enough to use when the ship proceeded down the river, and no doubt the
Indians destroyed them prematurely.
(From personal papers of Frances Cornell) 4.
The supply of merchandise having become exhausted, the ship sailed
down the coast of California, where the captain purchased from the Spaniards
a small cargo of Mexican horses which he took to the Sandwich Islands mad
traded for more merchandise. Returned again to the Columbia river. Anchored
awhile at Baker's Bay. During the summer the vessel cruised in the northern
waters along the coast from Gray's harbor to Alaska. In the fall (1830) the
ship entered the Columbia for the third time, before bidding adieu to the now
familiar river and beautiful scenery of the West. Mr. Bates longed now to
quit the sea and cast his fortune in the splendid Willamette Valley. He had
seen the early spring, the delightful summer, the late and mellow autumn, and
he could imagine the open, cheery winter, and he felt that the burdens of life
must be light and the pleasures excessive in a climate like this. But like
his first longings, these could not be satisfied. Not an American home could be
found in the Willamette valley. Nothing remained for Mr. Bates but to return
with the ship to the Sandwich Islands, load up with sandal wood, sharks' fins
and mother-of-pearl, carry these to China, trade them to the lovers of Confucius
for nankeens, silks, teas, and Chinese curios, sail away for New York, and to
the delight of the owners of the vessel, land in safety with a cargo worth
$100,000 to the proprietors of the expedition.
I will not follow Mr. Bates any farther, but will simply say that his
desire to join a party of settlers for the new country was not realized until he
met Dr. Wilson and his party in 1857, at Honolulu, as explained in my previous
article in the Journal of Oct. 15, 1891.
It is not positively known that Mr. Bates ever wrote his people after
leaving home.
By some means his people learned that he was in the Willamette
valley. I think it was through our delegate to congress, Samuel R. Thurston,
Mr. Bates conversed freely on any subject save his own history, and no doubt the
(From personal papers of Frances Cornell) 5.
widow Caldwell married him on his own merits, as very little could be learned
as to his people or history. It was only last summer that his daughter, Mrs.
Anna Vaughan, of Jefferson, in examining the contents of ai old trunk, found
a letter from one of (Mr.?) Ers. Bates' sisters. The letter was dated Washington,
D. C., 1852. This letter threw some light upon the family history. Mrs. Vaughan,
wishing to get more information on this, to her, interesting subject, interrogated
her father, and draw out from him the startling information that there was a
secret drawer in one end of the trunk, and that he found a letter from one of
his brothers, which had been locked up in the drawer and known only to himself,
for about thirty years. Opening the drawer the old letter came forth, to tell
the secrets of nearly half a century. Neither of these letters had been ever
answered, and the writers having given up that brother for lost, had long since
been laid away to their final rest. Miss Ora Vaughan a granddaughter of "Uncle
Jimmy", wrote to Washington City, and finally succeeded in getting into corres-
pondence with the two daughters of Uncle Jimmy's youngest sister. One is Mrs.
McElhinney, and the other is Mrs. Julia B. Schoefp; also a nephew, Edward Lundy.
While Mr. Bates was encountering the gales at sea, that tossed his bark into the
jaws of coral reef, his relatives on land were vainly trying to buffet the storms
of financial adversity.., and from what we can learn, no doubt "Uncle Jimmy"
enjoyed, especially during the last years of his life, as much pleasure and tran-
quillity in his humble home in the far West as he could have done in the bustling
city of Washington, the nation's capital. As to the noble character and peculiar
eccentricities of this man, see the Capital Journal of Oct. 15, 1891.
W. T. Rigdon
Salem, Oregon, Feb. 15, 1892.
Form D
Extra Comment
Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn ,Date January 14, 1939
Address 505 Elks Buildinr. Portland. Ornam
Subject
Name and address of informant Mr. Harvey Gordon StarkweathAr-
Garment:
Broadway Building, Portland, Orezon.
Mr. Starkweather, who is one of the owners of mad superintendent
of the above mentioned down -town business building, is intensely interested
in the history of his native state; and, like most of those interviewed for
the Oregon Folklore Studies, he is heartily interested in this project. But
while cooperative with the interviewer's objective, it was hard for him to
dissociate folklore from history. With the thought that he might divulge
or reveal new items or new slants of history, the interviewer incorporated
practically everything he said. As Form B shows, Mr. Starkweather has been
active in many phases of Oregon's political and economic life.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).