Oregon150

Finding Macksburg

Dorothy Blackcrow Mack
Macksburg, Oregon

by Dorothy Blackcrow Mack
Depoe Bay, OR
When I moved to Oregon in 1988 I went to the 200-strong Mack Reunion. All the Macks, except my father, had stayed in Oregon; I grew up in Geneva, New York, drawn ever westward through my life to find my pioneer ancestors who founded Macksburg.
“Been to Macksburg yet?” One of [...]

That remarkable group of women

Katherine Keniston
Oregon

submitted by Katherine Keniston
Portland, OR

“To me, as we grow, we don’t have to necessarily be the first, or the biggest; we simply need to stay concerned for the poor and vulnerable and we need to meet the needs of people today. It is about how good we can be – in the service to others.” [...]

Children’s Oregon Roots

Jean Hunsaker
Willamette Valley

by Jean Hunsaker
Salem, OR
My three children, Ron, Brett and Diane Hunsaker, have roots that go deep into Oregon’s history as a result of having had six great, great, great grandparents and four great, great, grandparents who crossed the Oregon Trail in 1846 and 1847. The two ancestors who came in 1846, [...]

O’ Oregon Pioneers!

Sharon Riffle & Marilyn Russell
La Pine

contributed by Sharon Riffle & Marilyn Russell
La Pine, OR

La Pine resident and 14-year SMART volunteer reader Marilyn Russell has true Oregon pioneer roots. Upset at her mother’s re-marrying when her sea captain father was lost at sea, Marilyn’s grandmother, Emma Chapman, ran away from Sweden at age 18 with her friend, Tilly—boarding a ship and [...]

A JOURNEY TO OREGON TERRITORY

Esther Freeman
Echo, Or and Lynn Co

by Esther Freeman
Tacoma, WA
Walking along the Oregon Trail ruts at Echo Oregon I couldn’t quite forget the dedication of the Smith-Watson wagon train of 1847. Our family left Illinois to journey through hot windy sand storms, days with limited water, hard tack and jerky. When they reached the area called Burnt River my great, [...]

“Did They”

Esther Freeman
Oregon Trail

by Esther Freeman
Tacoma, WA
When walking through the desert
were they thirsty for some water?
Did they balk at the lizards,
did they walk on ahead?
When crossing the mountains,
were they battered by the winds?
Did they stagger from fatigue,
did they wager the next ford?
When looking at horizons,
were they haunted by the bareness?
Did they feed on the berries,
did they read to [...]

Every Step in Oregon!

Steve Tolleson
Oregon

by Steve Tolleson
Salem, OR
My family came to Oregon on the trail in 1883. My great great great great great Aunt ‘Till wrote a diary and talked about watching people in their lives die from asthma attacks and the flu. They endured the hardships so that they could see the new land of Oregon [...]

The Warner Story

Fred Warner Sr.
Baker County

by Fred Warner Sr.
Baker City, OR
The story begins in 1863, at Independence, Missiouri, during the Civil War. A family with 7 children, loyalties divided between the North and South, found a solution: sell the farm and head for Oregon, the land of opportunity.
My great-great grandparents, William and Elizabeth Jenkins, were the head of the [...]

First School; First Fruit Trees

Julie Crossley
Milwaukie

by Julie Crossley
Portland, OR
Our family has ancestors who came to Oregon on wagon trains in 1846- the Luellings and in 1849, the Campbells.
Hector Campbell, my great, great, great grandfather (on another side of the family from the Atheys) came to Oregon with his wife, Olive Soule Campbell on a wagon train in [...]

Journey to Damascus

Sue Fagalde Lick
Damascus, OR

By Sue Fagalde Lick
South Beach, OR

I sit cross-legged on a dry patch of grass in the Damascus Pioneer Cemetery and introduce myself to Refucia Maria Alviso and Jean Fagalde, my great-great grandparents on my dad’s father’s side. My husband Fred and I, California refugees, only live three hours away in South Beach, but it took [...]

Early Life on the Farm

Hugh Mount
Silveton Oregon

by Hugh Mount
Portland, OR
Hanson and Lavina Stevens made their way west on the Oregon Trail arriving in Oregon City on June 15th 1853. Hanson and Lavina made a land claim and were granted a 320 acre plot of land on the west bank of the Pudding River. Married settlers arriving before December 1st, 1850, were [...]