VICTOR GARDENEJ

By Nancy J. Bringhurst

e's sitting by the window, "just holding the chair down," he says. Most of us would say it's about time; the man will be ninety next Iy. He says he'd still be working from five in the morning until eight at night if his eyes hadn't given out on him, and if his hands still obeyed his head. But then Victor Gardener wouldn't call what he did work; it was his passion and his dream from the time he was six. It was what he did after he retired from over thirty years of ranching, logging, surveying, building roads and dams, jobs that weren't exactly prerequisite skills for becoming a world class violin maker. And that's what Victor Gardener is, although it is his Italian name, Vittore E. Giarinieri that is inscribed on his instruments.

Gardener carved a total of 405 instruments. What is even more amazing is that he carved them from trees he cut himself. ''AN AMERICAN STRADIVARf' '

Victor has made some of the finest violins, violas and cellos being played throughout the United States and Europe, many in noted symphonies. And according to Michael Klein, one of Gardener's many apprentices and a well­ known Rogue Valley instrument maker himself, "I cannot think of anyone who has made as many instruments from trees he cut himself." For the record (and it probably is a record), Gardener has made 405 instruments. Imagine putting that kind of inspiration and talent on hold until you're sixty-five.

"My father always was goal-oriented," remarks Gardener's oldest daughter, Lucy. "He had drive. They say even as a child he knew what he wanted and was determined to get it. As a young boy, once every two or three years he would go with his parents to Medford. They made the trip on a buckboard from their home at Lake Creek; on the way they passed land in the Yankee Creek area, two miles up from Butte Falls. He set his eyes and heart on that land and made up his mind to own that some day. He did, too. And I can still see him reading by a kerosene lantern night after night while he taught Victor Gardener (left) passed on his knowledge and his tools to Michael Klein. Many himself surveying." came to Butte Falls to study under Gardener. "I was twelve when I fell in love with that land," Gardener says. "Harriet and I Maybe Gardener inherited his was forty-five; she was eighteen. It was a were married in 1936; we had a place in perseverance and determination from his marriage made in the mail, not in heaven, Medford for two years, but in 1938 I mother. Maria D'francesco was born in for they were never compatible. But bought that land and we lived there for 1880 in Bozen, Austria, now a part of Maria bore Raphael six children, and she over eleven years." Italy. Her parents abandoned her in a made do with what she had, even making He was only six when a fiddle fell into woodshed. Fortunately, she survived, grew the children's clothes from feed sacks. his hands. Neither of his older brothers up, and found work in Cavalese in the She was the efficient, frugal partner in could play, but young Gardener wanted to home of a friend of Raphael Gardener. the marriage, always looking ahead and more than anything. "I decided early on I Raphael had left Cavalese when he taking charge of their home and finances, wanted to play like Jascha Heifetz, and I was seventeen, found his way to Vienna, while her husband seldom looked past wanted to play music by Bach, Beethoven Rumania, and other parts of Europe their next meal. Neither parent knew and Mozart, but I learned too many bad before returning home to Cavalese for a the meaning of idleness. habits teaching myself to play that fiddle. year. He then went on to America, where Their children learned about hard work Fiddlers play the same fifteen or twenty he worked as a stonemason and farmer at a young age. Young Victor left early in notes over and over. It just didn't relate to and eventually built himself a house. the morning and walked two-and-a-half classical music. I gave up lessons and Fifteen years of living alone was enough. miles to school to start the fire for the day, decided if I wouldn't be another Heifetz, A letter from his ftiend in Cavalese and then stayed late to sweep the floors. I'd be another Stradivari or Giarinieri," praised the virtues of Mruia, and for For that he earned five dollars a month. said Gardener. ninety dollars he had himself a bride. He After school he'd herd goats, bringing

SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 9 them back home each evening to too many chiefs and not enough Indians," Weisshaar was a well-known violin maker protect them from the coyotes. He was he says, "so I left home with thlity dollars and dealer in , and no doubt twelve the year he put his first money in and what belongings I could crury." They the best restorer and authority on violins the bank. He earned eighty-five dollars were hard Depression yeru·s. Gardener in America at the time. About 1975 while herding as many as five hundred turkeys hayed for $1.50 a day plus food, managed visiting a friend, he was shown a viola that summer, staying with them from to save eighty dollru·s, and worked the made by Gardener. This was soon after early in the moming until nightfall. There next two winters for board. His next job his retirement, still early in Gru·dener's were times he drove the turkeys two miles was operating a bulldozer on the road career. Weissharu· was so impressed by the and back to feed on grasshoppers. In the being built from Union Creek to Diamond viola that he got in touch with the fall, he helped his mother shell corn to Lake, now Route 230. Thus, he was lured Gardeners, visited their home, and invited ship to . away from music-making into the work them to Los Angeles. There, in Gardener leamed about fighting and force. "But I always had violins on my Weisshaar's shop, Gardener was allowed standing on his own early in life. As the mind," Gru·dener says. to examine closely two Stradivarius youngest of three boys, he was forced to During his teens he ordered tools from violins. Weissharu· offered Gardener wear his brothers' hand-me-down shoes. both Seru·s and Montgomery Ward to valuable ctiticisms and suggestions The problem was they were handed down make his own violin. With those parts throughout the years, and even sold with no soles. His father took care of that came a suggestion from a thoughtful Gardener's instmments in his own shop by making new soles out of maple wood. Sears employee that he contact Thomas until Gardener received too many orders Since this was Lake Creek and not Young, a violin maker in . "Young from elsewhere. Their friendship Amsterdam, the children teased and helped me more than just telling me what continued until Weissharu·'s death. "I've taunted Gardener as he clip-clopped books and tools to buy and where to buy found in life, if you work and are not lazy, across the school's wooden floors. On top them reasonably." Gardener said. He was you'll always find someone willing to of that, he spoke only Italian when he hooked. He completed his first violin help you," Gru·dener says. entered school. when he was eighteen. "I showed that Gru·dener is unique in yet another As many young boys did at the time, violin to Young. He took one look at it aspect of his craft. Most violin makers he quit school after the eighth grade and and said, 'Make some more.' It was have apprenticed or attended a special continued to work on the family ranch teiTible and he knew it, but he didn't school. Few have taught themselves from until he was twenty-one. ''There were discourage me." It took several more strut to finish, and of those who have, it is years before Gardener made his first even fewer who have attained the renown saleable violin. "But it was Hans that Gardener has. Back in 1967 Bernard "You have to remember this is sculpture, Weisshaar who helped me more than Windt, music director for the Shakesperu·e don't deny your tools," Victor would anyone did," Gardener says. Festival, told Marjorie O'Harra in an remind his apprentice Klein, when he felt the instruments looked too smooth. After Klein saws and cuts the wood on this handsaw, he seasons it up to twenty years before carving. article for the Medford Mail Tribune, thing you need to know is "Victor's craftsmanship is beautiful. I what kind of wood to have seldom seen instruments so look for and how to beautifully put together, and in them I identify good "tone find the same quality tone I find in an wood." The back, sides, instrument of mine that was made in and neck of all three 1793." Gardener was still at the beginning instruments are made of his new career. from maple, and the face For those of you who are now dreaming is made from spruce, so of carving your own violin, viola or cello don't go looking for the and are thinking of emulating Victor perfect felt leaf willow to Gardener, there are a few things you will saw up and whittle. For need before you even begin. Things like the tuning pegs Gardener money, time, patience, and a big used mountain mahogany. Finding tone wood is an art. Not only could Gardener dumpster. The money is to take care of He even made his own recognize peifect mountain mahogany and curly maple, he your needs during the years it will take to purfling, the thin strip also felled, sawed and planed the specimens himself. learn the art. The patience is to curb your that runs around the temper when you've spent 250 hours on a outside on the back of the is free of insects, twists and broken limbs, cello and it sounds like your neighbor's instrument-the one that looks like it's all of which could mean rotting. The son practicing the tuba, and only your there just for design. It's actually three spacing of the grain is important and, local trash collector will ever see it. very thin strips of wood laminated and above all, the wood must have resonance; Gardener made twenty violins before he inlaid to form a barrier, preventing the it must have good tone. According to felt he had a decent one. So what did he linear wood from splitting. For this Klein, Gardener observed the trees do with the first nineteen, Gardener used ebony and maple. throughout the day, since the sun you might ask, "I sawed some, burned "Looking for the perfect tree means casts shadows on the bark differently some and gave some away, and I wish I we often tum down two or three hundred depending on the time. had some of those back so I could throw before we find the right one," says Once you've found your tree, then those away, too." Michael Klein, who learned the art of what? Let's hope you've considered If you're determined to make selection from Gardener. Seekers of accessibility-in other words, how are instruments Gardener fashion, the first instrument wood agree that the right tree you going to get it out of there? Most SOUTHERN OREGON HER ITAGE TODAY 11 times it is taken out by a winch, an ATV, Gardener spent years studying the or even on someone's back. It took masters' techniques. He visited schools Gardener and Klein one week to cut up and museums in Italy, Germany, Austria and take home a big leaf curly maple they and England. He studied the texture of found in a sheep pasture in Yoncalla, wood for tone and for visual beauty. He Oregon. That particular tree was a rare experimented to create the finishes with find. It was forty-eight inches in diameter, the greatest luster. He chiseled and carved solid and curly all the way through-large to make tools that performed flawlessly, enough to make almost a hundred cello and that fit his hand perfectly. Cutting and backs. They sawed and cut the maple sculpting a chunk of wood into the sixty­ across the grain into wedge shapes, then eight to seventy pieces it takes to make dipped the ends of the wedges in wax to a violin demands precision both in the prevent cracking from drying out too fast. hands and the tools of the artist. Creating Next the wood was put in storage for at the scroll, the curly end of the instrument least two years outside away from the above the neck and tuning pegs, is the sun and rain. It was then taken inside most demanding of all. to complete the seasoning for ten more Klein remembers the carving lessons years. There are ways to speed up the he learned from Gardener during his seasoning process if need be. There are two-year apprenticeship. "I was intent on erasing any tool marks, but Victor wanted them to show. His was a studied carelessness. He would look at my work, and in his deep, rich Italian accent would say, 'Smoothie, smoothie, smoothie. You make it like the Germans. You have to remember this is sculpture. Don't deny your tools.' He knows I'm German." "But I didn't just learn instrument making from Victor," Klein adds. "He talked a lot about honesty and being a good citizen. Being a good citizen was important to him. It was the highest compliment he could pay someone. But he didn't just talk about it; he lived it. If we found just the tree we wanted, but even a foot of it was on another property, he wouldn't take it. Victor and Harriet are always willing to give of their time, their energy and their possessions." Klein is not the only one who praises the generosity of the Gardeners. Carla Shapreau, an attorney and violin maker in Alameda, California, spent a summer in the Gardener's home, where she had come as a novice to study violin making. "People like Victor and Harriet [his wife] are rare. You have to know them to believe that people like that exist in this world. They have inspired and contributed Janice Klein assists her husband, to the lives of so many people, never Michael, by combing horse hair and asking for anything in return." crafting bows. Notice the pronoun "they," and also instrument makers who prefer to remember the saying: "Behind every season their wood for twenty years good man there's a good woman." In before carving. 1995, as a tribute to Gardener and the Most violin makers don't really trek completion of his four hundredth around the woods for days and weeks at instrument, musicians and friends a time to find wood for their instruments. gathered at the Pioneer Club in Lake Most buy their tone wood from people Creek. Klein told those who had gathered like John Tepper in Shady Cove, and even to celebrate this giving couple, "There's Tepper says, "No matter how many years a saying, 'An army runs on its stomach.' I've been in the business of finding music Over the years there's been an rumy of wood, I still feel that a lot of it is a violin makers, apprentices and wood mystery. I learn something new from cutters that have marched through each tree I cut." Harriet's living room and bivouacked

VOL. 1, NO. around her dining room table eating violin, seven hundred dollars for a viola, packed up his tools the most delicious and nutritious and fifteen hundred dollars for a cello. At and passed them on to Klein. meals prepared by Harriet out of the same time others were charging five Gardener's eyes and hands may be her own garden." thousand to ten thousand dollars for their letting him down some, but his memory You have only to stroll through her instruments. Some of them weren't so seems as sharp as ever. Klein remembers gardens to appreciate Harriet's rutistic happy about Gardener's low prices, but asking him several years ago where he genius and the green thumb any master then he's never been one to care much might find some mountain mahogany. gardener would envy. Speak with her what others think. "Oh, I remember seeing some," Gardener briefly and you'll recognize her love of told him. "Let me see, it was nature and good literature. Lucy says, about twelve miles north of Weed. "My mother has innate curiosity. She You go east to Hwy. 97 and follow has a need to learn. My mother was hrish.'ned Vittore Ettor Gi.1rinieri. that. You'll see a sign and a road always there for all of us. She's the there that loops to the right. You Victor Gardener is a life-long I.Kk..o.;on glue that held us all together." Klein could see a train trestle and if you adds, "Harriet is the silent partner, County resident. I k w.1s born in the 1... 1ke went under it and looked up to the the one behind the scenes who keeps Creek are.1 in 1909, the son of 1t.1lian left, it was right up in there. it all going." immigrants. lie learned English while attending They've probably put in a The Gardeners never charged for l...1ke Creek School #19. Gardener said, "for my highway there by now though." instmction, wood, or even room and career when I first left home, I l1.1d three things I "Did you get any wood?" Klein board. In fact, Victor has given a asked him. wanted to be ... violinist . . . the next was surgeon number of instruments away. "Violin "No, I was on a motorcycle making has to come from the heart," he ... the next thing was for civil engineer, but in tht.' then," he answered. says, "and when I met a young person Depression Ithe engineers! were out of work. I got Klein knew it had been years whose heart was there but some books and I learned wh.1t I could !about since Gardener had his 600cc the money was missing, I remembered surveying!. I'm not a surveyor that would do .111 BMW, so he asked him when he'd what it was like for me during the seen this mountain mahogany. types of work . .. I can do what I needed to do. Depression. I wanted to help "Gardener scratched his head and promising musicians." water and stuff like that, do section line"- (Oral said, 'Well, I haven't been there And help he did. During the eighties, history #345. pp. 21-22). for a while. I guess it was about Gardener sold his violins for three In fact, glancing .1t .1ny map of the 1... 1ke Creek twenty-five years ago'." hundred dollars. The wood alone was area today. one sees sewral spots of blue depicting Klein and his wife decided to worth that much. Each violin took at reservoirs and canals. most all the handiwork of take a long weekend and check it least one hundred hours of work. He out just for the fun of it. "Heck, I Victor Gardener, either surveying, building. or both. sold cellos for seven hundred dollars, thought there'd probably be a though they took triple the time to Gardener estimates he surveyed and worked on ten condominium there by now. Can build. Why did he sell at that price to twelve .1re.1 reservoirs. In addition. he did two you believe his directions were while others were charging three times c.1n.1ls that helped fill the reservoirs, one of which exact? I found the trees just where that or more? Same answer: he wanted is eight-and-one-half miles long. The l...1ke Creek he said they'd be and I even to help others and he had all he brought him back a branch to landscape bears the Gardener family name on a needed. When Denise Stanley, writing show him." for the Medford Mail Tribune, asked butte, a reservoir, and a road (though sometimes The Gardeners moved to him why he'd just given a violin away misspelled as G.mlner). Medford in 1996, when their to a young girl, he answered, "She hilltop home on ten acres of land, played so well." part of the original homestead Gardener also cares about the Raphael and Maria raised their community. Few people know that he Gardener never advertised, yet he family on, had become too much to take saved the money from his sales and received over thirty instrument requests care of. There are no Gardener donated it to Lake Creek for equipment a year. The only contract he required was instruments in their Medford house. for the first fire department. a written letter of desire, and he took no "My children and grandchildren each In the early nineties, Gardener donated orders over two years in advance. The have one, but I don't have any left," he a quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello) most he ever made in any one year was says. "My hearing is going, too, so I don't all made from quilted maple, to a museum twenty-four instruments. even listen to music anymore." But in Cavalese, Italy, the home of his After making 380 instruments, when Gardener isn't "holding down" ancestors, with the stipulation that the Gardener decided it was time to quit. his chair and reading books on history, instruments be played twice a year in a Klein had other ideas. He wrote a letter travel or politics, he's off helping free concert for the townspeople. He asking Gardener to make him a violin, friends and neighbors however they thought the quartet might be valued at and he wanted it to be number four might need him. I twelve thousand dollars. The appraisers hundred. Gardener refused, but Klein estimated the value to be fifty-six wouldn't give up. Eventually Gardener thousand dollars. The people of Cavalese agreed. He made five more after Klein's don't care. To them, Victor Gardener is violin and then asked Klein to take over Nancy J. Bringhurst writes children's "The American Stradivari." for him. It was a high compliment, for it books, music, and feature articles from Gardener made his last instrument in meant not only did he believe Klein was her Ashland mountaintop. Her article 1995. By then he'd raised his prices to his an excellent violin maker, but it meant he on Tom Tepper appeared in Vol. 2, No. 4 all time high: five hundred dollars for a was a good citizen as well. He then of Southern Oregon Heritage.

SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 13 The Medford Depot, A DREAM RESTORED by K. Gabrielle

rchitecture can be the Whipple's restoration conforms to the Whipple observed details such as cost­ dominant character-defining given period in all its detail. His ability effective paneling constructed of half-inch feature of any town or city. to master the details comes from a flat grain fir plywood, and steel-troweled, Preserving noteworthy knowledge of architecture and from concrete floors, formed in squares with structures helps maintain a experience restoring buildings, including colored borders. He then incorporated senseA of place and can add use of proper materials these details in the restoration. Today, the visual and monetary value to and techniques. Architecture, floor in the brewery is made up of small, streets, neighborhoods and says Whipple, "is an white, hexagonal tiles true to the era. A distticts. incredibly imp01tant thread curved, dark-stained fir ticket counter Rodger Whipple saw a in the fabric of our society." welcomes visitors into the bar. challenge in the 1910 The Medford Depot's Big game trophies, bighorn sheep, elk, Medford Southern Pacific restoration needed to reflect deer and pronghorn antelope stare down Passenger Depot, located at the 1910s, yet accommodate from high on the brewery walls. Framed 147 North Front Street. A the stmcture's conversion to landscapes with scenes of Crater Lake, the dominant landmark in ~ the Southern Oregon & Cascade mountains, and a campfire Medford's commercial core, U) Pacific Brewing Company keeping the chill away draw the visitor into the Depot is the only ~ restaurant and brewery. an Oregon before interstate highways surviving building related ~ Keeping the history intact was dominated transportation. Framed bond directly to the passenger ~ the key. Whipple believes the certificates from the Cleveland, Cincinnati, era of the Southern Pacific 10 more the history of a product Chicago, St. Louis, Rail Road Company Railroad. 1 § or structure can be and the New York Central and Hudson Passenger service began at &: documented, the greater its River Rail Road decorate the walls along this depot in 1910 and ended Rodger Whipple paid value. Everything people with postcards of old Medford. Outside, an in 1958. Between 1958 and meticulous attention to create, including houses and inviting patio is shielded from the railroad December 1996, when Whipple detail in restoring architecture, comes from ideas tracks by wisteria trailing through an iron purchased the building from the Medford Depot and passed from one era to the fence. As quoted in the 1910 Medford Mail Railtex, the Depot was used launching his Southern next. "We all need to know Tribune, "Everything from the electric for storage and offices. Oregon and Pacific who we are and where we fixtures to the baseboards harmonize, the Although obscured by some Brewing Company. come from. We move so whole forrning a splendid effect and one modifications, most of the quickly in the race for delightful to the eye."2 Whipple has seen to Depot's 01iginal architectural elements prosperity and affluence. We Americans it that every component from exterior to were sound, and the character of the leave behind our roots, our history .. . we interior if not vintage Medford Depot, is building intact. have devalued our history," says Whipple, vintage 1910. i The restoration project commenced in "still we remain entranced by it." June 1997. Whipple felt challenged to help For Whipple, each project is a learning K. Gabrielle is an entrepreneur and find the Depot's new identity in the expe1ience. The Medford Depot can be freelance writer living in Ashland. characterized as belonging to the community. The challenge of hist01ical ENDNOTES reconstruction, according to Craftsman era, notable for many distinctive I. National Regi ster of Historic Places, OMB Whipple, is to make his work architectural features. These features, such Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86). United States and the past blend so as double hung windows consisting of Department of the Interior, National Park Service. seamlessly that the public is twelve panes over one large pane, needed Section 8, p. 13. unaware that the structure to be carefully preserved or reproduced. 2. National Regi ster of Historic Places, OMB Approval has been restored. No. 1024-018(86). Sec. 7, p. 10. FAMILY Dorcas Phillips, Grants Pass Medford Mr. and Mrs. Joseph DeLuca, Talent *Betty Lou Yourston, Springville, UT Leona J. Wobbe, Medford Mr. and Mrs. Robert Milam, V) Sacramento, CA GRANDPARENT PIONEER/APPLEGATE CLUB -

Carolyn Y. Ferguson Dr. Henry Olson Mr. and Mrs. Ted J. Bauer Dixie Lee Fleeger Dorothy Pru·ke Bear Creek Corporation, William Ihle Donors Mr. and Mrs. George Fox Sharon Pru·ks Nora C. Bottjer Harriet Gardener Mrs. C.A. Pru·Jier Polly Ora Boyd ANNUAL CONTRIBUTORS Mr. and Mrs. Marvin J. Gentry Elizabeth Parsons Patricia I. Cook FUND 1998/99 Mrs. Marrs Gibbons LeoN. Province Mr. and Mrs. Jack Day Bill Alley Brian and Kenna Graunke Mr. and Mrs. David K. Rishell Mr. and Mrs. Robe1t E. Dunn Mel and Brooke Ashland Grange CO-OP, Bany Robino Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robinson Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Eccleston Grace Berg Mr. and Mrs. Wan·en L. Hagen Mr. and Mrs. John Ross Mr. and Mrs. John Hamlin Dr. and Mrs. James Benyman Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Herbold Linda Scovill Dr. and Mrs. Edward Helman Joan Bowen Orpha Herbst Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd H. Selby Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hensley Mr. and Mrs. Bill Breeden Dave Hilde Evelin Smith Mr. and Mrs. Roy G. Kimball Nancy Bringhurst Burnett J. Holland Mr. and Mrs. Rick Soued Mr. and Mrs. Brad Linder Mildred W. Brown Crumela Hotho Mary Jean Sturdevant Alicia MacArthur Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Burnett R. Kemper Howell Doris Sutherlin Mr. and Mrs. Jed Meese Gloria Butler Rosemary Johannson Celeste Bjelland Sweat Alice Mullaly Drs. Malcom and June Byers John and Ramona Kearns Wilma Tashnovian Mr. and Mrs. James Rowan John G. Cameron Mr. and Mrs. J. Boyce Kellogg Deborah Taylor Patsy Smullin Mr. and Mrs. Willard Chinn Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Kennedy P.K. Taylor Mr. and Mrs. John Stewrut Beverly Y. Clark Jean Zachruisen Kircher Dr. Eugene Tennyson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Stout Lan-y Clark Mr. and Mrs. William J. Kirkman Stephen Terry Mr. and Mrs. William Thorndike, Jr. Richard M. Cullinen Donald W. Kitchens Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Traver Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wicklund Lawrence P. Crocker Mr. and Mrs. Francis A. Kuntz Dr. and Mrs. Donald Turcke Bemice Curler Nell Lewis Linda L. Walker-Turner GENERAL COLLECTION Helen Daun Oscru· Louderback, Jr. Ethel A. WruTender William Alley Viola M. Davis Mr. and Mrs. Jack Martin Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wicklund William H. Hoag Margaret Deuel Mildred Mason Aaron Worthington Sally Jones William R. Dieriex Mr. and Mrs. Lee Merriman Richard Kuschel Ruth M. Dino Bru·bara Momoe SOUTHERN OREGON Floyd M. Presley DollarGMC Dr. and Mrs. Frank A. Moore HISTORICAL SOCIETY Bruce Eliason Mr. and Mrs. Lee Niedermeyer FOUNDATION Mr. and Mrs. Roy C. Elmgren Stephen G. Nye IN-KIND GOODS Barbara Anne Ezell Mr. and Mrs. Tom O'Connell Circles of Giving & SERVICES Rogue Disposal & Recycling, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Feinstein Davis A. Oas Mr. and Mrs. Allen Alsing Mr. and Mrs. Vern Arnold Valley Web Printing

SOUTHERN OREGON HERITAGE TODAY 15 Roadside History-The Rapps of Rapp Road by Mary Louise Lyman

she was nine, and she was a Phoenix ~~;;;~ ~~wn High School graduate. This marriage Highway 99, produced three sons: Joseph M., passing Rapp Road Chester L., and Raymond E. Rapp. M in Talent without ~ Joseph Rapp moved to Ashland, thinking twice about it, yet the ~ but Chet and Ray Rapp still live Rapps were important pioneers who 8 on the road which bears their contributed to the development and ~ family name. I character of Talent. g Joseph Rapp ~ Lou Lyman is an Editorial Assistant was born in 1818 g for Southern Oregon Heritage in Reading, ~ Today, and contributor to Society Pennsylvania, of ~ publications. She was recently Dutch descent. a awarded "Co- Volunteer of the He became a Year" for her work on "The Spirit successful miner Joseph Rapp acquired 300 acres on Wagner ofA shland, a Walking Tour of in California after Creek in 1872. Several of his barns still coming west in stand on the road that bears his name. Ashland's Historic Downtown." 1849. He came to Joseph and Martha Rapp had two E NDNOTES Ja.ckson County sons, one of whom (Edward) died in 1. Portrait and Biographical Record of in 1872, and infancy. Their son Fred was born in the Oregon, 1904. No. 894 acquired three family home on July 19, 1880, where ...... ~-~-. hundred acres on he lived out his entire life. Fred Wagner Creek, MarthaRapp attended the Wagner school, and in south and east of and son 1896 continued his education at the what is now Talent. Ashland Normal School, a teacher's These acres were originally part of the college. His father's death in 1897 James Thornton Donation Land Claim. left him-a seventeen year old-to He grew alfalfa, had a large orchard and manage the farm. It was said of him, raised livestock on the fertile bottom "Mr. Rapp is one of the m@st energetic land of his farm. Several of his early and resourceful of the young farmers barns are still in use on the property. to whom old residents look for the Joseph Rapp was a member of the carrying on of their efforts, Masons, politically allied with the and his personal .. u.:ua•~'"' Republican Party, and a member of such as to win him u.-, uu,~ fHJ the Lutheran Church. On January 13, present and popularity ani:liiuflueqc:e 1879, in Ashland, he married Martha in time to come."1 E. Reames. She was the daughter of In July 1903 Fred Woodford and Masulda Reames who married Artie E. "'"'· u"''~1 settled on a donation land claim near but they were fln',' t"\rr' Pfl Phoenix in 1853. Her father came 1910. He married ~~~ '-!11,. ..,. . west as an employee of the Hudson French in 1916. Her•fa\[Ili]Mt Bay Company.

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