Oregon Oddities
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IRER (1) 4- OREGON ODDITIES and ITEMS OF INTEREST For us by teachers, students, libraries,and. publications Please iv credit to th inforxiatioi rvice of The Fedra1 Writrs' and HistoricalRecords Survey Projects of the 1QV5PROGRESS ADirISTRATION OF CRE&3N 4OElks Euildin Portland, Oregon The itens in this bulletin, selected from the matorial compiled by the Feera1 Writers' Projectaid the t Ristorical Records Survey of the Works ProgressAdministration, t are representative of the àignificant pollections being made by these rationwide progreins. The Historical Records Survey isinventorying all sources of earlr Oregon history, including county andstate record, church archives, historic cemeteries, old manuscripts and imprints, - old printingrezses, monuments and relics, private diaries,letter, s and memoirs, historic buildings, and Indianrecords and lore. T-he chief undertaking of the FederalWriters' Project has been theerican Guide Series of books.In Oregon as in all other states the work includes the state Guide,designed to ac- 2 quaintnericans Withnerica and to present. to the visitor the history, indistry,ecreati onal advantages- and scenic attractions of the state. A- The Oregon Guide,now in thefinal stages of editing LC will soon be added to the list of thosealready published which et includes Idaho:A Guide in Word and Picture; Maine:A Guide "Down East"; Massachusetts:A Guide to its Places and People; New Hamp- DIE shire:A Guide to the Graite State; Washington:City and Capital; PC Philadelphia:A Guide to the Birthplace ofa Nation. tI A HI SIQFI C Vr0NUMENT S While livir-g at Salemhe hauled " don't know anything about toib- helped to trans- 3tones.We deal in monuments," declared freight to Portland, and .H. J. Blaesing, Sr.., of Portland. Theport the first circus,his children were omb stone originated in gland fiveallowed to go, but wereforbidden to look 'wor as he consideredthem1fl or centuries ago.It is too sepul- at the monkeys ral, and has been in disuse in the decent.The children took apeek an'way, jted States since 1900. and later confessed they wereindeQd. "The monument business is the oldestshocked by the monkey'santics. An entry in theMethodist mission jthe world.It dates back almost to 25, 1837, the Garden of Eden.In the Bible it saysrecords reads:"Saturday, Feb. Webley Hauxhurst marriedby Jason Lee to that a stone was placed on thgrave of tribe at the Mission. .be1.'That was the first monument." Mi ss Mary of Yanthill House, Willamettesettlement."However, "Granite is used. almost entirely forthe dategiven in the Hauxhurstfamily Bible is March 16, 1837. onuments," said Mr. Blaesi.ng.IlMarbie right" crumbles.Most of it is softer than cube Hauxh:urst bought a "squatter' s froni a man living at BayOcean, TillaiaoOk sugar."He considers the Cunha monument until his death. erected by Io seph Ct1.nha at Echo in memorycounty, where he lived still live ohis wife and. son, the most beautiful Descendants of the family in Oregon. A rock of ages desii, with there."Hoxie" as he was knownaround. the figure of a woman clinging on the Tillainook, was captain ofthe schooner cross, it stands 14 feet high andweighs Champion plying betweenthat port and. 20 tons. Portland.He died. January 23,1874, and. is buried in the Troutcemetery near Although. Mr..Blaesing came to Oregon Tillainook. too late to know much about historic cem- eteries, he has made mounients honoring "Another monument wemade," said. Mr. historically prominent persons.- A menu- Blaesing.,j5 one to the memory of Rev. J. A. Cornwall and family.It stands men memory of Sam L. Simpson, Oregon Pacific right of way pa ho died in 1899, was erected by between the Southern mile north of the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneer.sand the Pacific highway one Ocicland, Oregon.The Ccrnwa11s were : 1929.Simpson is best kriom for his poem, "The Beautiful Willainettett.His Methodist Missionaries." rave in the Lone Fir cemetery had been Without a marker all those years. Peter Skene Ogden,1794-1854, was buried at Oregon City, thegrave unmarked about a "We are now working on a monument ofuntil 1924.A monument weighing Ofle of the first white settlers in Tilla-ton was erected duringthat year. Records rmook county, which will beerected in thein the city clerk's officeat Oregon City Trout cemetery at Tillamook.Oii the basesaid the grave wasmarked with oak sticks Wifl, be inscribed: driven into the ground.t each of the Webley J. Hauxhurst four corners. Pioneer patriot "Leslie Scott and I found.the grave 1809 ---- 1874 after a whole day' swork," said. Mr. Blae- "He married the daughter of Chief sing."It was all cvergrownwith ivy- - Stayiich,or Staymire, of the Yamhill but after we poked around awhile, we .Lfldianstl found the sticks allright, and still in- Webley J. H&uxhurst vras horn of tact, about a foot underthe surface." -i-laker parents in Long Island, N. Y. When Peter Skene Ogden me to Oregon in he firstcame to Oregon, Hauxhurstsettl-1818 as an empl;ye of theNorthvrest com- e.t Champoeg. fd furnished by Dr. pany whoseheadquarters were at Fort CLoughlin in 1834, he built the first George, now Astoria.After 1821 he was associated with the Hudson's BayConpany, 1st mill in the Oregon country.Lee consolidated with the e,n ost, missionaries, claimed that he that company having e first white convert, baptizedin-NorthWest conpany.He later become a th8 Methodist church in 1837.When Chief Factor, which was thehihst field 1lla.trLette University was chartered in position in the cornnany.As hs hair b- 3a Haux.hurstwas elected to serVe Ofl come vrhite the Indiansrespectfully called hefirst board of directors. hin "Old VThitehead.'Both the Indians n and the white settlers considered Ogden In the old churchyards and behind to be fearless. His strater in dealing dilapidated fences on hillsides a fc 'I-.. with the Indians enabled him to rescue theelaborate inscriptions can still be ft survivors of the Whitman ssacre who werealthough neither Oregon, nor any of the of held captives. states in the West, has ever indulged i of the old-fashioned and picturesque toh 'Then asked if he had ever seen or stone inscriptions connon1y used in Newb carved any. unusual epitaphs, Mr. BlaesingEngland in the early days. Seldom in- said, "Vell, here's one you might find scribed on latter-day monuments is any.. amusing. A woman had this line ongraved thing but the dates of birth, death, an on the monument for her husbard: 'The possibly marriage. light of my life has gone out.' In a To quote the Oregonian, March,- l9 couple of years she married again. She "Probably the truth is that the twenti used to go to her first grave century Uses the device of modesty to to leave flowers.Each time she became its desire to forget. Those who have more dissatisfied vith the inscription, lose their characters. They become oni but she didn't know what to do about it. numbers. And the genealogists of the It would have required a great doa]. of future prowling around will collect work and expense to have it removed and nothing but dates and places." another epitaph engravod.She consulted her minister, He scratched his head and Father Francis Norbert Blazlchet'$ thought it over. Finally he said, 'Add final resting place in the St. Paul cern er another line,, saying:But I've struck tery in Marion county is marked by a another match.' She agreed to that solu-white marble monument. The inscription tion, and. as far as I know, the epitaph identifies him a the "First Archbishop el is still on that monument. Oregon City and Pioneer of th Cross of in "Then, there was a Myrtle Point bach- N.W." The cemetery was established in Fo elor who was a woman-hater. He wrote an late 1830's by Father Blanchet, and is in inscription for his own monument, stating garded. as the oldest white man' s burial the exact reason for his state of baOhelor-ground in Oregon. Before becoming Ah. hood.. The monument was not our work, but bishop, Blanchet was appointed by the Asl here is a copy of the inscription: Archbishop of Quebec, Montreal district, Mc to the charge of the Oregon Mission, i hi To en independent good the title of vicar-general.He said the looking old Batchelor first mass at St. Paul on January 5, 18 who in his younger days A few years later he sailed to Europe preferred living a more help, and returned with fIve sJ single life rather priests, three seminarians, three Jesuit than get married and Fathers, and. seven Sisters of Notre 'n have a petticoat boss After spending the last thirty-five a. ruling over him the of his life at the head of the eccle.a rest of his life and tical province of Oregon, Archbisho perhaps thru an Blanchet died June 18, 1883. endless eternity In the Tualatin Plains Presbyte Thou Turnest man churchyard stands a monument in mezcy 0 Lord to dust Joe Meek, dedicated by the Daughters of From whence he the nerican Revolution in 1929. J: IL first was made who made a trip to Washington bearing a. and. when Thou Sayest memorial praying for federal aid jus the word return after the 'Thitman massacre, was rewde Tis instantly obeyed. by being made the first U. S. narshair the Oregon Territory. The bill for i'e William Hartley organization of the territory passed th born senate August 13, l88, and was sid May 10 1840 President Polk the next day. Histortar. died regard Ccl. Meek's presence in Vasingt August 4 1913 and his being a cousin of President l farable contributary factors.