T BE TAB L E ROCK �ENTINEL NEWstmER OF lHE SOUTHERN OREGON HISTORICAl SOCIETY PUliLlSHED MOirrHLY FOR MEMBERS OF THE socllirv , ' � C(b he dapper young man on the cover0Ilflei He had a modest vineyard from f J" fJ" is Vivian Beach, a descendent which he made fine wines and vine- of J.N.T. Miller who came to gar . Ac ross the road was a won- Oregon in 1845. Many will remember derful orchard of mixed fruits, 'Viv' as a jeweler with Larry Schade of about ten or twelve acres , Ivhich in Medford before he opened his own was surrounded by fields of sixty shop in Jacksonville. or mo re acres for producing hay The Beach family has recently been crops for winter feed for the stock. recognized as the donors of the flag- Early after Mr . Miller acquired stones used in the d�corative and these properties , he donated to practical walls and walkways which Jacksonville a tract of 32 acres' grace the Britt grounds and the stones nicely located on the brow of the which were used in the reconstruction hill, just west of and adjoining the of the Jacksonville City Hall . Over city , to be used as a cemetery , and $60,000 worth of stone--100 tons-- it became the pioneer cemetery of was given in memory of V.J .Beach and the valley and the resting place his wife, StellaW. Beach , long time for many of these heroic souls. residents of southern Oregon . The rock , which has been used here On the occasion of a ceremony , held to decorate and commemo rate these in the Britt grounds , Joe Beach , in grounds was quarried from that hill speaking for himself and his brother side, wooded tract , west of the Robert , made the following statement. residence. Jackson County Commissioners , Mem- I feel very proud , and I am sure bers of the Peter Britt Festival the other members of Bob 's and my Association and friends, family share this feeling , of the We are gathered to dedicate some opportunity to pass along a portion rocks that became a part of the prop- of this heritage and tradition to erty of my great grandparents 130 the Britt Festival Association , the years ago . city of Jacksonville, and all of JNT and Betsy Ann Miller took up the people who come from near a'nd a Donation Land Claim just north of far to see and enj oy the wonderful and adj oining Jacksonville in 1854. activities that take place here. The move to southern Oregon was from I wish my parents, whom we are Sauvies Island where Robert Miller, honoring with this plaque, could be JNT's father , had settled his family here to share this moment with us . after their move from Iowa in 1845 . It was Dad 's home town too ,o f which It is said , in the records of the he was very proud . Jacksonville Museum Library , that JNT and Betsy had a wonderful large I would like to close with this farm , with an attractive and comfort­ thought . These were not just "or­ ab le home .in an elevated location dinary rocks ." They were special ; facing east and overlooking much of full of history of the past and his farm. His farm buildings were promise of the future. amp le and kept good condition. November 2 THE TABLE ROCK SENTINEL This portrait of Colonel William Green T'Vault was recently discovered , quite by accident , by Linda Wiesen , assistant librarian , while she was searching through a collection of unidenti­ fied photographs . This is the first time it has appeared in over 100 years. THE E D OF 'I'UE illiam Green T'Vault andUL Rhoda Tland , andLI she was not , as was William Boone Burns* T'Vault had five T'Vault , a victim of smallpox. Rhoda children ; two of them did not T'Vault lived to become a sanctified pio­ survive infancy , a son , George Lysurgis, neer widow , venerated by her admiring Wdied at the age of seventeen , and a friends and family--or so it was reported . daughter , st . Marion , "Sainty ," djed Had she been a waspish tyrant who scolded not long after her father . Her death her neighbors and brooked no foolishness occurred while she was living in Port- from her family , the truth would not have appeared in her obituary . Visualizing her *Rhoda T'Vault had not only descended from the family of Daniel Boone , she also claimed to be as wise and gentle in her counsel and con­ a direct descendent of Robert Burns , the poet . duct is a little more gracious and she JUNE 1985 3 had no doub t been trained to bow to the them and had eventually escaped . The tyranny of her famous--or infamous--hus­ story is probably fiction because there band . She died in 1886 , seventeen years are no other reports of her abduction . after Colonel T'Vault had made his last Learning Chinook presented no great chal­ one-way trip up the hill . Elizabeth, lenge ; various settlers spoke it fluently , the oldest daughter, thus was left to and Elizab eth T'Vault had many opportuni­ carry on the worthy name and preserve ties to communicate with the Indians . No the less than glittering family tradi­ doubt she was chosen to act as inter­ tions of Colonel William Green Harrison preter because of her father 's long T'Vault . friendship with General Lane , the man who She was a young thing of thirteen when offered the peace terms to the Takelmas she crossed the plains to Fort Boise and on the slopes of Table Rock . with her family followed Stephen Meek She mu st have completed her education along the disastrous Meek Cutoff to ar­ in Oregon City because she was twenty rive in Oregon City a month and a half when her family settled in the Dardanelles . behind those who took the slow route. After their move to Jacksonville, Eliza­ Somewhere along the trail she learned to beth married Daniel Moe Kenney in 1855 . speak the Chinook Indian tongue because It was a good marriage ; he was a native she was able to serve as interpreter of Louisiana , a lawyer and a pioneer of during the peace talks between the Rogues 1849. Unfortunately he died in 1860, and the settlers in 1853. Her descend­ five years after the marriage, leaving en ts claimed that she had been kidnapped his young wife with two little boys and by Indians , had lived for awhile with a baby girl to raise. Thomas Kenney Rose U�riah Kenney CI. 4 THE TABLE ROCK SENTINEL The older boy , Thomas Joseph , was CHRIS J. KENNEY WEDS born in 1856 ; a second son , William Green , was a year younger , and the MIS S LYDEN IN THE EAST daughter , Rhoda A. , was born in 1859. Married--In Detroit , Mich. , Septemb er How Elizabeth T'Vault Kenney supported 26 , at the home of the bride 's sister, her young ones has not been disclosed . Mrs . J.B. Ab ernathy , Chris J. Kenney , Perhaps William T 'Vault left her and her son of T.J. Kenney , the merchant of Jack­ mo ther well supplied with property and sonville , and Miss Nan Lyden , daughter of cash. He was certainly a successful John Lyden . The couple are expected home lawyer although his newspapers failed soon to take up their residence on Fifth to make much money . Elizabeth was street . greatly respec ted in Jacksonville as a wise and loving mother . Fletcher Linn , People may have thought the marriage came the Jacksonville historian , called her a little prec ipitously , only six months Mo ther Kenney and compared her to the after her mother 's death , but John Lycl.en Sister Kenney who was famous for her had discovered that operating a hotel polio therapy . and restaurant was not a continual round The children attended the Jackson­ of pleasure, and he probab ly encouraged ville school -- the first wooden two the union so the dutiful Nan could return story school house on Bingham 's Knoll. to Jacksonville and take over the manage-· After graduation , Thomas J. opened a ment of the Lyden House. hardware store and became a saddler and harness maker . He was also an insurance Jacksonville citizen who was a lit­ agent . In 1878 he married Rosa Ulrich, tle girl when the Lyden House was a seamstress. They had six children . still in operation , vividly recalls Three of them , Eva , Katie and Daniel Moe, John Lyden 's visits to her parents' con­ died while they were still children . fectionary store for his daily glass of Emma , Christian and Frances grew to Whistle . She remembers he was conserva­ ma turity and married . tive to a fault . After polishing off William Green , Elizabeth 's second son, the orange drink , he carefully licked was a common laborer , a stagecoach each end of the straw and politely driver and a man who did odd jobs about put it back in the container with the town when the fancy struck him. When others . The soda clerk had to be on his he was 27 years old, he married Mollie toes to retrieve the used straw before Snider , but the marriage was an unhappy the next customer came in . one and soon ended in divorce. There The Lyden House was certainly not the were no children . mo st elegant and sanitary boardinghouse Rhoda A. married C. D. Cardwell who in southern Oregon, but it had its day. owned a great expanse of acerage out of There were eleven bedrooms , each with a town in the area which is now occupied window , and each furnished with a wash by the Heuners family .