The Shook Family Genealogy

Northwest Indiana Genealogy

2009-01-02T02:59:00.000-08:00

Two Northwest Indiana websites of interest to genealogy and family history researchers include the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society (NWIGS) and the Porter County, Indiana, GenWeb. I maintain the website for NWIGS and serve as the county coordinator of the Porter County website. Both websites contain a significant amount of information and genealogical data. The NWIGS website also sells a wide variety of books, including indexes for every cemetery in counties of Lake and Porter.

Invoking States' Rights, Hiram M. Curry

2008-11-10T03:16:00.000-08:00

Hiram M. Curry, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather, was believed to have been born sometime between 1750 and 1760. Various locations of his birth have been reported, including Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Despite considerable research by several individuals, however, Hiram's parents are still unknown.

Hiram is believed to have served in the Revolutionary War under the commands of Brigadier General George Weedon and Major General Nathaniel Green at that Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, although there has been no firm proof of Hiram's service.

After living a short period in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Hiram married Sarah Reagan, a widow, around 1788, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. To this union were born at least seven children: Rachel (Curry) Colver, Sarah Curry, Rebecca (Curry) Mark, Hiram M. Curry, Jane (Curry) Gutridge, Dr. Thomas M. Curry, and Providence Moyntz Curry. Rachel (Curry) Colver was my great-great-great-great grandmother.

The decendents of Hiram's seven children can be traced except for that of Sarah. Sarah is believed, however, to have married a Mr. Phillips and resided in Champaign County, Ohio. A newspaper article published in the May 25, 1810, Farmer's Repository published in Charles Town, Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia) indicates that Mr. Phillips murdered his wife, Sarah:

A few days since, Mr. Phillips, (a farmer), near Urbanna, Champaign county, beat and abused his wife, (daughter of the Rev. Hiram M. Curry, late senator from Champaign) in such a shocking manner that she survived but two days. -- Mr. Phillips and his wife were not in the habit of quarrelling, but he having been intoxicated for several days, it is supposed led him to the perpetration of the horrid act. He is apprehended, and is now confined in Urbana jail. -- Such is the effect of intemperance.

This newspaper account, assuming it is true, likely explains the fact that little is known today regarding Sarah Curry, or whether Sarah was the mother of any children. I have been unable to find any other information concerning either Sarah or the Mr. Phillips mentioned in the above news item.

Hiram M. Curry led a rather interesting life. He was a Baptist minister and teacher in Mayslick, Mason County, Kentucky, at about the time of his marriage to Sarah Reagan. He was particularly noted for his very strict discipline as a teacher. Following his marriage to Sarah, Hiram is again found living in Mason County at least until 1802, after which time he is found to be living in Champaign County, Ohio, in 1806. In Champaign County, Hiram was still practicing as a minister, officiating several marriages and preaching sermons.

On February 17, 1809, Hiram M. Curry was appointed to the first Board of Trustees at Miami University in Ohio, and he was still serving in that capacity in 1814. In 1813, while living in Champaign County, Hiram was elected to the Ohio State Legislature where he is believed to have served at least two terms in office.

Between 1816 and 1820, Hiram M. Curry served as the fourth Treasurer of the State of Ohio. This position brought substantial noteriety to Hiram. As written in the 1883 book The History of Union County, Ohio [pp. 126-128]:

BANKING.
Up to the year 1817, Ohio had no banking system, and on the 28th of January of that year, the United States Bank opened a branch at Cincinnati, and yet another during the following October in Chillicothe. These branches found a large amount of business to transact, and while being of assistance in various ways to the State, also received a fine revenue themselves. The State therefore resolved upon a tax levy, and, in 1819, the branches were to pay $50,000 each, and the State Auditor was authorized to issue his warrant for the collection of the same.

The bank branches demurred, but the State was decided, and the banks were accordingly filed a bill in chancery, in the United States Circuit Court, setting forth reasons whereby their prayer that Ralph Osborn, State Auditor, should be restrained from making such collection, should be seriously considered.

Osborn being counseled not to appear on the day designated in the writ, an injunction was obtained, with the security given in the shape of bonds from the bank, to the amount of $100,000. On the 14th of September, the bank sent a commissioner to Columbus, who served upon the Auditor a copy of the petition for the injunction, and a subpoena to make an appearance before the court on the first Monday in the following January. Osborn submitted both the petition and the injunction to the Secretary of State, with his warrant for collecting the tax. Legally, the matter was somewhat complicated.

The Auditor desired the Secretary of State to take legal advice, and if the papers did not actually amount to an injunction, to give orders for the execution of the warrant.

The decision was that the papers did not equal a valid injunction. The State writ for collection was therefore given over to John L. Harper, with directions to enter the banking-house and demand the payment of the tax. In case of a refusal, the vault was to be entered and a levy made upon the amount required. No violence was to be used, and if force was used to deter the act, the same was to be reported to a proper magistrate and an affidavit made to that fact.

On September 17, Mr. Harper went about his errand, taking with him T. Orr and J. MacCollister. After securing access to the vault, a demand was made for payment of the tax. This was promptly refused, and a notice given of the granting of the injunction. This was disregarded, and the officer seized $98,000 in gold, silver and notes. This was placed in charge of the State Treasurer, Mr. H. M. Curry.

The officers were arrested and imprisoned by the United States Circuit Court, and the money returned to the bank. The case was reviewed by the Supreme Court, and the measures of the Circuit Court were sustained. The State, therefore, submitted. In the mean time, the Legislature had prepared and passed a resolution, as follows:

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That in respect to the powers of the Governments of the several States that compose the American Union, and the powers of the Federal Government, this General Assembly do recognize and approve the doctrines asserted by the Legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in their resolutions of November and December, 1798, and January, 1800, and do consider their principles have been recognized and adopted by a majority of the American people.

Resolved further, That this General Assembly do assert and will maintain by all legal and constitutional means, the rights of States to tax the business and property of any private corporation of trade, incorporated by the Congress of the United States, and located to transact its corporate business within any State.

Resolved further, That the Bank of the United States is a private corporation of trade, the capital and business of which may be legally taxed in any State where they may be found.

Resolved further, That the General Assembly do protest against the doctrines that the political rights of the separate States that compose the American Union and their powers as sovereign States, may be settled and determined in the Supreme Court of the United States, so as to conclude and bind them in cases contrived between individuals, and where they are, no one of them, parties direct.

The bank was thus debarred from the aid of State laws in the collection of its dues and in the protection of its rights. An attempt was made to effect a change in the Federal constitution, which would take the case out of the United States Courts. This, however, proved ineffectual.

The banking system of Ohio has, by reason of State surveillance, not been subjected to those whirlwind speculations and questionable failures which have marked many Western States, in the establishment of a firm basis upon which a banking law could be sustained, with mutual benefit to the institution and the people.

This States' Rights dispute indeed found its way to the United States Supreme Court in 1824, in the case of Osborn v. Bank of the United States [22 U.S. 738]. This case was particularly important in that it was the first to limit the ability of a state to sue the federal government. This case is still cited frequently in States' Rights cases that make their way through the federal court system.

While serving as the Treasurer of the State of Ohio, Hiram M. Curry had the privilege of meeting with President James Monroe [see History of Franklin County Ohio by Opha Moore, pp. 137-138]:

In August, 1817, James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, visited the capital city of Ohio in his return from a journey through the Northwest, ostensibly to inspect the frontier defenses, but with the scarcely weiled, if incidental, object of strengthening his political defenses in the portion of the country traversed and impressing on the nation at large with the genius of their chief executive in the manner of finding facts for himself. Be it remembered that this was the same James Monroe who made a tour of the Northwest in 1787 and reported to Thomas Jefferson. "A great part of the country is miserably poor, especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie; and that upon the Mississippi and Illinois consists of extensive plains which have not had, from appearances, and will ot have, a single bush on them for ages. The districts, therefore, within which these fall, will, perhaps, never contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle them to membership in the confederacy, and in the meantime the people who settle within them will be governed by the resolutions of Congress in which they will not be represented."

At the time of the President's second visit Ohio and Indiana had already been admitted to the Union and had representation in Congress, and Illinois was preparing for statehood, in fact was admitted in time to participate in Mr. Monroe's second election. Every principle of statesmanship and policy dictated that the author of the above report to Mr. Jefferson should do something to dispel the feeling of antipathy that might be entertained by those powerful individuals and organizations interested in upbuilding of this same Northwest. At all events, the President of the United States, wearing a cocked hat, mounted on horseback, with his staff of military aides and secretaries, appeared in the public square of Worthington and was greeted by Colonel James Kilbourne, on behalf of the citizens of that village. Here the Franklin Dragoons, commanded by Captain Vance, met the presidential party, and escorted them to Columbus, where a formal reception was held in the new state house. The Citizen's Committee, having charge of the arrangements for the occasion, consisted of Lucas Sullivant, chairman; Abner Lorde, Thomas Backus, Senator Joseph Foos, A. I. McDowell, Gustavus Swan, Ralph Osborn, Christian Heyl, Robert W. McCoy, Joel Buttles, Hiram M. Curry, John Kerr, Henry Brown and Willam Doherty. Hiram M. Curry, the treasurer of state, delivered the address of welcome, and the President responded with compliments and statistics to the entire satisfaction of everybody.

It is believed that Sarah (Reagan) Curry died prior to 1821, as it is known that Hiram married a second time to Elizabeth Lane on August 30, 1821, in Franklin County, Ohio. By 1828, Hiram had moved to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where his son Dr. Thomas M. Curry had moved and started a practice as a physician. In 1828, while probably in his late 60s or early 70s, Hiram was conducting religious services at a Universalist Church in Sheffield Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. It is known through historical church records that Hiram was the eighth minister to preach the Universalist faith in Ohio; when Hiram convereted his faith from Baptist to Universalist is unknown.

The last known location of Hiram is again in Sheffield Township of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where he was still conducting religious services in the Universalist Church. It is believed that Hiram likely died in Tippecanoe County. Unfortuantely, no burial record or tombstone is known to exist in Tippecanoe County to mark his final resting place.

Family Matters: The Tratebas Murder of 1895

2008-11-06T04:07:00.000-08:00

One of the more interesting genealogy puzzles that I have encountered in my family history research concerns the connection between William R. Tratebas and Alonzo Leiben Powers. I am related to the Tratebas family through my great-great-great aunt Harriett Arvilla Sanders, daughter of Abner and Lovina I. (Caster) Sanders, who married William Vincent Tratebas on December 13, 1868, in Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana.

While researching the Tratebas line, I ran across startling news accounts -- such as this regarding the murder of William R. Tratebas by a Alonzo Leiben Powers [Published August 16, 1895 in The Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; Issue 145, Page 5, Column E]:

MAY BE A LYNCHING IN INDIANA.
People of Chesterton Aroused Over Will Tratebass' Murder.

Valparaiso, Ind., Aug. 15 -- Special Telegram. The citizens of Chesterton were thrown into a fever of excitement over the murder of Will Tratebass, 20 years old, by Lon Powers, aged 25. They had been having some trouble over property, and yesterday came to blows. This morning they met in a blacksmith shop anmd renewed the quarrel, when Powers pulled his revolver, shooting Tratebass twice near the heart, killing him instantly. A large crowd of citizens gathered and talk of lynching was heard on all sides. The relatives of Tratebass were severe in their denunciations of the murderer, and soon a rope was secured and several joined the crowd armed with guns. Powers was taken into a justice's office and a guard was placed over him. Then Deputy Sheriff Green was called by telephone, and by strategy succeeded in getting Powers out of town. The road leading from Chesterton to this city was lined with armed men, who were bent on wreaking vengeance on the murderer. He was placed in jail here this noon. A report is current tonight that a mob will be organized to storm the jail. Powers lived with his grandmother at Chesterton, his parents living in Chicago. Powers claims that the trouble arose over the property of his grandmother, claiming that Tratebasses had for years tried to run him out of town. Citizens of Chesterton say that Powers is a victim of dime novels.

Tombstone of William R. Tratebas
Chesterton Cemetery
Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana

Although this article seems to imply an unsavory outcome, Powers was not strung up that night. The story, however, got me to wondering why Tratebas would care about the property of Powers' grandmother? I got a few more clues from the August 23, 1895, issue of the Chesterton Tribune [Volume 12, Number 20, Page 1, Columns 2-3]:

LATER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE POWERS AFFAIR.

Bound Over to Court.
Alonzo Powers, the murderer of Wm. Tratebas had his preliminary hearing before Judge Parks Tuesday, and was held to await the action of the grand jury without bail. Coroner Coates rendered a verdict in the matter and found Powers guilty of murder and recommended that he be held to the grand jury. Judge Johnson is defending Powers, and the only claim so far made justifying the shooting is that of self-defense. It is not expected that this line will be followed in the trial of the case as the only escape for Powers is the insanity dodge. The Prosecuting attorney has been here several times since the shooting, and had with him a stenographer and a photographer to take evidence. The grand jury will probably take action next month, but when the case will come to trial is another question.

The Prosecutor had quite a time with Mrs. Powers and Mrs. Johnson, when he attempted to have pictures taken of the Bee Hive, the house where Powers lived. They strenuously objected, and a constable was called to assist in preventing them obstructing the work. Prosecutor Heard also swore out a warrant for the arrest of the two women. Mrs. Powers takes the arrest of her grandson very hard, and her sympathies are entirely with him.

Particulars and Facts Accumulate.
Not since the West murder has the community been so shocked and stirred up, as it is now over the killing of Will Tratebas by Lon Powers. As the particulars begin to come in, the case looks blacker for the murderer, and all that can save his neck from the rope is for him to successfully play the insanity dodge. From a child up he has been a lazy, shiftless fellow, with just enough ambition to envy his industrious neighbors and excuse his own shortcomings by saying "The world is against me. Everybody is down on me, and won't let me get up." Instead of getting out and making a place for himself he preferred to lay on the banks of a creek, and read novels or shoot turtles and at marks for practice. Of course, he never had any training, but just drifted into this habit of living. His nature was a suspicious one, and he thought others were trying to rob him of the property which belonged to the old woman he lived with. This old woman married his grandfather, and is no blood connection of his. She is and always has been a terror, and it is no wonder that her protege is what he is. The neighbors tell horrible stories regarding the life of this old woman and young Powers, which seems incredible and unnatural, and until verified will not be published.

The immediate cause of the shooting seems to date back a few weeks ago when Powers had been pounding his grandmother, and gave her a black eye. She sent for Jerome Tratebas, father of the murdered boy, to come and help her. He did so. The old woman told her story, which was overheard by Powers in an adjoining room. Tratebas advised her to have him arrested, and by that means she could get rid of him. She did not want to do that. So Tratebas went to Powers and talked to him, telling him if he could not live with the old woman without pounding her, he ought to go away and leave her in peace. Powers finally said: "Well, give me two hundred dollars and I'll go out."

Tratebas said he nor the old woman had no money to give him. That he had not been raised by her, and was old enough to take care of himself, and was entitled to nothing. This ended that interview. A few days before the murder, John Tratebas and the two boys, Frank and Will, were going to the Powers house, where John's wife was, and just before entering, stopped outside to talk. Their conversation was about the sale of the mill property to Crocker Land Company, and in the conversation they talked over the proposed change in the dam which would increase the water power. Young Powers was hiding behind a tree near by, and probably heard the word "Power" used, and imagined that he was the subject of their conversation. The next day he jumped upon Will Tratebas, the first one of the trio he saw, and accused him of conspiring against him. The charge was so ridiculous that Will treated it lightly, but finally would have struck Powers, but that he saw a revolver in his coat pocket. The next day Powers renewed his attack, and in this, fired the fatal shots.

Is Now Writing a Book.
Murderer Powers would depopulate Chesterton could he have his own way. He is now yearning for the blood of the man who "writ that piece" about him in the TRIBUNE last week. Mr. Holmes can take a back seat for the Powers that is handy with his gun. He has written 300 pages of his life, and wants to put a book on the market. He thinks there would be lots of money in the scheme, and will do it if he can find a publisher. All that Powers ever did in this world can be put in a mighty small book.

Another Life in Danger.
Wednesday morning Constable Brown swore his life against Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston, and she was taken to Valparaiso. It seems that she told several persons that she would kill Brown, and did give him an unmerciful tongue-lashing. Mrs. Johnson's case was tried before Justice Severts, Thursday. He bound her over to the circuit court. She promptly furnished bond and was released.

Obviously not an exemplary fellow, Alonzo Powers was apparently related to the Tratebas family, which was a well-known and highly respected family in the northern portion of Porter County. William R. Tratebas' great-grandparents, William and Ann (Armstrong) Thomas, were founders of Chesterton (William Thomas dying in Chesterton, then called Calumet, on September 27, 1838). William's uncle, William Vincent Tratebas, my great-great-great uncle, was the constable of Chesterton for many years. During the first week of December 1895, Powers was put on trial for the murder of William R. Tratebas. The murder was a major news event in the region, and due to the amount of interest in the case the trial was moved to LaPorte County, Indiana. The December 6, 1895, issue of the Chesterton Tribune [Volume 12, Number 34, Page 1, Column 4] provides one of the better news accounts of the Powers trial:

ALONZO POWERS ON TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF WILLIAM TRATEBAS.

Many Witness for the State, and but Five for the Defense.

Alonzo Powers, the murderer or Wm. Tratebas, was arraigned before Judge Hubbard at LaPorte, on Tuesday morning. He pleaded not guilty to the charge brought against him. At two o'clock a venire of twenty-one jurors had been exhausted with but two of the regular panel being accepted. The attorneys on both sides put forth their best efforts to get a jury that would act according to the evidence, and at three o'clock the following gentlemen had been accepted:

Charles Lundquist, Martin Siegel, Daniel Shoemaker, J. P. Anderson, Daniel Linard, Henry Biege, Joseph Ireland, William Beahm, John Gress, Duncan Hunt, Christian Herrold, I. D. Phelps.

The following witnesses were summoned by the State: Lenard Hill, David Osborn, Martin Young, William Finney, Chas. Sundine, Nelson Barnard, Richard Dodd, Maggie Stemper, Fred Parmateer, Geo. Brown, Allen Brown, Annie Reglien, Allen Barnard, Arthur Beck, Jerome Tratebas, Joseph Bavery, Ann Powers, Sarah Tratebas, Ben Little, Thos. Grady, Charlotte Travan, Lyman Schemer, Wilfred Trudell, Frank Tratebas, Lucy Cooley, Al Harper, Dr. Rubin, Lucie Reglien, C. J. Campbell, Frank Quick, Gust Sundine, F. G. Ketchum, Mrs. Maggie Stemper, Frank Tratebas, John Tratebas, Pauline Lawrence, Adolph Ellison, Chas. Stoner, Chas. Green, Emil Blatz, P. A. Johnson.

Powers is represented by Judge Johnson and H. H. Loring, of Valparaiso, and E. E. Weir, of Laporte. Seated at the State's table are Prosecuting Attorney Heard and Judge Crumpacker, of Valparaiso, and Attorney John Richter, of Laporte. Mrs. Powers, of Chicago, and Mrs. Ann Powers, of this place, have seats near young Powers; while Mrs. Tratebas, wearing mourning weeds, and her husband, are seated to the left of Judge Crumpacker. The recital of the harrowing details has had its effect on the mother of the dead boy and she has cried piteously at intervals during the trial. Mrs. Powers has also been in tears.

The same indifference which has characterized Powers since the morning of the tragedy was apparent when he took his place in the prisoner's dock. From the opening day of the trial he has maintained a stolid indifference as to the proceedings and it is doubtful if a sentence of death on the gallows would awaken him to the enormity of his crime or the seriousness of his position.

Judge Crumpacker began his opening address to the jury at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, speaking for upward of thirty minutes and graphically portraying the scenes which led to the taking of human life that memorable August morning. He was eloquent and forcible. The first witness was Lyman Shaner, who was then employed at Truedell's blacksmith shop, whose evidence was important to the State. He recited the quarrel between the two boys and characterized the killing as unprovoked. Powers, he said, deliberately drew his revolver and fired the fatal shot when Tratebas was standing several feet away, following the first shot with a second, which caused Tratebas to sink to the floor, death speedily ensuing. His testimony was not materially shaken by the cross examination conducted by Judge Johnson.

Jerome Tratebas, father of the murdered boy, told of the character of the wounds and of the position of the body when found.

WEDNESDAY.
Lizzie and Anna Reglien testified as to the quarrel the afternoon previous to the tragedy when Powers made threats that he would be revenged.

George Brown, the officer who arrested Powers, said that the latter told him that the reason he fired the second shot was the belief that the first shot would not cause death. His evidence was damaging and was in the nature of a sensation.

The blood-stained shirt and coat were then presented for examination by Dr. Ketchum, who described the course of the bullets, stating the either of them would have caused death.

Wilfred Trudell, Richard Dodd, E. L. Harper, C. J. Campbell and Al Harper, all of whom were in or about the blacksmith shop the morning of Aug. 15th, recited the actions of the two men and giving convincing evidence as to the guilt of Powers.

The cross examination failed to adduce facts favorable to the theory of the defense except possibly a few minor particulars.

THURSDAY.
The state this morning showed by the evidence of John and Frank Tratebas that there were no conversation Monday night of the week of the tragedy, which would have caused the belief of Powers that a conspiracy existed to deprive him of his property rights. Constable Brown and Deputy Sheriff Green testified that there were no marks of violence on Power's face or body. The state showed by the evidence of Trudell that Tratebas had no weapons or wear any found on his person. The state rested at 10:30. Judge Johnston opened for the defense with a brief statement to the jury outlining the theory of self defense which will be offered. Powers took the stand at 11 o'clock. He was sharp and decided in his answers to the questions asked and was very much inclined to talk, adding a great deal to necessary answers. He told and gave illustrations of the positions and actions of himself and Tratebas at the time and just prior to the shooting without the least show of emotion. In a matter of fact way he gave the details of the crime. His mother and the mother of the deceased silently wept as he went on. He does not deny firing the shots but does claim that Tratebas was advancing toward him in a threatening manner when he drew the revolver and shot Tratebas down.

In the cross examination of Powers, Judge Crumpacker held full sway and he brought in some telling questions which the witness made efforts to evade but it was useless. His attorneys kept Judge Hubbard busy acting upon objections. It was quite evident that Powers was as good a witness for the prosecution as for the defense. A little sister of the defendant, about 10 years old, was put on the stand but her evidence did not lend any important light to the case.

The defense brought its evidence to a close at 2:45 o'clock Thursday afternoon and five minutes later Prosecutor Heard, or Porter county, took the floor and presented the argument. Judge Hubbard limited each side to 4 hours. Attorney Weir, for the defense followed and Judge Johnston ended the argument for the defense.

The state has considerable rebuttal evidence to introduce, and the case will probably be given to the jury today. The general belief among those who have watched closely the daily trend of the proceedings is that the jury will agree to inflict the death penalty.

Although the above article mentions that the jury would likely rule for the death penalty if Powers was to be found guilty, that did not occur. As The Daily Inter Ocean from Chicago reported on December 7, 1895 [Volume 24, Number 258, Page 3, Column 4]:

ALONZO POWERS FOUND GUILTY.

Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murder.

Laporte, Ind., Dec. 6.. -- Special Telegram. -- The closing arguments in the trial of Alonzo Powers for murder were made this forenoon and the case was given to the jury shortly before 12 o'clock. No conclusion was reached until 9:30 tonight, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, and gave the prisoner a life sentence. The crime for which Powers is to pay the penalty was committed at Chesterton, in Porter County, last June. He quarreled with his cousin, William Tratebas, over the division of some property, which resulted in his shooting and instantly killing Tratebas. the case was brought here on a change of venue, and its trial was commenced in the Circuit Court last Tuesday.

Alonzo spent the remainder of his life in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, LaPorte County, Indiana.

Alonzo Leiben Powers, circa December 1895
Prisoner No. 263
Indiana State Prison
Michigan City, LaPorte County, Indiana

Rather detailed prison records indicate that Alonzo was obviously mentally deranged, as the murder episode implies. Alonzo spent the majority of his life residing in the Indiana Hospital for Insane Criminals, which was located within the prison walls in Michigan City. A psychiatric report prepared at the hospital on April 7, 1939, states that:

POWERS, ALONZO
No. 263 (IHIC)
4/7/39

PSYCHIATRIC REPORT

Subject is a white man of 69 who was sentenced to prison at 25, in 1895, and was transferred to the IHIC in 1912. The crime of murder was committed in an argument that arose over what the brothers of the dead man were saying about our subject -- apparently hallucinations. The act was impulsive and was that of one who probably was insane at the time. Says that the girl with whom he was to marry wanted him for his money only, and that the reason why many inmates at the IHIC want him to marry their relatives is that they think he will get them out of the hospital. Had delusions about Alice Roosevelt and say he had the idea of marrying her for 3 years ever since he first saw her picture in the paper. Just why he gave her up is not clear. Has delusions of grandeur. Says he has a mental checkerboard on which he has all the kings and queens and diplomats and that he can determine just what move they are going to make. He can predict just what Hitler and Mussolini will do by consulting his mental checkerboard. Also claims to have special knowledge and ability that could have netted him a million dollars in the World War had he been released to give it to the government. Says he wrote the governor, president and other dignitaries but could not get in touch with them. Has delusions of persecution and insist that the deput warden had him placed in the IHIC so that he would not be a dispruptive and revolutionary element in the prison. He is not insane and was only as bad as others who made noise and were rambuctious. It was a clear case of "railroading him" to the "bughouse." Also has auditory hallucinations -- hears all sorts of uncomplimentary things being siad about him, so much so that he stuffs his ears with plugs and at night shuts all windows and doors to keep them out. They molest him day and night and call him all sorts of uncomplimentary names.

Throughout his interview he shows circumstantiality, and he is evasive. Frequently he refuses to discuss further some of the ideas that are clearly delusional for fear that something bad may happen to his schemes. He becomes irrelevant and goes off at a tangent. He is quite apathetic and shows no emotional reaction when discussing the delusions and hallucinations that disturb him so. This is quite characteristic of his condition. He is correctly oriented and his memory does not show any impairment. There is no notable impairment in his school and general knowledge, showing that the intellectual processes have not been affected to any great extent as yet.

Physically he is in good condition and has a good number of years to live unless some vascular affident should make of him a physical or mental cripple. He is reported to be seclusive and at times noisy and disturbed, but makes a satisfactory adjustment on the whole. He is employed part of the time doing routine ward duties but obviously is not fit for any kind of work. He will need hospital care for many more years, at least until the changes due to old age and hardening of the arteries supervene. At that time he may become a case for mere custodial care. The mental changes have been very slow and long drawn out as he is today he is still very delusional and reacts to the delusions and hallucinations that he hears, and as much is a fit case for the IHIC or other mental hospital.

DEMENTIA PRAECOX, PARANOID TYPE.
ORIGINAL CRIME RESULTED FROM HIS MENTAL DISEASE.
STILL ACTIVELY DELUSIONAL AND HALLUCINATING.
STILL NEEDS HOSPITAL CARE.

I. I. Weiss, M. D.

The diagnosis of "dementia praecox, paranoid type" is more commonly referred to today as paranoid schizophrenia. At the time of diagnosis, dementia praecox was viewed as a progressively degenerating disease from which no one recovered. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that Alonzo was ever going to be paroled from prison. After spending nearly 45 years behind prison walls, Alonzo passed away at the Indiana Hospital for Insane Criminals on October 24, 1939. He was was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Michigan City.

Alonzo Leiben Powers, October 16, 1933
Prisoner No. 263
Indiana State Prison
Michigan City, LaPorte County, Indiana

So how was Alonzo Powers related to the man he murdered? After considerable time researching various records, I was able to piece together the rather confusing connection between Alonzo and William.

Anne Thomas (b. December 27, 1818; d. November 13, 1901), daughter of William and Ann (Armstrong) Thomas, married George Powers (b. September 6, 1810; d. February 14, 1888) on November 5, 1872. Recall that William R. Tratebas' grandparents were William and Ann (Armstrong) Thomas. This was the third of three marriages for George Powers. George Powers’ first wife was Sarah Fulton Harbison (b. March 2, 1812; d. September 29, 1851), whom he married on May 4, 1837. George and Sarah had three children, one of whom was James Columbus Powers (b. January 4, 1845; d. 1881). James C. Powers married Mary Elizabeth Leiben (b. August 1849) on June 12, 1865. James and Mary were the parents of four children, one of whom was Alonzo Leiben Powers.

Anne Thomas had a sister named Hannah Thomas (b. November 4, 1815; d. July 30, 1893). Hannah Thomas married Edmund Tratebas (b. March 21, 1815; d. January 4, 1851) on June 24, 1834, and they were the parents of six children, one of whom was Jerome Tratebas (b. November 18, 1836; d. March 1, 1907). Jerome married Lorinda Harrington (b. November 18, 1836; d. April 18, 1924) on March 20, 1870, and they were the parents of three children, one of whom was William R. Tratebas (b. October 25, 1875; d. August 15, 1895).

Thus, Alonzo L. Powers' step-grandmother was Anne (Thomas) Powers, while William R. Tratebas' grandmother Hannah (Thomas) Tratebas, was Anne's sister. As such, Alonzo L. Powers and William R. Tratebas were step-cousins.

According to Marianne Hale, a descendant of the Powers line, at about 1881, Alonzo's father, James Columbus Powers, abandoned his family in Chicago. This left Mary Elizabeth (Leiben) Powers and her four children (Alonzo, LeRoy, Pearl, and Lizzie) on their own. Pearl Powers, Marianne's grandmother, had written that her father, James, had died in 1881, but he can be found in 1900, in San Francisco, with a whole new family.

Alonzo's mother, Mary, had no means of support, and went into nursing (or more likely housekeeping) to provide for her family. Alonzo was sent to Chesterton, in Porter County, Indiana, to live with his grandfather, George Palmer Powers. George was living in Chesterton with his third wife, Anne (Thomas) Powers. It is believed that Anne (Thomas) Powers took out mortgages on her house to provide funds to pay for her step-grandson's (i.e., Alonzo L. Powers) attorney during his murder trial. George Palmer Powers had already died in 1888, so there were only Anne and Alonzo in the old Thomas house (called the "Beehive") in Chesterton in 1895.

It is thought that Alonzo believed that he was going to receive the real estate that Anne owned since he was her step-grandchild and had lived in her household. However, this transition in real estate probably was not the case, and blood relatives were likely to receive the real estate instead. This apparently caused some level of strife between Alonzo Powers and his step-grandmother's blood relations; namely William R. Tratebas.

Hiram J. Wilson, Confederate Soldier

2008-11-04T04:07:00.000-08:00

Hiram J. Wilson is my great-great-grandfather. Hiram was born November 20, 1844, in Cannon County, Tennessee, and died February 11, 1918, in Clark County, Illinois. Hiram was a Civil War veteran, enlisting on November 10, 1862, as a Confederate Soldier with Company A of the Eighteenth Tennessee Regimental Infantry. Hiram was missing from action on July 3, 1864, in Marrietta, Georgia (part of Sherman's Atlanta campaign). He was then captured by Union forces and eventually sent to Camp Douglas, a prisoner of war camp in Chicago, Illinois. He was later released from the prison on June 20, 1865, as the war had ended a few months earlier.

Two stories have been related to me concerning Hiram's post-POW experience. One story suggests that Hiram, like other POWs at Camp Douglas, began walking south to his home in Tennessee. However, as he neared Clark County, Illinois, he was informed of a nearby Irish Catholic community called Castle Fin. Hiram made his home in or near Castle Fin and married Rachel Wilson (no relation) on November 28, 1866, in Clark County.

An alternative story suggests that Robert S. Wilson, father of Rachel Wilson and founder of Castle Fin, Clark County, Illinois, was jailed in Chicago for being a Confederate sympathizer. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Robert and Hiram met - possibly in prison or on a train heading south. Robert offered Hiram a job at his general store located in Castle Fin, which Hiram accepted.

Hiram's own obituary suggests that both stories may be incorrect, as it states that he lived in Tennessee for one year after the conclusion of the war before moving to Clark County, Illinois. It is very plausible, however, that Robert Wilson was a Confederate sympathizer, or a Copperhead. During the Civil War period, there was considerable southern sympathy and Copperhead activity in Clark County, Illinois, as well as in adjacent counties.

Regardless of which story is true, it is factually known that Hiram was a POW in Chicago and that he eventually found his way to Castle Fin in Clark County, Illinois, eventually marrying Rachel Wilson, the daughter of Robert and Rachel (Colver) Wilson.

The following obituary for Hiram was published February 20, 1918, in the Clark County Democrat, published in Marshall, Clark County, Illinois [Volume 64, Number 45, Page 1, Column 4, and Page 5, Column 5]:

A Tribute to the Late Hiram J. Wilson.

Hiram J. Wilson son of Benjamin and Mary Scott Wilson was born near Woodbury, Cannon Co., Tenn., on Nov. 20, 1844, and died at his home in Marshall, Ill. on Feb. 11, 1918 at the age of 73 years, 2 months, and 21 days. His boyhood days were spent on his father's farm until he was seventeen years of age when he entered high school at his native town. Not long after entering school the call came for volunteers to defend the Confederacy, and he, a mere boy walked down the main hall of the school building and was the first boy in school to write his name on the roll of honor. He first enlisted under Gen. Buckner for one year to defend the rights of his native state Tenn., and upon the expiration of his time he determined come weal or woe to offer his life for the southern cause and so re-enlisted until the close of the war. He was later transferred from Buckners division and placed under Bragg in Col. Breckenridges division. He served under Bragg through east Tenn., in 1862, returning to middle Tenn., in the early winter of the same year. He was recovering from an illness from jaundice when his division reached Murphysboro to preparations were made for that great battle and although he carried a Dr's. Certificate exempting him from duty, he declared that on account of the nearness of Murfreesboro to his native town, he could not resist the temtation to participate in the battle which occured on Dec. 31, 1862 and Jan. 1 and 2, 1863. He was slightly wounded on the third day of the battle and was taken from the field by his beloved Captain [John G.] McCabe who also received a flesh wound in the leg. After the battle of Murphysboro he was taken farther south and the command of his regiment was given to Joseph E. Johnston. He was taken ill with chills at Sibley's Ford on the Tennessee River in the summer of 1863, and was sent to Dalton, Ga., where he remained during the winter of '63 and '64 rejoining his regiment in the spring of '64. He remained under Johnston's command fighting Sherman through northern Georgia until he was taken prisoner at Kenesaw Mt. on June 27, 1864. He was taken to Camp Douglas, Chicago Ill., where he remained eleven months. He was very fond of relating incidents of war life and his chief delight was in going over the old battle fields in talk with some veteran of the Union Army. A very amusing incident of his prison life which he was often told I will relate for the amusement of any one who may read this. It happened thus -- On a very cold morning one of the prison guards discovered that something had gone wrong with the flag staff and the flag could not be hoisted. After several vain attempts to find a union man who could climb the pole to fix it, they offered a reward to any "Johnny" who could climb the pole and fix it. They were not long waiting when a mere youth volunteered to do it. After going to the top and repairing it which enabled the Union flag to be hoisted, the boy took off his battered gray cap, waved it above his head, and at the same time gave the rebel yell three times, decended to the ground and claimed his reward which was a new suit of clothes and a R. R. ticket for home.

Our subject has often told the writer that had he the strength to fight for the stars and stripes, he would do so just as hard as he ever fought against them under the stars and bars. In politics he was a Democrat of the old school, while he was held in esteem by republicans as well as democrats.

While in prison at Chicago he became acquainted with many fellow prisoners who were northern men but southern in their views, which acquaintances resulted in his coming to Illinois in 1866. He was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Wilson on Nov. 28, 1866. To this union six children were born, R. B. Wilson of Michigan, N. D., Andrew J. Wilson and Mrs. Rachel Todd of Oliver and Mrs. Mary O'Rork, Mrs. Martha Murphy and Hiram C. Wilson of Marshall. He also leaves 29 grand children and one great grand child, two brothers and one sister besides a host of relatives. After the death of his wife in 1906, a great sorrow seemed to settle about him and his health began to fail, but as time went by he seemed to regain his health. In 1911 he was again married to Mrs. Margaret Higgins a native of Tennessee, who survives. Four years ago he suffered a stroke of paralysis but partially regained his strength when on Nov. 20, 1916 he was almost totally paralized and never was well after. The immediate cause of his death was diabetic gangrene and heart failure.

In religion he was a staunch Roman Catholic and died fortified by the Sacraments of that Church.

His funeral services were held at St. Marys church on Thursday following his death and were conducted by Father Wilson after which his remains were laid to rest in St. Marys cemetery by the side of his companion of forty years.

In giving this brief sketch of the life of my father and the part he took in the great war between the states I will not hide my identity with a (non de plume) but with a just pride and honor to my beloved father I will sign myself,

Rachel Wilson Todd

18th Tennessee Confederate Infantry Flag
Captured at surrender of Fort Donelson, Tennessee
February 15, 1862

Another obituary for Hiram was published in the May 1918 issue of the nationally published magazine Confederate Veteran [Volume 25, Number 5, Page 220]:

HIRAM J. WILSON.

Hiram J. Wilson, son of Benjamin and Mary Scott Wilson, was born near Woodbury, Cannon County, Tenn., November 20, 1844, and departed this life at his home, in Marshall, Ill., February 11, 1918. In 1861, when the call came for volunteers to defend the South, he was in school at Woodbury; but his patriotism was stronger than his love of books, so he cast his books aside and joined his fortune with the Southern cause. He enlisted under General Buckner for one year, and upon the expiration of his time he reenlisted for the remainder of the war as a member of Company A, 18th Tennessee Regiment. He was later transferred to Breckinridge's Division under General Bragg, with whom he served in East Tennessee during the summer of 1862, returning to Middle Tennessee in the early winter.

He was at home ill with jaundice when preparations were made for the battle of Murfreesboro; and although he had a certificate exempting from duty, he could not resist the temptation to participate in the battle which was to be fought so near his home. He was slightly wounded on the third day of the battle and was taken from the field by his beloved captain, [John G.] McCabe, who also received a wound in the leg. He was taken ill at Sibley's Ford, on the Tennessee River, and was sent to Dalton, Ga., where he remained during the winter of 1863-64. Rejoining his regiment, then under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, he served with him through Northern Georgia until captured at Kennesaw Mountain, on June 27, 1864. He was taken to Camp Douglas, at Chicago, Ill., where he remained eleven months. Upon release from prison he returned to his native State for a little over a year, when he removed to Illinois.

Comrade Wilson was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, also Knights of Columbus.

Hiram's Immediate Genealogy
Hiram J. Wilson was born November 20, 1844, near Woodbury in Cannon County, Tennessee, and was the second of nine children born to Benjamin D. and Mary Ann (Scott) Wilson. It is known that at least three of Hiram's siblings were born deaf. On November 28, 1866, at the age of 22, Hiram married Rachel Wilson (unrelated) in Clark County, Illinois. To this union were born six children: Robert Benjamin, Mary, Rachel A., Hiram Curry, Andrew J., and Martha Gertrude.

Following Rachel's death on September 24, 1906, Hiram married Margaret (Smith) Higgins, also a widower, in 1911. Margaret, who was about 14 months younger than Hiram, had lived in Cannon County, Tennessee, and it is quite possible that she and Hiram were childhood friends. In addition, Margaret's first husband, William F. Higgins, served in the same company and regiment as Hiram during the Civil War (Company A of the Eighteenth Tennessee Regimental Infantry).

On February 11, 1918, Hiram passed away in Marshall, Clark County, Illinois. His death certificate indicates that he died as a result of diabetes and gangrene of the feet. Hiram was interred in the St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery located on the west side of Marshall. His tombstone is quite impressive and is the largest in the cemetery.

Photograph of Hiram J. Wilson and children taken at the Arthur M. Hurst studio located in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois. Sitting, from left: Robert Benjamin Wilson, Hiram J. Wilson, believed to be Mary (Wilson) O'Rourke. Standing, from left: believed to be Martha Gertrude (Wilson) Murphy, Andrew J. Wilson, Hiram Curry Wilson, and Rachel (Wilson) Todd. The framed photograph hanging between Hiram Curry Wilson and Andrew J. Wilson is Rachel (Wilson) Wilson, wife of Hiram J. Wilson.

Tombstone for Hiram J. Wilson. This tombstone is located in St. Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery in Marshall, Clark County, Illinois. Photograph taken by Steve Shook on June 24, 2008.

Charles Sanders, A Needle in a Haystack

2008-11-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

Charles Sanders is my great-grandfather, and he is perhaps one of the most difficult ancestors that I have traced in my genealogy research. As a youngster, I had known of Charles through conversations of family history with my mother. Although his name and country of birth were known, no photographs or letters of Charles apparently existed. To complicate matters, my grandfather and great-aunt, Charles' children, never spoke of their father. The difficulty in tracing Charles was also due to a combination of other factors: absentee parent, foreign birth, name change, change of residence, and conflicting dates.

As previously indicated, my first bits of knowledge concerning Charles came from my mother; she had indicated that her father, Charles' son and my grandfather, had rarely spoken of his father. Charles had apparently deserted his family, and my great-aunt and grandfather harbored great resentment toward him because of this. Practically no information about her paternal grandfather was shared with my mother.

I did know that Charles married Hilda Carolyn Anderson. When and where this marriage took place was unknown to me. Since Hilda was born and lived the majority of her life in Porter County, Indiana, I first searched Porter County marriage records for clues of a marriage to Charles. I came up empty-handed. My mother, however, had also related to me that she believed that Charles was a policeman in Michigan City, which is a medium-sized city located in LaPorte County, Indiana, adjacent to Porter County. Given this tidbit of information, I decided to hire a researcher from LaPorte County to sleuth some county records to determine if Charles had indeed been a Michigan City policeman. Although this search provided no information concerning Charles' employment as a policeman, it did turn up a marriage record at the courthouse.

The marriage record indicated that Hilda Anderson had married Chas. A. Sanders on June 6, 1906. The couple was married by Reverend D. A. Lofgren, pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church in Michigan City. Unlike many marriage records, this particular record included information on the parents of both Hilda and Charles. Charles' father was listed as Alex Sanders, while Catherine Nelson was listed as his mother. Hilda's parents, of whom I had already researched fairly extensively, were listed as Alfred Anderson and Fredrica Monson. The parentage information provided in this marriage record was a vital key in assisting me in finding out more about Charles.

I next turned to a local newspaper, the Chesterton Tribune, to determine if a notice had been published of the marriage. A weekly newspaper at the time, I searched the June 14, 1906, issue of the Chesterton Tribune and found the following announcement:

Charles Sanders and Miss Hilda Anderson of Chesterton were married in this city Wednesday night by Rev. D. A. Lofgren of the Zion Lutheran church. The groom is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Alex Sanders and the bride a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Anderson, all of Chesterton. The young couple have numerous friends here who will be pleased to learn of the matrimonial event. The groom is engaged as a painter, Michigan City News.

Apparently, the announcement had also been published in the Michigan City News and was picked up by the local Chesterton newspaper. The announcement confirmed the parentage of Charles listed in the LaPorte County marriage record.

Charles and Hilda, within nine months and one week of their marriage, became the parents of my great-aunt, Violet Elvira Dorothy Sanders (b. March 13, 1907). A 1907 directory of Michigan City indicates that Charles and Hilda were living on the west side of town at 117 Barker Avenue, which is located close to the former Pullman Company manufacturing plant, where the Lighthouse Outlet Mall is now located.

On November 10, 1910, Charles and Hilda became the parents of my grandfather, Leslie Raymond Milton Sanders. Leslie was born in his maternal grandmother's home located in rural Liberty Township, Porter County, Indiana. Meanwhile, a Charles A. Sanders is shown in a 1910 directory of Michigan City to be living at 220 Fulton Street. Unlike the 1907 city directory listing showing Hilda as the wife of Charles, the 1910 directory suggests that Charles is living as a bachelor. This has led me to believe that at some point between 1907 and 1910 that Charles and Hilda had separated, but that they must have had a brief reconciliation sometime in early 1910 which resulted in the conception of my grandfather. It is known through family history that Charles was separated from the family when my grandfather was born. The city directory information, more or less, confirms this family lore.

I then searched the 1910 Federal Census for LaPorte County, Indiana, hoping to find additional information concerning Charles. Charles appeared as Charley Sanders in the enumeration of Michigan City taken on April 16, 1910. At that time, he was living with his sister, Nicolina, and her husband and two children.

My great-aunt Violet had passed away on May 23, 1986, and my mother was appointed executrix of her aunt's estate. While going through Violet's personal effects, my mother found a letter written by Charles to Violet. The letter was dated February 23, 1936:

Mich City Ind
Feb. 23 - 36

Dear Violet,
I am writing you just a couple of lines to ask if you would please write to me. I don't know what to say or what to write so perhaps its best to say nothing at present. I would like so very very much to hear from you so if I do I'll have a million things to tell you.

I hope you won't be offended at this missive though I suppose you perhaps be surprised. So little girl if you think I am worth a reply I will be so glad to hear from you.

Not knowing whether you are in Chesterton or not I am taking a chance on reaching you there.

Dad
R.#1
Michigan City
Indiana

Prior to her death, Violet had indicated that she had kept a letter from her father, and that at the time he wrote it she believed that he was seriously ill and that he likely died soon after it was written. She never replied or met her father after receiving the letter. Thus, I was led to believe that Charles had died in 1936, or perhaps 1937. I later found out that this assumed date of death was wrong.

I then turned to finding out more information about Charles' parents. Given the marriage record and marriage announcement information, I was able to find A. Sanders and Kristin Sanders in the 1900 Federal Census for Chesterton. The census record indicated that both were born in Sweden, and that A. Sanders had emigrated to the United States in 1882. Kristin was reported to have had seven children, five of whom were still living at the time of the census enumeration.

A search of burial records for Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, which embraces the town of Chesterton, soon followed. I found in the Chesterton Cemetery records a listing for A. Sanders (1839-1908) and Christine Sanders (1841-1926), both sharing a tombstone. I wrote a letter to the Porter County and LaPorte County Health Departments to obtain the death certificates of Alex and Christine now that I had the respective year of their deaths. In a few weeks, I received both certificates. Alick Sander Sanders died on June 24, 1908, in Chesterton. The certificate indicated that he was born November 27, 1839, in Sweden, to Solomen Anderson and Maria Helena Jacobson. Christiance Sanders died on October 8, 1926, at 220 Fulton Street, in Michigan City. While her date of birth is reported as November 15, 1841, no information concerning her parentage was provided in the death record.

Armed with the dates of death for both Alexander and Christine, I once again searched the Chesterton Tribune for their obituaries. The July 2, 1908, issue of the newspaper contained the following announcement concerning Alexander's death:

Alexander Sanders.

Alexander Sanders, a resident of Chesterton and vicinity for the past 26 years, died Wednesday, June 24, at his home south of town, from an ailment of the kidneys with which he had been a sufferer for the past five years. Six weeks ago Mr. Sanders' condition became serious, his illness terminating in his death a week ago.

The deceased was born in Sweden, November 27, 1839, where he was married to Miss Christina Nelson. In 1882 he came to America and settled in Chesterton, he preceding his wife across the water two years. Seventeen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Sanders and family took up their residence on the little farm south of town, where the former passed the remainder of his life. Seven children were born to bless the union, four of whom, with the widow, survive the father, namely: Mrs. Frank Hokanson, John Sanders and Charles Sanders of Michigan City, Mrs. Helen Lindgren of Chicago and N. P. Sanders of Minnesota. The deceased is also survived by one brother, residing in Sweden.

The funeral was held from the Sweden Lutheran church in Chesterton, Rev. Victor Setterdahl conducting the services. Burial took place in the Chesterton cemetery.

While no obituary of Christine could be found in the Chesterton Tribune, I did find one in the October 11, 1926, issue of the Michigan City News Dispatch:

Mrs. Christine Sanders.

The funeral of Mrs. Christine Sanders was held at 1:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon from the home of her daughter, Mrs. Frank Hokanson, 220 Fulton street. Rev. Nordquist, of Porter, officiated. Burial took place in Chesterton.

Despite all of this additional information, I could not find any information on Charles that would help me determine his date of death or a place of burial.

Then, on a visit to the Chesterton Cemetery to photograph some family tombstones, I ventured over to the tombstone of Alexander and Christine Sanders. Looking at the adjacent tombstones, which are very often of relatives, I noticed that the tombstone located directly west of Alex and Christine's monument was for a Charles G. Saunders, inscribed with a year of birth of 1882 and a year of death of 1942. The death date inscribed on the tombstone was no where near the 1936/1937 date of death for my Charles, but the date of birth and the location of the tombstone raised a suspicion that this Charles G. Saunders may possibly be my great-grandfather.

My next step was to write the sexton of the Chesterton Cemetery to obtain the burial plot information for the Charles G. Saunders plot. I promptly received a copy of the deed to the plot in the mail. The deed indicated that Mrs. Irene Myers paid the sum of $62 on April 7, 1942, to the Chesterton Cemetery Association for the perpetual care of the plot (N 1/2 of Lot 25, Block F), and the she had the preference to say who is to be interned (sic.) in the plot. Therefore, the deed allowed me to narrow down the death of said Charles G. Saunders to a date in late March or very early April 1942, and not simply 1942 as inscribed on the tombstone.

I then proceeded to write to the Porter County Health Department to determine if a death certificate was filed for a Charles G. Saunders during either March or April 1942. I received a letter back indicating that no such record existed. Undeterred, I wrote to the LaPorte County Health Department with the same request. I hit paydirt! The death record was chock full of information: Charles G. Saunders died on March 30, 1942, of stomach cancer at St. Anthony Hospital in Michigan City, and his father was listed as Alex Sanders. Apparently, Charles had at some point changed the spelling of his surname. The order for funeral arrangements was made by a Mrs. Irene Myers. Putting two-and-two together, it was apparent that the Charles G. Saunders buried in Chesterton Cemetery was indeed my great-grandfather, Charles A. Sanders. Incidentally, despite exhaustive searches of a variety of records, I have been unable to determine any relationship between Mrs. Irene Myers and Charles. In fact, other than the burial plot deed and Charles' death certificate, I have been unable to find any information regarding Mrs. Irene Myers.

One item was still missing, and that was a published obituary for Charles. Examining four local newspapers for an obituary, I was initially unsuccessful in my search. Then, by a fluke, I entered the surname Saunders in the Michigan City Obituary Index and up popped a George G. Saunders who died in 1942. I wrote to the Michigan City Public Library to obtain a copy of this obituary, which was published in the April 1, 1942, issue of the Michigan City News Dispatch. Here's what it contained:

SAUNDERS -- George G., 59, R. R. 1, this city, died at 4:40 p. m. Monday, March 30, 1942, at St. Anthony hospital following an operation. Surviving are a brother, John A. Saunders, R. R. 1, this city, and a sister, Mrs. Ivan W. Lindgren, Manatee, Fla. Funeral services will be held at 3:30 Thursday at Hummer mortuary with Rev. J. R. Benson officiating. Burial will be in Chesterton cemetery. Friends may call at the Hummer mortuary this evening and Thursday until the hour of service.

The information contained in the obituary for George G. Saunders was consistent with the information in the death certificate issued for Charles G. Saunders. I finally felt confident that I had confirmed the date of death and place of burial for my great-grandfather. Through this research endeavor, I was able to identify four of Charles' siblings: Nicolina Mathilda, Nils Peter, Elisa Elina, and John Alfred. Given the superb genealogical records maintained in Sweden, I was also able to trace back Charles' ancestry for many generations.

I found that Charles' father's name was Alexander Salomonsson, while his mother's name was Kjersta Nilsdotter. Note that Sweden, up until the late 19th Century, used the patronymic naming convention, whereby the surname of children was taken from the first name of the father. If a son was born, the ending of -sson was added to the father's given name. If a daughter was born, then the ending of -dotter was added to the father's given name. For example, if a Carl Samuelsson had a son named Johan (John), then Johan's full name would be Johan Carlsson. The son's of Johan would have the surname of Johansson (or Johnson).

Apparently, when Alexander Salomonsson emigrated to the United States he changed his surname to Sanders. Interestingly, Sanders is simply a variant of the name Alexander. Thus, his new American name became Alexander Sanders. Kjersta Angelicized her name to Christine rather than maintain what was likely to be a confusing given name to most Americans.

The birth name of Charles A. Sanders, my great-grandfather, was Karl August Reinhold Alexandersson. Note that the name Karl is a variant of Charles. Charles was born on September 29, 1882, in Ljungby Parish, Kronoberg Län, Sweden. Charles' father, Alexander, emigrated to the United States without the rest of the family in 1884. The rest of the family embarked for the United States on November 27, 1887, apparently meeting up with Alexander in the Chesterton area and settling on a homestead in the northeast portion of Liberty Township (currently the southwest corner of 100 East and 1000 North).

The photograph that I have included at the beginning of this post is believed to be that of Charles A. Sanders. The photograph was found in the personal effects of my late great-aunt Violet. The composition and background of the photograph is identical to that of a photograph of Hilda C. Anderson, Charles' wife. While Hilda's photograph was identified on the reverse, the male counterpart believed to her husband Charles was not identified.

Finally, it is believed that Charles and Hilda divorced. The 1920 Federal Census for Liberty Township, Porter County, Indiana, enumerating Hilda Sanders, as well as the death certificate issued for Charles, indicate that a divorce had taken place. Interestingly, I have been unable to determine when or where their divorce took place. Neither the Porter County nor LaPorte County courts have a divorce record on file for Charles and Hilda.

Abner Sanders' Civil War Letters

2008-11-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

Abner Sanders is my great-great-great-grandfather. Abner was born on January 24, 1826, in Cattaraugus County, New York, and died while serving in the Civil War on January 3, 1862, in Camp Blake, near the town of Huttonsville, at the base of Cheat Mountain, Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia). Abner died of typhoid fever. Abner was a private in Company B of the Ninth Regiment Indiana Infantry, better known as the "Bloody Ninth." He married Lovina Irena Caster on November 25, 1846, in Fitchville, Huron County, Ohio. At the time of his death, Abner was the father of four young daughters (Mary Jane, Emily Louisa, Harriett Arvilla, and Rhoda A.), as well as one young son (William Whitney). The two letters below, transcribed from the originals, were written less than one month prior to Abner's death.

Abner Sanders' Letter to Isaac Whiting
Brigade Commissary Dec 7^th1861
Mr. Isaac Whiting Dear Sir
I now take my pen in hand to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope this may find you the same. I was glad to receive a letter from you and find that you was at my house an now Mr. Whiting if you can find enough to bring yourself to about to my place this winter and allso help my wife to see to her business I will if I live to get home try to satisfy you for you trouble. I find that I have ben disappointed in my expectations in regard to having my family seen to and keept in wood and son[?] and so fourth, but if you will take that trouble upon you I will be a thousand times obliged to you besides I am willing to pay you for your trouble. I have not much news to write for we are alaying here an eating Uncle Sams provission and not doing much of anything and the only thing that troubles us is wee are a fraid that wee shall not get a chance to shoot at another sesech [i.e., confederate] while the ware [war] lasts longer[?] It is the general opinion here that the ware [war] wonts last a great while longer but if it should last longer than the first of March I shall try and come home then and make arrangements about my place. Now I would like to have you write me what the opinion of the people is there about the ware [war] coming to a close soon now. I wish you would tell my wife to try and keep the cattle and hogs in as good condition as is nescessary for there benefit and if she has not got grain enough she must buy enough to last them through the winter. It is fine and pleasant weather here now. The snow is all off in the valleys and mostly off on the mountains and does not freeze but alittle nights. Now you must excuse me for not answering your letter before but the reason was when wee was taking in commissary stores here I had to work verry hard. But I hope I shall be able to be more punctual hereafter. Write soon as you get this and write me all the news.

Yours with respect
Abner Sanders to
Friend Whiting.
---------------------------
Abner Sanders' Letter to His Wife Lovina

Brigade Commissary Dec 9^th 1861

Dear Companion,

I take this opertunity to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope this will find you and the children the same. I must tell you that wee had a huge old time on thanksgiving day. We all put in a quarter apiece and bought three ganders and one hen what hadn’t any part that goes through the fence last and allso bought apples & peaches & rice & shugar & molasses & onions & other things too numerous to mention and our cook got us up one of the smashingest old potpies for diner you ever saw. Only he made it in five pail kettle but never mind that it was just as good as tho it was boiled in a pot. So now you may as well believe that [I] had a luscious old diner anyhow, well I guess that is enough in that line of discourse. Wel Uncle Sam made us a payment yesterday and I will send you thirty dollars by our captain if he comes home which I think he will for he has gone upon the mountain to day to see the general and get a furlow to go home on and I would send you more but I have not got any of my extry pay yet and don’t know as I shall get any of it now but if I do I will send you more. The captain has got back and is a going to start this after noon for home and I can’t send you any more money this time.

I don’t know as I have much news to write only I expect wee will have to stay here this winter. So I don’t know when I shall be at home but I shall come as soon as I can, now ma. I will send you a ring in this letter. It is one of my own make and I want you to keep it in rememberance of me provided you and I should never meet again in this life which I hope and trus[t] wee shall and enjoy the rest of our life better than wee ever have before, this ring is made of laural which grows in great abundence in this cuntry.

I will allso make each one of them one and send them to theme in a letter. Now ma please write often and all the news and allso write what Glaghorn is about. Now ma be saving the money I send you for you know the money that is going to me [illegible word that appears to be "fury"] must be paid. Allso write me wheather you receive this money I send you in this letter.
This from your husband and lover forever
Abner Sanders
to
Lovinna I. Sanders

A Brief Sketch of Samuel Colver

2008-11-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Samuel Colver is my great-great-great-great-great-uncle. Samuel was born on September 10, 1815, in Union County, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Rachel (Curry) Colver. It is known that Samuel had at least four siblings - Abigail, Sarah, Hiram, and Rachel (Rachel is my great-great-great-grandmother). Samuel had a very colorful and full life. Early in life he studied law at Plymouth College in Indiana (where in Indiana this college was located is still unknown to me). Afterward, he served as a Texas Ranger and served with General Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto; he later served as an Indian Scout in the Lone Star State. He returned to Ohio, where he and another gentleman traveled the countryside performing a mesmerism show. In 1850, he and his brother Hiram moved their families from Ohio to Oregon via the Oregon Trail. Oregon was where Samuel made his mark in life, serving as an Indian Agent in the Rogue River Valley, where he was a signer of the Table Rock Treaty, effectively ending the Modoc Indian War. He also served as a US Marshall. Samuel and Hiram founded the small community of Phoenix, Jackson County, Oregon, which still exists today southeast of the city of Medford. The biography below was obtained from the University of Oregon in Eugene and and transcribed by me using the exact spelling and grammar contained in the longhand original. The author of the biography, Orsen Avery Stearns, is notable in that he was the first white man to touch the shores of Crater Lake in Oregon, the seventh deepest lake in the world.

A BREIF SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF SAMUEL COLVER
BY: ORSEN AVERY STEARNS (1843-1926)

ASHLAND, OREGON
1923

It is usual as well as eminently fitting and proper that the passing of a citizen of local prominence should receive a public notice commensurate with that persons prominence and notoriety in the community in which he or she had spent a larger part of their lives. In the passing of Samuel Colver, nearly twenty years ago, there was a very noticable lack of the usual biographical notice of his life which was certainly due to so noted, if eccentric a character. A man of such unquestioned ability and marked public service to the pioneers of Rogue River Valley, deserved better of his compatriots than the brief announcement of his tragic death, which was the extent of his public eulogy.

After this long silence, hoping for a proper memorial notice and public acknowledgement of the life and services of a citizen who contributed no small sum to the safety and welfare of the early pioneers of Rogue River Valley to be prepared. The writer will in a crude and modest way briefly sketch the life and public services of the deceased, and thurly pay a merited tho belated tribute to one whose public service and life was devoted in large measure to the betterment of pioneer conditions and the comfort and hapiness of his fellows, as also to recall many incidents so typical of this talented and many sided character.

Samuel Colver was a native of Ohio, and attended the common scholls of that state until in his early teens he, in company with a younger brother, Hiram, was sent to a well known college of that state to complete his education. Here he found the strict orthodox requirements so distasteful to him that he was often in verbal conflict with his teachers and his rhyming witicisms and caustic criticysms soon brought him into open conflict with the faculty until finally he was publicly repramanded and given his choice of publicly apologizing or leaving the college. He chose the latter cause which terminated his scholastic career. What he followed for the next few years the writer is unable to state but about that time the state of Texas attempted to throw off the yoke of Mexico, and young Colver went to that new field where there was abundant room for adventurous spirits, and no restrictions by narrow orthodox teachers.

Young colver joined the Texan Army under the banner of Sam Houston, as served as Texas Ranger until after the sanguinary battle of San Jacinto which established Texan independence.

After the independence of the Lone Star State was established colver served under that flag on the frontier as scout and trader with the indians sometimes in conflict with hostile tribes, and in peril of his life. A detailed account of his adventures during that period I never learned, except his account of one adventure, which he was forced to cross a wide extent of country occupied by a hostile tribe of Indians, and his only method of travel was on foot and by night. The cactus and other thorny shrubs soon tore his clothing to shreds and he had to cloth himself entirely with the untamed skins of wild animals and eat of their unsalted flesh for days at a time until he reached a settled portion of the country

How many years he followed this wild adventurous life I never learned. His next adventure was in his native State which he canvassed pretty thoroughly as a public lecturer on the then newly discovered science of mesmerism. He had as a subject a remarkable character by the name of Buchanan, whose feats of mindreading and other stunts while under the power of the mesmerist were truly wonderful, and at that time unaccountedable.[1] Shortly after completing his lecturing tour Colver met and married Huldah Callender, and for a few brief years it is presumed he spent upon his father’s farm in Ohio, but soon after the discovery of gold and the opening up of the Oregon Country to settlement under the liberal donation land law the Colver brothers, Sam and Hiram, together with their families and many relative undertook the long and perillous journey across the plains by way of the old Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley, at that time the only well known part of Oregon Territory.

Their first locations is believed to have been somewhere east of Salem near the Waldo hills as the Davenports and others of their kindred remaned in that section for years afterwards. But soon after the discovery of gold on Jackson Creek, and the consequent settlement of or, desirability of the Rogue River Valley, for farming purposes, both the Colvers proceeded to that Valley, not to follow mining, as neither of the brothers seemed to have any desire to seek their fortunes in the gold fields, but rather to avail themselves of the liberal offerings of land claims.

They both took up a section of land along Bear Creek, in the richest and most picturesque section of the valley, and some eight or ten miles from the site of the gold discovery, where a rough camp of tents and log cabbins was being erected as the nucleous of a considerable town, and for years the county seat of Jackson Co.

The land claim of Samuel colver was of less value agriculturaly than that of the younger brother Hyram, as it was more broken and timbered. But at the same time it was more picturesque having a realy notable butte on the southwest corner standing some two hundred feet above the surrounding lands and about equidistant from the spurs of the Siskiyou mountains that formed the east and west borders of the Valley.

There had been more or less discontent among the indians of the Rogue River Valley since the advent of the first whites – trappers – several years before, and opening up of the southern Oregon trail in 1849, after which an increasing number of immigrants passing thru the country either going north to the Umpqua and Willamette Valleys or south to the gold fields of California. The indians had become more jealous of the incursions of the pale faces and when the miners began to flock into the country and white people began to settle upon their lands there were frequent clashes between whites and indians resulting in killings of many inocent persons as well as the destruction of property until a state of open warfare existed in the early part of 1853. When a treaty was made with the indians, a company of U.S. regulars stationed at Table Rock and Saml Colver, who had been appointed as Indian Agent by Superintendand Joel Palmer, was in charge of the Rogue River Indians. At what date Colvers appointment as agent was made, or when it terminated I do not know, but in the treaty made by Joel Lane and others with the Rogue River Indians at Table Rock on Sept. 10th, 1853, as recorded in Vol. I page 399, “Gaston’s Centennial History of Oregon,” the following names appear as those of the party of whites who visited the Indians in their encampment under the cliffs of Table rock, at the invitation of Chief John. They were General Joseph Lane; Joel Palmer, Superintendant of Indian Affairs, Samuel P. Colver, Indian Agent, Capt. A.J. Smith, 1st Dragoons; Capt. L.F. Mosher, Adjt; Col. John E. Rose; Capt. J.W. Nesmith; Lieut. A. V. Kautz; r.B. Metcalf, J.D. Mason, and T.T. Kerney. Eleven white men and 700 indians.

This treaty was observed by the Rogue River Indians and whites until the Fall of 1865 when the Indians broke it by killing and robbing Frughlorison on the Siskiyou mountains which precipitated the war of 1855 to 1856. And I think colver’s authority over the indians terminated soo after breaking out of hostilities in 1855. The settlers in most parts of the Valley had arranged their houses for defence in case of attack, but many of them left their homes and concentrated at different points in the Valley where members of numbers of them could most easily collect in emergencies to assist each other. One of these points was the Saml Colver residence where quite a village had commenced, there being a small sawmill [illegible word] a grist mill under construction. And a large block house was being built by colver and his cousin, John Davenport, to serve as defensive point for settlers to rally in case of attack, and intended as hotel and store when the war should be ended. This his house was built of sawed timbers 4x4 inches square put together by wood pins and dovetailing the corners. It was two stories high and was loop holed for rifles. A porch and outside stairway on the east side completed the main building, tho there was an addition the entire length of the building on the west built later.

After the gathering of the settlers in the Fall of 1855 while the building was in course of construction, it was never occupied by any number of settlers as a fort, to my knowledge, as the number of people gathering there as residents and tradesmen was sufficient to make the place a point to be avoided by prowling indians.

The Colver brothers, I think, did not bring their families up from the Willamette Valley until the Fall of 1858, when the log cabins they first built on their claims were lived in until other houses were built.

Neither of the brothers ever did much farm work, what agricultural development was performed was by rentors. Hiram Colver was student tho always by education and being rather frail did not attempt to improve his farm to any great extent. He died in 1857.

Samuel Colver, was an athlete, and was always an outdoor man. He was very hospitable and his house was open to strangers. His wife, “Aunt Huldah,” as she was familiarly called, was one of the most generous and kind hearted women that ever lived. A fine cook and housekeeper. A domestic and home loving woman. While Samuel Colver, or “Uncle Sam” as he was usually called, cared little for home life and seemed to prefer the out of doors. His love for horses, dogs, and all animals was a distinguishing peculiarity of his and it was a constant trial for Aunt Huldah to keep his pet pigs, dogs, and even chickens, out of the house. Colver was a good debater and always ready to express his opinion on any subject: Was an early Abolitionist, an advocate of Woman’s rights and a prohibitionist of the most advanced type, and ready to defend his beliefs at all times and against all comers. Tho active in politics, he never was an office seeker nor, to my knowledge, was he ever nominated or offered the nomination for a public office.

While he was a pronounced infidel, or agnostic, Aunt Huldah was decidedly religious, and her house was a favorite haven for preachers, and seemingly, without protest from Uncle Sam.

In 1859 or 60, he went back to Texas, sold his land that had been given him as bonus for his services in the war with Mexico, went to Canada and bot a number of very fine French horses, stalions and mares. One horse, a very fine one costing hime twenty five hundred dollars in Canada he lost on the plains coming back to Oregon. Also another stalion that cost him about one thousand dollars. He arrived home in the Fall of 1860 with some fifty head of horses and quite a few mules that he brot from Missouri.

Two of the stalions he brot with him were notable animals havin records as light and heavy draft animals from the Montreal horse fair, registered as having received first premiums in their respective classes for that year. The light draft animal was of the “Coeur De Leon” or Lion heart breed, and had a record of traveling on a test a mile in three minutes with cart and 1200lbs weight, his weight was 1300lbs. The heavy draft animal was about three or four hundred pounds and not calculated for speed. These animals kept by Colver several years for breeding purposes and their impress on the horses of the valley was very pronounced and no horses were ever brot to the valley that so improved the character of the stock then here an left such a prominent impress of their character as did those two animals.

Colver brot another stalion, a smaller animal of the Blackhawk breed, a fast trotter which he sold for about $1400 soo after arriving here.

It is to be regreted that Colver did not keep up his stock by importations of blooded animals to keep up the fine strain he had such a good start of but his zeal soon flagged and, constant in breeding and neglect soon ran his herd down to a low standard of quality an gradually his herd dwindled away. He brot with him across the plains a man he hired in the east to drive his wagon, and whom he engaged to work for him for a year at 300 for the year and board. His name was John Waggoner, and he was one of the most faithful and competent hired men I ever saw. Soon after Colver’s arrival home with his horses he took quite a number of his horses and mules and joined exodus of miners and adventurers who rushed to the newly discovered goldmines in North Eastern Oregon, leaving John Waggoner in full charge of his farm and stock. His hired man proved to be a much better farmer and manager than Colver ever was. Meanwhile Colver used his animals to run a saddle and pack train to and from the mines carrying freight, passengers and gold out of the mines to the nearest point of supply.

It was while he was thus engaged that a band of gamblers and horse thieves terrorized that country and Colver was knocked over the head with a revolver, robbed and left for dead. He, however survived his injuries, and an organization of Vigilantes undertook to rid the country of the outlaws, shooting and hanging in any of them, some of these proved to be members of the law offices of the country. After the Vigilantes had made their round up there was quite an exodus of tough characters from that northern country, and travelers were safe to come and go, and continue their search for gold. Colver soon returned home a poorer but wiser man, and for a time remained quietly at home.

The Civil war had broken out and a company of Cavalry was garrisoned in a newly constructed barracks about one mile west of the Colver house. There was quite a demand for all products of the soil as both men and horses had to be fed. I think Colver had little beyond his own needs to dispose of, tho many acres of his land had never been cultivated, being used mostly for pasture. After Wagner’s year was out he worked for colver by the month for a while at quite an advance in wages, and finaly started a boot and shoe repair shop.

The Fall of 1864, under Lincolns last call for Volunteers another company was recruited in the Counties of Jackson, Coose, and Curry, who took up their rendezvous in the old barracks vacated by the former Calvalry Colvers son Lewellyn, was a member of this company, and many of the neighboring boys joined. This was an infantry company, and remained in the garrison until the latter part of April 1864, when they were ordered to Ft Klamath, from which they scouted eastward in the Indian country nearly to the Idaho line.

After the muster out of the Company, which was not until July 1867 Colver remained on his place, but a year later he went out to Klamath County and brought out his sons interest in a ranch that the writer and his son had taken up when mustered out and took charge of his band of horses which had been ranged out there ever since his son had located there the year before. From then on until his death Colver spent as much of his time in the Klamath Country as in the Rogue River Valley, tho his horses were rented out on shares nearly all the time and he had no business that would require his constant presence there.

At the breaking out of the Modoc War in Dec 1872 Colver was visiting among some of his friends near the California border and took an active part in trying to collect up the scattering Modoc families who had for years been living around the large cattle ranches just over the Cal border, and persuaded them it was better and safer for them to go onto the Klamath reservation when their Chief Sconchin and the peacefully disposed members of his tribe remained rather than join Captain Jack’s warriors in the lava beds. He had succeeded in collecting nearly all the Modocs who had lived on Hot Creek and Willow Creek, the Fairfield and Dorris Ranches and had got them over twenty miles on the road towards Linkville, when they heard that a party of armed men from the latter place were on the way to meet them with the avowed intention of killing them. This of course frightened the indians, and that night they all dispersed making their way to Captain Jacks strong hold in the lava beds.

This disgraceful and cowardly attempt resulted in adding quite a number of warriors to the force of Captain Jack defeated all future attempts to make peace with any of the Modocs as they would have no confidence in any promises of the white men. It was very creditable to Colver and should have been publicly commended but was scarcely noticed. Many, if not all those who composed the blood thirsty crowd who composed these raiders, had an opportunity to show their valor the night after the fight with Col. Jackson on Lost River, when a call for volunteers, to go up Lost River, thru Langell Valley, Clear Lake and Tulle Lake, was called for, and only 7 men out of about 25 who had expressed a desire to go could be found ready to venture forth in the night to make the trip thru the country adjacent to the Modoc Country, and these same cowards remained behind while the seven men who were not cowardly went down thru the dangerous country, rescued the survivors of the Tulle Lake massacre, took them to the soilders camp and returned to Linkville after warning all the settlers within a radius of 100 miles of the Modoc outbreak. Doubtless it was some of these brave men who later after the dispersal of the Modocs from the lava beds, and the surrender of the women and some of the older men a party of them in charge of one or two packers were started for Fort that fell upon and murdered these captives.

As the writer was out of the country soon after the first fight with the Modocs, and not retun until the war was ended he is unable to give any further details of Colver’s activities – if any – during the Modoc war.

For several years colver spent his time partly in the Klamath Country and partly in Rogue River Valley with no definite or regular business or occupation in either place. He had sold part of the place he bot of his son to O.T. Brown, who had charge of his remnant of horses and whith whom he made his home part of the time. As both his children had married, and both remained in the valley, his son took charge of the home place and looked after the business there while the father vascillated between the two Counties. At one time Colver got an idea there was a fortune in peddling fruit and vegitables in the Klamath whereupon he fitted out one or two wagons and with a driver of two ran a regular trading schedule between Rogue River and Klamath, bring out fruit – green and dried, bacon, beans and other produce, and was agent for a jelly factory near Tallent where a man had started to make Apple jelly out of the surplus apples doing quite a business. Uncle Sam dressed himself up in buck skins and would go on a head of his wagons to drum up trade, and the absence of money did not deter him as he was ready to trade for anything. Before the summer was past he was trading for or buying ranches and stock all over the valley, or rather bargaining for them. In the commencement of his really speculation he bot O.T. Browns rance, for which he borrowed twelve thousand dollars in money. Mortgaging the Brown place and the remainder of his place. Mr. and Mrs. Brown, with several hundred dollars of their ranch money took a brief trip back East and on their return bot another farm about two and a half miles above the one they sold. In the meantime Colver’s land speculation had become so numerous and reckless that his son and son in law had to put a stop to it as he was bargaining for so much property he could not pay a single obligation and it became evident that he was off his ballance. He was adjuged insane and sent to Salem where he got into conflict with some of the attendants, had to be overcome and put into a straight jacket for a while before he would submit to the rules. I do not know how long he remained in the Assylum, but he was out within a year and came out to Klamath a quieter man in many respects. Colver told me that the trouble he had in the Assylum was caused by the keepers ordering him to bathe in a tub where nearly a dozen other patients had already bathed without a change of water, and he refused to bathe and they tried to compel him when he knocked one or two of them down when they doubled teams on him over powering him and putting him in a padded sill with a straight jacket on. I think he was let out before long with his son and son-in-law appointed as guardians. Of this I am not positive, but that is the usual way in such bases where the case is not serious or permanent, simply a hallucination or temporary aberration. I am not sure whether it was before or after his daughter’s death that this happened.

His son Louie was shot several years after that and his death had a very noticable depression on him, as he seemed more quiet and less sociable; more selfcentered and brooding. I believe he rented or took up a piece of land on the west side of the river where he kept a few head of stock, and where stayed mostly alone. He was always getting himself hurt in some way that he was partialy crippled and of necessety kept at home. His crazy real estate venture left him with a debt that was enough to steady him down and which was destined to leave hime landless.[2]

There was one peculiarity with him, he was always studying some rhymes which he would delight on singing or reciting before a crowd. Some of his compositions were very fine both in sentiment and in rhythm but none of them so far as I know have ever been preserved. He used to correspond with some of the leaders of the Equal Suffrage Society and I have heard him recite some of his caustic verses in which he was not very choice of language. And he would deliver lectures and talks along the same lines. There is one song I have heard him sing that he composed for the occasion of a large public gathering in California. I think in which the demand for transcontinental R.R. was urged. The music was supplied by a young lady in the audience, and it was certainly worthy of the occasion and awakened great enthusiasm. It is a shame that is has not been preserved. I can recall only a portion of the refrain which was given as answer to a question propounded in the several stanzas of the song as to what the spirits of the dead demanded of the living as recompense for the hardships and suffering of the pioneers. I wish I could recall more of it.

“Tis the voice of the immigrant dead
Comes floating o’er the Main
And asks for a road across,
For a railroad o’er the plains.”[3]

There was quite a number of stanzas depicting the horrors of cholery both among the land emmigrants and those coming by water both around the horn and by way of the Isthmus; the indian massacres and other dangers met and overcome, and at the end of each stanza a variation of the above query. My sister remembers just a little more of it than I do and can recall and recite the melody.

Most of Colvers verses were aimed at some comon fault or frailty in custom or in human nature and exposing to ridicule. He had one, a favorite of his to which he was adding verses from year to year and applying to all manner of tradesmen, politicians, merchants, stockmen, and nearly everbody. It always terminated in something like this, a common excuse for doing something known to be wrong but justified “For if I don’t do it some other rogue (man or person) will.” He delighted to get into a crowd and sing this song for the diversion it would create. For the last year or two he was batching in a cabin about two miles up the river from Kens, and he was crippled in one leg from having his horse fall on it. He kept pretty close to his cabin, and spent most of his time studying up new versions of some of his old rhymes. The last time I saw him alive was some part of February the year he met his death. He came to my house in the forenoon and stopped to get my raisor to shave himself. Said he was going up town. He stopped at O.T. Brown’s, about three miles above and went from there to town and put up at Mrs. Roberts, Aunt Hattis, I think. He was seen by but one person after that and his disappearance was not remarked upon for some time as he was in the habit of going and coming without announcing his intentions, or giving a destination. Near two weeks had elapsed when an indian who had been trapping on the swampy border of the lake[4] above McCormack’s came into town and reported finding a horse dead in a deep pond or spring hole in the swamp above McCormack’s. The horse was tied by a bridle to some willows on the edge of the hole, a saddle, blanket, and over coat were on the bank near by. At once people remembered seeing Colver several seeks before, and McCormack rembered his eating dinner at his house over two weeks before when he had enquired of him about an old Indian trail that led from the upper end of Wocus Marsh across the south end of Eagle Ridge to what was variously known as Ball’s, Gowan’s, and Spence’s Bay, and where Spence[5] was at that time living. At the same time McCormack remembered colver having said something about intending to go up to Spences’ and his telling him he had better go around by the road thru Long Lake, as it might be difficult to follow the old trail with several inches of snow covering it, but Colver replying that he had been over the trail before and he and old John (his horse) would make it thru allright. At once Mc and others went to where the horse was and recognized it as colvers, and saw at once what had happened.

The swamp at that place was covered with grass and bunches of willows with pot holes or small pools of water with swamp edges and practicaly bottomless, as the edges were of springy turf projecting over the water and no chance to get a footing to climb out. The water had been slightly frozen, and a snow fall of a few inches covered up its treacherous surface and colver had ridden right into one. He had gotten out and had tried to help his horse out but as to do that would have required an upward lift of the horse and impossible for one man. He had tied the horse’s head by the bridle to the willows and left him with the saddle and blanket and his coat, which or course was wet, and started off presumably to get assistance to rescue his horse. A search was made of the surrounding marsh. The pond was dragged to no purpose. As Colver was crippled carrying a crutch to get around with and McCormack’s house five miles away was the nearest habitation, the presumption was that Colver would attempt to return there, so the search was carried out at great length in that direction without results. Many were the surmises as to what became of him. It was evident that he must have been wet all over when the horse broke thru, and that he exhausted himself trying to rescue his horse when, night coming on and he crippled would be unable to reach McCormack’s for several hours, if at all, he had probably fell exhausted some where in that neighborhood and was covered up in the snow, as it snowed nearly all that night. Some were of the opinion that Colver went to the mountain, that here came down to within two hundred yards, with the hope of building a fire to dry himself and keep from freezing. But the snowfall had obliterated all signs if there had been any, and after several days the search was reluctantly given up, as one of the unexplained mysteries.

In June, soon after the Circuit Court for Klamath County was convened, word was brot down from the upper lake by a man who had been trapping in that neighborhood that he had found the body of a man on the shore of the lake at a place known as Coon Point just across Spence’s or Ball’s Bay. He had been traveling near the shore in a canoe when he saw some vultures fly up from some willows near the edge of the lake and his curiosity being arosed, turned his boat into the willows that lined the shore when he discovered the remains of a man whose partly submerged body and lower limbs were lying in the water and his shoulders on the shore among some drift wood. He could see no head, but immediately came down to the city to report to the authorities.

The immediate conclusion was reached that the remains were those of Colver, as he was the only person unaccounted for at that time, and steps were immediately taken to secure the remains, and solve the mystery of four months standing, if the identity of the corpse could be established. A small steamboat was secured and about a dozen persons went on board with a box and other necessary implements and proceeded to the place described as the resting place of the corpse. Among those forming the party was the prosecuting attorney W.A. Colvig, a doctor, a justice of the peace, Ira Johnson, L.F. Willets, the writer, and several other persons not now recalled. We found the body, as described and nearly intact except for the head and a few of the bones from one hand that was extended upon the shore. The breast having been exposed above the water had been partly consumed by the nultures but the lower limbs and the clothing was intact and readily identified and the skull, found at a little distance away in the brush and divested of its flesh and hair. I easily recognized by it peculiar form, as also by scars that he had received during his lifetime. After a full identification and the necessary affidavits being made, the remains were carefully enclosed in the box and we steamed around to the north of Coon Point and up Steadham Creek, dug a grave under a fir tree near the spring forming the head of the creek and gave him burrial, putting a wooden marker with the name of the deceased on the board and returned to the City.

The discovery of the body explained the mystery of Colver’s disappearance and his movements after leaving his horse. At the time of his breaking thru the pond’s slight covering of snow and ice, there was not to exceed six inches of snow on the ground, and probably less than that on the ice. There was perhaps a mile of swamp intervening between the pool where the horse fell in to the edge of the lake and from there around Eagle Ridge by water to Spence’s about 18 miles, which was several miles nearer than another way that could be traveled by any one partialy crippled as was Colver, and as the lake was frozen it offered a possible chance for him to cover that distance even in his crippled condition. He evidently did not consider the eventuality of a storm that would blot out all landmarks even the high shores of Eagle Ridge. Much less did he realize the danger of running into blow holes or thin places over warm springs under the ice that were known to exist along Eagle Ridge, and it was evident that he met his death in one of these places, and that his body remained under the ice until its breaking up in April. During March and April there was a prevalence of strong south winds that drove the ice north and piled it in great masses on every south promentory. The place where the body was found was just in the line of the drift and was about 12 miles north of the location of warm springs east of Eagle Ridge.

We know that a very hard snow storm fell the night after he left McCormack’s, commencing soon after sunset and continuing all night.

It was afterwards learned that Colver had expected to either meet a man at Mr. Spence’s or get definite word in regard to purchaser for his ranch, which would permit his cancellation of the Ammerman mortgage. This was the impelling motive for his trip, and had he not been so secretive about his business there would have been anxiety felt for his safety and an early attempt made to ascertain his whereabouts. That no enquiries were made by his immediate relatives or any search for him instituted prior to the discovery of his horse even also commented upon.

After the finding of his body I am told that Aunt Huldah related a strange experience of hers, that convinced her of his death. It was sometime during the night he must have met his fate, that she was awakened at her home in Phoenix by the footsteps of some one on the porch and a peculiar knock on the door that she recognized as one agreed upon between herself and husband to be given whenever he arrived home at unseemly hours. Recognizing the knock she arose went to the door exclaiming as she did so “Is that you Pap?” Opening the door no one was in sight, and she retired to her couch with a vague feeling or conviction that something unusual had happened to Uncle Sam. Whether she related this circumstance to any one prior to the discovery of the body I never learned. But, if she did, it only goes to show that it was one of those strange cases that are met with and classed as telepathic, but which many claim to be true spiritual messages.

Tho not an outspoken believer in the possibility of communication with disembodied spirits, Colver’s studies and practice of hypnotism and his witnessing of the strange and unaccountable manifestations of hynotics or those in what was known as the clarvoyant state undoubtedly indicated an open mind towards all phenomena relating to the unknown forces of nature, and whatever his belief may have been let us hope that he has forever solved the question and that its solution has been happily satisfying.

I promised myself that I would add a few instances of Colver’s “excentricities” to let a little light into the peculiarities for which he was noted. A trait or peculiarity of his was his attitude towards tobacco. He claimed to abhor its use, and to decry it in every way, and never, to my knowledge, ever bot it in any form, and yet he was a confirmed and persistent user of the weed.[6] One of his first questions when meeting a stranger was do you use the weed? And, if the reply was “I do” would be a request for a chew, and would usualy take enough off a plug for several chews. Should any one ask him if he used the weed he would disclaim it except on rare occasions when a tooth ache or something else offered an excuse. He claimed he never carried it because he was liable to use too much of it and make himself sick. Yet he was always ready to take toll of others, never to repay.

In trade, he was always ready ask a good price and collect it too, and yet he would be extremely liberal and generous at times. During the years when his son and I were in partnership with his horses, we had the privalege of the use of any of his young horses if we would break them. I picked out one young horse that I thot would make a good saddle horse, had broken it well. I tried to buy it of him, but he asked $125 for it which I thot was $25 too much and refused to boy. Shortly after I had ridden the horse over to Phoenix, and while at his house some parties came there and were looking over his horses asking him his prices on different ones, when colver pointed to the horse I was riding and says, “there is one of my horses that this man has just broken. The man looked the horse over, and says “what will you take for him?” Colver turned to me and says “that horse is worth $75 isn’t he Orson?” I said “Yes I guess he is.” And he would have taken $75 for him when he had asked $125 for him a short time before. That was the way with him. He had no set prices but it varied according to how he felt at the time.

I have heard him tell of bringing a bunch of beef steers (100) I believe to Rogue River Valley in the Fall of 1852, just after the discovery of gold, when [illegible word] offered 50 cts on foot for them but wanted 75 cts he could not sell at that price. The winter came on with two feet of snow and little feed. He sold what was left in the spring for 25 cts, loosing near $10,000. That is a fair sample of his business ventures.

When he went back east and bot his horses he drove back with him on his wagon a large span of mules which he kept for use on the farm. They were good steady animals and tho of the female gender, he called them Jack and Barney. After John Wagner left him he used to drive these mules to the running gears of his wagon whenever he went down into Bear Creek bottom to work, and bring back a load of wood, drift-wood usualy. He never was in a hurry and the mules were always ready to grab a bunch of grass by the wayside, and Uncle Sam, would leave his lines slack so they could graze unhampered. On one such occasion while I was cutting wood for him he went away with the team and came in at dinner time and sat down to the table when Louie says, “Pap, did you feed Jack and Barney?” Colver looked up as tho just awakened, and says “Why no. Did I take them with me?” The mules were found one on either side of a fallen tree which they had drawn the wagon astride of in their search for grass. Colver had left them to cut a bunch of brush that he thot ought to be grubbed up, and then had wandered on to another and so had continued grubbing brush and forgotten about his mules.

I had a contract to cut a lot of wood for him in the creek bottom the Fall of 1864 and boarded with the family. Colver used to follow me down to my work and pick up brush and pile against some old dead trees to burn them out. Nearly always he had his brubbing hoe with him to cut out an occasional grub, but most of the time he was gathering and piling brush against old trees that he was attempting to burn down. If the fires were burning good he might ly down on the ground nearby until the fire needed replenishing when he would pile on more brush. When it came quitting time I sometimes had to wake him up to go to supper, and after supper he would go back to complete burning a tree down. On one occasion he started to finish his particular tree and Aunt Huldah cautioned him particularly not to ly down because the tree might fall on him. But he assured her he would not be gone long as the tree was nearly ready to fall and it would only require a little more time to finish and that he would be back at early bed time. Next morning, Aunt Huldah was telling us at breakfast “What time do you think it was when Pap came in? It was after one oclock this morning and he would not have come in then if the tree had not fallen down and wakened him up.” Luckily the tree did not fall on him, it fell right beside him. But the limbs had all been burned off, so the only effect was to waken him very suddenly, and he stole silently home and to bed.

Another instance where he was awakened rather suddenly, happened when he and I were coming into the valley from the ranch and camped for the night at Jenny Creek. We had no pack horse, so we took a few extra blankets under our saddles and a little lunch enough for supper and breakfast. After we had eaten our supper and had talked awhile Colver took one of our saddle blankets, which happened to be a burlap sack, spread it down near the fire and curled up in it very much after the fashion of a dog or cat, which was a custom of his, and relaspsed into silence either meditation of slumber in spite of my urging him to lay down on the bed that I had made up near by. He said he would come to bed pretty soon for me to turn in and not wait on him. This I finally did. How long I slept I do not know but I was awakened by a terrible commotion, a mingled torrent of oaths and exclamations among which I could distinguish “damned old fool, burn yourself to death will you,” together with a vigorous slapping and pounding. I immediately exclaimed “what in the world is the matter” when he exclaimed “Matter! Hell! Matter enough my clothes caught fire and I came near burning my damned fool self to death. Both my coat tails have burned off and it burned my waistband nearly through.” His words and manner were so emphatic and at the same time so apologetic that I could not help being convulsed with laughter which kept me from sleep for an hour or more. Colver finaly crawled into bed, but at short intervals all night I could hear him bemoan his luck and curse himself for a damned old fool not to have any more sense than do such a fool trick.

Uncle Sam had appropriated and worn both the uniform coat and the over coat that Louie brot home from the army, and the tails of both on one side were burned to the waist band.

He had Aunt Huldah cut off that portion of the burned garments leaving both of them tailless and these he wore for years, whether as a reminder of his proneness to cremate himself or as a matter of economy, I never determined, but it certainly looked comical.

Another instance of his absentmindedness happened several years later. He rode out in the pasture one day to repair the line fence between his and Ammerman’s land, which was near the S.E. corner in the creek bottom. He was gone all day came in at night and went to bed. In the morning he went out to feed old Maj. John, his stallion and riding horse, the one he rode into the hole in the marsh years later. He in great excitement saying Old John has been stolen, and he was ridden away as both saddle and bridle are gone. He routed out several parties to scour the surrounding country, telegraphed both up and down the valley to have the roads patroled and (I believe) had the sheriffs office looking for the thief. Late in the afternoon, some parties who had been over on the Siskiyou trying to get on track of the horse were nearing home, when just below where the ditch crossed the road south of Colver’s line fence, they heard the neighing of a horse across the creek in Colver’s pasture, and the voiced seemed familiar. Upon going over there they found Old John, tied to a tree in the brush where Colver had left him he day before when repairing the fence. The horse was pretty hungry and thirsty from his long fast, but Colver felt much relieved tho rather crestfallen at having raised such a false alarm.

These are a few of the many incidents that might be related to show the unreliability of him as dependible man. He was prone to deep meditation at times when his appearance was more like that of a sleep walker, and his mind seemed to be far off. He would put in more time and meditation over some vatchy but foolish rhyme that ought to occupy it in some profound philosophical problem. With all the advantages and oportunities he had as an early settler, with a body of land that in itself was a fortune, he never seemed to have the ability to manage or the perseverance to accomplish anything of permanence for himself or his family. That he did not fail financialy sooner than he did was undoubtedly due to the industry and good management of Aunt Huldah.

And yet, Uncle Sam was a good man, in his way benevolent and kind hearted, tolerant in everything except in extra care and trouble his slackways caused hardship to his wife, who never more than mildly remonstrated with him for the trouble he caused her by his too exhuberent hospitality and careless habits. His father and mother came from he East and took up their home with him soon after the completion of the old blockhouse, occupying two rooms in the SE corner on the first floor until they died. I believe both Uncle Sam and Aunt Huldah went down to San Francisco from Portland, by water, and met them during the time the Vigilantes were rounding up the thugs and robers in that city. It is said the old people arrived in the city in advance of arrival of their son and his wife and came near falling into the hands of the outlaws who, believing they had money had contrived to have them put into different rooms, when a friend of Uncle Sam’s interfered and put them in another apartment where he kept guard over them until the arrival of their relatives.

I submit these reminiscences, hoping that in the absence of a more complete and comprehensive account it may serve in a measure to supply some facts and incidents worthy of preservation, and to show that not all are forgetful nor blind to the good qualities, as well to the faults of those who helped to make the early history of this country.

That the many mistakes and errors of the article may be forgotten, in the attempt to chronicle the good of an old friend of the writer, is the hope of

O.A. Stearns

Notes:
[1] The Buchanan being referred to here is very likely to be Joseph Rhodes Buchanan (1814-1899). Joseph Rhodes Buchanan was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, on December 11, 1814. He was graduated from Louisville University in 1842, and in 1846 to 1856 he was professor of physiology in the Eclectic Medical Institute in Covington, Kentucky (Cincinnati). He later served as Dean of the faculty from 1850 to 1855, and edited the medical journal connected with the institute. He was subsequently connected with similar colleges in New York and Boston. Buchanan discovered what he called the sciences of Psychometry and Sarcognomy, and claimed to have demonstrated the action of the brain on the body as its controlling physiological organ. It was Joseph Buchanan who, in 1842, coined the term "psychometry," as meaning the "measuring of the soul." Buchanan called the subtle emanation given off by the human body "nerve aura." In the Journal of Man, one of the first Spiritualist monthlies, he published a complete exposition of his system of neurology and anthropology. Psychometry, for Dr. Buchanan, was essentially a human faculty of the mind; he did not feel it involved the intervention of spirits. However, Mrs. L. A. Coffin, in her preface to Dr. Buchanan's Manual of Psychometry (Boston, 1889), states that she was often impressed by spirits while performing psychometry. This was not in conflict with Dr. Buchanan's views, as he was an avowed Spiritualist. He simply felt that psychometry was primarily a psychic faculty, not a mediumistic influence. Buchanan's classic, Manual of Psychometry, is considered to be the most authoritative text written on psychometry.

[2] A handwritten note on this page states: “Mr. Stearns [the author] is [illegible word] about this. Uncle Louie Colver died in 1884. My mother Isobel Colver Rose died in 1885. Two years later, in 1887, Grandpa Colver, crazed with grief over the loss of his children, and worrying over financial matters brought on all unbalanced conditions [illegible word] caused him to be confined in an asylum for one month. Signed Nellie Rose Jones.”

[3] This poem, titled Spiritual Knockings, was published by The Oregon Statesman, Oregon City, Oregon Territory, in the Tuesday morning issue, October 14, 1851 [Volume 1, Number 3, Page 1, Column 1]. Here is the full version of this poem:

POETRY.
Spiritual Knockings.

There’s a voice from the Desert Plain
Comes floating on the air,
In a deep and mournful strain
From the weary sleeping there.

‘Tis the voice of the emigrant dead
Who rest beneath the sand,
Who ask for a better road across --
A better road by land.

There’s a voice from the Isthmus, too,
Where pestilence and death
Guard every avenue,
And poison every breath.

‘Tis the voice of the countless host
Whom pestilence hath slain,
Who ask for a road across --
A railroad o’er the Plain.

There’s a voice from the stormy Cape,
‘Tis heard in the ocean’s moan;
‘Tis the voice of those who sleep
‘Neath the briney waves’ white foam.

‘Tis the voice of the shipwrecked dead
Above the wild ocean’s roar,
Who plead for a road across the land –-
A road from shore to shore.

SAM. COLVER.
Lane County, Oregon

[4] The lake being referred to here is Upper Klamath Lake, located in Klamath County, Oregon.

[5] The Spence referred to here is believed to have been William Spence.

[6] It is believed that the term “weed” used here is still refering to tobacco. Weed was a slang term for tobacco during Colver’s lifetime and the term continues to be used as a slang word for tobacco in Great Britain. In this case, it appears that weed is being represented as chewing tobacco.

Colvers Arrive in Oregon, July 1851

2008-11-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hiram Colver is my great-great-great-great-great-uncle. Hiram, along with his brother Samuel, founded the small community of Phoenix, Jackson County, Oregon, which still exists today southeast of the city of Medford. The following letter was written July 29, 1851, from the Three Forks of the Willamette River in Oregon, where the families of Hiram and Samuel were residing prior to building their homes in Phoenix. Hiram's letter, written to his parents, Samuel and Rachel (Curry) Colver, explains how Hiram feels about Oregon. Hiram also attempts to persuade his parents to stay back east rather than traveling to Oregon. His parents did not heed his advice and journeyed to Oregon a few years later.

Three forks of Willamette July 29 1851

Dear parents I have just concluded the reading of Mother's letter of May last – I have also been favored with one from Lewelyn to David Colver – What a host of recollections are called up by the perusal of these letters! We are all well___Sam and I have located our sections in the south end of Willamet valley. It seems from the tone of your letters, that what you began in utter folly three years ago you intend to consummate in ruin and destruction! I duly warned you of the unhappiness which I knew and felt would overtake you when you broke up all those dear associations cemented by love and time while you were all cheerful in contemplation of the change I alone was sad for I knew to well the laws of mind and secret workings of my ? heart to be deceived_____Three years have now elapsed since I bade a last farewell to the scenes of my childhood – scenes never to be forgotten – It was with a tearful eye and reluctant footsteps that I then turned away from all things endeared to me by association. I felt then that the Earth did not contain the place that would please me and this apprehension has been fully realized. Although I may have written in fanciful terms of Oregon, yet a longer and more familiar acquaintance has served to convince me that I shall never like this country although I expect from necessity to remain here. I warn you now as a dutiful son never to attempt the journey across the plains – what can you hope? – what expect to gain by this last change of external condition – you can gain nothing but probably loose all – A grave perhaps in the desert! Or perhaps a home (not half as happy as your present one, beyond the mountains, what then? Are you more happy? No The naked truth when told is you wish to renew society with kindred this is the final consummation. Well what does all this amount to? Are you sure your children and grandchildren would fill up the void and supply what is now wanting to complete the sum of your enjoyment. For my part, I am not satisfied and feel my self discontented, the country though fine in some respects does not fill the bill, The country in summer is dry and parched no growth of grass in summer yet grass grows all winter and the country is deluged in rain and mud no hay to cut or feeding to do. In a country so dry and arid as this is in summer adjacent to the vast ocean, you may well suppose that fever and ague do not exist here. Sickness is almost unknown except imported sickness – when you enter a house here the usual questions are “where are you bound” how do you like the country? Etc not like it was near Paris and Grandview “How did George rest last night? Is little Jane alive this morning? Etc Tell Lewellyn that he is looking at Oregon through the glasses of imagination. I saw it once through the same glass. I have since seen it with the natural eye – have weighted it compared it traveled all over it and do not recommend it to any dearest friends. Orchard only grows well where irrigated grapes I do not believe will ripen here I think some of moving some day to the coast of upper California which is said to be more congenial to fruit Oregon is unparalled for its fine wheat, oats, rye barley and small grains. Potatoes grow fine upon low sandy bottoms Corn will not grow at all, nor melons – Claims are rising in value fast, the one adjacent to mine held at two thousand dollars, and one mile from me is a claim with a town laid off upon it at the head of steam boat navigation held at $10,000 dollars. I hold mine much lower All the good claims are now taken which are worth taking. In expectation of taking a claim that a decent white man would live upon after this date is visionary in the extreme tell Lewelyn to get him a good wife (as no young man who intends to be anything in the world is safe without a confiding wife) I am not joking; he cannot find one out here If he defers that matter too long he will be capable only of respecting a woman but utterly barren of Love There is no cold weather here, I layout all last winter and was not uncomfortable There being no food to prepare for stock men live here without much effort. If I had 100 cows I could feel independent. The money Miller owes me I shall never return for at least for many years. Samuel has abandoned the Idea of ever returning to Ohio or Illinois at least until the Pacific Railroad is completed. The children all send their love to you all Maria and I have concluded that five children are enough

Sam’l Colver Hiram Colver

Letter addressed to:

Ms Samuel Colver
Paris Edgar County illinois

Return Address:

K?
Lane Co Ogn
2 Augt 1851

Colver Families Leave for Oregon, June 1850

2008-11-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

Rachel (Curry) Colver is my great-great-great-great-grandmother. Rachel was born circa 1789, most likely in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, the daughter of Hiram M. and Sarah (Reagan) Curry. It is known that Rachel had nine siblings - eight of whom were Hiram M., Jane, Thomas M., Daniel W., Sarah, Rebecca, James, and Providence M.

Rachel Curry married Samuel Colver, Senior, on July 24, 1804, in Union County, Ohio, at the age of 15. This union produced five known children - Abigail, Samuel, Rachel, Sarah, and Hiram. Samuel and Rachel (Curry) Colver resided in Union County, Ohio, later removing to a farm located near Paris, Edgar County, Illinois.

The letter below was written by Rachel (Curry) Colver in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, on June 24, 1850, to her grandson Llewellyn Cronkrite, who at the time was living in either Louisiana or Texas. Llewellyn's parents were Lyman and Sarah (Colver) Cronkrite, who were homesteading in Texas. Samuel and Rachel (Curry) Colver's sons Hiram and Samuel, along with their families, had just left to pioneer in Oregon. Meanwhile, their daughter, Rachel (Colver) Wilson, was living just south of them in Castle Fin, Clark County, Illinois, with her husband, Robert Wilson, and their children. In this letter, Rachel (Curry) Colver discusses the family situation with regard to Ohio and Oregon, as well as her husband's health.

June 24, 1850

Dear Llewellyn I think you better come home. Your grandpa is not well and he would like for you to see to his business. I think it would be better for he would help you if you would come and see to his affairs. I would like to sell our farm and all go to Oregon. Samuel and Hiram has gone. We got a letter from them May 19th. They were one days drive into the plains. They had five wagons well stocked 2 tents two cooking stoves plenty milk tea coffee sugar bacon 13 cows dried peaches apples and plenty of good company a good physitian. Oh I hope they will get to Oregon safe. I can't bear the thought of never seeing them again. We intend to go to them if they find a country that siuts [suits] them.

Take care of your health Llewellyn and try to keep off the collerie. I will want to see you Llewellyn - Llewellyn come to grandpa and grandma before you go to Wilson. Come strate to Paris. I must not urge you to come till your school is out. but it seems so long. Tell me when you will come home take care of your health. I hope to see you again. O how long the time has been since I saw you Llewellyn.

Huldah calls her boy for you. she says you must come to Oregon. They all want to see you. Hiram said if it was as good as it is said to be he would let us know soon.

Walter Lion calls his boy Llewellyn. Curtis more name his infant brother Llewellyn for you. When you come you grandpa and me we are all going back to Ohio then you will see all out olde neighbors once more. O how glad Curtis more will be to see you.

Your grandmother Rachel Colver to her grandson Llewellyn Cronkrite