WPA Interviews for Linn County Oregon

Bonar, Anna (Ward)

June 9 1940

INTERVIEW

An interview with Mrs. Anna (Ward) Bonar who lives at Plainview, Linn County. This interview deals with the Ward and Isom families of Linn County. Although this is given as a direct interview a part of the material recorded was received from other reliable sources.

My name is Anna (Ward) Bonar. I was born on my father's farm which was also my grandfather's donation claim. My birth date is 1872.

The first of my family to come to Oregon was my grandfather, Thomas Ward. He, with his young wife, came to Oregon by ox team in 1847. Among those with him in the train was Thomas Summers who settled at Sodaville and took up the land where that village now stands.

When the Ward train reached Grand Ronde Valley in eastern Oregon they were forced to stop for a short time for the birth of their first son, my father. He was born at what is now known as Union on September 9, 1847. (Near LaGrande). He was named Scott Ward. The Ward family came on to the Willamette Valley. For a time they stopped at Knox Butte in this county. They then settled on Oak Creek in 1849. Finally they came on to this butte where grandfather took up his permanent claim. Their house was just on the northeast side of the butte and by their settlement here they gave the butte its name, (Ward Butte). At a later date grandfather Ward moved to The Dalles and later owned land at Lone Rock on Eight Mile Creek, in that region.

My father was the oldest of the Ward family. The full list of his brothers and sisters will be given but I cannot give exact dates. All were born in Oregon.

Scott Ward. Born Sept. 9, 1847. Married Frances Ann Isom.

Monroe Ward.

Morgan Ward. Married Cynthia Isom, my mother's sister.

Milton Ward.

Otho Ward.

Mary Ward. Her married name was Dean. She lived at Canby.

Sarah Ward. Married twice, first Dean, later Stillwell. Her home was at Portland.

Martha Ward. Her married name was Barnhart.

My grandmother Ward was a Morgan before her marriage. She was a cousin of Miller Morgan who settled north of Saddle Butte at an early date.

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The Isom family, my mother's people, came to Oregon in the year 1853. My grandfather was John Isom who was born in Grayson County, Virginia on October 7, 1827. He moved to Jefferson County, Missouri, at an early age and was there apprenticed to a blacksmith and learned that trade.

My grandmother on my mother's side was Elizabeth Messersmith. She was a widow when my grandfather married her, having previously been married to a man named Duncan. Her son by that marriage was John Duncan who formerly lived north of Shedd. Grandfather and Grandmother Isom reached Oregon in 1853. Grandfather took up a Donation Land Claim but soon left it and purchased land on the south side of Ward's Butte. This claim was purchased from a man named Wilcox.

(Note-Other informants and old maps show that the original land claimant here was not Wilcox, but one B.F. Whitson. L.H.) The Isoms reached this country in the fall of 1853 and on November 26, 1853 my mother was born in their new home. Her name was Frances Ann Isom.

I should here give a more detailed account of my grandmother Isom and her family. Grandmother was born Elizabeth Messersmith. She was born in Virginia in 1825. She died in 1906. Her children by her first husband were-

John Duncan. Born in Missouri in 1845.

Joana Duncan. Born in 1847. Died in infancy.

After her marriage to my grandfather there were born the following children-

Sarah Isom. Born in Missouri in 1849. Died 1920.

Angeline Frances Isom. Born in Missouri in 1851. Died in infancy.

Frances Ann Isom. (Mother of the informant) Born in Linn county, Oregon, November 26, 1853. Married Scott Ward. Died in 1930.

Mary Catherine Isom. Born in Oregon, 1854. Her married name is Skinner. She is still living at Albany.

Cynthia Isom. Born 1857. She married Morgan Ward, my father's brother. She and the last named lived together at Albany.

David Isom. Born in 1859. Dead.

Jefferson Davis Isom. Born in 1861. (You can see from this what the political beliefs of the Isom family were). "Jeff" still living on a farm near Waterloo.

Virginia Isom, born 1863. Now Mrs. E.J. Lancy of Tacoma, Washington.

Alice Varina Isom. Born in 1865. Now Mrs. F.H. Pfeifer of Albany, Ore.

Elizabeth Isom. Born in 1867. Now Mrs. Frank Wood of Albany, Oregon.

John Isom Jr. Born in 1869. Died many years ago in Alaska.

There was another child whose name I do not know but whom grandmother Isom always referred to as "Little Pet."Died in infancy.

In 1884 my grandfather, John Isom, moved to Albany and purchased the Parker and Morris Warehouse. His partner in this venture was John Settle. Later Settle withdrew from the firm and his place was taken by a Mr. Lanning. The warehouse was enlarged and altered and made into the present Red Crown Mill. He ran that mill until he retired in 1905. Grandfather died on March 14, 1903.

My father and mother were acquainted from very earliest childhood since their parents claims adjoined. They both went to school at the Morgan Schoolhouse on the prairie between Ward and Saddle Buttes. After their marriage they lived here on the Ward Claim. They reared the following children-

Anna Ward. (The informant.) The oldest of the family. Born 1872. Now Mrs. Bonar.

Ida Ward. Born 1874. Now Mrs. Allingham of Springfield, Lane County.

Frank Ward. Born 1877. Died May, 1937.

Fred Ward. Born 1880. A merchant in Albany.

Ada Ward. Born 1884. Lived at Long Beach, California. Her married name Nolan.

Clyde Ward. Born 1888. Lived at Brownsville.

Carrie Ward. Born 1890. Now lives at Bismark, S. D. Her married name is Neal.

When my grandfather came from the east he was accompanied by a brother who was twenty years his junior. This brother's name was Saul Isom. He married a number of times and at his death was the father of twenty-three children. At the time of his death he had sons ranging in age from over seventy years to a mere lad in high school. Of these sons, Crocket ("Crock") Isom of Brownsville is one of the oldest.

Religious activities in this region have centered principally about a pioneer United Brethren Church. This was first organized at Rock Hill in the very earliest pioneer days. The school at Rock Hill stands on ground which was first deeded for "Church and School purposes."With the coming of the railroad and the founding of Plainview in the early 1880's a church building was erected in Plainview. The final act in the life of the church was the sale of the building a few years since and the use of the moneys received to build the Memorial Gate at the Sand Ridge Cemetery where most of the original members are buried.

Sand Ridge was once the official County Seat of Linn County. That spot was once a favorite camping ground of the Indians. Many feet below the present ground level, they say, there is a forest buried by some great upheaval years ago. The Indians claim their forefathers used to be able to enter a canoe near this location and paddle across a great inland sea which had its further shores at Mary's Peak in Benton County. They say that the presence of shells at a high level on Peterson's Butte above Sand Ridge prove that the water once filled the whole valley."Peterson's Butte, and Ward's and Saddle Butte in this region do look as though they might once have been islands in an inland sea."

(Mrs. Ward presented this writer with a petrified shell which she had secured at a high level on Peterson's Butte as evidence of the truth of the story. L. H.)

Copyright © 2000 Patricia Dunn. All rights reserved. This transcription may not be reproduced in any media without the express written permission by the author. Permission has been given by the Transcriber to publish on the LGS web site.