WPA Interviews

Cornett, John

INTERVIEW, 8 Jan 1940

Interview with John Cornett of Shedd, Oregon. (Mostly concerning the AMERICUS SAVAGE family).

My father was J. B. Cornett. He crossed the plains to the California gold mines in 1850. Worked in the mines near Placerville. At that place he married my mother, Miss Elizabeth Crooks in 1863.

In 1864 my only sister, Emma Cornett, was born in California. The same year my father and mother moved to Oregon, in Linn County. (My father, by the way, came from Linn County, Missouri). I was born in Linn County, Ore., in 1866.

In 1867, when I was just 1 years old my mother and father separated. My mother took my sister Emma back to California; my father kept me here in Linn County, Ore. I was 51 years old before I ever saw any of my blood relations except my own father.

In the year 1872 my father married again, this time to Sarah Savage a daughter of Americus Savage who took up the land where the old town of Boston, Linn County was located. Sarah Savage Cornett, my father's second wife became to me the only mother that I ever knew, I know far more about the Savage family than I do about my own people. She was a real mother to me.

The father of Sarah, my step-mother, came to Oregon in 1851, bringing his family with him from Franklin Co. Maine. This family consisted of the following persons:

Americus Savage. Born in Franklin County, Maine. 1812.

Mary Ann (Thompson) Savage, his wife, born in Franklin County, Maine, 1819. Died 1868.

Prudence Savage. She married John Morgan. Linn County.

Joe Savage. He married Malinda Long

"Lute" Savage. (His real name was Luelling). He married Sophia McCartney.

Sarah J. Savage. Step-mother of informant. Born 1847. Died 1920. Married J. B. Cornett in 1866 at the age of 18years.

Frank Savage. He married Octavia Bryant.

Columbus Savage. Born Oct. 6, 1851. Died Oct. 5, 1852.

All of the above were born in the East. Some of them in Maine but my step-mother, Sarah Jane was born in Springfield, Illinois.

After reaching Oregon Americus Savage first settled on the west side of the Calapooia River where the "Boston Mills", (now Thompson Bros. Flouring Mills) was later built. A little later, due to the frequent threat of high water, he moved to the West of the Calapooia and built a house on the summit of a low butte. This butte is now well known by the name of "Savage Butte" but is more often called "Bunker Hill". He remained living on the butte until about 1864 or 1865 and then again moved west of the river and occupied a house just east of the present Thompson Mills. On the summit of "Bunker Hill" there is still plainly visible the cellar pit of Savage's second house. In 1862-1863 there was a remarkably high water all through this valley. That was the year that the old Finley Mill at Crawfordsville was washed out. Savage, having moved to Bunker Hill to escape high water, and noting this extremely high flood, resolved that it was time to see just where in the neighborhood it was safe to build. (Evidently he was dissatisfied with his home so high up on the Butte.) He therefore took a boat at the height of the winter flood and rowed across the river inspecting the country. He found that there was only one spot free from water between "Bunker Hill' where he lived, and the present town of Shedd. He therefore built his third home on that one spot, which, as previously states, was just east of the present mill.

In 1848 or 1849 W. C. Finley had built a mill on the upper Calapooia near present Crawfordsville. This was one of the first flour mills in the upper valley. Miners came from as far away as Jacksonville in southern Oregon to get flour there. However, with the building of a mill at Albany and other valley points, Finley found his customers less willing to go so far back into the hills for their flour. He therefore planned to build a mill at a more convenient place. The place he chose was on the Americus Savage claim.

He therefore proceeded to purchase a part of that claim, plat a town, and build a mill. The town he named "Boston" or "New Boston". Finley's partner in this enterprise was P. V. Crawford. His miller was Alex Brandon. The new mill was built in 1857. Besides doing milling, the company engaged in wool carding. This mill was successful for a short time and then was burned to the ground. That fire was either in 1862 or 1863. The mill was rebuilt almost at once and part of the present Thompson Mill is that old building.

I cannot tell whether the town of Boston, or the Butte named Bunker Hill was first named. I am inclined to think that the hill was first named. The origin of that name is an interesting story. A man named R. E. Elder settled south of the Butte. His land, and that of Savage, joined. Elder kept hogs on his land and he and Savage got into trouble over those hogs. This trouble, as neighborhood quarrels are apt to do, grew and increased. One night Elder came up to Savage's home in a quarrelsome mood. He called Savage to the door and when Savage opened it, Elder struck him with a "sling-shot" made of lead and shaped like the letter S. Savage was badly stunned but not defeated. He leaped outside and running to a pile of fir poles stacked nearby he seized one of them and beat Elder all the way down the side of the butte. This story I learned from Savage, but I also got it from S. P. Brock, another old settler who was present at the time. That fight became famous all through the country as "the battle of Bunker Hill" and thus the hill was named. (Whether Boston was named because it was near Bunker Hill, or Bunker Hill because it was near Boston this field worker has been unable to definitely learn from any source.) The first County Fair ever held in Linn County was initiated at Boston, or rather, on the Savage Ranch on the eastern bank of the Calapooia near Boston. It was held there for three years from 1863 to 1865 inclusive.

Of the neighbors who settled near to the Savage claim the following are among the most prominent. (Some came earlier than Savage did.) Miller Morgan took up the land about Saddle Butte in 1848. Came to Oregon in 1847.

R.M. Elder settled to the south of Americus Savage. He came in 1849.

Richard Farwell who came in 1852 took up to the west of the Savage claim.

S. P. Brock who came in 1852 settled to the north of him.

After coming to Oregon Americus Savage took two trips by the overland route back to Maine. In 1872 he moved to Baler County, then to Maine and back.

In 1876, after again returning from Maine he found himself in financial straits. On his return trip he stopped off at Albany and borrowed a dollar of Dr. Hill of that place. Then he went out to the foot of Bunker Hill and committed suicide by shooting himself. He left a long letter of instructions concerning the disposition of his land, his place of burial etc., and especially asked his sons to pay Dr. Hill what he owed. Among other things he set aside ten acres of land on Bunker Hill and its slopes for cemetery purposes. This cemetery is little used at present. It is called the Bunker Hill or Savage cemetery. The first burial in that cemetery was long before it was specifically set apart for cemetery purposes. It was of Americus Savage's infant son, Columbus Savage, who died Oct. 5, 1852. The child was buried not far from the original house on the hill. Americus Savage was a very smart man, but he was somewhat addicted to drink which caused him to fail in many ways. His wife was the greatest woman that I ever knew.

Now before closing this interview I will tell you just a little more about the Cornetts. My father, J. B. Cornett was born in 1832. He died in 1911. He and his second wife are buried at the Bunker Hill Cemetery. On his trip to the west Father rode a mule and his task was to furnish the party with meat by hunting. Father made a good stake in the gold mines but lost it all in trying to make more.

While I was growing up I was cared for by several fine old ladies in the Brownsville region. In 1873 we rented a place near Plainview. In 1875 we moved to a farm on the Calapooia above Brownsville. In 1876 we moved back to the old place, that is, to a part of the Savage claim. The farm there was known for years as the Bunker Hill Stock Farm. In 1930 I sold out and retired to this place in Shedd. I am now 73 years old.

Supplementary note to the proceeding interview.

While the field worker was typing this interview he was interrupted by a call from Mr. Andrew Kirk an Oregon native son, lifelong resident of this region who was born in Brownsville in 1854. Chancing to mention the Cornett family Mr. Kirk made the following statement: "I knew J. B. Cornett and his first wife very well. They lived over near Shedd and seemed to be a very happy and congenial pair, but later they parted. How that parting came about was extremely curious. An old Gypsy woman came through here telling fortunes. It was the first thing of the kind that had ever happened in this region. The Gypsy woman charged $5.00 for each fortune told but people flocked to her by the score. There was always a long line of waiting patrons. J. B. Cornett and his wife went in among others. The old Gypsy told them, "You are very happy now and will continue to be so for a time, but after such and such a period you will separate." Cornett and his wife laughed a great deal at that prediction, but when the date spoken of by the seer came around, sure enough, they parted."

(I don't pretend that the above has any historical value but it is a good example of the tales and incidents which a field worker often encounters. Leslie L. Haskin.)

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.