WPA Interviews

Crooks, America Jane (Warren)

INTERVIEW, Mrs. America Jane Warren Crooks Corner 3rd and Maple Streets, Noble's Addition, west Prineville Born - Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon, Nov. 7, 1857.

Father - Andrew Warren

Mother - Eliza Warren, eldest daughter of the Rev. H.H. Spalding when ten year old was an eyewitness of Whitman massacre.

Home life in Brownsville took a neighborly attitude among pioneer settlers. Christmas Day was observed with festivities and parties; Church was the social center, with little else in a social way. Has heard her mother tell the stories of the massacre time and time again. When her mother was taken by her father on horseback to Oregon City to be a witness in the trial of the five Indians hanged as perpetrators of the massacre, she saw for the first time in her life a painted house, in Oregon City. Portland did not exist, except for a log cabin or two.

Attended public school in Brownsville; Mrs. Calbort was her first teacher. Mrs. W. R. Bishop was another teacher she remembers.

In 1873 she was married to Joseph Crooks, the wedding taking place in her parents' home in Brownsville.

First child born 1874 - (now Mrs. Simpson of Prineville) in Prineville, Wasco County; Mrs. G. N. Clifton, born in Prineville; Living in Prineville; Warren, born in Marion County, near Salem; Living in Prineville; Adrian, born in Prineville, Wasco County; (now Elect. Eng.; Portland;)

During the past 20 years, Mrs. Crooks has spent much time in Portland visiting at the home of her son Adrian. She now makes her home in Prineville, her son Warren and Mr. and Mrs. Simpson living with her. Mrs. Becktell is the wife of the District Attorney of Crook County.

Mrs. Crooks recalls her early life in Brownsville. Among their most intimate friends and neighbors were the Blakeleys, the Chichesters, and the Crawfords. Mrs. Crooks remembered hearing so much about Dr. John Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. She believed that she knew him well as a child.

She had on one occasion looked up dates to verify this belief, and was much surprised to find that Dr. McLaughlin died in the same year that she was born, so she then realized her mistaken impression of having known him personally. She remembered her grandfather the Rev. H.H. Spalding. The first Mrs. Spalding was the first person to be buried in the Brownsville Cemetery. Sixty-one years after her burial there, the Presbyterians erected a monument to her memory at Lapwai, and her remains were removed to Lapwai and placed beside her husband there. She never fully recovered from the shock of the Whitman massacre, and the suspense she suffered in not knowing of her daughter Eliza's safety. The little girls had never known any but Indian children at Lapwai, so she was sent to the Whitmans' care at Waiilatpu to be taught with the other white children and was there during the massacre; shortly after the massacre the Spalding family removed to Brownsville, Linn County. As a child Mrs. Crooks was fond of visiting at Uncle John Brown's house in Brownsville. He had married her mother's sister, and the little girl was a constant visitor at their home. Mrs. Crooks is a member of the Presbyterian Church, member of the Eastern Star, and of Pioneer Club.

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.