WPA Interviews

Davidson, Cloud

INTERVIEW by Leslie L. Haskin, June 7, 1939

Short Interview With Cloud Davidson. (Residing on Highway 99E. Two miles south of Shedd, Linn County, Oregon.)

My grandfather, Henry Davidson, came to Oregon in the fall of 1852. His wife, my grandmother, was Sarah Davidson. They had been married for some time before beginning the trip. Just how long I do not know but they already had a family of three children.

The Davidson family had first emigrated from Ohio to Michigan, then to Missouri and from Missouri to Oregon. Their trip to Oregon was in the great Cholera year but I have never heard any report that the family suffered from that disease.

My grandfather's family consisted of two girls and three boys. I cannot give the exact dates of their births, but can give them in the order of their age.

Lucretia Davidson, born probably in Northern Indiana. She was the oldest in the family. Her married name was Mrs. Henderson Murphy.

Mary Davidson. Also born in Northern Indiana. She was twice married, first to a man named Matson(?) and the second time to a man named Cunningham.

William Davidson. Born in 1846. Came across the plains with his parents in 1852. The oldest boy of the family. He is still living at Albany, Oregon at the age of 93 years. He is too old and his mind to wandering to give information. He has a daughter, Mrs. Clara McCoy living at Albany, and a son, O. E. Davidson living near Rowland. (Note: Died May, 1939)

Theodora(?) Next daughter. Born in the east.

Thurston Davidson, the youngest son of the family, was my father. He was born during the trip to Oregon, the family stopping for a few days on Snake River for that event.

Besides the above there was one other member of the family, an adopted child named Sarah. I think she was a niece of my grandfather's. Her married name was Bushnell.

As I have said, my father was born in an ox wagon near the head of the Snake River. That stop was a short one for they were soon on their way again. They came on to the Columbia River where the women and children came down the river in boats made from the wagon boxes, or rather, in the wagon boxes themselves, made into boats simply by lashing logs on either side to make them safe for river navigation. The men of the family drove the stock over the Barlow Pass. The first winter was spent at Oregon City and after that grandfather took up a D.L.C. here in Linn County south-west of Shedd. This place on which I live is not the original claim but I do own all of that claim-or most of it. It lies just back of this place. Grandfather Davidson lived to be 90 years old, making his death date (?).

My father married Elizabeth Briggs. She was a pioneer from Ohio. Her elder sister married a man named Dixon and came west to San Francisco with him, bringing with him his wife's younger sister, my mother. They came from the east by train to Frisco, and from there up the coast by boat. My father and mother were married in 1875.

Their early neighbors here near Shedd were - The Pughs, Asbury and Wesley, on the north; the Wilsons to the west; the Bramwell family on the South-East; also David Porter, Jonas Davis and Samuel Anderson near by.

The old house which my grandfather built in 1859 is still standing on the old claim owned by me. Also the old barn of nearly equal age.

My father attended school at the Oak Plain schoolhouse situated on the Yarbrough claim south of here. The first school house was a log cabin built by subscription of all the neighbors. The original school records are still in existence. They are in the possession of Sidney Smith near here. (Two miles west of Halsey.)

My father, Thurston Davidson, died in April, 1889. My mother died in 1910. I was their only son. I have one sister, Addie Davidson, who lives in Lebanon. Addie was born December 1, 1881. I was born Nov. 4, 1879.

I was married to Miss Laura Wilson. We have no children, only one adopted son.

For more information concerning the Davidson family be sure and see Mr. O. E. Davidson at Rowland and Mrs. Lydia Morris his sister who lives near the Willamette River about six miles north of Harrisburg. Both are children of Wm. Davidson, my uncle."

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.