WPA Interviews

INTERVIEWS VOLUME V

This narrative comprises two interviews. One with Mrs. Emma M. (Bates) Parrish and Minnie B. (Bates) Nichols. These women are sisters and it was thought best to avoid duplication of fact by consolidating their interviews as one. The interview concerns a number of pioneer families including the Bates family, the Nichols family, the Gamaliel Parrish family, the Henry Parrish family and the Peterson family, all of Linn County. All of these families are closely connected through marriage.

Our family name is Bates. Our father was Isaac Bates, born in Massachusetts in 1835. Mother was Lucy (Smullen) Bates and she was born in Manchester, England. We cannot give the date of her birth. Mother came to America as a small child, being an orphan and brought here by one of her aunts. Though born in England she became a pioneer in five American states, first in New Jersey where she lived as a child, later in Iowa, then in Colorado, then in Idaho, and finally in Oregon.

Father and mother were married at Cordova, Illinois, in 1858. Soon after their marriage they started for the west by ox team, but they made the trip in slow stages covering a number of years.

Father was a farmer all of his life yet on the trip to Oregon he engaged in a number of other activities. In Idaho he worked in the mines for a considerable time, then he took up freighting and he also worked in a stone-quarry after reaching Oregon. The quarry was in "The Forks of the Santiam" country and the stone cut there was used principally for building fireplaces. All of the old fireplaces in that region had mantels, sides and hearths taken from that old quarry. We went back there a short time back and hunted up the old quarry and now there are fir trees three feet in diameter growing in the old quarry pit.

(Note: Most of the narrative of early days was given by Mrs. Parrish as she is much the older and was born before the family came to Oregon. In the following narrative, therefore, "I" will refer to Mrs. Parrish, while Mrs. Nichols will be referred to as "Minnie". L. Haskin, field worker.)

Traveling to Oregon by slow degrees, as we did, we had plenty of chances to talk about the west with other travelers, some of whom had already lived on the Pacific Coast. We often heard of the "Forks of the Santiam: region and the very active Providence Baptist Church there. Whenever we met anyone who knew the "Forks" region we would be told, "Don't by any means settle in the "Forks" unless you are a Baptist and a Democrat." Nevertheless, when we reached Oregon father purchased land there although he was a Republican. Mother, having come from England, was of course a Democrat. That was at a time when the difference between Republicans and Democrats really meant something.

Here I might give you a list of my father's family, but I cannot now tell their exact birth dates. They were:

Emma M. Bates (Mrs. Parrish), born December 1858, in Illinois. Married Henry Parrish.

Anna M. Bates. Born in the East. Dead.

Luella J. Bates. Born in the East. Dead.

Charles A. Bates. Born in the East. Now living at Scio, Linn County. Born 1862.

Minnie B. Bates. Born in Oregon in 1868. Married Thomas Nichols.

Alice C. Bates. Dead. Born in Oregon.

Dudley M. Bates. Dead. Born in Oregon.

I can still remember a great many things that happened during our trip to Oregon. The Indians, though supposedly friendly at that time, gave us a great deal of trouble. I remember, especially, one day when mother had placed all of us children in a buffalo robe to play while she was busy at work. I, as the oldest, was told to look out for them and call her if anything happened. While we were there playing an old squaw came along. She was wrapped in a blanket and she grabbed up my youngest sister, a tiny baby, hid her under the blanket and started to make off with her. Mother had not seen this at all but I managed to give some sort of a queer squawk, which attracted mother's attention, and then, pointed to the squaw hurrying away. Mother called my father who came running. He trotted off after the squaw and overtook her. He demanded the baby back but the squaw only wrapped her closer and refused to give her up. Father finally had to draw his horse pistol and threaten her before she would give up. Mother was terribly scared for fear that father would shoot and bring the whole tribe down on us. Later the people asked the squaw what she really wanted of the baby and she explained that she only wanted to take it to show to the other women, but we never really knew what her real intentions were.

My parents settled north of Scio, in Linn County, and near the North Santiam River. There my father and mother lived for the remainder of their lives. I should say that before they settled permanently in Linn County they spent some time at French Prairie near Salem but never made a permanent home there.

One of the very old landmarks in our old home neighborhood near Stayton was the Jordan Valley mill. It is still standing in the picturesque Jordan Valley, looking very much as it did when we first reached Oregon. The place was then called "Jordan City". I have no idea who first built that mill, perhaps some of the Bilyeus. Beside that mill there was very little of active industry there when we were small. We kept busy running "one-horse" fruit dryers and preparing dried fruit for market and in churning and selling butter.

I first went to school at what was known as the Cole Schoolhouse, the oldest school in that part of the country. It was situated on the claim of Chauncy Cole, a mile or more south of our home. My first teacher there was May Follis, the wife of Henry Follis. She was a daughter of James Williams who was the Assessor for Linn County from 1856 to 1860. Her brother, Hiram Williams, was the next Assessor, following his father. (Note: This last statement concerning Hiram Williams is not correct according to records at hand. L.H.) Later I went to school at Scio where one of my teachers was H. H. Hewitt, Later a prominent Linn County Attorney. After a time the Cole School district was divided and the Follis School erected nearer our home. It was at the Follis school that my sister Minnie (Mrs. Nichols) attended school. That school district is now generally known as Kingston, situated on the old Corvallis and Eastern Railway where it skirts the North Santiam. You should try to interview the old pioneers in that vicinity. There are some very interesting and well informed people there. I especially recommend that you try to see Mistress Etta Manis. She is very well informed. Her mother's maiden name was Brenner, a very old pioneer family. Her father's name was Miller and she now lives close to the old Wisner Cemetery there. That cemetery should yield some valuable data also.

Speaking of the Manis family, William Manis first settled in Fox Valley. Later he felt that he was becoming too crowded by other settlers, (though most people then thought it far back in the mountains), so he moved on back, up near present Detroit. There he took up a claim across the valley and felt that no one would ever bother him and that all the country around was his. This hope was not realized for now farms extend far on beyond him and all his seclusion was lost.

I married Henry E. Parrish on July 26, 1876. My husband's home was on a farm about five or six miles north of Brownsville. Our meeting happened in this manner. I had a boy friend who lived near Brownsville. He told Henry Parrish about me and Henry came up to Scio to see if what he had heard was true. We met on leap year day in 1876 and in July of the same year we were married. You see the year gave me the advantage. Henry's mother had died the same year and I went home to manage the old Parrish house near Brownsville. That old house is still standing, one of the very old buildings in the county. I think that old house was probably built about the year 1854. My husband was born in 1848 and he was about six years old when the house was built. It is really a wonderful house though not large as houses are now reckoned. Every bit of the frame is hand-hewn with the broadax and the frame is put together with wooden pegs-not a nail or spike in the frame. All of the doors, the window sashes, the window frames were handmade as well as the mantle and the casings of the fireplace. The fireplace itself is of pioneer- made brick and is very large. It is a double fireplace, each side opening upon a different room. The chimneys always drew well and the rooms were always well and evenly heated. The old house is now going to wreck and ruin, and doubtless the roof leaks but no wonder for there were never but two roof coverings put on it in all the eighty-six years of its existence. The first roof was of hand-split, hand-shaved cedar and it lasted without replacement for 56 years, or until 1910. The second roof is still in place.

Perhaps it would be as well for me to give you some account of the Parrish family, my husband's people. I know their history probably as well as any person. The Parrish family first reached Oregon in 1844. The first comers were Rev. E. E. Parrish, a Methodist preacher and physician, and his son Gamaliel Parrish who was my husband's father. Rev. E. E. Parrish settled in the "Parrish Gap" region in Marion County. Gamaliel Parrish remained with him at that place until 1847 and then took up the claim in Linn County which later became my home. Father Parrish was a gold miner in the 1849 California goldrush, going and returning by boat from the mouth of the Columbia. While at the mines he did very well. On February 25, 1847, he married Lydia M. Peterson who was a daughter of Henry Peterson after whom Peterson Butte in this county was named. Soon after their marriage they moved into a log cabin on Gamaliel's claim. This log cabin was replaced by a better house in 1852 as I have already stated. Gamaliel Parrish died on the home claim on November 12, 1884. As I have already told you, his wife died in 1876, only a short time before I married Henry Parrish. The exact date of her death was May 14, 1876. Both are buried, as is my husband, in the old Claypool Cemetery on the hill northeast of the old Parrish house.

The old Parrish house stands beside the old Territorial Road on that section between Lebanon and Brownsville. The original road ran east of the house and on along the edge of the hill to the "butte gap", a saddle between Washburn Butte and a lesser hill. From thence it ran to Brownsville past the William Cochran claim and on south of Brownsville through the "big gap" to Diamond Hill, then on across the McKenzie River at Spore's Ferry and thence to Pleasant Hill in Lane County. The present county road turns westward just at the Parrish house and crosses the more level valley. That old Territorial Road was used by all travelers going north or south through the valley. It was the course taken by all the '49 miners. It was also used by the Indians moving from camping place to camping place. I have heard members of the Parrish family relate of the weird and awesome sounds made by mourning tribes passing in the night. It was their custom to move from any camp where a death had occurred. Therefore when any Indian died there was an immediate exodus of all, whether it were day or night. As they moved to their new camp they would wail out their death songs, a hideous sound for a child to hear in the midnight darkness.

All of the mail and passenger coaches traveling the road passed the old Parrish house. It was a well-known stopping point and it was natural that Gamaliel Parrish should find it profitable to establish a small store there. This may have been the first store in Linn County. At any rate it was opened before there was any store at Brownsville. Goods which could not be purchased at the Parrish store had usually to be brought from Oregon City. The store itself was kept in a small room at the south end of the house. This room was built with a "false front" as were so many country business buildings. That room is now gone but for many years after the store ceased to run, it was used as a woodshed there.

I cannot tell just when that store was opened. I know that it was soon after the date of my husband's birth, 1848. My reason for knowing this is that when Henry was born it was necessary for his father to go to Oregon City to buy him some clothes and to get pins to pin them on with. Probably the store was opened immediately after that.

Gamaliel Parrish was a very grave, dignified man. In the early days small change was scorned by merchants, often anything less than a dollar was considered too trifling to bother with. These two facts are the basis of a story which I have often heard related both by the Parrish and Nichols families. John Nichols, my sister Minnie's father-in-law first settled at Diamond Hill in 1852. He was a young and impulsive man. One while riding through the valley he found himself near the Parrish store and out of tobacco. Wishing to get only enough tobacco to last him until he reached home he rushed into the building and demanded to purchase "two bits worth". With great dignity and scorn father Parrish drew himself to his full height and answered, "I wouldn't dirty my knife to cut that much off."

There is a very old rose which still grows in the old Parrish houseyard. I have forgotten its exact history but we always knew it as "The Mission Rose." In color it is between a pi8nk and a red and very, very fragrant. Another rose, which is now a pest, is the single sweetbriar which has spread all over the rocky hills. Those about the Parrish place were first set by a woman named Taylor. The Taylors came in a very early day, probably about 1852, and brought the sweet briar with them from Virginia.

Gamaliel Parrish and his wife, Lydia Peterson Parrish were the parents of three children. They were:

Henry Parrish. Born on the Parrish claim, January 18, 1848.

Sarah E. Parrish. Born on the Parrish claim. Married Alpheus Frum.

Granville Parrish. Born on the Parrish claim.

After marrying Henry Parrish we first lived on the Parrish claim. Then, in 1884, after the death of Father Parrish, we moved to Lebanon and ran the St. Charles Hotel for a little over a year. We also ran a restaurant for a time. After that we lived on a farm in Benton County and then one near Plainview. Finally we returned to the Parrish claim which we owned and operated for many years. We had only one child who died at the age of six years.

When I stated that my husband's grandfather and father were the first Parrishes to come to Oregon I made a slight misstatement. The first Parrish here was really Josiah L. Parrish who was a preacher and the blacksmith at the Jason Lee Mission. He came to Oregon in 1838. He was a distant cousin of Rev. E.E. Parrish.

Having told of the Parrish family I will now tell something of the Petersons, my mother-in-law's people. The head of this family when it came to Oregon in 1845 was Captain Henry Peterson. He was called Captain because he was Captain of the emigrant train. With the father, Henry Peterson, were also his four sons and one daughter. (2?) The sons were:

Asa Peterson, born in West Virginia in 1822.

William Peterson.

Marshall Peterson.

Henry Peterson Jr.

The daughters of Henry Peterson were:

Lydia Peterson. Married Gamaliel Parrish. Born about 1825 VA.

Sarah Peterson. She married Caleb Brooks. Born about 1830 VA.

Henry Peterson Jr. did not take up any claim as he was too young. The other sons and the son-in- law, together with the father, Henry Sr., all took up claims nearly encircling the large butte southwest of present Lebanon. This Butte had previously been called Washington Butte and in the early days there was a post office of the same name. After the Peterson family settled about Washington Butte it became known as Peterson's Butte and so remains today.

Henry Peterson Sr. started a small nursery on his claim. One of the plums, which he grew, is still known as "Peterson's Plum". It is now widely scattered all over the region and is well known. It is a round, red plum with a deep cleft. It is mild and pleasant when raw but very acid when cooked. The flavor is good. During the gold mining days in Southern Oregon there were many tons of Peterson's Plums dried and shipped to the mines.

Uncle Asa Peterson was a jeweler in Lebanon and a gunsmith. He also built a mill at Sodaville at a very early day. He also ran a hotel in Albany.

Uncle Marshall Peterson was an Indian war veteran. He took part in the Modoc War. He was fighting one day, anxious to get as many Indian scalps as possible. He shot away all his shells (sic) but one and was trying to draw a bead on another Indian when he fell. Before he could get up he was shot in the side and back. He lay there for three days and three nights, surrounded by Indians and then finally got away in the night. He was very lame after that for a number of years. He was finally operated on four or five years later. The doctors then found that the bullet had struck the overall buckle at his back, straightened it out and sent it deep into the flesh. The buckle, straightened out by the bullet, when removed from his hip measured four inches in length. The Modoc trouble at the time he was shot was the upraising under Chief Moses.

You say that you have gone through the Parrish house north of Brownsville. If you did you of course notice the portrait of a man painted on the wall of the back porch, high up. That picture was painted by Marshall Peterson about 1885 or 1886. It is a portrait of Thomas Nichols, my sister Minnie's husband.

When the Peterson family came to Oregon they were among the unfortunate immigrants who followed Meeks in his attempted cut-off route. They suffered greatly during that mishap.

William Peterson and W.W. Parrish have the honor of having built the first two brick buildings in Albany. I believe that both of them are now standing. The "Peterson Brick" was large, at least three stories high. The Parrish Brick was a smaller building. The business houses at that time were almost all run by Jews and those first brick buildings were very popular with them and proved a profitable investment.

(At this point Mrs. Nichols took up the narrative and gave some information on the Nichols history in Oregon.)

John Nichols, my father-in-law was born in Kentucky in the year 1831. He came to Oregon from Illinois in 1852. He first settled in Linn County, in the Diamond Hill neighborhood. He died December 12, 1900.

The wife of John Nichols was Edna Wilson Nichols. She was born in Edgar County, Illinois. She died December 14, 1916 at the age of 77 years. That makes her birth date about 1839. Father and mother Nichols were married in 1858 in Oregon.

The Nichols claim was about two miles southwest of the present Diamond Hill schoolhouse. When my husband, John Nichols was about 11 years old his father sold his claim at Diamond Hill and bought land from a man named Gallaher in the Rock Hill district. At that place he lived until his death. My husband went to school at Rock Hill School. His children went to the same school, and now our grandchildren go there-three generations.

One of the very early teachers at Rock Hill School was Jack Gallagher, a one-armed man. He lost his arm in a threshing machine at a very early date. It is buried on the Nichols farm where we have lived for four generations. That farm has never been in any name except that of Gallaher and Nichols-only two families since it was granted by the government. Jack Gallaher, by the way, later studied and became a United Brethren preacher. The school grounds there were originally deeded by the Gallahers "for church and school purposes". Another prominent United Brethren preacher in that district was Reuben Claypool. The Claypool claim was just nest north of the Parrish claim. The church first organized at Rock Hill schoolhouse was later moved and erected a building at Plainview. When the church finally disbanded the proceeds of selling the building was used to build a memorial gate at the Sand Ridge Cemetery where most of the old church members are buried.

(Mrs. Minnie Nichols lives on South Main Street in Lebanon. Mrs. Parrish lives at Newport, Oregon but at the time of this interview she was visiting in Lebanon with Mrs. Nichols.)

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.