WPA Interviews

Smith, Ivy Glass

Short Interview with Mrs. Ivy Glass Smith, Crawfordsville, Ore., Oct 1, 1937

My name is Ivy Glass Smith. I was born at Crawfordsville, Ore., in 1869. My father's name was Robert Glass; my mother's name was Jane Gray Glass. My father came to Oregon in 1850, but he was one of the Californian Forty-niners, for he left Illinois in that year to take part in the gold rush, and only came to Oregon a year later. However, during that year he was quite successful, not so much in the actual gold digging, for he only engaged in that for a short time, but as a teamster and trucker. When he came to Oregon he had accumulated three or four thousand dollars with which to make a start.

My father and mother were both natives of Ohio, but mother came in 1852. In 1853 they were married here at Crawfordsville.

My father's intention on leaving California was to take up land in Oregon and start a stock ranch. He found land to suit him here on the upper Calapooia. He could have chosen much more fertile land in the valley but his interests were all in stock and he wished a place sheltered by woods and hills, and well watered by springs and streams. His trip from California was made the more profitable since he brought back with him many horses which had been ridden south by Oregon prospectors, and thus received pay for herding them northward. On this trip he fell in with a band of stock rustlers, and for a time his life was in great danger. Finally, however, they let him go.

Father's early neighbors here on the Calapooia were: The McCaws, the Shanks, Ephrium Hughes, the Careys, the Finleys, and over the hills, the Dunlaps. Towards Holly there were the Barrs, Norvill Rice, the Philpotts and the Johnsons. The Robnett family was also one of our first neighbors. [Uncle Billy Robnett had eight daughters and four sons. They say that he was a great schemer, for when the young men began to come about to court his girls he was very ingenious about setting them to some job of work. Thus before all of his daughters were married he has succeeded in getting a great deal of his labor done without paying for it. I was thinking it over the other day, and it came into my mind that during my life here at Crawfordsville I have been acquainted with six generations of Robnetts. Is it any wonder that old pioneer families who stay in the same neighborhood get to know each other very well!

One of the first schoolteachers in this part of the country was a Miss Whipple. She married a man named Colbert; the wedding was a double one and the other contracting parties were Governor Moody and a Miss Stevens. Miss Stevens was a pupil in Edna Whipples school, and the weddings took place as a complete surprise at a school exhibition at the end of the school year.

Miss Whipple was the first woman who wore bloomers for riding in this region. At first it made a great deal of talk; her answer to criticism was `I impute all such talk to ignorance.'

A daughter of Edna Whipple and George Colbert married one of the Robnett boys. She is still living here at Crawfordsville. (Luella Colbert Robnett). My own name, by the way, is Ivy Jenette, named after Jenette Collins Robnett.

The Finleys were among the most prominent pioneers here when my father arrived in Oregon. R.C. Finley, the miller, built the first mill on the Calapooia in 1848. Mr. Finley was a lame man, crippled by having his legs broken in the lead mines of southern Wisconsin at a very early date. Later he became still more lame through attacks of rheumatism. His legs were badly bent and crooked, yet he would go out into his fields and grub brush and stumps, moving about on his knees.

Finley's daughter Sarah married a man by the name of Vawter who was one of Finley's millers. The very old house just across the river from the present mill was built for them to live in when they were married. Later she married a number of times. One of her husbands was Whipple Hayes, founder of Halsey. He was murdered by a drunken saloon keeper. The reason was that Hays, in deeding the land for a town-site stipulated that the land should never be used for the manufacture or sale of liquor. This saloon keeper tried to start a saloon, but Hayes, by means of his deeded stipulation, stopped him. In revenge he stabbed Hayes. At the time of her death at Halsey, not many years ago, this Sarah Finley bore the name of Ribelin, (spelling uncertain), the name of her last husband.

The first murder in this region was that of Sidney Smith who was killed by his brother. The Smith and the Hayes murders were something to make a child's hair stand on end. I remember how it gave me the creeps to think of them. The Smith murder was an especially gruesome one.

One of the very early industries here at Crawfordsville was a Sash and Door Factory built by P.V. Crawford and later sold to my brothers.

The first store at Crawfordsville was at the mouth of Brush Creek. Bob Fuller ran the next store; he was a son-in-law of Crawford. His wife was Zilpha Crawford.

P.D. Crawford was the first postmaster; the town was named for him. Mail used to come from Eugene over the Mohawk Hills. Later my brother, David H. Glass carried the mail between Brownsville and Crawfordsville. A man named John Derrich ran an iron-working shop and axe factory at Crawfordsville in the early days. He made his own trip hammer and ran it by waterpower. His hammer was made from a heavy oak block face with steel. He also made butcher knives and dirk knives here. His material was the very best of steel, and he sold his knives to the buckaroos of eastern Oregon. The steel was so fine that the eastern Oregon boys would sharpen them keenly and shave with them.

Timothy Lewis, another son-in-law of Crawford ran a boot and shoe shop. He made and repaired boots and shoes.

Crawford had his residence north of his store, in the Calapooia. Later a man by the name of Shackleford came and opened up a hotel, quite a large one, called the "Oregon House."

William McCaw who lived in the Crawfordsville neighborhood and was one of the very early settlers was the first County Clerk of Linn County. When my father and mother were married McCaw's daughter provided the wedding dinner or infair (?). That was in the early days and luxuries were few. When she came to preparing the dinner she had nothing from which to make a pie- no squash or pumpkin, or fruit, so she made a pie from beans. She boiled the beans and mashed them up and added milk and eggs, sugar and spices and baked it like a pumpkin pie.

My father was born July 7, 1823 and died in July 1903. My mother was born in 1826 and died Feb. 7, 1916. Her name was Jane Gray. The Grays and the Glasses were all Scotch, and it is said that both names originate from the same source, and from the some highland clan. The name, it is claimed derives from a certain stone used as a jewel or talisman by highland clans.

My mother's grandfather was Alexander Hamilton, but not the well-known historical character of that name. One of my brothers was named after him.

My mother came to Oregon in 1852. Her father "followed the preacher" to Oregon. This preacher was Wilson Blain, founder of the Union Point Church. My mother was never contented because she "had to follow that preacher." Her father's name was John Gray. He was a great admirer of Wilson Blain. My father and mother were great temperance workers, and among other activities finally joined the Good Templers. This was contrary to United Presbyterian polity, thus to join a secret society, to the pastor brought them up before the church and presented charges against them. When they refused to comply with the churches orders they were dismissed from the congregation. I still have that letter of dismissal. It is signed by Rev. Wirth, and does not exonerate my father in the least. Those old Presbyterians were very strict and severe with offenders. The Old Union Point preachers were both windy and dry. They did not believe in lightness or frivolity. An old man once went to sleep in the church and fell from the bench, and no one in all the church so much as smiled over it.

Aunt Hannah Robnett was a sister (niece) of Joab Powell, the famous Baptist circuit rider from Providence Church in the forks of the Santiam. She, like her brother (uncle), was an oddity. In services she would become very exalted, and would clap her hands and shout until she was quite exhausted.

Joab Powell was a queer, rough fellow. At one time this comical incident happened during one of his meetings. Joab had sent one of his sons to a neighbor named Paul, to try and get a fresh supply of pork. The boy did not report until Sunday morning, when, in the midst of his sermon Uncle Joab made this rhetorical demand: "Now let us inquire into this. What did Paul say?" To which his son in the congregation replied: "Paul says that you can't have any more pork until you pay for what you got before."

The original Bishop school, which holds an annual reunion here at Crawfordsville, was first organized `near the graveyard' near Brush Creek. Later it was moved down closer to the present town.

There were few Indians in this region since I can remember. That is, native Indians. After the Templetons started their hop yard they used to bring in the Warm Springs Indians to pick hops. These pickers brought all their possessions with them when they came over the mountains; horses, and dogs, and children, everything that they owned. The Templetons had to provide pasturage for their horses, and usually reserved a field that would keep at least two hundred ponies. My father owned the store at the time, but had to watch the Indians for they would steal anything. The Indian women would come to the store to shop, and their chief need was always "lopo", meaning thread.

The Templeton's held meetings on Sunday in their hop-house, and the Indians would attend. Sometimes the older, more serious men would arise and make a speech during the meetings, always in their own tongue.

The first Presbyterian Church was built at Crawfordsville in 1883. Before that meetings were held in the Good Templers Hall, where the pool all now stands. Father Robert Robe was the organizer and first preacher. He preached at Brownsville two Sundays of each month, and at Crawfordsville the other two Sundays. His farm, where he lived for many years, was a mile or two west of Crawfordsville near the Calapooia.

I was born here on my father's old claim, and have spent all my life here. I still use the same well that my father dug in the very early days. By the way, the wife of Mr. Moody, later Governor of Oregon, was my mother's bridesmaid."

Mrs. Ivy Glass Smith is a widow. Her home is directly south of Crawfordsville, on the south bank of the Brush Creek. She is now sixty-eight years of age. Her sight is very poor, she being almost blind, but in every other way she seems to be both hale and hearty. She is a most intelligent woman, and is courteous and friendly, giving the interviewer every aid possible. The shortness and the broken form of this interview is largely due to the fact that it was held late in the day and that the time was too short to complete a really rounded sketch. 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.