WPA Interviews

Taylor, Louisa A. Cunningham

INTERVIEW, with Mrs. Louisa A. Cunningham Taylor. Halsey, Oregon, Nov. 30, 193_

My people were very early pioneers in Oregon but I can give you very little history of my family except some names and dates. My grandfather, John Cunningham came to Oregon in 1852 from the state of Indiana. My grandmother, Mary W. Christman Cunningham was born in Virginia. They were married in Indiana before coming to Oregon. To this marriage ten children were born, five boys and five girls. Their names were:

William Marion Cunningham, born in Indiana. (See Grant Cunningham [son] Interview) m. Betsey Porter

John W. Cunningham, born in Indiana m. Nancy Sommerville 21 April 1861.

James C. Cunningham. (Father of the narrator)

Frank Charles Cunningham. He died at the age of 15 or 16 years.

Lizzie Cunningham. Married name Miller. (Enoch?)

Eliza Cunningham. Married name Givens.

Synthia Ann Cunningham. Married name Miller (Moses), 22 Mar 1855, Linn County

Lucy Miranda Cunningham. Married name Presley (Elias).

(The other two children are supposed to have died in infancy.)

My grandfather took up a claim near Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. (About three miles southeast of Halsey.) Among his early neighbors were the pioneer settler names McMahon, Uncle John Miller, and Jim Prater.

My father was James C. Cunningham, third son of the above. My mother was Mary E. Earl. My mother's father's name was William Earl. The Earls came to Oregon in 1852 or 1853 and settled on the Santiam east of Albany. My mother and father were married about the year 1865. (24 Oct 1867, Linn Co. Marriage Records.)

My father and mother's family consisted of ten children:

John William Cunningham, oldest of the family, born in 1866. (?? Aged 2 yrs in the 1870 Census)

Lucy M. Cunningham. She was married twice. Her first husband's name was Kiser. Her second husband Whrene.

Elizabeth Cunningham. Died while young.

Louisa A. Cunningham (Myself) Born 1873. Married George Taylor October 1885.

Mary W. Cunningham. Married Fred Overton of the Halsey neighborhood.

Lee Cunningham.

Estella Cunningham. Married name Belmont. Deceased.

Wayne Cunningham.

Clista Cunningham. Married name Williams. Lives in California.

Harrison Cunningham.

Robert E. Cunningham.

I was married to George W. Taylor at Halsey Oregon. My husband's people were of pioneer stock. The family reached Oregon in 1852 and settled seven miles south of Salem. The old family home was the first house north of the present town of Turner. John Taylor, his grandfather, came to Oregon in the year 1847 and took up a farm one mile east of Aumsville. His grave is in the Aumsville cemetery and a memorial marker is now being erected there in his honor, memorializing not only his pioneer history but the fact that he was a soldier of the American War of 1812.

My grandmother's father (Christman) was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. We have some family history concerning him. During that trouble he was in the (then) far west, and was taken prisoner. He was kept close for some time but was finally released as a trusty to do hunting for his captors. He hunted close about the camp for a time, and made a point of always being close at hand when wanted. However, as his captors became used to having him at large he hunted further and further away, always coming back at regular intervals. Finally, however, he went further and further and at last made a break for liberty. He swam the Mississippi and hastened for his home. However, a pursuing party overtook him but he hid beneath a bush close beside the trail and they passed without seeing him. At length he reached his home, late in the night, and knocked. My grandmother, then a young girl, opened the door but did not recognize her father, neither did the rest of the family. His hair and beard were grown long but they allowed him to come in and wash himself and cut his locks. Finally after he was clean and shaved they realized who he was. (This captivity was among the Indians.) When father was captured the Indians went into the house and carried off everything that the family owned. My grandmother was one of a family of ten children as were my father and myself.

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.