WPA Interviews

Truax, Elizabeth Cardwell

INTERVIEW, with Elizabeth Cardwell Truax, March 20 1940.

My name is Elizabeth Cardwell Truax. I am a descendant of a number of pioneer families so I do not know just which one to tell about. Perhaps it would be best to begin with my father for although an early pioneer he was not an Oregon emigrant at so early a date as some of my people and his tale will be the shortest.

My father was born in Kentucky in 1828. His full name was Caleb Wilson Cardwell. In 1848 my father started for California to the gold mines. He was a single man and so had little baggage or encumbrances. He rode a horse and so made good time on the trip. Father mined in California until the late 1850's. Then he made a trip into British Columbia prospecting for gold but the Indians were very bad there and he did not remain long. He returned south as far as Walla Walla and there he bought a string of mules and equipment for freighting. His plan was to go back to California and begin a freighting business.

On the way back to California my father chanced to stop for a night here in Linn County at the home of Enoch Miller near Knox Butte. Enoch Miller's mother and others, including my mother, wished to go to California. They persuaded my father to stop over until they could get ready and then act as their guide to California. Thus it came about that mother rode one father's mules back to California and when they got there they were married. That was, I think, in 1863.

Father and mother lived in California until 1872 and then they came back to Linn County and lived on my mother's property near the present station of Dever.

My mother's name was Malinda Jane McClain. (No birth date was given but it was stated that "she was much younger than my father".) She was born while her parents were crossing the plains. (1847). They left Pike County, Missouri on April 16, 1847, reached the Missouri River about May 2 and the Willamette Valley on September 24th of the same year. Their last camp was at Howell Prairie, September 27, 1847. Mr. Howell at Howell's Prairie had a cabin and they lived in that throughout the winter and came on to Linn County in 1848. My mother's father was Edwin Terry McClain born in Boone County, Missouri November 2, 1825. He was an Oregon Indian War veteran. He died about 25 years ago. My mother's mother was Elizabeth McClain. Her maiden name was Rupe. She was born in Clay County, Missouri in 1849. (An evident mistake). She died in Polk County, Oregon June 4, 1852. Her death was partly the results of exposure and hardships suffered during the early pioneer days. During their first winter in Oregon my grandfather went to Oregon City for supplies. Their provisions were so low that they had nothing but a part of a sack of peas and a little beer. While grandfather was away-it was in February-grandmother made up her mind that she would make some maple sugar to add to their supply of food. The weather was freezing and thawing with heavy rains between. Grandmother worked very hard in the storms, tapping the trees and carrying in the sap and boiling it down. She got sick and never got entirely over it, living only a few years.

I can remember another story which my grandfather told me about a trip to Oregon City. I do not know what year this occurred. At any rate it was the time when Dr. McLaughlin lost his mill at Oregon City Falls. There was a great storm and flood and grandfather used to describe how McLoughlin stood bareheaded out on the rocks in the storm, his white hair blowing in the rain crying to the workmen, "Save the saw! Let all else go but be sure and save the saw!"

My grandfather and grandmother had only three children. They were:

Malinda Jane McClain, (My mother), born on the plains in 1847.

Mary Louisa McClain.

Allen McClain. Allen McClain was Chief of Police at Albany for many years.

This interview seems to have begun at the wrong end. I began with the later generations and worked back. Now I will go back one more generation and tell of my great-grandfather.

My great-grandfather, William McClain was born in 1796. He married Malinda Oakley in Montgomery County, Ky., in 1816. At that time he was twenty years of age and she was sixteen. To them were born nine children. Their names were:

Amanda McClain. She was married to Joseph Kelly in Platt County, Missouri in 1838. They came to Oregon in 1847 with her father.

Carolyn McClain. She married Cyrus Pitney in Platt Co., Mo, in 1839.

Elizabeth Ann McClain. Born in Kentucky. Married George Young in Platt Co., Mo. 1847. Never came to Oregon. She was the only one of her family who remained in the east.

Edmond Carey McClain. (Narrator's grandfather). Came to Oregon in 1847. He married Grandmother Susan Elizabeth Rupes who was born in Clay Co., Mo. She died in Polk County, Oregon in 1852.

Rachel Maria McClain. Came to Oregon with her father in 1847. Married Thomas E. Howell at Howell's Prairie in 1847. The Howells were from New Jersey. They went back there again in about ten or twelve years and then again started to return to Oregon. The last ever heard of them was at Santa Fe, New Mexico. After that they dropped from sight. It is believed that they were massacred by the Indians.

Louisa McClain. She married Thomas Allphin in Oregon in 1849. One of her daughters, Mrs. Edward Meeker, still lives in this county and only a few miles north of here.

James Thomas McClain. Married Olive Ogle in Linn County. Later I shall tell you of his experiences with claim jumpers after his father's death.

Elvira McClain. Born in Platt County, Mo. Married Titus Smith.

Ella Ann McClain. Born in Plate County, Mo. September 15, 1843. She is still living at Albany, Oregon and is still quite active and has a clear memory.

Great grandfather was a widower when he brought his family to Oregon. My great-grandmother died in Missouri in the year 1845.

Great grandfather took up a claim in what is now known as the Syracuse country north of Albany, lying between the Willamette and Santiam Rivers. His claim was close to the Willamette on what is now known as "Wilson Lake." It was a beautiful spot just on the shore of the lake. In 1850 great-grandfather died. Before his death he had married again but there were no children born to that marriage. He was 54 years old at the time of his death.

After great grandfather died his children, such as were still living at home, continued to live on the claim. At that time an incident took place of which few know but I think that it should be made a matter of record. At that time James Thomas McClain was sixteen years of age. He was the oldest of the family who was at home at the time. With him were Elvira, about fourteen years of age and Ella Ann the youngest girl, 8 years old. The stepmother was away at the time. James Thomas was at work on the claim doing some plowing. Two men drove up and went out to see the young plowman. They had guns in their hands and ordered him to leave. The children without any backing could do nothing but obey. The two men moved into the cabin and took over the claim.

This was before the claim had been proved up. Later a number of neighbors offered to go and turn the claim jumpers out but James McClain declined. He said that he had about concluded to go elsewhere anyway so would not take the trouble to try and get the land back. However, at a later date I understand that the men were forced to pay the widow of the claim owner for her share or interest in it. The two men who jumped the claim were named Byland and McPherson. McPherson later became Oregon's first state printer. Byland was a prominent citizen of this region for many years. Their claims covered the McClain land. It was in the year 1851 that this incident took place. That is why there is no William McClain Donation Land Claim recorded even though he came at so early a date. The incident was well known in that region for many years but now it is mostly forgotten yet when I was small the McClains used to taunt the Bylands and McPhersons as "being nothing but claim-jumpers".

Great Grand-father William McClain is buried at the Miller Cemetery and if you go by his inscription date he was the first person buried there. That, however, is deceiving, for he was first buried on his old claim and his body was later removed to the Miller Cemetery. A man named Turnidge, whose grave is not marked, is supposed to be the first burial in the Miller Cemetery.

I might interpolate here that the emigrant train in which great-grandfather McClain and my grandfather Edmond McClain and the rest of the family came was captained by William Allphin. The train consisted of over one hundred ox teams. William Allphin, incidentally, was also my great-grandfather in another line of my family. He was a member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1851.

I have already stated that one of the children on the McClain claim when it was jumped was the youngest of the family, Ella Ann McClain. She is still living in Albany. She was only about eight years old at the time of that incident. Her present name is Mrs. Burbank, having been married a number of times.

Before the claim-jumping incident she had another adventure which I have often heard her tell. Her father went to Howell's Prairie and left only three small children at home alone. Ella Ann at the time was about six years old. The children, being inexperienced in keeping fires carelessly failed to bank the hearth. In the morning they had no fire. The three small children took an old iron kettle and started out to borrow fire. The nearest neighbor was three miles away. They got their fire and started back but the way was long; the fire began to dwindle. Part of the land was fenced along their way and they were forced frequently to stop along the rail fences and scrape off dry pieces of bark and flakes of lichens to replenish the flame.

Ella McClain Burbank had a most adventurous life. She lost her mother in 1845 before coming to Oregon. She was raised by her older sister Louisa McClain Allphin. She married Marion Allphin in the year 1857. With her husband she want to the Crossing of the Umatilla where they lived for a number of years running a sort of rest camp for the emigrants-cooking and serving meals to transients. She had no stove, not even a fireplace, but cooked over an open fire.

In 1862 there was a high water and the bridge across the Deschutes was carried out. There was no way of getting supplies except by going to The Dalles one hundred and ten miles away.

On January 5, 1862 her husband started with a large party to go to The Dalles for supplies. A storm overtook them and they became scattered. Her husband was frozen to death. For two weeks she was alone with nothing but beef to eat. She had one child, and a nephew; Allen McClain aged thirteen years was with her. To keep from freezing to death they burned fence rails. Allen McClain would bring in a rail on his shoulder and together they would saw it up with a handsaw.

Some of the others in that party were also frozen and it was a long time before they found their bodies. Marion McAllphin left home on January 5, 1862. His body was not found until the snow went off in the spring (April 1, 1862). He was buried just where his body was found and a rock cairn raised over the grave. That cairn can still be seen there. It is in a big gully out eastward from The Dalles.

One of the interesting early churches in this neighborhood was known as "The Little Bethel Church". It was organized on the Exum Powell claim in 1848. This land on which I now live was a part of the Exum Powell claim but I have never been able to learn just where his cabin stood. The first trustees of the church were Exum Powell, John Crooks and Abraham Miller Jr. In later years this church became known as "The Church Which Traveled", because George Miller Sr. and Abraham Miller Jr., and other members moved to southern Oregon mines and took the church organization with them. It is an interesting story. (This story has already been sent in. L.H.) The land now occupied by the Miller Cemetery was deeded to this church for building purposes but to the best of my knowledge no building was ever erected there.

One of the very first schools ever kept in Linn County was situated not far from the old Miller Cemetery. I have never been able to place it exactly but it is on a hill and there is a spring near by so it might not be impossible to locate the spot.

The first ferry on the Santiam River was situated below Jefferson-about one mile. It was run by Milton Hale and was established in 1846. There was a considerable colony of Hale's there in the early days. There was Milton Hale, William Hale and William Hale Jr. I think that Milton and William Hale were brothers. I have often heard my people tell of crossing the Hale Ferry when they came to Oregon. They were especially interested in Mrs. Hale's manner of dressing. She had on a calico waist, a Hudson Bay blanket for a skirt and beaded Indian moccasins.

(Mrs. Truax is an elderly woman but by no means decrepit. Her interest in early days has been active and she has a large amount of historic material, which she has collected, but, unfortunately, she had recently loaned her collection to a friend and did not have her notes to refer to. She lives on a farm on the east side of U. S. Highway 99E, a few miles north of Albany. Her home is the first house north of Tumble Inn at that place.)

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.