WPA Interviews

Haight, A. Samantha (Zimmerman)

INTERVIEW, April 2, 1940

Interview with Mrs. Samantha Haight. (Resides a few miles north of Knox Butte.)

My name is Mrs. A. Samantha Zimmerman Haight. I was born on March 24, 1865. My people were not of pioneer stock as we came to Oregon in the 1880' s but I have lived among pioneers for so long and heard so much of my husband's family history that perhaps I can give you some of their story.

This house in which I live is one of the best old pioneer houses left in this region. It was built by Judge G. H. Baber some time in the early 1850' s. Just when it was built no one positively knows. Some of my neighbors claim that it was built as early as 1848 but that, I am certain, is a mistake.

G. H. Baber came to Oregon in 1845. It is therefore possible that this house was built three years later, in 1848, but not probable. As you can see it is no makeshift affair and I scarcely believe that Judge Baber could have got around to build so well within three years of his arrival.

Besides, it was no short time job to saw the lumber and plane and prepare all the pieces by hand for such a house as this. Not even the windows could be bought then, but the frames and sashes were all worked out by hand. The plan of this house, or at least its outward appearance is supposed to be like that of the White House, the President's residence at Washington, D. C.

(Field worker's note. Mrs. Elizabeth Lines, a resident of the Knox Butte neighborhood for many years and who has made an especial study of the "Twelve Knox Butte Pioneers" declares positively that the Haight house was built in 1846, that it was the first frame house built in Linn County. Her exact words are- "Silas Haight came in 1845. He brought tools with him and he and his wife made the boards for the old house, copied after the White House at Washington. A big grape vine, one of the first ever planted in Linn County grows about the eaves."

A picture of this old house showing it as it appeared in 1878 is published in Illustrated Atlas Map of Marion and Linn Counties. - Edgar Williams & Co. 1878. Page 78.)

Continuing Mrs. Haight's statement-

G. H. Baber and Silas Haight came to Oregon in the same emigrant train in 1845. Their wives were sisters for each married a daughter of Mr. James Knox who also came to Oregon in 1845 but by another train. The following sentences were x'd out. Silas Haight was already married when he came to Oregon. G. H. Baber is supposed to have first met his wife after reaching Oregon City.

Haight and Baber and the Knox family are supposed to have first met at Oregon City after reaching Oregon. G. H. Baber married Miss E. J. Knox and they settled on this farm where I now live and built this house. Silas Haight married Rebecca Ann Spalding who was a widowed daughter of James Knox. She had been widowed before starting for Oregon and had one child, Henry Spalding. They were married on April 12, 1846 and took up a Donation Land Claim on the banks of the Willamette River about two miles west of the Baber Claim. There they lived until 1860, when, being dissatisfied with the low land along the river they sold out and purchased Baber's claim. That is how both families and claim are a bit confusing.

"Henry Spalding, Silas Haight's step-son died September 22, 1853 and was the first burial in the "Knox Butte Cemetery." (Note- The inscription on the grave of this child states that he was the "Son of H. and R. A. Spalding, and was born July 3, 1843.") The children of Silas and Rebecca Ann Haight were- Granville Baber Haight. Born June 9, 1847. Died March 31, 1921.

Sarah Letitia Haight. Born June 9, 1849. Died Nov. 21, 1934. She married Sylvander A. Dawson who was born 1842 and died 1912.

James Knox Haight. Born March 30, 1851. Died February 26, 1921.

Ann Cordelia Haight. Born July 12, 1853. Died October 11, 1874, aged 21 years.

Franklin Delos Haight. Born March 12, 1856. Died May 22, 1932.

Henry Delos Haight (Informant's husband). Born Dec. 4, 1861. Died March 11, 1930. (Note- Inscription in the Knox Butte Cemetery seems to show that Henry D. Haight was twice married. His first wife "Clara" was born in 1863 and died 1889.)

The father, Silas Haight was born in New York, January 18, 1818. He died May 12, 1885. The mother, Rebecca Ann (Knox) Haight was born in Pennsylvania September 6, 1821 and died September 6, 1821. (?) "My husband's grandfather on his mother's side of the family was James Knox. He came to Oregon in 1845. His claim, on the sides of Knox Butte gave the name to that hill.

It was on the Knox claim, in a barn, that the first election was held in Linn County. This was under the Provisional Government. All records of that election have been lost but the Sheriff who was elected there was Jason Wheeler.

James Knox, my husband's maternal grandfather, was born in 1790. He died in 1874. His wife was Letitia Smith Knox, born 1795, died 1878. The father of James Knox was a Revolutionary Soldier. His sword, for he was an officer, was made with a solid silver hilt. James Knox finally had that silver hilt made into teaspoons by a silversmith. They bear the initials of his wife on the handle and are so thin and soft that when used for teething by the babies of the family some of them were bitten entirely through. I still have those spoons, now mended but showing the marks of the baby's teeth. (These were shown to the field worker.) We still have the old family churn which was made here in Oregon for the Haight family. My husband could just remember when it was brought home carried on a horse behind his father's saddle. I also have the small flax wheel which came across the plains in 1844. It was originally made for Letitia Knox.

(Other family souvenirs were brought out for exhibition including a set of six glass cup-plates, a sampler made by Letitia Smith Knox in 1812 and an old "Camphor bottle", also brought across the plains.) "One of the very first grape vines to be planted in Linn County still grows about the walls of my old house. It was planted by G. H. Baber and is now very large. It is of the "Isabell" variety. (The writer noted this old vine. In size and vigor it is remarkable. L.H.) "G. H. Baber was a member of the Linn County Court in 1853.

My husband and I had but one child. He is Claire Delmar Haight and he lives in this community. He was born January 19, 1890.

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.