WPA Interviews

Hamilton, J. A.

INTERVIEW, Hamilton, J. A.

Interview with Mr. J. A. Hamilton, Oakville, Oregon.

My name is J. A. Hamilton, and I was born on this place where I now live in the year 1895. My father's name was J. E. (Elmer) Hamilton, and he was born on this place in the year 1862. His father's name was Joseph Hamilton and he was born in Ireland, County Terrone (spelling uncertain) in the year 1819 (March 25). He came from Ireland to Ohio in 1824 and across the plains by ox team to Oregon in 1847. He died on this same place (OC3138) where I now live, on September 12, 1884. I might add that my father died on this same place in January, 1939, only about one month ago. (Note-The purpose of the trip of the field worker had been to interview the father, J. Elmer Hamilton but he found himself a month too late.) "My grandfather with his family arrived in Oregon in the fall of 1847.

Grandmother's name was Caroline Owens. They spent the first winter somewhere near Oregon City and came on to this place arriving on March 1, 1848. There was already a small settlement here including such prominent pioneers as Dr. Washington B. Maley, John McCoy and Josiah Osborn. Maley and McCoy settled near here. Osborn settled in the hills above Brownsville.

All were prominent Presbyterians and soon started the Willamette Congregation, more commonly known as the "Oakville Church". Other early settlers here were the Bogues, the Stocktons and the Bonds.

Another pioneer who settled here the same year as my grandfather was his brother William Hamilton. My grandfather, Joseph Hamilton, and his brother, William Hamilton had been engaged in the threshing business before coming to Oregon. They had threshed both in Ohio and Iowa. When they came to Oregon they brought their threshing machine with them-the first ever brought to this part of the country. When I say that they brought their threshing machine with them I mean that they brought the essential parts. The machine was dismantled and only the metal parts were brought here. When they were ready to use it again they remade all of the wood parts from Oregon timber.

I do not know just what sort of a machine that was. At that early date it must have been very primitive-nothing like our modern machines. They used it for the harvest all around this region. Not all grain was threshed by machine, however. Even my grandfather, besides his mechanical thresher did much threshing by hand. The old barn on this place, which still stands, was originally built with a big threshing floor in one end where the sheaf grain was thrown to be tramped out by oxen or horses. I have heard my grandfather tell that often they would be threshing much of the winter, a little each day. One year when the snows were very deep much stock in this neighborhood was saved to the settlers by this method of threshing. In those days little hay was put up, and the cattle were supposed to make their own way by grazing on the long valley grass. During that winter, when the snows were deep, my grandfather had a great barn piled with sheaf grain for threshing.

The neighbor's cattle were starving but sheaf grain was too expensive to buy for food and grandfather could not thresh it fast enough to supply the demand for straw so it was finally arranged that they might come and tramp grain all day and receive in pay a load of the straw they had threshed. In this way the stock got enough food to survive until the Chinook came and melted the snow.

The house in which I live is the third house built on this place. The first house, of course, was just a cabin of logs such as all settlers built.

It stood on the slope of the hill just a few rods west. There is a big fir tree still standing on that spot. The second house was built on the present house site. It burned in the year 1874 and the present house, large for that day, took its place the same year.

My grandmother, Caroline Owen Hamilton, taught the first school in this neighborhood. She simply gathered the neighborhood children together in her own house and taught them there. There was no public schoolhouse in those days. The first schoolhouse stood on land contributed by Dr. W.B. Maley and situated about three fourths of a mile south of here. It was a little log cabin always spoken of as the "Maley Schoolhouse." In that schoolhouse was organized the "Associate Church" which was the forerunner of the present Oakville United Presbyterian Church. The "Oakville" or Willamette Congregation, together with an "Associate Reformed" church at Union Point united to form the first Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Churches in the world. Of the two the Oakville or Willamette Congregation alone survives.

Rev. Thomas Simpson Kendall D.D. was one of the organizers of the original church. He represented the leadership at Oakville, while Rev. Wilson Blain represented the leadership at Union Point.

My grand father was instrumental in bringing Dr. Kendall to this region.

Dr. Kendall came to Oregon with his two motherless daughters in 1845. He first settled at Oregon City and at a later date my grandfather went down there and had a talk with Kendall, telling him: "There is nothing for you here. Why don't you come and settle near us where opportunities are better." As a result Kendall came and settled on the Calapooia west of here and a few miles north of the present town of Shedd. He helped to organize the church here at Oakville and later he built a church on his own claim and called it "The Calapooia Church" but it became more generally known as "The Kendall's Bridge Church." Kendall's claim was situated just where the "old" road from Shedd to Tangent crosses the Calapooia. A near neighbor of the Kendalls (and also a preacher) was Rev. Thomas Condon, later famous as a geologist.

The settlers here had at first no store or mill, For a time it was necessary to get all flour and supplies from Oregon City, a long trip that was undertaken only once or twice a year. It was on such a trip that grandfather met Kendall persuaded him to come to Linn County.

Grandmother was born in North Carolina in 1826. She died in 1910.

Grandfather and grandmother were married in the year 1844 before starting for Oregon. In 1907 we, that is, our family, still owned every foot of the original Hamilton Donation Land Claim. I still hold quite a bit of it. I now have 158 acres of the original claim. This farm now consists of nearly 300 acres but 130 acres of it was bought at a later date and does not belong to the claim. There are few families who have held on to the old land claim about here, or in the valley. The third generation, in most instances, owns no land taken up by their ancestors. That part of my farm which is part of grandfathers holdings has been in the family for 91 years without transfer except from father to son.

I forgot to tell you that my grandfather and Dr. Kendall went to the California mines together. While he was gone to the mines D. Kendall left his two motherless daughters in the care of Grandmother Caroline Hamilton.

Grandfather did well in California, but not at mining He did very little of that but went into the freighting business instead, considering that it was a surer way to make money.

The Maley schoolhouse where the Oakville church was organized was situated in the west central part of the Cemetery, three fourths of a mile south of here. That schoolhouse was burned at a very early date. When Dr. Kendall died he was buried in the cemetery here, and at his own request his grave was placed as near as possible on the exact spot where his first pulpit stood. After the schoolhouse was burned a new church was built on the present location, about a third of a mile south of the cemetery. Later the present church was built and the original church was bought by my father.

The lumber in it was used to build a barn which still stands here. (A horse barn located at a little distance from the Hamilton residence and to the northeast.) It is now almost ready to fall down.

(In answer to a question as to whether he had ever heard or known of the "Peoria Pottery" established east of Peoria at a very early day by Barnett Ramsay, Mr. Hamilton answered in the negative. When it was suggested that in such an old home, dating back to early days, much pottery from a source so close at hand would probably be found, he showed the field worker several old pieces and three flower pots were found plainly bearing the typical Peoria mark. This item is added as additional proof that such a pottery did exist even though little definite data can be found.) "My mother was named Anna Greenlee. She was born in Illinois in 1868. She died 1937."

(As an addition to the above interview the field worker adds the following facts. He was personally acquainted with Mrs. Caroline Hamilton, the grandmother of the informant. This acquaintance covered the years 1907-1908. Among other bits of information remembered and having been told by this woman was the following)-

When we first came to this neighborhood the Indians were very plentiful here. It was their custom to burn off the valley grass every year. This was to make hunting easier since game was able to hide from sight, the grass often reaching above the back of a small horse. As soon as possible the settlers put a stop to that practice. Besides game the Indians made much use of the acorns from the abundant oak groves hereabouts. The settlers also valued the acorns as a food for hogs. When the burning of the grass was stopped by the settlers an old Indian objected strongly, saying "You no burn grass, no have any acorns." His prophecy proved true for since the annual burning was stopped there has never been the great acorn crops of the earlier years."

When we first came to this country there was far less timber here than at present. Probably the burning kept the fir seedlings down. When we first camped here the whole region between here and the river was open valley.

Now there is heavy timber all that distance. Then we could see clear to the river-Now our view is cut off except for the near-by cultivated fields.

(The mother of the field worker having just arrived in Oregon made the remark that she had missed seeing much of the mountains on her trip west, since she passed through them in the night. Mrs. Hamilton's terse reply was)-

You should have come with an ox team, then you would have seen them enough."

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.