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WPA Interviews: Harder, Ida (Maxwell) Cummings
INTERVIEW, Feb 19, 1940
Interview with Mrs. Ida Maxwell Cummings Harder, Albany, Oregon
My name is Ida Maxwell Harder. I was born in Linn County Oregon on June 4, 1867. I first attended school at the old Harmony Schoolhouse which is a few miles northwest of the present town of Halsey. There was an early pioneer United Presbyterian Church at Harmony at one time.
Later I attended school at what is known as the Oak Plain School which is two miles north and one half mile west of Halsey. The school district was organized there very early-in 1852, I think. Among the early teachers at that school was Charles Mattoon, the well-known Baptist Preacher and the author of "Baptist Annals", which is the chief authority on Oregon Baptist Pioneer history.
When I was going to school I was not a natural scholar but I had teachers-and parents too-who did enough persuading me to keep at my studies. Sometimes the persuader was a stiff dose of "hazel tea". After finishing the country school course at Harmony and at Oak Grove I attended and graduated from Albany College and from the Oregon State Normal School and then at Oread Institute, having won a scholarship there.
After finishing my education I taught school for a while. This was my first period of School teaching. Later I took up the work again and taught for several years.
I was married to W. A. Cummings on July 3, 1910. Was divorced in 1914 and again took up school teaching. Later I was twice elected to the office of County School Superintendent. Since giving up teaching I have continued to live here in Albany. My present husband's name is Harder.
Now of course you are interested principally in pioneer happenings. I am not really old enough to be called a pioneer but I am the descendant of two pioneer families so perhaps I can tell you a few things of interest.
Yes, I was well acquainted with the Ramsey family who lived northwest of present Halsey. Jacob Ramsay was Barnett Ramsay and he was a potter. That is one of the very distinct memories of my childhood-going to visit at the Ramsay home and watching Barnett Ramsay make pottery. One of the great pleasures of my childhood was to ride on the sweep pulled by a single horse which operated the great potter's mixing wheel. The clay would be put in a sort of a circular trough or vat where it was ground and mixed to the proper consistency for pottery work by the old horse pulling a great wheel round and round. That mixing wheel was large and heavy. I do not know what it was made of but it might have been of wood or of heavy baked clay. Riding on the sweep that operated that big wheel was to me, like a present day child riding on a merry-go-round.
You say that very few persons now know about that pottery. That is very strange for I remember it so plainly. I was born up there on the next farm and as soon as my eyes were open I knew about it. Ramsay got his clay right there beside his pottery works. There used to be a big pit from which he dug the clay. The place where the pottery stood was on land now owned by Mr. William Wells. About one-half mile north of the present Wells residence, in the middle of a big field but on the edge of a sloping bench-land there still stands an old cedar tree. The pottery was right beside that tree.
The pottery which Barnett Ramsay made was usually glazed a dark brown but it did not have a very smooth or high gloss. He never stamped any of his ware with his name or trademark. I am very sure of that for I have seen so very many of his pieces and none were ever marked.
Ramsay made jugs and jars and crocks. I used to have many of his pieces but I have given them all away. I remember particularly that Barnett Ramsay made a little sugar-bowl and cream pitcher for each of his friends in the neighborhood. He gave one of those sets to my parents. I had it until recent years and then gave them to my daughter. (Foster-daughter, rather. She is really a niece.) I was much displeased with her for she did not like the color and painted them black. She is Mrs. Elmer Munson and now lives between Halsey and Peoria where you can see them if you wish.
Besides the creamer and sugar-bowl which Barnett Ramsay made for all his neighbors, he made a toy churn and butter-bowl for each little girl of his acquaintance. The churn was about five inches tall and the butter-bowl in proportion. I had a churn and bowl but after our home was burned they never showed up. Besides, he made a clay penny bank for each of the boys in the neighborhood.
I very well remember a joke which Barnett Ramsay liked to tell. He was making a clay jug and my mother was there. Mother was watching closely and all at once Barnett asked her: "Which side do you think the handle should go on?" Mother began to examine the jug closely to see which side looked best and Barnett laughed and said: "I really think that it should be on the out-side."
My mother's sister, Polly Powell married Barnett Ramsay's son Henry Ramsay, so you see our families were rather closely connected. (Handwritten note: Also, my mother's brother, Joseph Goble Powell married Mellisa Ann Ramsay, a daughter of Barnett Ramsay.)
Barnett Ramsay was a very tall, large man. There was, if I remember correctly, a small bend or "hump" to his shoulders. He usually looked very stern but he was not at all so in fact. Without doubt he was a courageous man. To show what I mean I will tell a neighborhood story.- "'There was a certain man in our neighborhood, (Note: I will call him Mr. Blank) who raised fine big horses. When this man had a team of horses for sale and someone else in the neighborhood offered a team in competition, curiously, something always seemed to happen to one or both horses of the competing team, either one or both horses would die, or be sick, or become lame. No one could prove guilt but it was commonly understood throughout the neighborhood that it was "unlucky" to compete with Mr. Blank in the market. The only real evidence ever discovered was traces of a curious white powder about certain watering-troughs. Mr. Blank was considered a dangerous man so no one ever said anything to him. For a long time this continued but finally Barnett Ramsey seemed to think that things had gone too far. One day he took a coil of new rope on his arm and went to call on Mr. Blank. They talked for a time about the unfortunate death and sickness of neighborhood horses. Finally Barnett Ramsey tossed out a loop of his rope and said: "How would you like to find yourself looking through that?" That was all but the mysterious sickness, lameness and deaths among horses ceased at once.
Barnett Ramsay's wife was German. She was slender and tall and her mouth was always puckered. Barnett himself was a great worker. He and his wife Elizabeth, and my Aunt Polly Powell Ramsay are all buried in the Central Christian Church Cemetery a few miles east of Albany.
Ramsey's kiln where he baked his pottery was a big, round place built of brick. He would fill it up with the raw pottery, then cover all openings with dirt and keep a hot fire going for a long time.
All these memories are very clear concerning the old pottery. I do not know just how old I was then but I do remember that when we went there for dinner there were not enough chairs to go around so I either had to wait for the second table or stand up. When I stood up at the table I was just big enough to nicely reach things on the plate.
(Note. The informant was born in 1867. Barnett Ramsay died in 1872. The informant was, therefore, only five years old when the pottery ceased to operate. L. Haskin, field worker.)
As I have said, I am not really a pioneer, but I can give you quite a bit about my parents family on the Powell side-but little about the Maxwell side.
The first of the Maxwells to arrive in Oregon was my father's Uncle Lud Maxwell. (Handwritten notes-D.L.C. #1470. Arr. 1847. SC 1849. m. Delila Marshall Fall, Sec. #5170) I can not tell the exact date when he reached Oregon, but it was quite early.
My father was Anthony P. Maxwell. He was born in Illinois November 3, 1833. He died March 16, 1910. While he was still quite young when his parents died. He came to Oregon in 1860 (Note, other information in the writers possession seems to indicate that Anthony Maxwell came at a rather earlier date). He had been raised after his parent's death by a family by the name of Wykoff, but when he reached Oregon he went to the home of his uncle Lud Maxwell who had taken up land near what is now known as "Cottonwood Corners" about six miles east of Albany.
My father, Anthony P. Maxwell, married my mother, Nancy Powell, on November 1, 1860. They first lived on a farm near the South Santiam River about eight miles east of Albany. At that place their two oldest children were born. A little later they bought a farm, a part of the John B.
Yarobrough's (?) Donation Land Claim, on the banks of Muddy Creek about five miles northwest of Halsey. The Barnett Ramsay farm where the pottery stood was just across the creek to the north and adjoining my parent's place.
To my parents were born the following children-
My mother's name was Nancy Powell. Of the Powell family I can give a rather more complete account. Mother was born May 6, 1843. She died April 23, 1902. She was a daughter of Alfred and Hannah Powell came to Oregon by the overland route in 1851.
Now I shall go back and trace the Powell clan for a few generations back of the Emigration to Oregon. The first recorded member of our clan in America was- James Powell. He was the grandfather of my grandfather, Alfred Powell, and of John A., _____ and Noah Powell who also came to Oregon with my grandfather. James Powell was a soldier in the revolution and a settler in Clark County, Virginia.
Joseph Powell, the son of the above James was born February 13, 1784. He died in 1848. His wife was Sarah Alkire, born December 24, 1786. She was a daughter of Rev. John Alkire.
The Children of Joseph and Sarah Powell, bringing us to the beginning of the family in Oregon history, were-
A number of the children from this large family came to Oregon. Of the Powell wives, Savilla and Mary Smith who married John Alkire and Noah Powell respectively, were sisters. Both came to Oregon with their husbands in 1851. A brother, Josiah Smith, also came in the same train. He took up a Donation claim in Linn County and married Nancy Ann Maxwell. He was an Indian War Veteran (Oregon).
In 1851 the members of the Powell family organized a train and started for Oregon. My grandfather, Alfred Powell, with his family, were among those who came. This train also numbers among its members my grandfather's brothers John A., and Noah, also George Alkire who was my grandfather's uncle. Other members of the train were F. S. Powell, Wm. McFadden, A.
Steuben Powell, J. B. Smith, John Alkire, Wm. Shirl, and S. Hamilton. Henry Powell, Jemima Powell, Ann Shirl, Joseph Williams, John Davis, James Turner, J. M. Jacks, Jack Engle, Bob Brown, Presss and Sam Black, and Bob Estes.
The above S. Hamilton was an orphan boy who later wrote a considerable account of the trip. Of his purpose in coming to Oregon he wrote- "'I was an orphan boy and my home was anywhere I was treated kindly. So came west to grow up with the country'
The Powell train started from Menard County, Illinois, on April 3d, 1851.
It reached the Foster ranch at the end of the Barlow Trail in the Willamette Valley September 3d of the same season. The journey thus was covered in exactly five months to the day.
The three brothers, Alfred, Noah and John A. Powell each took up a Donation Land Claim. Alfred Powell, my grandfather, as already stated, was born in Ohio, July 10, 1810.
When grandfather was fifteen his parents moved from Ohio to Illinois, then, after his marriage to Hannah Shirrell, his second wife, he came to Oregon. His first wife was Sarah Bracken whom he married in 1834. Perhaps as this family history is rather involved I had better begin all over and put things in tabulated order-
2d Marriage-
Her children after marrying Alfred Powell were-
3d marriage- Mrs. Abigail Mane, 1860. She died Dec. 13, 1873.
4th marriage- Mrs. Mary Cooper Churchill.
Alfred Powell was a veteran of the Black Hawk Indian War. For many years he was a minister of the Christian Church, as was also his brother John Powell. These two brothers were the principle movers in the organization of the Central Christian Church. The first building was erected in a grove on Alfred Powell's claim. Later the church was removed a mile or two further west and a new, larger building erected. The church has now lapsed but the old cemetery remains there and in it Grandfather is buried.
At the Central Christian Church grandfather preached the first and third Sunday of each month while his brother John preached on the second and fourth Sundays. Grandfather continued to preach until he died. (December 18, 1881).
Besides raising his own family grandfather had the care of several other children. Among these were a nephew, Taylor Propst who became an orphan when his parents, Anthony Propst and Lucinda Powell Propst died on the way to Oregon in 1852.
In speaking of the marriages of Alfred Powel's Daughters as recorded above, I will say that the Henry Ramsay who married Polly Powell was a son of Barnett Ramsay the potter of which we have already spoken.
(Note-Ida Maxwell Cummings Harder, the informant in this interview is a woman with a wonderful memory and keen perceptions. She twice served as County School Superintendent of Schools of Linn County.) (Mrs. Harder brought out an old doll to show to the worker. It was a most interesting family memento. The following is the data given concerning it- Name - Susan Maxwell.
Owner (or mother). Ida Maxwell.
Made in 186?. Has mother's hair. Mother's wedding belt buckle, worn Nov.
1, 1860. May wedding garters, worn July 3, 1910. Grandmother's ring over 100 years old. Ben Hocum's friendship button, presented to me in 1875.
Sister Rosa's beads given her by a squaw "Lucy" about 1862. Shoes made from the tops of mother's 1875. Dress made 1885. Biography written by "her mother."
Maxwell Genealogy
Two brother, Thomas and Ludlo Maxwell of Scotch and French descent, born in Ohio.
( Owen.
( John.
Ludlow (
( Jane.
( Mary.
( Dick
( William ( Lizzie.
( ( Bessie
( .
(
(
( ( John
( Julia (
( ( Bessie.
(
(
(
Thomas (
(
( ( Rose Jane Maxwell.
( ( Hannah Joanna
( ( Oscar Carey
( ( Ida Elizabeth (Informant)
( Anthony ( George Mattison.
( ( Minnie Myrtle
( ( Frank Marion.
(
( ( Alla
( Mattison (
( ( George
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.
| Owner of original | Transcribed by Patricia Dunn |
| Linked to | WPA Interviews for Linn County Oregon; Ida Elizabeth MAXWELL Cummings Harder |
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