WPA Interviews

Howell, Oliver -- Lucelia H. (Jewett)

INTERVIEW, Interview with Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Howell. (Mr. Oliver Howell and Mrs. Lucelia H. (Jewett) Howell.) In this record the events related by Mr. Howell will first be given, after the incidents related by Mrs. Howell.

Mr. Howell said -

My name is Oliver Howell. I was born in Iowa on May 15, 1857 and came to Oregon with my parents in 1863. We traveled by ox train. With me were my brothers and my father and mother. I was only six years old at the time.

We traveled in a very large train and were well defended so that there was little trouble with the Indians.

My father was William Howell, born in Ohio. My mother was Margaret (Carter) Howell and she was born in Virginia. They came to Oregon in 1863 and settled in the Bellknap (?) neighborhood in Benton County, a little west of Monroe. It was at that place that my wife and I were married, or rather, it was there that I lived at the time of our marriage but the ceremony was performed at Albany.

I went to school at Alpine Schoolhouse two miles from my father's place.

Mr. Allie Nichols was my first teacher and, I think my last also. He taught there for a very long time. Among my schoolmates was Hon. Willis Hawley who later became Oregon Senator. My people were all Methodists and we went to church at what was known as the Simpson Chapel. It stood in a beautiful grove of oak trees. Later it was torn down and a little chapel was built in the town of Alpine. We always went to the famous Bellfountain Camp meetings where the Methodists gathered in numbers-It was all a great Methodist neighborhood in the early days. I have often attended camp there for two weeks or more at a time. The principal preachers were I. D. Driver, Phillip Starr and a Mr. Doan.

My wife and I first lived in the Alpine neighborhood but later, when our family were well grown we moved to Halsey which was my wife's native region.

The railroad was just being put through western Oregon and I worked on the line from Halsey and Roseburg, southward, helping to build the grades.

Later, in the 1880's I worked at an old tile factory at Halsey. It was situated on the southern edge of the present town and owned and operated by a man named Nash. After that we moved to Eastern Oregon for a few years and then returned to Linn County and settled permanently in Lebanon. I have worked in the paper mill here at Lebanon for over twenty years but am now retired on a pension given by the company. They first paid me $50.00 per month but since hard times have been rampant that has been reduced to $40.00.

I am the youngest of my father's children. I had four brothers and two sisters. Their names are-

Stephen Howell. He was much older than I and was a soldier during the Civil War.

Milton Howell.

Nancy Howell. She married Thomas Philips and lived on the Alsea.

John Howell.

Commodore Perry Howell.

Calista Howell. Her married name is McFall and her home is at Seattle.

Oliver Howell. (The informant). The youngest of the family. Lives on West Sherman Street, Lebanon.

We have had eight children. My oldest son, Arthur Howell, lost a leg and an arm in battle at Chateau Thierry(?) in the last war. My youngest daughter married Blain Brown who, with his partner, owns Wappato Lake near Gaston where they raise great crops of onions. I have three sons at Huntington, Washington, and one daughter who lives with us here at Lebanon.

Today, May 15th, 1940 is my 81st birthday. On February 9, 1940 we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary here at Lebanon. All of our children were home at that time."

Mrs. Howell made the following statements- "My name is Lucelia H. (Jewett) Howell. I was born on the site of the present town of Halsey on February 7th, 1853. I grew up with the State of Oregon for I was born just seven days before the State was admitted to the Union.

My father was Reuben Jewett. My mother was Lydia Louisa (Hayes) Jewett.

My grandfather, my mother's father was Seth Hayes and my grandmother was Lydia Hayes. One of my uncles, my mother's brother, was Seth Whipple Hayes who was one of the founders of the town of Halsey, the platted town being taken from a part of his Donation Land Claim. The Seth Whipple Hayes claim was situated principally to the south of Halsey and the Reuben Jewett Claim (My father's claim) was situated east of present Halsey and next adjoining.

My uncle, Seth Whipple Hayes was murdered at Halsey and it is an event closely connected with the founding of the town it might be well to record it here. When my uncle deeded the land for the town site he inserted a stipulation in the deed that no liquor should ever be manufactured or sold on the land. Later, when the railroad had brought in the rough element there was a man named K. Neil who wished to open a saloon in the town.

Uncle Whipple fought that and prevented it. This made Neil very angry.

Uncle Whipple was at work digging a well just east of the Railroad one day, and Neil, being half drunk, came over to berate him. Neil said, "I hear you said that I keep a low-down dirty place and no one but a dirty low-down man would keep a saloon."

Uncle answered, "I don't remember saying that but I presume it is true."

Neil stabbed him with a dagger twice. Uncle Whipple lived for several days, then died. K. Heil was hung at Albany.

The Hayes house is the first large green house to the west of the S. P. Ry., just south of Halsey. One of Uncle Whipple's daughters, Mrs. Standish, still lives at Halsey. George Hayes of Albany is a son. The Hayes settled at the site of Halsey in 1853. The Railroad came, the town was platted, and the Halsey Post Office established in 1871.

The Jewetts settled at Halsey at a very early date but I can not certainly state the year. My father, Reuben Jewett first stopped at Portland, then went to Clatsop Plains and stopped with an uncle, John Jewett who had been there for several years before father came. My father and mother were the parents of eight children as follows-

Edd. M. Jewett. Lived at Halsey. His story of early Halsey, published in the Halsey Enterprise a number of years ago is one of the best local histories I have ever seen.

William Jewett. Died at eighteen years.

Three Infant sisters. Died in the East.

Myself, Lucelia Jewett.

Two Infant brothers.

My people were all Methodists. There was a little chapel built in pioneer days a mile or two east of present Halsey. It was called Wesley Chapel and the pioneer members there were the Hayes, the Jewetts, the Pearls, the Smiths and the Van Winkles. This is the VanWinkle family from which Oregon' s present Attorney General came. The preachers there were such pioneer circuit rider of Father John McKinney, I. D. Driver, Philip Starr, James Pearl and a Rev. Mann whom I always liked very much because he always "made over me" when he came to our house.

When I was small there were many Indians about Halsey. As a little girl I talked the Jargon almost more than I talked English. Now I have forgotten most of the words much to my grandchildren's' sorrow who want to hear me talk the funny language. My people lived in California for a time and I was also accustomed to the Indians there. I have seen the old squaws make bread from acorns on many occasions. That was in California. Here the acorns were too small and bitter.

There was a pottery in the Halsey neighborhood at a very early date. The potter's name was Barnett Ramsay. I have often seen him at work. My father and mother would take me there when they wished to buy crocks and jars. I always liked to watch the potter work, his fingers were so fast and he could keep them busy shaping the dishes even while his foot was in constant motion turning the wheel. He ran the wheel by tread-power.

Ramsay was a great fellow to laugh and when he laughed he would just peel his whole face. When I was there he would just take a little roll of clay and throw it on the wheel. He made two little jugs for me but I could not take them with me because they were just raw so instead he gave me two that had been baked. He was quite a joker because when he was making the jugs he asked me "which side shall I put the handles on?" I began to look them over to see which side was best and he said, "Don't you think the outside would be best?" He had a great knack with children.

Ramsay made his pottery to be sold locally. People came to his works from miles about over the central valley. I remember that my father once made a pair of boots for him.

My father ran a tannery at Halsey in the early days. It was situated just outside the city limits of Halsey. He made leather there in summer and in winter he would sit by the fireplace and make his leather into shoes and boots.

My people moved to California in 1870 and came back to Halsey in the Centennial year. We left Halsey on July 8th and came back on July 8th, just five years later. I first went to school at Liberty Schoolhouse in California."

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.