WPA Interviews

Hulburt, Lydia (Savage)

INTERVIEW, Benton County, July 1938, Mrs. Lydia (Savage) Hulburt.

[This was one of the interviews from Benton County that were included with the Linn County ones. Note: done in Albany.]

(Mrs. Hulburt was interviewed at her home, 1041 W. Tenth St., Albany, Oregon. She is a member of the Savage family who were important in the early days in the Summit Community of Benton County. Mrs. Hulburt's memory is fair.)

My father, Morgan Savage, (OC 2326) came from Illinois to Oregon in 1846. Father was two weeks under twenty-one when the train started. On the morning of his twenty-first birthday he saddled his horse and set out to overtake the train. As soon as he caught them he was married to my mother. Another man, a cousin I think, was married at the same time. My mother's name was Frances Brisbin. (?)

There was no serious trouble on account of the Indians but because of wrong directions, trying to take a new route and having to retrace their steps, and such misfortunes, they were greatly delayed and it was Christmas Day when they arrived at the Long Tom River in Lane County.

Because of the prolonged trip food ran short and all except the youngest children were on short rations. After they had gotten safely across the Cascades, a band of friendly Indians appeared and offered to sell them "Jerked beef". They bought a good supply, cooked it eagerly, and had a feast. The next morning a short distance from camp they passed some dead horses, from whose hindquarters the Indians had cut and jerked the "beef".

The first winter father and mother were taken in by Green Berry Smith who was "baching" in a one room log cabin with a dirt floor a few miles south of Corvallis. Father put in the winter splitting rails for Smith. Cooking was done over a fireplace. When father had money enough ahead to buy an old skillet in which they could cook bread, they thought they were well fixed.

The next summer father got a farm at Independence. He was a blacksmith and gunsmith, and farming was a side issue with him. After a time at Independence father moved to Felger's Mill on Marys River west of the present site of Philomath. This was a community center and father opened a blacksmith shop there. I was born in 1860. When I was yet a small girl father moved to the Upper Marys River near Summit and that was his home until his death. His farm there was just north of the present site of Summit Station. He had the only body of timber close to Summit that had escaped the big fire that swept that country about 1840. This timber was cut off and used in construction of the first railroad to Newport.

I went to school in Summit. The only teacher whom I remember was Florence Porter. She afterward married a man named Hale.

In 1878 I married Austin Hulburt and moved to Linn County. Our two children were Edward and Claude. Edward died in 1911. Claude lives at Blachly, in Lane County. My husband's people were pioneers of Linn County.

My oldest sister, Martha, married Jasper Miller; Adda married Frank Thrasher; Sallie's husband was E.D. Turner; and Mary's husband was John Morrow, of Portland. Elizabeth first married John Henderson, and after his death, a man named Crane. My youngest sister, Ida, was also married twice, to Mr. Burgen and Mr. Gallion.

James married Frances Liggett, whose folks were pioneers in central Benton County. John's wife was Jane Bowman. George married Mary Pike, and Charles, one of the King girls.

Besides myself only Mary, Thomas, and Ida are living.

(From the Family Bible.)

Morgan R. Savage, born Feb. 13, 1825.

Frances L. Oct. 17, 1828.

Martha J. March 30, 1847.

James W. Sept. 26, 1848.

John P. May 11, 1851.

George W. Dec. 8, 1853.

Charles A. March 14, 1856.

Adda D. March 21, 1858.

Lydia Sept. 1, 1860.

Sallie L. Sept. 16, 1862.

Mary C. April 10, 1865.

Elizabeth A. May 30, 1867.

Thomas J. Nov. 17, 1869.

Ida E. Sept. 27, 1872.

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.