WPA Interviews for Linn County Oregon

Kirk, Andrew Warren

Interview with Andrew Warren Kirk.

I was born here at Brownsville in the year 1854. My father was Riley Kirk a pioneer of 1846. My grandfather was Alexander Kirk, a pioneer of the same year. The Kirks arrived in Oregon with the same train as the Browns and Blakeleys, founders of Brownsville, but they lingered in Polk County during the first winter and came on to the Calapooya Valley in the spring of 1847.

My grandfather took up a claim just west of Brownsville (now a part of Brownsville) and started the first ferry across the Calapooya here. This place was at first called Kirk's Ferry. Later Brownsville. My father, who was already married when he arrived in Oregon took up his claim to the eastward, just outside of the present of the present city limits and on the north side of the river.

I was named by, and after Andrew Warren, an early settler here. Warren was the husband of Eliza Spaulding (Warren), daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Henry Harmon Spaulding, early Nez Perce Missionaries. Eliza was a survivor of the Whitman massacre. The Spauldings came to Brownsville after the Whitman massacre. The Browns and Blakeleys were glad to have them come to the new settlement and as the best land was already taken they moved the lines of their claims further apart to give Rev. Spaulding room to settle between them.

There were lots of Indians about here when I was young. They never gave very much trouble except when they were drunk, but they were always begging for whiskey. My mother cured one of them of that very effectively. He was always bothering her, so one day instead of pouring him out a glass of whiskey she poured him out a big stiff drink of hot pepper sauce. He took it down at one big gulp before he could taste it and then went running down the path towards the river. My father was coming home just as he went. He saw him go, shouting O-oo-f; O-oo-f; at every jump. He never came back to beg.

There was an old Indian burying ground near the river, just back of the old Spaulding schoolhouse. It was situated in a little "open prairie" just back and eastward of where Samuelson's house now stands. (On the north side of the Brownsville-Crawfordsville road about one mile east of Brownsville and on the south side of the river.) I have helped to bury many an Indian there. They did not put them in a box, but just rolled them up in their blankets. No, they did not bury their belongings with them. They put them on top of the grave after it was filled up.

My father used to hire some of the Indians to work for him. He had two boys, who were very good, so he kept them much of the time. One of them was called Indian Jim. Finally he asked Jim if he would like to come and live with him. This pleased Jim very much, and from that time on he lived in our house.

Down at Spores Ferry (Coburg) there was an Indian Girl named Eliza living with the Spores family. She was trained to work by Mrs. Spores, and was a good cook and very neat. Finally she married a Yamhill Indian and went to live with him. Her husband was very cruel to her and frequently beat her up. On a trip to the Calapooya, or while living at Spores Ferry Eliza and Jim met and became very fond of each other. After that Eliza frequently ran away from her husband and came down to the Calapooya to see Jim. Her husband, (he had three other wives) would follow her and compel her to return. He would ride behind her (she walking) and whip her all the way back. This happened a number of times; finally my father advised Jim that if he and Lize though so much of each other it would be well for Jim to buy her for a wife and thus save all this trouble. With my father's aid Jim did so, buying Liza for ten ponies, a gun, and fifteen dollars in gold. Eliza's former husband accepted the price and taking the money bought whiskey with it. On this whiskey he and his companions got drunk and in a fight on the way home the ex-husband was killed.

Eliza made Jim a good wife but he became very fond of whiskey and when he was drunk he would beat her. However, Liza was always very fond of him.

Jim finally became known as a very dangerous man. When he was drunk no one dared to go near him. I was never afraid of him, however, and could always make him behave. Jim finally killed a man and was sent to the penitentiary.

Eliza would often go and visit him there and waited anxiously for the time to come when her man would be let out.

Liza and Jim had two children, but they both died. They are buried in the Brownsville Cemetery.

Jim and Eliza were most commonly known simply as "Indian Jim" and "Indian Lize." Their real names, however, were Jim and Eliza Young. How they received their name I do not know, but it was customary in the early days for the Indians to buy a name from the whites. An Indian wishing a new name would go to some settler and request the privilege of working for a day to receive a name as gay. Whatever name that was given at the end of the day's work was retained and valued by the Indian. A name given without any payment was considered to be without value. It is likely that Jim Young received his name in this way. (One Indian was named Beelzebub but when he finally learned the literal meaning of the word he was very angry).

There has been much dispute at Brownsville as to just when the Woolen Mill ditch was dug. I know the date exactly. When the ditch was being dug my father took me up to see the men at work. They were all working with shovels, and the shovels were so shiny that I like to watch them. When the men started for home I wanted to carry one of the shovels. I dropped it on my bare toe. It was very sharp and I still carry the scar from the wound that it made. My mother always told me that I was just four years old when that happened. That would make it the year 1858.

The valley around Brownsville was all grown up to tall native grass when I was small. I used to ride out over the prairie looking for my father's cattle. If a cow was lying down it was completely hidden in the grass.

When I was very small Andrew Warren, who named me, gave me a pony. It was not a very big pony, but I named it "Big Enough."

Notes: At the time of the first settlements on the Calapooya Indian Lize was reported to have been a "Well grown chunk of a girl."- Mrs. John Moore.

At the time of her death (1923) Indian Lize was estimated by the best authorities to have been nearly one hundred years of age. She was generally known as "The Last of the Calapooyas." The writer attended her funeral. L. Haskin, Field worker.

Indian Lize was by all reports an exceptionally intelligent woman. She was neat and clean in her habits, a good cook, and could hold her own in any intelligent discussion. During her later years, when for a long time she had been blind, she would often sit and weep and wail for her departed people. - Mrs. John Moore. (Mrs. John Moore took care of her during her last months).

(Mrs. Moore was the of the belief that Indian Lize could remember the visit of Lewis and Clark to the coast. She quotes Eliza as saying: "When first white man come I little girl. I see white man and be afraid. I run, hide, and peek at them.") However, it is not at all likely that this was the visit of Lewis and Clark, but some other Hudson Bay explorers. L. Haskin, Field Worker.

Of the two children born to Indian Lize and Indian Jim, one was a boy and the other a girl. The boy died from consumption. The girl was very handsome, neat, and a fine intelligent woman. She was about to be married when she contracted the measles and died. - Andrew Kirk.

The Indian burial ground on the old Spaulding place was situated eastward from the "New" Samuelson house (north of the Brownsville-Crawfordsville road, and on the present George Pugh place. (1937) - Andrew Kirk.

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.