WPA Interviews

Marsters, Mrs. Elias

Interview With Mrs. Elias Marsters, Brownsville, Oreg., November 8, 1937

My father was the Rev. Robert Robe. He was born at Zanesville, Ohio, in 1822. My mother was Eliza Ann Walker, born in Georgia in 1835. Father died at Brownsville, Oregon on the 25th of May, 1899. It was a beautiful rainy day when father died. The season had been very dry that spring and father had been praying for rain. He loved the soft, gentle rains of Oregon. Mother died in 1927 in this house in which I am now living (on south Main Street, Brownsville.)

My parents were married near Goshen, Lane County, Oregon in 1855, at the home of my grandfather, William Walker. Mother was his oldest child. The family came from Georgia in 1854. Father came to Oregon in 1852, riding the most of the way on horseback.

My father was the youngest of eight children. I have stated that he was born in 1822. His birthday was October 10th. He came to Oregon as a Presbyterian missionary. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio, and later on took a college course at Antril, Ohio, and Muskingum College, New Concord. He graduated from Washington College, Pennsylvania in 1847 and took a course at the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pa. He received his license to preach in 1849 and ordained in 1850. His first charge was at Coshocton, Ohio.

Rev. H. H. Spaulding was the first Presbyterian minister in Oregon proper. Dr. Edward Geary was the second to arrive, having come by way of the Panama Isthmus and reaching Oregon only a few months before my father. Father was the third to arrive.

When Father reached the Willamette Valley he stayed at first with Rev. H. H. Spaulding at Spaulding's claim about one mile east of the present town of Brownsville. Rev. Spaulding had erected a log cabin on his claim, and had taught school there for a time. The old schoolhouse was on what is now known as the Samuleson farm. The exact situation is not now known, but probably it was very near the line between the Pugh and Samuleson farms and just a bit east of the present Brownsville-Crawfordsville road. Father stayed at Rev. Spaulding and taught school in the old Spaulding schoolhouse. In the meantime he was looking about for a favorable field for his future ministry. Finally he settled on the very new settlement then called Eugene City, now merely known as Eugene, in Lane County. Father went there and started a church. Conditions were quite favorable for its growth, and in a short time a good building was erected. While they lived at Eugene my parents occupied a house somewhere in the northwest part of the present city. They say that the old house is still standing, although greatly altered and rebuilt. It is situated somewhere near the Eugene "Geary" school. I was born in that house.

At this time Rev. Geary was living at Lafayette, Oregon. At Mr. Geary's invitation my father and Rev. Lewis Thompson met at the Geary home at Lafayette on November 19, 1851 (This date is certainly a mistake. Leslie Haskin, Field worker) and proceeded to organize the Presbytery of Oregon. My father was clerk of that meeting. The boundaries of the Presbytery, according to the official record were: - "The Rogue River on the south, the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the east, the Upper Waters of the Columbia River and Puget Sound on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

The first meeting of the Oregon Presbytery was to be at Rev. Thompson's house in April, 1852. (Again an evident mistake in dates. L. Haskin). Father started to attend this meeting but his horse became lame so he took a boat from Portland to Astoria. At the later place he learned that unless he took the ship at once for San Francisco the contemplated Synod of the Pacific would fail. It was impossible for Dr. Geary to take the boat in time to help, so father started out at once to take Geary's place. He took the first boat down the coast and arrived in San Francisco in time to help in the organization of the Pacific Synod.

After that hurried trip father came back to Eugene where he preached and taught school. He performed the first marriage ceremony in Lane County, was elected its first school superintendent, and helped to lay out several outlying school districts. Besides that he took up a land claim of his own and was busy in clearing land and attending to stock.

The date of the organization of the Presbyterian Church at Eugene was May 5, 1855. The organization took place under an oak tree on the site of the present Methodist Episcopal Church. My mother was one of the eight charter members.

In 1865 my father accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church at Brownsville. Here he served as pastor for over thirty years. During all that time he received no stated salary, but simple accepted whatever stipend was contributed by the members. Much of what was paid him came in the form of produce, grain, and provisions. Often for months at a time he would not receive a single contribution of money. I remember that one day he came home with a ten-dollar bill that someone had given him. It was certainly a red-letter day and father was wonderfully pleased.

Rev. Edward Geary was the founder of the church here at Brownsville. The original membership consisted of but five members. They were: William T. Templeton and Elizabeth Templeton, his wife; David Templeton, and Lavina his wife, and Samuel R. Templeton. The two later were sons of William Templeton. The Templetons were always very active in Presbyterian affairs. At the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the church organization there were forty members of the Templeton family present. Now there is not a single Templeton in the church. William T. Templeton, founder of the Brownsville branch of the Templeton family was a pioneer of 1847. He had thirteen children, ten of whom grew up and became members of this church. "Grandfather" Templeton was a very fine and dear old man. I remember him very well. He had one very characteristic trait. He always wore his glasses perched high upon his forehead. You very seldom saw him without them.

Rev. Edward Geary, founder of the Presbyterian Church here was a pioneer of 1852, arriving just a few months ahead of my father. He lived and preached at various places, and finally came to Brownsville in 1856. He built the house that still stands on the southeast corner of South Main Street and Blakely Avenue here in Brownsville. It has been greatly altered since his time, however, so that it would not be recognized as the same house. He also planted the fine big black walnut which stands at the west of the house, and a mulberry tree which grew in front of the house. (This mulberry tree never attained very great size. It was cut down by the present owner of the property, Mr. Gussie Guion, in 1936. Leslie L. Haskin, Field worker.)

My father's family consisted of eleven children, as follows:

Myself, (Born March 17, 1858, born at Eugene City.

William Robe ("Bill") born July 10, 1855. He is still living here at Brownsville.

Herman Robe, born at Eugene, 1869.

Elbert Robe. Born 1880. He is now a hotel clerk at Portland.

Besides this there were four little girls and two little boys who all died in childhood. All died of diphtheria in the year 1867. Their names were:

Bell.

Emma.

Ida.

Stella.

Charles.

Robert Jr.

Soon after my father received his call to the Brownsville Church he purchased a tract of land on the upper Calapooia not far from the Finley mill near the present town of Crawfordsville. There we made our home for many years. After that first tract was obtained, father gradually added to his holdings until he finally had quite a large sheep ranch. Our old place is now owned by Si Newland. While living on that place father also taught school again, this time in what is now known as the Warren District, about five miles northeast of Brownsville and on the north side of the Calapooia. The school is situated on what is now known as the James place, but was then the Warren place. This was Andrew Warren, the son-in-law of Rev. H. H. Spaulding. Andrew Warren was a drunkard. Every morning he would get on his horse and ride to Brownsville to get his drink. His wife was Eliza Spaulding Warren. She was a very intelligent and smart woman but she lived an unhappy life. Her father was much opposed to her marriage. When Eliza Spaulding and Andrew Warren were married her father went about to all his friends and told them: "Eliza is dead. Eliza is dead!"

Andrew Warren has the biggest gravestone in the Brownsville Cemetery. Poor old Andy! His only confession when he died was, "I want to go where Eliza goes." Eliza Spaulding Warren was at the Whitman mission when the massacre occurred. She was only a young girl but after the massacre she took sheets and sewed them about the bodies of Mrs. Whitman and others of the victims. Her father was a Presbyterian but she was a Baptist.

Old Rev. Spaulding was an irascible man. He head was almost turned by the Indian trouble. I never saw his first wife. She died not long after they came to Brownsville. Their daughter Amelia married John Brown, son of Hugh L. Brown after whom Brownsville was named. She was an invalid for many years with spinal trouble caused by overwork.

By the way, my father and mother were married by Rev. Spaulding. He came down to Grandfather Walker's place, near the present town of Goshen to perform the ceremony. With him he brought his two little girls, riding on the horse behind him. That was a long ride for them to take, but it was his practice to take them with him almost everywhere he went.

Another family which escaped the Whitman killing was the Osborns. I knew the family by sight, but they usually attended the United Presbyterian Church at Union Point. Belinda Osborn, youngest of the family is still living at Eugene. "Josiah Osborn, head of the family, was a wagon maker. I remember that he made a good strong hack for my father. When it was finished the members of my father's congregation brought it out for him, and we had quite a celebration. All the members of the Templeton family came.

I will give you a little more history of the Templeton family. One of Wm. Templeton's daughters was called Matilda. She was married three times. Her first husband was named Foster. Mr. Foster was only a very young man, and he was killed by falling into a vat of hot dye at the Brownsville Woolen Mill. The funeral was held in the little old church where the present McKinney house now stands. (on Blakely Avenue, directly south of the Brownsville Southside school.) Father John McKinney, a Methodist circuit rider owned that land, but his home claim was to the west of Brownsville on what is now called the old "Munkers" place. In a church on the McKinney claim, built by "Father" John McKinney, the Methodists worshiped. To continue with the Templeton history: Clyde Foster who often comes to Brownsville to attend the Pioneer reunions is a son of the Foster who lost his life in the woolen mill. Mrs. Foster later married a man named Hausman.

The first United Presbyterian Church in the world was organized at the old Union Point church, about three miles south of Brownsville. I remember that we sometimes went to the Union Point Church. One time in particular, we went there for an all day gathering and basket dinner. The church building was just a big square wooden structure. Rev. Wilson Blain was one of the founders of that church, and the Blains lived near the church. You know that all that hill country out there is overgrown with sweet briar. They say that Mrs. Wilson Blain first started it. Now it is spread all over the country. A great part of our old home up the Calapooia is overgrown and made worthless by it.

The Wilson, (related to Wilson Blain) were a prominent family in those days. Mr. Raleigh Henderson, the barber here in Brownsville is a descendant of the family. His father was Baxter Henderson. I remember him very well. He was a very nice little man, and very careful with his dress. He always wore high-heeled boots, and they were shined to perfection. Even when the roads were deep in mud, as they usually were in winter in those days, his boots were kept clean and glistening. Mrs. Iris Kirk, wife of Andrew Kirk can probably tell you much about the Wilson family. Her maiden name was Iris Dinwiddie, and they were related to the Wilsons.

When I went to school my father was my first teacher. Later I attended school under various instructors. Among the earliest of these was Joe Vale, then a Mr. Barnett, Hattie Archibald, and Lizzie Mansfield from Harrisburg.

Singing schools were often held about the country in those early days. All of the Templeton boys were good singers and usually carried tuning forks. W. R. Bishop was a very popular singing teacher. He was also a teacher at Brush Creek above Crawfordsville, and later at Bishops Academy, a private school, which he founded here at Brownsville. I never went to school to him. The building of Bishop's Academy was known as Principio Hall. It is still standing. It is the big barn which stands at the back of the lot on the present Clayton Howell place, east of the street and a short distance south of the Brownsville Bridge.

When I was a girl I was a great rider. It was very popular to hold big celebrations and all the young people, both boys and girls, to go on horseback. One time we held a celebration of the 4th on the Calapooia about a mile east of town. Each boy was supposed to take a girl and furnish her with a white riding skirt, white gloves, and a wide blue ribbon to tie over her shoulder. Each ribbon was marked with the name of a state. I remember that mine was "Virginia".

(At this point a neighbor who had come in remarked, "I suppose you all rode sideways then." The answer from Mrs. Marsters was prompt and decisive-rather indignant: "Of course we did, and if I rode now I would ride sideways!"

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.