WPA Interviews

McQueen, Lucinta C. (Clymer)

INTERVIEW, June 6, 1940

Interview with Mrs. Lucinta C. (Clymer) McQueen, Tallman, Linn County, Oregon. This interview deals principally with the Clymer family, early settlers in Linn County.

My name is Lucinta McQueen. My maiden name was Clymer. I was born on my father's Donation Land claim just north of the present Tallman neighborhood on June 22, 1865. I have lived in this neighborhood my entire life.

My father was William Clymer who was born in Rush County, Indiana, in 1831. He came to Oregon in 1851 and settled here near Tallman as I have stated. Father came to Oregon alone, that is, there were none of his family with him on the trip, but he already had a brother in Oregon, Henry Clymer, who came in 1847. Henry Clymer settled north and east of Tallman. His claim was in Section 21 just where the present Lebanon-Albany Highway is intersected by the "Spicer" country road.

My mother was Margaret (Thompson) Clymer and she was an orphan who came to Oregon with another party of my father's people in 1853. She was born in Rushville, Indiana, in 1839.

That it might be plainly understood, I will list the various family immigrations here. The first to come to Oregon was my father's brother, Henry V. Clymer. He came in 1837. Next after that my father came alone in 1851. My grandfather and grandmother, (Mr. & Mrs. Christian Clymer), with one son and two daughters, my aunts and uncles, came in 1852. Elder John Short, and his wife, who was my father's sister, came in 1853. With them were my mother, Margaret Thompson, her sister, Esther Thompson, and a brother, John Thompson. Another of mother's sisters, Rachel Thompson who later married Christian Clymer Jr., and her brother, David Thompson, came to Oregon with my grandfather in 1852. As I have already told, all these Thompson children were orphans, their parents having died in 1846. When my mother came to Oregon she was fourteen years of age. My maternal grandfather was Robert Thompson. He died in Indiana.

Another member of the Clymer family who came to Oregon in 1852 was Lucinda Clymer, father's sister. She was married to Beverly Gilmore. They settled near what is now called Cranor Station on the Lebanon branch of the S. P.

Ry.

A complete genealogy of the Clymer family so far as I know it is as follows:

Christian Clymer. (My great grand-father) Born in 1747. Died 1820 at the age of 73 years. This Christian Clymer had a nephew, George Clymer who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Christian Clymer, a son of the last, was my grandfather. He was born March 10, 1785. He was married to Elizabeth (Vance) (Robbins), a widow with one child, on December 24, 1820. (This was the same year that his father died) They came to Oregon accompanied by a part of their family in 1852.

My grandmother, Elizabeth (Vance) (Robbins) Clymer was born August 26, 1792, at one o'clock in the afternoon. When she married my grandfather she was a widow with one son, Jacob Robbins, born on the 24th day of May, 1814.

The father was also Jacob Robbins. Both father and son died while comparatively young men, in Indiana.

The children of Christian Clymer and Elizabeth (Vance) Clymer were as follows:

Mary Ann Clymer, Born January 17, 1822. Married Elder John Short in Indiana. Came to Oregon with her family in 1853. Elder John Short was a Missionary Baptist Preacher. Grandsons of this pair who are still living in Oregon are,

John Short, living near Cascadia, Charles Short, also a preacher and William Short a dentist. (The exact birth date of Mary Ann Clymer is given as, "Thursday, 1 o'clock in the morning.") Married 1841. Died Dec. 25, 1895.

Henry V. Clymer. Born March 28, 1824, four o'clock in the afternoon. Came to Oregon in 1846. Died 1863.

John Clymer. Born Jan. 13, 1826, One o'clock in the morning. (He never came to Oregon.) Married Mary Gilmore.

Lucinda Clymer, Born Oct. 30, 1827, 3 o'clock in the morning. She married Beverly Gilmore who was a potter. They came to Oregon in 1852. A sister of Beverly Gilmore married John Clymer.

Minerva Clymer. Was born Nov. 13, 1829. Friday morning one o'clock in the morning. She never married and died January 25, 1830.

William Clymer. (Father of the informant), was born February 24, 1831.

Thursday morning 1 o'clock. Came to Oregon in 1851. Married Margaret Thompson in Oregon. Died May 30, 1903.

"Christian Clymer, 3d of this name), was born October 1, 1833, Thursday, half after 4 o'clock afternoon. He died January 23, 1877(?). He married Rachel Thompson, a sister of the informant's mother, in 1854. He was a member of the Washington State House of Representatives from 1865 to 1873.

Sarah Emeline Clymer. Was born May 17, 1835. Monday morning 1 o'clock. She never married. Died March 7, 1858 aged 22 years, 10 months, 13 days.

George Washington Clymer, the youngest son of the family, was born "In the year of our Lord 1838. August 16. Thursday at 11 o'clock." Died Sept. 4, 1838.

(Note: The very exact birth data is copied from an old family bible which was published in 1819 and crossed the plains from Indiana to Oregon in 1852.)

The Clymers are supposed to have come from England yet are also commonly believed to be of "Pennsylvania Dutch" descent. My grandfather, Christian Clymer, was born in Pennsylvania, then moved to Indiana and to Iowa and finally to Oregon. Grandfather belonged to the Primitive Baptist Church which for a time had an organization at Scio, but held most of their meetings locally in schoolhouses and in private homes.

My father, although really a man when he came to Oregon, attended school in Oregon, going for a time to the Santiam Academy at Lebanon. He was also an Indian War veteran of the years 1855-1856.

Besides the Clymers, the Tallman region was first settled by such prominent families as the McKnights, the Crawfords, the Baltimores, the Leedys and the Burkharts. The town of Tallman was named after James Tallman who first claimed the land there. Later my grandfather bought his claim.

The town of Spicer was named after a man who built a warehouse and possibly a store there in the early 1880's when the old "narrow gauge" railroad was built through that region. The Spicer school was first known as the "Burkhart" School and was established on the claim of R. S. Burkhart. He gave the land for the school and also was materially interested in erecting the first schoolhouse. Spicer is now a "ghost" town since the railroad was rerouted, and Tallman is now little better since the decline of rail transportation and the coming in of the highway trucks.

Beverly Gilmore who married my father's sister, Lucinda Clymer, was a potter. The Gilmore first settled near Crainor Station. Later Uncle Beverly ran a pottery and a brickyard east of here. I am not certain just where it was located but believe it was on Uncle Henry Clymer's claim. Uncle Beverly moved to Marion County at a date before I can remember and later moved to the state of Washington, so I know very little concerning him. One of his sons once came through this part of the county and stopped here. While here he looked up his father's home place and he also spoke of the pottery. (Note: Other informants place the pottery at the juncture of the Spicer Road and the Albany-Lebanon Highway. This is on a portion of the Henry Clymer claim. It was supposed to be at the northwest angle of the roads. There is a deep swale there and it is grown up to rank grass so that remains of the pottery would be hard to locate. L.H.) "I was married to Alonzo D. McQueen in 1896. My husband died eighteen years ago. We had two children:

O. W. McQueen

Inez McQueen.

Neither have married and both live with me here at Tallman.

Grandmother Clymer Died January 17, 1853 only a short time after reaching Oregon.

David Thompson, my mother's brother, was a saddlemaker."

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.