WPA Interviews

McWilliams, Mary Louise Williams

INTERVIEW, October 3, 1938

Interview with Mary Louise Williams McWilliams. This interview is principally concerned with the life of Mrs. McWilliam's grandfather, Rev. Thomas Simpson Kendall D.D.

To begin I will give you a bit of my family genealogy. Our first records concern a widow named Margaret Fleming Kendall. She lived in Virginia and in the year 1734 she moved from that Colony to Pennsylvania. This widow, according to our records was a cousin of William Penn and of Chief Justice Marshall. The records also show that she was given large grants of land in Pennsylvania. Her grave is in Cove (Valley) Pennsylvania and the inscription reads:

First White Woman to Die A Natural Death in These Parts."

Margaret Flemming Kendall had two sons, John and Robert. John Kendall died in 1905. (?)

The above John Kendall married Martha Alexander. They had the following children:

Mary Kendall, who married a man named Gibson.

Isabel Kendall, whose husbands name was Hathaway.

Robert Kendall who married Nancy Wilson in 1834.

James Kendall

Frances Kendall who married Jane Gibson.

Of the above children, William Kendall was a minister and also a carpenter and a cabinetmaker. He was a Revolutionary soldier. He built the first Courthouse at Xenia, Ohio. The children of William Kendall and his wife were:

Robert Kendall. Born 1768.

James Kendall.

John Kendall.

Joseph Wilson Kendall Born 1801. Came to Oregon.

Thomas Simpson Kendall born at Xenia, Ohio 1809 (April 4th). He is the subject of this sketch.

Thomas Simpson Kendall was a graduate of Jefferson College in 1836. Of Cannonsburg Seminary, June 26, 1834. He was ordained to preach by the Associate Church in Miami Presbytery December 26, 1834. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1870.

He was married to Nancy Kendall (if a relative fact not known) on October 18, 1833. This was the first recorded marriage at Xenia, Ohio.

Nancy Kendall Kendall was born in 1811. She died October 17, 1839 at the age of only twenty eight years leaving her husband and two young daughters.

The names of these daughters were:

Julia A. Kendall, Born June 4, 1838.

Miranda L. Kendall, Born March 19, 1836.

After being ordained to preach Rev. Thomas Kendall served as Pastor at Pistol Creek, at Big Springs, at Marysville, Tennessee and at Sparta, Illinois (1845). During this time the Associate Church issued an act on the subject of slavery. To deliver this edict to the churches of the South was, at that time, a delicate business. No pastor of the Synod was willing to undertake the task until Thomas Kendall volunteered. He went through the Carolinas reading the message to various churches and by the churches was received respectfully, but by non-church people he was mobbed and received some rough treatment.

The emigration to Oregon beginning, Kendall felt the need for missionaries to the region. Despite the fact that he was a widower with two small children to care for, he accepted the call. He crossed the plains by ox team in 1845, bringing his two small daughters with him.

Thomas Kendall first settled near Oregon City. He was "Stated Supply" at Oregon City from 1845 to 1848. At the Willamette Congregation (Oakville, Linn County) from 1850-1854 and of the Calapooia Church in Linn County from 1854 to the time of his death which occurred in December 5th, 1870. He is believed to have preached the first sermon in Linn County, Oregon in 1846.

He organized a Congregation at Oregon City, one at Oakville, in Linn County (Willamette Congregation). One at Harmony, (near Present Halsey) in Linn County, one at "Kendall's Bridge" (called the Calapooia Congregation) in Linn County. He traveled extensively on horseback, preaching as he sent, and always took his two little daughters with him, one riding before him and one behind him on his horse. The pioneer congregations came from long distances to hear him and would sit for two hours on rough benches to hear his discourses.

In July, 1850, with the assistance of John McCoy, Dr. W.B. Maley and Josiah Osborn, Dr. Kendall organized the congregation of the Willamette at the Oakville neighborhood in west central Linn County. This congregation is still a lived and active church and is believed to be the oldest Psalm Singing congregation in western America. In the meantime a congregation of the Associate Reformed Church had been organized at the settlement of Union Point, about three miles south of the present town of Brownsville.

The Associate Presbytery of Oregon has been organized at Maley's Schoolhouse on November 28th, 1851.

The subject of the union of these two Presbyterian branches had long been a matter of discussion. These western congregations felt that under pioneer conditions a union was imperative. They therefore called a convention of the two bodies to try to form some basis of union. The leader of the Union Point faction was Rev. Wilson Blain. The first meeting of this convention was held at Maley's schoolhouse on December 25th, 1851. Two other meetings were held in which articles of union were drafted and adopted and the final meeting was held at Union Point on October 20, 1852 where the actual union was consummated resulting in the Organization of the United Presbyterian Church of Oregon. Thus the first United Presbyterian Churches in the world were the Union Point Church, three miles south of Brownsville, Linn County, and the Willamette Church at Oakville, Linn County. The final consummation of the union of the eastern churches was not completed until six years later. (At Pittsburgh, Pa.)

In the fall of 1854 Rev. Kendall organized the congregation to Table Rock in Jackson County. This church, because of Indian troubles, seems soon to have lapsed. Table Rock was in the very center of the Rogue River Indian troubles.

In 1849, being sadly pressed for money, Rev. Kendall, accompanied by Joseph Hamilton, of the Oakville neighborhood, went to the gold mines in California. While gone on this mining adventure his little daughters Miranda and Julia were left in the care of Mrs. Hamilton. He was gone on this quest for two years and was quite successful. He was able to build himself a good home on his donation land claim which was situated in central Linn County about two or three miles north of the present town of Shedd.

It was on this donation land claim that a bridge was built across the Calapooia River, one of the first bridges in the county, known as "Kendall's Bridge." A bridge still spans the river at exactly the same site. Kendall' s home was on the banks of the Calapooia just south of this bridge and on the west side of the present road at that place. This crossing of the Calapooia was a well-known camping place for travelers, gold seekers and emigrants passing up and down the valley. Camps were situated on both sides of the river, but principally on the south side, almost opposite to the Kendall residence. Here the travelers stopped to rest their oxen and horses, to wash their clothes, and often to enjoy the recreation of a few days fishing. This region is noted for an abundance of noticeable Indian mounds. A large one is situated beside the present road a few rods north of the river.

The Kendall's Bridge, or "Calapooia Church" organized by Rev. Kendall was situated a short distance south of Kendall's home and on a corner of the Kendall claim. The exact location seems to have been almost on the section line between Sections 30 and 31 in Township 12 South Range 3 West of Willamette Meridian in Linn County. The church stood in the northwest angle of a road intersection near the center of the south line of township 30. At that place country roads extending north, south, and west make an intersection. No trace of the old church remains. It was torn down and made into a residence, which formerly stood at the intersection of the same westerly-running road and Highway 99. This old house is also gone. It is said that the studding from the old church were made of solid oak.

The bridge built by Rev. Kendall at the Calapooia crossing was later replaced by a covered bridge built by George Dawson at county expense. This covered bridge, in turn, has been replaced by an open bridge of modern construction, but all stood upon the same site.

Concerning Dr. Kendall's physical appearance, he was tall and slender and very straight. His constitution was vigorous and he withstood great hardships on his many preaching trips. In the early days his usual apparel was a suit of buckskin made by his own hands and he sometimes preached in it, dripping with water from his forced fording of flooded streams. His pulpit address was brilliant and he had a ready wit.

Dr. Kendall's care for his two daughter and his kindness to them was one of his notable traits. When they immigrated to Oregon one of these girls was but seven years of age and the other nine. He always kept them with him except during the two years when he was at the California gold mines.

The younger of these daughter, Julia Kendall, never married. The older, Miranda, married Dean Williams and became the Mother of the narrator of these facts.

About 1868 Dr. Kendall's health began to fail. In 1870 he took a trip to the east to recuperate. He was sent on that trip as a delegate to the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church and by that assembly was given the honor of being elected Moderator of their sessions. He traveled constantly while in the east and this weakened his already depleted strength. Upon his return to Oregon he was never able to open his own house but was taken to the home of his daughter for care. He died December 5th, 1870 and was buried in the Oakville Cemetery on almost the exact spot where the first pulpit of the Willamette Congregation formerly stood. His grave has been marked by a memorial plaque dedicated in 1937 by the Linn County Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution.

The inscription reads:
"Dedicated Site May 31, 1937."
"Of the Meeting Place of the First Willamette Church-First Psalm-Singing Congregation to have a Continuous existence in Western United States.-Established 1850. Organized as United Presbyterian 1852.
Rev. Thomas S. Kendall D.D. Minister, In Whose Memory This Tablet is Placed."

One of the close neighbors of Dr. Kendall on his claim was the Rev. Thomas Condon who later gained fame as an Oregon Geologist. The Condons and Kendalls were close and intimate friends.

Julia A. Kendall, Thomas Kendall's youngest daughter never married.

Miranda L. Kendall, the older girl was married to J. M. Williams May 1, 1867. They had one daughter, Mary Louise Williams. Born December 6, 1874.

J. M. Williams was a merchant from Indiana who came to Oregon in 1859. He purchased the south half of the Thomas Condon claim and made his home there.

The claim closely adjoined the Kendall Claim. Williams made his home there until his death on June 23, 1892. The house built by him soon after purchasing the land still stands. It is situated about 1/2 mile north of the Calapooia Bridge (Kendall's Bridge). In this old house Thomas S. Kendall spent his last days and there he died. This house was built between the time that Kendall took his trip to the east and the year of his return.

Sometime between 1867 and 1870.

The only child of J. M. Williams and his wife, Malinda L. Kendall Williams was Mary Louise Williams. She was married to Dean McWilliams on Oct. 17, 1900. To this marriage was born one son, Dr. Elliot McWilliams. He was born June 24, 1907. He resides and practices Dentistry at Springfield, Oregon.

A few minor items remain to round out this interview.

Grandfather was one of the first trustees of Albany College. A list of those first trustees is as follows:

Rev. Edward R. Geary           Walter Monteith Delazon Smith

Rev. Thomas Kendall            Demas Beach

J. T. Tate           John Swett

James H. Foster           R. H. Crawford.

John H. Swett later became Superintendent of Schools at San Francisco.

In 1867 the buildings and property of Albany College (or Albany Academy as it was then called) were turned over to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.

Albany College was founded originally as a result of the enthusiastic work of Rev. E. R. Geary.

Reverend Kendall was one of the organizers of the Republican Party in this region. He was a most ardent Republican throughout his life. A story is told of him which illustrates this point.

At one time in the 1860's Rev. I. D. Driver, a noted Methodist divine came to the Calapooia to speak in the interests of the American Bible Society.

The services were on Sunday and Rev. Driver remained as Kendall's guest overnight. On Monday morning the two clergymen relaxed to the extent of going for a days fishing trip along the Calapooia. While fishing they discussed the events of the day and especially the progress of the war (1864). Both were pleased with the expectation of coming victory for the Northern Army. Finally Kendall climaxed the talk with this enthusiastic remark. 'If this foretaste of Republicanism is so glorious what will Heaven be like when we are all Republicans'.

I.D. Driver was a not distant neighbor of the Kendalls. His home being in the valley a few miles to the north.

Dr. Kendall, like so many early divines was a user of tobacco. His use of the weed began while a pastor in the South, where everyone was a tobacco grower and user. His account in the books of the Brown and Blakely Store at Brownsville Oregon. (Book 1, p. 3) show him a frequent purchaser of tobacco.

The Calapooia Church on the Kendall claim, and which Mr. Kendall served for many years was a plain, one-roomed structure. It had a small entry on the east. It was torn down by J. B. Couey some time about 1890.

Julia A. Kendall. Born June 4, 1838. Died Miranda L. Kendall (Williams) Born March 19, 1836. Died January 20, 1883. 47 years of age.

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.