WPA Interviews

Miller, Dorissa Jane Zoosman

INTERVIEW, March 20, 1940

Interview with Dorissa Jane Zoosman Miller. (Lives with her daughter, Mrs. Harnish, at 1205 Calapooia Street, Albany, Oregon)

My name is Jane Miller. I am a daughter of Moses Zoosman and Martha Nichols Zoosman and was born on the Zoosman donation claim about six miles north of Brownsville, Oregon, in 1854.

My father, Moses Zoosman, was a native of Hessen Kessel, on the Rhine River, Germany. I can not give you the exact date, or the date when he came to America but he was between nine and ten years of age when he crossed the Atlantic. He first made his home in America at Cincinnati, Ohio. There he married Martha Nichols, my mother, who was a native of Illinois.

Since I do not have my family records here I will have to do a little estimating concerning my father and mother's birth dates and ages. My mother was 82 years old at the time of her death, and that was 32 years ago.

That would make her death date 1908 and her birth date 1826. Father died 33 years ago, on the 20th of October, making his death date 1907.

My father and mother were married in March, 1853. A very few days after their marriage they started for Oregon by ox team. They arrived in the Willamette Valley on September 9, 1853. That was a long and wearisome honeymoon trip for the young married couple but they made it safely through.

They staked out their Donation land claim on the foothills north of Brownsville. It is in Section 17, Township 13 South, Range 2 West. For a few months they boarded with a bachelor named James Tippons, about half a mile from their claim, until they could get a log cabin built. Then, early in 1854 they moved into their own home. There they lived until their death many years later; there my brothers still live in this year of 1940-eighty-eight years later.

The following are the names of my parent's children:

Dorissa Jane Zoosman. (Myself). The oldest of the family. Born 1854. I married Sylvester Miller on Jan. 11, 1874. He was born April 16, 1849 and his father was Lewis Byron Miller who came to Oregon in 1865. Father Miller, my father-in-law was a Sheriff in Illinois during the Civil War days.

Mary Rebecca Zoosman. Born 1855. She married George Washington Miller, a cousin of my husband''.

Thomas Matthew Zoosman. Was born in 1857. He married Cora Sutton who died many years ago. Tom died on February 1, 1940, only a week ago. He was buried in the Brownsville Cemetery.

Sarah Elizabeth Zoosman. Born Feb. 9, 1859. (Died seven to eight years ago.) Was the wife of Charles Wells of Brownsville.

James Monroe Zoosman. Born January 5, 1861. He still lives on the old Zoosman claim a few miles north of Brownsville. He will be 80 years old next January.

Lydia Ella Zoosman. Born on the home claim in 1866. Her married name is Smith.

When my parents first settled on the ridge north of Brownsville, the country was much different than it is now. It is popular at present to talk a great deal about conserving the forests and to speak as though we had wasted the greater part of the trees that were here when the settlers came.

As a matter of fact, there is a hundred times as much forest now, especially in the foothills as there was when the settlers first arrived. The hills where my father settled were then quite bare of trees. He moved in with ox team and from his place there was a free view of all the valley. The oxen had no trouble whatever bringing in the big wagons through the few large scattering trees which then existed. Now our old place is so covered and smothered in timber that it is like an untouched wilderness. Except where roads have been opened it is now impossible to travel across country because of the thick forest growth. There are trees and brush everywhere so thick that a wagon cannot leave the road for even a few rods without getting stuck. I, myself, can remember when all those forested hills were bare and open. I can also remember when the first little seedling trees began to come up on the open hills. One day I was walking through our old pasture with my father. One of my brothers came to a little seedling fir and broke the top off. Father scolded him well for "spoiling the growing timber", yet father himself lived long enough to make rails from that same tree and to see the day when there was too much timber all around, spoiling the pasture and covering everything except the cultivated fields.

In the early days the wild strawberries grew all over the hillsides, great big berries and so plentiful that they made the ground red. Wild blackberries and strawberries were about the only fruit we had then.

Improved apple trees had not yet been planted long enough to begin to produce fruit. A few dried apples shipped around The Horn were the only fruit on the market.

The Indians used to come through across the hills and sell us berries and hazelnuts and sometimes split hazel brooms. Now the Indians are entirely gone from this part of the valley. The last one to remain was old Indian Eliza, "Indian Lize," as she was called. She lived on the Riley Kirk claim for a good many years and finally when she was blind the county took care of her. Indian Lize was something of a singer. It used to be a popular stunt to have Bert Templeton, of the Brownsville Templeton family, and Indian Lize sing duets at public meetings, especially at the Pioneer Picnic at Brownsville.

Indian George was another well-known character in the early days. He finally killed a man and was taken away to the penitentiary.

When father settled on his claim he soon cleared up and broke a small field, then a larger one each year until he had quite a patch of farming land. These cultivated fields were the only parts of the claim that were fenced in those days. All the rest of the country was open range. Settlers just raised wheat and a little garden and oats. The rest of their living was made from their stock which ranged about over the hills and out across the open valley below. Each settler had a brand or earmark for his stock and only rounded it up for use or for sale.

On coming to Oregon my people had a rather had time, suffering a great deal from lack of water, especially along the Snake River. They lost a large part of their horses and cattle so it was slow work getting a new start. I can still remember one big brindled cow with long horns which they brought across the plains. My father had given it to my mother when they were married and it was one of the few animals that survived the trip.

Besides cattle and horses my father had a few sheep and some hogs which he brought with him.

Our earliest neighbors in that neighborhood were: "Jimmy Tippons. He was a bachelor and it was at his house that my parents lived until they had completed their own claim cabin.

Gamaliel Parrish, a son of the Rev. E.E. Parrish, early Methodist circuit rider was our next neighbor on the northwest. His wife was a Peterson, a daughter of Henry Peterson after whom Peterson's Butte is named. The old Gamaliel Parrish house is still standing. It was built probably in the early 1850's.

The Saltmarsh family lived north of the Parrish claim. Reuben Claypool?

Saltmarsh was the head of that clan. He was a preacher in the early days but I do not remember to what church he belonged.

South of us was the claim of David McDowell. It is now known as the "Child 's Place" as a prominent family by the name of Childs owned it for many years at a later date. This was where Sheba Childs Hargreaves was raised.

She is now a well-known Oregon writer. It was from the old McDowell orchard with its old-fashioned varieties of apples that Sheba Childs first received inspiration for her present planting or pioneer fruit varieties.

The claim of George H. Barnett was northeast from our home. The Barnetts came to Oregon in 1853. Their house was about two miles from ours.

When I was small I began my schooling at the Rock Hill schoolhouse. That did not stand where the Rock Hill school now does, but a short distance further south on what is now known as the Blackburn farm. My first school was in a log cabin and we sat on slab benches which were without backs.

Each bench was about ten feet long and there were no desks. My first teacher was Jackson Gallagher. His home was just north of the schoolhouse.

(Note: The claim at that place was that of Elmore Gallagher. Possibly this teacher was a son. L. Haskin, Field worker.) The teacher, Jackson Gallagher had but one hand, having lost the other one in a threshing machine.

That first schoolhouse was soon burned down and after that we went to school in a camp house where campmeetings had been held. That was only for a short time and the building was a temporary affair. That old camp shed was just across the creek from the present old Blackburn house which is now occupied by Del Wilson.

I should state here that these first schools were what were known as "Subscription Schools". Each family sending children to the school paid a certain subscription for each scholar sent. There was no public school funds then. One of my school mates was Milton A. Miller who later was prominent in Oregon political life and was known as "The Sage of the Santiam." I can remember when he first started school. He was just a little tot then.

After the temporary campshed school the next building was a United Brethern Church. The members of that sect hold services in the Rock Hill district at an early date. They started to build a church there and were not able to finish it because of lack of funds so they let the school district take over the building and complete it for school purposes.

Church services were also held in this same building both by the United Brethren and by the Baptists. The earliest United Brethren preacher that I remember was a Rev. Bennett from Philomath. The most popular Baptist preacher there was Elder Joab Powell. He was just as funny as they tell.

He would tell anything that happened to come into his mind. Often he would pause in the midst of his preaching to talk with someone in the congregation or to greet late-comers. He had a great strong voice and loved to sing. He had a "dime song". The boys would give him a dime to get him to sing it.

Returning to my school day; my second teacher was named Armstrong, and after that Martha Whealdon. Later I went to school in what is known as the Sand Ridge district. My teacher there was named Donaca, a cranky old fellow.

This interview is very broken, for now I must tell you more about the Unite Brethren Church. After they failed to complete their church at Rock Hill they finally did put up a church building at Plainview, now on the S.P.

Ry. That church lapsed a number of years ago and the money received from the sale of the church building was used to erect the memorial gate at the Sand Ridge Cemetery. Most of the old church fathers are buried at Sand Ridge, inside that gate.

My mother was a member of that old United Brethren Church. She was converted at a Methodist meeting in the East when she was only twelve years old. Later she joined the United Brethren Church at Rock Hill, Linn County, Oregon.

I have already mentioned the Claypool family. Rev. Reuben Claypool was probably a United Brethren preacher (Methodist). The Claypools no longer live in this part of the country. All of the family had the T. B. They would be up in the summer and down again every winter. After a time they moved away to Eastern Oregon. Milton A. Miller's father's first wife was a Claypool (Mary, daughter of Reuben). Note: Robt. C. Miller md. (2) Margt Jane Hollanbeck 13 Oct 1859.

Another very old family which I knew was that of Reuben Coyle. He was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention. He was also the discoverer of the soda spring at Sodaville. While out hunting for cattle he found a clear spring. Being very thirsty he got down from his horse to drink. He took a swallow or two and then thought that he was poisoned. The queer taste of the water was something new to him but when he noticed that the cattle liked the water and that there were lots of deer tracks about the spring he decided that it was safe. The wild pigeons were also fond of the water. They would come there in flocks to drink.

The Soda Spring was discovered on the claim of Thomas Summers. He was one of the very early settlers there. Later there was a lawsuit between Summers and "Filibuster" Lee for possession of that land. It was in the court for over twenty years before it was settled. Before it began "Filibuster" Lee was well off if not rich. At the beginning of the trial he brought out a milk pan piled high with 20 dollar gold pieces. When the suit was done he did not have enough money to bury himself. They spent more money than anyone ever had. In the end Thomas Summers won and kept the land.

(Note: I have given the names above as the narrator told them. "Filibuster" Lee seems, according to records, to have been Philister Lee: L. Haskin, field worker.)

The Summers claim was inherited by a daughter, Izura Summers. She married Ai Parrish, a cousin, I believe, of Gamaliel Parrish whom I have already mentioned. Her son, Ala Parrish still owns the land.

The Parrishes were a prominent family in this region. You can tell a Parrish wherever you see one. Gamaliel Parrish was a very fine looking, dignified man. William Parrish and a man named Mendenhall, whose wife was a Parrish, built the first brick building in Albany. It is still standing. It is situated on the right hand of First Street. I can easily remember when it was put up. (Note: the writer has not yet been able to identify this building.)

Gamaliel Parrish married a daughter of Henry Peterson. The Petersons came in 1845 and settled all about Peterson's Butte. They had a terrible time in coming out here. I have often heard them tell of it. They got lost in Eastern Oregon and nearly died before they got back on the right track.

(Note: Doubtless this was on the Meek cut-off. L.H.) Henry Peterson became a member of the Oregon Provisional Legislature from Linn County. Peterson started a little fruit nursery on Peterson's Butte soon after arriving in Oregon. The only variety of plum which he had in his nursery was one grown from seed brought from the east. This was propagated and distributed widely. It is still common on all the older places in Linn County is known everywhere as the "Peterson Plum". Mrs. Gamaliel Parrish often told me that her father brought the seed from the east when he came to Oregon.

My father, of course, had Peterson plums in his first orchard and also some other varieties of fruit which he bought at Peterson's nursery, but some of his first fruit trees he bought from Rev. H. H. Spalding at Brownsville. Spalding was the missionary to the Indians who came to the valley of the Calapooia after the Whitman Massacre.

I was married to Sylvester Miller January 11, 1874. His father was Lewis Byron Miller. My husband came to Oregon with his parents in 1865. When they were coming to Oregon they had several brushes with the Indians and killed some of them. They really had more Indian trouble than some who came at a much earlier date.

My husband was born on April 16, 1849. He died at Lebanon, Oregon, February 26, 1930. Our children are:

Mary Ellen Miller, born Oct. 19, 1875.

Addie Miller. Born Dec. 26, 1877.

Ethel Miller. Born July 30, 1880.

Laura Miller. Born May 24, 1886.

Leroy Byron Miller. Born Mar. 28, 1888. Drowned in the Columbia River June 11, 1907 while working on the O. W. R. N. Ry.

Elsie Lena Miller. Born Jan. 15, 1894.

(At the end of this interview Mrs. Miller found certain family data which clarifies the dates in the above interview. They showed that - Martha Nichols Zoosman was born in Clinton County, (Ill.[?]) August 5, 1822. Died at Middle Ridge, Linn County, Ore., December 17, 1904. She grew up in Illinois. Married Moses Zoosman March, 1853. Started for Oregon a few days later. Got to the Willamette Valley September 9, 1853.

Moses Zoosman was born Nov. 23, 1830 at Hessen/Kessel, Germany. Married Martha Nichols at Walnut Hill, Illinois Mar. 10, 1853. Started for Oregon with four teams of oxen on the same month as marriage. Stayed at Wards Butte, in Linn County, Oregon for a few months before finally settling on his claim north of Brownsville. Was a member of the I.O.O. F. Lodge since 1852. Was a charter member of that lodge when it was organized at Lebanon.

Another note should be added here concerning the well know "Peterson Plum" of Linn County. Mrs. Miller said that in the early days there were large quantities of the Peterson Plums dried and freighted to the mines of Southern Oregon.

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.