Today we look at the last three of William Montgomery Davidson's seven children.
E. Iva E. Davidson (1879–1881) was born on 12 December 1879 and died on 23 July 1881. Iva was buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon.
F. Oral Everett Davidson (1883–1955) was born on 13 July 1883 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. About 1910, he married Flora Belle Miller (1885–1973), who was born on 31 May 1885 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Her parents were William Ross Miller (1862–1929) and Jane Ann Wolfe (1850–1931).
Oral and Flora farmed in Rowland, Linn County, and raised their daughter and two sons. They were active members of the committee that planned reunions of the Davidson and Murphy families, notably the one held at the state fairgrounds in 1930.
Oral died at age 71 on 28 Mar 1955 in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon, and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg. Flora died on 27 August 1973 in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon, and was buried with Oral.
1. Julia Louise Davidson (1911–1990) was born on 11 November 1911 (11/11/11!) and grew up in Rowland, Linn County, Oregon. She graduated from Eugene Bible College in 1931 with her piano teacher's diploma.
On 12 June 1937, she married Ira Albert Harrington (1902–1976) in Linn County. Ira was born on 2 May 1902 in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon, to Orie Newton Harrington (1875–1952) and Fannie J Owen (1870–1936). He later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving from 25 May 1942 through 31 May 1945.
The couple had two sons and two daughters they raised in Eugene. Ira died there on 28 November 1976 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg. Louise died on 20 October 1990 and was buried with her husband.
2. Hillis Everett Davidson (1916–1970) was born on 24 September 1916 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. He worked in sales and attended school for many years, and was ordained in January 1955. He died in Sacramento in 1970 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg.
3. James Stanley Davidson (1923–2013) was born on 15 November 1923 on his family's farm in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. He spent his life working that farm, especially growing grass seed. In 1964 he married Nona Ernestine Cochran (1921–2009) and became father to her daughter and son. She was the widow of Carl Joseph Greene (1915–1959) and daughter of Walter Doyle Cochran (1902–1966) and Nellie Ernestine Gray (1903–2002).
During his last two years, Stan lived at the Junction City Retirement Center. He died on 11 March 2013 in Junction City, Lane County, Oregon, and was buried in Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg.
G. Lydia D Davidson (1886–1975) was born on 30 Aug 1886 and grew up in Linn County, Oregon. On 18 October 1911, in Brownsville, Lydia married Clinton Floyd Morse (1884–1968), the son of Franklin Pierce Morse (1854–1930) and Esther Cora "Etta" Bartlett (1866–1920). He was born on 8 November 1884 in Landaff, Grafton County, New Hampshire, and moved to the Lebanon area in 1908 from Colorado.
Clinton was a farmer and sometimes worked as a carpenter. He served as an Albany police officer from 1943 to 1947. He and his eldest son, Joe, also ran a feed business, C.F. Morse and Son, in Tangent. The company failed when Clinton reinvested its earnings in the family home rather than in the business, a lesson his son and grandson would recall years later.
Clinton died on 19 September 1968 in a Lebanon hospital having lived the previous five years in a nursing home in Salem, Marion County. Lydia died on 11 November 1975 at a nursing home in Lebanon. They were interred in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg.
They were survived by six children, 17 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.
1. Joseph Davidson Morse (1912–2002) was born on 30 July 1912 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. Through the years his family lived on several farms, and he attended country schools. During the early part of the Great Depression, he dropped out of school and worked to help his family. He then returned to school, graduating in 1932 from Tangent High School.
In 1936, Joe bought a gravel dump truck and scouted around for contractors who needed gravel for their construction projects. When he found a customer, no matter how many trips it took, Mr. Morse shoveled the required amount of rock into the truck that he parked by a sandbar in the Willamette River near his Harrisburg property. In 1941, Joe and his brothers, Forrest and William founded Morse Bros., a sand and gravel business that grew into the largest construction materials company in Oregon. The Morse brothers later turned the operation over to their children.
Joe married Marjorie Gertrude Price (1919–1998) in Harrisburg on 16 June 1939. She was born on 8 May 1919 in Mohawk, Lane County, Oregon, to Warren J Price (1899–1970) and Lottie R McMurry (1900–1985). The couple lived in Albany after they were married, then spent 32 years in Lebanon, where their four children attended schools. They also lived for nine years in Eugene before returning in the late 1980s to Albany, where they celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1989.
In 1955, Joe began another venture: prospecting for minerals. In 1973, Mr. Morse and his wife, along with his brothers and their wives, purchased mining property in northeastern Washington. The Morse family spent considerable time there over the next 20 years.
Marjorie died on 25 April 1998 at Tucson Medical Center in Arizona and was buried in the Lebanon IOOF Cemetery. Joe died on 24 May 2002 in Albany, Linn County, Oregon.
a. Judith Reine Morse McBride (1940–2000) was born on 16 June 1940 in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon. She graduated from Lebanon High School in 1958 and graduated from Northwest Christian College in Eugene in 1962 with a Bachelor's Degree in Theology.
She died on 4 February 2000 in Sandpoint, Bonner County, Idaho, and was survived by her husband, son, daughter, and one grandson.
2. Shirley Morse (1914–2008) was born on19 September 1914 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. She married Arthur Harold Kuehl (1906–1979) in Tangent, Linn County, on 8 August 1935. Arthur was the son of Herman D Kuehl (1871–1934) and Mary Karsten (1873–1962), born on 19 August 1906 in Albany, Linn County, Oregon.
Shirley and Arthur had a son and a daughter. They owned the Smith-Kuehl Implement Co. in Lebanon until they sold it and moved to a ranch on Powell Butte, near Portland. They later moved back to Albany, where Shirley worked for French's Jewelry Store. The couple divorced in 1977, and Arthur lived near Salem, where he died on 2 November 1979. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Albany.
Shirley went to work for her brothers' company, Morse Bros. She later married Emmett N Dowding (1915–1989), and then Gilbert S "Gib" Morgan (1912–1999). In 2000, she moved to The Oaks retirement home.
Shirley died on 17 June 2008 in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Albany. She is survived by her son, daughter, six grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
3. Esther Carol Morse (1916–1999) was born on 3 May 1916 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. She graduated from Harrisburg High School. On 6 June 1936, she married Samuel Dale Brock (1913–2000) in Linn County, Oregon. Sam was the middle of five children of Luther Greenlee Brock (1879–1948) and Alta Bell Dawson (1888–1968), born on 5 March 1913 in Harrisburg.
Sam was a grass seed farmer and member of several local community boards in Harrisburg. Esther died on 11 October 1999, and Sam died on 22 June 2000, both in Harrisburg. They are survived by two daughters, one son, nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.
4. Forrest Webster Morse (1918–2011) was born on 15 July 1918 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. After high school, Forrest went to work for the Linn County road department where he drove a truck and worked on the road oiling crews. In 1941, brother, Joe asked Forrest to join him in the sand and gravel business in Harrisburg. Brother, Bill soon joined them in 1943 and Morse Bros, Inc.
Forrest was married in 1943. In 1946, the couple moved to Lebanon where they raised their three children until moving to Corvallis in 1978. He died on 11 February 2011 in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, and was buried in IOOF Cemetery in Lebanon. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Jody Morse, in 1976, but is survived by his wife, sons and daughters-in-law, six grandchildren, and eight grandchildren.
a. Jody Lee Morse (1958–1976) was born on 23 May 1958, in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon, and graduated from Lebanon Union High School. She died on 29 June 1976, in an automobile accident west of Halsey on Peoria Road. She is buried in the Lebanon IOOF Cemetery.
5. William Franklin Morse (1921–2013) was born on 9 February 1921 in Roland, Linn County, Oregon, just east of Harrisburg.
During war years he worked at H. J. Kaiser Shipyards on Swan Island in Portland as a quality control inspector. Following that he worked for the Oregon State Highway Department, traveling the state to supervise traffic monitoring teams. His life’s work began in Harrisburg with his two brothers. He joined with them in 1944 when they formed the Morse Brothers partnership.
Music was an avocation and he became regionally known as a soloist. His first solo was at age 5; a male quartet with high school classmates won first place in Forest Grove; he sang solos at church, for civic gatherings, and for decades at the Pioneer Picnic in Brownsville.
Bill died at age 92 on 27 November 2013 in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. He is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
6. Rose Alice Morse (1923–1992) was born on 5 March 1923 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. On 11 December 1945, she married Raymond Leroy Trenholm (1919–1986), son of Claire Udell Trenholm (1883–1959) and Mary Howe (1895–1965). He was born on 23 July 1919 and grew up in Monroe, Benton County, Oregon.
On 29 January 1942, Ray enlisted in the U S. Navy at Portland and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He was honorably discharged on 26 November 1945, at Bremerton, Washington. He had graduated from Monroe High School and got a forestry degree from Oregon State College in 1949. In 1949, he started to work for the Linn County Fire Patrol Associates and the Oregon Department of Forestry. He retired as a supervisor for the department in 1977.
Ray died on 3 February 1986 in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, and was buried in Oak Lawn Memorial Park. Rose died on 22 February 1992 and was buried with Ray. They are survived by their son, daughter, and grandchildren.
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So, despite losing a few weeks in October, we're still pressing on through the rest of the tree. Once we get to the end, I'll have some choices to make about turning all of this into a book. If you have an opinion about what that book should have in it, join us on Facebook or send me an email. Nothing is set in stone (or bound in leather) yet!As always, if you've found one or more of your relatives mentioned in this blog, please get in touch. You can comment below (anonymous comments are usually not as helpful), or email "mightieracorns" at Gmail.com.
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Until next time... Happy Hunting!
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