CFH First Draft: Mary Davidson Malson Cunningham

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Mary E Davidson is the 68th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Samuel Thurston Davidson

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Samuel Thurston Davidson is the 67th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Theodore Bruce Davidson

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Theodore Bruce Davidson is the 66th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: William Montgomery Davidson

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

William Montgomery Davidson is the 65th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Rebecca Lucretia Davidson Murphy

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Rebecca Lucretia Davidson is the 64th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Sarah Montgomery Davidson

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Sarah Montgomery is the 19th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

A Davidson Family Roundup

Hello, cousins!

At long last, we are looking at the last two families in the Davidson branch of the family. In case you need a refresher, these are the youngest children of Henry Davidson (1818–1894) and Sarah Montgomery (1824–1918), and Sarah is the daughter of Elizabeth Callin Montgomery (1798-1834), who was the granddaughter of James Callin - the ancestor who ties us all together.

V. Samuel Thurston Davidson (1853–1889)

The fifth child of Henry and Sarah, Thurston was born on 6 August 1853 while his family was en route to Oregon. Depending on the record you cite, he was born on the Oregon Trail, in the Idaho Territory, possibly in what is now Utah. The family settled near Shedd, Linn County, Oregon, and that is where he grew up.

Thurston married Susanna Elizabeth Briggs (1850–1910) in Linn County in about 1878. They settled on a farm in Halsey and had a son in November of the following year. She was the daughter of Joseph M Briggs (1817–1888) and Susannah Early (1813–1901), born on 11 July 1850 and raised in Morgan County, Ohio.

Thurston died unexpectedly on 25 April 1889 on his farm near Shedd. Susan carried on managing the farm and raising their son and daughter. She died on 10 October 1910, and she and Thurston are buried in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd.

     A. Cloud Henry Davidson (1879–1950) was born on 4 November 1879 in Shedd, Linn, Oregon.
spent all of his life in the Shedd and Halsey districts. He married Lura V Wilson (1880–1953), daughter of James Milton Wilson (1850–1895) and Mary Susan Kirk (1859–1895), on 19 March 1907. She was born on

Making a living as a prominent stock grower, Cloud and Lura resided on his farm near Shedd until he retired in 1945, then they moved to a farm near Halsey.  He died in a Portland hospital on 11 February 1950; she died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis on 18 March 1953. They are buried in Pugh Cemetery in Shedd and were survived by their son and grandchildren.

     1. Robert H Davidson (1919–2003) was born on 10 March 1919 in Portland, Oregon to Virgil Ulysses Allison (1887–1931) and Jessie E Brown (1891–1929). He was ten years old when his mother died, and he was taken in by Cloud and Lura Davidson, who adopted him.

Robert graduated from Halsey High School in 1937 and attended Oregon State College. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, serving from 18 December 1942 through 12 March 1946. During his enlistment, he got married on 24 July 1943 in Linn County, Oregon, to Phyllis Amanda Holt (1918–2001). She was born on 2 December 1918 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon to Benjamin Rice Holt (1889–1984) and Estle Fay Hill (1890–1977).

Phyllis was born east of Harrisburg and moved to Halsey in 1923 when her father joined the family's Hill and Co. hardware business. She graduated from Halsey High School in 1936. She continued to work in the family hardware store after they married, and she and Robert became partners in the Davidson Generational Grass Seed Farm, where they raised their family. Robert continued to farm until 1979 and lived on the Davidson Farm until his death. Phyllis died on 22 December 2001, and Robert died on 29 December 2003, both in Shedd. They were survived by two daughters and a son, and they are buried together in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd.

     B. Addie Belle Davidson (1881–1954) was born in Shedd on 11 December 1881. She was a lifelong resident of Linn County and died at the community hospital in Lebanon on 11 February 1954. She never married, but she was an active member of many community organizations and was frequently mentioned in the local newspapers for being the hostess or organizer of local events.

VI. Mary E Davidson (1854–1929)

The youngest child of Henry and Sarah Davidson, Mary was born on 15 November 1854, soon after her family settled near Shedd. She grew up on the family farm and married her first husband, Charles W Malson (b. 1845) around 1874. Little is known about Charles, and most of that information comes from the 1880 U.S. Census, which gives his age (35), birthplace (Ohio), and the birthplaces of his parents (father in Indiana, mother in Kentucky).

The couple had five children together, but only three survived childhood. Mary sued Charles for divorce in 1894, leaving her to raise the remaining three children. She married her second husband, Richard Ross Cunningham (1849–1926) on 12 March 1896. Ross was born on 6 April 1849 in Pickaway, Pickaway County, Ohio, and ran off to join the 110th Ohio Infantry at age 15, fighting for 18 months in the Civil War. He settled in Oregon after the war, and his first wife died in Harrisburg in 1891, soon after which, he also lost two children.

After they married, Mary and Ross moved to a house on Main Street in Lebanon. He died there on 24 June 1926; Mary suffered from a heart condition in her final three years and died on 19 July 1929. They are buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon.

     A. Commodore W Malson (1875–1938) was born on 19 Nov 1875 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. He was raised in the Halsey neighborhood, and as a young man found work as a car inspector for the C & S Railway in Portland.

Commodore married Lura Sarah Pugh (1879–1962) in Portland on 18 September 1908. She was born on 14 April 1879 in Shedd, Linn County, daughter of John Wesley Pugh (1845–1913) and Nancy Elizabeth Walker (1849–1898) and younger half-sister of George B. Pugh, who married Commodore's cousin, Laura Elsie Davidson (1872–1913).

Commodore's job took him and his family to several cities including San Bernardino, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Hubbard, before he and Lura settled in Shedd in 1914. Commodore died at age 62 on 17 May 1938 at the hospital in Lebanon; Lura died on 6 July 1962, age 83. They are buried in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd.

     1. Ralph Ernest "Curly" Malson (1908–1990) was born on 12 October 1908 while his parents were living in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended Oregon College of Agriculture (now Oregon State University) majoring in chemical engineering. After graduation, he moved to Carmel, California, but returned to Albany and married Roberta Adelaide Wire (1913–2000) on 10 January 1937.

Roberta was born on 18 September 1913 in Albany, Linn County, to George Christian Wire (1874–1960) and Eva Whinery (1876–1972). Curly worked for the Bureau of Mines and other places through the Carpenters Millwright Union before retiring in 1974. He helped build the Albany Boys and Girls Club and the first zirconium furnace with Kroh Scientists.

Curly died on 11 March 1990 and Roberta died on 20 February 2000, both in Albany. They are buried in the Willamette Memorial Park in Albany. They were survived by their son and two daughters.

     a. Jerrold Ralph Malson (1939–2013) was born on 9 October 1939 in Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon. He was raised in Albany and attended Albany Union High School. He was a member of the Sea Scouts, and after graduating in 1957, joined the U.S. Navy and later the National Guard. He attended Northwest Christian College for one year before marrying his high school sweetheart.

After they married, Jerry attended Central Oregon Community College, receiving a degree in forestry. He continued to live and work in Central Oregon until moving his family in 1977 to Trout Creek, Montana, where they raised silver foxes. In 1982, he founded Jerry Malson Outfitting and established the Montana Guide Training Center.

Jerry died on 7 October 2013, survived by his wife, son, two daughters, and four grandchildren.

     2. Ruth Elizabeth Malson (1911–1995) was born on 2 November 1911 in Hubbard, Marion County, Oregon. She attended Albany College and studied music and managed the Halsey Telephone Co. and was actively involved with the RSVP, assisting at the Senior Meal Site and flu clinics.

On 11 February 1936, she married Elmer Delmont Ferrell (1912–1970) in Benton County, Oregon. He was born on 25 June 1912 in Cokato, Wright County, Minnesota, to Ezra Ernest Ferrell (1870–1950) and Lillian Kreitlow (1894–1982). He attended schools in Annandale, Minnesota. He moved to eastern Oregon in 1934 and later to Halsey where he made his home with a cousin, Mrs. Mae M. Weber, before marrying Ruth.

Elmer and Ruth had a son and daughter together but divorced around 1942. He had managed the Halsey Telephone Co. for two years and was head of the installation department of Pacific Northwest Bell in Portland at the time of his death on 12 July 1970.

Ruth married again on 4 December 1944 to Wilbur Lamar Norton (1907–1982). He was born on 20 November 1907 in Halsey, the son of Walker Lincoln Norton (1883–1947) and Myrtle Cora Sneed (1887–1974). Wilbur worked as a Western Union line crew workman, truck driver and general warehouseman for O W Frum, Cross Brothers, Dickerson Co, and W R Grace Co. They had a daughter together.

Wilbur died on and is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Peoria, Linn County. Ruth died on 25 Sep 1995 in Albany and is buried in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd. Ruth was survived by her son, two daughters, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

     B. Lilli Malson (b. 1877) was born in Oregon and appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census; while she did not survive to adulthood, we do not know precisely when she died.

     C. Dexter Malson (b. 1880) like his sister, Lilli, was born in Oregon and appeared with his family in the 1880 Census, but we do not know when he died.

     D. Bennett F Malson (1884–1912) was born on 7 June 1884 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. He grew up in Linn County and married Isabel A Rounds (1886–1958) on 25 March 1906 in Garfield, Whitman County, Washington. She was the daughter of Leroy Philo Rounds (1853–1918) and Gertrude Hatch (1855–1935) born on 5 October 1886 in Walla Walla, Walla Walla County, Washington.

The young couple lived in Portland, where Bennett was a waiter. He contracted meningitis and died at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland on 14 May 1912. He is buried in River View Cemetery in Portland. He and Isabel did not have any children, and she was remarried in 1914 to Newton D. Johnson (1887–1943).

     E. Edna Hazel Malson (1888–1919) was born on 12 October 1888 in Pomona County, California. She moved to Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon, with her mother and brother and finished school there.

Edna married George Alexander Wishart (1890–1980) on 1 June 1908 in Portland and lived with him there until the fall of 1918, when they took her south to Los Angeles, California, for her health. Sadly, she died there on 3 February 1919 after suffering from influenza for several days. She left George to raise their two small daughters.

(At the end of the post, I will have more to say about George's family tree.)

George remarried on 9 June 1920 in Ogden, Weber County, Utah, taking Margaret M Selgrath (1890–1986) as his second wife. They had four more children together and after living in Utah, San Bernardino, California, and San Fransisco, they settled on the Monterey Peninsula in California in the late 1920s. George died on 4 June 1980 and Margaret died on 3 August 1986, both in Monterey County.

     1. Charlotte Evelyn Wishart (1912–1993) was born on 8 March 1912 in Oregon. She was seven years old when her mother died, and she grew up in the home of her father and step-mother, coming of age after they moved to Monterey. She married Frederick Antone Layton (1911–1979), son of Antone Layton (1889–1967) and Pearl Betz (1891–1984), about 1933.

Fred was born on 15 September 1911 in Monterey County, and he served in the U.S. Army from 19 January 1945 to 18 January 1946. Before and after the war he worked as a greenskeeper at the famous golf courses around Monterey Bay. The couple had two sons and a daughter together.

Fred died on 10 April 1979, and Charlotte died in the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (C.H.o.M.P.) on 14 December 1993. (Coincidentally, that is where my oldest child would be born in 1996!) They were survived by their three children, five grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

     a. Frederick Leroy Layton (1934–2011) was born on 7 July 1933 in Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California. Fred married Shirley Wright, and they are survived by a daughter and two sons. He retired as a central office technician with US West. He married his second wife in 1975, and she survives. He died at age 77 on 24 January 2011 in Olympia, Washington, after a 6-year battle with lung cancer.

     2. Doris Ellen Wishart (1915–1979) was born on 22 June 1915 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, and she was only four years old when her mother died and her family moved to Ogden, Utah. She married Noel Paul Jones (1913–2002), son of Joseph Rosslyn Jones (1882–1956) and Grace I Muller (1881–1960), about 1935. Noel was born on 24 December 1913 in California.

Doris died in January 1979 in Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado. Noel died on 16 November 2002 in Fall River Mills, Shasta County, California. They were survived by a son.

- -- --- -- -

There you have it - I did my best, but I feel like there is a lot I still don't know about the folks in this post. There were enough gaps in the records that I fear I may have missed someone or some important events. But, if you saw my bonus post on the family of George Wishart, you know that I tried not to leave any stones unturned.

As always, if you've found one or more of your relatives mentioned in this blog, please get in touch. I'm always eager to learn more and to correct mistakes! You can comment below (anonymous comments are usually not as helpful), or email "mightieracorns" at Gmail.com.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time.... Happy Hunting!

Theodore, the Dairy Man

Welcome to 2020, cousins!

I think this could be the year... I started this project in 2014, thinking I could have a book ready to publish in 2015. I was wrong about that, but for the best possible reason: I kept finding more cousins! And here we are, winding down with the last branch of the family. (Unless we find another major breakthrough, of course!)

This week, we will take a look at the descendants of the third child of Henry and Sarah (Montgomery) Davidson. If you need to catch up, that link should help you catch up.

III. Theodore Bruce Davidson (1848–1932)

Theodore was born on 3 July 1848 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, and he was about four years old when his family took the Oregon Trail westward. They settled near Shedd in Linn County, and Theodore eventually inherited the land there.

Theodore married his first wife, Margaret Ann Work (1855–1915), in 1876; her parents were most likely David Work (1815–1893) and Marinda E "Mary" Wilk (1814–1886). Margaret was born on 13 September 1855 in Indiana, and she grew up in Iowa, moving to Oregon with her family in about 1874.

Theodore was a dairy farmer, and he and Margaret raised their family on their farm in Shedd, until the 1900s when they were able to retire and moved to Lane County. They lived in Blanton (1900 Census) and Eugene (1910), where Margaret died on 22 December 1915. She was buried in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery.

After Margaret died, Theodore married his second wife, the widowed Margaret Ellen (Waggoner) Kizer (1865–1947), on 15 February 1917 in Eugene. She was born on 29 September 1865 in Brownsville to Bird Waggoner (1810–1892) and Nancy Elizabeth Gray (1839–1885), and she had four children from her first marriage to Ovid Jackson Kizer (1863–1906), who died in Eugene on 25 May 1906 after being kicked in the head by a horse.

When Theodore died on 11 March 1932 he was survived by his widow and seven of his nine children. Margaret Kizer Davidson died on 5 March 1947 in Eugene, and she was buried in Alford Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County, next to her first husband.

     A. Estella Davidson (1876–1958) was born on 2 July 1876 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. She graduated from the Monmouth Normal School (which later became the Oregon College of Education) and she taught school in Eugene and Stayton.

Stella married Willis Manuel Caldwell (1878–1952) in 1903. He was the son of Melzer Jackson Caldwell (1849–1901) and Ellen Christiana Cole (1855–1929), born on 14 February 1878 in Scio, Linn County. They had their daughter and two sons in Stayton, Marion County, and lived in Ashland and Brownsville before relocating back to Salem Heights in 1920.

Willis died in Salem on 30 August 1952, and Stella died there on 12 May 1958. They are buried in Belcrest Memorial Park and were survived by their three children and six grandchildren.

      1. Maida Arleen Caldwell (1907–1971) was born on 20 August 1907 in Stayton, Marion, Oregon, and graduated from Salem High School and Willamette University, becoming a teacher in the early 1930s. She married Aubrey Dwain Estes (1905–1972), the elder son of John Oscar Estes (1883–1949) and Mary Jane "Mamie" Carter (1886–1949) on 19 June 1934. He was born on 16 November 1905 in Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon.

Aubrey was a barber and owned his own shop in Joseph. Maida resigned from her teaching position when she married, but after their children were older, she taught at Joseph High School. According to his Find-A-Grave biography, he suffered for many years from multiple sclerosis but continued to barber until he could no longer hold the tools.

Maida died on 17 September 1971, and Aubrey died 14 January 1972, at the Wallowa County Nursing Home where he had resided for several years. They are buried in the Prairie Creek Cemetery in Joseph. They were survived by their son, Dwain, their daughter, still living, and at least one grandchild.

     a. Dwain Arlen Estes (1936–2017) was born on 4 February 1936 in Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon. He graduated from Eastern Oregon State College in 1957 and began teaching in the Parkrose School District that autumn. In 1959 he married his first wife.

Dwain taught in Parkrose for 33 years, retiring in 1990. Much of his career was spent as a sixth-grade teacher, where he shared his enjoyment of the outdoors with many of his students at Outdoor School. He finished his career as a math teacher at Parkrose Middle School.

Dwain died on 10 July 2017 in Portland and is survived by his son, his sister, and several grandchildren.

      2. Dale L Caldwell (1909–1975) was born on 3 October 1909 in Stayton, Marion County, Oregon. In 1930, he moved from his father's house in Salem to live with his sister, Maida, in Portland. Dale worked as an accountant, then as a freight agent for a railway. His work had him move to Idaho, and then to Nevada.

In Nevada, Dale met Maude Ethel Dunbar (1908–1995), and they married on 19 July 1939 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, before returning to live in Elko. Maude was the elder daughter of  Edward Fitts Dunbar (1878–1970) and Maud Ethel Miller (1881–1952), born in Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada, on 5 September 1908.

They had a son in Elko, but the little boy died from dysentery before his first birthday. Not long after, they moved back to Portland and had a second son, who is still living. At some point, the couple divorced. Maude became a teacher and raised their son in Milwaukie, Clackamas County, Oregon. She died on 10 November 1995.

Dale remarried on 2 June 1951 to Frances Jean Salerno (1916–2012), daughter of Italian immigrants Frank Sallustio Salerno (1888–1962) and Angelina Migliore (1897–1961). Frances was born in Portland on 6 September 1916, in what was then known as South Portland in the heart of the Italian and Jewish communities. She was the eldest of 10 children. After graduating from St. Mary's Academy in 1934, she attended business college and Mrs. Holmes Secretarial School. At first, she enjoyed her duties as a secretary, but soon discovered the challenges of accounting and pursued that career. She spent most of her career in residential and commercial real estate accounting.

Dale and Frances had one son together, still living, and remained in Portland, where Dale died on 21 May 1975 at age 65. Frances was 95 years old when she died on 25 January 2012. They are survived by Dale's sons and at least one grandchild.

     a. Dale Edward Caldwell (1940–1941) was born on 30 June 1940 in Elko, Elko County, Nevada, and died there on 7 April 1941 after suffering from dysentery. He was interred at Riverview Abbey Mausoleum and Crematory in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.

     3. Willis Theodore Caldwell (1915–1998) was born on 10 May 1915 in Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon, the youngest child of Willis M. and Stella Caldwell. During the Second World War, he served in the U.S. Navy from 15 December 1943 to 29 Mar 1946. He was aboard the USS Antaeus in 1944, and later served under CDR C.E. Coffin on the USS LC(FF)-370, an amphibious assault ship.

After the war, Willis married Marjorie L Herr (1918–2013) in Linn County on 29 August 1949. She was born on 4 October 1918 in Priest River, Bonner County, Idaho to Clarence Wilson Herr (1864–1938) and Helene Marie Klehn (1875–1958). Marge graduated from Willamette University and earned a Master's Degree from the University of Oregon. She taught Physical education in Hood River and Albany before she married Willis and moved to Salem.

Willis and Marge were both very active in the Salem community. She belonged to the Salem Audubon Society and Chemeketan Hiking Club, among others, and in 1991 was honored when the gymnasium at the YWCA of Salem was named the "Marge Caldwell Gymnasium." Willis was president of the Santiam Alpine Club and ran for the school board.

Willis died on 21 July 1998 and was buried in Salem's Belcrest Memorial Park. Marge died on 31 October 2013 and is buried with her husband. They are survived by their two sons.

     B. Dr. Bertha Davidson (1877–1958) was born on 11 September 1877 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. She lived ran a millinery (hat-making shop) with her sister, Marinda, in the 1910s, and the two sisters lived with their younger brothers, Frank and William. Bertha became a doctor and practiced osteopathic medicine in Portland for several years before moving back to Eugene in 1926, where she remained for the rest of her life. She died on Wednesday, 5 August 1958 and is buried in Eugene Pioneer Cemetery.

     C. Ella R Davidson (1879–1966) was born on 20 February 1879 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. She became a teacher in the public schools in the Eugene area. Around 1915, she married Emmet William Austin (1874–1936), and they lived in Woodburn, near Salem in Marion County. He died on 9 June 1936 in Woodburn and was buried in the Belle Passi Cemetery there.

Ella married her second husband, Charles F Schultz (1876–1952), on 24 April 1940 in Vancouver, Clark County, Washington. Charles died on 30 April 1952 in Salem. Ella died on 14 Jan 1966 in Salem and was buried with Emmet in Belle Passi Cemetery.

     D. Sarah Marinda Davidson (1880–1969) was born on 29 December 1880 in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon. She was a seamstress who lived in Portland for most of her adult life. Mirandy died in Portland on 26 May 1969 and is buried in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery.

     E. Samuel Bruce Davidson (1882–1958) was born on 8 September 1882 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. On 11 June 1913, he married Ella May Bryson (1880–1975) in Seattle, King County, Washington. She was born in June 1880 in Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, to David Lowe Bryson (1857–1922) and Mary Sloman (1857–1924).

Bruce drove a laundry truck for many years in Tacoma. He died on 17 February 1958 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, and was buried in Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood. Ella died on 25 Mar 1975 and was buried with her husband.

     F. Mary Davidson (1884–1962) was born on 12 October 1884 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. She married Walter Lewis Straub (1886–1940) in Eugene on 26 December 1907. He was born on 21 April 1886 in Box, Cedar County, Missouri to Elisha Straub (1852–1921) and Melissa Esther Darnell (1864–1931).

Walter was a minister in the Christian Church, and as he and Mary moved around frequently as they raised their son and daughter. They lived in Eugene, Oregon (1908-1911), Vancouver and Ellensburg, Washington (1914-1915), Coos County, Oregon (1917-1918), Santa Cruz, California (1920), Pierre, South Dakota (1930), and Omaha, Nebraska (as of 1935).

The 1940 U.S. Census places Mary and her two children in Eugene and lists her as a widow. An obituary for her son in 1942 refers to "the late Rev. Walter L. Straub." However, I have been unable to locate any death or burial records for Walter. What I found was a record in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 database that lists a man named Walter Lewis Straub, born 21 April 1886 in Stockton, Missouri, living in Omaha and married to a woman named Josephine. I have not been able to determine for sure when or whether Walter died, nor have I been able to rule out the possibility that he remarried and remained in Omaha.

Mary died on 10 January 1962 in Salem, Marion County, Oregon, and was buried in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery. She was survived by her daughter.

     1. Paul Walter Straub (1908–1942) was born on 28 October 1908 in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. He worked as a sales clerk while remaining in his parents' household until he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. Sadly, he died while in training on 14 November 1942 in Fort Campbell, Christian County, Kentucky, and is buried in Eugene Pioneer Cemetery.

     2. Mary Rozelle Straub Peterson (1913–1998) was born on 23 October 1913 in Camas, Clark County, Washington. She grew up in several places, graduating from Brookings High School in Brookings, South Dakota in 1931.

She married David Haggard Henry (1913–1969) on 2 March 1941 in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. David was a newspaper reporter who was born on 17 July 1913 in Gold Hill, Jackson, Oregon to David Chauncy Henry (1879–1962) and Laura Mabel Haggard (1879–1944).

Records suggest there is more to their story than I have been able to find, but here's what I can say for certain: David died on 17 June 1969 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Eugene. Rozelle remarried on 11 September 1971 in Lane County, Oregon. I have not been able to determine whether her second husband is still alive. I have also not been able to tell whether she had any children.

Rozelle Peterson died on 14 July 1998 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Eugene with her first husband.


     G. Dr. Frank F Davidson (1887–1966) was born on 23 November 1887 in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. He lived with his older sisters, Bertha and Marinda, and his younger brother, William, in Eugene while he attended the University of Oregon in the early 1910s. Like Bertha, he became a doctor of osteopathy. He studied at the Osteopathic College of Physicians and Surgeons in Los Angeles.

During World War I, he shipped out as a private in the Medical Detachment, 361st Infantry. He married Anna Katherine Hoge (1888–1938) on 21 June 1918 in Dupont, Pierce County, Washington, and then he shipped out from New York on 6 July 1918 aboard the Koroa. He returned from St Nazaire, France, in April 1919, and he and Anna moved to Idaho, where Frank attempted to establish a practice in Burley. They arrived in April 1921, and Frank set up his practice in the offices formerly occupied by Dr. Whittenberger. A year later, Anna's sister died in Pasadena, and the family ultimately re-settled in Pasadena in 1922, and that is where they raised their daughter. Frank passed his offices to a Dr. Sears.

Anna died on 27 December 1938 and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, Los Angeles County. After a few years of mourning, Frank married as his second wife, Pansy B Beebe (1891–1967) on 8 November 1941 in Los Angeles, California. Pansy was the widow of Frank's younger brother, William.

Frank died on 21 October 1966 in Costa Mesa, Orange, California and was interred at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena with Anna. Pansy survived him by only a few months, but we'll talk about her in more detail below.

     1. Elaine A Davidson (1921–2005) was born on 29 September 1921 in Burley, Minidoka County, Idaho. Her parents moved to Pasadena, where Elaine grew up. She married Robert Charles Terbeck (1920–1979) on 9 June 1942. He was the son of Conrad B Terbeck (1895–1953) and Hazel Anna Braden (1897–1984), born on 4 July 1920 in Los Angeles.

Robert was a manager at California Institute Of Technology, and he and Elaine had three daughters together. The couple divorced around 1960, and Elaine remarried on 14 July 1963 to Stephen A Barlow (1924–1991). Robert died at only 58 years of age on 19 April 1979.

The Barlows moved to Honolulu, where Stephen became proprietor of Island Seco Engineer Moisture Control and an employee of Honolulu Roofing Co. He died on 16 May 1991 in Pearl City, Hawaii, and Elaine moved back to San Diego, where she spent her time as a volunteer at the San Diego Kaiser Permanente Hospital, she enjoyed knitting little hats for premature newborns.

Elaine died in San Diego on 19 September 2005 and is survived by her three daughters.

     H. William Henry Davidson (1890–1915) was born on 20 October 1890, near Shedd, Linn County, Oregon. At eight years of age, he moved to Eugene with his parents. Around 1912, he returned to the farm near Shedd, Oregon. He married Pansy B Beebe (1891–1967) on 11 May 1913. She was born on 11 May 1891 in Kansas and grew up there in Powhattan, Brown County. Her parents were Jerry Beebe (1858–1943) and Sarah Alice Plumb (1863–1951), and they moved to Lane County, Oregon, in Pansy's youth.

A few weeks before his death, William went to Los Angeles for the benefit of his health. He improved for a while then suddenly grew worse and died on 17 November 1915, at the age of 25 years and 27 days. His remains were brought to Eugene and interred in the I.O.O.F. cemetery on 22 November 1915.

Pansy married Porter S Fleming (1887–1935) on 20 June 1920 in Lane County, Oregon. Their marriage lasted until Porter's death on 29 August 1935. She later married her brother-in-law, Frank F Davidson (1887–1966), on 8 November 1941 in Los Angeles.

Pansy died on 30 January 1967 in Fairview, Newton County, Missouri, visiting her daughter, and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena.

     1.  Marguerite Violet Davidson (1914–1981) was born to William and Pansy (Beebe) Davidson on 7 March 1914 and was raised by her mother and step-father, Porter Fleming. Marguerite graduated from Eugene High School and the University of Oregon at Eugene and became a stenographer in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, where she was living with her widowed mother in 1940.

Marguerite married Thomas Evan Henderson (1916–2006) on 11 November 1948 in Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Evan was born on 27 October 1916 in Purdy, Barry County, Missouri, to Joseph G Henderson (1875–1965) and Mattie Ellen Robberson (1879–1960). He had been married once before, and he and his first wife, Opal Lucille Nichols (1919–1994) appeared in the 1940 Census in San Antonio, Los Angeles County, California; they divorced about 1946.

After they married, Marguerite and Evan relocated to Fairview, Newton County, Missouri, where Evan raised dairy cattle and Marguerite worked as a secretary for the Kraft company in Wheaton. (Wheaton is in Barry County, where Evan was raised.) He eventually auctioned off his herd in 1961.
 
After Marguerite retired, the couple moved to Kansas in 1973. She died after a long illness on 2 April 1981 in Benton, Butler County, Kansas. Evan died on 22 March 2006 in Purdy, Barry County, Missouri. They are buried in Arnhart Cemetery in Purdy, and they are survived by a daughter from Evan's first marriage.

IV. Frances Mary Davidson (1850–1855)

Frances was born in Aug 1850 in Fulton County, Indiana, and died in 1855, after her family arrived in Linn County, Oregon.

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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.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time... Happy Hunting!

William Davidson's Youngest Trio

Welcome back, cousins!

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.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time... Happy Hunting!

The Next Eldest Davidson Children

Hello, Cousins!

Last time, we looked at the first of William Montgomery Davidson's seven children, Clara. Today we'll continue with the three next-eldest children:

     B. Henry Bruce Davidson (1870–1953) was born on 16 January 1870 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. He grew up in Linn county and served as a postmaster for Rowland, Linn County, in 1899 and 1901.

Bruce married Genevieve Major (1876–1962) the daughter of John W Major (b. 1840) and Jemima Luceneth Springer (b. 1844) on 30 December 1903 in New Elberton, Whitman County, Washington. Genevieve was born on 25 August 1876 in Oregon.

Bruce and Genevieve adopted a son, Philip Neil Davidson (1910–1976), soon after his birth on 23 March 1910 in Eugene, Lane, Oregon. The family lived in Eugene, where Bruce worked as a carpenter, until at least 1918. By 1920, however, Bruce and Genevieve had divorced, and she and young Philip were living in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California.

Bruce remained in Eugene, and at age 74 he married his second wife was Ada B. (Healy) Sidwell (1888–1985) on 27 January 1944.  He died in Eugene on 31 August 1953 and was buried in the Harrisburg Masonic Cemetery. Genevieve died on 13 August 1962 in Los Angeles; their son died 20 September 1976 in Los Angeles, too.

     C. Laura Elsie Davidson (1872–1913) was born in June 1872 and grew up in Harrisburg. In 1891, she married George B. Pugh (1868–1939), who was born on 16 February 1868 in Linn County, Oregon, to John Wesley Pugh (1845–1913) and Frances Elizabeth Thompson (1848–1870).

George and Elsie had two daughters and raised them in Shedd (1900) and Brownsville (1910), Linn County. George supported the family running a livery business. Elsie died in Salem on 2 May 1913 and was buried in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd.

George remarried on 24 October 1917 in Lane County, Oregon, to Margaret Serfling (1877–1943). He died on 22 August 1939 and was buried in the Pugh family cemetery in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon.

     1. Verdis G Pugh (1894–1983) was born on 15 August 1894 in Albany, Linn County, Oregon and grew up in Brownsville, graduating from Brownsville High School in 1912. She married Harry Rosecrans Burke (1885–1956), son of Richard Burke (1853–1918) and Clemenza Rosecrans (1853–1936), in Des Moines, Iowa, in June 1920.

Harry worked for 28 years as reporter, editor, and editor-manager on 13 newspapers In Iowa, Oregon, Idaho, and California. He was employed by the old St. Louis Times in 1920 as music and drama critic and as a columnist. In 1924, he became a magazine feature writer for the Post-Dispatch. Then, from 1927 until his retirement, he served the Globe-Democrat as a music critic, art critic and book editor.

Harry died on 19 July 1956 in Brownsville, Linn, Oregon and was buried in the Pugh family cemetery in Shedd. Verdis died on 12 April 1983 in Brownsville and was buried with her husband.

     2. Frances Rose Pugh (1898–1980) was born in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon, in the spring of 1898 (records disagree whether her birthday was 3 May or 4 April). After she reached adulthood, she went to work as a telephone operator in Brownsville, and in 1920 she was living with her father and step-mother.

In November 1921 Frances was married to a traveling salesman named Paul Wright, and living in Reno, Nevada. They soon moved to Los Angeles, and during the 1930s, to Sacramento. Frances died on 19 January 1980 in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, and was buried in the Pugh Cemetery in Shedd.

     D. John Halbert Davidson (1877–1953) was the fourth child of William Montgomery Davidson, born on 1 January 1877 in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. Soon after 1900, he married Lora X Powell (1880–1944), daughter of Abraham Thomas Powell (1841–1932) and Evaline Terry (1855–1899). Lora was born on 21 June 1880 in Scio, Linn County, Oregon.

John and Lora had two sons and a daughter during the first decade of their marriage; one born in Rollin and the younger two in Stayton, Marion County. They about 1909 they moved their family to Sutter, Sacramento County, California.

Lora died in Sacramento on 9 October 1944 and was buried there in the East Lawn Memorial Park. John died there also, on 16 November 1953, and was buried with his wife.

     1. Robert Dair Davidson (1903–1949) was born on 3 January 1903 in Roland, Oregon, according to his obituary. He was a graduate of Sacramento College and the American Institute of Banking and became the assistant cashier of the main Bank of America office in Sacramento. Dair, as he was called, was also head of the City Music Association and City Symphony Association.

In 1927, he married Lenore Virginia Wiren (1906–1990), the daughter of Scandinavian immigrants, Frank M Wiren (1868–1934) and Inga B Foosness (1879–1939). She was born on 30 June 1906 in St. Louis County, Minnesota, and came with her family to Sacramento in the mid-1920s.

Dair and Lenore had two daughters together before his death from a stroke at age 46 on 27 October 1949 in Sacramento. After Dair died, Lenore remarried William Joseph Geery (1909–1993). She died on 1 September 1990 in Sacramento, and William followed on 8 February 1993. The three of them are buried together in East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento.

Dair and Lenore were survived by both of their daughters, one of whom is still living.

     a. Joan Virginia Davidson Bales (1930–2016) was born in Sacramento on 27 June 1930. She married her husband on 30 June 1950 and lived her entire life in Sacramento. She died on 13 October 2016 and is buried in East Lawn Memorial Park with the rest of her family.

     2. Princeton Loraine "Bing" Davidson (1906–1976) was born on 2 January 1906 in Stayton, Marion County, Oregon. His family moved to Sacramento when he was small, so he grew up there and became a salesman.

Bing married Zeola Alice Green (1910–1957), the daughter of Lloyd Allen Green (1871–1947) and Sarah Alice Smith (1877–1963) on 7 May 1932 in Alameda County, California. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served from 17 October 1942 to 15 October 1945.

Zeola died on 14 February 1957 and is buried in East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento. Bing remarried on 2 March 1959 to Adeline A Meredith. He died on 30 January 1976 in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, California.

     3. Evaline Lucille Davidson (1908–1999) was born on 16 January 1908 in Salem, Marion County, Oregon. She graduated from San Jose State College and began teaching in elementary school in Sacramento. She married Harlow Alfred Hanlon (1910–2004) on 17 December 1931, and they had two daughters together.

Harlow was born on 30 November 1910 in Meade, Meade County, Kansas, the son of James William Hanlon (1865–1931) and Anna Belle Moorman (1867–1955). He was a 1932 graduate from the State Teachers College at San Jose.

In 1950, the family moved from Sacramento to Southern California. Lucille taught school for 37 years, retiring from Littleton (Colorado) Public Schools in 1973. Lucille and Harlow divorced in 1960. She married Jack Firth in 1962, and he died in 1977. Harlow died on 11 May 2004. Lucille died on 4 September 1999 at age 91 and was interred at East Lawn Cemetery in Sacramento.

Lucille was survived by her two daughters.

- -- --- -- -

 This post relied more heavily than usual on clues and research posted by one of these surviving daughters. It is encouraging to see the love and attention that others put into their family trees, and I don't always get the chance to personally thank those who are doing that work. I only hope that my project brings you all as much joy and help as you have brought to me.


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.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time... Happy Hunting!

Back to Linn County

Welcome back, cousins!

The last half dozen posts covered the descendants of Rebecca Davidson Murphy, the eldest daughter of Sarah Montgomery Davidson (1824-1918), and granddaughter of Caleb Montgomery and Elizabeth Callin. At long last, we get to move on to Rebecca's brother:

II. William Montgomery Davidson (1845–1939) 

William M. Davidson was born on 8 April 1845, in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. He was the second son of Henry and Sarah Montgomery Davidson, who came to Oregon with their family in 1845 and settled on a 320-acre homestead three miles north of Halsey. Mr. Davidson attended the Halsey public schools and during 1863-64 attended the Christian college at Monmouth. In 1865 he went to eastern Oregon where he engaged in stock-raising. The following year he returned to Linn County where he resided for the rest of his life.

In 1867 he bought a place two and one-half miles east of Harrisburg, and on 2 June of that year, he married Sarah Rosetta "Rose" Morris (1848–1928). Rose was born on 24 October 1848 in Moniteau County, Missouri, to George Jackson Morris (1818–1896) and Eliza Ann Cook (1825–1903). (Records suggest her full name might have been "Elizanna Matilda Cook".) The Morris family were also pioneers and crossed the plains in 1853.

Rose and William had the following seven children:

     A. Clara M Davidson (1868–1950)
     B. Henry Bruce Davidson (1870–1953)
     C. Laura Elsie Davidson (1872–1913)
     D. John Halbert Davidson (1877–1953)
     E. Iva E. Davidson (1879–1881)
     F. Oral Everett Davidson (1883–1955)
     G. Lydia D Davidson (1886–1975)

(We have time to talk about Clara's family today, and the rest will follow in the coming weeks.)

The Davidsons lived on the farm until 1874 when they sold it and bought a home 5 miles east of Harrisburg. They lived there until 1907 when Mr. Davidson retired from farm work and moved to Brownsville. Rose died in Brownsville on 17 February 1928 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. Soon after, William made his home in Albany with his daughter, Mrs. Clara McCoy. He died there on 26 May 1939 and was buried with his wife.

They were survived by five of their children, 17 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

     A. Clara M Davidson (1868–1950) was born in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, on 16 June 1868. She married Clyde McCoy (1869–1942) in Harrisburg in 1888. Clyde was born on 7 February 1869 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon, to William McCoy (1817–1900) and Margaret Ann Downey (1849–1931).

Clyde was a businessman who ran a drug store and was a part-owner of a building in downtown Halsey but lost a great deal in a fire that destroyed several businesses in January of 1895. After that, he is listed as a laborer, farmer, and salesman when his occupation is listed.

Clara and Clyde had three children together over the 12 years they were married, but they divorced in 1900. He moved to Portland after that, and he died there on 21 October 1942.

Clara lived in Albany for 34 years but in 1948 she moved back to Corvallis. She had also lived at Harrisburg, Halsey, Brownsville, Salem, in Crook county, in Seattle and in Washington, D.C. according to her obituary. After she suffered a hip fracture, she lived with her daughter, Gertrude Brown, in Corvallis. She died there on 26 October 1950 at the age of 82 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg.

     1. Lilla Orlean McCoy (1889–1969) was born on 4 September 1889 in Linn County, Oregon, and lived all her life there. She never married, but for several years she operated the first Brownsville telephone exchange with her mother. She also was a legal secretary, working for the Linn County Court and Tripp and Tripp Realtors. Lilla died on 11 July 1969 at the Albany Linn Nursing Home after a brief illness and was buried in Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County.

     2. Gertrude Doris McCoy (1891–1983) was born on 28 August 1891 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. On 11 August 1915, she married Lyn Arthur Brown (1891–1956) in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. He was born on 20 September 1891 in Carthage, Miner County, South Dakota, the son of Fred Martell Brown (1867–1938) and Lilian R Prescott (1870–1952). The Brown family moved to Oregon at the turn of the century, and Lyn grew up in Brownsville.

Lyn and Gertrude had two children and raised them in Corvallis. Lyn worked as superintendent of a cannery, and the couple was active in the local community. Lyn died on 6 August 1956 while visiting their daughter, Bette, in Roseburg. He was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County. Gertrude died at the Corvallis Manor nursing home on 7 March 1983 and was buried with her husband.

They were survived by their son, daughter, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

     a. Bette Ann Brown (1917–2012) was born on 24 February 1917 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. She attended Albany College and graduated from Oregon State College in 1939.

On 14 June 1941, she married Wallace Russell Wright (1918–1967), who was born in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon, on 15 January 1918. Wallace was the son of Alexander Lincoln Wright (1888–1960) and Odis Effie Wise (1890–1918), but his mother died when he was 8 months old, and her sister and brother-in-law, Ailey E Wise (1888–1959) and Albert Cleveland Cochell (1884–1946), took him in and raised him.

Wallace worked in the woolen mills while taking an extension study from the University of Oregon, later attending the Oregon College of Education. Bette taught in Independence and Central Point before settling in Roseburg. They raised a son and a daughter together. She and Wallace moved to Garden Valley in 1954. He died there on 28 July 1967. She later married Dick Scarborough.

Bette taught biology and physical education at Sutherlin High School until she retired in 1979. Dick died on 18 August 2009 and was buried in Roseburg National Cemetery in Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon. Bette moved to Clearwater Springs in Vancouver, Washington in 2009, where she died on 7 November 2012. She is also buried in Roseburg National Cemetery.

Bette was survived by her son, daughter, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

     b. Lyn Arthur Brown Jr (1920–2005) was born on 13 July 1920 in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. On 12 August 1942, he married Dorothy Ann Winter (1921–1987), daughter of Raymond Robert Robinson (1899–1983) and Vera Catherine Gantz (1902–2003) (Her biological father was Raymond Herbert Winter (b. 1899); records don't suggest whether he and Vera divorced or if he died.)

Dorothy was born on 3 January 1921 in Portland and moved to the Corvallis-Philomath area as a child. She was the secretary for the Corvallis School District for many years, retiring in 1984.

Dorothy died on 5 July 1987 in Philomath, Benton County, Oregon. Lyn died on 3 Jun 2005 in Corvallis. They were survived by two daughters and a son.

     3. Charles William Henry McCoy (1894–1970) was born on 2 October 1894 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. His parents divorced when he was about six years old, but Charles and his siblings grew up living near his mother's family, appearing in the 1900 Census in his grandparents' household in North Harrisburg, and living with his mother and sisters next door to the Pugh family (his mother's sister and brother-in-law) in Brownsville in 1910. During World War I, he served with the Marine Corps as an instructor of the machine gun, rifle, and pistol.

Charles married his first wife, Violet L Stellmacher (1904–1994) on 24 August 1920 in Linn County, Oregon. She was a daughter of Alfred Conrad Stellmacher (1861–1941) and Ida Louisa Spink (1869–1953), born in Oregon on 24 June 1904. The couple had a son and a daughter in Albany before they divorced.

By 1930, Violet had remarried and was living in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, with her daughter and new husband, Tom Tomson Leal (1905–1976). Violet and Tom had a son and daughter together and raised their family in Los Angeles. Violet died on 17 October 1994 in Placer County, California, where she had lived with her third husband, John A. "Jack" Doyle Jr. (1911–1992).

Charles married his second wife Guinevere L Kerns (1907–1954) on 29 May 1931 in  Josephine County, Oregon. She was born on 17 October 1907 in Oregon to John Wesley Kerns (1868–1951) and Jennie Houck (1885–1978). They also had a son and daughter together whom they raised in Medford.

Guinivere died on 30 September 1954 in Rogue River, Jackson County, Oregon, and was buried there in Woodville Cemetery. Charles died on 17 March 1970 in Rogue River and was buried with Guinivere. He was survived by all four of his children and eleven grandchildren.

Two of his children are still living.

     a. Alfred Lee McCoy (1922–2006) was born in Albany on 4 February 1922. When his parents divorced, he went to live in Calapooia, Linn County, Oregon, with his maternal grandparents, Alfred and Ida Stellmacher, where he appeared on the 1930 Census. He graduated from Albany High School in 1941 and briefly attended Oregon State University.

Lee joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 during World War II and served in the Pacific Theater as an electrician's mate. He also served in the Korean Conflict in 1950. Upon his discharge from the Navy, he married Patricia Gertrude Richey (1924–1995) in 1945 in San Francisco. She was born on 24 June 1924 in Washington, District of Columbia, to Thomas Beall Richey (1895–1953) and Winifred Mary Benbow (1893–1951).

Patricia's family moved to San Francisco from Washington, D.C. when she was two years old. She graduated from George Washington High School there in 1942, and after high school, she worked for Graybar Electric, at a detective agency and at an insurance company in San Francisco. Lee worked as an electrician in Los Angeles before moving back to Oregon in the late 1940s. About 1946 they moved to Albany, where Lee worked for Pacific Power & Light and Patricia worked for a title company and for Dr. Wade. In 1952 Lee transferred to the Linn County Telephone Company in Lebanon (currently CenturyTel) and worked as a construction superintendent for many years. Later, he became a safety engineer until his retirement in 1986.

Patricia died in Lebanon on 6 November 1995. Lee was later married to his old high school sweetheart, and they lived in Albany, where Lee died on 1 December 2006. Patricia and Lee are survived by their son and daughter, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

     b. Margery Ann McCoy Holly (1924–2004) was born on 14 August 1924 in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon. She was married in 1948, and they lived in the Los Angeles area for many years before moving to Palm Springs.

Margery was vice president of Palm Springs Camera and Sound, Inc. for 12 years. Her paintings were featured at a one-woman show and received numerous awards from the Indio Date Festival and other venues. Her civic involvement included serving two terms on the Palm Springs City Art Commission, president of the Desert Art Center, chairperson of the Auditorium Project, a docent at Palm Springs Desert Museum and a volunteer at Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Margery died on 28 February 2004 in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. She is survived by her husband, daughter, son, and five grandchildren.

- -- --- -- -

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.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time... Happy Hunting!

Traveling the Oregon Trail

Hello, cousins!

Apparently, I have made a grave mistake. (Pun incidental...)

About this time last year, I published a series of posts about the descendants of an Elizabeth Callen, who I believe to be the daughter of James Callin. For your convenience, here is the series, so far:

• Echoes & Rhymes
• The Montgomery Connection
• A Ferrell Child
• Turning Another Page

But somehow I forgot to keep going! Those posts only traced the descendants of Elizabeth's first daughter, Mary, but Elizabeth had five children, which means I owe you a few more posts. In fact, as I've begun preparing these, I have discovered that this family is larger than I first thought, and putting their stories together has been taking longer than usual. This means I'll be giving you shorter posts spread out over a longer time, until we get caught up.

We'll begin today with the second daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Callin) Montgomery:

Sarah Montgomery (1824–1918)

Sarah was the second of Caleb and Elizabeth (Callin) Montgomery's five children, born on 27 December 1824 in Olivesburg, Richland County, Ohio. She was 9 years old when her mother died, and she was 12 when her father moved the family to Fulton County, Indiana.

Sarah married Henry Davidson (1818–1894) in that county on 22 April 1841. They had six children of their own, who we'll look at over the course of the next few weeks:

• I. Rebecca Lucretia Davidson (1842–1917)
• II. William Montgomery Davidson (1845–1939)
• III. Theodore Bruce Davidson (1848–1932)
• IV. Frances Mary Davidson (1850–1855)
• V. Samuel Thurston Davidson (1853–1889)
• VI. Mary E Davidson (1854–1929)

 Henry Davidson was born in Ohio, according to most of his Census records; the 1880 places his birth in Illinois, but 1850, 1860, and 1870 all say he was born in Ohio, and his record in the Oregon, Early Oregonians Index, 1800-1860 asserts he was born in Wayne County, Ohio. His Find-A-Grave memorial says he was born in Michigan on 28 May 1818.

In 1850 the Henry and Sarah Davidson family was living in Newcastle, Fulton County, and by this time they had taken in Sarah's orphaned niece, who is listed in their household as "Sarah E Faroll" (age 4). You might recall Sarah Ferrell from the post, A Ferrell Child.

Based on research compiled by Stephanie Flora at oregonpioneers.com the Davidsons set out for Oregon as part of the Murphy Train. Captained by John Ecles Murphy, the group consisted of family and friends, all members of the Christian Church (aka Campbellites or Disciples of Christ).  According to Flora's site, "In April 1852, a second migration of church members began the journey.  It was made up of the families of Burford, Butler, Davidson, Lucas, Mason, Murphy, Roundtree and a number of single men."

The Davidson family settled in what is now Halsey, Linn County, Oregon, where the two youngest children, Samuel and Mary, were born. Sarah and Henry lived out their days in Linn County. Henry died on 19 February 1894 and was buried in Pugh Cemetery in Shedd. Sarah lived in Lebanon until her death on 8 May 1918, and she was buried with her husband.

I. Rebecca Lucretia Davidson (1842–1917)

The oldest child of Henry and Sarah (Montgomery) Davidson, Lucretia was born on 18 August 1842 in Fulton County, Indiana. She would have been 10 years old when her family embarked on their journey to Oregon.

About 1864, she married Henderson Warren Murphy (1835–1918), son of John Ecles Murphy (1806–1876) and Frances Wright Doughty (1810–1891) - the same John Ecles Murphy who led the wagon train Lucretia's family took to Oregon in 1852. Henderson was born on 3 February 1835, during the years when his father was establishing the Church of Christ on Cedar Fork of Henderson River in Warren County, Illinois.

After they married, Henderson and Lucretia farmed and raised livestock in Oregon and Washington Territory. They raised a family of seven children, all of whom were born in Oregon:


     A. Sarah Frances Murphy (1865–1931)
     B. John D Murphy (1867–1955)
     C. Omer Thurston Murphy (1871–1961)
     D. Katherine M "Katie" Murphy (1873–1942)
     E. Nellie Murphy (1873–1958)
     F. Carrie M Murphy (1878–1954)
     G. Claude Henry Murphy (1885–1970)

(The rest of today's post will follow the descendants of Sarah Frances Murphy.)

About 1879 the family moved to Alder Creek in Klickitat County, Washington Territory, where they appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census and the 1883 territorial census, per Washington State and Territorial Censuses, 1857-1892. But their youngest child, Claude Henry, was born in Oregon in 1885, so it would seem they moved back to Linn County by that point.

Lucretia died on 20 July 1917 in Linn County, Oregon, and is buried in the IOOF Cemetery in Lebanon, Linn County. Henderson died at the home of his daughter, Carrie, in Vancouver, Washington, on 31 December 1918 and was brought back to Oregon and buried with his wife.

     A. Sarah Frances Murphy (1865–1931) was born on 5 January 1865 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. She married William Lawson Wells (1859–1949) on 3 November 1887 in Polk County, Oregon. William was born on 6 January 1859 to George Andrew Wells (1830–1900) and Henrietta Turner (1830–1911) in Hubbard, Marion County, Oregon.

William and Sarah lived at Dallas in Polk County, where William served as a county sheriff from 1890 to 1894 and as a county judge from 1896 to 1900. They raised seven children together. In 1903 the couple moved back to Halsey. Sarah died there on 21 September 1931 and was buried in Pugh Cemetery in Shedd, Linn County.

William married the widowed Winifred Snyder on 3 November 1932 in Halsey. He died at his home in Halsey on 15 February 1949 at the age of 90. He was buried with Sarah in the Pugh Cemetery.

     1. Leroy Henderson "Roy" Wells (1888–1971) was born on 21 October 1888 in Independence, Polk County, Oregon. He was a life-long farmer who never married. He moved to Albany in 1968 and died on 26 January 1971 in the Mennonite Home for the Aged.

     2. Elbert George Wells (1890–1961) was born in Independence on 4 April 1890 and grew up in Polk County, Oregon. By 1917 he was living in Calexico, California, where he worked as an engineer on the canals of the Imperial Valley's water company. He and Loreto Villa-Escusa (1895–2000) raised a family of five children: two daughters and three sons. The records I've found say that Loreto was born in 1895 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico and that she and Elbert lived at 1384 Avenida Lerdo in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, but I have not been able to find marriage records - most likely due to my own inexperience looking for records in another country.

     a. Elbert George "Bari" Wells Jr. (1931–2016) was born on 3 July 1931 in Calexico, Imperial County, California. He was raised in Mexicali, Baja California, until his mid-twenties when he met and married his wife of 62 years. He worked hard all of his life in many jobs, starting as a farmworker in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley with his father and brothers at the age of 13. He then worked for Caltrans where he retired as the Brawley Yard Superintendent in 1991.

Bari died on 4 February 2016 at his home in Oceanside, California, and he is survived by his wife, son, two daughters, and two granddaughters.

     i. Elbert George Wells III (1954–2017) was born on 13 July 1954 in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, and was raised in Brawley, CA, where he attended Brawley High School. He later graduated from Imperial Valley College and the University of California, San Diego.

In 1980, George moved to Santa Barbara, California for work, where he met his late wife, Joann Napoli. In 2009, George moved to Oceanside, California, with his parents, where George assisted his father as a caregiver until Bari's death in 2016. During this time, George also battled diabetes. After his father's death, he moved back to Santa Barbara, where he died on 26 July 2017.

Order of Leopold II

     3. Goldie Ruth Wells (1893–1979) was born on 6 August 1893, in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon. She became a missionary to the Belgian Congo, where she assisted in establishing the mission station at Mondombe in 1919. She was an author, publishing Sila, Son of the Congo in 1945, and in 1937 she was decorated by the King of Belgium with the Order of Leopold II for her long and outstanding service in the Congo. When she was in America, she was a popular guest speaker in churches throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

Goldie died on 30 May 1979, in Salem, Marion County, Oregon, at the age of 85, and was buried in Shedd, Oregon.

     4. Gladys Leona Wells (1897–1980) was born on 24 August 1897 in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon. She married Emil J Helseth (1895–1980) on 16 September 1920. He was the son of Norwegian immigrants, Lars J Helseth (1864–1922) and Elise Pedersen (1867–1895), born on 9 January 1985 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Emil served in the Army Medical Corps in World War I, enlisting from 29 March 1918 to 11 April 1919. After the war, he attended the University of Oregon and graduated from Eugene Bible University, later called Northwest Christian College. He served pastoral assignments in Washington and Oregon, became an Army chaplain in World War II, serving from 5 June 1943 to 14 February 1946, and returned to Ontario as pastor of the First Christian Church. He later served in Boise and Burley, Idaho, retiring in I960 and moving to Salem. He was active in starting Keizer Christian Church, he was an elder emeritus of Garden Road Christian Church and a member of Salem Retread Organization, an association of people who served in both world wars.

Gladys and Emil died just a month apart in Salem; Gladys at home on 19 January and Emil on 11 February 1980 in a nursing home. They are buried in the City View Cemetery in Salem. They are survived by their two daughters, one of their three sons, 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

     a. Raymond Wells Helseth (1921–2005) was one of a set of twins born on 25 December 1921 in Eugene, Oregon. He received degrees from Northwest Christian College in Eugene and from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. While they were students at Northwest Christian College, he met Miriam Myrta Eccles (1923–2004), and they were married on 24 August 1943 in Orting, Washington.

Miriam was the daughter of missionaries George Emery Eccles (1890–1988) and Lulu M Moffitt (1896–1969), born on 16 March 1923 in Bolange, Belgian Congo. (As it happens, the Eccles family served at the mission station in Mondombe in the 1920s, which Raymond's aunt Goldie had helped to establish.) Miriam was a trained coloratura soprano and soloist. She gave voice and piano lessons and took in typing.

Raymond pastored churches in Colville, Washington; Kimberly, Idaho; and McMinnville, Oregon; as well as several student pastorates in Oregon and Texas. Miriam supported Raymond's ministry as a pianist, choir director, committee chair, and teacher. While in McMinnville, Miriam received a BA in Music Education and an MA in English Education from Linfield College. She taught music at Adams Grade School, taught English and Freshman Girls' Glee at Centennial High School, then English at Gresham High School, and later still substitute taught in Salem before becoming a full-time grade school music teacher for some years.

In 1960, Raymond became organizing pastor of Lynchwood Christian Church in southeast Portland. He served as a part-time campus minister at Portland State University and volunteer chaplain in the Multnomah County jail system. He became Protestant Chaplain at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem in 1968. Miriam volunteered extensively at Oregon State Prison while Raymond was chaplain, giving piano and voice lessons to inmates and directing a men's choir. The choir was limited to 40 men with a long waiting list. Several concerts a year were performed for "outside' guests. One guest was Senator Mark Hatfield whom the Helseths had long known and admired.

 Miriam was active at Keizer Christian Church, becoming the first woman elder in a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation in Oregon. Even after he retired, Raymond served interim ministries in Washington and Oregon. Raymond and Miriam also helped start the Salem Area Habitat for Humanity. They had seen some original Habitat houses in Africa on a missions trip in 1986. Miriam was board secretary for nine years. On 16 March 2003, her eightieth birthday, a house was dedicated in West Salem as the Helseth Home.

Miriam died in Portland on 31 December 2004 at the age of 81. Raymond died on 1 October 2005 in Salem at the age of 83. They were survived by three of their five children and eight grandchildren. They were preceded in death by Merrilyn Joy Helseth (1946), who died in infancy, and by one son:

• Raymond John "Ray J." Helseth (1957–1997) was born on 16 February 1957 in McMinnville, Yamhill County, Oregon, and he grew up to be a long-haul truck driver. Ray J. died on 28 July 1997 in Salem, Oregon, at the age of 40 and was survived by his companion and three step-children.

     b. Ralph Emil Helseth (1921–2001) was the twin brother of Raymond, born together on 25 December 1921 in Eugene, Oregon. He married Julia Evelyn Pedersen (1918–2016) on Christmas Day in 1942. Evelyn was born 20 December 1918, in Seattle, Washington, during the flu epidemic of 1918 and grew up on the Olympic Peninsula. She was the daughter of Edwin Peter Pederson (1882–1925) and Rhoda Maude Stuart (1883–1957).

Like his brother, he became a minister. He attended Pacific Lutheran College in Tacoma. Evelyn was a graduate of Northwest Christian College in Eugene and served in the ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Washington, Indiana, and Oregon with her husband.

Ralph died on 3 January 2001 in Federal Way, King County, Washington, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Auburn, King County. Evelyn moved to Hood River in 2008 as her health declined and lived with her daughter and son-in-law. She died at 97 years of age on 24 October 2016 and was buried with Ralph. They are survived by their daughter, one of their two sons, and their grandchildren.

• Jonathan Mark Helseth (1949–2004) was the son of Ralph and Evelyn Helseth, born on 25 August 1949 in Clarkston, Asotin County, Washington. He was married in Auburn, Washington, in 1971, and is survived by his wife, son, and daughter. He died on 13 November 2004 in Seattle and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Auburn.

     5. William Leonard Wells (1900–1904) was born in Polk County, Oregon, on 17 April 1900, and only lived to be three years old. He died on 24 March 1904 and was buried in Pugh Cemetery in Shedd, Linn County, Oregon.

     6. William Lawrence Wells (1904–1977) was born on 7 February 1904 in Oregon and grew up to be a minister, like many of the men in his family. On 23 August 1927, he married Gracia Thornton (1904–1975) in Lane County, Oregon. Gracia was born on 2 May 1904 in Oregon, the youngest daughter of Josiah Jeptha Thornton (1851–1941) and Frances Emeline Mathews (1863–1937).

The Rev. W. Lawrence and Mrs. Gracia Wells served in Missouri, Snohomish County, Washington, and in Marysville, Yuba County, California, before settling in Pasadena, Los Angeles County in the 1950s. Gracia died in Pasadena on 23 April 1975, and Lawrence died there on 26 June 1977. They were survived by their son and three grandchild.

     a. William Joseph Wells (1937–2016) was the son of Lawrence and Gracia Wells, born 6 March 1937 in Vancouver, Washington. He spent his childhood in Washington State and northern California and graduated from Marysville High School in California in 1955. After he studied for a year at Chapman College, he served in the U.S. Navy for four years. While stationed in Japan, he met and married Judith Kathryn Davis (1940–1992), daughter of American missionaries Dr. Howard Kenneth Davis (1920–2014) and Kathryn Anna Giles (1922–1998). She was born on 8 August 1940 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

After his discharge from the service, Bill returned to Pacific Christian College, then attended Phillips Seminary in Enid, Oklahoma earning both a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Ministry. He served churches in Nelsonville and Findlay, Ohio. Judith was also ordained as a United Methodist pastor, and she served in the Byhalia-Pottersburg (Ohio) area.

Bill and Judith divorced in July 1977, and both remarried - Judith in 1978, and Bill about 1987. Judith died on 22 November 1992 in Centerville, Montgomery County, Ohio.

After he married his second wife, Bill spent 16 years at Anderson Hills Church in Cincinnati, until health complications forced him into retirement. In 2003, Bill and his wife retired to Yuba City where they joined St. Andrew Presbyterian Church and enjoyed a loving community there. Bill suffered many health problems over the next years due to diabetes. He died on 22 December 2016 in Yuba City, Sutter County, California, and is survived by his wife, son, two daughters, and eight grandchildren and step-grandchildren (four of each).


     7. Genevieve H Wells (1906–1999) was the youngest child of William and Frances (Murphy) Wells, born on 29 December 1906 in Oregon and grew up in Halsey, Linn County. She married Glenn Clinton Kendall (1903–1949) on 3 September 1927 in Linn County. He was born on 6 April 1906 in Grant County, Oregon, to John Benjamin Kendall (1867–1943) and Winnifred "Winnie" Mulkey (1873–1946).

Glenn and Genevieve lived in the Albany, Oregon, area until around 1944, when they moved to Paso Robles, California. Glenn died in San Luis Obispo County on 13 March 1949 and was buried in Paso Robles District Cemetery.

Genevieve remarried Leo Estel Smart (1890–1978) on 14 February 1958 in San Luis Obispo, California. Leo died on 6 May 1978 in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, California, and was buried in Paso Robles District Cemetery. Genevieve died on 12 June 1999, also in Morro Bay, California, at the age of 92, and was buried in Paso Robles, California.

       a. John E Kendall (1929–2016) was born on 13 April 1929 and grew up in Benton County. All I can say about John's biography with the records I have been able to find is that he married his second wife, Jean Belle Lay (1928–2004) on 7 September 1976 in Los Angeles County, California. She died in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County, California, on 20 November 2004, and was buried in the Paso Robles District Cemetery. John died there in 2016 and was buried with Jean.

       b. Lewis Clinton Kendall (1934–2009) was born on 7 September 1934 in Albany, Oregon, and moved to Paso Robles around age 10, where he eventually graduated from Paso Robles High. Lewis was married to his first wife for 18 years. After they divorced, he began his 23-year career with California State Parks. He worked at Hearst Castle for 6 years and 17 years at Lake Oroville. He moved to Chico in 1979, where he died on 27 July 2009.

- -- --- -- -

That is all I have at the moment - I feel like there is a lot more to say about these very interesting people, but hopefully, we'll get to learn more as we move down the trail!

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.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time.... Happy Hunting!