WPA Interviews

Bland, William Anderson

May 22 1940

INTERVIEW

Interview with Mr. William Anderson Bland of Lebanon, Oregon. (Mr. Bland is commonly known by his friends as Anderson Bland.)

I was born March 19, 1863. My mother died when I was just eighteen months old. Her name was Barbara A. Leedy and her father was Daniel Leedy, the "Dunkard" or Brethern minister who organized the very early Dunkard church which was formerly situated between Lebanon and Albany. The same church is now situated in the east part of Albany. It is believed to have been the first Dunkard church organized west of the Rocky Mountains. My mother was born in Pennsylvania and came to Oregon with her parents in 1854. The Leedys first settled near Harrisburg but later moved to what is commonly known as the Baltimore neighborhood between Lebanon and Albany. It was on the claim of Philip Baltimore that the Dunkard church was first built. My mother had at least two brothers who also came to Oregon. They were John and Abe Leedy. Abe married Alice Ramsay who still lives at Corvallis.

My father was George Hester Bland. He was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, November 9, 1840. My father came to Oregon with his parents in 1851 when he was about eleven years old. He was raised on his father's claim which was situated a short distance west of Lebanon and was educated in the common schools in that neighborhood. Father and Mother were married on May 1862. The Daniel Leedy property, by the way, adjoined the Bland claim on the north and west.

My grandfather's name, (the head of the family when they reached Oregon,) was Moses Bland. He started for Oregon in February, 1851 and arrived in Linn County in September of the same year. Grandmother's name was Martha (Needham) Bland. The Blands came from Indiana. Grandfather and grandmother had three children, all born in the East. They were -

George Hester Bland (Father of the informant)

Samantha Bland. She married A.J. Powell and their home was at Lebanon.

John Wesley Bland whose home was just south of Lebanon.

Grandfather died in September, 1873. Grandmother died in July 1895. My grandmother was eighty-seven years old which would make her birth date 1808. I have nothing from which to compute my grandfather's birth date.

When the Blands started for Oregon they had five yoke of oxen, one cow, and a mare. They had no particular trouble with the Indians on the trip except for bothersome stealing. One incident might have caused serious trouble but was fortunately averted. There was a man who was driving a team of mules. It was the Indian method of begging to get before a team and throw themselves flat on the ground to force the driver to stop. One old Indian came and "throwed down" in front of the team of mules. The driver pulled to one side and tried to go on. Again the Indian "throwed down". The driver then got down and gave the Indian a sound thrashing. That caused trouble. The place was the banks of the Snake River and the hills all around were alive with Indians. It became a close shave to escape.

As I have said, Grandfather first settled west of Lebanon. There I was born and lived until I was nine years old. When I was nine years old grandfather sold his claim to Dave Smith for $10,000 and bought land just south of Lebanon from Jess George. The same year grandfather died. My father and my uncle, John W. Bland divided the new place between them and both lived here until their death. Father took the north-west part of the place and Uncle John the southern part. All of that land is still in possession of their descendents.

I have told of my father and his first marriage. Now I will tell of his second family. (I was the only child of the first marriage). In January, 1886, my father married Clara M. Powell. They had four children. They were:

Matilda O. Bland. She married John Miller. (Or Myler) Minnie L. Bland. She married Marion Needham who was a distant relative of the Needham family to which my grandmother belonged. They still live on a part of the Bland land.

Samantha R. Bland. She married Dan Lawrence and died many years ago. She had one daughter who is also dead. Dan Lawrence only recently died. The land now goes to his grandchildren.

Clara P. Bland. (Clara Pearl Bland) She married Loffie E. Arnold and they live at the Arnold Hatchery a part of the Bland land, in south Lebanon.

An article for an unknown source, 1940.

LOFFIE E. ARNOLD

Republican, Candidate for Nomination for Representative, Thirteenth Representative District, Comprising Linn County

L.E. Arnold was born on a farm near Scio in 1882 and has been a resident of Linn County ever since. In his long association with those engaged in every profession, business, and trade, he has become well acquainted with their problems and needs and is particularly well qualified to represent them in the state legislature.

Mr. Arnold has, for 20 years, been closely connected with and promoted agricultural interests of not only the county, but also the state, and has been prominent as a leader and active worker in community and civic affairs and development of state, county, and municipal scope.

Mr. Arnold has been a prominent poultry breeder of the state for 20 years and has owned and operated hatcheries in Albany and Lebanon. He is now a resident of the latter city. For three years he was secretary and manager of the Linn County Fair, and for 5 years he has been chairman of the Linn County Fair Board, an office he still holds. For eight years he has been in charge of the Linn County exhibits at the Oregon State Fair and the Pacific International Livestock Show, and is entering his second term as manage of the Lebanon Strawberry Festival, an event which he had previously assisted in a responsible capacity as a committeeman. In civic life, he is prominent as a member of the Lions Club and of the agricultural committee of the Lebanon Commercial Club, besides taking an active part in countless other affairs of that city and community. He was also a member of the agricultural committee of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and was otherwise prominent during his residence there.

My father was an old fashioned Methodist as was my grandfather. All of the early Methodist preachers came to stay at grandfathers and father was an especial friend or ""Father" John McKinney who was a well known circuit rider from Brownsville. John McKinney always drove a span of little mules. He was an eloquent preach but they said he had to take his wife along to do his reading for him. His wife was Orpha -----(?) (Last name forgotten). She was the Stewardess on the ship Lausanne which brought Jason Lee's great reinforcement in 1840. John McKinney and his wife traveled the old Calapooia Methodist Circuit. There were great Methodist meetings in those days held at the Santiam Academy building and at the Campmeeting grounds at Roberts Bridge near Shedd. Great crowds would come, so big that they could not all get on the school grounds. (Note-The Academy grounds cover five acres. L.H.) At the campground which was on the banks of the Calapooia just east of Boston Mills the maple trees made a fine shade and people camped there for weeks. I have often seen Father John McKinney pacing back and forth before the altar exhorting the "seekers" and people falling under the power and lying under all the front benches. Old Mother Bates and her two girls shouting and running in the aisles. I knew all of the old Methodist preachers. There was Joseph Pearl from Brownsville and I. D. Driver from Tangent.

Just below the bridge at Roberts Campground there was a pool where all the baptisms took place. In those days people went clear under in the river, not just a little spatter of water on their heads. People dressed plainly then and didn't put on style in the churches as they do now. The first division in the Methodist Church came when they brought in an organ. The old Methodists fought it for a long time. They began to think that they needed a church building. Now the Methodists in Lebanon have a big fine church and there hasn't been a revival there in the church since it was built. The whole thing is just full of high-heeled shoes, fine dresses, painted paces and gold-rimmed glasses.

Old Jim Pearl was a Methodist preacher and he was a horse dealer. He got badly into debt and finally offered a big stallion which he owned to settle the debt. When the man got the stallion he found that it was badly string-halted. The man complained and that started a fuss. They might have settled it themselves but they didn't and the whole church took it up. Jim Pearl claimed that he never knew that there was anything wrong with the stallion.

The Santiam Academy grounds were given by Ralston and Kees to be used for "Church and School purposes" Since then they have put up a dancing stand on the ground and held big dances there. Both my father and I attended school at the old Santiam Academy. L. D. Woodward was the first teacher there. He, too, was a Methodist preacher. Other teachers there were Odell, Callaway, L.T. Dugger who was later a newspaper man at Scio, Nickerson, Lewis and J.L. Gilbert. Some of these teachers were good and some were poor. Lewis and J.L. Gilbert. Some of these teachers were good and some were poor. Lewis got half-drunk and did not stay very long. Nickerson and Callaway were both preachers and of the fighting order. They did not get along very well. Nickerson weighed nearly two hundred pound but in a fight the boys got him down and wallowed him about on the floor. I think that J.L. Gilbert was the best of them. When he came the boys were all ready for a fight but he taught for many years and never licked but one scholar. It finally got so that parents would send boys to Gilbert to be taught when no one else could handle them. I remember well when he first began to teach. Every one was ready for a fight and expected a lot of stern, severe rules. The first day he got up and said, "Boys, I haven't got a lot of rules for you to obey. You may all do as you please just as long as you do what is right, and you, yourself, know what that is."Some of the scholars went home and said that the teacher allowed them to do as they pleased and there was some remonstrance but Gilbert soon set them right as to his true words.

There was one teacher at the academy who came very near getting killed. He gave a scholar nine hard lashes and split his back open every time. The boy 's father took his gun and started for the school to kill the teacher. My father had a hard time getting him to give up the plan. The boy was Jim Hillard. The teacher was T.L.Dugger. He did not stay as teacher for very long. All that the boy had done was to whisper at school. The teacher made him stay in at night and then forgot him. After staying for a considerable time the boy walked out and went home. The next day Dugger licked him.

I married Minnie May Rohrer. It was an unhappy marriage. We never had a thought alike in our lives. Since she died I have lived alone. I never had happier years than these since I moved into this little cabin."(Note-Mr. Bland lives alone in a small, one-roomed cabin. This cabin is mounted on skids and so fixed that it may be moved from place to place.) "There is one bit of information which I have forgotten to give. Those children of my grandfather which I mentioned were those who came to Oregon.

Besides, there were some who remained in the east. They were-

Noah Bland. He lived and died in Indiana.

William Bland

Some daughters whose names I do not know.

My uncle, John W. Bland, was five years old when he came to Oregon. He was born on May 4, 1846. He was a farmer and carpenter. He married Elizabeth J. Powell, a sister of my step-mother. Their children-

Lillie Bland. She is dead. Her husbands names, (she was married twice) were Dexter Harris and Charles Blodgett.

Mareda P. Bland. He married Laura Cornett.

Wesley Bland.

Saloma Bland. She married Homer Osborn.

Carrie Bland. She married William Calkins.

Lucy Bland. Deceased.

Charles Bland.

Mae Bland. She married Walter Alvin and they live at the old John Bland home just south of Lebanon.

Almost all of the old Bland estate is still owned by descendents of the family. This is rather uncommon as pioneer families seldom have remained in control of the early claims.

Copyright © 2000 Patricia Dunn. All rights reserved. This transcription may not be reproduced in any media without the express written permission by the author. Permission has been given by the Transcriber to publish on the LGS web site.