WPA Interviews

Cyrus, Owen B.

INTERVIEW, July 16, 1940

Interview with O. B. Cyrus of Scio, Oregon.

My father was William Cyrus who came to Oregon in the year 1847. Father was the second settler to take up land in the "Santiam Forks" region in Linn County. The first settler here was John Crabtree who came in 1846 and who took a claim on Crabtree Creek (Named for him) in 1846. Father's claim was five miles further east on the same creek.

My father, William Cyrus was born in Granger County, Tennessee, in 1820.

Father was twice married. His first wife was Mary Deakin. She came to Oregon with my father and at that time they were the parents of three children-

Rebecca (J. handwritten in) Cyrus. She married James Hassler. (14 July 1861 Linn Co. OR handwritten)

Enoch Cyrus. He married Mary Southerlin who was his step-sister (See following paragraphs).

Rachel Cyrus. She married Columbus Dorriss. (added 25 Oct 1864)

Following father's arrival in Oregon the following children were born- Charlotta Cyrus. Married James Peery.

Elmira Cyrus. Married John Ledgwood.

Hepseba Cyrus. Married John Queener.

Henry Cyrus. His first wife was Sarah Beard. His second wife was Mary Crabtree, a niece of John Crabtree.

Nancy Cyrus. Married Charles Croft.

Christina Cyrus. Married Frank Crabtree, nephew of John Crabtree.

John Cyrus. Married Virginia Holman.

The above were all full brothers and sisters, children of father's first marriage. After his first wife's death, father married my mother whose maiden name was Jan Briscoe. Mother, however, had also been previously married and her name was Southerlin. The Southerlin's came to Douglas County, Oregon, about 1853. Mother was born at Greencastle, Indiana in 1826. Mother had three children at the time she married my father. One of them, a daughter, was Mary Southerlin already mentioned as marrying my half-brother, Enoch Cyrus. A son was George Southerlin who is still living on his farm about three miles south of Scio. He is now about 85 years old though very hale and hearty.

After father and mother were married they had three more children-

O. B. Cyrus (Owen B.) (The informant.) Born in 1866. Married Emma Morris.

Jane Cyrus. Still living. Married Virgil Goin.

Warren Cyrus. Unmarried. Still living.

My father and his party left St. Joe, Missouri on April, 1847. They reached the Willamette Valley in October, having had no particular trouble of any kind. After reaching The Dalles they took the Barlow Trail and entered the Willamette Valley by way of Foster's Ranch on the west side of the Cascades. They immediately continued on to Linn County to take up their claim. Among those who crossed the plains with them was Haman Shelton who also settled in this region. The Barlow Route was quite new then and was probably the hardest part of their trip. Some of the steep mountains were almost impassible.

My father and his people were all good Baptists and father was one of the charter members of the Providence Baptist Church, made so famous by Joab Powell and his associates. Joab Powell was a big, raw-boned man who looked a good deal like a grizzly bear.

My father was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1866. He was also a Linn County Commissioner at a later date. My brother, Henry Cyrus was also elected to the Oregon Legislature.

When I was a boy I first went to school at a schoolhouse that was erected on my father's claim. My first teacher there was E. E. McInnish. That school was probably started in the early 1850's and was Linn County District No. 1. That E. E. McInnish who was my teacher was also State Representative in 1858 and County Commissioner in 1857. At a later date I attended school in Scio which District was then No. 8, but it is now District No. 95. My first teacher there was named W. L. Brookshire.

Before there was any town of Scio the community centre was on the hill close to where the Franklin Butte Masonic Cemetery is now located. At that place there was a blacksmith shop and a store. I do not think that there was any schoolhouse there, (Note-Others say, yes. L. H.) but there was a post office although I cannot positively tell what name it went under. Probably it was called "Franklin Butte", but of this I am not at all certain. The store there was run by Uncle Jimmy Curl.

I do not know how this country came to be called by the name of "Franklin Butte". There was no settler here by the name of Franklin. I believe that the Butte was named after Ben Franklin, not after any local character. Franklin Butte is all that group of hills from the point where the Cemetery is situated, on to the larger hill just south of Scio. Beyond that tallest hill of the group is the abrupt Richardson's gap, so named for a family by the name of Richardson which settled there. Beyond Richardson Gap, eastward, is what early settlers called Mt. Perfect. Nowadays Mt. Perfect is sometimes called Rodgers Mountain after an early settler there. His son, also lives in the region and owns most of the hill at the food of which his father settled. (Note-This writer has inquired closely as to the origin of the name, "Franklin Butte". There was no early settler here named Franklin, but there was a very prominent settler named Benjamin Franklin Munkers. It seems highly probably that the name is in his honor. L.H.) "All of his region was first known as McDonald Precinct, so named in honor of Nathaniel Green McDonald who settled on the Santiam near the present town of Shelburn. The wife of McDonald was Rebecca Jane Munker, daughter of the above mentioned Benjamin Franklin Munkers and she also had a son whose name was Benjamin Franklin McDonald. In the year 1856 McDonald Precinct was divided to form the Precincts of Franklin Butte, Munker families had something to do with the naming of those precinct also.

My father built the first frame house in all this region included in the Forks of the Santiam. He brought the lumber for it from Oregon City as there was no sawmill close by. It took at least a week to bring each load, and it was a slow, long trip.

Speaking of local names, the hill road which goes up past the old Crabtree Claim is called "Hungry Hill Road". That was just a local notion and the name was adopted because the land on the hill in that immediate locality was very shallow, rocky and poor.

The Franklin Butte Cemetery where my people are buried is not an extremely old cemetery. It was probably opened sometime in the 1970's. Before that there were a few older burials just south of Scio, but all of them, I think, were removed to Franklin Butte Cemetery. It is not, therefore, possible to tell from the death dates just when the cemetery was established. Probably the earliest death date there is that of my grandmother, Nancy Jane Morris. She died on March 27, 1859. However, she was of course not buried there originally, but was removed from the original burial place, the Morris Donation Claim.

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.