WPA Interviews

July 19, 1939

Peterson, Rachel Arminta (Powell) (Mrs.) (Interview)

INTERVIEW

Interview with Mrs. Rachel Arminta Peterson.

My name is Rachel Peterson and I am a daughter of Peter Powell and a granddaughter of Rev. Joab Powell of whom everyone in Linn County knows, for he was a well-known and influential Baptist preacher. He helped to organize the Providence Baptist Church situated southeast of Scio, and many other Baptist churches in various parts of the valley. The Providence Church was really the mother church of a dozen or more churches in Linn County, some of them still living churches, many of them now lapsed and no longer known, even by name.

My grandfather, Joab Powell came to Oregon in the years, 1852. With him came quite a colony of Baptist churchmen besides his sons and daughters, a large family. Among those sons was my own father who was then a grown man and already married and father then of four children. Perhaps it would be best to start with my grandfather's family and then trace the tribe down by successive generations:

My grandfather, Joab Powell was born, I believe, in 1799. At least he was 74 years of age when he died and that was on January 25, 1873.

Joab Powell came to Oregon from Tennessee in 1852. He took up a claim in the Scio region. His old home was situated about one mile south of the present Providence church building. There he lived until the time of his death. He was a preacher by profession, but also a farmer. When he was away on his preaching trips, his sons ran his farm for him. He had a large family, twelve children altogether. I will give the names of the family, but I am afraid that I cannot give the dates of birth or death for many. I had all of these records as well as a long manuscript, almost a book, which I had written out for my children, but our house burned down a year or so ago and all these things were lost.

1. Joab's first son was John Powell. He died at Prineville.

2. Elias Powell.

3. Peter Powell. This was my father. He was born in the east before the family came to Oregon. His birth date was July 1, 1823. He died here on this place which is a part of his original donation land claim on July 16, 1910.

4. Silas Powell.

5. Mary Powell. Her married name was Davidson.

6. Ann Powell. Her married name was Carmichle.

7. Esther Powell. Her married name was Moore.

8. William Powell.

9. Abram Powell. He was the last of the family to pass away, having lived until just a few years ago. He had a twin sister named:

10. Barbara Powell. Her married name was Mrs. Ralph Sloan.

Barbara and Abram Powell, the above twins, were married on the same day by my grandfather.

My father, Peter Powell, was the third of grandfather's sons. He was born in 1823 and was therefore a mature man when the family moved to Oregon. He was married and already had a family of four children. My mother's name was Nancy Powell. Her maiden name was Nancy Cyrus. She was born in Tennessee, (East Tennessee), October 1, 1825. She died here on this claim March 10, 1903 at the age of 77 years, 5 month and 9 days. Both my father and mother are buried in the Powell Cemetery which is situated south of here and which is also on a part of father and mother's old claim.

Peter and Nancy Powell were the parents of eleven children. (Note: twelve names were later given for this informant's brothers and sisters.) They were:

1. The oldest, Martha Jane Powell. She married Jesse South.

2. Enoch Cyrus Powell. His middle name was by mother's maiden name.

3. Wiley Farmer Powell.

4. Anna Rebecca Powell. She married Benjamin Hardman.

5. Mary Elizabeth Powell. She died young.

6. Rachel Arminta Powell. (The informant for this interview.) Was born October 1, 1854. Married David H. Peterson, son of Asa Peterson.

7. John William Powell. Born 1857. Died 1916.

8. Stephen Elmer Powell. Born 1859. Died 1922.

9. George Henry Powell.

10. Harriett Elmira Powell. Married Riley W. Swink.

11. Calvin Andrew Powell. Born Feb. 19, 1867. Died Oct. 9, 1904.

12. Daniel Powell.

The Providence Church which my grandfather helped to organize and of which he was a very active pastor for many years is situated on the Carmichle Donation Land Claim, as is also the cemetery there where my grandparents and many of my relatives are buried. The first church there was of course a log building. The church was organized in April 1853. It was a very active missionary church in an age when there was a strong split over missions in the Baptist ranks. Not only did this church support an active work at Providence but it sent out missionary workers all through the county and far beyond. My grandfather was among the most active of these missionary workers. When he went on a preaching trip he always took one of the brethren with him; they went two by two just as the early disciples did at Jesus' command. In many of the places where they went there was no church building so they preached in log cabins, in schoolhouses, in court-houses or out of doors under the trees. At Lebanon he often held meetings in the old Santiam Academy building. Between Lebanon and Scio there was a large building which was used for camp meetings by the Methodists. He often preached there. He held many meetings at Sodaville and in the Barr neighborhood near Sweet Home. His journeys took him south as far as California. Among the preachers who worked with him on these trips were Mr. Berkley, Mr. Cougar (spelling uncertain) and Mr. John South.

I knew Joab Powell from the time I was a very small child and have many vivid memories of him. Perhaps the most characteristic memory is his stopping at our house when on his way to visit his children at Brownsville. He always came unexpectedly; we never knew when he was coming. He always spent the night with us and as soon as he came it was the business of us children to start out and notify all the neighbors that there would be preaching at father's house that night. We children would run everywhere and by evening when the meeting began there would be a good house full. That is the way he went all over the country. More often than not there would be no advance notice of a meeting until Elder Joab rode into town.

There is one meeting that I remember more than any other. It was a long "protracted meeting" that was held in the Sweet Home country in the Barr neighborhood. People came to that meeting from twenty-five miles abound and camped there. There was a large field set aside for the campers and many of them brought their cattle and put them in that field and milked them there. I do not know how long that meeting lasted but there were many converts. It was a long ways from the river, and as you know, my grandfather was a great stickler for baptism, therefore they built a big baptistery of planks near the church. During the week grandfather would preach and baptize there but on Sunday they would go to the river for the baptisms. That was a great many years ago but that old baptistery stood there on the hillside until a very few years ago. The church where it was built has been gone for many years. Even its exact position is not exactly known now. It was then known as the "Zion Baptist Church".

In those days there were few bridges along the Santiam. In going from this place to Zion Church, we had to ford the Santiam River. I was just visiting recently with a woman who attended the old Zion Church and she has reminded me of these things and the meetings there. She, herself, saw the old baptistery only a few years ago. She is a cousin of mine, Mrs. Bell Geer. Her home now is at Cottage Grove. The Geers ran a Hotel at Sodaville many years ago but at the time of my grandfather's death Mr. Geer was away at Prineville and Mrs. Geer was staying at the old Joab Powell claim and helped take care of him during his last sickness. Grandfather died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Ann Carmichle.

Grandmother Powell died before grandfather. Soon after grandmother died, grandfather's health broke. A week or so before he died he went to a neighbors and said, "I have had my call. I will soon go." His prophecy proved to be true.

At that big protracted meeting at Mt. Zion Church almost all of the Powell family gathered and camped. There were Powells from Providence, from Brownsville, from Sweet Home and from Berlin. That church didn't last long, however. Many of the old members soon moved away. I can still see those meetings in the Mt. Zion Church. People put beds in the back of the church and some slept there. The small children were placed on those beds during the meetings. Among the old settlers who attended there were the Moss', the Barrs and the Simons.

My grandmother Powell was a very quiet and unassuming woman as compared to grandfather. She was a great cook. During the fall and spring protracted meetings grandmother seldom went to the services but was at home cooking. At the end of the services grandfather would say: "Come to my house and eat." A great many from a distance would accept the invitation and grandmother always had a big table spread so that all of the guests had plenty.

My uncle, John Powell, was one of those who helped to promote the Cascade Mountain and Willamette Valley Toll road across the South Santiam Pass. There was much traffic of livestock-cattle and horses and sheep-over that road between the Willamette Valley and Eastern Oregon. They even found it profitable to drive herds of hogs over rather than haul them in wagons.

In telling you of my grandfather's children, I by chance forgot to include one son. That was Joab Powell Jr. He married a girl named Jane Prine. Her father gave the name to the city of Prineville. "Another family item which should be included here is that Mrs. Iva Abbot and Mrs. Callie Phillipi living near Scio are the daughters of Abram Powell, Joab's youngest son. They still have grandfather's old saddlebags and other articles which he used long ago.

This neighborhood where I live has always been inhabited by Powells and has been a Christian neighborhood but in some ways it has remained much like the old pioneer settlements. For instance, all Christian services here have been held in private houses and schoolhouses. There has never been a church in the community. Now, after I have lived here for nearly eighty-five years, there is at last to be an actual church building. It is being put up about a half mile down the road. This is to be an undenominational church. There are so many denominations represented here that it was not felt best to confine it to any one sect. All the neighborhood is helping to finance the building. To show that church activities have not been neglected even though there was no church, I will say that six of the neighborhood young men have gone out as ministers from this district. One of the best beloved of these is Rev. George Simons who now lives at Lebanon.

The Powell cemetery just up the hill from this farm was first established in 1896 and specifically as a place to be used by the Powell family. In the early days all the Powells were buried at Providence Church. When Ellen Powell, wife of Calvin A. Powell became sick and knew that she must die she requested not to be buried at Providence. She said, "That is too far away. If you put me there my children will seldom see my grave. Bury me near by." It was intended to place her body in the Furgeson cemetery, a mile or so south, but Mr. Furgeson objected because the burials were on the hill above his spring. At that my father said, "It is strange with all the land owned by Powells that we cannot find a place to bury our dead. I will give land and we will start a new cemetery." That is how the Powell Cemetery began. Father gave the land and all of the local Powells are now buried there.

Now just one more misplaced item before I leave the Powell history and tell of my husband's family. The Mrs. Geer of whom I spoke, my cousin, was a daughter of Ann Powell Carmichle. Her father's people lived on the original claim where Providence Church now stands.

My husband's name was David Peterson. He was a son of Asa Peterson, who, in turn, was a son of Henry J. Peterson. The Petersons came to Oregon in 1845. My husband was born in 1844 so at the time that they crossed the plains he was barely one year old.

The Petersons settled southwest of Lebanon about what was then called Washington Butte but which now is known, from the family name, as Peterson's Butte. At one time the Peterson family owned land almost completely surrounding that large butte.

Besides giving name to the butte, the Peterson's gave the name to a very well distributed plum which is grown generally over old claims in Linn County. The Peterson plum is a small red fruit of very acid taste but rich and good. I have never learned how the plum was brought to Oregon, whether as a seed or as a growing tree. Henry Peterson Sr. had a nursery on his place at a very early date and from there the plum was widely spread.

Asa Peterson, my husband's father was one of the first jewelers and watchmakers at Lebanon. His sons and daughters were:

1. David Peterson. (Informants husband) Born 1844. Died 1928.

2. Melissa Peterson. She married Henry Klum. (note: b. ca 1849)

3. Lamson Peterson. He and all his children are now dead. (note: b. ca 1851)

4. Walter Peterson. He, like his father, was a jeweler at Lebanon. (b. ca 1860)

5. Franklin Peterson. (b. ca 1870)

6. Martha Peterson. Her husband's name was Barnes. (b. ca 1836)

7. Eliza. Her husband's name was Bales. (b. ca 1840)

8. Lydia Peterson. She married Gamaliel Parrish whose claim was about five miles north of Brownsville. Their very old house is still standing there. (b. ca 1825)

9. Another daughter. Name not remembered but her married name was Brooks.

A note: 6,7, 8 and 9 were daughters of Henry Peterson, sisters of Asa Peterson.

(Mrs. Peterson is an active old lady but beginning to be aware of her age. Her hearing is defective but her mind seems bright and in most things her memory is good. She lives one mile south of the community of Berlin, Linn County, making her home with her granddaughter, Mrs. Goldie Wolfenbarger. The Wolfenbarger farm is a part of the original Peter Powell D.L.C.)

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.