WPA Interviews

Jackson, Adelaide (Pugh)

An interview with Mrs. Adelaide (Pugh) Jackson, daughter of Jesse Washington Pugh, she resides near Tangent, Oregon. Mrs. Jackson is the widow of Henry Jackson. Since some of the information herein recorded was received from other reliable sources this is not written as a direct quotation. Mrs. Jackson has suffered from a paralytic stroke and her memory was not always accurate so all of her statements were check with other sources. L. H.

August 14, 1940.

My name is Adelaide Jackson. My maiden was Adelaide Pugh. I was born in 1861, on my father's donation land claim just about a mile south of Oakville church in Linn County.

My father was Jesse Washington Pugh. He was born in Kentucky on October 26, 1818. When he was a boy his family moved from Kentucky to Illinois, and later to Iowa.

My grandfather was John Pugh. My grandmother was Mary Donovan who was born October 1, 1791. John Pugh and Mary Donovan were married in 1818 and they had but two children. These were both sons. One was my father, Jesse Washington Pugh, and the other my Uncle Francis Asbury Pugh. John Pugh, my grandfather, was killed by being struck by lightning while working in a field in the year 1822. At the time of his father's death my father was only about four years old while my uncle, Francis Asbury, was only about eighteen months old. After grandfather's death grandmother took her two sons and returned to her father's home in Kentucky. She stayed there until the death of her father-in-law (who, by the way, was a Revolutionary War Soldier). That was for perhaps ten years. Then, when my father was bout fourteen years old an uncle of grandfather's, living in Illinois, sent a wagon for her and she and her two sons returned to the middle west. In 1838 they came still further west and settled in Henry County, Iowa. There they remained until the year 1846 when they came to Oregon. At that time my father was about twenty-eight years old and my Uncle Francis Asbury was about twenty-six.

My father and mother were married before coming to Oregon. Mother's maiden name was Sarah Ransom. She was born in 1826. Father's brother was also married. His wife's name was Ruth Jessup. She was born in 1822 in Indiana.

The Pugh family, therefore, when it started for Oregon consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse W. Pugh, and Mr. and Mrs. Asbury Push, and the husbands' mother, Mrs. John Pugh, who was then almost sixty years old.

One the way to Oregon the Indians gave this party considerable trouble, mostly by pilfering and stealing at first, but later more serious troubles.

On the Platte River all of their stock was stampeded and some of it was never recovered. While the men were out searching for the stock a young man named Edward Trimble was killed. At the time he was accompanied by Uncle Francis Pugh and only Trimble's warning saved my uncle from also being killed.

Because so much stock was lost at this place it was necessary for some of the wagons to be abandoned. Some of the Pughs were forced to walk all the way from the Platte River to the Whitman Station in what is now Washington.

Father and mother spent that first winter at the Whitman Station and then came on to Washington County, Oregon. In the spring of 1847 father bought a squatters rights in Washington County. He lived there for five years.

While my people were living in Washington County the California gold rush began. Both father and his brother went to the mines. They went by boat from the mouth of the Columbia River. Their mining was mostly done on the American River. While mining in California father became very sick and his brother had to bring him back to Oregon in the fall of the same year in which they went.

In 1852 the Pugh's sold their holdings in Washington County and came to Linn County. Father took up a claim just about one mile south of Oakville.

Uncle Asbury took his claim about a mile west and south of the present town of Shedd. There is a cemetery on that old claim which is called the Pugh Cemetery. Uncle Asbury gave the land for the cemetery and the first burials there were his children. (George Pugh, died August 26, 1851, aged 1 year, 6 months and 7 days; and Mary E. Pugh who died Jan 18, 1854, aged 6 years 5 months and 3 days. L.H.) Grandmother Pugh is buried there also. She was born in 1789 and died in Oregon on her son's claim in 1872.

My people were all Methodists as you might guess from the name of Francis Asbury. Father's name was given because his grandfather, Donovan, served under General Washington. The Pughs first went to school, mostly at the Oakville United Presbyterian Church. Later the Pughs were greatly interested in building a Methodist Church at Shedd and they attended there when it was finished. When we were small we used to go to church barefooted, carrying our shoes in our hands and putting them on just before going into church. Immediately after leaving the church we would take them off again.

(Note: Apparently a common custom in the Oakville neighborhood. See McIlre Interview for that region. L.H.)

Father and mother had eight children. Their names were:

William Pugh.

Marthe Pugh. Her married name was Tethrow. The Tethrows claim was near to the Pugh claim.

Emma Pugh. She married D. Jenkins whose claim was also close by.

James Asbury Pugh. He was born in 1851 and died in 1918. His wife was Lottie St. John.

Alice Pugh. Her first husband was H. Wright of Albany. Her second husband was named Byland.

Adelaide Pugh. (The principal informant.) Born in 1861. Married Henry Jackson November 14, 1883, at Oakville. Now living on the Jackson farm east of Tangent, a part of the original Jackson Donation Land Claim.

Anna Pugh. She was married twice. First husband was named McBride. Her second husband was Argyle Kendall. She lives near Oakville. Anna and the informant, Adelaide, are the only members of this family still living.

Concerning her husband's family, Mrs. Jackson believes that her father-in-law, W. E. Jackson came to Oregon in 1852. Her husband's mother was named Mary Jackson. (This paragraph is doubtful authenticity. L.H.) Ephriam Jackson was the oldest son of the family of eleven or twelve children. Henry Jackson, her husband, was "near the middle" of the family.

Henry Jackson was born March 6, 1858. There was also a William Jackson, "who stood up in the front of the wagon most of the way while coming to Oregon." Willis Jackson, the informants father-in-law, and Mary Jackson, her mother-in-law eloped on horseback to be married.

Further concerning the Pugh family. John Pugh, the grandfather, was married twice. By his first marriage he had two children. They were Isaac Pugh who was a General during the Civil War and the organizer of the first Grand Army of the Republic Post, and Sarah Pugh, whose married name was McWhirter. Mr. McWhirter was also a Civil War Veteran. Father's half-brother, General Isaac Pugh was one of the founders of the city of Decatur, Illinois.

Cemetery Records -

Mary Pugh.
Born Oct. 2, 1789.
Died Jan 23, 1872.
Aged 82 years, 3 months, 21 days.
Pugh, or Shedd Cemetery, Linn County.

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.