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WPA Interviews:
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Transcribed by Patricia Dunn of Lebanon Genealogical Society from WPA Interviews done by Leslie Haskins. Pat has generously given permission to publish on this site. |
Gray, Londa BonnerInterview with Dr. Londa Bonner Gray (Dentist) of Albany, Oregon. "My grandfather was James Gray. He married Margaret Paxton in October, 1824. To them were born the following children-
"The full name of William C. B. Gray was William Clinkin Beard Gray. The story of its bestowal is an interesting one. It is really the name of the preacher who baptized him. This old gentleman desire that the boy be named after himself, but the parents did not seem to desire it. Nevertheless, when the minister officiated at the act he named the child in full, William Clinkin Beard. "My grandfather, James Gray was a Kentucky'n. He married my grandmother in Preble County, Ohio. She was born in the year 1808. She died near New Zion, Decator Co. Illinois on March 9, 1852, just as they were starting for Oregon. "James Gray, the widower, with his large family left Madison, Indiana on March 2, 1852, starting for Oregon Territory by way of Ohio, Missouri Mission at which latter place he joined by relatives and friends. He started with horse teams and oxen, leaving Missouri on April 17, 1852. Among those in the train were the Smith family of Peoria, Illinois. (They settled in western Linn County and founded the town of Peoria, Oregon.) One of James Gray's daughters married a son of Captain Smith. Another prominent emigrant with that train was Rev. James Worth and family of Ohio who became a prominent Presbyterian preacher in Linn County. There were also the McCoys, the McConkles, the McElrays (Spelling uncertain) and a Miss Nancy Gray. "Grandfather, according to a copy of his own narrative written near that time, 'Took up a claim near Union Point, Cascade Mountain foothills, after having arrived in the Willamette Valley on Sept. 3, 1852." This claim was situated about four or four and one-half miles south of present Brownsville and near to Twin Buttes. There is a very old and now almost obliterated cemetery on his claim and their grandfather and grandmother are buried but their monuments are now broken and lost. (Note- not entirely lost. See Union Point Cemetery Survey. L.H.) "After my grandmother died the oldest daughter, Margaret Jane Gray took charge of the household and became a second mother to the family. According to all accounts she was a very able and talented woman. She married James H. Foster (a short sketch of whose life will be appended.) On the way to Oregon she kept a diary. She was a member of the United Presbyterian Church and was very active in establishing reforms such as temperance, woman's suffrage and dress reform. She was one of the three founders of the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association, founded in December, 1870. She died on February 1, 1881 while attending a sick woman. This woman was sick in an upper chamber. When it was time for her medicine she rang a bell but there was no response. She finally aroused other members of the house and on investigation her nurse was found dead, sitting erect in her chair. "One of grandfather's brothers, John Gray also took a claim in the Twin Buttes neighborhood. This was the John Gray who accompanied Andrew Wiley on his first trip across the Santiam Pass which resulted in the establishing of the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road. His account of the trip makes very interesting reading. (A copy of this narrative has already been sent in. L.H.) "My father was about fifteen years old when he came to Oregon. He did a full man's work and drove an ox team. He was born in Rush County, Indiana, on May 22, 1837. This was near what was known as the Shilo Meeting House. He came to Oregon in 1852 with his father and brothers and sisters. He graduated from Dental College in 1867 at Cincinnati, Ohio, having gone east and returned again by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He practiced dentistry at Albany, Oregon, for many years. He married my mother, Hattie Emeline Bonner in Ohio. Their children were-
"Besides practicing dentistry my father was occupied at other things especially in his youth. Among other things he packed goods from Portland to Jacksonville during the gold rush and had many close shaves with the Indians. He was an accomplished singer and was an active Sunday school worker for many years. For a time he lived at San Jose, California. "Nancy Elizabeth Gray, my father's sister, married Bird Waggoner. Mr. Waggoner was born in Kentucky. He started for Oregon in 1852 with a wife and five children, one of whom was George Waggoner, the writer. One was a pretty little girl named Francis. On the Snake River an Indian chief tried to buy this Waggoner girl as related in George Waggoner's book. The Indian' s name was Wolf in the Grass. The first Mrs. Waggoner died of cholera in Powder River Valley on the way to Oregon. Later Bird Waggoner married Nancy Elizabeth Gray. "David Milton Gray, father's brother died and was buried on an old cattle trail near the Summit of the Cascade Mountains at a very early day-long before the Santiam Pass wagon road was opened up. He was a member of a party who were driving cattle over the mountains, following the old Indian trail. Somewhere south and east of the summit of Seven-mile-hill and not far from Clear Lake he was taken sick. The party camped for a time and he died there. They placed his body in a cleft in the rocks and raised a rock cairn over it. About twenty years after this mountain burial my father had a monument made and with one of the original party went to place it on the grave. They found the place and erected the marker but no one now seems to know where it is. (Note- This writer has made extensive inquiries and has found no person who has ever seen this old marker. Evidently it is entirely lost. Even the forest service workers know nothing of it. L.H.) "Josephine Salina Gray married Isaac Newton Smith of the Peoria Illinois and Peoria Oregon Smith Family. She was another of father's sisters. The Smith family and others from Peoria Illinois named Peoria, Oregon. "Now to go back more generations in the Gray family. John Gray, who was my great-grandfather, married Nancy Hamilton in Ohio. Their children were-
"Now since I have made some mention of James Hurst Foster who married my father's sister I will give a short history of his life. He was a very prominent early pioneer at Albany. "James Hurst Foster was born in Columbia County, Pa., in 1821. He moved to Ohio with his parents in 1830 and later to Indiana in 1839. He came to Oregon in 1850. The trip to the west was made in company with John Peebles, H. R. Schutt and two other men. They left Elkhart, Indiana on Nov. 22, 1850. Arrived at Fort Drum(?) on the Columbia River on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1850. Arrived in the Willamette Valley Oct. 20, 1850. Worked in the gold mines both as a miner and as a packer. Entered business and purchased the Magnolia flour mill at Albany. The product of this mill was sold principally to the China trade. He was active in promoting the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road and in digging the Santiam-Albany Canal and the Albany Water works. He died June 12, 1888. (A rather mixed and confusing interview but hope it may be found true to fact and in the main understandable. L.H.) 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. Interview Contents Previous Interview Next Interview Name Index |
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