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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. |
Lurwell, ClarenceMr. Clarence Lurwell, Brownsville, Oregon. Mr. Lurwell gave the following statements concerning his life and family: "My name is Clarence Lurwell. My father was Walter James Lurwell. My grandfather's name was William Lurwell. "William Lurwell, my grandfather was born in England and came to America sometime about 1840. "Grandfather Lurwell was twice married. By his first wife he had three children, my father Walter James Lurwell, and two daughters,--Emily who married a man by the name of Cross. She was living at Santa Ana, California at the time of her death, and Lydia, who married a man named Gouley. She had two sons, the oldest Homer Gouley and the second Romeo Gouley. The later was a member of the Oregon Legislature a few years ago. "My father, W. J. Lurwell was born April 4th, in 1848. He died in 1917. He came to Oregon with his father in 1852. Grandfather took up a Donation land claim of 640 acres on French Prairie near Parkersville. Grandfather ran a flour and saw mill in that region at a very early date. He was killed by a run-away team about 1872. "My grandfather was twice married. After my grandmothers death he married a widow named Parker who was already the mother of at least two (Parker) girls. These Parker girls died young and I do not know their names. To my grandfather's second marriage there was born one son, Homer Lurwell, my father's half-brother. "My mother's name was Ruth Fletcher. She, also, was born in 1848. (September 25), in Illinois. Her father's name was B. F. Fletcher who was born in Newport, New Hampshire on March 18, 1823. He died at North Howell Prairie (Oregon) January 24th, the exact year not certain but probably 1900. He went to Illinois in 1844 and married Eliza A. Turner in 1847. He crossed the plains by ox cart to Oregon in 1864, bringing the remnant of a family with him, his wife and three daughters having died before that time. The remaining children were:
"All of the above are now dead save Lawrence Fletcher. My mother died September 16, 1893. "B. F. (Benjamin) Fletcher, my grandfather, settled on Howell's Prairie after crossing the plains in 1864. With him in the immigrant train were his brother Samuel Metcalf Fletcher and a number of other Fletcher relatives. Their train across the plains was commanded by Capt. Frank Shedd after whom the town of Shedd, Linn County, is named. Captain Shedd was a cousin of Metcalf Fletcher's wife. With them in the same train were also the Farwell family who settled at the Boston Mills just east of Shedd. "On the way to Oregon Captain Shedd's train had a great deal of trouble with the Indians. The Fletcher families lost many head of cattle and almost all of their horses. "My father, Walter J. Lurwell, and my mother, Ruth Fletcher were married at Silverton, Marion County on September 25, 1870. To this marriage the following children were born:
"I came with my parents to Linn County in 1886. They, at that time, settled on a farm on Brush Creek about three miles south of Crawfordsville. I now own a farm on Courtney Creek a few miles east from Brownsville. "I was married to Amy Shipley on September 7, 1897. (See Amy Shipley interview already sent in. L. Haskin, interviewer.) We have one son, Leonard Lurwell, newspaper man of Yakima, Washington, Born Jan. 24, 1900. "My mother, Ruth Fletcher was an early Oregon school teacher. From the age of sixteen to the age of twenty-one, when she was married, she taught school in various sections of the Willamette Valley. Her first school, when she was 16 years old, was at the old town of "Boston" just east of the present town of Shedd, Linn County. That town, now gone, was built up surrounding the old Finley & Crawford "Boston Mills", built in the late 1850's and still in operation. It was the second flouring mill to be erected in this region. The first was the old R. C. Finley mill, (still standing) situated just west of Crawfordsville. Other schools which my mother taught were at Evergreen School near Silverton, at Silverton, and at North Howell's Prairie. A clipping which we have tells the reminiscences of certain of her old scholars, and the pleasure they had when "Teacher Ruth" dismissed them for a time so that they might watch the Civil War Veterans pass the school in 1865. "Adelle Fletcher was a daughter of Metcalf Fletcher who was a brother of my maternal grandfather. Adelle Fletcher married Isaac Wheeldon of Plainview, Linn County, Their son, Wayne Wheeldon, married Lela Stanard, daughter of A. W. Stanard, a prominent early settler of Brownsville. To carry the relationship a little further, W. A. Stanard married a daughter of Claiborn (spelling uncertain) Hill, another prominent Baptist pioneer near Brownsville. "My father Walter Lurwell was a farmer and stock-raiser." 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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