Living Close Together

When the Hayes family came to Oregon in 1853, a number of them claimed Donation Land Claims in Linn County. One of Seth Hayes' first cousins, Albert Hayes, had come to Oregon in 1850 and had settled a claim about a mile south of the current location of the city of Halsey. Because he was in Oregon before the end of 1850, he was entitled to 320 acres. He settled his claim in November 1853.

Then Seth and Lydia Hayes, my 3rd great-grandparents, chose land adjoining Albert's on the north. As they came after 1850 and were a married couple, they could claim 320 acres together.  They settled their claim in February 1854.

Seth and Lydia's son, Ebenezer, was still single, so he could claim 160 acres, but ended up with 121.64, about one half mile from the north edge of his parents claim. He settled this a few months later in May of 1854.

At the north edge of Ebenezer's claim was his sister and her husband, Solomon and Huldah (Hayes) Bond, my 2nd great-grandparents. They settled their 320 acre claim in October 1854.

Ebenezer and Huldah's brother, Seth Whipple Hayes and his wife Polly (Stillwell) Hayes came the next year in May 1855 and settled between Ebenezer and their parents, Seth and Lydia. One of their descendants stated that Seth and Polly had first settled in the Portland area, but came later to this Halsey area. They officially received 328.4 acres.

When the city of Halsey was laid out after the Oregon and California Railroad was built in 1871, most of the city was in the original claims of Ebenezer and Seth Whipple & Polly. But Polly had died in 1863, so her half would have been inherited by someone. By then, both Seth and Lydia had also passed away so the small edge of Halsey on their claim would be in their estate. Checking the map, it appears that where I went to high school was on the claim of Ebenezer Hayes, by 2nd great-granduncle. I certainly didn't realize it at the time.

Back to the original settlement, it was July 1855 when the fourth child of Seth and Lydia, Lydia Louisa and her husband, Reuben Jewett, came and settled their claim of 162.4 acres. They joined Solomon and Huldah on the north and Ebenezer and Seth Whipple on the west. Their claim was about half the size they were entitled to receive, but my guess is that they wanted to settle next to their family and that was all the land that had not already been taken.

I find it fascinating that this block of land of Seth and Lydia and four of their children totaled just over one thousand two hundred fifty acres. Then if you add cousin Albert's their block was over fifteen hundred acres. I titled this living close together. But if you look at the individual acreage amounts the smallest was over 100 acres so even if they all joined each other, their homes could still be a ways apart.