Today
is the second day for a March 18th birthday. William England is today
and yesterday I did John Bond. These two 3rd great-grandfathers of
mine had descendants in common, since William's granddaughter, Mary
Ann O'Neal, married John's grandson, John Howard Bond. They were my
great-grandparents.
The
two men had some other similarities. Both were born in Kentucky,
although in different areas of the state, about 5 years apart. Both
spent some time in Illinois and then went to Iowa to live. John left
Iowa in 1853 to go to Oregon and William left Iowa in 1865 to go to
California. But William didn't stay in California and moved north to
Oregon about 1871, after John had died.
After
William and his wife Mary (Walker) England had lived in Oregon for a
little over a year, Mary died in February 1873 and William became a
widower. He never remarried. He and his oldest son John purchased
land in August 1873 east of current day Cottage Grove, Oregon. The
deed records that they had 753.5 acres more or less. When the Dorena
Dam was constructed in the late 1940s it was on a portion of their
land. I really enjoy driving by the Dam and thinking that was land
once owned by my ancestor. It was only after I began doing
genealogical research in the mid 1980s that I realized that when I
moved to Cottage Grove in 1961 it was to a place where an ancestor
had been.
William
lived a long life, being 91 when he died in 1893. The Eugene
newspaper gave a brief account of his death: His
demise was sudden, the old gentleman falling from his chair dead.
William was buried in the Cogswell-Gay Cemetery northwest of
Creswell, next to his wife. You have to go through private property
to reach where the cemetery is located. A number of years ago I
received permission and was able to visit it. I am thankful I was
able to do that.
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