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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Early Oregon Cousins - Emma Bond


Over the years I have felt sorrow for my double 1st cousin 3 times removed, Emma Bond. Emma was born 25 Aug 1853 in the Blue Mountains while the family was on the Oregon Trail traveling from Iowa to Oregon. Her father, William Bond, was my 2nd great-grandfather Solomon Bond's brother and her mother, Hannah (Hayes) Bond, was my 2nd great-grandmother Huldah's sister. That's why she is a double cousin, related on both the Bond side and the Hayes side.

However, it was not the circumstances of her birth that caused my sorrow, but the fact that less than a month later, her mother died on 15 Sep 1853 as the family was traveling the Barlow Road to cross the Cascade Mountains to enter the Willamette Valley of Oregon. It is believed that it was somewhere on Mt. Hood that Hannah died and was buried.

Emma's father had 3 boys ages 3 to 8 years old to care for, so the family story is that Emma's grandparents, Seth and Lydia (Jewett) Hayes cared for her. Probably Emma's aunts and uncles from both sides of the family helped with her care until the families were settled on their Donation Land Claims. The Hayes family lived next to each other in Linn County, Oregon Territory. I showed the locations on my post of 24 Feb 2017.

It is fun to speculate that as Emma was growing up she could play with her first cousin, Celia Hayes, the daughter of Seth Whipple and Polly (Stillwell) Hayes. Celia was born 22 Sep 1854 after the family was in Linn County. She would have been a little over a year younger than Emma. But there is more sorrow for me when I realize that Celia died when just 8 1/2 years old 13 May 1863. It could be that Emma died very near the same time since she was said to be 9 years old when she died. Consider Grandma Hayes. By this time she was a widow and two of her granddaughters died while still children and Emma had been living with her. Life in pioneer times could be hard, especially for the women and children.

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