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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Early Oregon Cousins - John S. Elliott


John S Elliott was a 1st cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Ann (O'Neal) Bond, which makes him my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

John was the son of Robert M and Sophronia (O'Neal) Elliott, born in Nov 1864 according to the Canadian 1911 Census. He was born in Indiana, probably Bartholomew County. His mother Sophronia was a younger sister of Commodore Perry O'Neal. (I wrote about him 14 Apr 2017) I believe John's parents were married in 1860 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. The 1870 census from there shows 4 children in the family with John being the 2nd oldest at age 6.

By 1880 the family has moved farther west to Neosho County, Kansas and have added one more son. John is shown as age 16 an his occupation is works on farm. The family was still there in the 1885 Kansas state census and John was now listed as age 20. Sometime within the next 15 years some of the family moved to Oregon since John's parents and two of his brothers, Thompson and George, are on the 1900 census in Lane County, Coyote Precinct, which was a few miles west of Commodore Perry's land. John and his brother Archie (Archibald) were listed in the Blue River Precinct of Lane County, living in neighboring households of men, working as quartz (probably gold) miners. Blue River District was one of the Cascade Mining Areas most active from about 1898 to 1915.

The 1905 Lane County census showed Robert and Sophronia still in Coyote Precinct with the 35 year old son Archibald, a day laborer for mining. Thompson was in the South Eugene precinct and his occupation was miner. I haven't found either John or George for that census. John's father Robert received the patent for a homestead in Lane County in 1906, which would have been in the Coyote Precinct.

It was the next year, 1907, when the family moved to Alberta, Canada. But it was there that Robert died in Mar 1911, so John traveled from Yeoford, Alberta, Canada in Nov 1911 back to Lane County, Oregon to take care of estate matters for the property in Lane County. A resident of Lane County, A. E. Wheeler, was appointed administrator of the estate. The probate papers listed the heirs as: Sophronia age 66, Thompson 49, John 47 and Archibald 41.

Both Archibald and John S had received Western Land Grants in Alberta, probably 160 acres each as they are listed as quarter sections. Both John and Thompson have been found on the 1911 Census of Canada. The 1911 Alberta Gazetteer and Directory shows 5 Elliotts in Yeoford: Archie, John, John Jr, S.E. and Thompson. Only the John was not a farmer, as he was listed as an engineer. I don't know which John was Sophronia's son, but I suspect it was the farmer. The same 5 are in the 1914 Directory, but now all are farmers. The 1916 Canadian Census in Alberta showed an Elliott household with 72 year old Sophronia as the head and 3 sons: Tom, John and Archibald. It appears that the 3 sons had become Canadian citizens in 1912, but Sophronia was still an alien, an American. I have not yet been able to discover their death information.

I enjoyed finding John and his brothers since I don't believe I have any other miners among my relatives.

 

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