Early Oregon Cousins -- Charles Clarence Hayes

Charles Hayes was one of John Howard Bond's younger 1st cousins. His father, Ebenezer Hayes, was a younger brother of John's mother, Huldah (Hayes) Bond. Ebenezer had married later in life after he was 35 and his first wife died. When he remarried at age 43 he married Laura Hill, the 18 year old step-daughter of Priscilla (Hayes) Hill, Ebenezer's youngest sister. Charles was the 4th child of Ebenezer and Laura, born 7 May 1878. He was just 2 months older than John's oldest daughter.

The 1880 census listed him as Clarence Hayes, age 2, in the household of Ebenezer and Laura in Halsey Precinct, Linn County Oregon. He was not listed with his parents in the 1900 census, but in 1905 he was shown as Chas. C., age 26, again in his parents' household in the city of Halsey. The family had moved to Portland, Multnomah County Oregon, by the 1910 census. Charles was living with his parents and he was working as a laborer at odd jobs. His father died in 1911 and Charles was one of the 5 children living with his mother on the 1920 census in Portland where his occupation was laborer in a furniture factory. On the 1930 census he was working as a farmer in the Willamette Precinct in Lane County Oregon.

Charles is not enumerated in the 1940 census since he died 28 Feb 1940, before the census was taken. I found the circumstances of his death to be sad. When I located his death certificate it stated that the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage, due to traumatic fracture of the skull, due to struck by auto. Some of the other facts on the certificate were revealing. He died at Portland General Hospital where he had been for 3 months. The informant had no records of Charles' birthdate, or birthplace, or occupation or parents. They estimated his age as 56 and gave his address as "transient - no address."

Since his death was due to an automobile accident marked as happening 1 Dec 1939 in Portland Oregon, I thought that it might have been mentioned in a newspaper. When I checked that I found there were a series of articles about the accident and the aftermath involving Charles published in the Oregonian newspaper from Portland, Oregon. It was all so sad.

2 Dec 1939 - Headline: Car Hits Man, Skull Cracked. He was listed as an unidentified pedestrian who was struck while walking near the Jones Lumber Company. They described him as bearded and approximately 55 years old.

4 Dec 1939 - Victim Unidentified. He was described as an elderly bearded man whose skull was fractured when he was struck down by an automobile. His condition was critical. Officers reported that he had been seen walking along the road with one shoe off.

8 Dec 1939 - Unidentified Auto Victim Remains in Coma Here. They repeated the previous information, but added that he was unconscious, but improving.

12 Dec 1939 - Auto Victim Yet Unknown. It was 10 days after the accident and the hospital still did not know who he was. He had not completely regained consciousness and could only mumble responses. They described him as about 50 years old, 5 ft 4 inches tall, slender build, hazel eyes, sandy hair and Van Dyke beard.

14 Dec 1939 - Identity of Traffic Victim Still Puzzles Authorities. With this article the paper published a photo of him. They stated he was slowly improving, though not able to talk.

15 Dec 1939 - Auto Accident Victim Identified. The paper finally could say that the victim was Charles Hayes, 62. His brother, Fred W. Hayes, who lived in Portland, saw the photo, went to the hospital and was able to identify Charles.

29 Feb 1940 - Death Increases '39 Traffic Toll. When Charles died at the hospital it was counted in the traffic deaths from 1939.

I wonder how this affected the rest of the family. He had at least 2 brothers in Oregon and 1 in California.