Early Oregon Cousins - James Madison Bond

I included this James, the son of George and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond, in 2011 when I wrote an article for the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society periodical, Trees From the Grove,  about his uncle James Bond and his cousin James Monroe Bond, as they were the 3 James Bonds who were included in my database. This is a copy of what I wrote then.

Cousin James Madison Bond was born 23 October 1849 in Marion County, Iowa. He was the 6^th child of his parents George Washington and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond and was shown with his parents and 4 surviving older siblings on the 1850 census in Marion County. It is probable that James was named for the former president of the United States since his father was named George Washington Bond and some of James' brothers were William Harrison and Benjamin Franklin.

James was about 3 ½ years old when the family left Iowa in April of 1853 and traveled over the Oregon Trail to Oregon Territory. According to his father's journal the family got to the “Willamit valy” on 21 September 1853. In less than a month his parents had settled a Donation Land Claim in Lane County on 16 October 1853, so it was probably there that James could celebrate his 4^th birthday. The land claim was located on the north side of the Willamette River, across from Skinner's Butte. On the 1860 census the George Bond family was enumerated in Spencer Precinct, Lane County, Oregon. By then there were 8 children in the family. By the 1870 census, the precinct was named Springfield, although they were most probably in the same location. James' oldest brother, William Harrison, had moved to Powell's Valley Precinct in the Portland area and was teaching school and his next brother, Benjamin Franklin, had been committed to the insane asylum in East Portland. Two younger children had been born so there were still 8 children in the family.

The year 1880 would have been sad for their family since James' father died in January from heart trouble and his two youngest siblings died from typhoid fever, Charles in March at age 16 and Mary in May at age 19. James' two older sisters had already married, so in the 1880 census, James at age 30 was living with his three younger brothers and his widowed mother.

According to his obituary James moved to Linn County in 1884. He probably lived close to his uncle Solomon Bond in the Halsey area. It was 18 January 1887 when James married Mary Jane Windom, a niece of Mrs. Solomon Bond. Just over six months later, 27 June 1887, Mary died at their home near Halsey. It was the next year, 14 March 1888, when James was married for the second time. His wife was Rhoda Keeney, the daughter of Elias Keeney, an early settler in the Brownsville area of Linn County.

By the 1900 census James is shown as a 50 year old farmer in the Halsey Precinct, Linn County, Oregon, with his wife Rhoda, age 37, their two daughters: Zelma age 11 and Elfa age 9, and two of James' younger brothers: Joseph and George. It is uncertain why their son Ruel was not enumerated with the family, but he was included with his two sisters in the 1905 census. James' brothers were not living with the family then. Early in 1910, James' eldest daughter, Zelma married Claude Davis. So the 1910 census shows James, Rhoda, Elfa, Ruel and brother George still living in Halsey Precinct, on the Halsey and Brownsville Road.

During the next decade Elfa married Jay W. Moore and Ruel went into the service in World War I. Apparently James and Rhoda moved to Corvallis since in May of 1918, the Corvallis Weekly Gazette-Times printed a letter sent from France by Ruel and stated that his parents were “living here on North 12^th street.” Ruel was killed in the battle of Chateau Theirry, France 18 July 1918. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France. But his parents were not officially notified of his death until they received a telegram on the 20^th of September. Up till then they were hoping he had been taken prisoner. James and Rhoda moved to Albany, Linn County, Oregon and are listed there on the 1920 census. By the 1930 census, James and Rhoda are shown as living in the city of Newport in Lincoln County on the Oregon coast.

James and Rhoda were living back in Albany at 822 Walnut when James died of “chronic valvular heart disease” 9 April 1935. Rhoda died 8 September 1954 in Linn County and both are buried at Riverside Cemetery, Albany, Oregon.