Finding An Uncle in Cottage Grove

Here is another copy of an article I wrote a number of years ago, 2006, to be exact. This time I am adding a photo of Melvin, which was graciously shared with me by cousin Robert Bond.

When considering writing about family who died before we were born, often there are no family traditions about that individual. So, it requires research to find information. Beginners are taught to use basic sources, which include vital records, cemeteries, obituaries and census. But sometimes extra information is found that makes that individual more interesting. When, by accident, I found in the newspaper that “Uncle Melvin” once lived in Cottage Grove, he became the subject of this report.

My great-granduncle, Melvin Clarence Bond, was the youngest brother of my great-grandfather, John Howard Bond. Melvin was the son of Solomon Bond and Huldah Hayes. I believe he was born in Linn County, Oregon on August 15, 1869 (although his death certificate says 1868.)

By the time of the 1870 agricultural census Melvin’s father had a farm of 407 acres. The main crops were wheat and oats and they did have farm animals: horses, cows, sheep and swine. Melvin was listed as a one year old on the population schedule of that 1870 census in the Peoria Precinct. Four older brothers and two older sisters were enumerated with him and his parents. Two older sisters and an older brother had already married and left home.

While Melvin was still a toddler, a rather drastic change came to their neighborhood, as the Oregon and California Railroad laid their track in the summer of 1871, along the edge of the Bond farm. I can imagine that Melvin could have heard the train go by every day as that became a major transportation route from Portland to Eugene.

Aunts and uncles lived nearby and Uncles Ebenezer Hayes and Seth Whipple Hayes platted a new town, which was named Halsey. Still as a young boy, Melvin experienced death in the family, when in 1876, two of his older sisters died and his uncle Seth Whipple Hayes was murdered. His deceased married sister’s baby daughter came to live with their family, so now Melvin wasn’t the youngest in the household anymore. On the 1880 census the family consisted of Melvin, shown as age 10, with his parents, the next three older brothers and his 5 year old niece. Since the 1885 census only gives the number, not the names of those in Solomon’s household, we believe that Melvin was one of the two males between age 10 and 21. Others were two brothers, his mother and his niece.

I don’t yet have information about how Melvin met his wife, but it is likely he was working for the Southern Pacific Railroad in Springfield where her family lived. Lane County Marriage Records show that M. C. Bond and Fanny Burton were married June 14, 1893 at the house of Adolphus Burton by Rev. C. C. Sperry. It is probable that C. C. Sperry was Carpus Clark Sperry, a Baptist minister, who was in the North Brownsville Precinct in Linn County by the 1900 census. Melvin’s father, Solomon Bond, was one of the witnesses. Was this in Springfield? Melvin’s obituary states they were married in Coburg, but Fanny’s gives the location as Springfield. Since Adolphus Burton was in Springfield on the 1880 census, that seems to be the correct location.

It was in August of 1894 that we find the next record about Melvin. The Eugene City Guard reported the following for the Cottage Grove area: “Frank Wooley, agent of the Southern Pacific railroad here for the past five and one-half years, was replaced Friday by a Mr. Bond from the Springfield branch.” Melvin had some hard work in that first month as a fire broke out at the Bohemia Hotel, near the depot. The newspaper reported: that some of railroad cars had to be moved and “Agent Bond also moved almost everything from the depot.” Fortunately there was a lack of wind, and a number of willing workers so the fire was prevented from spreading.

Now Melvin and Fanny were a part of Cottage Grove society. Their first child, Lawrence, was born in October. The newspaper reported that in December Fanny’s sister came to visit and then Fanny went back to Springfield with her. By the next summer, Melvin and Fanny and the baby are reported to be taking a vacation at Yaquina Bay. The newspaper described Melvin as “the genial and popular agent of the S.P. Railroad office.” A timetable from January of 1895 shows that Cottage Grove had two passenger trains each way, so Melvin was probably kept busy.

Sometime before the next census was taken in June of 1900, Melvin and family moved south along the railroad line to Merlin in Josephine County. Merlin was located about ten miles north of Grants Pass. Melvin’s occupation was shown as telegraph operator. His family had grown by one as there were now two sons, Lawrence age 4 and Guy age 2. Melvin’s next older brother, Harvey, was also working as a telegraph operator that year at Leland, the next station north of Merlin, about ten miles away. Their father Solomon had died in February of that year and his obituary listed these two sons as living in southern Oregon. The estate record listed them as living in Josephine County, Oregon. So all these records agree.

But Melvin did not stay at Merlin. His mother’s obituary in July, 1903, listed Melvin as living in Coburg. The 1905 Lane County Census showed him in Coburg as a railroad agent. By 1908 Melvin had changed occupations, as he now was a dry goods merchant.

Two major events happened in their family in 1908 while they were living in Coburg. On October 27^th, there was a blessed event when Melvin and Fanny’s third son, Merle, was born. But a tragic incident happened about a month later, on November 28^th, when their oldest son, fourteen year old Lawrence, was killed in a hunting accident.

In April, 1909, Melvin purchased 164.92 acres from the Federal Government, located in Douglas County, a few miles west of Riddle. However, he and his family were enumerated on the 1910 census in Coburg, on Skinner Street, and he was listed as a retail merchant.

It was probably about 1912 when the family moved again. Melvin returned to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad at the depot in Sutherlin. Their son, Guy, married Maydream Mclean in 1919 in Coos County, Oregon. So, Melvin, Fanny and their youngest son, Merle, were left in Sutherlin and they were enumerated there on the 1920 census.

Melvin became a widower in 1924 when Fanny died after an illness of several years. Fanny’s obituary noted that she had attended the University of Oregon and the state Normal School at Monmouth and had taught school for several years before her marriage. She was a member of the Baptist Church and the Sutherlin Lodge of Rebekahs. Seemingly Fanny had a good reputation as the local newspaper, the Sutherlin Sun, published that “she was a woman with a kind and sympathetic nature, friendly with all and a good neighbor and true friend.” After the funeral at Sutherlin, she was buried at the Coburg IOOF Cemetery, next to her son Lawrence.

On the 4^th of July in 1927, Melvin remarried to Edith Stephens. Edith was born in 1890 and had moved to Douglas County as a small child. Merle was still living at home with Melvin and Edith when the 1930 census was taken.

It was Christmas Eve in 1931 when Melvin died. The death certificate stated that he had last worked on the 23^rd, although his obituary implied he had been seriously ill for awhile. Again the Sutherlin Sun newspaper was complimentary, as it stated about Melvin: “Always courteous and obliging and ready to give assistance to any community enterprise, his passing is sincerely regretted by every resident of this community.” They noted the facts that he had served on the city council for ten years and was a member of the Baptist Church, Woodmen of the World and the Odd Fellows. Melvin was also buried at the Coburg IOOF Cemetery. His widow Edith remained in the Roseburg area for over forty years until her death at age 85 on the 15^th of July, 1975.

Writing about a family member helped me to get to “know” them better. It helped me see the “holes” in my research so I could focus my efforts to complete this report. Still, most of this report was based on those basic genealogical materials, so all researchers could do it. Why not find someone who interests you and start writing.