52 Ancestors 2019 – 7 – Love – William Henry Bond

Why am I writing about William Henry Bond for week 7's theme? It's because I “love” the fact that his land is shown on a land ownership map.

I suspect this theme is due to Valentine's Day. So that would be romantic love. But the word love can have different meanings. I asked Google to define love and received three answers: first 2 nouns and then a verb.

1. An intense feeling of deep affection.
2. A great interest and pleasure in something.
3. Feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone).

So I have decided to use definition 2, because I have a great interest and pleasure in learning about all my relatives. Therefore I have chosen William from this week's “Aunts & Uncles Birthday Calendar” (https://www.joanneskelton.com/ui32.htm) to share about today.

William Henry Bond was my great-granduncle, an older brother of my great-grandfather, John Howard Bond. William was born 15 Feb 1847, in Iowa, to Solomon and Huldah (Hayes) Bond. I found him on the 1850 census as a 3 year old living with his parents in Marion County, Iowa. He would have been 6 years old in 1853 when he participated in the great adventure of traveling in a wagon train to the Oregon Country over the Oregon Trail. It was the next year when his parents settled a 320 acre Donation Land Claim at the edge of the current city of Halsey, Oregon. Since Halsey had not been established yet, the 1860 census listed William, now 13, in Pine Precinct, Linn County, Oregon.

Before the next census was taken, William married Sarah C. Kirk, 17 Oct 1867. The marriage record shows that the wedding took place at the home of William's uncle, Seth Whipple Hayes, who lived nearby. Sarah was the oldest daughter of Madison and Elmira Kirk who probably came to Oregon on the ”lost” wagon train in 1853. In 1860 their family was living in nearby Brownsville. At the 1870 census William and Sarah were located in the Peoria Precinct in Linn County (this was the same area which was called Pine in 1860) with their oldest child, Jasper.

The 1880 census for William and Sarah has been a mystery to me, since I have been unable to find them there. In 1880, Sarah's widowed father, Madison, was living in Centerville, in Umatilla County, Oregon, in the northeastern part of the state. The United States government issued a patent on 15 Aug 1882 to the heirs of Madison Kirk for a 160 acre homestead in Section 22, Range 34 East, Township 4 North, which was the approximate location of Centerville, about 12 miles northeast of Pendleton.

William Bond received a patent 10 years later, 10 Jun 1892, for a 160 acre homestead in Section 13, Range 33 East, Township 4 North, which was about 1 mile southeast of the small town of Helix. This would have been less than 5 miles from the Kirk homestead. This is what was shown on the land ownership map of Umatilla County, from 1914.

William and Sarah were enumerated on the 1900 census in Helix Precinct, Umatilla County, Oregon, with their 23 year old son Elmer and 2 younger children, Hattie and Royal. Their oldest son Jasper was then in Monticello in Cowlitz County, Washington, and their daughter Susan was married to Lewis Shipp and living in Alta Precinct in Umatilla County.

I did find them in them in the 1910 census, still living in the Helix Precinct, with their youngest son Royal, now 14. Their daughter Hattie and her husband James Cushman were also living with them. Susan was now a widow with 2 young children as her husband had died 26 Jun 1909 of tuberculosis and she had moved to Dalles City in Wasco County. Then Hattie died of tuberculosis on 5 Nov 1910, leaving a baby son Ronald.

It was about 3 years later when William died, 10 Aug 1913, at Long Beach, California. Because he still owned the property in Oregon there was a large probate file in Umatilla County. As no will was found, it was an intestate file and the papers list his surviving heirs: widow Sarah Bond, Helix; daughter Susan Shipp, Long Beach; son Royal Bond, age 19, Helix; and grandson Ronald Cushman, son of now deceased daughter Hattie Cushman. Susan, Royal and Ronald each were granted an undivided 1/3 interest in the homestead, subject to the dower interest of the widow, Sarah Bond. I also “love” it when there is a large probate file to read.