52 Ancestors 2020 – 17 – Land – Charles Bond

Charles Bond did own land. His obituary in 1912 noted that he was living on the “old home place owned by his father a mile northeast of Halsey.” It was the same farm where he had been born in 1860. This photo taken about 1909, shared with me by my cousin Robert Bond, shows Charles' home.

Charles was the executor for his mother's will when she died in 1903. The inventory of her estate noted that she had 160 acres as her half of their Donation Land Claim, but they excluded 2 acres on the east side previously sold and also “18 acres where the buildings stand on said premises heretofore sold to C. S. Bond.”

Charles Seth Bond, my great-granduncle, was born on 23 April 1860 in Linn County, Oregon, the son of Solomon and Huldah (Hayes) Bond, my 2^nd great-grandparents. I wrote about his older sister Susan 3 weeks ago and explained that where the family lived was called Pine Precinct on the 1860 census and Peoria Precinct on the 1870 census. Charles just made it onto the 1860 census being marked as age 2/12, but was age 10 for the next census. The town of Halsey was formed after the Oregon and California Railroad was built on the western edge of the Bond property in 1871. I can think that Charles, at age 11, would have enjoyed watching the building of the railroad. When the 1880 census was taken Charles was 20 years old, single, and his occupation was farmer.

It was four years later, 21 Sep 1884, when Charles changed his marital status as he married Minnie Gourley. I find it interesting that about 10 years later, Minnie's sister Ada married Charles' nephew, Edwin Cummings. Can you imagine their children trying to figure out their relationship? For Minnie and Charles did have 2 children. Bessie was born in 1886 and Lela in 1894. So their family was enumerated on the 1900 census, living with Charles' mother Huldah. His father had died in 1899. Also in the household in 1900 was Minnie's younger brother George.

This family photo, also shared by Robert Bond, was probably taken about 1904.

The family was enumerated on the 1910 census, Bessie and Lela were now 23 and 16. The household again contained other relatives, this time Clarice Gourley, a niece, and Charles' widowed oldest sister, Lydia (Bond) Clark. This is the last time I find them all together as Charles died in 1912 and Minnie in 1913.

It was 23 Sep 1912 when Charles died. His cause of death is rather confusing. A family history stated that he was killed by a normally friendly bull in the pasture on his farm. His death certificate showed the cause of death as apoplexy. An obituary in an Albany newspaper stated that “his death was due to the rupture of a blood vessel produced from over-exertion while working on his farm.” A Eugene newspaper gave the following account: “Chas. Bond....died yesterday as the result of an injury sustained while working in his hog pen. While holding one of the porkers his left arm and hand were severely wrenched and a physician was called. Mr. Bond's injuries were not thought serious at first.….but a few minutes later he expired. It is supposed that a blood vessel was ruptured or else the shock may have caused heart failure.” For whatever reason, Charles died and was buried in the Halsey Pioneer Cemetery.

Although he died in 1912, he was listed in a 1913 Linn County, Oregon, directory on the tax list. It showed he owned property at Halsey valued at $5505. So again I say Charles did own land.

Trying to Transcribe - Will of Solomon Bond - Pt 2

As I mentioned yesterday I have two copies of this will. I am using the copy from the probate files, however if I cannot read what it says easily I check the copy from the will book and then make my decision of what I believe it says. Please contact me if you see any errors.

Yesterday there was a bequest to the children of a deceased daughter (Susan Bond Bridgefarmer) and today's section also includes bequests to the children of another deceased daughter, (Mary Bond Cummings.)

     6th I give and bequeath unto my son Wm

H Bond one full share of my said estate.

     7th I give and bequeath unto my daugh-

ter Lydia A Clark one share of my said

estate Less the sum of two hundred dollars.

     8th I give and bequeath unto my son

Charles S Bond one full share of my said

estate.

     9th I give and bequeath unto my son

Austin Bond one full share of my said

estate.

     10th I give and bequeath unto my son

Harvey Bond one full share of my said

estate.

     11th I give and bequeath unto my son

Melvin Bond one full share of my said

estate.

     12th I give unto my grand-daughter

Ollive E Cummings one full share of my estate

in Case She Shall remain with us during

her minority or until she marries but

in case she should not do so I desire that

She Shall have but the sum of One hundred

dollars out of my estate.

     13th I give and bequeath unto my grand-

children Gabriel Cummings and Robert E

Cummings the sum of ten dollars each

to be paid to them in money out of my

estate.

A Mysterious Obituary

Last week I wrote about Annie Clark Collins, who lived to be 99 years old. I closed that blog with information obtained from her obituary that she "was survived by her two daughters, Velma Redmer and Rachel Starr."
I determined that I wanted to know more about these daughters, so using the Oregon Death Index, found that Velma had lived until 2011 and Rachel had died in 1983. A friend at our Society collects obituaries from some of our local papers and was able to supply me with these two obits.
Velma's obituary was similar to what I expected: she had lived to age 98, had 6 surviving children, 9 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Her parents were named as well as her husband who had preceded her in death in 1993. Her sister Rachel was not mentioned since she had died over twenty years before Velma.
But Rachel's obituary really surprised me. Her birth, death and marriage information seemed fine. But her survivors were really not what I expected. The husband, two sons and four grandchildren were OK. However, it listed five brothers and five sisters, none of which were Velma. The brothers listed were: Charlie Walter, Frank Walter, Elden Walter, Clifton Walter, and Howard Hance. The sisters were: Lyrl Pryor, Myrna Anderson, Adele Jones, Vi Van Tassel and Dottie Vaughn. If Rachel was the daughter of William and Annie (Clark) Collins, why would her brothers be named Walter or Hance? Did I have the wrong person? She was born about the right year, 1922. She was born in the right place, Seal Rock. She was raised in Cottage Grove. Was she adopted or something? I needed to try to resolve this question.
I tried a number of searches in various databases to see if I could solve the problem. I checked Ancestry, Find A Grave, Roots Web, Family Search, and Oregon State Archives. I tried many of the names listed as brothers and sisters of Rachel. Finally on Find A Grave I found a clue. I found that both Rachel and her husband Lloyd Starr were on that site buried in Blachly Cemetery. I clicked on the side bar for all the Starrs in that cemetery, including maiden names. One of the entries was Viola B. (Starr) Walter. One of Lloyd's sisters had married a Walter, so Viola's husband would have been a brother-in-law. Now I checked further on the family trees on Ancestry and found that she had been married to two men named Walter: first to Charles where she is listed on the 1940 census living with her parents and then about 1943 to Frank. Finally I found the 1930 census for the correct Walter family living in Swantown, Washington. This family included the following Walter children: Lyrl, Myrna, Opal A, Charley, Frank, Violia, Elden and Clifton. This includes the four Walter brothers named in the obituary and at least three of the sisters, probably four. There are still a couple of names in the obit I have not identified, but it is clear that most of those listed were not siblings of Rachel, but those who were siblings of her sister-in-law's husband.
This shows that obituaries cannot always be trusted to give correct relationships.

Annie Clark Collins' Birthday--She lived to be 99.

My first cousin twice removed, Annie Clark, was born on March 8, 1875, probably in Linn County, Oregon. Her mother, Lydia (Bond) Clark, was the oldest sister of my great-grandfather, John Howard Bond. Annie lived to be 99 years old, lacking about 9 months of reaching her 100th birthday, dying on July 17, 1974.
It is probable that Annie lived with her parents, Oren and Lydia Clark, until the time of her marriage to William D Collins November 10, 1897. She was listed with them on the 1880 census in Elk Precinct, Benton County, Oregon. She and William were married at Seal Rock, Lincoln County, Oregon. By the 1900 census the William Collins family, including their 1 year old son Wilbur, was living in the Alsea Precinct, Lincoln County. In 1910 they had moved to Newport, Lincoln County. Annie reported that 4 children had been born, but only 2 were living: Wilbur age 11 and Esther age 6 months. The family had moved into the Willamette Valley by the 1920 census and were living in East Gaston Precinct in Washington County. Their two children Wilbur now age 21 and daughter Velma age 7 were living with them. It appears that Esther had passed away during those ten years betwen 1910 and 1920. Annie had at least one more child, because Rachel Grace was born in 1922 and was living with her parents along with Velma in 1930 when they were living in the Silk Creek Precinct (near Cottage Grove) Lane County, Oregon. William and Annie moved back to the coast between 1935 and 1940 and were in the Glenada Precinct (near Florence) Lane County, Oregon on the 1940 Census.
The year 1942 would have been sad for Annie, since her husband William of over 40 years died in June and her son Wilbur died in September from a logging accident. At the time of William's death, they were living in North Bend, Coos County, Oregon. By the time Annie herself died in 1974, she was living in Blachly, Lane county, Oregon and was survived by her two daughters, Velma Redmer and Rachel Starr.