Death Certificates From the Past – William Bond and Amanda (Bond) Harlow

William and Amanda, who were siblings, were 1^st cousins of my gt-grandfather John Howard Bond, so were my 1^st cousins once removed. They were children of George and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond. George was the brother to my 2^nd gt-grandfather Solomon Bond.

These are the last ones of the death certificates for this family where I have copies. George and Elizabeth had 12 children and counting today I have posted copies of 5 certificates: Sarah (Bond) Murphy, Amanda (Bond) Harlow and John, George, and William Bond.

What about the other 7. Remember that Oregon did not require death certificates until the middle of 1903. Benjamin, Ellin, Emily, Joseph, Mary and Charles all died in Oregon before 1903. There is still one more: John. He moved away and died in New York state, so of course he doesn't have an Oregon death certificate.

Early Oregon Cousins – Ellen Cardine Bond and Emily Bond

I think of these as “unknown cousins.” They were 1^st cousins of my gt-grandfather, John Howard Bond, but he probably never knew them. They were both born before he was and probably also died before he was born in 1855.

The family information I received when beginning my research in the 1980s never mentioned these names as children of George and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond. Their names did not appear on any of the census records which I found for this family. Because the George Bond family had settled in the Eugene area in the fall of 1853, I did some research about the family at the Lane County Historical Museum in Eugene, Oregon in May 2008. They had in their files the following listing for the family birthdates. It was actually in the Harlow file, but as I wrote on 21 Apr 2017, one of George's daughters, Amanda Bond, had married Anderson Harlow. Here was where I discovered these two extra daughters, Ellen Cardine Bond born in 1840 and Emily Bond born in 1853, so they are on my website and now they are on my blog. They were my 1^st cousins 3 times removed.

You might notice that I have posted twice today. I am trying to play “catch up” because I missed yesterday and the day before (last Saturday and Sunday) as I was having a computer problem. I hope to post twice again tomorrow and then I will be back on schedule.

Early Oregon Cousins - Amanda (Bond) Harlow

Amanda was my 1st cousin 3 times removed. She was the daughter of one of my favorite "Uncles," George Bond and his wife, Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond, who was George's 1st cousin as her mother was a Bond.

Amanda was born 22 Aug 1847 in Iowa. She would have celebrated her sixth birthday while the family was traveling the Oregon Trail. Because her father kept a journal on the trip we can know that on 22 Aug 1853 the family "traveled across Grand Round valy over the mountains camped on a branch to the left of the Road." In another month they would be in the Willamette Valley. I can wonder how this trip would seem to a 5 1/2 year old girl. Then her Aunt Hannah had a baby just a few days after Amanda's birthday and then while crossing the mountains her Aunt Hannah died.

Her father settled his claim quickly, less than a month after arriving in the Willamette Valley. They lived near the Willamette River across from Skinner's Butte in Eugene City, Lane County Oregon.

Amanda was a PK--preacher's kid. Her father had been a Baptist minister while they lived in Iowa and he continued preaching after they arrived in Oregon. He was chosen as the minister for the Baptist church in Eugene in 1858 and served there for almost 10 years. The Harlow family were active in the Baptist church and it was 14 Dec 1873 when Amanda Bond and Anderson Harlow were married. A local history relates that Anderson built a lovely home for her in 1874 and the house was still standing a few miles north of Eugene over a hundred years later.

By the 1880 census, Amanda and Anderson had 3 children in their household: Minnie age 5, Frank age 3 and 12 year old Emma Stillwell, listed as adopted. I could not find an official record of an adoption, but did discover that Emma was Amanda's 1st cousin, the daughter of Stephen Stillwell, the brother of Amanda's mother. Emma's parents had both died so was living with her cousin. Emma was married to Isaac Holman in 1891 at Amanda and Anderson's home. When Amanda's mother died in 1895 after a stroke, it was reported that she died at the home of her son-in-law Anderson Harlow, which of course meant it was Amanda's home also.

When the 1900 census was taken, Amanda, Anderson and their daughter Minnie were in the household next to Frank and his wife. In 1902, when Amanda's younger brother Joseph died of cancer, the obituary states that he died at the home of his brother-in-law, Anderson Harlow. Then in 1910 the Harlow household consisted of Anderson, Amanda, their unmarried daughter Minnie, Anderson's widowed 94 year old mother and a 22 year old farm laborer, George Young, who was born in New Zealand. Amanda died at the family home 10 Feb 1914 and was buried at the Gillespie Cemetery.

It appears to me that Amanda showed the virtue of hospitality, sharing her home with others. Her orphaned 1st cousin was living with them in 1880 and was probably there until her marriage in 1891. Her mother died at her home. Her brother who had cancer died at their home and by 1910 her aged mother-in-law was living with them.

  

Early Oregon Cousins

Looking at my ancestor birthday calendar, I see there is only one birthday in the remaining 11 days this month. So I will be posting something else during the other 10 days. My plan is to write about my cousins who lived in Oregon prior to 1900. Today I will give a listing of those I plan to write about.

These are 1st cousins to my great-grandparents, John H and Mary A (O'Neal) Bond. Here is the proposed schedule.

Apr 20 -- Emma Bond, daughter of William and Hannah (Hayes) Bond

Apr 21 -- Irene (Bond) Clingman, daughter of William and Talitha (Starr) Bond

Apr 22 -- Amanda (Bond) Harlow, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond

Apr 23 -- Sarah (Bond) Coffinberry, daughter of James and Laura (Jewett) Bond

Apr 24 -- Ancestor Birthday -- Lydia Reynolds

Apr 25 -- Rebecca (Davis) Powers, daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth (Bond) Davis

Apr 26 -- John S. Elliott, son of Robert and Sophronia (O'Neal) Elliott

Apr 27 -- Jesse O Bunyard, son of James and Eliza J (O'Neal) Bunyard

Apr 28 -- James Monroe, son of Alexander and Rebecca (O'Neal) Monroe

Apr 29 -- Mary (Davis) Miles, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Bond) Davis

Apr 30 -- John Tong, son of James and Ann (Bond) Tong

  

Another Ten Years and Another Bond Reunion

On January 6th I posted about the Bond Reunion in 1939. In August 1949, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported on another Bond reunion. This was held in the Baptist park on the Frank Harlow farm near Eugene. That would probably be at or near Camp Harlow today. Now the reunion was for two of the Bond brothers: Solomon and George.

Again my grandmother, Mrs. Florence Falk, now a widow, attended the reunion along with 45 other named individuals. Among those were my mother, Mrs. Lester Albertson, my brother Oran and me, Joanne. I don't have a clear memory of this particular reunion, but as a child growing up, we regularly attended 2 family reunions each year, Bond and Falk, plus some other family get-togethers.

Those attending this reunion came from 3 locations in Washington: Woodland, Vancouver and Centralia. Oregon provided 9 locations: Portland, Springfield, Trent, Dorena, Madras, Harrisburg, Halsey, Albany and Eugene.

You can check with me jskelton@oip.net to see if your Bond relative was at this same reunion as me.