Early Oregon Cousins - Irene (Bond) Clingman

Pine Grove Cemetery, near Halsey, Oregon

Yesterday (20 Apr 2017)  I wrote about Emma Bond and the death of her mother, Hannah (Hayes) Bond. Today my subject is Emma's half-sister, who is also my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

Emma's father, William Bond, who was a widower after his wife died in 1853 on the Oregon Trail, is shown on the census of 1860 with his 3 sons living in Linn County Oregon. Two years later, 11 Sep 1862, William married a widow, Talitha (Belknap) Starr, in neighboring Benton County. Talitha had 8 children from her first marriage. It was after William's only daughter Emma had died that William and Talitha had a daughter, Irene Grace Bond, born 2 Aug 1864. Sadly it was less than a year later, 1 May 1865, when William died.

I was glad to learn that Irene did grow to adulthood. Irene's mother Talitha married a third time to another widower, Washington Waltz, so Irene at age 6 was in that household in 1870 in Benton County Oregon with her mother, step-father, 4 Starr half-siblings and 3 Waltz step-siblings. By 1880 the family has moved to Spokane County, Washington Territory. Irene is listed as 15 and there is 1 Starr half-brother and 1 Waltz step-brother living in the household. Another Waltz step-brother is living next door.

It was in Spokane County 20 Apr 1882, a few months before her 18th birthday that Irene married Horace Clingman, a farmer who was about 10 years older than her. Irene and Horace had no biological children, but they did adopt a baby girl, Lillian Irene Clingman. Lillian was born in July 1899 and was in their household in the 1900 census. The family continued to live in Spokane County and appeared on both the 1910 and 1920 census.

On the 1930 census they had moved to Linn County Oregon. It was there that Horace died in 1936 and was buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery west of Halsey. A newspaper clipping from 1939 told of the Bond Reunion that year and Irene was named as one of those attending from Halsey. Before the 1940 census, Irene moved to Salem, Marion County Oregon. Around 1945 she moved to the Methodist Home there where she died 16 Oct 1955. She was buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery where Horace had been buried.

Although I don't remember meeting her, I do remember hearing the Clingman name when I was living in the Halsey area. If you were reading my blog a few months ago, on 23 Jan 2017, I posted about my father having Lillian Clingman as his 8th grade teacher in 1921-22. At the end of last December, I noted that Irene had submitted 2 recipes to the same WCTU cookbook as my mother and my grandmother. Sometimes relatives pop up where you least expect them.

  

An Unknown Cousin in Halsey

Pine Grove Cemetery, Halsey, Oregon

I grew up in the Halsey, Oregon, area. I knew I had some Hayes and Bond relatives in the area since my 3rd great-grandparents Hayes and 2nd great-grandparents Bond were original settlers there. In the early 1900s some of my Albertson and Falk ancestors moved into the area. When I graduated from Halsey High School I had an Albertson 2nd cousin and a Falk 2nd cousin in my graduating class. But I had no idea while growing up that I had any relatives from the Patton family who lived at Halsey. In fact, I had never even realized that I had any Patton ancestors.

When I began researching my family history in the mid-1980s, my Albertson, Falk, Bond and Hayes cousins shared much information with me. I began working on my Smalley relatives from Kansas and learned they had previously lived in Adams County Ohio. As was usual at that time, I began writing letters and corresponded with various relatives. When I had traced back to Nancy (Patton) Milligan, some of the correspondents noted that two of the Milligan daughters had married Gordon brothers. A Gordon descendant (Robert Abram Gordon) had self-published a book about the Gordon family and included sections on the Milligans and Pattons, so some of my ancestors were in it. Copies were shared with me and I began to study the book. Several generations down in the Patton family it noted that a certain descendant was born in "Halsey, Linn Co., Oregon," the daughter of Thomas Porter Patton who was born in Illinois in 1855 and died in 1933. If his daughter was born in Halsey and he didn't die until 1933, maybe my father, who lived in Halsey area from 1911, would have known him. So on one of my visits I asked my father if he remembered a Thomas Porter Patton. He replied yes. He and his father had considered buying some sheep that Thomas had for sale, but then decided against it.

Later in doing newspaper research in the microfilmed Halsey newspapers, in the Halsey Journal on 9 Mar 1933, there on the same page as a Falk item was an obituary for T. P. Patton. The headline stated: "Pioneer Passes." In the article: "Thomas Porter Patton was born in Illinois, June 26, 1855, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Patton. He came to Oregon in 1879, and has lived in this locality ever since." It also stated he would be buried at Pine Grove Cemetery. In a visit there looking for other relatives, I photographed his gravestone. I suspect that my grandmother Albertson never knew that her 2nd cousin twice removed lived close by. We probably have many unknown cousins out there.