One
of my 1st cousins, 3 times removed, Rebecca was another one of the
early Oregon cousins who was born in Iowa, before the family came
West on the Oregon Trail. Rebecca was the oldest child of Nelson and
Elizabeth (Bond) Davis, born 28 Aug 1847 in Mahaska County, Iowa. Her
6th birthday was on the trail, just 6 days after her 1st cousin,
Amanda Bond. (I wrote about Amanda on 21 Apr 2017.)
Rebecca's
Uncle George Bond wrote the following in his journal of the trip for
28 Aug: "traveled down the umatila camped 5 miles the other side
of the Agency." I always liked August 28th on their journey
because a man at the Umatilla Agency wrote down who passed by each
day and my family shows up on August 28th. Rebecca wasn't named, but
was counted as her family was listed as "Davis, N., w, 2s, 2d."
Of course she was one of the 2 daughters. I wonder if Rebecca was
proud that her father was the Captain of the wagon train.
Her
parents settled their claim 20 Oct 1853, just 4 days after
Elizabeth's brother George settled his. They were both in Lane
County, Oregon Territory, Nelson's being about 10 miles east of
George. Nelson's claim was in what is now Springfield, Oregon. It
would be interesting to know if Rebecca and Amanda got to play
together very often.
By
1860, the family had added 3 more children plus Rebecca's widowed
Davis grandmother and Nelson's 3 youngest siblings, who were only a
few years older than Rebecca. This made a total of 13 in the
household, I hope they had a large house. Marriages began happening
in this extended family. Rebecca's 16 year old Aunt Sarah was married
in Dec 1860, Aunt Minerva was married in Jan 1862 at age 15 and
Rebecca herself at age 16 was married 3 Jun 1864 to William Luther
Powers.
On
the 1870 census, Rebecca and William were enumerated in the
Springfield township of Lane County with 2 small children: Benjamin
age 4 and Annie age 2. William was listed as a farmer with real
estate valued at $2500 and personal property of $1775.
It
was 2 years later when Rebecca's mother died. Then her father and
many of the family moved north to Washington Territory to newly
formed Whitman County near Colfax. Sometime before 1874 Rebecca and
William also moved to Whitman County. They were in the 1880 census in
Farmington District, now with 4 children, both John age 6 and Albert
age 3 being born in Washington Territory. William's occupation was
shown as general merchandise. The family was still in Whitman County
in the 1889 Washington Territorial Census and William now was raising
stock.
However,
Rebecca and William did not stay in one place. In 1900, along with
their 18 year old son Guy, were in Bernardo Township, San Diego
County, California, with William engaged in farming. But they
returned to Oregon and in 1910 were in Lake County in Silver Lake
Precinct still farming. It is probable that it was Rebecca's husband
William who received a patent for a homestead in Lake County in 1913.
Rebecca
died in Tillamook County Oregon, at the home of a son on 18 Nov 1913,
at age 66. I believe that definitely Rebecca can be included as one
of my "moving" relatives.
