Early Oregon Cousins – James Monroe Bond

Again I am posting a copy from the article previously published in 2011 in Trees From the Grove, the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society periodical. James Monroe Bond was a 1^st cousin of James Howard Bond, my gt-grandfather, so was my 1^st cousin 3 times removed.

Cousin James Monroe Bond was the third son of William and Hannah (Hayes) Bond, born 17 November 1847 in Marion County, Iowa. His oldest brother, Daniel born in 1842, had died sometime before the 1850 census was taken, so Seth age 5 and James age 3 were the two children in the household with their parents in Marion County, Iowa on 10 September 1850. It was the next month when another son, Ebenezer, joined the family.

William’s family, including their three young boys, left Iowa in 1853 with a number of other relatives and traveled the long route over the Oregon Trail heading to the Oregon Territory. James was almost 5 ½ when they left in April. I wonder if James was old enough to realize that his mother was expecting another child. But he certainly would have been aware when on August 24^th the train traveled to Lees encampment in the Blue Mountains and a baby sister, named Emma Augusta, was born. The train “layed by” the next day and continued their travel on the 26^th. By September 14^th they had arrived at Summit Prairie on the slopes of Mt. Hood and it was there that James’ mother Hannah died. A number of years later his cousin Harvey related that Emma was cared for by her Hayes grandparents and the three boys were cared for by William’s brother Solomon and his wife Huldah, who was Hannah’s younger sister.

James’ father William did settle on a Donation Land Claim of 110 acres in Linn County in September 1855. On the 1860 census taken in June, William Bond was listed as a farmer in Linn County, post office Harrisburgh, with three sons: Seth 15, James 13 and Ebenezer 10. Emma was listed on the census with her grandmother Hayes.

Just two years later, 1862, brought a big change to the family when in September William married Talitha (Belknap) Starr, a widow with eight children. It appears that William’s family moved to the Alpine area in Benton County where Talitha and her first husband had their Donation Land Claim. It’s probable that Emma also moved there. But sadly, sometime within the next year, at age 9, Emma died from scarlet fever and was buried in the Simpson Chapel Cemetery, also known as the Alpine Cemetery. William and Talitha had one child together, a daughter, Irene Grace, born in August 1864. But then less than a year later, Talitha again became a widow when William died in May 1865 and he was also buried in Simpson Chapel Cemetery.

Now James was not quite 18 and had lost both parents. After his brother Seth had his 21^st birthday in October of 1866, Seth was appointed by the Benton County Court as guardian of his two younger brother, James and Ebenezer, who were still minors. They each had a one-fourth interest in the land in Linn County left by their father.

But the next month, just before his 19^th birthday, on 11 November 1866, at Simpson Chapel, James married Sarah Starr, the 15 year old daughter of Talitha. Nine months later, 27 August 1867, James and Sarah’s first child, Emma Augusta (named after James’ deceased sister) was born.

It was probably the next year, in 1868 that James and Sarah moved to California. By the 1870 census James and Sarah, with two children, were living in San Joaquin Township, Stanislaus County, California, Crows Landing post office. James was a farmer and his brother Seth, a school teacher, was living next door. Bureau of Land Management records show that James M. Bond purchased 160 acres of government land in Stanislaus County in 1873. A biography published in 1905 stated that they moved farther south, near Lemoore, California, in 1877.

By the 1880 census, James and Sarah and their six children, Emma, William, Ernest, Elmer, Frank and Walter, were living in Lemoore Township, Tulare County, California, along with his brother Ebenezer and his wife, Ebenezer’s brother-in-law and a servant. This area became Kings County in 1893. Both James and Ebenezer were farmers. Seth was also in Tulare County at Visalia, teaching school. The Great Register for Tulare County in 1890 showed James Monroe Bond, age 43, born in Iowa, had registered to vote in Lemoore Precinct on 12 September. Ebenezer registered 17 October.

According to his obituary, James “felt that he was called to minister to the sick.” He studied nursing and then about 1890 he entered the California Eclectic Medical College in San Francisco and graduated in 1893. He practiced a year there and then moved to Hanford, Kings County, California, where he was listed on the 1900 census as a physician and surgeon. Seven of his ten children were living at home: Elmer 26 (also a physician and surgeon) Frank 23, Walter 21, Edith 17, Jessie 15, Charles 11, and Harry 8. Enumerated next to them was James’s oldest son, William 30, a farmer, with his wife and three children.

James ran a sanitarium in Hanford until 1906 (the year of the San Francisco earthquake) when the family moved to Arizona and he opened a sanitarium in the Phoenix area. They were listed there on the 1910 census with James as physician at the Arizona Sanitarium, which was a Seventh Day Adventist institution. Sarah and their married daughter Edith Dillon 28 were nurses and Edith’s husband was listed as a minister for the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Three of the younger of the now eleven children were also in the household: Jessie 25, Harry 19 and Mildred Grace 11. The biography stated about James, “both the doctor and his wife are enthusiastic Seventh Day Adventists and have reared their family in the same belief.”

About 1911 James moved back to California and worked as chaplain and associate physician at the Healdsburg Medical Home in Sonoma County. His youngest son, Harry Cecil, died in 1912 and was buried at Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg. His daughter, Edith (Bond) Dillon died in Arizona in 1913 and was also buried at Oak Mound. When James died 22 March 1914 in Healdsburg, he was buried at Oak Mound Cemetery and all three did not have markers.

Sarah was listed as a widow, occupation practical nurse, living with her daughter Emma Wheeler and doctor son-in-law in Fresno, California, on the 1920 census. Sarah’s obituary stated that she had married her brother-in-law Ebenezer after he became a widower, then she again became a widow when he died. She died 23 May 1936.

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.

  

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

  

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.