45 ULe 3ou`W~jtcfso - Pacific County Historical Society

45 ULe
SINCE 1966
$3 .00
3ou'W~jtcfso
Published Quarterly by the
Pacific County Historical Society
State of Washington
FALL
1997
Volume XXXII
Number 3
.9;a
Me 3ou'wZ,jtef1i
SINCE 1966
A Quarterly Publication of Pacific County Historical Society and Museum
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PUB . No . ISSN-0038-4984
Ruth McCausland and Joan Mann, Co-Editors
Printed by Midway Printery, Long Beach, Washington
Our Cover
Seated : Isaac Whealdon, Mary Ann Grouille Whealdon with granddaughter Lillian Kizer .
Upper right : daughter Sarah Whealdon Kizer. Upper left: probably a sister of Sarah .
-courtesy Rodney K . Williams
Table of Contents
Title
Page
A Partial History of the Whealdon Family in America
Introduction by Rodney K . Williams
3
The Old White Rose by Bon Whealdon
21
Another Land Mark Gone . . . . Chinook Observer, 1902 23
From An Old Quaker Graveyard
24
A Partial History of the
Whealdon Family in America
Introduction by Rodney K . Williams
The following material is an edited copy of what might be considered a "manuscript"
which was found some years ago by my brother, Dr. Forbes Warner Williams, while
going through miscellaneous papers that had belonged to our father, Lewis Daniel
Williams. It is apparent that the papers were compiled from several sources, one being
Isaac Bonnil Whealdon and most likely collated by our grandmother, Eliza Moss
Whealdon. The writings are basically in two parts, the first being a partial history of
the Whealdon family beginning in 1682, the year that Isaac Whealdon I came to this
country, and the second portion containing a collection of items varying from descriptions of our ancestors crossing the plains in 1847, to later years in and around llwaco .
The notes also cover early day events in the local area as well as interesting insights
into the Chinook Indians and their ways of life in the middle of the nineteenth century .
I have taken the prerogative of arranging many of the paragraphs in order to give a
clearer continuity to them . No effort has been made to edit the papers with the exception of making corrections in the spellings or for reasons of syntax .
R. K . W.
The founder of the Whealdon family in America was Isaac Wheeldon I of Llanrwst,
Denbighshire, now Clwyd, Wales . He has been identified as a "glover", and as a
Quaker he purchased a 1/32 share, or 200 acres, from the original 5000-acre parcel
of land in Pennsylvania belonging to John ap John and Dr . Thomas Wynne, who in
turn had purchased their rights from William Penn.
Isaac Wheeldon came to Philadelphia arriving in 1682 aboard the ship Lyon
which was one of twenty three ships arriving that year for Penn's "Welsh Barony"
bearing friends from Ireland, England and Wales . For reasons of clarity this Isaac
Wheeldon is referred to as Isaac I . The name Wheeldon has been changed into
numerous spellings including the more common Weldon, but those who migrated
west through Ohio and Illinois to the Oregon Country have continued to use the
spelling of "Whealdon" .
Isaac I left one son, Joseph, who in turn died in 1771 leaving several children, the
oldest being Isaac II . We know a bit more concerning Isaac II from the War Department records that state "Isac Weldon, not born as Weldon, but Whealdon, enlisted
in Haslet's Delaware Regiment January 18, 1776" . Family papers further state that
"our soldier, though a Quaker and therefore opposed to war in principle, served as
a recruiting officer and arrived at Headquarters during the Battle of Brandywine
(1777), reported for duty and although a very sick man and undoubtedly exhausted,
went onto the battlefield and whether due to his physical condition or from enemy
action, was carried off the field dead" . He left a widow with two young sons, the
younger of whom was Isaac III .
Isaac III grew to manhood in Delaware and married Elizabeth Manlove . In 1803
3
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the young couple, together with various other young families of Quakers, migrated
to Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio . They had nine children among whom was Isaac
IV born in 1809. It is this Isaac that we are particularly concerned with as in time he
and his family reached Ilwaco, Washington, and are buried on what became known
as "Williams Hill" . Isaac IV married Mary Ann Grouille, a young girl living on the
same Pike, in 1831 . The following year this couple moved to Ipava, Illinois, in the
company of other young Quaker families . Isaac and Mary Ann had six children in
Ipava with the remaining four being born in the Oregon and Washington Territories .
The Whealdons sold their Illinois farm in 1846 and in covered wagons journeyed
to St . Joseph, Missouri, where in 1847 they joined a train of `Prairie Schooners"
(forty oxen drawn wagons were in their train) under the command of Captain Vaughn .
It was a six months' journey and the party arrived in the Oregon Territory in November of 1847 . The Whealdons had intended to swing by the way of Whitman's
Mission, but at Fort Hall learned of the Whitman Massacre, so continued on with
the Vaughn Party. Portland at that time consisted of a few small log cabins, a very
small village indeed .
(Note : the following pages concern the trek of the Isaac Whealdon family to the
Oregon Country, May-November, 1847, and were largely written by Elizabeth
"Betsey" Whealdon Mudge and probably partially rewritten by her younger sister,
Eliza Moss Whealdon.)
At one time, while on the prairie, everyone's oxen were growing weary, so Captain Vaughn, whose word was law, ordered the owner of each wagon to discard
every pound of unnecessary cargo . Now we had nought that could be called "excess
baggage" excepting father's little chest of treasured volumes . Father loved books
and that order was a terrible blow. Captain realized it, too, for he looked at father,
winked, and said, "Isaac, out with some of them, but don't Betsey and Sally do
considerable walking along side the wagon?" So whenever a book was dropped
gently over the side, either Sal or I picked it up, hid it in our bosom until there was
a chance to smuggle it back into the wagon chest.
Father called Sarah (Sally, age 11) his "fighting soldier", while I was his "boy" .
Sometimes father was sick for days and had to lie down upon his bed . Then I drove
the oxen (she was 14) . When he was well, Sal and I walked along the prairie, taking
turns carrying little Will (age 3) but we kept rather close to our own wagon .
Once a party of Sioux braves came dashing up on their ponies . However, our scouts
had seen them and our wagons were quickly swung, forming a circle . Our men
were well armed and when the Sioux saw we were prepared for them, they rode
away without any exchange of shots .
Another time, a young Sioux chief rode into the evening camp and as he appeared to be a friendly chap, intent on no mischief, Captain Vaughn permitted him
to look around . His main attraction appeared to be the young ladies of the train,
especially Betsey . Finally, through an interpreter, one of our own men, he informed
father that he wanted Betsey for his squaw ; in exchange, and in accordance with
Sioux custom, he would bring father 14 ponies . Sally, herself a "warrior", was in
for pulling the chief off his horse and giving him a severe trouncing . However,
5
Captain, Father and our men knew that though it seemed only an amusing incident,
extreme caution must be used as we were passing through that region where the
Sioux were hostile - so the "brave" was filled with good white man's food and
given presents, including a lady's veil - which he promptly wrapped around his
head . The interpreter explained to him that while trading for a wife might be a
perfectly good Indian practice, Christian parents did not sell or trade their daughters . The Indian was really a reasonable chap and the explanation plus the food,
presents and Mrs . Feister's veil pacified him, so he gaily rode away .
When we crossed the Rockies, I recall that after we left a narrow defile at the
summit, we descended into the prettiest, greenest mountain meadow . After the
months upon the parched plains, it seemed as though we had entered paradise . We
were all so weary and the oxen and horses were about exhausted . We all, including
our beasts, sank down in the green grass near a creek and rested for hours and
hours . Everyone remarked that it was the most perfect rest of his or her life .
After crossing the Continental Divide and while passing through the Nez Perce
country, one evening, after camp for the night had been established, Father took his
rifle and strolled away from camp thinking to kill a deer. Returning, and at a little
distance from our camp, he came upon an old Indian sitting by a small fire . Father
saw that he was wearing a hat and coat belonging to old man Smith . Father was
horrified by the thought that "he has killed poor Smith and robbed him of his clothing" . Father raised his gun with the intention of killing the Indian, when the realization came that perhaps there might be a mistake . By signs he bade the Indian accompany him into camp, where it was explained to him that the Indian had visited
them earlier in the evening and Smith, seeing that the old fellow was half-sick and
cold, had fed him and given him some clothing . Father felt badly and gave the man
some warm blankets and a packet of food .
As our train of "Prairie Schooners" was nearing Oregon (it may have been near
Fort Hall ; of that I am not positive), Dr . McLoughlin joined our party . Evidently he
was then returning from a trip to the Rocky Mountain Hudson Bay Posts . He journeyed with us several days . I remember at nights he and Father would sit by our
campfire and for hours would discuss philosophy, religion, political questions and
the Oregon Country . He was very affable to all of us, and he and Father became
congenial friends . I recall that one brilliant night, after a long conversation,
McLoughlin said, "Mr . Whealdon, I would like to ask you one rather personal question - in what faith were you reared?" When Father answered, "The strictest branch
of the Religious Society of Friends," (Quakers), McLoughlin remarked, "I knew it ;
I knew it! A most fair and Godly people ." McLoughlin looked through Father's box
of books, picked up his old arithmetic and said, "Mr . Whealdon, treasure all these,
for books and schools will be scarce in Oregon:'
I remember the rough, dangerous Barlow trail, particularly where we crossed
over the mountains . The ground was terribly steep and rocky . At one place the oxen
were taken from the wagons and led separately down the grade . The women and
children went afoot, while the men eased the wagons down with great ropes, snubbed
around the trees . (This was Laurel Hill, just west of Government Camp .)
6
THE WHEALDONS IN THE OREGON TERRITORY, 1847-1859
Shortly before the Whealdons arrived in Clackamas County, Oregon Territory, in
1847, an epidemic of smallpox had carried away hundreds of the Molalla Indians .
The remnant had fled from the scene of visitation . Poor Yelkes wandered from place
to place, but in 1849, he returned to Molalla, half-starved and sick unto death . When
Isaac learned that his Donation Land Claim had been the ancestral home of the
wretched soul, he prepared a comfortable home (cabin) for Yelkes, secured him
medical care and nursed him back to a state of health . He remained with the
Whealdons until his death in 1854 . He was a loyal friend and called the Whealdons
his people : "Yelkes' People."
After our arrival in Oregon, when Elizabeth was 17 years old (1850), she and a
young Englishman fell madly in love with each other. They would have married,
but Father objected because he was "British" and had wealth, but the rest of us liked
him immensely. He was a gentleman, a scholar and a likable chap . Grandfather's
grandfather had died fighting the British (the Battle
of Brandywine, 1777), so
the old gentleman imagined he had an inherent
grudge against everything
British (very poor Quakerism) .
Eliza Moss Whealdon
was so named by pioneer
Sydney Walter Moss of
Oregon City (1854) in
memory of his favorite sister.
Sydney W . Moss was
one of the first settlers in
Oregon . He was an author,
merchant, postmaster, hotel proprietor and played
the flute . He was a warm
friend of the Whealdons,
Grouilles, Manloves and
the two Feister families ;
their friendship beginning
when the group came into
Oregon from Illinois in the
autumn of 1847 .
While Father was on a
Eliza Moss Whealdon at the time of her marriage to Lewis visit to his friend Mr .
D. Williams . 1879.
- J .G . Williams collection Moss, in Oregon City dur7
ing the fifties, Mr . Moss and others told him of the new philosophical religious
movement then sweeping the Eastern states . It seemed that two little sisters, Kate
and Margaret Fox, daughters in a devout Methodist family in New York State, had
worked out some sort of a communication code with what purported to be departed
spirits . Committees of reputable folks, judges, lawyers, doctors and clergymen, devised every manner of test and yet the startling phenomena in the form of raps,
table-tipping, levitation of articles, independent slate-writing and direct voices continued to come through the mediumship of the little Fox girls and others . Father,
being of an investigative mind and very philosophical, thought it worthy of a tryout .
He had Nate Mudge build him a stand-table for that purpose . Adele and brother
Frank were both very psychic . Adele, especially, was able to produce some rather
startling evidence . Frank was equally sensitive, but the circles left him in such a
nervous condition that he would not sit in very often . My beloved brother, Will,
would much rather devote his evenings to reading our few volumes of European
History, and later, to playing upon his sweetened violin that Jim Whitcomb bought
in old Vancouver for him . Mother, when the busy day was done, loved to sit by the
fireside and read her very precious Bible . Mother was a quiet Christian mystic, and
I know her Bible reading and meditations gave her much true joy . I have seen her
look up from her reading and her dear face seemed lighted with a peace and sweet
contentment that literally transfigured her features.
THE WHEALDON FAMILY IN ILWACO,
WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 1859
In 1858, the Captain Johnson Ranch (Donation Land Claim on site of present day
Ilwaco, Washington) was offered for sale by the administrator, Henry Stevens, guardian of the Johnson boys .
Isaac Whealdon and son, Francis, had previously visited the place, so Isaac was
only 12 hours in deciding to purchase the property . The Whealdon family, which,
after the marriage of Elizabeth to Nathan Mudge and Sarah to Jacob Kizer, consisted of William, Francis, Adele and Eliza, came down the Columbia River upon a
large scow which also carried their household goods, farm implements, horses,
wagons and the faithful cow, "Old Mott" .
Poor "Old Mott" was named for the famous Quaker preacher, Lucretia Mott, and
what a history this old cow had! Raised upon Grandfather's Ipava, Illinois, farm,
when the family decided to go to Oregon in the spring of 1847, "Old Mott" was tied
to the back of Granddad's ox-drawn Prairie Schooner . Before the six-month trek
was ended, one of the oxen sickened and the cow was yoked in with the well beast .
The Whealdons had her 12 years in Oregon, but shortly after their arrival in Ilwaco,
she mired in a nearby ravine and the bears made short work of the faithful thing .
(The following notes concern Captain James Johnson as related by Mrs . John
Hunter, William David Whealdon and Eliza Moss Whealdon .)
8
Mrs . Hunter:
Captain James Johnson had
living with him an elderly
Swedish carpenter who helped
build the new home (on "The
Hill" in Ilwaco) . My parents
sent my brother and me up to
Johnsons' after some wooden
bowls, spoons, knives and forks
they had purchased from the
Captain . Mrs . Johnson spent
most of her time in a
cabin-house which had been
built for her. It was a few steps
back of the new house .
Captain Johnson was a shrewd
man in his business dealings,
but he was also a thoughtful and
generous neighbor. After he had
brought out our purchases, he
gave us our greatly needed pots
and pans, saying, "I know your
mother is scarce - on these Francis Marion Whealdon, third son of Isaac and Mary
things ." He had a large box of Ann Whealdon . Born in 1847, Oregon territory, died
1884 .
-courtesy Dorothy Williams
hard candies . I recall the box
was stamped in large letters "SAN FRANCISCO'S SWEETEST' . Brother and I
kept eyeing the open box of candy, and Johnson must have seen the longing in our
eyes, for he said, "I know you children like candy" . Whereupon, he filled an Indian
basket in addition to stuffing our little pockets. That was a rare treat for us .
When we started back down the trail, we heard the old Swede (who had just
returned from Astoria) yelling as loudly as he could, "Yon-son, Yon-son, Stevens
has made treaty with the Rocky Mt . Indians!" That, I believe, was in 1855 .
William David Whealdon :
Captain Johnson's Gold, reported to be in $50 .00 gold slugs, in all $20,000 .00,
was purportedly hidden somewhere upon the "Old Hill" . Johnson, a shrewd
money-making Scot, earned his cash selling to various customers ; also, as bar pilot,
he had been the first to pillage several wrecked ships . Then, too, legend has it that
he had some wealth when he came to the region .
A year prior to his drowning off Scarborough Head (Fort Columbia), he and a
trusted neighbor, Mr. Holman, weighed and estimated his gold . At that time, the
money was in tough buckskin bags or pouches securely tied with leather strings .
Johnson was only a short time in making the trip from the hiding place or places
back to the house and was seen coming from a near-by gully . No doubt Mr. Johnson
secreted his money in other spots as soon as the neighbor had departed .
9
Eliza M . Whealdon :
The Captain's eldest son, George, then perhaps 9 or 10 years old, slyly followed
his father one day and saw where he hid the money . Then he had the very natural
desire to take some of the money and hide it for himself, but he did not realize that
his father kept a very careful tally of his hoard and soon discovered that his cache
had been meddled with . He taxed George with the theft and compelled him to return the wealth .
Regarding Captain Johnson's untimely death, Mrs. Mary Hawks, an Indian
house-girl working for the Duscheny family at time when their home was on
Scarborough Head, often related the story to William Whealdon and his beloved
sisters, Adele Whealdon Whitcomb and Eliza Moss Whealdon Williams .
"I was busy at the front of the house and glancing out, I saw two men (Johnson
and his Indian helper) returning with a keg of liquor from Astoria . They were paddling a large canoe, which held in its middle the whiskey. A bit later I again looked
and the craft was still making good head-way . Shortly afterward, nothing of the
canoe, paddlers or cargo could be seen ." Captain Johnson's wife and two sons,
George and James, moved to her people on Shoalwater (Willapa) Bay .
There is a story to the effect that some white "river rats" from up Cathlamet way
visited Mrs . Johnson immediately after Johnson's death and brutally tortured the
poor woman in an unsuccessful attempt to make her tell where the gold was hidden .
William D . Whealdon's first view of the Ilwaco Flat in 1859 was of a narrow
strip of land stretching from the shore of Baker's Bay to the foot of the Old Hill . To
the East was "Kaw-wa-wak Sma-nash" (Yellow Bluff) . The ground itself was covered with a tangled growth of alders, willows and buck-brush . Many drift logs had
been left high and dry by some unusually high tide of the long ago . Jim Elwahko
said that in the days of his father, old Chief Kaloye, the tides came in and covered
the small swamp back of the Robinson property.
There was a rough road from the water's edge to Captain Johnson's deserted
home, situated in a natural clearing of some three acres at the top of the hill .
In a small grove of trees, near what we later called "Dr. Paul's property" was a
Chinook Indian Tree Cemetery . (Mem-a-loose Shwalpeh .) In 1859 there were still
some 15 mutilated canoes, containing the bodies of their former owners, lashed to
the spruce branches. There were also pieces of old canoes, skulls and bones scattered upon the ground. In 1863 Isaac and William Whealdon built a large box into
which they placed all the skeleton remains and interred it in a secret place .
The Johnson House, when the Whealdons moved in, was a spacious dwelling of
seven rooms . The lumber was white pine from Maine and had been shipped around
the Horn to San Francisco, then to Astoria in '48 and `49 . It was tongue and groove
lumber, with a natural shiny finish. Some of the window panes had been removed,
but these were quickly replaced with windows from deserted Pacific City .
Father showed me where Johnson and his crew of Indians had felled and hewed
the massive timbers for the framework of his commodious house. The trees were
spruce and had been felled upon the slope northeast of the house that we used to
call "The Devil's Slide" . Father had discovered the spot in 1859, when the evidences of the felling and hewing were fairly fresh .
10
Regarding the hewing of logs and timbers and "the old broad axe", I was amused
over a legend related to me once while visiting in Ilwaco, "that a Whealdon or a
Williams now has in his possession the old broad axe that Captain James Johnson
had brought from Scotland in the early 1800s and which he had used in hewing the
timbers for his house ." That the story may not become prevalent with time, I must
dispel the pretty myth by substituting the truth . "The broad axe", now a treasured
heirloom of William Whealdon, was made for Isaac Whealdon by Thomas Ball, a
blacksmith in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1803 . In 1804 Isaac carried it
by horseback to Ohio where it was used to hew logs for the Quaker village of
Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio . In 1831 Isaac's son (Isaac IV of Ilwaco) took it to
Fulton County, Illinois, where it was used in establishing Ipava . The Whealdons
carried it to Oregon in 1847 and to Ilwaco in 1859 . Thomas Ball, the blacksmith,
had soldiered with Isaac's father during the Revolutionary War.
I (Eliza Moss Whealdon) was so small that I have only one recollection of moving into the new home on the hill and none at all of our departure from the old one .
As we entered the front door of the house, we faced a stairway, and lying at the foot
of the stairs was a small Bible, wide open, as though it had been thrown there . In
those days books were valuable and cared for, and in my small mind I was shocked
to see a precious book, any book, on the floor like that!
This house was the finest my mother had ever lived in . The bricks in the old
fireplace were acquired by Grandfather, Dad and Uncle Frank from the old boiler
furnace in the saw mill at Pacific City. The bricks, therefore, came from the East
Coast, around Cape Horn, years before Johnson erected the house .
Frank, 15, Adela, 12, myself (Eliza, or "Lizy" as they called me) 9, (1863) had
great battles . The older ones would start them with a dispute, follow up speedily
with blows, hair pulling and scratches, and I would transfer my aid from one to the
other as necessity required, but when my sister was getting decidedly the worst of
the fracas, I would throw all my reserve forces on her side and we sometimes won
out. We were rather in awe of Father's stern look and quiet authority, and sometimes he would give us a scolding that would make us quit, but we were never afraid
of Mother.
She was always busy, it seemed to me, cooking in the big heavy iron kettles,
which were hung on a "crane" in the big brick fireplace which we used when we
did not need a fire in the cook stove . Always we had "hired" men and nearly always
some poor down-and-out fellow who was glad to chop wood and hoe in the garden
for food, shelter and laundry. A plunger (small sloop) made weekly trips from Astoria
to Pacific City and Ilwaco, then called Whealdon's Ranch, afterward, Unity, and
then Ilwaco .
There was a small orchard back of the house, but the trees were almost hidden in
the thick growth of alder that had sprung up . Father and Will were not long in
clearing away the underbrush and pruning the fruit trees . (One of these trees, an
apple, stood and bore fruit until 1977, some 126 years or so after planting .) Upon
the slope, south of the house, we planted a large patch of strawberries, and we had
a real market for them among the soldiers stationed at Fort Canby. Will, whom
Elwahko Jim had taught to paddle true Chinook style, would put the berries in his
11
canoe and cross the bay to the Fort. When Will was busy hauling freight, the hired
man would deliver the berries . Elwahko taught Will and Frank the Chinook way of
"groping for sturgeon" in Baker's Bay . They would paddle out in their canoes, each
with a long pole with a spear-hook on the lower end . With these poles, they would
prod and feel along the bottom of the bay until they found a sturgeon, which were
plentiful in those days, feeding in the muck. Then, with a quick upward jerk, they
had their sturgeon impaled upon their hooks. Only a Chinook Indian or a white man
trained by an Indian knew how to bring a hooked sturgeon to the surface, kill it with
a stone axe and then get it into a canoe without upsetting the craft .
We soon had 50 or 60 head of cattle and 8 or 9 horses . Brother Will and Father
owned and operated the first passenger and freight wagons between Oysterville and
Baker's Bay and also carried the mail . Father conducted the Post Office called Unity
Post Office in our home . Much of the freight consisted of Shoal Water Bay Oysters,
which were hauled from Oysterville to Baker's Bay, from where the sloop M .A.
Clinton, captained by Bernie Stevens, took them across the Columbia to Astoria .
From there they were shipped to Portland and San Francisco .
Pioneer children were taught at home by their parents. Oysterville in 1868 had a
school of perhaps 30 pupils ranging in age from 6 to 18 . The teacher was William
Bryon Daniels, who was a very fine young man who afterward became a lawyer
and returned no more to our midst . I do not believe there was ever a more orderly
school than the one he conducted, for each pupil seemed determined to learn as
much as possible in the few months time that the school was in session . The following year Ilwaco had a school and the subsequent teachers were the following :
Miss Mary L . Kerns 1869 ; D .J. May 1870 ; W.D. Whealdon 1871 ; J .H. Whealdon
1872 ; Miss Emma Whealdon 1873 and 1874 ; William Glendys 1875 ; Miss E .
Whealdon 1876; No School 1877 ; Miss Clara Munson 1878 ; Mrs. R . White 1879
and 1880; Mrs. A .E . Trullinger 1881 ; Miss K.O. Davidson 1882 ; Miss Minnie A .
Brodee 1883 ; D.B . English 1884 ; J .B . Goodin 1885 ; Miss Maggie Brown 1886;
Miss R. Brown 1887 ; J.H. Jackson 1888 ; D.B . English 1889; J.H. Jackson 1890
and 1891 ; S.F. Lockwood 1892 ; O . Ella Sherman 1893 ; O.H . Belknap 1894.
My mother's people (Grouilles) were French Huguenots and in 1798 fled that
country at the time of the French Revolution . There were two brothers and a boy
who afterward became the father of my mother . She was born March 21, 1814 .
Mother (Mary Ann Grouille) was inclined to be religious and as life became
easier, and having more leisure for herself, she read a great deal, including papers,
magazines, books, but chiefly the Bible. She was full of hospitality and made anyone who came to the house welcome to food and shelter, and she would go to
anyone who was sick and needed her care .
I was taught to read at Mother's knee. Often when we had gathered around the
old fireplace in the evenings, Mother would conduct a spelling school, giving out
the words from Webster's Dictionary. In addition to our own small library, Gilbert
Reynolds, a lawyer from New York, came out to Washington Territory bringing a
leather-covered trunk full of valuable books. He left them with us . Among the books
was a fine volume of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, which I discovered when
about nine years old . Of course, at that age all the characters were real to me, as
12
Eliza Moss Whealdon Williams.
-courtesy Dorothy Williams
well they might be, for what could be more life-like than those people who lived,
rejoiced, chaffed one another, mourned, toiled, died, leaving their all for grasping
hands to waste . Another wonderful book was Salathial by the Rev. George Croly,
now never seen in any library, the story of the man who refused Jesus' pleas to rest
upon his doorstep as he was bearing his cross to Calvary's Mount .
The New York Tribune brought the eastern news to us . My sister, Adela, and I
lay in our trundle bed (during the day the old fashioned trundle bed was pushed
under Mother's "four-poster" which had a valance to cover its legs) and listened to
Gilbert Reynolds read the latest news of the contending armies of the North and
South. We children would look at our parents' serious faces and wonder why they
seemed troubled over a distant war . Our weekly paper was the connecting link
between the war-torn East and the wild, sparsely settled West .
In 1865, Francis Whealdon made a trip back to the old home in Clackamas County,
Oregon . While there, he found a tiny slip of a mountain ash tree, which he brought
13
back and presented to his mother, Mary Ann Whealdon, who planted and cared for
it-until it grew to be a lovely tree, the parent of many seedlings now growing in the
vicinity .
The two so-called "Indian Wells" along the old road to Black Lake (which) have
been referred to as wells or springs dug by the ancient Indians, were dug by William
D. Whealdon early in the '70s . Object: he despised the taste of Black Lake water
and was seeking drinking water that was pleasant to his taste .
Old Indian Toke (for whom Toke's Point, Washington, was named) frequently
made his home upon the shores of Baker's Bay. The Whealdons described him as a
"likable, intelligent chap but with an inclination to occasionally steal articles such
as tools for which he had no use whatever ." Grandfather, who was an honest old
Quaker, became greatly annoyed when he at last caught Toke carrying away a tool .
In his righteous anger he soundly berated the old Indian in what he supposed was
excellent jargon. What he intended to say was "Nika is-kem try-as stick, pee beat,
mike, Toke!" What he really said, much to the amusement of both my father and
Toke was, "I'll is-kem greata biga club and beat old Toke like hell!"
Adela, like her father, had a fine intellect, and was kind to everyone and very
humorous . Altogether, we enjoyed a lovely pioneer home-life . Father was always
our "tower of strength" in times of trouble . He would patiently analyze our perplexities and explain until what had seemed like dark mountains had melted quite
away. After the rest of us had married and flown the coop, Will put aside his own
plans and remained for years that he might care for Father and Mother . When I
think of Will's life-long unselfishness, I want to cry ; and, of course, that is just what
Will didn't want any of us ever to do on his account . Poor Will, I never before had
seen such depths of controlled sorrow as he experienced when Adela left us . Our
mother, who alone knew his real need to be alone for a while, suggested that he fill
his pack-sack with food, take his rifle and go into the woods . He was gone several
days, and then returned home, his usual poised self .
AREA HISTORY
The first celebration of the Fourth of July in the area was held in 1867 by the
Whealdon, Easterbrook and Briscoe families, and several men whose names cannot
be recalled . We met at the Ocean Beach, near "The Cave" where the south boundary
of Seaview is now. We had with us all the good things our pioneer mothers well
knew how to prepare for a picnic. The Declaration of Independence was read, followed by a short oration given by Judge Briscoe . Everybody enjoyed a good social
time, especially the women, who got together so seldom .
On the Ocean Beaches 83 Years Ago
The writer once witnessed a curious sight on the weather beach . Two lines of
sea-birds flew as far as the eye could see, one column flying toward the North, the
other but a short distance from the first, flying South with apparently no end to them
in either direction . Some thought it might be a vast army of birds circling around,
14
teaching the young in an endurance flight .
In those days many whales were seen, far out beyond the breakers, and occasionally one would be washed up on the beach . Our Indians called a whale "E-co-la"
and sometimes another very old name "Kwa-dis" .
Relics from a Russian Mission Ship
When Will Whealdon was driving the freight wagon between Oysterville and
Ilwaco, at a certain portion of the beach, he occasionally picked up strange objects
that the tide had washed in from the ocean's bottom . Russian icons, crosses and
large pieces of beeswax . Once, in the same region, he found a large barrel- shaped
object, deeply encrusted with barnacles . He and two men passengers took an axe
and knocked off the barnacles and discovered they had a keg of something liquid .
Using a gimlet Will always kept among his wagon tools, they drilled a hole in one
end and poured out a pail full of what proved to be the very best of aged sacramental wine . They soon found that a very little of it had a great power and it was with
difficulty that they plugged the hole and got the keg back into the freight wagon .
For years Will had a piece of the beeswax and one of the tarnished crosses around
his home . In later life we read where in the early days a ship loaded with supplies
for the Russian Missions in Alaska had gone down off our stretch of beach . Whether
the wine, crosses and beeswax were from the Russian vessel, no one knows .
Negro Jim, Gentleman
When Ilwaco town was very young, there drifted to the village a Negro, "Jim" by
name. A kinder soul never lived . That characteristic, coupled with his good nature
and temperate, industrious habits, soon endeared him to the settlers and their children .
Once, while out in a boat with a young white man and his wife at the mouth of
the Wallicut, a sudden storm sweeping in from sea capsized their little craft . The
three clung to the bottom of the boat, Jim cheering and encouraging the young
couple all the while . Finally someone on the shore did discover their plight and
came out after them . However, the rescue boat could only take two of the unfortunate ones. Jim, though numb from the cold water and realizing that the end was
near, without hesitation solved the question by insisting that the man and wife be
taken first and that he was all right until another trip . Before they had reached
shore, poor Jim had disappeared beneath the water . The entire community assembled
to pay a tribute of respect when the body was buried in the old Whealdon Cemetery
near the present city reservoir . I do not know whether the body was removed to the
new cemetery when excavations were made for the reservoir, or whether it stil
occupies a neglected grave upon Whealdon's Hill .
Sand Island and Baker's Bay
I will describe Sand Island as I first took note of it when I was a child . The islanc
15
then was merely a straight, flat sand spit, probably several miles long and many
miles south of its present location in Baker's Bay . At that time, and for many years
later, there was a fine deep channel north of the island, and one on the south side,
which was not used much because of its rougher current, due to the heavy breakers
on the bar, before the south jetty was built .
In those days, Baker's Bay lay like a great inland lake, several miles wide and
perhaps ten miles eastward to where it received the waters of the mighty Columbia
River.
Some of our harbor and coast surveyors claim that this original Sand Island was
washed completely away and that Chinook Spit moved down westward and formed
the present Sand Island, north of the location of the original island, but I am convinced they are mistaken, as the island has been shifting northward, thereby filling
the north channel where the steamers and beautiful barques and brigs used to pass
up and down .
In my childhood, our great bay was not marred by fish traps and aside from the
weekly plunger that brought mail and supplies from Astoria to "Pacific City", as
the north shore Post Office was called, nothing plied the waters but Indian canoes .
Then the bay was truly beautiful and as the island lay south and east of its present
location, the north channel led more directly out to sea and occasionally the pelicans, gulls and seaducks would come in by thousands with floodtide, following
schools of fish, and would remain until the tide ebbed, screaming, splashing and
catching fish .
The Edmonds Family
The Hunter place on the Wallicut River, which in later years has been owned by
Charles Funk, was pioneered by John Edmonds Pickernell, who was known to the
early settlers as John Edmonds . When the Isaac Whealdon family moved from the
Willamette Valley to Pacific County in 1859, the Edmonds farm was the first place
where they landed . Mr. Edmonds was a man of good character His wife was a fine
looking Indian woman and some of the children were grown . The oldest daughter,
the wife of Samuel Sweeney, had a farm about three miles from the Edmonds place
at that time .
As the Edmonmds children grew up and married, each one was given land on
which to build a home, so in later years there was quite a little settlement near the
home of the parents . One of the sons-in-law owned what was probably the first
steamboat to ply the waters of this vicinity . Another son-in-law, Charles Green, is
said to have been the first sheriff of Pacific County . John Edmonds, Jr., was a
first-class shot with a rifle . After the discovery of California gold in 1849, money
became more plentiful among the pioneers, although they still had to work, making
new homes . As new neighbors drifted in, Mr. Edmonds proved himself kind and
helpful .
Hawkins Family
After the death of his wife Mary, Francis Marion Whealdon sold his comfortable
16
home on the Sand Ridge to the Hawkins family. The day Mr. Hawkins shot and
killed himself, Father was supervising some road work near the place . Mrs . Hawkins
sent Bob, a good-sized boy then, to tell Father that the old man had committed
suicide. Immediately Dad went to the house, where the distracted mother and children were carrying on in wild fashion . Seeing that some level-headed woman must
take charge of affairs, he went after his daughter Sarah, then visiting her parents . He
said, "Sally, get ready and come with me down to the Hawkins' place, for the old
man has killed himself . Some woman with horse sense has to straighten things out ."
Chinook Indians
From 1800 to 1867, the Chinook Tribe numbered some 600 souls . Their home
was southwestern Washington Territory, particularly the region from the mouth of
the Columbia River north to and including Shoal Water Bay . Elwahko was born in
1814 in his father's (Kaloye's) lodge, Wallihut (Wallicut) Flat . Under Comcomly,
Kaloye was assistant head-man over all the north side Chinookan People until about
the year 1830.
He was apparently born during the Revolutionary War period . Kaloye had been
successful in uniting the Chinooks and the kindred tribe of Clatsops, who dwelt
upon the south bank of the Columbia River, in mutual defense against the piratical
raids of the Puget Sound Indians . These Indians frequently came swooping down
upon their southern neighbors in their large, sea-going canoes, in search of plunder
and slaves . Slavery, on a small scale, was common among the West Coast tribes
long before the Christian colonists of the Atlantic seaboard had entered the game
upon a commercial basis . In most cases, the Indian captive was more fortunate than
the Negro, for when the Indian slave had finished the task of catching salmon, sturgeon, digging clams, edible roots and picking berries, he or she had many days of
leisurely feasting .
Quite contrary to the commonly accepted idea that all coast Indians were short
and squatty of stature as a result of generations of canoe paddling, the Chinooks
were tall, well-proportioned people and, according to first-hand knowledge, they
had quick, keen intellects . They were alert to the natural phenomena around them
and searched for underlying reasons . They had a lively sense of humor . They took
great pride in their honesty and in their code of ethics . They were courteous to
visitors and tender with their children .
The older Chinooks had a legend that their ancestors came in boats from a "land
in the ocean" or "Illahee copa Wecoma" ; they were called "Tsinuks" or strangers,
by the other Indians .
Even today, we hear the ancient ones among the Northwestern Indian tribes making occasional allusions to the Old Tsinuks, to their past glories and to their peculiar
beliefs and practices. Who were these people whose influence was so vital, that
seventy years after their passing as a tribe, fragments of their purely Oriental philosophy are yet found among the older Pacific Slope Indians? Towns, a lofty mountain pass, a kindly wind, and salmon have all been named for them . Their beautiful
tongue, originally consisting of long, majestic, musically toned words, has tinged
17
the dialects of other West Coast Indians and provided a base for the fur-traders'
Esperanto, the Chinook Jargon .
Elwahko said that during the earlier life of his father, two boats containing strange
men --neither whites nor true Indians -- were wrecked upon North Beach. Eventually they disappeared . Whether they were killed or went inland, Elwahko did not
know. He corroborated his story so far as he was able by taking several of our
pioneer settlers to a shifting sand dune, which only partly concealed the hull of a
strangely constructed boat . They hacked into some of the timbers and found them
to be of an extremely hard wood, entirely unfamiliar to all of them .
A number of our early white settlers were convinced that the mouth of the Columbia had often been visited by Oriental seamen, who had been swept off their
course by gales and ocean currents .
Elwahko used to converse with his white friends on the religious concepts of his
people . At the change, called death, he said the spirit departed in a spirit canoe to
Illahee-copa-Wecoma. There it dwelt while learning new lessons . When the birth of
a child in the old home circle provided an opening, the spirit returned to be reincarnated among its own people . (The story is told that Toke, a Chinook, had never
liked old Yammens and his wife . He stoutly maintained that they were hated Puget
Sound Indians, who somehow had become entangled in the rebirth plan and had
been reborn as Tsinuks .)
Their Supreme Power was an all-powerful beneficent influence, permeating both
the visible and invisible phases of creation ; and expressing itself in growth of vegetation, in winds, tides, movement of the heavenly bodies, birth and death . They
had no concept of a region of eternal punishment in the after-life, and were disturbed when such an idea was presented by an early Christian teacher . One remarked, "Maybe the white Sa-ha-lee `(God) would so torture his children, but our
Sa-ha-lee will not abuse either his white or Indian children" .
They also had legends regarding a mighty Spirit-Teacher who came out of
Illahee-copa-Wecoma to dwell among their ancestors in order to teach them the
right way of living. Later these really beautiful teachings degenerated into the Tolapus
mysteries and rites known to all the Northwestern tribes .
Their code of ethics was a lofty one . When the first missionary came through to
teach, old Turn arose and explained that the visitor might as well save his words, as
he and his people had always known and practiced a code of behavior similar to the
new teachings .
The cruel habit of skull-flattening, erroneously attributed to the Salish, which
resulted in the name "Flathead", was practiced by the Chinookan folks. It was considered a mark of distinction and only infants of the head families were subjected to
the process . An Indian family would attempt to flatten the baby's full, round forehead by tying a board across it and weighting it down with a small bag of sand .
After patiently continuing this treatment for some time, with no flattening results,
the board and weight were removed, and the little forehead allowed to develop as
nature intended. It and the practice of hideously tattooing the features were gradually abandoned.
In 1859, Elwahko lamented that the traders with their supplies were causing the
18
Indians to forget the ancient happier ways, crafts and pursuits . "The children are
learning to drink," he remarked, "to gamble, to cheat and lie . Soon they will be like
the Astoria white traders ."
The fiery whiskey of the bad white men, who went among them, made them
lower than their ignorance before, but gradually many of the younger ones rose up
above their parents' degradation . The red men had no regard for women's rights, as
about all the work of every kind was done by the squaws, with ill treatment thrown
in for good measure if their braves could get fire water .
At this time, the old women were still happy in making mats, skirts and baskets .
They employed the strong, pliable fibers from the inner cedar bark in their weavings .
The mats and baskets were artistic in design and coloring . The young ladies were
quite content in obtaining dress materials from the traders .
Along the lakes and marshy jungles grew reeds and coarse, wide bladed grasses,
from which the Chinooks made lovely mats and baskets . An extra nice lodge would
be lined with matting and a place reserved for a fire in the middle of the sandy floor
space . The door to the lodge was made of pieces of planks or hewn out of cedar
trees .
Of cedar, the Chinooks made beautiful canoes, many of them 30 feet in length .
They were very safe in any kind of weather . Often the prow of the canoe was ornamented with small, strong white shells, which came from regions farther north .
Nothing more graceful and picturesque could be seen, and in the experienced hands
of our Indians, they were as safe as any water craft could be .
ON WHEALDON HILL : Eve of July 16,1860
Nearby, in a sequestered vale is an old camp-ground with an abundance of fuel
and fine drinking water . To this spot our Indians have come . Now the erstwhile
lonely glen has awakened to the activities of huckleberry pickers, bark basket making, the play and laughter of the children and the barking of Indian dogs . Pine
squirrels and chipmunks scold and berate their annual intruders and the timid bunnies scurry to refuge among the heaps of moss-covered logs . Over old Yellow Bluff
a pair of eagles lazily float as though keeping watch over Baker's Bay .
When evening silence broods like a gentle spirit o'er a still and pulseless world,
the old Chinooks, wrapped in heavy mantles of age-old fancies and memories sit by
gleaming campfires . Finally stirred to speech by the owl's hoot from the dead spruce
tree, the aged men again relate the exploits and glories of the tribe . For a little
while, the ancient past, with its powers of shamans, the half-poetical mythology of
the race, elk hunts, canoe raids to other tribes and wars holds full sway .
On yon fern covered mound, where the lone, graceful chittim gently shakes its
leafy robe as though tremulous from deep inner joy, again the past is touched, for to
this knoll came the Chinook youth of not long ago . Here to fast and pray to the
unseen spirit of creation for a revealing of his spirit-helper, the guardian in hand,
the protector in battle and the healer in sickness . "Oh splendid, primitive folk, if
only thee can withstand the ravages of pale-face civilization with its destructive
gods!"
19
Indian Paradise
The ocean and Baker's Bay teemed with every kind of fish from salmon and
sturgeon to clams and crabs, while a few miles away the shores of Shoalwater Bay
were covered with native oysters . Deer, elk and bear were plentiful . Every open
sunny spot in the woods was overfull of delicious berries - yellow salmon berries,
salals, huckleberries, wild blackberries, - which the squaws, somehow, preserved in
their watertight baskets .
At one time, there have been four abiding places for Indians in this part of Pacific
County : Bruceport, Oysterville and the present sites of llwaco and Chinook .
In the spring, the Shoalwater Bay Indians would load their canoes with mats, baskets, babies, dogs, cats and food and paddle up Tahlilt (now Tarlet) Slough to the
south end of Johnson's Lake (Black Lake). There have been doubts about the Indians using the old trail-road from the head of Johnson's Lake up through the timber
to the Whealdons' house and then straight down the old hill to the shore of Baker's
Bay. They were still making use of that route long after the Whealdons came in
1859 .
It was an exciting picture for us children in those lonely days to see the men and
their squaws drawing their canoes over our fields down to the Bay . Often, after a
heavy, washing rain, my brothers and I would find Hudson Bay trading beads, old
musket balls and occasionally arrowheads that the Indians had dropped as they
made their portage of canoes and other belongings from the lake over this hill to
Ilwaco Beach .
At the beach they generally camped over night for a thorough rest before going
on to Chinook Beach above Scarborough Head, where Fort Columbia now stands .
Here they would sojourn for the summer, catching and smoking salmon and sturgeon and picking and drying many kinds of berries . In the fall they would return to
Shoalwater Bay to cull and pick oysters for the oyster men .
Kaloye's son was Elwahko (Elwahko Jim, Jim Ilwaco) . Elwahko's wife, daughter of a chief, was Jane, of whom Elwahko was very proud, mostly because she was
of royal blood and because she brought him several slaves, of whom the youngest
was dear little Dolly. Dolly was very kind to my sister and me, bringing us berries
and would do anything for us . Frequently, Dolly took me berrying with her . Once,
when it rained, she put me upon a mossy log and drew the berry bushes together an impromptu umbrella.
Later Dolly was the mother of a fat, pretty, brown baby who could not go to sleep
at night without first having a cold bath and then being wrapped tight and straight in
a shawl from neck to toes . Dolly was an excellent swimmer and seemed to be as
much at home in the water as upon the land . Frequently she would delight her baby
by holding it on her back with one hand and paddling with the other through the
surf.
Dear Dolly, I hope to meet her again, poor little slave girl, so good and honest,
and when whiskey was plentiful in Elwahko's lodge, so abused . When Elwahko
drank the white man's fire water, he generally beat Dolly cruelly and then she would
come to Grandmother Whealdon for protection and a place to sleep . Mrs . Eliza
20
Whealdon Williams wrote : "Later, three other Indian families built lodges where
Ilwaco now stands - they were all splendid neighbors to us, never, with the exception of poor old Toke, molesting any of our property . They frequently brought us
clams, salmon, sturgeon and berries and Mother always gave them coffee, sugar,
flour and the like."
The Stick-Marriage Dance Rite
Before the advent of the Catholic Fathers, who discouraged the ancient way in
order to firmly establish the Christian Sacrament of Marriage, the young brave
would slyly woo the maiden of his choice, as though the lovemaking was not meeting with the approval of the respective parents, who, in most cases, were well aware
of the courting .
When the clandestine meeting reached the stage where those concerned wished
to announce their matrimonial intentions to the tribal group, a marriage dance was
held . The elders, which included the shamans, and the young children formed the
outer circle. Then there was the second circle composed of the single braves . The
virgin maidens formed the inner circle with always two tom-tom beaters and their
instruments in the center.
The girls slowly danced around their circle, Whenever the young brave found
opportunity, he would step forward and place a piece of wood upon the left shoulder of his lady-love . If the damsel was also serious in her intentions, she would
permit the wood to remain ; and that was the sign that she, then and there, became
his squaw. Should the dusky maid shake or knock the stick from her shoulder, that
particular suitor was thereupon eliminated .
The Indians received us graciously and always treated us in an honorable fashion . The reason, I honestly believe, was due to their treatment by the Holmans who
had moved away to Portland before we came . The Holmans were very kind to the
Indians and tried to teach Jane, Elwahko's wife, as well as the Indian slaves, the
little niceties of life. She was the kindest of women and deeply religious .
The Captain Johnson Ranch was soon known as the "Whealdon Ranch", although
Elwahko always referred to the place as "Elwahko's Ranch" . Father, with his compassionate sense of Quaker justice and fair dealings with all men, was truly pleased
when Elwahko alluded to the property as his .
O
The Old White Rose
(Excerpt from a letter from Bon Whealdon, Ronan, Montana, to his sister, December 23, 1945 . Copied from the State Library Files of Washington)
My Dear Sister Beth :
.. . It will . be forty-five years in January since we sold out and moved to Oregon, and
21
I can see the old house (in Naselle), the river, meadows and creeks as clearly as
though only yesterday.
... The old house was a large, one-story affair --a main building of four bed-rooms
and a big living room with a fine old fire-place . Then there was an ell, which consisted of a dining room, kitchen, and another bed-room. With the exception of the
doors and windows, this ell was completely covered with a climbing white rose-bush,
which our little Mother had started from a root Uncle Francis had brought from the
parentbush on Whealdon Hill at Ilwaco .
What a history that white rose has! Originally it grew at the Whealdon home in
Colonial Kent County, Delaware . When our great-grandpap, Isaac Whealdon, married Quakeress Elizabeth Manlove in 1803, they carried a root of the bush to the
new home at Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio . When their son, Isaac, married Mary
Ann Grouille in 1831, they carried a root to Ipava, Fulton County, Illinois . Then in
1847, our people carried a live root in a pot across the plains to their Donation Land
Claim in Clackamas County, Oregon ; and (from) there, again, to Ilwaco in 1859 . I
often wonder if both the Ilwaco and Naselle bushes are completely choked out?
0
Mary Ann Grouille Whealdon at 85 in 1902.
22
-courtesy Dorothy Williams
From THE CHINOOK OBSERVER, 1902 :
Another Land Mark Gone
Grandma Whealdon Laid to Rest in the Whealdon Cemetery
Mary Grouille Whealdon, mother of Mrs . N. Mudge, Mrs. S .A. Kaiser, Mrs.
L.D. Williams and William Whealdon, all residents, property owners and pioneers
of Pacific county and among the first settlers of Ilwaco, celebrated her eighty-eighth
anniversary in Ilwaco at the home of her daughter, Mrs . N . Mudge, on Friday, March
21, 1902 and as a result from injuries received last week Thursday died Sunday
evening. She was taking her usual exercise on the lawn, and in some unknown
manner she fell and sustained a fractured hip . Her advanced age would not admit of
the fracture being reduced and only temporary medical assistance and relief could
be administered . The funeral services were conducted from the old home on the
hill,--an important and picturesque land mark -under the supervision of Rev . A .
McKenzie, of the Ilwaco Presbyterian Church . The interment was made in the
Whealdon cemetery, which is located a short distance on the hill from the old
Whealdon ranch . This secluded spot is perhaps the most beautiful spot in Pacific
county. The services were largely attended by the pioneer residents of the peninsula, and at the grave were very impressive .
Dearest of earth in thy grave we laid thee,
Marking with love thy resting place :
Lonely the way to our home we wended
Praying to God for trust and grace :
Still we know that thou are guiding,
Upward to the realms to be,
Past the grave, its pall abiding,
To our home with God and thee .
J.W.S .
Deceased was born in Freeport, Harrison county, Ohio, March 21, 1814 . Her
parents were Quakers . She was married to Isaac Whealdon in December, 1831 and
removed from Ohio to Illinois in 1836 . Thence the journey was made across the
plains to Oregon, the first settlement being made at Oregon City . Deceased with her
family then decided to push farther west and in 1859 landed in Ilwaco. Here they
settled on what is now known as the Whealdon estate, it being a donation claim
originally, their residence was the only one here, at the terminus of the stage line to
Oysterville.
Deceased was the proud mother of ten children, four of whom are now residents
of Ilwaco, as mentioned above . She has twenty-two grandchildren and seven
great-grand-children, making a total of thirty-three living descendants, many of
23
them now claiming Ilwaco as their home .
Few persons have had such an extensive and varied experience as Grandma
Whealdon . She was a kind, Christian woman with a lovable disposition, and in this
sad hour of affliction we must content ourselves to let her rest where loving hands
have laid her.
U
Greenmont Union Cemetery, Freeport, Ohio
An Old Quaker Graveyard 1818-1881
Rod and
'lliams, revisiting the town where ancestor Mary Grouille
Whealdon was born, came upon a monument in the local cemetery "In Memory of
Our Pioneers and Early Settlers", with the following inscription :
"Here - side by side
Each in his narrow cell forever laid"
"When the hill of toil was steepest,
When the forest frown was deepest
Poor but young, you hastened here :
Came where solid hope was cheapest Came - A Pioneer.
Careless crowd go daily past you
Leaving nought a sigh or tear:
And your wonder-works outlast you,
Brave old Pioneer.
Toil had never cause to doubt you Progress' path you helped to clear :
But today forgets about you,
And the world rides on without you Sleep - old Pioneer."
(Quakers were buried side by side in unmarked graves, as was the Quaker custom at
the time . -R . Williams)
U
24