OREGON FOLKLORE - WORK PROJECT ADMINISTRATION
Title: Pioneer Reminiscences - Umpqua Academy - Early School Teaching
*********************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE:
************************************************ 
Copyright. All rights reserved. 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm
*********************************************************************************
Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
W. David Samuelsen - May 2002 - NO COPYRIGHT - PUBLIC DOMAIN
************************************************************************
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES

Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn
Subject Pioneer reminiscences - Umpqua Academy - Early school teaching
Name and address of informant: Mrs. Hortense Applegate 1154 S.E. 34th Ave.,
Portland, Oregon.
Date and time of interview: February 21, 1939; 1:30 to 2:45 P.M.
Place of interview Above address: home of daughter, Mrs. Beatrice Brewer.
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant: Miss
Villa Camden, of ex-Mayor Geo. L. Baker's office, Corbett, Bldg.
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.: Living-room, comfortably but
"clutteredly" furnished, with a little of everything in it. Old house, of six
or seven rooms, two-story, high-ceilinged, and somewhat in need of paint on
the outside. Corner lot, unfenced and unenclosed, with a few fruit trees,
somewhat neglected in appearance. A neighborhood of old houses, most of them
in not-too-good condition, with a few shops of mediocre types.

1. English.
2. Winchester, Douglas County, Oregon; Born May 2, 1854.
3. Dr. Calvin Reed, father; Elvira Brown, mother. 3 sons: Audley, Homer,
James; 4 daughters: Mrs. Agnes King, Mrs. Harriett Buckley, Mrs. Vivian Hunt,
Mrs. Beatrice Brewer.
4. Born and lived in Oregon until 1887; California, 1887-1903; Oregon 1903
to date.
5. Umpqua Academy, at Wilbur, Oregon.
6. Teacher in private and public schools until marriage; housewife thereafter.
7. Housekeeping. Interested in politics, with particular reference to Townsend
bill.
8. Rebecca Lodge; Townsend Club; Methodist Church.
9. Small, slight woman, with white hair and plenty of it. Blue eyes, and
extremely keen of intellect. Well-dressed and neat in appearance.
10. An old lady, who "keeps up" with everything.

Text:

I'm going to give you my life story from this retrospect -- as I call it --
that I have written, and first I think I'll give you some of my background.
I never knew my father, as I was only a few months old at his death, and my
mother died when I was a very small girl.

My father, Dr. Calvin Reed, with his family, left the State of Iowa,
crossing the plains in Oregon, in 1850. His train of immigrants included a
hundred families, together with a number of single men. He first settled in
the Willamette Valley, spending the winter of 1850-'51, at Clackamas, near
Oswego, and from there moving to Milwaukie. Later, finding the climate of
Southern Oregon more congenial, he moved to the smalltown of Winchester, on
the North Umpqua River. That was where I was born, as I have already told
you.

Father bought an old grist mill from a man by the name of Nelson Brebant,
together with 320 acres of land, and in addition filed on a donation land
claim of 320 acres, so that he had in all 640 acres. He repaired the mill
with burrs he brought across the Plains. All the furniture was of his
handiwork. The bedsteads, tables and chairs he made were in use long after I
was grown. They were nice enough for any ordinary home and, but for a fire in
which they were destroyed, would probably still be in use.

After the death of my father, mother bought a small farm near the town of
Wilbur and, with her family, moved there, so that my older brothers and
sisters might be educated. My memory holds a beautiful picture from the
long ago. The home, not a mansion, was a plain one-story house, of kitchen,
bedroom and living room, with a porch facing the northeast, so that we
could see the sunrise. The house stood on a knoll, surrounded by fields.
Below the house, to the east, was the barn and cow shed, with just a short
distance away a grove of poplar trees, the leaves of which -- all the
colors of the rainbow at times, quivered and seemed to sing with every wind
that blew. Those poplar trees gave me my first impression of the loveliness
of autumn, a loveliness that still charms me and takes me back in memory to
that simple home and my mother.

I don't remember that my mother was ever cross. There was a cut-off over
the hill and through the moods that we called the Gap. My mother used to
take me by the hand and lead me through the Gap to church on Sunday. It was
a path I loved. I thrilled to the trees and flowers along the way. I used
to play alone, picking buttercups and little toadstools, and setting them
up -- making little men and women out of them.

In 1862 the picture changed. Our mother was taken and the family separated,
no more to gather around the home fireside. A guardian was appointed over
the four youngest children, one sister, two brothers and myself. We went to
our older sister's home - a public place known as the Wilbur House. We
were all sent to school, but in a few years were scattered. My brothers
drifted off first. My sisters married. I was the last to stay. I never knew
my oldest brothers, Oscar, Nelson and Madison, until after middle life.

I was reared and educated at the Umpqua Academy, under the Methodist
missionaries and pioneers by whom it was inaugurated. The Umpqua Academy
was located at Wilbur, Douglas County, Oregon. It was chartered by the
Oregon Territorial legislature on January 15, 1857, but a school, bearing
the same name, was previously taught in the same locality [md] a shadow of
coming events. The Reverend James H. Wilbur was the founder and author of
the events that led to the establishment and splendid career of the school,
and Father Wilbur, as he was called, had active supporters in men of
ability to help put his plan into operation.

The first teacher, I remember was James Stork. According to the records, he
taught the primary department, under Professor Arnold. The Reverend T. F.
Royal was the succeeding principal, from 1859 to 1867....He watched over
his flock as the proverbial hen "gathers her brood under her wing."
.....Every morning our school opened with prayer and singing. This is one
song I remember:

     "I saw a little blade of grass
     Just peeping from the sod.
     I asked it why it sought to pass
     Beyond its present clod.
     It answered, as it raised its head,
     All sparkling fresh with dew:
     'I rise, I rise to seek the Light'"

The memory of those school days brings to mind the bell, that through the
years rang out its clarion call.... It talked morning, noon and night, as
it hung in the open space at the top of the building. It could be heard
throughout the whole village, calling us to our tasks. On Sunday it
reminded us to respect this as a day of rest, calling us to the chapel to
worship. In sadness it told us of some sorrow in our midst, tolling out the
number of years of the departed, a custom at that time, but now long since
discarded.... I quote an ode to the bell, written 21 years ago by George
[Dimic?], a student of the Umpqua Academy, and read at one of the gatherings
or homecomings:

     "Half a century has fled Since first I heard that bell's sweet
     tongue,
     But never in these many years
     Did its music seem to inspire my soul
     As it did this morn, when at dawn it rung.
     It seemed in that old sweet way to say,
     'Come - come - come, answer the roll'"

The last of the Academy teachers was Professor A. J. Garland, in 1887. The
work heretofore done by the academies of the State was superseded by the
public schools. The church had fulfilled its mission in educational work of
that nature. In 1888, on June 30th, it was voted to lease the Umpqua
Academy promises to the public school district for ten years, for $500, the
rental to be applied to improvement of the building and grounds. In 1900 a
resolution was adopted to sell the premises to the district for $400. There
the records of the old academy close....

Of the years of the Civil War there is much that I recall, though I was a
little girl, too small to take part in the exhibitions, as they were
called. But how excited I would be when they put them one.... We were for
the Union. The songs we sang were all patriotic. My niece Mary Hill, or
Mollie, as we called her, but two years younger than I, was a little
songbird. She learned all the popular songs of the day and was ready to
sing on any occasion. Dixie Land was one of her favorites. She earned the
pet name of "Dixie" by this song. Other songs that were sung in school
entertainments were "When Johnny comes marching home again," "On the field
of battle, mother."

The assassination of President Lincoln was a great sorrow. I was too young
to understand its meaning, but years after, when I met my schoolmates we
talked of how deeply the students of all ages were impressed. The news came
in the afternoon. It spread like fire, and in a short time everybody knew.
The students held a memorial meeting that evening, for which preparations were
hurriedly made. George Kuykendall, one of the older students, concluded to
write something in the same meter and style as a dirge the students had been
singing. I remember only the first verse:

     "Murdered by a southern traitor
     While his friends were near his side.
     Asking God to save his country,
     Lincoln for the Union died.
     Rest! Lincoln, Rest!"

As they sang there was sobbing all over the room....Such was the love and
reverence for our president.

My brother-in-law, F. R. Hill, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Union,
as was my sister, Delinda. They were both anxious for news, as the war
progressed, news that was carried over the telegraph. My brother-in-law had
a bulletin board in front of his hotel, upon which he printed the news with
chalk as it came in. To make good news more impressive, he, with others,
took a piece of iron piping, carried it to a hill, set it on a foundation,
filled it with powder, and fired it off. The report could be heard miles
away. As far distant as Roseburg, eight miles, the people would yell,
"Hurrah for Flem Hill!!! I cannot recall just what the news was about, but
anyway they filled their pipe too full of powder, and it burst... Mr. Hill
had a wonderful voice, clear as a bell. He led the singing in church, and
his voice could be heard above all the rest. He would put a locust leaf
between his lips and make beautiful music.

Going back to my schooling, Mr. Clark Smith, former assistant under
Professor Royal, succeeded to the principalship for 1867-68. He taught one
year and was succeeded by Prof. J. H. Herron. I, with a number of other
students, applied for a certificate to teach, as many districts were
calling for school teachers.

John Booth was county school superintendent. I applied for the Ten Mile Valley
school, south of Roseburg. School teachers at the time received only $30 a
month and boarded with the scholars.

I was young and just out of school, and was sure at home among my scholars,
though I had several girls in the school of my own age. The three months
went by quickly. There were two schools in the valley, North and South Ten
Mile. A Miss Vandeburg taught the south school. Returning home to Wilbur,
after the close of school I visited a sister, Mrs. John Imbler, living near
Roseburg. While there I met Mrs. Tom Brown. Her husband ran a ferry across
the South Umpqua, near Roseburg. Both she and her husband were pioneers of
1847. Mrs. Brown was a woman of intellect and fair education, and wanted a
school in the neighborhood for her four children. She asked if I would
teach a three months' school there, if she could get enough scholars at
$5.00 each to pay me for the period. I took up her proposition.

The first day she harnessed up her horses to the light spring wagon, and
started out, taking the prospective teacher....Some were pleased; others
wanted to think it over. Some of them appeared to think we were trying to
"put something over" on them. Mrs. [ ?] a big, red-haired woman, was eating
her dinner. As Mrs. Brown talked, this woman bit viciously at her knife as
she ate. I thought to myself, "she is opposed to school; she will never
send her children." And she never did... Finally Mrs. Brown had twelve on the
list, with others promising to send their children. She felt they would be
true to their word, and I commenced the school. I taught six weeks. No more
scholars came. One morning Mrs. Brown told me that if I didn't feel like
continuing to teach so small a number, to discontinue and she would pay me for
my time, telling me to so advise the children that day, and she would take me
to the bank at Roseburg, the next day.

She was true to her word. She was the mother of George M. Brown, who was
elected to Oregon's Supreme Court bench in 1920.

I returned to school in 1869. Professor Deardorf was the principal. My next
school was in Coos County, at Myrtle Point, in 1870....Coos County was my
first and only school out of Douglas County. Coos County seemed a long way
off and quite an adventure. The roads we had were bad....I recall many
recollections as a little girl of the old stage coach, when I lived at my
sister's home on the main county road. This was a stopping place, the post
office being at this point, in the small town of Wilbur. I remember
watching the big stage come in, its four horses plunging under the driver's
lash, as they pulled the coach through mud and slush sometimes up to the
hubs in winter. The stage driver would snatch a bite to eat and a cup of
hot coffee, and then on to the next stop, ten miles distant, where horses
and drivers changed....

In the spring of 1870 I started on horseback with my brother Dwight, to
Myrtle Point, in Coos County. Leaving the village of Wilbur early in the
morning, we travelled as far as Camas Prairie, where we stopped for the
night. This was the end of what could be called a road, and thence we took
the mountain trail to the coast. My brother was in the lead. The trail was
narrow, and in places rocky and steep. I kept my saddle, though at times it
seemed straight up and down. A more tired girl could hardly be found when
we arrived at Myrtle Point the next forenoon. Why the name Myrtle Point I
soon learned. We approached through a grove of dark green trees, so dense
the way grew dark. Such magnificent trees and sweet odors from the heavy,
leafy foliage I can never forget.

The next business was to prepare for the opening of school. First I had to
take my examination, and to do that I was obliged to go to Empire City,
down the Coquille River and across Coos Bay. My brother Oscar's farm was on
the river. He had his own boat, as he frequently made trips for trading
purposes. Arriving at Coos Bay Landing, which took most all day, we boarded
the steamer and went across to Empire City. There I had the examination,
received my certificate, and returned to my work.

The schoolhouse stood on a raise in wooded surroundings. The many beautiful
shrubs and flowers presenting a rural attractiveness. Monday morning found
me at my post of duty, with almost every pupil of school age in the
district, promptly an hand....[After?] two weeks of school I came down with
the measles... I had taught two days, feeling badly and not knowing the
trouble. It was customary in those times for the teachers to board with the
scholars. As I kept getting worse I sent for my brother, Oscar. He took a
good look at me and remarked, "Why, Tensa, you have the measles." The
eruptions were plain to be seen on my chest, but I could not be convinced
that was what I had. My brother asked if I could ride, proposing to take me
home with him. "But what about you and the family, taking me there with
measles?" I asked. "We'll have to take our chances," he replied, as he
wrapped me in a big overcoat, after I'd put on my warmest outfit. Then he
put me on a horse, while he took the lead on another. In many places of the
narrow trail the overhanging limbs had to be dodged. My back and neck ached
with pain, when I went to bed at his home. In a week or ten days I was back
at school, and nothing further interrupted.... Returning from the three
months' school at Myrtle Point, I applied for the primary department in the
public school at Roseburg, and that winter taught under Professor Rice. The
next spring I taught at Scotts Valley, Douglas County.

A Miss Harrar, from Portland, had applied for the school. She was a niece
of Mrs. Letsom. J. H. Todd was the school superintendent at Wilbur, where
she went to get her certificate. She failed to pass and came back quite
crest-fallen. A young man of Yoncalla met her, to take her to Scotts
Valley. It seems the superintendent, to whom she applied for her
certificate, was a red-haired man. Irked and disappointed, she blamed the
red-headed superintendent for her failure. "I always did hate red-headed
men" she told the young man, who, unfortunately, was red-headed too. He
took the thrust good-naturedly, with the private decision, "I'll take no
more schoolmarms home, if that's their opinion of red-headed men." When I
arrived at Yoncalla, who should meet me at the depot but this same young
man. I thought him nice and gentlemanly, and I always thought myself a good
judge of gentlemen.

I had never visited this part of the county (Douglas) before. It was a
beautiful valley, surrounded by low, undulating hills, covered by pine,
maple, cedar, and dogwood, with various other kinds of trees and shurbs of
many blooming varieties. There were fine farms and fertile fields. In the
four busy months of my school, from April 1st to and including July, I met
many fine people, among them pioneers of 1843. The first settlers in the
valley were the Cowan brothers, Robert and Tom. Robert had a family. The
brother was single. Shortly after came the three Applegate brothers, Jesse,
Charles and Lindsay. Their names have gone down in Oregon history for their
statesmanship, and their unbounded hospitality and helpfulness to the early
missionaries and immigrants to the State.

In all localities you find odd and rather eccentric people. A few cases of
smallpox had broken out at Oakland, some ten miles away. The next morning
after the news, a number of the scholars came to school with [assafoetida?]
tied around their necks. Occasionally they chewed it, making the atmosphere
of the room very unpleasant. I proceeded to remove the wads from their
necks, Ella Adams, quite a large girl, objected strenuously, but I
succeeded, with the promise to return it after school.

This school ended my days of teaching..... I married the young man of red
hair, who had met me at the depot three years before. Forty-six years we
travelled down life's trail together. The call came to him at 74 years of
age, in 1921.

----------------

You ask me about some of the household customs of the early years. There
were so many, so different from today. I recall particularly the moulding
of candles, because my eldest sister, with whom I lived, had a hotel,
requiring many lights of course, so the task of keeping candles was
somewhat arduous. Being small, my part of the job was to insert the cotton
wicking in the moulds, with a loop at the top, through which a stick was
run. When the melted mutton tallow and beeswax composition was poured in,
and had hardened, the completed candles were lifted out by this stick
through the loops.

Something else, quite different from today, with all our commercially
canned fruits and vegetables, that can scarcely be told from the
freshly-picked, was the fruit --wild gooseberries, strawberries and
currants-- that were cooked and then poured into bottles, just any kind of
bottles, into which the corks were thrust and red sealing wax poured over
them. No sugar was put in this fruit. Then, of course, there was much
drying of both fruits and vegetables. Nothing tastes much better than dried
corn, after being soaked all night and then cooked.

-----------

Comment:

The interviewer is somewhat disappointed at the lack of folklore obtained
from Mrs. Applegate, who is the widow of Charles Applegate, of Oregon's
wellknown Applegate family. The information given was taken largely from a
manuscript prepared by Mrs. Applegate, to which she referred in her
interview. The old love poem (attached) was lent to the interviewer for
copying.

Mrs. Applegate, and the daughter with whom she lives, Mrs. Beatrice Brewer,
were both extremely interested and enthusiastic over the work of the
project, cooperating in every way, even to the extent of conducting the
interviewer to see a friend, several blocks distant, who is scheduled for
an interview later.

Attached is an auction bill of sale.

(Editor's note. Copies of two poems, "Verses Written to a Rejected Suitor,"
and "The Pioneers of '43," given to the interviewer by the informant, have
been transferred to the "Folk Songs and Folk Rhymes" file.)

COPY OF AN AUCTION BILL OF SALE 1856
Charles Applegate
Bought of the Estate of John L. Mulkey, January 30th, 1856
1 Ax $ .37 1/2
1 Mare (pony) 95.00
1 Horse (Black) 66.00
1 Yearling Colt (Dinah's) 35.00
1 2 yr. old " (Dinah's) 47.00
1 Mare (Dinah's fully) 55.00
1 Yoke Oxen 140.00
1 " " 142.00
1 " " 140.00 650.37 1/2
1 Steer deduct 70.00 $650.37 1 /2