A. L. Alderman died at the home of his son near Dayton on Christmas Eve [December 24, 1908], aged 88 years. The funeral took place on Saturday, conducted by Rev. A. J. Hunsaker of this city an old-time friend and neighbor.
Mr. Alderman was a Yamhill County pioneer of 1846. He was born at Old Bedford, Connecticut, December 16, 1820. The family home for most of his boyhood was near Warsaw, N.Y. He was 25 years old when he crossed the plains. His party came by way of Southern Oregon and lost their wagons in the Rogue River. Mr. Alderman took up a land claim near Dayton, and when the rush to California occurred in the summer of 1849 he went to the gold fields and stayed three months. He brought back some bags of gold dust with which he had a sawmill built on his place. Some of the oldest houses in Yamhill County were made from the lumber of this mill.
In 1852 he was married to Mary Jane Burns of Polk County. She died in 1864, leaving four children. They are Mina (Mrs. F. K. Hubbard), William Alderman, Maritta, (Mrs. McCowan), all of whom live at Falls City, Polk County, and Medorum Alderman, now in California.
In 1866 Mr. Alderman married Miss Charlotte Ruth Odell of Dayton. They had five children: Edwin, who died a year ago; Ennis of Dayton, Lewis of Eugene, George, who died in 1893, and Eva (Mrs. Ora Powell) of Kernville, Lincoln County.
Mr. Alderman was a member of the Baptist Church and helped to found McMinnville College. He helped to build churches in different parts of the county. In 1897 he was stricken with paralysis, from which he never entirely recovered.
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman