This provides the descendants of Wahmaskie, a Lower Chinook Indian who married James Huckquist, a white man. Using census and vital records, as well as Native American specific records, this research provides several generations of her descendants through her son, Dixie James, who was the only surviving heir.
La Grande, Oregon Helen M. Jewett, 93, of La Grande, died Aug. 17 at Grande Ronde Hospital. A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cove Christian Camp. Helen was born June 22, 1914, to Harold and Thena Mae Moak Fry in Montesano, Wash. Helen spent most of her childhood on a ranch on the Wynooche River near Montesano, with a brief time spent in Alberta, Canada. She attended a one-room school, and graduated high school in Montesano. She attended Eugene Bible College (now called Northwest Christian College) in Eugene. She and her husband, Joe, ministered during college … Read more
Phyllis Louise West, 82, of Montesano and Aberdeen, Wash., and a former Baker City resident, died Feb. 15, 2007, at Montesano Health & Rehab Center, Montesano, Wash. Her funeral will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Central Park Baptist Church in Aberdeen, Wash. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland. Phyllis was born on Dec. 3, 1924, at Baker City to Melvin B. and Grace Harrison Schnackenberg. She was a 1942 Baker High School graduate. Her family moved to Vanport, a government housing project for workers at the Kaiser Defense Shipyards where … Read more
Charles Biles was born in Warren County, Tennessee, in Aug. 1809, and reared on a farm in North Carolina, removing when 19 years old to Christian County, Kentucky. In 1832 he married, and in 1835 removed to Illinois, soon returning to Hopkins County, Kentucky, where he resided until 1853, when he emigrated to Washington Territory in company with his brother James, their families, and C. B. Baker, Elijah Baker, and William Downing, and their families, being a part of the first direct immigration to the territory, via the wagon road through the Nachess pass. Mr Biles settled upon Grand Mound … Read more
Jess W. Spencer Funeral To Be Held at Union Jess W. Spencer, of Emmett, Ida., but formerly a business man at Union, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eva Hess [Hessemer], Montesano, Wash., yesterday morning, it was learned here today. Funeral services for Mr. Spencer will be held at the Methodist church at Union Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Mr. Spencer was the son of pioneer, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Spencer, who came to this valley in the year 1863. Full details of his obituary were not available today. La Grande Evening Observer Saturday November 20, 1937 Page … Read more
HON. MELANCTHON Z. GOODELL. – The family of which this pioneer is a member has ever been prominent and influential in the Pacific Northwest since its arrival hither. Jothan W. Goodell, the father was a pioneer of Ohio; and it was at Vermilion that Melancthon was born in 1837. In 1850 the family crossed the plains, the eight children being deemed no serious hindrance. A stop-over was made at Salt Lake one winter; and it has been thought that they missed but little a great calamity from Mormon treachery. Reaching Portland in 1851, they made their first home in Polk … Read more
Eva R. Hessemer, 94, of Tacoma, died Mon., June 28, 1993. She was born in Union, OR. Her grandparents settled in Oregon’s Grande Ronde Valley after journeying from Independence, MO over the Oregon Trail. She resided in Montesano, WA until 1960 when she moved to Goleta, CA following her husband’s retirement. After his death, she made her home in Los Osos, CA where she lived until moving to Tacoma in 1991. Survivors include a daughter, Doris Brown, Tacoma; a son, Robert A. Hessemer, Jr., Green Valley, AZ; 2 brothers, Gerald Spencer, Los Osos and Fred Spencer, Fresno, CA; a sister, … Read more
Another Chehalis County pioneer is I. L. Scammon, who was born in Maine in 1822, came to California in 1849-50, making the voyage on the 63-ton schooner Little Traveler. In the autumn of 1850 he took passage for the Columbia River, which was passed by mistake, the vessel making Shoalwater bay. Making his way overland to the Columbia, he went to Salem, Oregon, and to the southern mines, but returning to Washington Territory took a donation claim on the Chehalis River, where the old town of Montesano, now known as Wynoochee, grew up about him. He married Miss Lorinda Hopkins … Read more
HON. CHARLES N. BYLES. – This is one of the town builders of the west. Out of his farm on Mound Prairie he has made Montesano a place of twelve hundred people. His father was a Presbyterian minister of Madisonville, Kentucky. Charles was born in 1844. In 1853 the family crossed the plains, and upon reaching Wallula struck out northwestward to the Sound, crossing the mountains via the Nahchess Pass. Moving down on Mound Prairie, they located a place fourteen miles south of Olympia. Here on these healthful fields the boy grew up to manhood, and, becoming of age, took … Read more
Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Joe Jewett, 93, of La Grande, died Feb. 19, 2005. He was born May 13, 1911 in Helena, Montana to George and Alice Geary Jewett. His memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First Christian Church in La Grande. Visitations will be until 4 p.m. today at Loveland Funeral Chapel. Joe was raised at Winston, Mont. He went to electrical school in Chicago, and graduated after one year. He returned to Aberdeen, Wash., to finish his high school education as an adult. He worked about 1 year before deciding to go to … Read more