| 1805 |
October 19 Lewis & Clark came down the Columbia river
reaching the eastern edge of what is now Morrow County. |
1811 |
Henry H. Fleming born in Ohio |
1812 |
The first dwelling and trading post was built in the Willamette Valley
by two clerks of the Hudson Bay Company. |
1813 |
Mahala M. [later married William Neal] is born. |
1815 |
April 3 or 4, William Neal was the second white child born in Indiana. |
1819 |
William Neal born, Knox County, Tenn. |
1830 |
June, John D. Laurence, born in California, arrived with his parents in Canyon City. |
1831 |
November 15, Martin C. Lesley was born. |
1834 |
First Methodist missionaries arrived in the Willamette Valley. |
1837 |
March 18 William Neal married Emily Jane in Missouri. |
1840 |
Methodist missionaries built a mission in Salem, called "Chemeketa". |
1842 |
Willamette University, the oldest university in the West, was founded in Salem. |
1843 |
May 2, "Oregon County" provisional government was formed at Champoeg. On the same day the
"Wold Meeting" [sic] was held to decide whether the Oregon Territory should be governed by the United States
or England. |
1844 |
Martin Lesley crossed the plains. |
1845 |
Mary C. Allen is born. She is the mother of Dulsie Sweek. |
1846 |
Charles F. and Nathan I. Putnam made overland journey to the Pacific as cited
in their letters. |
1846 |
Sarah Jane Jenks is born. |
1848 |
Isaac Vilott and Sarah Jane Minkler settlers on a donation land claim on the
Willamette River. |
1850 |
February 26, Newton Robertson was born. |
1852 |
The following people arrived in Oregon by wagon train. Wm. Neal and wife Emily Jane;
Henry Merrill, born 1833 at Indiana?; George Lambert at Linn County; Henry and Nancy Fleming. |
1853 |
Martin Lesley married Clara C. Minkler. They have a son Jasper Newton and daughter Ida,
[wife of H.R. Duniway], she died Nov. 22, 1882, age 23. |
1854 |
August 20, Henry Fleming married Nancy. |
1856 |
April 21, Napoleon Bonaparte Neal, born. |
1858 |
James Officer and son, Eli rode their horses from Molalla and picked a site at a point
near the junction of the South Fork and John Day Rivers. Four years later the family members
drove their cattle and sheep from Molalla and built a log cabin. |
1859 |
January 30, Willie B. Jenks is born. |
1860 |
M.C. and Kisa Leslie listed in Yamhill County McMinnville Precinct, House no. 4583 Census records. |
1860 |
Eva C. Rush, later Crabtree was born. |
1862 |
The Homestead Act came in, railroads were given every other section of land along their
right-of-way. The railroads sold it to the settlers for $200 a quarter section. This determined where towns and
population centers would develop and also helped the railroads to thrive. |
1862 |
June, gold was discovered at Canyon Creek. Military posts had to be established between there and Lakeview, Or. for
protection from the Indians for those who came from California in search of gold. The Indians in the southern region were
so hostile it was not safe to pass through. |
1862 |
The first death in the county was a man who died on Pine Creek of consumption. |
1862 |
July 16, first homesteads in Grant County were taken by B.C. Trowbridge and William Wilson. |
1862 |
November 23, James K. Knox was killed by W. Bleven?. A graveyard was picked out and dedicated. |
1863 |
County Judge was W. Lair Hill; County Clerk was Tom Bretnz, the second judge was
C.H. [Joaquin] Miller with Tom Brentz, Clerk. |
1863 |
George W. Hux is born. |
1864 |
James Adams and Jeannette Hunter were the first persons wedded in the county. |
1864 |
William W. Hinton came to Grant County. |
1864 |
First marriage on record was Matlock M. Koonyz and Henritta Henvietz performed by
Judge W. Lair Hill. |
1864 |
George Hazeline of Canyon City and others established a pack train service operating between
The Dalles and Canyon City, but the Indians stole their horses and the enterprise was abandoned. |
1865 |
November 7, Finette, later wife of George Morton, is born. |
1867 |
February 4, Susan Isabell ______ later married to Newton Robertson is born. |
1868 |
William Neal and son Napoleon B. [age 9] drove the first wagon to the region.
Settled near the Cupper place, took up government land and went to raising stock and
farming. |
1869 |
June, Bob Ogle and July 12, 1869 T.P. Jackson, settled Birch Creek [later Cupper Creek].
Neighbors to the Neals. In the early days the land was mostly grass, not sagebrush. |
1869 |
Isaac Vilott arrived June 11, 1869, there were 5 men there before his arrival. In late September,
Villot went back to The Dalles to bring his family to the new settlement. It is said he named
Monument Mountain after a nearby rock formation resembling a rostrum or pulpit, however, the offical naming
was done by Sarah [Vilott] Wilson, wife of the first postmaster Pryor Wilson. |
1869 |
February 6, Emmett Cochran is born in Clackamas County near Oregon City to William
and Sarah [Moody] Cochran, natives of Boone County, Missouri. They began their immigration
west to Clackamas County, then when Emmett, was an infant on to California, returned to Missouri for
a visit then settled at The Dalles, Oregon. |
1869 |
Milas Roach located 7 miles west of Monument. |
1870's? |
The first Dayville Post Office was on Henry Ringsmyer ranch. Jim Brack ... was the first postmaster,
the second Capt. Lewis, the third Bert Snow in 1882. |
1870's |
The stage from The Dalles to Canyon City passed through Dayville. It took three days and nights to make
the trip. Antelope was the first stop from The Dalles; Mt. Home was the second; Canyon City was the third. |
1870 |
Isaac Villot, age 40, farmer, born in Indiana, mother of foreign birth. Wife, Sarah J., step-daughter of
Martin Lesley and 3 children. Wasco County, East of Deschutes River, House No. 36 census. |
1870 |
M.C. and Clarissa Leslie listed in Clackamas Co., Pleasant Hill Precinct, House No. 1033 census. |
1870 |
Pryor Wilson arrived in Monument. |
1870 |
Fall, Emmett Cochran, age 1-2 yrs, came with his parents, William and Sarah, and settled on a homestead
five miles west and below Monument. They lived there until 1896, however William Cochran died in 1873.
This is the ranch bought by John Capon between 1894 and 1897. [According to the suit Emmett lived there until 1890.] |
1871 |
Helen V. Vilott [Knappenberg], born to Isaac Vilott and Sarah Jane Minkler in a log cabin in Monument. |
1871 |
April 22, Barney Minkler married Esther McHaley. |
1872 |
John [b. 4/5/1826] and Mary Hamilton [b. 4/7/1828] first settlers in Indian Valley
at Deer Creek. The town of Hamilton is named for them. |
1872 |
Isaac Vilott died July 1872. "On the 4th of July, Mr. Violett, [Vilott] formerly of The Dalles, but
latterly residing in the John Day country, was taken ill while going home from market and died in a couple of hours."
Daily Oregonian. July 12, 1872. Microfilm #6198, 1872 July 1 to 31. Bancroft Library. |
1872 |
December 12, Phoebe I. Hux is born. |
1873 |
Daughter, Annette born to Wm. and Sarah Cochran. |
1873 |
William Cochran dies. |
1873 |
March 25, Andrew Kahler married Angeline Rudio. |
1873 |
May 26, Holly Leathers is born. |
1873 |
August 6, Pryor S. Wilson married the widow Sarah Vilott. |
1873 |
September 01, Phoebe I. Hux dies. |
1874 |
Monument Post Office established Oct. 27, 1874. Pryor Wilson was first post master, his
wife Sarah [Vilott] Wilson, former wife of first settler, officially named it Monument. |
1874 |
About 800 Chinese were in the John Day - Canyon City area doing placer mining. |
1876 |
Martin C. Lesley married to Clara C. Minkler [b. 11/15/1831] came to Monument Mountain and settled on
Heppner road taking up farming and stock raising. |
1877 |
March 09, Debbie M. _________, later married to Holly Leathers is born. |
1877 |
May 30, R.N. Gilliam married Izza J. Rudio. |
1878 |
Jan., Henry Adams Cupper [b. 4/1/1845] and his wife, Cordelia Harriet Capon [b. 1846], with
sons Harry Charles Adams [b. 7/13/1873]; Fredrick William [b. 9/26/1874]; Cordelia "Ethel" [b. 12/17/1875]
left England for the United States. |
1878 |
Feb. 02, a baby girl born to Henry A. and Cordelia Capon in Ashland, she dies at 3 weeks 3 days. |
1878 |
Henry A. Cupper bought William Welch's rights June 26, [According to the suit papers: "Cupper bought only the
improvements, there was no title. Cupper gave Welch $1,000 to get off the land and let Cupper file on it when
surveyed."] The date William Welch arrived in the area is not known. He was an Englishman but
whether he and Cupper knew each other in England is unknown. The Cuppers did deliver a load of freight to him on their journey from
Ashland north. |
1878 |
Supreme Court files: "June 28, 1878, H.A. Cupper bought of William Welch, all said Welch's
right, title, and interest in and to said north half of the northeast quarter, and the northeast
quarter of the northwest quarter of section 33, and the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 28,
township 8 south, range 27 east, together with the building and improvements situation there-on, said lands
between then unsurveyed lands of the United States of America and part of the public domain."
Later in the suit papers there is a statement which reads, "Cupper bought only the improvements, there
was no title. Cupper gave Welch $1,000 to get off the land and let Cupper file on it when surveyed." |
1878 |
H.A. Cupper "Soon after buying, lands were surveyed, declared his intention to become a citizen of the
United States, filed a preemption declaratory statement therefore, and received a U.S. patent for said lands, and has at all times since
June 26, 1878, been entitled to the possession of said lands." [suit papers] |
1878 |
Mark Anderson was a neighbor of the Cuppers. |
1878 |
June, Joe Combs, having escaped from the battle of Bannock Indians who had "broken out" and attacked near Dayville on
Long Creek rode into Canyon City spreading the alarm. Phil Metschan, Sr. was in a barber's chair, face covered with lather and
half-shaved. The barber grabbed his rifle and started for the door. Metschan cried out, "Finish shaving me!", but the barber
kept going. So Metschan had to parade around for a week or two half-shaved. This is how he started the luxurious brown beard for which
he was famous. A painting of a bearded hotel man hangs in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Portland. Many settlers left their homes for the
summer months staying in Heppner, the Cuppers among them. They stayed in Heppner for six weeks then returned to the ranch. This was the
last Indian scare in Morrow and Grant Counties. |
1878 |
Henry Cupper assisted in building a fort in defense of Monument against the Indians, he was also captain of the
night guards of Heppner. |
1879 |
June 10, Felix Claude married Ida Sweek. |
1879 |
George Morton is born |
1880 |
Population of Oregon 174,768 |
1880 |
Joe Putman came to Monument area. |
1880 |
M.C. Leslie and Clarissa Leslie listed in Wasco Co., Dalles City Precinct, House No. 129 census. |
1880 |
Clyde Jackson born. |
1881 |
July 31, Leo G. Neal born. |
1882 |
Martin C. Lesley located his home 1 1/2 miles north of Monument. |
1882 |
Anderson came in 1882, after Emmett Cochran left. He lived just below the Cuppers. The lease was
in Shields name, who was father-in-law of Boyce. |
1882 |
Wm. G. Crabtree and Jim Sweek were neighbors of Cuppers. |
1882 |
Henry A. Murphy arrived at Fox Valley with $2.50 and an Indian pony. He worked on road construction from Fox Valley
to John Day. [Ray McDuffee has him arriving in Monument in 1888, where he put up a building for a store, the first
business in Monument.] |
1882 |
June 07, Delman R. Neal born. |
1882 |
August 02, Harrison Flower is born |
1882 |
December 18, Percy Alfred born to Henry A. and Cordelia [Capon] Cupper at the ranch. |
1883 |
H.A. Cupper became a naturalized citizen of the United States. |
1883 |
Emil M. Scharff, born in province of Lorraine, France came to Monument via Illinois, Colorado,
Winnemucca and John Day, with his flocks of sheep. |