Monument Settlement Time Line

1934	Rho Bleakman begins work on the Hayward Ranch, they later bought this ranch.
1935	Mary C. Allen, mother of Dulsie Sweek dies.
1936	Beth Rhoene Bleakman, born to Rho and Lois Bleakman.
1936	March 09, Holly Leathers dies.
1937	August 08, Newton Robertson dies.
1938	Dempsey Boyer decided to plant trees on all four sides of the "ball diamond". He used his son's little red wagon to haul two cream cans full of water at a time to water the trees.
1938	Nona Boyer, then a high school senior, received a $600 scholarship to Albany College in Portland, later to become Lewis & Clark College. She left Monument to room and board in Portland with George and Alice Capon McDuffee, sister of her mother.
1938	Nov. 14, Cordelia Harriot Capon Cupper dies at 90 yrs. in Salem.
1938	Clementine, wife of Thomas Hayward an early settler dies.
1939	Rosa Hux dies. [sic dates out of order]
1938	Mr. Gabler, owner of the garage was killed when an aceyline tank blew up as he was welding on it.
1940	Rho and Lois Bleakman sell the Hayward Ranch and buy a ranch on Monument Mountain known as the Rue Ranch.
1941	Oct. 19, Leo G. Neal dies.
1943	April 07, Laura Lee Bleakman born to Rho and Lois Bleakman.
1944	April 22, Oscar Schafer husband to Ethel Cupper Schafer dies.
1944	Emmett Cochran, son of early settler dies and buried in Monument Cemetery.
1945	March 11, Lois LaVonne Bleakman is born to Rho and Lois Bleakman.
1945	George W. Hux dies.
1946	Dempsey Boyer brought electricity to Monument. The electric plant cost $5,000. Electrification was a massive amount of work since poles had to be raised and all the houses wired. In the beginning only the houses in town wanted electricity but then the school wanted to be hooked up which took another $5,000 dollar plant.
1947	Annette Cochran White, daughter of early settlers Wm. and Sarah Cochran dies.
1949	W.W. Fleming dies.
1950	May 01, Ethel Cupper Schafter dies.
1950	Dec. 25, Alice Kate Capon McDuffee dies in Portland and buried in Heppner, Oregon.
1952	July 19, Nora Nellie Capon Boyer dies in Portland and buried in Monument.
1952	Clyde Jackson dies.
1953	July 05, J. DempseyBoyer dies and buried in Monument. After Dempsey Boyer's death in 1953 the city council was instrumental in getting a $1,000 grant from the federal government to put in a lawn, build a tennis/basketball court and build fireplaces in two corners. Since then the forestry department in Monument has maintained the park, including the lawn watering. The park is named the J. Demsey Boyer Park.
1953	George Morton dies.
1956	Feb. 20, Susan Isabell Morton dies.
1957	Jan. 21, Harry Capon dies of gunshot at the Capon Ranch.
1957	Feb. 05, Margaret N. Page Elder dies buried in Monument.
1958	Georgianna Capon dies in Bend buried in Monument.
1959	Delman R. Neal dies.
1959	Archie Crisman dies.
1960	Fred Page dies and buried in Monument.
1963	April 23, Debbie M. Leathers dies.
1964	Ida Capon Bleakman Slocum, dies and buried in Heppner.
1965	Rho and Lois Bleakman sell the Rue Ranch on Monument Mountain to Lois's brother Stanley Musgrave and move to John Day and then to Canyon City.
196?	Rho Bleakman serves 6 terms as County Commissioner for Grant County.
1967	Ora Belle [Sweek] Neal dies.
1967	May 23, Helen Vilott Knappenberg, dies in Portland, inurned at Highview Cemetery, Ione. She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Audrey W. Dye, Seattle, Mrs. Velmaleta Dore, Hennepin, Ill., and Mrs. Josephine W. Conway, Portland; sister Mrs. Lottie Farnsworth, The Dalles; granddaughter, Mrs. Margaret Priebe, Seattle, and two great grandchildren.
1969	May 15, Louisa Cupper wife of Morton Cupper dies.
1971	Chloe M. Page, wife of Fred, dies and buried in Monument.
1971	June 07, Minnie [Irvin] M. Gamble dies.
1972	Jan., Rho Bleakman retires as county judge after a six yr. term.
1972	April 14, Morton Cupper dies.
1973	Aug. 08, George Garnham Capon dies, buried in Monument.
1976	Oct. 14, Eva Ellen Capon Wright dies in Heppner.
1978	Mary Capon Wright dies and buried in Heppner.
1980	Wave Flower Jackson dies and buried in Heppner.
1982	Oct. 28, Darlene Moore Boyer, wife of Bub Boyer dies and is buried in Monument.
1991	July 28, John Stanley "Bub" Boyer dies and buried in Monument.

EARLY SETTLERS OF THE MONUMENT AREA: Some of this information comes from Supreme Court files in Salem, Oregon regarding Clara A. Boyce, Plaintiff & Appelllant vs. H.A. Cupper, Defendant & Water Right Supreme Court, May Term, 1900, Pendleton - Appeal from Grant County.

Some information was taken from an outline of the Monument area history by Loiselle Dahill and Wayne Leathers.

Nona Boyer Copeland contributed much of the Capon, Cupper, Page family histories and that of Monument.

Information of Vilott was taken from a Reference of 23, June 1979 by Mrs. Josephine Woolery Conway.

Early Grant Co. Marriages, by Jeanne Secord, Oregon State Library 929.3 c.l.

Other information came from ACROSS WIDE SEAS 7 LANDS to a New Life on the North Fork of the John Day River, by Ray and Nell McDuffee.

Letters and other pieces of information gathered by Ray and Nell McDuffee, Nona Boyer Heiley Copeland.

The History of Morrow County Oregon, Published by the Morrow County Historical Society, 1983.

Monument Presbyterian Church, Memories of 80 Years, 1903-1983.

This information was compiled by Judy Mason, daughter of Alva McDuffee, Mason, Shouten who is the daughter of George and Alice [Capon] McDuffee. Alice Capon was the eldest daughter of John Urban Capon and his first wife Phoebe Page. Judy's current address: 1813 Borrego, West Covina, CA 91791 [626] 919-2611.

I would appreciate any corrections or additions such as birth dates, marriages, subsequent children, death dates or anecdotal information regarding any of the pioneers and their families.

Š1998 Roxann Gess Smith
All Rights Reserved

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