Descendants of Thomas Dixon Generation No. 1 1
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6. RAPHAEL3 DIXON (THOMAS2, ?1)25 was born June 8, 1805 in Ovid, Seneca Co., NY, and died February 9, 1883 in Dixonville, Douglas Co., OR26,27. He married (1) LUCINDA COPPLE28 April 24, 1830 in Clark Co., IN, daughter of PHILLIP COPPLE and MARY COPPLE. She was born March 13, 181528, and died Unknown28. He married (2) SUSANNAH FOX28 September 5, 1847 in Andrew Co., MO. She was born October 3, 1813 in Indiana, and died June 20, 1903 in Nodaway Co., MO. Notes for RAPHAEL DIXON: Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database STATE WIDE Sale Legal Sect- Twn- Ra- Meri- Acres Price Total Soc. Date Co. or State of Name of Purchaser Type Description ion ship nge dian Bought Per Acre Price Stat Purchased Purchaser Vol. Page ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DIXON RAPHAEL FD E2SW 18 11N 03E 4 67.05 1.25 83.81 MALE 06/13/1836 UNKNOWN 696 142 KNOX
DIXON RAPHAEL FD W2NE 15 06N 05E 4 80.00 1.25 100.00 MALE 06/13/1836 UNKNOWN 696 184 FULTON
In 1833, Banner Township (Utica), Fulton Co., Ill. a small distillery was operated on Duck Creek by Raphiel (Rafe) Dixon (who married was married to Lucinda Copple), Ensley Fouts and George Smith (who was married to Margaret Copple). They were sometimes plagued very much while at the distillery by their brother-in-law, Noah Garron (who was married to Catherine Copple); Noah would drink the whiskey as fast as it ran from the still. Lucinda, Maragaret and Catherine Copple were sisters, daughters of Phillip Copple.
More About RAPHAEL DIXON: Census: 1830, Clark County, Indiana Record Change: January 16, 200028 More About LUCINDA COPPLE: Census: 1840, Buchanan County, Missouri Record Change: January 16, 200028
Marriage: April 24, 1830, Clark Co., IN More About SUSANNAH FOX: Census: 1850, 64th District of Nodaway County, Missouri, family # 193 Record Change: November 23, 199928
Marriage: September 5, 1847, Andrew Co., MO Children of RAPHAEL DIXON and LUCINDA COPPLE are: i. NORMAN4 DIXON, b. December 30, 1832. 21. ii. THOMAS MARION DIXON, b. July 20, 1834, IL. iii. HARVEY DIXON, b. May 2, 1836. More About HARVEY DIXON: Census: 1850, 64th District, Nodaway Co., Missouri family # 193 22. iv. WILLIAM M. DIXON, b. December 6, 1837, Fulton Co., IL; d. November 7, 1921, Nodaway Co., MO. v. FRANCIS M DIXON, b. December 6, 1839; d. Abt. 1922, Montana. Notes for FRANCIS M DIXON: The following is a copy of a letter written to Mrs. Elda Dixon Jackson. "WILLIAM DIXON FAMILY Dillon, Montana November 10th, 1922
Parnell, Missouri Dear Sir: The estate of Francis M. Dixon has been ordered distributed. The family of William Dixon, his brother, inherits $577.71. This is divided among his four surviving children, each receiving $144.42. Your check is inclosed herewith. Yours truly, NORRIS, HURD & COLLINS JC/MK Encl."
More About FRANCIS M DIXON: Census: 1850, Nodaway County, Independence Township, Missouri, page 770 23. vi. DANIEL DIXON, b. January 21, 1842; d. 1901, Point Arena, CA. vii. SMITH DIXON, b. April 15, 1844. 24. viii. JESSE DIXON, b. March 14, 1846.
Children of RAPHAEL DIXON and SUSANNAH FOX are: ix. JOHN WARREN4 DIXON, b. Aft. 1847; m. SERRILDA DAVIS, October 15, 1876.
Marriage: October 15, 1876 x. JERRED DIXON, b. Aft. 1847. 25. xi. CELIA DIXON, b. 1848, Nodaway Co., MO; d. May 7, 1920, Sunnyside, Washington. xii. JORDAN DIXON, b. 1850; m. LOMIRA "ALMERY" JANE DOWNING, January 27, 1871, Worth Co., Missouri29; b. 1850, Andrew Co., MO.
Marriage: January 27, 1871, Worth Co., Missouri29 26. xiii. JAMES DIXON, b. March 16, 1854, Nodaway Co., MO; d. May 26, 1892. 7. HIRAM3 DIXON (THOMAS2, ?1)30 was born September 19, 1809 in Ovid, Seneca Co. , NY, and died April 2, 1874 in Roseburg, Douglas County, OR. He married (1) SUSANNAH SCURLOCK31 March 6, 1828 in Fulton Co., IL32. She was born October 5, 1812 in Fulton Co., IL, and died April 20, 184033. He married (2) ELIZABETH MORPHEW34,35 July 21, 1840 in Fulton Co., IL36, daughter of SILAS MORPHEW and ELMIRA ?. She was born April 13, 1809 in North Carolina, and died June 2, 1883. Notes for HIRAM DIXON: Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database STATE WIDE Sale Legal Sect- Twn- Ra- Meri- Acres Price Total Soc. Date Co. or State of Name of Purchaser Type Description ion ship nge dian Bought Per Acre Price Stat Purchased Purchaser Vol. Page ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DIXON HIRAM FD W2NW 02 06N 05E 4 80.00 1.25 100.00 MALE 08/25/1841 UNKNOWN 696 182 FULTON
DIXON HIRAM FD W2SW 07 07N 05E 4 96.40 1.25 120.50 MALE 08/25/1841 UNKNOWN 696 188 FULTON
Taken form Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land Claim, Vol III: "DIXON, Hiram, Douglas Co; b 1809, Ontario Co., N. Y.; Arr Ore 6 Sept 1852; SC 6 Jan 1854; m Elizabeth 15 July 1846, Clay Co., Ind. Aff: Joseph McKinney, Solomon Fitzhugh."
DIXON, Hiram, DLC #229 Douglas Co., born 1809 Ontario Co., NY DIXON, Elizabeth, wife of Hiram, marr. 15 July 1843 Fulton Co., IL DIXON, James Riley, died 24 Jan 1930 DIXON, Jesse D., DLC #483 Yamhill Co., born 1831 Harrison Co., KY DIXON, Joel, DLC #582 Douglas Co., born 1833 IL DIXON, Joshua, DLC #673 Douglas Co., born 1829 Fulton Co., IL DIXON, Susan Martha, wife of Joshua, marr. 14 May 1852 Ft. Kearney More About HIRAM DIXON: Burial: Wilbur, Douglas Co., OR Census: 1870, Deer Creek Precinct, Douglas County, Oregon, age 62 More About HIRAM DIXON and SUSANNAH SCURLOCK: Marriage: March 6, 1828, Fulton Co., IL37 More About ELIZABETH MORPHEW: Census: 1870, Deer Creek Precinct, Douglas County, Oregon More About HIRAM DIXON and ELIZABETH MORPHEW: Marriage: July 21, 1840, Fulton Co., IL38 Children of HIRAM DIXON and SUSANNAH SCURLOCK are: 27. i. JOSHUA4 DIXON, b. July 27, 1829, Fulton Co., IL; d. Bef. 1874. ii. RHODA DIXON39, b. May 11, 1831, Fulton Co., IL; d. August 10, 183340. 28. iii. JOEL DIXON, b. September 14, 1833, Fulton Co., IL. 29. iv. JOHN WESLEY DIXON, b. March 17, 1836, Fulton Co., IL; d. 1874. v. MAHALA JANE DIXON41,42, b. December 30, 1837, Fulton Co., IL; m. JESSE H. LEWIS, January 31, 1853, Marion Co., Or. More About JESSE LEWIS and MAHALA DIXON: Marriage: January 31, 1853, Marion Co., Or vi. JAMIMA DIXON, b. March 20, 1840, Fulton Co., IL; d. April 20, 1840, Fulton Co., IL43. Children of HIRAM DIXON and ELIZABETH MORPHEW are: 30. vii. CYNTHIA ANN4 DIXON, b. July 6, 1841, Fulton Co., IL. viii. JAMES HARVEY DIXON44, b. November 15, 1842, Fulton Co., IL; m. REBECCA E. BANKS, November 21, 1868, Douglas Co., OR. Notes for JAMES HARVEY DIXON: "Pioneer Experience of J. H. Dixon I was born on November 15th, 1842, between the two Copperas Creeks, tributaries to the Illinois River, Fulton County, and Illinois. My father was a native of New York, born in 1806. His father came to America at the time of the Revolution, served in that war until its close, and then settled down at Crooked Lake, New York, raising a family of twelve children, my father being the youngest, all boys but one. My father's mother died when he was at the age of six and his father bound him out to a Shaker Quaker. He remained with this Quaker a couple of years, but being dissatisfied with the treatment he received; he struck out for himself, wandering around till he reached the Louisville Canal. He stopped there for some time, and from there he got a job as cook on a flat boat on the Tennessee or Cumberland River. The crew of this boat subsisted on wild game, turkeys, deer and so forth when going up the river. Returning from that trip he went into Indiana and learned the tanner's and distillery trades. Instead of following these professions however, he struck out as a farmer going into Illinois when the Indians were still in possession of the country. He helped reduce the Indians to subjection in the army of Zachary Taylor. They settled down after the war was over near Canton where I was born. He secured land from the government, and married his first wife, Mrs. Sherlock, raising six children, and at her death, married my mother, Miss Murphy, who was from North Carolina. There were six children in this family also. At this time the Slavery question was a subject of great interest and was very much discussed. The people of the south wanted the people of the North to apprehend the slaves when they passed over their region, and return them to their owners in the South, and if necessary to get on their horses and catch them. The Northern sympathy however was not with the South, and instead of apprehending the Negroes, they would help them to escape. My first experience with the Negro was one morning when I wakened to find a big black man with shining eyes, and white teeth in the room where my younger brother and I slept in the upper part of the house. I was very much frightened, but on going downstairs, I was told that it was only a Negro on his way to Canada, and that he was on the underground railway. Instead of catching him in the fields and taking him back to his bondage, my people were helping him on to Canada. We were in the habit of selling our corn to the South when it was cheep and getting in return sugar and syrup or molasses. I was curious to know where it came from, and was informed by my older brothers that the molasses was Negro's blood, obtained from the Negroes when they whipped them. Of course I was quite credulous when we saw that the Negroes on the underground railway were fleeing from that torture. My first memory of the farm is when I became old enough to engage in sports, and we children often noticed operations on the farm, and we had the spirit of imitating which we carried out by cutting roads through the mustard patches in our garden. We would often get hold of Father's tools and misplace them. That was a source of aggravation to him when he could not find them, and we were threatened with punishment if we did not return them. We would then go to Mother, and she would tell us to get down and pray and that God would tell us where they were. Our imitation indicated that we were anxious to do something around the farm. My first lesson in that respect was with a hatchet cutting down the thickets in the prairie where Father was plowing. My next advancement in that respect was dropping corn every third furrow, turning it over, and later on after the corn was planted, taking an ax and going along, make a slit with the axe and drop the pumpkin seeds, and then when the corn mature, we harvested by cutting a portion of it, and putting it up into shocks. At one time my brother and I were cutting it with corn knives, racing, when I got my foot in the way of the knife and lacerated. That stopped our work, and I hobbled out to the road. There I met a man that was just passing by who wrapped up my foot with a chew of tobacco. I hobbled on my heel to our home on the prairie. I might say here that we had two houses, one on the prairie and the other on the Copperas Creeks, three miles away. That long walk caused my foot to expand so that ever afterwards I was compelled to get two sizes of shoes to fit my feet. Later on when the corn ripened we would gather and throw into pens or throw it to hogs. Father fattened a great many hogs in that way, sometimes allowing them to run in the fields, and gather it themselves. When the hogs were fattened as to be fit for killing, they were sometimes killed at home and then again others were driven to the slaughterhouse. I went with him on one trip with his hogs to the slaughter house, and it was a curious sight to see then driven up to the place where they were to be killed, and then rolled in the vat where they were scaled, being stripped of their hair, and lifted to the places where they were dressed. Returning to my farm experience, my first experience in driving a team was when I was about six years old. I was given a team and placed upon the harrow to drive them. They ran away with me, and tossed me off but the harrow did not jump on me. The next time I was placed astride the animal to ride. The horses ran away again and dumped me off, but as luck would have it, the harrow dodged me. My next experience was following Father in cultivating the ground with a single shovel plough, completing the furrow that he made with a double shovel. My older brother at another time was ploughing in the field, and a flock of prairie chickens came up. He left the team with me to watch while he went into the house to get a gun to shoot the chickens, and when he got back he found me trying to plough. The team had started off in their own direction but I kept the plough straight. When I found that I could not follow the line, I managed to stop them. The winters were very cold in Illinois and the subject of climate was often discussed, and in '49 the people began to go to the coast and found new regions. In '50 some of them returned, and among them was one of our neighbours who had gone in '49, coming home with gold dust and slugs for us to see, and the story of what he had experienced in the way of climate and other features. My uncle also had gone to the coast in '50 with his two daughters and one son, leaving them in the vicinity of Portland, returning himself by way of Panama or Nicaragua. He wrote a letter on his way to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, telling of what he found in Oregon, the climate and so forth, intending to go back that next year in '52 with his family, and hoped we would join him. Father therefore concluded that it would be the proper thing to do to get away from the cold and severe climate of Illinois. He canvassed around to find what to do and found a man who would buy our property, made sale of it, and began preparations for going to Oregon. He made arrangements in Canton for his three horse wagons and two ox wagons, all manufactured in Canton with wooden axles. The firearms that we were to take with us to protect ourselves consisted of rifles and shotguns, all made in Canton. Having made that preparation, the next thing was to dispose of our personal property and household goods. We had to purchase cattle as we had none of our own. In gathering up our oxen we secured a couple of yoke that were broken in, and the rest were unbroken. We had to break the others in. Some of them were quite wild, and unmanageable, and we would get them into a log stable so as to confine them, get the yoke on then and then place then between the two yokes that were broken. In that way we broke them to service. We had our personal property auctioned by a man of the name of Santa Anna, and the sale took him one day and night. In the day he auctioned off the stock and personal property outside and at night the household goods. When all was ready to start, the ox teams were sent ahead. Two weeks later in March '52, the rest of the family started. All our neighbors were there to see us depart, and as we left the old home, we fired salutes from the wagons in response to the farewells of our neighbours. We went through Canton where we bade farewell to the town people and others. Our journey led us through Illinois by way of Carthage where the Mormons under Joe Smith had formerly resided, making such depredations that they were mobbed. Joe Smith himself was killed and the rest of the band then left for Salt Lake. That year Brigham Young had the remainder of their church outfit on their way to Utah. Passing through this district we reached the Mississippi River at Warsaw. Looking north we could see Keokuk over on the Iowa side of the Mississippi. It being a high place we could have a good view of the Mississippi with its glassy waters, and the steamboat in the distance ploughing its waters, crossing the river there into Iowa, we passed our first night at a farmhouse where there was a large building with four sweeps or wings that constituted a windmill, which they said ground corn. That night a heavy snowstorm came up, and the next morning my brother and I were carried from the wagon to the house where the rest of the crew were having breakfast. It turned warm presently and we went on our journey. Reaching the low lands, we found the streams flooded with water over their banks. We had to wade through the water with a man ahead with a pole, to ascertain where the bridges were that we might cross them. We soon got into the State of Missouri, and my first evidence of slavery in that region was when we called at a barn to get hay, and were served by a Negro wench or woman. Father took our spare saddle horse, and proceeded on to Uncle's in the western part of Missouri. Soon he returned leading a mule, which I rode going back to Uncle's. There we met the ox teams, which preceded us, and all remained there while Father with some of the teams, went to St. Joseph for food supplies. Another snowstorm came on us at Uncle's that lasted about a week. It was about the last of April that all were ready to depart for Oregon. Our party consisted of about forty souls, twenty of Father's family and about the same number in Uncle's. We passed through the town of Savannah just as the farms were planting corn. The spring had fairly opened; the trees were leaving out and we could see the Missouri River with its silvery thread going through the cottonwood bottoms. This was a grand sight, and was just a glimpse of what we were to experience. We descended the bluffs of the Missouri to the banks of the river, there taking flat boats to cross, two in number, which were propelled by oarsmen stationed with long sweep oars at one end and another man at the stern with an oar for steering. The river was up and very rough and turbulent, rowing to get action, they would row up the river a sufficient distance with the opposing current and as they crossed it would land them on the beach on the opposite shore which was low bottom covered with cottonwood trees. As they landed the stock and turned them loose on the sand bar some would get into quicksand holes and have to be lifted out and then watched to keep them from getting into other holes. It was late in the evening when we crossed, and we proceeded a short distance for camp which was a beautiful spot covered with small cottonwood trees. The pleasure of us children was climbing the cotton wood saplings, riding them down when they were cut from underneath us. The next day we reached the Black Hills. They were barren except for scattered oak trees and the wind very cold. Here and there we would run into snowdrifts that had not yet melted. Presently we came to an Indian village, which was the reservation of the Black Hawk tribe. This reservation consisted of houses principally, built by the Government. There is where we saw our first Indians. Before reaching the village an Indian came up and eyed us closely as he rode along astride his pony, dressed in native costume, and bow and arrow on his back, and us children were anxious to see him make use of it, and supposed he would. We spied a crow or blackbird in the air, and wondered why he did not shoot an arrow at it, as we were sure he would fetch it down, but he was contented to eye us closely, and then cantered away. It was not long after that until we reached the Little Blue River. There we found more Indians camped in their villages, consisting of wigwams, but no houses. Surrounding these villages we saw cottonwood poles that had been stripped of their bark by the Indian ponies. They subsisted on this bark when the deep snows were on the ground. Next we came to the Big Blue River with more Indians, and here we encountered the smallpox, and fresh graves lining the road on every hand. We pushed forward as rapidly as possible, and succeeded in getting away from its ravages. One evening we heard the report of a cannon, and was told that it was fired every night at sunset. Some other families with their wagons fell in with us at Missouri, among them the Powells, and Pughs. We traveled with them I suppose a week before we came to Fort Carney, and on camping there we were surprised by a minister and his wife coming from the Fort. His purpose was to solemnize the marriage that had been contracted by my older brother and a member of the Pugh family, a Miss Pugh. Our journey was uneventful from there on, crossing the broad prairies covered with buffalo skulls shining in the bright sun and buffalo chips which we gathered into sacks and carried along for our fuel to cook our vittles. When the first sight of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains came into view, it was a curious sight to us. My half brother and myself, my younger brother and half sister and some of the loose men concluded we would hike across the prairie to the mountain. It seemed not far away. The prairie was so level that the distance was deceptive, and by the time we reached the mountain we were much fatigued. When we saw the teams disappearing in the distance, we realized it would be a task to overtake them. We felt highly recompensed however for our undertaking for the view was grand, with young cedars, and other vegetation with looming rocks and valleys, such as we had never seen before. We however hiked out, and caught up with our train, glad to get in the wagons to ride and rest. As we journeyed along, the mountains became more precipitous, with their bluffs of rock. One feature, which attracted our attention, was swarms of small birds having their nests or homes in the rock, like bees in a hive. Then we came to the North Platte River, and found it turbulent and swollen from melting snows. It was very board, and our inclination was to get some fish it we could. We made strenuous efforts but with little success. I remember one instance of us children fishing in that river with twine strings and pin hooks on any kind of a pole that we could get. One of my chum girls had been using my pole and line, and when she was summoned to return to camp started off suddenly with my pole and line. When she turned around to give it to me, she pitched it into the river and I lost it, but of course I did not get mad about it. All of a sudden we came into the cholera. The emigrants were so numerous that every night we camped, other camps were around us in every direction, and as they would string out to travel early in the morning, it was a grand sight to see the varied outfits. We would see some men pushing carts along. We saw several persons going along with their duds on a cart. When we reached Ash Hollow, there we found the river shallow enough to ford, and we decided to make the effort, there being so few people on the other shore, and an attack from the cholera appeared to be possible. Fresh graves began to multiply and the epidemic was so great that people began to rush along to get away from it as best they could. We decided to ford by men on horseback and often it was necessary to raise our wagons to the tops of the standards by placing chains across and lashing them fast to the running gears to keep them from floating. Then in crossing men on horseback would proceed with the team, each side, forcing the cattle to get headed across the stream. When all were across, we felt great relief, and proceeded up the north bank of the river. It was a sight never to be forgotten as the people traveled up the south side came into view, digging graves and burying their dead without stopping their wagons. There was one case of three brothers with their wives, two of whom had died. They caught up with us, and the third wife was still living but sick with the cholera. She lingered along for days until we reached somewhere near the South Pass when she died. There was an Indian village where we stopped and buried her, the coffin being made of one of their wagon beds. A curious sight to me was when the corpse was lying in a tent to see them place two half dollars, one over each eye. This was something that I had never seen before, and they said to cause her eyes to close. Our journey from there on was through the South Pass, which was the summit of the Rockies, and we could readily realize that we were descending instead of ascending. We came to the Sweetwater where we found an abundance of small fish. We would catch them with line and hook. We children would take a piece of bacon and tie it to a rush and drop it down into the places where the small fish were numerous, and so greedy were they for the bait, that they would gather around and take hold of it, and with a quick jerk, as they could not let loose, we swung it to the bank. We had a large frying pan, which we would place them in, and fry them and as they were so small we took no pains to dress them, and considered then delicious eating. At one place we found a pool and in the river full of fish, and we prepared a seine with blankets weighted with log chains, and when it swept around the pool and was drawn in, there was a wagon load of fish, principally of the sucker variety, a very bony fish. We then came to Independence Rock and other scenic rocks. Many of these rocks had inscriptions carved and painted with tar or any paint that would serve, each person vying with the others to get their name higher than those preceding. When we came to where the Sweetwater cut through the rocks, the passage was called the Devil's Cut, approximately fifty to one hundred feet wide with precipitous rocks on each side. Two of our venturesome boys climbed to the mountain and crawled out to the cut and peeped over to the rushing water below, and they felt the sensation of the drawing of the air as though it would draw them over, and were glad to crawl back and get away. Descending the Pacific slope we reached the Bear River with its green timber and wild fruits, principally strawberries in abundance. It was then just the 4th of July, and we decided to celebrate. There was a minister in our camp, and he concluded to officiate in the oration. We had no flag but he had our guns and firearms, and decided to salute with them. We arranged in a row as many as had firearms, and prepared for the salute. I was given a shot gun for my part and the volley was fired and hurrahs given. We feasted on strawberries and during the time there came up a heavy rain that left everything freshened. Then we proceeded on our journey, reaching the Green River as the next important point, where we found it with a swift current where the ferry crossed. This ferry was held in place by a cable made of raw hides pleated together. We soon came into flocks of grasshoppers, which covered the earth in spots. Sometimes we found them flying overhead in swarms. Then later on we came into black crickets, some of then as large as canary birds. We had some long journeys across deserts destitute of water, which required not only the day but the night to journey across to where we could get water, and then again the water we did have was sulphurous, and unpalatable. As we reached the Snake River we found it with high banks in places, and it was great sport for us to roll rocks over the bluffs into the stream. Sometimes we would find abandoned wagons with their wheels broken. We would start them down the mountain to see then jump into the river. There was one occasion when our stock were quite famished for water, and we found it difficult when we neared the river to keep them from rushing into the stream before we could reach them. We heard of others whose teams rushed into the water to drink before they could get then under control and were drowned. When we reached the Grand Ronde before we started to cross the Blue Mountains we found may emigrants camping there, resting before starting to cross the mountain, and there we found an abundance of wild choke cherries that we made use of. It was a trying journey to cross the mountain, and there was only one place that water was to be had. Before reaching that water night came one, and our stock seemed unable to pull the wagons so we unhitched them, and we went forward with the stock to reach the water. I was placed on a horse, and my half sister on another opposite me, and we started off not thinking about the cold air of the mountain. I failed to have my coat and as I got high up on the mountain I realized my situation but it was too late then to retrace our steps so I suffered severely from the cold. When we found water the stock drank their fill, and we returned to the wagons. Hitching up the next morning we came back to the water place and camped for a rest. While there we scoured the woods and found huckle berries, large and delicious, and feasted for a week. We were about to the summit when we resumed our journey, descended the mountain and by night reached the Umatilla, near where the town of Pendleton now stands, and camped for the night. There were Indians there. The old chief came to us and told us that we need not stand guard over our stock as they were good Indians and out stock would be safe. As our supper was ready the old chief was given a dish of food, and he asked the blessing over his food. My mother was assured then that they were good Indians from that event so we did not stand guard over our stock that night. Next morning the horses were all gone but three and they had bells on them. We hunted till noon without success and Father concluded to enlist the help of the Indians. Casting around for the old chief, he was not to be found easily. After a while we discovered him on the banks of the Umatilla at a pool of water in a stupid condition, not being able to understand anything we would ask him. Father pulled out a twenty-dollar gold piece and showed him. He readily understood what that meant, and beckoned to some of the young bucks not far away. As they came forward he chattered to them in Indian, and they struck off mounting some ponies, and made off to the mountains across the hills. In about an hour they came with the horses. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and we decided to hitch up and move on. Before getting hitched up we discovered a piece of rawhide rope above the hoof on one of the animals which had been cut off and which showed also that the Indians had been holding them for a fee, to bring them in. Father decided that he would pay the Indians and they had gone away, but the young men in the train wanted to take the guns and go down to the Indian camp and demand return of the money. Father decided that would not do. It would create trouble and we had better move, so we did. These Indians were of the Sioux tribe, and this was the tribe that murdered the Whitman outfit. These particular ones declared themselves innocent of the crime. They had vegetables, evidence of civilization. We were given some of them by white people who obtained them from the Indians. Among these vegetables was a mess of potatoes and it was such a treat to get them that we children gathered around the pot that they were cooked in and scraped the last speck from it. Our journey was then north of the Columbia, parallel with it until we reached the Deschutes River, a very rapid stream, down which we saw salmon floating, and the Indians had salmon to sell us. They were careful about the coin we paid them, judging it by measuring one piece with another, taking pains as to standard. We soon came to the foot of the Cascades, at a point called Barlow's Gate, where we found Mr. Barlow collecting toll from the emigrants for the road he had opened through the mountains. Father spent most the night talking with him because he was from the same state and was somewhat acquainted with him. My younger brother took the Mountain Fever, and came very near dying before we journeyed on through the mountains. Our journey through the mountains took about a week, and as we came to Laurel Hill, we rough locked and weighted with drags behind and ropes in descending it. Several of our horses became poisoned and died before we reached the settlement at Foster. Here we saw the first house and fence since leaving the Missouri River. We camped near Churchills, and they had a saw mill on the Clackamas, where we found Mr. Churchill supplied with pickled salmon that added to our supply of food, which consisted of vegetable and beef that we got of them to meet our requirements, for we were quite famished when we got there as we only had not more than one or two days' supply left. After resting a week there we journeyed on up the valley reaching Butte Creek. Father concluded to squat down there and to cut the hazels, and prepare a clearing. Father was not altogether satisfied and mounting a horse went on to look over the country, finding what he thought was a better opening at Drift Creek, eighteen miles east of Salem. He purchased a man's rights on a claim, and we moved up there, and set down for the winter. The land consisted of a creek bottom, something like one hundred acres, covered with sage bushes that we had to grub out before we could plough. That was a task that I was set to doing, while the men were engaged in other matters. Winter soon came on with heavy rains and snow following, leaving us in destitute circumstances, but in the meantime father had gathered in wheat and potatoes, and with this and venison, we made our way through the winter. In the spring father invested in six cows paying $100.00 a piece for them. They were wild and hard to handle, but they served to furnish us with milk and butter and we were in high condition to what we had been. We succeeded in getting in a small crop for the summer and then father decided to prospect before deciding to remain there, and with Uncle went south to the Umpqua Valley, two hundred miles away. There they found a promising region and father took up a claim, hiring a man to build a house while he came back after us. Uncle bought a claim from a man who had an Indian woman for a wife, on the banks of the North Umpqua, both returning to the valley. Father disposed of his place to a purchaser and Uncle likewise, and they both returned to the Umpqua with their families and outfits. Uncle found his purchase all right but Father found the man he had left to build his house refusing to give it up and claiming it himself, so Father squatted down on a vacant tract between Winchester and Roseburg and there opened up a farm. I remained with Father until I was of age, in 1863, and helped him accumulate as much as six thousand acres surrounding his original claim. Then I struck out for myself serving Flint, Crane & Kelley as a clerk four years. From there I went back to the farm through father's solicitation, and remained two years. Things not being satisfactory, I struck out again to do for myself, got into a saw mill at Cole's Valley, which I ran two years selling it out and getting into the steam boat business. This boat had come up the river to Roseburg but was confined to business on the lower river below Scottsburg. We had opposition and as there was business for only one boat to Coos Bay, disposing of it for half what it cost and running the other boat, the "Enterprise". We were just getting on our feet when the Oregon-California railroad came into the valley and took our business from us. Then we had a boat and no business. We sold the "Enterprise" to the Peoples Transportation Co., of Portland and they wrecked her on the bar. They took the machinery out, shipped it to San Francisco, and then back to Portland, and built the Beaver with it. I next worked up a saw mill on the Umpqua and after getting it to running, left the Umpqua and came to Salem where I remained nine years farming and contracting in the wood business. I then went to Portland, engaged in the wood business, furnishing the Portland Flouring Mill with fuel for thirteen years, at the end of which time they succeeded in driving their mill with electric energy, the first on the coast from that source, and at the same time lights were brought into the City. I contributed from my earnings towards many of the improvement, among which was the distribution of light and water from the peninsula in the way of subscription and solicitation." The 1870 census - inhabitants in Coles Valley Precinct, in the County of Douglas, State of Oregon, Post Office: Roseburg show Harvey Dixon, age 27, Lawyer with real est More About JAMES HARVEY DIXON: Census: 1870, Oregon, age 27, Lawyer Government Position: Lawyer
Marriage: November 21, 1868, Douglas Co., OR ix. WILLIAM GILLASPIE BIRNEY DIXON45,46, b. August 22, 1844, Fulton Co., IL; m. CYNTHIA J. BRADLEY, September 12, 1878, Douglas Co., OR; b. October 29, 1861, Douglas Co., OR47; d. December 26, 1883, Douglas County, OR. More About WILLIAM GILLASPIE BIRNEY DIXON: Census: 1870, Deer Creek Precinct, Douglas County, Oregon More About WILLIAM DIXON and CYNTHIA BRADLEY: Marriage: September 12, 1878, Douglas Co., OR x. ARMINDA ELIZABETH DIXON48,49, b. May 14, 1847, Fulton Co., IL; m. JAMES H. FLOURNEY, May 26, 1864, Douglas Co., OR50. More About JAMES FLOURNEY and ARMINDA DIXON: Marriage: May 26, 1864, Douglas Co., OR50 xi. EMILY ELMIRA DIXON51, b. January 22, 1849, Fulton Co., IL; d. October 7, 1850, Douglas Co. OR52. 31. xii. AMANDA LOUISA DIXON, b. February 19, 1851, Fulton Co., IL; d. July 14, 1942. Generation No. 3 Directory: 2013 2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan 2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2013 -> #1 a lifesafer of virginia inc 2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name 2013 -> Alcott Local School Council (lcs) Meeting Minutes 2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2 2013 -> Supplemental demographic information 2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】 Download 2.42 Mb. Share with your friends:
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