East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1914-06-20
Ye Pioneer Days in Oregon
Being Paper Written by Nancy De Spain and Read Before Meeting
Of the Umaila County Pioneer Association

We spent six years there. Four year,
later, in 1870, there was a great stir,
the people voting as to whether the
county seat should be left, or taken
away from Umatilla Landing to PEN
dleton. We won and in 1872, we
moved into town and 1 can now write
of
Village Days in Pendleton."
Not moving into town for two years
after il was established, we had
mingled little in its social life. The
first affair we attended after we came
to town was ball given in the new
court house. How proud we all were
of it! 1 win tell you of the dance
now,-later of the court house, etc
We had friends who came down
from Pilot Rock to have supper with
us, and so later to the dance. We all
went on horseback. The friends were
Minerva, Billie and Amanda Thomp-
son, children of James Thompson.
who built and lived in what is now
known as the Sturtevant home in Pi-
lot Rock, they were substantial
family. Some of the Olcutts, and two
or three young men, whose names
cannot recall were with them. We
enjoyed the dance and at midnight
went to the Goodwin Hotel (grown
now into Hotel Pendleton) for sup
! per and to spend the night. 1 need
not tell you that the entertainment
was good when you know that Mrs.
| Goodwin Aunt Aura" was our ,hos-
tess.
May I tell you of little amusing,
may be pathetic, occurrence. In those
days, we had little furniture in our
homes,-especially such as might be
done without,-and could not be got
ten nearer than THE Landing" or
: Walla Walla. We had in our home
only one looking glass, and it very
small one, but if there had been more
and larger ones, / would have had
/ little time to have looked into them
Well. on coming down the stairs the
! next morning. 1 saw a fair, slender
/, girl coming toward me,-and for just
a moment wondered who the strang.
3 er could be,-when 1 saw that it was
d my own reflection in the full length
!, mirror at the foot of the stairway.
S During the winter there were sew.
:, eral dances to enliven the young peo.
: pie. One of our men, who attended
r one of these dances. upon returning
4 home told us that Mr.. Goodwin wa:
/ dead. He had been in the ball room
during the evening, although he had
e not been well for several months. The
: next morning his wife found him dead
5 beside her.
: At the time we moved into town, in
: 1872, I think there were about 25l
inhabitants. Our home was then, and
for twenty-eight years thereafter, a
: the corner of Court and Thompson
streets: it was small then, but we
changed and added to it as the family
grew in numbers. 1t was an ole
: fashioned house, but it holds preci
GUS memories for me. and for m!
! family. Fourteen years ago the home
I was broken up, and since then l hav'
4 been here. in Portland. much of th'
T time.
Pendleton as it stood then wa
5 bounded by the Umatilla reservation
on the south to Alta street so that "
could build no further in that direc
l. ton. There were, perhaps, five o
six families living west and north O
! US, the Frakers, the Marshalls, tn
g Bryants and the Atwoods. The AT
&c wood home stood where DIR. Vincent
home now is Mr. and Mrs. Atwoo
: We're the parents in law of o.
g Thompson, q think he was sheriff
Of the county at that time), and {
ID Robert Stanfield, prominent in tn
y county. Their widows and childre
a are still with us, though scattere'
in Where Byers' Mill now stands was
as tannery,-a Mr.. Moore owned it,
i'd brother to James Moore, who was
IN think, county clerk. They lived in
n house on the block now occupied
as many buildings.-where the Goldt
le Rule Hotel now stands. and l thin
OF there were then not more than thr'
1t small houses on the block. On oil
n own home block, two other famili
ed lived, James Turner, attorney, and l.
Livermore. Many of you will r
IS. member the former, and all are gli
n that Mr.. Livermore is still one of L
NJ You all know the Judge Bailey hous
r. II still stands,-one of the few o
its homes on Water street,--and the II
rn tie office where Judge Bailey he
~. court. near it, There were no hous
RS, across the river A little later the
up was Chinese wash house down on {
b. bank. just east Of where our fine nt
ad bridge now spans the river. T
re Bailey home was thought quite pr
" tentious house when it was first bui
ng There were in the home, the faith
mother, two sons and two daughte
IN. When the house was completed tn
mt gave dance, pretty Helen Bailey "
Sc. quite the "bell of the ball" but oil
u.s. few days later, she was laid to r.
les in the old cemetery across the riv
-ch ! think she was the first one to
ow buried there. Another daughter, n
ek. Mrs William Jones. still lives in Pe