The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1936-07-30
SAVE ORGAN
FROM FLOOD
IN ROWBOAT
Pioneer Tells of Early Day
Experience; Grandparents
Put Out First Trees Here;
Homestead Desert Claim

Mrs. r. c. Gest has been chosen
as Kennewick's representative in the
pioneer mothers part in the Whit
man Centennial. She has furnish
ed us with a short story concerning
her qualifications for the honor.
My great grandparents, Mr.. and
Mrs, william Bird, came from Scot
land about the year 1903, settling
near Louisville, Kentucky. My
grandmother, Eliza w. Bird, was
born there February %, 1888. With
her parents she crossed the plains
the spring of 1847, at the age of
nine. settling in the Willamette Val
ley, at what was known then as
Linn City, Oregon. It took them six
months by OK team to make the trip,
suffering many hardships and pri-
vations. The Indians were very
warlike. Recalling one incident on
the trip, the death of little six
year-old girl. Fearing the Indians
would discover the body, she was
buried in the on-corling wagon
train. My great grandfather, Will
liam Bird, was the captain OF this
wagon train.
NY grandmother, Eliza w. Bird,
was married in 1864 at Canyon City
to William A. Bennett. They set
tied in the Grand Ronde Valley near
Elgin, Oregon and there my mother,
Hattie Bennett, one of ten children,
was born on March 9, 1880. After
graduating from Elgin high school
she taught high school in the Grand
Ronde Valley for six years.
On November Is, 1905, Hattie Ben
nett was married to Charles E. Lum,
at Elgin, Oregon. Charles e. Lum
was born at Camanche, Iowa. His
father, Charles E. Lum, ST. is truly
pioneer of this Valley, coming
West for the first time in 1875. They
settled at Salem, Oregon where they
lived for a time, going to Cello Falls
early in 1878. The family was there
during the uprising of the Bannock
and other western tribes of Indians.
After year at Cello they return
ed to Camanche, Iowa, where he
owned and operated a steamboat on
the Mississippi river, returning West
in five years to AinSwOrth on the
g3 /.
Columbia river.
Having become acquainted with
Capt. w. p. Gray at Cello Falls they
built the first hotel at Kennewick in
1884. Being interested in irriga-
ton he was an engineer in the first
surveying parties who established
the early canals. In January 1889 he
was appointed Deputy Sheriff Of
Yakima County, where he Is still
living. Being deeply interested In
politics he served two terms In the
Legislature. While there he secured
the, first legislative appropriation
for the Naches Pass Highway. Last
June grandfather was a delegate to
the I.O.O.F. Grand Lodge at Walla
Walla.
MY mother and father are still
living on portion of what was my
grandmother's desert claim. On this
farm I was born on November %,
1906. I graduated from the local
high school and was married to
Reuben G.. Gest on July 10, 1926. I
am the mother Of four sons: Tex, ";
Donald, z; and Robert 6. One son,
William Howard, is deceased.
An interesting place which is lett
of the old days is the park down by
the river. My father set the trees
out IN the spring of 1890 as shade
for the home. They were still small
when the river flooded and came up
UP as far as the Mp railroad tracks.
Father and his brother went out IN
rowboat to get the family organ
out before it was ruined by the
wa ter