USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 62
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COM-COM-LY'S DESCENDANTS
Com-com-ly's oldest daughter, the princess who married Astor's factor, Mc- Dougal, in 1811 ,was the daughter of her father's Scappoose wife, who spoke Chi- nook with a Scappoose accent. She die t without any children. Che-nam-uis w.a. the oldest son of Com-com-ly, and hi- mother was a Multnomah princess.
Che-nam-us succeeded in 1830 to an the dominion of his illustrious father, b ::: that power was rapidly waning before the encroachments of the whites. By the time he died scarcely a vestige of that power remained. He left no lineal de- scendants. His wife was a Willapa prin- cess. The early American settlers at . -- toria and on Clatsop plains called het "Queen Sally." During her husband'. life they lived mostly at his royal lodge on Scarborough Head, though they a: times resided near Fort George. Tl: site of their royal palace at the latte! place, made of two-inch cedar board- is pointed out now at the base of the hi" (11 Twelfth street, in Astoria, on the ma: gin of a little cove in the bay as shown in Franchere's sketch of Astoria in 1811. and in Washington Irving's picture 111 8- "Oupen Sally" susciveri her hu
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band 15 years, dying in 1860. She was a also an interesting family, his wife being woman of very strong character and commanded high respect irom the Amer- ican pioneers. At the time of her death the glory of Com-com-ly's empire had departed.
Princess E-lo-wah-ka was the daugh- ter of Com-com-ly by a Wilapa princess, it is said. She lived always with the Chi- nook tribe (marrying in the tribe), and died in 1861 at Ilwaco, the thriving vil- lage named for her.
Another daughter married Thomas McKay, whose mother became, subse- quent to his father's tragic death on the ship Tonquin. the wife of Dr. John Mc- Loughlin. The issue of this marriage was one son, William McKay, who was given a polished education, graduating in medicine and practiced his profession for many years in Pendleton. The doctor was highly honored by all who knew him and his large circle of friends throughout the state greatly regretted his decease. The doctor succeeded to heriditary rule (vox et pretereo nihil) on the death of Che-nam-us, in 1845.
Upon the death of the doctor, Prince Louis, a great grandson of Com-com-ly. succeeded to the heriditary rule of the empire of the Chinook's.
Prince Louis Ducheney (reany Du- chesne), the oldest son of Princess Mary. and the great-grandson of Com-com-ly by his Chehalis wife, and also great- grandson of Cut-Cose, the last Chehalis chief, and linear descendant of the last- named ruler, has been by the Chehalis Indians on that reservation named Cut- Cose, and adopted as their legitimate chief. They are in great comotion when- ever he visits them, and they implore him to come and dwell in their midst as their heaven-born ruler. But Prince Louis has a 40-acre tract of land on El- liott bay with Uncle Sam's patent, and with a royal chinook salmon fishing priv- ilege that is a gold mine. He also has re- cently discovered a ledge of fine coal cropping out of the bold bluff of the Co- lumbia between high and low tide, while behind, in lofty height, rises a mountain that gives promise of even a greater for-
a quarter-breed: the great-granddaught- er of a great Chinook warrior (named Os-wol-lax) under Com-com-ly, when that irate chieftain offered his troops to McDougal to fight the British and de- nounced his son-in-law as a "squaw- man," because he refused to defend the "Boston man's" property. A daughter of old Os-wol-lax, a pure Chinook, now IOI years old, lives near Prince Louis' home.
Princess Margaret, whose Indian name was Kah-at-lin, another daughter of Com-com-ly by a Chehalis wife, married Louis Rondeau, a French Canadian, at Vancouver in 1845. This marriage was a great occasion in the highest circles at Hudson's Bay headquarters, since old chief Com-com-ly was treated as an equal and sat at the table with old Sir James Douglas and Dr. McLoughlin. Upon her marriage Princess Margaret set out with her husband and a trapping party, numbering about a hundred per- sons, into the Rocky mountains. It was truly a wild and picturesque wedding tour for a Princess. Princess Mary was born on the present site of Salt Lake city. Her mother died some five years afterwards at Sacramento, and little Mary was taken for rearing by Sir James Douglas. About the same time her grandfather, Com-com-ly, died suddenly in 1830, of virrulent intermittent fever, an epidemic that carried off about 1000 of his people at the same time. Princess Mary was married on January 9, 1844, to Roque Ducheney, in St. James church, Vancouver, by the Catholic priest. Fath- er F. N. Blanchet, afterwards bishop of that diocese and archbishop of Oregon. In the marriage record her name is given as Mary Rondeau. Ducheney was a French Canadian clerk in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1844 he was put in charge of their store at Chinook, which was afterwards the coun- ty seat of Pacific county, Washington, but is now wholly deserted.
This was prior to civil government in "Oregon territory." Ducheney purchas- ed Scarborough Head (the present site
£
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sale for $1400, after the death of its own- er, Captain James Scarborough. Du- cheney died in 1861, leaving Princess Mary owner of the ancestral home of the Com-com-lys under the laws of the United States, and the United States government bought the property of her in 1864 for $3000 in greenbacks. Prin- cess Mary had six children by Ducheney, four of whom are now living. She soon married Solomon Preble, a white Cali- fornia miner, by whom she had two children. He died in 1868. and within four months his widow of royal lineage married another white man whose name smacks of the Emerald isle. He, too. went the way of all flesh 16 years ago, leaving three children of the marriage. This last husband's name was john C. Kelly.
Princess Mary is 73 years old, a fine- looking, queenly woman. with an air of graceful command equal to that of Vic- toria or to that pictured by Dickens in his "Madame De Farge." She is just 5 feet, 4 inches tall, the sculptor's model height for woman. She has a strong, in- tellectual face, full of character, her man- ners are excellent, she having been rear- ed from childhood up to the time of her first marriage at 18 in the family of Sir James Douglas, the factor of the Hud- son's Bay Company under Governor Mc- Loughlin at Vancouver. She must have been a beautiful girl and was surely a favorite. since she has been married three times, each time to a white man, and her son-in-law insists he has to stand guard over her even now with a shot gun to keep away her numerous suitors. The picture in the cut herewith gives some idea of the royal carriage of this stately dame of an almost forgoten era.
As dowager queen of the Chinooks. she has an empire as substantial as Na- poleon's descendants. In fact. more so. since the Indian title to her ancestral lands (recognized by treaty of most of the tribes with the United States at Smith's point in 1859) has never been extinguished, and a bill is now pending in congress to pay for the same. She still holds her court in her grandfather's
from Jim Crow point, where the Colum bia broadens out under the influence vi ocean tides, to Harrington point, some six miles below. The principal men of that region are her sons, son-in-law, and grandsons-in-law, and all acknowledge her sway. One son-in-law, J. G. Elliott. is king of the bay and lives in a noble mansion, that is a conspicuous landmark on the river. Near by is the handsome residence of another son-in-law, W. I. Enyart, who has a gold mine in the lim Crow point seining grounds, which yield- ed him $20,000 in 1895. Not far off is a grandson-in-law's elegant home. Tenas Illihee, the great and fertile island at the head of the bay, was owned, up to his death, by John Fitzpatrick. then a rich seiner, another son-in-law. The only principal men along the bay, not under her sway, are the Laird of Pillar Rock (cannery) and the postmaster ( Megler) of Brokfield canery.
To the observer on a passing steamer the precipitous character of the shores of Elliott's bay, seem to exclude all idea of its being the seat of thriving homes. In fact, there is a vast deal of human life there, and soon a level plank roadway will be constructed by Wahkiakum coun ty on that bay, which has been made into a separate road district. The queen dow ager lives in a cosy three-room cottage adjacent to the house of one of her sons. in-law, with whom she boards. She has a parlor, a bedroom and a bath and toi !. et room, all heated by a modern stove Rose geraneums in the front window tell of the aristocratic tastes acquired in the home of Sir James Douglas, 70 years ago.
Elliott's bay is a very rough winter harbor. The fearful southwest winds of winter come tearing across the Colum bia's wide expanse from the safe ler shores of Astoria harbor. and render thi- bay unfit for anything but the great fish ing industry, which is chiefly in the hands of chief Com-com-ly's descendant- and under the sway of his granddaughter and her roval son, who can, from this last fortress of their race, look at Scarbor ough head, the ancestral home of the
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Jim Crow point, on the Washington shore, and Cathlamet head, on the Ore- gon side, to the mouth of the Columbia, 29 miles away, is found what is indeed a noble scene of empire. The dominating features of this scene is Tongue point and Saddle mountain. The former furnishes a complete view of the river, with its six great bays, viz., Elliott's, Cathlamet, Gray's, Astoria, Young's and Baker's bays, and of the city of Astoria itself. The later dominates these also, and be- sides, the five noble little rivers of Clat- sop, valley, converging on Young's bay, and the five flowing into the Columbia that fertilize Knappa valley.
THE ROYAL LINE OF COB-A-WAY.
Cob-a-way, chief of the Clatsops, held his title as did the most of the rulers of the native races-by right of succession and also by his intelligence. activity and bravery. He was faithful in his engage- ments, kindly disposed, and was of much service to Lewis and Clarke while on their tour of exploration to the Pacific Northwest in 1805-6, as well as being of assistance to the pioneer settlers of the country. Upon the death of Co-ba-way in 1824, without male heirs, he was suc- ceeded by Kate-ya-hun. who was killed in 1829 when the Hudson's Bay ship bombarded the Clatsop village at Point Adams, the present site of Fort Stevens, and destroyed their power because of their plundering a vessel cast away on Sand island and (falsely alleged) murder- ing her crew. After that era their chiefs were only so in name. The last one was Tose-Tum, who strutted on his phantom stage from 1851 to 1876. The members of this tribe are now but very few in numbers, and whatever honors are due its chiefs belong to Alexander Porier and Hon. Silas B. Smith, the sons of Princess Ce-li-ast, daughter of Co-ba-way.
Princess Ce-li-ast was born in 1804 near the mouth of the Columbia river. and on her arrival at womanhood she be- came the wife of Basil Poirier. a French- man, who was in the employ of the Hud- son's Bay Company as baker at Fort George or Astoria. Three sons were born to them. Alexander. the only one
now surviving, being the titular chief of the Clatsop nation. His home is in the Flathead country. In 1824 the family removed to Vancouver ,and soon after such time Mrs. Poirier received the painful intelligence that her husband had another wife in Canada, from whom he had never been legally separated. She at once severed her relations with her supposed husband, and removed to French Prairie, making her home with her sister, who was the wife of Joseph Gervais. Here she met and married Sol- omon Smith, a pioneer of 1832, who came to the Pacific Northwest with the Wyeth exploration party in that year. At this time Princess Ce-li-ast adopted the Chrisian name of Helen, by which she has since been known.
In 1836 Mr. and Mrs. Smith removed to the Chehalem valley, and during their residence there Mr. Smith assisted to build the first saw mill constructed in the Willamete valley. In 1840 they removed to the girlhood home of Mrs. Smith, on Clatsop plains, there taking up a claim and became the first agricultural pio- neers of that section of Oregon.
Frequently there was friction between the setlers on Clatsop plains and the In- dians. On these occasions the services rendered the settlers by Princess Ce-li-ast were of inestimable value. Once a whole band of the Clatsops augmented by the Tillamook Indians, were on their way to massacre a man at whom they were en- raged, she met them while in full array and by cogent arguments, directed both to their caution and nobility, turned them back from their blody purposes. To her, as a princess of their nation, they listened, and her influence over them was remarkable; and it is probable that, if she had not used it at that very moment. in the interest of the white settlers, a local and, perhaps, general Indian war would have ensued. At another time she saved the life of Rev. Mr. Frost. by seizing the Indian, Ka-ta-ta, by the hair and wrenching from him the gun with which he was about to shoot the mis- sionary. These incidents, chosen from many others related of her actions, illus-
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trate her courageous and noble qualties and nature. She died an octogenarian, honored and respected by all who knew her. To omit her from among the list of those who have helped to build up the state of Oregon would be injustice to her worth.
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born sev- en children, but three of whom are now living. Silas B .. born in the Chehalem
valley September 22, 1839, received a finished education and is a leading law - ver of Clatsop county; Josephine, the eldest daughter, is the wife of Mr. Ketch- um, of San Luis Opispo county, Califor- nia, and the younger daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Braillier, like her brother Silas, resides near Skipanon, almost the center of the empire over which their grand- father was once a ruler.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS. LOCATED IN VARIOUS S:CTIONS OF THE ORIGINAL OREGON.
On the frontispiece of this number will be found views of four historic buildings intimately connected with the his- tory of the Pacific Northwest. One of them-said to have been the building in which the pioneer printing press of the Pacific coast was set up-was a house of peace, the other three were built for use in time of war.
The Lapwai structure was one of the results of the establishment of a mission there in . 1836, it being there that Rev. H. H. Spaulding went to labor among the Indians as a missionary. Within its walls were born some of the first white children who drew the breath of life west of the Rocky mountains. Beneath its shadows read the Indians, from books printed in their own tongue, psalms dedi- cated to the praise of the white man's God. and again gathered to enter into treaties of peace and amity. In 1848 the station was considered unsafe for further occupancy through disaffection of the Indians, and it was abandoned.
The Crocket stockade was built in the the fifties by Walter Crocket, one of the first settlers on Whidby's island, as a protection against possible attack by the Sound Indians who had been, in sec- tions. on the war path, and were still in hostile mood. Fortunately, however. trouble was averted and the stockade was not made a place of active defense from attack of savage foe.
There were two block houses erected at the Cascades, the first one being built in November. 1855 .. under the superin- tendence of Capt. Henry D. Wallen, commanding Company M. Fourth U.
S. Infantry, while enroute to the Yakima Indian war. Upon its completion it was christened "Fort Rains," in honor of Major Gabriel Rains of the Fourth In- fantry. Though so known in military annals, it has always been referred to in history and spoken of by pioneers as "Middle Blockhouse." It became so called by reason of the locality where it stood, the location being about midway between the head and foot of the rapid: or the Upper and Lower Cascades steamer landings.
The upper blockhouse was erected on an eminence near the upper landing in April, 1856, under the supervision of Major Lougenbeel, Ninth United States Infantry. It is the general belief that this upper blockhouse is the one made famous through the massacre at the Cas- cades of some of the white setlers there by Indians in March, 1856, and gallant defense made by the whites on that men- orable occasion, as well as being the location where General Phil. Sheridan. then a lieutenant, began his afterwards brilliant military career, coming at that time with troops to the relief of the set tlers. This idea is erroneous. The block house connected with the affair was the midle blockhouse or Fort Rains. The upper blockhouse was not erected until after the conflict was over and Sheridan stationed elsewhere. The upper block- house was never the scene of war, Hever besieged or attacked by Indians, and no shots were fired from its port holes at an enemy, and its history should not be re lated so as to rob another spot of historic circumstances belonging thereto.
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REV. CUSHING EELLS. A Pioneer of 1838.
REV. H H. SPA LDING, A Pioneer of 1836.
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REV ELKANAH WALKER, A Pioneer of 1835.
REV. SAMUEL PARKER, A Pioneer of 1836.
PIONEER CONGREGATIONAL AND PRESBYERIAN
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JULY FOURTH, 1846
On July 4, 1843, our national anniver- sary was first observed on the Coast, tlie oration being delivered by Rev. Gus- tavus Hines. The Declaration of Inde- pendence was not read, no toasts offered and there was no firing of salutes, so far as can be learned.
The next public celebrations were held in Salem and Oregon City, on July 4th, 1846.
The following relation of facts incid- ent thereto may not be without interest to not only many of the pioneers and their descendants, but to our other read- ers as well.
On the morning of that day the pio- neers of and near the latter place, as- sembled and formed in procession when they marched to the Methodist church, which was the first house of worship built in Oregon, being preceded by the stars and stripes. The ceremonies opened with prayer by Rev. J. L. Par- rish, the declaration was read by A. L. Lovejoy and Judge Peter H. Burnett, afterwards the first governor of Californ- ia, delivered the oration.
At the conclusion of the exercises, the procession was again tormed and a march was made to the City Hotel where a public dinner was served, after which the usual toasts were read, with cheering and firing of guns.
There were thirteen regular toasts, all full of the spirit of 1776. and a number of others all more or less colored by the pecular situation of this section of the country at that time. One of those of- fered: "Oregon belonging to the United States and rightly claiming her protec- tion. and ever ready to repel any insult offered in seducing her from that path by hired emissaries, come from what source they may." Another read: "The United States of America, an example
for the world, a bone of jealousy to ty- rants, the home of the free. the land of the brave, and an asylum for the op pressed."
The festivities were concluded by a ball in the evening, and it is said that among those present engaging in the mazy dance were the officers of the British sloop-of-war, Modeste, then lay- ing at anchor in the Columbia river near Vancouver.
At Salem the management of the cel- ebration was placed in the hands of the Oregon Rangers, the first military com pany organized on the Pacific coast Here the blessing was invoked by the Rev. Haryev Clark. The Declaration of Independence read by James W. Ne smith, afterwards United States senator from Oregon, and the oration was de livered by Oregon's post master general and her first editor, W. G. T'Vault.
On this occasion occured the first pre- sentation of colors to a military organiz ation on this Coast. the Oregon Ranger- being the recipients. Here occured also another rare proceedure. Salem was a: that time known as a missionary town. and it was not considered the proper thing to give a ball at the close of the festivities and a sermon was preached in stead.
One of the old time barbacues w3. given at this latter place in the late: hours of the afternoon, during which toasts were offered and chieers and the noise of anvils fired in lieu of guns they did not have, made the welkin ring. !. is said that one of the toasts offered was as follows:
"Salem for beauty, Champoeg for pride.
If not for salmon, O:egon City would her died."
a
LETTERS FROM REV. MYRON EELLS.
CONCERNING DR. MARCUS WHITMAN.
Editor of the Native Son :-- I have re- ceived the set of your magazine which you sent me, and have been very much interested in them, especially those arti- cles which had reference to early history and Indian traditions. In about twenty- six hours after they were received I had gone through with all of them.
With especial interest I read the three articles about Dr. Marcus Whitman, by Dr. H. K. Hines, in he May number, by F. Hampton in the one for July, and by S. H. Frederick in that for October. They give the different sides of the ques- tion as to what Dr. Whitman did, which has been so widely discussed. It is not best to open now that old controversy, for probably nothing would be gained by it. Still,I would, with your permission. like to speak of a fact or two. In Mr. Hampton's article, much of which I ap- prove, he says: "On his arrival East, it was the Master first, for he went to the home board in the interests of his mission, and from thence to the capi- tal." This is the first time I have ever heard it stated that he went to Boston first, and I have consulted every witness I could find who could give any infor- mation on the subject-his old mission- ary associates. his frineds in the East. and some whom he incidentally met. The universal evidence is that he went to Washington first. Not but what he loved the Master, though he undoubtedly felt that he was working for the Master when he was working for his country, but he also wanted to see members of congress, and as congress adjourned March 4. it was necessary for him to høsten there, which he did, direct from Missouri, arriving there about March 2. as near as can now be learned.
From the evidence the route was first to Ithica, N. Y., to see Rev. S. Parker,
and to get him to go along to Washing- ton to help, "For if we do not go," he said to Mr. Parker, "Oregon is lost." Mr. Parker did not. however, go with Dr. Whitman. Then he went alone to Washington, then to New York to see Horace Greeley, a known friend of Ore- gon, and then to Boston.
It has often been said that one known fact is worth much more than a large amount of circumstantial evidence, and that a statement or two from Dr. Wl:it- n an would be worth more than the evi- dlence of many whose statements must be considered second-hand. Hence, I beg leave to submit extracts from two letters of his, which states why he went East, and what he believed he accom- plished. Both were written to his home board, after he had heard that the treaty of 1846 had been made. April 1, 1847, he wrote:
"I often reflect on the fact that you told me you were sorry that I came East. It did not then, nor has it since. altered my opinion in the matter. American in- terest acquired in the country, which the success of the immigration in 1843 alone did, and could have secured, have be- come the foundation of the late treaty between England and the United States in regard to Oregon, for it may easily be seen what would have become of Amer- ican interests had the immigration of 1843 been as disastrous as have been the. two attempts in 1845 and 1846 to alter the route then followed [both of these years his route was abandoned for an- other]. The disaster was great again last year to those who left the track which I made for them in 1843. as it has been oit every attempt to improve it. Not that it cannot be improved, but it demonstrates what I did in making my way to the States in the winter of 1842-3,
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after the 3rd of October. It was to open a practical route and safe passage, and secure a favorable report of the journey from emigrants, which, in connection with other objects, caused me to leave my family and brave the toils and dan- gers of the journey, notwithstanding the unusual severity of the winter and the great depth of snow.
"Anyone can see that American inter- ests, as now acquired, have had more to do in securing the treaty, than our orig- inal rights. From 1835 till now it has been apparent that there was a choice of only two things: (1) The increase of British interests to the exclusion of all other rights in the country, or (2) the es- tablishment of American interests by citi- zens.'
October 16, 1847, about six months before his death, he again wrote:
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