Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 3/Reminiscences of James Jory
REMINISCENCES OF JAMES JORY.
The history of Oregon, as it is pursued more definitely and is traced to its sources and details, becomes a study of families quite as much as of localities or of tendencies. Without royalty or nobility or hereditary titles Americans have yet developed family traits and characteristics more strongly than other people, and no where is this more noticeable than in our own Oregon. A family name is already well recognized here as indicating a certain type of man. This may be due in part to the considerable proportion of Englishmen among the early pioneers, who brought with them not only strong racial, but also family characteristics. It is quite noticeable, too, that when once here the Englishmen became most sturdy and radical Americans. Among the well-known families of Oregon is that of the Jorys, who crossed the plains to Oregon in 1847. The family home is in Marion County, south of Salem, among the Red Hills, which have become famous as a prune-growing country.
James Jory, Sr., the founder of the Oregon family, and perhaps the first of the name to come to America, was a carpenter and mechanic of Cornwall, England, being a son of James Jory, gamekeeper and gardener on an English estate. He was married about 1812 to Mary Stevens in St. Clear Parish. There were two daughters and six sons reared in this family. The daughters were Mary and Elizabeth, and the sons John, James, Henry, Thomas, William, and H. S., all except the last born in England.This English family, however, had various causes for dissatisfaction with conditions as they then existed in the mother country. For one, there was a parish law that children must be bound out to a master at the age of nine years. This gave great opportunity for men desiring laborers to secure such children as they might select, even from families preferring to rear their children at home. A native love of liberty very strong with the English made them restive for a country not hampered with petty restrictions, and where opportunity was equal to ambition. Such, of course, America was understood to be.
It is interesting to note in what way this family obtained the means to cross the ocean. This was done by a little shrewd management beyond the ordinary savings of days' work. "A large half acre" near the family home was rented at a low figure. This had been spoiled for ordinary use by the prospecting of tin miners, who had dug it into pits, and thrown the gravel over the soil. By much careful work, from year to year, however, the mud, or fine earth collected in the pits was thrown out, and the gravel was placed back. The larger boulders or rocks were used to construct a good stone building. In course of time the piece was restored to its original condition and fertility, with soil on top and gravel underside, and was placed in good tilth as a garden patch. As the lease was at a low rate, and for a long time "three lives," this became quite a valuable property, and upon sale realized enough to pay the passage across the Atlantic.
Passage was taken upon an old lumber ship coming to Saint Johns, New Brunswick. Water was declared short toward the close of the voyage, and the passengers were placed on allowance, but this was discovered to be a nautical fabrication, simply to avoid tapping the casks, or compartments, that carried the ballast which was fresh water. A home was made on land taken some forty miles up the Saint John River, where tracts of fifty acres were open to public entry, such a tract, and ten acres by purchase constituted, the farm . This was a region of young timber, in a country swept some time previously by a great fire, such as is periodical in all timbered countries.
After several years of farming poor soil it was decided to return to Saint John, and here work in the ship yards was undertaken. The father was a master mechanic, and the older boys, John and James, were able to give valuable assistance in running the whipsaw—getting out necessary birch, white pine, and spruce timbers for shipsknees and other particular work. It was learned here, however, that land was better and more abundant, and conditions were generally better in Upper Canada. It was decided therefore to use the earnings of the family to remove thither. Passage was taken to New York, with the intention of going thence by the Erie canal to their destination; but once on the soil of the United States this industrious family was not to be let off. At New York they were made acquainted with an old gentleman from Missouri, who described his state as in every way better country than Canada. It happened also that the boat on which they were to start to Upper Canada was delayed, and it was decided to go to Missouri instead. The route chosen was by water; going first to New Orleans by a sailing vessel, and from New Orleans to Saint Louis by steamboat—a side wheeler, named the George Collier. Saint Louis was still a frontier town, but the leading point in the West.
It was just before Christmas that the Jorys arrived, and they found work for the winter on the large farm, or plantation, of a leading citizen, Col. John O'Fallon. The father was employed in repairs on the buildings and putting in a crop, while the four boys old enough for work built fences. There were negro slaves on the farm, but they were not severely taxed with work, and seemed happy and contented, and liked their master. However, James Jory, Sr., did not like the slave system, and James, the son, recalls with what a shock he reflected that the negro who came to convey their baggage from the city to the farm was the property of a master, the same as the oxen which he drove.
It was partly for this reason that it was decided to move over into Illinois, across the Mississippi River, into Pike County, of that state, where the land was as also found to be good, and an abundance was still open for settlement. Land was very cheap, being obtained by sale of tax titles, or use of soldiers' or other warrants. The Jorys bought of the government 40 acres of the richest of land, partly prairie and partly timbered. This was in the fall of 1837.
Here they remained nearly ten years, James Jory, Jr., buying the place of his father, who removed to a farm in Brown County, some 40 miles away.
On March 12, 1846, James Jory, Jr., was married to Sarah Budd, daughter of Aaron and Phoebe Ogden Budd. This lady, who has shared equally with her husband in the work and privations experienced in building up a commonwealth on the Pacific Coast, belonged to an old American family, her grandfather Budd having been a soldier in the War of Independence, and her father a resident of Duchess County, New York, until removing to Illinois at an early date. On the side of her mother, who was Phoebe Ogden, she was also of revolutionary stock; so that the Jory family in Oregon embraces both the strains of the independent working class of west England and the original American of the Atlantic States.James Jory, who was thus married at the age of 26, had a place of his own in one of the most productive sections of Illinois, and was in good prospect of acquiring a substantial competence; but he could not but mark the sad results of the malaria prevalent in the country upon the breaking of the prairies. He noticed that the universal fever and ague proved particularly debilitating to young married women, who easily fell victims to other disorders after being weakened by this malady; and like a thoughtful husband began to consider removal to a more healthful country. The matter was talked over first with his wife and afterward with his father and brothers, and as a consequence it was decided to sell out and go to Oregon the next spring.
Mr. Jory with his young wife prepared to start from their own place and join the rest of the family at Independence, Mo. Being a practical mechanic, he made it his first concern to have a suitable wagon. For $50 he purchased the running gear of a vehicle that had been made out of green timber, and had shrunk so as to be considered unserviceable; but this he saw was just the thing, as it could be tightened all around and would best endure a trip across the drouth-stricken plains. For this he constructed a box, which should serve all purposes of living as well as of travel, or might be used as a flatboat in case of necessity. Around the sides and through a partition three or four feet from the front end augur holes were bored, and a piece above the end gate at the rear was likewise perforated, and through these a bed cord was run in the old fashion, and thus was constructed a comfortable spring bed. Underneath there was space for provisions, tools and other necessary traveling articles. Substantial bows were fitted above and a cover of double thickness of canvas was drawn over this. Double canvas proved much more comfortable than the single canvas painted, of which some covers were made. The provisions consisted of seven sacks of flour, and an abundance of bacon, which was made from a phenomenally fat corn-fed porker; also dried pease, beans and fruit; gunpowder and garden seeds were prudently added. Much valuable information in regard to Oregon was obtained from letters of Rev. E. E. Parrish, who came to Oregon in 1844, and writing East gave very favorable descriptions of the mild and healthful climate and the advantages of stock raising, where cattle might browse or pasture twelve months of the year.
At Independence Mr. Jory did not find his father, or brothers as anticipated, but with his younger brother, who was with him from the first, drove on to the Kaw River. At this point about eighty or one hundred wagons had collected and were waiting to form a regular organization. It was soon learned that these were too many for one company, and two were therefore formed. Of the part to which Mr. Jory belonged Joseph Magone was elected captain. Magone was from New York, an unmarried man, young, handsome, and deservedly popular. He had hired his passage with the train, and was out for an adventure, but when it was represented that he was the best man for captain, being free-handed and wellinformed, he set aside personal considerations and accepted. He proved to be one of the best emigrant captains ever on the Plains, alert, cheerful, watchful of the needs of every one, and promising all that he would see the last one through safely to the banks of the Willamette, and he most bravely redeemed his promise. Indeed, nothing now seems to Mr. and Mrs. Jory more noteworthy of that whole trip across the continent than the value and delight of association and practical brotherhood. Except for this the journey could never have been made by families, or Oregon occupied with an American population.
It was customary, says Mr. Jory, to elect a captain by "standing up on sides," and being then counted off, aiming to be fair and democratic, and give every one a chance to show his preference, as so interestingly described in the file of the New Orleans Picayune found by Doctor Wilson. In the case of Joseph Magone there was no need of this; it was all one side for him. Magone was married after reaching Oregon to a Miss Tomlinson that he met on the Plains; and long afterwards, indeed after the railroad was built, illustrated his original love of adventure by walking back East for a visit.
One of his memorable pleasantries occurred at the time the first buffalo was killed on the Plains. This was a fine young heifer and was shot by Magone. He came back to camp and invited the men to go out and each take a piece. There was a little hesitation, no one wishing to show greed where all were so anxious. "Come, come," said Magone, "don't be bashful; the best-looking man start first." But this started no one; "Well, then," he said, "the man with the best-looking wife come first;" and there was a general rush. That first buffalo was considered the best meat tasted on the trip. This party did not see many of the buffalo herds, being too early, as the animals had gone north. The later emigrants of that season, however, described them as occurring "in clouds" upon the prairie.
It was considered something of a joke on Magone, being a bachelor, that no less than five times he was obliged to give the order to halt the train a day on account of the birth of a child. These were in the families of Mr. Watts, Nelson, one of the Knightons, and of Mr. Jory. This latter was the oldest child, a daughter, who was born on Burnt River. There was no regular medical attendance, but with such care as the women of the train could render each other there was no difficulty.
As the train proceeded westward, as in the case of all, it was broken up into several smaller companies of eight or ten wagons each, those wishing to travel at about the same rate of speed naturally going together, and the danger of Indians being considered small as they reached the Pacific Slope. It was understood that the Nez Perces and their allies were friendly to the whites, as was indeed the case, and but for the friendship of these truly rare native Americans the scattered and weakened bands of immigrants might easily have been cut off. It must be remembered that there was not a United States soldier stationed in Oregon until 1848. Even through the Cayuse troubles and the later Indian wars the Nez Perces have been unvarying friends of the whites.
As to Indians, Captain Magone's company had very little to do. Some of the Kaws appeared early on the journey, and were great beggars. One of them was given by Mrs. Jory what she considered a generous piece of light bread, as he claimed that he was desperately hungry. But no sooner was this offered than he opened his blankets, showing a much larger piece of biscuits, which he intended as an object lesson of the size and kind of bread he wanted. On another occasion, somewhere in the Blue Mountains, an Indian felt a curiosity to examine the interior of the Nelson wagon, where there was a young baby. By the irate Nelson, who resented the indecorum, the young brave was severely lashed with the oxwhip, much to his discomfiture, but to the great amusement of the assembled Indians and immigrants. Such punishment is regarded by the Indians as a great joke; but killing an Indian is, or was, a very serious matter.
The thievish, but still good-natured side of the Indian disposition is well illustrated by the following incident related by Mr. Jory: Before making a long drive over dry country to Green River, the immigrants found it necessary to lay in a supply of water. While busy filling his water keg he noticed two Indians standing close together by his wagon, evidently engaged in some small mischief. Slyly watching them he went on filling his keg until he thought it time to interfere. Going up to them he found that the Indian furthest from him, and partly concealed by the other, had removed from the wagon bed a screw which held the wagon cover down in one place. Pointing to the empty screw hole Mr. Jory demanded the return of the stolen article. It was promptly presented in the Indian's open palm. Mr. Jory then ordered by signs that he should turn the screw back into the proper place. This the Indian tried to do, but, using his butcher knife awkwardly, was making but sorry headway, but readily lent Mr. Jory the knife and received it meekly when the screw was properly restored. The crestfallen culprit was compelled to endure the humiliation of a very hearty horselaugh from his equally virtuous companion. Thus theft was not condemned, but a bungling and unsuccessful attempt at stealing was the object of extravagant ridicule.
Another incident of somewhat similar import came to Mr. Jory's notice at Fort Laramie, on the South Platte. The train was making a short stay for repairs. Sioux Indians in considerable numbers, with their ponies and half wolf dogs, were gathered about the fort. While one of the emigrants was greasing his wagon, watched by a number of Indians, the wagon hammer suddenly disappeared. An Indian was seen walking quickly away with his blanket drawn tightly about him. When about 50 yards off he was brought to a halt by a peremptory order from the owner, "Bring back that wagon hammer!" Turning about the Indian denied the theft and opened and shook out his blanket in proof of his innocence, and then hurried on. The owner, only half convinced, went to the place where the Indian stood, and found the hammer on the ground.
The following shows one of the practical difficulties of company travel, and an intelligent solution reached' by the emigrants. When Captain Magone's train reached Scott's Bluff, it was found that the rate of travel was too slow. The chief cause of the trouble was that some of the company who were bringing with them a considerable number of cattle, were careless, or had committed their stock to irresponsible herders, and allowed them to stray too far from camp, or to fall out by the way, as many of them, being footsore, were much inclined to do; and so it happened that each morning when the time to start came, much valuable time had to be wasted in hunting the missing stock.
The captain's scheme for finding a remedy well illustrated his wisdom and resourcefulness. Calling the company together and laying the gravity of the situation before them, he invited each man who had a plan to step out of line and state his plan to the company; and all who approved the plan proposed were to come forward and stand with its author until counted—a majority vote being necessary to adopt any plan. When several plans had been successively rejected, Mr. Jory, who had the reputation of being the quietest man in the company, came forward and proposed a plan which met with hearty approval. The plan embraced the following provisions: First, each owner of stock must carefully count his animals in the evening on reaching camp before turning them out to graze; second, he must bring into camp and count them again early each morning; third, if any cattle proved missing in the morning that were known to have been present on the previous evening, the company was bound to make diligent search for them before moving on; but if any of those found missing in the morning were not known to have been present the previous evening the company should not be delayed to search for them. Thus the loss of time consequent upon searching at one camping place for stock that might have been missed for several days would be avoided. After a little friction, which spent its force in two or three days, the plan was found to work admirably; and Mr. Jory, now nearly 82 years old, recalls with just pride the success of his first and only public address. This incident shows also the strong hold which the principle of majority rule had taken on the minds of early pioneers, and its entire competency to deal with questions far more difficult than those encountering military enterprises.
Although having heard of the friendliness of the Cayuses, Mr. Jory saw things on the Umatilla and met treatment that led him to distrust them. Among others there was a Catholic priest that crossed the Blue Mountains with his train. He was met on the Umatilla by the Cayuses, one of whom made a long speech. Of course this was not understood by Jory, except that the name of Whitman was repeated a number of times, and each time the Cayuse would take hold of the large crucifix that hung from the priest's belt and make the motion of wringing it in pieces and throwing it down, and showing great rage. This Mr. Jory understood as a description of what the Cayuse considered the disposition of Whitman toward the Catholic religion.
However, as he heard that his father and brothers were on the way, being so informed by three young men that were hastening forward and overtook him, he decided to camp on the Umatilla and wait for them.
While camping here he found one morning that his oxen were missing. But looking in the distance he saw them down on the bottoms, and hastened to get them; but saw that an Indian was driving them. He quickly asked, "Are you stealing my cattle?' 1 "Heap water,replied the Cayuse, meaning that he was simply driving them to water, and also at once demanded a shirt as pay for his service. Jory at once refused pay, as he could himself water his cattle; and pointed out, too, that one was missing. "No one ox," the Indian maintained, but allowed Mr. Jory to drive the cattle to camp. After some further search and before camp was reached the missing "one ox'! was found. But next day the same Indian reappeared and demanded a shirt. Jory again refused, and the Indian became very threatening, declaring, by signs, that he would kill him. After some further parley, Jory tried to settle the trouble by offering him some powder, about half the quantity in his powderhorn, but the Indian spurned the offer. Mr. Jory then emptied the horn for him, by carefully turning it up and shaking out all the powder. The Indian was then well pleased, and left doubtless thinking that no powder was left for defense. From all this Mr. Jorv concluded that the Cayuses were troublesome and treacherous, and would have been glad to be out of their country, but felt the necessity of remaining until his father and brothers arrived, as he had some of their cattle, and had, according to their instructions, sold them, and thought it not improbable that they would need the proceeds in order to reach Willamette Valley. As soon, therefore, as the Indian was gone he refilled his powderhorn from a keg concealed in the wagon, and saw to it that his rifle was loaded and in prime order.
As for others on the road that year, Mr. Jory particularly recalls Seth Luelling, who passed and repassed many times, with his little nursery of grafted fruit trees.
On the Umatilla Mr. Jory also met with Doctor Whitman. He remembers him as a plain man of medium size and direct manner and speech. The Doctor had been with a party of immigrants showing them a route to The Dalles by the John Day, keeping along the foothills rather than taking the old route through the heavy sands along the Columbia. He also gave Mr. Jory the directions, telling him that without very heavy grades this hill route would afford them abundant water and good grass, as well as avoiding the sands.
The Jorys, the remainder of the family having now come up, and meeting James Jory and his family at the Umatilla, came by this route to The Dalles. At this point they built flatboats, preferring to come down the Columbia rather than attempt the snow-covered route over the Cascades. About forty boats were built at The Dalles that year, from the pine trees along the shore of the Columbia.
At The Dalles Captain Magone still stayed by his party, to see that the last one got through. He had, indeed, made all the young men promise that they would stay by the families until all were at their journey's end. There were some, however, that never came through. A family named Wilcox contracted the measles early on the way, and owing to exposure in looking after cattle in the rain, the entire family, except two girls and a little boy, died. A family named Rydenhour also, with the exception of one boy, died of the same. Measles were general that year on the Plains, and, as is well known, were the occasion of the outbreak against Whitman that occurred late in the autumn, the Cayuses contracting the disease from the immigrants, and becoming terrorized at a plague which they could not control.
A man by the name of Koontz was drowned on the Snake River. He was crossing cattle at the ferry, and seeing one with crumpled horns caught on the cable went out to unloose the animal. He was a jovial man, and to his wife who cautioned him to be careful, he made the laughing rejoinder, "If I was born to be drowned I won't be hanged, and if born to be hanged, I'll never be drowned.' Reaching the place where the ox was entangled he jumped from the boat, swimming towards the animal, but miscalculating the current was carried below, and was caught in a whirlpool and went down. Persons from the Mississippi Valley were very much deceived in the waters of the Columbia or Snake, which are very much lighter [clearer] than those to which they are accustomed, and also colder, and with stronger currents and more dangerous eddies. Magone himself was nearly drawn down into a whirlpool of the Snake, and only was saved by resting for a time on the edge until he recovered strength to break away.
The widow of Koontz was made a special care by Magone, who brought her chest of goods himself in a boat from The Dalles to the cascades, and with Mr. Jory carried it over the portage at the cascades, slung on a pole between the two.
The Jorys all reached Oregon in safety, and coming into the Willamette Valley looked about for a home. They were struck with the attractive little settlement at Salem, and the advantages of church and school. The choice lay between this and the yet unoccupied prairies of the Santiam, and above Albany. There the land seemed better, but the other attractions, and the fact also that in the hills near Salem the prospect of health seemed better than on the prairie, outweighed in the decision, and all took claims together about six or eight miles from the present capital. This was in the land of oak trees, and the Father Jory having seen such timber in England believed that the soil would prove fertile. The sons, however, never expected to farm, except along the narrow creek bottoms; but the open oak groves and endless hills offered great scope for cattle range. As a matter of fact, however, the hills have proved the best of wheat land, and have now become still more valuable for fruit and prune raising. "The Jory settlement "is now in the very region where there are great orchards crowning the hills, and where fruit driers are as conspicuous as the hop houses of French Prairie. The donation land claim of John Jory has been divided into small fruit-raising tracts, and H. S. Jory, the youngest brother, has become well known as the inventor and maker of one of the most serviceable fruit driers in use.
While, however, the Jorys have been agriculturists in Oregon, their tastes have been mechanical, reverting to the original occupation of their grandfather and father. H. S. Jory, of South Salem, has invented and patented the "Oregon Fruit Dryer," and an ingenious harrow-hinge; Henry Jory, who died in Marysville, California, and his son, James W., each invented and patented a swivel plow. John W. and Arthur, sons of James Jory, invented and patented a wheat header; T. C. and John W., sons of James Jory, of this sketch, invented and patented a grain separator. Thomas C. Jory, who was for some time Professor of Mathematics at Willamette University, Salem, where he graduated, also invented and presented for patent a machine for converting reciprocal into rotary motion, avoiding the "dead points;but was preceded by Westinghouse, of the celebrated airbrake apparatus. These items are of interest as showing a still larger truth, that probably half the young men of Oregon, at least among those at school, devote much of their leisure time in planning practical inventions in mechanics, and of the many who do not succeed in producing a tangible result the case is not so much lack of practical skill as the intense rivalry of others at more central points. Oregon alone could furnish enough inventors to supply the world if the race of Fulton and Edison should fail elsewhere!
The Jorys have been a prolific family in Oregon, the oldest son, John, who married Caroline Budd, having a family of ten children; James, who married Sarah A. Budd, a sister of Caroline, eleven children; Thomas, of South Salem, who married Katharine Leabo, seven children; William, who married Jane Moore, four children; and H. Stevens, of South Salem, who married May Budd, still another sister of Caroline and Sarah A., five children. Thomas C. Jory, well known over the entire state as an educator and an advanced thinker on political and social matters, lives upon a part of the old donation claim, in a locality of ideal Oregon beauty, with his family of wife and three children.
The Grandfather Jory, who came to America and then with his sons to Oregon, is said to have thought himself the last of his race; but besides the numerous family founded by himself in Oregon and in California, it is now known that there are also many other Jorys in different parts of the United States and England.