Hike Down Coast Proves Hilarious
By Virginia Muhle
A T-R Feature
Dateline July 1946
It was June 9—day for the realization of several weeks of planning when five McMinnville high school boys set off on the first lap of a proposed 105-mile hike down the Oregon coast. The five, Malcolm March, Jim Hart, Dick Bennette, Joe Jensen and Dick Muhle, planned stops all along the stretch of sand, trees, rain and ocean between Ocean Lake and Reedsport and they intended to make the trek within 10 days.
As told by Anne Kemp Gowdy
When I was about ten years old – 1853 – there was no school near where we lived in Salem, Oregon. So I went to stay with my married sister, Mary, or Mollie, as we called her. She was living somewhere near the Santiam River. Read the rest of this entry
As told to Elsie Odell Bennette by Beth Gowdy
When my Grandmother, Sally Newbill, was preparing for her wedding in 1828, the most of her outfit was made, spun and woven by her own hands. Read the rest of this entry
from the diary of Ruby Tuggle Read the rest of this entry
As told to Elsie Odell Bennette by Beth Gowdy about her mother, Anne Kemp Gowdy
John Glenn Newbill of Virginia was a slave owner but his slaves were well treated. When his daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Riley Kemp, moved to Pettis County, Missouri, he gave her a couple. Read the rest of this entry
As told by Beth Gowdy
Riley Kemp was sheriff of Pettis County, Missouri, for eight years. Once before an election he and the other candidate made a friendly bet that the one who lost would give the other one an overcoat. Read the rest of this entry
by Martha Roelofson Caffee
Among the early pioneers of Kentucky were your great, great, great grandparents, Lawrence and Mary Roelofson who were married in 1796. They were the maternal grandparents of your great grandfather, John T. Gowdy.
Petition Sundry Inhabitants South of French Broad North Carolina General Assembly Session Records Nov-Dec 1789, Box 4, Folder 81
ALL NAMES on the Lost State of Franklin Petition listed in alphabetical order.
The following document is a petition signed by many inhabitants of Greene Co, TN, Washington Co, NC and other counties asking the United States to allow them to form a separate state called Franklin with Greenville as its capital. The names of people who signed this petition are listed at the bottom in the order they appear on the document.
As told to Elsie Odell Bennette by Beth Gowdy about her father
The summer of 1862, John T. Gowdy and a friend went north to Canada to hunt for gold. They had very little success, but John did bring home a very small amount of gold dust.
Personal Recollections of the Journey to Oregon in 1852, by Mrs. J. T. Gowdy of McMinnville
I was born Nov. 23, 1843, in Pettis county, Missouri, near where the city of Sedalia now is, but there was no city there then, the county seat, Georgetown, was the nearest town from where our farm was.
As told to Beth Gowdy by her mother, Anne Kemp Gowdy
When I was ten years old, we lived for about a year in a little log cabin in Polk County, near where Fort Sheridan stood. Ever since we had been in Oregon, we had lived in Salem, and had near neighbors with children to play with me. This was a lonesome place, no houses in sight and no near neighbors.
Told by Anne Kemp Gowdy.
I was six years old in November, 1849. The next spring I went to school for the first time. We were living on a farm, near where is now the city of Sedalia, Missouri. My teacher was Mrs. Ferguson. She taught, or kept school, as we said then, in her home.
As told to Elsie Odell Bennette by Beth Gowdy
Bellpassi was a little town, that was moved to be by the railroad and its name changed to Woodburn. Before that Mr. Brown had the station for the stage stops between Oregon and California. Mrs. Brown cooked for the passengers. The horses were changed there and my father cared for them, and made trips back and forth to Portland.
As told to Elsie Odell Bennette by Beth Gowdy
Your great grandfather, John T. Gowdy, was only seventeen years old when he crossed the plains in 1852 by ox team. By the time he was telling this story to his children, he had forgotten the name of this river.
Tuggles
