A woman who has known Ashland from the time it
was
a single cabin on a donation land claim tells Mr Lockley about the
founding
of that excellent city. This woman has a remarkable history all
her
own, and she tells of her life work and of her fine and numerous
family.
"My maiden name was Ann H. Hill,"
said
Mrs. Russell, "I was born in East Tennessee April 14,1838. My
father,
Isaac Hill, was born in Kentucky. My mother, Elizabeth Fine was a
native of Tennessee. They had three sons and three
daughters.
I am the youngest of their children.
*
*
* *
"We started across the plains on my
fourteenth birthday, April 14, 1852. We had five wagons, with
four
yoke of oxen to each wagon. and we had over 100 head of loose stock; so
you see we were well fixed for those days. My father knew the
plains,
for he had crossed in 1849 to go to the California gold fields.
When
he left California to get his family he was averaging over $50 a day on
his placer claim. We reached Salem late in the fall of
1852.
Mother was sick, so Father decided to winter there. We rented a
house
near the Oregon institute.
*
*
* *
"In the spring of 1853, we started
for the Jacksonville mines. The cattle played out, so father and
my brother Cicero went on, leaving the rest of us at Canyonville.
They went on Horseback. Father took up a donation land claim at
what
was later known as the Kingsbury Soda Springs. That is eight
miles
south of Ashland. At that time there was but one cabin on the
site
of what is now Ashland. It was owned by Helman and Emry, who had
donation land claims there. Father came back to Canyonville and
pacing
all our goods on pack horses, we went to our claim. The Indians
had
kept the land bujrned off, so there was over 100 acres ready for the
plow.
Father broke the sod and sowed grain.
"The summer we settled there
Helman
and his associates built a sawmill and a gristmill. Helman was
from
Ashland, Ohio, so he named his mill 'the Ashland mills.' For a
long
time the postoffice was known as Ashland Mills. Finally they
dropped
the 'Mills' and named it Ashland. The gristmill was run by water
power and was located at what is now the entrance to Litiha park.
Main street has that peculiar bend in it because the stores were built
on both sides of the old stage road.
*
*
* *
"On May 9,1854, I was married to
Major
J.H. Russell and we moved to Mountain Home (1)
on what was later the California-Oregon
stage
road. We ran the Mountain [H]house and put up travelers.
C.C.
Berkman, later the well known banker and Wells-Fargo express agent at
Jacksonville,
was at that time carrying express matter between Jacksonville and Yreka
and had stopped at our place coming and going. We ran the
Mountain
House from 1854 to 1856when we moved to Yreka , where for the next four
years my husband ran a butcher ship.
*
*
*
"In 1860 we moved to Phoenix, in the
Rogur river valley. My husband started quarrying marble on
Coleman
creek. He made headstones from the marble. I liked to be
with
him, so he taught me to cut the inscriptions on the stones. I
soon
became very skillful. In 1863 he went to the newly discovered
gold
mines at Canyon City. I carried on the marble cutting
business.
That was just 60 years ago, and I am still using the mallet and
chisel.
You see, a big boulder fell on my husband's leg and crushed it so badly
that he was crippled for several years, so I made the monuments and
headstones
in his place.
*
*
*
"I have seen a lot of heart-rending
sights. At our old ranch there is a graveyard with 17
graves.
It is called the Isaac Hill cemetery. (2)
Each
of those 17 graves is occupied by a man or a woman who was killed by
Indians
during the Indian troubles of the early '50s. Time and again I
have
seen a settler ride up leading a horse over which a dead or badly
wounded
man was lying like the carcass of a deer. Ir they were wounded
mother
wouldnurse them. If they were dead, or died of their wounds, she
would prepare them for burial.
*
*
* *
"My husband served in the Rogue
River
Indian war of 1855 under Colonel John E. Ross. My husband died 26
years ago, and though I am 84 years old I still carry on the
business.
In addition to working as a marble cutter for the past 60 years, I have
had 11 children, 10 of whom are still alive. I have 21
grandchildren
and 16 great-grandchildren. (3) I can't tell you about all my children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so I will mention only two of my
grandsons. One of them, Major Leonard Russell Boyd, was in
command
of a company at Coblenz, with the Army of Occupation, and is now an
instructor
in the University of California at Berkeley. My eldest grandson,
Dr. C.R. Fountain is president of the state university of
Georgia.
He is an inventor and has patented many useful things in general use.
"Yes, I am proud of my
progeny.
My two sons and nine daughters, with their children, are scattered all
over the country and most of them are producers, not parasites."
(1) This is a typo - the name of
where
they moved was "the Mountain House." - James H. Russell was one of the
four who built it in 1852
(2) It is also known as the Hill-Dunn
Cemetery.
(3) This count is as of July 1922
and while not many more grandchildren may have been born after that,
there
certainly have been a large number of great-grandchildren. Some
day,
I may try to count how many, or any count supplied by a cousin will be
incorporated here.
Last updated by William P. Russell onSaturday, 08-Sep-2018 09:40:41 MDT