He came with his parents from England in 1878 to build churches and spread the Word of God. Due to a grasshopper plague in the mid West (Kansas), he wasn't able to get paid for the work he had done so took his family and went to Oregon. They built their own house and settled in Benton County, Oregon. His father was a circuit rider who rode all of the way to the Coastal towns along Indian Trails and John often went with him to help clear the brush and set up the altar before the service. They would come back along what is now Highway 22 to the little town of Wren, where they lived, in the beginning. They later moved to Albany in Linn County, Oregon, helping to build the White Spires Church in 1891 that stands today in Albany, Linn County, on 5th Ave. SW & Washington and is still in use. John and Lena would be blessed with a total of six children, including his stepson, Glenn Hartman Ward, b.1889. Their other children were Vera Valentine, b.1894, Harry Hoyt, b.1895, Mildred Jean, b.1898, and twin boys, Raymond William and Ralph Louis, b. 1900. The family lived in Albany until they moved to Portland where they lived at 6804 SE 29th and John worked as a Carpenter until his sudden death from a heart attack on August 6th, 1929. [His son, Harry, found him on the front lawn of their house and it effected him for the rest of his days] John was buried at Multnomah Park Pioneer Cemetery in SE Portland, Oregon. When Lena died at Oakland, Alameda County, CA., where she had lived with son Harry and his wife, Pearl Taylor, in 1950, she was also buried at Multnomah Park Pioneer Cemetery, next to her beloved husband. Both Harry and Pearl died in 1975 and were buried next to John and Lena at Multomah Park Pioneer Cemetery. Also, when Vera Valentine and her husband, Donald George Onthank, passed from this life, they joined their family members at this same cemetery, as well.
He came with his parents from England in 1878 to build churches and spread the Word of God. Due to a grasshopper plague in the mid West (Kansas), he wasn't able to get paid for the work he had done so took his family and went to Oregon. They built their own house and settled in Benton County, Oregon. His father was a circuit rider who rode all of the way to the Coastal towns along Indian Trails and John often went with him to help clear the brush and set up the altar before the service. They would come back along what is now Highway 22 to the little town of Wren, where they lived, in the beginning. They later moved to Albany in Linn County, Oregon, helping to build the White Spires Church in 1891 that stands today in Albany, Linn County, on 5th Ave. SW & Washington and is still in use. John and Lena would be blessed with a total of six children, including his stepson, Glenn Hartman Ward, b.1889. Their other children were Vera Valentine, b.1894, Harry Hoyt, b.1895, Mildred Jean, b.1898, and twin boys, Raymond William and Ralph Louis, b. 1900. The family lived in Albany until they moved to Portland where they lived at 6804 SE 29th and John worked as a Carpenter until his sudden death from a heart attack on August 6th, 1929. [His son, Harry, found him on the front lawn of their house and it effected him for the rest of his days] John was buried at Multnomah Park Pioneer Cemetery in SE Portland, Oregon. When Lena died at Oakland, Alameda County, CA., where she had lived with son Harry and his wife, Pearl Taylor, in 1950, she was also buried at Multnomah Park Pioneer Cemetery, next to her beloved husband. Both Harry and Pearl died in 1975 and were buried next to John and Lena at Multomah Park Pioneer Cemetery. Also, when Vera Valentine and her husband, Donald George Onthank, passed from this life, they joined their family members at this same cemetery, as well.
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My great grandfather.
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