Loueasa Matilda Burkhart was one of twelve children born to John and Rebecca (Baltzell) Burkhart, early Oregon pioneers who helped settle the tiny township of Albany in the Oregon Territory, arriving when Loueasa (who preferred being called "Lou" or "Laura") was only 11 years of age. She had been born in Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois in 1836, as her family had progressively traveled westward from Tennessee towards Oregon, stopping in Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and then taking the Oregon Trail in 1847, arriving in Albany in October of that year. Her father, a veteran of the War of 1812, was granted a donation land claim that totaled 640 acres, as he was married. As her older brothers stated they would stay and homestead and work the land in the Willamette Valley, they were also granted donation land claims. Per a letter from her father, John, to his brother, Peter, who had chosen to remain behind in Tennessee, written in 1854, they had 640 acres each, amounting in all to 3,200 acres in the Albany area. His son Raymond, and daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth (Burkhart) Layton, and her husband, Mr. Davis Layton, had chosen to settle more towards what would later become known as Lebanon with land totaling 6,480 acres. He spoke of the land and it's bountiful creatures and fish, woods and berries to the extent that the letter was published and used to encourage persons to head for Oregon, which they did, in droves, as opposed to heading towards the gold rush in California. The original was at the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, CA. for many years, may still be there. Mr. David M. Thompson of Rushville, Indiana, arrived in Oregon in 1852, when he was 19 yrs. old and Loueasa was 17. In 1855, they married, on July the 9th. {She went by the name Laura when they obtained their marriage license in Linn County.} The couple settled in Albany, Linn Co., Oregon, where David was a harness maker and they had land valued at $1,800 in 1860 and valued at $4,000 by 1870, per census records. They had two children from their union, a daughter they named Harriett Louise, who was born in 1859 and a son they named Edward, who was born in 1862. [Harriett didn't like her name either and always went by Hettie Louise.] Both Hettie and Edward attended college. Hettie, after graduating from college, met a nice dentist named Dr. Charles Ritchey Templeton. They married on July 31st, 1879 and, on Nov 9th of that same year, 1879, David Thompson, father of Hettie and Edward, and husband to Laura, passed from this life. He was only 46 years old. The cause of his death is not known to me. He was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Albany. Laura, (Loueasa), was a widow at the age of 43. Her son, Edward, was part of the real estate and banking firm of Hartman & Thompson in Portland, and Hettie was living with her husband whose thriving dental practice was in Portland.
Laura remained in Albany and it was there that she met James Hearst Foster, a widower, whose wife, Martha, was buried at Riverview Cemetery in Albany. He was a "leading businessman" in Albany, per her obituary, (probably) in the Albany Democrat-Herald in Jan 18,1907. They married Aug 10, 1882, but their marriage was to be a brief one as James Foster died June 12th, 1888. He was buried with his 1st wife at Riverside Cemetery in Albany. Laura was again a widow and moved to Portland to live with her daughter, Hettie, and her family at *571 Glisan Street*. Remember, this is the older type of address, before the streets were changed to NE, SE, NW & SW, etc. Loueasa "Laura" did get to see her grandchildren by Hettie and her husband, Charles, a dentist. There was the 1st child, an infant son who was stillborn in 1882, and Charles Edward, who would follow in his father's footsteps and also become a dentist in the Seattle, WA area. And there was also Marguerite, who would attend University of California at Berkeley, studying French and receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California at Berkeley, completing her graduate work at Columbia University in New York City and receiving her Master's degree from University of California where she taught French. She would meet and marry Professor Laurence Ellsworth Dodd, physics professor at UCLA for 33 years, a Masonic Lodge member. They both were long time Beverly Hills Community Church members. They would retire to Port Angeles, Washington and, upon his death, Marguerite would move to the little town of Sequim, in Clullam County, WA until she passed away two years later, in 1985. There were no children.
Loueasa "Laura" Matilda (Burkhart)Thompson Foster passed away at her daughter's home in Portland on Friday morning, Jan 18, 1907. Her funeral was held at her daughter's home and then her remains were brought back to Albany by train to be buried at the Masonic Cemetery. She was buried next to her 1st husband, David M. Thompson, under the name of "Loueasa, Wife of D M Thompson". Her baby boy was buried at River View Cemetery in Portland with his mother, Hettie Louise Templeton, his father, Dr. Charles Ritchey Templeton, his sister, Marguerite Templeton Dodd, and her husband, Laurence Ellsworth Dodd.
It is interesting to note that when Loueasa's daughter, Hettie, married Dr. Charles Ritchey Templeton she married into another pioneer family which, like her's, (the Burkharts), had come to Oregon in 1847. The Templetons settled and homesteaded in the Brownsville area, just south of Albany, where the Burkharts had settled. Both the Templetons and the Burkharts strongly believed in the importance of good educations for their sons and daughters. I am sure they would have known each other due to the fact that they were neighbors and related by marriage. The Burkharts also had a strong faith in the Lord, which sustained them through the many trials and tribulations of living in a new land further West than they'd been before. They practiced both the Baptist, Congregational and Lutheran faiths. They were very close friends with the Davidsons, who produced a number of fine ministers and were close friends of Rev. Carter Tarrant, a relative of Melissa (Page) Davidson, who was the mother of Melissa Ann Davidson, who married Leander Columbus Burkhart, a brother of Loueasa, and one of my maternal great, great grandfathers.