Most likely Lewis Cass Crow is buried at Glen Abbey Memorial Park in San Diego, California. His wife, Nancy, survived him by twelve years and although she died in Washington State, she was buried in Glen Abbey. It would be reasonalbe to conclude Nancy wanted to be interred near her husband.
Sixteen covered wagons carrying ninety-six people, left Independence, Missouri for the Willamette Valley in Oregon on March 29, 1853. Lewis Cass Crow, along with his parents and four siblings, were among the travelers. The family settled fourteen miles from Eugene, Oregon in Junction City, on 160 acres of land Congress had granted each man, with the stipulation they resided on the property for a period of four years. After Lewis' father, Malcom M. Crow, sold the farm, he moved his family to Sublimity, east of Salem, Oregon, where he heard the education system was better. The school there was taught by the father of renown inventors, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Lewis attended school for the first time when he was seven years old and was given his first pair of shoes at the age of ten. Lewis' very first memory of dressing up was in a pair of buckskin pants, an old white vest belonging to his father, and a straw hat. It was for a 4th of July celebration and at that time he saw his first firecracker.
In 1870, the McQueen family arrived in San Fransisco, California via train, then later settled at Junction City, Oregon, where Lewis resided. He married Nancy McQueen in 1875. Chester Crow, their first child, was born March 11, 1876 and when Chester was 15 months old, the family moved to Palouse in Whitman County, Washington, where they owned a farm. Lewis and Maria had eleven children. In his earlier years, Lewis was a school teacher, having taught in country schools. Later he served as a Senator for Washington State. He spent a lot of his time in Olympia, the state's captial, while Nancy kept the family farm operating and tended their children. Sarah, referred to as Sadie, the Crow's oldest daughter, married in November of 1897. The wedding ceremony took place in the old farm house, where Lewis' parents, Malcolm Crow and Elizabeth Clem, died in 1892.
The very first church building in Palouse, may have been located at the northeast corner of K and Church Street. It appears the church lapsed for a while, but was revived again in 1884 with 13 charter members including Lewis and Nancy Crow..
When the Washington State and Territorial Censuses were taken in 1889, Lewis and Nancy were living in Whitman County. Lewis was a teacher and he and Nancy had six young children, Chester, Charles, Sarah, Anna, Willie, and Adelbert.
By 1900, Lewis and Nancy resided at Palouse, where Lewis was a farmer and Nancy kept house. The Crows owned their house with a mortgage and had a seventh child, Virgil.
An Autobiography by Lewis Cass Crow (slightly edited for clarity):
"I was born in Johnson County, Indiana, November 3, 1851, being under two years old when I crossed the plains with my father's family in 1853. Consequently, what I shall write of any historical value shall be all together what was told me later in life.
My father was M. M. Crow. Our family started from a little village called Greenwood, which I learn is now a suburb of Indianapolis. We must have started quite early in the spring of 1853, for I heard we went down the Wabash River and up the Mississippi to Keokuk, Iowa, where we joined the train. My father fitted up a very heavy spring wagon drawn by two good mares before he left his home in Indiana. This was to carry us to the Oregon Country, which at that time, be it remembered, included all of Oregon, Washington, part of Idaho, and Montana.
This two horse spring wagon was built there by order for a large family conveyance. Our family consisted at that time, of father, mother, and five children. Also an uncle, T. J. Clem, came with us. At Keokuk, Iowa, my father apparently bought up and then rigged an oxen team, for I know he arrived in Oregon with both ox and horse teams. I suppose he loaded up the ox team mostly in provisions for the long journey. The train consisted of 96 persons, in 16 wagons, under the leadership of T. J. Connor. Quite a few of the members of the train were preachers, and I remember well of hearing about all of them preach after we arrived in Oregon, as they all lived to be old men. As you will see, my father was a helper in founding the United Brethren Church in Oregon. I well remember his traveling mostly in Linn County as an itinerant preacher for several years.
Well, I suppose the train had about the same experiences as most of them did in their long journey with ox teams. They crossed the Platt river and journeyed up that stream for many miles. They had great difficulty in crossing those streams at that time, but fortunately, they encountered little or no Indian trouble. One incident that came near involving Indian trouble, I heard them relate. The train had camped as usual and after meals, as was their custom, they had rounded up the cattle and horses and placed a guard over them. T. J. Connor stood guard in the fore part of the night and was relieved by Kenneyer at midnight. In relieving he took Connor's gun, a muzzle loading double trigger. Sometime later he noticed some stock getting up and on looking, he observed something moving behind the stock. He spoke, "Who is there?" "Ya Hoo," was the answer and with that, an Indian leaped over a horse, dodged among the stock and got away. Kennoyer, bothered in the use of a strange gun, did not get a bead on him until too far away for execution. But it was probably fortunate for had he killed the Indain, it might have brought down a massacre. On search of where the Indian had been, he found a hair lariat around the bell mare's neck. Evidently the Indian thought he would ride the bell mare and the rest of the horses would follow, for the Indians were known for thieving as much as murder.
Well the train finally got through without any more trouble with Indians, but they had plenty of trouble with the many physical resources of Nature. They crossed the Rocky Mountains on the Fort Laramie Pass, sticking quite close to the old "Oregon Trail", they struck the Snake River near its head, and traveled down said stream, crossing the Blue Mountains and down the Columbia. When I say down the Snake River and Columbia, I mean the general directions of those rivers and somewhat near them at times. In fact, I think they forded the Snake several times well towards its source.
They did not encounter any great obstructions until they came to the Cascade Range of Mountains. Here they toiled and labored for many days. They crossed the aforesaid mountains on what is known to this day as the "Old Barlow Route". This route was at that time a mere trail extending across the most rugged range of mountains on the Pacific Coast. When I say that there were many days in these mountains, I am only hinting at their troubles, for I crossed those mountains on that same trail when just a youth of fourteen years and saw out in the body of standing trees the symbols of their struggles. Girded around those trees were the impress of chain marks where they had wrapped log chains to let down wagons over those mountains to steep to permit the wagons to be held back any other way. But they struggled on and on until they finally reached their goal-the Willamette Valley.
There the train broke up, some settling in Lane, some in Linn, some in Renton, and some in Marion Counties. My father settled in Lane County where I grew to manhood. His old donation claim was located about fourteen miles north and just a little west of Eugene; about four miles south and west of Junction City, Lane County, Oregon.
I grew up in the beautiful Willamette Valley, but my father was a very restless soul and he seemed to be dissatisfied where he lived. It will be remembered Congress donated 160 acres to any family that would move to the Oregon Country, provided they would live four years on their donation claim. Well, my father lived the four years out, then he sold and moved to Sublimity in Marion County, east of Salem, expecting to send his young brood to a seminary or college as they called it then. So I remember well it was the first school I attended. I must have been six or seven years of age and my teacher was Reverend Milton Wright, father of the Wright boys, who later invented the flying machine.
Well my father soon became dissatisfied with Sublimity and moved back and bought a place of two hundred acres, this time about six miles north of the donation where we first settled. The place I remember so well, lies sixteen miles north of Eugene, and twenty-two miles south of Corvallis, 2 1/2 miles north of Junction. Schools at that time consisted of three months term per year, but fortunately for us we lived near the line dividing two districts. In our home district we usually had three months term of school in the summer, and the adjoining district had theirs in winter quite often, so we had the privilege of attending school sometimes as much as six months in the year.
My father was anxious that we get all the schooling possible. So after living on the old place several years, we moved to Philomath College, which is now discontinued for want of patronage, and I do not wonder at that. I only wonder how it continued as long as it did, with the patronage as little as it had. When the church was all together, for the church finally disagreed on what they considered fundamentals, and about half went one way and the other half their way, dividing almost equal in numbers. Finally, one half sued the other for possession of property and won the suit, so Philomath College worried along for several years and closed its doors for want of patronage.
Well, as I said, my father moved to Philomath when I was about nineteen or twenty. At that time, I had a rather limited education so I attended that school, working my way through college, graduating finally at about the age of twenty-four. I graduated in the first class to graduate from that school. At that time it was under the presidency of Professor Williams.
I could write many things of interest to readers, but it would make this narrative too long. I was married just before graduation in the above school, and taught one year in my Alma Mater. I moved near Junction City, where I was raised and after teaching and farming there for one year, moved to the Palouse Country, Washington Territory then, where we lived for 47 years. (Whitman County)
While living in Whitman County, I taught school for quite a number of years, farmed, and served as a State Senator in the Legislature. I served six years as President of the Farmers Union, and finally retired to a little home here in Ramona, California. I am now almost eighty-four at this writing, and I am still living with the same good woman I married over 60 years ago and am enjoying a reasonable degree of good health in this southern sunny climate."
Sixteen covered wagons carrying ninety-six people, left Independence, Missouri for the Willamette Valley in Oregon on March 29, 1853. Lewis Cass Crow, along with his parents and four siblings, were among the travelers. The family settled fourteen miles from Eugene, Oregon in Junction City, on 160 acres of land Congress had granted each man, with the stipulation they resided on the property for a period of four years. After Lewis' father, Malcom M. Crow, sold the farm, he moved his family to Sublimity, east of Salem, Oregon, where he heard the education system was better. The school there was taught by the father of renown inventors, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Lewis attended school for the first time when he was seven years old and was given his first pair of shoes at the age of ten. Lewis' very first memory of dressing up was in a pair of buckskin pants, an old white vest belonging to his father, and a straw hat. It was for a 4th of July celebration and at that time he saw his first firecracker.
In 1870, the McQueen family arrived in San Fransisco, California via train, then later settled at Junction City, Oregon, where Lewis resided. He married Nancy McQueen in 1875. Chester Crow, their first child, was born March 11, 1876 and when Chester was 15 months old, the family moved to Palouse in Whitman County, Washington, where they owned a farm. Lewis and Maria had eleven children. In his earlier years, Lewis was a school teacher, having taught in country schools. Later he served as a Senator for Washington State. He spent a lot of his time in Olympia, the state's captial, while Nancy kept the family farm operating and tended their children. Sarah, referred to as Sadie, the Crow's oldest daughter, married in November of 1897. The wedding ceremony took place in the old farm house, where Lewis' parents, Malcolm Crow and Elizabeth Clem, died in 1892.
The very first church building in Palouse, may have been located at the northeast corner of K and Church Street. It appears the church lapsed for a while, but was revived again in 1884 with 13 charter members including Lewis and Nancy Crow..
When the Washington State and Territorial Censuses were taken in 1889, Lewis and Nancy were living in Whitman County. Lewis was a teacher and he and Nancy had six young children, Chester, Charles, Sarah, Anna, Willie, and Adelbert.
By 1900, Lewis and Nancy resided at Palouse, where Lewis was a farmer and Nancy kept house. The Crows owned their house with a mortgage and had a seventh child, Virgil.
An Autobiography by Lewis Cass Crow (slightly edited for clarity):
"I was born in Johnson County, Indiana, November 3, 1851, being under two years old when I crossed the plains with my father's family in 1853. Consequently, what I shall write of any historical value shall be all together what was told me later in life.
My father was M. M. Crow. Our family started from a little village called Greenwood, which I learn is now a suburb of Indianapolis. We must have started quite early in the spring of 1853, for I heard we went down the Wabash River and up the Mississippi to Keokuk, Iowa, where we joined the train. My father fitted up a very heavy spring wagon drawn by two good mares before he left his home in Indiana. This was to carry us to the Oregon Country, which at that time, be it remembered, included all of Oregon, Washington, part of Idaho, and Montana.
This two horse spring wagon was built there by order for a large family conveyance. Our family consisted at that time, of father, mother, and five children. Also an uncle, T. J. Clem, came with us. At Keokuk, Iowa, my father apparently bought up and then rigged an oxen team, for I know he arrived in Oregon with both ox and horse teams. I suppose he loaded up the ox team mostly in provisions for the long journey. The train consisted of 96 persons, in 16 wagons, under the leadership of T. J. Connor. Quite a few of the members of the train were preachers, and I remember well of hearing about all of them preach after we arrived in Oregon, as they all lived to be old men. As you will see, my father was a helper in founding the United Brethren Church in Oregon. I well remember his traveling mostly in Linn County as an itinerant preacher for several years.
Well, I suppose the train had about the same experiences as most of them did in their long journey with ox teams. They crossed the Platt river and journeyed up that stream for many miles. They had great difficulty in crossing those streams at that time, but fortunately, they encountered little or no Indian trouble. One incident that came near involving Indian trouble, I heard them relate. The train had camped as usual and after meals, as was their custom, they had rounded up the cattle and horses and placed a guard over them. T. J. Connor stood guard in the fore part of the night and was relieved by Kenneyer at midnight. In relieving he took Connor's gun, a muzzle loading double trigger. Sometime later he noticed some stock getting up and on looking, he observed something moving behind the stock. He spoke, "Who is there?" "Ya Hoo," was the answer and with that, an Indian leaped over a horse, dodged among the stock and got away. Kennoyer, bothered in the use of a strange gun, did not get a bead on him until too far away for execution. But it was probably fortunate for had he killed the Indain, it might have brought down a massacre. On search of where the Indian had been, he found a hair lariat around the bell mare's neck. Evidently the Indian thought he would ride the bell mare and the rest of the horses would follow, for the Indians were known for thieving as much as murder.
Well the train finally got through without any more trouble with Indians, but they had plenty of trouble with the many physical resources of Nature. They crossed the Rocky Mountains on the Fort Laramie Pass, sticking quite close to the old "Oregon Trail", they struck the Snake River near its head, and traveled down said stream, crossing the Blue Mountains and down the Columbia. When I say down the Snake River and Columbia, I mean the general directions of those rivers and somewhat near them at times. In fact, I think they forded the Snake several times well towards its source.
They did not encounter any great obstructions until they came to the Cascade Range of Mountains. Here they toiled and labored for many days. They crossed the aforesaid mountains on what is known to this day as the "Old Barlow Route". This route was at that time a mere trail extending across the most rugged range of mountains on the Pacific Coast. When I say that there were many days in these mountains, I am only hinting at their troubles, for I crossed those mountains on that same trail when just a youth of fourteen years and saw out in the body of standing trees the symbols of their struggles. Girded around those trees were the impress of chain marks where they had wrapped log chains to let down wagons over those mountains to steep to permit the wagons to be held back any other way. But they struggled on and on until they finally reached their goal-the Willamette Valley.
There the train broke up, some settling in Lane, some in Linn, some in Renton, and some in Marion Counties. My father settled in Lane County where I grew to manhood. His old donation claim was located about fourteen miles north and just a little west of Eugene; about four miles south and west of Junction City, Lane County, Oregon.
I grew up in the beautiful Willamette Valley, but my father was a very restless soul and he seemed to be dissatisfied where he lived. It will be remembered Congress donated 160 acres to any family that would move to the Oregon Country, provided they would live four years on their donation claim. Well, my father lived the four years out, then he sold and moved to Sublimity in Marion County, east of Salem, expecting to send his young brood to a seminary or college as they called it then. So I remember well it was the first school I attended. I must have been six or seven years of age and my teacher was Reverend Milton Wright, father of the Wright boys, who later invented the flying machine.
Well my father soon became dissatisfied with Sublimity and moved back and bought a place of two hundred acres, this time about six miles north of the donation where we first settled. The place I remember so well, lies sixteen miles north of Eugene, and twenty-two miles south of Corvallis, 2 1/2 miles north of Junction. Schools at that time consisted of three months term per year, but fortunately for us we lived near the line dividing two districts. In our home district we usually had three months term of school in the summer, and the adjoining district had theirs in winter quite often, so we had the privilege of attending school sometimes as much as six months in the year.
My father was anxious that we get all the schooling possible. So after living on the old place several years, we moved to Philomath College, which is now discontinued for want of patronage, and I do not wonder at that. I only wonder how it continued as long as it did, with the patronage as little as it had. When the church was all together, for the church finally disagreed on what they considered fundamentals, and about half went one way and the other half their way, dividing almost equal in numbers. Finally, one half sued the other for possession of property and won the suit, so Philomath College worried along for several years and closed its doors for want of patronage.
Well, as I said, my father moved to Philomath when I was about nineteen or twenty. At that time, I had a rather limited education so I attended that school, working my way through college, graduating finally at about the age of twenty-four. I graduated in the first class to graduate from that school. At that time it was under the presidency of Professor Williams.
I could write many things of interest to readers, but it would make this narrative too long. I was married just before graduation in the above school, and taught one year in my Alma Mater. I moved near Junction City, where I was raised and after teaching and farming there for one year, moved to the Palouse Country, Washington Territory then, where we lived for 47 years. (Whitman County)
While living in Whitman County, I taught school for quite a number of years, farmed, and served as a State Senator in the Legislature. I served six years as President of the Farmers Union, and finally retired to a little home here in Ramona, California. I am now almost eighty-four at this writing, and I am still living with the same good woman I married over 60 years ago and am enjoying a reasonable degree of good health in this southern sunny climate."
Most likely Lewis Cass Crow is buried at Glen Abbey Memorial Park in San Diego, California. His wife, Nancy, survived him by twelve years and although she died in Washington State, she was buried in Glen Abbey. It would be reasonalbe to conclude Nancy wanted to be interred near her husband.
Sixteen covered wagons carrying ninety-six people, left Independence, Missouri for the Willamette Valley in Oregon on March 29, 1853. Lewis Cass Crow, along with his parents and four siblings, were among the travelers. The family settled fourteen miles from Eugene, Oregon in Junction City, on 160 acres of land Congress had granted each man, with the stipulation they resided on the property for a period of four years. After Lewis' father, Malcom M. Crow, sold the farm, he moved his family to Sublimity, east of Salem, Oregon, where he heard the education system was better. The school there was taught by the father of renown inventors, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Lewis attended school for the first time when he was seven years old and was given his first pair of shoes at the age of ten. Lewis' very first memory of dressing up was in a pair of buckskin pants, an old white vest belonging to his father, and a straw hat. It was for a 4th of July celebration and at that time he saw his first firecracker.
In 1870, the McQueen family arrived in San Fransisco, California via train, then later settled at Junction City, Oregon, where Lewis resided. He married Nancy McQueen in 1875. Chester Crow, their first child, was born March 11, 1876 and when Chester was 15 months old, the family moved to Palouse in Whitman County, Washington, where they owned a farm. Lewis and Maria had eleven children. In his earlier years, Lewis was a school teacher, having taught in country schools. Later he served as a Senator for Washington State. He spent a lot of his time in Olympia, the state's captial, while Nancy kept the family farm operating and tended their children. Sarah, referred to as Sadie, the Crow's oldest daughter, married in November of 1897. The wedding ceremony took place in the old farm house, where Lewis' parents, Malcolm Crow and Elizabeth Clem, died in 1892.
The very first church building in Palouse, may have been located at the northeast corner of K and Church Street. It appears the church lapsed for a while, but was revived again in 1884 with 13 charter members including Lewis and Nancy Crow..
When the Washington State and Territorial Censuses were taken in 1889, Lewis and Nancy were living in Whitman County. Lewis was a teacher and he and Nancy had six young children, Chester, Charles, Sarah, Anna, Willie, and Adelbert.
By 1900, Lewis and Nancy resided at Palouse, where Lewis was a farmer and Nancy kept house. The Crows owned their house with a mortgage and had a seventh child, Virgil.
An Autobiography by Lewis Cass Crow (slightly edited for clarity):
"I was born in Johnson County, Indiana, November 3, 1851, being under two years old when I crossed the plains with my father's family in 1853. Consequently, what I shall write of any historical value shall be all together what was told me later in life.
My father was M. M. Crow. Our family started from a little village called Greenwood, which I learn is now a suburb of Indianapolis. We must have started quite early in the spring of 1853, for I heard we went down the Wabash River and up the Mississippi to Keokuk, Iowa, where we joined the train. My father fitted up a very heavy spring wagon drawn by two good mares before he left his home in Indiana. This was to carry us to the Oregon Country, which at that time, be it remembered, included all of Oregon, Washington, part of Idaho, and Montana.
This two horse spring wagon was built there by order for a large family conveyance. Our family consisted at that time, of father, mother, and five children. Also an uncle, T. J. Clem, came with us. At Keokuk, Iowa, my father apparently bought up and then rigged an oxen team, for I know he arrived in Oregon with both ox and horse teams. I suppose he loaded up the ox team mostly in provisions for the long journey. The train consisted of 96 persons, in 16 wagons, under the leadership of T. J. Connor. Quite a few of the members of the train were preachers, and I remember well of hearing about all of them preach after we arrived in Oregon, as they all lived to be old men. As you will see, my father was a helper in founding the United Brethren Church in Oregon. I well remember his traveling mostly in Linn County as an itinerant preacher for several years.
Well, I suppose the train had about the same experiences as most of them did in their long journey with ox teams. They crossed the Platt river and journeyed up that stream for many miles. They had great difficulty in crossing those streams at that time, but fortunately, they encountered little or no Indian trouble. One incident that came near involving Indian trouble, I heard them relate. The train had camped as usual and after meals, as was their custom, they had rounded up the cattle and horses and placed a guard over them. T. J. Connor stood guard in the fore part of the night and was relieved by Kenneyer at midnight. In relieving he took Connor's gun, a muzzle loading double trigger. Sometime later he noticed some stock getting up and on looking, he observed something moving behind the stock. He spoke, "Who is there?" "Ya Hoo," was the answer and with that, an Indian leaped over a horse, dodged among the stock and got away. Kennoyer, bothered in the use of a strange gun, did not get a bead on him until too far away for execution. But it was probably fortunate for had he killed the Indain, it might have brought down a massacre. On search of where the Indian had been, he found a hair lariat around the bell mare's neck. Evidently the Indian thought he would ride the bell mare and the rest of the horses would follow, for the Indians were known for thieving as much as murder.
Well the train finally got through without any more trouble with Indians, but they had plenty of trouble with the many physical resources of Nature. They crossed the Rocky Mountains on the Fort Laramie Pass, sticking quite close to the old "Oregon Trail", they struck the Snake River near its head, and traveled down said stream, crossing the Blue Mountains and down the Columbia. When I say down the Snake River and Columbia, I mean the general directions of those rivers and somewhat near them at times. In fact, I think they forded the Snake several times well towards its source.
They did not encounter any great obstructions until they came to the Cascade Range of Mountains. Here they toiled and labored for many days. They crossed the aforesaid mountains on what is known to this day as the "Old Barlow Route". This route was at that time a mere trail extending across the most rugged range of mountains on the Pacific Coast. When I say that there were many days in these mountains, I am only hinting at their troubles, for I crossed those mountains on that same trail when just a youth of fourteen years and saw out in the body of standing trees the symbols of their struggles. Girded around those trees were the impress of chain marks where they had wrapped log chains to let down wagons over those mountains to steep to permit the wagons to be held back any other way. But they struggled on and on until they finally reached their goal-the Willamette Valley.
There the train broke up, some settling in Lane, some in Linn, some in Renton, and some in Marion Counties. My father settled in Lane County where I grew to manhood. His old donation claim was located about fourteen miles north and just a little west of Eugene; about four miles south and west of Junction City, Lane County, Oregon.
I grew up in the beautiful Willamette Valley, but my father was a very restless soul and he seemed to be dissatisfied where he lived. It will be remembered Congress donated 160 acres to any family that would move to the Oregon Country, provided they would live four years on their donation claim. Well, my father lived the four years out, then he sold and moved to Sublimity in Marion County, east of Salem, expecting to send his young brood to a seminary or college as they called it then. So I remember well it was the first school I attended. I must have been six or seven years of age and my teacher was Reverend Milton Wright, father of the Wright boys, who later invented the flying machine.
Well my father soon became dissatisfied with Sublimity and moved back and bought a place of two hundred acres, this time about six miles north of the donation where we first settled. The place I remember so well, lies sixteen miles north of Eugene, and twenty-two miles south of Corvallis, 2 1/2 miles north of Junction. Schools at that time consisted of three months term per year, but fortunately for us we lived near the line dividing two districts. In our home district we usually had three months term of school in the summer, and the adjoining district had theirs in winter quite often, so we had the privilege of attending school sometimes as much as six months in the year.
My father was anxious that we get all the schooling possible. So after living on the old place several years, we moved to Philomath College, which is now discontinued for want of patronage, and I do not wonder at that. I only wonder how it continued as long as it did, with the patronage as little as it had. When the church was all together, for the church finally disagreed on what they considered fundamentals, and about half went one way and the other half their way, dividing almost equal in numbers. Finally, one half sued the other for possession of property and won the suit, so Philomath College worried along for several years and closed its doors for want of patronage.
Well, as I said, my father moved to Philomath when I was about nineteen or twenty. At that time, I had a rather limited education so I attended that school, working my way through college, graduating finally at about the age of twenty-four. I graduated in the first class to graduate from that school. At that time it was under the presidency of Professor Williams.
I could write many things of interest to readers, but it would make this narrative too long. I was married just before graduation in the above school, and taught one year in my Alma Mater. I moved near Junction City, where I was raised and after teaching and farming there for one year, moved to the Palouse Country, Washington Territory then, where we lived for 47 years. (Whitman County)
While living in Whitman County, I taught school for quite a number of years, farmed, and served as a State Senator in the Legislature. I served six years as President of the Farmers Union, and finally retired to a little home here in Ramona, California. I am now almost eighty-four at this writing, and I am still living with the same good woman I married over 60 years ago and am enjoying a reasonable degree of good health in this southern sunny climate."
Sixteen covered wagons carrying ninety-six people, left Independence, Missouri for the Willamette Valley in Oregon on March 29, 1853. Lewis Cass Crow, along with his parents and four siblings, were among the travelers. The family settled fourteen miles from Eugene, Oregon in Junction City, on 160 acres of land Congress had granted each man, with the stipulation they resided on the property for a period of four years. After Lewis' father, Malcom M. Crow, sold the farm, he moved his family to Sublimity, east of Salem, Oregon, where he heard the education system was better. The school there was taught by the father of renown inventors, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Lewis attended school for the first time when he was seven years old and was given his first pair of shoes at the age of ten. Lewis' very first memory of dressing up was in a pair of buckskin pants, an old white vest belonging to his father, and a straw hat. It was for a 4th of July celebration and at that time he saw his first firecracker.
In 1870, the McQueen family arrived in San Fransisco, California via train, then later settled at Junction City, Oregon, where Lewis resided. He married Nancy McQueen in 1875. Chester Crow, their first child, was born March 11, 1876 and when Chester was 15 months old, the family moved to Palouse in Whitman County, Washington, where they owned a farm. Lewis and Maria had eleven children. In his earlier years, Lewis was a school teacher, having taught in country schools. Later he served as a Senator for Washington State. He spent a lot of his time in Olympia, the state's captial, while Nancy kept the family farm operating and tended their children. Sarah, referred to as Sadie, the Crow's oldest daughter, married in November of 1897. The wedding ceremony took place in the old farm house, where Lewis' parents, Malcolm Crow and Elizabeth Clem, died in 1892.
The very first church building in Palouse, may have been located at the northeast corner of K and Church Street. It appears the church lapsed for a while, but was revived again in 1884 with 13 charter members including Lewis and Nancy Crow..
When the Washington State and Territorial Censuses were taken in 1889, Lewis and Nancy were living in Whitman County. Lewis was a teacher and he and Nancy had six young children, Chester, Charles, Sarah, Anna, Willie, and Adelbert.
By 1900, Lewis and Nancy resided at Palouse, where Lewis was a farmer and Nancy kept house. The Crows owned their house with a mortgage and had a seventh child, Virgil.
An Autobiography by Lewis Cass Crow (slightly edited for clarity):
"I was born in Johnson County, Indiana, November 3, 1851, being under two years old when I crossed the plains with my father's family in 1853. Consequently, what I shall write of any historical value shall be all together what was told me later in life.
My father was M. M. Crow. Our family started from a little village called Greenwood, which I learn is now a suburb of Indianapolis. We must have started quite early in the spring of 1853, for I heard we went down the Wabash River and up the Mississippi to Keokuk, Iowa, where we joined the train. My father fitted up a very heavy spring wagon drawn by two good mares before he left his home in Indiana. This was to carry us to the Oregon Country, which at that time, be it remembered, included all of Oregon, Washington, part of Idaho, and Montana.
This two horse spring wagon was built there by order for a large family conveyance. Our family consisted at that time, of father, mother, and five children. Also an uncle, T. J. Clem, came with us. At Keokuk, Iowa, my father apparently bought up and then rigged an oxen team, for I know he arrived in Oregon with both ox and horse teams. I suppose he loaded up the ox team mostly in provisions for the long journey. The train consisted of 96 persons, in 16 wagons, under the leadership of T. J. Connor. Quite a few of the members of the train were preachers, and I remember well of hearing about all of them preach after we arrived in Oregon, as they all lived to be old men. As you will see, my father was a helper in founding the United Brethren Church in Oregon. I well remember his traveling mostly in Linn County as an itinerant preacher for several years.
Well, I suppose the train had about the same experiences as most of them did in their long journey with ox teams. They crossed the Platt river and journeyed up that stream for many miles. They had great difficulty in crossing those streams at that time, but fortunately, they encountered little or no Indian trouble. One incident that came near involving Indian trouble, I heard them relate. The train had camped as usual and after meals, as was their custom, they had rounded up the cattle and horses and placed a guard over them. T. J. Connor stood guard in the fore part of the night and was relieved by Kenneyer at midnight. In relieving he took Connor's gun, a muzzle loading double trigger. Sometime later he noticed some stock getting up and on looking, he observed something moving behind the stock. He spoke, "Who is there?" "Ya Hoo," was the answer and with that, an Indian leaped over a horse, dodged among the stock and got away. Kennoyer, bothered in the use of a strange gun, did not get a bead on him until too far away for execution. But it was probably fortunate for had he killed the Indain, it might have brought down a massacre. On search of where the Indian had been, he found a hair lariat around the bell mare's neck. Evidently the Indian thought he would ride the bell mare and the rest of the horses would follow, for the Indians were known for thieving as much as murder.
Well the train finally got through without any more trouble with Indians, but they had plenty of trouble with the many physical resources of Nature. They crossed the Rocky Mountains on the Fort Laramie Pass, sticking quite close to the old "Oregon Trail", they struck the Snake River near its head, and traveled down said stream, crossing the Blue Mountains and down the Columbia. When I say down the Snake River and Columbia, I mean the general directions of those rivers and somewhat near them at times. In fact, I think they forded the Snake several times well towards its source.
They did not encounter any great obstructions until they came to the Cascade Range of Mountains. Here they toiled and labored for many days. They crossed the aforesaid mountains on what is known to this day as the "Old Barlow Route". This route was at that time a mere trail extending across the most rugged range of mountains on the Pacific Coast. When I say that there were many days in these mountains, I am only hinting at their troubles, for I crossed those mountains on that same trail when just a youth of fourteen years and saw out in the body of standing trees the symbols of their struggles. Girded around those trees were the impress of chain marks where they had wrapped log chains to let down wagons over those mountains to steep to permit the wagons to be held back any other way. But they struggled on and on until they finally reached their goal-the Willamette Valley.
There the train broke up, some settling in Lane, some in Linn, some in Renton, and some in Marion Counties. My father settled in Lane County where I grew to manhood. His old donation claim was located about fourteen miles north and just a little west of Eugene; about four miles south and west of Junction City, Lane County, Oregon.
I grew up in the beautiful Willamette Valley, but my father was a very restless soul and he seemed to be dissatisfied where he lived. It will be remembered Congress donated 160 acres to any family that would move to the Oregon Country, provided they would live four years on their donation claim. Well, my father lived the four years out, then he sold and moved to Sublimity in Marion County, east of Salem, expecting to send his young brood to a seminary or college as they called it then. So I remember well it was the first school I attended. I must have been six or seven years of age and my teacher was Reverend Milton Wright, father of the Wright boys, who later invented the flying machine.
Well my father soon became dissatisfied with Sublimity and moved back and bought a place of two hundred acres, this time about six miles north of the donation where we first settled. The place I remember so well, lies sixteen miles north of Eugene, and twenty-two miles south of Corvallis, 2 1/2 miles north of Junction. Schools at that time consisted of three months term per year, but fortunately for us we lived near the line dividing two districts. In our home district we usually had three months term of school in the summer, and the adjoining district had theirs in winter quite often, so we had the privilege of attending school sometimes as much as six months in the year.
My father was anxious that we get all the schooling possible. So after living on the old place several years, we moved to Philomath College, which is now discontinued for want of patronage, and I do not wonder at that. I only wonder how it continued as long as it did, with the patronage as little as it had. When the church was all together, for the church finally disagreed on what they considered fundamentals, and about half went one way and the other half their way, dividing almost equal in numbers. Finally, one half sued the other for possession of property and won the suit, so Philomath College worried along for several years and closed its doors for want of patronage.
Well, as I said, my father moved to Philomath when I was about nineteen or twenty. At that time, I had a rather limited education so I attended that school, working my way through college, graduating finally at about the age of twenty-four. I graduated in the first class to graduate from that school. At that time it was under the presidency of Professor Williams.
I could write many things of interest to readers, but it would make this narrative too long. I was married just before graduation in the above school, and taught one year in my Alma Mater. I moved near Junction City, where I was raised and after teaching and farming there for one year, moved to the Palouse Country, Washington Territory then, where we lived for 47 years. (Whitman County)
While living in Whitman County, I taught school for quite a number of years, farmed, and served as a State Senator in the Legislature. I served six years as President of the Farmers Union, and finally retired to a little home here in Ramona, California. I am now almost eighty-four at this writing, and I am still living with the same good woman I married over 60 years ago and am enjoying a reasonable degree of good health in this southern sunny climate."
Bio by: Jo-Ann
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