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Individual:
Early Portland Folkways ==) http://rs6.loc.gov/wpa/29020111.html
Interview with Anne Abernethy
Circumstances of Interview
Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker: Claire W. Churchill Date March, 1938
Address: 509 Elks Building, Portland
Subject: Early Portland Folkways.
Name and address of informant: Anne Abernethy Starr.
Monroe, Washington (visiting Portland)
Date and time of interview: Noon hour - 11 AM to 1 PM
Place of interview: Office Myler Bldg.
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant:
Through informant's sister, Miss Camilla Abernethy.
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you: None.
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.: Federal Writers' Projectoffice room.
(Note. This interview was obtained before the folklore survey was begun.)
1. American ancestry.
2. Born in Portland, Oregon, 1869.
3. Sarah Fidelia Gray (daughter W. H. Gray, pioneer missionaries) andWilliam Abernethy (son George Abernethy, 1st provisional governor Oregoncountry).
4. Portland, 1869-1890.
5. Portland public schools.
6. One of the first telephone operators in Portland. Later worked asdraughtsman for Park & Lacey Machinery Co,, Portland.
7. Seamstress, where "stitches could not be seen." An expert knitter,where three pair of socks was no unusual output for a day's work.Draughtsman or draughtswoman.
8. No religious affiliations mentioned, presumably Congregational.
9. None given.
10. An exceptional personality.
Text of Interview (Unedited)
(Begin page)INTERVIEW with Anne Abernethy Starr
Mrs. Anne Abernethy Starr, who now lives in Monroe, Washington, is thedaughter of Sarah Fidelia Gray and William Abernethy. She was born inPortland in 1869. Sarah Fidelia Gray, her mother, was born atSalem,Oregon, November 1843. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H.Gray, pioneer missionaries to the Oregon country. W. H. Gray was theauthor of Oregon History. This book, according to Mrs. Starr is now worth$25.00. William Abernethy, her father, son of George Abernethy, was bornin New York State, New York City, 1831. George Abernethy, who arrivedwith the Methodist mission contingent, became a merchant at the Falls ofthe Willamette (Oregon City) and was elected the Provisional governor ofthe Oregon country, an office to which he was re-elected.
After the flood of 1861 George Abernethy removed to Portland where heagain engaged in merchandising. His establishment at the Falls wasfurnished merchandise by his own ships which brought supplies from theeast and from the Sandwich Islands. Abernethy money, a kind of scripissued by the Abernethy store, was commonly used during the pioneerperiod when U. S. coins were scarce. Abernethy was prominentlyidentified, according to Mrs. Starr, with the provision for and thecoining of Beaver money, the gold five and ten dollar pieces minted bythe Oregon Exchange Company at Oregon City.
Mrs. Starr spent her early life in Portland. Being the oldest of elevenchildren she found many things to occupy her hands. Children in thosedays learned to knit at an early age, so young, in fact, that Mrs. Starrcannot remember a time when she could not knit. When questioned as towhether an output of three socks a day was not very large, she repliedthat it was not, (Begin page no. 2)explaining that the hand spun yarnused in those days was soft and large, and knitted very fast. Mrs. Starrwas taught to sew by her Grandmother Abernethy, a wonderful seamstresswho required that any stitches that could be seen must be ripped out.
Material was bought by the bolt, rather than by the yard. As a girl, Annemade dozens of pairs of panties, dozens of petticoats, aprons, anddresses for her younger sisters. Her family did not have one of thehand-turned sewing machines, but they did have one of the earliest sewingmachines used in this country. William Abernethy, son of GeorgeAbernethy, had the first sewing machine agency in the Northwest. Hisagents, as far north as Walla Walla, found a ready market for the oldWheeler-Wilson machines. Some of the correspondence relating to the salesof sewing machines is still in the possession of the family. Before theyhad a machine, all sewing was done by hand. Anne made a completehand-sewn dress for herself when she was eight years old.
She attended school at the old Central school in Portland. Miss FannieHolman was her teacher advancing with the grades. The recent visit ofPresident Roosevelt to Portland recalled to her the visit of PresidentHayes in 1878. The children of old Central School, lined up an thesidewalk and street, greatly excited over the appearance of sodistinguished a caller as President Hayes. He addressed them from thesteps of the schoolhouse.
The Portland George Abernethy residence was at the corner of 7th andSalmon Streets. It was moved back from its original location, and then,several years ago, was dismantled entirely. About 1868 William Abernethybought 163 acres of land at what is now known as Abernethy Heights, notfar from Oswego on the River Road. The house built there is stillstanding, but it has been considerably remodeled, presenting today theappearance of a colonial structure. Originally it was of two-storyconstruction with a balcony along the second floor and a porch on thefirst. The kitchen was at the back, either in an addition (Begin page no.3)or under the extended roof. Elk Bluff and Elk Rock are both on the oldAbernethy property. This farm was on the first macadam road out ofPortland, a toll road, with the toll gate at the Red House, a tavern onthe river road. Some distance farther up the river, and nearer theAbernethy place was another road house, the White House, near which therewas a race track where horse races were held. A bachelor named Leonardowned the White House. Mrs. Starr says she can remember when this roadwas built, and recalls seeing the chain gang of prisoners breaking rockfor construction purposes. Mr. Bader, 316 Railway Exchange Building,Portland, can tell something of the present owners of the Abernethy placeor at least can give directions for reaching it. Harvey Starkweather cando the same. The Abernethy place was occupied by the Summervilles, thenby Will Ladd and later by the McKay family. They may own it now.
Anne Abernethy was a niece of Caroline Gray Kamm and used to make tripson the river boats owned by Jacob Kamm, her uncle by marriage, andCaptain Will Pope, a cousin of her father, Wm. Abernethy. She said thatone of her happiest memories was taking a trip up the Columbia,accompanied by a girl chum, Anne Pope. They were the only passengers.That evening at dinner the crew amused their guests by telling talltales. When the engineer, who was supposed to be the greatest liar ofthem all had finished his tale about the fish that flipped right out ofthe frying pan and into the sea, Anne Abernethy told her tale. Ithappened that she had considerable experience as a narrator, beingtrained from youth to entertain her younger brothers and sisters withfolk tales. The story she told concerned a cat that couldn't be killed.After trying innumerable means of death, the irate owner took the catinto the woods and chopped its head off with an axe. Well satisfied thathe had at last killed the animal, he returned home. Imagine hisastonishment when he reached home to discover the cat sitting on thedoorstep, holding its head in its mouth!
The Abernethy children were a healthy lot. Ten of them lived to (Beginpage no. 4)maturity. For fifty years their circle was not broken. Then,in January, 1937, one of the ten died. The others, still living, are asfollows:
Mrs. Ocia Swanton, Eugene; and her twin, Mrs. Sarah Hahn, University,Va.; Mrs. Pearl Miller, Dora, Oregon; Mrs. Frances Hahn, married to a manwith the same name as her sister's husband; with even the same initials,but no relation to him; Miss Camilla Abernethy, Forest Grovo, Oregon;Mrs. Mizpah Waterman, 2222 S.E. 19th St., Portland, Oregon; WilliamAbernethy, Route 4, Tacoma, Washington; and Edwin Abernethy, Dora, Oregon.
In pioneer times, even a merchant such as George Abernethy did not havewhite sugar for daily use. White sugar, packed in blue paper in cubes,was brought from the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands and was served only onfeast days, special occasions, or for company tea. Brown sugar,coarse-grained, was used for daily fare. Both brown sugar and flour werealways bought and sold by the barrel. "Bread and butter with sugar on",as the children said, was a favorite for lunch and for those in-betweenmeals that youngsters love. "Grandma always does".
Anne Abernethy was one of the first telephone operators in Portland. Theexchange, located down toward the present waterfront, was operated byfour girls. They not only had to know the names of all the phone patrons,but had to memorize the exchange numbers as well. Directories were notused at first, and patrons rang central and asked for the party theywished by name. Pat Bacon, now prominent as a telephone company official,retired, worked for the company when Anne Abernethy did.
Later she marked as a draughtsman for Park and Lacey Machinery Co. It washer responsibility to go into the yards, measure the various patterns andthen make drawings of them. She was so adept at this work that when shequit the firm to be married the foreman was greatly chagrined.
She was married to Benjamin Wallace Starr, in the old CongregationalChurch in Portland, September 17, 1890. Rev. Walker performed theceremony. Mr. Starr was descended from the Massachusetts Starrs, who werethe common (Begin page no. 5) ancestors of the other Oregon Starrs wholived in Benton County.
Dr. Comfort Starr owned (1632 (Begin inserted text)?(End inserted text) -date he arrived) a farm on the present site of Harvard University. Whatthe students identify as the college "yard" was formerly the front yardof the Starr farm. Benjamin Starr was born 1860 in Missouri, although hispeople had formerly lived in New York State. He grew up in California,came to Oregon in 1887. Wm. Abernethy went from Oregon to California in1849 during the gold rush. He reported that the mosquitos in theSacramento Valley were so large and so vicious that they could drillholes in iron pots, and that their stingers were so long they could beclinched on the other side of the pot.
Play parties were frequent in the early days, and once a year at least"balls", which were real social occasions, were held. The Governor's Balland the Pioneer Ball, were specially fine. Singing schools were held inan earlier day. Mrs. Starr says that her grandfather Gray led and taughtsinging by playing upon his flute, but that he never sang a note.Birthdays were festive occasions in the Abernethy family, and Christmas,Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July were always observed.
When queried about pioneer foods, Mrs. Starr recalled the cracked wheat"gems", hot bread now generally called "muffins" and a kind of sour milkbiscuit or hot cake made of stale bread. Stale bread was soaked overnightin sour milk. The next morning soda was added for leavening, and perhapsan egg for binding the mass together. It was then fried in cakes or bakedin iron gem pens.
Governor Abernethy was originally buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery but hisbody was later removed to the Riverview Cemetery where it is guarded by ashaft on which the D.A.R. has placed an appropriate plaque. Othermembers of the family are also buried there. W. H. Gray and his wife areburied now at the site of the Waiilatpu Mission, near the Whitmans. Theywere buried originally (Begin page no. 6)on Clatsop Plains. A tall shafton a small hill commemorates all the workers at the Mission.
Among documents which the family has preserved is an original JamesDouglas letter. It was once published in the Spectator many years ago.The family also has letters signed by Peter Skene Ogden and some byDouglas and Ogden. Douglas and Ogden, she says, were joint factors atFort Vancouver, following Dr. McLoughlin's retirement.
The family also has a piece of printed material, a special newspaper orbulletin issued as a call for volunteers when the Whitman massacreoccurred. They also have several printed papers, but there may beduplicates in the Oregon Historical Society.
There is also an old account book, kept by George Abernethy, but Mrs.Starr is not positive where it is now kept. It should show thetransactions of a pioneer store, what was bought and sold, and thegeneral trend of business and price levels and changes, and should be ofconsiderable importance.
There are probably a good many letters written by Grandmother Gray in thearchives of the Connecticut D.A.R. Mrs. Gray kept a diary, but it wasburned when the house in which they lived in Astoria, was burned. Shewrote her letters in a diary form and sent long ones to relatives in theEast. It took from one to three years to get an answer.
One of the incidents told about Grandmother Gray was that concerning theremoval of the Gray family from the Whitman Mission to the WillametteValley. When the family, Mr. and Mrs. Gray, and three small children,reached a place near The Dalles, the snow fell so fast they could not goon. Threatened with death by exposure, Mr. Gray sent an Indian toVancouver for help. Dr. McLaughlin sent a boat. Ascending through thestorm, the pilot was at loss to discover the people he was sent torescue. Then across the wind-blown water, he heard a sweet voice singinghymns. Mrs. Gray was undaunted in her faith in the Lord. Guided by thesong the boatman reached the family and took them to safety.
Extra Comment
Descendant of one of Oregon's prominent early families, Mrs. Starrremains an outstanding personality. Alert, intelligent, very cooperative.Has some material on imprints, I believe. Informant read interview andverified details.
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- Title: Early Portland Folkways
Author: CHURCHILL, Claire W.
Publication: March, 1938;
Call Number: @S13470@
Media: Interview
- Title: The Monroe Monitor
Call Number: @S13442@
Media: Newspaper
Page: [MARR] 1926/01/22 p.?
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