MR. AND MRS. OSCAR E. GRANT
On October 30, 1895, Mr. Grant was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Pettijohn, whose parents are mentioned elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Grant have been born three children, Mark H., Samuel O. and Elda M., all at home. For forty-eight years or since his birth, Mr. Grant has been a resident of this section of the state, so that he is largely familiar with its history and with the events which figure most prominently in its annals. He has seen its broad lands claimed and cultivated. In the days of his youth there was much open range and stock raising was an important feature of business life in this section. Today all of the land is owned individually and the work of improvement has transformed the tracts largely into productive fields devoted to grain raising. He has borne his part in this result and is today one of the progressive farmers in the vicinity of Prescott.
JAMES M. CORNWELL.
James M. Cornwell, a pioneer of Walla Walla county, was a man of such inherent strength of character that the position of leader was accorded him by his fellows without his seeking prominence. The determination which throughout life was one of his most salient characteristics was never more clearly shown than during the months when he worked his way with wagon teams across the plains to the west and especially when, having left the train, he and his brother walked the distance of three hundred miles from Fort Boise, Idaho, to The Dalles, Oregon, over a country unknown to them, fighting the exhaustion and discouragement of starvation.
His birth occurred in Orleans, Orange county, Indiana, August 7, 1834, and his education was that usually received by farm boys in those early days. His father, Payton Cornwell, who was a native of Kentucky, in 1839 removed with his family from Indiana to Edgar county, Illinois, and there the mother died when our subject was but nine years old. At that time the family was broken up and the eight sons found homes among strangers. In 1852 James M. Cornwell, at the age of seventeen years, with an older brother, Francis M., aged nineteen years, started on foot from Iowa for the Pacific coast with a capital of only five dollars between them. On arriving at a town on the Mississippi river James M. Cornwell worked as a teamster for an emigrant, who in turn was to furnish him with food until they reached St. Joseph, Missouri. In addition to this the brother was permitted to put his little bundle of clothing in the wagon. All that was left of the five dollars was spent for crackers to eat along the journey and at St. Joseph both of the brothers found employment as teamsters with a train bound for Oregon. According to agreement they were to receive their food on the trip but in addition to acting as teamsters were to continue in the service of their employer for one month after reaching the coast. This train was made up of professional men and their families and when they reached Fort Boise, Idaho, late in the season after a six months' journey, they found themselves short of rations. Fearing starvation, the owners of the teams proposed to the teamsters that the latter leave the train and go on ahead and take care of themselves as best they could. Eight of the teamsters, including the two Cornwell brothers, agreed to this plan and left Fort Boise on foot with three days' rations and started for The Dalles, Oregon, three hundred miles distant, which was the nearest point where there was any certainty of obtaining food. It was a desperate chance to take, but it seemed the best under the circumstances and they hoped that somewhere along the way they could find food. As the days passed their scanty store was used up, although they made it last as long as possible and as they came down the west slope of the Blue mountains to Meacham's creek they were almost famished. There they came upon an emigrant camped near the water and found that he, too, had met with misfortune. His family one by one had died and been buried along the trail, his cattle were worn out and could go no farther, and his food supply was exhausted. In order to sustain life he killed one of the almost starved oxen and hospitably fed the party of eight teamsters. After leaving this man the party of eight resumed their journey, one-half of which still lay before them. On reaching Alkali Flats one of the men lay down exhausted and the others went on, for there was no alternative. The only hope of any surviving was to press forward as rapidly as possible. One by one the men gave up and lay down exhausted until only the two brothers were left. These two journeyed hand in hand, each assisting the other as now one and then the other staggered and seemed about to fall. On reaching John Day ford they came across an Indian who had a fish weighing about a pound, for which James gave him a shirt and was glad to make the exchange. From that point on the journey was a nightmare and at length they lost hope and the older brother proposed that they, too, lie down and give up the struggle. Still they staggered on, their weakness causing them to sway as if drunk. Suddenly James saw a light and, renewing their efforts, they at length managed to reach it and there found an emigrant with the surviving members of his party encamped in a nook somewhat sheltered from the wind. However, there was little hope to be obtained here, for the family had been living on corn meal gruel for days and had so little that they could spare none. However, they gave the brothers a quilt and allowed them to sleep on some boxes in the wagon. Even so, the cold of that October night chilled them and James became delirious, but in the morning he was able to again resume the weary way westward. After they had gone some distance they met an Indian with a rotten fish on the banks of the Columbia and James traded a knife for the fish, which the brothers ate in spite of its decayed condition. When they reached the Deschutes river they gave an old pistol as pay for being ferried across the stream and on reaching the other bank, to their great surprise and joy, were overtaken by six of their comrades whom they supposed to be lying dead on the Alkali flats. Somewhat heartened by this reunion, they continued their journey and at length reached The Dalles. James Cornwell was chosen by the party to go to the commissioners stationed there by the people of Oregon for the purpose of relieving destitute emigrants, but on asking for provisions he was told that food was scarce and rations could be given only to widows or orphans of men who had perished on the way across the plains. However, at length he succeeded in getting two pounds of flour, which was made into bread by a kind emigrant woman. Strengthened by this food, they continued their journey westward and at length reached the Willamette valley.
The Cornwell brothers engaged in hunting during the first winter in Oregon and the following summer James farmed land on shares, but it was almost impossible to find a market and the autumn found him with as little money as when he reached Oregon. He then took up a ranch in the timber nine miles southwest of Portland and resided there until 1861. His brother, Francis M., who had accompanied him on their terrible journey to the west, lost his health partly as the result of the hardships endured during those six months and at length settled near our subject and passed away in February, 1858. Mr. Cornwell of this review remained upon his homestead in Oregon until 1861, when he sold that property and went to work in the Oro Fino mines, where he spent the greater part of the summer. During that time he filed on a ranch near Dry creek, six miles north of Walla Walla, Washington, and in the fall he came by wagon with his father-in-law to his claim in Walla Walla county. That winter was the hardest and longest in this part of the state and all his cattle starved to death. Although he was thus compelled to again start with nothing, he was confident that in time he would win success. He brought his family to Washington and during the summer of 1862 operated a farm on shares. As he was dissatisfied with the tract of land which he had taken up he sold it and bought a portion of the T. P. Denny ranch on Dry creek, which, however, he subsequently disposed of. In 1868 he purchased the Kimball farm of one hundred and twenty acres on upper Dry creek, nine miles northeast of Walla Walla, and for a long period there made his home. He harvested good crops and so managed his business affairs that he received a good income from his labors and, recognizing the fact that land would increase in value, he systematically invested his capital in farm property, becoming at length the owner of twelve hundred acres of wheat land and one hundred and sixty acres of timber land.