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Johnson-Woods-Blakesley Family History

The History of the Johnson-Woods-Blakesley Family has been scanned from the book “Tales of Dead Ox Flat,” compiled and published by the Local Progress Club – 1976

I have converted the scans into text for easier reading.

Michael Gribbin

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HISTORY OF THE JOHNSON, WOODS, BLAKESLEY FAMILIES

JEFFERSON DISTRICT – OREGON SLOPE

NARRATED BY: MRS. STELLA JOHNSON -1975

My name was Stella Johnson. My father was George Johnson, and we came to this area in 1918. At that time, World War I was raging, and I remember many of the privations we had. The whole wheat flour, the savings bonds and stamps that children were encouraged to buy, and all of that, and the songs that we learned to sing at the time.

My father came up here from Utah in November of 1917 and came back with glowing accounts of this marvelous country. How he picked apples from the trees in November, and for my childish imagination, we were coming to a land of enchantment. He came in what we called a migrant train at that time. I don’t know how many families. There were at least a dozen that came from Cache Valley, Utah at the same time. We would have these boxcars, and I don’t know if each family had a boxcar. I don’t know if two families could use one. But in the boxcar would be all of the family belongings, the cows, horses, chickens, household furniture, everything they possessed. My father came with the possessions in the boxcar and in this train. My mother and her 3 children that she had at the time came a week or three weeks later.

I still remember how excited I was when I saw the lights of Weiser and the excitement of going across the Snake River. It seemed so huge, and that bridge was so big. My mother, I think, was really rather heartbroken when we came out here to a place opposite where Harry Frasier now lives, to a shanty. There was a carpenter shack on this sagebrush-covered hill. The well was a dug well with a hand pump some distance from the house. I remember that in the summer, the ground squirrels would dig holes and fall into the well, and then our water would be contaminated, and we couldn’t use it for a long time until it was thoroughly pumped out.

The roads were several inches deep in dust because we children would play in the dust. When the wind blew, the dust storms were really something to remember. Moore’s Hollow, that’s the Moore’s Hollow Road over there, and I remember the grain being hauled down in the fall from all those dry farms up there. They would have teams of six or eight horses, I remember. Sometimes they stopped at our place to water their horses or even stay all night. Those were really hard times, I imagine, because while we lived at that place only four years, I remember so many different people who were our neighbors. So it must have been a very transient period in people’s lives.

It was two-and-a-half miles to Jefferson School, where I attended grade school. Usually, we walked if the weather was alright. In the winter, we could ride the workhorses when they weren’t being used. I always remember with pleasure…”

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The one year that I had a chance to ride to school the whole year because that year we had neighbors who had 3 teens that the children could drive to school. There were older children who could drive and Frank had a big Iowa-bred sorrel trotter, Dolly, and a small pony not much larger than a Shetland. He went gaily off to school with Frank trotting and Dolly cantering. It was so much fun not to have to walk all that distance. I’ve never forgotten the fun of riding behind those horses that year. Then, those people moved away too. I remember at school at the time, the desks were double and we always had a seatmate.

Edith Joseph was a special friend all through grade school. We rode horses all over this area, all over the hills. I don’t know, I think if I had a child out roaming the hills as we did in those days, I would be very worried. No harm ever befell us. There were so many badger holes on the hills in those times, it was a miracle that we didn’t wind up with horses with broken legs because we rode all over the sagebrush. I remember one time we rode up North or East, it was West of the Frazier property now and East of where Dejos Lee lives, and Edith Joseph’s Uncle John had a homestead up there at one time. I remember there was an open well and we rummaged around in garbage and found a tin can and some rags and made a rope on it and lowered it down into the well to get water for our dog because our dog was so thirsty. He wouldn’t drink the water. But we did get some smelly water out of it. We were always doing things like that. Swimming in the ditches. Of course, we had no radio or television, or anything like that, so we invented all of our own fun. We would have cookouts and make flapjacks and all kinds of things. We were always reading books together and we had so much fun together through those school days.

There had been a beautiful home a short distance up Moore’s Hollow where the DeHavens had lived, and they must have been quite an influential family at one time. They were gone by the time we were big enough to ride up there by ourselves. Can’t remember what happened, that house burned and there were still these burned stumps of trees all around the place, and we used to pretend they were ghosts and robbers and thieves, and sometimes we would have a real tizzy of fright with our imaginations. We would gallop our horses frantically as if we were being pursued by the headless horsemen. Those were happy days. I went to high school in Heiser the first three years because the boy situation wasn’t very good. Then, Senior year, I went to Ontario and graduated there. The Blakesleys owned the place that we passed on the way to school. It had an apple orchard and how tempting it was. He always wanted to snatch an apple, if we could, from that orchard as we walked to school. But, I didn’t know them until after I was married.”

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My children all went to Jefferson and I have grandchildren too. I have two grandchildren at Annex School.

This farm that I now live on was purchased by Ephraim W. Blakesley in 1916, and he’s my husband’s grandfather. His mother, Louise Blakesley Woods, was a sister to Clifton Blakesley who owned the property adjoining the school, that’s now owned by Nada Tana. Pearl and Clifton Blakesley were very musical people and contributed much to this neighborhood with their musical talents. They directed choirs and she played the piano so well. They lived in Fruitland when they were first married, but he still operated this farm out here. I really don’t know what year they moved out here to live permanently from Fruitland.

I know the Woods came to Crystal, which is just north of Payette, in 1902 and took up land. I don’t know if they homesteaded or purchased. Her sister was married to C. B. Lattin already here, and they bought land adjoining the Lattins. They built their home and had the orchards, etc., and then moved over here in 1933, during that time of the depression.

My father bought that 40 acres when we first came here in 1918 and lived there for four years, and then he lost it because of the hard times. After that, he was placed on farms by the Federal Land Bank. They were foreclosing on farms all over the area. He first lived on the farm that Charles Joseph now owns, and we lived there until the Spring of 1929 when it was sold. Then, Federal Land Bank placed my father on property in the Arden Slough area and that is now the farm owned by Elmer Newton. My father lived there until he was no longer able to work. At that time he died, he had asthma, and in those days, there wasn’t very good treatment for asthma. At the time he died, he was only 55 years old. He died in 1941. At that time, they were just starting to use the word ‘allergy.’ Now, it seems everybody has an allergy. When Father died, we took him back there.

Mother died in 1966, we took her back there too. Her heart had never left those mountains after she came out on that sagebrush-covered hill. She always wanted to go back to the valley in the mountains.

Ivan and Calvin Johnson are my brothers, and Fern Panke is my sister. She lives about three miles from me over toward Huntington from my farm.

The children’s father was so musical that he saw that they had lessons. I’m sorry to say that ability was left entirely out of me. The girls did learn to play the piano and violin and became quite accomplished until they joined the high school band, and that sort of put a stop to their other music lessons. They just didn’t have time.

The Sunday School used to be at Jefferson and started around 1957, I think. Right there, some instruments in getting its stories: There was the Missionary Tea, the choir, the Ren.” Also, an Sunday School unions. I am not sure what you meant by “ARK 14 var.” If you could provide additional context or clarification, I’d be happy to assist further with this part.

Continued on Page 2 (of 2)

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From Mrs. Stella (Johnson) Woods

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Also See Tales of Dead Ox Flat
Also See Dead Ox Flat Pioneer Families
Also See Local Progress Club
Also See Dead Ox Flat