Part 8  February 10, 2002

     I do not currently  have many photographs of Houk family members prior to my father's parent's generation.  I do have something about my great grandfather Jacob Houk that I think you'll find interesting.

     It's interesting to note that they lost more men to disease than to battle.  It could have been that some of these deaths were the result of amputation related infections.  A bullet in an arm or leg usually resulted in it's amputation; infection was almost guaranteed.  It is my understanding that Jacob spent some time in Andersonville prison at the end of the war.

     Jacob and his wife Sarah Jane (Courtney) had four children:  Baxter Franklin "Frank" Houk 1860-1925, Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Houk 1866-1929, William Ellsworth "Alec" Houk 1868-1939, and Margaret Lovena "Maggie" Houk 1873-1951.  I did know Maggie, but the others were all gone before I was born.
 
 

     The photo above is of my father's parents.  It is not dated, but I think it was taken in 1938 in Redmond, OR.  Alec died in 1939 (from injuries caused by an auto accident), a few months before I was born.  Nora never remarried, and lived another fourteen years.  Both were native Oregonians.
 
 

     This photo is dated April 2, 1938.  I believe it was taken in Redmond, OR, but it was processed by Sawyer Photo Service in Portland, OR.  Donald and Patsy are the children of Guy Houk; the oldest son of Nora and Alec.  Melvin Harmon is my mother's son by her first husband Walter Harmon.
 
 

     I'm not sure where this photo was taken. The two kids in front are Bob and Betty Mills.  To the right of Nora is Donald Houk with his father (Guy) behind him, and his mother Bessy Houk nee Compton to his right.  On the left (behind Bob), is Patsy Houk.  The other woman is Alvin Mills' mother.  Guy was the oldest of Nora's children.
 
 

     This photo was taken in front of Grandmother Houk's home in Redmond, OR.  Charlie was the second oldest son of Nora and Alec.
 
 

     This photo was taken in front of our home on Long Street at what is now 43rd Ave. in Sweet Home, OR.  A few months after this picture was taken my mother, brother, and I moved to Seattle; my father stayed in Oregon.  George was the third oldest son of Nora and Alec.
 
 

     Lovena is the youngest of Nora and Alec's children.  She is also the only one of those children still living (December 1999), and she now lives in Tacoma, WA. I had the pleasure of spending several weeks with Lovena in the summer of 1994 to help her move from Elsie, OR to Tacoma, WA.

     12-23-2002  Lovena had a couple of strokes in July, 1997.  My wife and I had several good visits with Lovena in 1998 and 2000.  She lived in two "assisted living" facilities following her strokes, and had great care givers in both of them.  The cancer in her mouth came back some time in 1999/2000, and took her November 13, 2000.

     She was a hell of a woman, and I miss her.
 
 

     Asa and Maggie had no children in their 54 years of marraige.  Maggie was born in Lebanon, OR, in 1873, and if I am not mistaken she spent her entire life there.  She died in 1951, and Asa remarried.  He remaind in Lebanon until his death in 1968 at the age of 94.

     This is written on the back of the photo:  George Douglas Houk 9 or 10 years old on load of wood he cut & hauled to the house at Lamonta, Oregon on the homestead.

     Lamonta no longer exists as a town.  It was located in the Bend/Prinevile area of Oregon.

     This photo of Nora and Lovena was taken in front of our house in Sweet Home that was next to the railroad tracks and
about a block West of 12th Ave..  The house was not finished inside or out.  It had cold running water in the kitchen, and
no bath.  We later moved into the white house you can see in the distance above the Buick.

    The wood pile behind the ladies was no fun stacking.  Those are "mill ends"; the pieces they cut off finished lumber.  This was before particle board was developed, and the mill at the end of 12th Ave. sold large quantities of this stuff for $4.00.  I don't think they do this anymore.  The wood was delivered in a very large wooden box that was the size of 4 X 4 foot  stack of 10 foot 2 X 4's.  First we had to throw the wood out of that box, and then stack it.  OH!  My aching back.

     This photo was taken facing East toward the front of the house.  The white blur in the upper right corner is a house up on Nandena St., and just to the right of the house you can see part of the Osborn house which is on 12th Ave..  Framing that house is the back door porch roof "frame"; there was no roof!  The white object sloping down and to the right is the drain pipe for the kitchen sink.  The privy was a little to the right of the edge of the picture.  On the left side of the house there is a pile of old lumber left from  a house the got started next to this one.  I was never much more than a foundation.  Doug fell off the roof one day and landed on top of the lumber.  Above the lumber you can see the rear of "Frog" and Etta West's house.

     I have to tell you about Frog.  He drove a log truck for years, and I guess we're all lucky he never killed any one.  Frog was one of those people who, when behind the steering wheel of a car or truck, would black out.  I did not know this until after I rode with him up into the Cascades on a Sunday picnic with him and his family.  While driving, his attention was totally on the road ahead, and he spoke not a word.  He may have checked the mirrors now and then, but other than that his head and eyes did not move.  I do recall that he handled his old Chevy like a person with many many 100's of thousands of miles of driving experience.  Not many people can handle a manual transmission as smoothly as Frog did.
 
 

     Above is a photo of the Catherine Carney (Sager) Pringle,  mother of Sanford Stanley Pringle the husband of Mary Elizabeth "Lizzy" Houk.  Catherine's family crossed the Oregon Trail in 1844 when she was nine years old.  She lost both of her parents on that trip.  In October 1844 the six Sager children (two boys and four girls, including one girl who had been born on the journey), were left at the Whitman Mission.  On November 29, 1847, the mission was attacked by Cayuse Indians.  Rev. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and twelve others were killed, among them both Sager boys.  Click on her image to read what she wrote (circa 1860), about the trip, the Indian attack, and her period of captivity.