And even more from Benton County

[Dave Robertson]

Interview -- Malinda Frances (Fannie) COYLE STARR

Mrs. STARR is one of the oldest natives of the Monroe vicinity. Her memory is somewhat weak in the matter of dates, but picture of early times is convincing. She said:

My parents came to Benton County from Illinois in 1849. My father, William COYLE, was born in Kentucky. My mother was Mary Ann JONES. They came by ox team and were eight months on the way. There was lots of cholera and many deaths. The Indians harassed the train and tried to run off the stock, and one or two men were killed by the Indians.

My parents settled first near Portland. Then they took a donation land claim on Long Tom Creek just to the northeast of Monroe in 1852. There I was born that same year in a log cabin with a dirt floor. There was no saw mill near Monroe then, and all nails and hardware had to be bought in Oregon City. I had no brothers or sisters and had to play with the Indian children. There were many Indians about here then, and the children were much more agreeable playmates than the white children I knew. They were well behaved and obedient. When there was any sound of quarreling or of loud talking a mother would call from the door of a wigwam, and one word was enough to put an end to their disturbance. I learned to speak the Chinook jargon which the Indians used quicker and better than English.

My first school was at a log schoolhouse in Monroe about where the grade school now stands. We had only about three months school each summer at first. There was so much high water and mud in the winter that children could not get to school. The teachers were paid $30.00 a month and "boarded 'round". Among my teachers I remember Emily HUMPHREY and A.R. BUTOLPH. We were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, and geography. Discipline was severe; some of the teachers used to give awful whippings. There was one girl who was very unruly and was sometimes whipped.

In 1869, when I was sixteen, I got married and my schooling stopped. My husband were Leander STARR whose father brought him to Benton County in 1846. His father, Samuel STARR, was the first sheriff of Benton County. We lived on a farm just north of Monroe. Our children were: Ida (Mrs. LARKIN), Ivan and Bert. Then my husband died and I have been alone for a good many years.

I learned to be busy as a girl. There was so much that had to be done then and no amusements to waste our time. We worked all day and at night we knitted or sewed. Nowadays young folks have to much time for amusement. They think they have a right to do as they please and so many of them go bad.

The Monroe Cemetery, which is about a half-mile north of town was given by Roland and Elizabeth HINTON in 1852. the first burials were made about the same time, but not all the graves were marked. The HINTONS were buried there and many others of the old-time families. The first storekeeper I remember in Monroe was Mr. BARNARD; the first doctor was Doctor McAFEE. The first Sunday school was organized by an Episcopal clergyman named Joe McCORMICK. He was Irish and was called, "Holy Joe".

I never heard of the place called Jenneyopolis. Bill GIRD had a stage station on the Territorial Road about twelve miles south of Corvallis. Here he sold whiskey to all who had the price and drank a lot himself.

Starrs Point post office was about a mile north and back on the hill. Then it was moved down to the road to the place now owned by a dairy company, where the old stage station is. Later it was moved down here by the mill and after a time the name was changed to Monroe.




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