Autobiography of Miles William Tippery, circa 1991

[David D Robertson]

Found online while following an obscure search-engine request.  It's at
milestippery.com.  Mr. Tippery was born January 28, 1917, and died April 30,
1995.  He grew up in southwestern Washington state.  I haven't looked
through the whole 300 pages or so--just got a new operating system & browser
installed, and there's a learning curve.  --  Dave R.

Some anecdotes from Part 1, "19 Years on Hemlock Creek":

"The only time I remember him showing irritation with me was when, at age
six or seven, I made a toy bow from hazel wood with an arrow from a cedar
stick. Chesley and I, pretending to be Indians, ambushed Grandpa along the
trail and shot him in the back. The arrow must have hurt more than we
intended. He turned and chased us, muttering an uncomplimentary mixture of
English and Chinook Jargon (Indian trading language) which was probably
meant to frighten us, because with his crippled foot he couldn’t catch us. I
concluded he wasn’t very disturbed, as I never heard from my parents about
the incident.
 Many sorrows marked my grandfather Tippery’s 86-year life span—at age seven
the death of his mother Mary Ann and baby sister (also Mary Ann) in
Pennsylvania followed by deaths of his infant half-brother and half-sister
soon after his father Jacob’s re-marriage; at age 21, the death of his
brother William in the Civil War; at age 29, the death of his father Jacob;
at age 46 the death of his half sister Effie; the death of his wife Eunice
on the day before his 50th birthday; at age 76, the disappearance of his
only daughter Mabel; and his crippling foot injury at age 82. I have no
doubt that this series of misfortunes affected his personality, which in his
later years was mostly quiet and introspective. He was not given to “idle
chatter.” However in suitable circumstances, such as when meeting other
Civil War veterans, local area pioneers, or favored relatives, he could be
quite eloquent, speaking rapidly with an infusion of Chinook Jargon."

Some background:

"Homesteading in Oregon
 After the Civil War ended, railroad growth accelerated. In early 1869 the
Union Pacific Line was completed from Omaha, Nebraska, to San Francisco,
California, and the homesteading program (whereby a settler could locate and
lay claim to 160 acres of land) was in effect throughout many of the western
states. In May, 1869, my great grandfather Jacob and his large family
decided to homestead in Oregon. Their supply-laden wagon was pulled by ox
team from Minnesota to Omaha, Nebraska, where they boarded one of the very
first Union Pacific trains for San Francisco. From there the coastal steamer
Ajax took them to Portland, Oregon. At Portland they obtained a house near
the Morrison Street Bridge, according to my great aunt Ella May Tippery
Carnine, and lived in this house for a number of months while Great
Grandfather Jacob and Grandfather Miles Tippery searched for a suitable
place to homestead. It is not certain whether Grandfather Miles traveled
with the family or arrived a few months later, possibly by train.
 By this date most of the land close to Portland, including the Willamette
Valley, had already been homesteaded by previous settlers. So the Tipperys
started looking around in Washington Territory north of Portland where
eventually they discovered and filed on two homesteads in the Silver Lake
area of Cowlitz County, Washington. Jacob’s homestead was near the lake and
included the present Silver Lake Cemetery. Grandfather Miles’ homestead was
east of there about a mile, just west of the present Toutle Lake school and
north of the present Spirit Lake Highway 504. The family also obtained
another homestead immediately south of Miles’ place.
 After the homestead sites were located the family moved from Portland by
steamboat down the Willamette River and on down the Columbia River to
Monticello near the present site of Longview, Washington. From there they
traveled up the Cowlitz River to Castle Rock, a trip of about 12 miles by
water. The family stayed at the Jackson place in Castle Rock while Great
Grandfather and Grandfather were busy clearing land on the homestead
property and building a log house. After the house was built the family
moved to Silver Lake to the homestead in 1870. This was a favorable place
for them, they thought, because they had a good view of Mt. St. Helens and
Silver Lake. It was necessary to spend at least five years on the land and
make some improvements to it before the deed would be granted by the federal
government, so the two families were busy clearing, planting gardens,
planting orchards, accumulating a small herd of cattle, and otherwise
improving their land.
 According to records and information provided by the Cowlitz County
Historical Society, when the Tipperys moved into the Silver Lake—Toutle area
in 1870, only two other homesteaders were there ahead of them. However, that
same year several other homesteaders also moved in, for a total of about
six. Thereafter, other families moved in occasionally. One of these early
homesteaders, Osgood Bullock, homesteaded 160 acres beyond the southeast end
of Silver Lake on Hemlock Creek Valley. Bullock, a Civil War veteran, had
quite a lot in common with Grandfather Miles.
 About one year after the Tipperys arrived, Jacob’s eldest daughter Harriet,
husband William, and toddler Edith May Morrill came from Minnesota and
settled on or near the homestead. Jacob and Lucinda’s last child, Minnie,
was born at Silver Lake in 1871. One hundred years later Minnie told me
about early life on the homestead and how my grandfather held her on his
knee and called her “my pet.”"

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