The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., January 29, 1925, page 1
EARLY DAYS WITH KLICKITAT PIONEERS
Joseph Parrott, now dead, was another one of the early
Klickitat county pioneers. He was born on Jan. 18, 1844 and when ho was 3
months old his parents left Missouri for Oregon by wagon train, and in 1845
his father took up 640 acres as a donation claim, upon which is now located
New Era, Ore. It was at this place that Mr. Parrot spent his last days.
His early days, like those of all the pioneers was beset
and the trials of joys of the simple pioneer life, and the interesting
experiences would have filled a good-sized book. In telling of the most vivid
memory of his boyhood days he said: "Seeing the Indians hanged at Oregon
City for the murder of Dr. Whitman and Mrs. Whitman. The reason I remember
that so distinctly is that it came very near to resulting in my death in
a similar manner. My father served on the jury that convicted them, so naturally
I was interested in seeing them hanged. Joe Meek, the sheriff, sprung the
trap. All the settlers for 50 miles around had come to the hanging, for in
those days there were no state or county fairs, circuses or other gala days,
and this was a red letter day in the settlers' calendar. Luke Robertson,
George Price, Gus Kilbourno, Fred Medorum Crawford, Alfred Pettygrove, Tom
Hood and myself had taken in the hanging. Hundreds of Indians were gathered
on the cliffs to watch the executions. After the bodies had been cut down
we boys met to have a pow wow about it Luke Robertson was very much excited
about how the Indians had twisted and twitched as they danced on nothing
at the ends of their ropes. He said, 'Let's have a hanging,' We all agreed.
He found a rope in a nearby barn and in the absence of a scaffold he said
we could tie the rope to a tree on the edge of the bluff, fix up a slip noose
in the other end, put it around the victims neck and push him over the bluff
so he would dangle over the edge of the cliff, where the others could watch
him dance in the air and strangle to death. He sized up the group of boys
and said, 'We'll hang Joe Parrott. Come on fellows; catch him and put the
rope around his neck." I was frightened nearly to death and fought like a
demon. John Price took my part, and he and his brother George began to fight.
Tom Hood also stood in with me and pitched into the fight to rescue me. I
picked up the leg bone of an ox and knocked Alfred Pettygrove out. I started
to run, and the rest tried to head me off. I picked up a rock and let fly
at Gus Kilbourne. It hit him on the forehead and he went down for the count.
We fought until we were worn out, and the hanging bee was broken up. For
years afterwards, I would break out in a cold sweat when I thought how near
I came to being hanged.
"Fifty years later, when I was living in eastern Washington,
I was on my way to an Indian reservation, when I fell in with Captain Martineau,
a French half-breed. He was accompanied by a full-blood Indian woman, Mrs.
Miller, and her daughter. We fell into talk, and Mrs. Miller told me her
father was one of the Indians hanged at Oregon City for the murder of the
Whitmans. I told her my father was on the jury that tried her father and
the other Indians.
"I went to school in Oregon City in 1848 and 1849. In
1840 we moved to our donation land claim here at New Era. I killed my first
deer when I was 11 years old. We had a mineral spring on our place, where
great flocks of wild pigeons used to come. Lots of deer also came to the
spring. I watched by the spring and killed my first big game there. A little
later I killed two bears not far from the spring. I killed one on the ground.
The other took to a tree and I killed it as it was climbing toward the top.
Joe and Louis Paquet, neighbors of ours, used to keep a pack of hounds. The
dogs would run the deer to the river. As the deer took to the water I would
go out in my canoe and kill them. I killed five one day that the dogs had
driven into the river. We lived on game in those days. There were no game
laws then, no trespass notices.
"When I was 17 I married Elanor Fish. She was 15. Our
child, Ed Parrott, is up in Alaska somewhere. My folks and her folks broke
up the marriage. We were not of legal age, but if they had kept their hands
off we would have got along all right. I didn't get married again until 1877,
I married Mary B. Jesse. Mary and I had nine children, seven of whom are
still living. We stayed here until our third child was born, when I sold
my place at $90 an acre and up, and we moved to Goldendale, Wash. Five years
later I took up a home stead. Later I sold my homestead and moved to Seaside.
I raised garden truck there and lived off my garden and on clams and crabs.
From Seaside I went east of the mountains later going back where I spent
my childhood."
Regarding their coming to Goldendale, at first they settled
in Goldendale and later owned considerable property close to town. But in
the meantime a homestead had been taken up across the line in Yakima county
on the Big Klickitat river. There several of their children were born and
raised. Since their place was nearer Glenwood than Goldendale, they naturally
went to the former place more often than they visited Goldendale. Much of
their social life was had in the Glenwood Literary Society. Even W.L. Ramsey,
who was then their school teacher and had developed skill in telling bear
stories to the youngsters of the family, would walk, skie, or ride the long
distance from the ranch to Glenwood. Later the family moved to Glenwood and
ran the hotel. Mr. Parrott was also postmaster at Glenwood for a considerable
length of time.
Mr. Parrott passed away on Oct. 1, 1923.
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The Sentinel would be glad to hear from others concerning the early history of Klickitat county. We will publish such stories, thus making a record of early events that are being forgotten.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer