Not every story begins with a dramatic discovery or a remarkable revelation. Sometimes it begins with a laugh. While browsing through the Washington County Independent from 1874, I came across this item: “Lost. Frank O’Connor went to Cornelius and stayed till after dark. He started home but got lost. He says his horse left the…
Growing up in Reedville, Harvey was, of course, a favorite of mine, and recently I decided to spend some time researching him. I started with the Washington County Cultural Resource Inventory Report, created in 1983, but the deeper I dug, the more I found parts of it to be incorrect. The report claimed Harvey was…
Mr. Albert Tozier was proudly a man of Hillsboro, and for 64 consecutive years he carried out a very special task. Beginning in 1872, at age twelve, he rang the bell at the First Methodist Church at the stroke of midnight every New Year’s Eve, announcing the new year to the citizens of Hillsboro. He…
One of my happy diversions is perusing old newspapers. The language and expressions take some getting used to, but once you’re familiar with them, the articles are a real treat. A HALF HOUR OF SPREE-Furnishes Work for Drs. Smith and Dinsmore, Gets Mechanic A Henry Ford in the Bettis Auto Livery went on a rampage…
Few figures in early Hillsboro left as rich a paper trail as Captain Alvin Montgomery Collins. Between newspaper items on his courthouse gate-building, his home-built inventions, his war record, his family gatherings, and finally his obituary, a genuinely full portrait of the man emerges, one that spans nearly seventy years of Hillsboro history. Early life…
The Story of Gustav Hickethier a German Immigrant, Socialist, Atheist, and Monument Maker in Washington County Long-time members know I love researching the people who lived in our area before us. This is the real history, not presidents and generals, but ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) people who worked, loved, struggled, and left their mark on…
I started out with a postcard from around 1910 showing Washington County School Superintendent M.C. Case at his desk in Hillsboro, Oregon. Papers stacked high, a typewriter on the desk. His business card has office hours listed as “Wednesdays and Saturdays.” Just another piece of ephemera from Oregon’s past. But when I started researching Melvin…