Pacific County WA Archives Biographies.....Wirt, Andrew October 21, 1842 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wa/wafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 14, 2011, 2:36 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 933 - 934 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company ANDREW WIRT. One of the real pioneers of the Columbia River valley, whose life here covers practically the full span of the development of this section of the country, is Andrew Wirt, who came to this locality over four score years ago and who has been happily spared to witness the crowning glories of these latter days. Mr. Wirt retains a vivid recollection of the events of the pioneer days and some of his reminiscences were written up by Fred Lockley and printed in the Portland Daily Journal of May 24, 1926, as follows: "'I came across the plains to Oregon eighty years ago,' said Andrew Wirt when I interviewed him recently at his home in Ilwaco, Washington. 'I was born at Muscatine, Iowa, October 21, 1842. My father's name was Augustus Caesar Wirt. He was born in Pennsylvania. I was between three and four years old when my parents yoked up their oxen for the six months' journey across the plains. Annie, my sister, was a baby. Mother's third child, Noyes L., was born at Oregon City in the fall of 1846. When father first came he went to Portland to size up the town, or rather, the little group of log cabins whose owners were ambitious to make Portland the metropolis of the Willamette valley. Mr. Caruthers, who had taken a claim adjoining Portland, offered father part of his claim if he would locate here. They were anxious to get new settlers. Father told him there was too much timber to ever make a city at Portland and he wanted to take up prairie land, where he could farm. Father hired some Indians to take us by canoe to Clatsop plains. He bought a place from Mr. Morrison. We went to a recently built church, of which Lewis Thompson was pastor. W. H. Gray and his family, the Morrisons and other settlers on Clatsop plains attended there. "One winter while we were living on Clatsop plains I boarded at the home of Tom Owen. His daughter, now Dr. Owens-Adair, lives at Warrenton. Among our neighbors on Clatsop plains were the Gearharts, Carnahans, Smiths, Hobsons, Morrisons, Jewetts and others. Mr. Jewett married Mrs. Kimball, whose husband had been killed by the Indians in the Whitman massacre. In the spring of 1857 I went to Oysterville, where I landed a job tonging oysters. At that time there were six or eight families living there. I stayed awhile with Gilbert Stephens. The next year my parents moved to Oysterville. In 1858 or thereabout, I went to Bruceport, at the mouth of the Willapa, where I worked at tonging oysters. Mark Winant had a store at Bruceport. He bought our oysters at one dollar a bushel and shipped them to San Francisco. These natural oyster beds were not exhausted for nearly forty years. From Bruceport I moved back to Oysterville. I boarded at Gilbert Stephens' hotel five years. During the Civil war there were two stores at Oysterville. John Crellin & Company owned one and Espy & Company the other. John Crellin was postmaster. In 1864 I married Helen Stephens, whose father ran the hotel. Rev. Franklin came over from Clatsop plains to marry us. After my marriage I continued in the oyster business till the oysters became exhausted. "'Pacific county was organized by the Oregon legislature on February 4, 1851. Pacific county, with all of what is now Washington, was part of Oregon. Oysterville became the county seat of Pacific county. The old courthouse at Oysterville was moved to the Espy farm, just outside of Oysterville, and is now a dairy barn. A paper was published at Oysterville, the Pacific Journal. When the county seat was moved the paper was moved to Ilwaco and renamed the Ilwaco Advance, and still later the Ilwaco Journal. Its next owner changed the name to the Ilwaco Tribune. Its present name is North Beach Tribune. "'Only a few families now live at Oysterville. When it was the county seat it had a population of about five hundred and there were at least fifty students in the school. Claude Simpson, now and for many years past on the copy desk of the Oregon Journal, worked for me in the oyster business when he was a boy. My daughter Eva went to school with Claude's brother Gene. Mrs. Simpson, whose first husband, Sam Simpson, was a brilliant lawyer and poet, author of "The Beautiful Willamette," married Judge Briscoe of Oysterville. "'We never officially lost the county seat at Oysterville. One Sunday, when practically everyone was at church, about twenty men came from South Bend, broke into the courthouse, loaded the records in boxes and sacks and took them to South Bend and declared South Bend the county seat. "'We had five children. Our first boy we named Fred, and he died in 1922. Leonard, our second boy, is engineer for the Noonan Bag Company at Portland. Eva married W. A. Graham, of Ilwaco. Minna is dead. Lottie married Henry Sherman and lives at Astoria. Horace, our youngest, lives at Oysterville.'” The mother of these children died in 1886 and in 1887 Mr. Wirt was married to Mrs. Mary Bowen, to which union was born a daughter, Mrs. Lorena Hamilton, of Enterprise, Oregon, who is the mother of two children, Edwin and Byron. Mr. Wirt has lived a long and useful life, characterized by persistent industry and honorable citizenship, and during all the years of his residence in this locality he has commanded the genuine respect and good will of all who know him. William A. Graham, to whom Eva Wirt was married, was born in Oceana county, Michigan, on June 26, 1881, and is a son of Samuel and Charlotte (Williams) Graham, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The family is of Scotch origin, Mr. Graham's grandfather, Hugh Graham, who was born in Scotland, having descended from the old clan Graham of Claverhouse. He came to the United States about 1820 and bought a farm near Painesville, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on which he established his permanent home, living there until his death. His son, Samuel Graham, was born and reared on that farm and learned the boatbuilding trade. In 1858 he went to Michigan and settled on a farm in Oceana county, of which locality he was a pioneer. He did some farming, but gave much of his attention to commercial fishing on Lake Michigan until 1880, in which year he came to Astoria, Oregon. Here he worked at his trade of boatbuilding until his death on June 4, 1881. 'His wife passed away in 1879. One of his brothers, O. P. Graham, installed the first fish trap on Baker bay, Pacific county, Washington, in 1879, in partnership with his son, John E. Graham. He died in Seattle, Washington, in 1882. William A. Graham obtained his education in the public schools of Michigan and in 1881 came to Astoria, Oregon. With his brother George, he engaged in salmon fishing, which he followed for over forty years, when he turned his business over to his son, Charles E., who is still successfully operating the business. Mr. Graham is now serving as water superintendent of the city of Ilwaco. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have three children: William A., Jr., who lives in Los Angeles, California, and is married and has a son, William A., III; Charles Edward, who is at home and is carrying on the fishing business; and Ada Helene, of Seattle, Washington, is now the wife of H. E. Henderson. She has a son, John William, aged ten years. Mr. Graham is a member of Occident Lodge, No. 99, A. F. & A. M., at Ilwaco, and the Woodmen of the World, and Mrs. Graham is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star at Ilwaco. Mr. Graham is a man of strong character, sterling qualities and good business judgment, has been successful in business and commands the uniform esteem of his fellowmen. He is discharging his official duties in a capable and satisfactory manner and is regarded as one of the leading citizens of his community. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wa/pacific/bios/wirt224gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wafiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb