1871 in less than a nutshell
by Bill Miller for
the Mail Tribune
Monday, January 13th
2020
“The minor events of history are
valuable, although not always showy and picturesque.”
— Mark Twain
If you want to get a feel of what
everyday life was like for our grandfathers and grandmothers, you’re not likely
to find it in a history book filled with the great events of the day. One of
the better ways to harvest those tidbits of yesteryear is to look at an old
newspaper and ignore the headlines.
In 1871, Jacksonville was barely out of
its teenage years and Jackson County was at least a year behind. That was the
year J.N.T. Miller began publishing his staunchly anti-Republican newspaper, the
Democratic Times.
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| J.N.T. Miller |
His second issue still avoided local
stories but did present local statistics that helped establish the scene and
the actors who would play out their lives on his newspaper’s pages.
Miller reported that the 1870 census
revealed Jackson County could count 4,759 residents. This is when the county
was larger in area than the state of Massachusetts, because Klamath County
didn’t exist yet, and the Jackson County eastern boundary reached just beyond
today’s town of Lakeview.
Romance must have been tough. Men might
be men, but women were hard to find. Only 2,382 of the residents were white
men, while white women, most of them married, numbered 1,677. It was even worse
for black men, who outnumbered black women 634 to 66.
There was no breakdown by sex of the
1,050 foreign born residents — 16 blacks, 50 Indians and 634 Chinese.
Politically, the county was overwhelmingly
Democrat, 793 to 490.
Miller bragged that the first U.S.
Hotel was one of the most luxurious rests between Portland and San Francisco,
especially since it now came equipped with spring beds.
There was a bill in Congress that might
bring a branch railroad to Jacksonville all the way from the Humboldt River in
California. It looked good on paper, but the bill never got out of any
congressional committee.
The first birth reported in the
newspaper was Annie Gunnison, daughter of Norwegian immigrants Ole Gunnison and
his wife, Anne. Sadly, the baby would die seven months later.
The first death was 46-year-old James
Ammerman, a farmer who lived near Phoenix.
The national and local economy was in a
prolonged recession that would turn to depression in 1872. To help out, Charlie
Savage’s New State Saloon offered discounts on “choice beverages” for a mere 12
1/2 cents a drink. “We expect to lose money, but times are hard,” Charlie’s ad
said, “but we can’t see people thirsty.”
Merchants were trying to sell on a
cash-only basis, several advertisements threatening debtors with lawyers who
would make the rounds and collect all overdue debts. Sachs Brothers preferred a
lighter touch, offering big discounts for cash and for “prompt paying
customers.”
Jacob Neatheimer ended a dispute with
Stephen Taylor by pulling a pistol and shooting Taylor in the hand. Stephen’s
hand was amputated, but Jacob was cleared of all charges a few months later.
With our history nutshell not even half
full, it’s time we wrap it up.
We had thought a simple wedding would
give us the happy conclusion we were looking for, but quickly found joy turning
to sorrow.
J.N.T. Miller’s first report of a
marriage was between August Rehkopf, 44, and Mary Wooldridge, 17, Jan. 12 out
in the Applegate. Shockingly, 11 months later and just weeks after the birth of
a son, Mary was declared insane and sent to the asylum in Salem. Her infant son
died a month later.
But wait! There is a happy end. Further
snoopin’ found that within months, Mary had returned home, and she and August
remained together for the rest of her life.
Life is never easy, and we never know
what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps the best we can hope for is as much happiness
as we can find, for as long as we can enjoy it.
Writer Bill Miller is the author of
“History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history columns and stories.
Reach him at newsmiller@live.com.
https://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/1871-in-less-than-a-nutshell
https://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/1871-in-less-than-a-nutshell
