#2-2021. Legend. Albert Gallatin Lloyd

 #2 Family Legend.  52 Ancestors in a Year

Albert Gallatin Lloyd or A. G. Lloyd

Albert Gallatin Lloyd was born in 1836 in St. Joseph, Missouri.  His family emigrated to Oregon when he was 9 years old.  Growing up in Oregon he joined the Munson’s  Co. “I”, “1st” Oregon Mounted Volunteers, First Regiment under General Nesmith in 1855 to fight in the Yakima Indian Wars.  Serving as Corporal, A. G. traveled in southeast Washington discovering Walla Walla County.  In 1858 he married Lois H. Jasper who was 16 years old at the time of their marriage.  A. G. was 21 years old.  They took up a homestead near Waitsburg, Washington on 9 August 1859, Albert and his brother Calvin trailed 180 head cattle from the Williamette Valley in 1859 to claim the land, quickly building a crude hut, with a door but no windows.  He went back to Oregon to fetch his wife and baby boy, John Calvin.  

Albert Gallatin and Lois Jasper Lloyd

Albert G. Lloyd trailed the cattle from the Williamette Valley, driving them over the Cascade mountains by the Barlow route, south of Mount Hood.  Of this band of cattle, 34 were full-blooded Durham cows.  The hard winter of ’61 and ’62 and froze the ground to a depth of a foot and three to four feet of snow fell.  Feed became scare and only 11 head of his cattle were saved.  

His legend began when he allowed the Palouse Indians to camp on his ground as they traveled back and forth to the mountains.  The friendship with the Indians developed throughout the years.  In return for being allowed to camp and well as being a friend of the Indians; they gifted Albert and his family with many items.  Gifts of baskets, purses, bags, and clothing.  The Lloyd”s often gave them food.  They lived peacefully among the Indians as their farm and family grew.  The Indians respected the Lloyd family for their generosity.  

The collection of artifacts can be seen at the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Walla Walla, Washington. Or online at https://www.fwwm.org

Albert G. Lloyd was elected to the Washington Territory Legislature in 1874.

President Cleveland appointed him as Register of the Walla Walla Land Office.  He was appointed in February of 1894 and confirmed by the Senate.  He took office in April of 1894.

RETIREMENT OF REGISTER LLOYD - Hundreds of citizens of Columbia County will be sorry to learn of the contemplated retirement of Albert G. Lloyd as register of the U. S. land office for this district.  Mr. Lloyd probably has fewer personal enemies in Eastern Washington than any other man in public life, and how the charges against him came about is not known.  The dispatches from Washington only state that the charges have been sustained to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the general land office, and that they are based principally upon the statement that Mr. Lloyd is not actively engaged in the performance of his duties, having left it to his clerks, one of whom, - Mr. E. C. Ross-is a republican.  It is understood, how truthfully we do not know, that a land office inspector visited Walla Walla recently and reported unfavorably.  The office pays $1778.65 per year.  Mr. Lloyd is one of our oldest pioneer citizens, having arrived on the Pacific coast fifty years ago and a resident of Walla Walla county for thirty-six years.  He fought in the Indian wars of 1855-56, and has always been noted for bravery, liberality and enterprise. (Original newspaper clipping). I have no idea which newspaper this article came from but I have found similar stories in The Seattle Post Intelligence on 20 January 1896 as well as the Spokesman Review.

All pictures and documents are from the Lloyd genealogy collection, Sydney Gabel

#27-2020. Solo. William R. Lloyd

#27-2020. Solo. William (Tony) Ray Lloyd--died Solo on the Prairie

William, the son of Albert Gallatin Lloyd and Lois H. Jasper, was born 10 June 1861 in Waitsburg, Washington.  A. G. & Lois had moved to Waitsburg in 1859.  In the family notes, it states that William was the second or third white child born in Walla Walla County.  

In the census of 1900, William was in the Fort Benton Township, Choteau, Montana.   He was a boarder, 39 years old. He was not married and his occupation is a gambler.  The head of the house where William was a boarder was Fred Thielbar who listed his occupation as saloon keeper.  The census was taken on 27th of June 1900.

What happened Tony after 1900?  I have not found other information on his life until he was found Solo on the prairie.

 TONY LLOYD FOUND DEAD 

March 3, 1905 

Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Lloyd received word Sunday that their son William R. Lloyd better known as Tony Lloyd had been found dead on the prairie about 40 miles from Harlem, Mont., on Saturday, Feb. 25.  He was found by a stage driver and had probably been dead three or four days.  Two jagged gashes in the neck indicated the cause of death while nearby was a dull pocket knife with blood which would indicate that Tony had met with foul play or had committed suicide.  No particulars have been received but the family do not believe it is suicide.  Wesley Lloyd left for Harlem Monday and will return with the body, arriving here Friday afternoon.  The funeral will take place from the farm home near this city, probably Saturday afternoon.  William R. Lloyd was 43 years of age and unmarried. (newspaper clipping from the "Waitsburg Times)

Milk River News-1 March 1905

Takes His Own Life

W. R. Lloyd Stabs Himself Fatally on the Prairie Near Hays

Word was brought to this city the middle of last week that a dead man was found one mile west of Hays, some forty odd miles south of here, and that the body was found on the old Mission road to Chinook, with two large gashes on each side of the throat, while an ordinary pocket knife was lying by the side of the corpse, plainly telling how the deed had been accomplished.  In the absence of the county corner, Justice of the Peace G. W. Vennum, left for the scence and by driving all night reached the place of suicide early Sunday morning.  The body was found by John Cochrane, while he was hunting cattle and the authorities were at once notified.  At the inquest several witnesses were examined and the body was identified as that of W. R. Lloyd, better known as "Toney", who had been engaged in doing some contract work at Zortman for Harry Kellar, and who was supposed to be on his way from Zortman to Forgart's ranch in the Bear paw mountains, where he had secured employment as a ranch hand.  Lloyd was 44 years of age and well known in and around the Little Rockies where had lived for some time.  His folks were located at Waitsburg, Wash., and two brothers arrived yesterday evening to take the body home with them for burial.  The coroner's jury composed of W. H. Granger, Jay T. Rhoads and Ernest Whetstone, all of Havre, brought in a verdict that the deceased came to his death by his own hand.  The body was brought to Harlem and will be shipped from here to Washington for burial.  

(Milk River Valley News, 1 March 1905)

Tony Lloyd of Zortmand, committed suicide in the hills west of Hays on Feb. 23.  Mr. Lloyd was well known in Zortman and Landusky. 
(Milk River Valley News "Harlem", 8 March 1905)

 FUNERAL OF WILLIAM R. LLOYD 

March 10, 1905

Wesley Lloyd returned from Harlem, Montana Friday, March 3rd bring the body of his brother, William R. Lloyd, an account of which was given in our last issue.  The funeral took place at 10 o'clock Saturday morning from the farm of his parents, Mr. And Mrs. A. G. Lloyd, two miles west of town.  The services were conducted by Rev. E. E. Hench of the First Presbyterian Church and the remains buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.  A long line of relatives and friends of the family followed the remains to the grave. (newspaper clipping--and he was buried at the Cemetery Cemetery).  I presume the clipping was from the "Waitsburg Times", but there was nothing written on the clipping.

William R. Lloyd Funeral Card

William R. Lloyd's headstone

His headstone his shared with his brother Charles C. Lloyd

City Cemetery, Waitsburg, Washington

Block 56, Lot 3, Space 3

Did Tony die by suicide or was he murdered?  

The information and original funeral cards are in the file (which I inherited) of William R. Lloyd.  The genealogy information on this family line was collected by William's sister, Angeline and given to my mother.

#10-2020 Strong Women. The Heath Sisters

#10-2020 Strong Women.  The Heath Sisters

I have always admired the story of Mary Heath and her sister Lois.  

They were the daughters of William Heath (a Revolutionary War veteran) and Polly Heath.

Lois Heath was born 1787 in Pendleton County, South Carolina.  

Lois never married

Mary “Polly” Heath (my 3rd great grandmother) was born on 14 October 1807 in Somerset, Pulaski, Kentucky.    

The birth dates are from family information, not confirmed yet.  

 Mary was married to John McHenry Jasper on 27 March 1828 in Somerset, Pulaski, Kentucky.   Seven children (Elizabeth, Andrew, Nancy, William, Thomas, Gilead and Lois) were born to Mary & John in Kentucky before they followed the trail to Missouri in 1841.  Lois Heath Jasper (who was named for her aunt)  born in 1841, was a baby when they journeyed to Missouri.  Another daughter, Minerva was born in 1844 in Missouri. 

Family story indicates that Lois joined the Jasper family after her father had died in 1829.

Tragedy struck the family when John Jasper died in 1845 near Whiteville, Missouri.  Mary was left with  8 children, the oldest, Elizabeth was 16.  In 1848, two daughters, Elizabeth and Nancy (age 16) married on the same day in December.  

In the 1850 (4 November 1850) Census, Mary was living in Tremont Township, Buchanan County, Missouri.  Mary was the head of the household at age 39 but she can not read or write.  The children living in the house were Andrew (19), William (16), Thomas (14), Gillard (11), Lois (8) and Minerva (6).  I have yet to locate her sister Lois in 1850 census.

In 1851 Mary's oldest son, Andrew as well as his sister Elizabeth Jasper Ownby & her family crossed the plains to Oregon.   Another daughter, Nancy Jasper Langston, losing her husband on the trip, crossed the plains in 1852.  Andrew came back to Missouri and escorted his mother Mary, her old maid sister Lois, and his siblings to Oregon in 1854.  The wagon load consisted of  Andrew, William, Thomas, Gilead, Lois and Minerva along with Polly and Lois Heath.  

Mary carried this tin of scrap material and notes in her pocket across the plains.

The family story is that after enduring many hardships and privations, much of the stock having died; when they reached Green River, Wyoming; the family stayed there while an older son went on to obtain food and supplies.  These he got from other members of the party who had gone in advance of the train to locate a home for the family.  The Jasper family crossed with an ox team, but not all of the family was able to ride at one time.  Gilead Ann walked the major part of the trip and carried a small baby part of the way.  Gilead would have been 15 and Minerva, the youngest would have been 10.   (I am not sure what baby she carried.) Lois, my Great Great grandmother was 13 years old.  The family settled in Benton County, Oregon where Mary’s daughters lived.

With children to support and feed, Mary often was a housekeeper or operated a boarding house.  

In the 1860 Census, Mary is living in the Butte Precinct of Benton County, Oregon.  The children living with her were Andrew, William, Thomas and Minivera.  The other daughters, Lois and Gillard (Gilla) had married.  Lois Heath is living with her niece’s family, Elizabeth and Jesse Owenby in the Lloyd Precinct of Benton County, Oregon.  

About 1864 Mary & Lois moved to Waitsburg, Washington where Mary’s daughter, Lois Jasper Lloyd and her husband A. G. Lloyd lived.  

In the 1870 census, the sisters were living with Mary’s son, Andrew Jasper in Waitsburg, Washington.  Lois was 84 years old. And Mary was 68 years old.  

Both sisters are buried in Waitsburg at the City Cemetery.  Mary died in 1876 at the age of 69 and Lois died in 1878 at the age of 90.  

The sisters had traveled from one coast to another—Lois from South Carolina to Oregon, while Mary traveled from Kentucky to Oregon—mostly by oxen team.  I can’t imagine the hard life that these women endured throughout their life.  But they survived.  The hard work these women did is the reason that their descendants were successful.  They did not know the word "quit".  

#3 - 2020 Long Line

#3-2020. Long Line.  52 Ancestors in a Year

In the western heritage culture, the term long line might refer to the length of a rein on a team of horses.

Combine on Bob Hayden-Colfax, Washington

30 head team hooked

My mother, Helen Lloyd, was raised in Waitsburg, Washington.  Farming in that area and Palouse Hills of eastern Washington was done with teams of horses or mules.  The hills were steep, the soil was great and wheat was the crop.  

Combining on McKinney Land

32 head team hooked

Plowing on McKinney Land

These pictures are from Helen’s collection, but not from her family farm. 

Can you imagine the daily chore of caring for this many horses in the team?  Daily chores of feeding and watering the team, in the morning, at noon and at night.  At noon, the dream was team was unhooked and watered and then re-hooked to the equipment.  If you count the horses or mules in the team, there are  25-33 head.  (And they are hard to count in the picture!). And don't forget that the men that worked the teams and helped with harvest also had to be fed!  That is another story!

A team took a long line  of leather rein from the teamster driving the team to the lead team.

At Fort Walla Walla Museum, in Walla Walla, Washington, there is an excellent life size display of a team hooked to a combine.  It was one of my Dad’s favorite displays.  He loved teams and grew up in the era of using teams to feed cattle as well as put up hay.  On a trip there Dad was like a kid in a candy store explaining to me all the details of the workings of such a large team, from the lead team to the wheel team and all points in between.  Oh how I wished I had an iPhone to have recorded his explanations!  

Don Shaffner viewing and explaining the team!  

A replica of the driver, thick long lines in his hands.  

The driver of the team even had a can of pebbles next to his seat.  That was for an occasional rock thrown at a horse to “giddy up”!  Sometimes the long line wasn’t an effective method to encourage a horse to “step up”.  

An explanation and example of how a team was hitched with "long lines".

#37 Mistake I should have paid attention 52 Ancestors in a Year

#37 Mistake  52 Ancestors in a Year

A mistake not to listen, write down or pay attention.

My mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, was interested in her family history for as long as I can remember.  There was a trip to a cemetery in Oregon in an effort to find a headstone.  I vaguely remember, as I was young, but I do remember a hill, trees, grass and probably rolling my eyes at the thought of this stop.  I think my Dad probably led the way of “wasting time doing this" attitude.  

Helen Lloyd
She graduated from high school in 1942

1938

What I would give to know where and what she found in that cemetery.  If only she had taken pictures or written a story down.  So far I have not discovered those 2 pieces of information in her genealogy collection. 

It was normal that we went to Mom's hometown of Waitsburg, Washington for Memorial Day festivities, which included a class reunion.   We took flowers and toured the cemeteries and decorated graves including my great great grandparents.

Mom never called herself a genealogist. Nor did anyone else.  But she was.  I have files, pictures and scraps of paper written on them.  Mom created family group sheets.  I have duplicates of many of them.  She shared her information with others too.  My mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, inherited a collection from her great aunt, so those letters and scraps of paper are also included.  

One of the many Family Group Sheets in her collection.

Many of her family group sheets have notes written on the back

Mom also created scrapbooks.  I think the earliest one I have is 1930.  Many include newspaper clippings of obituaries or other family information.

Mom had paid attention to her grandparents and knew many stories.  She did write a few down, but I want more!  But I wish I had written her recollections down or recorded them.

What a mistake I made by not spending more time learning the family history!

Mom was most proud of her heritage, especially the ancestors who came across on the Oregon Trail.

#19. Nuture A Rose. 52 Ancestors in a Year

#19  Nurture. A Rose came west!

 Nurturing a rose for 216 years.        A legend or a family story!

When visiting the city in Waitsburg where ancestors are buried, my mother always told the story of the rose bush. That it was carried west on the Oregon Trail by my 3rd great grandmother and her family in 1854.  The story began with her father William Heath who “slipped” the rose in the Carolina's and brought the rose to Kentucky in the between 1803-1807.   Kentucky is where  Mary (Polly) Heath married John Jasper in 1828.   They moved to Missouri in 1841 where John died in 1845.  In 1845 Mary and her family went west to Oregon carrying the rose.  Her daughter, Lois married Albert Gallatin Lloyd in 1858 moving to Waitsburg, Washington in 1859.  And rose came too!  After losing her twins in 1877, the rose was planted besides their graves at the City Cemetery.  

I used the year I believe William Heath moved to Kentucky (1803) making the rose 219 years old.  (Give or take a few years!)

My mother “slipped” the rose and brought it to Dillon, Montana after her marriage.  It flourished there and the story repeated again as we weeded the flower beds.  A few years after I married, I received a “slip”.   The rose now flourishes in Huntley, Montana.  It has survived numerous human attacks in Huntley, notably burned when an irrigation ditch was burned.  It is known as the “family rose” and “Do Not Touch”.

The first story on the left was written by Norman Olsen and was in the Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 21 August 1968, page 22

The story on the right was written by Eric N. Aldrich, grandson of A. G. and Lois Lloyd. 

It was published The Times, Waitsburg, WA, 30 September 1965

Morgan & Jace Kuntz standing beside the rose in Waitsburg.

They are great great great great grandchildren of Lois Jasper Lloyd

The blooms on the rose are beautiful.

The rose in Huntley, Montana

  In the story written by Norman Olsen about the rosebush he wrote:

"The rosebush shows a continuity of things to the people who care to look at it.  It has outlived the people who planted it more than a century ago.  It is a line with the past.

A. G. Lloyd Memorial Address

Albert Gallatin Lloyd, (A.G. Lloyd), was born in Missouri in 1836, and came west on the Oregon Trail in 1845 with his father and family.  He was an Indian War veteran and moved to Waitsburg, Washington in 1859 after marrying Lois Lloyd in 1858. (information from Lloyd Family Bible) 

A. G. Lloyd is my great great grandfather.

My research indicates that he began serving in the Washington Territory Legislature in 1867.  Washington became a state in 1889.  He had a long distinguished career in Legislature.  A.G. Lloyd died 5 January 1915. (Washington Death Certificate).

He was honored in a Memorial Address at the Washington Legislature in 1915.  All the Memorial Addresses are in a bound book in my possession.  

Memorial Address Honoring A. G. Lloyd


MR. MASTERSON SPOKE AS FOLLOWS:

Mr. President and Associate Members of the Fourteenth General Assembly:

“Tell me not in mournful numbers life is but an empty dream, And the soul is dead that slumbers, life is not what it seems.

Life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal.

Dust thou art, to dust returneth, was not spoken of the soul”

A. H. Lloyd was born in Buchanan County, Missouri, in 1836.  At the age of nine he moved with his parents to Benton County, Oregon. There, amid the forests primeval and close to the heart of nature, his youth and early manhood was spent. There, through patient endeavor and self denial, he developed those sterling traits of character and that splendid physique which so admirably fitted him for the stern duties of a pioneer.

In 1859 he was married to Louise Jasper, and shortly thereafter moved to Touchet Valley in Southeastern Washington.

Mr. Lloyd was elected to the Legislature in 1893, and for four terms served the state in the lower house.  Though never indulging in disputation, his keen insight into the subtleties of legislation and his unfailing good humor made him a power in caucus and committee.

Mr. Lloyd took an active part in the early Indian Wars, and became Grand Commander of the Indian War Veterans of the Pacific Coast.  In 1894 he was appointed by President Cleveland Register of the United States Land Office at Walla Walla, and so well did he conduct the affairs of this then important post that he reflected credit, not only upon himself, but upon the administration which he represented.

Useful and varied as has been the public service of Mr. Lloyd, he is best known as friend and neighbor.  He was a man of cheerful disposition and he retained his clearness and vigor of intellect up to his closing day.  Though he died full of years and ready to be gathered to his fathers, the grief that is now felt is widespread and sincere.

His best monument will be the good report he has left behind him.  He exemplified, by his pure and honorable life, the teachings of the Golden Rule, and unfailingly evinced a practical piety that will long be remembered as the best of professions.

In temperament he was mild, conciliatory and candid, and yet remarkable for an uncompromising fairness which could not yield to wrong.  Men, women and children sought his counsel and sympathy, and never was a confidence betrayed, and today many there are who may justly attribute their success in life to the wise counsel or kindly admonition of this venerable neighbor and friend.

And, Mr. President, this afternoon memories of George Lloyd twine as tender tendrils around the hearts of us who knew and loved him, and wafts the sacred name of friend and neighbor down over the billowy seas of endless time to transcendent glories among the immortals.[1]

---

[1]Memorial Addresses In Joint Session of Senate and House, Fourteenth Legislature of the State of Washington, 1915. Olympia, Frank M. Lamborn,, Public Printer, 1915.

Compiled by A. J. Hoskin, Senate Reading Clerk.  Page 111-112.

How Old is the Rose?

The legend of the rose:

Growing in the Waitsburg City Cemetery is a little old moss rose bush.  The original bush was brought to the American colonies from Europe.  This rose was blooming in the Carolinas when Colonel William Heath and Sergeant William Jasper were heroes in the Revolutionary War.  In the early eighteen hundreds, it was "slipped" and transferred to Kentucky where Polly Heath married John Jasper.  In 1847, the little rose was again "slipped" and was brought across the Oregon Trail by the Jasper's, by ox team to the Williamette Valley.  In 1856, Albert G. Lloyd, while serving with the Oregon Volunteers in the Indian Wars, found a piece of ground on the Touchet River that was to his liking.  He returned to the Williamette Valley, married Lois Jasper, and in 1859, left on horseback with his bride to the land that was to be the first pre-emption in the Touchet Valley.  Again a slip from the rose was in the saddle bags.  This little rose was first planted as were the first corn crops in the valley, in the mounds of dirt thrown out of the ground by the gophers.  In 1865, the City of Waitsburg was incorporated, and a cemetery laid out.  The Lloyd's twins, Clara and Freddie, who died in infancy, were buried there.  The little rose was again dug up and put at their headstone as a living memorial, and now a hundred years later, it is still blooming there. 
Headstones in the cemetery bear out this history:
A. G. Lloyd
Lois Jasper Lloyd
Polly Heath Jasper
Lois Heath

(The story was written by Eric N. Aldrich, grandson of A. G. and Lois Lloyd.  It was published The Times, Waitsburg, WA, 30 September 1965)

I often wonder if the legend is true, or is it just a family story.  But the rose meant a lot because it is on the graves of Lois Lloyd's babies.  Fredy & Clara died in 1877, 138 years ago.

Morgan and Jace Kuntz, at the rosebush in Waitsburg City Cemetery

They are the 4th great grandchildren of Albert G. & Lois Lloyd

The rosebush in Huntley

Mother gave me a slip of the rosebush for my home in Huntley.

The year after she died, was when it bloomed the best.  

Now I need to learn how to "slip" a rose so that I may give plants to other family members.

Any tips would be appreciated!