Arba Nelson Adams was born on December 8, 1842 in Hyde Park, Vermont. Hyde Park is in north central Vermont in Lamoille County and is north of the Stowe ski area. Hyde Park is quite remote and today only has about 400 citizens. Arba's grandfather Joseph Adams moved the family from Rutland, Massachusetts to Eden, Vermont, just north of Hyde Park, in the early 1800's. Arba was a direct descendant of Henry Adams who emigrated to America in 1638 with his wife Edith and their nine sons and five daughters. They landed in what is now Braintree, Massachusetts only 18 years after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. Arba's great-grandfather Asa Adams from Medway, Massachusetts had fought in the American Revolution both on the Canadian Expedition of 1776 and on the Rhode Island Campaign of 1778.
On June 3, 1861, 19-year-old Arba enlisted in the Ninth Vermont Volunteers to fight for the Union during the American Civil War. He was mustered into service a year later. Between September 12 and 15, 1862 he fought in the Battle of Harpers Ferry. Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's confederate troop surrounded the fort and drug cannons to the hilltops above it and began bombarding it from three directions. The Union Army of over 12,600 men stationed at Harpers Ferry was commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles. Several battles were fought over three days with the Confederates completely outmaneuvering the Union Army. Miles was totally inadequate to the task of commanding his men in a major battle. Colonel Miles was wounded on the morning of September 15th, and there is speculation that this might have been from his own troops because of his lack of leadership and his lack of willingness to fight. Colonel Miles died the next day. Formal surrender of the fort and the troops occurred on September 15th. General Robert E. Lee sent Jackson an urgent message to join him at Sharpsburg so General A. P. Hill was left to manage all the captured munitions and the parole of the Federal prisoners. Because the Confederates had no ability to manage so many prisoners, the 12,419 captured Federal prisoners were each forced to sign a document that indicated that they would not rejoin the Union Army. After signing they were released. Of course, the vast majority of the captured Union soldiers immediately rejoined the fight, as did Arba. On September 11, 1863, Arba was mustered out of the service due to the loss of an eye. It is not recorded how this happened. After his service he returned to Vermont.
After Arba was discharged from the army, he moved from Hyde Park, Vermont to Portage, Wisconsin to join his uncle, Joseph Curtis Adams to help on his farm and with his logging operation. Portage is a small farming community on the Wisconsin River about 40 miles north of Madison and about 55 miles from Lake Mills. Joseph's first wife Nancy Warren had died at their home in Eden, Vermont in 1850 one week after the birth of their fourth child, also named Nancy. After Nancy's death, Joseph moved to Portage and began farming. Between 1855 and 1859, Joseph Adams and the widow Catherine Bickel met, and they were married in March 1859. Catherine had one daughter, Mary Margaret Bickel, born in 1855, from her previous marriage. Joseph and Catherine Adams then had three more children together.
Arba and Mary Bickel were married on November 7, 1869 when Arba was 27 and Mary was 14. Minnie Ruth Adams was born to Arba and Mary on October 3, 1870 in Stockton Wisconsin. Stockton is about 70 miles north of Portage and it may be that Arba and Mary started farming their own place in Stockton or for some other reason. It is assuredly true that Mary was pregnant when the 1870 census was taken.
Sometime in the early 1870's, Arba was encouraged by a friend named Luther Perkins to come to Wallowa County, Oregon to homestead. They knew Luther from Wisconsin, but he had traveled west and settled on Upper Prairie Creek near Joseph on property that is now known as the Grant Schaffer place. This remote valley had largely gone unnoticed for 20 years by those on the Oregon Trail even though the Oregon Trail went directly through La Grande, Oregon, which is only about 45 miles from the mouth of the Wallowa valley. However, entry into the valley is difficult because of a steep incline called the Minam River grade, the river crossing at the confluence of the Minam and Wallowa Rivers, and then the winding, rocky, ten-mile trail up the canyon to the mouth of the Wallowa Valley. It was then another 30 miles up the valley to reach Upper Prairie Creek southeast of Joseph. While the Wallowa Valley seems reasonably flat, the 30 miles from the mouth of the valley to Upper Prairie Creek has an elevation gain from 2,950 feet above sea level to almost 4,400 above sea level, which makes quite a difference in growing seasons and the amount of snow one gets in the winter.
In the spring of 1876, my mom Anita, indicated that Arba, Mary and their six-year-old daughter Minnie came to La Grande, Oregon by train. That could not be true as the railroad did not make it to La Grande until 1884 when the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company completed their line through La Grande to connect with the Oregon Short Line Railroad at Huntington, Oregon on the Snake River, about 30 miles north of Ontario, Oregon. The closest railroad terminal to La Grande in 1876 was probably at Promontory, Utah where the golden spike was driven at the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869. It may have been that Arba, Mary, and Minnie traveled part of the way to La Grande by train, but it is likely that they rode horses or by stagecoach from Promontory or some other point through southern Idaho and into eastern Oregon until they reached La Grande where Arba bought a wagon and team. They ran out of money for supplies, so they charged their groceries on account at Mr. Goodman's store in La Grande. They made the journey into Wallowa County and on to Upper Prairie Creek where they made their homestead. This homestead is at 61346 Liberty Road, Joseph, Oregon which includes 156.4 acres of land, 27 acres of which is timber. The next spring, Arba brought the furs he had trapped over the winter back to La Grande to pay off his account with Mr. Goodman and to buy more supplies for 1877.
The homestead on Upper Prairie Creek was referred to as "the ranch." There are not many details of what happened at the ranch during those early years other than the birth of Roxanna Catherine "Roxie" Adams on October 17, 1884. Roxie was 14 years younger than Minnie, her older sister.
Arba's reputation was that of a very tough man who was easy to anger into a rage and as a very demanding taskmaster. He had lost an eye in the Civil War and he stuttered badly. When people asked his name he would say, "Mmmmy nnnname is Aaarr, Arrrrrr, Aaaarr…Oh hell, just call me Sam." He was known throughout his life as Sam Adams. Arba seemed to stutter a lot less when he was swearing so when he was swearing, it was pretty clear how he felt about the situation.
Arba normally made two trips annually to La Grande to sell goods and to get supplies. This was a two-day trip by wagon each way. Sometimes it took even longer, depending on the weather and the road conditions. Mom said that on one trip he was traveling with a neighbor, each driving a wagon. They camped for the night in the Wallowa River canyon between the town of Wallowa and the river crossing at the bottom of the Minam grade. They were asleep in their tent when two fellows set upon them and tried to rob them of their furs and money. Arba and his colleague came out blazing with their handguns, driving the bushwhackers off.
In 1886, Arba took a pre-emption right offer on 440 acres on the east side of the Imnaha River, southeast of the town of Imnaha. As the lessee on the land, Arba had the first right to purchase the property if the landowner sold, which the landowner did a few years later and Arba and Mary became the landowners. This land was parts of Sections 25, 26, 35, and 36 of Township 1S, Range 48E and was located on the ridge east of the Imnaha, 18 miles out the Hat Point Road (Fire Road 4240) which leaves from the town of Imnaha. The land was about one mile south of Five Mile Lookout and included the area around Findley Spring. Adams Creek, named for Arba and Mary, dives off the east ridge above the Imnaha River and enters the Imnaha about 9.5 miles south of the town. The headwaters of Adams Creek are near the land they owned.
Arba and Mary began farming both pieces of land even though it took two days to travel between them. Sometime in the late 1880's, Arba hired some men to dig a ditch to take water diverted from a creek to use for flood irrigation on the Imnaha property. Because Arba was terrible to work for, one of the men changed the settings on the device used as a guide to slope the ditch downhill so that water would flow at a gentle rate, usually about two degrees of downhill slope. The worker changed the settings to two degrees of uphill slope. When digging the ditch, it is impossible to tell the difference by eye. When the ditch was complete and water diverted into it, the water did not flow. The workers erupted in laughter and Arba knew he had been had. The device was reset, and they went back and reworked the ditch and got paid for the extra time it took to redo the several hundred yards of ditch.
Minnie married Frank Enoch Vaughan on December 23, 1889 in Joseph. Arba, Mary, and Roxie continue to work both the land at the ranch and the land on the Imnaha through the 1890s. Arba and Mary built a new house at the ranch on Upper Prairie Creek in 1905 and that house still stands today. This replaced the older cabin. I believe that the barn and grainery, which are both still standing as well, were constructed before the new house in 1905, probably in the 1880's or 1890's. The grainery has since burned down, around 2020.
Harry Lloyd Hope and Roxie Catherine Adams, who were married on February 19, 1905, nine days after their first daughter, Mary Elizabeth Hope, was born. Norma Ester Hope was born on October 19, 1906 to Roxie and Harry. Roxie fell from a horse sometime in 1906, probably after the birth of Norma and suffered hip and back injuries. After failing to heal, Roxie was determined to have Tuberculosis, including spread to the hip and spine. Because Roxie was not doing well and the marriage was not doing well, Arba and Mary Adams decided to sell their land on the Imnaha and move back to the ranch full time. The Imnaha land was sold in November 1907 to Marvin Hotchkiss for $6,000. Roxie died on March 17, 1909 just after Mary had turned 4 and Norma was 2 1/2. At that point, Harry left and returned to Baker City, Oregon for a time, but was no longer seen by any family member. Arba and Mary Adams took over the care of the two girls.
About 1910, Roxie's sister and her husband, Minnie Ruth Adams Vaughan and Frank Enoch Vaughan had moved to Corning, California. Mary Adams and Norma Hope did not like the winters in Wallowa County and convinced Arba and Mary Adams to go live with Minnie and Frank every winter. Arba Adams and Mary Hope would have preferred to stay in Wallowa County. They would all take the train from La Grande, Oregon to Corning, California each fall and return each spring.
Jesse Harrison Brown married Mary Elizabeth Hope on September 24, 1921 when Mary was 16 and Jesse was 32. Their first daughter, Dorothy Jean Brown was born on August 12, 1922.
Arba died on October 17, 1924 at the ranch from "angina."
Arba Nelson Adams was born on December 8, 1842 in Hyde Park, Vermont. Hyde Park is in north central Vermont in Lamoille County and is north of the Stowe ski area. Hyde Park is quite remote and today only has about 400 citizens. Arba's grandfather Joseph Adams moved the family from Rutland, Massachusetts to Eden, Vermont, just north of Hyde Park, in the early 1800's. Arba was a direct descendant of Henry Adams who emigrated to America in 1638 with his wife Edith and their nine sons and five daughters. They landed in what is now Braintree, Massachusetts only 18 years after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. Arba's great-grandfather Asa Adams from Medway, Massachusetts had fought in the American Revolution both on the Canadian Expedition of 1776 and on the Rhode Island Campaign of 1778.
On June 3, 1861, 19-year-old Arba enlisted in the Ninth Vermont Volunteers to fight for the Union during the American Civil War. He was mustered into service a year later. Between September 12 and 15, 1862 he fought in the Battle of Harpers Ferry. Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's confederate troop surrounded the fort and drug cannons to the hilltops above it and began bombarding it from three directions. The Union Army of over 12,600 men stationed at Harpers Ferry was commanded by Colonel Dixon S. Miles. Several battles were fought over three days with the Confederates completely outmaneuvering the Union Army. Miles was totally inadequate to the task of commanding his men in a major battle. Colonel Miles was wounded on the morning of September 15th, and there is speculation that this might have been from his own troops because of his lack of leadership and his lack of willingness to fight. Colonel Miles died the next day. Formal surrender of the fort and the troops occurred on September 15th. General Robert E. Lee sent Jackson an urgent message to join him at Sharpsburg so General A. P. Hill was left to manage all the captured munitions and the parole of the Federal prisoners. Because the Confederates had no ability to manage so many prisoners, the 12,419 captured Federal prisoners were each forced to sign a document that indicated that they would not rejoin the Union Army. After signing they were released. Of course, the vast majority of the captured Union soldiers immediately rejoined the fight, as did Arba. On September 11, 1863, Arba was mustered out of the service due to the loss of an eye. It is not recorded how this happened. After his service he returned to Vermont.
After Arba was discharged from the army, he moved from Hyde Park, Vermont to Portage, Wisconsin to join his uncle, Joseph Curtis Adams to help on his farm and with his logging operation. Portage is a small farming community on the Wisconsin River about 40 miles north of Madison and about 55 miles from Lake Mills. Joseph's first wife Nancy Warren had died at their home in Eden, Vermont in 1850 one week after the birth of their fourth child, also named Nancy. After Nancy's death, Joseph moved to Portage and began farming. Between 1855 and 1859, Joseph Adams and the widow Catherine Bickel met, and they were married in March 1859. Catherine had one daughter, Mary Margaret Bickel, born in 1855, from her previous marriage. Joseph and Catherine Adams then had three more children together.
Arba and Mary Bickel were married on November 7, 1869 when Arba was 27 and Mary was 14. Minnie Ruth Adams was born to Arba and Mary on October 3, 1870 in Stockton Wisconsin. Stockton is about 70 miles north of Portage and it may be that Arba and Mary started farming their own place in Stockton or for some other reason. It is assuredly true that Mary was pregnant when the 1870 census was taken.
Sometime in the early 1870's, Arba was encouraged by a friend named Luther Perkins to come to Wallowa County, Oregon to homestead. They knew Luther from Wisconsin, but he had traveled west and settled on Upper Prairie Creek near Joseph on property that is now known as the Grant Schaffer place. This remote valley had largely gone unnoticed for 20 years by those on the Oregon Trail even though the Oregon Trail went directly through La Grande, Oregon, which is only about 45 miles from the mouth of the Wallowa valley. However, entry into the valley is difficult because of a steep incline called the Minam River grade, the river crossing at the confluence of the Minam and Wallowa Rivers, and then the winding, rocky, ten-mile trail up the canyon to the mouth of the Wallowa Valley. It was then another 30 miles up the valley to reach Upper Prairie Creek southeast of Joseph. While the Wallowa Valley seems reasonably flat, the 30 miles from the mouth of the valley to Upper Prairie Creek has an elevation gain from 2,950 feet above sea level to almost 4,400 above sea level, which makes quite a difference in growing seasons and the amount of snow one gets in the winter.
In the spring of 1876, my mom Anita, indicated that Arba, Mary and their six-year-old daughter Minnie came to La Grande, Oregon by train. That could not be true as the railroad did not make it to La Grande until 1884 when the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company completed their line through La Grande to connect with the Oregon Short Line Railroad at Huntington, Oregon on the Snake River, about 30 miles north of Ontario, Oregon. The closest railroad terminal to La Grande in 1876 was probably at Promontory, Utah where the golden spike was driven at the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869. It may have been that Arba, Mary, and Minnie traveled part of the way to La Grande by train, but it is likely that they rode horses or by stagecoach from Promontory or some other point through southern Idaho and into eastern Oregon until they reached La Grande where Arba bought a wagon and team. They ran out of money for supplies, so they charged their groceries on account at Mr. Goodman's store in La Grande. They made the journey into Wallowa County and on to Upper Prairie Creek where they made their homestead. This homestead is at 61346 Liberty Road, Joseph, Oregon which includes 156.4 acres of land, 27 acres of which is timber. The next spring, Arba brought the furs he had trapped over the winter back to La Grande to pay off his account with Mr. Goodman and to buy more supplies for 1877.
The homestead on Upper Prairie Creek was referred to as "the ranch." There are not many details of what happened at the ranch during those early years other than the birth of Roxanna Catherine "Roxie" Adams on October 17, 1884. Roxie was 14 years younger than Minnie, her older sister.
Arba's reputation was that of a very tough man who was easy to anger into a rage and as a very demanding taskmaster. He had lost an eye in the Civil War and he stuttered badly. When people asked his name he would say, "Mmmmy nnnname is Aaarr, Arrrrrr, Aaaarr…Oh hell, just call me Sam." He was known throughout his life as Sam Adams. Arba seemed to stutter a lot less when he was swearing so when he was swearing, it was pretty clear how he felt about the situation.
Arba normally made two trips annually to La Grande to sell goods and to get supplies. This was a two-day trip by wagon each way. Sometimes it took even longer, depending on the weather and the road conditions. Mom said that on one trip he was traveling with a neighbor, each driving a wagon. They camped for the night in the Wallowa River canyon between the town of Wallowa and the river crossing at the bottom of the Minam grade. They were asleep in their tent when two fellows set upon them and tried to rob them of their furs and money. Arba and his colleague came out blazing with their handguns, driving the bushwhackers off.
In 1886, Arba took a pre-emption right offer on 440 acres on the east side of the Imnaha River, southeast of the town of Imnaha. As the lessee on the land, Arba had the first right to purchase the property if the landowner sold, which the landowner did a few years later and Arba and Mary became the landowners. This land was parts of Sections 25, 26, 35, and 36 of Township 1S, Range 48E and was located on the ridge east of the Imnaha, 18 miles out the Hat Point Road (Fire Road 4240) which leaves from the town of Imnaha. The land was about one mile south of Five Mile Lookout and included the area around Findley Spring. Adams Creek, named for Arba and Mary, dives off the east ridge above the Imnaha River and enters the Imnaha about 9.5 miles south of the town. The headwaters of Adams Creek are near the land they owned.
Arba and Mary began farming both pieces of land even though it took two days to travel between them. Sometime in the late 1880's, Arba hired some men to dig a ditch to take water diverted from a creek to use for flood irrigation on the Imnaha property. Because Arba was terrible to work for, one of the men changed the settings on the device used as a guide to slope the ditch downhill so that water would flow at a gentle rate, usually about two degrees of downhill slope. The worker changed the settings to two degrees of uphill slope. When digging the ditch, it is impossible to tell the difference by eye. When the ditch was complete and water diverted into it, the water did not flow. The workers erupted in laughter and Arba knew he had been had. The device was reset, and they went back and reworked the ditch and got paid for the extra time it took to redo the several hundred yards of ditch.
Minnie married Frank Enoch Vaughan on December 23, 1889 in Joseph. Arba, Mary, and Roxie continue to work both the land at the ranch and the land on the Imnaha through the 1890s. Arba and Mary built a new house at the ranch on Upper Prairie Creek in 1905 and that house still stands today. This replaced the older cabin. I believe that the barn and grainery, which are both still standing as well, were constructed before the new house in 1905, probably in the 1880's or 1890's. The grainery has since burned down, around 2020.
Harry Lloyd Hope and Roxie Catherine Adams, who were married on February 19, 1905, nine days after their first daughter, Mary Elizabeth Hope, was born. Norma Ester Hope was born on October 19, 1906 to Roxie and Harry. Roxie fell from a horse sometime in 1906, probably after the birth of Norma and suffered hip and back injuries. After failing to heal, Roxie was determined to have Tuberculosis, including spread to the hip and spine. Because Roxie was not doing well and the marriage was not doing well, Arba and Mary Adams decided to sell their land on the Imnaha and move back to the ranch full time. The Imnaha land was sold in November 1907 to Marvin Hotchkiss for $6,000. Roxie died on March 17, 1909 just after Mary had turned 4 and Norma was 2 1/2. At that point, Harry left and returned to Baker City, Oregon for a time, but was no longer seen by any family member. Arba and Mary Adams took over the care of the two girls.
About 1910, Roxie's sister and her husband, Minnie Ruth Adams Vaughan and Frank Enoch Vaughan had moved to Corning, California. Mary Adams and Norma Hope did not like the winters in Wallowa County and convinced Arba and Mary Adams to go live with Minnie and Frank every winter. Arba Adams and Mary Hope would have preferred to stay in Wallowa County. They would all take the train from La Grande, Oregon to Corning, California each fall and return each spring.
Jesse Harrison Brown married Mary Elizabeth Hope on September 24, 1921 when Mary was 16 and Jesse was 32. Their first daughter, Dorothy Jean Brown was born on August 12, 1922.
Arba died on October 17, 1924 at the ranch from "angina."
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