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Note: t greatr grandaughteer of Francis Cooper of Culpeper Co, Virginia 6 sons/4 daughters 1844-1865, first child, Sylvester Confucius b. 1844, Platte Co, Missouri across Oregon Trail to Oregon 1846,
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Histories of the Cooper of Lewis County, TN A TnGenWeb Project
Submitted by: Mary Bob McClain Richardson on 19 September 2004.
Col. Robert Melville Cooper (son of Capt. Robert Cooper, Revolutionary War soldier of Fishing Creek, South Carolina.), had fifteen children. Twelve boys and three girls. His children were born in Maury/Lewis County, Tenn. many of whom left for war, returned, and got their families, and headed for greener pastures. Some came back to Lewis County, Tennessee and died here. Listed below are some of the histories of the Cooper family of Lewis County that moved and died in other states.
Lt. Colonel Albert Gallatin Cooper, C.S.A. Born: Sunday, June 22, 1817 - Maury Co. (that part which is now Lewis Co.) Tennessee Died: February 28, 1883 - Weatherford, Parker Co., Texas. Buried: March 2, 1883 - Spring Creek Cemetery, Parker Co., Texas, 9 miles south of Weatherford on Grandbury Hwy. Married: Sunday, April 8, 1838, Maury Co., Tn., by Wyle Ledbetter, LEMEC. to Elizabeth E. Webb b. Circa 1820 - Tenn. - d. 17 Dec 1876. Big Cane, St. Landry Parish, La.
WAR RECORD: Private to Corporal in Capt. John B. Hamilton's Company lst Tenn Mounted Militia, Seminole (Florida) War. Enlisted June 16, 1836; corporal July 4, 1836 to Jan 14, 1837; enlisted as Second Sargent. May 28, 1846, to Captain of Company C, lst Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Mexican War), June 6, 1846 to may 29, 1847; Lieutenant Colonel 19th (Biffle's) Division, Forrest's Cavalry Corps, Dept of Tenn. and Georgia, Confederate Army; resigned December 13, 1864 for physical reasons. The eldest child of Col. Robert Melville and Catherine Cooper Cooper.
Thomas Melville Cooper, C.S.A. Son of Albert Gallatin Cooper and Elizabeth E. (Webb) Cooper Born: circa 1840 Maury County, Tenn. (note: this was the part of Maury Co., that became Lewis Co., in 1843.) Died: February 1862 - Killed in Civil War at Fort Donelson (Was a member of his uncle Capt. Robert Cooper's Company C, 3rd (Clack's) Tennessee Infantry) Unmarried
John Alexander Cooper C.S.A. Born: 26 Sept 1844 - Lewis County, Tennessee Died: 7 June 1933 - San Angelo, Texas Buried: Rough Creek Cemetery, Navice, Texas Son of Albert Gallatin Cooper and Elizabeth E. (Webb) Cooper. John Alexander Cooper served with his father in the 9th Cavalry Regiment of Tennessee after he withdrew from his uncle Theodore Cooper's company. After his father moved to Houston County, Texas, he taught school at Crockett, Texas from 1879 - 1880. In 1928 he was granted a Civil War pension in Texas. His application gave his address as Route 3, Coleman, Texas. Affidavit was made by his cousin, James Melville Cooper, son of Paris Cooper, in Dallas, Texas on 18 Mar 1925.
Jonathan Melville Cooper C.S.A. Born: 2 December 1843 on Saturday - Maury Co., TN (note: This was the part of Maury Co., that became Lewis Co., TN in 1843.) Died: 4 Jul 1930 - Cedar Hill, Dallas Co., Texas Buried: Little Bethel Cemetery, Cedar Hill, Dallas Co., Texas Unmarried. Private 9th Tennessee Cavalry (Forrest) serving under both Capt. Beatty and Capt. Biffle. On September 15, 1913, he applied for a Pension, stating he was 60 years old. it was sworn to by John Alexander Cooper, his cousin, of Fisher County, Texas. He stated he was on furlough when Lee surrendered. The Pension was granted and is on file in State Archives of Texas.
Albert James Cooper C.S.A. Born: 8 July 1846 - Maury Co., Tenn Died: 9 November 1918 on Saturday, Fisher Co., Texas Married: 18 April 1869 on Sunday - Lewis Co., Tennessee Margaret Eupheme Pollock (Sister of Susan Catherine, Ellen and John Pollock). Born 2 May 1851 - Lewis County, Tennessee. Private in Company H (Biffle's) 9 Cavalry of Tennessee, serving with his brother, Jonathan M. Cooper. Ha applied for a pension in 1912 stating he was 66 years old and resided at Roby, Fisher Co., Texas. He moved to Fannin County, Texas, when he came from Tennessee after 1880. He helped organize the first draft board in Fisher County. He is listed on the 1870 and 1880 census of Lewis County, Tennessee, living next door to his father, Paris Cooper.
2nd Lt. William McAdams Cooper C.S.A. Born: Sunday, February 1823 - Bainbridge County, Mississippi* Died: 5 July 1862 - Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi - Age 39 yrs. 4 mos., 26 da. Buried: Shiloh National Cemetery. Married: (1)Wednesday, July 12, 1843 - Maury Co., Tenn. by C.Y. Hudson, J.P. to Louise Elizabeth (Eliza) Toombs, Born 26 December 1824 - Tennessee, Died 6 Mar 1901. (2) "Judge" Graham, a county clerk, and is buried in an unmarked grave at McClain's Cemetery, Mt. Joy, Tennessee at the end of the row of Cooper graves and next to Mrs. Melvina Whitwell.
War Record Volunteer Service of the Confederate States, serving as 3nd Lieutenant Company "A" 48th (Nixon's) Tennessee Infantry, Confederate Army. Died July 5, 1862 at Tupelo, Mississippi.
History William McAdams Cooper was named for his maternal grandmother's family. He married when he was just past twenty and his wife was nineteen. Nine years after his marriage he was elected the first mayor of Newburg, Lewis County, Tenn., which was incorporated in 1852. He was living here when he joined the volunteer army of the Confederacy. As he went to war, he left behind his wife and seven children ranging in age from seventeen to three years. As he left, his wife followed beside his horse carrying their baby, Narcissa Clementine, whom they called "Sissy". His wife and children followed him to the end of the lane, bidding him farewell. It was their last farewell for he never returned home. He contacted a fever, possible measles of malaria, while fighting in Mississippi and died at Tupelo, Mississippi. *Bainbridge County was formed from Jones and Covington Counties and was only a county until 1826 when it was dissolved and it is now Jones County, Mississippi.
Captain Robert Theodore Cooper C.S.A. Born: Saturday, 7 April 1832 - Maury County, Tennessee Died: 12 May 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi. Killed in Battle of Raymond. Buried: Confederate Cemetery, Raymond, Miss. Unmarked grave. Married: 23 December 1853 - Lawrence County, Tenn. Louise Clementine (Jesse ) Smith - (daughter of Robert O. Smith, his first cousin.) Norn: circ 1835 Died: 19 Aug 1867 in the battle of Baker's Creek at West Point, Miss. near Raymond. War Record Captain, Company C. 3rd (Clack's) Tennessee Infantry C.S.A.
History As a child Robert Theodore Cooper lived in that portion of Maury County, Tenn. that later became Lewis County. As a young man he taught a subscription school at Newburg, the county seat of Lewis, and later served as sheriff for the county. He married his second cousin, the daughter of Robert Orville Smith who was the son of Eleanor Cooper. Louise Clementine Smith did not like her name so she re-named herself "Jessie" and was known by that name throughout her life. Her mother died when she was very young and she spent most of her life with her sister and her husband, Francis Watson. When the first company was organized in Lewis County during the Civil War, Robert T. Cooper joined immediately and was elected second lieutenant. The company was attached to the 3rd Tennessee Regiment. Later he became Captain and was mustered into service on May 20, 1861 and sent to Camp Cheatham near Bowling Green, KY, and from there moved to Bowling Green. He induced three of his brothers, Alexander, Bruce, and Samuel to join him.
Columbia Herald - handwritten date of Aug 26-27, 1928. FAMOUS COOPER FAMILY TO HAVE REUNION SEPT. 2. SURVIVORS OF ONE OF REMARKABLE FAMILIES OF CONFEDERACY MEET. OLD SOLDIERS TO ATTEND
Judge Whithorne to be One of the Speakers; Record Without a Parallel, in the History of the Service of The South. L. Bruce Cooper, gallant confederate soldier, one of two survivors of perhaps the most remarkable family, so far as numbers are concerned, that served the short lived Southern Confederacy, will on next Wednesday, September 2, near his home in Lewis County, just a short distance from Mt. Joy, celebrate the eighty-fourth birthday. This will be a combined family and Confederate reunion. The sole surviving brother of Mr. Cooper, Alfred, will be present as will the children, grandchildren and great-grand children. Every Confederate soldier of this section has been invited to be present and as many of the battle scared heroes of the days long gone as possible will attend. There will be an abundance of everything to eat for all. Among the speakers invited to address the meeting is Judge Washington C. Whitthorne, himself the son of a Confederate soldier. The reunions are of great interest since they bring together the survivors of a family of ten sons who served the Confederacy. In the same armies of the South were six of the sons of these ten brothers. The Herald some months ago published a letter written by the mother of these ten sons sacred heroes of the days long gone and the grand mother of six soldiers boys which showed the patriotic devotion of the women of the Old South. Although living a short distance over in Lewis county, near the old home, the Cooper family really belongs to Maury County, for at the times these sons were born the territory where they now live was embraced in the confines of this county. The other surviving member of the original family, Alfred Cooper, is eighty one years of age.
Alfred Theodorick Cooper C.S.A. Born: Wednesday, 18 Sept 1844 - Lewis County, Tenn. Died: 22 April 1931 - Lewis County, Tenn. Buried: McClain's Cemetery - Stone reads: "9th Tenn. Reg., Forest; Cav." War Record Private, Company H, 19th (Biffle's) Tennessee Cavalry, C.S.A., Residence. Palestine, Lewis Co., Tenn. shot in thigh at Brentwood, Tennessee, marcy 23, 1863. History Alfred T. Cooper was the youngest of fifteen children, and the last of forty-eight children of three brothers who lived in Maury and Lewis Counties, Tenn. After his brother Bruce married, he made his home with him, and it was said they were like Jonathan and David and were together all of their lives. The family said the spent hours sitting under the old apple tree in the front yard spinning tales and always laughing and talking as if they had not seen one another for weeks. Alfred had a dog that was his constant companion, and at meals he always took an extra piece of bread and slipped it inside his coat for the dog. The family kept his secret and he never knew they knew that he was snitching for the animal. After his was shot in Brentwood, he was later taken prisoner by the Yankees at Mt. Pleasant, and there is a not written by a Yankee officer giving him parole until exchanged among the papers of Virginia Wright. The official parole and permission to return home after the war was dated May 10, 1865 and his permit to vote again was dated June 19, 1869.
Capt. James Carlisle Cooper C.S.A. Born: Saturday, 17 Nov 1826 - Maury Co., Tenn. Died: 11 Nov 1897 - Salinas Peak Gold Camp near Tularosa, New Mexico. Buried: Hunter's Cemetery, Maury Co., Tenn. (about one-half south of Mt. Pleasant with his wife and several of their children.) Married: 11 September 1856 - Maury Co., Tenn. to Emmarinthy Caroline Kinzer - (daughter of George Kinzer), Born: 15 November 1832 - Maury Co., Tenn. Died: Friday, 14 September 1895 - Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. War Record Private in Capt. A.G. Cooper's Co. "C", 1st Tenn. mounted Infantry of the Mexican War, June 6, 1846 to May 29, 1847; Confederate Army - Captain of Company "E" 48th (Nixon's) Tennessee Infantry, November 27, 1861. Son of Robert Melville and Catherine Cooper Cooper.
Eleanor Cooper Smith Born: 1775 - Chester Districk, S.C. Died: 1824 - Maury County, Tennessee Married: circa 1798 - Chester Co., S.C. to Robert Smith, born: 1774 - South Carolina Died: 1855 - Lewis County, Tennessee Buried: Lewis Co., Tenn., Meriwether Lewis National Park about 15 ft. from Lewis Monument in an unmarked grave.
From the records we can establish the following facts about Eleanor and Robert Smith. Robert Smith was a post rider from Nashville to Natchez at the time of Meriwether Lewis' death on October 9, 1809. Robert Smith is said to have found the body of Lewis lying against a tree. Some of the family say that Robert Smith was returning from Natchez by way of the race as was the custom when he found Lewis' body. Others say that Robert Smith lived near the mill and was going to the spring for water in the early hours of the morning when he was Lewis. One published bit says that Lewis died in Robert Smith's arms. There are varied stories in the families today regarding the Robert Smith and the Lewis incident. This seems to be true. Robert Smith was a wood craftsman and cabinet maker by trade before coming to Tennessee and practiced the profession in South Carolina. His descendants in Georgetown, Texas say it was he who hewed the log casket for Meriwether Lewis' body. Thus, it was only natural that he would send to his brother-in-law, John Cooper, for nails heavy enough to hold the log casket together.
John Cooper was away in Mississippi but his brothers Hamilton and Robert Melville Cooper forged the large nails which became so important in 1848 when Lewis' body was exhumed. It was both Robert Smith and Robert Melville Cooper who identified the remains of Lewis which were exhumed for reburial and honor by the nails which had held the log - hewn casket. In 1850 we find Robert Smith, Sr., age 77, on the Lewis County, Tenn. census in the town of Newburgh, listed as a herdsman, and living in the home of James D. Davis, age 31 and his wife Juda. At this writing the Davis family has not been identified. The Williamson Co., Tenn. marriage records show that James D. Davis married Elizabeth Smith, June 20 1842, J.B. Boyd, J.P., and Owen Prince, Bondsman. Robert Smith is buried near the Meriwether Lewis monument together with his daughter and two infant grandchildren. Their graves are some fifteen feet from the Lewis monument and all are unmarked. The one grave that only says "Mrs. Johnston" is probably his granddaughter, Dorcas Eleanor, who married John Craig Johnston and died two years after her grandfather.
James Melville Patton Born: circa 1800 = York Co., S.C. Died: Married: 16 January 1823, Williamson Co., Tenn. David Youngman, Bondsman, to Narcissa T. Smith - (His first cousin, daughter of Eleanor Cooper and Robert Smith) , born: circa 1801. (Note: James M. Patton had a first cousin, David Youngman Cooper, son of Jonathan) History In 1849 "Mel" Patton opened the first store in Newburg, the county seat of Lewis County, Tennessee and was considered the "first merchant: of the county. In 1855 he was residing on land on Rockhouse Creek in Lewis County which he had purchased from James B. Smith. There were apparently greener pastures in California where many from Maury and Lewis counties had gone to make a fortune in gold, including his Cooper cousins. From a letter that is extant, Mel Patton was a well read and an educated man. In beautiful penmanship on May 3, 1859, he wrote from Ophis, California to his uncle, Col. Robert Melville Cooper quoting from Shakespeare. We have no records of the death or burial of James Melville Patton or his wife, Narcissa T. Smith
Civil War Papers of Leander Bruce Cooper
LEANDER B. COOPER, Private,Co. (C) 3rd Regiment Tennessee Vols. Age: 22, Height: 5 Feet 10 inches; Complexion: Fair; Eyes: Grey; Hair: Light Residence: Tennessee, Lewis County; Occupation: Farmer; Enlisted: May 24, 1861 at Nashville, Tenn.; By Whom: Col. Scudelr; Period: War; Last Paid: By paymaster, Capt. Decker; To what time: 31st Aug/65 Remarks: The Said L.B. Cooper has $128.40 due him for clothing not drawn in kind from the 8 of Aprile 1863 to the 28 day of march 1864.; the said Soldier has reenlisted to Service during the presant war. Station: Dalton Ga. I certify that the above is a correct transcript. Date: March 28th 1864 from the Book of Company (C) 3rd Tennessee Regt. SAMUEL T. STRICKLAND 1st Lieut, Commanding Company
References: 1. Garrett, Jill K., Maury County, Tennessee Historical Sketches, p.30 2. Roberts; Lillian Lesbia Word. Hugh Cooper 1720-1793 Fishing Creek So. Carolina and His Descendants, McMillian Publishing Co., Dallas, TX, 1976, pg. 67, 278, 487, 495, 521, 529, 573, 603 611.
Back to the Lewis Co, TN Home Page <http://www.tngennet.org/lewis>!
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Benjamin Simpson 3/29/1818 - 5/17/1910 Nancy Cooper 1820 - 1883 <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/bsimp.jpg> Benjamin and Nancy (Cooper) Simpson <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Benjamin_Simpson_Marker_Sm.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Nancy_Cooper_Marker_Sm.JPG> Gravestones of Benjamin and Nancy Simpson in the Lone Fir Cemetery, 2115 SE Morrison St. Portland, Oregon Biography of Benjamin Simpson The following was compiled from three newspaper articles: The first in the Hillsboro INdependent on November 17, 1905, the second and third in unidentified papers, published March 29, 1910 and May 18, 1910. Benjamin Simpson was born in Warren County, near Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29th, 1818, but was taken by his parents to Missouri in 1820, and lived there until he left for Oregon in 1846. In 1839 he married Eliza Jane Wisdom, who died in 1841, shortly after the birth of their first son John Thomas. He was married again in 1843 to Nancy Cooper, and with three children, John Thomas, Sylvester C. and Samuel L. crossed the plains and settled on French Prairie in Marion County, Oregon in 1846. This was the same year the United States established its claim to the Oregon country by treaty with Great Britain. Ben's brother Barnett, reported in a newspaper article <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/barnett_simpson.htm> written years later, that Ben had been elected Captain of the wagon train that brought the family west. Barnett also noted that between their arrival in Oregon in 1846, and 1852, three of Ben Simpson's brothers married three sisters of the Haven family. After the massacre of Dr. & Mrs. Whitman in 1847, at Wailatpu, near Walla Walla, Washington, Benjamin volunteered as a member of the force sent from the Willamette settlement under Colonel Gilliam to quell and punish the Cayuse Indians, and was present at the death of Colonel Gilliam which resulted from the accidental discharge of a gun. This action against the Indians was called the Cayuse War. Benjamin Simpson built one of the early steamboats to ply the Willamette River above Oregon City. At Clackamas he owned a sawmill and at Oregon City, a merchandise store. In 1849 he made a voyage to California with a cargo of lumber which was used to build sluice boxes for mining gold. Lumber at that time was worth $150 to $250 per thousand board feet. He also shipped knock-down houses which sold in San Francisco for $1000 each. In short order he amassed quite a fortune. In 1850, Benjamin Simpson was elected a member of the Second Territorial Legislature, and served with credit to himself and his constituents. During the course of his political career he was elected six times to the State Legislature, four times to the State House of Representatives after Oregon became a state, and once to the State Senate from the counties of Marion, Clackamas, Polk and Benton. While he was a democrat during his early life, with the firing on Fort Sumpter early in 1861, he became a Union man, and after the close of the Civil War, identified himself with the Republican Party. About 1856, Ben was sulter at Fort Yamhill, Polk County. It was during this time that he formed the acquaintance of Second Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan, and when the latter left Oregon in 1861, expressing a desire to �attain the rank of captain before the (Civil) war ended,� he placed all his business affairs in Mr. Simpson�s hands. (Sheridan gave his sword to Ben; this sword is now in the possession of David Healy.) <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_4.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_1.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_2.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_3.JPG> Ben Simpson was Indian Agent at the Siletz and Grande Ronde reservations for eight years, beginning in 1862 by appointment of President Lincoln. After the Civil War, he was appointed by President Grant to be chairman of the �Committee of Three� which negotiated a treaty with the Coeur d�Alene Indians. In 1875, he was appointed Surveyor General of Oregon by President Grant, and served out his term. After this appointment, Ben was frequently referred to as �General Simpson� About 1880, Ben moved to Selma, Alabama where he received an appointment as Post Office Inspector and filled that role for nearly twenty years there. During his youth, Ben had learned from family lore that he had an uncle that had a large estate in Scotland. Not much attention was given to this, however, for many years. In about 1879, Ben happened to pick up a Scotch paper in Oregon in which appeared a notice to the effect that there was a large estate in Scotland that was about to escheat to the crown, because no one could be found who could prove his rightful ownership thereunto, and stating furthermore, that it was believed there were heirs in the southern part of the United States. This accidental finding of a reference to the Simpson estate in Scotland recalled the tradition to the same effect of his early childhood. Ben Simpson secured the Post Office Inspector position in the south with the intention of establishing his claim to the estate, which, upon investigation he learned was valued at several millions of dollars. After a number of years of strenuous effort, he abandoned the project, because the kind of evidence required could not be found. He satisfied himself however, that he was the legitimate heir, and that he could have proved his claim had it not been for the destruction of family papers by fire. While there he married Caroline Gordon; Nancy apparently having died sometime prior. He and Caroline returned to Oregon to the home of his daughter and son-in-law, W. M. Killingsworth, at 229 Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon, about 1900. Ben Simpson died on May 17, 1910, at the age of 92, three weeks after he fell over an obstacle on the floor in his bedroom and broke his left arm, while preparing for bed. The following morning complications developed and he passed away three weeks later. The funeral was held at the Finley Undertaking Rooms, and Ben was buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Ben Simpson was the founder of a well-known family in Oregon. His sons were: Samuel L. Simpson, famed poet and author of �Beautiful Willamette�; Sylvester C. Simpson, long time editor of the Oregon Herald of Portland, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 1873-74, subsequently a historical and legal writer for the Bancroft Company; Grover Simpson, a high officer of the Wells-Fargo Company in Chicago; William Simpson, of Pocatello, Idaho; John Simpson of Sheridan, Oregon: and Clarence, industrial agent of the Wells-Fargo Company in New Orleans. He was survived by two daughters: Mrs. W. M. Killingsworth and Mrs. W. T. Burney, of Portland. From a newspaper article written March 29, 1910, �General Simpson was one of the most vigorous characters in early Oregon affairs, and his native energy stays with him even in his advanced age. �Time that scars us, maims and mars us,� as Sam Simpson wrote in his most noted poem, has not impaired the mind of this pioneer and he still has active use of his physical faculties. In industry, Indian fighting, politics and commonwealth building, General Simpson left his mark on the affairs of Oregon. _______________________________________________________________________________ From notes of Kirke Wilson, May, 1991: Benjamin Simpson (1818-1910) Elmira Jane Wisdom who died in child birth in Platte Co. m. Nancy Cooper (1820-1883) daughter of William Cooper, gd' of Col. Benjamin Cooper of 1782 Blue Lick Fight in Kentucky and Coopers Fort, Missouri, ggd of Francis Cooper of Culpeper Co, Virginia 6 sons/4 daughters 1844-1865, first child, Sylvester Confucius b. 1844, Platte Co, Missouri across Oregon Trail to Oregon 1846, lived in several places in Oregon, Benjamin active in business, politics and government after death of Nancy in 1883, Benjamin moved to Selma, Alabama area briefly, returned to Oregon and married Mrs. Caroline Gordon (about whom little is known) ____________________________________________________________________ From notes of Lynn Beedle ("Old Times, Vol. 24, No. 1, August 23, 1995): "It's evident that Ben Simpson was a man of many talents --- and many jobs. He was an entrepreneur, sometimes legislator, politically inclined. He was a postal inspector. His last job was as Surveyor General. In 1865 he bought a newspaper in order to promote himself for a political position. Hired sons Sylvester and Sam as editors." Ben wrote an 1897 letter of Sylvester (from Selma, Alabama). Only about 80% accurate, but certainly his comments that he knew President McKinley well are accurate. Copy of a letter from Benjamin Simpson to son Sylvester C. Simpson and Family: <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet1.JPG>Page 1 <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet2.JPG>Page 2 _______________________________________________________________________________ From website: <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/index1.htm> Benjamin Simpson was the son of my great great great grandfather William Simpson. William and his wife, Mary Kimsey Simpson must have had their hands full bringing their children and their families across the Oregon Trail. One daughter, Cassia Casey Simpson Kimsey, died on the journey; leaving a husband and 6 year old daughter. Nineveh Ford married William's daughter Martha Jane Simpson June 15, 1848 in Marion County, OR. ID: I00030 Name: Benjamin F. Simpson Sex: M Birth: 29 MAR 1818 in Warren Co., TN Death: 17 MAY 1910 in Portland, Multnomah Co., OR Note: Crossed the Oregon Trail with wife and his parents in 1846 Father: William Barnett Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00010> b: 27 JUN 1793 in Warren Co., TN Mother: Mary Polly Kimsey <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00011> b: 7 JUL 1797 in Bedford Co., TN Marriage 1 Caroline Gordon <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01139> b: ABT. 1818 Marriage 2 Elmira Elzira Jane Wisdom <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00031> b: ABT. 1818 Married: 28 MAY 1839 in Platte Co., MO Children 1. John Thomas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I02661> b: 20 JUN 1841 in Platt Co., MO Marriage 3 Nancy Cooper <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00216> b: 29 MAR 1820 in Howard Co., MO Married: ABT. 1841 in Warren Co., TN Children 1. Samuel Leonidas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00218> b: 10 NOV 1845 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 2. Sylvester Confucious Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00220> b: 21 MAR 1844 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 3. Francis Marion Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01140> b: 1847 in Marion Co., OR 4. Louisa Ann Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01141> b: 13 APR 1849 in Clackamas Co., OR 5. Elnora Thurston Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01143> b: 7 APR 1852 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 6. Isadora Paradine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01145> b: 28 APR 1854 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 7. William Milton Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01147> b: 5 FEB 1856 in OR 8. Grover Benjamine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01148> b: 28 FEB 1858 in Yamhill, OR 9. Alice Blandina Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01149> b: 1862 in Polk Co., OR 10. Charles Wellington Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01151> b: 13 OCT 1865 in Salem, Marion Co., OR From website: <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=> GET&db=cchouk&id=I00030 ___________________________________________ From: www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html <http://www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html> This article refers to Benjamin Simpson's experience as an Indian Agent. Reservation Life Over 800 Indians arrived at the Grand Ronde Reservation.... ... shown on Map 10 <http://www.cowcreek.com/location/x10reserv.html>. They were totally dependent on the Government for survival. The Indians were surrounded and protected by the U.S. Army. The Indians were held against their will, forbidden to leave, much as slaves are held. The Indians had no tools to build shelters. The Indians had lost everything - lost a war, and their homes. They were homesick and many died of depression. Food stocks were uncertain and the crowding of so many people into such a small area meant game quickly became scarce. Only treaty Indians were eligible for government food rations. Even the Government food supply was not guaranteed. The majority, non-Treaty Indians, were faced with starvation. Education on the reservation was intended to destroy the Indian's old way of life, to indoctrinate them into the ways of the non-Indian. Agent Benjamin Simpson likened educating "a mind that inhabits a savage body" to "putting new wine into old bottles." "Mind and body must be civilized at the same time, and while the one is being stored with useful knowledge the other must be taught sober, steady, industrious habits; under such a system, not only will the pupils benefit, but they will contribute largely by their influence and example toward the elevation of their races from its barbarous condition." Many starving, homesick Indians, desperate for their homelands, escaped from the Reservation and tried to go home. Most were tracked down and returned to the reservation. ____________________________________________________________________________ Seems Benjamin Simpson was also involved in resolving shellfish rights. This is from: <http://users.wi.net/~maracon/lesson8.html> The Yaquina Bay oyster industry <http://www.tlpoe.com/Links.htm> began with a shipwreck. In January 1852, the schooner Juliet was forced by storms, and her captain and crew were stranded in in this area for two months. When they reached the Willamette Valley, the captain reported that the Yaquina River was abundant with oysters, clams and fish of all kinds.
Yaquina Bay Bridge 1967 [1932]Annie Rock 1900 [6560]Yaquina Bay Lighthouse <http://www.yaquinalights.org/index.htm>1954 [7886] Salem Public Library Archives
Other visitors also reported on the abundance of oysters, and 1863, two commercial oyster firms appeared on Yaquina Bay. The first was Winant & Company, represented by James Winant and Solomon Dodge <http://members.aol.com/sdgreen715/burlingham.htm>, who established a community known as Oysterville. The second was Ludlow & Company, represented by Richard Hillyer. (Oregon Oyster Farms History) There are few names more indelibly connected with the history of Yaquina Bay than James J. Winant, who was born in upstate New York, April 12, 1838. In the fall of 1856 he followed his brother Mark to California where they began dealing in oysters in San Francisco Bay; they were the real pioneers of the oyster trade on the Pacific Coast. Winant was master of vessels on the Pacific Coast for nearly a third of a century. He traded pearls in the South Pacific and hunted walrus <http://www.pbs.org/kratts/world/oceans/walrus/index.html>and whales <http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/usa/oregon/oregon.html>along the shore of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Coast of Siberia. A salvage voyage to the coast of Mexico, where he explored the sunken ship, City of San Francisco and recovered $23,000 of her treasure, was the climax of his legendary career. In 1862 or 1863, the Winant brothers began the oyster trade <http://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Bucket/ch1.html>on Yaquina Bay. The community bearing the captain's name was located at Oysterville Station on the Corvallis & Eastern Railway, about two miles due south of Yaquina City, on the north bank of Yaquina River. At that time, Yaquina Bay was part of the Coast Reservation, and disputes quickly arose as to who could do what, and at what cost. The government found that by the terms of the treaty setting out the Coast Reservation that "all amenities arising there from" belonged to the Indians, and the agent at Siletz, Judge Benjamin Simpson, was authorized to lease the oyster beds and protect the leasees. Simpson demanded a fee of 15 cents for each bushel harvested be paid to the tribes. (Oregon Oysters Farms History) Winant & Company complied; Ludlow & Company did not. Relying on the "free right of all citizens to take fish in American waters," they filed a lawsuit, which they lost. Under orders of General Benjamin Alvord, the employees of Ludlow & Company were arrested by US soldiers and removed from the reservation. While their suit was pending, Ludlow & Company shipped several cargoes of oysters to San Francisco. The courts decided in favor of the government leasees and the military were again used for the protection of Winant & Company. The first merchandise store on Yaquina Bay was opened at Oysterville in 1864 by Winant & Company. The oyster business attracted considerable attention from the company from Corvallis to the head of Yaquina Bay, at the confluence of the Big Elk and Yaquina rivers, the subscribed capital being $20,000. The road was duly constructed and opened to wagons in 1866, the distance being 45 miles. People were anxious to settle the country; the pressures became strong. The Indian Department readily conceded the people's claim, and the US senator, James W. Nesmith, succeeded in having all that portion of the Coast Reservation laying between the Alsea River south, and Cape Foulweather north of Yaquina Bay, opened to settlement. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ A detailed and enthralling account of the roles played by Benjamin, Sylvester and Samuel Simpson in early Oregon history is contained on the Oregon Historical Website: <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.4/lau.html>
Benjamin Simpson 3/29/1818 - 5/17/1910 Nancy Cooper 1820 - 1883 <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/bsimp.jpg> Benjamin and Nancy (Cooper) Simpson <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Benjamin_Simpson_Marker_Sm.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Nancy_Cooper_Marker_Sm.JPG> Gravestones of Benjamin and Nancy Simpson in the Lone Fir Cemetery, 2115 SE Morrison St. Portland, Oregon _______________________________________________________________ Biography of Benjamin Simpson The following was compiled from three newspaper articles: The first in the Hillsboro Independent on November 17, 1905, the second and third in unidentified papers, published March 29, 1910 and May 18, 1910. Benjamin Simpson was born in Warren County, near Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29th, 1818, but was taken by his parents to Missouri in 1820, and lived there until he left for Oregon in 1846. In 1839 he married Eliza Jane Wisdom, who died in 1841, shortly after the birth of their first son John Thomas. He was married again in 1843 to Nancy Cooper, and with three children, John Thomas, Sylvester C. and Samuel L. crossed the plains and settled on French Prairie in Marion County, Oregon in 1846. This was the same year the United States established its claim to the Oregon country by treaty with Great Britain. Ben's brother Barnett, reported in a newspaper article <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/barnett_simpson.htm> written years later, that Ben had been elected Captain of the wagon train that brought the family west. Barnett also noted that between their arrival in Oregon in 1846, and 1852, three of Ben Simpson's brothers married three sisters of the Haven family. After the massacre of Dr. & Mrs. Whitman in 1847, at Wailatpu, near Walla Walla, Washington, Benjamin volunteered as a member of the force sent from the Willamette settlement under Colonel Gilliam to quell and punish the Cayuse Indians, and was present at the death of Colonel Gilliam which resulted from the accidental discharge of a gun. This action against the Indians was called the Cayuse War. Benjamin Simpson built one of the early steamboats to ply the Willamette River above Oregon City. At Clackamas he owned a sawmill and at Oregon City, a merchandise store. In 1849 he made a voyage to California with a cargo of lumber which was used to build sluice boxes for mining gold. Lumber at that time was worth $150 to $250 per thousand board feet. He also shipped knock-down houses which sold in San Francisco for $1000 each. In short order he amassed quite a fortune. In 1850, Benjamin Simpson was elected a member of the Second Territorial Legislature, and served with credit to himself and his constituents. During the course of his political career he was elected six times to the State Legislature, four times to the State House of Representatives after Oregon became a state, and once to the State Senate from the counties of Marion, Clackamas, Polk and Benton. While he was a democrat during his early life, with the firing on Fort Sumpter early in 1861, he became a Union man, and after the close of the Civil War, identified himself with the Republican Party. About 1856, Ben was sulter at Fort Yamhill, Polk County. It was during this time that he formed the acquaintance of Second Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan, and when the latter left Oregon in 1861, expressing a desire to �attain the rank of captain before the (Civil) war ended,� he placed all his business affairs in Mr. Simpson�s hands. (Sheridan gave his sword to Ben; this sword is now in the possession of David Healy.) <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_4.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_1.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_2.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_3.JPG> Ben Simpson was Indian Agent at the Siletz and Grande Ronde reservations for eight years, beginning in 1862 by appointment of President Lincoln. After the Civil War, he was appointed by President Grant to be chairman of the �Committee of Three� which negotiated a treaty with the Coeur d�Alene Indians. In 1875, he was appointed Surveyor General of Oregon by President Grant, and served out his term. After this appointment, Ben was frequently referred to as �General Simpson� About 1880, Ben moved to Selma, Alabama where he received an appointment as Post Office Inspector and filled that role for nearly twenty years there. During his youth, Ben had learned from family lore that he had an uncle that had a large estate in Scotland. Not much attention was given to this, however, for many years. In about 1879, Ben happened to pick up a Scotch paper in Oregon in which appeared a notice to the effect that there was a large estate in Scotland that was about to escheat to the crown, because no one could be found who could prove his rightful ownership thereunto, and stating furthermore, that it was believed there were heirs in the southern part of the United States. This accidental finding of a reference to the Simpson estate in Scotland recalled the tradition to the same effect of his early childhood. Ben Simpson secured the Post Office Inspector position in the south with the intention of establishing his claim to the estate, which, upon investigation he learned was valued at several millions of dollars. After a number of years of strenuous effort, he abandoned the project, because the kind of evidence required could not be found. He satisfied himself however, that he was the legitimate heir, and that he could have proved his claim had it not been for the destruction of family papers by fire. While there he married Caroline Gordon; Nancy apparently having died sometime prior. He and Caroline returned to Oregon to the home of his daughter and son-in-law, W. M. Killingsworth, at 229 Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon, about 1900. Ben Simpson died on May 17, 1910, at the age of 92, three weeks after he fell over an obstacle on the floor in his bedroom and broke his left arm, while preparing for bed. The following morning complications developed and he passed away three weeks later. The funeral was held at the Finley Undertaking Rooms, and Ben was buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Ben Simpson was the founder of a well-known family in Oregon. His sons were: Samuel L. Simpson, famed poet and author of �Beautiful Willamette�; Sylvester C. Simpson, long time editor of the Oregon Herald of Portland, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 1873-74, subsequently a historical and legal writer for the Bancroft Company; Grover Simpson, a high officer of the Wells-Fargo Company in Chicago; William Simpson, of Pocatello, Idaho; John Simpson of Sheridan, Oregon: and Clarence, industrial agent of the Wells-Fargo Company in New Orleans. He was survived by two daughters: Mrs. W. M. Killingsworth and Mrs. W. T. Burney, of Portland. From a newspaper article written March 29, 1910, �General Simpson was one of the most vigorous characters in early Oregon affairs, and his native energy stays with him even in his advanced age. �Time that scars us, maims and mars us,� as Sam Simpson wrote in his most noted poem, has not impaired the mind of this pioneer and he still has active use of his physical faculties. In industry, Indian fighting, politics and commonwealth building, General Simpson left his mark on the affairs of Oregon. _______________________________________________________________________________ From notes of Kirke Wilson, May, 1991: Benjamin Simpson (1818-1910) Elmira Jane Wisdom who died in child birth in Platte Co. m. Nancy Cooper (1820-1883) daughter of William Cooper, gd' of Col. Benjamin Cooper of 1782 Blue Lick Fight in Kentucky and Coopers Fort, Missouri, ggd of Francis Cooper of Culpeper Co, Virginia 6 sons/4 daughters 1844-1865, first child, Sylvester Confucius b. 1844, Platte Co, Missouri across Oregon Trail to Oregon 1846, lived in several places in Oregon, Benjamin active in business, politics and government after death of Nancy in 1883, Benjamin moved to Selma, Alabama area briefly, returned to Oregon and married Mrs. Caroline Gordon (about whom little is known) ____________________________________________________________________ From notes of Lynn Beedle ("Old Times, Vol. 24, No. 1, August 23, 1995): "It's evident that Ben Simpson was a man of many talents --- and many jobs. He was an entrepreneur, sometimes legislator, politically inclined. He was a postal inspector. His last job was as Surveyor General. In 1865 he bought a newspaper in order to promote himself for a political position. Hired sons Sylvester and Sam as editors." Ben wrote an 1897 letter of Sylvester (from Selma, Alabama). Only about 80% accurate, but certainly his comments that he knew President McKinley well are accurate. Copy of a letter from Benjamin Simpson to son Sylvester C. Simpson and Family: <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet1.JPG>Page 1 <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet2.JPG>Page 2 _______________________________________________________________________________ From website: <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/index1.htm> Benjamin Simpson was the son of my great great great grandfather William Simpson. William and his wife, Mary Kimsey Simpson must have had their hands full bringing their children and their families across the Oregon Trail. One daughter, Cassia Casey Simpson Kimsey, died on the journey; leaving a husband and 6 year old daughter. Nineveh Ford married William's daughter Martha Jane Simpson June 15, 1848 in Marion County, OR. ID: I00030 Name: Benjamin F. Simpson Sex: M Birth: 29 MAR 1818 in Warren Co., TN Death: 17 MAY 1910 in Portland, Multnomah Co., OR Note: Crossed the Oregon Trail with wife and his parents in 1846 Father: William Barnett Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00010> b: 27 JUN 1793 in Warren Co., TN Mother: Mary Polly Kimsey <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00011> b: 7 JUL 1797 in Bedford Co., TN Marriage 1 Caroline Gordon <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01139> b: ABT. 1818 Marriage 2 Elmira Elzira Jane Wisdom <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00031> b: ABT. 1818 Married: 28 MAY 1839 in Platte Co., MO Children 1. John Thomas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I02661> b: 20 JUN 1841 in Platt Co., MO Marriage 3 Nancy Cooper <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00216> b: 29 MAR 1820 in Howard Co., MO Married: ABT. 1841 in Warren Co., TN Children 1. Samuel Leonidas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00218> b: 10 NOV 1845 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 2. Sylvester Confucious Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00220> b: 21 MAR 1844 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 3. Francis Marion Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01140> b: 1847 in Marion Co., OR 4. Louisa Ann Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01141> b: 13 APR 1849 in Clackamas Co., OR 5. Elnora Thurston Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01143> b: 7 APR 1852 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 6. Isadora Paradine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01145> b: 28 APR 1854 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 7. William Milton Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01147> b: 5 FEB 1856 in OR 8. Grover Benjamine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01148> b: 28 FEB 1858 in Yamhill, OR 9. Alice Blandina Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01149> b: 1862 in Polk Co., OR 10. Charles Wellington Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01151> b: 13 OCT 1865 in Salem, Marion Co., OR From website: <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=> GET&db=cchouk&id=I00030 ___________________________________________ From: www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html <http://www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html> This article refers to Benjamin Simpson's experience as an Indian Agent. Reservation Life Over 800 Indians arrived at the Grand Ronde Reservation.... ... shown on Map 10 <http://www.cowcreek.com/location/x10reserv.html>. They were totally dependent on the Government for survival. The Indians were surrounded and protected by the U.S. Army. The Indians were held against their will, forbidden to leave, much as slaves are held. The Indians had no tools to build shelters. The Indians had lost everything - lost a war, and their homes. They were homesick and many died of depression. Food stocks were uncertain and the crowding of so many people into such a small area meant game quickly became scarce. Only treaty Indians were eligible for government food rations. Even the Government food supply was not guaranteed. The majority, non-Treaty Indians, were faced with starvation. Education on the reservation was intended to destroy the Indian's old way of life, to indoctrinate them into the ways of the non-Indian. Agent Benjamin Simpson likened educating "a mind that inhabits a savage body" to "putting new wine into old bottles." "Mind and body must be civilized at the same time, and while the one is being stored with useful knowledge the other must be taught sober, steady, industrious habits; under such a system, not only will the pupils benefit, but they will contribute largely by their influence and example toward the elevation of their races from its barbarous condition." Many starving, homesick Indians, desperate for their homelands, escaped from the Reservation and tried to go home. Most were tracked down and returned to the reservation. ____________________________________________________________________________ Seems Benjamin Simpson was also involved in resolving shellfish rights. This is from: <http://users.wi.net/~maracon/lesson8.html> The Yaquina Bay oyster industry <http://www.tlpoe.com/Links.htm> began with a shipwreck. In January 1852, the schooner Juliet was forced by storms, and her captain and crew were stranded in in this area for two months. When they reached the Willamette Valley, the captain reported that the Yaquina River was abundant with oysters, clams and fish of all kinds.
Yaquina Bay Bridge 1967 [1932]Annie Rock 1900 [6560]Yaquina Bay Lighthouse <http://www.yaquinalights.org/index.htm>1954 [7886] Salem Public Library Archives
Other visitors also reported on the abundance of oysters, and 1863, two commercial oyster firms appeared on Yaquina Bay. The first was Winant & Company, represented by James Winant and Solomon Dodge <http://members.aol.com/sdgreen715/burlingham.htm>, who established a community known as Oysterville. The second was Ludlow & Company, represented by Richard Hillyer. (Oregon Oyster Farms History) There are few names more indelibly connected with the history of Yaquina Bay than James J. Winant, who was born in upstate New York, April 12, 1838. In the fall of 1856 he followed his brother Mark to California where they began dealing in oysters in San Francisco Bay; they were the real pioneers of the oyster trade on the Pacific Coast. Winant was master of vessels on the Pacific Coast for nearly a third of a century. He traded pearls in the South Pacific and hunted walrus <http://www.pbs.org/kratts/world/oceans/walrus/index.html>and whales <http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/usa/oregon/oregon.html>along the shore of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Coast of Siberia. A salvage voyage to the coast of Mexico, where he explored the sunken ship, City of San Francisco and recovered $23,000 of her treasure, was the climax of his legendary career. In 1862 or 1863, the Winant brothers began the oyster trade <http://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Bucket/ch1.html>on Yaquina Bay. The community bearing the captain's name was located at Oysterville Station on the Corvallis & Eastern Railway, about two miles due south of Yaquina City, on the north bank of Yaquina River. At that time, Yaquina Bay was part of the Coast Reservation, and disputes quickly arose as to who could do what, and at what cost. The government found that by the terms of the treaty setting out the Coast Reservation that "all amenities arising there from" belonged to the Indians, and the agent at Siletz, Judge Benjamin Simpson, was authorized to lease the oyster beds and protect the leasees. Simpson demanded a fee of 15 cents for each bushel harvested be paid to the tribes. (Oregon Oysters Farms History) Winant & Company complied; Ludlow & Company did not. Relying on the "free right of all citizens to take fish in American waters," they filed a lawsuit, which they lost. Under orders of General Benjamin Alvord, the employees of Ludlow & Company were arrested by US soldiers and removed from the reservation. While their suit was pending, Ludlow & Company shipped several cargoes of oysters to San Francisco. The courts decided in favor of the government leasees and the military were again used for the protection of Winant & Company. The first merchandise store on Yaquina Bay was opened at Oysterville in 1864 by Winant & Company. The oyster business attracted considerable attention from the company from Corvallis to the head of Yaquina Bay, at the confluence of the Big Elk and Yaquina rivers, the subscribed capital being $20,000. The road was duly constructed and opened to wagons in 1866, the distance being 45 miles. People were anxious to settle the country; the pressures became strong. The Indian Department readily conceded the people's claim, and the US senator, James W. Nesmith, succeeded in having all that portion of the Coast Reservation laying between the Alsea River south, and Cape Foulweather north of Yaquina Bay, opened to settlement. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ A detailed and enthralling account of the roles played by Benjamin, Sylvester and Samuel Simpson in early Oregon history is contained on the Oregon Historical Website: <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.4/lau.html>
Nancy Cooper crossed the Oregon Trail with her husband, Samuel L. Simpson in 1846.
============================================================================================= Benjamin Simpson 3/29/1818 - 5/17/1910 Nancy Cooper 1820 - 1883 <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/bsimp.jpg> Benjamin and Nancy (Cooper) Simpson <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Benjamin_Simpson_Marker_Sm.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Nancy_Cooper_Marker_Sm.JPG> Gravestones of Benjamin and Nancy Simpson in the Lone Fir Cemetery, 2115 SE Morrison St. Portland, Oregon _______________________________________Biography of Benjamin Simpson The following was compiled from three newspaper articles: The first in the Hillsboro Independent on November 17, 1905, the second and third in unidentified papers, published March 29, 1910 and May 18, 1910. Benjamin Simpson was born in Warren County, near Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29th, 1818, but was taken by his parents to Missouri in 1820, and lived there until he left for Oregon in 1846. In 1839 he married Eliza Jane Wisdom, who died in 1841, shortly after the birth of their first son John Thomas. He was married again in 1843 to Nancy Cooper, and with three children, John Thomas, Sylvester C. and Samuel L. crossed the plains and settled on French Prairie in Marion County, Oregon in 1846. This was the same year the United States established its claim to the Oregon country by treaty with Great Britain. Ben's brother Barnett, reported in a newspaper article <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/barnett_simpson.htm> written years later, that Ben had been elected Captain of the wagon train that brought the family west. Barnett also noted that between their arrival in Oregon in 1846, and 1852, three of Ben Simpson's brothers married three sisters of the Haven family. After the massacre of Dr. & Mrs. Whitman in 1847, at Wailatpu, near Walla Walla, Washington, Benjamin volunteered as a member of the force sent from the Willamette settlement under Colonel Gilliam to quell and punish the Cayuse Indians, and was present at the death of Colonel Gilliam which resulted from the accidental discharge of a gun. This action against the Indians was called the Cayuse War. Benjamin Simpson built one of the early steamboats to ply the Willamette River above Oregon City. At Clackamas he owned a sawmill and at Oregon City, a merchandise store. In 1849 he made a voyage to California with a cargo of lumber which was used to build sluice boxes for mining gold. Lumber at that time was worth $150 to $250 per thousand board feet. He also shipped knock-down houses which sold in San Francisco for $1000 each. In short order he amassed quite a fortune. In 1850, Benjamin Simpson was elected a member of the Second Territorial Legislature, and served with credit to himself and his constituents. During the course of his political career he was elected six times to the State Legislature, four times to the State House of Representatives after Oregon became a state, and once to the State Senate from the counties of Marion, Clackamas, Polk and Benton. While he was a democrat during his early life, with the firing on Fort Sumpter early in 1861, he became a Union man, and after the close of the Civil War, identified himself with the Republican Party. About 1856, Ben was sulter at Fort Yamhill, Polk County. It was during this time that he formed the acquaintance of Second Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan, and when the latter left Oregon in 1861, expressing a desire to �attain the rank of captain before the (Civil) war ended,� he placed all his business affairs in Mr. Simpson�s hands. (Sheridan gave his sword to Ben; this sword is now in the possession of David Healy.) <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_4.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_1.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_2.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_3.JPG> Ben Simpson was Indian Agent at the Siletz and Grande Ronde reservations for eight years, beginning in 1862 by appointment of President Lincoln. After the Civil War, he was appointed by President Grant to be chairman of the �Committee of Three� which negotiated a treaty with the Coeur d�Alene Indians. In 1875, he was appointed Surveyor General of Oregon by President Grant, and served out his term. After this appointment, Ben was frequently referred to as �General Simpson� About 1880, Ben moved to Selma, Alabama where he received an appointment as Post Office Inspector and filled that role for nearly twenty years there. During his youth, Ben had learned from family lore that he had an uncle that had a large estate in Scotland. Not much attention was given to this, however, for many years. In about 1879, Ben happened to pick up a Scotch paper in Oregon in which appeared a notice to the effect that there was a large estate in Scotland that was about to escheat to the crown, because no one could be found who could prove his rightful ownership thereunto, and stating furthermore, that it was believed there were heirs in the southern part of the United States. This accidental finding of a reference to the Simpson estate in Scotland recalled the tradition to the same effect of his early childhood. Ben Simpson secured the Post Office Inspector position in the south with the intention of establishing his claim to the estate, which, upon investigation he learned was valued at several millions of dollars. After a number of years of strenuous effort, he abandoned the project, because the kind of evidence required could not be found. He satisfied himself however, that he was the legitimate heir, and that he could have proved his claim had it not been for the destruction of family papers by fire. While there he married Caroline Gordon; Nancy apparently having died sometime prior. He and Caroline returned to Oregon to the home of his daughter and son-in-law, W. M. Killingsworth, at 229 Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon, about 1900. Ben Simpson died on May 17, 1910, at the age of 92, three weeks after he fell over an obstacle on the floor in his bedroom and broke his left arm, while preparing for bed. The following morning complications developed and he passed away three weeks later. The funeral was held at the Finley Undertaking Rooms, and Ben was buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Ben Simpson was the founder of a well-known family in Oregon. His sons were: Samuel L. Simpson, famed poet and author of �Beautiful Willamette�; Sylvester C. Simpson, long time editor of the Oregon Herald of Portland, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 1873-74, subsequently a historical and legal writer for the Bancroft Company; Grover Simpson, a high officer of the Wells-Fargo Company in Chicago; William Simpson, of Pocatello, Idaho; John Simpson of Sheridan, Oregon: and Clarence, industrial agent of the Wells-Fargo Company in New Orleans. He was survived by two daughters: Mrs. W. M. Killingsworth and Mrs. W. T. Burney, of Portland. From a newspaper article written March 29, 1910, �General Simpson was one of the most vigorous characters in early Oregon affairs, and his native energy stays with him even in his advanced age. �Time that scars us, maims and mars us,� as Sam Simpson wrote in his most noted poem, has not impaired the mind of this pioneer and he still has active use of his physical faculties. In industry, Indian fighting, politics and commonwealth building, General Simpson left his mark on the affairs of Oregon. _______________________________________________________________________________ From notes of Kirke Wilson, May, 1991: Benjamin Simpson (1818-1910) Elmira Jane Wisdom who died in child birth in Platte Co. m. Nancy Cooper (1820-1883) daughter of William Cooper, gd' of Col. Benjamin Cooper of 1782 Blue Lick Fight in Kentucky and Coopers Fort, Missouri, ggd of Francis Cooper of Culpeper Co, Virginia 6 sons/4 daughters 1844-1865, first child, Sylvester Confucius b. 1844, Platte Co, Missouri across Oregon Trail to Oregon 1846, lived in several places in Oregon, Benjamin active in business, politics and government after death of Nancy in 1883, Benjamin moved to Selma, Alabama area briefly, returned to Oregon and married Mrs. Caroline Gordon (about whom little is known) ____________________________________________________________________ From notes of Lynn Beedle ("Old Times, Vol. 24, No. 1, August 23, 1995): "It's evident that Ben Simpson was a man of many talents --- and many jobs. He was an entrepreneur, sometimes legislator, politically inclined. He was a postal inspector. His last job was as Surveyor General. In 1865 he bought a newspaper in order to promote himself for a political position. Hired sons Sylvester and Sam as editors." Ben wrote an 1897 letter of Sylvester (from Selma, Alabama). Only about 80% accurate, but certainly his comments that he knew President McKinley well are accurate. Copy of a letter from Benjamin Simpson to son Sylvester C. Simpson and Family: <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet1.JPG>Page 1 <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet2.JPG>Page 2 _______________________________________________________________________________ From website: <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/index1.htm> Benjamin Simpson was the son of my great great great grandfather William Simpson. William and his wife, Mary Kimsey Simpson must have had their hands full bringing their children and their families across the Oregon Trail. One daughter, Cassia Casey Simpson Kimsey, died on the journey; leaving a husband and 6 year old daughter. Nineveh Ford married William's daughter Martha Jane Simpson June 15, 1848 in Marion County, OR. ID: I00030 Name: Benjamin F. Simpson Sex: M Birth: 29 MAR 1818 in Warren Co., TN Death: 17 MAY 1910 in Portland, Multnomah Co., OR Note: Crossed the Oregon Trail with wife and his parents in 1846 Father: William Barnett Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00010> b: 27 JUN 1793 in Warren Co., TN Mother: Mary Polly Kimsey <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00011> b: 7 JUL 1797 in Bedford Co., TN Marriage 1 Caroline Gordon <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01139> b: ABT. 1818 Marriage 2 Elmira Elzira Jane Wisdom <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00031> b: ABT. 1818 Married: 28 MAY 1839 in Platte Co., MO Children 1. John Thomas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I02661> b: 20 JUN 1841 in Platt Co., MO Marriage 3 Nancy Cooper <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00216> b: 29 MAR 1820 in Howard Co., MO Married: ABT. 1841 in Warren Co., TN Children 1. Samuel Leonidas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00218> b: 10 NOV 1845 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 2. Sylvester Confucious Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00220> b: 21 MAR 1844 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 3. Francis Marion Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01140> b: 1847 in Marion Co., OR 4. Louisa Ann Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01141> b: 13 APR 1849 in Clackamas Co., OR 5. Elnora Thurston Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01143> b: 7 APR 1852 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 6. Isadora Paradine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01145> b: 28 APR 1854 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 7. William Milton Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01147> b: 5 FEB 1856 in OR 8. Grover Benjamine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01148> b: 28 FEB 1858 in Yamhill, OR 9. Alice Blandina Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01149> b: 1862 in Polk Co., OR 10. Charles Wellington Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01151> b: 13 OCT 1865 in Salem, Marion Co., OR From website: <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=> GET&db=cchouk&id=I00030 ___________________________________________ From: www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html <http://www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html> This article refers to Benjamin Simpson's experience as an Indian Agent. Reservation Life Over 800 Indians arrived at the Grand Ronde Reservation.... ... shown on Map 10 <http://www.cowcreek.com/location/x10reserv.html>. They were totally dependent on the Government for survival. The Indians were surrounded and protected by the U.S. Army. The Indians were held against their will, forbidden to leave, much as slaves are held. The Indians had no tools to build shelters. The Indians had lost everything - lost a war, and their homes. They were homesick and many died of depression. Food stocks were uncertain and the crowding of so many people into such a small area meant game quickly became scarce. Only treaty Indians were eligible for government food rations. Even the Government food supply was not guaranteed. The majority, non-Treaty Indians, were faced with starvation. Education on the reservation was intended to destroy the Indian's old way of life, to indoctrinate them into the ways of the non-Indian. Agent Benjamin Simpson likened educating "a mind that inhabits a savage body" to "putting new wine into old bottles." "Mind and body must be civilized at the same time, and while the one is being stored with useful knowledge the other must be taught sober, steady, industrious habits; under such a system, not only will the pupils benefit, but they will contribute largely by their influence and example toward the elevation of their races from its barbarous condition." Many starving, homesick Indians, desperate for their homelands, escaped from the Reservation and tried to go home. Most were tracked down and returned to the reservation. ____________________________________________________________________________ Seems Benjamin Simpson was also involved in resolving shellfish rights. This is from: <http://users.wi.net/~maracon/lesson8.html> The Yaquina Bay oyster industry <http://www.tlpoe.com/Links.htm> began with a shipwreck. In January 1852, the schooner Juliet was forced by storms, and her captain and crew were stranded in in this area for two months. When they reached the Willamette Valley, the captain reported that the Yaquina River was abundant with oysters, clams and fish of all kinds.
Yaquina Bay Bridge 1967 [1932]Annie Rock 1900 [6560]Yaquina Bay Lighthouse <http://www.yaquinalights.org/index.htm>1954 [7886] Salem Public Library Archives
Other visitors also reported on the abundance of oysters, and 1863, two commercial oyster firms appeared on Yaquina Bay. The first was Winant & Company, represented by James Winant and Solomon Dodge <http://members.aol.com/sdgreen715/burlingham.htm>, who established a community known as Oysterville. The second was Ludlow & Company, represented by Richard Hillyer. (Oregon Oyster Farms History) There are few names more indelibly connected with the history of Yaquina Bay than James J. Winant, who was born in upstate New York, April 12, 1838. In the fall of 1856 he followed his brother Mark to California where they began dealing in oysters in San Francisco Bay; they were the real pioneers of the oyster trade on the Pacific Coast. Winant was master of vessels on the Pacific Coast for nearly a third of a century. He traded pearls in the South Pacific and hunted walrus <http://www.pbs.org/kratts/world/oceans/walrus/index.html>and whales <http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/usa/oregon/oregon.html>along the shore of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Coast of Siberia. A salvage voyage to the coast of Mexico, where he explored the sunken ship, City of San Francisco and recovered $23,000 of her treasure, was the climax of his legendary career. In 1862 or 1863, the Winant brothers began the oyster trade <http://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Bucket/ch1.html>on Yaquina Bay. The community bearing the captain's name was located at Oysterville Station on the Corvallis & Eastern Railway, about two miles due south of Yaquina City, on the north bank of Yaquina River. At that time, Yaquina Bay was part of the Coast Reservation, and disputes quickly arose as to who could do what, and at what cost. The government found that by the terms of the treaty setting out the Coast Reservation that "all amenities arising there from" belonged to the Indians, and the agent at Siletz, Judge Benjamin Simpson, was authorized to lease the oyster beds and protect the leasees. Simpson demanded a fee of 15 cents for each bushel harvested be paid to the tribes. (Oregon Oysters Farms History) Winant & Company complied; Ludlow & Company did not. Relying on the "free right of all citizens to take fish in American waters," they filed a lawsuit, which they lost. Under orders of General Benjamin Alvord, the employees of Ludlow & Company were arrested by US soldiers and removed from the reservation. While their suit was pending, Ludlow & Company shipped several cargoes of oysters to San Francisco. The courts decided in favor of the government leasees and the military were again used for the protection of Winant & Company. The first merchandise store on Yaquina Bay was opened at Oysterville in 1864 by Winant & Company. The oyster business attracted considerable attention from the company from Corvallis to the head of Yaquina Bay, at the confluence of the Big Elk and Yaquina rivers, the subscribed capital being $20,000. The road was duly constructed and opened to wagons in 1866, the distance being 45 miles. People were anxious to settle the country; the pressures became strong. The Indian Department readily conceded the people's claim, and the US senator, James W. Nesmith, succeeded in having all that portion of the Coast Reservation laying between the Alsea River south, and Cape Foulweather north of Yaquina Bay, opened to settlement. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ A detailed and enthralling account of the roles played by Benjamin, Sylvester and Samuel Simpson in early Oregon history is contained on the Oregon Historical Website: <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.4/lau.html>
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Benjamin Simpson 3/29/1818 - 5/17/1910 Nancy Cooper 1820 - 1883 <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/bsimp.jpg> Benjamin and Nancy (Cooper) Simpson <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Benjamin_Simpson_Marker_Sm.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Nancy_Cooper_Marker_Sm.JPG> Gravestones of Benjamin and Nancy Simpson in the Lone Fir Cemetery, 2115 SE Morrison St. Portland, Oregon _______________________________________Biography of Benjamin Simpson The following was compiled from three newspaper articles: The first in the Hillsboro Independent on November 17, 1905, the second and third in unidentified papers, published March 29, 1910 and May 18, 1910. Benjamin Simpson was born in Warren County, near Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29th, 1818, but was taken by his parents to Missouri in 1820, and lived there until he left for Oregon in 1846. In 1839 he married Eliza Jane Wisdom, who died in 1841, shortly after the birth of their first son John Thomas. He was married again in 1843 to Nancy Cooper, and with three children, John Thomas, Sylvester C. and Samuel L. crossed the plains and settled on French Prairie in Marion County, Oregon in 1846. This was the same year the United States established its claim to the Oregon country by treaty with Great Britain. Ben's brother Barnett, reported in a newspaper article <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/barnett_simpson.htm> written years later, that Ben had been elected Captain of the wagon train that brought the family west. Barnett also noted that between their arrival in Oregon in 1846, and 1852, three of Ben Simpson's brothers married three sisters of the Haven family. After the massacre of Dr. & Mrs. Whitman in 1847, at Wailatpu, near Walla Walla, Washington, Benjamin volunteered as a member of the force sent from the Willamette settlement under Colonel Gilliam to quell and punish the Cayuse Indians, and was present at the death of Colonel Gilliam which resulted from the accidental discharge of a gun. This action against the Indians was called the Cayuse War. Benjamin Simpson built one of the early steamboats to ply the Willamette River above Oregon City. At Clackamas he owned a sawmill and at Oregon City, a merchandise store. In 1849 he made a voyage to California with a cargo of lumber which was used to build sluice boxes for mining gold. Lumber at that time was worth $150 to $250 per thousand board feet. He also shipped knock-down houses which sold in San Francisco for $1000 each. In short order he amassed quite a fortune. In 1850, Benjamin Simpson was elected a member of the Second Territorial Legislature, and served with credit to himself and his constituents. During the course of his political career he was elected six times to the State Legislature, four times to the State House of Representatives after Oregon became a state, and once to the State Senate from the counties of Marion, Clackamas, Polk and Benton. While he was a democrat during his early life, with the firing on Fort Sumpter early in 1861, he became a Union man, and after the close of the Civil War, identified himself with the Republican Party. About 1856, Ben was sulter at Fort Yamhill, Polk County. It was during this time that he formed the acquaintance of Second Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan, and when the latter left Oregon in 1861, expressing a desire to �attain the rank of captain before the (Civil) war ended,� he placed all his business affairs in Mr. Simpson�s hands. (Sheridan gave his sword to Ben; this sword is now in the possession of David Healy.) <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_4.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_1.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_2.JPG> <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/Sword_3.JPG> Ben Simpson was Indian Agent at the Siletz and Grande Ronde reservations for eight years, beginning in 1862 by appointment of President Lincoln. After the Civil War, he was appointed by President Grant to be chairman of the �Committee of Three� which negotiated a treaty with the Coeur d�Alene Indians. In 1875, he was appointed Surveyor General of Oregon by President Grant, and served out his term. After this appointment, Ben was frequently referred to as �General Simpson� About 1880, Ben moved to Selma, Alabama where he received an appointment as Post Office Inspector and filled that role for nearly twenty years there. During his youth, Ben had learned from family lore that he had an uncle that had a large estate in Scotland. Not much attention was given to this, however, for many years. In about 1879, Ben happened to pick up a Scotch paper in Oregon in which appeared a notice to the effect that there was a large estate in Scotland that was about to escheat to the crown, because no one could be found who could prove his rightful ownership thereunto, and stating furthermore, that it was believed there were heirs in the southern part of the United States. This accidental finding of a reference to the Simpson estate in Scotland recalled the tradition to the same effect of his early childhood. Ben Simpson secured the Post Office Inspector position in the south with the intention of establishing his claim to the estate, which, upon investigation he learned was valued at several millions of dollars. After a number of years of strenuous effort, he abandoned the project, because the kind of evidence required could not be found. He satisfied himself however, that he was the legitimate heir, and that he could have proved his claim had it not been for the destruction of family papers by fire. While there he married Caroline Gordon; Nancy apparently having died sometime prior. He and Caroline returned to Oregon to the home of his daughter and son-in-law, W. M. Killingsworth, at 229 Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon, about 1900. Ben Simpson died on May 17, 1910, at the age of 92, three weeks after he fell over an obstacle on the floor in his bedroom and broke his left arm, while preparing for bed. The following morning complications developed and he passed away three weeks later. The funeral was held at the Finley Undertaking Rooms, and Ben was buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Ben Simpson was the founder of a well-known family in Oregon. His sons were: Samuel L. Simpson, famed poet and author of �Beautiful Willamette�; Sylvester C. Simpson, long time editor of the Oregon Herald of Portland, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 1873-74, subsequently a historical and legal writer for the Bancroft Company; Grover Simpson, a high officer of the Wells-Fargo Company in Chicago; William Simpson, of Pocatello, Idaho; John Simpson of Sheridan, Oregon: and Clarence, industrial agent of the Wells-Fargo Company in New Orleans. He was survived by two daughters: Mrs. W. M. Killingsworth and Mrs. W. T. Burney, of Portland. From a newspaper article written March 29, 1910, �General Simpson was one of the most vigorous characters in early Oregon affairs, and his native energy stays with him even in his advanced age. �Time that scars us, maims and mars us,� as Sam Simpson wrote in his most noted poem, has not impaired the mind of this pioneer and he still has active use of his physical faculties. In industry, Indian fighting, politics and commonwealth building, General Simpson left his mark on the affairs of Oregon. _______________________________________________________________________________ From notes of Kirke Wilson, May, 1991: Benjamin Simpson (1818-1910) Elmira Jane Wisdom who died in child birth in Platte Co. m. Nancy Cooper (1820-1883) daughter of William Cooper, gd' of Col. Benjamin Cooper of 1782 Blue Lick Fight in Kentucky and Coopers Fort, Missouri, ggd of Francis Cooper of Culpeper Co, Virginia 6 sons/4 daughters 1844-1865, first child, Sylvester Confucius b. 1844, Platte Co, Missouri across Oregon Trail to Oregon 1846, lived in several places in Oregon, Benjamin active in business, politics and government after death of Nancy in 1883, Benjamin moved to Selma, Alabama area briefly, returned to Oregon and married Mrs. Caroline Gordon (about whom little is known) ____________________________________________________________________ From notes of Lynn Beedle ("Old Times, Vol. 24, No. 1, August 23, 1995): "It's evident that Ben Simpson was a man of many talents --- and many jobs. He was an entrepreneur, sometimes legislator, politically inclined. He was a postal inspector. His last job was as Surveyor General. In 1865 he bought a newspaper in order to promote himself for a political position. Hired sons Sylvester and Sam as editors." Ben wrote an 1897 letter of Sylvester (from Selma, Alabama). Only about 80% accurate, but certainly his comments that he knew President McKinley well are accurate. Copy of a letter from Benjamin Simpson to son Sylvester C. Simpson and Family: <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet1.JPG>Page 1 <http://www.bdhhfamily.com/BenSimpLet2.JPG>Page 2 _______________________________________________________________________________ From website: <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/index1.htm> Benjamin Simpson was the son of my great great great grandfather William Simpson. William and his wife, Mary Kimsey Simpson must have had their hands full bringing their children and their families across the Oregon Trail. One daughter, Cassia Casey Simpson Kimsey, died on the journey; leaving a husband and 6 year old daughter. Nineveh Ford married William's daughter Martha Jane Simpson June 15, 1848 in Marion County, OR. ID: I00030 Name: Benjamin F. Simpson Sex: M Birth: 29 MAR 1818 in Warren Co., TN Death: 17 MAY 1910 in Portland, Multnomah Co., OR Note: Crossed the Oregon Trail with wife and his parents in 1846 Father: William Barnett Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00010> b: 27 JUN 1793 in Warren Co., TN Mother: Mary Polly Kimsey <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00011> b: 7 JUL 1797 in Bedford Co., TN Marriage 1 Caroline Gordon <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01139> b: ABT. 1818 Marriage 2 Elmira Elzira Jane Wisdom <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00031> b: ABT. 1818 Married: 28 MAY 1839 in Platte Co., MO Children 1. John Thomas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I02661> b: 20 JUN 1841 in Platt Co., MO Marriage 3 Nancy Cooper <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00216> b: 29 MAR 1820 in Howard Co., MO Married: ABT. 1841 in Warren Co., TN Children 1. Samuel Leonidas Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00218> b: 10 NOV 1845 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 2. Sylvester Confucious Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I00220> b: 21 MAR 1844 in Elm Grove, Platte Co., MO 3. Francis Marion Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01140> b: 1847 in Marion Co., OR 4. Louisa Ann Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01141> b: 13 APR 1849 in Clackamas Co., OR 5. Elnora Thurston Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01143> b: 7 APR 1852 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 6. Isadora Paradine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01145> b: 28 APR 1854 in Salem, Marion Co., OR 7. William Milton Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01147> b: 5 FEB 1856 in OR 8. Grover Benjamine Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01148> b: 28 FEB 1858 in Yamhill, OR 9. Alice Blandina Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01149> b: 1862 in Polk Co., OR 10. Charles Wellington Simpson <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cchouk&id=I01151> b: 13 OCT 1865 in Salem, Marion Co., OR From website: <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=> GET&db=cchouk&id=I00030 ___________________________________________ From: www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html <http://www.cowcreek.com/story/x01history/x11reslife.html> This article refers to Benjamin Simpson's experience as an Indian Agent. Reservation Life Over 800 Indians arrived at the Grand Ronde Reservation.... ... shown on Map 10 <http://www.cowcreek.com/location/x10reserv.html>. They were totally dependent on the Government for survival. The Indians were surrounded and protected by the U.S. Army. The Indians were held against their will, forbidden to leave, much as slaves are held. The Indians had no tools to build shelters. The Indians had lost everything - lost a war, and their homes. They were homesick and many died of depression. Food stocks were uncertain and the crowding of so many people into such a small area meant game quickly became scarce. Only treaty Indians were eligible for government food rations. Even the Government food supply was not guaranteed. The majority, non-Treaty Indians, were faced with starvation. Education on the reservation was intended to destroy the Indian's old way of life, to indoctrinate them into the ways of the non-Indian. Agent Benjamin Simpson likened educating "a mind that inhabits a savage body" to "putting new wine into old bottles." "Mind and body must be civilized at the same time, and while the one is being stored with useful knowledge the other must be taught sober, steady, industrious habits; under such a system, not only will the pupils benefit, but they will contribute largely by their influence and example toward the elevation of their races from its barbarous condition." Many starving, homesick Indians, desperate for their homelands, escaped from the Reservation and tried to go home. Most were tracked down and returned to the reservation. ____________________________________________________________________________ Seems Benjamin Simpson was also involved in resolving shellfish rights. This is from: <http://users.wi.net/~maracon/lesson8.html> The Yaquina Bay oyster industry <http://www.tlpoe.com/Links.htm> began with a shipwreck. In January 1852, the schooner Juliet was forced by storms, and her captain and crew were stranded in in this area for two months. When they reached the Willamette Valley, the captain reported that the Yaquina River was abundant with oysters, clams and fish of all kinds.
Yaquina Bay Bridge 1967 [1932]Annie Rock 1900 [6560]Yaquina Bay Lighthouse <http://www.yaquinalights.org/index.htm>1954 [7886] Salem Public Library Archives
Other visitors also reported on the abundance of oysters, and 1863, two commercial oyster firms appeared on Yaquina Bay. The first was Winant & Company, represented by James Winant and Solomon Dodge <http://members.aol.com/sdgreen715/burlingham.htm>, who established a community known as Oysterville. The second was Ludlow & Company, represented by Richard Hillyer. (Oregon Oyster Farms History) There are few names more indelibly connected with the history of Yaquina Bay than James J. Winant, who was born in upstate New York, April 12, 1838. In the fall of 1856 he followed his brother Mark to California where they began dealing in oysters in San Francisco Bay; they were the real pioneers of the oyster trade on the Pacific Coast. Winant was master of vessels on the Pacific Coast for nearly a third of a century. He traded pearls in the South Pacific and hunted walrus <http://www.pbs.org/kratts/world/oceans/walrus/index.html>and whales <http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/usa/oregon/oregon.html>along the shore of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Coast of Siberia. A salvage voyage to the coast of Mexico, where he explored the sunken ship, City of San Francisco and recovered $23,000 of her treasure, was the climax of his legendary career. In 1862 or 1863, the Winant brothers began the oyster trade <http://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Bucket/ch1.html>on Yaquina Bay. The community bearing the captain's name was located at Oysterville Station on the Corvallis & Eastern Railway, about two miles due south of Yaquina City, on the north bank of Yaquina River. At that time, Yaquina Bay was part of the Coast Reservation, and disputes quickly arose as to who could do what, and at what cost. The government found that by the terms of the treaty setting out the Coast Reservation that "all amenities arising there from" belonged to the Indians, and the agent at Siletz, Judge Benjamin Simpson, was authorized to lease the oyster beds and protect the leasees. Simpson demanded a fee of 15 cents for each bushel harvested be paid to the tribes. (Oregon Oysters Farms History) Winant & Company complied; Ludlow & Company did not. Relying on the "free right of all citizens to take fish in American waters," they filed a lawsuit, which they lost. Under orders of General Benjamin Alvord, the employees of Ludlow & Company were arrested by US soldiers and removed from the reservation. While their suit was pending, Ludlow & Company shipped several cargoes of oysters to San Francisco. The courts decided in favor of the government leasees and the military were again used for the protection of Winant & Company. The first merchandise store on Yaquina Bay was opened at Oysterville in 1864 by Winant & Company. The oyster business attracted considerable attention from the company from Corvallis to the head of Yaquina Bay, at the confluence of the Big Elk and Yaquina rivers, the subscribed capital being $20,000. The road was duly constructed and opened to wagons in 1866, the distance being 45 miles. People were anxious to settle the country; the pressures became strong. The Indian Department readily conceded the people's claim, and the US senator, James W. Nesmith, succeeded in having all that portion of the Coast Reservation laying between the Alsea River south, and Cape Foulweather north of Yaquina Bay, opened to settlement. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ A detailed and enthralling account of the roles played by Benjamin, Sylvester and Samuel Simpson in early Oregon history is contained on the Oregon Historical Website: <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.4/lau.html>
Note: Of Col. Benjamin Cooper of 1782 Blue Lick Fight in Kentucky and Coopers Fort, Missouri, grea
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