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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2011)
10 community january11 2011 Keasey Century Farm: of Keaseys associated with the property, is now 82 years old and is an amateur historian about the Vernonia region. Ralph Keasey has lived on the Keasey Farm on and off through the years and was the acting caretaker at times. I recently visited with Ralph and his wife Caroline at their home on the property and learned a little about the history of the Century Farm. According to Ralph Keasey, his great grandfather, Eden Keasey, was born in Indiana but was always on the move. He had been living in Texas and had a daughter living in Portland when he moved to the Vernonia area and built the original farmhouse on the Keasey property around 1889. That farmhouse, built with split fir rafters and split cedar siding, is still standing on the property, although it has been added to and renovated over the years. Eden and his wife, Nella, had purchased the homesteaded 160-acre tract that had previously been logged, but had not had a home built on it. Eden passed away in 1904. Eden’s son, Carroll, Ralph’s grandfather (who was known as Cad), took over the property. He was a bachelor when he arrived, but married Bertha Deitrich from another pioneer family in the area. Ralph’s father, Theodore, known to everyone as Ted, and his wife, Hilda, moved onto the property after Carroll and Bertha had moved to Corvallis. Ted and Hilda had just married in November of 1923 and had seven children over the years. Ralph is the middle child, born in 1928, with two older brothers, an older sister, Marge, and three younger sisters. A Family Farm Survives in Vernonia my siblings were interested in the property,” explains Ralph. “It was our home and so he decided that would be the best way to handle it going forward.” Rather than leave the property to one heir, the family corporation was formed in 1971 and continues to be the decision- making body for management of the property. continued from front page a wetland area, became so impassable that the postal service refused to deliver the mail. “It was in terrible shape, so they rebuilt all that and then paved it,” said Keasey. Rock Creek Road became Keasey Road when, according Ralph, the postal service was renaming Some of the outbuildings on the Keasey Farm property, including a large barn in the background, have historical significance. Ralph grew up on the property, attending the small, one-room Rock Creek schoolhouse for three years with nine other students, starting in 1934. He then traveled to Vernonia for the rest of his early education after the area was consolidated into one educational district, graduating from Vernonia High School in 1946. He attended Oregon State University, studying geology and agriculture before being drafted in 1951, spending two years in Japan and Korea. After returning from the military, Ralph and his father operated a chainsaw business, one the first of its kind- - Ted ran it until 1960 and Ralph took over after that, retiring in 1975. Ralph and Caroline moved onto the Keasey property in 1974 when Theodore became sick and needed help maintaining the property. Ted passed away in August of 1974. According to Ralph, his father, Theodore, took the initiative to form the family corporation that continues to manage the assets of the property. “All of “I think your father wanted it left in the family some roads in the area. “The Post Master came to me without anyone selling it off and this was one way of and said, ‘What would you think about petitioning to doing that,” adds Caroline. Ralph and Caroline built a rename this Keasey Road,?” explains Ralph. If you second home on the property where they continue to have ever met and talked with Ralph Keasey, a humble man of few words, you know how he felt about that. reside. Ralph’s sister, Marge, and her husband, Dick “Yes, I did the petitioning,” says Ralph, somewhat Wysong, moved into the old farmhouse after Ted sheepishly. “I went around to all my neighbors-- it was passed away. “The house was in pretty tough shape kind of embarrassing,” adds Ralph with a chuckle. The family property grew from 160 to almost after my dad died,” said Ralph. Dick and Marge began doing renovations, including replacement of the old 400 acres over the years as adjoining pieces of property cedar block footings that many old houses from that were purchased. Originally, the Keaseys tried farming, age were built on. They also replaced the original clearing trees for fields and pastures. According to chimney that was in the middle of the house, moving it continued on page 11 to the outside, among other projects. According to Ralph, the railroad came through the area in the early 1920’s, reaching Vernonia in 1921. A number of rail companies built lines in the area, including the Oregon-American, and a line was built out along Rock Creek over the next few years-- the old grade is still visible to this day-- stretching across the properties along Rock Creek, including the Keasey farm. The Keasey farm was at one time a railroad stop called “Homewood,” named, according to Ralph, by his grandmother. Over the years, the property served as the local post office from around 1900 to 1924 until the railroad line came through. According to Ralph, one of the rail line owners petitioned the postal service to relocate the post office to the end of the line in the area now known as Keasey-- it’s at the end of what was once known as Rock Creek Road and is now called Keasey Road. “They just kept the name, even though no Keaseys lived out there,” explained Ralph. Ralph says Rock Creek Road was a gravel road until the early 1960’s, when parts of the road, especially a straightaway through The old Oregon-American rail line once ran through the Keasey property.
