in other words
june21
2018
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Life of Virgil Powell
For over five years we’ve been
sharing entries from Virgil Powell’s di-
ary, but the specific details of the life
of this farmer and Jack-of-all-trades re-
mains elusive apart from public records.
He was one of twelve children of Alva
and Martha Hinds Powell. His father
was born in Maryland in 1832 and his
mother in Illinois in 1852. Alva and
Martha married in 1868 and settled in
Kansas. Their first three children were
born there: William (Will), Harvey and
Laura.
In 1877 the Powells moved to
Oregon and claimed 160 acres just north
of Pittsburg. Vilena was born in 1879,
and one set of triplets and two sets of
twins were among the twelve children.
Many of the babies died in infancy and
were buried on the farm. Virgil Leslie
Powell, the second to the youngest, was
born July 22, 1887, and his sister Grace
came along three years later. By 1900,
the two youngest were the only ones still
at home with their parents.
Alva Powell died in 1905, and
Virgil took on the running of the farm.
In 1906, Virgil started the first of his an-
nual journals that included crops plant-
ed, work done, and the weather. He
used pocket calendars and other small
booklets over the years. Each handwrit-
ten entry was made in small script to fit
the space available. Fortunately, some-
time after 1982 a shoebox full of his
journals was given by an unknown man
to the Vernonia Pioneer Museum. The
resident curator at the time laboriously
typed up the journals and filed them in
order, in acid-free sheet protectors. The
collection is comprised of three three-
ring binders. In the early 2000s, a vol-
unteer donated a fireproof safe to store
the originals. The museum board plans
to scan and digitize the collection to pre-
serve this slice of Vernonia area life.
On December 21, 1913, Vir-
gil married a neighbor, Inez O. Smith,
the daughter of Swedish homesteaders,
John and Hanna. She had three brothers,
Edwin, Garfield, and Ben, and a sister,
Gladys. Inez was 18 and Virgil 25 when
they married. The Powells first child was
a son, DeLoss, who was born July 20,
1915. A second son, Melvin, was born
March 29, 1922.
Virgil’s mother died in 1925,
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Small and Large Animals
and her obituary listed as survivors her
daughters, Grace and Myrtle, and her
sons, Will, Ora and Virgil. She had 13
grandchildren and four great-grandchil-
dren.
Virgil was a census taker in
1920, and by then they were renting
a place close to a logging camp along
the Nehalem. He listed his occupation
as “farmer” and his wife’s as “helper.”
The neighboring farms included sev-
eral members of the Parker family, the
Clines, Nickersons, Spencers, Smith,
Mills, and Malmstens. According to the
1930 census, Virgil’s family was living
on River Road, Vernonia, and his occu-
pation was fire warden. He worked at
the Oregon American Lumber Mill as a
fireman and shingle mill operator in the
1940s and 1950s. When his sons were
teenagers, he was active in the Masons
with the boys in the Masonic youth or-
ganization, DeMolay.
Virgil died June 4, 1963, in a
Portland nursing home following a long
illness. The diaries ended in 1955. He is
buried at Lincoln Memorial Park, and his
stone includes Inez’s name but with no
death year so we presume she is buried
elsewhere. He was survived by his wife,
sons, four grandchildren and his sisters
Myrtle and Grace. Inez died March 23,
1983, in a Portland nursing home.
Other than the data available
from public records and the occasional
Vernonia Eagle article, there is much we
don’t know about Virgil Powell, but the
diaries provide wonderful snippets of
the life of a farmer, hunter, fisherman,
mill employee, and very active man.
have drove the buggy this year.
Practiced till about 2 then
went down and played the Mist
second team. Natal 19, Mist
27. Got home at 7:30. Terrible
hot day.
Tuesday, June 9: harrowed the
potatoes in the morning. In
the afternoon went up to East
Fork and took Daisy and fixed
a place for horses to get water.
Wrote a letter to Minnie and
mailed it. Very warm all day.
Wednesday, June 10: Mr.
Armstrong came down and
sowed grass seed for me. I
went over some of it with the
clod masher in the afternoon.
Pretty warm all day.
Sunday, June 14: Went down
the river in the buggy as far as
Banzers. Jim went down with
me. Started at 8:30. Came
back and played the Vernonia
2nd team in the afternoon.
This was the first game in our
new suits. The score Natal 34,
Vernonia 20. Pretty warm all
day. Got home at 6 P.M.
Tuesday, June 16: Sowed and
harrowed in some rape and
rutabagas down along the
river in the morning. Angus
Burt was here for dinner. Did
not do much of anything in
the afternoon. W.B. Dillard
was here.
to Clatskanie in the buggy.
Started out at 4:25 and got
to Clatskanie at 8. Started
back at 12:15 and got home
at 6 P.M. Pretty warm day.
Received a dandy postal from
Francis.
Wednesday, June 24: Washed
the buggy. Went up on East
Fork and got Daisy. Took the
team down in the afternoon
and graded road for Emery
Mills. Pretty warm day. Got
home at 6:45. Received a
postal from Francis.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is locat-
ed at 511 E. Bridge Street and is open
from 1 - 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays
(excluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum
is also open on Fridays from 1 - 4 pm.
There is no charge for admission but do-
nations are always welcome. Become
a member of the museum for an annual
$5 fee to receive the periodic newsletter.
We now have a page on the Vernonia
Hands on Art website, www.vernonia-
handsonart.org If you are a Facebook
user, check out the Vernonia Pioneer
Museum page. The museum volunteers
are always pleased to enlist additional
volunteers to help hold the museum open
and assist in other ways. Please stop by
and let one of the volunteers know of
your interest in helping out.
Tuesday, June 23: Went out
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was a long-
time resident whose family had a farm in
the Upper Nehalem Valley between Na-
tal and Pittsburg. Each year from 1906
until 1955, he kept a regular diary of his
activities. As we’ve commented before,
the condition of the roads was quite
primitive and impassable for a buggy in
the rainy part of the year.
Summer
is here!
Green Mountain Grills & Pellets in stock!
Water Toys • Lawn Chairs
Camping Supplies • Coolers
Batteries • Sporting Goods
Saturday, June 6, 1908:
Harrowed with smoothing
harrow all day. Pretty hot
most of the day. Got my tennis
shoes from Portland.
Family owned & operated for over 45 years
Sunday, June 7: Went down
to Natal to play ball. Started
down at 9. Went down in the
buggy. This is the first time I
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