4
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
HISTORY
Passed
away:
Columbus
Sewell’s
obituary
Time is laying a heavy
hand on the Argonauts of
the West.
Almost each passing
day chronicles the demise
of some pioneer of this
Pacifi c Empire. It "s the
passing away of a peculiar
type of American man-
hood such as the West
Hemisphere will never
know again.
Moved
by
these
impulses characteristic of
the American, the pioneer
of the Pacifi c, undaunted
by the dangers and hard-
ships that beset their path-
way, inured to privation
and only measuring the
vicissitudes of their ven-
ture by their own ability to
overcome obstacles; they
bid adieu to the quiet sur-
roundings of an Eastern
home to identify them-
selves with the unfolding
of the unknown possibili-
ties of the land toward the
setting of the sun.
Columbus
Sewell,
though a descendant of
Ham, through his affi l-
iation with his lighter
skinned brother became
imbued with the progres-
sive ideas that moved the
white man, and through
his whole career in life
never deviated from these
principles inculcated in
his boyish mind.
He served during the
Black Hawk War under
General Scott, and when
the discovery of gold in
California was heralded to
the world, he came west-
ward and since the early
fi fties has more or less
been identifi ed with the
mining industry.
In 1862 or ‘63 Mr.
Sewell came to Can-
yon City and in connec-
tion with others operated
a claim a few miles above
the town of Canyon City.
Mr. Sewell’s career as a
resident in this commu-
nity is above reproach.
Every act of his life was
based upon the moral law
and in no instance was he
ever accused of unfair-
ness (or) unjust dealings.
Not a stigma rests upon
his good name and he
has passed to his eternal
home honored by all who
knew him. Born in 1820
he passed through the
stirring scenes that tried
the great Western Repub-
lic and just as the dial of
time approached the com-
ing of another century, the
good old man passed to
infi nitude.
Used with the permission of the Grant County Museum
Tom Sewell drives a coach in the 1930 ‘62 Days Parade.
“EVERY ACT OF HIS LIFE WAS BASED UPON MORAL LAW AND IN NO INSTANCE
WAS HE EVER ACCUSED OF UNFAIRNESS (OR) UNJUST DEALINGS. NOT A
STIGMA RESTS UPON HIS GOOD NAME AND HE HAS PASSED TO HIS ETERNAL
HOME HONORED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM.”
— Columbus Sewell’s obituary
Sewell
Continued from Page 1
Some of Sewell’s other
exploits are recorded in a fore-
runner to the Blue Moun-
tain Eagle, the Grant County
News. Among them are stories
from 1879 to 1891 that record
Sewell’s journey from Wash-
ington Territory, freight hauls
to Baker and Heppner and even
the work Sewell and his son Tom
did in “removing Judge Dustin’s
farm residence from one spot on
earth to another.”
Sewell married a Virginia
woman named Louisa, who was
over 20 years his junior. Louisa
and Columbus Sewell had three
children, with sons Tom and
Joseph surviving into adulthood.
Both of the Sewell sons went on
to make names for themselves in
their own rights.
Louisa Sewell passed in Feb-
ruary of 1893 and was remem-
bered for the ice cream she made
and for entertaining her neigh-
bors with a croquet court she
built opposite her home.
Joseph Sewell was born on
April 11, 1878, and was known
as an excellent athlete and pugi-
list in his time. “A Peculiar Par-
adise: A History of Blacks in
Oregon, 1788-1940” by Eliza-
beth McLagan describes Joseph
as “an attractive rogue and an
excellent horseman and athlete,
addicted to the wild and woolly
aspects of frontier life, where
drinking, racing and fi ghting
were daily events.”
The work also describes
Joseph as the best fi ghter in the
area for a time when he was a
child, noting that he took on
all challengers. Joseph met his
unfortunate end on May 10,
1898, less than a month after his
20th birthday, although accounts
diff er on exactly what caused
his demise. Apparently, it was
either due to a shooting incident
in Baker or a brawl in a Pendle-
ton brothel.
Tom Sewell was born on June
4, 1869, and got into the freight
business like his father. Tom
wound up becoming a well-re-
spected and well-liked member
of the community.
At one point, Tom was incar-
cerated at the Oregon State Pen-
itentiary for the crime of selling
alcohol to a Native American
during the Prohibition era. A
petition for leniency was circu-
lated throughout Canyon City
and signed by most of the men
in town.
A rebuttal was written by
Grant County Judge J.H. Allen
to the federal judge presid-
ing over Tom Sewell’s case,
urging that he be punished
severely. The rebuttal appears
to have been successful as
Tom was not granted leniency
and served the full term of his
sentence.
Tom was married twice, fi rst
to a woman named Cora on Nov.
2, 1899. Following Cora’s death
on Nov. 2, 1919, Tom relocated
to Portland and met a woman
there whom he later married.
Tom’s second wife’s name is
lost to history, but it is known
that she remained in Portland
while Tom returned to Grant
County with a housekeeper
named Julie Jackson following
the marriage. In 1943, follow-
ing the death of Jackson, Tom
retuned to Portland, where he
sustained a head injury.
Tom would succumb to that
injury, passing away a few
days later. Following his death,
Tom’s wife brought his body
back to Grant County to be bur-
ied in the Canyon City Cem-
etery along with the rest of his
family.
Columbus Sewell passed
away on Jan. 17, 1889, in Can-
yon City, according to an obit-
uary published in The Ore-
gonian on Jan. 23, 1899. An
obituary compiled by Laura
Reglar described Sewell’s career
as a resident in the community
as above reproach.
“Every act of his life was
based upon moral law and in no
instance was he ever accused of
unfairness (or) unjust dealings,”
the obituary read. “Not a stigma
rests upon his good name and he
has passed to his eternal home
honored by all who knew him.”
Louisa Sewell
Columbus Sewell married a
woman named Louisa. More than 20
years younger than her husband, she
bore three children, two of whom —
sons Tom and Joe — survived into
adulthood.
Louisa was born on March 15,
1842, in Virginia. She was fond of
croquet and even had a croquet court
constructed opposite her residence to
entertain her houseguests.
Louisa was also well known for
the ice cream she made and sold to
residents of Canyon City and Grant
County. Louisa passed away on Feb.
7, 1893, with many of the town’s
women coming to see her shortly
before and after her death.
Louisa Sewell in the news
Mrs. Sewell has had a large arbor,
with tables and seats, erected oppo-
site her residence, and where she will
be happy to serve all with delicious
ice cream and cake who may favor
her with a call on the Fourth of July.
She is also having a beautiful croquet
ground laid off , where all who appre-
ciate this popular game may indulge
to their heart’s content.
The Grant County News, Canyon
City, Or., Thurs. July 3, 1884
Mrs. C. Sewell, at the lower end of
Canyon City, has excellent ice cream
at all times during the hot weather.
The Grant County News, Canyon
City, Or., Thurs., June 2, 1887, Vol.
IX, #10, pg 3, col. 2, para 14
I can see...,...and the only col-
ored boy, Tom Sewell, whose mother
used to make and sell wonderful ice
cream.
Oregon Inn-Side News, Phil Met-
schan, Jr., Portland, Or., April-May-
June, 1948, Vol 1, #42 p. 7
Used with the permission of the Grant County Museum
Louisa Sewell holding a baby, possibly her son Thomas Grant Sewell.