Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1972)
Morrow's Beginnings v i -Vr- i r -'j COLONEL J.L. MORROW By Justine Weatherford Gazette-Times Feature Editor The co-founder of Heppner, Jackson L. Morrow , has prob ably had nnre words written about him ttian Mr. Heppner. He was the older nian, being born in Kentucky on Oct. 18, 1827. He died on Sept. 22, 1899 and is buried in the Heppner cemetery. He married Nancy McQueen in 1852 in Iowa and siie died in 1882 and is also buried here. They had six children only one of whom lived a full life, James W. Morrow. These six are also in the Hep pner cemetery. James W. Marrow (Billy) died in 1929. Several folks remember this family well. Mrs. John Brosnan (Zetta) knew ' Uncle Jack" Morrow and was a playmate and school friend of J.W. '.'Billy" Marrow. Har old A. Conn recalls that he was called in to talk with J.L. Morrow in the morning of the day that gentleman died. Mr. Colin attended all the Morrow burials except Mrs. J.L. Morrow's. HIS EARLY YEARS The Morrow family left Kentucky and lived in Illi nois and Iowa while Jackson L. was young. In 1852 he married and the next year he crossed the plains from Iowa to the Washington Ter ritory. There he "embarked in the mercantile business, serving also in 1855-1856 as lieutenant-colonel on the governor's staff during the Indian War." He carried a badly injured leg from the effects of a rifle ball, which was operated on at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Port- land in 1898 and which oper ation weakened him gradually until his death in 1899. While in Olympia, Wa. the Morrows had three children, James W., Charles W. and Amelia. Mr. Morrow was al ways interested in matters political and was elected audi tor of Mason County, Wa. on the Democratic ticket. His outstanding service during the Indian War in Washington is given considerable space in the 1889 History of the Paci fic Northwest. He also served at Fort Heppner during the 1878 uprising and "scare." In 1863 the family moved . to LaCrande where Mr. Mor row engaged in general mer chandising and was very soon fleeted a m?niber of the com mon council and was chosen its president which made hint ex-officio nriyor. Healsoser vt'd as county treasurer of Union County fur four years. He probably knew Henry Hep pner before 1871, and sure ly became Well acquainted with him that year in La Grande. Their lives were en twined from 1872 until 1899 when Mr. Heppner and his relatives grieved at Mr. Mor row's death. A FL EASING POLITICIAN Jackson Lee Mirrow, who later was familiarly called "Uncle Jack ", was surely a natural politician. In 1876 he was elected to the Oregon Legislature representing Umatilla County. Giles French has re-tuld of the formation of several new counties on Pg. 33 of his book. He points out that young and ambitious people are anx ious to control their own des tiny. That the formation of new counties aroused little opposition m.iy seem odd, and the East Oregonian editor C.S. Jackson wondered about these new divisions when he wrote, ' More counties, more officers, more taxes. How the dear people love to be taxed." MORROW COUNTY IS BORN Umatilla County had been separated from Wasco Coun ty in 1862 and in 1885 when its western area, especially the Heppner community, be gan to plea for another coun ty it was Umatilla's repre sentative L.B. Cox, a Pendle ton lawyer, who introduced the bill, Morrow County HB 4. Mr. Cox was a first term legislator; Jackson Morrow was the more experienced county representative. The bill passed without a struggle as did another creat ing Gilliam County. The mem bers of the legislature were so fond of Jackson Morrow that they had given the HB4 his name, and now the new county happily continued as Morrow County, born on Feb ruary 16, 1885. Because of the eagerness to form this county some felt that its boundaries were nottoocare fully drawn considering sev eral geographical features. The determination of the lo cation of the county seat, which Heppner held tempor arily, was to be finalized at the June election, and Lexing ton under Mr. Penland's leadership really contended for this honor. ACTIVITIES IN HIS LAST HOME After rising to positions of leadership at Olympia, Wa. and LaGrande, Ore., Mr. J.L. Morrow again rose to the leadership in his final home. Before he was elected to the state legislature he had work ed as partner in Heppner and Morrow and later in J.L. Morrow and Son. When Wells, Fargo and Co. established an office in Heppner, J.L. Mor row was the first agent. He looked confidently to his city's ureat growth and in his pleasing political ininncr did much to promote the city and the county. He knew many successes but also knew un happy times. He loved child ren, and saw five of his own children die young. He out lived his wife by 17 years. He was a leading member of the Masonic Lodge. FINAL TRIBUTE Mr. J.W. Redington who knew Mr. Marrow and ad mired him very much came from Portland to attend his funeral and to present a glow ing written tribute. He wrote tliat "Uncle Jack' Morrow was loved and honored by men, women and children alike. He was courageous, strong and just and had the confidence of his followers. He was a simple, straight forward man, who practiced the golden rule, and whose common sense forbade was ting time straining eves to sight the unsightable, or at tain the unattainable. Mr. Redington became quite poetic as he put down the;.e words just after the impres sive Masonic rites for his friend. "These Morrow County hills seem sad today, for his brother Masons have just buried a good man a man who gave the county its name on the maps of the world, and left a legacy of an honor ed reputation. "It is warm on this tree less hillside today, and the sun beats down, but the peo ple of the city and the coun ty have climbed up here, 500 feet above the town he founded, to pay their last re spects to Mr. Morrow. Old neighbors trudged through the dust as they would not do for many other man. "Mr. Morrow's neighbor pioneers came today for miles around, bringing sim ple tributes of a few flowers, and they found him in his casket with a peaceful face. There was no sign of suffer ing a few days' gradual sinking when the silent mes senger came it was like the stopping of a clock whose machinery had served its time, and there was no sud den shock about its pausing. "The simple service at the house was exactly such as would suit a man of such simple tastes a sweet re frain from girl -voices that had grown up around him, and the simple forms of the order, and the concourse of people passed through the home he had founded 2 5 years ago, and took the last look and overflowed into the well shaded grounds, under the trees that Mr. Morrow had set out with his own hands. For he was a tree planter, as most men with a good streak in them always are. And the roses and the honey suckles he had trained on his porches showed how near he was to nature. "Mr. Morrow passed the three score and ten that so many men fail to reach, and numerous of his mile stones were modestly marked with good deeds, ami as ttie sun goes down tn a flood of crim son, bathing the rolling hills in a sea of purple, leaving the glorious golden glow of the lovt'light in the gloam ing, so will his in Miiory abide with those who knew him, and it is but a simple, truth ful tribute to say that Ins sympathy was as swift as the flight of the wild duck his wrath as slow as the speed of a snail. "His light went out as the crimson sunset faded from the summit of Old M unt Adams. The golden glow was gone, the purple haze has van ished, and the world is better for his having lived. "No shades of shrublxry, or wealth of flowers is pos sible up on this sun-scorched hillside above water levels. There are no sighing pines, no somber evergreens up here, but the yellow sape blooming as a remind r of the first frosts soon to hi raid the coming of fall, and the beautiful lupine will con " with the showers of the spii. and an occasional meadow u. -vfiniow sweetly sings, otU) dug until the shadows liave grown a little longer. "And now the Masons have tenderly dropped the last sprig of evergreen into their brother's grave; the clods have fallen; the nnund has been rounded up; the people have gone down the hill. "But as the sun disappears over Judge Dutton's ridge and slants its shaft against the summit of Morgan Moun tains, the hanging-lamps of heaven, arc lights of the earth twinkle out and gleam and glisten, and the big harvest moon looks down as it only can in this ambient air; they all know that a new-made grave contains one who appre ciated their brightness before his eyes became sightless. "The Morrow monument is far from the traveled high way and arteries of trade, but the noble character of Uncle Jack Morrow will long cast its shadow in homes and public places. "Farewell, firm friend, may your sleep be peaceful, painless, and may the realms you have entered into be no less beautiful than the won derous clouds that look on such fairy forms as you have watched, those splendid sum mer sunsets from the west ern portals of your Heppner home." J. W.R. (Wow! Couldn't J. W.R. write beautifully? 1 cried when I first read this and have sat here with tears in my eyes as I've copied it. Such a tribute to a friend!) A REVIEW OF MORROWS HISTORY THE BEGINNINGS By Justine Weatherford Many artifacts have been collected and many more will be found that will help in the understanding of the early users of thearea now Morrow County. The Indians and pos sibly earlier jieoples traveled the area. One indication of an early culture could lie the geogra phically H-culiar mounds, about 100 feet high, beside Willow Creek just north-west of Lexington, It lias no con nection with other lulls and ridges, t is just back of the Ah m Wagciihlast home.) The American Guide Series, 1940, Oregon, Pg. .262, sta tes, "The site of the re mains of an ancient stone se pulcher, one of the several in this region, f ound near by are pictographs and arti facts. Anthropologists have surmised that these graves contain remains ot Mayan people, ante-dating the Am erican Indian, who 1. ft a trail from the Columbia River to Central America." Professor E. R.Jjckmanul O.S.U'S Extension Staff fou nd evnli nee ol fir s atop se veral mounds. He qu stiu ned w hat In at had turned tin earth there to glass-like chu nks. Were sacrificial firt s builf Where did sufficu n! fu( 1 come from to build in tense fires'.' Could that heat have tieen gem ratt d na turally'.' The 1965-06 Oregon Blue book, Pg. 135, states, "Ac cording to anthropological evidence, men have lived in Oregon and the Pacific Nor thwest, especially on lake and river shores, fur about ' 10,000 years. People mi grated from Asia to Amer ica by an Alaskan land bri dge, moved down the North west coast, along the Colum bia River to east and north, and south through the inter ior basin. Pacific Northwest Indians were unique in the great number of languages us ed In a relatively small area." It is well known that for many years Indian tribal groups traveled up and down Butter Creek, Rhea Creek and Willow Creek and their tributaries. Bands did not live in established villages but camped wherever it seemed convenient to them. At the season when the sal mon were running most of them fished along the Col umbia; in the summerand fall they went to the rnoun tains ranging all across the Blue Mountains into Wallowa and Grand Ronde Valleys or on and around the John Day River where they hunted deer and elk and gathered camas, couse, kinnikinnik, wild ber ries, and various roots and leaves used for food and seasonings. Early white explorers fo und the Indians cordial. The Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla used Morrow's acres. It is documented that the Nez Perce language prevailed at the time of the early white settlers having superseded an earlier Cayuse language.