Morrow's Beginnings
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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.