Brosnan family St. Pat's honorées
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HEPPNER
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Jeremiah Brosnan
imes
VOL. 114
NO. 9
8 Pages Wednesday. March 1, 1995,
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Court OK's Recreation District
The Morrow County Court,
at a public hearing Monday,
Feb. 27, at Riverside High
School in Boardman, went a
step
further
toward
establishing the Morrow Coun
ty Unified Recreation District.
The hearing was called to
determine public interest in for
ming the district, which was
designed to fund co-curricular
activities througout Morrow
County. Said Morrow County
Judge Louis Carlson, “ From
the size of this crowd, I think
this must be a pretty important
issue for a lot of people." Over
125 people from Heppner, Lex
ington, lone, Boardman and Ir-
rigon attended the hearing and
no one spoke against formation
of the district.
The idea was formed in
response to a Morrow County
School District decision to cut
all co-curricular activities, in
cluding sports and clubs, from
the school budget next year
because of revenue shortfalls
resulting from Ballot Measure
5 and the state school funding
formula. Greg Grant, Heppner
teacher, coach and member of
the co-curricular committee
said, “ We saw a void. We
wanted to fill that void. We
found a way."
Find The Hidden Shamrock
Win Silver Medallions
The popular St. Patrick's Day treasure hunt is back again.
Each week until March 15 a clue for the treasure hunt wil
be printed in the Gazette-Times. If followed these clues wil
guide treasure hunters to a green shamrock hidden
somewhere in the city limits of Heppner.
The first person to find the hidden shamrock will win a
set of pure silver Oregon Trail Commemorative medallions
worth over $90. The coins are donated by the Bank of Eastern
Oregon and are on display at the bank.
Grant said that the estimated
cost to fund the program for
one year could be over
$450,000, which would amont
to around 50 cents per thou
sand valuation. The owner of
a $50,000 home would pay $25
a year; the owner of a $250,000
business would pay $125 a year
and the owner of a $1 million
farm would pay $500 a year.
However, the cities in the coun
ty, with the exception of Lex
ington, have reached their
$10/thousand cap as designated
under Ballot Measure 5, said
co-curricular committee mem
ber Cyde Estes. Therefore
residents of the cities of Hepp
ner, lone, Boardman and Ir-
rigon will not pay more taxes
to fund this district. The
monies will be compressed
from other taxing entities in the
district, the county, city
budgets, cemetery and fire
district, medical fund and park
districts, for example. Rural
residents have not yet reached
this cap, so they will pay addi
tional taxes to fund this district
if the serial levy is approved.
Estes said that the greatest
burden of taxes, over 70 per
cent, will fall on the commer
cial, industrial and utility tax
payer. The farming communi
ty pays around 16 percent of
the taxes and residential,
around 12 percent, she said.
The cities ot Heppner, Lex-
Continued page 2
As a tribute to Morrow Coun
ty's early day Irish settlers, the
Brosnan family has been
selected as this years honorees
during ,Heppner's annual St.
Patrick's celebration, March
17-19.
About 120 years ago, Jere
miah Brosnan from County
Cork, Ireland, staked his claim
to land in the picturesque hilly
area of upper Little Buttercreek.
To date six generations of
Brosnans have trod about on
this century farm.
But it was a long journey
from Ireland before Jeremiah
Brosnan settled on land that
would be handed down to
descendants. Upon arriving by
boat in New York he lived for
some time with a sister and
brother-in-law in Pennsylvania.
Next he traveled westward
with a team of oxen pulling a
wagon. When he arrived in
Omaha, Nebraska, in 1863 he
went to work for the Union
Pacific Railroad that was
building rails westward to link
up with the Central Pacific
Railroad headed east from
Sacramento, California.
Jeremiah and one other
worker were the only two
“ gandy dancers" who stayed
with this construction until the
two railroads were linked at
Promontory, Utah in 1869.
From Utah, Jeremiah travel
ed to western Oregon where he
worked for several years at
Curriasville before coming to
eastern Oregon. Then he ac
cumulated large herds of
horses that roamed the sandy
area of north Morrow County.
Many of those horses were sold
to the British who took them by
boat to South Africa.
In 1875 Jeremiah put down
roots on Little Buttercreek
where he ran horses and cattle.
During the 1920s, this ranch
also became home to large
bands of sheep. But when the
Great Depression caused the
sheep market to falter the ranch
turned to raising cattle, a prac
tice that is continued today.
During the days of that sheep
operation, sheep bands were
sent by train to Montana for
summer pasture. In late sum
mer the weaned lambs were
shipped from there to New
Four generations of Brosnans live on the Brosnan Ranch. L-R;
Mike, his son Brent, his grandmother Marion and his father Ed
die Brosnan.
York. It's said that at one time
it would have cost more to ship
the ewes home than they were
worth, so Jeremiah turned the
ewes loose on the Flathead In
dian Reservation and he
returned home empty handed
to start over again.
But the luck of the Irish smil
ed on Jeremiah when a wee
Irish lass named Mary Gaffney
from County Leitram, Ireland,
left her home and sailed across
the ocean and around the tip of
South America. Accompanied
by her ^cousin, Mike Kenny,
they continued by boat up the
Columbia River where they
were met at the Umatilla Lan
ding by Mary's sister and hus
band, the Felix Johnsons.
It was at the Johnson home
on Buttercreek that Jeremiah
and Mary met. They were mar
ried in 1880. To this union three
children were born.
Katie Brosnan married Hugh
Currin and they had four boys,
George, Hughie, Ralph and
Bob.
Their daughter, Mary mar
ried Sam Nelson and they had
three children.
John Brosnan married Zetta
Hager in 1908. They had three
children, including Jerry, who
in time became the ranch
operator. Joe Brosnan lives in
Little Rock, Arkansas and they
have five children.
A daughter, Margaret, had
no children and passed away in
1983.
The ranching Brosnan clan is
now headed by matriarch
Marian Brosnan, 80, who con
tinues to live where she shared
over 50 years of her life with
her husband, Jerry, who died
in 1991.
Marion Good Brosnan grew
up arough Monmouth and
became a teacher. Teaching
jobs then were scarce, she says,
and when she was told about
a job at the Lena school, she
decided to take a chance.
Without a clue as to where
Lena was located, she boarded
trains and ended up in Arl
ington. There she discovered
there wem't any trains running
that .day to Heppner and a
couple offered to drive her to
County employees receive raises
Find this Shamrock...
and win these silver coins
RULES:
1. A new set of clues to guide you to the hidden shamrock
will appear in each edition of the Heppner Gazette-Times.
2. A total of five clues will be given up to March 15.
3. The hidden shamrock is not on private property and no
digging or moving of objects, dirt or other materials is
necessary to find the shamrock.
4. The first person to find the shamrock should bring it to
the Heppner Gazette-Times office to claim the com
memorative silver medallions.
C lue N u m b er T w o
A palacial Inn
in old H e p p n e r
is w h ere y o u ’ll stand
if your clue h u n t’s been good
T h e re inside from L es’s guy
you’ll hear my m issive
and know w hat to try
Mr. A ’s ag e reveals his clue
rem em b er this and know w hat to do
A yellow sheet w h ere you reside
look on the ag e page
and then decide
A m onum ental call you have to m ake
G et your directions down pat. for goodness sake.
Follow the clues and may the luck of the Irish be with you. This
contest is sponsored by the Bank of Eastern Oregon and the Hepp
ner Gazette-Times.
Morrow County's non-union
employees will be getting a
healthy raise, retroactive to
January, averaging around 11.3
percent and costing around
$93,000. However, according to
Morrow County Judge Louis
C arlson, the county had
renegotiated health insurance
and around $70,000 saved by
those renegotiations will help
pay for the salary increases.
Carlson said that a consul
tant's study determined that
county managers, supervisors
and confidential employees
were simply underpaid and
their salaries were not in line
with comparable jobs though-
out the state. He said that the
raises are the result of an
average between an internal
market figure and and external
market. He said that the pre
vious situation resulted in the
county not being able to attract
professionals to Morrow Coun
ty jobs.
Carlson said that some of
those who did not receive a
raise had been overpaid and
added that the county commis
sioners' salaries were determin
ed to be in line. The commis
sioners did not receive raises
this year or last. He attributed
the reported fuss around town
about the situation to disgruntl
ed employees who did not
receive raises. Other employees
raises ranged from one percent
to a 47.9 percent forone
individual.
G-T newspaper prices increased
Single copy price for the
Heppner Gazette-Times will in
crease to 50 cents beginning
this week.
Subscription prices have also
gone up from $16 a year to $18
per year in Morrow County.
Senior citizen rates went from
$10 to $12, and outside th coun
ty rates have been increased
from $23 to $25 per year.
These rates have not been in
creased since 1992 and the raise
is necessary because of increas
ed production and distribution
costs, says publisher David
Sykes.
Heppner wher eshe gave them
her last dollar. Ranch hands
came and took Marian to the
Brosnan ranch where she
would have room and board.
Marion claims that if she'd
had any money she would
have turned around and gone
home after seeing this remote
and desolute land that was to
become her future world. That
one-room school house at Lena
had five pupils, including three
Seehafer girls and two French
boys, one of whom is Morrow
County Commissioner Ray
French. But during that year of
teaching, love entered the pic
ture. Marian and Jerry Brosnan
were married in 1936 .
Marian and Jerry lived with
his folks for a number of years
until a new house was built. To
this union four children were
bom.
John and Charlotte Brosnan
live at Hubbard and have four
children.
Eddie, who now operates the
ranch, married Lorraine Ham
den and they have five
children, Mike, Jim, Jerry,
Mark and Dyanne McCarty.
Joann Brosnan Weister, lives
in Portland has three children.
Dan his wife, Doris, have two
children and they recently
returned to live in Morrow
County.
Jerry and Marian's children
all attended school in Heppner
as the Lena country school was
closed. Although Marian had a
full-time job as a ranch wife
while rearing children, she con
tinued to substitue teach in
Heppner schools for many
years.
Marian recalls that in those
earlier days the Brosnan home
was a gathering place, especial
ly when a traveling priest
would come to say Mass. At
that time Heppner did not have
a Catholic Church. Marian also
remembers when 15 to 20
sheep shearers were fed in this
home. Lena was also the site of
a grange hall and at one time
there was a post office and
store. During the 1930s there
was also a Civilian Conserva
tion Corps located at that site.
Because times were hard and
families were somewhat self
sufficient, Marian says "w e
didn't go to town often back
then." Chickens, milk cows,
garden produce and 'lots of
mutton' fueled hungry ap-
petities. It was also customary
in those days for the Currins
and Brosnans to take turns
hosting holiday dinners. Many
a bountiful feast came from the
old wood ranges while the men
visited and the children played
cards.
Jeremiah and Mary and their
son John and his wife Zetta,
and buried in the Vinson
cemetery on Big Buttercreek.
But now there are numerous
grand children as well as some
great grandchildren to carry on
with a rich Irish heritage.
good Luck Cardinals
&
Lady Cardinals
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396
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