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Glenwood/Camas
Prairie, Washington, Pioneer Settlers
from Floyd County, Virginia
The settlement in Camas Prairie (later called
Glenwood), Klickitat County, Washington, of German immigrants is well known
and is described in another part of this book [a history of Glenwood Valley,
in preparation]. Less well-known is a migration of families from Floyd County, Virginia. Floyd County is
a plateau located at the top of the Blue Ridge, the eastern-most Appalachian
chain of mountains, in south-western Virginia. This
area was made up of small farms, and was perhaps
seen by some at the time as having less than desirable opportunities for the
economic growth of a family. A review of the Camas Prairie census’
from the years 1900 to 1930 shows a number of persons and families known or
presumed to have been born in this area of
Virginia. Family names include Castle, Radford, Quesenberry,
Hylton, O’Neal, Shockley, Spangler, Pendleton, Alderman, Stone, Lewis, Bolt,
Holly, and Moles. Impetus for this migration is not completely
clear, but it would appear that information about the attractiveness of Camas
Prairie in Washington was
passed through families and acquaintances, persuading a number of individuals
and families that life would be better in this new place.
The truth of that
matter may be debated. The Glenwood Valley was
a high mountain valley with a shorter growing season and harsher climate than Floyd County in Virginia. Crockett Castle was
quoted as saying that if he hadn’t spent all of his money bringing his family
to Washington State,
he would have returned to Virginia. However,
these families generally prospered, perhaps more so when most of them
eventually moved on to the warmer climate of Yakima
Valley, Washington or
to larger population centers such as Portland, Oregon.
One of the earliest
Floyd county natives to arrive in the Glenwood area, according to the history
of the Castle family, was a brother-in-law, Leain [sp?] Hylton, in 1893. His enthusiasm led
several members of the Castle family to move westward along with their
in-laws the Aldermans. The Radford
family seems to have also had a connection with these
families. Charlie Holly was another Virginian who came to the
valley but somewhat later, having married Mary Alderman, and raised his
family in Glenwood. Cola Castle married
M. K. Hathaway, making a Virginia connection
with another early settler family.
Another early
family, the O’Neals, came to Camas Prairie at about
the same time that the Hylton and Castle families arrived. Ben
O’Neal married Olivia Agee in Virginia in
February 1993 and their oldest child was born in the Glenwood area in
November 1893. Their three children, Fred, Lottie, and Lilivan, were all born in Glenwood. We are not sure what
channels of influence might have existed in Virginia between
these families, but we do know that Olivia’s sister Sarah had married a
Hylton.
Meanwhile, the Peter
Shockley family was preparing to move west, and would become closely allied
with the O’Neals. In 1900, Peter and his
two oldest sons were boarding and working in nearby Skamania County,
Washington, while his wife Mary was still in Burks Fork, Floyd County,
Virginia with the other five children. By the 1910 census, they
had acquired a farm and were all together in Camas Prairie. These
two families became more connected when in 1914, Fred O’Neal married Nannie,
a Shockley daughter. Ben also died suddenly in this year at age
42, and shortly after that Mary Shockley passed away. Fred and
Nannie acquired a farm in Sunnyside in Yakima
County, Washington,
as did one of the Shockley sons, Henry, and the Glenwood properties
sold. Eventually, the two widowed parents, Olivia and Peter,
married and moved to Sunnyside. However, the two O’Neal daughters,
Lottie and Lilivan, married and remained in
Glenwood. None of the Shockley children stayed in the Glenwood
area.
Ben and Olivia
O’Neal went back to visit their relatives in Virginia in about 1908 and
persuaded Olivia’s younger sister India (Agee) and her husband Aubrey (A.G.)
Lewis to follow them to Washington state. A.G. homesteaded an 80
acre farm in the Sage Flat area a mile west of the town of Glenwood,
and also developed a grocery business in Glenwood starting about
1913. His partner was a single man who had just arrived from
Virginia, Tye Bolt (born in Carroll County).
Tye Bolt eventually married Lilivan
O’Neal. They raised seven children on a farm about two miles
southwest of the town of Glenwood. Their
two oldest daughters married and remained in Glenwood. Mary
married Paul Ladiges (son of Max and Elizabeth Ladiges). Helen married Edwin Eaton (son of
Claude and Audrey Eaton).
Lottie O’Neal
married Maurice Schneidler and they raised their
family on a farm about two miles east of the town of Glenwood. Together
they had eight children, six of whom lived to maturity. Maurice
was killed in 1943 in an accident while working in the shipyards in Vancouver, Washington. One
of Lottie and Maurice’s children married and remained in Glenwood to raise a
family, their daughter Opal, who was married to Bud Huffsmith
(son of Ed Huffsmith).
A.G. and India Lewis
maintained their farm in Glenwood until they retired in 1948 and moved to Bingen, Washington. They
ran a grocery and feed business in Bingen from
about 1925 to 1937, and their Glenwood farm was managed during these years by
Kemper O’Neal (younger brother of Ben) and then by their son Clarence
Lewis. A. G. and India raised
eight children, three of whom remained in Glenwood in their adult
years. Clarence operated a small dairy farm about three miles
south of Glenwood, worked for J. Neils in the
logging, for the county road crew, and did carpentry. Grace (and
husband Wallace Davis) lived on a dairy farm about 2 miles east of the town
of Glenwood. Grace
taught school, first at Fulda and
then for many years taught the Primary grades at the Glenwood School. Lorene
married Henry (Hank) Ladiges (son of Henry and
Gertrude Ladiges), who had a farm about 1˝ miles
southwest of Glenwood.
Several
of the Virginia families that
settled in Glenwood came from a Primitive Baptist tradition, and when in Washington State a
number of their descendants affiliated with the Church of the Brethren, or
with other conservative or evangelical Protestant churches. The Lakeside Church was
built in 1909 by persons who were members of the Church of the Brethren that
included Castles, O’Neals, and
Quesenberrys. (See http://orwahist.rothweb.com/Stiverson%20Church%20History.htm for additional history of this church and
building). These families spawned several religious lay leaders
and ministers, the most prominent being Dr. Glenn O’Neal (son of Fred and
Nannie O’Neal). Prior to his death he was dean of the graduate
school of theology at Biola University in La
Mirada, California.
Virginia families
in Glenwood maintained their connection with their origins in at least
two other ways. First, an annual Mother’s Day service was held at
the old Lakeside church for many
years, until perhaps about 1950. This meeting generated a
gathering from both Glenwood and Yakima Valley. No
services were held at the Glenwood Community Church in
deference to this tradition. Sometimes the services were conducted
by Yakima area Church of
the Brethren ministers who were connected to the O’Neal family.
Second,
an annual “Virginia picnic” was held
each summer, inviting all persons in any way connected with or having a Virginia ancestry. Usually,
this event was held at Brooks Memorial Park, north of Goldendale, Washington,
to accommodate both Glenwood and Yakima Valley attendees.
(By
Robert E. Lewis, June 2008, prepared to be included in a book on the pioneer
history of Glenwood, Washington)
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