Someone in the family suggested that I write a sequel called “Oregon Days.” This I do not feel capable of doing. However, I will try to outline the general trend of the family affairs during those years- up to the time my dad, Vestal, sold the ranch in Oregon and moved to California.

Vestal and his brother Kade bought a Grocery and Dry Goods store on a corner of the main intersection in Forest Grove, Oregon in 1906. How long this partnership lasted, I do not know. Kinkade (Kade) left and moved to Corvalis so the store became Abraham & Sons. The older boys worked in the store and attended Pacific University or the Academy. All of this, I was not aware of since I was only three years old, when the family moved to Oregon.

Dad built a nice large house on the edge of town, about the time I started to school. This was the signal for me to assume some responsibility in family living. My first job was to split and carry in the kindling for the kitchen stove. As I grew up, I never heard dad say “go to work.” It was always “ Lets go to work.”

When I was in the third grade, Dad bought a 640 acre ranch; eight miles south of Forest Grove, near Gaston, in Patton Valley. Dad had spent most of his life working with the soil and I can understand the pull this opportunity must have been to him.

Dad took Gauis and I with him to look at the ranch. I remember dad, Gauis and my self sitting halfway up the hill back of the house and looking south across the beautiful valley, almost a mile wide at that point. It was in the spring of the year and the valley was covered with growing crops. What a sight this must have been to dad after all those years in Nebraska. No wonder we moved.

As the years passed various boys were at home going to school and working on the ranch. Ralph and Raul were away, Ralph at Oberlin College in Ohio- Raul at Rush Medical School in Chicago. We were up at 5 O’clock every morning- seven days a week, as we had a large herd of cows to milk, which dad improved until we had all registered Jerseys. Work was never finished until at least seven in the evening, but on Sundays was a day of rest, except for milking the cows and going to church.

Dad was a progressive man, always working to make things better. We did not have electricity, but dad impounded a spring high up on a hill, built a reservoir and piped water to the house and barns. By 1916 he had a Model T Ford, a farm tractor, and a small threshing machine. This was progress.

World War 1 took its toll in more ways than one. Raul, a practicing physician- Paul and Bryan enlisted in the armed service of our country. Keith had married and moved away. Dick married and lived in the little house. Gauis, just seventeen, tried too valiantly to get in the service, but he had a bad heart.

Taxes rose drastically and it was a difficult time for everyone. As long as dad operated the ranch, Gauis and I worked on it and went to school.

By 1922 Ralph came home on leave from Africa. I had just finished high school and in early 1923, Mother Rose passed away. It has always seemed to me that she had just held on till Ralph returned. She had been ill for a long time. I will never forget dad waking Gauis and I at 4 O’clock on the morning she died to go and milk those dammed cows!

This event was the beginning of the break up of the family. Farm income was very low and with mother gone, the home disintegrated. My reaction was that it seemed to be the end of this family.

Dad’s financial situation became very poor, and he traded the ranch for some property in Long Beach, California. This turned sour as the income was not as represented. After dad and Gauis moved to California, I went to the University of Cincinnati. This left the family pretty well scattered.

The Abraham family were a part of the origin of this great county of ours, clear back before the Revolution, and have a fine history. All that can be found of the various family members’ activities are of a good report, and high respect. This knowledge should make us all proud so that we can walk with our heads held high, proud of our heritage.

--Dale D Abraham

Vestal S. Abraham
Born: Washington County Iowa. December 23, 1860
Died: January 26,1933 Long Beach California.
Married: September 5, 1883

Rose Iams Born: Iowa. February 21, 1861
Died: June 26, 1923 Gaston, Oregon
[Vestal and Rose] Married: September 5, 1883

[Their Children Were:]

Ralph Lee
Born: Washington County, Iowa. April 1, 1884
Died: January, 1967 El Segundo, California

Vestal Raul
Born: Washington County, Iowa. August 2, 1885
Died: ???

Richard Iams
Born: Washington County, Iowa November 14, 1886
Died: December 1972 San Francisco California

William McLean
Born: Keith County, Nebraska 1888
Died: 1891 Keith County Nebraska

Byron Keith
Born: Keith County, Nebraska August 17 1890.
Died: December 1977 Portland, Oregon

Paul
Born: Keith County, Nebraska 1893
Died: ????

Gaylord Bryan
Born: Keith County, Nebraska March 22, 1896
Died: June 1965 Oregon

Garvis
Born: Keith County, Nebraska. June 24, 1900
Died: May, 1970 Santa Barbara California

Dale
Born Keith County, Nebraska. October 22, 1903
Died: April 3, 1988 Manatee County, Florida Jump to: Chapter 1 'Nebraska Days Introduction'

Jump to Chapter 2 'I first saw Vestal...'

Jump to Chapter 3 'Abrahams in the Military'


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