California #5
Early History of the Gospel in Bakersfield, California
By Jack Stancliff

In order to give a history of the Lord’s work in the early days here in Bakersfield, I am going to try and set down a few things I remember.  Obviously, I wasn’t around in the early days, so what I present here is what I remember my folks ( Clifton and Talitha Stancliff) and family sharing, including my brother Leo.  Others who shared memories with me include our Uncle Arthur Stancliff, Hugh Denio, and Jim Bone.  Also, having had the privilege of spending a year with Uncle Willie Jamieson while I was in the work, he shared a few facts as well.  

Irvine Weir was with George Walker and William Irvine when they came to America in September of 1903.   Irvine Weir came out here to California in 1904 and contacted Clyde Brownlee in Long Beach. Clyde was the father of Harry Brownlee, who later went in the work (1934).  Clyde tried to help Irvine with the gospel work, but Irvine himself was confused on some points.  The gospel really got started in earnest when Willie Jamieson came to California.  Jim Bone remembered it as September of 1905.  Uncle Willie and Irvine Weir had their first mission together, according to Jim Bone, in September of 1905 in San Luis Obispo, and that was where Bert and Retta Waite heard the gospel and professed.  Their home was the first open home in California.  They were the parents of Eva Waite, who later married Jim Bone. 

In November of 1905, according to Jim Bone’s account, the workers moved to Paso Robles and set up a tent on the northeast corner of Thirteenth and Spring Street.  It was there that the Hills, McPhails, Weibes, and others professed.  On Christmas day, a few miles up the Salinas River at Lake Isabel, twenty-five people were baptized.  In April of the next year (1906), while the tent was still up, they used it to hold the first convention in California and perhaps in America.  That was the year of the major earthquake.  The workers were gathered at Paso Robles, waiting for William Irvine, but William was detained in San Francisco, helping with the fires etc., after the quake.  They waited until he arrived to hold the convention.  The earthquake occurred on Wednesday, April 18, and the convention began on Sunday, April 22.

Two people from the Bakersfield area made their start in those days.  One was Benjie Denio.  She was the wife of John Denio, the oldest of the original Denio boys.  John professed forty-five years after Benjie (in 1951), when Gladys Porteous, Hazel Pierce, and Isabel Boyd had meetings in a portable hall on Truman and Birdie Denio’s place.

The other person from Bakersfield to profess at Paso Robles was Jake Compher.  Jake was the father of Pauline Denio and grandfather of Justin Denio.  Justin married Florence Middleton, and they had the meeting in the home where my folks and I went before I went in the work.  The other children of Bill and Pauline Denio are Bernice Severson, Evelyn Huddle, and Mel and Jim Denio.  Jake had a difficult life because his wife was opposed to the Lord’s way and made Jake sleep in the chicken coop at times.  Jake would frequently go up to Balance Rock in the mountains to a cabin my folks had and would find a little peace there.

The next convention was at San Luis Obispo in January of 1907.  It was after that convention that Willie Jamieson, Jim Martin, Elisabeth Jamieson, and Esther Hanson went to Oregon.  Irvine Weir, Walter Slater, Edie Weir, and Florence Langworthy then came to the Bakersfield area. 

As chance would have it, one day in 1909, while the sisters, Edie Weir and Florence Langworthy, were walking down the road at Old River, they met Grandma (Emily) Bone, Jim and John Bone’s mother. The sisters had been anxious to meet the parents of the three boys who were coming to their meetings at the schoolhouse, bringing a nickel each tied up in a handkerchief.  Needless to say, the workers did not accept the nickels, and this made an impression on Grandma and Grandpa Bone.  So when they met on the road, Grandma Bone invited them to come and stay with them.  Edie and Florence did so and had a mission in which only Grandma Bone and young Jim Bone (age 12) professed.  Then the Bones had all four workers in their home.  At that time Mr. Bone was very friendly, but later he became very opposed to the truth.   

For a time, the Sunday meeting would alternate.  During one of the meetings in the Bone home, Lela Denio, a daughter-in-law of Grandpa and Grandma Denio, professed.  Lela was a sister-in-law to Benjie and Birdie Denio.  Lela was holding Sproulie in her arms as a baby when she stood up.  This would have been about late 1909 or early 1910, because Sproulie was born in 1909.  Lela went on faithfully by herself for the next 9 or 10 years until her husband Hugh professed at Orcutt convention in either late 1919 or early 1920.  Lela would harness the team up and take the children to the meetings and convention by herself during the years before Hugh professed.

Sproulie went in the work in 1931, and he and Don Garland were the first to take the gospel to Korea. Sproulie’s brother Truman went in the work in 1933, the same year as my brother Leo.  Truman went to the Philippines in the late 1940’s, and their sister Lena went in the work about 1935.  Carl Denio went in the work about 1937.  Lela and Hugh’s other son Ken, along with his wife Ann, lived on the old Bakersfield convention grounds for many years.

After Lela Denio professed, gospel meetings were held in the Fruitvale and Rosedale area.  It was there that Grandma Denio and Daisy Stewart professed, as well as Mary Brown.  Later, a Sunday morning meeting was established in the Brown home because they didn’t have transportation to go elsewhere.

There was a convention in 1909 on the Jim Hill place, which was right across the river from the McPhail place.  After this convention, Bessie Dunkin and Florence Langworthy came to Bakersfield and got the Sunday meetings started, alternating between the Brown’s home on the southwest corner of 6 th and N Streets and the Bone home.

The first convention for the Bakersfield folks was in Filmore.  The girls had gospel meetings in the Norris School in Bakersfield, and it was there that Grandpa Jim Denio professed.  That schoolhouse is preserved as a replica in Pioneer Village ( Kern County Museum).  

Jim Bone was the first of the Bone boys to profess (1909), and later John professed.  Jim and Eva had four children.  Their daughter Mable married Roy Slater. Their oldest son, David, married Kay Hill, and David was later killed in a plane accident.  Jim and Eva also had another son, Bernard, who married Wilma McKnight and a daughter, Mary, who married Milne Stearns.  Mary and Milne Stearns had the convention at Buttonwillow from 1970 until Mary passed away in 2006.  Milne kept the convention two more years (through 2008).  Now, since 2008, Bryan Bone’s family has the convention.  Bryan is a grandson of Jim and Eva Bone, a son of David and Kay.   Mary and Milne’s daughter Barbara has been in the work in Eastern Europe. 

Jim and Eva Bone had the convention grounds at Gilroy for many years, beginning in 1956, and were people who possessed a wonderful spirit.  Jim’s brother John married Eva Hill, and they moved onto the Parma, Idaho convention grounds after the Fishers moved off the place.  Later, their son Lloyd and his wife Esther bought the Parma convention grounds from them.  We met with John and Eva in Tulelake, California for union meetings when my folks had a cattle ranch in Alturas, California from 1948 to 1951.  Note:  The two brothers, Jim and John Bone, both married women named Eva.  Jim’s bride was Ēva (pronounced with a long E, as in “seed”).  John’s bride was Ĕva (pronounced with a short E, as in “met”).

I might put in here a little concerning Jack Carroll and Willie Jamieson, as they were so instrumental in their influence in the truth through those early years.  Jack first came to America in May of 1904 and spent the early years in the eastern part of the country.  I am not sure what year he first came to California, but perhaps 1910 or maybe even earlier.  Jack upheld the standard of Christ as well as any worker that I have ever been in contact with, and he had great respect for Paul and his ministry. A lot of the time when he would speak, it would be concerning Paul and his epistles.  He was a very humble man but also a great leader. 

There came the time in the early 1920’s that he and Willie felt the need of someone to go to the Orient.  It seems that it was a very wise decision to have Willie, who was a great pioneer, go first to China in the early 1920’s, and have Jack stay here with the oversight of the work on the West Coast.  Willie and his companions went through many dangerous experiences in China, including hiding in a barrel when in danger of death.  They lived in constant fear of being put in front of the firing squads.  Some of his companions just couldn’t stand it and ended up having to leave the work because of their health.  He then went through the experience of the internment camp in the Philippines during the second World War.  Jack passed away in 1957, and Willie passed away in 1974.

It was sometime between the convention in 1909 and when my folks professed in 1920, that Uncle Willie and Jack Carroll had a meeting on the grounds of Alec McPhail’s place.  William Irvine was the man that both Jack Carroll and Willie Jamieson had heard first and professed through.  Carl Wren told my dad that Irvine could keep an audience spellbound for 3 hours.  They had seen things in his life and in his words that caused them to question his integrity, and so they asked to have this meeting at Alec McPhail’s place.  William Irvine made the statement to Uncle Willie and Jack Carroll that he felt like he had gotten beyond the place of needing to pray, and it was then they realized that he had strayed from the lowly way.  A feeling of need is so essential, and seeking the Lord’s help is far more important than great preaching. All through his life, Uncle Willie was deeply affected by this.  He often mentioned that the thing he feared the most was being up in front of God’s people without the Lord’s presence.  He feared what Willie was humanly being the thing that would affect God’s people.

I will insert an occurrence that I had after leaving the work.  I was doing appliance service work for Wayne Ramey and Bruce Grow in their Airport Appliance business they had at the time.  Wayne dropped me off at a very fancy wealthy home in the Lake Tahoe area, and I was to work on a vacuum cleaner for this lady.  I started to look at the vacuum cleaner, and the woman started talking.  I immediately turned around and asked her if she would happen to know Jack, May, and Fanny Carroll.  Her voice was the giveaway.  She told me she was their sister, and I believe her name was Mrs. Perrott.  She was all made up, wore lots of jewelry, and had a very fancy home, but at one time she and her husband had been in the work.  They had been a part of God’s true and living way, but there were things that they were unwilling for.  Jack Carroll was very firm in holding to the standard of Christ, and it didn’t matter whether it was his own brother or sister, or those that had professed in his meetings, or those in the work; Jack held firm to Christ and his standard.

I might mention another thing that Carl Wren told our dad, and that was that one year he was a companion of Willie Jamieson, and after they divided up the funds after the workers’ meeting to go to their new field, their portion was 25 cents.  They left the workers’ meeting, walked down the road, found some vegetables that had fallen off of a wagon, and ate them.   They went a little farther, found an empty chicken coop, and spent the night there.   They were off to preach the gospel!

In 1919 Eddie Cornock and Wilfred Allington had a mission in Bakersfield, and there were about 20 or so that professed.  Some who professed at that time were Alice Froelich (who later was in the work and went to Germany), Birdie Denio, Mamie Philips, and many others.  The workers then went to Orcutt to prepare for convention, and it was there that Hugh Denio professed (the father of Sproulie).  After the convention, Eddie, Wilfred, and Jack Carroll came back to Bakersfield.  Jack Carroll gave our mom the invitation to the gospel meetings, and Pop had Mom go to the meeting first.  She came home and showed Pop the notes she had taken.  Mom and Pop stayed up until 2:30 a.m., looking up the references.

Pop had claimed to be an atheist, so he didn’t really know the Bible.  However, after Mom came home with her notes from the meeting, they got down the old family Bible and looked up the references.  Leo remembered that when they found out how the ministry was supposed to go out, all Pop would say is, “That is what the Bible says!”

Pop and Mom both went to the next meeting, which was supposed to be the boys’ last.  The workers had these two or three missions they were going to close, so they said that they would like to have some home meetings.  A person would feel that they meant to have home meetings in some of the homes of the people that had professed in their meetings.  Pop went up to them after the meeting, though, and said he would like to have them come and have meetings in our home.  The folks had a very small home then, but the workers came, and it was in about the 5 th or 6 th meeting that both Mom and Pop professed.  It was on March 20, 1920. 

We will always be thankful for the love for the Lord’s way that our folks had.  The first year after our folks professed, the workers moved the convention to Grandpa and Grandma Denio’s place, and Pop helped prepare for the first convention there.  Things were very primitive then, but the convention was at Denios’ until 1969.  It was then moved to Buttonwillow, where it is presently.

Pop wanted to go in the work, even though he had 3 children (Leo, Bob, and Laurena).  The workers told him that he was just where they wanted him to be.  He had a little black book, divided into 3 parts.  In the first part, Pop listed the “hot prospects,” those he was “MOST HOPEFUL FOR.”  The second part was those he was “HOPEFUL FOR.”  The third part was those he wanted to “KEEP IN CONTACT” with.  When there were gospel meetings going on, Pop would frequently take those of us of an age of understanding with him to look up some of those folks.  I can remember some of the things he told them.  Some folks said, “Well, if what you say is right, Mr. Stancliff, then there won’t be many saved!”  Pop said, “Well, how many went into the ark?”  They would answer, “8!”  Pop replied, “Wouldn’t you want to be one of the 8?”

A man that I should mention, in conjunction with my father’s early days, is Charlie Cook.  Charlie had professed in Canada, and it is my understanding that he was quite wealthy when he professed.  Charlie helped others out and had given his wealth away.  The workers said that wherever there was a need, Charlie always seemed to end up there to help out.  Pop had to lead the meeting before he had professed very long, and Charlie was a great help to my dad with his wise counsel in those early days.  When Charlie died he had nothing, but Pop paid for his funeral plot at the old Union Cemetery.  It is close to where Grandpa and Grandma Denio, Bill and Pauline Denio, and Jake Compher are buried.

The folks had the meeting in their home for many years, and for a long time it was at 408 Oregon Street with the two tall trees out in front.  They not only had the regular Sunday morning meeting, but often they had union meetings there with all the friends in Bakersfield.  Sometimes there were over 100 people, with some having to sit back in the kitchen and down the hallway.  It was just a small 2-bedroom home with 1 bathroom.  Our folks had a lot of company.  Workers would stay there, and folks would stay after meeting for meals that Mom prepared.

Perhaps I can relate a little about some that I remember from the early days around Bakersfield.  I can often remember my dad talking about spiritual things, especially with Uncle Arthur Stancliff and Hugh Denio.  Arthur had professed in Oregon through Bill Corcoran, and then he moved back to Bakersfield and got married to Alma.  He lost contact with the truth.  However, Uncle Arthur saw a group assembled often, where the convention grounds later were at the Denio place.  Uncle Arthur stopped and talked to Grandpa Denio.  He asked Mr. Denio about what was going on.  He told Art that he wouldn’t understand.  So Art asked how the preachers went out, and Grandpa Denio told him.  Art said, “Well, that is just like what I met in Oregon!”  Grandpa Denio told him, “Oh no, Art!  You wouldn’t understand!”  Art asked how they met, and when Grandpa told him, Art said, “That is just like what I met in Oregon!”  Grandpa said, “Oh no, Art!”

Finally, there were gospel meetings Eddie Cornock had, and Grandpa Denio said it would be OK for Art to come.  Art asked Eddie if he had ever heard of Bill Corcoran.  Eddie said, “Yes!!!  Bill Corcoran was my first companion!”  Art reprofessed and was a very faithful man who loved the Lord’s way for the rest of his life.  Art’s wife Alma professed, but she didn’t very often come to meetings.  Alma came to a couple of meetings at convention and a few times to the Special Meetings at Fruitvale School.   Alma made it quite hard for Art in many ways, but he kept a wonderful spirit.  Art worked for many years for our father in Pop’s welding and machine shop.  Art led the Sunday morning meeting at the Denio place and the Sunday night meeting at Carver’s place for years.

I might insert here a little from a lady named Miriam Murray.  She and her husband Peter have a meeting in their home in Lafayette, Louisiana, and she is the daughter of Newton Bowman.  Newton was in the work in California and Arizona between 1928 and 1937.  He spent time with Frank Dennison and Ralph Blackburn and was there in the work when they got the Casa Grande convention grounds ready originally.  She asked if I could add anything concerning Arizona, and the only thing that I can remember (from my folks telling me about it, as it was before my time) is that they went over and spent time traveling around in Arizona with Frank Dennison, Ralph Blackburn, Mae Dennison, and Ercel Gonce.  There were very few friends to stay with in Arizona at the time, and it seems that they had to rough it some.

Other missions I should mention that took place in the Bakersfield area in the early days were the missions that Tharold Sylvester, Carrol Stevenson, and Willie Jamieson had from approximately 1938 to 1940.  In Bakersfield, they contacted Mrs. Heilman.  When they knocked on her door, she was by her bed, praying for preachers to come like she read about in her Bible.  She professed and was very faithful.  She had a husband by the name of Jack and a son by the name of Jack Jr., and they were both alcoholics.  Her husband beat her and broke her ribs and hip.  I remember the folks would take her to meetings, and they would ask her to go out to eat with them.  She would say, “No, if Jack comes home I would want to be there to fix his lunch.” 

Another couple of ladies that professed in those meetings in Bakersfield were Mrs. Kush and her daughter Mary.  Mary later married my brother Gerald.  After Carrol had contacted them, he came back thrilled and said that he had made contact with a woman who wanted the truth.  Both Mrs. Kush and Mary professed, and her husband was very opposed.  One time he said that if they went to the meeting that day, he would shoot them when they came back.  They went to the meeting anyway and kept on going.

They also had meetings in the Shafter area, and it was there that the Cassous and the Showalters professed.  Lawrence and Alice Showalter later had the meeting in their home in Petaluma, California, and their daughter married Fred Fritz who is the brother of Ardath Fritz in the work in Canada.

Ron Rudolph mentions that during the second World War, when gas was rationed and tires were poor, a lot of the friends from Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Pasadena would charter a Greyhound bus.  I don’t remember the buses that well, as we lived in Bakersfield and commuted.  The convention was in October in those days, and sometimes ice would form in the metal washbasins that you would fill under a tap.  Most of the folks slept in tents, on straw ticks.  We would move the old outhouses about every 15 years.

Grandma Ella Carver was another wonderful woman.  She and her husband, Jim, lived out on a farm in the Fairfax district of Bakersfield when that was all just farmland.  Later, probably around the late 1940’s, they moved into Bakersfield to a home that was just south of Brundage Lane and just east of Chester Avenue.  They had the Sunday night meeting there for many years.  Ella professed probably around the time that Eddie Cornock had the meetings.  Jim professed at Bakersfield convention in 1947.  Ella’s granddaughter, Lavere Langston, was sitting on the same bench, close to him, when he professed.  This was shortly after the 1947 mission Leo Stancliff had at the P.G.&E. hall on Oak Street in Bakersfield.  Alice Froelich and Illa Vincent helped him in this mission, and it was after Leo had come home from the internment camp. Lavere Langston is married to Orvel Langston and lives in the Crescent City area.

Newton and Violet Brown also professed in Leo’s 1947 mission.   Newton was a brother of Charlotte Brown, who was in the work, and Violet was a sister of Dottie Deaux, of the Los Angeles area.  Others who professed in that mission were Glen and Virginia York and Glen’s brother, Lenmore York.  Glen and Virginia had the meeting in their home for many years, and Newton and Violet later moved to Seattle.  They had a meeting in their home and got the workers’ mail for many years.  This mission that Leo had was right after the mission he had in the company-run town of Feather Falls with Dan Hilton, where so many professed. 

I want to just briefly mention my brother Leo’s internment.  Leo and Herman Beaber first went to the Philippines on January 4, 1940 and were captured sometime in 1941; we didn’t hear from Leo for 3 years and 6 months.  We got the news of Leo’s release from prison on March 8, 1945. We remember the date so clearly because it was the night before our sister Laurena was to get married to George Escola.  A telegram came to the door.  Pop opened it, and it said Leo Stancliff was safe.  Also rescued out of the same internment camp (Los Banos in the Philippines) at that time were Willie Jamieson, Herman Beaber, and Cecil Barrett.  I will always feel that it was a marvelous blessing for the others to have Uncle Willie Jamieson with them, with all that he had gone through in the early days here and later in China.  He had a wonderful spirit and Godly influence.

After Leo returned from the internment camp (the folks not knowing whether he was dead or alive for 3-1/2 years), and after those missions that Leo had, I remember standing on the pier in San Francisco with my folks when he was leaving on the boat to go back to the Philippines.  The ticker tapes began to break as the ship pulled away from the dock.  It was not an easy time for the folks, but they wanted to encourage him to go and be spent for the Lord’s dear sake.

Another couple that I should mention is Mr. and Mrs. Ayers.  Winnie was an especially fine woman and was the sister of Tima Hutchison of the San Jose area.  She was a very capable woman with a wonderful spirit.  Their one daughter Ruby married Milton Sparks, and they lived in the Santa Cruz area.  Later they moved to Oregon, and their one son, Glenn Sparks, has been in the work for many years.  The Ayers came out from Colorado where they professed.  

I professed at Bakersfield convention on October 19, 1946 when Willie Brown was leading the meeting and after we had set through a mission in Santa Cruz that summer.  Some years later, one of the friends in New Zealand (who had been in the work in Southeast Asia) mentioned to me that he had been at that convention and that Willie Brown told me to stand on the bench because I was so small.  We always sat in the front row with Pop.

There are many who went in the work from the Bakersfield area.  To begin listing them, Sproulie, Truman, Lena, and Carl Denio, Alice Froelich, and Leo Stancliff were some of the first.  Then there was Hilda Hansen, Barbara Stearns, Karen Bone, Marilyn Denio, Richard Wulf, Richard Den Herder, and Jon MacDonald.  Another dear sister, although she didn’t start out from Bakersfield, is Esther Jones.  Her mother lived in Bakersfield, and Esther spent her last years in Bakersfield; she was a great help to me before I started in the work.

I would like to express my thanks to those who have helped put this together.  Special thanks to David Goss for editing and to my daughter Shannon for all her help.  Many thanks, as well, to those who have sent in help with names, many of which were before our time.  Glenn and Elaine Linderman, Wayne Ramey, Ellen Larson, Julie McMurry, and Mel Denio helped a great deal with editing names and correcting the document.  Ron & Pat Rudolph and Lavere Langston added some of their memories, and Shirley Davidson and Miriam Murray sent some of the old pictures.  Glenn Linderman kindly edited the pictures in order to give the name notations and make them better for emailing.

On this later version 7.3 Mary Krejci (Jim and Eva Bone’s granddaughter) has been very kind to supply additional information and correction to help improve this document.

Version 7.3  - Year 2009

CALIFORNIA CONVENTIONS:

1906 April - First Convention in the USA and in California at Paso Robles, California on James and Ina Hills' place.

1909   Paso Robles Convention on the Jim Hill place East of Paso Robles

1907, December -   Second California Convention held at San Luis Obispo, California

1913, 1914 and 1915:  Watsonville on _____________ property

1915 Artesia (maybe) on _____________property.

19__ Filmore (a couple years) at Ritzmans

1919  Orcutt  (Ritzman’s conv. was moved here (James Bone Account)

1919 … no convention (Hill Account)

1920-21 First Bakersfield convention held; continued for 50? or 60? years. (Hill Account).

1969 – Buttonwillow began on property of Milne and Mary Stearns (Bakersfield & James Bone Accounts) replaced Bakersfield conv.

_____ Los Gatos

1956-1990 Gilroy convention on property of James & Eva Bone (replaced Los Gatos)

1991  Mt. Ranch conv. began on property of Warren & Sue Wainright (replaced Gilroy)

_____ Orick

_____Santee on property of Charles Grant

NOTE:
The account by James Bone reads that the Bakersfield convention started in 1910 and continued for 50 years. (= ended 1959)
The above Bakersfield Account reads that Bakersfield convention started in 1910 and ended in 1969.  (=60 years)

Quote from above Bakersfield Account:  We will always be thankful for the love for the Lord’s way that our folks had. The first year after our folks professed, the workers moved the convention to Bakersfield on Grandpa and Grandma Denio’s (J. G. Denio) place, and Pop helped prepare for the first convention there in December, 1910. Things were very primitive then but the convention was at Denio’s until 1969. It was then moved to Buttonwillow to Milne and MaryStearn’s farm, where it is presently.

Submission of any missing dates for the California convention above list will be appreciated. Email TTT

Oregon
History Since 1907, When the Gospel Came to Oregon in Dec. 1907

Originally compiled by Ada Park in 1985
Retyped, revised and added to by Helen Luginbuhl in 1991
Edited and retyped by Lorraine Hanson in 2012

After Esther Hanson’s first convention in California in December 1907, Esther and Jack Carroll and his companion, May Carroll and Emily Wilson, Willie Jamieson and James Martin, Elisabeth Jamieson and Esther Hanson all came by boat from San Francisco to Portland. In spite of being seasick and tired of the boat, they spent the first night in Portland on the boat to save the cost of hotel rooms.

Jack Carroll and companion, May Carroll and Emily Wilson went on to Washington, and Elisabeth and Esther went east of the Willamette River to the district around Aurora. Charles Konschak professed in their first mission early in 1908 and maybe some others also. Charlie soon went into the work, later preached in Germany until he lost his eyesight. He died in Oregon after becoming elderly. (Source, Esther Hanson)

Willie and Jim went west of the river to Dundee where a Scottish couple professed. That couple did not continue, so nothing more is known of them. (Source, Willie Jamieson)

1908

They started their next mission January 28, 1908, in Rex, Oregon. Mrs. Garland, Ewart Garland, Margaret Garland, Fern Howard and Lilla Jenkins started. Ewart Garland married Lilla Jenkins (they are the parents of Don Garland – born in 1918. ) Margaret married Earl Knight. Fern Howard went in to the work in January, 1909. (Source, Margaret Knight)

Willie traded fields with the girls (Elisabeth and Esther) and went to Aurora to help Charlie Konschak and Elisabeth went to Rex to help the girls who had professed. Esther Hanson went to Washington to join Emily Wilson. (Source, Esther Hanson).

In the summer of 1908, Willie and Jim had a tent mission in Canby. Thirteen or more professed; Mr. and Mrs. Perry Meeks, their daughter Katie White, and their son Henry Meeks and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Krueger. Mrs. Krueger’s sister, Mrs. Myers, Mr. and Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Smith, and Mr. and Mrs. McKinney.

Willie went to Dayton, Washington to the funeral of Harry Cross although it was over by the time he got there. Tom Lyness and Harry were having a mission in Dayton – one night no one invited them home so they slept in a haystack. Harry was bitten by a spider and died on July 2, 1908. Tom Lyness then returned to Canby with Willie and helped finish the mission. All who had professed up to this time were baptized in the Molalla River. (Source, Ida Krueger.)

Walter Walden (born Jan., 25, 1996, died October 1, 1974) and Willie Jamieson professed about the same time. Walter had professed in England and Willie in Scotland. Walter Walden came to Oregon in 1908 (source, Walter’s wife Cora, who married Walter many years later)

1909

The first convention in Western Oregon was held on the Perry Meek's farm in January, 1909. Willie said it was about one year after they arrived in Oregon. Some friends and workers came from Washington and there were about 52 present. Fern Howard went into the work. (Fern was born in 1891) Years later she became Mrs. Bill Corcoran. (Grandparents of Dan Corcoran) Walter Walden and Tom Lyness went to Washington, and Willie Jamieson and Charles Brigdon started meetings in Aurora. Mrs. Judith Miller and her son Frank and some others professed.

Ida Krueger professed at Aurora at the December, 1909 convention. Ida was born in 1893 and died in 1987.

Elisabeth Jamieson and Margaret Marshall went to Mountaindale to help Willie finish a mission he had started there. Edwin Schaer told this at the Randolph, AZ convention October 10, 1960. “I was not yet fourteen when I heard the Gospel. Willie Jamieson came across our pathway and we began to see things we read of in the scriptures. The thought came to me, you can go in for this sometime and go out and preach. Willie Jamieson came across the water to bring the message. You can do that and go to Switzerland where your parents came from. A little while after this Willie’s sister came and confirmed what Willie had been telling us.”

Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell, Harry and Annie, Oral Gardner and his mother, Fred and Eddie Schaer, their sister, Mrs. Rose Willis, Albert, Laura and Raymond Lynn, and maybe some others were among the ones that started at this time. Fred Schear went into the work but was not well enough to continue. Eddie Schear pioneered the work in Switzerland with George Wix. Lillian Willis went into the work when she grew up, but died very young after a few years in the work. The Schear’s sister, Mrs. Edwards, also professed, but I do not know the year.

Albert, Laura and Raymond Lynn, also Annie Maxwell were in the work for a few years but were not able to continue. Harry Maxwell married Agnes McQuarris.

Matt and Hattie King heard Willie, but did not accept the Truth at that time. (see 1912) Mrs. Hart, mother of Gretchen and Evelyn, lived six miles from Hillsboro, they heard Willie and professed. Gretchen married Walter Musa and Evelyn married a Mr. Shakelton. Mrs. Grace Storhow and daughter Ettela heard Willie and decided. They lived at Gaston. Mr. Oliver Storhow, who was a blacksmith, did not start until Willie Smiley and Ernest Hamon had a mission in Gaston in 1921. Mrs. Branda, Agnes’ mother, also professed in this mission in 1921. Mr. Branda decided a little later

The Harts and the Storhows came to Hillsboro to Sunday morning meeting in Park’s home after that meeting started in November, 1915. The Harts moved to St. Johns and the Storhows went to Cherry Grove after that meeting started in 1917. (Etella Storhow married Albert Vredenburg, who were the parents of Harold Vredenburg and grandparents of Crystal Sutton.)

In December, 1909 there was a convention in Aurora. The meeting was in a hall. After this Mrs. Miller moved to Portland and had the first open home in that city. A convention was held in her home and a rental of hers in December, 1910. She also had Sunday morning meeting in her home for many years from about 1912 until she died in 1921.

1910

Walter Walden was with Tom Lyness in Washington in 1909, then back to Oregon in 1910 with Charles Brigdon. They visited James and Helen Dunaway in their very small house in Hood River where they slept outside on the lawn and they looked up in to the sky and saw Halley’s Comet. It was at this time that at Mr. and Mrs. Dunaway’s request that they visited Mrs. Myra Castor who lived in Portland. Mrs. Castor was Mrs. Dunaway’s sister and Helen Luginbuhl’s mother. Mrs. Castor attended the convention in Portland and professed there. Their sister Mrs. Starr heard and began a few years later. (Helen Luginbuhl was the mother of Lorine Woodruff and grandmother of Brian Woodruff.)

Mrs. Glough, who lived in Hood River, said that she heard Tom Lyness first. She had a daughter Geraldine. They moved to Portland in the 1920s.

1911

The following is a direct quote from Elisabeth Jamieson. “In later 1910, my companion and I had meetings in a district some miles from Boring, a farming community near Portland, Oregon. We heard from many about a Swedish settlement and several strange Swedes who thought they were the only people who were right. I decided if I came back to that part after convention, that I would stay away from the Swedes! Sure enough, we returned to that part and found an opening in Sandy Ridge, about six miles from the Swedish district, but there was no real interest so we closed. We tried to find an opening farther away but found no open door either in any of the towns or country districts. From the start most were kind and friendly and one very religious man went around and took up a collection for us, which of course, we refused and this gave us a chance to tell him personally what God’s way was. He had to go around again and give back the money. After we had been there several weeks Willie came and helped us for two or three weeks. We had the joy of seeing Carl and Mary Hanson and two brothers of Carl’s decide, as well as some others. (Edith Hanson decided later in 1911, and Henry professed in 1912) A nice little church was formed and all kept true. We were there seventeen or eighteen weeks and left with thankful hearts. If we had seen ahead, to several years later, convention would be held at Carl Hanson’s place, it would have been easier to tramp through snow and over muddy roads. However, God does not lift the curtain and as we sincerely seek to labor in faith. Edith and Henry went into the work in 1912. George Hanson died at age 29, in 1920.”

After Edith and Henry’s father died, their mother Anna Hanson professed in Portland in the 1920s. Mrs. Mary Hanson told me that she was the only woman in their meeting until Elizabeth Roach professed.

Dorothy and Hazel, daughters of Carl and Mary Hanson, are both in the work. Dorothy was in Finland for many years and Hazel was in Oregon.

Bill Corcoran and Eddie Cornock, who went into the work at the Vancouver, BC convention in 1910, were in Sams Valley having meetings in the Cooper Hall, until January 1911, when they moved to the Chaparral school house which was nearby where Ora and Ira Vincent went to school. This was Eddie’s second mission. The Vincent’s professed (per Cloe Leen), Ila Vincent said that Bill Corcoran and Neil McKay had another mission there in 1914. Ira Vincent married Lillian Shanahan who professed in California in 1913. (They were Cloe and Ila Vincent’s parents)

Sams Valley was the place where someone sent the workers a letter with a piece of rope in it and a note saying that if they were not out of town by the end of the week, they would get the rest of the rope around their necks. They had been planning to leave but stayed another week so the sender of the letter could not boast that he had run them out of town. (Source, Eddie Cornock)

1912

This must have been the year that Willie Jamieson had a mission in St. Johns. Mr. and Mrs. McQuarris professed, also Mr. and Mrs. Rice, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Bellinger, Mrs. Finnis, Mrs. Landerholm and some others. Tillie Calhoun came from Ireland and Willie took her to her first meeting in Oregon. She preached a Gospel message and Willie asked her to whom she was preaching as they were all professing. “Professing,” exclaimed Tillie, “Why look at their hats.” The hats were different to the hats worn by the workers and friends in Ireland!! (Source, Tillie Calhoun)

Mr. and Mrs. Matt King heard Elisabeth and Fern Howard and professed. (The King’s had convention at their place in Roy, Oregon in 1922, 1923 and 1924) They went to Mountaindale to meeting until 1915 when Mr. King became the elder of the church was established in Hillsboro. After this mission, Elisabeth Jamieson went to James and Ina Hill’s in California to recover from T.B.

Willie Jamieson and Enrid Johnson preached in Damascus. Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester professed. They had a large family. Tharold Sylvester has been in the work for many years in Oregon, California and Washington. Hubert pioneered the work in the Philippine Islands with Howard Ioerger. May Sylvester was in the Philippine Islands in 1946 to 1984. Ernest died when he was 29 leaving two sons, Norman and Bill Sylvester (both professing). Bill and his wife Florence have a Sunday morning meeting in their home in Spokane, Washington. Velma was injured in a fall and died in her middle twenties in October 1927. Caryl Sylvester lives in Bakersfield, California. A brother, Lawrence Sylvester did not ever profess.

Kate Rankin and companion had a mission near Damascus. Marie Massinger professed. She soon moved to Portland to live. She went on to California in 1923 or 1924 and lived there until she married Ira Phillips in 1929. They lived in Trinidad, Colorado until they died in the1970s.

Bill Corcoran and Eddie Cutting established a church in Yoncalla. Among those who professed were Peter and Josephine Thiele (Grandparents of Helen Luginbuhl), Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Crow, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Howard, Mrs. Kinman and daughter Mable. Mrs. Shrull, Mrs. Pettie, Mrs. Baldwin (Dr. Wallace Baldwin’s mother) Mr. Baldwin did not profess until 1923 in Frank Dennison and Hugh Stewarts’ mission near Harrisburg. As long as Mr. Thiele was able, he was the elder of the Yoncalla church. He died August 18, 1918. Some years later, Mrs. Howard died and then Mr. Howard married Mable Kinman. (Source, Helen Luginbuhl)

Walter Smith and Eddie Cornock had a mission in Kelso, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell and their son Walter professed. They moved to Cherry Grove, Oregon and had a church in their home for a few years, then to St. Johns for a short while. They then returned to Washington. (Source, Della Mae Moseler)

Merle married Hilda McQuarris. Walter married Gladys (Evans) Paulson. Harlen married Della McQuarris and Frieda married Victor Gregory.

Bella Reid and Sally Corcoran worked first the mission in Lane County. Clara Winfrey was the only one who accepted the Truth in that mission in Lowell. Later they went six miles above Lowell and had meetings in a school. Mr. Kelsay and Letha decided. They were the first three to profess in Lane County. Mr. Kelsay and Letha went to convention at Mr. Musa’s in December, 1912 at Boring. (Source, LethaKelsay) Letha went into the work December 2, 1920. Her first companion was Ethel Wright.

1913

Bill Corcoran and Charles Brigdon were in Olinda, California where they met the Leen’s, who accepted their message, also Mrs. Hilton (Dan’s mother and Harold Hilton’s grandmother) (Source, Selma Sterling and Alma Davison)

Willie Jamieson and Eddie Cornock had a mission in Dexter. Clara Holbrook,who married Mr. Gooch, decided. The Holbrooks moved to Lowell so Clara Holbrook had to walk the six miles to Sunday morning meeting every week with the Kelsay’s. Willie and Eddie also preached at Trent where Willie Stroud professed. (Source, Letha Kelsay)

Walter Smith and Henry Hanson tried Cornelius but no one responded. (Source, Walter Smith)

Tillie Calhoun and Ida Krueger had a mission in Sherwood. Mr. and Mrs. Knight professed on February 13, 1913, along with Grace Garland, Margaret Knight’s sister. Tillie and Ida preached in Garden Home and DeHaans began. (Source, Ida Krueger)

In the summer of 1913, Willie Jamieson, Charlie Konschak and Elisabeth Jamieson (who was back from California) had a tent mission in Eugene. Hall and Fanny Mattison and Mr. and Mrs. Deal professed.

Eddie Cornock and Henry Hanson had two good missions at Santa Clara and Fir Butte, west of Eugene at the same time as Willie’s mission in Eugene.

1914

Bella Reid and Ida Krueger had a mission in Saginaw. The Adney family and Mrs. Johnston professed. Sunday morning meeting was in the Adney home. B. Johnston started about 1920.

Elisabeth Jamieson and Edith Hanson worked in the Eugene area. Mrs. Hanson, Carl’s mother, Mrs. Deal’s sister, professed. (Not the Carl Hanson of Boring, Oregon)

Bella Reid and Ida Krueger again went to the area above Lowell, and then on to Dorena, where it was that the McLins decided. Richard Meikle came to this area about this time.

Jack Carroll, Bert Middleton and Eddie Cornock had a tent mission in the Albina District of Portland. Mrs. Frank Samways professed. Frank Samways professed some time later. Samways’s had two daughters, Mae and Dorothy. Mae married Rudolph Hanson. Mr. and Mrs. Samways’ had Sunday morning meeting in their home for many years, and an open home for the workers. Mrs. Al Hill also began. She also had two daughters, Lucille (who died in 1919) and Sally, who is Lee Irish’s mother.

I believe Jessie Day also started in this mission, but I am not sure. She worked in Portland and went to Samways’s to meeting for many years. After Jessie retired she returned to Scotland and married a Mr. Rattray.

John Vint went into the work with Wren Silvernail. The Silvernails heard Flo Davison and Grace Douglas in Milltown, Washington in 1909. John Vint had heard Jack Carroll in Seattle in 1912 in a tent mission on the waterfront. After one mission with Wren, John came to the Canby (1914) Convention and was with Eddie Cornock the next year.

Tillie Calhoun had meetings near Mountaindale and Claude McBreen professed but did not continue. Convention was at Canby. There was a workers picture taken. Violet Jamieson then returned to Scotland.

1915

Willie Jamieson was having Gospel meeting in a vacant church building in Scappoose. A congregational minister named Clapp wrote a letter to the Whites denouncing Willie. Mr. Clapp said that he would come and expose Willie. But when he came he only identified him and refused to meet him face to face. Mr. and Mrs. White accepted the Truth. They had a daughter Fern who married Otto Petersen.

Richard Meikle and Enrid Johnson preached in Cloverdale near Creswell. Mr. and Mrs. Minion professed in the spring of 1915. They went to meeting in the Adney home in Saginaw. The McLins and Mrs. Johnston met there too. There were three Minion girls. William Ware married Hazel Minion. Carl Hanson married Edna Minion, and Wallace Baldwin married Wilma Minion. Tillie Calhoun and Edith Hanson were companions.

Eddie Cornock and John Vint were having meetings in Damascus and were with the Sylvester’s. Mrs. Margaret McNair was coming to the meetings. She stopped and no one knew why. Mr. McNair had moved the family to Mt. Scott (Portland area) without giving her a chance to tell anyone they were moving. Eddie and John put up a tent in Mt. Scott and gave out printed invitations. Mrs. McNair found one in her mail box. Margie came home from school and told her mother she had seen two preachers. Mrs. McNair attended all the meetings and professed. Agnes and Ruth McQuarris decided in this mission. It took an hour and half to two hours to go by street car from St. Johns area of Portland to Mt. Scott, but Agnes never missed, she played hymns on the organ in the meeting. Mrs. McNair soon went to the State TB hospital in Salem to be cured of TB. She never had a recurrence of it. Her daughter Elsie professed in Portland in 1917.

John and Eddie had a short mission in Huber or Aloha, and Mr. and Mrs. Grey professed. Mr. Grey died of cancer in the early 1920’s.

On August 14th, John and Eddie put up a tent on Third and Main streets in Hillsboro. Sam Ware and Mr. Ennis attended their first meeting on Sunday evening. They went and told their wives that two college boys were working their way through school by having a ‘Revival’, but they were so young and inexperienced that they forgot to take up a collection. Eddie was 25 and John was 42. Mrs. Ware and Mrs. Ennis went to meeting on Monday night. The workers came to the Park’s door on Tuesday, August 17th with an invitation to the meetings and they went that night. The Park’s never missed a meeting except for ten days when they were out of town. Eddie and John said they hung on to see if they would come again when they returned. The Parks got home on Saturday, and were at the meeting Sunday evening and never missed again.

Eddie and John had meetings six nights a week until November 1 st. Sometime in October they began Sunday morning meeting in the tent at 11:00 am. The people in town went to Sunday school at 10:00 am. Then they hurried to the tent for the meeting at 11:00 am. Mrs. Caroline Lund and her daughter Clara Vickers came for the first time that day. Then Eddie and John took the tent down on November 1 st. John took it to Kusel’s to use it for the dining tent at convention. Eddie continued meetings in the Park’s home on Sunday morning, and Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. He brought Edith Hanson for one Sunday meeting. Mrs. Lund was delighted to know that there were sister workers, so Edith stayed with her. Mr. Lund was opposed to the meetings, so she could not invite the brothers to her home. Eddie left about November 15th for convention preps.

The ones who began in this mission were: Mrs. Same Ware, the mother of William Ware who married Hazel Minion, Mrs. Caroline Lund, Mrs. Clara Vickers, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, Miss Blanche Eades, Mr. and Mrs. Park, sons Fay, Irl and Harvey, daughters Hallie and Ada. Irl and Hallie took their stand at conventions. Fay’s wife Mildred also attended this mission. They are the parents of Hallie Rogers of Bandon, Oregon.

Mrs. Ware and the Park family were the only ones from Hillsboro who got to the 1915 convention. Mrs. Lund’s son Henry was not at home when the mission was worked, but he professed as soon as his mother told him about it and he continued faithful until he died a few years later. After convention, Bella Reid left Oregon and went to South Africa.

1916

After the 1915 convention, Frank Dennison and Eddie Cornock went to Hood River. Mrs. Clough was already professing and living in Hood River. Frank and Eddie had a good mission. There were Mr. and Mrs. Sparks’ daughters, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Monroe, Inez Sparks and Grover and Myra McKee. Mrs. McKee was the Sparks’ daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Malaer, daughter Elsie, son Danny and some others professed. Mrs. Malaer fell at the Special Meetings in St. Johns in 1917 and injured herself and she died soon afterward. Willie Smiley had the funeral. Inez Sparks lived in Portland for a few years then went to California for a while. She died quite young in the middle 1920’s. Frank Dennison left Hood River and Carl Wren joined Eddie Cornock there.

John Vint joined Richard Meikle and they had an open air mission in Waterville, near Eugene, Oregon. They also had a mission at Vida. Dale Rucker professed in their meetings. She soon moved to Portland and worked there for many years. She had meetings in her home after she retired. She wrote many of the workers in foreign lands. And she died in Portland after a long and useful life.

Tillie Calhoun and Agnes Murray were companions. They came to Hillsboro one Sunday morning meeting in July. Agnes returned to Minnesota after the 1916 convention. She was not able to continue in the work because of illness. She moved to Pasadena, California to work and died there after a faithful life.

There was a baptism in Mountaindale at Maxwells on May 14th. Eddie Cornock, Carl Wren, Elisabeth Jamieson and Annie Maxwell were the workers. Mr. and Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Caroline Lund, Mrs. Clara Vickers, Mrs. Ware, Miss Blanche Eades, Agnes McQuarris, Nanny Cole (she married a Mr. Henderson), Mr. and Mrs. Park, Irl, Harvey, Hallie and Ada Park were baptized. There may have been more.

At a Special Meeting in Portland on July 4 th, Frank Dennison, Tillie Calhoun and Annie Maxwell were the only workers present. All the Special Meetings in Oregon were held on July 4th that year.

1916-1917

Elisabeth Jamieson and Elizabeth Anderson, (Elizabeth Anderson went into the work from the 1916 convention) went to Hood River. Mr. and Mrs. Barclay Henderson, who returned from Scotland, heard the girls and professed.

They soon moved to Forest Grove, Oregon and Mr. Henderson went to work for they Ray-Maling cannery in Hillsboro. He was instrumental in building the company from a small cannery to a very large and prosperous company. Anna Koekenke and Abraham Hagar were married in their home on October 14, 1931. After Mr. Henderson retired from Ray-Maling Company, he and his wife went to Scotland.

Willie Smiley and Bill Bailey went to Cherry Grove and had a good mission. Mrs. Callahan, daughter Florence (who married Mr. Ing), son Charles, sister-in-law Mrs. Hess, and maybe others who heard the Gospel at that time met in the Mitchell home when they lived in Cherry Grove. Mitchell’s moved to St. John’s for a few years, and then they returned. Willie was asked to take a funeral in Huber or Aloha and as he had no means of transportation, he walked from Cherry Grove to Aloha or Huber. Willie and Bill had a tent mission in St. Johns in the late summer. Gladys (Evans) Paulson, the mother of Della Mae Moseler, had decided.

Frank Dennison and Henry Hanson went to Coos Bay, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks professed, and they soon moved to California and lived there the rest of their lives. All the children professed (dates unknown). Milton Sparks married Ruby Ayres. They have a son in the work, Glenn Sparks in Montana. Milton and Ruby Sparks lived for years in Albany, Oregon. Florence Sparks married Ed Hernstedt. They had convention on their place at Los Gatos for years. Their granddaughter Marilyn Denio went in the work. Helen Sparks married Dexter Jinks (Dale Jinks parents), Birdie Sparks married Mr. Easley. They are Dena Easley’s parents. Dates in this paragraph are unknown.

1917

No Convention due to WWI Restrictions
Had one day Special Meetings at the Canby Hall

1918

No Convention – due to WWI Restrictions
One Day Meetings, at Salem Heights Fairgrounds

1919

Meetings in a tent – Dining in a Hall – Canby, Oregon

1920

Meetings in a tent – Dining in a Hall – Canby, Oregon

1921

Convention was held in Saginaw, Oregon at Bart and Lola Johnson’s place.

1922

This was the first year that there were two conventions in Oregon. In Roy, Oregon, convention was at Matt and Hattie King's place. In Saginaw, convention was at Bart and Lola Johnsons’.

1923 Convention at Matt and Hattie King ’s place in Roy, Oregon
1923 Convention at Bart and Lola Johnson’s place in Saginaw, Oregon

1924 Convention at Matt and Hattie King’s place in Roy, Oregon
1924 Convention at Bart and Lola Johnson’s place in Saginaw, Oregon

1925 First time Convention at Carl and Mary Hanson’s place in Boring, Oregon
1925 Also convention at Bart and Lola Johnson’s place in Saginaw, Oregon

This was originally compiled by Ada Park in 1985.
Then this information was retyped, revised and added to by Helen Luginbuhl in 1991.

This was added on June 11, 1997 by M. Meyer:

April, 1918, Elizabeth Anderson and Ida Krueger had Gospel meetings in the Harrisburg area. Glen and Anna Davis lived on the Lake Creek place at the time. Glen Jr. would have been a baby at the time the Davis’s made their choice on April 21, 1918. Glen was born September, 1917. Harry Lee was born September 1915. Jim and Callie Burns had made their choice sometime before this. We have letters written by Ida and Elizabeth to the folks before, and just after they made their choice.

It is my understanding that the school house where the meetings were held in, was just across the road from the folks Lake Creek place home. Dad would hurry his milking on meeting nights, so that he wouldn’t miss any of the meetings. They called Elizabeth Anderson “Betty”, because before going with Ida Krueger, Elizabeth Anderson had been with Elisabeth Jamieson. With the two named Elisabeth and Elizabeth, it was confusing. A Special Meeting was held where Jack Carroll and Eddie Cornock spoke. This was the time that Glen and Anna Davis made their choice. They had ridden with Jim Burns to the meeting. (Glen and Anna Davis were the parents of Betty Davis who is married to Bob Meyer, parents of Ralph Meyer)

This complete account was edited (corrected spelling of names) and retyped again by Lorraine Hanson in 2012.

Oregon Convention Dates: