This year, my husband, Dave, and I decided to see if our 1885, Jacob Clearwater farmhouse would qualify for the U. S. Registry of Historic Places. The first step was to become accepted by the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (SACHP). Dave did the research, including interviews with the living Clearwater family members. One 98-year old Clearwater man said our house was not built in 1885, it was built in 1874!
We continued digging, deep into the history of the Oregon Territory in the 1800s. It was as interesting as it was arduous. The Clearwaters family, Martin and Elizabeth, and their two sons, Jacob and James, left from Benner, Missouri, and joined a 100 wagon train. The train traveled The Old Oregon Trail, a 2,100 mile trek that took 6 months to complete. The Clearwaters arrived in Oregon one year before the Civil Was officially ended. Martin purchased the 320-acre F. Warrington Land Grant. And somewhere in this time, they dropped the ‘s’ from the end of their name, and simiply became the Clearwater family.
When Jacob was 26 years old, he purchased half of his father’s farm for $375. In 1885 he build his beautiful home. Then in 1892 he purchased an additional 75 acres for $1.00. Jacob built his two-story Gothic Revival farmhouse and moved in. In 1886 Jacob married Miss Missouri Benner, and they had four children.
Jacob was a well liked, properous farmer, who raised a variety of crops including hops and root vegetables.
Missouri preceded Jacob in death, and Jacob lived to 101 years, then he died in his house. To this day the photographs of the family still hang on the walls of what is now, my home.