Tag: Coos County
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Whiskey Run FAN Club: Andrew Hubert
Genealogists often create a FAN club to learn more about their ancestors: that is, they learn about the Friends, Associates, and Neighbors who interacted with their ancestors.1 In my research on Randolph, I am creating a FAN club of men named in stories about Randolph at Whiskey Run. Membership in this club requires a direct…
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Groslouis Whereabouts
Most historical accounts of Randolph name two Groslouis brothers in the party that discovered gold at Whiskey Run. Different accounts, though, name different brothers. Inspired by how earlier researchers were able to incorporate the Groslouis surname into Randolph history, I wanted to try to clarify which of the brothers were in the discovery party. Since…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 3
After a century of omission, how were the Groslouis brothers finally identified as the discoverers of gold at Whiskey Run? Although hints existed in the historical record (Part 2), the identity of the brothers remained enigmatic. That changed, though, with the publication of two stories that mentioned the brothers. One described the brothers but surprisingly…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 2
Between 1879 and 1919, two sets of clues hinted at the identity of the men who discovered gold on the beach at Whiskey Run: The Groslouis brothers. First Set of Clues: Ethnic Identity Please note that I cite the term “half-breed” below only because it appeared in the early histories, reflecting the thinking of early…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 1
First person accounts served as primary sources for writing the history of Randolph at Whiskey Run. These accounts arose from a chaotic social setting where men focused on obtaining wealth and surviving harsh working and living conditions instead of creating a written record of events. Although it took 120 years, historians finally credited the Groslouis…
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Whiskey Run Geology
Is it possible that gold wasn’t found at Whiskey Run until the early 1850s because it wasn’t there? While writing Whiskey Run Gold Nearly Missed!, I wondered how early travelers could have missed the gold on the beach. I imagined a variety of possibilities: While unrecorded human thoughts and behavior are lost to time, the…
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Whiskey Run Gold Nearly Missed!
What if there had been no gold rush to the beach at Whiskey Run in 1853? Would a mining camp town have been established there? Would Randolph have become a local place name? As described previously (It Began at Whiskey Run), eighteen months after the news spread that gold had been found near the mouth…
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Blessed are the Children
Before resuming my dialogue with Randolph’s history, I have updates on two cemetery burials discussed earlier: Mary Hutchinson and Paul Lane. Mary L Hutchinson/McCue When I originally wrote about Mary (Grave Stories, Part 6), I only knew that she had died in March 1869. Recently, though, thumbing through the Catholic Church Register for the Roseburg…
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Pat Dunwoodie Berry Remembers Randolph
How does place figure into your favorite memories? Pat Dunwoodie Berry fondly remembers her childhood in Randolph. Sincere thanks to Pat and her son, Mike, for sharing her memories at this year’s Randolph Club Picnic. Farm Pat lived in the Randolph area when her father owned a dairy farm situated on the north bank of…
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Panning for Gold at Whiskey Run in 2023
While reading about the history of Randolph, I began to wonder about the accuracy of my childhood memories of Whiskey Run Creek. My sister and I would hunt for agates alongside our parents and grandparents, wade in the water, and investigate whatever had washed up on the beach, usually seaweed. I returned to the creek…