Cornelius

f J 1893 CORNELIUS OREGON 1993 It wasn& 39;t Cornelius at the start, but Benjamin Q. Tucker& 39;s land claim on which he settled in 1845. His claim joined the Catching claim on the west, McLean claim on the east, Solomon Emerick claim on the south and the H.H. Hendricks claim on the north. There may have been some sort of trail across this place as people traveled east to west between Hillsboro and Forest Grove locations. In 1852 the County Surveyor, Israel Mitchell, was directed to survey a road from "a tree from the edge of Hillsboro up the valley to the Yamhill County line". It was the County& 39;s second road and was accepted as such September 7, 1852. It was not much of a thoroughfare, but it directed traffic. Mr. Tucker disposed part of his holdings to Mr. Haines, who in turn sold to Mr. Montgomery, who sold to William Halsey and his wife. Part of this land they called Free Orchards from the number of fruit trees already there; the portion just east of Forest Grove was known as Fruit Vale. So history of Cornelius began before the date of incorporation. The settlers were out numbered by the red man five to one. It was not uncommon to have bear or deer within a few yards of the pale faces homes and often the scream of a panther frightened the children. The first flour mill was at Oregon City which took three or four days to reach. Usually the settler would return home with a two bushel sack of wheat which the family would try to stretch over a six month period; diet consisted of wheat, milk and game. Fire was still a problem... matches were prized above gold. If there were no hot coals it would be necessary to secure some from a neighbor probably over a mile away. One of the first common interests of the settlers was schooling for their children. In 1851 the first districts in Washington County were established by Rev. Horace Lyman, a Congregational minister, teacher at Pacific University and our first County School Commissioner. West Union was the first district established "and Cornelius was number two. These districts were very large; the Cornelius district included much of what is now Forest Grove. The eastern boundary was Dairy Creek. Mr. Lyman received $50. per month salary. The first schoolhouse was a small log affair on the banks of the Tualatin River. Sol Emerick gave use of the land and logs for the building. A log house 12 x 14 ft., there were strips of muslin greased with lard pasted over the holes cut as windows. Seats were of split logs..there were no desks. Charity Marsh was the first teacher. In the 1860& 39;s another log schoolhouse was built near the county road on land purchased from Dan Phillips who had bought the western half of the McLean land claim. There was a stipulation in the deed that "should the land cease to be used for school purposes" it was to revert to the grantor of the deed. This building served as a school for a number of years, and the first Sunday School was organized there by Joseph Hoberg, a circuit riding Methodist minister assigned to Hillsboro, Farmington, Cornelius, Columbia Academy and Tualatin Academy in Forest Grove. This log building burned one night and Mr. Phillips reclaimed the land. In 1877 a tract of land 250 square feet was purchased from the Halseys and a three room building was built where the present Cornelius Elementary is located. Travel remained extremely difficult and word that a railroad might come west brought hope to the small communities. In 1871 Mr Holladay was forcing the railroad up from Portland and by the end of 1871 the line had reached Free Orchards. Ben was head of the East Side Company (East Side and West Side Railroads..so called for their locations relative to the Willamette River) vieing for favors from Oregon Legislature. In a campaign regarded as an Oregon lobbying landmark, Holliday bought a riverboat and turned it into a private yacht to fete lawmakers. A very wealthy and influential man, Ben had a way of discovering