>From Amos Cook Files in Yamhill Co., OR (No date) Official notification has been received from the Director of the National Park Service that the Amos Cook house just south of Lafayette was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974. The house has been on the Historic American Buildings Survey since the 1930s. At that time eight Yamhill County structures were included in the survey. Of the eight, four are still standing. A recent check with the State Highway Department showed that the Cook house is, at presence, the first and only entry from Yamhill County on the National Register. However, at least two of the other structures on the Historic Building Survey from Yamhill County are likely candidates and may have been added by now. The house was build by Amos Cook in 1853 for his bride, Mary Frances Scott, whom he married in August of that year. It is now one of the oldest structures still in existence in the county. But the age of the house is not the only reason it has been entered in the National Register. The historic impact of the lives of the people who lived in it is also a significant factor. Amos Cook was a member of the famous Peoria Party – the first group of men to come overland to the Pacific Northwest with the express purpose of becoming settlers in the Oregon Country. Those who had gone before had gone as fur hunters and traders or with mission groups. Born in Maine in 1816, Cook left home when a young man and started westward, settling for a short time in Peoria, Illinois. In the fall of 1838, he heard Jason Lee speak in one of the local churches. Lee, who had gone to Oregon as a missionary in 1834, was on his first trip back to the East and was on his way to New York, hoping to raise more funds and recruits for his Oregon Mission. With Lee were two Calapooya Indian boys and the three metis sons of Thomas McKay, a renowned Hudson Bay man and the step-son of Dr. McLoughlin. Lee and his boys created quite a stir as they came onto the platform single file with Lee at their head. While Jason Lee was in Peoria, one of the Indian boys became ill and had to be left behind. As it turned out, the boy was a one man Chamber of Commerce for the Oregon Country. The young men of the town often gathered at one of the wagon shops, and after Indian Tom had recovered from his illness, he frequently gathered at the shop with the rest. Although his English was limited, he managed to get across to his new friends the size and abundance of salmon and of other resources in the Northwest. When spring came, the Indian boy moved on to meet Jason Lee in New York and the young men of the wagon shop crowd moved on to Oregon. Fifteen young men left the courthouse steps of Peoria on May 1, 1839, calling themselves the Oregon Dragoons, carrying a flag on which was the motto, "Oregon or the Grave," and vowing never to desert each other. Included in the group were three future citizens of Yamhill County – Amos Cook, Francis Fletcher and Sidney Smith. By the time the group left Missouri, three more men had been added to the Dragoons. Dissension hit their ranks almost immediately, and from then on they forgot the vow they had so solemnly made on the courthouse steps. Several men returned to Peoria, some turned off to Santa Fe, and the rest split into two groups. Part of those who continued on to Oregon arrived there in the fall of 1839; the rest wintered in the Rockies. Amos Cook and his friend, Francis Fletcher, were in the group who spent the winter at Fort Davy Crockett (also known as Fort Misery by the local fur trade) in Brown’s Hole in the extreme northeastern corner of Colorado. Fort Davy Crockett was owned by three mountain men, one of whom, Phillip Thompson, would eventually settle in Yamhill County. The group left Brown’s Hole late in February, accompanied by at least four of the trappers – Robert Newell, William Doughty, Jack Larrison, and Joseph Meek. William Doughty and Jack Larrison would also find their way to Yamhill Country, settling here in the early 1840s. It usually took about twelve days to make the trip from Brown’s Hole to Fort Hall, but late snows hindered them so much that it took almost two months to reach the fort. Their supplies ran out and the only thing that saved them from complete starvation was Madam Newell’s dog. >From Fort Hall, the last remnant of the Peoria Party found its way to The Dalles and on June 1, 1840, arrived at Ft. Vancouver – the same day that the ship Lausanne docked at the fort, bringing Jason Lee back to Oregon. Of the eighteen men who had left Missouri in the spring of 1839, nine arrived in Oregon and only six of these became permanent settlers. Of the six, three settled in Yamhill County. The homes that these three built are still standing, seemingly as enduring as was their perseverance in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles. After a short stay at Ft. Vancouver, Cook and Fletcher traveled down the Willamette Valley going by way of the Tualatin Plains and the Yamhill Falls, until they reached the farm of David Leslie and James O’Neil on the west bank of the Willamette River, opposite the Lee Mission (Wheatland). Here they camped for the summer, working for James O’Neil and spending their spare time looking over the valley for a place to settle. At that time there were only seven or eight farms on the west side of the whole Willamette Valley, and all of these were owned by men who had been in the fur trade. By fall, they had chosen the spot on which they wanted to settle. It was on the south side of the Yamhill Falls and on the Great Overland Trail of the Indians and fur trappers which extended from Sauvies Island to the California border. Six years later, the town of Lafayette would be laid off on the north side of the Falls, across the Yamhill River from the Cook-Fletcher claim. Their first cabin was built on the site of the present old Fletcher house, about a mile south of Lafayette on the Lafayette-Hopewell Road. Apparently the original cabin was incorporated into the present building which was built in the latter 1850s. The Fletcher house was also on the American Historic Buildings Survey and is now owned and lived in by the John Albertsons. Cook and Fletcher farmed in partnership for several years. Both took an active part in the founding of the Provisional Government at Champoeg. In July 1843, Amos was elected the first constable of the Yamhill district. On January 1, 1847, Fletcher and Cook discontinued their farm partnership, and for a time, Amos left the farm. He worked in Oregon City and then went into business at Lafayette, which was rapidly becoming a boom town because of the gold rush and the town’s position on the Overland Trail. He owned a store and built a hotel which he named The Temperance House. When the Donation Land Law was passed in 1850, Amos made a deal with Fletcher to buy back part of their original claim. Amos got the 320 acres just across the river from the village of Lafayette. In the fall of 1852, Cook hired a newly-arrived emigrant family by the name of Scott to run The Temperance House for him. John Tucker Scott had lost his wife on the way to Oregon and had been left with a family of eight children, mostly girls, ranging in age from six to nineteen years. Less than a year later, Amos married the eldest daughter, Mary Frances, known to her family as Fannie. Sometime that year the house on the farm was built. A biography of Amos Cook that appeared in Gaston’s PORTLAND, ITS HISTORY & BUILDERS, published in 1912, says about the house, "He (Amos) accordingly built on his place one of the best homes in the state at that time, much of the lumber being shipped around the Horn." Actually, most of the lumber must have come from nearby sawmills, but the windows, hardware and possibly some of the finishing lumber probably came around the Horn. When Amos Cook married Fannie Scott, he married into a family which was to be come one of the most influential in Oregon. The old house stands as a monument to Fannie and her family, as well as to Amos and his enterprise. John Tucker Scott left Lafayette in 1854. Fannie kept her youngest sister, Sarah, and raised her along with her own family. While the family was still in Lafayette, Fannie’s sister, Abigail Jane, married Benjamin Duniway. Mrs. Duniway pioneered the field of woman suffrage and became the most outstanding woman that Oregon has produced. Fannie’s brother, Harvey W. Scott, spent the summer in 1856 working for Amos on the farm, so that he might have enough money to attend Pacific University at Forest Grove. Harvey Scott became the editor of the Portland Oregonian and was one of the best known and influential newspaper editors of his day. Two of the other girls were also active in newspaper work in Portland. Catharine edited the Portland Daily Bee in 1878 and 79. In 1879, she became the editor of the Portland Evening Telegram, and, after seven years in that position, she joined the editorial staff of the Oregonian, where she remained for many years. The sister, Sarah, did special writing for the Oregonian in her later years. Amos Cook died in the old house in 1895. However, the farm was not sold until about ten years later. Fannie died in Portland in 1930 at the age of 97. The house is now over 120 years old and is still being lived in. It is on the property of Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Stoller and has been owned by them for 25 years. When the Stollers purchased the property, they were not told that the house was part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, and it has only been in the last seven or eight years that they have been aware of the age and history of the house. Since then no structural changes have been made, and hopefully, some day it can be restored to its original imposing state. There is a real need in Yamhill County to point out the remaining old houses and to be sure that these houses are designated in some way so that present and future owners will be aware of what they have. A study of this kind should be incorporated into the findings of the County Planning Board. (end of article) [email protected] or [email protected] ><> God bless America! <><