This is the EMail exchanged between me and Larry and Glenda Bradshaw regarding Socrates H Tryon. I am posting it as general information. This is actually Part 1 of several parts. Dan Brevik ********************************************************************************* 1 Subject: Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon family Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 16:19:55 -0600 From: "Dr. Bradshaw" <llbradsh@iastate.edu> Organization: Iowa State University To: dbrevik@ix.netcom.com S.H. Tryon was the first medical doctor in Linn County, Iowa approximately 1838. He served on the second Iowa constitution convention representing Linn and Benton counties. He served as the district clerk of court for about three years. He was in Hawaii for recovery in 1844, we hold photocopies of letters in 1844. After his recovery he and his father and several brothers went on the Oregon trail to the gold rush. There is a state park in Portland, Oregon on his original land claim named Tryon state park. We have photocopies of several of his letters home, written on his way to Oregon and California, . My line descended through his brother Jesse, who returned to Iowa and farmed in Benton County Iowa before 1900. We also have a history of his brother Dennis who ended up in south west Oregon and North west California. Larry L Bradshaw Glenda S Bradshaw gsbradshaw@aol.com ****************************************************************************** 2 Subject: Re: Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon family Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 20:31:15 -0500 From: Dennis J Brevik <dbrevik@ix.netcom.com> To: llbradsh@iastate.edu References: 1 This is wonderful! I have known of the Jesse Tryon family of Rutland, VT, for some time now but never could get a good handle on them as they traveled westward. And the Tryon state park in Portland has also been known to me. You said that Dennis Tryon removed to SW Oregon and NW Californaia- I suppose that clears up the mystery as to how various landmarks took on the Tryon name in NW-most California. I would love to get this information if you are willing to share it. There is quite a pile of census records I could weave into it, and we may be able to clear up a mystery or two about some men I suspect were old Jesse's children. My intention would be to post it in the Tryon Union web site so that other researchers can tie into it. We have quite a few Tryon genalogists working on various branches on the family. But so far no one person has showed up who is working on the RUTLAND branch. Are you genealogists? I am anxious to correspond further with you. What can I do for you??? Are you aware of the ancestry of the Rutland Jesse? That goes back quite a distance. Dan Brevik Marlboro, MA ********************************************************************************* 3 Subject: Tryon (Rutland) Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 08:27:33 -0600 From: Larry Bradshaw <llbradsh@iastate.edu> To: dbrevik@ix.netcom.com I was pleased to have such a speedy return from you. I had stumbled on to the Tryon Union website and was pleased to see the little paragraph about Jesse. We will be glad to share with you, do you have a fax machine? We can scan and send the original handwriting of the letters and I have transcribed them and can send those files. (a few places I cannot read) Mary Tryon in Oregon who sent them to us said she knows the letters by memory and will probably help us with some of those details. A book about Oregon from the Iowa State U library has a little about Socrates and his son S.H. It is in error as it states Socrates came via Panama. This probably was his wife Frances and "little" Socrates. Frances was pregnant at the time. It appears she left from the east coast via steamer to Panama, took sailboat about 2/3 across Panama, then went by mule to the west coast, picked up a mail steamer to San Francisco. Glenda and I are planning to go to Oregon and NW California to visit the areas and our distant relatives. We lost account of my great grandfather Oscar Rush, but uncovered his death certificate at Drummond, Montana so want to see what we can find there. My grandfather was a Chrisman, he worked in lumbering in Washington in his early years and we believe he has family there. My own father left my mother seven weeks before I was born, and as a result I know nothing about Bradshaw's. Mother's family didn't want anyone to know about their background so all we know has come in the past 3 months. Once again, thanks for your encouragement. Larry L. Bradshaw Glenda, my wife has a very proud family tradition from the Mayflower. Mullens, Alden, and Doty on her father's side. She has complete work done on her mother's side Doty, Doten back to East Germany. This has been making American history come alive for us. ********************************************************************************** 4 Subject: Tryon Info Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 09:30:23 EST From: Gsbradshaw <Gsbradshaw@aol.com> To: dbrevik@ix.netcom.com Dear Dan, You are speaking to Larry’s wife now. We just got your email and really enjoyed it. Before I get into the Tryon line, you asked if we are genealogists. I don’t know how you define that!! I see you are from Marlboro, MA, and my line of the family comes from your fine state....I date back to John and Pricilla Mullen Alden and Edward Doty of the Mayflower. I did a book on that side of the family several years ago and since then would piece in sections here and there as I would fit it into a busy schedule. We have two daughters and husbands living in the Chicago area and have used the Newberry Library there. Then over spring break we went to Independence, MO, library which has all the census records. But we don’t know if we qualify for your definition of genealogists. Larry has known very little of his family background until this past fall when I began searching and now he has really gotten involved. We have found a distant-distant cousin who also came through the Jesse of Rutland Co., VT, and she sent us the copies of the letters from Socrates H. Tryon and other things that I will explain as I proceed with what we know about the family. There are four Jesse Tryons in our line so I call them by I, II, III & IV to help keep them straight. I Generation Jesse (I) was born 1756 in Glastonbury, CT and died April 24, 1821 in NY, buried in Pawlet, VT. He was married to Jemima Goodrich September 26, 1786. Jemima’s mother, was also Tryon -- Penelope Tryon, daughter of Noah Tryon & Penelope Hollister. Noah was the son of David Tryon and Hannah Waddams. David was the son of William Tryon, the immigrant ancestor.. We don’t know who Jesse (I)’s parents were. I think that Jesse moved to VT shortly after the Revolutionary War. The kids may not be listed in order of birth: 1. Jesse (II) 2. Dennis - “Pawlet VT for 100 Years” stated he was the only one who stayed in the VT area 3. David Tryon - “Pawlet VT for 100 Years” stated he removed to Texas 4. Jonathan Tryon 5. Mary Tryon 6. Salley Tryon. m. Samuel Smith - “Pawlet VT for 100 Years” stated they moved to Burk, NY 7. Penelope Tryon 8. Nancy Tryon. II. Generation Jesse (II) born 1790 in VT and died 2/9/1850 @ Lake Oswego, buried Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland, OR Married Laura Hotchkiss, daughter of Dr. Socrates Hotchkiss and Bethiah Lathrop (both families going back to early CT history). They moved to Iowa somewhere between 1840 & 1841 (they were in VT 1840 census and their son John was born in 1841 in IA). They bought land in Linn Co, IA in about 1842. In 1849 Jesse II with his sons Socrates, Dorlan, Jesse (III) and maybe Ephriam went went to OR and he died shortly after he arrived there. Laura remained in Iowa until in the late 1860s or 1870 when she went to CA and lived with her son Dennis, who was twice widowed. She died there 2/4/1874 and is buried in the Smith River Cemetery (the very northwest corner of CA).II 1. Socrates Hotchkiss 2. Johnathan G. b 11/3/1817, d. 1/18/1839 Blossom Cem, VT 3. Sally Eliza 4. Dennis Tryon 5. Ephriam Goodrich - 1/14/1824 in VT; died in CA 6. Dorlan Tryon 7. Jesse (III) 8. Cornelia 9. George 10. Frances b 1837 VT; died 3/14/1838 Pawlet, VT 11. Frances , b 1840,, vt, died apr 1863, IA 12. John , b 1841 in IA III Generation Socrates Hotchkiss was born 1/24/1816 in Pawlet, VT and died in 5/15/1855 is Oswego, OR and is buried in the same cemeteray as his father. He married Frances Safley, daughter of John Safley and Agnes Hunter. She was born in Scotland but her parents lived in IL, I think. He was a medical doctor, was the first physician in Linn Co, IA, arriving there in abt 1838. They had 8 children, only the last 2 survived to adulthood. He went back east, leaving Frances in Iowa, sailed down around the tip of South American and lived in Hiwaii for a year because of illness and came back to Iowa about in 1844. He was delegate to the constitutional convention when the Iowa Constitution was adopted in 1846. He went west. This distant relative in OR sent us copies of letters he wrote to his wife during the time he was in Hawaii and again when the men left for the west. She also sent an article written from what his son said . We’ll try to send thse another time. 1. Socarates Jr. - born in1846 in Iowa, buried in Portland, OR 2. Salley Isabelle Tryon - also buried in OR Sally married a Daniel Peet first in IA and apparently he died and she married a James Safley and from what I can tell he was probably a brother to Socrates’s wife. They lived in Tipton, IA, but don’t know if that is where they were lived at death or not. Dennis went west with the men in 1849, was already married to Hulda Clark and she joined him within a year or two. He settled in Smith River, CA....after being under seige of the Indians....will send you an article a grandson wrote about those early years. The distant counsin we have come in contact with is through this line. He was apparently a very successful business man/farmer. Ephriam went west and the article about Dennis told how they finally got together there in CA after long years of not knowing where Ephriam was. He worked in the gold mines and apparently never married. (When Larry read this over, he said that he saw somethings in Independence that indicated that he may have been married a couple times and had children but couldn't confirm it was the same Ephriam.) He died gold mining in CA. Dorlan went west with the “men” and he settled in Oregon and worked with Socrates before he died. Dorlan married a Jane Napier from Crescent City CA and was living in Astoria, OR when he died in 1908. Both he & his wife are buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland. I haven’t seen any listing of children. George lived in Benton Co and then back in Linn Co, IA, but we don’t know where he might have gone after that. John was in the census in Linn Co in 1870 but apparently died shortly after that from what the article about Dennis tells. He was in CA during the Civil War. IV Generation Jesse (III), b 10/7/1827 Pawlet, VT, came to Iowa with his parents and he went with his father & brothers to OR. He worked the gold mines for a time but returned to Iowa and married Mary “Liva” Crow in 1854. They were liviing in Linn Co in the 1860 census but moved to Benton Co shortly after that. They were still there in the 1880 census but we don’t know where they went after that. We have a copy of a picture that Larry’s mother said on the orginal that she had died in WA state at the age of 92 whould would be about 1924...but we didn’t find her in census records (By the way, are soundex records accurate??). 1. Jesse (IV) - was listed as 5 years old in the 1860 census but not listed in the 1870 census. We don’t know if he died or coudl have gone west with other people. 2. Mary E. 3. Martha......married a Marietta and moved to Kansas. V. Generation Mary Tryon, b abt 1856 in Linn Co, IA, died February 13, 1947 Marshalltown, IA. She married an Oscar Rush, who we think was killed in Drummond, MT in 1887. She later in life married a Daniel Wean who had been int he Civil War and she lived her last several years at the Soldier’s home in Marshalltown. Two children died young --Charles & Arling, Jesse Rush died at about 20 of diptheria as did another daughter Olivia. Mazie was the only one who lived to adulhood & married. Mazie VI. Mazie Rush b. 4/3/1883 married Will Chrisman 1. Victor 2. Dorothy 3. Merth 4. Enid 5. Arza 6 Beulah 7. Leo VII. Arza Chrisman married J. Donald Bradshaw (div.) 1. Leeta 2. Larry This is a rough overview of the family as we have put it down. I’m not sure that I want you to post it quite yet...don’t know how many errors there may be in it. What is the address of the Tryon Union web site? Our assumption is that you are a Tryon descendent. Is that correct? I guess if you could help us fill in the ancesory of Jesse (I) back in CT, we would appreciate that and then what really has us puzzled is where Jesse (III) and his wife Mary "Liva" ended up. I went through the 1900 & 1920 soundex of Washington and didn't find them in it nor in Oregon. That is why I question if they are accurate as we think that Mary died in 1924 and she probably had lived them quite a few years. We are planning a trip to the NW this summer and are going to try and find some more of the information. We are also going to try to find some information about Oscar Rush's death, etc. We are wondering if Jesse III and Oscar (would be a son-in-law) could have been going west together. We also haven't had time to look into "Liva's" side of the family....the Crows....to see if they ended up in Washington and Lliva might have gone to live with some of them. Also another thread we're trying to fit in is that Larry's mother said that her father, Will Chrisman, went to Washington and worked in the lumber industry before he married...into the Tryon family. But from cencus records, we think that the Chrismans and the Tryons may have known each other as George in the 1880 census was living in Otter Creek Township....that is where the Chrisman's settled. George had lived at one time in Benton Co....and maybe that is how Will met Mazie who grew up in Benton Co....was through George's family (her uncle). There was some strife in Larry's family and not much communication between his mother, her mother (Mazie) and her grandmother, Mary Tryon Rush Wean. She only saw her grandmother a few times and the last time was when she was in high school and it was a negative experience. So other than finding out some names and tidbits she could give us, we have had to go to other sources. Iowa has a fairly good historical library in Des Moines. Larry teaches at Iowa State University and they have quite a few county history books, etc., that we have gotten info from. I've spent at afternoon at Benton Co Courthouse & Library. We want to spend more time in Linn Co, at the court house and library there. That is where Larry was raised. It has been great how fast and furious the information has come....but it is also hard to keep it sorted out and filed!! I will try in a day or two to send the articles about Socrates and Dennis....but I operate a home based business and have some deadlines to make today so won't do any more than this for now. Again, we really were excited to get your message. Sincerely Glenda Bradshaw Ames, Iowa P.S. It would probably be best to send your replies to our personal email - gsbradshaw@aol.com rather than through the university but either way is ok. ****************************************************************************** END OF PART ONE OF THE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE