Digital Exhibits

Duffy Hamilton oral history interview

An audio recording of an oral history of Duffy Hamilton taken in Newberg, OR. Hamilton starts by sharing that her ancestors were pioneers who settled in the Tualatin area. She mentions various family names, including Cumin, Shaver, Otterstrom, and many others. Most were people that came to Oregon and established businesses in the Tualatin area. She mentions that her mother's father was adopted by French parents and that West Woodburn was a majority French area at the time. Some of her ancestors came to Oregon to take donation land claims. She mentions memories of a family member who had tuberculosis and noticing the use of isolation as treatment for this relative. At about 6:30, she mentions having 17 direct ancestors who came through the Oregon Trail and settled in the Tualatin area. At about minute 7:40 she begins to mention some of the names of these relatives, where they came from and about their journey to Oregon. She mentions her experience as a young girl during the Great Depression, as well as living through two floods, the first being around 1937. She has fond memories of the legendary 'Old Hing', who was a Chinese immigrant that worked in the railroads and stayed in the area, and shared an incredible story about him. She remembers the Oregon Electric being the main mode of transportation to get to Portland and that bus service arrived around 1938. She went to Tigard High School, started off going to Linfield College and graduated from Portland State University in 1942. She also briefly lived with her father in Aberdeen, WA. At minute 31:00 she mentions a gravesite that is now deteriorated by the junction at Wilsonville road and Ladd Hill road in Sherwood. At about minute 39:00 she shares about her two marriages as well as speaking of her current descendants (children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren) and where they are living now. At about minute 44:00 she begins to mention the names of people from the Tualatin area that were killed in WWII and the names of a few veterans that are no longer living. She then shares a funny story that explains why the streets of downtown Salem are so wide today at minute 48:30 and then proceeds to explain why some pioneers decided to head west. She also mentions that one of the pioneer families, The Shavers, were originally Haitian Germans that came to fight in the American revolution. At minute 52:00 she mentions a family that were early fur-traders and how one of their descendants has now conducted research on the French connection, which has resulted in a museum that's in France. She touches on the floods again starting at minute 55:30, and at 1:07 she talks some more about the pioneers. At 1:17 she mentions seeing Blank Angus cattle by Washington Square when she used to live on Scholls Ferry road. She end the interview by sharing a spunky story of how she hit her principal with a baseball and reminisces on a couple of 'town characters' that she remembers from her childhood. There is an index for this interview.

Hamilton, Duffy

Washington County (Or.) -- History

Hamilton, Duffy

Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon

Washington County (Or.)

Tualatin (Or.)

1 sound file (1 hr., 29 min.)

English

THS_OH_69

In Copyright

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Tualatin Valley Historical Society

Leslie, Mary

MP3

Sound