Emma's Graduation

Gold Creek (above and below)

Nathaniel Alexander Newbill Sr. and William Leftwich Newbill's donation land claim homestead site on Gold Creek (above and below)

This morning, after dropping the twins off at school, I took mom to Dallas and the Assessor's Office where we asked some questions about donation land claims in Polk County trying to find exactly where Nathaniel Newbill Sr had his claim.  I was able to find the section, but nothing more.  And sure enough, the City was able to pull up the old land claim maps and show us what parcels he had.  Nathaniel had parcels in 6s7w21 parcels 2 and 3 and his son, William, was right next door in 6s7w22 parcel 4.  Turns out these homesteads were on Gold Creek and not Salt Creek as some other documentation had shown.  Anyway, I was able to drive right to the center of the property and we got out and took some pictures.  Obviously nothing remains of the original homestead (that we could see).

Union Baptist Church and Harmony Cemetery (above) where Martha Francis Bolejack Newbill and William Leftwich Newbill are buried (below)

After the Homestead, we drove to Harmony Cemetery near Willamina to look for William Leftwich Newbill's (my great-great-great-great uncle) grave and ended up finding a bunch of Newbill graves including those that belonged to his wife, her parents, and their children which was all a really neat surprise.

Then we drove to Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem to see where Cosper and Zelma Newbill (my great-great-great-great uncle and aunt) are buried, Cosper being one of Nathaniel Alexander Newbill Sr and Sarah Frances Swope's children.

Cosper and Zelma Newbill at the Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem

Finally we drove to the Salem Pioneer Cemetery to find where Sarah Glenn Newbill Kemp (my great-great-great-great-aunt) was buried, being the sister of Nathaniel Alexander Newbill Sr.

Really fascinating to actually find all these relatives, where they lived, and then to find out that many more of their relatives also lived and died in the area where we now live!

Walking (above) and turning the tassel (below)

After grave-searching, we headed home to meet Dohn who drove up and everyone else for Emma's graduation which was held down at Sprague High School.  It was a bit unfortunate that they had such a small high school (47 graduates) graduating in such a large, outdoor stadium, but oh well.  It was a very nice event overall and we got lots of pictures!