"An Illustrated history of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties : with a
brief outline of the early history of the state of Oregon." Chicago?: Western
Historical Pub. Co., 1902.  Page 301.  Baker County.

CHARLES M. WATTERBURY

     Who can tell the amount of suffering and hardships endured, the sorrow and
grief borne and the deprivations and self denial undergone by the early settlers
that opened this vast region for their children to enjoy?  Pen and paper cannot
express it, nor words fittingly convey to our minds at this remote period the
keenness and vividness of these scenes of half a century since, when the
intrepid and dauntless person threaded the dreary waste of sand and sage brush,
arid plain and rocky mountain, to gain a home in these valleys.  In the hateful
deception know as Meeks cut off, Mrs. Watterbury, the mother of our subject, was
lost with the train, and for days and weeks they were on the verge of
starvation, and the stock was slain to keep life in their bodies, while hunting
parties sent for help were never found again.  From this living trap they
finally emerged, what were left of them, and in due time found a resting place
from their weary journey in the Willamette valley.
     The immediate subject of this sketch, the son of worthy pioneers, was born
in Portland, in 1863, thus becoming a native of this rugged promised land so
sought after in the time of his parents, and here he has wrought out his
destiny, never swerving from the constant conviction that the occidental stars
were the ones that would finally smile the success to him that his enterprising
and energetic achievements made his so manifestly worthy of.  At the early age
of fifteen years he commenced the struggle of life, embarking first in the stock
business. Eight years later he took a homestead in Eagle valley, where he lives
at the present time, and is now, as he has been continuously since his first
visit here, engaged in raising stock and tilling the soil.
     The marriage of Mr. Watterbury and Miss Mamie Gibson, a native of Boise,
Idaho, and daughter of Robert and Mary (Newman) Gibson, natives respectively of
Wisconsin and Germany, was celebrated in 1890 and they have the following
children:  Christie; Llna; Dewey, who died at the age of two weeks and is buried
in the Eagle valley cemetery; Viola, died at the age of two months and is buried
in the same cemetery.  Mr. Watterbury has been a prominent figure in the
educational affairs of the county and has served in the capacity of school clerk
for a number of years, where he has given faithful and efficient service.  In
social affiliations he is with the Fraternal Union of America and is a popular
and highly esteemed member.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in September 2005 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.