The Cross Family, 1848 onward Lorenzo Dow Cross was born in Ohio in 1822. He was maried in 1848 near Amboy, Illinois to Miss Dorcas Fairman, a native of Illinois. She was descended from a colonial family of Rhode Island. They started for Oregon in 1852 by covered wagon and on reaching The Dalles they proceeded down the Columbia River by barge to Portland, their oldest son, Caleb was about a year old then they left Illinois for Oregon. Lorenzo Dow Cross, wife and son, Caleb settled in Clackamas County and filed on 320 acres Donation Land Claim in the Canby area. Their land bordered on the Molalla River and the Canby High School is now built on part of the original land claim. They lived first in a log cabin 14' x 14', later building a frame house. They lived here until after the flood of 1861, when they moved to Oregon City where they spent the remainder of their lives. Lorenzo Dow Cross was a carpenter by trade, but he spent much of his time as a Methodist Minister donating his services. Lorenzo and Dorcas had ten children. They were Caleb E., Jasper Melvin (who died when 8 years old of scarlet fever); Harvey E.; Thomas Milton; Martha Jane; (their only daughter who also died of scarlet fever when she was three); Elmer Ellsworth; William Adelbert; Truman Dow; Charles Ulysses; and Francis H. All of the children were born in Clackamas County except Caleb who was born in Illinois. After Lorenzo's death in 1872, Dorcas married Charles Bolds and they had one son, Edward. Dorcas Cross Bolds lived untill June 23, 1906. She would have been 73 the following October. She was survived by her husband Charles Bolds and eight sons. They were Caleb, Harvey, William, Frank, Thomas, Elmer, Charles Cross and Edward Bolds. Charles Bolds was 95 years old in 1917. He was at that time Oregon's oldest pioneer, He died 2 or 3 years later. Caleb was married to Laura Nichols and they had two sons, Ralph and Raleigh. Caleb died in 1928 at the age of 77. Harvey E.Cross maried Orpha Tingle. They had 7 children: Percy, Dorothy, Marceline, Stella, Juliet, Georgia, and Francis. Harvey Cross died in 1929 at the age of 73. Thomas Milton's wife was Mary. Three of their children were John, Fred and Myrtle. Elmer Ellsworth's wife was Ollie Palmer. Their children were: Frank, Homer, Ollie, Myrtle and Harold. William Adelbert was married to Clara Etters and they had no children. Truman Dow was married to Margaret (Maggie) Etters. They had two daughters; Bertha and Ella. Truman was killed in 1893. Charles was married to Carrie Clark and they had five children. They were Bayne, Orpha, Lela, Hallie, and Earl. Charles died in 1942. Francis (Frank) was married to Mae (Lillie) Richards and they had seven children. They are: Ernest, Truman, Verne, Melvin, Leonard, Carrie and Lillian. Frank died in 1956 at the age of 85. Ed Bold's wife was May and they had twins: Gloria and Jack. LELA CROSS - daughter of Charles and Carrie Clark, was born in Tillamook in 1892. Her dad was a preacher in a lot of little towns from Oregon City to Grants Pass. In 1903 they moved to Meridian Idaho. From there they moved and took up a homestead 4 miles outside of Caldwell, Idaho. They lived there 5 years, and then moved to Baker. She married Leroy Speelman , whose family had crossed the plains in 1862, and settled in Baker Valley (Powder Valley). There was only one house where Baker is now. The county seat was in Auburn, but after a while when more people came a posse was formed and rode up to Auburn and stole the charter and made Baker the County seat, but when The Speelman's landed there were no schools, so they were uneducated, but they prospered and when Nels died he left a lot of land and left a ranch to each of his boys. (One boy Jim died the first year they were here). The only ones I knew were Joe, Mike, Frank, Dave and Luther and the three girls. In spite of no education they were alway properous and good citizens, except Joe and somehow he lost on his inheritance as he was his dad's partner and they took his part for his dad's debt, so he had to start from scratch and didn't do so well. In Joe's family there were 5 boys and 3 girls, all the boys were six foot and over. One was 6'6" except Roy and he was 6'11''. The girls were large too, but they were the most loving family I knew. If one was in trouble they all were and Joe was the best Dad there ever was. Submitted by Diana Milne, rmilne1035@aol.com, May 19, 1999