Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 1024.
 
HON. ORSON AVERY STEARNS

     the pioneer settler of Klamath county, is of long and honorable record and
a descendant of one of the most distinguished families in the United States. At
present he is engaged in general farming and dairying, and resides seven miles
west of Klamath Falls.  He is a native of Winnebago county, Illinois, born
January 9, 1843.  His father, David E. Steams, a son of Vermont, was born
February 11, 1808, and subsequently became one of the earliest settlers of
Winnebago county, going there in 1835 and casting his lot with the ancient tribe
of Winnebago Indians, that is, residing in a locality entirely surrounded by
them. By trade the elder Steams was a carpenter, and built some of the larger
buildings in Buffalo, New York.  In Winnebago county he secured land upon which
he resided until 1853, when the stirring times on the Pacific coast attracted
his attention and he made the perilous trip across the great plains, accompanied
by his family, a wife and five children. Six months and four days from their
departure they arrived in the Rogue River valley. He secured a donation claim,
and then found himself with but limited means at his command. Potatoes were
selling at twenty-five cents per pound, and flour at thirty-three dollars per
hundred pounds. Here the elder Stearns traded a two-horse wagon for one hundred
hills of potatoes and dug them himself.  He was accompanied across me plains by
three brothers and two sisters, Myron N., Samuel E., Avery P., Mrs. Velina A.
Williams and Mrs. Charlotte E. Pengra. With the exception of Mrs. Pengra they
all settled in the Rogue River valley. With her husband, Byron Pengra, she
located near Eugene, Oregon. He was one of the founders of the town of
Springfield, Oregon.  With the exception of the two sisters the family is now
deceased. David E. Stearns died in 1878.
     The paternal grandfather of our subject, John Stearns, born at Monkton,
Vermont, April 14, 1778, accompanied his son, David E., across the plains. At
the advanced age of ninety-two years he passed away in the Rogue River valley in
May, 1870. The mother of David E. Steams died in Vermont at the age of one
hundred years, and his grandmother died in Winnebago county, Illinois, June 9,
1852. A great-grandfather of our subject, Ebenezer Stearns, was a native of New
Hampshire, and was captured by Tories during the Revolutionary war. A genealogy
of the Stearns family has been published in two volumes, and it contains more
than eighteen thousand names, all descendents from three brothers who came from
England to America on the ship Arabella, in 1630. They settled in Watertown,
Massachusetts.
     Our subject had five brothers and sisters, viz: Oscar L., deceased, Newell
D., deceased, Mrs. Arminda Purves, of Rogue River valley, George A., deceased
and Emily M., deceased. In 1864 our subject enlisted in Company I, First Oregon
Infantry, his being the first name on the company roster.
     He saw service in Oregon, and was stationed at Fort Klamath, but was in
various parts of the state at different times. Some comrades in his company
discovered what is now called "Crater Lake.'' Our subject named this body of
water Majestic Lake, and by that name it was recognized two years.  It was later
renamed Crater Lake by James Sutton, editor of the Oregon Sentinel, who
published the account of a discovery of a crater on an island in the lake. In
July 1867, he was mustered out, being a member of one of the last companies to
be discharged after the war. The present townsite of Linkville, or Klamath
Falls, was the first location in the county. Two weeks subsequently our subject
secured his place, and a man named O. T. Brown took the third place, on Spencer
creek.   For thirty-seven years Mr. Stearns has made his home in one place in
Klamath county. He participated in the Modoc war.
     In Sacramento, California, May 17, 1873 our subject was married to Margaret
J. Riggs, born in Ray county, Missouri. The wife died May 17, 1895, on the
twenty-second anniversary of their wedding. To them were bom three children,
Leslie Orrin, Blanche Alice, wife of George Ager, and Eva May, wife of Theodore
Bryant.  January 10, 1897, our subject was again married, his bride being Luella
M. Sherman, daughter of Salsbury Sherman, a second cousin of William Tecumseh
Sherman, the distinguished union general. They have one child, E. Orson Everett
Stearns, born September 1, 1898. Our subject was the first justice of the peace
in Klamath county, and in 1880 was elected representative on the Republican
ticket.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2011 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.