Missouri Elizabeth (Porter) McBee (1850 - 1875)

Born 20 Dec 1850 in Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Died 2 Sep 1875 at age 24 in Benton, Oregon, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Susan Saul [send private message]

Biography

The most complete information we have for Missouri Elizabeth Porter McBee comes from Wilmer Cauthorn Smith, M.D., The Smith Chronicle: Two Centuries of an American Farm Family (self-published, 1974), p. 38-39. "George McBee was born May 13, 1835. We do not have the date of his death. At a date now unknown he married Elizabeth Porter. She was the daughter of John E. Porter who was an older brother of McCalley Porter....Four or five years before George's death, his wife Elizabeth passed away."

A photo of her gravestone shows the inscription: Missouri E wife of Geo McBee Died Sept 2 1875 Aged 24 y's 8 m's 13 d's The photo is incorrectly attached to her aunt, Missouri Winkle, on FamilySearch. The gravestone clearly is inscribed wife of Geo McBee. (Missouri Winkle was married to John Baker.) https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZ37-2Q4

The Early Oregonians Index, 1800-1860^[1] miscalculated her birth date from her death date given her age on the gravestone. It should be 20 Dec 1850 rather than 20 Jan 1850.

Birth

Birth:

Date: Abt 1850

Place: Missouri^[2]

Death

Death:

Date: 2 Sep 1875

Place: Benton County, Oregon^{[3] [4]}

Sources

1. ↑ Oregon State Archives, Oregon, Early Oregonians Index, 1800-1860 (Provo, Utah, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014), Ancestry.com [database online], Name: Missouri Elizabeth Porter Birth Date: 20 Jan 1850 [20 Jan 1851] Birth Place: Missouri, USA Death Date: 2 Sep 1875 Death Place: Benton, Oregon, USA.
2. ↑ Source: #S296 Page: 6
3. ↑ Source: #S296 Page: 6
4. ↑ Corvallis Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Oregon, Fri. Oct 1, 1875, page 3 (www.newspapers.com/image/383240784) Text: Died. At the family residence, in this county, September 2, 1875, Missouri Elizabeth, wife of George McBee, aged 24 years and 9 months.

• Source: S296 Author: Mercer, Janice Title: Out of the Wilderness Publication: Name: Privately published, Clinton, Missouri, 1973; Medium: Book

• Smith, Wilmer Cauthorn, M.D., The Smith Chronicle: Two Centuries of an American Farm Family (self-published, 1974), p. 38-39. "George McBee was born May 13, 1835. We do not have the date of his death. At a date now unknown he married Elizabeth Porter. She was the daughter of John E. Porter who was an older brother of McCalley Porter. George McBee acquired some 200 acres of land lying immediately east of the George Fogel Donation Land Claim. It extended on east to the Willamette River. Years later this property also became a part of the Judd Smith farm. George and Elizabeth located their first home about a half-mile east of their west line. This building was said to have been a log cabin. The site is now marked only by fragments of pottery and brick which the rain exposes after the field has been freshly cultivated. This building site was quickly abandoned because of flooding during winter high waters. Having thus learned about the winter rises of the Willamette, George found that there no sizable plot of land his farm high enough to be out of this danger. He then purchased a building site consisting of four acres lying in the southeast corner of the Fogle claim.This adjoined his property on its southwest corner. It was a ridge, then covered with oak trees. It had never been known to have flooded. Here George built his next home of saw-dressed lumber. It was built about 1860 and was said to have been one of the nicest homes in the area. Sometime not long after 1870, George moved this house a few hundred feet to the northward to make room for the final home he was to build. "Build thee ever more stately mansions" might have been said of George McBee. This new home was taller and bigger and better than those that had gone before. Years later when Judd Smith rented this farm it became the first home that he and his wife Laura had of their own.Although it was extensively remodeled in 1918 it still stands today; the old part of the house as sound as when George McBee drove the last nail. Just back of his new home George devoted more than an acre to an orchard of apple, pear, and plum trees. To the south he laid out a large garden. He planted locust trees along the border of his yard on the south and west. After moving the old home to make way for the new one he continued to use it as living quarters while building. Afterwards it became a granary. It was always known as "the old house." Years later when Judd Smith was working in the granary he was often heard to say "I have been to some elegant parties in this old house." He would then wistfully explain that his uncle George loved to have all the McBees, Smiths, and other neighbors in for parties. It seemed that these would continue until daylight. When the smaller children became sleepy they were tucked into bed often three at the head and three more at the foot. He would say, with a twinkle in his eye, that the infants were put in sacks which were hooked to nails on the wall: but no one took this very seriously. It is amply evident that George McBee loved people and enjoyed socializing. Of the children born to George and his wife, Elizabeth McBee, the two youngest died in infancy and were buried on the farm. Then followed a daughter named Rose who died at the age of five or six. The last two children, Mary born in 1865 and William Henry "Henry" born in 1867 were the only two to reach adult life. Four or five years before George's death, his wife Elizabeth passed away. His widowed sister, Elizabeth Linebarger, was then living with her two small daughters, Jennie and Mary Josephine "Molly" in the nearby house which had been built by David McBee. She came to keep house for her brother and to care for his and her children. The burying place of George McBee, his wife Elizabeth, and their small daughter, Rose, is said to have been the summit of the small Irwin Butte.

• "Missouri Elizabeth Porter." Family Search. Accessed Dec. 30th, 2019. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GMMS-XQ1.

• National Archives and Records Administration, Oregon. Douglas County. 1860 U.S. Census, population schedule (Provo, Utah, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009), Ancestry.com [database online], Place: Cawley Valley, Douglas, Oregon; Roll: M653_1055; Page: 121; Family History Library Film: 805055. Name: Missouri Porter, Age: 9, Birth Year: abt 1851, Gender: Female, Birth Place: Oregon, Home in 1860: Cawley Valley, Douglas, Oregon, Post Office: Roseburg, Dwelling Number: 428, Family Number: 428, Household Members: John Porter 36, Mary Porter 27, Martha Porter 11, Missouri Porter 9, Willie Porter 6, Alcinda Porter 4, Mary Porter 2

• National Archives and Records Administration, Oregon. Benton County. 1870 U.S. census, population schedule [on-line] (Provo, Utah, 2003), Ancestry.com [database on-line], Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

Provo, UT, Census Place: Subdivision 5, Benton, Oregon; Roll: M593_1285; Page: 82B; Family History Library Film: 552784. Name: Elizabeth Mcbee Birthplace: Missouri, Dwelling Number: 597, Home in 1870: Subdivision 5, Benton, Oregon, Race: White, Gender: Female, Post Office: Corvallis, Occupation: Keeping House, Inferred Spouse: George Mcbee Household Members: Name Age George Mcbee 33 Elizabeth Mcbee 20 Mary Mcbee 5 Henry Mcbee 2.

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF8T-DS8 : 14 June 2019), Elizabeth Mc Bee in entry for George Mc Bee, 1870.