Eliza (Kalapuya) Young (abt. 1820 - 1922)

Born about 1820 in Oregon Territory

Wife of Jim (Kalapuya) Young — married about 1865 in Linn, Oregon, United States

Died 19 Aug 1922 at about age 102 in Brownsville, Linn, Oregon, United States

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This profile is part of the Brownsville, Oregon One Place Study.

Biography

Eliza, known as Indian Lize, was the last of the Kalapuya tribe.

When she was interviewed by Violet Kendig in 1915, her age was estimated as between 90 and 100.

She is said to have been orphaned as a child when her parents were accidentally poisoned by a medicine man. She was raised by an aunt and uncle.

Jim and Lize worked for William Riley Kirk of Brownsville. Riley's son Andrew Warren Kirk recalled that: "My father used to hire some of the Indians to work for him. He had two boys who were very good, so he kept them much of the time. One of them was called Indian Jim. Finally he asked Jim if he would come and live with him. This pleased Jim very much, and from that time on he lived in our house."

"Down at Spores Ferry (Coburg), there was an Indian girl named Eliza living with the Spores family. She was trained to work by Mrs. Spores, and was a good cook and very neat. Finally she married a Yamhill Indian and went to live with him. Her husband was very cruel to her and frequently beat her up. On a trip to the Calapooia, or while living at Spores Ferry, Eliza and Jim met and became very fond of each other. After that Eliza frequently ran away from her husband and came down to the Calapooia to see Jim. Her husband (he had three other wives) would follow her and compel her to return. He would ride behind her (she walking) and whip her all the way back. This happened a number of times; finally my father advised Jim that if he and Liza thought so much of each. other, it would be well for Jim to buy her for a wife and thus save all this trouble. With my father's aid Jim did so, buying Liza for ten ponies, a gun, and fifteen dollars in gold. Eliza's former husband accepted the price and taking the money bought whiskey with it. On this whiskey, he and his companions got drunk and in a fight on the way home; the ex-husband was killed."

"Eliza made Jim a good wife, but he became very fond of whiskey and when he was drunk he would beat her. However, Liza was always very fond of Jim. Jim finally became known as a very dangerous man. When he was drunk no one dared to go near him. I was never afraid of him, however, and could always make him behave. Jim finally killed a man and was sent to the penitentiary. Eliza would often go and visit him there and waited anxiously for the time to come when her man would be let Out."

"Liza and Jim had two children, but they both died. They are buried in the Brownsville Cemetery."

Jim and Eliza were most commonly known simply as "Indian Jim" and "Indian Lize".Their real names, however, were Jim and Eliza Young. How they received their name I do not know, but it was customary in the early days for the Indians to buy a name from the whites. An Indian wishing a new name would go to some seller and request the privilege of working for a day to receive a name as pay. Whatever name that was given at the end of the day's work was retained and valued by the Indian. A name given without any payment was considered to be without value. It is likely that Jim Young received his name in this way.^[1]

In the 1880 Census "Jim Kirk" is listed as a resident of Brownsville, aged 40, Indian, born in Oregon. His occupation was wood chopper.

His wife Eliza Kirk was age 45, born in Oregon.

Their daughter Susan Kirk was age 15, born in Oregon.

Their son Alvin Kirk was age 9, born in Oregon.^[2]

The estimated marriage date is based on the birth year of their eldest child, Susan, who was aged 15 in 1880.

Indian Lize at the Kirk Place in Brownsville

Lize Indian used to relate that the Indians in the area used to go to a spring on the Skillman place north of William Riley Kirk's place to get paint to paint their faces. This was a kind of yellow clay that they smeared over the face.

When Estella (Kirk) Robe was small, her mother Mary (Michael) Kirk used to leave her with Lize when she went to Brownsville. Lize remarked once that she had had two other children, who were twins. But she had killed them because they were thought to be bad luck.

Jim and Lize lived in one of the hop drying houses on the Kirk place, a few miles east of Brownsville. In later years it was known as the Cushman place. The Kirk Indians first lived in the floored part of a hay barn. Finally the Kirks built a little house for them. It was later used as a residence for the hopyard people. It eventually burned down.

Other Indians often came to see Lize. One time she had made some preserves and had set her table as the white people did. An old squaw who was visiting her saw the bowl of preserves, picked it up and scooped up the preserves into her mouth and ate them all with her fingers. Lize was so mad that she said, "She hog!"

When Hugh Fields of Brownsville got married, Lize commented, "He old, he old."

One time in her old age when she was blind, she was walking along the road by the Cushman place, holding her cane in front of her. William Claire Kirk rode by and she asked him where she was. He told her that she had already passed the Cushman place where she lived. She answered that some other boys who had just gone by had told her that she was not there yet. Claire assured her that she had passed it and then she believed him because often boys took advantage of her blindness and played tricks on her. She then asked him who he was and he told her. Then she said, "Aa, Billy's boy." She then asked him, "And how is Ben?"

"Oh, he's all right."

"Has he any kids?"

"No he hasn't any."

"Maybe woman no good," Lize commented. "And how is Julia?"

"She's fine."

"Is she married?" Lize asked.

"Yes, her husband is Fritz."

"Have they any kids?"

"No, no kids," Claire answered.

"Maybe her man no good," Lize again commented. "And how is Charley?"

She then asked about each one of Billy's brothers and sisters, inquiring as to whether they were married and whether they had any children. None of them did and in each case she attributed the reason to the spouse.

^[3]

Eliza Young, a Calapooia Indian, age 67, widow, b Oct 1833 in Oregon, was living on the Grande Ronde Indian Reservation in Polk County as a servant to Tom and Betty Muddy aka Campbell, also of the Calapooia Tribe.^[4]

Eliza Young was enumerated in the 1910 Census for Indian population; she was age 90, a widow, reported mother of 8, 8 then living. She was of the Calapuya tribe, married 3 times, not currently living in polygamy.^[5]

Eliza Young was a single head of household in 1920, aged 95, widow, Indian, living in East Brownsville between the households of J B Moore and C J Howe.^[6]

After the death of her husband and children, Eliza would often wail and lament the passing of her people. At one time, after the death of her son Alva, she had a dream in which she thought that someone had stolen her son's body from the grave. After that, though blind, she spent long periods at the graveyard, watching over their burial place. Finally, bothered by her dream, she commenced to dig at Alva's grave to ascertain if the body was still there. She dug for many days, indifferent to the protests of her friends. Finally, in conversation with Mrs. Whitehead, the care-taker, she declared that with her digging stick she could feel the box below. Still she was not quite satisfied and called in the man who dug the grave to learn how deep he had made it. His reply was 'Eliza, I dug it deeper than your cabin door is tall.' 'Well,' said Eliza, 'then I can't tell. I can never dig that deep.' Her friend finally persuaded her to cease her digging and refill the grave."

"... when one sees 'Old Lize'-- last survivor of the Calapooia Indians, squatted on a piece of old carpet by the side of a stove in which she continually keeps a fire to warm her thin blood, it seems a far cry to romance. Her hair is white and her bronze face seamed with many wrinkles, but her stout body is upright and her hands, small, bony and capable, work nervously and unceasingly with some tangled thread. She cannot untangle her thread, for her eyes are nearly sightless, only sensing a little of the difference between light and darkness. The mind of 'Old Lize' is keen and her memory seems good. As to her age, she does not know. 'You know, people these days, me poor people. No school. No nothing. I don't know.' Of one thing she is sure: 'I the last. My father gone! My mother gone! My children, all the Calapooia gone.' And she waves a long hand and turns her face with sightless eyes to follow its sweep." Everett Earle Stanard.

Sources

1. ↑ Andrew Warren Kirk, pp. 19-20 in "Pioneer Stories of Linn County, Oregon," vol. 3 of the Leslie Haskin et al WPA Interviews, Albany, Oregon, Linn-Benton Genealogical Services, file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Pio_Sto_of_Lin_Cou_Ore%20(5).pdf
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCL-HKK : 14 January 2022), Jim Kirk, Brownsville, Linn, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
3. ↑ Estella Kirk Robe, August, 1953, transcribed in the handwriting of her son Stanley Linn Robe, in possession of Margaret Robe Summitt, Everett, Washington.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSRN-QG8 : 9 March 2022), Eliza Young in entry for Tom Muddy, 1900.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLYY-QHV : Fri Mar 08 00:12:19 UTC 2024), Entry for Liza Young, 1910.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M48L-SWY : Fri Mar 08 07:56:53 UTC 2024), Entry for Eliza Young, 1920.

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