[or-roots] Martha Jane Ford Rulaford's doll

[Leslie Chapman]

Cecil;

That is very nice. When my wife and I got together we set up housekeeping in
the cabin that my siblings were raised in and I lived in until I was eight.
In the attic, which I was cleaning because the roof had leaked and destroyed
a lot of old magazines stored there, I found a doll very similar. We tracked
it's origin down which I don't have to hand but it was German made about
1895 or so. The interesting thing is we can find no clue to who the doll
belonged to. Logical conclusion we jumped to was it was my mother's, but
none of her sisters recalled her ever having owned a doll at all, she or any
of the sisters in fact. Her oldest sister who was my wife's gram had an
incredible memory and I have to believe she would have known, especially as
she had a LONG memory for any thing where she felt she got the short end of
something, which I am fairly certain would have been her attitude toward mom
getting something she didn't have. On my father's side of the family the
only likelihood was his sister. She is sure she never had a doll of that
nature and she could not offer any idea who it could have belonged to.

The cabin started out to be the Mill supers housing for the Banana Farm Mill
Co, if any historian doesn't recognise that they were also called the
Overland Timber company or some such, if anyone wants to know I can look it
up, I read about three hours ago and can't remember it. His wife took one
look at it and said; "we will live in town and you can drive to work" which
in the 20's was a bit of a drive, especially the plank road from the highway
in.

So whose doll was it? Neither of my sisters had ever seen it, and none of
the other family relatives knew anything. I don't know, maybe my mother
picked it up at a rummage sale, I don't know.

Les C

-----Original Message-----
From: or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
[mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us]On Behalf Of Cecil Houk
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 5:51 AM
To: or-roots
Subject: [or-roots] Martha Jane Ford Rulaford's doll



Martha Jane's doll

For as long as I can remember this doll resided in the bottom drawer of my
mother's dresser.  In 1997 that is where I found her, but today she is
proudly on display at the FRAZIER FARMSTEAD MUSEUM in Milton-Freewater,
Oregon.  The dress is new, but made of vintage material.

Martha Jane Ford Rulaford was born in the Walla Walla Valley in 1859.  I
don't know when her father, Nineveh Ford, gave her this doll; or when she
gave it to my mother, but today she is available to all in perpetuity
(that's a big word that means "for ever").


Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret.
PO Box 530833
San Diego CA 92153
FAX 619-428-6434
mailto:cchouk at cox.net
ANDERSON - BLAKELY - FORD - HOUK - KIMSEY - MOE - RULAFORD - SIMPSON
Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk
My web page MENU: http://members.cox.net/~cchouk/
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