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

[Cecil Houk]

Les:

You never know what you'll find when you look in the attic.

It's unfortunate that my family moved so many times, and there was not very much "attic stuff" to
discover.  I threw out the anchor here in San Diego in January of 1969.  I will leave a lot of
goodies for someone to discover one day.

The origin of Martha's doll is unknown; there are no markings on it to give a clue.  I know that the
doll is where it belongs; in the valley where Martha was born and lived as a child.

I hope more people will do something like this.

Cecil

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Chapman" <khanjehgil at presys.com>
To: <or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 8:39 AM
Subject: RE: [or-roots] Martha Jane Ford Rulaford's doll


> 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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