1. Coffin Butte Neighborhood

Part I.

September 18, 1990 Interview

The following transcript was made from a recorded interview with Jake Rohner that took place at Jake 's home on September 18, 1990. Due to some problems with the recording equipment, about 40 minutes of the interview--between Part I and Part Hfailed to record. After reviewing the transcripts, Joke and Willie provided written corrections and additions. These comments appear throughout the manuscript enclosed in [brackets] and include the initials of the person that has provided the information.

1. Coffin Butte Neighborhood

Bob Zybach: The first thing I'd like you to describe Jake, is when your father came over from Switzerland, and how your father and mother came to live in Oregon.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, my father's mother's brother migrated, came to Kansas. Settled in Kansas. And then if any of the family that wanted to come over, he would send the money for them to come over. And there were ten in father's family, and five came one by one to Kansas and settled there. And this was in 1908, when my father caine. In 1913 he went back to Switzerland and brought my mother over to Kansas, and my mother said, "This is not for me!" Dry, and windy, and no trees. So he said, let's go to Oregon then. So they came to Oregon, and ended up in Washougal, Washington working for Mr. Writsman, and after a while there he said, "Would you like to rent my farm there near Coffin Butte?" So they looked at it, they made a deal, they rented the farm. Which is known as the Writsman Place. And so all of our family, the older family members were born on that place, and I'm the oldest of the family. Just at the base of Coffin Butte, and the road to our farm came off of Highway 99 and it was our own private road back to the farm.

Bob Zybach: On your uncle [Great Uncle Kobler], do you know what year he came to Kansas?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, I don't, but it must have been quite a few years earlier because all his family, his children, were born in Kansas. And they were about the same, roughly the same age as my father.

Bob Zybach: Do you know why your father caine to Kansas?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, he wanted a piece of the new world, I guess you could call it. And so he came and worked for about five years.

Bob Zybach: What was the name of your father's mother? Do you recall?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Last name?

Bob Zybach: Yeah.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Kobler.

Bob Zybach: And so the uncle in Kansas was Kobler?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes. Fact is we had the family reunion.

Bob Zybach: Kobler family reunion?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: So there is quite afew Koblers in the northwest?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, in the northwest now, yes.

Bob Zybach: Do you recall your mother's parents names?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Hasler.

Bob Zybach: Hasler. And so did your mother and father know each other in Switzerland?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, I'm sure they did, before my father went back. Because they were from two towns about four miles apart. Small, very small towns.

Bob Zybach: Can you tell me the name of those towns?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Allstatten. My mother was from Allstatten, and my father from Montlingen, which was just.

Bob Zybach: Do you know how they came to the United States?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: By boat.

Bob Zybach: Do you know the name of the boat?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No. And they got terribly seasick. And dad laughed about it many times. He said, "We quit on fish, and we started in on fish again," which was on Friday. See, they got sick on Friday, and then the next Friday they started eating again.

Bob Zybach: So they were Catholic.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes. And very seasick.

Bob Zybach: Do you know how they came from New York to Kansas?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I suppose by train; I'm sure on train.

Bob Zybach: And you think the same from Kansas to Oregon?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes.

Bob Zybach: Do you know how he met Writsman?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I'm not positive, but I think through the employment agency. He had a dairy and this was an employment agency, so they applied for the job and got the job.

Bob Zybach: Do you know Writsman 's first name?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No.

Bob Zybach: Could it have been Francis?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Could have been anything - I just don't know.

Bob Zybach: Okay, then when your father came down and rented the Writsman 's Place, that's what it was known as?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes.

Bob Zybach: You were telling me you were born in the house that's showing in the [Soap Creek Auto Tour. OSU Research Forests. 1989. p.1O.]tour book?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes.

Bob Zybach: Can you recall anything about that house?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well it was a big house. Two story. And the family picture is of the house. [This refers to the picture shown on the title page.]

Bob Zybach: Do you recall what happened to that house?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: It burned down years later. A Russian man, by the name of Mike Dobrinin, and there were quite a few Dobrinins in the Peoria/Halsey area.

Bob Zybach: What do you recall about the Barzees?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, just neighbors, and we used to work back and forth somewhat, like on thrashing duties. Roy Barzee that lived close to Glenders, he had two girls and a boy. And then there was Lester, he lived across from Adair Village which was a little bit north. And his wife was a school teacher, and she was one of my school teachers. In grade school. [School teachers were hired a year at a time, and at the end of the year the teacher would go around to each School Board member and see whether she should be re-hired or not. JR]

Bob Zybach: Was her name Barzee?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah, Edith Barzee.

Bob Zybach: And she taught school at...

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: At Wells. For I think maybe two years while I was there. In those days they didn't

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: hire teachers but only for one year at a time. You see every spring the teachers would come and apply for jobs. And then the Board would pick somebody. So we nearly always had a new teacher every year.

Bob Zybach: Do you remember the Hoffinans?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh yeah.

Bob Zybach: What can you recall about them?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, not much. They were both rather short people and he was kind of a comical fellow. I liked to visit with him. Of course I was quite young back them, that was before we ever left Camp Adair. And he had a small farm, a little timberland on it.

Bob Zybach: When you say he was short, on Hoffman, how short is that?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, I don't know. As I remember it seemed to me like neither one was much over 5 feet. Probably were a little, but seemed short.

Bob Zybach: Were they local people?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I don't know how long they had lived there. They were there ever since I can remember.

Bob Zybach: Then he did a little farming and owned a little timber.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: Can you recall the Blakes?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, yes. She was also one of my teachers one year in school. And I think she did a little substitute teaching in between when the teacher was sick or something.

Bob Zybach: What do you recall about Mr. Blake?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, he was a nice old gentleman. That's about all I can remember.

Bob Zybach: Okay. How about Joe Smith?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Joe Smith, yes, yes. Fact is, my father bought 112 acres which had a barn and house on it; he bought it from Joe Smith there by Coffm Butte.

Bob Zybach: Were there other farmers in that area where you moved to, other than Joe Smith at that time?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh yes, there were farmers all around us.

Bob Zybach: Can you recall their names?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well there was the Stambaughs to the west of us, and Mackeys and later the Armstrongs, and north of us on Walter Wiles place was Wesley Kester. And on our

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: lane, we shared our lane with Mr. and Mrs. Eston Carter. [Eston Carter's house burned down during the dust storm in the spring of 1930 or '31. It was red dust and a stiff wind from the northeast. We were planting potatos southwest of Carter's and charred shingles blew 1/4 to 1/2 mile toward us. It got quite dark with the red dust and Mom got scared, it was so eerie. Eston Carter's son, Lyle, used to live in Sisters, but may live in the Redmond area now. He moved there in 1942. JR} At the foot of the butte toward the highway. And the Steilmachers joined our place on the east. And then the Schulmericks also on the east.

Bob Zybach: Can you recall the Sheppards?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes. John Sheppard?

Bob Zybach: Uh huh. What can you recall about him?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, I remember the older gentleman, John Sheppard, and then the son, John, who was older than I. And I think there was maybe a sister I believe, well oh yes, I think that was Mrs. Griffin that lived on Marcks place.

Bob Zybach: Oh, Mrs. Griffin lived on Marc/cs place? So they moved there after Mrs. Marc/cs moved out?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I don't know whether they moved there directly after or after somebody else, but they were there a few years.

Bob Zybach: Did they purchase the place from Mrs. Marc/cs?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I don't know whether they purchased it or rented it. I couldn't say.

Bob Zybach: Do you remember the Folks?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, Bert Folks.

Bob Zybach: What do you recall about him?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, not a whole lot either. We didn't associate but I knew him and he lived next to his property joined Joe Smith's property.

Bob Zybach: Okay, we're kind of getting closer to your family there, just kind of the outer limits of those people. But do you recall any of the people out towards Airlie or Berry Creek? Any of the families in those areas?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, I heard my mother talk about the Shanks and the Kilmers, which lived from the Writsman place just northwest.

Bob Zybach: Oh, the Kilmers, they lived across the road from the Writsman 'S Place?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, just up the road toward Airlie a little bit. How far I don't know, but right in