O. Roy Barzee House

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: you're gonna get from us. So we hurried up and then in the meantime they came up things were going a little better and they wouldn't draft anybody over 28 anymore and I was over 28.

Bob Zybach: Oh, so you got lucky.

O. Roy Barzee House

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Got lucky, yeah. Yeah, this is the Sulphur Springs Road here. I guess Tampico school was right down in there somewhere. Beals' house was, well we kinda drove in down below and then across, it was down in here and then the Glenders was, that's their barn, yeah, I believe the house was about in there. Yeah, I think that's where. the road to the right to the barn. And this is I think where the Barzees had a house. This was Lester Barzee on this side and then, wait a minute not Lester, I can't think of his name. Lester was on the highway side. Isn't it awful, sometimes I can't recall my best friend's name. Till all at once it comes to me.

Bob Zybach: That's why I was curious, because on the Barzees, I thought the Barzees lived here but you pointed out the other side of the road, and 1 thought well that's something new. But there's two brothers.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: There's two brothers, yeah.

Bob Zybach: I see. Where did Oswald Rohner live?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Clarence Wiles' house. See he bought that when he came out from Kansas, he bought that house and farm.

Bob Zybach: Do you know who lived here?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Let me think. Wait a minute, I said that was the driveway. This was the Barzee's driveway here. And that road of course wasn't in. How far it went that way I don't know, but anyway the two places met back in there somewhere.

Bob Zybach: This is Brenneman 's now. Do you know Brenneman?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No.

Bob Zybach: But this was the Barzee place up until Adair?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah. And.. . that's new in here, I've never seen that before. Well I haven't been up this road for a long time. I think the Barzees joined the Blakes down there but I'm not sure.

Bob Zybach: Okay. Well, the Hoffinans were in here somewhere.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah, I was just gonna say, now Grover Hoffman lived back up in here somewhere. Probably right about where those. . . here somewhere, yeah. See, this used to be the main road straight through here. And this has only been here since Camp Adair. Do you want to go through the old road?

Bob Zybach: Yeah, it doesn't go all the way through, but.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Don't it go all the way through?

Bob Zybach: Not anymore. They blocked it off

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, they blocked it? The hell they did.

Bob Zybach: But this would go straight through to the Blakes though, right?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: And then this loop in here they built since Adair?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah, since Adair.

Bob Zybach: So there would have been Blake, Hoffman, Barzee, Beals, Glenders,

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: On the other side.

Bob Zybach: Yeah.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: And I can't remember anybody else but Hoffman's on this side. And I don't think he had too big a place. He might have went clear to Glenders, I don't know. Unless it was, somebody owned some land in there without buildings. There was no buildings.

Bob Zybach: Between Hoffinans and Glenders.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: And, turn that thing off a minute will you? [Tells story]

Bob Zybach: We're talking about Roy Barzee now.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yeah, his name was Roy Barzee, and he had two daughters and a son. Arnold Barzee. He lives at. . . he has an apartment or whatever you call it, an apartment at the Mennonite home, you home. If you'd ever want to talk to him he could tell you a lot about Soap Creek.

Bob Zybach: Okay, now there is something that I'd like to ask you about. You mentioned the Kilmers before, and people told me that there had been a Mennonite settlement in the Beny Creek area.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: There were several back there. Kilmers and I think another name I told you, but I

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: can't remember it off hand. Shank.

Bob Zybach: Shank?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Shank, yeah.

Bob Zybach: They were Mennonites, too?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes.

Bob Zybach: And were the Barzees part of that then?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, no, no, no, the Barzees weren't Mennonite, they just. . lots of people go to the

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Mennonite home from other religions.

Bob Zybach: Oh, I see. Do you remember any stories about the Mennonite community or anything?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, I don't. All I can remember is hearing my mother tell about visiting back and forth some when we lived on the Writsman place, with the Kilmers and the Shanks.

Bob Zybach: 1 see. Were there anything different about the Mennonites, or.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, mighty fine people. And now in later years I've had a lot of contact with Mennonite people south of us on Peoria Road. Some of the finest people I've ever known. They're honest and industrious, I'd trust a Mennonite for a long, long ways.

Bob Zybach: Do you know why they lived in a community there?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, I don't really. But they do, pretty much so. Because south of Peoria a ways there is an old community. They have their own school, grade school there. And there are a lot of farmers right in that area.

Bob Zybach: Were there more families, did you ever hear of, than like the Kilmers and Shanks, or could that have been the whole community?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, that's all I can remember. I'm sure there might have been more in that area. I think there are quite a few in other areas. . . around Sheridan I believe there are quite a few. Fact is, I think some of those people from that area went later to Sheridan.

Bob Zybach: So the Kilmers and the Shanks may have moved to Sheridan?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: That's kind of what I remember, but I'm not positive that they went to Sheridan.

Bob Zybach: Do you know why they moved out?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No, I don't.

Bob Zybach: Now there is also talk when Adair came in that they dug up a lot of the family cemeteries, pioneer cemeteries.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: They did. They did, and they relocated them I think to. . . If I remember right to the cemetery just south of Monmouth. Along 99.

Bob Zybach: What was the reason they did that?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, they were using artillery shells in the area. And I suppose to keep from shooting up the cemeteries. And they moved the bodies.

Bob Zybach: Did that upset any of the local families?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: I don't know. I didn't have any contact with any of the families that were concerned, so I really don't know. I suppose it probably upset some of them.

Bob Zybach: There is a pioneer cemetery on Berry Creek where some Kilmer children were buried. And there is some dispute whether they dug up that cemetery or not. Did you ever hear of any of the cemeteries not getting dug up?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No.

Bob Zybach: So as far as you know they moved everybody?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: They moved everybody. Well, there was one that I know they didn't move. And that was the Ridders cemetery on the east boundary along, I can't remember the name but anyways on the east boundary. Ridders family had their old cemetery there. Quite a few gravestones. And they didn't move that because it was on the boundary. Or close to the boundary. [Ridders family cemetary is on the Corvallis-Independence Road about due east of Coffm Butte, a little north. JRJ

Bob Zybach: Would there be anybody that you know of that would know where those old pioneer cemeteries have been located?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Not really. The old timers that know are nearly all gone or moved away.

Bob Zybach: Now, your uncle Oswald, he bought the Clarence Wiles place you said.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes.

Bob Zybach: What year was that?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: That was in 1942. The same year they bought our place and all the rest of them.

Bob Zybach: Oh, where did he live before then?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, he came out here in '34 from Kansas and I can't remember where exactly all he lived. Until he bought the Clarence Wiles' place. He worked at Wacoma Dairy for a while, I can remember. Maybe that was about all, then he bought Wiles place.

Bob Zybach: Did he just buy the building or some land there, too?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: He bought the whole parcel that Clarence Wiles had.

Bob Zybach: Oh, I see, so that didn't get bought up by Adair?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, yes, see this was before Camp Adair. In the '30's, later '30's, when he bought that. And then in '42 when Camp Adair came he had to sell like the rest of us.

Bob Zybach: I see. So John Wiles only lived there until.. . didn't John Wiles live on the Clarence Wiles place?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: He lived there as a youth, but when he got married he evidently moved somewhere. I think he was married when Camp Adair came along. Or I think when Oswald bought the place. So he was already probably living in, well I think he worked at Meadowland in Corvallis. So he probably lived in Corvallis.

Bob Zybach: So did Clarence Wiles sell the place or did John Wiles?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Clarence, yeah, Clarence Wiles sold the place.

Bob Zybach: Those are shitepokes. Did you ever hear those called blue herons when you were a kid?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No.

Bob Zybach: Always shitepokes.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Shitepokes.

Bob Zybach: Did you ever hear them called any other names?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: No.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: The landowner could buy the buildings back if he wanted them.

Bob Zybach: Oh, so that's how he got the barn and the house?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, and then we got it through him, you see.

Bob Zybach: When he sold it to Adair, did he continue living around here after?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, north of Albany a ways. Just off the freeway, he bought a farm down in the Deaver area. And he put in a dairy down there for a while. Until the son took it over.

Bob Zybach: How come Clarence Wiles sold that place?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Well, he got into the beer distributing business. So he thought, well, farming wasn't profitable enough, so he just as well sell it.

Bob Zybach: I see, so John Wiles got the beer distributing business through his dad?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Through his dad. I'm pretty sure he did.

Bob Zybach: So that must have been right after prohibition, then. That they got into beer distributing.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh, I think it was later than that. I think it was a little later than that. Clarence sold milk to Meadowland and somehow or other he got in with Meadowland and Meadowland I think was the one that originally had the beer distributing. I'm not sure, but then later I guess they sold that off. And Clarence probably bought it then. Maybe John bought it, maybe Clarence did something else. Maybe John bought it directly from Meadowland.

Bob Zybach: Okay. Did Oswald have any wife and kids?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Yes, a boy and a girl.

Bob Zybach: Are they still alive?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Oh yes, the one daughter is in California, and the son is in Salem selling recreation vehicles, under the name of Highway Trailer Sales.

Bob Zybach: Okay, so f I want to talk about the Wiles home during the '30's, i'd talk to..

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Leighton.

Bob Zybach: Leighton Rohner?

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: Leighton Rohner, yes. Down in Salem he goes by the name of George, his middle name, I guess. Or first, I don't know which way. But the business place would be Highway Trailer Sales.