James & Sarah Roake House

cgwatson47

Jan 28, 20239 min read

20 11th Street

720 11th Street

James Humphrey Roake was born in Chertsey, Surrey, England on May 9, 1848. He was the oldest of four siblings, and while there is no information about his childhood, presumably it had it's challenges as both of his parents died on the same day in 1860 just three days after his 12th birthday. Whether he and his siblings were sent to an orphanage or distributed to family we can't know, but clearly he didn't see a future for himself in England. In 1869, when he was 21 years old, he departed on a ship named Virginia from Liverpool, arriving at Ellis Island on May 31 of that year. From there he made his way to Wisconsin, where by the following year he had met the woman who was to become his wife.

Sarah Emyretta Jones was born in July of 1851 in OshKosh, Wisconsin to parents John and Sarah Jones, and had one sister and three brothers. Again making assumptions, but given that she and her mother had the same first name she likely began using her middle name, Emy, rather early in life. When she was 19 she crossed paths with the recently arrived Englishman James, and they were married October 13 in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin. Their first child John Albert (Bert) Roake was born in Wisconsin in 1873, followed by siblings William Evan in 1874, Eva born (and died) in 1876, Chester Happy (Hap) in 1880, Ivy Belle in 1882, and Leslie Verne in 1884. Per the 1880 census, the family spent the late 1870s and early 1880s living in Menasha, Wisconsin where James was working in an excelsior factory.

James and Sarah Emyretta on their wedding day

James and Emyretta with their young family, ca. 1881

Excelsior isn't something many of us are familiar with today, as the industry mostly died out after the advent of plastics. However, in the late 1800s it was a booming industry. By the late 1880s Wisconsin was busy building numerous new excelsior facilities. Excelsior is a wood fiber, often in the form of spiral shavings, that were used for padding in packaging, toys, and furniture. Machinery was used to create these fibers from soft, light wood which was often provided by local farmers who were clearing soft wood trees like poplar, cottonwood, pine and basswood from their land. Because they couldn't sell the soft wood for lumber, they'd provide it to the excelsior plants.

The Roake family in front of their log cabin at Yellowstone. Left to Right: Bert (between horses), Hap (on horse), Emyretta, Will, Ivy, and James

Sometime around 1885 the young Roake family left Wisconsin and set off to the west. They settled for a year in a log cabin in what is now Yellowstone park, and then moved on to Oregon City, Oregon where they were living by 1888. The dates overlap a bit in the records, but it was around this time that James was working for a local company doing excelsior work, while simultaneously starting his own business, the Oregon City Iron Works. He purchased land at 5th and Water streets which had a view of the falls, but frequently flooded.

5th and Water, ca. 1880

Oregon City Iron Works before the flood of 1890.

This flooding was taken to the next level by the massive flood of February 3-5, 1890, in which water rose about two feet higher than the earlier heavy flooding of 1861. Many of the industrial buildings along Water Street were washed away by the water or heavily damaged. Holes had to be cut in the roofs of the sulfite pulp mills to release compressed air. The Willamette Falls Excelsior Company, of which James was an employee, had a warehouse that was swept all the way to the Morrison Bridge in Portland where it ultimately crashed. The Imperial Mills warehouse held on, but water rushed through the warehouse destroying 2,000 sacks of flour, another 2,000 of feed. Water filled the bank, forcing the relocation of the paper funds to the county treasurer's vaults, the planing mill was carried away, half of the houses on Goose Hollow were moved off their foundations, and all the wooden sidewalks below 6th street were swept away. Before the flood waters had even begun to fully recede, the Excelsior Company sent James off to drier areas to purchase new machinery for their facility. He purchased six excelsior machines and one picker, which were loaded on rail cars pending delivery upon the clearing of the flood waters to a temporary building.

By February 23 of that year the streets of Oregon City were full of people working hard to resume industry. A large group of men was engaged in clearing sediment and repairing the locks with the goal of reopening by the first week of March. James returned that day from his trip to secure machinery with several of the company's machines, shafting, and pulleys which he had managed to recover. These machines, along with those he purchased gave the excelsior works a capacity 50% larger than what they had before the floods. Many industries along the river saw the flood as both a curse and a blessing, as it showed "by actual experience what kind of buildings will stand and the ultimate result of the flood will be to bring to this point a lot of fine mills, well and substantially built."

Oregon City Foundry at 5th and Water, 1898. Bert Roake at left, James Roake on the right.

The Oregon City Iron Works which James had established on his lot at 5th and Water was one of the mills washed away by the flood. After recovering his losses he re-established himself as the Oregon City Foundry. The foundry was relocated from the original lot on 5th Street to Water and 4th, where it would remain for 20 years. In addition to providing equipment and services for many industries in the area, James was also using the foundry for his own inventions. The Oregon City Enterprise of January 19, 1900 has this story to tell of one of his creations:

Considerable curiosity was caused Monday by a peculiar combination of noises emanating from the vicinity of the Oregon City Iron Works. Inquiry developed the fact that it was caused by a new steam whistle that Jas. Roake had invented and was experimenting with. The peculiarity of it consists in having a sliding plunger, and steam applies from either end. With the plunger at one end a very shrill tone is produced and at the other end the tone is of the deepest bass. When the steam is applied from each end the plunger is centered and two tones are produced in harmony.

Another creation James was known for was his cannon, which was made of forged steel and weighed about 500 pounds. It was over five feet long and made from the best construction and finest materials. This cannon was completed in time for the Fourth of July celebrations of 1898, and there are numerous mentions of it in the local paper for decades after. In 1899 the cannon was brought out to announce the safe return of some naval vessels, as the town came out for a "spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm that could find expression in no other way than in noise--and noise it was. Roake had his cannon loaded to the nozzle and immediately the message was received, loud booms echoed among the hills and brought forth a deafening response from the whistles of all the mills and several steamers in the rivers." The cannon came out again in 1918 to announce the WWI armistice. After receiving the news at 2 am word spread through Oregon City like wildfire, with the churches ringing their bells, the ringing of the fire bell, steam whistles from the manufacturing plants, and a spontaneous parade down Main Street forming at 2:30am. A similar parade was held at 5 am and continued throughout the day--at one point there were 100 automobiles in attendance. According to the Oregon City Enterprise, "the Oregon City Foundry turned out in a body. With this delegation was the old time cannon that had been in possession of the Roake family for the past 25 years."

720 11th Street

Business was doing well enough to afford the family the opportunity to buy a plot of land in 1891, located at 720 11th Street. The home they built there was the center of many social occasions which are described in the society pages of local Oregon City newspapers. On April 22, 1898 the Oregon City Courier described a "very pleasant surprise party" given for Ivy Roake, who had just turned 16 on April 5. The party was held at her parents home, and consisted of games, refreshments, instrumental solos, singing, and recitations from friends and siblings. The family seems to have been musically talented--the paper frequently describes musical solos and other performances given by Emy, Bert, Chester and Leslie. They were also heavily involved in singing and performances as members of the First Congregational Church choir.

The Congregational Church in 1890

The Congregational Church was initially formed in Oregon City in 1849 with the construction of their first building in 1850 on Main and Moss (11th) streets. The congregation quickly outgrew the building, and shortly after the arrival of the Roake family, the church expanded with a new edifice in 1890. This new building consisted of a 102 foot tower and spire topped by a gilded arrow surmounting a gilded ball, which symbolized the Church Society's emphasis on "freedom of thought in the search for truth and knowledge." The family attended this church, sang in the choir, and served as officers there until a fire destroyed the original building in 1923.

William Rowan on the left, J.A. "Bert" Roake on the right

There were several changes as the family and business was growing in the early 1890s. Shortly after building their house in 1891, the foundry relocated from it's original location in 1892. On December 9, 1893 their oldest son John Albert (Bert) married Nora Belle Rowan at a Baptist Church in Gladstone. Bert was working for his father at the time as a molder in the foundry. In 1895, James sold the Oregon City Foundry to Nora Belle's brother, William Rowan. The Rowans were originally from Iowa and had come to Oregon City via Texas in 1892, where William originally found work at the Crown Paper Mill before buying the foundry. Presumably James had not retired, as he was only in his late 40s and was still working at the mill building cannons and steam whistles through the first year or two of the 1900s. Perhaps he wanted to step aside from the business operations to focus on inventing.

Made in the Oregon City Foundry, year unknown.

In approximately 1902 James, Emy, and some of the children left Oregon City to live in Long Beach, California. The reason is unknown, as is what they did during this time, but by 1910 or so they had returned to their home on 11th and Jefferson. Chester stayed behind and was still living in Chico as of 1913. Clearly James liked what he saw in Long Beach, because he wrote a letter to the newspaper expressing the benefits of a "dry" town. The original letter was unable to be located, but the response from another citizen is worth sharing. This is from the Morning Enterprise of October 28, 1913:

Replying to Mr. Roake...In Sunday's paper one who signs himself Jas. Roake sounds praises for Long Beach, California--a "dry" community--and says that he believes if Oregon City goes "dry" that "we will get a good class of citizens to live here." It is too bad that Mr. Roake does not approve of the present inhabitants of this city, and that he thinks it needs the abolishment of the saloon to attract "a good class." Present residents will be flattered at his comment. Mr. Roake enlarges upon the belief that one could not get a drink of liquor in Long Beach. Not so very long ago there was a flourishing "blind pig" there, on the main thoroughfare, and half a block from the principle hotel. As many Oregon City people who visited the city know it was situated in the rear of a bake shop, and was never molested by the police. Perhaps if Mr. Roake's wish comes true, and Oregon City "goes dry," we will have a blind pig or two here, and then maybe his "good class of citizens" will move to town. But what has Mr. Roake's inability to find a blind pig in Long Beach, Cal. got to do with the issue in Oregon City, which is: can this city afford at the present time, with its increasing municipal debt, to cut off $10,000 of its annual revenue, and get no benefits in return? --Maxwell Vietor

Aside from writing letters to the editor, James and Emy's life after returning to Oregon City seems to consist mostly of serving the Congregational Church, family gatherings, and the marriages of their children. In October of 1920 they celebrated their Golden wedding anniversary with a gathering at the Congregational Church with about 100 friends and family members. According to the Oregon City Enterprise, photos from their younger days were projected on a screen, solos were sung, and gifts were presented. The paper mentions their long history as members of the church choir and the high esteem in which they were held by the community.

The Roake family around the time of the 5oth wedding anniversary. Rear row left to right: Will, Bert, Vern, Happy. Front row: Emyretta, Ivy, James.

James passed away in 1932, followed closely by Sarah Emyretta who passed in 1933. They are buried together at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City. The house at 720 11th street then was left to their daughter Ivy and her husband John Crawford, who resided there until 1944 when it was sold.