1014-1016 6th Street
Oregon City
T.J. and Mary McCarver House, circa 2002.
T.J. and Mary McCarver house. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 2, 2022.
This property was originally purchased from the Oregon Territory by Clackamas County in 1855. In 1865 the property changed hands three times, ending up with Thomas Jennings McCarver and his wife Mary Elizabeth Goodlive McCarver. The house is a two story Classic Revival home that was built circa 1865.
Thomas was the son of General Morton Matthew McCarver and his first wife Mary Ann Jennings. He was born April 26, 1833 in Knox County, Illinois and he crossed the plains to Oregon with his family in 1843 when he was ten years old. Upon their arrival in Oregon, his father Morton platted the town of Linnton where they initially resided until they moved to their donation land claim in Oregon City. Here he would have lived with his step-mother and siblings while his father was away in California for the Gold Rush, until 1850 when the family home was constructed. Shortly thereafter, Thomas returned to the Midwest. This is where he met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Goodlive, who he married in McConnellsville, Ohio on August 19 1852. Mary was born in McConnellsville on November 19, 1834, the oldest of eight children born to Jacob and Mary Goodlive.
Marriage record for T.J. and Mary, courtesy Ancestry.com.
Two years after their marriage, the young couple left the Midwest to travel by ox team across the plains with their first child Frances. They reached Oregon in September 1854, with Mary later recollecting that they had arrived to safety shortly after a massacre had occurred on the plains they had just crossed. She is likely referring to the First Sioux War, which broke out near Fort Laramie in August 1854 after a dispute over a killed cow arose between travelers heading west and the local Lakota. On August 19 thirty men set out from the post at Laramie, demanding that the Lakota turn over the cow killer. The soldiers opened fire, and in response the Lakota killed all thirty men. Tensions between the whites and the native tribes were at a high during these years of travel.
Upon arrival Thomas and Mary spent the winter with Thomas’ parents at the McCarver house just south of Oregon City. From there, they moved first to Canemah and then to Portland. According to Mary’s obituary, Thomas enlisted to fight the Indian War of 1856-1857. This may have been the Rogue River War, which his father had also fought in. The Rogue River war began in late 1855 in Southern Oregon, and continued into the summer of 1856 when most of the native survivors were relocated to reservations. During this time Mary lived with her children in both Portland and Salem. Once the war was over, the family returned to Oregon City.
It appears that upon his return to Oregon City in 1857 T.J. began to look for land to purchase. Several advertisements were placed in the Oregon City Argus that year by T.J. seeking land warrants. Land warrants were when an individual assumed ownership of public lands. Here is one example of one of his 1857 advertisements:
Oregon City Argus, July 18, 1857 edition.
From 1865 on, the family lived in their home on 6th street, where they raised their children Frances, George William, Hattie L. (Babcock), Anita Hensley, and Harry Ralston. The family attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Thomas was active in county politics. He served as deputy sheriff and city recorder in addition to operating a saloon. He was also a charter member of the Clackamas County Democratic Club, formed in 1868, for which he served as Secretary:
Oregon City Enterprise, February 15, 1868 edition.
Sadly, Thomas passed away at the young age of 48 on December 4, 1881. He was buried in the Masonic section of Mountain View Cemetery. Mary continued to live in Oregon City, where at some point in the 1890s or early 1900s she moved in with her daughter Hattie Babcock who lived at 1214 Washington Street. She passed away November 29, 1918 and was buried next to her husband.
Sources:
Oregon City Historic Resource Survey Form, Alex McMurry, April 8, 2002
Oregon City Courier, Nov. 22, 1912, p. 3
Oregon City Argus, July 18, 1857 edition
Oregon City Enterprise, Febuary 15, 1868 edition
Ancestry.com
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