This is the third in a series of posts on a set of portraits of the children of Nathan and Mary McClain, taken in 1898. More details about that set is in this previous post. The next child in the line-up is Mary Elizabeth McClain, known in the family as “Mae.”
Mae turned 16 in December 1898, so was probably still 15 when this portrait was taken. She was 18 in 1901 when the family moved to Oregon and probably 19 by the time they reached the Willamette Valley.
She married Harvey Lake in December 1903 in Albany, just three weeks before her 21st birthday. The 1900 census shows Harvey living with his parents in North Platte, Nebraska (30 miles from Paxton). It seems virtually certain, given the timing, that Mae and Harvey had a relationship before the move in 1901, and that he was willing to come to Oregon to marry her.
Harvey and Mary lived in Albany until the mid-1920s, and had five children there: Elmer, Cheslah, Kenneth, Dorothy and Donald. Dorothy’s obituary maintains that they lived on a farm in Lebanon, in Salem and in Portland, as well as in Albany, “when she was a girl.” (Dorothy was born in 1912.) All I know is that they were living in Albany in 1910 before Dorothy was born, and also in 1920 when she was eight. If all those other places came after 1920, they must have moved a lot, since Dorothy’s obituary states that they moved to Ontario, Oregon “about 1925.” (That date seems reasonable—it was sometime before 1930.) The 1930 census shows Harvey working as a foreman in a fruit packing plant. Harvey and Mary remained in Ontario most of the rest of their lives, I believe. They passed away in Milton-Freewater, a year apart (Harvey in 1959, Mary in 1960). I suspect they were in Milton-Freewater because their daughter Dorothy lived there.
If you have been hanging around this blog for a while, you will have met Elmer and Cheslah in an earlier post.
Here is what I can tell you about each of the children:
- I don’t think Elmer moved to Ontario with his parents. He married Velma Eastburn in 1927. (Not sure where the wedding was, but she was from Albany.) They had three children. In 1930 they were in Coos Bay. In 1940 they were in Marion County, where they may have remained. In 1990 they were in Silverton. He passed away in Mt. Angel in 1998.
- I don’t think Cheslah moved to Ontario either. She married Walt Young in the early 1930s. I don’t have an exact year. In 1940 they were living in Lebanon and Cheslah was teaching school. Walt was unemployed. They had one son who continued to live in Lebanon as an adult. Cheslah passed away in 1983 and is buried in Lebanon.
- Kenneth did move to Ontario with his parents. I don’t have a record that he married. He passed away in Sacramento, California in 1970, age 61.
- Dorothy married Charles Heard in Ontario in 1937. They had two children. If I’m not mistaken they had a cattle ranch in Milton-Freewater most of their lives. Dorothy lived to be 100 and passed away in 2013. I had occasion to speak with her on the phone when she was in her early 90s and she was still tending the cattle on the ranch at that time.
- Don enlisted in the army in 1942 and fought in World War 2. He married Irene Meredith after the war, apparently. They had five children. I don’t know the entire path of their lives, but by 1990 they were living on Vashon Island, Washington. He passed away there in 1996.
Loved hearing about Mae’s family. I remember Mom talking about Dorothy and Cheslah….but Dorothy I remember from the visists she made to see the McClain cousins when they got together. She was lots of fun and full of energy. No wonder she lived to 100!! So glad you had conversation with her, Lloyd. Had no idea that she lived that long!!
Thank you for all the information! I love all the details!