Nathan McClain and his Apple Orchard, c. 1915

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This is apparently a photo of a photo, printed on postcard stock. There is nothing written on the back, but there can be no doubt about the identity of the man with the long, white beard, even though there isn’t a clear view of his face. He is Nathan McClain (Great Grandpa McClain to many of my readers). This photo is interesting because it is the only photo I’ve seen that shows a bit of the apple orchard Nathan and Mary had in North Albany.

I suppose this photo could have been taken anytime between when Nathan and Mary moved to North Albany in 1911 and when Nathan passed away in 1919.

The identity of the children (presumably grandchildren) in the foreground would probably narrow down the date range, but I don’t know their identities, or even whether the child in back is a boy or a girl. Ideas welcome.

Jim (Nathan’s son) and wife Susan McClain and their four children at the time (Elmer, Howard, Mary, Myrtle) moved from Nebraska to Oregon about 1912, and remained there until about 1916 before returning to Nebraska. I don’t know the reason for this. It is possible that Jim and family actually lived with Nathan and Mary during this time, but I am far from certain of that. I am inclined to guess that they fell on particularly hard times in Nebraska and had no choice but to move in with Jim’s parents for a time. But I am way out on a speculation limb on this.

I bring this up because this photo may have been taken during that period, in which case the grandchildren may be Elmer and Howard, Jim’s oldest sons, who would have been six and three, respectively, in 1912 when the family moved to Oregon. But that’s a wild guess as to the children’s identities.

3 thoughts on “Nathan McClain and his Apple Orchard, c. 1915”

  1. Thanks, Lloyd. Think your assumptions are VERY reasonable!! That hill sure looks different now. It is curious to contemplate why Nathan’s son, Jim, and wife stayed in Oregon such a short time. Who would want to return to Nebraska, except for ??? !
    Your guess on the children with Nathan as Elmer and Howard, age wise makes sense looking at their size. Wonder if Nathan planted the Apple orchard….or if it was already on the property. Doesn’t seem like he has long to enjoy it since he died 8 years after coming to NAlbany. Lots of things to contemplate!!

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    1. Three points, for whatever they’re worth:

      • Jim and Susan were both born and raised in Nebraska and had made a life for themselves there. I guess I don’t find it surprising that they wanted to return. It took the Depression to force Jim out of Nebraska for good, and then he went to eastern Washington.
      • The evidence that Jim and Susan were in Oregon for an extended period of time is that their fifth and sixth children were born in Albany (in March, 1913 and September 1914). Sadly the sixth child (Helen Irene) died at 8 months old, in Benton County, in May 1915. (It is the fact that she died in Benton County that makes me suspect they may have been living with Nathan and Mary. But that is speculation, of course.) There is no assurance that the family was in Oregon continuously between late 1912 and mid-1915, but it seems unlikely to have been separate trips so close together. Furthermore, for the children to be born in Oregon required only that Susan be in Oregon, of course. Jim could have been in Nebraska for a lot of that time. Assuming Susan was already pregnant (but presumably not visibly so) when she came to Oregon in 1912, it would have taken only a visit from Jim in December 1913 to give us child number six in Oregon. Since Susan was back in Nebraska for the birth of child number seven in July 1916, she, at least, must have traveled back in late 1915 or very early 1916 before her pregnancy was visible. I would not be at all surprised to learn that Jim spent significant amounts of time in Nebraska while Susan and the children were living in Oregon, trying to work out a situation that would provide for their return to Nebraska.
      • Regarding the orchard, I think it must have been in place on the property when they bought it. Nathan was 62 years old when they moved to North Albany. It is hard to imagine him wanting to plant an orchard from scratch at that point. Given life expectancy at that time, he could not have expected an orchard planted when he was 62 to mature to the point of significant production before his likely death. (And as it turned out, he would have been right to think that.) My impression is that he bought property with an existing apple orchard on it, to have a little something that wasn’t too difficult to “farm” in his later years.
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  2. This is all so very interesting! Even the speculations help to flesh out this history of which I know very little. Thank you for all your research, Lloyd!

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