This is the seventh in a series of posts concerning individual portraits taken of the children of Nathan and Mary McClain in 1898. More details about that set is in this previous post. The next child in the line-up is Ellery Coffey McClain.
Ellery turned nine years old in October 1898. So was probably still eight in this portrait.
He was probably eleven when the family moved to Oregon, and possibly twelve by the time they reached the Willamette Valley. He was 20 when the 1910 census was taken, and was living with his parents and working on the farm in Tallman. Later that year his parents moved to North Albany and Ellery married Leota Long, who had also grown up in the Tallman area. I don’t know whether he remained on the land his parents had been farming or he got a different farm in the area, but he remained in the Tallman area and farmed.
Between 1914 and 1926 Ellery and Leota had three sons and a daughter: Eldon, Leland, William “Claire” and Ruth.
Sometime between 1935 and 1940 Ellery and Leota moved to Lacomb, where Ellery continued to farm. But by 1942 they were living in Lebanon and Ellery was working for the city. They remained in Lebanon for the rest of their lives. Ellery passed away in 1956. Leota outlived him by 23 years, passing away in 1979.
Here is a brief summary of Ellery and Leota’s children. I’ll warn you that I don’t have much information on them.
- Eldon seems to have lived his entire life in the Lebanon area. He married Leona (I don’t know her maiden name) about 1940. They had two daughters. He passed away in 1976.
- Leland also seems to have lived his entire life in the Lebanon area. He married Edna Larson in 1941. They had three sons. He passed away in 1999.
- Claire married Gene Mary
(I don’t know her maiden name)Redmond in 1945. They ended up in Wahkiakum County, Washington (along the Columbia River). They had two sons and a daughter. He passed away in 1980, (Thank you to Susan Kuhn for the corrections and additional information.) - Ruth married Warren Painter in 1950 in Washington. They ended up in Bakersfield, California. They had three children. Ruth passed away in 1981.