HOLLEY AND THE PHILPOTT FAMILY

Located southwest of Sweet Home, Holley today is little more than a crossroads on Highway 228. But it wasn’t always that way. At one time, Holley was a vibrant community, even though it was smaller than Sweet Home.

By the late 1800s, many fine families had settled in the Holley community. The Barr, Malone, Rice, Splawn, Lewis, McQueen and Philpott families were some of these. I’ve written about some of these families in the past.

The first Holley Post Office opened in 1890 inside the Pugh general store. Mail was slow but always important.

As in other local communities, sawmills became the place to work and make money. The Robnett sawmill, the Rice sawmill and the McDowell shingle mill all employed local men. In time another mill would be active, the Calapooia Lumber company. Jobs made the community prosper and a few businesses came.

Downtown Holley had McClun’s fine general store, one of the prominent businesses in the community. Ed McClun operated the store and then worked his two sons Ben and Everett into helping at the store.

Farmers came to buy nails, wire, and maybe a bolt of cloth for their wives. Ladies bought coffee, baking powder and sugar and at the back of the store by the potbelly stove where all the farmers gathered to visit during the winter days. This store had everything you needed, even a pair of boots or kerosene for the lamps. The Post Office later was run by the McClun family in the store. The entire building burned in the late 1940’s. This ended the store.

Holley’s first church was built in 1897. The Christian Church welcomed settlers who came to church in oxen-driven wagons.

Then, in 1903, the Holley Grange became an important factor in this community. Thomas Philpott was instrumental in building Holley’s Grange Hall. The hall was used for fairs, grange meetings, interesting community events and dances when locals gave up dancing in the blacksmith shop. The grange is still active today. Norval Rice gave the land for the grange hall.

The pioneer Philpott family came to Oregon in 1851 with a wagon train going north, bringing their four oxen teams and wagons filled with all their belongings. William Philpott, who was born Feb. 22, 1822, married Sarah Darby. William and Sarah were young and excited about the adventure they experienced on their way to the Oregon Territory.

One day Indians attacked their wagons, stole some cattle, but they were not afraid and never turned back. The young couple settled in Holley where they filed a land donation claim just two miles out of town on Fern Ridge. William lived most of his life in Oregon and died here in 1900. Both he and Sarah were buried in the Brownsville Baptist cemetery.

They had a son, born June 14, 1854, whom they named Thomas. He was born on the Fern Ridge ranch. Thomas stayed with his parents until he turned 28 and then found his own place on Fern Ridge. He raised Durham cattle, Merino sheep and a few horses.

Thomas met and married Sarah Rice, one of the huge Rice clan. They had six children, Tracy, Cleveland, Justin, Vera, Franklin and the youngest, Landis. They belonged to the Holley Christian church. Thomas was the road supervisor for Linn County and also served on the local school board.

On Dec. 16, 1885, Justin Philpott was born to Sarah and Thomas on Fern Ridge in a rough board house. Justin became a prominent member of the community.

His first school days were in the Christian church, then later at Holley School where he learned readin’, ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic. Schools seemed to be the most used building by the community. The first school organized in 1855 but it would be later before it regularly held classes. Blacktail deer roamed the area and provided distractions for the school children. It was a good location for children to enjoy.

Justin was interested in his Uncle Homer Rice’s blacksmith shop and learned to do many things in the blacksmith shop. He just could not stay away from his uncle’s shop. And later that would come in handy for Justin’s career. But first he farmed and logged.

This family lived in the Holley area all their lives and was one of the prominent families that made this area a good place to settle.

Justin and his brothers, Cleve and Vern, had a happy childhood growing up in Holley. They enjoyed the parties and dances. Local girls noticed the three fine young men who raced their horses with silver trimmings on their saddles and fine leather stirrups. Throughout Justin’s life he had great horses that pranced and held their heads high.

About 1900 Timothy Riggs and George Lowery built a grist mill on the river bank of Rice Road. Every community needed a grist mill for grinding flour. After the mill closed, dances were held there. Horse and buggies tied up to the post outside. Dancers danced all night and headed home at daybreak to milk the cows and do other chores.

There were other things to do in Holley besides work. Living on the river gave residents a perfect place to play often. The Philpott swimming hole on the Calapooia River has been popular with young people for a century, and is still used today by locals. I even went out to the Philpotts and swam in my young days.

Justin and his brothers enjoyed having young people around. The current of the river brought in small branches and trees and Justin made sure the place was safe for the swimmers all summer long. And he continued picking up the brush in the river even in his later years.

The trade that Uncle Homer taught Justin would lead him to becoming a skilled blacksmith. He liked to travel seeing the country and moved around at first. Justin worked on cattle ranches all over eastern Oregon driving in large cattle drives; but eventually returned to his Holley home to settle down. He was born in the right era.

Justin married Edith Cross Lloyd born May 23, 1918 and they eventually settled on his grandfather Norval Rice’s property on the mighty Calapooia River area. Justin and Edith raised four children, Basil Lloyd, Ramona Heeter, Wilma Clarke and Tom Philpott, the youngest.

As a good blacksmith, Justin made large tools, fixed carriage wheels and wagons, made horseshoes, bits for his horses, plows, door hinges, wagon parts and branding irons. The blacksmith shop was the place where horses were shod. The shop was a busy warm spot in the winter. Every pioneer community had one near the livery stable.

Justin was also good at working with leather. He liked to use rawhide to made ropes, reins, bridles and hackamores for his horses and to sell to other settlers.

The East Linn Museum houses the Justin Philpott blacksmith shop with his tools, a large forge, a power hammer, tongs and other tools he used every day. Some of the items he made were ingenious, with many cranks and gears. Justin enjoying making knives, crowbars, hooks for pulleys and logging hooks. For many years he did the Sweet Home blacksmith work.

Justin made a fine living with his blacksmith shop, shoeing horses, clearing the land of trees for farming and the family did well. He retired in 1955. He and Edith spent 56 contented years together before she died in 1975, leaving many descendants.

The Holley School district was formed in 1855. The rough boards, donated from local mills, framed the one room schoolhouse. The pot-bellied stove heated parts of the room, and students crowded around the stove. It was a long walk to school and excited students didn’t want to miss a lesson. The students had chores to do and they were all up early each morning. Some of the older boys brought in firewood for the hungry stove, and heavy pails of drinking water from the well. The girls helped too, by sweeping off the rough flooring boards. Slates and chalk were furnished for the students learning to write.

In 1937 Edith Philpott was elected as a three-year director of the Holley school board. Another room soon was needed at the crowded one-room school. Two rooms were used after teachers Mrs. Callie Bigbee and Mrs. Gordon were hired. Mrs. Bigbee had 76 students in her room. It certainly was time for a larger school at Holley.

Callie Bigbee, a popular teacher, also taught other schools. Later she held Bigbee picnics for former students and I went with my grandmother, Lettie Sankey, to several at the city park. There were people of all ages there because Mrs. Bigbee taught many, many years!

Tom Philpott said his dad walked all the way to Wendling to work for a logging company, staying with a family there and walked home again on Friday night. Justin Philpott was always busy and the walk was probably 35 miles round trip.

He had seen the change from horses to automobile. One trip on the stage while he was in Eastern Oregon wanted $10 for a 40 mile ride; he decided to walk instead. In his final years, he walked daily to the Holley store.

The early community of Holley was the Christian Church, McClun store, and a real schoolhouse with several classrooms. Just four houses perched along the rough road during the early years of Justin’s life. But the area would grow in time.

Justin passed on in February 1984 at the age of 98. He was buried at the Crawfordsville Union Cemetery. Elder Cleo Thompson, a much respected man in this community, officiated at Justin’s funeral service in the Holley church.

Tom Philpott, born June 4, 1929, was close to his father, Justin, and never strayed far from the area. He attended Holley school beginning in 1936, when all eight grades were in one room. Everett Daugherty was his first grade teacher, and Mrs. Callie Bigbee taught him in second grade. He remembers Mrs. Gainer in fifth; Mrs. Rogers in sixth and seventh; and the wonderful Donna McQueen as his eighth-grade teacher. The school burned down in 1948.

Tom entered Sweet Home High School and was part of my class of 1948. The fall of 1944, we both entered high school as excited freshman. He never liked school too much, he said, but he stayed with it for a long time, although he never graduated from high school.

Later he did some gypo logging, some for his neighbors as well as on the Philpott place; worked at the Western Veneer Plywood, and hauled logs in his truck for 44 years. He had several trucks, but usually owned one at a time. He learned to log the Philpott land with his own Caterpillar, which he still has today. These logs were large; he used the Cat to skid and load the logs on his own truck and hauled them into Bill Bowman’s Mill, Oregon Plywood and Oar Lumber mill.

Tom still lives on the Philpott place on the river and enjoys it. He has three grown children. Son Jim Philpott runs the Lester’s Sales building supply business with his wife Marsha by his side. Jim’s daughters are Kristin and Karen.

Tom’s grown daughters are Kimberly Medina and Linda Williams and he has eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandkids.

Ramona Heeter and Wilma Clark spend some time with brother Tom for a visit or two. Ramona lives today at Wiley Creek Retirement Center and is quite well despite using a wheelchair for mobility.

She can drive that wheel chair as fast as I can walk. I visited with her recently and she claims to be writing the story of her life.

History is an important part of Tom’s life too and he has become the local Holley historian and definitely has lived through many good years of Holley and Sweet Home times.

Just ask Tom about his fine picture albums and you will find a pleasurable day of looking at old days of Holley history and perhaps logging too. Yes, Tom does know area history and he enjoys telling you how important the early pioneers were and we know his dad Justin Philpott was a big part of Holley’s history. That is why the local museum has a Justin Philpott blacksmith shop that will keep you entertained for a long spell.

Tom Philpott’s manufactured home is in a prime location near his Rice cousins and his tree farm. He enjoys his dog, the peace and quiet of the sound of the river as it rushes by his door. Tom seems to have a good life along the Calapooia River.