The coordinates below will take you to the hidden and relatively unknown single grave of Emily Palmer Bell and her younger brother Norman Palmer Jr.
The grave lay unattended for years, the trees and bushes grew tall and obscured this tiny plot alongside the road between the towns of Cascade and Stevenson. Then, when the highway was to be widened the grave site was discovered.
In 1914 it was reported in the Skamania County Pioneer, "..while constructing the state road down near Icehouse Lake, the honor men dug up two graves recently, a man and a woman...The graves were found in a gravely knoll just east of Icehouse Lake and were removed from the place where they had lain.
The spot the pair now occupy is adjacent to the south side of Washington Highway 14 and just east of the approach to "the Bridge of the Gods". The highway department in the 1960's placed a fence around it with a reader-board which spells out the inscription on Emily's stone. They also repaired the broken marker with a concrete splice. A newer granet stone has also been placed more recently.
More at http://www.imanfamily.net/skamania/palmer/index.html
Brother is Norman Palmer, Jr.
Emily Bell (94361546)
Suggested edit: Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell did not come with the family to Oregon in 1851; rather, she came in 1853 to rejoin her brothers and sisters. Her strong devotion to her brothers and sisters made it impossible for her to remain in Illinois. No clue anywhere has been found with which family she traveled. Emily had married John H. Sconce in Danville, Illinois, Oct. 21, 1847. The John H. Sconce family appears in the 1850 census of Vermilion Co., Illinois, in which John is 30, Emily is 23, and their daughter, Anna B. is 1 year old. Perhaps it was the extreme youth of Anna which compelled the couple to remain in Danville while the others moved away. Perhaps it was the active business Sconce had as a lawyer that kept them at home. We find two cases in 1850 and 1851 in which Sconce and Abraham Lincoln were attorneys for the defense together. These reasons became moot for Emily when her husband suddenly died.
By December of 1853, Emily and Anna Sconce were living with her sister, Helen Bradford. This arrangement did not last very long and in November of 1854 her sister Helen Bradford wrote, "Emily is keeping school at the Dalls. She gets six dollars a schollar, and has twelve schollars." Emily herself is not very proud of her teaching abilities and she writes in March of 1855, "I have had a pressing invitation to go to Olympia to teach but I know that I am not competent to teach a decent school. I have been teaching at the dalls this last winter they are anxyous to have one teach this summer but I do not know what I shall do. If I only owned a house in this country I could sew and wash and get my living independent of any body but this thing of being around with my child from pillor to post is not to agreeable.
"The best ox I had of the yoke I had left died last winter but I guess it is unnecessary to trouble you with my little affairs so I say no more only that Anna is a big girl read very well in the first reader and wants Luna's boy called Grand Pa..."
Emily moved to Portland and in a letter to her father in Illinois dated 26 Oct. 1855 wrote, "I write in haste for I expect that I’m to start soon. I want to tell you I do not wish you to sell my place for two thousand dollar, true I am in need of money but my hand is in at washing now and I do not wish any sacrifice to be made.
"I never expect to have a home and if I ever have one I shall ??not be?? Disappointed. There is no news of ??? Bishop ??? Bradford have moved their families to Portland for safety. The Indians at this time are very troublesome all over Oregon.
"We have not heard from Norman since last winter & I fear we never shall. There has been near a dozen families killed in Southern Oregon and a great many more whose names are not known.
"I hope you will excuse the shortness of this letter
"Please tell my friends to whom I have writen that I am very much obliged to them for their many answers and when they get any more news from me it will be through the medicine of my Spirit..."
On the overland trip to Oregon in 1851 the Palmer family had become acquainted with Isaac N. Ebey who they met at Fort Boise. Ebey by then was known as Colonel Ebey, an honorary title given him for his leadership during Indian troubles on the Puget Sound. Ebey was a proponent of developing that part of Washington Territory and was a delegate to the territorial congress. He is credited with the naming of the capitol, Olympia. In a letter to their father in Illinois, dated 26 Nov., 1855, Cornelius wrote, "Emily is nearly froze to death to marry Col. Eby -- I tell her if she wants to marry trouble to pitch in but if she does that they can't eat any of my pork & cabbage, thats all" Emily did not take her brother's advice for in a notice found in the "Oregon Argus" of 2 Feb.1856, we find, "Married: In Portland, Jan. 21st by Rev. William Roberts, Col. Isaac N. Ebey, of Whidby's Island, W.T., to Mrs. Emily A. Sconce, of the former place." The newly wed couple remained in Portland for a short while and had plans to move to Port Townsend and then to Whidbey Island.
Emily was perhaps the first to depart the area. She had recently married Isaac N. Ebey and already had in place plans to relocate to Whidbey Island. Fate seems particularly cruel in Emily's case for on 11 August, 1857, her second husband, Ebey, was killed by Haidah Indians in a reprisal for the loss of one of their chiefs. Ebey left behind two sons and a daughter from his previous marriage. These children were then raised by Ebey's parents who were living nearby. Bolivar Bishop traveled to Whidbey Island to bring Emily and her daughter, Anna, home with him. He escorted Emily to Portland where she moved in with Putnam, Helen, and Flint Bradford.
Emily Ebey found herself in the position of a destitute widow. Apparently there were no funds available to her from Ebey's estate. In several letters she pleads with her father to send her money. There is the matter of property she still holds from her first marriage and also the matter of the estate of a relation of her first husband which might benefit her daughter. In a letter dated 17 Jan., 1858, from The Dalles to her father in Illinois, Emily wrote, "One week ago to day I wrote you a letter in which I again called for money to day I rec'd your letter in which was a draft for two hundred dollars for which I am thankful. When I came over from the sound I found the pictures which you speak of safe and supposed some of the rest have acknowledged the receipt of them. However I was so full of trouble embarrassment that I thought very little about anything. I am very glad to you sent them and I know the rest feel the same and we have all been talking of sending ours in return we will send the photograph I think in the spring.
"I am now working at that business at the Dalls by the by the dalls has got to be quite a place. And now that I have a little money I am going to try to buy me a house or rather a lot and build me a house everything is very high in the shape of property here. Now a word for Anna. Anna had got to be quite a good girl when the Col. was killed but it seems to make her mad I believe because she has no steady home. I am boarding where I have boarded before with an old acquaintance for which I pay seven dollars a week they are very kind to me. I am teaching Anna myself.
"Everything in this country would flourish were it not for the damper thrown over it by the accursed Indian Government has wasted thousands of dollars feeding and clothing them but the widow and orphan of those they have butchered are ???? Some of them destitute. you have had no idea of the blood that has been shed by the Indians."
Emily apparently could not make a go of it in The Dalles and the next we hear about her she was back at the Cascades. In a letter from Helen Palmer to Illinois dated 18 Apr., 1858, "...Sister Emily comes next She is living with me at present you have heard of her misfortune how sudden and unexpectedly he was taken away she has been left a widow again without anything for her to live upon if you could get her some of her money and send to her she would like it very much if she ever needs it it is now if you could send enough so that she could buy her a house and lots where she could live and send Anna to school. Anna is almost nine years old she is getting to be quite a large girl and she feel as if she ought to be going to school. Emily has not had very good health since the Col. death but is now better than she was a month ago..." Putnam adds, "...Emily & Anna are at present with us and well..." Emily applied for and became the recipient of the very first widow's pension given by Washington Territory.
Emily then went to Portland. In a letter to her father in Illinois dated 5 Sept., 1858, she wrote, "...it seems sometimes I have so much trouble I can not cannot bear it all. Oh if I only had wings to fly away far beyond witnessing scenes of sorrow but I am here and here I must stay my allotted time.
"I am keeping house in this place and at this time am alone. Anna has gone to church.
"I hardly know what I am going to do to make a living. I think however I shall take a few borders. I am troubled about it because I fear I cannot stand it long to work so hard. Anna is is a great help to me but she must go to school. I am now living on my last fifty dollars and you know in this country fifty dollars does not go far. I pay fifteen dollars a month for rent.
"I understand you have some money for me the merchants here ???? me there is no need ???? your paying any percent for a draft just let the money be deposited in one of the New York City Banks in my name and certificates taken in duplicate and forwared by mail (seperate one by one mail and the others by the next to my address and I get here for them two or three percent. If you cannot send a draft without paying for it you ??? not sent it at all. Others send send money back and forth and get a premium on it why should I have to pay to have it sent to me
"If I had it the interest here would just pay my rent.
"I am glad to hear you are all living at your ease and taking comfort. I hope you may never never know the sorrows that I have...
"I believe there is no talk at any of us going to the states at present. I have thought if I could get there and home to go to I would go but such thoughts are worse than vain. have I money enough to buy me a home there. Oh if Cornelius would only conclude to go home and be steady what a comfort it would be to me I will try and persuade him to do so when he gets well.
"Anna thinks it is very heard that she cannot write well enough to write George a letter. She got a little school mate of hers to write one to her Grand Pa last week. but I would not let her send it she must wait untill she can write herself. then I expect you will hear from us oftener..." Sometime after this letter Emily meets and marries in Portland Dr. L. M. Bell a surgeon with the army at Fort Vancouver. By all accounts they are reported to reside in McMinnville, Oregon.
Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell lived in McMinnville for a few years with her new husband but died there suddenly. Her husband honored her last wishes and had her remains buried next to her brother, Norman. The site is a tiny, 2 grave plot overlooking the Columbia river where the Bridge of the Gods comes to rest on the Washington side of the river. Her marker reads, "Sacred to the memory of E. A. Bell wife of Dr. L. M. Bell died April 17, 1863 age 38." This age would mean she was born in 1825 whereas the census records referred to before indicate she was born 1827. Dr. Bell has disappeared from the record. Emily's daughter, Anna, was only 13 years of age.
Contributor: Joel Swink
The grave lay unattended for years, the trees and bushes grew tall and obscured this tiny plot alongside the road between the towns of Cascade and Stevenson. Then, when the highway was to be widened the grave site was discovered.
In 1914 it was reported in the Skamania County Pioneer, "..while constructing the state road down near Icehouse Lake, the honor men dug up two graves recently, a man and a woman...The graves were found in a gravely knoll just east of Icehouse Lake and were removed from the place where they had lain.
The spot the pair now occupy is adjacent to the south side of Washington Highway 14 and just east of the approach to "the Bridge of the Gods". The highway department in the 1960's placed a fence around it with a reader-board which spells out the inscription on Emily's stone. They also repaired the broken marker with a concrete splice. A newer granet stone has also been placed more recently.
More at http://www.imanfamily.net/skamania/palmer/index.html
Brother is Norman Palmer, Jr.
Emily Bell (94361546)
Suggested edit: Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell did not come with the family to Oregon in 1851; rather, she came in 1853 to rejoin her brothers and sisters. Her strong devotion to her brothers and sisters made it impossible for her to remain in Illinois. No clue anywhere has been found with which family she traveled. Emily had married John H. Sconce in Danville, Illinois, Oct. 21, 1847. The John H. Sconce family appears in the 1850 census of Vermilion Co., Illinois, in which John is 30, Emily is 23, and their daughter, Anna B. is 1 year old. Perhaps it was the extreme youth of Anna which compelled the couple to remain in Danville while the others moved away. Perhaps it was the active business Sconce had as a lawyer that kept them at home. We find two cases in 1850 and 1851 in which Sconce and Abraham Lincoln were attorneys for the defense together. These reasons became moot for Emily when her husband suddenly died.
By December of 1853, Emily and Anna Sconce were living with her sister, Helen Bradford. This arrangement did not last very long and in November of 1854 her sister Helen Bradford wrote, "Emily is keeping school at the Dalls. She gets six dollars a schollar, and has twelve schollars." Emily herself is not very proud of her teaching abilities and she writes in March of 1855, "I have had a pressing invitation to go to Olympia to teach but I know that I am not competent to teach a decent school. I have been teaching at the dalls this last winter they are anxyous to have one teach this summer but I do not know what I shall do. If I only owned a house in this country I could sew and wash and get my living independent of any body but this thing of being around with my child from pillor to post is not to agreeable.
"The best ox I had of the yoke I had left died last winter but I guess it is unnecessary to trouble you with my little affairs so I say no more only that Anna is a big girl read very well in the first reader and wants Luna's boy called Grand Pa..."
Emily moved to Portland and in a letter to her father in Illinois dated 26 Oct. 1855 wrote, "I write in haste for I expect that I’m to start soon. I want to tell you I do not wish you to sell my place for two thousand dollar, true I am in need of money but my hand is in at washing now and I do not wish any sacrifice to be made.
"I never expect to have a home and if I ever have one I shall ??not be?? Disappointed. There is no news of ??? Bishop ??? Bradford have moved their families to Portland for safety. The Indians at this time are very troublesome all over Oregon.
"We have not heard from Norman since last winter & I fear we never shall. There has been near a dozen families killed in Southern Oregon and a great many more whose names are not known.
"I hope you will excuse the shortness of this letter
"Please tell my friends to whom I have writen that I am very much obliged to them for their many answers and when they get any more news from me it will be through the medicine of my Spirit..."
On the overland trip to Oregon in 1851 the Palmer family had become acquainted with Isaac N. Ebey who they met at Fort Boise. Ebey by then was known as Colonel Ebey, an honorary title given him for his leadership during Indian troubles on the Puget Sound. Ebey was a proponent of developing that part of Washington Territory and was a delegate to the territorial congress. He is credited with the naming of the capitol, Olympia. In a letter to their father in Illinois, dated 26 Nov., 1855, Cornelius wrote, "Emily is nearly froze to death to marry Col. Eby -- I tell her if she wants to marry trouble to pitch in but if she does that they can't eat any of my pork & cabbage, thats all" Emily did not take her brother's advice for in a notice found in the "Oregon Argus" of 2 Feb.1856, we find, "Married: In Portland, Jan. 21st by Rev. William Roberts, Col. Isaac N. Ebey, of Whidby's Island, W.T., to Mrs. Emily A. Sconce, of the former place." The newly wed couple remained in Portland for a short while and had plans to move to Port Townsend and then to Whidbey Island.
Emily was perhaps the first to depart the area. She had recently married Isaac N. Ebey and already had in place plans to relocate to Whidbey Island. Fate seems particularly cruel in Emily's case for on 11 August, 1857, her second husband, Ebey, was killed by Haidah Indians in a reprisal for the loss of one of their chiefs. Ebey left behind two sons and a daughter from his previous marriage. These children were then raised by Ebey's parents who were living nearby. Bolivar Bishop traveled to Whidbey Island to bring Emily and her daughter, Anna, home with him. He escorted Emily to Portland where she moved in with Putnam, Helen, and Flint Bradford.
Emily Ebey found herself in the position of a destitute widow. Apparently there were no funds available to her from Ebey's estate. In several letters she pleads with her father to send her money. There is the matter of property she still holds from her first marriage and also the matter of the estate of a relation of her first husband which might benefit her daughter. In a letter dated 17 Jan., 1858, from The Dalles to her father in Illinois, Emily wrote, "One week ago to day I wrote you a letter in which I again called for money to day I rec'd your letter in which was a draft for two hundred dollars for which I am thankful. When I came over from the sound I found the pictures which you speak of safe and supposed some of the rest have acknowledged the receipt of them. However I was so full of trouble embarrassment that I thought very little about anything. I am very glad to you sent them and I know the rest feel the same and we have all been talking of sending ours in return we will send the photograph I think in the spring.
"I am now working at that business at the Dalls by the by the dalls has got to be quite a place. And now that I have a little money I am going to try to buy me a house or rather a lot and build me a house everything is very high in the shape of property here. Now a word for Anna. Anna had got to be quite a good girl when the Col. was killed but it seems to make her mad I believe because she has no steady home. I am boarding where I have boarded before with an old acquaintance for which I pay seven dollars a week they are very kind to me. I am teaching Anna myself.
"Everything in this country would flourish were it not for the damper thrown over it by the accursed Indian Government has wasted thousands of dollars feeding and clothing them but the widow and orphan of those they have butchered are ???? Some of them destitute. you have had no idea of the blood that has been shed by the Indians."
Emily apparently could not make a go of it in The Dalles and the next we hear about her she was back at the Cascades. In a letter from Helen Palmer to Illinois dated 18 Apr., 1858, "...Sister Emily comes next She is living with me at present you have heard of her misfortune how sudden and unexpectedly he was taken away she has been left a widow again without anything for her to live upon if you could get her some of her money and send to her she would like it very much if she ever needs it it is now if you could send enough so that she could buy her a house and lots where she could live and send Anna to school. Anna is almost nine years old she is getting to be quite a large girl and she feel as if she ought to be going to school. Emily has not had very good health since the Col. death but is now better than she was a month ago..." Putnam adds, "...Emily & Anna are at present with us and well..." Emily applied for and became the recipient of the very first widow's pension given by Washington Territory.
Emily then went to Portland. In a letter to her father in Illinois dated 5 Sept., 1858, she wrote, "...it seems sometimes I have so much trouble I can not cannot bear it all. Oh if I only had wings to fly away far beyond witnessing scenes of sorrow but I am here and here I must stay my allotted time.
"I am keeping house in this place and at this time am alone. Anna has gone to church.
"I hardly know what I am going to do to make a living. I think however I shall take a few borders. I am troubled about it because I fear I cannot stand it long to work so hard. Anna is is a great help to me but she must go to school. I am now living on my last fifty dollars and you know in this country fifty dollars does not go far. I pay fifteen dollars a month for rent.
"I understand you have some money for me the merchants here ???? me there is no need ???? your paying any percent for a draft just let the money be deposited in one of the New York City Banks in my name and certificates taken in duplicate and forwared by mail (seperate one by one mail and the others by the next to my address and I get here for them two or three percent. If you cannot send a draft without paying for it you ??? not sent it at all. Others send send money back and forth and get a premium on it why should I have to pay to have it sent to me
"If I had it the interest here would just pay my rent.
"I am glad to hear you are all living at your ease and taking comfort. I hope you may never never know the sorrows that I have...
"I believe there is no talk at any of us going to the states at present. I have thought if I could get there and home to go to I would go but such thoughts are worse than vain. have I money enough to buy me a home there. Oh if Cornelius would only conclude to go home and be steady what a comfort it would be to me I will try and persuade him to do so when he gets well.
"Anna thinks it is very heard that she cannot write well enough to write George a letter. She got a little school mate of hers to write one to her Grand Pa last week. but I would not let her send it she must wait untill she can write herself. then I expect you will hear from us oftener..." Sometime after this letter Emily meets and marries in Portland Dr. L. M. Bell a surgeon with the army at Fort Vancouver. By all accounts they are reported to reside in McMinnville, Oregon.
Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell lived in McMinnville for a few years with her new husband but died there suddenly. Her husband honored her last wishes and had her remains buried next to her brother, Norman. The site is a tiny, 2 grave plot overlooking the Columbia river where the Bridge of the Gods comes to rest on the Washington side of the river. Her marker reads, "Sacred to the memory of E. A. Bell wife of Dr. L. M. Bell died April 17, 1863 age 38." This age would mean she was born in 1825 whereas the census records referred to before indicate she was born 1827. Dr. Bell has disappeared from the record. Emily's daughter, Anna, was only 13 years of age.
Contributor: Joel Swink
The coordinates below will take you to the hidden and relatively unknown single grave of Emily Palmer Bell and her younger brother Norman Palmer Jr.
The grave lay unattended for years, the trees and bushes grew tall and obscured this tiny plot alongside the road between the towns of Cascade and Stevenson. Then, when the highway was to be widened the grave site was discovered.
In 1914 it was reported in the Skamania County Pioneer, "..while constructing the state road down near Icehouse Lake, the honor men dug up two graves recently, a man and a woman...The graves were found in a gravely knoll just east of Icehouse Lake and were removed from the place where they had lain.
The spot the pair now occupy is adjacent to the south side of Washington Highway 14 and just east of the approach to "the Bridge of the Gods". The highway department in the 1960's placed a fence around it with a reader-board which spells out the inscription on Emily's stone. They also repaired the broken marker with a concrete splice. A newer granet stone has also been placed more recently.
More at http://www.imanfamily.net/skamania/palmer/index.html
Brother is Norman Palmer, Jr.
Emily Bell (94361546)
Suggested edit: Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell did not come with the family to Oregon in 1851; rather, she came in 1853 to rejoin her brothers and sisters. Her strong devotion to her brothers and sisters made it impossible for her to remain in Illinois. No clue anywhere has been found with which family she traveled. Emily had married John H. Sconce in Danville, Illinois, Oct. 21, 1847. The John H. Sconce family appears in the 1850 census of Vermilion Co., Illinois, in which John is 30, Emily is 23, and their daughter, Anna B. is 1 year old. Perhaps it was the extreme youth of Anna which compelled the couple to remain in Danville while the others moved away. Perhaps it was the active business Sconce had as a lawyer that kept them at home. We find two cases in 1850 and 1851 in which Sconce and Abraham Lincoln were attorneys for the defense together. These reasons became moot for Emily when her husband suddenly died.
By December of 1853, Emily and Anna Sconce were living with her sister, Helen Bradford. This arrangement did not last very long and in November of 1854 her sister Helen Bradford wrote, "Emily is keeping school at the Dalls. She gets six dollars a schollar, and has twelve schollars." Emily herself is not very proud of her teaching abilities and she writes in March of 1855, "I have had a pressing invitation to go to Olympia to teach but I know that I am not competent to teach a decent school. I have been teaching at the dalls this last winter they are anxyous to have one teach this summer but I do not know what I shall do. If I only owned a house in this country I could sew and wash and get my living independent of any body but this thing of being around with my child from pillor to post is not to agreeable.
"The best ox I had of the yoke I had left died last winter but I guess it is unnecessary to trouble you with my little affairs so I say no more only that Anna is a big girl read very well in the first reader and wants Luna's boy called Grand Pa..."
Emily moved to Portland and in a letter to her father in Illinois dated 26 Oct. 1855 wrote, "I write in haste for I expect that I’m to start soon. I want to tell you I do not wish you to sell my place for two thousand dollar, true I am in need of money but my hand is in at washing now and I do not wish any sacrifice to be made.
"I never expect to have a home and if I ever have one I shall ??not be?? Disappointed. There is no news of ??? Bishop ??? Bradford have moved their families to Portland for safety. The Indians at this time are very troublesome all over Oregon.
"We have not heard from Norman since last winter & I fear we never shall. There has been near a dozen families killed in Southern Oregon and a great many more whose names are not known.
"I hope you will excuse the shortness of this letter
"Please tell my friends to whom I have writen that I am very much obliged to them for their many answers and when they get any more news from me it will be through the medicine of my Spirit..."
On the overland trip to Oregon in 1851 the Palmer family had become acquainted with Isaac N. Ebey who they met at Fort Boise. Ebey by then was known as Colonel Ebey, an honorary title given him for his leadership during Indian troubles on the Puget Sound. Ebey was a proponent of developing that part of Washington Territory and was a delegate to the territorial congress. He is credited with the naming of the capitol, Olympia. In a letter to their father in Illinois, dated 26 Nov., 1855, Cornelius wrote, "Emily is nearly froze to death to marry Col. Eby -- I tell her if she wants to marry trouble to pitch in but if she does that they can't eat any of my pork & cabbage, thats all" Emily did not take her brother's advice for in a notice found in the "Oregon Argus" of 2 Feb.1856, we find, "Married: In Portland, Jan. 21st by Rev. William Roberts, Col. Isaac N. Ebey, of Whidby's Island, W.T., to Mrs. Emily A. Sconce, of the former place." The newly wed couple remained in Portland for a short while and had plans to move to Port Townsend and then to Whidbey Island.
Emily was perhaps the first to depart the area. She had recently married Isaac N. Ebey and already had in place plans to relocate to Whidbey Island. Fate seems particularly cruel in Emily's case for on 11 August, 1857, her second husband, Ebey, was killed by Haidah Indians in a reprisal for the loss of one of their chiefs. Ebey left behind two sons and a daughter from his previous marriage. These children were then raised by Ebey's parents who were living nearby. Bolivar Bishop traveled to Whidbey Island to bring Emily and her daughter, Anna, home with him. He escorted Emily to Portland where she moved in with Putnam, Helen, and Flint Bradford.
Emily Ebey found herself in the position of a destitute widow. Apparently there were no funds available to her from Ebey's estate. In several letters she pleads with her father to send her money. There is the matter of property she still holds from her first marriage and also the matter of the estate of a relation of her first husband which might benefit her daughter. In a letter dated 17 Jan., 1858, from The Dalles to her father in Illinois, Emily wrote, "One week ago to day I wrote you a letter in which I again called for money to day I rec'd your letter in which was a draft for two hundred dollars for which I am thankful. When I came over from the sound I found the pictures which you speak of safe and supposed some of the rest have acknowledged the receipt of them. However I was so full of trouble embarrassment that I thought very little about anything. I am very glad to you sent them and I know the rest feel the same and we have all been talking of sending ours in return we will send the photograph I think in the spring.
"I am now working at that business at the Dalls by the by the dalls has got to be quite a place. And now that I have a little money I am going to try to buy me a house or rather a lot and build me a house everything is very high in the shape of property here. Now a word for Anna. Anna had got to be quite a good girl when the Col. was killed but it seems to make her mad I believe because she has no steady home. I am boarding where I have boarded before with an old acquaintance for which I pay seven dollars a week they are very kind to me. I am teaching Anna myself.
"Everything in this country would flourish were it not for the damper thrown over it by the accursed Indian Government has wasted thousands of dollars feeding and clothing them but the widow and orphan of those they have butchered are ???? Some of them destitute. you have had no idea of the blood that has been shed by the Indians."
Emily apparently could not make a go of it in The Dalles and the next we hear about her she was back at the Cascades. In a letter from Helen Palmer to Illinois dated 18 Apr., 1858, "...Sister Emily comes next She is living with me at present you have heard of her misfortune how sudden and unexpectedly he was taken away she has been left a widow again without anything for her to live upon if you could get her some of her money and send to her she would like it very much if she ever needs it it is now if you could send enough so that she could buy her a house and lots where she could live and send Anna to school. Anna is almost nine years old she is getting to be quite a large girl and she feel as if she ought to be going to school. Emily has not had very good health since the Col. death but is now better than she was a month ago..." Putnam adds, "...Emily & Anna are at present with us and well..." Emily applied for and became the recipient of the very first widow's pension given by Washington Territory.
Emily then went to Portland. In a letter to her father in Illinois dated 5 Sept., 1858, she wrote, "...it seems sometimes I have so much trouble I can not cannot bear it all. Oh if I only had wings to fly away far beyond witnessing scenes of sorrow but I am here and here I must stay my allotted time.
"I am keeping house in this place and at this time am alone. Anna has gone to church.
"I hardly know what I am going to do to make a living. I think however I shall take a few borders. I am troubled about it because I fear I cannot stand it long to work so hard. Anna is is a great help to me but she must go to school. I am now living on my last fifty dollars and you know in this country fifty dollars does not go far. I pay fifteen dollars a month for rent.
"I understand you have some money for me the merchants here ???? me there is no need ???? your paying any percent for a draft just let the money be deposited in one of the New York City Banks in my name and certificates taken in duplicate and forwared by mail (seperate one by one mail and the others by the next to my address and I get here for them two or three percent. If you cannot send a draft without paying for it you ??? not sent it at all. Others send send money back and forth and get a premium on it why should I have to pay to have it sent to me
"If I had it the interest here would just pay my rent.
"I am glad to hear you are all living at your ease and taking comfort. I hope you may never never know the sorrows that I have...
"I believe there is no talk at any of us going to the states at present. I have thought if I could get there and home to go to I would go but such thoughts are worse than vain. have I money enough to buy me a home there. Oh if Cornelius would only conclude to go home and be steady what a comfort it would be to me I will try and persuade him to do so when he gets well.
"Anna thinks it is very heard that she cannot write well enough to write George a letter. She got a little school mate of hers to write one to her Grand Pa last week. but I would not let her send it she must wait untill she can write herself. then I expect you will hear from us oftener..." Sometime after this letter Emily meets and marries in Portland Dr. L. M. Bell a surgeon with the army at Fort Vancouver. By all accounts they are reported to reside in McMinnville, Oregon.
Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell lived in McMinnville for a few years with her new husband but died there suddenly. Her husband honored her last wishes and had her remains buried next to her brother, Norman. The site is a tiny, 2 grave plot overlooking the Columbia river where the Bridge of the Gods comes to rest on the Washington side of the river. Her marker reads, "Sacred to the memory of E. A. Bell wife of Dr. L. M. Bell died April 17, 1863 age 38." This age would mean she was born in 1825 whereas the census records referred to before indicate she was born 1827. Dr. Bell has disappeared from the record. Emily's daughter, Anna, was only 13 years of age.
Contributor: Joel Swink
The grave lay unattended for years, the trees and bushes grew tall and obscured this tiny plot alongside the road between the towns of Cascade and Stevenson. Then, when the highway was to be widened the grave site was discovered.
In 1914 it was reported in the Skamania County Pioneer, "..while constructing the state road down near Icehouse Lake, the honor men dug up two graves recently, a man and a woman...The graves were found in a gravely knoll just east of Icehouse Lake and were removed from the place where they had lain.
The spot the pair now occupy is adjacent to the south side of Washington Highway 14 and just east of the approach to "the Bridge of the Gods". The highway department in the 1960's placed a fence around it with a reader-board which spells out the inscription on Emily's stone. They also repaired the broken marker with a concrete splice. A newer granet stone has also been placed more recently.
More at http://www.imanfamily.net/skamania/palmer/index.html
Brother is Norman Palmer, Jr.
Emily Bell (94361546)
Suggested edit: Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell did not come with the family to Oregon in 1851; rather, she came in 1853 to rejoin her brothers and sisters. Her strong devotion to her brothers and sisters made it impossible for her to remain in Illinois. No clue anywhere has been found with which family she traveled. Emily had married John H. Sconce in Danville, Illinois, Oct. 21, 1847. The John H. Sconce family appears in the 1850 census of Vermilion Co., Illinois, in which John is 30, Emily is 23, and their daughter, Anna B. is 1 year old. Perhaps it was the extreme youth of Anna which compelled the couple to remain in Danville while the others moved away. Perhaps it was the active business Sconce had as a lawyer that kept them at home. We find two cases in 1850 and 1851 in which Sconce and Abraham Lincoln were attorneys for the defense together. These reasons became moot for Emily when her husband suddenly died.
By December of 1853, Emily and Anna Sconce were living with her sister, Helen Bradford. This arrangement did not last very long and in November of 1854 her sister Helen Bradford wrote, "Emily is keeping school at the Dalls. She gets six dollars a schollar, and has twelve schollars." Emily herself is not very proud of her teaching abilities and she writes in March of 1855, "I have had a pressing invitation to go to Olympia to teach but I know that I am not competent to teach a decent school. I have been teaching at the dalls this last winter they are anxyous to have one teach this summer but I do not know what I shall do. If I only owned a house in this country I could sew and wash and get my living independent of any body but this thing of being around with my child from pillor to post is not to agreeable.
"The best ox I had of the yoke I had left died last winter but I guess it is unnecessary to trouble you with my little affairs so I say no more only that Anna is a big girl read very well in the first reader and wants Luna's boy called Grand Pa..."
Emily moved to Portland and in a letter to her father in Illinois dated 26 Oct. 1855 wrote, "I write in haste for I expect that I’m to start soon. I want to tell you I do not wish you to sell my place for two thousand dollar, true I am in need of money but my hand is in at washing now and I do not wish any sacrifice to be made.
"I never expect to have a home and if I ever have one I shall ??not be?? Disappointed. There is no news of ??? Bishop ??? Bradford have moved their families to Portland for safety. The Indians at this time are very troublesome all over Oregon.
"We have not heard from Norman since last winter & I fear we never shall. There has been near a dozen families killed in Southern Oregon and a great many more whose names are not known.
"I hope you will excuse the shortness of this letter
"Please tell my friends to whom I have writen that I am very much obliged to them for their many answers and when they get any more news from me it will be through the medicine of my Spirit..."
On the overland trip to Oregon in 1851 the Palmer family had become acquainted with Isaac N. Ebey who they met at Fort Boise. Ebey by then was known as Colonel Ebey, an honorary title given him for his leadership during Indian troubles on the Puget Sound. Ebey was a proponent of developing that part of Washington Territory and was a delegate to the territorial congress. He is credited with the naming of the capitol, Olympia. In a letter to their father in Illinois, dated 26 Nov., 1855, Cornelius wrote, "Emily is nearly froze to death to marry Col. Eby -- I tell her if she wants to marry trouble to pitch in but if she does that they can't eat any of my pork & cabbage, thats all" Emily did not take her brother's advice for in a notice found in the "Oregon Argus" of 2 Feb.1856, we find, "Married: In Portland, Jan. 21st by Rev. William Roberts, Col. Isaac N. Ebey, of Whidby's Island, W.T., to Mrs. Emily A. Sconce, of the former place." The newly wed couple remained in Portland for a short while and had plans to move to Port Townsend and then to Whidbey Island.
Emily was perhaps the first to depart the area. She had recently married Isaac N. Ebey and already had in place plans to relocate to Whidbey Island. Fate seems particularly cruel in Emily's case for on 11 August, 1857, her second husband, Ebey, was killed by Haidah Indians in a reprisal for the loss of one of their chiefs. Ebey left behind two sons and a daughter from his previous marriage. These children were then raised by Ebey's parents who were living nearby. Bolivar Bishop traveled to Whidbey Island to bring Emily and her daughter, Anna, home with him. He escorted Emily to Portland where she moved in with Putnam, Helen, and Flint Bradford.
Emily Ebey found herself in the position of a destitute widow. Apparently there were no funds available to her from Ebey's estate. In several letters she pleads with her father to send her money. There is the matter of property she still holds from her first marriage and also the matter of the estate of a relation of her first husband which might benefit her daughter. In a letter dated 17 Jan., 1858, from The Dalles to her father in Illinois, Emily wrote, "One week ago to day I wrote you a letter in which I again called for money to day I rec'd your letter in which was a draft for two hundred dollars for which I am thankful. When I came over from the sound I found the pictures which you speak of safe and supposed some of the rest have acknowledged the receipt of them. However I was so full of trouble embarrassment that I thought very little about anything. I am very glad to you sent them and I know the rest feel the same and we have all been talking of sending ours in return we will send the photograph I think in the spring.
"I am now working at that business at the Dalls by the by the dalls has got to be quite a place. And now that I have a little money I am going to try to buy me a house or rather a lot and build me a house everything is very high in the shape of property here. Now a word for Anna. Anna had got to be quite a good girl when the Col. was killed but it seems to make her mad I believe because she has no steady home. I am boarding where I have boarded before with an old acquaintance for which I pay seven dollars a week they are very kind to me. I am teaching Anna myself.
"Everything in this country would flourish were it not for the damper thrown over it by the accursed Indian Government has wasted thousands of dollars feeding and clothing them but the widow and orphan of those they have butchered are ???? Some of them destitute. you have had no idea of the blood that has been shed by the Indians."
Emily apparently could not make a go of it in The Dalles and the next we hear about her she was back at the Cascades. In a letter from Helen Palmer to Illinois dated 18 Apr., 1858, "...Sister Emily comes next She is living with me at present you have heard of her misfortune how sudden and unexpectedly he was taken away she has been left a widow again without anything for her to live upon if you could get her some of her money and send to her she would like it very much if she ever needs it it is now if you could send enough so that she could buy her a house and lots where she could live and send Anna to school. Anna is almost nine years old she is getting to be quite a large girl and she feel as if she ought to be going to school. Emily has not had very good health since the Col. death but is now better than she was a month ago..." Putnam adds, "...Emily & Anna are at present with us and well..." Emily applied for and became the recipient of the very first widow's pension given by Washington Territory.
Emily then went to Portland. In a letter to her father in Illinois dated 5 Sept., 1858, she wrote, "...it seems sometimes I have so much trouble I can not cannot bear it all. Oh if I only had wings to fly away far beyond witnessing scenes of sorrow but I am here and here I must stay my allotted time.
"I am keeping house in this place and at this time am alone. Anna has gone to church.
"I hardly know what I am going to do to make a living. I think however I shall take a few borders. I am troubled about it because I fear I cannot stand it long to work so hard. Anna is is a great help to me but she must go to school. I am now living on my last fifty dollars and you know in this country fifty dollars does not go far. I pay fifteen dollars a month for rent.
"I understand you have some money for me the merchants here ???? me there is no need ???? your paying any percent for a draft just let the money be deposited in one of the New York City Banks in my name and certificates taken in duplicate and forwared by mail (seperate one by one mail and the others by the next to my address and I get here for them two or three percent. If you cannot send a draft without paying for it you ??? not sent it at all. Others send send money back and forth and get a premium on it why should I have to pay to have it sent to me
"If I had it the interest here would just pay my rent.
"I am glad to hear you are all living at your ease and taking comfort. I hope you may never never know the sorrows that I have...
"I believe there is no talk at any of us going to the states at present. I have thought if I could get there and home to go to I would go but such thoughts are worse than vain. have I money enough to buy me a home there. Oh if Cornelius would only conclude to go home and be steady what a comfort it would be to me I will try and persuade him to do so when he gets well.
"Anna thinks it is very heard that she cannot write well enough to write George a letter. She got a little school mate of hers to write one to her Grand Pa last week. but I would not let her send it she must wait untill she can write herself. then I expect you will hear from us oftener..." Sometime after this letter Emily meets and marries in Portland Dr. L. M. Bell a surgeon with the army at Fort Vancouver. By all accounts they are reported to reside in McMinnville, Oregon.
Emily Palmer Sconce Ebey Bell lived in McMinnville for a few years with her new husband but died there suddenly. Her husband honored her last wishes and had her remains buried next to her brother, Norman. The site is a tiny, 2 grave plot overlooking the Columbia river where the Bridge of the Gods comes to rest on the Washington side of the river. Her marker reads, "Sacred to the memory of E. A. Bell wife of Dr. L. M. Bell died April 17, 1863 age 38." This age would mean she was born in 1825 whereas the census records referred to before indicate she was born 1827. Dr. Bell has disappeared from the record. Emily's daughter, Anna, was only 13 years of age.
Contributor: Joel Swink
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See more Sconce Ebey Bell or Palmer memorials in:
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- Skamania County Sconce Ebey Bell or Palmer
- Washington Sconce Ebey Bell or Palmer
- USA Sconce Ebey Bell or Palmer
- Find a Grave Sconce Ebey Bell or Palmer
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