Awbrey was the son of early day pioneer, James and Mary Deadmond Awbrey, who homesteaded north of Eugene. He attended Coburg schools and helped his father cook for the Booth-Kelly log drives down the McKenzie, Willamette and Mohawk rivers. It was while on one of these log drives near Fall Creek that he met Caroline Wallace whom he married July 1906 in Jasper. She died in 1957. They lived in the Thurston area, near the site of the present Courtright's Market until 1908 when they moved to Pleasant Hill, where he farmed and walked about three miles to work at the small mill up Wallace Creek. Later he worked at the Hills Creek mill until his retirement in 1950. Following his retirement, he would walk to Jasper two or three times a week until he became ill with pneumonia last February, 1964. It was on one of these trips that he and Mrs. Wright were kidnaped in 1957 by two robbers who help up the Hills Creek store. They were held for 36 hours before being released at Mt Hebo near Tillamook. Mr. Awbrey was a member of the Jasper Christian Church.KIDNAPED COUPLE BACK HOME AFTER 24 HOURS WITH 2 GUNMEN
August 1, 1957
By Pete Cornacchia
of the Register-Guard
“Those men could’ve treated us worse but, my, it’s nice to be back home,” Mrs. Lorene Wright told her friends Thursday morning at Jasper.
Quite calm for a 62-year-old woman, or anybody else, who had just been through a 24-hour ordeal with two drunken gunmen, the operator of the Hills Creek Store had nothing worse than bruises on her arm to show for an unwanted wild ride and an unorganized camping trip.
Mrs. Wright also could show bullet holes in her 1953 car after she and Jim Aubrey, 81, were released by the men Wednesday afternoon on Hebo mountain near Tillamook. The storekeeper and Aubrey, a regular visitor to the store, had been forced to flee with the gunmen Tuesday afternoon after they robbed her of $500 and took Mrs Wright’s car.
“I had a funny feeling when the two men came in the store Tuesday,” recalled Mrs. Wright. “Although I was busy and couldn’t pay much attention, they seemed to wait around quite a while, apparently hoping Jim Aubrey would leave.’
“Then they came up to the counter and the dark one(later identified by police as William Harry Eckles, 35 who was captured Wednesday night at Tillamook) came around and pulled out a gun.’
“Mrs., this is a stickup’, he told me. I looked sort of funny. He waved his gun and said he meant business. I looked at the gun and I believed him right away.”
After she put the money in a sack and gave it to the man, said Mrs Wright, he asked if she had a car.
When she told him it was in back of the store, he told the other man to lock the front door, which his partner did with a pair of pliers.
“You’re going with us,” Mrs. Wright was told.. The barrel of the revolver left her with no inclination to argue.
But Jim Aubrey didn’t seem agreeable to any ride with strangers when they told him “Old man, you’re going, too.”
“Jim, quit arguing now and come along,” Mrs. Wright told her friend. Jim came along and they went out the back way to her car.
“They told me to drive at first”, continued Mrs. Wright, “but of course I didn’t drive fast enough for them. One of the men got behind the wheel and we headed south.”
“We reached Roseburg and then cut over to Coquille. The man drove wildly and both kept drinking wine. They tried to get us to drink with them but we only pretended to be drinking.”
After heading north on Highway 101, they were north of Reedsport when darkness arrived. The men pulled off the road and then proceeded to lose the car keys.
So, Mrs. Wright recalled, she and Aubrey were ordered into the brush, where the four spent the night.
“That’s no way to camp at all,” she pointed out Thursday. “ I think Jim slept a little and so did one of the men. But I’ll tell you I never slept at all and neither did Blackie (Eckels) who had the gun.”
When dawn finally came, the keys were found and the northward journey was resumed. They heard news reports of the robbery and abduction on the car radio.
“The report described Jim and myself.” said Mrs. Wright, and you could tell this really started those men to worrying.”
“On up the coast,” she continued, “they finally turned off on a road and headed up the mountain. We stopped and it wasn’t long until the man called Jim said he was going to walk into town after more wine.”
“ I did believe him and figured he just wanted to get out of there. Blackie didn’t seem to believe him, either, and kept fretting more and more. When a fire patrol wagon drove through the vicinity a bit later, Blackie was really scared.”
“Finally Blackie, who shot several holes in my car, said we’d all take off through the bush. I told him the old man couldn’t make it and eventually persuaded Blackie to leave us there.
“You could see that man was just as willing to get rid of us as we were to see him go. After waiting a couple of hours, as we had gladly promised to do, we walked several miles down the road until we reached the Hebo community and I phoned to my son, Dick.”During the Court hearing Mrs. Wright stated how her car was shot up by the kidnappers. “Reaching Delake, the kidnapers turned onto the Otis cutoff headed for Portland, About 8 am Wednesday the report of kidnaping and police roadblocks was heard on the car’s radio. The pair planned to get off the road to avoid police. Old ‘Jim’ started suggesting places to hid, and that made ‘Blackie’ nervous and he turned around and shot. I finally turned to see if Awbrey riding in the back seat of the auto, was shot. He wasn’t, but the rear window was shattered.”
Death Certificate
personal knowledge
10. Loyal Ross HACK
Death Certificate
personal knowledgeDeath Certificate
personal knowledge
Hardin was married 3 times. First to Hulda Butler in 1876. They had 4 children whom only one lived to age 21. All died fairly young. He then married Bettie Wilmouth in 1900. They had no children. He then married my grandmother Minnie Bell in 1903. They had 8 children. All lived to adulthood.
I never met my grandfather as he died before I was born. Grandma was his 3rd wife and was quite a lot younger than grandpa. Grandpa didn't know how to read or write, but Grandma taught him how to sign his name, and she read to him out of the Bible so often that he had most verses memorized. According to dad, he never backed down, and could whopp anyone twice his size, and did several times.
Kathy Awbrey
personal knowledge/son-William Jeffries
personal knowledge/Kathy Awbrey/from George Ketchum
World War1 veteran--358th Infantry, 90th Division Company F. Drafted 19 Sept. 1917 at Grove, OK
went to Camp Travis, San Antonio, TX. Private, became Corporal, left for Overseas duty 26 June 1918,
became Sargeant in 1919. arrived back in US 7 June 1919 to Camp Deven, MA 8 June 1919 for honorable discharge
This company suffered the poison gas in Oct 1918 and spent about 3 months in a hospital. He had no mail
until he returned to his unit. Pay as private--33.00, pay as corporal--40.20, pay as sargeant--44.00I was lucky enough to have my maternal grandparents living close to me from the time I was four years old. Grandpa and Grandma decided to come to Oregon in the mid 1940's. They bought a little house less than a mile away from where we lived. Grandpa was a carpenter by trade, and remodeled that little house several times. He was also quite inventive in figuring out ways to do things a little better. Grandpa fought in World War I in France, and was hospitalized over there from a mustard gas attack. He once told me that a bullet from a enemy machine gun went into the end of his sleeve and came out the elbow, and somehow did not touch him. He also took a German soldier captive when he had the soldier in his sights to shoot and then saw his face, and could no longer shoot him so took him prisoner. When he came home, he and grandma raised a family on a farm in Eastern Oklahoma. He farmed and did other jobs as he could for cash money. He raised several things including sorgum cane. My memories of him were that he was a stern, upright man, but with a good sense of humor. We would have a good Sunday dinner at their house, and grandpa always drank iced tea with a little saccharine. The saccaharine was in powder form in the small round blue can. Grandpa would stick the end of his knife in the iced tea, then into the saccaharine, and get just the right amount for his glass. Well, naturally I had to do the same thing. Grandpa also ate bisquits and gravy most mornings for breakfast. Sometime he ate his bisquits with butter and sorgum. He would mix the two of them together on his plate and then spread it on the bisquits. It was better that way. Grandpa taught the adult sunday school class for years, and I can remember hearing his voice good and clear through the walls of the sunday school classes. It was a good voice to hear.
Kathy Awbrey
personal knowledge/Kathy Awbrey/from Sarah Sparks Ketchum
My memories of grandma were of the times when she would take care of me when I had to stay home sick from school. Grandma would take the time out to play games with me, like "Button, button, who'es got the button" and "I spy". She was just about the best cook there ever was. She could raise, kill, dress, and cook the best chicken ever. They always joked about eating "Hoover Chickens" when they lived in Oklahoma, which were actually squirrels. Her dressing and homemade egg noodles were better than anything one could buy at a five star restuarant. Every May, grandma and I would walk up to Corum Hill and pick the wild irises. Then we would go home and wash up good with lifebouy soap to keep from getting poison oak. Grandma was a excellent seamtress, and of course made quilts for her family. Grandma always had a garden and grew beautiful flowers in her yard. She always said that maybe you couldn't have a real nice house, but you could always have a beautiful yard. She also had a knack with arranging flowers so that they looked their best. There was always a nice bunch of "babies breath" growing in her yard. She lived until she was almost 94 even though she ate fried food, never had a piece of toast, (just bisquits) and put salt on everything she ate, except her hot cereal, and she put half and half on that.