Imagine yourself on the front lawn on the Campbell House in 1892 . . . You could look South and have an unobstructed view of Spencer's Butte. Looking East, you would see the 10,000 + foot high peaks of the Three Sisters, in the Cascade mountain range.

You would see a growing town of just 3,000 residents, a large lumber mill and a relatively new State University. You could not use the phone to call anyone at the University though, as phone service wasn't established for two more years. However, you could walk over the tree-less hill directly behind the Campbell House and visit the home site of Eugene Skinner (Named after the founder of the city.)

Family Summary

The Campbell House was built in 1892 by gold miner and timber owner, John Cogswell for his daughter Idaho. It is one of the earliest and largest houses built in the East Skinner Butte Historic District.

John's parents were pioneer Eugene residents Ann and Martin Gay.

Idaho married Nicholas Frazer, and their daughter became a prominent doctor in town, (Dr. Eva Frazer Johnson). Shortly after Eva was born, Nicholas passed away and Idaho remarried in 1897 to Ira Campbell, co-owner and editor of the Daily Eugene Guard newspaper.

Idaho was a charter member of the Eugene Fortnightly Club (which helped raise funds for Eugene's first library) as well as several other clubs.

Ira and Idaho's children (Cogswell, Celeste and Jackson) played significant roles in the development of Eugene.

Cogswell -- played football in the Navy (on a Rose Bowl team), at Oregon and at Oregon State. As a business person, he built an ice plant and several plywood mills. In his free time he was an avid aviator. Cogswell married Mary Ruth Moore in the year, approximately, 1921 and had two children: Patricia Ruth and Marjorie Thressa.

Celeste -- University of Oregon graduate; music, piano and voice teacher; active in the Eugene Shakespeare Club, Fortnightly Club, Natural History Club and Lane County Pioneer Society. She belonged to the Red Cross Motor Corps and assisted with surgical dressings in both World War I and II. The Campbell Senior Center, located at 155 High St., was named after her.

Jackson -- Was killed at 17 in a hunting accident.

Family details ...

JOHN AND MARY GAY COGSWELL John Cogswell, son of James and Mary Stratton Cogswell, was born in Whitehall, New York, February 14, 1814.

When he was ten years old, his family moved to Inkster, Michigan. At age sixteen, John left home with only seventy-five cents and a jack knife in his pocket, to seek his fortune. John found work on the Erie Canal. In later years, he often told this story of the workmen there who had to eat pork on Fridays: "It was then the Catholic priest would take the bacon and put it in the water, saying 'Go down, mamon, come up salmon', and then he would give it to them to eat".

While working in Missouri in 1840-1845, John Cogswell decided to take the trail to the "far west". Although he started on foot, he met a man who was taking a herd of horses across, who offered John a horse to ride for his assistance. Thus, John finished his long journey on horseback, arriving in California in 1845. It was in the spring of 1846 when John Cogswell first came to Oregon. He came by wagon train via Mt. Shasta, and reaching Willamette Valley, climbing Skinner's Butte. He stared at the tall, waving grass that covered the valley below and declared, "I've found what I've been seeking--a land that beats Heaven for havin' everything that a man needs."

John found work at the mouth of the Columbia River "whipping timber" (sawing oak) for ship building with "Hen" Owen. At that time he owned a "whip saw" and often remarked, "I sawed the first lumber ever sawed on the Columbia River, and had the first lawsuit in Oregon."

In 1849, when the two men heard of the gold rush in California, they embarked on a barge for the South. It was on the American River where John located his mine and where he found much gold. In 1850, having enough gold for his needs, John Cogswell gave his mine to a friend, packed his gold in saddle-bags on horses, then crossed the plains back to Pennsylvania, where he had the gold minted. Tall and handsome John Cogswell now had dreams of a large ranch well-stocked with fine cattle, horses and sheep. So, for a year, he stayed at his father's home, selecting stock and outfitting for his second journey west. Although this proved to be a long, tedious journey, it was while plodding along the trail that he caught up with the train ahead, and where he met his future wife, nineteen-year-old Mary Frances Gay, whose train had been traveling part of the time with the Illinois train. It was typical of John Cogswell that he always knew just what he wanted and how to get it. So it is not surprising that he turned to his drivers and said, "Did you see that pretty girl standing by the stove? Well, she's the woman for me-the girl I'm going to marry!" But the young lady's train pushed on ahead, entering the Willamette Valley by Barlow Pass, leaving John's train far behind. John brought his livestock down into the American River Valley, he saw the people were "as thick as bees". He wondered how so many could have crossed the plains so quickly. He came to Oregon through the Siskiyous, by the Rogue River and Table Rock, then into the Willamette Valley.

He took his donation claim on the north side of the McKenzie River, four miles east of the now Coburg Bridge, at the mouth of the Mohawk River. This included the Coburg Hills, "Old Baldy" then being known as "Old Richy's Butte", named for a man who was demented and who lived in a shack and often rolled rocks down on the road. John worked for some time on his claim, sawing and splitting timber, for there were no mills then. And he ploughed and cultivated the virgin soil for his gardens and fields. He worked very hard, while dreaming of the pretty girl he'd met on the plains. Finally, when his house was finished, (which, incidentally was said to be the first frame house built in Lane county), he mounted his strongest horse to ride up and down the valley, questioning settlers as to the whereabouts of the Gay family, who came in 1851. John Cogswell found Mary Gay near the center of the valley, visiting the Jess Looney family. It was dinner time and John was invited to stay. Needless to say, John accepted the invitation and lost no time in courting Mary, who told him that she was promised to a man back east. However, John's persistency soon changed the girl's mind and won her consent. John and Mary's license was the first marriage license to be recorded in Lane County Clerk's office. Their wedding proved to be a big event for those times, their friends coming as far as fifty miles by horseback, and in a rainstorm, to enjoy the Gay family's hospitality in their large, comfortable log house, which stood about eight miles south of Eugene City.

Mary was a beautiful bride in the wedding outfit her father had brought from Portland, and John-a proud bridegroom. Soon after the wedding, the couple rode horseback to their new home on the McKenzie river, being ferried across the Willamette River by Charles Walker Young, father of Cal Young.

On their donation claim, John Cogswell raised sheep and cattle. In 1860 he imported New Oxfordshire and Hampshire Downs sheep. The family lived on this farm for some time, where most of their eight children were born.

The names of the Cosgwell children are: Mary Anne, born 1853, Florilla, born 1856, Elizabeth Maude (Lischen), born 1858, DeEtta, born 1861, Idaho, born 1864, Boliver, born 1866, Clara, born 1868, Ivan Stratton, born 1871. Unfortunately, they lost their first two daughters, Mary Anne and Florilla, who contracted scarlet fever while visiting their grandparents, the Martin Gays, and died in 1857. They were buried on a hill near where they had played, their graves being the beginning of the Mary Gay Cogswell Pioneer Cemetery. (Other graves of the Gay and Cogswell families and their neighbors are in this old cemetery also.)

Mary loved her daughters and grieved so much that John decided to take her for a trip back east. They traveled down the coast by ship, across Panama by muleback, across the Gulf of Mexico, then up the Mississippi River. Although it was a dangerous trip, they made it there and back safely. John and Mary were residents of Lane County ever since its organization, with the exception of one year in Portland, in 1870, when his eldest daughters attended school there. At one time he owned a large part of the land where east Portland is now situated. He exchanged this however for land in Lane County, in 1871, then went back up the McKenzie River where he had a sawmill, just east of Thurston. He also owned another property 25 miles up the river, past Leaburg. Here he had a sheep ranch and the first pond stocked with fish, calling the place the Fish Ranch. (He lived on his Thurston ranch until after his wife died in October 8, 1887, then moved to the upper ranch.)

In 1881, John Cogswell and Captain Felix Scott managed to drive the first herd of cattle over what is now the McKenzie River Pass. He, with Felix Scott and others, were associated together in The McKenzie Wagon Road Company. Articles of incorporation were filed in Lane County Courthouse, Dec. 20, 1862. This was to be a toll road, but did not succeed and was later disbanded. The Cogswell ranch at Thurston was heavily timbered, with many springs and streams. Here John built a ten-roomed four-gabled house near a hill near the old highway. English wisteria framed the double porches in the front and climbed to the peak of the gable. The house faced the east and on the north there was a long porch with a door leading to the kitchen. The south porch was kept filled with Mary's potted plants and hanging baskets. It was a comfortable home in those times, with its four fireplaces, halls and closets. A large woodshed at the back was kept well filled with oak, fir and bark, sawed and ready for use. And there was the spacious yard bordered with a weathered fence around the lawn extending far to the right in front. Many fruit trees, flowers and shrubs added to the beauty of this pioneer home.

The Cogswell children had the run of the place, enjoying natures bountiful gifts to the fullest. In those days there were not as many wild birds and animals, wildflowers and fruits to demand their attention. It was while living on this ranch that the children first attended school in one of their father's tenant houses, taught by Emma Gulthrie. Later they attended a new one-room log school built by their father on his land.

The Cogswell children, and many other pioneer children, were put to work too, doing chores about the place and sometimes helping their father drive stock to the upper ranch, braving the dangers of the many wolves, panthers, and bear. Their busy mother stayed home, washing, carding, and spinning wool for their clothing. There was a dam under huge maple trees, where she heated river water in a big black kettle over a fire.

Although Mary Cogswell had nine children to care for, she was already ready and willing to care for a sick neighbor, for Mary was known as a "born nurse". The Cogswells were seldom molested by Indians, although once when Mary lay ill in bed, she was startled to see a savage Indian standing at the door, who demanded payment for his land. Too frightened to speak, Mary was slightly relieved when her sister, who was visiting there, came into the house. Meanwhile, the youngest children came out from their hiding place behind the bed and followed the Indian outside, he commenced to sharpen his big knife, much to the women's consternation. Just then, hearing some men who were driving cattle down near the river, they sent one of the children to them for rescue. Aroused by this turn of events, the Indian only asked for some bread and left in haste. He was not seen again for some time.

John Cogswell had a narrow escape from starvation while traveling to eastern Oregon and becoming lost. His companion was John Diamond and the men were on horseback, wandering around for several days, until they came to an Indian camp. Here, an old squaw welcomed the men, helping them off of their horses and leading them to her fire to rest. She fed them some of her stew, which had been made with meat, wild roots and vegetables, and seasoned with strong wild onions. On this diet the men quickly gained strength, although they declared they could never stand the sight or smell of onions again!

The Cogswell family lived in their Thurston home for many years, raising and educating their children. Although a hard working family, they found time to entertain friends. Their home, which still stands today, is truly a reminder of the sturdy pioneer family who lived within its now silent walls. John Cogswell lived to see the country develop from a wilderness into a land of prosperity and plenty, and was one of its most substantial and influential citizens. He traveled much by horseback, wagon train, and by ship and steam trains. He lived to see man conquer the air! John seldom missed the Annual State Pioneer meetings, feeling proud that he was one of the earliest pioneers in the northwest.

He died May 13, 1907 at the age of 93 and was laid to rest in the Mary Gay Cogswell Pioneer Cemetery on the Martin Gay donation land claim, eight miles south of Eugene City. The Mary Gay Cogswell Cemetery was established Oct. 4, 1857. Mary Gay Cogswell's deed to this cemetery, one acre of land, is recorded in Lane County Courthouse, Eugene, Oregon. A list of Cogswells and Gays who are buried there, follows: John Cogswell, pioneer father; Mary Frances Gay Cogswell, pioneer mother; Mary Anne Cogswell; Florilla Cogswell; Elizabeth (Lischen) Maude C. Miller (Cogswell); DeEtta Cogswell; Idaho Catherine (Cogswell) Campbell; Catherine (Cogswell) Thorne: Ivan Cogswell, Anna Stewart Gay, pioneer mother, Martha Ann Gay Masterson; David Green Gay; Sarah Julia Gay; Celeste Campbell. (Material used for this article was compiled by the late Celeste Campbell and her sister, Eva Frazer Johnson.)

IDAHO COGSWELL FRAZER CAMPBELL

Idaho Cogswell was born Jan. 16, 1864, the fifth child of John and Mary Cogswell, on the McKenzie River donation claim, at the foot of the Coburg Hills, four miles east of the Coburg Bridge, near the mouth of the Mohawk River.

She started her education in the school house built by her father on his place. Her name is listed as attending the University of Oregon Prep. School and the University 1881-1882, 1882-1883, 1883-1884. Her schooling was interrupted by the illness of her sister, DeEtta, who she took to Santa Barbara, Calif. (by boat) to try to regain her health, the Winter of 1885-86.

The year after her sister passed away, her mother died of Typhoid fever, in 1887. The following year, June 17, 1888 Idaho Cogswell was married to Nicholas Kizer Frazer, at her home just east of Thurston, and she moved to Pendleton, Oregon. July 1, 1889, her daughter, Eva, was born.

Six months later, Jan. 28, 1890, her husband met a tragic death. (He was lost in the Blue Mountains and found frozen to death).

Mrs. Frazer and Eva returned to her father, who was then located on his ranch 25 miles east of Eugene. She remained there until she built her home at 252 Pearl St., Eugene, Oregon, in 1892.

Feb. 6, 1897, she married Ira L. Campbell who was editor, publisher and co-owner (with his brother John) of the Daily Eugene Guard newspaper. Three children were born: Cogswell Frazer Campbell, Feb. 19, 1898; Jackson Frazer Campbell, Jan. 21, 1900; and (Catherine) Celeste Campbell, Mar. 12, 1905.

Idaho had before this, become a charter member of the Eugene Fortnightly Club in 1893. She was also a member of the Eugene Shakespeare Club. She continued to take an active interest in local and national affairs.

In 1894, she and Eva spent several months in Chicago with her sister, Lischon Miller and a cousin Catherine Cogswell. She made a number of trips to visit her daughter, Eva, first in 1922 in Chicago and later in Madison, Wisconsin. She was proud of being the daughter of early Oregon pioneers and she never lost her love of Oregon's wonderful out-of-doors and nature.

The spirit of adventure stayed with her and perhaps the highlight of her life (not even climaxed by a trip to the Hawaiian Islands in 1931 with her daughter, Celeste) was on July 6, 1928, when she flew from San Francisco to Chicago in the regular Boeing Air Transport plane carrying U. S. Mail, with room for only two passengers. They flew in an open cockpit and took 24 hours for the trip. She was thrilled passing over the plains where her parents had crossed in covered wagons.

She died Aug. 12, 1932, and was laid to rest in the Mary Gay Cogswell Pioneer Cemetery.

MR. AND MRS. COGSWELL FRAZER CAMPBELL

Cogswell Frazer Campbell, the first child of Ira L. and Idaho Frazer Campbell, was born Feb. 19, 1898 in Eugene, Oregon.

His schooling was begun at the St. Mary's Catholic School at 11th and Willamette Sts. After this, he attended public school. In Sept. 1912, he went to Indiana to the Interlaken Boy's School of Rolling Prairie. In the fall of 1913, he entered the Eugene High School, receiving football letters, and graduating in 1917. Sept. 13, 1917, he enlisted in the Submarine Branch of the U. S. Navy. During World War 1, he was stationed around Panama and Central America.

While in the Navy, he played on the Navy football team. He received an honorable discharge Mar. 13, 1919. When he returned home, he entered the spring term at the University of Oregon and became a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. During the next three years, he switched back and forth between the University of Oregon and the Oregon Agricultural College, to take the subjects he thought would be most beneficial to him, and also playing football on both teams, receiving letters from both schools.

Before school was out, on March 5, 1921, he married Mary Ruth Moore who was born in Los Angeles, Calif., the second of nine children born to Edwin Leonard and Thressa Gill Spangler Moore, March 11, 1900. Her family had moved to Medford, Oregon, then on to Eugene, where Ruth attended the Eugene High School and the Borroughs Business College. She worked in the office of the Eugene Fruit Growers Association, until her marriage.

She has been a great help to her husband in his business. They both share a deep appreciation and enjoyment of nature. She likes flowers and has been a member of the Eugene Garden Club, often attending State and National Garden Club Meetings. She has also found time in her busy life to belong to the Eugene Fortnightly Club, The Mu Phi Epsilon Patroness Group, the Delta Gamma Mothers and others.

Cogswell Campbell was a self made man. His first venture was a drag saw, earning money to buy a gravel truck, in which he hauled gravel and rock for new highways, working from sun up to sun down. Next, he started the first auto wrecking and new parts company in this part of the State, with a branch in Albany. This was begun while he was going to college. Selling the Wrecking company, he built an ice plant, which was successful from the first. He gradually added to this, cold storage, a cider plant and an ice cream factory, finally buying out the Eugene Fruit Growers retail and wholesale ice and ice cream business. He branched out into the coast country with a creamery and an ice plant.

About 1948, he started a plywood plant in Eugene, later branching out into a veneer plant at Gold Beach, where Mrs. Campbell says: "the ocean sings through the doors of the mill, only a few hundred feet away and the smell of the fir being peeled is delightful." Mr. Campbell was an early flier and owned planes for over 20 years.

He always liked the water and anything that floats interests him. Finally he bought a yacht.

Reading was his past-time. Following are some of his mottos: "Don't do a job unless you can do it the right way because there is only the one way." "All that we are is the result of what we have thought." "We know no other moment than the present. It is always dying, always becoming past more rapidly than imagination can conceive, yet at the same time it is always being born, always new." Mr. and Mrs. Cogswell Frazer Campbell had two daughters: Patricia Ruth born Apr. 3, 1924 in Eugene married Sept. 13, 1947 in Eugene to James Jordan Marjorie Thressa born Feb. 22, 1922 in Eugene married Apr. 9, 1948 to John Kiser Pratt. They had 3 children born in Eugene: Catherine Dian June 27,1950 Mary Monica Mar. 31, 1952 Steven Sept. 3, 1954.

(CATHERINE) CELESTE CAMPBELL

Celeste was born Mar. 12, 1905 in Eugene, Oregon, daughter of Ira L. and Idaho Cogswell Frazer Campbell.

She attended the Public Schools here and graduated from the Eugene High School, one of the two out-standing honor students. In 1926, she received her B.A. from the University of Oregon in Romance Languages. She obtained her B.M. in music (piano) in 1928. During the Summer of 1927, she traveled to most of the capitals of Europe. In January 1931, she visited the Hawaiian Islands with her mother. On the campus, she was active in Mu Phi Epsilon, national music honorary and in Pi Lambda Theta, national education honorary. In 1923, she joined the Portland Mazamas, and climbed Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. Jefferson.

In Sept. 1925, she hiked the Oregon Skyline Trail, from the McKenzie Pass to Diamond Lake. Later, she joined the Eugene Obsidians and climbed the Three Sisters and Diamond Peak, becoming an Obsidian Princess in 1939. In 1949, she and a niece, Bonnie Johnson, climbed (alone) Mt. Lassen. From 1932 to 1942, she taught music, piano and voice, (after 1933) at her home at 1833 Fairmount Blvd., Eugene. During World War 2, she and many other little children assisted in surgical dressings for the Red Cross by picking over spagnum moss. Also she had one band of helpers who went out into the country and saved fruit by picking it and bringing it in to town, where the mothers canned it for the War. During World War ll, Celeste worked continuously at the Eugene Filter Air Warning Service under the U.S. Air Force as well as doing some Air Observation Work. She was a member of the Red Cross Motor Corps. and spent many hours doing Surgical Dressing at the main office.

She drove a tractor on her cousin's dairy farm, about 22 miles north of Eugene for two complete summers (or a total of 12 months in all, often working all night (13 hours at a time.) The Fall of 1943, she took a paid job, as secretary to Howard Morriam in the Office of Defense Transportation in the Eugene Armory. June 13, 1944, she began work at the University of Oregon in the Physical Plant Dept., becoming a Clerk-Typist I under Civil Service. July 1, 1953, she transferred to the University of Oregon Telephone Exchange Office where she was a P.B.X. Operator I.

Celeste belonged to the Eugene Shakespeare Club and the Eugene Fortnightly Club, the Natural History Club, the Lane County Pioneer Society, & The State Association of University of Women. She enjoyed all of nature, birds, trees, flowers, animals and weather, also was an observational astronomer. She spent as much time as possible in the mountains or at the ocean.

Celeste with the valuable assistance of her sister, Eva Frazer Johnson, has assembled, compiled and typed the Mary Gay Cogswell Pioneer Cemetery paper on the pioneer families of A.J. Campbell, John Cogswell, Martin Baker Gay & Jacob Frazer.

The house that John Campbell built in 1892 was owned by the Campbell family for over 100 years. In 1993 Myra and Roger Plant purchased the home, completely renovating it and opening it to the public as a bed & breakfast inn.