FIRST -- White Child Born in Klamath County, Oregon
N 42° 02.445 W 121° 38.444
10T E 612500 N 4655194
A headstone within Merrill IOOF Cemetery notes the first white child born in Klamath County.
Waymark Code: WMRYPT
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/23/2016
Views: 2
Located within Merrill IOOF Cemetery is a headstone for John Colwell who was born on October 11, 1873 and died on August 23, 1957. His headstone is inscribed with 'FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN KLAMATH COUNTY.'
I was able to locate an online obituary for John Colwell from FindaGrave.com here and it reads:
John Colwell was born on Tule Lake, southeast of Merrill, in October 1873. He was the first white child born in Klamath County before the Modoc Indian War of 1873.
In 1906 he married Mary J. Pope from Little Shasta, Siskiyou County, California.
They lived and farmed on the family ranch on Lost River near Malone Dam. They later built a house on Land at the edge of Merrill which had been John's fathers homestead. This house still stands at the corner of Roosevelt Street and the Merrill/Malin Highway.
Fo many years John was a ditch rider on the Van Brimmer Canal. He patrolled his ditch on horseback.
They raised two sons, Kenneth and Glendon, who attended Merrill schools.
John and Dan Colwell and Mary Hammond were brothers and sister. Don and Mary Duggan Colwell were their parents.
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