Sarah Cannon Handsaker

A Trail Delicacy - 1854

Sixteen year old Sarah Johnson Cannon looked down at her dusty brown bare feet as she walked alongside her family’s sluggish wagon train as it plodded along over the Oregon Trail. At the pace of 2 miles per hour, it felt to Sarah that this place called Oregon might as well be on the other side of the world. Just getting to Independence Rock was taking long enough.

This Fourth of July promised to be memorable if the Cannon’s wagon train could reach its destination on time. According to the guidebooks, arriving at Independence Rock by the Fourth of July meant that they were advancing on schedule, and that’s exactly what they planned to do.

The very identifiable mammoth outcropping of rock was said to be impossible to miss. When Sarah noticed an isolated lump on the horizon miles down the road, she knew she had spotted it. As the caravan pulled closer to the ever-growing chunk of granite, a collective sense of excitement pulsed through the emigrants. Soon the festivities could begin.

The Sweetwater River, running alongside Independence Rock, was an ideal spot for a layover. In the distance Sarah could see that many caravans were encamped there. Buffalo and grizzly bears could be seen in the vicinity as well, yet Sarah Cannon and her brothers barely took notice of them. All eyes were fixed on the giant, lopsided rock, which the guidebook had calculated to be 193 feet tall at the north end and 167 feet tall at the south end. Sarah just stood there with her mouth gaping open as she took in its size.

People were climbing up Independence Rock to carve their names or initials on its surface, and the surrounding area was bustling with activity. Clearly the Cannons weren’t the only ones who were looking forward to celebrating the Fourth of July in style. Everyone was in a festive mood. The wagons encamped along the bank of the Sweetwater River displaced either an American flag or a facsimile of one.

Then there was the music. Fiddlers were fiddlin’ right in the middle of the day. Some happy-go-lucky emigrants engaged in a lively square dance, and children were frolicking and splashing about in the river. Among the peals of laughter and spirited conversations could be heard the rising voices of self-pronounced orators giving patriotic speeches amid circles of interested emigrants. The entire scene resembled a town gathering.

To Sarah’s surprise, as her eyes rose above the commotion and scanned Independence Rock to its pinnacle, she saw precariously perched on the summit what looked like a covered wagon and a tent. Closer examination revealed them to be so. There, atop Independence Rock for all to see, was an emigrant’s wagon. Its owner was in the process of making and selling apple pies. Dried apple pies! Quite the unexpected and delectable treat this far from Sarah’s home in Clinton, Iowa. It made Sarah giggle to think that two-fifths of the way into her cross-country journey, some 830 miles from civilization, there was this bakery of sorts. Sarah certainly admired the “baker’s” entrepreneurial spirit, but she marveled even more at just how this wagon had gotten to the very top. It was amazing enough that the emigrants themselves could climb up the sides of Independence Rock on foot, but hoisting a heavy wagon up so high was even harder to imagine.

To make the Fourth of July a bit more celebratory, many a cook had been saving something special to dish up. Everyone was weary of the trail diet of salt pork, hardtack bread, bacon, and beans, so the addition of a delectable apple dessert was the perfect complement to an Independence Day feast. Sarah remarked, “No doubt this was the most elevated ‘pie counter’ of any of that time from the Missouri River to Portland.”

Carefree and happy moments, no matter how small, were not taken for granted along the trail. Sarah enjoyed the opportunity that day to talk and share experiences with other young girls her age. The hardships of traveling and living out-of-doors, the lack of provisions on the trail, and the universal homesickness were more tolerable when shared with others. The festivities and the “pie wagon” made for an enjoyable and memorable day at Independence Rock in July of 1854 for Sarah and every other emigrant looking for excitement.

These early pioneers had come to settle and tame a land called Oregon by migrating westward along the Oregon Trail. Two years after arriving in southern Oregon, just before her nineteenth birthday, Sarah wed twenty-five-year-old Sam Handsaker, who had emigrated a year ahead of the Cannon family. Together they and their eight children worked hard to forge a life for themselves out of the wilderness. Perhaps every time Sarah served apple pie on subsequent Independence Days she thought of the one she had enjoyed at the “elevated pie counter” along the Oregon Trail.

 DESCENDANTS OF 

EDWARD BAKER HANDSAKER 

First Marriage:  Annie Smith

                       Married 14 February 1886 (she died January 1888)

        Children:  1) Samuel Looney Handsaker

                           Born 13 May 1887 in Lane County, Oregon 

I do not have any pictures of Annie Smith or Samuel Looney Handsaker.  If any one has a picture(s) please post or send to me.  Thanks

Second Marriage:  Mary Amanda Clow 

                           Married 9 September 1891 (Divorced 1903)

            Children: 2) Edward Clow Handsaker (Louis Edward Johnson)

                               Born 25 May 1892 in Lane County, Oregon

                           3) Frances Lucretia Handsaker

                               Born 16 Nov 1895 in Douglas County, Oregon

                           4) Baby Girl Handsaker

                               Born in 1896 Lane County, died at 2 days old.

Third Marriage:  Hattie May Wood 

                          Married 20 April 1904 (Divorced 1919)

        Children:   5) James Robert Handsaker 

                             Born 4 June 1905 in Oregon

                         6) Abraham Kenneth Handsaker

                             Born 6 February 1907 Lane County, Oregon

                         7) Elsie Irene Handsaker

                             Born 18 January 1909 Lane County, Oregon

                         8) Hobart Handsaker

                             Born 25 Aug 1910 Lane County, Oregon

                         9) Vernon Handsaker

                             Born 7 September 1912 Lane County, Oregon

                        10) Melvin Handsaker

                              Born 31 October 1914 Lane County, Oregon

                        11) Alfred Delmer Handsaker

                              Born 28 September 1916 Lane County, Oregon

I will be posting profiles of each child in order.  Edward Baker and Samuel Looney are already on the blog.  Coming up is Edward Clow and Frances Lucretia Handsaker.  

 

FRANCES LUCRETIA HANDSAKER

1895 - 1976

Frances Lucretia Handsaker Age 16

Frances Lucretia Handsaker was the daughter of Edward Baker and Mary Clow Handsaker. She was born Nov. 16, 1895 in Drain, Douglas, Oregon and was Edward Baker’s third child.

Edward Baker and Mary divorced in 1903. As told by Frances’ daughter Dolly Jefferson, Edward Baker took the boy (Edward Clow) to raise but couldn’t take Frances, a girl would be too difficult to raise as he was an evangelist and traveled to four parishes on foot. Frances was put in St. Mary’s Catholic Convent in Portland. About 1908 she moved to Newhouse, Utah to live with her “Aunt” Mary (Clow Handsaker) Lemmon. Mary did not want people to know she had a daughter. Frances also told her daughter that Mary did not like children.

In Newhouse she was acting postmistress and taught school in exchange for her high school education. She helped a Doctor Swanson deliver babies and was a “natural” nurse. Her first husband, Fred Jefferson’s family owned a butcher shop and Frances made sausage and sauerkraut. After her husband Fred died she became a x-ray technician. She was also a member of several professional organizations.

In 1913 she married Fred Jefferson and they had two children Harry Fredrick and Barbara (Dolly) Yvonne. In 1930 they lived in San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California. (According to the 1930 Census brother Edward was living in Los Angeles also, did they know about each other?) Her husband Fred died in 1946. She married John Bert Smithson in 1952. She lived most of her life in Milford, Utah and Nevada City, California.

She stayed in contact with her Mother’s side of the family (Clow), but no mention if she stayed in contact with any of her Handsaker relatives. Her daughter told me she held a life long grudge against the Handsaker’s.

Frances passed away Sept. 11, 1976 in Nevada City, California.

           I had the pleasure of meeting her daughter Dolly in 2001.

 

EDWARD CLOW HANDSAKER

AKA LOUIS EDWARD JOHNSON

1892 – 1973

                                            Edward and Alta (Grace)               Edward with sons Earl and Carl

                                               on their wedding day  1927                           about 1917

Edward was born 25 May 1892 in Junction City, Lane County, Oregon to Edward Baker and Mary Amanda (Clow) Handsaker. He was their first born and his second son. (First son was Samuel Looney with Annie Smith Handsaker).

Known as Eddie he lived in Junction City with his little sister Frances for the first few years of his life, and later near Anlauf, Oregon on his father’s homestead.

In 1903 his parents divorced. Edward stayed with his father and his sister Frances went to an orphanage because her mother Mary apparently didn’t want her and her Father Edward Baker, a traveling preacher could not afford to keep both children.

Edward married Anna Susannah Pauline Engel in 1913 in Junction City, Oregon. He was 19 years old and Anna was 15 years old. They moved around a lot, mainly in Lane and Douglas Counties, with Edward working in the lumber mills. He joined the Oregon National Guard in 1915 in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Edward and Anna had two children, Earl Edward in 1914 and Carl in 1916. Anna died October 1918 from the Spanish Influenza in Portland, Oregon. She was nine months pregnant and the baby died also.

One day in about 1920 my father Earl watched Edward crossing the road where they lived on his way to work. He never came home.

Edward re-married in 1923 to Velda Van Tuyle. The marriage only lasted about a year when Velda filed for divorce in Portland on the grounds that Edward was a womanizer and drunkard. He did not respond to the divorce so she won by default. He had disappeared again.

Apparently, Edward moved to southern California and was bootlegging alcohol from Mexico (he also had done that in Oregon). This was during prohibition. He changed his name to Louis Edward Johnson and married Alta (Grace) Grassa Corrales on August 23, 1927. They had seven children: Alta Mae, Edward James, Delores Lillian, Patricia Frances, Virginia Ann, Mary Jean and Richard Louis.

Earl and his brother Carl never heard from their Father again and never knew what happened to him. To my knowledge, no one in his immediate family, including his Mother, Sister Frances or other relatives ever heard from him again. It is possible he stayed in touch with his father Edward Baker. His half-brother Alfred remembers Edward stopping by the home he and Edward Baker lived in Ashland about 1932.

DNA finally solved the mystery in 2019.

HANDSAKER FAMILY REUNION

JUNE 26, 2025 3:00PM  -  JUNE 29, 2025 12 NOON

LAVERNE COUNTY PARK

MYRTLE POINT, OREGON

FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUT 

"HANDSAKER 2025 FAMILY REUNION" FACEBOOK PAGE

 

Samuel Looney Handsaker

1887 - 1954

Samuel was an interesting person and I have spent a lot of time proving or dis-proving everything I have heard or read about him!

Samuel was born 13 May 1887 at Jasper, Lane, Oregon to Edward Baker and Annie (Smith) Handsaker. Annie died suddenly in January 1888 of typhoid fever before Samuel was a year old. Samuel was bounced back and forth between his Dad Edward, and both sets of his Grandparents when he was growing up.

In March 1907 he married Mabel Neff. Six months later he was off to prison! The family story was that when Samuel was 14 years old he shot and killed a man. The actual story is when he was 20 years old he and another friend tried to rob a man. Samuel told the Sheriff he had no intention of shooting the man but he was so excited and was gripping the pistol so tightly his finger pulled the trigger and shot the man in the shoulder (he survived). An article in the “The Morning Register”, Eugene, Oregon said:

         “Handsaker is a young man, only 20 years old, and was married about

           five months ago. He comes from one of Lane’s best families and feels

          very badly to have so disgraced the family name. When the party

          arrived at the sheriff’s office there was a good sized crowd of friends

          there who were willing to go his bail, but he preferred to have the matter

          go at once to the court. Some six or seven of the number to greet him

         were women and all felt very badly over the unfortunate affair".

         (I’m sure Mabel was not happy about that!)

Samuel was sentenced to six years in prison and served two years.

By 1910 he and Mabel were living in Butter Creek, Umatilla County, Oregon. He was a laborer on a farm. In 1912 he participated in the Pendleton Round Up and rode in the "Wild Horse Race". In this contest the rider picks a wild horse, puts a saddle on him and rides him around the track, then returns the horse to the corral. I have not been able to find out how he did.

June 1915 Sam married wife number 2, Ethel Quillen in Kalispell, Montana. Three years later in 1918 they had a daughter June Leona. When they split up Samuel told Ethel not to worry about getting a divorce because he was still married to his first wife because they never divorced.

Samuel served in the Army during World War I. He enlisted in 1917 and was honorably discharged in June 1920. He was a mechanic.

Wife number 3 was Myrtle Delena Wheeler, also known as Sybil. They were married in Gering, Nebraska in December 1920. Samuel’s second child, a son, Keith Samuel, was born May 1921 in Kingman, Arizona. According to his son Keith they moved around quite a bit. About 1927 Samuel left Myrtle and Keith. Keith only saw him three more times the rest of his life and was unaware he had a half-sister (June). (I will profile Keith sometime in the future).

Samuel and Myrtle divorced in 1928 in Flathead County, Montana and by 1929 he lived in Portland, Oregon. He was a truck driver. He married wife number 4, Molly Schwartz in 1930. They divorced on March 20, 1947 and two days later on March 22, 1947 he re-married Myrtle Wheeler Handsaker, so she was wife number 3 and 5. I was told by a relative that Myrtle had been diagnosed with breast cancer and Samuel married her so she would have health insurance benefits and support. She died in November 1948.

Samuel married his 6^th and last wife, Loretta Wright in February 1950. Four years later in May 1954 Samuel passed away in Portland, Oregon.

I was told by a Sister-in-law of Samuel’s that he was “a very nice man and also very good looking”. I have never been able to find a picture of him.

 

THOMAS HANDSACRE/HANDSAKER

AND

MARY FAULKNER HANDSAKER

Thomas was christened 5 September 1784 in Kings Bromley, Staffordshire, England. The name on his christening record is spelled ‘Handsacre’. He married Mary Faulkner in April 1807 at Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire, England. Mary Faulkner was born about 1788 in Derbyshire, England.

They lived in Scropton, Derbyshire, England and had ten children: Sarah, Ann, William, Thomas, Mary, John, Henry, James, Emma and Samuel. Thomas was a wheelwright and carpenter. In August 1836 Thomas was bitten by a “mad dog” as described by son Samuel and he died.

Thomas and Mary belonged to the Methodist Church, and were considered Independent or Non-Conformists as they were not members of the Church of England. Thomas was buried in the churchyard cemetery of Marston upon Dove which is a Church of England church. It was explained to me when visiting this church that the Methodist Church was small at the time and they probably did not have a church or cemetery in the area at the time so he was buried there.

As described in Samuel Handsaker’s autobiographical sketch in his book Pioneer Life, after Thomas’s death Mary taught a class of girls such subjects as reading, spelling, knitting and sewing. About 1840 Mary opened a small store and bakery (in the town of Hatton) and received considerable trade from the traveling public.

After saving their money in 1843 they had enough to go to America! Mary and five of her children (the rest would follow) sailed to New Orleans and then after another trip up the Mississippi settled near Alton, Illinois. Mary bought 40 acres of land for $5.00 an acre. She joined the Methodist Church. She was known as an intelligent and religious lady according to her son in law Thomas Bates. In her obituary she was described as a cheerful happy Christian.

Mary died 3 July 1854 of Cholera. She is buried at Alton Cemetery in Alton, Illinois.