SAMUEL HANDSAKER

19 November 1831 – 5 October 1909

Samuel was born at Scropton, Derbyshire, England, the 10th and youngest child of Thomas and Mary Handsacre/Handsaker.

In 1843 Samuel, his widowed mother and four of his siblings emigrated to the United States.  His mother bought 40 acres of land 10 miles from Alton, Madison, Illinois.

In March 1853 he left Illinois and traveled the Oregon Trail as a longshoreman (driver) on a wagon train.  He wrote of his accounts on the trip  under the pen name 'Quail' for the Daily Alton (Illinois) Telegraph newspaper.

He spent the winter of 1853-54 in Portland, Oregon where he lived at  Batchelors Hall (his spelling).  In a letter to his Sister Emma in April 1854 he wrote that he had difficulty finding enough work and was planning on going to California.  If it did not work out there he would return to Illinois.  He was meeting that night with a gentlemen from Umpqua County (now Douglas County) and since that is where he ended up I am guessing that was because of that meeting.  We know he didn’t go back to Illinois!

In 1855 he joined the Volunteer Army and fought in the Rogue River Indian War.  He had to supply his own horse and rifle.  He was discharged 8 months later and in November 1856 he married Sarah Johnson Cannon in Camas Swale, Umpqua, Oregon (Sutherlin today).  Samuel and Sarah had nine children: Julie Emma, George Washington, Mary Susannah, Edward Baker, Martha Ellen, Luella Sarah, Henrietta Arena, Thomas Samuel and John Jacob.  They eventually settled near Canyonville, Douglas, Oregon and lived there for about 14 years.  Samuel also became a naturalized U. S. Citizen October 11, 1859.

By 1871 the Handsaker family moved to Dexter, Lane, Oregon.  Samuel became the first postmaster of Butte Disappointment (Lane)  in 1872 and in 1875 for Dexter, Oregon.  Samuel and Sarah had a store and ferry service on the Middle fork of the Willamette river.  The store and barn were wiped out by a flood in 1880.  (The river was dammed up in the 1940’s and is now Dexter Lake).  A new store was built which was operated by Samuel around 1890.  This store still operates in Dexter, Oregon today.

  

During Samuel’s life he was butcher, farmer, auctioneer, Postmaster and Justice of the Peace among other jobs.  He also enjoyed writing to the newspapers about various topics, sometime under his own name, a pen name or sometimes anonymously.

  

In the mid 1890’s Samuel retired and they settled in Eugene, Oregon until his death in 1909.

 INTRODUCTION

My name is Janice Handsaker and I have been doing family research on the Handsaker family for almost 30 years. My initial goal was to find out what happened to my Grandfather Edward Clow Handsaker who left my Dad and Uncle orphans after his wife died in 1918 from influenza. He just disappeared and my Dad never heard from him again,.

Dad told me growing up that we did not have any Handsaker relatives, so what a surprise to find out there were many Handsaker’s especially here in Oregon. It took me 25 years to find out what happened to Edward (will be in a future blog post) but during that time I have learned about many Handsaker family members and met quite a few of them.

The purpose of this blog is to share information and stories about Handsakers to anyone who is interested. Each blog entry will profile a Handsaker or someone connected to the Handsaker family.

There are many different stories for the Handsaker’s I have learned about. Some have happy stories, some sad stories, some are notorious, and others are just interesting.

I hope you enjoy reading about the Handsaker family!