Alvira Angeline Prindel

On stone with husband Hiram M. Prindel. Stone was damaged, and there were efforts made to upright it, but they didn't work well.

The Oregonian, Portland, Multnomah, OR Jun. 24, 1925
Mrs. Alvira A. Prindel.
EUGENE, Or., June 23—(Special)
--Mrs. Alvira Angeline Prindel, 87, for many years a resident of the coast sectionof Lane county, died at Swisshome Sunday and the funeral was held yesterday with Interment at Alsea. Mrs. Prindel was a widow and left the following children: Mrs. Alta M. Dixon of Swisshome, Lafayette Prindel of Paris, Or., Elroy and S.W. Prindel of Alpha, and Granville Prindel of Swisshome.

Her death certificate indicates a birth year of 1938.

All the following information was provided by Alvira & Hiram's grand-daughter Audrey Prindel Broadley. Audrey grew up in the same community, and spent many hours with her grandparents in their home.

Alvira was the 5th child of Levi H. Goodwin and Sally Dudley. She was a farmer's wife and lived in Illinois, Kansas, New York, Wisconsin, California and Oregon. When her husband died she stayed on the home place at Paris, Lane Co., Oregon with her sons, Scott and Harvey. Later she went with her daughter, Alta, to Watsonville, California. With her daughter, Alta Dixon, she came back to Oregon and settled at Swisshome, where she remained. She was of average height, around 5' 5", had light brown hair, blue-gray eyes and a husky voice. She died of inflammation of the tissue around the heart. She was 87 years old at her death. Alvira is buried at Lone Fir Cemetery, Lobster Valley/Alsea, Oregon. As a widow, she applied for her husband's pension on August 12, 1911.

Alvira's parents, the Goodwins, and her husband's parents, the Prindels, and some other people left New York about 1855 and went west [Winnebago County, IL]-- about a year before Alvira and Hiram were married. Alvira & Hiram were living on a farm in 1860, by which time they had two children.

Alvira's husband, Hiram, as a child, shortly after his birth, moved with his parents (and their two older children) to New York. When Hiram was old enough, he drove horses on the Erie Canal. He had met his future wife, Alvira, in New York. He first caught sight of her at her father's sawmill. She was 14, sitting on a wood box. They used to meet on the towpath (the path along side a canal used by workers or animals to pull boats through a canal). Her father did not approve of Hiram.

Hiram enlisted as a Private in Co. B 7th Reg. 111 Calvary Volunteers at Lightsville, Illinois on September 5, 1861. He had his own horse. He was under General Grant's command and was in on Sherman's March to the Sea. He was stationed at LaGrange, Tennessee. He was discharged on October 15, 1864. He received honorable discharge papers in Gaylord, Kansas on November 18, 1893. In 1862 he worked as a military hospital nurse; in 1863 as an orderly at headquarters; in 1864 as a baker at a post in Memphis, TN.

After being mustered out of the military in October 1864 Hiram moved to and farmed in Illinois, where he remained 10 years. His father was staying with Hiram and his family during that time. Then they moved to Kansas for 14 years, then back to Illinois for 7 years. One night while they lived at a railroad work camp Alvira wanted to leave, at once, and go back home. Hiram urged that they stay at least until morning, but Alvira insisted that they leave at once, so they did. They found out later that Indians had attacked that camp that night, killing everyone in the camp. One other time when living in Illinois, they had started for town and Alvira insisted that they go back to the farm. She felt something was wrong there. Their son Scott had gotten a waterwheel dumped on him. The injury left him lame for life.

In the 1890s they moved west, by train. Some of the family settled in Washington state; some in California, but most of Hiram's family settled in Lane County, Oregon, on both sides of Deadwood Mountain -- about 1896. Quin and Harvey settled on the Deadwood/Alpha side, and Everett, Elsworth, Lafayette, Hiram and Alvira on the Parish/Lobster Valley side. It was also known at Five Rivers, as five streams came together there. They farmed the valley, raised cattle for milking, horses for work and pleasure, hogs, chickens, etc.

Hiram had dark brown hair, black eyes and his height was 5' 7.5". He wore a beard to cover a scar he received from a war wound. It is said that Hiram was an honest, quick-tempered man, who believed in respect from his children. He would not tolerate any foul language or back-talk, especially from Alvira.

Their home was a two story, with three doors. One opened into the sitting room, one out through the woodshed, down the hill to the barn. That one was used the most. And the third door led from the side of the kitchen onto a covered porch. There was a wooden sink with cold running water into it. There was a series of wooden troughs running from a spring on the hill beside the house to drain into the sink and out of a hole in the bottom to the ground underneath and on down the hill. The house was on a slight rise above the creek. The barn and other buildings were down the stream farther on a flat. They carried the milk to the woodshed where the separator was, and poured in into the tank on top of the separator and turned a crank. The milk came out one spout and the cream out of another. One could regulate how thick you wanted the cream by turning a screw. The cream had to be tested and regulated to what the creamery wanted.

In winter the roads would get so rutted and muddy that wagons couldn't always make it, so they used sleds. They would ride on top of the ridges, so the horses could pull them. One mail carrier made the bottom of his sled waterproof so he could cross the creeks. The mail was normally delivered by horseback. The freight waited until the water subsided enough for the mud to dry up. If there was enough snow a sled was used to bring in freight.

Hiram and Alvira had a hammock at one end of the front porch. The grandchildren loved it. But they had trouble staying in it. There was an Edison phonograph, with a large horn, in the bedroom, off the sitting room. The stairway was between the living room and the kitchen, and there were three or four bedrooms upstairs. The bathroom was a two-holer outside, over a hole dug in the ground. When the hole was full the privy was moved over a newly-dug hole. Toilet paper was last year's Sears catalog.

Hiram applied for his military pension on Dec. 7, 1910. He died in 1911 at age 77, and is buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, Lobster Valley/Alsea, Benton Co., Oregon, as is Alvira.

More information on the Goodwin and Prindel/Prindle families can be found in the Book "Prindles and Prindels of Clinton County, NY and Their Allied Families" by DJ Miles* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 23 2022, 22:47:05 UTC