THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
John Joseph Vandiver settles down in Washington state
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John Joseph and Lula Mae Estee Vandiver and
their children, Ada Margaret
and John Henry.
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From Choestoe, Georgia to Washington state is a long distance, even by today's air
miles. In 1895 and the years following, it was a journey of faith to
find work and places to live. The stops the John Floyd Edward Vandiver and Rhoda Lucinda Souther Vandiver family made along the way in their move
west in 1895 were recounted in the memoirs of their
fourth of thirteen children, John Joseph Vandiver.
This is the third and last in a series of his memoirs.
In the spring
of 1906, John Joseph Vandiver moved to Seattle, Washington.
There he went to work in a surveying crew mapping the route for the Oregon and Washington
railroad that paralleled the Northern Pacific from Portland to Seattle.
That job was completed in November.
Work in Alaska was
next on Vandiver's agenda. When he landed
in Catalla in March, 1907, the weather was
colder than any he had experienced in his life. Seven feet of snow
greeted him. The surveying team worked in all weather conditions and
finally finished the work for a terminal and rail line northward to the
Copper River. In
November of that year, with the Alaska
surveying over, he returned to Washington.
Job prospects
were still poor. He found work on the survey team for the Tieton Canal and
the Ellensburg high line. While he was thus engaged, he decided that he
needed more education. He attended night school in Seattle at
the YMCA. Finishing high school, he was admitted to the University of Washington in
1910. Simultaneously studying at the University as a "special" student
and working for the Reclamation Service on the Tieton Canal as
inspector, John Joseph Vandiver was able
to complete his engineering studies.
But all was not
work for this ambitious man born in Georgia and
transplanted in far away Washington state. While a student at the University, John
Joseph Vandiver met and courted beautiful
Lula May Estee, also a student. She was
from East Lynn, Illinois.
They were
married May
26, 1914. As newly-weds, they lived near
the Tieton Canyon where John Joseph was
employed by the Reclamation Service keeping canals and roads operable
for construction of the giant Rimrock Dam.
When the Reclamation Service wanted to transfer engineer Vandiver to Wyoming, he
and his wife decided Washington was
for them, and he resigned from his job, moving to Yakima
permanently. There he spent most of the remainder of his career as a
carpenter, building his own house and those for many others. As he
progressed in his ability as a builder, he was able to upgrade the
houses he built for his own family, including one for his in-laws, Mr.
and Mrs. C. D. Estee, whom he and Lula Mae
moved from Illinois to
live near them in Yakima.
John Joseph and
Lula Mae Estee Vandiver
had two children. Ada Margaret Vandiver was born May 23, 1915 in Seattle, Washington.
John Henry Vandiver was born August 23, 1916.
From his
parents and their beginnings in the mountains of North
Georgia, John Joseph Vandiver learned a strong work ethic which
guided him all his adult life. He was always able to make a way for
himself and his wife and children. Honesty and integrity were
distinctive marks of his character. He admits in his memoirs that at
times life was "hard sledding." But he persisted, was willing to tackle
hard jobs, and finally had a most productive life. Many of the couple's
happiest years were spent in a house he built for them on Pleasant
Avenue in Yakima Washington.
There they could see the towering mountains in the western landscape.
No doubt, as he grew older, the mountains of Washington state reminded the aging Vandiver
of Choestoe Valley and towering Bald Mountain, the
highest peak in Georgia near
which he lived from 1878 until he left in 1895 going west.
c2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 17, 2007 in The Union
Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights
reserved.
[Ethelene
Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.
She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708
Cedarwood Road,
Milledgeville,
GA
31061-2411.]
)