Mrs. Eliza (nee King) Northrop Carson

KING, NORTHROP, CARSON, CLAY, STURGIS, PLATT, DICKINSON

Posted By: Patricia E. Morris
Date: 3/10/2006 at 00:23:41

The FAIRFIELD LEDGER, November 9, 1888, 3-5 and June 26, 1901, Page 3, col. 7.

AN OLD FAIRFIELD FAMILY. Portland, Ore., OREGONIAN, June 15th, 1901. On the morning of June 13th there passed away in this city a sweet, gentle woman, who belonged to the race of pioneers of this state, the beloved wife of John C. Carson.

In the emigration of 1852, Mr. King and his entire family, his wife, seven sons and two daughters, left Fairfield, Iowa, for Oregon. Eight strong, stalwart men and three women started full of hope and plans for a new home in the west. The seven brothers were left in lonely graves along the highway of the immigrant train, and the father, ill of a fever, mother and two daughters arrived in the little village of Portland in October 1852.

Within two weeks the father was taken away, and in two years the mother followed. The twin sisters, Martha Ann and Eliza Ann King were left alone, in a strange land, far from all kindred. Brave, and of large heart, these two lonely sisters met new and untried responsibilities with courage and fidelity. They did their part in adding to the noble type of womanhood that helped establish this commonwealth.

In a few years Martha King married Josiah L. Dickinson, and Eliza married Thomas H. Northrop, who soon died, leaving one son, Frank, now deceased. Eliza King Northrop afterward married John C. Carson, who had one daughter, Louella Clay. Four children remain of this union: Mrs. Rose M. Sturgis, Elizabeth May, John Dolph, and Mrs. Robert Treat Platt. For nearly fifty years Mrs. Carson has lived in Portland...