From over the Hill . . .

Well . . . Synchronicity continues to whisper Her secrets in my ear!

On my October 10th post I told of our visit and adventure with Dennis Sovy, Mary and Leon's great-grandson who lives in Washington state and visited here a week ago.

Dave Campbell, along with Dennis and I have been emailing (at least once a day) with information we think of or find. I had typed this paragraph in the Oct. 10th post from the story that Reita Campbell (Dave's mother) wrote in the 1962 Siskiyou Pioneer: "About 1905, Mrs. Sovey decided that she should move to town for the safety of her daughters. She arranged to trade her property for a home in town which was near the school. Thus the little adopted daughter could attend school."

And posed this question: Does anyone know which house in town she bought?

In an email from Marilyn of the Etna Brewing Co. (the property where Ike Sovy (Mary's son) lived, she mentioned that Andrew (the original Brewmaster) had bought the property from Ike Sovy's daughter Mildred (who lived 'down south') in 1989. (note: Sovey is often spelled Sovy)

Just for fun I searched the whitepages for her name and she appeared, but no address. So I typed in just her last name and city and a man's name came up, who I presumed was her son. I figured by now that Mildred had passed.

I wrote a letter to him explaining about the website and that Dennis was trying to find out more about his family here in Etna. I said that if he was not related to Mildred, please excuse the intrusion; however if he was, would be please call or email or write me.

As happens often any more, I got busy (working outside in this glorious Autumn weather) and promptly forgot I had sent the letter!

On Sunday evening when we came inside, there was a phone message from the brother of the man I had written!

So I called back and we talked and talked and talked for probably an hour. As it turns out, Mildred is still alive at 98 yrs. old; however, not able to share information with us.

Her son doesn't have a computer, so I printed out the posting and the few photos I had and mailed to him. After he receives it, I am sure we will talk again. He was amazed to find out his mother had siblings other than Ikey (who lived in the white house where the Brewery is now until he passed in 1987) and I was amazed to have found him!

Marilyn had told me there was a photo of the big white house hanging on the wall in the Brewery, so today I went down to take a photo of it . . .

Marilyn said Kapplers built this in 1905
and lived upstairs until the 'big' house was finished.
The Brewery was across the street. There were wooden aging tanks
and in a long wooden building next to this building, they bottled the beer.

If you look at the left side
you can see part of the Fire Station roofline

I wanted to see if I could get about the same angle of the how the property looks now . . .

I got part of the Fire Station roof,
but not the right angle.

This is actually just about where the building sat;
however, the tree blocks the Fire Station roof!

Wood on the Brewery wall
that came from the original house
with photo of Kapplers bottling beer.

If you have eaten outside on the patio area you'll recognize the flower bed and fence.
Marilyn said when she was a little girl, the fence wasn't there, but a wire gate was
and she would walk down the path from the 'Beehive' where she lived to visit 'Grandma Nelly' and 'Grandpa Ike'. She would sit on the stone wall and talk to Grandpa Ike
and he would give her a piece of peppermint candy.The entry door off the patio into the Brewery was just about where the Sovy door into their kitchen was.
Marilyn has a cupboard that Grandma Nelly used to store her canning goods on,
and can describe just what the inside looked like!
And this many years later, having lived just next door as a girl,
she and Dave have, since 2001, owned this property!

Back to this question: Does anyone know which house in town she bought?

Again, Marilyn dug back into the 1900 and 1920 census and found that Mary Sovy lived on . . . guess where???? . . . Fredrick Street (my street!!!!!!), just over from the school. That led to the question . . . which house???

The Census didn't give addresses, just names, of which there were only 5 on Fredrick Street (sometimes now spelled Frederick Street): Mary Sovy, John P. Baker, Francis Kirby, Charles Quigley, Frank Young.

Soooooooo I rang up Harriett and Ed to find out if they knew a Charles Quigley . . . and of course they did, as he was Ed's father who lived in the old Bennett house down the street. They said Mary lived next door at the corner (Charles & Fredrick Streets) and raised hogs there. Mary's home burned down (probably sometime in early to mid 1920's after she passed away).

John Baker lived in the two-story house across from my barn.

Here is the conclusion of the the story Reita Campbell wrote in the 1962 Siskiyou Pioneer: "In 1908 Miss Rosa Sovey and her step-nephew, Harry Lyons, started a confectionery store in the Young building. Harry soon tired of the business, but Rosa carried on until 1929 when she purchased the Kappler home, where she ran a small hotel until 1944.

During these years her brother, Joseph, was a faithful helper and after her retirement, he continued to live with her until his death. Another brother, Albert, then made his home with Rosa until her death in 1954.

Like her mother, Rosa had a rich heritage of human kindness and devotion to those whom she loved. She was a good business woman and with hard work she had won the respect of all who knew her.

Albert Sovey had had little opportunity to gain an education for himself, but in addition to educating his son, John Albert, he and his wife provided for the education of his foster sister. Only two members of the family are still living (1962 when this was written by Reita): Isaac, who married Eleanor Short formerly of Hooperville and William Sovey, who lives in Nevada."

I called Bernita tonight to ask if she knew of Francis Kirby or Frank Young and she didn't; however, she told me that when she was about 14 she worked for Rosie (Rosa) Sovey at the boarding house (old Kappler house).

Here are a few stories she told me . . .

~ Rosie would have her brother Joe pick elderberries for pies and Bernita had to then pick them off the stems . . . very tedious work, but the pies she served to her boarders were very good.

~ Rosie would also have Joe bring new potatoes from the garden out at the Shultz Ranch where he worked. Bernita said if there was one that was the size of a silver dollar, it was a bonanza! And it was Bernita who had to peel those tiny potatoes.

~ Bernita said Rosie was very particular about how work was done. One day Bernita was cleaning upstairs and heard a noise in a room she knew no one was supposed to be in. She opened the door and there was a man in bed! She hightailed it down the stairs and found Rosie, who hightailed it back up the stairs brandishing a big wooden spoon, opened the door and got the jump on the man. He told her he wandered around the night before looking for a vacant room, found that one and moved in. Rosie didn't leave until he paid her for the room!

End of story on that one . . .

For now, we don't know where on Fredrick Street Francis Kirby or Frank Young lived . . . so that is the big mystery now . . .

If you have any information, email me so we can complete that story!

In joy!

Che'usa
October 18, 2011

Thanks for
continuing
to shop locally!

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