HISTORY COLUMN: The Waldo's
By Darrell Jabin
If you live in the mid-Willamette Valley, it is easy to find Waldo. We have Waldo Park and Waldo Middle School in Salem and Waldo Hills east of Salem. Waldo Mountain, Waldo Lake and the Waldo Lake Wilderness are in the central Oregon Cascades and there is a Waldo Hall on the campus of Oregon State University. The question is who were the Waldo’s?
Daniel Waldo was born in 1800 in Virginia. He moved to Missouri at age 19, married Malinda Lunsford and was involved in the lumber business. In 1843 the Waldo family and their neighbors, the Applegate's (later creators of the Applegate Trail), made the journey over the Oregon trail. The family settled on a homestead in the hills east of Salem. The area was named the Waldo settlement when the family resided there but is now known as the Waldo Hills. Daniel Waldo became a member of the legislative committee of the provisional government (before Oregon became a state) and a district judge. He spent the last years of his life in Salem and died in 1880.
In 1957 when Salem decided to build a third junior high a citizens committee chose to name the school in honor of Daniel Waldo. The first two junior highs, Parrish and Leslie had also been named for Oregon pioneers.
William and John Waldo, the sons of Daniel and Malinda, also played important roles in Oregon History.
William Waldo was born in 1832 in Missouri and came with his family to Oregon in 1843. He traveled to the gold fields in California and drove 300 head of cattle from Missouri to the Waldo settlement before studying law at Willamette University under future governor, Lafayette Grover.
William was elected to the Oregon State Senate and served from 1878 to 1885, including the last year as Senate President. He also served as a Marion County judge.
In 1872 William planted a giant sequoia tree on his property and looked after it during his lifetime. He sold the property to the city of Salem with the agreement that the tree would be preserved. In 1936 the Salem chapter of American War Mothers persuaded the city to declare the tree and the 12 by 20 foot site around it to be a city park. The park, close to the intersection of Summer and Union Street was named Waldo Park, in honor of William. The giant sequoia, now 85 feet tall, is part of the Heritage Tree program.
William’s younger brother, John was born in 1844 in the Oregon country, before we became a state. He suffered from Asthma and brother William took him on annual excursions to the Cascades to avoid the Willamette Valley air during the summer. John acquired a lifelong love for the High Cascades area and became a hunter and fisherman.
John graduated from Willamette University and married Clara Humason. He served as an attorney in Salem and Portland. In 1880 he was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court and spent two years of his term as Chief Justice. In 1888 he won election to the state legislature and introduced a “memorial to Congress” to establish a forest reserve in the Cascades from the Columbia River to the California border. Although that effort was unsuccessful John continued to explore the Cascades and write letters to Oregon newspapers in support of conservation. His efforts led to President Grover Cleveland establishing the Cascade Forest Reserve in 1893. Waldo Lake, Waldo Mountain and the Waldo Lake Wilderness are all named in his honor.
Clara Humason Waldo, John’s wife, had an interest in agricultural education. She became an official in the State Grange and spent four years as a state lecturer, speaking and writing for better opportunities for rural Oregon.
Her efforts led to contact with Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) and Governor George Chamberlain appointed her to the Board of Regents of the college. It made her the first woman in America to be named to the Board of Regents of a state institution. She was the namesake of Waldo Hall, the women’s dormitory on campus.
Your article is timely as the Keizer Heritage Museum is featuring a new exhibit on Thomas Dove Keizur's involvement in the 1844 Pre-Provisional Government. Daniel Waldo was also elected to serve in that legislative committee. The Waldo and Keizur families traveled together in the 1843 emigration! Thanks for sharing more about the Waldo family. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=911647014336202&set=a.240660702779028