Meier & Matson Family History

Meier Family History
We had lived in the log cabin ten years and I was thirteen years old when Father and the boys built the new house. It was
made of lumber and the chimneys were made of brick instead of boards and mortar as there were in the log house. There
were four rooms downstairs and four up, the upstairs being unfinished when we move in. There were three fireplaces,
three porches and two pantries. Father believed everything should be convenient and handy so there were six outside
doors which, needless to say , were never locked. Sometimes 'Old Bones' would unexpectedly walk in, but he was a
friendly old Indian and often visited white people. There were no Indian troubles in that part of the Territory. The house
was burned after we all came away so it is no longer standing. Grandfather, too, built a new house, a large one painted
white which I think is still there, not far from the cemetery.
Battle Ground, a few miles north east had already been somewhat settled. It was less wooded than Brush Prairie, almost
like a prairie country, thus making it easier to clear and cultivate. There was a post office both at Battle Ground and
Brush Prairie, the one at Brush Prairie being kept by Mr. Rambo at first, then moved to our house. The mail was carried
on horseback by a man named Joe Wooden. He was almost the most unforgettable character I have known. A silent,
modest man but most kind and accommodating. He would be stopped on his route by any number of people and asked to
bring back something, anything, a paper of needles or pins, a sack of salt, a pound of soda, nothing was too much trouble.
The young people often sent notes to each other which should have gone through the mail. He never objected and never
forgot anything. He always had lunch at our house, as a good many of the men from Battle Ground did, and Mother never
charged anything. But those men were neither beggars nor tramps and would slip money into the hand of one of us
children. We had not been in that country very many years before there was a great influx of people to that locality and
almost all the land was settled upon. There was a community east of Battle Ground and northeast of Brush Prairie called
Eureka settled mostly by Swedes and Finns. When the post office was established there it was kept by a man named
Hockinson. Either to commemorate his memory or for some other reason the name of the locality was changed from
Eureka to Hockinson. A bank was established at Battle Ground in 1871 and at Hockinson in 1884. The road from
Hockinson to Vancouver was located on our east boundary line near enough to the house that we could see and hear
people pass and we always enjoyed hearing 'Old Man Lieser' as he was called 'Gee Hawing' to his oxen as he passed on
his way to or from Vancouver.
The road from Battle Ground to Vancouver was near our west boundary line, the two roads joining about a mile farther
on. There was a connecting road in front of our house which later was closed and one opened farther north. The increase in
population meant wider, more varied interests. A debating society, singing school, and a Good Templer's Lodge were
organized and spelling bees held. All of which meant a more united neighborhood. The little schoolhouse was getting too
small. A new and larger building made of lumber was built about 1872 on the Battle Ground road west of us, dividing
the neighborhood into two districts. The Baptist church held its services there until 1888 when the present Baptist
Church was built. A Christian Church was organized and their services held in the little log house. Sometimes there were
two services on Sunday with lunch in between. Everyone brought something and when the first service was over boards
were placed on trestles outside making a large table which was soon loaded with good things which everyone enjoyed.
After lunch a second service was held but the young people often took that occasion for a walk.
Both the Baptist and the Christian Church believe that baptism should be administered to believers only and that only
by immersion. There was no baptistery in the buildings, no water supply except from wells, no water pipes, no bath
tubs, so the only place available for administering the rite of baptism was Salmon Creek. The place was very beautiful
and the service very solemn and impressive. I have since witnessed an immersion in a baptistery but it seemed a
travesty in comparison to one in a flowing stream out in the open with only the sky above. There was no organized church
in any of the neighboring districts except Dublin where there was a Catholic Church. But Father often held services at
Battle Ground and at Maple Grove. He loved to walk and always walked to all his appointments. When Mother went
with him, as she sometimes did , she rode on gentle, old, swaybacked Fannie, while Father walked by her side, often
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