The Briscoe Residence, Oysterville c. 1900
I don’t know if this is a joke or a truism among authors: the first page you look at in your newly published book is the one on which you’ll find an error. The best you can hope for is that the mistake is a typo that was overlooked in the copyediting and proofreading processes. The worst, at least for someone who writes about historical “truths,” is an error of fact.
Sometimes, those more substantive errors don’t reveal themselves right away – usually not until you are deep into the research for another, unrelated project. Take, for instance, the whopping error in Oysterville, my second book for Arcadia Publications. The book was published in 2010, yet it wasn’t until yesterday while working on an article about place names, that I found I had totally confused two generations of Briscoes.
I was looking for information about the little Briscoe gravesite north of Long Beach. It’s to the west of the highway, about at 140th, and is surrounded by a white fence. I have always thought that it was a baby who was buried there but I found that there are actually two stones – one for Lucy Briscoe who died in 1881 and the other for John Briscoe who died in 1901 at the age of 88.
This information triggered a number of semi-related thoughts. I remembered my mother’s friend, Lucille Wilson (a descendent of the Briscoes) telling me that her ancestors had taken out a Donation Land Claim for that property in 1853. I remembered the identification on the back of a photograph given to me by Charlotte Jacobs: Briscoe House, Oysterville. And I remembered what I had written on page 38 of Oysterville:
Not far south of the Pacific House was the home of Judge John Briscoe, who served as the area’s fifth representative to the Territorial Legislature. In 1854, he was appointed probate judge by Gov. Isaac I. Stevens and was reelected to that position for some years. He and his wife, Julia, were highly respected members of the pioneer community.
My current thinking is that I’ve confused two John Briscoes, father and son. The elder was the homesteader near Briscoe Lake north of the present-day Long Beach, was elected to represent Pacific County in the Washington Territorial Legislature at Olympia, was appointed probate judge, and had a wife named Lucy. The younger John Briscoe lived in Oysterville with his wife Julia, served as postmaster here from 1874 to 1877, was a trustee of the Oysterville Methodist Church and, like his father, became a judge.
The 1860 Oysterville Census, which certainly could have included the Briscoe DLC, lists the Briscoe family: Briscoe, John, 47; Briscoe, Lucy, 43; Briscoe, Joseph, 11; Briscoe, John, 9; Briscoe, Pacific B., 5; Briscoe, Ida G., 1. Although I found one reference to the elder Briscoe as “John D,” I have yet to mind a middle initial for the younger John. I am still on the search for later census information.
So, my personal jury is out regarding the Judges Briscoe. All I know for certain is that I’m confused, and that if Oysterville ever goes into a second printing, some corrections are in order.
Love the picture. I don’t want to show my ignorance, but I didn’t understand “c. 190” in the picture’s description. You have me confused, too! So, let’s have a party!!
Whoops! It should have said “c. 1900.” Thanks for pointing out yet another error!
What can I say except I feel for you. Nothing like a error memorialized in print to send shivers down an author’s spine.
There were a couple of great ones in our local paper today (not mine, thank the Lord!) On page one someone “had went” somewhere (OMG) and in a special article on surf rescue someone was being “toed in” to the beach!
From the time I was little I wondered about that little tiny cemetery you can see from the highway. I am happy to know. I am pretty certain that few books are error free so try not to feel too badly. All of them are such delightful reads!
Sorry, Sydney…just thought I was missing the point. Sometimes, errors are not such a bad thing. I have often noticed a typo in a book. It seems to highlight that sentence so I look at it more closely. Didn’t intend a criticism.
“Criticism” was the I last thing on my mind, silly girl. I just thought it was pretty funny that I had overlooked an error on a blog entry focused on errors! And, BTW, please DO tell me when you catch mistakes I make. I consider it a kindness!
Hello Sydney,
I think you are right about the same John Briscoe being married first to Lucy, then to Julia. The 1900 census shows John as being 35ish years older than Julia.
I suspect the younger John Briscoe died young.
Regarding the little cemetery, I have wondered whether my great great grandmother, Catherine Hoyt, who was John and Lucy’s oldest child is also buried there. She died in 1864.
Sorry for leaving it so long between comments. 🙂
Rosemary in Melbourne, Australia
There’s no evidence of a third grave at the Briscoe Cemetery. And, what puzzles me about your scenario (John having a second wife) is why he would have been buried next to his first wife. And where is Julia buried? Obviously, there is more to this story… Let me know if you learn anything and I’ll do the same.
Sydney
Sydney,
I am pretty certain I am a descendant of the John Briscoe family. The story told to me by my father, U.S. Briscoe, was that Julia’s was his second wife. Her name was Julia Simpson and her 1st husband was Samuel L. Simpson. Samuel was a writer & a poet I believe.
Hi Sydney,
As Rosemary points out, you did not confuse the two, and the John Briscoe who married Lucy Ann Keeler is the same John Briscoe who later married Julia Humphrey. While I don’t know for certain that this is the reason, I think it was fairly common for deceased people to be buried next to their first spouse when they had multiple marriages. At least, I have come across this quite a bit during my genealogy research.
Julia is buried in Jones Pioneer Cemetery in Portland (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11402145). My guess is she was buried there because that is where she was living at the time of her death, and she had several family members in Portland at the time of her death.
While somewhat mangled during the OCR conversion, her obituary is online (http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1902-09-28/ed-1/seq-11/ocr.txt), about two thirds of the way down the page. It originally appeared in The Sunday Oregonian of 28 September 1902. John Briscoe was Julia’s second spouse, as well. Her first marriage was to Samuel L. Simpson (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7714837). I have submitted a correction request to get her Find A Grave memorial updated to show links to John and Samuel, but this information hasn’t been added yet.
You might be able to help me out with something. In the photo you have of the Briscoe residence, at the far left, there are five children lined up in front of the fence, and several adults standing behind the fence. Do you happen to have the identifies of these people? I’m assuming they are members of the Briscoe family, but I’m curious as to who’s who. Also, would you be able to put me in touch with Charlotte Jacobs to see about getting a copy of the original photo?
Thank you,
Dan
Dear Sydney,
Thank you for bringing information to light–or at least for discussion. I am intimately familiar with the Briscoe grave site. My parents owned and lived on the site for quite a few years in my childhood during the 1970’s. We did not know the history of the persons buried there, but my father took constant care of the site. It was not a place that the public flocked to, but my father always kept the pathway clear and kept the white fence in the best condition. My little sister and I visited the grave site very frequently, if not every day, and we had the utmost respect for the Briscoes. My father, Paul Hoch, was a Lutheran minister and we all had respect for the little grave site outside our home and those buried there.
The two tombstones are quite elaborate for the time. There was no indication of any subsidiary burial, even without major marker.
Clearly, I cannot provide any pertinent historical information. But I do want people to know that there were people long time after the Briscoes’ time who valued their lives and tended to the resting place.
Thanks to you–and all you historians of the area–I will try to find out more about the Briscoes.
James Hoch (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Thanks for this information, James. And many thanks to you and your family for your stewardship of this tiny graveyard. Lucille Wison, a great-granddaughter of the Briscoes, often spoke of her family’s appreciation for those who took care of the little site after the property passed to new owners. I would be interested in knowing what years your family lived there.
Hello again Sydney,
Yesterday, I found that I had the evidence of the same John Briscoe being married first to Lucy and later to Julia.
I had saved a link to a scan of John Briscoe’s probate file, but had forgotten to go back and look.
In the first few pages (the actual will) he lists his surviving children and for those who are deceased, his grandchildren. He leaves each of these $1.00.
He then leaves everything else he has to his wife, Julia.
After that a codicil is added to also give $1.00 each to his 2 children by his second marriage.
Ida Grace Soule, who we’ve mentioned before, is mentioned immediately above my great grandmother.
My great grandmother is mentioned as Nettie E. Roberts and her deceased mother he calls Hope Catherine Hoyt. I had her down ias Catherine H or Catherine. I’m glad to know it’s Hope.
Let me know if you would like me to send you the link to the file. I’m also happy to send it to Dan if this is something he doesn’t already have.
Bye for now.
Rosemary in Melbourne, Australia
Great information, Rosemary! And great sleuthing! I’m not quite sure about your reference to “Dan” but I definitely think you should send the information to Mike Lemeshko: lemeshko@comcast.net. Mike has been doing extensive research about Judge Briscoe and recently gave a talk concerning him at our local museum. His invited guests were John and Julia’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter from Canada who made a presentation of some framed documents to the museum! He is forming a “Friends of the Briscoe Family Cemetery” located here on the Peninsula and he hopes to have it named as a Heritage Site eventually. If you two haven’t been in touch, I think you should be!
Again — thanks so much for sharing all this information with me.
I hope to learn more about Judge Briscoe. He was my Great Great Grandfather. I have a copy of his short autobiography.
If possible, I would love to be able to contact Charlotte Jacobs in order to request a copy of the photo of the Briscoe residence. One of those children might have been my Great Grandfather, Burr Pacific Briscoe.
Thank you .
Hello Sydney. I am Beverly Malpas’s sister. Thanks for putting us in touch with Michael Lemeshko, who met with us this week. We are hoping you can provide us Rosemary Peeler’s address, and/or please give her our e-mail addresses. We are great granddaughters of Burr Pacific Briscoe and would like to ask Rosemary for a copy of the link to John Briscoe’s probate file.
Hi, late to the party, do here’s my 2 cents with adding to the fray. I have a copy of the judge’s will. His son J.K Briscoe’s heirs, Archie, Normie & one other heir, ( I couldn’t read the handwriting) are mentioned in the will. His wife Julia, his son B.P. (Burr Pacific, my great-grandfather) are mentioned 1st & 2nd respectively. So that part is settled. But I’m having issues with the marriage #1, and their children #2.
His first wife Lucy Keeler died in 1881 @64, in Long Beach, Wa. The judge was 69. 2 years later, he married 35 yo Julia Jennetta Humphrey in 1883. Then, in 1885, they had a son , U.S. Briscoe 12/24/1885(?). The judge was 73yo! Wait though, in 1895, they had a daughter, Julia Ethel 11/4/1892. The judge was 80 yo!!! ?? Julia was 44.
The other issue besides the age differences and the kids, is Julia’s prior marriage to Samuel Leonidas Simpson 7/30/1868 in Salem, Oregon. Sam supposedly became the poet laureate of Oregon. They had two children together. One in 1872, the other 1879.
Now, whatever happened between 1879-1883 is so far , Lost to history, since Sam didn’t die until 1899!
The last and final issue, I have is this, The judge, from what I’ve read, was a devout follower/ member of “the friends”(Quakers) , so this story just does not jibe. I can’t imagine a 70+ yo judge and a 35yo (divorced?) women with two teenage kids getting married!
Please redirect me if you know something I don’t. Thanks, Bob