Martha Luella "Ella" Davis was born in 1852 to Isaac Silas Davis and Rebecca BOND. Her immigrant roots in America trace back to 1620, when her 7th Great Grandmother Constance Hopkins/Snow, came to America at the age of 14 with her parents Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and his wife Mary, aboard the Mayflower. Martha was born in Iowa and when she was just 15 months old in April 1853, the family began their five-month trek across the plains by ox-drawn wagon on the Oregon Trail, reaching their destination in late September. The Davis's settled in Coast Fork, Lane, Oregon Territory in October 1854 under the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. Ella was 15 when she married William Engle Francis Alkire on 25 May 1867. Interviewed years later, Martha stated her parents stringently objected to their marriage because of her age, so on the pretense of going to a dance, they eloped on horseback. County records, however, show that when their affidavit for a marriage license was filed with the county days before the wedding, Martha's mother Rebecca included her written consent. Furthermore, Rebecca's brother the Baptist Minister George Washington Bond married his niece and her beau at the residence of Martha's uncle Nelson Davis, who captained their 1853 Wagon Train. Martha not only had parental consent but also family participation in the ceremony, although her popular version of the story is certainly the more romantic version. Reading between the lines, if there was parental push-back and for the reason Martha gave, then elopement would have probably been a forgone conclusion, had her family not capitulated to the couple's matrimonial intent.

After she and William married, the couple lived in Springfield Oregon, the birthplace of their son Francis who died at the age of nine in 1878, after the family moved to Pine Creek in Washington Territory, later renamed Farmington, in Whitman County. Exactly when the family left Oregon for Washington is unclear, but they may have moved from Springfield to The Dalles first, before finally leaving Oregon between 1872 and 1875. Working as a freighter, William transported goods to Spokane Washington and various points between, having to leave his family alone for extended periods, when relations between settlers and the indigenous populations were volatile. One newspaper article from a 1950's interview, states Ella received an advanced warning that a band of hostiles was on the move, on one occasion when William was away transporting goods. She hid their three children in the cornfield and waited at the entrance of the home with her rifle. The Indians never appeared, and the article concludes, the incident had been one of several close calls. But this story has yet another chapter, with Ella's revelation to the family, the Indian party reached the farm of a Davis cousin living nearby instead. The parents were killed in the ensuing raid and the Alkire's watched over their children until closer relatives were able to take charge. Unfortunately, we do not yet know the location or year of this incident, but this might have been what finally prompted William to give up freighting in favor of farming as his lively hood, keeping him close to home. The family eventually left Washington Territory and moved to Bennett Bay Idaho, later settling in what would become Coeur d'Alene, a short distance away. Martha's husband preferred living away from people and the city, but her insistence on the family to move into the town finally prevailed and the Alkire's left Bennett Bay between 1888 and 1893. Remnants of the log cabin the family occupied by the lake, survived years after Ella passed until the remaining structure was finally demolished to make way for a new home built on the site in the early 2000s. The cabin's precise location was across from the intersect of Sunnyside Road and Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, which had been Highway 10 before the I-90 was constructed in 1960 and originally, was a branch of the old Mullen trail, made by U.S. soldiers going back to about 1859.

Gifted with a take-charge, no-nonsense personality, Martha is best described as a singular force, the go-to matriarch and the glue responsible for holding the family together. When Ella's daughter Gracie and her husband Charles Nelson Davis separated in the early 1900s, Gracie and their two young daughters Ella and Ruth, moved into the family home and remained there for years. After her youngest daughter Pearl's husband died in the Butte mines in 1913, both she and her young daughter Elizabeth, moved into the family home as well. Pearl married several times in the years that followed and returned to live in her mother's home sporadically, but her daughter remained under primarily, Ella's care and supervision. Elizabeth eventually married, had a son, and continued to live with her young family under Ella's roof, where the couple's son George had the good fortune of also being raised by his great grandmother during his first 14 years. And so, beginning with the birth of her first child, there would never again be a time throughout her very long life, when Ella was not involved in rearing children and sharing with them her stories of the old times. And when Ella's son Archie fell terminally ill from miners' consumption, Martha was his caregiver in the months before his death. Ella brought Archie into this world, and it was she who saw him out, arranged his funeral, and bore a similar responsibility with the passing of her son Charles years earlier in 1903.

Martha and her siblings heard stories as they were growing up, of the family's journey west on the Oregon Trail. A favorite was how settlers planted Iris's along the way to help guide those who followed and called them flags, a common descriptive attached to other types of markers also used along the trail. Ella always had Iris's growing at the home in Coeur d'Alene she and William built-in 1902, referring to them as her flags, as a living memorial dedicated to her loved ones passed on. This was also a tradition continued long after she died, by the family who in turn kept her memory alive as well. Martha also planted a Lilac tree in her backyard, just as she had done at the gravesite of her murdered son Charles, in Pony Montana. Both blossom to this day after 116 years, but other than these symbolic favorites, Ella's interest in plants was strictly limited to those edible varieties, she could either find or grow, cook and feed to her family, in keeping with her pioneering upbringing.

As a captivating storyteller, Ella was always known to have a "ready wit" and on occasion, had been willing to selectively embellish and exaggerate a truth. A prime example is the story of her supposed elopement with William as told above, but another story also based on a fact, Ella described her husband William as having been a Civil War hero, who participated in the decisive Savannah Campaign or more commonly known as "Sherman's March to the Sea". His military record, however, shows William was never required to leave the state of Oregon and as a consequence, never experienced military action during his time of service. William was, indeed, a proud veteran and a member of G.A.R., and Ella, likewise, also played an active role as a member of the Women's Relief Corp. of the A.T. McReynolds G.A.R. Post of Coeur d'Alene. She was involved in the planning and installation of the Civil War Monument in Forest Cemetery, memorializing Union soldiers and sailors, dedicated on 1 Jan 1907. Ella outlived her husband by just over 35 years and by the time she turned 100, had earned the distinction of being Coeur d'Alene's only surviving Civil War veteran's widow.

Martha was physically active at nearly 100, but she finally moved to the 'Coeur d'Alene Homes', a Lutheran-based facility in 1952 as her need for physical assistance dramatically increased. For the occasion of her 100th birthday, she received a letter recognizing her longevity from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and to the end, Ella retained her mental acuity and her sense of humor. She enjoyed watching television, but also read newspapers, keeping up with events of the day. On the occasion of her 102nd birthday, she said, "I don't feel over 100" and when she turned 103, her only comment was, "What's all the fuss about?". A charter member of the Baptist church, Ella passed away Wednesday, March 30, at the ripe old age of 103 years, 2 months, and 12 days young. Her obituary appeared in the local paper the following day and her service was conducted at the Yates Funeral Home on Saturday, April 2, at 2:30 pm, with the Baptist Minister Eugene C. Knautz officiating. At the time of her passing, her only surviving child was Arthur, who passed away eleven years later in 1966. All 10 of her children are listed in the family bible, with 9 of their memorials represented here. An additional bible entry is for an unnamed infant son who passed away on February 5, with his name and the years of his birth and death left unrecorded.

Sources:
Photographs, letters, documents, newspaper clippings, and the families Bible, from the Evjen and Adell family archives, and census reports. And Martha Luella Alkire herself, whose longevity made it possible for her memories to be orally passed down in the family or otherwise, would have been lost to us now. And to her great-grandson George Evjen, who kindly shares the gift of those memories our grandma shared with him when he was growing up, toward the end of her long and dedicated life.

Scott Adell
2016, 2018