Parents _______Robbins and Melvina Meyer (1880c)
Graveside services were held in Ritzville Wednesday afteroon for one of the city's earliest pioneers, Mrs. Melissa Robbins Kaufman, who died Sunday at the age of 97 in Seattle. Mrs. Kauffman claimed to be a third cousin of Abraham Lincoln, tracing her relationships through the family of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother.
Mrs. Kauffman's parents started westward from Indiana in 1851 ten years before the Civil war. They spent three months in Missouri, outfitting and joining a wagon tran and there Mrs. Kauffman was born on Dec. 22. She was three months old when her parent headed west across the Great Plains by ox team. Her older brother, about three, died during the trip and Mrs. Kauffman used to recall how after his burial the entire wagon train circled back to pass over the grave so the Indians would be unable to locate it.
After a trip of nine months, the Kauffmans reach Oregon Territory and homestead six mile from Oregon City. Only a handful of the very earliest pioneers lived in Oregon then, with hundreds of Indians.
But the Indians usually were quite peaceful, Mrs. Kauffman told her family in later years. They spent much of their time watching the whites tackle the rugged business of carving out homes and fields out of the wilderness, and usually they were asking for this article or that as a gift. As a child Mrs. Kauffman attended school in a long cabin three months of the years. She worked the rest of the time.
It was in Oregon that Mrs. Kauffman's father was killed in a hunting accident. He reached down to set his gun on a log, the trigger struck the log and the bullet, blasting upwards, killed him instantly. About 1880 the family pulled up stakes and moved eastward into the Big Bend country, settling in Ritzville when this pioneer outpost had a post office, a general store operated by N. H. Greene and less than 100 residents.
For many years the Kauffmans lived in a home-still standing on Broadway avenue, around the corner from the municipal building. Mrs. Kauffman's husband, Jacob M. died in 1910. Mrs. Kauffman remainded in Ritzville until 1931 when she moved to Seattle.
Funerals services for Mrs. Kauffman were conducted Tuesday at the Green Lake funeral home in Seattle and graveside services were conducted by Mrs. Leta Kuster, a longtime friend of the family and another former Ritzville resident. Services were held at Ritzville Memorial cemetery Wednesday afternoon.
Accompanying Mrs. Kuster from Seattle was Mrs. Oda McKay, one of Mrs. Kaufmann's daughters and another daughter, Mrs. Clyde Axtell came from Bosie for the funeral. Mrs. Kauffman is survived by a third daughter, Mrs. Ethel Buehler and a son, Leslie Kauffman, both of San Francisco; 9 grnadhcildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Ritzville Journal Times June 9, 1949 Sue Gardner & gapwork90
Graveside services were held in Ritzville Wednesday afteroon for one of the city's earliest pioneers, Mrs. Melissa Robbins Kaufman, who died Sunday at the age of 97 in Seattle. Mrs. Kauffman claimed to be a third cousin of Abraham Lincoln, tracing her relationships through the family of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother.
Mrs. Kauffman's parents started westward from Indiana in 1851 ten years before the Civil war. They spent three months in Missouri, outfitting and joining a wagon tran and there Mrs. Kauffman was born on Dec. 22. She was three months old when her parent headed west across the Great Plains by ox team. Her older brother, about three, died during the trip and Mrs. Kauffman used to recall how after his burial the entire wagon train circled back to pass over the grave so the Indians would be unable to locate it.
After a trip of nine months, the Kauffmans reach Oregon Territory and homestead six mile from Oregon City. Only a handful of the very earliest pioneers lived in Oregon then, with hundreds of Indians.
But the Indians usually were quite peaceful, Mrs. Kauffman told her family in later years. They spent much of their time watching the whites tackle the rugged business of carving out homes and fields out of the wilderness, and usually they were asking for this article or that as a gift. As a child Mrs. Kauffman attended school in a long cabin three months of the years. She worked the rest of the time.
It was in Oregon that Mrs. Kauffman's father was killed in a hunting accident. He reached down to set his gun on a log, the trigger struck the log and the bullet, blasting upwards, killed him instantly. About 1880 the family pulled up stakes and moved eastward into the Big Bend country, settling in Ritzville when this pioneer outpost had a post office, a general store operated by N. H. Greene and less than 100 residents.
For many years the Kauffmans lived in a home-still standing on Broadway avenue, around the corner from the municipal building. Mrs. Kauffman's husband, Jacob M. died in 1910. Mrs. Kauffman remainded in Ritzville until 1931 when she moved to Seattle.
Funerals services for Mrs. Kauffman were conducted Tuesday at the Green Lake funeral home in Seattle and graveside services were conducted by Mrs. Leta Kuster, a longtime friend of the family and another former Ritzville resident. Services were held at Ritzville Memorial cemetery Wednesday afternoon.
Accompanying Mrs. Kuster from Seattle was Mrs. Oda McKay, one of Mrs. Kaufmann's daughters and another daughter, Mrs. Clyde Axtell came from Bosie for the funeral. Mrs. Kauffman is survived by a third daughter, Mrs. Ethel Buehler and a son, Leslie Kauffman, both of San Francisco; 9 grnadhcildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Ritzville Journal Times June 9, 1949 Sue Gardner & gapwork90
Parents _______Robbins and Melvina Meyer (1880c)
Graveside services were held in Ritzville Wednesday afteroon for one of the city's earliest pioneers, Mrs. Melissa Robbins Kaufman, who died Sunday at the age of 97 in Seattle. Mrs. Kauffman claimed to be a third cousin of Abraham Lincoln, tracing her relationships through the family of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother.
Mrs. Kauffman's parents started westward from Indiana in 1851 ten years before the Civil war. They spent three months in Missouri, outfitting and joining a wagon tran and there Mrs. Kauffman was born on Dec. 22. She was three months old when her parent headed west across the Great Plains by ox team. Her older brother, about three, died during the trip and Mrs. Kauffman used to recall how after his burial the entire wagon train circled back to pass over the grave so the Indians would be unable to locate it.
After a trip of nine months, the Kauffmans reach Oregon Territory and homestead six mile from Oregon City. Only a handful of the very earliest pioneers lived in Oregon then, with hundreds of Indians.
But the Indians usually were quite peaceful, Mrs. Kauffman told her family in later years. They spent much of their time watching the whites tackle the rugged business of carving out homes and fields out of the wilderness, and usually they were asking for this article or that as a gift. As a child Mrs. Kauffman attended school in a long cabin three months of the years. She worked the rest of the time.
It was in Oregon that Mrs. Kauffman's father was killed in a hunting accident. He reached down to set his gun on a log, the trigger struck the log and the bullet, blasting upwards, killed him instantly. About 1880 the family pulled up stakes and moved eastward into the Big Bend country, settling in Ritzville when this pioneer outpost had a post office, a general store operated by N. H. Greene and less than 100 residents.
For many years the Kauffmans lived in a home-still standing on Broadway avenue, around the corner from the municipal building. Mrs. Kauffman's husband, Jacob M. died in 1910. Mrs. Kauffman remainded in Ritzville until 1931 when she moved to Seattle.
Funerals services for Mrs. Kauffman were conducted Tuesday at the Green Lake funeral home in Seattle and graveside services were conducted by Mrs. Leta Kuster, a longtime friend of the family and another former Ritzville resident. Services were held at Ritzville Memorial cemetery Wednesday afternoon.
Accompanying Mrs. Kuster from Seattle was Mrs. Oda McKay, one of Mrs. Kaufmann's daughters and another daughter, Mrs. Clyde Axtell came from Bosie for the funeral. Mrs. Kauffman is survived by a third daughter, Mrs. Ethel Buehler and a son, Leslie Kauffman, both of San Francisco; 9 grnadhcildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Ritzville Journal Times June 9, 1949 Sue Gardner & gapwork90
Graveside services were held in Ritzville Wednesday afteroon for one of the city's earliest pioneers, Mrs. Melissa Robbins Kaufman, who died Sunday at the age of 97 in Seattle. Mrs. Kauffman claimed to be a third cousin of Abraham Lincoln, tracing her relationships through the family of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother.
Mrs. Kauffman's parents started westward from Indiana in 1851 ten years before the Civil war. They spent three months in Missouri, outfitting and joining a wagon tran and there Mrs. Kauffman was born on Dec. 22. She was three months old when her parent headed west across the Great Plains by ox team. Her older brother, about three, died during the trip and Mrs. Kauffman used to recall how after his burial the entire wagon train circled back to pass over the grave so the Indians would be unable to locate it.
After a trip of nine months, the Kauffmans reach Oregon Territory and homestead six mile from Oregon City. Only a handful of the very earliest pioneers lived in Oregon then, with hundreds of Indians.
But the Indians usually were quite peaceful, Mrs. Kauffman told her family in later years. They spent much of their time watching the whites tackle the rugged business of carving out homes and fields out of the wilderness, and usually they were asking for this article or that as a gift. As a child Mrs. Kauffman attended school in a long cabin three months of the years. She worked the rest of the time.
It was in Oregon that Mrs. Kauffman's father was killed in a hunting accident. He reached down to set his gun on a log, the trigger struck the log and the bullet, blasting upwards, killed him instantly. About 1880 the family pulled up stakes and moved eastward into the Big Bend country, settling in Ritzville when this pioneer outpost had a post office, a general store operated by N. H. Greene and less than 100 residents.
For many years the Kauffmans lived in a home-still standing on Broadway avenue, around the corner from the municipal building. Mrs. Kauffman's husband, Jacob M. died in 1910. Mrs. Kauffman remainded in Ritzville until 1931 when she moved to Seattle.
Funerals services for Mrs. Kauffman were conducted Tuesday at the Green Lake funeral home in Seattle and graveside services were conducted by Mrs. Leta Kuster, a longtime friend of the family and another former Ritzville resident. Services were held at Ritzville Memorial cemetery Wednesday afternoon.
Accompanying Mrs. Kuster from Seattle was Mrs. Oda McKay, one of Mrs. Kaufmann's daughters and another daughter, Mrs. Clyde Axtell came from Bosie for the funeral. Mrs. Kauffman is survived by a third daughter, Mrs. Ethel Buehler and a son, Leslie Kauffman, both of San Francisco; 9 grnadhcildren and 8 great-grandchildren.
Ritzville Journal Times June 9, 1949 Sue Gardner & gapwork90
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