<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Palatino Linotype";
panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 5 5 3 3 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.yiv3372820712hoenzb
{mso-style-name:yiv3372820712hoenzb;}
span.yiv3372820712
{mso-style-name:yiv3372820712;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";
color:#1F497D;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>Roll call? I’m still here, although I haven’t posted in years. This list and so many wonderful contributors were wonderful to me in the past! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>My genealogy search began because I knew NOTHING of my father’s ancestors beyond his mother and the name and a few details about his father. We found one scrap of paper written by a paternal aunt, naming Dad’s paternal grandmother, and telling us Dad’s father was born in the Willamette Valley. This list and a few others was a huge blessing to us! We have learned so much!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>Two sets of GGGrandparents settled in the Willamette Valley: Bluford B. and Martha W. Marks, and William and Margaret Noble. The Marks family crossed the Oregon Trail in 1853, and first homesteaded above Sweet Home, on Marks Ridge. The Nobles crossed in 1850 and settled down in the valley near Sweet Home, where Noble Slough crosses their homestead. Both families eventually moved east, to the Prineville area.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>Next generation, Charity Ann Noble married James P. Marks. Their son, George Alfred Marks, was one year old when the family was caught in a snowstorm on Santiam Pass. Charity, at the age of 19, went into early labor and she and her infant died on the pass in 1875. There is a historical marker near Fish Lake where they are buried.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>James P. Marks remarried, a Margaret Hedgpeth (sp.?), and the new family moved to Wyoming and then Montana. A series of early and tragic deaths followed, explaining why there was little family history recorded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>One brother of James P. Marks was Benjamin Marks, who settled in the Imnaha Valley and raised a big family. Another brother, John P. Marks, became the first Superintendent of Schools in Yakima, WA.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>One brother of Charity Noble was, I believe, the first mayor of Prineville.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>I must admit that although I have continued to read posts on this list, after I found so much information early on my curiosity was somewhat satisfied for a time. And, I began welcoming grandchildren, and the focus of my spare time shifted (smile). But I will get back to it someday. I know there is still much to learn! (Oh yes, and I still need to organize what I have!)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>I am SO thankful to those on this list who were helpful to me in my search. A big THANK YOU! It is such a treat to find stories about these ancestors, not just names and dates, and to get to know them even if it’s just a little bit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>--Marilyn Schwartz<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'>P. S. My birth surname would have been Marks, but my father took the name of his stepfather. His biological father, George A. Marks, died in a terrible accident the day that my father was born. I was blessed to find online his obituary and newspaper articles about the accident. So interesting – and satisfying to find it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>