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CLATSOP COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY Vol. 19, No. 3 - Summer 1999 CCHS Photo# 11,374-OOC Pete Cosovich at right (1898-1981) Clatsop County’s Yugoslav Population If Pilot Thomas Doig had not attempted to cross the Columbia River bar and enter the river one night in April 1879, Astoria would not have had Peter Cosovich as mayor. The ship that Pilot Doig plowed straight into Sand Island was the Great Republic. One of the seamen on board was Pete’s father who was only fourteen years old. Perhaps this was been enough adventure for the boy who, after being rescued from the shipwreck, settled in the area. The photo above was taken a little over seventy-five years later, on May 17, 1954, when Pete Cosovich, representing this area as mayor of Astoria, greeted Naval officer William Leggett Jr. on a visit to Tongue Point. The genial Cosovich was mayor of Astoria from 1951 to 1958 and a worthy recipient of the George Award. (This award is given to those locally who are not afraid to act when help is needed.) The river has been home to many families from the land we have known for many years as Yugoslavia. This issue of Cumtux has the story of two of them, the Pincetovich and Dragolich families. CLATSOP COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Heritage Museum 16th and Exchange Astoria, Oregon 97103 325-2203 CLATSOP COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Flavel House QUARTERLY Vol. 19, No. 3 - Summer 1999 8th and Duane Copyright © 1999 Clatsop County Historical Society (ISSN 1083-9216) Uppertown Firefighters Museum 30th and Marine Drive Contents: Introduction: Pete Cosovich BOARD of DIRECTORS 2 REMEMBERING ASTORIA: Tracey Gunderson, Astoria President THE YUGOSLAV COMMUNITY Robin Risley, Cannon Beach By John Pineetich Vice-President Rae Goforth, Astoria 19 MY BIGGEST FISH Secretary Ruth Shaner, Astoria By Eldon Korpela Treasurer Sue Altstadt, Gearhart 22 TO THE CIRCUS, BACK WHEN Jewel Hobbs, Astoria By J. M. Acton Floyd Holcom, Astoria Annabell Miller, Astoria 24 CENTERFOLD: Scow Bay in 1887 George Potter, Astoria Fred Van Horn, Gearhart 26 THE JOHN JEWETT FAMILY: STAFF CLATSOP PLAINS PIONEERS Michelle A. Schmitter By Donna Schmitt Executive Director Newsletter Editor 34 FROM THE BEACH: SEASIDE IN 1890 Liisa Penner 36 A RELIC OF BY-GONE DAYS Curator of Collections Cumtux Editor 38 I ORDERED A BOY! Stephanie Kiander By Grace M. Goodall Development Director Martha Dahl 48 ABOUT OLD HOUSES Bookkeeper/Office Manager By Rose West Johnson Chuck Bean 49 EDITOR’S NOTES Museums Maintenance Cover: Tyyne Saari (Parpala), about 1925. The Charlotte Hallaux & Jackie Thackery postcard with her photo was one of many sold FH Volunteer Coordinators recently in Portland. See page 49. Tyyne was born in Iron Belt, Wisconsin in 1906, moved to Astoria and Dr. Robert Neikes graduated from Astoria High School. She married Volunteer Archives Clerk Wayne M. Parpala in 1926 in Clatsop County and they resided in Aberdeen, Washington. Tyyne died in Thomas E. Edison 1987. Courtesy of the Editor Volunteer Photo Archivist Printer: Anchor Graphics Astoria, Oregon Alma Jackson Volunteer Membership/ Memorials Clerk CUMTUX: Chinook jargon: "To know...acknowledge...to inform" The Yugoslav Community in Astoria REMEMBERING ASTORIA By John Pincetich The early Astoria I remember was and Peterson in Uniontown, and Pahkas- divided into three parts, much like the lahti in Scow Bay. But, in essence, it’s the Gaul I’d read about in high school Latin. Astoria enshrined in my memory—with an On the hills of mid-town, from about 6th assist from my brother Vincent. It’s not to 16th streets lived the native born: Van linear but rather episodic, proceeding Dusen, Fulton and Allen families, a cou¬ from a fusion of different phases of a life ple or so generations, and perhaps a trip intricately entwined with Astoria, the across the continent removed from their town of my birth. origins, English their idiom. Uniontown But the offspring of generations that to the west sprawled across Smith Point, followed, as with many in mine, often home to the Finns: Niemi, Koskelo and sallied forth, in peace and in war to settle Maki. Uppertown and joining Alderbrook elsewhere—Astoria becoming a place to stretched to the east, a mix of the Swedes visit the old folks. So, the cloistered life and Norwegians: Olsen, Johnson, Erick¬ of the people who’d seasoned the culture son. These families were mainly of recent of a town like Astoria with their Old immigrant stock. The parents often spoke World homogeneity began to crumble, the in the tongue of the land of their ances¬ lineaments still there but the evolving tors, English a second language. scene less richly imbued with the juices An appendage, less populous than of their roots. the others but no less of the immigrant fabric of early Astoria, sat at the foot of When my maternal grandfather, John the hill just east of downtown from about Dragolich, died, the Morning Astorian of 16th to 22nd streets. Along a crescent of January 12, 1929 reported as follows: land known as Scow Bay, where I poled rafts as a youngster when visiting my “John Dragolich, one of the grandparents and where filled-in John oldest and best known pioneer fisher¬ Warren Field now spreads, could be found men of the Columbia River, died last another enclave, the Yugoslavs: Zankich, evening at a local hospital. Marincovich, Danielovich. Mr. Dragolich was bom in Boca This picture of Astoria, like an old di Cattaro, Dalmatia, January 13, 1855 sepia-toned portrait, that forms in memory [actually I 850], He began fishing in is not unlike that of many towns and cities the Columbia River about 50 years across the nation, from the 1880s to the ago. About 35 years later, he became early post World War II years. The newly the proprietor of a local restaurant and arrived gathered among their own kind for continued in active business until support and fraternity, to celebrate and be recently when failing health caused strengthened by custom and tradition. Of him to retire from active work. course, the lines of demarcation were fuzzed—a Franciscovich and Cosovich The decedent was a member of might have a home on mid-town hill, Concomly Tribe, No. 7, Improved Smith and Niemi in Uppertown, Olsen Order of Redmen. He is survived by 2 Clatsop County Historical Society Courtesy of John Pincetich John “Jedah” Dragolich (1850-1929) and Baba Annetta Dragolich (1866-1928) with three of their five children, left to right: George, Mary and Spiro, about 1895. four children: George Dragolich of remembered years, he was blind, his sight Centralia, Spiro Dragolich ofTacoma, stolen by cataracts. He’d had several Bella Dragolich of Astoria, and Mrs. operations. None were ever successful. Mary Pincetich of Portland; a nephew But his hospitalization and recovery were Joseph Dragolich of Aberdeen. Fu¬ occasions that found my mother, a loving neral arrangements are in charge of and dutiful daughter who was very close the Pohl & Gilbaugh mortuary and to her parents, along with my brother and will be announced later.” me, staying in Astoria for various periods of time, some long. I spent part of the I called him “Jedah.” my enunciation fourth grade at Star of the Sea school, my of Serbo-Croatian (deda) for grandfather. brother a grade higher. He called me “Jack,” for no reason I could Jedah would walk the broad-railed discover. (Only one other person in my porch that ran across the front and both life, a casual friend in Hawaii, has ever sides of the house, tapping a cane made emulated him.) Fairly tall, he was an of a broom handle. Usually he hummed, upright figure of a man with a prominent lost in thought, remembering, perhaps, his nose, which runs in the family, white hair days as a sailor before settling in Astoria, and moustache to match. He reminded me as a single man. He had jumped ship, the of an older British movie actor of those family story went, but where and why 1 days, C. Aubrey Smith. For all of my never knew, and like most children never Cumtux - Vol. 19. No. 3 - Summer 1999 inquired. He was an incessant smoker, his [Pahkaslahti], as I remember his name if right forefinger and thumb browned from not the spelling. He was an older Finnish the habit. He rolled his own, expertly. man who always wore an overcoat, boots, Often he’d send me to the store across seldom a hat as he trudged about, always 22nd on Exchange street for a can of alone, often carrying a newspaper under Tuxedo, or Prince Albert. Old friends his arm. What did he do? To us he was a would come by to visit with him, espe¬ wonderfully mysterious fellow. The cially Larry Cosovich, about his age, who Danielovichs’ mother (whom we always with his family lived on Grand Avenue called “Lady”) and sons, George, Tony, near St. Mary’s Catholic Church. One of Rocco and Nicky, lived opposite, fronting the Cosovichs, Peter, later was a long-time on Exchange Street. Nick Kuzmanich’s mayor of Astoria. house and plumbing shop were just east, My grandparent’s house was three at 23rd, anchoring that end of the Yugo¬ stories tall, built sometime before 1890, slav Scow Bay colony. On the west end, the year my mother was born in it. She on or near 18th were the Zankichs, Mar- remembered that originally it sat further desichs, Ruljancichs, Kukuras, and others west along the riverfront before Scow Bay whose names have escaped memory. was filled in. It was moved, why I never A wooden ramp ran down from knew, some distance east to where it Exchange at 22nd, which sat on the high remained until being burned down by an filled roadway and wood sidewalk with arsonist’s torch, in July of 1989. rails. I had only a short saunter over to the Early on, my grandparents ran a huge pond to the west where I spent a lot rooming house, with six or eight rooms, of time, especially after my grandparents and two baths on the third floor. The gave me my first pair of boots, red ones, second floor, eventually, was divided into the kind that go above the knees. two apartments, my grandparents living I relished my time in the big house. in one, the other rented. Two pairs of I had the run of the place. Living was steps led to the open encircling porch. Tire easy, as the saying goes. Jedah and “Baba basement was a couple of feet above Annetta,” pronounced as one word, were¬ ground, with a planked floor, a vast and n’t strict disciplinarians. One of the up¬ inviting haven for rainy-day play. The stairs rooms had a pump organ that my property consisted of a half dozen lots, aunt Angela played. She’d let me pump with a garden and a chicken house. A one- at times. In another room, Baba-Annetta room shingled building, with outhouse, and others would “make net” in the win¬ sat to the west, now part of Columbia ter, expertly knotting the linen twine from Memorial Hospital grounds. An elderly hand carved needles. I still have one. The Irishman, Ed Marr, who worked summers twine came in “papers” and the amount as a seiner, rented it. He was a kindly man, of net was measured by the number of who, I gathered, had no family in this “papers” that'd been woven for the next country, and was sort of part of ours. gillnet season. Sand covered much of the surround¬ I could go and come at will, except ing area, along with some small trees. for a few rules. One especially. Lunch was Several houses were scattered on the flat- promptly at noon, signaled by the whistle lands over to 18th, and along Exchange blast from the nearby O'Brien sawmill. street, as well as a couple of small apart¬ The menu never varied: soup served at the ments. The Andrich family lived on the kitchen table. A soup bone of beef gave hillside behind, off a narrow road that, in it a distinct taste, along with potatoes, those days, ran from 23rd along the lower carrots, cabbage and other vegetables. The slope. Nearby sat a house built atop a quality of that day’s bone, the meat and small barge, home to Matti Pahkaslatti its flavor, was often commented on. Of 4 Clatsop County Historical Society with a quick smile. She had five children, four surviving to adulthood. She tended her vegetable garden, and grew flowers as well. She kept chick¬ ens. We often helped col¬ lect the eggs. At times she expertly beheaded one for the evening meal, to a mixture of delight and horror on my part. And, in those later years, to supplement fam¬ ily income with Jedah idled by cataracts and the onslaught of old age, she engaged in some discreet bootlegging. (A family fact I can reveal now that the statute of limitations has run out.) Courtesy of John Pincetich I recall evenings when a Yugoslav fellow House on 22nd Street in Astoria, near Exchange. It was or two, a friend of the burned in 1989 bv an arsonist. family or acquaintances, would come by for a course, we had bread, fresh from the wood visit. They’d be served dark amber fluid stove oven, the aroma filling the kitchen, in small shot glasses that even at my and my memory. My brother and I ate young age I knew as whiskey. On leaving mostly in silence, speaking only when they would hand over some money. Some¬ spoken to, as was the custom at meal¬ times men would come by for a bottle, or times. It was one that 1 never found bur¬ more, of beer, “home brew" we called it. densome in the least, variations of which 1 was, at times, complied in this activity, were practiced later with my own family. for after the beer had brewed in several My grandparents handled English well, tall crockery vessels, it had to be bottled. when necessary'. But around the table, and For Vincent and me, a flin assignment was within the family, they resorted to Serbo- to operate the handle on the corking ma¬ Croatian, as often in our own home did chine, capping the brown bottles, applying my mother, more so than my father, so 1 just the right pressure for a proper seal. had an early ear. if not tongue, for the (He still has the corking machine.) Then language that I still retain. they would be stored, for a time-several My grandparents were married in weeks at least. When served, a small Astoria, but just how they met, whether amount of sediment rested at the bottom, she was a version of a “mail order bride the residue from the malt. The beer had or not. is something 1 never knew, and at to be carefully poured so as not to disturb a young age was of no interest. She was its color which was similar in shade to about a dozen years younger than Jedah moonshine. “Moonlighting,” as it were, in boot¬ and in later years, somewhat more ample legging wasn’t an uncommon practice than in her youth. She was a jolly person. 5 Cumtux - Vol. 19. No. 3 - Summer 1999 Courtesy of John Pincetich Wedding photo of Dominic (Dan) Pincetich and Mary Dragolich. They were married in Astoria on April 15, 1912. 6 Clatsop County Historical Society among immigrant families who, in Stare left their families to pursue the heady Grad, the “old country,” always made dream of vast riches awaiting them at their own wine, and continued so in the century’s end. According to my mother, New World, although my grandparents he never made it to the gold fields of the didn’t in my days, benefiting from the Klondike, getting no further than Skagway largess of others. Serving and drinking of at the foot of the Chilkoot Pass. He ended alcohol, wine especially, was a traditional up running a restaurant. He returned in part of life. A bottle was on the table at less than a year, took up his life as a gill- most meals. For many families, the fall of netter, and other pursuits, as well as his the year was wine making time. (It be¬ activities among his fellow Yugoslavs in came known, outside the community as which, I gathered, he was a prominent “dago red”—with the pejorative “dago” figure. sometimes used against the Yugoslavs.) During World War I, he worked at After the Volstead Act was passed in the nearby O'Brien Spruce Co. “the 1920, everyone understood the prohibition spruce mill,” so called because it milled against any kind of alcohol. Most Yugo¬ spruce, a very straight-grained wood. It slavs I knew never fully accepted the was ideal for the fuselages and wings of stricture. They wished, within their planes in the fledgling army air force. My homes, to do as they’d always done. Baba brother remembers, hand in hand with Annetta's skirting the law created palpa¬ Aunt Angela, taking him his lunch on ble tension about the house, at times. 1 occasions. He worked on the log boom, distinctly recall a phantom-like character, nimble in his caulked boots, with pike a feared U.S. revenue agent, by the name pole, he shoved and sorted logs, directing of McNeil. Whenever the word was out, them to the mill’s saws. by rumor or fact, that the dreaded McNeil In early 1905 the Astoria Budget was in the area, searching out and trashing reported: stills, his name would waft in hushed tones about the table. If anyone came by “Articles of incorporation of the “for a drink,” he was sent packing, thirst Dobrovnoro Dostrovo St. Nicole #1 unquenched. were filed in the county clerk's office Gold fever last evening with John Dragolich, In 1897, my grandfather caught the M.G. Franetovich and Jacob Stano- gold fever that swept the country, espe¬ vich as incorporators. The object of cially the West Coast, including Astoria. the incorporation, as stated, is to pro¬ The Daily Astorian of December 7, re¬ mote the mutual welfare of its mem¬ ported: bers and its property is valued at $500.” “The following passengers from here will sail for Alaska on the Elder But in October of that year, the this morning: Cabin—Mrs. M. Molly, family moved, as noted in the Daily Bud¬ D. Longchamp, H. Lindstrom, N. get of October 30: Nelson. Steerage-G.A. Ancavola, Ericjo Diljie, August Yo, T.D. Sou- “After residence in Astoria for den, G. Gunderson, 1. Arola, Lauli the past 26 years, John Dragolich and Wahala, John Dragolich, A. Kimberly, family will leave for Aberdeen, Wash¬ Antonio Dolera, August Pojadi, Alex ington tomorrow where they will Havist.” make their future home. Mr. Drago¬ lich has arranged to open a business Jedah didn’t strike it rich. He shared there.” the fate of most of that breed of men who Cumtux - Vol. 19, No. 3 - Summer 1999 7 There he started a restaurant, appar¬ The Pincetich branch ently the experience in Skagway encour¬ I never knew much about father’s aging him to explore that field again. side of the family. He was bom in June of Aberdeen was a logical choice because a 1885 on the island of Vis in the Adriatic, number of relatives on both sides of the in Dalmatia. At that time, it was part of family had settled there, including broth¬ the Austro-Hungarian empire, which ers of both of them. became known as Yugoslavia in the after- His activities made the Astoria Bud¬ math of World War I. He was an only get of July 22, 1907: child. The island was the ancestral home to many of the Astoria and upriver Yugo¬ “John Dragolich, who now slavs who emigrated from there, or resides with his family in Aberdeen, Komiza, on the opposite end of the island. came to Astoria yesterday on a brief His father was a skilled craftsman, a boil¬ business trip. Mr. and Mrs. Drago¬ ermaker who came to America and work¬ lich had the misfortune to lose their ed in the San Francisco area. He’d return 11-year-old son last Tuesday, the to Vis between jobs, as far as I knew. He funeral being held in Aberdeen. The died of a brain tumor at a young age, but young man was bright and had many whether in San Francisco or Vis is uncer¬ friends in Astoria who will regret to tain. His records, if any, were destroyed learn of his sudden death.” in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Nikola, or Nicky, was the youngest The facts are blurred as to when my boy and had a history of heart problems, father came to America. Probably about a “blue baby” in the lore of that day. His the turn of the century, as a 11 or 12 year- passing, suddenly, was a heavy blow to the old or maybe just into his teens. He had family, as my mother would often recall, completed the equivalent of grade and prompting a move back to Astoria in Feb¬ intermediate school. He first lived in San ruary of 1908. My grandfather by then Francisco. His arrival in Astoria and under decided to reside here in the future as the what circumstances is lost in the past. His Budget noted. mother, Lucretia, however, had married My uncles, George and Spiro, spent again, to Andrew Marincovich of Astoria. some time in Astoria after the return— She had a daughter by him, who died in George was a fireman-but departed for infancy, and a son, my uncle Vincent. He other parts of the Northwest, George to was much younger than my father, grew Centralia, Washington, and Aberdeen, and up in Astoria, went to Mt. Angel college. at the end of his life, in Marysville, Cali¬ He became a pharmacist, and lived in fornia. Spiro moved to Tacoma where he Portland all his life. remained until his death. They were in¬ Andrew Marincovich was a fisher¬ volved in the restaurant business most of man, a perennial high boater. Lucretia ran their lives. Neither of them, nor my aunt a boarding house. The property over¬ who lived most of her life in the family looked the railroad tracks along the river home in Scow Bay and died there in Au¬ about 15th and Commercial. It was across gust of 1982, had children. So my brother from the Hoefler Candy Store, famous for and I were never blessed with cousins, be “Hoeflers Centennials,” chocolate treat that a blessing or not. created for the Astoria Centennial. My Baba Annetta died a year before mother worked in the store at one time. Jedah in early September of 1928, sud¬ Her marriage to my father was re¬ denly and at home. “She was bom in Boca ported in the Astoria Budget on April 15, di Cattaro, Jugoslavia, October 29, 1866 1912: and lived in America about 42 years,” the Morning Astorian noted. 8 Clatsop County Historical Society