HISTORY OF GEORGE HENRY CRESS AND HIS WIFE MARY

"This is the history of George Henry Cress as his children wrote it, and I pieced it together."

- Mrs. R, Warren Cress

George Henry Cress was born July 14, 1866, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, the son of Wiley Cress and Amelia Barringer Cress. His father died when he was fifteen.

He worked in Illinois for a year or so before he got married.

He was united in matrimony to Mary Ammarilla Hopkins, daughter of Phenice Nixon Hopkins and Mary Beaver Hopkins on the 29th day of March 1888 at St. John's Lutheran Parsonage in Number 8 Township, Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

They farmed on shares the first year with his folks and lived in the same house with them. His sons Arthur, an unnamed boy who died, and Delbert were born in North Carolina.

They moved to Joplin, Missouri, and George Henry worked in the lead and zinc mines in Leadville, Colorado. They lived on the edge of town and had a cow. While they lived there a whole family came down with smallpox. They had no one to cook or do a thing for them. Mary Cress went in, rolled up her sleeves, and helped out for several days. She had never had smallpox, or even a vaccination, but she did not get the disease. George "Ralph", Mary

"Dolly", John, Lola, and Ira were born in Missouri. The oldest boys remembered seeing Buffalo Bill shoot at his Wild West show when it came to Missouri.

In 1901 George Henry came to Washington and got a job working in the smelter at Northport. His wages were eighty-one dollars a month. Mary and seven children came by train to Spokane, Washington the following May 10th, 1902, They had to change trains at Spokane and spent the night in the depot, cooking some soup on the heating stove. They lived in Northport then and Fred, Beatrice, Harry, Irene and Earl were born there.

George Henry was a large man, towering head and shoulders above Mary, who was small but "plucky." They raised their children according to the Ten Commandments. They were both hard working. Mary always tried to keep their children looking decent and also the house. They all helped and had their share of the chores.

They lived on three different farms: two on Marcus Flat. This rich farmland is now covered by the back water from the Grand Coulee Dam. Then they went to the Kreuger farm in the Greenwood district between Meyers Falls and Colville.

Delbert, Ralph, and John served in World War I. Delbert and Ralph were in France.

In 1921 they bought the August Yentz place on Wilmont Creek which was two adjoining Indian allotments on the Colville Indian Reservation in the southern part of Ferry County. There were 240 acres with only about 30 cleared. There was a small log house and a small pole died with a shake roof for a barn. Wilmont Creek runs dear through the ranch and is good trout fishing.

George Henry, Ralph, and Ira batched there till the following spring, clearing land. In April the rest of the family and all the household equipment, farm machinery and cattle were moved to the new home from the farm in the Greenwood district.

A two-room addition was built on the log house so there was enough room for all ten of them as Arthur, John, Dolly, and Lola were all married and had homes of their own.

George Henry and his boys cleared all the land they could each year and also hauled much beautiful virgin Ponderosa pine, which covered the place, to a small sawmill two miles from home using a team of horses. They sawed it into lumber to build a new, large barn for the hay, horses and milk cows; a new house of nine rooms for the family, and numerous other outside buildings.

They moved into the new house in 1925. They hauled water in 50-gallon barrels from Wilmont Creek. Kerosene lamps were used. Later another large barn was built for hay. Delbert, Ralph, and Ira built all the buildings, with a little help occasionally by the younger members of the family. All the farming was done with horses.

As there was no school close, they didn't go to school the first winter, but the following winter of 1923-24, Beatrice 18, Harry, Irene, and Earl lived in part of the teacher's cottage at the Rogers Bar School twelve miles from home and went through a six-month school term. Beatrice kept house for them. The following summer a schoolhouse was built on Wilmont Creek two miles from home. Then they walked to school every day in fall, winter, and spring.

Once a neighbor baby died and in this sparsely settled community there was not to be found one single, solitary person except Mary Cress, who could pray in public or sing a tune. She was called upon to conduct the funeral services, which she did in stride, as she did everything else. She read a few words from the Bible, prayed a prayer, and sang a hymn.

Gradually every year more land was cleared on the ranch and improvements made. A beef herd was started and increased as well as bettering the milking stock. Cream was saved by the gallons and taken to a small town about fifteen miles away to a cream station. The roads were very poor and unimproved till later years. Ten miles from home was the Columbia River which they crossed by ferry to get to town. Going to town to deliver cream and to buy groceries was an all-day trip.

They had a 1928 or '29 Chevrolet, 4-cylinder touring car with a canvas top, an old Reo car, and a 1928 three-quarter ton single tire truck at different times.

In the community for entertainment, mostly in the winter months, were dances and parties gotten up by the young folks but attended by complete families from babies to mothers and fathers.

Eventually, all the younger members of George Henry's family married and had their homes elsewhere.

Ralph bought a farm of his own and married again after being a widower for many years.

George Henry loved the ranch. It had been his dream for a long time to own his own before it became a reality. In the summer and when the weather permitted it he and Mary would take a walk around the ranch, usually on Sunday morning.

There was never any fussing or bickering at home. They never spanked the children, yet they were all good to mind and behave, and do their own chores assigned to them. The parents were good natured, soft spoken, but firm when necessary.

They never made a big thing of Christmas, but Mary always baked a pork cake, made similar to our fruit cake, and George would see that there was some little treat for each member of his large family in the way of oranges, candy, and the like. The married ones would come home and sit down to a wonderful dinner together.

George and Mary were never wealthy, but they always saw to it that each member of their family had one complete outfit of nice clothes which were kept pressed and ready for dress-up occasions. They always had enough to eat. The older ones helped care for the younger ones.

Up till the time they left home; not a single one of them smoked, or drank a drop of intoxicating liquor. Neither did they swear. They grew up to be respected, honest citizens.

In April, 1943, Delbert and Ira took over the Wilmont Ranch and their parents moved to 1418 E. Queen, Spokane, Washington; where they lived their remaining years.

George Henry Cress died February 4, 1947 at the age of 80. Mary passed away August 14, 1959 at the age of 91. At the time of her death, she had 28 living grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.