In the second half of the 19th century, a group of Indigenous women survived the 1868-69 smallpox epidemic and avoided removal to reservations more than once.
These women and their white husbands eventually left the mining camps on Kanaka Gulch and Forest Creek for the lush valley of Big Applegate, as interracial couples were often not accepted in Jacksonville. Presenter Laura Ahearn will share the surprising stories of these women, their descendants, and others who joined the vibrant community that became known as Watkins before it was destroyed in the 1970s to build the Applegate Dam. These stories are based on the photo albums and family lore of descendants who still live in Jackson and Shasta Counties, corroborated and sometimes corrected by intensive research into governmental records and newspaper archives.
Light refreshments will be served.
Presenter Laura Ahearn moved to the Applegate Valley in 2017 after a career in environmental law and seventeen years traveling the world in a sailboat. She is President of McKee Bridge Historical Society, researcher/writer for the Society’s Facebook page, curator of the Virtual Museum at www.mckeebridge.org, and a frequent author for local newsmagazines.
The monthly Windows in Time lunchtime lectures feature well-known writers and historians and bring alive the people, values, and events that shaped our southern Oregon heritage. Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and Jackson County Library Services. Programs are presented in Medford (first Wednesdays, in-person and online) and again in Ashland (second Wednesdays, in-person). Recordings of Medford presentations are available on the JCLS Beyond YouTube channel.
