Paying Homage

Some of you may recall a picture similar to this one nabbed from Google Streetview when I wrote a post hinting of our then upcoming vacation. The above picture is one I took with my own camera and was the former home of the brother of my 2nd great grandfather, that he had built. Although I won't go into great detail yet, here is a brief synopsis.

My immigrant ancestor John Kuck immigrated to the U.S. in the mid 1840's and ran a leather goods shop in several places in the Midwest before settling down in Charles City, Iowa and owning a very successful store there. He and his wife Mary has seven children and a very nice Italianate mansion before disaster struck. A diphtheria epidemic killed five of his seven children and his wife in a few months span. (A tornado long after John died took care of the mansion.) The two surviving children were George Washington Kuck, my second great grandfather and Henry Lincoln Kuck, his younger brother. George stayed in the Charles City, Iowa area and ran a successful general merchandise business but brother Henry Kuck went west in 1886 and settle in The Dalles, Oregon where he started his own saddle and leather goods business that became very successful. His saddles are still very collectible and occasionally come up for auction on sites like eBay.

The picture above is his house which still stands in The Dalles after 130+ years. I have found a picture of Henry and his wife Minnie standing on the front porch holding one of their sons which I posted in the previous post on the subject. It has seen better days for sure but most of the details of that house are still intact as they were back them.

Of course, any trip paying homage to someone wouldn't be complete without visiting their final resting place and so we also did that. We said a quick prayer over his grave and I told my family a few of the stories I have discovered about him over the years of research.

Next with time to kill before the museum his son founded opened up, we drove around and up on the bluff overlooking the river, town and Henry Kuck's house seen in the lower right corner. His saddle shop was just three blocks down the same street closer to the river though the building it was in doesn't exist anymore unfortunately.

To keep the cohesiveness, I am combining several days of our vacation into one post. On one of those days, we ate lunch in the Baldwin Saloon down near the river. It is an original building like Henry Kuck's house and he may have even set foot in there for a drink perhaps. But the reason we came for lunch was not due to the historic nature of the building or because of the food which was delicious just the same.

We came because the safe that Henry Kuck used at his saddle shop was being used as a decoration piece in the now restaurant and without even requesting it, we happened to be seated right next to it. While doing research, I had discovered that it and a cash register were there and so made a note should I ever be in the area. I had to ask about the cash register since it wasn't in sight and was told that it had been moved recently to a winery in town. 

So after lunch, we drove to the winery but didn't see the cash register despite a half dozen other old models on display in their sampling room. I asked and was told that they indeed had it but it was in their storage room. I explained that I had come a long way to see it and asked if they would mind if I go back into their storage room and take a picture. I was happy when they agreed and ushered me back to see it. It doesn't have Henry's name on it, as least not that I could see in the poorly lit area, but I was able to get a picture using my camera flash.

As many people did, when Henry became successful enough in his saddle shop business, he bought land and over time stitched together a large ranch along the Deschutes River east of town and so with GPS coordinates plugged in, we set off for a drive and eventually found the ranch. Up around the corner amongst the trees is a house and buildings but not knowing who if anyone lived there, we didn't want to intrude and so I took a picture looking towards the river (over the hills) and called it a successful venture.

Finally, on another early morning, the above bookstore opened up while we were walking around downtown exploring and we walked in and got to talking with the owner. Not only was it the oldest bookstore in continuous operation in Oregon, the owner was a direct descendant from the Klindt family who were also early pioneers in the area and hobnobbed with Henry Kuck. I ended up buying a book on the local history of the area written by the parents of the bookstore owner which contained several pictures pertaining to Henry Kuck. I couldn't ask for a better time paying homage though I wish I had kept my finger out of the above photo.