I am always on the lookout for vintage photos that can be returned home. Today’s family is not related to me at all, but I have learned that the are in Oregon’s state database of Early Oregonians.

Azariah Park & Children, c1890

Aside from Margaret and Azariah, the elderly man on the left, I have no idea which sons are which. Perhaps a family member might know?

Azariah Park was born 10 May 1818 in Hampshire County, Virginia (today West Virginia).

It appears he may have been living with an extended Park family in Black Hawk, Jefferson, Iowa in 1850, but he settled permanently in Oregon by 24 August 1854 when he married Elizabeth Moore.

Elizabeth was born 21 July 1834 in Illinois, so was quite a bit younger than Azariah. However, she predeceased him by two decades, passing away sometime after the 1872 birth of their youngest child and the 1880 census, when Azariah was enumerated as widowed.

Azariah and Elizabeth were the parents of eight known children, all born in Oregon. All events in Lane County unless noted:

1. James (Emsley?), born 21 October 1855; reportedly died 7 December 1874; unmarried
2. Hannah Jane, born 2 April 1856; reportedly died 15 May 1877; married W.F. Rutherford, 8 March 1876
3. Millard Fillmore, born 18 March 1859; died 22 July 1916, Lincoln County, Washington; married Orpha Mariah Powell
4. Alfred William, born c1861; died after 1880; no further record
5. Jacob Rosencrans, born 16 January 1863; died 20 November 1848, Josephine County, Oregon; married Elizabeth Magnolia Goddard, c1900
6. Ulysses Holt, born c1866; died 1935; married Ida Marinda Goddard, 11 October 1903. They had one child, but divorced on 16 April 1927, Lane County, Oregon.
7. Margaret, born 1868; died 21 October 1894 of typhoid fever at her father’s home; married William Johnson. They had one son, Arthur Leslie Johnson, born 29 November 1888 in Lane County, Oregon. Arthur later went by his middle name and was the father of 9 daughters!
8. Walter Azariah, born 27 October 1872; died 1966; married Edith Richie, 22 November 1899, Stevens County, Washington

Azariah and Elizabeth (Moore) Park have many descendants today. Rather than trying to choose just one to receive the gift of the family photo, I have instead donated it to the Lane County History Museum, honoring the Parks as a pioneer family of Oregon.