1905, the government offered Indian land in the Uintah Basin of Utah for settlement. To acquire a homestead of 160 acres, those interested were required to draw lots, and Jesse and Luella did so. It was now the spring of 1906, and Jesse, Luella, and baby Don, accompanied by friends Ed and Mamie Cullum, made the trip from Huntington to the basin to see the results of the drawing. They loaded the old covered wagon with supplies and started the 100 mile journey to Price, down Nine Miles Canyon to Myton, and up the river to Duchesne. The roads were poor if at all, and they fought snow storms and deep snow all the way, arriving completely exhausted five days later. The three older boys stayed in Huntington with Grandmother Washburn. The government had set May 1st as the date for all settlers to be on their claims, but because of the difficult travel conditions, the deadline was extended to June 1st.
Several trips were made by team and wagon to Vernal to determine which claims were available. During one of these trips to Vernal, Jesse and Luella visited with Charlie Westover and his family, and Charlie offered to let them build a shack from materials on a claim he was settling in the Duchesne area providing them a crude, but welcomed residency. Finally, in May they located “…a lovely claim with green meadows where Indians had cut hay for years, where wild roses bloomed profusely, with the old Duchesne River running by, a branch of which circled and formed an island making a wonderful pasture for cattle”. Unfortunately, A. M. Murdoch, Duchesne postmaster, merchant, and its first citizen, was interested in this same property, and had two men camp on it each night in order to claim possession.
This did not deter Jesse and Luella. They demonstrated their usual determination. During the day, when no one was observing, Jesse and Luella gathered building materials and hid them among the trees and shrubbery.
In her history, Luella tells the story: “On this morning, June 1st, while Jesse made the final trip to the land office in Vernal, Don and I were to hold down the claim, so after dark on May 31st after the two men had gone a few blocks down to their camp, we moved in to build our house. We dared not make a light or drive nails for fear of being discovered. We had our poles cut the right length and had acquired plenty of wire to tie them in place ahead of time. We set four posts and pitched the tent for a bedroom, with poles for walls to make it look a bit more sturdy. Then we laid up poles for walls for the front room, with a roof of brush.
“By four a.m. the job was finished and as much as I was scared stiff to be left alone there on land so near the Indians, yet we told Daddy goodbye and he headed for Vernal to secure our first home in the Uintah Basin. I was afraid to go to bed and since it was nearing daylight I carried water from the river and could now make a fire to heat it. I then did the washing, hanging clothes all over the rosebushes that were beautiful with blossoms. “Baby [Don] awoke and when dressed enjoyed playing on the grass that grew almost like a planted lawn in all directions. I was anxious to know what our friends would think when they came back, as they had to do to cross the river on the bridge. Soon I heard their exclamations of amazement as they came in sight of the surroundings. They couldn’t imagine that overnight a house could grow up, furnish a washerwoman, and a child playing in the yard and a team of horses grazing nearby. But they expressed joy that a man with a family who needed a home was going to be able to secure it.” A. M. Murdock gave up his quest for the land, and Jesse and Luella had their homestead which they named River Bend.
Luella was heartbroken to leave her red brick home in Huntington, “...to go to another barren, unsettled country and to have to start all over again.” Mother Washburn chose to go with them.
In 1905, there were few settlers in Duchesne, and a tent was used for a school. Now settlers were flocking in and a larger building, the town hail, was started. Luella was asked to teach. Her classes, in the winter of 1907, were held in a small log room that had been a saloon. There were 22 beginners, and their son Nile was one of them. When the town hall was completed, Jesse and Luella were the school faculty. A heavy curtain separated the four older grades on one side from the four lower grades on the other. A huge pot-bellied stove stood in the center with a framework around it to hold the great piles of wood used for fuel. A brick school house was completed in 1908. Jesse molded all the brick and was architect for the building.
Luella planned to teach only until Christmas because she was expecting another child in February. She was asked to substitute teach for part of February. The baby did not wait. “All went well after closing [school] friday we all went to [River Bend], but during the night I found I must get back to [Duchesne]. A terrible snow had fallen making it all the more important we be on our way. About 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning we loaded the chest containing baby’s layette, all my bedding and things that would be needed for my confinement and [Jesse] and I started for town. Grandmother was to keep the children at the ranch for the present.
“The evening before when we came up we crossed the river on the ice but felt it cracking under the weight of the wagon, so now to get across the stream we had to go up a mile to the bridge, across, and down four miles on the other side. No one could believe what we encountered that day. The wet snow clung to the wheels of the wagon until it had to be scraped off with a shovel almost constantly. The wind, snow, and sleet were so terrible that all our belongings were soaked. And believe it or not it took from 10:00 a.m., until 4:00 p.m. to get into town, a distance of six miles.
“By now Alta Cloward had moved into town and taken over my [Luella’s] job as midwife, so as soon as bedding could be dried and a bed made ready she was called and delivered another boy.” This boy was named Barr Valentine, born on Valentine Day, February 14, 1909, just minutes before midnight. Barr was the middle child of the eleven children born to Jesse and Luella.
The Washburn’s were to eventually build a house in Duchesne in addition to the ranch at River Bend. Luella acted as midwife and ran a millinery shop. In 1909 Jesse secured an additional 160 acre ranch three miles east of town, promising that when sold he would give the widow who had tiled on it half of what was received. They named this ranch Rooks Nest. They retained their home in Duchesne. Rooks Nest was a very fertile homestead, but the family did not have the manpower to work it properly.
Little more is recorded about Barr in Luella’s history until the family’s move to Provo, Utah June 3, 1922. Nile was on an LDS mission in Canada, Tom attending college, and Don and Barr were enrolled in Provo High School. Following high school, Barr attended Brigham Young University where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1932. He then moved away from family to Milford, Utah where he worked for the telephone company, leaving Milford for Washington D.C. in 1934 for employment with the Department of Labor. Barr then took employment with the Department of Agriculture where he worked the next ten years in various positions in several locations.
Barr and Bernice Preston[1], his wife to be, met while employed at the same office. They were
married in October 1937. They lived in Philadelphia where Barr continued work with the
Department of Agriculture. Their daughter, Sharon Lee[2], was born in Philadelphia October 3,
1941. Barr’s career continued to necessitate moving, next to New York City, then in 1945 to
Athens, Greece with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
Their son, Barr, Jr.[3] was born in Athens December 27, 1948.
Barr entered the Foreign Service in 1948 and continued to serve in Athens for an additional year until the family returned to the Washington D.C. area. In 1950, Barr was assigned to Seoul, Korea. Because of the Korean War, dependents were not allowed in Korea, so a home was purchased at 10205 Connecticut Avenue in Kensington, Maryland where Bernice and the two children would reside. However, the orders were changed and Barr did not go to Korea. Instead, the family packed and proceeded to Tokyo, Japan where they would live for the next two years, happy to not be separated. Barr’s father, Jesse, passed away March 14th, 1951. At the time of the funeral, Barr and his family were on the Pacific Ocean bound for Japan. Luella records, “They wired their sympathy and a gorgeous floral piece, since it was not possible to do more.”
Transfers are part of Foreign Service work, and the next assignment for Barr and family was to Egypt where Barr was to stay until 1957. The initial assignment was in Cairo where they lived for two years, then to Alexandria as the Consul General of the American Consulate. The family returned to the United States on home leave in 1956, but Bernice and the children could not return to Egypt because of the Suez Crisis. Barr finished the last year of his assignment alone with wife and children residing in the Washington D.C. area.
When Barr’s assignment in Egypt was completed the family lived together for the first time in the Maryland home purchased in 1950. They were to spend ten years there until Barr’s next foreign assignment. Working in Washington D.C. for the Department of State, Barr filled such assignments as Executive Director of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asia Affairs. In 1961, Barr was asked to take an assignment as Consul General in Rotterdam, Holland. The children were older now. Sharon was in college, and would remain behind. Barr, Jr. would spend two years in Holland, then return home to attend boarding school. Barr and Bernice remained in Holland until 1965 when they returned to Washington D.C. where they remained until Barr’s retirement in 1969.
In the minds of family members, the old house on Connecticut Avenue, built in the 1890’s and set on an acre of ground, was the family homestead where everyone gathered for family celebrations, Thanksgivings and Christmases. It was with some reluctance that Barr and Bernice finally acknowledged that the house and garden were too difficult to maintain, and in 1990 the house was sold and an apartment purchased in the Westchester on Cathedral Avenue in Washington, D.C. [4]
In Barr’s active years, he enjoyed reading, music, dancing, family and friends. Barr also enjoyed gardening and his garden in Kensington was considered a showplace with people stopping to admire its beauty. He and Bernice were known for their hospitality and wonderful entertaining. Growing up, Sharon and Barr, Jr. remember many fun parties. After his retirement, Barr became interested in and skilled at woodworking. As a bobby, he made copies of antique footstools, trencher boards, etc. He also refinished antiques for family members.
At the time of this writing, Barr (age 84) is not in good health, suffering from emphysema, arthritis, poor circulation, etc. He is often uncomfortable, but still enjoys seeing Sharon, Barr, Jr., and their families; visiting with old friends; and reading. Bernice also has current health problems.
Sharon and Barr, Jr. state an appreciation for growing up in the Foreign Service where they had the opportunity to live in interesting places and meet wonderful people, while maintaining closely knit family relationships. Although Barr and Bernice’s lives were always busy, the children report there was always time for them and their activities.
[1] Bernice was born July 1, 1916 in Glasgow, Kentucky, but her family moved to Washington D.C. when she was age 9. Her parents were Elizabeth Richardson Preston Bessey and Jewell C. Preston. Bernice is described as enjoying people, and a wonderful hostess. She, like Barr, loved to dance, and was an avid reader and shopper when not entertaining guests and being a mother.
[2] Sharon graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1963 after attending the Sorbonne in Paris her junior year. She moved back to Washington D.C. and worked for the Brookings Institution for two years. She then married a high school friend, C. Frederick Rolle, and they moved to Delaware where they reside at 4604 Beechwold Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware 19803. Fred is a Senior Financial Consultant for the DuPont Company and Sharon works for the Department of Community Development and Housing as a Housing Specialist. They have two children: Elizabeth Lee Rolle (Lisa) born September 1, 1967. Lisa graduated from the University of Maryland and has been working for a bank in Northern Virginia for the past four years. C. Frederick Rolle, Jr. (Fred) was born September 4, 1971. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) and is working in Washington, D.C. for a consulting firm.
[3] Barr, Jr. graduated from Cornell University in 1970. After graduation, he served in the Peace Corps in India for two years. Upon returning to the states, he settled in Eugene, Oregon where he learned carpentry. He is self-employed in a building and home-improvement business. He has one child, a daughter, Summer Lee Street, born August 6, 1975. Summer is currently in her freshman year at the University of Oregon. Barr, Jr. married Teresa Parker (Terry) in 1991 who Sharon reports, “is a wonderful addition to the family.” Terry is a Transportation Planner for the Lane Council of Governments. Barr and Terry are outdoor enthusiasts who kayak, hike, camp, canoe, bike, raft, and ski. Barr travels east at least twice a year to visit family. Barr and Terry reside at 1390 Bailey Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97402.
[4] Barr’s current address is #452-B West Chester, 4000 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20016.
