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would not damage the old items. My father must William Dodson - nothing. Then I tried Julia Dod-
have put the box away and forgotten all about it. son. There she was on Wikipedia, the first post-
master of Rose Lodge, Oregon in 1908. The bit of
I too set the box aside to deal with other priorities. feminism in me relished the woman being the
When I had time, I made a foray into the box full one who left her mark on history. Rose Lodge is
of life insurance policies, mortgages, and promis- a small place I must have passed by many times
sory notes. My mind flashed to the Milton-Bradley in my life. It is an unincorporated community on
Game of Life. These were the same items from highway 18 between Grand Rhonde and Lincoln
that game, but these were real. city.

If this box arrived as I thought at my father’s I went back to the box. A black box is the record
house, it would have been a cumbersome task of an airplane’s flight. This black box was the
to track down the descendants of the owners. In record of someone’s life. The earliest document
the days before widespread internet, perhaps we in the box was from 1890. It was an agreement
could have gone through the phone book calling by Oliver Dodson to pay $100.00 for land North
people with the of Dallas, Oregon.
last name on the There is an 1892
documents, Dod- promissory note
son. It seems like it to Union Hardware
would have been in McMinnville. A
a lot of calls for beautiful elaborate-
such a common ly decorated life
name. Perhaps we insurance policy
could have gone dated 1894 from
to the library to Woodsman’s in-
get information to surance naming
narrow our search. Julia as benefactor.
Such labor seemed There are also doc-
unnecessary for uments in the box
abandoned prop- belonging to an-
erty. Nothing in other man, William
the box seemed Dodson.
vital to return.
Everything was expired, paid promissory notes, Now I begin to bounce back and forth between
property sales from long ago. It seemed that the box and Google. On Google I found Wiki tree
someone went through and picked out the things bios, ancestry news articles, and an article by The
they needed to keep and discarded the rest. This North Lincoln County Museum. Julia had kept a
theory is supported by a copy of the Willamina diary and the pieces that were saved are treasured
Times from May 3, 1917, which has a square hole by the museum. Google confirms that Oliver was
cut out of it. Someone must have decided to cut Julia’s husband. William was one of their sons.
out the portion meaningful to them and leave the
rest. A booklet in the box is titled Workman’s timebook
and has tables to figure wages and space to track
I looked for the names and places of the docu- time worked. William Dodson used this between
ments on the internet. Oliver Dodson - nothing. 1904 and 1906. One of the jobs recorded was

24 ONE COMMUNITY