Nathan Email Concerning Ammon Shadden--October, 2004
Here are a couple items. Tom, you were interested in Ammon Shadden, youngest son of Thomas Jefferson Shadden. I am sending this to each of you. Ammon took over pretty much everything after TJ Shadden died. Ammon appears to have been pretty successful like his fattier but I do not think to the extent that T J Shadden was though. Ammon did not seem to fair well in the marriage category. He was married three times. His 2nd wife Emma Stuart bore him one daughter that they named Emma also. I have never been able to figure out what happened to that daughter?
All this interest in Ammon arose when you mentioned that you have a picture of an Emma Shadden, Cheryl. When I was first checking into it and found that Ammon had a wife and daughter named Emma I thought the picture you have, Cheryl, might be of Ammon's wife or daughter, but the dates do not work for that to be possible.
There was a daughter on the censuses in McMinnville that I truly believe was Madison Shadden's daughter and her name was on the census as Emma Shadden. The dates of birth for her and the date on the back of the picture that you have, Cheryl, come real close to matching this Emma Shadden that was the daughter of Madison Shadden. I have never been able to figure out what happened to this Emma though. I do believe that she died before Thomas Jefferson Shadden though and he died in 1893.
The other item I included in this package was a story I happened upon in an old Genealogical magazine. The story is about Canadians who went to the CA Gold Rush. It is actually just the first two paragraphs that I wanted you all to see. I have not even taken the time yet to read the rest of the story myself. I copied the whole story in case you wanted to know the rest of what this story said. I copied the front cover of the magazine so you would know where it came from. I thought you might find these two paragraphs as interesting as I did. It really struck me when I read this as to what MIGHT have happened when your GrGrGr Grandparents, Jasper and Maria Adams Shadden, were killed down there by Mexicans as the family tale goes. I was thinking that I bet you anything that TJ Shadden went down there looking for their bodies and surely would have brought them back to McMinnville with him if he had been able to find them and I believe that this story may give an idea as to why they were never brought back to OR. What do you think? There could be other reasons though.