Nathan Email #1 - October, 2004
I have a Bio story on Ammon Shadden from an old History of Oregon book that was printed in 1903. It tells quite a bit about Ammon. I believe I sent Janis a copy of that a very long time ago even before she told me about you I think. I will send you a copy of it. It mentions all three of the women Ammon married. Ammon's 2nd wife was Emma Stewart. Her and Ammon had one child together and they named her Emma. I have as yet never been able to figure out when they married for sure. I know it was during the 1880s is all. Ammon and his 1st wife Maggie were on the 1880 census together.
Well shoot. I have been doing some rechecking on this and nothing is making any sense. The Bio story says that Ammon and his 1st wife cared for Ammon's parents. Ammon's parents did not die until the mid to late 1890s. Ammon married his 3rd wife in 1890. Maybe the Bio story is just misleading the way it is worded or else they did not have their facts straight? The best I can figure is that since Ammon and his 1st wife were still together on the 1880 census and this Emma he married was supposed to be his 2nd wife and I found the marriage record of his 3rd wife who he married in 1890, then he married his 2nd wife somtime between 1880 and 1890. I have searched everywhere but cannot find any record of when or where they married though. The only record I have of this Emma was from this Bio story which says she was the daughter of Ammon and his 2nd wife. The Bio also says she was already dead at the time the Bio story was printed in 1903. There is no Emma Shadden listed in the McMinnville cemetery index. She may have married just before she died so would thusly be listed under some other last name. Anyway, there are a lot of unanswered qurestions about this Emma Shadden and she did die young but who knows when? It was sometime between 1880 and 1903 that she was born and died and that time frame fits the picture that Cheryl has of an Emma Shadden.
Yes, Ammon was given the vast bulk of his father's Estate and true also he was about the only child left alive at that time. The only other one was Riley Shadden and he was born blind and had to be cared for and could not work a farm and he was given adequate
provision in TJ Shadden's Will for his sustenance. Ammon was a pretty prosperous individual and took after his father somewhat but I think to a much lesser degree. He was a successful man though. Maybe an obit on Ammon, if there is one, would have some answers on him.