The Battle for Lake Tapps Cemetery

The Battle for Lake Tapps Cemetery

In an earlier post I wrote of how my three times great Uncle Alvin was one of the “founding fathers” of Lake Tapps.  In the 1880’s he, along with his younger brother Darwin (also my three times great uncle), and their father Daniel (my three time great grandfather),...
Founding Lake Tapps

Founding Lake Tapps

My three times great Uncle Alvin Orcutt led a wagon train including twenty seven members of our family west from Kansas in the spring of 1882. By the fall of that year they had settled on the shores of Lake Tapps in Washington Territory. There were only a few other...

The Orcutt’s – Part Two

My knowledge of the Orcutt family’s trek from Kansas to Washington Territory comes from memoirs written by Rosella Orcutt, my first cousin three times removed, and my great uncle, Joseph Morris.  Rosella was actually a passenger on that journey, although only three...

The Orcutts, Part One

In several earlier posts I told of my great-great grandfather, Tom Pixley, and his adventurous early years.  Tom settled down around 1870 after he moved to Neosho County, Kansas.  There he homesteaded 160 acres of land and married my great-great grandmother, Mary Jane...
Tom Pixley, Part One

Tom Pixley, Part One

In an earlier post, titled Grave Walking for Julia, I wrote about Linda’s and my search for my three times great grandmother, Julia Pixley.  In that post I didn’t mention her son, Tom Pixley – my two times great grandfather. We found Julia’s grave in the little town...

Thomas Pixley, Part Two

In Part One I wrote about discovering Tom Pixley’s life prior to the Civil War and how, after the war, he sought his fortune in Montana’s gold fields. After two fruitless years of prospecting the Prickly Pear Valley, Tom gave up his quest for riches and, tucking his...