Archives West Finding Aid

Samuel Lynn Price (1859-1928) was born in London, Wisconsin. At the age of 17, he moved westward from Wisconsin, settling in Oregon in the early 1880s. In 1888, Price and Clara Hartman (1861-1945) married in Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Their first child, a daughter, was born in 1887 and died in infancy. Rozetta (Zetta) was born in 1888, in Wilbur, Lincoln County, where their homestead was located. Two more children, Dwight Lynn and Marshall Robert (known as Robert), followed. The family owned and operated a farming business. Samuel Price died in 1928, and his widow and children carried on farming in Lincoln County.

Rozetta Price (1888-1980) was born in the district of Hasseltine, or what is now the rural town of Wilbur, Washington. She graduated from high school in Pendleton, Oregon in 1910. She then earned a teaching certificate from the Washington State Normal School at Bellingham (now Western Washington University) to teach at the elementary level. In 1924, Price earned her Bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Washington. She lived in Govan, Washington, now a ghost town, near Wilbur. It is unclear if she worked as a teacher, but she seems to have been less involved in the day-to-day running of the farm than her brother, Dwight. She never married. In the collection, her belongings include diplomas, address books, personal correspondence, Christmas cards, including a cross-stitched, lace-embellished card from World War I-era France, family photographs from later generations, and souvenir postcard sets.

Dwight Lynn Price (1890-1952) was born in Govan. He served in World War I as a corporal in the 36th Aero Squadron, which served in France, although the war ended before the unit saw combat. Upon his return, Dwight wed and farmed. Among his belongings are his U.S. Army dog tags, his honorable discharge from the military, many notebooks containing expenses and farming notes that he compiled for himself and his mother, and contracts between Zetta and himself related to farm ownership.

Marshall Robert Price (1893-1952) was the youngest of the Price children. The collection includes only a few items related to him. From the papers of his sister Zetta, it is known that Robert had around 10 children, and some Christmas cards in the collection reflect a connection to the family homestead in Wilbur.