MAPLE CREST FARM
Thomas Crawford Davis took a donation land claim just to the west of the present town of Yamhill, in Yamhill County, Oregon. The original home of T. C. Davis is across the street from the Yamhill Christian Church, about 1/4-mile west of the church. It was the first house on the donation land claim. Thomas Crawford Davis married Nancy Ann Hines, fourth daughter of William Tolbert Hines and Elizabeth Garetson Fulkerson. Wm. Hines died on the Oregon Trail and his wife and children built a coffin and carried the body with them to Oregon. Their oldest daughter Sarah Elizabeth Hines had married and stayed in Missouri.
The second daughter, Margaret Jane Hines, ended up driving the wagon from the Emigrant Crossing of the Snake River all the way to Oregon.
The third daughter, Sarah Catherine, married Hiram Heaton Buckingham in Oregon. They had a son named Thomas C Buckingham. It seems both Thomas C. Buckingham and Thomas Crawford Davis were named after Thomas Crawford McBride, who was grandfather of Thomas Crawford Davis. McBride was a famous early evangelist for the Christian Church in Missouri. His son James emigrated to Oregon from Missouri in 1846, and the following year Dad showed up just before winter ("surprise!"), along with Dad's grandson T. C. Davis and some others.
The fourth daughter of Hines was Nancy Ann Hines, who married Thomas Crawford Davis. Davis took a donation land claim adjacent to the present town of Yamhill. They had four daughters. Daughter number three, Eliza Jane Davis, married Charles Vause Kuykendall.
Thomas C. Davis' brother Isaac Davis had the farm just to the west of his, at the southwest corner of Pike Road and Kuykendall Road, where Bailey Nursery is now. At the northwest corner of Thomas Davis' claim, (at the southeast corner of Pike Road and Kuykendall Road) he sold two 45-acre plots to T. C. Buckingham. I actually am not sure whether they were sold to T. C., or to his father and mother. His mother was sister to Mrs. Davis. Thomas C. Buckingham and his wife Maggie built a house named Maple Crest Farm. On January 3 1885, they sold the two 45 acre plots, including the house, to C. V. Kuykendall and Eliza Jane Davis Kuykendall for $4,750. C. V. and Eliza Jane already had five children when they moved to Maple Crest Farm, and ended up with a total of twelve children, so it seems the soil was quite fertile. Of the twelve, #8 (a son) died at birth, and #11, Opal, died at the age of seven. All the rest lived to adulthood. When Eliza's mother died, her share of the inheritance brought their total farm to 208 acres, all on the original T. C. Davis donation land claim.
Child #4, Lawrence Hugh Kuykendall, married Jennie Grace Sitton when they were each about 36. They had two sons, both born while they lived at "the Eidsmoe's farm". This is the home that is directly east of Maple Crest Farm, and is also part of the original T. C. Davis donation land claim. Sometime later, Lawrence moved to Maple Crest Farm, and he and Jennie spent the rest of their lives there. In the last years, his oldest son Robert (Bob) and his wife Shirley Gibson Kuykendall moved there, and bought the farm after the death of Jennie. Since that time it has remained in the family and currently comprises seventeen acres.
I look forward to learning more about the family of Thomas C. Buckingham. I know that C. V. and Eliza kept up a correspondence and close friendship with them through the years, visiting each other also. I have a letter from Maggie to Eliza Jane on the death of C. V. Kuykendall.
