Page 3 - SUMMER 2020 SWHS Newsletter revised (1)

According to Cora Cook’s article, the Johnson was 64 when he died, leav-
Johnsons’ home was built under large ing 29-year-old Zah-toh-litsa with six
trees on the bluff in a park-like setting. children to raise.
It had once been home to a large herd
of elk according to Snohomish tribal Edward Oliver
legend before a fire swept across South
Whidbey from Brown’s Point to Dou- Edward Oliver came to South Whid-
ble Bluff and the elk swam across Ad- bey in 1858 when he was just 28 years
miralty Inlet to the Olympic Peninsula. old, but he had already lived a life of
Early settlers reported finding many adventure packed into those 28 years.
elk antlers and bones on the bluff. Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1830
In the 1870 census Johnson’s real es- to a well established family with colo-
tate was valued at $640 with personal nial roots, his father died when he was
property at $500. Nine people are list- but three months old.
ed as living on the property as family His mother later remarried, to a man
members. It is possible that Johnson, who Oliver evidently care little for,
age 48 in 1870, likely had children as he left home at age 11 to serve as a
from a previous marriage or union. cabin boy. He worked on a two-masted
In their 13-year marriage, six children schooner, and then a brig, which took
were born to William and Zah-toh-lit- him to the Mediterranean on several
sa: Louisa, Florence, George, Frances, voyages.
Charles, and Mildred. Little wonder that He jumped ship in Moltier in the
Zah-to-litsa was a popular midwife in Mediterranean and enlisted in the Brit-
the area. ish army where he served for nearly
As parents, they desired an educa- three years during the Crimean War
tion for their children, and along with both aboard a ship at the battle of Sev-
neighboring logging and farming fam- astapol and thereafter several battles
ilies, established a one-room log cab- on land where he was wounded. He re-
in schoolhouse in Austin in 1885 near ceived several medals for bravery.
what would later become Cookson’s After coming back to America, he
Corner. It would serve as a school until once again engaged in maritime trade.
a new one was built in 1897, and then During this time he survived a ship-
in 1915 a larger two-classroom Mutiny wreck off the coast of Florida, and was
Bay School would be built. saved by a passing ship. of 160-acres (at 25 cents an acre) and
In late February of 1886, William In 1857 he sailed from Boston around building a house on the west side of
Johnson set sail in his small boat to Cape Horn at the tip of South Ameri- Useless Bay near the present Useless
take produce and beef to sell in Port ca to San Francisco where he worked Bay Country Club and Golf Course
Townsend, a popular trading center, far in the lumber and coal trades up and with a commanding view of the Sound.
larger than Seattle back then. down the west coast. There he farmed hay and vegetables
Two days later, his body was found Eventually he came to Puget Sound and raised cattle.
in his boat, which had washed ashore on the brig Glencoe, landing in Stei- Oliver married Melvina Sooy (listed
near Johnson’s (Double) Bluff at a lacoom where he was accidentally on the marriage certificate as Malvir-
place then called Haller’s Point. There shot in the leg while passing by a nia Soou) in 1877 when he was 43 and
were no signs of foul play and the cor- street brawl. she was 17. She was the daughter of a
oner ruled that Johnson, age 64, had He recuperated in a hospital at Port white settler and a Coast Salish mother.
died from natural causes. Townsend and upon exploring the area, They had four children. Melvina died
The family believed otherwise, for found Deer Lagoon to his liking. At in 1886 at age 25.
there were known pirates plying the that time the lagoon had tall cedars and In March 1887, Oliver married Zah-
waters between Whidbey and Port lush vegetation. Shallow boats could toh-litsa (Jane Johnson) and they made
Townsend. There should have been pull up all the way to the highway near their home on the bluff near Oliver’s
a substantial amount of money from where the present Whidbey Telecom Lake. (It is unclear whether they built
the sale of produce and beef, however, building is. a new home or lived at the Johnson
none was found on Johnson’s body or Oliver worked 10 years logging on home, which was near Oliver’s Lake.)
in the sailboat. South Whidbey before staking a claim The couple increased their combined
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