Arrival in Silverton

The DeGuire family arrived in Silverton, Oregon in 1858 after a long journey along the Oregon Trail.  That journey included Francis Baptiste DeGuire, aged 40, his wife, Eleanor (nee St. Gemme), aged 33.  Their children Charles (12), Clara (10), and Clotilda (4), endured the trip as well.  Their youngest son, Henry, was born just a year later.

In his early teens, Charles began working at a woolen mill in Salem, learning weaving in the process, but the Civil War began in April 1861 and young Charles' weaving career was waylaid when he heeded the call for volunteers. 

The Civil War Calls

Charles enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 9, 1864 at age 18. As an incentive to join, he undoubtedly received the $150 enlistment bounty recently authorized by the state legislature.  He reported to Camp Russell, located in Salem at the State Fairgrounds, and was assigned to Company C, First Oregon Volunteer Infantry (1st OVI). 

Company C was initially sent to Fort Vancouver, but was soon transferred to Fort Steilacoom, located at the southern end of Puget Sound in the Washington Territory. 

Charles probably served mostly garrison duty, as was common for most soldiers stationed west of the Cascades during the war. 

According to the “Form For Examining a Recruit,” completed by an “Inspecting Surgeon” on December 15, 1864, Charles was eighteen years old and was five feet, five inches tall at the time of his enlistment. He had brown hair and black eyes, with a dark complexion.  Charles was in apparent good health and had been vaccinated for smallpox. Incredibly, the form indicates that he had never been sick and had never suffered any fractures or sprains. 

He went into the Army as a Private, as did most new recruits, and emerged with the rank of Musician, a rank that typically fell between Private and Corporal. It’s not known what instrument he played, but one of his descendants recently mentioned that he probably played the trumpet. Musicians in the Civil War were generally divided into two types: field musicians and band musicians. Field musicians were used to initiate various camp functions including reveille, call to meals, and other activities that occurred at camp. These musicians included buglers and drummers and occasionally fifers. During combat operations it was often impossible to hear shouted commands over the din of battle. In order for these battlefield commands to be heard, buglers would play different calls to advise the soldiers as to what was required of them. 

The other type of musician was the band musician, performing in concert ensembles that included full scale brass and percussion sections. These bands were primarily used for entertainment, but they also could set the cadence during long marches. It’s not known which type of musician Charles DeGuire was involved with. 

Charles served in the Army for about eleven months and was then discharged on October 31, 1865. 

Source:  Silverton Historical Society's Newsletter (See Vol. 12, Issue 3, dated April 2014)  

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Post-War Life

In 1901,  the first brick building in Silverton was constructed on East Main Street for John Davenport and James Madison Brown with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) linked-chain motif seen in the center panel of this building's cornice.   The second floor was deeded to the IOOF in 1905. 

This fraternity is  is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland.  Their purpose aims to provide a framework that promotes personal and social development. For members, the Degrees in Odd Fellowship emphasize a leaving of the old life and the start of a better one and of helping those in need. 

During his early life after the war, Charles worked a series of jobs. In later years he operated a jewelry store and was also one of the founders of the People's Bank at the corner of Main and Water Streets. 

 Now known as the Ames Building, the five-sided building was constructed in 1905 for the Peoples' Bank, the second of two banks in Silverton.  Ed Porter, C.F. DeGuire and John Hicks were responsible for organizing the bank. Horses and pulleys were used to lift the loads of bricks for placement during its construction. In 1914 the interior was extensively remodeled. The bank went broke in 1930 and was taken over by the Coolidge and McClaine Bank of Silverton. 

Charles spent the majority of his career in Silverton, becoming engaged in many other business ventures including jewelry, farming, real estate and construction. 

Settling in Silverton

At age 27, Charles married Arlena Brown in 1873. She was the daughter of James Brown, an early Silverton Pioneer. They began working land that Arlena inherited from her father.  Together, they had one son, Murton, born in 1875.  Sadly, just 12 years later, Arlena Brown DeGuire died in 1885. 

In the late 1870's, Charles formed the first brass band in Silverton and served as its director until 1885. His son, Murton, played the trombone and his father, Francis, once played the fiddle, while Charles, Jr. played the bugle in the Army National Guard.

In 1893 Charles married again, this time to Julia Brydge, a native of England, who was about sixteen years his junior. They had four children; Olfan, Alvis, Vada, and Charles, Jr., who was born in 1909, when his father was 62 years old. 

At age 60, DeGuire completed construction on the home at 840 S Water Street which he then sold to a German immigrant and local builder ,John Ludowitzki and his wife Mary.  He then began construction of another home that still stands on Hill Street and his son, Murton built a home, just a stone's throw away, which is now known as the  Murton E. and Lillian DeGuire House house completed in 1909.  It, too, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The May 28, 1909 Silvertonian Appeal ran a short piece stating “On account of building and the ill health of his father (Francis) who is past 91 years of age, Mr. DeGuire has decided to vacate his position in the Peoples Bank.” 

Charles F. DeGuire, Civil War veteran, passed away in Silverton on June 4, 1928 at age 81.  At the time of his death all of his family lived in the greater Silverton area. His son, Charles , Jr. ("Chuck"), lived in Silverton for many years and built a house in the early 1960's on Hill Street on property adjacent to land on which his father had built.  

Charles DeGuire’s second wife, Julia, who was sixteen years his junior, outlived Charles by thirty-five years and lived to be 101!  This meant that there was a woman, born in 1862 and the widow of a Civil War Veteran, living in Silverton, who collected her husband’s Civil War pension until she passed away………… in 1963!" 

His youngest son, Charles, Jr. (Chuck), passed away on November 7, 2000 at age ninety-one. He lived for nine months into the twenty-first century, becoming one of those rare people still alive at that time who could say their dad was a Civil War Veteran. Civil War widows were eligible to receive their husband’s federal pension upon his death. 

Source:  Silverton Historical Society's Newsletter (See Vol. 12, Issue 3, dated April 2014):