Marriage: July 24, 1911 - Spokane, Washington
Death: May 12, 1972 - Spokane, Washington
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| Sadie and Harry Shepherd July 24, 1961 |
The following is an excerpt from a family history written by May E. Anderson.
Mother was born at Rockford, Washington, on September 19, 1890. She attended school there, but did not graduate from high school. Her father died when she was only seven years old. Her mother died on October 13, 1937. Mother was baptized in the Rockford River and belonged to a Christian Church there.
Her parents and grandparents came by wagon train from the central United States to Salem, Oregon. I don’t know how long they lived there nor do I know anything about her father, except he and the family he had at that time moved to Rockford. In addition to Mother, some of her brothers and a sister Nellie, who was the youngest, were born at Rockford. Her father was killed when getting out of a wagon loaded with wheat that was being hauled to an elevator. He left his wife, Ella May Higgins, two girls and five boys to raise. The older children had to quit school to help support and raise the family. One younger brother (Charlie) died at age 10. I believe Mother’s sister was the only child of her family to graduate from high school.
Mother had another pregnancy about two years after I was born, a baby boy who died shortly after birth. Frank was born four years after my birthday.
Mother worked just a few weeks at Peters and Sons Florist Shop in downtown Spokane, before being laid off. She was a very hard worker.
Mother died on May 12, 1972, at 2 a.m. at St. Luke’s Hospital in Spokane.
In the family history that she wrote Grandma (May) Anderson explains that her parents (Harry and Sadie) met in "Mullan, Idaho." It now seems likely that they actually met in Washington.
While going through grandma’s photo albums I discovered a postcard that Harry Shepherd sent his mother while away on a job, presumably laying track for the railroad. It is dated January 5, 1910- the year before he and Sadie Anderson were married. The card is postmarked in Malden, which is in Whitman County, Washington state. I thought it possible that grandma had the name of the town in which they met wrong. I also thought it was possible that back then mail had to be transported before it could be postmarked. Malden and Mullan are only 80 miles apart as the crow flies. Perhaps Harry was in Mullan but the postcard wasn't postmarked until it reached Malden.
After searching census records in Whitman County, Washington in 1910 I discovered an unmarried woman named Sadie G. Anderson who was working as a waitress in a restaurant! This Sadie Anderson listed her mother and father’s birthplaces as the same as our Sadie Anderson leading me to believe that they were indeed the same person. It is for this reason that I believe Harry and Sadie met in Malden, Washington instead of Mullan, Idaho. They sound similar and it is understandable that over the years grandma could have gotten the names mixed up.
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| The front of the postcard Harry sent his mother. Harry is on the left. The other man's identity is not known. |
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| The back side of the postcard. Notice the postmark in Malden, WA. |