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HOMESTEADERS: Pcrrt ofCentralia monument recalls family that gaze name to Fords PrairieBy Jim FeehanThe ChronicleAfter five years, Jeanellen Hendrickson finally has a monument to commemorate her great-great grandfather, Sidney S. Ford, and his wife, Nancy Shaw Ford, who homesteaded Fords Prairie in 1846.The double-sided granite monument, standing nearly 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide, stands outside the Port of Centralia office. It is located at the intersection of Galvin and Eshom roads, on the prairie northwest of Centralia’s city limits.An elementary school and a cafe, both bearing the name Fords Prairie, had been the only reminders of the pioneer family, Hendrickson said from her home in Seattle. So she and her sister, Amy Brandon of Port Townsend, and their brother, Myron Calkins of Kansas City, Mo., decided to erect a lasting monument.“It's very gratifying to see it done,” Hendrickson said. “I would hope the community of Fords Prairie would realize what a place they have in the history of Washington state.”Stacey Hendrickson of Auburn, Hendrickson’s son and Ford’s great-great-great grandson, said the monument provides a lasting legacy of the pioneering family.“It’s a small dose of history for people in a hurry,” he said.In 1845, the Fords left Missouri in a wagon train bound for the Oregon Territory. They arrived in the vicinity of OregonPlease see FORDS pa%e AliGary J. Ctchowsftd / The ChroniclsPort of Centralia Executive Director Wendy Paulln looks at a new monument to commemorate Sidney S. Ford and his wife, Nancy Shaw Ford, who homesteaded Fords Prairie in 1846. The monument stands at the intersection of Galvin and Eshom roads, northwest of Centralia s city limits.mmt7 £
Newspaper Details
Centralia Chronicle
Centralia, Washington, US
Thu, Aug 06, 1998
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Dean W.
USA 09 Aug 2020
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