America Waldo Bogle
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

America Waldo Bogle (June 2, 1844 – December 28, 1903) was a pioneer in the
Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...
. She and her husband,
Richard Arthur Bogle Richard Arthur Bogle (September 7, 1835 – November 22, 1904) was an American pioneer. He was born in Jamaica, and he died in Walla Walla, Washington state. He was known as the first African-American businessman in Walla Walla, Washington. ...
, were among the first Black settlers in
Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...
.


Early life

America Waldo was born in Missouri on June 2, 1844. Her mother is believed to have been a slave of Missouri farmer John Waldo (1796–1849), and her father was a white man, probably either John Waldo or his brother Joseph (1805–1871). In 1854 America traveled by wagon train to Oregon with John Waldo's widow, Avarilla, and several other African Americans. They spent the winter with Avarilla's brother-in-law, Daniel Waldo, at his farm east of Salem. In the spring of 1855 they moved south to Douglas County where Avarilla established a Donation Land claim near Roseburg, Oregon. America remained in the Roseburg area for the next five years, during which time she met her future husband, Richard Arthur Bogle, a barber in Roseburg. In 1861 she returned with Avarilla to Salem where she lived with the Daniel Waldo family until her marriage. Daniel Waldo, a former legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon, who had arrived in Oregon with the Great Migration of 1843, "may have taken responsibility for raising her and thus acted as a father figure." In 1862 Richard Bogle left Roseburg and settled in Walla Walla, Washington, but returned to Oregon briefly at the end of that year to prepare for his marriage to America.


Marriage in Oregon

In Salem, Oregon, on January 1, 1863, at the age of 18, America Waldo married
Richard Arthur Bogle Richard Arthur Bogle (September 7, 1835 – November 22, 1904) was an American pioneer. He was born in Jamaica, and he died in Walla Walla, Washington state. He was known as the first African-American businessman in Walla Walla, Washington. ...
, a free Black man born in
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. Their wedding was on the same day that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. The wedding was controversial because there were both white and black guests at the ceremony, going against
racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
practices. Reverend Obed Dickinson, an abolitionist, presided over the marriage. Daniel Waldo publicly supported the wedding and gave them "several gifts of great value with which to start their home." Newspaper editor
Asahel Bush Asahel Bush (June 4, 1824 – December 23, 1913) was an American newspaper publisher and businessman in Salem, Oregon. As publisher of the ''Oregon Statesman'' newspaper, he moved the paper to Salem when the territorial capital moved to that city. ...
called the wedding "shameful" in the local newspaper and in a letter to
Matthew Deady Matthew Paul Deady (May 12, 1824 – March 24, 1893) was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the ...
he wrote, "It was a negro equality sentiment mixed up with a little snob-aristocracy."
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
retorted to Bush's negative press coverage by saying, "the heart of a man who could be guilty of making light even of a poor mulatto girl's feelings is blacker than the skin of any African." News of the wedding traveled all the way to the
San Francisco Bulletin The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...
, where it was written that the wedding included, "distinguished white ladies and gentlemen, who saw proper to witness the ceremony and participate in the festive proceedings." America and Richard had eight children together.


Walla Walla, Washington

The Bogles settled in
Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...
, where they started a 200-acre ranch. America Waldo Bogle was known as "a lady of estimable character, noted for her deeds of charity to the poor and suffering." Her three older children appear to have died between 1876 and 1878. She died in Walla Walla on December 28, 1903, and her husband died a year later on November 22, 1904. Her five surviving children out of an original eight were Arthur, Belle, Waldo, Katherine, and Warren Bogle, and the sons followed in their father's footsteps and became barbers. Her great-grandson, Richard "Dick" Bogle, was later the second African-American city commissioner in Portland, Oregon.


References

{{reflist 1844 births 1903 deaths Farmers from Missouri People from Walla Walla, Washington Ranchers from Washington (state) Oregon pioneers Washington (state) pioneers African-American history of Oregon African-American history of Washington (state) African Americans in the American Old West People from Salem, Oregon