Some of the artifacts that have been kept with the house include postcards, an ointment container, and a portable screwdriver set.

History in the News
The Kieni Ranch

This story was originally written in Cedar Mill History, by Nancy Olson and Linda Dodds. I added to it with material from Sue Conger’s notebook, graciously loaned to me by the Wilson family who now own the house—vb

The histories of several Cedar Mill families revolve around the property known as the Kieni Ranch. Located on a site near NW 93rd just north of Cornell, the Kieni house, built around 1870, has been remarkably preserved by successive occupants.

Aided by a diary belonging to John Kieni that was found in the attic, former owner Sue Peterson Conger took an active interest in the history of her home and kept a notebook that provided information for much of the following material. Perhaps it was her interest in the house’s history that led to her passion to preserve the JQA Young House.

Deeds and records reveal that Samuel Shannon was the first owner of the property. Shannon had participated in the Cayuse Indian War in eastern Oregon, and like many soldiers of the time, received the “bounty land” in 1855 through Congressional act as a reward for his military service.

Another document, dated November 20, 1860, identifies Thomas Summers as the second owner. By 1872 a survey, apparently at Summers’ request, noted the house standing in its present location. Before Summers died two years later, he had parceled out much of the property.

This trunk was found in the basement of the house. It undoubtedly came with the family from Wisconsin. We don't known whether they traveled overland or by ship via San Francisco.

Paul and Maria Kieni arrived in Oregon in 1875 along with Maria’s brother, Anton Barandun. In 1880, Paul Kieni began purchasing the land parcel by parcel, eventually owning 80 acres and the house.

Their son John Kieni apparently stayed in Wisconsin with his wife Clara and small son until 1882. It seems that his wife and son died, since we never hear anything more of them. His diary, discovered behind some boards in the attic of the home by an electrician, records his thoughts as a young man at the end of a harsh Midwestern winter. In March, 1875 (the same year that his parents arrived in Oregon) he wrote: “The ground all covered with old snow, yet I myself feel very melancholie. I feel as if there ought a change to take place with me. I must conclude for something until next fall, either to get married or travel to Oregon or to do both. If I stay here another winter as I be I will feel sorry. So be firm and do something. In winter we are too much addicted to company and laziness, in summer too much addicted to work and therefore shun company so everything runs by extremes which does not satisfy my temper; therefore try stern to leave here next fall but go early.”

Eventually the desire to move motivated him to list the items he would need during his journey:

“If I go I must take as follows in clothing, overcoat and scarf, one Good suit of clothes besides every day clothes, Gloves, this Memorandum, Marriage Guide, small one, Razor, photographs, hat and cap, 2 pr boots…don’t stop and think about property or you will never go…think about winter.”

"Back of ranch. Second growth of Timber." The woman in the photo may be George's niece, Anna Hirscher.

We’re not sure when John’s brother George arrived, but he worked for a while near Salem before moving to the Cedar Mill property to live with his parents. George and John’s sister Mary Kieni may have stayed in Wisconsin. She married Aloysius Hirscher there and raised a family. Her daughter Anna later came out to Oregon to visit her uncle Goerge, and he persuaded her to stay.

The Kieni family settled onto the acreage and took up farming. Barbara Arn, (who with her husband, Rev. Winfield Arn owned the house from 1961-70) interviewed their elderly neighbor Sam Walters and wrote, “the father…was a crabby old man. Sam Walters’ sisters went on the Kieni property to pick wild blackberries. Father Kieni chased them off. The next day they were going to sneak and get some, but father Kieni had cut all blackberries down.”

House, barns and fields prior to 1917

Paul and Maria were members of the Helvetia Community Church in that Swiss enclave north of Hillsboro. One can only imagine the long trips to and from church on Sunday mornings by horse and buggy.

After Maria’s death in 1892, followed by her husband Paul the next year, bachelors John and George managed the crops with the help of their Uncle Anton, “a kindly man who kept house and cooked.”

The Walters notes go on to say, “George Kieni was a blacksmith who made sledges for many people. Sam Walters used to help him some. The Kieni family was tight with money, but still loaned people money (with interest) who were going to lose homes.” Among the preserved papers from the house are several pages of penciled accounts noting the repayment of these loans.

"Just after the pumping plant was installed" John is on the left, George and unidentified man on the right

In 1916 John Kieni died at the age of 65. A year later, Anton died at age 88.

By 1918, George had built a two-story addition to the front of the house and moved into it, renting the rear part of the house and the land to Ernest Wuthrich and his bride Frieda Katterman along with his brother Harry. Until his death in 1941, Kieni worked as a blacksmith in his shop near the house, performed farm chores, and manufactured vinegar which he sold. He also built a prune dryer to handle the produce of a large prune orchard south of Cornell.

"Coming down Mount Hood in month of August, over the snow. Left to right, my tenant, the next myself & my tenant brother"—George Kieni, age 75 in 1931

A note from a Wisconsin relative says, “Mr. Kieni was quite an active man for his advanced years. He delighted in long walks, and climbed to the top of Mt Hood at the age of 75. He often walked to Portland from Cedar Mill in his advance years.

George died in 1941. Paul, Maria, John, George and Anton are all buried in Union Cemetery on NW 143rd.

In a future issue, we’ll talk about the Wuthrich’s West Hills Dairy, which occupied the Kieni Ranch from around 1920-1944.

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