It’s odd, the things that stick out in your memories of younger years.

I have mentioned my Grandma Sorenson pulling a frozen apple pie out she had pre-made and baking it because I claimed I smelled a pie. I was about 4 or 5 when she died but, from what I remember, it’s easy to see where Mom got her cooking skills.

She was a slender woman in her late forties but came home from work and had a stroke. They took her to the hospital but they couldn’t save her. I didn’t know what was going on but my parents, Grandpa, and other adults in the family were at Grandpa’s house. They were all in a somber mood and Grandma wasn’t there.

More history from both sides of my family.

The McLeans evidently had family in the Toppenish region. My Dad’s Great Grandmother was driving her buckboard wagon back to the Tieton area after visiting relatives there. A presumably drunken Yakima Native started riding after her and firing shots. The older lady calmly stopped the wagon, stood up, and shot her tormentor out of the saddle.

It didn’t pay to mess with the McLean women either. Especially since this woman’s maiden name was Weddle! My mom’s family were Scandinavians from the Port Orchard area. They came here from New Ulm, Minnesota. Same state as the McLeans.

Today is a continuation of family history.

Thomas Ashton McLean, better known as TA, was our first ancestor to bring his family here. He definitely didn’t take the shortest or easiest route.

He heard that he might have relatives in Texas so headed down there from his home in Minnesota. You have to know the Civil War was still in progress so a questionable move right off the bat.

He found no relatives so turned west. During the war, the army had pulled out for the most part and the Arizona area was pretty much owned by the Apaches. There was no wagon train, just a crazy man of Scottish descent and his family. He actually paused long enough to mine copper in the area.

Here’s the next installment in the McLean-Weddle story.

When I was about 14 we had a visit from Vern Weddle. He was an old cowboy who was over six foot tall and straight as a ramrod at the age of 84. He was still herding cattle in the mountains of Idaho!

He went by the name Salmon River Slim and lived in Salmon Arm Idaho. He said that at the time, you could do anything there you were tough enough to do. He claimed a deputy sheriff came to town and was going to lay down the law until someone fired a couple of shots over his head. Talk about old west!

Today I’m going to jump back in time to some of our ancestors. One of our family branches was the Weddles. TA McLean arrived in the Washington territory in 1865. Francis and Jasper Weddle arrived in 1867. Some of the Weddles settled in the now Tieton area. They donated the land for the first school up here.

Not all of their actions were altruistic and some of them had a reputation for ornery pranks.