Ella McAdam Caufield

Ellen Florence McAdam was born the 20th of December 1884 in Westfield Township, Dodge County, MN. She was the youngest of the nine children in the Minnesota McAdam family.  In typical McAdam fashion, all her names are recycled.  She was named Ellen after a paternal aunt, Helen McAdam Scott, and Florence is in remembrance of her paternal great-grandmother, Florence Hamilton McAdam.  She was called "Ella" all her life - I did not know she was Ellen until I got a copy of her birth certificate.  She was the baby of the family, the youngest of the nine children of Matthew McAdam and Mary Burnet McAdam. 

Like her older sisters she too became at teacher, and like her sister, Janet she had a bit of wanderlust in her soul.  In the postcard below dated 1912 she is found in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota.

"Sentinel Butte, N.D.

March -4-1912

Dear Sister: - Have been looking for a letter from you: write -

Got a letter from home and Matt.  They are all fine. 

I finish here March 22. 

This has been a cold winter here -

Lots of love, Ella

- Write-"

Sentinel Butte, N.D. is in the southwestern edge of North Dakota.  I think that Ella had a very cold, lonely winter of it in 1912.  Sentinel Butte was part of Billings County until 1910 and in 1912 became part of a new county, Golden Valley.The vote in 1910 to create Golden Valley County was 837 for and 756 against. Shortly after the vote was certified, suit was filed against the Billings County Commission to overturn the result. The plaintiffs alleged that the certification of election was improper, and that certain pre-marked "unofficial" ballots printed by supporters of the new county were cast in place of official ballots, and should be voided. The trial court originally ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The county appealed to the North Dakota Supreme Court, which upheld the county's certification of the election. The court also ruled the pre-marked ballots were invalid, but that the number of invalid votes was not sufficient to overturn the election results. The court's decision upholding the new county was made on September 19, 1912, and Golden Valley was formally organized on November 13, 1912.

She also homesteaded 160 acres while in N.D.:

Ella continued teaching and travelling - she married Jack Caufield in Reno, NV.  They settled in Tillamook and had two sons, Waldo and Joseph Caufield.  I remember my parents driving our great-grandmother, Janet McAdam Waning up to Portland to visit the Oregon Zoo and her sister Ella.  We left Janet and Ella sitting at the dining room table - talking.  When we returned, hours later, they were still at the dining room table - talking!  It was the last time they would see each other as Ella passed away in Portland 13 January 1968.