Elmer "Bones" Blankenship- Elmer is top center, His mother Cora Leggett and Father William "Bud" Blankenship
They had 9 kids total Alice, Chester, Elmer, Etta, Frank, Jake, John, Mary and Nellie
ELMER A. "BONES" BLANKENSHIP
Elmer, or "Bones" as he was know by friends and family throughout his life, was born in Joseph, Oregon March 24, 1889, to William Hampton and Cora Leggett Blankenship. He died April 7, 1946, at age 57, in Baker, Oregon. The cause of death was miner's consumption, a lung-related problem resulting from breathing rock dust in the mines over a long period of time. Bones moved to the Homestead, Oregon area as a small boy with his parents and, although he worked in mines in the Wallowa Mountains in the Bourne and Sumpter areas and lived for short periods of time in Baker, he spent the majority of his life in or around Homestead. (Bones is listed as one of the original miners working at the "Last Chance" mine, which was a significant ore producing mine located not far from Cornucopia. He is also known to have worked at the Union Companion, The Queen of the West and other mines in the Cornucopia area. In 1917, he was working at the E&E mine in Bourne. He had his fledgling family living in a house in Bourne and one day Etta became ill. Louise was five years old at the time, and Etta sent her to the E&E to get Bones. Louise ran the mile to the mine entrance where she saw a miner. She told him her mother was sick and she had to get her dad. The miner put Louise in a mine cart and pushed her a long way into the mine. They found Bones and he pushed the cart back to the mine entrance and then they hurried down the hill to the house). His parents established a home in a very remote area down river from Homestead. Some of these early cabins and outbuildings are still standing. Bones met and fell in love with a very young school teacher named Etta Lurchin. They had five children (Harold, Louise, Norma, Frank and Sue). Bones was a very gentle, kind and quiet man. Unfortunately, he was irresponsible when it came to supporting his family. On pay days he would often stop off at various taverns and buy drinks for himself and his friends. When he got home, he was broke. The family had to do without. He learned the art of blacksmithing and this allowed him to get work in the mines as a "smitty" when regular mining jobs were not available. The mines were isolated far from cities and a lot of the machinery parts were made at the mines by blacksmiths. As time went along and Etta and the children had to fend for themselves financially, Bones and Etta separated and then divorced in the late 1920's. Bones continued working in various mines all of his life, spending weeks on the job and then weeks in Baker drinking and loafing until he was totally broke and had to find employment again. The 1940's, he became weaker as his breathing difficulties increased. He lived for a time with his sister, Nellie Knighten, on Chestnut Street in Baker and then moved into a small house near Nellie's home. His health continued to deteriorate and he was moved to St. Elizabeth Hospital where he stayed for 11 weeks before he died. In build, he was perhaps a little over six feet and slender. He had a full head of hair all of his life and his hair in later years was absolutely pure white. He was a good-looking man. Bones was a good and gentle man. He had many friends and was respected as a person and as a miner. He drank to excess and he felt little or no responsibility for his wife and children. He never gave them any money and, in fact, sometimes he hit them up for funds. His hospital and burial costs were paid for by his son, Frank. He had a beautiful smile and he never had a mean thing to say about another person.
Elmer was the eldest child of William "Bud" and Cora Blankenship. The others were Chester (Chet), Nellie, Alice, Mary, Etta, Frank and John. Frank and John moved to Calgary, British Columbia. One of both of them married Native North American ladies and had a number of children. There are photos, probably from the 1930'a showing their children in their late teens or early 20's. Chet, was born at Homestead, August 8, 1906, and died in an auto accident November 6, 1959, on Cabbage Hill near Pendleton, Oregon. Also killed in the wreck were his sister, Mary Stacy (8/15/1900) and her husband Granville Stacy. They were buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery near Baker. Elmer's sister Nellie Knighten was born at Wallowa April 2, 1891 and dies in Baker April 21, 1953. His sister Alice Neider was born March 3, 1898 in Boise and died August 24, 1977 in Baker.
CORA LEGGETT
Cora was born July 2, 1873, in Kansas City, Kansas to Albert and Martha Leggett and passed away at age 79, January 18,1952, at Spokane, Washington. In 1878, Albert, Martha and their four children (Al, Ernest, Cora and Mary) crossed the plains and settled in Wallowa County, Oregon, where they homesteaded 160 acres near Hurricane Creek. The family later moved to Enterprise and then Joseph, Oregon. Through the years, the family expanded with the births of William, John Robert and Myrtle. William and Mary died young. While in Wallowa County, Cora met and married William Hampton 'Bud' Blankenship. The marriage took place in Joseph, Oregon, June 13, 1887. In 1893, they moved to Homestead, Oregon. At one time, they owned a piece of land far down Snake River. Later, they had a land claim of 25 acres near Homestead. They sold one of those acres to Cora's brother, John, who donated the parcel for use as a cemetery. Bud and Cora had eight children: Elmer, Chester, Nellie, Alice, Mary, Etta, Frank and John. (Note: most of the children lived out their lives in Eastern Oregon. One son, Frank, moved to British Columbia and married a native North American lady. They had a number of children.) Bud and Cora became partners with Cora's father, Albert, and a man named J.C. Bell in a sheep-raising enterprise. During a range war, many of their sheep were poisoned and along with the low prices and the loss due to cold weather, the Leggetts and Blankenships moved to Boise, Idaho. After several years, the family moved back to Homestead where their friends, the Vaughns, discovered the Iron Dyke Mine. They lived at Homestead off and on until 1916, when Bud passed away due to heart failure at age 63. At some point, Cora moved to Baker City. Cora would marry four more times. She married a Moore, a Hooper, a Roy and finally, Oscar L. Walling. In about 1942, Cora and her husband moved to Spokane, Washington. At the time of her death, she was survived by her husband, one brother, John, of Homestead, two sons, Chester Blankenship of The Dalles, and John Blankenship of Willows, California, four daughters, Mrs. Nellie Knighten of Baker, Etta Colvard, Keating, Mrs. Alice Hinkle, Spokane and Mrs. Mary Stacey, Burns. Cora was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.