President's Column

Chet Ogan

Ghosts of the Past: Part One

Besides birding, another one of my passions is my family genealogy. I have traced some of my ancestors back to Charlemagne and William the Conqueror as well as several British Royal lines and French kings. In doing my ancestral digging I have come across several narratives and a diary written in the past 150 years by and about my ancestors. In reading these, I have found these people were very close to the land, were observers of nature, and used the natural resources in various ways.

My great great grandfather James Simeral Ogan was born near St. Louis, Missouri, in 1815, just after the family moved from Kentucky. He married a daughter of one of Daniel Boone’s hunting and traveling companions and moved to Linn County, Missouri, in 1837. His brother Irvin Ogan "was one of the renowned hunters of the day in this locality, but while he had a large score of trophies of the chase to the credit of his steady hand and unerring eye, he was also very serviceable in ridding his township of wolves which made it almost impossible for any of the settlers to raise lambs or pigs, so numerous were these voracious beasts of prey. He and his brother James (my great great grandfather), who was also a nimrod of the greatest repute, killed about one-hundred of them by this means and gave the herds and flocks of the pioneers in the locality comparative safety. They also brought down deer and wild turkeys without number, and frequently carried home the carcass of a bear to replenish the larders of the settlement, while they added to the adornment and comfort of their cabins with the pelts. There is a tradition in the township, too, to the effect that no fox however old and wary, was too cunning for their skill." (Compendium of History and Biography of Linn County Missouri. 1912).

Besides the fact that at that time in Missouri there was a legal bounty on wolves, there was a purpose to their hunting; the hides, pelts, and meat were used. Irvin Ogan was not only a successful hunter, he became a Missouri state Senator.

Times were different in those days! In my next installment, I’ll relate how three Ogan brothers immigrated to California.