Finn John

Corvallis

Host at Offbeat Oregon History podcast

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Articles

Oregon's 'king of moonshiners' was an old-time music legend

1 week ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

Among musicians and fans of old-time string-band music, Benjamin Franklin Jarrell is basically royalty. As a member of one of the most influential bands from the golden age of old-time music — DaCosta Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters — old Ben helped preserve that classic Appalachian-mountain style of fiddle-and-banjo string bands. His son, Thomas Jefferson “Tommy” Jarrell, is maybe the most influential old-time fiddle player even today, 40 years after his death.
Offbeat Oregon: Second-largest city, Camp Adair, built in six months

2 weeks ago | newsregister.com | Finn John

Only current online subscribers may access this article and/or our N-R e-editions. One-day subscriptions available for just $3. For all subscription offers, click here. Already a subscriber, please log in
How Oregon almost lost public access to its beaches

3 weeks ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

If you’re over 60 years old, and have lived in Oregon for most of your life, my apologies - because you surely already know this story. For younger Oregonians and more recent arrivals, though, this is a piece of state history that you should know - especially if you enjoy occasional trips to the beach.
Army-surplus camels never quite caught on in frontier Oregon

1 month ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

In the early 1980s, on Stark Street in Southeast Portland, there was an aging Hudson Oil Co. gas station that never seemed to get much business. It had an appearance reminiscent of a Kmart store three years ago, like a neglected outpost of a once-huge nationwide business that was slowly fading away — which was in fact the case. Hudson Oil Co., at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, had about 300 gas stations in 36 states, plus an oil refinery.
Offbeat Oregon: Part III: The advocate of forced sterilization

1 month ago | newsregister.com | Finn John

Only current online subscribers may access this article and/or our N-R e-editions. One-day subscriptions available for just $3. For all subscription offers, click here. Already a subscriber, please log in
Offbeat Oregon: Part II: The pioneer ‘lady doctor’

1 month ago | newsregister.com | Finn John

The story of Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair concludes with Part III in next Friday’s edition. The first installment appeared in the May 9 News-Register. The old man had died penniless, and had left behind no relatives who could claim his corpse and give it proper burial. But the Roseburg medical community was happy to help. It was the mid-1870s, and although the practice of medicine was making great strides, things were still relatively primitive.
Unsolved "torso murder" victim: Was it Anna Schrader?

1 month ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

Just before sunset on the evening of April 12, 1946, Milwaukie residents James and Mary Rader were strolling with their friend H.C. Foster along the river by the Wisdom Island Moorage in Oak Grove when they saw a strange parcel swirling in an eddy under the dock. The parcel was about the size of a suitcase, wrapped in burlap and tied up with ropes and wires.
Offbeat Oregon: Pioneer woman doctor was Oregon’s ‘Modern Prometheus’

1 month ago | newsregister.com | Finn John

In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus,” Shelley tells the story of a brilliant and gifted scientist-physician who reaches too far in his quest for knowledge, and dares to lay his hands on the power that rightly belongs only to the gods: that of the creation of life. Oregon history has its own Modern Prometheus.
Pioneer woman doctor was Oregon's Modern Prometheus

1 month ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

Continued From Last WeekBy Finn J.D. JohnFor the other doctors, though, this was going a bit too far — it had, after all, been his idea to invite her. Also, they all knew he and Dr. Owens didn’t like each other. Prior to her stint in medical school, Bethenia had been a nurse, and they’d had a little clash of wills at a patient’s bedside once for which he bore her a lasting grudge.
Pioneer woman doctor was Oregon's Modern Prometheus

1 month ago | mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Finn John

In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Shelley tells the story of a brilliant and gifted scientist-physician who reaches too far in his quest for knowledge, and dares to lay his hands on the power that rightly belongs only to the gods: that of the creation of life. Oregon history has its own Modern Prometheus.