Featuring the Woodcock's Settee

The settee in the photograph is on display at the Benton County's Historical Society's Corvallis Museum. 

Milton and Emma Woodcock's Eastlake Settee

The owners of this settee, Milton and Emma Woodcock, were community leaders in Corvallis. Milton Woodcock was born in Wisconsin in 1849 and came to Oregon by wagon train as a child in 1853.  In 1859, his father sold their donation land claim property west of Eugene and moved the family to Monroe to pursue his wagon manufacturing business with his brother.  Milton learned the trade from them and also helped out in their general store. From 1869 to 1874, he owned his own mercantile business.  He then sold his interest to his uncle and moved to Corvallis.  While running his business, he also studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1875.  He is shown here on the right, next to George Lilly.

Milton Woodcock and George Lilly, Corvallis, OR

In addition to practicing law, he bought an interest in the newspaper (The Corvallis Gazette) and served as editor in chief from 1881 until 1908.  In 1890, he established the First National Bank in Corvallis and served as its president until his death.  In this photograph of the interior of the bank, he is the man second from the left.

Woodcock used his influence to convince the legislature to locate the state agricultural college in Corvallis and served on the OAC (OSU) Board of Regents.  In addition, he served as Corvallis mayor (1901-1903), owned many city properties including a drugstore, the Corvallis hotel, and homes. When he died in 1925, his obituary described him as “energetic, an indefatigable worker, scrupulously honest, and an example of all Franklin's maxims regarding thrift.”

Emma Simpson was born in Philadelphia in 1858 and came to Oregon by ship.  The family's first ship capsized in the Caribbean but they were rescued and continued across Panama and then by boat to Portland. In 1867, the moved to Corvallis when Emma's father Presbyterian Church.  On May 5, 1879, Emma married Milton Woodcock. She was also active in the community as a leader of the Corvallis chapter of Eastern Star and as a president of the Corvallis Women's club.  She was also a member of the Corvallis's oldest club, the Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club.  She is in the middle of the bottom row in this 1913 photograph of the club.

The Woodcock's lived in an 1879 Italianate style house at Fifth and Jackson. The house, shown here in 1975, was moved in 1975 to make room for the new law enforcement building.

One piece of furniture from this house is this Eastlake settee Eastlake style furniture is named after Charles Eastlake (1833-1906) who wrote a popular book, “Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, upholstery, and Other Details” that advocated for “simple, sturdy furniture.” His style avoided the curves and highly carved designs of earlier periods in favor of rectilinear shapes with modest curves.  Ornamentation was also geometric and included notches, trestles, turnings and lightly-incised designs.

Manufacturers in the United States used the drawings and ideas in the book to create mass-produced furniture is a similar style. The straight lines made the designs adaptable to production by the steam-driven machines of the era. The result was a wide range of furniture of differing quality.  But there was also a fair amount of moderately priced, well-constructed furniture that was affordable by the middle class. The style was especially popular from 1870-1890.

Eastlake's book was so popular that 6 editions were printed in 11 years after its introduction in 1872. It became the decorating bible for upper middle class American housewives. These women had more leisure time (including time for book groups as in the photograph) and entertaining.  Decorating the public spaces (such as the formal parlor) in their homes became important.

The Milton Woodcocks fit the above demographic.

 By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon

 

Note: Here is the Woodcock settee in the "Hats & Chairs" exhibition at the Corvallis Museum:

Descendants of Milton and Emma Woodcock continue to support Benton County Historical Society and contributed to the construction of the Corvallis Museum.