November 9, 2023 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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HISTORY
AT A GLANCE
lorence Waldrip was
born in November 1893,
in her Aunt Mary’s
house at the head of Oyster
Bay. Her father, Joe Waldrip,
owned the Olympia Oyster
Company in partnership with
W. H. Kneeland.
In an interview with the
Journal in October 1976,
Florence recalled her early
life at Oyster Bay and New
Kamilche.
For several years, Joe and
his wife, Zora, raised their
family on a houseboat in the
middle of Oyster Bay.
“There were three children
and no railing on the porch,
so we had to learn to mind
our folks,” Florence told the
Journal. “The house was con—
structed with two bedrooms,
a kitchen in the middle, and
a cull shed on the other end
where the Inen would scrape
the barnacles off the oysters.”
When the oldest child,
Sarah, was of an age to attend
school, the family moved to
New Kamilche.
“I suppose my father must
have moved our furniture
on the float, but the thing
I remember is that he had
an Indian canoe and Mama
sat in the back holding our
baby brother, William. Papa
kept close to the beach so we
could see the rocks and so if
we tipped over, we wouldn’t
drown. I was about 4 or and
I remember watching the trees
as we moved along. It seemed
like those trees were walking.”
Joe had bought his family a
house in New Kamilche.
“New Kamilche had a post
office, a store, and two hotels.
They had already moved most
of the houses away by the
time we moved there. A great
big boat with large wheels on
both sides would often stop
at New Kamilche to pick up
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SEASON REAQY NQW!
GroWing up» with oyster
Building oyster dikes. Joe Waldrip on the right. Photo courtesy of Mason
County Historical Musuem
rafts of logs from the Rollway
and haul them out. It was a
Russian battleship that had
been bought when the US.
purchased Alaska. There were
still large guns on it.”
When the family traveled
to Olympia, they went on Joe’s
launch, “Polly,” which was also
how he transported oysters.
“Papa had some harrowing
experiences,” Florence said.
“He was taking a load of oys-
ters to Olympia on Polly and
when he got to the mouth of
Mud Bay, a big wind came up.
He had such a big load that
he knew he was going to sink,
so he had to dump his oysters
into the bay in order to save
himself and the launch. He
had another boat called Grace,
and he was coming from Allyn
in it when it caught fire. He
was out in the middle of the
bay, s'o tied his oars together,
1131 w. Kamilche Lane
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took his shoes off and tied
them to the oars, and swam to
shore. The boat burned to the
water line.
“Papa and Mr. Kneeland
had a lot of Chinese men work—
ing in the oysters. From the
1890s to the 19005, there were .
mostly Chinese and Indians
living on the bay besides the
few white people. One man
who worked for Papa was Tom
Kei. If we children ever needed
help with anything, we’d go to
Tom.
“Well, when Tom got to
around 65 or 70 he decided
he wanted a wife and family.
There was a Japanese fam-
ily at Mud Bay who had a lot
of children. The folks decided
to go back to Japan but they
couldn’t afford to take all the
children, so they were giv—
ing some away. But Tom first
had to have a wife. He went to
@e
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Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023 — Shelton—Mason County Journal - Page 7
Seattle to see a rich Chinese
man, and that man gave his
daughter to Tom.
“Tom’s wife was a lot
younger than he was, and
they went over to get a boy
from the Japanese family.
They came home in the boat
with this little boy, and when
they got home, they found out
it was a little girl. They kept
her anyway, and she was the
only little Oriental girl in the
area. She became ‘Queen of
the Bay.’ Everyone treated her
special. When she wanted to
go play with someone across
the bay, she would just holler
and someone would go pick
her up and take her Where she
wanted to go. She sat in the
back of the boat like a little
queen and gave orders.
“Her name was Nellie.
Sometimes when she had to go
home she would get upset and
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pout and old Tom would say,
‘Oh, Nellie, he mad,’ because
she was supposed to be a boy.
Later on, old Tom adopted his
nephew, so he finally had a
son.”
When Florence’s sister was
ready for college, Joe bought
a house in Seattle, and the
family lived there while Sarah
attended the university. Flor—
ence went on to marry Gene
Taylor, of S. K. Taylor and Son
Oyster Company, and they
raised their two sons in the
Kamilche Valley.
Jan Parker is a researcher
for the Mason County His—
torical Museum. She can be
reached at mchsparhcflugmail.
com. Membership in the Mm
son County Historical Society
is $25 per year. New members
will receive a free copy of the
book “Shelton, the First Cen-
tury Plus Ten.”
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