Who Do You Think You Are? (2010) s06e05 Episode Script
Tony Goldwyn
1 Narrator: On this episode, Tony Goldwyn discovers a remarkable couple who pioneered women's rights Tony: Mrs.
Coe was a radical.
I see where I get my taste for liking strong women.
Narrator: Braved great danger "Daily expecting an attack.
" Wow, that's intense.
and helped shape the American West.
Tony: They really were leaders, you know? And it's quite inspiring, really.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Actor-Director Tony Goldwyn is best known for his role as President Fitzgerald Grant on ABC's hit drama "Scandal.
" Man: Mr.
President? Beginning with his breakout performance in the movie "Ghost," Tony has enjoyed an acclaimed acting and directing career in both Hollywood and on the stage.
Father of two grown daughters, Tony makes his home in Connecticut with his wife, Jane, a successful film production designer, but spends a good portion of the year working in Los Angeles, where his daughter, Anna, lives.
What do you think you're gonna learn? - I don't know.
It's a mystery.
- Don't know.
I think it would be a wonderful thing for my kids to have a clearer sense of where they come from and what the underpinnings of their genealogy is.
I grew up in Los Angeles.
My mother was an actress for a number of years, and her stage name was Jennifer Howard.
My father is Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
He is also a film producer.
And my dad's father was Samuel Goldwyn.
He was a pretty extraordinary man.
My grandfather was one of the pioneers, really founders of the movie business.
Made many, many, many extraordinary films, and I adored him.
My mother's father, my grandfather Sidney Howard, in the late teens and through the '20s was one of Broadway's most prolific and prominent playwrights.
He wrote plays that were both, you know, commercial, but also very socially relevant, and often commenting on what was happening in society, uh, and politics.
After becoming quite a prominent playwright he came to Califoria and was writing screenplays, so this would be in the early '30s.
And then he went on to write the screenplay for "Gone with the wind" and won an Oscar -- posthumously, because he died, tragically, in 1939 at the peak of his career.
I never knew my grandfather, Sidney Howard, but even more than the movie business, the Broadway theater and -- and what he represented was, even as a child, held so much romance for me.
It's what drew me to the theater in the first place and why I became an actor.
So I know the basic stories of both of my grandfathers, but I'm fascinated to know more about Sidney Howard, my maternal grandfather, and his backstory.
I really don't know anything preceding his early years.
There's a curtain before that that I'd like to open up.
So we're here in downtown L.
A.
Heading to the Los Angeles Public Library.
I've asked family historian Jen Utley to look into my family tree.
I'm excited to see what I'm gonna find.
So we're here to find out -- for me to find out more about my grandfather, Sidney Howard.
- I know nothing.
- Okay.
Let's get started.
- All right.
- Okay.
So here is a family tree chart I put together for you.
Okay.
So that's me.
My father, Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
my mom, Clare Jenness Howard.
Sidney Coe Howard, who's my grandfather.
So Sidney's parents were John Lawrence Howard and Helen Louise Coe, my great-grandparents.
Helen was born in 1860 in The Dalles in Oregon.
You know, I don't even know where The Dalles are.
It's on the border between Oregon and Washington.
- Okay.
- 1860 is actually just the year after Oregon was admitted to the Union.
- Became a state.
Right.
- That's right.
And Lawrence White Coe and Mary Louise Graves would be my great-great-grandparents, right? - Right.
- Got it.
So where do we go from there? Armed with this information, let's see what we can find on Ancestry.
com.
Okay, let's do that.
What do I do, go to search? - Uh-huh.
- And we're going with Lawrence.
- And Coe.
- Just Coe.
Alright Oregon, Early Oregonian Index.
So what we'll want to do is we'll actually want to go - see the web site.
- Okay.
So now, we are searching So this is actually taking you to - The state website.
- That's right.
Okay.
Early Oregonian Search for Lawrence White Coe.
Born in Nunda, Livingston County, New York.
Right.
Mother was Mary Taylor White, and his father was Nathaniel Coe.
And there's a click here I can make on Nathaniel Coe.
That's right.
Nathaniel Coe.
So that would be my great-great-great-grandfather.
Right.
Or three-times.
Okay.
To say it in official parlance, my three-times- great-grandfather.
Um, born 6 September, 1788.
His date of death was October 10, 1868.
Right.
In Morristown, New Jersey.
My wife would like that because she's a Jersey girl.
He was a farmer in Oregon.
So, he was a pioneer along the Oregon Trail, maybe? Uh, it's possible.
We got some early Oregon settlers here.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
His place of death was Hood River in Wasco County, Oregon.
Wait.
Since his son warn in Nunda, New York, Nathaniel must have moved, first of all, - from New Jersey to New York.
- That's right.
So I think it would be interesting to go back - and see what Nathaniel - Mm-hmm.
was doing in New York at the time.
Okay.
See what might have influenced The move to Oregon.
Yeah.
- So - How do we do that? So we're gonna have you go to Newspapers.
com.
Okay.
Didn't know there was such a thing.
All right.
So, uh, we're in Newspapers.
com.
Okay.
So this is looking at all the historical newspapers - that are digitized.
- Got it.
Okay, so we have -- okay, "Evening Post.
" "Legislature of New York.
"The following is a complete list of the members of the New York Legislature for 1844.
" This is so interesting.
So we go down to the House of Assembly.
So in the Whig party from Allegany County - was Nathaniel Coe.
- Yes.
All right.
I didn't know there was a politician in my family.
That's interesting.
He was born in 1788.
He was 55 years old before he even left for Oregon.
That's right.
I mean, it would be really interesting to know why he left.
I would recommend that you go to Albany, - uh, to the archives there.
- Okay.
And find a political historian who understood about the political climate of the time.
To tell me what -- what was going down and what the Whigs were up to and That's right.
To give you more of the story.
- Thank you, Jen.
- You're welcome.
My pleasure.
On my way to Albany.
- Great.
- So nice to meet you.
Thank you.
Well, it's a big question mark for me, why Nathaniel Coe came all the way to Oregon, which was not even a state yet, uh Why would he have done that? I mean, why would he reinvent himself at the age of 55? I don't -- Was he in trouble? Was there a political controversy? Was he just restless? I mean, that was a big trip.
That's a real puzzle.
I mean, I'm hoping that we'll discover something juicy [ Laughs .]
in New York, some political scandal.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn has come to Albany, New York, hoping to find more information about his maternal three-times-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, who was a politician in the state legislature.
I'm headed to the New York State Library to meet with a historian named Dan Feller.
- Hi.
- Hey.
So nice to meet you.
Glad to meet you.
So why don't I just tell you what I know, which is very little.
So I know that my three-times-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, was from Nunda, New York, and was elected in 1843 to the New York State Assembly.
He was a member of the Whig party.
So I'm curious what the political history was, 'cause I really don't know much about the Whig party, but I'd love to learn more about that.
The Whigs kind of defined themselves as the party of progress.
The Whigs were great supporters of public education, and they were generally anti-slavery.
Your three-times-great-grandfather would have said, "I'm about progress.
"I'm about reform and using the legitimate powers of government to do that.
" By 1848, the Whigs now had a majority, which means they could actually pursue their legislative agenda.
And what I found about Nathaniel Coe was that he was - a very enthusiastic Whig.
- Hmm.
Uh, and played some important part in the New York state legislature.
I found one example of this.
The New York Assembly Journal for 1848.
This is the daily record of what went on in the Assembly.
This is on February 23, 1848.
Right there.
Okay.
"On motion of Mr.
Coe, "Mr.
Coe asked for and obtained leave to introduce a bill entitled, 'An act to punish seduction.
'" You'll find that that bill passed the legislature and became law.
Okay.
So, what is it? It was an act to criminalize having sex with an unmarried female without or with her consent, - and to make the - Seducer.
- To make the seducer - Criminally liable.
Criminally liable.
It was a misdemeanor, but with a prison term attached to it - Wow.
- as the penalty.
Huh.
And the idea of the anti-seduction law is to hold the man responsible.
So that's a very significant law in terms of women's rights.
Mm-hmm.
Was a bill like this something that was highly controversial even within the Whig party, or was this part of the Whig platform that they had been pushing through for a long time? Even Whigs needed to be pushed on this somewhat.
So Nathaniel Coe getting out in front of this one, he -- It was something he would have had to be probably pretty passionate about.
- Yes.
- It was not a slam dunk where they're like, oh, we need somebody's name on here, - so you do it.
- That's right.
So, why -- what was Nathaniel Coe's investment in this issue? Was it personal? Was it something that his constituents were pressuring him about? The place where an answer lies, it may be in Nunda - Mm-hmm.
- Where Coe came from.
Where he came from.
Right.
And you probably want to talk to somebody who is an expert in social history and cultural history, somebody who has studied the reform movements of the time, and in particular, the anti-seduction crusade.
Okay, great.
I will do that.
It made me feel good.
An ancestor of mine was progressive and, um, a champion of women's rights.
It's amazing that Nathaniel Coe helped pass this groundbreaking legislation.
I wonder what inspired him to tackle such a controversial subject.
So I'm heading to Nunda, New York, the home of my three-times-great-grandparents, Nathaniel and Mary Coe.
I'm really curious to find more about Nathaniel Coe's, uh, involvement with the anti-seduction laws.
I had no idea that I had any roots in upstate New York.
And I'm going to meet with historian Nancy Hewitt, who is a specialist in feminist reform movements in the 19th century.
Thank you so much for meeting with me.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Here we are in Nunda, New York - Yes.
- Where Nathaniel Coe lived, and, um, I'm wondering what -- What you can tell me about that.
Given Nathaniel's reformist inclinations, I thought it would be worth looking at one of the reformist newspapers to see if there was any mention of Nunda.
Right.
And so I looked at "The Advocate Of Moral Reform," and I found an article that I thought you might be interested in.
- Wow.
Okay.
- This is from 1838.
Mm-hmm.
19th century print is very small, so I'm gonna put on my glasses here.
Oh, so, "Dear sisters, with pleasure, "we announce to you the recent organization "of a female society in this place "which has for its object the suppression of vice "and immorality, "And the promotion of moral purity.
"Strange to tell, we have loitered by the way "until the day is far spent, "seemingly unconscious of the many dangers "to which the innocent and unsuspecting of our sex "are daily exposed.
"Pursuant to public notice, a number of females assembled "at the house of N.
Coe, Esquire, Nunda Valley, November 8, 1837 --" Wow.
That tells me that 10 years before he proposed the Le-- Legislation Right.
He helped form this society in Nunda.
And actually, it was his wife, your three-times-great-grandmother, Mary Coe, who would have actually hosted the meeting.
So, does that mean that Nathaniel was really probably not that involved, or he -- He would have been? He would have had to have been supportive because Otherwise, he wouldn't have let it happen in his home.
Exactly.
To have a meeting at your home at which a group of respectable women were gonna sit down and talk about vice, licentiousness, libertines was going to bring criticism from other families in the community.
Part of what made this so memorable Mm-hmm.
Is that in this period, no one talked, for instance, about rape.
Of course, they didn't use the term "Rape" even in the female moral reform societies.
They used "Seduction.
" They talked about protecting women for marriage and chastity.
But what they were really trying to do was to challenge - the sexual double standard.
- Hmm.
The men get away scot-free.
They go on with their lives.
The women are tainted forever, and that means they're probably unmarriageable, and that's partly where the concern comes that seduction could lead to prostitution.
Because there's -- they have no alt-- no recourse.
Right.
So Nathaniel endorsed Mary's cause.
Yes.
What do we know about Mary? I mean, was she -- was she always a reformer in other things, or this was an issue of particular concern for her? So we have a newspaper, "The Nunda News," from 1889, that reflects back on the period that we're talking about now, and on Mary Coe specifically.
- Okay.
- So I'm going to let the president of the Nunda Historical Society take you into the back room.
They actually have copies of the original newspapers here.
Okay.
Fabulous.
And I'll let you bring it back out for us to read.
Great.
Okay, I will do that.
Thanks.
Hello.
How are you? Good.
Good.
Thank you for -- - Oh, are we going this way? - Yes.
Okay.
Great.
We have the entire run of "The Nunda News.
" The one that you're looking for is right here on top.
Okay.
Now, it's brittle.
Okay.
I'll be very gentle.
Now why don't you take it? And there you All right.
Here we are.
"Nunda News.
" I'm gonna give you these gloves, 'cause this is - very, very fragile.
- Fragile, yeah.
And we need to find the issue from July 20th - Okay.
- 1889.
- This is July 13th.
Okay.
- Okay.
Sorry.
It's just so delicate.
Almost there.
July 20th.
[ Laughs .]
Wow, that's just fantastic.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Nunda Historical Society in New York, where he just learned that his three-times-great-grandmother, Mary Coe, was active in the moral reform movement.
"Mrs.
Coe.
" "Reminiscences of Nunda 60 years ago.
"In my last, I spoke of Mrs.
Coe's good qualities "and abilities.
"A few words about her as a reformer.
Mrs.
Coe was a radical.
" Wow.
Cool.
"When she came in contact with conservative persons, sometimes, to use a common expression, 'the fire flew.
'" well, there you go.
[ Laughs .]
So even 50 years later? 60 years later.
60 years later, they're talking about her as a radical.
So, Mary sounds like a fiery character, doesn't she? Yes.
And in fact, one of the things I think that's most interesting about Mary and Nathaniel Coe is they clearly have a real partnership.
- Mm.
- Female moral reformers mainly used the power of petition to influence legislators.
She would organize these societies -- So she probably organized the petition here.
Exactly.
And then he would craft the legislation.
And he wasn't threatened by that, obviously.
He allowed his wife to organize this association in their home, to speak out, to be known as this fiery radical.
- Yeah.
- And so they must have really had a close bond in terms of believing that this kind of moral reform was crucial to protect - Yeah.
- our children and our community.
Right.
I guess the big remaining question for me is, they were, uh, real leaders, leaders in this community.
So, why leave? I found out earlier that Nathaniel Coe moved to Oregon.
- Right.
- Um, do you have any idea of how I might -- Where I might look to try and find out more what was going on? Let's try finding out if there's newspaper evidence about their decision to leave Nunda.
Okay, so I have "Albany Evening Journal," April 28.
Yeah.
I think the "Albany Evening Journal.
" Glasses are going on again.
[ Laughs .]
Yes.
- Oh, Oregon.
- Okay.
Oregon.
Right.
So, 1852 - And that is -- - Um, Coe was already fif -- - 64 years old at this point.
- Correct.
Because he was born in 1788.
"The following interesting letter is from "Honorable N.
Coe, "formerly a member of Assembly from Livingston County, and now U.
S.
Mail Agent in Oregon.
" Hmm.
How would you become a mail agent? Well, postal agents were nominated by the president of the United States.
Wow.
The president of the United States in 1851 - is Millard Fillmore - Right.
Who is a Whig originally from Buffalo, New York.
And that would be how Nathaniel Coe would get - the opportunity to go - I see.
to Oregon territory, and might see it as a privilege to be nominated by the president of the United States.
- So that's a very high status - Yes.
Narrator: The position of special mail agent was a crucial one in 1850s Oregon.
The agent was one of the primary liaisons between the federal government and the settlers in the area.
The job included scouting locations for new mail routes throughout the vast territory.
This infrastructure made both communication and trade possible with the East and inspired Americans to move West.
By negotiating with the Native Americans already living on the land, agents like Nathaniel Coe ensured the safe passage of the mail.
But as a presidential appointment, the position ended with the President's term.
And it's also a -- a job that would allow you to travel - the territory.
- Right.
- So you'd have an adventure.
- Exactly.
It would be paid for by the U.
S.
government, or Right, and you'd get to know the territory very well.
So, again, I'm amazed [ Laughs .]
That a 63-, 64-year-old man made the journey to begin with.
Did his wife Mary go, too? To discover that, you'll have to go to Oregon I'll have to Oregon.
You're right.
And talk to an expert there.
Well, thank you so much.
Well, I guess I'm going to Oregon.
- This was a delight.
- Such a pleasure to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Fun to talk.
- You, too.
- Bye-bye.
Bye.
Tony: Nathaniel and Mary must have had quite an extraordinary partnership.
They really were a team, which is nice to think of, you know? And I sort of see [ Laughs .]
genetically where I get my taste for liking strong women because, um, Mary certainly was that.
Nathaniel and Mary were obviously so close.
I can't imagine them separating.
At least I hope not.
So I'm off to Portland.
[ Birds cawing .]
I'm heading to the Oregon Historical Society, where I've asked historian Lissa Wadewitz to find documents about the Coes' life after Nathaniel went to this faraway territory at 65 years old.
Okay, so you win because everybody else has, like, one letter or one document.
[ Laughs .]
- Give you this one.
- Okay.
Three boxes.
That is a lot of material.
Wow.
So this is an important family.
I think the things I found are going to be of really - Okay, cool.
- great interest to you, so All right.
Oh, look what this is.
An old book.
Okay, this is Mrs.
M.
W.
Coe, Hood River, Oregon.
That would be Mary White Coe.
Right? Probably? - This is a scrapbook.
- Right.
This is all full of obituaries.
Wow.
Is that them? There's a photograph.
That's them.
Wow.
I can see, um, my grandfather's face in his.
That's interesting.
So this was hers, obviously.
Wow, that's cool.
- Well, let's move ahead.
- All right.
And we have some letters here.
Portland, January 19, 1853.
"Dear brother and sister and three little girls" - Could this be Mary? - Exactly.
In January of 1853, she's in Portland.
Oh, so she'd gotten there by now.
Right.
So she's now writing home to report back - to her brother - Exactly.
sister, and their girls.
"Yes, here we are after what I think one of the most perilous voyages on the face of the globe.
" - Wow.
- Yeah.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Oregon historical society reading a letter actually written by his three-times-great-grandmother Mary Coe, who took a treacherous journey in 1852 to reunite with her husband, who was working in Portland.
"We left New York December 6th on Monday.
In 10 days, we were landed at Aspinwall on Navy Bay.
" Where's Aspinwall, first of all? That's a critical clue.
Mm-hmm.
Um, Aspinwall is the eastern port, uh, on the -- the East Coast of Panama.
My God.
She did not go via the over-land trail.
- Right.
- She went via Panama.
- Across the isthmus.
Right.
- Right.
Because this is way before the Panama Canal.
Right.
Wow.
Narrator: Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, Americans heading west had three options.
The most common was to trek cross-country on the Oregon Trail, usually via wagon train.
The other choices were faster, six to eight weeks, but more expensive.
Travelers could make a long sea voyage around cape horn at the tip of South America, or follow the route that Mary Coe took, which required crossing the isthmus of Panama, a long strip of jungle between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
"And Lawrence hired a boat for $100.
" - Lawrence was her son.
- That's her son.
Okay.
- They came together.
- Right.
"We started up the Cha" It's the Chagres.
So they would go by steam paddle boat - up the Chagres River.
- Chagres River, okay.
And then they would transfer to canoes.
- My God.
- And then ultimately, the last leg of the trip across the Panama isthmus would have been on a -- the back of a mule.
So [ chuckles .]
this was a -- A pretty intense journey.
- Incredible.
Wow.
- For her.
Yeah.
Well, she was born in 1801.
So she's a 52-year-old woman.
Yes.
I actually think that's really important to keep in mind as you read the rest of these letters, is her age.
Wow.
Okay.
This next one.
So Portland, February 12, 1854.
She had been there a year at this point.
"Things in one sense are rather in a primitive state.
"At least all that nature has anything to do with.
"The tall trees "But, like the native inhabitants, they must soon submit to their manifest destiny.
" Wow.
Yeah, I think we have some things to talk about.
That's intense.
So by "Native inhabitants," she means the Indians - already living in Oregon.
- Right.
It was in the idea of Manifest Destiny, and so that was a sense of mission that both Nathaniel and Mary would have had as their purpose and their raison d'être for being - Right.
- here in this place.
Racial ideology of the time, which was very much about white, Northern European-descended people, really believing that they were physically and culturally superior to nonwhite peoples.
It gives you a sense of what it was like to travel, - to make that journey.
- Mm-hmm.
Um, for people who come from pretty hom -- homogeneous - and relatively sheltered - Yeah.
um, existences in the Eastern Seaboard.
Is there mention of what they were doing at the time here, or -- is it worth reading more of this letter? - Or - It's not in this letter.
This is our next letter, actually.
Okay.
Wow.
- Which is gonna jump ahead.
- Okay.
This letter is dated, "Fort Dalles, March 6, 1856.
"Dear friend and cousin, we have been obliged to leave our beautiful, sequestered house in the mountain valley," which means that Mary and Nathaniel left Portland - Right.
- and moved to this area to become a settler.
"For safe keeping under the military, "and daily expecting an attack from Kamiakin, the Yakima Chief.
" - Wow.
That's intense.
- That's letter two.
So they had to leave their home because they were, uh, worried about being attacked by Indians.
This is just a snippet of the first part of that conflict.
- Wow.
- In order to learn more about what happens to your third-time-great-grandfather - and third-time-great - Great-grandmother, mm-hmm.
mother, you need to go to where they were - at the Fort Dalles Museum - Okay.
try and figure out what happens next.
Wow, that sounds great.
Well, thank you so much for sharing this stuff with me.
Now I'm on my way to The Dalles.
It was great to meet you.
Thank you.
- Thanks for coming in.
- So great meeting you.
Yeah.
Tony: Mary experienced the hardship of the journey and then the hardship of living in this wilderness of Portland, Oregon.
And then, when she describes just having been forced out of her home, that must have been extraordinary.
I'm interested to find out more about the conflict with the Indians and how that impacted Mary and Nathaniel's life, and having to go and retreat to Fort Dalles because they thought they were going to be under attack.
I'm leaving Portland and following the Columbia River east toward the Fort Dalles Museum and the region where Nathaniel and Mary had gone.
I'm gonna learn more about this history and about the Coes' life with a specialist on Native American history named Andy Fisher.
- Welcome to Fort Dalles.
- Thanks.
It's great to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
So -- so, where are we? This is, uh Well, this is all that remains of the military post where your three-times-great-grandparents, Nathaniel and Mary, fled to during the Yakima War.
Wow.
Okay.
The fort itself was not much to look at even in its day.
It was about a mile square.
It didn't even have a palisade, so it wasn't walled.
Oh, it wasn't? It was just a collection of buildings? Right.
But formidable enough to deter Indian attack.
Right.
So they probably came here just for the protection of the number of people here and the presence of federal troops.
Okay.
Would love to kind of get more familiar with the Yakima wars and, um, what was going on in this part of the country at that time.
Well, in the mid 1850s, this region was just beginning to fill up with settlers.
Right.
And the native people along the mid Columbia, including the Yakimas, were very nervous that they were going to lose their land.
Narrator: When gold was discovered in the Oregon territory in the early 1850s, the U.
S.
government sought to obtain the land.
Local tribes were pressured to sign a treaty in 1855, ceding over 6.
4 million acres of their property.
In exchange, a small area was to be designated as the tribe's permanent homeland.
But when gold miners began trespassing on the Indian land before the treaty was even ratified, hostilities soon led to war.
Well, relations between Indians and whites in this part of the territory had been mostly peaceful.
Very little violence until the war began.
Uh-huh.
So, what do you have for me here? I have, uh, some documents that you might be interested in.
Okay.
This is from the "New York Semi-Weekly Tribune" dated April 4, 1856.
Under the title, "The Indian War On The Pacific.
" "I do not believe Indians all saints any more than white men.
"On the contrary, they are barbarians, often cruel, "Sometimes treacherous, but seldom ungrateful for kind, "considerate treatment.
"Our emigrants are pitched up in upon them "without arrangement or notice -- "Many of them rough western specimens who consider "the rights of Indians on par with those of bears and wolves.
"These emigrants take unceremonious possession of "the best lands, fisheries, and every other resource, "driving off the savages as if they were so many flies.
"Of course, hatreds, collisions, revenges, massacres are all but inevitable.
" See, from this newspaper in New York, quite a strong criticism of western settlers in their conduct towards the native population.
Right.
I'm wondering what Nathaniel Coe's opinion of all this would be.
I actually have a document here written by Nathaniel Coe.
Okay.
If you want to take a look at it.
So this is the original in his own handwriting.
- Yes.
- Wow, that's cool.
This comes from the Oregon Historical Society, - from his personal papers.
- Oh, wow.
"The 'Weekly Tribune' of April 5th has just arrived.
"Your editorial letter, headed 'The Indian War Of The Pacific, ' "does great injustice to the citizens of Oregon.
"I reside on the Columbia River, east of the cascades, "in the vicinity of the difficulties, "and have been familiar with them from the first.
"The cause of the war was the yearly increase "of the white population, which already occupies "a large part of the country west of the Cascade Mountains, "where the Indian tribes are greatly reduced.
"And some tribes have become extinct.
"All experience on the Atlantic Coast "as well as the Pacific shows that the aborigines melt away with presence of civilization.
" Well, that's a pretty incredible statement, isn't it? That's, like, a perfect expression of Manifest Destiny.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is about 85 miles east of Portland at Fort Dalles, Oregon, where his three-times-great-grandparents took refuge during the Yakima War.
How long did the war last? We had another three decades, really, of fighting over the West, but in this region, the fighting was largely over by the end of 1856.
So Nathaniel and Mary came here for protection for just a short period of time, and then they went back home.
By 1857, I think they might have felt safe - Yeah.
- returning home.
Now that the Indian threat seems to have died down, I was curious why Nathaniel and Mary Coe chose to s-- to settle in this wild place.
Well, I think a good place to go Mm-hmm.
Would be to the official record.
Things like land grants and -- and probate proceedings, which you can find at the Oregon State Archives.
Great.
All right.
Well, that's where we'll go.
- Thanks for -- for the help.
- Take care.
- Okay.
Bye.
- Bye.
Tony: So that was fascinating.
Nathaniel Coe wrote, uh, this extraordinary passage where he says that the natural response of aboriginal people in the face of civilization is to melt away.
And that's a pretty callous view of what happened to a lot of human lives.
I think that human beings are complicated.
My progressive great-great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, was perhaps not so progressive in his attitude towards Native Americans.
We are about to arrive at the Oregon State Archives in Salem, Oregon.
I'm meeting with Cynthia Prescott, an expert on the American West.
I've asked if she could find any records relating to Mary and Nathaniel Coe.
My three-times- great-grandparents went to Fort Dalles under threat of, um, what they felt would be, you know, some danger from the Indians.
But I'm just curious why they stayed when that was over - and what was in it for them.
- Well, sure.
Let's take a look at the Historic Oregon Newspapers page.
Okay.
There it is.
And this is scanned-in images of newspapers from 100 or more years ago.
Oh.
There we go.
This is cool.
"The Story of Nathaniel and Mary Coe.
" Okay, so what this is pulling up for us is an article from the "Hood River Glacier," the newspaper, from 1915.
So this is gonna be nearly 50 years - after Nathaniel Coe's death.
- Mm-hmm.
So I should just read it.
"As fear from the Indians subsided, the farm work resumed.
" So they've left Fort Dalles to go back home.
Yes, just down river - from The Dalles.
- Right.
"The Coes agreed that Dog River was the fairest spot on earth.
" Okay, so, how old is Nathaniel by this time? Nathaniel at this point is 67, 68 years old.
He wants the farm to continue that he's -- he and his family had built.
So, the family is together? Yeah.
Now, the Coes' kids by this time -- - Were grownups.
- Their three sons are grownups.
Wait.
Did they have more children besides Lawrence? - It appears to be so.
Yes.
- Yeah.
Okay.
- And so - Mm-hmm.
- they keep the farm running.
- Got it.
"About the 1st of February, one half acre "Was spaded up and put in garden, and no frosts came to destroy.
" Okay.
In answering your question of why did they stay in Oregon Right.
Because it's nestled in there among the Cascade Mountains and in the Columbia River Gorge, it's protected.
They barely have any snow at all to deal with, - whereas if they had stayed - Right.
In upstate New York, wintertime is -- - You have to wait until May.
- You'd have to wait until May - to be able to plant anything.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
"The farm was made to pay dividends "Almost from the beginning, but when spring came, "A trip to Portland was made by Nathaniel Coe, "And sarm implements and seeds "for planting were secured.
"Pears, apples, peaches, cherries, plums, grapes, "apricots, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, rose bushes, and many choice flowering shrubs were ordered.
" The detail that he goes into is -- is pretty impressive, uh, about what crops.
So he had obviously done his homework.
- Should we read a little more? - Sure.
"To Mrs.
Coe belongs the credit of changing the name of Dog River to Hood River.
" Produce from Dog River doesn't sound very appealing.
Right.
But from Hood River evokes the the majesty of Mount Hood.
They're trying to build something.
They're trying to establish Hood River as a place you would really want to buy produce from.
Mm-hmm.
It takes quite a spirit of adventure when you have everything you could want to say, "No, let's reinvent this and -- and do something completely different.
" Wow.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Oregon State Archives, where he just discovered that his three-times-great-grandparents, the Coes, were instrumental in establishing Hood River.
We talked about the partnership between, uh, Nathaniel and Mary being unusual.
It really answers the big question -- That's, like, why did they stay here? And this really was the -- A land of tremendous opportunity.
Nathaniel Coe seems to have very quickly landed on a winning strategy.
Hood river is -- is a more protected environment, and therefore, it's particularly well-suited for growing tree fruit crops to produce them for market, rather than just to feed their family.
Did Nathaniel see that going on around him, or was -- was this an original idea? So Coe was really sort of -- - That was -- they started it.
- Getting it started.
Yeah.
Someday they would like to be able to attract other settlers - to come to their town.
- Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
"We're starting a town here so you can come move here - and build houses.
" - Yes.
Which takes us back to this article we're reading from 1915.
"The town of Hood River, it consisted of four blocks, "but has been added to from time to time until now it covers the entire Coe homestead.
" Wow.
You know, looks like they really did it.
There was a real partnership, which I've actually -- We've seen evidence of in their life in New York as well.
Yeah.
"The bodies of Nathaniel Coe, his wife, Mary Coe, "Charles and Eugene Coe "Now rest in the family plot at Hood River.
"They have 'fought the good fight and finished the course, ' "nut to us who reap the benefits of their labors "Belongs a debt of gratitude.
Their graves should be kept with loving care.
" Hmm.
Interesting.
I'd actually like to go to Hood River and see it now.
Um So their graves do still exist in Hood River.
You can go and see the community that Nathaniel - and Mary really helped to build.
- Yeah.
Well, thank you so much, Cynthia.
This was really fun and interesting.
Tony: That big question that came up for me -- Why they didn't go back to upstate New York.
And it became really clear to me that he had found this perfect little oasis in Hood River.
They really felt they could build something substantial, which they did.
We are now in Hood River.
So this is a very cool feeling, having learned all about how Nathaniel and Mary Coe established their farm and their orchards, and how this town came to be.
And we're heading to their gravesite.
All right, let's go meet Nathaniel and Mary.
Or I like to call them Great-great-great-grandma and Grandpa.
[ Door closes .]
This sure is a beautiful spot.
Nathaniel Coe, 1788 to 1868.
And Mary White Coe, 1801 to 1893.
There they are.
They really were leaders.
You know, and what that thing is that drove this guy at 60 years old, again, to just uproot it all and come, you know, to another universe, really, I think is what this must have been in those days.
Mary Coe then falls into the long line of, in my family, of very strong women who were absolutely equal and indispensable partners to the men in their lives.
It's quite inspiring, really.
Nathaniel and Mary built what they saw as the next stage of the American story.
I've had questions along the way.
So while I can't forgive him about his attitude towards the Indians, it's not defining to me anymore.
Especially in coming to Hood River and seeing this gorgeous place, I feel, like, a real emotional connection.
My two other grandfathers, Sidney Howard and Sam Goldwyn, were absolute pioneers.
They achieved great things.
And now that I've gotten a chance to get to know Nathaniel and Mary Coe, I start to see it in the genes.
It's kind of thrilling, 'cause when you see it and, uh, and feel that personal contact, what this experience does is turns the lights on.
Coe was a radical.
I see where I get my taste for liking strong women.
Narrator: Braved great danger "Daily expecting an attack.
" Wow, that's intense.
and helped shape the American West.
Tony: They really were leaders, you know? And it's quite inspiring, really.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Actor-Director Tony Goldwyn is best known for his role as President Fitzgerald Grant on ABC's hit drama "Scandal.
" Man: Mr.
President? Beginning with his breakout performance in the movie "Ghost," Tony has enjoyed an acclaimed acting and directing career in both Hollywood and on the stage.
Father of two grown daughters, Tony makes his home in Connecticut with his wife, Jane, a successful film production designer, but spends a good portion of the year working in Los Angeles, where his daughter, Anna, lives.
What do you think you're gonna learn? - I don't know.
It's a mystery.
- Don't know.
I think it would be a wonderful thing for my kids to have a clearer sense of where they come from and what the underpinnings of their genealogy is.
I grew up in Los Angeles.
My mother was an actress for a number of years, and her stage name was Jennifer Howard.
My father is Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
He is also a film producer.
And my dad's father was Samuel Goldwyn.
He was a pretty extraordinary man.
My grandfather was one of the pioneers, really founders of the movie business.
Made many, many, many extraordinary films, and I adored him.
My mother's father, my grandfather Sidney Howard, in the late teens and through the '20s was one of Broadway's most prolific and prominent playwrights.
He wrote plays that were both, you know, commercial, but also very socially relevant, and often commenting on what was happening in society, uh, and politics.
After becoming quite a prominent playwright he came to Califoria and was writing screenplays, so this would be in the early '30s.
And then he went on to write the screenplay for "Gone with the wind" and won an Oscar -- posthumously, because he died, tragically, in 1939 at the peak of his career.
I never knew my grandfather, Sidney Howard, but even more than the movie business, the Broadway theater and -- and what he represented was, even as a child, held so much romance for me.
It's what drew me to the theater in the first place and why I became an actor.
So I know the basic stories of both of my grandfathers, but I'm fascinated to know more about Sidney Howard, my maternal grandfather, and his backstory.
I really don't know anything preceding his early years.
There's a curtain before that that I'd like to open up.
So we're here in downtown L.
A.
Heading to the Los Angeles Public Library.
I've asked family historian Jen Utley to look into my family tree.
I'm excited to see what I'm gonna find.
So we're here to find out -- for me to find out more about my grandfather, Sidney Howard.
- I know nothing.
- Okay.
Let's get started.
- All right.
- Okay.
So here is a family tree chart I put together for you.
Okay.
So that's me.
My father, Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
my mom, Clare Jenness Howard.
Sidney Coe Howard, who's my grandfather.
So Sidney's parents were John Lawrence Howard and Helen Louise Coe, my great-grandparents.
Helen was born in 1860 in The Dalles in Oregon.
You know, I don't even know where The Dalles are.
It's on the border between Oregon and Washington.
- Okay.
- 1860 is actually just the year after Oregon was admitted to the Union.
- Became a state.
Right.
- That's right.
And Lawrence White Coe and Mary Louise Graves would be my great-great-grandparents, right? - Right.
- Got it.
So where do we go from there? Armed with this information, let's see what we can find on Ancestry.
com.
Okay, let's do that.
What do I do, go to search? - Uh-huh.
- And we're going with Lawrence.
- And Coe.
- Just Coe.
Alright Oregon, Early Oregonian Index.
So what we'll want to do is we'll actually want to go - see the web site.
- Okay.
So now, we are searching So this is actually taking you to - The state website.
- That's right.
Okay.
Early Oregonian Search for Lawrence White Coe.
Born in Nunda, Livingston County, New York.
Right.
Mother was Mary Taylor White, and his father was Nathaniel Coe.
And there's a click here I can make on Nathaniel Coe.
That's right.
Nathaniel Coe.
So that would be my great-great-great-grandfather.
Right.
Or three-times.
Okay.
To say it in official parlance, my three-times- great-grandfather.
Um, born 6 September, 1788.
His date of death was October 10, 1868.
Right.
In Morristown, New Jersey.
My wife would like that because she's a Jersey girl.
He was a farmer in Oregon.
So, he was a pioneer along the Oregon Trail, maybe? Uh, it's possible.
We got some early Oregon settlers here.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
His place of death was Hood River in Wasco County, Oregon.
Wait.
Since his son warn in Nunda, New York, Nathaniel must have moved, first of all, - from New Jersey to New York.
- That's right.
So I think it would be interesting to go back - and see what Nathaniel - Mm-hmm.
was doing in New York at the time.
Okay.
See what might have influenced The move to Oregon.
Yeah.
- So - How do we do that? So we're gonna have you go to Newspapers.
com.
Okay.
Didn't know there was such a thing.
All right.
So, uh, we're in Newspapers.
com.
Okay.
So this is looking at all the historical newspapers - that are digitized.
- Got it.
Okay, so we have -- okay, "Evening Post.
" "Legislature of New York.
"The following is a complete list of the members of the New York Legislature for 1844.
" This is so interesting.
So we go down to the House of Assembly.
So in the Whig party from Allegany County - was Nathaniel Coe.
- Yes.
All right.
I didn't know there was a politician in my family.
That's interesting.
He was born in 1788.
He was 55 years old before he even left for Oregon.
That's right.
I mean, it would be really interesting to know why he left.
I would recommend that you go to Albany, - uh, to the archives there.
- Okay.
And find a political historian who understood about the political climate of the time.
To tell me what -- what was going down and what the Whigs were up to and That's right.
To give you more of the story.
- Thank you, Jen.
- You're welcome.
My pleasure.
On my way to Albany.
- Great.
- So nice to meet you.
Thank you.
Well, it's a big question mark for me, why Nathaniel Coe came all the way to Oregon, which was not even a state yet, uh Why would he have done that? I mean, why would he reinvent himself at the age of 55? I don't -- Was he in trouble? Was there a political controversy? Was he just restless? I mean, that was a big trip.
That's a real puzzle.
I mean, I'm hoping that we'll discover something juicy [ Laughs .]
in New York, some political scandal.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn has come to Albany, New York, hoping to find more information about his maternal three-times-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, who was a politician in the state legislature.
I'm headed to the New York State Library to meet with a historian named Dan Feller.
- Hi.
- Hey.
So nice to meet you.
Glad to meet you.
So why don't I just tell you what I know, which is very little.
So I know that my three-times-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, was from Nunda, New York, and was elected in 1843 to the New York State Assembly.
He was a member of the Whig party.
So I'm curious what the political history was, 'cause I really don't know much about the Whig party, but I'd love to learn more about that.
The Whigs kind of defined themselves as the party of progress.
The Whigs were great supporters of public education, and they were generally anti-slavery.
Your three-times-great-grandfather would have said, "I'm about progress.
"I'm about reform and using the legitimate powers of government to do that.
" By 1848, the Whigs now had a majority, which means they could actually pursue their legislative agenda.
And what I found about Nathaniel Coe was that he was - a very enthusiastic Whig.
- Hmm.
Uh, and played some important part in the New York state legislature.
I found one example of this.
The New York Assembly Journal for 1848.
This is the daily record of what went on in the Assembly.
This is on February 23, 1848.
Right there.
Okay.
"On motion of Mr.
Coe, "Mr.
Coe asked for and obtained leave to introduce a bill entitled, 'An act to punish seduction.
'" You'll find that that bill passed the legislature and became law.
Okay.
So, what is it? It was an act to criminalize having sex with an unmarried female without or with her consent, - and to make the - Seducer.
- To make the seducer - Criminally liable.
Criminally liable.
It was a misdemeanor, but with a prison term attached to it - Wow.
- as the penalty.
Huh.
And the idea of the anti-seduction law is to hold the man responsible.
So that's a very significant law in terms of women's rights.
Mm-hmm.
Was a bill like this something that was highly controversial even within the Whig party, or was this part of the Whig platform that they had been pushing through for a long time? Even Whigs needed to be pushed on this somewhat.
So Nathaniel Coe getting out in front of this one, he -- It was something he would have had to be probably pretty passionate about.
- Yes.
- It was not a slam dunk where they're like, oh, we need somebody's name on here, - so you do it.
- That's right.
So, why -- what was Nathaniel Coe's investment in this issue? Was it personal? Was it something that his constituents were pressuring him about? The place where an answer lies, it may be in Nunda - Mm-hmm.
- Where Coe came from.
Where he came from.
Right.
And you probably want to talk to somebody who is an expert in social history and cultural history, somebody who has studied the reform movements of the time, and in particular, the anti-seduction crusade.
Okay, great.
I will do that.
It made me feel good.
An ancestor of mine was progressive and, um, a champion of women's rights.
It's amazing that Nathaniel Coe helped pass this groundbreaking legislation.
I wonder what inspired him to tackle such a controversial subject.
So I'm heading to Nunda, New York, the home of my three-times-great-grandparents, Nathaniel and Mary Coe.
I'm really curious to find more about Nathaniel Coe's, uh, involvement with the anti-seduction laws.
I had no idea that I had any roots in upstate New York.
And I'm going to meet with historian Nancy Hewitt, who is a specialist in feminist reform movements in the 19th century.
Thank you so much for meeting with me.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Here we are in Nunda, New York - Yes.
- Where Nathaniel Coe lived, and, um, I'm wondering what -- What you can tell me about that.
Given Nathaniel's reformist inclinations, I thought it would be worth looking at one of the reformist newspapers to see if there was any mention of Nunda.
Right.
And so I looked at "The Advocate Of Moral Reform," and I found an article that I thought you might be interested in.
- Wow.
Okay.
- This is from 1838.
Mm-hmm.
19th century print is very small, so I'm gonna put on my glasses here.
Oh, so, "Dear sisters, with pleasure, "we announce to you the recent organization "of a female society in this place "which has for its object the suppression of vice "and immorality, "And the promotion of moral purity.
"Strange to tell, we have loitered by the way "until the day is far spent, "seemingly unconscious of the many dangers "to which the innocent and unsuspecting of our sex "are daily exposed.
"Pursuant to public notice, a number of females assembled "at the house of N.
Coe, Esquire, Nunda Valley, November 8, 1837 --" Wow.
That tells me that 10 years before he proposed the Le-- Legislation Right.
He helped form this society in Nunda.
And actually, it was his wife, your three-times-great-grandmother, Mary Coe, who would have actually hosted the meeting.
So, does that mean that Nathaniel was really probably not that involved, or he -- He would have been? He would have had to have been supportive because Otherwise, he wouldn't have let it happen in his home.
Exactly.
To have a meeting at your home at which a group of respectable women were gonna sit down and talk about vice, licentiousness, libertines was going to bring criticism from other families in the community.
Part of what made this so memorable Mm-hmm.
Is that in this period, no one talked, for instance, about rape.
Of course, they didn't use the term "Rape" even in the female moral reform societies.
They used "Seduction.
" They talked about protecting women for marriage and chastity.
But what they were really trying to do was to challenge - the sexual double standard.
- Hmm.
The men get away scot-free.
They go on with their lives.
The women are tainted forever, and that means they're probably unmarriageable, and that's partly where the concern comes that seduction could lead to prostitution.
Because there's -- they have no alt-- no recourse.
Right.
So Nathaniel endorsed Mary's cause.
Yes.
What do we know about Mary? I mean, was she -- was she always a reformer in other things, or this was an issue of particular concern for her? So we have a newspaper, "The Nunda News," from 1889, that reflects back on the period that we're talking about now, and on Mary Coe specifically.
- Okay.
- So I'm going to let the president of the Nunda Historical Society take you into the back room.
They actually have copies of the original newspapers here.
Okay.
Fabulous.
And I'll let you bring it back out for us to read.
Great.
Okay, I will do that.
Thanks.
Hello.
How are you? Good.
Good.
Thank you for -- - Oh, are we going this way? - Yes.
Okay.
Great.
We have the entire run of "The Nunda News.
" The one that you're looking for is right here on top.
Okay.
Now, it's brittle.
Okay.
I'll be very gentle.
Now why don't you take it? And there you All right.
Here we are.
"Nunda News.
" I'm gonna give you these gloves, 'cause this is - very, very fragile.
- Fragile, yeah.
And we need to find the issue from July 20th - Okay.
- 1889.
- This is July 13th.
Okay.
- Okay.
Sorry.
It's just so delicate.
Almost there.
July 20th.
[ Laughs .]
Wow, that's just fantastic.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Nunda Historical Society in New York, where he just learned that his three-times-great-grandmother, Mary Coe, was active in the moral reform movement.
"Mrs.
Coe.
" "Reminiscences of Nunda 60 years ago.
"In my last, I spoke of Mrs.
Coe's good qualities "and abilities.
"A few words about her as a reformer.
Mrs.
Coe was a radical.
" Wow.
Cool.
"When she came in contact with conservative persons, sometimes, to use a common expression, 'the fire flew.
'" well, there you go.
[ Laughs .]
So even 50 years later? 60 years later.
60 years later, they're talking about her as a radical.
So, Mary sounds like a fiery character, doesn't she? Yes.
And in fact, one of the things I think that's most interesting about Mary and Nathaniel Coe is they clearly have a real partnership.
- Mm.
- Female moral reformers mainly used the power of petition to influence legislators.
She would organize these societies -- So she probably organized the petition here.
Exactly.
And then he would craft the legislation.
And he wasn't threatened by that, obviously.
He allowed his wife to organize this association in their home, to speak out, to be known as this fiery radical.
- Yeah.
- And so they must have really had a close bond in terms of believing that this kind of moral reform was crucial to protect - Yeah.
- our children and our community.
Right.
I guess the big remaining question for me is, they were, uh, real leaders, leaders in this community.
So, why leave? I found out earlier that Nathaniel Coe moved to Oregon.
- Right.
- Um, do you have any idea of how I might -- Where I might look to try and find out more what was going on? Let's try finding out if there's newspaper evidence about their decision to leave Nunda.
Okay, so I have "Albany Evening Journal," April 28.
Yeah.
I think the "Albany Evening Journal.
" Glasses are going on again.
[ Laughs .]
Yes.
- Oh, Oregon.
- Okay.
Oregon.
Right.
So, 1852 - And that is -- - Um, Coe was already fif -- - 64 years old at this point.
- Correct.
Because he was born in 1788.
"The following interesting letter is from "Honorable N.
Coe, "formerly a member of Assembly from Livingston County, and now U.
S.
Mail Agent in Oregon.
" Hmm.
How would you become a mail agent? Well, postal agents were nominated by the president of the United States.
Wow.
The president of the United States in 1851 - is Millard Fillmore - Right.
Who is a Whig originally from Buffalo, New York.
And that would be how Nathaniel Coe would get - the opportunity to go - I see.
to Oregon territory, and might see it as a privilege to be nominated by the president of the United States.
- So that's a very high status - Yes.
Narrator: The position of special mail agent was a crucial one in 1850s Oregon.
The agent was one of the primary liaisons between the federal government and the settlers in the area.
The job included scouting locations for new mail routes throughout the vast territory.
This infrastructure made both communication and trade possible with the East and inspired Americans to move West.
By negotiating with the Native Americans already living on the land, agents like Nathaniel Coe ensured the safe passage of the mail.
But as a presidential appointment, the position ended with the President's term.
And it's also a -- a job that would allow you to travel - the territory.
- Right.
- So you'd have an adventure.
- Exactly.
It would be paid for by the U.
S.
government, or Right, and you'd get to know the territory very well.
So, again, I'm amazed [ Laughs .]
That a 63-, 64-year-old man made the journey to begin with.
Did his wife Mary go, too? To discover that, you'll have to go to Oregon I'll have to Oregon.
You're right.
And talk to an expert there.
Well, thank you so much.
Well, I guess I'm going to Oregon.
- This was a delight.
- Such a pleasure to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Fun to talk.
- You, too.
- Bye-bye.
Bye.
Tony: Nathaniel and Mary must have had quite an extraordinary partnership.
They really were a team, which is nice to think of, you know? And I sort of see [ Laughs .]
genetically where I get my taste for liking strong women because, um, Mary certainly was that.
Nathaniel and Mary were obviously so close.
I can't imagine them separating.
At least I hope not.
So I'm off to Portland.
[ Birds cawing .]
I'm heading to the Oregon Historical Society, where I've asked historian Lissa Wadewitz to find documents about the Coes' life after Nathaniel went to this faraway territory at 65 years old.
Okay, so you win because everybody else has, like, one letter or one document.
[ Laughs .]
- Give you this one.
- Okay.
Three boxes.
That is a lot of material.
Wow.
So this is an important family.
I think the things I found are going to be of really - Okay, cool.
- great interest to you, so All right.
Oh, look what this is.
An old book.
Okay, this is Mrs.
M.
W.
Coe, Hood River, Oregon.
That would be Mary White Coe.
Right? Probably? - This is a scrapbook.
- Right.
This is all full of obituaries.
Wow.
Is that them? There's a photograph.
That's them.
Wow.
I can see, um, my grandfather's face in his.
That's interesting.
So this was hers, obviously.
Wow, that's cool.
- Well, let's move ahead.
- All right.
And we have some letters here.
Portland, January 19, 1853.
"Dear brother and sister and three little girls" - Could this be Mary? - Exactly.
In January of 1853, she's in Portland.
Oh, so she'd gotten there by now.
Right.
So she's now writing home to report back - to her brother - Exactly.
sister, and their girls.
"Yes, here we are after what I think one of the most perilous voyages on the face of the globe.
" - Wow.
- Yeah.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Oregon historical society reading a letter actually written by his three-times-great-grandmother Mary Coe, who took a treacherous journey in 1852 to reunite with her husband, who was working in Portland.
"We left New York December 6th on Monday.
In 10 days, we were landed at Aspinwall on Navy Bay.
" Where's Aspinwall, first of all? That's a critical clue.
Mm-hmm.
Um, Aspinwall is the eastern port, uh, on the -- the East Coast of Panama.
My God.
She did not go via the over-land trail.
- Right.
- She went via Panama.
- Across the isthmus.
Right.
- Right.
Because this is way before the Panama Canal.
Right.
Wow.
Narrator: Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, Americans heading west had three options.
The most common was to trek cross-country on the Oregon Trail, usually via wagon train.
The other choices were faster, six to eight weeks, but more expensive.
Travelers could make a long sea voyage around cape horn at the tip of South America, or follow the route that Mary Coe took, which required crossing the isthmus of Panama, a long strip of jungle between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
"And Lawrence hired a boat for $100.
" - Lawrence was her son.
- That's her son.
Okay.
- They came together.
- Right.
"We started up the Cha" It's the Chagres.
So they would go by steam paddle boat - up the Chagres River.
- Chagres River, okay.
And then they would transfer to canoes.
- My God.
- And then ultimately, the last leg of the trip across the Panama isthmus would have been on a -- the back of a mule.
So [ chuckles .]
this was a -- A pretty intense journey.
- Incredible.
Wow.
- For her.
Yeah.
Well, she was born in 1801.
So she's a 52-year-old woman.
Yes.
I actually think that's really important to keep in mind as you read the rest of these letters, is her age.
Wow.
Okay.
This next one.
So Portland, February 12, 1854.
She had been there a year at this point.
"Things in one sense are rather in a primitive state.
"At least all that nature has anything to do with.
"The tall trees "But, like the native inhabitants, they must soon submit to their manifest destiny.
" Wow.
Yeah, I think we have some things to talk about.
That's intense.
So by "Native inhabitants," she means the Indians - already living in Oregon.
- Right.
It was in the idea of Manifest Destiny, and so that was a sense of mission that both Nathaniel and Mary would have had as their purpose and their raison d'être for being - Right.
- here in this place.
Racial ideology of the time, which was very much about white, Northern European-descended people, really believing that they were physically and culturally superior to nonwhite peoples.
It gives you a sense of what it was like to travel, - to make that journey.
- Mm-hmm.
Um, for people who come from pretty hom -- homogeneous - and relatively sheltered - Yeah.
um, existences in the Eastern Seaboard.
Is there mention of what they were doing at the time here, or -- is it worth reading more of this letter? - Or - It's not in this letter.
This is our next letter, actually.
Okay.
Wow.
- Which is gonna jump ahead.
- Okay.
This letter is dated, "Fort Dalles, March 6, 1856.
"Dear friend and cousin, we have been obliged to leave our beautiful, sequestered house in the mountain valley," which means that Mary and Nathaniel left Portland - Right.
- and moved to this area to become a settler.
"For safe keeping under the military, "and daily expecting an attack from Kamiakin, the Yakima Chief.
" - Wow.
That's intense.
- That's letter two.
So they had to leave their home because they were, uh, worried about being attacked by Indians.
This is just a snippet of the first part of that conflict.
- Wow.
- In order to learn more about what happens to your third-time-great-grandfather - and third-time-great - Great-grandmother, mm-hmm.
mother, you need to go to where they were - at the Fort Dalles Museum - Okay.
try and figure out what happens next.
Wow, that sounds great.
Well, thank you so much for sharing this stuff with me.
Now I'm on my way to The Dalles.
It was great to meet you.
Thank you.
- Thanks for coming in.
- So great meeting you.
Yeah.
Tony: Mary experienced the hardship of the journey and then the hardship of living in this wilderness of Portland, Oregon.
And then, when she describes just having been forced out of her home, that must have been extraordinary.
I'm interested to find out more about the conflict with the Indians and how that impacted Mary and Nathaniel's life, and having to go and retreat to Fort Dalles because they thought they were going to be under attack.
I'm leaving Portland and following the Columbia River east toward the Fort Dalles Museum and the region where Nathaniel and Mary had gone.
I'm gonna learn more about this history and about the Coes' life with a specialist on Native American history named Andy Fisher.
- Welcome to Fort Dalles.
- Thanks.
It's great to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
So -- so, where are we? This is, uh Well, this is all that remains of the military post where your three-times-great-grandparents, Nathaniel and Mary, fled to during the Yakima War.
Wow.
Okay.
The fort itself was not much to look at even in its day.
It was about a mile square.
It didn't even have a palisade, so it wasn't walled.
Oh, it wasn't? It was just a collection of buildings? Right.
But formidable enough to deter Indian attack.
Right.
So they probably came here just for the protection of the number of people here and the presence of federal troops.
Okay.
Would love to kind of get more familiar with the Yakima wars and, um, what was going on in this part of the country at that time.
Well, in the mid 1850s, this region was just beginning to fill up with settlers.
Right.
And the native people along the mid Columbia, including the Yakimas, were very nervous that they were going to lose their land.
Narrator: When gold was discovered in the Oregon territory in the early 1850s, the U.
S.
government sought to obtain the land.
Local tribes were pressured to sign a treaty in 1855, ceding over 6.
4 million acres of their property.
In exchange, a small area was to be designated as the tribe's permanent homeland.
But when gold miners began trespassing on the Indian land before the treaty was even ratified, hostilities soon led to war.
Well, relations between Indians and whites in this part of the territory had been mostly peaceful.
Very little violence until the war began.
Uh-huh.
So, what do you have for me here? I have, uh, some documents that you might be interested in.
Okay.
This is from the "New York Semi-Weekly Tribune" dated April 4, 1856.
Under the title, "The Indian War On The Pacific.
" "I do not believe Indians all saints any more than white men.
"On the contrary, they are barbarians, often cruel, "Sometimes treacherous, but seldom ungrateful for kind, "considerate treatment.
"Our emigrants are pitched up in upon them "without arrangement or notice -- "Many of them rough western specimens who consider "the rights of Indians on par with those of bears and wolves.
"These emigrants take unceremonious possession of "the best lands, fisheries, and every other resource, "driving off the savages as if they were so many flies.
"Of course, hatreds, collisions, revenges, massacres are all but inevitable.
" See, from this newspaper in New York, quite a strong criticism of western settlers in their conduct towards the native population.
Right.
I'm wondering what Nathaniel Coe's opinion of all this would be.
I actually have a document here written by Nathaniel Coe.
Okay.
If you want to take a look at it.
So this is the original in his own handwriting.
- Yes.
- Wow, that's cool.
This comes from the Oregon Historical Society, - from his personal papers.
- Oh, wow.
"The 'Weekly Tribune' of April 5th has just arrived.
"Your editorial letter, headed 'The Indian War Of The Pacific, ' "does great injustice to the citizens of Oregon.
"I reside on the Columbia River, east of the cascades, "in the vicinity of the difficulties, "and have been familiar with them from the first.
"The cause of the war was the yearly increase "of the white population, which already occupies "a large part of the country west of the Cascade Mountains, "where the Indian tribes are greatly reduced.
"And some tribes have become extinct.
"All experience on the Atlantic Coast "as well as the Pacific shows that the aborigines melt away with presence of civilization.
" Well, that's a pretty incredible statement, isn't it? That's, like, a perfect expression of Manifest Destiny.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is about 85 miles east of Portland at Fort Dalles, Oregon, where his three-times-great-grandparents took refuge during the Yakima War.
How long did the war last? We had another three decades, really, of fighting over the West, but in this region, the fighting was largely over by the end of 1856.
So Nathaniel and Mary came here for protection for just a short period of time, and then they went back home.
By 1857, I think they might have felt safe - Yeah.
- returning home.
Now that the Indian threat seems to have died down, I was curious why Nathaniel and Mary Coe chose to s-- to settle in this wild place.
Well, I think a good place to go Mm-hmm.
Would be to the official record.
Things like land grants and -- and probate proceedings, which you can find at the Oregon State Archives.
Great.
All right.
Well, that's where we'll go.
- Thanks for -- for the help.
- Take care.
- Okay.
Bye.
- Bye.
Tony: So that was fascinating.
Nathaniel Coe wrote, uh, this extraordinary passage where he says that the natural response of aboriginal people in the face of civilization is to melt away.
And that's a pretty callous view of what happened to a lot of human lives.
I think that human beings are complicated.
My progressive great-great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Coe, was perhaps not so progressive in his attitude towards Native Americans.
We are about to arrive at the Oregon State Archives in Salem, Oregon.
I'm meeting with Cynthia Prescott, an expert on the American West.
I've asked if she could find any records relating to Mary and Nathaniel Coe.
My three-times- great-grandparents went to Fort Dalles under threat of, um, what they felt would be, you know, some danger from the Indians.
But I'm just curious why they stayed when that was over - and what was in it for them.
- Well, sure.
Let's take a look at the Historic Oregon Newspapers page.
Okay.
There it is.
And this is scanned-in images of newspapers from 100 or more years ago.
Oh.
There we go.
This is cool.
"The Story of Nathaniel and Mary Coe.
" Okay, so what this is pulling up for us is an article from the "Hood River Glacier," the newspaper, from 1915.
So this is gonna be nearly 50 years - after Nathaniel Coe's death.
- Mm-hmm.
So I should just read it.
"As fear from the Indians subsided, the farm work resumed.
" So they've left Fort Dalles to go back home.
Yes, just down river - from The Dalles.
- Right.
"The Coes agreed that Dog River was the fairest spot on earth.
" Okay, so, how old is Nathaniel by this time? Nathaniel at this point is 67, 68 years old.
He wants the farm to continue that he's -- he and his family had built.
So, the family is together? Yeah.
Now, the Coes' kids by this time -- - Were grownups.
- Their three sons are grownups.
Wait.
Did they have more children besides Lawrence? - It appears to be so.
Yes.
- Yeah.
Okay.
- And so - Mm-hmm.
- they keep the farm running.
- Got it.
"About the 1st of February, one half acre "Was spaded up and put in garden, and no frosts came to destroy.
" Okay.
In answering your question of why did they stay in Oregon Right.
Because it's nestled in there among the Cascade Mountains and in the Columbia River Gorge, it's protected.
They barely have any snow at all to deal with, - whereas if they had stayed - Right.
In upstate New York, wintertime is -- - You have to wait until May.
- You'd have to wait until May - to be able to plant anything.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
"The farm was made to pay dividends "Almost from the beginning, but when spring came, "A trip to Portland was made by Nathaniel Coe, "And sarm implements and seeds "for planting were secured.
"Pears, apples, peaches, cherries, plums, grapes, "apricots, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, rose bushes, and many choice flowering shrubs were ordered.
" The detail that he goes into is -- is pretty impressive, uh, about what crops.
So he had obviously done his homework.
- Should we read a little more? - Sure.
"To Mrs.
Coe belongs the credit of changing the name of Dog River to Hood River.
" Produce from Dog River doesn't sound very appealing.
Right.
But from Hood River evokes the the majesty of Mount Hood.
They're trying to build something.
They're trying to establish Hood River as a place you would really want to buy produce from.
Mm-hmm.
It takes quite a spirit of adventure when you have everything you could want to say, "No, let's reinvent this and -- and do something completely different.
" Wow.
Ah, ah, ah, ah Narrator: Tony Goldwyn is at the Oregon State Archives, where he just discovered that his three-times-great-grandparents, the Coes, were instrumental in establishing Hood River.
We talked about the partnership between, uh, Nathaniel and Mary being unusual.
It really answers the big question -- That's, like, why did they stay here? And this really was the -- A land of tremendous opportunity.
Nathaniel Coe seems to have very quickly landed on a winning strategy.
Hood river is -- is a more protected environment, and therefore, it's particularly well-suited for growing tree fruit crops to produce them for market, rather than just to feed their family.
Did Nathaniel see that going on around him, or was -- was this an original idea? So Coe was really sort of -- - That was -- they started it.
- Getting it started.
Yeah.
Someday they would like to be able to attract other settlers - to come to their town.
- Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
"We're starting a town here so you can come move here - and build houses.
" - Yes.
Which takes us back to this article we're reading from 1915.
"The town of Hood River, it consisted of four blocks, "but has been added to from time to time until now it covers the entire Coe homestead.
" Wow.
You know, looks like they really did it.
There was a real partnership, which I've actually -- We've seen evidence of in their life in New York as well.
Yeah.
"The bodies of Nathaniel Coe, his wife, Mary Coe, "Charles and Eugene Coe "Now rest in the family plot at Hood River.
"They have 'fought the good fight and finished the course, ' "nut to us who reap the benefits of their labors "Belongs a debt of gratitude.
Their graves should be kept with loving care.
" Hmm.
Interesting.
I'd actually like to go to Hood River and see it now.
Um So their graves do still exist in Hood River.
You can go and see the community that Nathaniel - and Mary really helped to build.
- Yeah.
Well, thank you so much, Cynthia.
This was really fun and interesting.
Tony: That big question that came up for me -- Why they didn't go back to upstate New York.
And it became really clear to me that he had found this perfect little oasis in Hood River.
They really felt they could build something substantial, which they did.
We are now in Hood River.
So this is a very cool feeling, having learned all about how Nathaniel and Mary Coe established their farm and their orchards, and how this town came to be.
And we're heading to their gravesite.
All right, let's go meet Nathaniel and Mary.
Or I like to call them Great-great-great-grandma and Grandpa.
[ Door closes .]
This sure is a beautiful spot.
Nathaniel Coe, 1788 to 1868.
And Mary White Coe, 1801 to 1893.
There they are.
They really were leaders.
You know, and what that thing is that drove this guy at 60 years old, again, to just uproot it all and come, you know, to another universe, really, I think is what this must have been in those days.
Mary Coe then falls into the long line of, in my family, of very strong women who were absolutely equal and indispensable partners to the men in their lives.
It's quite inspiring, really.
Nathaniel and Mary built what they saw as the next stage of the American story.
I've had questions along the way.
So while I can't forgive him about his attitude towards the Indians, it's not defining to me anymore.
Especially in coming to Hood River and seeing this gorgeous place, I feel, like, a real emotional connection.
My two other grandfathers, Sidney Howard and Sam Goldwyn, were absolute pioneers.
They achieved great things.
And now that I've gotten a chance to get to know Nathaniel and Mary Coe, I start to see it in the genes.
It's kind of thrilling, 'cause when you see it and, uh, and feel that personal contact, what this experience does is turns the lights on.