Jeremiah “Jerry” Achey
By Steve Lent, Crook County Historian
Jeremiah M. Achey was born on June 24, 1835 in Germantown, Ohio. He crossed the plains to California in 1862 driving three yoke of oxen. It took six month to reach California. He remained in California until 1879 then traveled by steamship on the steamship Great Republic which was wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia on April 19, 1879. He arrived in Central Oregon in 1880 and homesteaded at Rimrock Springs near what was later to become the small town of Lamonta. He raised sheep at his ranch. He was among the earliest settlers in the region. He patented his land claim on January 9, 1886.
Jerry was made a Mason in Sebastopol, California in 1871 and was admitted to the Prineville Masonic Lodge in Prineville on August 25, 1888. He was also a charter member of the Carnation Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star (O.E.S.) in 1896. The O.E.S. is a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. It was established in 1850 by lawyer and educator Rob Morris, a noted Freemason, and adopted and approved as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity in 1873.
He was responsible for bringing the first piano to the local lodge. A piano was purchased but the lodge could not afford the freight to bring it to Central Oregon. Jerry was visiting an ill brother in Washington and he brought the piano back free of charge in his wagon from The Dalles. He was presented with a beautiful Masonic apron by the Eastern Star in 1893 for his effort. Late in life Jerry married Mrs. Mary A. Russell. She also filed a homestead claim nearby and patented her claim on Sept. 16, 1904. Jerry died in Jefferson, Oregon on Feb. 5, 1926. He is buried in Juniper Haven Cemetery in Prineville. His wife Mary passed away on April 28, 1951. She is buried in Redmond Memorial Cemetery in Redmond, Oregon.