'Honest Mike' source of pride for Simmons descendants

Originally published Saturday, January 12, 2002

"They were honest folk and treated other people honestly and would make good on their word." -- Robert Bower

The descendants of Michael T. Simmons who live in Thurston County also are close-knit.

Simmons was among the first settlers in Puget Sound. He was born in Kentucky in 1814, and came to Oregon with the immigration of 1844. He and eight companions settled on the banks of the Deschutes River and began a settlement called New Market, later renamed Tumwater. It's regarded as the first American town north of the Columbia River.

Robert Bower is the Simmons clan president, which means he gets to organize the family's annual picnic.

His election to that lofty office was simple. It goes to "whoever can't get the railroad derailed and keep from getting elected," he said.

The picnic has been held the second Sunday of August for 82 years, he said.

About 50 people showed up last year, but five years ago, when more Simmons descendants were alive, that number was closer to 100.

Bower is a descendant of one of Michael T.'s 12 children, Christopher Columbus, who is regarded as the first child born to a settler north of the Columbia River.

Bower said the family history doesn't impact his life on a daily basis, but it does often become a focus -- especially when the picnic nears. As clan president, he organizes the event, sends out invitations and the like.

He and other family members also go to schools and put on talks about Michael T.

Though Bower doesn't think of his pioneer roots every day, he always carries with him traditions that harken back to those roots.

From Michael T. on down, the Simmons clan has been active in local government.

Bower, a retired Coast Guard officer, is chairman of the Thurston County Planning Commission and has served on that board for six years.

"We average two meetings a month, and probably an inch of reading material in between," he said.

Bower also ran for a Thurston County Commission seat in 1992 but was not elected.

The family also is proud to be known for its integrity, starting with Michael T., Bower said.

"Our family history indicates that one of his nicknames is 'Honest Mike.' We're proud of that," Bower said.

That reputation followed Columbus and Bower's great uncle, Ray Newell Ellison, who started the Ellison Brothers Oyster Co. in 1925 on Eld Inlet. It stuck with his father, who worked in the family business.

For example, in the 1960s a fellow oysterman couldn't put his oysters in the ground on his own property. He asked the Ellison Brothers Co. if he could put his oysters in that company's beds and have them raised and sold. He just asked to be paid "based on what's fair."

It was done on the basis of a phone call, and all parties were happy with the result, Bower said.

"That was I think typical of our early pioneers," Bower said. "...They were honest folk and treated other people honestly and would make good on their word."

The Simmons descendants also believed that it was important to take care of the family name and do nothing to disparage it, Bower said.

"I've lived up to that. ... If you give your word on something, then that's your name that you've invested in that thing," he said.

Robert and his wife Joan have a son, David, who recently had a child of his own, and a daughter, Amanda, a senior at Olympia High School.

That means they spend lots of time admiring the new addition to the family, Kayla, who will turn 1 in February. They also root heavily for the OHS girls basketball team, on which Amanda plays.

Robert also has raised holly since retiring in 1989.

"I had holly on the property, so I started doing something with it, and it turned into a job," he said.

In 1992, he started raising honeybees as well, something he was always interested in. He does not farm the family's original homestead, but does live on a spot four lots away from the property his father owned.

Though most Simmons descendants view themselves as average, the strong sense of family that runs through the clan makes it special, Bower said.

"In the sense that the family continues to get together," he said, "I think that's the thing that sets our family apart."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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