The Naces of Lithia: Matthew Nace Mystery Part I

In my earlier post about my great-great uncle, Matthew Harvey Nace, it seemed as if he’d vanished after writing a letter (on April 26, 1856) to his business partner, Israel Coe.

But did he really vanish? Or did he remarry in Indiana, move to Oregon, change his name, climb Mt. St. Helens, move to California, spend some time in Folson Prison, and die in 1910? I can only track him by his given name to Indiana, but numerous clues suggest his other adventures.

His letter to Israel Coe (posted in full on “Matthew Harvey Nace”) ended:

Three months after he wrote the letter (and two years after his wife Evaline’s death), 32-year-old Matthew remarried—in Vigo, Indiana—to 20-year-old Ella B. Christian. Was she kin to his late wife Evaline, whose maiden name had been Christian? Or to the 20-year-old “L. P. Christian Nace” (his “sister” according to the census) who was living in his house in Brooklyn, New York, in 1855 (and might have been his 20-year-old brother Robert’s wife)? Odd how “Ella B. Christian Nace” sounds like “L.P. Christian Nace.” And both were born in 1835. (Could the 1855 Brooklyn census taker have made a mistake in spelling and really meant “Ella B”? But that would mean—?)

An Internet search provided records of the marriage.

This, while unofficial, is from a book of marriages in Vigo County, Indiana:

There can’t be many men named Matthew Harvey Nace. (Our Matthew was named after Matthew Harvey, the owner of Mount Joy Plantation, who employed Matthew’s father, William Nace, as overseer.) After the marriage, Mattthew Nace dropped out of sight. Since this was the last record I could find about him with his legal name, it’s likely he changed his name.

Apparently, at some point, Matthew and Ella appear to have moved from Indiana to Oregon, and Matthew apparently assumed a different, but similar, name: James H. Neyce. In 1868, they had a son who died in infancy.

Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR; Index Collection: Biography Index

The child’s middle name is McDowell, almost the same as Matthew’s brother, William MacDowell Nace. (He wasn’t their only child. A daughter, Berta Lee, had been born the previous year.)

How did Matthew and Ella B. get to Oregon. At any rate, James H. and Ella B Neyce were there by 1860. Perhaps they joined a wagon train and traveled the Oregon trail to where it ended in The Dalles area. Why did they choose Oregon as a destination? Was it because they’d be hard to trace? Did Matthew decide to seek his fortune as a gold prospector? An article in which James H. Neyce is mentioned as a climber of Mt. St. Helens gives a hint:

P. 40, Cascade Alpine Guide, Colorado River to Steven's Pass by Fred Beckey

From the above sources, we know that Matthew—er, James—and Ella were in Oregon from 1860 until 1868. Some other info on the Internet suggests James H Neyce was a postmaster in Wasco County, Oregon for a while, but I cannot yet find definite proof. In March 1867, he appears on two Oregon tax lists, on one as a “pedlar 3rd class” and on another as “watch” (which might be the article he was selling).