D Vautier
reviserd 2/2014
lente,lente equi nocte
My grandfather was born in 1865 in Au Train, MI and moved with his family to Coeur d'Allene, ID in 1904(1905?). James was a timber cruiser (lumber estimator) so he followed the industry westward. Much of his writing has been lost but I do have excerpts from his essay on White Pine. He also did a short write up on his earlier life that describes many hardships.
James Edward was my grandfather on my mother's side, but he died before I was born. My mom respected and loved him very much, as is indicated in many of her letters.
Below from my mother's letters:
My Dad was immensely intelligent but remarkably naive and absent-minded. He should have continued teaching but teachers in those “good old days” were not paid a living wage and my mother was social minded and very extravagant. He turned his mathematical ability into doing engineering work for a lumber company and the Dept. of Interior, so he had a small pension when they retired him at age 65.
He lived one year longer, working very hard all that time. I think the hardest thing he had to cope with was associating with the rough elements he found in the lumber camps of those early days. Of course, he was a huge man and very strong. No one ever bothered him or he would have really knocked them about. His eyes were icy blue when he was angry. But it was the vulgar talk and the illiteracy and drunkenness that really bothered him. Many times he would sleep outside in the fresh outdoors rather than be a part of it.
James
O'Rouark and his family. LtoR: Allegra Catherine O'Rouark, James
Edward O'Rouark, Ellen (Nellie) Alexander O'Rouark,
Douglas James O'Rouark, Gerald Alexander O'Rouark (in back), Elaine
O'Rouark (sitting in Dad's
lap).
Here is a tintype of James O'Rouark and his bride Nellie
O'Rouark taken around the time they were married in 1892.
Here is a tintype of James O'Rouark's wife Nellie
Alexander O'Rouark taken probably when she was 16 or so. She married James in
1892 when she was 17.