1.  From Massachusetts to Maine

Nov 6, 1737 Joseph Viles was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Joseph and Sarah (Wales) Viles.  Joseph married Hannah Horton in 1765 and two years later in 1767 he moved from Milton to Orland, Maine.  He built the first framed house in Orland in 1777, just a year after our Declaration of Independence from the British Empire.  A history of Orland milestones that I read once attributed the name of the town to Joseph Viles, saying the settler discovered an oar on the banks and came up with the name Orland.  It was previously called Eastern River Township #2.

Joseph Viles was the 3rd setter of Orland, Joseph Gross being the 1st.  The framed house that Viles built was used for town meetings until the schoolhouse was built in 1804.  That house was still standing as of 2004.

2.  From Orland to Industry

Joseph and Sarah’s son, Joseph Viles was born in 1770 in Orland, Maine.  I found a great old book from a used book store with a write up of this Joseph Viles.  The book is History of the Town of Industry by William Collins Hatch (1893 Farmington, Maine).

Industry Book

Joseph married Sarah Hancock (b. 1772).  They moved their family from Orland, Maine as early as 1811 and were early settlers in New Vineyard.  In 1844 they moved to the town of Industry, Maine.   They had 11 children.

Sarah Hancock’s history can be traced back to the “Four Hancock brothers” who immigrated to America and the great number of Hancocks descended from.  The most famous, John Hancock, is a 2nd cousin.  Nathan Hancock, one of the four brothers was Sarah’s great grandfather.

3. From Maine to Wisconsin

In 1787 the US Constitution was adopted and our first president George Washington took office from 1789-1797.  Alfred Viles, son of Joseph and Sarah (Hancock) Viles was born in 1797 just at the end of Washington’s term in office.  Alfred was born in Orland.  He married Thankful Norton in Industry.

Alfred moved west and settled in Richmond, Walworth County, Wisconsin. His son,  Benjamin Warren Viles would later join him.  But Benjamin didn’t stop there.

Benjamin W Viles (1831-1908)

4. From Wisconsin to Minnesota to Washington

The story of Benjamin W. Viles is told in great detail by an article in the Prosser Bulletin from Sept. 30, 1908.

Benjamin Viles

A Much Respected Citizen Passes Away

Benjamin W. Viles, old soldier and well known resident, answers the final call.

Died at Prosser, Washington, at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, September 26, 1908.  Benjamin W. Viles, aged 77 years, after an acute illness which began Thursday morning, the funeral was held at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon from the M E church, Rev. Rounds officiating, and services called out so many friends that the building was filled to capacity.  Pallbearers were furnished by his comrades in the Grand Army Post, and the impressive ceremonies of that rapidly diminishing order were held at the grave at the Prosser cemetary.

Benjamin W. Viles was born in New Vineyard (now Anson), Maine, July 9, 1831.  On the day he was 18 years old, July 9, 1849, he started West, traveling by way of Chicago to Racine, Wisconsin, where his father Alfred Viles, Sr., was a pioneer settler.  On the 9th of May, 1853, he married Emily Rock, whose parents had removed from New York to Wisconsin in 1839.

In 1856, with his wife and two children, Mr. Viles removed to the town of Bridgewater, Rice County, Minnesota, and ten years later, to Osakis, Douglas County in the same state.  He enlisted August, 1862, in Company C of the Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.  A few days later, before the command had been formally mustered in to the United States service it was armed with such weapons as the government had at hand and rushed up the Minnesota River as far as a steamer could carry it and sent against the Indian forces which had been slaughtering white settlers in the southern portion of the state.  After reaching Fort Ridgely, details from the regiment were sent out to bury the victims of the Indian massacre near New Ulm and on Sunday and Monday they found and buried the mutilated bodies of 68 persons: men, women and children.  Monday night the detail camped at Birch Coulee, and early Tuesday morning they were surprised and attached by a large body of Indians.  In this attack, before he could get out of his tent, Mr. Viles received a bullet along the back, as he was stooping, and it was struck by two more bullets while lying under a wagon.  He staggered out and dragged back three sacks of oats to pile up for a shield against the Indian fire, the last sack having three bullets in it when he finally had it placed.  The wound in his back troubled him as long as he lived, and he carried the bullet to his grave.

The campaign against the savages lasted until the latter part of December, with more or less skirmishing.  At that time Mr. Viles, who because of his wounds had been detailed a cook in October, was given a furlough and went home.  Exposure to extreme winter weather, without a tent, had aggravated his trouble.  He rejoined his company at Gleneoa, where it had gone into winter quarters, and about the middle of February the troops were removed to Fort Snelling.  At that post Mr. Viles was discharged for disability in March, 1863, the regiment subsequently going south and participating in many of the stirring events of the war.  He was but a shadow of his former self, and from that time forward was practically a physical wreck.

In the fall of 1887, they came to Prosser and settled on what is now the A.P. Knapp place, a mile east of town.  They erected a board shanty 12 feet by 16 feet in dimensions, and “shingled it with big tin oil cans” brought from Walla Walla.  Here they established a home, and began to see something in the future besides the terrible trials and hardships which had been their experience for years.  This place was sold some years later, and taking his family and a portion of his belongings, Mr. Viles moved to a half section of land he had purchased in the Rattlesnakes.  With the advancing years he found ranch life too heavy for his strength, and returned to Prosser in 1903, building and occupying the brick house in which he passed away, at the end of Sherman Avenue.  The comfort he and his family enjoyed in the few years since that time were earned by half a century of previous toil and struggle.  Coming to Washington lengthened the life of Mr. Viles more than a score of years.  Though never very strong after coming here, he had little of his old trouble until the winter of 1906-7 when an attack of grip gave him a set-back from which he never recovered.  He and his wife passed most of the summer of this year with their son Warren at Cove, Oregon, and returned but a short time ago greatly benefited.  A sudden cold, contracted a few days before his death, hastened the end for one of the most patient sufferers who ever lived.  While in an almost unconscious condition, a few hours before his death, he spoke of his mother and brother, Alfred, both of whom passed beyond the veil many years ago.

To Mr. and Mrs. Viles were born eight children, of whom six survive.  These were all with him at the end except Warren, the oldest son, who was delayed on his way from Oregon and reached his side two hours too late.  The living children are Mrs. Anice M Lyons, of the Rattlesnakes; Mrs. Alice M Rogers of Puyallup, Washington; Warren S of Cove, Oregon; John Alfred, Clement B and George H of Prosser.  There are also 30 living grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Eugene F Garner, of this city, is a nephew, and Mrs. P. A. Durant, a niece of the deceased.  The family desires to express it’s heartfelt gratitude to many friends who came forward in the hour of bereavement.  They especially wish to thank those who deprived themselves of such flowers as the frosts had left that those beautiful token of love might not be missing, and to the minister, the choir and the members of the Methodist Church.

It should bee noted in closing that in his earlier years Mr. Viles was an exhorter of no mean ability in the church of that denomination, and was a faithful attendant upon its services until the infirmities of age prevented him from hearing sufficiently well to understand the words spoken from the pulpit.  He was a man who made friends everywhere, who would never knowingly commit wrong, and who lived true to the land and as a father he was all that could be, never sparing himself if by any effort or sacrifice his family could be the gainers.  As a friend, he was true to death, and to this fact the attendance of so many at his funeral was conclusive testimony.  The sermon by Rev. Mr. Rounds, coming from an entire stranger and based on what few notes could be furnished, was a fine tribute to the memory of a good man.

Pliny A. Durant

Source: Prosser Bulletin

Prosser, Benton County, Washington

September 30, 1908

Sent in by : Pam Dollarhide

4.  From Washington to California

The Civil War Soldier Benjamin and wife Emily (Rock) Viles had a son Clement Benjamin Jan 17, 1872 while in Osakis, Minnesota.  In 1892, at age 20 Clement married Effie Mae Van Eaton in Washington.  The couple moved to Oregon for a time and back to Washington, where my great grandfather, George Ernest Viles, Sr. was born Mar 17, 1909 in Prosser.  Clement died in Glendale, California in 1927.  After his death, Effie returned to Washington where she died in 1943.

Older siblings of George E. Viles, Sr. (not pictured)

My great grandfather George married Grace Frances Wilson in 1929 in Los Angeles, California.  She passed away in 1996 and he followed her home in 2003.  Most of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren remain near the Los Angeles area to this day.  If it wasn’t for the courage and determination of our ancestors, I doubt we would be here.

Me, Grace and George E Viles, My Brother (approx 1990)

George and Grace Viles 60th Anniversary