Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Pacific Northwest GILLIAM COUNTY, OREGON

November 18, 2005 by Charles Dailey College index

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Gilliam County was carved out of Wasco County in 1885. It is high, about 3,000 feet near Condon. The main economy is growing wheat, barley and beef cattle.

Condon Mapquest map

Condon was earlier named Summit Springs. About 1880 William M. Cornett and his wife Nancy Jane, move to Condon. Without a doubt, they were the charter member of the Condon Church. Nancy was sister to Alexander Vance McCarty and had been living at Bethel. Following the death of her first husband, John R. Pigg, she married Cornett, a blacksmith by trade. He had been captain of a train of 40 wagons that had crossed the plains.

One writer referred to William as a "pillar in the Christian Church."

Frank D. Cornett, their 27 year old son, married Viola J. Powell in Gilliam County in 1887.

The 1888 Disciples Yearbook reports 25 members and Samuel Slater as the contact person. The usually tolerant Clarence Swander say of Condon, "It is quite certain that the congregation reported here was more or less identical with an 'anti' church that is known to have existed there since." It would seem that the congregation was very conservative on some matters.

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