Anna Donahue Costello was born in 1841 in Belfast, Ireland, the daughter of Felix Donahue and Kate McCrystal.\u00a0 Family lore says that she emigrated to the U.S. with her brother Felix about 1850, stopping in Boston or New York and then coming \u201cround the horn\u201d to San Francisco as a teenager.\u00a0 The family stories tell us that Annie worked as a domestic for a survivor of the infamous Donner Party.\u00a0 I have no direct evidence of Annie\u2019s arrived in San Francisco or of her employment there, but somehow she met John Costello and married him in San Jose in 1867.<\/p>\n
Annie Costello and her husband John D homesteaded 160 acres of land in the farming community of Sprague in Washington Territory in 1880.\u00a0 By 1880 they had 5 children under the age of 10.\u00a0 Between 1880 and 1883 another child was born and died in infancy; their seven-year-old son Joseph died as well. Through all of this they moved north from California to Washington Territory and started and nearly lost their little farm.\u00a0 Annie did it all, everything that was necessary to keep a family going through all those difficult years and through it all she was either pregnant or nursing or both and caring for her young children. Gardening, canning, sewing, knitting, cooking, keeping the wood stove going for heat and food, and helping with everything that needed doing to sustain a farm in its infancy.\u00a0 Between 1880 and 1883 they survived a plague of grasshoppers, unusually cold winters, birth, death, and all the harsh realities of this new and growing territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But 1883 brought Annie what were perhaps her most difficult moments.\u00a0 On February 22, 1883 John D relinquished his homestead claim, selling his land to J.D. Irvine.<\/p>\n
In the words of the commissioner of the Colfax Land Office here is Annie\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
\u201c In support of said application it is alleged that John Costello is a confirmed and habitual drunkard and sold and relinquished said homestead while in a state of intoxication; that the improvements upon the premises where procured with her earnings and that the support of the family, embracing several minor children, devolves entirely upon her.\u00a0 It is also alleged that J.D. Irvine to whom Costello sold, filed DS2993 for said tract March 26 alleging settlement February 24, 1883, but had not improved or established his residence upon the land prior to filing. \u2026If Mrs. Costello however desires to make an entry in her own right as the head of the family, the filing of Irvine is not a bar to her application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Costello did indeed wish to make an entry in her own name and was successful in doing so, retaining her land and her 12 by 20 foot home for herself and her children.<\/p>\n
Annie and John were divorced in 1898, but continued to live together until his death.\u00a0 I believe she pursued the divorce to protect her land and her family, not to abandon her husband of 31 years.<\/p>\n
Annie found work wherever she could, while her son John T and perhaps her husband managed the farm. On Dec. 5, 1890 Annie received her Final Certificate fulfilling the requirements of the homestead grant and allowing her to receive a final patent for the land from the federal government in 1891.\u00a0 She had saved her farm and her home and secured her children\u2019s futures. But Annie wasn\u2019t finished pursuing her dream of a prosperous farm.\u00a0 In 1893 she bought an adjacent 160 acres from a neighbor.\u00a0 Then in 1901 she obtained another 160 acres from the Northern Pacific Railroad.<\/p>\n
John D died in 1903, his obituary states, \u201cMr. Costello was one of the pioneers of that section and had the reputation of being the best farmer in that country.\u201d<\/p>\n
John T and his wife Elizabeth took over the farm.\u00a0 Eventually they expanded the farm to 480 acres and built a solid two-story house for their growing family.\u00a0 Annie lived in Sprague until 1923 surrounded by and cared for by a loving family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Annie and John D.\u2019s descendants have multiplied and prospered.\u00a0 The original farm outside of Sprague remains in family hands to this day.\u00a0 Members of this family live in many states and countries around the world.\u00a0 They all owe their success to the strength and perseverance of one remarkable woman who refused to give up her dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I bought my daughter a sheep for Christmas.\u00a0 No, we don\u2019t actually have a four legged baaing creature tethered in the back yard, but we do have an entire fleece from one sheep.\u00a0 It arrived in a large box in …<\/p>\n