Did you know that Stonewall Jackson helped build the 1883 Jackson County Courthouse (now Jacksonville’s New City Hall)? No, not the Confederate general. This Stonewall Jackson was a half breed Indian. His father, a native of Tennessee, had come soon after the Mexican American War to part of the Oregon Territory (now Washington) where he married a Yakima Indian girl. Stonewall came to Jacksonville with a relative, obtained a job with George Holt, a building contractor, and became a trained carpenter and brick mason.
In a 1929 Medford Mail Tribune article, he recalled his time in Jacksonville. According to Jackson, he helped build the first old Jacksonville jail, laid brick for the Pat Ryan building and Fisher’s store; erected the brick building for Gunsmith Miller; and practically built the courthouse. “And there was a French lady by the name of [DeRoboam] who ran a hotel. Well, I cut every stone in that building alone.”
Stonewall married a member of the Klamath tribe and was adopted into the tribe. He later lived out his life on the Klamath reservation with his wife, children, and grandchildren.