Brix
By Mildred Kandoll

Mr. and Mrs. P. F. (Peter Frederich and Maria Christina Andresen) Brix were probably 
persuaded by their son Asmus to come to Rosburg area.  They left their home in 
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany April 28, 1881.  With their family of seven children in 
order according to age, Albert, Margaretha, P. John, Christopher, Helene, Anton and 
Herman.

Asmus the oldest son, had come to Rosburg area two years earlier in company with Peter 
Sorensen and Anton Sorensen and his new bride in 1879, when he was only 15 years old, 
he came to his H. P. Andresen’s and lived there.  He evidently had written to his parents 
of the homesteads to be had in the Washington territory yet.  So his parents, Mr. and Mrs. 
Brix and family and also an old aunt and uncle of Mrs. Brix, Mr. and Mrs. H. P. 
Heningsen all came together.  Mr. Brix was in his prime age of 46 and Mrs. Brix 41 then.

The Brix family went first to Hamburg, Germany and came to London in two days, there 
they rode across the city on an elevated train which was something they had never seen 
before nor ridden in.  There they boarded an English steamer, and not a word could be 
understood by them, they had hoped to be able to get on a German steamer, but found out 
so many passengers were booked ahead that they wouldn’t be able to come until fall, so 
they took the English steamer.  So after 19 days on the Atlantic ocean of seasickness, 
etcetera, they landed in New York.  The next day they started west by train wherein 
sleepers were only boards placed between the seats.  Each one had to have their own 
bedding, and when they were nearing Pittsburgh, the conductor came through the car and 
called out something that no one understood, but when the train stopped and they saw the 
other passengers getting off, they figured it meant “change trains”.  In the hurry to get the 
children’s cloths on and off the train, Mrs. H. P. Henningsen forgot her bag of lump sugar 
on the window sill.  The next stop was at Chicago and Mr. Brix got off the train hoping to 
replace the sugar and buy some kerosene also for aunty’s oil stove which she had brought 
along to make her coffee.  He met a German speaking man who offered to show him a 
store where he could buy his requirements.  They went a short distance, when he slugged 
or drugged Brix, anyway when he regained consciousness he had been robbed of his 
money by an “Emigrant fleecer”.  There they were a large family on their way west on a 
train without money to buy food.  It was lucky, old uncle still had a little, so the whole 
family had to subsist on it.  When they reached Council Bluffs, Iowa, their tickets were 
disputed.  They were told they must pay half fare for Baby Herman, and additional half 
fare for one of the other children.  Finally their baggage was attached and they were 
allowed to proceed to San Francisco, California.  But luck was with them when they 
reached San Francisco, they found a hotel keeper who could speak their language, and he 
got their baggage released.  And then they were able to board the steamer “State of 
California” for a three day trip to Astoria, Oregon.

H. P. Andreson arranged with Herman Hansel to take the Brix family to the “Occidental” 
hotel in case neither Asmus or Mr. Andreson was there to met the Brix family.  However, 
as they came down the gang plank Mrs. Brix’s brother H.P. Andreson grabbed just her 
large bag, and Mrs. Brix resisted very hard, she did not recognize him, for she wasn’t 
expecting her brother there, but a happy greeting followed as she recognized him.  Mr. 
and Mrs. Andreson had come in their skiff to meet them, but the small steamer “Roseta” 
was to take them to Andreson home on Grays River, but the tide must have been low for 
they landed in Knappton where they spent the night.

Asmus had cleared a small parcel of land and planted a garden, this really came in of 
value, the vegetables proved to be a big help for the family.

They homesteaded the next place south of H. P. Andreson 160 acres of wilderness, it was 
tideland spruce, cedar, and some fir trees with vine maple and other underbrush.  He had 
to first start clear a place where the barn was to build.  Brix purchased a boat house and 
wrecked it and with the lumber he got from it, he built a barn and shortly after that the 
Grounds house was wanted by the owner, so the Brix family moved into the barn.

Then Brix started falling trees and getting them sawed into lumber possibly at the Mill 
Slough mill or Knappton mill, then in 1883 he got the house built, a two story house with 
3 rooms downstairs and 3 bedrooms and a storage room upstairs this was a nice new 
house.

Mr. Andreson gave them a cow and a pig, that was really a big help in getting started.

Christopher, the boy next to P. John lived a few years after that, he died of some 
unknown ailment November 8, 1888.  So there was sadness and sorrow in the family, 
then again in 1895 when the youngest son Herman was working for his older sister and 
husband J. H. Erp roofing the barn, he fell and died.  

The oldest daughter of Brix family, Margaretha, cooked for her brothers in the logging 
camp for some years, when she was a young woman, had no small share in helping the 
older boys get on their feet.  J. Peter was the woods manager, Asmus kept the books, and 
Anton had and got the railroads constructed.  Helene, who became wife of Henry Hoeck 
in 1898.  She died September 1928.  Mother and father Brix had moved to Astoria and 
Mrs. Brix died then Mr. and Mrs. Erp moved to Astoria to take care of Mr. Brix.  He 
passed away at the ripe age of 85 and Mr. Erp died 2 years later.

Mr. and Mrs. Blix had sold the farm by then.  It is now owned by John and Ted Kandoll.
 
 
 
 
Brix		Page 2
By Mildred Kandoll