Eva Blackwell and William A. Frater Family Collection, ca. 1874-1955

Alumna Eva Blackwell graduated from Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1924. Blackwell was born March 13, 1900 in Riddle, Oregon and grew up on a dairy farm in Smith River in the lower Umpqua Valley. She graduated from high school in Riddle, Oregon in 1918. Blackwell took a 2-week milk testing course at Oregon Agricultural College and returned to the Gardiner area to work for a local dairy association testing milk for butter fat content. In 1920, she enrolled as an undergraduate student at OAC. After her graduation in 1924, she began working in the Registrar's Office and held various positions, including Assistant Registrar until her retirement in 1965. In the early 1950s, she was a member of the College's Archives Committee. She returned to work for the Registrar's Office in May of each year through 1981 to compile statistical data for the graduating class. Blackwell died in Benton County, Oregon, in 1987.

Blackwell's maternal grandfather, William A. Frater was born in Ohio in 1843. After serving as a 2nd Sergeant of Company E, 170th Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War, he operated a livestock business with his brothers in Ohio. Frater moved to Kansas in 1877 and to Roseburg, Oregon in the late 1870s. He served as Douglas County Treasurer from 1893 to 1898 and as postmaster in Roseburg from 1898 until 1903 when he was indicted for misappropriation of postal funds and removed from office. Frater's daughter, LaAmi Etta Frater, married Lincoln Blackwell in 1896 and lived in the lower Umpqua River Valley.