A tale of triplets, tragedy

Turns out that Baker County’s history with triplets — human, not bovine or otherwise — is rather older than some might have supposed.

It all started with a letter to the editor.

Karen Mitchell, who lives on Bainbridge Island, Wash., submitted the letter to the Herald earlier this month.

Karen was visiting Baker City with two cousins. They were searching for information about their mothers who, or so Mitchell believed, were the first triplets born in Baker County.

The triplets, born Jan. 20, 1928, were Mary, Mildred and Margaret Gray. Their parents were Ada Knowles (Smith) Gray and William Warsaw Gray of Pondosa.

The phrase “first triplets” in the headline above Karen’s letter, which was published in the Sept. 14 edition, caught Linda Wunder Wall’s eye.

“I thought, ‘who could be writing about my family?’ ” Linda, who lives in Baker City, wrote in a letter to the Herald this week.

Linda knew that the Grays could not have been the first set of triplets born in the county.

She knew that because she has a scrapbook that includes a newspaper article telling the actual, and tragic, tale of triplets born almost 40 years earlier than the Grays.

The story was published on Feb. 3, 1928, two weeks after the Gray triplets were born.

Here’s the story as printed, with the headline in capital letters:

“FIRST TRIPLETS BORN IN BAKER BACK IN 1890”

“The triplets born here two weeks ago to Mr. and Mrs. William Gray of Pondosa were not the first born in the county as was generally believed, it has just been learned.

“In December, 1890 triplets were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fred Wunders. Two of them and the mother died within a few days, the third, Ethel Wunders, being adopted into the William Cunningham home. She died at the age of 13. The father, Fred Wunders, died a few years ago. Al Wunders, employed by the city water department, is a brother of the first triplets.”

The triplets’ parents, Frederick and Minnie Wunder, were Linda’s great-grandparents. They traveled to Baker City via stagecoach on the Oregon Trail, arriving here in the 1880s.

The 1928 story was written by Frederick and Minnie’s oldest son, Albert Wunder — the “Al” mentioned in the story. He was, in addition to being the triplets’ brother, Linda’s grandfather.

Curiously, the 1928 article, despite having been written by a close relative, didn’t get every detail right, Linda said.

The article mistakenly added an “s” to the family’s name, which is Wunder.

(Linda, understandably, blames the newspaper, not her Grandpa Albert, for this gaffe.)

Although the story of the triplets’ is part of her family’s lore, Linda said certain aspects of it remain a mystery to her.

She doesn’t know, for instance, whether the triplets were identical or fraternal.

The most common combination — at least in 1890, long before fertility treatments — is that two of the children are identical twins, and the third is not.

Linda said she’s not certain either whether the triplets were all girls, or of mixed genders.

The gravestone at Mount Hope Cemetery, where Minnie Wunder was buried with her two children, refers to them only as “infants,” Linda said.

Family history doesn’t include medical details about the birth.

But Linda said the sad outcome is not especially surprising, considering the relative crudity of medical care in 1890 and the near certainty that the triplets had well-below average birthweights.

“Probably they were born at home,” she said.

Although the details are murky, Linda said it appears that the two children must have died soon after birth — the gravestone at Mount Hope lists their year of death as 1890, and they were born in late December.

But their mother, Minnie, died in 1891 — probably no more than a few days into the new year, Linda said.

Linda suspects too that the trauma of a multiple birth might have contributed to the lone surviving triplet, Ethel, dying at just 13.

“She was probably always a frail child,” Linda said.

Ethel too is buried at Mount Hope, with the adopted surname Cunningham.

Linda, who is writing her family’s history, said she’s trying to find out why Ethel was adopted by the Cunningham family.

The oldest Wunder child — Linda’s grandfather, Albert — was either 17 or 18 when the triplets were born, Linda said.

But the family had another son, Fred Jr., as well as two other daughters — Lena and Nutie — both of whom were quite young when the triplets were born. Caring for those three children, along with a newborn who was probably in ill-health, might have been too much of a task for the newly widowed Frederick, Linda said.

The Wunder family’s deep roots remain in Baker County.

Lena Wunder Trimble lived in Hereford, and Nutie Wunder Boyer at Denny Creek.

Nutie’s youngest daughter, Nellie Boyer Langlitz, turns 101 today.

The Wunder triplets would have been Nellie’s aunts (and, possibly, uncles).

Nellie lives in Baker City and she is, Linda said, “amazingly healthy and sharp as a tack.”