Portrait

History of Early Pioneer Families of Hood River, Oregon. Compiled by Mrs. D.M. Coon

WILLIAM CATESBY LAUGHLIN AND FAMILY                                  1852
Gleaned from writings of Mrs. Elizabeth Lord by D.M.C. Historian.

     Wm. Catesby Laughlin was born in Kentucky, December 24th, 1814. His grandfather Thomas Laughlin came to America early in the 18th century. He was of Scotch descent. The earliest record found is that of his marriage on Nov. 27th, 1755, to Sarah Madison, a cousin of President Madison, There were eleven children in their family, and Roger, the eighth child, was the father of Wm. Catesby Laughlin. At the age of eighteen years William moved to Illinois with his parents and worked on the home farm for three years. On April 8th, 1840 he was married to Mary Jane Yeargain at the residence of her parents in Illinois. Their first home was in a little log cabin on a ridge near Mill Creek in Gillman Township, six miles from Quincy. A few months later they moved from there to Scotland Co. Missouri. All their worldly possessions were brought in a two-wheeled cart drawn by a yoke of oxen.
     Several years of hard work in pioneering were followed by more prosperous times. A new house was built and many comforts added. Three children were born at this place, Elizabeth on April 29th, 1841, James on February 17th, 1843 and Benjamin Franklin on January 4th, 1849. For several years Mr. Laughlin served the community as Justice of the Peace. The discovery of gold in California induced them to go west, and on April 20, 1850 they started on their long toilsome journey.
     On their way they changed their plans and instead of going to California took the Oregon route, a decision which they never regretted. They endured the hardships incident to the trip, but were not troubled by cholera nor molested by Indians. They reached The Dalles Oct. 4th, 1850, and prepared to embark on the waiting barges for the Willamette Valley. Upon examination Mr. Laughlin found the barges were already loaded beyond the point of safety and refused to risk the lives of his family, so the trip was postponed. They were seeking land on which to make a home and believing they had found what they wanted at Crates Point began to build a cabin, but before it was finished it was discovered that the land was within the five mile limit of the military reservation and had to be abandoned. Mr. Laughlin then took a contract of making shingles on Mill Creek, moving his family and tents to that location. The winter was mild and the family were not uncomfortable in their open quarters. When the shingles were finished a few cows were bought and the tents were moved down Mill Creek near the tent of the Herberts, a family who had crossed the plains the same year with the Laughlins. These were the only families at The Dalles that winter. Ambrose Herbert, fourteen years of age, was taken with pneumonia. Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin shared in the labor of nursing the sick boy who died and was laid to rest in the Military Cemetery, the first person buried there. Mr. Laughlin next worked as a carpenter in a sawmill, while Mrs. Laughlin made butter, leather gloves and money belts for the men at the garrison. She was an exceptionally nice housekeeper and in the spring of 1851 Lieut. Woods went to Mr. Laughlin and offered then the mess house to live in with all the furniture and a certain sum per month if Mrs. Laughlin would board himself, Mr. Gibson the sutler, and Charlie Jabine his clerk. Alter thinking the matter over the offer was accepted and the family remained there for one and one half years or until they moved away from The Dalles.
     Immigrants coming to Oregon always reached The Dalles in the fall encumbered with run down cattle which they gladly parted with for a very small sum. This stock Mr. Laughlin began to buy and turn out on the abundant bunch grass, where they would quickly take on flesh and be fit for use. By the second summer he had accumulated a large number of cattle and killed beef regularly.
     In partnership with Frank Camp, who had been a teamster for the government during the Mexican war, he started a trading post on Ten Mile Creek and sold beef, flour, dried fruits, pies, cakes, pickles, candies, coffee and tea and bought cattle and horses from the immigrants as well as taking stock to herd and pasture for others.
     In 1852, Dr. Farnsworth, a former neighbor and friend of the Laughlin's in Missouri crossed the plains and stopped at The Dalles. Mr. Laughlin, who by this time had accumulated considerable stocks proposed to his friend that they go to a valley further down the Columbia Rivers known as Dog River, where the bunch grass was abundant, take up land, raise stock and profit by the increase. The plan looked feasible and accordingly a barge was secured in which all possessions of the two families were loaded and all the members of the two families, except two, took passage. Mr. Laughlin and James Farnsworth and two hired men drove the stock from The Dalles over the trail to Dog River. There were two hundred head belonging to Mr. Laughlin, two hundred belonging to other parties and one hundred belonging to Mr. Farnsworth, making five hundred head in all. It required two days to make the trip with the stock. The barge reached its destination in one day and landing in the willows on the east side of the stream waited for Mr. Laughlin to arrive. After the stock had been driven to the west side the families with their goods were moved over. Dr. Farnsworth took land and put up a good sized cabin with a large fireplace. This land is now known as the Dr. Adams place and lies west of what is now 13th street in the present town of Hood River. Mr. Laughlin hurriedly put up a small cabin as James his oldest son was very sick and immediate shelter was necessary. The place chosen for the cabin was near a large spring and was Hood River's first building. The Coe's built near the cabin in 1854 and the Batchelder residence on State Street now occupies the site of the Laughlin home. The move from The Dalles was made in October and they had scarcely time to make their cabins habitable when a heavy snow came. This was early in November, a crust formed and more snow followed, making it impossible for the stock to get any grass. There was no more bare ground until March. A party of men were herding a band of 500 cattle at Mitchell's Point, six miles further down the Columbia River. When the snow came these men abandoned their charge leaving the stock to shift for themselves. The deserted cattle came up the river in search of food and human protection. They joined the band of cattle crowded around the Laughlin and Farnsworth cabins and bawled their distress. In vain Mr. Laughlin sent word to the men to come and take their stock away. The starving animals now nearly a thousand in number jostled each other against the cabins, begging for food and to the inmates of the cabins, there seemed a moving mass of heads and horns, threatening and terrible. Trees were felled around the dwellings to keep then away, but nothing could keep out the sound of their mournful bellowings.
     Dr. Farnsworth decided to leave at the earliest opportunity. There were no boats so he felled a large fir tree and with the help of his son James and Mr. Laughlin a canoe was fashioned, 30 feet in length. It was finished early in January and hauled to the river and the Farnsworth family embarked and paddled away leaving the Laughlins the only white inhabitants of the snow clad valley. More desolate than ever it seemed to the family remaining but they bravely turned to combat their troubles. Corrals were made to separate the stock that the stronger might not rob the weaker. Indians were hired to cut browse and Mr. Laughlin, his wife and children, Bettie, James and Frank worked long hours gathering moss from around the roots of trees to feed their favorite animals. Indians were hired to go to the Cascades for flour, they were gone a long time and returned with only a little shorts, which did not last long. Then Mr. Laughlin dug out a small canoe from a tree and went to The Dalles for supplies himself. When the snow had disappeared only 14 head of cattle remained, among them the old red cow which had been bought on the plains, the family pet, doubtless the efforts of the children saved her. At that time a large ravine ran between the two cabins and spring found it filled full of the decaying bodies of dead cattle, and the neighborhood became uninhabitable except for buzzards and coyotes.
     In April 1853 Mr. Laughlin and James drove their few remaining animals back over the trail to The Dalles while Mrs. Laughlin, Frank and Bettie with their house hold goods returned in an Indian canoe. The river was so rough and the Indians so trifling that it took two days to make the trip. They landed at the mouth of Chenowith Creek, the same place from which they had embarked less than six months before. During their absence from The Dalles the Military Reservation had been cut down to one mile, and Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin proceeded to claim homestead rights settling on land near the river where the main part of the city is now built. They moved on to the land at once although they could not get lumber for a house until several months later. There were but few settlers at The Dalles at that date, April 1853, but from that time on Mr. Laughlin and his family were identified with every step of progress in the little village, and as the town grew they prospered financially. In 1854 Wasco County was organized; reaching from the Cascade Mountains on the west to the Rocky Mountains on the east, Of this vast territory The Dalles was the county seat, and nearly all the white population was found in its vicinity. Immigrants passed through the territory and the Indians and out-lawed whites preyed upon them, On September 13, 1855, a meeting of the residents of the village was held for the purpose of formulating rules for a division of property and government of The Dalles. W.C. Laughlin was elected a trustee at the first election and again in 1863. In 1865 he was elected County Judge and County Commissioner in 1860. He also became a member of the Canyon City Military Road Co. organized in 1861.
     About 1857 he built a small motel on Main street Which was called The Dalles House. He also built a new and handsome residence to replace the one built in 1853. The residence erected in 1857 was destroyed by fire in 1893. There were several private school taught in The Dalles but no public school until Nov. 1856. At that time a district was organized and C.R. Meigs employed as teacher. On account of Indian troubles the school came to a sudden close, the teacher enlisting as a volunteer. Other schools followed but only the rudiments were taught.
     In 1838 Elizabeth and James went to Vancouver, Wash., and entered the Catholic school, remaining there one year. That fall Mr. Waldron was their teacher in The Dalles. The following summer Prof. Ryan taught a school for advanced pupils which they attended. The school however was of short duration and was the last school attended by Elizabeth. Although educational advantages were meager, the children were not allowed to grow up in ignorance. Mr. Laughlin was a man of progressive ideas and not only provided his family with good books and periodicals but spent his evenings with them in helping them educate themselves.
     Elizabeth was married to Wentworth Lord, a merchant of The Dalles in January 1861. They made their home with her parents in the spot made dear by association. The following winter a sort was born, William Edward, a joy and hope to parents and grandparents. He died when only one year old. Another child, Eva, was born afterwards and is still living. James Laughlin grew to manhood, six feet in height, a strong and athletic, with a character in keeping with the family training. On May 13, 1864 he went in a small sloop with A.C. Phelps to Hood River to visit Henry Coe, who had but recently returned from school at Forest Grove. On the following day James, who was returning to The Dalles, accompanied Mr. Phelps in the sloop to deliver some oak kegs to the steamer as she passed on her way up to The Dalles.
     A neighbor, Wm. Jenkins with his son Walter stood upon the seat to get a better view, at the same time Phelps released the boom to change the course of his boat. The father called, "Sit down, Walter". The boy did not heed and the next instant the boom struck him throwing him far out into the river. Mr. Jenkins sprang after him and caught him as he came to the surface. The father, encumbered with his heavy clothing seemed unable to swim and called to James, who, throwing off his coat and boots and taking a keg in his hand swam to the rescue. Before he could reach them they sank and did not come to the surface again, and leaving the keg he turned toward the boat to find that it was far away, he then swam towards the shore, and had almost reached there when he sank to rise no more. Mr. Phelps was endeavoring to come to the rescue with his boat but reached the spot too late; Hood River' first tragedy had been enacted. The entire settlement turned out and dragged the river but to no purpose. Two weeks later James Condon found a body floating in the water and with the help of Mr. McHaley and others wrapped it in a sheet and placed it in a canoe. It was the body of James Laughlin. It was conveyed by steamer to The Dalles where relatives and friends paid loving tribute to his worth as they laid the body to rest in the cemetery.
     Mrs. Laughlin, his mother, was bedfast for weeks as the result of the shock; the father hid his own grief that he might comfort and care for his afflicted ones, but he was never the same; his health gradually failed and on September he entered his home for the last time. One week later he died, September 7th, 1864. His daughter, in her "Reminiscences" pays him this loving tribute: "A good son, a kind husband, a loving father, a generous neighbor and a warm friend. . . .His was a life untarnished, his honor unquestioned, truthful, honest, upright and just."
     Mrs. Lord lived in The Dalles until her death, which occurred at Trout Lake in the summer of 1913. She was well and favorably known, not only in her home town, but throughout the state and far beyond its borders, among those with whom she came in contact in her work. Her book of "Reminiscences", although intended only for relatives and friends of the family, contains much of a historical nature that is valuable, details that the ordinary writer omits, but which throw needed light on the social conditions of that time. She was an enthusiastic member of The Dalles Historical Society and was instrumental in placing markers on historic spots. While she was president the society visited the cemetery at Lyle, Washington, and placed a granite stone at the head of the grave of Frederick Homer Balch, author of "The Bridge of the Gods".

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