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

WALLACE A. HUSBANDS                                            1878
Contributed

     Wallace Husbands, the fourth son of Samuel Kagg Husbands and Mary Elizabeth (Gregory) Husbands was born in Ceceistershire, England, on Feb. 21, 1865. When he was three years of age, his parents came to the United States and settled on a farm in Cumming County, Nebraska.
     Seven years later they moved to the town of West Point in that State. In 1876 the family moved from Nebraska to La Center, Clarke Co., Washington. In the early spring of 1878 they came to Hood River and bought land one mile east of the Barrett school, the three younger children attending the school. In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Husbands with the three younger children made a visit to England, returning about eighteen months later they built a good house in the newly laid out town of Hood River. This place was sold and a fine farm purchased four miles East of Mosier on the Columbia River.
     When Wallace was fifteen years old he was employed on a farm near Pendleton, on his sixteenth birthday he was sworn in as mail-carrier, the route being from the Hood River office to the Columbia River boat landing. The office at this time was located at the residence of Oscar Stranahan on the hill.
     From 1883 to 1889 he was employed in the sawmill owned by Lyman Smith. Leaving the mill he went to his father's farm near Mosier to assist him. On November 29, 1894, he was married to Alice Root, a neighbor's daughter. Three children were born to them, Muriel in 1895, lived only nine months; Emily on January 24, 1898, and Arvilla on December 7, 1904.
     In the fall of 1900 Mr. Husbands moved with his family to Seabright, Cal., where for two years he conducted a grocery store.
     In l902 he returned to Oregon and lived for two years on his homestead, which is four miles South of the town of Mosier. He then moved into the town and took up the trade of Blacksmith, at which he has continued ever since.
     Mr. Husbands has taken an active part in the forwards movements of the community, and in the fall of 1913 when the town was incorporated, he was elected a member of the common council, receiving the highest number of votes cast in the election.
     He served acceptably on the school board as director, and is an active member of the Immanuel Federated Church of Mosier.
     While his mechanical skill and ingenuity have gained for him a comfortable livelihood, he has won the respect and esteem of the entire community by his integrity and genial disposition.

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