Multnomah-Clackamas County OR Archives Biographies.....Lakin, Sr., C. A. January 12, 1857 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 27, 2009, 9:38 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company C. A. LAKIN, SR. Among the men of enterprise, ability and determination to whom Milwaukie is indebted for its growth along industrial lines is numbered C. A. Lakin, Sr., the founder of the brass works which bears his name. A member of one of the pioneer families of the Columbia River Valley, he was born January 12, 1857, in Portland, Oregon, and his parents were Thomas Newton and Mary L. (Pickett) Lakin, natives respectively of Ohio and Virginia. The father was born in 1817 and when a young man of thirty-five responded to the call of the west, crossing the plains in 1852. After a short stay in Hillsboro, Oregon, he moved to Portland and as a member of the firm of Campbell & Lakin, organized in the latter part of 1852, he opened one of the first stores devoted to the sale of men's furnishings in that locality. Later Mr. Lakin was identified with other firms but continued in the same line of activity until his retirement from business. While a resident of Hillsboro he was elected justice of the peace and thereafter was always known as "Squire" Lakin. A business man of high standing and a good citizen, he was esteemed and respected by all with whom he was associated. In 1899 he was called to his final rest and his wife passed away about 1897. In their family were six children; Clementine, now deceased, who was a native of Ohio and became the wife of J. Dommer; George, who was also born in the Buckeye state and now living in the vicinity of Milwaukie; E. C., deceased, who was born in Hillsboro and became a master mariner, operating boats on the Willamette and Columbia rivers; Ida, who died in 1868, when a young girl of thirteen; C. A; and Lewis, who has passed away. In the acquirement of an education C. A. Lakin, Sr., attended Portland Academy and afterward aided in making a preliminary survey for the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1875 he entered the Oregon Brass Works, a Portland industry owned by D. M. Moore, and worked in the plant for twenty-one years, advancing through the various departments. His next position was with the Portland Street Railway Company and afterward he was employed by the Northwest Steel Company, but lived in Milwaukee, to which he had moved in 1885. During the early days he was part owner of an iron foundry, which was conducted in Milwaukie for about five years by the firm of Atkinson & Lakin. He established the Lakin Brass Works, purchasing his equipment from the Northwest Steel Company and moving it to Milwaukie. Through close attention to detail, well matured plans and judicious management he fostered the growth of the business, of which he has a highly specialized knowledge, and has admitted his son, C. A. Lakin, Jr., to a partnership in the firm. The plant has a capacity of about one thousand pounds of brass, bronze and aluminum castings per day and the product is sold principally to railroads and logging camps. The output of the foundry is of high grade and the business has assumed large proportions. In 1879 Mr. Lakin was married in Portland to Miss Rosalie Hubler, a native of Albany, Oregon, and a daughter of Noah Hubler, one of the early settlers of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Lakin became the parents of eight children: Ralph Merle, who is connected with the Portland Street Railway Company and has a wife and four children; Clementine, who is the widow of F. C. Atwell and lives in Irvington, a Portland suburb; Ethel, the wife of C. E. Meldrum and the mother of one child. Rose, who is Mrs. G. E. Hislop, of Seattle, Washington, and has two children; Birdie A., who died in 1911, when twenty-two years of age; Ada, who married G. W. Stein, of Portland, and has one child; C. A. Lakin, Jr., who joined Battery B, of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Field Artillery, and went to France with the American Expeditionary Force, being stationed abroad for eighteen months and participating in some of the most notable engagements of the World war. He married Miss Marie Stein and both are prominent in social affairs of Milwaukie. T. N. Lakin resides in Portland and has a wife and one child. C. A. Lakin, Sr., is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled a number of offices, and his wife is affiliated with the Daughters of Rebekah. They are useful and influential members of society and occupy a high place in the esteem of their fellow citizens. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 585-586 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/lakinsr557gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.2 Kb