Wasco County OR Archives Biographies.....McClure, Thomas J. November 20, 1846 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com September 5, 2010, 12:53 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 587 - 588
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     THOMAS J. McCLURE.  Prominent among the early pioneers of the Columbia 
River valley is Thomas J. McClure, who owns and operates a well improved and 
productive farm near Mosier, Wasco county, Oregon, and who has been a resident 
of this state continuously for over three-quarters of a century. During this 
period, embracing practically the entire history of white occupation he 
witnessed its development from a wilderness into one of the most progressive 
and prosperous sections of the state, and has been a factor in its 
advancement. Mr. McClure was born in Buchanan county, Missouri, on the 20th of 
November, 1846, a son of William C. and Amelia (Sullivan) McClure, of whom the 
former was born in Knox county, Tennessee, and the latter in Madison county, 
Kentucky. In both paternal and maternal lines he is descended from Scotch-
Irish stock, and his grandfather McClure was a veteran of the war of 1812. In 
1852 he accompanied the family on their emigration to the northwest and his 
death occurred at the home of his son in Oregon, December 31, 1878, at the age 
of eighty-two years. William C. McClure was taken to Illinois in his boyhood, 
lived there eight years, and then moved to Missouri, where he was married May 
26, 1842. He engaged in farming there until April 12, 1852, when he started 
with his family for Oregon. He had a good outfit, comprising twelve yoke of 
oxen and three wagons, but afterwards regretted that he had sold his good 
Missouri mules in order to buy the oxen, as they would have stood the trip 
better, for when he arrived in Oregon he had only one ox and one cow, the 
other cattle having died on the way. The party arrived at The Dalles on 
October 1, 1852, and thence went down the river on a flatboat to the Cascades, 
having taken their wagon apart and loaded it and the livestock on the boat. 
They unloaded at the mouth of Sandy river and drove thirty miles through 
timber and brush and over logs to Yamhill county, where they took up a 
donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres, on the Yamhill river, two 
miles west of Sheridan. It was fine prairie land and there Mr. McClure built a 
log house and began the improvement and cultivation of his land. He remained 
there until 1863, and on March 20th of the following year came to The Dalles, 
where he lived until May 12, 1866, when he located on a homestead three and a 
half miles east of Mosier. After building a box house he engaged in farming, 
planting an orchard and raising grain and hay, and also raised considerable 
stock. He was successful in the operation of the farm and lived there until 
his death, May 21, 1895. His wife passed away September 29, 1896. They were 
the parents of four children: Mary Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Thomas J.; 
William T., who died March 13, 1915; and Amanda A., the widow of Andrew J. 
Marsh, who died March 18, 1885. Mr. McClure was a democrat in his political 
views and was active in local public affairs, having served for many years as 
a member of the school board and also as road supervisor of his district.

     Thomas J. McClure was educated in the Willamette valley, attending a 
subscription school at Willamina, after which he remained at home, assisting 
his father, until he had attained his majority, when he took up a preemption 
claim of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his father's land. His sister, 
Mrs. Marsh, also took up a homestead of eighty acres and bought one hundred 
and sixty acres adjoining, so that together they now own seven hundred acres 
of fine land. Twelve acres are in apples, while the remainder is devoted to 
grain and pasture. Mr. McClure keeps both dairy and stock cattle and a number 
of hogs and has uniformly been blessed with good crops, giving painstaking and 
intelligent direction to the operation of the place, which is regarded as one 
of the best farms in this locality. Since her husband's death, in 1885, Mrs. 
Marsh has lived with and kept house for her brother, who never married. Mr. 
McClure is a member of Mosier Lodge, No. 182, I. 0. 0. F., at Mosier. He is 
remarkably active for his years, doing nearly all of his own farm and orchard 
work, and does practically all of his traveling on horseback, being able to 
jump onto his horse's back with more ease than most men fifty years his 
junior. He recites many interesting reminiscences of early days on the 
Columbia river, recalling, among other things, that before the coming of 
railroads there was keen competition between the river boats for the freight 
and passenger trade. He is one of the few men now living here who drove oxen, 
or "bull teams," as they were then called. Because of his long and useful 
life, his loyalty and constancy as a neighbor and friend, and his sterling 
qualities, no man of this community is held in higher regard than he.

     Andrew J. Marsh was born near The Dalles, in Wasco county, Oregon, May 
19, 1858, and was a son of Josiah and Leanna (Bell) Marsh, the former a native 
of Tennessee and the latter of Iowa. His father came to Oregon in 1854, 
locating on a donation claim near Rowena, Wasco county, comprising three 
hundred and twenty acres of good bottom land. There he ran a dairy, supplying 
milk for The Dalles for many years. Subsequently he returned east, where his 
death occurred. His wife died in Oregon in 1896. They were the parents of 
eight children. Andrew J. Marsh was educated in the district school and 
remained at home until he was married to Amanda A. McClure, and he devoted his 
attention to farming until his death, March 18, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Marsh had a 
son, William A., born March 13, 1884, who is now married and has three 
children, Bessie A., Charles W. and William Franklin. Bessie graduated from 
the State Normal School at Monmouth, Oregon, in 1927 and is now teaching 
school in Wasco county.

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