Yamhill-Hood River-Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Sappington, W. D. 1864 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 28, 2007, 3:29 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     W. D. SAPPINGTON, who is engaged in farming near Washougal, Clark county, 
Washington, is a native of the Pacific northwest, with which he has been 
identified throughout his life, and, because of his active and useful career, 
is numbered among the representative men of his community. He was born at 
North Yamhill, in Yamhill county, Oregon, in 1864, and is a son of J. W. and 
Lucinda (Laughlin) Sappington, His paternal grandparents were James and Mary 
Sappington, who came from Missouri across the plains to Oregon in 1845, 
journeying by ox team and covered wagon to The Dalles, Oregon, whence they 
proceeded down the Columbia river. They located in Yamhill county, where Mr. 
Sappington developed a farm and followed agricultural pursuits until his 
death, probably in 1860. Later his widow became the wife of Judge M. L. 
Rowland and lived in McMinnville, Oregon, where he owned a townsite, and there 
their deaths occurred. To James and Mary Sappington were born four children, 
J. W., G. W., Mrs. Sara Laughlin and Frances, deceased, who was the wife of 
John Fouts. To Judge and Mrs. Rowland were also born four children: Thomas; 
Maggie, who became the wife of Judge Hewitt; Newt and Marian, twins.
     J. W. Sappington was born in Pike county, Missouri, and in 1845 
accompanied his parents on their migration to Oregon being at that time nine 
years of age. He was reared to the life of a farmer and always followed 
agricultural pursuits. In about 1863 he came to Washington county. Washington, 
and bought the John Campbell donation claim, about three miles east of Gaston. 
He lived on that place until after the death of his wife, which occurred in 
1891, when he went to Hillsboro, and soon afterward was elected to the office 
of county treasurer and was later reelected but died in 1896 before the 
expiration of his second term. He gave his political support to the republican 
party and was a member of the state legislature during the early ‘80s.  He 
also served a number of years as a justice of the peace at Gaston. In Yamhill 
county he was married to Miss Lucinda Laughlin, who was born in Missouri and 
was about nine months old when brought to the coast by her parents, James and 
Mary Laughlin, who made the tiresome journey across the plains with ox teams 
and covered wagons to The Dalles, Oregon, from which point they floated down 
the Columbia river to Vancouver, Washington, which they reached in 1843. Here 
the mother died in an early day. The father located in Yamhill county, Oregon, 
where he took up a donation claim and farmed on a large scale, the locality 
where he settled being known as Laughlin’s Gap. To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. 
Sappington were born eleven children, as follows: James, who died in February, 
1926; Mrs. Rosa McCloud, who died in about 1897; E. B., who is county 
treasurer of Washington county, Oregon, having been elected to that office the 
year after the father’s death and served continuously ever since; W. D., of 
this review; Mrs. Fanny Kertson, who died in 1924; George, who died in 1882; 
Mrs. Nancy Spiddell, who lives in Milwaukie, Oregon; Alma, who died at the age 
of eight years; Inez and Horace, deceased; and Herbert, who lives in St. 
Louis, Missouri. George, Alma, Inez and Horace all died during one diphtheria 
epidemic.
     W. D. Sappington attended the district schools near Gaston and for two 
years pursued his studies at McMinnville College, entering during the first 
year after the building was erected. On leaving school he worked for the 
government at Cascade Locks as a mechanical engineer for four or five years, 
after which he went to Portland and was there engaged in the butcher business 
until 1903, first under the firm name of Sappington & McCullock, and later as 
Sappington & Dow. In 1903 he went to Yacolt, Clark county, Washington, which 
was just then starting, and there established a meat market, which he 
conducted until 1907, when he was elected sheriff of Clark county. He served 
three terms, from 1907 to 1912, and on his retirement from the office located 
at Sunnyside on two hundred and eighty acres of land, a part of the old 
Blackwood homestead, and here he has resided to the present time, meeting with 
notable success in its operation, for he is an energetic and progressive 
farmer.
     In 1890 at Sunnyside, near Washougal, Mr. Sappington was married to Miss 
Eunice Blackwood, who was born in Placerville, California, and is a daughter 
of Hampton and Eliza Blackwood, who crossed the plains in the early ‘50s and 
located in California, where they were living during the historic gold rush. 
In the early ‘80s they came to Washington and settled at Sunnyside, where 
their deaths occurred. To Mr. and Mrs. Sappington have been born two children, 
Lucile, a teacher of music in Roseburg, Oregon, was married June 26, 1928, to 
Walter Germain, the supervisor of music in the public schools at Marshfield, 
Oregon. Chester, who lives at Grant’s Pass, married Miss Loretta Cook and they 
hare a daughter, Marguerite.
     Mr. Sappington has shown a proper interest in public affairs, in which he 
has been prominent and influential. He served for ten years as county road 
supervisor for district No. 2, in eastern Clark county; as a member of the 
school board, and for sixteen years as a deputy sheriff. He was one of the 
organizers of the Federal Farm Loan Association here eleven years ago, with 
headquarters at Vancouver, and has served continuously as chairman of the 
board, also as local appraiser. The Washougal Woolen Mills was organized as a 
stock company with local capital, the machinery being owned by J. W. Bailey, 
its promoter, who brought the machinery from La Grande, Oregon. This company 
failed and on July 13, 1913, W. P. Sappington was appointed receiver, which 
position he filled for two years and through his good management twenty-five 
thousand dollars was realized for the creditors.  On September 1, 1913, he 
leased the mills to Bishop Brothers of the Pendleton Woolen Mills. The mill 
again started up on that date and has been in continuous successful operation 
ever since. It is nationally known; employs three hundred people; uses two 
million pounds of wool a year, and is the leading industry in Clark county, 
outside the paper mills at Camas.
     Mr. Sappington is a Mason, in which order he has attained the sixteenth 
degree of the Scottish Rite, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the 
Woodmen of the World, and he and his wife belong to the Knights and Ladies of 
Security.  He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Wild Life League 
and from the age of seven years has been interested in hunting and fishing. He 
always keeps a pack of fox and beagle hounds, with which he hunts bear and 
panther, and follows that sport as his chief diversion from his business 
cares. He is regarded as a man of clear headed judgment in practical matters; 
has proven a stanch and trustworthy citizen and a constant and dependable 
neighbor and friend; and throughout his section of the valley he commands the 
respect and good will of all who know him.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 337-339

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