Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 2.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 613.
 
DAVID CAUFIELD

     On the corner of Eighth and Main streets, in Oregon City, not far from the
courthouse, is an old style two-story wooden building, which is one of the
historic landmarks of this part of the state. This structure, which has
withstood the elements for more than three quarters of a century, was erected in
1849, by Robert Caufield, the father of David Caufield, who has spent the
greater part of his life in Oregon City and was long numbered among its
prominent business men, while at the present he is enjoying the fruits of his
well directed labors in former years.
     Robert Caufield was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1805 and after attaining
his majority came to the United States. He located in Cincinnati and was
employed in gilding steamboat cabins, also in doing high-grade cabinet work. In
1836 he became acquainted with Jane Burnside, who was born in Ballymena, near
Belfast, in County Antrim, April 16, 1817, and left the Emerald isle when a
child of eight. During the winter of 1825 she lived in St. John, New Brunswick,
Canada, and the next spring crossed the border into the United States, spending
a year in Buffalo, New York. From that city she traveled to Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, going from there to Philadelphia in 1829, and later to Cincinnati,
Ohio, where she was married in 1837.
     Mr. and Mrs. Caufield remained in Cincinnati until the fall of 1846, when
they moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they spent the winter, and in the
spring of 1847 started across the plains with a wagon train of which Joel
Palmer, later Indian commissioner for Oregon, was captain. At that time David
Caufield was but two years old and his brother Robert was a child of four. The
party traversed the newly opened Barlow route and while crossing the Cascade
mountains Mr. Caufield's oxen became exhausted and he went for assistance to a
near-by settlement. On Dickey prairie he obtained from John K. Dickey and
Clifford Callahan fresh oxen, which conveyed the family to Oregon City. Before
starting for the Pacific northwest Mr. Caufield had purchased a supply of
merchandise and with this he stocked a general store in Oregon City. In its
conduct he was assisted by his wife, who took charge of the millinery
department. A few doors away was the store of Mrs. Markham, whose son Edwin
achieved fame as the author of the poem entitled "The Man With the Hoe." Mr. and
Mrs. Caufield also became well acquainted with Dr. John McLoughlin, with whom
they often consulted. Their store was situated on the west side of Main street
and the business was managed by Mrs. Caufield during her husband's sojourn in
California in 1849. Fortune there eluded him and like many other gold seekers,
he returned home rich in experience but poor in purse. In 1850 he was elected
treasurer of Clackamas county, being the first incumbent of the office, and
became one of the first judges of the county. In 1852 he took up a donation land
claim three miles from Oregon City and cultivated the tract until 1859, when he
moved to Oregon City, in which he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs.
Caufield were Presbyterians but when the local services of that denomination
were discontinued they joined the Congregational church. They possessed many
admirable qualities and were highly esteemed by all with whom they were brought
in contact. Death summoned Mr. Caufield in 1891 and his wife was called to her
final rest in 1899. Their family numbered five children: Robert F., who attained
the ripe age of eighty-two years, passing away on his birthday, March 22, 1925;
David; Charles H., formerly a banker and now engaged in business with his son in
Oregon City; Clara E., who was the wife of P. F. Morey and died July 21, 1927;
and Edwin G., of Oregon City.
     The last named was born in Oregon City in 1859 and received a public school
education. For some time he was employed in the George A. Harding drug store and
later engaged in the drug business for himself. Subsequently he admitted C. G.
Huntley to a partnership and for several years they were members of the firm of
Caufield & Huntley, building up a profitable business, of which Mr. Huntley
afterward became the owner. In 1891 Mr. Caufield turned his attention to
financial affairs, becoming associated with his brother Charles, and from 1891
until 1916 was cashier of the Bank of Oregon City, since which time he has lived
retired.
     In 1882 Mr. Caufield was married in Oregon City to Miss Maria S. Putrow, a
native of Rhode Island and a daughter of A. D. and Mary A. (Davis) Putrow. They
came to Oregon City in 1872 and Mr. Putrow became head carder in the woolen
mill. Mr. Caufield gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and
during 1897 and 1898 was mayor of Oregon City. In 1906 he was recalled to that
office and served in all for four terms, ably representing the municipality. He
has ever manifested an unselfish spirit of devotion to the general good and is
treasurer of the Clackamas County Humane Society, of which his wife is
secretary.
     The following record of his brother's career was prepared by Fred Lockley
and published in the Oregon Journal in January, 1922:
      "Recently I visited David Caufield, of Oregon City. When I asked him to
tell me of some of the interesting things he had seen or taken part in during
the early days of Oregon he said: 'One of the first things I saw that made a
vivid impression on my memory was Joe Meek cutting the rope that dropped the
trapdoors for the foul Indians who were being hanged at Oregon City for the
Whitman massacre. All four of the traps were sprung at once. A big crowd had
gathered from all over the Willamette valley. Joe Meek was a man you couldn't
help liking. He was square-shouldered, had long hair, and he could pretty nearly
talk a bird out of a tree, he was so entertaining. The next thing I remember of
historic importance Was the funeral of Dr. McLoughlin in 1859. My father was one
of the pallbearers. I attended the funeral and I have never forgotten it.
     " 'When I was a little chap Maggie Kilburne and Eddy Markham were among my
playmates. I went to school in the Baptist church. The Rev. Chandler and Rev.
Ezra Fisher were the teachers. Father outfitted my brother Robert a time or two
to go to the mines. He promised to outfit me, but when it came time he always
said, "Some other time; you are needed on the farm." So when the mining
excitement started in Idaho in 1863 I decided not to wait any longer, I saddled
my horse, said nothing to anyone, and struck out for Placerville and the Boise
basin mines. At the foot of Laurel hill I overtook George Goggan, who hired me
to drive one of his teams to Placerville. He was a race-horse man and was killed
just east of Pendleton during the Bannock war. At Placerville I landed a job
shoveling tailings at eight dollars a day. Meals were a dollar and a quarter and
the same price was charged for a bunk, each lodger furnishing his own blankets.
Pies were one dollar each, so a person couldn't save much money, particularly if
he were fond of pastry. We worked at Placerville, Centerville, Hogum, Bannock
and Boise City. At Boise City I cast my first ballot in 1864, voting the
straight democratic ticket. No, they weren't very particular in those days and,
anyway, I looked about twenty-one, if I did lack a couple of years. Later I went
to Canyon City and John Day. After coming back from Idaho I got a job as
deckhand on the "Willamette. Later I worked on the Reliance, the Onward, the
Fannie Patton, the Relief and other river steamers. No, I was not a deckhand all
the time. I served as mate on the Shoshone, the Governor, the Grover, the
Beaver, the Willamette Chief, the Occident, the S. T. Church and the
McMinnville.
     " 'General M. M. McGarver, one of the pioneer settlers of Oregon City and
the man who, with Peter H. Burnett, took up the site of Linnton, wanted to start
a new town, so along about 1867 he went up to the Puget Sound country. He found
on Commencement bay a place he thought would have the makings of a city. Job
Garr had taken up a claim along the waterfront. McCarver offered Carr ten
dollars an acre. He told Carr he was going to start a town there and said that
he could retain five acres which in time would make him well-to-do. McCarver was
financed by the Portland bankers, Steele and Starr. Starr went up with McCarver
to size up the site. They bought the Carr claim. Carr was the first settler
within the present city limits of Tacoma. McCarver bought him out and took a
claim near his. About the time I went up Lucius B. Starr, James W. King and
Thomas Hood came. Starr put up a little cabin and a few weeks later I helped
build McCarver's home, which was the first frame house in Tacoma. In July, 1868,
McCarver with his family moved to the homestead.
     " 'McCarver suggested shortly afterward that we take a look over the
country for minerals. He was enthusiastic about sawmill possibilities and also
about shipping facilities. McCarver, Howard Carr and I went on horseback up
Puylopa river as far as Van Ogle's ford. McCarver turned back there, the
understanding being that Carr and I should search for minerals. We went on to
the Jackson place, where we left our horses, and with blankets, frying pan and
guns, went on up the creek. We found pieces of coal here and there along the
stream and followed it until we could find no more. Then we came back and
searched each bank carefully until we came to a point where an old tree was
lying over the stream. We found quite a little coal below this, so we rooted out
the old tree and discovered a vein several feet thick. We took samples back to
McCarver, who was very much interested. He had an idea we would also find iron
ore there, which, with plenty of coal, in time to come would make the new town a
manufacturing center. I lived with the McCarvers a long time when Tacoma had a
population of twelve to twenty people. You couldn't help liking the family, they
were so sincere and friendly. McCarver was one of the finest men I ever met. He
had a large broad forehead, heavy eyebrows, a large, well-shaped nose, firm chin
and heavy head of hair. He was a kindly, pleasant man of fine appearance, six
feet in height, well built and a good horseman. He was one of the few men I have
worked with in whom I can find no fault. He was an unusually far-sighted man---a
man of vision. I knew his daughters, Elizabeth, Virginia and Naomi, very well.
We always called Elizabeth Betty. Virginia, whom we called Jennie, became the
wife of Thomas W. Prosch and both were killed in an automobile accident in 1922.
    " 'I came pretty near being a rich man when Tacoma was founded. I took up
one hundred and seventy-six acres of land. I sold one hundred and sixty acres to
Mr. Ferry, retaining sixteen acres. Some years later, when Tacoma looked as if
it was going to make a city, some one offered me one hundred and fifty dollars
for fifteen acres. That looked like a whole lot of money for so small a piece of
ground, so I took it, keeping one acre that afterward sold for five hundred
dollars. That sixteen acres is now covered with skyscrapers and big store
buildings. You see in the early days there was so much land to be had for
nothing that when they could get real money for it the pioneers usually decided
to take the money and take their chance on getting some more free land. If
McCarver could come back now for a visit to the town he founded he would sure
say, "Watch Tacoma grow,"
     " 'I was married December 3, 1876. Rev. D. B. Gray, a Congregational
minister, performed the ceremony. For a while after my marriage I was mate on
the Occident. Later we moved to the Norton farm, twelve miles east of Oregon
City, and from there to a ranch in the mountains in a district called 'Hell's
Half-acre. In 1892 I started a grocery store in Oregon City. After a few years I
became a contractor and painter. Then for five years I was lock tender at the
Oregon City locks.' " For many years Mr. Caufield was numbered among the leading
painting contractors of the city and is now living retired.
     His wife, Mary R. (Beatie) Caufield, is known as "Mollie" and for many
years they have journeyed through life together, celebrating their fiftieth
wedding anniversary on December 3, 1926. Mrs. Caufield's parents were Charles F.
and Nancy Jane (Litell) Beatie, the former of whom was born in Wheeling, West
Virginia, and the latter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Beatie was reared in
Missouri but received his higher education in the south and for two years
attended a college in Virginia, discontinuing his studies because of ill health.
He left St. Joseph, Missouri, with his brother, Robert C. Beatie, who induced
him to migrate to California instead of to Oregon, as he had planned. A year
later Charles F. Beatie embarked at San Francisco in a sailing vessel which
encountered a severe storm at the mouth of the Columbia river and was unable to
reach the harbor of Portland until six weeks later. Mr. Beatie bought from John
Larkin a donation land claim near Beaver Creek in 1851 and in 1877 became a
resident of Oregon City. To Mr. and Mrs. Caufield were born seven children.
Their first son, Charles, died in 1894, when seventeen years of age. Marjorie is
the wife of Livy Stipp and lives in Oregon City. Ethel was married to H. G.
Thompson and their home is in Spokane, Washington. Carl F., the fourth in order
of birth, is living in Portland, Oregon. Jack Roscoe, of Tillamook, Oregon, has
a wife and two children, Waldo and Joe. Lee James went to France with the
American Expeditionary Force and was assigned to the Three Hundred and
Eighteenth Engineers. He was stationed abroad for about a year and rose to the
rank of first lieutenant. His home is situated near Oak Grove, in Clackamas
county, and he has a wife and one child, James David. Waldo Emerson, who also
fought in the World war, was a sergeant in Headquarters Company of the First
Division, he was attached to the intelligence section and at Cantigny on May 25,
1918, was cited for bravery. In the Argonne offensive of October 2, 1918, he
sacrificed his life for his country and after his death was awarded the Croix de
Guerre by the French nation.
 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in August 2010 by Diana Smith. Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.