Fagan, David D. "History of Benton County, Oregon." Portland, OR: A. G. Walling, Printer, Lithographer, Etc., 1885. pg. 510. JESSE H. CATON Deceased. This pioneer, the son of Noah and Frances Caton, was born in Carroll county, Missouri, December 10, 1819. In his early boyhood his father moved to what was at that time Bates county, and settled on a stream called Maunation. He remained with his father most of the time, assisting in the cultivation of the farm, until the spring of 1843, when he started for Oregon in company with the Applegates, Dr. Whitman and Col. Nesmith. He helped to bring the first wagon down the Blue Mountains. The first three years he passed in Oregon he was employed in Oregon City and Forest Grove, at whatever employment he could obtain, making his home with Alvin T. Smith of the latter place. At Almond Hills on Wapato Lake, in that neighborhood, he worked ne hundred days and received therefor two Spanish cows, these animals being then valued at fifty dollars per head. In the fall of 1846 he located the first claim in waht has since become known as the Belknap Settlement. In the spring of 1847 he moved with thirty head of cattle and one horse to his new home, Jacob Hammer and wife keeping house for him during the first twelve months. Mr. Caton was married, December 31, 1848, to Miss Precious Starr, Rev. J. Starr officiating. In 1856 he visited his old home in Missouri, his wife and child accompanying him, and returning to Benton county in the following year, bought a residence in the city of Corvallis, where his family still dwell. April 26, 1863, he started for Eastern Oregon purposing to be absent a few weeks, but after a few hours sickness died in Union county, June 15, 1863, leaving a widow and four children, two boys and two girls, who still own the farm in the Belknap settlement. He was a member of Barnum Lodge, No. 7, I.O.O.F., also of the Methodist Episcopal church in Corvallis. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in September 2006 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.