Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1893. p. 726. RlCHARD L. SIMPSON who came to Oregon in 1850, and is a successful business man of Amity, was born in Tennessee, January 10,1829. His father, James Simpson, was born in North Carolina, in 1772, of Scotch ancestry, who were early settlers of Virginia. When a young man his father became a Kentucky pioneer, and with others built a fort, by aid of which they kept the Indians at bay. He married Miss Levina Sewell, a native of South Carolina, and of Irish ancestry. From Kentucky they moved to Tennessee, where his family of eight children were brought up. In 1858 he removed to Missouri and died there, in 1865, in his ninety-third year; his wife had died two years previously. Of their family four are still living. Mr. R. L. Simpson, our subject, was educated principally in Tennessee, going five miles to school. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, and mined on the American river below Coloma, but he became sick, and left the mines in search of health. From San Francisco he came by water to Portland, Oregon, and thence to La Fayette, then the largest town in the county. He chopped wood, split rails, and helped build houses; was a volunteer in the Indian war of 1855-56, serving in Company E, until the close of the war. He saw many of the characteristic hardships of Indian warfare. At one time he subsisted two weeks on horse meat alone. The whites succeeded in driving the Indians out of the State. When the railroad was in process of construction he went to St. Joseph, Oregon, and started in business there, expecting that that point would become a town of some importance, but the place did not progress far in that direction, and he took down his store building and removed it to Amity, in 1874, where he has since resided. He and J.M. Kelty had a store in La Fayette, to which place Mr. Simpson came with the intention finally of closing the " St. Jo" branch of their business at Amity; and while there he became favorably impressed with the town and decided to locate there. During the administration of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson Mr. Simpson hold the office of Postmaster at La Fayette; six years later he was Postmaster St. Joseph. In 1874 he received a similar appointment at Amity, and has since been the reliable and obliging Postmaster at that place, with the exception of three years during the administration of President Cleveland. When President Harrison was elected, the citizens of Amity induced him again to accept the appointment. Mr. Simpson is the proprietor of the only drug store in Amity, where he faithfully serves the demands of the people in that line. In general he has been successful in business. He owns two business blocks and other real estate, some in Portland. Ever since the organization of the Republican party he has acted with the same. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the I. O. O. F. and A. O. U. W. Of the latter organization he is Past Master Workman, and he is Treasurer of Amity Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M. He is also one of the organizers of the Oregon Pharmaceutical Society. In all the relations of life, with which he has been connected, he has proved himself to be an honorable and reliable citizen. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2007 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.