Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 900.
 
THOMAS OTCHIN

     a worthy citizen of Washington county, Oregon, is one of the very few men
who are left of the brave pioneers who came to Oregon in 1839.
     Mr. Otchin was born in Lincolnshire, England, November 17, 1814.  His
parents were William and Mary (Knight) Otchin, natives of England and of old
English ancestry.  They were members of the Church of England, and his father
was a farm laborer.  Thomas was the fifth of their family of nine children.  He
was reared and educated in his native land, and was there married to Miss Mary
Beck.  In 1836 he entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, and brought
his young wife to America, and landed at York Fort on the Hudson's Bay.  Then he
went to the Red river country, walking with snowshoes and drawing the sled on
which were his supplies.  He farmed in the Red river country two years.  In 1839
he came to Fort Vancouver.  From her he went to the Fraser river and was in the
dairy business for the Hudson's Bay Company, two years.  In 1841 he took a
donation claim on the sound, and farmed near where Olympia now is.  After
remaining there a year, he came in 1842 to the Tualitin valley and took up 640
acres, the donation claim on which he now resides.  He traded with the Indians
for supplies, went to the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver for flour and
wheat, and here he resided until the gold excitement in California, in 1848,
when he went to the mines.  At Mormon island he dug about $3,000 worth of the
yellow dust, and returned to Oregon with about half of it.  Since then he has
resided on his ranch, living the life of a prosperous and upright farmer.
     Two children were born to him and his wife east of the mountains, both of
whom are deceased; and his faithful companion who had been with him in all his
pioneer wanderings, and had shared all his privations and dangers as well as his
later prosperity, died February 1, 1879.
     In 1858, Mr. Otchin returned to England to visit his relatives and the
scenes of his childhood, and while he was there his sister died, leaving a
daughter, Miss Mary A. Simpson, who in October, 1881, came to Oregon.  On his
return to this State Mr. Otchin brought with him his wife's sister, who survived
her arrival in this country but three years.  For eleven years his niece has
been to him all that an affectionate daughter could be, and is now his
housekeeper.  It may here be stated that Hon. Thomas Tongue of Hillsborough,
this county, is a nephew of Mr. Otchin.  Mr. Otchin has built a nice residence
on his farm, and here he is spending the evening of an active and useful life,
respected and beloved by all who know him.  He is an intelligent and
well-informed man, is in politics a Republican, and is a fair representative of
the first settlers of Oregon.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2006 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.