The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 342 AARON B. HICKENBOTTOM. Many have been the hardships that have beset the career of Aaron B. Hickenbottom but despite Many discouragements he has succeeded and is today numbered among the prosperous orchardists of the Zillah district. When he became a resident of this locality there was practically no other family here and he is therefore numbered among the honored pioneers. He was born in Bledsoe county, Tennessee, January 28, 1810, a son of Wesley and Millie (Perry), Hickenbottom, both natives of Tennessee. The father was a son of Aaron Hickenbottom, also a Tennessean and of an old southern family. Wesley Hickenbottom devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and both he and his wife passed away in their native state. Aaron B. Hickenbottom received a meager education in the public schools, as his father died when he was but eleven years of age and his mother soon afterward, and subsequently was reared in a family with which he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. For one and a half years he worked on the railroad and subsequently was a farm hand until 1883, when he made his way to Texas, which state remained his home for about three years. Thence he proceeded to California, where he spent six months and then went to Tacoma, Washington, near which city he was located for about five years. In the fall of 1891 Mr. Hickenbottom bought twenty acres of land in the Yakima valley, one and three-quarter miles northwest of Zillah, the tract being then covered with sagebrush and in an entirely undeveloped state. Little did the first settlers dream in those early days of the great possibilities that were presented here for fruit raising if only water could be brought to the land. Mr. Hickenbottom made the second contract to buy land in this neighborhood. At one time he had an additional ten acres, which he bought later, but he subsequently sold this to his son. He brought his family here in 1892 and many were the hardships and privations which they endured in those early days. He had to carry water from the river as he did not have a team with which to haul it. After he had made a payment on the ranch he had no money left and those first years were therefore difficult for the family. In order to get his first fruit trees he traded a pig, at four cents a pound for the dressed pork, and hauled it twenty miles to Yakima to exchange it for a few trees. He is truly a self-made man. Today he has seven acres in orchard, while the remainder of the farm is devoted to the raising of hay and under the plow. He has built a good home and suitable barns and has made many ether improvements and installed new equipment, so that his property today is considered one of the most valuable in the neighborhood. On January 27, 1892, Mr. Hickenbottom was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Adams, a native of Nova Scotia and a daughter of A. F. and Esther Adams, who became residents of Puyallup, Washington, but both have now passed away. To this union were born six children: Fred W., who is married and is ranching near his father's place; and Bernice, Frank H., Walter E., Elmer Adams and Ellen Louise, all yet at home. Mr. and Mrs. Hickenbottom are widely known and have many friends in this district. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they are deeply and helpfully interested, and fraternally Mr. Hickenbottom is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He has ever been interested in development and growth along material as well as intellectual and educational lines and is serving as director of the irrigation district and has also been a member of the school board, while for three years he served on the board of the Water Users Association. It thus is evident that he has taken a conspicuous part in the advancement of his district, having proven through his activities a public-spirited and helpful citizen who not only has given thought and effort to the upbuilding of his own fortunes but is equally interested in the growth and welfare of his community, county and state. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.