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Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Richard H. Ekin ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Richard H. Ekin
LAST NAME: Ekin FIRST NAME: Richard MIDDLE NAME: H. NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE: Mr. GENDER: M MILITARY: 
BORN: 2 Jul 1817 DIED: 18 Dec 1878 BURIED: Dec 1878
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  Seaman and farmer
BIRTH PLACE:  Liverpool, England
DEATH PLACE: Salem, Marion Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
MARRIAGE - "Richard H. Eiken & Susan Evans, md 19 Sept 1850; Aaron Purdy, J. P. #116 pg 24."
(Richard H. Ekin is not listed in the city index or lot record, nor is there a marker found for him. He is known to have died in 1878 and has been placed here with several others in his family.) 
1860 CENSUS of Marion Co., OR: R. H. Ekin was age 41, b. in England and a farmer
1870 OR CENSUS - R. H. Ekin, age 52, farmer b. England, is enumerated with Susan, age 43, b. Oregon, along with R. H. Jr., age 18, Mary, age 16, Sarah, age 14, Edward, age 12, Geo. B., age 10, William, age 8, Chas., age 6, Margaret, age 4, Mary Ann, age 1, all born in Oregon. 

BIOGRAPHICAL:
Mabel Ekin Bolger, Richard Ekin's granddaughter remembers her Dad "Charley repeating what his father told about how he came to the Willamette Valley. He did swim ashore in Mexico, and while he was in that country learned how to make saddle trees. And yet - the 1878 obituary lists Richard as mate of a ship taking on wheat near Portland (from whence he resigned and came up river to where he took claim.) Since land travel across (still Mexican) California & dangerous Indian country in then Oregon territory would have been a near impossibility, I am surmising that after a period in Mexico, Richard Ekin signed on with Captain Condor and came to the Willamette Valley by sea. Chambers, p. 8A A daughter, Sarah J. Tracy is also buried in this cemetery. 
Oregon Statesman 29 May 1885, 8:3. 

BIOGRAPHICAL:
Richard H. Ekin, who died near Salem, Dec. 18th, was born in Liverpool, England, July 2, 1817, and received a good English education, and for several years in early life was a sailor, having made two trips around the world, in connection with several other long voyages.
He came to America as second mate on a ship commanded by the late Capt. John H. Condor, arriving at their anchorage a short distance above where Portland now stands, on March 3, 1842, for the purpose of loading the vessel with wheat for the Hudson's Bay Company. He left the ship at this point and came up the Willamette valley and settled up on the place where he has continuously lived until the time of his death. In connection with farming he made saddle trees for several years, and at that early day had business transactions with nearly every man in the then sparsely settled territory and always acquitted himself with agreeableness.
Soon after he settled upon his farm he married an Indian woman, a native of the valley, by whom he had several children, giving to all a very fair education and preparing them to grapple with civilization and their surroundings. Mr. Ekin was very methodical in all of his habits; he kept a strict account of all his farm expenses from the first day of settlement on the farm up to the day of his death; every day's work was set down, every acre or field was charged with the amount of labor, seed, threshing, etc., and credited with the yield with as much precision as a merchant keeps his books; also all other business transactions. In the evening he taught his children at home, having organized a regular school, and conducted it in the same manner as our public and private schools are. He was also a great reader, which covered quite an extensive field--history, poetry and romance; being a great admirer of Scott and Dickens' writings, and was able to entertain any person with his agreeable conversation.
The night he died he conducted the family school as usual, wrote on his slate the day's work and retired to read one of Dickens' novels, which he perused for some hours, as was his habit while in bed, laid down the book, methodically placed his spectacles on the same, turned upon his side and in almost an instant expired, supposed to be the result of an epileptic fit, as he had an attack of the same during the last summer, when he was apparently dead for a few minutes. He leaves two elderly sisters living in england.
Ekin has not been out of Oregon since he arrived in 1842, except two trips to California in the days of gold excitement. He was an energetic and observing man, who attended closely to his own affairs, and was respected by all who knew him, and considered one of the best of neighbors. 
Chambers, Doug,  Illustrated Memoirs & History of the Livesley-Roberts Community 1840s to 1940s, p. 8A

Marion County Probate File #686: Richard H. Ekin, Intestate, died Dec. 18, 1878, Adm: Lewis Westacott. Heirs: Susan Ekin, widow, age 50; Eliza Rankin, age 28; Mary Rankin, age 24 [not listed in 1880 petition]; Sarah Tracy, age 22; Wm. C. Ekin, age 18; Charles H. Ekin, age 15; Margaret Ekin, age 12; Jane Ekin, age 8; Reuben H. Ekin, age 2 -- all of Marion County. Bertie and Josephine Rankin, both under 14, are listed in May 1880
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 
OBITUARY: 
INSCRIPTION: 
No marker
SOURCES: 
Marion Co., Oregon Marriage Records 1849-1871 Vol I, pg 7 
1860 CENSUS of Marion Co., OR 
1870 OR CENSUS (Marion Co., Salem Pct., FA #7324) 
Marion Co., Probate File #686 OS 29 May 1885, 8:3 
Chambers, Doug, Illustrated Memoirs & History of the Livesley-Roberts Community 1840s to 1940s, p. 8A
CONTACTS: 
LOT: 182 SPACE:  LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: 
 
 

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