Wasco-Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Fargher, Horatio March 13, 1847 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 25, 2007, 5:38 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     HORATIO FARGHER, an Oregon pioneer, was long an outstanding figure in 
agricultural affairs of Wasco county and is spending his declining years in 
Dufur, enjoying the fruits of a well spent life. He was born March 13, 1847, 
in Ramsey, on the Isle of Man, where his parents, Thomas Cannell and Susan 
(Christian) Fargher, always resided. In their family were seven children, two 
of whom survive—Horatio and Arthur Wellesley, both of whom are living in Wasco 
county.
     Reared on his father’s farm, Horatio Fargher received a public school 
education and aided in the work of cultivating and improving the homestead, 
becoming well acquainted with agricultural pursuits. In 1867, when a young man 
of twenty, he responded to the call of adventure and shipped as a sailor on 
the Cairnsmore, a Scotch sailing vessel, which was built in a shipyard on the 
Clyde river and owned by a local firm. On this boat, which was a wheat 
carrier, Mr. Fargher made two round trips from Liverpool to San Francisco, via 
Cape Horn, and left the ship in 1868 on reaching the latter city. Soon 
afterward he revisited his home and in March, 1870, returned to the United 
States in company with his father and brother, crossing the Atlantic on the 
steamship Erin of the National line. After his arrival in New York city he 
went by rail to Sacramento, California, and thence by boat to San Francisco. 
From there he journeyed to Portland by the water route, as there were no 
railroads in Oregon at that time. He followed steamboating on the Columbia 
river in the vicinity of Portland for five years, working on freight and 
passenger boats, and in 1874 started for Alaska with a party of gold seekers. 
When they reached the Stikeen river their supply of food was exhausted and 
they were obliged to abandon the project. In 1875 Mr. Fargher decided to 
locate in Wasco county and preempted land six miles south of Dufur. He took up 
both timber and rock claims and subsequently acquired additional tracts, 
becoming the owner of four thousand acres of land in the county. For many 
years the ranch was used chiefly for grazing purposes and Mr. Fargher was 
numbered among the most successful sheep raisers in this part of the state. 
Afterward he became a prosperous grain owner and continued his farming and 
stock raising operations until about the year 1915, when he sold the ranch to 
his sons. At that time he removed to Dufur, erecting a modern residence, in 
which he established his home, but still supervised the management of his 
ranch. In 1922 he retired from farming and divided the property among his 
children. The son, Walter Fargher, is now cultivating this extensive tract of 
land and, like his father, is an expert agriculturist, whose labors count for 
the utmost.
     On November 7, 1889, Horatio Fargher was married to Miss Emma Roth, who 
was born in Minnesota and completed her education in the old Wasco Academy at 
The Dalles. Her parents, John M. and Margaret (Unselt) Roth, were natives of 
Germany. The father’s birth occurred in 1839 and the mother was born in 1849.  
John M. Roth came to the United States in 1861, casting in his lot with the 
pioneers of Minnesota, and soon after the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted 
in the Union army, in which he served for three years. In Wisconsin he married 
Margaret Unselt, who had made the voyage to the new world in 1851 in company 
with her parents and lived for some time in the city of Madison. Mr. Roth 
followed the occupation of farming in Minnesota until 1875, when he came to 
Oregon and purchased a large, tract of land on Tygh Ridge in Wasco county. For 
about twenty years he was there engaged in ranching and then disposed of his 
holdings. At that time he became the owner of a farm in the state of 
Washington but subsequently returned to Oregon and made his home at The 
Dalles. There he lived retired until his demise in 1923 and his wife passed 
away October 23, 1916.
     Mr. and Mrs. Fargher have a family of seven children. Susan, the eldest, 
became the wife of Harry Whitten and their home is in Wasco county. They have 
two daughters, Dorothy and Kathleen Whitten. Albert Fargher married Nadine 
Stevens, by whom he has two daughters, Vannan and Margaret Fargher. Marguerite 
is Mrs. Charles Pamment, of Dufur, and has become the mother of two children, 
Dorcas and George Pamment. Walter Fargher married Frances Morley and they 
reside on the old homestead. They have two children, Malcolm and Pauline 
Fargher, Stanley wedded Grace Fraley, by whom he has two sons, William and 
Horatio Fargher.  Cecil Fargher, the sixth in order of birth, was graduated 
from the medical department of the University of Oregon and also completed a 
course in the Portland Medical College. Victoria Ellean, who completes the 
family, won the A. B. degree from the University of Oregon in 1927. She 
specialized in physical culture and gymnasium work and excelled in athletic 
sports while attending high school and the university.
     All of the sons are Masons and the father is a member of Morris Lodge, 
No. 129,  F. & A. M., at Dufur. The mother is connected with the Eastern Star, 
belonging to the chapter at The Dalles. Mr. Fargher was a member of the school 
board for six years and his efforts have been exerted as readily for the 
general welfare as for his own aggrandizement. He has lived in Wasco county 
for more than a half century, witnessing a notable change in the appearance of 
this region, and is deeply attached to the country and state of his adoption. 
His success was gained by hard work and good management and throughout life he 
has adhered to a high standard of conduct, thus winning and retaining the 
esteem and goodwill of his fellowmen Mr. and Mrs. Fargher are members of the 
Church of Christ and by precept and example try to follow in the steps of the 
Master.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 316-317

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/wasco/bios/fargher367gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/

File size: 6.5 Kb