Richard OUGH was born 1790 in St. Cleer, Cornwall, England. He went to sea a young man and later enlisted in the navy. Richard later joined Dr. John McLoughlin and the Hudson Bay Company in Astoria, Oregon.
On 1 Jul 1837, Richard married "Betsy" White Wings Daughter of Chief Schley-hous. The union was pseudo-officiated by John McLoughlin and recorded at The Willamette Mission. John McLoughlin was not an official of the church and thus unable to act in a legal capacity. Richard and Betsy were officially married a short time later at Fort Vancouver.
Richard, carrying rank of Petty Officer, made many voyages between the US and England aboard the ship Bark Ganymede. His first reference to these trips are in the McLoughlin Letters of 1831. A chief complaint by Ough was that the grog was so entirely watered down that the ships compliment could hardly even get a buzz.
It's speculated that the native cockney inflection in Ough's speech led officials to record his name as it sounded. Instead of the original spelling "Hough", the "h" was dropped thus Americanizing the spelling. However St. Cleer, Cornwall records heavily indicate the surname of "Ough".
(The following was taken from an article by Sharon Nesbit, staff writer, who wrote of the 56th annual meeting of the East Multnomah Pioneer Association where the Ough-Latourell families were honored.)
In the early 1800s Chief Schly-housh (Sly Horse) was leader of the Indians who held the Cascades and the salmon fisheries on the Columbia River. Running Fawn, his wife, was from the tribe who had lived at the present site of Washougal, Washington "for as long as any Indian could remember".
When interviewed in 1910, their daughter White Wing, estimated to be 105 (in memoirs 90) years old, told the following story of her courtship and marriage to the Englishman, Richard Ough.
One day "Betsey", the name Richard called her and she was known as until she died in 1911, and her father were on the river catching salmon. She was about eighteen. "I was paddling and father was spearing them when all at once we looked up and, oh, so many canoes coming and lots of white men in them. My father and all the Indians paddled to shore as quick as they could and the chiefs say, "Maybe we better kill those men."
"Then one great, big man, they call McLoughlin, he come and say, 'No fight. We want to trade. You go and bring plenty good skins and see all the nice things I will give you for them. I got all pretty things what Indians like.' "
"Then is the time I saw Richard. He was standing beside Dr. McLoughlin and was almost as big as him - six feet, two inches and weighed 240 pounds, and oh, he looked so nice!"
"I looked at him and he looked at me and when I looked back again he was still looking at me. Then I started to go away with my father I look back once more and Richard and Douglass and Dr. McLoughlin was all looking after me and Richard started to follow me but Dr. McLoughlin put his hand on his shoulder and said "No! Do you want to lose your scalp?"
A month later Richard came alone to White Wing's village prompting her to comment "Maybe some Indian cut 'en hair."
Richard met the Indians head on. He informed them he was afraid of no man and finished with a flowery speech about his inability to keep White Wing from his thoughts. "Oh, he talked so nice." remembered Betsey, "I can mind every word he say."
After haggling for eight days the Indian father agreed to give his daughter to the persistent suitor provided that Richard build a house on the river and stay there for all time.
Richard, a man of action leaped into his canoe saying, "I build a house tomorrow; you come day after tomorrow and I got house ready."
A hundred Indian canoes arrived at Fort Vancouver on the appointed day. Richard, true to his word, had erected a "little bit of log house".
McLoughlin used the ceremony and resulting party to seal a peace with the Indians.
Said Betsey, "Then he (McLoughlin) say to me, 'White Wing, this man is a big warrior and a good man. When I make you marry him, the red man and the white man will be brothers. They must live all the time in peace and never never fight each other. The Indian must catch plenty salmon and get lots of good furs and trade them to the white man. The white man must get plenty things the Indian like and always trade fair and never cheat the Indian.'"
After many fine gifts, much singing, dancing and eating Richard and Betsey moved into their tiny log home. McLoughlin, diplomat, trader, magistrate and company man, found himself in another role as marriage counselor. "When I first get married I don't know how to cook white man's cooking," recalled Betsey. "I go tell Dr. McLoughlin I am afraid my husband won't love me if I cook Indian's cooking all the time. He laugh and tell Douglass and they say, 'Girl, you just feed him plenty all the time and he will love you, never fear. It is only a hungry man that hates his wife.'"
Betsey smiled recalling the night out-jigging McLoughlin at a dance and won two pounds and a new dress in the bargain. That was the same night the Indians stumbled onto the Fort's whiskey supply and the resulting war whoops drew a crowd of armed Englishmen. McLoughlin and Richard avoided any real bloodshed by punching two of the red offenders in the noses.
After eight, or so, years at Vancouver McLoughlin saw a different future and urged Richard and Betsey to get a farm. Betsey quote him as saying, "Some day all the beaver gone, no more elk, nothing for people to eat. You take land, make house, raise cattle ...by and by lots of people come here, all wanting something to eat." They bought their farm from a discouraged Englishman eager to head for California for $45, a saddle horse, and a baking of bread. (One day the land would be within the city of Washougal)
They worked hard clearing the land and gave most of their produce away to starving homesteaders who came rafting down the Columbia.
On one occasion a family came with two baby girls. The mother was too ill and worn out to feed them. The Oughs took the family in for a week and saw them on their way to Yamhill.
"When they about ready to start," said Betsey, "I see Richard thinking about them girl babies. Pretty soon he come in and tell me, 'Betsey, you think them babies gone die?' I say, 'Think so, Richard, their mother too sick.' "Then I give them cow,' he say."
" 'What you do now?,' I asked him, 'No more milk, no cattle, all gone now.' 'Oh, never mind, Betsey, 'he say, "there is lots of elk in the woods.' "
" 'But,' I say, 'I can't milk elk. He jump over my head, kick me in the river.' "
The family got the cow. The Oughs lived on elk. The girl babies grew to womanhood known as Betsey's "cow girls." ...
The Oughs had ten children. At Betsey's death in 1911 there were five surviving children, 18 grand children, 28 great grand children and four great-great grandchildren. Richard died in 1884
On 1 Jul 1837, Richard married "Betsy" White Wings Daughter of Chief Schley-hous. The union was pseudo-officiated by John McLoughlin and recorded at The Willamette Mission. John McLoughlin was not an official of the church and thus unable to act in a legal capacity. Richard and Betsy were officially married a short time later at Fort Vancouver.
Richard, carrying rank of Petty Officer, made many voyages between the US and England aboard the ship Bark Ganymede. His first reference to these trips are in the McLoughlin Letters of 1831. A chief complaint by Ough was that the grog was so entirely watered down that the ships compliment could hardly even get a buzz.
It's speculated that the native cockney inflection in Ough's speech led officials to record his name as it sounded. Instead of the original spelling "Hough", the "h" was dropped thus Americanizing the spelling. However St. Cleer, Cornwall records heavily indicate the surname of "Ough".
(The following was taken from an article by Sharon Nesbit, staff writer, who wrote of the 56th annual meeting of the East Multnomah Pioneer Association where the Ough-Latourell families were honored.)
In the early 1800s Chief Schly-housh (Sly Horse) was leader of the Indians who held the Cascades and the salmon fisheries on the Columbia River. Running Fawn, his wife, was from the tribe who had lived at the present site of Washougal, Washington "for as long as any Indian could remember".
When interviewed in 1910, their daughter White Wing, estimated to be 105 (in memoirs 90) years old, told the following story of her courtship and marriage to the Englishman, Richard Ough.
One day "Betsey", the name Richard called her and she was known as until she died in 1911, and her father were on the river catching salmon. She was about eighteen. "I was paddling and father was spearing them when all at once we looked up and, oh, so many canoes coming and lots of white men in them. My father and all the Indians paddled to shore as quick as they could and the chiefs say, "Maybe we better kill those men."
"Then one great, big man, they call McLoughlin, he come and say, 'No fight. We want to trade. You go and bring plenty good skins and see all the nice things I will give you for them. I got all pretty things what Indians like.' "
"Then is the time I saw Richard. He was standing beside Dr. McLoughlin and was almost as big as him - six feet, two inches and weighed 240 pounds, and oh, he looked so nice!"
"I looked at him and he looked at me and when I looked back again he was still looking at me. Then I started to go away with my father I look back once more and Richard and Douglass and Dr. McLoughlin was all looking after me and Richard started to follow me but Dr. McLoughlin put his hand on his shoulder and said "No! Do you want to lose your scalp?"
A month later Richard came alone to White Wing's village prompting her to comment "Maybe some Indian cut 'en hair."
Richard met the Indians head on. He informed them he was afraid of no man and finished with a flowery speech about his inability to keep White Wing from his thoughts. "Oh, he talked so nice." remembered Betsey, "I can mind every word he say."
After haggling for eight days the Indian father agreed to give his daughter to the persistent suitor provided that Richard build a house on the river and stay there for all time.
Richard, a man of action leaped into his canoe saying, "I build a house tomorrow; you come day after tomorrow and I got house ready."
A hundred Indian canoes arrived at Fort Vancouver on the appointed day. Richard, true to his word, had erected a "little bit of log house".
McLoughlin used the ceremony and resulting party to seal a peace with the Indians.
Said Betsey, "Then he (McLoughlin) say to me, 'White Wing, this man is a big warrior and a good man. When I make you marry him, the red man and the white man will be brothers. They must live all the time in peace and never never fight each other. The Indian must catch plenty salmon and get lots of good furs and trade them to the white man. The white man must get plenty things the Indian like and always trade fair and never cheat the Indian.'"
After many fine gifts, much singing, dancing and eating Richard and Betsey moved into their tiny log home. McLoughlin, diplomat, trader, magistrate and company man, found himself in another role as marriage counselor. "When I first get married I don't know how to cook white man's cooking," recalled Betsey. "I go tell Dr. McLoughlin I am afraid my husband won't love me if I cook Indian's cooking all the time. He laugh and tell Douglass and they say, 'Girl, you just feed him plenty all the time and he will love you, never fear. It is only a hungry man that hates his wife.'"
Betsey smiled recalling the night out-jigging McLoughlin at a dance and won two pounds and a new dress in the bargain. That was the same night the Indians stumbled onto the Fort's whiskey supply and the resulting war whoops drew a crowd of armed Englishmen. McLoughlin and Richard avoided any real bloodshed by punching two of the red offenders in the noses.
After eight, or so, years at Vancouver McLoughlin saw a different future and urged Richard and Betsey to get a farm. Betsey quote him as saying, "Some day all the beaver gone, no more elk, nothing for people to eat. You take land, make house, raise cattle ...by and by lots of people come here, all wanting something to eat." They bought their farm from a discouraged Englishman eager to head for California for $45, a saddle horse, and a baking of bread. (One day the land would be within the city of Washougal)
They worked hard clearing the land and gave most of their produce away to starving homesteaders who came rafting down the Columbia.
On one occasion a family came with two baby girls. The mother was too ill and worn out to feed them. The Oughs took the family in for a week and saw them on their way to Yamhill.
"When they about ready to start," said Betsey, "I see Richard thinking about them girl babies. Pretty soon he come in and tell me, 'Betsey, you think them babies gone die?' I say, 'Think so, Richard, their mother too sick.' "Then I give them cow,' he say."
" 'What you do now?,' I asked him, 'No more milk, no cattle, all gone now.' 'Oh, never mind, Betsey, 'he say, "there is lots of elk in the woods.' "
" 'But,' I say, 'I can't milk elk. He jump over my head, kick me in the river.' "
The family got the cow. The Oughs lived on elk. The girl babies grew to womanhood known as Betsey's "cow girls." ...
The Oughs had ten children. At Betsey's death in 1911 there were five surviving children, 18 grand children, 28 great grand children and four great-great grandchildren. Richard died in 1884
Richard OUGH was born 1790 in St. Cleer, Cornwall, England. He went to sea a young man and later enlisted in the navy. Richard later joined Dr. John McLoughlin and the Hudson Bay Company in Astoria, Oregon.
On 1 Jul 1837, Richard married "Betsy" White Wings Daughter of Chief Schley-hous. The union was pseudo-officiated by John McLoughlin and recorded at The Willamette Mission. John McLoughlin was not an official of the church and thus unable to act in a legal capacity. Richard and Betsy were officially married a short time later at Fort Vancouver.
Richard, carrying rank of Petty Officer, made many voyages between the US and England aboard the ship Bark Ganymede. His first reference to these trips are in the McLoughlin Letters of 1831. A chief complaint by Ough was that the grog was so entirely watered down that the ships compliment could hardly even get a buzz.
It's speculated that the native cockney inflection in Ough's speech led officials to record his name as it sounded. Instead of the original spelling "Hough", the "h" was dropped thus Americanizing the spelling. However St. Cleer, Cornwall records heavily indicate the surname of "Ough".
(The following was taken from an article by Sharon Nesbit, staff writer, who wrote of the 56th annual meeting of the East Multnomah Pioneer Association where the Ough-Latourell families were honored.)
In the early 1800s Chief Schly-housh (Sly Horse) was leader of the Indians who held the Cascades and the salmon fisheries on the Columbia River. Running Fawn, his wife, was from the tribe who had lived at the present site of Washougal, Washington "for as long as any Indian could remember".
When interviewed in 1910, their daughter White Wing, estimated to be 105 (in memoirs 90) years old, told the following story of her courtship and marriage to the Englishman, Richard Ough.
One day "Betsey", the name Richard called her and she was known as until she died in 1911, and her father were on the river catching salmon. She was about eighteen. "I was paddling and father was spearing them when all at once we looked up and, oh, so many canoes coming and lots of white men in them. My father and all the Indians paddled to shore as quick as they could and the chiefs say, "Maybe we better kill those men."
"Then one great, big man, they call McLoughlin, he come and say, 'No fight. We want to trade. You go and bring plenty good skins and see all the nice things I will give you for them. I got all pretty things what Indians like.' "
"Then is the time I saw Richard. He was standing beside Dr. McLoughlin and was almost as big as him - six feet, two inches and weighed 240 pounds, and oh, he looked so nice!"
"I looked at him and he looked at me and when I looked back again he was still looking at me. Then I started to go away with my father I look back once more and Richard and Douglass and Dr. McLoughlin was all looking after me and Richard started to follow me but Dr. McLoughlin put his hand on his shoulder and said "No! Do you want to lose your scalp?"
A month later Richard came alone to White Wing's village prompting her to comment "Maybe some Indian cut 'en hair."
Richard met the Indians head on. He informed them he was afraid of no man and finished with a flowery speech about his inability to keep White Wing from his thoughts. "Oh, he talked so nice." remembered Betsey, "I can mind every word he say."
After haggling for eight days the Indian father agreed to give his daughter to the persistent suitor provided that Richard build a house on the river and stay there for all time.
Richard, a man of action leaped into his canoe saying, "I build a house tomorrow; you come day after tomorrow and I got house ready."
A hundred Indian canoes arrived at Fort Vancouver on the appointed day. Richard, true to his word, had erected a "little bit of log house".
McLoughlin used the ceremony and resulting party to seal a peace with the Indians.
Said Betsey, "Then he (McLoughlin) say to me, 'White Wing, this man is a big warrior and a good man. When I make you marry him, the red man and the white man will be brothers. They must live all the time in peace and never never fight each other. The Indian must catch plenty salmon and get lots of good furs and trade them to the white man. The white man must get plenty things the Indian like and always trade fair and never cheat the Indian.'"
After many fine gifts, much singing, dancing and eating Richard and Betsey moved into their tiny log home. McLoughlin, diplomat, trader, magistrate and company man, found himself in another role as marriage counselor. "When I first get married I don't know how to cook white man's cooking," recalled Betsey. "I go tell Dr. McLoughlin I am afraid my husband won't love me if I cook Indian's cooking all the time. He laugh and tell Douglass and they say, 'Girl, you just feed him plenty all the time and he will love you, never fear. It is only a hungry man that hates his wife.'"
Betsey smiled recalling the night out-jigging McLoughlin at a dance and won two pounds and a new dress in the bargain. That was the same night the Indians stumbled onto the Fort's whiskey supply and the resulting war whoops drew a crowd of armed Englishmen. McLoughlin and Richard avoided any real bloodshed by punching two of the red offenders in the noses.
After eight, or so, years at Vancouver McLoughlin saw a different future and urged Richard and Betsey to get a farm. Betsey quote him as saying, "Some day all the beaver gone, no more elk, nothing for people to eat. You take land, make house, raise cattle ...by and by lots of people come here, all wanting something to eat." They bought their farm from a discouraged Englishman eager to head for California for $45, a saddle horse, and a baking of bread. (One day the land would be within the city of Washougal)
They worked hard clearing the land and gave most of their produce away to starving homesteaders who came rafting down the Columbia.
On one occasion a family came with two baby girls. The mother was too ill and worn out to feed them. The Oughs took the family in for a week and saw them on their way to Yamhill.
"When they about ready to start," said Betsey, "I see Richard thinking about them girl babies. Pretty soon he come in and tell me, 'Betsey, you think them babies gone die?' I say, 'Think so, Richard, their mother too sick.' "Then I give them cow,' he say."
" 'What you do now?,' I asked him, 'No more milk, no cattle, all gone now.' 'Oh, never mind, Betsey, 'he say, "there is lots of elk in the woods.' "
" 'But,' I say, 'I can't milk elk. He jump over my head, kick me in the river.' "
The family got the cow. The Oughs lived on elk. The girl babies grew to womanhood known as Betsey's "cow girls." ...
The Oughs had ten children. At Betsey's death in 1911 there were five surviving children, 18 grand children, 28 great grand children and four great-great grandchildren. Richard died in 1884
On 1 Jul 1837, Richard married "Betsy" White Wings Daughter of Chief Schley-hous. The union was pseudo-officiated by John McLoughlin and recorded at The Willamette Mission. John McLoughlin was not an official of the church and thus unable to act in a legal capacity. Richard and Betsy were officially married a short time later at Fort Vancouver.
Richard, carrying rank of Petty Officer, made many voyages between the US and England aboard the ship Bark Ganymede. His first reference to these trips are in the McLoughlin Letters of 1831. A chief complaint by Ough was that the grog was so entirely watered down that the ships compliment could hardly even get a buzz.
It's speculated that the native cockney inflection in Ough's speech led officials to record his name as it sounded. Instead of the original spelling "Hough", the "h" was dropped thus Americanizing the spelling. However St. Cleer, Cornwall records heavily indicate the surname of "Ough".
(The following was taken from an article by Sharon Nesbit, staff writer, who wrote of the 56th annual meeting of the East Multnomah Pioneer Association where the Ough-Latourell families were honored.)
In the early 1800s Chief Schly-housh (Sly Horse) was leader of the Indians who held the Cascades and the salmon fisheries on the Columbia River. Running Fawn, his wife, was from the tribe who had lived at the present site of Washougal, Washington "for as long as any Indian could remember".
When interviewed in 1910, their daughter White Wing, estimated to be 105 (in memoirs 90) years old, told the following story of her courtship and marriage to the Englishman, Richard Ough.
One day "Betsey", the name Richard called her and she was known as until she died in 1911, and her father were on the river catching salmon. She was about eighteen. "I was paddling and father was spearing them when all at once we looked up and, oh, so many canoes coming and lots of white men in them. My father and all the Indians paddled to shore as quick as they could and the chiefs say, "Maybe we better kill those men."
"Then one great, big man, they call McLoughlin, he come and say, 'No fight. We want to trade. You go and bring plenty good skins and see all the nice things I will give you for them. I got all pretty things what Indians like.' "
"Then is the time I saw Richard. He was standing beside Dr. McLoughlin and was almost as big as him - six feet, two inches and weighed 240 pounds, and oh, he looked so nice!"
"I looked at him and he looked at me and when I looked back again he was still looking at me. Then I started to go away with my father I look back once more and Richard and Douglass and Dr. McLoughlin was all looking after me and Richard started to follow me but Dr. McLoughlin put his hand on his shoulder and said "No! Do you want to lose your scalp?"
A month later Richard came alone to White Wing's village prompting her to comment "Maybe some Indian cut 'en hair."
Richard met the Indians head on. He informed them he was afraid of no man and finished with a flowery speech about his inability to keep White Wing from his thoughts. "Oh, he talked so nice." remembered Betsey, "I can mind every word he say."
After haggling for eight days the Indian father agreed to give his daughter to the persistent suitor provided that Richard build a house on the river and stay there for all time.
Richard, a man of action leaped into his canoe saying, "I build a house tomorrow; you come day after tomorrow and I got house ready."
A hundred Indian canoes arrived at Fort Vancouver on the appointed day. Richard, true to his word, had erected a "little bit of log house".
McLoughlin used the ceremony and resulting party to seal a peace with the Indians.
Said Betsey, "Then he (McLoughlin) say to me, 'White Wing, this man is a big warrior and a good man. When I make you marry him, the red man and the white man will be brothers. They must live all the time in peace and never never fight each other. The Indian must catch plenty salmon and get lots of good furs and trade them to the white man. The white man must get plenty things the Indian like and always trade fair and never cheat the Indian.'"
After many fine gifts, much singing, dancing and eating Richard and Betsey moved into their tiny log home. McLoughlin, diplomat, trader, magistrate and company man, found himself in another role as marriage counselor. "When I first get married I don't know how to cook white man's cooking," recalled Betsey. "I go tell Dr. McLoughlin I am afraid my husband won't love me if I cook Indian's cooking all the time. He laugh and tell Douglass and they say, 'Girl, you just feed him plenty all the time and he will love you, never fear. It is only a hungry man that hates his wife.'"
Betsey smiled recalling the night out-jigging McLoughlin at a dance and won two pounds and a new dress in the bargain. That was the same night the Indians stumbled onto the Fort's whiskey supply and the resulting war whoops drew a crowd of armed Englishmen. McLoughlin and Richard avoided any real bloodshed by punching two of the red offenders in the noses.
After eight, or so, years at Vancouver McLoughlin saw a different future and urged Richard and Betsey to get a farm. Betsey quote him as saying, "Some day all the beaver gone, no more elk, nothing for people to eat. You take land, make house, raise cattle ...by and by lots of people come here, all wanting something to eat." They bought their farm from a discouraged Englishman eager to head for California for $45, a saddle horse, and a baking of bread. (One day the land would be within the city of Washougal)
They worked hard clearing the land and gave most of their produce away to starving homesteaders who came rafting down the Columbia.
On one occasion a family came with two baby girls. The mother was too ill and worn out to feed them. The Oughs took the family in for a week and saw them on their way to Yamhill.
"When they about ready to start," said Betsey, "I see Richard thinking about them girl babies. Pretty soon he come in and tell me, 'Betsey, you think them babies gone die?' I say, 'Think so, Richard, their mother too sick.' "Then I give them cow,' he say."
" 'What you do now?,' I asked him, 'No more milk, no cattle, all gone now.' 'Oh, never mind, Betsey, 'he say, "there is lots of elk in the woods.' "
" 'But,' I say, 'I can't milk elk. He jump over my head, kick me in the river.' "
The family got the cow. The Oughs lived on elk. The girl babies grew to womanhood known as Betsey's "cow girls." ...
The Oughs had ten children. At Betsey's death in 1911 there were five surviving children, 18 grand children, 28 great grand children and four great-great grandchildren. Richard died in 1884
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