Wasco County Oregon Biographies

 

 

Goodwin, William and Catherine

   

 


William J. Goodwin was born in Illinois in 1818 and came west to the 
Oregon Territory in 1849  He was married to Catherine Mary Roberts 
who was born in 1819 in Tennessee. Arriving in Clark County, they 
settled on Mill Plain and filed for a Donation Land Claim on August 
15, 1850. William was sworn in as Clerk of the Probate Court of Clark 
County on July 1, 1850, and on December 2, 1851, he was issued a 
license to establish a ferry from the head of Lady’s Island to the 
mouth of Washougal River. An item in the Vancouver Independent 
relates the following: William Goodwin and family moved to The Dalles 
March 11, 1880, and leased The Dalles House for a term of three years.

On Jan. 19, 1885, William Ryan was granted a franchise to establish a 
ferry in the same area. In 1851, on December 2nd, a license was 
"granted" to William Goodwin to establish a ferry from the head of 
Lady Island to above the mouth of the Washougal River. Other licenses 
granted in that period were to David C. Parker on June 10, 1854, for 
the same area; James Carty, on Lake River slough and O.W. Bozorth on 
the Cathlapoodle - present Lewis River - on March 7, 1855.
 

Source: John Brassfield

 


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