Lostine, Wallowa County, Oregon
J. H. McCubbin, who passed away at his home in Lostine on January 31, 1910, was well known in that town and throughout the surrounding county and his qualities were such as gained for him the respect and friendship of all with whom he came into contact. In his business career he won success and was honored by reason of the straightforward methods, which he always followed. He was born in Miller county, Missouri, on October 25, 1845, the son of William R. and Nancy (Bilyen) McCubbin, who came from Miller county, Missouri, to Oregon.
J. H. McCubbin was reared on his father’s farm and acquired his education in the common schools. When a young man he apprenticed himself in the blacksmith trade to his brother-in-law, J. H. Brown, with whom he later entered into partnership in that business. For about one year after his marriage in 1872 he resided in Clackamas county, but in 1873, removed to Wasco county where he engaged in farming and did such blacksmithing as his few neighbors wished done. In 1877 he came to Wallowa valley where he purchased two hundred acres of school land adjoining the town of Lostine and subsequently he added to this until his holdings comprised in all four hundred and eighty acres. He lived on that place until 1906 when he rented the same and moved to Lostine where he spent the remaining years of his life in retirement.
On the 4th of September 1872, Mr. McCubbin was united in marriage to Miss Marietta Young, who is a native of Clackamas County and a daughter of Joseph and Emily (Barnes) Young. Her parents moved from Missouri to Clackamas County, where they took up a donation land claim and resided on the same until the mother’s death, when the father went to Wasco county and there made his home with his son Jerry until his death.
To Mr. and Mrs. McCubbin were born six children of whom four survive: Rebecca, the wife of James T. Johnson of Morrow county; Bertha J., who is Mrs. H. A. Kuhn of Wallowa county; Dolly E., who is Mrs. F. L. Pearce of Bellingham, Washington; and Violet W., the wife of W. H. Kuhn of Lostine. The deceased were: Andrew J., who died in infancy; and Mary A., who passed away when twenty-two years of age. The demise of Mr. McCubbin, the husband and father, was deeply deplored by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
In politics Mr. McCubbin was a Jackson democrat and took an active in local party work. He served as county assessor of Union county when Wallowa county was yet a part of the same, and in 1880 while in that office, was census taker of this county. After the division of Union and Wallowa counties, Mr. McCubbin was for two term’s assessor of Wallowa County. Fraternally he was a member of the Lostine Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and of the Anthony Chapter No. 88, of the Order of the Eastern star, of which chapter Mrs. McCubbin is also a member. Mr. McCubbin was one of the foremost citizens of Wallowa County and was highly esteemed by all that knew him. He was quick to recognize the rights of others and he looked at life from a rational standpoint that brought him a clear understanding of the conditions of the world, its possibilities and the obligations that rested upon him in his relation to his fellow men and in citizenship. Mrs. McCubbin resides in Lostine and has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances there who hold her in the highest esteem.
Thanks to Gerald (Gary} Jaensch for providing this information.