MATTHIAS SPURGEON. – This pioneer of Clarke County is a native of Iowa, having been born in Cedar County in 1838. In his childhood he was bereft of his parents, and found a home in the family of an uncle, Mr. George Spurgeon. With this relative he came to Oregon while but a boy of fourteen, and found a home in the household of Mr. William H. Dillon. Soon after becoming of age, he spent two years in the mountains and gorges of Idaho prospecting for gold, meeting, however, with but little success. Returning to Clarke county he took up the business of farming, renting the well-known Petrain place near Vancouver, Washington. He was so successful, that in three years he made a portion of this farm his own by purchase, and it is still his home, stock-raising, farming and dairying occupying his attention. He was married in 1877 to Miss Olive Dillon, who was born in Oregon in 1856. They have four children, – Ella A., Mary J., John M. and Matthias J. This is one of the prosperous and well-ordered families of the Northwest.
