ROBERT D. RUCKMAN. – Mr. Ruckman was born on a farm in Iowa in1843, and received a common-school education. at the age of twenty he leased a neighboring farm and conducted it till 1870, when he engaged in the mercantile business. In 1872 he crossed the plains to the Grande Ronde valley, Oregon, bringing with him a few fine horses. He purchased a farm on what is locally known as the Sand Ridge, and also secured and developed a band of cattle. In 1885 he enlarged his business by taking an interest in the Victor Roller Mills of Summerville, of which he is the present business manager. He resides with his family on his farm three miles southeast of Summerville, Oregon. besides other stock he keeps a handsome herd of imported thoroughbred shorthorn Durham cattle, a breed which is now the general favorite in the Pacific Northwest, and which commands almost fabulous prices. He owns over eight hundred acres of rich, level land, and in the parlance of this day is “well-to-do.”
In Iowa in 1866 he married Miss Emma S. Coen of Ohio. Their one son, Elbridge H. Ruckman, is now a resident of Union county. The mother died in 1867, when this son was four months old. In Union county in 1881 Mr. Ruckman married Mrs. Martha J. Mitchel, née Neville, a native of Iowa. He has borne an honorable part in public affairs, having been elected to the state legislature form Union county in 1876.