Paul Darst 1819-1874

Paul Darst (1819-1874); the son of David Darst (1788-1860); the son of Paul Darst (1763-1826); the son of our Pfeddersheim immigrant Abraham Derst (1725-1772), migrated west over The Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

PAUL DARST --- 1847

(Source: "Willamette Valley, Oregon, Biographies," by Chapman Publishing Co., and the Author's Memory.)

Among the early school teachers of the Willamette Valley was a young man named Paul Darst. He was born in Gallia County, Ohio. He was the son of David Darst and after he reached his majority he worked as a farm hand and went to Illinois and Iowa and even to Missouri, in turn, making his own way.

Returning to Iowa in 1847, he prepared to go to far-off Oregon. Accompanied by his brother, William Darst, and John Morley, they started from Iowa on April 7. They went as far as the One Hundred and Two river in Missouri, near St. Joseph, where they camped for a few weeks. On May 7 they crossed the Missouri river into the Indian country. Between the three men they had one wagon and a team of oxen. After traveling a while, in this lonesome fashion, they joined the Davidson party, under the guidance of Albert Davidson, who had made a trip to Oregon previous to this and was well qualified as captain. This company, comprising forty-seven wagons, journeyed on to Ash Hollow.

It was not always possible for men to travel together harmoniously, so at this place the company divided, the Darst wagon joining the Louisa party as far as the Powder river. Here the company again divided and the Darsts found themselves of a small company of only four wagons to make their way over the Cascade mountains and to the Barlow road, that had but recently been completed around the base of Mt. Hood. Here they found the toll was $5 per wagon and 10 cents a head for all stock.

On September 7, just four months from the day they crossed the Missouri river near St. Joseph, they camped on the Clackamas river in the Willamette Valley, and not far from Oregon City. After a rest of a few days they followed up this valley by way of what would now be called the mountain road, passing the location of the present thriving little city of Silverton and then on to the Waldo hills.

Mr. Darst's brother settled on the Clackamas river, but Mr. Morley and Paul Darst found settlement in the above-named hills, Mr. Morley's donation land claim being about midway between the town of Silverton and Sublimity. further south, while Mr. Darst, being anxious to become a landowner, filed on a claim near Sublimity where he built a cabin. Much of the time for a few years he spent teaching school and the writer's mother was among his earliest pupils, in a log school house in an adjoining neighborhood.

Mr. Darst was a powerfully built man of more than ordinary ability, rather of the sterner type and not given to much foolishness.

Deciding to go to the mines in California, about 1851, Mr. Darst sold his rights to his donation land claim to George W. Hunt, receiving $100 for the same. Mr. Hunt afterward developed this claim into one of the finest stock farms of the Willamette Valley.

Mr. Darst took passage on a sailing vessel for California, paying $60 for a berth in the steerage from Portland to San Francisco. He worked his claim on the Yuba river with good success, and in October of that year returned with $1500 and bought three hundred and twenty acres of land from William Simpson. On this farm he made his home until his death from apoplexy on April 1, 1874.

Mr. Darst was in the Indian battle of the Abiqua in 1848; he also enlisted in the volunteers to fight Yakima Indians in 1856, with E. J. Harding as captain. During this expedition this company of volunteers were reduced to a diet of horse meat and wild onions for several weeks.

Aside from the time spent teaching school, Mr. Darst also worked as a carpenter and built one of the most substanial houses on his own farm of any in the county. This old home is still in use by his family, after a lapse of over fifty years since his death.

In 1852 Mr. Darst was elected assessor of Marion county and completed the stupendous task of assessing the county's wealth in the allotted time, without extra help. Again in 1857 he was elected to fill the same office which he did in a creditable manner.

Up until the Cival War, Mr. Darst was a staunch democrat, but at that time he espoused the cause of the north.

On October 24, 1861, he was married to Lucinda Phillips, the daughter of John Phillips, an early pioneer of 1858, of the Union hill country. Three children blessed this union: Phydelia and Parthenia; a son, Charles Paul, was born shortly after Mr. Darst died.

Mrs. Darst continued to live on their farm, until, at the ripe old age of 80, she passed on to meet her husband. The family are residing on the farm at this writing.