The Preacher Who Turned 170 Acres of Wilderness Into a Home
When Port Townsend could not pay its Methodist minister enough to live on, Rev. Laubach moved to Discovery Bay and built a farm — house, fences, orchard and skiff — with his own hands.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The following concerning an honored resident of our county, from the pen of Rev. Mr. Dillon of the Pacific Christian Advocate, was in type last week but want of space precluded its insertion:
“This excellent brother came to us in 1870 from the Iowa Conference. After reaching Oregon at much expense, his first two years were spent as a preacher in charge of Port Townsend. A few excellent members at that place, such as N. D. Hill, did all they could, but the support proved inadequate, and at the end of two years Bro. Laubach, with a debt of three or four hundred dollars pressing upon him, felt constrained to locate on a ranch. Last week we made a brief visit to the pleasant home of this faithful laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. He lives at the head of Port Discovery Bay. Four years ago the place on which he lives was an unbroken wilderness. With unconquerable resolution he felled with his own arm the mighty trees, and with the aid of fire soon cleared off an attractive plat for a dwelling, orchard, garden and field, and now it blossoms as the rose. The dwelling is a two-story, convenient and substantial building, the work of his own hands. Flowers, shrubs and small fruits surround the house; troughs convey the cool, clear water of a mountain spring right to his door; substantial rail fences enclose the farm portion, and neat palings the house yard; full twenty acres of wild land have been subdued and are now under way of successful cultivation. Several miles of road have been opened through the woods. We noticed a substantial sled and truck wheels near the barn. A neat frame work for a swing is on the grassy plat in the front, and on the pebbly shore in front of the house is a large and strong skiff with oars and sails. Don’t be alarmed, kind reader: everything that we have mentioned, from the dwelling to the skiff, is positively the work of this Methodist preacher’s own hands, aided by such help as the well-trained members of his family could give him. Four years ago he took this place, being several hundred dollars in debt; since then he has paid for the land, 170 acres, at Government price; cancelled all indebtedness, and has besides this pleasant home the means of comfort. We cite this example of industry, vim and good management with great satisfaction, for Bro. Laubach is a printer by trade, and has been the successful editor of two newspapers in Ohio prior to his entrance upon the ministry.”
“Don’t be alarmed, kind reader: everything that we have mentioned, from the dwelling to the skiff, is positively the work of this Methodist preacher’s own hands, aided by such help as the well-trained members of his family could give him.”
Laubach’s story is a 19th-century Jefferson County version of a very current squeeze: a community role that did not pay enough to live on, and a family that made up the difference through land, debt and hard work. The house, orchard, fences and skiff were all built by hand — a reminder that the region’s housing has long depended on self-building and on who can afford to stay.
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