The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 53

John Ricord

Tanner Archer who observed that Ricord "was always too gen-
erous for his means."
Having completed the settlement of his father's estate, Ricord
moved to the Territory of Florida and located in the village of
Newnansville, the county seat of Alachua County, in the middle
of the peninsula, west of St. Augustine. There he set himself up
as a lawyer, and soon he was up to his eyes, to use his own
expression, in work on a case involving a claim against the
United States for destruction of property by United States troops
during the Patriots' War of 1812-1813. He fought this case
through the United States District Court in St. Augustine and
then took it, on appeal, to some claims commission at Washing-
ton. He finally obtained a settlement of $14,800, but, inasmuch
as his client had contracted to pay him a fee of $1o,ooo, and
he had run up verified expenses of $5,000, the amount did not
cover his own claim. Previously, on February 2o, 1838, Ricord
had been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Ricord decided not to return to Florida. His health was excel-
lent, and he yearned for a more adventurous life. In addition he
was anxious to get away from the devastation of the Seminole
War and the unhealthy climate of central Florida. In February,
1842, he was in Louisville, Kentucky, on his way to New Orleans,
but apparently he did not get there, for somewhere on his route
he seems to have encountered Dr. Marcus Whitman, who en-
couraged him to go to Oregon over the Oregon Trail. The 1843
emigrants assembled twelve miles east of Independence, Missouri,
and, on May 22, 1843, they began their long trek to the Columbia
River. Ricord was one of a small group, under Whitman, who
went before the principal train, blazing the way. After five
months, the party arrived at Oregon City. Immediately Ricord
discovered a use for his talents. Dr. John McLoughlin, the Roman
Catholic chief factor of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company,
and the Methodist Mission, under Alvin F. Waller and Jason
Lee, had conflicting pre-emption claims to a tract of land on
Willamette River. Both sides approached Ricord in the attempt
to retain his services, and Ricord, who had adopted his mother's
evangelical bias, accepted the offer made by the Mission. He
prepared a caveat against Dr. McLoughlin which may have had