Biography of G. W. Ozmont
G.W. OZMENT. – This gentleman is a veteran of the Indian wars, a survivor of many a bloody fight in Southern Oregon, and a pioneer of 1852. Born at Greensborough, North Carolina, in 1833, he became an orphan at the age of ten, and at fifteen went to Western Virginia with an uncle, and somewhat later was in Tennessee, working on his own account. The far West, however, was the land of his dreams; and he saved his earnings to go to Paducah, and from that point to St. Louis. Three months later he was on his way to St. Joseph by steamer. But ice in the river delayed progress at the Kansas river; and there he was glad to join the train of Mr. William McCown, who was on the way to Oregon. The journey, begun May 7, 1852, was favorable, meeting with only the usual hardships of the way until reaching the Cascade Mountains. There the train met with snow; and the teams were too much exhausted to draw the loaded wagons farther. Mr. McCown pushed on to Oregon City for help, leaving Mr. Ozment two weeks in the mountains to look after the goods. The first months of Oregon life were spent in Clackamas county erecting buildings for Mr. McCown, the winter with Mr. Case on Butte creek, and the following spring with Reverend A.F. Waller...
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