Warren Clugston is a man of varied and many experiences in the industries of this world, has traveled over the western portion of the United States, especially in the northwest, and is well satisfied that the reservation portion of Nez Perces County is one of the best sections in the west. He has a fine home and a good farm nine miles southeast from Peck, being a well to do and thrifty farmer.
Warren Clugston was born in the vicinity of Salem, Ohio, on March 4, 1840, the son of James and Catherine Clugston, natives of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where also they were married. An uncle of James Clugston, Captain John Clugston, was killed in the Revolution. In 1835 the parents of Warren moved to Ohio and in 1851 they came to McDonough County, Illinois, where he grew up and was educated. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Second Illinois Cavalry, and served under General Grant. He was in the battle of Holly Springs and many skirmishes but on account of disability was discharged some time before his enlistment of three years had run its course.
In 1864 Mr. Clugston joined the Bozeman train of eighty wagons and four hundred men and started for the west, coming via the Bozeman cut off from the Platte. At Virginia City Mr. Clugston left the train and came to Idaho City, Idaho, where he mined. In the fall of 1865 he returned home, having three companions. The trip was made on horseback and one horse sufficed to carry the pack for the entire company.
On February 1, 1876, in McDonough County, Illinois, Mr. Clugston married Miss Ann E. Johnson and in 1879 they removed to Crawford County, Kansas, and farmed. Two children were born to this marriage, John C, near Peck; James L., in McDonough County, Illinois. Mrs. Clugston died on September 4, 1881. Mr. Clugston had purchased a farm in Carroll County, Missouri, and there, on July 2, 1883, he married Sena A., daughter of John and Grazelda (Barrier) Parker. Mrs. Clugston was born on July 8, 1860, in Richmond, Missouri. Two children were the fruit of this union, an infant that died on August 8, 1884, and Grazelda Ann, born in Carrollton. Missouri, on October 12, 1885. Mr. Parker is a business man in Carrollton and is now aged seventy-one, and bis wife died in February, 1896.
In the fall of 1888 Mr. Clugston came with his family to Colfax, thence to Moscow, and in 1889 he settled near Southwick, and later we see him near Linden, where he preempted a quarter. On the seventh of June, 1896, Mr. Clugston came and took his present place, which was a wild piece of land and is now a fertile and valuable farm, well provided with buildings and other improvements. He and his family endured the hardships incident to pioneer life, which were rendered more rigorous on account of the panic having just swept over the country before that.
Mr. Clugston is a member of the G. A. R., at Kendrick. Mrs. Clugston was a graduate of the high school at Carrollton, Missouri, and has taught much both in the east and also since coming west. She held the principalship of the Juhaetta schools in 1895-6, and also has taught in other positions both in Latah and Nez Perces counties. Mr. Clugston is an old and skillful hand with threshing machines. He has followed the business for thirty-two successive years and is now using his sixth machine.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903