Clarification: Hickmans came west from Illinois

The grandparents of the late Lawrence Hickman came to the Onecho area in 1972 from Illinois via San Francisco and Roseburg, Ore. William Franklin Hickman and wife Martha moved 600 head of sheep across Oregon and the Snake River and brought them to what became the Hickman ranch on Jenkins Road just southeast of Onecho. The Hickmans purchased the sheep after they departed San Francisco and the size of the flock increased the next spring before they moved on north to the Snake River breaks, according to Loren Hickman of Bellevue, Lawrence Hickman’s son.

The Gazette’s agriculture edition included a story on the groves of Black Walnut trees which were planted at the ranch over the years by Lawrence Hickman during his retirement years. It incorrectly reported the Hickmans had come from the Williamette Valley where they had been in the sheep business.

William Franklin Hickman, who was known in the area as Frank, was one of three Hickman brothers who served with the Union Army in the Civil War. A member of the 76th Illinois Regiment, he came west at the age of 26 and lived until 1913.