HON. JAMES M. LAMB
MRS. JAMES M. LAMB
Mr. Lamb was born in Logan county, Kentucky, February 19, 1835, a son of Downing and Elizabeth (Maxwell) Lamb, both of whom were natives of Logan county, Kentucky, where they resided until the '70s, when they came to Washington territory, establishing their home in Columbia county, where they resided until called to their final rest.
James M. Lamb remained a resident of his native state until he reached the age of nineteen years, when he crossed the plains to California with his parents in 1854, the gold fields being the attraction which brought them to the Pacific coast. He learned the blacksmith's trade after reaching California, where he conducted a shop and also engaged in farming. In 1856 he was married there to Miss Jane Pearce, also a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of John and Martha (King) Pearce. She crossed the plains from Atchison county, Missouri, in 1856.
Mr. and Mrs. Lamb began their domestic life in California but in 1859 came to Washington, establishing their home in Walla Walla county, where Mr. Lamb opened the first blacksmith shop in this section of the country, there being no shop between Walla Walla and Dayton at that period. He continued to operate his shop and conduct his farm up to the time of his death. About 1867 he went to a place near McMinnville, Oregon, to help perfect the first combination cutting and threshing machine used in this section of the country, as he was a master mechanic. This machine was first drawn by horses attached both in front and behind. Later he made a number of improvements on the machine, which was afterward sold to Holt & Company for two thousand dollars, and it has subsequently been perfected until today it is the standard machine of the kind used in this locality.