The Pioneer Families of Hockinson

January 14, 2022

Heritage illustration representing pioneer families and early homes in Hockinson, Washington

Hockinson's pioneer history is the story of many families rather than a single founder. Surviving local records connect families such as the Nelsons, Onsdorffs, Morgans, Studers, Wards and others to farms, homes, stores, schools, roads and community institutions.

Hockinson pioneer families at a glance

Nelson family: Finnish immigration, farming and local midwifery
Onsdorff family: early commerce and 1896 store records
Morgan family: historic home and location records
Studer family: early twentieth-century home history
Ward family: homesteading and school-board connections

John and Johanna Nelson

A 1976 historical article says John Nelson came from Finland to the United States in 1876, reached the Hockinson area in 1879 and married Johanna in 1880. Johanna served the neighborhood as a midwife for many years. Read the fuller story in John and Johanna Nelson: Pioneer Life in Hockinson.

Peter and Ida Brown Onsdorff

Peter and Ida Brown Onsdorff appear in family and store histories. Peter became associated with early commerce, and a surviving store day book later became the basis for a student history of Hockinson prices in 1896. See What Groceries Cost Around Hockinson in 1896.

Other families in the archive

Lewis Morgan appears in a historic home photograph with his family near the junction of 182nd Avenue and 159th Street. The Studer family is documented through a home built around 1902 or 1903. W. A. “Al” and Rose Ward are remembered as Brush Prairie homesteaders, with Al connected to school-board service.

Other names recur throughout the archive, including Hokanson, Mattson, Kivinen, Sakrison and many more. Their stories overlap with schools, churches, roads, trades and organizations still recognizable in Hockinson history. For broader context, see Finnish and Swedish Immigration to Hockinson.