Lannon James Wellington
(1838-1907)
The Wellington Estate story starts with Lannon Wellington, who founded
the estate.
Lannon lost both of his parents as a young child and was raised by
his grandfather John Russell Wellington(1794-1859).
John Russell originally was
a naval officer as a young man and served on an expidition to the northwest americas
where the British had made numerous territorial claims during this time. During one
expedition in 1837 under the command of British Royal Navy Admiral Nelson Hotherin,
the young John Russell personally had a hand in saving the admirals life during a
skirmish with natives, after the skirmish, Admiral Hotherin claimed some 5000 acres
of mountainous hilly terrain on behalf of the British Empire. The Admiral also awarded
800 acres of land a piece for the two officers who helped save his life, one of which
was John Russell Wellington. John Russell left the royal navy in 1842 and had intended
to bequeath his land holding to his son Mikel James however Mikel; who had joined
the Irish resistance, was killed in a battle with British officers in 1843 and John
Russell bequeathed the land to his grandson Lannon.
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John Russell was bittered
by the violence between the Brits and Irish, his son Mikel had married an Irish woman
Julise Pagley(1821-1844) who was arrested after the Mikels death, but died while
en route to Australia in 1844. John Russell made use of his contacts to gain custudy
of Mikel and Julise's only child, Lannon Wellington.
Lannon grew up on the sea
with his grandfather in the shipping business making merchant ventures mostly back
and forth from England to Prussia, from where John Russell had connections to many
dignitaries from earlier in his life. As Lannan grew older he was becoming disenchanted
with the shipping business, he had tried his hand at ship building and a merchant
tradesman but at age 18, to the surprise of his grandfather, took a job in the Prussian
special forces which was set up for him through family connections in Prussia. Lannan
held this job for just 2 short years when his grandfather John Russell fell ill and
Lannan returned to run the shipping business for his grandfather, it was at this
time that Lannan learned of the bequeathed land in the Americas. Lannan stayed by
his grandfathers side and continued the shipping business until 1859 when John Russell
passed away.
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After the death of his grandfather, Lannan became intrigued
with the idea of claiming the 800 acre land bestowed to him, he sold the shipping
business in 1860 and along with a small inheritence started putting together a plan
to venture to the Americas. The next 5 years of Lannans life becomes shady and its
believed that he returned to Prussia reviving his work in the Prussian special forces.
Lannan returned to Belfast some time in 1865 and soon after met a young seamstress
named Irma Leah Cannon(1848-1914) Irma was one of 5 children born to George Earl
CannonII who was a somewhat wealthy plantation farmer in Ireland.
Lannan and
Irma married in 1867 and began their venture to america by 1870, which would not
be an easy venture however Lannan had apparently gathered some wealth from his working
days and Irene's mother also helped in terms of financing the journey. Lannan and
his wife reached the americas by 1871 and ended up taking the railways into the Nebraska/Kansas
territories where Lannan was impressed by the power and potential of the railroad
however the journey would get difficult from there and the couple would spend the
next year planning an expedition to make it to the northwest.
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Lannan would
plan a series of connections and help to arrange an expedition team to travel into
the northwest territory. In 1872 Lannan and his expedition started out on the Oregon
trail with a posse of some 15 people in the likes of Richard "Dicky" Murray
and Frank Rinner; who was said to have been a calvary officer, as well as native
guides, four women and 3 children. During the journey in 1872 Irma gave birth to
their first child Julianne who tragically died from pneumonia in 1873; in fact she
would be one of 3 children who died during the journey as well as 4 adults.
Finally
in late summer of 1873 Lannan's expedition arrived in their planned territory of
the pacific northwest.Lannan was not sure what he'd find upon arriving, would the
land be occupied by others who claimed it, what kind of land would it be? Lannan
would soon find this out as he had good experience as a navigator growing up with
his grandfather in shipping. The expedition took refuge in a small town and ventured
nearly another 30 miles out when at last they found their destination; in fact there
were boundary points with written descriptions that were found still in tact from
25 years earlier! Lannan had found his land, rich in resources and in the middle
of nowhere, uninhabited and ready to be claimed. Lannan along with others like Rinney
and Murray would all look to establish their claims on the land.
Lannans claim
of land consisted of three mountainous peaks all overlooking a small but long and
narrow lake. Lannan decided to name the highest one "Lannans Peak" and
built his home atop of it.
Lannans first home was complete soon after however
in 1875 after a lightening strike the house was burned beyond repair. With some help
from his friends the new house was rebuilt and a second level to the house was completed
by 1877 and proclaimed as Wellington Estate.
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During the build and rebuild
of the Wellington home, Lannan had relied on his experience as a ship builder as
well as considerable help from his expedition partners. The northwest territory was
its own version of the wild west and highly uncharted and unestablished, during these
early few years Lannan took a great interest in timber, after all he had over 800
acres of it, and was now looking for a way to use it.