Complex sentence: Taking up a land claim for himself, Hackleman asked Hiram N. Smead to hold another for him until his son arrived from Iowa, but in 1846, only a year after arriving in Oregon, Abner died while returning to Iowa to fetch his family.
Split into simpler sentences: Taking up a land claim for himself, Hackleman asked Hiram N. Smead to hold another for him until his son arrived from Iowa. In 1846, a year after arriving in Oregon, Hackleman died while returning to Iowa to fetch his family.