Copyright 1999 - 2003 - Janine M. Bork
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Union County, OR AHGP
one facing the bow, the other the stern. Both of us being somewhat conversant with their language, we soon learned that they were Duwamish Indians, and that they did not intend we should ever see Nisqually.
"Their plan was to camp at Gig Harbor that night, and while we slept make good Bostons of us, take what we had and return home. But, as we were well armed, and of course disagreed with their intentions, they soon discovered that they were making a slight mistake in their calculations. When we arrived at the harbor late in the evening, they made signs that they were going to camp at that place for the night. We gave them to understand that it was all right; and all got out of the canoe and made camp. A fire was built and salmon cooked for supper. We watched for our opportunity; and, when it presented, we took possession of their guns, and made them launch the canoe and get in. Glasgow took a seat in the stern, guiding the canoe; and I sat immediately in front of him covering the Indians with my revolver. Then we started, and I can assure you the Indians did not get much rest that night. When we arrived at Balch's passage, a fair wind sprang up; and we then made up our minds that we had no more use for the Indians; so we put them ashore on the little island in the center of the passage, leaving them to shift for themselves.
But we are already prolonging this sketch beyond the limits. Mr. Rabbeson's dispute with the Hudson's Bay Company, his adventures in the Umpqua and Rogue river, and his fatigues, sickness and successes in the California and Salmon river mines, his voyages by sea, his hard fights in the Indian war of 1855, where he was wounded, would fill many pages. With the death of Colonel Moses in the fight with the Indians at Connell's swamp, a petition was largely signed by the company to give his vacant place as surveyor of customs to the wounded captain, A.B. Rabbeson. Serving in that capacity four years, and more recently engaging in contracting and erecting buildings, putting up some of the finest on the Sound, owning a brewery for a short time at Seattle, and also a steamship, the Black Diamond, getting wrecked with a stock of goods twenty miles off Humboldt Bay in the steamer Northern, he has finally reached the peaceful years of age in his old home at Olympia, Washington.
Mr. Rabbeson was the first mail carrier in the territory on the route between Cowlitz and Olympia in 1850. He was married to Lucy A., eldest daughter of Nelson Barnes, of Tumwater, in 1854.
JAMES H. RALEY. - Prominent among the pioneers of Eastern Oregon may be mentioned this gentleman whose name and portrait appear here with, and who now sits as joint senator in the Oregon legislature from Umatilla and Morrow counties. He was born in Nebraska City in 1855, and as a boy, in 1862, crossed the plains with his parents, arriving at Portland at a time so early in the history of that metropolis as to find an excellent spot for camping near the present site of the St. Charles Hotel. A year later the family found a location at Vancouver, but in 1864 selected the grassy, virgin hills of the Umatilla as their permanent home, thus antedating Pendleton, and even the organization of the county.
James gave early attention to books, and occupied himself in teaching, and during vacations went on freighting expeditions to Idaho. He completed his education at the State University, and in 1877 became one of the early builders of Pendleton by removing to the then little village and opening out a drug business, operating under the firm name of Raley & Scott until 1880. To build or rather to protect a town in those days not only required much faith and enterprise, but even actual fighting. It was in 1878 that the Bannacks, whose numbers were augmented to nearly one thousand by renegades from several reservations, came sweeping through the country, and threatened the town with destruction. The alarm brought in July 5th by Foster, of La Grande, met with a prompt response from the citizens of Pendleton. Foster reported that two others, Coggin and Bunker, with himself, had been attacked on the stage road seven miles from Pendleton; that Coggin had been killed, and Bunker wounded. A party of ten, of which Mr. Raley was one, went out the same evening to recover the dead and rescue the wounded. This little band fought the Indians two hours the next day, driving them over the mountains, and killing as many as six of their number, themselves sustaining a loss of two wounded. Bunker was found secreted in a sand bank; and the body of the other was secured.
Mr. Raley bore an active part in the affair, and for his bravery thus displayed in defending the city, and also for his every-day services in building it up, rapidly grew in public confidence and esteem. He was elected the same year on the Democratic ticket as county surveyor, and for the strength he developed in that campaign was assigned the same place and re-elected in 1880. In 1882 he was chosen a member of the city council, and was one of the most forward to push the town towards its first real effort to become a city, and thus to begin the astonishing growth which has made it so prominent in the Inland Empire. In June, 1888, Mr. Raley proved his popularity in Umatilla and Morrow counties by carrying to a successful issue his nomination as joint state senator, being the only Democrat elected from the ticket. His services thus far in the councils of the state are well and favorably known.
In a business way, Mr. Raley has been successful, and of service to his community. He is the manager of the Umatilla Real Estate and Loan Association, which he established, and of which W.F. Matlock is President and C.S. Jackson secretary. He owns six hundred and forty acres of improved land near Pendleton, and was instrumental in securing railway connection for the city by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. His wife, Minnie A., daughter of the pioneer Pruett, and herself a native Oregonian, is a lady of culture and a leader in society. A boy and two girls complete the home circle, and will perpetuate the abilities and virtues of their parents.
WILLIAM RANCK. - This
representative citizen of Clarke county was born at East Waterford,
Pennsylvania, in 1829. At the age of five years his parents moved to Huntington county in the same state, one and one-half miles from Shade Gap postoffice, where he received the common-school education of that early time which consisted chiefly of the "three R's." At the age of seventeen he went to Shirleysburg to learn the trade of a wagon and carriage maker. After some years of employment at Germantown, and at other points in Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the 1st day of April, 1852,he left his father's home for the West, going via Pittsburg and the Ohio river through Illinois to Dixon on Rock river. He spent the winter at Petersburg, and from that place, having concluded to go to California in company with Albert Simons and James Davis, fitted out a wagon with three yoke of oxen to cross the plains.
Early in March, 1853, they struck out across the prairies, crossing the Mississippi at Burlington, and the Des Moines river at Martin's ferry, twenty miles below Fort Des Moines. There he found Mr. Harrison B. Oatman, now a resident of Portland, Oregon, and his wife, with his brother Harvey and his wife. Waiting there, as it was yet too early in the season to make the start, the company was organized. After passing through Iowa to Council Bluffs, they crossed the Missouri river about the 2d of May. On the Lower Humboldt, the Oatman brothers and their wives turned off for the Rogue river, while Mr. Ranck continued on to California, and arrived at Marysville about the middle of October. At the request of Mr. James Davis, one of the party, who had stopped at Shady creek near the middle fork of the Yuba river, in Nevada county, Mr. Ranck returned and joined him in mining for two years, meeting with varying success. Tiring of the mines, he then went to the Santa Clara valley, and after various occupations at San Jose' and about Gilroy found employment at Santa Clara with Mr. Edwin Smith, who was engaged there largely in the manufacture of wagons and carriages, remaining until October, 1857.
Looking to the North, he now determined to pre-empt a piece of government land, and, coming by water to Crescent City, remained some time, making examinations of the coast country even into Oregon; but, finding nothing satisfactory in that rough section, he continued his explorations as far as Portland, and by New Year's day, 1858, was at Vancouver. After a stop of some three months there, he went to Portland, Oregon, and obtained employment with James Burke, who was then engaged largely in the manufacture of wagons. In 1859 he returned and made his permanent home at Vancouver, Washington Territory, and, opening a wagon shop, followed his business until the fire of August 23, 1866.
At the general election in June, 1862, Mr. Ranck was chosen a member of the house of representatives, and served in the session of the legislature of Washington Territory of 1862-63, representing in part the county of Clarke, and being the first Republican member ever elected from that county. He was married in November, 1864, at Vancouver, to Miss Kate Neer of St. Helens. She was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and removed with her parents to Iowa in 1847, crossing the plains in 1852, and residing with her parents on their old Donation claim at St. Helens. They have three children, Lulu, Bertha and Glenn Neer.
Mr. Ranck's public services in
Vancouver have been numerous and eminently satisfactory. He served one
term as city marshal, one term as chief engineer of the fire department,
of which organization he has been an active member for twenty-one years,
three years as school director, and twelve years as member of the city
council. He has also been probate judge of Clarke county for eight years.
HON. JAMES B. REAVIS.- Much interest attaches to the life and work of an attorney such as Mr. Reavis, whose chief endeavor both privately and professionally has been to realize a high degree of public justice. He is a man whom the people feel safe in having by; for they can trust his sagacity and integrity, knowing that he is thoroughly incorruptible by any influence, corporate or otherwise. He is one of the men of whom both unscrupulous politicians and monopolies have a wholesome fear.
Glancing at his ancestry, we observe that he came honestly by these rugged qualities, being in lineal descent from among those who have subdued and civilized America. He was born in Boone county, Missouri, in 1848. His parents were Kentuckians, his grandparents Virginians, and on the maternal side were descended from the colonial Lee family of Revolutionary fame.
Mr. Reavis received his education at Lexington, Kentucky, and studying law was admitted to practice at Hannibal, Missouri, in 1872. He also began to exert a wide influence in that state as the editor of the Appeal, at Monroe; but his prospects in journalism were voluntarily relinquished in view of his removal to California in 1874. In that state he engaged in the practice of his profession, making his home at Chico. His characteristic and hereditary restlessness, however, led him to seek a new field, and in 1880 he came to Washington Territory, making his first home at Goldendale, where he formed a partnership with Hon. R.O. Dunbar. This was a strong combination; and for two years a very active business was conducted. In 1882 he removed to Yakima, and has made that his permanent residence. He has been a close student and active practitioner at the bar all this time, and has been counsel in some of the most important litigation in Washington Territory.
Among other cases was that of
a suit for damages against a mob of some forty prominent and wealthy citizens
of an adjoining county for forcibly ejecting a family from its borders.
That case was illustrative of certain phases of frontier society, as well
as of the character of the lawyer. A girl of fifteen years had been betrayed
by a wealthy and popular young man. Her parents were poor; and her father
was indisposed to resent the injury. But the mother was spirited; and upon
her complaint the man was arrested and brought for examination before
the magistrate. But his friends were numerous and defiant, and assembled
in full force in the courtroom; and at a signal the mother and daughter
and other members of the family were violently taken from the
room and under armed escort driven from the county, with threats of death if they attempted to return. The injured woman and her daughter sought to office of Mr. Reavis, who, immediately after examining the facts, brought suit for heavy damages against the mob. In the trial of the case, Hon. J.B. Allen and Edward Whitson were with him. The result was a judgment for heavy damages, and the return of the family to their former home. There was great energy, courage and devotion to the cause of the weak displayed in this case by the counsel for the stricken family; and the community was taught a useful lesson, that law is superior to "influence" and mob violence.
Another case of general interest was the mandamus suit against the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to build a railroad station at Yakima City. Mr. Reavis was senior counsel in that case, and successfully carried it through the district and supreme courts against a numerous array of able lawyers retained by the railroad company.
In 1884 he was elected a member of the territorial council, and served with distinction in that body in 1885-86. He took a prominent position in favor of the repeal of the "Gross-earnings" tax law for railway property, and was an able and persistent advocate of the forfeiture of the Northern Pacific Railroad land grant, and was the author of a memorial to Congress for that object. He was the author of the bill establishing the institute for defective youth at Vancouver.
In 1888 he was elected a member of the board of regents for the State University at Seattle, and in this capacity has already made himself influential. He is, at present, actively connected with the development of Yakima, and is president of the Board of Trade. He has acted with the Democratic party, although he is recognized in the political field as a lawyer rather than as a politician.
THOMAS G. REDFIELD. - Mr. Redfield, one of the substantial citizens and capable business men of North Yakima, Washington, was born in Illinois in 1851. During his infancy he accompanied his parents across the plains to Oregon, and in 1854 was domiciled with them at their home upon Cow creek in Douglas county, Oregon. With the exception of two years in California, Mr. Redfield's early life was spent in Oregon; and upon reaching an age of independency, he found no field more promising than Yakima county. He accordingly located at Yakima City in 1881, opening out a jewelry store, and doing a successful business. Three years later he moved with the rest of the business houses to North Yakima, and since that time has been carrying on a thriving industry in watches and jewelry. He is one of the property owners of the place, and a citizen of recognized merit.
He was married in Josephine county, Oregon, June 6, 1879, to Miss Metta Davis of California. They have five children, one of whom is deceased.
JOHN T. REDMAN. - The subject of this sketch was born in Linn county, Oregon, January 3, 1856. He is the second son of B.W. Redman, who was a prominent citizen of that county, and a staunch Union man, who upheld the old flag during the early part of the sixties, when it required more than ordinary courage to take that stand. In the great flood of 1861-62 the family lost everything in the way of property, except horses. Early in February, 1862, John moved with his family and settled on a farm near Scio, in Linn county, and there worked the remainder of the year, and attended the public school during the winter. The next four years he was occupied in teaching and clerking in the general merchandise house of A.J. Houston in Scio. His father dying in 1876, he settled the estate and also was co-administrator with J.B. Miller in settling the estate of John Miller.
His health becoming somewhat impaired, he was advised to seek a drier climate, and in 1877 came to Walla Walla, and attended Whitman Seminary for a short time. February 14, 1878, he accepted a position as book-keeper with Saling & Reese, dealers in general merchandise at Weston, Oregon. He remained with that firm as book-keeper and head salesman until 1883. June 6, 1880, he was married to Fannie M. Reese, eldest daughter of J.T. Reese, Jr., partner of the firm. Mr. Reese is one of the pioneer merchants and wheat dealer of Eastern Oregon, and is well and favorably known as one of the first pillars upon which has rested the prosperity of the Walla Walla and Umatilla region. In July, 1883, J.T. Reese and John T. Redman opened a general merchandise store in the town of Adams, under the firm name of Reese & Redman, where they have done an immense business, and are now the largest shippers of wheat from Eastern Oregon. Mr. Redman is a Republican in politics, and stands very high as an earnest worker for his party, having been a delegate to the state convention in 1886. He is a prominent member of the order of F. & A.M., and holds his membership with Weston Lodge. He will shortly remove to Tacoma, where with his old partner he will conduct a wholesale grocery business.
The union of John T. Redman and Fannie M. Reese, has been blest with two beautiful and attractive children, Grace and Herbert. Mrs. Redman was born in Walla Walla City, March 13, 1862, and is a faithful and efficient member of the Episcopal church, and is greatly beloved by all who know her.
WALTER J. REED. - A view of this gentleman's residence in North Yakima, Washington, his hotel (the Reed House in Cle-Elum), together with portraits of himself and his estimable wife, is placed among the illustrations of this work. Although not a pioneer of Washington Territory, he has been a great factor in the development of Yakima and Kittitass counties. He built the first two-story business house in North Yakima, and is the founder of the town of Cle-Elum, in Kittitass county. He has also advanced a great many matters of substantial interest in both counties, and is one of the best-known citizens of Kittitas and Yakima counties.
He is a native of "Scotland's
fair land," was born near Edinburgh, April 3, 1842, and is the eldest son
of John and Isabella (Craig) Reed. When our subject was six years of age,
his parents emigrated to American, first locating near Logan,
Hocking county, Ohio. Four years later they moved to Cumberland, Alleghany county, Maryland, where his father, being a thorough miner, found employment as superintendent of mines; and Walter attended school. In 1856 they again returned to Ohio, this time locating in Cambridge, and in 1859 took up their residence in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, his father in all the different places being superintendent of mines.
August 1, 1861, our subject, then being but nineteen years of age, enlisted in Company K, Sixty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, his regiment being among the first three-year men to enlist in the main cause, and was immediately assigned to the Army of the Potomac, with whom they remained and took a prominent part in all the bloody engagements in which that grand army participated. At the famous battle of Gettysburg, Mr. Reed received a Minié ball in the left leg, a memento of which he carries to-day in the shape of a small hole through that limb.
The patriotism of the Reed family for their adopted country is best shown by the sacrifices they have sustained. His father, himself and younger brother, James, all enlisted in different Pennsylvania regiments, went forth to fight for the preservation of the Union. His father and brother were taken prisoners; and the former, after nine months in the awful Andersonville prison, succumbed to the fate that befel thousands in that pen. His brother, only nineteen years of age, died in the prison at Saulsbury, North Carolina. Mr. Reed, at the expiration of his term of service, although his inclination was to remain in the army, but being prompted by the filial duty he owed to his mother and younger members of the family who had been bereft of their natural protector, returned to his home in Pennsylvania to care for his widowed mother.
On his return from the war, he embarked in different enterprises until the spring of 1878, when, on account of Mrs. Reed's health, he concluded to seek a milder climate. He in that year came to California. After a short sojourn in that place, he came to California. After a short sojourn in that place, he came to The Dalles, Oregon, and from that point started to seek a location in Eastern Oregon; but, after many narrow escapes from the red men of the forest, who were on the warpath in that part of the county in 1878, he concluded to seek a home where peace reigned. Having heard of the possibilities of the great Yakima country, he in the fall of 1879 came to the present site of North Yakima, and there located his "soldier's" claim, part of which is now in the incorporated limits of North Yakima, where he resided until 1886; when, before the completion of the North Pacific Railroad, he took up the present site of Cle-Elum as a pre-emption claim. Through the natural generosity of Mr. Reed, his town has had a steady and prosperous growth; and in 1887 he built his present commodious hotel, the "Reed House," which he now ably conducts.
To Mr. Reed more than to any other man is due the credit of the development of the great coal fields that surround Cle-Elum and Roslyn, as he was the actual discoverer of these valuable mines.
Mr. Reed, although having been but twelve years in the territory, has made money rapidly, and is to-day in very good circumstances. In all his movements and business transactions our subject has been ably assisted by his beloved wife, a lady of refinement and more than ordinary intelligence, as is indicated by the excellent portrait that appears in this work.
Mr. Reed was united in marriage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1864, to Miss Barbara A. Steiner, a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania. Her father, Joseph Steiner, was the first white child born in what is now Mercer county, Pennsylvania, it being at that time, 1812, a portion of Erie county, Pennsylvania. He died at Mr. Reed's home in Cle-Elum in October, 1888.
McDONOUGH B. REES. - This is a brother of the well-known pioneer, W.H. Rees, of Marion county, and has in his own right earned a wide reputation as a man of unusual force of character and enterprise.
He was born in Ohio in 1831, and came to Oregon in 1854. Much of his life on this coast has been devoted to prospecting and mining. As early as 1855 he was at the Pend d'Oreille mines, and in 1856 returned to the Willamette valley amid great dangers from the Indians. After farming a few years in the Willamette valley, he went to the Salmon river mines. His return to the Willamette was again amid perils, closely following the Jaggers party, which perished in the snow on the John Day hills; and one of their party, a Jew with forty pounds of gold dust, which he would allow no one else to carry, died of fatigue and exposure. His operations in the same mines the next summer were remunerative. In 1863 he was at Placerville, thence to the Upper Clearwater diggings; and in 1866 he brought a band of cattle from the Willamette valley to the Grande Ronde. He continued the business of drover until 1869, and thenceforward has devoted himself exclusively to farming and stock-raising in The Cove, Oregon, where he owns sixteen hundred acres of fine land, and one hundred milch cows, besides other stock. He also has town property.
He was married in 1856 to Miss America Fe Hall, of Marion county. They have five children.
JACOB REITH. - Mr. Reith, one of the most valuable citizens of Umatilla county, passed through some of the severest hardships on record in coming to our state.
He is a native of France, having
been born in Alsace in 1836. In 1850 he crossed the ocean with his father's
family, residing for a time in New York State, and until 1860 in Minnesota.
In that year, with his brother Joseph, he set out across the plains for
Oregon. That was the time of the fierce Snake Indian outbreak; and at Bruno
creek the immigrants were attacked at daylight on the 6th of September.
They made a brave fight until the evening of the seventh, losing at the
first onslaught four men; and three more fell before the battle was over.
It became necessary to abandon the wagons; and thus, leaving their stores
and stock in the hands of the Indians, they were molested no more. It was,
however, a frightful
march to the Umatilla. That was two hundred miles away; and the journey thither must be performed on foot. The forty-four emigrants, men, women and children, separated into little squads; and such was the horror of hunger that befell some of those little parties that a number of those who survived fed upon the flesh of those who perished; and only twelve came forth alive from the wilderness. These were Joseph and Jacob Reith; James Myers, his wife, one boy and four girls; Miss Emily Trimble; Mrs. Chase; a Mr. Judson, and a discharged soldier, and two others, perhaps children. The Reiths came wholly by themselves and reached the agency. The rest were rescued by Captain Dent and Lieutenant Reno, with three companies. Some of the victims were found in a cave on the Snake river.
After recovering from that awful experience, Mr. Reith went to the mines at Oro Fino and at Auburn, and within three years had money. Coming back to a point on Birch creek near Pendleton, he located a ranch and became one of the first in that section to introduce sheep. In 1878, during the raid of the Bannacks, he suffered the loss of some three thousand of his animals. His brother, his partner, narrowly escaped being overtaken, and dissuaded him from venturing out to do what he could to save the flocks. In 1881 he turned his attention chiefly to wheat-raising, having now half a section in cultivation. He obtained twenty-five bushels of this grain to the acre, and, in such a season as was the last, when, for ninety days after sowing, there was not a drop of rain and the showers fell only after the wheat had bloomed, the yield was but little slackened.
Mr. Reith was married in 1879 to Miss Magdalen Mark, daughter of a pioneer of 1873. They have a pleasant home with the frontier good cheer and refinement, and a family.
A.H. REYNOLDS. - This pioneer of Walla Walla, Washington, is a bank director, a large real-estate owner, and has been active in many of the early enterprises, not only of that city, but of Oregon and California.
He was born in 1808, in St. Lawrence county, New York; and his memories of early life are deeply tinged with the exciting events of the war of 1812, in which his parents had an active part. Receiving the rigid and economical training of the old times, he added to his education by efforts of his own, and qualified himself for active life by learning the trade of a millwright. After a number of years spent in the old West, he crossed the plains to California in 1850 by the old trail. His health failing, he decided to go to Chile, but by the persuasion of a friend came to Trinidad.
Drifting up the coast, he came through Yreka to Oregon, and so far recovered his health as to engage in building mills. He put up flour mills in Benton and Polk counties, and did extensive work on the first woolen mill at Salem. With the money thus earned he went to Portland and engaged in financial enterprises and money-loaning. In 1859 he came to Walla Walla, on the second trip that the Colonel Wright made to Wallula. In that valley he set to work with his hands and brain, building flour mills, for which he received a one-third interest in the various mills he constructed. Near Walla Walla he built the Symes mill, the first one east of the Cascade Mountains.
His period of mill-building ending in the early sixties, he went into the money-loaning business, opening a private bank in 1872. That was the ancestor of the present First National Bank. His interest in some of his mills, notably the one at Dayton, still continues. Although not now in active business, he is a director of the First National Bank at Walla Walla, and of the bank at Dayton, and interested in that at Pendleton.
He was married in 1861, his wife being an Oregonian who had crossed the plains in the famous company of 1843. He was two sons, - Harry, who graduated recently at Michigan University, Ann Arbor and Allen, who is now in attendance at Whitman College, Walla Walla. He gives his sons the best of advantages, and is known and respected in all parts of the Inland Empire.
G.W. RICHARDSON. - Elder G.W. Richardson, born in Green county, Illinois, September 26, 1824, was ordained to the ministry and began preaching at the age of eighteen. He crossed the plains to Oregon, in company with his brother, Doctor J.A. Richardson, and other relatives in 1851, taking immediately on his arrival, a Donation land claim near where afterwards was located the town of Scio, and organizing, a few months subsequently, the first church of the Christian Brotherhood in Linn county. He devoted much of his time to the ministry, with this church and elsewhere, including invariably two days in each week, which, during four years, was wholly without remuneration, receiving, however, for his first year's labors the present of a nine-dollar coat. He accomplished extensive and important evangelical work throughout the state, but especially in the counties of Linn, Marion, Polk, Yamhill and Washington; wherein he organized many of the churches that still survive him, who yet hold him in pleasing remembrance. Both he and his more intimate friends, however, always deemed him stronger in local or pastoral labors, where he became better known and therefore more fully appreciated, as in several churches he was annually re-employed for several successive years.
In educational work he was zealous, untiring and efficient. Moving from Scio to Polk county, in 1857, he was chief among the leaders who established and organized Bethel Collegiate Institute, which in early days was for years one of the most popular institutions in this new country, receiving a large patronage from all parts of the state and Washington Territory. It was successfully accomplishing academic and collegiate work with him as president of the board of trustees, until the interruption of the Civil war broke up its classes.
In politics he was liberal in his views, but always loyal to his convictions. He was a member of the state legislature from 1862 to 1864; and while in the discharge of his legislative duties he was noted for frankness, industry and prudence.
His widow and seven children
still survive him.
JAMES A. RICHARDSON, M.D. - Doctor Richardson was born in Adams county, Illinois, November 15, 1840. His grandfather, George Richardson, was born in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, serving in the war of the Revolution, and after its close taking an active part under Generals St. Clair and Wayne in the war against the Indians of now West Virginia and Ohio. After the suppression of the hostility of those tribes, he, with one companion, in a canoe, floated down the Ohio river to its confluence with the Mississippi, and thence passed up that river to Kaskaskia, then a French post for trading with the Indians. There a few years afterwards, he married Miss Sarah Griffin, niece of General B. Whitesides, by whom he raised five sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to raise families. John G. Richardson, the eldest and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the American Bottom, five miles above St. Louis, where he lived until 1812, when the United States declared war against Great Britain, and called for volunteers to protect the rights of American and her people. Again for the third time the grandfather shouldered his musket, and this time led his eldest son, then a lad of sixteen years to the defense of his country.
In 18__ John G. Richardson married Miss Orphia Thompson, and moved up to Green county, and finally to Adams county, Illinois, where they raised nine boys and one girl. In 1851 he crossed the plains to Oregon, and, being well prepared for the great journey, he succeeded in reaching the far West without unusual hardships, and with only one battle with the Indians, which took place on Goose creek, where it empties into Snake river. The Indians attacked the train while in camp at about five o'clock P.M., but at sundown withdrew to a high hill in plain view of the camp, and held a war dance for the entertainment of the train. At daylight next morning they renewed the attack, but finding the train too strong for them again withdrew about nine o'clock, and gave no further trouble. On reaching the Willamette valley, he went directly to Linn county, where he located a Donation land claim, upon which he resided until his death, May 2, 1872.
He was a quiet citizen and a true friend, avoiding notoriety, and caring nothing for office or public honors; yet he was esteemed by an extensive acquaintance as a man of sterling worth and honor.
Doctor J.A. Richardson graduated in medicine in San Francisco in October, 1866, and from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, in March, 1870, taking meanwhile a special course in practical surgery under Professor Frank H. Hamilton. He then returned to Salem, Oregon, where he is now practicing his profession, and where the Doctor has been called to various positions of trust and honor, serving in numerous useful positions in the Third Judicial District Medical Society and the Oregon State Medical Society. He was one of the organizers of the latter, and filled for several years a chair in the Medical Department of the Willamette University. He also occupied the positions of physician to the Oregon State Penitentiary, of visiting physician to the Oregon State Insane Asylum, of physician to the state institutions for the deaf mutes and the state school for the blind. He also for four years represented Marion county in the state senate.
In May, 1871, he was married to Miss Fannie Boyd, who was born in Yamhill county, Oregon, in 1852, and was educated at Willamette University, by whom he has two children, Frankie and Boyd.
JOHN Q.A. RICHARDSON. - This gentleman, the oldest settler within ten miles of his present stock farm of four hundred and seventy acres in The Cove, Oregon, and a veteran of the Indian wars, was born in Illinois in 1839, and in 1851 crossed the plains in company with his parents. the father, Enoch Richardson, became a permanent citizen of Polk county, locating near Perrydale. During the journey on the plains the little party, being among the last of the season, sustained a fifteen hours' fight with the Snake Indians on Goose creek.
In 1856 young Richardson enlisted with Captain Goff's company of Polk county volunteers, and was present in the big fight in the Walla Walla, in which Governor Stevens was conspicuous, and saw his comrade S. Kriggs fall with a mortal wound.
In 1862 he was in the Salmon river mines, and the following autumn took up his claim at the then unoccupied north end of The Cove. He is there engaged in raising fine Durham cattle and blooded horses.
He was married in 1879 to Miss C.E. Bault, and has a family of five children.
HON. HENRY RINEHART. - The retiring registrar of the United States land-office at La Grande, Oregon, is one of the representative men of the state, having come hither from Iowa in 1854, his native state, however, being Illinois, and the time of his birth 1842.
His first home in Oregon was in Lane county, near Eugene, where his father, Lewis Rinehart, settled on a Donation claim; and it was there that he received a liberal education.
In 1861 he seized the opportunities presented in the Inland Empire, spent the year 1861 at Walla Walla, and in 1862 crossed over the mountains to the Grande Ronde. The trip was made in April, and snow was still five and six feet deep on the Blue Mountain Pass. Continuing the journey to the mines of Powder river, then but recently discovered by Captain Stafford and company, he remained the summer through, mining and prospecting. Returning in the autumn to the Grande Ronde, he choose that delightful valley for his future home, and has there remained to the present time.
He has interested himself in
various business enterprises, and has been blessed with good fortune in
each. In 1863 he was ranching and freighting, in 1864-65 driving beef cattle
to the Eastern Oregon and Idaho markets, and from 1866 to 1868 was interested
in merchandising, together with milling and freighting, at Summerville.
Thenceforth, until 1886, he was operating with stock and in mercantile
affairs. It was in that year that he was appointed registrar of the land-office,
and filled the position with great acceptance to the community.
In public affairs Mr. Rinehart has ever been highly esteemed, and as early as 1868 was elected as representative from Union county to the Oregon legislature, being at the time the youngest member in that body.
In 1865 he was married to Miss Margaret A. Martin, and has two daughters, Nellie and Bertha, and two sons, Eugene and Clay..
HON.J.H. RINEHART. - Mr. Rinehart, whose portrait appears in this volume, is one of the pioneers of Eastern Oregon, and the proprietor of the Mammoth Anna-Lulu Flouring mills. He was born October 1, 1836, in Adams county, Illinois, and moved to Mahaska county, Iowa, in 1845. In 1854 he crossed the plains with his parents to Oregon and located with them at Eugene. In 1855 he left the parental roof and, although but a boy of eighteen, sought the gold fields of Northern California, where he remained a year and a half, and returned to Oregon soon after the close of the Indian war in July, 1856.
In July, 1862, he arrived with two of his brothers in the Grande Ronde valley, and struck camp at a point where now stands the flourishing city of La Grande. The valley then had no town nor postoffice, the nearest places being Walla Walla and The Dalles. The valley at that time was wholly unsettled, and was covered with tall bunch-grass. The young settler located on unsurveyed land near Summerville, Oregon, and in that vicinity has resided for over twenty-six years. The first four years he was chiefly engaged in stock-raising and farming, and in 1866 undertook the flouring-mill business, and still clings to it, having become the principal proprietor in the Anna-Lulu roller mills at Summerville.
Mr. Rinehart is the father of Doctor Willard E. Rinehart of Portland, Oregon and of H.C. Rinehart, cashier of the Farmers' Mortgage and Savings Bank of Summerville. He has two daughters, Anna and Lulu; and from the combination of these two names was formed the present appellation of his roller mills.
Although having been among the wild savages of the Northwest, Mr. Rinehart has escaped all serious difficulty with them, and has no marks or scars inflicted upon his person by their arrows or tomahawks. He is one of a family of thirteen children, all of whom were born and raised on the frontier; and all but one sister having crossed the plains to Oregon. He never saw a railroad until he was twenty-six years old.
He has been intrusted with public duties, having been elected in the fall of 1878 to the state legislature on the Democratic ticket. Not only a firm Democrat, he is also a sterling temperance man. In December, 1885, he established a bank at Summerville, and is a large owner of real estate, having some thirteen hundred acres to his name. He also has a band of two hundred and seventy-five horses now ranging on Eastern Oregon bunch-grass. With marked business sagacity, he is not without fine sentiment, and is one of those better citizens in whom we see the hope of future progress and development for the state.
LOUIS B. RINEHART. - Mr. Rinehart was born in Illinois in 1844, and ten years later accompanied his parents across the plains to Oregon. They followed the track s of 1853 from the mouth of the Malheur to Eugene City via Harney Lake. Ten miles west of Eugene the elder Rinehart located a half section of land, and provided a home for his family. Louis remained there until 1862, but that spring came with his brothers to the Grande Ronde valley. After living in a tent three months, he hauled the logs and assisted in the erection of the third house in the town of La Grande. A few days afterwards Mr. Rinehart, with others, conceived the idea of the location of some of the remarkably productive lands in the neighborhood; and in accordance with that conception they commenced staking their claims. Ere long they were waited upon by a detachment of the Umatilla Indians, who were encamped near by, and who pulled up their stakes.
Mr. Rinehart was, for a number of years thereafter, engaged in cattle-ranging and cattle-driving between the Willamette and Grande Ronde valleys; until, in 1865, he and his brother erected the first mercantile house in the village which they afterwards named Summerville. the next year they were joined by a third brother, and purchased the first gristmill in Union county. Being possessed with the requisite qualities, Mr. Rinehart was soon called upon to fill public offices, first as treasurer of Union county; and later, having moved to Baker county, he acted as assessor two years. In 1880, in response to the voice of the people, he represented Baker county in the House of representatives.
In 1881 he returned to his first home, and encamped at the south end of what is now the most beautiful village in the Pacific Northwest, - that of Union, Oregon. Since then he has been engaged in mercantile enterprises and in stock-raising, and for four years was state senator from Union county. He is owner of the townsite of Vale, Malheur county, and also owns eleven hundred acres of land, and is in every respect one of the most prosperous men of the Inland Empire.
WM. E. RINEHART. - Mr.
Rinehart was born in Iowa in 1846 on his father's farm. In 1854 the parents
crossed the plains to Oregon, and made a home in Lane county, suffering
only the usual hardships incident to such a journey, and the deprivations
of a new country. The old Donation claim lies ten miles south of Eugene
City. There William remained with his parents until 1864, in that year
joining his brother James H. as drover of a band of cattle, coming as far
as his present abode in the Grande Ronde valley. There he invested in company
with George Allen of his own Lane county neighborhood in a Cayuse pack-train,
and packed to Boise until winter. He sold out in time to return to the
land of "Big red apples" before winter, and remained at the old home
two years. The memory of the Grande Ronde valley, however, attracted him
back to its beautiful scenes; and with a band of his own cattle he made
his headquarters near the present site of Summerville, Oregon, where he
pursued the avocation of stock-raising and farming, until in 1883 he closed
out his interest in that line and
engaged in his present occupation as hardware and implement dealer in the rapidly growing town of Summerville.
In 1868 he married Miss Elizabeth Jane Martin of Lane county; and three of their ten children are now living in the Grande Ronde. Six of their children died of the devastating scourge of diphtheria, all within one week in the year 1881.
HON. L.M. RINGER. - There is moral earnestness about a man who is able to hold his own convictions in the face of his neighbors and friends. We find such a man in Mr. Ringer.
Born June 17, 1834, in Washington county, Maryland, he moved as a child to Amherst county, Virginia, there receiving his education, but later making his home in Stoddard county, Missouri, engaging in the mercantile business. When the war broke out in 1861, that community was strongly for secession. Mr. Ringer was obliged either to enter the rebel army or to leave. He chose the latter course. The Confederate authorities at once confiscated his property. He thereupon went to Patterson, a post occupied by the Union forces, and was appointed clerk in the ordnance department. Soon afterwards he returned to Bloomfield, Missouri, a place held at that time by the United States troops. He was there appointed sheriff of the county, and adjutant of the post. He was thereafter elected to the position of sheriff and collector, having a detachment of volunteer state cavalry as body guard, and served continuously until the close of the war. he was "true blue" in that difficult position, enforcing the law rigidly during those distracted times, maintaining the national authority, and even compelling the respect of the rebel sympathizers themselves.
In 1870 he left Missouri for Oregon, and settled at Eugene City, conducting a harness and saddlery business, and buying a half interest in the Eugene Guard, a leading newspaper of the place. After a year's visit back to Missouri, he returned to the Pacific coast, settling at Rebel Flat, in the newly organized Whitman county, Washington Territory, but removing four years later to Almota, on the Snake river, in the same county. There he opened a store, and has conducted a remarkably successful mercantile business.
During his residence in the territory he has served his county two terms in the lower house of the territorial legislature, and his district one term in the council. Although a Democrat, he was appointed by the Republican majority to the chairmanship of the all-important ways and means committee in the legislative council.
Mr. Ringer is a man of honor and integrity, holding a high position socially, and is universally esteemed as of unsullied moral character. His portrait finds a place in the galaxy of the territory's most worthy citizens.
In 1859 he was married to Miss Sophia W. Owen, a lady of excellent character and education. Their children are Effie, Mertie, Louie, Gertrude, Myrtle, Eugene, Lulu, Leonard, Lewis and Sophia. The eldest, Effie, and the five latter, are all living. The other four were buried in Stoddard county, Missouri.
ANDREW ROBERTS. - Andrew Roberts was born in Dundee, Scotland, August 12, 1822. When one year old he had lost both of his parents. He was then removed to Forfar. As soon as he was of proper age he learned the trade of a tailor, and when he had earned and saved sufficient money he left his native land for the United States. He thus states that venture: "I left my home in 1842, and on foot started to Dundee, distant fourteen miles. I took the steamer from there to Edinburgh, and traveled thence by rail to Glasgow. I then went by steamer to Liverpool. I had to remain there about two weeks awaiting the sailing of the ship Sea of Norfolk, in which I had engaged passage for new York. When I landed at New York I had only five cents."
Mr. Roberts resided in New York until January 11, 1851, in the meantime working at his trade and keeping store. He married in 1847; and his family consisted of himself, his wife and his son Peter when in January, 1851, they sailed for San Francisco on the Empire City, via Chagres and Panama - the old Isthmus route- up the Chagres river in bungoes to Gorgona, and thence by mules across the portage to Panama. At Panama they were detained until the arrival of the steamer Columbia on her way out from New York, to take her place on the route between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. On reaching San Francisco, Mr. Roberts rented a store on Clay street near the postoffice, but soon after moved to Merchant street.
In the May fire, the building in which his store was located was burned down; but he succeeded in saving a large portion of his goods. Another store was soon rebuilt on the ruins of the old one; and Mr. Roberts occupied it. In the June (1852) fire, the building was again consumed; and Mr. Roberts lost everything. He says: "I was broke; but I had to do something. There was a friend of mine who was a banker. So we bought the Phoenix Bakery, next to the corner of Montgomery and Long Wharf. It was built on the ashes of the late fires. In the fall of 1852, Patrick Raleigh visited San Francisco and advised me to remove to Portland. I took his advice; and we formed a copartnership, which continued until the fall of 1854."
The ill health of Mrs. Roberts
rendered it necessary for Mr. Roberts to take her from Portland. By the
advice of his physicians he moved to Corvallis, then called Marysville,
where he continued in business until 1866. At that time he returned to
Portland and engaged in the manufacture of clothing. In 1871 he formed
a copartnership with Charles Fishel; and the firm was a leading house in
Portland, and had a celebrity throughout Oregon and Washington. In 1882
Mr. Roberts purchased the interest of Mr. Fishel, who retired from the
business, and conducted it alone until 1888, when he associated with him
his son-in-law Philip S. Malcolm, who was married to his only daughter
and sole surviving child, the business still continuing under the name
and style of A. Roberts. Mr. Roberts lost his wife in
1870; and his only son was drowned in the Willamette on the 4th of June,
1872. These bereavements severely afflicted Mr. Roberts.
As a merchant, citizen and man, Mr. Roberts is universally respected in the community where he has lived so long. He has never sought office nor publicity; and much of his life has been employed in unostentatiously bestowing charities and doing deeds of kindness for his fellows. In Masonry, however, he has become prominent, not only in his adopted state, but throughout the Pacific slope. To that institution he has given largely of his time, and in contributing to its means to dispense charity and benefit humanity. He has taken almost if not all of the degrees known to the fraternity in all of which his consistency, devotion and faithful conduct have commended him to the brethren wheresoever dispersed. His brethren of the lodge, the chapter, the commandery, the grand lodge, in both the York and Ancient Scottish Rite, have marked their appreciation of his zeal and valuable service by calling him to almost every station and office in every body of the craft in the city of Portland. When it is recorded of him that he is a good Mason, true in every relation in life, honored by neighbors, loved by his race, you have only spoken truthfully of that true man, good citizen and faithful Mason, - A. Roberts.
A.B. ROBLEY. - The figures which express the business of the Eastern Oregon shipping points are instructive and almost startling. Thus, by the record of Mr. Robley, Centerville shipped in 1888 seventeen thousand tons of wheat and seven hundred tons of barley. The average yield of wheat per acre of a belt of the country extending twelve miles around Centerville is about thirty bushels. The other grains and the vegetables are grown to advantage; and the fruit is a good crop. Centerville has excellent railroad facilities, being on the direct line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's road, which passes from Pendleton to Walla Walla; and it also is now reached by the O.W.T. Ry., giving connection with the Northern Pacific, - the first town in Oregon thus touched. The gentleman of whom we write is engaged there in the forwarding and commission business, and is well qualified to render a just and accurate view of its business.
He is himself one of the guaranties of the progress of the place. Born in Illinois, in 1845, he received his education in Iowa, and began life as a schoolteacher. In 1867 he started across the country to Oregon, wintering in Tintic valley, south of Salt Lake. Reaching Walla Walla the next year, the company with which he came was disbanded; and Mr. Robley continued his professional work, teaching for three years. Seeking a permanent location, he went to the Palouse country, reaching and stock-raising through one administration. He then returned to Walla Walla, soon finding his choice at Centerville. Walla Walla is, however, a favorite place with him. There, in 1875, he found his wife, Miss Eva Paul. Their three children are boys.
JONAS L. ROE.- Mr. Roe was born at Huntington, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1852, and is the son of James Roe, a farmer and carpenter, and a captain in the state militia. In 1854 our subject removed with his parents to Iowa, and subsequently shared with them the returns of hard labor and sagacious investments. Being a bright boy, dividing his time between following the plow and attending school, and growing up a vigorous youth, he took a thorough course of study at the Kirksville, Missouri, State Normal school, and at the age of twenty-one began independent life as teacher in Iowa.
Crossing the plains to Oregon in 1880, he continued in the same public-spirited profession, and in 1883 anchored himself to the permanent interests of the country by purchasing a choice tract of land in the section known as the Sand Ridge, near Union, Oregon, a region justly celebrated for the production of wheat. There he has devoted himself exclusively to farming, having made a financial success of the undertaking, and has thereby provided his family a delightful home. He was married to Miss Lucy C. Cochran in 1875, and has a son and two daughters.
Having ably filled local offices, he was in 1888 elected by the people of Union county to care for their political interests in the state legislature. In that capacity he has made an honorable record, and has extended his influence to adjoining counties. In 1889 he received an appointment as special agent of the general land-office, having been a great admirer and warm supporter of President Harrison in the late campaign. His canvass prior to that election was very ably conducted, and won for him the highest praise. He is no less esteemed for his kindness to the poor and unfortunate, and for his abundant private charities.
CAPT. HENRY ROEDER. - In this veteran of the early times, as well as of the war of 1856, we have a representative of the men who first opened business on the Sound. As such he merits somewhat extended notice.
He was born in Germany on July 4, 1824, his parents being John and Martha Roeder. He is connected by family ties with the great European events of the early part of the century, his father having been a soldier under Napoleon, and having fought in the battle of Waterloo. Not wishing to bear arms for Louis, nor rear his son to fight his battles, he with his family came to America when Henry was but seven years of age, and settled at Vermilion, Ohio. The nautical experience of the young man began on Lake Erie; and before he was twenty he was master of a schooner. In 1849 the gold fever of California reached his locality; and he made up his mind to take a run out to the mines, and be back in a year's time and take charge of a fine vessel in process of construction on the Vermilion river. It was twenty-two years before he had seen enough of the West to think of looking back again to life on the lake.
The journey was begun February
23, 1850. The two six-mules teams, two wagons and camp outfit were secured
at St. Louis; and the party of adventurers to which he belonged reached
Salt Lake in time to hear Brigham Young deliver his first Fourth of July
oration, in which he stated that the Saints would set up a government of
their own. While there they disposed of their wagons for twenty-five dollars
each in Mormon money, known as "Holiness to the Lord," which was worth
in California
about seventy-five cents on the dollar. Riding mule-back into California, they were pestered more or less by the Indians; and once in the Golden state Mr. Roeder had about the usual hard luck of the miner. In going from Ophir Flat, where his party were mining, to Sacramento City for supplies and mail, he had an attack of cholera, and was also three months on his back with typhoid fever. He mined, packed to the mines, and at length ran a store which he purchased of a lady who, previous to selling out, used to send down her half-gallon jars of dust to Sacramento as her profits. The business was not so profitable to young Roeder. He lost too much by selling on credit. There were too many "good fellows."
In a fishing scheme on the Sacramento he made one hundred dollars per day. The money thus made he loaned to a friend; and that was the last of his six thousand dollars; for it was all lost through the great Sacramento fire. This success in the fishing line led him to try the same business on a more extended scale in the waters of the Columbia. Reaching Portland in the fall of 1852, news came that San Francisco had been burned, and that lumber was four hundred dollars per thousand. Mr. Peabody, the first owner of Whatcom, had come with him from below. The two men now changed their plan from fishing on the Columbia to lumbering on the Sound. With a canoe from St. Helens, they took the time-honored old Indian route to the Cowlitz, footing it from the Cowlitz landing across the Olympia, on company with Andrew Chambers and wife, Doctor Latham, and Honorable Charles M. Bradshaw. Here they must travel once more in a primitive canoe to North Bay; and, hauling the craft across the neck to Hood's Canal, they passed down that body of water to Port Townsend.
Now, in search of the water-power and coal, the three explorers - for John Heath had joined the party - came to the Whatcom country, arriving there on December 14, 1852. Roeder taking one hundred and sixty acres as a Donation claim on the present site of Sehome, and Peabody on Whatcom, securing permission of the Indians to locate there. Roeder returned to Port Townsend for men and a carpenter, but on account of high water found no one willing to undertake the journey. In those days the good old German adage, "Find a way or make one, " had the emphasis on the latter clause. The ways and means to do things had to be made. In pursuance of this end, Roeder bought a sloop and sailed off for Victoria, securing there the supplies and men necessary; and upon his return to Whatcom he began building the mill. The next step was to secure the machinery which could be found only in California. Taking passage on a bark, he made the necessary purchase at the Sutter Iron Works, paying twenty-five cents per pound. The mill was thus brought to completion; but by this time the San Francisco market was glutted; and it was useless to endeavor to effect any sales there. The first lumber from Puget Sound that reached the Victoria market came from this mill. The first Church of England was constructed with it, also the barracks located at Esquimalt during the Crimean war.
A second enterprise begun about that time was the opening of the Sehome coal mines, which were discovered after the Captain changed his claim to where he is now living by the uprooting of a large tree in a gale of wind. With Brown and Hewitt, however, he began to develop the vein, and they afterwards sold it for eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars, the whole of which Brown ran away with; and his partners never could either find him nor recover their shares. In the year 1854, together with two others, he built the schooner H.C. Page, the third of Puget Sound register. She was used for coasting and lumber export. In 1855 the same company of men laid out the road to British Columbia, passing across the Cascades to the Colville mines and thence north. Roeder himself viewed the road and blazed a way back from Frazer river. This was about a hundred and fifty miles of very rough country. In 1856, as the Indian war broke out, the settlers of the mill constructed a fort and stockade in the town; and thus, having their families barricaded, many of the men went off to the war east of the mountains. The year 1860 saw the Captains till prospering insomuch that he was owner of the bark Glimpse, and was engaged in coasting to San Francisco, thus returning his nautical life.
The opening of the Caribou mines, however, drew him again to the mountains and gulches, this time as hotel keeper at Beaver Pass. Those were lively times. Meals were two dollars each, hay twenty cents per pound, barley seventy-five cents. Two very successful summers were spent at that rendezvous. Returning to his farm, he now endeavored to live quietly, but soon found it necessary to buy and run a schooner; and in 1866 he opened out the stone quarry at Chuckamet. The first stone went to build a lighthouse at new Dungeness. The quarry is now a bonanza.
In a political way the Captain has kept his end up, having served one term in the territorial council, and eight sessions of the house, and as county commissioner of Whatcom county four terms. He is a Democrat, but has turned a regular majority of twenty-eight hundred on the opposite ticket by one hundred and twenty-one. His surplus money he has invested in real estate at Whatcom, and on Whidby Island. His wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Austin, came to Washington in 1854, and to Whatcom in 1855, and is the daughter of Mrs. Charlotte Austin, who kept a hospital at Vermillion for the sick and wounded from Perry's great victory on Lake Erie. They have two children living: Victor, now in business at Roeder in the Mohawk valley; and Lotta C., wife of C.I. Roth, an attorney of Whatcom. Both the Captain and his wife are members of the Washington Pioneer Society.
WILHELM OTTO ROESCH. -
The brewery of Pendleton, Oregon, is operated by Mr. Roesch, a man who
has had long experience in all the processes of manufacturing the beverage.
Born in Germany in 1855, he came to America in1870, working in a brewery.
He followed the same business in San Francisco in 1874; at Steilacoom in
1886; at Portland until 1888. At Port Townsend he built a brewery for himself,
running it two years. At Heppner, in 1880, he operated his own
brewery one year. In 1882 he returned to Germany, marrying Miss Anna Rapps. Returning to Oregon, he is now at Pendleton, operating his own brewery. He has three children, Freda, Wilhelm Lewis and Herbert Otto.
E.R. ROGERS. - The subject of this brief sketch is a son of Charles and Jane P. Rogers, and was born in Freeport, Maine, November 29, 1829. He there received a common-school education, and early took to the sea, "a life on the ocean wave" being the bent of his inclinations. He at the early age of fourteen shipped in Boston for New Orleans and Europe. he continued in that calling until he arrived in San Francisco, on October 10, 1849, in the bark Sarah Warren, a vessel subsequently well known on Puget Sound as one of its early lumber vessels.
On arriving in San Francisco, he met his uncle, Captain Denison, who was master of a vessel homeward bound, and who not only offered him, but urged him to accept the position of first officer on his vessel; but he declined, and in June following was at Big Auburn Gulch, Placer county, mining for gold. A few days afterwards he was taken ill with brain and bilious fever, the first and only sickness since his childhood. Want of medical attendance and care protracted his illness until the following February. He then prospected for a season, and met with but very indifferent success. Later in the season he joined a company to the American river at Haniseeket bar; but the season proved short; and, the freshet coming on before the race-dam and water-wheel were completed, all was washed away, making a total loss to all concerned in the undertaking.
Leaving the mountains in the fall of 1851, he spent that winter in San Francisco, there making the acquaintance of one Samuel McCaw, with whom and others he organized an expedition to Queen Charlotte Island on the west coast, buying and fitting out the old schooner Mexico. They sailed from San Francisco in March, 1852, in search of gold, and arrived at the island in the latter part of April of that year. The search for gold having proved fruitless, they headed for Puget Sound, and arrived at Steilacoom on the 25th of May, 1852. There they contracted with Mr. John B. Chapman to furnish them with a cargo of piles, Mr. Chapman having located a Donation claim at what is now known as Chapman's Point. It was whilst there that Mr. Rogers met for the first time the following well-known gentlemen, viz.: Doctor Tolmie, W.W. Miller, Lieutenant Slaughter, Captain James M. Batchelder, John M. Chapman, James Hughes, and Captain Lafayette Balch, who had located a Donation claim east of Chapman's in 1850. Having secured their cargo of piles, they sailed for San Francisco, taking with them John B. Chapman, who there and then abandoned his Donation claim to his son, John M. Chapman. Arriving in San Francisco, they sold their cargo and vessel. Mr. S. McCaw returning to Puget Sound and locating at Steilacoom, from whence he frequently wrote to his old friend Rogers, who remained near and south of San Francisco for the next two years.
In February, 1854, Mr. Rogers again made his way to Puget Sound, and arrived at Steilacoom, Washington Territory, in that month, where he found Mr. McCaw engaged in merchandising, having bought a stock of goods the fall before in San Francisco. He shortly afterwards entered into co-partnership with him; and with their joint capital they returned to San Francisco and purchased an enlarged stock of goods. This prosperous partnership continued until within a few weeks of Mr. McCaw's death, which occurred in April, 1881. This firm built the first brick building north of the Columbia river and west of the Rocky Mountains in 1859, such being thirty by eighty feet, one story high, with sixteen-inch walls, and well plastered throughout, a view of which will be found in this work.
NELSON ROGERS. - Born on a farm in Vermont in 1841, and early apprenticed to the trade of chair-making, Mr. Rogers determined to come to this coast, and arriving in California in 1858, there engaging in placer mining, and farming for the space of eight years. The discontinuance of his residence below was immediately succeeded by a removal to the Granite creek district, in Eastern Oregon, where he followed mining until 1873, when he located at Burke's Hollow and farmed until 1882. Converting his entire property into money, he made advantageous loans until the reinvestment of his capital in a mercantile business at Pilot Rock, Oregon, where he is at present living.
AARON ROSE. - This gentleman, one of the earliest pioneers of the Umpqua valley, was born in Ulster county, in the State of New York, June 20, 1813, and was raised a farmer. He was married to Minerva Kelley in 1838.
He crossed the plains with his family in 1851, arriving at Foster's August 22d, and came directly to the valley of the South Umpqua, and settled at the mouth of Deer creek, upon the present site of the flourishing city of Roseburg, Oregon, September 23, 1851. He at once built a house and engaged in farming, in which he was very successful. His house was for many years used as a tavern, which will be kindly remembered by all the old pioneers who used to pack or travel over the road to and from the mines. In 1854 the county-seat of Douglas county was removed by a vote of the people, from Winchester to Mr. Rose's farm, when a town was surveyed, which was named Roseburg by its settlers.
Mr. Rose showed his liberality
at the time by donating the site for the public buildings, and contributing
one thousand dollars towards the erection of the first courthouse. He was
elected a member of the territorial legislature of 1855-56; but he has
never since been a candidate for any office. Possessing great energy, he
has always been foremost in every public enterprise. Upon the completion
of the Oregon & California Railroad to Roseburg, he laid off a handsome
addition to the city, one-half of which he donated to the company as a
bonus for the establishment of a depot. He has also caused the erection
of a dam on the South Umpqua river,
which is now utilized to run the city water works, a woolen mill and a roller flour mill. The business of the latter he superintends with all the energy of his youth.
With a kind and genial disposition, and generous to a fault, Mr. Rose is beloved by all; and it is safe to say he has no enemy. Mr. Rose has been twice married, his second wife being Frances Arrington. He has two daughters by his first wife, and a son and daughter by his second.
GUSTAVE ROSENTHAL. - This well-known merchant was born in Bavaria on the 4th of July, 1840. He continued to live in his native country until 1856. In that year he emigrated to America. The first three years of his stay he spent in Boston. Then, removing to the city of New York, he was engaged in mercantile business until 1861. In September of that year he came by the Panama route to California; and two years later he resumed his journeyings, coming to a final pause at Olympia, Washington Territory. There he soon embarked in the business of general merchandising in partnership with Isaac Lightner. In 1874 Mr. Rosenthal purchased the interest of his partner, and has since conducted the business independently, being now one of the oldest business men in Olympia.
In 1869 the office of county treasurer was conferred on Mr. Rosenthal. The wife of Mr. Rosenthal was Miss Katie Bettman, to whom he was united at Olympia, and by whom he now has an interesting family of four children, Bertha, Samuel, Caroline and Fannie.
GEN. JOHN E. ROSS. - No view of our state would be complete without the figure of General Ross, who was so prominent as Indian fighter and legislator in the early days. he was born in Ohio in 1818, and after a residence in Indiana and Illinois, being married at Chicago to the daughter of Alexander Robinson of that city, whose loss by death he suffered eight years later, he came to the Pacific coast, arriving in Oregon in 1847. He was captain of a company that crossed the plains, and soon after reaching the Grande Ronde came upon some of the most distressing incidents of the immigrants' experience. Having hurried on ahead of his train with Joseph Kline and an Englishman, he overtook, on the John Day river, the Warren company, who had just been attacked and robbed by the Indians, being even stripped of their clothing. He traded his own garments to the Indians for provisions for this destitute band, and came on with them to The Dalles, having not a cent of money at the time of his arrival.
Soon after reaching the Willamette valley, the Cayuse war broke out; and he enrolled his name as one of the volunteers to avenge the massacre of the missionaries. he was second lieutenant of the company of which H.A.G. Lee was captain.
In 1848 he went to California for gold, leaving his threshing machine standing in the field in his hast to be off. He was in the rich mines of Feather river, and subsequently was one of the discoverers of the precious metal on Scott river. The camps at Yreka and on Josephine and Congreve creeks were also familiar with his figure; and in 1851 he brought from the Willamette valley a band of cattle to furnish beef at Jacksonville. An attack upon immigrants at Bloody creek in 1852 moved him to collect a force of miners and go to the scene; and the work of this war was followed the next year by an active part in quelling the outbreak in the Rogue river valley. As colonel of two battalions, he conducted the campaign with the vigor and ability of an experienced commander. In the same year he was married at Jacksonville to Miss Elizabeth Hapwood. In the treaty of 1853, General Ross acted as interpreter, being well known by the Indians; although officially Colonel Nesmith held the position. In the harder struggle of 1855, he took a leading and decisive part. He was also elected in that year to fill the place left vacant in the Oregon legislature by the removal of Doctor Cleveland, the member of the legislature from Jackson county.
Later in the history of our state, General Ross was equally influential, having been one of the organizers of the Oregon & California Railroad Company (1866-67). In 1872 he was appointed by Governor Grover, brigadier-general of Oregon volunteers, in command of the First Brigade. During the Modoc war he took command of the troops in the field, and participated in the engagements. In 1878 he was elected Representative of Jackson county, and was appointed chairman of the military committee. He was also a member of the investigating committee to examine the records of the preceding administration.
His active mind has been clouded in recent years by disease; but his valuable services still operate in the texture of our society.
ADAM B. ROTHRACK, SR. - This representative citizen of the most progressive class in the Inland Empire was born in North Carolina in 1816. In 1839 he went out to the wild lands of Illinois, taking his wife and one child, and remaining until his removal to Iowa in 1863. Two years later he brought his family and effects across the plains to Oregon, and for three years engaged in agriculture in Marion county. In 1868 he made his final move to Umatilla county, developing an immense band of cattle; but, like many others, as he found the range becoming short, he turned his attention to wheat-growing, and has thereby become one of the most successful grain-raisers in Umatilla county, whose northern portion is supposed to be the best in the world in that line. His area of two hundred and fifty acres, sown this year, which will return a total of seventy-five hundred bushels, and upon which he will realize at least twenty-five cents per bushel, net, indicates somewhat the safe profits of wheat culture.
With a liberal spirit worthy
of emulation, Mr. Rothrack has made a home for his family at Weston for
the sake of educating his children at the excellent normal school of that
place, although he still personally superintends his farm. Being of German
extraction, he has recently made a visit to the old family home, where
he has a brother who is a pastor in the Lutheran church. The climate of
our state still preserves him in hale age; and he is held
in high esteem by the entire circle of his acquaintances, and greatly enjoys life with his five children and nineteen grandchildren.
L.L. ROWLAND, M.D. - L.L. Rowland, M.D., LL. D., F.R.S., was born at Nashville, Tennessee, September 17, 1831, and came with his father, Judge Jeremiah Rowland, across the plains to Oregon in 1844. He dutifully remained and helped at home on the old Donation land claim. North Yamhill, until the day he was twenty-one, when he entered the district school with the ambition and hope of finally finishing, if possible, a full classical course of education in some Eastern university. By working somewhat successfully in the California gold mines in 1849 and 1851, giving his father for his time half the product of his mining labors, and by investing the remaining half in the cheap Mexican cattle of that day, he acquired the necessary means, for the most part, to take him through college. Having qualified himself as best he could in the schools of the country, supplemented by private instruction, for matriculation, as ordinarily required by our universities, he left Lafayette for the East February 8, 1853, aboard the little steamer that first plied the Upper Willamette and Yamhill rivers, proceeding without other than the usual delays incident to travels at that early day, via San Francisco, Panama, Havana and New York, and arriving two months afterwards at his destination. he was the first youth of the new and distant territory in the Union, and teaching in some of the best schools (meanwhile studying medicine), he was married in Marivin, Alabama, November 18, 1859, to Miss Emma J. Sanders, who was born May 1, 1839, and was educated in Franklin College, Tennessee. She bore him five children, only one of whom, however, Levia, now Mrs. Jay C. Smith, survived childhood.
For many years he was among the foremost in educational work, having as a teacher occupied some of the most responsible positions in the country, and having as county school superintendent organized and conducted, in1860, the first teachers' institute in the state. He also served as a member of the state board of examination, and filled for four years, from 1874 to 1878, the office of state superintendent of public instruction, - the first person elected to that office.
Although he graduated in a theological school, and was ordained a minister in the Christian church, serving in some of the highest and most responsible positions under the state and national associations, and filling for seven years the pastorate of the Christian church in Salem; yet he never deemed it his duty to confine his labors at any time exclusively to the ministry. His many-sided character and versatility of taste fitted him acceptably for many vocations. The profession of medicine, however, has always commanded his best energies. He spared neither pains nor money in his thorough qualification by careful study in the best universities and hospitals in both America and Europe for the best work in his professions; and he constantly keeps abreast with the advances of science by his many valuable society relations, several of which were conferred upon him during his sojourn in the Old World. His professional brethren have often honored him with the highest marks of confidence.
Doctor Rowland was one of the organizing members of the Oregon State Medical Society in 1874, filling subsequently many of its important offices, including that of the presidency. He was several times elected by societies in which he held membership as a representative to the American Medical Association. In 1879 he attended the Amsterdam (Holland) International Medical Association, as a representative of the Medical Department of the Willamette University, of whose faculty he was for a time dean, for several years secretary, and for eight years professor of physiology and microscopy. He is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Salem, Oregon, where he is lecturer on hygiene in the Willamette University, physician to the Oregon State School for the Blind, emeritus professor of physiology and microscopy in the Medical Department of the Willamette University, and president of the State Insurance Company, of which he was one of the organizing members.
ROBERT D. RUCKMAN. - Mr. Ruckman was born on a farm in Iowa in1843, and received a common-school education. at the age of twenty he leased a neighboring farm and conducted it till 1870, when he engaged in the mercantile business. In 1872 he crossed the plains to the Grande Ronde valley, Oregon, bringing with him a few fine horses. He purchased a farm on what is locally known as the Sand Ridge, and also secured and developed a band of cattle. In 1885 he enlarged his business by taking an interest in the Victor Roller Mills of Summerville, of which he is the present business manager. He resides with his family on his farm three miles southeast of Summerville, Oregon. besides other stock he keeps a handsome herd of imported thoroughbred shorthorn Durham cattle, a breed which is now the general favorite in the Pacific Northwest, and which commands almost fabulous prices. He owns over eight hundred acres of rich, level land, and in the parlance of this day is "well-to-do."
In Iowa in 1866 he married Miss Emma S. Coen of Ohio. Their one son, Elbridge H. Ruckman, is now a resident of Union county. The mother died in 1867, when this son was four months old. In Union county in 1881 Mr. Ruckman married Mrs. Martha J. Mitchel, née Neville, a native of Iowa. He has borne an honorable part in public affairs, having been elected to the state legislature form Union county in 1876.
JOHN O. RUDENE. - This
owner of a very productive farm two miles from La Conner, Washington, on
the Swinomish flat, whose name appears above, is a native of Sweden, having
been born there in 1850. At the age of twenty-three he came to America,
locating in Iowa, until his removal across the continent to the Pacific
coast in 1876. He selected a farm near La Conner, buying one hundred and
eighty-one acres, to which he has since added two hundred. This fine body
of land he has reclaimed
from its original wild growth, and has reduced to cultivation. The deep, fine alluvium is astonishingly prolific. Oats and barley may be depended upon for from seventy to eighty bushels per acre; and an average of ninety-five bushels for a field of eighty acres has been obtained. hay yields four tons, and is a profitable crop, usually selling for from ten to twenty dollars. Fruit, particularly the hardier kinds, such as apples, yield too heavily for the strength of the trees. Cabbages and root crops are immense. This now productive place was entirely raw when its present owner first saw it, not a claim having been taken upon the section. His success in making it productive shows something of the future lying in wait for the thousands of farms like it to be made on the coast side of the mountains.
Mrs. Rudene, Bessie J., a daughter of W. Wallace, the well-known pioneer, came with her parents to Oregon in 1845, and in 1850 located with them at Olympia, removing the next year to Whidby Island, and becoming one of the first residents of that delightful region. Her three children by a former marriage, William, Arthur and Nellie M. Cornelius, live on the farm, the first being married. Mr. Rudene was elected county commissioner in 1886, and bears a full part in all public enterprises. He has great hopes for the future of that region.
HENRY RUST. - This gentleman, who has a great reputation for energy, was born in Germany in 1835. He came to America in 1860, and almost immediately entered the Union army. He fought as a private in the battle of Bull Run, and was in the subsequent campaigns before Richmond, and in the severe experiences of the peninsula. Being severely wounded in 1862, he took a long furlough, yet re-entered the service and became a captain in the commissary department. After the war he went to Virginia City, Montana, mining, and in 1867 came to Clarksville, Baker county, Oregon, and established the first brewery. After two years of this business, he took a tour for his health to South America, and upon his return took up a more stable life, marrying, and also erecting the Pacific Brewery at Baker City in 1870. This was early times for that place; and there were then but some eight hundred inhabitants, and but one substantial building in that city. Since coming there Mr. Rust has occupied a prominent position on the city council, having been president of the board in 1884. He is a Republican in politics, and a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Among his efforts calculated to benefit the county is his artesian well sunk through gravel, clay, sand and sandstone at a cost of some five thousand dollars, being the first in Eastern Oregon. The chief resource of that place is believed by our subject to consist of its great tributary mines; and a population of ten thousand is confidently expected soon.
A.W. RYNEARSON. - Mr. Rynearson, one of the most substantial fruit-growers of the Grande Ronde, was born in Pennsylvania in 1830. He received an academic education at McEwansville academy, and at the age of eighteen sought a business field at La Porte, Indiana.
In 1852 he made the journey across the plains to Oregon, living first at Butteville, in Marion county. Ten years later he sought a new location, selecting the Grande Ronde as the most eligible point, and locating near La Grande. He has brought his farm to high cultivation, having an orchard of eight hundred trees, with small fruit likewise. He has successfully cultivated hops for three years.
In 1868 he was married to Miss Mollie M. Sharp of La Porte, Indiana; and they have a family of three girls. In public affairs Mr. Rynearson has a well-recognized position of clerk of Oro Dell School District. During the Union trouble of 1856, he was in the Rogue river valley, and did his part to restore order.
JOHN AND WILLIAM RYNEARSON. - These most fraternal brothers were born in Pennsylvania. They were brought up on a farm and received a common-school education. In 1848 the parents moved to Indiana, where the young men learned the blacksmith trade, and worked at the business in connection with farming until 1865, when they crossed the plains to Oregon, locating in Grande Ronde valley near La Grande, and engaging in farming and stock-raising, - paying twelve and a half cents a pound for seed wheat to commence with. They now own three hundred and eighty acres of fine land, good buildings, a fine orchard, cattle and horses, and are contented and prosperous.
In 1876 they visited the Centennial exposition and their own old home. William took a little hand in the Bannack war of 1878, and had a number of thrilling experiences. On one occasion he, with seven other men and an Indian scout, unwittingly rode among twenty-seven Indians who were concealed in the brush; and he is still congratulating himself on having his scalp left. They were, of course, at the mercy of the savages; and there is a mystery connected with the fact that they were not fired upon.
In 1880 Mr. William Rynearson married Miss Ella Tall of Grande Ronde; and a family is springing up around him. The brothers have a high reputation as hunters, having been very successful in taking deer, elk and bear in the Blue Mountains around their home during the sixties and early seventies.
ISHAM E. SALING. - The gentleman whose name appears above is the leading merchant in the thriving city of Weston, Oregon. He came to his position by that firm and steady application to business which is everywhere the guaranty of success.
Mr. Saling is a native of Monroe
county, Missouri, and was born in 1830. In 1852 he came to Oregon across
the plains. At Salmon Falls on the Snake he exchanged his oxen for horses,
packing in from that point to the Jacksonville mines, and remaining in
that section until 1855. Coming to Yamhill county he engaged in farming
until 1859, when he crossed with his stock into the Walla Walla country.
The hard winter of 1863 starving to death many of his cattle, he decided
to confine himself to farming. This occupation he followed
until 1874, being among the first to prove the fertility of the general upland soil.
In that year he established himself at Weston in the merchandise business, and is now head of the largest business in the county. His other interests are also large. He owns a half interest in the brick hotel, three brick stores, and also the tract known as Saling's Addition, and a farm of two hundred and thirty acres nearby. With his two sons he has three hundred head of horses and cattle on a place near the Columbia in Washington; and he is also much occupied there with operations in farming.
He was married in 1856 to Miss Melinda Morton of McMinnville. They have eight children. The eldest daughters are now married, and are conducting homes of their own. His sons are in business.
The labors of Mr. Saling and his compeers have even yet but slightly lifted the curtain of the future of the valley of the Columbia and its boundless possibilities. From this starting point, however, for him his children, as well as for many others, has begun a new world.
C.A. SANDER. - This is one of those redoubtable men from Prussia who have helped to make our country great. He was born in 1840. At the age of twenty-five he came to America. He first engaged in milling in Florida. He followed the same business in New York and Kansas. He followed the same business in New York and Kansas. In 1868 he was in Arizona at work in the quartz mines for about fifteen months. He was next prospecting in British Columbia in the Peace river country. He then came down to The Dalles in Oregon, and worked a winter at milling, from which point he came to Kittitass county and located permanently on the ground where he now has a ranch and mill. For the first seven years after coming thither, Mr. Sander took whatever work came to hand and which promised a living, while he was accumulating means to build a home and to establish his mill. He now, owns eight hundred acres of the very best land in the county, has his own mill property free from incumbrances, and also enjoys his own residence and elegant property in Ellensburgh, Washington. The mill of which we speak has a capacity of seventy-five barrels per day, and now uses the roller process. More than half of his ranch is under cultivation, and has been made very handsome.
Mr. Sander is enterprising and industrious, always ready to advance the general interests of the territory and of his county in particular; and he has done much already to open up and stimulate trade in Ellensburgh. He was married to Miss Olive Clemmens of Yakima county in 1881, and has now a family of three children, one boy and two girls.
We hear much said about the necessity of "capital." The career of the gentleman before us shows that the capital which we most need is brawny hands, clear heads and honest heart. These will create the other kind.
HON. WILLIAM SAVAGE. - This pioneer of 1845, one of the most successful men of Polk county, was born at Mexico, New York, in 1826. He was left an orphan at the age of five, and when sixteen went to Ohio, and three years later joined Colonel Taylor's party for Oregon. His first work was taking the Colonel's stock by water - the Ohio and Missouri rivers - to St. Louis, and driving them thence to Independence. Perhaps this early training in the handling of livestock gave him a taste for the work. At least he has been in that business more or less ever since.
The usual organization, reorganization and disorganization took place on the plains. Perhaps the question of observing the Sabbath produced as many differences as any. Some desired to stop that day for rest and worship, while others spent such days of recuperation in card-playing or hunting or washing. By the time the Rocky Mountains were crossed, each party was gong by itself; although one of the travelers named Welch was considered the captain-general; and the several companies kept up some form of taking the lead with good grass and breaking the road, and afterwards the rear with poorer grass but a smoother track. At Fort Hall many of their companions in toils turned off to California; and some most unfortunately essayed to reach the Willamette valley by the Southern Oregon or Applegate route.
Arriving at The Dalles September 27th, young Savage found passage on a bateau to Linnton, and subsequently, employment in navigating the craft for the benefit of other immigrants, - a job lasting till December. Thereupon he repaired to Oregon City, and took the responsibility of driving Mr. Ramage's cattle thence to Yamhill. This proved a severe task. Driving the animals across the Tualatin one evening for the sake of better feed, the stream rose during the night under a heavy rain prevailing, which rendered it unfordable. Undertaking to swim his band back, they took refuge on an island in midstream and refused to move. The young man's only recourse was to wade out to them, up to his armpits in snow-cold water, and, seizing each one by the horns, forcibly dislodge the creatures. The wetting, and no dry clothes on hand, was not the best part of the adventure.
During the succeeding winter, work was obtained at Hawn's mill in Moses' valley, and the next season with Captain Hembree. A look for lands and homes in the Umpqua valley was undertaken. No white man, except Hudson's Bay trappers in the Umpqua, was found south of Mary's river; and the sites of what are now cities were made without offense their untented camp ground. This region was far too lonely, despite its beauty, for living; and Savage returned to the Yamhill. In 1848 he drove a band of beef cattle across the Cascades from the Willamette to The Dalles, disposing of them to the soldiers then there. Upon this trip he and his comrades were without flour the greater part of the time, and lived wholly upon beef, - not so bad a fare.
He made the customary trip to
California in 1849, but met with nothing but sickness, and, returning in
1850, located his Donation claim near Dallas, where he now lives. There
he began farming and stock-raising, and has continued the business up to
the present time, swelling it to quite large proportions. In 1871 he brought
twenty-one hundred
head of cattle from Texas to Burro creek on the Snake river, disposing of a part of them at once and the rest to a beef contractor for the Portland market. Since 1882 he has revived this business, and has sold more than a hundred thousand dollars' worth of animals. He has a stock ranch of his own east of the Cascade Mountains, and at Dallas also raises fine stock on his farm. He also conducts a banking business there. In 1880 he was elected state representative from Polk county, and filled his term to the satisfaction of all.
He was married early in the fifties' to Miss Sarah Brown, one of the Oregon girls of the old time, and has reared a family of six sons and two daughters. Four of the sons are in the stock business in Eastern Oregon. He was married secondly in 1883 to Mrs. Mary C. Lady, and has by her two children.
CONRAD G. SAYLOR - Among the pioneers to the Pacific Northwest, and especially to the "classic shades" of Yamhill county, Oregon, none enjoyed a greater measure of esteem than the gentleman whose name is the title to this memoir. He was born in Martinsville, Indiana, October 6, 1818, and in that state resided until he was twenty-two years of age, when he came west to Iowa. In the latter state he learned the brickmaking and brick-laying trades, which he followed in various sections, first as employe', then as contractor and builder.
Among the numerous buildings which were constructed under his supervision, and which attest his skill as a master mechanic, might be named the county courthouse at Council Bluffs, Iowa, which has been for forty years the special pride of the citizens of that place. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Black at Iowaville, November 3, 1842, the fruits of their union being five children, three of whom survive.
Influenced by the reports concerning the Pacific Northwest, he resolved in 1852 to start for the Occident, beginning the journey in the spring of that year. Among the many who left their Eastern homes for far-off Oregon, there are but few whose experience on the plains was much more fraught with sadness than his. The family, at starting, was unbroken save by the death of a son prior thereto; but on reaching Elm creek, a small tributary of the Platte river, the affectionate wife and mother was suddenly stricken with cholera, which was raging to an alarming extent that year, and was quickly called from earth, leaving her husband with four small children dependent upon him, the youngest of whom, a daughter, being only eighteen months old. In October, after a wearisome, sorrowful and dangerous journey of six months, the train reached The Dalles. Learning there that the road over the Cascades was impassable for vehicles, he sent his horses by trail to Vancouver in the care of his oldest son. The only route by which he could convey his buggy to his destination was by water; and, constructing a raft, he placed it thereon and towed it along behind an Indian canoe, in which he and the two younger sons embarked.
His little daughter was left behind in the custody of a lady who had kindly consent to take care of her until her arrival at Portland. This was the last he saw of his babe; for on her way down the river she took sick, and, in site of the motherly attention and solicitude of the lady who had her in charge, her spirit passed away. her remains were interred near Hood River. The winter of 1852 was spent in Portland; and in the succeeding spring he removed to Puget Sound, locating at Olympia, where he engaged in making brick until 1854. On May 22d of that year he was again married, this time to Matilda J., eldest daughter of Asher Sargent of Grand Mound Prairie, a pioneer of 1849. By this union three sons were born. After a brief stay in Olympia they removed to a farm which he had purchased on Rock Prairie, some eight miles away.
On the breaking out of the Indian war in the following spring, he was compelled to abandon his home and seek protection for his family in a common center to all the settlers in that vicinity. The point selected was on Grand Mound Prairie; and there they erected a stockade and blockhouses, naming their fort after Captain Hennis. he served as a volunteer in Company F until the fall of 1856, when he received his discharge, after which he removed again to the Willamette valley, locating at McMinnville, Oregon, where he permanently resided until his death. At that time but little of the present city was visible, the old flouring mill, the old college building and half a dozen houses constituting its extent. Soon after his arrival, he opened a general merchandise store, the pioneer one, and in connection therewith carried on brickmaking. He followed such avocation until 1861, when he disposed of his mercantile business and left for Oro Fino mines. On arriving at Walla Walla, adverse reports reached him concerning the stability of the new El Dorado; and he retraced his steps, and soon after, with A.W. Sargent as partner, again engaged in merchandising. This he followed until 1864, when he retired with a competency and devoted the balance of his days to its management, and in taking his ease in the comfortable home he had erected.
Though at various times solicited
to accept political preferment, he always refused to be a candidate for
office. Notwithstanding this, he was ever an active and earnest supporter
of the Republican party, to which he allied himself on the breaking out
of the Rebellion; and he stood ready to preserve the loyalty of Oregon
to the Union at the risk of his life, should an outbreak be made by those
who sympathized with the South. Any enterprise which lent strength and
stability to the material welfare of his adopted home found in him a friend.
To the educational interests of the community he was always a liberal patron,
contributing by donation, at various times, for the benefit of the college.
In early manhood he identified himself with the Church, and through life
remained a consistent and upright believer in the teachings of the Master,
carrying his profession into his every-day walk in life and practicing
what he preached. He was accustomed to look upon the bright side of life,
and imparted the sunshine of good cheer to those about him. Whole-souled,
genial and courteous, he gained friends at every turn. All in all, his
career was above and beyond question a model for the youth and a guide
for the adult.
At the age of twenty-five he became a member of the Masonic brotherhood; and his record in that order for observance of its teachings and principles were excelled by none. In recognition of his worth and integrity, the lodge established in McMinnville, of which he was a charter member, kept him in the responsible position of treasurer for many years.
In 1884 his health being on the decline, and thinking an extended trip to the East might be beneficial, he left for the scenes of his childhood. But the trip did not have the desired result; and soon after his return it became apparent that the end was fast approaching, as a dropsical affection of the heart had made its appearance. He gradually became worse; and on September 13th of that year he breathed his last. He realized his condition throughout his illness, and died surrounded by those he loved, and conscious to the moment when the wing of the waiting angel wafted the soul away. The funeral discourse was delivered at the Christian church, of which denomination he had been for years an earnest and consistent worker. His burial was conducted under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity, the members of which came from far and near to pay their farewell tribute to an honored brother.
In "the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns," he was soon joined by his wife, she dying January 23, 1886; and when the large concourse of the people of her acquaintance, gathered around the vault beside the resting-place of her husband, they realized that in her demise they had lost a valued friend, felt the sweet influences of her kind and gentle counsel, and gathered new inspiration from memories coming up from the past like the fragrant perfume of beautiful flowers. The plainest truth is at once her highest eulogy, and the sincerest tribute that can be offered to her memory. her character was without a blemish; and in every relation, as a daughter, wife, mother, at home, as a member of the church, and in society at large, she displayed the highest qualities of a christian womanhood. An elegant costly monument marks the place of entombment of these departed pioneers, having been erected to their memory by their children. The family they left behind consists of six sons, all of whom are grown to manhood, and are occupying respectable positions in life.
DAVID J. SCHNEBLY. - Among all the editors whose lives are sketched in this volume, Mr. Schnebly yields to none the priority, since in 1850 he was conducting the only newspaper then in Oregon.
He was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1818, and from that state drew the physical completeness and mental energy for which her people have been distinguished. As a youth of seventeen he removed with his parents to Illinois, but there was greatly afflicted by the loss of his father by death. In 1840 he returned to his native state in order to pursue a course of literary study, and spent some years thereafter at Marshall College.
In 1850 he felt the impulse to give his life to the establishment of a new state on the Pacific coast, and arriving in Oregon found scope for his native abilities and for his literary acquirements as editor of the Spectator. That was the first paper established on the Pacific coast, and the only one published in Oregon in 1850. In the year following Mr. Schnebly, having gained the confidence of the people, and being well assured by all of his fitness for the position of publisher and censor of the ideas and opinions of the people of the state, purchased the establishment, and was editor and proprietor until 1854. reference to the old files of that journal show the success that attended his efforts. He sold out, however, in the latter year to W.L. Adams, M.D., now at Hood River, who changed the name to the Argus. In the meantime Mr. Schnebly had been married to Miss Margaret Painter, of Linn City. Seven children have been born to them, of whom, Phillip H., Charles P. and C. Jean are living. The eldest daughter, Mary V., the wife of Mr. F.F. Adams, died in 1887 at San Diego, California.
After leaving the Spectator, Mr. Schnebly assumed the arduous labors of rancher, taking a Donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, which, however, he disposed of in 1860 and gathered a band of cattle to begin in the stock business in the Walla Walla valley. He drove thither a large herd; but the winter following was that terribly severe season which old pioneers still remember with a shiver, and he suffered the loss of all except two horses. By this disaster he was financially stranded, but in a certain hopeless way, feeling that there was more use in action of some kind than passive acquiescence, he bought on credit six yoke of oxen and a wagon, and began freighting, employing as one of his teamsters, Ed . Ross, who subsequently became the talented editor of the Walla Walla Union. Success followed this endeavor; and in 1865 he went up north to the Spokane river, and built a toll bridge nine miles above the Falls. Meeting with a good sale of this property, he returned to Walla Walla, and in 1870 erected the flouring mill which is now owned by Dement Bros. By the failure of fortune in other respects, this enterprise proved a disaster; and he was again forced to the foot of the financial ladder.
With good courage and faith in a new country, he came in 1872 to the Kittitass valley and engaged for several years in farming. In 1883 the Kittitass Localizer was established at Ellensburgh, Washington Territory, with himself as editor and J.M. Adams as proprietor, but within eleven weeks he became sole proprietor and publisher, and has remained such to the present time. In this field Mr. Schnebly finds scope for his still unwasted vigor, and for his virile ideas. Although the senior in point of reckoning as pioneer, and also in years, of all the editors on the coast, he is still hale and active at seventy-one. Blest with vigorous health, and retaining to a marked degree his physical powers, he belies his years by the freshness of his countenance, and the activity of his movements. The facility of his pen and the strength of his views are well known to the public; and his paper is also widely read and much sought after for its well-filled local columns.
FREDERICK D. SCHNEBLY
- Our subject was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1832, and was educated
in the Franklin and Marshall College
of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1854 he started for California by way of Nicaragua. In passing up the Pacific, the steamer, Star of the West, on which he had taken passage, took fire; but the horrors of a burning ship tragedy were avoided by the timely and effective labors of the crew and passengers.
After stopping for a time in San Francisco, he visited the Sandwich Islands, but, returning to the Golden state, spent two unsuccessful years in mining. While there, in 1855, he witnessed a bloody pitched battle between several hundred Kong Kong Chinamen and an equal number of their Canton countrymen. Later he became a trader and miner in Siskiyou county, but left that region for the new gold fields on the Frazer river. After much journeying, he settled where Dayton, Washington, now stands. With one exception, he was the first to build a business house there. This property he sold, and wandered from camp to camp among the mountains of Idaho and Montana.
In 1871 he reached Walla Walla, and in 1872 located a farm in the Kittitass valley near Ellensburgh, Washington Territory. In 1873 he started the first agricultural implement establishment in Yakima county, representing Hawley, Dodd & Co., and since 1855 continued the same business for Knapp, Burrell & Co. Mr. Schnebly's political record is that of a Democrat; and in 1878 he was elected sheriff of Yakima county by a majority of one hundred and fifty out of a total vote of about six hundred. Two years later he became his own successor by a majority of fourteen, with two opponents in the field. During the years of his administration, it was a time when many desperate and lawless characters had located, rendering a position of sheriff, whose duty it often was to arrest them, an unenviable one, and a position calling for the exercise of coolness, judgment and nerve, which the subject of this sketch possessed in a marked degree. Mr. Schnebly was one of a party of five from the Kittitass valley who went as a volunteer into Chief Moses country to capture the Indians who had massacred the Perkins family. Later he hanged three of those who were captured. One of them was killed by his jailor, whom the prisoners attacked in an attempt to escape.
GEO. F. SCHORR. - The Northwest Tribune is the oldest newspaper in Eastern Washington north of the Snake river, having been established at Colfax in 1879. It has moved to Cheney in 1883, and to Spokane Falls in 1886. It gives its readers a full telegraphic summary of public events, and has a special department devoted to agriculture and stock-raising, thus making it of great value to the farming population, among whom it enjoys a large circulation. It avoids the stale old party cries and affiliations, giving the news, valuable information, and advocates right and justice without fear or favor. It is a success financially, as well as from a literary point of view.
Its editor, Mr. Schorr, is from California, having been born in that sunny state in 1856, and having lived upon his father's farm in the Sacramento valley until he was eighteen, when he went to the Bay city and learned the printer's trade. To qualify himself for the best work, he entered the college of letters at the State University at Berkeley. He distinguished himself there in the literary societies, and as editor of a college paper. Receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, he taught school with great acceptance in Butte and Kern counties, and in 1884 came to Cheney, Washington Territory, securing the chief position on the Tribune, and adding to it its present fame and value.
In 1885 he took a trip to California marrying Miss Carrie Bried, daughter of Rev. W.W. Bried, a pioneer minister in the state. This amiable and accomplished young lady was a classmate of his at the University. At Spokane Falls, Washington, Mr. Schorr occupies a position of influence, which is second to none, and which he uses wisely and conscientiously.
JOHN TUCKER SCOTT. - Perhaps there is no feature in which American life has become more noticeable than in the development of influential families. Without titles to distinguish those of distinguished ancestry, we nevertheless have many among our citizens whose sirnames are patents of ability, if not of legal nobility. In the older communities of the Atlantic states, the Chases, Fields or Adamses illustrate this fact; and the younger West has examples quite as marked. Without instituting comparisons, and only intending those of unusual force or efficiency, we shall not miss the general verdict of the people of our state in naming the family of J.T. Scott as one of these. All the members of his family have been persons of marked capacity; and the journalistic field of the Northwest has been well-nigh dominated by some of its individuals. Mr. Scott was himself a very marked man, the very ideal of a Western pioneer. Born in Kentucky in 1809, he was, almost from the day of his birth, on the advance wave of Western immigration. As the name implies, his ancestry was Scotch, the original pioneer coming from Scotland about the year 1755, and ultimately settling in North Carolina. On the side of his mother the ancestry was from an old family of Pennsylvania; and the severity of those times will be indicated by the fact that in her infancy she lost both parents by the violence of Indian savages.
It was about 1798 that the family
removed to Washington county, Kentucky, and became therefore among the
first after the Revolutionary war to occupy for the American nation the
western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. The region was scarcely well
under control of the Whites before a further removal was made in 1824 to
the wilderness of Illinois, and a new home made in Tazewell county on the
Illinois river. Remarkable as it may now seem, these first immigrants chose
the timber lands by the side of the river, grubbing out fields for cultivation,
while the immense prairies lay in their wanton luxuriance. Yet when we
consider the value of fuel and the logs for building, and the incredible
toughness of the prairie sod, which their slight plows and insufficient
teams could not break, their selection will not seem unreasonable. There
John Tucker Scott grew to manhood, developing a Herculean frame, and an
ambition for work and
progress which even his iron muscles could not support. There he made his own home, marrying Miss Anna Roloefson of Kentucky, herself a pioneer, and a woman of very superior intellect. There were ten children born to them on that Western farm, two of whom died and were buried there. The difficulties and hardships of early life in Illinois surpass anything ever experienced in Oregon, and, long before reaching middle life, Mr. Scott's health was much impaired by excessive labor. He felt that he must make up for the lack of proper implements by his own greater exertions, and was accustomed even to handle saw logs by his own personal strength. He opened a farm and operated a sawmill.
In 1852, however, when the bulk of the labor of settlement was passed, he felt again that irresistible migratory impulse to go west even to the Pacific. In this way only was it possible for him to work out his superabundant mental and moral vigor, and to satisfy his ideality. The crossing of the plains was undertaken in that year when the cholera was abroad; and the wife and mother fell a victim to the scourge. Her death was an irreparable loss, and has never ceased to be mourned by her children. The hazards of a trip across the plains resembled rather those of a military expedition than the incidents of modern travel. The entire fortune of the family was in the outfit; and, when the last day's drive was finished, animals, wagons, provisions, and the strength of the travelers themselves, were exhausted.
Beginning anew with good resolution, notwithstanding losses and trials, Mr. Scott made his first stoppage in Yamhill county, but a year later went to the Puget Sound country near Olympia. There he passed through the perils of the Indian war, repeating many of the experiences of the old Kentucky life. He saw plainly enough the great future of that region; but the development of it lingered a quarter of a century too late for him. In the meantime his large family was growing up; and he would not deprive them of educational advantages. Consequently, he removed to Washington county, Oregon, in 1859, in order to be near Pacific University. He occupied the old place of Joseph Gale, and the next year secured town property and remove to Forest Grove. At that beautiful village he remained until his death in September, 1880. The score of yeas spent there were quiet and happy, being passed very largely in intellectual recreations, in attendance upon, and deep interest in, the educational and literary and religious life of the place, and in the performance of neighborly offices. He had married Mrs. Ruth Eckler Stevenson; and her two sons and his own two children born of that union were given the best of educational advantages. Such business operations as he could conduct in a small town aside from the lines of traffic were carried on; and at the time of his death his fortune was sufficient for the necessities of his family.
In person he was tall, powerful and erect, with immense features bold, and strongly carved. He was ever a great thinker, and bore a brow deeply marked with the lines of intellectuality. Morally he was a man of earnest purpose and positive opinions. He possessed deep religious convictions and great courage, and was always ready for the furtherance of educational and religious enterprises. His feelings were invariably kindly and benevolent, and never in his life was he engaged in a brawl. His memory is a perpetual treasure to his family, and the life he lived of lasting value to the state.
His son, H.W. Scott, for twenty-five years, the leading journalist of the Northwest, has made the name a household word over the entire Northwest coast, and within the limits of his influence s no less familiarly known than Horace Greeley, whose old Tribune became his early political pabulum. He was the first graduate of Pacific University, receiving his degree in 1861; and he soon after began the study of law, and was one of the most active during the days of the war to conduct the enrollment of men as subject to military duty. He soon became editor of the Oregonian, and with the exception of a few years has continued with it, and is at present, not only its editor in-chief, but its controlling stockholder. As the great and controlling journal, it has been subjected to severe criticism, inspired partly by envy, and dictated partly by candid disagreement; yet its services have unquestionably been as invaluable as its management has been able and successful. As a steadfast and even passionate lover of the Union, and as a means of developing the Northwest, its services have been above all price. The appreciation by the public of our timber, mineral and agricultural wealth, and of our rivers and harbors, and the early opening of the whole country by railway lines, have been constant objects held in view; and this earnest aim, with its attendant exertions, so necessary to the state, explain very clearly subsidiary courses pursued by the Oregonian.
Mr. H.W. Scott is personally one of the few learned men in our state. In the midst of all his journalistic and business affairs, he has found time for patient and systematic study of classic as well as current literature and philosophy. It is his mental celerity and phenomenal memory which enable him to indulge the tastes of the student, and also to perform the work of a business man.
Mrs. Abagail S. Duniway is scarcely less known as the first editor of the New Northwest, a paper which she established for the purpose of carrying on the contest for woman's suffrage in the Northwest. Mrs. Kate Coburn enjoys a like reputation as editor of the Evening Telegram. Mrs. M.F. Cook, wife of the early resident of Lafayette, and Mrs. S.M. Kelt of the same place, Mrs. H.L. McCord of East Portland, and Mrs. R.E. Latourette of Oregon City, and Charles of Portland, have taken responsible and honorable positions in society. John, a youth of great promise and ambition, died in 1860, leaving his father and brothers and sisters well nigh heartbroken. Mrs. M.A. Fearnside, a woman remarkable for the moral beauty of her character, is also deceased.
SEATTLE. - Without doubt
this chief was the most conspicuous member of that portion of his
race inhabiting Puget Sound. he was the ruler of the Duwamish tribe from the time of the earliest settlement of the territory to his death. He was always the firm friend of the Whites, never heeding, but to refuse, the frequent importunities of his people to join the hostile bands. When taunted for this as cowardice, he replied that when there was cause for shedding blood they would find him on the war path night and day. In after years his traducers expressed their gratification that his hand, had not been stained with the blood of the Whites.
In personal appearance Seattle was short, spare, round-shouldered, with a large head adorned with masses of long, black hair. His dress was usually neat and clean, consisting of shirt, pantaloons, and blanket loosely thrown over his shoulder. He commonly wore a high peaked hat of native manufacture. The death of this good-hearted old man occurred in 1866, at an unknown though doubtless great age. He was buried in accordance with the rites of the Catholic church in a cemetery near his village of "Old-man House." His grave is well kept by his descendants, while all the early white settlers join with his own people in revering his memory. As may be readily surmised, the name of the Queen City of the Sound is derived from that of this chief.
JAMES SEAVY. - This representative gentleman of Washington is, as we have noted in the case of many of the leading citizens of that state, a native of Maine, having been born at Thomaston, of the old Pine-tree state, January 11, 1825. Receiving an ample practical education at the public school and academy of his native town, he maintained himself during his early manhood by teaching and farming.
In 1854 he undertook the labor, almost unheard of in his community, of bringing his family by sea to the Pacific coast, accomplishing the voyage around Cape Horn in the bark W.T. Sayward, and reaching San Francisco in September. In December of the same year he came up the coast, finding a location at Port Ludlow. He was book-keeper for the great mill at that place, and was also sought for public trusts, serving as county commissioner and as representative from Jefferson county. In 1860 he changed his residence to Port Townsend, a city well known to him by reason of a short stay there previously as teacher of the school. In that place he engaged in mercantile business with Hon. L.B. Hastings.
In 1862 he was appointed postmaster, the duties of that position gradually absorbing much of his attention as the years went by; and he was retained until 1879, thus filling one of the longest terms on record. In 1862 he was also appointed clerk of the district court, and with the exception of the years included in the incumbency of Judge Dennison served until 1887. In 1867 he was elected auditor of Jefferson county, and was re-elected every two years until his resignation in 1886. He was, however, nominated and placed in office in the year 1888, and serves in that capacity at the present time. He has been a thoroughgoing Republican since 1861, and receives his preferments at the hands of the Republican party. In all his public career for more than thirty years he has maintained an unsullied integrity, and has enjoyed the public confidence and goodwill.
JOHN F. SEEBER.- Among the now quiet farmers, business men and professional men whose outward appearance and conversation give no hint of stirring adventures and strange experiences, there is frequently one in whom investigation may find a witness to the most novel and thrilling scenes in our early history. Walla Walla, Washington, is somewhat unusually favored with those ancient spirits of the border, now among the most solid and unsensational of her citizens.
Among this number is John Seeber. His adventures amid the wild life of the mountains would fill a volume. Born in Fort Plain, New York, in 1837, and moving by successive stops from there to Ohio, and to Iowa, he found himself in 1856 in Jim Lane's army in the Civil war of Kansas. After a short experience in that premonitory gust to the tornado of the great war, he went on to Sal Lake in 1858 with a regiment of United States infantry, acting the herder of a band of cattle. Thereafter, for several years, his life was spent in hunting, trapping and scouting among the Indians, and in riding on the pony express. In those situations he met with frequent adventures, which in these "piping times of peace" seem hardly possible. Laramie, Salt Lake, Henry's Fork, Brown's Hole, White River, Port Neuf, Deer Lodge, Jacko Reservation, Jefferson's Fork, Sun River Agency, Prickly Pear River and other of the wild resorts frequented by trappers, hunters and Indians, became familiar places to the now well-experienced mountaineer. In those places he was often raided and robbed by the Indians, and still bears many scars to attest his customary brushes with the redskins. In consequence of this constant experience of Indian perfidy and violence, Mr. Seeber came to hate them, as he says, "like a rattlesnake." He is free to say, however, as to most of like experiences and observation, that many outrages were committed by Whites fully equal in atrocity to anything done by Indians.
In September, 1862, Mr. Seeber came to Walla Walla, and on the first night of his stay met his usual experience of having the Indians steal his horses. Then he went to driving an ox-team to Wallula, at which latter place he spent the winter. After that he went to Florence to mine. he started on foot, with his blankets on his back. The second day out from Lewiston he overtook a company of miners, with whom he struck a league. Soon after entering the mountains, a violent snowstorm attacked them; and all their horses were starved to death. Notwithstanding this backset, the resolute company dragged their things by hand on improvised sleds, at the rate of five miles a day, and finally reached their destination.
In the fall Mr. Seeber returned to Walla Walla and there made his home. He was marred to Mrs. Joy, a native of Kentucky, and by her had eight children, four boys and four girls. In 1880 he met with the irreparable loss of his faithful and intelligent wife.
He now lives with his children in a beautiful