After the death of his father, in 1854, Joseph removed with his mother to Brownsville, and from that place to Lebanon. He laid to rest this beloved parent in 1873, cherishing her memory not only as a devoted mother, but as a friend of the lost and ignorant Indians, and of our rising young state, and as a servant of God, - one whom all Oregon should now honor in her grave.

Much of the early life of the young man was passed in study; and he graduated from the Willamette University in1868. The information which he received, and the ideas with which his own mind was fertilized, he strove to disseminate, and entered immediately into the educational field as teacher. Twelve years he was thus laboring in Oregon and Washington, being engaged for three of these as preceptor of the Blue Mountain Academy, putting forth his utmost endeavors, together with those of Mrs. H.K. Hines, to build up a first-class institution. In this effort much success was attained and much good accomplished.

In 1878 he engaged in the drug business at island City, successfully continuing the same for seven years. In1888 he was honored by the county with the trust of its educational work, being elected as school superintendent, and is to the present time fulfilling the responsible duties of this office to the entire satisfaction of the public.

Mr. Carter was married in 1869 to Miss Maggie E. Rector, of Salem, and has a home plainly indicative of comfort and refinement.

JOHN A. CATES. - Among the responsible and enterprising agriculturists of Union county, there must not be failure to mention the esteemed gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph, and who has labored here since the sixties, forwarding the interests of this county, developing its resources, and conducting his business enterprises in a skillfull and efficient manner, while at the present time he is fulfilling the duties of a public official and is manifesting in this as in all of his ways a characteristic ability and integrity that stamp him as both capable and substantial.

Our subject was born to Spencer and Phebe (Cunningham) Cates , in McLean county, Illinois, on June 27, 1846, and thence, while still a child, he was removed by his parents to Livingston county, where he received his education and labored on a farm until the 15th day of April, 1865, when the entire family, having rigged ox teams and conveyances for the trip, turned their faces to the unbounded regions of the trackless west. Their journey was accomplished in due time without especial difficulty and they landed in Union county while there were but few settlers in its precincts. Pioneer hardships ere to be encoutered on every hand, and their cup of them held its share. In 1867 the father was called to lay down the burdens of life and enter the realities of another scene. On July 9, 1815, near Louiseville, Kentucky, he was born, and in this western section his remainse sleep.The moterh, born in Clark county, Indiana, on December 4, 1813, passed the river of death on August 18, 1885. Our subject lived in Union county for a few years after arriving here and occupied himself with carpenter work.

Mr. Cates married Miss Mellie, daughter of Alfred and Lydia A. Payton, on September 2, 1880, and two children have come to their home; Cecil C., born August 23, 1882; Jennie L., born October 23, 1887, and died November 27,1896. Mrs. Cates father enlisted in Company L Twenty-fifth Illinois, in May, 1861, and in May, 1862, he died from the effects of yellow fever, giving his life for his country. The mother died in Illinois, on September 14, 1899. Mrs. Cates came to Union county in 1880. In 1883 Mr. Cates entered a homestead and gave his attention to improving the same, which is at the present time well done, having a good house and barn and other accesories to a good farm. Since 1897 he has been postmaster at Telacoset, having also a long-distance telephone office and he has discharged this duties of a public nature with acceptability to all. In 1867 Mr. Cates was a member of the home guards, a body of men who acted n defense of the settlers agains the ravages of the savages. Politically, he is a Democrat and is also a member of the Pioneer Association and he is respected and esteemed by his fellows.

SABE CHOATE. - A man who had the ability, force of character and perseverance to master two distinct lines of industry as has the subject of this sketch, besides being able to handle successfully the same with added lines of enterprise and to bring prosperity out of it all is surely deserving of the approbation of his fellows, which it is right to say Mr. Choate has received in no unstinted measure, being at the present time one of the substantial and highly respected citizens of Union county.

In Fenders county, Tennessee, on April 13, 1825, our subject was born to John and Annie (Titrow) Choate. There also the parents lived until death called them hence. The educational advantages of the time were rather limited and our subject was obliged to be content with the meager instruction to be had; however, an active mind made search in the archives of the world and gleaned much useful knowledge, while the problems of active life gave discipline of a practical kind. His days of youth were not wasted, for he made himself master of the boot and shoemaker's trade and then became an adept in the blacksmith's art. Upon reaching his majority he stepped out on the plain of life's activities and first took up steamboating, but soon took up blacksmithing and farming together, and for thirty-five years he was found at the forge and with the plow in honest labor producing the bread of contentment and a competence that does not easily melt away. During this time, in the year 1862, he enlisted in the Tennessee home guards, and for three and one-half years did military service, but immediately returned to the industrial life at the close of the war. Eleven years were also spent in mercantile pursuits, where his honesty and straighforwardness gained for him a patronage that brought the fruits of success to him. It was in 1885 that he turned from the old home state and left the scenes of long and faithful labors to seek a new place in the land of the west. The fertile grande Ronde valley attracted im and hither he came, going also on to Wallowa, but ultimately returning to the vicinity of Summerville, where he purchased a farm of three hundred acres one-half mile east from town. It is all in excellent cultivation and rewards him annually with bountiful crops of timothy and the cereals.

In 1850, while in Tennessee, Mr. Choate married Miss Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Mullinix, and four children were born to them, as follows: Edward, in Nevada; William, in Union county; Isaa, in Nevada; Missouri K., wife of Joseph Wooley, of Portland. In 1868 Mr. Choate contracted a second marriage, Miss Nancy Jane Mullinix being the lady of his choice at this time, and five children have been born to this happy union; Jasper M., operating a grocery store in Summerville; Lily A., wife of Warren Gibson, a Baptist clergyman; Ellen, wife of David Hug; Annie, wife of Harry Hug, near Elgin; Thelbert, at home. Mr. Choate is affiliated with the Masons, Miram Lodge No. 69, of Summerville, and he and his wife with the Eastern Star, Olive Branch Chapter No. 62, of Summerville. He is one of the capable men of the county, now venerable and enjoying the good things of the golden time of his life and receiving the respect and admiration of all who may know him.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark, have a pleasant home; and their union has been blessed by three children.

A.B. Conley, a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of Union county, Oregon, was born in Nashville, Tennesse, January 11, 1837, the seventh child of Archibald and Anna Conley, natives of Virginia. Mr. Conley was a tanner by trade, which occupation he followed all his life. When a young man he married Miss Anna Harper, a native of North Carolina after which event he removed to Tennessee, lived there until 1840, then removed to Jefferson county, Illinois, where he followed his trade until his death, in 1876, at the age of eighty years. Mrs. Conley died in 1865, aged sixty-five years. They reared a family of ten children, all of whom but two are still living, pretty well scattered over the country, one being in Idaho, one in California, one in Kansas, the rest in Illinois, with the exception of our subject in Oregon.

Our subject was married in Illinois to Miss Joisa Hopper, born in Jefferson county, Illinois, January 16, 1841. She was the daughter of Joshua Hopper, a native of tennessee and Polly (Smith) Hopper, of the same state. Mrs. Hopper died in 1843, when Mrs. Conley was but two years old, leaving four children. The father of Mrs. Conley died in 1861 at the age of fifty years, and now Mrs. Conley has but one sister and she lives in Illinois.

Mr. Conley moved to Kansas in 1872, remained there two years, but his mind and attention were attracted by the West, and in 1874 he fitted up four wagons, equipped them with outfits for travel and started on the long and perilous journey to the coast. The trip was made in three monthss, they coming through almost alone, having as companions but one family. They experienced no ill fortune and arrived safe in Grande Ronde valley. Mr. Conley had enough money to prchase 640 acres of land, for which he paid $2.56 an acre. Since that time he has added to his farm until he now has in one boyd 8,000 acres, making in length along the road by his house a distance of seven and one half miles. All of this land he has fenced and crossed fenced, divided into pastures and fields, with the old-fashioned rail fencing and has given employment to hundreds of men splitting rails and making fence. In 1892 4,000 acres were planted to wheat, oats and barley, he using 5,000 bushels of grain to seed the land.He farms all this land himself, giving employment to from fifteen to seventy-five men all the year round. He has houses on different portions of his land and endeavors to employ men with families. He has one blacksmith employed by the year. Mr. Conley raises on an average about 100,000 bushels of grain per year. Keeps from 600 to 700 head of horses and cattle all the time and works from four to twenty-four head of horses in a team at a time, has all his own reapers, binders and threshers.

Mr. Conley and his sons have some very fine imported Clydesdale horses, one mare weighing over 1,800 pounds. The value of his land is about $30 per acre, all around. He has been very successful in life. When he married he had two horses and an old wagon, but he says that it seems as if everthing he handles turns to money. Mr. Conley is a very unassuming man, takes the world easily, is never in a hurry, is genial and pleasant in his manners and is very benevolent: although not a church member, is always ready to help church work, contributing whenever calls are made upon him. The family of four children are as follows: Matilde Conley Miller, J.J., E.E. AND F. The latter is yet with his father and has taken much of the management of the large farm into his own hands. The daughter is married, as are the two older sons. An interesting incident occured at one time while his two sons and wives were living with him both sons became fathers within only an hour's difference in the ages of their heirs. The grandfather proposed to them that as they were so near to being twins that if he were permitted to name the babies he would give each of the sons 450 acres of land and divide the stock equally into three parts. The sons took up the proposition and he named the two boys "Nip" and "Tuck." They then went out and drove in all the stock of about 800 head and commenced the division. The oldest son took the first choice, the second son the second and the father the third.

Mr. Conley never had a lawsuit in his life and if he ever had any difficulty he always settled it if he could and if they could not agree, called in the neighbors to arbitrate. He was never in partnership with any one in his life: has always given his boys a good chance, permitting them to raise stock and trade it if they wished. The son, Frank, although only twenty-one years of age is worth $50,000 he has made himself. Mr. Conley is a Republican in politics, and has always endeavored to live a peacable life, saying that he could not afford to have any enemies.

Mrs. Couch is the daughter of William and Rebecca Walker being born on November 25, 1838 in Bedford county, Tennessee. The parents removed to Missouri when she was very young and there she received her primary education in the district schools, and there, also, the father died. Later the mother removed to Van Buren county, Iowa, where she finished her education. The widowed mother removed to Jefferson county, Iowa, and then about eight years later our subject went to Missouri where a married sister lived and where also she was married to Mr. R.T. Couch, a farmer, and for sixteen years they lived there. In the centennial year the subject of this sketch and her husband came direct to Union county, whither her mother and sisters had preceded her by twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Couch rented land for a time and then purchased their present home place of eighty acres which is situated immediately northwest from Island City. On September 7, 1888, Mr. Couch died, being aged fifty-four. The widow had cast upon her the responsibilities of caring for a large family, but she has discharged the duties with a manifestation of wisdom and graciousness that have been acceptable to all. In 1890, she built a fine large house, and she has good barns and substantial outbuildings and the farm is in good shape. The children born to this worthy couple are named as follows: Willard F., married to Minerva C. Williams, and they have one child, Roy L.; Elma D. married to M.M. Carter and they have four children, Agnes, Lloyd, Mary and Clarence; Ulysses, married to Mary McCall and they have two children Elise and Ray; Leonard, married to May H. Harris and they have two children, Leo and Ralph; William R., clerking for Wade Brothers in Summerville; John L. living with mother; Ethel, living with mother. Mr. Couch was an active Republican and was a man of influence in his section. His ancestors fought under the noted Marion of Revolutionary fame, and established a family mansion in Georgia where the lineal descendants reside now. Mrs. Couch and her husband were members of the Baptist church and she is highly esteemed at the present time, being active in the work of propagating her faith both by precept and practice.

E.P. McDaniel, the junior partner, was born in Missouri in 1839, and was raised on his father's farm. In 1856 he emigrated to Kansas, where he engaged in farming and trading. In 1861 he crossed the plains to Portland, Oregon, and engaged in work at his trade of carpenter. In 1863 he came to Grande Ronde valley, and was engaged in packing, clerking and in the livery business. July 4th, 1865, he was married to Miss Fanny Cowles, and the next spring joined her uncle in conducting the farm, upon which they planted extensive orchards and erected a handsome residence, which is now embowered with a beautiful growth of ornamental trees and flowering shrubs, and is surrounded with rare flowers, which, being artistically arranged, make it a delightful villa. They soon combined stock-dealing with farming and milling, and in 1884 opened a general mercantile establishment near their residence, the New-England-like village of Cove having meantime sprung up party on their own land. They are at present conducting a very large and prosperous business, and deal in everything that is salable. They entertain many friends and guests at their commodious residence. Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel have six children, the two eldest of whom are young men with good training and education.

Our subject was born in Ohio, on October 14, 1821, being the son of James and Margaret Craig. He early learned the brick mason's trade, and wrought at the same until the memorable year of 1849, when he joined the exodus for the golden west, and landing in Redbluff, California, after a weary journey across the plains, he at once set to mining. As early as 1861, he was in the Florence and Oro Fino camps, being among the very first ones to step foot on that ground. After some time spent in these various camps and the adjacent country, he came to the Grande Ronde valley and engaged in packing from Umatilla landing to the different mines in the Boise Basin.

In 1871, Mr. Craig married Mrs. Amelia Rice, widow of Matthew Rice, a pioneer of Union county, the wedding occurring on December 9. Mrs. Craig's parents, Abner and Lydia Drumm, came to the Willamette valley in 1847, being among the earliest pioneers of that section. After his marriage, Mr. Craig bought one hundred and eighty-six acres of school land in Union county and devoted his attention to general farming and stock-raising. In 1884, when the railroad was built, he erected the Depot Hotel, and there gave his attention to entertaining the traveling public. He was a genial host and his house was well and favorably known to all who traveled in this section. In the political realm he was both active and prominent, and the whole force of his strength was always on the side of stanch principles. In 1866, he was elected to the office of sheriff of Union county, and in those days of early outlaws, the holding of that office meant much, and so well did he discharge his duties there incumbent upon him that he was again replaced by the appreciative people of the county in the same position, holding it until 1870. For eight years he discharged the duties of county judge, and also for two terms he was county assessor, in all of which public service he was both efficient and faithful, fully satisfying a constituency both discriminating and enlightened. Fraternally Mr. Craig was a member of the Masonic Lodge of Lagrande. On November 24, 1900, Mr. Craig, after a long life of varied activity and filled with good deeds of uprightness, was called to the realities of another world, and his demise was universally mourned. His widow is continuing the operation of the hotel where they lived, and she is the recipient of a good patronage, having those qualities that make one successful in conducting a comfortable and up-to-date hostelry, which the Depot Hotel is in every respect, and it has found favor with the public in general.

ADNA C. CRAIG. - At the union depot on the line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, at the south end of the Grande Ronde valley, is the Craigton Hotel, into which water is conducted through pipes from a spring half a mile away, and one hundred and sixty feet above. This water where it springs from the steep sidehill has a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit, while at the hotel where it enters the bathroom its temperature is about 90 degrees. It shows by analysis iron, borax, sulphur and magnesia. For twenty years this hotel has been a health resort for those afflicted with rheumatism and kindred diseases. The proprietor, Adna C. Craig, was born in Ohio in 1821, received a common-school education, and learned the trade of a tanner and currier.

Emigrating to Iowa in 1841, he engaged in brick-making until he removed to California with the argonauts in 1849. He transferred his business to our state in 1855, mining and lumbering in Josephine county. He carried with him a whipsaw, and found that this brought the "dust" even faster than the "Long Tom." In 1858 he made brick and erected the first brick building in Douglas county, and often joined General Lane or Colonel Mosher in the hunt.

In 1861 he was in the Idaho mines, the most of the time running the Armstrong whipsaw and making lumber, which he sold at one dollar a foot. He passed the winter in a temperature which congealed mercury, and froze his feet, while the prices of provisions were: Flour two dollars, bacon three dollars, potatoes two and a half dollars, tea and coffee five dollars, and tobacco fifteen dollars per pound. After an adventure the next spring with nine school teachers while in search of a bonanza which did not exist, and nearly losing his life, Mr. Craig set forth for Auburn, but passing through the Grande Ronde was entranced by the beauty of the region, and determined to set his stakes there and make a home, choosing a claim near the present site of Union. He has since that time farmed, packed, raised grain and stock, acted as sheriff for four years, as assessor for three years, as county Judge for eight years, and as swamp-land commissioner for four years. We find him still a hearty and jovial "boy" of sixty-eight years, ready with his anecdote or joke, and a leading man in the community.

EDWIN O. CRANDALL. Deceased - It is pleasant to give an epitome of a career that has been filled with good deeds and in which upright principles have been set forth and especially gratifying to all is it to be enabled to chronicle the items of the life of one who has made a pleasing success in a number of walks of life and has always manifested in the pure of life and has always manifested a kindness, geniality and faithfulness that are both enjoyable and praiseworthy. Of this class is the gentleman, whose life history we now essay to outline and whose enterprise and industry, as well as his wisdom and good judgment have been manifested in the pursuits that he has followed in our midst for over one-third of a century.

The Keystone state was the place of his birth and 1837 the year. A few years later he accompanied his parents to Chicago and there his energy and skill became apparent in that, during the time in which a young man is occupied in acquiring skill in one line of industry, he mastered three distinct crafts. He became an expert miller of flour, a confectioner, and a machinist. The C.R.I. railroad engaged his services as engineer on the railroad and he was master of an engine until the fall of 1863, when the call of patriotism became patent to him and he laid down the instruments and garb of the machinist and donned the military uniform and learned amid the stern realities of active warfare the skill of handling the musket and the saber. He enlisted in Company E., One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Illinois Regiment, under Sherman and in that relation served faithfully till the winter of 1864, when he was honorably discharged on account of a wound received at Kenesaw Mountain. He was at St. Louis when the discharge came and thence he went to Omaha, where soon after he joined a train composed of ox teams and bound for the territory of Oregon. He completed the trip in good time and without accident or injury from the Indians. His stopping place was Lagrande, and there he at once set about the milling business and to him is due the credit of manufacturing the first barrel of flour that the county of Union ever produced. He steadily pursued this calling until about eight years since, having meantime been prospered in his endeavors, and then sold his entire interests in the plant and business and bought a farm one and one-half miles south from Lagrande. He did not stay long on this property but sold out and joined the Wilson colony of Field and Fireside which settled about thirty-six miles east from Los Angeles, California. In this project he did not remain long, but in 1896 returned to Lagrande and opened a confectionery store, where he remained until his death. He did a good business and his kind and genial ways won for him hosts of friends and his uprightness and uniform and deferential treatment of his patrons gave him a generous patronage which was merited by his fairness and untiring labors to please all.

Mr. Crandall married Miss Mary Ann Collins, a native of Virginia, in 1865, and they became the parents of two children, William I. And Charles H. Mr. Crandall was respected and esteemed by all and was one of the substantial and representative men of the county, and one of its most progressive and wide awake citizens.

On March 8, 1902, the messenger of death came, and Mr. Crandall lay down to rest from the labors of a long and enterprising career. His remains were interred in the I.O.O.F. cemetery of Lagrande, having been a charter member of that order.

THOMAS H. CRAWFORD. - While Union county enjoys especial favor in possesing a large, well informed, and enterprising class of citizens who fill the walks of the industrial and professional callings she is to be congratulated in having such substantial, broad minded and capable devotees of the legal profession. Prominent in this number, and deserving of a large share of honor for his faithful and successful labors in the courts and in the manipulation of the affairs of the county, and also in a measure of the state politics wherein he has bestowed much care and thought for the welfare of all, is the esteemed gentleman, whose name stands at the head of this article. a man of fine capabilities, fortified with a thorough and extended classical education and then a training in the legal profession that has fitted him in an ample and satisfactory way to handle the deep points of court practice and official counsel, there is also in Mr. Crawford a happy blending of the acumen, determination, and executive ability required in the successful lawyer, which he constantly supplements by a careful and discriminating course of research that has placed him in a commanding position in his profession throughout the county and in adjacent districts.

Our subject is the scion of a strong southern family, being born in Washington county, Arkansas, on March 18, 1848, and the son of George A. and Martha A. (Wilson) Crawford. In his native place, he received a good education in the private academy there sustained and in 1870 he came with his parents to Clackamas county, Oregon. The following year, Thomas H. entered the State agricultural College at Corvallis and in 1874 took his degree therefrom. He immediately entered on his course of legal study under the direction and supervision of Judge Strahan, who afterwards was on the supreme bench of the state. Then he was directed in his studies by Judge Kelsey, both of these gentlemen being of Corvallis. In 1876 our subject was admitted to the bar at Salem, and he at once settled in Dayton, Washington, and commenced the practice of the law, remaining in successful practice there until 1878. During this time, he was appointed to the position of probate judge and also served under Captain George Hunter in quelling the Nez Perces, his especial service being as orderly sergeant and scout. Then he removed to Baker city for one year and finally located in Union. For two or three years he was in the firm of Slater, Crawford & Slater, but then went into practice alone and has continued thus until the present time. Mr. Crawford has always taken a keen and lively interest in politics and in 1888 was nominated for district attorney on the Democratic ticket, but the issue of free wool at that time cast the winning count with his opponent, J.L. Rand. In1896, he was nominated for circuit judge on the Democratic ticket in a three-cornered fight. R.J. Slater being nominee on the Populist ticket and Robert Eakin on the Republican ticket, the latter being elected. Mr. Crawford was chairman of the Democratic state convention in 1896, the Democrats and Populists being allied on the free silver issue at that time.

On March 19, 1878, Mr. Crawford and Miss Rosa A., daughter of Augustus Smith, now a resident of Grass Valley and a pioneer of the state, were married at Dayton, Washington. The fruit of the union is one son, Clarence H., born in Dayton, Washington May 1, 1879, and now in the junior class in the Stanford University, from which institution will he have completed his classical and legal courses in his twenty-fourth year. Fraternally, Mr. Crawford is associated with the Masons, Lone Pine Lodge, Clackamas county, Oregon; with the Knights of Pythias, in Union; with the Elks, Lodge 338, in Baker City. He is also a member of the Oregon state Bar Association and vice-president of Union county for 1901. In the practice of law, Mr. Crawford has been eminently successful in both the civil and criminal departments and has won for himself a name and reputation that is commendable and praiseworthy. It is also pleasant to state that in addition to the distinct practice of law, Mr. Crawford is especially talented as an orator and on numerous occasions has won plaudits and glowing tributes, while his after dinner orations and extemporaneous speeches contain brilliant gems of genuine merit and are universally received with applause. As a scholar, a profound student of legal lore, a successful practitioner, a brilliant oragor, a genial and pleasant companion, and a perfect and thorough gentleman, and true man, Mr. Crawford stands to-day a leading figure and enjoys to the full the esteem and confidence of his fellows and is a citizen of loyal spirit and broad views.

ISAAC N. CROMWELL, M.D. - Perhaps there is no calling of men with which the issues of life and death are so intimately connected s with that of the physician: hence it is that popular sentiment demands a class of men to take up this profession who are in every sense of the word the leaders of their fellows, and especially endowed with keen perception, careful and discriminating judgment, alert faculties and sympathy, with perfect self-possession and steady nerve. The subject of this sketch is one of the votaries of the medical muse, and is today one of Union county's leading practitioners, being a man of deep erudition, sound principles and perfect integrity, which have been manifested in a long, skillful, and successful practice that is large and exacting.

Isaac N. Cromwell was born in Murray county, Georgia, on November 27, 1841, being the son of James and Margaret (Shields) Cromwell, farmers of that section. In 1842 they removed to Tennessee, remaining there until 1850, then went to Smith county, Texas. In 1871 the father died, and in 1879, the mother passed away at Eugene, Oregon. Our subject was educated in the public schools of the various sections where he lived, and in 1868 went to New Orleans and attended the medical college at that place. In 1872, he migrated to Oregon and entered the medical department of the Willamette University, whence he took his degree in 1873. He at once commenced the practice of medicine in Eugene, Oregon, and remained there until the spring of 1876, when he removed to Alsey, remaining until 1877, and then on April 8, 1877, he located in Union and since that date he has constantly pursued the practice of his profession here. For twenty-four years he has given his entire time and attention to his chosen art and science, but one month of that time has he given himself a vacation. While he handles a large and general practice, he has gained great distinction as an obstetrician, and is especially skillful in this line of medical practice. The Doctor has gained a fine reputation, which is thoroughly established by his skill and knowledge and unlimited success throughout the county, and he is abreast of the times, being a careful and discriminating (?). He is a member of the State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, being held in high esteem (?) his medical colleagues.

On October 6, 1887, the marriage of Dr. Cromwell and Miss Maggie, daughter of M. Eagleton and Rebecca (Stolwell) Walker was solemnized in Union. Mrs. Cromwell came from a family of early pioneers to the state. On May 30, 1892, the messenger of death came and took the happy bride hence and the Doctor was called to mourn this sad event. He has ever manifested such uprightness and integrity and honor in the practice of medicine and in his general demeanor that he has won the entire confidence of the populace and the public in general, while his skill and success have given him a patronage that is both gratifying and lucrative.

JOHN L. CURTIS. - As one of the early and sturdy pioneers who assisted in opening these regions for the occupancy of his fellows that were to follow from the eastern states, and who has wrought with energy and assiduity in their development since, manifesting an ability and wealth of resources that have enabled him to grapple with the different problems that confront the frontiersman, and to overcome in these undertakings the subject of this sketch is deserving of a representation in any work that essays to chronicle the leading and prominent citizens of the county of Union.

Mr. Curtis was born in the east in the year 1827, and had the misfortune to have his father removed from him by death. His uncle was appointed his guardian and at the tender age of twelve years, our subject entered upon the realities of life for himself, his first occupation being to act as a silver-plater for the famous firm of Rogers Brothers. Six years he continued with this company and then came west to Jackson county, Missouri, where he was favored with an opportunity to attend the Chapel Hill College, a privilege which he was not slow to take hold of and improve to the best advantage. Following his retirement from the college he acted as salesman in Independence for a time and then in 1850 came to Sacramento, California. For a time after arriving there, he was occupied in packing supplies to meet the incoming emigrant trains, and then came to this section in the year of the great freeze. He first went on to the Florence diggings and there mined a short time and then went to Elk City and operated a store for a time, and then came out to the Grande Ronde valley and there bought a pack train. With this he did business for one year between the mining camps of this section and Umatilla and then sold out the entire train and went to prospecting. It was not long before he had discovered the Sanger mine on Eagle Creek and for about three years subsequent to that time he was engaged in mining and then repaired to Lagrande, where he lives at the present time. More or less he has been in public office in Union county since his settlement in Lagrande and among the positions where he has done efficient and faithful service may be mentioned that of county surveyor, county sheriff for four years, to years as chief of police of Lagrande, and in other capacities. In politics he is one of the old Jeffersonian Democrats and a stanch supporter of the principles, which he believes to be for the welfare of all. Fraternally, Mr. Curtis is associated with the A.F.&A.M., and is prominent in its councils and meetings.

In 1866, Mr. Curtis was married to Miss Almira Wells, a native of Ohio, whose parents were early pioneers to this county. To grace the union we note the advent of four children, whose names are as follows: William, Jesemine, Arthur and Elmer. Mr. Curtis is one of those worthy characters that pushed into the fastnesses and wildness of the domain of nature in these regions and wrought with a strong hand and a brave heart and wise head in opening places for mankind to dwell, and to-day he is passing the golden years of his eventful and interesting career in the quiet enjoyment of a good home, where once he saw but the dreary prairie and heard the howl of the wild animal and the fiercer yell of the savage. During these years of interim he has seen the county grow from a few struggling settlements to one of the strongest and most wealthy in the state and his hand and heart have ever been for its advancement and the welfare of every citizen domiciled within its precincts, and the result is that on every hand he is honored by his fellows and has now to enjoy the emoluments of thrift and industry.