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The reverses that swept the country
in 1836-37 broke up the banks; and "Wild-cat money," the only currency
of the country, was not worth
anything. Millions of acres of land which had been bought
by speculators at $1.25 per acre were sold under the hammer for ten cents
an acre.
Young Adams' father went down with the general crash,
and had only three hundred dollars worth of property left. He then determined
to
emigrate to Illinois. At the end of a year, young Adams
concluded to visit his parents and make arrangements to prosecute his studies.
He took
deck passage on a steamboat at Huron, and reached Toledo,
eighty miles up the lake, just at daylight next morning. Here there was
a railroad to
Adrian, thirty-three miles on his route. The cars would
not be ready to start for two hours; and Adams concluded he could beat
the cars to
Adrian on foot, and started out on the railroad track.
The cars (the first he had ever seen in motion) overtook him three miles
out of Adrian at
two o'clock P.M. Passing through Adrian, he stopped for
the night at a farmhouse, weary and sick. He took of bowl of bread and
milk for his
supper, and before sunrise next morning was on his journey,
reaching Jonesville, eighty miles from Toledo, at two o'clock P.M. he bore
letters to his father from friends in Milan saying he was a boy of much
promise, and that they were willing to send him to Yale College to complete
his
education; but his mother insisted that he should go
with them to Illinois, and try to find some college there. Hearing there
was a new college
about to open in Canton, Fulton county Illinois, he concluded
to start out immediately so as to be there at commencement. His parents
insisted
that he had better wait and go with them, as they would
move in about six weeks. "No," he said, "I will go now and start with my
class." He tied
his effects in a cotton handkerchief, and taking a five-dollar
bill handed him by his father, stowed it away in his pocket alongside of
twenty-five
cents he already had of his own money, and after many
a kiss and "God bless you" from his mother, started on foot and alone to
make his
journey of three hundred and fifty miles to Canton. He
was so small for his age that most people on the road took him for a boy
of not more than eight or nine years of age.
The walk so fatigued and fevered
him that he ate but little on the entire journey. He always offered to
pay; but, whether stopping at taverns
or farmhouses, only two people on the way accepted money.
When he reached Canton he had $4.75 left. At a camp-meeting he saw a poor
orphan boy who admired his cotton handkerchief, and wished
for one like it. Adams gave him twenty-five cents and told him he could
buy a
new one for that. When the Canton College opened, there
was but one student, - Adams. the professor, a young graduate of Dartmouth
College, soon acknowledged that he was not able to instruct his pupil who
really knew more of mathematics that he did. Adams started for Galesburg
to
enter Knox College. He carried the same cotton handkerchief
he brought with him, wrapped around a cotton shirt, pair of socks and a
Greek and
Latin grammar, with Day's algebra and one or two other
books. He met a hearty welcome by the faculty, and entered the first freshman
class with Martin Gay, Ed, Holyoke and Henry Hitchcock. He supported himself
by teaching school and working in the harvest field. He finally went to
Bethany College, Virginia, was warmly received by Alexander
Campbell, President, taken into his house, and trusted for his books and
board.
Out of seventeen dollars he earned in the harvest field,
he reached Bethany College with twenty-five cents in money and a cheap
suit of clothes. He took the highest honors as a scholar, and was called
the best writer in the college. "The American Literary Institute," a chartered
society
connected with the college, knowing his poverty, and
anxious to have him become a member, suspended the rules requiring a $2.50
initiation fee, and sent a committee to Adams requesting him to become
a member. They were informed that, while he much desired to become a member,
it
was impossible, owing to reasons he did not care to mention.
He was informed that the society, knowing his embarrassment, had suspended
the rules, and that no initiation fee would be required. This society had
the privilege of electing one of its members to represent the American
Literary Institute in an oration on commencement day
to the vast crowds who came there from all parts of the union to witness
the exercises and hear Alexander Campbell, who, Henry Clay said, was the
"greatest man on the American continent." There were several candidates
for the honor of representing the society, - all young men of talent, whose
parents were wealthy, and who wore the finest broadcloth. Adams who too
modest
to aspire to that position, not having decent clothes
in which to appear in public, and never dreaming that he would be elected
if he had. Much
to his astonishment, he was chosen on the first ballot
by more than a two-thirds vote.
During the college term, he studied
on an average seventeen hours a day. After his lessons were all mastered,
he made it a rule to snatch up
his pen at twelve o'clock at night and write some facetious
article for a paper published at Bethany, for which he generally received
a dollar. The money he secured in this way served to bridge his way over
many a financial chasm. His fame as a satirist rose high when it leaked
out that he was the author of the articles which depicted well-known characters.
When any important committee was to be appointed by the president to draft
constitutions or by-laws for new societies. Campbell always but Adams at
the head. He has often told us that he was petted and praised more than
he deserved. His incessant hard study broke down his health and impaired
his eyesight, so as to compel him to leave college a month before he was
to graduate. He studied three weeks with a bandage over one eye, when the
faculty advised him to quit to avoid total blindness. On leaving Bethany,
Campbell appointed him his book agent for Illinois and Indiana. On reaching
Illinois, he was taken down with the measles, took cold and was sick all
summer. He managed, however, to sell enough books to realize seventeen
dollars, his per cent. In the fall (1844) he married Frances Olivia Goodell,
to whom he had been engaged for two years. She had laid up fifteen dollars,
- savings from her pay as school-teacher. This enabled the two to start
with a joint-stock capital of thirty-two dollars. Adams stood up to be
married in a suit of Kentucky jeans worn thread-bare. His friends ridiculed
him for not waiting till he procured fine clothes; he said, "I will marry
now, and buy my wedding suit when I am able to get it without going in
debt. " With his thirty-two dollars, he went to St. Louis, three hundred
miles down the Mississippi river, taking deck passage and helping to wood
at every wood yard where the steamer stopped. Here he bought his outfit
for housekeeping, - a bolt of domestic, three tablespoons, six teaspoons,
set knives and forks, a coffee-mill, a few dishes and tinware, groceries,
etc., to make up the amount he had in his purse.
The fall of 1845 he took a school
in Henderson county, Where he taught fifteen months by the scholar, making
thirty dollars a month when
the common price of teaching in the country was ten dollars
a month. The school-house was a log cabin with a huge fireplace; and the
benches
were slabs set up on logs. The neighbors rolled up a
log cabin for Adams to live in, and let him have it free of rent. His fame
as a scholar soon
spread through the country; and all sorts of puzzles
and difficult problems were sent him to solve by teachers and scholars
far and near, all of
which he readily mastered, and returned the statements
and answers. He bought two cows, and in the fall bought all the calves
he could get,
which he wintered on corn he raised himself and hay he
cut on the prairie during the July vacation, and hauled and stacked with
the help of
some of his scholars. In the spring he sold his stock,
doubling his money on them. In the winter of 1846-47, he was offered five
years
employment at a good salary to take charge of the university
in the city of Jacksonville, Illinois; but, having made up his mind to
emigrate to
Oregon, he declined the offer. He bought his steers and
broke them himself, making his own ox-yokes. In March, 1847, he was ready
to cross the plains, having paid up all his college debts, and possessing
eight yoke of cattle, two wagons, three guns, and all necessary outfit.
His father
died a few days before he was ready to start; and he
concluded to wait another year, in hopes of inducing his father's family
to come with him. In March, 1848, he sold one of his teams to William Bristow,
who was also coming to Oregon. Adams started in March, his friends declining
to
brave the dangers of the journey for a country about
which they knew so little. On his wagon cover was painted a large "American
eagle, and
under it in large letters, "HIC TRANSIT!" "Westward the
Star of Empire takes its way." His friends thought he was a reckless visionary;
and
Alexander Campbell wrote to discourage him. He said,
"Is there not land enough, and are there not people enough in Illinois
for your talent and
enterprise without burying yourself and family in a wilderness
among savages?" The reply that Adams made was: "Illinois is not big enough
or
good enough for me. My soul hungers for something Illinois
cannot give. In Oregon I expect to find what I desire." And so he did.
The last
Sunday he visited the Christian church, to which he belonged,
the congregation tried to sing the parting song:
"My christian friends in bonds of love.
Whose hearts the sweetest union prove;
But pilgrims in a foreign land,
We oft must take the parting hand."
The whole audience gathered around him shook his hand and embraced him and sobbed aloud.
He left Galesburg in March with
four yoke of oxen and two yoke of cows hitched to his wagon, and camped
every night on the road till he
reached St. Joseph, Missouri. He had two children, Inez
Eugenia and Helen Elizabeth, the former two years and the latter four months
of age. He
camped near St. Joseph two weeks to dry his books and
clothing, which had become water-soaked in fording rivers in Missouri,
where the water ran over the top of the wagon-bed. May 2d he crossed the
Missouri river, and, with a company of forty other wagons, started on the
trail for
Oregon. They forded all the rivers (except Green river,
where there was a ferry), many of which were deep and dangerous. Their
way led through
bands of hostile Indians; and the company guarded their
train day and night. Their route led over mountains so rocky and precipitous
that, in
places, the wagons had to be let down with ropes. Adams
was considered the most daring and dauntless spirit in the crowd. He never
seemed
so cool and happy as when facing danger. Some in the
company called him "a regular dare-devil." In crossing Snake river, he
came near losing
his team and family. Des Chutes was the most dangerous
stream, they forded on the route. It was forded a few hundred yards above
its junction with the Columbia. The bottom was full of huge boulders. The
water was deep enough to swim the small cattle in the team. The Indians
rode in
and showed the immigrants how deep it was. The company
was afraid to venture. Adams hired the Indians to pilot them over, giving
them a
shirt for each team in the company. The wagon-beds were
propped up nearly to the tops of the standard. Adams volunteered to take
the lead.
The waters roared over the rocks so as to drown an ordinary
voice. In crossing, the water ran near to the tops of the wagon-beds; and
the frightened women covered their heads with bed-clothing and screamed.
Here the company met a man from the Willamette valley, who gave them the
news of the discovery of the gold mines in California.
Before reaching Barlow's
gate, - a toll gate at the entrance of the road cut over the Cascade Mountains
by S.K. Barlow, - the company had
split up into many squads. Their teams were weak and
jaded, and reduced almost to skeletons. The faces of the immigrants were
peeled and
sealed by the alkali of the sage plains. Here lay before
them the hardest part of the trip. The rain had rendered the road almost
impassable. The
whole route was lined with dead horses and cattle lost
by immigrants who had gone before. Adams concluded to make the trip across
the
mountains by himself. He was ten days in making it to
Foster's,- the first house he had seen in six months. The mud up many mountains
was
knee deep; and the cattle were barely able to get on
with the empty wagon. He and his wife carried the babes and the entire
load up several
mountains, wading through mud nearly knee deep, reaching
Foster's they camped to rest. Foster, on learning that he had no money,
generously
gave him a peck of potatoes, and offered him every accommodation
for the winter if he would stop there and teach school. Adams did not like
the country, and concluded to push farther on. In Oregon
City he was met by friends, who invited his family to dinner and at night
put his cattle
in a yard and ordered a load of oats and fed them gratuitously.
Being out of money, he borrowed two dollars to pay his ferriage over the
Willamette river. He swam all the cattle except those
which were too weak to swim. When he settled his ferriage, he had ten cents
left, and lost
that through a hole in his pocket during the winter.
On reaching Yamhill he traded his wagon for ten wild Spanish cows which
ran with a band of four hundred on Burton Prairie. This band of cows with
this increase kept him in beef for several years.
In the winter of 1848-49, the
women in the neighborhood and the few men left who had not gone to the
gold mines were anxious to have
Adams teach school. He first built an addition to James
Fulton's log cabin, with the roof sloping one way and a mud chimney in
the corner. The
hut smoked terribly, but its occupants were happy. They
boiled peas for breakfast, dinner and supper, and browned them for coffee,
which they
drank without sugar or milk. They ate in tin dishes,
as the entire stock of crockery for sale in Oregon was one set of cups
and saucers at Oregon
City, - price $2.50. He and the neighbors soon rolled
up a log hut for a schoolhouse, with a fireplace that took in a common
fence rail. The winter
of 1848-49 was an uncommonly cold one for Oregon. The
thermometer went at one time to six degrees below zero. Snow lay on the
ground over
a week at a time three different times during the winter.
His boy scholars generally dressed in buckskin, and wore moccasins. His
girl pupils
dressed in shirting colored with tea-grounds; and most
of them went to school barefoot. Of his boy scholars, one afterwards became
the editor
of a medical journal, one became the superintendent of
public instruction for Oregon, one went to Congress, and was appointed
by Lincoln as
chief justice of Idaho, while another was elected governor
of Oregon, and was subsequently appointed governor of Utah. He ranked among
the
best stump speakers of the nation.
In 1852, Adams gained his first
great notoriety. He was a strong Whig, while the territory was overwhelmingly
Democratic. After the
legislature passed the Location act removing the seat
of government from Oregon City to Salem, a majority of the supreme court.
Nelson and
Strong, Whigs, refused to recognize the validity of the
law, and held court in Oregon City, declaring the Location act null and
void. A minority
of the legislature convened at Oregon City; wile a majority
followed Judge Pratt to Salem. Pratt's partly had two party organs, - the
Oregon
Statesman and the Vox Populi. Through these papers they
rained the most unstinted abuse upon Governor Gaines and all the other
Whig,
officials who had been commissioned by President Fillmore.
The Whigs were terribly excited; and, not being satisfied with Dryer's
defense of
them in the Oregonian, felt as though they wanted revenge.
A series of articles written for the Oregonian, signed "Junius," defending
the
officials and excoriating the Democrats, came from Adams'
log cabin in Yamhill, and attracted much attention on account of their
ability and
pungent sarcasm. These articles were followed by the
Melodrama entitled, "treason, stratagem and Spoils, in five acts, by Breakspear."
It was
written in rhyme and blank verse, and contained cuts
of the leading Democrats who followed Pratt's leadership. This work caused
great
excitement throughout the territory. Crowds flocked to
every postoffice to get a copy and read it, till half the people of Oregon
had committed
most of it to memory. When Governor Gaines and the Whig
officials learned that Adams was the author of "Junius" and "Breakspear"
they
conditionally bought the Spectator press and offered
it to him as a present if he would start a Whig paper, offering to give
him all the patronage
at their disposal. The offer was declined for fear of
injuring the Whig paper at Portland.
While on his farm in Yamhill,
Adams was noted for his reckless daring. Out of hundreds, two incidents
must suffice. He with several
neighbors, on going to la Fayette six miles distant,
found the next morning the whole country flooded with water, the snow twenty
inches deep
having all melted the night before with heavy, constant,
warm rain. On rising in the morning, Yamhill river was a sea of water half
a mile wide.
Adams started out, his friends asking him where he was
going. He replied, "going home." They said: "You must be crazy. we would
like to know how you are going to get over the river." The reply was: "Bonaparte
crossed the Alps; and I don't propose to stop for that little puddle of
water." Half a mile up the bank he came to Chick Smith's
house, where he saw a trough about five feet long which Smith used for
scalding pigs.
It was square at both ends, and had a crack the
whole length of the bottom through which a man could run his fingers. He
asked Smith if he would yoke up his steers and haul it down to the river.
Smith said, " What are you going to do with it?" Adams replied, "Going
to cross the river." Smith said, "Why, you must be crazy." He was answered,
"I propose to take the chances myself. I don't propose to sell you a ticket
as a steerage or cabin passenger." Rags were procured from Mrs. Smith to
cork up the trough; and, after making a paddle of a "shake," the trough
was hauled down and launched and then tied to a bush. Adams pulled off
his coat, boots and hat, and put them in the trough ready for a swim if
necessary. The water was as cold as ice, and ran like a mill-tail. He got
into the trough resting on his feet and knees. The bank of the stream was
lined with thick brush a rod or more out into the water, which made it
doubtful if one could gain the bank through the brush if the trough foundered.
Smith stood on the bank white with fear; and, as Adams knelt in the hog
trough, he shouted, "Can you swim?" The answer was, "yes." Smith replied,
"Go it then;" and, not having nerve enough to see a man drown, he started
back as fast as he could go. When the trough was untied it darted down
stream with great rapidity. It was barely able to hold the passenger and
float, the water coming to within half an inch of the top. A rod or two
below, the trough struck an alder broadside half filled with water, and
clearing itself shot ahead into the middle of the stream. Adams thought
that then was the time for swimming; but seeing the trough still floating,
he said to himself, "While you can float I will ride." A hundred yards
below there was an opening through the brush out to the bottom lands, over
which the water was seven feet deep. To pass through this opening was the
only chance for his life. Being well up to handling a canoe, which he had
learned while hunting with the Indians in Michigan, he thought he could
handle the trough. But the hog trough, square at both ends, would not steer.
It was rapidly passing the opening through the brush. By shifting his paddle
through the gap, and, staking the trough at the foothills, went home, much
to the astonishment of the neighbors.
In 1849, the nearest mill and
postoffice were at Oregon City, thirty-five miles distant. The roads to
Oregon City were almost impassable. The
only feasible route was by the Yamhill and Willamette
rivers in a canoe. Being out of flour, Adams yoked up his cattle, with
which he had been
hauling his family three miles to meeting every Sunday
on a sled in the summer and winter, and hauled his wheat to Dayton, ten
miles distant.
here he hired a canoe and started down the river for
Oregon City. He slept at night on the bank of the river, the rain falling
in torrents. He ran the rapids at Rock Island, a passage now considered
dangerous fro a large bateau. At Oregon City he let his canoe down past
the falls into the mill
by means of a rope, getting his wheat ground and exchanging
two bushels with Doctor McLaughlin for a little sugar, which his family
had not
tasted for months. He returned home, walking from Dayton
and bringing back a yoke of oxen to haul home his precious loud. In the
spring of
1849, he concluded to go to the gold mines of California.
He had already bought the land claim of Miles Carey for eight hundred dollars,
paying
down a colt for three hundred dollars and a smoothbore
rifle at fifty dollars, and giving his note for the balance. At Oregon
City, finding no way
to reach Astoria, from which the ship Jeanette was advertised
to sail soon with lumber, he and two others built a small skiff and started
down
the river for Astoria. At Cathlamet Bay, ten miles above
Astoria, they all came near being drowned, as the water was too rough for
their frail
bark. Visiting the mines, he returned in August with
enough gold dust to pay off all his indebtedness. In 1852, he went overland
to Yreka,
California, to dig more gold, passing through the Rogue
river valley, which was infested with hostile savages. He, with eight others,
fought their way through and back, returning with a large quantity of gold
dust.
His son, Judge W.H. Adams, city
attorney for Portland, was born one week before his father started for
Yreka. In 1850, the Whigs nominated
Adams for probate judge in Yamhill. The Democrats had
a majority of two hundred and fifty in the county; that, after a thorough
canvass,
Adams beat his competitor, a lawyer of ability, eighty-two
votes. In 1856, the Republicans of Clackamas county nominated him, much
against his will, for state senator. The Democrats had a majority of four
hundred in the county, and ran against him a man of talent, an old settler,
and well
and favorably known; yet, after a thorough canvass of
the county, Adams beat him thirteen votes, though he was considered the
roughest
stump speaker they had ever heard.
In 1855, a dark pro-slavery cloud
hung over Oregon. The South, ambitious to secure more slave states to keep
a balance of power in the
Senate, had employed a leading Democrat as their tool
to make Oregon a slave state. Adams, who was a strong free-soiler, having
learned that
this gentleman had turned many other of the leading Democrats
to vote and work for slavery, and fearing that such a party would generally
follow their lead, concluded to enter the field against
them, as the few free-soilers in the territory seemed to be silent, while
the
emissaries of the
"Slaveocracy" were very busy. He unyoked his cattle,
left his plow standing in the furrow and went to Oregon City where he bought
the
Spectator press of D.J. Schnebly for twelve hundred dollars,
and started the Oregon Argus. For about nine years he edited this paper,
which
took the lead as a Republican journal. As a writer, his
equal was not to be found on the coast for ability, pungency and audacity.
He stumped
the state, writing his editorials on his knee, armed
with two revolvers and a bowie knife, as the "Slaveocrats" were everywhere
threatening his
life. He said: "I never knew what it was to fear a face
of clay. All I ask of them is to meet me like a man, and not shoot me in
the back." In drafting
addresses to the people, and in suggesting measures of
public policy, Adams was always looked up to as the leader. He called the
first
republican convention ever held in Oregon, when other
prominent Whigs were afraid. Republicanism was "too impracticable
to win." Hence, he is known to-day as "The Father of the Republican Party
in Oregon." Through the Argus, with D.W. Craig as his foreman and right-hand
man, he overthrew all opposition, dismantled their guns, licked the Republican
party into shape, and laid the foundation for free Oregon, one of
the brightest stars in the galaxy of sovereign states. For this he deserves
immortal honors; and we are proud to be able to hand his name down to posterity
through this biography.
As a conversationalist, he is
enchanting. His eccentricities and blunt way of speaking interests everybody
and excites their risibles. We have heard many men and women say," I would
rather hear Adams talk than visit a theater." He seems to love to bore
scrubs for the "hollow horn,"
and has the most sovereign contempt for wealthy, pretentious,
theological fraud and quackery in medicine, which fattens upon ignorance.
He
never betrayed a friend, or failed to forgive an enemy
who confessed his wrong and promised to do better. His house has been a
free resort for
the poor, sick, lazy and infirm for the last forty years.
His credit is good for all he asks; and his word, as Judge Pratt said,
'is as good as any other man's oath." Yet he is too apt to think everyone
is honest and truthful because he is. Tis blind faith has cost him thousands
of dollars. His
memory is astounding. He seems to remember everything
that has occurred in Oregon for over forty years. He knows every man, woman
and
child he met forty years ago, and can relate many interesting
incidents connected with their history. He can repeat word for word whole
sentences from noted speeches and sermons he heard over
fifty years ago. He can tell of nearly every incident that transpired in
Painesville
(then a place of five or six houses) before he was two
years old. A great lover of truth, he scorns a liar and a dishonest man.
If there is one thing
he abhors above all others, it is the wretch who will
betray a friend. he never betrayed confidence reposed in him by a professed
friend, though
that person afterwards turned out his enemy. He is a
good friend, and not a bad enemy. As bitter as gall in denunciation, his
breast is always full of the milk of human kindness. Those who knew him
best love him most. All good people love, respect and honor him; it is
only the lowclass
who ever speak against him.
Lincoln, who read the Argus,
was his admirer as a writer. Some of the editors of leading Eastern journals
wrote him testifying their admiration
of his ability as a writer. In six weeks after Lincoln
was inaugurated, he appointed Adams as collector of customs for the district
of Oregon. This
was the first appointment made by Lincoln in Oregon.
Lincoln proposed to prepare for conquering the Rebellion by removing their
treasonable
sympathizers and putting in men who would never haul
down the stars and stripes at the behest of Jeff Davis. Adams soon satisfied
himself that the officers of the California Steamship Company were engaged
in smuggling merchandise from Victoria, and making vast sums of money.
He
appointed detectives to watch them, and soon seized several
of their steamships, putting the captains and crews ashore. He shortly
had as
forfeitures in the Bank of California $345,000. This
excited the animosity of the steamship company, while the Oregon legislature
passed a set of
resolutions complimenting him for his efficiency as an
officer. Secretary McCulloch told a member of Congress that "Adams was
the best
Treasury officer on the Pacific coast." In 1866, he was
ordered by the Treasury Department to carry in person the money on hand,
amounting to
some sixty or eighty thousand dollars. He took passage
on one of the company's steamers, and on the way down his trunk was broken
open and $20,500 of the money was stolen while he was at breakfast. He
spent three thousand dollars in catching the thieves, and recovered eleven
thousand dollars of the money. Twenty years afterwards
the administration under Cleveland sued him for the money stolen, with
interest
amounting to over thirty thousand dollars. Adams beat
the government in every suit, and is now free from the indebtedness. He
has two
commissions from Lincoln and two from Johnson.
In 1867, he resigned his office
owing to failing health, and moved back to his farm in Yamhill. In May,
1868, he went to Washington City to
settle his accounts as collector and attend to business
for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. While in Washington he became
acquainted
with President Johnson, Charles and Jessie Fremont, and
all the prominent members of Congress and of the Senate. He was treated
with the
highest consideration; and many senators expressed their
regret that he had not come from Oregon as a senator-elect in place of
one of the two
who were then serving. President Johnson, on learning
that he was on the way to South America for his health, said: "You ought
to have an
office down there. You go to Seward; and, if there is
any vacancy as Minister resident in any South American Republic, I will
be glad to appoint
you to the position. He was answered: "You have no office
at your disposal that I would take. I would not accept the office you hold
yourself. I
have had enough of office, enough of glory and enough
of fame." Johnson said, "I am glad to see one man in Washington who is
not an
office-seeker." Adams concluded to go to New Orleans
and take the steamer for Havana, where he could catch the steamer from
New York to
Aspinwall. Finding that owing to the Cuban rebellion,
he would not be permitted to land in Cuba, he concluded to pass through
the Gulf of
Mexico and coast along Central America. He was three
months in making the trip from New Orleans to Aspinwall, meeting with many
adventures and facing many dangers too numerous to mention in this chapter.
Visiting Peru, Bolivia and Chili, where he remained for several months,
he
returned to Boston, where he began a series of lectures
which he delivered throughout New England on "Oregon and the Pacific Coast."
In
Boston as elsewhere he was highly indorsed as a lecturer
by the public press. In the winter of 1869, he returned to Oregon after
nearly two years of travel, and had two dollars and a half left out of
four thousand, six hundred dollars he started with.
In 1873, he went to Philadelphia to add to his previous knowledge of the healing art. Here he acquired a knowledge of the most recent discoveries of all the schools of medicine. He received the degree of A.M. from Christian College, Oregon, that of M.D. from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, as also the degree of L.L., D. from the American University of Pennsylvania. In addition to these honors, he was awarded a handsome gold medal for "eminent attainments in medical science." He practiced medicine in Philadelphia and Boston with marked success, having generally the most prominent people as his patients. In 1874, he opened a medical office in Portland, which was soon thronged with patients from San Francisco, Oregon and Washington Territory. In 1877, Doctor Adams removed to Hood river, where he had bought a beautiful place on the banks of the Columbia river as a home in which to rest from his many years of toil. Here he now resides, and is "as happy as a clam thirty feet under water."
October 29, 1881, he married
M. Sue Mosier at Walla Walla, Washington Territory. By her he has a son
now five years old. He has seven
grown children by his first wife, - all living, - all
educated, honorable, and an ornament to society.
In 1888 he published the most remarkable book of the age,
- "A History of Medicine and Surgery" from Moses down to the present time.
It
exposes all frauds, medical, theological and political,
by which kingcraft and priestcraft have fattened on ignorance in the world's
history. To
read it is to produce an admiration for its author. If
any man deserves mention in this history it is Doctor W.L. Adams. he is
without doubt one
of the most able, eccentric and honorable of all the
pioneers whose names are by their deeds rendered immortal. A prominent
man in the
Treasury Department said to the Governor of Idaho, "I
have seen all the Presidents, Ministers resident, Senators and great men
in Washington
City for ten years; and people generally agreed with
me that Adams was fully equal in ability to any man who had every visited
the Capitol."
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
Volume II
184 - 190
This is the horoscope of the
young city as cast by Mr. Allen; and his opinions are certainly of great
weight. He has been a resident of the
territory since 1870; and, as United States attorney
for Washington under Grant, Hayes and Garfield, he has visited nearly every
locality within
the field of his labors; and his opportunities for forming
correct judgment have been very extensive. While a citizen of Dayton or
Pendleton
could not be expected to agree with him fully, and Spokane
Falls and North Yakima would naturally demur from his opinion that the
Blue
Mountain slopes are the finest in the territory, the
unbiased mind will, at least, regard his view with interest. Mr. Allen
is one of the territory's
most prominent citizens. As delegate to the United States
Congress, he has achieved a lasting fame, and will leave the stamp of his
mind upon
history.
He is a native of Indiana, having
been born at Crawfordsville, in that state in 1843. He was educated at
Wabash College, but at the age of
nineteen joined the "hundred-days" men and served his
time in the civil war. After the restoration of peace, he went with his
father to Rochester,
Minnesota, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1870,
he came to Puget Sound, and made his home at Olympia. He was married at
Portland in
1871. Upon his appointment as federal attorney in 1875,
he made extensive tours of the country, going by stage-coach in the old
ante-railroad
days of the territory. In 1881, he removed with his family
to Walla Walla, where he enjoys his fine residence in that city, which
he regards on the
whole the most eligible in the Pacific Northwest. Mr.
Allen is essentially a public man, virile, full of vitality, popular, and
finding his chief interest
in great measures embracing large areas and many people.
It is generally conceded that, as a lawyer, he is the foremost in Washington.
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
Volume II
Page 192
A.F. Anderson is a retired farmer living in Prescott. He has been closely identified with agricultural interests and is still the owner of valuable farming property, from which he derives a gratifying income, but at the present time he is largely leaving the management and operation of his land to others, for he is enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves. He was born in Sweden, September 23, 1844, and was there reared and educated, spending the period of his boyhood and youth in that country. He was also married in his native land and in 1869, when a young man of twenty-five years, he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, making his way first to Kansas, where he resided for about twelve years, or until 1881. He then came to the northwest with Washington as his destination and was section foreman in this state for fifteen years. He also took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres and later he purchased one hundred and sixty acres more. His half section is all wheat land and has been brought under a high state of cultivation, large crops being annually gathered. Excellent improvements have been placed upon his farm and there is no accessory or convenience of the model farm property that is not found there. He owns a fine residence in Prescott and his surroundings are indicative of his life of well directed energy and thrift.
In 1869 Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Carlson, a native of Sweden, and they have become parents of eight children: Hilma; Augusta; Charles, who is now deputy sheriff at Wallula; Wilhelmina; Ada; Edith; Harry; and Genevieve.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are well known residents of Prescott. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has served as justice of the peace and as school director, while at the present time he is one of the aldermen of the city. His political activity has always been characterized by the utmost devotion to the general good and he has been most true and faithful in his official positions, discharging his duties with marked capability and promptness. Moreover, he is a self-made man and one who deserves great credit for what he has accomplished in a business way. He came to the new world empty-handed when a young man of twenty-five, but he possessed the substantial qualities of courage, determination and industry and has utilized these qualities as the basis of his growing success. Undeterred by the obstacles and difficulties in his path, he has steadily worked his way upward and is now one of the prosperous residents of Prescott.
Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 121, 122
Wiley L. Arnold, a representative and successful agriculturist of Walla Walla county, resides on section 26, township 8 north, range 37 east, where he operates a well improved farm of forty-five acres, and he is also the owner of another valuable farm of one hundred and eighteen acres four miles distant from the aforementioned place. His birth occurred in Tennessee on the 8th of September, 1866, his parents being John and Anna Arnold, who spent their entire lives in that state. They had two sons, the brother of our subject being Grant, who is still a resident of Tennessee.
Wiley L. Arnold spent the period of his minority in his native state and in 1887, when a young man of twenty-one years, made his way to Spokane, Washington. Soon afterward, however, he removed to Vancouver, Washington, where he also spent but a short time and then went to Grants Pass, Oregon, there remaining during a winter season. Subsequently he came to Walla Walla county, Washington, and here worked on a ranch for three and one-half years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Grants Pass, Oregon, but two years later again made his way to Walla Walla county and purchased the farm on which he now resides and to the cultivation of which he has devoted his attention continuously to the present time. It is a highly improved property, comprising forty-five acres on section 26, township 8 north, range 37 east, near Dixie. Mr. Arnold also owns another farm of one hundred and eighteen acres nearby and in the conduct of his agricultural interests has met with gratifying and well deserved success, being energetic, enterprising and progressive. He is also a stockholder in the warehouse at Sapellel.
In 1893 Mr. Arnold was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Perry, a native of California and a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Shinn) Perry, the former born in Canada and the latter in Michigan. They made the trip to California in 1849 and after a number of years' residence in that state took up their abode in Grants Pass, Oregon, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of twelve children, eight of whom survive. To Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have been born six children, as follows: Veora I., who is the wife of George W. Bruce; Marion Harvey; Zeffie A.; Sarah F.; Ivan W.; and one who died in infancy.
Mr. Arnold gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has ably served as school director here. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Lodge No. 117, and his wife is a consistent member of the Christian church. They are widely and favorably known in Walla Walla county and Mr. Arnold enjoys an enviable reputation as a self-made man whose success is the merited reward of his unremitting industry and sound business judgment.
Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 377, 378
Dr. Atwood's first field was
at La Grande; but in 1871 he removed to his present location, where he
has since been actively employed. Baker
City was then but a village of some seven hundred inhabitants,
although money was then in abundant circulation. Mining interests still
dominate, and will always be pre-eminent. The surrounding
region is remarkably healthy, phthisic being almost unknown. The Doctor
was
married in 1882 to Miss Florence Thompson of San Francisco,
California, and has one child living.
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
Volume II
Page 199
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