Arizona

Jacobson, Oscar Lee “Bud” – Obituary

Oscar Lee “Bud” Jacobson, 66, died Oct. 31, 2001, at Phoenix, Ariz., from complications of pneumonia. There will be a memorial gathering in his honor at 1 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Haines Methodist Community Building adjacent to the Haines Methodist Church. Mr. Jacobson was born on Aug. 30, 1935, to Walter “Bud” Jacobson and Marian Steward Jacobson in Baker City. He grew up on a ranch between Haines and North Powder. He graduated from Powder Valley High School at North Powder in 1954 and from Oregon Technical Institute (now Oregon Institute of Technology) at Klamath Falls in 1956. He … Read more

Smith, Pearl E. Knudsen Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Pearl E. Smith, 72, a longtime Baker City resident, died Sept. 12, 2001, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. At her request, there will be no service. Disposition was by cremation. Mrs. Smith was born at Blackfoot, Idaho, on June 3, 1929. She was a daughter of Rasmus and Lona Jones Knudsen. She loved to dance and decorate the homes of others with her knitting and crochet projects. She embraced the love to travel with her husband, Ken, visiting places in the Northwest, Canada and snowbirding in Arizona last year in their RV. Camping was her favorite pastime, … Read more

Hagey, Clifford R. – Obituary

Clifford R. Hagey, 93, of Mesa, Ariz., a former Baker County resident, died April 25, 2001, after a four-month battle with spinal cancer. Family and friends will remember Mr. Hagey by gathering in La Grande later this summer. Disposition was by cremation in Arizona. There will not be a funeral service. Mr. Hagey was born at the family home in Island City on April 9, 1908, and lived in Union and Baker counties for 62 years. In 1972, he sold his farm at Haines and moved to Chandler, Ariz., to begin a new division of Commercial Welding cattle handling equipment … Read more

Witham, William Patton “Bub” – Obituary

William Patton “Bub” Witham, 60, a former Baker City resident, died April 4, 2006, at Kingman, Ariz. He was born to Fred and Eve Witham on Nov. 8, 1946. He was one of three children in the family, which also includes an older sister, Merrillee of Sparks, Nev., and Bob of Spokane, Wash. He attended Brooklyn Elementary School and was a 1964 Baker High School graduate. He attended Eastern Oregon College (now Eastern Oregon University) at La Grande. He was active in the logging industry and worked at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, for more than 22 years. He also had lived … Read more

Berry, Steven D. – Obituary

Steven D. Berry, 30, of Tucson, Ariz., a former Baker City resident, died of heart failure on Oct. 22, 2006, at Tucson. A private service will be scheduled later. Steven was born on July 16, 1976, at Fort Carson, Colo., to Daniel and Sherry Brown Martin. He moved to Springfield at a young age and then to Yamhill where he attended Yamhill Carlton High School. He moved to Baker City in 1991. While in Baker City, he worked for Pizza Hut. In 2005, he moved to Tucson, Ariz. He loved music, playing the guitar and the keyboard and singing. “He … Read more

Turner, Oris Mark – Obituary

Oris Mark Turner was called home by God on Dec. 19, 2007, in Sierra Vista, Ariz. He was born in North Powder, Ore., to Mark Anthony Turner and Lizzie Newman Turner on July 21, 1919. After graduation from North powder High School in 1938, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940. He was assigned to the Signal Corps and later to the Adjutant General Corps. A veteran of World War II, Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War, his duty stations included Fort Warren, Wy.; Headquarters Far East Command, Tokyo; Fort Monmouth, N.J.; another tour in Japan; … Read more

Brown, Ray F. – Obituary

Ray F. Brown, former vice principal of counseling and guidance at Burlingame High School passed away on June 9, 2008, in his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was born in Baker City, Ore., where he lived with his parents Walter and Frona Brown. He went to the University of Oregon and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war he returned to the University of Oregon and later went to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., where he made many lifelong friends. He and Alice E. Irving met at Lewis and Clark and they have … Read more

Biography of Pauline Weaver

Probably, the first white settler, if, indeed, a trapper at that time could be called a settler, was Pauline Weaver, a native of White County, Tennessee. Of his early history there is little known. His name is inscribed upon the walls of the Casa Grande with the date, 1833. He is credited with having explored the Verde, and also the Colorado River numerous times. There was hardly a foot of the Territory of Arizona he was not conversant with. Differing entirely from the majority of the trappers of that day, he had no difficulties with the Indians, but was always … Read more

Biography of Charles O. Brown

Charles O. Brown, who has been mentioned in these pages already, was born in New York, and when but a young man came west. He is said to have been a member of the Giant on band which was engaged in gathering scalps of the Indians in Chihuahua, for which they received $150 each. Reference to this band has been previously made. Brown had gone to California when Glanton and his associates were murdered by the Indians at Yuma. It is not certain when he returned to Arizona, probably about the year 1858. He was a saloon man and a … Read more

Biography of L. J. F. Jaeger

The following biographical sketch of L. J. F. Jaeger was furnished me by his son, now living at Tucson: “My father, L. J. F. Jaeger, was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He worked as a mechanic in the Baldwin shops, Philadelphia. Later was appointed mechanic in the arsenal at Washington, D. C. In the latter part of 1848, he took the first sailing vessel out of Philadelphia bound for San Francisco, the ‘Mason. ‘ On reaching San Francisco he worked for a while as a carpenter. At that time the Bay extended to Montgomery Street. He was then employed as … Read more

Biography of Charles D. Post

Charles D. Post on, whose name is thoroughly identified with the early history of Arizona, and to whom we have had occasion to refer to heretofore, and will, in future volumes record his further activities, was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, April 20th, 1825. He was left motherless when twelve years of age, and soon thereafter was placed in the County Clerk’s office, where he served an apprenticeship of seven years. He was in the office of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Nashville, for the next three years, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. Upon … Read more

Biography of Herman Ehrenberg

Herman Ehrenberg, for whom the town of Ehrenberg on the Colorado River is named, was a German by birth. At an early age, he left his native country, and, landing in New York, worked his way down to New Orleans, where he had located when the Texas War of Independence broke out. He enlisted in the New Orleans Grays, and was present at the battle of Goliath and Fanning ‘s defeat, being one of the few who survived the barbarous massacre of prisoners who surrendered at that time to the Mexican authorities. He returned to Germany at the close of the Texas … Read more

Biography of Peter Kitchen

One of the earliest pioneers of Arizona was Peter Kitchen, who came to the Territory in 1854. He was born in Covington, Kentucky, in 1822. Little is known of his early life beyond the fact that he served in some capacity during the Mexican War. He was a man, as I remember him, about five feet ten inches in height, rather spare, always wearing a wide brimmed sombrero; very quiet in his manner; low and soft spoken. There was nothing about the man to indicate the daredevil of dime novels, which is associated in the Eastern mind with the pioneers … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hiram S. Stevens

Hiram S. Stevens was born in Western Vermont on March 20th, 1832, and came to Arizona in 1855. When a youth of 19 he enlisted as a United States soldier and came to New Mexico in Company “I,” First United States Dragoons. On being discharged from the service in 1855, he came to Arizona where he resided continuously up to the time of his death. At first he was a sporting man, then afterwards a trader and speculator, and in 1874, he was counted one of the richest men in the Territory. At this time he was elected Delegate to … Read more

Biography of James Pennington

James Pennington, familiarly known as “Old Pennington,” was also one of the pioneers of Arizona. The Pennington family consisted of James Pennington, his wife and five children, three daughters and two sons. They moved from Tennessee into Texas, and from thence pushed westward through New Mexico into Arizona and settled upon the Sonoita near Fort Buchanan in the year 1857 or 1858. During the time of the abandonment of the country by the Americans “he occupied,” says Ross Browne, “a small cabin three miles above the Calabasas, surrounded by roving bands of hostile Indians. He stubbornly refused to leave the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of W. H. Kirkland

W. H. Kirkland, who raised the first American flag in 1856 in the town of Tucson, was born in Petersburg, Virginia, July 12th, 1832, and emigrated to Arizona shortly after the Gadsden Purchase, eight or nine years before the organization of the Territory. He and his wife were the first white couple married in Arizona, being married in Tucson May 26th, 1860. In 1863 and 1864, he spent a good deal of time around Walnut Grove mining and ranching, about which time he purchased the ranch located by Pauline Weaver, and there engaged in stock raising. Later he settled in … Read more

Biography of Estevan Ochoa

Estevan Ochoa was a New Mexican by birth. In his early youth he went to Kansas City, where he obtained employment and acquired a fair knowledge of the English language. He started in business on his own account at Mesilla, New Mexico. He made a success of the enterprise, and thereafter started a number of branch stores in both New Mexico and Arizona. The firm of Tully & Ochoa, of which he was a member, was one of the largest mercantile establishments in Tucson. In Bourke’s “On the Border with Crook” is an account of his visit to Tucson, in … Read more

Biography of John F. Stone

The Tucson Post prints the following concerning John F. Stone: “Stone Avenue was named for John F. Stone. Just how or why he came to the country no one now living seems to know. He was a man of considerable means and of magnificent physique. Of powerful build and wearing a heavy black beard he stood distinguished among his fellow men. A rich gold vein had been discovered in Apache Pass, and upon this he built a small reduction mill. While en route to Tucson with the proceeds of the first month’s run, he was killed by Indians in Dragoon … Read more

Biography of Sylvester Mowry

Sylvester Mowry entered West Point Academy in 1848, graduating high up in his class in 1852. Among his classmates were General Crook, General Kautz, Colonel Mendel, Jerome Bonaparte, Jr., Major General Evans, Captain Mullin of San Francisco, Lieutenant Ives, and other well known army officers. In the summer of 1853, he was engaged with George B. McClellan on the Columbia, surveying for a railroad route; in 1855 he was with Colonel Steptoe at Salt Lake City, and in the spring of that year conducted some recruits and animals through to California. At this time he was a lieutenant, and, late … Read more

Biography of Samuel Hughes

Samuel Hughes, probably the oldest pioneer Arizonan now living, was born in Wales, British Isles, August 28th, 1829. In 1837 his father settled in Pennsylvania, where Mr. Hughes lived up to 1848, when he became a cabin boy on the Mississippi River, which vocation he followed until 1850, at which time he came to California overland from St. Louis. His first mining was done in Hangtown, California. In 1851 he went to Yreka, California. In 1852 he crossed the mountains to Rogue River Valley in Oregon, where he was one of the first to discover Rich Gulch at Jacksonville. In … Read more