History of Portland Oregon Collections – Page 7 of 8

Biography of Frank Zan

Frank Zan, the subject of this sketch, is of Slavonic descent and was born in 1851 in Stavigrard, Dalmatia, while that county was under Austrian rule. After completing his education in the public school of his native town, he was admitted to the Convent of the Dominican Fathers, with the intention of becoming one of their order. After studying theology for nearly two years at that school, he concluded to abandon the idea of devoting his life to ministerial work; and- not wishing to be drafted into military service, to which duty every young man is subject in that country, … Read more

Biography of Frank Dekum

For many years the subject of this sketch has occupied a commanding position in the commercial and financial history of Portland. His career and achievements forcibly illustrate what may be accomplished by one who pursues earnest purposes and makes right use of his opportunities. Coming to Portland before it had outgrown the limits of an insignificant hamlet, he has grown with its growth until to-day he is one of the leading men of finance in the metropolis of Oregon. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 5, 1829. At the age of eight years he accompanied his parents to America, … Read more

Biography of Erasmus D. Shattuck

Judge E. D. Shattuck was born in Bakersfield, Franklin County, Vermont, December 31, 1824. He spent his boyhood and youth on a farm and was prepared for a collegiate course at Bakersfield Academy. In 1844 he entered Vermont University, pursued the full classical course and graduated in 1848. While in college he was dependent upon his own resources for means to prosecute his studies, and during vacations and some part of term time he taught school in the country or had private classes in the village. Notwithstanding these disadvantages and interruptions he completed the college course in the prescribed time … Read more

Biography of Edward James Northrup

Edward James Northrup was born in Albany, New York, July 4th 1834, and was a son of Nelson Northrup, long known as a merchant in old Oregon. He spent several years of his early life in school, but when quite young began his business career as a clerk in a book store in Boston, where he remained until 1852, when he came to Portland. Here he entered the general merchandise store of Northrup & Simonds, of which firm his father was senior member, remaining with them as clerk until 1856, when associating himself with James M. Blossom, he succeeded to … Read more

Biography of Edward James Jeffery

Edward James Jeffery was born in Oneida county, New York, April 23, 1835, and is of English descent, his parents having been born in England. During his infancy the family moved to Lenawee county, Michigan. Here he resided on a farm and obtained a limited education in the district school until the spring of 1852, when he started across the plains for the Pacific slope. In October following, after a journey of more than six months, he arrived at Placerville, California, where, until the following spring he engaged in mining. He then went to Stockton where he was employed in … Read more

Biography of Earl C. Bronaugh

Bronaugh, Earl C., one of the most prominent attorneys of the State, was born in Abingdon, Virginia, March 4, 1831. He secured his educational advantages in his native town prior to reaching the age of twelve years, when with his parents he moved to Shelby County, Tennessee. They founded a new home in the woods and endured all the privations of pioneer life at that early day. Here Mr. Bronaugh spent six years of his life, assisting his father in the support of the family, after which becoming imbued with the desire to read law he entered the office of … Read more

Biography of Dr. Kenneth A. J. Mackenzie

Dr. Kenneth A. J. Mackenzie was born in Cumberland House, a Hudson Bay Company post in Manitoba, Canada, Jan. 13, 1859, and is a son of Roderick and Jane Mackenzie. He is of Scotch descent and representative of a well known family of Ross Shire, Scotland, the old families of Langwell and Aldy, earls of Croemartie and Brahan, being a branch of the Mackenzies. Roderick Mackenzie, his father, was for many years Chief Fadtor in the Hudson’s Bay Company service and is now one of its retired officers, living at Melbourne in Eastern township, Canada. He is a man of … Read more

Biography of Dr. J. C. Hawthorne

For many years the subject of this sketch held a prominent place among the most distinguished medical men of the Pacific Coast. His high professional attainments were matched by a life of conspicuous rectitude and of great public usefulness. He was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1819, and was a son of James and Mary (Donald) Hawthorne, who were of English and Welsh descent. His father was a farmer, but a man of literary attainments and a graduate of Washington College, Pennsylvania. The early life of young Hawthorne was spent in Mercer County, where his elementary education was … Read more

Biography of Donald MacLeay

MacLeay, Donald, was born at Leckmelm, Ross Shire, Scotland, in August, 1834, and comes from an honorable ancestry. He was educated under a private tutor and at the academy in his native town. At the age of sixteen he accompanied his parents to Canada, settling on a farm near the village of Melbourne in the province of Quebec. At the age of twenty Mr. Macleay began his business career in partnership with George K. Foster, a merchant at Richmond. Mr. Foster was a man of large means and of excellent business capacity and had much to do in moulding the … Read more

Biography of Daniel H. Lownsdale

Lownsdale, Daniel H., the son of one of the earliest settlers of Kentucky, was born in Mason county, in that State, April 8, 1803. As was the custom in those days, he was married young, at the age of 23, to Ruth, youngest daughter of Paul Overfilled, Esq., the head of one of the most prominent families of northeastern Kentucky. In obedience to the adventuresome spirit inherited from his father, who had abandoned the comforts of civilization in his youth to become one of the conquerors of Kentucky, Lownsdale, with his young wife, “moved on” and settled in Gibson county, … Read more

Biography of Cyrus A. Dolph

Dolph, Cyrus A., of Portland, one of the most successful lawyers of Oregon, was born in Chemung, (now Schuyler) County, New York, on September 27, 1840. Leaving school at the early age of eighteen he took up the occupation of teacher, and taught in the schools of his native county during the years 1859, 1860 and 1861. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted in the Government service from which he was discharged at Fort Walla Walla, Washington, in October, 1862, and came to Portland, where he has ever since resided. While engaged in teaching, Mr. Dolph began the study … Read more

Biography of Col. W.W. Chapman

Among men now living there are none around whom clusters so much of the history of Portland as the one whose name heads this memoir. He is the strongest link between the infant days and the stalwart manhood of our city. But the results of his labors in behalf of Portland, great and far-reaching as they have been in good, by no means complete the record of his long and useful life. Years before American civilization had gained a foot-hold in this portion of the Pacific Northwest, he had borne a leading part in laying the foundations of the State … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Wiberg

Charles M. Wiberg was born in Norkoping, Sweden, 1820. His youth and early manhood were passed in different parts of his native land, engaging in various occupations until he became an apprentice at the shoemakers’ trade. After acquiring his trade he, in 1841, went to London, where he was employed for nearly three years. He then came to the United States, landing in New York in 1843. From that time until 1850, he worked at his trade in New Milford, Connecticut, New York City, Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1850, he started in business for himself … Read more

Biography of Charles J. Smith

Charles J. Smith, Manager of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky, March 13, 1854, and is the son of Charles F. and Z. A. ( Jackson) Smith. His father was a merchant at Nicholasville for several years, but in 1857, removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where he died in 1877. In the latter city, the subject of this sketch was educated in a private school until he reached the age of fourteen, when he entered Blackburn University at Carlinville, Illinois, from which institution he graduated in 1870. After graduation he spent one year as a … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Dodd

In no summary of the forces and agencies which have made the Pacific Northwest within the last two decades take such rapid strides in material greatness, should be omitted the part bourne by the subject of this sketch. For nearly a quarter of a century he has been a conceded power for good in the commercial, intellectual and moral progress of a wide extent of country, and has left in many places and on many things the impress of his individual work. The following sketch of his life belongs very properly to the history of a city where he has … Read more

Biography of Charles B. Bellinger

Judge Bellinger was born in Maquon, Knox County, Illinois, November 21, 1839, and at the age of eight years came to Oregon with his parents and grandparents. After receiving the advantages of a common school education, supplemented with some two years at the Willamette University, he began to read law at Salem, in the office of B. F. Bonham; at present United States Consul. at Calcutta, and was admitted to the bar at the September term of the Supreme Court, in 1863. He immediately thereafter engaged in the practice of law at Salem in partnership with J. C. Cartwright, since … Read more

Biography of Charles Adolph Alisky

Charles Adolph Alisky was born near Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, October 6, 1840, and is a descendant of an old and highly honorable German family which for several generations has resided at or in the immediate vicinity of the place of his nativity. His father, William Alisky, was a native of Mayence, and early in life exhibited rare musical talent, at the age of seven years playing a flute solo at a concert in Mayence. His genius for music attracted the attention of the Grand Duke of Hessia under whose protection he was sent to the Conservatory of Music at Paris. Here … Read more

Biography of Benton Killin

Benton Killin, one of Portland’s prominent citizens, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on the 5th day of August, 1842. When only three years old his parents crossed the plains, and settled on the old homestead, on Butter Creek, Clackamas county, Oregon, in the spring of 1847. Here his aged mother still lives, enjoying, in the evening of life, a rest from the severe toils of her earlier years. On this farm the next twelve years of young Killin’s life was spent in the hard labors of a farmer’s boy. But while thus surrounded, with but little to arouse his … Read more

Biography of A. H. Johnson

Few American cities can furnish so many instances where men have accumulated large fortunes simply by well directed labor, however adverse the circumstances which surrounded their early struggles, than Portland. The subject of this sketch is a striking example of the truth of this statement. Arriving in Portland some thirty odd years ago, without friends or money, but possessed of good health and plenty of pluck and energy, he has steadily pushed onward and upward until today he occupies a prominent place among the leading business men of the city. He was born in London, in 1830, and is the … Read more

Biographical Sketches of Portland OR Mayors

George W. Vaughn, elected in 1855, was a native of New Jersey, a man who in his prime was personally very handsome, with the full and imposing features of the middle coast people of the Atlantic seaboard. He began actively in commercial business and followed this successfully both in the Eastern States and Canada. He came to Portland in 1850 and established a hardware store. His investments were made with good judgment and brought large returns. In 1865 he built the large brick flour mill on Main street, which was burned in 1873. By that fire his losses were reckoned … Read more