History of the Pacific Northwest Oregon and Washington 1889

History of the Pacific Northwest Oregon and Washington. 2 v. Portland, Oregon: North Pacific History Company. 1889.

Biography of Hon. Stukely Ellsworth

HON. STUKELY ELLSWORTH. – This eminent lawyer of our state was born at Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York, December 18, 1826. Among his distinguished ancestors were Oliver Ellsworth, the third chief justice of the supreme court of the United States; Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke Seminary, and Mary Franklin, a sister of Benjamin Franklin. Colonel E.E. Ellsworth is also supposed to have belonged to the same family. Mr. Ellsworth received his academical education in Chautauqua county, and graduated at Yale College in 1847. He studied law at Buffalo, New York, nearly three years, and was admitted to practice before … Read more

Biography of Hon. Stephen Fowler Chadwick

HON. STEPHEN FOWLER CHADWICK. – No man in the history of the state of Oregon has held more prominent positions, or done more for the welfare of the country, than the subject of this sketch. He was born in Connecticut on the 25th of December, 1825, and received his education in his native state. After becoming proficient in other branches, he read law in the offices of Stoples & Goddard and Edward E. and H.B. Cowles, Wall street, New York City. He was admitted to the bar in New York on the 30th of May, 1850. On March 13th of … Read more

Biography of Hon. Samuel Case

HON. SAMUEL CASE. – Prominent among the men who have made Oregon famous as a rendezvous for enterprise, talent and industry, may be mentioned the gentleman whose name is the title of this brief biography. Mr. Case was born in Lubec, Washington county, Maine, May 31, 1831. He acquired his education at East Maine Conference College, of Bucksport. In 1853 he took the fever to come West, and started for California, coming by way of Nicaragua route. After his arrival he followed teaching and mining for four years, when he returned to his Eastern home on a visit, from whence … Read more

Biography of Hon. Rufus Mallory

HON. RUFUS MALLORY. – Mr. Rufus Mallory, one of the most prominent members of the legal fraternity in the State of Oregon, is of New England stock, his parents having been born and raised in Connecticut. Our subject himself was born on the 10th of June, 1831, at Coventry, Chenango county, New York, from where he moved with his parents in the fall of that year to Alleghany county, and six years later to Steuben county in the same state. In the latter place he resided until 1855, when he went to New London, Iowa, where he remained until 1858. … Read more

Biography of Hon. Rockey P. Earhart

HON. ROCKEY P. EARHART.- Among those whose names add luster to the roll of the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, none stand higher in the estimation of the public, for ability and probity, than the subject of this sketch. Mr. Earhart is a native of Ohio, having been born in Franklin county, in that state, on June 23, 1837. He acquired his education at selected schools; and his natural instincts to fit himself for a useful sphere in after life caused him to make the most of opportunities offered. In 1855, he came to Oregon via Panama, and soon after … Read more

Biography of Hon. Robert F. Sturdevant

HON. ROBERT F. STURDEVANT. – Mr. Sturdevant is known as the pioneer lawyer of Dayton, Washington, and is one of its most enterprising citizens. His birthplace was Warren county, Pennsylvania; and the date was November 18, 1841. About eighteen months after that important event in his history, his parents moved to Iowa, and settled in Lee county. There they remained until 1854, when they removed to Clark county, Wisconsin. There Robert attended school, and in 1860 began the study of law. He was engaged in professional study and practice till 1873, when, in company with his father and mother and … Read more

Biography of Hon. Robert C. Hill

HON. ROBERT C. HILL. – Mr. Hill, one of the most responsible men of Washington, and a pioneer of an early day, was born in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1829, the son of Doctor John Hill, his mother’s maiden name having been Eliza L. Davis. At the age of seven he moved with his parents to Philadelphia, and received his education at the excellent grammar and high schools of that city. He entered upon a business career as clerk in a wholesale dry-goods store in the city, and followed that occupation four years. In 1848 he removed with his parents … Read more

Biography of Hon. R. S. Strahan

HON. R.S. STRAHAN. – Judge Strahan, as a member of the Oregon supreme court, is widely known as being able and upright, and is universally recognized as one of our most popular representatives of the state judiciary. He was born in Kentucky in 1835. During his childhood he removed with his father to the Platte reserve, as the section was then known, in Missouri, and several years later to Mexico in the same state, living on a farm until he reached manhood, and cultivating the use of brain, brawn and nerve, and cherishing a country-boy’s ambition. The strength and hope … Read more

Biography of Hon. R. O. Dunbar

HON. R.O. DUNBAR. – It is not always an enviable distinction to be made eminent for political preferments. The exceptions are in the cities where office is held as the currency of political services, and as the opportunity for public plunder. In the smaller communities, however, where personal acquaintance extends to all citizens, and an honest public spirit precludes fraud, one may well feel pride in that confidence of his friends in his ability and probity which selects him as a public servant. Preferment at the suffrage of the citizens of a place like Goldendale, noted for its correct sentiment … Read more

Biography of Hon. Philip A. Marquam

HON. P.A. MARQUAM. – Judge Marquam is one of our most substantial citizens, whose faith in the Pacific Northwest, and in Portland in particular, has been rewarded by a fourfold recompense. A genial gentleman, adding to his native force of will and business sagacity refined literary tastes and love of natural beauty, he is now, in his hale, ripe years, a man most delightful to meet, and whose acquaintance or friendship is a valuable possession. His further claims, which are numerous, upon the recognition of society and history, will appear as this sketch proceeds. His father, Philip W. Marquam, a … Read more

Biography of Hon. Peter Paquet

HON. PETER PAQUET – This pioneer of 1852, who is the son of F.X. Paquet and Marie Louise Lannadier de Langdeau, was born in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 13th of January, 1839. He received an education in the private and public schools of St. Louis. In the spring of 1852 he left the city of St. Louis with his parents, who had determined to emigrate to Oregon, the family then consisting of father, mother and six children. They came up the Missouri river on the old steamer Timour No. 2, and in eight days reached the … Read more

Biography of Hon. Peter G. Stewart

HON. PETER G. STEWART. – Peter Grant Stewart was born on the 6th of September, 1809, in Stanford, Delaware County, New York. When eight years of age he moved to Jefferson, Scohane County, where he received a common-school education, and learned the trade of a watchmaker. He followed the occupation of watchmaker and jeweler in Middlebury until the spring of 1838, when, with a selected stock of watches, jewelry, etc., he started for the West, going by way of Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Toledo and Fort Wayne to Mount Vernon, Indiana, and from there to Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky, where he … Read more

Biography of Hon. Orvin Kincaid

HON. ORVIN KINCAID. – Mr. Kincaid’s life has embodied very much of the rough romance of an untamed and mining country, and in its entirety would read like a tail of Arabia. He is a native of the granite state, having been born in Grafton, New Hampshire, in 1821. His father, a man of powerful physique, a blacksmith of Scotch-Irish parentage, gave him a training both at school and at the forge, and took the boy with him on his removals to Massachusetts and Vermont. Upon reaching his majority young Kincaid spent eighteen months in Ohio and the old West, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Orange Jacobs

HON. ORANGE JACOBS. – Hon. Orange Jacobs is a son of new York, a state which is the first in wealth, population, trade, manufactures and commerce, and first in the number of her sons and daught4ers who had gone out to make homes in other regions, and to develop their resources with New York brain and brawn. Virginia claims the proud distinction of being the “Mother of Presidents;” and New York could claim the prouder title of being “the mother of States and Territories.” In 1880 the Empire state had more than one million two hundred and fifty thousand sons … Read more

Biography of Hon. Miles C. Moore

HON. MILES C. MOORE. – The gentleman whose name gives title to this brief memoir was born April 17, 1845, in the little village of Rix Mills, Muskingum County, Ohio, where his well known and widely respected parents resided. When he was twelve years of age, the family removed to Wisconsin, where for six years he attended school at Bronson Institute, a seat of learning conducted under the auspices of the Methodist church. Inspired with a spirit of adventure, through a perusal of the explorations of Bonneville, Frémont and others, and desiring to better his fortune, he resolved to brave … Read more

Biography of Hon. Matthew P. Deady

HON. MATTHEW P. DEADY. – The character of the man whose name heads this article is one to which justice cannot be done in a short sketch of the principal events of his life. However, it will serve to illustrate one pure, wise and energetic; one of those who, while he gained his education, toiled for his living; one of those whom no circumstances, poverty or hardship could deter or turn aside from his purposes and the pursuit of knowledge. Judge Deady was born in Easton, Talbot county, Maryland, on May 12, 1824. His parents were good and respectable people, … Read more

Biography of Hon. M. Baker

HON. M. BAKER. – This well-known attorney, and senior member of the firm of Baker & Baker, is not only a pioneer of Eastern Oregon, but comes from a long line of the subduers of the wilderness who have lived in the Old West. He was born in Illinois in 1831, and in 1836 went to Iowa. In this new territory the advantages of education were few; and the frontiersman’s boy must work. Nevertheless the boy, as he grew to youth, determined to have a hand in affairs, and began reading law, being admitted to the bar in 1860. In … Read more

Biography of Hon. Levant F. Thompson

HON. LEVANT F. THOMPSON. – There are but few lives of the pioneer settlers of the many communities upon the Pacific slope which illustrate in a greater degree than does that of the subject of this sketch the varied experiences of those who lay the bases of future commonwealths; the motives under-lying action; the vicissitudes which mold and alter resolution; and the patient waiting for the reward of following sagacious and far-seeing judgment in the adoption of location. Here is a man who was comparatively denied the education of the schools; who has assimilated practical knowledge as he struggles with … Read more

Biography of Hon. L. M. Ringer

HON. L.M. RINGER. – There is moral earnestness about a man who is able to hold his own convictions in the face of his neighbors and friends. We find such a man in Mr. Ringer. Born June 17, 1834, in Washington County, Maryland, he moved as a child to Amherst County, Virginia, there receiving his education, but later making his home in Stoddard  County, Missouri, engaging in the mercantile business. When the war broke out in 1861, that community was strongly for secession. Mr. Ringer was obliged either to enter the rebel army or to leave. He chose the latter … Read more

Biography of Hon. L. F. Grover

HON. L.F. GROVER. – Governor La Fayette Grover was born in Bethel, Maine, November 29, 1823, of ancestry on both sides distinguished in the early and late history of Massachusetts. He is a brother of Major Abernethy Grover, a man of distinction in the politics of Maine and in the war of the Rebellion; of Professor Talleyrand Grover, an eminent classist; and of General Cuvier Grover, a skillful commander in the war of the Rebellion. He was educated at the Classical Academy of Bethel, and at Bowdoin College, Maine. He studied law in Philadelphia under the instruction of the late … Read more