D.B. HENDRICKS. – The well-known merchant and financier, whose name initiates this paragraph, is one of the representative business men of Elgin, and indeed of union county, doing at the present time a large and lucrative business in general merchandise, while in all his career he has displayed a breadth of comprehension and aggressiveness that, coupled with a conservative policy and dominated by keen practical judgement and sagacity, have made him the master of hte enterprises that have been taken up by him, while also he has maintained an untarnished repuation and is one of the prominent men of our county today.
On February 6,1855, Mr. Henricks was born in Fairfield county,Ohio, to John and Nancy (Hufford) Hendricks, natives respectively of Ohio and Pennsylvania, but removing to Tama county, Iowa, in the fall of 1864, where they engaged in farming until the time that death took them from the activities of this life, the mother passing beyond in 1872, and the father taking his departure in 1883. Our subject worked with his father until he reached the age of majority and then engaged in farming for himself in Iowa until 1882, when he came to the fertile regions of the west, entering the saw milling business in Morrow county where he labored for five years, then took upsheep raising in the John Day country with one Mr. Woolery, where two years were spent. The sheep were then sold and Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Woolery embarked upon the mercantile sea in Hardman, and our subject sold out in 1891, transferring his residence to Lagrande, where he established himself in the grocery business for a short time, then removed to Elgin and opened a general merchandise store with S.W. Miles. Two years later, Mr. Hendricks bought out his partner and since that time he has continued the business with ever increasing prosperity. He is also interested in handling lumber on an extensive scale and is stockholder and director in the Elgin bank being for a number of years its president but declining that position at the present time because of the pressure of other business. He was interested in the flour mill one time, being secretary and treasurer of the company. Fraternally Mr. Hendricks is highly asociated, being a member of the Masons, Elgin Lodge, No. 82; O.E.S., Blue Mountain Chapter, No. 52; I.O.O.F., Elgin Lodge No. 142; K. of P., Orin Lodge, No. 73. For several terms he has been councilman for the town.
On August 11, 1889, Mr. Hendricks married Miss Allie, daughter of Judge Abel and Talitha (Bogart) Miles, at Grants Pass, Oregon. The father was a native of Kentucy and the mother of Tennessee, and Mrs. hendricks was born in Mercer county,Missouri. The father was a merchant in Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa, in which latter state he died in1886, and the mother left the toils of this life one year later. Mr. Miles was judge during his residence in Iowa. Mrs. Hendricks is also sister of her husband’s former partner. Mr. Hendricks is one of the leading merchants of the county, and has a standing among the most influential men of this portin of the state,while he enjoys to the full the esteem and confidence of his fellows.