Iowa

Biographical Sketch of George Ackles

GEORGE ACKLES. – Mr. Ackles was born on a farm in Clearmont county, Ohio, in 1832, and received a common-school education. At the age of twenty-two he removed to Iowa, where he married Miss Louisa Walker of Jefferson county, and lived on a farm. He was engaged in like agricultural pursuits in Illinois and Missouri until 1865, when he made the great journey across the plains to Grande Ronde valley, and located on a beautiful tract of land where he now resides and owns 476 acres with a neat residence and comfortable outbuildings, fine stock, and a nice orchard. He … Read more

Biography of Edward P. Cadwell

EDWARD P. CADWELL. – This substantial capitalist of Washington, and leading member of the legal profession of Tacoma, was born in Independence, Iowa, December 23, 1855, and was the son of Carlos C. and Emily E. (Ross) Cadwell, his mother having been a sister of Chief Justice Ross of Vermont. He resided in his native town, where he attended a public school, and in his seventeenth year entered the Iowa State Agricultural College, graduating as civil engineer in 1875. Returning home, he became principal for one year of the grammar department of the high school at Independence. Upon the completion … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Fannie A. Campbell

MRS. F.A. CAMPBELL. – Fannie A., the daughter of L. and E. Dodson, was born in Illinois in 1838, and received her education in the seminary at Oskaloosa, Iowa. She was married in that state to James M. Campbell, of Ohio. In 1864 her husband closed out his real estate business, and with his wife came across the plains. A number of fine horses constituted a part of their effects. Happy cañon, in Umatilla county, a place beautiful for a home, and desirable as a stock ranch, was chosen, and western life begun. Their efforts were attended with prosperity, until … Read more

Biography of John E. Brooks

JOHN E. BROOKS. – John E. Brooks was born October 29,1822, at Canton, St. Lawrence county, State of New York. His father Cooper Brooks, and his mother, Sophia Brooks (formerly Tuttle), moved from Cheshire, New Haven, Connecticut, and settled at an early day in St. Lawrence county, making the trip with an ox-sled drawn by a yoke of cattle from state to state. To them were born six children, four boys and two girls. The entire family is now dead, except J.E. Brooks, the fifth, and Aniasa Brooks, the youngest of the family, who now live at McMinnville, Oregon. His … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel M. Bloom

SAMUEL M. BLOOM. – The farm of the above-named gentleman is described as “Three hundred and twenty acres of the beautiful, gently sloping, well watered, and sightly fruit and grain producing land in that lovely nook in the loveliest valley in the Northwest.” It was in 1862 that Mr. Bloom came to this region; and since that time he has acquired and improved this farm, and now devotes himself to raising fine cattle and horses. He is also interested in a sawmill near by, and is a partner in the Cove Dairy Company, which conducts the most extensive and best-equipped … Read more

Biography of Henry Bowman

HENRY BOWMAN. – Mr. Bowman, universally known as a public-spirited and prominent citizen of Pendleton, was one of the earliest settlers of Umatilla county. He was born in 1833, in Tyler county, Virginia. He spent his early years in the old dominion, and his youth in Pennsylvania and Iowa, and in 1860 came by the well-worn Oregon trail to our state. In the train of thirty-six wagons there were some two hundred persons, eighty-eight of whom were men; and their numbers secured them from attacks by Indians. The train was under command of Mr. E. de Lashmutt, uncle of the … Read more

Biography of Joseph Brannan

JOSEPH BRANNAN. – Mr. Brannan was born in Union county, Ohio, near Marysville, September 13,1825, is the ninth child of a family of twelve children, and the son of Joseph and Jane Huls Brannan. On his nineteenth birthday he left his father’s farm and came west to Winnebago county, Illinois, where he resided for six years and followed farming, when he went to Iowa, but soon returned to Illinois. On April 1, 1854, he started for Washington Territory, with Seattle as the objective point, to join his brother William H., who was killed by Indians in the fall of 1855 … Read more

Biography of Hon. Albert Briggs

HON. ALBERT BRIGGS. – Ever green in the memory of the pioneer of the Pacific coast remain the trials and hardships they endured while establishing civilization in the far west. These pioneers, constituted no ordinary class; they were hardy, brave and energetic men; and thousands to-day are reaping the benefits which have accrued from the trials and hardships endured by the early pioneer. None among them deserve more tribute than the subject of this sketch, an excellent portrait of whom is placed in this history, from a photograph taken when he was in his seventy-fifth year. Mr. Briggs was born … Read more

Biography of George S. Brooke

GEORGE S. BROOKE. – This gentleman is the cashier of the First National Bank of Sprague, and is also a director and one of the largest shareholders. Mr. Brooke comes of cavalier stock. On his father’s side, he is a descendant of the Brookes of Maryland. In the year 1650, Robert Brooke, of England, having brought out a colony consisting of his wife, ten children and servants, forty persons in all, settled on the east shore of the Patuxent river. The settlement was called De La Brooke. The founder had a patent direct from Lord Baltimore. He was a member … Read more

Biography of Joseph Beezley

JOSEPH BEEZLEY. – This pioneer is of distinguished ancestry, tracing his lineage to the Pilgrims. In his own character he exemplifies the qualities of those old heroes. His grandfather was a general in the British army; and his father added new honors to the name by his marriage to Phoebie Reeves of Virginia. Fourteen children were born to this pair, Joseph, of whom we write, being the twelfth, and his birth occurring at Springfield, Clark county, Ohio, in 1819. In 1824 the elder Beezley moved his family to Indiana, where he resided for two years, and from thence, in 1826, … Read more

Biography of Nelson Bennett

NELSON BENNETT. – Though Toronto, Canada, must be accredited as the birthplace of the distinguished personage whose name heads this brief sketch of a most active, useful and busy life, yet were his parentage and ancestry thoroughly American. On the paternal side the Bennetts were natives of Virginia, three generations back; and his mother was of the ancient and time-honored family of the Spragues of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was born October 14,1843; and his father died when he was seven years of age, leaving a widow and six children. The family resided upon a farm; and Nelson was … Read more

Biography of William H. Dillon

WILLIAM H. DILLON. – Mr. Dillon, a pioneer of four states of our union, and a perfect example of the frontiersman, whose life story has been recounted in other pages also, was born in Kent county, Delaware, July 4, 1818. His parents were of English and Irish descent, and in 1823 moved west across the Alleghany Mountains to Ohio, then upon the very outposts of civilization. Eight years later they came on to Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe county on the Wabash. The desire, however, of owning and farming his own lands took possession of the elder Dillon, and he pulled … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Franklin T. Dick

FRANKLIN T. DICK, – The present postmaster of La Grande was born in Westport, Kentucky, May 7, 1840, where he remained until 1861, receiving a common-school education. In 1863 he removed to Burlington, Iowa, and in the latter part of the year went to Nevada. In 1864 we find him at the Silver City mines, Idaho; and from this point in 1866 he found his way to La Grande, where he has remained ever since. In 1870 he began domestic life, marrying Miss Marquise Lewis; and they now have a family of three boys and one girl. After coming to … Read more

Biography of George A. Davis

GEORGE A. DAVIS. – This pioneer in the lumber and flouring business of Portland, and indeed of other points throughout the union, is a native of Maine, having been born in Hallowell in 1832. In 1851 he was one of the argonauts, sailing to the Golden state via Nicaragua, and remaining there until 1865 occupied in mining, lumbering and other sorts of business. Returning home in that year, he soon left for Iowa, making his home there for ten years, engaged in stock-raising and farming. He was married there to Miss Hannah C. Dudley. In 1875 he came again to … Read more

Biography of James S. Davis

JAMES S. DAVIS – Mr. Davis is one of the most interesting and progressive men of our country. The tragic events of Steptoe’s expedition in 1858 are described in the body of this work, and need no repetition here. One of the most conspicuous landmarks in the region traversed by that ill-fated troop is the spire-like pinnacle of basalt which has ever since received the name of Steptoe. It lies in the midst of one of the richest and most productive farming regions in the world, the far-famed Palouse country. Long a solitude, it has lately been occupied by a … Read more

Biography of Van B. De Lashmutt

VAN B. DE LASHMUTT. – The present mayor of Portland exemplifies the versatility characteristic of the early pioneers. As journalist, merchant, real-estate dealer, capitalist, banker and miner, he has been able to bring to bear his large abilities with equal facility. He is a native of the Hawkeye state, having been born at Burlington in 1842, where he passed his early years on a farm, – the best of all places to develop muscle and nerve. He reached Oregon in 1852, and when a youth of fifteen entered the office of the Salem Statesman, having a latent ambition for journalism, … Read more

Biography of James M. De Moss

JAMES M. DE MOSS. – This well-known musician of Eastern Oregon was born at Greensburg, Indiana, May 15, 1837. As a child he removed to Iowa with his parents, and in that state was reared, receiving his higher education at Western College. At eighteen he became a teacher of music, and three years later was married to Miss Elizabeth A., daughter of Reverend Henry Bonebrake. He spent his early manhood as an exhorter in the United Brethren church. In the great patriotic meetings held during the days of the Civil war by Honorable Henry Wilson, and others, he was appointed … Read more

Biography of Capt. J. D. Dammon

CAPTAIN J.D. DAMMON. – This pioneer of the Kittitass valley was born in Seabeck, Maine, June 22, 1825. In 1843 he removed to Wisconsin, then a territory, living in Dane and Monroe counties. In the spring of 1859, he went with others to Colorado. Denver was then a small place of a few tents and log huts. At Arrapahoe and on Clear creek he engaged in blacksmithing; then with his partner, R.S. Kingman, he bought the Bob Tail Lead in Gregor’s gulch, from which millions of dollars have since been taken; but his partner sold it for $300 during Mr. … Read more

Biography of Frederic Louis Flint

Frederic Louis Flint. Among the solid, reliable men of Ottawa County no one stands higher in public esteem and confidence than Frederic Louis Flint, president of the Minneapolis National Bank of Minneapolis, Kansas. Mr. Flint’s paternal ancestor, Thomas Flint, immigrated from Wales to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, he being one of the first settlers of Salem Village, Massachusetts, now South Danvers. Frederic Louis Flint was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, June 11, 1855. His parents were Joseph K. and Hulda (Wilder) Flint. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Flint, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, April 19, 1784, and … Read more

Biography of S. T. Yoder

S. T. Yoder, vice president of the Farmers State Bank of Washington, had been a Kansas business man for over thirty years and had acquired many important interests to identify him with Washington County. Mr. Yoder is of the old Pennsylvania stock of Yoders, a family that originated in Switzerland and was planted in Pennsylvania during the very early colonial period in that state. Mr. Yoder himself is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Somerset County May 3, 1851. His father, Benedict Yoder, who was born in the same county, spent his life in that county as an active farmer, … Read more