Brownsville Oregon

Bilyeu, Archie M. – Obituary

Archie M. Bilyeu, retired auto dealer and longtime Portland resident, died Monday [November 6] at 118 Mercury St., Gladstone, where he had made his home since August. He was 78. Born May 3, 1894 in Brownsville, Ore., he had lived in Portland since the early 1920s and at one time was a Kaiser-Frazer dealer there. He was a member of Willamette Lodge No. 2, AF & AM. Survivors include his wife, Marguerite; two sons, Wally, Chula Vista, Cal.; Martin, Portland; a brother, Floyd, and a sister, Gertrude Christopherson, both Hemet, Cal.; and two grandchildren. Services will be held Thursday at … Read more

Biography of Hugh L. Brown

HUGH L. BROWN. – There is usually something distinctive and characteristic about one who leaves the impress of his name upon any region or locality. This we find to be the case with reference to the pioneer whose name appears above, and for whom was named the well-known city of Brownsville. Hugh Leeper Brown was born in Knox county, Tennessee, January 24, 1810. He lived in Knox county until 1838, when with his little family, then consisting of his wife and three children, he emigrated to Missouri, settling in Platte county. He remained there until the spring of 1846, when … Read more

Biography of Hon. Edward Hirsch

HON. EDWARD HIRSCH. – Someone has written, “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may;” and the subject of this sketch is a living exemplification of it. When, away back in “the fifties,” he landed a poor boy in the city of New York, among strangers in a strange land, and looked about him for honest employment in any capacity, how little he dreamed that as years passed by he would hold the purse-strings for the then almost unknown territory of Oregon, when a few years later she should lay aside her swaddling clothes and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of C. L. Andrews

C.L. ANDREWS. – The present county clerk of Morrow county was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, October, 1862. He came with his parents to Oregon in 1864, via the Isthmus, and lost his father by death soon after reaching the Pacific Ocean, and saw him buried from the ship in a watery grave. He located with the family near Brownsville, and here received his education, completing the same at Philomath College. He made his home near Brownsville until 1882. In that year he went over to Seattle, where he accepted a position as mailing clerk, filing it eight months. In … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Shaff, M. D.

Holding marked prestige as a member of the medical profession of Idaho is Dr. Charles W. Shaff, of Lewiston, now the honored president of the State Medical Association. In the learned professions advancement depends upon the man, his talents, his skill and his ambition. The physician’s power is especially his own; not by purchase, by gift or by influence can he gain it. He must commence at the very beginning, learn the very rudiments of medicine and surgery, continually add to this knowledge by close study and earnest application, and gain reputation by merit. If he would gain the highest … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Eliza Warren

MRS. ELIZA WARREN. – All will feel the deepest interest in this intelligent and refined woman, seeing that she is the daughter of the missionary, Reverend H.H. Spalding. She is the “Eliza” whose name has become familiar in the many narratives touching upon the history of Oregon. Not only in her historical but in her own personal character, she well deserves the consideration of her friends, whose number is that of all Oregonians. Her father’s consecration and her mother’s life of the utmost devotion reappear in her own, although not now projected upon the black background of tragedy as was … Read more

Biography of Charles M. McClure

CHAS. M. McCLURE. – Mr. McClure has taken as active a part as anyone in establishing our state, and was one of the veterans who, as lieutenant, saw the whole war in Southern Oregon. Born in Missouri in 1832, he went to Mexico in 1850, and in 1851 crossed the plains to Oregon, settling near Brownsville on the Calapooia. He soon undertook the toilsome and exciting life of a miner in Northern California and Southern Oregon, and in 1853 assisted the settlers of Rogue river valley in protecting themselves form the Indians, being one of the relief party from Table … Read more

Weber, James S. “Jim” – Obituary

Richland, Oregon James S. “Jim” Weber, 85, died Jan. 1, 2002, at his home in Richland with his family by his side. His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Richland Methodist Church. The Rev. Bill Shields will officiate. Interment will be in the Eagle Valley Cemetery at Richland. Jim was born on March 19, 1916, at Brownsville. He was a 1938 graduate of the University of Oregon at Eugene and shortly afterward married Florence Staggs. They moved to Baker County in 1940 and became partners in Staggs and Weber, a prominent cattle and sheep ranch in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William M. Blakeley

WILLIAM M. BLAKELEY. – The subject of this sketch, a prominent citizen of the rapidly developing upper country, was born in Missouri in 1840. In 1846 he crossed the plains with his father, who located near the present site of Brownsville, Linn county, Oregon, where he still resides. Mr. Blakely was here favored with the educational advantages afforded by the public school, and assisted his father on the farm until 1860, when he moved to a point near the present site of Prescott, on the lovely Touchet river, in Washington Territory. In the spring of 1861 he tried his fortune … Read more

Biography of Oliver P. Coshaw

OLIVER P. COSHAW. – This leading citizen of Brownsville, for many years a merchant of that place, was born July 4, 1831, at Connorsville, Indiana. His parents, who were characteristically thriving and agreeable people of French extraction, went to Iowa in 1843. After leaving school, the young Oliver was employed in a store as salesman, clerk or book-keeper, and there laid the foundation of knowledge and experience which has so well served him in his later years. In April, 1851, he engaged to drive an ox-team to Oregon for Honorable R.B. Cochrane, long known in our state and now, as … Read more

Lee, Ruthella Chaplin – Obituary

Ruthella Chaplin Lee, 95, died Wednesday, May 10 [1989], in Providence Hospital in Centralia. She was born Oct. 3, 1893, in Brownsville, Ore., and was the daughter of Ralph and Sarah [Coshow] Chaplin. Lee attended Bellingham Normal School and was a teacher in the Chehalis School District until her marriage in 1917 to Virgin R. Lee. He died in 1986. She was a life member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a long-time member of the St. Helen’s Club and the Pioneers of Washington. Surviving are a son, William R. “Bill” Lee of Chehalis; three granddaughters; and three … Read more

Biography of W. F. Courtney

W.F. COURTNEY. – This veteran among the Indian fighters and earlier pioneers was born in Illinois in 1832. At the age of thirteen, he crossed the plains with his parents in 1845. They reached The Dalles during the latter part of October of the same year; but before proceeding down the river they had to construct a flat boat as a means of navigation. This was attended with considerable difficulty, as there were no lumber mills in the country, and ever plank had to be whipsawed. The passage from The Dalles to the Upper Cascades was made without any event … Read more

Bilyeu, Robert Dean – Obituary

Funeral services for Robert Dean Bilyeu, 88, of 50 D St. Halsey, were held Monday at the Halsey Methodist Church with burial following at Pine Grove Cemetery. Fisher Funeral Home of Albany was in charge of arrangements. [Died July 21, 1983] Born Feb. 25, 1895, at Bilyeu Den, Mr. Bilyeu had lived all of his life in the Brownsville and Halsey areas. He was a farmer. Mr. Bilyeu also was a police marshal in Halsey before his retirement. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and was a member of the Sweet Home Post of Veterans of … Read more

McDowell, Nora Alice Thompson Mrs. – Obituary

North Powder, Union County, Oregon Nora Alice McDowell, 77, of North Powder, died May 1, 1996, at the North Powder Ponderosa Adult Foster Home. Her graveside funeral will be Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Marion/Friends Cemetery at Marion , Oregon. Rev. E.E. Blackmon of the Parkrose Deliverance Tabernacle of Portland will officiate. Vault interment will follow. Visitations will be today until 4 p.m. at the Coles-Strommer-Monroe Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. in Baker City. Mrs. McDowell was born April 3, 1919, in Marian, Oregon, the daughter of Fredrick and Milly Slyter Thompson. She spent her childhood and attended schools … Read more

Biography of Hon. Zenas Ferry Moody

HON. Z.F. MOODY. – Zenas Ferry Moody, ex-Governor of the State of Oregon, was born on the 27th of May, 1832, in Granby, Massachusetts. His father was Major Thomas H. Moody. His mother was Hannah M. Ferry, an aunt of ex-Senator T.W. Ferry, of Michigan, formerly vice-president of the United States. Governor Moody comes of good old New England Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Gideon Moody, having borne arms as a soldier during the Revolutionary war. He has proved himself worthy of his lineage; and the principles which he imbibed on New England soil have been the guide of his whole … Read more

Biography of Joseph L. Carter

JOSEPH L. CARTER. – This prominent educator of Eastern Oregon was born at the old Methodist Episcopal Mission, near Salem, January 22, 1845. He is the son of David Carter, who fifty years ago was a merchant in the various cities and states of South America, and in 1840 came via the Sandwich Islands to the then unclaimed Oregon, marrying Miss Orpha Lankton, of the mission party of the bark Lausanne, and settling on Mill creek near Salem, and also living at The Dalles, passing much time in the mines of California and becoming prominent upon our coast in the … Read more