Clackamas County OR

Biography of Robert J. McWilliams

ROBERT J. McWILLIAMS. – Robert J. McWilliams has been for many years identified with the pioneer business interests of Oregon, particularly in the line of lumbering and preparing materials for the construction of steamboats. He was born in New York in 1825, and in 1839 emigrated to Michigan, where he assisted his father in opening out a farm, and after the age of twenty entered upon the business of lumbering, with which he remained until 1850, when he crossed the plains to California, and remained until his trip overland to Milwaukee, Oregon, in 1851. At that young city, then a … Read more

Biography of Samuel Kimbrough Barlow

SAMUEL KIMBROUGH BARLOW. – Samuel Kimbrough Barlow was born in Nicolas county, Kentucky, January 14,1795. He was of Scotch origin, and inherited many of the sterling qualities of his ancestors. His race was remarkable for an unswerving fidelity to principles of right; and on every occasion these principles were disseminated or defended by courage which sometimes almost amounted to audacity. Freedom of speech and will and progression in all things were also marked characteristics of the ancestors of S.K. Barlow. Illustrative of these features of disposition in the Barlow family, a story is told of the fearlessness of the paternal … Read more

Vancil, Merna Bernice Adkins Mrs. – Obituary

Merna Bernice Adkins Vancil, 89, a former longtime resident of Northeastern Oregon, died April 17, 2008, at her home in Oregon City. Her graveside service will be later at the Milton-Freewater Cemetery. Merna was born near Weston on April 9, 1919, to Eva Lena and Marvin Adkins. She began her schooling at Fairview School on Reed and Hawley Mountain and then moved to Weston with her family when she was in third grade. She was a 1936 Weston High School graduate. Merna married Marvin Vancil on Aug. 7, 1938, at Weston and they made their homes at Weston, Enterprise, Arlington, … Read more

Biography of Oliver P. Goodall

OLIVER P. GOODALL. – Mr. Goodall, one of our best men in developing Oregon, was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, August, 1828, and grew up on a farm, securing a common-school education. At the age of eighteen he left school and joined Colonel William Bent, and spent the winter of 1846-47 at Bent’s fort on the Arkansas river, in the capacity of clerk. He there met with continuous adventures, associating with such old mountaineers as Kit and Bob Carson, Bridger, the Calloways, Bill Williams, Dick Dallam, Black Dick Curtis and others; and his recitals of their brave and daring deeds … Read more