Biography of Edward James Jeffery

Edward James Jeffery was born in Oneida county, New York, April 23, 1835, and is of English descent, his parents having been born in England. During his infancy the family moved to Lenawee county, Michigan. Here he resided on a farm and obtained a limited education in the district school until the spring of 1852, when he started across the plains for the Pacific slope. In October following, after a journey of more than six months, he arrived at Placerville, California, where, until the following spring he engaged in mining. He then went to Stockton where he was employed in … Read more

Travillion, J. C. Mrs – Obituary

Mrs. J.C. Travillion who died in Portland and was buried in Baker today was one of our own people, and there are possibly some still here who remember her as Fannie White. Her father owned and named the Lily White Mine. Fannie White was married to J.C. Travillion 38 years ago. She was 56 years of age at the time of her death. Her three children, Lillie Richardson, now of Portland, Nettie Stubbs of Newberg, and Harry Travillion (Now also married) of Wingville, were all born here. The Travillion ranch is about three miles S.E. of town. Mr. Travillion’s mother … Read more

Bilyeu, Virginia Lois Grosse – Obituary

Virginia Lois Bilyeu, a resident of Bend for 17 years, died March 9 at St. Charles Medical Center. She was 71. Visitation will be until 6 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to noon March 15 at Deschutes Memorial Funeral Home. The funeral will be conducted at 1 p.m. March 15 in the Deschutes Memorial Mausoleum Chapel with the Rev. Paul Gross of the Nativity Lutheran Church in Bend officiating. Burial will follow at Deschutes Memorial Gardens. Mrs. Bilyeu was born Nov. 29, 1922, in Savana, Wash., to Paul Otto and Ella M. Grosse. She moved with her family to … Read more

Shively, Kay Mrs. – Obituary

Kay Shively, 76, of Portland, and a former Baker City resident, died Dec. 14, 2000, at Portland. A memorial Mass will be this morning at St. Peter Catholic Church in Portland. A graveside service will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery in Baker City, with a reception following at St. Francis de Sales cathedral. Mrs. Shively was born Oct. 28, 1924, at Nampa, Idaho. She moved to Baker City when she was a child and attended school here. She moved to Portland in the 1940s and was a secretary for the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland for 10 … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George W. Cawlfield

This worthy gentleman is to be numbered with the younger men of Harney county who have attained a good success in the stock business here and who bid fair to gain much better in the future, judging by their faithful and wisely bestowed labors of the past. George W. was born in Johnson county, Kansas, on October 21, 1870, being the son of David A. and Abigil (Evans) Cawlfield. The father was a native of Tennessee, and went across the plains to California in an early day and then returned via Panama, after which for some time he acted as … Read more

Hallock, Ahlma Rose MacDonald – Obituary

Ahlma R. MacDonald, 99, a resident of Tacoma the past 64 years, died Monday [January 7, 1985]. Mrs. MacDonald was born in Heppner, Ore. She was a retired librarian who had worked in Portland and New York City. She was a former member of the Ladies Musical Club, pro America, Tacoma County & Golf Club and Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Herrick (Beatrice) Allen of Tacoma, and two grandchildren. Buckley-King Downtown is in charge. Tacoma News Tribune, January 9, 1985 Contributed by: Shelli Steedman

Biography of William Billings

WM. BILLINGS. – The name Billings at once suggests the picturesque hills and valleys of Vermont; and we find that the subject of this sketch is indeed a Green Mountain boy, having been born in Ripton in 1827. He lived upon his father’s place until 1846, and in that year went down to New Bedford and shipped before the mast. This step brought him to Washington Territory; for, in 1849, he was left at Honolulu, from whence, in the bark Mary, he came to California, the gold of the Yuba mines detaining him but a few months. Indeed, the best … Read more

Biography of Hon. Henry W. Corbett

HON. HENRY W. CORBETT. – The reminiscences of the early pioneers of the Pacific Northwest must ever posses a peculiar interest for all who can look back to the days when the wigwam of the Indian was seen on every hand, and when the old log cabins of the founders of this great section of the union were few and far between. Pioneers of civilization constitute no ordinary class of adventurers. Resolute, ambitious and enduring, looking into a great and possible future of the undeveloped country, and possessing the sagacious mind to grasp true conclusions, and the indomitable will to … Read more

Burnaugh, Samuel L. – Obituary

Portland (UPI) – Funeral was to be held today for Samuel L. Burnaugh, 91, a former mayor of Enterprise and ex-state representative from Union and Wallowa counties. He died Friday. Burnaugh, a 1903 graduate of Oregon State, was in the pharmacy business in Enterprise and Portland. La Grande Observer Tuesday, August, 8, 1967 Front Page Burnaugh, Samuel L., 4128 NE Going; father of Lyle; brother of Nellie Galloway; grandfather of Ross McGowan, Mrs. Terry Sue Meyers; 2 great grandchildren, Cindy and Kristrin Meyers. Services Tuesday, Aug 8, 3 p.m., at 48th and Sandy. Friends invited Mt. Hood Lodge No. 157 … Read more

Wicks, Albert G. – Obituary

Albert G. Wicks, 100, of Warren, a former Baker City resident, died Feb. 24, 2005, at Warren. His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Burial will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitations will be until 6 o’clock tonight at Gray’s West & Co. Albert was born on Sept. 21, 1904, at Hereford. He was the third child of Arrie Jane Osborn and Jasper E. Wicks. Albert’s father and grandfather, Henry M. Wicks, traveled to Oregon by covered wagon and homesteaded property in the Hereford area. Albert lived for many … Read more

Biography of Solomon Hirsch

There is something inspiring in the record of a busy and useful life; something stimulating in the details of a career that is marked by a generous and beneficent purpose; something worthy of emulation in the success that has been wrought by unselfish means. Such has been the record of the gentleman whose name is the title of this biography, and so thoroughly have the varied lines of his efforts been blended with the agencies which have been conducive to the material progress of the Pacific Northwest during many years that no history of this portion of the Union, and … Read more

Mattson, Andrew – Obituary

Andrew Mattson Drowned in Grande Ronde River Andrew Mattson, who came to this city last Thursday from Portland to work on the new railroad, was drowned in Grande Ronde river about 13 miles below this city Wednesday afternoon. When Mattson reached the railroad camps, after leaving Elgin, he was crazed from the effects of liquor. He did not recover as expected he would, from that condition and became totally insane. Two messengers came to town about noon Wednesday and reported the matter to the authorities, who dispatched a special officer to bring the unfortunate man to town. At 5:30 p.m. … Read more

Biography of Rufus Mallory

Rufus Mallory is of New England ancestry, and descended from a strong and hardy stock, well fitted for the furnishing of such elements as are needed to command success and produce laudable results in the new but rapidly growing country in which his lot was cast and where modern civilization has come with such splendid strides. About 1816 his parents left their home in Connecticut for the West, as New York State was then called, and settled in the town of Coventry in Chenango County, at which place the subject of our sketch, the youngest of a family of nine … Read more

Oregon in Control of Hudson’s Bay Company

As the ten-year period of joint occupation drew to a close, new commissioners were appointed by the two governments to effect a settlement of title to the disputed territory, but after much discussion they were unable to agree upon a boundary line, and, in 1827, a new treaty was signed extending the period of joint occupation indefinitely, to be terminated by either party upon giving one year’s notice. Thus, again, the settlement of the question was left to time and chance. In the meantime the British government, through the agency of the Hudson’s Bay Company, had gained a tangible foot … Read more

Cathlacomatup Tribe

Cathlacomatup Indians. A Chinookan tribe residing in 1806, according to Lewis and Clark , on the south side of Sauvies Island, in the present Multnomah County, Oregon, on a slough of Willamette River. Their estimated number was 170.

Purvis, Rusty Gene – Obituary

Rusty Gene Purvis, 39, of Portland, died Oct. 27, 2002. A graveside service will be held Friday at 3 p.m. at Ironside Cemetery. Floyd Cooper will officiate. Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel is handling the arrangements. Mr. Purvis was born Nov. 17, 1962, at Baker City to Don and Carol (Hill) Purvis. He attended Harper and Unity schools, and graduated from Riddle High School in 1981. He also attended Boise State University. He was employed by Zilog in Boise and Fujitsu in Portland as a computer technician. He enjoyed fishing, football and NASCAR racing. Mr. Purvis is survived by … Read more

Carter, Ralph V. – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Ralph V. Carter, 88, of Florence and formerly of La Grande, died Sept. 26. The family will have a private memorial service at a later date. Mr. Carter was born Sept. 5, 1918, in Henning, Minn., to Clarence and Lillian Carter, the fourth of eight children. He worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps and spent four years in the Army with the Coastal Defense Battalion. In 1959, after a particularly hard Minnesota winter, he and his wife, Florence Mabel Stewart, moved with their four children to Oregon. He worked as a Crook County assessor in Prineville and … Read more

Biography of George W. Staver

George W. Staver, president and founder of one of the largest mercantile corporations on the Pacific Coast was born in Brush Valley, Center county, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1836. He is of German and Scotch-Irish ancestry and was reared upon a farm. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Sugar Valley, Clinton county, Pennsylvania, and remained on the same farm until 1854, when they came ‘to Illinois, but a year later settled near Monroe, Green county, Wisconsin. Here his father, Frederick Staver, still resides, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. Our subject received from his father a most thorough … Read more

Ward, Lois Eileen – Obituary

Enterprise, Oregon Lois Eileen (Ward) Anderson Funeral Services were conducted Sunday afternoon for Mrs. Richard Anderson (Lois Ward), 28, of Oregon City. Rev. Earl Rogers officiated. Music was provided by Mrs. Ralp Kay and Mrs. Garnet Best who sang “Beyond the Sunset”. Pallbearers were Keith Searles, Harold Lay, Bob Hamilton, Jack Christy, Bob Freels and Clyde Fleenor. Interment was in the Enterprise cemetery. Her first funeral was held at 10:30 Saturday at the chapel of Atkinson Memorial Congregational church in Oregon City. Lois Eileen Ward was born January 6, 1923 in Portland, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Landy Ward. … Read more

Raabe, Rose Estelle – Obituary

At the home of her mother in Salem, Saturday evening, July 14. 1900, Rose Estelle Raabe, wife of Captain Clyde Raabe, of Portland. Deceased was the daughter of Mrs. Mary J. Creighton of this city. She was born at Union, Oregon, Dec.28, 1878, and lived in Salem nearly all her life, and had a large circle of friends here. She was married to Captain Raabe about two years ago and resided in Portland until some three months ago, when she fell ill and was brought to her mother’s home in this city. The cause of her death was an abcess … Read more