New York

Biography of Thomas Guinean

THOMAS GUINEAN. – The proprietor of the Esmond Hotel, in Portland, Oregon, and one of the most popular men in his line upon the Pacific slope, was born in the city of Quebec, Canada, in 1838. In the year 1849 he was left an orphan and thrown upon his own responsibilities, and went down to Boston, but within a year left the old Puritan city and journeyed on to New York, where he took passage in the steamer California to San Francisco, arriving at the Golden Gate in the early part of 1852. He remained in San Francisco nearly one … Read more

Biography of Col. Granville O. Haller

COL. GRANVILLE O. HALLER, U.S.A., Retired. – Granville Owen Haller was born in York, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1819. His father, George Haller, died when he was but two years of age, leaving a pious and most devoted mother in charge of four young children, who, with limited means, but with industry and thrift, had the satisfaction of seeing her eldest son graduate at the Jefferson Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania. She was very desirous of sending Granville to the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to be fitted for the ministry, but conscientious doubts on his part prevented him … Read more

Biography of Capt. John Harford

CAPT. JOHN HARFORD. – This distinguished captain, whose portrait is given here, is now a resident and one of the principal owners of the townsite of Pataha City, Washington, and was born in Westchester county, New York, February 14, 1828. In 1842 he removed to Kendal county, Illinois, and in 1850 journeyed westward to the city of San Francisco. In 1852 he located in Placer county, California, on a ranch where now stands the little city of Lincoln. He removed thence to Marysville, where he engaged in the butcher business until 1855. There he purchased a band of sheep at … Read more

Biography of William H. Gray

WILLIAM H. GRAY. – This pioneer of pioneers, and historian of events in which he took so conspicuous a part, was born in 1810 at Fairfield, New York, of Scotch descent. While but a lad of fourteen, he lost his father and was apprenticed to learn the cabinetmaker’s trade, and even before finishing his time became foreman of the shop. Upon attaining his majority he studied medicine, and being a member of the Presbyterian church, and known as a promising young man, he was sought and intrusted by the American board with the work of going as missionary in company … Read more

Biography of Benjamin W. Grandy

BENJAMIN W. GRANDY. – Mr. Grandy has had the satisfaction of seeing the place which he homesteaded twenty years ago become a part of the city of La Grande, Oregon. This illustrates the rapid growth of the country. He has great faith in the future of this town, basing it upon the marvelously productive valley eighteen by thirty miles, surrounding and upon the milling and mining interests and the large water-power. He is a native of New York, was born in 1837, but as a child removed with his parents to Ohio, and before he was twenty had penetrated as … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Parsons Gleason

PARSONS GLEASON. – Mr. Parsons Gleason is one of the oldest and most venerable of our pioneers now living, having been born in Rutland county, Vermont, in 1799. At the age of six years he moved with his father to Western New York, and at the age of twenty-one went out to Indiana, and three years later had drifted as far as the Indian Territory, and was with the missionaries for three years among the Osage Indians. Three years later he went on to Indiana, making his home at South Bend. In tat state he married and made his residence, … Read more

Biography of James P. Goodall

JAMES P. GOODALL.- There are some hundreds of men upon our coast whose life experiences embrace as much of romance and adventure as was every told in the pages of Marryat, Irving, or of Smollet. For a full recital of this, we must refer the inquirer to such men as the genial gentleman whose name appears above, that he may in his own home, in the beautiful city of Jacksonville, Oregon, recount as to us the stories of his life upon this coast. He was born at Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1818, and at that city and at Columbus in the … Read more

Biography of Sarah Fairbanks King

SARAH FAIRBANKS KING (Mrs. S.A. King). – The annals of Oregon women, who performed the hard duties incident to pioneer life faithfully, patiently and well, contain no name more justly honored, or more tenderly cherished, than that of Sarah Fairbanks King. Mrs. King was a native of New York, having been born in Potter, Cayuga county, October 12, 1834. While yet in her infancy, she was taken by her parents to Michigan, then scarcely more than an outpost of Western civilization. Here she grew to womanhood, developing traits of gentleness and devotion to duty that were the distinguishing characters of … Read more

Biography of E. D. Stillman

E.D. STILLMAN. – Mr. Stillman was born in New York in 1828, and learned the trade of a mechanic and machinist. In 1849 he crossed the plains to Oregon in the capacity of wheelwright for the regiment of mounted riflemen who were sent here on the strength of Joe Meek’s urgent representations at Washington, and for the protection of the settlers of this little-cared for wilderness on the Pacific. He well remembers an exciting incident near Green river. The command was there met by one Baptiste, who bore messages from Governor Joe Lane. This Baptiste proved to be a desperado, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Theodore L. Stiles

HON. THEODORE L. STILES. – Honorable Theodore L. Stiles was born at Medway, Clarke county, Ohio, July 12, 1848, and was the only child of Daniel J. and Marie S. Stiles. His mother’s maiden name was Lamme; and she, too, was a native of the same county as her son. Mr. Stiles’ father was born of German and English parents, in Danplin county, Pennsylvania. His mother’s family were emigrants from Virginia in 1809. Until the age of sixteen, he remained at his birthplace, which was a small interior farming village. But, his mother having died in 1863, his father removed … Read more

Biography of A. H. Reynolds

A.H. REYNOLDS. – This pioneer of Walla Walla, Washington, is a bank director, a large real-estate owner, and has been active in many of the early enterprises, not only of that city, but of Oregon and California. He was born in 1808, in St. Lawrence county, New York; and his memories of early life are deeply tinged with the exciting events of the war of 1812, in which his parents had an active part. Receiving the rigid and economical training of the old times, he added to his education by efforts of his own, and qualified himself for active life … Read more

Biography of Jacob Reith

JACOB REITH. – Mr. Reith, one of the most valuable citizens of Umatilla county, passed through some of the severest hardships on record in coming to our state. He is a native of France, having been born in Alsace in 1836. In 1850 he crossed the ocean with his father’s family, residing for a time in New York State, and until 1860 in Minnesota. In that year, with his brother Joseph, he set out across the plains for Oregon. That was the time of the fierce Snake Indian outbreak; and at Bruno creek the immigrants were attacked at daylight on … Read more

Biography of Harry W. Bouck

Harry W. Bouck. The proprietor and editor of the Crawford County Enterprise, at Girard, Kansas, is a worthy representative of the younger journalistic element of Crawford County. To a very considerable extent, it is this element in any community, especially outside of the larger cities, which infuses spirit and zest into the activities of the place. It is this element whose entrance upon the arena of active life dates not farther back than a decade and a half of years which monopolizes most of the vigor, zeal and pushing energy which keeps the nerves of the newspaper world ramifying through … Read more

Biography of Mark D. Mitchell

Mark D. Mitchell, who was born at Franklin, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1871, is a lawyer by profession, but has used his legal knowledge chiefly to further his interests and those of his associates as an oil producer in Kansas. He has operated in various fields both East and West, and is now one of the prominent business men of Independence. His father, John L. Mitchell, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1836, a son of Thomas Mitchell, also a native of Pennsylvania, but who died at Ashtabula, Ohio. John L. Mitchell died in Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1898, having spent … Read more

Biography of Dietrick Kelling

DIETRICK KELLING. – The subject of this sketch, whose portrait also appears herewith, was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1831. In 1851 he came with his thousands of countrymen to New York. Two years later he “moved on” to California. He mined ten years in the golden state, whence he went to Idaho; and from the rocky wilderness in which he there was he came to Walla Walla, Washington Territory. He there invested in two blocks in the then embryo city. This was at that time a supply point for Idaho and British Columbia. In connection with his business there … Read more

Biography of Captain Joseph Kellogg

CAPTAIN JOSEPH KELLOGG. – The old People’s Transportation Company of the Willamette has a record in the annals of early navigation scarcely less glorious than that of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company of the Columbia. Of this company, Captain Kellogg was one of the originators. The Kelloggs are of old revolutionary stock, the father, Orrin Kellogg, having been born at St. Albans, Vermont, in 1790. He was married to Miss Margaret Miller, in Canada, in 1811. In 1812 they went to Canada; and, the war between Great Britain and the United States breaking out, they as Americans were not allowed … Read more

Biography of Hon. Orange Jacobs

HON. ORANGE JACOBS. – Hon. Orange Jacobs is a son of new York, a state which is the first in wealth, population, trade, manufactures and commerce, and first in the number of her sons and daught4ers who had gone out to make homes in other regions, and to develop their resources with New York brain and brawn. Virginia claims the proud distinction of being the “Mother of Presidents;” and New York could claim the prouder title of being “the mother of States and Territories.” In 1880 the Empire state had more than one million two hundred and fifty thousand sons … Read more

Biography of Richard Jeffs

RICHARD JEFFS. – The subject of this brief sketch was born in Westchester, Westchester county, New York, December 27, 1827, where he was brought up, working on his father’s farm until he was nineteen years of age. He then went to New York City, where he remained for eighteen months. In February, 1851, he started for California by way of Panama, arriving in San Francisco in March of that year. He started almost immediately for the mines, where he remained until 1858. During the great gold excitement of 1858-59, on the Frazer river, British Columbia, when thousands of people were … Read more

Biography of Daniel Johnson

DANIEL JOHNSON. – Among the pioneers of Oregon, no one bore a better reputation than the subject of this sketch, whose doors were always open to the homeless stranger, and whose memory will be fondly cherished by the many who have been sheltered and fed by him. Daniel Johnson was born in 1812 in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and at ten years of age removed with his parents to Onondaga county, New York, remaining with them some thirteen years, and doing any kind of work he could get to do. However, during the latter part of this time, he labored at … Read more

Biography of Frank Johnson

FRANK JOHNSON. – The career of this well-known contractor is a clear case of the promotion of merit. He has acquired an enviable position in the business world from simple integrity and excellence of worth. He was born in Holland in 1844, and came with his widowed mother to New York in 1852. He went soon to Buffalo, and there began to learn the trade of a carpenter and joiner. The war breaking out, and an appeal being made to the patriotic young men of the city, he volunteered as a soldier and served gallantly until the close of the … Read more