Ohio

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Joseph Foster

HON. JOSEPH FOSTER. – Mr. Foster was the fourth child in a family of eleven children, and the son of Thomas and Rosetta J. Larsky Foster. He was born near Hamilton, Ontario, April 10, 1828, where he lived until six years of age, when his parents moved to Geogy county, Ohio. When old enough he learned the tailor’s trade, and when twenty-one years of age went to Wisconsin, locating in Sheboygan, where he followed his trade for three years. He then, in 1851, started overland to the Pacific coast, and reached Portland in July, 1852. He went to the Shasta … Read more

Biography of Jacob Frazer

JACOB FRAZER. – This pioneer of the wool business in Eastern Oregon, and owner of some of the best buildings in Pendleton, is a native of the Buckeye state (1820), and while but a boy of ten went with his father to Indiana, and as a youth of sixteen to Iowa. In this state, then known locally as the Black Hawk purchase, his father died at the advanced age of eighty-three. In 1850 Mr. Frazer crossed the plains to California with horses, being one of a party of five. This company was made to pay a toll of sugar, flour, … Read more

Biography of Joseph Gaston

JOSEPH GASTON. – Joseph Gaston, the pioneer railroad man of Oregon, was born in Lloydsville, Belmont county, Ohio, in 1833. His ancestors on is father’s side were Huguenots, who were expelled from France by the Roman Catholic King in the sixteenth century, on account of their adhesion to the protestant reformation. They settled first in Ireland, and from thence in 1562 removed to North Carolina, from whence numerous branches of the family scattered out over the United States. William Gaston, the granduncle of Joseph, was chief justice of North Carolina, and for many years member of Congress from that state, … Read more

Biography of Heman J. Geer

HEMAN J. GEER. – The name of Geer is so well known in our state that the following account of the father of T.T. Geer of the Waldo hills will be of interest to all. This now venerable pioneer was born in Ohio in 1828, removing with his parents to Illinois in 1840. In 1847 he crossed the plains to Oregon with General Palmer’s train. The large company forestalled trouble with the Indians. Peter Hall, who stopped with Whitman at Walla Walla was the only one who experienced any disaster. The crossing of the Cascade Mountains by the Barlow Road … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Presley George

PRESLEY GEORGE. – This pioneer of distinction, who founded in our state one of its most honorable families, was born in London county, Virginia, March 23, 1798, and was the son of Jesse and Mary Craig George, of an old family in that state. While still a boy he came west to Ohio, crossing the Ohio river at the ford where Wheeling now stands. For forty years he lived among the “Buckeyes,” putting his should to the wheel, and doing all in his power to establish the high and generous civilization of that great state. In 1826 he was united … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mahala George

MAHALA GEORGE. – Mahala George was the wife of Presley George, and was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, August 22, 1808. She is the daughter of Hugh and Rebecca Blanchard Nickerson, an old Puritan family of distinction and memorable service in the Bay state. They removed to Ohio in 1817; and in that state of great ideas and great people, on the whole the finest produced in American, Miss Mahala received her education, and gained the large ideas which naturally suited her New England mind. She is one of the mothers of our state whom Oregon could by no means have … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hugh N. George

HUGH N. GEORGE. – Hugh, the eldest of the three sons of Presley and Mahala George, and not the least distinguished among the three eminent brothers, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, November 9, 1828. He was educated at Granville College and followed the profession of teacher for nearly thirteen years. He as one of the prominent educators of Oregon in early times, and was twice elected school superintendent of Linn county. He was admitted to practice as an attorney in 1863, and for a time was editor of the Albany Journal. In 1864, after an exciting canvass, he was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. W. George

J.W. GEORGE. – This gentleman is the second son of Presley and Mahala George, and was born in Ohio November 11, 1835, but removed to our state at so early an age as to receive his education at the Santiam Academy in Linn county. He became well known as one of the most promising young men of our state, and early developed unusual business capacity. In 1873 he made a permanent home at Seattle, Washington Territory, and entered actively into the business and social development of this metropolis of the Sound, acquiring also extensive real estate and property interests. July … Read more

Biography of John B. Ferguson

JOHN B. FERGUSON. – This now venerable pioneer, one of the large-landholders of Lane county, was born in Richland county, Ohio, June 29, 1825. As an infant he accompanied his parents in 1842 to Hudson county, Illinois, and in 1842 went with them still further westward to Missouri, where they died in 1844 and 1845 respectively. In 1846 he was married to Miss Mary Waldrip, whose father, Wyatt Waldrip, had come from Kentucky to Illinois, and had died there in 1844, after which his family came to Missouri. Not many months after his marriage, Mr. Ferguson prepared to cross the … Read more

Biography of Solomon Emerick

SOLOMON EMERICK, – Some time before Horace Greeley gave his advice, “Go West, young man, go West,” there were hardy young Americans making tracks across the Rocky Mountains, and pushing into the fastnesses towards the pacific Ocean. “Ribs of brass and hearts of steel” had these young fellows; and they were without fear or even caution. One of these was Solomon Emerick, who was born in Ohio in 1820. He moved to Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1830, and in 1843 was on the way to the rendezvous on the border. Falling in with the pioneer Gilmore, he accepted of him … Read more

Fort Ancient

Map of Fort Ancient

Fort Ancient. A prehistoric Indian fortification in Warren County, Ohio. It is situated on a headland, from 260 to 280 ft high, which projects from a plateau and overlooks the E. bank of Miami River. The slopes are mostly steep and in several places precipitous. The place is naturally a strong one, the elevated area being flanked by two ravines that approach each-other some distance back from the point of the bluff, forming a peninsula of this front part with a narrow isthmus behind it. This divides the fort into two unequal portions, the smaller one embracing the peninsula known … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Sample

Charles W. Sample has been a business man at Kingman nearly forty years and had been closely identified with the commercial affairs of that city, as a land owner, banker and in real estate and loans. Mr. Sample was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, October 29, 1851. His ancestors came out of Ireland and settled in Virginia in colonial days. His grandfather, Andrew Sample, was a pioneer farmer in Indiana and died in Jefferson County in that state in 1854. George W. Sample, father of Charles W., was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1815, a date which indicates the … Read more

Biography of Justus Otho Hall

Justus Otho Hall is superintendent of schools at Hutchinson. By his work and influence there and elsewhere he is one of the leading educators of Kansas today. Mr. Hall had been active in school work almost twenty years. Born near Warner, Ohio, February 27, 1870, he came with his parents to Kansas at the age of fifteen. He received his early training in the country schools near Warner, Ohio, and at Morse, Kansas. After spending some time at work on his father’s farm and after three years spent in the United States Railway Mail Service he entered the high school … Read more

Biography of Judge James Neal McGee

Judge James Neal McGee, now in his third consecutive term as probate judge of Rice County, was one of the early settlers in the county and had lived here continuously for almost forty years. Judge McGee had that depth of character which is due to a long and diversified experience in practical affairs and in dealings with men. All these qualifications he had brought to his present position, where he had been instrumental in the delicate adjustment of human relationships and of property matters such as come before the probate tribunal. Judge McGee was born near Mount Zion in Muskingum … Read more

Biography of David E. Ballard

David E. Ballard is living retired at Washington, Kansas, at the age of eighty-one. Most of his active contemporaries in the strenuous achievements of his earlier years have long since passed away. Mr. Ballard is one of the few survivors of the prominent Kansans who actually laid the foundation of the state. His name is especially associated with the organization of Washington County and the establishment of Washington as its county seat. It was only a few years ago that he disposed of many of his extensive interests, and is now devoting his life to rest and travel. He had … Read more

Biography of Vernon M. Wiley

Vernon M. Wiley. It does not require a long memory to make a mental comparison between the present Rorabaugh-Wiley Dry Goods Company, located in its magnificent building, the most conspicuous business structure of Hutchinson, and the 25-foot storeroom which the same parties occupied at the beginning of their mercantile career in this city sixteen years ago. “From small acorns great oaks grow,” is an old saying that finds one of its choicest applications in this successful business. The secretary and treasurer of the Rorabaugh-Wiley Dry Goods Company, Mr. Wiley, is surprisingly young for a man of his position and achievements. … Read more

Biography of William Christee Smyser

William Christee Smyser, who died at Sterling, Kansas, August 9, 1917, had been for thirty-five years a resident of that section of the state. Few men have assumed and carried out to such a successful conclusion the larger responsibilities of business affairs. One of the outstanding characteristics of big business men is a quiet efficiency of performance that handles a great volume of work with a notable absence of noise and confusion. This quiet efficiency was a mark of Mr. Smyser’s entire career. Under his direction large affairs were transacted and things got themselves done in the form of concrete … Read more

Biography of Hon. Rockey P. Earhart

HON. ROCKEY P. EARHART.- Among those whose names add luster to the roll of the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, none stand higher in the estimation of the public, for ability and probity, than the subject of this sketch. Mr. Earhart is a native of Ohio, having been born in Franklin county, in that state, on June 23, 1837. He acquired his education at selected schools; and his natural instincts to fit himself for a useful sphere in after life caused him to make the most of opportunities offered. In 1855, he came to Oregon via Panama, and soon after … Read more

Biography of Abel E. Eaton

ABEL E. EATON. – The extensive reputation and wide influence of Mr. Eaton bespeak for him a candid notice in any work touching upon the lives of our responsible men. The seventh son in a family of eleven children, he was born May 30, 1834, at Conway, New Hampshire. The father, Simeon Eaton, a lawyer from Maine, and the mother from the same state, whose maiden name was Bessie Paine, made their home upon a farm. During the first eight years of his life, the boy Abel found opportunity for but seven weeks’ schooling. This was his annual stipend of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of S. G. Havermale

S.G. HAVERMALE. – Reverend Mr. Havermale, a leader in the business and social circles of Spokane Falls, was born in Maryland in 1824, and removed with his parents to Ohio while but a boy of eight, and at the age of twenty went to Illinois. There he came under religious influences, and undertook the work of preaching the gospel. For twenty-one years he gave his life and strength to his sacred calling. In 1873 he was transferred to Walla Walla, where he preached two years, and in 1875 came to Spokane Falls, Washington Territory. Although having been engaged in ministerial … Read more