California

Clegg, William N. “Bill” – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon William N. “Bill” Clegg, 85, a longtime Baker City resident died June 6, 2003, at his home. His graveside services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pastor Lura Kidner-Miesen of the United Methodist Church will officiate. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at the Coles Funeral Home. Mr. Clegg was born Aug. 25, 1917, at La Grande. He was a son of Elmo and Aurelia Nibley Clegg. He went through his junior year attending school at La Grande and graduated from Baker High School the next year. In 1937, he married Katherine … Read more

Biography of George W. King, M.D.

GEO. W. KING, M.D. – The early life of Doctor King of Pendleton was made dark by the terrible days of the Rebellion; and the recital of his early efforts to work out the distressful circumstances into which he was thus thrown is full of pathetic interest. He was born near Glasgow, Howard county, Missouri, November 14, 1844, and when but a boy of five went with his parents to reside near St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived until the spring of 1854, when his father moved to Kansas Territory, then but a prairie wilderness. He settled on Pottawatomie creek, … Read more

Biography of J. L. Stout

J. L. STOUT. – The proprietor of the townsite of Sea View on the weather beach, a city which boasts of a population of from five to eight thousand during the summer bathing season, is from the Buckeye state, having been born in Ohio in 1824. During his boyhood his father took him to Illinois; and he passed his early life on the frontier. he came up with a generation of men whose natural force and enterprise led them into the most exalted position in the great West which their energies had developed. While in Illinois he was ever restless, … 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

Biographical Sketch of McDonough B. Rees

McDONOUGH B. REES. – This is a brother of the well-known pioneer, W.H. Rees, of Marion county, and has in his own right earned a wide reputation as a man of unusual force of character and enterprise. He was born in Ohio in 1831, and came to Oregon in 1854. Much of his life on this coast has been devoted to prospecting and mining. As early as 1855 he was at the Pend d’Oreille mines, and in 1856 returned to the Willamette valley amid great dangers from the Indians. After farming a few years in the Willamette valley, he went … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas G. Redfield

THOMAS G. REDFIELD. – Mr. Redfield, one of the substantial citizens and capable business men of North Yakima, Washington, was born in Illinois in 1851. During his infancy he accompanied his parents across the plains to Oregon, and in 1854 was domiciled with them at their home upon Cow creek in Douglas county, Oregon. With the exception of two years in California, Mr. Redfield’s early life was spent in Oregon; and upon reaching an age of independence, he found no field more promising than Yakima county. He accordingly located at Yakima City in 1881, opening out a jewelry store, and … Read more

Biography of John Hebrank

John Hebrank. During a residence in and a familiarity with the West for a long period of years Mr. Hebrank has many and varied experiences, but it was through the resources of Kansas that he found the medium for the achieving of his maximum success, and he is now one of the prominent and influential figures in the development of the oil industry in this state, with residence and business headquarters at Independence, Montgomery County. Mr. Hebrank was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 19th of September, 1848, and in that same section of the great German … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Childs

Robert H. Childs, now superintendent of the Petroleum Products Company plant in Independence, is one of the veteran oil men of America. His father was a pioneer in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania, and Mr. Childs himself grew up in that environment, and took to the work as naturally as a New England youth goes to sea. There is probably not an important oil field in the country with which he has not been identified in some capacity or another. The Petroleum Products Company established a plant in Independence in 1908. The general officers of the company at Chicago … Read more

Biography of Hon. John Kelly

HON. JOHN KELLY. – Prominent in almost every department of business and public life, Honorable John Kelly is known throughout the length and breadth of our state as a man of great abilities and irreproachable integrity. As a pioneer, none has a more deserving record, nor has sustained amore honorable part. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1818, he crossed the Atlantic to Canada in 1838, and in 1840 came to Franklin, Vermont. Three years later he began a career at the West, coming to Wisconsin, and there exercising his natural bent for business and capacity for organization, by which he … Read more

Biography of Harrison Rittenhouse Kincaid

HARRISON RITTENHOUSE KINCAID. – This well-known journalist of Oregon, the emanations of whose pen have appeared either originally or as selections in almost every newspaper of the state, is the eldest son of Thomas and Nancy Kincaid, pioneers of 1853, and was born in Madison county, Indiana, January 3, 1836. At the age of seventeen he came with his parents to our state, and with them made his home in Lane county. Among his early labors was work on the mill-race at the present site of Springfield. In 1855 he made a trip to Southern Oregon to operate in the … Read more

Biography of Hon. Orvin Kincaid

HON. ORVIN KINCAID. – Mr. Kincaid’s life has embodied very much of the rough romance of an untamed and mining country, and in its entirety would read like a tail of Arabia. He is a native of the granite state, having been born in Grafton, New Hampshire, in 1821. His father, a man of powerful physique, a blacksmith of Scotch-Irish parentage, gave him a training both at school and at the forge, and took the boy with him on his removals to Massachusetts and Vermont. Upon reaching his majority young Kincaid spent eighteen months in Ohio and the old West, … Read more

Dorrance, Tom – Obituary

Tom Dorrance, 93, retired rancher and famous horseman in Oregon and California, died in Monterey, Calif., on June 11, 2003. He was born in Enterprise May 11, 1910. Mr. Dorrance enjoyed helping people with their horses and in later years conducted horse clinics. He was the author of the book “True Unity” and invented the tilt-up automatic gate. He was recognized for his horsemanship in publications such as the New York Times, People Magazine, and Western Horseman and was a former 4-H leader in Oregon and served as president of the Wallowa County Stockgrowers Association in 1956. He received the … Read more

Newman, Margaret E. Shira Mrs. – Obituary

Margaret E. Newman-Homemaker, 86, passed away after a short illness in Paradise, Calif. on Friday, June 13, 2003. Services were June 19, 2003, 2 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 520 Clark St., Yuba City, Calif. Internment at Sutter Cemetery, Sutter, Calif. Margaret E. Newman was the eldest of seven children born to Olen and Belle Shira in Lineville, Mo. Nov. 4, 1916. The family moved west to Fruitland, Idaho, when she was 5-years-old. In 1928 the family homesteaded in Harper. Margaret met Boyd Newman and after a short courtship they were married April 24, 1939, … Read more

Holman, David William – Obituary

David William Holman, 82, a Baker City native, died July 10, 2003. There will be a celebration of his life at Santa Maria, Calif. A memorial service and interment will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mount Hope Cemetery. A picnic for family and friends is scheduled after the service at 3 p.m. at the home of his nephew, Gary Holman. David was born in Baker City on Oct. 3, 1920, to Harriett Carter and Fred Holman. He was a 1939 Baker High School graduate. While in school, he enjoyed participating in many sports and was honored as Athlete of … Read more

Eccles, Richard David – Obituary

Richard David Eccles, 78, of Stockton, Calif., died Saturday, May 3, 2003, in a hospital. A memorial service was held in Stockton. Eccles was born Sept. 2, 1924, in Hood River and lived in Whitney and Prairie City where he attended the first grade. He lived in Stockton for 50 years. Eccles was a self-employed helicopter pilot for 40 years, and was a former president of Helicopter Association of American and Helicopter Association International. He served in the Naval Air Corps as a lieutenant and was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He is survived by … Read more

Biography of Joseph B. Keeney

JOSEPH B. KEENEY. – The railroads have largely spoiled the big, old stage-line routes; but still a few of them remain. One of these is that between Pendleton and Heppner, Arlington, Fossil, and from The Dalles to Prineville. This route is conducted on the old style, and by a man fully up to the old-time requirements. This is Mr. Kenney. He was born in 1841, in Indiana, and came to California in 1852, and on a steamer which required sixty-six days from the Isthumus to San Francisco. In the spring of 1860 he went to Arizona and, with others, built … 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

Hesner, Elton Ellis – Obituary

Elton Ellis Hesner, 77, a former Pleasant Valley and Sumpter resident died on Saturday, March 29, 2003, in Jackson, Calif. A graveside service was held on Friday, April 4, at 10:30 a.m. in the Garden of Valor at Sunset View Cemetery in Martell. Interment followed the service. Arrangements were handled by Daneri Mortuary in Jackson. Mr. Hesner was born on May 10, 1925, to Ellis and Alteeny Hesner at Pleasant Valley. Elton was a resident of Stockton for 33 years before he made Amador County his home 12 years ago. He worked as a truck driver for the Zellerbach Paper … Read more

Biography of Jay A. Kellogg

JAY A. KELLOGG. – This gentleman is a native of Illinois, where he was born in Boone county, February 21, 1851. He is a son of Eli D. Kellogg. His mother’s maiden name was Margaret J. Passage. When he was eight years old, the family crossed the plains to California and settled at Weaverville in that state. He there received the rudiments of his education at the public school, and continued his studies at St. Joseph College in Humboldt county. After a residence of ten years in Weaverville, Mr. Kellogg engaged in the lumber business in Humboldt county. In the … Read more

Biography of Hon. James Kerr Kelly

HON. JAMES KERR KELLY. – Among the men of distinction in our state, none have held a position of eminence for a longer time than Senator Kelly. It requires stamina to stand for thirty years upon “the hard and wintry peaks of fame.” We are the more assured of eminent qualities of the Colonel when we consider that he came to this coast and started upon bed-rock. Family ties, name, favoritism, may elevate men of no ability to high positions in older communities; but in the Oregon of an early day artificial conditions did not exist. A man came near … Read more