USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II > Part 15
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president; C. G. Coad, cashier; and R. E. Williams, assistant cashier. The last named gentleman is now serving as president of the institution, with Mr. Vassall as vice president, F. J. Craven as cashier, and A. F. Toner, assistant cashier, while its directors, in addition to the officers, are I. F. Yoakum, J. W. Crider, R. L. Chapman and Dr. M. Hayter, all of whom are thoroughly reliable and progressive business men of this part of the state. The bank is capitalized for fifty thousand dollars and now has surplus and undivided profits amounting to twenty thousand, three hundred and seventy-six dollars, while its deposits have reached the sum of four hundred and sixty-two thousand, three hundred and forty-eight dollars. It also controlled the bank at Falls City, Oregon, but has since sold its interests in that connection. Mr. Vassall is also a stockholder and director of the Dallas National Bank, a stockholder in the Dallas Machine & Locomo- tive Works, and is also identified with various other business enterprises, his interests being extensive and important. He is a man of marked business ability, foresight and enterprise and in the control of his various interests he has won a substantial measure of success.
In January, 1892, Mr. Vassall was united in marriage to Miss Emma Murphy, whose demise occurred in 1912. In his political views he is a republican and has taken a prominent part in public affairs of his community, now filling the office of city treasurer. He discharges his duties systematically, promptly and capably and is proving a faithful custodian of the public funds. He has also been a member of the city council and his influence is ever on the side of advancement and improvement. Fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Masons, belonging to Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Portland, and in religious faith he is an Episcopalian. His activities have been of a varied character and as a cooperant factor in many projects for the public good he has contributed in no small degree to the up- building and improvement of this district. He is a reliable and progressive business man and citizen and his many commendable traits of character have established him in an enviable position among his fellow townsmen.
THOMAS L. DUGGER.
Thomas L. Dugger, editor and proprietor of the Scio Tribune, published at Scio, Linn county, has for a half century resided within the borders of this state and is there- fore entitled to classification with its honored pioneers. He was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, December 17, 1846, a son of Leonard W. and Sarah (Penn) Dugger, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Illinois. Brought by his parents to Illinois when but three years of age, the father was reared and educated in Madison county, that state. After completing his studies he took up farming and purchased land in Macoupin county, which he improved and developed, continuing its operation for a number of years. He then disposed of his farm and started for the west, coming to Oregon in 1876, but after remaining in the state for a year he returned to Illinois and purchased his old farm in Macoupin county, which he continued to operate during the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1882. His wife survived him for three years, passing away in 1885.
Thomas L. Dugger was reared and educated in Macoupin county, Illinois, and subse- quently entered Blackburn University at Carlinville, Illinois. Previous to pursuing his college course, however, he had fought as a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting in 1862 as a member of Company M, Eleventh Missouri Cavalry, with which command he served for three years, participating in many hard fought hattles and enduring many hardships and privations during that memorable conflict. Upon leaving college, or in 1870, he came west to Oregon and for one year engaged in teaching school in Portland, after which he removed to Linn county, where he followed that profession for a period of eleven years. He was very successful as a teacher, imparting clearly and readily to others the knowledge he had acquired, and he became known as one of the prominent educators of the state, having charge of Santiam Academy at Lebanon, which has since been discontinued. He then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits on a farm six miles west of Lebanon, which he cultivated and improved for three years, when he was obliged to abandon his farming operations on account of his wife's health. He was next engaged in canvassing the county for subscribers to the Albany Herald, of which he later became associate editor, gradually acquiring a knowledge of the printer's trade in his own shop. In 1890 he became a resident of Scio, purchasing the Scio Press, which
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he conducted for a period of seven years and then sold, retaining, however, his subscription list. His next removal was to Albany, where he became connected with the publication of the Peoples Press, but at the end of six months he returned to his farm near Lebanon and was active in its operation from 1900 until 1905. In the latter year he returned to Scio and again purchased the Santiam News, continuing its publication until 1912, when he sold out and purchased a new plant, founding The Tribune in Lebanon, where he conducted the paper for a year and then removed his plant to Sweet Home, Oregon. At length the business men of Scio induced him to establish his plant in Scio, where it has been in operation since 1914. Two years later, or in 1916, he purchased once more his old paper, the Santiam News, and consolidated the two publications under the name of the Scio Tribune, which he now owns and edits. He has a thoroughly modern newspaper plant, equipped with the latest presses and machinery, and he has made The Scio Tribune a most valuable and interesting journal, devoted to the welfare and interests of the community which it serves. Its local columns are always full of interest and the general news of the world is clearly and completely given, the aims of the nation are well set forth and political questions are treated justly and without prejudice. The principal policy of the paper has been to serve the public promptly and well and that Mr. Dugger has succeeded is evident from the large circulation which his publica- tion enjoys. He is the only Civil war veteran in the state who is actively engaged in publishing a newspaper.
On the 13th of September, 1872, Mr. Dugger was united in marriage to Mrs. G. A. Henderson, who passed away February 3, 1921. They became the parents of two chil- dren: Samuel W., the elder, was born in 1873. He became a member of the regular army, serving for about ten years as a musician, and he passed away at El Paso, Texas, in February, 1918, at the age of forty-five years, while still in the service of the govern- ment; Sarah E. was born in 1878 and her death occurred in 1893.
In his political views Mr. Dugger is an independent democrat and he is now serv- ing as justice of the peace at Scio and as notary public. In religious faith he is a Spiritualist and fraternally he is identified with the Leonidas Lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Scio, of which he is a charter member. He renews associations with his comrades who wore the blue by his connection with McPherson Post., G. A. R., of Albany, of which he is also a charter member. Identified with this section of the state from pioneer times, Mr. Dugger is most widely known and his sterling traits of character have gained for him an enviable position in public regard. He is actuated by a most progressive spirit in all that he undertakes and he has made the Scio Tribune the champion of every measure and movement calculated to upbuild the town and promote the growth of the surrounding district.
GEORGE MONTGOMERY ARMSTRONG.
George Montgomery Armstrong, who for many years was identified with Wells Fargo & Company at Portland, was born at St. Johns, New Brunswick, February 16, 1873. His father, George Armstrong, was also a native of that place and devoted his life to the occupation of farming. He came to Oregon in 1887, settling in Albany. His brother was one of the very early pioneer settlers of Oregon and when he died left an estate comprising more than a thousand acres of land. This, George Armstrong came to Oregon to claim. The uncle had taught school in Canada and later in Oregon, by which means he made his first money, which he invested in land and from time to time as his finan- cial resources increased he added to his acreage until his holdings were very extensive. George Armstrong, having removed to the northwest, became identified with the agri- cultural development of the section near Albany and continued his farming operations until his death in 1893. His wife, who hore the maiden name of Adeline Kyle, was a daughter of John and Mary Kyle, both of whom were natives of New Brunswick, who came to Oregon in 1887, here following the removal of Mr. Armstrong to the northwest. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. George Armstrong were eight children, of whom three have passed away, while those living are: Mrs. Flora Schmitke and Arthur Armstrong, resi- dents of Calgary, Canada; Mrs. Adeline Smith, living at Scio, Oregon; Mrs. Maude Turner, a resident of Portland; and Mrs. Alice Vienna, a widow, also living in Portland.
George Montgomery Armstrong was a youth of fourteen years when with his parents he came to the northwest. He lived on a farm in Albany for two years and when he was hut twenty-one years of age purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Vol. 11-8
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Polk county, which he improved. Later he bought one hundred and seven and a half acres at Souver, Oregon, which he also developed and improved, purchasing this land from his father and paying for it on the installment plan. It was in 1890 that he came to Portland and at once entered the employ of Wells Fargo & Company at Third & Pine streets, being at that time but seventeen years of age. He served the company in various capacities, as office boy, driver, messenger on the road, superintendent of stables and eventually as superintendent of drivers and street equipment. He continued with the company throughout the period of his residence in Portland, or until his death.
On the 17th of September, 1896, Mr. Armstrong was married to Miss Myrtle Foster, a native of Fargo, North Dakota, and a daughter of Charles and Lilly May (Barber) Foster. Her parents came to Portland in 1881 and the father became an engineer for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. Both he and his wife are deceased, the former having passed away in 1894, while the mother died in 1896. In their family were four children; May L., the wife of A. J. Johnston, auditor for the Portland Railway Light & Power Company, and the mother of one daughter, Janet May, who is attending Jefferson high school; Charles F., who married Grace Dowling, member of a pioneer family of Portland, and to them have been born a son and a daughter, Dalton and Cather- ine; Agnes S., who became the wife of R. G. Ladd, who passed away in 1915, since which time Mrs. Ladd has lived with her sister Mrs. Armstrong, who is the other mem- ber of the family. To Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong was born but one child, George Edwin, who is now eleven years of age. The family circle was broken by the hand of death on the 7th of August, 1918, when Mr. Armstrong was called to the home beyond. He was killed in an automobile accident and words of condolence reached his widow from many people and from all points where he was known, for he was much beloved by his business associates and the friends whom he had met in social life. He was able to leave Mrs. Armstrong in comfortable financial circumstances, owing to the investments which he had previously made in farm property. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and also to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Transportation Club. He was but forty-five years of age when he was called to his final rest and it seems that he should have been spared for years to come but fate ruled otherwise. He left to his family not only a comfortable competence but also the record of a well spent life and an untarnished name. He was the possessor of many of those qualities which men most admire-loyalty in citizenship, progressiveness and reliability in business and faithfulness in friendship.
JOSEPH TOUSANT GAGNON.
As one of the potential factors in the growth of southern Oregon and especially of Medford and Jackson county, Joseph Tousant Gagnon deserves more than passing notice. Twenty-one years ago he came to this state and he is an example of what can be accomplished through individual effort intelligently directed, for he today owns and has under construction the Medford & Coast Railroad, which when completed will operate a train service from the city of Medford to Crescent City and passing through the county seat of Jacksonville. He is also the owner of two large sawmills and a box factory and has extensive investments in timber lands and other important busi- ness interests.
Mr. Gagnon was born at St. Agnes, in the province of Quebec, Canada, in 1862, his parents being Frank and Pauline (Dellier) Gagnon. The grandparents in both the paternal and maternal lines were natives of France. J. T. Gagnon remained upon his father's farm until he reached the age of eighteen years, when he started out to try his fortune in the business world. He made his initial step by securing work with a construction gang on the Canada-Atlantic Railroad and in a short time he took over a sub-contract on his own account. He continued as a railroad building contractor until 1896, when he came to Oregon and purchased a large tract of timber land. Two years later he established his home in Medford and soon afterward built a sawmill on Jack- son creek, which was destroyed by fire but was quickly rebuilt owing to the charac- teristic energy and determination of Mr. Gagnon. In 1901 he located permanently in Medford and erected another sawmill and a box factory in this city. He now has two large sawmills in operation in addition to his box factory and the latter turns out two million fruit and other boxes annually. The important business interests of Mr. Gag- non in Jackson county now furnish employment to several hundred men. He is the
JOSEPH T. GAGNON
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owner of large and fine timber interests and has still other business of importance. The Medford & Coast Railroad, which he and other parties are building will be of untold value and worth to the community. . The road will be equipped for both freight and passenger traffic. Construction was started just prior to the World war but hos- tilities which so materially upset business conditions prevented the road from operating its passenger trains. For three years, however, freight traffic was carried on over the line and in the summer of 1921 the passenger cars will be put on and an hour schedule will be maintained on the run between Medford and Jacksonville.
In 1885 Mr. Gagnon was married to Miss Mary Louise Dallier, who passed away in 1887. In 1888 he wedded Emma Clement, who, like his former wife, is a native of Canada, and both were of French descent. Mr. Gagnon has no living children of his own but has adopted and reared several. Two of these were nephews, who were reared and educated by him and are now prosperous business men in Canada. An orphan girl was also taken into his home and is now the wife of Baptiste Coulon, of Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Gagnon is a zealous member of the Catholic church, in which he is serving as a trustee. He is a past president of the Union of St. John, a member of the Knights of Columbus and of the Catholic Foresters of America. He is also a member of the Med- ford Chamber of Commerce and of the Oregon Manufacturers Association. Since com- ing to the United States he has given most of his time to his business interests, but he takes an active and helpful part in civic matters. While living in Canada he was an earnest supporter of the liberal party and represented Starmonte, province of Ontario, in the dominion parliament. He is content that his public service shall be done as a private citizen, however, since taking up his abode in Oregon and he ranks high as a business man-one whose efforts are a contributing element to the upbuilding of town and county as well as a source of individual profit.
THEODORE ROTH.
Theodore Roth, a successful and enterprising business man of Salem, is president of the Roth Company and the Gile Mercantile Company, dealing in groceries, and also of the Oregon Flax Fibre Company, one of the important industrial enterprises of the northwest. He has done notable work in connection with the promotion of the flax industry in Oregon, which through his efforts has been greatly stimulated. Starting out in life with no capital except the determination to succeed, he has attained success and stands today as a splendid example of a self-made man.
Mr. Roth is a native of Switzerland. He was born in Canton Neufchatel, April 20, 1876, and in 1885, when nine years of age, was brought by his parents, John and Anna (Ramseyer) Roth, to the United States. They made their way to Kansas, where the father followed the occupation of farming until 1890, when he came with his family to Oregon, taking up his residence in the vicinity of Salem, where he again engaged in farming. Both parents are deceased.
When fifteen years of age Theodore Roth began work in a dry goods store of Salem, where he remained for eight years, after which he was employed for a year in a furni- ture house. Ambitious to engage in business independently, when twenty-five years of age, in association with P. E. Graber, he purchased a grocery store and founded the firm of Roth & Graber, which existed as such for ten years, when the business was incorporated under the name of the Roth Company. The business has grown steadily from year to year, owing to their reliable and progressive business methods, reasonable prices and courteous treatment of customers and their trade has assumed extensive and gratifying proportions. Their interests are conducted in their own building and they are operating one of the most up-to-date groceries on the coast, carrying the best the market affords in the line of shelf goods and pastries. Mr. Roth is also president of the Gile Mer- cantile Company, which he took over in 1920 and reorganized into a stock company. They are wholesale dealers in groceries and fruits and the business is now established on a paying basis, for Mr. Roth is a sagacious business man, whose plans are well defined and promptly executed, and his connection with any undertaking insures a prosperous out- come of the same.
Mr. Roth has also done notable work in connection with the reviving of the flax industry in Oregon. In 1915, while he was acting as chairman of the industrial bureau of the Chamber of Commerce, a Mr. Crawford made a trip from Ireland to the United
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States for the purpose of studying conditions in regard to the flax industry in this country. He found Oregon a most promising field and upon his recommendation Mr. Roth brought the matter to the attention of Governor Withycombe and T. B. Kay with regard to its feasibility as a prison industry. They were in favor of the project and a bill was prepared and passed the legislature for an appropriation of forty thousand dollars to establish the industry. During Governor West's incumbency he had discontinued operations with the stove works, then conducted by the prisoners, as they could not meet their obligations, so this left the State Penitentiary without an industry. The flax industry as operated by the penitentiary has greatly prospered and they have contracted for over seven hundred acres of flax. The success of the industry in this connection so impressed Mr. Roth and his associates that in 1916 they organized the Oregon Flax Fibre Company, with the subject of this review as the president, Edward Schunke as secretary and E. J. Hausett as superintendent, the headquarters being at Salem, while the mill is located at Turner, Oregon. The superintendent and manager, E. J. Hausett, is a native of Belgium and a son-in-law of Eugene E. Basse, a pioneer flax man, who came to Oregon about twenty years ago and started the flax industry, but owing to two dis- astrous fires he sustained serious losses and was obliged to discontinue the business, after which the flax industry in Oregon was dormant for a number of years, being revived only through the efforts of Mr. Roth. The Oregon Flax Fibre Company purchased its machinery from an unused flax mill at Chehalis, Washington, securing some of the latest types of Irish machinery for making long line fibre, spinning tow and upholstering tow. It is thus prepared and shipped to the spinners in the various markets of the United States. The industry as conducted by the company at present is on a par with the methods used in Belgium and Ireland but does not conform with American ideas of manufacturing. The quality of long line fibre produced in Oregon is rapidly approach- ing the best produced in Ireland and Belgium. Foreign industries are watching its growth with intense interest and it undoubtedly will become one of the great indus- tries of the Pacific coast in the near future.
In 1909 Mr. Roth was united in marriage to Miss Elsie May Pearmine of Salem, and they have become the parents of three children; Marvin A., George P. and Frances Evelyn. He has displayed sound judgment, energy and determination in the conduct of his business affairs and in everything that he does he is actuated by a spirit of progress and enterprise that prompts his continued effort until he has reached the desired goal. His career proves that prosperity and an honored name may be won simultaneously. As the architect of his own fortunes he has builded wisely and well and at the same time his labors have been a valuable asset in the development of the resources of the state through his promotion of the flax industry. In every relation of life he measures up to the highest standards of manhood and citizenship and Salem is proud to claim him as one of her citizens.
JAY L. LEWIS.
Jay L. Lewis, city attorney and actively engaged in the practice of law at Corvallis as a member of the firm of Yates & Lewis, is recognized as one of the able attorneys of Benton county. He was born in Skagit county, Washington, October 9, 1888, a son of James P. and Minnie (Lindstedt) Lewis, the former a native of Vancouver, Wash- ington, and the latter of California. The father was but an infant when his parents removed to Oregon and on entering the business world he became a bookkeeper and accountant, being thus employed in eastern Oregon, while later he removed to the Puget Sound country, where he continued to reside throughout the remainder of his life. He passed away in February, 1896, and the mother's demise occurred in February, 1905.
Their son, Jay L. Lewis, pursued his education in the schools of Tacoma, Washing- ton, and was graduated from the high school with the class of 1907. He then entered the law school of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was gradu- ated in 1911 with the LL. B. degree. Returning to the west, he opened an office in Portland, Oregon, where for a year he continued in practice and then removed to Eugene. He there formed a partnership with Judge Skipworth, with whom he continued to practice for two and a half years, and in April, 1915, he arrived in Corvallis, where he became associated in practice with J. F. Yates, a relationship that has since been main- tained. They have built up a large and representative clientage and the firm name figures, on the court records in connection with the most important cases tried in the district.
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Mr. Lewis is an earnest and discriminating student of his profession, thoroughly familiar with the principles of jurisprudence, and in their application is seldom, if ever, at fault. He has ever conformed his practice to the highest ethics of the profession and is widely recognized as an able minister in the temple of justice.
In 1916 Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle McDonald and they have many friends in the city where they reside. In his political views Mr. Lewis is a republican, and he is now serving as city attorney of Corvallis. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Loyal Order of Moose. Although one of the younger representatives of the legal fraternity, Mr. Lewis is rapidly advancing in his profes- sion and has already won an enviable position at the Benton county har, being held in the highest esteem by his associates in the practice of law, while as a citizen he is progressive and public-spirited, his influence being ever on the side of advancement and improvement.
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