USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II > Part 16
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J. W. PETTIT.
J. W. Pettit, founder and promoter of an extensive business carried on under the name of the Pettit Feather & Bedding Company in Portland, was born in Hamilton county, Tennessee, October 29, 1873. His father, William Pettit, died in Tennessee, and in 1887 the mother, Mrs. Annie Pettit, started for California accompanied by her son, J. W. They took up their abode in Oakland and as soon as J. W. Pettit was old enough he became the support of the family. He worked for many years as a mechanic and then entered the mercantile business on his own account at Selhy, Contra Costa county, California, where he continued business for four years. He then sold out and went to San Francisco, where he became connected with the Crescent Feather Company as a mem- ber of the firm. After six years he disposed of his interests there and came to Portland in 1908. Here he organized the Pettit Feather & Bedding Company with a plant at Twenty-sixth and Upshur streets and from there he removed to Twelfth and Lovejoy streets but in 1916 his plant was destroyed by fire. He then reestablished his plant at Fourteenth and Johnson streets, where he remained for two and a half years, within which time he erected his present plant-a modern two-story factory building, one hun- dred by one hundred and fifty feet, situated at the corner of Guild and York streets. He has twenty-five employes and his trade extends to Washington, Southern Oregon and Idaho. The feathers which he uses are mostly secured from the Orient and the other raw materials are obtained in the east and south. He has built up the business from nothing until his annual sales now amount to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He makes a standard line of high class bedding and is the sole owner of the business.
Mr. Pettit was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Guisler, a native of Oregon and a daughter of Paul Guisler, one of the prominent retail furniture dealers of Portland. They have one child, Margaret, named for her mother, and the family occupies an at- tractive home in Laurelhurst, one of the finest residence districts in Portland. Mr. Pettit belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and to the Commercial Club and is much interested in all that pertains to the welfare and progress of the com- munity, commonwealth and country. Moreover, he is a splendid type of the high-minded, progressive business man of America. He has won his success entirely through his own efforts, building up a business by reason of close application, indefatigable energy and capable management. He is today the only manufacturer of comforters and pillows in the state of Oregon and has the most convenient and best factory equipment in the state. The business is a monument to his enterprise and ability and it is today one of the important manufacturing industries of Portland.
OTIS A. WOLVERTON.
Otis A. Wolverton, who is now living at Monmouth, where he is filling the office of mayor, is widely and favorably known in Polk county, for he has here spent his entire life. He was born on a farm eight miles south of Monmonth, May 10, 1861, and is a son of John and Mary (Nealey) Wolverton, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. In 1853 the father and mother left their home in Burlington, Iowa, and with ox team and wagon set out for Oregon. On reaching this state they located on land
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eight miles south of the present site of Monmouth, where he became the owner of six hundred and forty acres. This he brought to a high state of development, continuing its cultivation and improvement until 1880, when he took up his residence in the town and there lived retired during the balance of his life. He was very successful in the conduct of his farming interests and became prominent in community affairs, serving as treasurer of Christian College, now the State Normal school, and also as a member of the city council of Monmouth. He passed away on the 30th of December, 1902, at the age of eighty years, and the mother's demise occurred September 20, 1909, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-four years. They were numbered among the earliest settlers of the state and were widely known and highly esteemed. They became the par- ents of seven children, of whom five are living, a brother of the subject of this review being Judge Charles E. Wolverton, a prominent jurist of Portland.
Otis A. Wolverton was reared in Polk county, where he attended the district schools and also the public schools of Monmouth, subsequently pursuing a course of study in Christian College. On starting out in life independently he rented the old home place and later purchased three hundred and fifty acres of the homestead, continuing active in its operation from 1880 until 1902, or for a period of twenty-two years. He became well known as a stock raiser, introducing the first herd of Jersey cattle into Polk county, and was very successful in the conduct of his interests. In 1902 he took up his resi- dence in Monmouth and four years later was appointed postmaster, serving in that capacity until 1914, since which time he has lived practically retired, although he gives considerable attention to the raising of bees, now having sixty stands, and is finding that line of work both profitable and interesting, for he could not be content to lead a life of utter idleness.
On the 22d of November, 1885, Mr. Wolverton was united in marriage to Miss Rosa Loughary, and they hecame the parents of three children: Reuel, who was engaged in the electric business in Portland and passed away February 13, 1915, at the age of twenty-eight years; Edith, the wife of J. D. Bolter, who is operating the home farm; and Leto, who is a graduate of the State Normal school and is now engaged in teaching in the schools of Portland. The wife and mother passed away August 13, 1905, and on the 18th of October, 1910, Mr. Wolverton wedded Mrs. Irene Dalton.
In his political views Mr. Wolverton is a republican and is much interested in the welfare and progress of his community, serving for two years as a member of the city council, while for twelve years he has been a member of the school board, doing all in his power to advance educational standards in his section of the state. In 1918 he was chosen mayor of Monmouth and so excellent was his record in that office that he was reelected in November, 1920. He has always been loyal to the trust reposed in him and is giving to the city a most progressive and business-like administration, the worth of his work being generally acknowledged. For ten years he has been president of the Monmouth Improvement Company, in which connection he has done much to promote the business interests of his city and extend its trade relations. He is also a member of the local Grange, and fraternally is identified with the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs, while his religious faith is indicated by his member- ship in the Christian church. Mr. Wolverton has devoted much of his life to public service and at all times has been actuated by a public-spirited devotion to the general good. He has led a busy, active and useful life and his many sterling traits of charac- ter have won for him an enviable position in the regard of his fellow townsmen.
IRA WALLACE CARL.
Ira Wallace Carl, who enjoys a well earned reputation as a careful and conscientious lawyer, ever true to the interests of his clients, has since 1911 practiced at the Port- land bar. He was born upon a farm in Coos county, Oregon, in 1886, and is a son of August and Amanda E. (Newcomer) Carl. The father was born in Germany in 1835, came to America at the age of twenty-three and during the Civil war enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company F, Ninth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry, serving until honorably discharged on account of illness. He was married in Iowa to Amanda E. Newcomer, a native of Illinois, and in 1881 they removed to Oregon, settling in Coos county, where for many years the family home was maintained. The father passed away in 1903 and is survived by his widow, who is now living in Port- land.
IRA W. CARL
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Ira W. Carl was reared on the home farm to the age of seventeen years and during that period attended the country schools. He afterwards became a student in the Ore- gon Agricultural College and was graduated in 1911 from the law department of the University of Oregon, for he had determined to engage in the practice of law as a life work. The same year he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Portland, where he has remained. He is still working his way upward and advancing steadily towards the top. Care and close attention to the case in hand has been one of his salient characteristics and he is regarded as a safe counselor and also able in the trial of the case before the court. He is a clear, concise, and forecful speaker and his utterances carry conviction to the minds of his hearers.
On the 10th of August, 1918, in Portland, Mr. Carl was married to Miss Beulah Frances Miller, a daughter of Claude R. Miller, a native of Iowa who was married in Michigan to Miss Catherine Elnora Price, also born in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Carl are well known socially, having many friends in Portland and this section of the state. During the war period Mr. Carl became a permanent member of the legal advisory board. He also signed up and passed for the navy but the armistice was signed before he entered active service. His political endorsement has always been given to the republican party but without the desire of office as a reward for party fealty. He is well known in fraternal circles and is an exemplary representative of the Masonic order, in which he has obtained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. He is like- wise connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Knights of Pythias. He has a membership in the Portland Press Club, Progressive Business Men's Club and in the Portland Chamber of Commerce. He is keenly interested in all those forces that make for the development of the city and for civic righteousness and keeps thoroughly informed concerning the vital questions and issues of the day. He has always been a great reader and an apt scholar and his clear thinking enables him to arrive at the right conclusion on almost any subject which engages his attention. He is most generous of his means, where assistance is needed. His hours of recreation are devoted to hiking and mountain climbing, and he is a lover of the great out-of- doors.
SAMUEL STEEN DUNCAN.
Educational work in Yamhill county is well carried forward by Samuel S. Duncan, who as county superintendent of schools has not only made numerous valuable improve- ments in the administration of educational affairs but has also successfully exerted his efforts in order to bring about harmonious collaboration between the teachers of the county, thus insuring the pupils of the schools a higher degree of efficiency in their lessons.
Mr. Duncan was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, September 11, 1861, and is a son of Andrew and Nancy (Steen) Duncan, natives of Pennsylvania. In an early day the father went to Ohio and there resided until the fall of 1865, when he removed westward to Illinois and later to Iowa, where he followed farming pursuits until 1884. In that year he went to Kansas, taking up his residence near Osborne, where he lived retired until May, 1896, when he came to Oregon, taking up his abode with his son, Samuel S., with whom he continued to make his home during the remainder of his life. He passed away in December, 1896, at the age of eighty-one and a half years, and the mother's demise occurred December 17, 1893, when she was seventy-one years of age.
Samuel S. Duncan was reared in Illinois and there attended the public schools, after which he entered an academy at Monmouth, Illinois, from which he was graduated with the class of 1876. He then pursued a four years' course at Amity College at College Springs, Iowa, after which he engaged in the profession of teaching, following that line of work in Kansas from 1885 to 1886 and from 1888 to 1889. In the spring of the latter year he came to Oregon, locating in Yamhill county, where for a time he taught in the country schools and then went to Carlton, where for three years he was connected with the public schools. He next went to Yamhill and there was engaged in teaching for three years, after which he followed his profession in Dayton for six years, serving as principal at each of the above named towns. His next removal took him to McMinnville, where for one year he was principal of the Cook school, and he then became principal of a school at Amity, Oregon, there remaining for five years.
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On the expiration of that period he went to La Fayette, where for three years and three months he filled the position of principal, completing the scholastic year as principal of a school at Saco, Montana. His successful work as an educator soon won wide recognition and while in Montana he was offered and accepted a position in Yamhill. After teaching there for two weeks he was appointed county superintendent of schools in 1911, his excellent service in that capacity winning for him reelection, so that he is still occupying that position, having been again chosen in November, 1920. His excellent training for the profession and his long experience in school work have made him not only a successful teacher but have given him inside information in regard to school affairs which well fits him for the position which he occupies. Studious by nature, he keeps in touch with the most modern ideas in regard to the education of children and has done much to improve the curriculum and the methods of instruction followed in the county.
On the 12th of September, 1883, Mr. Duncan was united in marriage to Miss Jennie McNerney, and they became the parents of eight children, namely: Grace, who married N. T. McCoy, the proprietor of a garage at Newberg, Oregon; James A., a well known druggist of Salem; Doris, the wife of Charles Bentley, who is connected with the United States shipping board as port representative at Helsingfors, Finland; Wilma, a successful teacher of Newberg, and the wife of C. A. Evans, who is there engaged in the plumbing business; Theo Steen, who is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Portland; Charles K., who is operating his ranch at Mosby, Montana, and also one owned by his father; Milton Verne, who is employed by J. K. Gill & Company, engaged in the stationery business at Portland; and Leland Stewart, who is managing his father's fruit ranch near Springbrook, Oregon.
Mr. Duncan is a stalwart republican in his political views, and fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He also holds membership in the local Grange, and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Christian church. He is much interested in church activities, serving as deacon and is also president of the Yamhill County Sunday School Associa- tion. He regards the public schools as the bulwark of the nation, and, actuated at all times by a spirit of progress that takes cognizance of all improved educational methods, he has placed the schools of Yamhill county upon a high plane. His professional career has been one of continuous advancement, and he is regarded as one of the eminent educators of the state.
COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH.
Not seeking honor but simply endeavoring to do his duty, honors have yet been multiplied to Colonel Henry Ernst Dosch and prosperity has followed all his under- takings. There is perhaps no man in Portland who has done so much to make known the advantages and resources of Oregon as Mr. Dosch, who has been the representative of his state in various national and international expositions.
A native of Germany he was born at Kastel-Mainz, on the Rhine, June 17, 1841, a son of John Baptist and Anna (Busch) Dosch. The name Dosch is Arabic, which would indicate the origin of the family. The ancestry of the family can be traceed back to the early settlement of southern Germany and through generation after generation the family was prominently represented in military circles hy those who held high rank as officers in the German army. Colonel John B. Dosch and his father, Colonel Ernst Dosch, were officers in the army and the former had two brothers who also held high rank in the service of their country. At the close of an honorable record in the army he entered the diplomatic service and with a creditable record therein retired to his large estate adjoining Kastel-Mainz. He had married Anna, a daughter of Ulrich Busch, who was extensively engaged in the lumber business at Kastel-Mainz. Her brother, Adolphus Busch, has since become one of the most prominent residents of St. Louis, Missouri. In the family were seven children.
Colonel Henry E. Dosch, the only surviving son, pursued his education in Mainz, Germany, in the Gewerbe schule fuer Handel und Industrie, from which he was graduated in April, 1857. This school bears the same relation to the present manual training school that the high school hears to the grammar school. Subsequently he was apprenticed to a large importing house in Mainz, his term of indenture continuing to January, 1860, and on the 17th of that month he sailed for the United States. Making his way to St. Louis he secured a position as bookkeeper and was so employed until
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after the outbreak of the Civil war. In May, 1861, he volunteered in General John C. Fremont's body-guard (cavalry), thus serving until November 25, 1861, when the entire guard was mustered out of service after the famous fight October 25, 1861, at Spring- field, Missouri, General Fremont being removed from command. At Springfield these valiant guardsmen met and routed three thousand Confederates in a desperate conflict which lasted from three in the afternoon until dark and during the engagement Mr. Dosch was wounded in the right leg. He reenlisted in Company C, of the Fifth Missouri Cavalry and rose to the rank of sergeant major and acting adjutant. After the battle of Pea Ridge the Fifth was merged with the Fourth Missouri Cavalry and Colonel Dosch as acting Colonel was mustered out in April, 1863.
In May of that year he first became acquainted with the west, crossing the plains with an ox team and walking from Omaha to Sacramento, California. He stopped for a brief period at Virginia City, where he rode the Wells Fargo Express pony on the Overland from that place to Lake Bigler, now Tahoe, known as Friday's station. After- ward he walked across the Sierra Nevadas and reached San Francisco, where he secured a position as bookkeeper and came to Oregon, arriving in Portland on the 9th of April, 1864, and then went to The Dalles, where he assumed his position as bookkeeper and cashier for a firm dealing in miners' supplies. The next year he engaged in merchandis- ing at Canyon City, Oregon, and continued until the loss of his stock and store by fire led him to come to this city in 1871. For a long period he was connected with com- mercial interests in Portland as a wholesale boot and shoe merchant, having his estab- lishment on Front street. Failing health caused him at length to retire from business in 1890. Indolence and idleness, however, are utterly foreign to his nature and he turned his attention to horticulture, which has always possessed the keenest fascination for him. In 1889 Oregon's governor appointed him a member of the board of horticultural commissioners and succeeding governors reappointed him to the office until his service covered eleven years. In the biennial reports which have been issued under his direction those published in 1899 and 1901 have been adopted as textbooks at Cornell University, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, Stuttgart Uni- versity in Germany and various colleges in England. Since his retirement from active business thirty-one years ago Colonel Dosch has given most of his time to the interest of Oregon, particularly along horticultural lines. He introduced the French walnut, so prolific now, after experimenting for years as to the best variety adapted to the climatic and soil conditions here. He has certainly made liberal contribution to the progress and upbuilding of Oregon in his efforts to bring before the world a knowledge of its re- sources, especially in the attractive exhibits of the products of the state as shown in the different expositions of this and other countries. He was executive commissioner from Oregon at the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893; at the Trans- Mississippi Exposition at Omaha in 1898; at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901; at the West-India Exposition in Charleston in 1901-2; and at the International Exposition at Osaka, Japan, in 1903. He was also commissioner general of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904; was director of exhibits and privileges at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland in 1905; and occupied the same position at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition at Seattle in 1909. He was decorated by the emperor of Japan for valuable services rendered them, first receiving the emblem of the Sacred Treasure, while recently the insignia of the Rising Sun, the highest honor that could be conferred, was given him. Colonel Dosch has been a frequent contributor to horticultural journals and his writings have commanded wide and interested attention. His labors in this direction have been of material benefit to the state in the improve- ment of methods, in the introduction of new species and in disseminating an accurate knowledge of Oregon soil, the possibilities of the state as an horticultural center and the special fruits suited to various localities.
On the 10th of July, 1866, in Canyon City, Oregon, Colonel Dosch was married to Miss Marie Louise Fleurot, a daughter of Pierre and Judith (Pigeon) Fleurot. Mrs. Dosch was born in France and came to Oregon with her parents in 1857, making the trip by way of the isthmus and up the Pacific to Portland. The children born of this marriage are: Ernst, who married Winifred Wurzbacher; Arno, who married Elsie Sperry; Roswell; Lilly Anna; Camellia; and Marguerite, who married Mr. David Campbell.
In his political views Colonel Dosch has always been a democrat. In 1866 he be- came a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, filled various offices in the local lodge and was grand master of Oregon in 1888. He likewise belongs to Lincoln- Garfield Post, No. 3, G. A. R., and was its commander in 1893. A contemporary of
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Colonel Dosch has said: "During the long period of his residence in the west he has kept in touch with the progress in the world of thought and action and while especially devoted to the great northwest, yet has no narrow spirit of prejudice but is loyal to the welfare of our country and interested in world-wide progress. Frequent trips to the east, as well as several voyages across the ocean to the old home land, have brought to him an intimate knowledge of the development of our nation and the influence of modern thought in the old world; but while loyal to the land of his birth, he believes the history of the future ages is to be written by the United States and especially by that portion thereof lying along the Pacific coast."
Though eighty years of age he is still in the harness with the State Board of Horticulture, preferring to wear out rather than to rust out.
JOSHUA W. FRENCH.
A detailed account of the life and experiences of Joshua W. French, now deceased, would present a most accurate description of pioneer life of the northwest. For many years he resided in this section of the country, becoming one of the early merchants of the state and also one of the pioneer bankers. He was born in Holland, Vermont, September 13, 1830, a son of Joshua and Polly (Meade) French. The son acquired his education in the common schools and remained on the old homestead farm in New England until he had attained his majority. He afterward spent a year in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and on the 10th of January, 1852, in company with his cousin, Daniel Meade, sailed from New York for San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. During fourteen days of their long and arduous trip they subsisted solely on hard tack and stale corned beef. On the 11th of February 1852, they arrived in San Francisco, at which time Mr. French was the possessor of a lone picayune. After making several unsuccessful attempts to secure employment of various kinds he approached a gang of men with teams and persuaded the boss to let him work enough to earn something to eat. He was a powerful man physically and a willing worker and he performed his task so capably and efficiently that the superintendent kept him and soon put him on as foreman. He made enough' money on that job to pay his expenses to the gold mines and for a time met with success in his operations in the gold fields. Subse- quently he went to Calaveras county, California, and operated a ferry on the Stanislaus river in connection with his brother Daniel. In 1861 Joshua and Daniel French re- turned to San Francisco, where they engaged in taking contracts for mastic roofing, Joshua French superintending the placing of the first roof on the Russ House and the Occidental Hotel and also on many other prominent buildings of that time. When the Civil war broke out materials advanced so greatly in price that the firm could no longer realize a profit on their business and sold out.
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