USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II > Part 41
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When a lad of twelve years Lincoln Shaver began working with his uncle part of the time ahout two and a half miles from the town of Molalla in Clackamas county. At other periods he was engaged in the wood business and in looking after a donation land claim that is now known as the Dixon place and which corners on the irrigation land claim. In 1878, his uncle John Dixon, wished him to go to Roseburg and help another uncle, Tom Dixon, to take a band of cattle to Lake county, where John Dixon had a ranch. They proceeded to Klamath county, at which time the Piute and Ban- nock Indians were causing considerable trouble, so that Mr. Shaver and his uncle were compelled to leave their cattle at the foot of Steen mountain. His uncle, John Dixon, had sent out a man to tell them that they had better drop the cattle and not try to fetch them in. However, they proceeded to one of the ranches of Pet French. Another band of cattle was four miles ahead of them and was being driven to the Diamond ranch, which also belonged to Pet French who had altogether ten ranches. The In- dians saw the drivers who were on ahead and the latter came riding back to the Shaver and Dixon camp as fast as their horses could run, shouting "Indians." Accord- ingly Mr. Shaver and Mr. Dixon left their camp wagons and took their horses and proceeded back along the road to the ranch of Dave Sherk, where there were sixty men with three gatling guns and a breast work built of fourteen inch sod. This occurred on the 24th of July, 1878. Mr. Dixon and a man by the name of Nickelson went back some days later after the grub wagons. Dave Sherk and two other men declared that they were going to Fort McDonald if they saw no signs of Indians. There were a number of pony tracks across the wagon road but the men thought it was a band of wild Indian ponies. They had gone some distance when they saw Indians. It had been their purpose to return if they saw the red men but the wily savages made their way toward the rear, thus cutting him off from the men. The Indians shot at Sherk and severed a lock of hair just above his ear. He was a fine rider, however, and able to shoot from his horse which he kept going at a running pace until he outdistanced his pursuers. Such were some of the experiences which the early settlers had to endure. On the 10th of September, 1878, Mr. Shaver went to Winnemucca with a band of cattle, proceeded southward to San Francisco and afterward returned to Portland, making the trip on the steamer City of Chester, which broke her shaft off Nehalem river. The steamship, Little California, towed the Chester up to the mouth of the Columbia river, It was after this that Mr. Shaver began dealing in wood, in which business he con- tinued until 1880, and he then began working and studying in order to gain a pilot's license, working on the Frazer river under a number of the well known captains of those days. He obtained his first engineer's license on the 4th of March, 1889, and his last license as chief engineer was issued on the 2d of March, 1917.
Mr. Shaver is now the vice president and chief engineer of the Shaver Transporta- tion Company. Gradually he has advanced in his business career and success has come to him as the years have passed. In 1881 he went to British Columbia to help pilot between Westminster and Yale in order that he might learn the business. He ran on the Chain lakes in British Columbia, on the Peerless and Kamloops, two lake boats, while on the Frazer river he was on the Reliance, William Irving, Royal City, Enter- prise, Wilson G. Hunt, Yosemite, Gertrude and the Teaser. For six years he main- tained his headquarters at Westminster. After his return to Portland in 1887 he ran on the Willamette river between Portland, Astoria and The Dalles. He now looks after the machinery of the company acting as chief engineer, and the company owns a splendid fleet of boats, including the Shaver, Sarah Dixon, Henderson, Cascades, No Wonder, Wanna and Pearl, all steamboats, and the following gasoline operation boats: Doris, Echo, Marion and Alice.
In 1892 Mr. Shaver was united in marriage to Miss Berthie Kettler, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 2, 1867, in a little building that today stands
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in the business section of the city. When she was two years of age her parents re- moved to Missouri and when she was four became residents of Minnesota. After living there for a short time the family home was established in St. Louis, Missouri, and a little later in Hannibal, that state. Mrs. Shaver was nine years of age when her parents went to Clarke county, Washington, settling on a small ranch. There she worked very hard most of the time. When thirteen years of age she had opportunity of attending school for two months and when fourteen years of age she went to school for three months, while at the age of fifteen she spent another three months in school. When sixteen years of age she began earning enough to buy her own clothes and also her mother's. She was employed by others in the winter months while in the summer she worked upon the home ranch, thus spending her time to the age of twenty-five years, when she became the wife of Lincoln Shaver. They have a son, Leonard Raymond Shaver, who was born August 12, 1893, in Portland and who attended the public schools, after which he spent three terms in study at Cor- vallis, Washington, and one term in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the State Univer- sity, where he completed his education as a mechanical draftsman and expert account- ant. After his return he received a mate's license and is now on the Sarah Dixon, where he is learning the practical side of navigation with the end in view of becom- ing a master navigator.
Such indeed is the history of Lincoln Shaver, who belongs to a family that has done much to develop the navigation interests of the northwest. For many decades they have been associated with marine transportation and have built up a most ex- tensive business under the name of the Shaver Transportation Company. The activi- ties of one brother have ably supplemented and rounded out the labors of the other, and the four brothers have for a long period maintained a place among the leading and representative business men of this section of the country. Lincoln Shaver is a member of the Woodmen of the World.
CAPTAIN GEORGE M. SHAVER.
Captain George M. Shaver is the treasurer of the Shaver Transportation Company of Portland and has long been identified with shipping interests in the northwest. He comes of a family that has been identified with Portland since pioneer times and that has furnished several representatives to marine interests. George M. Shaver was born in Portland in 1865 and began steamboating in 1884 when a youth of nineteen years in connection with his brother, Captain James W. Shaver, starting out as a deck hand on the Manzanillo. He worked his way upward to the position of mate and afterward took command of the Manzanillo in 1886. He made trips either as master or purser on this boat until the building of the G. W. Shaver, a vessel that was named in honor of his father. George M. Shaver then became purser on the new steamer and so con- tinued until the completion of the Sarah Dixon, after which he was appointed master of the G. W. Shaver and commanded the vessel for some time. Since ceasing actively to sail on the boats plying in the waters of the northwest he has been an important factor in the promotion of the interests conducted under the name of the Shaver Transportation Company, of which he is treasurer and in charge of the commissary department. He can relate numerous interesting incidents concerning the many years which he ran on the Willamette with a captain's papers. He was a pilot on the old Telephone between Portland and Astoria in the early days, this being one of the fleetest boats on the Willamette, not only at that time but in comparison with the boats of the present. In 1898 he went to Alaska, convoying three stern wheelers for the Canadian Development Company. These were the Columbian, the Canadian and the Victorian, which he took to Dawson. Captain Shaver was pilot on the Columbian and plied between Dawson and White Horse. Captain Shaver made two trips up the river to White Horse in the fall of 1898 from Dawson and he spent altogether about fourteen years in Alaska, during which time his business interests at home were steadily growing and at length demanded his attention, so that in 1912 he returned to Port- land, where he is now active in business as the treasurer of the Shaver Transportation Company. He made six trips up the Stickeen river with the Victorian in 1898 before going to Dawson, but the lack of water caused them to abandon that route. Cap- tain Shaver then mushed in from Skagway to Lower Labarge in 1899 and there took
CAPTAIN DELMER SHAVER
Vol. II-21
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a barge from Lower Labarge to Fort Selkirk. Forty-two men made this trip-men who constituted the crews of the Columbian and the Canadian. They were a week on the way to Dawson, where they found the river open about the 1st of May, 1899. In 1900 this company sold out to the White Pass and Yukon Route and with the new company Mr. Shaver took charge as pilot between White Horse and Dawson, which position he held for twelve years.
On the 20th of January, 1890, Captain Shaver was married to Miss Maud Keenan, a daughter of Samuel Keenan, a Portland pioneer who engaged in street contracting. Her mother, Mrs. Sue R. Keenan, is now living in Phoenix, Arizona, but the father has passed away. Captain and Mrs. Shaver have one child, Homer T., twenty-eight years of age, who married Florence Jacobson, of Portland, and they have one child, Cathrine Susan. Homer T. Shaver is assistant manager of the Shaver Transportation Company.
Captain Shaver is a member of the Auld Lang Syne Society, and of Washington Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templars. There are few people more familiar with the development of the northwest than Captain Shaver by reason of his long identi- fication with maritime interests in this section of the country. He has watched the steady development of shipping interests and has borne his part in the work of progress and improvement along this line. His acquaintance is a very wide one and all who know him speak of him in terms of warm regard.
CAPTAIN DELMER SHAVER.
The old adage about taking time by the forelock has found exemplification in the record of Captain Delmer Shaver and that of others of the family who are associated with him in the Shaver Transportation Company. This family early recognized the possibilities in the line of navigation in the northwest and have long been associated with marine transportation.
The early boyhood and youth of Delmer Shaver were devoted to the acquirement of an education in the public schools of Portland and in the Columbia Commercial College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1886.
He started out in the business world in connection with his father; first in helping conduct the large responsibilities of the home place lying on the banks of the Willamette river, then later on when his father entered the wood business and took over a large tract of land on the outskirts of the city now known as Dixon Place, he specialized in the raising of a fine herd of Hereford cattle which they sold to the early dairy farmers of the vicinity of Portland. The wood business grew very extensively and Mr. Shaver was very busily engaged in looking after the wooding up of the steamers and the selling end of the business.
Later on Captain Shaver went into the steamboat business with his father and brothers, J. W. and Geo. M. Shaver. His first position being purser of the Steamer Manzanillo on which his brother George was captain. After a year he received his mate's papers and then his advancement was rapid until he became master of the Steamer G. W. Shaver. For many years the company has operated steamboats in the passenger and freight service on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, but are now exclusively engaged in the towing business, operating about a dozen boats, many being high-powered steamers while the others are gasoline tugs. Their business has become one of the largest and most important on the rivers, placing them in a position of leadership among the marine interests in the northwest. Captain Delmer Shaver was obliged to leave the operating end in 1906 and entered the office where he has assumed the duties of president and handles the traffic end for the company.
On the 15th of August, 1889, Mr. Shaver wedded Miss Nellie A. McDuffee, a daughter of John McDuffee, of Iowa, and they have one son, James Delmer, born on the 25th of December, 1903, who is now attending Jefferson high school with the purpose of ulti- mately entering upon a collegiate course. There are also two daughters in the family, Ellen Louise and Doris, who are also in school. The family residence is at No. 939 Alameda Drive.
Mr. Shaver is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Auld Lang Syne Society; his religious faith is that of the Congregational Church, in which he has filled various offices. His life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles and the sterling worth of his character is recognized by all who know him. His business
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activity has brought him a wide acquaintance, for through a period of more than a quarter of a century he has been a member of the Shaver Transportation Company.
W. E. KIMSEY.
W. E. Kimsey, who since the 4th of March, 1920, has served as secretary of the Oregon State Federation of Labor, was born in Smith Center, Kansas, in 1886, and is a son of J. E. and Elizabeth (George) Kimsey, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Iowa. The Kimseys have for many years followed the occupation of farming and the paternal grandfather, Isaac Kimsey, a native of Iowa, became one of the pioneer farmers of Kansas, taking up a homestead claim in that state in 1871. His son, J. E. Kimsey, is still residing in the Sunflower state where he is engaged in the feed busi- ness, while the George family has long been prominent in political circles of the state.
The son, W. E. Kimsey, completed a high school course at Smith Center, Kansas, and afterward learned the printer's trade, which he continued to follow in Kansas until 1909 when he went to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he resided for a year. In 1910 he arrived in Portland and entered the employ of J. R. Rogers, being placed in charge of the linotype department and continuing to act in that capacity until his election to the office of secretary of the Oregon State Federation of Labor on the 4th of March, 1920. He is most capably discharging the duties of this responsible position and his services are proving very valuable to the state organization.
In 1911 Mr. Kimsey was united in marriage to Miss Wilma Schatz and they have become the parents of three children: Katharine V., Mildred E. and Shirley A. In his political views Mr. Kimsey is a stanch republican, interested in the success of the party. He has four times been elected president of Typographical Union, No. 4, of Portland and is also secretary of the central labor council of Portland. He is likewise serving as a member of the milk committee, appointed by Mayor Baker, and fraternally is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Masons and the Eastern Star. Mr. Kimsey is a young man whose salient characteristics are those which make for popularity and he is widely and favorably known throughout the state. His ability, enterprise and spirit of determination have carried him forward to important relations and his future career seems bright with promise.
FRANK C. BRAMWELL.
Frank C. Bramwell, who on the 1st of January, 1921, received the appointment of state superintendent of banks, has been a resident of Oregon since 1899 and has be- come recognized as a most progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, gaining. his present position of trust and responsibility through the strength of his mental endowments and the wise utilization of his time, talents and opportunities.
Mr. Bramwell was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, December 21, 1881, and is a son of Franklin S. Bramwell, a native of Sheffield, England, who has traveled all over the world and is a man of broad views and wide information. He married Emily Neal, a native of Lancashire, England, and is now residing in Grants Pass, Oregon, but his wife passed away in 1915. For some time he successfully engaged in the hardware business and he is probably one of the best known men in the state. He has been very active in political circles in both Idaho and Oregon and became one of the organ- izers of the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, of which he served as vice president în 1919 and 1920. Lester H. Bramwell, a brother of the subject of this review, is assistant cashier of the United States National Bank at La Grande, Oregon.
Frank C. Bramwell as a child removed with his parents to St. Anthony, Idaho, and in 1899 he became a resident of Oregon, first going to Baker, where he remained for a year, after which he removed to La Grande. He was graduated from college in 1903, on the completion of a four years' course, following which he entered banking circles at La Grande, later serving for three and a half years in the county clerk's office in Union county, Oregon. In January, 1908, upon the recommendation of Senators Bourne and Fulton, he was appointed by President Roosevelt as register of the United States land office at La Grande and in June, 1912, was reappointed to that office by President Taft, serving until September 30, 1916. He then removed to Grants Pass, where he again
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became identified with banking interests. He was appointed by the State Banking Board as state superintendent of banks, assuming the duties of the office on the 1st of January, 1921. He is a shrewd, systematic business man, well versed in the details of modern banking, and is proving well qualified for the discharge of the important and responsible duties which devolve upon him in this connection, securing the good- will and cooperation of the majority of the bankers of the state.
On the 28th of February, 1903, Mr. Bramwell was united in marriage to Miss Afton Thatcher and they have become the parents of five children: Vernon, seventeen years of age; Leola; and Frank C., Jr., Edgar and Aaron, aged respectively seven, four and two years. Fraternally Mr. Bramwell is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, belonging to La Grande Lodge, No. 433, of which he is a past exalted ruler. With industry and determination as dominating qualities he has made steady progress in the business world, his record being one which at all times will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. He has ever regarded a public office as a public trust and no trust reposed in Frank C. Bramwell has ever been betrayed in the slight- est degree.
ALBERT E. RANDALL.
Albert E. Randall, a retired farmer residing at Scio, where he is filling the position of assistant postmaster, has spent his entire life in the section where he now resides, for he was born three-quarters of a mile south of Scio, in December, 1859, his parents being Elisha H. and Susanna (Earl) Randall, natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a cabinet-maker by trade and in his later years followed the occupation of farming. In 1847 he started across the plains with ox teams, Oregon being his destination, and four years later purchased a claim near Scio, and it was upon this property that the birth of his son, Albert E., occurred. To the development and improvement of his ranch the father devoted his energies for many years, his death there occurring in January, 1883, when he was seventy-two years of age. The mother long survived him, passing away March 8, 1899, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.
Albert E. Randall was reared in Scio and there attended the public schools, resid- ing with his parents until they passed away. He assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm and when the latter retired he successfully continued its operation until 1900, when he rented the property and took up his abode in Scio, where he has since resided. In 1916 he was made assistant postmaster and is now serving in that capacity, being most conscientious and efficient in the discharge of his duties. He has also become interested in financial affairs as vice president of the Scio State Bank and in this connection has been largely instrumental in promoting the growth and success of the institution. He is a man of keen business discernment and sound judg- ment, who in the attainment of success has always followed the most honorable methods, and he has therefore gained the confidence of all who have had business dealings with him.
In January, 1908, Mr. Randall was united in marriage to Miss Melvina Miller and they have a large circle of friends in the community where they reside. Mr. Randall gives his political allegiance to the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, while his fraternal connections are with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. His entire life, covering sixty-one years, has been passed in this county, and in the locality where he makes his home he is widely and favorably known, being recognized as a man of sterling worth who in every relation of life exemplifies the highest standards of manhood and citizenship.
PROF. CHARLES W. BOETTICHER.
Prof. Charles W. Boetticher, superintendent of the city schools at Albany, was born at Powhatan, Ohio, July 20, 1866, a son of George Frederick and Louise (Hoeltzla) Boetticher, the former born near Powhatan and the latter a native of Wheeling, West Virginia. During his earlier years the father engaged in engineering work but the latter part of his life was devoted to farming. He was an honored veteran of the Civil war, enlisting at Powhatan, and serving for three months toward the close of
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hostilities as a member of a regiment of Ohio infantry. He passed away May 30, 1903, at the age of sixty-eight years, while the mother's death occurred in April, 1900, when she was fifty-eight years of age.
Charles W. Boetticher attended the public and high schools of Powhatan and later was a student in a normal school, after which he engaged in teaching school in Ohio for a period of five years. In 1889 he came west to Washington and for one year fol- lowed the profession of teaching in the vicinity of Spokane, after which he came to Oregon, becoming identified with the school at Silverton, which he was largely in- strumental in organizing. At the end of a year, however, he returned to the east and enrolled as a student in Marietta College at Marietta, Ohio, from which he was grad- uated with the class of 1895. He then resumed the work of teaching and became principal of the high school at Gallipolis, Ohio, filling that position for eight years. At the end of that period he went to Parkersburg, West Virginia, as principal of the high school of that city, and in 1909 returned to Silverton, Oregon, where he remained for two years. He then came to Albany and accepted the position of superintendent of the city schools, in which capacity he has since served, covering a period of ten years. His thorough education and long experience as a teacher well fit him for his duties in this connection and he is proving a most capable educator, ever holding to the highest professional standards. He has made a splendid record in office and has done much to improve the curriculum of the schools and the methods of instruction followed. In addition to his professional duties Mr. Boetticher also has banking interests at Clarington, Ohio, which are proving a profitable investment.
On the 1st of January, 1889, Mr. Boetticher was married to Miss Mary C. Dotta and they have become the parents of two children: Robert F., aged twenty-two years, who is a student in the State University of Oregon; and Marion L., who is twenty years of age and is now attending the Oregon Agricultural College.
Mr. Boetticher is a republican in his political views and his religious faith is indicated by his attendance upon the services of the Methodist Episcopal church. Upon all vital questions he is well informed and he keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age concerning the political, sociological and economic questions of the day. He has ever been actuated by a spirit of progress and enterprise and in his position as superintendent of schools has contributed in marked measure to the educational ad- vancement of the city.
DEL WRIGHT.
Business interests of the Rose City find a worthy representative in Del Wright, manager of the Portland branch of the William L. Hughson Company, the oldest Ford agents on the Pacific coast. He is thoroughly familiar with the automobiles business, to which he has devoted the greater part of his life and is capably managing the in- terests under his control, his services being very valuable to the company which he represents. A native of Iowa, Mr. Wright was born in 1872, a son of Minor and Mary (Mason) Wright, the former a farmer by occupation. The son secured his education in the schools of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, to which city the family had removed in his youth and on completing his studies secured work in the lumber mills and also was employed at other labor. In 1902 he removed to Detroit where he secured a posi- tion as traveling representative for J. P. Snyder, selling the Milwaukee line of steam automobiles, while later he became traveling salesman for the White steamer. In 1907 he went to San Francisco, California, where he became identified with the H. O. Harrison Company and subsequently removed to Seattle, Washington, where for four years he filled the position of sales manager for the Broadway Automobile Company. On the expiration of that period he returned to Detroit and for six months was again in the employ of Mr. Snyder, but the west still drew him and coming to Oregon he became identified with the Northwestern Automobile Company as salesman. He con- tinued with that firm for four years and then entered the service of the Pacific Kissel Car Company, which later became known as the William L. Hughson Company, Mr. Wright being selected as general manager of the Portland branch, in which position he still continues. They are the oldest Ford agents on the Pacific coast, having the agency for the states of California, Oregon, Washington and a portion of Nevada, with branch establishments in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Oakland, Cali- fornia, and in Seattle, Washington, in addition to the Portland office. They are also
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