USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II > Part 60
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Their son, J. B. V. Butler, attended the public schools of Monmouth and also pursued a course of study in Christian College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1884, while two years later, or in 1886, he was graduated from the State Normal School. Subsequently he filled clerical positions with various mercantile firms and also was for a time active in the cultivation of a farm. He then took up the work of teaching, which he found most congenial, and has since followed this profession. He first engaged in teaching in the public schools of Monmouth, in which he was very successful, imparting clearly and readily to his pupils the knowledge he had acquired and inspiring them with much of his own interest and enthusiasm in the work. His pronounced ability as an educator soon won recognition and his work along this line has been most important and valuable, for he is at all times actuated by a spirit of progress that takes cognizance of improved educational methods and is ever ready to transform ideas into realities when convinced of their worth. He was for several years secretary of the board of regents of the State Normal School and it was largely through his efforts and those of Mr. Powell and Mr. Hawley that Christian College was secured as a state normal school, at which time he became vice president of the institution and is now serving in that important office. His liberal educational train- ing has well qualified him for the discharge of his duties in this connection and through broad reading and study he keeps in touch with the advancement which is constantly being made in educational work throughout the country. Mr. Butler is also occupying a prominent position in financial circles as vice president of the First National Bank of Monmouth, of which he was one of the organizers. For one and a half years he served as its president and is now vice president and chairman of the board of direc-
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tors. He also has made investment in farm lands in Polk county, being the owner of two hundred and fifty acres of valuable and productive land.
On the 31st of March, 1886, Mr. Butler was united in marriage to Miss Frances Harris and they have become the parents of four children, namely: Willis D., a successful physician practicing at Elgin, Oregon; Cletus R., who follows farming in Polk county; Edna, who died at the age of six months; and J. B. V., Jr., who is con- nected with the First National Bank at Monmouth.
In his political views Mr. Butler is a democrat and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order, belonging to AI Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Portland. He is one of the leading educators of the state, holding to high standards in his professional work, and he also figures conspicuously in financial circles of Polk county, being recognized as a sagacious, farsighted business man of known reliability and integrity. His activities have been of a varied nature 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 interested in all those things which are of cultural value and which tend to uplift the individual, thus bringing a higher moral plane to the community, and association with Mr. Butler means expansion and elevation.
JAMES CROCKETT JOHNSON.
James Crockett Johnson, a prosperous and prominent farmer and stock raiser of Wasco county, was born in Salem, Oregon, in 1869, and is descended on both sides of the house from old New England families. His father, Joel C. Johnson, was born on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, where for years his people had been engaged in the ship- building industry. His mother, who was Ellen S. Crockett before her marriage, was born in the same section and was a member of a family identified with the shipping interests of the North Atlantic for several years.
Joel C. Johnson first came to Oregon in 1857 and settled in Portland, where many sons of Maine had located before him, the city being named for Portland, Maine. In 1858 he journeyed across the country and located at Boise, Idaho, where he embarked in the mercantile business, that town at the time being one of the outfitting stations for travelers to the west. Ten years later, in 1868, he sold his business and started for Maine. His journey from Boise, Idaho, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the railroad from the east terminated, was a ten-day trip by stage and a dangerous one as hostile Indians infested the entire route, and each passenger was fully armed, his rifle being ready for instant use. Arriving at his home town, Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Ellen S. Crockett, and the young couple started at once for the west by way of the Isthmus. On arriving in Oregon they took up their residence in Salem, where for the next seven years Mr. Johnson followed his trade of cabinet-maker. In 1875 the family moved to Wasco county, and here Mr. Johnson took up farming and stock rais- ing, seventeen miles southeast of The Dalles. To him belongs the credit of being the pioneer of wheat growing on the hills of Wasco county, his experiment having given to the state the knowledge that wheat could be grown there. He prospered in his farming operations, was a popular man in the community, and his death was re- gretted on all sides.
James C. Johnson has followed in his father's footsteps and has devoted his life to farming and stock raising. He was educated in the district schools of Wasco county and worked on the home place until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he purchased land adjoining the home ranch and started farming operations on his own account. After about twenty-four years of scientific stock raising, Mr. Johnson has risen to the front rank of Oregon farmers and now owns fifteen hundred acres of choice land, eight hundred acres of which is in wheat and which averages a yield of thirty bushels to the acre. He has a large number of horses, headed by registered Clydesdales; a herd of Hereford cattle; a flock of Oxford Down sheep; and a nice lot of Duroc-Jersey hogs. Mr. Johnson believes in having nothing but pure-bred registered sires for all of his animals and advocates this course at all times. An- other factor which has contributed to his success is the fact that he works but half his land each year, allowing the other half to fallow. His practical knowledge of stock raising and farming has been mainly responsible for netting him a handsome fortune.
While a member of the republican party and active in its councils, Mr. Johnson
JAMES C. JOHNSON
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has never been an office holder, save in such positions as were of benefit to his section, such as justice of the peace, clerk of the school board, school director, etc. He is promi- nent in farmers' associations, being president of the Farmers' Educational and Cooper- ative Union of Wasco county, a branch of the National Union. He is president of The Dalles Elevator Company and a director of the Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the United Artisans, and the Modern Woodmen of America.
In 1897 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Belle Allen, a daughter of J. W. and Kate Allen, her father also being a farmer of Wasco county. They are the parents of two sons, Ralph Quintan, a graduate of The Dalles high school and now a student of the University of Oregon, who is a lieutenant of the officers' reserve corps; and Dean Vivian, now in The Dalles high school, who is developing a tendency for the life of a farmer and stock raiser, working from a scientific standpoint in the pursuit of his agricultural operations. Mr. Johnson has just erected on the residential hills of The Dalles, one of the handsome and substantial homes in the city. In all matters touching on the civic welfare he has ever been ready to lend a helping hand, and he is justly esteemed as a good citizen and a good neighbor.
GEORGE E. RIGGS, M. D.
Dr. George E. Riggs, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Albany, was born at Goldendale, Klickitat county, Washington, February 13, 1885, a son of James and Keziah (White) Riggs, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Kentucky. The father was an honored veteran of the Civil war, enlisting as a member of the Fourteenth Missouri Cavalry, with which he served for three years, and for one year and four months was a member of the Thirteenth Missouri Light Artillery, being discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was a wheelwright by trade and in 1869 he crossed the plains to Oregon, settling in Brownsville, Linn county, where he resided until 1876, when he joined a party consisting of about forty families, who removed to Klickitat county, Washington. There he took up a donation land claim and later acquired more land, his holdings at length aggregating six hundred and forty acres. Through tireless effort and unabating energy he succeeded in bringing his land to a high state of development and was active in the conduct of his farm until 1896, when he retired and has since made his home with his sons, who are engaged exten- sively in farming and stock raising in Adams county, Idaho, operating over eight hun- dred acres of land. Mr. Riggs has now reached the age of seventy-seven years and his wife is seventy-six and both are held in high esteem by all who know them.
George E. Riggs attended public schools in eastern Oregon and was also a pupil in a private school at Weiser, Idaho. In 1907 he entered the medical school of the State University of Oregon and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1911, at which time the M. D. degree was conferred upon him, his proficiency in his studies securing for him the interneship at the Multnomah County Hospital in Portland, while during his junior and senior years he acted as assistant police sergeant under Dr. F. J. Zeigler. In 1913 he opened an office in Albany, where he has remained, but previous to this had taken over the practice of a physician in eastern Oregon, being thus engaged for four months.
During the World war he was appointed a member of the medical advisory board for Lincoln, Benton and Linn counties. He desired to enlist in the army but was at first rejected, owing to physical disability, but having determined to secure his ad- mission into the service he underwent an operation by Dr. Coffey of Portland and in 1918 successfully passed the examination at Vancouver, Washington, and was ac- cepted. He reported for service at the Medical Officers' Training Camp at Fort Riley on the 1st of September, 1918, but did not get overseas, arriving at Hoboken on the day the armistice was signed. For one month he was in charge of field hospital work, training Company C at Fort Riley, and was discharged December 10, 1918, as first lieutenant of the Medical Corps. Returning to Albany, he has here continued in practice, his high professional attainments securing for him a large patronage. He has studied broadly, thinks deeply, and his efforts have been of the greatest value to his patients, for he is seldom, if ever, at fault in the diagnosis of a case and his sound judgment and careful study enable him to do excellent professional work.
On the 1st of October, 1912, Dr. Riggs was united in marriage to Miss Lenora E.
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Doty, a daughter of Benjamin F. and Emma L. (Rulison) Doty, and a native of Aber- deen, Washington. Her birth occurred October 11, 1886, and she and her sister were the first pair of twins born in Aberdeen. Her father is a building contractor and has been engaged in that business in California for the past four years, but maintains his residence at No. 189 North Seventeenth street, Portland, Oregon. Dr. and Mrs. Riggs have become the parents of a son, Gordon Milln, who was born December 6, 1919.
In his political views the Doctor is a republican and for two and a half years he served as health officer of Albany, while since 1916 he has served as health inspection officer of the city schools. His professional connections are with the Oregon State and Central Willamette Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, and fra- ternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America, while in religious faith he is a Presbyterian. He owns a good residence at No. 226 West Fifth street, in Albany, and maintains his office in the Cusick Bank building. He is patriotic, public-spirited and enterprising, ever ready to assist in the upbuilding of his town, and his course has ever been directed along lines which command the respect and confidence of his fellowmen and of his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession.
WILLIAM J. PIEPENBRINK.
William J. Piepenbrink is a member of the firm of Whitfield, Whitcomb & Com- pany, Certified Public Accountants. The business is carried on under a partnership arrangement between William Whitfield, Walter D. Whitcomb and William J. Piepen- brink and their clients are numbered throughout the Pacific coast country, as indi- cated by the fact that they maintain offices in four cities of the northwest and agencies in three others of the large cities of the Pacific coast.
William J. Piepenbrink was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1884, and is a son of W. J. F. and Julia (Knothe) Piepenbrink. Both parents are natives of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The father is a manufacturing chemist and has specialized in making veter- inary medicine. He has spent much time on the road in connection with the development of the business and has also been well known as an office holder. He served under President Cleveland as collector of internal revenue for the Indiana district and refused the position of postmaster at South Bend. He has frequently been a delegate to political conventions and has exerted not a little influence in that connection.
William J. Piepenbrink pursued his education in a high school at South Bend, Indiana, and when a boy of fourteen years initiated his business career by accepting the position of office boy with the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. He served five years with that corporation and won steady promotion, becoming chief accountant by the time he had attained the age of nineteen. His poor health forced him to give up his position and he went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was with the Ameri- can Express Company for three years. He next removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and occupied a clerical position with the Fidelity Trust Company, serving as chief clerk and assistant trust officer. In 1911 he established an office of his own as a public accountant and continued the business there for two years.
Mr. Piepenbrink left the middle west in May, 1913, and came to Portland where he has since made his home. Before reaching the northwest he had secured by means of telegraphic communication a position with the firm of Whitfield, Whitcomb & Company whom he represented as efficiency man until the spring of 1917. Both Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Whitcomb entered the war in the spring of 1917 and Mr. Piepen- brink took over the business which he conducted until the time of their return after which a partnership relation was formed on the 1st of September, 1919. The business is carried on under the name of Whitfield, Whitcomb & Company. This is one of the leading firms of certified public accountants in the west and something of the volume of their business and extent of their clientele is indicated in the fact that they maintain offices in Portland, Astoria, Seattle and Spokane and have agencies in Salt Lake, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Mr. Piepenbrink belongs to the Oregon State Society of Certified Public Accountants, of which he is serving as a director and he is also a member of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Cost Accountants.
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On the 17th of June, 1911, Mr. Piepenbrink was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Briggs, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fraternally Mr. Piepenbrink is a Knights Templar Mason. He belongs to the Royal Rosarians, to the Old Colony Club and to the Ad Club, of which he was secretary and treasurer in 1920-21. He is also a member of a Trails Club, of which he was treasurer for three years and he belongs to the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, the Kiwanis Club, the City Club, the Civic League and the Chamber of Commerce. His membership relations also connect him with the American Rose Society, with the Young Men's Christian Association and with the First Presbyterian church, while in politics his position is that of an independent republican. His activities and his interests are varied and all make for progress and improvement, his entire life being actuated by a spirit of advancement that has resulted in the upbuilding of his own fortunes and in the promotion of public welfare along many lines.
ROBERT BRUCE MILLER, M. D.
Dr. Robert Bruce Miller, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Leb- anon, where his professional ability has gained him wide recognition, was born in Cass county, Iowa, December 14, 1885, a son of Josiah E. and Jennie (Saunders) Miller, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. The father followed farming in his native state and at an early period in the settlement of the west he went to Iowa, locating in Cass county, where he purchased land. This he improved and developed, continuing its operation until 1901, when he came to Oregon, purchasing a tract of six hundred acres in Yamhill county, which in the course of time, through unremitting effort and carefully directed labor, he converted into a valuable property. In 1910, however, he gave up the active work of the farm and removed to Amity, Oregon, where he now lives retired in the enjoyment of a well earned rest after many years of toil. The mother also survives.
Robert Bruce Miller pursued his early education in the schools of Amity, Oregon, and later was for two years a student in the Oregon Agricultural College. He then worked in a hardware store for two years and in 1910 took up the study of medicine at Portland in the medical school of the State University of Oregon, from which he was graduated in 1914 with the M. D. degree. Thus well qualified for the work of his choice he located for practice at Lebanon, where he has continued, a liberal patronage now being accorded him. He has ever kept thoroughly informed concern- ing the latest researches and discoveries of the profession and employs the most scientific methods in the care of the sick. He has a very high sense of professional honor and at all times conforms his practice to the most advanced standards. In addition to his duties as a physician the Doctor is a stockholder in the Super Shingle Company of Lebanon.
In March, 1916, Dr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Madigan and they have a large circle of friends in their community. Dr. Miller's fraternal connections are with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he also has membership relations with the American Medical Association and the Oregon State and Central Willamette Medical Societies and of the last named is now serving as president, which indicates his high standing in professional circles of the state. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and in religious faith he is a Presbyterian, while his wife is a member of the Catholic church. His life is actuated by high and honorable principles and his course has ever been directed along lines which command the respect and confidence of his fellowmen and his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession.
C. H. GRAM.
C. H. Gram, whose long connection with labor interests well qualifies him for the duties of his present position as state commissioner of labor, was born in Schleswig, Denmark, January 24, 1868. His father and grandfather fought against Germany in the wars of 1844 and 1864, which culminated in the ceding of Schleswig to Germany. The Gram family has sincerely rejoiced in the overthrow of German autocracy.
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C. H. Gram pursued his education in the schools of his native land and when seventeen years of age emigrated to the United States, going to Clay county, South Dakota, where he entered the employ of his uncle, C. N. Johnson, with whom he re- mained for two years and four months. He then went to San Diego, California, where he spent a year, proceeding from that city to Watsonville, California, and here he spent two years. His next removal took him to Vancouver, Washington, and from there he went to Dundee, Oregon, finally taking up his residence in Portland, which city he has since made his home. In 1900 he became identified with the labor movement in Portland and in 1903 was elected president of the State Federation of Labor, to which position he was reelected five times, serving in all for a period of six years. His ex- cellent service in that connection led to his appointment as deputy labor commissioner in 1907, in which capacity he served for ten years, and in 1918 he was elected to his present position as labor commissioner, an office which he is most capably filling. It was chiefly due to his labors that the passage of the factory inspection law was se- cured in 1907 and his efforts in behalf of the cause which he represents have been far-reaching and beneficial in their effects. He has devoted much thought and study to the labor question and thoroughly understands the work in which he is engaged, working untiringly to promote labor interests in this state.
In 1893 Mr. Gram was united in marriage to Miss Sophie Battig, a native of Can- ton Luzern, Switzerland, and they have become the parents of two children: Hester. Marie and John P. The latter, although but seventeen years of age, entered the World war as a private in Company G, of the Twenty-third Regiment, Fifth Division, and while serving at the front was gassed. The daughter is now engaged in teaching school at The Dalles.
In his political views Mr. Gram is a republican, and fraternally he is identified with the Masons, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Artisans and the Moose. He is a deep thinker on all vital problems, and while always ready to listen to argument, he forms his ideas upon the basis of broad information and clear reasoning. His influence is always on the side of reform and progress, ad- vancement and improvement, and he is everywhere spoken of as a citizen of worth, possessing many sterling traits of character which have won for him the high regard of all who know him.
EDWARD ELMER KIDDLE.
Hon. Edward Elmer Kiddle has left the impress of his individuality upon the his- tory of Oregon, and though death called him on the 28th of December, 1920, his good work lives in much that he accomplished, for he made for himself a creditable position in business circles as a member of the state senate and as state highway commissioner. The ideals of his life were high and his activities at all times supported and conformed to these ideals.
Mr. Kiddle was born in Warren, Illinois, July 15, 1862, his parents being Frederick and Mary (Noyes) Kiddle, the former a native of Lancashire, England, while the latter was born in Devonshire, England. They came to America in young manhood and young womanhood and were married in Nora, Wisconsin, whence they removed to Warren, Illinois, and subsequently became residents of Carthage, Missouri. Finally they estab- lished their home in Paola, Kansas, where the mother passed away when her son, Edward Elmer, was quite young. He was taken into the home of an uncle at Hamilton, Missouri, and while there spending his youthful days acquired a common school educa- tion. After reaching adult age Mr. Kiddle was married to Miss Emma Lillian Walling, a daughter of Myron and Maria (Onderdonk) Walling of Hamilton, Missouri. The mar- riage was celebrated in 1884 and in 1886 they came to Oregon, settling at Union, for the call of the west was an irresistible one to Mr. Kiddle, who believed that he might have better opportunities in this section of the country and through the intervening years to the time of his death he never regretted his decision to cast in his lot with the settlers of the Pacific coast country. He took up his abode at Union, where he obtained employment in a flour mill and from that time until his demise he was promi- nently connected with the milling business in this section of the state. Eventually he removed to Island City, a suburb of La Grande, and there built a mill which was later destroyed by fire, but with characteristic energy he rebuilt it and once more saw his plant swept by the flame. Eventually he built the splendid cement mill, which is
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EDWARD E. KIDDLE
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the largest and most complete structure in Oregon, east of Portland. He became asso- ciated in the milling business with W. G. Hunter and Charles Goodnough, under the firm style of the Pioneer Flouring Mill Company and remained the active head of the business until about a year prior to his demise. His ancestors in both the paternal and maternal lines for several generations were millers and thus Mr. Kiddle was "to the manner born." He thoroughly acquainted himself with every phase of the business and so wisely directed his efforts that success in substantial measure came to him. He was also interested in the live stock business to a greater or less extent throughout the period of his residence in Oregon and his business affairs were at all times charac- terized by sound judgment, keen enterprise and unfaltering diligence, so that the results which accrued from his labors were of a most substantial and gratifying character.
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