USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II > Part 84
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MALCOLM HAMILTON CLARK.
Malcolm Hamilton Clark, member of the law firm of Clark, Middleton & Clark of Portland, was born on a farm in Redwood county, Minnesota, in 1885. His father, John Clark, was a native of the island of Islay, Scotland, and when twelve years of age crossed the Atlantic to Ontario, Canada, in company with his parents. There he was reared to manhood and wedded Mary Jane Caldwell, after which they removed to Minnesota. He devoted his active life to farming and passed away in July, 1920.
The youthful days of Malcolm H. Clark were spent in the usual manner of the farm bred boy. He attended the country schools and in 1907 came to Portland, seeking the opportunities of the growing western country. Here he became a law student in the University of Oregon and was graduated on the completion of his course in 1910. He thereafter attended the law department of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and was graduated from that university with the class of 1911 and given an LL. B. degree. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1910, and has since his return from Yale engaged in practice, being now a member of the firm of Clark, Middleton & Clark. They specialize in corporation law and are representatives of a number of the prominent business concerns of the city, their practice being extensive and of an important charac- ter.
On the 19th of June, 1913, in Portland, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss May M. Clarke, daughter of Thomas A. Clarke of Portland. She is a granddaughter of Robert Freeborn, one of the well known and prominent business men of the early days of Portland. They now have one son, Malcolm H., Jr. Mr. Clark is a republican in his political views. Fraternally he is connected with the Phi Alpha Delta and is well known in the club circles of the city, belonging to the University, Portland Golf, City, and Multnomah Amateur Athletic Clubs. He is also identified with the Geographic Society. His interest in community affairs is shown in his cooperation with the activ- ities of the Chamber of Commerce for Portland's benefit, development and upbuilding. Along strictly professional lines he has membership with the Multnomah County and the Oregon State Bar Associations and enjoys the high regard and confidence of his professional colleagues and contemporaries.
WILSON LIPPINCOTT GASTON.
Wilson Lippincott Gaston, a noted civil engineer and a prominent factor in the building of the first railways in Oregon, came to this state in 1862. He was born November 3, 1831, in the village of Georgetown, Belmont county, Ohio, and passed away in Portland, May 8, 1908, so that his life record covered a period of almost seventy- seven years. Mr. Gaston came of French Huguenot ancestry, as do all of the Gastons
MRS. WILSON L. GASTON
WILSON L. GASTON
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of the United States, the family being represented in all of the states of the Union, while in twelve states there are post offices bearing the name of Gaston.
Wilson L. Gaston was the brother of the late Joseph Gaston, the historian. The father of these two sons was born May 14, 1805, in the vicinity of St. Clairsville, Ohio, and was one of the able physicians of his day but died when only twenty-eight years of age. Their mother, Nancy Fowler, born in Beaver, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1812, died in Morristown, Ohio, March 19, 1885. She was the only daughter of John Fowler, who fought with Commodore Perry in the battle of Lake Erie and was one of the six marines who rowed the Commodore through the British line after Perry's flagship had been disabled. The Commodore himself was a relative of John Perry, the great- grandfather of these two brothers, Wilson and Joseph Gaston. After the father's death the young mother returned to her girlhood home and the sons were reared in the home of their grandmother, Mrs. Jean MacCormack-Fowler, in Morgan county, Ohio. Their grandfather, Alexander Gaston, who was also a physician, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1769. He removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1791 and there met and married Rachel Perry, a daughter of John Perry and friend and neighbor of George Washington, under whom he served as a soldier throughout the Revolution- ary war, being an officer of the Virginia Light Dragoons. This young woman will be remembered as the first woman physician in regular practice in the United States.
Wilson Gaston, whose name introduces this review, obtained what education he could in the country log schoolhouses of the time and as he grew to manhood took up the study of civil engineering. He came west in 1857 as a lieutenant of volunteers sent out by President Buchanan to suppress the Mormons who were making raids on immigrant trains as they crossed the plains. Later he was detailed for service on the immigrant road from Fort Hall to Fort Walla Walla to suppress the Indians. After serving for several years he returned to his home in the east and married, but came to Oregon in company with his brother, reaching Jackson county in April, 1862. He here took up the profession of civil engineering. He made the first railway survey from Marysville, California, to Portland and personally had charge of the transit from Jacksonville to this city. Later he engineered the construction of the high bridges across the gulches on the Heights back of Portland for the Portland & Hillsboro Rail- way, and these bridges remain to this day. General Stephen Coffin, a well known figure of that period, was contractor on this job, and Captain Powell was superintendent of construction. Mr. Gaston's next work was the building of the water-power canal from Willamina, Yamhill county, to Sheridan. He afterward built the bridges on the Dayton, Sheridan & Grand Ronde Railway in 1879. Later in life he returned to the east on business and visited with his mother in the old home at Morristown, Belmont county, Ohio.
The religious faith of Mr. Gaston was that of the Presbyterian church, of which his mother was a lifelong member. In his political views he was a stanch democrat, while his fraternal relations were with the Masons.
Mr. Gaston was married in September, 1860, in Morristown, Ohio, to Miss Sebina Olive Laishley, a daughter of the Rev. Simeon Wesley Laishley, a noted English clergy- man of the Protestant Methodist church. He was born in Lancashire, England, in the year 1801 and died September 6, 1849, aged forty-eight years. He wasone of seven brothers, all educated in England for the ministry. After coming to America he settled in Ohio and was actively engaged in the gospel work in different states of the east. Mrs. Gaston's mother, who hore the maiden name of Hannah Ewan, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1805 and died November 6, 1867, at the age of sixty- two years. She was an industrious woman, faithful wife and the mother of eight chil- dren, of whom four, however, died in infancy. Mrs. Gaston was born November 9, 1842, in Morgantown, Monongalia county, West Virginia, and died October 23, 1915, in Portland, Oregon, being almost seventy-three years of age. She was of a quiet dis- position, a kind and loving mother, and displayed great courage and bravery when she left her home and friends and started for Oregon with a baby in her arms. She left New York, October 14, 1862, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and was twenty-eight days reaching San Francisco. She went on a boat up the Sac- ramento river to Red Bluff and thence traveled in a stage drawn by horses to the foot of Mount Shasta, where oxen were put on to assist in getting the stage over the mountain trail in a big snowstorm. This long and perilous journey was ended when she joined her husband at Jacksonville, Oregon, which was their home till they removed to Salem three or four years later. In 1870 they came to Portland, selecting for their home sixteen acres of land just at the foot of Council Crest, a portion of the J. B.
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Talbot donation land claim. This was their home for many years and here their five children were reared: Anna G. Patton, who was born in Morristown, Ohio, and was the baby who made the long trip with her mother, is now residing in Pasadena, California; Lee Retta, born at McMinnville, Oregon, married Rev. Lester F. Clark and has one daughter, Beatrice May; Joseph Simeon, a prosperous farmer of Washing- ton county, was born in the vicinity of Beaverton, Oregon, is married and has a daughter, Irene Sebina; Mary Wilmot, widow of John S. York, was born in Port- land, Oregon, and has one son, Ralph Laishley Patton, by a former marriage. This son enlisted in the army in April, 1917, when war was declared with Germany. He did not go overseas but served in clerical work for a year at Kelly Field, Texas, and was then sent to Utica, New York, to attend the gunnery school and from there to Dayton, Ohio, where he took training in gunnery and also was instructor. From that place he was sent to the officers' training school at Camp Grant, Illinois, and lacked just two weeks of receiving his commission when the armistice was signed; Douglas Wilson, who is a farmer, was born in Portland, Oregon, is married and has one daughter, Olive Julia. He has recently bought a farm in the vicinity of Beaverton, Washington county, which comprises fifty acres.
Mrs. Gaston was a member of the Presbyterian church until her removal to Port- land. A few years later she united with the Congregational church, her pastor being Rev. George H. Atkinson, a pioneer preacher and college promoter of 1848. Thus for many years the Gaston family has been closely, prominently and honorably connected with Oregon's development and progress, leaving their impress for good upon the history of the state. As a civil engineer Wilson L. Gaston contributed in large measure to the development of Oregon, for railway building is always a fore- runner of settlement and promotion of public work. Thus he made valuable contribu- tion to the advancement of the commonwealth.
EARL WHITLOCK.
Earl Whitlock of Klamath county, Oregon, was born in Marion county, this state, on the 1st of November, 1884, a son of William and Amelia E. (Thurmon) Whitlock. His grandfather Whitlock was a native of Indiana, from which state he had crossed the plains to Oregon by ox team in 1850. William Whitlock, father of Earl Whit- lock, was born in Marion county in 1857, was reared to manhood in Marion county, and afterwards removed to Portland, where he followed the business of contractor and builder. The wife of William Whitlock, Amelia E. Thurmon, was a native of Oregon and daughter. of E. J. Thurmon, and she also was born in Marion county.
The public schools of Marion county, this state, and the Silverton Academy at Silverton, Oregon, afforded Earl Whitlock his early education and after clerking for two years in a mercantile establishment he decided to take up embalming. As the result of his decision he took a course at Renouard's School of Embalming of New York city, the Barnes College of Embalming of Chicago, Illinois, and the Hohenschuah College of Embalming of Iowa City. He graduated from each of these institutions and thus thoroughly equipped he became embalmer for the J. P. Finley establishment of Portland, remaining with them for a period of five years. In 1905 he determined to go into the business on his own account and looking the state over for a suitable loca- tion, selected Klamath Falls, in which community he has since resided. In 1908 he was elected coroner of Klamath county, has been active in that office for ten years, and is holding the position at the present time.
On the 13th of December, 1909, occurred the marriage of Mr. Whitlock and Miss Nellie Lee Wilkins, a daughter of M. G. Wilkins. Her father is a native of Alabama and had been a well known hotel man and A. O. U. W. worker in Oregon for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock have become parents of a sturdy son, who has been named Warren.
Politically Mr. Whitlock is a stanch supporter of the democratic party and his personal popularity is well illustrated in his continued election to the office of coroner, when the county which he serves is republican in the majority. His fraternal affiliations are with the Elks, Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World, in which last two orders he has filled all the chairs. In line with his work he remains a close student and holds membership in the Oregon State Funeral Directors' Association and the National Funeral Directors' Association. Mr. Whitlock has been so successful in the
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conduct of his profession that every bit of space in his handsome and modern three story structure at Pine and Sixth streets is occupied. The structure is sixty-five by one hundred and twenty feet and contains the very latest appurtenances for the suc- cessful conduct of the business. Along other than business lines Mr. Whitlock has taken an active part and as a member of the Chamber of Commerce he readily lends his sup- port to aid every project that stands for the betterment of his native state. He is secretary of the McCollum-Christy Lumber Company and a director in the Northern California Oil Company, his executive ability and initiative being dominant elements in the growth of those interests. Mrs. Whitlock is a member of most of the women's clubs of Klamath Falls and like her husband takes an active interest in the welfare of the community.
RUSSELL HERBERT BROWN.
Russell Herbert Brown is the president of the Federal Box and Lumber Company, one of the newly organized business enterprises of Portland and one which has already made itself felt as a factor among the productive industries of the city. Mr. Brown comes to the coast country from Indiana, his birth having occurred in Parker City, that state, on the 12th of June, 1877. His father, Francis Merritt Brown, was born in Maine in 1834 and leaving New England in early manhood, became a resident of Indiana. At Selma, that state, he wedded Cornelia Ann Lewis and both have now passed away, the death of the former occurring in 1905 and the latter in 1919.
Russell H. Brown was a pupil in the public and high schools of Muncie and of La Fayette, Indiana, and in 1901 entered the employ of Swift & Company, with whom he remained for eighteen years, during which time he was located at various places. He came to Portland in 1909 as purchasing agent for the Union Meat Company, a Swift subsidiary, and he continued with Swift & Company as one of their Portland representatives until December, 1919, when he became one of the organizers of the Federal Box and Lumber Company, of which he was elected president. As chief executive of this newly organized concern he is bending every effort to the develop- ment of the business and the extension of the trade and already he has made for the concern a creditable position in business circles, their patronage now reaching pro- portions that make theirs a profitable enterprise.
On the 5th of September, 1910, in Tacoma, Washington, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Elizabeth Miller, a daughter of William A. Miller. Mr. Brown is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and cooperates heartily in the well defined plans of that organization for the city's benefit and improvement and the maintenance of those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and of civic pride. He is a republican in his political views and during the period of the World war took active part in support- ing the bond drives and various other lines of war work.
WILLIAM MASON DUNCAN.
A scion of honored and prominent southern ancestors in both the paternal and maternal line is William Mason Duncan, who was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in April, 1881. On his father's side his ancestry dates back to the earliest days of Virginia colonization, from which state the Duncans removed to Kentucky, taking an active part in its development. It was in Kentucky that Amos Russell Duncan met and married Betty Edwards, she being a descendant of that branch of the family whose line extends back to Jonathan Edwards, and they became the parents of William Mason Duncan, whose name initiates this review. The Edwards family of Kentucky is famous in the history of that state and of Illinois. Ninian Edwards, a granduncle of Betty Edwards Duncan, was chief justice of Kentucky, later governor of Illinois and the first United States senator from that state after its admission to the union. His son, Ninian W. Edwards, married the sister of Mary Todd who became the wife of Abraham Lincoln and their greatuncle was appointed county lieutenant, or county commandant of the county of Illinois in the state of Virginia, in 1778 by Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia. Ninian W. Edwards was a distinguished lawyer of Lin- coln's time and serving with him in the legislature of Illinois early recognized his
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ability and the nobility of his character, and although he occupied a very much higher social position than the man who later became president of the United States, he offered no objection to the marriage of his sister-in-law to the rising young statesman. Amos R. Duncan, like the other members of his family, made a name for himself in the state of Tennessee, where he removed from his native state. There, in association with a brother, he established a brokerage and banking business, in which he continued until his death. He left the impress of his business ability upon the pages of financial his- tory of Tennessee and the south and the firm which he organized was considered one of the most reliable banking institutions in the southern states.
William Mason Duncan is indebted to the primary schools of Nashville, Tennessee, for his early education, after which he entered Bethel College at Russellville, Ken- tucky. He spent some time under a private tutor and after attending a preparatory college at Louisville, Kentucky, entered Yale University, from which institution he was graduated in 1906 with the degree of A. B. He then determined to enter the legal profession and as a result matriculated in the law department of Harvard, where he studied one year; and after pursuing his legal studies further at the University of Chicago Law School was admitted to the bar in 1909. Returning to Russellville he practiced there for one year, when he decided to come to the Pacific coast, away from the traditions of his family, and here prove his ability to make good without the backing of the family name. In 1910 he paid a visit to the coast and after investi- gating a large portion of it found in Klamath Falls a suitable location and removed to that place in 1911. There he immediately established offices and during the ten years of his practice in southern Oregon has won a high and well deserved place at the bar. He brought to the profession thorough training and natural qualifications of high order, and the able services he has already rendered are a promise of many years of usefulness to any community where he lives. The example of his father he has followed, making the name of Duncan an honored one in the state of Oregon.
In 1915 Mr. Duncan returned to Kentucky and there he was united in marriage to Miss Eva Booker of Franklin, that state. She is a daughter of Dr. W. G. Booker, one of Kentucky's best known physicians. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Duncan: George Edwards who is a fine specimen of young manhood. Mrs. Duncan is a model mother and is a leader in the social circles of Klamath Falls, belonging to most of the women's clubs of the city. She is likewise prominent in the activities of the Presbyterian church.
In politics Mr. Duncan classed himself as a Henry Watterson democrat and in the affairs of his party he has taken a prominent and active part. In 1915 he was the candidate of the party for the office of district attorney and though the republi- cans had a majority of three to one he was elected by a majority of one hundred and fifty. He served in that office from January, 1916, to January, 1920. Mr. Duncan has confined his fraternal affiliations to the Odd Fellows and the Elks, in which latter order he is the lecturing knight. In the line of his profession he holds membership in the Klamath County, the Oregon State and the American Bar Associations.
HUGH M. CALLWELL.
Hugh M. Callwell, a man of high personal standing and of marked business in- tegrity and ability, has been a resident of Portland since 1887 and has a wide acqupaint- ance in business circles of the city, now having charge of the personal property of the American Railway Express Company. He was born at Dunmurry, near Belfast, Ire- land, December 14, 1853, a son of George and Elizabeth (McCance) Callwell. The father was a man of importance in his community, being known as "Squire" Callwell, and wishing to give his family of five sons the best educational advantages possible he removed to Dresden, Germany, where Hugh M. Callwell, the youngest of the children, attended school for three years. He afterward was a student in a military academy at Caen, France, for one year and then went to Torquay, in the county of Devon, in the south of England, following which he pursued his studies in a Quaker school near Winchester, in Hampshire. This is situated near Salisbury Plains, where the training camps of the American Expeditionary Force were established during the World war. Continuing his education he entered the Blundel school near Tiverton, in Devonshire, after which he attended school in Dublin, Ireland. Thus liberally qualified for life's practical duties and responsibilities he emigrated to America in 1875, when a young
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man of twenty-two years, and going to Iowa joined his brother near Decorah, where he remained for a year.
In 1876 Mr. Callwell came to Oregon, locating first on Coos bay and subsequently taking up a piece of railroad land near Drain. During the first year of his residence in that locality he assisted Dr. Hall, a well known citizen of Oakland, in the work of improving and developing his place. Subsequently Mr. Callwell engaged in the grocery business at Drain, and also acted as agent for the Wells Fargo Express Com- pany, with which he has since been connected in various capacities. On disposing of his business at Drain he came to Portland in 1887 as an employe of the Wells Fargo Express Company and following its consolidation as the American Railway Express Company he was placed in charge of all the personal property of the company in Port- land, which position he now holds, most capably supervising the interests under his control. For fourteen years he had charge of the money delivery of the Wells Fargo Company-a fact indicative of his reliability, trustworthiness and integrity-and dur- ing that period he came in contact with the leading business and financial men of the city. His long retention in the service of one corporation is indisputable proof of his faithfulness, efficiency and honesty and his standing in business circles of the city is of the highest.
In Springfield, Oregon, in 1880, Mr. Callwell was united in marriage to Miss Lydia J. Bowerman, a daughter of Judah H. Bowerman, a Quaker minister, who had re- moved from Picton, Ontario, Canada, to Springfield, where Mr. Callwell first met his future bride. Subsequently the father took up his residence at Newberg, Oregon, and he is now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Callwell were born five children: George E., who married Clara Heintz of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1916; Charlotte M .; Florence E., the wife of R. W. Fairfoull of Portland; Maud M., who became the wife of Emmet Douglas, a son of Patrick Douglas of Portland; and Henrietta M., who married Emer- son Clark of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1916.
In his political views Mr. Callwell is independent, voting according to the dic- tates of his judgment without regard to party ties and fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Samaritan Lodge, No. 2. He is also a member of the Lang Syne Society and during the World war was an active worker in the promotion of Red Cross and Liberty loan sales. Mr. Callwell is a widely read man of broad views and liberal culture who keeps thoroughly informed concern- ing the leading economic, sociological and political questions of the day not only as regards America but the world at large, his European residence giving him a clear understanding of the hopes, the ambitions and the characteristics of the people of both France and Germany. 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 aid and cooperation have at all times been found on the side of progress and advancement and he has ever stood for those forces which work for the uplift of the individual and the betterment of the community at large. His life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles and he is a man whom to know is to esteem and admire.
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