USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
On the 16th of March, 1914, in Newburgh, New York, Dr. Baird was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Monell, a daughter of the late John P. Monell, a native of the Empire state. They have one son, Walter Monell Baird, who was born July 5, 1915, and a daughter, Elizabeth Monell, born March 10, 1920. Dr. Baird is a member of the Phi Alpha Sigma, a medical college fraternity, and a member of the honorary society of Sigma Psi. During the period of the World war he was a member of Ad- visory Board, No. 20, of Oregon, was also a member of the medical section of the state Council of Defense and a member of the Volunteer Medical Service.
CHARLES VICTOR FISHER, M. D.
Dr. Charles Victor Fisher, a physician of Klamath county, now residing in Klamath Falls, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1870, a son of W. S. and Elizabeth (Kelty) Fisher. The Fisher family were of German extraction and came to America in the early days of the republic. The name was originally spelled Fischer but the American born members of the family, who were among the early pioneers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, changed it by dropping the "c." The Keltys were of Scotch an- cestry, the great-grandfather of the Doctor having settled in Pennsylvania at an early day.
Dr. Fisher was educated in Pennsylvania and Nebraska, where he had removed with his parents in 1885. In 1890 he came to Oregon, making his home in Salem, where he attended Willamette University Academy, from which he graduated in 1895. He then entered the medical department of that institution from which he was graduated in 1898 with the degree of M. D. He opened offices in Dallas, where he practiced for two years before removing to Roseburg, in which town he followed his profession for
193
HISTORY OF OREGON
four years. About that time his wife's health failed and it was necessary for her to change climate so he removed to Antioch, California, and there remained for three years. In 1908 he located in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and, having found climatic con- ditions exactly suited to his wife's health, has since made his home in that city. While strongly inclined to specialize in his profession, Dr. Fisher remained in general practice until 1911, when he became an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist, and has built up a large practice in this connection. A devoted student of his profession, he has taken frequent postgraduate courses, in 1898 at the Chicago Post Graduate Hospital; in 1905 and 1909 at the San Francisco Polyclinic; and in 1915 at the Post Graduate Medical School of New York. The breaking out of the World war frustrated his plans for going to Europe to take a postgraduate course in his specialty but he is now con- templating making the trip as soon as conditions will allow.
In 1900 occurred the marriage of Dr. Fisher and Miss Flora Chesney, a member of one of Oregon's foremost pioneer families. Mrs. Fisher is a talented woman who takes much interest in social and club affairs and is a member of the Klamath Falls P. E. O. sisterhood. She is active in church work and is a consistent member of the Methodist church. One daughter has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Fisher, Constance, who is a high school pupil and is a musician of ability and a brilliant student.
Fraternally Dr. Fisher is identified with the Elks and Woodmen of the World. He has affiliated with other fraternal organizations but the demands of his profession have compelled his withdrawal. He is a cultured and dignified gentleman and one would hardly connect him with one of the yell leaders who in former days energetically directed the cheering of the student body at Willamette University. In the line of his pro- fession Dr. Fisher is a member of the Southern Oregon Medical Society, of which he was vice president; the Oregon State Medical Society; and he is a fellow of the Ameri- can Medical Association.
CHARLES O. HUELAT.
Prominent among the energetic, farsighted and successful business men of Hood River is Charles O. Huelat, who is a native son of the northwest, his birth having oc- curred at Silver City, Idaho, in 1873. His parents were John and Sarah E. (Belt) Huelat, the latter a daughter of Dr. A. M. Belt, one of Oregon's pioneer physicians, who crossed the plains with an ox team and wagon in the late '40s from his native state of Missouri. He was a prominent Mason and at one time was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in the State of Oregon.
Charles O. Huelat was educated at Salem, Oregon, and early turned his attention to the dry goods business, to which he has devoted much of his life. He continued active in that field of labor in Salem for ten years and then removed to Heppner, Oregon, to become manager of a general merchandise store in that city. He subse- quently purchased the store but after four years of close confinement was forced to give up the store and go to California on account of declining health. He remained there for two years, during which time he embraced the Christian Science faith. Thoroughly restored to health he returned to Heppner and in association with G. A. Molden estab- lished another business. In 1911 he came to Hood River and purchased an interest in the Bragg Mercantile Company, which in 1918 was reorganized under the name of the Molden-Huelat-Sather Company, Mr. Huelat becoming the president, with Mr. Molden as secretary and treasurer and J. F. Sather as vice president. The company occupies a handsome business block on Oak street, where they carry a complete stock of dry goods, shoes, clothing and furnishings. The store covers about fourteen thousand square feet and there is a mezzanine floor, on which are located the offices and art needle work department. Their trade comes from all the surrounding country, includ- ing the different towns along the Columbia river in Washington.
In 1903 Mr. Huelat was united in marriage to Miss Lona White, a daughter of E. H. White, a pioneer retired farmer now living in Salem, Oregon, who is a prominent Grand Army man, having faithfully served his country in defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Huelat have one son, Paul' Burnett, a high school pupil.
Mr. Huelat is president of the Merchants Association of Hood River and belongs to the Hood River Commercial Club. He is prominent in all public affairs and was particu- larly active in all the war drives. He is a devout member of the Christian Science
Vol. 111-13
194
HISTORY OF OREGON
church and its second reader. Mrs. Huelat is a woman of much talent. She possesses a fine voice and is ever ready to give her aid to any charitable cause. She is the first reader of the Christian Science church, is president of the Hood River Woman's Club and occupies an enviable position in both church and social circles, the sterling worth of her character being widely recognized.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS McCOY.
In the death of Christopher Columbus McCoy on the 18th of October, 1905, the northwest chronicled the passing of one who had long been a prominent figure in connection not only with the history of Oregon but of the entire Pacific coast country from Alaska to San Francisco. In pioneer times he became a mail agent and con- tinued in the business, constantly broadening its scope until in 1893 he had over three hundred mail routes. He was born in New Hampshire, January 31, 1836, and was a son of Israel and Martha (Hall) McCoy. The father was born in Canada in 1792 and died in the '60s. The mother, who was a native of New Hampshire, born August 18, 1797, passed away March 25, 1842. The son, C. C. McCoy, was but six years of age at the time of his mother's death. He was reared in the east and in early life was in charge of bottling works for the firm of Fairbanks & Beards of Boston. He came to the Pacific coast in 1855, at which time the work of development had been carried forward but slightly. He arrived in San Francisco when it was a compara- tively small and unimportant place and from that time forward was closely associated with western interests and became one of the best known figures on the Pacific coast. He secured a position as omnibus driver for one of the leading hotels of San Fran- cisco but was attracted by the gold discoveries to the north and started for Alaska. On reaching Victoria, B. C., which was then a small hamlet containing only one store besides the buildings of the Hudson Bay Company, he heard of the gold dis- coveries at Fraser river and decided to try his fortune there. On the way he had purchased at the store of the Hudson's Bay Company some so-called self-raising flour, and he often humorously related that after reaching the mouth of the Fraser they landed and began to cook with that self-raising flour, but it would not raise worth a cent, "and the flapjacks we manufactured out of it stuck like glue to the cottonwood logs we spread them on." On the 29th of April, 1858, the party with which Mr. McCoy traveled reached Hill's bar and it was not long after that the first steamer made its way up the waters of the Fraser, having come from Sacramento in May, 1858. The vessel was called the Surprise and was piloted up the river by a big Indian, whose head the passengers had adorned with a tall silk hat. Other vessels soon made the trip, the second being the Seabird and the third the Wright.
Mr. McCoy was the first man to engage in the express business in British Colum- bia, but the following year he sold out to the firm of Kent & Smith. He was also one of the first party to reach the Cariboo mines in the fall of 1859 and he kept a store in that vicinity where he sold gum boots at seventy-five dollars per pair, nails at seventy-five cents per pound and canvas at eight dollars per yard. His reminiscences of pioneer times throughout the Pacific coast country were always most interesting and gave a clear and vivid picture of conditions that then existed. Not finding the gold he had expected in the Fraser River district, he returned to Bellingham Bay in 1858 and assisted in mapping out the present city of Bellingham on the Lower Sound. He then became interested in steam navigation to the gold fields and accom- panied Captain Roeder on an expedition up the Fraser with the first steamer to ply its waters. Port Hope was reached and a plan was formed to make an overland trail from the Sound to that point by a shorter route. Mr. McCoy undertook the super- vision of the work and afterward established the first express line from Whatcom, as Bellingham was then called, to the diggings. This did not bring the anticipated finan- cial success, however, and after a few years Mr. McCoy returned to the States, settling at Baker City, Oregon, in 1871. A year afterward he removed to Walla Walla, where for twenty-five years he made his home and during this period was manager of stage lines extending into Idaho and carrying the United States mails, which were con- veyed either in the boot of the stage or by pony express. Territory contracting gave Mr. McCoy an insight into government business and eventually led him to secure a contract for carrying mails from the post office to the ferries and depots, known as the city service. He was at one time president of the Northwestern Steamship & Transpor-
CHRISTOPHER C. McCOY
197
HISTORY OF OREGON
tation Company of Portland and in 1893 was in charge of over three hundred mail routes. His last years were spent in Portland and thus he returned to the city with the business interests of which he had been identified in early pioneer times.
It was in 1871, in Baker City, Oregon, that Mr. McCoy was united in marriage to Miss Martha Walker, who survives him and yet makes her home in Portland, where the death of Mr. McCoy occurred on the 18th of October, 1905. He was a well known member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and when he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Walla Walla many of his brethren of the fraternity attended the funeral. He had been a charter member of Walla Walla Lodge and the order paid its last tribute to the man who aided in making history on the Pacific coast. There was no phase of pioneer development or experience in the northwest with which Mr. McCoy was not familiar and there was no man more thoroughly acquainted with mail service interests and the development of stage lines than he. In his later years he main- tained an office as mail service attorney in the Worcester block in Portland and also had an eastern office in Washington, D. C., with Finley & Zeverly as associates. To talk with him concerning pioneer times was to receive a most interesting account of the early days with their hardships, trials and privations, their excitement and their opportunities. He was in every way familiar with the development of the north- west and took a most important part in framing the history of this section of the country.
TRUVELLE DE LARHUE.
Truvelle De Larhue, who is a well known ophthalmologist of The Dalles, was born in Iowa in 1894, his parents being D. C. and Blanche (Wolgamott) De Larhue, both of whom were natives of France. The father was for many years the commercial agent of France in the United States. D. C. De Larhue died when his son Truvelle was a small lad and the mother afterwards removed to Montana, in which state Truvelle acquired his primary education. Later the family came to Oregon and the young man completed his studies in Portland, where he took up the profession of ophthalmology. He was graduated from the De Keyser Institute at Portland in 1919. Learning that there was no exclusive optometrist practicing between Portland and Pendleton, he traveled over the country in search of a location that would furnish an excellent climate and other attractive attributes. He selected The Dalles and opened an office in the Vogt block on Second street, where he has since served the people of Wasco and sur- rounding counties on both sides of the Columbia river, gaining an excellent practice and a well deserved reputation.
In 1916 Dr. De Larhue was married to Miss Luella Nagues of Meagher county, Montana, a daughter of George Nagues, a well known and successful cattle breeder of that section, who was also for years a prominent political factor in Montana and has for the past decade occupied the post of sheriff, being elected several times to the office without opposition. Mr. Nagues has held various other public offices in Meagher county, including that of county commissioner.
Dr. De Larhue tendered his services to the government in the World war, but was placed in class 2 and was never called. He confines his attention to his professional interests and duties and is thoroughly equipped for the scientific examination of the eye, having studied broadly along this line. He treats all errors of the eye through the use of lenses but performs no surgical operations, holding that such is the work of a graduate surgeon. This ethical position which he has taken has very properly won for him many friends in the medical profession. He is enjoying an extensive practice and at the same time has won the high regard of all with whom professional and social relations have brought him into contact since becoming a resident of The Dalles.
GENERAL WILLIAM HOLMAN ODELL.
It is imperative that mention be made of General William Holman Odell, who in large measure left the impress of his individuality upon the pioneer history and later development of Oregon. He was born in Carroll county, Indiana, December 25, 1830, his parents being John and Sarah (Holman) Odell. The father was born in South
198
HISTORY OF OREGON
Carolina, April 21, 1799, and in 1803 accompanied his parents to Wayne county, Ohio, while in 1808 a removal was made to Wayne county, Indiana, where John Odell grew to manhood, and there on the 30th of March, 1820, he was married to Sarah Holman, who was born in Kentucky, December 10, 1803. The death of John Odell occurred March 31, 1869, while his widow survived for a number of years, passing away Jan- uary 1, 1887.
William H. Odell pursued his education in the district schools of Indiana and also spent two years as a student in Willamette University at Salem, Oregon, following the removal of the family to the northwest. On starting out in the business world W. H. Odell spent five years as a farmer of Yamhill county, Oregon, and subsequent to his first marriage he took up the profession of teaching, being for three years a teacher in the Santiam Academy in Lebanon. For a year he was a public school teacher in Albany, Oregon, and in 1864 removed to Eugene, where he accepted the position of United States deputy surveyor of public lands. In this connection he explored and surveyed the line of road for the Willamette Military Wagon Road Com- pany, from Eugene via the middle fork of the Willamette to the eastern terminus. He also superintended the construction of the road from Crescent lake eastward to the Idaho line. In 1871 he was appointed to the position of surveyor general of the district of Oregon and in 1876 was chosen the presidential elector and carried the re- turns to Washington. He spent the winter in the national capital and witnessed the inauguration of President Hayes.
Following his return to Oregon, Mr. Odell in 1877 purchased the Oregon Statesman which he published for six years. In the interim he served for two years as state printer, filling out an unexpired term, his predecessor in the office having died. In 1885 General Odell was appointed postmaster at Salem and occupied the position for four years. In 1891-2 he was employed as locating engineer in the allotment of lands to the Indians on the Siletz reservation and was appointed a commissioner in conjunc- tion with Judge R. P. Boise and Colonel Harding to negotiate a treaty with the Indians for the sale of the lands not allotted on the reservation. He was again called to public office when in 1895 he was elected clerk of the state land board and occupied that position for four years. Since the expiration of his term, or 1899, he has lived retired, enjoying a well earned rest. His life has largely been devoted to public service and has at all times been characterized by the utmost fidelity to duty in every relation. The cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart champion and for sixteen years, ending in 1904, he was a member of the board of trustees and president of the board of Willamette University.
On the 16th of October, 1855, Mr. Odell was united in marriage to Elizabeth F. McLench, who was born in Kennebec county, Maine, December 23, 1816, and passed away at Portland, Oregon, March 31, 1890. In 1844 she became the wife of Samuel R. Thurston and in 1846 they removed to Iowa, living in Burlington for a year and then crossing the plains in 1847. They resided at Oregon City until Mr. Thurston was elected a delegate to congress and she remained in the west, meeting the hardships and diffi- culties of frontier life in order to care for their little family and aid in the pioneer development of the region while her husband was absent from home on the duties that took him to Washington. While he was on the return trip in 1851, death called him. In 1853 his widow became preceptress in Willamette University and filled the position for two years, bringing to her educational work unusual ability, both natural and acquired. She had not only been well trained in the English branches of learning but was also proficient in Latin, Italian, French and Spanish. In 1855 she became the wife of W. H. Odell and accompanied her husband on various removals previously in- dicated in this record. After the family home was established in Eugene in 1864 Mr. Odell, then engaged in civil engineering, was necessarily much from home and to beguile the hours Mrs. Odell opened a private school. In 1877 they removed to Salem and in 1889 went to live with their daughter, Mrs. Stowell, in Portland, where about a year later Mrs. Odell passed away. Her pallbearers were some of the most distin- guished men of the state, who thus paid their last tribute of respect to one whose career was typical of American Christian womanhood. By her first marriage she had a son, George H. Thurston, and a daughter, Mrs. A. W. Stowell, deceased.
Four years later, on the 23d of May, 1894, General Odell was married to Mrs. Carrie Bright Taylor, who was born July 29, 1834, and was left an orphan in infancy. She was reared as a member of Dr. Walker's family in Kentucky, and after attending the public schools she became a student in Columbia College and was graduated in English, Latin and music. She taught for five years in country schools and for two years in Columbia
199
HISTORY OF OREGON
College, and in 1861 she became the wife of Dr. James Gwinn Taylor who passed away August 11, 1889. Five years later she became the wife of General Odell and for twenty- five years they traveled life's journey happily together, the death of Mrs. Odell occurring July 4, 1919. The funeral service bore testimony to her high worth. In the funeral oration it was said: "Mrs. Odell knew the dignity of human life, prized her inheritance as a Christian and looked at life and its problems in a philosophical way. She grew to God like a flower, or a tree. She did not suppress and stamp out the upliftings of her spirit. * * * Her faith expressed itself in terms of service. Her motto might well have been that of the Master himself, 'I am among you as one that serves.' She loved to serve and the joy of her life was in doing something helpful for others."
General Odell has for seventy-five years been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a lay delegate to the general conference in May, 1900, and also to the general conference in Los Angeles in 1904, serving on the latter occasion as alternate and filling out half of the term. Fraternally he has been connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen since 1888. His political allegiance was first given to the whig party and since its dissolution he has been a stalwart champion of republican principles. His life has been one of great activity and usefulness and he has reached the evening of his days-being now a nonagenarian-crowned with the honor and re- spect which are the legitimate outgrowth of an upright life.
SIDNEY EUGENE WOOSTER.
One of the most prominent real estate and business men of Clackamas county is Sidney E. Wooster, who resides at Estacada. He is a Missourian, his birth having taken place in that state in 1865. His father, Jonathan Wooster, was a native of Maine, whose forebears had settled in New England long before the Revolutionary war. For fifty years Captain Jonathan Wooster followed the sea, but in 1861, deciding to spend the remainder of his life on land, he settled in Missouri and there remained until 1877, when he removed to Oregon and became a settler of Clackamas county. He purchased a farm and the town of Estacada is built upon a corner of the first farm on which he lived. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this review was a gallant soldier and fought under Jackson in the War of 1812.
S. E. Wooster received such education as the new country afforded and worked on his father's farm until he was eighteen years of age. Seeking further opportunities Mr. Wooster removed from his father's farm to Idaho, where he engaged in mercan- tile pursuits for some years. He also learned the carpenter trade and followed that line for a period. In 1891 Mr. Wooster was married and in 1907, they removed to Estacada and since that time have taken a leading place in the upbuilding of that section of Oregon. Mr. Wooster operates a farm of eighty-seven acres in the Garfield district, sixty acres of which are devoted to grain. As a real estate dealer he has the largest trade of any man in like business in the county as is evidenced by the sale of more than thirty-six thousand dollars worth of land in the month of August. Besides his real estate and farming interests Mr. Wooster is a public spirited man and he has held the office of councilman and is at present the city recorder of Estacada.
Much of Mr. Wooster's present-day success may be attributed to the encourage- ment and cooperation of his wife, to whom he was married in 1891. She was, pre- vious to her marriage, Miss Emma Harris, daughter of B. E. Harris, who crossed the plains in 1863 by ox team from his home in Missouri. Her father to the time of his death was the oldest living Mason in Oregon and her brother, R. L. Harris, who is mayor of Dayton, is the highest Odd Fellow in the state. The Harris family are of old Pennsylvania stock and the grandfather of Mrs. Wooster owned and laid out the town of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wooster: Harold E., who is engaged in farming; and Helen, a young lady of many accomplish- ments, who has just graduated from high school and is preparing for a university course.
Fraternally Mr. Wooster is a Mason and Mrs. Wooster is a member of the Metlio- dist church and one of its board of trustees. She is of much assistance to her hus- band in the real estate business. Mr. Wooster is the fiduciary agent of the loan depart- ment of the Union Central Life Insurance Company and has invested large sums for that corporation. During the World war both Mr. and Mrs. Wooster were among the most active citizens in the community in all kinds of war work. In the Liberty
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.