USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 32
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In 1901 Mr. Ritter was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Elizabeth Foster. a daughter of William O. Foster of Jackson, Michigan, and a niece of Senator Thomas Foster. One child has been born to their union, Morrill E., II. Mrs. Ritter, her health
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entirely restored, is truly her husband's helpmate and is a licensed embalmer, being the first woman to receive such a license in Douglas county.
Fraternally Mr. Ritter is well known as a Mason, an Odd Fellow and an Elk and in the line of his profession he is a member of the State and National Associations of Funeral Directors. Both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Ritter is a vestryman and clerk of the board. He takes an active interest in all civic affairs and is readily conceded to be a representative citizen of Roseburg and Douglas county.
WILBUR HINES THOMPSON, M. D.
Dr. Wilbur Hines Thompson, engaged in the practice of medicine at Hood River, was born in Braidwood, Illinois, in 1892, his parents being Alfred and Elizabeth Ann (Clark) Thompson, both of whom were of English descent. The father is a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and a man of much ability, who holds several honorary degrees. His work in America and especially in Oregon has been of great value to the church and his labors have been indeed potent forces in the moral progress of the communities in which he has lived. He is a man of broad sympathy as well as an earnest theologian and his ready understanding of his fellowmen has enabled him to do splendid work in calling out the good in others. He has been instrumental in erecting many churches during the twenty-five years in which he has lahored in Oregon. His last charge was at Gresham, Oregon, where he still lives, having retired from the ministry. He is greatly beloved by the people of that locality and hy all whom he has served in his ministerial capacity elsewhere.
Dr. Thompson, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the schools of Dayton, Washington, and in the Gresham high school before entering the University of Oregon at Eugene. He prepared for his professional career as a student in the medical department of the University of Oregon at Portland, from which he was graduated in 1916. He then entered the Multnomah Hospital, where he served for a year. In 1917 he took up active practice in Newport, Oregon, and when the call to the colors came during the World war he became acting assistant surgeon of the United States public health department, which automatically transferred him to the United States navy, and for two and a half years his services were thus given to his country. Upon the cessation of hostilities with Germany, Dr. Thompson located at Hood River and established offices in the Elliott block, where he is rapidly building up an extensive and gratifying practice.
In 1918 Dr. Thompson was married to Miss Ethel B. Wilkinson, daughter of Alexander W. Wilkinson of Gresham, representing one of the pioneer families of Wis- consin. Mrs. Thompson had been a classmate of her husband in their high school days at Gresham. She is an accomplished musician and is also a devotee of outdoor life and athletics. Dr. Thompson is an athlete, who developed much skill and prowess in that direction during his college days. He is a football and baseball enthusiast and the love of nature which is shared by both Dr. and Mrs. Thompson results in many trips among the hills of the Hood River valley and fishing excursions to its mountain streams, the Doctor claiming that his wife is the best fishing comrade in the state.
CHARLES WATEROUS KELLY.
One of the most prominent and widely known men in enterprising Oregon City, is Charles W. Kelly. He has been an important factor in business circles and his prosperity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unhending integrity, unabating energy, and industry that never flags. He is public-spirited, giv- ing his cooperation to every movement which tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of the community. He is a native of Oregon, born in this state September 9, 1864, and his parents were E. D. and Lucy (Waterous) Kelly who had come to Oregon in 1856. The Waterous family were pioneers of Michigan. E. D. Kelly was a native of New York state and first came to Oregon in 1853, hut did not remain at that time. He became one of the most popular citizens of Clackamas county
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and held several offices. He was a member of the city council of Oregon City for many years, was treasurer of Clackamas county and postmaster of Oregon City under the administration of President Cleveland.
Charles W. Kelly's education was received in the schools of Oregon City and im- mediately upon leaving school he went to work in the woolen mills, his father not approving of idleness. Here he worked for some time and later entered business on his own account, being so successful that in 1910 he retired from active business life. He is, however, ever willing to serve his community and to that end is a member of the city council of Oregon City and though a democrat in a strong republican section, he wields considerable influence on the board because of the fact that there is no man more progressive and none more willing to come to the front with pure unself- ishness in all matters concerning the development of his native city and state than is Mr. Kelly. He owns a farm near Canby but declines to be considered an agricul- turist, as he claims that his place is but a spot on which to spend his vacations in peace and rest.
Mr. Kelly married Miss Martha Jane Blount, a daughter of William Blount, an Oregon pioneer of 1852 and a respected and well-to-do farmer of Canby. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelly four children were born: Bernice, the wife of Dr. Lester G. Ice, a promi- nent dentist of Oregon City, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Genevieve L., wife of Lloyd Bernier; Mrs. Veta L. Barry; and Walter Leo; the latter two children dying within a year of each other-Mrs. Barry as a result of the influenza, in Feb- ruary, 1918, and Walter in 1919. Walter had served as a volunteer in the World war as a member of Company A, Sixty-third Infantry. The loss of these two children was a severe blow to their family and to the community.
No man in any public office is a more earnest representative of his constituents than is Mr. Kelly. He is a firm believer that in America the people should be rulers in fact as well as in name, and that the holder of any public office is but a servant of the people and should follow their wishes and not his own in all public affairs. As a progressive democrat he believes that his party is the party of advancement, as a friend he can be relied upon at all times, and as a citizen he would be an asset to any community.
JACOB GEIGER.
Jacob Geiger, who through the years of his active business life in Portland was engaged in contracting and building, was born in Germany in 1856, a son of Conrad and Christina Geiger. The years of his boyhood and youth were passed in his native country and in 1882, when twenty-six years of age, he came to the United States, settling first in Chicago, where he worked at the cabinet-maker's trade, which he had previously learned and followed in his native land.
It was in the year 1884 on March 29th, that Jacob Geiger was united in marriage to Miss Louise Bahret, a daughter of Jacob and Louise Bahret, who came to the United States in 1870, settling in Poughkeepsie, New York, where they passed their remaining days. In 1888, after having resided in Chicago for five years subsequent to his mar- riage, Mr. Geiger brought his family to Portland and here established business as a contractor and builder. He was identified with the furniture business in Portland and thus contributed in substantial way to the development and improvement of the city to the time of his demise. He thoroughly understood every phase of the furniture business and of the scientific principles which underlay his work, and he was widely recognized as a man of great thoroughness and skill in his chosen line.
To Mr. and Mrs. Geiger were born six children: Clara, who died at the age of thirty-two years; Frieda; Edward D., living in Portland; William Walter, who enlisted in the Ninety-first Division, Company 347, trained at Camp Lewis, was promoted to sergeant, later sergeant major, spent one year at the front in France and was in the three last battles of the war; Edward enlisted and was assigned as sergeant to office work in the war department at Washington, D. C .; Eda, who died at the age of two years and four months; and one who died in infancy. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on the 21st of June, 1920, Mr. Geiger passed away. He was a member of the Evangelical church and guided his life by the most advanced and honorable principles. His political allegiance was given to the republican party, which he supported from the time that he became a naturalized American citizen. For almost
JACOB GEIGER
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three decades he lived in Portland, where he was widely and favorably known, his busi- ness integrity and enterprise winning him a most creditable position as a representa- tive of the industrial interests of the city.
JOHN JOSEPH SUMMER.
John J. Summer, a well known citizen of The Dalles, where for several years he has been engaged in the sheet metal business, is a native son of Oregon, horn in Portland in February, 1890, his parents, John and Theresa (Orthafer) Summer, having come to this state in 1880. He was educated in Portland, where he attended the graded and high schools, and later learned the trade of a sheet metal worker, after which he worked as a journeyman for some years. In 1914 he determined to start out in business for himself. He selected The Dalles for a location and established a shop, where he engaged in the handling of sheet metal work. His progress was steady for the next three years, but in 1917, when this country entered the war against Germany, he became fired with the desire to aid his native land and, closing his shop, he volunteered for service in the aviation corps.
Mr. Summer was sent to Kelley Field, Texas, where he remained for about two months, when he was transferred to the aviation field at Mineola, New York. Shortly after his transfer he was put in charge of the metal repair department of that camp, which was the repair station of five flying fields. This was held to he a high compli- ment to Mr. Summer but it was in no way to his liking, for he was most anxious to be sent overseas and handle the Hun at short range. His commandant, however, insisted that his ability as a metal worker was of more importance here at home than it could be in Europe, so for the next eleven months he remained in charge of the metal department of that field, rendering excellent service which received due recog- nition. On February 7, 1919, Mr. Summer was ordered to Camp Lewis, Washington, for demobilization, and a few days later he was discharged from the service with the rank of first class sergeant.
Following his discharge he immediately returned to The Dalles and reopened his shop, where he has since been carrying on business. His plant has a floor space of sixteen hundred square feet, is modernly equipped with all the newest laboresaving devices pertaining to the sheet metal trade, and he is giving employment to a number of skilled artisans. His place is credited with being the largest and most complete of its kind between Portland and Pendleton, and there is nothing that can be made of sheet metal that cannot be turned out. The trade of the shop covers all the sur- rounding Oregon counties and those counties in Washington that border on the upper Columbia river. Mr. Summer has handled contracts for the government, and the work for the Warm Springs Indian reservation and for the United States reclamation service was turned out of his shop.
Mr. Summer is a Mason and an Elk and is also a member of the Order of Moose and of the Sons of Herman. He has been active in the Knights and Ladies of Security and has filled all the chairs in that organization. In other directions he has given of his time and ahility toward the furtherance of all projects calculated to elevate and advance the welfare of the community. Mr. Summer is a worthy son of Oregon and is universally esteemed hy his fellow citizens.
GEORGE WALTER GATES.
George Walter Gates, who for fourteen years has been engaged in the wholesale lumber business in Portland under the name of G. W. Gates & Company and who has likewise been connected with lumber manufacturing interests, was horn in St. Louis, Missouri, February 17, 1872, his parents being George Porterfield and Elizabeth (Emery) Gates. He is a representative of one of the old and distinguished American families. His great-great-uncle was General Gates, who served on the staff of George Washington in the Revolutionary war. His father was a hanker and miller of St. Louis who for many years conducted extensive and important husiness interests in that city. To him and his wife were born five children, three daughters and two sons.
G. Walter Gates, the fourth in order of birth in this family, was accorded liberal
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educational opportunities, completing a course in the Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, with the class of 1890, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was con- ferred upon him. Throughout his entire life he has been identified with the lumber trade. He first went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he hecame associated with the American Lumber Manufacturing Company, there continuing until 1906, when he disposed of his interests in the east and crossed the continent to Oregon. After establishing his home in Portland he organized the firm of G. W. Gates & Company to engage in the wholesale lumber business, selling only to the trade. Throughout the intervening period he has been active along this line and has developed a business of very extensive and gratifying proportions. He also took up the manufacture of lumber as a member of the St. Johns Lumber Company and at one time was president of the Oregon. Taxicab Company, which was organized in 1909. He is now concentra- ting his efforts and energies, however, upon the wholesale lumber business and in this connection has developed an enterprise that is bringing most gratifying returns. He is thoroughly familiar with every phase of the trade and his close application, inde- fatigahle energy and persistency of purpose have been the salient features in winning for him the creditable position which he occupies as a representative of lumber in- terests in the northwest. Mr. Gates is a widower with one child, a hoy, G. Walter, Jr., who is a freshman at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Politically Mr. Gates has always heen an earnest republican and has given un- faltering support to the principles of the party without desire for office. He attends Trinity church and is a member of the Arlington Club, the Waverly Golf Club and the Hunt Club. He also belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and is much interested in everything that has to do with the welfare and development of the city. His has been a well rounded development. He has never allowed business to so monopolize his time and attention that it has excluded his connection with other interests which make for pleasure and for progress in life. At the same time in his business affairs he has displayed sound judgment, combined with a recognition and utilization of opportunities, and through an' orderly progression has advanced to a most creditable and enviable place as a representative of the wholesale lumber trade in this state.
WILLIAM ALFRED CARTER.
William Alfred Carter engaged in law practice in Portland was born on a farm near Greeneville, Tennessee, June 7, 1874. His father, Louis A. Carter, was also a native of Tennessee, born in 1852. In early life he followed farming and while still in his native state was married in 1871 to Sarah Carter, who was horn in Tennessee, a daughter of Wiley B. Carter. After coming to Oregon Louis A. Carter turned his attention to mining and is now engaged in mining at Douglas, Arizona. His wife passed away in Gold Hill, Oregon, in 1893.
William A. Carter spent the first fifteen years of his life in the place of his nativity and attended the schools of Greeneville until 1889. In the following year his people removed to Willow Springs, Missouri, and at that place William A. Carter attended high school and later completed a course in the Willow Springs Business College with the class of 1891. It was at that time that his parents removed with their family to Gold Hill, Oregon, and through the succeeding seventeen years was a resident of that place, coming to Portland in 1908. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law and was admitted to practice at the Oregon har in 1899. For the past twelve years he has followed his profession in Portland and his ability has gained him a creditable place among the able lawyers of the Multnomah county bar. He is an able representative of the calling to which property, rights, life and liberty must look for protection, thereby enjoying the unqualified confidence and respect of his contem- poraries and' colleagues.
On the 31st of December, 1900, in Salem, Oregon, Mr. Carter was married to Miss Ethel B. Hughes, a daughter of the late John and Emma P. Hughes, pioneers of Salem, and they have become parents of three children: John Hughes, born June 9, 1903; Bernice J., born February 14, 1905; and William, born October 8, 1907. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Carter takes active and helpful interest in the church work and is now serving on the official hoard of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Portland. His political endorse- ment is given to the republican party and in 1901 he was a member of the state
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legislature from Jackson county, Oregon. For many years he has been a recognized leader in party affairs and in 1912 was a candidate for the republican nomination for governor. In the general assembly he introduced and urged the passage of a bill lowering the railroad rates from four to three cents a mile. He closely studied every vital problem which came up for settlement before the general assembly and his posi- tion upon any important measure was never an equivocal one. He is never afraid to announce his honest opinion and he has always been actuated by a spirit of patriotism that was strongly manifest during the war period. He served on the legal advisory board and was one of the official speakers for the bond drives in the northwest. His clear and forceful utterances are constituted an educational factor in enlightening the people concerning the real issues and conditions that grew out of the war. In Masonic circles, too, Mr. Carter is well known. He has attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite and is a noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is a past grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows having served in 1907 and 1908. He like- wise belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a life member of the Press Club and in these organizations enjoys the high esteem of all who know him.
CHAUNCEY IRA CALKINS.
Chauncey Ira Calkins, president of the Bank of Sherwood and one of the promi- nent citizens of the town, was born February 28, 1870, the son of Sylvanus and Hannah Elizabeth (Kilbourn) Calkins. Sylvanus Calkins came of sturdy Welsh ancestors who settled in America before the Revolution and whose sons drifted from the first American home of the family and have through the years carried the name with credit. The grandfather of Chauncey Ira Calkins settled in the middle west, first in Illinois, then in Missouri and later in Iowa where he died. Sylvanus Calkins, his son, enlisted in the Mexican war from Iowa in 1846 and served in the famous Mormon Battalion, when after much arduous marching they served their country and were discharged at San Luis Rey Mission, California. The members of this heroic band afterward became the pioneers of California, Oregon and Nevada, and to them much of the important growth of the Pacific coast is due. They made homes on the coast before the days of the California gold rush of 1849 and before the pioneers of Oregon came. Sylvanus Calkins remained on the coast for three years after his honorable discharge from the service of his country and engaged in mining. Returning then to the east he met Miss Hannah Elizabeth Kilbourn, at Salt Lake City, and they were married. They lived in Utah until 1853 or '54 when they went to Iowa and in 1864 came across the plains to Oregon. His prosperous farm and property were destroyed by the Indians in the Utah Indian wars and with the remnant of his possessions he located at Lafayette, in Yamhill county where he remained for four years. In 1868 he moved to Clackamas county and purchased some two hundred acres of land one mile and a half southeast of Sherwood and remained there until his death, being accounted one of the best and most popular farmers in the county. It was on this farm that his son Chauncey was born. He still owns this farm and counts it one of his most treasured possessions.
Chauncey Ira Calkins was educated in the grades and high school of Sherwood, later attending the Newberg Academy. He remained on the farm until 1914 when he became assistant cashier of the Bank of Sherwood. In 1919 he became cashier and in a few months was promoted to the presidency, which position he still holds. Though having devoted himself to the farm work for so many years of his life Mr. Calkins has shown wonderful adaptability for finance and is regarded as one of the most astute bankers of the state.
He was married in April, 1895, to Miss Ida Isabella Fisher, daughter of Green B. Fisher, one of the pioneers of California and a resident of Oregon since 1864. They have four children, Elizabeth Jane, who is a teacher at Pleasant View; Zeneth Fay, a student at the Newberg College; Ralph Vane and Chauncey who are pupils of the grade schools at Sherwood.
Mrs. Calkins is one of the leading women of Sherwood in social and civic activities. Mr. Calkins is a Mason and has filled all the chairs in the Blue lodge. He is now advancing in the Scottish Rite degrees to Shrinedom. He has filled all the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is member of the Eastern Star. Mr. Calkins was one of the founders of the Sherwood Commercial Club and has been its
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treasurer since it was organized. He is a member of the County and State Banking Societies and of the American Bankers Association. The Calkins home is one of the most modern in the town and is the center of Sherwood's social doings.
F. N. DERBY.
F. N. Derby is now living practically retired in Salem, devoting his attention to the supervision of his various interests, although he still deals to some extent in real estate, maintaining an office in the Oregon building. In former years he operated largely in the field of real estate, in which he was very successful, and his activities have constituted a valuable element in the substantial upbuilding and progress of his section of the state.
Mr. Derby was born in Union City, Indiana, on the 11th of October, 1855, a son of George A. and Malinda (Brown) Derby. The father was born in Newark, Licking county, Ohio, in 1820, and the mother's birth occurred in Vermont in 1826. They were married in Newark, Ohio, and in 1854 moved to Union City, Indiana, whence they removed to Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1856. There they remained until 1871, when they went with their family to Nebraska, the father purchasing a quantity of cheap railroad land forty miles west of Lincoln. Subsequently he laid out the town of Utica and in the task of surveying the townsite was assisted by his son, F. N. Derby, who thus received his initial experience in real estate operations. While residing in Iowa the father served as sheriff of Wapello county during the period of the Civil war and also had charge of the army draft at that time. He gave his political allegiance to the repub- lican party and throughout his life was very active in politics. At one time he was a candidate for the position of warden of the penitentiary and lacked but a single vote for election, while at another time, when a candidate for a member of Congress from Nebraska, the election was very close. His death occurred in 1902, and his wife passed away in 1892, both dying at Lincoln, Nebraska. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom the subject of this review was the youngest.
F. N. Derby was reared in Ottumwa, Iowa, and in the common schools of that city he acquired his education. When nineteen years of age he removed to the northwestern part of Iowa, locating in O'Brien county. Accepting a clerical position in a store, he there remained for two years, when he was elected county clerk of O'Brien county, an office which he held until his election two years later to the office of county treasurer, and for six years he served in that capacity. In 1892 he came to Salem, Oregon, and here engaged in the real estate business under the name of the Pacific Land & Orchard Company. He purchased a large tract of land which he subdivided into small tracts of from five to twenty acres, his being the pioneer enterprise of the kind in that locality. His action met with much unfavorable criticism at first, but time has proven the wis- dom of his judgment, for these small tracts have been devoted to the cultivation of fruits and berries and have been a source of much profit to the owners. He carried on his operations along this line on a very extensive scale, subdividing thousands of acres. His connection with any undertaking insures a prosperous outcome of the same, for he is a man of determined purpose who carries through to successful completion. whatever he undertakes. Taking over the old horse car line, he converted it into an electric railway, making it a paying proposition, and the property was subsequently purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, which is the present owner. He was at one time a partner of J. W. Willson and under the firm style of Derby & Willson they conducted a large and profitable real estate business, negotiating many important realty transfers. Mr. Derby also erected the Derby block, a modern office building, and a large warehouse, which he sold in 1919 to the Phex Company. He has also been interested in horticulture, owning a fourteen acre peach ranch four miles north of Salem. His orchard contained fifteen hundred trees, and from one hundred of these trees he took the following yield: eighty-two boxes the first year of bearing; two hundred and fifty boxes the second year; three hundred and fifty-five boxes the third year; four hundred and twenty boxes the fourth year; and seven hundred and eighty-five boxes when they were seven years old. Not one of the original one hundred trees died and in the fourth year about one-half of the entire number were bearing. In his orchard there were sixteen varieties of peaches and he was most successful in his fruit-raising operations, but in 1919 disposed of his ranch. Being a man of resourceful business ability, he turned his attention to other lines of activity and in 1902 he went to Daw-
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