USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 52
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In 1905 Mr. Simmons was married to Miss Katherine Neal, a daughter of J. T. and Mary Elizabeth (Fuller) Neal, the former a native of Kentucky, while the latter was born in Texas.
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Mr. Simmons was a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. His lodge relationship was with Columbia Lodge, No. 114, A. F. & A. M., and he was always a most worthy follower of the craft. He likewise belonged to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and became a member of the Mystic Shrine. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he took a very active and helpful part. He never figured prominently in politics but gave his support to the democratic party. At the time of the World war he served as legal adviser of the selective service system and did everything in his power to advance the interests of the country in its relations to the allies and the prosecution of the war. Mrs. Simmons still makes her home in Portland and is the secretary of the Portland Rose Society. She is also a singer of note and has sung for the Multnomah Bar Association and for many of the leading social events in the northwest. She has also written articles for several musical magazines. It has been written of her: "Katherine Neal-Simmons is one of the excep- tions. She can delight you with a mixed program of oratorio selections, recital songs, operatic arias and concert and folk ballads, and then, with subtle insight into the Indian lore, and with appropriate stage scenery and costumes, take you off into the mystic land of the Indian, depicting with intense feeling the picturesque lyrics and ballads of the 'first Americans.' A splendid personality, coupled with a rich dramatic soprano, make Katherine Neal-Simmons one of the most interesting of American singers. Her programs are versatile and appealing. Born and reared in the south, she brings into her programs the warmth of nature and sympathetic interpetation usually associated with a Southerner." Most favorable criticism has appeared concerning her art in the leading newspapers, not only of the northwest but of various sections of the country and in a number of the leading musical journals.
JAMES M. KYLE.
James M. Kyle, mayor of Stanfield, has for many years been a prominent factor in the agricultural circles of Umatilla county. A native of Ohio he was born at Cam- bridge, Guernsey county, on the 2d day of July, 1869, a son of David and Marget (Wal- lace) Kyle, the former a native of Belmont county, Ohio, and the mother a native of Guernsey county. The father spent the greater part of his life at Cambridge, where he owned and operated a granite works and there he and his wife passed away. He was a stanch republican and both Mr. and Mrs. Kyle were consistent members of the United Presbyterian church.
James M. Kyle received his education in Cambridge, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he removed to Salem, Oregon, and was connected with the Salem Canning Company for a number of years. He then started into business on his own account, conducting a fruit and produce establishment until 1904, when he went to California, residing in that state for one year. Returning to Oregon he spent some time in the produce business in Portland, but in March, 1907, removed to the Furnish project at what is now Stanfield. then being only a sidetrack called Foster. There Mr. Kyle, in connection with F. H. Page, improved one hundred and sixty acres of land, one and three-quarters miles northeast of the present depot, which they operated with a gratifying amount of success for two years. They have the distinction of putting into cultivation the first land on this project. For the following two years Mr. Kyle was associated with Dr. Henry W. Coe of Portland in the coloni- zation of the project and in December, 1910, he was elected to the office of mayor, the town of Stanfield having become a reality. His popularity in this office is manifest in his re-election in 1912, and although not a candidate for the office in 1914 he was elected but resigned in 1916. In 'December, 1918, he was again elected to that im- portant position and is now serving his fellow citizens to the best of his ability, en- deavoring in every way to promote the improvement and welfare of the community. He is the owner of fifty acres on the project, which he is actively operating. Always having at heart the interests of the community and wishing to do everything in his power to assist in furthering any movement for the general good, he has been one of the important factors in the fruit industry of the state, prominent in the tree planting campaign and a tireless worker in the good roads movement.
In 1894 Mr. Kyle was married to Miss Jennie Gray, a daughter of George W. and Prudence (Minerva) Gray, and a native of Iowa. Two children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kyle: Gray and Hugh W.
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The political faith of Mr. Kyle is that of the republican party, in the activities of which he takes a keen interest. Fraternally he is a member of the Masons, Elks and the Odd Fellows, taking a prominent part in the affairs of these organizations. In both political and private life Mr. Kyle has achieved a gratifying amount of suc- cess and he is a man any community would be proud to have as a citizen.
DR. EMMETT ROSCOE LYDA.
Dr. Emmett R. Lyda, a well known osteopath, with offices in The Dalles, Oregon and in Los Angeles, California, has for a partner in practice his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyda. He was born in Adair county, Missouri. In 1885, a son of Dr. Wood and Mar- garet (Meeks) Lyda, both of whom were members of old pioneer families of that state. His maternal grandfather, Judge George Meeks, was judge of the probate court and a distinguished member of the Missouri bar.
Emmett R. Lyda was educated in the graded schools of Kirksville, at the State Normal School and at the University of Missouri. Later he took up the study of oste- opathy at the American School of Osteopathy, under Dr. A. A. Still, the father of that science, and was graduated from that institution in 1906. He was appointed secretary to Dr. Still and remained in that position until 1909, when he accepted the chair of osteopathic technique and chief of clinic, which he held for five years. While engaged in the discharge of the duties of these offices, Dr. Lyda took postgraduate courses in various medical colleges, and in 1913 he was graduated from the Pacific College of Medicine and Surgery.
Dr. Lyda is not only a finished technician but a master of orthopedic surgery and diagnosis. Upon his retirement from the American School of Osteopathy in 1914, his fellow professors voiced their regret at the loss of so able an associate. In that year he removed to Los Angeles, California, where he has since maintained an office and built up a large practice, which is steadily growing. It was in 1918 that he came to The Dalles, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession, and he visits Los Angeles at frequent intervals to look after the interests of his business in that city. He has come to be recognized in The Dalles as one of the foremost members of his profession, retaining the confidence of all who avail themselves of his skill and treatment.
In 1916 Dr. Lyda was married to Miss Elizabeth Eddon, of The Dalles, who is a granddaughter of the late Judge Atwater, one of the old-time residents of Wasco county, where the family has lived for several years. Mrs. Lyda, who is associated with her husband in practice under the firm name of Lyda & Lyda, is a graduate of the Los Angeles College of Physicians and Surgeons and in the treatment of cases displays equal skill and success in the handling of patients. They are the parents of one son, Wood Lyda. They take a warm interest in all the social and cultural activities of The Dalles, where their popularity is firmly established among all classes.
JUDGE LA FAYETTE MOSHER.
To know the history of a state one must know the men who have been its found- ers and promoters-they who have shaped its destiny, who have utilized its natural resources and who have builded not only for the present but for the future. One of those who aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been erected the superstructure of Oregon's greatness was Judge La Fayette Mosher, a man of high intellectual attainments, upon whom nature bestowed splendid gifts and who always used his talents wisely and well, not only for the benefit of his own interests but for the upbuilding of the commonwealth. He came to the west full of the vigor, courage and hope of young manhood, for at that time-1853-he was but twenty-eight years of age. He was born at Latonia Springs, Kenton county, Kentucky, on the 1st of Sep- tember, 1824, a son of Dr. Stephen Mosher, who was a prominent physician and also a distinguished horticulturist, his labors in that connection resulting in the pro- duction of some new and fine varieties of pears. He married Hannah Webster of Newport, Rhode Island, a lady of English lineage and a daughter of Captain Nicholas
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Webster, who served with distinction in the Merchant Marines throughout the entire Revolutionary war. He was also a member of the Humane Society of Newport and his certificate of membership, issued one hundred and twenty-five years ago, is still in existence, in possession of his great-grandchildren in Portland. The members of this Humane Society were the original life-savers. While the Webster family were among the early settlers of Rhode Island, the Mosher family was established in New York by French Huguenots who crossed the Atlantic in the early part of the seven- teenth century and for generations their descendants were prominent citizens of the lake region of the Empire state.
At the usual age La Fayette Mosher became a public school pupil and afterward entered the Old Woodward Memorial College of Cincinnati as a student on the 19th of August, 1839. He pursued his studies there for four years, completing a classical course and winning his Bachelor of Arts degree June 30, 1843. He followed a family trend in the selection of his life work, for various members of the Mosher family were engaged in medical practice and La Fayette Mosher determined to pursue the same course. His studies, however, were interrupted by the war with Mexico, for he volunteered for active duty and became a second lieutenant of the Fourth Ohio Regiment under Captain George E. Pugh. Following the resignation of Captain Pugh near the close of the war, Mr. Mosher succeeded to the command of the com- pany and directed its activities until the troops were mustered out.
Returning to his home in Cincinnati he resumed his medical studies, but during the terrible cholera scourge of 1849, when he acted as doctor's assistant and as day and night nurse, he witnessed such sufferings and horrors that he decided to give up medicine and turn his attention to the practice of law. He therefore set himself sedu- lously to the task of mastering the principles of jurisprudence and was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1852. He began practice with the firm of Pugh & Pendleton, both of whom were later members of the United States senate. The opportunities of the north- west, however, attracted Mr. Mosher and he left Cincinnati on the 27th of March, 1853, in company with General Joseph Lane, under whose command he had served in the Mexican war. He arrived in Portland on the 14th of May of that year and in this con- nection a contemporary biographer has said: "It was not the Portland of today, though there were two landmarks that have never been effaced. Mount Hood turned its smil- ing face just as it does today and the beautiful Willamette flowed by the little hamlet among the firs. Portland was too young a town to need many lawyers and Mr. Mosher. failing to secure a sufficient practice to meet his expenses, remained only a short time. He turned his face to the gold fields of southern Oregon and, locating in the old town of Jacksonville, engaged in mining near that place. The accidental discharge of his pistol wounded him in his right knee, thus ending his mining venture. He was taken into Jacksonville, where he found true and loyal friends who nursed him through this misfortune that had befallen him in a strange country. Upon recovering from his wound he joined General Joseph Lane, who was in command of the troops fighting the Rogue River Indians in the war of 1853. Not being fully recovered he did not take an active part in this campaign but acted as aide to the General. After this war he returned to Jacksonville, where he engaged in the practice of law until 1855, when he was appointed register of the United States land office at Winchester, the county seat of Douglas county, Oregon. In the fall of that year he returned to Jacksonville and offered his services to fight against the Indians in the war that broke out in 1855, but his connection with the war was short, for he was compelled to return to his duties in the land office. He, however, saw much service during the wars with the Rogue River Indians."
Throughout the period of his residence in the northwest Mr. Mosher contributed in large measure toward public progress and improvement. He continued in the land office from 1855 until 1861 and then resumed his law practice, giving such demonstra- tion of his ability as a member of the bar and of his sense of justice and his public spirit that he was elected judge of the second judicial district and by virtue of that office sat upon the supreme bench of the state, proving himself the peer of the ablest members who have graced the court of last resort in Oregon. His name is carved high on the list of eminent jurists of the northwest. He had a mind particularly free from bias or prejudice and his analytical reasoning enabled him to arrive at conclusions that were strictly fair and impartial and based upon a comprehensive knowledge of the law. When he believed himself to be right, there was in him no variableness nor shadow or turning. He was also called upon to aid in framing Oregon's laws during a term's service in the general assembly.
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On the 1st of July, 1856, Mr. Mosher was united in marriage to Miss Winifred Lane, the youngest daughter of General Joseph Lane, his old commander and friend. To them were born eight children, four sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Charles Lane Mosher, was married at Phoenix, Arizona, to Miss Hattie Lount and to them was born a daughter, Julia Winifred Mosher of Leipsic, Germany. Charles Mosher, who was a journalist of ability, died in Portland in March, 1904. The second and fourth sons, John Shirley and Henry Augustine, died in infancy, and the third son, Paul Albert, died in his twenty-seventh year. The eldest daughter, Miss Anna Mosher, is a successful nurse. Miss Winifred Mosher, the second daughter, is one of Port- land's best known teachers. Alice K. Mosher is married to John A. Willis and resides on a farm not far from Portland. The youngest daughter, Mary Emma Mosher, is the wife of John M. Cowan, keeper of the Cape Flattery lighthouse. They are the parents of eight children: Stephen Forrest, assistant keeper of the light; Shirley, a resident of Port Angeles; and Joseph Kenneth, Mary Beatrice, Charles Theron, Vincent Pauline, Alvah Gregory and Winifred Rachel.
Mr. Mosher ever gave his political allegiance to the democratic party and was an active worker in the various campaigns in support of its principles from the time when he attained his majority until his death. In 1884 President Arthur ap- pointed him a visitor to West Point and the trip was one of unalloyed pleasure to him, for on that occasion he met many of the army officers whom he had known in Oregon and also during his service in the Mexican war. He likewise visited Cin- cinnati, where he renewed acquaintance with many of the companions and friends of his youth, whom he had not seen for almost a third of a century. His fraternal connections were with the Masons and the Improved Order of Red Men. He was a consistent member of the Catholic church, a man of undoubted honesty and of kind and charitable disposition. He counted no personal effort nor sacrifice on his part too great if it would promote the welfare and happiness of his wife and children, for his interest centered at his own fireside. He was a lover of all the beauties of nature, was especially interested in flowers and was the kind and loving friend of every child he knew. They all loved him in return and at his death, which occurred March 27, 1890, they strewed his grave with flowers when he was laid to rest beneath his loved oaks. A broadminded man of kindly spirit and high ideals, the world is better for his having lived.
THE HOOD RIVER NEWS.
One of the best weekly newspapers published in Oregon and certainly the best in the section of the state through which it circulates is the Hood River News, which under the guidance of Charles P. Sonnichsen and Hugh G. Ball gives the people of the Hood River valley and adjoining sections a weekly thoroughly modern in every par- ticular and one that dispenses the latest local and general news. Unlike most weekly papers the News never sacrifices its columns in order to secure advertising patronage and certain parts of its pages cannot be purchased for advertising at any price. This is a feature of the paper that should certainly be appreciated by the business men of Hood River and the readers of the News. It was in 1908 that Messrs. Sonnichsen and Ball purchased the News, which they have since conducted, and it will be inter- esting in this connection to note something of the personal qualities of the owners of the paper.
Charles Peter Sonnichsen was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1874, pursued his education in the schools of that city and early took up the printing trade, working for a time as a journeyman printer in his native city. He later made his way to Minnesota and became manager of the Tyler Journal, published at Tyler, that state. In 1900 he established the Hendricks Pioneer, which he conducted for more than seven years. In 1907 he came to Hood River and took over the News. Mr. Sonnichsen is a thirty-second degree Mason and Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He has served in many political offices and is a man of broad vision and wide experience, whose activities and interests in life have given him a wide outlook, enabling him to view many public questions from every possible standpoint. He is married and has two children. His son Edwin, who is associated with him in the publication of the News, spent two years as a soldier of the World war, enlisting in the American army and spending two years in France.
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Hugh G. Ball, who is the editor of the News, ranks as one of the longest in service of the present day journalists of Oregon. He has worked for, owned and edited papers on three continents. He was born in London of Scotch parentage and came to America when a young man. Throughout his life he has been engaged in the newspaper busi- ness, which he has followed in England, China, Japan and America. In politics he is a republican and is a man of strong opinions, absolutely fearless in expressing his views. He has never held public office and prefers to use his trenchant pen in serv- ing the people rather than by serving as an office holder.
Mr. Ball says he is Scottish by accident but American by choice. He came to Hood River from Coos Bay, where he was for many years editor of the Coos City Times. He is a Master Mason. Mr. Ball was married to Miss Helen Mende, a daughter of Jacob Mende, a pioneer and homesteader of North Bend, Oregon.
Both Mr. Sonnichsen and Mr. Ball are members of the Hood River Commercial Club and of the Business Men's Association. Both are men of marked enterprise, who have proven a dynamic force in the progress and upbuilding of this region. Mr. Son- nichsen is the president of the Hood River News Company, with Mr. Ball as vice presi- dent and editor and Edwin Sonnichsen as the secretary. They are identified with all that makes for progress and improvement in the community, the commonwealth and the country and are justly classed with the most progressive citizens of their part of the state.
SAMUEL HUMES RUSSELL.
Dr. Samuel Humes Russell, who is a successful chiropractor in St. Helens, was born December 26, 1861, at Virginia City, Nevada. His father, Samuel A. Russell, who was descended from a New York family whose founder was an emigrant of 1670, was hy trade a millwright, and came to the Pacific coast in 1852. His mother, Harriet Orinda Humes, was descended from the Humes family who settled in South Carolina in 1700, and her father came to the coast in 1852.
The early life of Samuel Humes Russell was spent on his father's farm and as a boy he remembers riding after cattle through the San Joaquin valley, where nothing but weeds were to be seen, and the outskirts of the city of Los Angeles, now covered with orchards and villas, was then but waste land. He was the first boy to fly a kite in Kernville, Kern county, California. He began his education at Santa Cruz, Cali- fornia, and finished at Carpinteria, Santa Barbara county, California. Later he took a course in chiropractic at the Pacific College of Portland. After school work he assisted his father on the farm for five years and then worked in the construction of the quartz mills in California and Arizona. For ten years he served as an engi- neer for many mining companies, later taking up the study of electricity. He strung the wires and built the first telephone line into Canyonville, Oregon, and the Flournoy valley from Roseburg, Oregon. He served as engineer of the first large plant of the Western Beet Sugar Company. His early days, from fifteen to twenty years of age, were spent as a cattle driver over the plains of the southwest, and perhaps but few men of his age raised on the cattle ranges and in the mining camps in the west can say as he can, that he never took a drink over the bar. He remembers with interest seeing in 1877 a stampede of fifteen hundred head of cattle near Bakersfield, California, that town being then a mere hamlet.
Dr. Russell's experience as a millwright and his work as an electrician would seem to fit him for almost any line of work, yet in 1898 he came to Oregon, took up a homestead of one hundred and twenty acres in Douglas county and went into the husi- ness of stock raising. He studied to become a chiropractor in Los Angeles, and gradu- ated at Portland in 1912, as this profession had been legalized in 1915 by the legisla- ture of Oregon. He first took up the practice at Albany but in 1916 located at St. Helens where he has since resided. Since his arrival in St. Helens he has by his modest behavior won a host of friends, even among the old school physicians, who prior to the legalizing act were not in accord with men of his profession.
In November, 1896, Mr. Russell was united in marriage to Miss Carolyn E. Josse- lyn, a native of San Francisco. Her father, Edward S. Josselyn, was a sea captain, and sailed out of Frisco, his home port, making all or most all of the ports of the world, and at the last as the shadows of death were lowering he imagined he was making Port, and his last words were, "1 am nearing Port, will soon pass the heads, and enter the
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Golden Gate." Both Dr. and Mrs. Russell are members of the Congregational church and active in church work. They have no children.
Dr. Russell makes frequent trips to his Douglas county ranch, which he still owns and operates. He is an Odd Fellow, past chief patriarch of the Encampment, and a member of the Independent Order of Foresters. During the war Dr. and Mrs. Rus- sell were accredited with having "done their bit," and they possess a wide circle of friends in St. Helens.
WINLOCK W. STEIWER.
Winlock W. Steiwer, who as merchant, jurist, and legislator left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the history of Oregon, had the distinction of being a representative of one of the oldest of the pioneer families, his birth having occurred on the Steiwer farm in Marion county, Oregon, on the 7th of August, 1852. His parents were Frederick and Susan (Looney) Steiwer, the former a native of Hanover, Ger- many, while the latter was born in Tennessee. On coming to America in early life the father made his way to Oregon and took up land in Marion county, where he resided for many years.
The son, Winlock W. Steiwer, was educated in the district schools and in the Willamette University and in early manhood became a teacher in a country school for a short time and when nineteen years of age went to eastern Oregon where he spent the remainder of the active business years of his life. He there engaged in the cattle business and continued therein for many years, later moving to Fossil, Oregon, where he established a general merchandise business, which he conducted for an ex- tended period. He also became associated with George S. Carpenter in organizing and establishing the Steiwer & Carpenter Bank at Fossil, Oregon, the first bank of Wheeler county. His plans were carefully formulated and carried forward to suc- cessful completion, his course being marked by enterprise and undoubted integrity. In a word, he was always actuated by high purposes in everything he undertook. Eventually on account of ill health he retired from merchandising about 1914, selling his interest in that business, but retaining his connection with the bank of which he was president at the time of his death, the last ten years of his life being spent in honorable retirement in Portland, Oregon. After his death he was succeeded as president of the bank by his son, Leland L., who has the example of his father to stimulate him to an increased ambition, knowing that he cannot better honor his pre- decessor in business than by keeping all of his transactions above criticism and sus- taining the high reputation of the bank his father organized and established.
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