USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 55
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After traveling all over the world Dr. and Mrs. Rogers located in Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1888, purchasing a beautiful home surrounded by spacious grounds, includ- ing an entire city block, four hundred by four hundred feet. Its spacious lawns are adorned with beautiful flowers of almost every variety and Mrs. Rogers here "farms," as she terms it, and indeed she has intimate knowledge of the most practical and scien- tific methods of plant culture and the tilling of the soil. Dr. Rogers, when asked why he had selected Forest Grove as his home after traveling all over the world, answered: "Because in this delightful spot I find no violence in nature." Here his remaining days were passed in tranquillity amid most beautiful surroundings until he passed on in 1900, leaving a widow and one son, Anson Fiske Rogers, who is now president of the
Vol. III-28
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Spokane Paper & Stationery Company of Spokane, Washington, and who is married and has two sons, George Oscar and Abion Bradstreet, who are associated with their father in business.
Mrs. Rogers Is a member of the First Christian Science church at Forest Grove and one of its most generous supporters and she has presented to the church an organ which in 1920 she equipped with electricity. Her art treasures are a delight to all who visit her home. Iler collection embraces some of the finest pieces of porcelain and tapestry, including the embroidered sleeves of a jacket of an empress of China, regarded by art collectors as almost priceless. Her life is devoted to good works for the benefit of her fellowmen. She was the founder and has been the most generous supporter of the City Library at Forest Grove and is continually giving of her time and means for all those interests and activities which are of cultural value and make for the uplift of humanity. During the World war she was most active in service for the benefit of the soldiers in camp and field. She gave generously to all war drives and Red Cross work and was especially interested in the work for the French and Belgian orphans. She is an honorary member of the Woman's Club of Forest Grove and all who know her are proud to call her friend.
FRANCIS ANTHONY SEUFERT.
Francis A. Seufert, one of the captains of industry in central Oregon and a resi- dent of The Dalles for about forty years, has done much for the advancement and growth of the city which will perpetuate his name for many generations to come. He has succeeded in establishing by his own unaided efforts, a plant, which under his guid- ance and skill, has grown from a small canning industry to a business whose output averages more than thirty thousand cases per annnnm, having a value of more than one-half million dollars, and giving employment to one hundred and twenty persons.
Mr. Seufert is a native of the Empire state, born in the city of New York on Janu- ary 15, 1853, a son of John and Mary (Schwab) Seufert. He was educated in the grade schools of New York, and on starting out for himself, took up the trade of a butcher and continued in that line until 1880, when he moved to Oregon and settled in The Dalles, where he set up a butcher shop. Being a far-sighted business man he immediately saw the value of the Columbia River salmon and in 1884 he established a small packing plant on the upper Columbia river, three miles east of The Dalles.
To Mr. Senfert belongs the honor and credit of having shipped the first carload of fresh salmon to New York. From modest beginnings the cannery gradually expanded until it has reached its present mammoth proportions, covering several acres and turn- ing ont each year from twenty-five to forty thousand cases. In addition to the canning industry, he is the owner of an orchard containing seventeen acres, adjoining the cannery, on which he produces Royal Anne cherries and peaches, which are canned in a special department of the plant, and for which he finds a ready market. The entire premises are equipped with the latest improvd machinery and appliances, and the plant was built with a view to sanitation and cleanliness. The present cannery represents an invested capital of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and is the most important industry on the upper Columbia.
Mr. Seufert has devoted all his time and energy to the conduct of the business, only once having been induced to accept public office. The gambling element having taken possession of The Dalles he was called upon to accept the office of mayor on a clean-up ticket and was elected hy a huge majority. Knowing that Mr. Seufert was a man of determination the gambling fraternity did not wait to be driven out but packed up and left the city. This riddance of an undesirable class stands to Mr. Seufert's credit, the exodus of the gamblers was complete-none remained.
In 1876 Mr. Seufert was united in marriage to Miss Anna Isabel Shick, a daughter of John Shick of Rochester, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Seufert are the parents of the following surviving children: Arthur, who manages the canning plant and is one of the best known of the younger business men of The Dalles; Mrs. Lilly Rice of Port- land; Frank A., William J., and Edward J., the latter three having residence in The Dalles. While maintaining his residence in The Dalles Mr. Seufert also has a home in Portland, the magnitude of his business necessitating the spending of a large portion of his time in that city. His prime interest, however, is none the less with the fortunes of the city where he first settled on coming to Oregon, and no enterprise
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intended for the advancement of The Dalles ever finds him lacking in support. He is one of the incorporators of the Wasco Warehouse and Milling Company, another large Dalles industry.
JESSE WILLIAM CRITES.
Jesse W. Crites, one of the younger group of business men coming rapidly to the front, is president of the Hood River Abstract & Investment Company and is at present filling the office of city treasurer of Hood River, in which city he formerly was prin- cipal of the high school. He is a native of Ohio, born in Clinton county, in August, 1884, and is a son of John C. and Anna (Peelle) Crites. His father followed the occu- pation of a farmer during his active life and was a preacher in the Quaker church. Both the Crites and the Peelles are old and widely known families throughout Ohio, where their ancestors had heen living for several generations.
Jesse W. Crites attended the schools of his native county and Wilmington College, from which he was graduated in 1907, and later took a course at Haverford College, Pennsylvania. On finishing his course in the latter institution, he went to Delaware, where for two years he taught school. At the end of that period he crossed the country to Oregon, and settled at Hood River, where he continued his profession as teacher for seven years, gradually advancing until he became principal of the high school of the city.
In 1917 Mr. Crites in association with a partner purchased the stock of the Hood River Abstract & Investment Company, of which he became president, and which is the only company of its kind doing business in Hood River county. It has com- plete abstracts of the entire county, writes all branches of insurance for standard and reliable companies, buys and sells city property, and make loans, thus occupying a potential place in the business life of the county. In 1917 Mr. Crites was appointed city treasurer of Hood River and in the following year was elected to that office, which position he still holds. He acts as chairman of the school board of Hood River, and in other directions gives of his time and ability to further all movements cal- culated to advance the public welfare.
In 1909 Mr. Crites was united in marriage to Ruth Douglas Griffith, a daughter of an Episcopalian clergyman, who at this time is chaplain of the United States Soldiers Home at Washington. The Rev. Griffith is a native of Maryland and a descendant of an old family in that state. Mr. and Mrs. Crites are the parents of three children, as follows: Marnie, Ruth Anna and Barbara. The eldest is a grade pupil in the Hood River school. Young, active and intelligent, Mr. Crites is a notable example of the young men who are building the state of Oregon. He and his wife take a warm and practical part in the social and cultural activities of Hood River and surrounding district, and their efforts are ever directed toward the advancement of the com- munity in which they reside.
THOMAS ALBERT REAVIS.
Thomas Albert Reavis, the popular postmaster of Hood River, is a native of Mis- souri, his birth having occurred in Jasper county in 1853. His parents were David Bardon and Elizabeth (Lee) Reavis. The paternal ancestors were for long residents of North Carolina and representatives of the family removed to Missouri in the days of pioneer development in that state. The father of David B. Reavis was for many years a distinguished educator and the son was county judge of Johnson county, where the Reavis family resided after removing to Missouri. Elizabeth (Lee) Reavis was a native of Virginia and a representative of the family whose name is found on almost every page of the history of the Old Dominion. In 1877 Judge Reavis removed with his family to Union county, Oregon, where he took up land, becoming one of the first settlers of that section of the state. When the county of Wallowa was created he was made the first county clerk and bore a most conspicuous and helpful part in the growth and development of that section.
Thomas A. Reavis was educated in the graded schools of Johnson county, Mis- souri, and in the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, from which he was
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graduated in 1875. He then turned his attention to the drug business in Texas but in 1877, when his people removed to Oregon, he came to this state and has since been one of its leading and substantial citizens. He engaged in farming and stock raising in Wallowa county until 1901, when he took up his abode in Ashland and a little later removed to La Grande, there engaging in merchandising. In 1903 he located at Hood River, where he purchased land and engaged in growing strawberries, continuing active in the business until the burning of the Davidson cannery at Hood River, when he sold his strawberry ranch and planted an apple orchard which he still owns. In 1915 he was appointed by President Wilson to the position of postmaster of Hood River and has conducted the office in such a manner as to win the praise of members of all parties, with the result that in 1919 he was reappointed for another term of four years. The Hood River postoffice handles a large amount of mail, having both local and rural delivery, and requires the services of five clerks and an assistant postmaster.
Mr. Reavis is a Royal Arch Mason and has filled all of the offices in the blue lodge. His political support is given to the democratic party and he has been active in its councils throughout his life. His father's family numbered six sons, not one of whom has strayed from the democratic fold.
In 1880 Mr. Reavis was united in marriage to Mrs. Ida Dreski, of Nortonville, Kansas, and they have one daughter, Gladys Lee. The family is widely and promi- nently known at Hood River, the hospitality of the best homes being freely accorded them. Mr. Reavis has spent the greater part of his life in the northwest and has been a contributing factor to the development, upbuilding and improvement of the section of the state in which he makes his home.
WILLIAM ALBERT LONG.
Actuated by a spirit of enterprise in all that he has undertaken and quick to rec- ognize and utilize opportunities, William Albert Long has risen by his own efforts and is now one of the leading and most prosperous citizens of Oregon City, where he is the owner and manager of the finest and most up-to-date theatre in that place. Mr. Long was born in Ohio, March 1, 1869, the son of Martin and Elizabeth (Free) Long. Martin Long belonged to a family resident in Pennsylvania for many gen- erations. He settled in Ohio in the early years of his life, and engaged in farming, later moving to Indiana, Nebraska and Kansas, in each state following the same line of work.
William A. Long received his education in the above named states, and like his father became a farmer. He afterward removed to Washington, where he remained for ten years. In the spring of 1898 William Long decided to return to the east but after a stay of a couple of months there he found the lure of the west too strong to resist, and in the summer of 1898 he returned and secured a position in a paper mill at Oregon City, with which firm he was associated for the next fifteen years. In 1913 he decided to take life easier, so he purchased the Star theatre, a moving picture house, which he set about improving. This was really a daring venture, as Mr. Long had but little money to start such an enterprise. He increased the seating capacity of the building, replaced the piano with a full orchestra, and soon made his house the best in the city. In 1918 he purchased two lots adjoining the courthouse on Main street, the best location in the city for a theatre, and in 1920 started the erection of a theatre the size of the lot, which is sixty-six by one hundred and five feet. The structure is two stories high and the main floor has a seating capacity of seven hundred, with a gallery seating three hundred and fifty, while the second floor is devoted to offices. The new theatre is modern in every particular and handles only first run pictures, augmented by two days of vaudeville each week.
Mr. Long was married in 1892 to Miss Maggie Jones of Camas, Washington, and they are the parents of three children: Lillie May, who is the wife of Ralph J. Eddy; Etta Ruth, wife of T. C. Miller; and Ruby Pearl, all of whom are residents of Oregon City.
Mr. Long is a member of the State Exhibitors Association, and the Exhibitors First National Film Exchange, and fraternally is a Mason, having acted as master of his lodge at Camas, Washington. He is also an Elk and a Woodman of the World, has served for three years as a city councilman, and was a candidate for the office of mayor. He takes a keen interest in good sportsmanship, devoting his vacations to hunting and fishing. He has acquired a comfortable competence by his own
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unaided efforts, and is now the owner of valuable real estate. Mr. Long is regarded as one of Oregon City's sterling business men, and is a very progressive man in every sense.
ARTHUR L. DUNDAS.
Arthur L. Dundas, a splendid executive and organizer who is at the head of the Dundas-Martin Company carrying on an investment business in Portland, was born in Crofton, Michigan, July 30, 1879. His father, Oswald Dundas, was a native of the north of Ireland, born in 1852. He crossed the sea to Canada in 1864 with his parents, who established their home in Ontario. In 1873 Oswald Dundas crossed the border into Michigan and in that state was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Sharpe, who was also a native of the county in which her future husband's birth occurred. In the year 1895 Mrs. Dundas passed away and in 1907 Mr. Dundas came to Portland, where he now resides.
It was in the year 1880 that the family home was established in Ashland, Wis- consin, Arthur L. Dundas being then but a year old. He continued his residence at that place until 1905 and during that period acquired a public school education. At- tracted by the opportunities of the northwest he came to Portland in 1905 and was afterwards graduated from the law department of the Oregon State University and the same year was admitted to the bar. He then entered upon the practice of law, which he followed for five or six years and then withdrew to concentrate his efforts and attentions upon the investment business as senior partner of the Dundas-Martin Company, of which he has continuously been president. There are few men so thor- oughly informed concerning investments and the worth of commercial paper and aside from his association with the aforementioned company he is a director of the Western Finance Company, also of the American Securities Company and the North- western Finance Corporation.
On the 12th of August, 1903, in Duluth, Minnesota, Mr. Dundas was united in marriage to Miss Ida Mae Sears and they have become parents of three sons: John Arthur, who was born August 10, 1905; Donald Sears, born May 1, 1907; Robert Oswald, born February 1, 1912. The parents are members of the Episcopal church and loyally follow its teaching. Mr. Dundas is a supporter of the republican party, of which he has been a follower since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. In Masonry he is a Scottish Rite member, having attained his thirty-second degree in the consistory and he is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Press Club and to the Chamber of Commerce and is interested in all those forces and activities which make for higher and more progressive citizenship and which uphold the civic standards that have made Portland a beautiful and progressive city.
IRA C. CUNNINGHAM.
Ira C. Cunningham, engaged in the insurance business in Portland, was born in Aurora, South Dakota, May 26, 1880, a son of Robert J. and Lucy A. (Quackenbush) Cunningham. The father was born on a farm in Ripley county, Indiana, and the mother in the state of New York. Their marriage was celebrated in Rochester, Min- nesota, and they are now residents of Long Beach, California.
Ira C. Cunningham spent his youthful days in South Dakota, attending the public schools of Brookings, to which place his parents removed when he was a young lad. He also pursued a course at a business college at Rochester, Minnesota, leaving the latter institution at the age of nineteen years, subsequent to which time he devoted three years to the conduct of his father's farm in Minnesota. He went to Minot, North Dakota, in 1903, and there engaged in the grocery business for three years and then removed to Long Beach, California. In February, 1907, he turned his attention to the business of selling insurance as representative of the Occidental Life In- surance Company of California, and in that state remained until July 31, 1909, when he came to Portland, representing the Occidental Life Insurance Company as general agent. At that time the company had not a single policy in Oregon. Mr. Cunningham was active in introducing the company into the state and in August,
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1917, the Occidental, having bought out the Union Pacific Life Insurance Company, placed Mr. Cunningham in charge of the combined business in Portland and the branch offices in Tacoma, Seattle and Spokane, thus making him northwest manager for the Occidental Life Insurance Company in all departments, with territory including Ore- gon, Washington, and Northern Idaho. Throughout these states he has been instru- mental in establishing many agencies and the business has grown to large and sub- stantial proportions. Some of the elements of his success are the thoroughness with which he has organized and systematized the business throughout his territory and his close touch with all of the agents represented in the district, constantly stimulating them by words of council and advice concerning the business and the best methods of conducting their interests.
On the 17th of June, 1903, in Minot, North Dakota, Mr. Cunningham was married to Inez I. Kelsey, and to them have been born three children: Opal June; Genevieve Arletta; and Roberta Idell. Mr. Cunningham is connected with the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks, and with the Chamber of Commerce of Portland. He is presi- dent of the Montavilla Welfare League, which is a civic organization for the better- ment of that part of the city. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and during the war he served in connection with the Library loan, the Y. M. C. A., and the Red Cross drives, being captain of one of the Liberty loan teams. His reli- gious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is particularly active as a Sunday school worker, serving as superintendent of the school. Mr. Cunningham's best church work has been in the Methodist Episcopal City Church Extension Society, of which he is the treasurer and a member of the executive committee. Mrs. Cunning- ham is prominent in church circles and is a model mother to her three beautiful children. He is also one of the committeemen in the Y. M. C. A., in connection with which he is an excellent volley ball player. His labors have been extremely effective and resultant in behalf of the Y. M. C. A., and through that channel he has done much to aid young men.
REV. ISAAC D. DRIVER.
A life of great usefulness and of far-reaching influence ended when on the 30th of October, 1907, Rev. Isaac D. Driver was called to his final home, at the age of eighty-three years. For over fifty years he devoted his attention to the study of the Bible and he became known as one of the most eminent theologians in the country as well as a debater of nation-wide prominence, frequently engaging in theological debate with Robert G. Ingersoll and other noted agnostics. He also gained prominence as a writer and lecturer and his work in behalf of the church was of untold benefit.
Dr. Driver was born on the Maumee river, near Fort Defiance, Ohio, August 17, 1824, a son of Thomas and Thankful (Travis) Driver, natives of Pennsylvania, and of Puritan ancestry. Emigrating to Ohio, the father became one of the pioneers of that state. He was a loyal and patriotic citizen and during the War of 1812 he served as a lieutenant under General William Henry Harrison, being stationed at Fort Meigs. In 1828 he was commissioned to conduct the Indians across the Missis- sippi river when the fort guarded a trading post on the site of the present city of Chicago. In days of peace he worked at his trade of silversmith and also engaged in the practice of law. In 1827 he removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in the fol- lowing year, in company with his son, Isaac D., he explored the country near South Bend and also camped on the low-lying marsh land and open prairie which was des- tined to become the site of the metropolitan center of the west. At Fort Wayne Mr. Driver and his brother were largely engaged in trading with the Indians and in buying and selling land. In 1834 they removed to Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana, where they engaged in farming and trading for a decade, and in 1844 they went to Noble county. They engaged in farming in that section of the country until 1852, when they sold their holdings and started across the plains to Oregon. They reached Iowa in the fall of that year and spent the winter in that state, continuing their journey in the spring and reaching their destination in the fall of 1853. Taking up his abode in what is now Douglas county, the father there engaged in farming and was thus active until his death in 1861, at the age of eighty-seven years. The mother,
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however, had died in 1853, while en route to Oregon, and she was buried on the Bear river.
Dr. Driver was the seventh in order of birth in their family of twelve children and he attended school in Indiana to the age of thirteen years, when he began the work of carrying the mails on horseback between Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana. This was a very hazardous undertaking for a boy of his years, as the country was then wild and unsettled, harboring many hostile Indians and highwaymen, and for his bravery, regularity and safe discharge of duty he was allowed double wages. He worked at this task for three years and having saved a sufficient sum of money he reentered school, continuing his studies until he reached the age of twenty-two years and acquiring the best education obtainable at that period. After completing his schooling he engaged in farming and stock raising.
In 1848 he married Rebecca Crumley, who passed away at the end of a year, leaving a son, Samuel M., now deceased. In 1849, in company with about four hundred others, Dr. Driver crossed the plains to California, several of the company dying of cholera en route, the remainder arriving at Steep Hollow on the 1st of October of that year. In that section of the state he successfully followed mining until the spring of 1850, when he went to San Francisco, where he sailed for home, going by way of the Isthmus of Panama. On arriving in Indiana he resumed his farming operations and in 1852 was united in marriage to Mary Hardenbrook. In the fall of that year he joined his father and brothers in the trip across the plains to Oregon, the party consisting of fifteen people, four ox teams and two wagons drawn by horses. They arrived in the Willamette valley on the 14th of September, 1853, and on the 4th of October filed on their claims in the Umpqua valley, in what is now Douglas county. There Dr. Driver followed farming and stock raising until his health be- came impaired and then began studying for the ministry, entering upon the work of preaching the gospel in the Umpqua valley in 1857, conducting services in his home. In 1858 he united with the Oregon conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and was first assigned to Jacksonville and later to Eugene, Corvallis, The Dalles and Oregon City. In 1867 he was appointed agent of the American Bible Society for Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho, in which connection he traveled throughout the northwest for the purpose of locating preachers for the distribution of the Bible, and in accomplishing his work he met with many dangers and diffi- culties but never suffered serious injury. In 1867 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away leaving five children, of whom three survive, one residing in Oregon, another in Washington and the third in California. In 1871, in Eugene, Dr. Driver was united in marriage to Leanna Iles, whose demise occurred seven months later. He became a presiding elder over the Oregon Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and after serving for a period of seven years as agent for the American Bible Society he resigned and made a trip to the east, where he wedded Anna Northrup. He returned with his bride to Oregon and was appointed presiding elder of the Salem district, which office he filled for two years. In 1875 death again entered his household, removing therefrom his wife, who had become the mother of a daughter, Anna, who is now Mrs. Hemphill, living near Stockton, Cali- fornia.
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