USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 64
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To Mr. and Mrs. Dalton were born four children, of whom Herbert C., the eldest, is now deceased; Florence, the second of the family, is the wife of George Jeffries, an artist; Caroline E., is the wife of Charles Miller, who is with the firm of Eggert & Young, shoe merchants; William L., who completes the family, is in the mail service. In 1889 Mrs. Dalton and a son and daughter took a trip to England where they remained for several months, so that Mrs. Dalton again viewed the scenes of her girl- hood days and renewed acquaintances with many of the friends of her early years.
The death of Mr. Dalton occurred in 1893. He was a musician of note who for many years was connected with the Portland band. His interest in public affairs was manifested in his active service as a member of the city council and in his earnest support of the democratic party. His cooperation could be counted upon to further any plans or measures for the public good and in the long connection with the business in- terests of Portland he contributed much to the upbuilding and progress of the city.
WILLIAM J. REESE BEACH.
No man living in the state of Oregon has rendered more nor better service to his native state, his country and his adopted home than has the distinguished soldier and citizen of Forest Grove, Judge William J. Reese Beach. He was born in New York state, May 30, 1835. His parents, Sanford and Anna (Brown) Beach were likewise natives of New York. Thomas Beach, the progenitor of the family in America, was a settler of the New Haven colony long before the American Revolution and his grandson Israel, the grandfather of Judge Beach, was a distinguished soldier in that struggle. Sanford Beach moved to Ohio in the pioneer days of that state and became promi- nently identified with the Ohio state militia. The declining health of his father en-
WILLIAM J. R. BEACH
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forced his return to New York after a number of years and it was during the period in which he was operating the home farm that William Reese Beach was born. Anna Brown, the mother of William Reese Beach, was a direct descendant of the Watson family who furnished four captains and a major to the Revolutionary army. The original founder of the American branch of the Watson family was presented with a large tract of land in Allegany county, New York, which is still known as Watson's East and West Triangle.
Sanford Beach died when his son William was fourteen years of age and the boy turned to railroading as a means of support, becoming a locomotive engineer at the age of twenty-one. At the outbreak of the Civil war he volunteered his services to his country and became a member of the Sturgis Rifles, an independent company of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for eighteen months. He was then assigned to the secret service bureau of the army and for two and a half years or until the surrender of General Lee, he was engaged in the most hazardous exploits in Mis- souri, Arkansas and Tennessee, under the name of William J. Reese. His many bril- liant achievements and daring escapades would fill a volume. His capture of the southern firebrand, Captain Lefevre, and that of the notorious Colonel Bill Evans reads like a romance and arouses the admiration of every full-blooded American. He assisted in the protection of the body of President Lincoln en route from Washington to Illinois.
The war being over Judge Beach went to Kansas City-then called Wyandotte-in 1865, and entered the employment of the Kansas Pacific Railroad as an engineer, re- maining in that service until the time of the Chicago fire. He then went to California as a contractor and engaged to lay the streets of Los Angeles and other towns then being laid out. In 1880, making his headquarters in Portland, he helped to build the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company road from Portland to Bonneville. In 1885 he came to Forest Grove and has since that date resided there. He is now engaged in the real estate and insurance business, and has established a reputation throughout the state. He has been justice of the peace for sixteen years and at the last election was elected for another term of six years, with no candidate opposing him.
Judge Beach was married in 1867 to Miss Maria Stockbridge, a native of New York whose parents had removed to Illinois in the early days of that state. Mrs. Beach was a descendant of Joseph Porter of Massachusetts who was an officer in Washington's army during the Revolution. She died in 1916. Her daughter, Bertha P., wife of Charles W. Fitch, survives her and resides with her father.
Judge Beach is prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic. He has served as Commander of the James Matthews Post, No. 6, of Oregon for two terms, has been state commander of Oregon, chief aid for the department of Oregon on the national staff and a member of the council of administration. He is also the president of the Washington County Veterans' Association and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, to which latter distinction he is entitled by lineal descent on both sides of his family. Fraternally Judge Beach is a Mason. Politically he is a one hundred per cent American, if there ever was one.
JOHN KER.
John Ker, well known in insurance circles as the president of the John Ker Company of Portland, was born at Port Gibson, Mississippi, November 8, 1878, and is a representative of one of the old families of that state. His father, William H. Ker, was born at Natchez, Mississippi, February 16, 1841, and died in his native city in November, 1902. He had served as a soldier in General Joe Johnston's Brigade of the Confederate army in the Civil war and though frequently in the thickest of the fight was never wounded nor captured. He was on duty with the Army of Northern Virginia, participating in all of the engagements in which that division took part. In Natchez, in 1871, he was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Chamberlain, a daugh- ter of the late Dr. Charles T. Chamberlain and a sister of Hon. George E. Chamberlain, United States senator from Oregon. Mrs. Ker since her husband's death has come to the northwest and now makes her home in Portland.
Reared in his native state, John Ker attended the Chamberlain-Hunt Academy at Port Gibson, Mississippi, and was also a public and high school pupil at Natchez. Later he was for two years a student in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College
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at Starkville, which completed his educational training. He left that institution in 1897 and made his initial step in the business world, becoming bookkeeper for a whole- sale dry goods and shoe house of Natchez, being thus employed from 1897 until 1899. He later went to Washington, D. C., where he occupied a position in the general office of the Southern Railway Company, and so remained until September, 1904. In that year he came to Portland, Oregon, and entered the United States National Bank as a teller, filling the position until 1906. In October of the latter year he was given the position of assistant secretary of the Mexican Rubber Culture Company and was so employed until October, 1910, when he entered the general insurance field, in which he has since become a prominent factor, steadily developing his business to one of exten- sive and gratifying proportions. He is now widely known in this connection as the president of the John Ker Company and has a very large clientage at Portland.
Mr. Ker has been twice married. His first wife was Laura Gale Dunne, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David M. Dunne of Portland, whom he wedded April 22, 1908. She passed away September 1, 1909. On the 19th of April, 1911, at Englewood, New Jersey, Mr. Ker was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Mcknight Gregg, a daughter of the late Major Thomas Jackson Gregg, U. S. A., who served in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Ker have become the parents of two children: John, who was born May 5, 1912, in Portland; and Harmar Denny, born March 13, 1915.
Mr. Ker served on the legal advisory board during the World war and took helpful part in promoting the Liberty bond and Red Cross drives and in supporting other war activities. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party. Fraternally he is connected with the Royal Arcanum and he belongs to the University Club, the Waverly Country Club, the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club and to the Chamber of Commerce. He also holds membership in the Presbyterian church and is deeply interested in all those affairs and activities which contribute to the material, intel- lectual, social, political and moral progress of his community. He and his wife are well known in Portland, where they occupy an enviable social position.
HENRY L. FRAZIER.
A man prominent in the agricultural, political and financial circles of Umatilla county is Henry L. Frazier, who is now living retired in Milton. Like many other of Oregon's most prominent men he is not a native son, his birth having occurred in Hardin county, Tennessee, on the 20th of March, 1846. His parents were William S. and Paulina (Williams) Frazier, natives of the southland, the father born in North Carolina and the mother in Selma, Alabama. In the latter state Mr. and Mrs. Frazier were married and there the father engaged in farming for a number of years. In 1855 they removed to Hood county, Texas, settling on Fall creek and later on Walnut creek, where they operated land. In 1864 William Frazier enlisted in the Confederate army, was taken ill with pneumonia and was soon afterward discharged. He served in Sweet's regiment. In many Indian uprisings Henry L. Frazier took an active part, participating in many skirmishes under the command of Captain Cathy. The Comanche and Kiowa Indians were responsible for most of the uprisings. In 1867 Mr. and Mrs. William Frazier and family drove overland to Oregon, the trip being made in wagons drawn by four horse and mule teams, and the journey taking six months to a day. They located on the land now owned by Henry L. Frazier, the subject of this review, which consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land. In 1868 William Frazier built a substantial log house on the farm and later a good frame house and here resided until his death. The original town of Milton had its beginning on a part of his farm and he was one of the most active and enthusiastic men in its upbuilding. He added to his original tract until he had three hundred and twenty acres, some of the best land in the county. His death occurred in 1896 at the age of seventy-two years. Throughout his life he was a stanch supporter of the democratic party, in the interests of which he took an active part, and both he and his wife were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The boyhood of Henry L. Frazier was spent in Hood county, Texas, on the ranch of his father and when he was twenty-one years of age he crossed the plains with his parents to Oregon and worked with his father for five years and at the same time he engaged in freighting. Subsequently he entered into farming on his own account, purchasing a preemption of one hundred and sixty acres near Weston for three hun-
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dred dollars. He improved this land, bringing it to a high state of cultivation and he built a fine brick house on it, in which he resided for a period of fifteen years. He sold this land for fifty dollars per acre and in 1889 he bought three hundred and sixty- five acres near Milton, which he also improved and sold in 1908. His next purchase consisted of an eleven hundred and twenty acre tract in Juniper canyon, north of Pendleton. He operated this land until the spring of 1919 and then sold it. In 1889 he built a comfortable residence in Milton and here he is now residing. On removing to Milton he immediately identified himself with important business projects and it was not long before he was elected to the office of mayor, in which office he served the public to the best of his ability. He has been a member of the city council and county commissioner for four years. In financial circles Mr. Frazier is well known, having been president of the First National Bank for over twenty years. This bank was or- ganized in 1889 and became a national institution in 1908. The bank was assured suc- cess from the start and it has a branch bank at Freewater.
In 1874 Mr. Frazier was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Moss, daughter of Thomas and Soralda (Crowley) Moss, and a native of Ray county, Missouri. Her family came west in 1865, located on Birch creek, Umatilla county, and later settled south of Milton, her father buying land here. Mr. Moss passed away in 1895, while his wife died in 1882. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Frazier three children were born: Lola, Thomas, and Chester W.
The political allegiance of Mr. Frazier is given to the democratic party and he is a firm believer in the principles of that party as factors in good government. He is a member of the Masons and an exemplary member of the craft and likewise a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Frazier is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the activities of which or- ganization they take a prominent part. He has always been keenly interested in the affairs of town and county and his activities touch the general interests of society and the spirit of enterprise which dominates the west is manifest in his life.
HIRAM C. DODDS, M. D.
Dr. Hiram C. Dodds, a well-known medical practitioner of Dufur, where he has been following his profession for several years, and a former member of the Oregon legislature and otherwise identified with the public life of this part of the state, is a native of Michigan, born in North Branch, that state, in July, 1867. He is a son of Archibald and Marie (Baker) Dodds. Archibald Dodds was a popular and successful farmer and filled many of the minor public offices of his township and county during his active years.
Hiram C. Dodds, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the district schools, in the North Branch high school, in the Michigan State Normal College, at Ypsilanti, and at the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1897 with the degree of M. D. Upon receiving his diploma Dr. Dodds commenced practice, but after a year decided that the chances for a young doctor were much better in the far west than in any other section of the country, so in 1898 he moved to the Pacific coast and on visiting Dufur decided to locate in that place. In 1910 Dr. Dodds went to Chicago and took a postgraduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic.
During the twenty-two years Dr. Dodds has been a resident of Wasco county he has built up not only a lucrative practice but has also added to his reputation as a skilled practitioner, and he is now established in the public confidence as one of the most successful members of the medical profession in this part of the state.
Dr. Dodds was married to Miss Marie Henry, a daughter of William Henry, a well known citizen of East Troy, Wisconsin, the marriage taking place in November, 1898. The Henry family were pioneers in Wisconsin. Dr. and Mrs. Dodds are the parents of two daughters: Mildred Elaine, a junior in the University of Oregon; and Dorothy, a student at the Jefferson high school, Portland. She is taking a special course in vocal training, her voice having been pronounced by experts to possess uncommon merit.
Dr. Dodds is a past master in the Masonic order, a Knight Templar, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, an Elk, a Woodman of the World, and an Odd Fellow, in which latter organization he has filled all the chairs and has been in the grand lodge. He
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has served as city health officer of Dufur for many years. He represented the counties of Wasco and Hood River in the Oregon state legislature in 1909-10 and was mayor of Dufur for three terms.
At the outbreak of the World war Dr. Dodds volunteered his services to his country and entered the medical corps as a first lieutenant. He served at Camp Lewis, Washington, as examining physician, and at the close of the war served at the same camp as demobilizing physician. He is a captain of the Officers' Reserve Medical Corps of the United States army. Dr. Dodds is a member of the Oregon State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He was one of the organizers of the Wasco County State Bank, and is a member of the board of the directors of the bank. The doctor and his wife are prominent factors in the social and cultural activities of Dufur and have ever taken an interested part in all movements designed to advance the public welfare.
LOUIS E. SAUVIE.
Louis E. Sauvie, member of the law firm of Sauvie & Burback of Portland, was born in Paris, France, January 11, 1876. His father, Victor E. Sauvie, was also a native of Paris and was there married to Miss Mary Louise Oberle, whose birth occurred in Alsace. The father died in Paris, after which the mother came to the United States in 1886 with her son Louis and his elder brother, Albert L. They made their way at once across the country to Portland, Oregon, where Mrs. Sauvie had relatives, and here her remaining days were passed, her death occurring in 1910.
Louis E. Sauvie was reared in Portland, being a lad of but ten years when he came to the United States with his mother. He attended the schools of this city and was graduated in 1892 from the Holy Angels College at Vancouver, Washington, which institution afterward became known as St. James' College, but has now passed out of existence. After completing his college work he returned to Portland, where he was employed in various ways that would yield him an honest living. For a time he acted as messenger boy for the Western Union and also spent a year and a half with a construction gang for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He then turned his attention to farming in Fresno and Kern counties of California, and two or three years later became manager of a fruit ranch at Fresno. He was thus employed in connection with agricultural and horticultural pursuits in various counties of California until 1897, when he returned to Portland and accepted a clerkship in a grocery store, filling that posi- tion for two years. In 1905 he established a grocery in Portland, which he conducted successfully for three years, and then in 1907 turned his attention to the real estate business, which claimed his efforts and energies for two years. In 1909 he was ap- pointed deputy assessor of Multnomah county and occupied that position until 1913, when he became a student in a law office. Later he entered the law department of the University of Oregon, from which he was graduated in 1916, and the same year was admitted to the bar. In 1917 he formed a partnership with C. C. Burback, under the firm style of Sauvie & Burback, and in this connection has since practiced with success, their business gradually increasing in volume until their clientele is now an extensive one. Mr. Sauvie was secretary of the North East Side Improvement Asso- ciation, an organization which initiated many needed public improvements, among which are . the Broadway Bridge, Jefferson high school, Albina branch library and other public enterprises and improvements.
On the 5th of July, 1900, in Vancouver, Washington, Mr. Sauvie was married to Miss Lillian Ada Crump, whose grandparents, Louis A. and Sarah A. Pettyjohn, were pioneers of 1849, Mrs. Sauvie's mother having crossed the plains with her parents from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Sauvie have two children, a son and a daughter, Fernand V. and Marie V. The former is a graduate of Christian Brothers' College of Portland and also a graduate optometrist-optician and is now practicing his profession in the city of Portland, Oregon.
The religious faith of Mr. Sauvie and his family is that of the Catholic church. In politics he is a republican and takes a very active interest in the work of the party, of which he is an ardent supporter. He served as deputy clerk of Multnomah county from 1913 until 1915, after having previously been deputy assessor, and at the time of the World war he served on the legal advisory board and in promotion of the bond drives. He is a life member of the Multnomah Club, belongs also to the Press Club
LOUIS E. SAUVIE
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and to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. The position which he now occupies he has attained through the utilization of his opportunities, for he had no special advantages at the outset of his career and by personal effort and ability has worked his way steadily upward.
JAMES PRESTON STAPLETON.
James Preston Stapleton, helpfully interested in all matters of public welfare, is a citizen of worth to the community in which he makes his home. Portland numbers him among her capable lawyers and he has been admitted to practice before the supreme courts of both Oregon and Washington. His birth occurred on a farm in Washington county, Oregon, January 4, 1875. His father, John Stapleton, was born in Canada in 1833, while his father was a native of Ireland, having emigrated to Canada in early life. Leaving home at the age of sixteen years, or in 1849, John Staple- ton went to Iowa and was married in Davenport, that state, to Miss Josephine Sloper, who was a native of Iowa. The father followed the occupation of farming throughout his active life and passed away in Polk county, Oregon, in 1900, while his widow sur- vived until 1911. They had become residents of this state in 1872.
James P. Stapleton was reared on his father's farm in Polk county with the usual experiences of the farm bred boy who divides his time between the duties of the schoolroom, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. He supple- mented his district school training by a high school course in Independence, Oregon, but put aside his textbooks when nineteen years of age and soon afterward went to Vancouver, Washington, where he entered the law office of his elder brother, George W. Stapleton, who directed his reading until his admission to the bar in May, 1898. In February, 1916, James P. Stapleton came to Portland, where he has since practiced his profession, having in the meantime been an attorney at Vancouver for a number of years. He has devoted his attention to general practice, not caring to specialize along a particular line, and the salient points in his career are his qualities of honesty and integrity as well as the cheerfulness which he displays and the careful attention which he gives to the interests of his clients. He has been admitted to practice in the federal and supreme courts of Washington and Oregon and his ability and devotion to the interests of his clients has brought him prominently to the front as a repre- sentative of the bar. He served on the legal advisory board during the World war, also on the questionnaire board in Oregon and assisted in the various bond drives.
On the 4th of June, 1901, in Vancouver, Mr. Stapleton was married to Miss Mary Josephine Geoghegan, a daughter of the late Nicholas Geoghegan, a native of Ireland. Fraternally Mr. Stapleton is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a republican and the only offices he has filled have been along the path of his profession. He was attorney for Van- couver, Washington, for six and a half years and also district attorney of Clarke county for two terms, or four years. He is now concentrating his attention upon the private practice of law and is making that steady advance which results from study, close application and ready analysis of intricate legal problems.
WILLIAM J. CLARKE.
One of the representative business men of Pendleton, Umatilla county, is William J. Clarke, proprietor of the W. J. Clarke Hardware Store at that place. Under the excellent management of Mr. Clarke the business has grown to immense proportions and is the largest of its kind in Pendleton.
William J. Clarke is a native of Oregon, born in Portland on the 6th of April, 1872, a son of George H. and Mary A. (McEntee) Clarke. The father was a native of West Charleston, Vermont, while the mother was born in Brooklyn, New York. When a young man George H. Clarke came west by way of the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco, where he remained for a short time and then went to Portland. He clerked for the Levy Strauss Mercantile Company for some time and then established the Clarke, M. W. Henderson & Vincent Cook Dry Goods Store in Portland. Mr. Clarke was associated in this business until 1878, when he retired. His death occurred in
Vol. III-33
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1880. He will always be remembered as a pioneer in the dry goods business in Port- land, for his store was the first one devoted exclusively to the handling of dry goods in that city. He was prominent in the various activities of that place and was a member of the Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, Volunteer Fire Department of Port- land. In politics he was a republican. The mother of William J. Clarke came to Portland with her mother about the time that Mr. Clarke arrived there, and in that city they met and were married.
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