USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 65
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William J. Clarke was reared in Portland, where he received a good education. After putting his textbooks aside he determined to engage in business, with the result that in 1887 he accepted a position with Thompson, De Hart & Company hardware store, for which work he received the wage of twenty-five dollars per month. His rise was rapid and in 1893 he went on the road in the capacity of traveling salesman. He then determined to enter into business on his own account and in the early part of 1901 he came to Pendleton and became associated with W. A. Johnston of The Dalles. He is now proprietor of the W. J. Clarke Hardware store, which is one of the repre- sentative business interests in Pendleton and does the largest retail and jobbing business in the community.
In 1909 Mr. Clarke was united in marriage to Mrs. Lodema A. Fisher, of Eugene, Oregon.
Since age conferred upon Mr. Clarke the right of franchise he has been a stanch supporter of the republican party and the principles for which it stands. Fraternally he is a member of the Elks and is a Knight Templar Mason. He is a prominent and progressive man whom any community would be proud to have as a citizen.
JUDGE FREDERICK WALLACE WILSON.
Frederick Wallace Wilson, judge of the seventh judicial district, was horn in 1872, in the town of College Hill, Ohio, which was the early home of his father, Joseph Gardner Wilson, an eminent Oregon jurist and member of congress. The latter was among the early settlers of this state, locating in Salem in 1850. He be- came one of the best known and most popular men of his time. In 1863, when the eastern Oregon judicial circuit was established which at that time included all of eastern Oregon, he was appointed judge and continued to preside over that court until 1870, when he resigned to accept the nomination of his party for congress, but in the election his party was defeated. Two years later, however, he was the unanimous choice of the republican convention for the same office and was elected by a large majority. On the way east the family stopped at College Hill, Ohio, his native place, and there his son, Frederick Wallace Wilson, was born. The father had been invited to deliver an address to the students of Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, which institution had been his alma mater, but he was taken ill and died the day before the oration was to be delivered. His bereaved widow and her little family returned to The Dalles and in a short time afterwards she was appointed postmistress by President U. S. Grant, which position she filled for twelve years. She bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Millar and was a daughter of the Rev. James P. Millar, a United Presbyterian missionary, who came to Oregon in 1851. He lost his life in the explosion of the steamer Gazelle in 1855.
Frederick W. Wilson began his education in the graded schools of The Dalles and later entered Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, from which he was graduated in 1891. He then attended Johns Hopkins University and was graduated from that institution in 1893 with the degree of B. A. Returning to The Dalles, he took up the study of law and was admitted to practice in 1896. His talents soon earned him a high place at the bar and in 1909 he was elected district attorney of the seventh judicial district, which then embraced Wasco, Crook and Hood River counties. He served as district attorney for several years and in 1917 he was ap- pointed judge of the seventh circuit. In 1918 he was elected to succeed himself as the republican candidate, but also with the endorsement of the democratic party, which placed no candidate in the field against him. In handling the business of his court, from the same bench which his father occupied, Judge Wilson has won universal esteem, his judicial knowledge and judgments invariably meeting with public approval.
In 1914 Judge Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Content Elton, a daughter
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of James A. Elton, a well-to-do farmer living in Wasco county. They are the parents of a son, Joseph Gardner Wilson, who has been named for his grandfather. The Judge is a past exalted ruler of the Elks and is a member of the college fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Theta Pi. He is also a member of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution; the board of overseers of Whitman College; the State Bar Associa- tion; and The Dalles Chamber of Commerce. The Judge and his wife take an active and earnest part in the social and cultural activities of The Dalles and surrounding district, and are ever ready to throw the weight of their influence on the side of all movements calculated to serve the best interests of the community.
Judge Wilson is a warm supporter of the republican party and has been in much demand for addresses. being a clever and cultivated speaker. When engaged in the practice of his profession, his brethren at the bar regarded him as an excellent trial lawyer, and he is now a judge in whom they have confidence. He takes a keen interest in the study of American history, in all aspects of which he is exceptionally well posted.
CARL ALLISON STARKER.
The soil and climate of the Willamette valley are peculiarly adapted to the growing of flowers. Indeed, both horticulture and floriculture are exceptionally pleasant and profitable here. Certainly Carl A. Starker of Jennings Lodge, Clackamas county, has found this to be the case. One of Oregon's adopted sons who removed with his parents, Charles and Sophia (Keuchman) Starker, from his native state of Iowa when he was fifteen years of age, Carl continued his education at the Washington high school of Portland and entered the Oregon Agricultural College, from which he was graduated in 1914 as a horticulturist. With characteristic thoroughness he laid a solid foundation for his business by taking employment for a year in a Portland florist's shop in order to ascertain at first hand what the public demanded. At the end of this time he pur- chased two acres of land at Hull avenue station on the Portland and Oregon City electric line and erected here two greenhouses, each thirty-five by two hundred feet, and one. twenty-two by one hundred feet. While Mr. Starker's business may be known as a general nursery, carrying all varieties of flowers, plants, shrubs and bulbs, he has made a specialty of sweet peas, ferns and calla lilies. His most extensive patronage comes from the florist shops of Portland and the neighboring towns of Oregon, where his floral designs for all occasions, particularly wedding decorations and funeral pieces, have won him merited recognition.
In 1915 Mr. Starker married Miss Louise Hammond, the daughter of A. S. Hammond, an attorney of North Bend, Oregon. They have two children, Charles Hammond and Mary Louise, who take a comprehensive and active interest in all that concerns the nursery. Mrs. Starker had been a fellow student of her husband in college and she has assisted him materially in developing and extending his business. The severe winter of 1919-1920 caused them serious loss through the freezing of stock and the partial destruction of the greenhouses, but the same degree of youthful courage and undaunted optimism which has done so much for the upbuilding of Oregon, came readily to their assistance in repairing the damage.
To develop floriculture to a degree which renders it a fine art as well as a profitable business enterprise, by sheer force of initiative, energy and industry, is a worthy achieve- ment. Mr. and Mrs. Starker have been happy in this accomplishment.
ERNEST E. TRESSLER.
A life actuated by high purposes, fraught with good deeds, brought to Ernest E. Tressler the kind regard of all who knew him and Portland classed him with her im- portant citizens for many years. He was born December 9, 1876, near Bryan, Williams county, Ohio, and was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Tressler. On leaving Ohio the family first went to Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1892 came to Oregon, settling first in Medford. Ernest E. Tressler began his education in Bryan, Ohio, and afterward studied at Medford until he put aside his textbooks to start out in the business world. When twenty-one years of age he became identified with the Simonds Manufacturing
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Company of Fitchburg, Pennsylvania, as coast auditor for nineteen years or until his death. He was a most capable and faithful representative of the eastern house, loyal to its interest and efficient in its work. He belonged to the Credit Men's Association and was honored with election to the presidency.
On the 29th of September, 1901, Mr. Tressler was married to Miss Elizabeth R. Freehauf, a daughter of Augustus A., and Caroline (Nicolai) Freehauf, the latter a daughter of Henry Nicolai, who became one of the earliest of the Oregon pioneers. Mrs. Tressler was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and acquired her education there. She also took up the study of music, which she followed in Ann Arbor and afterward went west, where she is still engaged in teaching music. She has developed her powers to a high degree of proficiency in the art and is also a most capable instructor.
Mr. Tressler was a member of the Taylor Street Methodist Episcopal church for a number of years, but during the last ten years of his life was connected with the Christian Science church and was chairman thereof in which connection he worked very hard to promote the interest of the organization. He belonged to the Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Commercial Club and also of the Automobile Club. He was a Mason of high degree, having attained the thirty-second degree in Portland Lodge, No. 55, A. F. & A. M., was a Scottish Riter and belonged to the Shrine. His life was ever an upright and honorable one and the sterling worth of his character has made his memory reverenced by all with whom he was associated while still an active factor in the world's work.
PETER JOHN STADELMAN.
Peter John Stadelman, the popular and energetic mayor of The Dalles, to which office he was elected in 1918, is a native of the Empire state, born in Hempstead, New York, in 1875, a son of Frank J. and Mary (Rath) Stadelman. His parents were natives of Alsace-Lorraine, then in the German empire but since restored to France. The father came to America in 1867 and in 1879 removed to Oregon, when his son, Peter John, was four years old. He became a farmer in Wasco county, continuing at that occupation for the remainder of his active life.
It was in Wasco county that the future mayor of The Dalles attended school, and there he remained until he was twelve years old, when he found his first employment in the postoffice, continuing in the government service for the succeeding four years. Having then reached the age of sixteen, he started in the fruit business on his own account, and two years later he broadened the sphere of his operations by adding an ice business to his fruit trade. The Stadelman Ice Company has an extensive connec- tion, and has a large plant in The Dalles.
Mr. Stadelman gives personal attention to the wholesale fruit and produce depart- ment of his business, which is credited with being the largest of its kind in central Oregon, and, taken in conjunction with the ice and cold storage department, is one of the largest in the state. The company handles Oregon and California fruits for the eastern markets and eastern and southern fruits for the western market, thus the business has spread all over the United States. It is to Mr. Stadelman's credit that in less than thirty years he has built up an extensive business as the result of his own efforts, of which the people of central Oregon are justly proud.
In 1910 Mr. Stadelman was elected to a seat in the city council and served the public in that office for four years, at the end of which period his health became impaired owing to over exertion and he retired temporarily from public activities. In 1918 his popularity was shown by his election to the responsible office of mayor of The Dalles. Under his administration more public work has been done, especially in street paving, than under any other previous chief executive, and the conduct of all municipal affairs is ever under his close scrutiny. In November, 1920, he was reelected mayor.
Mr. Stadelman was one of the prime movers in the organization of a third bank for The Dalles, the capital for which was secured in a couple of days, the amount being two hundred thousand dollars. It was given the name of the Citizens National Bank and Mr. Stadelman was elected president. The stockholders are composed of the representative financial men of Wasco county.
In 1906 Mr. Stadelman was united in marriage to Miss May Kelly, a daughter of Robert Kelly, who was a prominent citizen of The Dalles, having held many public offices, both elective and appointive, and was considered one of the most efficient sheriffs
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of Wasco county. Mr. Stadelman and his wife are the parents of two children, George and Wilbur, who are students in the graded schools.
In every position which he has been called upon to fill, Mr. Stadelman has always given a good account of himself and has added to his reputation as a valuable citizen. He is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, in the affairs of which he takes a warm interest. He was identified with various features of war work, to the success- ful operation of which he contributed valuable assistance. He and his wife take a thoughtful and practical part in the social and cultural activities of The Dalles and sur- rounding district, and are ever found on the side of movements calculated to advance the welfare of the community in which they are both popular and prominent.
MARION JACK.
Marion Jack, farming in the vicinity of Pendleton, Umatilla county, is acknowledged to be one of the foremost agriculturists in the community. He is a native son of Oregon, his birth having occurred in Linn county on the 28th of January, 1870, a son of James and Elizabeth (Cason) Jack. Both parents were natives of Missouri. When but seven years of age James Jack came with his parents overland by ox teams to Marion county, the journey taking seven months. In this county the family spent one winter and the following spring. The grandfather of Marion Jack had taken up a donation land claim near Brownsville, which he cultivated and upon which he built a log house. Here the grandfather and grandmother spent the remainder of their lives and passed away at a ripe old age. James Jack operated this farm for some time and then taught school in Marion county for a while, his marriage taking place during this period of his career. Mr. and Mrs. Jack then removed to Linn county, where he had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of good farm land, and there they resided the remainder of their lives. James Jack was always a prominent man in his community, and in politics he was a stanch supporter of the republican party.
The boyhood of Marion Jack was spent in Linn county, where he was educated and at the age of nineteen years he removed to Centerville, now Athena, in Umatilla county, where he worked on farms. Here his marriage occurred and he rented the farm of his father-in-law, T. J. Kirk, on which he resided for some time. In 1893 he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres on the Indian reservation, which place he still owns. From time to time he has added to the home place until it now consists of eight hundred acres of the finest improved land in the county. He also has other land holdings in this section.
Mr. Jack has been twice married. He was first married in 1889, to Miss Katie Kirk, daughter of T. J. and Anna (Coyle) Kirk, natives of Linn county. The death of Mrs. Jack occurred in 1898, and in 1900 Mr. Jack wedded Miss Laura Crafts, daughter of John and Anna (Engleman) Crafts, a native of Washington. To the first marriage two children were born: Nina and Janett. Six children have blessed the second union: Merle, Garnet, Margaret, Frances, Dorothy and Eloise.
Mr. Jack has always given his allegiance to the republican party. He has never taken an active part in political circles, however, and has neither sought nor desired public office. He is a member of the fish and game commission and maintains an in- terest in the development and improvement of his community. Mr. Jack has kept in touch with the trend of modern progress along agricultural lines and has a well equipped and highly developed home farm.
MILLER MURDOCH.
For a quarter of a century Miller Murdoch has engaged in the practice of law. in Portland and has won for himself an enviable position at the Oregon bar. He has continued in the general practice of law ever following a single line, and the breadth of his professional knowledge has been manifest in the trial of many important cases. Mr. Murdoch is a Canadian by birth and is of Scotch descent. His father, John Mur- doch, was born in Scotland and in his youthful days came with his parents to the new world, the family home being established in Canada in 1837. There he was mar-
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ried to Jeanie Miller, who was likewise a native of the land of hills and heather and who, like her husband, has been called to the home beyond.
Miller Murdoch was born in Ontario, January 27, 1862, and at the usual age became a public school pupil. He later pursued a two years' course in the Collingwood Col- legiate Institute and for a similar period attended the University of Toronto, thus gaining broad knowledge to serve as the basis of his success. Determining upon the practice of law as a life work, he devoted five years to study in preparation for his professional career, attending Osgood Hall at Toronto and there winning the barrister's degree in 1890. The opportunities of the northwest attracted him and in the same year he made his way to Washington, where he was admitted to the bar. He re- mained in that state until 1895 and then came to Portland, after which he success- fully passed the examination winning him admission to the Oregon bar. Throughout the intervening period he has continued in the general practice of law and his ability is widely recognized by his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession. He prepares every case with great thoroughness and care and turns upon every point at issue the light of clear reasoning and of logical deduction. He has a way of delving to the root of any matter that has resulted in bringing to light many points of value in the trial of his causes, and his success is evidenced in the court records, which bear testimony to the many favorable verdicts that he has won for his clients. He has also become interested in various business enterprises and as the years have passed he has most carefully directed his efforts, so that financial success has come as a merited reward.
Mr. Murdoch was married in Peterboro, Ontario, Canada, September 16, 1891, to Miss Mary Bothwell, a daughter of James Bothwell of that city, and to them have been born three children. Mr. Murdoch has always been a stanch supporter of the republican party since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the First Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as an elder. He belongs to the American Bar Association, to both the city and county bar associations and during the war period served on the legal advisory board, also as government appeal agent and assisted in the various bond drives. He has always given generous and helpful support to every measure which he has deemed of benefit to the community and the commonwealth, for he has ever fully met the obligations and responsibilities of citizen- ship in every particular. The northwest gained a substantial citizen when he came to this section of the country, while his social qualities are such as make for personal popularity wherever he is known.
JACOB SIEGEL BUXTON.
Jacob Siegel Buxton of Forest Grove, Washington county, was born in 1862. His parents were Henry and Rosanna (Wooley) Buxton. The Buxton family came to Oregon in 1841 as members of the Red River Colony and Jacob Buxton's grand- father was an Englishman in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company in Manitoba as early as 1821. He was one of the first settlers of Tualatin Plains where he took up his residence in 1841, when his son Henry was fourteen years of age. In 1850 the family removed to the Forest Grove section, where they operated what was known as the ideal farm of the county. Henry Buxton assisted in building the first wagon road from Tualatin Plains to Portland in 1846 and he hauled the first load of produce ever brought over that road to Portland. Three yoke of oxen made up his team and the produce consisted of nine slaughtered hogs and twenty-three bushels of beans. On almost every page of the early history of Washington county the name of Buxton appears. Henry Buxton served two terms as county commissioner, thirty-eight years as school director and trustee and held many minor offices. He was also for one term a member of the legislature from his district.
Jacob Buxton was educated in the common schools of Washington county, in the Tualatin Academy and the Pacific University. When he reached his majority he took up farming on the old homestead, Spring Brook Farm, where he remained until 1892, engaging at that time in business as a funeral director. Under the law passed in 1892 he took and passed the state examination as an embalmer and he has since followed that vocation in Forest Grove. Painted in ivory white and surrounded by lawns and flowers, his home and the mortuary chapel adjoining it occupy a prominent place on
JACOB S. BUXTON
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Pacific avenue, close to the business district of the city. The interior of the chapel is in all respects modern and complete, being divided into parlors, private rooms for mourners, reception rooms, operating and embalming rooms and business office. Mr. Buxton serves not only the residents of Forest Grove and vicinity, but all sections of the county.
In 1883 Mr. Buxton was married to Lilly M. Hampton, a daughter of Amos Hamp- ton, who was one of Forest Grove's live wires in his day. He was the proprietor of a hotel and the postmaster of the town and later served in the latter capacity for twelve years in Newport, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Buxton had one child, Jessie Agnes, who was a graduate of Pacific University and a talented and ambitious young woman. Capable, with a promising future, her death on May 30, 1920, was a staggering blow to hier devoted parents, particularly as she had planned to assist her father in his business and would have become a licensed embalmer in July, 1920.
Mr. Buxton is a member of the Oregon Funeral Directors' Association and has for four years been a trustee of that organization. He has also served as a member of the city council of Forest Grove. He is affiliated with the Masonic order and is a past master. He is also an Elk and a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. As a Woodman of the World he has for many years been the treasurer of the local lodge. As a business man and a citizen constructively interested in his section of the country no man occupies a higher place than Jacob S. Buxton.
EARL B. HUGHES.
Earl B. Hughes, coroner of Clatsop county, is numbered among Astoria's repre- sentative citizens, taking an active interest not only along the line of his profession but in the social and civic affairs of the city as well.
Like many other prominent men of Oregon, he is a native of another state, born in Marshall, Michigan, in the year 1872. His father, James M. Hughes, was a native of Lodi, New York, where his father as one of the early pioneers had settled in the Seneca Lake region. In 1839 the grandfather of Earl B. Hughes, John Hughes, removed with his family to Michigan and became a pioneer of Calhoun county. James M. Hughes was hut four years of age when the family built the log home and cleared the land in Michigan and there he grew to manhood, becoming one of the most respected and influential farmers of that state. His probity and general character was such as to command the attention of the court and almost without exception in the handling of estates the judges would call upon him to act as guardian or administrator, feeling assured that he would in every way safeguard the interests of the minor and see that the estate was wisely and honestly looked after. His fellow citizens frequently called upon him to fill county offices, especially in educational matters. In 1854 James M. Hughes was married to Miss Laura A. Francisco, who was also a native of New York state. She was a daughter of Thomas Francisco, whose ancestry runs back to the Franciscos of Massachusetts in the days of the Revolution. Thomas Francisco, like John Hughes, had gone as a pioneer to Michigan in 1839 and was a prosperous and prominent farmer. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hughes were born a number of children, among them being Earl B. Hughes whose name initiates this review.
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