USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. III > Part 82
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ALFRED WILLIAMS, M. D.
One of the most highly regarded men in his profession is Dr. Alfred Williams, who for many years has been a physician at Sandy. He is a native of New York state, however, born in Great Valley, New York, in October, 1866. His parents were Horace and Celinda (Chamberlain) Williams. The Williams family are of good old New England stock and farmers by profession, and the Chamberlains are pioneers of Pennsylvania, in which state the family connections still occupy high place.
Dr. Williams received his primary educational training in his home town and later took a course in pharmacy. After the death of his parents he determined to remove to the west, and as a result he settled in Tillamook, where he opened his first drug store. He remained in that place for five years, and during his residence there he won the confidence and good will of the people and was elected to the office of county treasurer. Subsequently he removed to Portland, and in that city he con- ducted a drug store for some time, later engaging in the same business in Sellwood, Hillsboro, Astoria, and other towns. In 1905 he sold out his interests and retired from the drug business. He then took a course in medicine and after graduation as an M. D. he returned to Oregon and settled at Sandy. He soon built up a large prac- tice in Sandy and throughout that section of Clackamas county. Besides serving the public as a physician, he is the health officer of Sandy and the vital statistics recorder of Clackamas county.
Fraternally Dr. Williams is a member of the Royal Arch Masons, an Odd Fellow,
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and a member of the United Artisans. He is also a member of the Oregon State Medical Society, in which society he takes an active interest. Dr. Williams is highly regarded both in and out of his profession. He does not specialize in his profession but prefers a general practice. He devotes much of his time to studying, so as to keep abreast of the progress being made in his profession. Both as a physi- cian and as a citizen, Dr. Williams is a man of whom the county has a right to be proud. He has never married.
ALLEN H. COX.
A prominent and representative business man of Pendleton is Allen H. Cox, vice-president of the Tum-A-Lum Lumber Company, a line yard concern operating fifty-five retail lumber-yards throughout Washington and Oregon, and secretary of the Oregon Lumber Yard, a corporation, auxiliary to the Tum-A-Lum Lumber Com- pany with headquarters in Walla Walla.
Allen H. Cox is one of Oregon's sons by adoption, born in Dallas, Texas, Novem- ber 25, 1866, a son of Joseph and Susan F. (Ramsey) Cox. The father was born near Frankfort, Kentucky, and the mother was born in Andrew county, Missouri. After their marriage, Joseph Cox engaged in farming in Missouri for some time, but came west by ox teams in 1849, in search of gold in California. They later returned to Missouri, then removed to Texas. Joseph Cox passed away at Dallas, Texas, at the age of sixty-five years. On the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Cox en- listed in the Confederate army and was discharged in 1865 with the rank of colonel. The mother is still living and is making her home in Pendleton with her son, Allen H. Cox.
The early boyhood of Allen H. Cox was spent in Missouri and Texas, receiving the greater part of his education in the latter state. In 1902 he went to Fairmont, Nebraska, entering the retail lumber business, and in 1910 came to Pendleton, where he is now holding positions of responsibility. In addition to his connections with the Tum-A-Lum and Oregon Lumber companies, he is vice president of the Snow Lumber and Shingle Company of Littell, Washington, and is interested in the Umatilla Sand and Gravel Company at Umatilla.
In 1896 Mr. Cox was united in marriage to Miss Love Mills, a native of Iowa. Since age conferred upon Mr. Cox the right of franchise he has been a stanch supporter of the democratic party and the principles for which it stands. Frater- nally he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a Woodman of the World. For the greater part of his life Mr. Cox has been connected with the lumber business and his executive ability and administrative training have been impor- tant factors in his success. He is readily acknowledged a representative citizen and he has won the confidence, goodwill, and high regard of all with whom he has been associated.
EDWARD GUSTAVE ERDMAN WIST.
Edward Gustave Erdman Wist, cashier of the First National Bank of Scappoose, is one of the most successful and prosperous business men in the county. He possesses natural business ability and as a result of his perseverance, integrity and hard work has been successful in every business venture. He was born in Nehalem, Oregon, in 1893, the son of Edward Erdman and Rebecca (Kamne) Wist. His father was a native of England, where he worked as a soap manufacturer and later as a school teacher. He came to Oregon in the early days and was a pioneer teacher in Tillamook county. He was an active business man, becoming a successful merchant and canner, and later engaged in operating a sawmill. Mr. Wist was one of the lead- ing men in this section, living here until 1905, when he died, leaving a substantial fortune and a name that will be long remembered in the history of the county.
After receiving his education in the grade schools of Tillamook county and in the Pacific University, Edward Wist began his first work as a railway clerk at Elk River, afterward becoming agent and operator. He remained in the railroad busi- ness for three and one-half years, when he took up the management of his mother's
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ranch near Scappoose, in Columbia county, where he resided during the following four years. In the management of the ranch he demonstrated his ability as an astute business man in the fight against the milk distributors of Portland. The Wist ranch producing much milk, with the assistance of his brothers he established, the Farmers Auto Line and proceeded to sell milk in Portland, direct to consumers. The distributors had been paying the producers twenty cents per gallon or two dollars and forty cents per one hundred pounds for milk. The Wist brothers purchased two large auto trucks and soon had a market for all their own milk and that of the nearby farmers. They raised the price to forty-five cents per gallon or five dollars and forty cents per one hundred pounds to the farmer, without raising the cost to the consumer. While this course did not increase Mr. Wist's popularity with the Portland milk distributors, his reputation as an aggressive business man was recog- nized by his neighbors and all the farmers adjacent to Portland.
The World war having involved the United States, his brother, Fred R. Wist, joined the American forces and sailed for France as a member of the Twentieth Engineers in February, 1917, and served until 1919. John Henry Wist, the other brother also entered the fighting forces, but the signing of the armistice prevented his going overseas. The loss of the help of his two brothers forced Mr. Wist to sell the trucks and abandon the delivery of milk. He then turned his attention to the raising of hogs and, as in all his ventures, he met with success, having as many as four hundred hogs on his ranch at one time.
In February, 1918, the First National Bank of Scappoose met with financial trouble and he was invited to take part in its rehabilitation and was elected cashier, a position which he still holds. As his brothers had returned from the war service he turned the ranch management over to them and has since devoted his time and energy to the bank. Since he took over the management of the bank the deposits have increased from eighty-six thousand dollars to more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the bank premises have been nearly doubled in size. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Linnton.
Mr. Wist was married on the 11th of June, 1919, to Miss Eva O. Garrison, a daughter of O. D. Garrison, a retired farmer of Columbia county, now a resident of Scappoose. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wist are adherents of the Lutheran faith. Fraternally Mr. Wist is a Mason and politically he is a republican. He has always taken active interest in all public affairs and was one of the city council and a leader in the incorporation of the town. While active in every project and enterprise that meant progress for his town and county, he has never aspired to public office but by hard work and persistent effort he has gained his present creditahle place as a substan- tial and prosperous business man in Columbia county.
JUDGE TIMOTHY EARL JOHN DUFFY.
Few men have attained greater success at the bar than has Judge Timothy Earl John Duffy, who has been judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District of Oregon since 1915. Judge Duffy was born in Scott county, Minnesota, on the 30th day of January, 1876, a son of Timothy J. and Mary C. Duffy. His father was prominently connected with the pioneer history of that county, and as county commissioner he was one of the early advocates and builders of good roads in that section of the country. Besides devoting much of his time in the interest of the public he also achieved more than substantial success in his agricultural pursuits. Upon the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army and while in the service contracted pneumonia, from the effects of which he never fully recovered, his death occurring in June, 1918.
Judge Duffy is indebted to the high school of Shakopee, Minnesota, for his early education. In due time he entered the law school at the University of Minnesota, pursuing the day course, and working in the postal department at night to earn funds with which to carry on his studies, graduating from that institution in the year 1909, with the degree of LL. B.
Immediately after his graduation, on motion of the dean of the law school he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Minnesota. Shortly after his admission he received an appointment as law clerk in the department of the interior, and spent about a year traveling in the interests of the United States General Land Office, a branch of that department. His travels took him through a great number of the
JUDGE TIMOTHY E. J. DUFFY
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states and finally to Portland, Oregon. The general prosperity evinced in the com- munity and throughout the state, together with the wonderful climate and the many possibilities in his profession, caused him to tender his resignation to the department and enter into the active practice of the law in 1910, at Prineville, Oregon, the county seat of Crook county, where he soon became distinguished as one of the prominent and representative members of the legal profession. In 1915 he was appointed circuit judge of the eighteenth judicial district, receiving the honor of being the first judge of that district. Through his honest, ahle and efficient administration of that office, he was elected to succeed himself in 1916, and is still active in the office. Judge Duffy, while a resident of Prineville, was appointed deputy district attorney, also city attorney, besides receiving an appointment as commissioner of the United States Land Office, for Oregon, having held the last two offices until his elevation to the bench.
In 1914 the marriage of Judge Duffy to Miss Katherine C. Trautner, a daughter of Anton Trautner, was celebrated. She is descended from one of Minnesota's pioneer and representative families. Mrs. Duffy is a graduate of the Winona State Normal School, and being interested in educational work she engaged in teaching until shortly before her marriage. Mrs. Duffy is a woman of much intellect, personal charm and re- finement, and is prominently known in connection with many of the women's clubs of both Bend and Prineville. To the union of Judge and Mrs. Duffy three children have been born: Kathleen A., Robert T. and Thomas J.
Judge Duffy is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, being now the exalted ruler of Bend Lodge, No. 1371. He is also identified with the Order of Knights of Pythias, heing a past chancellor commander of that order. He likewise is associated with and a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at Bend, Oregon. Professionally Judge Duffy is identified with the Central Oregon and Oregon State Bar Associations. Locally he is a director of the Bend Commercial Club and intensely interested in any movement furthering the welfare and development of Central Oregon. As a citizen of Bend he is known for his high character and ideals and for active usefulness, both in connection with the general interest of the community and in the private relations and influences of life. Being a deep and sincere student of juridical doctrine, he has great respect for judicial place and power and his course in the courtroom is characterized by a calm- ness and dignity that indicates reserve strength. To Judge Duffy a public office is a public trust and his endeavors on the bench have been marked by a singleness of purpose, to the end that even-handed justice is administered, and having steadfastly maintained this high standard his record has at all times conferred honor and dignity upon the district that has honored him.
JOHN BELL.
John Bell, a successful farmer residing on his six hundred and eighty acre ranch on Wild Horse creek near Athena, Umatilla county, was born in Torran, Scotland, on the 25th of February, 1848, a son of Hugh and Christena (McFadden) Bell. His parents were also natives of that vicinity, where they were united in marriage, and sometime afterward set out for the new world with their little family. They secured passage on a sailing vessel and during the eight weeks voyage the father died. The family continued the journey alone and their first home was in Grey county, Ontario, Canada. Securing a homestead there they improved the land whereon they resided for fifteen years.
John Bell assisted his mother in managing the homestead for a number of years and then secured work in various lumber companies, also spending some time as head sawyer in a number of lumber camps, including the one at Garden River, On- tario, Canada. He operated a sawmill at Marquette, Michigan, for Ed. Frazier, achiev- ing a substantial measure of success in this venture, and in 1880 he removed to Weston, Umatilla county, Oregon, where he remained for one summer and engaged in various occupations. At the end of that time he returned to Ontario, Canada, and ran a hotel at Singhampton. In 1891 he again removed to Oregon and settled in Pendleton, where he rented a farm on Greenwood flats. For five years he operated this rented land and then bought one-half section adjoining, on which he made many up-to-date improvements. He later purchased a two hundred acre tract from Tom Paige on Wild Horse creek, and his son is now living on and cultivating this land.
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Subsequently Mr. Bell purchased his present ranch of two hundred acres which is now well improved land. He has gradually added to his holdings until he owns six hundred and eighty acres of fine improved land, the main portion of which is in wheat. Mr. Bell started farming with practically no experience hut he had courage and a grim determination to succeed, and he allowed no obstacles, however great, to obstruct his path. He has become a popular man in the community where he makes his home and is interested in any undertaking for the betterment of the community, county or state. Mr. Bell has always been a strong advocate of education and for a number of terms he has served on the school hoard as a director.
In 1870, in Canada, Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Smith, a daughter of James and Jessie Smith. Mrs. Bell is a native of England. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, eight children were horn; James S .; Hugh; David A .; Will G .; John L .; Charles E .; Tena, now Mrs. W. A. Saunders; and Jessie, now Mrs. Bert Warren.
Since age conferred upon Mr. Bell the right of franchise, he has been a stanch supporter of the republican party, in the interest of which he has always taken an active part. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and the Maccabees, and his religious faith is that of the Christian church. Mr. Bell has ever been a man of marked enterprise, for he was thrown upon his own resources in a strange land when just a boy. He has led a life of diligence and industry and as a result has become one of the most prosperous and highly respected men of his district.
FRANK RIGLER.
To understand fully any individual, it is said that one must go back to his ancestry and learn of the stock from which he sprang. It was during the days when William Penn was founding his colony in the new world that the ancestors of Professor Frank Rigler came across the Atlantic and established their home in Pennsylvania. When the colonists determined to throw off the yoke of British op- pression, John Rigler joined the American forces and served with the rank of captain under General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, while Andrew Rigler, then a mere hoy in years, also offered his services to the country and went to the front in defense of American liberty. He was the father of Jacoh Rigler, who was a life- long resident of Pennsylvania, where he conducted business as a farmer, stock d'ealer and nurseryman, passing away in the Keystone state at the age of eighty- four years. His son, the Hon. Henry Rigler, who was the father of Professor Frank Rigler, was born and reared in a suburb of Philadelphia and became extensively engaged in dealing in live stock. He was likewise recognized as one of the political leaders of that locality and gave his support to the whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new republican party and upon its ticket was elected to the state legislature. He wedded Mary Castor, a native of Pennsylvania and a member of one of the old Quaker families of that state, whose ancestors had come to the new world with William Penn. Her father was a soldier of the Mexican war and lost his life while fighting in the battle of Monterey. Both Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rigler remained lifelong residents of Pennsylvania, the former passing away in Philadelphia in 1894, when seventy-nine years of age, while his wife also reached the age of seventy-nine years, being called to her final rest in 1901
Prof. Frank Rigler, whose name introduces this review, was born near the Frankford arsenal in Philadelphia and in his youthful days became a punil in the Central high school of that city, from which he was graduated in 1872. He started out in the business world as an employee in the city engineering department and after leaving the east spent six months as a railroad engineer in Kansas. In 1875, however, he returned to Pennsylvania and took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for two and a half years in Bucks county, near Doylestown. He made continuous progress in his profession and was chosen vice principal of the boys' grammar school in Philadelphia, but after filling the position for a year was obliged to resign because of throat trouble. Hoping that a change of climate might prove beneficial, he came to the Pacific coast in January, 1879, and for a brief period t'nght in the schools of Buena Vista. Polk county, Oregon. He afterward became principal of the Independence school and in 1882 was elected to the superintendency
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of the schools of Polk county, which position he capably filled for one term. He had by this time become well established as one of the foremost educators of the Northwest, and was continuously in positions of importance and responsibility. After serving as superintendent of schools in Polk county he was chosen school superintendent of Walla Walla, Washington, where he remained for eighteen months.
It was in December, 1885, that Prof. Rigler became identified with the edu- cational system of Portland, for at that date he accepted the position of principal of the Park school, with which he was connected until the close of the school year of 1887-88. He was next made superintendent of the schools of Oregon City, there remaining until 1891, when he returned to Portland as principal of the Harrison street school and occupied that position until June, 1894, when he was elected prin- cipal of the Portland high school. After two years' incumbency in that position he was chosen city superintendent in June, 1896, and remained at the head of the Portland schools to the time of his death, on July 18, 1914. While he was still an active factor in the world's work one of his biographers wrote of him: "He has inaugurated many practical' reforms and improvements in the school work and inspires teachers and pupils with much of his own zeal and interest. He holds to high ideals, realizing that school training is not merely for the acquirement of knowledge but a preparation for life's responsibilities. To this end he endeavors to make the school work thorough, broad and comprehensive in its scope, that it may constitute the basis of success for those who will become the dominant factors in the business and social life of Portland in later years. Prof. Rigler is a zealous student of educational methods as advanced by the National Education Association, was a member of its national council, and was formerly a director for Oregon in that organization. Since 1882 he has served almost continuously as a member of the state board for examination of teachers. The State Teachers Association numbers him among its leading workers and his term as president of that body was charac- terized by far-reaching and effective effort in the promotion of its success. His work in connection with teachers' institutes is well known and has received the endorsement of those people who judge judiciously. He became one of the charter members of the Schoolmasters Club and for a number of years was honored with its presidency. The profession of teaching has been his life work, to which he has bent every energy, and, setting his mark high, he is putting forth every effort to raise himself to its level." To the profession of teaching Prof. Rigler continued to de- vote his time and energies until his life's labors were ended in death, and who can measure the value of his services in directing the intellectual development of the youth of the northwest? He had the ability to inspire teachers and pupils under him with much of his own zeal and interest in the work and his labors were at all times richly fruitful and resultant.
When Mr. Rigler passed away, D. A. Grout, the assistant city superintendent of the Portland schools, wrote of him: "After a life of service in the field of education, twenty-six years of which was given to building up the school system that today exists in Portland, Frank Rigler died at his home at 1092 Thurman street, Portland, Oregon, in July, 1914. His illness had been serious for several months and pre- vented him in a large measure for the past year from taking as active a part in the school affairs of the city as he desired. The history of the rise of Portland's public school system to a place where it is recognized as one of the best systems in the United States, and used as a model elsewhere, is almost the history of the life of Frank Rigler for the past seventeen years, for his life in those years was en- tirely given to the service of the Portland schools in the capacity of city school superintendent. Even after his resignation from the superintendency a year ago, he still remained active in the vocational school department, and his advice and service was always freely given to his successor, L. R. Alderman. His devotion to the Portland public schools is held by many of his friends to be indirectly the cause that led up to his fatal illness, for in all the years of his service he submerged himself com- pletely in this work, and for many years did the work alone that three or four men were doing in other cities. This long strain and application to his duties is held to be the chief cause of his failing health in the past few years.
"Mr. Rigler had the remarkable faculty of knowing in advance how a new plan in educational affairs would work out. He had the ability to put himself in the position of the grade teacher and to understand how the teacher would work under any proposed new system. Consequently the things that he introduced into the schools of Portland were a foregone success before they were tried, for he never
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introduced an innovation until he had thoroughly worked it out beforehand. He was a past master in the art of organization. He could take any school or any school system and bring it into a condition of effective working order, no matter how badly it might have heen running before. Some regarded him as a stern man, but I found him, on the contrary, surprisingly kind. He was, however, always himself, a man of strikingly logical and masterful mind, who hated shams and could see throughi them instantly. No one could deceive him, and this trait about him perhaps caused in his life more or less friction between him and those who may have attempted to deceive him.
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