USA > Oregon > Oregon, pictorial and biographical > Part 8
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On the 9th of November, 1893, Mr. Chapin was married to Miss Jane Helen Lewis, a daughter of D. W. Lewis, who spent a part of his early life in Kansas during the troublous times in the history of that state, during which he sheltered John Brown. He espoused the Union cause in the Civil war and being captured, was incarcerated in a Confederate prison until exchanged. He died in August, 1907.
While residing in Olean, New York, Mr. Chapin was connected with the volunteer fire department and during the last year of his
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residence there was first assistant chief. He holds exemption papers from the state of New York, having served five years there as volun- teer fireman. In 1884 he assisted in organizing the Blaine & Logan Marching Club, which after the election of that year was merged into a military company with Mr. Chapin as second lieutenant. The com- pany secured uniforms and arms at their own expense. In 1887 they were mustered into the state troops as the Twenty-seventh Separate Company of the National Guard of New York. Upon Mr. Chapin's arrival in Portland he almost immediately associated himself with the First Regiment of the Oregon National Guard, being appointed by Colonel Beebe as sergeant standard bearer. In the spring of 1890 he was promoted to sergeant major, which position he held until June, 1891, when he resigned. In February of that year he had taken prominent part in the organization of the Multnomah Amateur Ath- letic club, was elected secretary and so served for two years, while for one year he was treasurer. In 1905 he was elected president of the club and later served on the board until February, 1907, when his term expired. In 1904 Mr. Chapin was made a member of the com- mittee appointed by Mayor Williams to care for the funds collected to relieve the Heppner flood sufferers. This committee was made permanent and during its life dispersed considerable money. It ceased to exist when the money on hand was turned over to the San Francisco sufferers. In 1907 he was made one of the general com- mittee of seven in the "Everybody Gives" campaign, who succeeded in raising the funds to build the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Association buildings. This committee was organized after several other committees had worked the town over thoroughly, as they thought, believing that they had secured all the money possible. The committee of seven then took up the work and completed it. This was perhaps the hardest task and the most successful of any done by a soliciting committee in the history of Portland.
Mr. Chapin has been a member of the Sons of the American Revolution since 1895 and has held the office of registrar since Feb- ruary 22, 1901. He is also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, which he joined in 1907. He has always been deeply interested in military projects and movements and has long been a popular member of the National Guard. In politics a republican, he is more or less active in the party and in 1907 he was elected president of the Republican Club, serving for one year. He was the precinct committeeman from the thirty-third precinct for 1910 and in 1906 was elected on the Republican ticket to repre- sent his district in the state legislature. He was candidate for speaker
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of the house but withdrew two weeks before the assembly convened. During the session he introduced and secured the passage of the rail- way commission bill which is now in operation. This bill was pre- pared by the transportation committee of the Chamber of Commerce and the Lumbermen's Association of Oregon. Its passage was se- cured as introduced with the exception of only one amendment, which concerned the manner of perpetuating the commission. Mr. Chapin was an active working member of the house and gave careful con- sideration to each question which came up for settlement. A review of his life indicates the fact that he has been active in various lines which have been of material benefit to the city. His interest in mili- tary, political and municipal affairs has been manifest in many tan- gible and helpful ways and in all these connections he has borne out the reputation which he enjoys that he is ever true to the cause or principle which he espouses. In every relation of life he has mani- fested unqualified fidelity, while in business he has also displayed the enterprising spirit which overcomes obstacles and difficulties and per- sistently forges ahead to the goal. He is justly accounted one of the influential and valued residents of Portland.
F . 2. Edilen
Otis R. Additon
OR a third of a century Otis R. Additon has resided F on the Pacific coast. He makes his home in Lents and is known as the father of the town, for his pro- gressive methods and enterprising spirit have con- tributed in large and substantial measure to its growth, prosperity and stability. The breadth of the continent separates him from his birthplace-Green, Maine. It was there on the 14th of August, 1843, that he first opened his eyes to the light of day, his parents being Zelotes and Talatha (Small) Addi- ton, in whose family were five children, Otis R. being the eldest. Of the others Sydney Quincey and Lizzie are now deceased. Melissa, the fourth member of the family, married Arthur Stillman, of Abing- don, Massachusetts. She is now a widow and a nurse by profession, residing at Brockton, Massachusetts.
Spending his youthful days in New England, Otis R. Additon started to make his way in the world by serving an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for fifteen years. At the time of the Civil war, however, all business and personal considera- tions were put aside in order that he might espouse the cause of the Union army. He enlisted in the Signal Corps and is now almost the only survivor of that part of the service living on the Pacific coast. After the close of the war he engaged in merchandising for thirty years and was thus connected with commercial interests in Massachusetts and Oregon. In 1878 he sold out and came to Oregon, settling in the Willamette valley. He became a merchant of Corvallis, where he continued for twelve years, after which he removed to Portland, where he resided for several years. He then came to the present site of Lents, where he was actively engaged in the real-estate business un- til 1909, when he practically retired from active life. His enterprise and energy proved important factors in the upbuilding of the place and he is known as "the father of Lents." In his real-estate opera- tions he laid out several additions and practically built the village. In all he was actuated by a spirit of progress that enabled him to over- come obstacles and difficulties and use the resources at hand to the best advantage, not only in the upbuilding of his own fortunes but also in the improvement of the town.
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In 1867, in Abingdon, Massachusetts, Mr. Additon was united in marriage to Miss Lucia Faxon, a native of the Bay state, and a daugh- ter of Lucius and Harriet (Jones) Faxon. In their family were ten children. With one exception all reached years of maturity, al- though Henry, Bela, Harriet, Elmira, Anna and Andrew are now de- ceased. Delia is the wife of Isaac Holmes, of Massachusetts. Web- ster is a resident of Abingdon, Massachusetts. The other member of the family is Mrs. Additon, who by her marriage has become the mother of one son, Alton Sydney, who was born in 1871 and now lives in Berkeley, California. He married Miss Mabel Burgess, a rep- resentative of one of the pioneer families of that state. They reside in San Francisco and A. S. Additon is interested in mining.
In his political views Mr. Additon has always been a democrat and came of a family connected with that party, while his wife's people hold to the republican faith. He has never been an office seeker but has always been recognized as a public-spirited citizen and one who has done much for the community in which he lives. He holds to the Christian faith and in all of his work for progress and improvement has the sympathy and assistance of his wife. Mrs. Additon is also recognized as one of the leading residents of Lents. She is the founder of the Woman's Press Club of Oregon and has an extensive acquaintance throughout the state. For ten years she served as presi- dent of the club and is numbered among those ladies whose influence has been of far-reaching benefit in upholding the standards of the in- dividual and public action. For four years she served as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Oregon and is now one of the national lecturers for that organization. She has always been a great student of sociology and there is no one better informed concern- ing this subject in all the state than Mrs. Additon. She is at the head of the social science department of the Woman's Club of Portland, and she was named as one of the women delegates to represent the state at the Centennial Exposition in Astoria. In all of her public work her home interests have never been neglected but she has ever stood fearlessly and unfalteringly "for God and home and native land," and her support of the various measures in which she is so deeply in- terested, results from close study of the situation and a comprehensive knowledge of the principles involved. Both Mr. and Mrs. Additon are widely known throughout Oregon and command the respect and honor of all with whom they came in contact.
Lucia Il. Addition
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Er Melistor
General Coward Bancroft Williston
ENERAL EDWARD BANCROFT WILLIS- G TON, who is a descendant of the Bancroft family, which has been prominently and honorably identified with the military history of this country, was born in Vermont, in 1837, a son of Ebenezer and Elmira (Patridge) Williston, both of whom were natives of Vermont. The mother first married Colonel Burton, an officer of the United States army. By that union she had three children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being. Henry, a graduate of West Point, whose death occurred in 1869, when he was colonel of the Fifth Artillery and was serving as a brigadier general; and Louisa, deceased, who was the wife of Dr. T. R. Crosby, also de- ceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Williston four children were born: Kate, who died when she was very young; Ellen, who is the widow of Henry Steel Clark, a clergyman, and is the mother of one daughter, Nellie, making her home with her mother; Edward, who died in infancy; and Edward Bancroft, the subject of this review.
The last named acquired his education in the State Military Col- lege of Vermont. While there he took up such training as would fit him for work as civil engineer and immediately after leaving school he was employed in that capacity on a railroad. After one year's work he removed to California and located near San Diego, where he conducted a stock ranch, raising both horses and cattle. Three years later he went to San Francisco and was connected there with government contracts until he received his appointment in the army in 1861. His first commission was as second lieutenant, but on the 27th of September, 1861, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and in March, 1865, was made captain. In 1885 he was in the position of major and that of lieutenant colonel in 1896. Two years later he was made colonel and on the 10th of May, 1898, was made brigadier general of volunteers and was in command of troops at Chickamauga for several months, at the end of which time he was ordered to join the Seventh Army Corps in Florida. He commanded the First Brigade, Second Division, for several months and was later put in command of the entire Second Division. He took the division to Cuba during the Spanish-American war and his were the first
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American troops to land at Havana. A few months later they were ordered to Pinar del Rio, but after six months' service there he re- turned to Baltimore and arranged for the transportation of his regi- ment to Manila, where they arrived in April, 1899. At that time he was made provost marshal general and governor of the city. He had a separate brigade and held that position until his retirement on the 15th of July, 1900. He returned to the United States imme- diately upon his retirement and lived in San Francisco until Novem- ber, 1902. In that year he was commissioned for duty as deputy governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D. C., where he remained for four years. In 1907 he went to California, where he spent a short time before removing to Portland, Oregon, where he has since resided. His career as an officer in the army was marked by few sensational experiences but was one of steady progression, rising from one of the lowest offices to one of great importance. His service during the Spanish-American war was such as to commend him to the approval of his superiors and won him several speedy promotions.
General Williston has been twice married. In 1869 he wedded Miss Beatrice Moore, of Washington, D. C., a daughter of Colonel Moore. She was one of four children, all of whom are deceased, Orin, Bethsheba, Sarah and Beatrice. To General and Mrs. Willis- ton three children were born, all of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Williston's death occurred in March, 1902. In that year the General was married in San Francisco to Miss Florence E. Chatfield, a daughter of Ira and Elizabeth (North) Chatfield and one of eight children, being the only one to come to Portland.
Few men who are still actively engaged in business or military pursuits today have had the long and successful military career which has been General Williston's. Throughout his connection with the army he always won the regard and approval of his superior officers, this being due to the fact that duty commended itself to him on its own account and not as a means of favoritism.
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Don. G. UdI. Talebb
ON. G. W. WEBB is one of the venerable citizens of H Oregon, being now in the eighty-ninth year of his age. His life has been a busy and useful one and has been an honor and credit to the state which has hon- ored him. He has been identified with the develop- ment of the northwest for forty-seven years and in many ways has contributed to its progress, especially along material and political, lines. His birth occurred in Maryland, September 4, 1824, his parents being William C. and Mary Webb, both of whom were natives of the same state. In their family were twelve children, but G. W. Webb is the only one now living. His youthful days were spent under the parental roof and in his native state he pursued his education, but all through life he has been a close and diligent student in the school of experience, learning the lessons day by day and gain- ing from each the knowledge that has qualified him to take up the du- ties of the succeeding day. He left home at the age of eighteen years and went to Missouri, remaining a resident of that state for twenty years. He then heard and heeded the call of the west. The story of its opportunities proved most alluring and he made his way to Boise, Idaho, where for two years he worked in the mines. In 1864, how- ever, he returned to Missouri, but in the spring of 1865 once more crossed the plains, accompanied by his family. They made the long journey with mule teams, traveling over the stretches of hot sand and through the mountain passes. At length they arrived in Union county, Oregon, where they resided for ten years, and in 1875 took up their abode in Pendleton, where Mr. Webb has remained most of the time from that day to the present. As the years passed on, he became more and more closely associated with business interests. His investments have been judiciously made and the careful management of his af- fairs has brought him substantial and gratifying success. He was called from the supervision of his personal interests, however, to enter upon important public duties when, in 1876, he was elected treasurer of Umatilla county for a four years' term. He was also alderman of Pendleton for several terms and exercised his official prerogatives in support of many progressive measures that resulted in the develop-
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ment and improvement of the city. In 1886, he was elected state treasurer, which position he filled for four years, proving a most capable and trustworthy custodian of the public exchequer. He re- tired from office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good- will of all concerned-and on the conclusion of his four years' term he removed to La Grande, since which date he has divided his time between that place and Pendleton. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he has taken a most active and helpful interest in politics, doing everything in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of the party, because of his firm belief in the efficacy of its principles as factors in good government.
On the 28th of March, 1849, Mr. Webb was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. McDaniel, a native of Virginia. They became the par- ents of five children: Dana and Elizabeth, both now deceased; Anna M., the wife of J. H. Stevens, of La Grande; A. G., who is living in Wallace, Idaho; and Kate, the wife of Frank Frazier, of Pendleton. The wife and mother died December 5, 1895, and her death was deeply regretted not only by the members of her immediate family but also by many to whom she had become endeared through her excellent traits of character.
Mr. Webb holds membership with Eureka Lodge, No. 32, I. O. O. F., and enjoys the highest regard of his brethren of that order. He was initiated into Shelby Lodge, No. 16, at Shelby, Missouri, in 1855, and in the organization of the La Grande lodge he became a charter member and its first noble grand. Subsequently he transferred his membership to Eureka Lodge, No. 32, at Pendleton. He has thus been an Odd Fellow in good standing for fifty-seven years and in 1910 was presented with a fifty-five-year veteran jewel by the members of his home lodge. La Grande lodge rejoices in the gift of an oil painting of its first noble grand, which was presented to the society on roll call night-a night on which everyone who has been a member of the lodge is expected to be present or to send greetings. The portrait on that occasion came to the lodge as the greeting from Mr. Webb and is one of the most valued possessions of the local society.
He is now living retired, having for some years enjoyed a well earned and well merited rest. His former activity and enterprise in business have placed him among the successful men of eastern Oregon. He is well known throughout the entire state and is most highly es- teemed where best known, indicating that his life has been an honor- able and upright one. In all of his business career he has never been known to take advantage of the necessities of another and in public
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office he has ever been most loyal to the trust and confidence reposed in him.
Such is the record of G. W. Webb, who is today one of Oregon's most venerable citizens, but, though the snows of many years have whitened his hair he seems a much younger man than eighty-eight years, for he has kept young in spirit through his interest in the activi- ties and progress of his locality and the country in general. He is not only conversant with the history of the past but with the present and largely keeps in touch with the progressive thought of the day.
Thomas Campobecs
Thomas Campbell
HIRTY years have passed since Thomas Campbell T came to Umatilla county. He is now living retired at the venerable age of eighty-one years, but that his life has been an active one is proven in his extensive landed possessions, aggregating eighteen hundred and eighty acres in one body. He is one of the worthy citizens which the Emerald isle has furnished to the north- west, his birth having occurred in Ireland, October 17, 1831. His parents were William and Ann (Hemphill) Campbell, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Ireland. The father, how- ever, removed from the land of hills and heather to the land of the shamrock and his last days were spent on the green isle of Erin, after which the mother came with her family to America. She located in New York city, but afterward removed to Kentucky and sugsequently became a resident of Macoupin county, Illinois, where she passed away in 1860.
Thomas Campbell was the eldest in a family of nine children, of whom four are still living. He remained with his mother until her death and engaged in the cultivation of the home farm. He was a lad of eighteen summers when brought to the new world and soon relieved his mother of the difficulties and labors incident to the management of the farm and early acquired the business training which qualified him to win success for himself in later life. He continued a resident of Illinois until 1882, when he severed his connection with agricultural interests there and came to Oregon, settling in Umatilla county. Here he took up a ranch and for sixteen years resided thereon, transforming the land into rich and productive fields. In 1898, however, he left the farm and retired to private life, his success making this course possible. He has since lived in Pendleton, occupying one of the fine residences of the city. In addition to this property he is still the owner of eight- een hundred and eighty acres of land, all in one body, and derives therefrom a substantial income.
In 1877 Mr. Campbell was united in marriage to Miss Galena H. Moule, who was born in the state of New York. They have become parents of six children: T. A. and William S., who are residents of Umatilla county, and are operating their father's ranch; Galena, the
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wife of Frank B. Hayes, of the same county; Mary E., the wife of Richard Mayberry, of Pendleton; and Gertrude and Katherine, both at home. There are also three grandchildren, Maud, Clarence and Galena. In 1900 Mr. Campbell was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, whose death was also deeply regretted by the many friends whom she had won in Oregon.
Mr. Campbell has voted with the democratic party since age con- ferred upon him the right of franchise. He has held a few minor offices, serving as school clerk for eight years in Oregon, while in Illi- nois he filled the office of county commissioner for a number of years. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and throughout his life has endeavored to live in harmony with its teachings and principles. Mr. Campbell may well be numbered among the self-made men. He had no advantages in early life save that he was accorded a liberal educa- tion. Upon that foundation he has builded his success and his indus- try and energy have carried him into important connections with the business interests of Umatilla county. His judgment is sound, his discrimination keen and his judicious investments have made him one of the large landowners of his part of the state. He is now reaping the benefits of earnest and indefatigable labor and his many friends regard it most fitting that in the evening of life he should have this hour and opportunity for rest.
Hrs. Thomas Campbell
Robert Saing
Robert Laing
OBERT LAING, who is now living retired in Pendle- R ton, is the owner of a fine ranch of four hundred and eighty acres in Umatilla county, which he successfully cultivated for more than fifteen years. He was born in Canada on the 10th of September, 1841, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (Jason) Laing, both na- tives of Scotland. In 1832 they emigrated to America, settling in Canada, where they continued to reside until 1860 when they removed to New Zealand, and there passed the remainder of their lives. Six children were born to them all of whom are now deceased with the exception of our subject.
Robert Laing was reared in the dominion to the age of twenty years, and was educated in its common schools. He accompanied his parents on their removal to New Zealand and after pioneering there for twenty years decided to come to the United States. Upon his return to America, in 1880, he decided to locate in Kansas, to- ward which state many emigrants were headed at that period, but not meeting with the success he anticipated, four years later he came to Umatilla county. After his arrival here he invested in a tract of rail- road land ten miles north of Pendleton, upon which he settled. He subsequently extended his holdings by availing himself of the home- stead privilege, devoting his land almost entirely to raising wheat. Be- ing a farmer of many years' experience, and practical and intelligent
in his ideas, he met with more than average success and as his circum- stances warranted he made further improvements upon his ranch. From time to time he installed modern conveniences on his place and so added to its comforts, and, there is to be found on his farm every appliance that minimizes labor or expedites work, making his one of the best equipped ranches in the community. He energetically applied himself to the cultivation of his land for fifteen years, during that time acquiring a competence which warranted his withdrawal from active work and he came to Pendleton where he bought the fine resi- dence he now occupies with his family, and where he has ever since lived retired.
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