USA > Oregon > Multnomah County > Portland > Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present > Part 107
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126
took up the study of law preparatory to becom- ing a member of the Oregon bar.
Judge Ryan has been called to fill many im- portant official positions, he having in 1887 been elected as mayor of Oregon City; at the end of his term of office was elected as water commis- sioner of Oregon City, serving as such until his election as city recorder in 1892, which office he filled until his election as county judge in 1898, having in that year been elected to that office by a large plurality as the candidate of the Republican party. In July of that year he en- tered upon the duties of that office, performing the same so ably and acceptably for the term of four years that he was again nominated by his party without any opposition and was re- elected by a very large majority, receiving the second largest vote given to any candidate on the ticket. This was the public testimonial of ca- pable, honest and faithful service. Without per- sonal bias or prejudice he has administered the duties of this important office with strict fair- ness and impartiality. He has also served as school clerk of Oregon City for eight years and at the present time is a member of the board of directors. In 1882 he joined Cataract Hose Company No. 2 of the Oregon City Fire Department and in 1885 was elected and served as chief of the department.
February 24. 1897, in Portland, Ore., Judge Ryan was married to Miss Inez Marshall, who was born in Oregon City and is a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of the state of Oregon and descendant of the Mar- shall family of Virginia and the Choate family of Massachusetts. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Ryan was engaged in educational work and is a lady of culture and refinement and recognized as one of the social leaders in Oregon City. They have two children, Marshall and Donald.
The judge is a valued representative of vari- ous fraternal organizations ; a member of Mult- nomah Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M., of which he has been worshipful master and also served as secretary for the past fifteen years; high priest for three years of Clackamas Chapter No. 2. R. A. M., he is now serving as treasurer of same. He is at the present time grand king of the Grand Chapter R. A. M. of Oregon. In the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty- second degree and is a member of Oregon Con- sistory No. I. He is also a member of Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He was made an Odd Fellow in Oregon City in Oregon Lodge No. 3 and has served as secretary of said lodge for seventeen years consecutively and has repre- sented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of Ore- gan for fourteen years: he is at present repre- sentative of Oregon to the Sovereign Grand Lodge I. O. O. F. of the United States. He
32
786
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
is past grand patriarch of the Grand Encamp- ment of Oregon and a member of Falls Encamp- ment No. 4 of Oregon City ; he is at the present time, and has been for a number of years, treas- urer of the board of trustees of the Odd Fel- lows Home of Oregon, and one of the organ- izers of the order of Muscovites. He is the present consul commander of Willamette Camp No. 148 W. O. W. and a past master workman of Falls City Lodge No. 59 A. O. U. W. He is also past grand patron and a member of the board of trustees of the order of the Eastern Star of Oregon ; his wife is a past noble grand of the Rebekah degree of Odd Fellows and at present grand associate conductress of the Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star; she is also an active member of the Episcopal Church.
A recognized leader in the ranks of the Re- publican party of the state, Judge Ryan has served as both chairman and secretary of the Republican County Central Committee and for six years has represented his county upon the district congressional committee. He is very prominent and popular in the various fraternal organizations with which he is identified and has a very wide acquaintance throughout the state. He is a member of the State Bar Asso- ciation; the practice of law has been his real life work and at the bar and on the bench he has won distinction. His record as a judge has been in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer-distinguished by unswerving integ- rity and a masterful grasp of every problem which has presented itself for solution.
O. P. S. PLUMMER, M. D. Many of the re- sourceful movements of Oregon have felt the masterly touch of Dr. O. P. S. Plummer and have responded with the quickness and thor- oughness which have distinguished his own ca- reer, success having early come to him through the conscientious and forceful application of his talent and energies. He now makes his home in Portland, though this city is by no means the only one to profit by his abilities and efforts toward the growth of the western common- wealth, various duties and interests having called him to different parts of the state, which makes his life history interesting reading for the many who have known him.
Dr. Plummer was born in Mercer county, Pa., April 13, 1836, and was educated in the public schools of that state. When a lad he became an assistant in a telegraph office, where he became proficient in telegraphy and from his native county he went west, holding positions at Pittsburg. Cleveland and Chicago. He went to Rock Island, Ill., to take an office, and there read medicine with his brother, S. C. Plummer,
who was a practicing physician for over fifty years, acting as surgeon in the Thirteenth Illi- nois Infantry during the Civil war. He then returned to Pennsylvania and attended the lec- tures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and after his graduation in 1857, with the de- gree of M. D., he once more located in Illinois and practiced at Moline and Aledo. He crossed the plains to California by mule team, with the intention of locating in Sonoma county, where some friends of his had previously settled, but was advised by some friends who were in the employ of telegraphic companies to take an of- fice. He therefore became an operator for the winter of 1863, and upon the erection of the Portland line he was given charge of the office, coming to the city April 9, 1864. From that time until November of the same year he was the only operator in Portland and had but one as- sistant, but through the rapid growth of the business another operator was sent to help him. He successfully conducted the business of the office until the fall of 1866, when he resigned and took up the practice of medicine at Albany for two years. This was interrupted by a re- quest from the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, which had absorbed the California State Telegraph Line, for him to return to the service and accept the superintendency of the Oregon district of the Pacific division. The offer was an excellent one and he therefore accepted and for six years successfully discharged the duties of his position. During this period the medical department of the Willamette University, at Sa- lem, was established, and heing intimately asso- ciated with the leading men of that undertaking, Dr. Plummer delivered, for three years, a course of lectures before classes on hygiene and med- ical electricity, and in the spring of 1877 he located in Portland as a practicing physician, his old interest in medicine revived. At the same time he established a drug store at the corner of First and Salmon streets, which was known as Dr. Plummer's Uptown Drug Store. In the fall of 1879 the medical department of the Willamette University was removed to Port- land and Dr. Plummer was made dean of the faculty, when for three years he lectured on the full course of Materia Medica and Thera- peutics, only resigning on the pressure of other business. About that time he also retired from general practice, confining his work principally to the management of the drug store and an office practice. For seven years Fabian Byerly was associated as a partner of the doctor's, hav- ing previously acted as clerk in the establish- ment for four years.
Dr. Plummer became one of the most promi- nent and influential men in the practice of medi- cine in Oregon and as such gave much time and
787
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
thought toward the advancement of the work. Upon the establishment of the board of United States Examining Surgeons he was made a member and was associated with Dr. W. H. Watkins and Dr. E. P. Fraser. As secretary of the board he maintained the position for six years, at the close of that period resigning. In the fall of 1899 the examining board was re- organized and Dr. Plummer was again impor- tuned to accept an appointment, which he did, holding at present the position of secretary. He was one of the organizers of the State Medical Society of Oregon, and when the first medical law was passed regulating the practice of med- icine in the state he was made a member of the board, appointed by Governor Pennoyer, and be- sides Dr. Plummer, consisted of Dr. James Dick- son, of Portland, and Dr. James Browne, now of Boise City.
In politics Dr. Plummer is a Republican and during his first residence in Portland he acted as member of the council from the old Third ward, and has also served acceptably two terms in the state legislature. For one year he served as chairman of the eity and county conventions, in the convention of 1902 retiring from his for- mer activity. In fraternal relations he belongs to Portland Lodge No. 55, A. F. & A. M., in which he is past master, having served for three years. He was made a Mason in Albany in 1871 and in addition to the first membership mentioned he also belongs to Portland Chapter No. I. R. A. M., and the Scottish Rite, of the Oregon Consistory, and is a member of Al Kader Temple, N. M. S. Religiously he was one of the organizers of the First Presbyterian Church of Portland, and is the only one living of the body of trustees who incorporated the church. He has been a ruling elder for twenty-eight years. He was also one of the organizers of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of South Portland and holds at present the office of ruling elder there. In addition to his many interests the doctor has found occupation for his spare time in the cultivation of fruit, being a devotee of horticultural pursuits and a member of the State Society. He has an orchard of twenty acres lo- cated near Bertha, to which he gives special at- tention. Several years ago he prepared and published a special paper on fruit culture, which was widely read and appreciated.
Dr. Plummer has been twice married, the first ceremony being performed in 1859, of which union three children were born, namely: Mrs. Claud Gatch, of Salem, Ore .: Mrs. S. J. Chad- wick, whose husband is a supreme judge in Colfax, Wash. : and Mrs. C. C. Maring. of Seat- tle. Wash. His second marriage was to Miss Martha Kelly, whose father, Albert Kelly, a eir- cuit rider in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
crossed the plains in 1849 from Somerset, Ky., where he was born in 1814. He had started in 1847, but was detained that length of time by the loss of his stock, which he had to replace in Mis- souri. He had a donation land grant, which he located in the state of Oregon, and upon which he followed farming in connection with his church interests, his preaching being done principally at private houses, as there were few buildings in which to hold worship. Many and varied were the experiences of this sturdy pioneer preacher, one in particular being recalled as told to the younger generation. It was often a matter of long and rough jour- neys to reach his appointed place and while trav- eling Mr. Kelly would garb himself in old clothes, carrying a better suit in a sack, and on his arrival would dress for the occasion. His guides through the dense timber lands were the trail and compass, but these were often at fault in the darkness of the return trip, and on one, being lost and overtaken by rain, using the swift decision which was a characteristic of the pioneer, he made a little shelter by leaning huge pieces of bark against a fallen tree and crawling in, he lay down to sleep with his head upon his carpet bag. In the night the wolves dragged the bag out from under his head, and scattered the clothes about him, and he slept on, uncon- scious of his danger until morning came and revealed his narrow escape. He died in North Yakima, Ore., in 1873. He married Nina Bing- ham, who was born in Athens, Ohio, in 1816. She was a woman of hne intellect and great cul- ture, having been a teacher in her youth. She retained her faculties up to the time of her deatlı, which occurred at the age of eighty-two years, in the home of Dr. Plummer, where she had lived for the preceding two years. She had many friends and always enjoyed hav- ing them around her, the tale just recounted of her husband's experiences having been related by her to her grandchildren. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly were as follows: Maria, the wife of Van B. De Lashmutt. She was born in Kentucky and crossed the plains when a young child. She has three children, of whom Inez is unmarried and engages in teaching in Spokane, Wash .; Ernest, married and resides in that city ; and Ivan, who is unmarried, is a min- ing engineer in Arizona. Silas G. was born in Missouri in 1848 and was a baby when his parents crossed the plains ; he has no children ; and Martha, born in Oregon, near Bertha, in November, 1850, is now the wife of Dr. Plum- mer. She received her education in the public schools and the old academy of Portland and taught there for many years. Of the marriage of the doctor and his wife, which occurred in 1874, five children were born, of whom Grace,
iso
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
a graduate of the State University and the new Portland Academy, was a teacher, and held the position of assistant principal in Baker City, Ore. She died at the home of her parents June 21, 1903. Agnes is a teacher in the Failing School, and is a graduate of the new Portland Academy. Ross M. is a graduate of the State University in the class of 1903, his degree being B. A., and is now connected with his father in the drug business; Hildegarde is a graduate of the Port- land Academy and took special musical instrue- tion and excels in this, being an excellent per- former on the pipe organ. She is bookkeeper for her father. Marion is the youngest of the children and is now a student in the Portland Academy. All of the children were born in Portland, the doctor and his wife making their home upon the property which he purchased and remodeled in 1881.
SETH L. POPE. The Pope family was first represented in America by three brothers, Thomas, Luen and Seth, who emigrated from their native home, Plymouth, England, to Ply- mouth, Mass., in 1622. Of these brothers, Thomas Pope is the ancestor from whom the subject of this sketch springs. Luen was killed by the Indians in Maine, leaving no family ; and Seth died at sea, likewise leaving no descendants. From Thomas the direct line of descent is through Seth and Colonel Lemuel, both of whom were prominent in the Indian wars during the early colonial period : Seth, Yet Seth. Seth and Seth Luen. The paternal great-grandfather, Seth Pope, was a member of the general court (or legislature) of Massachusetts Bay Colony. and fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. At the same time his son, Yet Seth, was lieutenant in a company of Massachusetts militiamen stationed at Charlestown bridge. The latter was a house joiner and farmer by occupation, and died in Fairhaven, Mass., in 1820. His father was a seafaring man, as well as a farmer.
Seth Pope, the father of Seth L. Pope, was born in Fairhaven, Mass., October 6. 1803. and, like many of his ancestors, devoted much of his life to the sea. A valued possession of his son, Seth L., are the log books of this seasoned mar- iner, who not only became familiar with the chief waterways of the world, but in time be- came one of the pioneer settlers and prominent men of the territory of Oregon. For many years he was engaged in the European trade. In 1850 he rounded Cape Horn on a trip to San Fran- cisco in his own brig, the Nonpareil, arriving at his destination April 22, 1850, having started on his journey January 10 of the same year. In the port of San Francisco he cleared for the Columbia river. where he intended to secure a
cargo of lumber; but the locality pleased him so well that he remained and prepared to make his home at St. Helens. He erected the first frame house in the town October 12, 1850, and this became his headquarters for his mercantile business and an office for his brig, which he kept in service until 1854. After that he conducted the store which he had established until 1857, when he repaired to a farm in the country, upon which he lived until taking up his residence with his son in Portland. Here he died July 23, [886, a man highly respected as possessing many of the traits characteristic of the best class of the early pioneers of the northwest. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and in pol- ities was a Republican. In his young manhood he married Mary Henwood, a native of Eng- land, the ceremony being performed in the Wap- pinham Church, Isle of Wight. Together they came to Fairhaven, Mass., where Mrs. Pope died July 5, 1841. She was a daughter of Nicholas Henwood, who was born in Ireland, became a lieutenant in the British army, and after his return from a long period of colonial service engaged in the hotel business at Cowes, Isle of Wight. Two children were born to Setli Pope and his wife. Seth Luen Pope is the eldest ; William Henwood. a farmer residing near Clack- amas, is ex-auditor of Multnomah county.
Seth Luen Pope was born in Fairhaven, Mass., March 26, 1837, and was educated at Woodbury Cottage School and at a private school. Fol- lowing the example of his forefathers, he put to sea at the age of fourteen, and in 1851 engaged in the coasting trade. Three years later, aecom- panied by his brother, he shipped before the mast from Boston harbor on the Eagle Wing, bound for San Francisco, by way of Cape Horn. where he arrived April 1. 1854. Thence he sailed on the brig Clarendon for Oregon, arriv- ing at St. Helens May 5. 1854, and there he saw his father for the first time in four years. The latter was averse to his sons following the sea, but their tastes ran that way, and it is proverbial that the nautical mind is a tenacious one. The father persuaded Seth L. to take up a claim in Chalacha Prairie. Clarke county, Washington, where he remained until the Indian war broke out and rendered the locality a dan- gerous one. For the following two years he sailed on the barque Desdemona, in the coast trade, making his last trip just before the craft was lost. Mr. Pope was second, then first mate of the Desdemona. filling the latter post at twenty years of age, and discontinued seafaring life temporarily because of an accident aboard ship which necessitated his remaining on his father's place to recuperate. In 1862 he went to The Dalles, where he was engaged as secretary and bookkeeper for the sash and door factory
789
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
of that place. In the spring of 1866 he re- moved to Pend Oreille Lake, Idaho, where he became pilot and master of a line of boats cross- ing the lake. In 1870 he came to Portland, which has since been his home. For two years lie served as cashier for the Wells-Fargo Ex- press Company, following which he acted as manager and assistant secretary and treasurer of the Portland Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany. He then became identified with the Ore- gon Telephone, Telegraph and Electric Light Company, establishing the first exchange in 1880, and remaining with the company in the capacity of manager for two and a half years. At that time his health became undermined, and after recovering he became associated with the old Portland Water and Gas Company. Again he came under the doctor's care; and hoping for benefits from a radical change he traveled for a year, examining mining properties in different parts of the west. Eventually he accepted the position of cashier and assistant secretary of the Transcontinental Street Railway Company of Portland, serving in this capacity until the con- solidation of that line with the city and sub- urban lines. Since then Mr. Pope has led a com- paratively retired life, not neglecting, however, the many social and other connections and inter- ests he has established in his adopted city.
As a Mason Mr. Pope has few peers through- out the northwest. His association with this historic order began in The Dalles, where he was elected master of Wasco Lodge No. 15, just prior to his departure from the town. He is a charter member and Past Master of Portland Lodge No. 55; Past High Priest of The Dalles Chapter No. 6, R. A. M .; has served as Grand Lecturer in the Grand Chapter of Oregon for twelve years, and has filled every office in the Grand Chapter with the exception of those of Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer. During 1891 and 1892 he was Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Oregon. He is a charter member and Past Eminent Commander of Ore- gon Commandery No. I, K. T., has passed all the bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and for seven years was Master of Per- fection Lodge. He is also Sovereign Inspector of the honorary thirty-third degree; a member of Al Kader Temple, N. M. S .; a member of Hodson Council No. 1, R. S. M., at McMinn- ville; has been Grand Recorder for the Grand Council, R. & S. M. of Oregon for the past eleven years; and is a member and ex-Vice President of the first council of the Order of High Priesthood. In national politics he is in- dependent.
Mr. Pope has always been known as a man of integrity and stability. His name has been a fa- miliar one throughout a large section of the
northwest for about half a century, and though passing through many vicissitudes incident to pioneer life in a new and undeveloped country, his record has been that of an honorable, upright man throughout the entire period of his career on the Pacific coast. Few men residing in Ore- gon are personally known to so many men in all walks of life as he, and none enjoy, in the twilight of their lives, a more extended feeling of regard and good will on the part of their friends.
HON. JAMES E. HUNT, member of the twenty-first biennial session of the Oregon legis- lature, has been a resident of Portland since 1890, and has established a reputation for busi- ness and political integrity consistent with the fundamental growth of communities. A native of Naperville, Dupage county, Ill., he is the seventh of the ten children born to James J. and Nancy (Converse) Hunt, natives of Crawfords- ville, Pa., and the latter of whom, a daughter of George Converse, a native of Vermont, and builder in Iowa, died August 12, 1872. The great-grandfather Hunt followed the martial for- tunes of Washington during the Revolutionary war, and it is supposed, lived in the state of Vermont. At any rate, the paternal grand- father, James, was born in that state, where he learned the blacksmith's trade, and from where he carried the fortunes of the family to Erie county, Pa., settling near Crawfordsville. He eventually removed to Illinois, where terminated his long and industrious life. Puritan blood flows through the veins of those who bear the name of Hunt, and the representatives of this particular branch of the family have not lost track of the rugged honesty and sincerity of their forefathers.
James J. Hunt was reared in Crawfordsville, Pa., removed to Illinois when a young man, and engaged in the hardware business in Naperville, Dupage county, for thirty-five years. Rich in public honors, he is now living retired in the town of his adoption, and has reached the ad- vanced age of eighty-one years. He has served the commonwealth as city and county treasurer, county sheriff, mayor of Naperville. president of the council, school director, and for twenty years justice of the peace. He is a Republican in political affiliation, and during his long and active life has faithfully supported the best tenets of his party.
Only three of the children of James J. Hunt are now living and of these, James E. was born May 29, 1852. His education was acquired in the public schools of Naperville, Ill., and when comparatively young he began to learn the hard- ware business of his father. In 1883 he went to
790
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Minneapolis, Minn., where he was employed in the collection department of the Minneapolis Harvester Works. In this undertaking he was very successful and made a fine record as col- lector. In 1885 he went to Chicago, where he had charge of the collection department of The Deering Harvester Works, where he rendered himself particularly valuable to the company un- til 1888. Owing to failing health he was obliged to sever his relations with the harvester com- pany, and in the more healthful climate of Has- tings. Neb., embarked as general agent for the Plano Manufacturing Company of Chicago, his responsibility including the territories of Neb- raska. Kansas and Colorado.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.