Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 112

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 946

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 112

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John Powell, whose name introduces this re- view, had pursued his education in the public schools and had engaged in teaching in Missouri for some time prior to the emigration westward. He joined his brothers, however, when they were preparing to start for Oregon, and the little party was among the vanguard of the great army of emigrants who afterward crossed the plains to this section of the country. Mr. Powell's first work in Oregon was cutting logs. He soon after- ward, however, purchased a squatter's right of

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three hundred and twenty acres, located about six miles from Portland, on the Columbia river. On the place was a log cabin, and two acres of the land had been cleared and sown to wheat. In 1848 gold was discovered in California, and Mr. Powell went to the mines on both the Feather and American rivers, but being taken ill, he returned to Oregon. The next summer, however, he started again for California, but mnet his brothers returning and came back with them. In 1850 they once more made the trip to the Golden state and spent a year in placer min- ing. meeting with moderate success. They then returned to Oregon, where Mr. Powell began farming, locating a grant of land seven miles from Portland on the Columbia river. He at once went to work to make a home, and in his farming operations he prospered.

December 20, 1852, occurred the marriage of John Powell and Miss Martha Milliorn, who was born in Virginia, and was a daughter of John Milliorn, who was a native of Pennsylvania. In early life, however, he removed to the Old Do- minion, where he was married, and afterward became a resident of Missouri, settling near In- dependence. He was a wagon-maker by trade, and for some time followed that pursuit. In 1852 he came with his wife and nine children to Oregon, arriving after a six months' trip. Cholera broke out in the train with which the party traveled, and some of the family were carried off by the dread disease. Mr. Milliorn, however. lived for some time as an active, hon- ored and respected citizen in this state, and at length died in Junction City, at the age of sev- enty-six years. His wife had died two years previously, when about seventy years of age. Mr. Milliorn was a free-hearted, jovial man of kindly spirit, of strong purpose and of unfal- tering honor. He was never an aspirant for office, but he assisted in the work of the schools and in support of all measures calculated to prove of permanent benefit to the community. He held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was one of its early organizers in Lane county. In his business affairs he prospered, be- coming well-to-do, and he made a division of his property before his death. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Milliorn we mention the following : Thomas A., who was a pioneer of California, preceded the family to the west, and is now a resident of Junction City, Ore .; Cath- erine, who married E. Ray. is now deceased ; Sarah, who married a Mr. Myrtle, is also de- ceased : Martha A. is the widow of John Powell ; William H. is living in Crook county, Ore. ; John (lied soon after arriving in Oregon; James is a resident of Junction City, Ore .; Mary is the de- ceased wife of William Pickett; Eugenia is the wife of J. Hoffman, a resident of Eugene, Ore.,

and Helen is the wife of Henry Hoffman, of Eugene, a brother of her sister's husband.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Powell remained upon his farm, and there eight chil- dren were born unto them: William Franklin, who still resides on the old home place, is mar- ried and has a family; Sarah, who is the wife of James Stott, is living in East Portland; T. Cader, a resident of Portland, is engaged in the real estate business; Fannie became the wife of William Gilson and died in East Port- land; S. Douglas makes his home on a farm in the Mehalem valley; Rosa is the wife of Carl Brandes, by whom she has two children, and they reside with her mother; Irene became the wife of John Sewell, and died in Portland, leav- ing one child, Norris, and the other member of the Powell family died in infancy. For many years Mr. Powell resided upon his home farm, but ultimately removed to Portland in order to provide his younger children with better educa- tional privileges. Cader is a graduate of the State University of Eugene, and Rosa of St. Mary's Academy, while Irene is a graduate of the east side high school of Portland.

In 1883 Mr. Powell purchased the home now occupied by his widow. He was ever devoted to his family, and did everything in his power to promote their happiness and enhance their wel- fare. In his business affairs he prospered, and at the time of his death he was the owner of sev- eral hundred acres of valuable land, which en- abled him to leave his wife and children in very comfortable circumstances. Prior to the war Mr. Powell was a Douglas Democrat, but at the time of the inauguration of hostilities between the north and the south he joined the Union party, and was ever afterward a stalwart sup- porter of Republican principles. At the time of the war he was very active in support of the Union cause, doing everything in his power to promote its success. During the Indian war in Oregon he was a member of the Home Volun- teers, organized to protect the settlers in the valley. In the latter part of the '6os Mr. Powell was elected a member of the state legislature, and had the pleasure of casting his vote for the amendment declaring that slavery should not exist in the state. He never joined any fra- ternal organization, but was a consistent, help- ful and generous member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Mr. Powell was, indeed, a self- made man. He started out in life on his own account when only seven years of age, being left an orphan at that time. He was also self-edu- cated. He worked his way to Oregon by driv- ing a team and looking after the stock. He was always quick to note an opportunity and to in- prove it, and thus, as the years advanced, he prospered. His business methods were ever

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honorable and straightforward, and he was never known to take advantage of the necessities of those with whom he had business relations. His last years were spent in honorable retirement in Portland, where he located in 1883, living there up to the time of his death, sixteen years later. Both he and his wife were members of the Pioneer Association of Oregon. In the sum- mary of his life we not his loyalty in citizenship, his honor in business, his fidelity to friendship and his devotion to his family. These, perhaps, were the salient traits of his character, and made him a man honored among men.

HON. THOMAS H. TONGUE. Among the men of the present generation who have con- ferred honor and dignity upon the state which has honored them, was the late Thomas H. Tongue of Hillsboro. During his life-time he was one of the most prominent members of the Oregon bar, and he left the impress of his in- dividuality most clearly defined. At the time of his death he was representing the First Ore- gon district in Congress, in which great body he was regarded as a most influential, patriotic and broad-minded man of affairs

Mr. Tongue was a native of England, having been born in Lincolnshire, June 23. 1844. He the only child born to Anthony and Rebecca Lawson Tongue. In the year 1859, when fif- teen years of age, hic left England with his parents for Washington county, Ore., his late home, where an uncle, Thomas Otchin, had lived since 1842. The family took steamer from Liv- erpool, and remained with the ship (which touched at Quebec and New York) until it reached Panama. From there they came direct to Portland. not stopping in San Francisco longer than the exigencies of the case demanded. For a year Mr. Tongue worked upon his uncle's farm and then upon the one which his father had pur- chased: in the meantime attending the district school when opportunity offered. Anxious for better advantages, he later entered Tualatin Academy, and finally, in 1868, graduated from Pacific University with high honors, having made his way entirely alone, unaided either by money or influence other than that of his own personality. Upon graduating he entered the office of Hon. \V. D. Hare, in Hillsboro, and being admitted to the bar in 1870, immediately began the active practice of the law. Success soon crowned his efforts, because his intellectual equipment was unusually strong, he having been a close and earnest student of the fundamental principles of the law. Nature endowed him with a strong and vigorous mentality, and he possessed that persistent energy and close ap-

plication, without which there is no success. Along with those qualities indispensable to a suc- cessful lawyer-a keen. rapid, logical mind, plus the business sense and a greedy capacity for earnest labor, he brought to the starting point of his legal career certain rare gifts, eloquence of language and a strong and charming person- ality. His advancement was rapid and continu- ous and it was not long before his intellectual gifts and his erudition caused him to be recog- nized as a leader in his chosen calling, in the Willamette valley. From the beginning he took a keen interest in politics, but steadily refused office until 1888, when he was elected to the state senate, where he served until 1892. In that body he was a member of the judiciary committee and was instrumental in securing the passage of a number of measures of vital importance to the commonwealth, including the Compulsory Educational bill, and a bill creating a committee to appoint a State Veterinarian for the suppres- sion of contagious diseases among domestic ani- mals. He secured the passage of a bill annulling the previous law providing that a married woman should acknowledge a deed separate from that given by her husband; also the so-called "Law of Inheritance," placing the husband and wife on the same legal footing in matters of in- heritance where there are no children. Other important legislative measures owe their origin or passage to Mr. Tongue's efforts, and the state of Oregon acknowledges its indebtedness to him for his various efforts in behalf of the common- wealth.

In 1896 Mr. Tongue was elected on the Re- publican ticket to represent the First District of Oregon in Congress, receiving a plurality of sixty-four votes. No higher testimonial to his capable and high-minded public service can be given than by the statement that in 1898 he was re-elected by a plurality of two thousand votes, in 1900 by a plurality of three thousand and nineteen votes, while in 1902 he received the splendid and unparalleled plurality of seven thousand three hundred and forty votes. During his first session he was a member of the Com- mittee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, and of the committee on agriculture. During the second and third sessions he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, and a mem- ber of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors. He had been in congress but one term when Speaker Reed said of him. "1 regard Mr. Tongue as one of the ten most able men in all congress." In 1902 he aided in securing the passage of the first irrigation bill passed by congress, and through his instrumentality the Indian War Veteran bill was passed in the session of 1901- 02, and large appropriations for the Columbia river, in the Rivers and Harbors bill, which pro-

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vided for the opening of that river from its mouth to the head of navigation at Snake river.

Mr. Tongue found relaxation from the ar- duous cares of statesmanship and his legal prac- tice in the supervision of his extensive agricul- tural interests in Washington county. He owned several very valuable farms and was largely en- gaged in raising live stock, including standard bred horses and Ayrshire cattle. He was award- ed numerous prizes on his stock at state fairs, for several years carrying off nearly all of the prizes offered on Ayrshire cattle. A number of his horses, which after his death were sold at auction at high prices, have splendid records on the track. He was very fond of fine stock of all kinds and took a just and commendable pride in those to be found upon his farms.

In Hillsboro, Ore., on December 25, 1868, Mr. Tongue was united in marriage to Emily M. Eagleton, a native of Indiana, who came to Ore- gon with her parents, George Eagleton and Mary Elliot Eagleton, in 1860. Seven children were born of this union: Mrs. Edith Reames, of Jacksonville, Ore, a graduate of Pacific Univer- sity, whose husband, A. E. Reames, was the can- didate of the Democratic party to succeed Mr. Tongue in congress at the special election held in June, 1903 : E. B. Tongue, who is deputy dis- trict attorney, now engaged in practice in Hills- boro ; Thomas H., Jr., who was graduated from the Columbian Law School with the class of 1903; Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman of Portland, Ore .; Mary G. ; Bertha R. ; and Florence.

Mr. Tongue was made a Mason in Tuality Lodge No. 21, A. F. & A. M., in which he was a past master ; was a member of the Royal Arch Chapter in Portland, and in 1888 served as orator in the Grand Lodge. He belonged both to the lodge and encampment of the Odd Fellows. and was a past chief patriarch in the latter. He was also connected with the Knights of Pythias and Patrons of Husbandry. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. A recognized leader in the ranks of the Republican party in Oregon, he served as a member of the executive committee of the Republican state committee and was its secretary; he attended the state conven- tions serving as chairman on two occasions ; and for two years was president of the Young Men's State Republican Club. His opinions always carried great weight in the counsels of his party, and his influence was felt even beyond the bor- ders of his state. His was a sturdy character and a stalwart patriotism, and having a strong attachment for our free institutions he was ever willing to make any personal sacrifice for their preservation. He commanded the respect of members of congress of both parties, and both there and at home, where he was best known, he

inspired personal friendships of unusual strength, and all who knew him had the highest admiration for his qualities of mind and heart.

In the midst of his active and highly useful life this big-hearted and unselfish man of affairs was called from his labors by the hand of death, in the city of Washington, on December 1I, 1903. His remains were brought to Hillsboro under the escort of a congressional committee, composed of Hon. M. A. Moody of Oregon; Roswell P. Bishop of Michigan ; John D. Bellamy of North Carolina ; J. E. Ransdell of Louisiana ; James H. Davidson of Wisconsin, and J. C. Needham of California.

Speaker Henderson said, in speaking of his death, "Mr. Tongue has been one of the strong, earnest legislators since he has been in congress. No man could have been more devoted to the interests of his state. He was a man of great firmness and great wisdom in managing the mat- ters that he had in charge, or that he felt an in- terest in. He has got through legislation that

* * few other men could have passed. * His state and his country have lost a man grow- ing in usefulness and in power." Of his labors for Oregon a "special" to the Oregonian, from Washintgon, said: "It seems to be the con- sensus of opinion among his colleagues that he leaves an exceptionally creditable record behind him. In his entire career his most difficult ac- complishment was the passage of the Indian War Veteran bill, a measure for which he labored five full years, before success crowned his efforts ; and just at the time when his aged constituents are about to reap the benefits of his labors he un- expectedly precedes them across the river. A similar coincidence is the monument that will stand to his memory at Salem, the new public building which is just about to be completed. Again, those who in the future visit Crater Lake National Park will remember that that beautiful spot was segregated and preserved for them largely through the efforts of Mr. Tongue. It would be almost impossible to detail the great good he has done for his state as a member of the Rivers and Harbors committee, and it was due largely to his personal insistence that an open river has been assured at the Dalles and a per- manent deep channel insured for the mouth of the Columbia. * *

* Then, too, must be re- called the work that Mr. Tongue did as chairman of the irrigation committee that reported and passed the famous government reclamation act of the last session."

On Sunday, February 22, the House of Repre- sentatives assembled in Washington for the pur- pose of commemorating the life and character of Mr. Tongue, and eulogies were delivered by twelve of his fellow-representatives: Hon. Theo- dore E. Burton, Hon. Roswell P. Bishop, Hon.

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Stephen M. Sparkman, Hon. Frank W. Mondell. Hon. James H. Davidson, Hon. Walter Reeves. Hon. George P. Lawrence, Hon. J. C. Needham, Hon. J. D. Bellamy. Hon. B. B. Dovener, Hon. F. L. Coombs, and Hon. Francis W. Cushman.

The editors of this work have deemed it but just to make a permanent record of the following tribute from Representative Burton, who was closely associated with Mr. Tongue and who- with the exception of Speaker Henderson, his most intimate friend-had learned to appreciate him thoroughly :

"No death was more sudden or unexpected than that of Thomas H. Tongue. In the eve- ning he was conversing pleasantly with his son and with his daughter. On the morrow he was cold in death. Swiftly following constant mes- sages of love and of hope to his father and mother, his wife and children on the far-off Pacific Coast came the telegraphic message like a black cloud in the clear sky, announcing his death.

"His life was essentially that of a pioneer. He went to Oregon before its admission as a state, twelve years before a railway had been con- structed within its borders, at a time when that great commonwealth, now numbering more than four hundred thousand people, had less than fifty thousand; when Portland, now a prosperous and growing metropolis, was little more than a struggling village.

"His early surroundings inured him to toil and adversity. There was on royal road to success in any promise that was held out to him; but the very obstacles with which he had to contend stimulated those mighty hopes that make men great.

"He was essentially a product of the country ; and, just as rural surroundings furnish a clearer physical air, so they furnish a clearer moral at- mosphere, and they exercised a very prominent influence upon his life work. He was a lawyer, but he was interested as well in farming and in public affairs : one who was in touch with a great multitude of people and a great variety of inter- ests, where the simpler phases of life mingle with those enterprises and interests which are re- garded as greater and more important. He came to Washington all untried and unknown. It was necessary for him to learn the rules and to find out something of the complicated meth- ods in which business is transacted. But as far as regarded honesty and patriotism he had no need of any lessons. Those were implanted in him in the beginning, and he furnished an illus- tration of the fact that for a career in congress that equipment which is most needed, and which in the long run must tell most powerfully, is con- science and regard for duty. His legislative career, though not long, nevertheless has its mon-

uments. He was chairman of the committee on arid lands at the time when that very important innovation was adopted by which the central government undertakes the reclamation of vast tracts of desert lands. His name will be insep- arably linked with this measure, under which millions of acres will be added to the national domain of arable lands, and it is hoped will fur- nish additional opportunity and additional pros- perity to our common country.

"As a member of the committee on rivers and harbors, his first solicitude was for his state and for the Pacific coast ; but, like all others, he came with time to realize the importance of those broader responsibilities and duties which cause a man to lay hold upon all the interests of this great country. He recognized the importance of improved methods of internal communication, recognized how much the growth of the coun- try depends upon the development of our ports ; and, while conservative and careful, he adopted that liberal policy which made him an advocate of improvements in this direction, gave him a new comprehension and qualities for leadership in this great department."

MARCUS G. FLEISCHNER. In his ca- pacity as superintendent of the manufacturing department of Fleischner, Mayer & Co., Marcus G. Fleischner is maintaining the reputation of his family as a competent and reliable business man, and is also building up an enviable reputa- tion for personal integrity and public spirited- ness. Mr. Fleischner is one of the sons of that fine old pioneer settler, Jacob Fleischner, and was born in the city of Portland. October 5, 1862. Jacob Fleischner was a merchant by occupation, was born in Austria. but spent the greater part of his life in America. From the state of Iowa he came to Oregon via the plains, engaged in a general merchandise business in Albany, and afterward in Portland. to which city he removed in 1860. At present retired from active busi- ness life, he is living with his wife, Fannie (Nadler) Fleischner, in Portland, having accu- mulated a competence by virtue of his business discretion and wise disposal of the opportunities by which he was surrounded.

Mr. Fleischner became identified with the present firm in 1880, directly after his gradua- tion from the St. Augustine College in Cali- fornia, in the classical course. In 1896 he was admitted into the firm as a partner, and the fol- lowing year established the manufacturing de- partment. This was soon after the panic of 1893, when all business in the northwest was practically at a standstill. Leading busines : men said it would be impossible to make a suc-

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cess of this department, but in the face of all these obstacles, Mr. Fleischner did succeed, and today is carrying on a business second to none of its kind in the west.

In San Francisco, Cal., Mr. Fleischner mar- ried Caroline Stern, a native of San Francisco, and daughter of David Stern, a pioneer of San Francisco; was auditor of the county of that name for several years, and devoted much of his life to promoting educational work. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fleischner, Flora Stern. Mr. Fleischner is variously identi- fied with fraternal and social affairs in Portland. is a charter member of the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks, and is a member of the Aber- nethy Cabin, Native Sons of the Golden West. He is extremely popular and enterprising, and is one of the foremost members of the younger generation of business men in Portland.

HOWARD MILTON CLINTON. Since no word is without its influence, no life without its reflection, too much cannot be said in praise of that man who has watched his own efforts in the great desire to make his every action a stepping stone toward higher things. Not isolated from the cares and responsibilities of a citizen, hus- band and father, he takes upon himself these daily burdens and while in pursuit of that which (od decreed that man should have. makes every action conform to that high principle which dis- tinguishes the true follower of Christ. bringing into the lives of those about him the brightness which is the true essence of religion. March 22, 1901, such an one was called from the scene of his earthly labors. Portland, in the death of Howard Milton Clinton, lost a man whose in- fluence had always been cast on the side of right as well as progress, and one whose strong per- sonality accomplished no little toward the ad- vancement of worthy enterprises in the city of his adoption.

The Clinton family is of eastern origin and as such was represented by DeWitt Clinton, of New York, as one of its most distinguished mem- bers, having been closely identified with Ameri- can history. Mr. Clinton of this review was born in New York City in 1836, and was there reared to manhood, receiving in his boyhood days an education which fitted him for his life's work. Hle was early left an orphan and thus missed the happiness of a home and value of parents' train- ing: the strong, forceful characteristics which kept him true to his object and loyal to his con- victions evidently being an inheritance. While still in New York he engaged in teaching as a means to livelihood, but during the Civil war he was in government employ, and on the night of April 14. 1865, he was at Ford's theatre and saw the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr.

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Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 112

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 946

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 946