Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 17

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 17

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Upon returning to Oregon Judge Wait became connected with the Cayuse War Commission, which up to that time had accomplished practi- cally nothing. His service was marked by ex- treme fairness to all concerned, and he audited nearly all of the war claims, and every claim he allowed was met precisely as he had made it. The judge practiced under the provisional and territorial laws of Oregon, and was elected to the circuit bench in the fourth judicial district and later served as the first chief justice of Ore- gon, immediately after the admission of Oregon as a state in 1859. He held many important offices within the gift of his fellow townsmen, practically his only defeat taking place after his nomination to the senate in 1862. From a large legal practice Judge Wait gradually drifted into real estate speculations, and, as seems natural with so many active men, chose to spend his later life amid the peace and quiet of farming enter- prises. In 1876 he removed onto his six hun- dred acre farm near Canby, remained there for eight years, and then went back to Portland. where he lived until 1897. The same year he re- turned to the Canby farm, where his death oc- curred December 13, 1898. He was a very large land owner, had two thousand acres in Jackson county, Ore., his Canby farm of six hundred acres, and enough other Oregon land to make up five thousand acres. In Washington he owned one thousand acres. No finer type of the gifted and substantial citizen has invaded the ranks of law and agriculture in Oregon, and to none has been accorded more universal esteem, or generous appreciation of splendid personal

characteristics. Judge Wait married Mary Ann Sprenger, who was born in McConnelsville. Ohio, a daughter of a merchant who was born in Germany and came to the United States as a young man, settling in Pennsylvania. From the latter state Mr. Sprenger removed to McConnels- ville, Ohio, from where he emigrated to Linn county, Ore., his death eventually occurring on his donation claim at an advanced age. Of the first marriage of Judge Wait three children were born, of whom Charles N. is the only one living. Of the second marriage contracted by the judge three children were born, but only one matured, Anna Evelyn, the deceased wife of Frank Han- ford, of Seattle, Wash.

The education of Charles N. Wait was ac- quired in the public schools of Portland, which training was supplemented by a course at the Bishop Scott grammar school. His first busi- ness experience was as general timekeeper on construction with the Oregon Railroad & Navi- gation Company, whose employ he entered in 1880, and with whom he remained for eight years. In 1888 he became chief clerk of the money order department of the Portland post- office, and, owing to close confinement and con- sequent effect upon his health, resigned at the end of two years. For the following two years he acted in the capacity of deputy United States marshal under John Myers, after which he en- tered the law department of the Oregon State University, from which he was duly graduated with honors. In June, 1891, Mr. Wait began to practice in Portland, and in 1897 removed to the old homestead in Canby, since which time he has combined the management of the large estate with the general practice of law. He is a Demo- crat in political affiliation, and has taken a prom- inent part in the affairs of his party in Oregon. For one term he was deputy city attorney of Portland, and he was secretary of the state cen- tral committee when Cleveland was last elected. Also Mr. Wait has been mayor of Canby for one term. He is fraternally associated with the An- cient Order of United Workmen, of which he is past master; the Warner Grange, of which he is past master ; the Elks; the Red Men ; and the Knights of Pythias.

The first marriage of Mr. Wait was contracted in Clackamas county with Laurena J. Marks, who died July 20, 1891, leaving one son and two daughters. October 2, 1895, Mr. Wait married, in Washington, Wilhelmina Woicka, who was born in Portland, and whose father, William, a jeweler by trade, was born in Germany. Mr. WVoicka came to America as a young man, and died in San Francisco, Cal. Of this union there have been born two sons, Aaron E. and George N.

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JOHN COLGATE BELL. With nearly ninety years behind him the memory of John Colgate Bell goes back over the better part of the nineteenth century and recalls the changes which the years have brought to the nation and to the individual. As a mere lad his hand was shaken by La Fayette on his tour of the country in 1824, and he has listened to the retailing of happenings of the two wars with Great Britain, by his grandfather, William Bell, who served as a soldier under Washington at Brandywine and other battles of note, fighting valiantly for his adopted country, for he was a Scotchman by birth, and by his father, also William Bell, who served as major of cavalry in the war of 1812. The father was a pioneer of the state of Ken- tucky and he himself has put the greater part of the continent between him and the scene of his birth, enduring the hardships and dangers of the early days and now enjoying the affluence and prosperity which a wise use of opportunities entail.

The birth of Mr. Bell occurred in Mount Sterling, Montgomery county, Ky., February 24, 1814. The father was a native of Philadelphia, and early removed to Kentucky, where he en- gaged as a wholesale hat merchant. In 1834 he went to Missouri, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-eight years. His wife, for- merly Virlinda Grimes, was born in Bourbon county, Ky., and died in Missouri at the age of fifty years. Of their four children the only one now living is J. C. Bell, of this review. He received his education at the academy of his na- tive town, his hrst employment being as a clerk in a store there. When his parents removed to the state of Missouri, Mr. Bell, then twenty years old, accompanied them, and there bought a farm and engaged in raising tobacco, in which employment he remained for two years, in 1837 entering the mercantile world as a wholesale and retail grocer of Clarksville, Pike county, Mo. This business was successfully conducted for about three years, when he went to New Or- leans for eighteen months and then to Platte county, Mo., where he passed the ensuing ten years. While in that location he was married in Weston, in 1845, to Sarah E. Ward, who was born in Greenup county, Ky., in 1829, after- ward becoming a resident of Fleming county, where she was reared and educated. She was the daughter of Gen. Thompson Ward, a com- mander in the war of 1812, and an attorney and politician, representing his district in the Ken- tucky legislature for sixteen years. He moved to Weston, Mo., and in 1854 came to Oregon, crossing the plains with ox teams in a journey of five months. He settled in Salem, where he followed farming and stock raising until his death, which occurred at the age of eighty-five

years. His wife, who before her marriage was Sarah Kountz, died in Salem, at the age of sixty-seven years. Besides Mrs. Bell the other daughter of this family now living is Mrs. Nancy Belt, the wife of Dr. Belt, of Salem.

In 1850 Dr. Belt brought his family to Oregon and Mr. Bell accompanied them, leaving his own wife in their Missouri home until he had first tried the western life. They set out primarily for the gold fields of California, leaving May I of that year, but through delays they changed their intentions and came instead to Oregon. On the way they fell in with Major Davis and came to Portland, but left Mr. Davis here while they journeyed on to Salem, which city was the scene of about twenty years of the practical busi- ness life of Mr. Bell. In the same year he was appointed manager of a store at The Dalles, where he was employed in hauling supplies to the soldiers as well as carrying on a large trade with the Indians. Major Tucker was the com- manding officer and Mr. Bell had been appointed by Colonel Loring. He built the first house and occupied it at The Dalles before the officers were in their own quarters. Until 1851 Mr. Bell remained there, then sold out, and purchasing thirty-two pack mules, conducted a pack train from Salem to Yreka, Cal., a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, which occupation was continued for a year. The year following he returned to Missouri and in 1854 came back across the plains with his family. During this trip they experienced the horror, while camping on the banks of the Oyhee river, of witnessing a massacre of a party of emigrants by Indians, which would probably have been their own fate had not Mr. Bell performed a strategic move- ment which averted the danger. In Salem Mr. Bell opened a general merchandise establishment and continued the same for many years, also buying a farm near that city, where he engaged in stock raising and cultivation of wheat, this latter, however, occupying his attention for only three years. After selling his business in Salem in 1870 and also his farming interests he re- tired from active duties until his appointment by Cleveland as postmaster of Astoria, at which time he moved his family there and served in that capacity for four and a half years. In 1890 he removed to Portland, which has since re- mained his home, conducting until his retirement a real estate business here, in which he met with the uniform success which had character- ized the efforts of his life.

Throughout his entire residence in this state Mr. Bell has been associated with the enterprises calculated to advance the interests of the com- munity, taking an active part in all affairs that have come within his range of influence, which has, fortunately, been wide and far-reaching

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through his business contact with the people of the state. In 1861 he was one of the stock- holders of The Arena, in Salem, the first Demo- cratic paper of the city, and the same year as- sisted very materially in the election of Colonel Baker to Congress, his tragic death at Ball's Bluff, in 1861, being especially felt by those who had sent him as their representative. In 1864, while Mr. Bell was in San Francisco, the Demo- cratic party nominated him for state treasurer, but he was defeated at the election. He has been very active in the Democratic conventions, acting as delegate to the state, county and local meetings. While living in Weston, Mo., he gave much aid in the time of the Mexican war, assisting in recruiting the regiments of Colonel Donovan and General Price, both being organ- ized at Fort Leavenworth. Mr. Bell then ranked as lieutenant-colonel. .

To Mr. and Mrs. Bell were born ten children, of whom two died in infancy in Missouri and one at the age of two years in Salem; Nancy Garnett, born in Missouri, married Walter Jack- son and died in Portland, leaving two children, Alice Bell and Harold, who now make their home in that city; Laura W., born in Missouri, married J. H. D. Gray, formerly county judge of Astoria, Ore., but who is now deceased; they became the parents of eight children ; William T. is engaged in the mercantile business in Enter- prise, Ore., and has three children, two sons and one daughter, namely: Memory, Burnett and Helen ; Alice is the wife of S. Z. Mitchell, of Tacoma, Wash., the manager of the General Electric and Improvement Company, and they have one son, Sidney A .; Sarah Blanche is the wife of Capt. R. E. Davis, who is connected with the Willamette Iron Works, and they have one son, Robert Bell; Genevieve is the wife of C. M. Maxwell, an electrician of Seattle, Wash., and they have two sons, Allyne and John C .; Robert Edward is married and engaged as an electrician in Tacoma, Washı. The sons were all educated in Salem University, and the daughters in the parochial school, Sisters of the Sacred Heart, all making their home with their parents until marriage, trained to domesticity by the father, who has always cared more for his home than anything else in the world. Mr. Bell is a member of the Pioneer Association of Oregon, and fraternally is a member of the Masonic or- der, having been made a Mason in Clarksville, Mo., in 1837. He is a charter member of Mult- nomah Chapter, R. A. M., at Salem.

FRANK S. FIELDS, County Clerk of Mult- nomah county, has been prominently identi- fied with Portland and its vicinity for a period of more than a quarter of a century.

During that time his career has caused him to become recognized as a man of most estimable personal qualities, who is unselfishly devoted to the promotion of those movements calculated to enhance the numerous advantages of the city and the state as a desirable place of residence, as well as to educate the rest of the world in the many material advantages offered by the com- monwealth to men of energy and enterprise.

His father, Samuel H. Fields, was born near Lexington, Ky., in 1821, and at an early age was made an orphan. In his youth he went to Missouri with the intention of assisting in the pioneer development of that state. There he learned his trade, that of mason, and about 1854 removed to Milwaukee, Wis., where he estab- lished himself in business as a contractor and builder. Subsequently he carried on operations in the same calling in Kilbourn City and New Lisbon, in that state. In 1875 he came to Ore- gon and purchased a tract of twelve and one- fourth acres in Mount Tabor, which he con- verted into a fine fruit farm. The remainder of his life was spent at Mount Tabor, where his death occurred in 1896. During the Civil war he served as a member of the Eighth Wisconsin Infantry. His widow, who before her marriage was Luconda Hamilton, now makes her home in Mount Tabor. In their family are four chil- dren, namely; Eliza J., wife of E. J. Brubaker, postmaster of and merchant in Mount Tabor : Louis R., superintendent of the Oregon division of the Southern Pacific Railroad; Charles E., who is engaged in the real estate business in Portland; and Frank S., the youngest child in the family.

Frank S. Fields was born April 13, 1862, in New Lisbon, Juneau county, Wis., where the first thirteen years of his life were spent. With his parents he came to Oregon in 1875, attending school at Mount Tabor until he reached the age of sixteen. In young manhood he began his business career by becoming a telegraph opera- tor in Oregon. For eight years he was sta- tioned at Halsey. Ore., as telegraph operator and agent for the Oregon & California Railroad Company. His entry into public life occurred in 1887, when he began a two years' term as city recorder of Halsey. He also served one term as mayor. In 1890 he engaged with his brother, Charles E., in the real estate business in Port- land, the firm name being C. E. & F. S. Fields. They laid out an addition of eight acres north- west of Mount Tabor, Summit Addition to Mount Tabor (comprising sixteen acres), Sum- mit Annex to the same place (ten acres), and Mount Tabor Central Tract Addition (eight acres). They also laid out Mount Tabor Com- mercial Block, a tract of one acre where t1. - postoffice now stands, and a five-acre addition

WILLIAM BARLOW.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

known as East Paradise Springs, besides other plots. Frank S. Fields is now retired from the firm, which is known as Fields & Co., with offices in the Alisky building.

In 1895 Mr. Fields was appointed deputy clerk of the county court, under H. C. Smith, and this post he filled for two and one-half years, or until the expiration of his term. In 1902 the Republicans of Multnomah county nominated him for the office of county clerk, and he was elected, assuming the duties of that office July 7 of that year. At the time he entered the office, the law passed in 1901 consolidating the offices of clerk of the county court, recorder of conveyances and clerk of the circuit court into one office, to be known as county elerk, took effect. The enactment of this law resulted in the saving to Multnomah county of thousands of dollars annually, as under the old regime from twenty to twenty-five deputies were em- ployed in the three departments, whereas the work is now done by a reduced force under the direct supervision of Mr. Fields. He has always exhibited a keen interest in educational matters, and for some time served on the Mount Tabor school board in the capacity of clerk, holding this position until his election to the office of county clerk. Although not identified by men- bership with any religious body, he does all in his power for the promotion of good along all avenues, and aids all worthy measures by ma- terial support. His wife is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Frater- nally he is connected with Mount Tabor Lodge No. 42, A. F. & A. M., Mount Tabor Camp, Woodmen of the World, holding the office of council commander in the lodge at Mount Tabor, with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Artisans and the United Brotherhood of Railroad Employes. He is also a member of the Board of Trade.

In Salem, Ore., April 24. 1883, Mr. Fields was married to Bessie E. Lindsay. She was born in Bucyrus, Ohio, but reared in Salem, where she removed with her parents in girlhood. Her training in the public schools of that city was supplemented by the full course in Willamette University, from which she was graduated. They are the parents of three children, Vera M., a graduate of the Portland high school; Frank H. and Grace G.

WILLIAM BARLOW. In this great north- western country, with its boundless possibili- ties, and but imperfectly developed resources, its remoteness from the cradle influences of New England, and its diversified interests beckoning the traveler from afar, the large hearted, cour- ageous and far-sighted pioneer is revered for

what he has accomplished, and for the strength and hope which his sterling characteristics have infused into all departments of activity. At the present time there is in process of writing a history of the Barlow family, different members of which have made perceptible inroads into the opening of Oregon, and who, in their attain- ments and characters, are representative of the most far-reaching and helpful pioneership. l'ending the completion of this interesting nar- rative, it is a pleasure to enumerate the salient points in the careers of the best known members of the family, with reference especially to their association with the state of Oregon.

Very early records eredit the Barlows with emigration from Scotland. and with settlement near Plymouth Rock, Mass. Virginia became the home of the later members of the family, in which state the paternal great-grandfather, John, was born, and where he enlisted for ser- vice in the Revolutionary war, in time attaining to the rank of captain. His son, William, the paternal grandfather, was also born in Virginia, and after going into Kentucky with Daniel Boone to fight the Indians, liked the state so well that he forthwith settled therein. In Nicholas county he owned a large farm, and reared a large family, his death occurring at the age of sixty-five years.

Samuel K. Barlow, the father of William, and son of William, was born in Nicholas county, Ky .. and in his youth learned the tailor's trade. When twenty-eight years old he removed to In- diana, but later took up his residence near Peoria, Fulton county, Ill., just at the close of the Black Hawk war. Subsequently he pioneered where Chicago now stands, but because there was no prophet to advise him, refused to pay $400 for the property upon which now towers one of the greatest centers of activity in the world. At that time the prairie around and bordering on Lake Michigan was unbroken by farm houses or barns, and in the woods there roamed game of various kinds, as yet unfrightened by the gun or wily scheme of the pale faced hunter. Ignor- ing the chance to buy up the future site of Chi- cago, Mr. Barlow started from Fulton county to cross the plains, March 30, 1845. his means of transportation consisting of four teams of three yoke of oxen each. With his family he traveled alone to Independence, Mo., where the band was increased to one thousand wagons, and divided up into different companies. Mr. Bar- low was captain of the company bearing his name, and faithfully guarded the interests of his charges through all the dreary months on the trail. The way was via the Platte and the Sweet Water rivers, the journey being rather a pleasant one, and singularly free from annoy- ances of Indians or the ravages of disease.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Slowly the cavalcade moved into the Willamette valley. travel stained but hopeful, and ready to do and dare to an extent unappreciated by peo- ple under any other circumstances.

William Barlow helped very materially to build the first wagon road over the Cascade mountains. Previous to 1845, all immigrants coming to western Oregon came to The Dalles and were conveyed by bateaux down the Colum- bia to the Willamette valley. Mr. Barlow's father determined to make the route one con- tinuous journey by land. He and William Rec- tor blazed the route and S. K. Barlow's family and a few helpers followed. Upon Will- iam Barlow, the oldest son, devolved much of the responsibility and work of the undertaking. He and John M. Bacon were the first men to test the road. Following the blazed trees made by the pathfinders, they made the trip on foot to the Foster settlement, where provisions were procured to take back to the hungry women and children who were struggling with the diffi- culties of the new mountain road. The road was eighty miles long; sixty-five miles of it were cut through the primeval forests and canyons of the mountain slopes. The late Judge Mat- thew P. Deady, of the United State supreme court, said of it: "The construction of the Bar- low road contributed more toward the prosperity of the Willamette Valley and the future state of Oregon than any other achievement prior to the building of the railways in 1870."

Christmas eve, 1845, Mr. Barlow arrived withi his family in Oregon City. He had been suc- cessful in Illinois, and had money with which to start life in the west. He bought a hotel for which he paid $2,000, later sold to his son, William, and also took up a claim of six hun- dred and forty acres near the city, which he eventually sold for $5,000. Later he bought six hundred and forty acres, upon a portion of which the town of Barlow has since been built and named in his honor, and this land he sold for $6,000. In the meantime he had purchased land in Canemah, and thither he repaired to spend his last years, his death occurring there at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Barlow was one of the splendid personalities which illuminated the pioneer days of Oregon, and who. by his fine grasp of existing opportunities, furnished a worthy example to all would-be promoters of western interests. He was fashioned somewhat on the Cromwellian order, was of Scotch an- cestry, and fearless almost to audacity. He de- spised lies and soft people, and never stooped to a small meanness during the course of his long and well ordered life.

While living among the crude conditions of Indiana S. K. Barlow married Susanna Lee, who was born in South Carolina, and whose

father, William Lee, was born in Ireland. Mr. Lee's father was a colonel in the British army. and fought for the crown for seven years. In time lie changed his tactics and fought against rather than for England, for which evidence of in- subordination he was captured and imprisoned in a dungeon for a year. After his release he sent his two boys, William and Frank, to America. and William settled in Charleston, S. C., where he enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war. He was a lieutenant of artillery and during the first engagement at Charleston a shell burst. causing him to be crippled for life, and cutting short his military service. Nevertheless, he lived to a good age, for he was sixty at the time of his death in South Carolina. His widow and her children removed to Kentucky, and later to Indiana, settling near Vincennes, but the mother finally removed to the vicinity of Indianapolis, and died there.

William Barlow, son of the pioneer, was born ten miles west of Indianapolis, Ind .. October 26, 1822, and was reared in Indiana and Illi- nois. He was the second oldest of the five sons and two daughters born to his parents, and like the rest of the family availed himself of such education as was procurable at the little log subscription school-house. He came across the plains with his father, and bought six hundred and forty acres of land near the Clackamas river, and within six miles of Oregon City. After disposing of this land at a profit he went on the Molalla river and bought a section of land upon which he planted fifty acres in wheat. In 1848 he sold his property to Matthias Sweaglc. a friend of the old days in Indiana and Illinois, who paid him $2,000 in gold. What this amount of money meant may be best judged when it is known that it was very scarce at that time, and that what little currency was to be had included English, Canadian, Mexican and various other kinds. Later Mr. Barlow brought up in Ore- gon City, where he bought wheat. made it into flour, and after getting in a supply of one thou- sand barrels of the latter commodity talked it over with his partner and decided that one ought to buy the other out. As no Barlow ever thought of backing down, the flour was soon under the exclusive ownership of the Barlow side of the house, and a rise in the price of flour enabled him to sell at an enormous profit. This happy chance proved the beginning of the success of Mr. Barlow, and placed to his credit what was then a comfortable competence.

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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 17

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