Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 24

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 24

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In Portland Mr. Shaver was united in mar- riage with Annie Schloth, who was born in Port- land, and whose parents were very early settlers

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of the state. Mr. Shaver is variously identified with social and fraternal organizations in the county, among them being the Woodmen of the World. He is a man of strict integrity, and the public at large place the greatest confidence in his character and business ability.

LOT P. W. QUIMBY. In many and varied avenues Lot P. W. Quimby has been identified with the business interests of Portland and has given no small assistance in the material growth of the city. He has just retired from the posi- tion of game and forestry warden for the state of Oregon, having received the appointment in 1898, his life having previously been associ- ated as hotel keeper and liveryman, of the former being one of the oldest now living in the city. At one time in the past he served his state as a member of the legislature from Multnomah county, where he upheld the interests of his constituents and did all in his power to promote general movements for the welfare of the com- munity.

Mr. Quimby comes of a family of Scottish an- cestry, his father being Daniel Quimby, a native of Vermont, who lived to be seventy-two years old. Besides engaging as a blacksmith the elder man also followed farming in the latter part of his life, and through steady application and hard labor he maintained a comfortable and even plen- tiful home for his family, and though of a limited education himself was vitally interested in giv- ing the best of advantages to his children. He married Polly Woodruff, also a native of Ver- mont, and she died the year after the death of her husband when she was sixty-nine years of age. Of their nine children two died in infancy, and one daughter at the age of fifteen; six grew to maturity, namely : Mary E., who married James Mathewson and reared a family (she died in Massachusetts in 1890); H. A., who is a wholesale crockery merchant in Springfield, Mass .; Cordelia M., the widow of Hiram Nich- ols, of Lyndon, Vt .; D. J., a resident of Port- land, where he is proprietor of the International Hotel; L. P. W., of this review, and Laura, wife of Edwin P. Swetland, of Portland. The chil- dren were all reared on the paternal farm, and though advantages were necessarily limited, two daughters became teachers in the eastern states.

The birth of Mr. Quimby occurred in Cale- donia county, Vt., July 6, 1839. and like the other members of his family, he was under the necessity of contributing his strength to the as- sistance of the farm work, for about three months of the year receiving instruction in the district school in the vicinity of his home. When seven- teen years old his education was considered com- plete, so far as further attendance was concerned,

and at eighteen years he went to work on a ped- dler's wagon, working for his brother-in-law, Mr. Nichols, traveling through the eastern states and Canada. though his principal time was spent in Vermont and New Hampshire. This occul- pation was continued for quite a number of years in the life of Mr. Quimby, but in 1859 he decided to try to better his condition by crossing the continent to the less crowded states of the Pacific coast. He accordingly left New York City, coming to California via steamer, by the isthmus, and upon his arrival there he at once began placer mining in Columbia. While there he became acquainted with D. O. Mills by selling his gold dust. Mr. Mills was one of the wealthy men of this country at this time. On leaving the mines Mr. Quimby went to San Francisco county and worked for three months on a farm in Susan valley, when he went into the city and engaged in the water business, peddling this necessity of life, and also assisting in hauling it to many of the important buildings of the city. He found this a lucrative occupation for quite a time, but finally engaged in the livery business, only a short time passing before he had there sold his interests and opened a restaurant on Market street. This also was disposed of, and February 22, 1862, he came to Portland.

On his arrival in this city Mr. Quimby formed a partnership with W. H. Bennetts and engaged in the livery and transfer business and forward- ing, bringing to the city the first platform scale and the first express wagon. In 1864 he sold out to John White, and later purchased the livery business of Sherlock & Bacon, located on Third street, remaining there for one year, when he again sold out and purchased an interest in the Weston Hotel, now known as the Occidental Ho- tel, and in partnership with Samuel D. Smith re- mained one year in that connection. Disposing of his interest to Mr. Smith he purchased the American Exchange, formerly the Lincoln House, and continued for three years, when he took a partner in the person of Charles Perkins and the two continued together until 1876, when Mr. Quimby again became sole owner and re- mained such until the loss of the property by fire in the year 1878. This meant a heavy financial loss to Mr. Quimby and he did not immediately re-open the hotel. He was appointed receiver for a grocery house about this time and he pro- ceeded to devote his time to the closing up of those affairs, and not until 1880 did he again engage in the hotel business, at this date opening up the Hotel Quimby, continuing successfully until 1897, for the first six months having a part- ner in the person of Mr. Hersey. Upon sale of the property in 1897 Mr. Quimby retired from his long accepted position as mine host, in which he had certainly met with success, for the repu-

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tation of the two hotels which he conducted had extended for a great distance on the Pacific coast, the service and accommodation being such as to delight the heart of the traveler. Follow- ing closely his withdrawal from his former in- terests came the appointment of Game and For- estry warden.

In Portland, in 1866, occurred the marriage of Mr. Quimby, uniting him with Miss Amelia M. West, the daughter of Col. W. G. West, a pioneer of the west. He established the Wells- Fargo route between Portland and California, and died while in the employ of this company, passing away at the home of Mr. Quimby in Portland. Mrs. Quimby was born in New York state, receiving her education in New York and California, and is now fifty-seven years old. Since 1882 their home has been at Fourteenth and Johnson streets, where Mr Quimby put up a house when it was a heavily timbered tract of land and no streets in the vicinity. Their chil- dren are six in number, one of whom died in in- fancy, the others being as follows: Elmer \V., a scenic artist and traveling salesman, his home with his parents, as he is still unmarried ; Daisy, the wife of L. Q. Swetland, of Portland. their one daughter being Florence E .; Lottie, the wife of Harry Taylor, of White Horse, Alaska; and Polly and Daniel, both of whom are unmarried. All were born in Portland and received their ed- ucation in the public schools of this city. As a Republican in politics Mr. Quimby has had many offices tendered him but he has not cared to ac- cept, as his business interests have engrossed all his time, though he takes an active interest in all public matters, and is a liberal supporter of every worthy movement, and especially has he warmly advocated the improvement of public thoroughfares. Fraternally he is a member of Hope Lodge, A. O. U. W. In religion he was reared in the faith of the Baptist Church.

HON. JOHN McCRAKEN. There are few men now living whose arrival on the Pacific coast antedates that of Mr. McCraken, who first landed on western soil September 17, 1849, and has been identified with the development of Ore- gon ever since 1850. The family of which he is a member came of Scotch ancestry, but his father, John, was a native of Dublin, Ireland, and in early life associated himself with mercan- tile pursuits in London, where his son and name- sake was born July 11, 1826. From that city the family crossed the ocean to America, settling in New York City, where the father was establish- ing himself upon a substantial hasis as a mer- chant at the time of his death. His wife, Saralı Pigeon, was born in England, of an old English family, and died in Connecticut. Of their six

children John and his sister are the sole sur- vivors. He was six years of age when the fam- ily crossed the ocean in 1832, and hence almost his earliest recollections are of this country. When he was eleven years of age his father died and afterwards his opportunities for an ed- ucation were very meager, for the necessity of self-support soon presented itself to him. It had been his mother's hope that he might enter the ininistry, but his tastes were distinctly commer- cial and the need of earning a livelihood deterred him from taking up any profession.

For about four years Mr. McCraken was em- ployed as clerk in a retail store at Fiskville, R. I. In 1846 he went to New York, where he took charge of the books and collections in a large plumbing establishment. Probably he would have remained in the east permanently had not the discovery of gold stirred his ambition and led him to seek his fortune on the Pacific coast. In March of 1849 he joined the Greenwich & California Mining & Trading Company, of which he became vice-president and a trustee. The company bought a vessel, Palmetto, of two hundred and eighty tons, and this was stocked with supplies and other freight. Thus equipped for the voyage the forty-two members of the company started from New York via Cape Horn, putting in at Rio Janeiro eleven days and at Valparaiso seven days, and after a voyage of six months and nine days landing on the beach in the bay at San Francisco, September 17, 1849. The mechanics in the company went on shore, where, being offered $48 a day wages, they con- cluded it advisable to accept this offer rather than work for themselves, so the company dis- banded. Mr. McCraken, together with the pres- ident and secretary, remained to settle up the company's accounts. A house they had brought with them was sold for $350 per thousand feet for the lumber. The pork and beef were sold at high prices. The profits were divided and sent to the members of the company.

After a brief experience in freighting to the mines, in the spring of 1850 Mr. McCraken em- barked in the mercantile business at Stockton. In the fall he sold out and went to San Francisco. On the day that California was admitted as a state he took passage on a sailing vessel for As- toria, where he landed in October, thence pro- ceeding to Portland. At that time there was only a hanılet of a few buildings. A dense forest ex- tended as far as Second street, and the rest of the town was dotted with trees. The wharf was small, but was sufficient to accommodate the few vessels that anchored here. Soon he bought an interest in the Island mills at Oregon City, where he engaged in the manufacture of lum- ber and flour. The water power was improved by Methodist Episcopal Mission, and later

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bought by Lane & Thompson, subsequent to which Mr. McCraken bought Mr. Thompson's one-fourth interest. The high water of 1852 rutined the mills and left the buildings a wreck. The work of rebuilding was at once begun, but the second venture did not prove successful on account of the fact that wheat, bought at $5 a bushel, was to be used in making flour to be sold at $50 a barrel, but a drop in the price of flour to $6 or $8 a barrel proved ruinous to the mill, which was sold at a great sacrifice.

Elected by the territorial legislature as chief clerk of the house of representatives, Mr. Me- Craken served in the sessions of 1852 and 1853. In 1854 he was appointed United States marshal of Oregon and Washington by President Bu- chanan, serving almost two years. In the fall of 1855 he returned to Portland, where he started in the produce business, shipping to California via steamers and sailers. The firm was Richards & McCracken, the senior member, James Rich- ards, being in San Francisco. A large and suc- cessful business was established and conducted until Mr. Richards was lost on the vessel Brother Jonathan, which was wrecked off Cres- cent City while en route to Portland. A subse- quent partnership was that of MeCraken, Mer- rill & Co., of Portland and San Francisco, and later Aldrich, Merrill & Co. conducted the busi- ness in San Francisco for five years, since which time Mr. McCraken has been mostly alone. The J. McCraken Company was organized in 1892, and is now located at the corner of Second and Pine streets, where a wholesale business is con- ducted in building materials. Among the ma- terials carried in stock are Roche Harbor lime, Portland cement, building, easting and land plas- ter, King's Windsor cement plaster, Monterey sand, marble dust, mortar colors, fire briek and fire clay. Under the supervision of Mr. Mc- Craken were built the large warehouses on Ninth and Irving streets, covering three-fourths of a block, also the warehouses on Davis and Front streets, but these were later sold.

The interests held by Mr. McCraken are not limited to his identification with the J. Me- Craken Company. For some years he was a di- rector of the Commercial National Bank, and was the first president of the smelter at Linton, which position he still holds. For some years he occupied for his homestead the block between D and E, and Seventh and East Park streets, but this he has sold to the government for the new custoni house site. His marriage took place in Oregon City and united him with Ada Pamb- run, whose father was an officer of the Hudson Bay Company. They are the parents of four children, of whom the daughter is the wife of Charles B. Hurley, of Tacoma. The sons, Henry, James and Robert, are connected with

the business which their father established in 1856.

A careful study of political questions long ago led Mr. McCraken to ally himself with the Re- publican party. During early days he served as president of the city council, in which he re- mained a member for several terms. In 1891, 1893 and 1901 he was elected to the state legis- lature from Portland, serving three terms. In 1891 he was interested in a consolida- tion bill for the city. During his ser- vice in the legislature he was instrumen- tal in promoting bills of an important nature and gave his support to measures of undoubted value. In religion he is connected with Trinity Episcopal Church, of which he is senior warden. In Masonry his interest and connection have continued for many years. Initiated into the or- der in Portland, he served as master of the lodge and during the '6os was for two terms grand master of the Grand Lodge of Oregon. For two terms he officiated as grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Oregon. In the Portland Commandery he has been eminent commander, while he has also reached the Consistory and thirty-third degrees, being inspector-general in the latter. Among his brethren in the Masonie order his standing is the highest, as it is also among men of commercial and executive ability, all of whom recognize in him the qualities of up- riglitness, taet, keen discernment and loyalty to his home city that have characterized his long association with the history of Oregon.

AMEDEE M. SMITH. Very early in the settlement of Nova Scotia the Smith family re- moved there from England, but subsequently ex- changed the bleak and icebound shores of their peninsular home for the more prosperous region of Massachusetts, and from there proceeded to New Jersey. Freeman Smith, a native of New Jersey, became a resident of Fayette county, Pa .. and in 1842 established his home on a tract of raw land near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, of which he was one of the founders. A man of rare insight into causes and their effects, fortified bv a determined will, and possessing the hardihood of a pioneer, he was fitted for the task of creat- ing a new town on the edge of the then wilder- ness. His ability was inherited from his father, Dr. Isaac Smith, a successful physician and tal- ented man, who during the Revolutionary war served as colonel of the First Regiment from Hunterdon county, N. J., but resigned his com- mission in 1777 in order to accept an appoint- mient as justice of the supreme court of his state.

In the family of Freeman Smith there were eleven children. The youngest of these, Amedee M. Smith, Sr., was born in Fayette county, Pa.,

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in 1839. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company F, Twenty-fourth Iowa In- fantry, and served for three years as a non- commissioned officer. On being honorably dis- charged from the service he learned the pottery business in a pottery owned by his brother, Free- man Smith, in Iowa. Meantime he had married, and in 1865, accompanied by his wife and their child, he came via Panama and San Francisco to Portland. On this trip he was accompanied by his father and mother, who settled at Albany, Ore., but in 1866 removed to Buena Vista, this state, where his father died in 1881, at the age of eighty-nine years. During the same year they had come by the isthmus to Oregon, his brother, Freeman, had crossed the plains, and previous to this, during the '50s, three other brothers had come, Henry, who settled near Eugene, James, who died immediately on his arrival, and W. H., who took up land in Clatsop county.

For the first year of his residence in Oregon Amedee M. Smith made Albany his home, but in 1866 removed to Buena Vista, Polk county, where, having found suitable clay land, he and his brother, Freeman, and their father, started a pottery, which was the first enterprise of its kind on the Pacific coast. In 1870 A. M. Smith bought the interests of his father and brother and continued alone until 1883. Meantime, in 1881. he had brought his family to Portland and established his headquarters in this city. From a very small beginning he built up a plant occu- pying several acres of ground at this time. In 1883, on the river front and Sherlock avenue, he erected a building 200x250, three stories in height, on a lot 200x600, and put in six large kilns, at the same time incorporating the Oregon Pottery Company, of which he was president and James Steel secretary. Everything in the line of vitrified pipes was manufactured there, while the plant at Buena Vista meantime turned out the pottery. On the destruction of the Portland property by fire in 1890 he erected brick build- ings on the same site and a tract of land adjoin- ing. The buildings occupy about 300x300 feet, three and four stories in height, and are equipped with steam boilers and engines of two hundred horse power, with the latest improved machinery for the manufacture of sewer pipe, chimney pipe. flue lining and fire proofing.

In the early days of the pottery business in Oregon it was the custom of the manufacturers to start out from the kilns with a load of pot- tery and travel throughout the Willamette valley until all they carried was sold. Money being scarce, often they accepted produce in exchange for their wares. However, as the population in- creased and railroads came in, the capacity of their plant was also increased and they made their sales in large quantities, shipping by railroad.

On the death of A. M. Smith, Sr., his son and namesake was chosen president and manager of the Oregon Pottery Company. Two years later, in 1896, James Steel retired from the concern, which was then reorganized as the Western Clay Manufacturing Company, with A. M. Smith, Jr., as president and manager; W. H. Britts, vice- president ; and Blaine R. Smith, secretary and treasurer. The company is still doing business under the same name and with the same officers as at first, the three being also the sole owners of the plant. In 1890 the manufacture of pot- tery was discontinued and the plant devoted en- tirely to the manufacture of their other products. Frequent enlargements have been made and to- day the plant is the most complete one of its kind on the Pacific coast. The products of the kills are shipped to all points on the Pacific coast and their trade extends as far north as British Colum- bia and Alaska. They also have an extensive trade in the Hawaiian Islands. The office of the company is at No. 55 Fourth street, Portland.

While still in the east. Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Speelman, who was born in Pittsburg, Pa., a daughter of A. E. Speelman, a native of the Keystone state and a glass blower by trade. On account of the fail- ure of his eyesight Mr. Speelman gave up his trade and removed to Iowa during the early '50s, settling on a farm near Marion, Linn county. Later he went to Minnesota and his death oc- curred at Verndale, that state. In religion he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The family of which he was a member came from Germany, while his wife was a member of the Isherwood family, of English extraction. Seven children blessed the union of Mr. Smith and Mary Speelman, namely: Albert G., who died at the age of nine years ; an infant that died in Iowa; Elizabeth, now Mrs. W. H. Britts; Amedee M .; Blaine R .; Mary E., wife of Dr. F. C. Sellwood, and Leta R., all residing in Portland. The mother of these children passed away in 1883, and for his second wife Mr. Smith married Mrs. Emma J. Coulter, of Connellsville, Pa., and by this union two children were born, Harold S. and Mildred.

In the death of Mr. Smith, which occurred September 29, 1894. Oregon lost one of its hon- ored pioneers and Portland was called upon to mourn one of its most prominent and highly es- teemed citizens. His death was not only a severe blow to the industrial world, in which he had taken such an active part and in which he was so well known, but by his demise Portland lost a citizen who at all times was in favor of any movement calculated to be of benefit to his adopted state or county.

The Taylor Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was an active member, had in hin

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one of its most sincere supporters and at his death he was a member of its board of trustees. His influence was always for the good, and his sympathy, his benevolence and his kindly greet- ing will long be remembered by all with whom he had come in contact. His duties were per- formed with the greatest care and throughout life his personal honor and integrity were with- out blemish. His character, as it was manifested to his associates, was remarkable for its simplic- ity ; he had great earnestness and concentration of purpose: in planning he was deliberate but forcible. His wisdom had been largely gained by observation, as the advantages of his youth were limited. In his business dealings he was ever prompt, reliable and entirely trustworthy and he gained a greater degree of success than many who at the start were blessed with better advantages.

AMEDEE M. SMITH, JR. At Buena Vista, Polk county, Ore., Amedee M. Smith, Jr., was born December 16, 1868. At the age of twelve years he accompanied his father and mother on their removal to Portland. Here he attended the grammar and high school, remaining in the latter until the senior year, when he was obliged to give up study on account of ill health. Six months were spent in southern Oregon, and then, having regained his health, he returned to his home and entered the business of his father, with which he has since been actively associated. At the first he was connected with the Buena Vista factory, but in 1888 came to Portland as superintendent of the plant here. In 1890 he en- tered the office of the company as bookkeeper, and three years later was elected vice-president and manager of the Oregon Pottery Company. On the death of his father, in 1894, he succeeded to the office of president, which he held both in that company and in the reorganized plant.

In Portland Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Alice M. Johnson, who was born at Point Reyes, Cal., her parents having removed there from Massachusetts. She is a lady of cx- cellent education, having attended the Univer- sity of the Pacific. In fraternal relations Mr. Smith is a Mason, connected with Mount Tabor Lodge No. 42, A. F. & A. M .; Oregon Consis- tory No. I, thirty-second degree; and Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Politically he votes with the Republican party. He is a member of the Manufacturers' Association and an active worker in the Oregon Historical Society, es- pecially interested in movements connected with the perpetuation of the annals of the pioneers. At one time he was Sunday-school superintend- ent of the Taylor Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in the work of which he is deeply inter- ested. Since 1894 he has been connected with

the official life of the church and at present is a member of the board of trustees. The Young Men's Christian Association also receives the encouragement of his influence and financial aid, and through his services as a member of the board of directors he has been enabled to pro- mote its welfare in Portland.

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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 24

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