Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 41

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

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Besides his son the captain has one daughter, Etta M., whose husband, A. L. Politte, is in his employ.

MARVEL MARKHAM WATTS occupied a prominent place among the brave and self-sacri- ficing pioneers of 1850, and his success in man- ipulating the opportunities in Washington county was far above the average. Of Irish ancestry, Mr. Watts was born in Tennessee, February I, 1823, and on the paternal side had Revolution- ary blood in his veins. his grandfather having stacked his musket and carried the gripsack on many of the battlefields during the struggle for independence, winning for his bravery the rank of captain. Thomas Watts, the father of Marvel, was a native of North Carolina, and eventually lived in both Tennessee and Cass county, Mo., his death occurring in Washington county, Ore., at the age of ninety-two years. He married Edith Markham, who died in Missouri, and who bore him nine children. of whom Mar- vel Markham was the fourth child in order of birth. Mr. Watts was a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and before the war was a Whig. Of his sons, Rev. Henry is a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church, while Thomas and Alfred, who settled in Linn county, Ore., in 1852, are now farming in Umatilla county.

On the paternal farm in Missouri Marvel Markham Watts received the usual training, ed- ucational and otherwise, which fell to the lot of the farmer youth of his time and place. In Cass county, Mo., August 27, 1846, he married Nancy A. Knighton, who was born in Jefferson county, Mo., and whose father, Amon, and grandfather, Jesse, were born in Kentucky. The latter was descended from a family long identified with Virginia, and was of English and Welsh descent. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, and thereafter settled in Missouri, being one of the first pioneers of Jefferson county. Amon Knighton was a farmer in Cass county for many years, and while living there lost his wife, for- merly Fanny Cox. a native of Kentucky, and daughter of Joseph and Nancy Cox, pioneers of Kentucky, and the parents of five children. After the death of his wife Mr. Knighton started across the plains in the spring of 1847, accompa- nied by his five children, and with ox teams and wagons. On the Gales Creek donation claim he took up three hundred acres of land, upon which he lived and farmed almost up to the time of his death, at the age of nine-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Knighton were the parents of the following children : Lovell, a resident of Linn county, and who came to Oregon in 1847 : Lucretia, who died in Missouri; Wylie, whose death occurred in

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Oregon ; Louise, and Julia Ann. both of whom died in Missouri; Commodore Perry, a veteran of the Mexican war, who enlisted in a Missouri regiment under Colonel Donophan, came to Oregon in 1850 and died in Linn county ; Nancy Ann; Minerva, Mrs. Walker, of Greenville, Ore .; Melissa, Mrs. Shrum, who died in Marion county ; Thomas A., whose death occurred in Tillamook county, Ore .; Isaac, living in eastern Oregon, and William G., residing in southern ( rego1.

For four years after his marriage Mr. Watts continued to live in Missouri, and in May, 1850, started overland with ox teams and two wagons, there being about forty wagons in the whole train. They came by way of the Platte and Ore- gon trail, and experienced severe discomforts and deprivations. In crossing the mountains the men and women waded knee deep in the snow, and were exposed to the most dangerously inelement conditions. After a six months' journey Mr. Watts settled in Gales Creek, purchasing six hundred and forty aeres of land, upon which he erected a log cabin, in which himself and wife were housed for several years. At a later period his success permitted additional purchases of land adjoining his farm, so that at the time of his death he had seven hundred aeres. Like all the settlers the first clearing of land repre- sented hard and unremitting toil, and by the time he was able to erect a more modern home, he had accomplished a remarkable amount of work in a short time. He came in for his share of gen- eral responsibility during the early times, and when the Indians were on the rampage he served on some of the committees recruited from among the settlers to head off any distant encroachments on their homes and property. And when it is known that extreme watchfulness had to be maintained for several years, some idea of the caution necessary for the tilling of their farms may be gained.

Mr. Watts was very successful as a farmer, and he had unquestioned business ability. He raised grain, stock and general commodities, and his methods of work were practical and progres- sive. He was prominent in educational matters, and used his own experience and limited oppor- tunities as an illustration upon which to improve. If he built up schools and paved the way for more intellectual citizenship and broader use- fulness, he was equally alert in furnishing op- portunities for moral and religious growth. In this capacity he was actively connected with the Evangelical Church, in which he was a trustee and deacon up to the time of his death, March 5. 1899. In politics he was a Democrat, but never interested himself with office-seeking or holding. If any doubt had existed of his enthusiasm for the west, and his appreciation of the chances here

represented, it was dispelled in 1856, when he returned east for his father, remained for two years, and during that time felt the limitations by which he was surrounded. 1858 found him again on the way to Oregon via Panama and San Francisco, glad to return to pioneer surroundings.

Although no children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Watts, they did not allow themselves to be lonely for lack of childish companionship, and in their unselfishness and large heartedness are deserving of warmest commendation. Two children born to Mr. Watts' oldest brother and two belonging to his youngest brother, have been reared by this couple. as have also about eight other children. Of the relative children Jerusha Watts is now Mrs. Crabb, of Colfax, Wash .; Belle lives with her aunt, Mrs. Watts; Lavina, Mrs. MeCoy, lives in the old home; and Pauline died at the age of fifteen. After her hus- band's death Mrs. Watts moved into Forest Grove, and has a pleasant and comfortable little home on the outskirts of the town. She still owns four hundred acres of her husband's prop- erty, one hundred and twenty-five of which are cleared. She is an estimable woman, typical in her strength of character of the noblest and most helpful pioneer women, to whom may be traced the establishment of homes, and the maintenance of high ideals in this great northwestern country.

ALFRED FRANCIS SEARS. Descended from Puritan and Revolutionary ancestry, Major Sears was born in Boston, Mass., November 10, 1826. His great-grandfather, Zachariah Sears, of Yarmouth, Cape Cod, when seventy-two years of age, took up arms in defense of the colonies and served as a lieutenant of militia in 1776. About the same time his son, Joseph Henry, a lad of fourteen, shouldered a musket in the regiment of Col. Nat Freeman of Yar- mouth and served with the American forces in New England. A son of this youthful soldier, Zebina Sears, in 1816, commanded the brigan- tine Neptune, a cruiser in the service of the states of La Plata, then engaged in the war for independence. With men, arms and am- munition for the patriots, lie made three voy- ages between New Orleans and Buenos Ayres, but was finally captured by a Spanish frigate in the Gulf of Mexico. His ship was sunk. and his erew taken ashore and executed as pirates, while he and his first officer were carried to Spain for trial. They were convicted of piracy and banished for life to the penal colony of Melilla, on the coast of Morocco. During the passage the first officer died. Being a Mason, the captain received good treatment from the commander of the transport, himself a Mason. By similar fraternal aid, he escaped from Me-

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lilla to the Moorish coast and there by the good offices of a Mahometan Moor, who recognized him as a brother Mason, he was rescued from the hands of the man who, though slavery had been abolished in Morocco, wished to keep him in bondage. The Mahometan escorted Captain Sears to the interior, where he turned him over to a Jewish Mason bound for Fez. There he was taken in charge by some English mer- chants and finally reached his home in Boston, after an absence of three years.

In the family of Capt. Zabina Sears was a son, Alfred F. Sears, the fourth among seven children. In the Boston public schools he re- ceived a Franklin medal for scholarship, and in 1844 was graduated from the English high school. After a year in a counting house and another year in the studio of an artist, he took up civil engineering, to which his life has since been devoted. June 8, 1846, he became an em- ploye of E. S. Chesbrough in the Boston water works, later was with Thomas Doane on the Cheshire Railroad in New Hampshire and then was employed on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road. January 29, 1850, he married Augusta Bassett, of Bridgewater, Mass., a descendant of the Puritans, and through her mother a lineal descendant of Mary Chilton, who is claimed to have been the first woman reaching the land from the Mayflower. In the family of Alfred F. Sears were three children, but the only one to reach mature years was Alfred F. Sears, Jr., of Portland, mention of whom appears else- where in this volume.

When the Civil war broke out Mr. Sears was conducting the surveys by which the streets and property lines of Newark, N. J., were to be per- manently established. This position he re- signed in June, 1861. to raise a company in Newark, which was incorporated in the First New York Engineers as Company E. In Octo- ber they were ordered to Hilton Head in the expeditionary corps commanded by Gen. Tim- othy Sherman and Flag Officer Dupont, for the capture of Forts Beauregard and Walker in Port Royal Bay. After a year at Hilton Head. Captain Sears built the battery in the rear of Pulaski, on Jones Island, which cut off all com- munication by steamer between the fort and the city of Savannah, a duty followed by de- stroying three-fourths of a mile of the telegraph lines between these points. While thus engaged he received orders to proceed to Florida, to se- cretly destroy a bridge on the line of railroad with the construction of which he had been con- cerned before the war. Changes of orders com- ing later, he rejoined his company at Hilton Head, and from there was ordered to Beaufort. S. C., a few miles above Port Royal. June 16, 1862, he was with his company at the battle of

Secessionville, after which he was transferred to Fort Clinch. Shortly after assuming charge of the works at this fort, he went north to con- fer with General Totten, chief engineer of the army. During this visit, in October, 1862, by a special dispensation of the Grand Lodge of New York, he became a member of Kane Lodge No. 454, being initiated an entered apprentice and passed to the degree of fellow-craft in one even- ing, and raised to the degree of master the next week. In one wek after his work in the lodge he returned to Florida, where he remained three and one-half years. In December, 1865, six months after his regiment was mustered out, he was relieved from duty by an officer of the regu- lar corps of engineers and, with the rank of major, received an honorable discharge. He was the only volunteer officer of engineers who was permitted to report directly to the chief en- gineer of the army at Washington, such reports usually being made to an officer of the regular corps at some neighboring post.

On returning to Newark, N. J., Major Sears was first employed on the Newark water works and assisted in the construction of the Belleville reservoir. While thus engaged he was elected chief engineer of the Newark & New York Rail- road. Against the wishes of the Bergen direct- ors, who desired to locate the railroad line in their region along the towpath of the Morris canal, he secured a location between Newark and the Central Railroad line, in two straight lines, with a single intervening curve. The line within the municipal limits was located on the maps which he had made for the city before entering the army. Especially noteworthy is the fact that Major Sears designed and located the first elevated road in the United States, this passing over the New Jersey Railroad and then to the city limits over twenty streets and blocks. His first proposition to do this was received with derision by some of the board of directors, but he was sustained by the president of the com- pany, and the idea was adopted. However, the railroad passed into the hands of the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey and the chief engineer of that company superseded Major Sears in the completion of the work.

Having acquired a knowledge of the Italian, Portuguese, French and Spanish languages, Major Sears secured important positions in Spanish America through his ability as a lin- guist. An American company engaged him to visit Costa Rica, where he made a preliminary survey across the continent from the Gulf of Nicoya to Puerto Limon on the Caribbean sea. On his return to the United States he was se- lected as chief engineer of the Pennsylvania & Sodus Bay Railroad in central New York. In 1869 he accepted supervision of the Atlantic

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division of the Costa Rica Railroad, extending from Puerto Limon to the continental divide. A year later the republic of Costa Rica became bankrupt and the roads passed into other hands under German influence. Major Sears was in- vited by the late Henry Meiggs (known as the railway king of South America) to visit Peru, where he made a contract with the Peruvian government and entered the National Corps of Engineers of that republic, being the only Amer- ican in the corps. During the seven years of his residence in Peru he was appointed in- spector of the railroads in the north of the re- public for the government; chief engineer of the irrigation commission for the department of the Pinra, Peru; chief engineer of the commis- sion for devising water works and sewerage systems for the cities of Callao, Piura and Paita; and chief engineer of the Chimbote, Huaraz & Recuay Railway, where he remained until the war with Chile had reduced Peru to bankruptcy. In 1879 he returned to the United States, after the capture by the Chilians of the Peruvian ironclad Huascar. When he left Peru the currency of the republic had fallen from a par value of one hundred cents on a dollar to thirty-three cents. In addition the government owed him for his services $9,000, which they have never paid.

On his return to the United States, Major Sears joined his only son in Portland, where he still makes his home, although professional, business, fraternal and social duties often neces- sitate his presence in other parts of the country. For a time he was umpire engineer for a Scotch company in the construction of the Oregonian Railway. His familiarity with Spanish America brought to him the position of assistant general manager of the Mexican Central Railway Com- pany. After a year the government made him general manager of the Teliuantepec Inter- Oceanic Railway, but, receiving only one month's pay for three months' work and finding the government bankrupt, he returned to Port- land. His ability and wide range of knowledge have brought his services into demand as a lec- turer and magazine writer. He has lectured several times before the University of the City of New York, the American and National Geo- graphical Societies of New York and Washing- ton, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sci- ences, and the Long Island Historical Society. besides many addresses delivered in Portland. At different times of recent years he has been interested in movements for the industrial de- velopment of Peru, hut these have not proved remunerative, and, indeed, have consumed many months of his time without any return whatever. The disturbances in Peru frightened intending investors and caused him heavy losses.

Major Sears is a member of the Oregon So- ciety Sons of the American Revolution : holds office as junior vice-commander of Oregon Com- mandery. Loyal Legion: is connected with George Wright Post, G. A. R .; and, along pro- fessional lines, holds membership in the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers, the National Society of Civil Engineers of Peru, in which lie is the only American ; and is a correspond- ing member of the Geographical Society of Lima, Peru.

CAPT. ERNEST W. SPENCER. No more earnest, energetic and enterprising citizen is num- bered among the prominent men of Portland than Capt. Ernest W. Spencer, though a resident only since 1875. According to his inherited tenden- cies and early training he has always given his efforts toward commercial and industrial suprem- acy by helping to build up the waterways of the country and capably operating boats upon the various rivers of the community in which he has identified his interests. This has been his prin- cipal occupation since coming west, though he is also a landsman in the truest sense of the word, for his rapidly accruing profits have been in- vested in real estate in his adopted city, the resi- dence in which he makes his home having been built in 1884, when there were but few houses on the East Side.

A native of Gallia county, Ohio, Captain Spencer was born September 4, 1852, the descendant of a sturdy English family, whose interests had always been in the mechani- cal and boating line. He was the son of Tobias, and the grandson of Elijah. the father of the latter being a soldier in the Rev- olutionary war. Elijah Spencer settled in Vir- ginia and died in Parkersburg. of the same state. at the age of eighty-eight years, after a useful life on the keel-boats of the Ohio river. Tobias Spencer went to work on that river when ten years old, and for thirty-five years acted as pilot. He died at the age of fifty-two years, having ac- complished his own success in life and risen to a position of independence. He married Frances W. Pollock, who was born in Wheeling, of Scotch parentage, in 1829, and since becoming a widow. November 22, 1874, she has made her home in Huntington. W. Va. Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Carrie S. married Al- fred Mann, of Danville, Va. : Mary A. became the wife of James F. Walker. of Gallipolis, Ohio: Anna is at home with her mother: Tobias R. is a soldier in the regular army and has heen twice in the Philippine Islands ; and Ernest W., of this review, is the youngest in age.

The boyhood of Captain Spencer was passed in liis Ohio home, his education being received in

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the common school in the vicinity of his home, and the academy there, and at the age of fourteen years he took up the work of his forefathers. He first began under the tutelage of his father, but before he was twenty-one he had charge of a boat, where he quickly demonstrated his ability to command. Before he left the Ohio river he had secured a good. practical experience and knew all the turns of the river from Pittsburg to New Orleans. Desirous of widening his expe- rience and enjoying the increased profits which western life afforded, he left his home and came to Portland in 1875. at once securing employment on the Willamette river in the interests of the Independent Steamboat Company. A year later he purchased an interest in that company and in 1879 he bought the Gold Dust, then the Salem. operating the latter from his home at The Dalles, whither he had moved. Later he built and oper- ated The Cricket, and also the ferry boats between Albina and Portland. In 1898 he had a boat built and carried to the Yukon river, and in 1899 took another via rail and overland to Lake Atlin, the two known as the Willie Irving and Scotia, plying upon the northern river, the former being the only one ever built on the Yukon to that time. He also built and equipped the Charles R. Spen- cer, which is utilized in towing upon the Wil- lamette and Columbia rivers. In 1903 she was converted into a passenger boat. to run between Portland and The Dalles. Besides the location already mentioned Captain Spencer has operated boats on Fraser river and Puget Sound.

The marriage of Captain Spencer occurred Jan- uary 3. 1881, and united him with Elizabeth Irv- ing, who was born in East Portland, December 29. 1859. She was the fourth child of William Irving, who was also interested in steamboats. his death occurring in British Columbia, in 1872. His other children are as follows: Mary, wife of T. L. Briggs, of Westminster, British Columbia ; John, a steamboat captain, of Victoria, British Columbia; Susan, wife of Gassendi Cox, of Floren, Sacramento county, Cal .; Nellie, wife of W. S. Chandler, of Coos Bay. Ore., this daughter being the only child born in British Columbia. Of the children born to Captain and Mrs. Spencer Walter Irving was born in 1882, and after gradu- ating from the Portland Academy he entered the State School of Mines, of Golden. Cal., which he is still attending : Charles R. was born in 1884. in Westminster. British Columbia, and after at- tending the public schools and Portland Academy. he went to work upon the river, where he is now employed. Some of the most important river work of Captain Spencer was the buikling and operating for ten years the Irving dock. and he also superintended the construction of the Vic- toria dock and looked after the interests of the same for seventeen years. He now owns the

dock at the foot of Washington street. Being a stanch Republican in politics Captain Spencer has neglected no opportunity to advance the prin- ciples which he endorses, and through the influ- ence of the party which recognizes his ability he has been appointed to several important posts. among them being that of chief of police, which position he maintained from July to November, 1892. He has also acted as delegate to county and city conventions and in 1899 was delegate to the state convention. Fraternally and socially he is a prominent man in the city of Portland, in the former being identified with Morning Dawn Lodge No. 7. A. F. & A. M., of Gillipolis, Ohio: Royal Arch Masons: Scottish Rite, Oregon Con- sistory No. I. and El Kader Temple, Mystic Shrine; Knights of Pythias, and with his wife is a member of the Eastern Star ; is a member of the Oregon Historical Society, Commercial Club. Portland Hunt Club. Rod and Gun Club, and the Port of Portland Commission. Captain Spencer is a liberal supporter of all public mat- ters, and especially of church work. his wife be- ing a member of the Episcopal Church.

ALLEN B. CROASMAN. In a very early day the Croasman family came from England to America, and subsequent generations were asso- ciated with the history of Pennsylvania. Rev. James Croasman, who was a minister in the Evangelical Association, left the east in 1864 and, accompanied by his family, proceeded via Panama to Oregon, where he established the first Evangelical Association in the state, build- ing a house of worship in Salem. During the ten years in which he continued at the head of this charge he ministered to congregations else- where and established a number of churches. Wherever he lived he worked indefatigably for the uplifting of humanity, and many houses of worship were erected under his supervision. When infirmities of age rendered further min- isterial work impracticable he retired and is now making his home at Ashley, Ore .. where, in spite of his more than four score years, he maintains a keen interest in religious matters. His wife, Lavena Brickley, was a daughter of a Pennsyl- vania physician and died in Ohio when her son, Allen B., was a boy of ten years. The latter. who was the only member of the family to attain mature years, was born near Harrisburg. Pa .. June 7. 1846, and as a child attended the West Greenville school.

From the age of ten years Mr. Croasman began to make his own way in the world. going to Wisconsin, where he was a newsboy on the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, and later an express check agent on the same road. Return- ing east to accompany his father to Oregon, he

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left New York in May of 1864 and traveled via the Ocean Queen to Aspinwall, crossing to Pa- nama, where he boarded the Golden Gate for San Francisco, and thence proceeded on the John L. Stevens to Portland. In July he arrived in Salem. The morning after his arrival he secured work as clerk in a store, and for five years he continued in the employ' of others. With the means he meantime accumulated he then em- barked in business for himself and soon became known as one of the progressive business men of Salem. While carrying on business he also, in 1883-85, held office as postmaster at Salem. For a time he was a partner of J. J. Murphy, ex- sheriff, now clerk of the supreme court of Ore- gon at Salem. For ten years the two continued in business together, at the expiration of which time Mr. Croasman sold his interest to J. D. Mc- Cully. In 1887 he came to Portland and estab- lished a clothing and men's furnishing establish- ment at No. III First street, later removing to No. 165 Third street, where he was fortunate in escaping damage during the high water.

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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 41

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