Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 5

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 5

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A native of New York City, Mr. Failing was born December 18, 1840, a son of Josiah and Henrietta (Ellison) Failing. (A complete

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

sketch of Josiah Failing will be found on an- other page of this work.) At the age of thir- teen our subject was brought to Portland by his parents. Soon afterward he entered the Port- land Academy and Female Seminary, where he received his educational training. It was nat- ural that he should take to the business in which his father was engaged, and when a young man he entered the store of H. W. Corbett, accepting an humble position. By close application and industry he steadily advanced from a clerkship, until, in 1868, he was admitted to the firm of H. W. Corbett & Company. On the formation of the firm of Corbett, Failing & Company, he became one of the members, and when this firm was succeeded by Corbett, Failing & Robertson, he remained with the latter organization. While the greater part of his time was devoted to his store duties, he nevertheless found time to take an active interest in other business affairs, and was for a time a director of the First National Bank of Portland. Two years prior to his death, which occurred January 29, 1900, he retired from active business and devoted his time to the settlement of his brother Henry's estate.

In Trinity Church, Portland, August 2, 1866, Mr. Failing was united in marriage with Miss Olivia B. Henderson, daughter of Robert Hen- derson, a native of Tennessee. Mr. Henderson crossed the plains to Oregon in 1846, and set- tled in Yamhill county, where he later pur- chased a farm upon which he lived for the re- mainder of his life. His well-directed life was interspersed with some outside activity, among which may be mentioned a season of mining in California in 1849. His thrift and industry were rewarded with a competence, and his home seven miles south of McMinnville, and five miles from his first settlement in Oregon, was one of the most desirable in that section of the county. His death occurred November 1, 1890, in his eighty-second year. He was survived by his wife, who was formerly Miss Rhoda C. Hol- man, until 1901, when she, too, was called to her final reward. Mrs. Henderson was born in Kentucky. Besides Mrs. Failing there were the following children : Lucy A .. the wife of Judge Deady, Portland; Mary Elizabeth, Mrs. George Murch, Coburg: John J., Coburg; Frances A., Mrs. John Catlin, Portland; J. Harvey, Salem ; Alice M., Mrs. C. C. Strong, Portland : and Wil- liam A., Salem. The three sons of Robert Hen- derson spent a large portion of their lives on the old homestead in Yamhill county. Mrs. Failing was born in the northern part of Cali- fornia. She was educated principally in Port- land and during her married life was her hus- band's greatest comfort and consolation. Since his death she has lived at the family home in Portland. The order of birth of her nine chil-

dren is as follows: Henrietta Henderson; Lucy Deady; Elsie C., the wife of E. H. Shepard ; Emma Corbett ; Katherine Fredericka ; Rhoda Duval ; Ernestine ; Henry Robertson; and Olivia H. Mrs. Failing is an active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church.

The death of Mr. Failing was a blow to the city of Portland that was felt by all. A man of splendid business ability, his most earnest ef- forts were directed towards maintaining the integrity of the enterprises with which he was connected, and in placing them on a par with the best of their kind in the world. Quiet in manner, he never had the desire for public life found in many. Not that he was not public spirited, for there was no man in Portland that took a more active interest in the welfare of the city than he. No movement calculated to be of benefit to the city of his adoption went by without his endorsement and he was at all times willing to give of his time and means. Although he did not unite with any church, he was an ardent Baptist and strong supporter of that de- nomination. Of his goodness and thoughtfulness in the midst of his dearly beloved family, the various members alone are capable of testifying. It can truly be said, the world is better for hav- ing known him. In his life there was much that was worthy of emulation. He was a noble man and his record is one of which Portland is proud.

HON. JULIUS C. MORELAND. During the stirring days in England when Oliver Crom- well held the reins of power one of his stanch supporters was a member of the Moreland fam- ily, but after the death of the Protector it seemed advisable for this ancestor to seek an- other home; hence about 1660 he crossed the ocean to Virginia, settling on the James river. From him descended a long line of planters, who were strict adherents of the Quaker faith. John Moreland, a Virginian by birth, settled in North Carolina in young manhood, but in 1807 moved to Kentucky and five years later settled in Ten- nessee, where he died about 1853. Though reared in the Quaker religion, he became con- nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his son. Rev. Jesse Moreland, who was born near Asheville, N. C., January 1, 1802, for more than seventy years held a license as a local preacher in that denomination. All of this min- isterial work was done gratuitously, for love of humanity and a desire to uplift men and women through the benign influence of Christianity. Meantime, in order to earn a livelihood, he con- ducted farm pursuits. Discerning the evil in- fluence of slavery, he determined to seek a home far removed from its shadow, and therefore settled in Carlinville. Macoupin county, Ill., in

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

1848. Four years later, accompanied by his wife and seven children, he crossed the plains with ox-teams, crossing the Missouri at St. Joseph, thence proceeding up the Platte, and finally ar- riving in Oregon October 6, after a journey of six months. The home of the family for some time was on a farm in Clackamas county. After the death of his wife in 1859 he took up mer- chandising, which he followed for twelve years. In 1882 he settled in Salem, thence went to Port- land, where he died March 3, 1890, at the age of eighty-eight years, three months and two days. While living in Carlinville he was made a Mason in Mount Nebo Lodge, of which Gen. John M. Palmer was then master.

The wife of Rev. Jesse Moreland was Susan Robertson, a native of Cumberland county, Tenn., and a daughter of George and Elizabeth ( Nelson, Robertson. The founder of the fami- ly in America was Gen. William Robertson, an officer under Cromwell and a member of the jury in the trial of Charles I, and as such a partici- pant in the order demanding the death of Charles 1I. On the death of Cromwell he sought safety by flight, and in 1658 settled in Virginia. Major Charles Robertson, who was born in the Old Do- minion, about 1750 went to North Carolina. In 1768 he and a brother James crossed over the then wilderness to what is now Watauga Springs, Tenn., where they settled in the midst of the wildest surroundings imaginable, being, in fact, the first white settlers in the entire state. Soon they were joined by John Sevier. Both James and Charles were soldiers of the Revolution. The name of James Robertson is preserved in history as that of one of the four most cele- brated men of Tennessee. Though less promi- nent, Charles was no less active and worthy. In the war with England he fought at Eutaw Springs, Cowpens, Musgrove Mills, and other engagements, holding the rank of major. His son, George, though only fifteen years of age, insisted upon entering the colonial army but was refused permission. With a spirit worthy of his ances- tors he determined to go even without permis- sion, and the following morning Major Robert- son was surprised to find that his best horse and rifle as well as the boy were missing. A desire to fight the British was strong among those Ten- nessee pioneers, and it finally hecame necessary to draft men into the home guard, in order that there might be men enough left to protect the women and children against the Indians.

During the war of 1812 five of the Robertsons fought under Jackson in New Orleans and later Julius C. N. Robertson was a brigadier-general in the Creek war under the same general. Major Charles Robertson died in 1707, but his brother James survived until 1820. George. the fifteen- year-old soldier, became a farmer and died

about 1830. In the family of Rev. Jesse More- land there were nine children. Wesley, who was captain of Company C, Seventh Iowa Infantry, was in the Civil war witn Wallace at Shiloh, with Grant at Donelson and Henry, and with Lyon at Booneville and Wilson Creek; he passed away June 23, 1862, and rests at Corinth. The other members of the family were as fol- lows: Mrs. Sarah J. Owen, of Mount Tabor, Portland ; Martha, who died in Illinois at twenty years of age; Mrs. Mary Robinson, of Port- land: William, of Clackamas county, Ore. ; Samuel A., who was attorney, police judge and a writer on the staff of the Oregonian, and who died in Portland in 1886; Eliza and Josephine, who died in Oregon respectively in 1857 and 1860; and Julius C., who was born in Smith county, Tenn., June ' 10, 1844, and is now an attorney of Portland.

When eight years of age Julius C. Moreland accompanied his parents to Oregon, where he aided in clearing a farm, having the privilege of attending school three months during the year. In April of 1860 he came to Portland and se- cured employment in the composing room of the Oregon Farmer, where he remained for three and one-half years. Afterwards he attended the old Portland Academy, from which he was graduated in 1865. For six weeks during 1864 he had charge of the state printing office at Salem. After graduating he began the study of the law, working at intervals at his trade in order to pay expenses. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar, after which he practiced in Boise City, Idaho, and also followed his trade on the Idaho Statesman for a year. On his return to Portland he acted as foreman for the Daily Oregonian for a short time. In December, 1868, he formed a partnership with John F. Caples under the firm name of Caples & Moreland, the two continuing together for six years. In 1885 and 1886 Governor Moody appointed Mr. More- land county judge of Multnomah county, and in 1890 he was elected to the office, which he filled efficiently for a term of four years. Since then he has devoted his attention to professional practice. A man of conspicuous legal talent, he ranks among the leading attorneys of the state, while his genial personality wins many friends outside the ranks of strictly professional circles. In politics a Republican, he was at one time secretary of the state central committee. from 1872 to 1875 was a member of the city council, and from 1877 to 1882 held office as city attorney.

In Boise City, July 3, 1867, Judge Moreland married Abbie B. Kline, who was born in Fort Scott. Kans., and in 1853 accompanied her par- ents to Corvallis, Ore. They have five chil- dren, viz. : Harvey L., who is in the insurance

HON. M. C. GEORGE.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

business : Susie A., wife of M. W. Gill, of Port- land; Eldon W., who is in the employ of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company ; Julius Irving and Lueen. The position of presi- dent which Judge Moreland holds in the Oregon Pioneers' Association has brought him into close contact with many of the leading pioneers of the state, by all of whom he is held in high regard. He is connected with the Portland Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, is a member of the Commercial Club, the State Bar Association and the Portland Board of Trade. Though not identified with any denomination, he is a contrib- utor to religious movements, especially to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. His initiation into Masonry occurred October 22, 1866, in Harmony Lodge No. 12. In 1872 he became a charter member of Portland Lodge No. 55, A. F. & A. M., of which he served as master in 1878-79. In 1872 lie became affiliated with Portland Chapter No. 3. R. A. M., of which he officiated as high priest in 1884-85. In 1879 he became associated with the Knights Templar through his initiation into Oregon Commandery No. 1. In 1893-94 he was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Oregon, and previous to this he had served as grand orator of the Grand Lodge, grand senior dea- con and deputy grand master. Since 1888 he lias been identified with Al Kader Temple, N. M. S., of Portland. No follower of Masonry has been a more devoted disciple of its high prin- ciples than has he, and in his life, whether occu- pying public office or discharging the duties of a private citizen, it has been his ambition to ex- emplify the teachings of the order.

HON. MELVIN C. GEORGE. From the colonial period of American history the George family has borne its part in epoch-making events. While each generation contributed to the devel- opment of the country's material resources, they also gave men of valor to assist in our nation's wars. Jesse George, grandfather of M. C., was a soldier in the Revolutionary struggle, serving in Captain Radican's company of volunteers from Virginia, and later in Capt. Williamn George's company in a regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Merriweather. His enlistment dated from September 1, 1778, and he continued at the front until peace was established. Afterward, with Virginia troops, he was sent on a journey of exploration to the northwest, and during the trip he was so pleased with the prospects that he decided to migrate further west. Accordingly he at once took his family to Ohio, where he was one of the very earliest settlers. In recognition of his services in the army he was granted a pension by Lewis Cass, secretary of war, his

hardships, sacrifices and perils of several years being recognized by the munificent pension of $13.50 per annum, a little more than a dollar a month. There is now in the possession of M. C. George a copy of an application made by this Revolutionary ancestor in which he asked for an increase in the pension.

In the family of Jesse George was a son, Pres- ley George, who was born in Loudoun county, Va., and grew to manhood in Ohio. There he married Mahala Nickerson, who was born at Cape Cod, Mass., and grew to womanhood in Ohio. Her father, Col. Hugh Nickerson, who was born in Massachusetts in 1782, commanded a regiment of Massachusetts volunteers in the war of 1812, and later settled in Ohio. His wife, Rebecca Blanchard, was also of eastern birth. Tracing his ancestry we find that his father, Hugh Nickerson, Sr., was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary war in Capt. Benjamin Godfrey's com- pany, under Colonel Winslow. This Revolution- ary soldier was a son of Thomas and Dorcas (Sparrow) Nickerson, and a grandson of Thomas Nickerson, Sr., whose father, William, was a son of William Nickerson, Sr., a passenger on the ship Jolin and Dorothy, which crossed the ocean from Norwich, England, and landed in Boston June 20, 1637. On the Sparrow side the ances- try is traced back to Elder William Brewster, one of the chief founders of Plymouth colony, and a ruling elder of the church at Leyden, and at New Plymouth, also keeper of the postoffice at Scrooby, at that day an office of considerable importance. Another ancestor of the Sparrow family was Governor Thomas Prince, who in 1621 crossed to Plymouth from England in the ship Fortune, and afterward held office as gov- ernor of Massachusetts.

The family of Presley George consisted of eight children, but five of these died of diphtheria or scarlet fever in Ohio. The father and mother, with the three surviving children, left their eastern home and proceeded by boat from Mari- etta to St. Joe, Mo. There they outfitted with ox-teams and crossed the plains, arriving in Linn county, Ore., at the expiration of six months. Previous to this they camped for several weeks in what is now East Portland, where there were only two houses at that time. Entering a donation claim near Lebanon, the father took up the work of a farmer in the new locality. Coming from a timber country, he preferred a location where there was a forest growth and accord- ingly settled in the midst of a heavy timber. However, an experience of eight years proved unsatisfactory, and he moved to another farm three miles from Lebanon, where he remained until his retirement from agricultural pursuits. At the time of his death, which occurred at the home of his son, M. C., in Portland, he was

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

eighty-three years of age. It is worthy of note that he was the youngest of fifteen children, all of whom lived to be more than seventy years of age, and the men of the family were without exception large, stalwart and sturdy, weighing two hundred pounds or more. His wife also attained the age of eighty-three and died at the home of her son in Portland. In religion they were members of the Old School Baptist Church. On the disintegration of the Whig party, he iden- tified himself with the Republicans. Of his three sons, Hugh N., who was a teacher, journalist and attorney at Albany, and a presidential elector in 1864, died in his home city in 1882. The second son, J. W., who was United States marshal of Washington in 1884, died in 1892 in his home city, Seattle. The only surviving member of the family is Hon. M. C. George, of Portland, who was born near Caldwell, Noble county, Ohio, May 13, 1849. To the advantages of an academic education he added a course of study in Willam- ette University, after which he had charge of the academy at Jefferson and also for a year acted as principal of the Albany public school.

In order to fit himself for the profession of law, toward which his tastes directed him, Mr. George took up a course of study in 1873 under Judge Powell of Albany, later reading with Colonel Effinger of Portland. On his admission to the bar he began to practice in Portland. At once he entered upon public life as a leader in the Republican party. From 1876 to 1880 he represented his district in the state senate. During the latter year he was nominated for congress- man-at-large against Governor Whitaker. the in- cumbent, and was elected by a majority of almost thirteen hundred. In March of 1881 he took his seat in congress. The following year he was re-elected, serving in the forty-seventh and forty- eighth sessions of congress. While in that body he was a member of the committees on commerce and revision of laws. Much of his legislation was in connection with the opening of Indian reserva- tions and concerning the establishment of a ter- ritorial government in Alaska. Large appropri- ations were secured for Oregon, including the payment of the Modoc Indian bill of $130,000. On the expiration of his term in 1884 he declined to be a candidate for re-election, and resumed the practice of law. However, his fellow-citizens recognized that his qualities admirably adapted him for public service and frequently solicited him to accept offices of trust. In 1897 Governor Lord appointed him judge, and in June of the following year he was elected to the office to fill an unexpired term of two years. At the expiration of that time he was elected for a full term of six years, and has since filled the office, discharging its many and responsible duties in a

manner calculated to place him in a rank with the most able jurists of the state.

The marriage of Judge George occurred at Lebanon in 1872 and united him with Miss Mary Eckler, who was born in Danville, 111. Her parents removed from Kentucky to Illinois, where her mother died. Later the family start- ed across the plains. During the journey the father died and was buried on the present site of Council Bluffs. From there the sons brought the balance of the family to Oregon, arriving here in 1853. Three daughters, Florence, Edna and Jessie, comprise the family of Judge and Mrs. George. The oldest daughter is a graduate of Fabiola Hospital training school in San Fran- cisco.

Fraternally Judge George has numerous con- nections. In the Odd Fellows' Order he has been past grand and a member of the encamp- ment. He was made a Mason in Lebanon Lodge and now belongs to Washington Lodge at Port- land, of which he was past master for three years. His initiation into the Royal Arch chap- ter took place at Corvallis, and he is now iden- tified with Washington Chapter in Portland, be- sides which he belongs to Portland Comman- dery, K. T., and Portland Consistory, thirty- second degree. For five years Judge George was a director of the city schools of Portland and during two years of that time he was hon- ored with the presidency of the board. As a member and (for a time) chairman of the board of bridge commissioners, he was directly in- strumental in the erection of the Burnside bridge in Portland. The State Bar Association num- bers him among its members, as do also the Oregon Pioneers' Society, State Historical So- ciety, Chapter of Sons of the American Revolu- tion and Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pio- neers, of which last-named he has officiated as president from the date of its organization.

JACOB MAYER. The lights and shadows, failures and successes which are the inevitable heritage of the strong and reliant and resource- ful have not been omitted from the life of Jacob Mayer, whose name in Portland stands for all that is commercially substantial, personally up- right and practically helpful. As long ago as 1857 Mr. Mayer came to Oregon, bringing with him a wide knowledge of men and affairs, and here he opened a retail dry goods store. In 1865, just at the close of the Civil war. he started, in Portland, the first exclusive wholesale dry goods business in the northwest. In the years that have intervened his strenuous vitality and profound appreciation of the opportunities by which he has been surrounded have penetrated with telling effect the industrial, social, humani-

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tarian and political atmosphere of his adopted city, and rendered worth while an ambition which else had been characterized by spectacular money getting and keeping.

The most remote memory of Mr. Mayer goes back to the town of Bechtheim, near Worms and Mentz, in the province of Rhein-Hessen, Ger- many, where he was born May 7, 1826. He is the youngest of the children in the family of Aaron Mayer, a merchant of the Fatherland who immigrated to America in 1847, lived for a time in New Orleans, but eventually removed to St. Louis, Mo., where the remainder of his life was passed. His son Jacob had preceded him to America in 1842, and the youth secured a position with his brother as clerk, in 1849 starting an independent dry goods business of his own in New Orleans. This proved to be a very satisfactory departure, but the business was disposed of the following year, owing to the gold excitement in California, and prepara- tions were made for a similar business on the western coast. During 1850 Mr. Mayer started for the Isthmus, carrying with him a cargo of merchandise, and accompanied by his wife and children. Arriving at Panama he boarded the Sarah and Eliza, upon which slow-going craft the passengers experienced such misery, dep- rivation and adventure as falls to the lot of but few whose pioneer longings lay toward the west- ern sea. One hundred days out from Panama the supply of water and provisions was practi- cally exhausted, and but a half pint of water a day was the meager allowance available for slak- ing thirst. Sharks and pelicans served as food for the wayfarers upon the trackless waste of waters, and served to render less hideous the haunting fear of starvation which intercepted their fast diminishing dreams. When hope be- came an elusive phantom there loomed upon the horizon a Boston ship with a less depleted larder, and to strained eyes and failing faculties it seemed like a mirage above the desert sands. For a barrel of sea biscuit Mr. Mayer gave the extent of his money possessions, which amounted to $800, and thus terminated indescribable suf- fering of mind and body, the memory of which had haunted the consciousness of the voyageurs as naught save such experiences can. One hun- dred and twenty days after leaving Panama the Sarah and Eliza wandered into the port of San Francisco, discharged its commercial and human cargo, having added a sorry chapter to its life upon the deep.

In March, 1850, Mr. Mayer started the second dry goods store in the city of San Francisco, the first, that of Sac & Kenney, having been started by a Frenchman. Mr. Mayer conducted his business until 1857, and that year he came to Oregon, where he engaged in the retail dry

goods business until starting a wholesale dry goods business in 1865. For ten years, or until 1875, he continued alone, but in that year he formed a partnership with L. Fleischner, A. Schlussel and Sol Hirsch, under the title of Fleischner, Mayer & Co., which has stood to the present day, although Mr. Mayer is the only member of the old firm now living, and he has turned the business over to his son Mark. Having come to the front in all matters pertaining to the development of the city of his adoption, Mr. Mayer has lent his fine business and executive ability, tempered with extreme benevolence, to the inaugurating and promoting of the best known enterprises here represented. For the past ten years he has been president of the Masonic Building Association; is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, and is one of the pioneers and charter members of the Oregon Historical Society. All charitable organizations, irrespective of denominational in- fluence, have profited by his substantial and prac- tical support, and it is to his credit that he was the founder of the first Hebrew Benevolent So- ciety of San Francisco, and he was also the founder of a similar organization in this city. As a member of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation he has exerted an influence for high living and large accomplishment, and his efforts have been as praiseworthy in connection with the organization of the first B'nai B'rith Society on the coast, which was none other than that of District No. 4 of California, and today he is the only charter member living. In 1855 he obtained the charter for Ophir No. 21, and from this and District No. 4 were formed various branches in the state. He organized Oregon Lodge No. 65, of which he was first president and is still a member. Mr. Mayer was also the organizer and one of the charter members of the Congregation Beth Israel. in which he has been prominent from the beginning, and has held the various offices of the organization.

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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 5

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