Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 58

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 58

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CHARLES S. WHITE, owner of a finely im- proved farm two miles northeast of Glencoe, and six and one-half miles north of Hillsboro, was born among the pioneer surroundings of Illinois, May 11, 1838, a son of Richard Allen and Caro- line ( Rider ) White.

Richard Allen White, conspicuous among the early settlers of Portland and vicinity, was born in Essex county, England, and by trade was a brewer. With his wife, who was also born in England, he left the home of his forefathers in 1840, and after a winter in Canada, located in the eastern part of Iowa. In 1843 he started to cross the plains with oxen, but upon reaching Council Bluffs, Iowa, decided to tarry there for the winter. In the spring of 1844 he again started over the plains, there being about twenty-five wagons in the train, besides a large number of cattle. At the expiration of seven or eight months of hardship the travelers arrived at The Dalles, where they left their wagons, and proceeded across the Cascade mountains to Oregon City, arriving there November 25, 1844. Mr. White took up a donation claim on what is now called Witch Hazel, comprising two hundred acres of prairie and the rest timber, and until 1865 this continued to be his home, or rather constituted the headquarters of his various achievements. The foundation of his fortune was laid, however, in California, whither he went in 1848, accompa- nied by his son, Charles S. Together they mined and prospered, and in 1849 returned to Oregon with about $3,000 in gold. In May, 1849, they returned to California and again engaged in mini- ing, returning home in July with $2,500 in gold. This money enabled Mr. White to undertake the improvement of his farm on a fine scale, and also helped him out when he went to Portland in 1850. During this year he constructed the log boarding house with which his name was asso-

ciated for many years in the northwestern city, and to accommodate the prevailing tendency among the early settlers, also ran a liquor saloon and bowling alley. In time he amassed consider- able valuable property along Front street, and he erected the St. Charles Hotel, for many years the largest and best in Portland. His first wife dying in 1850, he married for a second wife Elizabeth Hall. Mr. White went down into Cali- fornia in 1865, and during the remainder of his life spent his time in the state of sunshine and flowers, his death occurring at the age of seventy- nine years. Of the seven children born to him, Al- bert is deceased; James lives in Klickitat county, Wash. ; Richard is a resident of the same place; Charles S. is a farmer in Washington county ; Martha J. lives in Klickitat county ; Caroline M. lives at The Dalles ; and Allen is deceased.

For a few years after leaving the home farm Charles S. White was variously employed, and then returned to his father's home. He married Florence Speer, a native of Missouri, of which union there were born eight children: Charles E., deceased : Daniel R., of Walla Walla ; Alfred D .; and John L., both residents of Klickitat county, Wash .; Mary B., of Wasco, Ore .; Peter T., living at home: William M., deceased; and Grover C., of Klickitat county, Wash. For forty- five years after his marriage Mr White lived on a farm near Reedville, and while there was ex- tensively and successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising. About 1881 he changed his field of activity to Klickitat county, Wash., where for fifteen years he was equally successful in the same occupation. Upon returning to Oregon he purchased one hundred and twenty-eight acres of land, upon which he now lives, about fifty acres now being under cultivation. He is en- gaged as before in general farming and stock- raising, and in addition has a large dairy enter- prise.

In political affiliation Mr. White is a believer in the principles embodied in the People's party. In religion he is a member of the United Breth- ren Church. and president of the organization. Mr. White is a man of leading characteristics, and his position in the community is an enviable one.

ALBERT KLEIN, proprietor of the East Burnside market, is one of the substantial and far-sighted business men of Portland, and lias an enviable reputation for public spiritedness and reliability. He was born July 21, 1865, in Wur- temberg, Germany, where he was reared and edit- cated according to practical Teutonic standards. His father, John, and his mother. Rosina ( Wer- ner) Klein, were natives of the same part of the kingdom, and the former devoted his life to

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farming, stock-raising and butchering. The par- ents died in their native land, the father at the age of seventy-five years, leaving five children, of whom Albert is second youngest. One son, John, a baker of Portland, is the only other member of the family in America.

Albert Klein naturally took to farming and butchering, for from earliest youth he used to as- sist his father in the large wholesale business in which he attained to considerable celebrity. He came first to America at the age of seventeen, in 1882, and was employed at his trade in New York City for two years, and was similarly em- ployed in Rhode Island for three years. He then returned to the Fatherland and engaged with his father in the meat business, but when three years had gone by he again experienced a longing for the broader chances to be found in the land be- vond the seas. Accordingly, he returned to America, and in Portland was employed for eighteen months in the Spaulding market, after which he undertook the management of the mar- ket for the Pacific Packing company in Portland, which he operated in a most satisfactory manner for two years. He then started up a business of his own at No. 432 East Burnside, and from a comparatively small beginning has worked up one of the largest and most up-to-date trades in the city. The market is finely equipped with modern devices, with electric lights, and electric power for grinding sausage, rendering lard and packing pork. Besides owning his place of busi- ness Mr. Klein has evidenced his intention to make a permanent home of Portland by building a home for himself and family, located at No. 35 East Tenth street.

Since coming to Portland Mr. Klein has married Lizzie Folmer, who was born in Norwich, Conn., and who is the mother of three children : Louis ; Carl; and Albert, Jr. Mr. Klein is variously interested in social and fraternal concerns in Portland, and is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Sons of Herman. He is also a member of the Wurtemburg Society. In political affilia- tion he is a Republican, but has never desired or found time for political office.

LEVI ROBBINS. The carly Robbins fore- fathers pursued their various occupations among the sheltering hills of Wales, from which pictur- esque country one more ambitious than the rest emigrated to America, settling in the colony of Virginia long before the Revolutionary war. In time those bearing the name accumulated large landed estates, and lent their superior abilities to the promotion of the industrial, commercial and political well being of the colony. The pa- ternal grandfather. Jacob Robbins, who died of measles in his seventy-third year, had several

brothers who followed the martial fortunes of Washington during the Revolutionary war. The second Jacob Robbins, the father of Levi Rob- bins, one of the pioneer farmers of Clackamas county, was born in Kentucky, June 4, 1809. and died in February, 1896, at the age of eighty- seven years.

Wher. a young man Jacob Robbins removed to Indiana, where he married Sarah Spillman, who was born in Kentucky in 1811, and died on the farm in Clackamas county, December 25, 1865. In Indiana a number of children were born of this union, and in 1852 the father outfitted and prepared to cross the plains to Oregon. The journey was replete with sorrow for the hopeful little band, for their ranks were depleted by the death of two of the children. At the mouth of the Sandy, on the Columbia river, one of the sons, Aaron, aged five years, sickened and died. and at Barlow's Station, Theodore, aged eight years, also died. Many years afterward, when the family fortunes were firmly established in the new Eldorado, the father returned to the two little graves at the mouth of the Sandy, and from then on two little additional graves were to be found in the Adams cemetery, where rested other members of the family.

Few pioneers encompassed greater hardships in the early days than did the family of Robbins. On Salem Prairie, three miles from the town of that name, a winter was passed calculated to make the stoutest heart quail, and to discourage the most hopeful searchers after better conditions. Of the twenty yoke of oxen and numerous horses brought across the plains many perished in the blinding snow storms, and because of insufficient food, and thus the watchers during the dreary winter months saw their mainstay dying before their eyes, and were powerless to help In 1860 Mr. Robbins moved his family to Molalla Prairie. where he purchased six hundred and forty acres of land, a portion of which he improved. The death of the brave pioneer mother five years after taking up the new land cast a gloom over her husband and children, yet they nevertheless forged ahead, and in incessant work found so- lace for their grief. Jacob Robbins eventually removed to the eastern part of Oregon, where he engaged in the stock business on an extensive scale, but when strength began to fail. and twi- light shadows creep around his memory, he returned to the farm then occupied by his son Oliver, where his death occurred. Of the sons and daughters born to himself and wife. Harvey is a resident of Spokane, Wash .; Levi lives at Molalla ; Thomas is a resident of Ta- coma, Wash .: Martin lives at Needy, Ore .: Oliver still occupies the original farm on the Molalla Prairie: Jane, Mrs. Gilliam, is a resi- dent of Pilot Rock, Ore .; Minerva, Mrs. Lover-

Hmm Showers

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idge, lives at Weston, Ore .; Theodore and Aaron are deceased, and Ella, Mrs. Benson, is a resident of Portland.

As opportunity offered, Levi Robbins at- tended .the district school on Salem Prairie, and he was reared to an appreciation of the dignity and usefulness of the life agricultural. At the age of twenty-three he entered into partnership with his brother Harvey and purchased four hundred and eighty acres of land, the greater part of which they had to pay for after begin- ning to occupy it. This was uphill work at best, but the energy and industry of the brothers was equal to the task, and in time they divided the land equally between them. In 1862 Levi traded his share for four hundred and seventy-four acres near Molalla, of which at the present time he owns three hundred and fifty-four acres. Fifty acres of this is under cultivation, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Robbins farm is one of the best in its vicinity. A change of oc- cupation was undertaken by Mr. Robbins in 1891, when he bought a large stock of goods and engaged in a general merchandise business in Molalla. The traits of character which ren- dered the pioneer of paramount importance in the upbuilding of his community, were of equal value from a mercantile standpoint, and are un- doubtedly the cause of his latter day success. In October, 1901, he disposed of his mercantile interests to his son, Levi W. Mr. Robbins is a Democrat in politics and has held the offices of road supervisor and school director.

In 1859 Mr. Robbins was united in marriage with Edith Barger, whose father, Gilford P. Barger, came across the plains in 1853, and set- tled on a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres in Linn county. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robbins, the order of their birth being as follows: O. W., Nettie, the wife of W. P. Kayler: Ipha; Mar- tha, the wife of P. J. Kayler ; Linnie, deceased; Della, the wife of W. A. Shaver ; L. W., and Ev- erman, all of Molalla.

WILLIAM SHOWERS. In the career of William Showers, county commissioner of Mult- nomah county, residing in Portland, the ambi- tious young man of the present generation may find a source of inspiration. Mr. Showers is one of the most striking examples of the self-made man. Inheriting from his father a mechanical genius, and educated along the lines of the trade followed by the latter, early in life he undertook the solution of the problem of self-maintenance in a country of boundless resources, where pros- pects were bright for success only in the case of a man qualified to render services proving his skill. That this skill was recognized, and at once, in

the case of the subject of this sketch, is proven by the abundant success which rewarded his im- portant undertakings in the northwest.

Born near Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, February 4, 1834, Mr. Showers is the youngest son of the seven children of Joseph and Ann (Davidson) Showers, natives respectively of Maine and New York states. During his entire life his father worked at his trade as a mill- wright, and Muskingum county, Ohio, in which he was a very early settler, has innumerable mills and furnaces which owe their construction to his mechanical skill and ingenuity. Among his most ambitious efforts was the triangular or Y bridge over the Licking and Muskingum rivers, a triumph of constructive ability which elicited extended commendation from expert engineers and contractors in various parts of the country. He also conducted operations in Pennsylvania, and was known as one of the most expert in his line in the middle west. His death occurred in Ohio November 13, 1834, and he was survived for many years by his wife, who died in Iowa November 13, 1872. Four of the sons of this couple were numbered among the defenders of the Union during the Civil war. Of these, Thomas served in an Ohio regiment, and died in that state; George was also a member of an Oliio regiment ; Benjamin, of the Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was promoted to a colonelcy at the battle of Missionary Ridge, served until the close of the war, and died in Kansas several years after the termination of hostilities.

At a little school on Brush creek, in Mus- kingum county, William Showers acquired such education as its limited facilities and his ar- duous duties on the home farm permitted. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed for four years to his brothers, who were millwrights, and having completed his trade, worked in that vicin- ity for some years. In 1855 he removed to Os- ceola, Clarke county, Iowa, where he continued his calling until overcome with the gold fever the following year, 1856. With an ox-team he accom- plished the perilous journey across the plains by way of the Platte river, Humboldt, Salt Lake and the Shasta route, arriving at the Klamath river four months and nineteen days from the time of starting. At Weaverville, Trinity county, Cal., he engaged in placer mining until the outbreak of the Civil war. In September, 1861, believing that his country stood in urgent need of the ser- vices of all the able-bodied men it possessed who were in a position to volunteer, he enlisted in Company E, Fourth California Volunteer In- fantry. The regiment went into camp at Auburn, and was the first to be sent north, via the Column- bia river, to Washington, for the relief of the regulars. Company E wintered at Ft. Steila- coom, and in the spring of 1862 was sent to

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Ft. Benicia, Cal., where it remained on garrison duty until late that summer. The command was then sent to Wilmington, Cal., and from there made its way to Yuma, Ariz., and New Mexico, remaining in the southwest until the spring of 1864, when it returned to Wilmington and was mustered out of the service.

Immediately following his discharge from the army Mr. Showers came to Portland, and soon engaged in the construction of the Oswego Iron Works, at Oswego. Soon afterward he assisted in the erection of Hayden's old mill at the foot of Clay street, Portland, and afterward superin- tended the construction of two sawmills for the Oregon & California Railroad Company. He also had charge of all the timber work for that road between Molalla and Calapooia, and for about a year thereafter was engaged in the same class of work between Eugene and Rosehurg. Soon after the completion of his contracts with this road he was identified with the Northern Pacific Railroad in the construction of bridges, warehouses and other buildings. In 1874 he became superintendent of construction for the Southern Pacific Company in southern Califor- nia. remaining in that capacity about six months. Having a better position offered him he left the Southern Pacific Company and for two years. 1875-76, he traveled through British Columbia, making an estimate and preliminary survey of the region for the contractors engaged in the work upon the Canadian Pacific's telegraph lines. Returning to Portland to await orders, Mr. Showers lost his left arm in a planing mill in the city. September 18. 1876. This forced him to abandon railroad work permanently, and this also marked the end of his career as an ex- pert millwright and builder.

After recovering from the effects of this in- jury Mr. Showers began to take an active inter- est in public affairs. His fitness for office was recognized by his appointment, in 1876, to the post of superintendent of streets, to which he was eventually duly elected. For five terms in suc- cession he served as treasurer of Multnomah county, and for three years he represented the third ward in the Portland city council. While a member of the council he acted as chairman of the sewer committee for two years. In 1898 he was again chosen councilman, serving two years. In 1900 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, a position he still fills with distinct credit to himself, and conserving the best interests of the county. The first presiden- tial vote of Mr. Showers was cast for Gen. John C. Fremont, and from that time to the present he has never swerved in his devotion to the princi- ples governing the Republican party. He hecame identified with the Masonic fraternity in 1861 as a member of Steilacoom Lodge, and is now a

member of Portland Lodge No. 55. He is also an active member of George Wright Post No. 1, G. A. R.

In Los Angeles, Cal., in 1864, Mr. Showers married Mrs. Annie Conroy, who died in 1882. In Portland. October 11, 1884, he was united in marriage with Angenette Miles, a native of Bangor, Me. They have a daughter, Loretta. The public and private record of the subject of this brief sketch indicates a public spirit and breadth of view of affairs in general which, com- bined in a man of enterprise, render him one of the most valued members of the community. He is recognized as a potential factor in the spirit which makes for the promotion of the best in- terests of the community at large, and one of the most pronounced traits in his character is a dis- interestedness altogether too rare among men so devoted to politics as he. His record is that of a clean-cut, upright citizen, and an official who regards public office as a sacred trust, rather than as a means to a selfish personal end.

CHARLES REYNOLDS. For Warren county, Iowa. Mr. Reynolds has the fondest memories, as his early boyhood life was passed in its environs, free from dull care, and in the enjoyment of all the sports which such a condi- tion of circumstances can make possible. Near Indianola, that county, his birth occurred Sep- tember 3, 1850, he being one of six children born to his parents, Mathias and Elizabeth Rey- nolds. In 1862, when Charles was about twelve years old. his parents with their four children undertook the voyage across the plains. using the customary motive power in vogue in that day, ox-teams. It is not necessary to comment upon the progress made further than to say that they were six months in reaching Multnomah county, and here, near Gresham, the father bought one hundred and sixty acres of donation claim land from Fletcher Royal, the same on which his son Charles now resides. None of the land had been cleared from the forest. and a small log cabin was the only evidence of civili- zation to be seen. Father and son. however. by their united efforts soon changed the appear- ance of the place and the results obtained fully rewarded them for the hard work involved in its transformation. On the old home farm, which had been the scene of so many happy hours, the father died November 18, 1886, when seventy- two years of age. His faithful wife had pre- ceded him by several years, her death occurring in 1877.

January 8, 1879, was a date made memorable to Mr. Reynolds, as on that day was celebrated his marriage to Miss Harriet Bruggar, a daugh- ter of Jacob Bruggar. The latter, who was a

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native of picturesque Switzerland, immigrated to America in the year 1850, and for a year made his home in Ohio. After spending a like period in California, in the spring of 1852 he came to Oregon, settling in Washington county, and taking up a tract of one hundred and sixty acres from the government. On this property he spent the remainder of his life, with the ex- ception of a few years, having lived worthily and well his seventy-three years, his death oc- curring December 15, 1901. His wife is still living, aged sixty years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds has been blessed by the birth of one son, George. Although Mr. Reynolds' farm originally comprised one hundred and sixty acres, he has disposed of a portion of it, and now has fifty-eight acres in the home tract, located about one and one-half miles from Gresham, and here he carries on general farming, finding it a profitable as well as independent life.

HON. SAMUEL B. COBB. There are many men who in youth had few advantages, that have, in spite of the handicap of their earlier days, attained positions of affluence, but to none is more credit due than to the gentleman whose name forms the caption at the head of this memoir. Without the aid of money or influential friends he has steadily advanced until to-day there is no man in the city of Portland or the state of Oregon who commands more respect and confidence from both the business and social world. Born in Searsmont, Me., December 6, 1859, Mr. Cobb comes from one of the old colo- nial families, one member of which was present at the ever-memorable "Boston Tea Party." The paternal grandfather, James Sylvanus Cobb, was a native of the Pine Tree state, as was also James Sylvanus, Jr., the father of Samuel B. The boyhood days of the younger James Syl- vanus were spent in the state of his nativity, and while still a young man be located in Pennsyl- vania, where he engaged in blacksmithing for a short time and then returned to Maine, locating in Searsmont. At the time of the breaking out of the Civil war he manifested his patriotism by enlisting in the Twenty-ninth regiment of Maine volunteers, in which he served until the close of the war. In 1869 he removed to Port Byron, 111., where he followed his trade for some years. Later, however, he located in Cambridge, the same state, and still later he went to Pensacola, Fla., where he died from the rupture of a blood- vessel at the age of fifty-seven years. He was a stanch supporter of the Republican party and fraternally was a member of the Masonic Order. He married Miss Caroline Robinson, who was born at Lincolndale, Waldo county, Me. As a result of this marriage the following children

were born: Jolin L., of Portland; Samuel B. ; WV. B., a contractor and builder of Portland ; James, who died in Columbus, Kans., in 1901 ; and Horace E., of the same place, who is a lec- turer of the Modern Woodmen of the World. The mother of these children died in Florida.

By the above it will be seen that the early life of Samuel B. Cobb was one that afforded him few advantages. His schooling was greatly re- tarded by the various removals of the family, and at the age of fourteen years he started out to make his own way in the world by becoming an apprentice to the carpenter's trade. The year 1876 found him a resident of Kansas, where he was engaged in building and contracting on the Central branch of the Union Pacific, between Concordia and Dawes. The last-named place was at that time unknown to the outer world and Mr. Cobb erected the first frame house in what is now a thriving country village. At the end of two years' time Mr. Cobb removed to Blackfoot, Idaho, where he engaged in contracting and building for a short time. We next find him in the Wood river mining country, where he re- mained until 1882, when he came to Portland and engaged in contracting and building for three years, or until 1885. Then, in partnership with S. E. Wrenn, he opened the Multnomah box factory, which they conducted until 1889, at the end of this period he re-engaged in contracting and building, which he followed until 1895, when he purchased an interest in the box factory in which he is at present interested. Mr. Cobb at once took steps to incorporate the business under the name of the Standard Box Factory. The old plant was enlarged and since then the business, under the able management of Mr. Cobb, has rapidly developed until at the present time it is considered to be one of the most important indus- tries of Portland. The company own their own mills and lumber camps on Shoalwater bay, where they have large tracts of timber land. The mill, which has a daily capacity of thirty thousand feet, is constantly busy cutting the supplies for the factory, which uses from six to eight million feet a year for the manufacture of boxes.

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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 58

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