Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 61

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 61

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before the Revolutionary war. Like the adap- tive patriot that he was, his sympathies were en- listed on the side of the struggling Colonists, under whose banner he gladly shouldered a mus- ket, and set forth to break the arbitrary power of British rule.

Another Caleb B. Tracy, the father of Hon. James M., Sr., was born in Jefferson county, N. Y., January 2, 1817, his wife, Lydia ( Minor) Tracy, being a native of the same part of New York state. The tales of gold which swept in from the coast around '49 had their effect upon Mr. Tracy, and in September of that year he set out for Oregon. Outfitting at Chicago, he got as far as Iowa, where he remained until the following year, when he started across the plains. In Salt Lake City the family tarried for a time, a little daughter, Sarah M., now Mrs. Milton Applegate, being added to the family. Not until

the fall of 1852 did the family reach their dona- tion claim, where they camped for a time in lieu of more satisfactory arrangements. A few days after the father took his family to Salem, where he found work at steamboat building for a few months, and March 16, 1853, returned to the old camping place and took up three hundred and twenty acres of land at Logan. Here he lived and prospered until his son, James M., bought him out in 1870, after which he traveled with his family for a few months, engaging then in business at Drain, Douglas county, Ore. Later he sold this store and engaged in the same busi- ness at Yoncalla. He became prominent in his adopted town, held the offices of road supervisor, justice of the peace, and school director for a number of years, and catered to an increasing and reliable general mercantile trade. Somewhat weary of the strenuous life at Yoncalla, he dis- posed of his interests there in 1897, returned to the donation claim which represented his pioneer efforts in the state, and died the same year. He was a stanch Republican, a conscientious and progressive business man, and one whom all de- lighted to honor.

As an eleven year old youth Hon. James M. Tracy, Sr., participated in the adventures which befell the family in their somewhat interrupted march across the plains, at which time he rode a pony most of the way, and also helped to drive the loose stock. As evidencing his early devel- oped business ability it is recalled that at the age of thirteen he was entrusted with a band of cattle, and sent two hundred miles into the south- ern part of the state to dispose of the same. The transaction was eminently satisfactory, for, meeting a California drover on the way he drove a sharp bargain and returned in triumph with the money to the paternal home. After purchas- ing the home property in 1870 he managed in connection therewith a general merchandise store at Logan, and in 1877 joined his father in busi- ness in Yoncalla, Douglas county, remaining there for three years and four months. 1881 found him again near Logan, where he now owns five hundred acres of land, three hundred of which are under cultivation, and where he is con- ducting a general farming and dairy business. Also Mr. Tracy owns three hundred and sixty acres of land in Douglas county, near Yoncalla, besides considerable real estate in Oregon City.

The marriage of Mr. Tracy and Drucilla War- nock occurred January 20, 1861, Mrs. Tracy be- ing a daughter of Presley Warnock, and born in Indiana, September 27, 1841. Mr. Warnock came to Oregon in 1853, and died here in 1869. The six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Tracy are as follows: Ada, wife of W. King, and living on the old homestead; George Albert, deceased in his fourteenth year ; Charles N .; William M .;

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James M., Jr., and Ralph M. As a stanch Re- publican Mr. Tracy has filled many positions of trust and responsibility in the community, includ- ing that of justice of the peace, notary public, school trustee and road supervisor. In 1891 he represented Clackamas county in the state legis- lature, and during his term of service ably labored for the best interests of his fellow towns- men. Mr. Tracy is one of the most prominent and substantial men in Clackamas county, and his association with Logan and vicinity has been prolific of all around stable and progressive con- clitions.

ROBERT VALENTINE SHORT. Living retired at No. 1220 E. Salmon street, Portland, is a man who is not only the oldest living surveyor of this part of the state, but who has partici- pated as enthusiastically, as variously, and as practically in events leading up to the present, as any pioneer of 1847. Temperate in thought and action, abstaining at all times from tobacco and liquor, relying entirely upon his own judg- ment in estimating causes and effects, and ob- serving with the eyes of one developed in the strife and necessity, rather than the peace and opulence of the world, Robert Valentine Short is without doubt one of the best authorities on Oregon advancement now residing in Portland. Were one permitted so rare a treat, a survey between the covers of a diary uninterruptedly kept by Mr. Short since 1875, would disclose in- formation at once of paramount importance and chronological accuracy. So systematic an un- dertaking is valuable also in supplying an index to the character of the writer, who is essentially methodical, painstaking, accurate and wisely con- servative.

Born in Fayette township, Allegheny county, Pa., March 31, 1823, Mr. Short was six months old when his parents moved to near Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, where his mother, Eleanor ( McFarland ) Short, died in 1825. His father, James Short, afterward moved to a farm in Ashland county, and died there at the age of seventy-four years. He was of English-Irish ex- traction, while his wife was of English ances- try. Robert is the only living member of the first family. Of the children of the second marriage we make the following mention : Marshall lives in Eureka, Cal. ; David R. is a miner in the Black Hills ; Elizabeth is the wife of the Rev. Mr. Fin- ney, a preacher in western Kansas; Mary Jane Woods died near Yreka, Cal., and Lillisan, who married James Brown, passed away in Ohio about three years ago. Sent to live with his uncle in Pennsylvania until his sixteenth year, Robert improved the time by attending the public schools for three months during the winter, and the

same length of time during the summer, and this preparatory instruction proved the founda- tion of the extensive all around knowledge which he has since acquired. A chance to learn the German system of surveying was readily grasped . by Mr. Short, who possessed special aptitude for the work, as proved by his subsequent continu- ous success. In connection with these early times he distinctly recalls seeing, July 4, 1839, the little steamer Elizabeth, to which was rele- gated the dignity and importance of being the pioneer water craft to navigate the Allegheny river.

In 1839 Mr. Short left his uncle's home and returned to his father in Ohio, the next spring contracting with a tailor by the name of Ander- son Deen to learn his trade during a twenty- seven months' apprenticeship. Having com- pleted the trade he found himself possessed of $7.50, with which he started out to earn his liv- ing as a journeyman tailor. The first day out he found employment at Gallion, Ohio, remained there a week and then made his way to Dela- ware, the same state. There also he followed his trade, and improved the opportunity to attend the preparatory department of the Ohio Wes- leyan University, then starting upon its educa- tional career. In the fall of 1843 he taught school for three months ten miles from Dela- ware, on the Scioto river, and the following spring taught a school close to the town of Dela- ware. June 30, 1845, he started to drive a team across country to Illinois, arriving in Maquon. Knox county, July 13, 1845. September 2 of the same year he went to Knoxville and worked at his trade during the winter, and, accompanied by a man named William James, went as a dele- gate to the Democratic convention at Rock Is- land, Ill., in May, 1846. He had cast his first presidential vote in Alexandria, Ohio, in 1844, and has since evinced keen interest in the Demo- cratic party. One of the treasured possessions of Mr. Short is a copy of the resolutions passed by the committee that investigated the Mormon riot at Nauvoo, the stronghold of the Mormons on the Mississippi river. In 1846 Mr. Short went to Dresden, Will county, Ill., and the fol- lowing winter worked at his trade at Joliet. February 17, 1847, he traveled overland with teams to his old home in Ohio, visiting the folks among whom so many years of his life had been passed.

In the meantime Mr. Short had planned to come to Oregon with a party of friends, the time and place of meeting being already agreed upon. Journeying to Pittsburg, he remained a week, and April 3, 1847, took passage on the steamer Planet, for Cincinnati, Ohio, going from there to St. Louis, and from there to St. Joseph. Mo. Here he met his friends May 7, and with them

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started on the momentous journey across the convey him to the gold fields. Stopping at the plains. Crossing the Missouri river, which was"Spanish bar, on the middle fork of the American considered by early travelers as the real starting @river, April 14, 1849, he mined there until July 8, and then proceeded to San Francisco, reach- ing there July 13. Here he became identified with exceedingly pioneer undertakings, and as- sisted in organizing the first vigilance committee on the Pacific coast, of which a man by the name of Priest, from Oregon City, was the captain. This committee succeeded well in its object, and among other efforts to restore order and tran- quillity accomplished the capture of "The Hounds," a band of Ottawas. August 17 Mr. Short reached Oregon City, having traveled in all eighty-three hundred miles since he left his home in Pennsylvania for the first time.

place towards the west, he drove a team of oxen during the entire route, which embraced crossing the South Platte, the Sweetwater, the divide at Pacific Spring, and the Green river, the party camping at the mouth of the Sandy on Green river with the first Mormon train that ever came to Salt Lake City. The Mormons proceeded their way and Mr. Short and his party went on to Soda Springs and the Bear river, thence to Ft. Hall on the Snake river, and on to Oregon City, reaching the latter place November 7, 1847. Here an interesting place of business was put in operation by Mr. Short the tailor, Heman Geer the shoemaker, and Albion Post the har- ness maker, an enterprise which flourished ex- ceedingly, as each artisan represented a kind of work for which there is invariable demand, and at which each was a master workman. While thus employed, Mr. Short was united in marriage with Mary Geer, this being the culmination of a courtship which had begun on the plains. Mrs. Short was a daughter of Joseph C. Geer, and sister of Heman Geer, the shoemaker. She was born in Madison county, Ohio, May 10, 1830, and in 1840 moved to Knox county, Ill., with her parents. After coming to Oregon the Geer fam- ily located near Butteville, afterward removing to a claim four miles below the town, where they lived about forty years. Mrs. Short was one of the founders of the first pioneer association of Oregon, which society met at Butteville in 1872, and she was also a demitted member of the Tual- atin Grange, No. 111, of Clackamas county. In earlier life a member of the United Brethren Church, she labored zealously in its cause, but at the time of her death, June 28, 1899, had es- poused the cause of the Spiritualists, in which her husband has for many years been an active worker.

After his marriage Mr. Short continued to live in Oregon City, working at tailoring and surveying until determining to try the short cut to fortune in the mines of California. With Dr. William McKay he embarked in a bateau on the Clackamas Rapids, March 2, 1849, the ship which was to convey them to San Francisco being an- chored at the mouth of the Willamette river. While enroute to the ship a party of men, one of whom was ex-Governor Lane, was met on their way to Oregon City to establish a territorial gov- ernment. The Columbia river was frozen over to a depth of twelve inches, but the vessel managed to break through and finally landed at its desti- nation, March 14, 1849. Via row boat, Mr. Short proceeded to Sacramento City, which at that time boasted but one wooden building, and March 29 he paid $200 for an Indian pony to

In July, 1850, Mr. Short surveyed the town of Portland, making the first plat that was put on record, and of which two copies were made by Brady of San Francisco, afterward celebrated for his maps. He had in the meantime removed here from Oregon City, and had purchased a lot where the Dekum building now stands, and where he erected a one-story frame building. In 1851 he removed to a donation claim in Yamhill county, and while there took an active part in affairs of the county, attaining to prominence in military, political, and surveying undertakings. Under Colonel Fulton he was appointed captain to organize a company of militia in the Che- halem valley, and in 1855 he was elected the first county surveyor of Yamhill county, about the same time serving as justice of the peace for a year. In 1857 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention of Oregon ; by special act of the legislature of 1859, Clackamas county was formed from a portion of Yamhill, leaving the farm of Mr. Short in the new county. In 1862 he was elected assessor of Clackamas coun- ty for two years, and in 1888 represented the same county in the legislature. Although holding the right to live there as long as he desired, Mr. Short sold his farm in 1887, and in 1891 pur- chased his home at Sunnyside. He followed sur- veying for many years, and in 1860 contracted with the government to survey four townships east of Rooster Rock. It is as a surveyor that he will be longest remembered as far as his life work is concerned, for tailoring has long since been abandoned to the limbo of almost forgotten things. He has been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions, and has actively supported the Democratic party, notwithstanding his reluctance to accept official recognition. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Masons, being a member of the Hawthorne Lodge No. 46, to which he came from the Champoeg Lodge, which now meets at Butteville, and of which he was the first member initiated in 1860. In Clack- amas county he took an active interest in the

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Tualatin Grange No. 111, was master in 1876, and in all ways forwarded the best interests of the order. Through his own educational limi- tations he has come to a realization of the value of mental training, and has been instrumental in maintaining a high standard in the schools of his neighborhood. As long ago as 1848 he or- ganized a subscription school in Oregon City, and until it could be placed on a paying basis conducted its affairs himself. With the excep- tion of the oldest, all of his children were born on the home farm, were educated in the public schools, his daughter, Evangeline, having taken a course at the Portland Business College. Al- vina, the oldest daughter, married for her first husband, Charles Hellenbrand, by whom she had two children, Mrs. William Graham and Charles V. Her present husband is George Merrithew. a machinist of Sisson, Cal. Capt. William P. Short, of Sellwood, Ore., has three children : Raymond L., of Portland; Edith, the wife of Robert De Merritt of Coos Bay, and who has two children, Frances E. and Raymond; and Ethel, the wife of John C. Lucas of Grant's Pass, who has one child, Ethel W. Capt. Sherman V. Short, the second oldest son in his father's family, lives in Portland, and has three children living. Robert C., Fred and Bertram C. Lillisan Short married Adelbert Dygert of San Francisco, and has a daughter, Bessie F. Jolly, by a former mar- riage. Julette Short married C. F. Tooze of Wilsonville, Ore., and has three children, Myrtle, Hilda and Hazel. Evangeline Short became the wife of F. H. Shaw of Portland, Ore., and her home is also the home of her father. Capt. Mar- shall B. Short. who lived in Portland, was ac- cidentally killed at the age of twenty-six. Three children died in early childhood.

SAMUEL MOON. A general farming and dairy business which is a distinct credit to Wash- ington county is that of Samuel Moon, whose farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres is located in the vicinity of Centerville. Mr. Moon is a practical and scientific farmer, and has made a success of farming and dairying. Besides, he has taken an active interest in the general devel- opment of his district, and as a Republican has assisted in keeping up the fine condition of the roads, while acting as road supervisor.

The youth of Mr. Moon was spent in Cornwall, England, where he was born July 11, 1848. Like his brothers and sisters, he received a practical home training, and such education as came his way was acquired in the public schools. In 1872 he left the home surroundings and came to America, arriving in Portland the same year, where he found employment with Ladd & Reed, with whom he remained for three years. Fol-

lowing this business experience he came to Washington county, where he bought the farm upon which he has since lived, and upon which he has instituted many fine improvements.

In 1881 Mr. Moon was united in marriage with Lillie M. Wrenn, daughter of Michael Wrenn, and the mother of two children, Elizabeth C. and Samuel M. Mr. Moon is well known in Washington county, and is honored for his en- terprise, industry and many sterling character- istics.

CICERO HINES was for a number of years connected with agricultural pursuits in Washing- ton county, but is now living a retired life in Forest Grove, resting in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. He was born in Ray county, Mo .. February 4, 1846, a son of T. M. and Mary E. ( Buckingham) Hines, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Penn- sylvania. The father's birth occurred near Franklin county, Mo., and he represented an old Virginia family of Welsh ancestry. The great- grandfather was a soldier of the war of 1812 and was born in the Old Dominion, whence he re- moved to Kentucky, and later became a resident of Howard county, Mo. His last days, however, were spent in Cole county, that state, and throughout his business career he carried on farming. Wesley Hines, the grandfather, who aided in protecting the settlers of the frontier against Indian outbreaks, was born in Kentucky. He accompanied his parents to Missouri and fol- lowed farming in Howard, Ray and Caldwell counties of that state, his death occurring in the last named county at the age of sixty years. His wife, Elizabeth Davis, was a daughter of Benja- min and Mary (Halliday) Davis, and in their family were seven children, but T. M. Hines, the father of our subject, is now the only one living.

It was in the year 1848 that T. M. Hines start- ed with his wife and children for Oregon, trav- eling with a wagon train numbering thirty teams. About six months were spent upon the way and at length they arrived in Yamhill county. but remained there for only a brief period, going then to Washington county, where the father se- cured a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres in Patton valley. He resided thereon from 1850 until 1858. when he took up his abode in Forest Grove, but later located on a farm near that town, living there for a few years. Again he became a resident of Forest Grove, where he is now living at the age of eighty-three years, while his wife passed away in December, 1901. at the age of eighty-two. They were the parents of five children, of whom Cicero Hines is the eldest, the others being George, Willis and Thomas, all of whom have passed away, and Charles, a practicing physician of Forest Grove,

grouph telial

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Cicero Hines was but an infant when brought by his parents to Oregon, and in his youth he be- came familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of an agriculturist. He continued to assist his father until after the beginning of the Civil war, when he joined the Union army, enlisting Deceniber 5, 1864, as a member of Com- pany B, First Oregon Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in at Salem December 25. The regi- ment was first sent to Fort Hoskins, in Benton county, and then to The Dalles and afterward to Fort Boise, Idaho, proceeding thence up the Snake river and on to Fort Hall, where they went into winter quarters. In the succeeding spring they proceeded to Vancouver, and at that place they were discharged, having in the meantime participated in a number of minor engagements with the Indians.

Upon his return home Cicero Hines began farming and in 1871 he chose as a companion and helpmate for life's journey Miss Ada Bell, a native of Oregon, in which state her parents had settled in 1852. The young couple began their domestic life upon a farm on Gales creek, Mr. Hines purchasing one hundred and forty-six acres of land, the most of which was still in its primitive condition. He made all of the improve- ments on the tract, introduced modern methods of farming and as his financial resources in- creased he extended the boundaries of his place until he now owns about three hundred acres. He continued to reside upon his farm until 1899, when having acquired a comfortable competence he took up his abode in Forest Grove, where he is now resting from further labors.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hines has been blessed with five children : George M., a resident of Washington county; Thomas P., who is liv- ing in Forest Grove; Tobias E., who resides at Hillside ; Nellie, the wife of John Proctor, who occupies the homestead farm; and Clara, who is still with her parents. In his political views Mr. Hines is a stanch Democrat and has served as road supervisor and as school clerk. He is a member of the Grange and the Grand Army of the Republic and he is widely and favorable known in Washington county, where almost his entire life has been spent and where his friends esteem him because he has ever been reliable and upright in his business transactions.

JOSEPH ELLIS. The searcher after infor- mation as to the possibility and resourcefulness of Multnomah county need travel no further than the splendidly developed property of Joseph Ellis, generally conceded to be the most beautiful in the country, the most fertile, and the most appealing from an artistic and all-around utility standpoint.

To an original purchase of two hundred acres the fortunate owner has homesteaded an adjoin- ing one hundred and sixty acres, and has inaug- urated a system of farming and floriculture which would do credit to any of the more favored states in the Union. The finest varieties of flowers and trees in this section of the country are here found in their greatest perfection, and as an il- lustration of the stored fertility of the soil it is only necessary to state that Mr. Ellis has raised oats which reared their tassels seven feet high, and were exhibited at the New Orleans exposi- tion, and also that timothy, seven feet high, is by no means an uncommon occurrence. At the Oregonian Industrial Exposition in 1898, the am- bitious owner of this aggregation of beautiful and scientifically interesting commodities was awarded the first medal for fruits, grains and grasses. Within sight of Mounts Hood and Adams Mr. Ellis may well be congratulated upon his achievements upon his model property, which, for location and general effectiveness, has no rival in this well favored state. A dairy, consisting of twenty-five head of Durham cat- tle, contributes to a considerable extent to the income of Mr. Ellis, and this is conducted on the same broad and progressive lines which charac- terize the entire management. Including the young in the herd he has forty-five head of cattle.

The imputation of being a man of one idea can never be the experience of Mr. Ellis, nor does his medal, and his reputation as a farmer and flori- culturist represent his most ambitious attainments. As a machinist he has few peers in the state, a trade mastered by him in his native land of Eng- land, where he was born near Gladson Castle, in 1836. Owing to the position of his father as head gardener at Brook Park Hall. the youth was reared at this interesting old place until his twelfth year, when he began the five years' ap- prenticeship at his trade, at which he continued to work until attaining his majority. The same year found him a voyager towards the larger chances of the United States, arriving at which he located in Titusville, Pa., where he engaged in building oil well engines, and where he was fore- man of the engine shops for about five years. After this long and meritorious association he came to Oregon and worked at his trade for a vear, and then came to his present farm and bought the first two hundred acres. When he took up his residence in Portland he found em- ployment in the round houses of that city. and for four years worked in the O. & C. shops, in the mechanical department. When the Southern bought the Narrow Gauge Railroad Mr. Ellis had entire charge of the railroad shops for three years.

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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 61

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