Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 67

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 67

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M. D. McDONALD. The subject of this sketch was born at San Francisco, Cal., Febru- ary 19, 1869, came to Portland, Ore., in 1872, and has resided here continually since.

Was bookkeeper with Portland Cordage Com- pany from 1888 to 1892, resigned to take posi- tion with Portland Rolling Mills, being employed in same capacity until April 4, 1902, at which time the company changed hands and in Septem- ber of same year was appointed resident man- ager and agent.

Mr. McDonald is a Republican in political affiliation and was raised to the teaching of the Trinity Episcopal Church.

PETER TAYLOR. The interest which is attached to the Oregon pioneers is not that of curiosity, but is the visible expression of grati- tude which all men feel toward those forerun- ners of civilization in the far west. Not only a pioneer in the state, Peter Taylor is an emigrant from the faraway land of Scotland, winning, through fidelity to the country of his adoption, a high place in the esteem of the citizens of Port- land, with whom so much of his life has been spent. In the evening of his life he can look back without regret, and forward without fear, conscious that his actions have been dictated by motives of strict integrity and honor, and in his struggle with an adverse fate he has not forgot- ten the brotherhood of man.

The life which this sketch outlines began in Perth, Scotland, January 30, 1823. A very lim- ited education was all that Mr. Taylor received. As a mere lad he had been bound out to learn the cabinet maker's trade, but his master having failed, he served but three years of his time. Later he went to London, in 1845 engaging in his trade. After two years spent in the metrop- olis of the world, Mr. Taylor decided to cross the ocean in the hope of improving his condition, sailing in 1847 and arriving at New York City in November of the same year. For some time

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he found lucrative returns by working at his trade, but not yet satisfied with the outlook he proceeded still farther west, locating in Harri- son, Hamilton county, Ohio, where he remained seventeen months. He then removed to Musca- tine, Iowa, where he followed house carpenter- ing, but he soon discovered that he was in the midst of a strong current setting toward the territory of the Pacific Coast. Nothing loath he decided to cast in his lot with the emigrants. With a party of four, May 4, 1852. he started for Oregon. His only possessions were two voke of oxen and a wagon. As all were short of funds it was a mutual affair. Meeting with the adversity of having his wagon break down, Mr. Taylor transferred his provisions to another wagon, then shouldering his gun (that neces- sary article of those very stormy times) he walked the entire distance from Muscatine to The Dalles.

When crossing the Blue mountains he became exhausted from the effects of fever-was so ill he feared he would die, but God in mercy sent assistance. He was roused from the stupor into which he had fallen, to see five savages standing over him. When questioned he informed them he was a King George man. Instantly they were his friends. Tenderly they carried him into their settlement on the Umatilla river and nursed him back to life and health. When able to travel one of the Indians showed him a trail to The Dalles. From there he came by boat to Portland. landing October 2, 1852, since which time he has been numbered among the city's enterprising and helpful citizens.

In 1853 he went to work in the Portland Foundry, organized by Captain Turnbull, D. Monnastes and W. H. Davis. This was the first foundry in Portland. He went to work as a pattern maker and remained with them for nine years, in 1862 leaving to take charge of the pattern department of the Oregon Iron Works. Three years later a corporation was formed, the company composed of the following men : A. B. Hallock, John Nation, John Thomas and P. Taylor, the first two named being the pro- moters of this company, which was known as the Willamette Iron Works. This business was one of the substantial interests of Portland for thirty-five years, when it passed into the hands of H. W. Corbett, being then re-incorporated as the Willamette Iron and Steel Works. Mr. Taylor had disposed of his interests in 1880, after a connection of fifteen years, during which time he had served for two years as president, and he was this saved the loss which came with the failure of the company in 1900.

In numerous ways Mr. Taylor has been iden- tified with the movements which have character- ized the growth of Portland. The first house

which he built in the city, in 1853, is still stand- ing at the southeast corner of Fifth and Alder streets, where it has been moved from its orig- inal location, the northwest corner of Salmon and Fifth streets. In public affairs Mr. Taylor has always been found ready to lend his aid, in local politics supporting the men best qualified for the positions regardless of party lines. He has not shirked his duty in public service, serving at one time for three years as a member of the board of police commissioners, and was one of the organizers of the first Volunteer Fire Com- pany of Portland, known as the Hook and Lad- der Company, formed in July, 1853, in the Can- ton House, northeast corner of Washington and Front streets. In 1873 he was one of the organ- izers of the Mechanics' Fair Association, which built the pavilion at a cost of $16,500. Mr. Taylor was vice-president of this association from 1879 to 1881. A period of faithfulness un- surpassed is his as president of the Exempt Firemen's Association, a post which has been held for the past twenty years. He is happy in the possession of the second certificate issued by the association, which shows he joined the fire department July 29, 1853.

One little incident in the life of Mr. Taylor is illustrative of the hardships and dangers which the pioneers experienced in the daily struggle to acquire the financial means which were ab- solutely essential in the growth of the new coun- try, which was to become one of the powerful states of the Union. In November, 1861, in company with a party of men, he started for the John Day mines. At The Dalles they first en- countered snow, which meant to them dangers and hardships innumerable. As they progressed east the winter came upon them more se- verely and dangers thickened; in the midst of it all the party became separated and two hun- dred miles east of The Dalles, in the mountains, they experienced all the horrors of anticipated death at the hands of the Indians. But fourteen out of the original number of thirty-four lived to recount their efforts, the others falling vic- tims to the savages. The enterprise was a fail- ure, but it was an example of the courage which animated the pioneers of those early days.

In June, 1848, Mr. Taylor married Sarah S. Heppell, who was born in Sunderland, England, July 20. 1824, and came to America in 1847. When Mr. Taylor decided to try his fortune in Oregon he left his family in the middle west, sending for them in 1853, their trip being made via Nicaragua. They reached Portland January 8, 1854. Seven children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, one child being born in Ohio, two in Iowa and four in Oregon, namely : Sophia C., the wife of Professor Pratt ; Douglas W., the manager of the Trinidad Asphalt Pav-

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ing Company, of Portland; Nannie E., who makes her home with her parents; Stella E., the widow of M. K. Shippley, of Clackamas county ; Charles H., Horace H., and Agnes G., who died in early childhood.

When Mr. Taylor disposed of his interests in the Willamette Iron Works in 1880 he and his wife made a trip back to their old homes in Scotland and England, and also visited Ireland to see an uncle who had been mayor of Belfast four terms. They returned to the scene of their pioneer labors in Portland via New York City, and since that time Mr. Taylor has devoted himself entirely to his private affairs.

JAMES M. MOORE formerly secretary of the board of trade of Portland and a man of large affairs in Portland, was born in Fond du Lac, Wis., November 21, 1859, and comes of a family first represented in America by one Abraham Moore, who emigrated from Andover, England, settling where Lowell, Mass., is now located, in 1680. His son, the paternal great-grandfather, Joseph, was born in Massachusetts and settled in Maine, in which state was born Herbert Moore, the paternal grandfather of James M. Herbert Moore was for many years a merchant in Water- ville, in which town his death occurred at the age of eighty-five, he having served in both the Revolution and the war of 1812.

Benjamin Franklin Moore, the father of James M., was born in Waterville, Me., in 1819, and in early life was apprenticed as a printer in the city of Philadelphia, Pa. At the age of twenty- five he removed to Wisconsin via the Erie canal in 1843, and engaged in a general merchandise business at the head of Lake Winnebago. He became very prominent in the affairs of the sur- rounding country, and after the completion of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was one of the first to recognize the immense importance of this enterprise. He was one of the founders of Fond du Lac, and Berlin, Oshkosh and several other towns sprang into being because of his as- sistance in promoting their organization and his faith in their future prosperity. He became in- terested in real estate and banking in Fond du Lac, and at a later period, or up to the time of his retirement in 1887, manufactured the La Belle wagons. He is now eighty-three years of age, and his noble and disinterested efforts in behalf of the upbuilding of Wisconsin are fortunately appreciated by his fellow-townsmen. He has served the community as a member of the state legislature, and has been foremost in promoting enterprises of a general or humanitarian nature. His wife, formerly Eliza M. Conklin, was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., a daughter of Henry Conk-

lin, for many years engaged in the steamboat business on the Hudson river. Mr. Conklin owned a line of boats on the Hudson river, which he disposed of in 1842, and entered land near Fond du Lac, Wis. There he became well known in his neighborhood as a man of enterprise and thrift, and among his other undertakings was the erection of the first stone flour mill in that vicin- ity. The family was originally from England, the first emigrant settling on Long Island in 1648. Mrs. Moore, who is still living, and who is seventy-seven years of age, became the mother of ten children, nine of whom are living, James M. being the seventh oldest. One of the sons, Edwin, now a resident of Massachusetts, served in the Civil war in a Wisconsin regiment ; Charles Herbert is living in Spokane, Wash., and is en- gaged in mining; George, also a miner, resides in Salt Lake City and is the inventor of the Moore cyanide process ; Alfred L. is superintendent of the Moline Wagon Works, at Moline, Ill .; and Henry C. is a capitalist at Fond du Lac, Wis.

At the age of fourteen James M. Moore began working in his father's wagon factory, and dur- ing the fourteen years thus employed mastered every phase of the business. Not content with the prospects of the Wisconsin town, he came west in 1888, and after a six months' residence in Seattle, located in Anacortes. Skagit county, Wash., where he engaged in a general merchan- dise business, at the same time being assistant postmaster of the town and manager of the wharf. After the town was laid out he demonstrated his faith in its future by purchasing considerable real estate, and had an addition of his own, upon which he erected a number of residences and public buildings. After disposing of his Wash- ington interests in 1894 he became interested in the sale of agricultural implements and wagons, with headquarters at Portland, his territory em- bracing Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho. In 1897 he moved his family to Portland and continued in the implement and wagon busi- ness until 1899, when he established himself in the real estate and insurance business, continuing in this line until January, 1902, at which time he was elected secretary of the Portland Board of Trade, which under his administration was re- organized on a new plan and became an im- portant factor in the development of trade in this section of the state. Other interests which have engaged the attention of Mr. Moore are the Columbia River Basin Journal, of which he was the organizer ; the St. Helena and Bohemia mines, in which he was an extensive stock- holder ; and the Gold Mining and Investment Company, operating at St. Helena and Bohemia, of which he served as secretary and treasurer. His interests in these mines were disposed of in 1903, and he is now the manager of the Moore

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Cyanide Process for the Pacific Northwest. He is also interested in the real estate business.

Mr. Moore was appointed a delegate by the gov- ernor and also represented the Portland Board of Trade at the Tenth National Irrigation Congress which was held at Colorado Springs., Colo .. October 6-9, 1902. At the meeting he was placed as committeeman from Oregon on the Committee of Permanent Organization and was the author of the minority report against the merging of the National Irrigation Convention with the Transmississippi Commercial Congress, which report received but one signature besides his own and after prolonged debate the minority report carried by a vote of one hundred and thir- teen to ninety-one. At the election of officers Mr. Moore was appointed as executive commit- teeman and at the close of the meeting was chosen as temporary secretary for the executive com- mittee. The defeat of this proposed merger was a grand victory for Oregon and too much credit cannot be given to Mr. Moore for the im- portant part he took in the movement.

The wife of Mr. Moore was formerly May E. Gary, a native of Oshkosh, Wis., whose parents were born in Pennsylvania. Judge Gary of Chi- cago is an uncle of Mrs. Moore. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born the following chil- dren : Dorothy, Helen and Constance.

BRUCE F. PURDY, president of the Co- operative Milling Company, ex-merchant, large land owner, and enterprising man of affairs, was born on his father's donation claim in the mission bottom, six miles north of Salem, October 16, 1854. His parents, Aaron and Belinda (Buck- lew ) Purdy, were natives respectively of Penn- sylvania and West Virginia, and his paternal grandfather, also a native of Pennsylvania, be- came one of the very early settlers of Ohio, in which state he located in 1820. The grandfather made this journey on horseback, taking with him his wife and son, Aaron.

In the state of Ohio Aaron Purdy learned the miller's and shoemaker's trades, and thereafter followed the miller's trade in Ohio, where he lived until 1844. A later place of residence was near Prairie Round, Mich., where he ran a saw and grist mill until 1847, the same year making preparations to cross the plains and avail himself of the less tried chances on the coast. With three ox teams he came overland in a little more than six months, and when he arrived at the Co- lumbia river he was the possessor of the inspir- ing sum of fifty cents in change and a vast hoard of common sense and determination. From that point he came to The Dalles by ox team, and from there went down the Columbia and up the Willamette by skiff to Salem, locating for a year

on the John Savage place. In the fall of 1849 he removed to a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, where his son, Bruce F., was born, and this land he traded for another claim owned by a man who had occupied it for some time, and who had built a small log house to keep out the storm and unruly elements. In this cabin Aaron Purdy lived with his little family for a few years, and then bought a place near Salem, and there ran the mills of John B. McClain for many years. He became a familiar figure in the neighborhood of the busy mills, and continued to direct their affairs until about 1863. That same year he removed to Waitsburg, near Walla Walla, Wash., where he engaged in the milling business on a larger scale, and where his death occurred in 1864. A stanch Republican, he held the office of justice of the peace for many years, and he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. After his death, his wife returned to Salem, thence to Goldendale, Wash., and in 1891 to Forest Grove, Washington county, Ore., where her death occurred in 1894.

At the old institute and the public schools of Salem Bruce F. Purdy studied when opportunity offered, and besides received a practical home training on the paternal farm. From earliest youth he became interested in his father's milling business, and in 1875 went to Klickitat county, Wash., where he took up government land and engaged in farming and stock-raising, the latter on a very large scale. He became prominent po- litically and otherwise, and in the fall of 1890 was elected to the first Washington state legisla- ture, serving through the regular and special ses- sions. In 1891 Mr. Purdy located near Forest Grove upon a farm of three hundred and fifty acres, and there engaged in stock-raising and farming on a similarly large scale. During 1894- 95 he combined farming and stock-raising inter- ests with the management of a little general mer- chandise store in Dilley, which town continued to be his home until 1898. Mr. Purdy was one of the organizers of a stock company to erect the flour mills at Gaston, known as the Co-operative Milling Company, of which he is president and manager. He is still the possessor of his large farm, and his time is well filled with the various enterprises in which he is interested. In this county he has repeated his political success ex- perienced in the state of Washington, and in June, 1902, was elected to the legislature of Ore- gon on the Republican ticket. He is fraternally associated with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and the Artisans.

In 1879, at Goldendale, Wash., Mr. Purdy was united in marriage with Cora A. McCune, a native of Sedalia, Mo., of which union there were born eight children of whom seven survive: Gertrude, deceased, Nellie, Clifton, Emma,

Pshu Horas

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Louis, Alta, Bruce, and Sidney. Mr. Purdy is one of the substantial men of this county, and his life has been based upon broad and liberal citi- zenship, and filled with worthwhile activities.

JOHN THOMAS. In referring to the early history of Mr. Thomas we find that he is a native of England, his birth occurring in Hereford- shire, November 9, 1839. His boyhood and youth were spent on a farm in his native land and there he gained valuable instruction and learned many lessons which were to be put to good use in after life. In the year 1877, having heard glowing accounts of the boundless re- sources of this country, he decided to come and see what good fortune was in store for him. His first location was in Ridgefield, Wash., where he followed agriculture for the ensuing four years, meeting with good results in this undertaking. At the expiration of this period he came to Ore- gon and for two years conducted a hotel in Port- land.

Not satisfied to locate permanently as yet, Mr. Thomas went to eastern Oregon in search of a better location, and while at The Dalles had charge of a ranch of six hundred acres. This calling was more congenial to his tastes than any previous undertaking, and he decided to en- gage in it permanently. The possibilities for suc- cessfully conducting dairy interests are greater, perhaps, in no part of the Union than in the district along the Columbia river. Near Cleone, in Multnomah county, Mr. Thomas leased a ranch of thirteen hundred acres, on which he herds one hundred and seventy-five head of cat- tle, ninety milch cows furnishing milk for his dairy. For a number of years he conducted a cheese factory, but this industry has been dis- continued. Since coming to this locality in 1891 Mr. Thomas has met with good success in his calling, as is the case with all who come intend- ing to succeed. Aside from his farming inter- ests he finds time to devote to fraternal affairs and is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows by his membership in Columbia Lodge.

The first marriage of Mr. Thomas was cele- brated in 1875, and united him with Hannah Baxter, whose death occurred while the family were residing in The Dalles. Three children were born of this marriage, namely: William, Arthur E. and Charles C. Mr. Thomas' second marriage occurred in 1889, uniting him with Anna Poulsen, a native of Denmark.

ELLERY CAPEN represents the third gen- eration of his family who have been engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Many

years ago, in Stoughton, Mass., his grandfather pegged shoes for the residents of that town, and his father, George Capen, who was born in Stoughton in 1819, devoted his entire active life to supplying the footwear needs of the men, women and children of the famous old Massa- chusetts town. This shoemaker of the second generation lived to a good old age, for his death occurred in 1901, amid the surroundings of his vouth, middle and old age. His wife also, who was formerly Lucy Talbot, passed her entire life in Stoughton, where she reared her four sons and five daughters, of whom two sons and one daughter are deceased.

When fifteen years of age, in 1857, Ellery Ca- pen followed his father and grandfather's ex- ample, and set about learning the shoe-making business. He obtained employment in a factory where large numbers of shoes were turned out every year, and in this way had every oppor- tunity of acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of the occupation. Out of the nineteen years spent in the factory thirteen were employed as foreman of the fitting department, and it will thus be seen that he was not content to stay in a rut, but rather strove to get to the top round of the ladder. After coming to Portland in 1876, Mr. Capen started up a business of his own on the corner of Salmon and First streets, and in 1878 moved his growing business to the corner of Oak and Front streets, in 1883 locating in the Honeyman block. He removed his bus- iness to Willamette Falls in 1892, and erected the present factory of one hundred by thirty-six feet in ground dimensions. His present capacity is fifty pairs of shoes a day, and he employs ten workmen. A specialty is made of men's and boys' footwear, and the union stamp is to be found on every pair of shoes that leaves the manufactory. The most modern machinery has been introduced in the factory, and the fine welt shoe turned out has a market all through Ore- gon and into East Washington. Like most men who have been obliged to start with a small be- ginning and have had to depend solely upon their own ability, Mr. Capen has builded slowly and surely, and is now firmly launched among the substantial and reliable business world of Wil- lamette.

The wife of Mr. Capen was formerly Henri- etta Leighton, a native of Massachusetts, a daughter of George Leighton, a native of Ports- mouth, N. H. Mr. Leighton was for many years engaged in the manufacture of shovels in Ports- mouth, in which city his death occurred at the age of fifty-one. Three daughters and three sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Capen, of whom Edith is now Mrs. Herman Schade, of Portland: Frank is foreman in his father's fac- tory; Minnie is the wife of F. G. Sinith, of

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Portland; George is a traveling salesman for his father ; Bessie is living at home, and Edward is cashier for the Blake, MeFall Paper Company, of Portland. Mr. Capen is a Republican in na- tional and local politics, a preference which is shared by his whole family. He is a popular, enterprising and very successful man, and has the confidence of the business and social com- munity in which he lives.

GEORGE W. BIBEE. The popular receiver for the United States Land Office at Oregon City is also one of the county's most enterpris- ing citizens, as well as one of the sincerest ap- preciators of the manifold advantages of this great state. The Bibee family, of which he is a representative, has been known for many years in Virginia and Tennessee, in which former state the paternal grandfather, William Bibee. was born. From there he enlisted in the war of 1812, and later removed to Cocke county, Tenn. Tipton C. Bibee, the father of George W., was born in Cocke county, Tenn., where he engaged in farming, and took an active part in the general affairs of his district. Among his other under- takings in the interest of Cocke county was the laying out of the town of Bybee, named for him- self, and with the early development of which he had much to do. During the Civil war he served in a Tennessee regiment, after which he continued to farm in Tennessee, but eventually died while on a visit to his son in Oregon in 1899. He married Patience Gillett, who was born in Cocke county, Tenn., a daughter of John Gillett, a farmer by occupation, and member of a well known southern family Nine children were born to Tipton Bibee and his wife, of whom three are living, George W. being the second oldest, and the only one on the coast.

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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 67

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