Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 8

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 8

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Mr. Scott was born in Tazewell county, Ill., near Peoria, February 1, 1838. His father, John Tucker Scott, was a farmer, and his son. Harvey W., was reared to the same calling. In the winter he attended district school, but his early educational facilities were limited. In those days, Illinois was in the wild west, and claimed a population of about one-tenth of what it num- bers today and its facilities for education were crude indeed. In 1852 John T. Scott crossed the plains to Oregon, first settling in Yamhill county, where after one year's residence the family lo- cated in Mason county, Wash., on Puget sound. Here Harvey W. Scott did his share of the ar- duous work of clearing up a farm, When the great Indian wars, which had for their purpose the extermination of the white settlements, broke out. he enlisted as a private in the volunteer army organized by the settlers and served one year. In 1857 he walked from the farm to Forest Grove, Ore., a distance of over one hundred and fifty miles, and entered school, continuing at his

studies four months. A little later his father re- moved from Washington' to Oregon, locating in Clackamas county, twenty miles south of Oregon City. To this farm the young man went at the close of his short term in school.

He who can buy land cleared and ready for the plow in these modern days cannot realize what homemaking was in Oregon fifty years ago. There were giant trees to fell, rails to be split, and cattle to be cared for. Pioneers in those days did not while away much of their time as some farmers are wont to do now. Every moment was precious. Mr. Scott remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years old, doing his full share of the work. In the summer of 1859 he branched out for himself and taught school. His father now removed to a farm three miles west of Forest Grove and the son again took up farm work, devoting part of his time to a saw mill which his father operated.

Mr. Scott was now resolved to obtain an edu- cation and applied himself to the studies which he had begun in 1857. No young man in this generation or any other generation in Oregon has persevered so hard for the essential equip- ment of life or achieved so signal a triumph as has Mr. Scott. In 1859-60-61-62-63 he worked on neighboring farms and saw mills, earning money to pay his way through school. He would shoulder an axe and work at clearing for a while and with the money thus earned would go to school. When this slender fund was exhausted by tuition fees he would find new work to en- able him to resume his studies. This he kept up until 1863, when he received his diploma as the first graduate from Pacific University.

After leaving his school Mr. Scott went to the placer mines in Boise Basin, Idaho, where he spent a year. In 1864 he returned to Portland and for a year studied law in the office of E. D. Shattuck, who had been a member of the consti- tutional convention, and in the Rebellion period a leader in Oregon among the Union forces in politics. Mr. Scott was reading law and serving as librarian of the Portland Library when, in 1865 .. he was offered the position as editorial writer on the Oregonian. He accepted, continu- ing as an employe until 1877. when he purchased an interest in the paper which he still owns.

In the editorial management of the Oregonian Mr. Scott has always fought for the right, know- ing that time would justify his course. In the Civil war period. when there was a strong Southern sentiment in Oregon, he was a stead- fast friend of the Union, and gave his loval sup- port to all administration policies aimed to es- tablish the nation upon a firm and enduring basis. He neither favored nor countenanced half way measures or compromises that left open the vital point to trouble a future generation. He has always been for meeting the main issue fairly and

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

squarely and settling it once and for all. Time and again he has taken a firm stand for the en- forcement of law, the preservation of order, and the observance of the nation's treaties with other countries. Perhaps the greatest achievement of his life was the signal victory for sound money in the national campaign of 1896. Sound money with Mr. Scott meant the gold standard, without equivocation, not sixteen to one, nor thirty-two to one, nor international bimetallism, nor coinage of the seignorage. nor "do something for silver." He knew the evil that lurked in a base eurreney and fought it with all his power and resource. For two years before Mckinley and Bryan had been nominated, nearly every daily newspaper west of the Mississippi river, Republican as well as Democratic, was trimming with the silverites, if not openly espousing sixteen to one. On the Pacific coast, the Oregonian, among the leading dailies, stood alone in its advocacy of gold. The Oregonian lost both business and subscribers for the stand it had taken on the money question, but Mr. Scott never turned back, never wavered in his purpose. The issue was not new to him, for he had made the same fight for the sound dollar years before, in the days of the Hayes ad- ministration. The result was in the nature of a personal vietory for Mr. Scott, for Oregon was the only state west of the Rocky mountains that gave its full electoral vote to Mckinley.

In journalism, Mr. Scott belongs to the school of the elder Bennett. Charles A. Dana. Medill and Watterson-editors who took the right stand on great questions regardless of the public clamor or the consequence to their own interests. The esteem in which he is held by the newspaper men of the United States is evidenced by the fact that he is a director of the Associated Press, the world's foremost collector of news. In 1900 he presided over the meeting for reorganization of the association in New York.

The Lewis and Clark Exposition received its impetus from a resolution adopted by the Oregon Historical Society in December, 1900, favoring a celebration and fair in honor of the one hun- dredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country by Captains Lewis and Clark. Mr. Scott was then president of the society. He gave the enterprise his cordial support after he had cautioned the people of Portland to weigh carefully the responsibility they were about to assume, and they had given heed to his advice in the preliminary steps. The Oregonian Pub- lishing Company at once became one of the largest stockholders of the Exposition corpora- tion. Mr. Scott was elected on the board of directors and was chosen first vice president. Upon the death of H. W. Corbett, in March. 1903, Mr. Scott assumed the duties of president and was elected to that office by the board of directors on July 24, 1903.

In 1856 Mr. Scott was married to Miss Eliza- beth Nicklin, who died in 1875, leaving two children. In 1877 he was married to Miss Mar- garet McChesney, of Pennsylvania. Three children have been born of this union.

Politically Mr. Scott is a stanch Republican. He has fought all the battles of his party in Oregon for nearly forty years, and was actively identified with its fortunes in the few years fol- lowing his arrival at the voting age and pre- ceding his service with the Oregonian. Indeed, Nr. Scott is entitled to the full measure of credit for making Oregon a Republican state. For nearly twenty years following the admission of the state, the Democrats had a strong footing in Oregon. Their last great victories were in 1876 and 1878. when they won all the important offices, including both the United States senators. Since 1880 the Republicans have been successful, with the exception of the loss of the governor in 1886, 1890 and 1902, and the state treasurer in 1886. For several years past there has been a strong desire on the part of the rank and file of the Republican party to honor Mr. Scott with a seat in the United States senate as a suitable recognition of his distinguished services to his party and his state. Mr. Scott is disinclined to accept political office, preferring to continue at the post of editor of the Oregonian which he has filled for so many years. However, at the urgent solicitation of friends, he permitted his name to be presented to the legislative assembly of 1903 for United States senator. The legislature had been deadlocked all session on the senatorship and Mr. Scott was placed in nomination an hour before final adjournment as a compromise candi- date who might be acceptable to the several fac- tions into which the Republican majority of the legislature was divided. He received the votes of twenty-nine members, but C. W. Fulton, who had led throughout the session, was chosen.

The Corvallis Times, a Democratic newspaper. paid Mr. Scott the following tribute in its issue of March 9, 1903. following the adjournment of the legislature : "For forty years his great ability has been spent in the promotion of Republican- ism, and in converting disciples to its faith. He has not only given the best years of his life to his party, but he has, in addition, laid at its feet a great newspaper with which its battles have been fought and its victories won. It is a fact so patent as to be beyond cavil, that to the work of Mr. Seott and his Oregonian is due the fact that within twenty-five years, Oregon has been transformed from a Democratic into a sure Re- publican state. The character that he has stamped on that newspaper has been such that it has exerted a commanding influence that has been effective in drawing reernits to the Re- publiean party. It is unquestionably true that if. through all these years. Mr. Scott had been

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

elected to conduct his newspaper in the interest of Democracy, the Republicans in the state would be in the minority, and that in the places of many of those Republican members who repudiated him for senator, there would have been Demo- crats. It is wholly and practically probable that but for the implements of war that Mr. Scott has constantly kept in the hands of the Republi- cans of Oregon, the senator elected by the late joint assembly would have been, not a Republi- can, but a Democrat.

"Indeed, whatever of prestige the Republican party has in the state, whatever of preferment its partisans enjoy, Mr. Scott and his paper gave then. Whatever loaves they have divided, his toil and talents supplied. It ever there was a condition in which a party organization from sheer gratitude was indebted to an individual, it is manifestly, signally and unquestionably true in the case of Mr. Scott. His brain, his capital, the influence of his paper, his life-work until he has reached that period in his career where re- ward is already long overdue-all these have been uncomplainingly and constantly laid at the feet of Republicanism in Oregon. A reasonable regard for the service he has rendered his party in the state should, when his name was presented as a candidate at Salemi, have dictated his elec- tion by an enthusiastic and unanimous vote."

WILLIAM SARGENT LADD. In tracing the genealogy of the Ladd family it is found that their earliest recorded history is connected with the counties of Kent and Sussex in England. Before the days of Henry VI they owned and occupied as their manor house the estate of Bowyck in the parish of Eleham. Thomas Ladd, the then owner of Bowyck manor, died in 1515, and his grandson Vincent, a later owner of the estate, died in 1563. In 1601 the manor passed through marriage into the Nethersole family. In 1730 John Ladd, a direct descendant of Vincent Ladd, was created a baronet by George II, but the baronetcy became extinct a generation later. The first representa- tives of the family in America were Daniel and John Ladd. The former, however, was the first to land here, arriving in New Eng- land in 1623. The latter established his home in New Jersey in 1678, with a company of mem- bers of the Society of Friends. It is said that he was employed in laying out the city of Philadel- phia ; beyond doubt he was a surveyor of abil- ity and employed in many important enterprises connected with his occupation. During 1688 he took up six thousand acres in Gloucester county, where at the time of his death he was an influen- tial citizen and large land owner.

Representative of a family so intimately iden-

tified with early American history was Dr. Na- thaniel Gould Ladd, who was born July 13, 1798, and, notwithstanding hardships, obstacles and re- verses, rose from a humble position to promi- nence as a physician. His wife was Abigail Kel- ley Mead, who was born in New Hampshire August 7, 1806. In 1830 the family moved to Meredith, N. H., and three years later settled in a village now known as Tilton (then Sanborn- ton Bridge). During the previous residence of the family in Holland, Vt., a son was born Oc- tober 10, 1826, to whom the name of William Sargent was given. Being one of ten children, whose parents had only limited means, he had few advantages in boyhood; indeed, it may be said that he had no opportunities for advance- ment except such as he made for himself. Al- ways ambitious, with the love of study charac- teristic of the true scholar, diligent in his appli- cation to text books, and quick to acquire knowl- edge, he soon gained a valuable fund of knowl- edge. Though the schools of those days were crude in comparison with the educational insti- tutions of the present day, his determination and energy surmounted obstacles. Whether in the schoolroom, on the farm or in his home, he was a constant student, and, indeed, throughout all of his life he continued to be fond of reading and study, as eager to grasp new thoughts when advanced in years as when a boy at home. Early experiences in breaking and tilling a New Eng- land farm, followed by acquiring the mastery of rebellious pupils in a rough district school, de- veloped in him traits of self-reliance and firm- ness of purpose that had no little to do with his subsequent success.

Following his experience as a teacher Mr. Ladd engaged in railroading, securing employ- ment in a freight house on the line of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, and later holding other positions in the same occupation. While thus engaged he met Daniel Webster, who re- marked to him, in the course of their conversa- tion, "There is always room at the top." The young man, feeling that the top might be reached with less difficulty in a newer country than his home state, began to plan for the future. The gold fever of 1849 did not fascinate him nor did he fall a victim to its alluring prospects, but he did begin to contemplate the opportunities offered by Oregon's vast farm lands. Deciding to seck a home in the far west he set sail on the Prome- theus from New York, February 27, 1851, and crossed the isthmus, thence sailed north to San Francisco and from there to Portland. With him he brought a few articles of merchandise and these he began to sell. business being conducted on an extremely small scale. Hard work, how- ever, will win when the environment is favorable. and so it proved with him. Four o'clock in the

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

morning found him ready for business, and throughout all the day he was busy, energetic, hopeful and sanguine.

A change came in his affairs during 1852, when the firm of Ladd & Tilton formed a partnership, continuing the same until the spring of 1855. Meantime, in 1854, Wesley Ladd came to Port- land, bringing with him Caroline Ames Elliott, the fiancee of William S. Ladd. They were mar- ried in San Francisco, October 17, 1854, and their minion proved one of mutual helpfulness and hap- piness. Indeed, in later years Mr. Ladd ascribed much of his success to the optimistic spirit, patient devotion and cheerful comradeship of his wife. They became the parents of seven children, five of whom attained mature years, namely: Wil- liam M., who was born September 16, 1855. received a classical education in Amherst College, and is now a member of the banking house of Ladd & Tilton, of Portland ; Charles Elliott, who was born August 5, 1857, and is also connected with the bank founded by his father ; Helen Kendall, who was born on the 4th of July, 1859; Caroline Ames, born September 3. 1861, now the wife of Frederic Bailey Pratt, Brooklyn, N. Y .; and John Wesley, born January 3, 1870, now con- nected with Ladd & Tilton.

No step in the business experience of Mr. Ladd was more important than his identification with the founding of the banking business which is still conducted under the original title of Ladd & Tilton. Opened for business in April of 1859 with a very small capital, the institution enjoyed a steady growth from the first. Two years after its organization the capital was increased to $150,000, and not long afterward was further in- creased to $1,000,000. When the partnership was dissolved in 1880 the bills receivable amounted to almost $2,500,000, but so conserva- tive had been the management of the bank and so sagacious its officers that, in 1888, less than $1.300 of this large sum was outstanding. While the building up of this important banking busi- ness occupied much of Mr. Ladd's time and thought for years, his activity was by no means limited thereto. Instead, we find him partici- pating in many enterprises of public value or private utility. As a financier he stood foremost. Throughout the entire northwest his opinion was regarded as final in matters pertaining to local banking and financial interests. The utmost con- fidence was reposed in his judgment. not only by the great middle class, but also by those men who like himself were captains of industry and leaders in finance and commerce.

From an early period of his residence in Ore- gon he was interested in farm lands. a frequent purchaser of unimproved property and instru- mental in the development of the agricultural resources of the state. Besides owning three

farms of his own, he was, with S. G. Reed, the owner of five others. Among his possessions was an estate of four hundred acres near Portland, which was a model farm in every respect. The raising of thoroughbred stock also engaged his attention, and he devoted considerable attention to Clydesdale and Cleveland bay horses, Short- horn cattle, Berkshire hogs and Cotswold and Leicester sheep. Another enterprise in which he was once interested and which has become an establishment of great magnitude was the Oregon Furniture Manufacturing Company, which he organized in April of 1874. During 1883 he be- came interested in milling, which was then a comparatively new industry in the northwest. Through his wise oversight the occupation was put on a firm basis. At the time of his death he owned three-fourths of the entire flouring-mill interests of this part of the country. In 1888 he organized the Portland Cordage Company, which is still one of the leading concerns of its kind in this city. In the organization of what is now the Oregon Iron & Steel Company at Oswego he was a prime mover and he also acted as a director of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. His interests in Portland realty were large and of a value constantly increasing. The first brick building in the city was erected by him, and in later years he was one of the principal factors in the improvement of vacant property. The movement which had its climax in the erec- tion of a magnificent hotel, one of the finest in the west. had in him a stanch supporter. He was also interested in the Portland Water Company and in numerous other concerns organized to aid in the development and progress of the city.

In early life Mr. Ladd supported Democratic principles and during 1861-65 allied himself with the "War" Democrats. Subsequently he refused to ally himself with any political organization, although during his last years he uniformly voted for the presidential candidates of the Re- publican party. At one time, through the soli- citation of friends, he consented to act as mayor of Portland. but other official honors he firmly declined, preferring to concentrate his attention upon matters of finance and commerce rather than enter the arena of public life. In his various enterprises he gave employment to many men, and it was always noticeable that by all he was not only respected but deeply loved. In him the workingman always had a stanch friend, and, while he was easily the master of his employes, yet his consideration for them was so great that they always regarded him as a personal friend.

As indicative of the religions spirit which im- pelled Mr. Ladd in all his actions, it may be stated that from early life it was his custom to set aside one-tenth of his income for charitable and philanthropic purposes, and no destitute fam-

John He Mitchel,

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ily, if worthy, ever sought help from him in vain. Quick to detect and denounce deception and hypocrisy, he was equally alert in aiding the honest and unfortunate. It is probable that no movement for the city's benefit was ever inaug- urated where his name did not appear among those of contributors. When the people began to agitate the founding of a library, his contri- bution was the first made and was sufficiently large to place the fund on a safe basis. In making the gift. the only stipulation made was that the library be kept out of politics. This, however, by no means represented the limit of his assistance to the library. For twenty-four years the banking house of Ladd & Tilton gave the Library Association, rent free, the second floor of their bank building, on the corner of First and Stark streets, which represented a gift of many thousand dollars. Indeed, the library remained in these quarters until the handsome new building was ready for occupancy.

The chair of practical theology in the Pres- byterian Theological Seminary of San Francisco was in 1886 the recipient of $50,000 from Mr. Ladd, and he also gave several scholarships to Willamette University. Though reared in the Methodist faith, in 1873 he became a member of the Presbyterian Church, to which he afterward gave his support and allegiance, although remain- ing to the end a generous contributor to religious movements of the various creeds. With the co- operation of Messrs. Corbett and Failing, he donated to the city what is now known as the Riverview cemetery, several miles south of Port- land on the Willamette river. At one time, during his travels, he saw at Bangor. Me., a homestead that he admired, and a counterpart of this was built by him in Portland, and in 1878 enlarged and improved. In this home his earth life ended January 6, 1893, when he was sixty-six years of age. Thie demise of a man so intimately associ- ated with the city's development called forth tri- butes of affection and esteem from people of all classes ; the bankers recognized in his death a loss to their fraternity: business inen united 111 deploring the loss; the poor, so often, the recipi- ents of his kindness, the pioneers, side by side with whom he had lived and labored so manv years, and the organizations to which he had given generous assistance, recognized that with his passing away one of Portland's greatest men was gone. In the years that have since elapsed his influence has been apparent in matters con- nected with the city's growth. His commanding personality, as pioneer, banker and Christian philanthropist still wields an influence among the citizens of today, and in the annals of the city of Portland and the state of Oregon his name is forever enshrined.

SENATOR JOHN H. MITCHELL. For forty-three years the subject of this review has been one of the most prominent figures in the political history of the Pacific northwest. Be- coming a citizen of the state soon after it was invested with the sovereign dignity of statehood, he at once became an active man in the political arena, and so rapid was the growth of his in- fluence that within six years from the time of his arrival he had served a term in the state senate, establishing a record that was the ad- miration of all Oregon. So popular did he be- come that he was the choice of a large part of his party for the highest office the state had to give. This honor that his party friends thus early in his career wished to bestow upon him, was deferred but a few years when, September 28, 1872, he was elected to the United States senate, a position which, with two vacations, one of six, another of four years, he has held up to the present time. His career in this, the highest leg- islative body in the United States, is too well known to comment upon. Suffice to say he has been no disappointment to his party and among his brother senators he is highly respected and honored as a man of more than ordinary ability. The Pacific northwest owe to him a debt of grati- tude that will never be paid, as through him this country has been ably represented and it is a fact that there is no man in the state so capable of carrying on the business and looking after the interests of Oregon as he. A hard worker, he is at all times working for Oregon. During the winter of 1902-03 this hard work showed its re- sult, as for a time he was a sick man, and the people of Oregon showed the interest they had in him by the numerous inquiries that were made. For a couple of weeks it was the main subject of conversation, but owing to a rugged constitution he was able to ward off the disease and take up the work of the office before the close of the session. When the word was flashed over the wires that he was once more at his desk a sigh of relief went up from all Oregon.

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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 8

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