Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 9

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 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The following biographical sketch of the career of Senator Mitchell we copy from the History of Portland edited by H. W. Scott :

" He was born in Washington county, Pa., on the 22d day of June, 1835. During his infancy his parents moved to Butler county, the same state, where he was reared on a farm and where he acquired the rudiments of an English educa- tion at the district school. At the age of seven- teen he began teaching in a country school and after spending several winters in this way real- ized sufficient money to pay his tuition at Butler Academy, in Butler county, and subsequently at Witherspoon Institute. After completing the full course at both of these institutions he com- menced the study of law in the office of Hon.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Samuel A. Purviance, formerly member of con- gress from that district, and later attorney-gen- eral of the state under Governor Curtin. After two years of study he was admitted to the bar in Butler county by Hon. Daniel Agnew, lately chief justice of the supreme court of the state of Pennsylvania, and then presiding judge of that district in the spring of 1857. He then began the practice of his profession at Butler, in partnership with Hon. John M. Thompson, since a member of the National House of Rep- resentatives from that district, and was thus en- gaged until he came to California in April, 1860. For a short time thereafter he practiced law at San Luis Obispo, and later for a brief time in San Francisco. The fame of Oregon as a young and growing commonwealth had in the mean- time attracted his attention, and he determined to link his fortunes with the new state. With this end in view he arrived in Portland, July 4, 1860, where he has since resided.

"With that same energy which has been so conspicuous in his career, he not only at once turned his attention to building up a legal prac- tice, but took an active part in local politics. So quickly did he make his influence felt that in 1861 he was elected corporation counsel of Port- land. The succeeding year he was nominated and elected by the Republican party to the Ore- gon state senate, in which body he served for four years. During the first two years of his term he was chairman of the judiciary commit- tee, and the last two years he held the position of president of the senate. At the close of his senatorial term every mark of approval from his immediate constituents was accorded him, and in 1866 strenuous efforts were made by his political friends to secure him a seat in the United States senate. They only failed to elevate him to this exalted position through the lack of one vote in the caucus, his competitor for the the nomination being Governor Gibbs, who re- ceived twenty-one votes and Mr. Mitchell twenty. In 1865 he was commissioned lieuten- ant colonel of the state militia by Governor Gibbs, and two years later was chosen professor of medical jurisprudence in Willamette Univer- sity at Salem, Ore., and served in that position for nearly four years. During all this time he was engaged in the active practice of his profes- sion in Portland. In October, 1862, he formed a law partnership with Hon. J. N. Dolph. later his colleague in the United States senate, which continued until January, 1873. when he resigned all other engagements to enter upon his duties as United States senator. During this period he had acquired a reputation as a lawyer second to none in the state of Oregon and was constant- ly employed in important litigation. For several years he was the attorney of the Oregon & Cali-

fornia Railroad Company and the North Pacific Steamship Transportation Company, while his practice extended to all the courts, federal, state and territorial, of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

" In September, 1872, Mr. Mitchell was non- inated, in caucus, by the Republican members of the state legislature for United States senator, receiving the votes of over two-thirds of all the Republicans in the legislature on the first ballot. On September 28, 1872, he was elected by the legislature in joint session as United States sen- ator for the term of six years, commencing March 4, 1873. In this body he soon took a prominent position. He was assigned to duty on the following committees : Privileges and Election, Commerce, Claims, Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, and Railroads. At the end of two years he was made chairman of the committee on Railroads, and served as such until the end of his term. When the electoral com- mission was organized, Senator Oliver P. Mor- ton was chairman of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Election, but having been chosen a member of the Electoral Commission, Senator Mitchell was made acting chairman of the con- mittee on Privileges and Election, which com- mittee, for the purpose of taking charge of the great controversy involved in the presidential contest in 1876, in the states of Oregon, Louis- iana, South Carolina and Florida, was then in- creased from nine, the ordinary number, to fif- teen senators. As acting chairman, Senator Mitchell presided over the committee during all the investigations which followed and which at the time attracted so much interest all over the country. He was also selected by the unani- mous vote of the Republicans in the senate as the senator to appear before the Electoral Com- mittee and argue the Oregon case. This duty he performed and in a long speech ably pre- sented the legal questions involved and to the perfect satisfaction of his party friends defended the position taken by the Republicans of Ore- gon. During his first term he was on several occasions selected by the Republican majority as chairman of said committee to visit South Caro- lina, Louisiana and Florida for the purpose of investigating contested elections.

" In April, 1873, Senator Mitchell and Sen- ator Casserly, of California, were appointed a sub-committee of the committee on Transporta- tion Routes to the Seaboard, to visit the Pacific coast and investigate and report upon the best means of opening the Columbia river to free navigation. It was in this position that he had opportunity to do a great service for Oregon. Soon after his appointment on the committee, Senator Casserly resigned his seat in senate and Senator Mitchell was authorized to proceed

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

alone. He thereupon during the summer of 1873 made a most careful examination as to improve- ments necessary to increase the navigation facil- ities of the Columbia river, and at the next ses- sion of congress submitted an elaborate report to the committee on transportation news, Senator Windom of Minnesota being chairman, in which he recommended, among other things, large ap- propriations for the mouth of the Columbia river, and also an appropriation for a survey at the Cascade, with the view of ascertaining the cost and advisability of constructing a canal and locks. This report, as written by Senator Mitchell, was incorporated into the report of the committee without alteration, and submitted to the senate, and based on this report, congress at its next session made an appropriation for a sur- vey for canal and locks at the Cascades, which paved the way for their subsequent construction. "At the expiration of his senatorial term, March 4, 187g, the legislature of Oregon was Democratic, and Honorable James H. Slater, a Democrat, was elected as his successor, where- upon Mr. Mitchell resumed the practice of his profession in Portland. In the fall of 1882, he was urged by party friends to again submit his name as a candidate for United States senator, the legislature at that time being Republican. After much hesitation he consented to do so and in the legislative caucus received on the first ballot the vote of two-thirds of all the Republi- cans in the legislature, and thus became the nominee of the party for United States senator. A bolt, however, was organized, and he was not elected. The contest, however, was con- tinued from day to day until the last day and the last hour of the forty days' session. During the most of this time he was within a few votes of an election. It required forty-six votes to elect and during the session he received the votes of forty-five different members. Finding an election impossible, although urged by his sup- porters to continue in the fight to the end, and if not elected himself, thus prevent the election of any one else, he withdrew from the contest during the last hour of the session and all of his supporters, except one, who had so earnestly stood by him during the forty days, gave their votes for Hon. J. N. Dolph, who was elected. Throughout this long contest, without parallel in the political history of the state, for the bitter personal character of the fight, Senator Mitchell apparently lost none of his personal popularity, and after the adjournment of the legislature and upon his return from Salem to Portland he was tendered a reception which in warmth and cor- diality partook more of an ovation to a success- ful than to a defeated candidate.

" After his defeat Mr. Mitchell resumed the

practice of his profession, and although earnest- ly urged by party friends to again permit the use of his name as a candidate for United States senate, at the regular session of the legislature, in January, 1885, he peremptorily declined to do so. The legislature, however, after balloting through the whole session, adjourned without making an election. The governor of the state thereupon called a special session of the legis- lature to meet in November. 1885. Senator Mitchell at that time was in Portland, and al- though not personally desirous to be a candidate, and steadily refusing to permit the use of his name until within three or four days before the election, he was again, November 19, 1885, elected to the United States senate for a full term, receiving on the second ballot in joint con- vention the vote of three-fourths of all the Re- publicans, and one-half of all the Democrats of the legislature, having on this ballot a majority of twenty-one votes. He was at this time elected to succeed Hon. James H. Slater, and took his seat December 17, 1885, when he was assigned to duty on the following committees: Privileges and Election, Railroads, Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, Claims, Mines and Mining. Postoffices and Post-roads, and special commit- tee to superintend the construction of a National library. After a year's service he was made chairman of the committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, and in March, 1889, was made chairman of the committee on Rail- roads."

On January 19, 1891, Mr. Mitchell was again re-elected as his own successor, for a full term of six years; in this election there was no con- test, the Republicans being largely in the major- ity in the legislature, and every one of them voted for Mr. Mitchell as his own successor ; this term expired March 4, 1897.

At the meeting of the legislature in January, 1897, it being the duty of that legislature to elect Mr. Mitchell's successor, on January 10, 1897, in a caucus of the Republican members of the legislature, there being forty-eight members present, two more than a majority of the whole legislature, the whole number constituting the two houses being ninety, on an open roll call he received every one of the forty-eight votes, and was declared the unanimous nominee of the Re- publican party for United States senator to suc- ceed himself: twenty-eight members of the house refused to take the oath of office during the entire session, thus destroying a quorum. and preventing a vote for senator, and also prevent- ing the passage of any appropriation or other acts during the entire session, which resulted in his defeat. Mr. Mitchell was again, February 23, 1901, elected to succeed Hon. George W.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

McBride, and took his seat March 9, 1901 ; his present term of service will expire March 3, 1907.

Mr. Mitchell enjoys the distinction it is be- lieved no other man in the United States ever attained in connection with service in the United States senate ; he is the only man who has ever been elected from the same state to the senate after two vacations. He served from March 4, 1873, to March 4, 1879; was out from March 4, 1879, to March 4, 1885; served from March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1897 (twelve years) ; was out from March 4, 1897 until March 4, 1901, and is now serving his fourth full term.

The people of Oregon have reason to feel a justifiable pride in his career. A man of remark- able energy and untiring industry, Senator Mitchell has throughout his career as a public man shown a keen discrimination and a wonder- ful ability for grasping the great and intricate questions that are every day to be met with by United States senators. It is not our intention to make comparisons, but we do say that Oregon has never had a man who has filled this exalted position in a more satisfactory or painstaking manner than has Senator Mitchell. No request of his constituents is received, whether from the rich or poor, but it is given his personal at- tention. As a speaker he is forcible, tactful and with his sound judgment and eminently practical views he is well equipped to defend the interests of his adopted state. His long term of service has made him one of the most popular men in the United States senate and among his col- leagues he is recognized as a power. Here in Oregon, where for over forty-three years he has made his home, the senator is known by all and there is no man in the state who has a larger personal following than he. Generous to a fault, whole-souled and sympathetic, to know him is to admire him.

Personally Senator Mitchell is a man of strik- ing appearance; he is an interesting conversa- tionalist, has a direct, forceful way of talking, while his wonderful memory makes him a most congenial companion.

GEORGE JENNINGS AINSWORTH. A comparatively brief life was that of George Jen- nings Ainsworth, a native of Oregon, and the son of a substantial pioneer, but he left behind him the evidence of well-directed effort, both as a citizen and the maker of a home. He was born in Oregon City, April 13, 1852, the son of John C. and Jane (White) Ainsworth, who died when he was seven years of age. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of the state and the old Portland Academy, after which he entered

and took a four-years' course in the State Uni- versity of California, from which he was gradu- ated in 1873, the year following taking a post- graduate course. He was elected on the Univer- sity Board of Regents for a term of eighteen years. His school days over and the preparation for his life work complete he returned to Port- land and engaged upon the river boats, with the self-reliance which had even thus early distin- guished him, declining all aid and starting at the foot of the ladder and familiarizing himself with every detail of the different departments. Pro- motion was not long in coming to him, nor an infrequent occurrence, for he steadily rose to positions of importance in his new relations.

During his experience on the river he was com- mander of the steamers Otter, Welcome, Dixie Thompson, Emma Hayward, Oneonta and others. In January, 1877, he was made a director of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and in 1878 was made assistant general superintendent, later assuming charge as general superintendent. He was vice-president of the Oregon Steam Naviga- tion Company when its affairs were closed after the Villard coup, and when the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company succeeded it he was ap- pointed superintendent of the river and sound di- visions, and operated the portage roads at the Cascades and the Dalles, resigning in 1882 to assist his father, who had become interested in a number of enterprises at Oakland, Cal. After six years there Captain Ainsworth went to Redondo Beach, and under the direction of his father and R. R. Thompson, the owners, succeeded in trans- forming a barren waste of land into one of the finest commercial ports of southern California. The Redondo Beach Company, Redondo Railway Company, and Redondo Hotel Company were ad- juncts in the development which brought into ex- istence a magnificent hotel, narrow gauge rail- way, a wharf suitable for the largest ships afloat and many other improvements. Captain George remained in charge of this vast property six years, when his father's death occurred, which com- pelled his return to Oregon as administrator of his father's estate. Returning to Portland he at once assumed control of the business affairs with the details of which he was perfectly familiar, as he had been associated intimately with his father from early hoyhood, in his more mature years be- coming a co-worker and a companion of the elder man. His own death occurred but a little later, as he died October 20, 1895.

Mr. Ainsworth was a man of many admirable personal characteristics, being public-spirited and earnest for the welfare of whatever community he had made his by a residence. Though not a politician in the common acceptance of the term le was strongly identified with the Democratic party and spared no efforts to advance the prin-

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ciples which he endorsed. His ability being rec- ognized by the local leaders in California he was induced to accept the nomination of United States senator, but was defeated in the election, while the canvass was in progress, himself being absent in the pursuit of his business in eastern states. In the accumulation of property he was uniformly successful, for his shrewd business judgment went hand in hand with an ambitious, enterpris- ing spirit and wide profits were the result. He was a lover of sports, being fond of hunting and fishing, appreciated a good joke and could tell many. At his death he had large holdings in California as well as landed property in Portland and vicinity, and left his family, for whom he had always cared with an exceptional kindness and thought, well provided for in the matter of this world's goods. Personally he was a man of be- nevolent and kindly disposition, in religious faith a Presbyterian, in which church he officiated as elder. Fraternally he was a Mason, and was identified with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Com- mandery, Consistory and Scottish Rite, and was always active in lodge work.

June 16, 1875, Mr. Ainsworth was united in marriage with Margaret Sutton, a native of San Francisco, and the descendant of a long-lived Boston family of English ancestry. The parents, John and Anna B. (Doland) Sutton, came to Portland in 1870, and in January, three years later, the father was lost at sea, aboard the George S. Wright, and the mother now makes her home, at the age of seventy-three years, with her daughter, Mrs. Ainsworth. The other chil- dren of her father's family were Julia, who mar- ried G. B. Wright, of British Columbia; Mave, who married Otis Sprague, of Tacoma ; James, who is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Rail- road, and located in Portland; John, a native of Portland, who is now located in California and engaged in scientific research; Albert, an archi- tect, of San Francisco ; Herbert, born in Portland, in the employ of a lumber company, of San Fran- cisco ; Jennie K., who was married in Tacoma to A. D. Wheeler, a mining expert, of British Co- lumbia ; and Ada V., a resident of Boston, and the widow of A. E. Bull. The four last named of the children were graduates of the Portland high school. Two children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth : Lawrence Sutton, born in Portland, April, 1877, and now purser on the steamer Regulator, makes his home with his mother; and Mabel, born in Portland, became the wife of Edwin Mays, and they have two chil- dren, George Ainsworth and Eunice. This fam- ily is also included in that of Mrs. Ainsworth, who in May, 1899, removed from her home, "Pagoda Villa," at Berkeley, Cal., and became a resident of Portland.

CAPT. JACOB KAMM, about whom centers the development of river and other trans- portation facilities in Oregon, and who for many years has been a most important factor in the upbuilding of numerous gigantic enterprises in Portland, is one of the most striking types of mankind residing in the region known as the Pacific northwest. Perhaps no other man living to-day in Portland has been more intimately as- sociated with all that has tended to give this city the great commercial prestige it now boasts, and surely no man has entered into the spirit of in- dustrial and commercial development more hear- tily and unselfishly than he. A brief résumé of the principal events in the life of this pioneer builder, illustrating the various steps in his up- ward career, will prove a stimulus to the young men of the present generation who start out in life no more fully equipped than he to attain success.

Jacob Kamm was born in Canton Glarus, Switzerland, December 12, 1823. His father re- signed his commission in the Swiss army to make a home for himself and his family among the broader opportunities. offered in America, bringing with him his son Jacob, then eight years of age. Four years after their arrival his father died of yellow fever in New Orleans, leaving his twelve-year-old son to solve for him- self the problems of life in a strange land. Some foreshadowing of the ambitious dream of the elder Kamm must have come to him at the period when his capabilities and the possibilities of success in this country of wonderful resources first began to dawn upon the son, and has, per- chance, followed unremittingly into the strenu- ous activity which has characterized all his ma- turer years.

Soon after the father took up his residence in New Orleans, the younger Kamm secured a po- sition in the office of the New Orleans Picayune, in which office he remained until the death of the foreman, who was a personal friend. After the death of this friend, a new foreman was se- cured and Mr. Kamm was forced to look else- where for a position. For a time he remained in the city, working at whatever came his way, until November, 1837, when he went to St. Louis. Here he secured a position as cabin boy on the Ark, a small steamer plying the Illinois river. While en route from the southern city he made the acquaintance of a smooth-talking stranger, who robbed him of all his money with the exception of ten cents, the whole amount of his capital on arrival in St. Louis. In his new position as cabin boy he felt his limitations, and having a mechanical turn of mind he improved all his spare time mastering the details of marine engineering. Expert workmanship brought him into contact with concerns who offered him pay-

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ing positions, and he soon managed to save enough money to purchase an interest in the Belle of Hatchie, a steamboat which he ran until his healthı gave way under the unbroken strain to which he was subjected. After disposing of his interest in this boat he put in a number of years as engineer on packet boats plying between St. Louis, Keokuk and New Orleans. At that time the requirements demanded of engineers before they were licensed to ply their vocations were very high. Mr. Kamm received his diplo- ma from the Engineers' Association of the state of Missouri. Owing to impaired health, Mr. Kamm sought relaxation and change, and with a party of friends he crossed the plains in 1849, locating in the mines around Sacramento, Cal. Soon after his arrival he secured a position as engineer on a steamboat running on the Sacra- mento and Feather rivers in California. A well- remembered incident connected with these pi- oneer days of California was the meeting of Mr. Kamm and Lot Whitcomb in Sacramento in 1850. As the result of this meeting Mr. Kamm decided to come to Milwaukee, then a flourishing hamlet above Portland, in order to install the machinery ordered for the steamer Lot Whitcomb. This proved a herculean task, owing to the lack of proper implements with which to work, the sole equipment being a bel- lows and anvil. Mr. Kamm's assistant, a black- smith by the name of Blakesley, happened, for- tunately, to be ingenious and painstaking. and the combined application of the two men re- stilted in the manufacture of crude tools which filled the demand. Considerable trouble grew out of the construction of the boilers, which ar- rived from New York in twenty-two separate sections, and as there were no boiler makers in the west at the time Mr. Kamm was compelled to figure out a way to overcome this difficulty. That he was equal to the emergency was dem- onstrated to the satisfaction of all concerned when the Lot Whitcomb proudly steamed out of the harbor, a substantial and thoroughly reliable craft, the first of the kind ever equipped in this port. On this historic occasion the man behind the engines was Mr. Kamm, and he continued to operate her machinery until she was sold and taken to California.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Portrait and biographical record of Portland and vicinity, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 9

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