Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 127

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, The Chapman Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1622

USA > Oregon > Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present > Part 127

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BENJAMIN C. MILES, a captain of indus- try of whom Oregon may well be proud, and who has been variously interested in the in- dustrial, commercial, educational and political upbuilding of Newberg and vicinity, was born in Westbranch, Cedar county, Iowa, January 3, 1865, and is of English descent. The great- grandfather Miles came from England and settled in North Carolina, in which state his son, William, the paternal grandfather. was born, and whence he removed to Ohio, his last place of residence.

Benjamin Miles, the father of Benjamin C., was born in Miami county, Ohio, and was a farmer by occupation. During the early '50s he located in Cedar county, Iowa, where he

engaged in farming, but later entered the In- dian work, being appointed superintendent of the Osage Agency schools, a position main- tained for six years. Mr. Miles became promi- nent in promoting the best interests of the In- dians, and among his other attempts to amel- iorate the condition of these wards of the na- tion was the establishment of the Manual La- bor Institute, near Salem, Iowa, of which he was superintendent and manager for four years. This institution was run by contract with the government, Mr. Miles receiving so much per capita for educating the pupils under his charge. He accomplished a great and last- ing work, and is enrolled among the noble and disinterested men who have labored for the uplifting of a race fast receding into the back- ground of American history. Mr. Miles be- came associated with Oregon in 1887, and settled in Newberg, finally locating on sixty- five acres of land adjacent to the city of New- berg. Here he lived in comparative retirement up to the time of his death in 1890. His wife, Elizabeth R. (Bean) Miles, was born in New Hampshire, a daughter of a farmer and woolen manufacturer.

The youngest in his father's family of three sons and two daughters, Benjamin C. Miles was educated in the public schools and at Penn College, Iowa, from which latter institution he was graduated in the spring of 1886, with the degree of B. S. He came to Oregon in 1886, at the age of twenty-one years, and for a year engaged in educational work in the Friends' Pacific Academy, located at Newberg. He then became interested in a general merchan- dise business with F. A. Morris, and in 1893 became cashier of the bank of Newberg, which position he maintained until 1897. At the pres- ent time he occupies the responsible position of president of the bank of Newberg, and he is also secretary and treasurer and a large stockholder of the Charles K. Spaulding Log- ging Company. Near the town Mr. Miles owns sixty acres of land on the river, which he rents and which is devoted to general farming.

As a stanch adherent of the Republican party, Mr. Miles has filled many positions of trust and responsibility in the community, his active service being inaugurated in 1888, when he began a term of four years in the city coun- cil. In 1902 he was nominated and elected state representative from this district, and is ably and conscientiously advancing the inter- ests of those who placed him in power. He is a member of the Friends' Church, and is fra- ternally associated with the Woodmen of the World.

In Newberg, Ore., Mr. Miles was united in marriage with Anna E. Bell, who was born in

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Iowa, and whose father, Martin Cook, a native of Indiana, was one of the early settlers of Iowa. Mr. Cook came to Oregon in 1887, after years of farming and successful service as a railway agent; he is now living a retired life in Newberg. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Miles, Lyra B., Ross C. and Eva, all of whom are living with their parents. Mr. Miles is typical of that class of men who invade the undeveloped regions of the world, leaving them better and more advanced, and indelibly stamped with their strong personal- ity.

JACOB G. MILLER. A citizen who owns one of the finest residences in Aurora, and occupies an honored place in the business and social world of the town, is Jacob G. Miller, a wheelwright by trade, who was formerly prominently connected with the colony found- ed by Dr. Keil. A native of Mahoning county, Ohio, Mr. Miller was born April 23, 1837, and is the fourth of the eight children born to Sam- uel and Sarah (Betts) Miller. The family was established in Ohio by the paternal grand- father, George, who was born in Pennsylvania, January 18, 1773, and who died in Mahoning county, Ohio. He married Mary Koup, who was born December 31, 1783, and who died in Oregon, to which state she came with her son in 1863, at the age of ninety-two years. She was the mother of eleven children, of whom Samuel, the father of Jacob G., was the oldest, he being born in Berks county, Pa., August 26, 1801, and moved with his parents to Ohio when quite a young man, and engaged in farm- ing.

Jacob was a mere youth when he became interested in the colony at Bethel, with which he took up his abode in 1845. He subsequently became prominent in the affairs of the colony. His death occurred in Aurora in 1886.

The youth of Jacob G. Miller was character- ized by hard work and little recreation, and still less opportunity for acquiring an educa- tion. He developed early a strong and wirv constitution, so that when very young he could accomplish almost a man's labor during the day. In 1863 he came to the branch colony in Aurora, and during his father's absence in Bethel, he took the place of the elder man as one of the lieutenants of Dr. Keil. When the father returned to the west the son went to Bethel and took his place at that end of the line, becoming in time president of the colony, and filling that position until the dissolution of the colony in 1880. Thereupon he took up his residence in Marion county, where he pur- chased a farm and lived thereon until coming

to Aurora in 1899. Here he built a modern and comfortable residence which is a distinct credit to the architectural appearance of the town, and at the same time continues to own his farm of one hundred and twenty-four acres. He is also the possessor of three hundred acres of unimproved land in Clackamas county. In his youth in Missouri, Mr. Miller learned the trade of wheelwright, and devoted considerable time to the making of wagons and spinning- wheels. On his property in Aurora he has built a cabinet shop, and passes some of his leisure time in working at his trade. In 1882 he rented and ran a saw-mill from the fall until the summer of 1883, but did not make of it the success which he had anticipated.

In politics Mr. Miller has upheld the prin- ciples of the Republican party, and has held some prominent positions within the gift of his fellow-citizens, among others being that of recorder, to which he was elected in 1900. He has been road supervisor, and is now serving as councilman. Mr. Miller cast his first presi- dential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He is a Christian, but does not affiliate with any par- ticular church. When he came from Missouri Mr. Miller brought with him five people, to all of whom he gave a home for the remainder of their lives. Of late he has been appointed guardian for Morton L. and Frederick A. Giesy, both of whom are living with him at the present time. Mr. Miller is a man of broad humanitarian tendencies, and a great deal of the good that he has accomplished during his life is of the unostentatious kind, the sole re- ward of which is found in an approving con- science and in the gratitude of individual hearts.

LEVI M. HERREN. A substantial and prominent farmer of Marion county, Ore., Levi M. Herren, who was born in Decatur county, Ind., September 7, 1835, is the son of John Herren, a Kentuckian, who, after his mar- riage in that state to D. Robbins, removed to Indiana, where he engaged in farming. In 1838 he took his family to what was then known as the Platt Purchase, near Arkansas City, Kas., where they made their home until the spring of 1845, when, with three wagons and three yoke of oxen to each wagon, they started across the plains. While on the way they fell in with Stephen Meeks, a brother of Joe Meeks, who attempted to pilot the party by a nearer route, but failed. The trip was made memorable, aside from the various in- cidents which made interesting the journey across the plains, by a dearth of provisions, the company being entirely out of flour at the

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time of their arrival at The Dalles, Ore. There Mr. Herren built a flatboat and with his family floated down the river to Cascade, Wash., and from there went to Whiteson, Yamhill county, Ore., where lived an uncle of the family. After one month spent there, they moved upon a farm on Salem Prairie, in March, 1846, and located four miles east of Salem, Ore., pur- chasing the right to six hundred and forty acres of a Mr. Gobin. A cabin having been erected there, the family at once found shelter. In 1848, Mr. Herren was attracted to California in the hope of sharing in the rich profits of mining, and after an absence of about five months, returned to Oregon with $2,000 in gold dust. He was thirty-nine days making the voyage from San Francisco to the mouth of the Columbia river, a fierce storm having driven them about on the ocean.

In 1849 Mr. Herren took up a donation claim of six hundred and thirty-five acres, located on Mill creek, six miles southeast of Salem, and near which the State Reform School has since been built. He remained here until his death in 1864, at the age of sixty-four years. Re- ligiously he was a member of the Christian Church. His wife also died here when seventy- seven years old. Of the thirteen children born to them, all attained maturity, seven sons and six daughters, seven of whom are still living. Of these, Susanna is the wife of W. T. Wal- lace, of Josephine county, Ore .; Mary J., the wife of John Kiser, of Salem; Martha, the wife of Judge N. T. Katin, of Sprague, Wash .; Sarilda, the wife of T. S. Leonard, of Dayton, Wash .; N. F., located in Salem ; and Levi M., of this review. Those now deceased are as follows : William, John, Daniel S., James R., Perry L., Bertha and Elizabeth H.

But ten years of age when his parents came to Oregon, Levi M. Herren has spent prac- tically all his life in this state. He was reared on the paternal farm, engaging in home duties until 1859, when he located on a hundred-acre farm on Salem Prairie, where he followed farm- ing until his father's death, at which time he returned to take charge of the home place and care for his mother, which he did until her death. He was married November 15, 1860, to Martha E. Mathews, a native of Missouri. who started across the plains with her parents in 1852, and met with the loss of both parents while on the journey. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Herren, of whom Thomas is still at home: Ida is the wife of R. N. Morris, of Oregon City, and Flora is the wife of George Bailey, of Portland. Mr. Her- ren now owns three hundred and eight acres, upon which he carries on general farming and stock-raising. In politics Mr. Herren is a

Democrat. Though not a seeker after political preferment, he has filled local offices, and has always exhibited a deep interest in the welfare of his party. Fraternally he is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Turner Grange, and has been master of the latter body for several years.

Mr. Herren occupies a high place in the es- teem of his fellow citizens in Marion county. He is known as a man possessed of a public spirit, always willing to assist in the promo- tion of all enterprises intended to enhance the material advantages of the community in which he resides, by the contribution of both time and money. He takes a broad-minded view of affairs in general, and in all ways has shown himself to be a useful citizen, meriting the respect of all with whom he comes in con- tact.

ALVIN A. BURTON, who has the - repu- tation of making the best brick in the Willam- ette valley, was born near Rochester, N. Y., October 8, 1852, and from his father, Alvin A., Sr., acquired an appreciation of the merits of brick manufacturing. The elder Burton was born in Vermont, and came from an old and honored family. He learned brickmaking in early life, and eventually had a large plant at Brighton, N. Y., whence he removed, in 1853. to Princeton, Ill. Here, for many years he was the foremost brick manufacturer in the county, and, in 1866, removed to Marseilles, La Salle county, Ill., where his death occurred in 1877. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and in politics was a Republican. Mr. Burton mar- ried Harriet M. Baker, a native of Greenville, Greene county, N. Y., and daughter of David Baker, a farmer and miller by occupation. Mrs. Burton, who died in Illinois, was the mother of ten children, all of whom attained maturity, seven of whom are living, and four of whom are engaged in the brick business in Oregon.

In Princeton and Marseilles, Ill., Alvin A. Burton. Jr., received his education, and as a boy, learned brickmaking under the instruc- tions of his father. He realized the advantage in dealing in a commodity for which there must always be a demand, and he was the first in his family to transfer his allegiance to Ore- gon, which promised such splendid results. I: December, 1874, he made his way to this state, and in order to get a start, engaged as a clerk in a grocery store for three or four years. He was then employed by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company as foreman of their woodyard at Celilo, and at the end of two years returned to Salem and became foreman of the State Penitentiary brickyard. This po-

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sition was maintained by him for five years, and during that time the yards turned out an enormous number of brick, among other con- tracts making the brick used in the construc- tion of the State Asylum for the Insane. The yearly output was two and a half million brick, and the quality was unsurpassed up to that time. Luman Burton, one of the brothers of the superintendent, came to Oregon in 1878, and filled a position in the yard with his brother, and some years later two other broth- ers, Edwin and Percy, arrived in the state, eventually making up the firm of Burton Brothers.

Upon severing his connection with the peni- tentiary, in 1883, Mr. Burton took charge of the brickyards of George Collins, of Salem, for five years, and of Theodore Jensen, of Port- land, for three years. In the meantime, in 1890, with his brothers, he had purchased the Salem yards of Mr. Collins, and the following year came here to superintend their manage- ment, conducting his business under the firm name of Burton Brothers. In 1894 he became sole owner of the yards, and has since con- ducted them independently. He owns twenty acres of clay land on State street, also three and a half acres on Twenty-fourth street, be- tween State and Asylum avenue. The capac- ity of the yards is sixteen thousand a day, or more than two million a year, and abundant facilities for shipping are furnished by a switch run into the yards from the Southern Pacific Railroad. Aside from the numerous contracts fined in Salem, Mr. Burton has furnished the brick for the construction of the State Univer- sity at Eugene, and for the government Indian school at Shewawa. In Salem he has supplied brick for the Odd Fellows' building, the city hall, the Bayne building, the Schriber building, and many others of equal importance. The brick are manufactured with horse power ma- chinery.

The beautiful brick residence built by Mr. Burton on East State street, between Twenty- first and Twenty-second streets, is presided over by his wife, who was formerly Daisy G. Colwell, a native of Comanche, Iowa, and daughter of C. H. Colwell, a native of Dela- ware. Mr. Colwell was a builder and contrac- tor, and an early settler in Iowa, where he lived for many years in Moingona, Boone county. In 1875 he came to Salem and con- tinued his occupation up to the time of his death, in March, 1884, at the age of sixty years. He was a member of the Baptist Church, as is also his wife, Hannah (Howard) Colwell, a native of Greenville, N. Y., and who still lives in Salem at the age of seventy-three years. Three of the children born to Mr. and Mrs.

Colwell are living, Mrs. Burton being the sec- ond. She is the mother of two children, of whom Roy, a graduate of the Capitol Business College, is bookkeeper for the banking firm of Ladd & Bush, and Delbert is living at home. Mr. Burton is a Republican in politics, and finds a religious home in the Baptist Church. He is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JAMES STARR VAN WINKLE. The de- scendent of an old Knickerbocker family, James Starr Van Winkle has well kept up the traditions of the early Hollanders in New York state, both in personal characteristics and public prominence, becoming in this western state, of which he is a native son, a man of wide popularity and gratifying success through the many admirable traits which distinguish him. Chiefly by his own efforts has Mr. Van Winkle won the position he holds today in Al- bany, one of social prominence and intellectual equality.

The grandfather of Mr. Winkle, Isaac, spent the greater part of his life in the middle west, living in Kentucky and Tennessee, and from the latter state emigrating to Oregon in 1859, where he died in Linn county soon after his arrival. He was a worthy representative of an old Dutch family that had made New York its home at an early date in the history of our country, fighting for national honor both in the war of 1812 and the Mexican war. His son, Isaac N., was born in Kentucky and reared in east Tennessee, among the Cumberland mountains of Morgan county, engaging in ag- ricultural labor on the paternal farm, and crossed the plains of Oregon with his father's family in 1859, where he located in Linn county. He went first to the mines of Bannock City, Idaho, where he remained for several seasons, at the close of that period returning, and with the fruits of his labor purchasing a farm near Halsey, where he is now engaged in farming. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is an ordained minister. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons. He married Elizabeth Pearl, a native of Missouri, and daughter of James Pearl. The latter was born in Ohio, and on attaining manhood settled in Missouri, from which state he emigrated in 1852 to Oregon, crossing the plains and locating first in Linn county, near Jefferson, and later taking up a donation claim east of Harrisburg, upon which he lived for many years. Upon retiring from the active cares of life he located in Halsey, where his death occurred in 1898. The chil-

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dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Van Winkle are as follows: James Starr, of this review; I. H., an attorney of Salem; J. O., a student in the medical department of Willamette University, of Salem; J. F., of the United States Hydro- graphic office in Portland; Charles W., on the home farm, and Sarah C., now the wife of J. G. Patterson, of Salem.

James Starr Van Winkle was born near Hal- sey, Linn county, Ore., December 30, 1866, and was reared upon the paternal farm until he was seventeen years old. At that age, having acquired a fair education through application and attendance at the district school in the vicinity of his home, he began teaching in the common schools of his native county, with the view to appropriating the funds so acquired for a collegiate course. Energy and persever- ance succeeded, and he later entered Willam- ette University, where he remaind for three years. For some time after leaving college he engaged in the drug business in Silverton, Ore., and in 1888 located in Albany, where he has since made his home, being then interested in the abstract of title business, and later one of the founders of the Linn County Abstract Company, of which he was manager for some time. In 1898 he was appointed chief clerk of the Albany postoffice, and in 1899 was elected city recorder of Albany, and was re-elected in 1901. He is now justice of the police court, justice of the peace, and city recorder.

December 19, 1888, Mr. Van Winkle was married in Marion county to Miss Lida B. Hayes, a native of Marion county, and daugh- ter of John C. Hayes, a druggist of Silverton, and of the union three children have been born, being named in order of birth as follows: J. Stanley, V. Keith and James Hayes. Frater- nally, Mr. Van Winkle is prominent. In the Knights of Pythias he is past chancellor, and was representative to the State Grand Lodge; as a member of the Knights of the Maccabees he is past officer and for six years served as state commander, and is now serving as past commander; he is ex-president of Delazon Smith Cabin, No. 9, Native Sons of Oregon; consul of the Woodmen of . the World; past workman of the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is also secretary of the Alco Club, having held this position since its organization.

ELISHA P. MORCOM. As an exponent of legal science Elisha P. Morcom ranks high in professional circles in Marion county, for al- though Woodburn claims him as her pioneer and foremost attorney, his skill in adjusting compli-

cations touching the law has created a demand for his services far beyond the borders of his promising little town. Mr. Morcom was born in Dodgeville, Wis., February 6, 1860, his father, John, having been born near Sunny Corners, England. His grandfather, Captain John Mor- com, was captain of the Bodmonic (Wis.) mines, and was sent by an English company to Eagle Harbor, Mich., where he opened the first copper mines of that vicinity. These mines proved a source of great profit to their promoters, and so practically exhaustless are they that they are being worked at the present time. The grand- father died in Michigan before his grandson was born, leaving behind him an example of industry and correct living. His son, John, eventually lo- cated at Dodgeville, where he combined mining and farming, and where he died at the early age of thirty years. His wife, Lucy ( Scourick) Mor- com, was born in St. Ives, England, of Cornish descent. Some years after the death of John Morcom, she married James Pratt, a native of Yorkshire, England, who came to the United States with his parents when twelve years of age. He is engaged in mining in Wisconsin, making his home in Dodgeville.

The only child in his father's family, Elisha P. Morcom was left to the sole care of his mother when six months of age. He was edu- cated in the public schools, graduating from the high school in 1883. At a very early age he be- came interested in the study of law, and it was practically no trouble for him to decide upon devoting his life to this interesting profession. At the age of sixteen he began to study law with the firm of Briggs & Jenks, of Dodgeville, and thereafter devoted his leisure to increasing his knowledge in this direction. For four years he was assistant postmaster of Dodgeville, and in 1887 took up his residence in Tower, Minn., where he was admitted to the bar in 1891, and formed a co-partnership with W. H. Johnson, of Tower, an association amicably continued until 1893. He practiced law for three months in the Marquam building at Portland and in January, 1892, came to Woodburn and the next year he removed to Silverton. Having better opportun- ities in Woodburn he returned in 1894, and took up his practice under very favorable conditions, as he had no competitor in the profession, and there was a large field for a substantial and relia- ble man in the community. For seven years he has acceptably served as city attorney of Wood- burn, and at the same time has had in charge the greater part of the important cases in the neigh- borhood. He has a profound understanding of law, is lucid and clear in his expositions, and eloquent and convincing in his argument.

In Dodgeville, Wis., Mr. Morcom was united in marriage with Libbie Hooper, who was born

Alexander Seary

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in Dodgeville, October 23, 1860, and whose father, William Hooper, was born in England and emigrated to America when a boy of twelve. Mr. Hooper was for many years identified with a flourishing merchandise business in Dodgeville, but is now retired from active life. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Morcom, Lucy A., is in the second year of the preparatory de- partment of Willamette University at Salem. Mr. Morcom is a Republican in politics, and is frater- nally connected with Lodge No. 102, I. O. O. F., and Knights of the Maccabees, Tent No. 8. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is superintendent of the Sunday school, and has had charge of the senior Bible class since coming to Woodburn.

ALEXANDER SEAVEY. If any man is able to appreciate the peace and tranquillity of an agricultural existence it seems as if that man might be Alexander Seavey, now engaged in a large stock-raising and hop business on his farm of eleven hundred acres, near Eugene. The early life of Mr. Seavey was sufficiently crowded with daring and eventful happenings to please the most ambitious seeker after adventure, and many a boy whose ideas of life are gained from books of travel and imagination might well envy him his early experiences in the midst of danger and hair-breadth escapes. As a lad he played in the sands of Penobscot bay, on the west shore, and ten miles from the ocean, in front of the town of Rockland, Me., where he was born April 1, 1824. As he thus played, his thought was centered more on the outgoing than the incoming boats, and he wondered whither they were going and what their errand across the deep. As he grew older he used to go out in fishing-boats, and his joy and sorrow was gauged by the size of the catch which he sold as a means of livelihood. Gradually the shore limits grew tiresome, and to realize his dreams he embarked in a sailing vessel in the West Indian trade, in 1849 shipping as mate on the bark Challenge. The Challenge was destined for a dreary ending of its career, for off the Brazilian coast, South America, it burned, the crew making their escape in boats. For three days the faithful mariners wandered around the open sea, and after reaching land remained on Brazilian territory until the following July.

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Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 127

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, The Chapman Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1622

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, The Chapman Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1622