Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 128

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 128

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Taking passage on a Scotch ship, Oughtertyre, from Aberdeen, Scotland, Mr. Seavey was cer- tainly risking his life, for he was regaled with the cheerful information that the former crew, with the exception of the captain and cook, had died of yellow fever. This boat was destined for San Francisco, and one hundred and seventy- three days were required to round the Horn, severe storms impeding the progress of the

stanch little craft. Once in California, Mr. Seavey went to the mines of Trinidad, and there embraced a waiting opportunity by purchasing mules and running a pack-train. Accustomed to the life of a land-dweller, and liking it quite as well as the sea, he started a little store on Althouse creek, Josephine county, Ore., in part- nership with George O. Collins. This little store proved a decided success, and was continued un- interruptedly for five years, at the end of which time Mr. Seavey sold out to his partner and went on a mining expedition to the Rogue river. In 1855 he came to Lane county and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land in the hills, three miles north of Springfield, and there engaged in stock-raising on a large scale, starting with a band of three hundred and fifty cows and calves. With the money made from this successful enterprise he purchased his present farm of eleven hundred acres, and in 1883 started hop-raising on a small scale, gradually increasing until his one hun- dred acres are invaded by an army of pickers every fall and reap for their employer a hand- some fortune.

Through his marriage with Sarah A. Blachly the following children have been born to Mr. Seavey : William C. is a farmer of Lane county ; James, John and Jess are at home ; Anna is the wife of Ed Bushnell; Alwilda is the wife of Jas- per Wilkins ; and Sophronia is deceased. It will be seen that perseverance and industry have been leading factors in the life of Mr. Seavey, and that the humble sailor starting away from the coast of Maine had the heart and brain and good judgment to put to practical use the abilities and opportunities which were his by natural right.

BENJAMIN F. GIESY, M. D. A promis- ing young medical practitioner, destined to re- flect great credit upon his native town of Aurora, Benjamin F. Giesy, born here February 15, 1875, is the reprsentative of a family numerously repre- sented in the medical profession.

Martin Giesy, from whom his son inherits a keen appreciation of the importance of medical science, was born in Pennsylvania, and came as a child with his parents to Bethel, Mo., whence he came with the other members of his family to Oregon in 1855, across the plains. He was a very warm friend of Dr. Keil, the founder of the Aurora Colony, and through him became inter- ested in medicine, for the practice of which he qualified in the state, and thereafter entered upon a practice covering many years. In the early days he experienced all of the discomforts of a laborious and extensive country practice, and used to ride long and weary distances to patients who placed implicit faith in him, and hesitated to call anyone else. He was very popular with

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all classes, and, added to a profound knowledge of his chosen calling, possessed a genial and optimistic disposition, which not only made but retained friends. His very presence in a sick room seemed to be an antidote for many of the ills to which flesh is heir, and his retirement from practice was deeply regretted by his many hun- dreds of patients. As his practice increased he saw the necessity of a drug store in the place, and at present owns the only one in the town. Through his marriage with Martha Miller, seven children have been born into his family, five boys and two daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are living.

The preliminary education of Benjamin F. Giesy was received in the public schools of Au- rora, Ore., after which he studied Greek, Ger- man and Latin with a private tutor. In 1892 he entered the State Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1896, and thereafter, from 1896 to 1897, served as house surgeon in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. He was also graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1900; and entered upon the active practice of medicine in Aurora in 1897. He is filling his father's place to an extent hardly prophesied by the most sanguine, and has won a popularity and good will which presages unin- terrupted success. Dr. Giesy is well known fra- ternally, and is identified with the Masons, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the' Knights of the Maccabees. He is examining physician for all the locai orders that have insur- ance privileges except the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JAMES L. ATWATER. One of the many enterprising men engaged in farming in the rich and fertile lands of Polk county is James L. At- water, residing near Lewisville. who has brought to his chosen calling good business methods, and is meeting with deserved success in his labors. A son of Miles L. Atwater, he was born Febru- ary 4, 1852, in Fulton county, Ill. His paternal grandfather, Lyman Atwater, was born in Con- necticut in 1798, and died in Illinois in 1863. Migrating westward from his New England home he located first in Ohio, afterwards settling in Illinois as a pioneer of Fulton county. He was a man of great activity, fully interested in the welfare of his county and state, and after serving in the Blackhawk war assisted in driv- ing the Mormons from the Nauvoo settlement in Illinois.

A native of Ohio, M. L. Atwater was born October 20, 1825, in Ashtabula county, but was reared in Fulton county, Ill., where he learned the cooper's trade. On the breaking out of the

Civil war, he enlisted in the Sixth Iowa Infantry, but after serving six months had the measles, and was subsequently discharged on account of physical disability. Re-enlisting in the Eighty- fifth Illinois Infantry, in Company G, he served throughout the remainder of the war, being with Sherman on his march to the sea. Passing through various engagements without being wounded, he was mustered out of service and returned to Illinois, where he turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. In 1891 he came to Oregon and purchased a farm near Lewisville and afterwards lived with his son, James L. At- water, near Lewisville, until his death, April 20, 1898. His wife, whose maiden name was Har- riet Baldwin, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, December 8, 1832, and now resides in Portland, Ore., making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Hollister. She bore her husband four children, namely : L. H., who lives at Hills- boro, Ore .; James L., the subject of this sketch ; Emma J., wife of Thomas Hollister, living at University Park, Portland, Ore .; and William, also of Portland.

Leaving school when thirteen years of age, James L. Atwater worked as a farm laborer for about six years. The following twelve years he was employed on the Wabash railroad as a stone- mason, in the meantime learning the trade of a carpenter and bridge-builder. Going to Minne- sota in 1880, he was engaged in carpentering in Minneapolis for four years. From there he went to Idaho in the spring of 1884, and until August of that year was engaged in mining in the Coeur d'Alene district. Not meeting with success, Mf. Atwater continued westward to Polk county, and located on his present farm, near Lewis- ville. He has seventy-three acres of land, which were formerly a part of the donation claim taken up by his father-in-law, Mr. I. Zumwalt. In addition to general farming he pays much at- tention to stockraising, and is carrying on a suh- stantial business, each year adding materially to his income.

In 1895 Mr. Atwater married Amelia Zum- walt, a native of Polk county, and they have three children, namely: Essie, Hattie and Mamie. A stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Atwater takes an in- telligent interest in public affairs, and since 1888 · has served as school director. He is a member of the South Methodist Episcopal Church of Lewis- ville, of which he has been one of the board of trustees since its organization. Mrs. Atwater belongs to the Evangelical Church of Lewisville.

SARAH C. PRICE. Previous to their mar- riage in Ohio, Edward B. Waters and Sarah Griffith had moved with their parents from their respective homes in Frederick county, Maryland,

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and Pennsylvania, and from Ohio moved to Por- ter county, Ind., where Sarah, the future Mrs. Price was born, the third in a family of two sons and three daughters. The children were reared in the public schools of Indiana, and the parents, having heard much about the superior agricultural and other advantages in the far northwest, determined to see for themselves if these reports could be verified. Accordingly, they disposed of the Indiana farm in 1852, and in the fall of the same year went to Iowa, re- maining in that state until the following spring. In Iowa they made the necessary preparations for crossing the plains, outfitting with ox-teams and loose cattle, and their journey extended ,from May until October. They encountered many Indians on the way, but were able to hold their own, and arrived at their destination in Polk county in fairly good condition. In the spring of 1854 the father took up a claim of three hun- dred and twenty acres near Pedee, but in 1859 disposed of it and settled on a farm in Klickitat county, Wash. In 1865 they came to Polk county, Ore., and settled on a farm near where Mrs. Price now lives, but in later life they lived in retirement in Dallas, where the father died at an advanced age. The mother at present lives with W. D. Turner, of Airlie, Ore.

Sarah Waters remained at home with her parents until her marriage, in 1859, with Marcus D. L. Gilliam, son of that splendid old pioneer and Indian fighter, Cornelius Gilliam, around whom centers a world of adventure and romance, and whose name will be connected with the earliest civilization of Oregon as long as history endures. Marcus Gilliam was born in Platte county, Mo., and crossed the plains with his father in 1844, settling temporarily on the farm of his father near Dallas. He afterward took up the claim upon which Mrs. Price now lives, and where the father and mother spent several years of harmonious married life. Mr. Gilliam was not destined for long life, for he died on this place, March 27, 1868, at the age of thirty- four years, two months and eleven days. His life was ennobled by a self-sacrificing service in the Yakima war of 1855-6, and it is said of him that he was an excellent farmer, a kind husband, and a good friend. Three children were born to himself and wife, and of these, Frank, the oldest, is managing the home farm; Alice A. is the wife of W. D. Mohney, of Salem, Ore .; and Esther is deceased.

About 1883 Mrs. Gilliam was united in mar- riage with Larkin Price, who was born in Vir- ginia. Mrs. Price owns two hundred and seven- teen acres of land, which is proving productive and remunerative under the excellent manage- ment of her son Frank. She is one of the highly respected and broad-minded women of her neigh-

borhood, and many friends delight to visit her hospitable and comfortable home. General farming and stock-raising are carried on exten- sively, and fine improvements are combined with modern and scientific methods.

PHILIP T. AND CHARLES F. HICKS. In the vicinity of Silverton are to be found many rich and productive farming estates, and among the energetic and self-reliant men who are con- ducting its agricultural interests the subjects of this sketch occupy no unimportant place. They are numbered among the brave pioneers of this section of Marion county, and are still living on the farm on which they settled with their parents in 1866, their property being situated on Silver Creek road, about two and one-half miles south- east of Silverton.

Coming from excellent New England ancestry, they are sons of Frisby Hicks, who was born July 27, 1806, in Vermont, but was reared and educated in New York state, and in Indiana, his parents having lived in both states. As a boy of sixteen years, Frisby Hicks determined to make his own way in life, and with that object in view began flat-boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. A few years afterward he had made such progress in his new occupation that he found himself the owner of a line of steamboats plying between St. Louis and New Orleans. He made his home, however, in Indiana until 1846, when he removed with his family to St. Louis, where he lived a year. Giving up his boats at that time, he located in Iowa, and was there successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1866, when, lured by the prospects of cheap land in a new country, he came to Marion county, making the five months' journey by team across the plains, and having but little trouble with the Indians on the way. Buying the four hundred and eighty acres of land comprised in the present homestead of his sons, he labored, with the help of his children, to redeem a farm from the wilder- ness, and by dint of hard labor, thrift and good management succeeded well, rendering it one of the finest estates in the vicinity. He lived to the ripe old age of four score and four years, honored and respected by all. He took an intelligent in- terest in public affairs, and while a resident of Iowa served a number of terms as justice of the peace. In 1839 he married Catherine Taylor, who was born in Pennsylvania, and died at the age of seventy-two years, on the home farm in Silver- ton. Of the children born of their union, six are living, namely : Philip T. ; Charles F .; Mary E., wife of John Maulding, of Yamhill county; John, of Silverton; E. Pitt, and Harry P., who live near Silverton.

Philip T. Hicks was born March 22, 1844, in

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Patriot, Switzerland county, Ind. He received excellent educational advantages, and in his younger days taught school several terms. Dur- ing the Civil war he gave evidence of his pa- triotism by enlisting May 16, 1864, in Company H, Forty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, being mustered into service at Keokuk. With his regi- ment he was sent first to Memphis, Tenn., and assigned to garrison duty during the four months prior to the expiration of his term of enlistment. On returning from the scene of conflict, he re- mained at home until 1866, when he crossed the plains with his parents, and from that time until the present has resided on the homestead which he ably assisted his father in clearing and im- proving, and is now successfully employed in general farming and stock-raising. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and has served on the school board, and as road supervisor. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he takes great interest. Philip T. Hicks married, December 22, 1881, Nettic Morley, a native of Silverton, and a daughter of John Morley, and into their household six chil- dren have been born, namely: Alma, Morton, Audrey, Tero, and Avery M. and Avis M., twins.

Charles F. Hicks was born in Patriot, Ind., December 26, 1841, and was educated in the dis- trict schools of Iowa. In 1863 he offered his services to his country, enlisting in Company B, Fourth Iowa Independent Battery. After being mustered in at Davenport, he went to New Or- leans, where he assisted in protecting railroad property, being on guard duty a large part of the time that he was in service. At the close of the war he returned to the parental homestead, and the following year, accompanied his parents and their family in the long trip across the plains. He labored with characteristic energy in the clearing and improving of the farm on which his parents settled, and where, with the exception of five years that he had charge of a grist-mill in Silverton, he has since resided. He is actively engaged in farming, being associated with his brother Philip, with whom he makes his home, and is deservedly prosperous in his undertak- ings. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a stanch Republican in politics, being a leader in party affairs. He has served to the satisfaction of his constituents in various public offices, and represented his county in the state legislature one term, having been elected to the office in June, 1886.

JOHN C. McCREA, commissioner of Yam- hill county, represents a type of citizen in whom is blended enthusiasm for whatever he has to do, a healthy mind and sterling integ- rity, and that most precious of possessions-

hard common sense. In the hard school of self-culture Mr. McCrea learned all his lessons of life, his affiliation with the serious and re- sponsible side of life having been inaugurated at a very early age. He was born in Branch county, Mich., September 16, 1847, and at the age of five years lost his father, John McCrea. The elder McCrea was a native of Ireland, and in his native land was engaged in farming and saw-milling. . He came to the United States with his parents, settling in Crawford county, Ohio, from where he removed to the farm in Michigan, where his death occurred at the age of fifty years. He was a practical farmer and expert lumberman, and managed by industry and frugality, to lay up quite a little property. His wife, Rachel (Eberhard) McCrea, was born in Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio with her parents when a child. Her great-grandfather served in the war of 1812. Mrs. McCrea had nine children, four sons and five daughters, John C. being the youngest son and eighth child.

Left fatherless, at the age of five, John C .. at nine, was leading a horse that was working a stump puller, and from this minor occupa- tion graduated into work requiring muscular development and business ability. Childish di- versions were almost unknown to the lad, who in 1871, departed from his native surroundings, having acquired considerable experience while managing comparatively large interests. In search of a favorable permanent location, he lived for a year in Freemont county, Iowa, and one year in Clay county, Mo., 1873 finding him again in Freemont county. In 1874 he located in Republic county, Kans., on the state line, and, in 1875, removed to California, locating forty miles southeast of San Francisco. Here he drove a six-mule team, and also farmed and worked in a brickyard. In 1876 he investigated conditions up in the Sound country, and in March, 1877, located on a farm of two hundred and fifty acres on the Willamette river in Marion county, to which he added later by purchase, one hundred and sixty acres. This property was improved to a large extent by Mr. McCrea, and disposed of in 1901, although he had taken up his residence in Newberg in 1899. The McCrea residence is one of the most beautiful in the town, situated in the midst of five acres of orchard land on the banks of the Willamette. The members of the family are popular and well known, and the hospitality and good fellowship dispensed are proverbial.

A stanch Independent, Mr. McCrea has taken an active interest in the political under- takings of this county, and has variously served the interests of the communities in which he has lived. In Marion county he was

J. M. B. Fuller

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road commissioner for several terms, and in Yamhill and Marion counties he has been a member of the school board. On the Populist ticket he was elected county commissioner in 1902, and is acceptably filling this important responsibility. Among the many outside in- terests which claim the attention of Mr. Mc- Crea may be mentioned the vice-presidency of the Chehalem Valley Bank, of which he is a stockholder, and of which he has been a direc- tor for seven years. He is also interested in oil wells in California, and in mines, being a stockholder in the Little Giant Gold Mining Company, the prospects of which look very encouraging. Mr. McCrea is fraternally asso- ciated with the Blue Lodge of Masons, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the United Artisans.

At Burr Oak, St. Joseph county, Mich., on December 25, 1867, Mr. McCrea married Altha Eleanor Baldwin, whose father, Daniel, was born in Connecticut and died in Michigan, at the age of fifty-five. Six children have been born into the McCrea home: Frederick L., born in Branch county, Mich., May 16. 1869, resides in Umatilla county, Ore .; Willis J., born in Clay county, Mo., January 15, 1873, died December 28, 1873; Elsie C., born in Branch County, Mich., December 12, 1874, died April 25, 1902; Edith A., born in Marion county, Ore., October 2, 1882 ; John C., born in Marion county, Ore., August 2, 1885; Archie E., born in Yamhill county, Ore., November 23, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. McCrea have five grandchildren, four boys and one girl.

JAMES N. B. FULLER. Foremost among the men of large capacity who are developing the giant lumber industry of Oregon is James N. B. Fuller, partner of J. B. Hopkins, in the Eugene Lumber Company, and a man of forceful characteristics and practical upbuilding tenden- cies. In common with all of the captains of industry who have achieved success in the state, the early life and environment of this merchant are of interest to an onlooking public, for un- questionably the majority who are struggling for a competency may profit by a knowledge of the means pursued by those high in public esteem.

The Fuller ancestry is an interesting one, and reaches far back into dim colonial days to one Thomas Fuller, whose desire for larger oppor- tunity inspired him to embark from English shores in 1632, and assume the life of self-sacri- fice and small compensation to which the earliest settlers of Massachusetts were heir. The next in order of succession of whom record has been kept is Israel Fuller, the paternal grandfather of James N. B., and who represented the sixth gen-

eration in the United States. This sire was born in the stronghold of conservatism in Danvers, Mass., and in time established his family in New Hampshire, where he owned and operated a large farm for the balance of his life. At one time he lived in Amherst, N. H., where his son, Samuel, the father of James N. B., was born, in 1807, and who continued to spend his days in Hillsboro county, his death occurring two miles from where he was born, at the age of eighty-five years. He married into the Hastings family, which also had its representatives among the colonists. Mrs. Fuller was born and reared in Shirley, a post township of Middlesex county, Mass. Four of the six children born to Samuel Fuller and his wife are living, James N. B., the only son in the family, dating his birth from October 9, 1850.

Educated in the public schools and at the New Ipswich Academy, James N. B. Fuller applied himself to the mastery of civil engineering when he was eighteen years old, eventually following the same in Hillsboro county, N. H., for three or four years. After coming to Oregon in 1877 he spent the first winter in McMinnville, and in the spring of 1878 engaged in the planing-mill business in Crawfordsville, Linn county, with Mr. Crawford, after whom the town was named. In 1884 the partners extended their operations to the banks of the Mohawk, where they built a water-power sawmill, operated it for a year, and then built a steam-mill at the mouth of the Mohawk. This mill was not long after removed to McGowan Creek, and operated until Mr. Ful- ler came to Eugene in 1890 to help start on its successful career the Eugene Lumber Company. With his partner he built the mill by the bridge, which in 1900 was burned to the ground, and which calamity necessitated the building of the present modern structure.

In Baldwin, Kans., in April, 1893, Mr. Fuller married Mamie Carman, a native of Omaha, Neb., being born in August, 1862. Mrs. Fuller is the daughter of John and Mary (Lynde) Car- man, now residents of Eugene, the former born in England and the latter in New York. One son, James Carman, a bright and interesting child, has blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Fuller. Mr. Fuller is a Republican in political affiliation, and is variously connected with fraternal and social organizations in the county. He possesses the elements of popularity and success, and to an exceptional degree enjoys the confidence of the community in which he dwells.

JOHN T. JAMES. Diversified farming, stock and hop-raising are being successfully con- ducted on the three hundred and ten acre farm of John T. James, in the vicinity of Suver, Polk

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county. Mr. James has been a resident of this county for so many years that he is considered an important part of its development, and a typical representative of its prosperity. From a middle-west farm in Cumberland county, Ill., where he was born January 17, 1848, he crossed the plains in 1866 with his parents, Samuel M. and Julia A. (Troxel) James, the latter a native of Indiana, and the former born in 1818. On the maternal side Mr. James is of German descent, his mother's family having been repre- sented in America for many years. Samuel M. James was a shoemaker by trade, and also farmed during the greater part of his active life, devoting hunself exclusively to the latter occu- pation after locating on his farm in Douglas county, Ore., in the fall of 1866. He was not destined to long enjoy his life in the west, for his death occurred in 1868. He was survived by his wife until 1888, when she died at the age of sixty-seven years. Besides John T., the youngest of the three children, there is J. H., the oldest son, living in Coquille, Coos county, Ore., and Mary Jane, the wife of George Hall of Ashland, Ore.

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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 128

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