Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 137

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 137

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAFHICAL RECORD.

in the valley, and improved a fine homestead. Succeeding well in his agricultural labors he invested his surplus in other lands, and became the owner of seven hundred acres of valuable land. In addition to general farming he was prosperously engaged in stock-raising and deal- ing, a profitable industry in this country. In 1875 he embarked in mercantile pursuits, open- ing the first store in Crawfordsville, and for thirteen years was postmaster of the town.

In 1853 Mr. Glass married Jane Gray, who came across the plains to Oregon in 1852, and five children were born to them: John H., of Brownsville, Ore .; W. B., also of Brownsville ; David H., who is living at Scattle, Wash., where he is in the employ of the city engineer ; Joseph W., a farmer of Crawfordsille; and Ivy J., living at home. Mr. Glass warmly upheld the principles of the Republican party, and filled various public offices with credit to himself, and to the eminent satisfaction of his constituents. For a number of years he was justice of the peace and school clerk, and served in the state legislature in 1864, and in the extra session of 1865. He was an active member of the Pres- byterian Church, in which he served as elder from 1870 until his death.

RICHARD CARTWRIGHT, M. D. One of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons of the Willamette Valley is Dr. Richard Cart- wright, who for thirteen years has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Salem. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, he was born July 9, 1851, a son of Edmund and Jane (Clarke) Cartwright. His great-grandfather, the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, was a minister in the Church of England. While his life was devoted chiefly to the work of the church in England, he also possessed marked mechanical ingenuity and invented and perfected the first power loom ever used in the manufacture of cloth. His son, Richard, grandfather of the subject of this re- view, was a manufacturer of Leicester, England, and it was in that city that Dr. Edmund Cart- wright was born and reared. He was provided with excellent educational privileges. Upon the completion of his classical course he was grad- uated from King's College, London. The foun- cation of his medical knowledge was gained in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. London, from which he received the degree of doctor of medicine. In young manhood he came to America and became a practitioner at Ham- ilton, Ontario, where he remained until 1857. In the latter year he removed to Iowa, and con- tinued the practice of his profession in Charles City, Waukon and Decoralı. His death occurred in the latter city in 1900, he having attained the

age of eighty-one years. He possessed marked skill and ability in the practice of medicine and surgery. He married Jane Clarke, a native of Lincolnshire, England, who is still living in lowa. Of the six children born to Dr. Edmund Cartwright and his wife, five survive.

Dr. Richard Cartwright, the second child in the family, was reared in Iowa, where he received his preliminary education. After leaving the high school of Waukon he devoted his attention to farm work for some time, and also served as builders' clerk. When he finally determined to enter the ranks of the medical profession, he dis- played the strength of his character by provid- ing the means for his own education. In 1873 he entered the Detroit Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the degree of M. D. He began practice in Fayette, Fayette county, Iowa, where he remained for two years. Upon the expiration of that period he located in West Union, Fayette county, Iowa, where he remained in practice until 1879. While a resident of West Union, Dr. Cartwright married Miss Cora Aiken, a native of Iowa, but after two years of happy married life she passed away.

Leaving the Mississippi valley in 1883, Dr. Cartwright came to Oregon, but soon afterward located in Grass Valley, Nevada county, Cal., where he was engaged in general practice until 1890. In that year he returned to Oregon, and at once opened an office in Salem, where he has since remained continuously in practice. In June, 1900, he erected the Florence Sanatorium, a pri- vate hospital, one of the most perfectly equipped on the entire Pacific coast. He makes a specialty of chronic and surgical cases, and has become well known in Salem and throughout the sur- rounding country, by reason of the great suc- cess which has attended his professional labors.

Dr. Cartwright's preparation for his chosen work was very thorough. Not content with the foundation of medical knowledge obtained in the school which conferred upon him his first degree, he took a full course in the Chicago Homœo- pathic Medical College, from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1882. He made a special study of clinical gynecology in the medical de- partment of Willamette University, pursued a course in the Post-Graduate College in New York, and took a post-graduate course in Chi- cago in 1893. He is continually broadening his knowledge by individual research and investiga- tion. Since 1895 he has given special attention to gynecology, and occupies a place among the foremost representatives of this important branch of medical practice in the Pacific northwest.

Dr. Cartwright was married a second time in Portland, Ore., to Miss Florence Byrne, a native of Illinois, who was reared in California. They are the parents of three children : Gladys L.,

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Constance and Florence Elizabeth. The doctor and his wife occupy an enviable position in social circles, and their own pleasant home is celebrated for its gracious hospitality. He has always been an earnest Republican, though never a seeker for political honors. He is well known in Ma- sonic circles in Oregon, being a member of Salem Lodge No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he is past master; and of Multnomah Chapter No. I, Royal Arch Masons, of Salem. He was one of the organizers and a member of the board of directors of the Illihee Club, of which he is now the president. His wife is a member of the Unitarian Church. In connection with his profession he is a member of the Marion County Medical Association.

Dr. Cartwright is constantly overburdened by the demands upon his time, both professionally and socially. He leads a strenuous life; any- thing that tends to bring to man the key to that complex mystery which we call life elicits his earnest attention ; and in the alleviation of human suffering his labors have been far-reaching and successful. During the years of his residence in Salem he has proven himself a useful citizen and man of affairs, always not only willing, but anx- ious, to assist in the promotion of all worthy enterprises, and especially all those movements calculated to advance the material interests of the community in which he resides. It is to such men as Dr. Cartwright that the northwest is in- debted for the inculcation into the minds and hearts of the present generation of its manifest spirit of progress; for he is a man of most ad- vanced ideas, wide-awake to the manifold oppor- tunities of the state of Oregon, of whose future greatness he feels assured.

JOHN WATERS. Upon his farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres, located two and a half miles west of Lewisville, Polk county, John Waters has spent thirty-six useful years, indicated now by the substantial appearance of his property, on which he has made all the im- provements, beginning in the pioneer days of the country. Out of a wilderness of shrubs and brush he has brought forty-five acres under cultivation, which he devotes to general farm- ing, and is also largely engaged in raising sheep, goats and cattle.

Mr. Waters is of Scotch descent, his great- grandfather, Zachariah Waters, having emi- grated from Scotland and settled as a farmer in Maryland, where the descendants of the family passed many years. Joseph, the grandfather, was born in Frederick county, Md., and like- wise Edward B., the father of John Waters, his birth occurring in 1807, and it was there he died in 1816, after a life of industry and energy as

a carpenter and joiner. Being but nine years old when his father died, Edward B. Waters went to live with an uncle, and while making his home there he served an apprenticeship of three years with a blacksmith at Fredericks- burg. In 1831 he came as far west as Ohio and located in Perry county, where he worked at his trade, combining it with the interests of a farm. He there married, in 1836, Sarah Grif- fith, who was born in Greene county, Pa., Jan- uary 18, 1813, of German descent, and from which location she had removed with her pa- rents to Ohio, where her father engaged in farming. For five years they continued to make their home in Ohio, and in 1841 Mr. Waters took his family to Laporte county, Ind., where he engaged in farming until the fall of 1852, when he went to Clinton county, Iowa, the fol- lowing spring finding them en route for Ore- gon. The trip across the plains occupied six months, and at the end of the journey they lo- cated for the first winter at Ritners, near King's valley, to which they had come on their arrival on the Luckiamute. The next spring they went up Edward's creek and took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres, upon which they remained for six years, engaged in general farming and stock-raising, after which, in 1859, Mr. Waters sold out, and going to Klickitat county, Wash., he took up a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres. Until 1865 he followed the business of stock-raising, when he returned to Polk county and bought six hundred and forty acres of land located on Pe- dee creek, where he continued to live for five years. In 1870 he retired from the active cares of life, his choice of location for the remainder of his days being Dallas, Polk county, where his death occurred June 23, 1879, after which Mrs. Waters went to live with her daughter, Mary Jane Turner, located near Airlie. Mr. Waters was a radical Republican in politics, hav- ing been 'so since the Civil war, and in religion he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having joined that denomination in the east. « Besides John Waters, his parents had the following children : William, of Wheeler county, eastern Oregon; Sarah C., now Mrs. Price, of Pedee, Ore .; Mary J., now Mrs. Turner, near Airlie ; and Martha A., the wife of Nathaniel Holman, of Dallas, Ore.

John Waters was born in Perry county, Ohio, May 5, 1839, the second of his father's family. He received his education through the medium of the common schools of Indiana, after which he went to the farm with his father and engaged un- til his twenty-first birthday in working for him, after which he became independent, though he re- mained at home. He was married June 19, 1867, to Flora A. Ritner, who was born December

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7, 1850, in Platte City, Mo., the daughter of John Ritner, who died on the plains en route to Oregon, in 1852. Of this union ten children were born, eight of whom are living, namely: Sarah J., the wife of R. A. Hastings; Mary A., the wife of C. J. Pugh, of Falls City; Francis M., who is employed by I. M. Simpson; Della M., attending school at Monmouth; Ida A., at home; Chester D., also at home; Flora E., a student at Monmouth ; and Gertrude E. at home. After his marriage Mr. Waters bought the farni on which he now makes his home.

In his political relations Mr. Waters is, like his father, a stanch Republican, and as such has served in the interests of his party in vari- ous minor offices, among them being road super- visor and school director, the latter office having been faithfully filled by Mr. Waters for twenty- seven years. In his fraternal affiliations he is a member of the Grange of Lewisville, and in religion both himself and wife are members of the Evangelical Church, of Lewisville, in which he has officiated as steward.

THOMAS WILLIAMS. When Thomas Williams came to Lewisville, Polk county, Ore., he had but $17 in money, and a family to rear and educate, and in face of such an outlook a less courageous, energetic, determined man might have faltered and lost the battle when success was just within his grasp. He came here December 13, 1893, and at once started a little blacksmith shop, that being his trade, and after two years he was able financially to purchase thirty-five acres of land, located three-quarters of a mile south of the city, upon which he erected a shop and began to clear his property; at the present time he conducts a general blacksmith and wagon shop and a chopping-feed mill, and has built a fine residence and many other valua- ble improvements which indicate the prosperity which is the fruit of his industry and perse- verance.

Mr. Williams was the third of a family of fourteen children, ten sons and four daughters, and was born in Denbighshire, Wales, July 14, 1851. His father was William Williams, a native of the same locality, and who died in Shropshire, England, in 1896, when seventy- three years old. He had been occupied through- out his life in a manufactory of woolen goods. His wife was Elizabeth (Edwards) Williams, who was born in Merionethshire, Wales, and is now living in her native country, over eighty years old. On account of limited means, Mr. Williams was unable to attend school, being ap- prenticed to learn the trade of a woolen worker when only eight years old, and after seven years devoted to this he was apprenticed to a black-

smith, where he served for six years. He was then twenty-one years old, and after his marriage in 1872 with Eleanor Roberts, a native of Meri- onethshire, Wales, born there January 3, 1852, he emigrated to the United States, confident, though he could neither read nor write, that determina- tion and will power were as potent factors in winning the battle of life as education, and that he could succeed where these qualities were recognized and appreciated. He landed at New York City, thence to Laporte City, Iowa, where he remained four years, two of which he gave in the work of his trade to pay his passage to America. In 1878 he located in Madison county, Neb., where he engaged for himself in the work of a blacksmith, finding employment on the Union Pacific Railroad in every section of the middle west. In 1892 he left the Mississippi valley and coming west, he located first in Kitsap county, Wash., and a year later found him in Corvallis, Benton county, Ore., where he re- mained for nine months. His next move was to Lewisville, from which he removed to his pres- ent location, at Maple Grove, which village he founded. In addition to his interests in his business, he owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Lewisville, which is utilized for stock-raising, the stock being cat- tle, goats and sheep, also carrying on a little farming.

To Mr. and Mrs. Williams were born thirteen children, twelve sons and one daughter, and the seven sons now living are as follows: William C., T. Henry, John L., Albert E., Ira S., Arthur B. and Kenneth L., all of whom are at home. In his political relations Mr. Williams is a Re- publican and in the interests of his party he is at present serving as school director. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Dallas, and both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church South, of Lewisville, in which he officiates as trustee.

JAMES E. EDWARDS. A prosperous and worthy life has been that of James E. Edwards, a prominent citizen of Benton county, who. though now in his eighty-seventh year, enjoys remarkably good health and lively spirits, which are evidenced in his animation as he recalls the days when Oregon was a wilderness of un- threaded forests and fallow fields, and he was numbered among the hardy men who gave their youth and strength of purpose to the formation of the western statehood. He first settled in Benton county in 1853, and has made this his home ever since, ably profiting by the many op- portunities presented in the early days, and now enjoying the evening of his life amid the changes which the years have brought.

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The birth of James E. Edwards occurred in Fayette county, Pa., May 2, 1817, his father being a farmer in that section. When only a child he lost this parent, and the widow and her children then removed to a piece of land which had been taken up by the father in Ohio in an early day. Their removal was made in 1823, and there the mother married a second time, making her home upon this property until her death, at the age of fifty years. The early education of Mr. Edwards was received in the district school in the vicinity of his Ohio home, remaining in the latter until his mother's death, when he sought employment among the neighboring farmers. He was then twenty-one years old, his residence in that state continuing until 1853, when he decided to change his location to the western slope of the country, whither so many people were taking their course. The first step in this direction was made by water as far as St. Louis, in that city purchasing the oxen and nec- essary outfit for the trip across the plains. May 7, 1853, found them started upon their journey, and after six months of uneventful travel the party reached Oregon, where Mr. Edwards took up a donation claim in the Alsea valley, Benton county, and there remained for four years, at the close of that time purchasing property located northwest of Dusty. Until about 1863 this was the home of the Edwards family, Mr. Edwards, at that date, purchasing the farm upon which. they now live. This consists of three hundred and twenty acres of land, located fifteen miles southwest of Corvallis and one and one-half miles from Bellfountain, and upon which Mr. Edwards has put all the improvements, even to the doing of the carpenter work himself. He has a fine location for a home, the outlook taking in the wide sweep of the productive valley and well-improved farms about.

The marriage of Mr. Edwards and Mary Longsworth, the latter a native of Maryland, was solemnized in 1844, the trials and hardships of the memorable journey across the plains and the long years of patient toil in the new land having been shared by his wife, who lived to be sixty-five years old. Of the nine children which blessed this union six are now living, of whom Lucinda is the wife of Nathan Wheland, of The Dalles; Isaac is located in Lane county ; William is in Douglas; Lewis is in the vicinity ; James F. is in Indiana, and Joseph Harold is still on the home place. As a Republican, Mr. Edwards has been active in the affairs of the county, having served for fourteen years as county commis- sioner, ten years as school clerk, and a great many years as school director. For over fifty years he has been a faithful member of the United Brethren Church. Though now at a ripe old age, the mental and physical faculties seem

not to have suffered a loss in activity and Mr. Edwards is still actively interested in the affairs of his community.

CHARLES LEONARD STARR, superin- tendent of schools of Polk county, and one of the successful and promising educators in the state, was born near Santa Clara, Cal., February 13, 1877, a son of J. P., and grandson of Llewel- lyn Starr, who came from England and lived in the south before locating in New Jersey.

J. P. Starr was born in Rahway, N. J., and reared in Columbia and Washington counties, N. Y. In early manhood he learned the black- smith trade, and for a time, near New York City, engaged in buying and selling stock. Upon lo- cating in Santa Clara county, Cal., he worked at his trade from 1870 until 1878, and then removed to Oregon, residing for six months in Dayton, five years in McMinnville, a number of years in Sheridan and Falls City, industriously plying his trade in all of these places. Since 1898 he has lived a retired life in Dallas. Mr. Starr mar- ried Adeline Crawford, who was born in Rhine- beck, N. Y., a daughter of John Crawford, a native of Erie county, Pa., and a member of an old Pennsylvania family. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Starr, of whom Charles Leonard is the third. The oldest son, Arthur P., is engaged in the hotel and stage business at Falls City ; Harry E. is a farmer near Falls City ; Marianna is a resident of Dallas, and William died September 11, 1903.

The education of Professor Starr was acquired in the public schools of McMinnville, Dallas and Falls City, and under private tutorships, covering four or five years. He entered upon his educa- tional career in 1894, as a teacher in the district schools. In 1900 he was nominated for superin- tendent of schools of Polk county on the Repub- lican ticket, and was elected by a majority of one hundred and eighty, the largest majority of any candidate on the county ticket, save that of senator. Upon the resignation of County Super- intendent of Schools J. N. Hart, July 1, 1900, to assume the office of district attorney, Mr. Starr was appointed to fill the unexpired term by the county commissioner, and was thus prominently brought to the notice of the public. His term of office dates from August, 1900, until August, 1904, and already Mr. Starr has demonstrated his particular fitness for his large responsibility. The present educational administration is uni- versally conceded to be the best in the history of Polk county, and is directly traceable to certain innovations suggested by the practical fore- thought of Professor Starr. The teachers' insti- tute forms an important part in the educational system, and through this medium the teachers

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are kept in touch with the plans of their adviser, and are continually stimulated to greater and more advanced effort. Monthly reports sent in by the teachers have proved advantageous, and the schools are visited by the superintendent at least once a year. Superintendent Starr lays great stress upon the "practical" in education, and it is his wish to place students in a position to meet the every-day issues of life. He is a member of the State Teachers' Association, presi- dent department of superintendents. In political affiliation he is a Republican, and fraternally is identified with, and a charter member of, the Falls City Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

WILLIAM J. WILLBANKS. A typical southerner who has transferred his allegiance to the bountiful northwest and materially as- sisted in promoting its agricultural and other interests is W. J. Willbanks, a large land owner of Benton county, but now living re- tired in Corvallis. Mr. Willbanks came to Oregon in 1874, and in Linn county bought a farm of two hundred and ninety-two acres one mile east of Corvallis Ferry, where he con- ducted a very successful wheat and sheep- raising enterprise. The large profit from the sale of these commodities enabled him to branch out as a land owner, and to his original purchase he added an adjoining two hundred and fifty acres. At the present time he owns five hundred and forty-two acres of improved land in one of the garden sections of Oregon, and which is more valuable because in one body. Here he farmed until 1891, and then left his son with the management of the large property, he himself taking up his residence in Corvallis.

The boyhood of Mr. Willbanks was spent in the Anderson district, South Carolina, where he was born August 22, 1834, the sixth in the family of eight children, of whom two sons and one daughter are living. His father, Eli- jah, was also born in the Anderson district, where his emigrating ancestor presumably set- tled after coming from Scotland. From South Carolina he removed to Carroll county, Miss., where he farmed, and where he married Nancy Presley, a native of Carroll county, and daughter of David Presley, also of Scotch de- scent. In Carroll county Elijah Willbanks passed his last years, as did also the wife who so faithfully and practically reared her large family. Of the sons, W. J. attended the early subscription school held in a log cabin in the Anderson district, and he remained on the home farm until twenty-three years of age. He was first married to Eleanor J. Mecklin, a

native of the Abbeyville district, South Caro- lina, and in 1857 removed to Carroll county, Miss., where he bought a farm and engaged in raising cotton. In time he had one hundred and sixty acres under cotton cultivation, and at the time of the culmination of hostilities be- tween the north and south in 1861, had a very profitable source of livelihood. He wisely scented danger owing to the unsettled condi- tion of the south, and the uncertainty as to the outcome of the Confederacy, and disposed of the greater part of his cotton. However, he had four bales left, amounting to two thousand pounds, or one ton, and this he left on the barn floor covered up with cotton seed.

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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 137

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