Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 140

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 140

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chances in the west, for he was overtaken with discase on the plains, and died on the Snake river. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Read, five are living, four sons and one daughter. Of these, Theresa, was the deceased wife of John Benson, of Benton county; Perry is a stockman in Crook county, Ore .; Columbia; Sumner is a business man of Tacoma, Wash .; Charles is living in Oregon City; and Clara is the wife of Tolbert Norton, of Corvallis.

Until his twenty-first year Columbia Read lived with his father, and from him learned to be a successful farmer and stock-raiser. Upon start- ing out to farm independently he bought a ranch two miles from his old home, and now owns a farm of four hundred and eighty acres near Wells Station. Needless to say, his property is finely improved, is all under cultivation, and for many years has been devoted principally to grain and stock-raising. Having amassed a compe- tency, Mr. Read moved to Corvallis in 1892, bought a piece of property, and built his present large and modern home. In Benton county he married Tillie Dudley, who was born in Illinois, near Rock Island, a daughter of Gustavus Dud- ley, who brought his family to Oregon in 1868. William and Bert, the two children in the family, are living in Corvallis. Mr. Read is a Republican in politics, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of the Maccabees and the Artisans. Mrs. Read is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Read is a genial and popular man, and has many friends in the town and county.

THOMAS LEESE. Though a young man and a new-comer to the state, Mr. Leese is nev- crtheless munich interested in Oregon, and dur- ing his short residence in Corvallis he has proved his worth as a substantial citizen of the place by his straightforward business methods. Mr. Leese is manager of the Willamette Valley Banking Company, which carries on a general banking business, and he has had wide experience as a banker, being interested at the present time in no less than four banking houses. An English- man by birth, with Crewe, Cheshire, as his birth- place, he is a descendant of an old and honored English family. He obtained a good education in his native land, where he attended college. His father, Isaac Leese, was a farmer by occu- pation, as was also his grandfather, Abraham Leese. His mother was a native of Stafford- shire, England, and was before marriage, Sarah Wood, a daughter of John Wood, a prominent stockman. She died in her native land and Isaac afterward crossed the ocean and sought a home in America.

Thomas Leese was born December 16, 1862, and was the only son of his parents. After

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leaving an agricultural college he served three 'years as surveyor and civil engineer at Capes- thorne. In 1883 he emigrated to America and engaged in farming with his father in Manitoba, Dominion of Canada. They improved the land and farmed on a large scale, meeting with un- limited success in that line. He was elected county treasurer of Birtle county, Manitoba, in 1890, serving until 1900. He was also engaged in exporting fine cattle to England and Scotland, from Manitoba and Northwest Canada, shipping direct to Liverpool, London and Glasgow.

In 1894 Mr. Leese first engaged in the banking business by establishing a bank at Birtle, and later an associate bank at Russell. In this ven- ture he had two partners. J. C. Dudley and Will- iam Scarth. The partnership then formed is still in force, and although Mr. Leese has left that section of the country, he still retains his interests in both banks. In 1900 Mr. Leese left Manitoba and the following year came to Ore- gon, opening the Lincoln County Bank of To- ledo, and served as active manager for one year. In July, 1902, he opened the Willamette Valley Bank in Corvallis, of which he is now manager, leaving the Lincoln County Bank in charge of Mr. Scarth.

Mr. Leese was united in marriage with Emma Fields, of Ontario, that happy event taking place in Wisconsin, and they unite in worshiping at the Episcopal Church. In fraternal circles, Mr. Leese holds a membership with the Knights of Pythias and he is a valued member of the Amer- ican Bankers' Association.

BUSHROD W. WILSON. There are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which was uniformly accorded Bush- rod Wilson, but through many long years of connection with Oregon's history his was an unblemished character. With him success in life was reached by his sterling qualities of mind and heart. True to every manly principle he never deviated from what his judgment would indi- cate to be right and honorable between his fellow- . men and himself; he never swerved from the patlı of duty, and in the evening of a long and eventful career he could look back over the past with pride and without regret for any unworthy action done. In fact, he had the right to enjoy the consciousness of having gained for himself by his honorable, straightforward career the con- fidence and respect of the entire community in which he lived. He stands high in the history of the state, in that he filled the position of a county clerk for a longer period than any other man who has ever resided in Oregon. His life record pre- sents many exemplary traits of character and may well prove of great benefit to others, if they

will but heed the obvious lessons which it con- tains.

In pioneer times Mr. Wilson became a resident of Oregon. He was born in the far-off state of Maine, his natal year being 1824 and his birth place Columbia Falls. On the paternal side he comes of Anglo-Saxon lineage and on the ma- ternal side he was of French Huguenot descent. Perhaps the early trials of his mother's family, who had been exiled from Arcadia, were some- what responsible for the intense love which he always manifested for our American free insti- tutions and for the country in which man can worship according to the dictates of his own conscience. However this may be, Mr. Wilson always displayed the utmost fidelity to the coun- try, and in matters of citizenship he was most loyal and progressive. He was also a bitter op- ponent of anything that seemed to him out of harmony with the keeping of the American spirit of freedom and protection for all, and thus it was that in early life, he became a free-soil Whig and afterward a stanch abolitionist, ever known as the champion and friend of the cause of the oppressed.

When but nine years of age Mr. Wilson ac- companied his parents on their removal to New York, and to some extent attended the public schools of that city, but his educational privi- leges were somewhat limited. In later years, however, reading, experience and observation brought to him broad knowledge and he became a well informed man. Especially did he keep in touch with everything pertaining to his coun- try and her interests. His independent spirit and self-reliance were early manifested, for from a very youthful age he depended upon his own re- sources and by the time he had reached the age of seventeen he had gained much skill in various pursuits that brought to him a substantial re- turn. He worked at the printer's trade with Horace Greeley, and when nothing better offered he would run errands and thus add to his weekly income. It was not necessity that forced Mr. Wilson to do this, for his father was in rather comfortable circumstances, but an innate spirit of independence was his and he was in no way afraid to work. In fact, throughout his entire life indolence and idleness were utterly foreign to his nature, and he was ever busy either with his own private interests or in furthering meas- ures and movements for the general good.

In the year 1840 Mr. Wilson's father removed to Illinois when the greater part of that state was an unbroken prairie and the city of Chicago was open fields. The mother of Bushrod Wilson had died some years previously, and after moving west the father married again. After a time, being of an adventurous disposition, Bushrod Wilson, desiring to see more of the world, made

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his way to the Atlantic coast and took passage upon a whaling vessel, bound for the Pacific waters, on a three-years' cruise. He sailed under Captain Taber on the bark Harvest, and experi- enced the hardships and difficulties incident to such a trip at that time. Whaling at that time was also attended with various dangers and it was necessary that the men should become ex- pert swimmers, as they were often thrown into the water. He related that when out in the middle of the Pacific with the boat crew he was several times in the water for the greater part of a day. When the voyage was over Mr. Wil- son paid a visit to his father and brothers in the west and then again went to sea, making several voyages up the Mediterranean, and subsequently acted as pilot on the lakes, in which capacity he was employed for five years. On the expiration of that period he made a trip around Cape Horn in the ship William Gray, arriving in San Francisco in time to participate in the celebration of July 4, 1850. The present populous city was then scarcely more than a mining camp. After spending one season in the mines on the Yuba and American rivers Mr. Wilson started for Umpqua as a passenger on the schooner Rein- deer. He was induced to take this step through reports which had been circulated by the trans- portation people concerning the richness of the mines of the Umpqua district, but he was doomed to disappointment on reaching his destination, as the reports had been entirely wrong. He then started up the Umpqua river in a canoe, leaving at the landing his chest of ship-carpenter's tools valued at $300, and when he returned these were nowhere to be found. Proceeding up the coast to the Willamette valley he arrived at the site of Marysville, Wash., late in the fall of 1850. Although his advent into Oregon seemed 1In- profitable, it after all worked for his good, for he was pleased with the Willamette district and eventually became a resident of this portion of the state. Taking up a claim, he afterward gave this away and secured another one, which in turn he traded for a saw-mill property at, Pe- oria. There he engaged in the manufacture of lumber, the splendid forests of the state offering ample opportunity for the prosecution of this business, but there was no market for the product and he lost all that he had invested. After some ten years employed in carpenter work and min- ing, Mr. Wilson secured employment in the office of Eugene Perham, county clerk of Ben- ton county, and at the election in 1864, having been nominated by his party for that office, he was chosen by the popular vote for the posi- tion wherein he continually served through re- election, for thirty years. He then declined further nomination and voluntarily retired from the position as he had entered it-with the con-

fidence and good will of the entire public. His official record is certainly commendable, for over it there fell no shadow of wrong-doing or sus- picion of evil. He was prompt, methodical and systematic in the execution of his duties. He was ever willing to aid all who came to him in connection with the business of the office, and it is said that the only enemies that he ever had were certain lawyers who felt that he infringed upon their rights by giving freely information to those who sought it in the office of the county clerk. Mr. Wilson made one other investment aside from his saw-mill, which did not prove- entirely profitable, and yet became of the utmost value to the state. He was one of the founders of the Oregon & Pacific Railroad, his idea be- ing to build the road to Yaquina, and thus afford direct shipping facilities for Europe, that the grain producers might ship their wheat direct to the different parts of the old world. Mr. Wilson induced other men to jom him in the enterprise, and he became a secretary and trustee of the company, and also one of its directors until his health failed. The road was completed, put in running order and met the needs of the com- munity in the direction which Mr. Wilson had indicated. He did not realize, however, from his investment, in fact, lost heavily, but his work has proved of the greatest benefit to the people of the state.

Whatever tended to advance the welfare and progress of Benton county or of Oregon awak- cned the interested attention and helpful efforts of Bushrod Wilson. To enumerate in detail what he has done would be to overstep the bounds of history. In the early days he was more than usually active in the establishment and up-build- ing of the State Agricultural College, and for many years he gave substantial support to the Gasctte, assisting it over many difficult places in its early career. He took from his funds only enough to enable him to meet his obligations and to provide a comfortable home for his family and the remainder of his income went in benevolent and charitable work or in co-operation in move- ments for the general good.

In 1856 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Priscilla O. Yantis, who was born in Mis- souri in 1838, and in 1850 crossed the plains with her parents, James M. and Sarah A. Yantis, who located on a donation claim in Linn county, two miles from Shedds Station. There her father improved a fine farm upon which he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1879. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah A. Hamilton and is also deceased. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wil- son were born nine children : Lafayette Y., who is engaged in mining in Alaska ; E. Belle, the wife of J. B. Walker, who is on the editorial staff of the Scientific American in New York

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City ; James O., who follows farming near Corvallis; J. H., an attorney of Corvallis; Robert J., a practicing physician of New York City and is now serving on the New York board of health and is an instructor in Bellevue Medical College and the Univer- sity of New York and sanitary inspector of greater New York; Thomas E., who is an attorney in California; Minnie A., who is employed in the First National Bank of Cor- vallis; Cara H. M. and Bushrod W., who re- side in Corvallis.

Mr. Wilson, the father of this family, passed away March 4, 1900, and is still survived by his widow, who yet resides on the old homestead. His life was devoted to his family, his friends and his country, and his unswerving purpose, his unquestioned fidelity, his unfailing honesty, and his unchanging will commanded the high- est respect of all. He was a leader in the cause of liberty, of freedom and of progress and his hearty co-operation was ever given to that which tended to elevate mankind. Mr. Wilson was made a Mason in Corvallis Lodge over forty years ago. He attained the thirty- second degree Scottish Rite and was also a member of the Noble Mystic Shrine. He passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodges. Four of his sons are Master Masons.

JOHN W. RANSOM, M. D. A resident of Marion county since 1887, Dr. John W. Ran- som has, during the past fifteen years, endeared himself closely to the inhabitants of Turner and vicinity, where he has been engaged in a la- borious professional practice, in connection with the management of an extensive general mer- chandise business.

Dr. Ransom was born near West Bedford, Coshocton county, Ohio, August 18, 1841, and is a son of Robert and Nancy Ransom, of Penn- sylvania. In 1850 his parents moved to Hart- ford City, Blackford county, Ind., where they located on a farm. There Dr. Ransom was reared, receiving his rudimentary education in the public schools. His early studies were sup- plemented by a course in Tiber College, located at Portland, Ind., after the completion of which he returned to the farm and continued to render his father such assistance in its management as was demanded of him. In 1860 he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of William Anderson and a native of Indiana.

Having determined to prosecute the practice of medicine, Dr. Ransom entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1863, where he remained a year. He then continued his studies for four years under the supervision of Dr. Mills of Hartford

City, Ind. After having qualified for his chosen field of labor, he engaged in practice for two years with his preceptor, at the end of which period he opened an office in Tustin, Osceola county, Mich., where he conducted a successful practice for fourteen years. Finding this field too limited for a man of more than ordinary capabilities, he decided to remove to the far west, and in 1887 came to Oregon. Locating at Turner, he has since made that town his professional and business headquarters, and has never had cause to regret the happy inspiration which directed his footsteps toward the region beyond the Rocky mountains. Eleven years after settling in Turner Dr. Ransom established a general merchandise store, in company with his son, and is now transacting a business which has assumed satisfactory proportions.

In 1861 Dr. Ransom's first wife died, and in 1862 he married Tabitha C. Anderson, of which union there were born ten children, as follows : Rhoda, deceased; Susan, deceased; Effie, wife of W. A. McGovern, a resident of Tustin, Mich .; Thomas, living in Tustin, Mich. ; Charles, a part- ner with his father in the mercantile business in Turner, Ore .; Mary, wife of B. J. Oller, of Portland, Ore .; Alice, residing at Cadillac, Mich .; John, a resident of Omer, Mich .; Harvey, of Tustin, Mich .; and Clayton, a graduate of the medical department of Willamette Univer- sity, of Salem, Ore., and now practicing in part- nership with his father. In 1889 Dr. Ransom married Olive M. Gulvin, with whom he is now living.

Since 1866 Dr. Ransom has been identified with the Masonic fraternity, and is now a mem- ber of Jefferson Lodge No. 33, of Oregon. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1875, and is now a mem- ber of Fidelity Lodge No. 36 of Oregon. Dr. Ransom possesses an exceedingly social dispo- sition, and his optimistic temperament undoubt- edly has contributed largely to his success as a medical practitioner. By his numerous friends he is highly esteemed for the many splendid traits in his character, and for the unselfish in- terest he has taken in those projects which are intended to benefit the community in which he resides.

L. F. MASCHER. Not alone for its beau- tiful surroundings and fine improvements is the farm of Fred Mascher noted, but for the fact that its owner is the only man in the vicinity who can boast that every year of his life of over half a century has been spent upon the location where he first saw the light of day. Time has not diminished his attachment for his

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birthplace, as is shown in the care and attention which he gives to every detail that tends toward the improvement of his home; each recurrence of the seedtime and harvest yields recalling the days of boyhood and young manhood spent on the farm from where he looks forward to a happy old age among the same pleasant scenes.

The father of L. F. Mascher, Christ F., was born December 29, 1811, in Germany, and emi- grated in 1836 to the United States, settling in Baltimore, Md., where he engaged in the iron works as a puddler. Soon after his arrival in America he married Sarah Eisenhardt, also a native of Germany. In 1844 the family removed to Missouri, where the father engaged in farm- ing, remaining, however, but eight years, the next venture taking them to the Pacific coast, the journey being made by means of ox-teams and lasting seven months. The only trouble experienced from the Indians on the trip was the loss of some of their cattle. On reaching Oregon, they came direct to Marion county, where Mr. Mascher bought the squatter's right to six hundred and forty acres located in the Waldo hills, three miles south of Silverton, en- gaging in general farming and stock-raising. Here Mr. and Mrs. Mascher passed the re- mainder of their days, living to the ages of eighty-seven and seventy-five, respectively. Mr. Mascher was actively interested in politics and in all public affairs, taking an intelligent inter- est in matters of educational advancement and giving a strong support in church movements, and in all matters tending to morality.

Of the six children born to his parents, L. F. Mascher is the only one now living. His birth occurred December 6, 1850, the same year in which his parents made the trip from the middle west, and on the farm where he now makes his home. In his youth he attended the district schools in the vicinity, and on attaining man- hood engaged with his father in farming, which occupation he has continued his entire life. In. 1875 he married Allie J. Allen, also an Ore- gonian, the daughter of Henry Allen, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Three daughters were born to them, of whom the eldest, Lillian M., is the wife of L. J. Burnham, of Tacoma. The two remaining daughters, Grace and Minnie, are still at home with their parents.

In the farm of Mr. Mascher are included three hundred and fifty-five acres of the old donation claim taken by his father, upon which stands the house in which he and his wife first began housekeeping and where they now live. The land is devoted to general farming and stock- raising, Mr. Mascher making a specialty of hops and Shropshire sheep. From thirty-three acres of hops the crop produced amounted to

thirty-six thousand pounds in 1903. Mr. Mascher has given his entire thought to agri- culture, and in the last twenty-five years has demonstrated his ability to get the best returns possible from the cultivation of the soil. Po- litically he is a Republican and in religion he and all the members of his family are members of the Christian Church.

ASBURY PEARNE STARR. With the ex- ception of three years spent in Salem educating his son, Asbury P. Starr has lived all his life on the farm one mile southwest of Bellfountain, where he was born April 22, 1853. He comes of one of the fine old pioneer families of this section, and in his youth had the advantage of a Christian home, presided over by a father whose life was devoted to the welfare of those around him, and who, as pioneer preacher in this county, accomplished a world of good for the early settlers. As one in a numerous family dependent upon the poorly paid services of the father, Asbury P., was reared to habits of thrift and industry, and remained under the paternal roof until his marriage, December 22, 1878, with Carrie Tharp, who was born in Kansas and came to Oregon in 1864. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Starr, Philip Ray, who is living with his parents.

After his marriage Mr. Starr located on his part of the home ranch, which consists of three hundred and forty-four acres, fifty of which are under cultivation. The finest of modern improvements facilitate a general farming and stock-raising industry, a specialty being made of high-grade stock, including Jersey cattle, Cots- wold sheep and fine horses. The farm is one of the most desirable and valuable in Benton county, and the methods employed in conducting it are those of the intelligent, well informed, and scien- tific student of ways and means, who surrounds himself with the comforts and luxuries, which mark the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful landsman. As an upholder of Republicanism, Mr. Starr has filled many local positions in the county, but always reluctantly, as he has never sought or worked for official distinction. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Rev. John W. Starr, father of Asbury P., was born in Maryland, April 22, 1794, and as a boy moved with his parents to Virginia, and in after years to Ohio, where the old people died. The son remained on the home farm in Ohio until attaining his majority, and then studied for the ministry, to which he devoted his entire active life. His first wife, a Mrs. McWilliams, bore him five children, of whom Mrs. Nancy Belknap of California, and J. W. Starr of Junction City,

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Ore., are living. Mrs. Starr lived but a few years, and after her death in Ohio her husband married Eliza A. Lucas, with whom he removed to Iowa in 1840, and who bore him twelve chil- dren, of whom the following are living: Mrs. Precious Shedd of Corvallis; S. E. of The Dalles; M. L. of Bellfountain ; L. H. of Albany ; Mrs. E. A. Burlingame of Sheridan; S. C .; A. P. of Bellfountain; and Mrs. M. E. Tharp of Bellfountain. In 1848 Rev. Starr disposed of his interests in Iowa and crossed the plains with his wife and children, outfitting with ox- teams, and being the usual time, six months, on the way. The little party was not seriously disturbed by the Indians, and Capt. J. Belknap was their competent guide to the far-off north- western country. The journey was saddened by the death of one of the children, but other- wise all went well, and upon arriving at his destination Mr. Starr took up the donation claim near Bellfountain, upon a portion of which his son is now living, and which consisted of six hundred and forty acres of land.

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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 140

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