Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 153

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 153

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Mr. Lane was a very successful man, and at- tained to great prominence in the community which he adorned with his exemplary character and well directed industry. He was a stock man in every sense of the word, and understood more about his occupation than the average man thus interested. He was a Democrat in politics, and though never seeking office, consented to fill un- important local offices, as well as that of com- missioner of Lake county for six years, or from 1890 to 1896. After his death his widow con- tinued to live on the old place until 1899, and then moved onto her present farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres, four and a half miles east of Harrisburg. She is the owner of a stock ranch of seventeen hundred acres in Lake county, the proceeds from which net her a hand- some yearly income. In her general farming in- dustry she is assisted by her second son, William G., her oldest son James H., residing in Salem ; while her youngest daughter, Bernice, is also liv- ing at home.

FRANKLIN A. LINK. An industrious and well-to-do agriculturist of Polk county, Frank- lin A. Link is proprietor of a fine homestead, located two and one-half miles southwest of Lewisville, which in regard to its appointments and improvements compares favorably with any in the neighborhood. The neatness and orderly

appearance of the property manifest to the most casual observer, the thrift and care of the owner, all show conclusively that he has a thorough knowledge of his business and exercises good judgment in its management. A German by birth, he was born in Bavaria, October 23, 1832. on the paternal side being of French extraction, his Grandfather Link, who came into Germany during the reign of Napoleon, having at that time changed his original name of De Linn to Link to avoid trouble with the French.

George Link, father of Franklin A., was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1798, and while living in the fatherland was extensively engaged in farming. Emigrating to America in 1846 with his family, he had a stormy voyage of fifty-two days before reaching New York. Locating first in Wheeling, W. Va., he lived there two years, then spent eight years on a farm in Washington county, Pa. Removing to Iowa in 1856, he pur- chased land in Dubuque county, and was there successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in November, 1878. He was a skilful farmer, a trustworthy citizen, and a man of strict integrity, in every way worthy of the respect accorded him by his neighbors and friends. He married Mary A. Linbach, who was born in the Rhine valley, Germany, and died, in July, 1878, in Dubuque county, Iowa, aged seventy-three years, her birth having oc- curred in 1805. Of their family of three sons and two daughters, Franklin A., the subject of this sketch, was the third child.

Acquiring his early education in Germany, Franklin A. Link came to this country with his parents in 1846, and a few years later studied for three months at an academy in Pennsylvania. While living in Wheeling, W. Va., he served an apprenticeship of two and one-half years at the tailor's trade, afterwards going to Pennsylvania, where he assisted his father in farming until 1856. In June of that year, he emigrated to Ohio, and for ten years was engaged in farm work in Belmont county, in the meantime taking unto himself a wife. Removing with his family to Missouri in 1866, he carried on general farm- ing in Bates county ten years. Following the march of civilization westward, he came to Oregon in 1876, settling with his family in Polk county. Renting the farm of Benjamin Hayden, in Independence, he managed it for seven years, subsequently renting the farm of Pierce Riggs for nine years. In 1891 Mr. Link purchased his present farm of five hundred and fifteen acres. lying about two and one-half miles southwest of Lewisville, and, moving on it in 1896, has since resided here. He has made various and substan- tial improvements on the place, and is exten- sively engaged in general farming and stock- raising. He makes a specialty of breeding and

6. Wheeler Amanda Emeline Wheeler

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raising goats and sheep, having thoroughbred, registered Angora goats, keeping about one hun- dred and forty in his herd, and has an equally large herd of Cotswold sheep.

In Washington county, Pa., in 1856, Mr. Link married Margaret Craig, who was born in that county. She died in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1862, leaving two sons, Harrington R., deceased, and George C., of Allegheny county, Pa. Mr. Link married again in 1864, Mary L. Frazier, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in March. 1844. Mr. and Mrs. Link are the parents of five children, namely : Margaret, wife of Man- ley Martin, of Independence, Ore .; Mary E., living at home; Lizzie M., a twin sister of Mary E., is the wife of Andrew Hannam, who lives near Pedee, Ore .; Homer, at home; and Nellie, at home. In his political views Mr. Link is independent, using his own best judgment in casting his ballot, instead of blindly following any political leader, or giving an unqualified ad- herence to any party. While living in Ohio, Missouri and Oregon, he was road supervisor, serving in that capacity twelve years in all, and since 1896 has been school clerk in District No. 39. Fraternally he belongs to Independence Lodge, A. F. & A. M.

JEDEDIAH WHEELER. When his day's work is over and he sits down to enjoy the peace and happiness of his home, the reflections of Jedediah Wheeler must be tinged with satisfac- tion. The prominence which is his in Lane county is of the solid and well founded kind, painstakingly and laboriously acquired, as is also the competence which placed him among the financial successes of his neighborhood. The boy wrestling with limitations might well draw encouragement from the upward path of this honored pioneer, for his life-story is that of the poor boy who had to look within rather than without for his help in time of need. His father dying when he was two years old, his mother joined the great majority when he was twenty, and the home in Illinois, where he was born January 30, 1832, was thus sadly uprooted, the five children being thrown upon their own re- sources, the subject of this review being the youngest.

Beginning with his tenth year, Mr. Wheeler found employment in a house as a servant in Illinois, and when he was fifteen he made his way to within fifty miles east of St. Louis, where he worked in a sawmilling and logging camp and a grist mill. This occupation opened up a possibility in a tavern, to' the management of which he finally succeeded, and in 1850 he started in to serve an apprenticeship to a car- penter and cabinetmaker. To his youthful mind,

to master a trade was the personification of in- dependence, and with this feeling of certainty regarding the future, he crossed the plains in 1853 as a driver of an ox-teani, spending about six months on the way. In the Sacramento val- ley he made his living at teaming for a few months during the winter, and in the spring of 1854 went to the mines, where he labored for a time with alternate success and failure. Having heard of the possibilities of Oregon, and not having made a success of his mining venture, and desiring to reach that state, he walked the entire distance of three hundred and fifty miles. In Eugene he worked at his trade as carpenter for about five years. In 1859 he was united in marriage with Amanda E. Walker, a native daughter of Oregon, with whom he established a home, purchased with his earnings as a car- penter. In 1864 he disposed of his city property for a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, twelve miles east of Eugene, which comprised the whole of the Pingree donation claim, where he lived a couple of years and then sold it. Again in Eugene, he started and conducted a tinshop for a year, and then bought a farm of three hundred and twenty acres on the Coast Fork, where he lived until 1889. Following his farming experience, Mr. Wheeler settled in Pleasant Hill and engaged in a general mer- chandise business for ten years, identifying him- self with political and other means of advance- ment and becoming an important factor in busi- ness circles. The old appreciation of farming and the quiet and peace of country life re-assert- ing itself, he disposed of his store in 1899 and bought the one hundred and fourteen acres of land on Pleasant Hill which is now his home, and where he is engaged in general farming.

Since young manhood a Whig, and later a supporter of the Republican party, Mr. Wheeler has been variously honored by his fellow-towns- men at different stages of his career, having served with equal satisfaction as postmaster, deputy sheriff, constable of Eugene, and for many years school director. His first wife dying in 1880, he married the following year Elizabetlı Davis, a native of Indiana. By the first mar- riage there were eight children, of whom five survive, Allie E., Halvor C. and William L., liv- ing in the vicinity of Pleasant Hill, while Les- ter A. is a resident of California, and Walter B. lives in Coburg. Emma J. married Edgar C. Baxter. both now deceased. During his lifetime Mr. Wheeler has laid up a store of useful and interesting information, has cultivated the graces of honesty and fair dealing, and has made many true and tried friends in the places which he has called home. Mr. Wheeler and his family are members of the Christian Church at Pleas- ant Hill,

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

WILLIAM FIRMAN HENDRICSON, a re- tired agriculturist of Albany, has spent a long and busy life, actively engaged the greater part of the time in tilling the soil. Emigrating from Pleasant Grove, Iowa, in 1845, he took up land near Albany, where he had much pioneer work to perform, contributing his part toward the de- velopment of this fine agricultural region. When he came to Oregon the red man roamed the coun- try at will, wild animals were plentiful, not in- frequently making their appearance near the hum- ble cabins of the newcomers. There being no near-by markets the family provisions were usu- ally supplied from the products of the land, or obtained by gun or rod. In the wonderful and rapid changes of conditions that have since taken place he has been a gratified observer and partici- pant.

A son of John Henricson, he was born January 26, 1824, in Lewis county, Ky., a descendant of English ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Daniel Hendricson, having been born in England, al- though he died in Kentucky, on a homestead which he had cleared from the wilderness. John Hendricson, a life-long farmer of Kentucky, died in 1824, and his wife, whose maiden name was Agnes Wilson, died eight years later.

Knowing nothing of a father's care, and be- ing left motherless when but eight years of age, W. F. Hendricson had a lonely childhood. At the age of twelve years he left his old Kentucky home, going to Rush county, Ind., and later to Yorktown, Ind. In 1840 he removed to Pleasant Grove, Iowa, and five years later drove across the plains to Oregon, coming with the Hackle- man train of ox-teams by way of the Tualitin plains. He took up land on the Santiam river, and soon after, in 1847, returned to Iowa, cross- ing the plains with pack animals, calculating to return to Oregon early in 1848, but failing to do this he lost his claim. In 1850 he made another journey across the plains with ox-teams, locating in California, where he was engaged in mining for a year. Returning then to Iowa by way of the Isthmus, Mr. Hendricson staid but a short time, when, in 1852, he started with his family and all his worldly effects for Oregon, coming via the Barlow route, with ox-teams, and being from March until August 9, en route. Taking up a donation claim six miles south of Albany, he cleared a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, adding substantial improvements, and was there engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1887. He met with most satisfactory re- sults from his labors, his industrious toil bringing him good returns. Renting his farm, he has since resided in Albany, where he is held in high respect as a man of honest integrity and worth.

Mr. Hendricson married first, in Iowa, in 1848, Sarah Jackson, who was born in Rushville, Ind.,

January 29, 1827, a daughter of Omar Jackson, a native of Virginia, who was first engaged as a tiller of the soil in Indiana, and afterwards in Iowa. Mrs. Hendricson died at Albany, Ore., October 23, 1891. She was a woman of ex- emplary character, widely known and esteemed, and a member of the Christian Church. Seven children were born of their union, namely : Leona, the wife of John Huston, of Albany; Lavinia, who died in Albany; Morvin, residing in Ore- gon, near The Dalles; Omar P., who was deputy sheriff at Colfax, Wash .; Mary, who became Mrs. Bellshaw, living in St. Paul; Frank, who died in Albany ; and Willie, a painter in Lebanon, Ore.

On July 18, 1893, Mr. Hendricson married Mrs. Mary E. Fronk, who was born in Goshen, Orange county, N. Y., a daughter of Alexander S. Brown, and granddaughter of Thomas Brown. Alex- ander S. Brown, who spent his earlier life in Orange county, N. Y., was a shoe dealer first in Goshen, and then in Mechanicstown. In 1845 he removed to Elkhorn, Wis., where he continued his former business. He was elected judge of the county court of Walworth county and served for a few years. In 1853, accompanied by his wife and four children, he came across the plains to California, Mrs. Hendricson, then a girl of fourteen years, driving one of the ox-teams dur- ing the trip of six months. Settling in Yuba City, he was engaged in the hotel business there a year, then purchased a ranch in Sutter county, on which he resided until his death, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Brundage, was born in Orange county, N. Y., a daughter of Gilbert Brundage, and died in 1859, in Sutter county, Cal., aged fifty-nine years. Of the four children, two sons and two daughters, born of their marriage, Mary E., now Mrs. Hendricson, is the only sur- vivor. Mary E. Brown was educated in the pub- lic schools of Wisconsin and California. In 1853 she married, at Yuba City, Cal., John M. Fronk, a native of Vincennes, Ind. As a young man, Mr. Fronk was a boatman on the Ohio river. Emigrating to California in 1850, he established a ferry across the Feather river. In 1871 he took charge of Love's Hotel, in Portland, Ore., and managed it six months. He subsequently conducted the St. Charles Hotel in Albany, Ore., for a time, and went afterwards to Eugene, Ore., where he conducted the St. Charles Hotel until 1884, then engaged in farming in Lane county for a few years. Returning from there to Eugene, he resided there until his death, November 30, 1890, at the age of sixty-four years and ten months. He was a Republican in politics, a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and had taken the Knight Templar degree of Masonry. Of the nine children born of the union of Mr.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and Mrs. Fronk, four grew to years of maturity, namely: C. K. Fronk, agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Albany ; Margaret, wife of Alan J. Goodman, of Independence, Ore .; Henry E., of Albany; and Edwin A., who is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.

Mrs. Hendricson is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hendricson is a member, and one of the deacons, of the Chris- tian Church. Politically he is an uncompromis- ing Republica11.

THOMAS FRANKLIN MILLER. The successful sheep-raisers in Linn county include Thomas Franklin Miller, who owns considerable valuable property in Lebanon, and has a ranch of one hundred acres one mile south of the town. Mr. Miller comes of an old southern family rep- resented for many years in Virginia, where he was born in Rockingham county, June 21, 1835. His father, Thomas Miller, and his mother, Anna (Spotts) Miller, were also natives of Virginia. Thomas Miller was the only child born to his parents. He located in Saline county, Mo., in 1839, and while living on a tract of land com- prising seven hundred acres, engaged in brick- making quite extensively. He was a very suc- cessful man, prominent and influential, and left a valuable property to his heirs at the time of his death in December, 1870, at the age of sixty- nine years. His wife survived him and died in Waverly, Mo., leaving two sons and three daugh- ters, of whom Thomas F. is the youngest.

At the time of his father's death Thomas F. Miller assumed entire management of the large Missouri farm which had been willed him by his sire, and retained possession of it until 1880. He then came to Oregon and located near Scio, where he bought two hundred and seventy acres of land, remaining there until disposing of it in 1899. His next purchase was a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres two and a half miles south of Lebanon, which he sold in 1902, and took up his residence in the town. His home property consists of five acres, under a high state of cultivation, and he has an attractive cottage, surrounded by shrubs, trees and flowering plants. On his farm of one hundred acres a mile from town he is extensively engaged in raising sheep, making a specialty of the Cotswold breed, many of his animals being registered.

The first marriage of Mr. Miller occurred in Missouri, and was with Sarah E. Yager, who was born in Missouri, and died there, leaving three children : Ella. the wife of L. J. Wiltfong of Washington; L. Edwin, a resident of Scio; and Cora. the wife of Grant Hawley of Grass Valley, eastern Oregon, For a second wife he

married a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, born near Zanesville, May 18, 1847. Riley Brat- ton, the father of Mrs. Miller, was of Scotch ancestry, and was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, He crossed the plains to California in the spring of 1850, but returned and settled with his family in Iowa in 1851, taking up a homestead near Oskaloosa, whence he moved to Linn county, near Brownsville, in 1867. Mr. Bratton was a farmer and a potter by trade, and came to Ore- gon in 1881, living for a time with his son-in-law, but eventually settling on a homestead in west- ern Oregon, where he died at the age of seventy- two years. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Howard lives in Franklin county, Wash., and Roland is at home, Walter E. and Lester being deceased.

A Republican in politics, Mr. Miller has held a number of offices in the places where he has lived, principally in eastern Oregon and Mis- souri, in both of which places he served as notary public, road supervisor and school di- rector. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, having earned the right thereto by a service of three years and one month in the Civil war. for which he enlisted in Company F, Seventh Regular Cavalry, serving in the western department under Col. John F. Phillips, of Kan- sas City. For injuries sustained while in the service Mr. Miller draws a. pension. He is a whole-souled and generous man, agreeable to meet, sincere and loyal to friends and trusts im- posed, and of unquestioned integrity.

JOSEPH ERBSLAND. The vicinity of Aurora is well adapted for general farming, hop-growing and other agricultural pursuits, and to those who assiduously apply themselves to this vocation, success is assured. One of the most prosperous men in this line of activity is Joseph Erbsland, who has a fine farin near Aurora, devoted to the above named industries. To say that Mr. Erbsland's farm is well con- ducted, improved and cultivated is but simple truth. The progressive owner has brought about this state of affairs through his own in- dustry and enterprise.

The history of Joseph Erbsland does not differ in many respects from that of the most of our substantial western men, who, born in eastern and central states, seek homes farther away from the close touch of civilization, knowing that the tide of empire westward winds its way, and that the best chances are for the one who ar- rives first. Mr. Erbsland is a native of Indiana, having been born in Jennings county, that state, near North Vernon. October 11, 1850, receiving his education in the common schools of the neighborhood and living upon a farm, thus be-

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coming acquainted in early youth with the work of tilling the soil. At the age of nineteen he began working at the stone cutter's trade, fol- lowing this occupation until 1887, when he came to Oregon and began working on a farm in Marion county. He saved enough to purchase a farm of his own, which he did soon after his mar- riage in January, 1890, with Miss Louisa Beck, a daughter of Charles Beck. On the home farm Mr. Erbsland has made improvements which render it very valuable and make it one of the at- tractive and prosperous-looking places of the vi- cinity. He has seven acres planted in hops, and the raising of this herb proves a great source of income. There are few farms in Marion county that yield a better return for the care and labor bestowed upon them than does that of Mr. Erbsland, and he may well look upon his fields with pride, knowing that through his well di- rected efforts has come the success which he en- joys. Fraternally he is a member of Aurora Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen, while in politics he affiliates with the Democracy. A consistent and earnest member of the Luth- eran church, Mr. Erbsland in his own life fol- lows the teachings of his religion. He is a sub- stantial, well balanced and thoroughly up-to- date, plain, every-day farmer, one who does credit to his county and who has the good will of all who know him.

HON. J. A. RICHARDSON, M. D., the oldest practicing physician of Salem, and for- mer member of the state legislature, was born in Adams county, Ill., November 15, 1840, and is of English and Scotch-Irish descent. His paternal grandfather, George, a native of Penn- sylvania, came to Illinois in 1793, settling at Kaskaskia, the first capital of Illinois territory. He was a trapper, hunter and Indian fighter, and is believed to have served in the Revolution- ary war. At any rate, he took an active part in scattering the Indian forces around Kaskaskia directly after the war of Independence, and was present at Horner's defeat. He served also in the war of 1812, and soon after settled on the American bottoms, five miles from East St. Louis. Here he farmed for many years, but was finally drowned, while trying to ford a stream in Greene county, Ill. John Belcher, who came with the Lewis and Clark expedition as far as the Mandan country and in the following spring was returned to St. Louis with dispatches and a report of the expedition to that point, and who was killed at the battle of the Narrows, near the present site of Quincy, Ill., during the war of 1812, was a cousin of Dr. Richardson's father, John G. Richardson, and held a lieutenant's

commission in the army at the time of his death.

John G. Richardson, the father of the doctor, was born on his father's farm near East St. Louis, and he, also, served in the war of 1812. Soon afterward he removed to Greene county, Ill., and from there to Adams county, and in 1851 brought his wife and children to Oregon, settling on a donation claim near Scio, Linn county, where he died in 1871. He married Orpha Thompson, who was born in South Caro- lina, and who removed as a child with her pa- rents to Illinois. Mrs. Richardson, who died in 1866, was the mother of nine sons and one daughter, the order of their birth being as fol- lows: Thomas J., who came to Oregon in 1853 and died at Jefferson; William Winston, who came west in 1851 and died in Scio, in 1901 ; George W., who also came west in 1851 and who died in Salem, in 1883; Lewis Clark, who came to Oregon in 1847 and died in 1869; Elijah T., who came to California in 1849, to Oregon in 1856, and is now living in Spokane, Wash .; Obediah W., who came to California in 1849, to Oregon in 1858, and lives at present in Sherman county, Ore .; John W., who came west in 1851 and is near Scio; Andrew J., a pioneer of 1851, and now living at Stayton, Ore .; James Asher, the subject of this sketch; and Rebecca, who married James Enos and died near Scio, in 1881.

Although but ten years of age when he came with his family to Oregon Dr. Richardson vivid- ly recalls the many incidents which enlivened the long journey across the plains. Much of his time was devoted to helping to drive the loose horses and cows. They crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluffs, but owing to the swollen condition of the Elkhorn river they were de- tained for over a month. At Goose creek, near the Snake river, they were attacked by Indians. The fight lasted until after dark and was re- sumed in the morning. About ten o'clock they succeeded in making their escape through front and rear guards, taking with them their wagons, twenty-one in number. The train came down the Columbia river in a body, and the Richardsons settled on their claim in the fall of 1851. The doctor was educated in the district schools near his father's claim, at Bethel College, in Polk county, then the leading college in the state, and Lebanon Academy, which he attended for a year. For several years he engaged in educational work and during a part of that time studied medicine under the direction of Dr. Ballard, of Lebanon. In 1864 he entered the Toland Medical College, of San Francisco, now the medical department of the University of the Pacific, and after grad- nating in 1866 engaged in practice at Amity, Yamhill county, Ore., for about a year. There- after he lived and practiced in McMinnville, and

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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 153

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