Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 192

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 192

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BERT ELLSWORTH EMERICK, A. M., B. D. A man of exceptional ability and of the highest character, refined and scholarly in his tastes, Prof. Bert E. Emerick is eminently quali- fied for the important position he is now filling as president of Philomath College, which is controlled by the liberal faction of the United Brethren Church. This institution, located in Philomath, Benton county, was founded in 1865 by the Church of United Brethren in Christ, its aim being to place within the reach of every ear- nest young man and woman the advantages to be obtained by a thorough knowledge of the higher branches of learning, combining a Christian training with the intellectual. A son of the late Warren Emerick, Bert E. Emerick was born

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near Sumner, Lawrence county, Ill., July 7, 1869.

Warren Emerick, a native of New York state, was engaged in the crude oil business in West Virginia as a young man, but afterwards re- moved to Marquette county, Wis., where he worked as a tiller of the soil for a few years. Removing to Lawrence county, Ill., in 1865, he bought two hundred acres of land near Sumner, and was there successfully engaged in agricul- tural pursuits until 1894. Dividing his estate in that year, he settled in Boise City, Idaho, where he was engaged in business with a brother until his death, in 1897, at the age of sixty- seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Marcella Warner, was born in the east, and died in 1874, in Lawrence county, Ill., aged thirty- three years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom six sons and three daughters grew to years of maturity, Bert Ellsworth be- ing the eighth child in succession of birth.

Graduating from the Sumner, Ill., high school in 1887, Mr. Emerick subsequently taught school two years. In 1888 he attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He studied at the American Institute of Phrenology, taking a course that has since proved very bene- ficial to him in many ways, after which he entered college at Westfield, Ill., from the col- legiate department of which he was graduated in 1895, receiving the degree of A. B. During one of his summer vacations, that of 1893, Mr. Emerick studied for three months at Moody's Bible Institute.

Coming to Oregon in 1895 he accepted the position of President of Philomath College, in Philomath. From 1897 until 1899 he was pastor of the United Brethren Church in Philomath, at the same time being one of the faculty con- nected with the college. Desirous of continuing his studies, he then went to Dayton, Ohio, where he took a course in theology, in 1902 being graduated from the Union Biblical Seminary with the degree of B. D. Thus further equipped for his work, Mr. Emerick returned to Philo- math, and was immediately elected to his for- mer position as president of Philomath Col- lege, and teacher of languages and ethics.

On October 15, 1895, Professor Emerick married Sadie M. Armentrout, who came to Oregon in 1895. She was born in Edgar county, Ill., near the town of Paris, January 22, 1867. Her father, William H. Armentrout, a native of Indiana, removed to Vermilion county, Ill., when a young man and there worked as a plasterer and contractor for many years. He is now a resident of Westfield, Ill. Professor and Mrs. Emerick have two children, namely: Zanana and Francis. Professor Emerick is a strong

Prohibitionist in politics, and an active worker in party ranks.

Philomath College has now, in 1903, one hundred and three pupils enrolled, the number of students increasing each year. During its earlier years of existence its usefulness was somewhat hampered by an indebtedness, but since freed from that encumbrance, in 1901, vari- ous needed improvements have been made, and the scope of its work visibly enlarged. With a superior normal course, classical, scientific and philosophical courses, pupils may be fitted in this institution for any desired position in life. The library, gymnasium, laboratory and museum are well equipped, and made of practical use to each pupil. There are two literary societies, the Philophronean for the young men, and the Zetegathean for the young women, and in addi- tion there are various Christian societies for the benefit of both sexes, and a Bible Normal Union, for those desirous of making special preparation for Christian work. The Board of Trustees is composed of men interested in advancing the educational interests of the county and the state, and the faculty and instructors are men and wo- men of broad culture and talent, keenly alive to the physical, mental and moral needs of the young men and women with whom they are brought in contact. Thus equipped this college is destined to become a strong force in the great northwest, elevating the standard of education and of morals.

ELIAS STEWART. Claiming just distinc- tion among the fearless and self-sacrificing men who stepped boldly out of the peace and tran- quillity of a settled eastern community, Elias Stewart, who was born in Virginia September II, 1814, was rated as one of those who joined the innumerable caravan in 1852, and left the impress of his strong personality upon agricul- tural and other affairs in Lane county. Of an old Tennessee family long identified with farm- ing and stock-raising around Knoxville, he spent his earliest years on the farm of his father, Brison Stewart, the latter of whom established the family in Missouri at an early day. The elder Stewart spent the remainder of his life on a large Missouri farm, and after his death his son Elias maintained his excellent reputa- tion as a farmer and a man, in time becoming prominently connected with the region around Bolivar, Polk county, Mo.

In Illinois Mr. Stewart married Eliza Eng- land, who was born in Tennessee, a daughter of John England, also a native of Tennessee. He then removed to Polk county, Mo., and in 1849 moved to near Knoxville, Marion county, Iowa,

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and from there, in 1849, started across the plains to California. Arriving in St. Joseph, Mo., later than he expected, and dreading a winter on the western prairies, he tarried in the Missouri town, and engaged in teaming. May 2, 1852, he carried out his western project, and with two wagons, four yoke of oxen to each wagon, his wife and six children, again set forth, this time full of renewed hope in the future, and with grim determination to succeed. Partially his plans were doomed to disappoint- ment, for at the North Platte river, about forty miles west of Fort Laramie, his wife was stricken with cholera, and died. Making a coffin from a wagon board, they paid heed to her last request, that they bury her deep. Disconso- late, the father pursued his way via the Barlow route, arriving at Foster's, in Clackamas county, Ore., August 30, 1852. Not satisfied with the prospects near by, he continued his way to the forks of the Willamette river in Lane county, and there took up a donation claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres, the land being as yet a stranger to plow or harrow. The building ability of the new arrival soon found expression in a plank house, and the hitherto barren prairie farm was started on an era of usefulness through the persuasive powers of a curry plow with a wooden mold-board. In 1855 Mr. Stewart traded his partially improved farm with 'C. Mul- ligan for two hundred and fifty acres of land adjoining Eugene on the southwest, subsequent additions increasing the size to two hundred and eighty acres, a portion of which is now em- bodied in Stewart's addition to Eugene, on the west.

Earnest and industrious, and possessed of shrewd business ability, Mr. Stewart made a de- cided success of his life in the west, and for his painstaking efforts he left at the time of his death, April 24, 1898, a valuable and finely improved farm. He was honorable and upright in all of his dealings, and by no means confined his efforts to the limits of his large property. Education, morality and good government were stimulated by his support, and his aid was in- variably forthcoming for enterprises which had for their object the betterment of the com- munity. Of the children who were left mother- less on the plains, Joseph W. lives in Springfield, Lane county, Ore .; John is a farmer of Lane county ; Linnie Jane, deceased, was the wife of Mr. P. C. Nolan; Mary M. is the wife of A. O. Stevens, of Eugene; Martha A. is the wife of T. G. Hendricks; and Elizabeth is the wife of Joseph Lucky, of Eugene.

LOUIS E. BEAN. As a fine representative of the native-born citizens of Lane county, and a descendant of one of the prominent pioneers

of this section of the state, Louis E. Bean, a ris- ing young attorney of Eugene, is well worthy of honorable notice in this biographical volume. He was born November 21, 1867, in Lane county, Ore., a son of Obadiah Roberts Bean. His grandfather, Robert Bean, was born and reared in Kentucky, but in early life became a pioneer settler of Clay county, Mo., where he was engaged in tilling the soil until his death. He reared a large family of children, several of whom came to Oregon as early settlers, namely: Obadiah R., the father of Louis E .; Riley, who crossed the plains in 1845, died in Seattle, Wash .; Napoleon died at McMinnville, Ore .; David died in Portland, Ore .; Robert is a resident of Siskiyou county, Cal .; and Mrs. Susan F. Morris, of Eugene, Ore.

A native of Liberty, Clay county, Mo., Oba- diah R. Bean was born February 2, 1832, and there reared to agricultural pursuits. In 1850 he made the journey across the plains with ox-teams to California, where he was engaged in mining for a year. Not pleased with the financial re- sults of his labors, he came to Oregon in 1851, locating first in the Willamette valley, then in the Chehalem valley, in Yamhill county, where he was engaged in farming. In 1854 he set- tled in Lane county, living first at Grand Prairie and then on a farm about three miles from Junction City. In 1879 he purchased a farm lying near Eugene, but subsequently dis- posed of that property and went to Mapleton, locating at the head of the tide, on the Siuslaw river, where he bought an improved Indian place, on which he was successfully engaged in general farming until his death, in 1890. He was a man of enterprise and influence, taking an active part in political, fraternal and religious matters, serving one term as county commis- sioner, belonging to the Masonic order, and be- ing a member of the Christian Church. On October 21, 1853, in Yamhill county, Obadiah R. Bean married Julia A. Sharp, who was born near Newmarket, Harrison county, Ohio, a daughter of John Sharp. Her grandfather, Peter Sharp, was a native of New Jersey, but removed to Ohio as a pioneer farmer, and there spent the remainder of his life. John Sharp, born in New Jersey, settled in Pennsylvania as a young man, but subsequently lived in Ohio for a few years. In 1849 he started for Ore- gon, but on reaching Missouri purchased a farm in Jackson county, and resided there three years. On May 5, 1852, with his wife and seven children, six boys and one girl, he started with ox-teams across the plains, taking the Barlow route. Although he was hampered by sickness on the journey, was unfortunate enough to lose one of his teams, and was snowbound for a time, he arrived safely in Oregon City on November

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I, 1852. Spending the first winter in the Che- halem valley, he took up a ranch in Washington county in the spring, but the land proved worth- less, and he located on a farm at Grand Prairie, Lane county, in the fall of 1853. Subsequently selling out there he removed to Latham, Lane county, where he lived retired until his death, at the age of eighty-one years. He served as county commissioner one term. Mr. Sharp mar- ried Cornelia A. Hesser, who was born in Vir- ginia, and died, at the age of eighty years, in Oregon. Seven children blessed their union, namely: Joseph Sharp, a retired farmer, living at Latham, Ore .; Julia A., now Mrs. O. R. Bean, who resides with her son, Louis E. Bean, in Eugene; Addis, a resident of Idaho; John, a farmer, living near Ellensburg, Wash .; James, a horticulturist in Saticoy, Cal .; Jolly, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Walla Walla, Wash .; and Lewis, an attorney in San Francisco.

Mr. and Mrs. Obadiah R. Bean became the parents of eleven children, namely: Robert S., judge of the supreme court of Oregon ; James R., an express messenger on the Northern Pa- cific Railroad, running out from Portland; John W., a prominent physician of Tacoma, Wash .; Mrs. Emma A. Lucax, of Aberdeen, Wash .; Joseph H., died in Bakersfield, Cal., in 1897; Edward A., bookkeeper for O. W. Hurd, at Florence, Ore .; Louis E., the subject of this sketch; Frederick C., living on the homestead at Mapleton ; Mary died when a year old; Ches- ter O., a contractor at Aberdeen, Wash .; and Estelle A., living at home.

Brought up on a farm in Lane county, Louis E. Bean attended first the district school, then the University of Oregon, subsequently taking a business course at Holmes' Business College, in Portland. The following three years he was connected with the United States Fish Com- mission, having charge of the Mapleton Hatchery Station, on the Siuslaw river. While thus em- ployed he studied law, and after his admission to the bar, in 1898, began the practice of his profession at Eugene. Subsequently accepting the position of receiving clerk at the United States land office in Roseburg, Mr. Bean re- mained there until January, 1902, when he re- signed his position. Since that time he has been actively engaged as a lawyer in Eugene, mak- ing a specialty of land and mining law, and has built up a large practice in this line, becoming an authority on all questions concerning land titles and deals.

Fraternally Mr. Bean is a member of Spencer Butte Lodge, No. 9, I. O. O. F .; of the Royal Arcanum; and Helmet Lodge, No. 33, Knights of Pythias. Politically he supports the princi- ples of the Republican party.

MILTON T. AWBREY. The experiences which have been a part of the life of M. T. Awbrey have helped to form the character which has distinguished him as a citizen of this com- munity. For a quarter of a century he has been located in Eugene, Lane county, but preceding that his years were full of changes and vicissi- tudes. He now looks back to the time when Oregon was a wilderness and there was but a promise of what should come after years of un- remitting toil and effort on the part of those who bore the burdens for the sake of the re- ward. Mr. Awbrey has his reward in his own and the country's prosperity, and his declining years are filled with the peace which comes of work well done.

M. T. Awbrey was the second of his father's family of twelve children, nine of whom at- tained maturity and four of whom are now liv- ing. He was born in Ray county, Mo., October 24, 1830, his father being Dr. Thomas Nolan Awbrey. The latter was a native of Virginia, and while a resident of that state served in the war of 1812. Upon deciding to emigrate to some western state, he first settled in Indiana, after which he removed to Ray county, Mo., and with the practice of medicine combined the interests of a stock business. Being a strong and influential Republican, the leaders of that party induced him to become a candidate for the state legislature, in which he served one term. At the breaking out of the Mexican war he offered his services at once, his patriot- ism being as strong as when he first took up arms for the country. Upon the declaration of peace Dr. Awbrey located in Polk county, Iowa, near the city of Des Moines, where he continued his combined interests, and in 1850 he crossed the plains to Oregon. His first winter here was spent in Clackamas county. In 1852 he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres in the forks of the Willamette river in Lane county, upon which he put valuable im- provements, while engaged in the pioneer prac- tice of medicine and surgery. The usefulness of his life was impaired at a comparatively early age, for he was stricken with paralysis and for twenty years remained an invalid. He died at the age of eighty-three years, his force of character and personality having won for him a position of prominence in the affairs of the state. For one term he represented his party in the state legislature of Oregon. Fraternally. he was a Mason. He married Amelia Ann Grubbe, a native of Virginia, who died in Ore- gon in 1900, at the age of ninety-one years.

Reared to manhood in Missouri, M. T. Aw- brey received a rather limited education in the primitive schools of the state, attending for three

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months each year a pioneer log schoolhouse. He was only seventeen years old at the time of the breaking out of the Mexican war, but the martial spirit was a part of his inheritance, and when his father and older brother, Marshall C., the latter of whom now lives in Crook coun- ty, Ore., and has since seen much fighting in the Indian wars here, decided to enlist, he also be- came a member of the same company. As mem- bers of Gilpin's Battalion they were sent after the Indians in Mexico and Texas, and had sev- eral severe encounters with the savages. They endured much exposure, Mr. Awbrey and two others sleeping out in the snow, as they had to guard a herd of cattle which furnished them beef. Fourteen months were passed in the service, and on his discharge he located with his parents in Iowa. He remained at home until he crossed the plains in 1850, driving a four- horse team, while his father had two wagons, a carriage and some loose stock. The journey occupied six months, and was made over the old Barlow route, their safe arrival occurring October 9, 1850, at Foster. He spent his first winter in Oregon City and Portland, vari- ously employed. In 1851 he came to Lane county. From this place he went by pack- train to the mines of California, where he en- gaged in placer mining. This employment was continued for one year, with fair returns, after which he came back over the mountains and lo- cated a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres seven miles northwest of Eugene. This was all wild land, which he proceeded to cultivate and improve, and make into a com- fortable home. Six years later he sold it and became the owner of a three hundred and forty- six acre farm near Irving, upon which he en- gaged in the cultivation of grain principally. In 1862 he went to the Salmon river and a year later took a pack-train to Cariboo, British Co- lumbia, in which venture he met with consid- erable success. In 1878 he removed to Eugene, and has since made that city his home. A brother of Mr. Awbrey's, Thomas J., now located in Texas, has also been identified with the early history of the state, taking part in the Indian wars, and being seriously wounded in the Rogue river war.

Mr. Awbrey was married in Lane county, August 31, 1856, to Frances Baker. She was born in Pike county, Ill., and was fourteen years old when she came to Oregon with her parents, in 1853. Her father and grandfather, both bearing the name of Thomas, were natives of Virginia, and the elder man became an early settler of Kentucky, from which state the son emigrated to Illinois and with ox-teams crossed the plains in 1853. Mr. Baker settled in Lane county, near Irving, where he took up a dona-

tion claim of three hundred and twenty acres, which he improved and farmed until he died, in 1856. His wife was Elizabeth Robison, also a native of Virginia, and she died in Oregon in 1876. She was the mother of eleven children, ten of whom came to Oregon and three of whom are now living. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Awbrey are six in number, of whom Oren C. is a dentist in Philadelphia ; Don Thomas, living in Cottage Grove; Clara B., wife of John Withrow, of Eugene; Etna E., a farmer on the old home place; Violet M., wife of W. J. Coppernoll, of Eugene; and Annie De Rene is still at home. Mrs. Awbrey is a member of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Awbrey adheres to the principles advocated in the platform of the Republican party.

FRED LEROY KENT. One of the trite sayings of today is that the farmer of the future will live more by his head than his hands, and that with proper education he will make his work far more profitable and enjoyable. Spe- cialists in every branch pertaining to farm life are wisely directing the education of the young, and through the influence of the land grant act of 1862 each state is assured a College of Agri- culture and Mechanical Arts. The college since established in Oregon, at Corvallis, is well equipped, and its corps of instructors is com- posed of men and women amply fitted for the po- sitions they hold. At the head of the dairying department of the Oregon Agricultural College, is Professor Kent, who is also associate profes- sor of agriculture and dairying.

The lineal descendant of one of three brothers who emigrated from old England to New Eng- land in colonial days, Professor Kent was born, June 25, 1868, at Ellenburg Center, N. Y. His grandfather was a farmer in Clinton county, N. Y., for many years, living the greater part of the time in Ellenburg Center, where his son, S. L. Kent, the professor's father, was born and brought up. S. L. Kent took part in the Civil war, serving as a corporal in the Sev- enteenth New York Infantry. A farmer by birth and breeding, he engaged in agricultural labor in his native state until 1869, when he removed to Calhoun county, Iowa, where, buy- ing a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, near Manson, he has since been prosperously en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising. He is quite prominent in public affairs, heing now a county commissioner. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the G. A. R., and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He mar- ried Fannie M. Bishop, who was born in Clin- ton county, N. Y., a daughter of Thomas Bishop, a life-long resident of New York, and the de-

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scendant of a New England family. Of the children born of their union, five survive, Fred Leroy, the oldest of these five boys, being the only one to come to the Pacific coast.

Acquiring his rudimentary education in the district schools of Manson, Iowa, he subse- quently attended Taylor Academy, in the same town, after which he taught school three terms. Using the money thus earned to advance his education, lic, in March, 1890, entered the Iowa State Agricultural College, at Ames, through which he worked his way by hard labor, acting as bookkeeper for the institution while there, and teaching school in Calhoun county during his va- cations. Receiving the degree of B. Agr. in November, 1893, he remained with the college as dairy instructor until 1895. Accepting then the position of instructor in dairying, since changed to that of professor of agriculture, at the Oregon Agricultural College, an office cre- ated in 1895, he came to Corvallis, and has since filled this chair with great credit to himself, and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned. Under his supervision, the department of which he has charge has become one of the most im- portant in the college, dairying at the experiment station being reduced to an exact science. He is widely known throughout Oregon, taking an active part in local and state institutes, like- wise being called upon frequently to do institute work in the adjoining state of Washington, and at the Creamery Operators' Association held in San Francisco, Cal., December 26 and 27, 1902, . read a most interesting and instructive paper on the Use of the Acid Test in Butter-Making.

Politically Professor Kent is a sound Repub- lican, and fraternally he is a member of Cor- vallis Grange, No. 242; of the State Dairy- men's Association, of which he has been secre- tary since 1896; and of Corvallis Lodge, No. 14, A. F. & A. M.

PROF. EMILE FRANCIS PERNOT. In the curriculum of studies at the Oregon Agri- cultural College, at Corvallis, no branch of learn- ing is deemed of more importance to the students and to the general public, than that of bacteri- ology, and no member of the teaching force of that well known institution is better fitted for his particular line of work than Prof. E. F. Pernot, who is now filling the chair of that especial science in the college.

Coming from French ancestors on both sides of the house, Emile F. Pernot was born, August 30, 1859, in New York City. His father, A. D. Pernot, was horn at Montbeliard, France, a son of Francois Pernot, an expert machinist, who emigrated to this country, and died in New York City. A. D. Pernot also excelled as a machinist,

serving an apprenticeship in one of the best shops in France. After coming to this country he made practical use of his inventive genius, inventing a machine for turning the shanks on sewing ma- chine needles, and he was also the inventor of machines for making the other parts of the needle, which he was the first to successfully manufacture, making the first needles for Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine." He also had the distinction of being the first to in- vent machines in Europe for rifling cannons. About 1866 he removed to Bowling Green, Wood county, Ohio, where he engaged in general farm- ing until about a year prior to his death, which occurred in New York City. He married Emily Boissard, a native of France, and she is now residing in Corvallis, Ore. Of the children born of their union five grew to years of maturity, one of whom, Lucy, died in 1901. Those now living are as follows: Eugene, a horticulturist, living near Corvallis; Charles, a horticulturist, resid- ing in Corvallis; Emile F., the subject of this sketch ; and H. S. Pernot, M. D., who was grad- uated from Cincinnati Medical College, and from Bellevue Hospital, N. Y., and is now one of the leading physicians of Corvallis.

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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 192

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