Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 212

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 212

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WILLIAM YERGEN.

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the entire country west of the Mississippi river, including Mexico and British Columbia.

Not only did Mr. Settlemier lay out and found the town of Woodburn, but he has been lavish in donating land for many of its most worthy public enterprises. His appreciation of educa- tion has been marked throughout his entire ca- reer, and in this connection he contributed the block of ground upon which the public school building is located, and has in every way sought to elevate the standard of instruction. It is his pride that he has never voted against a school tax. His other responsibilities include the presi- dency of the Bank of Woodburn, one of the solid financial institutions of this county, and he is a member of the Oregon State Fair Board at the present time. Among his holdings Mr. Settle- mier includes five large brick buildings in Wood- burn, including the Association Building, which is a very fine and modern hall. In early days he purchased at an advantageous price a six-acre tract of land in East Portland, which has since greatly increased in value, and is now included in the best residence district of that city. He has erected thirteen cottages on other property in Portland, the rental of which supplies a sub- stantial source of income.

Thrice married, Mr. Settlemier's first wife was Eleanor Elizabeth Cochran, who was born in Iowa in 1848, and died in Oregon in 1879. Her father, James Cochran, was born in Missouri, and died on his donation claim in Oregon in 1863. In Portland in 1880 Mr. Settlemier mar- ried Clara S. Gray, who died six weeks after her marriage. The third marriage was contracted at Howell Prairie, and united him with Mary C. Woodworth, who was born in Missouri in 1848, and came to Oregon with her parents in 1850. Her father, Franklin N. Woodworth, a native of Ohio, was a successful farmer in Marion county, Ore., his home being a stopping place for trav- elers en route between Salem and Silverton. Of the eight children born to Mr. Settlemier Mrs. Nettie Beggs lives in Woodburn; Mrs. Ada Jones, Mrs. Elsie Porter and Mrs. Emma Cleave- land live in Portland ; Dell is the wife of S. I. Guiss, a merchant of Woodburn; F. W. has suc- ceeded to his father's nursery business: Jessie E. Fleck is next in order of birth ; her husband is the musical director of the Musical Conserv- atory of Utica, N. Y .; and J. H., Jr., son by the third wife, is living with his parents.

Mr. Settlemier has been a Republican all his life, but has had too many business responsibil- ities to care for official recognition. He is a member of the Oregon State Board of Agricul- ture, and has been one of the chief promoters of fairs and like enterprises calculated to stimulate an interest in home production. Of imposing and robust physical proportions, he is genial and frank, and a typical representative of the foun-

ders of western commonwealths. Mr. Settle- mier possesses rare business discretion, and has seen and utilized the splendid opportunities by which he has been surrounded.

WILLIAM YERGEN. Although practically retired from active farming several years before his death, which occurred September 30, 1897, William Yergen was the improver of a large farm in Marion county, upon which he located in 1864, and which is now in the possession of several of his sons. Mr. Yergen was a native of the town of Mühlheim, Germany, and was born in 1825. When six years of age he came with his parents to America on a sailing vessel, land- ing in New York harbor, whence the family went overland to Belleville, St. Clair county, Ill., locating on a farm near that town. He proved an industrious and capable youth, as well as an ambitious one, and while yet young bade adieu to his family and made his way alone to St. Lonis, Mo., where he applied himself to learn- ing the brick mason's trade. Having served a long apprenticeship he worked at his trade in that city until 1852, in the meantime managing to lay up some money, through the exercise of economy and wise investment.

Though far from the paternal farm, Mr. Yer- gen managed to keep in touch with the rest of his family, and to his brother Augustus he com- municated his desire to make the west his home. Augustus was equally enthusiastic upon the sub- ject, as was also a brother-in-law, John Scheurer, so that all three made the needful preparations for the long journey across the plains. Without any particular adventure they arrived at The Dalles after six months on the plains, and there abandoned their wagons and came down the river to Marion county. Here Mr. Yergen took up one hundred and sixty acres of land near Aurora upon which he lived until the spring of 1864, when he gave up farming temporarily and as- sumed control of the brickyard at Salem oper- ated in connection with the building of Wil- lamette University. In the fall of 1864 he lo- cated on the farm now owned by his sons, and which consists of two hundred and fourteen acres. He took great pride in the cultivation of this property, and reared his sons to the cautious and painstaking ways which brought about his ultimate success.

The first marriage of Mr. Yergen resulted in the birth of one child, who died in infancy. His marriage March 2, 1862, with Ruth Minier, who died February 19, 1882, resulted in ten children. Of these, Cassius F., a resident of Seaside, Ore., married Helen M. Brown, and they have one son, Cassius F., Jr .; J. Frank, a hop-grower on a portion of the old claim, married Alice Hos-

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kins, their union being blessed with two children, Walter Bruce, aged five years, and Blanche Elizabeth, aged three years; Elizabeth is the wife of I. L. Lindsay, residing in the vicinity of Hub- bard; William A., living on the home place, mar- ried Orpha E. Jack, now the mother of two chil- dren, Boyd Mckinley and Mabel Frances; Thurston H. is living on the home place ; Emma H. died at the age of sixteen years; Benjamin lives on a farm near Newberg and married Lulu Hopkins, they having one son, Grant, aged two years ; the remainder are Charles A., Ernest G., and Walter, who died in infancy. J. Frank, William, Thurston, Charles and Ernest own the home farm, which at present consists of one hun- dred and eighty-six acres. Of this property forty acres are under hops, and besides the sons have two other hop-yards of seventy acres each. The sons are practical and progressive farmers, and are young men of intelligence, education, and pronounced public spirit.

REV. PATTERSON C. PARKER, deceased, an Oregon pioneer of 1852, during the many years of his residence in the Willamette valley exerted a moral and religious influence which has had a most beneficent effect in moulding the character of many of the well-known citizens of Oregon. Mr. Parker was born in Tennessee in 1809. When, in young manhood, he settled in Indiana, the spot he selected for a farm was in the midst of a wilderness. He at once set about the task of improving the land and establishing a home, and in the course of time built up a large flour and lumber milling business on the White river in Jackson county, Ind. Upon the outbreak of the Mexican war he enlisted in the Third In- (liana Volunteers, became first lieutenant of his company, and participated in many important engagements, including the memorable battle of Buena Vista. Upon the conclusion of the war he returned to his home in Indiana. It was not long, however, before he became dissatisfied with his environments in that state, and decided to seek for his family a new home in the Far West. In the fall of 1851 he outfitted with three wagons and ox-teams, and, accompanied by his wife, four sons and two daughters, started on the long journey westward. The winter fol- lowing was spent in DeWitt county, Ill. In March, 1852, the family left DeWitt county and proceeded on their journey, crossing the Mis- souri river at St. Joseph, Mo., May 2. They followed the old Oregon trail from that point, proceeding down the Columbia river, and arriv- ing at the Sandy September 15. 1852. Soon afterward Mr. Parker located in Yamhill county, where he spent one year. In 1853 he located near Oakland, Douglas county. There a large

and productive ranch came into his possession, and upon it he engaged extensively in stock-rais- ing and general farming. At the same time he exhibited a keen interest in Republican politics. For several terms he served in the Oregon state legislature, becoming the author of a vast amount of legislation which was greatly needed in those days. He also served for some time as judge of Umpqua county, which included what is now Douglas county.

During the long period of his service in the legislature and on the bench Mr. Parker exerted a strong general influence, and invariably stood as the advocate of such measures only as, in his belief, would result in benefit to the largest pro- portion of the people. But he was probably more widely known by reason of his earnest and persistent efforts toward the consummation of plans for the dissemination of religious thought. He was a regularly ordained minister in the United Brethren church, and preached in the same until about four years prior to his death. Chiefly through his instrumentality several churches of that denomination were organized throughout the Willamette valley and elsewhere, and these, for the most part, were substantially endowed from his ample means. Probably none of the early settlers of this section of the state who have passed away was more widely known and revered and beloved than he, for his daily life was doing good. He possessed a most un- selfish spirit, and was a public benefactor and humanitarian in the highest sense of the terms.

Mr. Parker was united in marriage with Mary Scantling, a native of East Tennessee and a daughter of Samuel Scantling, who died in the latter state. Mrs. Parker died near Oakland, Ore., at the age of seventy-four years. Her husband died at Oakland, Ore., at the age of eighty-one years. They were the parents of six children, four of whom are living, as follows: Marion Parker. M. D., of Clackamas county, Ore .: Williamson Parker, a resident of Cali- fornia ; Patterson C. Parker, a resident of Oak- land, Ore .. and Mrs. Elizabeth Kelly.

CHARLES L. WEBER. The experience of Charles L. Weber has been somewhat diversified in character, but it has all served to fit him for his present position, for a man who conducts a mercantile establishment cannot have too broad a view of human nature and too close an ac- quaintance with it, to succeed in his work. He is now engaged in conducting one of the most thoroughly equipped and well furnished stores in Creswell, Lane county, having been so em- ployed since 1896.

Mr. Weber is of German parentage, his father, now a retired resident of Portland, having been

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born in the Fatherland in 1833, and as a young man crossed the ocean and sought the land of broader opportunities. He was a cabinetmaker by trade, and after landing in the United States in1 1851 first settled in Wisconsin, where he con- bined the interests of farming with his trade. Later he removed to Minnesota, and in 1896 came to Cottage Grove, Ore., where he made his home until the fall of 1903. The mother died at the age of sixty-two, leaving a family of thir- teen children, of whom Charles L. Weber was the third in order of birth, being born January 13, 1860, in Juneau county, Wis. When six years old he went to live with his grandparents, with whom he remained until he was thirteen years of age, during this period receiving his education through the medium of the district schools. On returning to the home of his father he remained for two years, when he started out into the world to make his own way, first taking up an apprenticeship with a blacksmith. He continued this employment for several years, when he located a homestead in Polk county, Minn., and at the same time engaged in the grain business, after a period of six years settling once more in the milder south to become occupied as a farmer. In 1894 he came to Oregon and set- tled upon a ranch in the neighborhood of Cres- well, Lane county, remaining until 1896 when he became interested in his present commercial enterprise.

In 1890 Mr. Weber married Flora Ballard, a native of Minnesota, and they have six children, in order of birth as follows: William D., Clif- ford C., Eunice, Myrtle, Homer, and Opal, all of whom are at home. Besides his interest in the store Mr. Weber owns seven acres in his home place. In politics he is a Socialist and fraternally a member of the Woodmen of the World, Camp No. 484, and Creswell Lodge No. 112, A. F. and A. M., in the latter acting as treasurer. He is a member of Gilfrey Lodge No. 169, I. O. O. F., and Moss Circle No. 485.

THOMAS OWEN MAXWELL. An Ore- gon pioneer, coming here as a lad of twelve years, and a representative of one of the oldest and most respected pioneer families of this sec- tion of the state, Thomas O. Maxwell, of Spring- field, is especially worthy of notice in a work of this kind. Crossing the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and the dreary plains, he came to Oregon when the country was practically in its virgin wildness, and has since been actively identified with its agricultural, mining, industrial and finan- cial prosperity. As a man and a citizen, he has been honest and upright, and by his earnest in- dustry, intelligence and integrity has accumulated wealth, and attained a place of distinction in polit-

ical and social circles. A native of Sangamon county, Ill., he was born January 23, 1834, near Springfield, a son of the late Ludlow Maxwell, who for more than half a century was a resident of Linn county.

Born and reared in Greene county, Ohio, Lud- low Maxwell removed to Sangamon county, Ill., when a young man, and after tilling the soil in that locality for a few years settled in Des Moines county, Iowa, purchasing a farm eight miles west of Burlington, where he resided twelve years. Coming to Oregon with his family in 1847, he crossed the plains with ox-teams, and located in Linn county. Eight miles east of Albany he took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, from which he improved a comfortable homestead, on which he spent the remainder of his life, dying, in 1899, at the venerable age of ninety-three years. He was always actively in- terested in the maintenance of churches and schools, and a strong advocate of the cause of temperance. Uniting with the Christian Church in early manhood, he continued one of its most faithful members until his death. In politics he was a Republican. His wife, whose maiden name was Delilah Marshall, was born in Ohio, and died of heart trouble on the Oregon homestead. Of the eleven children born of their union, nine grew to years of maturity, Thomas O. being the eldest child.

Coming with his parents to Oregon in 1847, Thomas O. Maxwell, although but a boy, ren- dered material assistance in the pioneer labor of clearing and improving the parental homestead. Going to California in 1856, he worked in the gold mines of Siskiyou county two years, being quite successful, but by subsequent speculation in gold claims lost some of his accumulations. Re- turning to Oregon in 1859, he operated a sawmill in Linn county six months, and the following ten years was engaged in farming, near Albany, on one hundred acres of land that came into his pos- session after the death of his mother. On Decem- ber 24, 1864, he entered his country's service, en- listing in Company F, First Oregon Infantry, and was employed in detail duty until being mustered out, July 20, 1866, at Vancouver, Wash. Hav- ing traded his farm for property near Cottage Grove, he subsequently took up one hundred and sixty acres of land in the same vicinity, and there resided until 1886. Purchasing real estate in Springfield in the spring of 1887, Mr. Maxwell has since been successfully employed at the car- penter's trade. In his business career he has been fortunate, and in addition to his other prop- erty interests is a stockholder in the Great West- ern Oil and Coal Company, and in the Cascade Coal Company, two safe and substantial organi- zations.

Mr. Maxwell married first, in Linn county,

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Ore., Ruth Powell, who was born in Menard county, Ill., and died in Linn county, Ore. She bore lier husband four children, namely : one child which died in infancy; Alfred Ludlow, a farmer in Lewiston, Idaho; Amy Ann, wife of Milton Cornelius, of Pleasant Hill, Ore., and Lincoln H. In July, 1898, in Lane county, Ore., Mr. Maxwell married Marguerite Jane Harkins, who was born in Canada, and they own and occupy a cozy home, pleasantly located on the banks of the Willamette. Politically Mr. Max- well is a Republican, and has rendered efficient service in public office, having served as school director a number of years, as councilman three terms, and for one term was mayor of Springfield. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Rebekahs, of the local Grange, and of the Grand Army of the Republic, and belongs to the Christian Church.

HENRY H. SMITSON. A meritorious serv- ice during the Civil war, twenty years of lumber- ing in the great state of Oregon, and many years of agricultural activity, are salient items of inter- est in the career of Henry H. Smitson, at present enjoying a well earned immunity from active par- ticipation in the busy cares of life. Born in Johnson county, Ky., October 27, 1844, Mr. Smitson is the fourth child in a family of eight children born to Mathew and Nancy (Williams) Smitson, natives of the Old Dominion. The father died when his son Henry was six years old. The mother, who died in Jackson county, Mo., in 1867, at the age of fifty years, was a descendant of an old Maine family, and was a daughter of William Williams, who removed from his native state of Maine to Maryland, later becoming one of the early settlers of Johnson county.

After an uneventful boyhood Henry H. Smit- son found an outlet for his ambition in the United States Army, in which he enlisted in 1860, at the age of seventeen. With headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., he was employed to drive a team for the commissary department trom Leavenworth to Fort Union, Mexico, and in March, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry, for service in the Civil war. At the battle of Independence he was made prisoner and held for some time, but was finally exchanged, and placed on scout duty until his re-enlistment, September 20, 1862, in Com- pany F, Twenty-Fifth Missouri Infantry. From then until the close of the war he was in the midst of camp and field, participating in most of the history-making battles, including Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Altoona, and the Atlanta campaign, finally taking part in the review at Washington, after the close of the war. Mustered out at Washington, and dis-

charged in May, 1865, at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Mr. Smitson located in Kansas City, Mo., and soon afterward engaged in the stone and brickmason's trade, which he followed as a means of livelihood until 1875.

Coming to Oregon by way of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, Mr. Smitson spent some time in Portland, and then made his way to Springfield, where he has since made his home. While saw milling for twenty years, and later till- ing the soil of his adopted state, he has taken a keen interest in the political and general develop- ment, holding various positions of trust and re- sponsibility. A stanch Republican, he has had the best interests of his party at heart, his devo- tion being rewarded by election to the office of city marshal for thirteen consecutive years. Al- though practically retired, he has the oversight of his farm of eighty acres two miles south of the town, his property being well improved, and given over to stock-raising and general farming. At the meetings of the Grand Army of the Re- public Mr. Smitson contributes his share of inter- esting reminiscence, and over many a campfire has told of experiences in camp and field, all of them tinged with the elements which make these occasions memorable.

The home life of Mr. Smitson has been a happy one, and the children which have been born into the family have proved themselves worthy of the practical training and unfailing interest by which they have been surrounded. Mrs. Smitson was formerly Mary Eaton, who was born in St. Louis and reared and married in Kansas City, Mo. Her father, Joseph Eaton, was born in the state of Tennessee, and as a young man became one of the early settlers of St. Louis, going at a later day to Jackson county, Mo., where he lived until 1870. His last days were spent at Goshen, Lane county, Ore., where he died at the age of eighty years. Four of the eleven children, John W., Mollie, Luella and Willie, are deceased, while Effie is the wife of George McCaulley, of Springfield; Jennie is at home ; William is deceased ; Nellie is the wife of Wallace Skeels, ot Springfield, and Etta, Frank and Jesse are at home. Miss Jennie Smitson ownis a grocery store, where for several years she conducted the business.

ROBERT GRIER VAN VALZAH, M. D. One of the leading physicians of Springfield, Dr. Robert G. Van Valzah, is recognized as a man of talent and culture, eminently fitted for the position he has attained in the medical circles of Lane county. A physician by breeding and heredity, his entrance into the professional ranks was but the logical result of his environment. On the paternal side his ancestors for several

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generations were physicians of wide reputation and marked skill. His great grandfather, Rob- ert Van Valzah, Sr., M. D., was born and edu- cated in New York, but early in life located in Union county, Pa., and was there engaged in the practice of medicine the greater part of his life, dying at Buffalo Roads. Robert Van Val- zah, Jr., M. D., the next in line of descent, was born in Union county, Pa., and after his gradua- tion built up a successful and lucrative practice in his native county.

Shepherd Laurie Van Valzah, father of Dr. Robert G. Van Valzah, was born and reared in Mifflinburg, Pa. Receiving the degree of M. D. at the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadel- phia, he lived the greater part of his life in Union and Lycoming counties, although his death occurred in Milton, Pa. He married Mary Elizabeth Grier, a daughter of Rev. Isaac Grier, a Presbyterian minister of note who had charge of one church for over fifty years. Her real name was Madden, but having been left father- less when a small child she took the surname of her adopted father, Rev. Isaac Grier.

The eldest son, and second child, of a family of four children was born October 8, 1863, in Boalsburg, Center county, Pa. Robert Grier Van Valzah obtained his elementary education in the public schools, afterwards entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Balti- more, Md., from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D., in 1885. The following two years Dr. Van Valzah was engaged in the practice of his profession in Northumberland county, Pa., first in Montandon and then in Wat- sontown. Removing to Hughesville, Pa., in 1887, he carried on a successful drug business for five years. In 1892 the doctor came to Oregon, locating in Springfield, where, with the exception of a portion of the year 1895, when he was in Milton. Pa., he has since been en- gaged in the practice of his profession. Well ·educated, skilful and careful, he has gained the confidence of the community to a marked degree, and has built up an extensive and lucrative patronage. Besides his residence, the doctor is the owner of considerable property in Spring- field. He is also interested to some extent in stock-raising, keeping a limited number of Guernsey dairy stock, which he brought from the east. He also raises considerable poultry, making a specialty of White Wyandotte chickens.

At Sunbury, Pa., Dr. Van Valzah married Addie Bernice Shannon, who was born in Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Rev. Samuel Galbraith Shannon, also a native of that state. Her father studied theology after his marriage, was or- dained as a minister of the Lutheran Church, and afterwards preached in Philadelphia for twelve years. He now resides in Norwood, a

suburb of Philadelphia, and in addition to sup- plying different churches as occasion requires, he was for several years financial secretary of the Susquehanna University, at Selinsgrove, Pa., of which he was one of the promoters, and for a number of years one of its board of regents. He is a man of strong personality, with a special talent for church organization, and although sixty-six years of age is as vigorous and active as a man in life's prime. The doctor and Mrs. Van Valzah are the parents of three children, namely : Shannon Laurie, Robert Clark and Caryl Gerald. Politically Dr. Van Valzah is a Socialist, and fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and of the Artisans.

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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 212

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