Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 237

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 237

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The early life and training of Mr. Hurd pre- pared him for the world of labor into which his ambition was to lead him. Industry was one of the first requisites of the rising generation around Penobscot county, Maine, where he was born December 16, 1853, and the eight children of Philander S. and Martha (King) Hurd, were no exception to the rule. Very early ancestors had settled in the northern country on their ar- rival from England in 1600, and the paternal great-grandfather followed the martial fortunes of Washington during the Revolutionary war. The grandfather, Jonathan Hurd, a stock-drover by occupation, settled on the large farm in Maine upon which was born his son, Philander S. Hurd, and the latter still occupies this highly treasured land possession. The maternal family of King also claims English ancestry, and was established in Maine at a very early day, the grandfather, Rice King, having been born there. Mrs. Hurd was born and reared in Bradford township, and at the age of seventy is the sym- pathetic and helpful companion of the husband with whom she has passed so many years of her life.

The oldest in a family of five sons and three daughters, Oscar W. Hurd remained at home until attaining his majority, and in the. mean- time had acquired a fair common school educa- tion. He was not richly endowed with this world's goods, but he had saved his earnings, and was able to come to the west by way of the Central Pacific railroad in 1874, and to still have a little left for possible needs. At Punta Arena,

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Cal., he worked his way up in a shingle factory, beginning as a filer, and ending as the manager of the concern. Later he embarked in the whole- sale and retail butcher business in which he was very successful, selling his business in 1883. He came to Oregon with a stock of general mer- chandise, having heard of the opening on the Siuslaw river, and having made up his mind to grow up with the country. Ever since he has been a merchant, enlarging his capacity with his trade, and with this for a foundation, has branched out into a multiplicity of interests. The Mary Hall, the first steamboat on the river, was purchased and started upon its long era of usefulness by Mr. Hurd, and the whistle of this pioneer craft was the first to wake the echoes of the dense timber lands. At the present time he owns the steamer Mink, the Marguerite, and the tug boat Roscoe, launched May 15, 1903, and named after the son of the owner. Above Flor- ence, Mr. Hurd has a creamery in operation, which has a capacity for caring for milk from five hundred cows. Another enterprise of equal importance from an employment and money- making standpoint is the O. W. Hurd Packing Company, of which he is president and sole owner, and which has a capacity of fifteen thou- sand cases of salmon per season. His four thou- sand acres of timber and river land is all in this vicinity, and the saw-mill, but recently erected in Florence, is aiding to carry on one of the most extensive logging business in this part of the state. No similar enterprises in the northwest are more substantially and reliably founded, or more praiseworthily maintained than the five of which Mr. Hurd is the instigator and promoter. He has given minute attention to the details of each branch of his many-sided busi- ness, and the latest in machinery and method have been adopted regardless of outlay or in- convenience. And thus Mr. Hurd enjoys the additional prestige due large and successful em- ployers of labor, and in this respect his name is associated with the greatest system, kindness and consideration. On his journey to western suc- cess he has dealt with all classes of people, and though like all strong and forceful and influen- tial men, enemies may have risen up in his path, it is safe to say that not a man, woman or child in this coast country regards as other than absolutely trustworthy, the name, character, or good will of this captain of industry.

Politics has played a small part in the life of Mr. Hurd. He votes the Republican ticket and upholds Republican institutions, but aside from minor local offices, such as town trustee and councilman, his time has heen devoted exclusive- ly to his business and home. His fraternal asso- ciations are with the Masons of Florence, in which organization he has attained high rank,

and is a member of the grand lodge. With his wife he is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and at present is serving as its treasurer. In 1887 Mr. Hurd married, in Eugene, Lily M. Cox, who was born in January, 1862, a daughter of Capt. W. A. Cox. Captain Cox spent many years of his life on the high seas and in the coast trade, but is now retired from active serv- ice, making his home on the Pacific shore. Mar- guerite, Roscoe and Hester, the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Hurd, are living at home. Too much cannot be said of the worth and example of men cast in heroic mould, whether their field 'of activity be in the commercial, professional, industrial or religious world. Any ambitious young man might profit by the lessons taught in the life of Mr. Hurd. Sober and industrious, persevering always in the direction which his better judgment dictates, he has carved out a competency from the new but intrinsically great commonwealth of Oregon, and no one of her citizens, of which she boasts the proudest and best in the world, can excel him in stability and moral worth.

WILLIAM M. RITNEY. The first six years of the life of this honored farmer were spent in Howard county, Mo., where he was born De- cember 19, 1848, the fourth child of the four sons and three daughters of John and Elizabeth (Wayland) Ritney, natives respectively of Knox county, Ohio, and Virginia, and the latter of whom met a tragic death. John Ritney removed with his parents from Ohio to Howard county, Mo., at a very early day, and there learned the millwright's trade, which he continued to follow as long as he remained in the middle west. In 1853 he outfitted with ox-teams and crossed the country with comparatively few happenings of an unpleasant nature. For two years he lived in Salem, and then came to Lane county and took up a claim of three hundred and twenty acres near Junction City, which land is now oc- cupied by his son, William M. Here he made some headway in clearing his land, but died soon after becoming established in the west, February 6, 1865, at the age of fifty-six years.

At the age of sixteen years William M. Rit- ney engaged in independent farming and stock- raising on his father's farm, to which he has added, until he now owns four hundred and eight acres. The farm is advantageously lo- cated near the town, so that the family have the advantages of hoth town and country. Mr. Rit- nev has always taken a keen interest in the edu- cational advancement of the county, and between 1870 and 1880 was a teacher in the schools of the district. He has since been a member and clerk of the school board during many terms,

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and has held other offices within the gift of his fellow-townsmen, including that of city recorder for six years. He is fraternally connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is a welcome visitor of the lodge of that organiza- tion. Mr. Ritney has been particularly prominent in Presbyterian Church affairs, especially pro- moting the interests of the Sunday schools of his district, both at Eugene and Junction City. In the former city he was the foremost worker in the church for nearly thirty years, and for many years he has been superintendent of the Sunday school in Junction City, for nine years filling the position of secretary of the Sunday schools of the county.

For his first wife Mr. Ritney married, in Eu- gene, Josephine Goltra, who was born in Doug- las county, and died in Eugene in 1877, leaving one child, Royal W., engaged in gold-mining in Baker City, Ore. The present Mrs. Ritney was formerly Lucy J. Bushnell, a native of Lane county, Ore., and who is the mother of six chil- dren.

EDWARD P. REDFORD. Among the en- terprising and successful farmers to whom Lane county owes so much for her present advanced position, Edward P. Redford deserves more than passing mention. Inheriting from a thrifty and successful father an appreciation of the possi- bilities of his useful occupation, he has pro- gressed, as study and research have broadened his mind and placed him in touch with the best to be obtained in his line. He was born in Bar- ren county, Ky., August 10, 1829. His father moved his family to Missouri about 1848, this being the third state in which he had owned land, his farm in his native state, Virginia, being the largest. There were fifteen children in the fam- ily, and Edward P., who was the fourth in order of birth, led an uneventful youth, attending the district schools irregularly, and working hard during the summer season. Like many other strong and ambitious young men he was on the alert for improving his opportunities, and was willing to take great risks in order to place him- self in a better position. The tales of mining and farming which reached him from the west, fell upon attentive and hopeful ears, and April 24, 1850, he started out with ox teams to seek his fortune in the far west. Arriving in Cali- fornia at the end of five months, he mined and prospected for a year, but was not favorably im- pressed with the uncertainty and rough life in- cident to mining, nor was he sufficiently success- ful to warrant a continuation of the struggle. For a time he engaged in teaming. In Novem- ber, 1852, he arrived in Portland, Orc., and has since been a resident of the state.

In the spring of 1853 Mr. Redford moved to Benton county, making his home near Corvallis, until February, 1853, when he took up a dona- tion claim in Lane county. His marriage with Sarah M. Cochran occurred January 14, 1855. Mrs. Redford was born in Missouri, and came across the plains with her parents in 1852, locat- ing on a farm in Lane county. After his mar- riage Mr. Redford took up a claim three miles northeast of Cottage Grove. In 1861 he re- moved near Coburg, and in 1863 to his present place, three and one-half miles northeast of Cot- tage Grove. This farm consisted of two hun- dred and twenty acres, being on the angles of sections 9, 10, 15 and 16, township 20, range 3 west. At present he owns one hundred and fifty- six acres, upon which he has made all modern improvements, and carries on general farming and stock-raising. For about seventeen years he operated harvesting machines around the country, and in this way materially increased his yearly allowance, many of the settlers being un- able at that time to own the necessary machinery with which to gather in their grain.

Of the first marriage of Mr. Redford nine children were born, the only survivors being John M., of Creswell ; James E., of Arena; Eliz- abeth, Mrs. Armstrong, of California; and Ida B., Mrs. Stocks, of the vicinity of Saginaw. Mrs. Redford died February 27, 1875. For his second wife Mr. Redford married Mrs. Minerva Birch, who was born in Missouri and died in Oregon in 1897. For a third wife he married Mrs. Harriet E. Hymas, a native of Missouri. In politics a Democrat, Mr. Redford has taken an active interest in county politics, and has held all minor offices of the vicinity. He is a mem- ber and elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. During his life in the west Mr. Red- ford has been identified with the development of the state, and during the Rogue river war gladly left his farm to espouse the cause of the settlers against the Indians. Enlisting under Captain Buoy, in Company B, he served for three months during the latter part of 1855 and the beginning of 1856, participating in many of the important battles, and subjecting himself to great danger. Mr. Redford commands the respect and good will of all with whom he has been associated, and as an agriculturist, soldier, and citizen, has done his part in the upbuilding of his adopted state.

FRANK W. OSBURN, the cashier of the Eugene Loan & Savings Bank, is one of the strong and influential men of the city in which the greater part of his life has been spent. Since he came to Oregon at the age of thirteen his every step to progress has been watched by that

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pioneer and earlier element which zealously guards its prestige, and which nevertheless saw in the energetic and capable boy the promising material from which their sturdy successors were to come. That he has realized the expectations of those in a position to judge is due as much to his masterful handling of opportunity, as to the example of a practical and capable father, with whose drug business he was identified first as clerk and later as partner for many years.

Mr. Osburn was born at Saegerstown, near Meadville, Crawford county, Pa., January 24, 1853, his father, William, and his grandfather, Robert Osburn, being natives of the same state. With patriotic fervor the grandsire fought for his country in the war of 1812, and died in the state of his birth in 1863. He was of English descent. His son William followed his example and became a land owner and stockman in Penn- sylvania, in which state he married Rebecca Deeter, born in the eastern part of the Quaker state, and a daughter of Michael Deeter, who was an early settler in the vicinity of Saegerstown. As the name implies, the maternal family claims German ancestry. Six children were born to William Osburn and his wife in Pennsylvania, Frank W. being the third. Ralph S., the oldest son, died in Reno, Nev .; Robert M. was living in Mexico when last heard of; Adela E. is now Mrs. Moore of San Diego, Cal .; Mrs. Agnes E. Harding is a resident of Eugene; and Mrs. Augusta McDonald lives at Grant's Pass, Ore. William Osburn brought his wife and six chil- dren to Eugene in 1866, by way of Panama, San Francisco, Portland and Albany, and for many years engaged in the drug busines on Willamette street. His death occurred in 1890, and he was survived by his wife until 1895. He was a Democrat in politics, and was fraternally con- nected with the Masons.

After coming to Eugene, Frank W. Osburn continued the public school education begun in Saegerstown, and in 1872 left the schoolroom to enter his father's drug business, which he learned from the bottom. In 1872 he became a partner in the concern under the firm name of Osburn & Company, and after the death of his father in 1890 he took into partnership Mr. Delano, the firm name being changed to Osburn & Delano. Owing to the pressure of other business matters, Mr. Osburn disposed of his interest in the drug business to his partner in 1899. In the mean- time, in 1890, he had become interested in what is now the Eugene Loan & Savings Bank, which was organized as the Bank of Oregon, and be- came the Eugene National Bank in 1891. Mr. Osburn was one of the organizers and directors of the original bank, became the bookkeeper in 1891, and in 1892 assumed his present position of cashier, He is also interested as director and

treasurer in the Lane County Electric Company. He has been a special factor in educational ad- vancement in Eugene, is now serving his second term on the school board, and is a member of the building committee overseeing the erection of the new high school building. Always a stanch Democrat, he served as postmaster of Eugene under Cleveland from 1886 until 1890, but is not seeking further honors of a political nature. He is past master of Eugene Lodge No. II, A. F. and A. M .; past high priest of Eugene Chapter No. 10, R. A. M .; past eminent com- mander of Ivanhoe Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar; a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen ; and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In 1881 Mr. Osburn married in Walla Walla, Wash., Addie Bristol, born in Lane county, Ore., and daughter of George and Paul- ine (Minton) Bristol, well known pioneers of Oregon. Frank W. Osburn, Jr., the only son of this union, is a graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy, class of 1902, and is now junior officer on the gunboat Vicksburg with the Asiatic squad- ron in China. Mrs. Osburn is a member of the Congregational church.

JOHN WILLIAM HARRIS, M. D. The sturdy qualities which distinguish the pioneer have been transmitted to the son, for since his fourteenth year John W. Harris has worked his own way in the pursuit of an education and a profession for which he felt his ability, attending the best of schools and attaining the degree which permitted him to begin the practice of medicine. He is the son of J. M. Harris, was born near Russellville, Ind., March 2, 1856, and was next to the youngest of his father's family. He lived in his native state until he was three years old, when his parents located in Illinois, near the town of Quincy, and there remained for six years, when they crossed the plains with four- horse teams. The journey occupied six months. Upon their arrival in the west the father settled six miles east of Albany, Linn county, where they remained for four years. In 1871 he located near Cottage Grove. (For a more complete ac- count of the father's life, refer to his sketch, which appears on another page of this work.)

John W. Harris remained at home until at- taining his majority, receiving his education in the public schools and Monmouth College, and beginning to teach when but seventeen years old. This occupation was continued in connection with his studies for several years, the income therefrom enabling him to continue his work. The first year in which he undertook the study of medicine he was under the tutelage of his brother. Dr. T. W. Harris of Eugene, after which he entered the medical department of the Uni-

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versity of California, remaining one year. He then became a student in the medical depart- ment of Willamette University, from which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of M. D. Taking up the practice of his profession, Dr. Harris located in Cottage Grove, where he re- mained until 1888, when he removed to Eugene, in which city he has since been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery. The uniform judgment which has brought him success has made him a prominent physician and has built up for him a substantial and lucrative practice. For the past eight years he has been secretary of the Lane County Medical Society, and is now serv- ing ,as medical examiner for several old line in- surance companies.

The marriage of Dr. Harris occurred in Cot- tage Grove June 6, 1877, and united him with Miss Mary R. Shortridge, a native of that city, and the daughter of James H. Shortridge, who became a farmer in that neighborhood as a pio- neer of 1852. The four children who have blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs. Harris are as follows : Madison Curtis, a graduate of the Uni- versity of Oregon, who is now attending North- western University of Chicago, class of 1904, as a student in the dental department; Edith M., wife of Louis Martin of Portland; Edna L. and George H. Mrs. Harris is a member of the Christian Church. In fraternal associations Dr. Harris is an Odd Fellow, in which lodge he is past officer, and he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, acting as medical examiner for that order. In politics a stanch Republican, he has often been called upon to serve in the in- terests of the party, for six years having acted as coroner of Lane county.

COL. GEORGE O. YORAN. As a journal- ist and soldier, Col. George O. Yoran constitutes a very popular and agreeable adjunct to the lat- ter-day cosmopolitan life of Eugene. Represent- ing one of the best-known families of this state, his immediate connections are dealt with else- where in this work, and perhaps furnish a key to the moulding influences of his life. Pride of birth, and an ancestry numbering among its members men who shouldered their muskets on the battlefields of the Revolutionary war, are reflected in his career. His birth occurred at Sand Spring, Delaware county, Iowa, and he was reared principally in Jones county, of the same state. After graduating from the high school of Monticello, Iowa, he applied himself to learning the printer's trade, plying the same after coming to Eugene in 1883. For a time he was associated with the West Shore Magasine in Portland, and upon returning to Eugene joined

his brother, W. C. Yoran, in the publication of the Eugene Register until its sale in 1896.

Colonel Yoran's initial military experience be- gan in 1887, when he became a member of Com- pany C, First Regiment of Infantry, Oregon Na- tional Guards, and from the position of private was rapidly advanced to the rank of sergeant and second lieutenant. Resigning his commission in November, 1889, he was elected first lieutenant of Company C in the spring of 1890, a few months later being promoted to the captaincy of the same company, and in 1893 was elected major of the Second Regiment of Infantry, Oregon Na- tional Guards, the following year being given full command of the regiment. In 1894 he was elected and commissioned colonel of the regi- ment, and at the breaking out of the Spanish- American war was appointed and commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment by Governor Lord. With his command he accom- panied the regiment to the Philippine Islands, re- mained during the entire campaign, and after returning to the United States was honorably dis- charged in August, 1899. Upon the re-organiza- tion of the Oregon National Guards in May, 1900, the Fourth regiment was organized, and Colonel Yoran was elected its colonel May 15, 1900. He is a typical military man, enthusiastic in his appreciation of law and order, and enter- tains corresponding pride in the organizations with which he has been connected. He is a mem- ber of the Spanish-American War Veterans' As- sociation. Fraternally he is connected with Eugene Lodge No. II, A. F. and A. M., of which he was master in 1903, and Eugene Chap- ter No. 10, R. A. M., of which he is captain of the host. A Republican in politics, he has never aspired to official recognition. His wife, who was formerly Laura Dunn, a native of Eugene, is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the mother of two interesting chil- dren, George Francis and Ada Gertrude. Mrs. Yoran is a daughter of the late F. B. Dunn.

WALDO L. CHESHIRE, M. D. Oregon has her share of men of brilliant intellectual at- tainments and character, and among these none are more prominent than those of the medical profession, one of whom is Waldo L. Cheshire, who, though still young in years, is a man of wide experience. He is serving as president of the Lane County Medical Society, and also holds the position of medical examiner for various of the fraternal orders, and for two years he served as county coroner, from 1898 to 1900, as well as carrying on a general practice of medicine and surgery.

Dr. Cheshire was born in Umatilla county,

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Ore., July II, 1864, his father being W. P. Ches- hire, a native of Tennessee, and the grandfather Edmund Cheshire, who removed to Missouri, where he died. W. P. Cheshire was reared in Missouri until he was fifteen years of age, when he crossed the plains in an ox-train in 1854, com- ing first to the Willamette valley, where he worked for various people and was also em- ployed in the mines of Southern Oregon. In 1855-56 he enlisted for service in the Rogue River Indian war, and afterward returned to the valley. For a short period he was a resi- dent of Walla Walla, Wash., and then became a farmer and stockman in Umatilla county. With the exception of a year which was spent in San Francisco, he has passed the remaining years in Lane county, engaged in farming and hop-rais- ing, having been engaged in the latter industry for fifteen years. He now makes his home in Eugene. In his fraternal relations he is a mem- ber of Eugene Lodge No. II, A. F. & A. M .; Eugene Chapter No. 10, R. A. M .; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 2, K. T., and Al Kader Tem- ple, N. M. S., and is a member of the Episcopal Church. He married Susan F. Baskett, a na- tive of Lane county, Ore., and the daughter of Richard Dudley Baskett, who came with his wife across the plains and became a pioneer of the Willamette valley. He died in the spring of 1902, near Portland, his wife having died many years earlier, when she was but thirty- four years of age.

Of the six children born to his parents, Wal- do L. Cheshire, the eldest, was reared in Lane county, from the age of five years. He attended the district school in an effort to gain a pre- liminary education, and afterward entered the University of Oregon. He withdrew from this work in his junior year, anxious to take up the study of medicine, which he did alone for two years, when he became a student at the Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, from which he was graduated in 1896 with the degree of M. D. He then began practicing in Oakland, Cal., where he met with fair success, and after one year he came to Eugene, and has since made this his home.

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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 237

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