Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 250

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 250

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

W. D. Wallace remained at home until he was twenty-four years old, engaging in the duties which fell to his lot as the son of a pioncer farmer and fitting himself for successful work. After his marriage in 1868 he went to work for himself, and now owns six hundred and forty acres of land, of which two hundred is a part of the old claim of his father. He carries on stock- raising, having cattle, sheep, horses and goats, and is meeting with the success which attends energy and application when guided by intelli- gent and practical ideas. His wife was, in maid- enhood, Lucinda M. Drury, a native of Mis- souri, who came west in 1853. The following children have blessed their union: Robert, at home; Chester, near his childhood's home ; Charles, at home ; John T .; Fred; Benjamin H .; Caroline S .; Irene M .; Nora A., and Mary B. Mr. Wallace is a member of the Christian Church.

WILLIAM H. WEATHERSON. The West, an important factor in moulding public opinion in Lane county, and published at Flor- ence by William H. Weatherson, is fortunately under the supervision of a wide-awake and pro- gressive promoter of western enterprises who is keenly alive to his responsibility as a journalist. This small periodical abounds in newsy and in- teresting information, and though not partisan, has a mind of its own, which is expressed fear- lessly and to the point, and always with due re- gard for the best interests of the community. The genial editor has the faculty of maintaining friendly relations with people in and out of his paper, and has never succeeded in making ene- mies. Many years of educational work, and continuous research along general lines, has fitted Mr. Weatherson for a newspaper career of

great promise. Born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., June 2, 1858, he is of Scotch ancestry, his grandfather, William, who was born in 1776 and died in 1856, having established the family name in New York. Edkin Weatherson, the father of William, was born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., January 12, 1832, as was also his wife, formerly Alice Cowan, whose natal day was July 16, 1836. The parents were married in New York and moved to Rice county, Minn., when William was eight years of age. Here the family located on the farm which is still the home of the parents, and where the father has for years been known as one of the foremost farmers of his neighborhood.

The oldest of the nine children born to his parents, Mr. Weatherson improved his early op- portunities at the district school, and when six- teen years of age began to teach during the winter, spending his summers in the harvest- fields of the home farm. Upon removing to Oregon, in 1886, he located on the Siuslaw, and for ten years engaged in teaching at different points along the river, afterward taking up a donation claim of one hundred and twenty acres four miles east of Mapleton. In September, 1896, he came to Florence and became owner and manager of The West, and in connection therewith has established a real estate business, handling both town and country property. Mr. Weatherson still owns his farm in the vicinity of the town of Mapleton, and four lots in Florence. He is one of the most progressive and cultured of the citizens who are maintaining a high standard of municipal well-being, and is prac- tically connected with the social, economic, edu- cational, and political advancement. A Repub- lican in politics, he is a school director and presi- dent of the city council, and he is fraternally connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has passed all of the chairs and attended the Grand Lodge; and the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is clerk. With his wife and children he is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Weatherson mar- ried, in 1887, Cora E. Knowles, who was born in Rice county, Minn., May 30, 1862, and who is the mother of six children : Alice E. Hazel L., Agnes E., Edkin E., Dora H., and Hattie A.

JAMES H. HAWLEY. Oregon's progress has been marked chiefly by the development of her agricultural interests. From the practical duties and helpful discipline of farm life have come many of the men to whom our nation owes her supremacy, and for strong. helpful and vig- orous manhood we still depend upon the sons of farmers. Within the borders of Oregon are always to be found those who are capable of

1550

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

assuming the responsibilities and duties of citi- zens, these being chiefly the sons of those sturdy and faithful pioneers who braved the dangers and privations of the wilderness while they worked for that which their children enjoy to- day.

It is the pride of James H. Hawley, of this re- view, that he is both the son of such a man and a native citizen of such a state as Oregon. His father, Ira Hawley, was born in the state of New York, May 16, 1817, and following the occupation of his father he engaged in farming from his earliest youth. When seventeen years old he started out into the world to make his own way, in Illinois working as a farm hand for the period of four years. Through the practice of industry and economy he was enabled at the end of that time to purchase a farm, upon which he made his home until 1849. He then crossed the plains on a Cayuse pony, being occupied for about a year in the gold fields of California, after which he returned to his home in Illinois by the way of the Isthmus. In the spring of 1852 he once more crossed the plains, bringing with him into the west his family, with whom he settled in Lane county, Ore., upon a donation elaim of three hundred and twenty acres, located on the divide between Douglas and Lane coun- ties. The energy and ambition which had char- acterized his life in the middle west also proved dominant traits in his new location, and in the years which followed brought him large returns for his efforts. In addition to general farming he engaged in stock-dealing, the proceeds of his work being invested in real estate, he becoming in time the owner of a large amount of property, amounting to four thousand acres. This he di- vided among his children a few years before his death. For many years his home was known as the Mountain House, the last hostlery on this side of the mountains. He lived to be over eighty years old, while his wife, who was for- merly Elvira Riley, a native of Indiana, died at the age of seventy-six. Of the children born to them the oldest son is located near Moscow, Idaho; William B. is in Lorane; George M. lives near Cottage Grove, Ore .: James H., of this review, and Robert located in this vicinity.

James H. Hawley was born upon the farm where he now lives, this being the donation claim which his father first took up in Oregon, his natal day being September 17. 1862. On this farm, located four miles south of Cottage Grove and on the divide between Lane and Douglas counties, he was reared to a useful manhood. With the progressive spirit which marked the natives of New York state, the father spared no effort nor expense in the education of his chil- dren, his son, James H. Hawley, receiving a course in the University of Oregon. On com-

pleting his education James H. Hawley returned to the parental roof and engaged with his father in the home duties until his marriage, in 1886, with Miss Hulda Alice Withers, a native of Ore- gon. She was the daughter of J. E. P. Withers, one of the most substantial and upright pioneers of the early days. The young people began their married life on the home place, and with the exception of four years spent in California this has ever since remained their home. Mr. Haw- ley now owns about eighteen hundred acres of land, almost all of which is in one body, besides additional property in Cottage Grove, and is an extensive stock dealer. He has one hundred and fifty head of cattle; nine hundred head of goats ; two hundred head of sheep, and fifteen head of horses and mules.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hawley; L. Homer and Alsea Hazel, who add to the happiness of the household. Mr. Hawley is a Republican in polities, but has never taken an active interest in the movements of his party, nor has he ever cared for official recogni- tion. In fraternal relations he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World.

HON. MITCHELL WILKINS. The name of Wilkins is one which will always attraet the attention of the student of the history of Ore- gon, for it was borne by one of the early settlers of the state, one whose high character and con- seientious efforts have left their impress upon the progress of events. This pioneer, the Hon. Mitchell Wilkins, was born in Orange county. N. C. His father, who was descended from a Scotch family of the colonial period, died in North Carolina when the son was but nine years of age. Early in life Mitchell Wilkins started out in the world to seek his own live- lihood, for several years engaging in boating and boat-building on the Mississippi river. He afterward settled in Andrew county, Mo., near St. Joseph, which was then little more than a pioneer camp on the outskirts of civilization. He performed the first carpenter work of any note in that embryo town, erecting the first sub- stantial buildings there.

In 1847 Mr. Wilkins and his wife became members of a party of seven hundred people who started overland from St. Joseph for the far west, a long trip fraught with many dangers and privations in those days. Mr. Wilkins met with his full share of trouble and losses. While crossing the plains he lost his team, this necessi- tating the abandonment of the wagon in the Rocky mountains ; and the journey to the Wil- lamette valley was completed with one horse, one ox and two cows. Mr. Wilkins and his young wife, their hopes and ambitions high

1551

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

despite the drawbacks with which Fate had handicapped them, walked all the way across the mountains, following the old Barlow route, and reached their destination in safety. They spent the winter of 1847-8 near what is now Mar- quam, Clackamas county, where Mr. Wilkins erected a small log cabin. In the spring of 1848 they resumed their journey toward the south. Arriving in what is now Lane county, Mr. Wilkins took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres located ten miles north- east of the site of the city of Eugene. Here he set about the work of erecting a temporary log cabin, into which he moved his family in the fall of that year. During the following year he constructed a more substantial house of hewed logs, and a few years later was enabled to erect a frame house of a more pretentious character.

Mr. Wilkins had barely become established in his pioneer home in the wilderness before the news of the discovery of gold in California be- gan to attract the attention of the inhabitants of the western frontier. In the hope of bettering his financial condition he started for the Eldorado on horseback in the fall of 1849. He arrived in the Sacramento valley without incident of note, and at once engaged in placer mining on a small scale; but after fourteen days he and the party associated with him in the work were driven out by the snow and the depredations of the Indians, and Mr. Wilkins returned to his home in Oregon.

From that year until the time of his retire- ment from the active responsibilities of life, Mr. Wilkins devoted his energies to stock-raising, in which he met with most gratifying success. From time to time he made purchases of land adjoining his original claim until he is now the owner of three thousand acres, located prin- cipally in the foothills, which he has improved and fitted up in every way necessary to make it a model stock ranch. He has always raised stock of the finest breeds, including Devons, Durhams and Polled-Angus cattle. He is now eighty- four years of age and makes his home in Et- gene, having retired from active cares, princi- pally by reason of a paralytic stroke experienced in 1893.

Mr. Wilkins has not been selfishly interested in his work toward success in this generous region, but has cheerfully and capably aided in the promotion of all worthy causes whose ten- dency has been to advance the welfare of the people at large. In politics he has been a Re- publican since the Civil war, serving in 1862 as a member of the Oregon state legislature. For some time prior thereto Mr. Wilkins had taken a prominent part in the political undertakings of the county and state. 'During the historical triangular fight for the governorship of the

state, he was nominated for the office on the In- dependent ticket, but was not able to overcome the Republican majority. He has always ex- hibited a deep and abiding interest in the gen- eral welfare of agricultural interests in Oregon. He became one of the chief organizers of the State Agricultural Society, and for many years served as its president. In 1876 he visited the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia as com- missioner from Oregon, acted in the same capacity at the New Orleans Exposition in 1884 and the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. It was in the fall after his return from Chicago that he was stricken with paralysis.

Mr. Wilkins was united in marriage with Permelia Ann Allen, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Robert Allen, who crossed the plains in 1847 in the same train with which his daughter and son-in-law were connected. His wife had died in Missouri. Mrs. Wilkins is still living at the age of seventy-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins have been the parents of seven children, four of whom are now living: Fran- cis Marion, a retired druggist of Eugene; Jas- per and Amos, who are located on the ranch ; and Angeline, widow of Samuel D. Holt, of Eu- gene.

Personally Mr. Wilkins belongs to the highest type of the pioneer citizen and self-made man. His success in life has been due solely to his own efforts. The characteristics which have contributed most to his success, as shown by the record of his life, have been his indomitable energy and perseverance, his integrity in all business transactions, and the liberal, broad- minded manner in which he has conducted all his operations. His record in public and private life has been above reproach, free from all sus- picion of dishonor. Honesty, courage, enter- prise and fairness toward his fellow-men have endeared him closely to all who have been favored with his friendship. Now, in the twi- light of a long and useful career, he and his estimable wife are surrounded by their friends and all the comforts due those honored men and women who have passed the allotted span of life. The clean, noble records they will leave behind them should prove a source of inspira- tion to future generations, and of gratification and pride to their own descendants.

GEORGE M. HAWLEY. In the vicinity of Cottage Grove, Lane county, is located the home of George M. Hawley, one of the progressive and up-to-date farmers of this region. He is a native son of the state, having been born on the Divide, Ore., September 9, 1857, the son of Ira Hawley. The latter was born in New York state, May 16, 1817, and his father being a.

1552

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

farmer by occupation he was early trained to that life. When seventeen years old he started out into the world to make his own way, going first to the state of Illinois, where he engaged as a farm hand, working by the month. This was continued steadily until he had attained his ma- jority and with the proceeds of his four years' work he bought a farm, where he engaged in farming for himself. He was married about this time to Elvira Riley, a native of Indiana. Mr. Hawley remained in Illinois until 1849, when he crossed the plains on a Cayuse pony into the gold fields of California. There he mined for about a year, when he returned to Illinois by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and in the spring of 1852 returned west, direct to Lane county, Ore., where he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres located on the divide between Douglas and Lane counties. This remained his home for many years, and in the prosecution of stock dealing and farming he gradually accumulated a large amount of prop- erty, none of which he was ever known to sell. He became one of the very successful men of the county and was one of the principal stock dealers in this section, his estate amounting to four thousand acres, which he divided among his children a few years before his death. He lived to be over eighty years old, his wife dying at seventy-six. The two acquired fame as keepers of what was known as the Mountain House, the last stopping place on this side of the mountains. Of the children born to them the oldest son is located near Moscow, Idaho; William R. is in Lorane; George M., of this review is located near Cottage Grove; Robert is located in this vicinity; and James H., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.

George M. Hawley was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the district schools. He remained at home "until attaining his majority, and he then came to the farm which he now occupies, then having three hun- dred and seventy-five acres two miles north of Creswell, and three hundred and forty embodied in a stock ranch two miles west. For six years he lived alone upon this farm and then married Mary C. Adams, a native of Cottage Grove, and the two children born to them are Herbert and George F., both residents of Cottage Grove. Mr. Hawley now has seven hundred and fifteen acres of land, two hundred and fifty of which are till- able, and he is now carrying on general farming and stock-raising, in the latter business pre- ferring Durham cattle, Cotswold sheep and An- gora goats. Mr. Hawley has a neat dwelling and substantial outbuildings to add to the gen- eral appearance of his property.

For a second wife Mr. Hawley married Min- nie Ozment, a native of Lorane. Mr. Hawley

is prominent in fraternal orders, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Follows, An- cient Order of United Workmen, Woodmen of the World, and various of the auxiliaries, among them the Rebekahs, etc. Politically he is a Re- publican and has held various offices in the vi- cinity, and always takes an active and intelligent part in the affairs of the community, and is one of the trustees of the First National Bank of Cottage Grove.

WILLIAM LEWIS MCFARLAND. At an early day the paternal grandfather of W. L. Mc- Farland, William McFarland, came from Scot- land and established his family in Ohio, settling on a farm in the vicinity of St. Clairsville, where he reared a large family of children. Among the sons born in Ohio was Elijah, the father of Will- iam Lewis, who eventually succeeded to the old farm, and died there at the age of sixty-nine years. He married Jane Gable, a native of Ger- many, whose father, Peter Gable, was one of the very early settlers of Ohio. Mrs. McFarland survives her husband, and at the present time is seventy years of age. Of her twelve children nine are married and have homes of their own. Of these, William Lewis, the third oldest, was born in St. Clairsville, Ohio, September 20, 1860, and with his brother, James, a blacksmith living in Junction City, Ore., are the only members of the family on the coast.

For two years and nine months W. L. McFar- land served an apprenticeship with Martin Brothers, blacksmiths, in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Afterward he worked at Bellaire, Ohio, in the Baltimore & Ohio shops, and with the same rail- road company was later employed in different shops between Bellaire and Chicago. The last of the five years with this company he was fore- man of the shops in Chicago. Not less success- ful was a trip down the Mississippi valley as a journeyman, after which he returned to Ohio and ran a blacksmith shop of his own until 1885. Desiring an all around change, and having heard much about the climate and other advantages of Oregon, he sold out and came to Eugene, where he started a business of his own in 1886, in part- nership with Mr. McMurry. Six months later the entire business passed into the hands of Mr. McFarland, who is still doing business on the corner of Eighth and Olive streets, one of the oldest blacksmith sites in Eugene.

Besides the property occupied by his black- smith shop, 54x80 feet, he owns a large lot on west Eighth street, where he built a large build- ing containing two stores and apartments, in 1903. This building' covers sixty square feet of ground, and is modern in construction and equip-

1553

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ment. He also owns a building, 60x120 feet, in Springfield, this state.

While living in Bellaire, Ohio, December 23, 1883, Mr. McFarland married Mary. Rampe, who was born in London, England, a daughter of Herman Rampe, who was born and died in Germany. Mrs. McFarland was left an orphan at an early age, and when nine years old came to America with a friend, making her home in St. Louis. She is the mother of six children: Jen- nie, Lucy, Edith, Mary V., Hazel and William. Although never inclined to participate actively in Republican politics, Mr. McFarland is a stanch upholder of his party. Fraternally he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and Knights of the Maccabees, being a past officer of the latter organization.

JAMES POLK MILLIORN. The old Mil- liorn place in Junction City, built so many years ago by that honored pioneer, T. A. Milliorn, has been occupied and owned by his son, James Polk,, since 1875, the latter interestingly and substan- tially identified with Oregon since his twelfth year. Born near Knoxville, Tenn., August 30, 1840, he vividly recalls every particular of the overland trip in 1852, and his participation in what was indeed a momentous crisis for the family. The driving of loose stock and the rid- ing of horses fell to his lot, and the train came by way of the Platte river, escaping attacks of a serious nature on the part of the Indians, and being rather fortunate until arriving at Pacific Spring. Here the dread cholera invaded their ranks, his mother being seriously ill with it, and his sister and three other members of the party succumbing to the disorder. Starting in April, the train arrived at the Cascades in November, and there they lost all of the stock which had survived the long journey across the plains. From the lower Cascade to the mouth of the Sandy the father and mother came on a flat boat, and James got onto the old Clinton which was lying on some rocks in the Columbia river, and though there were people on board who were more fortunate than himself in the way of clothes and provisions, he did not succeed in getting them to help him with even a blanket in which to sleep. He was very hungry also, and when he reached Sandy he was reduced to such a state that he was glad to give 25 cents for a turnip with which to stay the pangs of hunger, for he had then been twenty-four hours with nothing to eat. The family spent the first winter on a claim six miles east of Portland, and in Febru- ary, 1853, came to Lane county, settling on three hundred and twenty acres three-quarters of a mile west of Junction City.

In 1860 Mr. Milliorn went to Washington with James Patterson, driving beef-cattle to a point above Seattle, and finally made his way to the Snoqualmie river, with an Indian for a guide. The same year he went to the Rogue river in Jackson county and was variously employed at farming, mining, repairing wagons, sawing logs, and running a cooper shop, and the following year came back to his father's place in Lane county. In 1862 he engaged in mining in the Florence district, Idaho, on Baboon Gulch, and when he returned was the richer by several hun- dreds of dollars. In 1863 he changed his field of mining operations to the Caribou district. going there overland with a pack train and with a cargo of bacón. The way was dangerous, as is well known, and in some places it was neces- sary to tie the horses together by their tails and let them slide down deep declines. In the fall he came to Canyon City with sheep, and in 1864 went to the Boise Basin via the Columbia trail with sheep, encountering many interesting ex- periences while in the wild and desolate places of the great northwest.

In January, 1865, Mr. Milliorn married Kittie Mulholland, who was born in Missouri, and crossed the plains with her parents in 1853, lo- cating at Pleasant Hill, this county. Immediate- ly after his marriage he engaged in a general merchandise business ten miles below Corvallis, in partnership with W. G. Pickett, now deceased, and for whose estate Mr. Milliorn has been ap- pointed administrator. The mercantile business was disposed of in 1865, and in 1869 he went on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres four miles south of Junction City, remaining there until purchasing the old homestead in Junction City in 1875. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Milliorn, of whom H. M. is engaged in the merchandise business in this town ; W. G. is a farmer ; and J. E. is in partner- ship with his merchant brother. Mr. Milliorn is a Democrat in political affiliation, and he has been a member of the council many terms. Mr. Milliorn contributed his share towards the sup- pression of the Indian in the early days. He was sixteen years of age when he enlisted in the Rogue river war in 1855-6, and at the time was the youngest man in the war. He went in the capacity of wagon-master, but was finally de- tailed to build bridges on Eels creek.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 250

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