Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 26

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 26

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Jason Wheeler

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governor who has had the interests of the com- monwealth at heart, has placed the state before party and general good before personal aggran- dizement.

Under the Mays referendum law of 1901, Governor Geer was nominated as the Republican candidate for United States senator by the peti- tion of three thousand electors in various parts of the state. But political combinations resuited in the choice of another. His vote for senator, under the law mentioned, was, with two or three exceptions, the greatest popular vote ever re- corded in Oregon-forty-five thousand-exceed- ing the vote he received for governor of the state. During the Ohio state campaign in 1901 he was sent for by the Republican National Com- mittee and canvassed the state for the Repub- lican nominees. He had been invited to that state for the same purpose in 1900, and was again invited there in 1902. During the presidential campaign of 1900 he was called upon to make a number of speeches in Idaho and Washington, where he addressed large crowds in the principal cities of those states.

On the 14th of June, 1900, in Astoria, Gov- ernor Geer married Isabelle Trullinger, a native of Washington county, Ore., and a daughter of J. C. Trullinger, who came from Iowa in 1848, crossing the plains to Oregon with his parents. His father, Rev. Daniel Trullinger, also came in 1848 and settled in Marion county, the re- mainder of his life being spent principally in Washington and Clackamas counties, his death occurring near Molalla, in the latter county. The father of Mrs. Geer was a prominent mill man and lumber manufacturer. He built the electric light plant in Astoria and was the owner of that and the gas plant at the time of his death. In 1893 he served as a member of the state legisla- ture. Mrs. Geer is a talented artist, well known in artistic and social circles in Oregon.

In social circles the governor is popular. Twenty-seven years ago, in Union county, he was made an Odd Fellow and now is a member of Olive Lodge, in Salem. He is also a mem- ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of Abernethy Cabin (at Portland), of the Native Sons of Oregon. His life history stands in contradistinction to the old adage that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country," for Mr. Geer has gained recognition as one of the most distinguished citizens of his native state, and his lifework has had an im- portant bearing upon the stable progress and prosperity of the commonwealth.

HON. JASON WHEELER. As a repre- sentative citizen of the days when men's souls were tried and lives impoverished in the mighty

effort to establish a stronghold for the American nation in the northwest, the Hon. Jason Wheeler recalls vividly the trend of events from pioneer days to the present prosperity and affluence. He is properly called a landmark of those early times, for from his entrance into the territory he has been connected with almost every movement, every enterprise upon which statehood has been reared. As a sturdy, steady patriot of the new land he exposed his life to the dangers of Indian warfare; as a public official, chosen to serve through the indisputable evidence of his personal worth, he faithfully performed the duties which fell to his lot; as a citizen he has accepted the bounty of the government and given it back ten- fold, in the cultivated fields of the lands which have made the agricultural life of the state of Oregon. Personally he is rich in characteristics which have won him many friends, and call forth the esteem and confidence of all who have ever known him.

Mr. Wheeler was born in Ohio, Angust 4, 1823, the son of Deland Wheeler, a native of Vermont, who served in the war of 1812. He removed to New York state, and after his mar- riage with Margaret Court, a native of that state, and the daughter of John Court, a native of Eng- land, who was engaged in farming there, he made a trip to Ohio. He returned to Cayuga county, N. Y., and continued his farming inter- ests there, until his death at the age of sixty years. Of the eight sons which blessed his mar- riage all attained maturity. John came to Ore- gon in 1848 and died near Grant's Pass; Truman started across the plains in 1849 and died en route, near Salt Lake; George came to Oregon in 1872, and now makes his home at Everett, Wash .; and Leonard came in the same train in which his brother Jason traveled, and his death occurred in Lebanon, Linn county.

Jason Wheeler was the second oldest of this family of children, and on his father's farm in New York state he grew into the ways of a use- ful and practical life. He received a rather limited education in the district school in the vicinity of his home, after which, at the tender age of thirteen years, he ventured out into the world with the responsibility of his own liveli- hood before him. For six years he worked on neighboring farms, and when nineteen he de- cided to try his fortunes in the west, of which he had heard so much, and accordingly jour- neyed as far as Centreville, Mich., where he found employment in a hotel. Five years later, in 1847, he still further followed the sun in his course, outfitting at St. Joseph, Mo., with ox- teams and wagons, and May I starting over the old Oregon trail along the Platte river. The journey was a long and tedious one, and the party were saved from dangerous encounters

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with Indians only by the constant guard main- tained day and night. September 7, 1847, found them at the end of their trip, at Oregon City. Mr. Wheeler came down the Columbia river from The Dalles with Governor Abernethy, and at Peterson's butte in Linn county took up a claim of six hundred and forty acres. Building a little log cabin there, he prepared to make this his home. With the breaking out of the Cayuse war, he volunteered under Captain Maxon and at once went to the scene of action. In the battle of Wells Springs, February 28, 1848, he was wounded in the right knee, and it was under these conditions that the greatest suffering was experienced. The soldiers had constructed a place for their wounded comrades at Whitman station, and there he was carried in a wagon, a distance of fifty miles from the scene of his injury. After many weeks of suffering he re- turned in May of the same year to the valley. In the spring of 1849 he went overland to Cali- fornia and engaged in mining on the American river. He continued there until the fall, and then, with the fruits of a well-spent summer he invested in various mercantile articles, and em- barked on the sailing vessel Hagstaff for Port- land, which he was not destined to reach until he had passed through many hardships and dan- gers. After a voyage of eighteen days the boat was wrecked at the mouth of the Rogue river, and the passengers were left scattered among the mountains.

When he, with the passengers and crew of the wrecked vessel, started up the river, depending for means of sustenance on spike- nard and other roots and sugar pine, for ten or twelve days, and the suffering of the party for water was intense, as they had left the river and for several days went up a "divide," where there was no water. So great was the suffering for food and water that some of the party, notably Shively, became temporarily insane. Mr. Wheel- er one day went out with his gun to try to find something to appease the cravings of their hun- ger, and he fortunately shot a squirrel and a pigeon, and returned to camp, and found Shive- ly roasting a snake, and Mr. Wheeler said, "Shively, what are you going to do with that snake?" "I am going to eat it," said he. "I am so hungry I would eat anything." Wheeler said, "If you will not eat the snake I will give you half the squirrel." He agreed to that and Mr. Wheeler gave him half the squirrel-for the mess of eight persons. About nine or ten days after the party left the wrecked vessel, as they were struggling along toward the mountain top, they saw a large herd of elk, and follow- ing the directions of Mr. Wheeler, the party divided, each party passing around the moun- tain in such a way as to surround the elk with-

out alarming them. When the maneuver was accomplished, at a prearranged signal, the party pressed toward the game, which did not appear to be disturbed by the presence of men, and the first one to approach the line of half famished men was a large bull, which was shot by Mr. Wheeler at a distance of about forty yards, and in an incredibly short time twenty elk had been shot, and one of the party cut out a quarter, weighing perhaps one hundred pounds, and said he could carry it a distance of about two miles to camp. It is needless to say he had overestimated his strength and un- derestimated the weight of his game, and before proceeding one hundred yards he stopped and cut out the bone, and with a stick over his shoul- der to support it he managed to struggle into camp. The party, who was so hungry and weak, had so overloaded themselves that they were constantly stopping and lightening their load, until they finally reached camp with a small piece each. The next morning an elk was seen soon after leaving camp and was shot by the party, and such was its position that, though repeatedly shot, it did not fall, and on nearer approach it was discovered that it was prevent- ed from falling by a tree, against which it was leaning and a slight push sent the game to the ground. From that time little game was found, and was so scarce the supply of food was ex- hausted, and only an occasional deer was killed, which kept the famished men up till they reached Cow creek, at a point not far from what is now Riddle Station; while there Mr. Wheeler met an Indian who evinced hostile designs, had a large knife which he brandished menacingly, whooping, as Mr. Wheeler thought, to give notice to other Indians who were in the vicinity, and whooped in answer, and the Indian gave directions as to the road the party should travel but indicated that they-the white men- should walk in advance, thus affording the In- dians the advantage, if his designs were hostile : but Mr. Wheeler was too wary to walk in a nar- row trail with an armed hostile Indian behind. His experience had been a good school, and he had been an apt scholar and learned that an In- dian could only be trusted while under the vigi- lant eye of an armed white man. Hence he said to the red, "No, you walk in front and I will follow," and thus they traveled, the red in front and the white man, with a trusty rifle, following, until they reached Canyonville and Mr. Wheeler told the Indian he could dispense with his fur- ther services and he might return if he desired. and the Indian then left the party, and, to use the language of Mr. Wheeler: "We came on toward the Umpqua valley and we made camp on the Umpqua and stopped all night, and the boys scolded because I did not shoot a wolf for

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food, and I said he was too poor and gaunt, but, said they, 'We would have eaten him, anyway,' but we had nothing to eat, and the next morn- ing we started following the trail we had traveled in the spring as we came south. I knew the road thence, as we had been over the road the spring before. This was about forty miles from the Welch place, the only place where there was any one living-where any one dared to stay- on account of the Indians. We reached Welch's the second day and remained and recuperated our strength, for we were badly worn and our feet were blistered and sore with much walk- ing. After leaving Welch's we came to the valley and continued on to Portland."

The way had been hard and wearisome, but the trip was full of rich experiences which, in a measure, compensated for the hardships and deprivations endured.

In Portland he bought a pair of blankets, and made his way in a canoe down the Columbia river to Astoria, where he helped in the build- ing of a sawmill, in which he worked for some time. Eventually he made his way back to his claim in Linn county. Subsequently he took up a section of land three miles north of Lebanon, where he successfully engaged in stock-raising.

The marriage of Mr. Wheeler occurred in Linn county, Ore., June 2, 1850, his wife being Eliza D. Claypool, who was born on the Platte purchase, a daughter of David Claypool, and came to Oregon in 1846, crossing the plains with her parents. Her death occurred in Albany in 1897. She was the mother of the following children : Melissa, now the wife of Dr. J. M. Kitchen, of Stayton, Ore .; Delia, deceased; El- len, wife of John Morgan, of Albany; Mary, wife of C. H. Walker, of Albany; and Frank, located in California. Mr. Wheeler was mar- ried a second time in Linn county, September 29, 1898, to Miss Diana Elizabeth Hanchett, a native of Fulton county, Ill. In his political convictions a Democrat, Mr. Wheeler was first elected sheriff of Linn county while lying sick and wounded after the Cayuse war. He has since been quite active, serving three terms as county commissioner, and one term in the ter- ritorial legislature, and he has also served one or two terms as councilman of Albany, and one term as mayor, and once as a member of the state legislature. As a popular and prominent man in the state he was a member of the com- mittee which was sent to Congress to obtain the passage of the Indian War Pension bill. Among the most important enterprises in which Mr. Wheeler gave very material assistance was the building of the Albany canal, the construction of which he superintended, and also performed the same duties in connection with the military road over the Cascade mountains. This road is

four hundred and forty-eight and a half miles in length, and as manager he later sold out to Colonel Hogg for the sum of $130,000, which he divided pro rata among the stockholders, the sale and division being successfully carried to a close. During the administration of President Cleveland he was appointed Indian agent at the Warm Springs Indian reservation, occupying the post three years.

Mr. Wheeler was made a Mason in Corinthian Lodge of Albany. He also belongs to several state organizations, among them being the Indian War Veteran Association and the Pioneer So- ciety. A devoted member of the Baptist Church, he is active in all the work pertaining to the same, and has acted as trustee. Constantly con- tributing to the cause of the church he also donated funds amply sufficient to cover the ex- pense of a parsonage, and in many such ways he evidences his character as one belonging to an upright, honest, and honorable citizen. The first claim taken up by Mr. Wheeler in Oregon has been traded for one hundred and forty acres of land adjoining Albany, the cultivation of which he himself superintends, though now in his eighty-first year.

CHARLES H. LEE, M. D. "Earn thy reward; the Gods give naught to sloth," said the sage Epicharmus and the truth of this admon- ition has been verified in all the years which have run their course since his day. It is especially manifested in the learned professions where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit. Not by wealth, purchase or influence can one gain prestige in any of the professions, but steady progress therein is the legitimate out- come of earnest purpose, careful preparation and unfaltering devotion to the calling. It has been in this way that Dr. Charles H. Lee has won dis- tinction and success as a representative of the medical fraternity. In recent years ill health has compelled him to abandon in large degree the practice of medicine, but after a rest he has fully recuperated and is again an active practitioner of Corvallis.

The doctor was born in Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio. His father, Edward Lee, was a native of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, born in 1800, and the grandfather, Barnard Lee, died in the Old Dominion. He had married Miss Elkins, a representative of an old Virgin- ian family of that name. About 1830 the doc- tor's father removed to Ohio and engaged in farming and stock-raising in Highland county, where he died in 1854. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Fisher and was born in Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Frederick Fisher, whose birth occurred in Germany. Crossing the Atlan-

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tic to the new world he settled in the Keystone state, but spent his last days in Highland county, Ohio. Mrs. Lee passed away in 1896 at the age of eighty-six years. Both she and her husband were members of the Lutheran Church and in their family were eleven children, all of whom reached years of maturity, while three are still living. One of the sons, Dr. J. B. Lee, was graduated from the Starling Medical College of Ohio, and he also graduated from the medical department of the University of Oregon. In 1862 he joined Foster's independent cavalry and went to Fort Leavenworth. He came to Oregon in 1863, located in Corvallis, where he practiced medicine up to the time of his death in 1892. He not only won distinction as a repre- sentative of the profession, but was also very prominent in public life and served as mayor of Corvallis, while for several terms he represented his district in the state senate. Another brother, Dr. James P. Lee, was a hospital steward in the army during the Civil war and died while serving his country.

Dr. C. H. Lee, who is the youngest of the family, was born June 2, 1850, and was reared in Highland county, Ohio, upon the home farm. When sixteen years of age he began teaching directly after his course in the high school. At the age of twenty he took up his study of medi- cine under Dr. Noble and later continued his reading under the direction of Dr. R. C. Russ. In 1874 he entered the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he was graduated in 1877 with the degree of M. D. He then began practice in New Petersburg, Ohio, where he remained until 1884, which year witnessed his arrival in Corvallis, Ore. After eighteen months spent in this city he returned to Hills- boro, Ohio, where he spent about nine months, and in July, 1866, he again came to the north- west, locating in Newport, Ore., where he suc- cessfully engaged in practice for two years. Once more he took up his abode in Corvallis in 1888 and entered into partnership with his brother, this relation being maintained until the latter's death in 1892. Dr. Lee of this review has since practiced alone and is very successful in his ad- ministration of remedial agencies for the alle- viation of human ills. He is also very efficient in his surgical work and for a long perod he enjoyed an extended patronage, but of recent years has partially retired, confining his atten- tion to his office and city practice.

The doctor was united in marriage in Corval- lis to Miss Henrietta Foster, a native of Benton county and a daughter of John Foster, who was born in Ohio and came to Oregon in its pioneer days. Mrs. Lee was educated in Mills Seminary in Oakland, Cal., and is a most estimable lady who has made her hospitable home the center of

a cultured society circle. The doctor was ini- tiated into the mysteries of the Masonic craft in Buford, Ohio, and now belongs to Corvallis Lodge No. 14, A. F. & A. M. He took the Royal Arch degree at Greenfield, Ohio, and he has since been a worthy exemplar of the craft. In politics he has always been an active Demo- crat and in the line of his profession he is con- nected with the State Medical Society. Dr. Lee has become very widely known during his resi- dence in this section of the state and his promi- nence is not less the result of social worth than of professional skill. He is a man of broad in- telligence, highly educated and is a representative of a distinguished and honored old southern family.

JAMES MARTIN. To James Martin is due the distinction of raising and shipping the first wheat in Benton county, and when the first con- signment was well under way the captain in whose care it was placed honored the nationality of the pioneer grower by calling a certain portion of the river Irish Bend. In the estimation of all who knew him, Mr. Martin carries with him the finest traits to which his countrymen are heir, including invariable good nature and adaptabil- ity. He was born in County Down, Ireland, in June, 1822, and was one in a family of ten chil- dren born to farmer parents. He had no partic- ular chance for advancement in his native land, and, being well aware of this fact, came to Amer- ica in 1847, when he was at the ambitious and resourceful age of twenty-five. For about three years he was variously employed in Philadelphia, Pa., and in 1850 came to Ohio, settling in Mahon- ing county, near Canfield.

In 1852 Mr. Martin thought to try his chances in the west, but his manner of reaching it dif- fered somewhat from the conventional route mapped out by the average fortune seeker. Going to New Orleans down the Mississippi river, he made his way to Vera Cruz and the City of Mex- ico, where he bought a pony and packed his goods, and himself walked to Acapulco and from there to San Francisco. After following mining a few months with indifferent success he came to Corvallis, and, after spending the first winter in the town took up a donation claim of one hundred and sixty acres five miles northeast of Monroe. Here was conducted a lonely bach- elor enterprise for some time, but which under- went a change in 1869, when the owner returned to Ohio and married Mary Wilson, a native of the Buckeye state. Returning immediately to Oregon, he settled on his claim, and from time to time success has induced him to add to his original purchase. In all he owns eight hundred and three acres of land, five hundred of which

RABouse

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are under cultivation, and he is engaged in gener- al farming and stock-raising. From the first he has given much attention to grain, and was one of the first in his neighborhood to appreciate its possibilities in this direction. Upon his meadows graze large numbers of Durham cattle, and a variety of other kinds of stock, the sale of which brings to their owner a considerable yearly rev- enue. Mr. Martin is a Democrat in politics, but has never been an office-seeker, although he has creditably sustained many minor offices of a local nature. With his wife he is a member of the Episcopal Church, and contributes generously towards its support. Two children have been born into the family, Ida and John, both of whom are living at home.

HON. REUBEN PATRICK BOISE, con- nected for more years than any other man in the state with the jurisprudence of Oregon, and an important factor in the shaping of her splendid destiny, was born in Blandford, Hampden county, Mass., June 9, 1819. His ancestors on both sides of the family followed the martial fortunes of Washington during the Revolutionary war, and on the paternal side he is descended from those French Huguenots whose devotion to prin- ciple made them welcome refugees in any for- eign land. From scarcely more tolerant Scotland members of the Boise family emigrated to the north of Ireland, whence the paternal great-great- grandfather emigrated to Massachusetts, settling on the farm in Blandford. This same farm was the birthplace of the paternal great-grandfather, Samuel. Like his forefathers, Reuben Boise, grandfather of the Hon. Reuben Patrick, was a farmer, and served in the state legislature. He married a Miss Patrick, who lived to be ninety- four years of age.

The father of Judge Boise lived and died on the old Hampden county farm, in the meantime exerting a broad influence in politics and the gen- eral affairs of his district. From Jefferson's time he was a Democrat, and then a Whig, finally subscribing to the principles of the Republican party. He held several offices in Massachusetts, among them being that of county commissioner, and he also served in the state senate and legis- lature. He married Sallie Putnam, who was born in New Salem, Mass., a daughter of Jacob Putnam, soldier at the battle of Bennington dur- ing the Revolutionary war, and relative of Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Mrs. Boise, who lived to be ninety-four years of age, was the mother of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom Judge Boise is the third child and only one living. Two of the sons, Jarvis and Fisher Ames, died at the age of twenty-six years, just as they were to be ad-

mitted to the bar; and the other son, Stillman, died at the age of fifty.

Judge Boise was educated in the public schools of Blandford, and after preparatory study under Dr. Cooley entered Williams College at the age of twenty-one years, graduating therefrom in 1843, with the degree of A. B. After a year of school teaching in Missouri, he returned to his native state and studied law under his uncle, Patrick Boise, a distinguished lawyer of West- field, being admitting to the bar three years later, in 1847. For the following two years he engaged in practice at Chicopee Falls, Mass., and during that time served as one of the town commission- ers in charge of the schools. In the meantime he had accumulated a great deal of information concerning the west, to which he came in 1850, via Panama, locating in Portland, which was then but a small town. However, shipping and other interests were beginning to create a demand for legal talent, and the promising young lawyer found that he had plenty to do. By the fall of 1852 he was launched upon a fair practice, and his faith in the agricultural possibilities by which he was surrounded led him to invest in six hun- dred and forty acres of land west of Dallas, which he still owns, and upon which he lived about four years. In 1851 the territorial legis- lature elected him prosecuting attorney of the first and second districts, his field of effort lying between Eugene and Washington territory. In 1853 he was elected one of the code commission- ers for Oregon, selected to compile the first code of laws for the territory, the others being the Hon. James K. Kelly and Hon. D. R. Biglow. In 1854 he was re-elected prosecuting attorney, and the same year represented Polk county in the territorial legislature, being re-elected for two years in the latter position. In 1857 he represent- ed Polk county in the constitutional convention, was chairman of the committee on legislation, and in this capacity was instrumental in furnish- ing to Oregon her fundamental laws of govern- ment.

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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 26

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