Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 3

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 3

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The early boyhood of Henry Failing was passed in his native city. He attended a public school in the ninth ward, then and now known as No. 3. The school was at that time under the control of the New York Public School So- ciety, an organization which has long since ceased to exist, the management of the schools being now merged into the general system of the board of education. The work of the schools in those days was confined to the more simple branches, but what was taught was thoroughly done; so that when, in April, 1846, young Failing at the age of twelve bade farewell to school and sports, he was well grounded in the English branches. He entered the counting house of L. F. de Figanere & Co., in Platt street, as an office boy. M. de Figanere was a Portuguese, a brother of the Por- tuguese minister to the United States, and his partner, Mr. Rosat, was a French merchant from Bordeaux. The business of this firm was largely with French dealers in the city and it was there that Henry Failing acquired such a knowledge of the French language that he was enabled to both write and speak it with facility and correctness. Three years later, having meanwhile become an expert accountant, he became junior bookkeeper in the large dry-goods jobbing house of Eno, Mahoney & Co., of which concern Amos R. Eno (the lately deceased New York millionaire) was the head. His knowledge of the importing business and custom-house firms and dealers was such that neither of these two concerns had oc- casion for the services of a broker during his stay with them. Mr. Eno, with whom Mr. Fail- ing maintained a correspondence until the for- mer's death, told an intimate friend that it was one of the mistakes of his life that he did not make it more of an inducement for Henry Fail- ing to remain with him. As it was, they parted with mutual regret.

The almost meagre opportunities for the ac- quirement of knowledge which Mr. Failing

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

possessed were so diligently and wisely used that when, in 1851, a little more than seventeen years old, he made the great move of his life, he was better equipped for his future business career than many of far greater opportunities and educational facilities. April 15, 1851, in company with his father and a younger brother (the late John W. Failing), he left New York to establish a new business in Oregon. The journey was by sea to Chagres on the Isthmus of Panama, thence by boat up Chagres river, and thence to Panama by mule train. From Panama they came to San Francisco by the steamer Ten- nessee, afterwards lost on the coast. They reached Portland June 9, 1851, coming on the old steamer Columbia, which that year had been put on the route of the Pacific Steamship Com- pany, C. H. Lewis, late treasurer of the water committee, being a passenger on the same steamer. For many years Mr. Failing and Mr. Lewis were accustomed to observe the anniver- sary together.

After a few months of preparation, building, etc., the new firm opened business on Front street, one door south of Oak. The original sign of J. Failing & Co. can be seen yet on the four- story building that occupies the ground. On this spot Mr. Failing continued to do business many years, retaining his interest until January, 1893. Josiah Failing from the first was promi- nent in municipal and educational affairs, being a member of the first city council in 1852 and mayor of the city in 1853. In 1854 the elder Failing retired from business and Henry Failing continued in his own name. He was married, October 21, 1858, to Miss Emily Phelps Corbett, youngest sister of Hon. H. W. Corbett, formerly of this city. Mrs. Failing died in Portland July 8, 1870, since which time he has been a widower. He had four daughters, one of whom died in in- fancy. Three are now living, namely: Miss Henrietta E. Failing, Mary F. Failing and Mrs. Henry C. Cabell, wife of Capt. Henry C. Cabell, U. S. A.

In the year 1869 Mr. Failing, in connection with his father, Josiah Failing, and Hon. H. W. Corbett, bought a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Portland from Messrs. A. M. and L. M. Starr, who had, with some others, established the bank in 1866. Mr. Failing was immediately made president of the institution, which he continued to manage until his death. Immediately after the change of ownership the capital of the bank was increased from $100,000 to $250,000, and in 1880 it was doubled to its present amount, $500,000, while the legal sur- plus and the undivided profits amount to more than the capital. In addition to this, dividends far exceeding the original investment have been made to the stockholders. In January of 1871

Mr. Failing and Mr. Corbett consolidated their mercantile enterprises, forming the firm of Cor- bett, Failing & Co., the co-partnership continu- ing twenty-two years, when Mr. Failing's inter- est terminated by the dissolution of the firm. The name of the concern is perpetuated in the present corporation of Corbett, Failing & Robertson, their successors.

In the political campaign of 1862 Mr. Failing was chairman of the state central committee of the Union party, a combination of Republicans and War Democrats, who carried Oregon for the Union in those exciting times. In 1864, at the age of thirty years, he was by popular vote elected mayor of the city of Portland, and during his first term in that office a new charter for the city was obtained, a system of street improve- ment adopted and much good work done. At the expiration of his term of office he was re-elected with but five dissenting votes. In 1873 he was again chosen mayor of the city and served for a full term of two years. His administration of the affairs of the city was able, progressive and economical. In the legislative act of 1885 he was named as a member of the water committee and upon its organization was unanimously chosen chairman of the committee, which position he held until his death. Upon all political ques- tions he had decided convictions, in accordance with which he invariably acted ; but he never en- gaged in political controversy nor indulged in personalities. His marvelous judgment and powers of exact calculation are well illustrated by his service as chairman of the water committee. For many years he, substantially unaided, an- nually made the estimates required by law of the receipts and expenditures of the committee for the year next ensuing. These estimates are, under the varied circumstances necessarily con- sidered in making them, characteristic of him, and some of them are marvels of exactness. His estimate of the cost of operation, maintenance, repairs and interest for the year 1893 was $100,- 000, and the actual outlay was $100,211.91. His estimate of receipts for the year 1892 was $240- 000, and the receipts actually collected were $237,300.85. His estimate of the receipts for the year 1897 was $232,000. The amount actu- ally collected was $231,860.95. The magnitude of the task of making these estimates is empha- sized when the fact is considered that not only the fluctuations in the population of a large city must be considered, but climatic conditions an- ticipated, and the amount of water consumed in irrigation based thereon; the amount of build- ing and the volume of trade considered, and an estimate made of the amount of water consumed in building and in the use of elevators. These various sources of revenue were all carefully con- sidered and estimates made which were in ex-

1142788

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cess of the actual income in but trifling amounts.

The career of Mr. Failing affords encourage- ment to young men seeking place and power in business affairs. It demonstrates what can be accomplished by patient industry and honest ef- fort, unaided by the scholastic training afforded by colleges and universities. The counting house was his schoolroom; but he studied not only men and their affairs, but also the best authors, becoming well informed in literature, science and the arts. He appreciated the advantages of a classical education and contributed liberally to the support and endowment of the educational institutions of this state. At the time of his deatlı, which occurred November 8, 1898, he was a regent and president of the board of regents of the University of Oregon and was a trustee and treasurer of the Pacific University, the oldest educational institution of the state. He was a stanch friend and supporter of the re- ligious and charitable institutions of the city and state. The First Baptist Church of Portland, and the Baptist Society of which he was many years the president, also the Children's Home, of which he was treasurer, were special objects of his solicitude, and he contributed largely to the support of all. In connection with the late William S. Ladd and H. W. Corbett he was active in the project for purchasing and laying out the grounds of Riverside cemetery. For many years he was desirous of seeing a suitable piece of ground laid out and properly improved for cemetery purposes, and this beautiful spot, where his remains now rest, is in no small de- gree the result of his effort. To the Portland Library Association, of which he was president, be made large donations in money and gave much time and thoughit to the work. The library build- ing, now one of the fairest ornaments of our city, is largely the result of his benevolence and enterprise. He was especially generous and kind to the pioneers of the state, who, like him, aided in laying the foundation of a civilization which is now our common heritage, and his name will be remembered and honored by them and their posterity as long as the history of our state is written or read. In appreciation of his character and of his services to the city and state, his as- sociates of the water committee of the city of Portland direct this tribute to his memory be entered upon their records.

HON. GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN. Be- lievers in the influence of heredity will find much to support their claims in the ancestral record of the governor of Oregon, Hon. George Earle Chamberlain. The qualities that have given hin an eminent position in the public life of the northwest are his by inheritance from a long

line of capable, scholarly and influential ances- tors. The family of which he is a member came from England at an early period in Am- erican history and settled among the pioneers of Massachusetts. His grandfather, Dr. Joseph Chamberlain, a native of Delaware, was one of the distinguished physicians of Newark, that state. The lady whom he married also came of a prominent pioneer family. Her uncle, Charles Thomson, who served as secretary of the con- tinental congress from 1774 to 1789, was born in Ireland, of Scotch lineage, November 29, 1729. Accompanied by three sisters he settled at New- castle, Del., in 1741, and there became a teacher in the Friends' Academy. In 1758 he was one of the agents appointed to treat with the Indians at Oswego, and while there was adopted by the Delawares, who conferred upon him an Indian name meaning "One who speaks the truth." The possessor of literary ability, he left his imprint upon the literature of his age through his "Har- mony of the Five Gospels," a translation of the Old and New Testament, and an inquiry into the cause of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawnee Indians. His private file of letters, con- taining communications written to him while sec- retary of the continental congress and before that time, is among the most valued possessions of Governor Chamberlain, and contains letters from all the leading men of that day.

In the family of Dr. Joseph Chamberlain was a son, Charles Thomson Chamberlain, a native of Newark, Del., and a graduate of Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. After receiv- ing the degree of M. D., he settled in Natchez, Miss., in 1837, as offering a favorable opening for a professional man. During the years that followed he built up a large practice and estab- lished an enviable reputation for skill in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. An evidence of his kindly spirit of devotion to duty and self- sacrificing labors for others is shown by his rec- ord during the yellow fever epidemic of 1871. At that time, when many physicians felt justified in considering their own health, he attended pa- tients night and day, without thought of self, until at last he was stricken with the disease and soon died.

The wife of Dr. Charles T. Chamberlain was Pamelia H. Archer, a native of Harford county, Md., and now a resident of Natchez, Miss. Her father, Hon. Stevenson Archer, was born in Harford county, and graduated from Princeton College, 1805, after which he became an attor- ney. He served in congress from 1811 to 1817 from Maryland, and in the latter year accepted an appointment from President Madison as judge of Mississippi Territory with guberna- torial powers, and resigned later. From 1819 to 1821 he again represented his district in congress,

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where he was a member of the committee on for- eign affairs. In 1825 he was elected one of the jus- tices of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which office he held until his death in 1848, at which time he was chief justice. His father, John Archer, M. D., was a native of Harford county, Md., born in 1741. After graduating at Princeton in 1760, he studied for the ministry, but throat trouble rendering pulpit work inad- visable, he turned his attention to medicine. The first medical diploma ever issued in the new world was given to him by the Philadelphia Med- ical College. In 1776 he was elected a member of the convention which framed the Constitution and Bill of Rights of Maryland. At the com- mencement of the Revolutionary war he had command of a military company, the first enrolled in Harford county, and was a member of the state legislature. After the war he practiced his profession and several important discoveries in therapeutics are credited to him. In 1797 he was a presidential elector and from 1801 to 1807 was a member of congress from Maryland. His death occurred in 1810. The Archer family is of Scotch-Irish descent and was represented among the earliest settlers of Harford county, where for generations they wielded wide influ- ence. It is worthy of record that the portrait of Hon. Stevenson Archer appears among those of distinguished men of Maryland placed in the new courthouse in Baltimore, that state, and also adorns the courthouse in his native county.

In a family of five children, one of whom, Charles T. Chamberlain, is a merchant in Natchez, Miss., Hon. George Earle Chamberlain was third in order of birth. His name comes to him from an uncle, George Earle, who was one of the noted men of Maryland, and assistant postmaster general of the United States during General Grant's term as president. In his native city of Natchez, Miss., where he was born Janu- ary 1, 1854, he received such advantages as the public schools afforded. On leaving school in 1870 he clerked in a mercantile store. Two years later. entering college at Lexington, Va., he took the regular course of study in the Washington and Lee University, from which he was gradu- ated in July of 1876, with the degrees of A. B. and B. L. Shortly after his graduation he re- turned to Natchez, where he remained until after the presidential election. However, prospects for sticcess in the south were not encouraging at the time, and he determined to seek a more favorable opening. With this purpose in view he came to Oregon, which has been his home since his arrival December 6, 1876. Early in 1877 he taught a country school and in the latter part of the year was appointed deputy clerk of Linn county, which position he held until the summer of 1879. During 1880 he was elected to the lower house

of the legislature and in 1884 became district at- torney for the third judicial district of Oregon. In the discharge of the duties of these various offices he gave satisfaction to all concerned, evincing wide professional knowledge and re- sourcefulness. His talents being recognized by the governor, he was given the appointment of attorney-general of Oregon on the creation of that office by act of legislature in 1891, his ap- pointment bearing date of May 21, 1891. For a short time before this he had been interested in the banking business at Albany, being con- nected first with the First National Bank, and later with the Linn County National Bank.

At the general election following his appoint- ment he was elected attorney-general on the Dem- ocratic ticket, receiving a majority of about five hundred, notwithstanding the fact that the Re- publican majority in Oregon at that time was about ten thousand. In 1900 he was elected dis- trict attorney of Multnomah county by a major- ity of eleven hundred and sixty-two, the county being then about four thousand Republican. The highest honor of his life came to him, tinsolicited, in 1902, when the Democrats nominated him for governor by acclamation. In the election that followed he received a majority of two hundred and fifty-six over the Republican candidate, al- though on the congressional vote the state at the time was nearly fifteen thousand Republican. These figures are indicative of his popularity, not only with his own party, but with the gen- eral public. Among his large circle of friends and admirers are many who, though of different political faith, have yet such a warm regard for the man himself and such a firm faith in his ability to guide aright the ship of state, that many thousand votes were given him by people accus- tomed to vote another ticket than his own. It is doubtful if any public man possesses greater strength among the people of the state. Through the long period of his residence here he has won and maintained the confidence of the people, and his upright .life, combined with unusual mental gifts, has given him his present prominence and prestige.

In Natchez, Miss., Mr. Chamberlain mar- ried Miss Sally N. Welch, who was born near that city, a descendant of an old Revolutionary family from New Engand. Her father, A. T. Welch, a native of New Hampshire, was a large planter near Natchez, the possessor of abundant means that rendered possible the giving of valit- able educational advantages to his children. Mrs. Chamberlain was graduated from the Natchez Institute and is a lady of culture and re- finement, an active member of the Calvary Pres- byterian Church and also a member of the East- ern Star. Born of this marriage are the follow- ing children: Charles Thomson, a graduate of

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Portland High School and Academy, and a mem- ber of the class of 1903, Cooper Medical College, San Francisco; Lucie Archer, Marguerite, Carrie-Lee, George Earle, Jr., and Fannie W.

The Commercial Club of Portland, Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, University Club and Oregon State Historical Society, number Gov- ernor Chamberlain among their members. A life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Portland, he is past exalted ruler of the local lodge. While at Albany he joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past noble grand and a demitted member of lodge and encampment. Interested in the Knights of Pythias, he is past chancellor of Lau- rel Lodge No. 7 at Albany. His record in Masonry is interesting and proves him to have been devoted to the lofty principles of that order. His initial experience with Masonry began in St. Johns Lodge No. 62, A. F. & A. M., at Al- bany, of which he is past master. At this writ- ing his membership is in Willamette Lodge No. I, at Portland, and he is past grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Oregon. The Royal Arch de- gree was conferred upon him in Bailey Chapter No. 8, at Albany, in which he is past high priest, and he is also past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Oregon. He was raised to the Knight Templar degree in Temple Comman- dery No. 3, K. T., at Albany, in which he is past eminent commander. The thirty-second degree was conferred upon him in Oregon Consistory No. I, at Portland, and he is also identified with Al Kader Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

JAMES D. FENTON. The genealogy of the Fenton family is traced to England, whence three brothers came to America, one settling in Virginia, another in New York and the third in New England. Descended from the Virginian branch was James E. Fenton, a native of the Old Dominion, born in 1798, and in early life a resident of Kentucky, but after 1820 a pioneer farmer of Boone county, Mo., where he died. His son, James D., was born and reared in Boone county and became a farmer in Scotland county, that state. From there, in May of 1865, he started across the plains with ox-teams, accompanied by his wife and seven children. Joining an expedition of over one hundred wagons, he was able to make his way safely through a region inhabited by hostile Indians. During the winter of 1865-66 he taught school near what is now Woodburn, in Marion county, Ore., but in the spring of 1866 he removed to a farm near McMinnville, Yamhill county. In addition to improving this property, he cleared a tract near Lafayette, and on the latter farm his death occurred in February of 1886, when

he was fifty-four years of age. Through all of his active life he adhered to Baptist doctrines and favored Democratic principles. At one time he held the office of county commissioner.

The marriage of James D. Fenton united him with Margaret A. Pinkerton, who was born near Barboursville, Ky., and is now living in Portland, at seventy-two years of age (1902). Her father, David, was born near Asheville, N. C., of Scotch descent, and settled in Ken- tucky when a young man. After his marriage he established his home on a plantation near Barboursville. In 1846 he removed to Clark county, Mo., and from there in 1865, accom- panied Mr. and Mrs. Fenton to Oregon. His grandfather, David Pinkerton, was a cartridge box maker and rendered valued service during the Revolutionary war. The Pinkerton an- cestors became identified with the Carolinas as early as 1745. In the family of James D. and Margaret A. Fenton there were ten children, namely: William D., attorney-at-law, of Port- land ; Mrs. Amanda Landess, of Yamhill county ; James Edward, an attorney at Nome, Alaska ; Frank W., an attorney at McMinnville, Ore .; J. D., a practicing physician in Portland ; H. L., a merchant at Dallas, Ore .; Charles R., an at- torney, who died at Spokane, Wash., in 1893; Matthew F., who is engaged in dental practice at Portland; Hicks C., a physician of Portland; and Mrs. Margaret Spencer, also of Portland.

HON. WILLIAM D. FENTON. Within re- cent years, and- particularly during the opening years of the twer ieth century, William D Fenton has gradually grown to be recognized, within the ranks of his profession and among the laity, as a man exerting a strong influence upon the cur- rent of public events in the city of Portland, and to no meager extent in the state of Oregon at large. His unquestioned ability as a legal prac- titioner and the hearty interest he has taken in affairs calculated to develop and foster the im- portant material interests of the home of his adoption have brought him prominently before the public, in whom rests an abiding confidence in his manifest capabilities, his public spirit and his integrity of character. Educated in western schools, fortified by an accurate knowledge of the west and its resources, and well-grounded in the principles of the law, he began the practice of his profession with a good foundation of hope for future success. Since 1891 he has been en- gaged in practice in Portland, where, in addition to his general practice (with a specialty of cor- poration law), he now acts as counsel for the Southern Pacific Company in Oregon.

Mr. Fenton was born at Etna, Scotland county, Mo., June 29, 1853. a son of James D. and Mar-

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

garet A. ( Pinkerton) Fenton. (See sketch of James D. Fenton, preceding). When the family crossed the plains in 1865 he was old enough to be of considerable help to his father, and during mich of the journey assisted by driving an ox- team. After settling in Oregon he took a pre- paratory course in McMinnville College, and in 1869 entered Christian College at Monmouth, Ore. (now the State Normal School), from which he graduated in 1872 with the degree of .1. B. For a time thereafter he taught school in his home county. In 1874 he began the study of the law in Salem, and in December of the following year was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of the state. From 1877 to 1885 he practiced in Lafayette as a member of the firm of McCain & Fenton. During his resi- dence in Yamhill county he served one term as a member of the state legislature representing that county. He first located in Portland in 1885, but six months later the death of his father caused him to return to Yamhill county, where he continued to reside four years. In April, 1889, he removed to Seattle, where he was engaged as assistant district attorney for a while. In June, 1890, he returned to Oregon, and the following year re-located in Portland, where he has since been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession. For some time he was a member of the firm of Bronaugh, McArthur, Fenton & Bro- naugh, one of the strongest law firms of the northwest; but upon the death of Judge Mc- Arthur and the retirement of the senior Bro- naugh the partnership was dissolved. Besides his interests in Portland he owns a portion of the old homestead.

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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 3

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