Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 37

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 37

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members of the profession is indicated by the fact that he was honored by election to the presi- dency of the Oregon State Medical Association and of the Portland Medical Society, in both of which organization he has been an active lahorer. He is also a member of the American Medical Association and of the International As- sociation of Railway Surgeons. Fraternally and socially he is identified with the University Club and the Arlington Club, and is a life member of the Portland Library Association. In religious connections he is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church of Portland, and is a contributor to the success of other movements of a religious and benevolent nature.

On 1885 Dr. Mackenzie married Cora Hardy Scott, a native of Louisiana, and a daughter of Pliny and Cora Hardy of St. Landry's parish, La. She died in 1901. Their children are named as follows: Ronald Seaforth. Jean Stuart, Barbara and Kenneth A. J., Jr.

COL. HENRY E. DOSCH. In noting the history of the Dosch family we find they were prominent in military affairs in Germany, where Col. John B. Dosch and his father, Col. Ernest Dosch, were officers in the army; and the former had two brothers who also held high rank in the service of their country. At the close of an hon- orable career in the army he entered the diplo- matic service, and subsequently, with a record of which he might well be proud, he retired to his large estate adjoining Kastel-Mainz, and there his last years were passed. His wife, Anna, was a daughter of Ulrich Busch, a large and wealthy lumber merchant of Kastel-Mainz; her brother, Adolphus Busch, has since become one of the most prominent residents of St. Louis, Mo. In her family of seven children one son and one daughter survive, the former being Col. Henry E. Dosch, of Portland, proposed director-general of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and commis- sioner of the board of horticultural commission- ers of Oregon.

In his native town of Kastel-Mainz, where he was born June 17, 1841, Col. Henry E. Dosch received excellent educational advantages. On the completion of the regular course in the School of Commerce and Industry in Kastel-Mainz, he was apprenticed to a large importing oil house, where he served for three years. In March of 1860 he came to America and secured employ- ment as bookkeeper in St. Louis. At the open- ing of the Civil war he enlisted as member of General Fremont's body guard, serving as such until November, 1861, when the one hundred and fifty-one men composing the guard were honor- ably discharged. At the battle of Springfield. Mo., these valiant guardsmen met and routed

three thousand Confederates in a desperate con- flict that lasted from three in the afternoon until dark. During this engagement Mr. Dosch was wounded in the right leg. It might have been supposed that this baptism of fire would dis- courage Mr. Dosch from further efforts to enlist ; but not so. On the expiration of his time he endeavored to secure admission into the volun- teer service, and in March of 1862 was accepted as a member of Company C, Fifth Missouri Cavalry. Later, on account of losses in the Fourth and Fifth, these regiments were consolidated and he then resigned. A later office was that of sergeant of Company C, after which he was pro- moted to be sergeant-major of the regiment and then adjutant, and for the last three months he was acting colonel. On the consolidation of the two regiments, in 1863. he resigned his position and retired from the service.

The first experience of Colonel Dosch with western life and environment was gained in 1863, when he crossed the plains with ox-teams and after two weeks in Salt Lake City continued his journey to Virginia City, Nev. For a time lie was connected with the Wells-Fargo pony ex- press, and at one time he walked from Omaha to Sacramento and thence to San Francisco. In April of 1864 he became bookkeeper and cashier for a firm dealing in miner's supplies at The Dalles. The next year he embarked in the mer- cantile business at Canon City, Ore., and contin- ued until the loss of his stock and store by fire led him to come to Portland in 1871. In this city he conducted a wholesale business in the boot and shoe line for nineteen years, having his establishment on Front street. The mental and nervous strain incident to the building up of a large wholesale business proved very trying and he was finally obliged to retire, in order that his health might not be permanently injured. Being of too active a temperament to enjoy com- plete rest, he turned his attention to horticulture. a science which has always possessed the keenest fascination for him. In 1889 the governor of Oregon appointed him a member of the board of horticultural commissioners and each succeeding · governor has re-appointed him to the office. During his term of service five volumes of bien- nial reports have been issued. Those published in 1899 and 1901 have been adopted as text books at Cornell University, University of Mich- igan, University of Wisconsin, Stuttgart Uni- versity in Germany, and various colleges in England.

Perhaps in no way has Colonel Dosch more materially aided in the progress of Oregon and in bringing before the world a knowledge of its resources, than through his connection with ex- hibits of the products of the state. During the World's Fair in Chicago an exhibit was inaugu-

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rated that attracted much attention from people who previously had been wholly unacquainted with the state's possibilities. Through his efforts the legislature was interested in the exhibit and an appropriation was made, thereby enhancing the success of the enterprise. A later project which he superintended was the exhibit of the products of Oregon at the Trans-Mississippi Ex- position at Omaha. So successful was he in this work that he was appointed to the same position in connection with the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y., and the Inter-State and West Indies Exposition at Charleston, S. C. One of the highest honors of his life came to him with his appointment as director-general of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, to which he is now giving much time and thought. During 1903 he will have charge of an exhibit at Ozaka, Japan, and while visiting this International Exposition it is his hope to arouse an interest on the part of the Japanese and induce them to make an exhibit at Portland during the Lewis and Clark Ex- position.

There is probably no citizen of Portland whose knowledge of horticulture is broader and more thorough than that possessed by Colonel Dosch. In his office as commissioner of the state board of horticultural commissioners, he has directed its operations and headed its work in the direction of bringing to the people of the state, as well as elsewhere, an accurate knowledge of Oregon soil, its possibilities as a horticultural center, and the special fruits suited to various localities. Often he has accepted invitations to contribute to hor- ticultural journals, and the articles appearing therein over his signature always command a wide reading. His association with the board of horticultural commissioners has been productive of the greatest good to the fruit-growing inter- ests of the state, and to those having a knowledge of his contribution to the success of the board's reports the accepted value of the reports is a tribute to his accuracy and judgment. It may be doubted if any measure has contributed more to the development of Oregon's horticultural re- sources than the act of legislature, approved February 25, 1889, for the creation of a state . board of horticulture ; and it may also be doubted if any one member of the board has contributed in so great a degree to its success as has Colonel Dosch. As originally created, the board of hor- ticulture consists of six members, appointed by the governor, secretary of state and state treas- urer. One member represents the state at large, while the others represent five districts, namely : first district, Multnomah, Clackamas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clatsop and Tillamook counties ; second district, Marion, Polk, Benton, Lincoln, Linn and Lane counties; third district, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Josephine, Coos,

Curry and Lake counties ; fourth district, Wasco, Sherman, Morrow, Gilliam and Crook counties ; and fifth district, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Malheur, Harney and Grant counties. The members reside in the districts for which they are appointed and are selected with refer- ence to their practical experience in or knowl- edge of horticulture. Appointment is for a term of four years. The present officers of the board are E. L. Smith, president ; L. T. Reynolds, treas- urer, and Henry E. Dosch, secretary, while the representatives of districts are as follows : W. K. Newell, first district; L. T. Reynolds, second district; A. H. Carson, third district ; Emile Schanno, fourth district; Judd Geer, fifth district ; and E. L. Smith, state-at-large.

The marriage of Colonel Dosch was solemnized at Canon City, Ore., in 1866, and united with him Marie Louise Fleurot, who was born in France and received her education in Portland. They are the parents of six children now living, namely : Ernst, who is a merchant at Skagway, Alaska ; Lillie, Camelia, Arno, Roswell and Mar- guerite. The family attend the First Presbyter- ian Church of Portland, in which Colonel Dosch for a time officiated as treasurer.

For several terms he was commander of Lin- coln-Garfield Post No. 3, G. A. R. During his residence in Canon City in 1867 he was made a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and is now identified with Minerva Lodge in Portland. During 1887-88 he was grand master of the grand lodge of Oregon. In politics he has always been allied with the Democratic party, but during the campaigns of 1896 and 1900 connected himself with the gold wing of that party, not being in favor of a sixteen-to-one standard. During the long period of his resi- dence in the west he has kept in touch with the progress in the world of thought and action, and while especially devoted to the great northwest, yet has no narrow spirit of prejudice, but is loyal to the welfare of our country, and interested in worldwide progress. Frequent trips to the east, as well as several voyages across the ocean to the old home land, have brought to him an intimate knowledge of the development of our nation and the influence of modern thought in the old world; but, while loyal to the land of his birth, he believes the history of the future ages is to be written by the United States and especially by that portion thereof lying beyond the Rockies.

EARL C. BRONAUGH, JR. From his earli- est recollections identified with the history of Portland, Mr. Bronaugh is keenly alive to the opportunities offered by his home city, and is

66 Buonaugh

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one of the enthusiastic advocates of its possi- bilities. He was born in Cross county, Ark., . February 26, 1866, and when two years of age was brought to Oregon by his father, E. C. Bronaugh. His education was begun in the pub- lic schools of Portland, and was completed at the University of the Pacific, at San Jose, Cal., from which he was graduated in 1888, with the de- gree of A. B. Three years later the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by his alma mater. He began the study of law while a clerk in the office of Whalley, Bronaugh & Northup, and afterward entered the law department of the University of Oregon, from which he was graduated in 1890, with the degree of LL. B. During June of the same year he was admitted to the bar. In taking up the active practice of his profession he became a member of the firm of Bronaugh, McArthur, Fenton & Bro- naugh, which, by the death of Judge McArthur, in 1897, and the retirement of the senior Bro- naugh, was changed to Fenton, Bronaugh & Mnir. The latter partnership was dissolved in February, 1900, and later the firm of Bronaugh & Bronaugh was organized by Mr. Bronaugh and his cousin, Jerry Bronaugh, the two now conducting a general practice and acting as at- torneys for a number of corporations. Mr. Bro- naugh has made a specialty of the law of real property, and has been, since 1900, attorney for several foreign loan companies.

Mr. Bronaugh was married in San Jose, Cal., to Miss Grace Huggins, a native of Iowa. They now have four children: Elizabeth, Lewis, Earl C., Jr., and Polly. The family is connected with the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Port- land, in which Mr. Bronaugh is a member of the board of trustees, and for eight years has been Sunday school superintendent. He is a member of the board of directors of the Y. M. C. A. The Arlington Club, University Club, State Bar Association and Alumni Association of the Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Phi are among the organizations to which he belongs. During his university work he was one of the founders of Chase Chapter of Legal Fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, University of Oregon. Fraternally he is connected with the A. O. U. W. and the Royal Arcanum. In 1900 he was elected to represent the Seventh ward in the city council, and served two years, meantime being chairman of the committee on streets, health and police, and was also a member of the judiciary committee. Under appointment by the legislature in 1901 he be- came a member of the charter hoard and served as chairman of the committee on executive de- partment and a member of the committee on the legislative department.

EARL C. BRONAUGH. In the last half century the lawyer has been a pre-eminent factor in all affairs of private concern and national im- portance. He has been depended upon to con- serve the best and permanent interests of the whole people, and is a recognized power in all the avenues of life. He stands as the pro- tector of the rights and liberties of his fellow men, and is a representative of a profession whose followers, if they would gain honor, fame and success, must be men of merit and ability. Such a one was Earl C. Bronaugh, who passed away March 6, 1899, after a connection of thirty- one years with the bar of Oregon, and it is safe to say that there never was an attorney in the state who was held in higher respect by his asso- ciates. Coming to the state at a time when the work of development had just begun, he be- came identified with the substantial growth and upbuilding of the same. Unostentatious in man- ner, he never allowed himself to become a pub- lic man, preferring to give his whole time to the practice of his profession.

At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, members of the Bronaugh family, who were French Huguenots, fled to Scotland for refuge, and from there came to America. The emigration must have taken place some time be- fore the Revolution, as members of the family took part in the struggle for independence. Jeremiah Bronaugh, the father of the personal subject of this review, was born in Virginia, where the family had settled at a very early day. In about 1846, Mr. Bronaugh became a pioneer of western Tennessee, and still later removed to Arkansas, where he lived the balance of his life. In early manhood he was engaged in the mercantile business, but the most of his life was devoted to agricultural pursuits. By marriage he was united with Miss Elizabeth Clapp, a daughter of Dr. Earl B. Clapp, of Ab- ingdon, Va. Dr. Clapp was a native of Massa- chusetts, and served as surgeon during the war of 1812 with the Virginia troops. He married Elizabeth Craig, of Abingdon, a daughter of Capt. Robert Craig. Captain Craig was a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1787 he removed to the Old Dominion. During the struggle for inde- pendence he served under Washington during two campaigns. He was also very active in pro- moting patriotic societies, organizing many in different portions of the country. He died in Abingdon in 1834, aged ninety years. For seventy years he was a very active member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Earl B. Clapp was a descendant of Thomas Clapp, a native of Dorchester, England, who came to this country in 1633, and settled in Massachusetts, where the descendants of the family resided until some time prior to the war of 1812, when Dr. Clapp

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migrated to Virginia, being the first member of the family to leave the New England states. His marriage with Elizabeth Craig resulted in the birth of four children, one of whom was Elizabeth, who became the wife of Jeremiah Bronaugh. Of this latter union there were seven children, three of whom lived to reach ma- ture years, as follows: Earl C., our subject ; Anna Louisa, now Mrs. Poindexter, of Bard- well, Ky., and William J., who died in Arkansas. His son, Jerry, is now an attorney of the city of Portland.

Earl C. Bronaugh was born in Abingdon, Va., March 4, 1831. There he spent the first twelve years of his life, at the end of which time he accompanied his parents on their removal to Shelby county, Tenn. There a new home was founded in the wilderness, and for six years Mr. Bronaugh assisted his father in the work of the farm and wood. While a resident of Abingdon he had attended the public schools and laid the foundation for an education, and while working with his father he devoted his spare time to study. Early in life he had become imbued with a desire to make law his life occupation. Accordingly. in 1847, he entered the law office of his uncle, J. W. Clapp, of Holly Springs, Miss., and after two years of study he was ad- mitted to the bar.

Being without means to take up the practice of his profession at once, the following two years were spent in teaching in Tennessee and Arkansas. He then located at Jacksonport, Ark., where he engaged in practice for a short time. Soon after he removed to Little Rock, the same state, where for a time he served as clerk of the chancery court. Later, two years were spent at Brownsville, Ark., from which place he removed to Helena, in the same state. Here he became prominently identified with affairs and was elected judge of the circuit court in 1860. This office he continued to hold until the breaking out of the Civil war.

While not a man in sympathy with slavery, his education and environments had been such as to imbue him with the principles of the south. He was a firm believer in state sovereignty and when his adopted state seceded from the Union he gave his support to the Confederate cause. He enlisted in the army of the south and for one vear continued in the service. At the expira- tion of this time his health failed and he soon after received his discharge from the service and returned home, where he remained until the close of the war. For a time after the close of the great struggle he remained in the south. but he soon realized that it was a poor country in which to strive for a fortune and position and after a few years he determined to seek newer fields in the far west where there were fairer

chances for reward. In the year 1868 he came to the city of Portland. On reaching here he was without a dollar in the world, but he was not of the sort that give up and become dis- heartened. He was determined to succeed and at once opened a law office. From the first he received his share of the public's patronage and as time passed and people learned of his ability his practice grew until at the time of his death there were none that commanded a more ex- tensive clientage, and his legal attainments placed him in the very front rank of the Oregon bar.

For three years he was associated with Hon. John Catlin as a partner and for ten years was a member of the firm of Dolph, Bronaugh, Dolph & Simon. In 1882, owing to failing health, he removed with his family to St. Clair county, Cal., where he remained for two years. On his return to Portland he became a partner in the law firm of Whalley, Bronaugh & Northup. The senior member of this firm re- tired in 1889, and from that time until the death of Mr. Bronaugh, the style of the firm was Bronaugh & Northup.

At a meeting of the members of the Portland bar soon after the death of Mr. Bronaugh there was a large attendance and many of the leading attorneys of the city delivered a number of scholarly and eloquent orations. It was said at the time there was never before a like meeting where so many sincere and able addresses were given. The committee on resolutions, in addition to a sketch of his life, presented the following eulogy, which was adopted by the meeting :

" As a lawyer, Judge Bronaugh had few if any superiors at the Oregon bar. Some might excel him in eloquence, others in powers for skillful cross examination, but no one in the knowledge of the law or accuracy of statement. No case intrusted to him was lost through his want of care, research or ability. It has been said of him that no man could make a better record in a cause for appeal to the supreme court, and no lawyer saw the controlling ques- tions in a case with more clearness than he. Before a jury he was an exceedingly dangerous antagonist. Always in earnest himself in what he did, he never failed to impress those whom he addressed with the sincerity of his views. Persuasive in speech. logical and forceful in ar- gument, with a play often of quiet and grace- ful humor and gentle wit, of which he used to please and not to wound, it was not surprising that he should have been a great verdict winner. Those whom he vanquished in forensic contest never felt the sting of their defeat intensified by any boasting on his part or the detraction of the abilities or conduct of his adversary. In defeat he was always calm, courteous and 1

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John, A leaples

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brave; fertile in resources but fair in action. It is not the language of mortuary panegyric, but the plain simple truth, which everyone in the community in which for thirty years he has lived and labored, will attest, to say of him that his name was the synonym of uprightness and honor. and that he was in the estimation of everyone, whether client or adversary, esteemed and respected as an honest man.

" Priceless indeed is that legacy of a good and honored name that he bequeathed to his family which he loved so well, and for whom he so cheerfully labored. He was a devoted hus- band and father; a kind and generous neighbor ; a plain and simple gentleman of the old school; unaffected in manner, speech and dress; sin- cerely devoted to his profession and unmindful of the strife and contentions of public life. He did not mingle much in public, was retiring and modest, and preferred the quiet home, the grave decorum of the court room, and the desk and library of his office. He was a man of strong religious convictions, and deeply sensible of the sufferings of the human race. The loss of seven children in their childhood and youth gave a touch of sorrow to his face, and the gravity of life and its issues made a profound impression upon his whole career. And yet he was a most hopeful man in the promises of the faith he pro- fessed. The hope of a simple, sincere Christi- anity animated his life and efforts. To him this life was but a preparation for that to come. It was therefore doubly earnest to him, for as Long- fellow wrote, he felt-

' Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal ; Dust thou art, to dust returneth Was not spoken of the soul.'

" Although his star of life is no longer seen, yet it has set as sets the morning star in beauty, which goes not down behind the darkened clouds of the west, but melts away in the pure radiance of Heaven. Let us emulate his virtues and fol- low his example."

Mr. Bronaugh had a deep and abiding faith in the cardinal principles of the Christian re- ligion. Though reared in the Presbyterian faith, later in life he identified himself with the Christian Adventist denomination, and became an earnest worker in the cause. He was a man of unsullied reputation, pure minded, generous hearted, and always adhering strictly to the prin- ciples which he laid down for his self-govern- ment, when, as a thoughtful and reasoning creature, he first decided to champion the cause of the Master of the hearts and lives of men. He contributed liberally of his means for the furtherance of the Gospel, and his benevolence

aside from church work was numerous, though very quietly conducted. The ethical system as- sociated with the church was carried by him into his daily life, and in Masonry, in which he took an earnest and active interest, lic found the fellow of the church. The time he had to spare from the practice of his profession was devoted to the study of the Bible; it was his recreation, and many of the Biblical articles from his pen have been published in different sections of the country.

HON. JOHN F. CAPLES. The descendant of a family identified for many years with the jurisprudence of Ohio, with the founding of at least one of the towns of that state, and with the maintenance of its agricultural prestige, the career of Hon. John F. Caples has naturally been founded on broad and liberal lines, and with a view to large accomplishment. He was born at what is now Ashland county, Ohio, January 12, 1832, and is the youngest of the eight sons and two daughters born to Judge Robert Francis and Charlotte (Laffer) Caples, natives respectively of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, Pa. The paternal grandfather Caples was of Eng- lish descent, and was an early settler in Penn- sylvania.

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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 37

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