Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 44

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 44

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Mr. Hughes was married in Salem July 29, 1857, to Miss Emma Pringle, who was born in Warren county, Mo., in 1838, a daughter of Virgil K. Pringle, whose birth occurred in Hartford, Conn., July 29, 1804. Her grand- father, Norman Pringle, was also born in Hart- ford, and about 1820 removed to Missouri. Her father, settling in Warren county, that state, followed the shoe-making trade until 1846, when he came to the northwest, accom- panied by his wife and six children. They started April 15, 1846, with two ox-teams, com- ing over the old trail by way of Fort Hall and the Applegate cutoff. The travelers en- dured many hardships and much suffering. They made a road of their own from Hum- boldt to Oregon, reaching the Willamette val- ley on Christmas day, after a tedious journcy of nine months. They brought their teams only as far as Eugene, and their cattle gave out on the journey. Mr. Pringle engaged in shoe-making in Salem until 1851, when he settled upon a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres four and a half miles southeast of the city. There he carried on farming for a time, but later he returned to Salem and was identified with business interests there until, having acquired a handsome competence, he retired to private life. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a man of unassailable integrity and genuine worth. He married Phernc Brown, who was born in Montpelier, Vt., March 22, 1805, a daughter of the Rev. Clark Brown, who was

an Episcopal clergyman in the Green Moun- tain state. His entire life was devoted to the ministry in Vermont.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pringle were born eight children, of whom seven reached years of ma- turity-Virgilia, who became the wife of F. R. Smith, and died in Salem ; Clark, who served in the Cayuse Indian war and is now living in Spokane, Wash .; Octavius, who was four- teen years of age when he crossed the plains, and is now living in Prineville, Ore .; Sarelia, who became the wife of Charles H. Northrup, and died in California; Albro, who died in Seattle; Emma, Mrs. Hughes, and Ella, widow of C. D. Young, a resident of Salem, and the only child who was born in Oregon.

The father of this family passed away in Salem, March 24, 1887, when eighty-three years of age. The mother's death occurred in the same city May 23, 1891. She was a great- granddaughter of Dr. Joseph Moffet, of Brim- field, Mass. His daughter, who became the grandmother of Mrs. Pringle, was liberally edu- cated, and afterward engaged in teaching. She married Rev. Clark Brown, who died in Maryland. She afterward took her family to Missouri, whence, in 1846, she came to the northwest. In a log cabin at Forest Grove she established a private school which after- ward developed into a widely patronized and celebrated institution. Her original capital in this enterprise is said to have been but six cents. Little by little the attendance increased until she had forty pupils. This pioneer educa- tional institution, for years known simply as "Mrs. Brown's School," afterwards became the Tualatin Academy, and is now widely known as Pacific University. Mrs. Brown was thus actively and prominently connected with the educational development of the northwest, and her name should be enrolled among those of the prominent pioneers who contributed to the upbuilding and general welfare of Oregon.

Unto John and Emma (Pringle) Hughes were horn five children-George P., who is manager of his father's store; Lulu, wife of A. N. Bush, of Salem; Francis, who is also connected with the store; Genevieve, wife of David B. Mackie, of Portland, and Ethel, wife of \V. A. Carter, of Gold Hill, Ore.

The military experience of John Hughes was confined to the Indian troubles occurring in the pioneer days of Oregon. In October, 1855, he enlisted in the First Oregon Regiment for service in the Yakima Indian war, and was engaged in the Walla Walla country until 1856, taking part in many fights with the red men. Fraternally he was connected with the Odd Fellows, having served as Noble Grand of Salem Lodge, No. I; and Mrs. Hughes is

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identified with the Order of Rebekah. With his wife he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, taking an active and zealous part in its work. He was a trustee of Willamette University, and the cause of education always found in him a warm friend. He served as a member of the Salem City Council several terms, and exer- cised his prerogatives in support of all meas- ures for the general good. He was also asso- ciated with the State Pioneers' Association and the Oregon Historical Society, of which Mrs. Hughes is also a member.

Few residents of the Willamette valley re- sided in this section of the state longer than Mr. Hughes and his estimable wife. They have witnessed its remarkable transformation as Nature has yielded up her rich treasures for the use of man, as business interests and in- dustries have been established, and as the general work of improvement has been carried on. Their influence has invariably been on the side of substantial advancement. Mr. Hughes personally accomplished much toward promot- ing the commercial activity of Salem, where he was for so long a period numbered among the highly honored and prominent merchants. His death, which occurred April 25, 1903, was a distinct loss to the community ; for few of the inhabitants of Salem have so closely en- deared themselves to their fellow men of two mature generations as did this noble, upright and useful citizen of Oregon. The record of his life, a few of the more important features of which we have endeavored to preserve for the future, certainly contains much that should prove a source of inspiration to the rising gen- eration and of pride to his descendants. No finer tribute to his memory can be offered- no more lofty monument to his fame can be erected-than the preservation in literature of the simple facts as they are known to all who knew him during his long and useful life.

GARDNER BROTHERS. No donation claim in Polk county is surrounded with more inter- csting reminisences of the old pioneer days than that which was taken up by Samuel J. Gardner, one of the pioneers of 1843, and which is now occupied by his sons Cyrus L. and Chester C. Gardner. two of the most promising and suc- cessful of the younger generation of agricultur- ists and stock-raisers of his neighborhood. Especial interest surrounds the life of Samuel J. Gardner, who represented in his character and attainments the most hardy and resourceful of the emigrants who dared the dangers of the plains before the innumerable later caravans had rendered them more habitable and less hazardous.

Born in Boston, Mass., September 10, 1821, he died in California, December 26, 1866, having gone to the southern state for impaired health.

As a young man in the east Mr. Gardner engaged in school teaching for some years, and in 1843 came to Oregon accompanied by Nesmith, Applegate and Abernethy, spending a few years on the French Prairie, in Marion county. When he came to Polk county he had a pack on his back containing his worldly possessions, and finally with his earnings made arrangements to take up three hundred and twenty acres of land. March 3, 1853, he married Eliza Ann Smith. born in Missouri, July 1, 1835, and daughter of James Smith, who crossed the plains in 1846, locating on a claim near Lewisville, consisting of a section of land. After this marriage the young people came to the claim now owned by the sons, and built the house which is still stand- ing, a silent reminder of the many years of struggle and deprivations in the early days. This house was built in 1850, and in it the six children were born, four of whom are living: George W., of Falls City; Thomas J., of Salem ; and C. L. and C. C. on the home farm. For a second husband the wife of Mr. Gardner mar- ried, November 27, 1867, John A. Williams, who was born in 1812, and died April 30, 1884, on the home place. Of this union there were two. children, Alvin A. and John D., the former of whom is deceased, and the latter of whom lives at Falls City. For a third husband Mrs. Williams married, January 3, 1886, W. A. Frost, and her fourth husband, married September 26, 1891, was Jacob Rhodaberger. Mrs. Rhodaberger died in Falls City December 26, 1901, at the age of sixty-six.

The Gardner brothers were given a common school education, and under their father's dis- cipline developed into thrifty and conscientious farmers and stock-raisers. Cyrus L., was born on the donation claim February 1, 1861, and Chester C. was born on the same farm February 8, 1864. Chester C. married, February II, 1891, Hattie Elliott, who was born in Polk county, December 11, 1871, and whose father. James W., crossed the plains in 1862, locating in Polk county, and from there removing to his present home ncar Bellevue, Yamhill county. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gardner: Cyrus Orville; Wiley M .; Edith L .; and Lester W. Like their father, the sons are Democrats in political affiliation, but have never desired or been willing to accept anything but minor local offices. C. C. Gardner is a member and trustce of the Evangelical Church at Bridge- port. The brothers own the original donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres jointly Chester C. purchased three hundred and eighteen acres adjoining on the south and Cyrus L. owns

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one hundred and sixty adjoining that on the southwest. making a farm of eight hundred acres in one body. The Gardner farm is one of the most valuable in Polk county, and has all of the modern improvements which are calculated to facilitate a high-class general farming enterprise. Both men are of advanced and practical ideas, and have enviable reputations for substantiality and all-around general worth to the community.

JOHN B. SMITH. Certain distinguishing features mark the establishment of the Smith family in Oregon, both as regards the father, Isaac, and his son John B., the latter of whom now owns and operates the original donation claim taken up by his sire in 1853, and where he was born November 18, 1856. The elder Smith was born in Warren 'county, Ky., Feb- ruary 14, 1816, a son of Godfrey Smith, who died at a comparatively early age, and who claimed Dutch ancestry. Isaac Smith went to Warren county, Ill., as a young man, and there married Margaret Butler, who was born in Kentucky or Illinois in 1822, and who bore him nine children, six of whom were sons, John B. being the seventh, all of whom are now living : Rufus M .; Silas W., of Waitsburg, Wash .; Berryman M., who was police judge of Portland for two years; Flora A. Campbell; R. Matilda Humphrey; John B .; Ira S., who was sheriff of Polk county one term and member of legislature one term; Isaac L., United States lighthouse kecper at Canby, Ore. Mr. Smith owned a large farm in Warren county, Ill., which, however, he disposed of in the early '50s, and in 1853 outfitted with horse and mule teams and crossed the plains to Oregon. His family had in the meantime grown to large proportions, and all accompanied him on the search for better and larger opportunities in the far west. The train was under command of Captain Butler, father of Mrs. Smith, and the journey covered a period of six months, being comparatively immune from clistressing accidents or setbacks. The first winter was spent in Polk county, and the next spring Mr. Smith took up the claim now owned by his son, which consisted of three hundred and twenty acres. He engaged in general farming and stock-raising until his death, April 29, 1897, his wife having preceded him in December, 1871. He was a prominent man in his neighborhood, and his influence for growth and progress was of more than local extent. Since the Civil war a stanch Republican, he served many years as justice of the peace, and was elected to the state legislature for one term, serving as county judge until declining health necessitated his resignation from office. Broad and tolerant in his views,

he was public-spirited in the extreme, and will- ingly shouldered the large responsibility which fell upon him in the early days.

Educated in the public schools of Bridgeport, and La Creole Academy at Dallas, John B. Smith began farming with his father, and at the age of twenty-one became independent, taking his share of the farm profits in return for labor expended. In 1886 he was united in marriage with Maggie Hill, who was born in Tennessee, December 27, 1867, and came to Oregon in 1884 with her father, Licurgus, locating in Polk county. Mr. Hill now lives in Bridgeport, four miles from Falls City, and is engaged in general farming and hop-raising.

After his marriage Mr. Smith continued to live on the home place, and in December, 1900, bought out the other heirs, and now owns the entire property. His farm is one of the finest and most valuable in this section, and is devoted chiefly to the raising of stock, including sheep, goats and cattle. The most modern improvements have been introduced, for the present owner is progressive in the extreme, and keeps abreast of the times in congenial and successful occupation. That he has been more expansive than the average farmer is evidenced by his town as well as city interests, for he owns considerable town real estate, including four lots in Newport. The stanch friend and promoter of education, he has materially advanced the educational opportunities of the children in his neighborhood, and has rendered valuable service as a trustee of Dallas College. He is an upholder of Republican prin- ciples, has been a trustee and school clerk for many terms, and held other positions of trust and responsibility in the county. With his family he is a member of the Evangelical Church, and for many years has been the popular and helpful Sunday school superintendent. His four chil- dren are being given every advantage within the power of their parents to bestow. Oscar P. is in Dallas, while Cecil, Hallie and a baby are living at home.

JOHN MORRIS. A paying farming and fruit-raising property of Polk county is that owned by John Morris, which, though not one of the largest in the neighborhood, is one of the best improved and most fertile. In 1890 he purchased the sixty acres comprising his farm, forty-five of which are under cultivation, and seven acres of which are devoted to straw- berries. He has given horticulture considerable study, and finds a ready market for his finely flavored fruit. Mr. Morris was born in Colum- bus, Ohio, June 1, 1840, his father. Asa, being a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Frank- lin county, Ohio, at the age of fifty-five years.

6.00 Boynton.

Mary et. Boynton.

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The mother and family moved to Mahaska county, Iowa, in 1853, and the son, John, stayed on the home farm until 1860.

Crossing the plains in the spring of 1860, John Morris was a member of the D'Lashmutt party, which included his widowed mother, who after- ward married Jonathan Dyer. She died in Polk county in 1889, aged seventy-eight years. After arriving in Polk county, he lived with Mr. D'Lashmutt on Salt creek. In 1862 he went to eastern Oregon, and in Baker county engaged in mining for a year, going in 1863 to Placerville, Idaho. As a miner he was not successful, and his short but disastrous experience convinced him that the life of the farmer was after all one to be desired. So in 1865 he went to Walla Walla, Washı., and after a year of farming came to Polk county, locating on Salt creek. He was moderately successful as a farmer and stock- raiser, and in 1872 had saved enough money to justify him in marrying and wedded Mary E. Farley, a native of Yamhill county, daughter of Robert and Lydia (Cosper) Farley, of which union there have been born five children: Will- iam A., a graduate of the Stanford University, now teaching the Latin class in the East Port- land school; Robert F., attending the Willamette University ; Carl G., graduate from the law department of Willamette University and died at home September, 1901, aged twenty-four; and two died in infancy.

For a number of years after his marriage Mr. Morris lived near Perrydale, and in 1891 came to his present farm near Salem. He is a Repub- lican in politics casting his first vote for Lincoln in 1864, and has held the school offices for many vears. He is a member of the Baptist Church of Rickreall, while his wife attends the church of the same denomination at Salem. Liberal minded and enterprising, Mr. Morris is also noted for his good business ability, and for his un- swerving integrity. For further reference re- garding the Morris family, see sketch of E. L. D'Lashmutt elsewhere in this volume.

CHARLES OSCAR BOYNTON. Follow- ing a career of credit to himself as a farmer and business man, Charles Oscar Boynton came to Woodburn in 1891, and erected his present com- fortable and hospitable home on seven acres of land purchased for the purpose. With the excep- tion of a year in the grocery business, as the part- ner of W. E. Finzer, he has since lived a retired life. Mr. Boynton is enrolled among that noble band of pioneers which arrived in Oregon Octo- ber 3, 1850, and has since given their strong and reliable characters to the development of western resources. Of Revolutionary ancestry on both sides of his family, he was born in Troy, N. Y.,

June 10, 1822, his father, Ebenezer L., having been born on the old paternal farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres near Brattleborough, Vt., August 8, 1796. The paternal grandfather, Joel, also a native of Vermont, succeeded in making a fair living for his family out of the Vermont farm, whose well tilled and somewhat worn acres are still in the possession of the Boyntons. He left his plow and difficult duties to participate in the war for independence, serving with distinc- tion in the Colonial army. He lived to be ninety- nine years old. Ebenezer L. Boynton moved from Vermont to New York about 1812, settling in Catskill, where he married Elizabeth Fancher, who was born near New London, Conn., January 21, 1795, and whose father, Andrew Fancher, was also a native of Connecticut, a farmer by occupation, and a valiant soldier in the Revolu- tionary war. In New York, he settled in the timber near Syracuse, cleared his land, engaged in farming and stock-raising, and died at an ad- vanced age.

In 1821, Mr. Boynton removed from Catskill to Troy, N. Y., where he was appointed inspector of provisions by the legislature, which position he creditably maintained for many years. In 1836 he took up his residence in Fulton county, Ill., where he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and also eighty acres of timber land. Here he died at the age of ninety, after a very active life, during which he took an important part in the politics of his locality. At first a Jef- fersonian Democrat, his political convictions had broadened, and he died a stanch Republican, and a warm admirer of the character and political policy of Abraham Lincoln.

The third oldest in the paternal family, Charles Oscar Boynton, was educated in the public schools, and at the age of twenty-one left the farm and apprenticed himself to the cooper's trade, at Cuba, Fulton county, Il1. In 1843, he located on a farm near Cuba, married Mary A. Bonney, July 26th of the same year, Mrs. Boyn- ton being a native of Sandusky, Ohio, and born December 29, 1823. Her father, Truman Bon- ney, was born in the state of Vermont, where he was a tanner, stave maker, and later a cooper, and from where he emigrated to Ohio, settling near Sandusky, and, in 1834, removed to Fulton county, Ill. He crossed the plains to Oregon in 1845, and settled on the donation claim upon which his death occurred. After his marriage, Mr. Boynton continued to live on the Illinois farm, and in the meantime a great deal of local interest had been aroused regarding the superior opportunities in the west, and it is not surprising that quite a little colony in the neighborhood dis- posed of their farms and needless possessions, and prepared for the long journey over the plains. Nine families made up the little train

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that courageously set forth into the practically unknown west, and accomplished their desire without any particular incident. They came by way of the north side of the Platte river, and the first winter in Oregon Mr. Boynton spent two miles northeast of Woodburn. Near Needy, Clackamas county, he then took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, which he proved up, and which continued to be his home for thirty-nine years. The town of Needy sprang into existence upon a portion of the Boynton farm, and the owner was deeply interested in the various enterprises which gradually helped to establish a community of fair proportions. Nor was he an outside spectator, for he gave gen- erously towards the promotion of various enter- prises there represented, notably the Methodist Episcopal Church, for which he contributed five acres as a building site, and also gave money to- wards the erection of the edifice. In this connec- tion, it is pleasant to mention the great good accomplished by Mr. Boynton in connection with the church, of which he has been a member for a great many years. He has always felt the help emanating from this denomination, and during the early missionary days, such well remembered disciples as Waller, Hines, Garrison and Parrish were welcome guests at the Boynton home. The first camp meeting grounds were held on this old farm, and many social and religious undertak- ings received their first inspiration from the vig- orous personalities and helpful enthusiasm of Mr. and Mrs. Boynton. Their home was the center of a genial good fellowship appreciated by all the early settlers, and their hearts responded to all calls for sympathy and practical help.

Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Boynton, Ebenezer Larned, a horse dealer in Woodburn, married Lucinda Morgan and has three sons : Charles O., Jr .; Alva T., who is mar- ried and has one daughter, Eddie; and Edward, deceased ; Bradford A. is deceased; Helen A., deceased, married Clark McCown and had three children : Mary A., married, and has one daugh- ter; Charles W. and Lida; Thurston A., de- ceased, married Josie Moor and had one dangh- ter, Thursa, the wife of Mr. Goodman, of Mal- heur county, Ore .; Jennie Alice, deceased, mar- ried Cuthbert Stump, and had three children : Paulina, Mary and Charles C., the latter deceased ; Albert, twin brother to Jennie A., died in early childhood; C. Truman, living in Malheur county, Ore., married Susan Zumwalt, and they have two daughters, Bertha and Mary A., each of whom is married and has one son: Bessie is the wife of Jolin Popejoy, and has two daughters: Mary A. and Charlotte O., the latter having three chil- dren, Marietta, Harley and an infant, and is liv- ing in Stockton, Cal .: Ida, deccased, married J. Robert Sconce, and they had one son, J. Robert

Sconce, Jr., now in the United States navy ; Lida, a twin sister of Ida, is living at home with her parents. Mr. Boynton has always been a Repub- lican, and his fitness for office has received con- stant recognition. He served four years as county assessor, and was county commissioner for the same number of years. For twenty-two years he was justice of the peace, and his rulings were always equitable and in accord with the principles of truth and justice. Since living in Woodburn, Mr. Boynton has been solicited to fill numerous political offices, but has always re- fused. He served as delegate to the county con- vention, and was delegate from Clackamas county to the first Republican state convention in Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Boynton are the only survivors of the first Methodist Episcopal class between Salem and Oregon City, organized by Alvin Waller. They are both members of the Pioneer Association, and Oregon Historical So- ciety, and Mr. Boynton is a charter member of Woodburn Lodge No. 106, A. F. & A. M., and with his daughter, Lida, belongs to the Eastern Star.

SIDNEY TOMLINSON, who served as chief executive of Woodburn during the years 1901-02, was admirably adapted to the requirements of his responsibility, was the seventh to hold office in the city and presented a clean, wide-awake, and progressive administration. His foresight and recognition of its necessities resulted in the organization of a fire company for the protection of life and property, and he otherwise evinced a desire to place his charge among the influen- tial, modern, and thrifty municipalities of the Willamette valley.

A native of the vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio, Mr. Tomlinson was born March 17, 1855. His fam- ily was represented in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, and the Mexican war. The soldier of whom there is most authentic account is the paternal grandfather, Solomon Z., who was born in Virginia, reared in Pennsylvania, and participated in the war of 1812 and the Mexican war. The prime of his life was passed in Ohio, where he married, and whence he removed in 1860 to Nemaha county, Kans. In 1878 he took 11p his residence on land in the state of Iowa. He died at the age of ninety-three in Boone county, Iowa, where he was stricken with paraly- sis while at the home of his son, James F., the father of Sidney.

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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 44

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