Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 55

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 55

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At the present time Mr. Wolf is chiefly inter- ested in the hop and the cattle industries. He has sixty acres under hops, and buys, sells and exports large quantities of this product every year. During 1903 he expects to ship at least four thousand bales out of the country. On his farm he raises a high grade of cattle and sheep. In his business operations he has been very suc-

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cessful, and ranks as one of the substantial men of Marion county.

Mr. Wolf was married in Portland, in 1868, to Fannie Kraemer, who is a native of Germany. They are the parents of three children, namely : Julius C., his father's partner in the hop busi- ness; Lonis Jacob, who was graduated from Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, in 1903; and Sophia, who lives with her parents.

Mr. Wolf is identified with Silver Lodge, I. O. O. F .; the Rebekahıs, and Silverton Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M. He is a firm advocate of Re- publican principles, and while a resident of In- dependence was actively interested in public affairs, serving for several terms in the city coun- cil and as school director. In Silverton he has served as mayor two terms, and has been a mem- ber of the city council for four years. He has an enviable reputation for business integrity, for enterprise, and for public-spirit, and is accounted one of the most liberal-minded and progressive citizens of Silverton. When he undertakes to carry out an object which he has deemed worthy of his support, he enters into the spirit of the enterprise with his whole heart. He has never failed to respond to the solicitations for aid in any worthy project. Throughout his entire life in the Willamette valley he has exhibited an un- selfish interest in the general welfare of the people, and has done all in his power for the im- provement of social, intellectual, moral and com- mercial conditions. He has earned his title to the rank of representative citizen, and is deserv- ing of praise for the honorable success which has greeted his efforts.

JOSEPH P. GALBRAITH. Formerly actively associated with the manufacturing and mercantile industries of Linn county, as book- keeper of the Albany Woolen Mills, Mr. Gal- braith is recognized as a citizen of worth, and an efficient business man. He served with dis- tinction in the Union army during the Civil war, and has since been equally loyal in the support of the government. A man of talent and cul- ture, he evinces a warm interest in the advance- ment of beneficial projects, and is a zealous worker in various secret societies. In the Ma- sonic order he is one of the foremost members, and has done much to promote the good of the fraternity. A native of Rogersville, Tenn., he was born April 6, 1840, a son of William Gal- braith. His paternal grandfather, Andrew Gal- braith, a native of Virginia, removed to Haw- kins county, Tenn., when a young man, and was there successfully engaged in agricultural pur- suits, owning a large plantation. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and a lincal descendant of Arthur Galbraith, who was born in the North of

Ireland, but emigrated to this country, settling in Pennsylvania.

William Galbraith was born ten miles west of Rogersville, Hawkins county, Tenn., and re- moved to Jefferson county and there spent the greater part of his life. He first engaged in busi- ness as a merchant, then a railway agent, and subsequently a clerk and master in chancery. He served in the Seminole Indian war as lieuten- ant of a company of volunteers, and for one term was a representative to the state legislature. He, too, was prominent in the Masonic order, in which he attained the degree of R. A. M., and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Eliza Cobb, who was born in Haw- kins county, Tenn., the daughter of a planter, Jesse Cobb, who removed to Tennessee from his native state, North Carolina, in early manhood. Ten children were born of their union, and of these nine survive, and five are living in this section of the country, two of the sons residing in Oregon, and two sons and one daughter living in Washington.

At the age of six years Joseph P. Galbraith removed with his parents to Jefferson county, Tenn., where he received his early education, at- tending Holston College. In August, 1861, im- bued with the true patriotic spirit of his ances- tors, he made his way across the mountains to Camp Dick Robinson, in Kentucky, and, in Sep- tember, 1861, enlisted in Company C. Second Tennessee Infantry. He subsequently took an active part in many engagements, being in the Battle of Mill Spring. Ky., at Murfreesboro; and at Cumberland Gap. For bravery in action he was promoted first to the rank of sergeant major. and was afterwards made adjutant of the Second Tennessee Regiment, U. S. V., with the rank of first lieutenant. He subsequently participated in several skirmishes in Tennessee, and while in the eastern part of the state assisted in driving the rebels into Virginia. While home on a fur- lough, his regiment was captured at Rogersville, Tenn., and sent to Richmond, Va. In February, 1864, Lieutenant Galbraith resigned his commis- sion, and was afterwards engaged in business in Knox and Jefferson counties, Tenn., until the close of the war.

Returning then to Jefferson county, Mr. Gal- braith was assistant clerk in the state legislature of 1864 and 1865, and afterwards served as a clerk under the United States Tax Commission. Having in the meantime studied law at Dand- ridge, Tenn., he was admitted to the bar in 1866, and practiced his profession in that city until 1875. Removing in that year to Washington county, Ore., he taught school there two terms, then came to Linn county, and for three terms was principal of the schools in Brownsville. Ac- cepting a position as secretary and bookkeeper

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with the Brownsville Woolen Mills Company, under Thomas Kay, in 1877, he was associated with this company until 1886. Being then elected county clerk of Linn county, Mr. Gal- braith served two years, but declined a re-elec- tion. Returning to Brownsville, he assisted in organizing a manufacturing company, which pur- chased the old woolen mill, with which he was connected about a year. Being offered a bonus, in 1889, to build a mill in Albany, the company sold its property in Brownsville and located in Albany under the same name and with the same officers, erecting a plant in Albany. The company was afterwards re-incorporated as the Albany Woolen Mills Company. In December, 1893, Mr. Galbraith disposed of his stock in that firm, resigned his position and resumed the practice of law, continuing his professional labors for eighteen months. The Albany Woolen Mills Company then passing into the hands of a re- ceiver, Mr. Galbraith was appointed clerk and bookkeeper, and served in those capacities until the affairs of the company were adjusted. When the new company was organized in 1898, he be- came financially interested in it, and continued as bookkeeper until the plant was sold.

Mr. Galbraith was married in Tennessee, in 1863, to Miss Nancy J. McFarland, who was born at Millspring, Tenn., daughter of Dr. Ben- jamin F. McFarland, an old and prominent phy- sician, who was for a number of years president of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Co. She died March 9, 1902. Ten children were born of their union, namely: Lena, wife of C. H. Younger, of Albany; Louis, who died in 1897; William, of Lewiston, Idaho; Hattie, at home; Eliza, wife of George B. Hart, who is United States Inspector of Customs in the Philippine Islands; Nina, wife of W. L. Lyons, of Pullman, Wash .; Jennie, wife of S. M. Gar- rison, living in Roseburg, Ore., and Frank, Jo- seph and Victor, all of Whatcom county, Wash.

Politically, Mr. Galbraith is a gold Democrat. and at the last election cast his vote for President McKinley. After serving one term as council- man he resigned his position, and in 1902 was elected justice of the peace. Fraternally, he was made a Mason in Dandridge, Tenn., in 1866, and while living there was raised to the degree of R. A. M. He is now a member, and past master of St. John's Lodge No. 62, A. F. & A. M., of Albany ; a member and past officer of Bayley Chapter, No. 17, R. A. M .; a member and Past Eminent Commander of Temple Commandery, No. 3, K. T .; is a member of Adoniram Council, R. & S. M., of Albany, in which he is recorder ; and has served as Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of Ore- gon, as Grand Senior Deacon of the Grand Lodge, and as Grand Captain of the Host of the

Grand Chapter of Oregon. He is also a member of the Alco Club, and of McPherson Post, G. A. R. He is a prominent member of the Presby- terian Church, in which he is an elder, and is also a trustee, and the secretary and treasurer, of the board of trustees of Albany College.

THOMAS V. B. EMBREE, M. D. When Dr. Thomas V. B. Embree arrived in Oregon City December 24, 1844, he found the largest aggregation of houses and people anywhere as- sembled on the coast. At the time he was eight years of age, having been born five miles from La Fayette, Howard county, Mo., August 14, 1836. As one of the early pioneers of Oregon he has contributed his share to its upbuilding, and has practiced medicine within its borders for more than forty-two years. The establisher of the Embree family in America was the paternal great-grandfather of the doctor, who was born in England, and left his plantation in Virginia to participate in the war of independence. This southern plantation was the birthplace of his son, Thomas, the paternal grandfather, who in early life removed to Kentucky, but died on the farm in Howard county, Mo., to the pioneer de- velopment of which he devoted the last years of his life.

Carey Duncan Embree, the father of Thomas V. B., was born in Clark county, Ky., January 11, 1806, and was the sixth-born in a family of fifteen children. Owing to both the want of facilities and time, his early education was ex- tremely limited, not exceeding a year and a half in all. At the age of twenty-eight he married Lu- cinda Fowler, a native of his own town, who was two years younger than himself, and with whom and their children, Thomas V. B., Mary Isadore, Marcellus A., and Benton, he started on the long journey across the plains. The family was equipped with wagons, six oxen, two cows and one horse. They had many experiences of a trying nature, and the weather was exceedingly inclement, the rain setting in soon after they left Boonville, and continuing at frequent inter- vals until the first of July. Arriving at Fort Hall, the sole remaining ox team was traded for one strong, reliable animal, and thus reinforced they proceeded on their way, meeting with dif- ficulties from steep inclines, and inconvenience because of a depleted larder. However, the lat- ter trouble was overcome through sending to Dr. Whitman for supplies. Upon arriving at The Dalles Mr. Embree was the possessor of but $1, and with this money he purchased a bushel of potatoes, some sugar and tea for his sick wife, after which they resumed the journey, meeting with many more obstacles than it is possible to enumerate in this work. Just above Dixie Mr.

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Embree took a claim of six. hundred and forty acres, and here he settled with his wife and five children, one of whom had been born near the end of their journey. The family lived in their wagons while the father hewed wood for the little cabin, his heart heavy, because of the almost entire absence of money, and the necessities of life, but the industry of the head of the family soon brought a change, and in time the property developed into one of great value. The year 188I was a sad one for this patient and resource- ful pioneer, for the wife who had so faithfully aided him in accomplishing his object in life was killed by falling from a wagon, being at the time seventy-five years of age. Mr. Embree went to California during the gold excitement of 1849, returning by boat, being forty-nine days upon the way. A few years before his death, at the age of ninety-four years and five months, he removed to Dallas, where he owned a twelve- acre lot, and where he worked as inclination dic- tated. He was an old time Democrat with pro- nounced southern tendencies, and as a politician was quite prominent in the early days of his arrival in Oregon. He was the first sheriff of Polk county, but resigned when asked to attach the property of a poor man, for his humanity and extreme kindness of heart rebelled at that seeming injustice of the law.

On his father's farm Dr. Embree was reared to hard work, and his early education was ac- quired under difficulties. At the age of twenty- two, in 1858, he began the study of medicine under J. W. Boyle, and in 1860 entered the med- ical department of the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, now the Cooper Medical Col- lege. After the first course he began to practice medicine in La Fayette, and later practiced in Amity and Lewisville, locating in Dallas in 1874. He graduated from the medical department of Willamette University in 1881, and the same year entered upon a three and a half years' practice in Corvallis. After eight years in Burns, Harney county, he returned to Dallas, where he devoted his best endeavors to the practice of his chosen profession, being one of the oldest physicians in active practice who acquired their professional training in the state. In 1903 he moved to Port- land.

In October. 1855, Dr. Embree participated in the Yakima Indian war as a member of Company G. First Oregon Infantry, under command of Capt. Benjamin Hayden. Later he was a member of Company B, commanded by Capt. B. F. Burch. Until 1892 he was a stanch Democrat, but since then he has allied himself with the Populist party. He was a candidate for the state legislature in 1900, but was de- feated. He is a member of the National Committee of the Allied People's Party, and a

member of the state committee and ex-chairman of the county committee. For one term he was coroner of Polk county, and of Benton county for the same length of time. He is a member of the State Historical and State Pioneer Associa- tions.

In Corvallis, Benton county, Ore., Dr. Embree married, in 1868, Annie E. Finley, who was born in Missouri and reared in Santa Clara, Cal. Seven children have been born of this union, four of whom are living, the order of their birth being as follows: Clyde, a printer by occupation ; Alice J., now Mrs. Sellers, of Dallas; Van Buren, a photographer of Dallas ; and Lillie, who became the wife of Harmon Guthrie and resides near Dallas. Dr. Embree has an enviable reputation of more than local renown, and hundreds of families have come to regard him as an essential part of their household. A practitioner for many years he keeps himself well advised as to the latest discoveries in medical science, and is in ac- cord with modern thought as exemplified in the leading medical institutions. The doctor is genial and kindly, attributes so useful to the successful practitioner.

GREEN B. CORNELIUS, manager and pro- prietor of a livery business in Turner, was born in Henry county, Iowa, January 11, 1837, a son of Absalom and Elizabeth (Cotton) Cornelius, the former a pioneer settler of Oregon, and a. man well known in his locality. Absalom Cornelius was born in North Carolina, and reared in Virginia, where he married and engaged in both farming and lumbering. About 1832 he became a resident of Iowa, and in 1845 crossed the plains with three wagons and several yoke of oxen, the train in which he trav- eled being composed of fifty wagons. They came via the Platte river route, setting out from St. Joseph, Mo., in May, and arriving at The Dalles in October. From The Dalles Mr. Cornelius reached Oregon City by flatboat, and on this trip got out of provisions, a deficiency remedied by Dr. David McLaughlin, who sent out a party with relief. the chief cause for gratitude being the wheat flour, which they had not tasted since leaving The Dalles. Across the plains Mr. Cor- nelius brought fifty head of fine Durham cattle, which he wintered at The Dalles, together with his household possessions. He himself spent the winter on a claim east of Oregon City, where he took up six hundred and forty acres of land, upon which he built a saw-mill. In the spring he returned to The Dalles and got his cattle. brought them to the ranch, and made his home there until the spring of 1850. He then removed to Marion county, taking up a donation claim the same size as his other tract, located three

Leb Pooler

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

miles southwest of Turner. Here also he built a saw-mill, large enough for his own and the use of his neighbors. He farmed and raised stock for the remainder of his life, his death oc- curring in 1880, at the advanced age of eighty- two years. Of the fifteen children born to him- self and wife, Mary A. is the widow of John Caples, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Sophia is the widow of N. O. Parker, of Wardner, Idaho; Capt. Aaron M. lives in Oakland, Cal .; Green B. is the subject of this review; and Absalom H .. ex-county commissioner and ex-county assessor, lives in Jefferson, Marion county. The deceased children are: Elisha, Catherine Chamness, Cata- lina Morris, Allie Woodcock, Rebecca Rinearson, George and Samuel, the latter participating in the Cayuse and Rogue river wars.

Mr. Cornelius was eight years of age when he came to Oregon, and thirteen when he came to Marion county. He remained with his father until eighteen years of age, and then went to Clackamas county and bought a piece of land which he used for horse-raising for some years. In Linn county he bought a farm of three hun- dred and twenty acres, and upon this property took charge of his father's cattle for a couple of years, at the end of that time returning and assuming charge of the home farm. March 6, 1860, he married Amanda L. Parker, daughter of Hon. Samuel and Elizabeth (Sutton) Parker, who died at The Dalles en route to Marion county. They crossed the plains to Oregon in 1845. Mr. Parker became a very prominent man in this state. He was a man of varied gifts, much of his time being spent in public service, acting as speaker of the house during the first territorial legislature of Oregon. He took up a claim of six hundred and forty acres of land. where the state penitentiary is now located. One daughter, Priscilla, married Perrin Whitman, nephew of Dr. Marcus Whitman; Sarah, wife of John B. Jackson (deceased), of Washington county ; Susan, wife of Capt. George W. Ferrel, of Mexican fame ; Gideon J., of Idaho; George L. Parker, of Portland, and Newton O. (de- ceased) are the pioneer children of this noted man. The Oregon born children are: Dollie, Parker Bonham, Lizzie Parker Bonham, Will R., Samuel and Pierce Y.

In the fall of 1860 Mr. Cornelius traded his farm on the prairie for one of one hundred and eighty acres two and one-half miles south of Turner, and this was his home until 1862. He then bought a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, two and a half miles northeast of Turner. This he cultivated and improved until engaging in the livery business in Turner in September, 1902. Four children have been born into the Cornelius family: Ada Estella, who died in 1879. at the age of seventeen years, while a stu-

dent in Willamette University; Sophia Lizzie, an elocutionist of- marked ability, and a prominent educator in Oregon, having been principal of several different schools in the smaller towns, and a teacher in Portland; Ariadne, wife of C. J. Simeral, of Salem, and they have one son, Claire Cornelius; and Cassius P., in business with his father, who is also interested in the tim- ber and mining industries of Oregon and Idaho. William Cornelius Parker, a nephew of Mrs. Cornelius, is a member of the family; he is a descendant of the Howell family, for whom How- ells Prairie was named. Mr. Cornelius is a Re- publican in politics, and has served as school director for thirty years, resigning when he moved into Turner. He held the office of industrial teacher on the Indian farm at Chewawa for a year and a half. Mr. Cornelius is also identified with the Grange, and with various enterprises in which his district abounds.

LEWIS CLINTON POOLER. One hun- dred and sixty acres of the old Rice-Dunbar and Charles Scribner donation claims, one and a half miles east of 'Pratum, was occupied for many years by Lewis Clinton Pooler, a pioneer of 1852, and one of the honored farmers of this section. Mr. Pooler came from an old New York family, and was born in Oswego, in 1832, the son of parents who devoted their active lives to farming. As a boy he removed with the rest of the family to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he received the greater part of his early education, and where his parents spent their last days.

The ancestral records of the Pooler family, for- merly spelled Poolleer, prove them of English extraction. George Poolleer, the first of the name to settle in the United States, was born in Eng- land, in 1733, and died in 1837, in Oswego, N. Y. He came to the United States in 1774, and served as a captain in the Revolutionary war. His wife was also English by birth, and of their union six children were born, of whom Joshua, the father of Lewis Clinton, was born in 1792, and died in 1842, in Indiana. He married Mary Stafford, an Italian, her birth having occurred in 1793, and her death in 1857. Of their nine children only two are now living, Mrs. Mary Peck, of Gypsum City, Kans., and Emory Pooler, of Topeka. same state. At the age of twenty years Mr. Pooler started out to make an independent living, having secured a position as driver with a party crossing the plains. This was in 1852, and though the year brought much disaster to many who were westward bound, this especial train escaped all but slight inconveniences. The Indians were not particularly troublesome. nor did disease devas- tate the ranks of the home-seekers. Mr. Pooler lived for a time in Oregon City, and afterward

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went to the Sound country, remaining for a couple of years, then returning to Oregon City, where he found employment in the near-by coun- try as a teamster. In 1855, he married Adaline Stormer, daughter of Isaac and Reasoner Stormer. The mother died when Adaline was a child. The father married a second time, this union being with Mary A. Cooley, and with his family crossed the plains in 1852, in the same train with Mr. Pooler. The second wife died on the plains in 1852, and Mr. Stormer married a third time to Mary Lamb. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pooler, the order of their birth being as follows: Jefferson A., who mar- ried Miss Annette Leonard, and by her had two children, Virginia, who died in infancy, and Clora, who became the wife of C. H. Lenge ; Mary Alice, the wife of William Bowen, located near Willard, in the Waldo Hills, and they have four sons : Archie, Ernest, Clifford and Adolph ; Marian Annette, the wife of William McAllister, of Pratum, and the children born to them were Guy, Mark, Russell and Lenna, the latter of whom is deceased ; Effie Belle, the wife of George Bock, of Salem, by a former marriage, with Reu- ben Stedman, having two children, Stella and Jay, both of whom are deceased ; Ida G., the widow of Eugene McAllister, of Kansas City, Kans., her one daughter, Eugenia, now living with her grandmother ; Emory S., who died at the age of seventeen years ; Amy Catherine, a school teacher, who lives in eastern Oregon; Earl L., who mar- ried Maude Desart, by whom he had two chil- dren, E. Lorene and Owen Lewis, this son being located near his father's farm; and W. Ivan, liv- ing at home,

After marriage Mr. Pooler and wife went to housekeeping on Drift creek, near Sublimity, where they lived for three years, at the end of which time they settled upon the farm now occu- pied by his widow. This was a discouraging un- dertaking at first, heavily timbered, with no mod- ern improvements whatever. By sheer force of will-power and determination it was transformed into a paying investment, and equipped with mod- ern buildings. Here Mr. Pooler passed many happy and successful years, his death occurring September 8, 1901, at the age of sixty-nine years, the esteem and confidence of his neighbors having been given him for his many fine personal quali- ties, for his public-spiritedness, thrift and enter- prise. Since his death his widow has ably stepped into his place, and assisted by her sons, continues the policy of advancement inaugurated by this honored and high-minded pioneer. Mrs. Pooler has eleven grandchildren living.

During the Indian wars in 1854-55, Mr. Pooler gave himself freely to the service which lay be- fore him as a citizen of the Sound country, be-

coming a volunteer in a service which left him a cripple throughout the remainder of his life, from the effects of a wound received at that time.

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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 55

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