Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 63

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 63

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ARTHUR L. SIMPSON. The importance ot model laundry facilities in a thriving and growing community can hardly be over-esti- mated, and in Albany this want is fully met by the Magnolia Steam Laundry, which, through successive stages of growth, has ad- vanced to a place among the substantial busi- ness enterprises of the town. The rise of this concern is synonymous with that of its owner and manager, A. L. Simpson, who is one of . the most capable and promising of the younger generation of business men of this community, and who is deserving of great credit for his successful 'handling of a large opportunity. Born in New York City in 1875, Mr. Simpson is of Scotch-Irish descent, his paternal grandfather, Robert, having been born in the North of Ireland, whither had set- tled his forefathers in the days of Scotch re- ligious persecution. Robert Simpson came to New York City at an early day, and there engaged for many years in the grocery busi- ness. His son, Robert G., born in New York City, and the father of A. L., learned the gro- cery business in his youth, but in after years served an apprenticeship to a ship carpenter, which trade he worked at for several years. About 1860 he removed to Blackhawk county, Iowa, where he farmed for a time, and then returned to New York City, remaining there until removing to Sibley, Iowa, in 1877. In the latter town he engaged in the laundry business, and in 1889 located in Albany, Ore., where his death occurred in 1900. He is sur- vived by his wife, formerly Calista Ashby, a native of Ohio, and who was reared in Il- linois, and who bore him nine children, five

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of whom are living, A. L. being the youngest in the family.

After coming to Albany, Ore., in 1889, A. L. Simpson attended the public schools and the Albany College, and thereafter learned telegraphy in the Corvallis & Eastern Rail- road office at Summit. For a time he was with the old Oregon & Pacific Railroad, but gave up this position in 1894 to engage in the laundry business. The enterprise had been started by his mother in 1890, and was run as a hand laundry until 1899, when the business was greatly en- larged and fitted with steam, having the most modern and time-saving machinery. At the same time a large outside trade was undertaken, which at the present time has no equal in the county, and few in the valley. From twenty-five to thirty hands are required to carry on the business, work coming in from all along the line of the Corvallis & Eastern Railroad, from north and south on the South- ern Pacific, and all over Linn county. Mr. Simpson became sole owner of the laundry in 1900, and the capacity of the laundry will be materially increased in the future as needed. The building is 30x60 feet ground dimensions and two stories high and, as heretofore stated, is most complete in all of its appointments.

In Polk county, Ore., Mr. Simpson was united in marriage with Altha Pillar, who was born in Canada, and of which union there have been born two children, Lowell and Muriel. Mrs. Simpson is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Simpson has an eminently social nature, and is a welcome vis- itor at various organizations in which the town abounds. He is a member of the Alco Club, and is f.aternally connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. In political prefer- ment he is a Republican. To a gratifying ex- tent he enjoys the confidence of the business men of the town, and his sagacity and sound judgment have placed him on a par with the most ambitious and resourceful of its citizens.

VICTOR FINK, M. D. After years of suc- cessful medical and surgical practice in Illinois and Wisconsin, Dr. V. Fink came to Oregon in 1889, and in 1890 located on his present farm of one hundred and seventy-eight acres near Dallas. A more interesting and delightful home it were hard to find in Polk county, for diversified farming and extensive fruit growing affords to the cultured mind infinite possibili- ties for research, more especially when the work is carried on scientifically, with no thought save that of improvement over former methods, On this model farm twenty acres

are in hops, eight acres in prunes. There are also olive and English walnut, chestnut and bearing fig trees, as well as acres of almost every known variety of grapes. One can im- agine he has traveled across the mountains to California, especially when the sun is shining and the fruit is ripening under the glow of an ideal Oregon day. An appreciative and warm- hearted interest in the beautiful things of life dictates the establishment in this sometimes cold and desolate region, of a redeeming and enchanting occupation, near to the heart of nature.

Of scholarly and martial ancestry, Dr. Fink was born in the southern part of Prussia, Ger- many, October 23, 1838, his father, William, having been born in the same place April 15, 1797. The elder Fink was above all else mili- tary in his tendencies, and as a captain in the regular army was one of that hurrying band of men under Blucher, who saved the day for the English at the battle of Waterloo. For meri- torious service in this history-making battle he was promoted, and thereafter served his country for a number of years, eventually re- turning to his father's farm in southern Prus- sia. He was forty-one years of age when he united his fortunes with another military fam- ily of Prussia, his wife, formerly Louiza von Bohlen, having been born in his neighborhood April 18, 1800, a granddaughter of Ferdinand von Bohlen, a personal friend of Frederick the Great, and a soldier under that great general in all of his important battles. His wife dying eight years after their marriage, leaving but one child, Victor Fink, William Fink moved to west Prussia, where he bought an enormous farm, of some twenty-four hundred acres, and also engaged in manufacturing pursuits. His forte, however, was in a military rather than civilian line, for he lost money continually, his manufacturing and farming enterprises netting him only bitter experience in return for large sums invested. A certain pathos surrounded his last years, during which he was dependent upon his pension for a livelihood, and his death in 1870, was clouded by dismal memories of financial defeat. As a soldier, however, he was unexcelled for bravery and courage, and it was as a follower of the Fatherland flag, on tented field and in the heat of battle, that those who loved him best like to recall him.

That keen desire for knowledge which is a characteristic of the well-born Tenton, was most vehemently felt by Dr. Fink, who, as an only child, had every opportunity which his father could place in his way. Having decided to devote his life to medicine he took a course of lectures at Leipzig, and thereafter practiced medicine for a short time, eventually entering

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the Homeopathic College Hospital at Cothen, from which he was graduated in due time. Armed with this excellent training he came to America in 1865, locating at Belleville, Ill., where he practiced medicine four years. In April, 1869, he went to Watertown, Wis., and for seventeen years made that city his home, enjoying an extensive and paying practice throughout Jefferson county. In 1886 he went to California, and in Los Angeles county bought a ranch, to which he devoted himself for three years, laying aside the profession which his abilities had adorned, and to the advancement of which he had so largely con- tributed. As before stated, he came to Oregon in 1889, purchased his present farm, and has since made this his home. Ninety acres of his property are under cultivation, and are now managed by his sons, the doctor having long since retired from active life.

In Belleville, Ill., in 1867, Dr. Fink married Catherine Beck, who, like himself, was born in the southern part of Germany, October 30, 1847. Of the children born to the doctor and his wife, Mrs. Clara Gede lives in Portland ; Arthur, who, for two years was deputy county assessor, and the only Democrat in the family, and Victor are both managing the home farm ; and Mrs. Katie Hanson lives on an adjoining farm. The doctor is a Republican in politics, and in religion a Lutheran. During the years of his professional activity Dr. Fink contrib- uted profound and painstaking articles to va- rious medical periodicals, and is the author of the Homeopathic Selbstarst, a work of large dimensions and widely read by German stu- dents of this particular school.

WILLIAM GELDARD. In looking upon the lives of great men-great in the achievement of wealth, position, or some far-reaching deed that leaves its impress upon the progress of civ- ilization, the three visible forms of greatness in the eyes of the world,-we cannot but admire the personality of the man who has molded this per- sonality through years of indefatigable toil, self- denial, and self-renunciation, with poverty and loneliness to fight, and no incentive toward it save the inherent greatness of the character, hold- ing with dogged determination to the shadow of success until the substance could be his. It is true, the motive is selfish from one point of view ; it is also true that a good man could have no higher ambition than to become an influential citizen, wealthy, since the dollar is the key to the actions of the majority of men; educated, since to learning a less number give precedence ; up- right, since the whole world unconsciously listens when the motive of a man is beyond question.

Such a character, in all seeming, is that of William Geldard, born in Yorkshire, England, November 2, 1832, of parents who also owed their birth to this locality. The father, Leonard, a stone-mason by trade, spent his entire life in Yorkshire, until his death, in his seventy-fourth year. Three children were born to Mr. Geldard and Elizabeth, his first wife, and after her death in 1834, he married again, rearing a family of eight children. After the death of his mother, William remained at home for six years, and at the age of eight years, the time when a child most needs the tender sympathy and care of a mother, he went out to seek work among the farmers of their immediate neighborhood. Per- haps his peculiarly friendless condition, at so youthful an age, won him kindly sympathy from those with whom he worked, thus unconsciously keeping his life bright, while it was certainly hard. With his living to make, there was no time to attend school, and all the education he received was through the Sunday-school of the Church of England.

In 1854, William, then a young man of twenty- two, bade adieu to the scenes of his childhood, and set sail for the western world, landing in New York City, after a stormy voyage of five weeks' duration, when at times it was a matter of doubt whether the ship would weather the gales and carry her fearful passengers into port. After a week spent in New York City, he took his way westward, wisely decided that he could expect the greater results from his work on the soil, since his early training had been entirely along these lines. When he reached Wisconsin he had $15 left of the little sum he had put by for this emigrating trip, and, friendless and alone, he stood in a strange land with only this small amount between him and possible trouble and ill- ness, when he might be forced to depend on some kindly hand for help. Friendless and alone was true of him for many years, but never helpless, and he went to work at once in Grant county, Wis., being employed as a farm hand, in which capacity he proved invaluable to his employer. However, the latter soon lost him, for, imbued with the spirit of independence, he managed to get enough land on which to begin farming for himself. From this time on his progress was steadily and perceptibly upward, and when, twenty years after, he came to Oregon, his rough- est battles had been fought and won, and he could not claim his rise here from a $15 valuation.

After looking about him, he decided to locate permanently in the Sunset state, so he purchased a farm near Carlton, Yamhill county, where he now makes his home. Originally, there were four hundred and eighty-two acres in the place, but he has now increased his landed property to eight hundred and forty-eight acres, seven hun-

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dred being in active cultivation, about nine acres used in the cultivation of hops, the remainder being devoted to stock-raising and general farm- ing. Among his many up-to-date farming im- plements he numbers a complete threshing outfit. Mr. Geldard's farm is one of the finest in Yam- hill county, and all the improvements in the line of buildings, etc., are evidence of his good taste and judgment, the surroundings, in addition to their natural beauty, receiving much from the care and attention lavished upon them. It is his intention, however, to retire from the active du- ties of life, and make his future home in Mc- Minnville, where he has purchased a house and four lots.

Mr. Geldard has made himself an honored member of the community, and a prominent citi- zen, and though not desirous of political honors, he still does not refuse the duties offered him through Republican influence, that being the party whose principles he upholds. He has served as road supervisor and school director for a number of years, taking much interest in educational matters, as he realizes the advantages accruing from that foundation for a life's work. Through his wide reading and close application, he has gained the education and information he lacked the opportunity of securing in his youth. In 1862, Mr. Geldard and Mrs. Mary Hutchcroft were united in marriage, twelve children bless- ing this union, of whom the following are living : John, of Sumpter, Ore .; Alice, Mrs. E. G. Free- man, of Santa Monica, Cal .; and Esther and Emma, who make their home with their father and mother. James Hutchcroft, a son by Mrs. Geldard's former marriage, also resides at home. As if in gracious memory of the land of his birth, Mr. Geldard still clings to the tenets of the Church of England, having also another link to his early life in the presence of his sister, Mrs. James Fletcher, who lives in McMinnville, Ore.

HON. WILLIAM WALDO, who is now su- perintending his property interests, including both city and farm real estate, and makes his home in Salem, is one of the honored pioneers of this portion of the country. He has also been active in moulding the affairs of the state and the impress of his individuality is to be seen upon its legislative records. He was born in Gasconade county, Mo., on April 22, 1832, a son of Daniel Waldo and a grandson of Jede- diah Waldo, both of whom were natives of Virginia and descendants from the old and dis- tinguished Waldo family, of Connecticut. The grandfather was a Virginia planter, and spent his entire life in the Old Dominion. Daniel Waldo removed from Virginia to Gasconade county, Mo., where he was engaged in the op-

eration of a saw-mill and the manufacture of lumber. Later he went to St. Clair county, Mo., where he carried on farming. In 1843 he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast. The Applegate family, neighbors in Missouri, ac- companied the Waldo family to the west, and they journeyed with the first wagon train that made the overland trip to The Dalles and the Willamette valley.

On reaching his destination Daniel Waldo secured a donation claim, ten miles east of Salem, comprising six hundred and forty acres. Here he carried on general farming, and to his first purchase he added until the place com- prised one thousand acres. It is now the prop- erty of one of his sons. After a time the father left the farm and took up his abode in Salem, where he became a stockholder and officer in the company that established the first woolen mills ever built on the Pacific coast. He was interested in that enterprise until the business was discontinued. In matters pertaining to general progress and to the substantial up- building of this portion of the country he was always found alert and enterprising, doing much for the general good in this way. He gave his political support first to the Whig party, and afterward to the Republican party. He died in 1880, when eighty-one years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Me- linda Lunsford, was born in Kentucky and died in Salem in 1885, when about eighty-two years of age.

The family of this worthy couple numbered seven children: David, who died in Califor- nia ; Mrs. Narcissa Brown, who died in Salem ; William; Averilla, who became Mrs. Bass and died in Salem; Mrs. Mary Logan; John B., who resides on the old home farm, and Ann J., who passed away a number of years ago.

Hon. William Waldo spent his early youth in St. Clair county, Mo., and was only eleven years of age when the family came to the northwest. Though but a boy he rode a horse and assisted in driving the stock. The party left Missouri in the latter part of April, 1843, proceeded up the Platte river, continuing on by way of Fort Hall and Sweetwater, crossing the divide and afterward fording Greene river. In October, after long and weary months of travel, they arrived at The Dalles. The elder Waldo and his sons took the stock through to Vancouver, where they crossed the Columbia river. To get the stock across the river it was necessary to transport them in bateaux, owned by the Hudson Bay Company, an operation requiring nine days. From there they continued on to Marion county, arriving here in the latter part of November, 1843. The first home of the family was a little log cabin, and that winter

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the father and sons put in a crop of wheat. There were 10 schools here for some years, and a teacher was employed in the Waldo home in order to instruct the children, until at length a public school was opened in one of the pioneer log buildings of this locality. Our subject was also a student in the old Salem Institute for one winter. Through a varied experience, reading, observation and contact with the world, he has become a well-informed man of broad and practical knowledge. He remained at home until sixteen years of age, and then, in 1848, joined a company under Captain Pugh and Colonel Waters for service against the Cayuse Indians. When the red men had been subdued and the company re- turned home Mr. Waldo at once started for the gold mines of California, journeying over- land with pack animals. He engaged in min- ing upon the Feather river for a time, and afterward around the Moquelumne river, and in 1849 he returned by way of the sea to Ore- gon. He was then actively engaged in work upon the home farm until 1850, when he made a second journey across the country to Califor- nia, where, for some time, he engaged in busi- ness, being located at Yreka until 1852. In that year he once more came to Oregon, and then returned to his old home in Missouri, by way of the Nicaragua route and New Orleans. He remained through the winter in Missouri, during which time he collected a herd of cattle of over three hundred head, including some cows and heifers, and these he drove across the plains in the spring of 1853, making up a train which made the journey in four months. At length, reaching the Willamette valley, Mr. Waldo was engaged in the cattle business and in farming.

Many times has our subject crossed and re- crossed the plains, first in the primitive man- ner of early travel, and later in the enjoyment of all the comforts afforded by the palace cars of the present day. In 1855 he took the Pa- nama route to Missouri, where he remained until 1856, and in that year continued his edu- cation as a student in the University of Mis- souri at Columbia. In the latter year he re- traced his steps to Oregon, coming by way of the Panama route, and in the same way he again went to Missouri in 1859, spending the winter at Kansas City. In 1860 he made an- other trip across the plains by way of Salt Lake, driving a pair of mules and an ambu- lance to California. It was impossible to come over the Oregon trail that year on account of the hostility of the northern Indians. He started on that trip in early April, and on July 4 reached the Sacramento valley, having been less than three months upon the way. He

drove on an average of over twenty miles a day, and most of the way he was alone. Upon reaching Salt Lake City, he stopped for three days for rest and for the repair of his outfit. While there he was treated with great consid- eration and courtesy by the Mormon settlers, and has never forgotten the kindness they showed him. From Sacramento he continued northward until he arrived at home. Here he once more devoted his energies to the cattle industry until 1869, when he once more started out upon his travels, this time going by way of the Panama route to Independence, Mo., in order to superintend his uncle's affairs. In 1870 he returned to Oregon by way of the Isth - mus. His next trip was made in the interest of the old Woolen Mills Company, for which he went to Australia, that company owning a flouring mill and wishing him to investigate as to whether Australia afforded a market that would make the business of shipping flour to that country profitable. He sailed from Port- land late in the year 1870, and after eighty days, arrived in Sidney, where he spent a month. On the same vessel he then returned to Honolulu, and from there made his way by steamer to San Francisco, at length arriving at Salem, where he reported unfavorably upon the market of Australia, for he found that that was a fine wheat country and that there was no need of shipping flour to that locality. For some time Mr. Waldo continued his connec- tion with the milling interests of Salem. More recently he has been interested in farming and in the supervision of his other property inter- ests. He owns two blocks in the city of Salem and his farm property is likewise valuable. His investments were judiciously placed in an early day, and with the rapid growth of the country his land has become very valuable. About every four or five years Mr. Waldo re- turns to the east, and keeps in constant touch with the different portions of the country ; but he feels that there is no better place for resi. dence, nor no district offering better business opportunities than are to be found in the north- west.

Upon questions of national policy Mr. Waldo is a stalwart Republican, and his fitness for leadership, his loyalty in citizenship and his marked ability have led to his selection for various official honors. In 1882 he was chosen to represent his district in the state senate, and was re-elected in 1884. In 1885 he was chosen president of the senate, and while a member of the upper house of the Oregon legislature he aided in clecting J. N. Dolph to the United States senate. He has since served one term as a member of the legislature, during which he was·instrumental in securing the establish-

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ment of the state insane asylum at Salem. He has been a close and earnest student of the conditions of the northwest, of its possibilities and its interests, and whether in or out of office he has labored effectively for the material development of this section of the country and for the interests of the state. Socially he is connected with Salem Lodge and the encamp- ment of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows; in the former is a past noble grand, and in the latter a past chief patriarch. A man of great natural ability, his success in business has been uniform and rapid. His lifework has brought him into close connection with the west and with its history. There are few men now living in Salem who can claim residence here for a period of sixty years, and Mr. Waldo well deserves to be numbered among the hon- ored pioneers whose efforts have laid the foun- dation for the present prosperity and progress of Oregon. In whatever relations of life we find him, in the public service, in political cir- cles, in business or in social relations, he is always the same honorable and honored gen- tleman, and his worth well merits the high re- gard which is uniformly given him.

A. G. PERKINS. From a Revolutionary ancestry A. G. Perkins inherits the stable traits of character which are so well appreciated by his fellow townsmen in Marion county. He was born in Bangor, Me., June 16, 1831, and is a son of Nathaniel and Olive (Patton) Perkins, both natives of Maine, the former born in Old- town in 1804. They lived on a farm in Maine, and there reared their nine children, the father dying at the age of seventy-eight, and the mother at the age of seventy-five. The ances- tors on both sides of the family were Univer- salists.

Ordinary educational facilities were at the disposal of A. G. Perkins, and at a compara- tively early age he proved that he possessed both studious and industrious characteristics. At the age of twenty-two he removed from his home in Maine to Minnesota, where he en- gaged in the lumber business, and lived until 1860. Having outfitted for crossing the plains he tarried in Colorado for a couple of years, and there mined and prospected, but, not real. izing his expectations, he again started west with ox teams, eventually arriving in Baker City, Ore., where he mined with varying suc- cess until the spring of 1863. Upon the discov- ery of gold at Boise City, Mr. Perkins endeav- ored to make a fortune in Idaho, and after nearly two years of experiment located in Salem, Marion county, Ore., in 1864. Shortly after his arrival he purchased the old. Lewis

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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 63

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