Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 71

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 71

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While living in Missouri, Mr. Smith married for his first wife Sarah Ripertoe. She died September 18, 1852, leaving two children, namely : Percy, a resident of Umatilla county , Ore., and Thomas, who assists in the manage- ment of the home farm.

In September, 1854, Mr. Smith married Sarah J. Montgomery, who was born and reared in Hickman county, Ky., a daughter of Samuel and Julia (Grimes) Montgomery. In 1847 Mr. Montgomery, accompanied by his wife, five sons and only daughter, started for Oregon, with three wagons, four yoke of oxen and four cows. After journeying eight months he arrived in Linn county in October, 1847, and at once took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres on the North Santiam river. In the spring of 1848, he took his family to California, and was there employed in pros- pecting and mining for two years. Returning east in 1850, by way of the Isthmus, he stayed at his old home in Kentucky a short time. Fit- ting himself out with ox teams and a drove of cows, he came back to Oregon in 1851, and lived in Linn county the ensuing eight years. Disposing then of his property in this section, he was engaged in stock business in southern Oregon for a time, and then removed to Cali- fornia, where he remained until his death, in 1876, at the age of sixty-six years. His wife survived him, dying eighteen months later. Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of eleven children, all of whom grew to years of maturity, there being eight daughters and three sons, as follows: Julia Ann, wife of George Peebler, of Umatilla county, Ore .; Sarah, deceased wife of Frank. Burkhart; An- drew J., of Lebanon; George S., of Gilliam county, Ore .; Mary Frances, wife of James Brannon; Jessie D., of Lebanon ; Eliza Jane, wife of William Long; Celia Bell, wife of Charles Scott ; Martha Ellen, wife of William Yank; Susan C., wife of Charles Ensley, and Ida M., wife of George Yank.

E. L. D'LASHMUTT, now deceased, was for many years an enterprising agriculturist of Polk county and afterward a respected and valued

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citizen of Dallas, and his loss in the community was deeply mourned. He was born in Franklin county, Ohio, a son of Elias D'Lashmutt, who was a merchant of the Buckeye state and there died. As the name indicates the family is of French lineage. The subject of this review was reared in the county of his nativity and after attaining his majority carried on farming until 1853, when he removed to Iowa, settling near Oskaloosa. He became one of the extensive farmers and successful stock-raisers of that lo- cality, where he continued to make his home until the 18th of April, 1860, when he started for the northwest, believing that this district offered bet- ter opportunities for business advancement. He traveled with an ox and horse train, being cap- tain of the company which included thirty-five wagons. They made the journey by way of Coun- cil Bluffs, Fort Hall and the old Oregon trail. Mr. D'Lashmutt was accompanied by his wife and five children and after long and weary weeks of travel they were cheered and gladdened by the sight of the beautiful Willamette valley, where they arrived on the 13th of September. Mr. D'Lashmutt settled first on Salt Creek. After- ward he became the owner of the old Frederick place in Polk county, a large farm of three hun- dred and ninety acres, which he continued to cul- tivate and improve in a successful manner until 1880, when he located in Dallas, spending his re- maining days in this city.

On the 5th of February, 1849, Mr. D'Lashmutt was married in Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Lydia Morris, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, a daughter of Asa Morris, a native of that state and a grand-daughter of Solomon Morris, who was born in Virginia and served his country in the Revolutionary war. Asa Morris carried on agricultural pursuits in Ohio until his death. He had married Phoebe Ward, who was born in Ohio, and in 1860 she came to Oregon with Mr. and Mrs. D'Lashmutt and was afterward mar- ried to Jonathan Dyer of Polk county, where she died in 1886. Mrs. D'Lashmutt was one of five children, four of whom are still living : William, deceased; Mrs. Eliza Ruffner, of San- oina, California; Mrs. D'Lashmutt; Mrs. E. A. Graham, of Salem; and John Morris of Salem, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. D'Lashmutt was reared in Columbus, Ohio. Her husband was twice married and by his first union had one daughter, Ann E., the wife of E. A. Stevens, of Washington county, Ore. By the second marriage there are four children: Mrs. Emma Campbell, of Dallas; Ella, the wife of M. M. Ellis, of Dallas, Mary Violet, the wife of Dr. H. F. Smith, of Seattle; and Ida, the wife of W. H. Percival of Independence.

Mr. D'Lashmutt was a Republican in his po- litical views. He lived a quiet, unassuming life,

yet there was in his career those qualities of man- hood which awaken respect and confidence among his fellowmen. He was a loyal citizen, honor- able in business and wherever known he won the high esteem of those with whom he was as- sociated. He died in 1888 at the age of seventy- four years and thus was called hence one of the worthy pioneers whose names are deeply engraved on the pages of Oregon's history. Since her husband's death Mrs. D'Lashmutt has resided in Dallas, where she is much esteemed for her many good qualities. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, belongs to the Ladies' Aid Society and takes a deep interest in the spread of Christianity.

GEN. CORNELIUS GILLIAM, maternal grandfather of William Grant, and whose grand- children are among the most honored citizens of Oregon, was born in North Carolina, and at an early day settled in Missouri. While re- siding there he became prominent in military affairs, attained to the rank of captain in the Black Hawk war, and was present at the sur- render of Osceola. He also assisted in ex- pelling the Mormons from Missouri, and he was colonel of the Missouri State Militia, a position resigned that he might take up his residence in the west. In 1844 he crossed the plains with his own and the Grant families, and they took the old Oregon trail, on the way encountering every known obstacle which impeded the progress of the early tourists of the plains. Arriving at the Tualatin Plains December . 25, 1844, the little band started for The Dalles, and found that their troubles had really just begun. But one party had preceded them, and that was in 1843, and there were practically no roads, and for hundreds of miles they were obliged to break their own roads. It was a weary and footsore little band that finally arrived at their destination, yet all were hopeful, and willing to do all in their power to improve their forlorn condition.

Gen. Gilliam took up a donation claim upon a portion of which Dallas has since been built, but this was soon after sold, and he bought a claim of six hundred and forty acres on a branch of the Luckiamute. His rank of general was ac- quired as general in command of the Oregon troops during the Cayuse war, and he fearlessly led the soldiers in the dreaded and dangerous Cavuse country on both sides of the Columbia, until the war was over and peace declared. This last noble service was destined to be his undoing, for on the way home he happened to go to the end of a wagon to get a piece of rope, and a soldier stepping up, offered to get it for him. By mistake a loaded gun, with the ramrod left in had been left in the wagon, and it was accident-

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ally discharged, the ramrod hitting the colonel in the forehead, and killing him instantly. This was in 1848, and he was tenderly brought to Dallas and given a soldier's burial, and no man of his time and place was more deeply mourned by his fellow-soldiers in the field. At the time of his death he held an honored military posi- tion on the coast, and no name in Oregon was more truly typical of courage and fidelity.

Gen. Gilliam had other claims to distinction than that vested in his military service. He was quite a politician in his day, and in Jackson county, Mo., served for several terms as sheriff, and was also a member of the Missouri legisla- ture, was a Mason of high standing and his grave is decorated by the fraternity up to this time. He was also an ordained minister in the Baptist Church, and an earnest expounder of the doc- trines of that denomination. Through his mar- riage with Mary Crawford, a native of Missouri, and who died in Oregon, the following children were born to them: America, who became Mrs. David Grant; Hon. W. S. Gilliam of Walla Walla, Wash .; Mrs. Louise Gage, who died in Oregon; Mrs. Rebecca Gage, who also died in Oregon ; Mrs. Sarah Nichols, who died in Wash- ington; Marcus D., who was a farmer and died on the old donation claim of his father; Eliza- beth, who is the wife of Frank M. Collins of Dallas; and Henrietta, who was Mrs. Samuel Coad, of Dallas, but is now deceased.

JOHN DAVID SMITH. Both John David Smith and his wife are members of families in- timately connected with the early pioneer days of Oregon, and both are justified in regarding the uncivilized red man in anything but a favor- able light. Mr. Smith is one of the many sons of Missouri who have transferred their citizen- ship to Marion county, and in the fertile valley of their adoption have impressed their worth as agriculturists and men. He was born in Ray county, Mo., November 23, 1843, and came of a family of decidedly southern characteristics.

Daniel Smith, the father of J. D., was born in Lincoln county, Tenn., September 2, 1809, and when a small boy removed with his parents to Missouri, remaining there until 1851. In Mis- souri he married Emily Ringo, who was born in Kentucky, October 5, 1819, and whose parents came to Missouri at a very early day. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Smith outfitted and crossed the plains, arriving at their destination in Ore- gon at the expiration of six months. The first winter was spent near Parkersville, Marion county. The following spring he took up a dona- tion claim ten miles north of Salem, which was all in timber and extremely wild. Here he was living at the outbreak of the Indian war in 1855,

known as the Kinse war, and he was one of the first to enlist in Company K, under command of Captain Goff. Very near the beginning of hos- tilities he was killed while performing picket duty. After his death his widow continued to live on the old place, and three years later mar- ried Samuel Simpson, removing to his home in Garfield, Wash., where her death occurred at the age of seventy-nine years in 1898. She was the mother of four children, of whom Mary J. is the widow of Francis Manning, of Marion county ; Madison C. lives in Boise City, Idaho; Sarah A. is the wife of Peter J. Pefly, of Lewiston, Idaho, and J. D., the subject of this review.

At the age of sixteen Mr. Smith started out to make his own living, equipped with an edu- cation received in the public schools and at the University at Salem. With his brother he took a drove of cattle to Boise City, Idaho, in- tending to reap a considerable sum from their sale, but was doomed to disappointment, for the cattle all died, and the boys were forced to hustle for a living. Until 1870 he worked as a general laborer, and then took charge of the home place until his marriage, February 4, 1874, to Iphigenia Masterson, a native of Springfield, Ore., and daughter of J. A. and Valinda (Campbell) Mas- terson, pioneers of '53, who settled in Linn coun- ty. Mr. Smith took his bride to the old Smith donation claim, and there lived and farmed until January 1, 1891, when they removed to their present farm of two hundred and forty-two acres, one mile south of Gervais. Mr. Smith has one hundred and fifty acres of his property under cul- tivation, and in addition to general farming, de- rives a substantial income from raising Cotswold sheep. In addition to this farm he still owns half of his father's old donation claim of two hundred and forty-two acres.

In political affiliation Mr. Smith is independ- ent, and believes in voting for the best man. He takes a great interest in education, and his in- fluence on the school board has been a progres- sive and helpful one. For many years he has been identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Fraternity Lodge No. 9, and the United Artisans, Gervais Lodge No. 79, in both of which organizations he has passed all the chairs. He is esteemed by all who know him, and his position in the community is that of a broad-minded, progressive, and exceedingly well informed man. Five children have been born to this family: Roy, Nellie, Kittie, Maud M., and Madison Clarence.

The parents of Mrs. Smith are worthy of mention among the early settlers of Oregon. J. A. Masterson was born in Kentucky, and when a boy removed with his parents to Missouri. There he married Valinda Campbell, a native of Missouri. They lived in the state until 1853.

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The Mastersons then outfitted with ox teams and crossed the plains in a large train, comprising the sisters of Mr. Masterson and their families, one of which was named Ward. All went well, and the members of the train were congratu- lating themselves upon their immunity from ill- ness and disaster, when, arriving at Fort Boise on the Snake river, the party were attacked by Indians, and all murdered but four. Mr. and Mrs. Masterson happened to have gone on ahead to look for a camping ground, and so missed the terrible fate meted out to their friends and relatives; and the two Ward boys, at first sup- posed to be dead, were revived and were able to resume their journey. It can be imagined with what heavy hearts the survivors buried their loved ones on the desolate plains, this being one of the worst massacres in the early days, and afterward known as the Ward massacre. Mr. Masterson took up a donation claim in Marion county, where his wife died at the age of thirty- three. Mr. Masterson is making his home with a son in Malheur county. He is a blacksmith by trade as well as a farmer, and during his active life has combined these two occupations advan- tageonsly. Eight children were born to himself and wife: Gilky is deceased; Mrs. J. D. Smith ; Mary W., the widow of W. F. Cauthorn of Marion county; Henry, deceased; Givens, a resident of Washington; Clayborn, deceased ; Alfred, a resident of Malheur county, Ore. ; and Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Mann, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

W. R. BROWN is a well known blacksmith of Amity and by earnest, persevering labor has acquired a handsome competence. He was born July 4, 1837, in New Brunswick on the Richibucto river. His father was a farmer by occupation and in the family were twelve chil- dren, who were educated in the district schools. It was thus that our subject obtained his men- tal discipline and upon the home farm he re- mained until fifteen years of age, when he en- tered upon an apprenticeship at the black- smith's trade, remaining in Richibucto until twenty-one years of age, when he left his home locality and took up his abode in St. Johns, New Brunswick. There he followed black- smithing for about three months, after which he went to Boston, Mass., and worked at his trade for about a year. On the expiration of that period he removed to Taunton, Mass., where he spent two years, after which he re- turned to his native country. He next went to Sackville, New Brunswick, where he spent one year in the Academy, after which he re- turned to Taunton, Mass., where he again fol- lowed blacksmithing for a year. At the end

of that time Mr. Brown started for the Pacific coast, going by way of the Fall River Line to New York, where he took passage on a steamer bound for Aspinwall, and after cross- ing the isthmus of Panama he boarded another steamer whose destination was San Francisco. There he arrived in 1863 and for a short time he followed his trade in that city. Later he went to Sacramento, where for some time he was engaged by a railroad. construction com- pany, after which he returned to San Francis- co and later went to Victoria. Subsequently he proceeded up the Frazier river to Caribou, B. C., and in 1864 he arrived in Portland, Ore., where he resided for about two years. In 1866 he established his home in Amity, where he purchased a shop and has since engaged in the blacksmith's trade. His thorough under- standing of the trade and his expert work- manship have enabled him to secure a good patronage. He owns several pieces of prop- erty in the village, besides his home place, and his possessions are the visible evidence of his life of thrift and industry.

Mr. Brown was united in marriage July 19, 1887, to Miss Martha E. Stephens, a native of Missouri, and their union has been blessed with five sons : William J., Paul, Robert, Ivan and Elden, all of whom are at home.

Mr. Brown is recognized as one of the lead- ing and influential citizens of Amity and was one of the first members of the town council and for two years he served as its chairman. He is an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity and has held all of the chairs in the local lodge, including that of worshipful mas- ter. In politics he has always been a stalwart Republican, believing firmly in the principles of the party, and his progressive and public spirit are manifest in the co-operation which he gives in all measures which are intended for the public welfare and improvement.

REBECCA CALHOON. That efficient farmer managers are by no means confined to the male persuasion has been repeatedly dem- onstrated in various parts of the country, but more especially in the extreme west, where women enter intelligently and enthusiastically all departments of agricultural undertakings being as much at home at the business end of the line as they are in the manipulation of household affairs. To this class belongs Mrs. Rebecca Calhoon, whose pleasant home and well tilled farm constitute one of the fine prop- erties and hospitable centers in Yamhill county.

Before her first marriage Rebecca Lemas- ters, Mrs. Calhoon was born in Morgan

J. W. Martin

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county, Ky., January 14, 1836, and when four years of age was taken by her family to Mis- souri, locating in Andrew county. Her father, Isaac Lemasters, was born in Ohio, February II, 1804, and died December 5, 1888. Her mother, Nancy (Elam) Lemasters, was born in Virginia and died at Ash Hollow, west of the Rocky mountains, in 1852, on the way across the plains, at the age of forty-one years. In 1850 Mr. Lemasters moved from Andrew county, Mo., to Gentry county, and remained there until starting across the plains in March of 1852. The train left Council Bluffs, Iowa, and at the expiration of six months of varied and interesting experience landed in Lafay- ette, Yamhill county, in November, 1852.

Miss Lemasters had the usual bringing up of the pioneer daughters, and in her youth was instructed in household work, attending at ir- regular intervals the district schools. Her first marriage, May 18, 1853, was with Charles Berry, who was born in far-off Maine, March 15, 1820, and died August 1, 1865. Mr. Berry came around the Horn to California in the year of gold, '49, and after a year's experiment in the mines of that state removed to Oregon in 1850. He took up three hundred and twenty acres of land in Yamhill county upon which his wife now lives, and there engaged in gen- eral farming and carpentering, a trade learned in his native state of Maine. To this day are standing many of the old residences and barns which he built during his residence in the state, for so good a workman was he that his ser- vices found ready recognition among patrons of substantial building. As a result of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Berry four children were born, three sons and one daughter: Charles A. Berry lives on an adjoining farm; John also lives on an adjoining farm; Mrs. Ann Willis lives near by her mother; and Maine Berry lives on an adjoining farm.

For a second husband Mrs. Berry married, September 27, 1866, J. J. Calhoon, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, and who came to California via the plains in 1854. Mr. Cal- hoon became a resident of Oregon in 1858, and after a three years' residence in Tillamook county located in Yamhill county, where he engaged in farming until his death, September 29, 1902. He was a man of enterprise and public spirit, and achieved considerable suc- cess after removing to the west. He was a member of the Christian Church, in which he served as elder, and during his active life pro- moted the financial and other interests of the church, and is a member of the Pioneers' As- sociation of Yamhill county. Mrs. Calhoon has been a member of the Christian Church since 1853.

JAMES W. MARTIN. Ever since his twenty-third year, James W. Martin has earned an independent livelihood as an agriculturist in Yamhill county, and at present he is the owner of three hundred acres of land, seventy of which are under cultivation. Large numbers of fine stock graze upon his fertile meadows, and be- sides general crops he is devoting considerable time and attention to hop cultivation, twenty- three and a half acres being at present under the latter named commodity. A survey of the va- rious departments represented on the well-devel- oped Martin farm convinces the beholder that a master hand is at the helm, and well understands the science which is at the bottom of all-around supremacy in this or any country. Modern labor- saving appliances, finely constructed barns and outhouses, and an all-pervading air of neatness and thrift indicate a superiority of management consistent with the best interests of the county.

A native son of Yamhill county, Mr. Martin was born Angust 20, 1853, on the paternal farm, located one mile southeast of Lafayette, near where the locks are now constructed. His father, Franklin Martin, was born in Howard county, Mo .. April 15, 1824, and his mother, Anna M. (Burnett ) Martin, was born in Clay county, Mo., August 28, 1835. He is the third oldest in a family of thirteen children, five sons and eight daughters, three of whom died in infancy. The paternal grandfather was born in North Caro- lina, and died on a large farm near Liberty, Mo., of which locality he was a very early pioneer. Franklin Martin crossed the plains in a train of one hundred and fifty wagons in the spring of 1846, and, after a six-months trip, landed in Yamhill county, Ore., in the fall, after an ex- tremely precarious and danger-infested journey. During the entire route the travelers were obliged to hew their way through bands of savages, and other inconveniences arose in the shape of swollen streams and illness among those com- prising the train. In 1848, the father bought six hundred acres of a Frenchman by the name of Sharlotte, and having settled his little family thereon, betook himself to the mines of California the following year. After a moderately success- ful year in Humboldt county, he returned to his new and heavily-timbered farm in Yamhill county, where his death occurred January 24. 1882. He was exceedingly industrious, and made the most of his western opportunities, and out of the four hundred and twenty-five and a half acres owned during the latter part of his life, about three hundred had been placed under cultivation. This represented an enormous amount of muscle and energy, yet from his sub- sequent large harvests, and fine aggregation of high-bred cattle, Mr. Martin reaped ample com- pensation for his pains,

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At the age of twenty-three, James W. Martin, who had been educated in the public schools, and thoroughly drilled in things agricultural, bought of his mother one hundred and two acres of the original donation claim taken up by his father. Although still holding on to his land, he has branched out considerably into other occupations, and from 1800 until 1900 conducted a livery business in Lafayette and Independence, Ore. Gradually he has added to his original purchase until he now owns three hundred acres. In 1876 he married Alice L. Palmer, daughter of Gen. Joel Palmer, the latter of whom died at Dayton, Ore., in 1881. General Palmer was an early set- tler in Oregon, having arrived in the state as early as 1845. The following year he returned to the east. and after again settling in Oregon, in 1847, identified himself largely with Indian affairs. He was superintendent of Indian affairs for the state of Oregon, and was Indian agent at the Slitz Agency. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin, Roy P. and Lilith A., both of whom are living with their parents. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Martin has actively promoted the interests of his party in this county, and was nominated for sheriff of Yamhill in 1890. He is a welcome member of various fra- ternal organizations in the state, notably the An- cient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the World, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the latter of Lafayette. With the Odd Fellows he has passed through all the chairs, is noble grand, and has represented the lodge at the Grand Lodge for eight years.

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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 71

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