Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 79

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 79

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Stephen L. Scroggin was born near Marshall- town, Iowa, August 21, 1865, and was but five years old at the time of the removal to Oregon and seven when his home was near enough to Sheridan to profit by the public schools of that city. As he grew to manhood he engaged with his father in farming, until 1893, when he went to McMinnville and worked in the First National Bank of that city, the next year returning to Sheridan to become a part of a banking firm here, which was established in the spring of 1894, under the firm name of Scroggin & Wortman, and of which he became manager. The banking interests are now controlled by Mr. Scroggin and his brother, Charles C. Mr. Scroggin is also interested in farming and stock-raising. He was married January 29. 1902, to Lena M. Keyt, a native of Polk county, Ore. Though interested in the welfare of his city, state and country, Mr. Scroggin is not a party man, nor does he as-

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pire to political honors, satisfied to lead a suc- cessful business life and cast his ballot independ- ent of party restrictions.

HON. W. A. CUSICK, M. D., who has rep- resented his district in the state legislature, and has gained prestige in the practice of medicine and surgery in Oregon, now makes his home in Salem, while for half a century he has resided in the state. His life history began in Illinois, his birth having occurred near Quincy, in that state, March 21, 1839. His parents were Solomon and Maria ( Hollembeak) Cusick, the former of Irish and the latter of German descent. Representa- tives of the Cusick family came from the Em- erald Isle to America during the colonial period, settling in New York, and Dr. Cusick's grand- father removed from the Empire state to eastern Illinois, where his death occurred. His wife was a Miss Conkling, of New York, a member of the family which produced Roscoe Conkling, for many years United States senator from New York.

Solomon Cusick was born in New York, and was a farmer by occupation. After engaging in the tilling of the soil near Quincy, Ill., he crossed the plains with an ox train. being exactly six months on the way. Soon after reaching Oregon he purchased a farm in Linn county, near Scio, and seven years later he sold it and purchased land in Marion county, where he resided until his retirement from business cares. In religious faith he was a Baptist. His wife died on the old homestead. She was born in Kentucky, a daugh- ter of Harry and Hannah Hollembeak, who re- moved from that state to Illinois, where he en- gaged in farming. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812. Unto Solomon and Maria Cusick were born four daughters and five sons. One of these, Harry, enlisted in the Fiftieth Illinois In- fantry, served throughout the Civil war, and rose from the rank of lieutenant to that of cap- tain. He died in Missouri. Seven of the chil- dren came to Oregon, and three sons and a daughter are yet living: J. W., a banker, of Albany, Ore .: W. A .; J. H., a stockman, of Washington, and Mrs. M. L. Trask, of Linn county, Ore. Another brother, G. W., who died in Washington county, Ore., was a graduate of the medical department of the University of Ore- gon.

Reared on the home farm in Illinois, during that period Dr. Cusick spent the winter months in the district schools, resuming farm work with the return of spring. In 1853 he came. with the family to the northwest, he and his brothers driv- ing the loose stock. They crossed the Missouri river at St. Joseph, procceding up the Platte and over the Oregon trail. After reaching this state

he remained with his father for two years, and then started out in life for himself. He attended the district schools and worked upon the farms of the locality ; and in 1859, being desirous of ob- taining a better education, he entered Dallas Academy. In 1860 he matriculated in Bethel College, in Bethel, Polk county, Ore. Later he engaged in teaching for eighteen months, after which he spent a similar period in the mines of Baker county, Ore. In 1864, having determined to make the practice of medicine his life work, he began studying under the direction of Dr. Mc- Afee, of Salem, with whom he remained for two years, and then entered the Toland Medical Col- lege at San Francisco, the course in which he completed in 1867. He then became a member of the first class in the medical department of Willamette University, being graduated in the fall of 1867, with the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. There were but three members in the class of that year, and the name of Dr. Cusick appears first in the book of graduates in medicine in Ore- gon. Soon after the completion of his studies, he received an appointment as acting assistant surgeon and post-surgeon at Camp Lyon, Idaho, where he remained two years, after which he located at Gervais, or Waconda, where he was engaged continuously in the practice of his pro- fession until 1882. In the latter year he located in Salem, where he has since maintained an office, enjoying a large and constantly increasing prac- tice, which now makes heavy demands upon his time. He has had other business interests, to some extent. He was identified with the Capital National Bank for about ten years, and was its president for some time, but eventually disposed of his interest in that institution.

Dr. Cusick was married in Marion county to Miss Marcia L. Williams, a native of Illinois, who, in 1864, came to Oregon with her father, J. J. Williams, who followed farming. He and his wife have a daughter, Ethel E., who is now the wife of Dr. Willis B. Morse, a promising physician of Salem. His father, W. B. Morse, was born in Massachusetts, became a sea-faring man, and when twenty-one years of age was mas- ter of a vessel. In 1844 he made his first trip to the Columbia river, and settled permanently on the Pacific coast in 1849. His death occurred at St. Helens. On the maternal side Dr. Morse is a grandson of Dr. James McBride, who brought his family across the plains to Oregon in 1840, and hecame one of the most distinguished of the early physicians of the state. Dr. Morse is a graduate of the medical department of Willam- ctte University, class of 1891, and of the Post- Graduate College of New York, class of 1893.

Dr. Cusick has long been recognized as an earnest and active Republican. In 1884 he was elected to the state legislature, in which he served

Thomas Kas

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during the regular session of that year, and the special session of 1885. During the regular ses- sion the first attempt was made to enact a law regulating the practice of medicine in the state, but, as several who were interested in the meas- ure were called home about the time it was brought to a vote, it did not become a law. Dr. Cusick was instrumental in defeating certain measures which would have worked great detri- ment to the state, and he labored earnestly and effectively for the general good of the common- wealth. For four years he served on the United States Pension Board, for two years was visiting physician to the state asylum, and for four years has been the attending physician to the state prison. He is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, and for several years he was a member of the board of directors of the public schools of Salem. For a time he served as presi- dent of the board, and was acting in that capacity when the East Salem school was erected. He was made a Mason in Fidelity Lodge No. 54. A. F. & A. M., at Gervais, with which he is still identified, and he took the Royal Arch degree in Salem. His wife is a member of the Order of Eastern Star.

The contemporaries of Dr. Cusick freely ac- cord him a place among the most distinguished exponents of the science of medicine in the Pa- cific northwest. His splendid equipment for the profession and the long years of his active prac- tice, with its attendant success, naturally entitle him to a position of eminence. He has not rested content with the foundation of his early prepara- tion, but has been a constant student in his chosen science, and has kept fully abreast of the best thought in the world of medicine and surgery. Among the laity he is recognized as a gentleman of sterling character, possessed of many of those personal attributes which endear a man mnost closely to thoughtful and discriminating judges of human nature. His position in the community as a man, as well as a physician, is unassailable, and from any viewpoint he is entitled to a per- manent and prominent place in the historical lit- erature of the Willamette valley.

HON. THOMAS B. KAY. The most im- portant of the manufacturing institutions of Salem, Ore., is the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which stands as an industrial monument to the business ability, zeal and energy which characterized the elder man of that name in its organization and management, and the younger man in the executive talent and abil- ity which have placed him in the position so long occupied by his father.

Thomas Kay, father of Hon. Thomas B. Kay, was born in Shipley, near Leeds, York-

shire, England, in 1837. Having been left fatherless at the age of nine years, he was early forced into the industrial life which charac- terizes that country. Entering the woolen mills in the vicinity of his home, he thor- oughly learned the business. When nineteen years of age he came to the United States, locating in Trenton, N. J., where he became boss weaver in a mill. In 1863 he came to Oregon and occupied a similar position in the Brownsville mill, remaining in that ca- pacity until the loss of the mill by fire. He then went to Salem for a short time, after which he returned to Brownsville and worked in the woolen mills until they were closed down. He then took charge of the Ashland Woolen Mills, conducting them successfully for three years, when he returned again to Salem for about eight months. He then leased the Brownsville mills in connection with Darbisl & Croft, and after conducting it for two years they organized a company known as the Brownsville Woolen Mill Com- pany and purchased the property and as superin- tendent conducted the concern successfully for sixteen years.

Disposing of his interest in that institu- tion, he came to Salem in 1889 and founded the mill which is known by his name, the building then erected being about half the size of the present property, containing four- teen rooms. The business was incorporated under the name of The Thomas Kay Woolen Mills Company, and Mr. Kay was made pres- ident and manager, serving in that capacity until the mill was destroyed by fire in 1895. Nothing daunted by what to many men would have meant an irremediable misfortune, Mr. Kay at once set about the reconstruction of the plant. Within a year a modern brick building had arisen to replace the old one. It had an initial capacity of twenty looms, this number being shortly increased to its present capacity of thirty-two looms in con- stant operation. The present output is being constantly increased by the addition of new machinery each year. The entire mill was equipped with the most approved modern machinery, and a sprinkler system was in- stalled as a means of protection against fire. The motive power of the mill is water. A new forty-eight-inch Leffel wheel was recently placed within the works, which has increased the capacity to the extent of about twenty- five-horse power. The product includes cas- simeres, tweeds, blankets, flannels and robes. all the cloths manufactured being of the finest quality, and a considerable percentage of the output finding its way to the leading foreign markets of the world. The concern is capi-

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talized at $100,000. The present president and manager is Thomas B. Kay, the vice- president is Squire Farrar, and the secretary and treasurer is Robert H. Coshow. The board of directors consists of Thomas B. Kay, Squire Farrar and T. L. Davidson of Salem ; J. K. Weatherford of Albany, and O. P. Cos- how of Roseburg.

Thomas Kay was also interested in what was known as the the Waterloo Develop- ment Company, of which he was president and manager. In 1892 this company built a woolen mill at Waterloo, Linn county, Ore., which Mr. Kay operated until it was burned in 1898. For four years previous to this time it had been in the possession of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill Company.

The death of Mr. Kay, which occurred April 28, 1899, while he was in his sixty-third year, removed from the best citizenship of Salem a staunch and public-spirited man, who had always devoted his best efforts toward the promotion of all worthy enterprises, whether of a private or public nature. He was a member of the Baptist Church of Sa- lem, to the maintenance of which he contrib- uted liberally. His beneficences were nu- merous, but in the giving of money or aid of any nature he was invariably unostentatious. Many a needy man of Salem can look back to the happy day when the kindly hand of this noble man was freely extended to him with the relief which was vital to the beneficiary. In politics a Republican, he served in the city council, in which body he employed his best efforts toward the conservation of the high- best interests of the municipality. In Ma- sonry he was a member of the chapter and the commandery. He also affiliated with the Odd Fellows.

He was united in marriage in 1856 to Ann Slingsby, a native of Shipley, England, who survives him, making her home in Salem. Of the ten children born unto this estimable couple, five only are now living, namely : Fannie, wife of Charles P. Bishop, of Salem ; Thomas B., of this review; Libbie, wife of O. P. Coshow, of Roseburg, Ore .: Leonora, wife of C. T. Roberts, of Portland; and Ber- tha, who resides with her mother.

Thomas B. Kay was born in Trenton, N. J., February 28, 1864. During the first year of his life he was brought to Oregon by his mother, who, with the other children in the family, joined his father in Brownsville. They made the journey hither by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He was educated in the public schools of Brownsville, though the years of his schooling were few. At the age of nine years he entered the Brownsville

Woolen Mills as a spooler, literally grew up in the business, and, like his father, learned the art of weaving in all its intricacies. When fourteen years of age he was taken from the mills and sent to the Baptist College at Mc- Minnville, where he remained for three years, devoting his vacations to work in the mills. When nineteen years old he entered the Brownsville Woolen Mills store of Portland, where he remained for one year. In 1884 he went to McMinnville and engaged in the clothing business as a member of the firm of Bishop & Kay. Four years later Mr. Bishop disposed of his interest, and the firm became known as Kay & Todd. In 1898 Mr. Kay sold his interest in the concern. In the mean- time he had become connected with the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, for which he became salesman in 1895, a short time before the burning of the mill. In 1897, after it had been rebuilt, he went to New York as the eastern representative of the company, where he remained for one season. Upon his return to the west he located in Salem and became salesman and assistant manager of the mill. Upon the death of his father two years later he assumed his present important place as manager of the concern. '

The marriage of Mr. Kay occurred in Mc- Minnville January 15, 1888, and united him with Cora Wallace, who was born near the latter city, a daughter of C. A. Wallace, an extended reference to whose identification with Oregon appears elsewhere in this vol- ume. They are the parents of three children, Ercel W. and Marjory and an infant who died at the age of three months.

While a resident of McMinnville Mr. Kay served as a member of the city council for one term and as a member of the school board for a similar period. He is a stanch adher- ent of the principles of the Republican party. In 1902 he was the nominee of that party for representative in the Twenty-second biennial session of the Oregon state legislature, and was elected by a large majority. In the per- formance of the labors devolving upon him in connection with this office, he upheld the prime interests of his constituents, and dem- onstrated his fitness for such a post, where integrity means so much to the welfare of the state and the community. He is a mem- ber of the Christian Church, in which he of- ficiates as deacon. In his fraternal relations he is a member of Pacific Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M., of Salem; Chapter, R. A. M., of Salem, and of DeMolay Commandery K. T., of Salem. He is also a member of the Illihee Club, of which he is one of the board of man- agers, and of the Salem Commercial Club.

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He is likewise identified with the Portland Manufacturers' Association, and is now on its directorate.

Though Mr. Kay is a comparatively young man, the conspicuous success which has at- tended his business career has caused him to be regarded by the discriminating citizens of Oregon as one of the most capable factors in the commercial world of the northwest. His excellent business judgment undoubtedly has been inherited to a degree from his father, though it has been developed in a great meas- ure by reason of his varied experience in the liberal atmosphere of the west and among the more conservative influences of the east. He has taken a deep interest in the welfare of the two cities in which he has spent most of his life, both important commercial centers of the Willamette valley, and has shown him- self to be a firm friend of such public move- ments or private enterprises as are calculated to promote the prosperity of the community or to elevate its moral or social status. It is with pleasure that the compilers of this work give a prominent place in the annals of humanity's best endeavor in the Willamette valley to this sapient son of an honored sire, for the name of Kay will always stand as the builder of one of the greatest monuments to industry in the northwest.

HON. JACOB WORTMAN. As chief ex- ecutive of McMinnville, founder and president of the First National Bank of this city, and a pioneer of 1852, Hon. Jacob Wortman is one of the most virile and resourceful personalities who have contributed to the upbuilding of this sec- tion of Yamhill county. As the name implies, the Wortman forefathers pursued their vocations among the more conservative and history re- splendent conditions of the Fatherland, and in Germany was born the paternal grandfather, Jacob, the establisher of the family in New Brunswick. From New Brunswick the elder Jacob removed to Ohio, and was numbered among the very early pioneers of the then wild and uninhabited region of Harrison county, which he reached with his family in 1828. There he farmed and raised stock, clearing his land from almost primeval uselessness, and rearing in com- parative comfort his several children.

John Wortman, the father of Hon. Jacob, was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, and event- ually succeeded to independent farming in Ohio. In 1838 he removed to Iowa, via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, conveying his family and pos- sessions in wagons and locating about a hundred miles west of Keokuk, in Van Buren county, of which he was one of the very first settlers.

With his neighbors remote, and surrounded with deprivations incident to all pioneer life, he made many improvements upon his wild land, but lived only five years to profit by his new acquisitions, his death occurring in 1843. The wife, who died in Iowa in 1838, just after their arrival in that state, was a native of England, and before her marriage was Martha Cain. Of the five chil- dren born to her, the subject of this sketch is the only one living. Another son, Charles, died on his farm in Ohio. Through a second mar- riage of the father were born three sons, of whom Martin, a twin brother of John, is still living in Ohio. All three sons served in Ohio regiments during the Civil war. Henry died in Ohio in 1895, from wounds received at the bat- tle of Antietam ; and John still lives in Lawrence county, Mo.

Born near Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio, March 19, 1826, Hon. Jacob Wortman received his principal training after the family removal to Iowa in 1838. In this wild Indian country he attended the pioneer school as opportunity offered, and after his father's death found him- self entirely dependent on his own efforts. As a farm hand he received $8 a month, or $100 a year, yet with this small allowance he managed to save sufficient money to enable him to embark in housekeeping in 1850, his marriage occurring in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and uniting him with Eliza Ann Stumbo. In the spring of 1852, with his wife and infant son, John, he started out to con- quer fate in the west, outfitting at Oskaloosa with ox teams and wagons. April 20, 1852, they crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluffs, where they had trouble with the Indians. As a matter of safety they formed themselves into a military company, Henry Evans being elected to the responsible position of captain. Thus equipped the company of forty wagons pushed on over the old Oregon trail via Fort Hall. Much danger was warded off owing to the constant guard maintained throughout the night, but the ravages of cholera desolated the little band. and many newly-made graves along the trail filled with grief those left to pursue their weary jour- ney alone. Arriving at The Dalles the last of Sep- tember, Mr. Wortman went in a flatboat down the river to the Cascades, and then arrived at Portland. In what is now one of the finest cities in the country, were illy defined streets filled with trees and stumps, and with very few evi- dences of present or future prosperity. During the first winter Mr. Wortman found employment in a livery stable at very fair wages, a most fortunate occurrence, for the expensive trip over the plains had made serious inroads in the family assets. In the spring of 1853 he took up a do- nation claim seven miles above Oregon City in what is now Clackamas county, and on the west

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banks of the Willamette, a place still known as Wortman's Landing. He improved his three hundred and twenty acres of land, and in the meantime started out the first fall in the steam- boating business on the Willamette, first as deck- hand and then as foreman, and finally as master of the Franklin. At a later period he became one of the owners of the Clinton, running be- tween Oregon City and Dayton, yet all the time his home continued to be on the claim, where his leisure from steamboating was actively em- ployed. In that early day the boats were run only during the winter season, for their crude and heavy construction rendered them unavail- able for the more shallow waters in the summer. Thus it happened that the pleasantest part of the year found the crew busily employed in hewing timber on the donation claim, and two occupations were harmoniously and profitably blended.

In 1865 Mr. Wortman sold his farm and boat interests and bought a small grocery and mer- chandise store in Oregon City, conducting the same successfully for ten years. This interest also was disposed of in 1875, and during that year Mr. Wortman, his wife and four sons es- tablished a partnership in a general merchandise business at Junction City, Lane county. The same year they started a similar business at Monroe, Benton county, conducting the two stores, ten miles apart, under the firm name of Jacob Wortman & Sons. With years of practical experience behind him, and an intuitive knowl- edge of the demands of all growing localities, he came to McMinnville in 1883, and established the Bank of McMinnville, incorporated in 1885 as the First National Bank, the first bank in Yamhill county. Ever since Mr. Wortman has been the honored president of this financially strong and reliable institution, which has proved one of the greatest upbuilding factors in this county. All of his sons are interested in the bank, and this aggregation of business ability and integrity has resulted in really formidable influence. In the meantime he has accumulated large bank, real estate and country holdings, and was one of the chief stockholders in the Union Block, one of the first substantial build- ings erected in McMinnville.

Ever since its organization Mr. Wortman has identified his political fortunes with the Repub- lican party, and during the Civil war his sym- pathies were pronouncedly on the side of northern tolerance and humanity. Though never working for or desiring official recognition, his particular fitness for organization and municipal management resulted in the election of Mr. Wortman to the position of mayor of McMinn- "ille, filling his first term in that office in 1887- . 3, and in November, I901, he was again elected,

creditably maintaining the position up to the present time, for five terms. He cast his first presidential vote for Zachary Taylor in 1848. A welcome member to the ranks of Masonry, he inaugurated his active service in this organiza- tion in 1856, as a member of Multnomah Lodge No. I. While at Junction City he was identified with the lodge of that town and its treasurer, and is now a member of McMinnville Lodge No. 42, of which he has been treasurer for nineteen years. Also he was a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Wortman celebrated the golden anniver- sary of their wedding; and from near and far friends assembled to bid them God-speed upon the remainder of their life journey. No higher tribute to admirable personal characteristics, noble citizenship, or popular and helpful social attributes were required than the all-around good will evidenced on this memorable occasion.

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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 79

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