Portrait and biographical record of the Willamette valley, Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 89

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 89

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C. E. Fendall landed in Yamhill county and with an old friend, N. K. Sitton, lived on a ranch on Panther creek for two years. In 1845 he took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres on the Yamhill river in Polk county, now owned by the Scroggin brothers, and here he erected a log cabin to which he brought his newly wedded wife, Amanda ( Rogers) Fendall, a na- tive of Iowa, and whose father crossed the plains in 1845. Here Mr. Fendall spent a few years when he traded for the farm on the Willamina, now occupied by his son, P. R., and here his seventy-three years were rounded out amid the prosperity brought about through his own un- flagging zeal. After coming to Oregon he con- tinued to hunt as on the plains, and this consti- tuted his chief source of diversion. In 1849 he availed himself of the mining chances of Cali- fornia, and for two years was fairly successful along the American river. In 1857 he started out to re-stock his farm, and in order to secure the best on the market, made a trip back to Kentucky via the plains, and brought back with him a band of Durham cattle. The severe winter of 1861-62 was disastrous to the cattle, and he lost them all. Again he went to California in 1869-70, so in change his life had its compensations and was relieved from the monotony felt by the average agriculturist. Of the thirteen children born to himself and wife Oscar is deceased; George F. lives in Ashland; Reilly Y. lives in Yamhill county ; William E. is a resident of Lane county ; P. R. is next in order ; Alice became the wife of Lawson Maddux, now deceased; Elbridge G. lives in the vicinity of Newberg; Charles L. is deceased. Laura is the wife of O. E. Highland, of Yamhill county : Annie K. is the wife of Mart High of Salem; Nathan K. is deceased; Frank lives at Seattle ; and Fred was accidentally killed. Mrs. Fendall is still living and is seventy-three years of age. Her married life extended over many years, and started in when she was four- teen.

Until his marriage, January 12, 1881, with Laura Savage, Philip R. Fendall lived on his father's farm, but thereafter removed to Wash- ington, where he engaged in the stock business for two years. He then returned to the old home farm on the Willamina, three miles from the vil- lage of that name, where he has since lived. and where he now owns five hundred and eighty acres, three hundred and fifty acres being in bottom land. He is engaged in general farming, stock, hog and sheep raising, and has been very successful in the various departments of activity represented on his farm. His property is equipped with modern buildings and machinery, and the evidences of good management are every- where apparent. Five children are being reared in a practical home atmosphere and receiving

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such educational advantages as their ambitions parents can provide for them, and are named as follows: Alvie, Kate, Lottie, Richard and Ulric. Willie died at the age of two years. In political affiliation Mr. Fendall is a Democrat. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

LESTER POTTER, who is identified with agricultural interests in Yamhill county, was born in Cortland county, N. Y., January 23. 1839, so that almost the width of the continent separates him from the place of his nativity. His parents removed to Wisconsin when he was but five years of age and he was reared to man- hood near Oshkosh, that state. In 1859, at the age of twenty years, he crossed the plains with an ox team, the spirit of adventure and the hope of entering upon a successful career leading to this step. He left the train at Umatilla, where he secured a position to carry a chain on a govern- ment survey, this work occupying his attention for six weeks. On the expiration of that period he went to Oregon City, where he was employed for a time and then made his way into southern Oregon, where he was engaged in prospecting and mining through the winter. In the spring he returned to Oregon City, where he again be- came connected with a surveying party, spend- ing the summer in Washington. In the fall he went to Portland and worked in a logging camp for a few weeks, while during the winter season he was employed as an assistant in the peniten- tiary for four months. When spring again came Mr. Potter went to the mines of Idaho, where he prospected until fall, at which time he made his way to Florence, Idaho. For a year he worked in the mines at that place, making considerable money during the period there passed.

Mr. Potter next returned to his home in Wis- consin by way of the Panama and New York route. He remained for a year with his people in the Badger state and then again came to Ore- gon, making his way by water to Portland. When he had passed a few months in that city he began placer mining in the Boise basin, where he continued for two years, his labors there re- sulting in a good financial return. He then went back to Portland and drove stock from the Wil- lamette valley to Victoria, British Columbia, his time being thuis occupied for eight months. He then determined to marry and establish a home of his own.

It was in 1867 that Mr. Potter was joined in wedlock to Miss Sarah H. Southmayed and in the fall of that year he settled upon the farm where he has since resided with the exception of a period of three and a half years which were passed in the mines in Sumpter, Orc., where he owned one-quarter interest and was treasurer of

the Sumpter Stage and Transfer Company for one year. He also owned considerable property. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Potter has been blessed with four children : Milton W., who has a ranch in Gopher valley; Minnie, the wife of J. B. Fryer, of Sumpter, Ore .; Daisy, who is at home ; and Flora, the wife of L. Swiggett of Sump- ter, who is interested in mines.

Mr. Potter is the owner of a rich and valuable tract of land, comprising five hundred and thirty- seven acres in the Gopher valley, seven miles north of Sheridan. It is located on Deer creek, so that there is a water supply and he is engaged extensively in the raising of cattle, goats and sheep. He makes a specialty of Cotswold sheep and has a number of fine registered animals. He thoroughly understands the needs of stock, follows progressive methods in his work and is now a leading as well as prosperous representa- tive of his line of business in this part of Oregon. In politics an earnest Republican, he has been elected and served in a number of local offices, including that of school clerk, school director and road supervisor. He filled the latter position for many years and has been largely instrumental in improving the roads in this portion of the county. Through the traits that go to make up honorable manhood he has gained the friendship and favor of many with whom he has come in contact.

WILLIAM SAVAGE, father of Mrs. P. R. Fendall, the latter of whom is one of the promi- nent pioneer women of Yamhill county, was born in Mexico, N. Y., September 18, 1826, and lived in his native city until his seventeenth year. He then removed to Indiana, where he taught school for a couple of winters, and where he engaged in farming until his removal to Missouri in 1844.

In the spring of 1845 Mr. Savage joined the few who were then seeking to make their home in the west, and with John Ramage crossed the plains with ox teams, in Yamhill county working for Mr. Ramage for two years. He then removed to Polk county where he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres, and was fairly established as an agriculturist when the cry of gold began to agitate everyone within ear- shot of California. After a year's trial in the mines along the American river he returned to his claim and farmed until 1867, and that year went to Texas with Richard Perkins, who as- sisted him in bringing eight hundred steers from the great southern cattle state. These cattle were disposed of on the ranges of Montana, and here Mr. Savage went into extensive cattle interests, which netted him a substantial fortune. In 1891 he entered the arena of finance in Oregon, and with his hard earned money established the Dal-

SYLVESTER CANNON.

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las City Bank, of which he was president up to the time of his deathı, September 20, 1896. He was a man of leading characteristics, and his strict integrity, truly western grit and enterprise, and unusual resourcefulness, made themselves felt in the communities in which he lived in the west.

From the organization of the party Mr. Savage was identified with its most progressive prin- ciples, and his fitness for official recognition was repeatedly demonstrated. He attended the first Republican meeting in Oregon, and during his two years' service in the legislature, ably fur- thered the best interests of those who had hon- ored him with their support. He was chiefly in- strumental in securing the erection of the Ore- gon Insane Asylum, now one of the best insti- tutions of its kind in the state. Also he was one of the organizers of the Grange in Oregon, and was master of it for five years.

In 1852 Mr. Savage married Sarah Brown, a native of Illinois, and daughter of James H. Brown, a pioneer of 1850. Ten children were born of this union, of whom Charley is deceased ; Edson lives in eastern Washington; Gibson is a rancher in the same locality in Washington; James lives in Polk county ; Eugene is deceased ; Mrs. Fendall is next in order; William lives in Tacoma; Sarah is the wife of J. B. Stone, of Polk county; Daniel lives at Willamina; and Bud is a member of the livery firm of Savage & Stewart of Sheridan. Mrs. Savage survives her husband, and is living in Sheridan, at the age of sixty-eight.

SYLVESTER CANNON. Since coming to Oregon in 1851 Sylvester Cannon has engaged in various occupations peculiar to the west, and has experienced many of the adventures which he came prepared to meet. Nineteen years of age when the opportunity came to leave the Ver- milion county farm in Illinois, where he was born May 14, 1833, he welcomed a change from the monotony of farming, and joyfully anticipated the success which he has realized. Across the plains he drove a team of five yoke of oxen for Martin Payne, thus earning his food and lodging from day to day, an expediency to which many ambitious men resorted in the very early days.

Arriving in Clackamas county after six months of comparatively pleasant travel, Mr. Cannon found employment in a lumber camp for a few months, and then came to Linn county, where he associated himself with a surveying party which was engaged in laying out township and section lines. Beginning in an humble capacity, he remained with the party about four years, in time becoming a practical surveyor. This occu- pation was interrupted by the outbreak of the

Indian war in 1855, when he volunteered in the fall in Company H, First Mounted Oregon Regi- ment, under Captain Leighton, and served until May, 1856. During the greater part of the service he was in Washington along the Upper Columbia, taking part in the terrible four days' fight at Walla Walla. After the war he pur- chased three hundred and twenty acres of land four miles east of Albany. He was married in June, 1856, to Johanna Cox, and brought his newly wedded wife to his promising farm. Seven years later he sold his farm and bought land near Salem, but not finding it satisfactory he re- turned at the end of a year to Linn county, and bought four hundred and eighty acres of land partially improved. In 1891 he settled on his present farm, where he has made many improve- ments, and where he has a comfortable and · pleasant home.

By his first marriage five children were born into the family of Mr. Cannon, of whom Nellie is the wife of George Maston of Albany, and the inother of two children, Vida and George W .; Minnie is the wife of Dr. Cornelius; Malisa, de- ceased, was the wife of Jess Enyart; Jennie is . the wife of S. G. Marvin, to whom have been born two children, Donald and Lucille; and An- derson M. is engaged in the practice of law at Medford, and married Miss Vesta Mason, daugh- ter of D. P. Mason of Albany. She died leaving one child, Carolyn.

March 28, 1886, Mr. Cannon married Martha A. Hunter, widow of Aaron Hunter, and daugh- ter of George Huston, who was born in Mc- Donough county, Ill., and crossed the plains in 1853. Mr. Huston settled on a claim in Linn county, and afterward married Lizzie Phipps, who came across the plains with her parents in 1852. He served in the Indian wars, and pros- pered in the west, his death occurring on his well. improved farm in July, 1900, at the age of sixty- nine years. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, of whom George H. is deceased ; Lizzie is engaged in the millinery business in Brownsville; Charles L. is a graduate of the Portland Business College: and Glenn O. The only child of Mr. Cannon's second marriage is Arletha G.

For the past sixteen years Mr. Cannon has been a director of the Farmers' Warehouse Asso- ciation, and has been instrumental in greatly in- creasing its efficiency and its capacity for aiding in the disposal of the products of the community. He is a charter member of the Tangent Grange, and in politics is identified with the Republican party. Possessing great capacity for industry, practical business judgment. and unswerving in- tegrity, it is not surprising that Mr. Cannon can lay claim to the consideration and respect of his many friends and associates in the west.

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WILLIAM M. RUSSELL. Not always does it happen that the immigrant, passing from the associations and relations of his native coun- try, finds in the one to which he goes those pleasing attributes that characterized his early recollections, for the dual reason that if the sur- roundings are similar one is inclined to contrast this similarity, with an unconscious disparage- ment toward the latter ; if different, the old ways naturally seem the best. William M. Russell might almost be said to have escaped an inherited tendeney along these lines, for it has been his fortune to be an emigrant as well as a pioneer, following in the steps of his paternal grand- father, who emigrated from England in the eighteenth century, settling in Virginia, and meeting with that unhappy fate of an immigrant, in that he never forgot the land of his birth. He did not continue to live in a country that grew more and more distasteful as the war of inde- pendence continued unabated and the ardent feel- ings of those about him made it impossible to remain neutral in the struggle and in 1777 he returned to England, leaving, however, a touch of American independence in the blood of his family, which responded to the call of the coun- try in later years against the flag the early Rus- sells served. Henry Russell, his son, born near Richmond, Va., served in the war of 1812, be- ginning as a private and later rising to the rank of a sergeant, bearing away with him a slight evidence of the marksmanship of his English brethren in the shape of a wound in the leg, which, however, did not incapacitate him for good work in the peaceful times that followed. While in Virginia he worked at his trade, which was that of a carpenter and joiner, but after his marriage he went to Ohio investing in land, where he carried on general farming in connection with his trade. Eight children were born to himself and wife, two daughters and six sons, the youngest of whom was William M., born near Chillicothe, July 2, 1832, his mother dying when he was but two weeks old. In 1836 the family removed to Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe county, where they remained on a purchase of sixty acres until Mr. Russell's death in 1848, in his sixty-fourth year. Through all his life Mr. Russell was strong in the faith of the principles of the Dem- ocratic party.

After the death of his mother, William was reared by his elder brothers and sisters until his father's second marriage, when he found a mother's love and care in the good woman who filled the vacant place. He continued to make his home with his father until the latter's death, passing the years in the common schools of In- diana. Realizing the necessity for striking out in the world for himself, he commenced farming at the age of sixteen years, in which occupation

he continued until 1852, leaving then for the fat west. With six wagons drawn by ox-teams, the party made the trip, starting March 1, and ar- riving in North Yamhill, Ore., October 20, where the heart of the young traveler was glad- dened by the sight of a boyhood friend, Sam Roberts, who had previously left his eastern home, settling in this location. The ensuing winter William worked for John Perkins in a flour mill, following in the summer with farm work for the same man. During the Indian troubles in 1855, this young emigrant, with no trace of the trait that distinguished his grand- father-love for the land of his birth rather than solicitude for the country of his adoption-en- listed with the troops that went into the tangled wildernesses of the west, serving in eastern Ore- gon and Washington in Company E, First Ore- gon Regiment, under the command of Captain Hembree. At the close of the war he returned to Yamhill county, where, in September, 1858, he married Miss Elvira Perkins, born in Mont- gomery county, Ind., and whose parents crossed the plains in 1844. Four children were born to them, John H., Norris G., Lizzie Prine, all of North Yamhill, and Lucretia, deceased.

In 1866 Mr. Russell bought the farm of two hundred and fifty acres in the Pike valley, where he now makes his home. He first bought nine hundred and fifty aeres, the greater part of which he divided among his children, selling the remainder. Mr. Russell is engaged in general farming, hop cultivation and stock-raising, forty acres of the farm in cultivation. and fourteen de- voted to hops. In the active life that Mr. Rus- sell has led in the west, always lending himself to every movement that had for its end the wel- fare of his community, giving up personal ease and comfort to serve the public at its demand, he has proven himself a pioneer in nature as in name a patriot and one of the many men of sterl- ing qualities, without whom Oregon would not be to-day the flourishing commonwealth that commands the admiration of her sister states. As a Republican Mr. Russell has served his com- munity as road supervisor, school director and school clerk.

ALFRED SMITH. Though recollection can- not carry him baek, oft repeated tales have made very clear the long, long trip, comprising more than one third the distance around the globe. which Alfred Smith had made before he reached the location where he now makes his home. Born in the city of Birmingham, Warwickshire, Eng- land, May 21, 1836, he crossed the ocean at the age of four years, his father also a native of this shire, emigrating to the United States in the hope of bettering himself in regard to his worldly

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affairs, a hope that met with fulfillment in the latter years of his life. On their arrival in New York they went at once to Racine county, Wis., locating on a farm, though previous to this time he had been engaged in the prosecution of his trade, which was that of a hatter. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land and continued in this location for twenty years, after which he moved to Juneau county, of the same state, amply able to afford the life of re- tirement to which his inclinations led him. He lived to be eighty-four years old, becoming an American citizen in the same sense of the word that he was once an English, taking an active in- terest in the events of the day and lending himself to all movements that contributed to the general welfare. He was in entire sympathy with the emancipation movement, being a strong Repub- lican in his political convictions. In his religious views he found his church home with the Con- gregational denomination. He reared a large family and lived to see them all well settled in life: Samuel W., of Mauston, Wis .; Joseph, a farmer of the same place; Alfred, the subject of this sketch; Philip, who gave his life in active service in the Twenty-second Wisconsin, Com- pany H, during the Civil war; Eliza Fluno, of Juneau county, whose husband is a miller ; and Mary Palmerton, who is now a widow engaged in the millinery business in Chicago, Ill.

After the days of his youth were passed-days spent, during the summer time upon the farm, in the winter in the primitive school of Racine · county -- Alfred left home engaging in work for himself, turning naturally to the cultivation of the soil. Until 1864 he worked among the farm- ers of the neighborhood, going in the last-named year to join an emigrant train bound for the west. After six months of tedious journeying the party arrived safely in Boise City, Idaho, having been singularly fortunate in escaping the depredations of the Indians while on the trip. For twelve months after his arrival in Idaho, Mr. Smith worked in the mines, going in the fall of 1865 to a farm near Portland, Ore., which he worked for one year. He then bought a farm in Multnomah county, situated on the Columbia river, making this his home for the next four years, his next venture being in Yam- hill county, where he invested in nine hundred and ninety-six acres of land located in Moor's valley, about four hundred of which are in active cultivation. For the same number of years that his father had spent on the place that gave him his competency-twenty years-he remained here, engaged in general farming and stock-raising, in 1900 retiring from active life, giving over the duties to his sons.

Mr. Smith was married in 1863 to Miss Sarah Miller, a native of New York, and the children

born to them are as follows: Mary E., at home ; Charles L., of The Dalles; William B., of Carl- ton; Samuel P., a veterinary surgeon of North Dakota; Alfred, on the home farm; Arthur C., of McMinnville; and Emma Alexander, of Moore's valley. In his political convictions Mr. Smith follows the example of his father, up- holding the principles of the Republican party, and serving in the same as road supervisor and various school offices.

LEVI HAGEY. As one may inherit the color of one's eyes and hair, a peculiarity of disposi- tion, a distaste of certain things, a love of others, so the pioneer instinct is transmitted from gen- eration to generation, giving evidence of its existence in the restlessness of the various mem- bers of a family. So true is this pioneer instinct and so forcible in its results, that these men make the best inhabitants of an unsettled country, go- ing out to the congenial work with the inner consciousness in complete accord with the work of the hands. This theory may account for the fact that those of the name of Hagey have always been successful in the work they came to do.

August 15, 1825, Levi Hagey was born in Davie county, N. C., the son of Andrew Hagey, born at the same place in 1800. The father was a farmer, and a few years after his marriage with Catherine Grimes, a native of North Caro- lina, he emigrated to Indiana, taking land there after the laws of that day, in Putnam county, where he remained for six years. The son, Levi, was then eight years of age, and he recalls quite vividly the trip into Des Moines county, Iowa, where his father purchased land, engaging in general farming. In 1848, dissatisfied with their location, the old people followed their son across the plains, settling in Oregon, where Mrs. Hagey outlived her husband by thirty years, his death occurring in 1851, hers in 1881.

Levi Hagey received his education in the log schools of Iowa, gathering with the schooling process the general information and independence that characterized the pioneer schoolboy, and with his pioneer inheritance coming to the front, he was not long in breaking his old associations and starting for the land of the setting sun, where he felt his ability great enough to over- come the thousand and one obstacles in the way of the success of the young man who came empty-handed into the wilderness. It was liter- ally empty-handed with this young man, who went to St. Joseph, Mo., in 1847, joining an emi- grant train of one hundred and twenty wagons, one of which he drove on the seven months' trip to pay for his passage. In the fall of 1847 the train reached Chehalem valley, each man hasten-

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ing to find a suitable location for his future home. Mr. Hagey took up a donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres adjoining the town of Dundee, Yamhill county, Ore., and on this location he has ever since remained, finding in those uncultivated fields an outlet for his strong pioneer desires. In March, 1900, he removed to McMinnville, intending to pass the remainder of his days here. having divided his farm among his children, and retaining only seventy-four acres in his own name. March 18, 1847, Mr. Hagey was married to Elizabeth Shuck, a native of Indiana, born in that state March 11, 1826. In 1888 Mrs. Hagey died, leaving a family of seven children : Susan Parrot and Anne Robert- son, located on their shares of the old donation claim; Andrew, in Newberg; Jacob, farming on his inheritance; Eliza Grames, in Newberg, Henry, on property acquired through his own efforts, also that of his inheritance; and Peter, who is also farming his share of the old home- stead. Mr. Hagev's second marriage occurred August 13, 1891, his wife, Mrs. Emily Chaney, being a native of Polk county, Mo., born March 30, 1834, of the union of David and Mary ( Hall) Stockton, natives respectively of Tennessee and Kentucky.

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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 89

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