Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 102

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman publishing company
Number of Pages: 1064

USA > Oregon > Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.. > Part 102

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The wife of Judge George C. Hough was Har- riet Amanda Sweeney, who was born in Canton, Ohio, and died in Wisconsin in 1874. Her father, Connor Sweeney, was a native of Belfast, Ire- land, and on coming to America followed the hatter's trade in Canton, Ohio, in Tonawanda, N. Y., and Madison, Wis. He was making his home in Merrimac, Wis., at the time of his death, and at Madison his daughter was married to Judge Hough in 1867. Of their two children the daughter, Mary Susan, is a resident of Madison. The son, Asa Connor Hough, was born in Boise City, Idaho, April 10, 1869, and grew to manhood in New Richmond, Wis. His study of law was prosecuted in St. Paul, Minn., where he had as preceptor E. E. McDonald. In 1890 he was ad- mitted to the bar in that city, but in November of the same year was seriously injured in a wreck near Duluth, and hoping that he might be bene- fited by a change of climate he came west. After a short sojourn in San Francisco and in Arizona and Mexico, where he was with the Atlantic and Pacific and other companies, he spent a year in Stockton, Cal., as manager of the California Paper Company.

In 1893 Mr. Hough came to Oregon. After a year in Portland, in October of 1895 he opened an office in Woodburn. Marion county, where later he married Ida Mills, who was born near Lansing, Mich., the daughter of J. F. Mills, of Detroit. Of their union one child was born, Hor- tense Mills. In 1806 Mr. Hough began practice at Salem, but the climate proved unhealthful for his wife, and the following year he settled in Grants Pass, where he has since practiced law. For nearly a year he was a partner of Hon. R. G. Smith, and during that time they handled the Greenback mining case, as well as other cases of note. Since dissolving that partnership he has been alone. In addition to private business, he

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acts as attorney for the Oregon & Pacific Rail- road Construction Company, the California & Oregon Coast Railroad Company, the Waldo Smelting & Mining Company, the Golden Drift Mining Company, Grants Pass Banking & Trust Company, the Siskiyou Electric Power Company and the Bogley Improvement Company. His reputation as a lawyer is largely due to his wide and thorough professional knowledge, but it may also be attributed in a large degree to his genial disposition and personal attributes. Fraternally he is an active Mason, a member of Grants Pass Lodge No. 84, A. F. & A. M .; Reames Chapter No. 28, R. A. M., and Melita Commandery No. 8, K. T., of which latter he is a charter member. While politics does not enter his life as a vital factor, he has decided opinions on the great issues of the day and supports Republican principles. In religious belief he is an Episcopalian, a con- tributor to the denomination, and also a warm friend of all worthy movements without regard to the particular society or sect by which they are fostered.

CAPT. JOHN T. C. NASH. Yet another of the forerunners of civilization to step from a life before the mast, and in the wild and unsettled west find a continuation of the life of adventure and danger to which storm and tempest had accustomed him, is Capt. John T. C. Nash, a pioneer miner of 1850, an Oregonian since 1886, and a retired citizen of Medford since the early 'gos. Hotel Nash, erected in 1895, with every thought for the comfort and convenience of guests, is a monument to the enterprise and sound business forethought of this honored man, while the esteem and popularity which he enjoys among his friends and the community at large is the best evidence of his fine personal traits and public spiritedness. Although conducted person- ally by Captain Nash, the management of the hotel has always reflected credit upon the builder, and is always patronized by a large tran- sient and permanent trade, its sixty guest cham- bers affording ample accommodation for emer- gencies. Other property has come into his pos- session in the town and county, aside from his own beautiful home on the outskirts, which is surrounded by a fine hedge twelve feet high.

Captain Nash was born in Knox County, Me., March 31, 1833. and when ten years old put to sea as a cabin boy on the ship of his father. Capt. Thomas Nash. The latter was also a native of Maine, as was also his wife, Rebecca (Elwell) Nash, the mother of four sons and three daugh- ters, of whom John T. C. was the second. Capt. Thomas Nash began at the bottom round of the ladder in a sailing vessel, advancing to the po- sition of able seaman, finally assuming command of the ship, upon which his death occurred when

his son John T. C. was eighteen years old. True to teaching and example, the latter also ad- vanced in nautical lore, took kindly to the free- dom loving existence, and courted rather than shunned danger and adventure. In 1848 he be- came mate of the William Jarvis, and in 1849 was quartermaster on the steamer Philadelphia. Some time prior to coming to the Pacific coast Captain Nash was employed on the Mississippi river, sailing the steamer Lyon until it was blown up. Later he sailed the steamer New Guatemala between New Orleans and Havana, Cuba. For a time thereafter he mined in Cali- fornia, but soon returned to his former business and had charge of the steamer Patagonia, plying between Valparaiso and London, England. This was followed by a return to California, where he was employed in the mines until placed in com- mand of the clipper ship Silver Sea Wing, run- ning from Valparaiso to Manila. He made two voyages. The captain has had many narrow es- capes from a watery grave. At one time he was off Cape Horn in a terrible storm, during which the ship was dismantled and the rudder lost. Later the ship came into port with nothing but her lower sails and a jury rudder, which had been improvised from a barrel of water. An-

other narrow escape occurred off Cape Hatteras, when everything above deck was swept into the sea, and but for the timely arrival of another ship everyone would have been drowned. In 1850 Captain Nash first touched western shores as quartermaster of the sailing bark Illinois, hav- ing rounded the Horn and reached San Fran- cisco just as the mining excitement was at its highest point. Quitting his ship he engaged in placer mining on the Yuba river, and in 1852 took advantage of the exodus to Minnesota, Cal., where fortunes were supposed to await all who journeyed thither. A year later he went with renewed confidence in golden reports to Gold Lake, but for a year looked in vain for the wealth he had so fondly hoped for. These dis- appointments caused renewed faith in the occu- pation of sailing, and the year 1855 found him again in Maine, where he purchased a sailing craft called the Shenandoah, of which he became commander, and contracted to carry rock for the government to Staten Island. In 1857 he sold his vessel and came to the west by way of the Isthmus, engaging in mining at Monte Cristo, the following year going to La Porte, Cal., and later to Bald Mountain, at that time yielding large amounts of gold, but which has since then been phenomenally remunerative. He was the fortu- mate discoverer of the Yankee mine in 1859. upon which he erected a mill, but finally sold it, becoming identified in a similar capacity with the Black Bear mine in Siskiyou county, which he also sold, but which is still being operated.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

During 1859 Captain Nash returned to the cast via the Isthmus of Panama and in 1860 was again in California, mining there and in the Boise Basin, Idaho, in the Caribou district, and in other parts of the northwest. During the early days of the mining excitement in Idaho, Captain Nash, with a party of five other men, went on a prospecting tour, and while in the Green river country a band of one hundred wild Indians attacked them. When the Indians were within two hundred yards the men opened fire upon them, causing a lively retreat on the part of the Indians. About thirty Indians and horses were killed, and this so incensed the Indians that they renewed their attack upon the white men, who were saved with one exception, owing to the fleetness of their American horses. Picking up their dead comrade they carried him on a pack horse until they were out of danger, and then buried him. In his mining experiences Captain Nash was successful beyond his ex- pectations, and in 1865 returned to California and mined in Trinity county until 1886. Near Riddles, Douglas county, he engaged in farm- ing on four hundred acres of land for one year, during which time he continued to mine and prospect on Cow creek. where he opened and developed the Victory mine, which has proved quite remunerative. Retiring from the farm he located in Medford, as heretofore stated, and has since made this place his home.

October 14, 1897, Captain Nash was united in marriage with Miss Ella Brown, a native of Col- umbia City, Ind .. and a daughter of Daniel Brown, who lived and died in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Nash have one son, Elwell Crawford, born May 27, 1899. Fraternally the captain is widely known and is associated with Blue Lodge No. 103. A. F. & A. M., and the Royal Arch Chapter of Jacksonville. In national politics he is a Re- publican, and in religion is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Hale and hearty and good natured. Captain Nash is a typical pioneer, broad minded, liberal and humane, and with a fine ca- pacity for making and keeping friends. In his travels Captain Nash has been around the world once by water. has visited all the large cities in the world, and been in all the seaports from Alaska to Cape Horn on the Pacific, and from Cape Horn to Prince Edward Island on the At- lantic. The last ship which he sailed was the clipper ship Pride of the Ocean, in the service of the East India trade.

HON. ALVA C. MARSTERS. Prominent among the more active, enterprising and influ- ential citizens of Douglas county is Hon. A. C. Marsters of Roseburg, who is now representing his county in the state senate. A man of un-

doubted integrity and ability, he is carrying on an extensive business as the leading pharmacist of his community, and is also intimately asso- ciated with the building interests of Roseburg, and with the landed and stock-raising industries of other parts of Douglas county, being the owner of two valuable and well improved farms. A son of Dr. Stephen S. Marsters, he was born October 29, 1859, at Lesueur, Minn. He is of old New England ancestry, and comes of patri- otic stock, his paternal great-grandfather, Ste- phen Marsters, a native of Massachusetts, hav- ing been prominent in the earlier scenes of the Revolutionary war. On December 16, 1773, as a member of the Boston Tea Party, he assisted in emptying numerous chests of tea into the har- bor, and on April 19, 1775, was at the battle of Lexington. He participated in many other en- gagemnts of the Revolution, and at the close of the war removed to Virginia, where his son, Stephen Marsters, the grandfather of A. C. Marsters, was born. Stephen Marsters was or- dained a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many years was engaged in missionary work, first in Indiana, as a pioneer minister, and later in Illinois.

Graduating from Cincinnati medical college with the degree of M. D., Dr. S. S. Marsters, who was born and reared in Indiana, settled as a practitioner in Minnesota soon after his gradu- ation. Enlisting in a Minnesota regiment, he served as surgeon in the Indian war, and assisted in settling the difficulties with the Indians. Re- moving with his family to Siskiyou county, Cal., in 1868, he engaged in the practice of medicine, first at Fort Jones, and later at Yreka. Coming to Roseburg. Ore., in 1881. he was here success- fully engaged as physician and surgeon until his death, in 1893. at the age of sixty-six years, six years of the time serving as county coroner. He was a Republican in politics, and a member of the United Brethren church. He married Rebecca J. McKee, the daughter of Holmes McKee, a Pennsylvania farmer, and a soldier of the war of 1812. She now resides in Roseburg, making her home with her youngest son. A. C. Marsters. Of the six children of Dr. and Mrs. Marsters, three are living, namely : Dr. S. H., a physician in Colorado; R. J., of Roseburg; and A. C., the special subject of this sketch.

At the age of nine years, A. C. Marsters re- moved with his parents from Minnesota to Cali- fornia, and the following eight years continued his studies in the schools of Siskiyou county. He afterwards studied pharmacy, being in a drug store in Yreka for four years. In 1881, in connection with his father, he established a drug store in Roseburg, taking entire charge of the business, to which he succeeded on the death of Dr. Marsters. Keeping a large stock of drugs

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of a superior grade, Mr. Marsters has built up a large and lucrative trade, and by his systematic and honest business methods has accumulated considerable wealth. In 1886 he and his father erccted his present store building, which is of brick, 20x100 feet. Mr. Marsters has since erected, in the same block, a double two-story brick store, 40x100 fect, and in an adjacent block he has erected a brick building 40x80 feet. He has also invested in outside property, owning two farms in Douglas county. He was one of the organizers of, and is now serving as vice- president and director in the Douglas County Bank, and built the Douglas County Bank build- ing, the finest block in the city, in 1902.

Mr. Marsters married in Roseburg, Miss Ida Mitchell, who was born in Illinois, and they have one child, Lyle E. Marsters. Politically Mr. Marsters is one of the leading Republicans of this vicinity, and was a member of the county central committee, and is now serving as mem- ber of the state central committee. For two terms he served as mayor of Roseburg, and, in 1900, was elected state senator from Douglas county, receiving a good majority of the votes cast, and served in the twenty-first and the twenty-second biennial sessions of the Oregon state legislature. He served as a member of various important committees, at both sessions being chairman of the committee on enrolled bills, and in the twenty-first session was chair- man of the committee for the protection of game. He was the author of several bills of local interest and importance, among them being the bill which provided for the execution of the death sentence to take place in the state penitentiary.

In 1901 he assisted in the election of Senator Mitchell to the United States senate, and was one of the faithful thirty-three who stood by Sen- ator Fulton in 1903. He is a member of the State Pharmacists' Association, of the Roseburg Board of Trade, and of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. Mrs. Marsters is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

ERNEST WILLIAM HERMANN. The immediate cause of the establishment of the Her- mann family in America was the fatal termina- tion of the Revolution of 1830 in Germany. Among the patriots who were forced to suc- cumb to the United Powers was a young phys- ician, Henry Hermann, who was born in Hesse- Casscl and received a fine professional educa- tion in one of the universities for which Ger- many is famed. Thinking it advisable to seek another home, November 23, 1831, he set sail from his native land, bound for the new world. His first location was Baltimore, Md., where in time he built up a practice that proved the

possession on his part of a noteworthy degrce of skill and knowledge. When he came to the western coast in 1859 he proceeded direct to Coos county and on the 28th of May landed at the mouth of Coquille river. During the remain- ing years of his life he was an integral factor in the development of this part of the state. Doubt- less few physicians of the country were more widely known than he. The excellent profes- sional training received in his native country, supplemented by years of successful practice, gave weight to his decisions and opinions in consultation.

The marriage of Dr. Henry Hermann united him with Elizabeth Hopkins, who was born at Monmouthshire, Wales, and died at the Oregon homestead, April 2, 1890, at the age of seventy- nine years, one month and one day. Her father, David Hopkins, was an iron worker and a native of South Wales. Such was his fame as a suc- cessful worker of iron that his reputation reached distant points. At that time it was not possi- ble, in the opinion of all skilled workmen, to make iron from American ore. Many attempts had been made, but all proved unsuccessful. However, Mr. Hopkins believed the achievement could be reached, and it was with that object in view he came to the United States in 1837, settling near Cumberland, Md. The result proved that his judgment was not at fault. To him belongs the distinction of having been the first successful iron worker in America.

In the family of Dr. Henry Hermann there were nine sons and three daughters, but three of the number died in infancy, and two, Henry H. and W. P., in later life. The others are Binger, who is a member of the United States congress ; T. M., C. M., Nellie O., F. P., Maria E. and E. W. The youngest member of the family, Ernest William, was born near Myrtle Point, Ore., May 18, 1864, and in boyhood at- tended the public schools. While still a mere lad, at fourteen years of age, he became inter- ested in farming on the south fork of the Co- quille river, near Hermannsville, a postoffice named in honor of his father. For eighteen years he remained on the home place and cared for his mother. In 1893 he moved one mile away, where he rented a stock ranch. During 1895 he moved one mile south of Myrtle Point, where he carried on a rented ranch. From there in 1898 he came to Myrtle Point as a clerk in the general merchandise store of S. B. Hermann, continuing in that capacity until May 1, 1900, when he purchased from E. A. Adams the notion store which he still conducts, carrying a varied and valuable stock and having as customers not only the people of Myrtle Point, but also those living at such locations as make the town convenient of access for trading purposes.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Near Myrtle Point, June 8, 1887, Mr. Her- mann married Emma S. Wagner, who was born in North Carolina, July 22, 1869, and by whom he has had six children, namely : Zelia V., Nellie E., Eva E. (deceased), Ellis E., Audra and Neva. The Wagner family is of southern ex- traction. Daniel Wagner, father of Mrs. Her- mann, was born in Polk county, Tenn., and lived for a time in North Carolina, but in 1872 came to Oregon and settled on the south fork of the Coquille river, near Rural postoffice. The one hundred and sixty acres he purchased there were transformed into a well-improved tract and upon the homestead thus ereated he remained until his death, in 1885, at fifty-three years of age. As a boy he had been reared in the midst of Demo- cratic influences and the sentiments thus im- bibed became the bulwark of his political faith through all of his mature years.

Educational matters receive the stanch sup- port of Mr. Hermann, who is an ardent friend of the public-school system, and has rendered effective service to the same through his work as member and clerk of the board of school di- rectors. In this position he is serving a second term, and for a similar period he has been a member of the city council. No one is a more stanch ally of the Republican party than he, yet his sentiments are those of the citizen, not the partisan or self-seeker. Affairs promising to promote the welfare of his home town of Myrtle Point receive his stanch support. In fraternal relations he is associated with the Ancient Order of U'nited Workmen. He is counted one of the progressive business men and intelligent citizens of Myrtle Point.

CLEMENT BRADBURY. A native of Ore- gon, and the son of one of its earliest and most respected pioneers, Clement Bradbury, of Sea- side, is especially worthy of representation in this biographical work. Reared among the pioneer scenes of the early period of the settlement of the state, he began as soon as old enough to assist his father in clearing and improving a comfortable homestead from a tract of wild land, and after arriving at man's estate continued his agricultural labors. An earnest worker, de- voting his attention to the details of his chosen occupation, he has attained signal success as a farmer and dairyman, and won the approval of his neighbors and friends. A son of Clement 1. Bradbury, he was born January 5. 1855, in Columbia county, about twelve miles below Ranier, on the parental homestead.

The descendant of a family prominent in New England in colonial days. Clement A. Bradbury was born March 18, 1819, in Penob- scot county, Me., and died December 20, 1902,

in Seaside, Clatsop county, Ore. As a boy and a young man, he worked in the lumber regions of his native state, both in the logging camps and in the saw-mills, becoming familiar with all branches of the work. In 1845 he secured pas- sage on a whaling vessel, in which he sailed around the Horn, and up the Pacific coast. Be- ing wrecked on Behring's Island, he was sub- sequently taken to the Sandwich Islands, from there coming to Oregon. Securing work at Hunt's mill, near Cathlamet, Clatsop county, he was soon given entire charge of the milling oper- ations, being the only experienced logger and lumberman in that locality. Soon afterward he took up a donation elaim of six hundred and forty aeres in Columbia county, twelve miles from Ranier, and began to clear and improve it. In 1848, with a few friends, he built a small water craft and started for California. Reaching the Feather river region after a voyage of twenty-five days, he was engaged in gold min- ing about a year, being rather successful in his efforts at finding the precious metal, but being a victim of the ague he was forced to leave the mines. Returning to his ranch, he continued his former occupations, being thereafter profitably employed in farming, stock-raising and lumber- ing until his retirement from active business, in 1885. Coming then to Seaside, he spent his remaining years in ease and comfort, at the home of his son, Clement, his youngest child. March 28, 1850, on Clatsop plains, he married Anna Hobson, who was born in Derbyshire, England, February 10, 1831, and died on the home farm, in Columbia county, Ore., in 1856. Coming to Oregon with her parents in 1843, she arrived on Clatsop plains in season to take her first dinner in her new home on Christmas day. She had the distinction of being the first white woman to cross the Caseade mountains on horseback. Her father, William Hobson, was one of the original settlers of Clatsop plains, where he took up a donation elaim of three hundred and twenty acres, which he converted from its pris- tine wildness into a finely improved farm, on which he and his good wife spent their remain- ing years. Of the union of Clement A. and Anna (Hobson) Bradbury, four children were born, two sons and two daughters, and one daughter and one son survive, namely: Beth- cnia .A., wife of John Quigley, of Marshland, Columbia county, Ore .; and Clement, the sub- ject of this biographical notice.

Attending school a few weeks cach year, Clement Bradbury completed his early studies when a lad of twelve years, and at once began life as a wage-earner, working in the first can- nery erected on the Columbia river. Subsequent- ly resuming the occupation to which he was reared, he was engaged in farming and logging

F. M. barter

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

until 1885 on the old home farm, in Columbia county. Migrating in that year to Clatsop coun- ty, Mr. Bradbury purchased his present ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, adjoining the town of Scaside. Embarking in the dairy business, he now keeps about twenty cows of a good grade, and has here built up an extensive and lucrative business in this line of industry. He also pays considerable attention to general farming, and with characteristic enterprise built the first steam saw-mill established at Seaside, and for a year operated it himself.

September 18, 1878, in Columbia county, Mr. Bradbury married Flora I. Newcomb, who was born August 26, 1852, in Steuben county, N. Y., and died November 23, 1901, on the home farm, near Seaside, leaving seven children, namely : Richard E., Sarah Ette, Clarissa A., Clement J., Ellen I., Hazel and Irene, all of whom are liv- ing at home. In addition to his real estate hold- ings Mr. Bradbury has valuable property in Josephine county, where he is interested in the development of the quartz mines. He has served as school director a number of years, and takes great interest in the moral and religious advance- ment of the community. Although independent in his beliefs, and not a church member, he con- tributes towards the support of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is identified with its prac- tical work.

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Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 102

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman publishing company Number of Pages: 1064

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman publishing company
Number of Pages: 1064