Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 115

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 115

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Early in 1867, Mr. Hacker returned to Em- pire City with a small stock of boots and shoes, following his trade there for two years and then moved to Marshfield, and in company with Thomas Devine, continued the business for sev- eral years. In 1872 he was elected county super- intendent of schools for two years, and most of the time for five years was principal of the school in Marshfield, and was recorder and justice of the peace for the town for three years prior to 1879, when he was appointed collector of customs of Coos bay and served four years. In 1878, he with his friends, Hon. G. Webster and the talented Andrew J. Lockhart, established The Coast Mail at Marshfield. Both of his friends have passed over the divide, the latter at the beginning of a promising career and the former twenty years too soon. In 1885 Mr. Hacker was appointed sheriff of Coos county and served one year, and in the fall of 1886 for a diversion he drove to Mexico, and spent the first nine months of 1887 in San Diego, Cal. In 1888 he established an abstracting business in Empire City, and when the county seat was removed to Coquille in 1897 he changed his office and residence to its present location. Besides conducting his abstract business he is a director and assistant cashier of the Coquille First Na- tional Bank.

Politically Mr. . Hacker is one of the leading

Republicans of Coos county and has served as justice of the peace, as road supervisor and on the city council of Empire and Coquille, and has been a school director almost continuously since 1867. Since 1868 he has been identified with the Odd Fellows, belonging to the Encampment and Rebekahs.

Mr. and Mrs. Hacker have one child, the wife of Louis H. Hazard, county clerk of Coos county and cashier of the First National Bank. Per- sonally Mr. Hacker has the respect and confi- dence of all with whom he comes in contact, and as a result has a host of friends. He is particu- larly fond of a good horse, and is considerably interested in numismatics. Although not a mem -. ber of any church, he is a Unitarian in belief. while his wife and daughter are members of the Episcopal Church.

MAURICE F. LEACH. The excellent traits of reliability and industry have been uppermost in the career of Maurice F. Leach, owner and manager of a flourishing and well conducted meat market in Tillamook. Mr. Leach has his own ideas as to success, and wisely concludes that money or influence are by no means essential in acquiring it. He himself has been obliged to forge ahead with practically no assistance, taking his time, and advancing slowly day by day to his present position of independence and honor. He has never known any life save that of the coast country, for he was born in Trinity coun- ty, Cal., January 18, 1859, and has since visited. many parts of the sea-swept region in his quest for a honte and permanent business. His father, Henry Leach, was born in Massachusetts, and at an early day removed to Michigan, where he married for his third wife, Mary Jane Cone, a native daughter of Michigan. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California, mined for a year, and then returned to Michigan for his wife. Another overland journey brought him to Trinity county, Cal., where he mined and ranched, and kept a hotel for many years. His hostelry was on the old Trinity road. and was a great stopping place for people coming and going from the mines. At the age of fifty-six years he was killed by a horse running away and throwing him against a tree, in Shasta county, in 1864. His widow mar- ried a second time, and there were sixteen chil- dren in all, five in the family from which Mau- rice F. comes. Three of these children died in infancy, Maurice and a daughter being the only survivors.

Maurice Leach was obliged to work hard in his youth, as he was just five years old when his father died. He lived with his stepfather until his fourteenth year, and in 1873 went to Humboldt

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county, where he joined one of his half brothers, Sherman Leach. Here he attended school, af- terward going to Trinity county, and worked in the mines four years. In 1878 he became in- terested in the lumber business in Mendocino county, and was thus employed until 1883. In 1887 Mr. Leach came to Tillamook and engaged in the lumber business, and the following year returned to Mendocino county, where he engaged in the saloon and restaurant business in Point Arena. In 1890 Mr. Leach took his family to Pocatello, Idaho, and worked at house-moving for a time, and was very successful, making many changes in the appearance of the town. In 1894 he was again in Tillamook, working busily at the logging business for the Truckee Lumber Company, and in 1897 opened his pres- ent market, which is a well arranged and well stocked enterprise, drawing a liberal patronage from the best class of people. Mr. Leach car- ries his energy into all departments of his busi- ness, leaving nothing to be supplied him from outside sources. He rents two hundred acres of land for pasturage for stock, thus raising his own cattle and doing his own slaughtering. In connection with farming he runs a dairy of some size, supplying milk and butter to many of his meat-buying customers. He has a good and paying business, and thoroughly under- stands how to make it a success. He believes that to command good prices one must provide goods accordingly, and it is this sense of de- pendence upon his good judgment and reliabili- ty which has won him so many permanent and satisfied customers. In 1895 he was married to Miss Emma Kabkee, who was a native of Gold Hill, Nev., and they have two sons, Henry F. and Glen.

The standing of Mr. Leach in the community of Tillamook is partially indicated by his excel- lent fraternal association. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Daughters of Rebekalı, Tillamook Lodge No. 57. A. F. & A. M., St. John's Chapter, Eastern Star, and the Ancient Order of United Work- men. Mr. Leach is a Republican in politics, and has served as a member of the city council for two terms. He is public-spirited and enterpris- ing, large-hearted as regards substantial contri- butions to worthy charities, and fair and con- scientious in his dealings with his fellow men.

WILLIAM F. BRIGGS. Among the best known and most popular hosts of Douglas coun- ty are William F. Briggs and his wife, who are proprietors of the Overland Hotel, at Canyon- ville. A son of the late Samuel Briggs, William F. Briggs was born September 18, 1837, in

Athens county, Ohio. He comes of patriotic New England ancestry, his Grandfather Briggs, a resident of Massachusetts, having served in the war of 1812. Born in Massachusetts in 1812, Samuel Briggs spent his boyhood in his New England home, then removed with his par- ents to Ohio, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed many years. Going to Iowa in 1841, he resided there with his fam- ily ten years. In 1851, joining with the com- pany commanded by Capt. C. J. Hill, he crossed the plains with ox and horse-teams. Taking the southern route, much trouble with the Indians ensued, several skirmishes taking place. Arriv- ing in Douglas county after a journey lasting four and one-half months, he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres, two and one-half miles northwest of Canyonville, and made various improvements on the place. Subsequently buying the adjoining ranch, he lived on it until his death, at the age of seventy- eight years. He followed his trade in connection with farming, and erected the first saw-mill in Douglas county. He was prominent in public affairs, serving as county commissioner a few terms, and as justice of the peace several years. He was very active in church work, and very frequently, if occasion called, filled the pulpit. He married Susanna Phillips, who was born in Maine, but removed with her parents to Ohio when young. She, too, lived to the advanced age of seventy-eight years. Of the children born of their union, six grew to years of maturity, and three are living, namely: Mrs. Sophronia Hill, of Lane county, Ore .: William F., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Almira Parsley, of Roseburg.

Educated in the district schools of Iowa, Wil- liam F. Briggs came with his parents to Douglas county in 1851, and assisted in the pioneer labor of improving a farm. Enlisting under Capt. Samuel Gordon, in Company H. Second Oregon Regiment, in 1855. he served three months in the Rogue River Indian war, taking part in many en . gagements, but receiving only a flesh wound. Returning home, he resumed his agricultural labors for a short time, and then took up civil engineering, which he followed for some time. After his marriage, Mr. Briggs assumed the man- agement of the parental homestead, living there until 1886. Buying his present property in that year, he has resided in Canyonville since, with the exception of a brief time spent in Roseburg, administering faithfully, ably and satisfactorily to the needs of the traveling public, with whom both he and his good wife are general favorites. In 1872 Mr. Briggs was elected county surveyor, and held the office eighteen consecutive years. In 1880 he was appointed deputy United States mineral surveyor, and served most efficiently un-

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til very recently. He has also been notary public, and has held various smaller offices.

In 1860 Mr. Briggs married Elizabeth Veach, who came across the plains from Iowa to Ore- gon in 1854, settling in Lane county, where she was reared and educated. Of the eight children born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, seven are living, namely : William F., Jr., of Canyon- ville ; Marcus D., also of Canyonville ; Mrs. Min- nie F. James, of Riddles, Ore .; Mrs. Della Ap- plin, of Cornelius, Ore .; Mrs. Alice Harris, of Roseburg; Mrs. Dora Bartle, of Canyonville; and Nathaniel, of Lake county, Ore. Politically Mr. Briggs is a steadfast Republican, and fra- ternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has passed all the chairs of his lodge, and been three times a representa- tive to the Grand Lodge.

JEROME B. NEAL. Occupying an assured position among the skillful and successful far- mers of Douglas county is Jerome B. Neal, whose large and well-improved estate, containing several hundred acres of land, lies nine miles southeast of Roseburg. Ambitious and indus- trious, he carries on general farming and stock- raising with excellent results, following the most approved methods of the modern and progressive agriculturists. A native of Wasco county, Ore., he was born January 25, 1861, in the town of Hood River, of Virginian ancestry.

Peter Ncal, the father of Jerome B., was born and reared in Virginia, where he learned the trade of a gunsmith. Subsequently removing with his parents to Missouri, he assisted in the pioneer labor of clearing a farm, and remained on the old homestead until he married and took upon himself the responsibilities of a family. In 1844, accompanied by his young wife, he started across the plains with an ox-team train, joining his fortunes with the far-western home- seekers. After a tedious journey of ten months he arrived in Marion county, Ore., where he lived until 1858. Removing then to Wasco coun- ty, he was a resident of that part of the state for nearly thirty years. In 1887 he came to Douglas county, where he afterwards lived until his death, December 22, 1902, at the advanced age of ninety years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mahala Bilyeu, was born in Virginia, and died in Oregon in 1892, at the age of seventy- two years.

The only survivor of a large family of chil- dren, Jerome B. Neal remained beneath the parental roof until his marriage, receiving his early education in the district schools, and obtain- ing a good knowledge of agriculture on the home farm. Beginning farming on his own ac- count on a ranch near Roseburg, Mr. Neal re-

sided there eight years, meeting with good suc- cess in his undertakings. Locating then on his present farm, about nine miles from Roseburg, he has since continued in his independent call- ing with the same satisfactory results that had previously attended his agricultural labors. He rents about nine hundred acres of land, which was formerly known as the Bogess estate, and is carrying on general farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale. In local and state affairs, Mr. Neal cvinces a deep interest, keeping well informed on current events, and contributing gen- erously in aid of enterprises calculated to pro- mote the prosperity of his community. In poli- tics he is a loyal adherent of the Democratic party.

In 1894 Mr. Neal married Elda Kearns, who was born and reared in Douglas county, the daughter of George W. and Mary (Noble) Kearns. She is a woman of estimable qualities, and has proved herself a true helpmeet to her husband at all times, and in all respects. Mrs. Neal is a member of the United Brethren Church.

OWEN L. WILLIS. Standing prominently among the active and influential citizens of Doug- las county is Owen L. Willis, a prosperous and progressive agriculturist of Dillard. A man of practical ability and judgment, he has been an important factor in promoting the growth and prosperity of this section of the state, and by his industry in the pursuit of his own business he has accumulated a goodly share of this world's goods. His integrity and excellent service in public capacities have brought him conspicuously before the people as a man of honor and worth, and he is held in high esteem throughout the community. A native of Putnam county, III., he was born August 1, 1843, a son of Stephen D. Willis. Further parental and ancestral his- tory will be found on another page of this vol- ume, in connection with the sketch of his brother, William R. Willis.

Obtaining a good common school education, Owen L. Willis remained at home until his mar- riage, when he assumed the management of the parental homestead, on which he resided for twelve years. Removing then to Roseburg, he embarked in mercantile pursuits, opening a gro- cery store, and also served as deputy sheriff. In 1889 Mr. Willis, with other projectors, organized the Roseburg Water Works Company, of which he was elected superintendent, a position that he filled for eleven consecutive years, giving excellent satisfaction to all concerned. In 1900 he returned to his father's old donation claim, twelve miles south of Roseburg, and resumed his agricultural labors. He has now a fine farming estate of eleven hundred acres, on which he has

John + Hull

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

made all the modern improvements. He carries on general farming, including stock-raising, dealing principally with Hereford cattle, and has a fine prune orchard of twenty acres. Mr. Willis is still a stockholder in the Roseburg Water and Electric Light Company, with which he was so long identified.

Mr. Willis married Artismissa J. Nichols, a native of Douglas county, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Willis are the par- ents of seven children, namely: Mrs. Lena Frog- gett, of Portland; Effie, living at home; Albert G., of Roseburg; Dale S., of Portland; Clive, at home; Helen, at home; and Glen O., also at home. Mr. Willis is a stanch Republican in politics, and takes great interest in local and state affairs, and though not an aspirant for official honors has served in numerous minor town offices.

JOHN FRANKLIN HALL. A lawyer of note and a highly esteemed. resident of Marsh- field, John F. Hall has for many years been among the leading promoters of the city's pros- perity. Thoroughly versed in the intricacies of law, he has conducted and won many important cases submitted to him, and is justly recognized as one of the most able and skilful attorneys of this part of the county. He is one of the oldest of Oregon's native-born sons, his birth having occurred October 16, 1856, near Fort Yamhill, Polk county, where his father, William Hall, Jr., located more than half a century ago. On the paternal side he comes of Irish stock, his grandfather, William Hall, Sr., having been born in Ireland. Leaving the Emerald Isle with his parents when but a child, he lived first in Virginia, then in Kentucky, finally settling per- manently in Tennessee, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, serving his adopted country most zealously.

A native of Tennessee, William Hall, Jr., was born March 22, 1821, in Greene county, where he grew to man's estate. He received excellent educational advantages, and after his graduation from Tusculum college, in Tennessee, he took part in the Florida Indian war. Remaining in the south for a time, he taught school near Mo- bile, Ala., and then returned to his Tennessee home. With the adventurous spirit character- istic of his race and time, he visited Texas and Mexico in 1848, and the next year joined the tide of gold seekers, crossing the plains to Cali- fornia in 1849. Locating on the Mariposa river, he remained there nearly a year, being moderate- ly successful in his mining operations. Remov- ing to Portland, Ore., in 1850, he tried his hand at various employments, subsequently becoming

clerk in a store at Dallas. Taking unto himself a helpmeet in 1851, he settled near Fort Yamhill, where he took up a donation claim of six hun- dred and forty acres, on which he lived and labored several years. Being appointed farmer at the Siletz Indian Reservation in 1863, he served for a year, and then resumed work on his own ranch. In addition to farming he also taught school in Polk county two or three win- ter terms. Settling in Douglas county in 1868, he was engaged in sheep-raising at Camas valley for a year. The ensuing two years he devoted to cattle-raising, having a ranch on the Coquille river, near the Enchanted Prairie. Coming to Coos bay in 1871, he afterwards spent his re- maining years in this locality, dying in Marsh- field in 1890. He was an active politician, be- ing a Whig in his early life, but afterwards a Democrat. From 1858 until 1860 he was asses- sor of Polk county ; was county surveyor from 1864 until 1866; from 1866 until 1868 repre- sented Polk county in the state legislature; from 1872 until 1874 was county surveyor of Coos county, a position in which he afterwards served two terms, being re-elected in 1876, and again in 1878. He was very prominent in educational affairs, serving the greater part of his life as school director.

In 1851, in Polk county, William Hall, Jr., married Martha J. Cox, who was born in Wabash county, Ill., and is now living in Marshfield. Her father, Isham Cox, was born and reared in Kentucky, but was afterwards a resident of Illi- nois, Indiana and Missouri. Leaving Jefferson, Mo., in 1845, he crossed the plains to Oregon, and located first at Forest Grove, later at Red Prairie, where he cleared and improved a farm. Removing to Curry county in 1865, he spent two years on Flora's creek, near Dairyville, then went to Douglas county, where he lived two years. Returning to Curry county in 1869, he took up a homestead near what is now Denmark, and was there employed in ranching until his death. He took part in the Rogue River Indian war. Of the union of William and Martha J. (Cox) Hall, eight children were born, and of these one son has passed to the life beyond; four sons and three daughters are living, and a child that they adopted is also living.

The third child of the parental household in order of birth, John F. Hall attended the pioneer schools of Polk county when young, afterwards continuing his studies under his father's instruc- tion. In 1877, while employed in a saw-mill at Marshfield, he studied navigation for a year with John Ellsworth, and in 1878 went as a sailor on the high seas. Returning to the parental roof in 1879, he assisted in the care of the farm, and also studied surveying. In 1882 he was elected county surveyor, at the close of his term, in 1884.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

was re-elected to the same position, and served until 1886. In the meantime he began to read law with T. G. Owen, of Marshfield, and after completing his law studies with John Kelsey, of Corvallis, passed the state examination in Oc- tober, 1887. Opening an office in Marshfield in November, 1887, Mr. Hall has built up a large and lucrative general law practice, he and his brother, James T. Hall, with whom he is as- sociated, being the leading attorneys of the city. A man of unquestioned ability and integrity, Mr. Hall has other interests of importance, and is prominently connected with municipal affairs. He carries on a successful business as a real es- tate and insurance agent, this department being under the management of his brother, and since the incorporation, in 1898, of the Coos Bay Pack- ing Company, of which he is a stockholder, he has been one of its directors. He was a charter member, and for two years chief, of the local fire department, but is now on the exempt list. For the past fifteen years he has served as school clerk, and since 1900 has been city treasurer.

In Marshfield in 1892 Mr. Hall married Mary Strickling, who was born in Texas in 1859, and came with her mother to Oregon in 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one child. Roxie Martha. Fraternally Mr. Hall is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, has passed all the chairs of the lodge, and for the past twelve years has been treasurer, and has been active in the Rebekahs. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in both organizations having filled all the offices. One of the foremost Democrats of Coos county, he was for several years chair- man of the County Central Committee, and for six years he was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. Since the organiza- tion, in 1888, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery Association, Mr. Hall has served as a director and the secretary.

LARS O. BELLAND. Noteworthy among the citizens of prominence in the literary, social and business circles of Astoria is Lars O. Belland, who was for many years trap fore- man for the Alaska Packers' Association, actively identified with the development of the salmon industry of the Pacific coast. A man of intellectual force and vigor, he is a lover of deep reading, from which he derives mayhap his greatest pleasure, and has been influential in the organization of some of the leading literary societies of the state. Talented and cultured, his liberal views of men and things have been broadened and enlarged by travel and study. A son of Ole O. Bjelland, he was born May 11, 1862, in Norway, near

Stavanger. His grandfather, Ole Bjelland, as the surname was originally spelled, was a life- long farmer. The family of Bjelland is among the oldest in Norway, it having been founded, it is supposed, more than four hundred years ago, the name having been once spelled Bjaa- land, finally becoming Bjelland, and our sub- ject dropped the "j" altogether.

Ole O. Bjelland was born in Stavanger Amt, seventy years ago, and still resides there. He has been active in public and political affairs, and for many years was a member of the Amtsting, or Norwegian legislature. He is a Liberal in politics, and a member of the Lutheran Church. He married Gertrud Vaage, a native of Stavanger Amt, and a daughter of Hon. Lars Vaage, an extensive farmer, who served in the Storthing for a period of twenty years, and whose son, Njedle, sat in the Rigs- ret that impeached the Selmer ministry. Of the fifteen children born of their union, thir- teen grew to years of maturity, and twelve are living. Seven of the children came to the United States, namely: Olaus, who died in San Francisco; Olaf, of North Dakota; A. O., a merchant in Portland, Ore .: Sven, also of Portland; R. O., who is manager of a co-oper- ative department store in Milwaukee, Wis .; Anna, of Minneapolis, Minn .; and Lars O., the subject of this brief sketch.

Brought up in Stavanger Amt, Lars O. Belland attended the common schools until fourteen years old, and then continued his studies for two years longer at the local school. Engaging in seafaring pursuits in 1879, he made voyages on the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea, sailing with his uncle, Jo- hannes Vaage. Emigrating to America in 1881 he spent his first two years in this coun- try in Livingston county, Ill., working on a farm. Coming to the Pacific coast in 1883, Mr. Belland located in Vancouver, Wash., but en- gaged in fishing in Waterford, Wash. Remov- ing to Astoria in 1884, he has since made this city his place of residence. Continuing his labors as a fisherman, he was employed for awhile in salmon trapping, selling his fish to the canning companies. He was subsequently employed in the life-saving service at Cape Disappointment for eighteen months as surf man. In the fall of 1889 Mr. Belland went to Norway to visit his family and friends, remain- ing there four or five months. Returning to Astoria in the spring of 1890, he accepted the position of trap foreman for the Alaska Pack- ing Company, in Alaska, and when, two years later, it became merged into the Alaska Pack- ers' Association, he retained his position, for twelve consecutive years serving as foreman of the trappers. In 1900, accompanied by his

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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 115

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