Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 117

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 117

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In 1854, in Douglas county, Ore., Mr. Rice married Martha Bramlett, a native of Tennessee. She came across the plains to Oregon in 1853, starting with her parents, both of whom died of cholera while on the way. Mrs. Rice died, in Roseburg, Ore., in 1899, leaving three children, namely: Napoleon, a furniture dealer in Rose-

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burg; Mrs. Louise Graves of Roseburg; and Dexter, an attorney-at-law, residing in Roseburg. Politically Mr. Rice is a straightforward Demo- crat, and for one term was a member of the Rose- burg city council.

PRICE ROBISON. A peaceful and sin- gularly useful life is that of Price Robison, a dairyman and farmer, and a man in whom his friends have inplicit confidence. Since 1896 Mr. Robison has occupied a farm of fifty-five acres three miles northwest of Myrtle Point, on the Coquille river, where he is engaged in dairying on a moderate scale, milking about eighteen cows. Owing to his recent arrival in the neighborhood his land was well .culti- vated and improved, and he has been able to devote all of his time to the care of his stock, and to maintaining that system and orderli- ness for which he is so well known. In the meantime he has shown commendable public spirit, has held many of the local political offices, his election being the more creditable because he owes allegiance to no particular party. No name indicates greater popularity or personal honor in the foremost fraternal organizations in the county, and he is a mem- ber and past senior warden of Chadwick Lodge No. 68, A. F. & A. M., a member of Coquille Lodge No. 63, I. O. O. F., and the Grange at Myrtle Point, of which he is now master.

Mr. Robison is one of the hundreds of na- tive sons of Missouri to find a profitable field of activity in Oregon. He was born in Coles county, near Jefferson City, April 10, 1858, and came of a family established in Pennsylvania at a very early day, the first settler crossing the sea from Ireland. His father, Samuel L. Robison, was born in Pennslvania February II, 1805, and in youth mastered the printer's trade, which he followed but a short time. Preferring the occupation of his ancestors, he returned to the home farm, left vacant by his parents, who died when he was a small boy, and remained there until removing to Ohio. In 1838 he accompanied his brother to Mis- souri, then a desolate wilderness, where they cleared and improved land, advancing with the country, and taking their part in all phases of its upbuilding. Here Mr. Robison mar- ried, September 1, 1844, Lucina Lambson, who was born April 25, 1819, and was reared and educated in her native state of Ohio. Contin- uing to farm and raise stock until 1871, Mr. Robison came to Josephine county, Ore., and two years later moved to Fish Trap, on the Coquille river in Coos county, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land, two and a half acres of which were cleared.

Here he made many fine improvements, placed nearly all of his land under cultivation, and reared his family of eight children, of whom the seventh in order of birth is Price. Mr. Robison lived to be about eighty-seven years of age, and is survived by his wife, who is making her home with her daughter, Mrs. W. H. Averille, at Brownsville, Ore., and is eighty-five years of age. Orvilla A., the oldest of the children, is deceased; John O. is also deceased; George Texas and Franklin B. are living on the old place; Rocky C. is in east Oregon ; C. Tennessee is in Fish Trap; Price ; and Martha is the wife of W. H. Averille of Linn county.

Mr. Robison was much interested in Demo- cratic politics, and liked nothing better than to discuss local and county politics with in- telligent friends. He would never accept of- fice, and always argued that his farm and fam- ily deserved all the attention that he could give them. Mr. Robison gave his children practical educations in the public schools, and taught his sons to be industrious and thor- ough. Price attended school during the win- ter season, and continued to live on the old place until coming to his present home in 1896. After his marriage, November 29, 1882, with Laura B. Hoover, who was born in Hennepin county, Minn., October 27, 1864, he took his wife to the old farm, where they started house- keeping under favorable and pleasant circum- stances. It has always been the policy of the family to maintain harmonious relations be- tween themselves, and education and moral training have been properly appreciated and encouraged. Nine children, all of whom are at home, constitute a genial and happy house- hold. These are: Caleb C .; Beulah ; Walter S .; Leola; Roy; Lucina ; Bunice and Bernice, twins ; and Florence. Mr. Robison raises high- grade cattle on his farm, mostly of the Jersey breed, and Suffolk and Norman horses. He is an excellent judge of stock, is progressive and energetic, and is making a decided suc- cess of his dairying business.

JOHN G. VAN DYKE. For seventeen years John G. Van Dyke engaged in sheep-raising in Jackson county, and his good fortune in this con- nection has made him an enthusiast regarding the stock possibilities of his adopted state. This successful man and large land owner is solely responsible for his own headway in life, and few of his friends or associates claim sturdier or more practical traits of character. Out of his varied experiences he has evolved many interesting theo- ries, and he attributes a large share of his pro-

JAMES A. PANKEY.

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gress to the fact that he has always attended strictly to his own affairs, has been cautious in his judgment, and broad in his tolerance and sympathy.

Born in Mercer county, Pa., July 27, 1836, Mr. Van Dyke is a son of Samuel D. Van Dyke, also born in Pennsylvania, grandson of John Van Dyke born in Westmoreland county, Pa., and founder of his family in Butler county, and great-grandson of John Van Dyke, who was born in New York and located in Westmoreland coun- ty, Pa. Samuel D. Van Dyke was by nature a wanderer during the earlier part of his life, and was known among his intimates as the "Wander- ing Jew." Previous to moving to Iowa in 1845 he had visited almost every part of the United States, his observing brain making note of people and general conditions. He married Keziah Gil- mer, a native of Mercer county, Pa., daughter of Robert Gilmer, born either in Pennsylvania or Ireland, and the father of a large family. Mr. Gilmer was a blacksmith by trade, and he enter- tained a justifiable pride in his ancestral connec- tions. Mr. Van Dyke naturally improved the op- portunity to come to the west in 1849, his love of travel and adventure responding readily to the tales of gold which upset the equilibrium of half the people in the country. It is not recalled that he met with unusual success, for in 1852 he came to Oregon and took up a donation claim near Medford, upon which he spent the remainder of his life. Established upon a paying property of his own, he developed substantial and upbuilding traits of character, and became prominent in the agricultural and political undertakings of his neighborhood. As a Democrat he served as county commissioner, and in 1862 he was elected to the state legislature. With his family he was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and to- ward this and other worthy causes, contributed generously of his hard-earned fortune. There was a daughter and son in his family, the former and oldest of whom is deceased.

In his youth John G. Van Dyke had scant op- portunity for acquiring an education, and his broad general knowledge is therefore the result of intelligent observation and later application to books and periodicals. He was sixteen years old when he crossed the plains in 1852 with his par- ents to Jackson county, and he remained on the home farm until locating near Phoenix in 1862. In 1870 he located near Ashland and engaged in stock-raising. He had one hundred and sixty acres of land, and continued to improve it until 1885, when he came to the vicinity of Medford and started upon his seventeen years of sheep- raising. This was abandoned in 1899, owing to Mr. Van Dyke having contracted the grip, al- though he still owns nearly seventeen hundred acres near the town. He also owns and for some

time operated a general merchandise store in Medford, now being managed by his son. He has ten acres in pears and apples, but although general farming has always accompanied stock- raising, it is in the latter capacity that he has ex- celled, because he liked it best, and believed it to be the most practical way of making money in the county. He studied stock, became familiar with the individual characteristics of each kind, and always maintained the highest standards in his own selections.

In Pennsylvania Mr. Van Dyke married Sarah Stewart, a native daughter of the state, and she has proved a devoted and capable mother to her nine children, one of whom, John G., the sixth child, met death by drowning in June, 1903. William Stewart, the oldest in the family, is a resident of Ashland; Kate makes her home in San Francisco; S. G. lives on the home ranch; B. F. is in Singapore, China; Carrie is the wife of a Mr. Thompson of Chicago; Edgar A. and Edith A. are twins, and the latter graduated from the Albany College in 1903; and Sarah A. it at home. Mr. Van Dyke is a Republican, but aside from the formality of casting his vote has never identified himself with party matters. He is essentially a home-loving man, and finds his greatest enjoyment in watching and aiding the careers of his children.

JAMES A. PANKEY has been a resident of Oregon for half a century and all but the first six years of that time he has lived in Jackson county, where he now lives in peaceful retire- ment, enjoying the fruits of his past years of toil. He is the owner of a fine ranch seven miles north- east of Gold Hill, in the Sam's valley district, of which he originally purchased one hundred and sixty acres, adding to this until now his home place comprises four hundred and twenty acres. Although he still makes his home on this ranch Mr. Pankey leases out the land and derives a competence from the income and from some mountain lands which he also owns.

But little is known concerning the ancestry of James A. Pankey save the fact that his parents resided in Hickman county, Tenn., where he him- self was born June 22, 1822. While he was still a small child the family removed to what is now Saline county, and in 1848 located in Morgan county, Ill., and James A. there passed his youth- ful days and resided until reaching young man- hood. However, this was not always to be his home, for, in 1853, believing that the far west held opportunities for his betterment, he began the journey across the plains, with two wagons, nine yoke of oxen, seven cows and two mares, but, on various accounts, when he reached his

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destination, only nine head of oxen and three cows were left of his possessions, after a trip of six months.

Upon taking up his abode in the far west, a desirable location was found in Polk county, Ore., and farming pursuits occupied his attentions there, where he bought the right to a donation claim four miles from Dallas, engaging in his chosen vocation until 1859. In the fall of that year he sought a more southern home and settled permanently in Jackson county, making his first land purchase there the same year. We have already told of his landed interests, and his suc- cess in farm pursuits, and his present position of affluence testifies to his worth. Well known in his county, he is honored and esteemed not only by the Democrats, with whose principles his po- litical views coincide, but by all who have the honor of his acquaintance. His patriotism to his country was shown by active service in quelling the Modoc Indians in the war of 1872. Mr. Pankey and his worthy wife, who was before marriage Miss Fannie Strickland, became the parents of ten children, three sons and seven daughters. Five of these are now living : Louisa, who married J. N. Smith ; Thomas, who resides at Sam's Valley postoffice ; Louis, a stock-dealer living on Sprague river; Mary Ann, who mar- ried James Fredenburg ; and Emily, who lives at home.

JOHN WRIGHT. Among the agriculturists of Jackson county who have to their credit a record as soldiers during the Civil war, may be mentioned John Wright, a sturdy, honorable and successful land-owner in the vicinity of Central Point. Mr. Wright came to Oregon from Kan- sas in 1874, and for twenty years lived in Phoenix, this county. There he gained a reputation for substantial character and effort, and was num- bered among the very successful men of his neighborhood. He then brought his excellent record to his present farm, one and a half miles northwest of Central Point, which is eighty-six acres in extent, and constitutes a portion of the old Watson donation claim. Though not as wild and timbered as many pioneers have had to con- tend with, Mr. Wright has not depended on the improvements which accompanied the pur- chase of the farm, but has continually substituted his own advanced ideas, and at present has a modern frame dwelling, and satisfactory barns and implements. He raises general produce and stock, and though not large as compared with the farms of some of his neighbors, it is so dis- posed of as to yield a comfortable yearly income.

Reared to farming as had been his forefathers Mr. Wright spent fifteen years of his life on the farm in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he was

born October 10, 1841, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Davey) Wright, natives of Green county, Pa. and Vermont respectively. Samuel Wright was born in 1810 and married soon after his removal from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and be- sides John there was a daughter born to him, now Mrs. Elizabeth Stancliff, of Phoenix, Ore. His wife dying in Ohio, he married for a second wife, Amy Swager, a native of Ohio, and who bore him five children: Ella, the wife of T. Barr, of Medford; Artaminta, the wife of George Williams, of Dunsmuir; Janie, the wife of Wil- liam Beardsley of Phoenix, Ore .; and William and Charley S., also of Phoenix. The family of Mr. Wright moved to Kansas in 1856, and fol- lowed farming there until 1874, during that spring removing to Phoenix, Jackson county, Ore. In 1880 Mr. Wright settled in Coquille and retired from active life, his death occurring there at the age of seventy-eight. He is survived by his wife, who makes her home in Phoenix. Mr. Wright was quite a politician and liked to discuss the national Republican issues with his friends. In religion he was a Baptist, and gave liberally of his means toward the church and general charities.

When the Civil war broke out John Wright was working hard on the paternal farm in Kan- sas, and in 1862, August 22, when twenty-two years of age, he enlisted in Company G, Thir- teenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and was mus- tered in at Atchison, Kans. His regiment was assigned to General Blunt's corps for the first year, and detailed to field duty, and although it did not participate in the world-famous battles fought in the south, the regiment had a taste of warfare in the battles of Prairie Grove, Cane Hill, and numerous minor skirmishes. After being mustered out he was glad to exchange three years of life in camp and field for the peace of his father's farm, and September 26, 1865, celebrated the return of order by marrying Annie Bradford, a native of Boston, Mass. Thereafter the young people settled down to farming in Kansas until 1874, in which year he accompanied his family and that of his father to the west, of which he has since been an enthusiastic and helpful resi- dent. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wright: Mrs. Laura Cochran, of Central Point ; Jolm S., of California; George F., of Klamath county ; Joseph N., of Central Point; Mrs. Effie M. Hefling, of Grants Pass ; Thomas William, of Central Point; Charles E. and Jesse B., of Klamath county.

Mr. Wright is public spirited in the extreme, and may be depended on to support with both time and money any practical effort at improving his locality. He is president of the Grand Army Hall Association of Central Point, and is a mem- ber of the Central Point Post No. 67, G. A. R.

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In political affiliation he is a Socialist, and in religion is a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

CHRISTOPHER C. GALL. In the front ranks of every business and in every community we find men whose success has been independent of another's assistance, and an example of this kind is found in the person of Mr. Gall, who has met with flattering success in the prosecution of his chosen calling as a tiller of the soil in Jackson county, Ore., whose interests have been identified with his own ever since the spring of 1852, when he accompanied his parents to that section. Mr. Gall is a native of Franklin county, Mo., having been born March 18, 1833, near Washington, where he received his scholastic training in the public school and grew to man- hood. During the gold excitement of 1849 two of his brothers, Lafayette and Francis, started west, and the latter died on the plains while en1 route. The elder brother, however, proceeded on his way, and in time sent back favorable re- ports to his parents, which induced them, in 1851, to take their remaining family and follow him to this new country, which was then little more than one vast wilderness. The trip over- land consumed six months' time, and the fall of that year found them in the beautiful Willamette valley. After passing the winter in that vicinity, they proceeded to look up a location the following spring, and being attracted by the fertile land and natural resources in Jackson county, the father took a donation claim there in the neigh- borhood of Gold Hill. This claim contained three hundred and twenty acres finely located along a creek, which now bears the family name, but it was entirely unimproved, and thereafter the father was engaged in clearing the land and till- ing the soil until cut off by death in 1857. He was a very industrious man, even when compared to the sturdy pioneers of those days, and grew to be quite prosperous.

Christopher C. Gall was his father's able assist- ant on the home place until death removed that beloved parent, and for several years afterward affairs on the farm were intrusted to his care and management. Taking up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres in 1859, in Sams Valley, eight miles east of the old home place and four miles from Table Rock, he began to im- prove and clear it, and the following year took up his residence there. All the intervening years, between that time and the present, have found Mr. Gall busily engaged in farming pursuits and in the stock business, and his efforts have been crowned with success. Additional purchases were made and his farm was increased in size to two hundred and eighty acres, two hundred acres be-

ing rich alluvial bottom land, utilized in general farming. The balance is used for grazing pur- poses and is well stocked with fine cattle, the whole place possessing an air of prosperity and thrift.

October 9, 1861, Mr. Gall was united in mar- riage with Miss Sarah J. Pankey, an accomplished lady, and they nave reared a large and interest- ing family, which consists of three sons and seven daughters, all of whom are living. The religious belief of the family inclines toward the Christian Church, which they attend, and of which Mr. Gall is an active meniber. In his political views he is entirely independent, and during his long term of service as justice of the peace, since 1868, his dealings and decisions have been char- acteristic of his fairness and impartiality, at the same time always marked by justice. His pa- triotisni to our country was shown by his active service in the Rogne River Indian war, which caused the early settlers of Oregon so much loss of life and property.

JOHN W. INGRAM. The various resources of Jackson county have attracted men of many minds, and the agriculturist, stock-raiser, mer- chant, and miner have found themselves equally at home, surrounded by the opportunities their nature craved, and at liberty to accomplish as much as their respective abilities and ambitions permitted. Miners and prospectors abound in the regions where precious metal awaits the in- dustry of man, and thus prospectors have come to be an important adjunct to county develop- ment. Among this class of men none deserves more credit than John W. Ingram, one of the foremost prospectors of southern Oregon, and the partner of B. W. Huston in the ownership of a placer and quartz property of forty acres, situated in Willow Springs precinct.

Born near California, Cole county, Mo., Jan- uary 27, 1837, Mr. Ingram came of a family well known in that state, and which has been asso- ciated with farming and stock-raising on a large scale. His father, John, a native of Kentucky, removed to Missouri while yet young, and through his marriage with Alvira Smiley, be- came connected with another family even better known than his own. The father of Mrs. In- gram removed from Virginia to Missouri in 1800, and twelve years later enlisted in the war of 1812, his valor gaining him the rank of major. He was prominent in the early politics of the state, and at one time was a member of the ter- ritorial legislature. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ingram, of whom John W. is the youngest and only one living. The mother died in 1840, in Missouri, and Mr. Ingram married Susan Savage for his second wife, she being a

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native of Kentucky, and the mother of six chil- dren. Mr. Ingram lived to be an old man, his death occurring in 1870.

In 1857, when he was twenty years old, John W. Ingram crossed the plains to California, set- tling in San Joaquin county, where he followed farming for a time, but later turned his attention to mining and prospecting. He became associated with Jackson county, Ore., in 1870, and has since lived on his mining land three miles northwest of Central Point, where he has achieved marked success. For a couple of years he engaged in sheep-raising in the county, but not finding it as congenial work as mining, returned with zest to his old occupation. He is well known through the southern part of the state, and his judgment is often in demand by less successful and compe- tent prospectors. He has a genuine liking for his work, which, after all, is his life, for he has never married, and has no incentive to work for others. Mr. Ingram is a Democrat in politics, but like most born miners has little inclination for office, or the excitement incident thereto. He is a genial and popular man, western in his habits and tastes, and possessing great force of charac- ter and native energy.

WILLIAM ULRICH. As a man of excellent business ability, who is shrewd and has been decidedly successful in whatever he has under- taken, Mr. Ulrich, who is extensively engaged in ranching pursuits in the vicinity of Eagle Point, Ore., may be rightfully termed a self-made man in the truest sense of the word, for at an early age he was deprived by death of his father and without educational advantages or capital, he was forced to make his own way in the world. He was born in Burlington, Iowa, January 18, 1858, and two years later was brought to a home in the far west by his parents, Christian and Barbara Ulrich, who took up their abode in Jackson coun- ty, Ore., in 1860. They settled in Jacksonville, where William grew to manhood. He attended the common schools of that city, but obtained but a limited education, for in 1869 his father died and thus early in life the son was thrown upon his own resources and compelled to work for his living. Obtaining employment on a near-by ranch as chore-boy, he worked one year for his board and clothes, after which he was paid wages, remaining on the same ranch for three additional years, and the following year he was employed in and about the mining camps. He then became apprenticed to learn the baker's trade in Jacksonville, and he followed that line of work there for five years. About that time the railroad was being built in that vicinity, and Mr. Ulrich followed truck-teaming for about a year in connection with the railroad camps. Sell-

ing his team he went to Medford, and in 1885 he opened a fire insurance office there and did fairly well at this business. He was the organizer and promoter of the Southern Oregon Pork Packing Company, which did a flourishing busi- ness in Medford, and for five years was its effi- cient manager, while at the same time he con- ducted a retail butcher shop. He subsequently formed a partnership with Mr. Slinger and en- gaged in the cattle business, and together they carried on a profitable business until the death of the latter, whereupon Mr. Ulrich purchased the interest of his former partner and continued in the business alone. His home ranch in the neighborhood of Eagle Point contains twelve hundred and twenty acres and many improve- ments have been made upon the farm by Mr. Ulrich since taking possession of it, and it now ranks among the best in this section. He also owns an interest in another ranch up in the moun- tains, which at the present writing, furnishes grazing for about six hundred head of choice Hereford cattle.

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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 117

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