Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 137

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 137

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The youth of Joseph A. Haines was un- eventfully passed on the home farm, and at the age of twenty-three he joined his brother and a Mr. Cushman in an expedition to the coast. This band of fortune seekers proved

especially congenial, and all were animated by the common desire to carve a prosperous and happy future out of assets consisting of hardy constitutions and unlimited persever- ance. The train had few adventures out of the ordinary, and, with the exception of hav- ing some of their cattle stolen by the Indians, met with few losses of any kind. They were on the road seven months to the day from the time of starting, and upon arriv- ing in Oregon, October 19, 1851, dispersed to their respective farms or places of temporary residence. Mr. Haines spent the first winter in Corvallis, and during that time made his living by starting the first wood yard the coun- ty had known at Moore Ferry, across the river from Corvallis. In 1852 he rented a place about three miles southeast of Corvallis, and while living there, December 10, 1853, mar- ried Eleanor Chaffey, a native daughter of Illinois, who came across the plains with her family in 1852. In 1856 he located near Scottsburg, Douglas county, and after renting a farm for a couple of years purchased a part of the ranch in Curry county which is still his home. At first his operations were on a com- paratively small scale, and much time was devoted to cutting timber and underbrush and preparing the land for seed. The small house in which the family found shelter took on an air of comfort and coziness, and the erection of a larger house marked an advance in the family fortunes. By degrees the increase of enterprises necessitated more land, with the result that today Mr. Haines has nine hundred and sixty acres in one body, one hundred of which are under cultivation. He is engaged in general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of the profitable Shorthorns. At every stage of his career Mr. Haines has evidenced the progressive spirit for which the western farmer is noted, and his farm may well serve as a model for members of the younger generation. Those who now profit by the prevailing prosperity of Curry county little realize the deprivations encountered by such men as Mr. Haines, who settled here with his family when his nearest neighbor on one side was thirty miles distant and on the other side twelve miles. Hospitality in those days was not practiced to any great extent, but as settlers began to arrive the Haines farm was one of the most generally visited and most popular, for this genial man has cver had a heart kindly disposed towards not only his friends, but all who are in need, and his reputation for charity and generosity is too well known to require comment. For the past five years he has been postmaster of the station established on his ranch and

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known as Eckley, and it is not too visionary to suppose that interests will congregate around this mail center, and develop into one of the thrifty small towns for which the coun- ty is becoming famous. Of the fourteen chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Haines, Mrs. Jose- phine Myers lives at Port Townsend, Wash .; Alfred is deceased; Joseph E., C. W., and L. L., are farmers in Curry county ; J. L. is engaged in farming in Idaho; Rupert is living in Grant county ; Oscar is in Alaska; Mrs. Ida Murphy is a resident of California ; Mrs. Ruby Portwood and Mrs. Mary Staats live at Mon- mouth, Ore .; Harriet and Chafey D. are at home with their parents; and Marion is de- ceased. Mr. Haines is an active politician notwithstanding that many years have passed over his head, and in his younger years he held many offices of trust and responsibility. He was elected county commissioner in 1862, and has since filled nearly all of the local offices. He is especially active in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, of which he has been a member for many years. He is one of the leading farmers and stock-raisers in Curry county, and represents all that is substantial in acquirement and character.

JOSEPH O. HAMAKER. In the compar- atively new state of Oregon and especially in the southern and eastern portions where few railroads are as yet located, the profession of civil engineering is followed to advantage, and Joseplı O. Hamaker has for the past twenty years engaged in this line of work. While making this his special business all his life he has at various times experimented in other ventures, among them stock-raising, general merchandising, etc., but has always come back to his most fitting occupation, which he now follows at Bonanza, in Kla- math county, Ore., having lived in that state since 1879.

On the paternal side Mr. Hamaker is of German descent, his great-grandfather com- ing to America from Germany and locating in Pennsylvania, where his son David, father of Joseph O., was born. When yet a boy, David Hamaker was brought with the family to Noble county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, and became a Methodist minister. It was in Ohio that his marriage took place in 1845, and two years later he removed to Iowa, settling first in Marion county, and in 1865 in Van Buren county, where his de- mise occurred in 1866, when he was but forty- five years old. Three years before his death he had enlisted as chaplain in the Fortieth Iowa Infantry and served faithfully until the

close of the war, a period of eighteen months, during which time he underwent the exposure which really caused his death. Also a native of Pennsylvania, the mother of Joseph Ham- aker, who was before marriage Rebecca Rogers, moved to Ohio when young, being reared in Noble county and living in that state until her marriage with Mr. Hamaker and their subsequent removal to Iowa. Con- tinuing in the latter state after her first hus- band's death until 1869, she then returned to Ohio for a visit, after which, in 1870, she and her family located on the Osage seeded lands in Montgomery county, Kans. After a three years' residence there she was married to B. B. Stewart and removed to Allen coun- ty, Kans., where Mr. Stewart was claimed by death in 1874, having been married but one year. His widow removed the follow- ing year to Klamath county, Ore., where she was united in marriage for the third time, being joined in matrimony in 1877 with W. H. Horton; both are now deceased, Mrs. Horton passing away December 29, 1886, at the age of sixty-three years.

Although a resident of Oregon for so many years, Joseph O. Hamaker claims Iowa as his native state, and was born near Marys- ville, Marion county, July 30, 1856. A dili- gent student, he was early educated in the common schools and later in the high school, where he devoted much of his time to the study of civil engineering. When he had attained the age of twenty-three years he left Allen county, Kans., and journeyed across the great plains to the much-talked-of state of Oregon and there he joined his step-father, Mr. Horton, in Klamath county, in 1880. En- tering into partnership with a brother, S. C. Hamaker, he engaged in the stock business until 1887, when he sold out his interest and removing to Bonanza, embarked into mercan- tile life. Tiring of this after two years, he again sold out his interest and became inter- ested in the real estate business and survey- ing, in connection with which he was inter- ested in timber lands, and also officiated as a notary public. He has engaged in civil enginecring for the past twenty years, meet- ing with excellent success.

The year 1886 witnessed the marriage in Klamath county of Mr. Hamaker to Miss Anna M. Horton, who was born October 2, 1869, in Oregon in the beautiful Willamette valley. Their happy home is blessed with the presence of their six children, whose names are as follows: Ora R., H. Earl, Mont. W., Marie E., Marvin Horton and Hilda V. In political convictions Mr. Hamaker stands firm for the Republican party and is an active pol-

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itician, having served as justice of the peace for many years, as school director, and at present being town recorder of Bonanza. As popular in fraternal circles as in political re- lations, he holds a membership in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bonanza ; is a charter member of Bonanza Lodge No. 143, having passed all the chairs; has been a past delegate to the Grand Lodge and is at present acting as secretary of the local lodge. He also belongs to Lodge No. 110, A. O. U. W., at Klamath Falls. A patriot to a marked degree, he at one time served four and a half years in Troop B, Oregon National Guard, as a cavalryman, three years of that time acting as sergeant. His record speaks for itself; we need say but little as to the esteem and confidence in which he is held by all who know him.

RANSOM HENRY WHITEHEAD. That capacity for determined and independent action which became apparent when Ransom Henry Whitehead ran away from the drudgery of a Wisconsin farm and enlisted in the Civil war when he was scarcely fifteen years old, proved something more than a temporary trait, traceable to the excitement of the time, or the pressure brought to bear by his youthful companions. It has followed him from the field of battle to the field of business, and enabled him to grasp wait- ing opportunities in such a manner as to draw out their financial worth, and turn them to the best possible account. It thus happens that he is one of the substantial, benevolent and public- spirited men of Jackson county, a former exten- sive miner, stock-raiser, speculator in lands and mines, and a director, and one of the incorpora- tors, of the Medford Bank.

The ancestors of Mr. Whitehead were first heard of in England, from where his paternal grandfather emigrated to the United States, set- tling in Trenton, N. J. His son, James, the father of Ransom, was born in Trenton, N. J., and the grandfather afterward engaged in the woolen mill business near Philadelphia, in time owning a mill of his own. He lived to the ad- vanced age of ninety-six years, and died at the home of his son in Wisconsin, in 1893. James Whitehead removed to Alton, Ill., about 1834, and there worked at the carpenter trade and mar- ried Elizabeth Linker, who was born in New- burn, N. C., and died on the old Wisconsin homestead at the age of seventy-six. This home- stead was taken up by Mr. Whitehead two years after his marriage, or in 1836, and consisted of three hundred and twenty acres of land in Rock county. It was a wilderness wlien he first went there, and his neighbors were few and far apart.

Yet he made a comfortable home for those de- pendent upon his energy and care, rearing his five children in comfort, among them being Ran- som Henry, born in Rock county, January 10, 1847. In 1853 the elder Whitehead took a trip to California with the possible expectation of making it his home, but returned after eighteen months, well content to spend the remainder of his days in the middle west. He died on his farm at the age of seventy-eight years.

As a boy Ransom Whitehead used to trudge through two miles of snow to the little log school- house in Rock county, and if memory serves him rightly the work on the home farm was sufficient to employ the time not spent in school. Fearing parental opposition, he said nothing about en- listing in the Civil war, and August 22, 1862, be- came a soldier in Company H, Thirty-third Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry at Janesville. He was not afraid of danger because he had never en- countered it, and he therefore went forth to do and dare with fine courage, perseveringly main- tained to the end of the combat. For a time his regiment was with the Seventeenth Army Corps, and later with the Sixteenth, and from the battle of Vicksburg, July 4, to the close of the war, he was with General Grant or General Smith. He participated in the battles of Cold Water, Pleas- ant Hill, Jackson, Tupelo, and many minor skir- mishes, and was sent to Missouri after Price, and to Nashville after Hood. January 4, 1863, he had the thumb shot off from his right hand on the Hatchie river, by accident. In 1864, while assisting in tearing up the Jacksonville & Mobile Railroad, he sustained a severe rupture, from the effects of which he still suffers. For a time he was at Fort Blakely, Miss., was then sent to Montgomery, Ala., then to Tuscumbia, Ala. He was discharged at Madison, Wis., August 28, 1865, a sadder and vastly wiser youth than when he first donned the blue of the Union cause.

After the war Mr. Whitehead ran a threshing- machine in Wisconsin for a season, and in the spring of 1867 removed to California and found employment in a saw-mill on the Feather river. In May, 1867, he went to the Comstock mine at Virginia City, Nev., and for eighteen months mined and prospected as an employe of the mine- owners. He then engaged in the stock business near Big Bend, on the Carson river, and in con- nection therewith freighted in the neighborhood, engaging also in general farming. His location proved a fine and profitable one, and he remained on the farm for the long period of sixteen years. Disposing of his interests in 1881, he came to Umatilla county, Ore., and started a wheat-rais- ing business, at one time owning a section and a quarter of land. His former success was dupli- cated in this new departure, and he continued to raise wheat until selling this farmi in 1890. Mr.

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Whitehead reached Medford October 13, 1890, intending to settle down to a quiet, retired life, but his innate energy and accustomed habits re- belled at leisure, forcing him again into the active arena of work. He began to loan money and invest in various securities, also speculated in stock, grain, produce, and other fluctuating com- modities, about the same time becoming interest- ed in mining in Josephine county. In 1892 he purchased an interest in the Hale mines of that county, but sold his stock in July, 1901. Aside from assisting in the incorporation of the Med- ford Bank he has aided in the starting of other town enterprises, his efforts being especially noteworthy while serving in the city council from 1899 to 1901. During the term he was chairman of many of the committees, and it was principally through his strenuous efforts that the present sewage system was placed. This pro- ject was bitterly fought for a year or more, but its present popularity is the best guarantee of the wise far-sightedness of those in control of its construction. Another bitter contest was waged over the present water system, but this opposi- tion was overruled, and resulted in greater con- venience for everyone. If determined, Mr. Whitehead backs his determination with practical good sense, and thorough consideration for the best interests of his county. He has repeatedly won the gratitude and praise of his erstwhile op- ponents, converting them into his stanchest sup- porters.

On the farm of Dr. Glen, in what is now Glen county, Cal., Mr. Whitehead married Lizzie Johnson, a native daughter of Wisconsin. Of the three children born of this union, Leonard and Ray are deceased, and Grace is living with her parents. Mr. Whitehead is a Republican, and is fraternally identified with the Blue Lodge No. 103, A. F. & A. M. of Medford. He is a vigorous representative of the self-made, well made man, and as such deserves both his popu- larity and success.

JOHN W. FELTER came to Bandon in 1888, and has since become known as an ex- pert contracting carpenter and ship-builder. Of German extraction, he was born in War- ren county, Iowa, September 19, 1848, a son of David Askew and Mary Viola (Atkinson) Felter, born in Ohio September 15, 1815, and in Indiana, April 16, 1820, respectively. The paternal great-great-grandfather presumably settled in Ulster county, N. Y., where the great-grandfather, David Felter, was born in 1788, and where the grandfather, John David Felter, was born near Montgomery, April 14, 1790. In 1800 the great-grandfather and grandfather moved to Hamilton county, Ohio,

locating near Montgomery, where the latter married, September 1, 1814, Susan, daughter of David Askew, both born in Baltimore, Md. On this Ohio farm David Askew Felter was born and here his father died at an advanced age. David Askew Felter moved to Indiana while that state was wild and unsettled, and later made his home in Missouri until locat- ing in Warren county, Iowa, near Indianola, in 1847. He was a shoemaker by trade, and plied his trade wherever he lived, and in con- nection therewith engaged in general farm- ing to some extent. In 1854 he started for St. Paul, Minn., but changed his mind on the way and stopped in Dubuque, Iowa, where he followed his trade until moving to Clay- ton county in 1856. In 1865 he located on a farm in Nodaway county, Mo., and in 1868 removed to Clay county, Kans., near Clifton, sixteen miles from Clay Center. He was somewhat of a wanderer and, being master of a useful trade, always found work with which to support his family. In 1887 he settled near Oregon, in Holt county, Mo., retired from active life, and in 1897 came to his pres- ent home in Bandon, where he is enjoying good health and spirits at the age of eighty- eight. He is a Republican in politics, and is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ten children were born into his fam- ily, six sons and four daughters, John W. being the fifth child and third oldest boy.

At the age of fifteen years and eight months John W. Felter enlisted in Company F, Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry, and at the same time welcomed the opportunity as a relief from the monotony of farming. He had few recreations and but scant chance to acquire an education, and the spirit of patriotism soared to the highest pinnacle in his expectant heart. Although this was in 1864, and but a year remained of the conflict, he served out the three months and ten days of his enlistment, and then re-enlisted in Company L, Second Iowa Cavalry, as a scouting private in the de- partment of the Mississippi. He saw some- thing of actual warfare, and was sufficiently exposed to realize the horrors of war, so that after his discharge at Selma, Ala., in 1865, he returned to his home in Missouri, whither his parents had in the meantime removed, quite content to settle down to a peaceful existence. Two years later, however, the fever of unrest inspired him to again leave home, and he went to western Kansas, where he found employment driving teams for the government at Fort Harker. In May, 1869, he changed his base of operations to Fort Sill, which he helped to build, remaining in this locality until going to Mount Pleasant,

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Tex., in November of the same year. In Texas he clerked in a general store until 1872, going then to Kansas, and from there to St. Joseph, Mo. Here he became connected with the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad as brakeman, soon afterward be- ing promoted to the position of conductor and maintaining the same until the spring of 1876. In the spring of 1883 he engaged in running an elevator for handling grain in Clifton, Kans., and in May, 1888, came to Bandon, where he has since lived. For two years he tried his fortune at logging, but has since con- tracted for carpenter work, house and ship- building, and has accomplished much of the important work in his line in this part of the county. At one time he took up land five and a half miles southeast of Bandon, but soon afterward sold it and purchased town prop- erty which has since become valuable.

Although independent in politics, Mr. Fel- ter has had considerable experience as an office-liolder, his practical good sense and lib- eral ideas making him a desirable candidate. At present he is serving his third term as councilman, and he has been president of the council for a year. While in Texas he became prominent at a time when the state was in an unsettled condition, and he served as deputy sheriff when the state was under martial law. He is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic.

At St. Joseph, Mo., Mr. Felter married Mary A. Petit, a native daughter of Missouri, whose father, Dr. Alphro Petit, was born at Far Rockaway Beach. Dr. Petit followed his pro- fession at Quincy, Il1., for many years, and in time located in Missouri, where he founded the county seat of Maries county, and called it Vienna. During the Civil war he took sides with the south and went to the front with General Price as a surgeon, his service resulting in continual exposure and long, tire- some rides over the prairies. His usually strong constitution failed to bear up under the strain of unusually arduous demands, and he died in the Cherokee Nation in December, 1864. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Felter, of whom Charles D. lives in Ban- don; Richard A. makes his home in Kirkland, Wash .; Lloyd William is deceased; Roberta A. is the wife of Wilbur Hover, of Bandon ; and Ella Ruth lives at home. The oldest son, Charles D., is entitled to special mention be- cause of his meritorious military service. He was born in Clifton, Kans., April 25, 1877, and was reared on the paternal farm, developing excellent business ability as opportunity came his way. March 20, 1897, he enlisted at the Mare Island navy yard in the United States

Marine Corps for five years, and with his regiment started on the record-breaking jour- ney of the great battle ship Oregon around the Horn. All the world recalls accounts of this splendid ship hurrying up along the South American coast, and with the sailors already assembled off the coast of Cuba, trembled lest it be captured by the enemy before reaching the scene of activity. Mr. Felter participated in the battle of Santiago, and received his discharge from the service July 4, 1901. De- cember 20, 1891, he received his initial train- ing as a member of the Oregon National guard, remaining with that regiment for five years, attaining to the rank of first sergeant.

ORSON AVERY STEARNS. One of the best stock ranches in Klamath county lies six and three-quarters miles south- west of Klamath Falls and comprises four hundred and seventeen acres, of which three hundred acres have been improved. This place has been the home of Mr. Stearns since April 5, 1867, and its fine condition is due wholly to his earnest and untiring efforts through all these years. A specialty is made of stock-raising and the dairy business, for which purposes he keeps more than one hun- dred head of cattle. It has been only through the most constant and difficult labor that he has brought his land to its present condition, and for his effective and judicious exertions he is entitled to rank among the leading stock- men of the county.

On his father's farm sixteen miles north- west of Rockford, Winnebago county, Ill., Orson Avery Stearns was born January 9, 1843, being a son of David Ebenezer and Fi- delia S. (Cannon) Stearns, who were mar- ried September 19, 1840. His father, David E., was born at Monkton, Vt., February II, 1808, a son of Rev. John and Asenath (Camp- bell) Stearns. At nine years of age he left home and became an apprentice to the car- penter's trade. When fourteen years old he started out for himself, wandering here and there, and working wherever an opportunity was presented. Many of the early buildings in Buffalo, N. Y., were erected with him as one of the workmen. During the early '30S he went to Winnebago county, Ill. At that time Illinois was considered the far distant west. Settlers were few, advantages con- spicuous by their absence, and improvements also lacking. He took up land from the gov- ernment and engaged in farming there until 1853. Meanwhile he had met and married Miss Cannon, who was born near Twinsburg, Ohio, September 30, 1820, and accompanied

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her parents to Winnebago county, Ill., set- tling at Tyler, three miles from Mr. Stearns' place. April 5, 1853, Mr. Stearns started for Oregon, crossing the plains with ox-teams and on October 9 camping near Wagner's Springs, eleven miles south of Ashland. Two days later he took a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres on Wagner creek, near Talent, Jackson county, where he re- mained until his death. To him belongs the credit of raising the first peach ever raised in Jackson county, where fruit is now both plentiful and of such luscious quality as to gain widespread fame. In politics he was a life-long Republican. His wife died Febru- ary 4, 1869; he survived her many years, passing away August 31, 1886. They were the parents of six children, viz .: Oscar Le- roy, deceased; Orson Avery, of this sketch ; Newel Doski, deceased; Arminda Melissa, wife of James Purves, of Talent; George Ar- thur, who died in 1861; and Emilie Maria, also deceased.

When ten years of age Orson Avery Stearns accompanied the family from Illinois to Ore- gon, where he grew to manhood upon the land claim. November 17, 1864, he became a member of Company I, First Oregon Infan- try, being the first man to enlist as a private in that company. He remained in Jackson county until May 25, 1865, when he went to Fort Klamath, where his company com- mander, with part of the company, located and built a new road from the fort to Rogue river, passing near Crater lake, at that time almost unknown. It was while out viewing the progress of the construction work on the road that Captain Sprague and Sergeant Stearns met a party of gentlemen from Jack- sonville, Ore., and together went to view the wonderful lake, Sergeant Stearns and a Mr. Cates attempting a descent to the water. Sergeant Stcarns first reached the water's edge and christ- ened the lake at that time Lake Majesty. It was afterwards called Crater lake from the discovery of a crater in the island near the northwestern bluff.

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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 137

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