Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 142

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 142

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In the spring of 1888 Mr. Narcross came to Oregon and settled in Jackson county, where soon afterward he bought twenty-four acres one mile east of Central Point. The entire tract was heavily timbercd, and it represented the work of many months and years to remove the timber and bring the land under cultivation, but this he has done, and in addition has erected a neat frame dwelling and good outbuildings. The improvement of this desirable property by no means represents the limit of Mr. Narcross' activities. Finding upon experimenting that fruit could be successfully grown in this local- ity, he planted his place in an apple orchard and established here the first nursery in the vicinity of Central Point. This he has since con- ducted, although it is his present intention to retire from the business as soon as practicable. Another important organization which owes its inception largely to his enthusiastic support is the Rogue River Fruit Growers' Union, of which he is secretary and manager and which has its office and packing house at Medford. No man in the valley has done more than he to advance the fruit industry, and the large success it has attained may be attributed in a considera- ble measure to his keen judgment and thor- ougli knowledge of the business. Aside from voting the Republican ticket at elections and holding membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen (in which he has held all the chairs) he has devoted his attention wholly to the fruit industry since coming to Southern

GEORGE W. KRUSE. A well-known and enterprising representative of the mercantile industries of Roseburg, George W. Kruse is conducting a successful grocery business, which he has built up by strictly honorable methods. Paying close attention to the details of his trade, taking especial care to consult the tastes and interests of his numerous customers, and being prudent in the management of his affairs, he has won the confidence and respect of the com- munity, thus paving the way for his present prosperity. A native of Clayton county, Iowa, he was born April 9, 1863, a son of W. H. Kruse.

At the age of two and one-half years W. H. Kruse left Germany, the country of his birth, with his parents, coming with them to Ohio, where he was reared and educated. As a young man he learned the trade of carpenter, which he subsequently followed in Indiana and Illinois. Still continuing his march westward, he located in Iowa, where he was engaged in farming and carpentering until 1867. Going in that year to Nebraska, he bought land in Syra-

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cuse, Otoe county, and was there engaged in farming nine years. Coming to Oregon in 1876, he purchased a ranch on the Calapooia river, near Oakland, Douglas county, and on his five hundred acres of land carried on general farm- ing and stock-raising until his retirement from active pursuits. Settling then in Roseburg, he lived here until his death, in 1893. His widow was also born in Germany, and now resides in Roseburg. Of their nine children, eight grew to years of maturity, and seven are living, George W. being the fifth child in order of birth.

Beginning his education in the district schools of Syracuse, Neb., George W. Kruse completed his studies in the schools of Oakland, Ore., remaining at home until twenty-one years old. He afterwards worked as a farm laborer for two years, and was then employed in a butcher's shop in Oakland. Subsequently locat- ing on the Columbia river, in Washington, he was engaged as a clerk for nine months. Re- turning to Douglas county, he spent the follow- ing four years as a clerk in the United States Land Office, serving under John H. Shupe and A. M. Crawford, the former being register and the latter receiver. Three months after the change of administration, when he left the land office, Mr. Kruse embarked in the mercantile business. Buying out the small grocery of Fred Ropp, he gradually enlarged the business, and as the demand for his goods increased added to his stock, and when more room was required he moved into his present commodious quarters, where he is carrying on a thriving trade. He makes a specialty of dealing in staple and fancy groceries, and also carries a fine stock of queens- ware, his ambition being to please his patrons.

Mr. Kruse married in Roseburg, Alfaretta Kennedy, a native of Kansas, and they have six children living. namely: Walter, Vesta. Leo- nore, Dewev, Bertram and Velma. Mr. Kruse takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, and has served one term as alderman. Politi- cally he sustains the principles of the Republi- can party by voice and vote. Fraternallv he is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and religiously he belongs to the Christian Church.

WILLIAM I. MORRISON. Of distin- guished Scotch ancestry, of which he is a worthy scion, the above-named gentleman also represents one of the oldest families in Oregon. To him belongs the distinction of being one of the oldest native sons of Clatsop county, and it is claimed bv some that to him alone belongs that distinction. Mr. Morrison is an extensive land owner in the county above mentioned and has successfully followed dairy farming for

many years. He was born on the old Solomon Smith donation claim, on Clatsop plains, April 28, 1845, and he is a son of Robert Wilson and Nancy (Irwin) Morrison.

Robert Wilson Morrison was a pioneer of Clatsop county and as early as 1846 he located on a donation claim nine miles south of Astoria. He was born in Kentucky in 1811. His marriage with Nancy Irwin is supposed to have taken place in Missouri and she was born April 26, 1809, probably in Tennessee. These parents reared nine children, six of them sons, and three daughters, namely : Martha A., wife of John Minto, of Salem, Ore .; Mary Ellen, wife of Hiram Carnahan, of Clatsop county; Hannah M., wife of C. W. Hamblin, of Morrison, Ore .; John H., who died in Clatsop county in 1852; Thomas Benton, a carpenter of Astoria; James F., who died in 1900, in Alaska, while searching for gold; William I., our subject ; David Wil- son, deceased, and Robert Jefferson, who resides on a farm adjoining that of his brother William.

Robert W. Morrison started on his trip to the far west in 1844. from Missouri. He was one of the captains of the train of emigrants and had two teams. one of which was driven by John Minto. They went by boat to Clatsop county after reaching The Dalles. The first winter was spent on Clatsop plains, on the Solo- mon Smith donation claim, which Mr. Morrison rented one year. In 1846 he took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres nine miles south of Astoria, and the remainder of his life was devoted principally to clearing and improv- ino it. He operated a saw-mill on a small scale, his mill heing located near the seaside on the plains in the vicinity of Morrison's Station, which was named after this prominent familv.

Mr. Morrison served as deputy sheriff of Clatsop county in the early days and was also a member of the state legislature from his sec- tion. He was a life-long Democrat in politics and a Presbyterian in his religious faith. He was particularly active in church work and assisted in the building of the First Presbyterian Church on Clatsop plains, which was among the first of that denomination erected in the north- west. He also donated ten acres of ground as a site. This church is located near Morrison's Station. He died May 15. 1894, on the old donation claim, where his beloved companion had previously died October 21, 1889.

April 21, 1895. William J. Morrison was united in marriage with Elizabeth Tagg, who was born in England in 1859. Mrs. Morrison came to America in 1887 and located at that time in Astoria, where she lived with her brother Alexander, who had a candy factory in that city. She and her husband have had one

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child, Nancy Irwin. Mr. Morrison has devoted his whole life to farming and its accessories. He owns four hundred and thirty acres of his father's donation claim, and has two hundred and fifty acres under cultivation. The remain- cier is devoted to stock-raising, and his dairy is composed of thirty-two high-grade cows. Like his father he is a Democrat, and has rendered admirable service as road supervisor and as school director. He is an ideal farmer, and is highly respected by all who know him.

CALEB TOWNSEND OLIVER. Included in the list of prominent citizens in the vicinity of Merrill, Klamath county, Ore., is Mr. Oliver, who has turned the opportunities he found in life to profit by establishing himself in a suc- cessful business which soon brought him into prominence in his section. He has been identi- fied with various industries in the far west, first in California and later in Oregon, since his youth, but it was not until 1884 that he took up his residence in Klamath county, and his home has been within its boundaries ever since. Two years later he bought a farm near Merrill, which is still his home, and at once launched forth into the stock business in connection with general farming. Purchasing at that time a farm of one hundred and fifty-three acres, he found the same almost covered with sage brush, a miserable crop, suggestive of starvation, which to-day cov- crs thousands of square miles in the arid belt where the buffalo formerly roamed, and after them cattle, eating their wholesome fill, and by being allowed to graze recklessly, the nutritious grasses of the early day were eaten off close to the ground, having no chance to seed, and the region once covered by their carpet was trans- formed into a waste. Mr. Oliver, by well-laid plans, succeeded in ridding his farm of the sage brush and has made many fine improvements. He makes a specialty of raising pure-bred horses of the Percheron breed, and owns thirteen stal- lions. He also has fifty head of fine cattle and one hundred and fifty head of horses.

An Ohioan by birth, born in Goshen, Novem- ber 7, 1862, Caleb T. Oliver is a son of Joseph Campbell and Martha Washington (Gatch) Oliver, and descends from pure Eng- lish stock; both parents are still living. The father, a native of Goshen, Ohio, born in 1836, is engaged in the real estate business at his home in Los Angeles, Cal., and for many years followed teaching as a profession, ranking among the ablest instructors of his day. In his youth he received a good education, graduating from Miami University of that state. He at once took up the occupation of teaching and was so engaged upon the outbreak of the Civil

war. Nobly responding to our country's call for volunteers, he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Ohio Infantry and served until the close of the war. An active participant in many engagements, he was taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamauga, and was sent to Libby prison, where after a six months' captivity he succceded in making his escape, and rejoined his comrades, having been promoted to a captaincy for meritorious conduct in the above battle, and served as such until the close of the war. He can relate many thrilling incidents of those perilous days, and was with Sherman on his triumphant march to the sea, during which time he commanded a detachment of two companies. After the successful termi- nation of the war Mr. Oliver returned to his home in Ohio, and re-engaged in teaching there until 1867. Being tendered a more lucrative position at Champaign, Ill., he removed thither and was principal of the schools there until 1873. About that time he went to California and accepted the principalship of the school at Santa Barbara, continuing to teach there until 1878. Retiring from that profession about 1880, he turned his attention to the real estate busi- ness and has been successfully engaged in that capacity ever since. The marriage of Joseph C. Oliver took place in 1860, when he linked his fortunes with those of Miss Martha Washington Gatch, born in Ohio in January, 1843. Mrs. Oliver has proved a worthy helpmate to her husband, is a lady of many excellent traits of character, and a daughter of John D. Gatch. who moved from Maryland to Virginia and later to Ohio, settling at Mulberry. He descended from Godfrey Gatch, who with his family came to America. December 26, 1727, settling in the vicinity of Baltimore, and was the progenitor of the family in America. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, five are living; one, Aubrey Stanton, the fourth born, died in infancy. The others are Nellie Gatch, of Los Angeles; Caleb T .; J. Scott Oli- ver, a special war correspondent for the St. Louis Globe Democrat, who is now in South America. working in the interests of the World's Fair to be held in St. Louis in 1904: Byron L., who graduated from the Ann Arbor law school at Ann Arbor, Mich., and is now an able attor- ney in Los Angeles, Cal. ; and Myrtle, who mar- ried Prof. F. W. Stien. and both are success- fully engaged in teaching in the Philippine Islands.

Up to the time of his twelfth year the life of Caleb T. Oliver was in no way different from that of any other bov born on the same plane of life. It was simply a plain, prosaic story of hovhood days, spent attending school first in Illinois and later in California. When grown to manhood he went to Klamath county, Ore.,

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and spent five years as a vaquero, purchasing in 1886 his farm near Merrill, where he moved in 1891. The following year, in connection with farm pursuits, he engaged in hauling freight from Montague to Klamath county and was engaged in this work to some extent until 1900, having since given his undivided attention to stock-raising.

The marriage of Mr. Oliver took place October 21, 1890, and Miss Frances Gertrude Brown, a native of Woodland, Cal., was the lady of his choice. She was born May 23, 1873, and her father John T. Brown, a native of Wiscon- sin, was an early settler in California, and at his death, in 1902, he was fifty-nine years old. One son, Joseph, now brightens the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, and in him all their hopes are centered. A Republican in his political views, Mr. Oliver has served one term as justice of the peace and for a number of years as school director. He has a poultry yard second to none in his locality, and finds the buff-cochin variety the most profitable of all kinds, having many fine birds of that variety on his premises.

J. OBED SHORT. There are compara- tively few instances on record where a man only forty-five years of age has attained success by strenuous effort, amassed a fortune, lost the same by speculation, and has regained his fallen fortune, once more acquiring a position of wealth and affluence. Men who can be included in such a class furnish an interesting study, and as an example of one who so won distinction in Klamath county, Ore .. we mention J. Obed Short, rightly termed the "potato king" of the county, from the fact that he is one of the few men who thoroughly understand the growing of those tubers in that section, and it is worthy of note that he expects to compile a work entitled, "The Secret of Successful Potato Growing."

On the paternal side of the family Mr. Short boasts of sturdy Scotch ancestors and his grand- father Lauman Short, belonged to a distin- guished family of Virginia, but removed in after years to Kentucky, settling in the vicinity, where Daniel Boone's people lived. About 1830 he went west as far as Missouri, locating among the pioneers of Cole county. He descended from pure Plymouth stock, the early members of the family settling in the neighborhood of Bunker Hill. On the maternal side Mr. Short is of Irish extraction, but the family probably originated in Holland. However, it is known that the great-grandfather came to America directly from Ireland at an early day, and the grandfather, David Van Pool, a farmer by occupation, left his home in Tennes- see, about 1836, locating in Cole county, Mo.,

near Russellville. His wife's sister ministered to the soldiers at Bunker Hill.

It was in Cole county, December 6, 1849, that the marriage of Mr. Short's parents, John A. and Mary (Van Pool) Short, was solemnized, the former born in Allen county, Ky., July 13, 1825, and the latter in Tennessee, July 15, 1827. Both parents are still living, influential and esteemed citizens of Russellville, Mo. Upon the removal of his parents to Cole county, Mo., Jolin Short was but a few years old, and he grew to manhood in the same vicinity where he has lived ever since. After an active life employed in farm pursuits he entered mercantile life, con- ducting a wholesale butcher and packing busi- ness in Russellville and Jefferson City for years. His subsequent retirement from active business was but the just reward of honest toil, and he ranks among the substantial, well-to-do men of that section as a capitalist and money-lender.

Born June 2, 1858, in Russellville, Mo., J. Obed Short is one of a large family of children, whose names are as follows: Margaret, W. D., Sarah, Obed, John and Samuel, the two latter twins; Rebecca, Robert, Delaware. Celesta and Gertrude. Margaret married Dr. H. H. Hatha- way, who lived in Indian Territory, and she is now deceased ; Sarah is the wife of I. M. George, and resides in Russellville, Mo .; Samuel is a resident of California, in the same state ; Rebec- ca became the wife of Dr. I. N. Enloe, of Jeffer- son City. who is a specialist in the treatment of appendicitis in a sanitarium there; Robert also resides in Russellville: Delaware is the wife of Mr. Cramer, an attorney at law at Olean, Mo .: and Celesta is the wife of Don Carlos, of Pisgah, Mo. As all the members of this inter- esting family who grew to manhood were reared in Missouri, J. Obed Short shared the fortunes of his brothers and attended the schools of Cole county. After completing the course in the common schools he was a student for one year at the California Seminarv, taking a preparatory course before entering the state university at Columbia, Mo .. in 1876. Having a desire to become a physician, he took a three years' course, but quit in 1879, one year prior to gradu- ating, in order to take up the study of medicine with Dr. Hathaway, continuing one year under his preceptorship. As the medical profession did not appeal very strongly to him he aban- doned all ideas in that direction and turned his attention to other matters more congenial. Locating at Sherman, Tex., in 1880. he took 11p the double occupation of cattle buying in the summer months and teaching in the winter. working in that capacity for an unbroken period of five years.

It was not until the spring of 1885 that Mr. Short located on the Pacific slope near Stock-

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ton, Cal., where he first became engaged in farm and ranch pursuits, and from the first his endeavors were crowned with success. He remained in this vicinity until 1893 and in the icantime he acquired a valuable farm of twelve hundred acres, with an assessed value of over $40,000. This magnificent farm was lost by speculation, but out of the wreck Mr. Short saving a small sum with which to begin anew, which he did in Klamath county, Ore. Purchasing a farm in 1893, twelve miles by road south of Klamath Falls, he laid the foundation of his present successful business, and to-day he owns seven hundred acres in that county. Of this, four hundred acres are under cultivation and are very productive, and his farm contains many fine improvements. Eighty acres of his land are devoted exclusively to the cultivation of potatoes, this tract being more than the com- bincd acreage of all the other potato growers in this county. In the great American bottoms, along the Mississippi, with its rich, alluvial soil, where farms of hundreds and even thousands of acres are devoted to the raising of these tubers and where potato is king of the market, this statement may seem insignificant, but not so in Oregon, where the tubers have been successfully introduced into but a few localities. A great deal of attention is also given to stock-raising by Mr. Short, especially to raising horses, and he has sixty-five choice specimens, among which are three pure-blooded Percherons. One stal- lion, a three-year-old, weighs seventeen hundred pounds. In addition to his various other inter- ests Mr. Short has a yearly yield of from fifteen to twenty hundred bushels of cereals, and adds materially to his bank account by buying and selling real estate.

February 5, 1881, in Sherman, Tex., Mr. Short was united in marriage with Miss Alice Lee D'Spain, born in Sherman, February 28, 1861, and a daughter of Dr. Thomas D'Spain, who, although of French descent, was a native of California, Mo., but died in 1898 in Texas, aged fifty-six. He was a physician of much abil- ity and prominence, and two of his brothers were killed in the battle of the Alamo during the Mexican war. The mother of Mrs. Short, whose maiden name was Jemima Miller, was born in Tennessee, and is still living, a resident of Sherman, Tex., and is sixty-four years old. She and her husband reared six children, three sons and three daughters. The eldest of these, John and Thomas, are twins, both being resi- dents of Klamath county, and both married twins, Misses Maud and Claud Newton, the only in- stance of the kind recorded in Oregon. Edith, the eldest daughter, married Almo Newton and resides near the home place. The three younger

ones, Judge Haywood, Florence and Alice, are still at home. The success of Mr. Short seems phenomenal and is attributed to his ability to manage well and to make good and paying in- vestments. In fraternal circles he affiliates with No. 7610 M. W. A., of Klamath Falls; is chief Forester of Crater Lake Lodge; and also belongs to Lodge No. 137, I. O. O. F., of Klamath Falls. In politics he is the champion of the Republican party in his section.

JOHN H. SMITH was born in St. Helens, Ore., December 4, 1862. He is a graduate of McMinnville College and of the law depart- ment of Washington and Lee University. He has been engaged in the practice of law at Asto- ria, Ore., since 1887. He has never held public office, except one term ( from 1894 to 1896) as city attorney of Astoria and one term (from 1895 to 1899) in the Oregon state senate.

WILLIAM TAYLOR. The early associa- tion of William Taylor with Oregon is recalled by him as a medley of curious happenings, in which the Indian figures conspicuously, when human lives were ended in most unexpected ways and places by the infuriated Indians, and wlien provisions were often low, and hunger stared the settlers in the face. He remembers paying as high as $1 a pound for flour, and cor- responding prices for other necessities. Mr. Taylor has the wit and resourcefulness of his fellow countrymen, who have located in every nook and cranny of this country of ours, and embellished their respective localities with the genius and inventiveness for which they are famous. He was born in the north of Ireland, in famous County Antrim, in 1826, and when nineteen years old he shook the dust of the small farm from his feet, and boarded a sail- ing vessel bound for America. Six weeks and three days the craft plowed its way through storm and calm, burdened with a cargo of human freight in which dwelt many a hopeful and happy heart. Surelv the lad of nineteen, with a roseate future before him, stepped from the gang plank with as much assurance as any of his fellow travelers, and had no thought for anything save success and happiness which would enable him to write back encouraging let- ters to the home people.

Mr. Taylor reached Philadelphia in 1845. and found employment in the woolen mills, receiving $3 a week for his services, and out of that being obliged to board himself. From Pennsylvania he removed to Ohio in 1849. and while on a farm in Preble county saved enough money to join some new found friends in a journey to the coast. He

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purchased a third interest in a wagon, three yoke of oxen, and provisions to tide them over, and besides had two cows to furnish milk dur- ing the wearisome weeks and months. The party arrived in Jackson county, Ore., Septem- ber 21, 1852, and that fall Mr. Taylor made arrangements to purchase a claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres. That winter he worked in the mines of Jacksonville, and in the spring returned to his ranch, where he was destined to encounter dire experiences with the Indians. So exceedingly troublesome were the braves during 1853-54 that the settlers were obliged to build a fort on the Tolman ranch in which they spent the nights, returning to their farms in the morn- ing. This move resulted from an attack early in the morning on sixteen men, four of whom were killed by the Indians, and four wounded. At the same time the grain was completely de- stroyed, property confiscated, and stock either killed or stolen. During these times Mr. Tay- lor displayed great courage, and on many occa- sions risked his life in his encounters with the Indians. He took an active part in all the Indian troubles and engaged in many batties. He made himself useful in many capacities when the country was taking on a semblance of order, and invariably supported progressive and last- ing efforts at improvement. He was especially interested in the making of roads in the early days, and the people who now ride along the smoothi, well kept country thoroughfares little realize what the making of roads meant to the pioneers. They worked under many disadvan- tages, and when their farms required all the care which could possibly be expended on them. Gradually his land was cleared, and crops raised without fear of molestation, and to-day his farm is one of the best improved in this section of the country. He has three hundred and fifty-one acres of land.

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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 142

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