Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 32

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 32

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

WILLIAM D. STILLWELL. Closely iden- tified with the agricultural and industrial in- terests of Tillamook county is William D. Still- well, who owns a well-improved and productive ranch in Tillamook, where he is profitably en- gaged in farming and dairying. As an Oregon pioneer, the son of a pioneer family, and a citi- zen of prominence. he is especially deserving of mention in this biographical volume. A son of the late Thomas Stillwell, he was born Noven- ber 16, 1824, in Logan county, Ohio, near Belle- fontaine. His grandfather, Elias Stillwell, was born in Wales. At the age of fourteen years he came to this country and settled in the south- castern part of Virginia, where he afterwards

251

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

engaged in farming. Selling his plantation to his oldest son in 1810, he removed to Ohio, where he resided until his death, at the age of ninety-six years. He was a soldier in the Rev- olution.

Born November 11, 1787, in Grayson county, Va., Thomas Stillwell grew to manhood in his native state. In 1809 he went to Ohio as a frontiersman, taking up land in Logan county, where he cleared and improved a farm. Re- moving to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1829, he took up a pre-emption claim under President Jack- son, and there followed farming three years. In 1832 he became one of the original settlers 'of Laporte county, Ind., and Stillwell Station and Stillwell Prairie, in that county, were named in his honor. In the spring of 1834 he visited Ra- cine, Wis., with a view to locating there, going via Chicago, which was then but a rude hamlet. Not being favorably impressed with Wisconsin, he returned to Michigan in 1835, and the follow- ing three years lived in Cassopolis, Cass county, In 1838 he and his family, consisting of his wife and five children, left Michigan with the inten- tion of proceeding directly to the Oregon coun- try, but as no party of immigrants left the ren- dezvous at Independence, Mo., after their arrival until the spring of 1843, Mr. Stillwell remained in Louisa county, Iowa, near Wapello, until the latter year. He then started for Independence to join an emigrant train there, but arrived after the party had started on its westward journey. Crossing the plains with ox teams in 1844, it was six months before he arrived in Yamhill county, where to took up a tract of land that was still in its virgin wildness. Thinking to find a more desirable location farther south, he sold out in 1850 and took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres at Yoncalla, Douglas county. Ten years later he came to Tillamook and purchased the Edrick Thomas donation claim, on which a large part of the town now stands. He improved a good farm, and until his death, which occurred in 1871. at the age of eighty- four years, he was one of the most esteemed and respected residents of the place. Laying out the town of Tillamook, he first named it Lincoln, but finding there was another town of that name in the state he changed it to Tillamook, the plural of which, Tillamooks, in the Indian ver- nachlar, means "the meeting of many waters." He married Elizabeth Whygant, who was born in New Jersey, married in Ohio, and died, in 1860, in Yamhill county, Ore., at the age of three score and ten years. Her father, Tobias Whygant was born in Holland. In 1730, while a boy, he emigrated to America, locating first at Newark, N. J., afterwards removing to War- ren county, Ohio. Serving under General Greene in the Revolutionary war, he was wound-

ed at the battle of Ottawa Springs, being shot in the shin with a ball, which he carried to his grave. He was a farmer by occupation and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and seventeen years, dying in Logan county, Ohio. Of the union of Thomas and Elizabeth ( Why- gant ) Stillwell, five sons and seven daughters were born ; five daughters and three sons grew to years of mutnrity, and two of the daughters and three sons came to Oregon as pioneers.

The fifth child, and second son, of the parental household, William D. Stillwell, attended the district school a short time, but acquired the larger part of his education at his own fireside. Coming with his father to Oregon, he took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres, lying just southwest of North Yamhill, a town iwhich he started and named. ( North Yamhill -Yawhilles, Indian, means "crossing," or "the other side," called by Indians of east side of river.) By industry and perseverance he im- proved a good ranch, on which he lived until 1870, when he rented the farm and came to Tillamook to care for his father, who was then old and feeble. Subsequently purchasing the home farm he has carried on farming and dairy- ing with excellent pecuniary results, having two hundred and seventy-five acres of good land at the present time. A few years ago Mr. Still- well laid out the thirteen blocks of land known as Stillwell's Addition to Tillamook. December 20, 1847, Mr. Stillwell enlisted in Company D, First Oregon Regiment, and served under Capt. Philip Thompson and Colonel Gilliam for six months. While in a skirmish with the Indians he was wounded in the left hip by an arrow point, and two days later, still suffering from the wound, he took part in the battle of Stag Hollow, and was afterwards in the engage- ment known as the battle of Sandy Hollows, or Butter Creek Buttes, or Wells Springs. He also fought in the battle of Two Canons. June 25. 1848, he was discharged from service. In January, 1856, he enlisted in Company C. Ankeny Recruiting Battalion, and participated in the Yakima Indian war. He afterwards rode from Camp Cornelius to The Dalles, two hundred and twenty-five miles, for ammunition, being escorted by fifteen men, he and a com- panion by the name of Smith going through. They traveled horseback the entire distance to The Dalles, which was covered in forty-eight hours, an almost incredibly short space of time for such a long and rough journey. Upon his return Mr. Stillwell found the battle of Snake River in progress, which continued for two days. He also participated in the battle on the Yakima river. in which Captain Hembree was killed. Mr. Stillwell still carries in his left hip the arrow

252

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

point with which he was injured in the fight al- ready referred to.

Mr. Stillwell has been three times married. At North Yamhill, in 1851, he married Elizabeth Baxter, who was born in Warren county, Mo., and died in Yamhill county, Ore., in 1863, aged thirty years. Of the six children born of their union, two died in infancy, and four are living, namely : Thomas G., of Seaside, Ore .; Levi Lee, of Tillamook; Minnie V., of Tillamook, and Baxter, living in California. Mr. Stillwell was married a second time, in Yamhill county, to Annie Johanna Gubser, who was born in Switz- erland, and died in Portland, Ore. Six children were born of this union, two of whom died young, and four are living, namely : Willa, wife of William H. Eberman, of Tillamook; Arthur J., of Tillamook; Wilbur J., of Tillamook, and Walter Royal, also of Tillamook. Mr. Stillwell was married the third time in Tillamook to Mary E. (Armentrout ) Myers. Mr. Stillwell is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and has taken an active part in public affairs. In 1872 he served one term as sheriff of Tillamook county ; was county assessor of Tillamook coun- ty in 1888; in 1874 was elected county superin- tendent of schools and served one term; and in 1890 was a representative in the state legislature, in which he served on the committees on creden- tials, fish and game.

J. D. HAMILTON. Conspicuous among the enterprising, progressive and popular business men of Roseburg is J. D. Hamilton, president of The Guarantee & Loan Company. A man of ability, business tact and undoubted integrity of purpose, he has gained to a marked degree the confidence and good will of his fellow citizens, and has secured a firm position among the lead- ing men of the city and the county. A son of Isaac Hamilton, he was born at Fort Jones, Cal., May 22, 1867.

Born and bred at Hiramsburg, Ohio, Isaac Hamilton, with the push and energy character- istic of the American youth, left his native state in 1848 and journeyed in an ox team train across the plains to California. After engaging in mining a few years, he settled at Fort Jones, Sis- kiyou county, where he purchased a tract of state land, and also bought a partly improved ranch. Immediately beginning the improvement of a homestead, he has since been actively employed in agricultural pursuits, having now one of the finest and most productive farms in that section of Cali- fornia, a large part of his six hundred acres being in a yielding condition. During the Rogue River Indian war and the Modoc war he took an active part. Ile is a Democrat in politics and a citizen of prominence. He married Sarah Davidson,

who was born in Indiana, and died, at the age of thirty-two years, in Fort Jones, Cal., where her parents settled when they came to California in 1849. Her father was born in Scotland and her mother in Virginia.

The youngest of a family of six children, four of whom are living, two sisters being in Cali · fornia, and a brother, John, the superintendent of a mining company at Nome, Alaska, J. D. Ham- ilton lived on the home farm until seventeen years of age, going then to San Francisco. Re- turning to Fort Jones, he remained at home until 1886, when he entered Willamette University, at Salem, Ore. At the end of two years, in 1888, he went to eastern Oregon, locating at Heppner, where he was engaged in the abstract title and real estate business until 1893, being junior mem- ber of the firm of Brown & Hamilton. Selling out his interest in the firm, Mr. Hamilton then came to Roseburg. Buying out the Roseburg Abstract Company from George Carpy, he re- organized the company, incorporating it under the name of The Guarantee & Loan Company, with J. D. Hamilton as president and general manager, Roy McClallen as assistant manager, and D. C. Hamilton, secretary and treasurer. This company has since carried on a flourishing business, furnishing abstracts of titles to all kinds of city or country property ; handles real estate, including farming lands and city lots and blocks, and makes loans, the company's office be- ing at the court house.

While a resident of Heppner Mr. Hamilton married Miss Doris Crabtree, who was born near lone, Cal. Fraternally Mr. Hamilton is a mem- ber, and past officer, of Willow Lodge, No. 66, I. O. O. F., of Heppner ; a member, and past chief patriarch, of Union Encampment No. 9, of Roseburg ; a member of the Woodmen of the World, and the Knights of the Maccabees. Po- litically he is true to the Democratic principles in which he was reared.

CAPT. GEORGE HUNT. Remote from the beaten paths in which man seeks a livelihood is the occupation of those against whose storm de- fying homes ocean waves thunder remorselessly, and whose mission it is to light the night path of the marines. From time immemorial the light- house keeper has figured in song and story, and when brought to notice, the isolation, loneliness and self-sacrifice of his life appeals to the chiv- alry of human nature as naught else can. Yet a watery gulf intervenes between this heroic life saver and the great army of land workers, and it is only now and then, when a daring rescue is effected, when his whistle salutes one's ship in passing, or his beacon illuminates our murky ocean path, that his life receives an answering

Ausan Ragers

255

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

echo of appreciation in our hearts and minds. All along the Pacific coast, at every point of danger, some human life ascends nightly stairs, lights a lamp, and at sunrise extinguishes his beacon out of deference to the more benign light of day. One of these who for years was de- pended on to send rays of warning to travelers upon the deep was Capt. George Hunt, head keeper of the Cape Meares light house, eight and a half miles west of Tillamook, in the Pacific ocean. This was the third station along the coast occupied by this trustworthy keeper since he entered the business, in 1885. As assistant keeper he was located at the Cape Flattery light- house, Tatoosh Island, at the extreme north- west corner of the United States, for two years and three months, and was afterward transferred to the position of head keeper of the Tillamook Rock lighthouse, thirty miles down the coast from Astoria. Four years at this convinced the gov- ernment that he was one of the most efficient and reliable men in the service, and in consequence he was given the more responsible position of keeper of the Cape Meares lighthouse, the duties of which position he performed with the help of three assistants.

Captain Hunt was born in County Kildare, Ireland, December 17, 1845, and came to America with his parents in 1846. He was the third youngest child born to Mark and Letitia (Lee) Hunt, who were born and married in Ireland, and five of whose nine children were sons. The parents located in Genesee county, N. Y., where the father owned a large farm and engaged in general farming and stock-raising on a large scale. About 1865 he took his family to Bremer county, Iowa, and after five years of farming re- moved to Clay county, the same state, where his death occurred in 1869, at the age of sixty-six years. Later his wife sold the Clay county farm and returned to the old home in Genesee county, N. Y., and died there in 1875. Captain Hunt ac- companied his parents to Iowa and there com- pleted his education in the public schools and served an apprenticeship to a carpenter. In the winter of 1865 he moved to Holt county, Mo., and engaged in the livery business until the spring of 1866, and then returned to Bremer county, Iowa, and removed with his parents to Clay county. In 1873 he went to Clark county. Wis., and worked at his trade for two and a half years, then made his next home in Minneapolis, and returning to Clay county at the end of eight months.

In 1878 Captain Hunt engaged in independent farming in Clay county, Iowa, but soon after- wards determined to try his fortune in the west, to which he came by way of Panama and San Francisco. Locating at The Dalles, he worked at his trade for about a year, and for the

same length of time in Portland, removing then to Seattle, Wash., which continued to be his home from 1880 to 1885. From then until he was called to his final reward he was engaged in the lighthouse service and became one of the best known of the men whose lives have been devoted to the welfare of the coast mariners. Captain Hunt was married March 10, 1903, to Augusta Boyington, who was born in Long Island, N. Y., and came to the west many years ago with her parents. A Republican in politics, Captain Hunt took considerable interest in the political under- takings of the localities in which he lived, and while in Tillamook county served as postmaster of Barnegat. He was also school director for a number of years, and held other offices of a minor character. Captain Hunt was made a Mason in Spencer, Iowa, and after coming to Oregon joined the Fraternal Union of Tillamook. He died at Cape Meares lighthouse station July 10, 1903, after an illness of but four days. One line on his tombstone tells of the esteem in which he was held : "Beloved by all."

ANSON ROGERS. For almost half a cen- tury Anson Rogers has occupied his present farm, to the improvement of which he has de- voted the best thought of a cultured and pro- gressive mind. Purchased in 1858, and at that time consisting of three hundred and nineteen acres, the farm is located ten miles east of Marslı- field, on the south fork of the Coos river. He has built a jetty along the shore to protect his in- terests from the high water. The passing years have witnessed great changes in what was once a timbered and unmolested wilderness, and the visitor to this model farm is impressed with the sturdy character of a man who does all things well, and whose rule of life is embodied in thor- oughness, no matter how small the undertaking. Three hundred acres is the extent of the present property, and of this one hundred and twenty consists of bottom land, devoted principally to stock-raising and dairying. Mr. Rogers raises Jerseys and Holsteins, and at present milks about forty cows.

Mr. Rogers, who ought also to be classed as an educator, is of Quaker parentage, and a prized legacy is a birthright in the Church of the So- ciety of Friends. He was born at Danby, Rut- land county. Vt., April 20, 1829, and was first educated in the common schools, then at a select school, and at Manchester Seminary, his tuition at the latter institution being met from his salary as a teacher, in which occupation he engaged first at the age of seventeen, when he taught a select school. In 1853 he taught school near North Union, Ohio, remaining in the locality un- til coming to San Francisco in 1854. This jour-

256

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ney was made via the Isthmus of Panama, and in the intervening years Mr. Rogers has twice crossed the narrow but all important strip of land. In San Francisco he engaged in moving houses for a couple of years, and from this oc- cupation came to Empire City, Ore., in 1856, and united in the mercantile business with one of his brothers. Three brothers came to Coos county, of whom Stephen, living twelve miles from Marshfield, is mentioned in another part of this work. Amos C., the eldest of the three, came around the Horn in 1849, afterward en- gaged in the mercantile business in Empire City, and at present is making his home in San Fran- cisco.

In 1869 Mr. Rogers returned to the east, and April 13 of the same year was united in marriage with Lydia Dillingham, who was born January 5, 1845, and reared in Washington county, N. Y. With his bride he came to the farm upon which he had lived eleven years, and which had taken on a semblance of prosperity and comfort. Four children were born of this marriage, the oldest son, Dillingham, having died at the age of seven months. Lydia E. is the wife of John L. Bow- man, of Portland; Alice is the wife of Arthur S. Eldridge, superintendent of government works at Cleveland, Ohio, and at present building the breakwater at that city; he also superintended the building of the breakwater at Buffalo for Hughes, Bangs & Brother; and Anson O. is as- sisting his father on the home ranch. Mr. Rogers served as county superintendent of schools from 1866 to 1868, and he has advanced the interests of the Republican party in Coos county. His residence in Coos county has resulted in establish- ing a reputation of which any man might be proud, and in the association of his name with all worthy enterprises.

LEVI MORRIS. As one of the earlier set- tlers of the Pacific coast, Levi Morris, now living retired from active business in Ashland, Ore., was an important factor in developing the min- ing and agricultural resources of this section of the country. A resident of Jackson county for the past fifteen years, he has been one of the leading promoters of its industrial prosperity during that time, and has gained, to an eminent degree, the respect and esteem of his fellow- men. A son of William Morris, he was born January 18, 1832, in the town of Gauley Bridge, Fayette county. W. Va. His paternal grand- father, Joshua Morris, a native of England, set- tled in Virginia in colonial times, and was one of the famous Indian and bear hunters of his day.

Born in old Virginia, William Morris was en- gaged in the manufacture of salt during the carlier part of his business career, shipping his

product down the Big Kanawha river, and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, shipping to the latter place during the war of 1812. He was subsequently engaged in lumbering for awhile, and then purchased a farm in Nicholas county, W. Va., where he spent his last years, dying at the age of seventy-three years. He married Ann Chapman, who was born in Kentucky, and died in West Virginia. Her father, John Chapman, a native of Wales, emi- grated to America and settled in Kentucky. En- listing as a soldier in the war of 1812, he was killed in battle. Of the eleven children born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. William Morris, ten grew to years of maturity, and four are now liv- ing, one son, Harriman, being a resident of West Virginia.

The third child of the parental household, Levi Morris, was trained to agricutural pursuits on the home plantation and obtained his early edu- cation in the public and subscription schools, learning to write with a quill pen, while the teacher, in the customary pioneer fashion, "boarded around." As a young man he learned the sawyer's trade and was afterwards superin- tendent of a large plantation for a number of years. Following the well-trod emigrant path- way, he went to Kansas in the summer of 1856, and located about four miles from Law- rence, on the Waukarusa river, where he assist- ed in building a sawmill. Starting with a com- pany of young men for Pike's Peak, Mr. Morris left St. Joseph, Mo., in 1859, with ox teams and cattle. While en route the party met so many returning from Pike's Peak that they changed their minds in regard to their point of destina- tion, and on reaching the sublet cut-off struck the old California trail, which they followed until reaching Tuolumne county, having journeyed six months.

Engaging at once in mining operations, Mr. Morris remained in that part of California until the spring of 1863, when he located in Virginia City, Nev. Embarking in mining and prospect- ing on the north fork of the Feather river, he continued his operations in that locality for ten years, carrying on placer and river mining. In order to facilitate his work he invented a der- rick, which proved a very successful and sub- stantial help, although he never had his inven- tion patented. He carried on an extensive and lucrative business, employing twenty-three men as miners, and meeting with far more than aver- age success in his undertakings. Returning to California in 1870, Mr. Morris located at Buck- eye, where he purchased five hundred acres of land in the valley and began business as a grain and stock-raiser. Devoting a part of his ranch to the culture of fruit, he set out an apricot or- chard of eighty acres, in addition planting thirty

257

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

acres of cantaloupes and melons, on which he cleared $3,000 the first year. The third year after settling there he shipped ripe fruit from his orchards, sending it by car-loads to the various coast markets. He subsequently bought land on Putah creek, where he set out a large orchard, and bought another farm near by. After the death of his wife Mr. Morris disposed of all of his California property and came to Oregon. Locating in Jackson county about 1888, he pur- chased the Henry Ammerman estate on Bear creek, where he was profitably engaged in agri- cultural pursuits for several years. On his ranch, which contained twenty-two hundred acres of land, he raised large quantities of grain, hay and stock, in the latter line of industry mak- ing a specialty of Durham cattle. In 1902 Mr. Morris sold his ranch and has since lived retired at his pleasant home in Ashland.

Mr. Morris married first, in California, Mary Frances Harriman, who was born in Missouri, of English ancestry, her paternal grandfather hav- ing been born and reared in England. Her fath- er, Shadrach Harriman, was born in Virginia, and lived in the east until 1864, when he came to the Pacific coast, locating in California, where he was a well-known Baptist minister for many years. He is now living in Yolo county, Cal., at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mrs. Mary F. Morris died in California in 1889, leav- ing seven children, namely: Albert, of Winters, Cal .; Luther R., a miner at Nome, Alaska ; Sim- con R., a farmer, residing in Montague, Ore .; Ransom Cary, of Ashland; Benjamin, of Ash- land; Paul, of Ashland; and Mrs. Annie Jacobs, of Talent, Ore. For his second wife Mr. Morris married Alice L. Gray, who was born in Sydney, Australia, a daughter of John T. Gray, who emi- grated from England, his native land, to Austra- lia, coming from there to San Francisco, Cal., where for some years he was engaged in the plumbing business. He died in 1894. Of this union one child has been born, a daughter, named Ruth L. Morris. In political affiliations Mr. Mor- ris is a Democrat. He has filled several public offices of importance, having been school director and stock inspector a number of terms, and for four years, under Governor Pennoyer, served as horticultural commissioner. He is a consistent member of the Baptist Church, and while living in California was trustee of the church and su- perintendent of the Sunday school.

GEORGE A. KNOBLAUCH. The working force of the Southern Pacific Railway is com- posed of men of excellent ability, character and trustworthiness, having been chosen by reason of their special fitness for the positions they oc- cupy. Prominent among the number thus em-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 32

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