Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 33

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 33

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ployed is George A. Knoblauch, foreman of the roundhouse at Ashland. Endowed by nature with mechanical skill and ingenuity, he has de- veloped his talent by constant exercise and is now a skilled machinist, thoroughly conversant with the duties devolving upon him. A son of the late Jacob Knoblauch, he was born May 8, 1863, in Bay City, Mich.

A native of Wurtemberg, Germany, Jacob Knoblauch was reared and educated in his native town. Emigrating to America as a young man, he worked as a carpenter in Cincinnati, Ohio, for awhile. Going thence to Michigan, he became one of the early settlers of Bay City, in the up- building of which he was an important factor. For a few years he was engaged in building and contracting and then embarked in an entirely new industry. Buying the Fink Brothers' brewery, he enlarged and improved the plant, which he operated under the name of the Bay City Brew- ery until his death, in 1898, at the age of sixty- two years. He was a successful business man and quite active and influential in public affairs. A good financier, he rendered excellent service for two years as county treasurer, and as city treasurer for the same length of time. In pol- itics he was a loyal Democrat. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Guetlein, was born in Bavaria, married in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now a resident of Bay City, Mich. Of the twelve chil- dren born of their union, eight grew to years of maturity, and seven are now living, three sons and four daughters. Two sons are on the Pa- cific coast, namely: George A., the subject of this brief sketch, and Oswald F., of Sacramento, Cal., where he is associated with the firm of Weinstock & Lubin.

After his graduation from the Bay City high school George A. Knoblauch studied law for five months, and then relinquished his professional studies. Beginning work as a machinist when eighteen years old, he served an apprenticeship of three years at the Bay City Industrial Works. The following year he remained in his native city, working first in Ford's machine shop, and then in McGraw's lumber mill. Going then to Detroit, Mich., he was employed as a machinist in the Eagle Iron Works until 1886, when he accepted a position in Chicago, Ill., becoming ma- chinist for the firm of Fraser & Chalmers, deal- ers in mining machinery. Seventeen months later Mr. Knoblauch went to Desoto, Mo., as an employe of the Iron Mountain shops. Accepting a position then with the Missouri, Kansas & Tex- as Railroad Company, he was stationed for a time at Denison, Tex .. and was afterwards at Chi- huahua, Mex., where he was connected with the management of the Mexican Central Railway.

Coming from Mexico to California in 1888, Mr. Knoblauch entered the employ of the South-

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ern Pacific Railroad Company, with which he has since been identified. The first six months he worked as a machinist in the railroad shops at Carlin, Nev., and was then transferred to the shops at Sacramento, Cal., where he remained until 1891. The ensuing two years he was em- ployed in the shops of the Union Pacific Com- pany at Salt Lake City, and then returned to the Sacramento shops. Continuing with the Southern Pacific Company, he was afterwards sent as a machinist to Truckee, Cal., and after remaining there seven months was made night foreman at the roundhouse in Sacramento. In 1899 Mr. Knoblauch was appointed assistant day foreman at the Sacramento roundhouse, a position that he retained a little more than two years. In July, 1901, he was transferred to Ash- land and as foreman given full charge of the roundhouse. In this capacity Mr. Knoblauch has given eminent satisfaction, his duties, which are many and varied, being most faithfully per- formed. He has jurisdiction of that part of the road lying between Hornbrook, Cal., and Glen- . dale, Ore., a distance of one hundred and fifteen miles, along which is what is considered the heav- iest grade of the entire system. The roundhouses at both Hornbrook and Grants Pass are under his supervision, and in the care of these and the road he has oversight of two hundred men. In the care of the passenger and freight traffic along his line of the road thirteen consolidated engines and thirteen twelve-wheel engines, besides twen- ty-three ten-wheel engines, are used. On the engines running north of Ashland wood is used as fuel, while on the engines running south of this city either coal or oil is used, the oil tanks having a capacity of fifty-five thousand barrels each.

In San Francisco, September 1, 1891, Mr. Knoblauch married Josephine Murphy, who was born and reared in that city. Politically Mr. Knoblauch is a stanch Republican. Fraternally he is a member. and past chancellor, of Columbia Lodge 42, K. P., of Sacramento, Cal .; a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; a member, and past master workman, of the An- cient Order of United Workmen ; a member, and sir knight commander of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees ; and he also belongs to the Pacific Coast Railway Club.

IRA WADE. An incipient career which is bright with promise and surrounded with golden opportunities is that of Ira Wade, clerk of Lin- coln county. Mr. Wade has already established a reputation for worthy political service oft- times not acquired in a decade, and has become a familiar figure at county conventions, and was congressional committeeman in 1900. Possess-

ing a natural aptitude for official affairs, he is active, keen, alert to the needs of a growing community, and withal inclined to regard his preferment as a chance for progressive, pains- taking and honorable effort.

A native son of the northwest, Mr. Wade was born on a farm in Marion county, December 22, 1875, and comes of an old West Virginia family established in Logan county, Ill., in 1815, by his paternal grandfather. This sire died in 1854, after devoting many years to farming, and the rearing of a large family of children, among whom was William J. Wade, the father of Ira. William J. Wade was born in Logan county, February 10, 1830, and gained his education in the harvest-field, at the district schools and in the great world around him. He married Martha Anderson, a native daughter of Logan county, and whose father, Robert Anderson, was born in Illinois, and spent the greater part of his life in Logan county. In 1852 Mr. Wade crossed the plains to Oregon, locating in Jack- son county, southern Oregon, where he en- countered extremely pioneer conditions, and suf- fered many hardships. As a minor he joined a band of fellow-workers in an effort to suppress the intolerable outrages of the Indians, and thus was drawn into active participation in the fam- ous Rogue River war. Returning to Illinois in 1856, he farmed in Logan county until 1873, and then returned to Oregon, locating in Salem. Marion county. In 1876 he took up a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres four miles north of Toledo, made that his home until 1902, and then retired to a pleasant home in Toledo. He is seventy-three years old.

The youngest in a family of nine sons and one daughter, Ira Wade was reared on a farm and educated primarily in the public schools. During 1897-98 he engaged in educational work in Lin- coln county for a couple of terms, in February of the latter year entering Philomath College for a term. In the spring of 1899 he stepped into his first political service as clerk of a com- mittee on salaries of state and county offices, in the state legislature, and after completing his clerkship returned to his father's farm. He was elected county clerk in 1902, and has since made his home in Toledo. Mr. Wade is variously identified fraternally, being a member of New- port Lodge, No. 85. A. F. & A. M., of Newport ; the Order of the Eastern Star; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Toledo Lodge, No. 108, of Rebekahs; and Albany Lodge No. 359, B. P. O. E. As soon as opportunity permits, Mr. Wade will study law, in which field of activity his ability and resourcefulness are bound to receive more than passing notice. He has the advantage of a faculty for application and concentration, for clear reasoning, and logical

B.J. Eddy 2

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conclusions, augmented by an engaging person- ality, which not only wins but retains confidence and high regard.

BENJAMIN LEE EDDY. The splendid spirit of western progress finds daily expression in the life of Benjamin Lee Eddy, lawyer, Repub- lican politician, legislator, promoter of financial stability, and developer of coast resources. Mr. Eddy, who is one of the most prominent men in Tillamook county, is a native son of Oregon, and was born in Washington county, October 30, 1865. His family was established in the west by his father, Seth W. Eddy, who was born in Sacket Harbor, N. Y., in 1824, and came to California in 1852. Not being very successful as a miner he later turned his attention to farm- ing in Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties, Ore. His death occurred soon after his removal to California in 1890. He came west as a young and ambitious man of eight and twenty, and some time after his arrival met and married a widow, whose maiden name was Mary Miller. She was a native daughter of Pennsylvania, whose father, Jacob P. Miller, also a native of Pennsylvania, came to Oregon with his family in the early days of the state.

The oldest son and second oldest child in a family of three sons and as many daugh- ters, Benjamin L. Eddy began a self- supporting career as a telegraph operator, and from the age of fifteen to twenty-one was employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company in Portland, Seattle, and Ta- coma. In 1886 his faithfulness to trusts im- posed won him recognition from important rail- road officials, and he became secretary to F. P. Weymouth, of the Northern Pacific Company. In 1887 he became identified with the Oregon Pacific Railroad at Corvallis, and from the posi- tion of stenographer worked his way up to that of chief traffic clerk. In 1888 he became sec- retary to S. G. Reed, at that time a promoter and capitalist of Portland, and in the fall of 1891 en- gaged as secretary to John Hays Hammond, of South African fame, locating in San Francisco, where he remained about a year. In the mean- time he had begun the study of law, and after about eighteen months with Mr. Hammond he entered the office of Milton W. Smith, of Port- land, with whom he remained for two or three years. He also attended the law department of the University of Oregon, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1894. Until 1896 he engaged in a general law practice in Portland, but has since been identified with Tillamook, where he enjoys a large and lucrative practice.

A stanch supporter of Republicanism, Mr. Eddy served as mayor of Tillamook from 1898 to 1900, and has held the office of school director for six years. For two years he has been deputy district attorney for Tillamook county, and in 1900 he was elected to the state legislature as joint representative of Yamhill and Tillamook counties. During the session he was chairman of the committee on food and dairy products, and also a member of the judiciary committee, and so well did he represent the needs and aspirations of the people that he was re-elected in 1902. serving in the session of 1903. During this ses- sion he was chairman of the house judiciary committee, and a member of the dairy products committee, and during the absence of the house speaker he was elected temporary speaker of the house. He was appointed a member of the legis- lative committee to greet President Roosevelt on his visit to Salem. Mr. Eddy is the author of the bill enacted into law in the session of 1903 known as the Eddy Corporation Tax law, which provides for raising revenue for state purposes by the taxation of both domestic and foreign cor- porations in the state. It has met with almost general approval, and is yielding a revenue of aboutt $100,000 per year to the state treasury. This law marks a distinct advance in the legis- lative history of the state. He was also the att- thor of other important measures which were enacted into law.

Mr. Eddy is one of the original promoters and organizers of the Tillamook County Bank, in- corporated in 1902, in which he is still a stock- holder and director. Few enterprises in the town and county but have either directly or indi- rectly profited by his influence or substantial help. He is a member of the foremost clubs and socic- ties of the county, and is fraternally associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen; Willamette Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., of Port- land; Woodmen of the World, and the United Artisans. Mr. Eddy is a member and an active worker in the Presbyterian Church. His mar- riage with Laura A. Applewhite occurred in Corvallis, November 7, 1888. Mrs. Eddy is a native of Staunton, Va., and daughter of Dr. James M. Applewhite, who was born in Natchez, Miss. Dr. Applewhite came to Oregon about 1882, and from then until his death, in 1894, practiced medicine in Corvallis. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Eddy, Lulu, Benjamin A. and Ruth. As a lawyer Mr. Eddy enjoys the distinct advantage of practical cx- perience in nearly all departments in his pro- fession, and his gratifying outlook is fully war- ranted by recognized capability, deserved popu- larity and thorough adaptation to the require- ments and amenities of his calling.

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CAPT. M. F. EGGLESTON. As editor of the Ashland Semi-Weekly Tribune Capt. M. F. Eggleston wields a trenchant pen in behalf of progress and reform; a brilliant writer, his edi- torials show great natural ability, much reading, thought and research, and combined with a fear- less integrity these qualities place him among the leaders of western newspaper work. His has been an interesting as well as a successful career. He was born in Vermilion county, Ind., January 10, 1855, the son of Benjamin Eggles- ton, also a native of that state, to which his an- cestors had emigrated from New York state by way of Ohio, those of the name having been well represented in the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812.

The first Egglestons in Indiana were pioneers and it was on a farm in that state that Capt. M. F. Eggleston was reared to young manhood, re- ceiving his education in Wabash College, after which, in 1873, he was appointed cadet from Indiana to the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1877 he was graduated and commissioned second lieutenant in the Tenth United States Cavalry, located in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Kansas and the Indian Terri- tory. For some time he served in the Texas department on the Mexican border against the Indians on "Staked Plains", in Arizona and New Mexico. He was on duty in the Indian department in Indian Territory for a short time, and for a period of two years acted as engineer officer in the military district of western Texas under the command of General Grierson, and later was assistant engineer in the Department of Texas under Col. W. R. Livermore, in the primary triangulation of the Pan Handle of Texas. He served on special duty at various times and for five years he was adjutant and commissary. In summary he acted as engineer at Forts Concho and Davis, Tex., Fort Sill, I. T., Camp Washita, I. T., Forts Grant, Verde and Apache, Ariz., was in the field in the Chi- raalma Indian war in command of Company I, Tenth Cavalry, and for a time was in command of Company A, Fourth Cavalry. It was Captain Eggleston who surveyed and established the first long distance heliograph line in Arizona, work- ing under the command of Colonel Volkmar. He resigned in 1889, after a service of twelve years, and after a short stay in California and Mexico came to Ashland in 1890, since making this city his home. In the fall of that year he engaged as a mining engincer and was also interested in journalism, and in 1900 was appointed collector of minerals of western Oregon by the state com- mission for the Pan-American Exposition, dur- ing his subsequent work publishing many ar- ticles in regard to the mineral resources of this part of the state, as well as on the industrial re-

sources of southern Oregon, being a most lib- eral contributor along that line. In 1893 he assumed charge of the editorial department of the Ashland Semi-Weekly Tribune, in which connection he is widely known throughout the valley, his many able articles being read by a large proportion of the inhabitants of this part of the state. He is also interested in mining. Though a Democrat in his politics, serving as chairman of the Executive Committee of the Democratic County Central Committee, Captain Eggleston labors to advance the interests of the entire community in every possible way, up- holding the moral, mental and financial welfare of his adopted city, county and state.

JOHN JOHNSON. One of the best known of the mariners plying an ocean craft between New York and Liverpool during the fore part of the last century was Capt. Romulus Johnson, a sturdy son of England, and a natural follower of the sea. Nevertheless, in his younger days the captain was equally at home in shouldering arms, and in this capacity served in the war of 1812 under the American flag. He married Anna Johnson, a native daughter of Denmark, who accompanied her husband on many of his ocean voyages. March 27, 1831, while his ship was in New York harbor, his oldest child, John, `was born. Besides him there were three daugh- ters. It happened that Captain Johnson changed his course in 1845 and made a trip to Hamburg, Germany, and while there he died, while yet in the prime of life, and the height of his pop- ularity as a sea captain.

After the death of his father, when the son was thirteen years of age, John Johnson remained with his mother in Germany until her marriage to Jolin H. Glashoff in 1848. He then came to America and settled her affairs in Albany, N. Y., after which he went to Fond du Lac county, Wis., and from there to Racine county. Here he attended the public schools for three years, and, beginning with 1849, was increasingly in- terested in the discovery of gold on the coast. An opportunity came his way in 1852, and he crossed in the same train with his uncle, having two yoke of oxen of his own, and a complete outfit. Leaving Calumet, Wis., April 4, he ar- rived in Marysville, Cal., after a journey of six months, during which time his party ex- perienced terrible deprivations, and suffered from cholera and Indian outbreaks. In 1854 he was a member of the vigilance committee in San Francisco. That Mr. Johnson remained in the vicinity of Placerville for eight years argues a fair measure of success as a miner, and a particular liking for that means of making a livelihood. In 1859, in company with one hun-

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dred men, he started on an expedition into Ari- zona. Indians stampeded their horses, and from Fort Yuma they had the protection of the United States Cavalry. A pan yielding $18 was all the gold they secured. In 1861 he went to the Elk City mines of Idaho, but returned to Port- land in the winter of 1861-62 and engaged in teaming until 1871.

From Portland Mr. Johnson came to Tilla- mook county and located on his present place of one hundred and sixty acres, where he farmed and raised stock for many years, and where he is at present living retired. He has seen much of the pioneer life of the west, has practically grown up with the country, and has had a hand in many of its dearly won battles. As a private he enlisted in Company D, First Oregon In- fantry, and served under Captain Powell on the frontier and at Fort Hall, being discharged after a service of eighteen months. He belongs to Tillamook Post, G. A. R., and at the reunions of the company has many interesting stories to tell of the border days which are now a matter of history. In politics Mr. Johnson is a Repub- lican, and he has served as school director for twelve years, and as road supervisor for three terms. In 1872 Mr. Johnson married Mary Rose, who was born in New York state, Novem- ber 7, 1832. Charles A. Johnson, the only child of this union, is deputy assessor of Tillamook county, and a resident of Tillamook. In Wiscon- sin and Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were members and active workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

HORACE F. HOLDEN. A career of ex- ceptional breadth and merit is that of Horace F. Holden, miner, Indian fighter, ship builder, freighter, dairyman and stock-raiser, and one who has held the majority of prominent local offices in his adopted county of Tillamook. Mr. Holden has passed through about all of the ex- periences supposed to accompany the pioneer on his way to success, and that he has made a prac- tical study of the resources, conditions and peo- ple among which he has elected to reside, and has become an authority on all phases of western development, is evident from the many positions of trust and responsibility which he has been called upon to fill. Many of the reliable and con- servative traits of character which have served to establish his enviable reputation are traceable to his English ancestry, which recognized no limit to its daring or endurance, and the abilities of which found an outlet in many directions of activity. Remote ancestors immigrated to the New England states, settling presumably in New Hampshire, where Horace Holden, the father of Horace F. was born July 24, 1810. As a young

man the elder Horace moved to Massachusetts, where he married Mary Millen, who was born about 1819, and died at Honolulu, Sandwich Is- lands, at the age of thirty-three years. There were five children of this union, two daughters and three sons, Horace F. being the oldest child. The two daughters are deceased.

More than passing mention is due Horace Holden, whose life has been an adventurous one, and who, at the age of nearly ninety-four, is still living in Salem, a direct refutation of the theory that a strenuous life is necessarily a lim- ited one. Mr. Holden started out in life as a seaman before the mast, and at the age of about nineteen years was taken captive while ship- wrecked, and held for three years by a band of savages on the Pelew Islands. During this time a portion of his body was tattooed; but as he learned the language of the savages he found that he could prevail upon them to desist from tattooing his entire body, including his face, by threats of vengeance on the part of the white man's God. Through the exercise of strategy he managed to effect his escape, and finally succeeded in reaching his anxious and well-nigh distracted mother in Concord.

When the namesake Horace F. was a year old the father took his family to the Sandwich Islands by way of Cape Horn, taking five months for the ocean voyage, and once there he located on the Isle of Kauai, engaging in the culture of the silk worm in company with a man named Peck, and afterwards in the raising of sugar cane. His plantation was a large one and he remained here about seven years, finally disposing of his land and locating in Oregon, twelve miles south of Salem on the Santiam. In the spring of 1844 he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres in as dense and inhospitable a region as the imagination can conceive of, and before gold or agricultural inducements had stimulated emigration to any extent, tilled his timbered land until the fall of 1849. He then sold out and removed his family to California, in order to take advantage of the gold excite- ment, but after a brief cffort at mining turned his attention to sawmilling and stock-raising in the northern part of the state. In 1850 he re- turned to the Sandwich Islands, and after a brief residence in Honolulu returned to San Francisco, leaving his family in the islands. While engaged in business in the California town his wife died and his family were divided, and in 1854 he removed north to Salem, Ore., where he has lived ever since. Formerly he owned and operated a farm near the town, but disposed of the same in 1893, and has lived retired ever since. To a remarkable extent he retains his health and faculties, and his mind is a veritable store house of happenings on sea and land, upon both of

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which he has traversed to a greater extent than is given to many of the sons of the earth. An interesting historic event in the life of Horace Holden occurred July 4, 1847, when there was unfurled to the breeze from a sixty-foot pole two miles from Salem a flag made by Mrs. Holden from material which her husband procured by a special journey through the wilderness to Port- land. This was the first American flag made in Oregon, and was subsequently carried by the Oregon troops during the Indian troubles fol- lowing the Whitman massacre-known as the Cayuse Indian war. It is also worthy of note that Mr. Holden and his son, Horace F., devoted much time later in the year in making rawhide ropes, which the Oregon soldiers used for lar- iats during the Indian campaigns. There was much self-denial in those days and the Holden family, as well as many other poineer settlers, lived principally on boiled wheat during the winter months.

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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 33

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