Portrait and biographical record of western Oregon, containing original sketches of many well known citizens of the past and present.., Part 92

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 92

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ALFRED MATSON. For more than thirty years a resident of Marshfield, Coos county, Alfred Matson has been actively identified with the development of its industrial interests, and is now carrying on a substantial business as proprietor of a wood and coal yard, a teamster and a contractor. Naturally of a roving dis- position, he determined when a young lad to see the world, and as a sailor he has traveled extensively, in his various trips having visited every country, and all the ports of importance. A son of Martin Anderson, he was born August 19, 1840, in Sweden, near Gottenburg. His father, a life-long resident of Sweden, was a navigator, owned different boats, and made fre- quent sea voyages as master of his vessel. He married Marie Anderson, who was born, lived and died in Sweden.

The third child in a family consisting of four sons and two daughters, Alfred Matson obtained his early education in the common schools of his native land. At the age of ten years he began life as a sailor, shipping before the mast, and working his way up to the rank of first mate. While at home, he sailed in many dif- ferent vessels, and visited many parts of the world, becoming familiar with foreign ports. Coming across the Atlantic on the Constantino, he left the vessel on arriving in New York harbor. The second day afterward he joined the United States navy, in 1862, and for a year was a sailor on the Ticonderoga, being captain

a. a. Davis

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of the foretop. Leaving the navy in 1863, he next went on a trip to the West Indies, and in August, 1864, enlisted as a sailor in the navy for three years, going as boatswain's mate on the steamer Jacob Astor. Off Fort Fisher the steamer was wrecked, one half of the crew being lost. With other of his comrades, Mr. Matson was picked up, and during the remainder of the Civil war he was on the gun-boat Kansas. In 1865, on the frigate Vanderbilt, he came around Cape Horn to California and stopped at San Francisco. The following year he again went to sea, being employed in the merchant marine service, and afterwards went to Europe on a pleasure trip.

Coming to Coos county in 1870, Mr. Matson was employed in a saw-mill at North Bend for three years. In 1873 he entered the employ of Dean & Co., in Marshfield, and remained with the firm for the next eighteen years, working in a saw-mill. Embarking in business on his own account in 1892, he engaged in teaming and in towing on the bay, and in addition now runs a wood and coal yard, and does consider- able contracting and shipping. Industrious, pru- dent, and a good manager, he has acquired valu- able property interests. He owns real estate in town, and on the Dean addition to Marshfield he crected the first house, and has resided in it the past thirty years.

In New York city Mr. Matson married Amanda Emily Carlson, a native of Sweden, and into their household seven children were born, two of whom are dead, one having died in in- fancy, and one son, Charles Martin, having been drowned when a child, in Coos bay. The five living are as follows: Julius Albert, who is carrying on a fine mercantile business in Marsh- field; Florence, wife of William Nasburg, a general merchant in Marshfield; Leo, residing in California ; Ralph, a clerk in a store in Marsh- field ; and Frank, living at home. Politically Mr. Matson is a Democrat, but with the courage of his convictions votes for men and measures he deems best. Fraternaliy he is a member of Blanco Lodge No. 48, A. F. & A. M .; of the Knights of Pythias; of the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic.

A. A. DAVIS. That concentration is one of the rarest and most necessary gifts to which man is heir, is admitted by all who note the present tendency to business and general specialization. Competition, the lash which forces the energies of men to their highest level, makes a standstill position impossible, even though the best possible has already been attained. Were A. A. Davis approached as to the secret of his success as a

flour manufacturer he would unhesitatingly at- tribute it to a continuous study of his occupa- tion, to his ability to keep in the front ranks, and to furnish as good, if not a little bet- ter flour than is placed on the market by his competitors. Mr. Davis' fair and honest at- titude towards the public is of the contagious kind, and is shared by many of the men prominent in the business ranks of Med- ford. Yet special mention is due him be- cause he is the pioneer and largest operator in his line in this part of the state, and because he has established business interests which have no peer as far as substantiality, good management and developing power are concerned.

The owner and manager of the Medford Flour- ing Mills, president and business manager of the Big Bend Milling Company of Davenport, Wash., and director in the Jackson County Bank of Medford, came to Oregon in 1888, and was born at Beaver Dam, Dodge county, Wis., April 30, 1851. His father, Chandler Davis, was born in Vermont, and his mother, Aun (Hudson) Davis, is a native of the state of Massachusetts. Chandler Davis was a pioneer of Wisconsin, lo- cating in Dodge county in 1849. He was a car- penter, millwright and contractor, and in the Bad- ger state, with its large milling and lumbering resources, found ample scope for his skill. He not only started one of the first mills in his sec- tion, but invested in a large tract of land which he partially cleared of timber. In 1863 he re- moved to Freeborn county, Minn., and near Al- bert Lea engaged in farming until coming to Tacoma, Wash., in 1894, his death occurring there in 1903, at the age of seventy-six years. His last years were spent in retirement, and he is survived by his wife, now seventy-six years of age.

The oldest in a family of three sons and three daughters, the present miller of Medford worked with his father on the farm in Minnesota until his twenty-third year, when he embarked in a general merchandise business at Alden, Minn. There he conducted a successful business for twelve years, at the expiration of that period dis- posing of his interests, prior to his departure for Oregon. With this hardy and practical training he came to Oregon in 1888, and at Medford started the first roller mill in this part of the state or south of Albany, with a capacity of sixty- five barrels a day. Soon afterward he increased his capacity to eighty harrels a day, the present output of the mill. Davis' Best brand is shipped to all of the local markets, and established the reputation of the owner as one of the best flour makers on the coast. In the meantime he has bought up large quantities of grain, and from being the first in the line in the place, he has

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advanced also to the largest purchaser in his locality.

The flouring mills operated by the Big Bend Milling Company at Davenport, Wash., were built by Mr. Davis in 1890, who also incorporated the company for $100,000, and is third owner with William I. Vawter, president of the Bank of Jackson County, and George W. Howard, of San Francisco. The Davenport mills have a capacity of three hundred and fifty barrels per day, the flour being shipped to local and foreign markets. As the president of the Big Bend Milling Company, Mr. Davis spends a portion of his time in Washington, although he makes his home at Medford. With Mr. Virgin he is in- terested in the now discontinued mill at Central Point, and he is owner of a flouring mill at Phoenix, Ore. Mr. Davis has invested heavily in timber lands in different parts of the state, and is the owner of valuable mining properties in Jackson county. In fact there are but few great resources of the northwest that are not be- ing promoted by his capital and personal interest. That men like to be associated with him in busi- ness, and that when so doing regard their future as practically assured, is not surprising when the conservative and cautious methods of this financier are taken into account. He is a leader whom less wary and resourceful men might do well to follow, for he is an earnest advocate of industry, perseverance, of the mutual co-oper- ation of employer and employe, of business courtesy and consideration, and unswerving in- tegrity.

At Albert Lea, Freeborn county, Minn., in 1871. Mr. Davis married Angelia Langdon, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Medford in July, 1900, at the age of forty-nine years. Of this union there are two sons and two daugh- ters: Effie May, the wife of W. L. Halley of Medford: Orrin Lee, interested in the flouring mill at Medford; Grace Bell, the wife of H. H. Hosler of Ashland, Ore .; and Scott Victor, in his father's mill at Medford. Mr. Davis is an active Republican, and aside from serving on the city council for five or six terms, has been a member of the school board for many years.

HON. JOHN H. CHAMBERS. Although comparatively a new comer in the great north- west, Mr. Chambers has assumed a position of influence in Ashland and Jackson county. He was for many years a prominent and in- fluential citizen of Herman, Neb., but in 1899, came west to Oregon and has since been iden- tified with the lumber industry in Ashland. At the present writing he has a retail lumber yard at Medford, Ore., which is the largest and best equipped establishment of its kind in

southern Oregon. Mr. Chambers is of Irish descent, a son of the late John Chambers and his wife, Jane (McLaughlin) Chambers, both natives of Ireland. John Chambers came to America when about twenty years old and settled in Wayne county, Ill., where, as a pio- neer settler of that county, he became an ex- tensive farmer. His death took place in the same county, where he was for many years an honored resident. Mr. Chambers' mother is still living and resides on the old home place in Wayne county, Ill. Her father, James Mc- Laughlin, upon emigrating to America, took up his residence in Randolph county, Ill. Five children were born to John and Jane (Mc- Laughlin) Chambers, four of whom are still living, John H. being the only one in the far west.

John H. Chambers was born in Wayne county, Ill., January 6, 1864, and acquired a good education in the high school, and in Mc- Kendree College at Lebanon. In 1882 he went to Iowa and spent a couple of years in Mills county ; two years later went to Washington county, Neb., and after farming there for two years, opened a general merchandise store at Vacoma, in the same county, and conducted a profitable business for four years. He sub- sequently went to Herman, Neb., and carried on a similar business for one year. Purchas- ing an interest in a banking institution, he was for years manager of the Plateau Bank, and retained his interest therein until 1901. In the meantime he invested in land, near Genesee, Idaho, and engaged in ranching. He had five hundred acres under fence in part- nership with R. L. Burdic and besides raising cattle extensively, he carried on general farm- ing and made a specialty of wheat raising. In 1901 they raised the finest wheat in that section, the land yielding sixty bushels to the acre.

In 1902 Mr. Chambers disposed of his ranch and stock in Idaho and located permanently in Ashland, Ore., having made his first trip to this section in 1899. He had previously sold his interest in the bank at Herman, Neb. This bank, together with many residences in the same city, were destroyed by a cyclone in 1899. Mr. Chambers was master of the Ma- sonic lodge, and as such did much to relieve the destitute; also was chairman of the relief committee for the distribution of the benefit fund.

Upon locating in Ashland. Mr. Chambers bought an interest in the Ashland Manufac- turing Company, which had a capital of but $5.000. He enlarged and increased the plant, adding planing mills, new machinery, etc., and in six months time, sold the entire plant

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for $80,000, although he still retains an in- terest, being president of the company. He owns a fine residence in Ashland, where he has gained many friends, although he has resided here but a comparatively short time.

While a resident of Herman Mr. Chambers was united in marriage, in 1888, with Mabel E. Van Valin, a native of Washington county, Neb., and a daughter of James and Alice (Cooper) Van Valin, both natives of Wiscon- sin. Her paternal grandfather, Oliver Van Valin, was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and be- came a pioneer settler in Wisconsin, where he followed farming for many years. James Van Valin was among the early settlers in Wash- ington county, Neb., where he carried on farming and stock-raising. He died there in 1891, but his widow is still living in that state. Five children were born to them, and Mrs. Chambers is the eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Cham- bers have one son, Victor.

In his political convictions, Mr. Chambers is a Republican of the true blue type and has been particularly active in politics ; in 1898, he was elected a member of the legislature from Washington county, Neb., on the Re- publican ticket. His record while a member of that honorable body is above reproach. He served with distinction on several impor- tant committees, among them being the com- mittee on railroads, of which he was chair- man, and also the committee on accounts and expenditures.

He was made a Mason at Herman, Neb., and is past master of Land-mark Lodge 222, A. F. & A. M., of that city ; he also holds mem- bership in Mecca Chapter No. 24, R. A. M., of Tekemah, Neb .; Jordan Commandery No. 15, K. T., at Blair ; Tangier Temple, N. M. S., of Omaha, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Chambers is a valuable ac- quisition to the business life of Ashland, as he is a man of untiring energy in any business venture he undertakes, and his home and sur- roundings show him to be a man of refine- ment. The citizens of Ashland are particu- larly fortunate in securing him as a permanent resident.

CLAIBORNE NEIL. A veteran agricul- turist, now living retired in Ashland, Clai- borne Neil is numbered among the original settlers of this section of Jackson county. As a pioneer, he came here when the country was in its virgin wildness, school-houses, churches, costly residences, and substantial business blocks, barns and outbuildings being conspic- uous only by their absence. Neither rail- ways, telegraph or telephone lines spanned

these broad lands, few evidences of civiliza- tion and refinement being then visible. In the changes that have since taken place, he has been closely identified, contributing his full share in establishing and maintaining beneficial enterprises. Little do the young people of this day and generation realize what they owe to those brave spirits of old, who first uprooted the trees, plowed the sod, and made a broad pathway for the advance of civilization and progress. A native of Ten- nessee, he was born near Tazewell, March I, 1821, a son of John Neil, and grandson of Peter Neil, who was born in England, settled as a pioneer farmer in Claiborne county, Tenn., and died near Chattanooga, Tenn., at an advanced age.

Born in Claiborne county, Tenn., John Neil was there reared and educated. He subse- quently bought land in McMinn county, not far from Chattanooga, and there engaged in general farming. A man of strong individual- ity, well educated and intelligent, he was in- fluential in the community, and one of the leading Democrats of his state. He served as county judge for many years, and as a promi- nent member of the constitutional amendment convention assisted in framing the laws of Tennessee. He was a deacon of the Baptist Church, and lived for more than four score years. He married Sarah Lane, a native of Tennessee, the daughter of Isaac Lane, a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war, and subse- quently a farmer in McMinn county, Tenn., where he died at the age of eighty years. She, too, attained the age of four score years. Of the eleven children born of their union, three are living, namely: Claiborne, the special subject of this sketch; Mrs. Sarah Fitzgerald, of Lakeview, Ore .; and Joseph, living in Ten- nessee.

Brought up on a farm in Tennessee, Clai- borne Neil received his early education in the primitive log school-house of these days, when the teacher was paid by a subscription from each pupil. At the age of eighteen years he began the battle of life on his own account. Going with a sister to Missouri just as the Platte purchase was opened, in Buchanan county, he took up a claim, paid some on it, and was there engaged in farming for six years. Returning then to Tennessee he re- sumed his agricultural labors, remaining there until 1853. The country in that vicinity being so thickly populated with negroes he decided to migrate to the western frontier. Purchasing oxen. wagons and other necessa- ries, he started with his wife and six children joining a company of fifty persons, Rev. T. H. Small being captain of the band. Traveling

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through Kentucky and Illinois to Missouri, the party spent the winter at St. Joseph. Leaving there April 22, 1853, Mr. Neil and his family continued their journey across the plains, coming by the Barlow route, and, al- though they had one or two skirmishes with the Indians, met with no losses. Arriving in the Santiam valley September 22, they re- mained near Brownsville throughout the win- ter.

Coming to the Rogue River valley in the spring of 1854, Mr. Neil took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres five miles south of Ashland, on a creek that was subsequently named in his honor Neil creek. Indians were very troublesome, keeping the. pioneers in a state of terror much of the time. Mr. Neil assisted in building a fort at the Thomas Smith, now the Houck, place, and there the half-dozen families gathered for pro- tection against the Indians. In the Rogue River Indian war that followed he took an active part. Moving his wife and younger children to Yreka, Cal., in the fall of 1855, he with his eldest sons remained on the farm, the family returning home in the spring. Im- proving a fine homestead, Mr. Neil carried on general farming and stock-raising most suc- cessfully for forty-cight years, making im- provements of an excellent character. He set out a large orchard of all kinds of fruit, and put in the first irrigating ditch in this section, bringing the water from Neil creek through the center of his land in such a way that the whole farm can be well irrigated. In 1901, when eighty years of age, he located in Ash- land, leaving the care of his home farm to his son, Jefferson C. Politically Mr. Neil is a Democrat, and religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Neil married first Louisa C. Gibson, who was born in Virginia, and died, in 1877, on the home farm, in Oregon. Her parents, James and Hannah Gibson, were natives of Virginia, but removed from there to Tennes- sec, and then to Buchanan county, Mo., where both spent their declining years. Mr. Neil married second Mrs. Amanda (Downing) Haymond, who was born and reared in Iowa. By his first marriage Mr. Neil had twelve children, namely: J. R., an attorney and ex- judge, living in Jacksonville, Ore .: John H., who died at the age of thirty years ; William T ... a stockman in Grant county, Ore .; Mrs. Sarah Chapman, residing near Ashland ; Lcan- dler A., a farmer in Jackson county; Robert P., of whom a brief sketch will be found on another page of this volume; Lonisa, wife of J. R. Tozer, of Ashland ; Mrs. Jennie Alford, of Klamath county, Ore. ; Mrs. Mary E. Dean,

of Josephine county, Ore .; Jefferson C., who is carrying on the home farm; Mrs. Gertrude Murphy, of Jackson county ; and Thomas, who died at the age of three years.

JOIIN W. MERRITT. While a superior education is not necessarily responsible for the success of John W. Merritt, it has nevertheless aided him in arriving at conclusions which else had been reached through years of practical ex- perience. As it is, experience and education are happily blended in his career, and have resulted in the betterment of his adopted state of Oregon. Born on a farm near Syracuse, N. Y., October 30, 1846, he comes of sterling farming ancestry long identified with the eastern state, where his father, Ebenezer, was born near the Hudson river, and where his grandfather, John, lived to the good old age of eighty years. Ebenezer Merritt, whose farm near Syracuse yielded him a comfortable living, was seventy-eight years old when he died, while his wife, formerly Eliza Hiller, lived to be eighty-five. Mrs. Merritt was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., a daughter of Richard Hiller, a Lutheran in religion, and a soldier in the war of 1812. Mrs. Merritt was the mother of nine children, three of whom were sons, and her last years were spent at the home of her daughter near Syracuse.

The third child in his father's family, John W. Merritt was educated in the public schools of Oswego, N. Y., graduating from the normal school of Oswego in 1875. His diploma gave him life-long permission to teach in the schools of New York state, but in August, following his graduation, he came to Oregon, and became principal of the school of Jacksonville. During his nine years' tenure of this position he main- tained a high standard of discipline and mental training, and upon retiring to the mercantile bus- iness in Jacksonville in 1883. he carried with him the good wishes and regrets of those whom he had assisted to a broad and comprehensive sur- vey of life and responsibility. After four years of fair success as a merchant in Jacksonville, Mr. Merritt removed his stock to Central Point, where he has since catered to a constantly grow- ing business, and where he is known as one of the foremost business men of the town. He carries a stock of about $10,000, and has been so suc- cessful that he has opened a $15.000 business of the same kind in Gold Hill, placing it under the able management of Robert Moore. Nor have Mr. Merritt's efforts been confined strictly to merchandising and teaching on the coast, for be- tween 1893 and 1903 he was extensively engaged in sheep-raising on six thousand acres of land. His earnings have been invested principally in country lands, and he at present owns five farms,

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aggregating five hundred acres, upon which is raised grain, fruits, hay and general produce. He is also interested in mining to a considerable ex- tent, being treasurer of the Pearl Mining Com- pany, incorporated with a capital stock of $100,- 000.

Politically Mr. Merritt is a believer in the principles of the Republican party, for the best interests of which he has labored zealously and with practical results. Elected to the state leg- islature in 1890, he served on the committees of commerce and engrossing, and served in the same capacities after his re-election in 1892. He has been a member of the city council of Central Point for twelve years, bringing to the delibera- tions of that body the experience of a trained and far-seeing mind. Mr. Merritt married first, in Jacksonville, July 27, 1877, Mollie B. McCully, a native of Jackson county, Ore., and who died January 17, 1884, leaving a son, George H. The latter is attending the University of Oregon, and will graduate in the class of 1906. For a second wife Mr. Merritt married, December 10, 1891, Jennie E. Moore, who was born in Missouri, and who is the mother of Esther Louise, living at home with her parents. Mr. Merritt has discre- tion, large experience, and integrity of character, and as such commands the honest admiration of his intelligent and progressive townsmen.

WILLIAM C. VOLKMAR. There have been vast changes in Oregon since Mr. Volkmar took up his abode here in 1859. Cities have been built up, railroads have opened new country for settlement, farms have been brought under culti- vation and every department of industry has been developed from a crude condition. In ali of these changes he has borne the part of an ener- getic pioneer and progressive citizen. Born in Lauderbach. Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1816, he crossed the ocean to the United States in 1834 and November 29 settled in Baltimore, Md. Be- ing of a mechanical turn of mind he found ready employment and while Morse was perfecting the telegraph, was employed by him and was in the room when the first message was sent and re- ceived. Hoping to better his financial condition. in 1859 he came via the Isthmus of Panama and San Francisco to Oregon, where he took up two hundred acres on the south fork of the Coquille river. The environment was that of frontier civilization. Neighbors were few and improve- ments were in their infancy. Schools and churches had not yet been built throughout country regions, and he who would undertake the task of evolving a comfortable home from the conditions then existing had indeed the soul of a pioneer. Such a man was Mr. Volkmar. Hard-

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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 92

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