USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 29
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a distinguished citizen of Maine. His brott: ers were Major Abernethy Grover, Professor Talleyrand Grover and General Cuvier Gro- ver, U. S. A. He was educated at the Clas- sical Academy of his native town, and at Bowdoin College, Maine. He studied law at Philadelphia and was there admitted to the bar in 1850. Late in the autumn of that year he embarked, via Cape Horn, for Oregon. arriving here in August, IS51. He located in Salem, and at once began the practice of his professio, . and shortly afterwards formed a partnership with Benjamin F. Harding, which lasted several years. In 1852 he was elected by the legislature prosecuting attorney of the second judicial district, which then extended from Oregon City to the California line. In 1853 he was a member of the territorial legis- lature, and re-elected in 1855-6-7, serving as speaker during the latter session. In 1857 he was chosen a member of the state constitu- tional convention, and took an active part in the work of that body. He enjoys the distinc- tion of being the first representative to con- gress from Oregon. In 1870 he was elected governor of the state, and in 1874 was re- elected to the same position. which he held until 1877. when he entered the senate of the United States, having been elected to that high office by the legislature at its session of the previous year. His health being impaired. he decided to retire from political life, which he did at the expiration of his senatorial term. He served in the Indian war on the Rogue river in 1853, as lieutenant of the company which he raised for the purpose of helping to chastise the hostiles for their murders and depredations. In the war of 1855-6, he aided in raising troops, and served on the staff of Colonel Nesmith during the time of these troubles with the Indians. He was one ci the organizers of the Salem Woolen Mills, and a director thereof for fifteen years, during which time the first broad enterprise for manufactures in the state attained large pro- portions and great success. In 1800 Mr. Gro- ver became owner of one-third of all the mill. . and water power of Salem. From 1867 to 1871 he was manager of the company. Under his Alirection the Salem Flouring Mills, which had been begun, were completed, including the putting in of all the machinery and works, and
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the construction of a steamboat canal from the river to the mills. These mills were a marked success from the start, and were the first direct shippers of Oregon flour, by the cargo, to foreign countries. He also greatly enlarged and improved the woolen mills. The operations of this company were great stimu- lants to the growth of wheat and wool in early Oregon, and facilitated many other busi- ness enterprises in all directions. After Mr. Grover's retirement from political life he lo- lated in Portland, where he has since resided. and continues to take a lively interest in the upbuilding of the best interests of the city and state. He was married n 1865 to Eliza- beth, youngest daughter of Thomas Carter. a pioneer of 1847, and one of the proprietors of the City of Portland. It is unnecessary to state that she is one of the well-known women of Oregon, a lady of high accomplish- ments and culture, and possessed of a grace- ful and distinguished manner .. Their son, John Cuvier Grover, went to Paris in 1887, was a pupil of Gautherin, exhibited in the Salon, and is a sculptor of promise.
JAMES WILLIS NESMITH.
The greater number of the biographical sketches written of Colonel Nesmith state that he was born in Maine. This, however, is not the case. His parents lived in Washington county, Maine, and, during a visitation among friends across the line in New Brunswick. their child, who was to know future honors and have the love of all of Oregon, was born, the date of his birth being July 23. 1820. He was the third child and only son of William Morrison and Harriet (Willis) Nesmith, who were of Scotch ancestry. When about eight months old, his mother was accidentally drowned while attempting to cross the Mira- michi river on the ice. After a time his father again married and removed to Miramichi, N. B. In 1825 a fearful conflagration swept over the country, destroying everything in its course for a distance of eighty-five miles in length and in places twenty-five in width. The family was compelled to flee to a marsh for safety. Here his step-mother, the only mother he ever knew, to whom he was much attached, contracted a cold which resulted in her death the following spring. The loss of valuable property and the greater loss of loved ones seemed to have unfitted his father for the
task of regaining lost fortune, and the fifteen years following the death of the second mother were ones of trial and hardship for both father and son, and much occurred that was pathetic. James was first among friends and then with strangers-homeless and portionless-gaining almost all the education he ever received by attending country schools in a desultory fashion, going a few months at a time. As he was fond of books, and possessed a retentive memory, he stored his mind with a good knowledge on a variety of subjects, and be- came an oracle on others. After a time he went to Ohio and lived with his uncle and aunt Wilson, the latter being his father's sis- ter, and the mother of Joseph G. Wilson, member of congress from Oregon. In 1842 he made up his mind to try his fortunes in the West and set out for the rendezvous in Mis- souri, where the emigrants expected to start from to Oregon. After a trip of some six months across the plains, he arrived in Ore- gon City in October, 1843. His abilities were at once recognized, and, though a young man. preferment and positions of responsibility and trust were given him, and, as he grew older, greater honors were bestowed upon him.
Removing to Polk county, he took up a claim near the present site of Monmouth, and · in 1846 married Miss Pauline Goff, eldest daughter of David and Kizziah Goff, emi- grants of 1844. This claim he sold in 1849. and, with Henry Owen, bought a mill on the Rickreall, two miles above Dallas, which was operated for some time with profit. In the fall of 1848 he went to the California gold fields, remaining there for six months, making quite a find while there, when he returned home. From this time circumstances found him in various places, but he never lost sight of Polk county for a home, and before his death he had not only a well-appointed and comfortable one, but also one of the largest and best farms in that county. Colonel Nes- mith has filled many offices within the gift of the provisional, territorial and state gov- ernments. He served with distinction as a captain in the Cayuse war of 1848; captain in the Rogue River war of 1853, and colonel in the Yakima war of 1855. He took an active part' in the formation of the provisional gov- ernment, and was judge under the same in 1845.
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He represented Polk county in the provi- sional legislature; was United States marshal in 1853-5; in 1857 was superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon and Washington territories; in 1860 he was elected United States senator, and in 1873 he was elected representative to congress to fill a vacancy caused by the death of his cousin, Joseph G. Wilson.
Mr. Nesmith was not a brilliant but quite a successful speaker. His most remarkable qual- ity of mind was his wonderful memory; added to this an unlimited fund of wit and humor, which rendered him quick at repartee, and never at a loss for spicy anecdote and quaint illustration. He possessed qualities that gave him a national reputation, during his career in Washington. Though he ranked in politics as a democrat, he never was what might be called a good party man, excepting in ordinary times and issues. Upon the great questions that came up in connection with slavery, secession and rebellion, he became independent of party and acted with the republicans in demanding the suppression of the rebellion and the aboli- tion of slavery. He was the only democratic senator who voted to submit the abolition amendment to the states for their action. Fur- ther on, when the issues of reconstruction came up, he refused to go with the republi- cans and resumed his relations with the demo- cratic party. But he was much too independ- " ent in his mode oi thinking and of action to retain the favor of those who direct the policy of his party. On great questions he was in- clined by the constitution of his mind to adopt a middle course: and yet no man was firmer or more combative in support of his ideas and principles.
Upon the expiration of his term as repre- sentative, he returned to Oregon and spent the remainder of his life upon the farm, though always taking a pronounced interest in public affairs. He was a generous and unselfish neighbor, and justly deserved the reputation for the old-time hospitality always maintained beneath the plain old farmhouse roof. From the distinguished men known in Washington. who visited him when they came to Oregon, down to the humblest emigrant of early or later days-they all received a kindly welcome and simple entertainment.
His public career was without taint or cor- ruption: his private life without stain of dis- honesty.
During the year 1884. his health failed. play > ically and mentally; and in the summer of th year a stroke of paralysis superinduced soften ing of the brain. He continued in this cond tion a year, when his merciful deliverar came, quietly and painlessly, on June 17. INS in the sixty-fifth year of his age, surrounde by his entire family of children and grand children.
Of his children who arrived at the age d maturity, Mary J. became the wife of Hon Levi Ankeny, of Walla Walla; Harriet became the wife of Judge L. L. McArthur (deceased) . of Portland; Valena became the wife of M W. Molson, of Derry; and James and Willian reside upon the old place by the Rickreall.
MATTHEW PAUL DEADY.
Matthew P. Deady was born in Easton Maryland, May 12, 1824. At the age of fou years his parents removed to Wheeling. Vir ginia, where his father was employed as pr uz cipal of the Lancasterian Academy for severa years. In 1834 his mother died as they were journeying from Baltimore to Wheeling. hay ing been visiting her father at the former city In 1837 his father removed to Ohio, and there Matthew spent four years on a farm. In 1&# he went to Barnesville and wrought at the an vil while he attended the academy at that place So, while he hammered away at the forge, he also shaped in his mind the knowledge he found in his studies. After completing his apprenticeship, he determined to study law and, while doing so, supported himself by teaching school. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1847, and for a time prac- ticed his profession in Clairsville. In 1849 he crossed the plains and taught school during that winter, taking up the practice of his pro- fession again in 1850, when he soon became a man of mark in the community. In June of that year he was chosen by the citizens of Yamhill county to represent them in the lower house of the territorial legislature, in which! he was an active and leading member, and. 1. a consequence, was elected by them a member of the territorial council in 1851. He was chairman of the judiciary committee of that body during the sessions of 1851-2. and was presiding officer during the special session of July. 1852, and the regular one of 1852-3. In the spring of 1853 he was put forward by
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· many friends as a candidate for delegate ! , congress, but preferred to accept the office , Associate justice of the supreme court of "', territory, which office he filled by subse- „tent reappointment, until the admission of fe state in 1859. While occupying this posi- :. on1, he was elected from Douglas county . one of the delegates to the constitutional wivention, which met in Salem in 1857, and ormed the present constitution of the state, 'cing president of the body and active and induential in its workings. At the first elec- :: on under this constitution he was elected one of the justices of the supreme court from the southern district; but as he had been ap- pointed judge of the United States district court for the state, on its admission in 1859, he accepted the latter position and moved to l'ortland in 1860, where he resided continu- "usly until his death. In 1861-2 he prepared und reported to the legislature the present code and civil procedure, and in 1864 the pres- ent code of criminal procedure. These are still in force. With all his other labors he :ound time to prepare and publish a large amount of contributions to the periodicals of the country, containing much information con- cerning the history of Oregon and its affairs. He has also given much labor and contrib- uted largely to the establishment and support vi charitable and educational institutions, one of which was the Portland library, of which he was one of its presidents, and another, the State University, of which he was president of the board of regents. He frequently delivered · tures. all of which abounded with original thought and interest. His long career as a :ige was marked with kindness, fairness, strict attention to duty, and the meting out of :u-tice to all alike. Socially he was lively and entertaining, and those who met him in assemblages where it was necessary to meet wit and eloquence with impromptu repartee, temember with delight his graceful humor, elegant diction and forcible expression which characterized his utterances. He was a vestry- Man vi Trinity church, Episcopal, of long 1. ling.
The judge was married in June, 1852, to Miss Lucy A. Henderson, daughter of Robert Henderson (deceased), of Yamhill. By this marriage three sons were born. all of wliom are well known and respected. Mrs. Deady still lives in Portland, and has always been one of the leaders in society. and none are more highly esteemed and respected.
JOHN MALCOLM BRECK Sr.
The ancestors of Mr. Breck emigrated from England in 1635, coming to America in the ship James. Among the other passengers ac- companying was the Rev. Richard Mather. They settled in Dorchester, Mass., but some of their descendants left the paternal rooftree and went to the State of Pennsylvania and located in the City of Brotherly Love. The parents of our subject were residents of Phila- delphia at the time of his birth. Mr. Breck's earlier education was received at Bristol Col- lege, Pa., and later he attended Nashoth Sem- inary, Wisconsin, his brother, Rev. J. Lloyd Breck, being its principal. In 1850 the firm of Howland & Aspinwall and William H. Aspinwall, of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- pany. the latter being the brother-in-law of Mr. Breck, sent him to the distant and then little-known Portland, Oregon, to take charge of a large invoice of goods which they had sent out by sailing vessel. Through his brother-in-law he secured a berth as purser of the steamship Columbia, just recently launched, and ready to make her initial voy- age upon the main. She had just been re- cently built expressly for the Portland and San Francisco trade, and was a side-wheeler of 760 tons, drawing fourteen feet of water, too much in those years for her to make the trip to Portland a portion of the year without often getting aground in the Swan island. channel below the city, without lightering. The steamer came through the Straits of Ma- gellan and arrived at Valparaiso on Christ- mas, 1850, and at Panama two weeks later. At this port her passenger list was greatly augmented by passengers coming via the Isthmus, among the number being Hon. Henry W. Corbett, who was then making his first trip to Portland. On his arrival at As- toria he found that the ship upon which the invoice of goods had been sent had just ar- rived in port. Making arrangements with the owners of the steamer Lot Whitcomb for trans-shipment of his goods to Portland, he came on up the river to secure a storehouse. Mr. Breck says that this trip was about the second made by the Lot Whitcomb, and that Captain J. C. Ainsworth was master of her, and Jacob Kamm the engineer. At that time business was confined to the west side of Front street, with the exception of a store on the southeast corner of Front and Stark, one
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building between Oak and Pine. and a small store on the northeast corner of Front and A. This store was occupied by Uncle Bob Thompson, who was afterwards drowned in the Willamette. Captain John H. Couch had . a warehouse on the corner of Front and C, and Captain George H. Flanders had just erected a two-story frame building on the southeast corner of Front and B. The lower room of this building was secured by Mr. Breck at a monthly rental of $150. As there were no wharves at that time, his goods were dis- charged upon the river bank at the most con- venient place for the shippers (in this case it was directly in the rear of his store). After getting them on shore, they were hoisted to the top of the bank by block and tackle, swung from the overhanging limb of an oak tree growing there. This was in February, 1851. Within a couple of months thereafter, the firm of Allen, DeWitt & Co., afterwards Allen & Lewis, established themselves, directly across B street, where they erected, for that epoch, a fine store. In the '6os Mr. Breck again entered the employ of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and in 1861 was purser of the Northerner at the time she was wrecked, Jan- uary 2, 1861, off Cape Mendocino, losing thir- ty-five out of 100 people on board. He then represented such company as their agent at Portland for a number of years.
During a portion of the time of his resi- dence in the state he has served his fellow cit- izens in various capacities of responsibility and trust. Among the positions held were those of school clerk of District No. I. city assessor several terms, clerk of the common council, councilman, mayor of Portland, two terms as county assessor. and. on the organization of the union party in 1861, he was elected county clerk of Multnomah county, defeating the democratic nominee for that office. who had long been the incumbent of it through suc- cessive elections. With the exception of three and a half years, Mr. Breck has resided con- tinuously in Oregon since he first came here. During such time he was in California.
In the spring of 1854 Mr. Breck revisited the Atlantic states, and while in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, was married. on January 31, of that year. to Miss Annie Ash- mead, of Lancaster, Pa. Shortly after, the newly-married couple returned to Oregon. Five children were born to them, two of whom
are now living-George, aged 32, now in San Francisco, the manager of the large whole- sale house of J. B. Cott & Co., and Annie A .. who lives at home. Two died in infancy, and John M., whose biography appears and whose portrait is presented in this number, died in 1888.
JOHN MALCOLM BRECK Jr.
Johnnie Breck was born in Portland, Ore- gon, December 10, 1857, and died there, No- vember 17, 1888. He was the wonder of the Pacific coast as a mountain climber. For years before his death he had no control of his left leg, and was compelled at all times to use a crutch with which to move about. Many days and nights the writer, in wind, rain and sunshine, slept under the same blankets, stood on the same mountains, gazed from the same dizzy heights, and lived in an air of solemn inspiration, where the feet of man seldom tread. On one occasion we stood on the side of Mount Hood, watching the storm far down below us. Heavy clouds met as two great armies in savage combat, and were hurled in fantastic shapes high in air. We stood in bright sunshine and watched the storm, lost in silent amazement, until our attention was directed to the summit, where we saw ominous clouds gathering to crush us as wheat in the mill. Slowly, laboriously, but as rapidly as possible, we pushed forward to a few rocks above, where our burden was quickly secured. and we started to descend before the snow was turned to ice and our position was rendered perilous. The party numbered fourteen, among whom was one faint-hearted brother, whose courage forsook him, and he sank on the snow in despair, bemoaning his fate with briny tears. When remonstrated with, he replied by appealing, not for himself, but for Johnnie. who, however, indignantly spurned the insin- uation, and proceeded down the mountain seated on his crutch, and catching behind with a sharp hook in each hand. In soft snow he used what he called a "shoe" on his crutch. and on ice and rocks he used a steel point He thoroughly understood mountaineering. and always did his share and a little more. He was active, energetic and agreeable. On a hard climb he said little, but was tough as a `pine knot. In time of danger he remained perfectly cool and collected, and did the right thing just at the right time. He was a drug
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. : by occupation, and his store on the cor- er of Fifth and Morrison streets. in Portland, wa. where the plans for organizing the Ore- . an Alpine Club were discussed and finally put into successful operation. He was one of the very first to consider the question of illu- mating Mount Hood, and participated in the experiment of 1886 and the first successful ,Ilmination in 1887, as also that of 1888.
In 1885 the writer visited Crater lake with him, at which time a canvas-bottomed canoe was taken from Portland by wagon. Immedi- ately after our arrival it was launched. and the bottom painted, in contemplation of a trip to the then unnamed island. Next day we again descended to the lake and launched our boat, only to find that it leaked from stem to stern. Bitterly disappointed, we watched it slowly filling with water, when he finally said to me: "We paid for that boat in Portland. then car- ried it 350 miles in a wagon for the express purpose of going to the island. Can you swim?"
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Yes."
"Then let's go anyhow." and we did. John- nie bailed water and two of us paddled. Our boat was nearly swamped by the time we reached the island, but we pulled it up on the rocks, climbed to the Witches' Cauldron, or crater, which was named by us, and returned to find that our boat had quit leaking. Then we returned safely to shore. When climbing the walls of the lake in a bed of pumice. a tone came singing through the air from a cliff far above, and when in the act of lifting his left foot with his hands, the stone struck in the newly-made footprint. shook the pum- ice bank, and Johnnie slid down towards the water. With no show of excitement or fear, he looked up and exclaimed: "Pretty close call. wasn't it?" Wizard island was named at this time, as also Llao rock and the Witches' Cauldron, and the very first move was made for a national park that finally consummated in the creation of the Cascade range forest reserve.
DR. GEORGE KELLOGG.
Dr. Kellogg was born in Caledonian Springs, Canada. April 6, 1814, and was the son of Orrin and Margaret Kellogg, and brother of Captain Joseph Kellogg, of Port- land. He was one of the most bold and orig- inal nien that our state ever possessed, having
that rugged and even combative disposition which finds its delight in antagonizing power- ful and customary institutions and methods. Yet his genius was not destructive. It was simply seeking an opportunity to do con- structive work that made him ready to give and to take blows; and underneath the shelter of his rugged front grew the choicest and most delicate plants of human character. -
His disposition to improve upon the past led him to study the botanic or physiomedical system of medicine. He had for his instructor Dr. Curtis, of Cincinnati, and gained an ex- tensive practice in Wood county, Ohio. In 1851 his desire to establish a new and better order of life led him to cross the plains to Oregon, where his father and brother were already doing yeoman's service in opening up the country. At Milwaukie. and soon in Port- land, he began his system of practice. and gained a very wide reputation. His medicines, compounded by himself from the native herbs and trees of our state, were found to succeed in the performance of their intended work: and his sympathetic and penetrating mind, ren- dered acute by long years of practice, became preternaturally keen in diagnosis. On the one side he bore the rough winds of unfriendly criticism, which seldom fail to strike the "ir- regular" practitioner: but on the other, his life was made happy by the gratitude of many whose health he had restored, not a few of whom were too poor to pay for his services except in blessings.
An intrepid thing he did, well illustrating his berit, was the opening of Yaquina bay. This was originally a part of the Indian agency, but, from the study of United States laws, Dr. Kellogg believed that a harbor could not be withheld from commerce, and deter- mined to make the test at Yaquina. He met with opposition from the very first: the steam- boat inspectors tried to detain the steamer, the Pioneer, in which he was to go. He was obliged to slip down the Willamette and out of the Columbia with great caution in order to elude their espionage: and only by prolong- ing his journey on the water did he escape meeting an unfriendly party which was wait- ing for him at the bay. Even under his clear- . ance from Astoria, allowing him to navigate the Pacific and Yaquina, and to fish here and on the weather shore, his little settlement at Pioneer, twenty-five miles from the bar, was
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