The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1252

USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 61

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In '68 he bought the Salem Statesman, selling it in '72. He then bought the Wil- lamette Farmer, running it until '79, in com- pany with D. W. Craig, when he moved to Portland to accept the position as head of the literary bureau of the Villard railroad syndicate, which posiion he held unil Mr. Villard's failure in '83. He has visied and written of all the region west of the Rockies and north of California. Since then he has continued to make this region known to the world by contributions to various leading. papers throughout the Union.

From '62 he has commanded an enviable reputation as a writer. His descriptive arti- cles have received highest praise, his arti- cles on history unexcelled and his verse liked by all who care for rhyme.

The years 1885-6 he devoted to historical work that was published in the Oregonian as "Pioneer Days." He gathered material from fur trader, mountaineer, Hudson Bay sources, missionaries and the earliest pio- neers, many of whom he knew. He hoped to devote his life to a continuance of this work, but ill health and the death of his wife, who was his life's inspiration. as well as his assistant, prevented. Overwork had caused nervous prostration that lasted for years, from which he recovered when the world was in the panic of 1893.

He planted one of the first orchards of the prune in this region and shipped, in 1884, the first car of cured prunes from the Pacific Northwest, precursor of the eleven millions of pounds sent abroad in '98.

Mr. Clarke is at present connected with the U. S. General Land Department. Washing- ton, D. C. During his leisure hours he takes up his pen, and history, incident, romance he knows so well how to phrase, together with his charming verse, will some day fur- nish pleasure to readers who delight in the perusal of entertaining pages.

MRS HARRIET T. CLARKE.

Harriett Talcott Buckingham was born in Norwalk, Ohio, March 31, 1831. Her grand- father came there from Connecticut and was a man of prominence and influence. Her fath- er was for years the publisher and editor of the Norwalk Reflector, now an influential organ of public opinion. The Buckingham family of Connecticut is one of the oldest and best known of New England families. By her mother she was descended from Gov-

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ernor Bradford and the Barstows who land- ed from the Mayflower on December 20, 1620, at Plymouth Rock. Her family connection includes a number of the best known New England families.

She was, during childhood, much with rel- atives near Hartford, Conn .; was later schooled at Zanesville, Ohio, and had a good education. As her brother was coming to Oregon with their relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Smith, so well known at Portland in the early days, she also come with them in 1851. Here she met Mr. S. A. Clarke and they were married February 23, 1852. The same fall they removed to Salem, where, and near there. they lived for thirty-eight years, until her death.

Mrs. Clarke was one of the most charm ing and attractive of the pioneer women of that time. She will ever be remembered by all who knew her for her beauty of per- son and character, her unselfish nature and a kindness that made her the messenger of benevolence wherever she could be useful. She possessed a cultivated mind. and her sympathy with all that was true, good and beautiful.

Her health had been excellent all her life but she had an attack of grippe and seemed recovering, when a relapse came, and after two congestive chills she died instantly from heart failure, January 27, 1890.

During her li''e she greatly assisted her husband in editorial work by conducting a department for home and youth, so nad be- come well known over a wide region. She had hoped to live to assist Mr. Clarke to complete the historical work he had done so much of in a desultory way, as they desired to spend their remaining days for that pur- pose. Never had the death of any woman caused such general and kindly interest and called out so much notice from the press. So many had enjoyed her hospitality that all united to do her honor and recite the virtues and graces that were so natural to her and so unconscious on her part.

Mrs. S. A. Clarke should have recognition ere this age shall pass away and her name be kept in grateful remembrance so long as the Native Son shall be known. The oldest daughter, Marian, died at Walla Walla, in the winter of 1882. The next, Mrs. N. H. Looney, is the wife of Senator N. H. Looney. of Jefferson; William J. Clarke is well known and is in business at Gervais; Mrs. Sarah Clarke Dyer resides at Salem.

RICHMOND KELLY, M. D.

Doctor Kelly was born near the city of Portland, Multnomah county, Oregon, Sep- tember 15. 1855. He is the youngest living child of Rev. Clinton and Maria (Crain) Kelly. His parents left the state of Ken- tucky in 1847 for Oregon, wintering in In-

dependence, Missouri, and began the lone and weary journey across the plains in 1% ;- arriving at Oregon City in the fall of that year. There they remained until the follow . ing spring when a land claim was located by them on the east side of the Willamette river near Portland. In the early fifties their home was some two miles from that city, but now the residence portion of the city has pushed its way a mile beyond the door-yard where their cabin then stood. In honor of Father Kelly the city has named one of its largest and handsomest public school buildings, the "Clinton Kelly." This school was prior to that

time known as "District No. 2," and here, in the building first erected, the doctor secured his earlier education. Upon arriving at a suitable age. he attended the Willamette University. graduating thereform in 1878 in the A. B course. He then took up the study of medi- cine, going to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he en. tered the Miama Medical College, located in that city. From this institution he gradu. ated in 1883. Until the fall of 1885 he re mained in Cincinnati as resident physician of the Cincinnati hospital, when he returned to Portland. and opened an office. In the great metropolis, which was but little else than a village at his birth, he has since con tinued to reside, enjoying a very lucrative practice among a clientele comprising its leading and best inhabitants.

The doctor's parents are now deceased During their life among the pioneers as well as later-comers to Oregon, none were hon- ored more highly while they lived. none more regretted when they died. Their mem- ory will long remain fragrant in the hearts of scores who knew them but to love them

MR. AND MRS. HAMILTON CAMPBEI.I ..

A noble, courageous, God-fearing man 3 man who had much to do with the early an ! best history of Oregon-met his death at !! hands of Mexican bandits and robbers when in 1863, Hamilton Campbell was foully mur. dered at Guaymas. Mexico.

Mr. Campbell was born in Kanawha coun ty, Virginia. June 12, 1812. His ance-try dates back through a long and distinguish -! lineage to the Argyle-clan of Scotland. H - father, Robert Campbell, came to Ameri 1 late in the eigteenth century, and heca! a large manufacturer of salt in Virgi !. . He was married to an estimable Scotch I:D and she bore him a number of children. I. second being the man whose portrait p pears on another page.

Hamilton Campbell was married in Si !! gamon county, Illinois, February 5. 1 -... to Miss Harriet B. Biddle, who was born 3' Amherst Court House. Virginia, February :

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

1×17. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Camp- bell settled in Sprinfield, Illinois. where Mr. Campbell pursued his trade. that of cabinet maker, until 1839, when they. joined the missionary party enlisted by Rev. Jason Lee. to come to Oregon to aid in the settlement and civilization of the then almost unknown territory. The missionary portion of the ex- pedition was composed of fifty persons, in- cluding women and children, and in addi- tion farmers and artisans in wood and iron. Mr. Campbell being the carpenter of the

party. The company embarked at New York in October, 1839, in the ship Lausanne. with a cargo of supplies for the new Meth- odist mission, and those precious human souls who were destined to spread the gos- pel of Christ among the savages of the West-savages who had not then knowledge

of their Creator-who delighted in the spilling of human blood and were joyous in the creation of desolation. In due course, after an uneventful passage around Cape Horn, stopping only at Rio and the Sand- wich Islands, they entered the Columbia river and proceeded to the Willamette val- ley and then to the mission near Salem. Here Mr. Campbell assisted in building the parsonage and jointly occupied it with Rev. Gustavus Hines, until the completion of the institute, when he removed to that structure and was placed in charge of the Indian school. At the closing of the mission, in later years, he purchased the mission horses and cattle and removed them to a land claim he had taken up in the Chehalem val- ley. He was then urged to join the confer- ence and engage as a circuit rider, but his other responsibilities were so great he could not accept. He did, however. become a local preacher, and with great earnestness and al- most immeasurable success, preached to the Indians in their native tongue.

He was the engraver of the dies used to (oin the "Beaver Money" in 1849, by the Oregon Exchange Company, an association of which he was a prominent member. In 1.54 he removed to Corvallis and engaged in the photographic business, and later to San Francisco. in 1859. where he pursued the same calling. In 1862 he returned his family to Portland and went to the Mexican mines as superintendent, where he was ornelly murdered as above narrated.

Mrs. Campbell is still living in Portland with her daughter, Maria A., the widow of S. M. Smith, and although $3 years of age. is as sprightly as many a woman her junior by a third of a century. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, three of whom, Mary D., wife of William Barnhart, an Oregon pioneer merchant. Maria A .. (the first white child born in Salem, October 25, 1841), widow of S. M. Smith, a former lead- ing druggist of Portland; and Sarah C.,

wife of F. W. Latham, are living. These three daughters are a source of great com- fort to their aged and most estimable moth- er. There are but few silvered threads in Mrs. Campbell's formerly almost jet black locks, and her step is as elastic as that of many a woman not far removed from the golden side of life's young dream.

HON. JOSEPH A. STROWBRIDGE.

Hon. Joseph A. Strowbridge was born near Danville, Pennsylvania. His boyhood was spent in Marion county, Ohio, his father hav- ing emigrated from the older civilization and purchased a farm in what was at that time a comparatively new part of Ohio. He had just prepared himself to enter the Ohio Wes- lyan university at Delaware. Ohio, with a view to the study of law, when his father de- cided to emigrate to the far West and make a home in Oregon. The journey was under- taken in the autumn of 1851, across the sev- eral states to St. Joseph, Mo. Here the win- ter was spent and in the spring of 1852 they again resumed their journey, reaching Ore- gon in the autumn of the same year. The loss of one of the children, a little boy of seven years, from cholera, which raged as an epidemic this year among the emigrant trains. the hardship and privation incident to a six months' journey across the plains, together with anxiety and apprehension for the safety of his family, told upon the fath- er's strength, and at The Dalles he was stricken with mountain fever, and died three days after reaching Portland.

By this severe blow J. A. Strowbridge, who was only a youth, was greatly distressed and disheartened. He was ill himself and now felt the responsibility of his mother's family. Following close upon the bereavement of the family. by the death of the father, came the loss of a band of fine stock, worth thousands of dollars, which had been brought across the plains with the greatest care and with- out loss. Their destruction was brought about by a heavy fall of snow which lay upon the ground many weeks, and feed was not to be had. Thus what had been planned as a fine investment was totally swept away. At this time he greatly appreciated the kind- ness and sympathy of the good people of Portland, who were always ready to extend a helping hand and a cordial welcome to the weary emigrant. when he reached his journey's end.

Thus, in the beginning of 1853 Mr. Strow- bridge found himself in a new country, prac- tically without means, and with no resources except which were in his own courageous heart. active brain and willing hands. The first employment which offered was a job

OREGON NATIVE SON.

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cutting cordwood. He bought an axe of the late E.J.Northrup and went bravely to work. Hearing of a position at Oregon City, he at once made an effort to obtain it. The boat on the route was the litle steamer "Eagle" -owned by the late Captains Wells and Wil- liams. As the fare was five dollars-he walked. Mr. Strowbridge was given the position by Captain J. W. Cochran, now re- siding on his farm in Clackamas county, and one of the best men in Oregon.

While at Oregon City Mr. Strowbridge made a small shipment of Oregon apples to the San Francisco market. In 1854 he re- turned to Portland where he engaged extensively in the shipping of apples, flour and other produce with his brother, Justus M. Strowbridge, up to 1860. The first re- sults of his labor were swept away by the failure of Adams & Co.'s bank at San Fran- cisco.

In 1860 Mr. Strowbridge engaged in the boot and shoe business with the late C. M. Wiberg, a man greatly esteemed by all who knew him. The firm of Wiberg & Strow- bridge was the first to import goods direct from the New England manufactories. In 1870 they sold their wholesale business to Kramer & Kaufman, and Mr. Strowbridge then established the leather and shoe finding business, in which he is still engaged at 189 Front street.

In the great fire of August, 1873, he, with many others vas burned out and lost heav- ily, but was among the first to rebuild and get a stock again on the market.

He was one of the members of the Port- land Volunteer Fire Department, organized in 1853 by the business men of Portland for their mutual protection. He was one of the original members of the Portland Board of Trade, and one of the incorporators of Lone Fir Cemetery, also one of the first members of the Portland Library, and has a perpetual membership therein.

It can be truly said of him. that he never contracted a debt but what he promptly paid it in full, and that he holds nothing but what honestly belongs to him. He has pursued the policy of improving his property with sub- stantial buildings, thus furnishing accommo- dations for business, and stimulating growth of the city. He has always been a staunch friend of the public schools, and at the pres- ent time is a member of the Board of Edu- cation of Portland.

In 1888 he was elected to represent Mult- nomah county in the state legislature, and has always taken a great interest in the wel- fare of his ciy and state.

In 1864 he was married to Miss Mary H. Bodman at Oxford, Ohio. The children, Alfred B., Dr. George H., Joseph A., J., Mary Howard, and Henry J., are native Oregon- ians.

· MRS. MARIA BARCLAY.

The subject of this sketch was the daugh. ter of Pierre C. and Catherine Pambrun. who were among the advance guard of the Hudson's Bay Company employees to come to the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Pambrun oc- cupied a prominent position in the conduct of the companies affairs, being in charge of several posts in the interior, where he dis- pensed hospitality with a free hand. In 1826 he was the factor or agent of the com- pany at their post in British Columbia and while there his daughter, Maria, was born. In 1831 he removed with his family to Ore- gon and was sent to Walla Walla as factor. and, during his life there, all pioneers re- ceived a warm welcome, and if in need of necessities, he did what he could to relieve them.

Mr. Pambrun died in 1841, through a fall from a horse he was riding, which had become unmanageable. The family then re- moved to Vancouver. In 1842 his daughter was married to Dr. Forbes Barclay. a pio- neer of 1839, who was in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1850 they re. moved to Oregon City, making that place their future home. Here the doctor con- tinued his medical practice, and, also served the community as an officer-holder, among the positions so held were councilmen nine years, mayor seven years, and coroner eigh- teen years.

Mrs. Barclay was possessed with a most amiable disposition. and known far and wide as being exceedinly hospitable and charitable. She was a woman of strong con- stitution and was in good health up to a few days prior to her decease, when she was at- tacked with a severe cold. This merged into oedema of the larynx, causing strangula- tion. She was the mother of seven children. five of them living to mourn her loss. These latter were Peirre. Alexander, Katie. Hattie. (Mrs. W. E. Pratt) and Charles. She also left two sisters, one the wife of Colonel John McCracken. of Portland, the other the wife of Mr. L. W. Harger. of Chehalem val- ley. both of whom are now alive; and four brothers, who made their homes east of the mountains, all but one of whom have since followed her to the tomb.

Mrs. Barclay's death proved a grevious shock not only to her immediate family, bu: to scores of pioneers throughout Oregon who had from time to time become acquaint ed with her, and. though historic page ho silent as to the deeds of kindness of the wo- men who were among the earlier settlers. as she was, minds' most lasting impression will not be effaced by the omission, and as long as pioneers survive, her memory will be kept green by recall of her worth and kindly actions

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FAME.

When one has climbed the ladder, steep, that leadeth up to fame, And, that he may ne'er return again, has pushed aside the same, Does he e're remember what it cost to reach so high a place? Or does success, so perfect, all these bitter days efface?

If he would but look backward once, to the toilers on the way, With their sore discouraged hearts, aching, breaking, every day, He would surely stretch a kindly hand to those yet left behind, To help them up that weary way, that they might knowledge find.

ELLA HIGGINSON.

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BLOCK HOUSE. UPPER CASCADES

! MIODLE BLOCK HOUSE CASCADES W T.

PIONEER PRINTING CFF LAPWAI

CROCKETT'S OLD STOCKADE. WMIDBYS ISLAND. PUGET SOUND

HISTORICAL BUILDINGS. (See page 468)

NATIONS NO MORE.

THE SURVIVORS OF EMPIRES ONCE KNOWN TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BEING PRINCIPALLY OF ROYAL BLOOD.

Prior to the coming to the Pacific Northwest of the white man, all of the Indian tribes inhabitating the shores of the Lower Columbia and country adja- cent thereto, except the Clatsops, were drawn together into a confederacy, com- prising some eleven powerful tribes, known as the Chinook nation. The prin- cipal chief or ruler of which was Com- com-ly, who was also the head chief of his own tribe, the Chinooks.

The Clatsop tribe, while speaking the Chinook language, was not under Com- com-ly's suzerainty. Co-ba-way, the chief of that tribe, being an independent ruler. The boundary line between his domain and Com-com-ly's empire ran from Smith's point, at the mouth of Young's bay, along the summit of the ridge over Coxcomb hill and up the high ridge between the Walluski (a Young's river affluent) and the John Day (a Co- lumbia river affluent) to the summit of the Nehalem. To the south as far as cape, Co-ba-way was supreme. This re- gion, with its five litle connected valleys, has recently and very fitly been named Clatsop valley. To the north of this ridge, from Smith's point as far as Cath- lamet head, near Clifton (including Fort Astor), was the territory of the Kathlama tribe under Com-com-ly's suzeranity. The Chinook tribe proper was located be- tween Cape Disappointment and Gray's river, at Harrington's point, and back to the center of Willapa bay. Then, con- tinuing on the north side of the Columbia (back to the Puget Sound divide). came the Wah-ki-a-kums, extending to west divide of the E-lo-ko-min; then the Con- Yaks, extending to Kalama river divide; the Ske-choot-wha, including Vancou- ver. and then a tribe .the Wah-Shal-Ha.

reaching to the lower cascades of the Co- lumbia river.

It is to be noted that in the main, the watershed summits of important streams constituted their tribal boundaries. On the south side of the Columbia ,the Mult- nomahs reached from lower cascades to East Scappoose divide, and south to the Clackamas divide. It included the site of the present city of Portland, with the chief's palace at the head of Sauvie's is- land. Then came the Scappoose tribe, which ruled to the Milton creek divide, and as far back as the summit of the Ne- halem divide, and then the Clats-ka-nie tribe ruled as far as the summit of the Coast range at the east boundary of the Kath-lamas, who governed from thence to Astoria. All of these powerful tribes spoke the Chinook language and ac- knowledged the suzeranity of Com-com- ly as the principal chief, or king, who had a wife from nearly all the tribes com- prising the confederacy, as well as wives from some of the neighboring tribes as well.

One village of the Chinooks was situ- ated just beloy Point Ellis, on the Wash- ington side of the Columbia river, direct- ly opposite Astoria. The best fishing grounds on the lower Columbia were lo- cated near this village, and the Indians there were enabled to catch the first sal- mon entering the river, which were caught by their primitive and rudely- made dip nets from the rocks at Point Ellis. The locality is even now consider- ed the best seining grounds on the Co- lumbia. The possession of this point of vantage required strength and intelli- gence in the days of savagery, and gave prominence to the tribe which held it. carrying their name to the interior and

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DOST OM EHOTTAM

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OREGON NATIVE SON.

making them famous. It also placed them in a position whereby the neigh- boring tribes were held somewhat sub- servient to them, and no doubt had much to do with the selection of Com-com-ly, and his fathers preceding him, as the ruler over the confederacy formed.

Fortunately for the white travelers. and it might be said as well for the set- tlers who subsequently came to Oregon, the Chinooks were friendly to them.

The language of the Indians compris- ing the Chinook nation in the original. was one which consisted largely of a suc- cession of gutteral klucks and hisses and which were next to impossible for Europeans to pronounce, learn or under- stand. So the Chinook jargon, now called "Chinook" for short, grew into ex- istence. This manufactured dialect is one that rivals Volapuk in comprehensive- ness, but it served its purpose and be- came a means of communication between the Indians and the whites throughout the Pacific Northwest, and even a means of conversation among the various tribes therein speaking a different tongue. It was a conglomeration of English, French, Spanish and original Chinook and other Indian words. numbering in all about five hundred. Being thrifty traders, they were able not only to pro- cure articles of traffic on sale by the whites, but fell easy victims to their vices. which they adopted, and these, together with epidemics which they knew not how to treat, has so fast obliterated them that they are now almost a memory and in some instances the membership of some of the tribes in the confederacy are all dead and gone, and these descendants of these onec merchant princes are main- ly those of the royal line of the Chinooks and Clatsops.

But while they may become altogether extinct, their language in its purity dead. and their abiding place a thing of the past with them, their name will be known wherever the royal chinook salmon pleases the palate of the epicure; as long as the gentle chinook wind dispels the frost and snows of winter and cools the hot, sandy plains in summer. The jar-

and as long as clipper ships and ocean grey hounds are built on present lines. they will be, as at first, modeled after their canoes.

Com-com-ly's principal palace, or roy al lodge, was at Scarborough licad. where the new fort, Columbia, is now be- ing erected. The bald place high up of the slope that catches the attention of all passers, was the point from which he spied the approach of the Hudson's Bay Company's ships which came every spring. Com-com-ly was made chief bar and river pilot for the company (the first on the Columbia, James Scarborough le- ing the second), and wore the uniform of their service. When a ship came in sight he had 20 of his slaves launch the royal canoe and take him out to meet the ve sel. His canoe and all its crew would be taken aboard, and Com-com-ly would guide the craft up to headquarters at Vancouver.

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The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1252