The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 158

Author: Gaston, Joseph, 1833-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1072

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Mr. Williams' great-grandfather in the Wisdom line was a planter and raiser of fine stock and owned a large number of slaves upon his plantation in Tennessee. He mar- ried Sarah Frances Holman, who was of German descent and was a sister of James Holman, who for twenty-one years served as a member of the Tennessee legislature. James Holman made his home in Nashville and at his death left a family of five chil- dren. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wisdom were born eleven children: Mrs. Susan Pennington, of Missouri, deceased; Mrs. Julia Wilhout, of Tennessee, also deceased; Mrs. Talitha Deer- ing. who resides in Tennessee; Mrs. Eliza- beth Lundy, wife of Daniel Lundy, of Cumberland county. Tennessee; Mrs. Jane Jones. of Tennessee: Mrs. Levina Stuart. of Arkansas, whose husband was killed while serving in the Confederate army; Mrs. Clementine Courtney, of Tennessee. who was married a second time; William. James and Thomas. all deceased: and Sarah. who is liv- ing on the old homestead in Tennessee. All but the youngest daughter were left widows with families.

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Lundy, the maternal grandparents of James I. Williams. spent their entire lives in Tennessee, where he en- gaged in general farming and in raising fine horses. In their family were ten children : Mrs. Osborn Z. Williams; Mrs. Elizabeth Susan Neal, of Missouri. now deceased; Wis- dom S., who was a resident of Cumberland county, Tennessee, but has now passed away ; James B .. living in Jackson county, Tennes- see; Rhoda C., deceased; Mrs. Rachel Stan- ley, Mrs. Annie Jarvis, Daniel and Mrs.

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

Martha Hamilton, all of Pleasant Hill, Tennessee; and William D., deceased. It was the eldest daughter of this family-Sarah Frances Lundy-who became the wife of Os- born Z. Williams. . They were married on the 13th of November, 1864, and to them were born six children: Daniel J., who was born January 30, 1866, and is living in Night- hawk, Washington; James I .; John M., who was born December 26, 1870, and makes his home in Yamhill, Oregon; Thomas S., who was born November 1, 1873, and is living in Republic, Washington; David W., who was born June 26, 1878, and is also a resident of Yamhill; and William J., deceased. It was in 1882 that Osborn Z. Williams brought his family to Oregon, settling near the Southern Pacific depot in Yamhill. Finally he pur- chased a place of three hundred and twenty acres and became identified with agricultural interests in this part of the state.

James I. Williams was a youth of about fourteen years when the family arrived in the northwest and at the age of seventeen years he started out in business on his own account. He worked in a tile factory for twenty years and then resumed the occupa- tion of farming, with which he had become familiar in his boyhood days through the assistance that he had rendered his father. Since that time his attention has been given to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, for in addition to general farming he also raises fruit, having three acres planted to strawberries and four acres to other fruits. He raises only the best varieties and because of the excellence of flavor as well as by rea- son of size he finds a ready sale for his prod- ucts on the market. He now cultivates fifty acres beside the home place of forty acres, which he rents. His place is pleas- antly located about a mile north of Yamhill so that his market is of easy access.

On the 13th of November, 1890, Mr. Wil- liams was united in marriage to Miss Mabel C. Moor, who was born in Yamhill county and is a daughter of Henry P. and Eliza B. (Burton) Moor. Her grandmother Moor was a resident of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and her mother was living at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, at the time of the Indian mas- sacre during the Revolutionary war. The town was besieged by Indians but by crawl- ing on her hands and knees she managed to make her escape. The grandfather and grandmother of Mrs. Williams started for the Pacific coast on the 9th day of April, 1845. One of the distant relatives of Mrs. Williams was Tom Payne, who assisted in framing the constitution of the United States. She has letters from General George A. Thomas to her grandfather Moor, saying that when the railroad was built across the United States he would pay a visit to the west. He was a '49er in California. He was in California at the time the Sacramento river overflowed its banks. washing down gold in large quantities. Her father was born in Peoria. Illinois. in 1836 and her mother's birth occurred in Yamhill county. May 17. 1850. They were married October 30. 1869, and to them have been born five

children: Mrs. Williams; Mrs. Lula Stickler, of Cloverdale, Oregon, whose birtli occurred in 1872; Katie B.,deceased; Cap R., who was born December 23, 1881; and Mrs. Owen Miller, of Cloverdale, who was born July 18, 1887. To Mr. and Mrs. James I. Williams five children have been born: Forest, who was born October 29, 1891, and is a high- school student; Harrell, who was born Jan- uary 2, 1893, and assists his father; Hilda, who was born August 19, 1894, and has com- pleted a high-school course; James R. L., deceased; and Elmer, born November 19, 1908. Mrs. Williams is an artist of marked ability, having painted some beautiful land- scapes and also showing excellent skill in animal painting. When her teacher started for British Columbia she turned over the class to Mrs. Williams, feeling that the work of instruction would be carried on most ably by her pupil. Both Mr. and Mrs. Williams are well known socially in this locality and have an extensive circle of warm friends.

HENRY LOUIS HENDERSON, M. D., a successful and capable representative of the medical profession in Astoria, was born in Clay county, Missouri, November 15, 1859. His father, James A. Henderson, was a na- tive of Irvine, Kentucky, and in his youthful days removed with his parents to Missouri, where he was engaged in farming and lived for many years. In later life he became a resident of Edmond, Oklahoma, where he carried on agricultural pursuits on an ex- tensive scale. He was an officer in the Con- federate army and served throughout the Civil war with the rank of captain, taking part in many hotly contested battles, includ- ing the engagements at Vicksburg, Shiloh, Grand Gulf, Fort Donelson, Iuka and others. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna M. Mooney, was born in Virginia and was a daughter of Alexander Mooney, also a native of the Old Dominion, but later a resident of Clinton county, Missouri, where he engaged in farming. For many years he remained active in business but was living retired at the time of his death. In the family of James A. and Anna M. Henderson were three children: Henry L .; Alexander Shelby, who is now living in Springfield, Missouri; and Mrs. Anna May Williams, a widow.

Dr. Henderson acquired his early education in the country schools of Clay county and in 1875 entered the University of Missouri at Columbia, but left that institution at the close of the junior year to engage in teach- ing for one term. In 1879 he went to St. Louis, where he entered the American Med- ical College, an eclectic school, studying for a year in that institution. In 1882 he was graduated from the Eclectic Medical Insti- tute of Cincinnati, Ohio, with the degree of M. D., and located for practice at Plattsburg, Missouri, there remaining until 1887. He afterward went to St. Louis, where he pur- sued a post-graduate course in the American Medical College, which appointed him to the chair of theory and practice in the college. In addition to private practice he gave clin- ical demonstrations at the St. Louis City

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Hospital and made for himself a creditable position in professional circles there. How- ever, in 1896 he resigned his position and came to Oregon. For a year thereafter he practiced medicine at La Grande, Union county, and in 1897 came to Astoria, where he has since built up a large and lucrative practice, becoming one of the foremost rep- resentatives of liis profession in the nortlı- west. In 1900-1 he was city physician of Astoria and on the 1st of March, 1903, he was appointed by Governor George E. Cham- berlain, state health officer for the port of Astoria, filling the position until the office was abolislied in 1906. He has been a con- stant student of the science of medicine and all that bears upon the work of the pro- fession and is most conscientious in his practice, while his ability inspires his pa- tients with the utmost confidence. He is now a member of the National Eclectic Med- ical Association, a member and ex-president of the Missouri State Eclectic Medical Asso- ciation, a member of the American Medi- cal Association, the Clatsop County Medical Society and the Oregon Medical Associa- tion.

Dr. Henderson was married in Clay county, Missouri, to Miss Lulu J. Morgan, a native of Clinton county, Missouri, and a daughter of John K. Morgan, a prominent lumberman and grist manufacturer. Dr. Henderson is well known in Masonic circles, being a past master of St. Louis Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M., while in 1893 he was deputy grand lecturer and, in 1894, deputy grand master of the state. He became a Knight Templar in 1886 in Kadoch Commandery, No. 21, at Cameron, Missouri, and the following year was transferred to Commandery No. 18, K. T., of St. Louis, with which he was identified until 1909, when he became a member of St. Aldamar Commandery, No. 11, K. T., of As- toria. He likewise belonged to Moolah Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine, which he joined at St. Louis in 1890. In 1900 he was trans- ferred to Al Kader Temple of Portland, and he is also a member of Oregon Consistory, No. 1, A. A. S. R., of Portland. He likewise belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Astoria and is a past exalted ruler of the local lodge, while in Concomly Tribe, No. 7, I. O. R. M., he is a past sachem and also a past great sachem of Oregon. His political allegiance is unfalteringly given to the demo- cratic party and in December, 1910, he was elected mayor of Astoria, in which connec- tion he is giving a public-spirited and business-like administration, characterized by many needed reforms and improvements. He is a typical resident of the fast-growing northwest-alert, determined and enterpris- ing-and has here found opportunity for that individual development which brings out the strongest and best in mankind.

JOHN H. McNAMER, a prosperous and re- spected citizen of Forest Grove, has for the past eight years been engaged in the livery business and is also connected with agricul- tural interests. His birth occurred in Louisa county, Iowa, on the 20th of March, 1848,

his parents being Noah and Mary (Hurley) McNamer, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of England. Noah McNamer, whose natal year was 1828 and who was a farmer by occupation, removed from the Blue Grass state to Illinois and thence to Iowa. Subsequently he went to California, where he staked a mine. After coming to Oregon he invested in land in Washington county and there spent the remainder of his life. His wife, who was born in 1833, passed away in Iowa. To them were born five chil- dren, as follows: Will, deceased; Miranda, who gave her hand in marriage to John Wil- son and passed away, leaving four children; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Frank Pierce and resides near Mount Hood, Oregon; Mar- garet, 'the wife of William Dean, of Port- land; and John H., of this review.

John H. McNamer acquired his education in the common schools of Washington county and during the greater part of his business career has been engaged in the live-stock business. During the Civil war he joined the First Oregon Volunteer Infantry and was stationed on the plains in order to protect emigrants against the Indians. He spent three years with Wells Fargo & Company as shotgun messenger on stage coaches and was subsequently engaged in the live-stock business in California for sixteen years. On the expiration of that period he came to Ore- gon and for seven years conducted a butcher shop at Forest Grove. At the end of tliat time he embarked in the livery business and for the past eight years has enjoyed a grati- fying patronage in that connection. He also runs a stage line to Tillamook, owning a half interest in a livery business at both Till- amook and Forest Grove. He likewise culti- vates two leased farms at Gales Creek and in addition has a camp, called McNamer's Halfway Camp, between Forest Grove and Tillamook. In the conduct of his varied in- terests he has displayed excellent business ability and capable management, and the success which has crowned his labors is but the merited reward of his untiring and well directed industry.

Mr. McNamer's present wife bore the maiden name of Nora Wells and is a native of Kentucky. By a previous marriage he had three children. Frank, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in association with his father, wedded Miss Mary Herrick, by whom he has six children. Fred, who re- sides in Forest Grove, is married and has one child. Addie gave her hand in marriage to John Dollarhide, by whom she has six chil- dren.

JACOB RUECK, who has extensive landed possessions in Klamath county and is a sulc- cessful rancher whose prosperity is attribut- able entirely to his own labor. was born in Wurtemberg. Germany, April 8. 1861, a son of Adam and Margaret (Grueb) Rueck, who in 1881 became residents of Willshire. Van Wert county, Ohio, there joining their son Jacob who had preceded them to the new world a few months. The entire family went to Fort Wayne. Indiana, settling on a farm there in the fall of that year. The father

JOHN H. McNAMER

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died upon that farm in 1887 when about fifty-five years of age, and the mother now resides in the Yonna valley with her son Michael, the youngest of her four children. The others are: Caroline, the wife of George Ritter, also of the Yonna valley; Jacob, and Rosa, the wife of Paul Keller, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Jacob Rueck was reared on a farm in the fatherland and was the first of the family to come to the United States, arriving in the spring of 1881. After spending a few months in Ohio he went to Indiana and in 1882 removed to Michigan, where he worked on a farm, after which he returned to In- diana, but again went to Michigan, where he was once more employed at farm labor. In 1884 he arrived in Portland, Oregon, and spent a few months in working in the Wil- lamette valley. He was then employed in the vicinity of Sacramento, California, for a few months, after which he returned to Yam- hill county, Oregon. In 1885 he came to the Yonna valley and preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land near the present site of Dairy. He proved up that property and it is still in his possession. He also took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres a mile below his present residence and this is also in his possession. His wife home- steaded the place on which they now live and Mr. Rueck purchased it from her after their marriage. He has also bought other land and he and his wife together own eleven hundred and twenty acres, all in the Yonna valley, of which two hundred and fifty acres is under cultivation. Their holdings include one hun- dred and sixty acres of timber while the re- mainder of the land was covered with sage brush. They have resided on their present place since 1890, where Mr. Rueck owns eight hundred acres of land in one body. Stock is the principal feature of their place and Mr. Rueck now has about twenty-five head of horses and forty head of cattle. He has had one hundred and seventy-five head of range cattle and has become well known in connection with stock-raising in this part of the state. In 1906 he was instrumental in having established the postoffice at Yonna, of which he has since been postmaster. He has also been vice president of the Bank of Bonanza since its organization and he is president of the Horse Fly Irrigation District, which was organized in November, 1911, un- der the state laws to irrigate twenty thou- sand acres. The preliminary surveys have already been made. This tract was formerly included in the Klamath project but the reclamation fund was low, so that Mr. Rueck went to Washington and had it released from the Klamath project. This Horse Fly project will be pushed to completion as soon as pos- sible and will constitute an important ele- ment in the development of the district.

In 1890 Mr. Rueck was married to Miss Ada Shook, who was born in Iowa and came to the northwest with her parents, Amon and Katharine Shook. They have two chil- dren, Carl and Ward. Mr. Rueck votes with the republican party but has never held nor desired office. The cause of education, how- Vol. IV-43.

ever, finds in him a warm and helpful friend and he has done important work as one of the directors of the Hildebrand school dis- trict. He is an exemplary representative of Bonanza Lodge, I. O. O. F., and a faithful member of the Lutheran church. Sound judgment and keen perception enabled Mr. Rueck to make judicious investments at a time when land values were low and he is now reaping the benefit thereof, for the land is constantly increasing in value, owing to the rapid settlement of the district and the improvements which he has placed upon his property.

WILLIAM S. WINSOR is living re- tired at Gold Beach. He was the pioneer shipper of white cedar, being the first to place lumber of that character upon the market, and it was he, who originated the name of Port Orford Cedar, which is now famous the world over. He was born in Jamestown, New York, in 1832, a son of Samuel and Anna (Sears) Winsor, the mother a native of New York and the father of Connecticut. His ancestral history is traced back to the time of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The family numbered seven children: Ruby and Hen- rietta, both of whom are deceased; William S., of this review; Woodley, who is a resident of Olean, New York; Clinton, living in Jamestown, New York; Mary, the wife of Richard Baker, of Jamestown, New York; and Helen, an artist, who resides with her sister Mary in the Empire state. The father was a carpenter and millwright of New York and in the Empire state William S. Winsor was reared, remaining there until he had at- tained his majority. He then went to Cali- fornia, which was in the period of its pioneer development and worked for a short time in a sawmill but afterward came to Oregon and settled at Port Orford in 1854. He engaged in mining on the beach and made some money, but the red men went upon the war- path and Mr. Winsor joined the volunteers in the Rogue River Indian war of 1855-6. He served for five months, being engaged in active duty most of the time as a member of Company K, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, under Captain Bledsoe and General Lamrick. When hostilities had ceased Mr. Winsor rented a sawmill, which he operated for three years, sawing and shipping the first white cedar that was ever put on the market. He placed this on sale under the name of Port Orford Cedar and, its value becoming im- mediately recognized, it is now known throughout the world. Others followed in his lead and the shipment of white cedar has constituted one of the most important sources of revenue in lumber circles. Later Mr. Winsor went to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in merchandising. remaining for five years in that business. He then returned to California, where he spent two years in the operation of a sawmill, after which he came to Gold Beach, building a sawmill which he operated for a year. He then sold out and removed to Port Orford, where for six years he was identified with the business interests

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of that city as a merchant. About the time his wife died he disposed of his store. A year later he was elected county treasurer of Curry county, which position he filled for one term and since the close of his official service has lived retired, making his home at Gold Beach. Indolence and idleness have ever been utterly foreign to his nature and he here has a small shop and keeps busy making odd pieces of furniture for his own diversion.

In 1858 Mr. Winsor was married to Miss Charlotte White, a native of New York, whose parents died during her infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Winsor traveled life's journey happily together for about forty years and were then separated by death in 1898. In their family were six children: Anna, the wife of William Gauntlett, of Seattle, Wash- ington, by whom she has five sons, George, Clinton, James, Victor and Charles; Mary, the wife of Alfred Gauntlett, of Gold Beach, and the mother of four children, Harry, Wesley, Lottie and Estelle; Charles, who is president of the Bank of Oregon at North Bend and is married and has two children, Joseph and Helen; Harvey, who was drowned in the Yukon river; and Nettie and Ruby, both deceased.

In politics Mr. Winsor has long been a stanch democrat, never faltering in his alle- giance to the party. He has held but one public office, preferring to do his duty as a private citizen, but at all times he has been loyal to those interests and projects which he believes will further the welfare of the community. His fraternal relations are with the Masons and he is an exemplary repre- sentative of the craft.

The following article, entitled "A Scout to Rogue River in 1856," was written by Jeremiah Huntley of Gold Beach.

"The first news of the Indian outbreak at the mouth of Rogue river was brought to Port Orford ky Charley Foster, whose com- pany of home guards, of volunteers, were attacked and routed by the Indians at their camp on the nortlı bank of Rogue river at a point since known as Bagnell's Ferry, on the early morning of February 23, 1856. Several men of the company were killed and wounded at the first volley; the others fled to the timber and brush near by and hid the best they could. A few were discovered by the Indians during the day and killed. Foster succeeded in eluding the Indians and when it became dark started for Port Or- ford, thirty miles distant, where he arrived the second day, almost famished, and gave the alarm. Foster did not know the fate of the people at the mouth of the river but reported that he believed that all the whites in that vicinity had been killed. From his hiding place in the jungle he saw many strange Indians passing during the day, from which he judged that the hostiles from up the river had come down and, joining with the coast Indians, had killed all the whites they could find. At that period Port Orford was a thriving little town of about two hun- dred people, mostly miners and packers, though a few families had recently been

added to the town. The Indians in that vicinity were not very numerous or warlike, and the few who lived thereabouts gave the people no concern.

"Several days passed after Foster's ar- rival, but nothing more was heard from Rogue River, so one Jerroe, a storekeeper, in company with four or five others, whose names have been forgotten, manned a whale- boat; loaded it with provisions, guns and ammunition, and pulled out for Rogue river to assist the people there, should they find any alive. It was known that a small fort or earthwork had been partially built a short time previous about one mile north of the mouth of the river by some miners who feared an outbreak, and thither the men in a boat directed their course. The boat was spied and hailed by the people in the fort, and in an attempt to make a landing all the occupants of the boat, save one, were drowned in the surf.

"The little fort was besieged by hundreds of Indians, who kept at a safe distance, how- ever, as the occupants had good rifles and knew how to use them. With plenty of provisions, a good log fort carefully con- structed with loopholes and protected by a wide ditch on the outside, the miners had no fears of their ability to repel any assaults of the Indians. But they needed every man present, so had not tried to send for assist- ance. Several days passed, and as no word was received from Rogue River or the occu- pants of the whaleboat, W. S. Winsor and George Wasson, two miners, but experienced Indian fighters, volunteered to go to Rogue River and locate the white people, if any were alive, or learn their fate. Winsor and Wasson secured the best horses they could find, and at dark on the evening of March 3, 1856, were ready to undertake the perilous journey. Armed with good rifles and re- volvers, and with four days' rations tied on their saddles, the two men shook hands with the friends who had assembled at the only store in town to see them off, mounted, and soon disappeared in the darkness down the beach. Both had traveled that trail many times, and as the night was not very dark they made good time. No one resided on or near the trail, so it was pretty certain that the only human beings they were apt to en- counter would be Indians. As the scouts hurried along that lonely trail they were frequently startled by wild animals scamper- ing off through the forest, through brush and over logs, making considerable noise. The clink of the shoes on their horses against the many stones in the trail made more noise than was pleasant to hear, as such noise might be heard by some lurking warrior picketing the trail. But such noises could not be avoided, and our scouts went forward as fast as it was prudent in the darkness.

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The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 158

Author: Gaston, Joseph, 1833- Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1072

Author: Gaston, Joseph, 1833-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1072