The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 53

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

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Seeing no further chance for mining, Judge Kincaid and his partner started for Cres- cent City, California, where they remained until spring, earning their livelihood by chop- ping cord wood and splitting rails, making fourteen thousand rails. In the spring of 1856 as a steerage passenger Judge Kincaid journeyed on the steamer Goliath to San Francisco and for several weeks was engaged in erecting a. plank fence where the wharves of the Pacific Steamship Company are now found. He then went by steamer to Sacra- mento, walked from there to Folsom City and was soon engaged in mining on the American river near Auburn, where he con- tinued until the water dried up. He after- ward worked in the stables of the American Express Company at Marysville and later found employment with Matthew Sparks upon his ranch at Bear river. When his em- ployer sold his property there Judge Kin- caid accompanied him to Colusa county and was there engaged in making rails for his employer. The following summer he fol- lowed freighting in the mountains near Marys- ville but in 1857 decided to return to Ore- gon. However, he expected to go back to California and there left his outfit valued at about five hundred dollars, for which he Vol. IV-15

never was paid. At San Francisco he boarded a steamer bound for Portland and thence proceeded to Corvallis, whence he walked to Eugene.

The first work that Judge Kincaid did in Oregon was cutting logs, which he hauled to the mill race and had sawed on shares, using the lumber to build his house, having pur- chased six acres of land in the southern part of Eugene before going to California. He also employed the burning of charcoal as a means of livelihood and sold the product to Eugene blacksmiths. In the meantime he had come into full recognition of the value of education and when he had saved a little money he decided to attend school, enter- ing 'Columbia College as a member of a class which numbered many men who afterward became famous, including Joaquin Miller and his brother John Miller, D. D. S., Judge Wat- son, Joseph D. Matlock, Judge J. J. Walton and Jefferson Blevins. It was about this time that Judge Kincaid entered upon his journalistic career. It was the year 1860, when most momentous questions were being everywhere discussed. The Herald, a demo- cratic paper, strongly supported the secession movement in articles written by President Ryan, of Columbia College, under the pseu- donym of Vindex. At length Judge Kin- caid was induced to answer these through B. J. Pengra's paper, called the People's Press, writing under the name of Anti Vin- dex. President Ryan ascribed the articles to Mr. Pengra and made an attempt to kill him, after which he escaped to Virginia and entered the Confederate army. The next summer found Judge Kincaid as a staff mem- ber of the People's Press, the leading re- publican paper of the state, and when its proprietor was nominated for presidential elector and was making campaign speeches the Judge was left to learn printing, while the presswork and nearly all of the writing was done by him during the campaign of 1860. A short time afterward he gave up this work and for two summers was engaged in packing flour and produce to Canyon City but again became connected with editorial · work, writing for a short time for the State Republican, the Union Crusader and the Cop- perhead Killer. The last named was edited by the Rev. A. C. Edmunds, who wrote prin- cipally upon religious subjects, leaving Judge Kincaid to handle the political questions. A year later he and Joseph Ware purchased the paper and changed its name to the Oregon State Journal. The partnership, which had begun March 12, 1864, continued for a year, when Judge Kincaid became sole proprietor. He conducted this paper for forty-five years and twenty-two weeks, the last issue being dated May 29, 1909, owing to the fact that daily newspapers killed the demand for week- ly publications. He ever held his paper to the highest possible standard and he is today the oldest newspaper man in the state. As dean of the profession he occupies an hon- ored place. A contemporary biographer has written: "Politically no man has exercised more influence than Judge Kincaid, for he has proven himself one of the strong and re-

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liable men of his party and as such has won the commendation of leaders. He has always been a stanch republican and in 1896 joined the ranks of the silver republicans, in entire sympathy with whom he lias since remained." When the convention of his party met in Portland April 7, 1870, all the nominations were speedily made except that of state printer, for which position there were three candidates, the late Henry L. Pittock, of the Oregonian, Henry Denlinger, of the Oregon Statesman, and Dr. N. C. Gault. The friends of Judge Kincaid, who was then, from 1866 until 1879, a clerk in the United States sen- ate, three thousand miles away, and was not a candidate, used his name. He was nomi- nated on the fifth ballot, receiving one hun- dred and nine votes, while Denlinger and Pittock were each given seventy-six. The nomination was then made unanimous and Judge Kincaid returned from Washington to conduct the campaign. Further political hon- ors came to him in 1894 in his election to the position of secretary of state on the repub- lican ticket, his service beginning in January, 1895, and covering four years. In 1898 the same position was virtually his but he could not indorse the gold standard platform and, therefore, would not again become a candi- date on that basis. He cast his lot with the silver republican ticket and was defeated, though he led the ticket. In 1900 he was nominated on the citizens' ticket for county judge and overcame a majority of five hun- dred votes, entering upon the duties of the position in July, 1900, for a four years' term. For thirteen years, from 1866 until 1879, he was a clerk in the United States senate, first in the finance room, later in the executive room and afterward in the en- rolling room, while subsequently he served as indexing clerk until 1879, when a change in the political situation at Washington made it more profitable for him to return to Eugene. He then again assumed charge of his paper, for which he had written letters and editorials throughout the entire time. Aside from all his varied activities Judge Kincaid took a deep interest in agricultural affairs in the county and devoted three hun- dred and twenty acres of the old Kincaid donation claim to stock-raising. He was likewise interested in mining. He has also dealt largely in real estate, having platted Kincaid's addition of thirty lots, while there are yet seven and a half acres unplatted. At the east end of Eugene he laid out Kin- caid Park of one hundred and fifty lots and a sixty-three acre tract which lies across the railroad, extending to his father's donation claim and a mile and a quarter south, mak- ing two and a half miles of land from the head of the mill race extending southward. This is called Kincaid Park. His son now has charge of his real-estate interests. Judge Kincaid also owns eight hundred and ninety- four acres two and a half miles from Cres- well and the Eugene & Great Western Land Company has charge of the sale of this tract.

H. R. Kincaid went to Washington, D. C., in the fall of 1866 along with Hon. J. H. D. Henderson, member of congress from Ore-

gon, by steamer from San Francisco via the Isthmus to New York, and thence by rail. While in government service at Washington about thirteen years, most of the time being a clerk in the United States senate, he trav- eled across the continent to and from Orer gon by rail frequently when congress was not in session, the first time just after the Union & Central Pacific railroad had been completed between Omaha and Sacramento. He was one of the six delegates from Ore- gon in the republican national convention at Chicago in 1868 that nominated U. S. Grant for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice president, and represented one of the other delegates by proxy, which he transferred to and which was voted by Congressman Rufus Mallory. He was also one of the six dele- gates from Oregon in the republican national convention at Philadelphia in 1872 that nom- inated U. S. Grant for reelection as president and Henry Wilson for vice president, and represented one of the other delegates by proxy, which he transferred to and which was voted by United States Senator Henry W. Corbett. He was elected to and served in many republican county and state conven- tions in Oregon during a period of more than thirty years.

While serving as secretary of state of Oregon, having been elected by a large popu- lar vote in 1894, at a special session of the legislature, in 1898 he was the choice of the opposition members of the legislature to the regular party candidate and received twenty-three votes for United States sen- ator on the final vote when Joseph Simon was elected, secretary of state was then the most influential and by far the most lucrative office of the state and consequently the most sought after and the hardest to obtain, much more so than the office of governor. It included not only the office of secretary of state as in other states. but also the office of state auditor, state in- surance commissioner, state incorporation commissioner, state building and loan com- missioner, and member of the boards that controlled the state insane asylum, the state deaf-mute school, the state reform school (now called the "State School"), the state blind school, the State Agricultural College, the State Normal School, the Soldiers Home and the sale and management of all state lands and the loaning and management of the large sums of money belonging to the school fund. Governor William P. Lord at the close of his term of office in 1900, ap- pointed his friend H. R. Kincaid a regent of the University of Oregon, but his name was withdrawn by Governor Geer immedi- ately after he had entered upon the duties of his office before the senate had an oppor- tunity to confirm it, although a large major- ity of the senators protested against the withdrawal and would have confirmed it had not the chairman of the committee returned it to the governor without giving the senate a chance to vote on it.

Perhaps no two other men ever served in important positions where they were closely associated and their duties sometimes brought

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

them into conflict more harmoniously and cor- dially than did Governor Lord and Secretary of State Kincaid. Their association made them lifelong friends. Mr. Kincaid was very active in securing the passage of the act locat- ing the University of Oregon at Eugene, and remained at the state capitol during the en- tire session of the legislature, when the act was passed, working for it.

On the 29th of September, 1873, in Macomb county, Michigan, Judge Kincaid wedded Au- gusta Lockwood, a native of that locality. Her brother, C. M. Lockwood, for many years was identified with the interests of Oregon although he died in Michigan. He and John Haley, of Idaho, father of Judge Haley, owned a stage line from Salt Lake to The Dalles. Mr. Lockwood brought his sister to The Dalles on a visit and there she became acquainted with Judge Kincaid, whom she also met in Washington, D. C., and they were married at her Michigan home. Their only child is Webster Lockwood.

Judge Kincaid is connected with the State Pioneer Association, the Oregon Historical Society, the Eugene Commercial Club and formerly belonged to the Illihee Club of Sa- lem and was a member of the Multapor . Club of Portland, which is now out of exist- ence. Judge Kincaid's life has, indeed, been one of great usefulness. His ideas have al- ways been practical and his methods pro- gressive and what he has undertaken he has accomplished. The years have brought him not only success but honor, and he stands today among the foremost residents not only of Eugene but of all Oregon, where he has a very wide acquaintance.

MRS. NANCY KINCAID was born in But- ler county, Ohio, a few miles from Cincin- nati, July 7, 1816. Her parents were Peter and Elizabeth (Steele) Chodrick. Her father was a native of Delaware and her mother was a native of Pennsylvania and of German descent. Her parents moved from Pennsyl- vania to Ohio, floating down the Ohio river in a flatboat, about 1812. They moved to the thickly timbered wilderness of Indiana about the year 1822, when the subject of this sketch was about six years old, and set- tled about eighteen miles northeast of where Indianapolis is now located, with a popula- tion of two hundred and forty thousand. In- dianapolis was founded in 1820, and became the seat of government in 1825, the state government having been established in 1816. The land where they cleared the timber and made a small farm and resided the remain- der of their lives is in the corner of what is now Madison county on Fall creek at the mouth of Lick creek. They had nine chil- dren, four boys and five girls, Nancy being the fourth child. Three were born in Penn- sylvania, two in Ohio, and four in Indiana.

In 1831 Nancy Chodrick was married to Thomas, Kincaid, sixteen years her senior, at the residence of her parents. He was the second son of Francis and Nancy Kincaid, nee Murdock, who came from Virginia, now West Virginia, and settled in the wilderness of Indiana, about the same time as the Chod-

ricks. They had nine children, five boys and four girls. They were both of Scotch-Irish descent, that is their parents were Scotch who migrated to the north of Ireland and thence to America in colonial times.

Thomas and Nancy Kincaid had born to them nine children, five boys, and four girls, seven while residing in Indiana, one while residing temporarily in Iowa, and one at their home near Eugene, Oregon. Three died in infancy. The other six lived to mature ages, but only two are now living, Harrison R., the eldest, and Elizabeth M. Gale, both resid- `ing in Eugene, Oregon.

In 1844 Thomas and Nancy Kincaid, with their three children, Harrison, Rebecca and Elizabeth, started in a two-horse wagon to move from Indiana to Texas. At St. Louis, Missouri, they met with friends who per- suaded them to go to Iowa. They traveled in the winter of 1844-5 up through Illinois, and crossed the Mississippi river with their team on the ice at Fort Madison. They spent the remainder of the winter near Iowaville on the Des Moines river. This village is not now on the map. The winter was so in- tensely cold that in the fall of 1845 they started on for Texas. They crossed the Des Moines river at Attumwa, and the Mis- souri river on a boat propelled by horse power at Lexington. They then traveled southwesterly through Missouri and Arkan- sas to Van Buren on the east bank of the Arkansas river, opposite Fort Smith on the western bank in Indian Territory. There they met so many discouraged people re- turning from Texas that they turned east- ward and spent the winter near the St. Francis river. In the spring they traveled across the Mississippi bottom which is about forty miles wide, made up of cane brakes and swamps with a black mud bottom that sticks to a wagon like tar. They camped a few weeks on the west side of the Missis- sippi river and a short time on the east side in the upper end of Memphis, Tennessee, at the mouth of Wolf creek. After this they took passage with their wagon and team on the steamboat Cincinnati, and landed at Jeffer- sonville on the north bank of the Ohio river opposite Louisville, Kentucky. They then traveled out to the old home in Indiana. Some of the distance the wagon road was along the side of the first railroad built in Indiana, from Madison on the Ohio river to Indianapolis. It was a very primitive affair, with little engines and cars running on flat bars of iron nailed on thick boards or string- ers running lengthwise of the tracks, scarcely resembling the railroads of today.

In 1852 Thomas and Nancy Kincaid started from their old home in Indiana with an ox team and a two-horse carriage for Oregon. Their children then living were: Harrison R. Kincaid, clerk in the United States senate for eleven years, secretary of state of Oregon for four years, county judge of Lane county, Oregon, for four years, and managing editor and proprietor of the Ore- gon State Journal at Eugene, forty-five years and five months; Rebecca Ann; Elizabeth Maria; John Sanford; and Mary Alice.

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George S., the youngest, was born in Ore- gon, on the homestead three miles from Engene. They stopped one year with friends in Benton county, Indiana, about thirty miles west of Lafayette. In February, 1853, they started for Oregon, camping in snow and ice through Illinois, crossed the Mississippi river with their teams on the ice at Burlington, and reached Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, some time in April; crossed the Missouri river on a steamboat that had come up from St. Louis to ferry the emigrants over, May 9. There was not a house then where Omaha now stands nor one in sight along the trail between the Missouri river and the Willa- mette valley. There was not then a stick of timber along the Platte river for three hundred miles, where there are now plenty of trees. It rained nearly all the time dur- ing the first two or three wecks. The water was so deep in the sloughs that it sometimes ran into the wagon beds. The buffalo chips were too wet to burn. No fires could be made and they had to live mostly on crack- ers. The driver of the ox team had to wade the sloughs and was wet day and night until the dry country was reached about Fort Laramie on the North Platte. And from there on the dust was like a fog, and every- body was covered with it.

Nancy Kincaid drove the horse carriage nearly all the way as far as the Grande Ronde valley, near where La Grande is now, where it became disabled and was left. Her husband walked or rode horseback and drove the loose stock, and Harrison, their oldest son, drove the ox team. They crossed the Cascade mountains just south of Mount Hood, and arrived in the Willamette valley, September 29, 1853, and at Eugene, which then did not contain a house on the town- site, which had been platted the year before, October 11. They settled three miles south- east of Eugene and lived there about seven years. They then moved to Eugene, where the subject of this sketch has ever since re- sided, and where her husband passed away in the fall of 1866.

She has resided in a house on a six acre tract near the middle of Eugene during the last fifty years, and has in all that time re- fused to visit the coast or Portland or any place outside of the Willamette valley. She visited the state fair at Salem in a wagon before the railroad was built nearly fifty years ago, but that is the limit of her travel- ing since crossing the plains fifty-nine years ago. Until a few years ago she had seven or eight pet deer in a park on the lot, and has a chicken park, and raises dozens of chickens every year. She lives alone nearly all the time of her own choicc, and does her own house work. She attends to feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs. Her son, who is twenty years hier junior, usually dines with her every day, and she prepares the meal, and her daughter usually spends an hour or more with her every afternoon, and neighbors frequently call to talk over familiar matters, or to get information con- cerning pioneer or local history, for she has a wonderful memory and remembers every-

thing that has ever come within her knowl- edge during her whole life of ninety-six years up to the present time. Her mind is as clear and bright as it ever was. She seems to be as young and in nearly as good a condition physically and' mentally as she was fifty years ago. She is small, about five feet tall, and did not weigh more than one hundred and fifteen pounds in her prime and weighs less now. Considering her age and the terrible hardships and privations she has endured, not one in a million having endured so much, she is a human phenom- enon, a living wonder. Recently Mrs. Kin- caid was made queen of the pioneer women of Oregon, being the oldest pioneer woman in the state.

About twelve years after her husband passed away she married T. S. Riddel, a fine old gentleman, a few years her senior, who came out from Illinois. He passed away. about twelve or fifteen years ago. But she prefers to retain and is almost uniformly known by her family name, the name of her children, Kincaid.

ANDREW A. LEE, who is president and manager of the Salem Abstract Company and one of the first abstractors of the city of Salem, was born in Iroquois county, Illi- nois, on the 15th of June, 1865, a son of Al- fred D. and Mary Jane (Slack) Lee. The father was born in Indiana and the mother was a native of Ohio. After their marriage they located upon a farm in Iroquois county where they remained several years before removing to Michigan and later to Ren- sselaer, Indiana. They are now living there retired. They are members of the Christian church and Mr. Lee gives his political sup- port to the democratic party.

Andrew A. Lee was reared at home and acquired his education in the public schools and subsequently in Grand Prairie Semi- nary at Onarga, Illinois. Following the com- pletion of his studies in that institution he took up the abstract business, securing a position with the Barber Abstract Com- pany at Joliet, Illinois. After remaining there for less than a year he went to Wat- seka and spent the following winter in an abstract office there. He subsequently left the middle west and came to the Pacific coast, locating in Salem. From the time lie was in the public schools he had fully de- termined upon abstracting as his life's pro- fession, and the immediate and earnest ap- plication he gave to it after leaving school showed his persistent purpose to succeed. When he arrived in Salem he was a stranger in a strange land with no equipment but his honesty and his ability. On the 1st of January, 1900, he secured a position in the Salem Abstract offices, and from that minor position he rose to manager of the company. For several years following he had charge of the work in the offices and in 1906 he, in partnership with U. G. Boyer. purchased the business and good-will of the Salem Abstract Company. At that time lie was made president and manager of the busi- ness. For five years the business was con-

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ducted by these men, but in April, 1911, Mr. Boyer severed his connections with the firm and Mr. Lee took D. F. Skene, George J. Watson and A. P. Manning into partner- ship with him. The firm was reorganized with a capital stock of fifty thousand dol- lars, Mr. Lee remaining president and general manager. The able conduct of this enter- prise showed to the citizens of Salem the unusual business ability which Mr. Lee pos- sessed. He has already won the confidence of the entire community, and so thoroughly cognizant were they of his capability as the manager and director of large enterprises that he became one of the most prominent organizers at the time the Mutual Savings & Loan Association was incorporated. Sub- sequently he became its president and he is now serving in that capacity. Mr. Lee's connections with Salem have extended in various directions. He has been one of the most public-spirited citizens Salem ever had. He is very prominent in educational circles. While he was a member of the school board he did more than any other one man to bring the system of the public schools of Salem to the high state of perfection which it today enjoys. Upon his retirement from the board he was presented with a gold watch in ap- preciation of the services he had rendered. He has also been a member of the board of trustees of Willamette University. His prominence in church work is also note- worthy. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was chosen lay dele- gate to the conference to be held in May, 1912, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a member of the board of trustees of the church and is active in church work generally. He holds membership in the City Library com- mission which is now completing plans for a twenty-eight thousand dollar library to be erected at the corner of State and Winter streets. He has always taken a foremost part in all civic improvements and is recog- nized as a man who fills an important posi- tion in the affairs of the city.

In 1893 Mr. Lee was married to Miss Lin- nie Atwood of Onarga, Illinois. She is a daughter of Professor J. H. Atwood, a mem- ber of the faculty of the Grand Prairie Sem- inary. To their union two children have been born, Lloyd and Paul.

Mr. Lee holds membership in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and is past grand of his lodge. His course has ever been marked by steady progress, and the distinctively representative circle of citizens numbered as his friends attests his fidelity, integrity and altruism.

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The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 53

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