The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 71

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

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JAMES M. HOXIE is one of the early pioneers of Oregon and after many years of hardship as a frontiersman and a veteran of the Indian and Civil wars, to which he later added a less hazardous line of activity, now lives in the enjoyment of a well earned com- petency at Wilderville in Josephine county, this state. He was born in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, June 12, 1836, a son of Ma- jor Obadiah D. and Eliza A. (Stevens) Hoxie the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Newport, Rhode Island.

Major Obadiah D. Hoxie in the early years of his life served for seven years as an ap- prentice at the watchmaker's trade but after- ward decided to abandon that as an occupa- tion for life and shipped as a sailor on board a whaling vessel, continuing in that employ- ment until he became captain of his own ship. In 1849 he sailed around the Horn and made the port of San Francisco with four hundred barrels of sperm oil. He had the misfortune to reach the Golden state at the very time when the whole country was obsessed by an insatiable passion for gold, as that mineral had just been discovered in large quantities in certain portions of the state. On hearing of the possible fabulous fortunes to be ob- tained in mining, his entire crew deserted ship for the gold fields and in that helpless condition he sent to the owners of the ves- sel for instructions as to his future.course, and the company at once ordered him to sell the oil and anchor the vessel in the harbor of San Francisco. He disposed of his cargo of oil and by exerting himself to the very utmost he succeeded in securing a crew suf- ficient to man his ship and at once sailed to Sacramento, where the vessel was finally an- chored and for years thereafter was put in commission as a prison ship. Having thus disposed of his ship and being without occu- pation at the time, he purchased a four-mule team and a yoke of oxen and with these

crossed the mountains to the head of the Trinity river, where he remained for the en- suing winter. Provisions of all kinds were extremely scarce in that part of the country during that winter and, taking advantage of the pressing necessities of the miners, he butchered his oxen and disposed of the meat at the rare price of one dollar per pound. He then engaged in mining, in which he con- tinued until the fall of 1851, and then re- moved north to Jackson county, this state, where he located on a ranch one and one-half miles north of where the city of Medford is now situated. He lived on this ranch for the remaining years of his life, which closed in the year 1871, his wife's death occurring in 1876.

James M. Hoxie was reared at home and received his early education in the public schools of Massachusetts. In 1855, in com- pany with his mother and his youngest brother, Charles H. Hoxie, he removed from his native state to San Francisco, California, making the journey by way of the isthmus. On reaching that city they were met by the husband and father, who at that time was a commissioned major of the Second Battalion of Volunteers enlisted to suppress the Indian uprisings which were then disturbing the in- habitants of the Pacific coast states. Here the family remained for the winter and early in the following spring removed to the north-

ern part of this state, where Major Hoxie had established the family home one and one-half miles north of the present site of Medford. James M. Hoxie on reaching this state, imme- diately after seeing his mother and the other members of the family comfortably settled, enlisted in the United States service, in which he continued for three years as a soldier in the ranks, engaged in Indian warfare. At the termination of his enlistment he returned to his father's home and became associated with him in the improvement and development of the ranch. On November 26, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, First Regiment of Oregon Cav- alry, and continued with this command for the three succeeding years, being mustered out at Vancouver, Washington, on November 26, 1864, and returned to his home in this state, where he continued to reside until 1879. In that year he removed to Bozeman, Mon- tana, at which place he continued to live for two and one-half years, engaged in logging in the lumber woods. He then made an in- spection tour through Idaho, Nevada, eastern Oregon and a considerable portion of the Sac- ramento valley. On reaching Sacramento he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Company, in the service of which he continued for two years. During the latter months of his stay in California his health became im- paired and he returned to Oregon and located in Josephine county, where he has since main tained his residence. For some years he was engaged in the blacksmithing business at Wil. derville but during his later years has lived a retired life.

Mr. Hoxie is politically an adherent of the republican party giving his support to the progressive wing of that great organization and is interested in the social activities of the

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

community in which he lives. He is a member of General John A. Logan Post, No. 39, G. A. R., at Grants Pass, Oregon, and is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of luis portion of the state. In the early days of his manhood he bravely did his part in the interests of the peace and safety of the frontier settlements of the Pacific coast, serv: ing for many years in the United States service in commands whose duty it was to traverse the entire length of the intermoun- tain coast states and wherever the savage red man was found upon the warpath, there was the place of duty for the command to which he belonged. Later he became a ready volunteer in the defense of the flag during the internecine war between the states, in which he did service in camp and on battle- field for a period of three years, which in- eluded the heaviest fighting period of that national struggle. Later he returned to the more peaceful pursuits of life and having passed through all these vicissitudes of hazard and hardship, he now lives a retired life in Wilderville, where he enjoys the universal re- spect of all his friends and associates.

OSCAR B. TYRER was born in Wisconsin, May 1, 1884, and is a son of Oscar and Mari- etta (Boring) Tyrer, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Kentucky. They were the parents of nine children. Ef- fie, the eldest member of the family, is the wife of Robert Maxwell, of Milwaukee, and they have two children. Millie married Wil- liam Douglas, of Milwaukee, and they have become the parents of one child. Cora is the wife of John Holland, of Dodgeville, Wiscon- sin, and they have three children. Nellie is the wife of Richard Jones, of Dodgeville, and they have three children. Louise married Frank Sanborn, of California, now living in Cooston, Oregon, and they have three children. Lela is the wife of Willett Billington, of Spring Green, Wisconsin, and they have two children. Virginia is the wife of Thomas Crook, of Dodgeville, and they have three children. Oscar B. is the subject of this review. Kate, the fifth in order of birth, is deceased.

Reared at home, Oscar B. Tyrer received his early education in the public schools of Wisconsin. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty years of age and at that time started in life for himself, rent- ing from his father the old homestead of one hundred and twenty acres and there was con- tinuously engaged in mixed farming for a ' period of four years. He then became an em- ploye in the gas engine shops, where he learned the machinist's trade, and remained in that service for two years. In 1910 he re- moved to Coos bay, settling at Cooston, where he purchased eighty acres of land, upon which he established his home and has since been continuously engaged in the development and cultivation of his place. At present he is pre- paring and equipping his farm for specializing in the growing of merchantable fruit.

Mr. Tyrer was united in marriage Septem- ber 12, 1906, to Miss Beulah M. Rowe, a na- tive of Wisconsin and a daughter of James

and Bessie (Johnson) Rowe, the former a native of Wisconsin and the latter of Nor- way. To Mr. and Mrs. Rowe two children were born: Bessie M., the wife of Herbert Gullick, of Granton, Wisconsin; and Beulah M., now Mrs. Oscar B. Tyrer. Mr. and Mrs. Tyrer are the parents of a son, Leland Rowe, who was born September 19, 1909.

Mr. Tyrer is affiliated with the republican party but has never sought political prefer- ment. He is forging rapidly to the front as one of the enterprising and successful farmers of his district and is a man whose integrity of character and industrious habits of life make him one of the desirable citizens of his adopted state.

JONATHAN JOHNSON, for many years, was engaged in educational work, having given the early years of his life almost en- tirely to teaching in the publie schools of Missouri and Washington. Later, he became a successful agriculturist in Washington and in Oregon, in which occupation he continues although he will soon lay out his holdings near Eugene in plats.

He was born in Harrison county, Ohio, Jan- uary 20, 1846, and is a son of Robert and Sarah Helen (Townsend) Johnson. His pa- ternal grand parent, Jonathan Johnson, was a native of Virginia, and for a period of twenty- six years was a government inspector of to- bacco. He was a man of strictest integrity and had very settled convictions regarding the maintenance of slavery. Being of the Quaker faith, he had the strength of will to follow in the path which he believed to be the one of righteousness, and early in his life, he freed the slaves which had come to him by inheritance and moved from the Old Dominion to the then northwestern state of Ohio, where he died in 1863.

Robert Johnson came with his parents to Ohio at an early age and remained in that state until 1866, and then removed with his family to Missouri. In 1877, when his son Jonathan removed to the state of Washing- ton, he came with him and made his home there until the time of his death, which oc- curred in 1883, at the age of seventy-three years. He was by occupation a farmer, con- tinuing in that occupation during his entire life.

Jonathan Johnson was educated in the pub- lic schools, and at the age of twenty he re- moved with his father to Missouri, where he remained for eleven years, following his chosen vocation of teaching in the counties of Lewis, Macon, and Holt, in that state. In 1877, de- eiding to change his place of residence and believing that the far west offered better ad- vantages than the middle states, he removed to the state of Washington, intending to make his first location at Spokane. On arriving at that place, he was not favorably impressed with the surroundings and extended his jour- ney to the Palouse country, that state, and there he located a timber culture homestead and preemption claim. The soil of this land was favorable to the growing of wheat. Here he established his home and gave his attention largely to the development

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of his farm 1 for a period of five years. During this time, however, he followed his vocation as a teacher during the win- ter months. Having become familiar with the general prospects of this part of Wash- ington and remembering the mistake he had made in failing to make his original location, at the place now occupied by the city of Spokane, he removed to Eugene to educate his children in the University of Oregon, and in search of a possible opportunity which, in some respects, might serve to compensate him for the loss he had sustained in his error of location in Washington. Having ar- rived at Eugene, at a most opportune time, he was successful in locating a place south of that city, near its boundary and another near the town of Springfield of one hundred and fifty acres.

On June 26, 1887, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Ellen Lewis, a daughter of Jesse H. and Mahala Jane (Dick: son) Lewis, of whom mention is made on an- other page of this work. They were married in the town of Johnson, in what was then the territory of Washington. Mrs. Johnson is descended directly from colonial stock, and is eligible to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her paternal grandparent, James Lewis, was a second cous- in of Daniel Boone, Kentucky's frontier hero. He was also a son-in-law of Jonathan Couch, famed in American history as one who fought at the side of General Washington.

Four children have been born to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson: Jonathan Lewis, in the class of 1912 of the University of Oregon; Pearl, a graduate of the Uni- versity of Oregon, now employed as an as- sistant principal at the Sheridan school, of Sheridan, this state; Ida, who has graduated from the Eugene high school, and is now teaching; and Thomas, at home with his par- ents.

Mr. Johnson and his family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is one of the officiating elders.

After many years spent in one of the most useful of vocations, that of an educator, Mr. Johnson has retired from the active field of educational work and is devoting his time to the development of his properties. He has been successful in securing a beautiful home body of land in one of the richest territories of western Oregon, and while in the prime of life he is provided with enough wealth to make the remainder of his life comfortable. He is highly respected by all who know him and ever at the service of the public, when issues, material to the advancement of the educational and religious interests of his county and state, are presented to him.

LEWIS THOMAS THOMPSON is a pioneer in the settlement of Coles Valley, Oregon,. and has all the force of personality and the initiative and resource which is implied in the meaning of the word. He has been a factor in upbuilding for almost half a cen- tury, an extensive landowner and a farmer. He is now living retired in Roseburg, having well earned the substantial success which has

come to him. Mr. Thompson was born in Logan county, Illinois, December 14, 1842, and is a son of Lewis and Ann (Ragsdale) Thompson, natives of Tennessee. The par- ents of our subject were reared and married in that state and in 1832 removed to Logan county, Illinois, where the father died in 1845. Thirteen years afterward the mother with her two sons, Lewis Thomas and William R., came to Oregon via the Isthmus of Panama. They landed in San Francisco on the day when Lewis Thomas was sixteen years of age and from that city took passage on the old steamer Columbia, arriving in Portland about the 20th of December. Their ticket from San Francisco read to Gardiner, Oregon, but on their arrival off the bar, near that city, the ocean was found to be too rough for the ves- sel to cross the bar and they were carried on to Portland, where the captain compro- mised with them, giving each ten dollars. With this money they paid a man to haul them by wagon up the Willamette valley and into Douglas county, where they joined two sisters of our subject in Coles Valley. These sisters were Mrs. S. D. Evans and Mrs. John Emmett, who had crossed the plains in 1852 and were among the first families to locate in the valley. After Mrs. Thompson's arrival in Oregon she made her home with her daugh- ters and lived with them until 1867, when she took up her residence with her son. Her de- mise occurred in 1869.

. Lewis Thompson is numbered among the earliest pioneers in Coles Valley. In the early days of his life in this section the country was in its primitive state, the forests abound- ing in game, especially in panthers. Mr Thompson holds a record of having killed more of these animals than any other man in Doug- las county. He delights in telling a story of an excursion in the brush which he took in the early days of his residence. He jumped off a cliff and found himself in a den of three panthers. Being entirely unarmed, he jerked off his hat and, waving it in all directions, frightened two of the animals up a tree, while the other ran away. He called for help and was joined by other men, who shot the pan- thers and finally killed the one that ran away. This is an example of the early condi- tions of life in the Oregon settlement. After his arrival in Douglas county Mr. Thompson obtained employment as a farm hand and for about five years was active in this capacity. In July, 1862, he started for Truckee Mead- ows, Nevada, with a band of three hundred and sixty head of cattle belonging to S. D. Evans, his brother-in-law. On reaching the Rogue river valley he and his companions learned that there was a party ahead with a band of cattle belonging to Captain Joseph Bailey and others. They had gone through by the Klamath lake country to avoid the high tax that was levied on cattle driven from Oregon to California at that time. Mr. Thompson's party followed the old emigrant trail, forded the Klamath river about six miles below the lakes, went west of Little Klamath lake and there caught up with the Bailey party. They then turned north around the south side of Little Klamath lake, crossed

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over a ridge into Tule lake valley, crossed Lost river on what was called the natural bridge, went north of Tule lake, crossed another ridge to Clear lake, then in an easterly direction to the south end of Goose lake, whence they turned west down Pitt river. Two days after they reached that river, in the vicinity of Hot Spring valley, they were attacked by about one hundred and fifty Pitt River and Piute Indians, both Bailey and Evans being killed and three oth- ers wounded. The party was obliged to re- treat or rather go ahead, abandoning all their cattle and leaving their clothes, two wagons and their outfit. They took all of their horses, however. The attack occurred about sun- down and they traveled all through the fol- lowing night. Several times, however, it was necessary to stop in order to rest their wounded men, who had been shot with poi- soned arrows. The party traveled all the next day, through the ensuing night and until noon of the third day without food. At Fort Crook, on Fall river, they obtained relief and placed their wounded in the care of the government physician. One of them, Ed Sims, who had received serious injury, died the following day. With thirty-six soldiers and twelve volunteers the party prepared to re- turn to the scene of conflict in order to recover their cattle. At the end of two days' journey they reached the spot, found that their wag- ons had been burned and saw a number of Indians killing cattle and drying the meat. In the fight which ensued four of the Indians were killed. The lieutenant was wounded, having been struck by two arrows, but soon recovered from his injuries. After burying Bailey and Evans the party took up the trail of the main body of the cattle and followed it to the south fork of Pitt river, where they found more Indians engaged in slaughtering the stock and drying the meat. The red men, however, would not fight and fled to the mountains. Many of the cattle had been killed, only about three hundred remaining of the eight hundred and sixty-three head which the party had when first attacked.

From 1865 to 1867 Mr. Thompson engaged in the buying of sheep, driving his herds to Virginia City, Nevada. He married in 1867 and in the same year purchased six hundred and forty acres of land in Coles valley, on which he located and began his career as an agriculturist. He later purchased adjoining acres and added to his holdings from time to time until he owned fourteen hundred acres of rich and productive land improved and de- veloped according to modern ideas. He was at one time one of the most extensive land- owners in the county but has subsequently sold off some of his farms and is now the pro- prietor of four hundred and fifty acres. In September, 1908. Mr. Thompson gave the operation of his holdings to the charge of his son Clarence and removed into Roseburg, where he is making his home.

On September 8, 1867, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Missouri Ann Wright, a daughter of John and Emily (Sim- mons) Wright, who crossed the plains from Linn county, Missouri, to Oregon in 1852.

They located in the French settlement now known as Melrose in Douglas county and were among the early settlers in that section. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have been born fourteen children, eleven of whom are living: Parialee, who is the wife of George Leslie, of Philomath, Oregon; Olive, who married Sher- man Fortin, of Coles valley; Leonora, the wife of Horace Chicane, a resident of Idaho county, Idaho; Edwin, who resides in Bakersfield, Cal- ifornia; Anna Laura, who married W. F. Hill, of Klamath county, Oregon; Lewis, who is the general superintendent of the Monte Christo Oil Company at Bakersfield, Califor- nia; Clarence, who is operating the old home- stead in Coles valley; Chester, also a resident of Oil Center, California; Mary, the wife of Irvin Pringle, of San Francisco, California; Emma, who married W. F. Dillon, of Santa Rosa, California; and Clifford, who resides in Idaho county, Idaho, and who is pursuing his studies in the Oregon State Agricultural Col- lege.

In his political affiliations Mr. Thompson is a socialist and is one of the best known pioneer settlers in the section in which he re- sides. Many changes have taken place in Douglas county in fifty years. Civilization has come, cities have been built, lands culti- vated and business enterprises founded and promoted. Mr. Thompson has not only been a witness of this development but has been active in furthering it and his retirement at the present time is a well earned rest after useful labor.

CAPTAIN OLIVER CROMWELL APPLE- GATE was born in a log cabin in Yamhill district, in what is now Polk county, Ore- gon territory, June 11, 1845. He was the sixth son and seventh child of the well-known pioneer, Lindsay Applegate. a native of Ken- tucky, and of his wife, Elizabeth (Miller) Applegate, who was born in Tennessee in 1816. Captain Lindsay Applegate's father. Daniel, and his grandfather, Richard Apple- gate, were both soldiers of the Revolution, and Lindsay Applegate was himself one of the leaders of the great immigration of 1843 which Americanized Oregon and was promi- nent also in the early Indian wars, and as an explorer.

When Oliver Applegate was five years of age the family removed to the Yoncolla val- ley in middle western Oregon, when that favored valley was a wilderness, there being only three or four other families in that region at that time besides the Applegate contingent, which consisted of the brothers, Charles, Lindsay and Jesse, and their fami- lies.

The system of common schools was in a rudimentary state in those days, and their continuity could not be depended upon for more than a few weeks or months in each year. The Applegate families were fairly well supplied with books, however. to sup- plement the otherwise meager opportunities for education, and as a rule the scions of these strong frontiersmen availed themselves of every opportunity offered to inform their minds, as well as to become accomplished

CAPT. O. C. APPLEGATE

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horsemen, efficient in the use of the rifle and otherwise prepared for the border wars which were liable. to occur at any time with the aboriginal inhabitants of the country.

In 1860 the family removed to the Siski- you mountains near the California boundary, Lindsay Applegate having become owner of the toll road over the mountains, and in 1862, removed to Ashland, Oregon, which continued to be the family home for many years.

During the winter of 1862, the subject of our sketch attended the district school in Ashland, and the next spring received a certificate and in the ensuing fall became himself the teacher, and for four successive winters, very successfully conducted the Ashland school. In the spring of 1863 he became a member of an independent mili- tary company, the only one in southern Oregon, a cavalry company known as the "Mountain Rangers," to which many of the leading citizens of the country belonged. In this company he served as a private the first year, the second year as a sergeant and in the third year was chosen captain, receiv- ing his commissions before he had reached his twentieth year from Addison C. Gibbs, the old war governor of Oregon.

In 1865 his father was appointed United States Indian agent over the Klamaths and Modocs at Fort Klamath. By the treaty of 1864 the Indians were to be gathered on the Klamath reservation. The fort was the only place east of the Cascades where there were any white people. Captain O. C. Ap- plegate was appointed assistant to the agent, and that was the beginning of a service that lasted for several years, under various agency administrations, during which time he gained unusual influence over the tribes of south- eastern Oregon, an influence that was used to good advantage later when the Modoc outbreak of 1872 occurred, and probably more than any other agency resulted finally in the conversion of the most turbulent of the Indian tribes into quiet farmers and stockmen.

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The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 71

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