The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 80

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

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WILLIAM GORDON EVANS, who has been a resident of Waconda since his re- tirement from his farm. seven miles south- west of Gervais. was born in Tennessee, January 21, 1833. He is a son of William and Rebecca (Keaton) Evans, the former a native of Tennessee. and the latter, whose death occurred when William G. Evans was a young boy. a native of Vir- ginia. Shortly after the mother's death

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

the family removed to Kentucky and in 1843 they went to Arkansas, where the father died at the age of sixty years, leav- ing the eight children to manage the farm.

When twenty-four years old William G. Evans left home to come to California and began life on his own account. He made the trip across the plains, helping to drive a five hundred head herd of cattle . and arrived in California in 1857. Until 1865 he accepted various kinds of employment, mainly farming and mining, but in that year he settled near Brooks and for four years worked on farms.

Mr. Evans was married to Letitia Savage on November 21, 1870. Mrs. Evans was born November 3, 1852, and is a daughter of John and Rhoda (Presley) Savage. The former, although a native of Ohio, born September 16, 1826, resided in Michigan until he crossed the plains and came to Oregon in 1846. In 1849 he went to Cali- fornia for one year. Upon his return to Oregon, in 1850, he was married to Rhoda Presley and a year later took up a dona- tion land claim of six hundred and forty acres, holding part of it for his younger brother. After farming this for a time he went to Idaho and' worked in the mines for three years. He also served in the Indian war on the Pacific coast and his wife still draws a pension from the govern- ment. He died . in 1908, at the age of eighty-two, at his home near Salem. He had accumulated considerable property and left an estate valued at seventy-five thou- sand dollars, which did not include all the property he had given to his children. Mr. and Mrs. Savage were the parents of the following children: Morgan L., deccased; Mrs. Evans; Mrs. Eliza Keppinger, who is a resident of Gervais; George O., who re- sides in Salem, Oregon; Hannah, deceased; Mrs. Ella Byrne, who is the wife of Prince Byrne. of Salem; Mrs. Alice Martin, de- ceased, who was the mother of four chil- dren and resided at Salem: and Mrs. Etta Gleason, residing in Gervais, Oregon, who is the wife of Louis P. Gleason. Mrs. Evans had kept house for her father since her mother's death, in 1865. having reared her younger sisters and brothers, and after her marriage she continued living there for one year, but at that time she and Mr. Evans settled on the farm of three hun- dred and six acres on French prairie, near Waconda, which has since been their home. although at the present time it is divided among four of their children. with the ex- ception of eighty acres, upon which Mr. Evans lives retired.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans have become the parents of seven children. H. Clifton. the eldest. is an agriculturist and resides in . Lostine, Oregon. Mrs. Nellie Dodge died February 22, 1901. She is survived by one daughter, Grace Dodge, born July 5. 1899, whom Mr. and Mrs. Evans are rearing. Mrs. Teresa Fruit is the wife of James Fruit, of Brooks. Oregon. Louis Franklin is a resident of Lostine, Oregon. Mrs. Minnie

Nusom died April 19, 1903. Lena died August 9, 1908. John C. has been a phy- sician at the State Asylum at Salem for the past five years.

In politics Mr. Evans is an adherent of the progressive republican party, and in religious faith he is an interested member of the Evan- gelical church. He has always been an en- thusiastic supporter of any measure which tends to promote the welfare of his com- munity and has frequently accepted offices in which he could further his plans for gen- cral improvement, among these offices being justice of the peace, road supervisor and clerk of schools. He is looked upon as one of the representatives of the social and politi- cal circles of his district and has justly won that distinction by his energetic and per- sistent efforts in aiding whatever tends to aid development.

JOSEPH D. REGNER, who is living retired in Gresham, is one of the highly esteemed pi- oneer settlers of Multnomah county, where he las resided for over thirty-five years. He was born in the district of Three Rivers, Canada, on July 15, 1837, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Garrett) Regner, likewise natives of Canada. The families are both of German origin, however, the grandparents in both lines having been born in the Rhine Province, Germany. The father who was a contractor and builder passed away at the old home in Canada at the age of seventy- eight years, but the mother was only forty- five at the time of her death. Joseph Reg- ner was one of three children, born to his par- ents, and Mrs. Regner was the youngest mem- ber of a family of five, the others being Peter, David, Baptiste and Sarah, all of whom are deceased. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Regner numbered four, our subject being the young- est. In order of birth the others are Mary, Sophie and Philomine, all of whom are living in Canada.

The boyhood and youth of Joseph D. Reg- ner contained little of the joy and none of the advantages that distinguish the early years of the average individual. Born in a family of limited circumstances he received but meager schooling, the greater part of his education having been self-acquired after at- taining his maturity. At the age of seven years he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, being continuously employed at this trade until he was thirteen, when he left home of his own accord and started out to make his own way in the world. He worked his way to the United States, settling in Vermont, and as he was entirely unfamiliar with the language and was among strangers in order to provide himself with the necessities of life he contracted to give his services to a harness maker until he was twenty-one. After the expiration of his period of service he continued to follow this trade in Vermont until 1870, with the exception of three years when he was in the army. He enlisted as regimental bugler in the Eleventh Vermont Volunteer Infantry and served under both

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

General Grant and General Sheridan. In 1870 with his wife and family he removed to Iowa, where he bought a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits for six years. At the end of that time he disposed of his prop- erty and again started westward, Oregon be- ing his destination on this occasion. They made the journey to San Francisco by rail, taking the boat from there to Portland, whence they came directly to Gresham. Upon his arrival in Multnomah county, Mr. Reg- ner filed on one hundred and sixty acres of land, a soldier's claim, devoting his entire time and attention to its cultivation with constantly increasing success until 1902. In the latter year he disposed of his ranch and coming into Gresham bought some land and erected his present residence; here he also engaged in the boot and shoe business until his retirement in 1909. Mr. Regner has ac- quired quite extensive property interests since coming here, and has some valuable holdings in both the residence and business portions of the town.

In Montpelier, Vermont, on the 29th of December, 1858, Mr. Regner was united in marriage to Miss Julia Louizell, who was born in St. Marys, province of Ontario, Canada, in May. 1839. She is a daughter of Gregorie and Julia (Vegent) Louizell, who were like- wise natives of Canada, whence they mi- grated to Vermont, settling in Montpelier, where Mr. and Mrs. Regner met and were subsequently married. Her parents passed the remainder of their lives in Vermont where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Regner have been the parents of five children, as follows: Frederick, who is deceased; Hattie, the widow of Edwin Cotrell of San Francisco, Califor- nia, by whom she had one child, Laura; Arthur, who is engaged in contracting and building in Gresham; Frank, who is also de- ceased; and Mary, who died in infancy. The children were all given the advantages of a good common-school education.

Mr. Regner has never identified himself with any religious denomination, but he is a man of high ideals regarding the conduct of our daily lives and has adopted for his own guiding principle the Golden Rule, the philos- ophy of which he has always striven to fol- low. His political allegiance he gives to the republican party, but although he takes an active interest in all matters pertaining to the community welfare he has never par- ticipated in local governmental affairs. He is a man of genial, kindly nature, broad in his views and charitable in his judgments, who recognizes the strong bond of human brotherhood. Such qualities always attract the finest natures and Mr. Regner has many friends, whose intense loyalty has been won and retained through the admirable traits of character he has manifested during the long period of his residence in the county.

PETER LOGGIE is one of the enterprising business men of North Bend, Oregon, where he is engaged in the general real-estate busi- ness. He was born in New Brunswick, Can- ada, on June 9. 1847, and is a son of Alexan-

der and Georgina Loggie, both of whom were of Scotch descent and natives of New Bruns- wick. The father followed farming and fish- ing for a livelihood and in his native country he continued to live until the time of his death, whch occurred in 1900. The mother died in 1897. They were the parents of seven children, six of whom are living. Peter is the subject of this review. Andrew, who is en- gaged in the general wholesale and retail merchandising business and is also interested as owner of a fish cannery and sawmill, re- sides in New Brunswick, Canada. George, who is a member of the firm of Watcom Falls Mill Company, maintains his home in Belling- ham, Washington. Robert is the next in order of birth. James is also a member of the firm of Watcom Falls Mill Company and re- sides in Bellingham, Washington. Frank, who completes the family, is a partner in the firm of A. & R. Loggie.

Peter Loggie was reared in his parents' home and received his early education in the public schools of New Brunswick and later was graduated from one of the colleges at New Brunswick. In early life he was engaged in the sawmill business, operating at the same time a sash and door factory. He later re- moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he was employed as a carpenter and where he continued for some time. In 1890 he removed to Seattle, Washington, and was there en- gaged in the contracting business for one year after which he came to Coos county where he built the Coos Bay life saving station for the government and was afterward engaged in various occupations in the Coos Bay dis- trict. In 1904 he took up work with the Simpson Lumber Company and built the ship Marconi for Mr. Simpson. He was later com- missioned by the Simpson Lumber Company to travel throughout the state to obtain signatures to a petition for the deep water ways improvement of Coos Bay. Mr. Loggie was extraordinarily successful in obtaining the best of indorsement for the success of the petition and in 1908 went to Washing- ton to have a special bill put through con- gress to provide for a government dredge to be sent to Coos Bay to dredge out the harbor. In this he was entirely successful and the dredge Oregon is now at work in Coos Bay deepening the channel. Too much credit cannot be given to Mr. Loggie for the completion of this work both before the people of the state of Oregon and also in getting his bill through the various commit- tees in congress and finally through congress. so that it could become a law. In the course of his duties he attended the various deep water congress assemblies in various parts of the United States. among them being the congress at Boise, Idaho, and at Kansas City. Missouri. During that period Hon. George E. Chamberlain was the governor of Oregon and Mr. Loggie received from Mr. Chamberlain eight different appointments, each of which were directly related to his work as an agent for the promotion of deep water ways at Coos Bay. He was a member of the Missis- sippi Commercial Congress during this time and was also president of the North Bend

PETER LOGGIE

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

Chamber of Commerce. nI 1909 he discon- tinued his services with the Simpson Lumber Company and engaged in the real-estate busi- ness in North Bend and has since continued to give his attention to that work. He is also a dealer in all kinds of building material. He is the owner of a number of valuable properties at North Bend and at Bandon and has property at Ten Mile Lake in Coos county.

Mr. Loggie was united in marriage in 1871 to Miss Elizabeth T. Williston, a native of New Brunswick, and they are the parents of five children. Annie is the wife of Hillery Sheets, a resident of New York. She is a college graduate and taught school until the time of her marriage. Stymest is the de- ceased wife of Charles Bradway of Monson, Massachusetts. Lina D. is employed as a stenographer in Boston, Massachusetts. Alli- son married Arthur Elsworth Stevens, a resi- dent of Sommerville, Massachusetts. George W., the youngest of the family, is married and engaged in business in Boston. Mr. Loggie is affiliated with the republican party and has served on the city council of North Bend and was president of that body during his last term. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, being a Royal Arch Mason, of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias. Peter Loggie is one of the well known, enterprising men of North Bend and a man who is held in high esteem by the citi- zens of his county and state.

THOMAS CONDON. There was a lime- stone quarry near the home of Mr. Condon's childhood that must have made a deep im- pression upon his thoughtful mind and shed the affectionate glamor of early association over his study of the rocks, for his interest in geology began with his childhood.

Fortunately for him his family left the old home in Southern Ireland and crossing the Atlantic made their home in the city of New York. Here we find the future scientist an active wide-awake boy, full of life and with a strong appetite for knowledge. Some of his leisure hours were utilized in exploring the old Revolutionary fortifications near the city. And occasionally he spent a half holi- day hunting rabbits in the wilds of what is now Central Park. A few years ago, in speaking of those days of his boyhood, he referred to his study of algebra and then said: "But when I took up geometry it lifted me to the clouds. I drank it in as a mental food." It seemed to be the pure, beautiful logic, the perfect chain of reason- ing, that appealed to his mind.

At about eighteen years of age, he was working, studying, and teaching in Camillus, Skaneateles, and other places in central New York, where he finally entered the Theolog- ical Seminary at Auburn while teaching in the evening school at Auburn State's Prison.

But he had heard of the Whitman Mis- sion in the Far West and had made up his mind to go as a home missionary to the Ore- gon country, and in 1852, with his young bride, he sailed in a clipper ship around Cape Horn for San Francisco. After a long and eventful voyage they found themselves

in the newly settled and unexplored Oregon. Trappers had long known it as a land of furs; miners had known it as a land of gold; the early pioneer had found it a country with rich and fertile soil; but its scientific l'esources were still undiscovered. The ques- tions that had dawned dimly upon his mind as he played by the stone quarry of his childhood, the questions that were kindled into life as he studied the fossils of central New York, the questions of the how and wherefore of creation must have come to him with new force as he looked out upon the fertile valleys, grand mountains, and noble rivers of his new home.

But the activity of these first years left but little time for scientific research; for new homes must be built, land cleared, crops planted, schools started, churches organized, and hostile Indians subdued, and there were but few of these labors of pioneer life in which he did not take an active part.

After ten years of life in western Oregon Mr. Condon, wishing for a more needy field, inoved his family to The Dalles, then the head of navigation on the Columbia, the gateway through which all the rough, reck- less mining population must pass on their way to the newly discovered gold fields of eastern Oregon. Here, too, was an army post from which men and supplies were sent to all parts of the Northwest.

An army officer returning from an expo- dition against hostile Indians brought Mr. Condon his first eastern Oregon fossils from the Crooked river country. These fossils aroused the keen interest of the student of nature and in 1862 or '63 he obtained per- mission to accompany a party of cavalry carrying supplies to Harney valley. They returned by way of old Camp Watson, on the John Day river, and here Mr. Condon found his first fossils in the now famous John Day valley.

These glimpses of this fossil field only served to make him eager for more, and as soon as the Indians had been subdued and it was safe to venture among those hills and ravines without an army escort, Mr. Condon spent his vacations exploring in the John Day country. On one of these trips he found and named Turtle Cove, which has since proved to be one of the richest fossil beds in the valley. He employed young men to spend their summers collecting the fossils exposed by the wear of winter storms. He made friends with the rough teamsters who drove the great government freight wagons from Fort Dalles to the army posts in the wilderness. As these teamsters returned with empty wagons they often brought a few rocks or a fine box of fossils for their new friend at The Dalles. In a few years Mr. Condon found in his possession a large quantity of valuable material that must be classified and described. But he was with- out scientific books, was thousands of miles trom the great libraries and museums of the east. and far from other scientists with whom to confer.

Fortunately at this time the United States Government was making its famous geolog-

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

ical survey of the fortieth parallel, embrae- ing a strip of land one hundred miles in width, and connecting the geology of the great plains east of the Rocky mountains with that of California and the Pacific coast. One evening as this great work was nearing completion, Mr. Condon was delighted to learn that Clarence King, the leader of the survey, had reached The Dalles, and he lost no time before meeting this distinguished geologist. Mr. King was deeply interested in the pioneer discoverer's account of Ore- gon geology and the next day found him in the Condon home studying the unique col- lection.

Not later than the spring of 1867 Mr. Blake, an eastern geologist, visited the eabi- net at The Dalles, and on his return voyage carried with him a few specimens of fossil leaves originally from Bridge ereek in the John Day valley. These were perhaps the first Oregon specimens to find their way to the Atlantic coast. They soon fell into the hands of Dr. Newberry of Columbia College, New York, who, being a specialist in fossil botany, longed earnestly for more. After talking with Clarence King in Washington, and learning from him more of the Oregon geologist and his country, Dr. Newberry wrote Mr. Condon in 1869 and received in response a box of fossils of which he writes: "I received your two letters with great pleas- ure. Since then the box has safely come to hand and that has given me still greater sat- isfaction, for I found it full of new and beautiful things which fully justified the high anticipation I had formed judging from your letters and the specimens brought by Mr. Blake."

In the autumn of 1870 Arnold Hague. also connected with the geological survey of the fortieth parallel, spent a month in Oregon, part of the time being at The Dalles in dis- cussion over the geological problems of the Columbia river region. That this visit was a source of mutual pleasure is shown by a subsequent letter in which Mr. Hague refers to his "month in Oregon in 1870 as one of the pleasant memories of the past."

But a new era was dawning for "the Ore- gon country." The first transcontinental railroad had touched the Pacific and with it came many large parties of cultured tourists who, wishing to look upon the grand scenery of the Columbia, found themselves obliged to spend the night in The Dalles. In this way it often happened that late in the afternoon a party of fifteen or twenty ladies and gen- tlemen would gather at the home of the Ore- gen geologist and spend a pleasant hour studying the life of past ages.

In 1870 Mr. Condon shipped his first boxes of specimens to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and from there they were sent to Dr. Leidy of Philadelphia Academy of Sciences for expert examination. The National Museum was glad to receive these new fossils from the Pacific coast and prom- ised its official assistance in every way pos- sible.

A few months later of this same year Professor Marsh of Yale College wrote from

San Francisco as follows: "I have heard for several years a great deal of the good work you are doing in geology and of the interesting collection of vertebrate fossils you have made, and I intended during my present visit to the Pacific coast to come to Oregon and make your acquaintance person- ally and examine your fossil treasures which my friends, Professor George Davidson, Clar- ence King, Mr. Raymond, and others had often wished me to see." And a little later Professor Marsh writes urging that all fos- sils of extinct mammals be sent to Yale to be used by him in a work on paleontology gotten out by the United States Government in connection with the survey of the fortieth parallel.

During these years many Oregon fossils found their way to the educational centers of the east. If they were fossil leaves they were sent to Dr. Newberry of Columbia Col- lege; if shells, to Dr. Dall of the American Museum of Natural History; if fossil mam- mals, to the Smithsonian, or to Marsh of Yale or Cope of Philadelphia. A few of these were sold, some of them were sent in exchange for eastern fossils, but most of them were simply lent in order that they might be elassified and described by scien- tific experts.

In May, 1871, Mr. Condon published in the Overland Monthly his paper on "The Rocks of the John Day Valley." And in Novem- ber of that year his artiele entitled "The Willamette Sound" appeared in the same magazine. The latter was perhaps his favor- ite of all his geological writings. He felt that "The Rocks of the John Day Valley" inight need revising after a more thorough exploration but that "The Willamette Sound" would endure. Both of these papers are given in "The Two Islands," published in 1902.

Mr. Diller of the United States Geological Survey has virtually accepted "The Willam- ette Sound" and incorporated its substance in his report of the geology of northwestern Oregon, his only criticism being the sugges- tion that the waters of the sound were probably even higher than noted in the orig- inal publication. These two papers fairly rep- resent Mr. Condon's strength as a construc- tive geological worker. They indicate his ability to begin at ocean level and by means of mountain upheavals, marine and like sedi- ments, fossil leaves and bones, and volcanic outflows, to reconstruct and make wonder- fully vivid the geological part of a new country.

From this time on, the sense of lonely isolation that had so hampered him in his work, gave place to the most cordial inter- course between the Oregon pioneer and dis- tinguished scientists of the United States and Canada. In 1871 Mr. Condon had the pleasure of showing Professor Marsh and a large party from Yale College through this new fossil field, and a little later Professor LeConte of the University of California was introduced into the same John Day valley. The latest scientific publications began to find their way into Mr. Condon's library in

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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON

exchange for information and material freely given to eastern workers. The stimulus of all this stirring intercourse by exchange, cor- respondence, or personal conversation with some of the most learned men of the age, was a great boon. Life in the strength of his manhood was full of buoyancy and joy, a grand opportunity for usefulness.

It gave Mr. Condon real pleasure to sit down beside a rough block of sandstone with only the corner of one glistening tooth in sight, to pick and chip and chisel until another tooth and part of the jaw were seen, to continue with careful skill until the beau- tiful agatized molars were laid bare, to work patiently on until there stood before him, nc longer the shapeless mass of stone, but a fine fossil head to add its testimony to the record of the past. But it gave him greater pleasure still, to work with rough, unpolished human character and discover the glint of gold hidden under the rough exterior. The book of nature was indeed fascinating but did not appeal to him as did the work with men. He had the artist's eye for seeing the beautiful in character and the enthusiasm of a sculptor for shaping rough, faulty human nature until its beauty reflected the divine.

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The centennial history of Oregon, 1811-1912, Part 80

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