George Henry Himes

“ Among the many good lessons she taught her children none stand out more prominently than the precept which was a part of her daily life—"That if one could not speak well of another, it was best not to speak at all." ”

“ John Miller Murphy descended from Irish ancestry on his father's side and German on the side of his mother, and was born near Fort Wayne, Indiana, Nov. 3, 1839. His mother died when he was seven years old and then he went to live with a sister, Mrs. George A. Barnes, in Cincinnati. This family crossed the plains to Oregon in 1850, starting from Fort Wayne, settling in Portland. As a lad he was present at the Oregonian office when the first issue of that paper was printed on December 4, 1850. ”

“ Himes had a little daughter six months old. This child had beautiful auburn hair, and this fact caused the Indians through whose country the "Oregon trail" passed to observe her very closely—in fact, the Indians at different times wanted to buy the child, and one chief on the western slope of the Blue Mountains offered some hundreds of ponies for her. As may be imagined, this desire upon the part of the Indians caused considerable apprehension at different times on the part of my mother. ”

“ The little ones when hungry could not understand why food was not forthcoming. After arriving at the settlements on Puget Sound and securing shelter in the rudest of log cabins for the first winter, my father was compelled to be away from home a great deal in order to earn funds to keep the food supply going. ”

“ In 1873 he moved his plant to Tacoma, and in 1875 to Seattle. From that date to 1886 he was identified with the newspapers of that city, chiefly, the Post-Intelligencer. In 1876 Mr. Prosch was appointed postmaster of Seattle by President Grant, which office he resigned in 1878. In 1890 he supervised the municipal census of Seattle, and in 1891-1893 was a member of the Seattle Board of Education. In 1894-95 he with two other men platted and appraised the tide lands of the state in front of Tacoma, Ballard and Seattle—3,500 acres, all in King county. ”

“ Julia A. Wilcox (a pioneer of 1845) , widow of Ralph Wilcox, who was the first school-teacher in Portland, Oregon: "In crossing the plains on Meek's cut-off we were without water for thirty-six hours. The cattle had disappeared; they were found by a spring where they had found the water. A great many of the company were taken sick and died from eating the cattle that had been driven so far. Food was scarce and the cattle had to be killed and eaten. In some places the mountains were so steep that the wagons nearly stood on ends ”

“ Mary A. Denny, pioneers from Knox county, Ill., where she was born on August 14, 1847. The family arrived at Portland on August 23, 1851, and a few months later embarked on the schooner Exact for Puget Sound, in what was then known as Northern Oregon. The vessel arrived at Alki Point—West Seattle of the present day—on Nov. 13, 1851, and twenty-four persons—twelve adults and twelve children—disembarked; several of them remained there, and thus became the first settlers and founders of Seattle. ”

“ The untimely and tragic death of these four persons, so closely associated in supporting institutions for public service, is not only an irreparable loss to the immediate relatives, and the organizations to which they contributed most liberally, but also to a wide circle of intimate friends. ”

“ It is for her good example, her cheerfulness under trying circumstances, and the excellent counsel she always has ready for those in trouble. She never complains, but always makes the best of everything. ”

“ Now, you can do as you please—go with me, or go home to your father and mother with the baby, and wait until I go out there and get a home started, when I will send for you or come back after you."
"Francis," she said, "when I married you I left my father and mother to live with you; and when you get ready to go to Oregon I will go with you."
Soon afterwards Mrs. Perry's father visited her and said:
"My child, come back home with the baby and stay until your husband has a home ready for you in that far-away land. Just think of it! There is nothing out there but savages and wild beasts. Mr. ”

“ Virginia McCarver Prosch, Miss Margaret Lenora Denny and Mrs. Harriet Foster Beecher, all of Seattle, Washington, lost their lives in an automobile accident while returning home from a visit to the Washington Historical Society at Tacoma. ”

“ Occasionally she would visit a neighbor, particularly in case of sickness—there was but one physician in the country, and he five miles away, and his lowest fee for a country visit was $10.00—walking five to ten miles', and would knit socks while she was walking. My father died April 22, 1879, and mother managed the farm five years with the aid of two sons in their teens. At length she sold it, and in 1885 returned on a visit to her girlhood home in Pennsylvania, after an absence of thirty-nine years. ”

“ He came with his parents to the Pacific Coast in 1855, and San Francisco became the abiding place of the family until February, 1858, when removal was made to Steilacoom, Pierce county, Washington Territory, where the father, having had many years experience in the printing and newspaper business, established a newspaper called the Puget Sound Herald, the first issue being on March 12, 1858—the third paper in Washington Territory. At the age of nine Mr. Prosch began learning to set type in his father's office, and continued for six years. At fifteen he was a salesman in a store ”

“ Barnes, came to Oregon the first time in 1848 and engaged in business a short time. The next year he returned to Indiana by the way of California and the Isthmus of Panama, and not only returned with his own family in 1850, as indicated, but was instrumental in causing his father and mother, two sisters, two brothers, a brother-in-law and family to return with him. Mr. Barnes resumed his business, that of merchandising, soon after his second arrival, and Mr. Murphy, although a boy, became an efficient salesman. Mr. ”

“ Everything was high, and mother patched clothing for the children and herself and also spun yarn from wool that she got on s'hares from neighbors, made socks and stockings for a family of six, and in addition knit at least three pairs of men's socks a week to sell, besides making garments whenever father could get ahead enough to get a piece of clothing stuff. ”

“ The third range is called the "Blue Mountains," because of the bluish appearance when looked at from a distance, caused by the pine-covered summits. While large bodies of snow lie upon these mountains the greater portion of the year, it has no perpetual snow peaks. ”

“ Murphy returned to Portland and became an apprentice in the office of the Oregon Weekly Times. He worked in the same capacity in the office of the Democratic Standard, also in Portland, and in the Oregon Argus office, Oregon City, altogether a little over three years. Then he formed a partnership with L. E. V. Coon, a newspaper man from California, and issued the Vancouver (W. T.) Chronicle, the first paper in that city. Three months later, finding association with Mr. Coon—better known as "Alphabetical Coon" —decidedly uncongenial, he chose Olympia as the seat of his life work, and on Nov. ”

“ This was evidenced by the gathering of editors and pioneers from all parts of the Pacific Northwest in Olympia at a banquet in his honor on the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of his paper and the presentation of a beautiful silver loving cup suitably inscribed.
He died on December 20, 1916, as the result of an attack of blood poisoning two and a half years before.
Mr. Murphy was married to Miss Eliza Jane McGuire in Portland on April 18, 1861, and to them ten children were born, three of whom survive their father. Their mother died in 1895. He was married a second time to Mrs. ”

“ Then he taught a school on Howell prairie, a few miles northwest of Salem, much of the time during the next year. It was while so engaged that he met Mr. William L. Adams, of Yamhill county, a pioneer of 1848, who invited him to become the fore- man of a paper he proposed to establish at Oregon City, the plant of the defunct Oregon Spectator having been secured for that purpose. This was the first Republican newspaper in Oregon, and its first issue was on April 21, 1855. On April 16, 1859, ^^- Craig became sole owner of this paper, and did much of the editorial work, although Mr. ”