Frank E Hodgkin

“ Reid is a man who, while not of a tall, commanding form, would none the less attract attention in any assemblage. Of ordinary height, slight form, smooth face and the most piercing dark eyes. He is ever on the move, and many wonder when he secures the rest an active brain like his necessarily requires. He is an indefatigable worker, and despatches business with hasty precision. He has an eye to business at all times and is considered a very successful business man. He is genial and sociable with his friends and is esteemed by all who know him. Would we had more of just such men in Oregon. ”

“ They are the result rather of an unswerving ambition, an unsullied integrity, and an enterprising, active mind that will overcome all obstacles and knows no such word as fail. His position is always at the front and he is accorded the leadership in any movement in which he carries an interest. He is a man of remarkably strong constitution, clear and penetrating eyes, a prominent, well-shaped head, whiskers and hair of heavy growth and as black as jet. He is, in fact, the most intelligent-looking man in the Senate, and the fact is his looks do not belie him. ”

“ McBride has, with the exception of two years spent in San Francisco, always lived in Oregon, and he always exijects to. Oregon is his home and he shows the Scotch in his blood in his love for it. Personally he is a "good fellow to meet." He is cordial, but not boisterous, dignified but never stiff. He is always well mannered and well dressed, and though having a decided tendency toward student life, is fond of society and shines in it. Some may be interested perhaps in the fact that he knows the points of a horse and is a dead shot. ”

“ It seems to flow from him as naturally as light comes from the sun, and he is at all times brimming over with geniality and good humor. He is accustomed to look upon the bright side of life, and imparts the sunshine of good cheer to those about him. Whole-souled, genial and courteous, he gains staunch friends at every turn. Honest, upright and straightforward in all his dealings, he takes it for granted all men are the same until they show the cloven foot. ”

“ It is evident that "Jerry" has now adopted a business for which he is by nature particularly adapted. He is a "hail fellow well met" with all classes of people, an industrious, indefatigable worker, with quick eyes and ears, a pleasant writer, possessing rare descriptive faculties, and enjoying the reputation in Portland of being the peer of the very best in his profession. "Jerry" is destined to meet with well merited success in the profession he has chosen, and the writer, who has known him for years, wishes him prosperity meted out full measure and overflowing. ”

“ He is one who will make it his sole business to attend to the duties of his office, and will not use it as a stepping-stone to secure a greater prize. Judging from the nature of the man, from the habits which have characterized his business life, and from the disposition he has shown since entering upon the duties of the executive office, we are justified in predicting for him one of the most successful administrations known in the history of the State of Oregon. ”

“ In such occupation the aspiring mind is brought face to face with the beauties of nature, the germs of after greatness very often unfold themselves and strike deep root in the fertile soil of ambition. In the present legislature more than one member can trace back the first prompt- ings of his youthful mind to the happy days when he whistled after the plow and mimicked the shrill pipe of the blackbird in the balmy sunshine. ”

“ Dolph has long held the foremost place at the Oregon bar, and has been for many years the hardest worked lawyer in the State; without genius in the common acceptation of the word, he is a good example of what integrity, industry and determined application will do for a man under a government whose highest positions are accessible alike to all. ”

“ A tall, commanding-looking man, with long and silky hair and whiskers, as black as jet, a clear blue eye, ijrominent nose, tine shoulders, magnificent physique and easy carriage — he walks along the streets of Salem as erect as an arrow, this good-natured, generous, mirthful man of fifty-seven summers. He was born in Clay covmty, Missouri, in 1825. He received the education awarded by the common schools of Clay county. ”

“ Among the public institutions of our country none more deservedly attract the attention of all lovers of law and order than do our public schools. It is all-important, therefore, that each commonwealth should have some man of learning and ambition at the head to represent, as it were, in a single individual the individual interest of every child in the State. ”

“ We expect and welcome criticism, realizing only too well that our little work is incomplete, and perhaps somewhat crude in detail. Our only excuse is the hurried manner in which it has been prepared and the difficulties encountered in securing the necessary data on which to base our sketches. We have in six short weeks written brief biographies of upward of two hundred and fifty of the representative men of our State, residing in all its distant nooks and corners. This has entailed no small amount of labor on our part. ”

“ When one attains this proud distinction of being known as a solid man, his word is considered as good as his bond, and his reputation must necessarily be unblemished. Mr. Robbins is one of our citizens who, without aid or guidance, has followed the true instincts of his own progressive nature and to-day takes his place in the ranks of the very foremost. He was born in Decatur county, Indiana, in the year 1832. ”

“ As a man he is the very soul of integrity and is very highly esteemed by those who know him best. He is one of that class of men who, while you will fancy him the moment he addresses you, will none the less bear acquaintanceship and advance in your admiration and esteem the longer and more intimately you know him. Prof. McElroy is a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 17th day of September, 1842. His early life was spent on a farm, and he was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania and at the Southwestern State Normal College of that State. ”

“ There are some men, however, who possess remark- able business sagacity, and as such acquire an enviable reputation among their fellow men, and who, although you never hear their names mentioned as aspirants for public office, nor would they accept one were it tendered them, are none the less interested in the political welfare of their country and wield a powerful influence in their respective neighborhoods, their work, although quietly performed, being none the less effective. Such a man is the subject of this sketch. ”

“ Some of his friends, who were possessed of more imaginary fear for the country than they were interested in the triumph of principle, inquired of Mr. Hunt why he voted for a Republican, which would certainly precipitate a war. He answered, " If that is the de- mand of the slave power — universal slavery or the dissolution of this union — here is one for Abraham Lincoln and universal freedom." ”

“ Who has just entered upon his duties as State Librarian for the ensuing two years, is a young man of rare promise who is destined beyond a doubt to assume a prominent place in the ranks of the legal profession for which he is now preparing himself by a thorough and systematic course of study, for the purpose of pursuing which he became a candidate for his present office. He was born at Albany, Oregon, February 5, 1860. With his parents he moved successively to The Dalles, Forest Grove and Eugene City, in which places he attended school and made rapid advancement in his studies. ”

“ There is, perhaps, no man in Oregon who has been called upon so often and so coutinuonsly to fill offices of honor and trust as Hon. Renben P. Boise. He had not been in this State over three months before he was called upon to discharge the duties of Prosecuting Attorney, and from that time to the present, a period of over thirty years, he has, almost without intermission, been serving the people in positions that required great ability and integrity, and some of the time, before the laws of the Territory prohibited it, holding two offices at once. ”

“ Dean Swift, that grand old cynic, spoke many a splendid truth, but none more pertinent than his aphorism that " it is an incontroverted truth that no man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them." The subject of this biography will never make an ill figure. He is a representative of the young men of Oregon, and, at the age of twenty-eight, represents in our legislative halls one of the very finest constituencies in the State, in Wasco county, where he was elected almost without opposition. ”

“ He is of compact build, with a handsome, ruddy face that indicates sound health, a keen, sparkling eye, through which is displayed the cheerful and sociable nature, determined to extract all the good things from life consistent with sobriety, and an elastic step and a rapid movement that bespeak the busy man of affairs. One who lives well, appears well, and, in all, promises to do well, he brings to his office a popular manner, with a dignity and reserve such as the station demands. ”

“ One of the most gratifying features of our republican form of government, and one of which has contributed largely to its perpetuity, is the fact that a wide field of honor, distinction and usefulness lies open to every young
man of talent and ambition. ”

“ The sturdy virtues of that stock are too well known to require comment; they have become historical. The public men of New England have led the van in every reform, and have taken a most prominent part in molding all of that history of which the American people are most proud. ”

“ Representative Marquam is one of those men who were born without the immediate advantages of wealth, but by his pertinacity of purpose and natural ability he has risen not only to honorable position and the attainment of a large fortune, but we might say he stands pre-eminent as a citizen and as a jurist. ”

“ HON. ASAHEL BUSH. The name that heads this sketch is one well known throughout Oregon. He who bears it is now well nigh three score years of age, but he apperrs much younger and is possessed of a greater degree of vim and energy than is ordinarily displayed by men of younger years. His career has, indeed, been an interesting one, and to enumerate even the more prominent events of his life, and to do justice to his energy and enterprise in one brief sketch would be impossible, as it would occupy more space than we can spare in our little volume. ”

“ Slowly, but steadily, he has advanced in the estimation of the people of Oregon until to-day he occupies the proudest position that a grateful people can bestow upon him through their inalienable right of suffrage. ”

“ As a man and neighbor he is very highly spoken of by those who have known him longest. He, with his family, has recently moved to Salem, where he will hereafter make his home, and where he has already made a host of friends by his courteous and affable treatment of those with whom he has come in contact, and we bespeak for him a successful career as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He is a true-blue Republican and takes a great interest in the success of that party. ”

“ He is prompt and energetic in transacting the business of the session, and, possessing a clear, ringing voice, he imparts a certain degree of vim into the proceedings and pushes business with rapidity. He is generous, genial, jovial and good-natured, appreciates a good story and is liked by all. He was born in Oakland county, Michigan, in 1839, and spent the first twenty years of his life on his father's farm, attending school in the meantime. Becoming imbued with the Western fever, he started for California in 1860, where he engaged in mining for about two years with indifferent success. ”

“ Our present Representative in Congress, while not born in this State has resided here since but two years of age, and ought by rights to be classed among our Oregon boys. He is possessed of all the necessary qualifications to entitle him to this distinction, viz: energy, integrity, ambition, perseverance and unsullied honor. He has had much to contend with and may well be called a self-made man, and the success that has attended his past life is due only to his own personal exertions. ”

“ Professor James has made this institution a success from the very beginning, and to-day it occupies the foremost position among the commercial institutions of the Northwest. The system of studies is so well arranged, and the method of teaching so thorough, that it affords the most superior advantages for im- parting to young men and ladies a commercial education, and, more than this, Mr. James has the esteem and confidence of the business community, a matter which is of no small advantage to his pupils. ”

“ Many people reading of the achievements of others waste much valuable time wondering how they were secured, while if they would only jump into the current and ride with it, without troubling themselves too much about other people's business, they, too, might accomplish something. This order of things has always pre- vailed and will continue to the end of the world. Forty-two years ago, away back in Ohio, the subject of this sketch was born, and Uke all the boys of that day who came of good old stock, received his preparatory education in the common schools. ”

“ As a rule, the ranks of the medical profession are made up of a class of gentlemen possessing great strength of mind, highly cultxired intellects and a loftiness of character which is necessary to command for them the respect of the general public. They are therefore entitled to the great confidences which are necessarily reposed in them, and which they guard with all the great traditional honor of their noble calling. Amongst the physicians of the State of Oregon Dr. ”

“ He stands high among the members of the House, and has received marks of great distinction by being placed upon several of the most important standing committees, chief among which and where he has been enabled to do Oregon a vast amount of good, is his appointment as a member of the Committee on Commerce. His friends are legion, and no man in Oregon stands higher in the estimation of the people than does Mr. George. He is tall and slim, yet of firm build, as his weight is full two hundred pounds, with a kindly expression of features, full auburn beard and dark brown hair. ”