George Henry Himes

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”