William David Fenton

“ He was also the recognized candidate of the organized democratic party. He had been active in its leadership for many years; was himself a man of large executive ability; loyal to party organization; a man of the purest character in public and private life; faithful, politic, and courageous. He was, however, bitterly opposed by Senator Nesmith and his ardent friends, and the bitterness of the contest and its results made a profound impression upon the history of the democratic party in this state. ”

“ He was appointed United States attorney for the district of Oregon by President Grant in 1874, reappointed in 1878 by President Hayes, and has since the expiration of his term held no other public office. He has at all times been an able exponent of the soundest views of his party and an interesting advocate of its principles. He is a successful and able lawyer in every field of professional endeavor, and a man free from hypocrisy, deception, or any species of indirection. ”

“ Lafayette Lane was elected to succeed Mr. LaDow, and held the office until March 3, 1877. Mr. Lane was always an ardent democrat. He was born in Indiana November 12, 1842, and died at Roseburg, Oregon, November 24, 1896. He came to manhood in the stormy days of the civil war, was a student in college at Washington, where his father, Gen. Joseph Lane, was first a delegate and next a senator in congress. He was trained for public life under the skillful eye of his father, and early imbibed his strong feelings and sympathies for his Southern kinsmen and party associates. ”

“ Since then he has held no office, and for nearly a quarter of a century has continuously followed the practice of his profession in this state. No man has made a deeper impression upon the times, or contributed more to the state's history than Judge Williams, and in his old age no man is more highly regarded—a great figure in the life of his state and the nation.
At this time also James W. Nesmith was a senator from Oregon, elected in 1860, as a union or war democrat, taking his seat March 4, 1861, his term expiring March 3, 1867. ”

“ A man of great plainness of speech and of the keenest satire, he made warm friends and bitter enemies. He opposed the reconstruction policy of the republicans, and thus came in contest with his colleague Judge Williams. President Johnson nominated Senator Nesmith to be minister to Austria, but a republican senate refused to confirm, and when Judge Williams was nominated by President Grant as chief justice, the opposition and influence of Nesmith, although not a member of the senate, induced the voluntary withdrawal of his name by Judge Williams. ”

“ In 1872, after a spirited and bitter contest consuming almost the entire session of the legislature, Senator Corbett was defeated for re-election by John H. Mitchell. Senator Corbett is a pronounced republican of the old school, adhering with great firmness to his political convictions and at the same time is conservative and respectful toward the opinions of others. The legislative assembly in 1897 failing to elect a successor to Senator Mitchell, Senator Corbett was appointed by Governor Lord to fill the vacancy thereby occasioned ”

“ Dr. J. R. Bayley and John White, and some others, who were ardent friends of Mitchell, refused to abide by the action of the caucus, and withheld their votes from Governor Gibbs, thereby rendering his election impossible. Senator Corbett was chosen as a compromise candidate. In 1869 Mr. Corbett became interested with Henry Failing in the purchase and management of the First National Bank of Portland, which has since become the greatest financial institution in the Northwest, and of which at this time, Mr. Corbett, since the death of Mr. Failing, is the actual and controlling head. ”

“ Senator Nesmith did not practice his profession after his election as senator, but lived upon his magnificent farm near Derry, Polk County, and devoted himself to farming until his death. Senators Kelly and Williams have both been chief justices of the supreme court, one of the territory and the other of the state. Nesmith was elected supreme judge June 3, 1845, under the provisional government, and Wilson was a justice of the supreme court and circuit court judge of the fifth judicial district by virtue of his office from 1864 to 1870. ”

“ Mr. Corbett was born in Westboro, Massachusetts, February 18, 1827, and came to Oregon by way of Panama in 1850, locating at Portland, where he has been continuously engaged in business as a successful banker and man of affairs. After a prolonged contest in the legislative assembly in 1866 between Mr. Mitchell and Governor Gibbs, who were the rival candidates, Mr. Corbett was chosen as United States Senator. Gibbs at the time was the republican caucus nominee over John H. Mitchell, the two men having almost an equal number of votes in the caucus. ”

“ Keily succeeded Williams, and Mitchell succeeded Corbett. Williams, Kelly, Corbett, and Mitchell are living, and Harding and Nesmith are dead. No congressman succeeded himself. Two died before taking office; one had been a United States senator before he was elected to the house; another became a United States senator after serving in the house. McBride and Mallory alone survive. The remaining eight are dead. All the congressmen belonged to the legal profession, excepting Henderson, and he was a clergyman. All the senators were lawyers, except Corbett, a merchant and banker. ”

“ Senator Harding was elected to succeed Benjamin Stark, appointed October 21, 1861, by Governor Whiteaker to succeed Col. E. D. Baker, killed at Balls Bluff, October 21, 1861. John R. McBride was born in Missouri in 1832, was the republican nominee for the first congressman for Oregon at the election in 1858, but was defeated by L. F. Grover, who took his seat February 14, 1859, and served only seventeen days, his term expiring March 3, 1859. McBride was the only republican elected as such in the constitutional convention, although others were chosen who were republicans. ”

“ Crawford, of Linn, a democrat, moved to amend the resolution by referring the same to the people of Oregon, to be voted on at the next general election, and upon this motion eight of the nine democratic senators voted for the amendment, and the thirteen republicans voted, with one democrat, against the same. The resolution passed the senate on the same day. Thirteen senators voted in the affirmative and nine against; all the democrats voting in the negative. ”

“ Smith as congressman, and was elected in June, 1870, took office March 4, 1871, and served until March 3, 1873. Mr. Slater was born in Illinois in 1826, and died in February, 1899, at La Grande, Oregon. He came to California in 1849; to Oregon in 1850, and for two years taught school at Corvallis, Oregon. He was appointed clerk of the United States District Court in 1853, and admitted to the bar in 1854. He was elected as an independent of democratic antecedents to the territorial legislatures of 1857, 1858 and 1859, and the first state legislature. ”

“ The inaugural address was delivered at the Methodist Episcopal Church at Salem; Rev. Davis Leslie offered the opening prayer, and the governor-elect was introduced by Governor Gibbs. Mr. Upton on Saturday, October 6, 1866, offered House Joint Resolution No. 13, to designate the Oregon Central Railroad Company as the company entitled to receive the land and all of the benefits of the act of congress, approved July 25, 1866, entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Central Pacific Railroad in California to Portland, in Oregon." ”

“ George L. Woods, republican, elected governor in June, 1866, was inaugurated September 14, 1866. Governor Grover was re-elected in 1874, and served until February 1, 1877, when he resigned to take the office of United States senator, to which he had been elected by the legislature in September, 1876. D. Fleischner, a democrat, succeeded E. N. Cooke, republican, as state treasurer September 12, 1870. Cooke had held two terms. A. H. Brown, democrat, was elected in 1874, took oath of office September 14, 1874, and served until September, 1878. ”

“ He was elected judge in 1864, holding the office until 1870, and as such judge was a justice of the supreme court, thus sitting upon the supreme bench eight years. Mr. Wilson was the republican candidate for congress in 1870 against Mr. Slater, but the entire republican ticket was defeated, Mr. Slater receiving a majority of only three hundred and forty-three. In 1872 Mr. Wilson received a majority of eight hundred and fifty. At the age of forty-seven Joseph G. Wilson was cut off in what promised to be a most brilliant career. No man gave greater promise by what he had already so well done. ”

“ The republicans polled two million two hundred and sixteen thousand and sixty-seven votes, and the democrats one million eight hundred and eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-five. The states carried for McClellan were New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky, and all the others voting, including Oregon, voted for Lincoln. In Oregon, Lincoln received a total vote of nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight; McClellan eight thousand four hundred and fifty-seven, a majority of one thousand four hundred and thirty-one in behalf of the republican electors. ”

“ He was a member of the legislature in 1862 from Douglas County, and elected as a union-republican. Later he removed to Salem, Oregon, where he was elected district attorney of the third judicial district in 1864 upon the union-republican ticket. He was a delegate to the republican national convention in 1868, which nominated General Grant for president; was elected to the legislature in 1872 from Marion County, as a republican, and served as speaker of the house at that session. ”

“ The counties in the state in 1865 were Baker, Benton, Coos, Columbia, Clackamas, Clatsop, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Umatilla, Washington, Wasco, and Yamhill. On September 1, 1864, the assessed value of the property in the state was $22,188,513. Estimated population, ninety thousand ”

“ Neither drafted men nor substitutes were entitled to the bounties, and, in addition, each man was to be paid $16 per month, and to receive clothing, equipments, rations, medicines, medical attendance, and other allowances furnished by the government. ”

“ F. A. Chenowith, of Corvallis, was elected speaker of the house. The vote for governor was canvassed upon September 12, 1866, and it was ascertained that George L. Woods had received ten thousand three hundred and sixteen votes and James K. Kelly ten thousand and thirty -nine votes. The returns showed that Woods carried Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Grant, Marion, Multnomah, Tillamook, Washington, and Yamhill, and Kelly the remainder. Woods carried Multnomah by one hundred and eighty majority. On September 12, 1866, Senator Dolph offered Senate Joint Resolution No. ”