Oregon Republican League: History 101

Every Wednesday, the Oregon Republican League will post the biographies of important figures, in the League's/State of Oregon's history. Feel free to comment or share stories of your family's Republican affiliation.

Oregon Republican League:

Republican League Register of Oregon, The Register Publishing Company, 1896, page 172-176

ALEXANDER, REUBEN, of Pendleton, was born in Hengstfeld, Wurtemberg, May 14, 1850. He came to the United States in 1866 and to Oregon in 1869 and located at La Grande. He lived there and in Baker City till he went to Pendleton in 1878, where he has since resided, pursuing a successful mercantile business. He served three years in the City Council, and in 1892 and 1893 was elected Mayor of the City. He was appointed Regent of the State Normal School at Weston in 1895. He has frequently been a delegate to county and state conventions, and to the league. He is a member of the Republican Club at Pendleton, and an active worker.

ALLEN, ETHAN W., of Portland, was born in Oswego, Illinois, July 24, 1842. In 1854 he went to Minnesota. In 1862 he enlisted in the Seventh Minnesota and served till the close of the war. He then engaged in the farm machinery business in Minnesota and Iowa till 1881, when he came to Portland as manager of the implement house of Seymour, Sabin & Co. He retired in 1883, when the business was [s]old. That year he was elected Superintendent of the Portland Mechanics’ Fair, and was re-elected in 1884. In 1884 Governor Moody appointed him to represent Oregon at the World’s Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans, and in 1885 at the North, South and Central American Exposition, of which he became a member of the board of managers and vice-president. In 1886 he was commissioned to represent Oregon at the American Exposition in London. In 1889 he was elected Superintendent of the Industrial Exposition in Portland, and was made superintendent and secretary the following year, and again in 1893. He is a leader is horticultural matters, and for several years was secretary of the state board, which he was instrumental in creating. He is at present department commander of the G.A.R., has always been a Republican, and is a nominee of the Taxpayer’s League for the Legislature.

ALLEN, HARRY C., Recorder of Multnomah County, is a veteran of the civil war, serving four ane one-half years, and a past commander of Garfield Post, G.A.R. He had a long business career in Portland in the wholesale drug house of Snell, Heitshu & Woodard, till elected Recorder in 1892. In 1894 he was re-elected.

ALLEN, HARRISON, of St. Helens, was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1866 and came to Oregon two years ago, locating at St. Helens in the practice of the law, having been admitted to the bar in Colorado in 1890. He is an earnest and active Republican and is president of the McKinley Club of St. Helens. He was a delegate to the last league meeting.

ALLEY, HON. B. F., senator from Lane County, was born in New York in 1840. He lived in Illinois and enlisted in 1861 and served through the war. In 1874 he moved to California and in 1883 to Oregon. In 1890 he founded “The West,” at Florence. He has been twice Mayor of Florence, and has served two sessions in the state senate. He has just founded a new paper in Baker City.

ANDERSON, HON. ROBERT S., an attorney of Baker City, was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, November 12, 1850. He was admitted to the bar and was elected to the Illinois legislature in 1874. He was one of the board to locate the Illinois Institute for the Feeble Minded. He was appointed United States Attorney for Montana by President Hayes. In 1884 he came to Oregon and began practice in Baker City. He was a member of every county convention since that time, and president of three of them; was a member of the state convention of 1884, and of the state league of 1895, and was elected a delegate to the national league.

APPERSON, A.J., of McMinnville, was born in Newton County, Missouri, Septemeber 17, 1839, and came to Oregon in 1847. Resided a mile fro Portland till 1849, then went to school in Portland till 1851, when he went to Linn City, opposite Oregon City, and lived there till 1858, when he went to the Fraser river mines; came back in 1859 and followed steamboating until 1864, except one season in the mines. He then took charge of flouring mills, going to McMinnville in 1884 to engage in the general merchandise business. He was a delegate to the Clackamas County conventions from 1864 to 1882, serving as chairman, and to the state conventions during the same period. He has been a delegate to Yamhill County conventions since 1886, and the club conventions in 1894-95. He was for nine years a member of the City Council of Oregon City. He served four months in the Yakima Indian war of 1856, under Colonel J. K. Kelly.

APPERSON, JOHN T., of Oregon City, was born in Christian County, Kentucky, December 23, 1834. The next year the family moved to Newton County, Missouri, and in 1847 crossed the plains to Oregon, the father dying on the way. Being the oldest of four boys, upon John devolved much of the responsibility of caring for and educating the family of nine children, so that his own educational opportunities were limited. In 1859 he became interested in steamboating on the Willamette, and commanded the steamer which conveyed Colonel E.D. Baker, Oregon’s first Republican senator, from Salem to Portland on his way to Washington in 1860. In 1861, when Colonel Baker called for a regiment of Oregon cavalry, young Apperson volunteered, but the death of Colonel Baker blasted the young man’s hope of serving under him. He remained in the army till the close of the war. He then resumed steamboating until 1872, and has since lived on his farm near Oregon City. In 1870 he was elected Representative from Clackamas County to the legislature. In 1874 he was elected Sheriff on that county, and served two terms. In 1878 he was elected State Senator, and became for two sessions a leading figure in that body. He was the nominee again in 1884, but party dissensions cause the defeat of the ticket. In 1884 he was a delegate to the national convention, and supported both Blaine and Logan, and was chosen a member of the national executive committee for Oregon. In 1888 he was elected to the lower house of the legislature from Clackamas County. In 1889 he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Oregon City, and served four years. He has been frequently a member of the county and state central committees, and a delegate to conventions. He has taken a prominent part in the councils of the Republican party from its foundation, and in founding and developing the State of Oregon.

APPLEGATE, E. ROY, of Drain, was born at Yoncalla, Oregon, in 1873, and is a son of D. W. Applegate and a grandson of Jesse Applegate. He was a delegate to the league in 1895 and 1896, and the Douglas County convention in 1896, and is secretary of the club at Drain.

APPLEGATE, HON. JESSE A., of Salem, was born in Missouri in 1835, and came to Oregon in 1843. He was admitted to the far in 1864 at Salem. He was elected Superintendent of Schools in Polk County, and to the legislature in 1864.

APPLEGATE, HON. ELISHA L., of Ashland, is the oldest son of Hon. Lindsay Applegate, and came to Oregon with his parents in 1843. He was one of the founders of the Republican party in Oregon, and was nominated for State Treasurer on the first Republican state ticket, in 1858. He has been a member of the legislature, was a member of the first state central committee, a Presidential Elector in 1880, and frequently a member of state conventions, and for years was an effective campaign speaker.

APPLEGATE, CAPTAIN O. C., of Klamath Falls, is a son of Hon. Lindsay Applegate and native of Oregon. He was captain of a volunteer company during the Modoc war. He has been a Republican all his life, and has continuously been a member of state and county conventions and central committees and delegate to the league conventions. In 1892 he was a delegate to the national convention, and in 1894 a prominent candidate for nomination for the office of Secretary of State. Captain Applegate is now the Republican nominee for Joint Senator for Klamath, lake and Crook Counties.

APPLEGATE, CHARLES, was born in Henry County, Kentucky, January 24, 1806, and died in Yoncalla, Oregon, August 9, 1879. In 1820 he moved with the family to Missouri, and in 1843 came to Oregon. In 1850 he settled in Douglas County, where he resided until the time of his death. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party in Oregon.

APPLEGATE, LINDSAY, was born in Henry County, Kentucky, September 18, 1808. In 1820 the family moved to near St. Louis. At the age of fifteen years he went with General Ashley on a trapping expedition to the Rocky mountains. He also served as a volunteer in the Black Hawk war. In 1843 he crossed the plains to Oregon and settled in Polk County. In 1844 he was a member of the first volunteer company organized to protect settlers from Indians. In 1846 he was one of the fifteen who explored the southern emigrant route through the Modoc country to Fort Hall. In 1848 he raised a company and went with General Joe Lane to capture the deserting regulars. The same year he moved to the Umpqua and served as Indian Agent under General Palmer. In 1853 he raised a company of mounted volunteers and was mastered into the United States service to fight the Rogue river Indians. He was present when the famous Table Rock treaty was made. In 1861 he was captain of a company that guarded the emigrant trail. For quite a number of years he was Special Indian Agent and Sub-Agent at Klamath. In 1869 a military agent was appointed, and three years later the Modoc was broke out. Mr. Applegate was one of the leading pioneer Republicans of Oregon, and helped organize the party in the state. In 1862 he was a member of the legislature from Jackson County.

ARMSTRONG A. P. [Editor inserted: Anderville P. Armstrong], of Portland, and principal and proprietor of Portland Business College, is a native son of Oregon. He was born at Jacksonville, January 17, 1855. He learned all he could in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen began his career as a teacher, earning money with which to procure a higher education. He subsequently became principal of the National Business College, at Portland, and in 1881 purchased the school, changing its name to Portland Business College. It is the largest institution of its kind in the Pacific Northwest and ranks among the first in the country. Mr. Armstrong has always been an earnest Republican and an advocate of clean politics and honest government. He is the nominee of the wing of the party for County Superintendent of Schools.

AUSTIN, ISAAC, of Oswego, was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, October 13, 1858. At the age of twenty-three he came to Oregon and located in Oswego in 1882, where he has since lived and followed his trade as carpenter. He is a member of the Republican Club, and represented it at the league in 1895.