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. Click on the head link above, to visit more of our listings at genealogy.com. 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 181-184.

BEEKMAN, B. B. [Editor inserted: Benjaman B. Beekman], of Portland, was born in Jacksonville, Oregon, August 3, 1863, and was educated at the public school and the University of Oregon, from which he graduated in 1884. He was then elected a tutor at the university, but a year later resigned, and in 1886 entered the law department of Yale College. He graduated I 1888 and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. In 1889 he located to Portland, and in 1893 became a member of the firm Watson, Beekman & Watson. Mr. Beekman takes an active interest in politics on the broad principles of the duty of an American citizen, and not as a spoils politician. He stumped the state I 1890. In 1892 he was chosen vice-president of the Republican League of Oregon, and in 1894 was elected to president. Under his administration the league grew from a feeble organization of a few clubs to the powerful working body it is today. At the last meeting he declined re-election on the ground that such honors should not be absorbed by one individual.

BEEKMAN, C. C.[Editor inserted: Cornelius C. Beekman], of Jacksonville, was born in New York city, January 27, 1828. In 1850 he came round the horn to San Francisco. He went to the northern mines, and in 1853 became an express messenger between Yreka, Crescent City and Jacksonville. In 1856 he embarked in the express business on his own account. In 1863 he became Wells Fargo & Co’s agent at Jacksonville, where he has resided ever since, and is engaged in the banking business. Mr. Beekman is a successful business man, and is recognized as the leading man of affairs in Southern Oregon. He has been repeatedly School Trustee, City Trustee and Mayor. He has been a prominent and active Republican, and in 1878 was the Republican nominee for Governor, being defeated by only 49 votes. He has held many positions of trust in the party, and is considered as one of the strong, clean men to whom it can turn in time of need.

BEEBE, GENERAL CHARLES F., of Portland, was born in New York city, May 28, 1849, and was educated at the Flushing Institute. He entered the employ of Beebe & Brother, tea brokers and in 1874 became a partner. In 1880 he formed, with Henry M. Evans, the firm of Evans & Beebe, cotton brokers. In 1883 he united with Allen M. Sutton & Beebe, and the following year came to Portland to manage the business here of the Sutton & Co. dispatch line of clipper ships. General Beebe’s work, outside his business, has been of a military character, and he has been most influential factor in giving Oregon its present excellent National Guard organization. In 1871 he enlisted in the Seventh Regiment, New York, and served seven years. He was then appointed aid-de-camp on the staff of the Second Brigade. He was promoted finally to the rank of major and brigade inspector on the general staff, with the same rank. He resigned when he came to Portland. In 1886 he helped organized Company K, First Regiment, O. N.G., and was elected lieutenant. A few months later he was elected captain, and following year colonel. He was re-elected in 1891, and in 1895 was appointed brigadier general, commanding all forces in the state.

BICKERS, HORACE, E., of Pendleton, was born near Jefferson, Oregon, September 26, 1856. He came to Umatilla County in 1861, and has followed mercantile pursuits. He was postmaster at Alba from 1888 to 1890. He was elected City Treasurer of Pendleton in 1894 and 1895. He has been a delegate to county conventions since 1886, and in 1894 acted as secretary.

BLUNDELL, JAMES E., of Canyonville, has twice represented Douglas County in the legislature. He was born May 7, 1843, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and came to Oregon in 1865, settling in Douglas County in 1871. He is a school teacher by profession, but has taken an active and continuous interest in politics. He has been frequently a delegate to conventions and club meetings, and was elected to the legislature in 1892 and 1894.

BLAKESLEY, C. M. [Editor inserted: Charles M. Blakesley], of St. Helens, was born at Corvallis, Oregon December 9, 1864, and came to St. Helens twenty-two years ago. He is by occupation a fisherman. He was Deputy Sheriff three years under W. H. Meeker, and two years under C. F. Doan. He was the Republican nominee for Sheriff in 1892, and is again the nominee this year. He has been a delegate to conventions, and is an earnest worker in the party ranks.

BLAKESLEY, A. H. [Editor inserted: Abraham H. Blakesley], of St. Helens, was born in Vermillion County, Indiana, December 13, 1831, and came to Oregon forty-two years ago. He soon went to California and engaged in mining and farming for a time, when he returned to Oregon and relocated in Jackson County, where he helped organize the Republican party in 1858, and helped to elect Lincoln President in 1860. He then lived for a few years in Siskiyou County, California, and three years in Benton County, Oregon. Twenty-three years ago he moved to St. Helens, and has been a prominent leader of the Republican party in Columbia County ever since. He was a delegate to the state and county conventions of 1874, and frequently since, and to the league meeting of 1894. In 1886 he was elected Justice of the Peace and held the office nine years. In 1886 he was member of the City Council three terms. In 1858 he was a nominee for assessor of Jackson County on the first Republican ticket in the county. He has four sons, all Republicans.

BLOWERS, CAPTAIN A. S. [Editor inserted: Ambrose S. Blowers], of Hood River, was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, December 31, 1845. In 1862 he enlisted in the Second Minnesota Calvary and served three years. By appointment of President Grant, he served eight years as Postmaster of New York Mills, Minnesota. While there he was several times a delegate to the Ottertail County convention and the Minnesota state convention from 1882 to 1886. He held the offices Assessor, Clerk, and Deputy Sheriff of Clay County. He was Commissioner of Ottertail County twelve years, and Becker County one term. He was defeated for the legislature by only two votes, though ahead of his party. He came to Oregon and located in Hood River in general merchandise business, and has been a delegate to the Wasco County conventions several times, and the league meeting of 1895. In 1894 Mr. Blowers was elected County Commissioner, and in 1896 only lacked two votes of receiving the nomination for County Judge. He is president of the McKinley Club and captain of the Hood River Company of the Third Regiment, O. N. G.

BLANCHARD, HON. DEAN, of Rainer, was born in Madison, Maine, December 20, 1832, and came to Oregon in 1852. He engaged in various pursuits until 1857, when he was elected Auditor of Columbia County, and in 1858 County Clerk. This was the time of the organization of the Republican party, of which he was one of the founders. In 1863 he engaged in the mercantile, saw mill and wood business in Rainier. He was made Postmaster there, and has held the office continuously. In 1874 he was elected County Judge, and held the office many years. He has been a member of county and state conventions and central committees for nearly forty years, and for several years has been president of the Rainier Republican Club.

BLACKBURN, D. R. N. [Editor inserted: D. Rull N. Blackburn], of Albany, was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, August 29, 1845, and came to Oregon in 1874, locating at Eugene in the practice of the law, having been admitted to the bar in his native state in 1867. He has been an earnest Republican, and is a member of the James G. Blaine Republican Club. He was a delegate to the Linn County convention in 1894 and the state convention the same year. In 1888 he was elected County Judge.

BOISE, HON. R. P. [Editor inserted: Reuben P. Boise], of Salem, was born in Blanford, Massachusetts, in 1819, and graduated from Williams College in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, and in 1850 came to Oregon. He was chosen Prosecuting Attorney for the first and second districts in 1852 and re-elected in 1854. He was one of the Code Commissioners in 1854, and was also elected to the legislature that year and the constitutional convention in 1857, and that year was appointed Supreme Judge. He was elected chief Justice when Oregon was admitted, and in 1864 was again elected to the supreme bench. He retired in 1870, but was again elected in 1886. Since that time Judge Boise has allied himself with the populists.

BOWLBY, DR. WILSON, of Forest Grove, was born in Fairfield, New Jersey, in 1818. In 1852 he came to Oregon and settled in Washington County in the practice of medicine. He has been an active Republican from the foundation of the party. He was a member of the state conventions of 1860, 1862 and 1864, and was a member of both the house and the senate of the state legislature for several terms, being one pf the first Republicans to sit in that body.

BOOTH, R. A. [Editor inserted: Robert A. Booth], of Grant’s Pass, was born in Yamhill County, Oregon, May 15, 1858. In 1867 he went to Douglas County, where he began to teach at the age of seventeen. Later he became principal of the Drain Academy and Normal School. In 1888 he located in Grant’s Pass. In 1890 he organized the First National Bank, of which he is cashier. He is also vice-president and manager of the Sugar Pine Door & Lumber Co. Since 1880 he has been continuously a delegate to the Douglas and Josephine county conventions, and to the state conventions of 1880, 1882, 1892 and 1896.

BOWLBY, J. Q. A. [Editor inserted: John Quincy Adams Bowlby], of Astoria, was born in the city of New York, August 15, 1843. He came to Oregon in 1852 and lived on a farm in Washington County until 1868. In 1867-68 he studied law, and graduated at the Pacific University at Forest Grove in 1867. He then went to Portland, and a year later went to Astoria as Deputy Collector of Customs, and held that office six years. He then took up the practice of law in that city, having been admitted to the bar in 1874. Mr. Bowlby was elected County Judge in 1876 and again in 1878. He has been almost continuously a member of conventions and an earnest Republican worker. He has been a member of the City Council, a School Director, and was for ten years president of the Astoria Chamber of Commerce.