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, pages 217-222.

GURLEY, S. A. D. [Editor inserted: Stephen A. Douglas Gurley], an attorney of Arlington, was born in Iowa, January 4, 1863, and was brought to Oregon when a small boy. He lived in Clackamas county, where he taught school and for four years was on the Board of Examiners. He secured a state diploma. He studied law and has been admitted to the bar in Oregon and Washington and the United States County. He is a United States Commissioner and City Attorney at Arlington. Mr. Gurley early took an interest in politics. He was president of a Blaine and Logan Club at twenty-one, has sat in conventions, served on committees, etc., and is now secretary of the Arlington Club.

HACHENEY, FRANK, City Treasurer of Portland, was born in Westphalia, Prussia, December 29, 1831, and came to America twelve years later. He lived in New Orleans as a boy, but went to California in 1855. He came to Oregon in the early sixties, and began merchandising in Grant County and six years later in Portland, retiring after sixteen years. In 1885 he was elected to the City Council and in 1888 was chosen County Treasurer, and in 1890, 1892, and 1894 City Treasurer.

HAINS, E. W., of Forest Grove, was born in Hardin County , Ohio, November 24, 1861, and came to Oregon ten years later. He lived near Salem until 1878, and then moved to Washington County. He was on a farm two years and in a saw mill three years. He then built a large warehouse in Forest Grove, and bought and sold grain. Later he formed the firm of Hains & Bailey, with J. E. Bailey, and engaged in the general merchandise business. He has been a delegate to county conventions for the past ten yeas, to the state convention of 1892, and to the club conventions of 1895-96, and has always been an enthusiastic party worker.

HAINS, J. C. [Editor inserted: John Cole Hains], of Oswego, was born in Monongahela County West Virginia, November 6, 1848. He is a prominent Republican and has been a delegate to every county convention since 1890, also to the league is a mechanic by trade, and has been Clerk of the School District for nine years and Justice of the Peace for eight years.

HALL, HON. JOHN H., of Portland, Assistant District Attorney, is a native son, being born of pioneer parents July 17, 1854. Left an orphan at an early age, he has made his own way in the world. He engaged in farming, livery business and hardware merchandising until he completed his education and was admitted to the bar in 1887. Since 1888 he has been Deputy District Attorney. He has taken part in many conventions, and has done much campaign work on the stump.

HANKINGS, ROLIN R., of Arlington, was born in Davis County, Iowa, in 1843, and came to Oregon in 1852. Since 1881 he has resided in Gilliam County, and has been elected Coroner four times. He has been a delegate to every county convention since it was organized.

HARDMAN, D. F. [Editor inserted: David Franklin Hardman], of Albany, was born near Lebanon, Linn County, Oregon, June 27, 1860, and has lived in the county all his life, except one year. By occupation he is a farmer and stock grower. He is a member of the Lebanon Republican Club, and has always been an active worker in anything to promote the interests of his party. He was a delegate of the county conventions in 1888, 1890, and 1893, and the league meetings of 1895, and 1896. In 1894 he was elected Recorder of Linn County.

HARE, JAMES W., of Astoria, Sheriff of Clatsop County, was born in Barnesville, Ohio, September 8, 1857. In 1872 he began steamboating on the Ohio, and later engaged in railroading. He came to Oregon and was engages in steamboating and kindred pursuits, and was Chief Engineer of the Astoria Fire Department five years and Postmaster four years. In 1894 he was elected Sheriff, and is again nominated for the office. He has been a frequent member of conventions and league meetings.

HARMON, C. E. [Editor inserted: C. Everett Harmon], of Grant’s Pass, was born in Madison County, Iowa, November 2, 1866, and came to Oregon in 1873, locating in Grant’s Pass. He has been continuously an active Republican, and of late years has been often a delegate to conventions, and a delegate to the league meetings. In 1890 he was elected Assessor of Josephine county. In 1892 he was elected County Clerk, being the only Republican on the ticket not defeated, and was re-elected in 1894.

HARRINGTON, GEORGE W., of Heppner, was born in Fairfield, Jefferson County, =Iowa, and has lived in Oregon since 1853. He lived in Clackamas County till 1872, when he moved to Heppner. He is a member of the Republican Club, and has been several times a delegate to county conventions. He was appointed by Governor Moody the first Sheriff of Morrow County in 1885, and served four years as Deputy Sheriff under T. R. Howard. In 1894 he was elected Sheriff again.

HARRIS, WYATT, of McMinnville, was born in Putnam County, Indiana, December 1, 1837, and came to Oregon in 1879, locating in Salem. In 1881 he moved to Polk County, and in 1885 to Yamhill, engaging in the business of notary and conveyancing. He has been a convention and club delegate several times, and a member of the first congressional district committee, 1894-96. In 1885 he was appointed Deputy Assessor of Yamhill County, and in 1888 was elected County Recorder, being re-elected in 1890, 1892, 1894. Before coming to Oregon, he had an honorable record. He was County Clerk in Lawrence County, Missouri, eight years, was Second Lieutenant of Company I, Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteers, from January 1, 1862, to October, 1862; First Lieutenant to February, 1863, and Captain till the close of the war. In August, 18654, he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Twentieth Missouri Volunteers, but soon afterwards mustered out. In 1865-1866 he was Assessor of Internal Revenue in the fifth Missouri district.

HARTMAN, LEWIS C., of Portland, was born at Williansport, Pennsylvania, in 1861, where he resided until 1878. In 1887 he came to Oregon and engaged in the butchering business until 1892, when he was appointed Constable to serve under Justice McCullough, of Albina. He was so efficient that in 1894 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff by George C. Sears, to serve under Justice Bullock, which position he still holds. He is an earnest and active worker, never voted anything but the Republican ticket, and prides himself that he is descended from four generations that have adhered to Republican principles.

HAWSON, SYDNEY G., of Arlington, was born in =Sheffield, England in 1864, and came to Oregon in 1886, and has lived in Gilliam County continuously. He is agent at Arlington of Z. F. Moody. In 1891 he was elected City Recorder, and in 1892 School Director, being now chairman of the board. In 1894 he was chosen chairman of the county central committee. At that time his name came up for the nomination to the legislature, but he resigned in favor of J. E. David, who was elected.

HASELTINE, J. E. [Editor inserted: James E. Haseltine], of Portland, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, September 30, 1833. He worked his way through school and engaged in business, on his own account finally in 1867, in Portland, Maine. In 1882 he came to Oregon and engaged in business in Portland, which he still continues. He is interested in a number of enterprises, and is a promoter of all things for the public welfare. He has been a Republican since the foundation of the party, and an active worker. Mr. Haseltine is now a nominee for the State Senate.

HAWLEY, J. H. [Editor inserted: John H. Hawley], of Monmouth, was born London, Ontario, March 10, 1835, and came to Oregon in 1844, locating in Yamhill County. At the age of twenty-one he moved to Polk County, and has lived there ever since, except one year in Salem. For twenty-four years he engaged in farming and ten years in general merchandising. He is now president of the Polk County Bank, at Mon mouth. Mr. Hawley has been a constant Republican worker and a delegate to county and state conventions since 1860. He was a Justice of the Peace from 1860 to 1870, a nominee for the legislature in 1866, 1882, 1886, being elected in 1882. He was a delegate to the club conventions of 1895 and 1896, and has done a great deal of campaign speaking.

HAWKINGS, C. E. [Editor inserted: Calvin E. Hawkins], of Albany, was born at Morrillton, Arkansas, December 12, 1861, and came to Oregon in 1889, and is now a law student. He was Circuit Court Clerk in his native town from 1886 to 1888. He has always been a Republican, is a member of the Albany Republican Club. In 1894 he was delegate to the county convention and a member of the county central committee. He was a delegate to the league in 1895.

HAYES, HON. GORDON E., of Oregon City, was born in Clackamas County, Oregon, March 27, 1859. He attended the Pacific University and then studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1885, and locating in Oregon City. Originally a Democrat, he declined the Democratic nomination for District Attorney in 1888, and has since been an active Republican. In 1890 he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1894 was elected Count Judge.

HAYES, ROBERT R., of Tillamook, was born near Bloomington, Illinois, June 3, 1856. He marched with the “Tanners” in 1872, and was Deputy Postmaster one year. In 1875 he came to Oregon, and worked on a farm one year. He was then Government Surveyor till 1886, when he was elected Surveyor of Tillamook County. In 1888 he was elected County Clerk, and was nominated again in 1890, but defeated. He has been a delegate to the state convention and a member of the state and county central committees, and three time chairman of the latter. In 1891 he was Chief Clerk of the Oregon house of representatives, and in 1892 was a delegate in 1895. He was elected School Director in 1879, and served three terms as Councilman. In 1874 he was elected Sheriff of Yamhill County.

HENDERSON, W. G. [Editor inserted: Walter G. Henderson], of McMinnville, was born at Zanesville, Ohio, October 5, 1846. He came to Oregon in 1866 and located on a farm near North Yamhill. In 1877 he moved to McMinnville and engaged in the livery and transfer business. He has always been an earnest party worker, being almost continuously a delegate to conventions since 1876, and a league delegate in 1895. He was elected School Director in 1879, and served three terms as Councilman. In 1874 he was elected Sheriff of Yamhill County.

HERMANN, BINGER, of Roseburg, was born near Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, and was educated at Irvington College, near Baltimore. His father, a Baltimore physician, in 1858 conducted a colony of Marylander to Oregon, locating in the Coquille Valley. Here Mr. Hermann helped clear the forest in true pioneer style, and taught the first public school in that section, teaching also in other counties. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature from Douglas County, and that year was admitted to the bar. He continued his law studies in the office of Hon. John B. Felton, of San Francisco, and then returned to Oregon, serving as Depute Collector of Internal Revenue under Medrem Crawford and Dr. Wilson Bowlby. He was State Senator for Douglas County in 1868, and in 1871 was appointed Receiver of the United States Land Office for Southern Oregon. He then practiced his profession in Roseburg until 1884, when he was elected to Congress for the entire state, and has been continuously re-elected ever since, representing the first district since 1892. Twice he was elected when the opposition elected the Governor. Mr. Hermann is now the oldest Member of Congress in time of service from states west of the Missouri river. He has served on the committees of territories, public lands, war claims, manufacturers and rivers and harbors. He was chairman of the committee on Indian depredations claims in the Fifty-first Congress, and is now chairman of the committee on arid lands.

HILL, HON, W. LAIR, for five years editor of the Oregonian and the compiler of the Oregon code, was born in Tennessee in sight of the battlefield of Shiloh, in August 1838. In 1853 he came to Oregon, and completed his education at the Jefferson Institute and the McMinnville College. In 1858, though but nineteen years of age, he took an active part in the campaign against adoption of the slavery clause in the state constitution. He was one of the original Republicans of Oregon, and took the stump for Lincoln 1860. Having read law in the office of Hon. George H. Williams, he was admitted to the bad in 1861. From 1864 to 1866 he was County Judge of Grant County. He then practiced law in Portland. In 1872 he became editor of the Oregonian, and held that position five years. Ill health compelled him to retire from journalism, and he located at The Dalles in the practice of law. In 1886 he published Hill’s Annotated Code of the Laws of Oregon. In 1889 he removed to Seattle, where he is engaged in the practice of law.

HILTS, JAMES M., of La Grande, was born in Herkimer County, New York, September 7, 1848, and came to Oregon in 1891, locating in La Grande. He is a farmer and businessman. He has been regularly a delegate to the county convention, and attended the state convention of 1894 and the league in 1895. In 1895 he was elected to the City Council. Mr. Hilts is now the Republican nominee for Sheriff.

HIATT, J. G. [Editor inserted: Joseph G. Hiatt], of Grant’s Pass, was born in Putnam County, Missouri, February 15, 1861, and came to Oregon in 1884, and the league of 1895. In 1894 he was elected Sheriff of Josephine County, and has been renominated for the position the present year.

HINES, REV. H. K. [Editor inserted: Harvey Kimball Hines], of the Portland University, was born in Herkimer County, New York, in 1828. He was licensed to preach in the M. E. church at the age of nineteen. In December 1852, he as transferred to the Oregon conference. He was served in this state nine years on stations, sixteen as presiding elder, one as college agent, eight as editor of the Pacific Christian Advocate, and the six as theological professor. He has been an active Republican. He was president of the territorial council of Washington and a member in 1864 and 1866, In 1876 he was a delegate from Oregon to national Republican convention. He has frequently been a member of conventions.

HINSHAW, I. S. [Editor inserted: Isaac S. Hinshaw], of Baker City, was born in Henry County, Iowa, March 11, 1843, and has made his own way since twelve years of age. In 1866 he came to Oregon, and after working at various things embarked in cattle and horse training in Baker County, which he still carries on successfully. In 1866 he was elected Sheriff, and again in 1888, declining another nomination, but received it again in 1892. He has been a frequent member of conventions and central committees.