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 248-255.

MINTO, JOHN W., Chief of Police of Portland, was born in Marion County, Oregon, September 27, 1848, and was educated at the Willamette University. For years he followed stock-raising, and then was on the Salem police force, and finally became Chief. In 1884 he was elected Sheriff of Marion County, and again in 1886. In 1888 he came to Portland, and is engaged in the livery and feed business. In 1890 he was appointed Weigher at the United States custom house. In 1894 he was the Republican nominee for Sheriff, and was later appointed Chief of Police.

MINTO, WILLIAM JASPER, of Salem, was born near Salem, Oregon, April 25, 1855, and learned early to become a blacksmith and a moulder. From 1876 to 1879 he was engaged in the sheep business in Eastern Oregon. In 1880 he embarked in the truck and dray business in Salem, and has now an extensive livery business. He is an active Republican and has attended conventions and league meetings frequently. He served one term in the Salem city council. In 1895 he was appointed County Treasurer, and is now nominated for election to that office.

MITCHELL, JOHN H. [Editor inserted: John Hipple Mitchell born John Mitchell Hipple], of Portland, Senator from Oregon, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, June 22, 1835. The family soon moved to Butler County, and here he was reared on a farm and inured to hard work. He worked and studied and read law, and in this way acquired a good classical and legal education. In 1860 he came to the Pacific coast, and soon located in Portland. He at once took a prominent part in upholding the Union against the strong local Southern sentiment, and was soon elected to the state senate, and for four years was president of that body. In 1886 he only lacked one vote of the body in 1872. During the exciting controversy regarding the presidential election of 1876, Mr. Mitchell served as chairman of the senate committee on privileges and elections, and as such prepared the report on the Hayes-Tilden contest for the investigation in Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida and Oregon. It was a masterly document, and was the basis of the settlement of the controversy. He was again elected to the senate in 1885, and for a third time in 1891, senator Mitchell is now one of the oldest members of the body in length of service, and is one of the senators whose names are known from one end of the country to the other. He is also a member of the Judiciary Committee, and of a number of the important committee.

MOODY, RALPH E., an attorney of Portland, and son of ex-Governor Z. F. Moody, was born at The Dalles, Oregon, August 27, 1867, and graduated from the Willamette University in 1885, and from the Law School at Albany, New York, in 1887. For a time he was in the engineering department of the O. R. & N. Co., and then practiced law at Port Townsend, Washington, being elected District Attorney in 1890, and was also elected City Attorney, and by appointment, was Attorney for San Juan and Island counties. He was defeated for re-election by the democratic tidal wave of 1892. He began practice in Portland in 1893. In 1895 he was the Chief Clerk of the Oregon house of representatives, and in 1896 a delegate to the state convention.

MOFFETT, JAMES P., of Portland, was born in the city of Portland, Oregon, March 2, 1861, and is now in this thirty-sixth year, and in the flush of vigorous manhood. His ancestors were pioneers of 1845. His education was received at the old Portland Academy, the Bishop Scott Academy (Episcopal), and in the public schools of the city. After leaving school he commenced life in the office of the Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company, with which corporation he remained continuously for the period of fourteen year, rising from office boy to that of chief clerk and accountant, in which capacity he had 140 sun-agents reporting to him, and handled upwards of $200,000 a year in cash and accounts. His first advent into politics was in 1894, when the citizens of the Fourth Ward, the largest ward in the city, requested him to run for the position of councilman. He was elected by the largest vote of any councilman in the city, receiving over 1000 votes out of 1871 cast in the ward, and there were four other candidates in the field for the same office. The common council, of which Mr. Moffett is a member, was the first to take charge of the new City Hall. Mr. Moffett claims no credit, for he only did his duty in behalf of the taxpayers, and it is a matter of record that he has always been zealous in guarding their interests. The commendation of his constituents is his ample reward. Over a month ago he was importuned by his many friends to again be a candidate for re-election, but after returning thanks for the compliment paid him, respectfully declined the honor. Mr. Moffett has been attending the Law Department of the University of Oregon the past two years (night lectures), and has studied hard, and will go before the Supreme County in June for admission to the bar. He has always been a staunch and loyal Republican. Mr. Moffett, besides being chairman of the campaign committee of the Taxpayers’ League, is the vice-president of the Fourth Ward Republican Club, and active member of the Young Men’s Republican Club, and active member of the Multorpor Republicans Club, and belongs to the following orders: Portland Lodge of Elks, No. 142; Industry Lodge of Workmen, No. 8; Webfoot Camp of Woodmen, No. 65; Chinook Tribe of Redmen, No. 5, and is a Thirty-second Degree Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.

MONTGOMERY, HON. JAMES B., of Portland, was born at Montgomery Ferry, Pa., December 6, 1832. He learned the printer’s trade and for several years was editor of the Sandusky Daily Register and Pittsburg Morning Post. In 1858 he began railroad contracting and building, and in following that business came to Oregon in 1870 and built the first 100 miles of the Northern Pacific. He has had extensive contracts on railroads, and on government river improvements, and has also been extensively engaged in the lumber business. Originally a democrat, he became a republican when the Union was threatened. He was three times a delegate to the Republican state convention of Pennsylvania. In 1890 he was elected to the Oregon legislature from Multnomah County.

MORCOM, ELISHA P., of Woodburn was born at Dodgeville, Wisconsin, February 6, 1860, and came to Oregon in 1890. He spent three months in Portland, and a year in Silverton, and then settled in Woodburn in the practice of law. He is president of the Abraham Lincoln Club, and was a delegate to the league in 1895 and 1896, and the county convention of 1896. In 1894 he was nominated by the Prohibitionists for District Attorney, but made no campaign for the office, being a Republican from principal.

MOREY, HON. PARKER F., of Oregon City, president of the Portland General Electric Company, was born in Calais, Maine, October 16, 1847. He became a competent machinist and mechanical engineer. In 1866 he went to Placerville, California, and worked there in Sacramento as a machinist several years. He then was interested for a number of years in handling several mechanical inventions of his own, until he came to Portland to put in hydraulic elevator. He then organized the Portland Hydraulic Elevator Company, and introduced such elevators into Portland, using a special patent of his own. It was through his enterprise in fighting the old Water Company that Bull Run water is now in Portland. In 1883 he organized the United States Electric Lighting & Power Company, and later merged it into the Willamette Falls Electric Company, and still later into the Portland General Electric Company, which owns all the water power of the Willamette Falls, and much real estate adjacent, and supplies electric light and power at Oregon City and Portland, as well as much direct water power; has a capital of $4,250,000, and is by all means the greatest enterprise of this kind of the Pacific Coast. My. Morey has been continuously an active Republican, and was a member of the legislature in 1888-90.

MOODY, MALCOM A., of The Dalles, is a member of the executive committee of the Republican League of the United States, and of the Republican League of Oregon. HE is a son of ex-Governor Z. F. Moody, was born in Brownsville, Oregon, in 1854. In 1856 the family returned to New England, but came to Oregon again in 1862, locating at The Dalles. Mr. Moody was educated at the publican schools and the University of California. After leaving school he entered the general merchandise, grain and wool business at The Dalles, with his father. In 1887 the merchandise business at The Dalles National Bank, of which he has been continuously cashier. He is also manager of the extensive grain and wool business of his father, the largest in the state. From 1885 to 1889 he was a member of the city council of The Dalles, and in 1889 was elected Mayor, serving two terms. He has been continuously a delegate to county and state convention, and member of the county and state central committees, being one of the foremost leaders in Republican politics in Wasco County and in Eastern Oregon. He attended the National League Convention, at Cleveland, in 1894, as a delegate from Oregon. He was the candidate of the sound-money delegates for the congressional nomination in the Second District in 1896, receiving fifty-three votes, five short of majority, and but for the local contest in Multnomah County would have been nominated by a large majority.

MOODY, HON. Z. F. [Editor inserted: Zenas Ferry Moody], of The Dalles and Salem, ex-Governor of Oregon, was born in Granby, Massachusetts, May 27, 1832. In 1851 he came to Oregon. For ten years he was engaged in United States surveys. He engaged in business in Brownsville in 1853. In 1856 he was appointed Inspector of United States surveys in California , and then went to Illinois, where he lived four years and was one term Assessor of Morgan County. He was in Washington when Sumpter was fired upon, and joined an emergency company. In 1862 he returned to Oregon and engaged in merchandising at The Dalles, where he has now the largest wool warehouse on the Pacific Coast, and handles more wool direct from the producers than any other man in the world. From 1863 to 1875 he was engaged in various lines of business in Oregon and Idaho, in the latter year founding his business at The Dalles. In 1872 he was elected senator from Wasco County, but did not take his seat. In 1880 he was elected to the house, and becamse speaker of that body. In 1882 he was elected governor.

MOOMAW, DAVID L., of Baker City, was born in Botetourt County, Virginia, and came to Oregon in 1858. He lived in Oregon City till 1870, when he settled in Baker City, and has since been a central figure in Republican politics in that county. Since 1872 he has been a delegate to nearly every county convention, and to the state convention from 1878 to 1892. Mr. Moomaw was Deputy Sheriff in 1874 and 1876, and Deputy United States Marshal from 1878 to 1885, and again during Harrison’s administration. In 1882 he was the Republican nominee for the legislature. He is engaged in mining and speculation, and is one of the progressive men of Eastern Oregon.

MOORE, HON. CHAS. S [Editor inserted: Charles S. Moore], of Klamath Falls, is a leading business man and attorney of Southern Oregon. He has been prominent in Republican work for years, as d delegate to conventions, league meetings and member of county and state central committees, and is County Judge of Klamath County. Judge Moore is a delegate to the next national convention.

MOORE, HON. FRANK A., of St. Helens, and Justice of the Supreme Court, was born at Ellsworth, Maine, November 5, 1844. In his early youth he settled in Iowa, and in 1876 came to Oregon, locating at St. Helens. He taught school and studied law, and was soon admitted to the bar, beginning the practice of his profession at once. In 1882 he was unanimously nominated for County Judge. He declined renomination at the end of his four years of service. In 1888 he was elected Joint Senator, and served two sessions. In 1890 he was chosen secretary of the state central committee. In 1892 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme County, which position he now fills with credit to himself and his party.

MOORE, FRANK L., of baker City, was born in Lane County, Oregon, November 7, 1861, and graduated from the University of Oregon in 1887. In 1888 he was elected Superintendent of Schools, and in 1892 became the first president of the Republican Club, of which he is still an active member.

MOORE, CAPTAIN DANIEL J., Clerk of the Circuit Court of Multnomah County, was born in Iowa in 1861, and came to Oregon in 1873. He began life in the office of the Eugene Guard, was a newsboy on local trains, a bell boy at the Clarendon Hotel, Portland, a messenger boy for the Oregon & California, then clerk in the freight and passenger office, then bill clerk in the O. R. & N. Co., then chief bill clerk of the ocean and river division, and finally ticket agent, at the Ash Street wharf. Two years later he took charge of the Oregonian routes and managed the Pioneer Wood yard. In 1894 he was nominated and elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, and is again nominated or that position on one of the Republican tickets. He has been a member of the National Guard since 1886, and is now Brigade Commissary, with the rank of Captain. He is secretary of the Mulorpor Republican Club.

MOORE, WALTER H., a member of the executive committee of the Republican League of Oregon, is engaged in general merchandising at Moro. He was born in Ogle County, Illinois, June 16, 1854, and came to Oregon in 1881. He farmed in Wasco County three years, and then located in Moro. He has been a delegate to every county convention since 1884, to the state conventions of 1888, 1890, 1894 and 1896, and the district conventions of 1894 and 1896. He was a delegate to the State League in 1895 and 1896, and at the latter was elected member of the executive committee from the Second District. He has been chairman of the county central committee and member of the state central committee, and is now the nominee for the senate from Sherman, Wasco and Gilliam counties.

MOORHEAD, HON. STEELE L., of Junction City, was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1852. At the age of seventeen he went to Rockport, Missouri, and learned the printer’s trade on the Atchison County Journal, of which he was afterwards editor and manager six years. He founded the Times at Ness City, Kansas , in 1888, and in 1891 came to Oregon and founded Junction City Times, of which he is still editor and publisher. In 1892 he was elected City Recorder, and Mayer in 1893. In 1894 he was elected to the legislature, and has been renominated. He has been a delegate to conventions and league meetings for five years.

MORELAND, J. C. [Editor inserted: Julius C. Moreland], of Portland, was born June 10, 1844, in Tennessee. Soon after the family moved to Illinois and crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852, settling in Clackamas County. In 1860 young Moreland began learning the printer’s trade, in Portland. He worked and attended the Portland Academy at intervals. In 1864 he was foreman of the state printing office, under H. L. Pittock. He continued to work as a printer and read law. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar of Washington territory, and began to practice in Boise, Idaho, but resumed his trade for time as foreman of the Boise Statesman, and then of the Portland Oregonian. He then formed a partnership with John F. Caples and resumed the practice of law. Judge Moreland has always been an active Republican, and for years has been in attendance at conventions and club meetings, and has spoken in campaigns. In 1872 he was elected a member of the city council, and served five years. In 1885 Governor Moody appointed him County Judge, to fill a vacancy of five months. In 1890 he was elected to the same office, retiring in 1894.

MORELAND, HON. SAMUEL A., was born in Jackson County, Tennessee, November 1, 1836, and came to Oregon in 1852. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1863. In 1865 he was elected Assessor of Portland. In 1870 he was elected Justice of the Peace. In 1872 he became an editorial writer on the Oregonian, and in 1881 became editor of the Evening Telegram. Later he was appointed Police Judge, and occupied that position at the time of his sudden death in March, 1886.

MOORES, HON. CHARLES B., of Salem, was born in Benton, Missouri, August 6, 1849, and crossed the plains three years later. He graduated from the Willamette University in 1870. For five years he was a draughtsman in the O. & C. railroad office, at Portland. He then spent three years in the East, at a business college in Washington City, and in the law departments of the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan, graduating from the latter. He began practice in Salem. In 1880 he was elected Chief Clerk of the house of representatives. In 1882 he became Private Secretary to Governor Z. F. Moody, remaining four years. He is extensively interested in a number of enterprises at Salem, and in fruit culture. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Willamette University, and has been a member of the city council. He has done much active political work, and has been a member of county and state conventions and league meetings. In 1894 he was elected to the legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the house.

MOORES, HON. ISAAC R., deceased, father of John H., and grandfather of Charles G. and A. N., was a native of Kentucky. HE served in the Seminole, Black Hawk and Mexican wars. In 1852 he came and was a member of the constitutional convention. He became a Republican and was nominated for the state senate in 1860. HE attended the state conventions and was a member of the state central committee.

MOORES, HON. JOHN H., deceased, was born at Huntsville, Alabama, June 21, 1821, and spent his youth at Danville, Illinois. He engaged in merchandising at Benton, Missouri. In 1852 he came to Oregon, and engaged in merchandising in Salem, and later in flour and lumber milling, till his death, December 16, 1880. He was a Republican from the beginning. He was Postmaster at Salem, a member of the city council four terms, Mayor, County Treasurer several terms, and from 1870 to 1874 a member of the sate senate. He was a member of county and state conventions, and the state central committee.

MORRIS, P. G., of Lebanon and Albany, was born in Wasco County, Oregon, March 21, 1861, and has lived in Linn County, on a farm, for a number of years. He has always been a Republican worker and is a member of the Lebanon Club. In 1894 he was elected County Treasurer, and is again nominated for that office.

MUIR, THOMAS K,, of Portland, was born in the East Indies, and came to Oregon some eighteen months ago, locating in Portland. He is a contractor and dealer in asphalts, and has done a great deal of this work in Europe and this county, and recently upon reservoirs of Portland. Mr. Muir is an earnest Republican and zealous for party success. He is also an active and enthusiastic member of the Oregon National Guard.

MULKEY, B. F. [Editor inserted: Benjamin Franklin Mulkey], of Dallas, was born in Williamson County, Illinois, June 26, 1862. Ten years later he came to Oregon, locating near Eugene. He graduated at the Monmouth Normal School in 1887, and is by profession a teacher. From 1887 to 1892 he had charge of the Bethel Academy, and during the latter year was president of the Polk County Teachers’ Association. He has been a delegate to the State League meetings twice, and once to the state convention. HE is president of the Dallas Republican Club. In 1892 he was elected County Clerk, and again in 1894. Mr. Mulky is a fluent speaker and a good campaigner, and is the Republican nominee for the state senate.

MULLER, MAX, a merchant of Jacksonville, was born in Reckendorf, Bavaria, January 20, 1836, and came to Oregon in 1855, locating in Jacksonville, and has lived there ever since. He is one of the old Republicans, having been a delegate to county conventions ever since 1862, and sate conventions from 1870 to 1886. In 1868 he was elected County Treasurer, was Postmaster from 1870 to 1888, and was elected County Clerk in 1888, 1890 and 1892.

MULKEY, HON. MARION F., deceased, was born in Johnson County, Missouri, November 14, 1836, and ten years later came to Oregon. He served in the Indian War of 1855-1856. In 1862 he graduated from Yale College . In 1863 he acted as Assistant Provost Marshal for Oregon. In 1864 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1866 was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Fourth District. In 1867 he was elected to the city council, in 1872 City Attorney, and again in 1873. He then practiced law in partnership with Hon. John F. Caples till his death, February 25, 1889, constantly taking a prominent part in Republican party work.

MYERS, HON. GEORGE T., of Portland, is closely identified with the salmon canning industry, in which he has been engaged for years. He is an active Republican, and has attended conventions and league meetings frequently. Mr. Myers was president of the Oregon World’s Fair Commission, which achieved the remarkable record of making a fine display and yet turning back a portion of its appropriation. Mr. Myers was elected to the legislature in 1892 and again in 1894.

NASBURG, ANDREW, of Marshfield, was born in the Parish of Forsa, near Hudixwell, Sweden, July 8, 1839, and came to America ten years later, settling in Illinois. In 1859 he came to Oregon and began work in a saw miss at Port Orford. In 1864 he embarked in mercantile business there. Three years later he sold out, and purchased a farm near Marshfield. In 1869 he opened a store in Marshfield, where he remained. He was for years a leading Republican of Coos county, and represented it repeatedly in state conventions and as a member of the state central committee.

NEEDHAM, NATHAN, of Albany, was born in Appanoose County, Iowa, May 3, 1858, and came to Oregon in 1889, locating at Corvallis, and a year later in Linn County. He is the owner of an orchard near Oakville. He has always been a Republican, and is a member of the Orleans Club. He was a delegate to the county convention in 1894, and club convention in 1895 and 1896. In 1894 he was elected County Clerk, and has again been nominated by the Republicans.

NEWPORT, N. M. [Editor inserted: Nathaniel Monroe Newport], a prominent attorney of Albany, was born at Buffalo, Missouri, March 12, 1864, and came to Oregon in 1880, locating in Astoria. He graduated from the literary department of the Willamette University in 1890, and the law department in 1892. The same years he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Albany. He was Justice of the Peace in 1891-92, and was elected City Attorney in 1894. He was one of the prime movers in organizing the Albany Republican Club, and was a delegate to the league in 1896. In 1894 he was a member of the county convention, and stumped the county for the successful ticket.

NEWBURY, Hon. W. S. [ Editor inserted: William S. Newbury], a prominent lawyer of Portland, was born at Ripley, Ney York, September 19, 1834. As a boy he was employed in stores in Chicago and studied law and book-keeping at Fox Lake and Madison, Wisconsin. For several years he had charge of the Sixth Kansas Infantry, and was commissioned Lieutenant. In 1864 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1870 was elected Mayor of Iola, Kansas. He soon after came to Portland, and in 1887 was elected Mayor.

NORTHUP, HON. HENRY H., of Portland, County Judge of Multnomah, was born in Berkshire, Massachusetts, February 29, 1839. After completing his education, paid for by his own labor, he became a tutor in the Western University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and in Anamosa, Iowa, where he studied law. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the First Iowa, and was at the battle of Wilson Creek, mustered out in the fall of 1861, re-enlisted in the spring of 1862, and mustered out in the fall of 1863. His health not permitting re-enlistment, he taught school, held a government clerkship, and read law, till he graduated from the Columbia College Law School in 1868, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme County of the District of Columbia. In 1871 he came to Oregon and began practice in Portland. From 1873 to 1878 he was Register in Bankruptcy. In 1888 and 1892, he was elected to the legislature, and in 1894 was elected County Judge of Multnomah County. Judge Northup is now an independent candidate for congress on a sound-money platform.