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 282-286.

WOOD, FRANK D., of Albany, was born in Rutland, Vermont, in 1834. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents to Illinois. In 1854 he went to California, and in 1858 came to Oregon. Mr. Wood was reared and educated in the quarry business and stone carving, and is owner of the Albany and Yaquina quarries, from which have been built some of the finest structures in state. He is an earnest and active Republican. His name will live long in association with Oregon, as he is the designer and executor of the Oregon memorial stone for the Washington Monument, delivered in 1885. The dimensions of the tablet are four and one-half feet by two feet and six inches thick. The center-piece is the coat of arms and seal of the state of Oregon. Ocean scene, American steamer coming in and English vessel going out; sun setting in the West; mountains with snow peaks; elk, representing game. In the foreground pine and oak trees and shrubbery, with an old-time immigrant wagon, showing early immigration. In a raised band across the face of the shield is cut in block letters, “The Union”. Beneath the band sheaves of grain, plow and rake, representing agriculture, and pick to represent mining. Surmounting the shield is an American eagle holding in its talons arrows and laurels. In the band around the shield are inlaid the thirty-two diorite stones highly polished and very brilliant. Around the outside of the shield cut in rustic letters is “State of Oregon, 1857.” On either side of the center-piece is represented productions of the state – fruits and grain, corn, peas, grapes, apples, pears, peaches, plums, prunes, currants, hops, strawberries, cherries, grain in the head, etc., etc., and flowers in profusion. Surrounding all is a fine, heavy-molded frame, with oak leaves and acorns in the corners, the whole carved from a solid block of stone in high relief. Inscribed on the opposite side of the stone is the following: “Commissioners to procure a memorial stone for the Washington Monument: Hon. Z. F. Moody, Governor; Hon. R. P. Earhart, Secretary of State; Hon. Ed Hirsch, State Treasurer. Designed and executed by Frank D. Wood, corner Second and Elsworth streets, Albany, Oregon.”

WOODCOCK, A. C. [Editor inserted: Absolam Cornelius Woodcock], a prominent attorney of Eugene, was born in Clackamas County, Oregon, July 23, 1859. He lived in Wasco County from 1874 to 1879, and since then in Eugene. He graduated from the State University in 1884, remained there three years, and was admitted to the bar in 1887. He has been a delegate to the county convention since 1890, and in 1894 was Chairman of the county committee; was a delegate to the state convention in 1894 and to the club convention in 1895and in 1896. In 1892 he was elected a member of the State Board of Equalization, and is again the nominee for that position.

WOODS, HON. GEORGE L., deceased, ex-Governor of Oregon and of Utah, was born in Boone County, Missouri, July 30, 1832, and came to Oregon in 1844. He mined in California a short time, then returned to Oregon, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He was one of the founders of the party in Yamhill County in 1856, and one of the foremost defenders of the Union in those trying times, and one of the most forceful and eloquent orators on the Pacific coast, his voice being heard in every campaign for thirty years. In 1858 he was the Republican candidate for Prosecuting Attorney in the Portland district, and in 1863 was appointed Judge of Wasco County. In 1864 he was elected Presidential Elector, and in 1865 was appointed to the Supreme Court bench of Idaho. In 1866 he was elected Governor of Oregon, and in 1871 was appointed Governor of Utah. From 1875 to 1885 he practiced law in California and Nevada, and from 1885 to January 14, 1890, the time of his death, in Portland.

WOODS, DR. L. N., a physician at Dallas, was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1835, and came to Oregon in 1883, locating in Dallas in the practice of medicine. He cast his first vote for john C. Fremont, and has voted the Republican ticket ever since. He has been a delegate to the Polk County convention ever since 1888. In 1886 he was the Republican nominee for Coroner, and is again nominated for that office.

WOODSWARD, TYLER, of Portland, was born in Windsor County, Vermont, in 1835. He went to California in 1861, Nevada in 1861 and Oregon in 1862. In 1864 he took a stock of goods to Hell Gate, Montana. In 1870 he settled in Portland, investing his earnings here, and has since been largely interested in real estate and financial business. He cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, and has since been an active Republican ever since. He was Postmaster at Hell Gate, and has been a member of conventions and club meetings, and is Secretary of the Weston Republican Club.

WORTHINGTON, P. A. [Editor inserted: Preston A. Worthington], of Weston, was born in East Tennessee in 1853. He settled in Weston in 1875, and has been one of the most successful business men of Umatilla County. He is manager of Saling & Co., and of the Weston Flouring Mills, and helped organize the Farmers’ Bank of Weston. He is a Republican worker and a frequent member of conventions and club meetings, and is Secretary of the Weston Republican Club.

WRIGHT, HON. JOSEPH A., of Sparta, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, October 23, 1855, and is a son of James A. Wright, ex-Governor of Indiana, ex-United States Senator, and ex-Minister to Prussia. Mr. Write is a graduate of Wesleyan University in 1879. He was in the Park National Bank and Secretary of the West Indian Manufacturing Company, New York, till 1883, when he embarked in mining in Baker County, Oregon, later in Union County. Mr. Wright has taken an active interest in Republican politics and has been continuously a delegate to conventions and league meetings. In 1890 he was elected to the legislature, again in 1892, and again in 1894. He was a member of the Oregon World’s Fair Commission.

WRIGHT, ORRIN H., of Macksburg, was born in Prescott, Wisconsin, in 1866. He lived there two years, in Missouri six years, in California three years, and in Oregon nineteen years. He is a farmer. He has been secretary of primaries and clerk of election ever since his precinct was created, and was a delegate to the Clackamas County convention in 1892 and 1896, and the state convention in 1896. He is secretary of the club at Macksburg.

WRIGHT, HON. W. T. [Editor inserted: William T. Wright], of Union, was born in Illinois ion 1845. He came to Oregon in 1852 and grew to manhood in Portland. In 1865 he located in Union County, and engaged in mining and milling. In 1883 he organized the First National Bank, and has since been its manager. He has taken an active part in politics and has been a member of nearly every Republican state convention for twenty years. He was elected County Clerk in 1892, and Mayor in 1891 and 1892. He was appointed a member of the Silver convention of 1890 and the Irrigation congress of 1892, and was an Alternate Commissioner for the Worlds’ Fair.

WYATT, J. R. [Editor inserted: John R. Wyatt], a prominent attorney of Albany, was born in Linn County, Oregon, December 13, 1865. He attended the State University, graduated from the Willamette University, and was admitted to the bar in 1891. He has served two terms as Deputy District Attorney. He has been a delegate to the county convention since 1890, to the state convention since 1894, was Chairman of the county central committee in 1892 and 1894, member of the state central committee in 1894, and delegate to the league in 1894, 1895 and 1896.

YATES, W. E. [Editor inserted: William E. Yates], an attorney of Corvallis, was born in Linn County, Oregon, December 24, 1856, and has lived near Corvallis continuously. He graduated from the Agricultural College in 1880 and taught school till 1890, when he was admitted to the bar and has since practiced law at Corvallis. He was appointed a member of the Board of Regents of the Agricultural College and elected secretary. In 1882 he was elected Superintendent of Schools of Benton County, and was again elected in 1888. He has several times been a delegate to the county convention, was a delegate to the league in 1895 and 1896, and is President of the Corvallis Club. Mr. Yates is now the nominee for District Attorney of the second district.

YATES, HON. CHRIS. P., of Manning, was born in Chataqua County, New York, June 23, 1835. He enlisted in the First Colorado cavalry as a private and served through the war, being mustered out as Captain and Assistant Surgeon. He was a member of the first constitution convention of Colorado. Mr. Yates traveled all through South America as a special correspondent. In 1871 he came to Oregon and was connected with the Portland Telegram, News and other papers, and in the music business till 1882, when he located on a farm in Washington County. Mr. Yates was a delegate to he Multnomah County convention in 1876 and 1878 and the Washington County since 1888, a delegate to the state convention in 1892 and 1894, and the club meeting of 1895 and 1896. In 1890 he was appointed Postmaster of Manning. Mr. Yates was elected to the legislature in Multnomah County in 1878, and in Washington County in 1894.

BRADLEY, JOHN C., of Oregon City, was born in Morgan County, Indiana, September 21, 1850, and came to Oregon in 1867, and has resided continuously in Clackamas County, a farmer, by occupation. He has taken an active part in Republican work continuously, having been a delegate to the county convention in 1872, 1876, 1882, 1884, 1886 and 1890, and to the state conventions in 1884 and 1890. In 1890 he was United States Census Enumerator. He was School Director six years and Road Supervisor several years. In 1892 he was elected Assessor of Clackamas County, and was re-elected in 1894.

BULTMAN, HENRY, in the life saving service of the United States, with post office address at Gardiner, is secretary of the Binger Hermann Republican Club at Florence, and was a delegate to the Lane County Convention in 1894. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1863, and came to Oregon in 1885. He has been an earnest and unswerving Republican since casting his first vote, and is as loyal to the party of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield and Blaine in defeat as in victory.

DRYER. HON. THOMAS J., founder and for ten years editor of the Oregonian, was one of the early and controlling forced of the Republican party in Oregon. He was born in New York, January 10, 1808, and went to California in 1849, and worked at his trade as a printer. He brought material to Portland in December, 1850, and founded the Oregonian. He conducted the paper with vigor as a Whig organ. He was several times elected as a Whig, or Independent, to the legislature, and to the constitutional convention. In 1859 eh became a Republican, and in 1861 sold the Oregonian to H. L. Pittock and accepted appointment to the United States Minister to the Hawaiian Islands. He later returned to Portland and filled the office of the Justice of Peace for a time. He died March 30, 1879.

GIBSON, H. S. [Editor inserted: Henan Scott Gibson], of Oregon City, was born at Monmouth, Iowa, in 1862, and came to Oregon at the age of six years. He worked on a farm and attended school till 1881, when he went to California and attended the Pierce Christian College three years, graduating in 1884. He has since taught school as a profession, and in 1862 was elected Superintendent of Schools of Clackamas County on the Republican ticket, and was re-elected in 1894.

MOORE, HON. CHARLES S., of Klamath Falls, is one of the leading Republicans of Southern Oregon, and a delegate to the national convention at St. Louis from the first congressional district. He has been frequently a member of county, district, and state conventions, and club meetings, and of the state central committee. In 1894 he was elected County Judge of Klamath County. For several years he was Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of brigade commander, O. N. G.