Oregon Republican League: Elder Photos

Oregon Republican League:Republican League Register of Oregon, The Register Publishing Company, 1896, page 34.

HILL, HON, W. LAIR [Editor inserted: William Lair Hill], 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.