Oregon Republican League: Elder Photos

Oregon Republican League:Republican League Register of Oregon, The Register Publishing Company, 1896, page 26.

DEADY, HON MATTHEW PAUL., late Judge of the United States District Court, was born near Easton, Maryland, May 12, 1824. His early youth was spent in various places where his father taught school. In 1841 he went to Barnesville, Ohio, to learn the blacksmith trade, and followed it for years, at the same time attending the Barnesville Academy. He then began to teach school and study law, being admitted to the bar in 1847. In 1849 he crossed the plains and began teaching at Lafayette, Oregon. The next year he began to practice law, and was that year elected to the territorial legislature. In 1851 he was elected to the council, and was president of that body in 1852 and 1853. In 1853 he was appointed a Judge of the Territorial Supreme Court by the President. In 1857 he was a member of the constitutional convention. In 1859 he was appointed United States District Judge, which position he held till the time of his death, but two years ago. In 1862 he served as Code Commissioner for Oregon. He also compiled the laws of the state, and in 1874 again compiled them. In 1876 he was appointed a Regent of the University of Oregon, and was president of the board for many years. He helped organize the Library Association of Portland, and was continuously its president from 1872. To his exertions is due the handsome library building. Beginning his political career as a Democrat, Judge Deady became a Union man when war broke out in 1861, and was a Republican ever after.