Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-03-09
BUSHROD WILSON is DEAD.

BUSHROD WILSON is DEAD.
He Leaves Heritage of Good Deeds am
an Unsu11ied Name.
Although prepared, in some measure
to learn of fatal termination to his re
cent serious illuess, it was with feelin:
of profound sorrow, that the communit
received the announcement OF the death
OF Mr.. b. W. Wilson, on last Monda.
morning.
Since his retirement from the office 0
County Clerk, in 1894, Mr.. Wilson ha
been among US and of us, his visits ant
walks out into the city being of less ane
less frequency within the past two O.
three years, but always with that pleas
ant GENIAL manner natural to him, ant
SO we'll know. by all of his old tim'
friends, many of whom are also passing
away as these years go bye.
Since the first of the year, Mr.. Wilson
had showed marked decline N genera
health, and for the past two mouths OF
more, the presence of some member OF
his family has been found necessary te
be constantly at his bedside. For al
though in full possession of his faculties
his physical weakness was such that
upon rising to his feet he could scarcely
retain his balance, and he gradually be-
Har nrfil no fine u
passed away on Sunday evening, quietly
and peacefully, as naturally as child
would fall asleep. Surrounded by his
family. those who are here, and in the
fullness of life well spent, and leaving
a memory which will long abide in this
community.
Mr.. Wilson was born in 1924, at Col
umbia Falls in the state of Maine. His
father was OF Anglo Saxon decent.
whereas his mother came from French
Hugenoth family. Perhaps the early
trials of his mothers family who had
been exiled from Arcadia. was somewhat
responsible for the intense love which he
always manifested for our free American
institutions, where man can worship
according to the dictates of his own
conscience. However that may be he
always had such sentiments in Il large
degree, and this was continually being
revealed in his attitude On public ques-
tions which arose from time to time
during his life. Thus in early life he
became free-soil whig, and an Abolit
ionist, OF the type remembered as "Black
Abolitionists," and in every manner he
was ever quick 10 champion the cause of
the oppressed. And by his efforts, and
his influence he was always exenlplifying
the idea ST personal opinions and conduct
whichsis.so dear to all American citizens,
who have been brought up under the
American Flag.
At the early age OF nine years, his
father removing to New York, Mr.. Will
son began his education in the public
schools ofthat city, but he did not re-
ceive much schooling. He early evinced
an inclination to make his own way,
and before he was seventeen years old,
he had acquired considerable degree OF
skill in various pursuits, which paid
good remuneration for boy in those
times. He worked at printing along
with Horace Greely, and when nothing
better was offering, he would turn an
honest penny by running errands on the
street. These pursuits however, were of
his own inclination and not of necessity,
for his father was comparatively well to
do, up to 1910; when he moved out west,
into the state of Illinois, which was then
and when the site of Chicago,
was but open fields. His mother died
The previous year, and this was loss
which he always felt keenly. It was his
first great loss, and those are the ones
we feel most deeply, and of which the
recollection remains longest.
Shortly after moving west his father
and there was another family
we'll grown, and, as often times happens,
,he boy felt that he would be better off
or himself SO he wentsseast, and shipped
n whaling vessel for the Pacific and
hree years cruise. In his later years,
le was fond ofrelating some of his exper-
.nces during the time he was on the
,arque "Harvest," with Captain Taber,
md We little know or appreciate in these
lays, what kind of hardships men under
vent i'm that pursuit in those times.
For instance, it was no unsual thing for
,oat to be stove, and all hands remain in
he water, until picked up by the ship,
listant at the time of the accident |
,erhaps several miles. One time Mr..
Wilson was in the water, out in the
middle of the Pacific, with boats crew,
or the best part of a day. They were
,ood swimmers those whalemen, and
n this accomplishment Mr.. Wilson was
xpert.
After returning from this voyage, aud
visit to his father and brothers in the
vest, Mr. Wilson followed the sea, and
,iloting on the Lakes for some five years
nd then came around the Horn in the
n the ship William Grey," in the year
$50, landing in San Francisco, just in
ime to participate in the Fourth of July
which from his accounts
hereof, must have been a joyous occa-
ion. After a season in the California
mines, up on Yuba, and American rivers,
le shipped on schooner, the "Rein-
leer,' for Umpqua in responce to great
ircular which was stuck up over the
treets of San Francisco. proclaiming the
ichness of the Umpqua diggings. The
people were up to their
Id tricks in those times as we'll as in
lines not far distant. For no mines
we're then found at Umpqua. But he /
anne up the river in a canoe leaving his
hest of tools at the landing, the last he
ver saw of them, something like three
hundred dollars worth of ship carpenters