East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-09-18

Journni.) vs.
On July 10, 1919, William Duff
Nesmith, son of Colonel j. w. Nes-
NTH former United states senator
from Oregon and later a member OF
the national house OF representatives
from Oregon. will have been In Ore
gon Just go years, Not long ago we
sat on a moss covered bench out un-
der the cottonwooda and he told me
of his boyhood days in Polk county
where he was born.
my father introduced the bill to
cut off the southern part OF Yamhll
county and form new county to be
called Polk county" said Mr.. Nes-
NTH. .The first office my father
held In oregon was In 1845. Dele
gates had been appointed TO meet at
a convention at Champoeg In April, to
select n governor, a supreme Judge.
local judges and other officers There
were several parties. One was the
American party, another the Indepen-
dent party and still another the Mis-
sionary party. They voted for four
different candidates. A. l.. Lovejoy,
George Abernethy, w. ]. Bailey and
Osborne Russell The convention Sc
governor. but when II came time for
the election the Independents swung
over TO the Missionary party and elect
ed George Abernethy, the Missionary
candidate. My father was elected a
Judge. In 1S4S he was elected to the |
legislature, but in the fall of 1s4S and |
spring of 1S49 nearly all the legisla-
tors as well as almost every other able
ia, flna
California gold fields
II Is interesting to note, In connec-
tion with what Mr.. Nesmith says
about the legislature OF lS4S. that out
or the 23 Legislators elected, only nine
were on hand when the legislature
met. The members elected in the
legislature for the session Of 1S4s
were from Clackamas county, A. l.
Lovejoy. G. l.. Curry and j. l.. Shook;
From Tualatin. Samuai r. Thurston.
Peter II. Burnett and Ralph Wilcox:
from Champoeg. Albert Gains. Robert
Newell, w. ]. Bailey and William Por-
ter; from Yamhill. A. ]. Hembree. l..
A. Rice and william Martin; from
Polk. ]. w. Nesmith; from Linn. IT.
J. Petersen and Anderson Cox: from
Lewis. Levi l.. Smith: from Clatsop. A. I
Lewis. The legislature met and or {
ganized by eiecting Ralph Wilcox {
speaker. w. G. T'yault chief clerk
and william Holmes sergeant at arms NJ
II Immediately adjourned. TO meet on
February 5, 1S4s. III
Among other well known Oregon
ans who went to the gold fields in the III
TALL OF 1s4s and the early spring of Il
ls49 were J. w. Nesmth, Joel Pal H
ner, A. l.. Lovejoy, F. w. Pettigrove. II
Peter IN Burnett, Walter Montelth. Ill
captain NJ. NJ. McCarver. Thomas Nc
Kay. w. II. Gray. father of Mrs. jacob
<amm, G. X. Gay. John Byrd, Ralph
Wilcox. Columbia Lancaster Pool, Ro- =
,ert Newell and Hamilton Campbell.
Father was admitted to the bar at -
he first term of the United States dis II
rict court" Mr.. Nesmith continued. d
1t was held at the recently complet- II
ID courthouse at Cyntheann, in Oc- u
ober. 1851. At the same time James u
dcCabe, B. F. Harding, w. T. T'Vault c.
nd A. B. p. Wood were admitted. My "
ather was appointed master and COM 81
missioner in chancery. In those days y
he principal requirement for admis- II
'on to the bar was horse sense, rather
han knowledge of legal phraseology >,
n the early fifties father and Hen =
Swen owned a grist mill near Ellen =
ale. as you know, was on Judge r. .,
,. Boise's place, and was named after :,
lis wife. Their grist mill was washed 9,
way in the glib flood in the early fif- n
les. !,
when the legislature Incorporated :,
he Oregon academy at Lafayette my i,
ather was one of the trustees. There :,
'ere AHA $. Watt r. p. Boise. James
fcBride. Ed Gary, A. J. Hembree,
oel Palmer. r. C. Kinney. Matthew Sc
;. Deadly and my father. Most of the CT
ien active in public affairs then have ol
aiken the long trail. ell
General Joe Lane and my father HI