Please answer the following question: Facts: - party: democrat - predecessor: george law curry as territorial governor - succeeded: melvin clark george benjamin hayden solomon hirsch - birth date: 4 may 1820 - profession: farmer - order: 1st - death date: 2 october 1902 - spouse: nancy jane whiteaker - office: governor of representatives president of the oregon state senate of oregon 6th speaker of the oregon house - district: oregon al at-large - term end: september 10 , 1862 - name: john whiteaker - death place: eugene , oregon - birth place: dearborn county , indiana - term: march 1868 -- 1869 1876 -- 1879 4 , 1879 -- march 3 , 1881 - successor: a. c. gibbs - state: oregon - imagesize: 180px - preceded: richard williams francis a. chenoweth robert b. cochran - term start: july 8 , 1858 - footnotes: inaugurated until statehood bill passed in february 1859 . in 1858 , but did not assume office - image: whiteaker.jpg Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of john whiteaker .
Answer:
john whiteaker -lrb- may 4 , 1820october 2 , 1902 -rrb- was an american politician , soldier , and judge primarily in oregon .a native of indiana , he joined the army during the mexican-american war and then prospected during the california gold rush .after moving to the oregon territory he served as a judge and member of the legislature .a democrat , whiteaker served as the first state governor of oregon from 1859 until 1862 and later was oregon 's congressman from 1879 to 1881 .he also was president of the oregon state senate and speaker of the oregon house of representatives .