Columbia County OR Archives Biographies.....English, Charles Henry 1865 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 19, 2009, 2:34 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company CHARLES HENRY ENGLISH, who conducts a successful mercantile business at Deer Island, Oregon, has led an active and industrious career and well merits the success which has come to him, for he has been fair and honorable in all of his dealings and has proven worthy of public confidence and patronage. Mr. English was born at Hornitos, Mariposa county, California, in 1865, and is a son of Charles and Jane (Nosley) English, the former born in Kentucky in 1830 and the latter in Illinois in 1825. His father went to Missouri in 1842 and lived there until 1849, when he joined the gold rush to California, to which state his wife went in the following year. Mr. English was engaged in mining until 1865, when he drove overland, with a horse team, to Oregon, locating in Columbia county, where he took up a preemption claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land, which was covered with timber and brush. After building a log house, he set to work to clear the land and as soon as the ground was ready he began raising garden truck. In 1891 he leased the farm and moved to Deer Island, Columbia county, and bought a general store, which he conducted until 1898, when he sold it to his son, Charles H., and retired. Both parents are now deceased, the mother dying July 7, 1898, and the father January 21, 1908. They became the parents of five children, namely: D. B., who lives in White Bluff, Washington; Mrs. Ida Bonser, of Deer Island; Charles H.; Cynthia and J. A., both deceased. Charles H. English was educated in the district schools of Columbia county and the public schools of Astoria. He remained at home, assisting his father in the operation of the ranch, and also cultivating a market garden at Deer Island in partnership with his father until his marriage, in 1891, since which time he has been connected with the store at Deer Island, of which he became sole owner in 1898. He carries a large and well selected stock of such lines of merchandise as are demanded by the local trade, and he enjoys a very satisfactory patronage. On December 23, 1891, Mr. English was united in marriage to Miss Mattie M. Bevis, who was born in Portland, Oregon, and is a daughter of John Wesley and Highley Jane (Evans) Bevis, the former born in New Jersey, July 4, 1824, and the latter in Tennessee, December 27, 1829. Mr. Bevis joined the rush to California in 1849, going by way of the isthmus of Panama, and met with a very fair measure of success. He returned to Iowa in 1850 and lived there until 1862, when he came to Oregon with his wife and five children, who traveled in the typical covered wagon of that day. They located in Portland, where Mr. Bevis ran a large dairy, furnishing the city of Portland with milk. About 1878 he bought a large tract of timber land in Columbia county, sold off the timber and lived there until the early '80s, when he bought land three miles north of Deer Island, where he was engaged in farming until about 1897, when he sold out, retired from active business pursuits and moved to Portland, where he bought a home. He died there in 1904 and his wife passed away in 1915. Of the nine children who blessed their union, three are living, namely: John W., who is manager of the Inman & Poulson mill in Portland; Mrs. Annie Nicholas, a widow, who resides in Portland, and Mrs. English. Mr. and Mrs. English are the parents of a son, Harold Clifford, who was born September 12, 1896, at Deer Island, graduated from the high school at Portland, and is now in the employ of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad. He lives in Portland, is married and has an adopted daughter, Mildred, now twelve years of age. He is member of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. English is a member of Avon Lodge, No. 62, K. P., at St. Helens, Mrs. English is a member of the Pythian Sisters at St. Helens and both are members of the United Artisans, Lodge No. 80, of which Mr. English is a charter member. Mrs. English has served as postmaster at Deer Island continuously since 1895, and is probably the oldest postmaster in point of years of continuous service in the state of Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. English still own forty acres of the old homestead at Deer Island, which is a well improved and productive farm and is leased. They are in every respect a worthy couple and throughout the community they enjoy the esteem and good will of all who know them. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 909-910 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/english811gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb