Columbia-Statewide County OR Archives Biographies.....Reasoner, D. B. May 20, 1857 - ************************************************ 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 July 4, 2010, 8:22 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Page 491 - 493 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company D. B. REASONER, city clerk and recorder of Vernonia, Oregon, is a man of wide experience in both business and public affairs. He is rendering efficient service in his present position and he commands the whole respect and confidence of all who know him. A native of Indiana, he was born in New Cumberland, Grant county, May 20, 1857, his parents being Samuel and Mary Jane (Perril) Reasoner, who were natives of Ohio. The Reasoner family is of German origin and was established in this country prior to the Revolutionary war. The more remote ancestral line, however, is traced back to France. Nicholas Reasoner was the founder of the family in the new world. While the ancestral history was not handed down in written form, different branches of the family have verified the traditional records, which have proven the same as told by different lines. Several generations back of Nicholas Reasoner the ancestry is traced to Speers, a French Huguenot who was living in France at the time of the St. Bartholomew massacre. While he was not slain at that time, he later fled the country to escape the persecution of the Protestants by the Catholics. Moreover, there is a tradition that has come down from generation to generation that this Speers was a descendant of a Greek ancestor, a Christian, who fled from Greece on account of pagan persecution. When Henry IV, king of France, issued the Edict of Nantes, whereby the religious liberties were restored to the unhappy Huguenots, many of them returned to their native country, including a Speers who was probably a great-grandson of the one that had fled following the St. Bartholomew massacre. However, the religious liberty was not long to be enjoyed, as the Huguenots were again forbidden to hold religious services. This order, however, did not keep them from trying to do so, but through the treachery of a guard the Catholics surprised a meeting in which all but Speers and another man were slain, Speers then fled the country, going to Germany, where it is said he married a lady of high family. About this time, 1685, Peter Frohman, a descendant of Lord Frohman, because of his Protestant religion, fled the country, taking ship for America. He settled in York colony. As near as can be determined, Speers, who fled to Germany in 1685, sailed for America with his family in 1725 and tradition says that on the same ship were Nicholas Reasoner and his brothers, Christopher and Stephen. After coming to the new world Nicholas was instrumental in having the German name of Reschtner translated to Reasoner. Nicholas and his brothers, according to tradition, were sons of Garrett Reschtner and came from the Rhine. Nicholas Reasoner married a daughter of Peter Frohman and another daughter became the wife of a son of Speers. In the course of time Peter Reasoner, son of Nicholas Reasoner, married his first cousin, Mollie Speers, and thus were connected the Speers, Frohman and Reasoner lines. According to the archives of New York several members of the Reasoner family served in the Revolutionary war. Family tradition has it that Nicholas Reasoner died when his son Peter, the youngest of his children, was a boy, his other sons being Charles, Garrett and Jacob. Of these Garrett, Jacob and Peter emigrated from New York to Carolina but after three years, not liking the country, returned. Later Garrett moved to Nola Chuka, Tennessee, and Jacob afterward settled in Mineral county, West Virginia. At this time Peter Reasoner, then probably about twenty-one years of age, removed to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was there living when General Braddock was defeated by the French and Indians in 1755 and the French warned all English subjects to leave the country, which Peter Reasoner did. The events of the French and Indian war are matters of history, and with the later defeat of the French, whereby that section of the country again became a British domain, Peter Reasoner returned to his old home. It is probable, too, that his uncle Speers and his family returned about the same time and equally probable that Peter Reasoner married his cousin, Mollie Speers, at about that period. Peter Reasoner found that a man by the name of Shearer had taken possession of his land but at once began legal proceedings and soon was again in possession of his property. He had resided quietly thereon when Shearer, who had bided his time, waiting till all witnesses had died or gone away, again claimed the property, which it is said he secured with a bribed jury and a corrupt judge to aid him. At one time Peter Reasoner was a forest ranger or Indian scout in the employ of the state of Pennsylvania. Subsequently he and most, if not all, of his sons removed to Ohio. His sons Nicholas and John went in 1802 and Henry in 1803. Peter Reasoner accompanied his son Henry, spent the winter with his son John and probably remained in that region, as he is buried there. Another son, Benjamin, removed to Ohio in the fall of 1804. He was the father of Joseph Reasoner, the grandfather of D. B. Reasoner of Vernonia. Benjamin Reasoner was pressed into the service near the end of the War of 1812 but was never called on for active duty. During that war there was an order issued giving any man who wanted to enter the service the right to confiscate a gun and go to the front. Joseph Reasoner, son of Benjamin Reasoner, at that time seventeen or eighteen years of age, was an excellent hunter and his skill with his gun largely provided the family with meat and with deerskins for dress. Several times he noticed a man sneaking through the woods where he was hunting and on questioning the man, receiving no satisfactory answer, Joseph Reasoner said: "You are hunting for my gun. Get out of here, and if I ever see you sneaking around here again, I will take my gun and break a leg for you." The man disappeared. The Reasoner family have been a pioneer race. Not only was Peter Reasoner a pioneer of western Pennsylvania but his sons — Nicholas, Jacob, Benjamin, Henry, John and Solomon — all settled on the frontier of Ohio. Benjamin Reasoner, son of Peter, became a pioneer of eastern Indiana. Joseph Reasoner, the paternal grandfather of D. B. Reasoner, was a blacksmith and followed his trade until ninety years of age, remaining active to the time of his death, which occurred when he was ninety-seven years of age. His son, Samuel Reasoner, born in Ohio, removed to Iowa after having resided for a considerable period in New Cumberland, Grant county, Indiana. He took his family to the Hawkeye state in 1864 and there purchased land on which he engaged in farming. As the years passed he prospered and gave each of his sons a farm. A republican in politics, he took active part in local public affairs and for many years served as a member of the school board. His death occurred in 1908, while his wife survived until 1910. They were parents of twelve children, of whom seven are yet living: Henry, of Los Angeles, California; William, of Missouri; Robert, of Kansas; Dr. Francis Graffis, of Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Emma Reissner, a widow, who is a twin sister of D. B. Reasoner and who resides in Los Angeles, California; and Dr. Nettie Bawn, of Long Beach, California. D. B. Reasoner acquired his education in the frontier schools of Iowa and remained at home until his marriage in 1881. Two years later he came to the northwest, settling at Pomeroy, Washington, where he worked at the carpenter trade for, about a year, having learned the trade some time previously. In 1884 he removed to Newberg, Oregon, where he engaged in contracting and building for about four years and then took up his abode in Middleton, Washington county, Oregon, where he became prominent in public life and was the first county commissioner elected to a four-year term. Through reelection he served eight years and later he was the first to be chosen county judge for a six years' term. While filling the office of county commissioner he bought the first rock crusher used in Washington county and also built the first rock road in that county. Through all this period he was likewise engaged in farming, meeting with very satisfactory success. He lived in Hillsboro until 1923, when he sold a part of his holdings in that county and established his home in Vernonia, where he took charge of the construction of a logging railroad. In 1924 he was appointed city clerk and recorder and is still serving in the dual capacity. In 1898 he was engaged in cutting piling on the Molalla river, rafting the piles to Oregon City, where he brailed them together and ran them through the locks to St. Johns, whence they were shipped to Salt Lake, Utah, and used in the construction of the Oregon Short Line Cutoff railroad to Salt Lake City. Mr. Reasoner owns several residence properties in Vernonia which are rented and also has real estate in Hillsboro. He occupies a comfortable and attractive home in Vernonia, situated in the midst of beautiful grounds. In 1881 Mr. Reasoner married Miss Julia Janeway, who was born and reared in Iowa and who passed away July 4, 1927. They were parents of four children, three now living: Raymond F., who was born in Iowa and now lives at Grants Pass, Oregon, is married and has two children, Dorothy and Evelyn, aged respectively sixteen and ten years. The daughters are Mrs. Jennie Beach, of North Plains, Washington county, Oregon, and Mrs. Ina Bowman, of Hillsboro, Oregon, who is the mother of a daughter, Grace. Mr. Reasoner is particularly fond of flowers and in his well kept garden has over two hundred different varieties, of which one hundred and ten are dahlias. His gardens are acclaimed a beauty spot of Vernonia and Mr. Reasoner finds the greatest delight in cultivating his plants. Throughout his entire life he has shown the courageous spirit which carried his ancestors into various frontier regions to become community builders, and his own record is in harmony therewith. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/reasoner1212gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 10.7 Kb