Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Beebe, General Charles F. ************************************************ 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 October 26, 2008, 9:33 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company GENERAL CHARLES F. BEEBE. Gifted by nature with many talents, which he utilized to good advantage, General Charles F. Beebe was enabled to perform duties as varied in character as they were successful in result, achieving prominence in military, commercial and public affairs. For many years he occupied a central place on the stage of activity in Portland, becoming one of the strongest individual forces in its development, and also rendered signal value to the Oregon National Guard. He was a natural leader of thought and action and at all points in his career was influenced by a strong sense of duty and honor. General Beebe was a native of New York city and of English lineage. His forbears were numbered among the earliest settlers of New England and at one time members of the family owned Breed Farm, on which the Bunker Hill monument now stands. Silas Beebe, his grandfather, was a native of Connecticut and became a master mariner. He was also a builder of ships and owned a number of vessels which sailed from Mystic. His son, Charles E. Beebe, was born and reared in that town and when a young man went to New York city, where he found a wide field for the exercise of his talents. From 1840 until 1890 he was classed with the leading tea merchants and importers of that metropolis and conducted the business under the style of Beebe & Brother. Charles E. Beebe married Miss Jane B. Wade, who was born in Springfield, New Jersey, and whose death occurred in 1891. Her father, Elias Wade, was a native of the same state and established a wholesale grocery business. In 1865 he was admitted to a partnership in the large importing and shipping house of Grinnell, Minturn & Company of New York and successfully managed the business until his death in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Beebe became the parents of four children, three of whom attained mature years, namely: William W., Alfred L. and Charles F. William W. Beebe was graduated from Yale University in 1873 and entered upon the practice of law in New York city, afterward opening an office in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he spent the remainder of his life. His brother, Alfred L., was graduated from the Columbia School of Mines in New York city and became assistant chemist of the New York board of health, filling the position for a number of years. In 1898 he came to Portland, where he resided for about ten years, and afterward went to Mystic, Connecticut, passing away in that city June 26, 1914. Charles F. Beebe attended the public schools of New York city and continued his studies in Flushing Institute on Long Island, graduating with the class of 1865. His business training was obtained in his father's establishment and eventually he became a member of the firm of Beebe & Brother, with which he was identified until 1879. At that time he began his career as a cotton broker and for four years was associated with Henry M. Evans, who was the senior partner. In 1884 Mr. Beebe and his brother-in-law, A. M. Sutton, came to Oregon and opened the Portland office of Sutton & Company of New York. The agency was started February 1, 1884, at No. 16 Front street and when the business was well established Mr. Sutton went to San Francisco. Mr. Beebe remained in charge of the Portland office and the two acted as western agents for the Sutton & Company Dispatch Line of Clipper Ships, which sailed from New York and Philadelphia, making the voyage around Cape Horn. A general ship-chandlery trade had been established in conjunction with the Portland agency and in 1896, when Sutton & Company withdrew from this field, Mr. Beebe purchased the interest of his brother-in-law, incorporating the business January 1, 1897, under the name of the Charles F. Beebe Company. For about ten years he was resident of the firm and then directed his energies into another channel, assuming the management of his interests in eastern Oregon, where he was associated with Charles E. Ladd in the manufacture of lime and gypsum products. In the industrial field Mr. Beebe was equally successful and later opened an insurance office in Portland, continuing the business until his death on November 20, 1922. Quick to perceive an emergency, he was prompt and decisive in devising plans to meet it and his salient traits as a business man were his executive force, his ability to penetrate intricate affairs and his fertility of resource. Business, however, constituted but one phase in the life of General Beebe, whose title was won by long and distinguished service as a citizen soldier. On the 14th of February, 1871, he joined Company H of the Seventh New York Regiment, from which he was honorably discharged in November, 1878. At the beginning of his service he was appointed aid-de-camp with the rank of first lieutenant on the staff of Brigadier General J. M. Varian, commander of the Second Brigade of the New York National Guard. Subsequently he won a captain's commission and was thus serving when Brigadier General Louis Fitzgerald replaced General Varian as commander of the brigade. Soon afterward Captain Beebe was appointed inspector of rifle practice and advanced to the rank of major, which he held until his resignation in the fall of 1882. Later he was appointed assistant in the department of rifle practice with the rank of major under General Charles F. Robbins, inspector general of rifle practice of the state of New York, on the general staff, and so continued until he tendered his resignation, preparatory to his removal to the northwest. The Oregon National Guard was reorganized in the spring of 1886 and General Beebe became a second lieutenant when Company K was formed in Portland. Soon afterward he was made a first lieutenant and on the permanent organization of the company became its captain. In July, 1887, he was chosen colonel of the First Regiment of Oregon National Guard and at Milton, Oregon, was reelected in 1891. On the 22d of February, 1895, he was appointed and commissioned brigadier general in command of the Oregon troops by Governor William P. Lord and four years later was re-appointed by Governor T. T. Geer. During the period of General Beebe's service the Oregon National Guard made notable progress in military efficiency and his work was highly commended. Endowed by nature with a taste for military affairs, he owed the full development of this talent to the rigorous training which he received in his native state and was a life member of the Seventh New York Regiment Veteran Association. On September 1, 1918, he was made adjutant general of Oregon and served until March 31, 1919. During the World war he was one of the Four- Minute men, a member of the State Council of Defense and also promoted the sale of Liberty bonds, devoting much time and effort to activities of a patriotic nature. In New York city, General Beebe married Miss Emma Bowne, who was born in Flushing, Long Island, and received her education in Miss Porter's school at Farmington, Connecticut. Her father, Simon R. Bowne, came of old Quaker stock and was a member of one of the old and prominent families of Flushing. Mrs. Beebe's great-grandfather, Walter Bowne, was mayor of New York city from 1828 until 1832, serving for a period of four years, and her home in Portland contains one of the chairs which he used in that office — an heirloom which has been carefully preserved by the family. To General and Mrs. Beebe were born three sons. Walter Bowne, the eldest, is vice president of the Northwest Steel Company and an outstanding figure in industrial circles of Portland. He married Miss May Chase, of Baltimore, Maryland, and they have one child, Walter Bowne Jr. Gerald E., the next of the family, was married in Portland to Miss Mary Livingstone, by whom he has three children. Kenneth, the youngest son, married Miss Carolyn Wilson, of Portland, and they have become the parents of two daughters. General Beebe attended the Episcopal church and cast his ballot for the candidates of the republican party. Although not a politician or office seeker, he was prevailed upon to serve on the executive board, to which he was appointed by Mayor Williams in 1903, and because of his military experience was chosen a member of the committee having supervision over the police department. He took a leading part in the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he was president for one term and vice president for two terms, also serving on its board of trustees. Twice he was called to the presidency of the Commercial Club and was also affiliated with the Ad Club, the Arlington Club, the Multnomah Club, the Civic League, the Auld Lang Syne Society and the Oregon Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. That General Beebe was a broad-gauged man is clearly indicated by the scope and character of his interests and activities. His life was a constantly expanding force for good citizenship, and he left behind him the imperishable monument of splendid dreams realized. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 540 - 544 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/beebe522gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/beebe522gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 9.8 Kb