Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Brumfield, Jordan T. November 16, 1863 - June 1, 1917
************************************************
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 May 31, 2010, 1:45 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 357 - 358
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     JORDAN T. BRUMFIELD.  Portland sustained the loss of one of her most 
highly esteemed and valued citizens in the death of Jordan T. Brumfield, who 
passed away on the 1st of June, 1917, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. For 
a quarter of a century he had been identified with the wholesale grocery firm 
of Mason, Ehrman & Company, in the service of which he rose to the responsible 
position of general manager. He was born in Virden, Illinois, November 16, 
1863, and was reared on a farm. He acquired his early education in the 
district schools and subsequently attended Lawrence Business College at 
Lawrence, Kansas, from which he was graduated in 1879. Thereafter he secured 
employment in a general store at Clearwater, Kansas, where he remained until 
he had attained his majority, when in 1884 he came to Portland, Oregon. Here 
he was associated with the Dunbar commission and brokerage house until 1892, 
when he became connected with the wholesale grocery firm of Mason, Ehrman & 
Company as a salesman. The territory first assigned him was outside of the 
city limits and he used a bicycle in canvassing the trade. Later he was made 
city salesman. One who knew him well wrote of him: "From salesman his rise was 
rapid. Soon he was sales manager and then his great executive ability raised 
him to the general manager's desk. Soon he was recognized as one of the 
greatest generals in the Portland business field — a man who knew not defeat 
or failure, always certain of his own mission, determined, forceful, 
indomitable, tireless, a magnetic pole attracting the best and getting the 
thing done right. Yet with all his force and power he was the most kindly man 
I have ever known — a man who reached the springs that actuate us to strive 
and accomplish for the glory of good work."

     Mr. Brumfield contributed in large measure to the development of the 
prune industry in this part of the country and was active in the organization 
of the Northwest Prune Growers Association. He held membership in the Chamber 
of Commerce and in the old Automobile Club and fraternally was affiliated with 
the Masonic order. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the 
White Temple Baptist church, in the affairs of which he manifested an active 
and helpful interest. He made a hobby of photography and became a kodak 
expert. Moreover, he was a great lover of children, groups of whom he 
frequently took to the theatre and accompanied on picnics, and when he passed 
away they mourned him as a pal. The following tribute, from the pen of Robert 
G. Duncan, appeared in the Oregon Merchants' Magazine: "Just as June days were 
bringing the first flood of golden sunshine to Oregon, the Angel of Death 
swooped down upon Portland and removed one of our best beloved and foremost 
citizens, Jordan T. Brumfield, general manager of the wholesale grocery firm 
of Mason, Ehrman & Company. Not many of us knew of Mr. Brumfield's illness. 
His untimely death came as a shock, like a bolt from the blue, for he was a 
man of powerful physique, indomitable will, just standing at the meridian of 
life, aged fifty-three years. When Mr. Brumfield passed on, Portland lost a 
grand man and useful citizen. The sad news fell upon the writer like a 
thunderbolt, for during the time I have been connected with the Grocers' 
Association Mr. Brumfield has been my refuge, my compass, my sheet anchor in 
time of storm, my friend and counselor in peaceful days, and his taking off 
strikes every chord of tender sympathy in my being. There is but one consoling 
thought. His life, so suddenly brought to end, may serve as model for my 
remaining days. If his death were a sad shock to me who has known him but a 
few years, what must it have been to those loyal men who have served with him 
for twenty years? Words fail us in such times. No man may picture the heart-
breaking sorrow of Mr. Brumfield's close associates. They are one and all 
bowed down with grief, all testifying to the noble character of the departed 
chieftain. Yes, he was chief. At the same time he was companion of every 
private in his command. * * * He is gone. When will another such friend and 
brother come in his place? Besides his host of friends he leaves an army of 
grief-stricken associates to mourn his loss, and the loving and faithful wife 
of his bosom weeps with an eleven-year-old son by the grave piled high with 
flowers brought by loving hearts. My friend has gone to rest."

     While a resident of the Sunflower state Mr. Brumfield was united in 
marriage to Mrs. Addie Brown-Fendt. Following her death he was again married, 
in 1905, his second union being with Frances D. Hemingway, daughter of Volney 
Hemingway and representative of one of Oregon's prominent families. Volney 
Hemingway was a son of Dr. Asa A. and Elizabeth (Ellmaker) Hemingway, who 
crossed the plains from Keokuk, Iowa, to Oregon by ox team in 1853, settling 
on a donation land claim in Lane county. Dr. Asa A. Hemingway was the first 
physician of that county and served in the first state legislature in 1861. 
His son, Dr. Stacey Hemingway, was a Civil war veteran and the president of 
Northwestern University and in his later years had charge of the Indian 
reservation at Klamath Falls. Ella Humphrey, sister of Dr. Stacey Hemingway, 
resides at Monroe, Oregon, and is past ninety years of age. Frank Hemingway, 
son of Dr. Stacey Hemingway, lives in Lane county, this state.

     Though but six years of age when he accompanied his parents on the 
arduous trip across the plains to Oregon, Volney Hemingway nevertheless drove 
a team the entire distance. With the passing years he became one of the most 
extensive and successful farmers and stockmen in Lane county, being actively 
identified with agricultural pursuits until 1889, when he located at Eugene 
and purchased a drug store, of which he disposed four years later, in 1893, 
thereafter living retired save for the supervision of his personal interests. 
The surviving members of his family are as follows: Alice, the wife of T. R. 
Grove, of Portland; Mrs. Frances D. Brumfield; Abigail, who is Mrs. W. A. 
Kuykendall, of Portland; May, the wife of Frank B. Hall; Volney B., a resident 
of Eugene; and Chester G., also living at Eugene.

     Mr. and Mrs. Brumfield were the parents of a son, Harold J., who married 
Katheryn Sterling Short and is making a splendid record in the service of the 
bond house of Blair & Company. Mrs. Frances D. Brumfield, who is a graduate of 
the University of Oregon, engaged in the teaching profession for many years at 
Eugene and other places. Her first school was at Junction City and when a 
young woman of twenty-three years she taught in the same school in which two 
of her uncles had been instructors. Mrs. Brumfield has a state life diploma. 
She was at one time mentioned as a candidate for the position of county 
superintendent of schools but declined to consider the offer. She resides at 
746 Pettygrove street in Portland and has an extensive circle of warm friends 
throughout the city.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/brumfiel1101gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/

File size: 7.8 Kb