Multnomah-Statewide County OR Archives Biographies.....Collier, John A. October 26, 1874 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 24, 2010, 12:37 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 592 - 595
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     JOHN A. COLLIER, member of the law firm of Collier, Collier & Bernard, of 
Portland, has attained well merited distinction among the able and dependable 
attorneys of the Columbia River valley, his learning, attainments and success 
having stamped him as a man of unusual worth. Mr. Collier was born in Barren 
county, Kentucky, on the 26th of October, 1874, and is a son of P. P. and 
Sarah A. (Sullinger) Collier. When he was two years old the family moved to 
Missouri, in which state the father followed agricultural pursuits until 1901, 
when he came to Pendleton, Oregon, where he resided until 1908, when he came 
to Portland, where his death occurred the following year. His widow survived 
him a number of years, passing away May 25, 1925.

     John A. Collier received a good public school education and in 1897 came 
to the Pacific coast. He read law in San Francisco and with his brother, Henry 
E. Collier, at Pendleton, Oregon, and in 1901 was admitted to the bar. After 
practicing one year at Pendleton, he went to Fossil, Wheeler county, Oregon, 
where he was appointed deputy district attorney of the seventh judicial 
district, comprising Wasco, Crook, Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. On 
the creation of the eleventh judicial district Governor George Chamberlain 
appointed him district attorney, in which capacity he served two years. After 
practicing law for a few months at St. Johns, Oregon, Mr. Collier came to 
Portland in 1909 and was made a deputy district attorney in 1913. He served 
one and a half years as second deputy district attorney, and was then made 
chief deputy, serving as such for four years, when, in October, 1918, he 
resigned and engaged in the practice of his profession in association with his 
brother, Henry E. Though the major portion of his attention is given to civil 
law, he has won a wide reputation as a successful criminal lawyer, having 
defended nineteen murder cases during the past ten years, one of which was the 
noted Agee case, in which he secured an acquittal. For some years Mr. Collier 
served as special prosecutor of the Fire Prevention Bureau of San Francisco, 
was for several years special prosecutor for the office of the state fire 
marshal of Oregon, and was special assistant to the attorney-general in 
conducting the bridge investigations under Governor Pierce. He has been 
retained as counsel in many important cases throughout this state and his 
reputation as an astute and resourceful trial lawyer has been well merited. 
Mr. Collier has also been identified to some extent with business affairs, 
having assisted in the reorganization of the Multnomah Lumber and Box Company, 
of which he was made a director and vice president, as well as the corporation 
attorney. At the time of reorganization the company owed nearly two million 
dollars, but so successfully was it managed that in a few years the debts were 
paid off and the company is now on a profitable basis. Mr. Collier is also 
attorney for the Western Wool Warehouse, at St. Johns.

     On December 31, 1901, Mr. Collier was united in marriage to Miss Arta B. 
Huston, of Pendleton, Oregon, and they are the parents of a son, John R., Jr., 
who is attending law school and reading law in his father's office. Mr. 
Collier is a republican in his political views, is a member of the Woodmen of 
the World, and maintains professional affiliation with the Multnomah County 
Bar Association, the Oregon State Bar Association and the American Bar 
Association. He possesses to an unusual degree the essential qualities of the 
successful lawyer and commands not only the respect of his colleagues, but 
also the regard of his fellowmen.

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