Multnomah-Washington County OR Archives Biographies.....Dooly, R. M. January 4, 1884 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 26, 2009, 12:08 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     R. M. DOOLY, president of Dooly & Company, one of Portland's leading fire 
insurance agencies, presents the remarkable record of having been actively 
engaged in business continuously since the age of ten years. During that 
entire period he has remained identified with one enterprise, which he has 
developed into an important and prosperous concern, in the success of which he 
takes a pardonable pride. Mr. Dooly was born in Ogden, Utah, on the 4th of 
January, 1884, and is a son of R. M. and Mary Elizabeth (Helfrich) Dooly. His 
father was prominent in the business affairs of Ogden, where he organized the 
private bank of Guthrie, Dooly & Company. In 1884 he went to San Diego, 
California, as manager for the Wells-Fargo Express Company, in which capacity 
he served there until 1894, when he came to Portland, Oregon, as manager of 
the Wells-Fargo Company Bank. He retained that position until 1901, when he 
went to Forest Grove, Oregon, and organized the First National Bank, of which 
he became president, but later sold his interests in 1910, retiring from 
business and returned to Portland where he lived until his death in 1920. His 
wife passed away in 1926. While at Portland he had established an insurance 
business, which he placed in charge of his sons on leaving there. To him and 
his wife were born four children, namely: Frank E., who is engaged in the 
insurance business in Los Angeles, California; Mrs. James Cole, of Portland; 
Mrs. Wilson W. Clark, of Portland; and R. M.

     R. M. Dooly received his educational training in the public schools, and 
when a boy of ten years he became identified with his brother's insurance 
business, delivering policies and doing other work about the office. In 1894, 
while still attending school, he and his brother Frank, who was sixteen years 
old, took an office in the Chamber of Commerce building, being backed 
financially by their father, and became agents for the Norwich Union Fire 
Insurance Company, one of the old established companies of this city. In 1915 
Frank Dooly was elected vice-president of the Hibernia Savings Bank, at which 
time he sold his interest in the insurance business, and in 1920 he disposed 
of his banking interest and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he has 
since been engaged in the insurance business. R. M. Dooly carried on the 
business and after completing his high school work gave his entire attention 
to it. The subsequent years have been marked by steady and substantial growth 
in the volume of business, which is now conducted under the name of Dooly & 
Company, of which Mr. Dooly is president, Ferry Smith, vice-president, and 
Claude Lilly, secretary and treasurer. Among the well known companies 
represented by the Dooly agency are the United States Fire Insurance Company 
of New York, the Federal Insurance Com¬pany of New Jersey, the General 
Insurance Company of America, the Royal Indemnity Company of New York, the 
Commercial Casualty Company of Newark, New Jersey, the Millers National 
Insurance Company of Chicago and the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance 
Company. The firm employs nineteen people, six of whom are outside men, and 
Mr. Dooly, in addition to his executive work, also does a good deal of outside 
work. He has proven a man of mature judgment, nice discrimination and tireless 
energy and holds an enviable place among the insurance men of this city.

     On October 10, 1917, Mr. Dooly was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth 
Jones, of Portland, a daughter of Dr. William and Kate Davis Jones, and they 
are the parents of two children, Katherine, who is now nine years of age, and 
Mary Elizabeth, three years old. Mr. Dooly supports the republican party and 
is a member of the Arlington Club, the Multnomah Athletic Club, the Waverley 
Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a director of the Oregon 
Surety and Casualty Company. Personally he is straightforward and unaffected 
in manner, cordial and affable in his social relations, and to a marked degree 
commands the respect and confidence of his fellowmen.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 567-568

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