Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Edlefsen, John N. September 1, 1882 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 26, 2010, 5:12 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 413 - 414
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     JOHN N. EDLEFSEN, president of the Peninsula National Bank and vice 
president of the West Coast National Bank, both of Portland, has long been 
active and prominent in financial circles of his section of the state, and is 
regarded as one of the capable and reliable business men of Portland. He was 
born in Germany, on the 1st of September, 1882, and is a son of M. P. and 
Dorothea Edlefsen, both of whom are deceased. He was reared in his native 
country, receiving his educational training in the public schools and under a 
tutor, and in 1905, when twenty-three years old, came to the United States, 
landing at New York city. He engaged in the exporting and importing business 
in that city for about a year, and in 1906 came to Portland. Soon after his 
arrival here he entered the Peninsula National Bank as a teller and, through 
his loyal and efficient discharge of duty, received successive promotions to 
assistant cashier, cashier, vice president and manager, and in 1924 became 
president, which office he is still filling. The Peninsula National Bank was 
organized June 6, 1905, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, which 
was increased to fifty thousand dollars in 1907. It became a national bank in 
1912, and since then has absorbed the First National Bank of St. Johns and the 
Bank of Commerce of St. Johns. In March, 1920, the capital was increased to 
two hundred thousand dollars. The surplus and undivided profits of this bank 
are over fifty-seven thousand dollars and its total resources are over two 
million two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The officers of the 
bank are, John N. Edlefsen, president; Charles B. Russell, vice president; 
Edmund J. Whelan, cashier; Stanton L. Dobie, assistant cashier; and Gordon S. 
Ogden, auditor. The bank handles commercial and savings accounts and is a 
member of the federal reserve system. Mr. Edlefsen was one of the organizers 
of the West Coast National Bank, of Portland, of which he is vice president, 
and is also vice president, treasurer and a director of the West Coast 
Bancorporation, and was formerly president of the Peninsula Security Company.

     In 1909 Mr. Edlefsen was united in marriage to Miss Maude Eleanor Whelan, 
of Saginaw, Michigan, and they are the parents of six children, John, Jr., 
Dorothy, Ruth, Eleanor, William and Thomas. Mr. Edlefsen is a member of Doric 
Lodge, No. 131, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a past master; Portland Chapter, 
R. A. M.; Portland Commandery, K. T.; Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; 
Portland Lodge, K. P.; Portland Lodge, B. P. O. E.; the Arlington Club; the 
Columbia Country Club, of which he is a director ; and the Chamber of 
Commerce. He is president of the Portland Junior Symphony Orchestra 
associations, third and fourth; secretary and director of the Portland 
Manufacturing Company and president and treasurer of the Western Holding 
Company. He has long been a member of the Oregon Bankers Association, in which 
he served three years as chairman of the educational committee; is a past 
president of group One of this association and is now chairman of the 
committee on banking practice. He has been a consistent man in everything he 
has undertaken and his career in all the relations of life has been utterly 
without pretense. He is held in the highest esteem by all who know him and the 
community is honored by his citizenship.

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