Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Hite, Glenn Butler November 9, 1879 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 20, 2011, 12:36 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 718 - 722
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     GLENN BUTLER HITE.  One of the best known hotel men in Portland is Glenn 
B. Hite, who has been manager of Hotel Washington for the past twelve years 
and whose business ability and excellent personal qualities have gained for 
him a high place in the esteem of all who have come in contact with him. He 
was born in Philomath, Benton county, Oregon, on the 9th of November, 1879, a 
son of William Stuard and Tennessee A. (Butler) Hite. He had three brothers 
and a sister: Franklin Blaine, of Albany, Oregon; Mrs. Emma Hite Hull, of 
Walla Walla, Washington; Orval Stuard of Portland; and Henry Maston, who was 
drowned in 1917, at Minot, North Dakota.

     The family name is of German origin, having originally been spelled 
Heidt. Yost Heidt, who was of German birth, and whose wife was born in France 
and bore the family name of Du Bois, made a contract with the English 
government to conduct one hundred families to Virginia for settlement in 1730, 
and for this he was to receive a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land. 
He fell short of securing the required number and consequently the size of the 
tract was reduced. His grant overlapped the claim of Lord Fairfax and 
litigation resulted which was not concluded until fifty years later, when the 
Heidt grant was approved, though Mr. Heidt had died in the meantime. He 
brought his family to America in 1710 and was accompanied by a number of other 
families on the ships "Swift" and "Friendship." They landed in New York city 
and settled first in Kingston, New York state. Later they moved to Germantown, 
Pennsylvania, and in 1730 located in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, being 
the first white family to settle there. Yost Heidt was the father of three 
sons and three daughters, of whom one of the daughters married into the family 
of President James Madison. Members of the family held many public positions 
in Virginia during colonial days and several of its members fought on the side 
of the colonists in their war for independence. For more than two hundred 
years since it was established in this country the Hite family has been 
identified with pioneering and the settlement of various sections of the 
country. One of Yost Heidt's daughters, Sarah Heidt, became the wife of 
General Jonathan Clark, a brother of William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark 
expedition.

     The branch of the family from which Glenn B. Hite is descended left 
Virginia and settled in Ohio, whence some of its members moved to the vicinity 
of Rockford, Illinois, where they took up timber claims. On the claim of 
William Stuard Hite the city of Rockford was built. He was born in Marion 
county, Ohio, November 5, 1830, a son of William Stuard Hite, Sr., and became 
a blacksmith and wagonmaker by trade. In 1849, when nineteen years of age, he 
crossed the plains to Linn county, Oregon, and was made head packmaster for 
the United States government between The Dalles and Fort Vancouver, during 
which service he had many clashes with the Indians. One of his packers, at 
Dayton, Oregon, went hunting alone and was captured and scalped by the 
Indians. Mr. Hite played a part in many important incidents of those pioneer 
days in this section of the country, particularly at Jacksonville, Oregon, 
during the gold excitement. He did much of the iron work on early steamboats, 
including the "Eleanora," which was built at Newport. His parents came to this 
state about 1849, locating in Linn county, where his father engaged in 
farming. His mother died soon after her arrival here, but his father lived 
here a number of years and on his death was buried at Elk City. His brother, 
Andrew Hite, owned much property at Albany, Oregon. William Stuard Hite, Jr., 
married Tennessee A. Butler, a native of Berry county, Missouri, and a 
daughter of Henry P. and Judith E. Butler, these being among the first three 
families to settle at Toledo, Lincoln county, Oregon. In 1863 the family came 
across the plains to Oregon, with ox team and covered wagon, and located near 
La Grande in the Grand Ronde valley, where Mr. Butler engaged in farming for a 
number of years, eventually moving to Corvallis. Two of the original Butler 
ranches, at Toledo, have been in the family for sixty-three years. While the 
Butler family was on its way west, in 1863, at Big Bend, in the Snake river 
country, the Indians rode through the wagon train at dusk, carrying scalps on 
poles and demanding food. They were fed and left, but the white party were 
fearful of an attack before morning. However, before dawn six wagon trains had 
consolidated and the Indians did not attack. Fort Butler, near Toledo, was 
built by the party as a protection against the Indians, and traces of the 
original log walls are still visible. The Butler family was originally from 
Tennessee and Kentucky.

     Glenn B. Hite received his early education in the schools of various 
towns in which the family lived, completing his public school work at Dayton, 
Washington, and the high school at Walla Walla, Washington. For a time he was 
connected with a mercantile business in Walla Walla, after which he was on the 
road as a traveling salesman until 1905, when he came to Portland and began 
his hotel career. He was identified with the Eaton Hotel, which was the first 
hotel here to install a telephone switchboard and to have hot and cold running 
water in all rooms. Later Mr. Hite went to the Virginia-Hill Hotel, where he 
remained until 1912, when he came to Hotel Washington, of which he has been 
manager since 1916. This hotel has one hundred and thirty-six rooms, is nicely 
furnished and equipped in every respect and renders a type of service which 
has made it exceedingly popular with the traveling public. Mr. Hite has proven 
well qualified for the position which he holds and gives close attention to 
the wants and comfort of his guests, a fact which is recognized and 
appreciated by those who patronize the Washington.

     On June 21, 1916, in Spokane, Washington, Mr. Hite was united in marriage 
to Miss May I. Blalock, a daughter of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, who was the 
youngest physician on the medical staff of the Union Army during the Civil war 
and followed his profession for forty years. The Blalock family originally 
settled in Asheville, North Carolina, and was prominent in the early affairs 
of the colonies and the new republic. Dr. Nelson G. Blalock's grandfather, 
John Blalock, was a member of George Washington's regiment and was presented 
with a Masonic pin by George Washington in Lodge No. 2 of Virginia over which 
General Washington presided as master. Dr. Nelson G. Blalock was one of the 
pioneers of Walla Walla, Washington, and was for many years president of the 
Washington Pioneer Association. He took a leading part in public affairs, 
served as mayor of Walla Walla, assisted in drafting the first state 
constitution and held a number of public offices. A town and island on the 
Columbia river were named in his honor. He was the first to advocate dry 
farming, and proved it possible. His orchard was famous throughout this part 
of the country and in many ways he stimulated the agricultural and 
horticultural development of his state by his example. The old Blalock home 
stood on the present site of a hotel in Walla Walla. He married Miss Marie 
Elizabeth Greenfield, whose mother belonged to the Dalton family of Dalton, 
England. One son of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, the late Dr. Yancy Blalock, was 
long a prominent physician in Walla Walla.

     Mr. Hite is a member of the Oregon State Hotel Association, of which he 
has been treasurer for five years, and also belongs to the Greeters of America 
and the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers. He is a man of strong 
individuality, sterling character and of courteous and agreeable manner, and 
wherever known he commands uniform confidence and respect.

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