Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Hotchkiss, Colonel Clarence Roland June 5, 1880 - ************************************************ 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 June 10, 2009, 11:57 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company COLONEL CLARENCE ROLAND HOTCHKISS. Deprived of many advantages in his youth, Lieutenant-Colonel Clarence Roland Hotchkiss developed a strong, self- reliant nature and that spirit of enterprise and determination which carries the individual ever onward and upward, enabling him to surmount many obstacles and difficulties in the struggle for advancement. He is a veteran of the Spanish war, Philippine Insurrection, Mexican Border Expedition and the World war, and a distinguished member of the officers reserve corps of the United States Army. His military record is a notable one and in political, public, business and professional affairs he has also figured conspicuously, winning success in every line of activity which has claimed his attention. For seven years he has been United States marshal for the district of Oregon, maintaining his headquarter, in Portland, and previous to that time was numbered among the city's prominent lawyers and realtors. A native of Pennsylvania, Colonel Hotchkiss was born in Bradford county, on the 5th of June, 1880, and traces his lineage to Samuel Hotchkiss, who left his home in Essex, England, in 1641, casting in his lot with the colonists of New Haven, Connecticut. His antecedents were men of valor and patriotism and some participated in the struggle for American independence, while others fought in the War of 1812, the Civil war, the Mexican war, the Spanish- American and the World wars, all acquitting themselves in a highly creditable manner upon the field of battle. Charles Frederick Hotchkiss, the father of Colonel Clarence R. Hotchkiss, followed agricultural pursuits in the states of Pennsylvania and New York and was also a contractor. The mother, Melissa (Taylor) Hotchkiss, died in 1887, when her son Clarence was but seven years old, and he was taken to the home of his grandparents, with whom he spent two years. During the summer he worked on their farm and in the winter he attended the district school. When a boy of eleven he became an apprentice in a railway machine shop at Sayre, Pennsylvania, and there remained for about three years, attending high school evenings after working hours for nine months each year. At the age of fourteen Colonel Hotchkiss went to Montana and rode the range for about two years, working on his uncle's stock ranch. Returning to the east, he entered the Owego Academy, a New York institution, which he attended for two years, pursuing a special course in history and civics. Imbued with the fighting spirit of his ancestors, he decided early in life to become a soldier and from January 7, 1896, to February 17, 1897, was a trooper in the cavalry of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He then joined the New York National Guard, in which he was a private until March 1, 1898, and at the age of sixteen had been awarded a certificate for military efficiency. Meanwhile he earned a livelihood by working as a machinist and was thus employed until war was declared with Spain, when he at once responded to the call to arms. From April 18, 1898, until August 1 of that year, he was a private in the Ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, being stationed first at Chickamauga Park, Georgia, and later at Tampa, Florida, and was discharged because he was under the age limit, for at that time he was only seventeen. On September 30, 1898, he entered the army transport service under civil contract and was rated as a yeoman of the second class, later being advanced to the first class. During the next year he traveled nearly twice around the world in this service, with which he was connected until September 29, 1899. From October 24, 1899, to December 2, 1901, he was a private artificer and corporal of Company A, Twenty-first United States Infantry, also being detailed for service as acting officer in the Native Scouts, and spent that period in the Philippines. He was then transferred to the artillery and went to China as corporal and gunner of the Sixty-fourth Company but did not participate in the relief expedition. In 1901 he was ordered to California and assigned to guard duty at the Alcatraz military prison, of which he was made assistant overseer. Later he was transferred to the ordnance and gunnery school at the Presidio and on October 23, 1902, was honorably discharged at which time he was a corporal gunner. For about three months Colonel Hotchkiss was an instructor in ordnance on a Columbian gunboat on the Pacific coast and then returned to the east, becoming a student in the department of business administration at Eastman College of Poughkeepsie, New York. He was graduated with the class of 1903 and while at Poughkeepsie met Miss Grace E. North, of Kingston, New York, who afterward became his wife. Soon after leaving Eastman College he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and joined the Jefferson Guard, of which he became sergeant. From April 12, 1904, until December 14 of that year, he was on guard duty at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and then was sent by the New York state commission to the Lewis & Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon, where he had charge of the Forestry, Fish and Game Exhibits from that state. At the close of the Fair he became a field assistant in the service of the United States Geological Survey and worked in the Columbia and Boise basins. On the 6th of February, 1906, Colonel Hotchkiss joined the Oregon National Guard as a private and was in succession corporal, sergeant, sergeant major and regimental sergeant major. He was discharged December 12, 1908, to accept a commission as Second Lieutenant of Infantry. On March 20, 1910, he was made a first lieutenant in the Third Infantry of the Oregon National Guard and was promoted to the rank of captain, March 28, 1912, becoming regimental adjutant at that time. From June 19, 1915, until September 25 of that year, he was stationed on the Mexican border, serving as captain and adjutant of the regiment and district adjutant of the border district. On March 25, 1917, he was called into service for the World war as captain in the Third Infantry, Oregon National Guard, and later was commissioned major in the United States Army. From March 25 to August 1, 1917, he was occupied with the task of guarding railroad property and public utilities in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, acting as company and detachment commander, and from August 11 to September 10, 1917, was a company and battalion commander at Camp Fremont, California. From there he went to Camp Greene, North Carolina, where he served as a company commander from September 19 to October 28, 1917, and from November 1 until December 11, 1917, was a company commander at Camp Mills, New York. As a member of the One Hundred and Sixty-second Infantry, a unit of the Forty-first Division, he went overseas with the American Expeditionary Force, sailing December 11, 1917, and from January 1, 1918, to January 8 of that year was camp commander at Brest, France. He was in charge of the Headquarters Company at General Pershing's headquarters from January 10 to January 23, 1918, and on the following day took command of a company at Corgebin, in the Haute-Marne district, the American sector, where he remained until February 17, 1918. Returning to Chaumont on this date he again assumed command of the General Headquarters Company until April 17th, when he was designated for detached service on the British front, which he left April 29th. From May 2 to May 15, 1918, he was stationed on the French front, in the vicinity of Rheims, being attached to the school group, and on June 1, 1918, rejoined the One Hundred and Sixty-second Infantry in England. He was in command of Winnal Down Camp at Winchester, England, from June 1 to December 5, 1918, and of a company at Mornhill Camp in the same locality from December 6, 1918 until March 9, 1919. An expert in military tactics and a natural leader of men, Colonel Hotchkiss made his company one of the best in the American Expeditionary Force and received many letters of commendation from his superior officers. His company represented the American Army in the Lord Mayor's day parade in London and was highly complimented by the reviewing officer, who said in part: "I have never seen a Company so well drilled or uniformed since I left West Point." This Company also acted as honor guard for President Wilson on the occasion of his first visit to London. On March 18, 1919, Colonel Hotchkiss became a student at the American University at Beaune, France, taking a special course in American foreign relations, and was assigned to the Tenth Provincial Regiment at Beaune as a tactical officer on March 24th. He was made a major of infantry April 19, 1919, and assigned to duty with the First Corps on June 12 of that year. On June 18, 1919, he was sent to St. Nazaire as assistant to the Inspector General and remained there until July 20, when he was ordered to Brest for embarkation service. He sailed for the United States, August 3, 1919, landing at Hoboken, New Jersey, August 10 and was assigned to duty at Camp Dix. On September 7, 1919, he was sent to Camp Lewis, Washington, and at his request was honorably discharged September 15. While in the service of his country, Colonel Hotchkiss was graduated from the Division School of the Lewis Machine Gun at Camp Greene, North Carolina; the First Corps school at Gondrecourt, France, and the College of Letters & Science at Beaune, France. His term of service covered more than thirty months, twenty of which were spent in Europe, and during that period he was credited with participating in the Lys defensive and American defensive sector, and many important assignments of an executive and administrative nature, establishing a record conspicuously marked by loyalty, devotion to duty and ability of a high order. He received the British citation for meritorious service and was recommended for the distinguished service medal by the officer in command of the American troops in England, the recommendation being forwarded to the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Force. His appointment as a major in the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army was received April 6, 1920, and on November 20 of that year he was assigned to the Three Hundred and Eighty-first Infantry. On March 20, 1923, he was elevated to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of the First Battalion of the Three Hundred and Eighty-first Infantry, of which he was made executive officer, February 11, 1926. In 1907 Colonel Hotchkiss had embarked in the real estate business in Portland, organizing the Hotchkiss-Van Dyne Company, which prospered under his management, and later F. M. Hurt and Waldo F. Stewart were admitted as partners, the style of the Stewart-Hotchkiss Company then being adopted. In 1908 Colonel Hotchkiss enrolled as a student in the law department of the University of Oregon and was graduated with the class of 1911. He had formed the Realty & Trustee Company in 1909 and a year later acquired all of the stock in the Stewart-Hotchkiss Company, consolidated the two firms under the name of the Realty & Mortgage Company, of which he was president until 1917. Meanwhile he had been admitted to the Oregon bar and practiced successfully in Portland from 1911 until 1915, specializing in realty titles. Of this subject he had acquired a comprehensive knowledge, completing a course in the Real Estate Institute of New York city in 1909 and receiving a certificate for efficiency. On returning to Portland after his release from military duty, Colonel Hotchkiss resumed his professional activities, centering his attention upon the law governing real properties and the organization and control of corporations, and in these branches of jurisprudence was widely recognized as an expert. His energies were devoted to the practice of law until October 1, 1921, when he was made United States marshal for the District of Oregon, and his exceptional qualifications for this important office and characteristic fidelity to duty led to his reappointment on December 16, 1925. Colonel Hotchkiss was married July 3, 1908, to Miss Grace E. North, and both are prominent in the social and cultural life of Portland. The Colonel is a strong republican and an outstanding figure in political circles of Oregon. He was precinct committeeman, a member of the state central committee, a delegate from Oregon to the national convention of the party in 1916, and in 1920 became a presidential elector and secretary of the state central committee. In the Masonic Order he has attained high standing and is a life member of Oregon Consistory of the Scottish Rite, Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine and GuI Reazee Grotto and was recently made a knight commander of the Court of Honor by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of Sunnyside Chapter, R. A. M. He is identified with the Samaritan Lodge of the Odd Fellows; Multnomah Council of the Royal Arcanum; Multnomah Camp, No. 77, of the Woodmen of the World; William of Wykeham Lodge, No. 1883 of the F. and A. M., which he joined in Winchester, England, the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the Mazamas, and an honorary member of the Delta Theta Phi National Law Fraternity and the Phi Gamma Mu. On the 6th of February, 1906, Colonel Hotchkiss became a member of Scout Young Camp of the United Spanish War Veterans, of which he was junior vice commander-in-chief in 1922-23, and has filled every office in the Camp and Department. Formerly he was chapter commander and is now past state commander and past member of the general staff of the Military Order of the World war and is a past chapter president, a past state president and past national councilman of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. He likewise belongs to Portland Post of the American Legion and Over-the-Top Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A facile writer, Colonel Hotchkiss has become well known as the author of several interesting books and monographs, among which are "Around the World as a Soldier" and "England's Inns and Courts of Chancery" and also as the former editor of the "Oregon Veteran," a magazine devoted to the interests of soldiers. He enjoys horseback riding and rifle shooting and his skill as a marksman won for him state honors in 1906-7-10-14. His has been a picturesque and eventful career, replete with thrilling experiences, and his life history presents an inspiring example of good citizenship. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 840-845 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/hotchkis758gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/hotchkis758gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 15.4 Kb