Multnomah-Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Jackson, Charles Samuel September 15, 1860 - December 27, 1924
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 16, 2011, 12:48 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 986 - 987
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     CHARLES SAMUEL JACKSON was a newspaper genius. His genius consisted in an 
infinite capacity for detail, a real desire to be of service to the public, 
and indomitable courage in fighting for what he believed was right. He came to 
Portland and established a successful daily newspaper in a field where the 
opposition newspaper was strongly entrenched and where all of his predecessors 
had failed. Mr. Jackson was born September 15, 1860, on Jackson's Creek, a 
tributary of Chesapeake bay. The Jackson plantation lay between the 
Rappahannock and the Piankatank rivers in Virginia. His father, James H. 
Jackson, was born on the eastern shore of Maryland. His mother, whose maiden 
name was Ann Bass, was born in Middlesex county, Virginia. James H. Jackson, 
his father, was a merchant. In 1876, when Mr. Jackson was sixteen years old, 
his father offered to give him the money to visit the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia. This had been a dream of his and one that seemed impossible of 
fulfillment. After thinking the matter over, he said,, "Figure out what it 
will cost and give me the money instead." His father did so and Sam Jackson, 
with this money bought a small printing press and some type and set up in 
business for himself, printing calling cards and business cards. While 
visiting relatives in Baltimore, he met Colonel and Mrs. Nelson A. Miles. Mrs. 
Miles said to him, "Sam, what you ought to do is to go out west and grow up 
with the country. You'll never amount to much here, but out west you'll find 
plenty of opportunities to get ahead."

     When he had saved enough money to pay for a railroad ticket to Oregon, he 
filled his carpetbag with peanuts so that he would not have to spend money at 
the lunch stations enroute, and started for Portland. He arrived in Portland 
with his carpetbag full of peanut shells. When asked why he had not thrown the 
peanut shells away, he said, "If people noticed my carpetbag was empty, they 
would think I was broke." One of the first people he met in Portland was 
Lieutenant Ed Farrow, who was stationed at Fort Vancouver. The Farrows and the 
Jacksons were related. Lieutenant Farrow advised Sam Jackson to go up to 
Pendleton, where Lieutenant Farrow's brother Mort Farrow, was located. Mr. 
Jackson took the boat to Umatilla and from there he went by stage to 
Pendleton. At Pendleton Mr. Jackson landed a job as stage agent on John 
Hailey's stage line. In those days Pendleton was considered a tough town. In 
fact, it was rather proud of its reputation. Mr. Jackson started a circulating 
library. He also served as correspondent for the local paper, the East 
Oregonian, furnishing them items about the passengers who left on the stage, 
as well as those who arrived. The East Oregonian at that time was not a 
profitable enterprise, so the owner was glad to sell Mr. Jackson a half 
interest, taking what little money he had and accepting his note for the 
balance. That Mr. Jackson was a born newspaper man, was proved by the fact 
that though an inexperienced boy, he was able to go out and secure 
subscriptions for the paper, to write interesting and breezy articles while 
traveling through the country, and to put the paper on a paying basis in a 
comparatively short time. He inspired others with his faith in the future of 
Pendleton and of the East Oregonian and secured credit for new and needed 
equipment. He learned by doing, for he served in almost every capacity on the 
paper. He early took the lead in all civic enterprises and as long as he was 
there, the East Oregonian not only championed every enterprise that would be 
helpful to Pendleton, but Mr. Jackson personally headed every subscription 
list with a generous donation. Year by year the East Oregonian grew in 
circulation and prestige, until it was one of the most widely copied papers 
published in the Inland Empire. Portland had long been known as a one-paper 
town. H. L. Pittock and Harvey W. Scott owned the Morning Oregonian and the 
Evening Telegram. Time after time other papers had been started but one after 
the other they had all succumbed. Mr. Jackson believed there was room in 
Portland for another paper — one that would serve the interests of the people 
and fight their battles. The Oregon Journal had been established during a 
political campaign, had run a few months and was about to cease publication. 
Mr. Jackson came down from Pendleton, took hold of it, breathed the breath of 
life into it, and built it up from a circulation of about fifteen hundred 
copies to over one hundred thousand. Mr. Jackson died in the harness and his 
wife, Maria Clopton Jackson, and their son Philip L. Jackson, are carrying on 
the work he began.

     While traveling through Umatilla county securing subscriptions for the 
East Oregonian, Mr. Jackson stopped at Foster, a small settlement not far from 
Umatilla. He saw a young lady pumping water for her horse. He volunteered to 
do the pumping. This young lady little thought at that time that she would 
within a year become the wife of Mr. Jackson. She is the daughter of Francis 
Bacon Clopton and Mary Boyd Clopton. Her parents are both Virginians. They 
were married at Lynchburg, Virginia, November 17, 1858. Her father was a civil 
engineer and served as a captain in a Virginia regiment in the Confederate 
army during the Civil war. Her mother was educated at St. Mary's school at Mt. 
Holly in Burlington, New Jersey, Bishop Doane, a well known Episcopal 
clergyman, being president of the school. Mrs. Jackson's people on her 
father's side came from Stratford-on-Avon to Virginia in the early days of 
Virginia's settlement. The Cloptons and Boyds are related to many of the well 
known families in Virginia, and have helped make history in Virginia and 
elsewhere in the south. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were married on March 9, 1886. 
They had two children, Francis and Philip Ludwell Jackson. Francis was drowned 
at sea, the ship striking on a reef. Philip L. Jackson served as captain in 
France during the World war. He is now publisher of the Journal. Mr. Jackson 
died December 27, 1924, leaving as his monument, the Oregon Journal, one of 
the leading newspapers of the west.

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