Multnomah-Lake County OR Archives Biographies.....King, Nahum Amos February 19, 1855 - ************************************************ 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 Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 21, 2007, 7:15 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company NAHUM AMOS KING. A product of pioneer times, Nahum Amos King developed a vigorous mind and a strong body, which enabled him to successfully cope with life’s problems and difficulties. For many years he was classed with Oregon’s foremost agriculturists and stock raisers and is now living retired in Portland, his native city, bearing a name that is inseparably associated with the history of its founding and development. He was born February 19, 1855, in a log cabin which stood at the corner of what is now Yamhill and Stout streets, on a portion of his father’s old donation land claim, and still retains the property, which has been in possession of the family for nearly eighty years. His father, Amos Nahum King, was one of those adventurous spirits who came to the Oregon country in the early days, blazing a trail across miles of desert wastes, over rugged mountains and swollen streams, without chart or compass to guide them, in order to plant the seeds of civilization in the western wilds. He was born April 29, 1822, near Columbus, Ohio, and when a young man of eighteen went to Missouri. For a number of years he operated a ferryboat across the Missouri river, leaving the state in 1845, when a flood destroyed his property, and in company with his father, mother, five sisters and three brothers started for the Oregon country. There were one hundred wagons in their train and the journey was made memorable by a desperate trip through Meek’s cut-off, from Snake river to The Dalles. On reaching the latter place the party constructed a number of pine log rafts, on which they descended the Columbia, making the portage at the cascades, and then proceeded to Linnton in small boats. The passage was a thrilling one and full of hair- breadth escapes. The Fullers crossed the plains with the members of the King family, who spent the winter of 1845-46 near Forest Grove and early in the following summer the father and one of his sons went to the beautiful valley in Benton county which now bears the family name. There they filed on donation land claims, but Amos N. King settled on the Willamette river, a few miles below the present site of Corvallis. Foreseeing the commercial greatness of Portland, he removed to this district in 1849 and bought a squatter’s right to the magnificent hillside tract west of the city, in what is now known as King’s addition. This donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres he purchased from Messrs. Aberson and Balance and they had obtained it from D. H. Lownsdale, who had erected a tannery there. Mr. King successfully operated the tannery for twelve years, while in the meantime he cleared off the timber and laid out King’s addition to Portland. An act indicating his public spirit was his sale of the forty acres for the City Park at eight hundred dollars per acre, which was only a fraction of the actual value of the property. In 1846 Mr. King was married to Miss Malinda Fuller, whose parents had settled on Tualatin plains when that section of the country was a wilderness. Mrs. King was a devoted wife and mother and passed away January 30, 1887, at which time four of her six children were living. They were: Mrs. Nautilla Jeffery and Mrs. Lucy A. Lumsden, of Sauvie’s Island, now deceased; Nahum Amos, and Edward A., of Portland. Mr. King’s second union was with Mrs. Fanny G. Roberts, to whom he was married in 1892, and she also is deceased. Mr. King was one of Portland’s most substantial citizens and a good man in every sense of the word. He was a kind and generous neighbor, a trusted friend, and an ardent advocate of all movements for the advancement and betterment of his community. His domestic relations were most happy and he left not only grandchildren but great-grandchildren to mourn his loss, which occasioned deep sorrow throughout the city. He attained the ripe age of seventy-nine years, passing away November 11, 1901, at the family homestead, No. 654 Washington street. Located to the westward of the old Exposition building, it was erected in 1856 and was one of the old landmarks of Portland. It was Mr. King’s boast that he had lived in no other house in Portland since the building of his home, and he recalled with pride when he tended the athletic events of the Multnomah Club that his tannery once stood where the grandstand of the club is located. During the latter part of his life Mr. King devoted much of his time to looking after his property interests, which were extensive. He was often seen by the residents of King’s addition, now one of the most beautiful residential districts of Portland, spade in hand, correcting faults in a street improvement due to the carelessness of city workmen, and during the heavy winter downpours he took good care that choked sewers did not cause damage by an overflow of water. He was always in favor of improving property wherever possible, and had not the plan been blocked by a minority of the property owners along the way, he would have secured the laying of a fine asphalt or vitrified brick pavement on Washington street front Sixteenth to the City Park. His judgment in regard to property values was seldom in error and his counsel was eagerly sought by his friends and associates. Benton Killin, a lifelong friend, once said of him: “When Amos King gives his advice about anything, you can he sure that it is the advice to be followed. I know of no man in Portland who has sounder or clearer judgment.” In politics Mr. King was a democrat for many years, but on the advent of Bryanism and the silver agitation, he twice voted for the late President McKinley. At the time of the publication of the semi-centennial number of The Oregonian, December 4, 1900, Mr. King was the only person then living in Portland whose name had been mentioned in the first number of this paper. His contribution to the semi-centennial edition was a column of interesting reminiscences, of which the following is a copy: “We didn’t stop at Portland when we first came to Oregon. Up in King’s valley, where we lived, I early began to hear stories about the profits and dangers of boating in the rivers from Oregon City to Vancouver. Every once in a while somebody was drowned in Clackamas rapids, or a boat was capsized and her cargo lost, or a mishap of some kind occurred. I had had some experience in that sort of work on the Missouri river and I concluded I would try it. So I came down the river, got a boat and set out to have a look at Clackamas rapids. I was two or three miles below Oregon City and I met a boat with a man in it. ‘Say,’ I said, ‘how far is it to Clackamas rapids?’ ‘Why, you’ve passed ‘em,’ said he. So I had and I didn’t know it. “I concluded to go into the transportation business. There were three boats then plying from Vancouver to Oregon City. Not steamboats, mind. The first trip I made nothing and the second netted me two dollars. Then one boat drew off, and then another, until I had the business pretty much to myself. You see, I never tipped a boat over or wet anybody’s goods. Then I got another boat above the falls, and so I had through service from Vancouver to Yamhill. This was before the days of the Oregon City locks and we had to pack goods around the falls on our backs. It took about two weeks to make the through trip, though, if everything went well, we made it quicker. I was so prosperous that I had a crew of two in my bateau. When we reached the rapids we polled and pulled. In making the whole trip sometimes we rowed, at other times took a line, went ashore and pulled, and then again it was possible to row on one side and pole on the other. Usually we didn’t stop long at Portland. There wasn’t much in Portland in those days. “Well, I stuck to that business for two years, and hard work it was, too. Then I came to Portland. I wanted to buy some blankets at Crosby’s store at Washington and First streets and I had to hang around three days for a chance to get waited on. How is that for a crush of business? D. H. Lownsdale and Colonel King were about the only men living on the original Portland townsite in those days. I bought the tannery from the two partners, who wanted to go to California. That was in 1849 and the gold excitement was then at its height. I bought the whole outfit just as it stood — hides, leather in hand, tools — everything. Off went Ebson and Balance. In a year or two Balance came back broke and went to work for me until he got enough money to go to Jacksonville to work in the mines. “I had the only tannery in the northwest and I prospered. I had lots of trouble keeping men at work, though I paid as high as ten dollars per day, and still they wouldn’t stay. I sold hides and leather to everybody. An inch strip of a cow’s hide, good for a bridle-rein, sold for a dollar. I had great difficulty getting skins. Cattle were scarce, and usually too valuable to kill. I tanned twice as many deer skins as any other. But people had to come to me, or go barefooted, or wear moccasins, which in the winter time was about the same thing. “Conditions of life were pretty hard then. I remember the first pair of shoes I ever had, after we got here. My father made them, and he tanned the hides by hand. I had gone barefooted from March till December of that year. Everybody then - in 1846 - wore buckskin - buckskin coat, buckskin jacket and buckskin breeches, all home-made. And a home-made straw hat, too. I had just one hat that wasn’t straw before 1852. Down on the Columbia river, during a blow one day, my hat went off into the river. The boys laughed at me so much that I told them I would get a hat that would fill them with envy. I did. I went to the Hudson’s Bay store at Vancouver and bought a high silk hat, the only one I could get. And I wore that hat on the river for some time. “We ran our tannery by horse power and used home-made tools. The first real curry knife I had I paid fifteen dollars for. It was worth two and a half dollars in the states. I cut out the tan vats myself with a broadax. We had no sawmill nearer than Oregon City. People came down from all over the territory to buy leather, riding horseback from as far as Jacksonville. They had to have shoes if they had nothing else.’ Nahum A. King was reared in this pioneer environment and attended the public schools of Portland, also taking a course in the White Business College. When a young man of twenty-one he was married and took his bride to Lake county, Oregon, locating on a ranch near Paisley. The country was wild and isolated, their nearest neighbor living many miles distant. At one time Mr. King owned nine thousand acres of land, which he used chiefly for grazing purposes, and was one of the leading cattlemen of the state. Later he turned his attention to the raising of draft horses and was equally successful in that field, furnishing horses to the street contractors in Portland and also to the owners of the street car line, which was built by his father. The first ranch home of Nahum A. King was a rude cabin, which was afterward replaced by a large modern dwelling. For twenty years he engaged in ranching in Lake county and then returned to Portland, taking up his abode in a beautiful residence, which his father had built for him at No. 680 Washington street. The house was later moved to Everett street and is still in use, but the King family are now living at No. 617 Salmon street. On July 19, 1876, Mr. King married Miss Martha Tucker, a daughter of Joseph and Marilda Tucker, who came to Portland with the pioneers of 1852. Mr. Tucker cut the timber on his land and built his first home, a rude cabin, which stood on what is now the corner of Broadway and Pine street. During the early days he was associated with W. S. Ladd and became well known as a contractor. He built the first docks in Portland and was a recognized leader in his chosen field of activity. To Mr. and Mrs. King were born four children, one of whom died when twelve years of age, and three are now living. Anna, the eldest, is the wife of Herbert Humphrey, who fills a responsible position in the United States National Bank of Portland. Ivan married Johanna Johnson, by whom he has one child, Nathan, and they are also residing in the Rose city. Ray, who lives at home, married Miss Ella Solin, and they have become the parents of a daughter, Martha Ella. While a resident of Lake county Nahum Amos King joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been identified with the organization for a period of forty-nine years, being one of its oldest representatives in Oregon. He remembers the time when this section of the country was an outpost on the frontiers of civilization and thoroughly appreciates the improvements and advantages of this modern age. Diligent, progressive and efficient, he has played well his part on the stage of life and can review the past without regret, knowing that he has accomplished something worth while. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 380-385 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/king417gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/king417gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 13.9 Kb