Multnomah-Washington County OR Archives Biographies.....MacMahon, Michael J. January 12, 1854 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 30, 2011, 1:23 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 805 - 809
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     MICHAEL J. MACMAHON.  A distinguished member of the Portland bar is thus 
characterized by Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal of January 26, 1927:

     "Recently I interviewed a well known Portland attorney, who is still 
remembered and talked of in the University of Michigan for his prowess as a 
wrestler, a boxer, a poet and a Greek scholar. His name is Michael J. MacMahon 
and his office is in the Worcester building, where I had the pleasure of 
conversing with him.

     "'I am the last of the American MacMahons,' he said. 'In Munster they 
call us the "fighting MacMahons." The "powers that be" in England didn't mind 
how much the MacMahons fought among themselves or with their fellow 
countrymen, but they objected very seriously when the MacMahons fought to free 
Ireland from British rule. Three MacMahon brothers who were active in fighting 
for Ireland's freedom were banished — one to Van Dieman's Land, one to France 
and one to America. I am the last of the American branch.

     "'Do you see that picture on the wall. It is a portrait of Patrice 
Maurice de MacMahon, a marshal of France and president of the French republic. 
He was born June 13, 1808, at Sully, France, and at the age of nineteen was 
graduated from the St. Cyr Military Academy. He was twenty-two when he took 
part in the campaign in Algiers and in the siege of Sebastopol, during the 
Crimean war, led the division which stormed the Malakoff, for which he 
received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. He commanded the Second Army 
Corps in Italy during the war of France and Sardinia against Austria in 1859, 
turning a rout into victory, and in recognition of his achievement was made 
marshal of France and created duke of Magenta. Later he was governor-general 
of Algeria and at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war he was placed at the 
head of the First Army Corps, which was defeated at Worth and Sedan. In 1871 
he suppressed the Commune at Paris and in May, 1873, was elected president of 
France. He resigned in 1879 and died at La Forest in 1893.

     "'Take a good look at that picture over my desk. It is a picture of 
the "Little Corporal." All my life I have been an admirer and a student of 
everything relating to Napoleon. This picture of John L. Sullivan was taken 
when he was in his prime and these boxing gloves, which he gave me were used 
during his tour of the world. That is a picture of Charley, my youngest 
brother, who died when he was twenty-four years old. I don't believe a better 
built or a gamer man ever stepped into the ring.

     "'My father, Peter J. MacMahon, came from Ireland to America in 1840. My 
mother, Eileen Shannon, was born where the River Shannon flows. This historic 
and beautiful stream rises in the Cuilcagh mountains and flows into the 
Atlantic in a gap between the headlands of Kerry and Loop. It is the longest 
river in Ireland and is canalized between Limerick and Athlone. My mother and 
father were married at Bangor, in the state of Maine, in 1848 and moved to 
Michigan early in the '50s. Both are buried at Ann Arbor. Father engaged in 
farming and was a good money-maker but I don't know whether he always used 
good judgment when it came to spending it. For example, he went over with John 
O'Leary to join James Stephens in Paris. Stephens had escaped from his prison 
in Dublin and made his way to Paris. Father was obsessed with the idea of 
freeing Ireland from English rule. When he went to Paris in 1867, to help free 
Ireland, he not only put up all the available money he had for the purpose, 
but mortgaged our farm in order to gain additional funds for the cause so dear 
to his heart. However, while this may not have been strictly practical, I 
honor his convictions.

     "'On the northwest corner of Second and Franklin streets in Jackson, 
Michigan, is a boulder on which is a bronze tablet containing the following 
inscription: "Here, under these oaks, July 6, 1854, was born the republican 
party, destined, in the throes of civil strife, to abolish slavery, vindicate 
democracy and preserve the Union." I am proud to say that my father was one of 
the group of men who met under those oaks on July 6, 1854, to help found the 
republican party.

     "'Father and mother had four sons and one daughter. I was born at Ann 
Arbor on January 12, 1854, and am the oldest child. My brother John was an 
acrobat and for four years was in the employ of P. T. Barnum, later traveling 
with the Forepaugh outfit, Sells Brothers, Brien Brothers and the John 
Robinson circus. Subsequently he became a wealthy showman and in the course of 
his travels went to Mexico and the West Indies. My brother Joseph Byron was a 
student at the University of Michigan and had decided to take up law but was 
persuaded to join my brother John's circus, of which he was made treasurer. 
Later Joseph became sole owner of the World's Circus and also accumulated a 
substantial competence. In Masonry he attained the thirty-second degree and 
while in Wichita, Kansas, was murdered April 1, 1897, by a man who was also a 
member of that order, in which he held the same degree. Charles Henry, the 
baby of the family, joined the circus as an athlete. One of his spectacular 
stunts, which always made the audience gasp and then applaud wildly, was his 
double somersault from a springboard over a herd of elephants. Though he was 
built like a Greek god and was extremely strong, he contracted pneumonia in 
Texas, and though they put him in a chest of ice, by the doctor's orders, and 
rushed him to Chicago, he died within twenty-four hours. Not one of my 
brothers, although they followed the wrestling and fighting game, and although 
they were for years employes or owners of circuses, ever drank or smoked. They 
were extremely temperate and kept at all times in the finest physical 
condition. My brother John died in 1892 and Joseph afterward conducted the 
circus. John bequeathed his fortune to his sister, Mary A. MacMahon, who 
passed away in 1925, and I inherited her property, consisting of four Pullman 
cars, a safety deposit box filled with Liberty bonds, cash and other valuables.

     "'I attended the public schools of Ann Arbor and the year I entered the 
University of Michigan, James B. Angell was elected its president, remaining 
at the head of the institution for a period of forty years. His son, James R. 
Angell, who was numbered among my classmates, also achieved distinction as an 
educator, becoming president of Yale University. We students had rare 
privileges in those days. Such men as Wendell Phillips, Bayard Taylor, Andrew 
D. White, Charles Bradlaugh, a member of parliament; J. B. Gough, Mose Colt 
Tyler, who by the way, was my professor of history; C. K. Adams, Editor Storey 
of Chicago and men of that calibre, gave us the best they had.

     "'I was the first athlete produced by the University of Michigan and the 
old records will tell you of the work done by our football team when I was its 
captain. I served on second base in the college baseball team. In the four 
years I was in college I was never defeated in the ring, nor was I ever put on 
my back on the mat. Here is an old class picture. If you count the students 
you will find there are one hundred and sixty of us. We were suspended on May 
6, 1874, for hazing a circus. I was marshal of the class. I went to Cornell 
but after six months the faculty relented and allowed us to come back. No, I 
cannot say I am in favor of hazing. For a half-dozen husky youths to jump onto 
one isn't my idea of fair play, nor good sport.  I remember spending a cold 
night once in the graveyard at Ann Arbor. A bunch of the upper classmen 
overpowered me, tied my hands and feet, carried me out to the graveyard and 
tied me to a tombstone, where I stayed all night. Next morning my fellow 
classmen discovered me and liberated me.

     "'For five years I was professor of Greek and Latin in an academy at 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Among my pupils was Ella Wheeler, who married a man 
named Wilcox and who is the author of "Poems of Pleasure," "Poems of Passion," 
and many other books of poetry. I also taught Garrett Droppers, now deceased. 
He became professor of political economy in the University of Japan and was 
appointed minister to Greece by President Wilson. Irving Dudley, later 
minister to Brazil, was also one of my pupils, as was also Paul Dachsel, 
historian, poet, philosopher, and the only man that I ever met who, to my 
mind, was really a genius. I likewise supervised the studies of Charlie 
Miller, later consul general to Germany, Michael Donnolley, who came under my 
instruction, was graduated from West Point and later became editor of the St. 
Paul Pioneer Press.

     "'In 1876 I attended the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and paid 
ten cents for the privilege of talking over what was then considered a new-
fangled toy called the telephone. I talked to a girl a dozen or fifteen feet 
away. It was Dom Pedro, emperor of Brazil, whose interest in Dr. Bell and his 
invention attracted the attention of the scientists to the telephone. Before 
he had stopped to investigate the telephone the scientists had treated the 
invention lightly and said even if you could talk over a wire, as Bell 
claimed, what would be the object of it? Who would want to do it? They 
couldn't see any future for it except as a toy.

     "'Two years after visiting the Centennial Exposition I went to Paris and 
spent three years at the Sorbonne. I attended lectures on Greek and Roman art 
and also took a course in architecture. At that time I formed the acquaintance 
of Cyrus Field, the nephew of the man who laid the Atlantic cable. He had come 
to Paris to install a telegraph system and experienced much difficulty in 
mastering the French language. I was in Paris from 1878 until 1882 and had the 
privilege of meeting the distinguished novelist, Victor Hugo.

     "'I came direct from Paris to Forest Grove, Oregon, and was made 
principal of Tualatin Academy, of which Professor John R. Herrick was the 
president. J. W. Marsh was professor of Latin and Greek and I was instructor 
in mathematics. William N. Ferrin had charge of the departments of history and 
rhetoric and Captain M. C. Wilkinson taught military science. He had come to 
Oregon with General O. O. Howard in 1874, at which time the latter assumed 
command of the department of the Columbia, making his headquarters in 
Portland. Shortly before he reached here he sent Captain Wilkinson, in charge 
of the Modoc prisoners, to the Indian territory. General Howard became 
president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Portland and Captain 
Wilkinson was one of his ardent supporters in this work. At the battle of the 
Clearwater, on July 11, 1877, Captain Wilkinson bore himself so gallantly that 
he was brevetted a major. He was killed while leading an attack against the 
Indians at Bear island at Leech Lake, Minnesota. Luella Clay Carson was also 
one of the instructors at Tualatin Academy as well as Mrs. E. H. Marsh. 
Alexander Sweek, Albert Tozier or any of my old-time students can tell you 
about the old days of Forest Grove of forty-five years ago. I remained as 
principal for two years.

     "'In 1884 I stumped the state for Blaine and Logan. Sol Hirsch was 
chairman of the republican party. If Blaine and Logan had been elected, and 
they missed election by a narrow margin, I would have represented the United 
States in Switzerland.

     "'An uncle of mine, a captain of an English sailing vessel, came to San 
Francisco in 1850. He tied up the vessel at the wharf and he and the crew went 
to the Placer mines in Plumas county. I was named for this uncle, who became 
sole owner of the Golden Gate placer claim in Plumas county, and this property 
made him wealthy. Shortly after stumping Oregon in behalf of Blaine and Logan 
I went down to California and later became associated with my uncle in his 
mining venture. I was fortunate and returned to Portland with nineteen 
thousand dollars in cash as my share of the undertaking. This money I invested 
in real estate in Portland and Baker City and some of this property I still 
own.

     “'One experience that is too long to go into is my trip with the English 
fleet up the Nile in 1881. I have been fortunate in being able to indulge 
myself in visiting every battlefield on which Napoleon fought, with the 
exception of his Russian campaign.

     "'I opened a law office here with John McGinn in 1892 and for the past 
twenty years have occupied the same office. A few years ago I went down to the 
Benson logging camp to see a client and happened to arrive there at noon. For 
some reason the lumberjacks sized me up for a minister. Far be it from me ever 
to claim any ministerial aspirations. In any event they judged by my garb that 
I had come down there to hand them out tracts or to preach to them. They were 
a pretty rough lot and began discussing what they had better do to me. Finally 
I said to them, "I'll bet a keg of beer that there isn't a lumberjack here can 
hold his end up with me with an ax." I picked out a well sharpened, heavy-
headed ax, laid aside my silk hat, my frock coat and my vest, rolled up my 
sleeves, and said, "I'll take the butt cut. Who of you men have the nerve to 
take the bet?" Eight of the men who considered themselves good choppers 
stepped forward and at a given signal we went to it, and the chips began to 
fly. To make a long story short, I won the keg of beer and they came to the 
conclusion that I wasn't there to preach any sermon or pass out any tracts.

     "'Yes, I must confess I enjoy the study of languages. Though I have not 
taught Greek for more than forty years, I still keep up my interest in it, and 
take a Greek newspaper, which I read each week. I read German, Italian, 
Spanish, Irish, Greek and Latin. Many years ago I gave my Gaelic books to 
Professor John Murphy, who was recognized as the greatest Gaelic scholar then 
living, and who was also well versed in Latin and Greek. Judge Henry McGinn, 
Paul Deady and myself went out to the poorhouse, of which he was an inmate, 
and conducted his funeral services and buried him in Mount Scott cemetery. He 
was a graduate of Trinity College, a brilliant and lovable man.

     "'As you go around among the doctors, attorneys and college professors of 
Portland I wish you would ascertain and let me know if you run across any of 
them who know all of Horace by heart, in the original. I have an idea that I 
am probably the only man in Portland who can repeat Horace from memory in the 
original. I put in eleven years of hard work translating Bredif's celebrated 
volume on Demosthenes. You will see that these three books are pretty weighty 
tomes. I was very much gratified by the reception this work received by the 
French savants and, in fact, by the scholars all over Europe and America.'"

     Of this achievement La Republique Democratique et Sociale said: "The most 
scholarly Hellenist can read it with advantage, while the man of the world — 
the general reader, the class of men pressed for time — will appreciate the 
skill of the author, and will derive no less pleasure than the savants from 
perusing these pages." That Mr. MacMahon is a linguist of superior ability is 
shown by his faithful rendition of the original Greek, Latin and French of 
this work into admirable English. In a review of the translation Le Journal 
des Debats said: "M. Bredif has mastered his subject admirably; he has treated 
it with that animation without which nothing can be well done. * * * The 
brilliant American translator, Professor MacMahon, has left nothing undone. 
His notes to the American edition evince a clear knowledge of ancient as well 
as modern history. There is nothing dull in the orations whose composition he 
analyzes under our eyes, and in which he points out not only literary beauties 
but also political beauties. * * * He wishes that from this book we should 
learn a political and moral lesson. M. Bredif has analyzed the eloquence of 
Demosthenes with a rare critical talent, with remarkable erudition, with an 
eloquence and boldness of style that is worthy of the finest eulogy. Always 
brilliant, following the modern method, he replaces each oration in the midst 
of those events in which it was pronounced, he revives the circumstances which 
accompanied it, and places us as far as possible in the situation of the 
audience who heard it, and he makes us share the same emotions. When he judges 
it is with an accuracy and justice which are never at fault." Le Salut Public 
de Lyon wrote: "The lucidity of his exposition equals the erudition of his 
researches. * * * Two notable features add to the interest of this scholarly 
work: One is the great number of translated extracts to support his formulated 
opinions; another the entirely modern spirit which animates these pages 
devoted to antiquity and which, under the walls of Piraeus, behind the 
contemporaries of Pericles or Philip, portray before us Christianity. France, 
the Revolution, the aspirations, the passions and conflicts of our epoch."

     With a predilection for politics, Mr. MacMahon became one of the 
republican leaders of Oregon and was thrice presidential elector, while his 
civic spirit has been expressed as a councilman of East Portland. His life has 
been devoted to the acquisition of useful knowledge, and judged from the 
standpoint of service, his career has been notably successful.

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