Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Menefee, Robert E. November 28, 1865 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 19, 2008, 3:23 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

	ROBERT E. MENEFEE.  A pioneer realtor of Portland, R E. Menefee has 
done much important work as a city builder and has also been active in 
community affairs. He was born November 28. 1865, and is a native of Santa 
Rosa, California. His parents, James Marion and Sarah A. (Hardesty) Menefee, 
came to the Pacific coast in 1864 by the overland route and his father engaged 
in contracting in California, also developing a farm. In later life he 
established his home in Portland and died in 1991 as the result of a street 
car accident. The mother also passed away in the Rose city, in which three of 
her sons are now residing.   J. S., an elder brother of Robert E. Menefee, 
arrived here late in the ‘70s and is now retired. The other son, J. F. Menefee 
came to Portland about the year 1883 and is one of its well known real estate 
dealers.
	Robert E. Menefee was reared in the Golden state and received a public 
school education. He became a painter and paper hanger and for a time was 
engaged in contracting in California. In 1884 he came to Oregon and spent ten 
months in Portland.  The Northern Pacific Railroad was then being extended 
through this section of the country and Mr. Menefee and his brother were 
employed in painting and papering the company’s depots. Afterward Robert B. 
Menefee located in San Diego, California, where he lived for three years, and 
in 1888 returned to Portland becoming a permanent resident of the city at that 
time. For two years he devoted his attention to contract work and since 1890 
has engaged in the real estate and insurance business.  He platted Hudson 
Acres and the Victoria Park addition, also improving Portland by the building 
of more than one hundred attractive homes. His investments have been 
judiciously placed and many important property transfers have been effected 
through his agency. Mr. Menefee is regarded as an expert valuator and his 
advice concerning real estate transactions is sound and reliable.  He writes 
insurance of various kinds and the growth of his business has paralleled that 
of the city.
	Mr. Menefee’s first wife was Mary Lydia Osburn, a daughter of William 
Osburn, a California pioneer, who was one of the builders of the Central 
Pacific Railroad.  Mrs.        Menefee passed away in 1894, leaving a 
daughter, Mary, who is the wife of Moyer D. Cole, of Fresno, California. Mr. 
Menefee was married in 1898 to Miss Laura L. Fenton, a native of Brownsville, 
Oregon, and a daughter of Hugh Fenton, one of the early settlers of the state.
	Mr. Menefee belongs to the local camp of the Woodmen of the World and 
for forty years has been affiliated with Industrial Lodge, No. 99, of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In Masonry he has attained the thirty-second 
degree and is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, 
the Columbia Country Club and the local real estate board. His political 
allegiance is given to the republican party and his public spirit was 
expressed by eight years’ service as a member of the city council. His life 
has been one of unabating industry and his worth in the community is uniformly 
conceded. 


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 469 - 470

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