Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Mersereau, R. W. 1883 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 21, 2008, 2:52 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

	R. W. MERSEREAU.  A man of well balanced capacities and powers, R. W. 
Mersereau has thoroughly demonstrated his ability to cope with modern 
commercial conditions and is the executive head of one of the large lumber 
firms of Portland successfully following in the business footsteps of his 
father. He was born in 1883 and is a native of Portville, New York. His 
parents, W. B. and Helen (Leavens) Mersereau, came to Portland in 1907 and the 
mother still resides in the Rose city but the father is deceased
	R. W. Mersereau was reared in the east and received his higher 
education in Yale University, from which he was graduated in 1905 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. Under his father he was thoroughly trained in the 
lumber industry and from 1909 until 1920 was connected with the mills at Doty, 
Washington. The business was founded in 1900 by C. A. Doty, for whose family 
the town of that name in Washington was called. The original name of the Doty 
Lumber Company was changed to the Doty Lumber & Shingle Company in 1905 and 
four years later C. A. Doty sold the business to W. B. Mersereau, who 
conducted it successfully until his death in 1914. His son, R. W. Mersereau, 
then assumed the duties of president and has since controlled the industry, 
perfecting plans which have resulted in its continued growth and prosperity. 
He closely supervises every detail of the work and to the many difficult 
problems presented to him for solution brings to bear the decisiveness and 
keen sagacity of the well poised executive who is always prepared for a 
possible emergency. The business is now operated under the style of the Doty 
Lumber & Shingle Company, with offices in Portland on the eleventh floor of 
the Public Service building.  E. L. Mersereau, a brother, is vice president 
and sales manager of the firm, which cuts thirty-five million feet of lumber 
and fifty million shingles per year and carries the names of two hundred and 
fifty persons on its payrolls. Most of the output is sold in the eastern part 
of the United States and the company has also established a profitable export 
trade. The firm has a supply of timber sufficient for ten years and does an 
extensive wholesale business outside of the sale of its own lumber. R. W. 
Mersereau is also president of the Doty Boom Company and the Elk Creek & Grays 
Harbor Railway Company, serving on the directorates of both firms, and a 
director of the Rogue River Timber Company
	In 1914 Mr. Mersereau married Miss Elizabeth Parker, a daughter of 
Charles Parker, of Portland, and they have become the parents of three Sons: 
William B., Charles P. and David M. Mr. Mersereau belongs to the Waverley and 
University Clubs. Through his affiliation with the Chamber of Commerce he is 
working for Portland’s best interests and his political allegiance is given to 
the republican party. He is the possessor of a magnetic personality and has 
won many loyal friends during the period of his residence in the city.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 488-489

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