Multnomah-Wasco County OR Archives Biographies.....Watkins, Frank E. September 20, 1877 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 10, 2011, 4:08 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 876 - 880
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     FRANK E. WATKINS, who is a worthy representative of one of Portland's 
oldest and most highly respected families, is extensively engaged in the real 
estate and insurance business under the name of Parrish, Watkins & Company. He 
has been active and successful in business, has shown a commendable and 
effective interest in civic affairs and has been prominent in athletic affairs 
from young manhood, so that he has well merited the reputation which he bears 
as one of this city's representative men. Frank Edmond Watkins was born on his 
father's farm in Wasco county, Oregon, on the 20th of September, 1877, and is 
a son of George Edmond and Olive (Clay) Watkins. The Watkins family is of 
Welsh and Irish origin and was established in the United States early in the 
eighteenth century, the American progenitor settling in New York state. The 
paternal grandfather was George C. Watkins, who married Miss Helen Caldwell, a 
native of Dublin, Ireland, and the town of Watkinsville, New York, was named 
in his honor. They joined the historic ox-team migration across the plains to 
Oregon in 1852, and Mr. Watkins established one of the early sawmills on Coos 
bay, while later he engaged in building contracting and the lumber business in 
Portland. He and one of his sons, James Watkins, were killed in the blockhouse 
massacre of 1856. George Edmond Watkins was born in Keokuk, Iowa, on March 4, 
1845, and was about seven years of age when the family came to Oregon. On 
September 1, 1874, in Portland, he married Miss Olive Clay, who was born in 
Massillon, Ohio, August 7, 1855, and who died in Portland, Oregon, April 2, 
1887, as the result of an illness which was brought on primarily by an 
accident which preceded her death several months. In the maternal line the 
ancestry is traced back directly to Christopher Pennock, who settled in 
Pennsylvania in 1682. The maternal grandfather, Oliver Clay, became a resident 
of Massillon, Ohio, and was married to Miss Jane Elliott, of Randolph, Ohio. 
In 1859 he left Massillon with his family and embarked on a sailiing vessel 
for Oregon, and, after a long but safe voyage around Cape Horn, arrived at 
Portland, where they made permanent settlement. Clay street, in Portland, was 
named in honor of Oliver Clay. To George E. and Olive Watkins were born three 
children, of whom the first born, a son, died in infancy. The others are Frank 
Edmond, of this review, and Mrs. Grace W. Story, who was born in Portland, May 
29, 1880. Her son, George Watkins Story, was born in Portland, August 20, 
1908, and was educated in Leland Stanford University. One of George E. 
Watkins' sisters, Sarah Jane, became the wife of Lewis Marion Parrish, who was 
born in 1830, and who crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852. In association 
with M. F. Mulkey, he established the first real estate concern in Portland in 
1863, under the firm name of Parrish & Mulkey. In 1872 this concern became 
known as Parrish, Watkins & Cornell, and in 1900 became Parrish, Watkins & 
Company, under which name the business is still carried on by Frank E. 
Watkins, at 252 Stark street. George E. Watkins died April 6, 1916.

     Frank E. Watkins attended the public schools of Portland, graduating from 
the old high school at Fourteenth and Morrison streets in 1894. He prepared to 
enter Leland Stanford University, but finally decided instead to turn his 
attention to business, becoming identified with the firm of Watkins & Parrish 
as bookkeeper and collector, in which dual capacity he continued to serve 
until 1900, when he was admitted to an equal partnership in the firm. Lewis M. 
Parrish died in Portland in February, 1908, and since the death of his father, 
in 1916, Mr. Watkins has carried on the business alone under the old firm 
name. The company handles real estate, rentals, loans and investments and does 
a large insurance business, being agent for the New York Underwriters Company, 
the Southern Surety Company, the General Accident Assurance Corporation and 
the Lloyds Plate Glass Insurance Company. Mr. Watkins specializes in inside 
sales and leases and was a leading factor in the erection of the Smith, 
Russell and Benson buildings, as well as other prominent buildings, for which 
he acted as financial agent. He is a man of farsighted judgment and sagacity 
in business affairs and is regarded as one of Portland's most dependable real 
estate men. He is a member of the Portland Realty Board and is president of 
the Lincoln Realty Company, which owns the St. Francis hotel, at Eleventh and 
Main street, the Terrace Court apartments, at East Eighth and Washington 
streets, and other valuable properties in Portland.

     Mr. Watkins was married on September 20, 1898, to Miss Helen Chambreau. 
On July 9, 1920, at Everett, Washington, he married Miss. Mabel Claire 
Hockman, a native of Marion, Ohio, and of Irish and English lineage. They are 
the parents of three children, namely: Frank Edmond, Jr., born May 18, 1921; 
George Erin, born July 2, 1923, and Marjorie Claire, born June 6, 1927.

     In his political views Mr. Watkins has always been a republican and has 
shown a deep interest in local public affairs, having served as councilman for 
the fifth ward from July 1, 1909, to June 30, 1913. He has been active in 
fraternal affairs and is a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 12, A. F. & A. M., of 
which he is a past master; Portland Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M.; Washington 
Council, No. 3, R. & S. M.; Oregon Commandery, No. 1, K. T., of which he is a 
life member; Oregon Consistory, No. 1, A. A. S. R.; a life member of Al Kader 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; Portland Lodge, No. 142, B. P. O. E.; Myrtle 
Chapter, No. 15, O. E. S.; Gul-Reazee Grotto, No. 65, M. O. V. P. E. R.; the 
Knights of the Maccabees, the Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World. He 
served on the board of trustees and was a past president of the old Portland 
Automobile Club, and helped to merge it into the Oregon State Motor 
Association, of which he served as president in 1917 and 1918. In 1917 he also 
designed the official emblem of the last named organization, which is still in 
use.

     For many years Mr. Watkins has been a prominent figure in amateur 
athletic circles and is an active member of the famous Multnomah Amateur 
Athletic Club, which he joined as a junior member in 1892, one year after the 
club was organized. He is president of the club this year and is one of the 
thirteen members who have been awarded an honorary membership in it, a 
distinction which is conferred in recognition of distinguished services 
rendered the club as an athlete and in other lines. He was a member of the 
club's track, baseball, basketball and bowling teams, being twice captain of 
the track and baseball teams, and won many medals and tro¬phies while engaged 
in active competition for the club. For several years he was handball champion 
of the Pacific northwest and twice defeated the Pacific coast champion in 
matches at the Olympic Club, San Francisco. He also won medals for swimming, 
for a number of years was chairman of the club's swimming committee and was 
largely responsible for the development of the club's splendid team of men and 
women swimmers and divers. Mr. Watkins served several years as a member of the 
club's board of trustees before being elected its president in February, 1928. 
His two sons are now the youngest members of the club.

     Mr. Watkins is known all over the United States as an amateur sportsman 
and dog breeder and fancier. A few years ago he bred the winning strain of 
English bull terriers and won many prizes in the east and south, as well as 
locally. On one occasion his champion, "Edgecote Peer," won the American 
championship cup at Philadelphia, defeating all the best bull terriers of the 
United States and Canada and two of the best that could be imported from 
England especially for that show. For several years Mr. Watkins was a trustee 
of the old Portland Kennel Club, and is now a member of the Multnomah Golf 
Club. Under Mayor Baker, he acted as boxing commissioner from 1917 to 1921 
inclusive, being chairman of the boxing commission. During the late war the 
boxing commission turned over a considerable sum of money to the Oregon Boys' 
Emergency Fund for disabled and dependent Oregon soldiers and their families. 
Owing to the press of other activities, Mr. Watkins resigned as boxing 
commissioner in 1921. During the World war, he enlisted in the United States 
Tank Corps, but was not ordered into active service, being rejected at Fort 
Lawton because of an old fracture of the elbow, received years before in an 
athletic contest. True and loyal in every relation of life, doing well 
whatever he has undertaken, he enjoys a wide reputation as one of Portland's 
solid and substantial citizens, dependable under all circumstances, and to a 
marked degree he commands the respect and confidence of his fellowmen, while 
among his associates he is extremely popular.

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