Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Weidler, George Washington October 22, 1837 - September 19, 1908
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 27, 2009, 1:14 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     GEORGE WASHINGTON WEIDLER.  In 1850 a lad of thirteen might have been 
seen trudging across the country with St. Louis as his destination. He had run 
away from boarding school. There were reasons back of this -— and in front of 
him there was hope and determination -— the hope of winning the opportunity 
which he sought and the determination to use that opportunity. The boy became 
a man. There were hardships, trials and difficulties encountered as the years 
passed. There were days of struggle and nights of loneliness, yet there were 
dreams of the future and visions of what might be accomplished, and never did 
that runaway boy of thirteen falter until he had made his visions and his 
dreams a reality. It was in Mechanicsburg, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
on the 22d of October, 1837, that he first opened his eyes to the light of 
day. Already there were three other children, two sons and a daughter, in the 
family of Dr. Isaac Carpenter and Catherine (Gailbach) Weidler. The father was 
a son of Jacob and Elizabeth Weidler and was born October 3, 1803. For fifty-
five years he practiced medicine in Upper Leacock township, Lancaster county, 
and was then laid to rest on the 31st of January, 1885, in the Heller 
churchyard, where four generations of the family have been buried. His wife 
was a daughter of Frederick and Anna Gailbach and was born March 7, 1807, 
while her death occurred May 15, 1848.

     In the home of the country doctor George Washington Weidler remained in 
early youth and then was sent to a boarding school. The environment was 
anything but pleasant and he felt that he was hampered by existing conditions. 
He looked into the future and one day he quietly slipped away from that school 
and made his way across the country as best he could until in St. Louis he 
found employment, becoming a clerk in a hardware store. How few boys of 
thirteen today would face conditions as he did and rely entirely upon their 
own resources for a living! He did not fear labor and with stout heart he 
pressed on, developing his powers and utilizing his opportunities. He became 
freight clerk on a steamboat making trips between St. Louis and New Orleans 
and in 1855 was given charge of a mule train carrying merchandise to Salt Lake 
for the firm of Livingston, Bell & Company. Again he started on an arduous 
journey. It was a long trip over western prairies, across the mountains and 
into the Salt Lake basin. There were times when it was difficult to obtain 
water and there was always danger of Indian attack. Again he steeled his heart 
and courageously met existing conditions, successfully accomplishing the 
purpose of the trip. With his return to St. Louis he clerked for about three 
years for Livingston, Bell & Company and next became a sutler at Fort Bridger, 
while subsequently he was made agent for the Overland Stage Company. The pony 
express was then established and he was appointed agent and also general 
manager under Ben Holladay, acting as stage agent for the line extending to 
Virginia City, Montana, at the period when gold mining was at its height 
there. In those days not only were Indians a menace to travelers, but 
desperadoes and other rough characters made life an uncertain quantity in the 
far west. When Mr. Holladay disposed of his stage line in 1864, Mr. Weidler 
secured a position as purser on steamers that sailed between San Francisco and 
Mayatlan in lower California. Thus step by step he made his way to the western 
coast, meeting every phase of pioneer life with all the dangers, hardships and 
privations of frontier experience. His service as purser covered the period of 
the Mexican revolution, which ended in the execution of the emperor, 
Maximilian.

     Mr. Weidler first visited Portland in 1866, at which time he was purser 
on the Sierra Nevada that sailed between this city and San Francisco. Two 
years were spent in that position and in 1868 he was appointed to the position 
of general agent for all the steamers owned by Ben Holladay that plied between 
Victoria and San Francisco and later made trips to Sitka, Alaska. Mr. Weidler 
continued to fill the position until the Holladay interests were taken over by 
Henry Villard. The fact that he was so closely associated with Holladay at 
once establishes his character, for Holladay was a recognized leader whose 
personality was such that men followed him without a word. This Mr. Weidler 
did after talking to Holladay, but be it known, too, that Holladay was never 
mistaken in choosing his associates. Years of travel by pony express, by stage 
and ships, meeting every experience incident to life in the then untamed west, 
brought Mr. Weidler ultimately to the point of finishing the construction of 
the railroad between Salem and Portland in 1869, whereby he saved to Mr. 
Holladay his land grant. That task accomplished, he then organized the 
Willamette Steam Mills Lumbering & Manufacturing Company and continued the 
operation of the mills that had been used in connection with the building of 
the railroad, the plant having at that time the largest lumber-sawing capacity 
in Oregon. Moreover, this capacity was afterward increased and the development 
of the business was indicative of the marvelous executive ability and 
organizing force of Mr. Weidler. His cooperation was also sought in other 
fields. At all times he kept abreast of modern progress in city building and 
was an important factor in establishing the first street car service in 
Portland, also in promoting its electric light plant and in organizing its 
first telephone company. Life was to him a journey and one in which he never 
turned back. He kept on steadily and persistently and each forward step 
brought him wider opportunities and a broader outlook. In those pioneer times 
he engaged in logging and, making his way to the Baldwin locomotive people in 
Philadelphia, he brought back to the coast the first engine used for logging 
purposes. At one time he was associated in logging with Simon Benson and he 
also was interested in mining in Oregon in the early days. He was the builder 
of two boats which he named "Wonder" and "No Wonder." Almost intuitively he 
recognized the chance for advancement not only of his individual fortunes but 
of the welfare of the state, and he used these chances in the upbuilding of a 
great commonwealth here. There were experiences which were indelibly impressed 
upon his memory. Back in the old days when he freighted to Salt Lake there 
occurred the great Mormon massacre, but Mr. Weidler had the friendship of some 
of the Mormon leaders, who advised him to keep out of sight, and thus his life 
was saved.

     The years that brought him the varied and ofttimes disheartening 
experiences of frontier life also made Mr. Weidler appreciative of what a home 
might be and on the 1st of October, 1879, he wedded Miss Hattie Louise Bacon, 
a daughter of C. P. Bacon, a prominent stockman of Oregon, whose ancestral 
line is traced back to 1650. Nathaniel Bacon, the eldest son of William Bacon, 
was a native of Stretton, Rutland county, England, and in 1649 arrived on this 
side of the Atlantic, making his home with his uncle, Andrew Bacon, in 
Hartford, Connecticut. In the fall of 1650 he joined a company that 
established what is now Middletown, Connecticut. The Bacon family was 
represented in the Revolutionary war and the line of descent comes down from 
Nathaniel through Henry, Charles C., William and Seth Bacon. The mother of 
Mrs. Weidler made the long voyage around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast, 
carrying letters for Captain Couch and Captain Flanders from their families. 
She also made three trips to the Hawaiian islands. Mr. and Mrs. Weidler became 
the parents of seven children: Mabel, who died in 1926; Hazel; Gladys, the 
wife of E. A. de Schweinitz; Harold, who died in infancy; Leslie, the wife of 
Stanley Gion Jewett; Clara, the wife of Andrew Dickinson Norris; and Doris.

     The death of Mr. Weidler occurred September 19, 1908. His worth to his 
community and in fact to the great west can scarcely be overestimated. He gave 
his political allegiance to the republican party and his religious belief was 
in harmony with the teachings of the Episcopal church. He held membership in 
the Arlington Club and in the Commercial Club and he assisted largely in the 
work of the latter organization for the city's substantial improvement. He 
adapted himself just as readily to modern-day conditions as he did to the 
situations through which he passed in the period of reclaiming the west. Every 
phase of progressive development found its expression in his career. The boy 
who ran away from school because conditions were irksome and afforded him no 
outlet for his ambition was father to the man that in later life allowed no 
obstacles or difficulties to bar his path if they could be overcome by 
determined, persistent and honorable effort. He was one of the builders of the 
west and a spirit of constructive force was one of the dominant elements in 
his nature. His name is inseparably interwoven with the history not only of 
Portland but of Salt Lake City, of Fort Bridger, Virginia City and all Oregon. 
With the gradual processes that have brought modern-day achievement he was 
closely associated and the story of his life thrills with the intensity of the 
spirit that enabled him to courageously meet every situation, calmly facing 
its dangers and embracing its opportunities, until he became a potent force in 
modern-day civilization.

Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 760-764

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