Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Welch, Colonel Hiram U. October 29, 1870 - 
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Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 462
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     COLONEL HIRAM U. WELCH.  The office of county assessor of Multnomah 
county is being filled in an able and satisfactory manner by Colonel Hiram U. 
Welch, who has not only proven his high qualifications for the position, but 
has long held a place among the leading citizens of Portland. The Colonel was 
born in Grundy county, Illinois, October 29, 1870, and is a son of Henry H. 
and Mary Ann (Staley) Welch, both of whom were direct descendants of soldiers 
of the Revolutionary war. The family came to Oregon in 1881, locating at 
Lebanon, in Linn county. The father died in January of the following year, but 
the mother survived many years, passing away in 1908.

     Hiram U. Welch secured his early education in the public schools, after 
which he attended Santiam Academy, at Lebanon, and Willamette University, at 
Salem. He graduated from the Portland Business College in 1892, and later 
entered the employ of the Fred Born Machinery Company, with which he remained 
until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. He enlisted for service in 
Battery A, Oregon Field Artillery, January 4, 1894, and remained in the army 
until the close of the war, during which he won a commission as second 
lieutenant. In 1900 he was appointed deputy county assessor, holding that 
position continuously, with the exception of the World war period, until 1920, 
when he was elected county assessor and, by reelection, has been retained in 
that office to the present time, and is a candidate for reelection without 
opposition in 1928.

     Colonel Welch was a member of the Oregon National Guard and during the 
Mexican border troubles was in active service there, with the rank of major. 
During the World war he served with the same rank at Camp Jackson, South 
Carolina, and at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, and was honorably 
discharged at the close of the war. Soon after the war he was commissioned 
colonel of the One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Infantry Regiment Oregon National 
Guard, which he still commands.

     In 1900 Colonel Welch married Eva M. London, of Minnesota, and they are 
the parents of two children, Dr. Ella J., who is a graduate of the Portland 
high school and the De Kiser Optical School, and is a practicing optician in 
Portland, and William T., who graduated from the Portland high school, 
attended Oregon Agricultural College and is now serving as deputy county 
assessor. Colonel Welch gives his political support to the republican party 
and has always shown a commendable interest in public affairs, especially such 
as relate to the welfare of his own city and county. He is a member of 
Sunnyside Lodge, No. 163, A. F. & A. M.; Sunnyside Chapter, No. 42, R. A. M.; 
Oregon Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of 
Moose, the Spanish-American War Veterans, the American Legion, the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars and the Portland Chamber of Commerce. Loyal and true in every 
relation of life, he has always been conscientious in the performance of duty, 
and throughout the city and county in which he lives he commands the 
unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellowmen.

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