Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Wiggins, William Bryson June 4, 1864 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 21, 2008, 3:04 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

	WILLIAM BRYSON WIGGINS.  As a lumber manufacturer William Bryson 
Wiggins contributed his full share toward Portland’s industrial development, 
and the strength which he manifested in business affairs had its root in those 
qualities which constitute the basis of all honorable and desirable success. A 
native of Canada, he was born June 4, 1864. His parents, Robert and Eliza Jane 
(Bryson) Wiggins, who were born in the northern part of Ireland, went to 
Kansas when William B. Wiggins was a child and his boyhood was spent on his 
father’s farm in the Sunflower state. It was there that he received his 
education, attending the public schools, and also had the benefit of a course 
in a business college. When a young man of about twenty-one years he went to 
New Mexico and was associated with a friend in the operation of a sawmill. A 
few years later he journeyed to the Pacific northwest, locating in Oregon 
City, and secured a position in a sawmill owned by George Broughton. 
Subsequently he was admitted to a partnership in the business at Portland and 
this association was continued until Mr. Wiggins’ death on September 4, 1924. 
The firm of Broughton & Wiggins made shipments of cedar poles and piling to 
all parts of the world and their lumber mill was equipped with every 
appliances requisite for first class work. The partners were recognized 
leaders in the field in which they specialized and created a business of 
extensive proportions through close attention to detail, judicious management 
and strict adherence to a high standard of commercial ethics. Mr. Wiggins was 
part owner of other mills and also of the St. Helens creosoting plant in 
Portland. He was exceptionally well informed on matters pertaining to the 
lumber industry and his name was a valuable asset to every organization with 
which he was connected.
	In 1894 Mr. Wiggins married Miss Marian Wilkinson, a daughter of James 
and Jane (Killough) Wilkinson. Her parents were natives of the north of 
Ireland and in that country they were married.  Soon afterward they left the 
Emerald isle and made the trip to the Pacific northwest by way of the isthmus 
of Panama.  Mr. Wilkinson purchased a farm near Oregon City and devoted the 
remainder of his life to its cultivation and improvement.  For fifty years he 
was a deacon in the First congregational church of Oregon City and the bread 
and wine used in its communion services were made by his wife. Their daughter 
Marian was born on the homestead in Clackamas county and remained at home 
until her marriage.  Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins became the parents of four children, 
the youngest of whom, William, died at the age of four years.  The others 
are:  Jeannette, who is the widow of Linn Davis and the mother of two 
children:  William Wiggins Davis and Jannet Killough; Elizabeth, who is the 
wife of Kenneth Bartlett, of San Francisco, and has one child, Elizabeth Ann; 
and Eleanore, who is Mrs. Charles McCabe, of Chicago.
	In politics Mr. Wiggins was a republican and his religious views were 
in accord with the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, of which he was an 
earnest, helpful member.  He was a devoted husband and father, a steadfast 
friend, a capable executive, a public-spirited citizen and a man whom to know 
was to esteem and admire.  Mrs. Wiggins has been fortunate in developing the 
womanly attributes of patience, industry and fidelity to home and its duties.  
Her children and friends have always found in her a safe adviser and one whose 
counsel is never given through selfish considerations but always in behalf of 
the best interests of others.  It is such qualities that have made the 
words “mother” and “home” synonymous with all that is dearest to the human 
heart.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 490-493

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