Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Simpson, Cris December 1, 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Carlene Still crstill@oregontrail.net September 8, 2006, 2:46 am Author: Colonel William Parsons Page 418, 419 CRIS SIMPSON The points brought out in this epitome are interesting because they show the activity and energy and real continuity of a vigorous man in the legitimate struggle to carve for himself a place among the world of men. We have to cross the water to find the birthplace of the one we are considering. It was on December 1, 1863, in the land of Denmark that he commenced his career which we are now considering. In his native land he received an education and grew to manhood, and there toiled on a farm and operated a stage for his father, who was a stage contractor. It was when eighteen years of age that he came to Polk county, Wisconsin, where he engaged on a farm for one year and then moved to Omaha, Nebraska, taking up the livery business for another year. He then came west and worked on the Oregon Short Line with teams until June 25, 1883, when he landed in Pendleton. He soon had earned enough to fit out a four-horse team, when he rented a farm near Helix, in this county, for one season. After this he bought a quarter section of land near Helix and rented other land and operated a large tract. He was so successful in this aggressive policy that he sold his land and bought two hundred and forty acres, and in the following fall bought three hundred and twenty acres more. His ability for wise buying and selling was very evident, and in all probability he would have amassed a fortune in this line had not the crash in the financial world caught him as it did thousands of others. The real quality of a man is not so well distinguished in a mistake he may make as in the way he operates afterward. It is happily illustrated in this case that real ability to cope with adversity, as well as operate in good times, was a part of his makeup. Finding himself “broke,” as the phrase is, he cast about to find the way to repair the loss. His was not the nature to sit down and pine and grow sour. He was more active than ever and soon found an opportunity to rent one thousand acres on the reservation. It was with consummate pluck and courage that at such a time as that he could take hold of such a proposition. But Cris Simpson was not the man to back down and he took the bull by the horns. It was a slow process and demanded skill, but he was equal to the task and it was not very long before he was able to redeem all his former land and he came out of the struggle a wealthier man than he went in. He still operates about eight hundred acres of farm land on the reservation, and owns a very fine estate beside. The improvements are excellent and he has embodied in it both brains and brawn. He raises wheat and well bred horses, having one hundred head of fine roadsters. He owns a half interest in the race track. About one year ago he leased the leading livery and sale stables in Pendleton, where he enjoyed an excellent trade. Other business demands being so great he recently sold the livery. He affiliates with the Elks, Masons, Royal Arch Chapter, having been past master twice, and the I. O. O. F., both in the subordinate and the encampment. He was married in Helix to Miss Sarah A. Bishop, in March 1887. She is a native of Canada. They have six children: Maude, Raymond M., Hazel, George W., Cecil S. and Herold. Additional Comments: An Illustrated History of Umatilla County by Colonel William Parsons and of Morrow County by W. S. Shiach with a brief outline of the early history of the State of Oregon. W. H. Lever, Publisher 1902. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/umatilla/bios/simpson203gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb