Pacific County WA Archives Biographies.....Warren, Captain W. E. August 17, 1863 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 24, 2011, 12:32 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 779 - 781
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     CAPTAIN W. E. WARREN.  One of the best known river men and most highly 
respected citizens of the Columbia River valley is Captain W. E. Warren, of 
Cannon Beach, Oregon, who for many years has owned or handled river and 
seagoing vessels in the Pacific northwest. He is regarded as extraordinarily 
capable as a master and has commanded many of the best known boats along the 
coast, while in all of his operations he has met with well merited success. 
Captain Warren was born in Astoria, Oregon, on the 17th of August, 1863, and 
is a son of G. W. and Frances (Stevens) Warren, the former born in Bath, New 
York, in 1833, and the latter in Princeton, Illinois. His father was the third 
in order of birth of four sons born to his parents, the others being Frank, 
Phineas and Daniel K., all of whom are deceased. George W. Warren was educated 
in the public schools of his native state and in 1852, when nineteen years 
old, he and his brothers started for Oregon, driving across the plains with 
horse teams and covered wagons. They made excellent time and, aside from a few 
skirmishes with the Indians, were not molested, arriving safely at their 
destination in the fall of the year. They went down to Chinook, nearly to the 
mouth of the Columbia river, but did not remain there long, going up the river 
several miles and engaging in logging. In this work they used ox teams and on 
getting the logs to the river rafted them down to the sawmill at Astoria. They 
followed that business for two years and then went to Oysterville, in what is 
now Washington, and engaged in oystering, having a good market for their 
product in San Francisco. Mr. Warren with his associates brought to the 
Pacific coast the first eastern oysters for propagation. He also engaged in 
salmon canning at Astoria, in partnership with Mr. Bardollet, following that 
business successfully for a number of years. As he prospered he broadened the 
scope of his activities, buying and operating several sailing vessels, 
including the "Sierra Nevada," "Sea Waif" and steamer "Varuna." The two first 
named ships were employed in the Pacific trade, carrying lumber and other 
cargoes to the orient, with their headquarters in San Francisco. Mr. Warren 
went to Seattle when it was but a small village and bought a large tract of 
land there, which greatly appreciated in value with the growth of the city. He 
secured the contract to carry the mails from Portland to Olympia, by way of 
Astoria and the Columbia river, Grays Harbor and Shoalwater Bay. He was 
accidentally killed by a falling tree in one of his logging camps in 1874, 
when only forty-one years old. In settling up his estate it was found that he 
was interested in eight different enterprises, all of which were successful, 
and had he lived but a few years longer he would undoubtedly have ranked among 
the captains of industry of Oregon. His wife passed away in 1882. Mr. Warren 
was a charter member of the Improved Order of Red Men at Portland, was a man 
of strong character and sterling qualities and was accorded the loyal regard 
of all who were associated with him. To him and his wife were born five sons, 
namely: Leonard, deceased; W. E.; George and Frank, deceased; and Mark S., who 
owns a hotel and summer cottages at Cannon Beach, where he resides. The mother 
of these children crossed the plains in 1852, with her parents, who located 
first at Milwaukie, Oregon. Later they went to Chinook, Washington, but soon 
afterward came back across the river to Astoria, where her father took up a 
donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres, five miles east of that 
place, on which the family lived for many years. He then sold that place and 
moved to Astoria, where he bought a book store, which he conducted for several 
years. His death occurred in that city.

     W. E. Warren acquired his early education in the grammar schools of 
Astoria, also attending Pacific University, at Forest Grove, in 1880, and 
spending the two following years in Bishop Scott Academy, at Portland. His 
first regular employment was in a machine shop in Astoria, which work he 
followed for two years, and in 1885 he turned his attention to river 
transportation, buying a steamboat, which he operated on the Columbia river, 
doing towing and other job work. In 1887 he bought a half interest in 
the "Alpha," a sailing vessel, and engaged in the Alaska fur seal trade. In 
1891 he became the owner of the steamers "Favorite" and "Puritan," which he 
operated on the Columbia river. He sold his Columbia river interests in 1897 
and, going to Alaska, piloted boats on the Yukon and Tanana river during the 
summer seasons and followed gold mining during the winter months from 1897 to 
1908. He then returned to Astoria but in the following spring went back to 
Alaska, where he remained two years longer. During 1913 and 1914 he served as 
pilot of the "T. J. Potter" and during the two following years was captain of 
the United States quartermaster's artillery tender, "Captain James Fornance." 
Since that time he has spent nearly every summer in Alaskan waters, where he 
has been actively engaged in boating. Captain Warren received a pilot's 
license when only twenty years of age and was given his master's papers at the 
age of twenty-three years. He has the reputation of being careful, judicious 
and dependable and his career has been one of which he has just reason to be 
proud.

     On September 19, 1893, Captain Warren was united in marriage to Miss Emma 
Halloway Sayre, who was born in Chile, South America, and is a daughter of 
Rev. Sylvanus and Emma (Laroze) Sayre. The father, a son of David S. and 
Hannah (Murphey) Sayre, was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, March 8, 1835. His 
father was of English and Quaker ancestry, was a hatter by trade and a Godly 
man. His mother came from a long line of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ministers. 
The early boyhood of Sylvanus Sayre was spent in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He 
learned the silver plating trade and earned money to apply on an education. 
After graduating from the Philadelphia high school he entered Princeton 
College in 1857, having chosen the ministry for his life work in his early 
youth. He was graduated from Princeton in 1861. He spent one year's vacation 
in the service of the Christian commission during the Civil war and had charge 
of the hospital at City Point, Virginia. Later he served with the sanitary 
commission for some time. In 1863 he was graduated from the Princeton 
Theological Seminary, was ordained and commissioned for foreign work to Chile 
in the old North church at Philadelphia. He was associated with Dr. Trumbell 
and Rev. Moss Merwin, classmate and co-laborers in Valparaiso, Chile, doing 
evangelistic work, and later went to Talca in northern Chile, where he opened 
a new station and a school for the girls and boys. In 1867 he married Emma 
Laroze, a daughter of Achilles and Ale Laroze, who were Huguenots and left 
France because of religious persecution. Their daughter Emma was born in Agen, 
France, in 1846, was educated in Paris and went with her parents to 
Valparaiso, Chile, in 1852. Following her marriage she accompanied her husband 
to the new field at Talca, where no white woman had ever been. She soon won 
the hearts of the women and children and did much to teach them the better 
way, her work in the school being far-reaching in its influence for good. Two 
daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sayre, Emma Halloway and Harriet Merwin. 
Mrs. Sayre died when a young woman, leaving a little daughter only ten days 
old. This was a sad loss to the family and to the mission field, in which she 
had succeeded in winning the affections and confidence of the people. She 
still lives in the hearts of many of those among whom she labored and her 
deeds of love are told to the children of those who knew her.

     Mr. Sayre was later sent to Copiapo and served the English speaking 
people and also the Spanish church at that place. He sailed for America on his 
first furlough after living and working there for thirteen years. Finding work 
to do in America, he did not return to South America but for four years lived 
in Philadelphia under the commission of the Home Mission Board. In that city, 
May 24, 1880, he married Mary C. Brown, daughter of James and Elizabeth Brown, 
of Philadelphia, where she was born February 25, 1844. They went to western 
Pennsylvania, remaining at Big Sewickley for five years, and to them was born 
a son, James Van Cleve Sayre, now living in Portland. From Pennsylvania Mr. 
Sayre made his way westward to New Mexico and California, hoping to work among 
the Spanish people, but as there was no opening there, the presbytery of 
southern California sent him to Oregon. He was pastor of the church at 
Linkville from 1885 until 1887 and served as supply for the Oakland 
Presbyterian church until 1888. He then went to the Clatsop Plains church, the 
oldest Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi. His health was broken and 
he was superannuated but nevertheless served the church there, established a 
Sunday school and preached at other stations, including Skipanon and Knappa, 
for twelve years. He was called home February 8, 1900. His life was one of 
devotion to his Master. There was never a compromise with anything that 
savored of wrong either in his religious belief or civic obligations. He voted 
the prohibition ticket as soon as there was one in the field and when there 
was only one other prohibition voter in the county and few in the state. Mrs. 
Mary Sayre in 1900 became a resident of Portland, where she remained until her 
death September 3, 1924. She was one of a group of women who formed the 
Woman's Board of Missions in Philadelphia. She filled out a full four score of 
years and is remembered by her friends as a fine Christian character.

     Mrs. Warren, daughter of Rev. Sylvanus Sayre, received her early 
education in her father's home in South America, where he was doing missionary 
work, and after coming to this country she attended a boarding school for 
girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She completed her studies in the State 
Normal School at Ashland, Oregon, from which she was graduated in 1888, after 
which she taught school up to the time of her marriage. She has taken a deep 
interest in the civic, social and religious affairs of her community, being a 
director of the Union high school at Seaside, is chairman of the board of the 
Cannon Beach and Clatsop Plains community church, and she and her husband are 
members of the First Presbyterian church in Astoria. Captain Warren is a 
member of the Woodmen of the World. They reside in a beautiful bungalow home, 
called "Glen Warren," at Cannon Beach, which was built in 1925. The Captain 
owns one hundred and sixty acres there, which he took up as a homestead in the 
early '90s. The land is splendidly located in one of the finest beach sections 
of the state and is well watered and timbered. From the fine springs on his 
place the Captain has developed a private water system, from which he supplies 
between forty and fifty families who reside near his place on the beach, a 
service which is greatly appreciated. He is a man of kindly manner and cordial 
social relations, enjoys a wide acquaintance and all who have come into 
contact with him hold him in high regard for his sterling personal traits and 
his high type of citizenship.

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