Spokane County WA Archives Biographies.....Tebbetts, Major Frank P. October 29, 1883 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 27, 2010, 10:57 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 434 - 437
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     MAJOR FRANK P. TEBBETTS.  One of the well known younger men and worthy 
citizens of Portland is Major Frank P. Tebbetts, who in both civil and 
military affairs has shown distinctive ability and attained definite 
recognition. He is now engaged in the general investment business, in which he 
is meeting with very gratifying success. Major Tebbetts was born in Salem, 
Massachusetts, on the 29th of October, 1883, and is a son of Irving S. and 
Annie M. (Cunningham) Tebbetts, the former born in New Hampshire and the 
latter in Massachusetts. The family is of English origin and was founded in 
this country by Henry Tebbetts, who settled in New England in 1640. One of his 
descendants, Ephraim Tebbetts, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and 
other members of the family served in the War of 1812 and the Civil war. 
Irving S. Tebbetts was long in the employ of the Boston & Maine Railroad but 
since 1918 has been a resident of Portland, Oregon, where he is connected with 
the Portland Telegraph and Telephone Company. He and his wife make their home 
with their son. Members of the Tebbetts family have been prominent in the 
affairs of the coast, Calvin Tibbetts (the name is spelled both ways) a fur 
trader of Portland, Maine, having come to Oregon in a very early day and was a 
member of the historic convention at Champoeg which saved Oregon to the Union. 
Another member of the family planted the first orange tree in California.

     Major Tebbetts completed the courses of the public and high schools, and 
then entered the law school of Boston University, from which he was graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1905. Several seasons he did special 
work at the Harvard Summer school after which he engaged in socialogical work 
under Robert E. Woods at South End House, in Boston. He engaged in the 
practice of law in Boston, as a member of the firm of Marden & Tebbetts, but 
in 1907 went to Spokane, Washington, and entered the real estate business, to 
which he devoted his attention until 1912. In January, 1913, Major Tebbetts 
came to Portland as state manager for the Columbia National Life Insurance 
Company, and two years later became state manager for the Union Central Life 
Insurance Company, his service in that relation being interrupted by a call to 
his country's military service.

     Major Tebbetts had long been interested in military matters. At the age 
of eighteen years he had enlisted in the Second Corps Cadets in Salem, 
Massachusetts, which organization has been in continuous existence since the 
Revolutionary war. He made a close study of military tactics, preparing for a 
commission, and in 1913, after coming to Portland, he raised and organized 
Troop A, a cavalry company, of which he was made captain, and which was the 
first cavalry troop ever formed in Oregon. The Major was a friend of Colonel 
Roosevelt, who encouraged him in this move, and in forming the troop he had 
the hearty cooperation of Major-General Charles H. Martin U. S. A., retired, 
who was at that time in command of the Third Regiment Oregon Infantry. Troop A 
outshot, outrode and outdrilled every other troop on the coast and was widely 
recognized as a crack military organization. At the outbreak of the Mexican 
border trouble, Major Tebbetts resigned the captaincy of Troop A and took a 
machine gun company of the Third Oregon Regiment as captain, with which he 
served on the border several months, when he was honorably discharged. When 
the United States became involved in the World war, the Major offered his 
services again and was commissioned a captain in the ordinance department, 
being assigned to the staff of General Williams. He was sent to different 
parts of the United States as personnel officer, selecting and commissioning 
offices for the ordnance division, and on the completion of that work was 
detailed as morale officer under General Williams. In that capacity he was to 
have made a tour of all ordnance divisions in the United States and Europe, 
doing special work in maintaining the morale of the department, but as his 
services were required in his old division he was, at the request of his 
former chief, ordered to duty as executive officer of the trench warfare 
division of the ordnance department. Major Tebbetts has written many articles 
for military magazines and for the instruction of officers. He was retained at 
Washington during the demobilization of the troops and on retiring from the 
active service was commissioned a major in the Reserve Corps. He is still 
greatly interested in military affairs and is a one hundred per cent believer 
in military preparedness.

     On returning to civil life he became associated with Max Hauser, of 
Portland, in the flour and grain business to which he devoted his attention 
until 1923, when he organized the firm of Frank P. Tebbetts & Company, of 
which he is president, and engaged in the exporting and trading business. He 
has recently become active in real estate development, having interested 
eastern and southern capital in the east and west sides of the river, and is a 
great believer in the future of Portland. The Major is fiscal agent for 
several properties and will be interested in important new developments here 
as a principal.

     In 1910 Major Tebbetts was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth A. 
Turrish, of Spokane, Washington, a niece of Henry Turrish, the well known 
timber magnate. They have a daughter, Elizabeth Marie, born June 11, 1917. 
Major Tebbetts is a member of the Military Order of the World war, the Sons of 
the American Revolution, the Portland Art Association and the Society of 
Oregon Artists. In his political views he is a stanch republican. In 1924 he 
founded the Columbia Port Digest, a magazine devoted to the development of the 
Columbia river and its tributary country, and for which he has contributed 
many constructive and widely read articles regarding the commodities and trade 
activities of the Columbia basin. This publication has reached the foreign 
countries and trade centers abroad as well as those in this country. Major 
Tebbetts is keenly interested in water borne commerce and believes in 
encouraging every effort to upbuild the Columbia river as a whole. In his 
career Major Tebbetts has exemplified the highest type of citizenship and no 
resident of Portland is held in higher or more sincere regard than he.

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