Walla Walla-Columbia County WA Archives Biographies.....Hite, Glenn Butler November 9, 1879 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wa/wafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 20, 2011, 12:46 am Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 718 - 722 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company GLENN BUTLER HITE. One of the best known hotel men in Portland is Glenn B. Hite, who has been manager of Hotel Washington for the past twelve years and whose business ability and excellent personal qualities have gained for him a high place in the esteem of all who have come in contact with him. He was born in Philomath, Benton county, Oregon, on the 9th of November, 1879, a son of William Stuard and Tennessee A. (Butler) Hite. He had three brothers and a sister: Franklin Blaine, of Albany, Oregon; Mrs. Emma Hite Hull, of Walla Walla, Washington; Orval Stuard of Portland; and Henry Maston, who was drowned in 1917, at Minot, North Dakota. The family name is of German origin, having originally been spelled Heidt. Yost Heidt, who was of German birth, and whose wife was born in France and bore the family name of Du Bois, made a contract with the English government to conduct one hundred families to Virginia for settlement in 1730, and for this he was to receive a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land. He fell short of securing the required number and consequently the size of the tract was reduced. His grant overlapped the claim of Lord Fairfax and litigation resulted which was not concluded until fifty years later, when the Heidt grant was approved, though Mr. Heidt had died in the meantime. He brought his family to America in 1710 and was accompanied by a number of other families on the ships "Swift" and "Friendship." They landed in New York city and settled first in Kingston, New York state. Later they moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania, and in 1730 located in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, being the first white family to settle there. Yost Heidt was the father of three sons and three daughters, of whom one of the daughters married into the family of President James Madison. Members of the family held many public positions in Virginia during colonial days and several of its members fought on the side of the colonists in their war for independence. For more than two hundred years since it was established in this country the Hite family has been identified with pioneering and the settlement of various sections of the country. One of Yost Heidt's daughters, Sarah Heidt, became the wife of General Jonathan Clark, a brother of William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The branch of the family from which Glenn B. Hite is descended left Virginia and settled in Ohio, whence some of its members moved to the vicinity of Rockford, Illinois, where they took up timber claims. On the claim of William Stuard Hite the city of Rockford was built. He was born in Marion county, Ohio, November 5, 1830, a son of William Stuard Hite, Sr., and became a blacksmith and wagonmaker by trade. In 1849, when nineteen years of age, he crossed the plains to Linn county, Oregon, and was made head packmaster for the United States government between The Dalles and Fort Vancouver, during which service he had many clashes with the Indians. One of his packers, at Dayton, Oregon, went hunting alone and was captured and scalped by the Indians. Mr. Hite played a part in many important incidents of those pioneer days in this section of the country, particularly at Jacksonville, Oregon, during the gold excitement. He did much of the iron work on early steamboats, including the "Eleanora," which was built at Newport. His parents came to this state about 1849, locating in Linn county, where his father engaged in farming. His mother died soon after her arrival here, but his father lived here a number of years and on his death was buried at Elk City. His brother, Andrew Hite, owned much property at Albany, Oregon. William Stuard Hite, Jr., married Tennessee A. Butler, a native of Berry county, Missouri, and a daughter of Henry P. and Judith E. Butler, these being among the first three families to settle at Toledo, Lincoln county, Oregon. In 1863 the family came across the plains to Oregon, with ox team and covered wagon, and located near La Grande in the Grand Ronde valley, where Mr. Butler engaged in farming for a number of years, eventually moving to Corvallis. Two of the original Butler ranches, at Toledo, have been in the family for sixty-three years. While the Butler family was on its way west, in 1863, at Big Bend, in the Snake river country, the Indians rode through the wagon train at dusk, carrying scalps on poles and demanding food. They were fed and left, but the white party were fearful of an attack before morning. However, before dawn six wagon trains had consolidated and the Indians did not attack. Fort Butler, near Toledo, was built by the party as a protection against the Indians, and traces of the original log walls are still visible. The Butler family was originally from Tennessee and Kentucky. Glenn B. Hite received his early education in the schools of various towns in which the family lived, completing his public school work at Dayton, Washington, and the high school at Walla Walla, Washington. For a time he was connected with a mercantile business in Walla Walla, after which he was on the road as a traveling salesman until 1905, when he came to Portland and began his hotel career. He was identified with the Eaton Hotel, which was the first hotel here to install a telephone switchboard and to have hot and cold running water in all rooms. Later Mr. Hite went to the Virginia-Hill Hotel, where he remained until 1912, when he came to Hotel Washington, of which he has been manager since 1916. This hotel has one hundred and thirty-six rooms, is nicely furnished and equipped in every respect and renders a type of service which has made it exceedingly popular with the traveling public. Mr. Hite has proven well qualified for the position which he holds and gives close attention to the wants and comfort of his guests, a fact which is recognized and appreciated by those who patronize the Washington. On June 21, 1916, in Spokane, Washington, Mr. Hite was united in marriage to Miss May I. Blalock, a daughter of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, who was the youngest physician on the medical staff of the Union Army during the Civil war and followed his profession for forty years. The Blalock family originally settled in Asheville, North Carolina, and was prominent in the early affairs of the colonies and the new republic. Dr. Nelson G. Blalock's grandfather, John Blalock, was a member of George Washington's regiment and was presented with a Masonic pin by George Washington in Lodge No. 2 of Virginia over which General Washington presided as master. Dr. Nelson G. Blalock was one of the pioneers of Walla Walla, Washington, and was for many years president of the Washington Pioneer Association. He took a leading part in public affairs, served as mayor of Walla Walla, assisted in drafting the first state constitution and held a number of public offices. A town and island on the Columbia river were named in his honor. He was the first to advocate dry farming, and proved it possible. His orchard was famous throughout this part of the country and in many ways he stimulated the agricultural and horticultural development of his state by his example. The old Blalock home stood on the present site of a hotel in Walla Walla. He married Miss Marie Elizabeth Greenfield, whose mother belonged to the Dalton family of Dalton, England. One son of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, the late Dr. Yancy Blalock, was long a prominent physician in Walla Walla. Mr. Hite is a member of the Oregon State Hotel Association, of which he has been treasurer for five years, and also belongs to the Greeters of America and the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers. He is a man of strong individuality, sterling character and of courteous and agreeable manner, and wherever known he commands uniform confidence and respect. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/wa/wallawalla/photos/bios/hite203gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wa/wallawalla/bios/hite203gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wafiles/ File size: 8.6 Kb