Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/52



A TRIBUTE TO JOHN MINTO*

By WILLIAM GALLOWAY.

On this the 157th anniversary of the birth of the great Scotch poet, Robert Burns, I am asked to say something of another poet, writer and Oregon pioneer, Hon. John Minto, who never let the natal day of "Bobby" Burns pass without celebrating the occasion with song and feast.

I knew Mr. Minto intimately from my childhood and can never think of him without associating him with two other noted pioneers of Oregon born under Britain's flag Dr. John McLoughlin, born in Canada, and Hon. F. X. Matthieu, also a native of Canada. These three pioneers were bosom friends and co-laborers in laying broad and secure the foundation of our young commonwealth. Their remains lie on the banks of the beautiful Willamette they loved so dearly, and no men more loyal to the American flag or American institutions ever breathed the pure air of heaven.

Mr. Minto was a native of England, born in 1822, crossed the plains to Oregon in 1844 and settled near Salem where in 1847 he married Martha Ann Morrison, a pioneer of 1844. Of this worthy pioneer woman it can be truly said she was of the highest stamp of American womanhood and was no man's inferior. Of this happy union there were eight children born, three only surviving, being valued residents of Salem, their native city. Minto was born of the common people, lived the life of the people he so loved and died with a last prayer for the supremacy of the plain people. He often said "We have too many paupers and too many idle rich, but not enough of the great mass of the common people who move the world civilly, morally and financially."

Our constitution written by our pioneer fathers is the most enlightened and progressive of any state constitution in the

Address delivered at Robert Burns memorial exercises held at Salem Janu- ary 25, 1916.