Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/138

 t town site.

In ia'52 Mr. Peebles entered public life as Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives, and in 1853 lie was elected to the Legislature, serving in the House with Hon. L. P. Grover and Hon. E. F. Colby as colleagues. In 1854 he Avas elected to the Council, where he served three years and was afterwards elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, serving as Chairman of the Committee on Education. In 1860 he was elected State Librarian, also serving as Chief Clerk of the Senate at that session. In 1862 'he was elected County Judge of Marion County, and re-elected in 1866, and agaiu in 1874, serving in that capacity twelve years. In 1880 Mr. Peebles was Chief Clerk of the Senate. He also served as Chief Clerk of the Senate the last time the Republicans had control of the Senate prior to 1880. In all the various positions which Judge Peebles has filled, he invariably closes his term with the plaudit of "Well done" from his constituents. In politics Judge Peebles assisted in the organization of the Democratic party in the, then, Territory of Oregon, and acted Avith that party up to the inception of the civil war. At the commence- ment of the war he unhesitatingly cast his influence in favor of the Administration of President Lincoln, and circulated the first paper to obtain signatures for a Union meeting in the City of Salem. Since then Judge Peebles has been an unswerving member of the Republican party and was honored with the position of Chairman of the Republican State • Conventions of 1878 and 1880. Mr. Peebles i-ead law for two years prior to coming to Oregon, but never sought admission to the bar. His tastes inclined to agricultural pursuits, and he now resides three and a half miles south of Salem, in a pleasant home, on a farm on the line of the O. & C. R. R. He was married in 1851 to Miss E. J. Mark, of Clackamas county, Oregon. Five children, two sous and three daughters, are living, the eldest son, George A., is a graduate of Willamette University, attorney-at-law, and now principal of the Salem public schools. He is a fine-looking gentleman of ordinary height, a well-shaped head, slightly bald, sharp and prominent features and gray hair and whiskers.

JOHN M. PITTENGER, ESQ. It is perfectly natural to admire pluck and ambition in a young man, and this, no doubt, is one reason why he whose name heads this sketch has won so many friends during his residence in Oregon. He is of that class who are opposed to leading the routine life of an unambitious citizen, but with the energy and enterprise characteristic of Young America when untrammeled with restraint, he seeks higher and nobler spheres of life and looks forward to securing fame and fortune before ))eing overtaken by old age. Mr. Pittinger was born in Medina county. Ohio, August 18, 1855, and attended an academic course at Oberliu in that State. Although raised on a farm he applied himself to his studies with the laudable purpose in view of adopting some one of the leading professions. He taught school in Ohio and Michigan and came to Oregon in 1878, and during the Avinter of 1879-80 was Principal of the Sheridan Academy. He then went to East Portland and has speculated some in real estate, and acted as Deputy Prosecuting