Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/203



Portland, where he has resided ever since. He went into the livery Imsi- ness in February, 1853, and for several years condncted a drayinK and de- livery business in connection therewith. He was also interested in the sad- dlery and harness business with the late Samuel Sherlock, Es(j., for some time. He is now farming and raising horses in connection with his husi- ness as proprietor of the elegant Black Hawk stables, on Second street be- tween Stark and Oak. By judicious investments and a thorougii knowledge of business principles, Mr. Bacon has succeeded in amassing sufTicient of this world's goods to enable him now to enjoy life, and his love for his fam- ily and liome enable him to do so without ostentation, but with none the less intensity. He is a Republican, but has never taken a very active in- terest in politics. He was elected City Assessor of Portland in IH.% and Collector in 1856, and at the last general election was elected County Ciim- missioner by a very handsome majority. He was married in Portland Jan- uary 17, 1855, to Clara A. Clark, formerly of Warren, Maine, and their family consists of two children, the eldest, a daughter, being the Avife of (leorge W. Weidler, Esq. Mr. Bacon comes of good Connecticut stock, his father and mother. Dr. and Mrs. William Bacon, now of Niles, Michigan, being both alive and enjoying good health at the advanced age of eighty-fight years, having been married sixty-eight years next February. Mr. Bacon is highly esteemed by those who know him best and honored and respected by all.

REV. L. J. POWELL, A. M., Late Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of On^(.t)n, and now President of the University of Washington Territory, has in his life that kind of a record which, to read and understand, explains the forces that have made the " Wilderness bud and blossom as the rose." He was born May 19, 1834, near Piketon, in Kentucky. His parents were David and Almedia Hurless Powell. In 1837 these parents removed to ffec then extreme Westei-n frontier, and settled in Cass county, Missouri, where they remained until the spring of 1847. The training of these ten years was al- most altogether in the line of farm work, amidst the inevitable deprivations of frontier life. 'One pair of shoes a year, made by his father out of leather tanned by himself, and a limited wardrobe made out of cloth for which his mother's hands had carded, spun and woven the wool, and then had cut and made the garments, a holy ministry of work and love to the boy. Few were the opportunities for learning, and consequently little the education of these ten years. In 1847 the star of Oregon was just arising in th»^ west, and Mr. David Powell saw it, and started with his family to follow its guiding ray across the then trackless desert. The hardships and dangers of the journey of half a year were too many to attempt here to record. Late in the Autumn, weary and worn, the family arrived in the Willamette Valley, and settled about seven miles east of Portland, where the father, H»ii. David Powell, still lives, respected by his fellow-citizens and beloved b> his inti- mate friends. In the Spring of 1848, May 28, came the sad shadow of his mother's death over the life of young Leonard. To him sbe was not a