Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/97

 oval of

57

smaller obstructions iu the rapids of the Snake and Columbia rivers. Of the enterprises iu which Mr. M. has been lately engaged, the building of Montgomery warehouse at Albina, which is the largest private dock in Portland, is probably the most important. In the year 18fil Mr. Mont- gomery was married to Miss Rachel Anthony, daughter of Hon. Joseph B. .\nthony, of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. This lady died iu 18fi;3, leav- ing one son; he was again married iu 1S6G to Miss Mary Phelps, only daughter of Gov. John S. Phelps, of Missouri. In politics, although Mr. Montgomery is a staunch Republican, he has never held public office. He was elected a delegate from Lycoming to represent the Republicans of that county in the Pennsylvania Republican State Convention in the years 1860, 1867 and 1868. In 1866 he was on the Committee on Resolutions, and to- gether with Thadeus Stevens, Wayne MacVeagh and others, reported a resolution recommending the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant for President. This was the first State Convention that presented the name of that illus- tnous soldier for the position of Chief Magistrate of the Reijublic. Now, patient reader, in closing this brief biography of a gentleman of whom we would be pleased to write a volume, we would simply say that we have not, even in what we have written, been able to do him half justice. He is sed- ulously reticent as to his personal history, his many successes and his bril- liant associations, hence the few facts which we have been able to gather regarding him are to us a small portion of the open record, and while it would afford us great pleasure, and we entertain the hope that we may some time be able, to do Mr. Montgomery justice in a more complete biog- rapliy, we must for the present remain satisfied in presenting this very in- complete sketch.

HON. ASAHEL BUSH. The name that heads this sketch is one well known throughout Oregon. He who bears it is now well nigh three score years of age, but he apperrs much younger and is possessed of a greater degree of vim and energy than is ordinarily displayed by men of younger years. His career has, indeed, been an interesting one, and to enumerate even the more prominent events of his life, and to do justice to his energy and enterprise in one brief sketch would be impossible, as it would occupy more space than we can spare in our little volume. Mr. Bush was born in Hampden county, Mass., in 1824, and received an academic course of instruction in the institution of learn ing in his native village. About 1840 he went to Saratoga Springs, New York, and commenced learning the printer's trade, servuig a regular three years' apprenticeship in the " Sentinel" office of that city. He held a case on the State work in Albany in 1845, and in his day was considered an ex- pert and remarkably correct compositor. He returned to his native town in 1846 and commenced reading law, studying leisurely until June, 18.50, when he was admitted to the bar at Springfield. During the time he was studying law, he for nearly two years edited a weekly [.apn- in the village, and was, for some time, town clerk, a position of mncli honor and distinc- tion in that early day, when the citizens of a town oi- borough in mass-meet-