Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 3.djvu/636

630 THE CITY OF PORTLAND Mrs. Griffiths is a worthy descendant of worthy ancestry, and is one of the remarkable pioneer women of Oregon. She is a member of the pioneer society and is also affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. She has passed through many vicissitudes but, true to the principles that upheld the noble men and women of the early days, she has never yielded to discouragement, and in all the duties of daughter, wife and mother has heroically performed her part.

HENRY WASHBURN GODDARD.

Henry Washburn Goddard, who is identified with the real-estate interests of Portland and for many years was officially connected with the railroad busi- ness, was born at Monroe, Wisconsin, August 12, 1856. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, at Lawrence University, of Appleton, Wisconsin, and also took a law course at the University of Oregon, graduating in 1896. His first business experience was in his father's store in Monroe, where he continued for several years, at the end of which time he entered the railroad service as clerk and finally station agent and telegraph operator at Mears, Michigan.

Later Mr. Goddard decided to seek wider fields and came to San Francisco in March, 1879, arriving in Portland a month later, where he has since resided, with the exception of from 1881 to 1886 spent in the Willamette valley. On first reaching Portland he was in the employ of J. L Case & Company for a few months, then he re-entered the railroad business as a telegraph operator of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company at the Lower Cascades.

On January 1, 1881, he went to Dayton, Oregon, as station agent for the Oregonian Railway Company, Limited, becoming auditor and superintendent of the road, continuing until it was absorbed by the Southern Pacific in 1890. For six years, up to 1896, he was connected with the general foreign department of the Southern Pacific Company and at the end of this time was made assist- ant general agent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for the Pacific northwest territory continuing until 1906, when he retired from the railroad business to accept the presidency of the Oregon Auto-Despatch, a transfer company which he organized and managed for several years. This was the first company or individual on the Pacific coast to use a self-propelled vehicle in a commercial way. Since 1907 he has been actively engaged in the real- estate business and in 1909 became a member of the firm of Goddard & Wiedrick, who are engaged in handling properties mostly belonging to the firm.

Mr. Goddard is a stanch advocate of the principles of the republican party and served for three years, from 1902 to 1905, as a member of Mayor Will- iam's executive board under appointment of the mayor. His ability in the tran- saction of public afifairs was also recognized by his appointment July 6, 1910, as a member of the board of county commissioners of Multnomah county, as successor to Commissioner Barnes, who resigned at that time.

During Mr. Goddard's service on the board of county commissioners, he solved the transportation question over the drawbridges in this city, by taking the position that the county had the right to regulate the opening and closing of the drawbridges and that the navigation interests must give way at certain periods to the foot and vehicle travel over the bridges, although the secretary of war, who assumed to control the bridges, had refused to grant any relief, even though besieged with monster petitions. Mr. Goddard and County Judge Cleeton as the county court instructed the bridge tenders to refuse to allow boats to pass through the bridges at certain specified times when the overhead travel was at its maximum, and although the local federal officials threatened prosecution with a dire punishment of fine and imprisonment, the county court was firm and the war department conceded the point after one day's delay.