Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/160

142 expenses and responsibilities of a state, the conclusion is irresistible that jealousy of the lead taken in this matter by California, and the aspirations of politicians, rather than the good of the people, prompted a suggestion which could not have been entertained by the tax-payers.

On the 2d of December the legislative assembly chosen in June met at Oregon City. It consisted of nine members in the council and eighteen in the lower house. W. W. Buck of Clackamas county was chosen president of the council, and Ralph Wilcox of Washington county speaker of the house. The names of the councilmen and representatives are given in the first number of the Oregon Statesman. W. W. Buck, Samuel T. McKean, Samuel Parker, and W. B. Mealey were of the class which held over from 1849. I have already given some account of Buck and McKean. Parker and Mealey were both of the immigration of 1845. Parker was a Virginian, a farmer and carpenter, but a man who interested himself in public affairs. He was a good man. Mealey was a Pennsylvanian; a farmer and physician.

Of the newly elected councilmen, James McBride has been mentioned as one of the immigrants of 1847.

Richard Miller of Marion county was born in Queen Anne's county, Maryland, in 1800. He came to Oregon in 1847, and was a farmer.

A. L. Humphrey of Benton county was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1796 and emigrated to Oregon in 1847. He was a farmer and merchant.

Lawrence Hall, a farmer of Washington county, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 10, 1800, and came to Oregon in 1845.

Frederick Waymire, of Polk county, a millwright, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, March 15, 1807. He married Fanny Cochagan, of Indiana, by whom he had 17 children. He came to Oregon in 1845 and soon became known as an energetic, firm, strong, rough man, and an uncompromising partisan. 'The old apostle of democracy' and 'watchdog of the treasury' were favorite terms used by his friends in describing Waymire. He became prominent in the politics of the territory, and was much respected for his honesty and earnestness, though not always in the right. His home in Polk county, on the little river Luckiamute, was called Hayden Hall. He had been brought up a Methodist, and in the latter part of his life returned to his allegiance, having a library well stocked with historical and religious works. He died in April 28, 1873, honored as a true man and a patriotic citizen, hoping with faith that he should live again beyond the grave. R. P. Boise, in ''Trans. Or. Pioneer Assoc., 1876'', 27–8. His wife survived until Oct. 15, 1878, when she died in her 69th year. Three only of their children are living. All the members of the council were married men with families, except Humphrey who was a widower.

The members of the house were Ralph Wilcox, William M. King of Washington county, William Shaw, William Parker, and Benjamin F. Harding of Marion, the latter elected to fill a vacancy created by the death of E. George