Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/115

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UKlMiKSENTATIVK MKN Ol' ()l{i:(;()N. 75

piay be foiiHidenul a very jiidicions outlay ul" time and talent. On arriving at the a^e of maturity he j,'ave all of his hard-earncid Havings, with the ex- ception of twenty dollars, to his then a^ed father, and started in anew to earn a name and fortune for himself. He was elected City rroscKMitin^f At- tory in 1H58 and City Kecorder in 1859. He was meanwhile estahlishinj,' a lucrative practice in the profession of law and steadily advanciiif; to the front rank of the leyal fratcMiiity. In 18(52 he was elected I'msecutiiiK At- torney for the Fourth Judiciia! District. In IWr) and IWiC. he held the hi^jrhly responsible position of special^attorney, under the venerated H(jn. Caleb Cushiiif,', to investit,'ate and settle the attairs of the Hudson Bay antl ruj,'(^t Sound Companies. He was elected State Senator in IHdli to fill a vacancy, and (birinj,' tiiat session Tendered valuable service as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He is now the senior member of the well-known Icf^al firm of Johnson, McCown & Ma(!rnm, with ottlces at Ore;,fon City and Portland. As an attorney at law Mr. Johnson stands hif^h in the profession. He is an earn(!st student, a careful reader and a dcej) thinker. He is a fine- lookin^"- ^'entleman, of ordinary lieij,'ht and build, very black whiskers and mustacihe, prematurely bald, a clear black eye and always neatly dressc^i. He has been several times honored with the complimentary vote of his I)arty friends for U. S. Senator, and during the exciting contest just closed received the votes of the "solid sixteen." He was married on Christmas of 18C8 to Miss Josephine De Vore, a {graduate of the Willamette Universitj and one of the most intelligent ladies in the State. They have a family of three children who are already develoi)ing minds of far more than ordinary brilliancy. Mr. Johnson has a beautiful residence in Oregon City, and hi«  home life amid such surroundings cannot l)e otherwise than pleasant.


WILLIAM R. WILLIS. The well-known attorney of Douglas county, whose success as a member of the bar is second to none in the district in which he resides, is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born in Boone county, Ohio, on the 22d day of June, 1825. His parents moved to Putnam county, Illinois, in 1827- He was raised on a farm and was favored with but comparatively few facil- ities of protmriug an education, but he assiduously improved those offered him, and thus gained a foothold to other advancement. He arrived in Ore- gon in 185;}, having acu-ompanii'd his mother on the trip around the Horn, his father and the remainder of the family having come across the i)lain9. He connuencwl reading law and was admitted to the bar in IHC)!, having originally settled in Douglas county, where he has resided ever sinci-, liis parents having died there within a few months of each other and at thi> rir>o old age of seventy-eight years. He was married in IHC.C, to Miss Carolino Haines, of Douglas county. He was elected County and Probate ,hulge in 18(;() and served four years in that position, and in 18(51) was appointed Reg- istrar of the United 'states Land OHice, which position he held for nine years. He then devoted his entire attention to the practice of law, and staTids high in his profession, he is a jjroniincnt Odd Fellow. with the rank