"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon." Authors: "a
compilation of this work....by a number of writers".  Chapman Publishing Co;
Chicago, 1903. p. 335.
 
BENJAMIN F. LINN

     In disposing of the opportunities at his command, Benjamin F. Linn,
conceded to be one of the most experienced sawmill men in the state of Oregon,
has evinced business ability of a high order, and a knowledge of his complex
calling second to none in the west. From ancestors who were among the developers
of Pennsylvania he inherits a sturdiness of purpose and rugged determination of
incalculable benefit in the unsettled conditions among which his business life
has been passed, traits which were fostered during his early years in the
vicinity of Quincy, Ill., where he was born April 15, 1846, a son of Philip and
Mahala (McDannald) Linn, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
     While a young man Philip Linn removed from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, where
he married his first wife, the mother of Benjamin F., and from where he removed
to Illinois in 1832. Two years after the death of his wife in 1858, Mr. Linn
married again, and in 1865, with his wife and twelve children, started across
the plains in a train of about forty wagons. The travelers experienced the usual
deprivations and hardships on the way, and more than the usual allowance of
dissensions among the members comprising the company. Of the original band but
fifteen completed the entire trip in a body. The trip was rendered lamentable
for the Linns, for Martha, one of the daughters, and her husband, Jonathan
Lownsberry, died on the way, he of consumption, and she of mountain fever. Five
months and eighteen days after starting out Mr. Linn settled at Eagle Creek,
Clackamas county, where he bought a section of land in partnership with his son,
W. T., and built and operated a grist mill, in which business he had formerly
engaged in Illinois.  In 1889 this hardy pioneer died in the midst of his
diverse activities, yet the busy mill is still throwing water over its wheel,
and waking the echoes with the hum of its ceaseless unrest. Mr. Linn possessed
good business ability, amassed a large property, and secured the respect and
liking of all with whom he had to deal.
     In his youth Benjamin F. Linn had scant educational chances, a deprivation
for which he has more than made up in later years. As a boy of nineteen he drove
a four mule team across the plains, and shared in the dangers and privations of
the hopeful emigrants. When of age he signaled his independence by renting a
sawmill at Milwaukie, Clackamas county, which he ran for three years, and the
following two years tried his luck at agricultural enterprises. Not entirely
successful, he bought a mill, which burned down in 1899, which he rebuilt with
modern innovations, and has since managed with great success and large profit.
He owns also a section of land upon which the mill is located, and this is
situated two and a half miles from Redland, and seven miles from Oregon City.
Besides, Mr. Linn owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, forty of which are
under cultivation; eighty acres near Oregon City, and eighty acres on the
Oregon City road. To a certain extent he is interested in farming, but the
demand upon his time from his milling interests permits of few outside
enterprises.
     In Clackamas county, Ore., Mr. Linn was united in marriage with Susan
Noyer, who was born in Texas, a daughter of Peter Noyer, who came from Texas to
Oregon in 1852, via the Isthmus. Mr. Noyer took up a donation claim of three
hundred and twenty acres of land in Clackamas county, where the remainder of his
life was spent. His wife, however, is still living with her daughter, Mrs. Linn,
and is eighty-four years of age. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Linn, viz.: Alfred B.; Frank E.; Timothy W.; James W.; Philip P.; Ernest;
Mildia; and Hester. Mr. Linn is a Democrat in political preference.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in March 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.