Gaston, Joseph.  "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912."  Vol. 3. 
Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 106.
 
CLYDE B. AITCHISON

     of Salem, has been almost continuously in public office in Oregon since
1905, and is now a member and chairman of the board of railway commissioners, in
which connection he is rendering important service to the public. He has been a
resident of the state since May, 1903, coming to Oregon to enter upon the
practice of law in Portland. He was then a young man of about twenty-eight
years, his birth having occurred in Clinton, Iowa, February 22, 1875. His
parents were John and Mary J. (Nolan) Aitchison, the former a native of
Scotland, whence he came to the United States in early manhood, making the long
voyage across the Atlantic in 1854. He had been educated for the ministry in the
University of Glasgow and after arriving in this country engaged in preaching in
Brooklyn, New York, and afterward in Iowa, where he became recognized as one of
the most prominent representatives of the Baptist ministry. The Central
University of Iowa conferred upon him the Doctor of Divinity degree and he was
accounted one of the most scholarly men and capable divines of that state. In
1894 he retired from active connection with the ministry and in 1903 he came to
Oregon to take up his abode with his son in Portland, where he passed away in
1906. His widow still survives and yet makes her home with the subject of this
review.
     Clyde B. Aitchison, spending his youthful days under the parental roof,
acquired his early education in the public schools, completing his course in the
high school of Hastings, Nebraska, with the class of 1889. He was an honor
graduate of that class and also the youngest graduate who ever finished the work
in the Hastings high school. He afterward entered Hastings College, from which
he was graduated in 1893, with the degree of B. S., and again he was the
youngest pupil to complete the course in that institution up to that time. With
a broad literary learning to serve as the foundation upon which to build
professional knowledge he took up the study of law in the office of Tibbets,
Morey & Ferris, of Hastings, and there continued for about eighteen months,
after which he went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, resuming his studies in the office
of Finley Burke. In 1896 he successfully passed the examination which secured
his admission to the bar of his native state and entered upon practice in
Council Bluffs. Although advancement at the bar is proverbially slow no dreary
novitiate awaited him. He was soon accorded a large and growing clientage and
was numbered among the successful practitioners of that city until he removed to
the west. He was also honored by the profession in an election to the office of
secretary of the Bar Association of Council Bluffs, acting in that capacity from
its organization until he left the state. During that time he compiled
Aitchison's Annotations of the Iowa Decisions, which was published by the
Lawyers Cooperative Company of Rochester and had a wide sale throughout the
state.
     In May, 1903, Mr. Aitchison arrived in Portland where he resumed the
practice of law, and in June, 1905, he was called to public office, being made
clerk of the commission appointed to prepare a new tax code for the state.
Later, in 1906, he was engaged to assist in drafting the present railroad
commission bill, which was presented to the legislature and adopted by that
body, after which, in February, 1907, Mr. Aitchison was appointed a member of
the board of railway commissioners. In April, 1908, he was given the republican
nomination for the office and was elected to that position, while in January,
1911, he was chosen chairman of the board, in which important capacity he is now
serving. In this connection he has carefully safeguarded the interests of the
people at large yet stands strictly for that justice which neither favors nor
abuses the corporation nor the individual.
     On the 5th of September, 1906, Mr. Aitchison was united in marriage to Miss
Bertha Beatrice Williams, of Pacific Grove, Oregon, a daughter of E. B.
Williams, of Iowa, in which state his death occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Aitchison
have two children, Beatrice and Bruce. In his political views Mr. Aitchison has
always been a republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of
the day. He has never been a partisan but maintains a progressive attitude that
seeks ever the welfare of the majority. He belongs to Portland Lodge, No. 142,
B. P. 0. E., is also a member of the University Club of Portland and vice
president of the Apollo Club of this city. He is prominent and popular in the
Rose City as well as in the state capital and in fact he has a wide and
favorable acquaintance throughout Oregon. He is preeminently a man of affairs
and one who has wielded a wide influence.


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