Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1893. p. 890. CHARLES COOLIDGE Among the many prosperous farmers of Polk county stands the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was born in Eric county, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1828, and is of Irish ancestry, who came to the colony of Massachusetts early in the settlement of the country. His father, Porter Coolidge, was born in New York, in 1796, and married Miss Polly Jones, a native of New York, of Welsh ancestry. They had six sons and two daughters, of whom four are now living. Mr. Coolidge was reared in his native county and educated in the common schools. He learned the carpenters' trade with his father, and worked at this trade summers and taught school winters, until 1855, when he removed to Kane county, Illinois. In 1862 he removed to Iowa, where he continued to work and teach, until the spring of 1864, when he crossed the plains to Oregon with horse teams. Soon after starting he fell in with a company of eight families and they traveled together to Sale Lake. The Indians were very hostile and the emigrants were in danger of their lives. At the Platte river they were attacked and their horses stolen, one of which belonged to Mr. Coolidge. After this several trains joined together and formed a large company from there on to Salt Lake. Mr. Coolidge remained at Salt Lake three weeks, traded horses, and then journeyed on with a fresh team. He frequently fell in with emigrants, but did not connect himself with any special company. They arrived at The Dalles in October. Here they spent the winter, and during the following July came down the river. Our subject sold his horses and worked at $4 per day. He then came to Salem and worked a year and a half. The next removal was to Yaquina Bay, where he built the first store building, at Newport. Here he had a severe attack of typhoid fever, and all his savings were consumed by the time he had recovered. He then resolutely turned his face toward Polk county. He fell in with the friend of the needy, Senator Nesmith, who gave him flour and other necessities and employed him constantly for a year and a half. Mr. Coolidge says that this good man helped more needy people than any other living man. Our subject purchased forty acres of land which cost him $200 down, and $400 later on. He worked for Joshua McDaniel until he paid for his land. He came to his present locality in 1869, where he has a choice farm of 250 acres, on this property he has built and improved. He has made it one of the finest farms in a county that is noted for its choice land. In 1878 he built with his own hands his fine farm residence, making by hand all the doors, sashes and everything else that is usually made by machinery. He planted vines, trees and shrubs around the place, and they have made the place a beautiful one indeed. Mr. Coolidge can sit beneath the shade of the trees that his own hands planted. It is a pleasant task to write of one who has risen from adversity to have such a fine home and everything comfortable about him. Mr. Coolidge was married in 1858, to Miss Martha Beeler, who was the first white child born in Blackberry township, Kane county, Illinois, and was of German ancestry, daughter of David Beeler, a farmer and pioneer of Illinois. A son, Porter , crossed the plains with his parents and three daughters were born to them in Oregon. The son died in 1888, but the daughters still survive, namely: Hattie, wife of John Yott, of Portland, where Mr. Yott is a business man. The other daughters, Lucy and Sarah, are with their parents. Mrs. Coolidge, the faithful wife of all his privations, still lives to share with him their prosperity. Mr. Coolidge has been a Republican since the formation of the party, and he is a man of whom all speak well, for he has the respect and esteem for the entire neighborhood. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2012 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.