Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 275.

F. L. POSSON

     One of the active business men of Portland, was born in Rockford, Illinois,
in 1839.  His parents, Jacob and Mary (Sherwood) Posson, were natives of New
York State, subsequently emigrating to Illinois, where Mr. Posson engaged in
farming, and also carried on a cooperage establishment until his death, in 1842.
     Our subject was second in a family of three children, and was reared and
educated by his mother, in Rockford.  In the spring of 1856 he went to Lockport,
New York, to learn the trade of carriage and sign painting, and served three
years' apprenticeship.  He then returned to Rockford and opened a shop, which he
continued until 1861, when, with the outbreaking of the civil war he was one of
the first to respond to the call for ninety-day men, and enlisted in Company D,
Eleventh Illinois Infantry, serving his time in southern Illinois and Missouri.
He was then mustered out.  In 1864 he re-enlisted for one year in Battery A,
First Illinois Artillery, and served until the close of the war, when he was
honorably discharged.
     After his return from the war he continued his profession in Rockford, a
manufacturing city of about 27,000 inhabitants.  He was a charter member of
Nevius Post, G.A.R., of Rockford, Illinois, and was also very active in
temperance and church work.  In the fall of 1882 he removed to Oregon and
purchased a home on East Stark and Twenty-eighth streets, East Portland.  Mr.
Posson continued in the painting business in East Portland until July, 1890,
when, with his son Guy, the firm of F. L. Posson & Son was organized, and they
purchased the seed business of Miller Brothers, one of the oldest seed firms of
the city, continuing their office at 209 Second street and trial grounds for
testing seeds on the base-line-road, East Portland.  They are extensive growers
of the larger seeds, such as peas, beans, corn, buckwheat and grass seeds, and
are Pacific coast agents of D. M. Ferry & Company, of Detroit, Michigan, the
largest vegetable seed house on the continent; also Pacific coast agents of A.
I. Root, of Medina, Ohio, who is generally conceded to be the largest
manufacturer of apiary supplies in the world.  Posson & Son also handle Imperial
egg food, fertilizers and a general assortment of fruit trees, flowering plants
and shrubs.
     Mr. Posson was married in Rockford, in 1863, to Marietta Nashold, a native
of New York, and they have six children, namely:  Leora, wife of Edward Schmeer;
Guy, Lorena, Olive E. and Wilbur F.  The oldest son, Guy, was born in Rockford,
Illinois, in 1868, and educated in his native city.  Upon coming to Oregon he
entered the store of H. Hanson, the pioneer seed merchant, and subsequently
became traveling salesman for E. J. Bowen, seed merchant, of San Francisco,
remaining in his employ for about seven years, traveling throughout the
Northwest and becoming thoroughly familiar with the trade and the people, thus
becoming eminently fitted to engage in the business.
     He was married in Portland, in 1888, to Miss Lulu McGowan, and they have
one child, Mabel.  The family reside at East Park and Twenty-seventh streets,
where they have a comfortable residence, which was completed in 1888.
     The firm has made rapid progress in the enterprise, and has already become
a leading factor in the seed business of the Northwest.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2005 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.