Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 415.
 
CAPTAIN GEORGE A. PEASE

     one of the widely and favorably known steamboat captains on the Columbia
and Willamette rivers, came to Oregon in 1850, crossed the bar at the month of
the Columbia river, on board the "Annie E. Maine," on July 21. He is a pioneer
of Oregon and also of California, having landed at San Francisco on the last day
of September, 1849. He was born in the State of New York, Columbia county, on
the Hudson river, twenty miles below Albany, September 20, 1830. His father,
Norman Pease, was born in Ohio, in 1805, his father having married a short time
previously and settled in the woods among the Indians. The ancestors of the
family had emigrated from Wales early in the history of the country. One branch
of the family settled in Connecticut and the other in New York. Norman P.
married, in 1829, in Columbia county, New York, Harriet McAllister, who was born
in 1807, and whose family had been early settlers on the Hudson river.  Her
ancestors were captains of the first boats that plied up the Hudson river. The
father died July 2, 1847, and the mother lived with Captain Pease until 1891,
when her death occurred.
     He began the life of a sailor in 1849 and has since made it his life
business. He has been all over the Willamette river as far as Eugene City, and
on the Columbia from the sea to its head-waters in Idaho. He began in a
keel-boat in 1850, taking freight from Portland to Oregon City, receiving for it
$20 a ton. His boat was propelled by Indians with poles, oars and sails.  His
next boat was called the " Canemah," which ran between Oregon City and
Corvallis. He ran her until 1858. In 1855 he made an excursion through the State
with twenty-five men, prospecting for gold. While they were out the Indian war
broke out. In 1860 Captain Pease help build and owned five-ninths of the "
Enterprise." He ran her two years and put her in the People's Transportation
Company. It was organized in 1862, and the Captain has been connected with it
since 1865. After this he was captain of the following boats: "The Active,"
"Success," "Alert," "Senator," "E. N. Cook," and the " Welcome." In 1871 the
company sold out to Ben Haliday, and Captain Pease accepted the position of
superintendent of the river lines, and also of the building of the large hotel
at Clatsop Beach, in 1872. In 1875 he ran the "Bonita" for the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, from Portland to Astoria. She was the fastest vessel on the
line at that time and is still running. After this he ran the "Dixie Thompson"
and the "Emma Haywood," until 1878, when he engaged in piloting under a State
branch. During this time, in 1882, he ran the tug boat " Pioneer."  In 1888 a
new law was passed which provided that a ship need not take a pilot if she took
a tow.  It resulted in giving the towing on the river to the Union Pacific
Railroad Company, and he was the only State pilot taken in their employ.  Since
then he has been running a tug and towing. He has been very successful in his
business and is of course thoroughly acquainted with everything connected with
river or sea life. He owns some mines in Idaho.
     He was married, December 26, 1857, to Mildred A. Moore, of Illinois,
daughter of a pioneer of 1847, in Oregon. They have two living children: Archie
L., captain of the steamer "T. Q. Potter," now the finest boat in Oregon;
Hattie, married T. J. Colbert and resides in San Francisco.
     The Captain has passed all the chairs of the subordinate lodge of I. O. O.
F., is a thirty-second degree Scottish rite Mason, is Past Master of Multnomah
Lodge, No. 1, a member of the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific coast,
and a member of the American Brotherhood of Steamboat Captains and Pilots.  He
is a Republican and was at one time a member of the Oregon City Council. He is a
trite man and has made a host of friends in his long life as a steamboat
captain.
     Mrs. Pease died October 22, 1879, leaving a record of an excellent wife and
mother.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.