Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 966.
 
HENRY W. PRETTYMAN

     Came to Oregon in 1847, and is a native of Delaware, being born in that
State July 31, 1839.  His father, Dr. Perry Prettyman, was a native of the same
State, but his ancestors were English and came to this country previous to the
Revolution.  Dr. Prettyman married Elizabeth Vessels, a native of the same
State.  Some time after their marriage they removed to Missouri, in 1842, where
they lived five years, and then with his wife, four sons and a daughter he
crossed the plains to Oregon.  the oldest son, David, was in his seventeenth
year, and Daniel L. in his fourteenth year.  Their daughter, Hester, died soon
after their arrival in that State.  Henry W. was in his eighth year, and William
D. was only six months old.  They lived in Oregon city two years, and then
selected for their donation claim, section 6, township range 2 east, just three
and one-half miles east of the center of the city of Portland.  There were then
just two men on the east side, J. B. Stevens and the Rev. Clinton Kelly.  The
city of Portland then consisted of one frame house and six log cabins.  They,
following the example of the others, built a cheap log house, cut a road through
the forest and began pioneer life.  Dr. Prettyman had practiced medicine five
years before coming to Oregon and he continued the practice here thirty-five
years, going to the sick on horseback, far and wide, all over the State, by day
and night, treating the rich and the poor alike.
     He was born March 29, 1796; was married December 25, 1825; studied in
Baltimore, Maryland, for a botanic physician and met with remarkable success in
his practice.  After he had lived on his land for some time, and the country
began to be settled, he said to his sons:  "I shall live to see this land worth
$100 an acre; you will live to see it worth more."  Before his death it had
become worth $300 an acre.  He sold some of it off in small tracts, divided it
up between his sons, and now the taxable valuation has reached several millions
of dollars, and the land sells for from $2,500 to $6,000 an acre.  It lies just
between East Portland and Mount Tabor, and is all built over with beautiful
residences.  Dr. Prettyman died in 1872, and his wife only survived him a year.
He was a Republican, one of Oregon's most reliable and worthy pioneers. 
     Henry W. Prettyman was their third child, and was reared on the farm
attending the public schools.  He engaged in the nursery business on his own
account, in a small way, in 1872, and made it the vocation of his life.
Recently he retired from active business, having made a snug little fortune.
During the time he was in the nursery business it grew into a large enterprise.
When he retired he had a stock of over 200,000 trees, and the property sold for
a large amount besides.
     He has built a beautiful residence on an eminence facing the city of
Portland.  It stands on the land on which the family settled in 1849, twenty
acres of this, now very valuable land, surrounds the house for grounds.  He has
other houses and farms in Powell valley. 
     Mr. Prettyman married Rachel D. Vandevert, in 1868.  She is a daughter of
William Vandevert, and was a native of Iowa.  They came to Oregon in 1852,
across the plains.
     Mr. and Mrs. Prettyman are members of the Methodist Church, and take an
active part in the church work.  Mr. Prettyman has been very successful in all
his undertakings, and he and his wife are highly esteemed in the country in
which they have so long lived.

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