"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon." Authors: "a
compilation of this work....by a number of writers".  Chapman Publishing Co;
Chicago, 1903. p. 209.
 
JOHN Q. A. HURLBURT

     surveyor of Multnomah county, is descended from one of the earliest
settlers in New England, the family having been founded in Saybrook, Conn., by
Thomas Hurlburt, a member of the English colony brought over by Lord
Say-and-Seal in 1635. Mr. Hurlburt's paternal grandfather, Heman Hurlburt, was
born in Arlington, Vt., February 25, 1773, and moved with his parents into
Canada at or soon after file close of the Revolution. It is said that his father
was a Loyalist and lost his property through his adherence to the crown. They
settled on the banks of the St. Lawrence river, opposite Ogdensburg, and near
the town of Prescott. He married Hannah Mosier, whose mother, an Alien, was a
near relative of tile famous Ethan Allen. At his death he had lived with his
wife fifty-five years. Fourteen of his children, twelve sons and two daughters,
lived to maturity, and of these four were ministers of the Gospel and two were
lawyers. He was a thrifty farmer, and gave to each of his sons two hundred acres
of land.
     Thomas Hurlburt, father of the subject of this sketch, was born near
Prescott, Upper Canada (now Ontario), March 3, 1808. In 1832 he married Almira
B. Adams, who was born in New England, a descendant from the family from which
John Quincy Adams sprang. She died in December, 1865, in Toronto, Canada. Thomas
Hurlburt was a Methodist minister, and served as a missionary, principally among
the Chippewa (Ojibway) Indians from his early manhood until his death, which
occurred March 14, 1873, at Little Current, an Indian mission on the Manitoulin
Islands. During the period of his service he traversed and became familiar with
the Indian country from Texas to Hudson's Bay. He made a careful study of and
compiled a grammar of the Chippewa language, the original manuscript of which is
now on file in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. He was also much
interested in geology, and wrote many articles on the subject. During the '60's
he occupied part of his time in editing and printing a newspaper in the Indian
language called Petaubun, or the Peep of Day. He was the father of eight
children, seven of whom are now living, viz.: John Q. A.; Horace and Frank, both
living in eastern Oregon; Isabella, in Wyoming; Maria King, in Antelope, Ore.;
and Alice and Lucy in Portland.
     John Quincy Adams Hurlburt was born December 13, 1833, in Munceytown, an
Indian village in Canada West, now Ontario, located on the Thames river about
twenty miles below London. From his birth until he was ten years of age he
seldom saw any white people, except his father and mother, and the Indian
language was practically his mother-tongue.  He could speak it much better than
English until he was nearly fifteen years of age. He spoke the Indian tongue
without the white man's brogue, which is more than can be said of his English,
for until he was nearly grown people who did not understand the Indian language
thought he had some foreign accent. When very young he was named by the Indians
Subunung, which literally translated means "Star Net," that being the Indian
name for the Little Dipper.
     In 1844 Mr. Hurlburt removed from Canada with his parents to the Indian
territory now called Kansas and Oklahoma, going by boat to Chicago, thence by
stage to Ottawa, III., over a very muddy road, and often for considerable
distances without a house or any improvements in sight. From Ottawa he proceeded
to St. Louis by boat and thence by boat to what was then called Westport
Landing, which was then all woodland from the landing clear back to Westport, a
distance of nearly seven miles.   This section is now within the confines of
Kansas City. The eastern part of what is now called Kansas was then an Indian
territory, upon which the government had settled the remnants of various tribes
of Indians.  These had small villages and did a little farming, but the greater
part of the country was an uninhabited rolling prairie. These semi-civilized
tribes were a sort of buffet between the settlers in Missouri and the wild and
warlike tribes further west. It was only a few days travel west to where the
buffalo were still plentiful, and parties of the Kaw or Kansas Indians went
every summer on buffalo hunts, and occasionally had conflicts with the wilder
Indians on the plains. Mr. Hurlburt was present at several genuine Indian war
dances, where fresh scalps were exhibited. Most of the Kaw Indians at that time
had only bows and arrows, and except the breech-clout, leggins and moccasins
were entirely naked ; but they carried well-dressed buffalo hides to serve as
blankets. The men generally had the hair cut from their heads, except a small
portion about the crown, which was braided and had feathers stuck in it, making
it conspicuous and which said more plainly than words: "Take it if you can."
These Indians were exceedingly well developed physically, and had wonderful
endurance. They were, as a rule, great thieves, but strictly honest among
themselves and with their friends. Mr. Hurlburt spent one summer among the
Cherokees, many of whom had large plantations, owned hundreds of negroes and
were very wealthy.  In many cases they were well educated, and they had a
newspaper published in the Cherokee language in Tahleqna. Until he was more than
twelve years of age Mr. Hurlburt had never been inside of a school-room though
he had already become quite proficient in arithmetic and the ordinary English
branches, having been taught principally by his mother. He then attended a
school at the Shawnee mission, taught by Professor Scarrett. In 1852 his
educational opportunities were broadened by a course of two and a half years at
Victoria College (now university) at Coberg, Ontario, after which he taught
school for a winter at Penetanguishine, where he had a very full school, some of
his pupils being able to speak English alone, some French and some Indian. But
as he could speak the Indian language perfectly, and had some knowledge of
French and English, he got along remarkably well, and was popular among all. In
the spring of 1855 he bade adieu to his school and joined a surveying party
operating on Georgian Bay. Previous to this he had thought to become a sailor,
but this experience determined him to take up the business of surveying. Upon
the breaking up of the party, late in 1855, he started for Kansas, but on
account of an attack of pneumonia he did not get any further than Monroe county,
Iowa, where he engaged in surveying and served one term as county surveyor.
     In August, 1862, Mr. Hurlburt enlisted in the volunteer service for the
defense of the Union, and shortly afterwards was mustered in as first sergeant
of Company K, Thirty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out as
captain at the close of the war, in August, 1865. During his term of service he
participated in several engagements. Except when wounded he was never in the
hospital, or rode in an ambulance, or failed to go on duty when called upon. He
was severely wounded and taken prisoner at Mark's Mills, Ark., April 25, 1864,
was paroled shortly after, and with three others was taken by ambulance to
Little Rock, Ark., thence home on leave of absence to Albia, Iowa, where he
remained about a month; but as his leave had expired, although his wound was not
yet healed, he returned to what was left of the regiment at Little Rock, after
which he served as acting regimental quartermaster until near the close of the
war. His experience was that there was no bitter feeling between the actual
soldiers in the field. They had learned to respect each other, could all tell of
kindnesses shown them or their comrades by the soldiers of the other side, and
seemed glad of an opportunity to return the kindness. Many of those who
participated in his capture had themselves lately been captured at Vicksburg,
and were proud to tell how well "the Yanks" had treated them. As an instance to
illustrate this feeling: After being taken prisoner Mr. Hurlburt was placed
under the shade of a tree. Some of the enemy went into a field and brought him
some bundles of rye from which to make a soft bed. To a Confederate captain who
stopped to talk with him he spoke of having lost a Mackinaw blanket sent to him
from home, and the captain gave him a quilt, all that he had for a bed which was
tied behind his saddle. A woman, an angel in disguise, when she heard the
firing, and knew that a battle was in progress, tore up everything she had that
was made of cotton or linen to serve for bandages for the wounded. She and a
negro woman, both on horseback, came every day with two large baskets filled
with pies, cakes and other eatables. One basket she took into a planter's house
and gave to the wounded boys in gray; and then she went around among the negro
cabins and divided the contents of the other basket among the wounded boys in
blue, many of whom had but a short time to live.  Generally on handing something
to them she would say in pleading tones: "Now you won't come and fight we uns
any more, will you ?" From his conversation with the southern soldiers Mr.
Hurlburt believes that just at the close of the war, if volunteers had been
called for to drive the French out of Mexico, a large majority of the southern
troops would have enlisted, and that they would have been proud to fight under
the Stars and Stripes, which they still loved, although for a time fighting
against them.
     After the close of the war Mr. Hurlburt returned to Monroe county, Iowa,
and soon afterward obtained employment in the civil engineering department of
the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, continuing in their employ until 1870,
when he came to Oregon to assist in the surveying of the Oregon & California
Railroad. In this work he remained until its discontinuance in 1873, and during
this time he explored the larger part of the mountains of southern Oregon
looking for railroad routes. He also did considerable work for the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in
charge of locating parties, and has been engaged on several contracts for
surveying public lands for the government. He is now probably the oldest
surveyor in Portland.  In 1898 he was elected county surveyor on the Republican
ticket, and was re-elected in 1900 and 1902, each time receiving a majority of
nearly two to one over his opponent. When he entered the army he and over
two-thirds of his company were Douglas Democrats. At the second election of
Lincoln all but two or three of the votes in the company were cast for Lincoln;
and having once turned Republican, he, as well as most of the others, have
remained loyal to the party. He is a member of Fairview Lodge No. 92, A. F. & A.
M., of which he is past master. His membership was originally in Albia Lodge No.
76, of Albia, Iowa.
     In Iowa, June 4, 1857, Mr. Hurlburt was united in marriage with Mary Adams,
a native of Indiana and a descendant from an old Virginia family of that name.
Of this union there were born nine children, three of whom died when young.
Those living are: Thomas, formerly county surveyor and city surveyor of
Portland, now examiner of government surveys; Deady, a barber in Portland; John
and George, both beginning the practice of surveying in and about Portland; Mrs.
Isabella Sill, of Spokane. Wash.; and Dottie, wife of Waldemar Seton, a lawyer,
lately elected justice of the peace for East Portland.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2009 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.