Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 659.
 
JACOB S. GILTNER, M.D.

     That the world is better because Dr. Jacob S. Giltner lived is a fact
recognized by all who knew him.  His entire life was fraught with high and noble
purposes and characterized by kindly deeds that have caused his memory to be
enshrined in the hearts of all who came into contact with him.  It was in
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 22nd of October, 1824, that Dr.
Giltner first opened his eyes to the light of day, his parents being Conrad and
Rebecca (Snyder) Giltner, who were farming people of the Keystone state,
enjoying in large measure the confidence, respect and goodwill of the people
throughout the community and a large circle of friends.  The ancestry of the
family can be traced back in direct line to the Prince of Orange.  The father,
Conrad Giltner, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, rendering valuable aid
to the cause of freedom.  Inheriting a large tract of land in Pennsylvania, he
devoted his life to its cultivation and improvement.
     It was on the home farm that Dr. Giltner was reared, and though his
educational advantages were extremely limited, he became a most widely read man.
He often had a book with him while plowing in the fields and he devoted his
evening hours to study.  He had made such progress that when sixteen years of
age he became a teacher in the public schools.  As he taught he became more and
more eager to secure better educational advantages himself and his mother,
sympathizing with him in this ambition, sent him to college when she inherited a
little money.  He was graduated from the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania when about twenty-one years of age, after which he returned home
and at that time, or in 1846, was married to Miss Martha M. Hause of Germantown,
Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Giltner's parents were Abraham and Mary Hause of
Philadelphia, and their daughter, Mrs. Giltner, was born in Chester county,
Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, December 25, 1826.
     For a brief period after his marriage Dr. Giltner resided near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, but then returned to his home county and entered upon the practice
of medicine, in which he continued until after the outbreak of the Civil war.
Offering his services to the government, he passed a competitive examination
that won him the appointment of commander and medical director of the hospital
of the Army of the Cumberland at Nashville, Tennessee, with the rank of major.
He enlisted at Milton, Pennsylvania, was mustered in at Washington, D. C., and
did splendid service for the Union cause through his skill and ability displayed
in both field and hospital service.  While at the front he gained valuable
experience as a surgeon that made him afterward specialize in that branch of the
profession.
     When the war was ended Dr. Giltner removed to Pithole, Pennsylvania, where
he engaged in medical practice until June, 1866, when he started for Oregon.  He
became one of the pioneer physicians of Portland and continued actively in
practice until seventy-eight years of age.  In 1875 he pursued postgraduate work
in the University of Pennsylvania and was constantly promoting his skill and
efficiency by wide reading and study.  He long maintained a place in the
foremost rank of the medical profession in Portland and the state and for
several years served as county physician and was also city physician and
visiting physician to the insane asylum before his removal to Salem.
     Dr. and Mrs. Giltner largely reared their family in the northwest.  They
became parents of ten children, four of whom died in infancy, while of those who
reached adult age Dr. William Paris Giltner passed away at the age of
forty-nine.  He was born in 1849, was graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania and devoted his life to the practice of medicine.  He married
Minnie Going and they became parents of four children:  James, Paris E., Edward
B. and John R.; Emma Giltner, the second of Dr. Giltner's family, is one of the
graduates of the old Portland Academy and of the high school of Portland and she
also completed a course in the Woman's College of Baltimore, Maryland, (now
Goucher College), where the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon her and
subsequently that of Master of Arts.  She became the wife of Eugene D. White and
had one son, Eugene G.; Roscoe R. Giltner of Portland was graduated from the
high school of this city and later continued his studies under a private tutor,
while subsequently he attended Yale University.  He has been quite active in
politics and served as city attorney.  He married Fronia Wallace; Frank F.
Giltner of Portland, also attended Yale and married Louise Scheuer; Martha G.,
after graduating from high school, became a pupil in a private school and later
entered Wellesley College, near Boston, Massachusetts, where she received a
scholarship and Greek honors from Athens.  She is now the wife of Vincent Cook
of Portland; Horace, the youngest of the family, born in 1861, died in 1896.
     Dr. Giltner always gave his political allegiance to the republican party
and, while never an office seeker, did important public work in behalf of the
schools.  By appointment he became a member of the school board about 1872 and
filled that position for several years.  He was largely instrumental in
establishing the Portland high school and in securing the passage of a bill
permitting colored children to attend the public schools.  In fact he labored
untiringly to advance the schools and make their opportunities attainable by
all.  Dr. Giltner was likewise prominently known as a loyal follower of the
Masonic fraternity.  He belonged to a lodge in Philadelphia and to Columbia
Chapter, No. 91, R. A. M.  He was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends
but after his removal to the west joined the Lutheran church and contributed
liberally to its support.  Death called him May 18, 1910, when he was almost
eighty-six years of age.  For five years he had survived his wife, who passed
away March 2, 1905.  A contemporary biographer has written of Dr. Giltner:  "His
home relations were largely ideal.  His interests centered in his family and his
own happiness seemed complete if he was contributing to the welfare and
happiness of his wife and children.  He gave to his sons and daughters the best
educational advantages, knowing that therein he was bestowing on them a
priceless gift.  He rejoiced in his success because of the opportunity it gave
him to surround the members of his household with the comforts and the luxuries
of life.  The poor and needy found in him a generous friend, but his charity was
always most unostentatious.  He followed the Bible injunction not to let the
left hand know what the right hand doeth, and from no words of his own did
anyone learn of the charity and helpful spirit of Dr. Giltner.  There were times
when even the recipients of his bounty did not know who was their benefactor.
He frequently commissioned someone, ofttimes the member of his own household, to
make purchase of flour and other necessities of life, and send such to the poor.
His pastor is responsible for the statement that he gave a tenth of his income
to the support of the gospel and for the benefit of local hospitals and the
poorer classes.  His great heart reached out in sympathy to all mankind and his
helping hand lifted many a one out of the slough of despondency into an
atmosphere of courage and good cheer.
     "Dr. Giltner was a man of scholarly attainment, who, throughout his life,
took great interest in the study of history, sociology and literature.  He
possessed a remarkably retentive memory, so that his opinions and his knowledge
were frequently sought to settle some disputed question.  He seemed almost never
to forget a point which he had read or a character with whom he had become
acquainted in literature.  During the last four years of his life he suffered
from ill health but retained the same keen perception and memory that had
characterized him in his youth.  The snows of many winters whitened his hair,
for he reached the age of eighty-six years, but his heart ever remained young,
and in spirit and in interest he seemed always in his prime.  For forty-four
years he was a resident of Portland, and in the city it would be impossible to
find one who had aught to say against him.  Thoughts of reverence and words of
praise rise to the lips of many whenever his name is mentioned.  Especially was
he held in grateful remembrance by the poor whom he assisted, by the friends
whose intelligence was stimulated by his own broad knowledge, but most of all in
that household where he occupied the position of almost ideal husband and
father.  What a fitting crown of life is a memory that is as revered and sacred
as is that of Dr. Jacob S. Giltner."

 
*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2006 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.