Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 722.
 
JOSEPH WOERNDLE

     Arriving in Portland in 1897, penniless and possessing no knowledge of the
English language, but endowed with indomitable courage and a spirit of
determination that has enabled him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in
his path, Joseph Woerndle has fought life's battles unaided and has come off a
victor in the strife. He now occupies a prominent position in business circles
of the city as president of the Oregon Investment & Mortgage Company, engaged in
a general financing business, and he is also well known in journalistic circles
of the northwest as a newspaper publisher, his interests being most capably and
successfully conducted.
     Mr. Woerndle is a native of Bavaria. He was born at Bernau, August 3, 1880,
and comes of distinguished ancestry, the line of descent being traced back to
Philip von Worndle, who was born at Hotting, Innsbruck, July 9, 1755, and became
a major of a Tyrolese Rifle Corps and commandant in the militia reserve. He
belonged to an old and noble family of the Tyrol and was the son of Joseph
Anthony Worndle, justice of the peace of Sonnenburg, who was reinstated in the
nobility in 1763 by Empress Maria Theresa as a reward for his military and
patriotic services. Philip von Worndle received the degree of Doctor of Laws at
the University of Innsbruck in 1779. He was first judge of the manor court of
the Premonstratensian Abbey of Wilten and then became an advocate. In 1787 he
married Elisabeth von Lemmen, by whom he had seven children. In 1800 he was
again married, his second wife being Johanna von Lemmen. In 1796 he became
captain of the company raised among those connected with the university which
served in the campaign against Lecourbe on the boundary of the Tyrol towards
Switzerland and also at Lake Garda. In 1797 he was commander of the reserve of
northern Tyrol under General Kerpen in the campaign against Joubert, and as such
shared in the victorious but bloody encounter at Springes, April 2, 1797, in
which the Tyrolese took part. In 1800 he was made military commissioner under
Generals Hiller and Jallachich for the upper valley of the Inn. In 1809, under
Andreas Hofer, he was Tyrolese under-commissary and head of the national defense
for the valley of the Puster.  In return for his services he received the
Tyrolese commemorative medal and the gold imperial medal. On account of the
occupation of the province in 1810 he emigrated to Austria. In 1811 he was a
member of the district council at Linz, in upper Austria, and in 1813 he
accompanied, as provincial commissioner, the imperial troops under General Ismer
in the campaign for the liberation of southern Tyrol from the French.  On
account of accusations lodged against him by Commissary Roschman, Worndle
remained in exile from his native country and died at Linz, in upper Austria,
August 2, 1818.
     The parents of Mr. Woerndle were Kaspar and Maria Woerndle, the former a
farmer by occupation. The son attended the public schools of his native land
from 1886 until 1893 and then spent four years as a student in the Latin high
school at Rosenheim, Bavaria. In 1897 he came to the United States and at once
made his way to the Pacific northwest, arriving in Portland, Oregon, in that
year, penniless and ignorant of the language and customs of the country.
Undismayed by these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, he obtained employment
as a section hand, working far a dollar and a quarter per day and sleeping
during the night in box cars. He also worked as a lumberjack and millhand,
gladly accepting any honest employment that would afford him a livelihood. In
1899 he sought a seafaring life, sailing on a vessel plying between Portland and
Liverpool, England, but after following the occupation of a sailor for two years
he tired of the life and returned to the northwest, where he engaged in general
merchandising, establishing a chain of stores patterned after the Rochdale
Cooperative Stores of Great Britain. He was associated with others in this
venture, the first store being started in Frances, Washington, while the parent
store, a large wholesale establishment, was maintained at San Francisco,
California. He next became connected with the life insurance business, traveling
out of Seattle, Washington, and subsequently returned to Portland, where he
became advertising solicitor for the "Nachrichten News." Later he engaged in the
real estate business and in 1906 entered the law department of the University of
Oregon, from which he was graduated in 1909, with the LL. B. degree. He has
since followed his profession, being accorded a large and representative
clientage which connects him with much of the important litigation heard in the
courts of the district. He is an able lawyer, well informed in all branches of
jurisprudence, and in the application of a legal principle he is seldom, if
ever, at fault. He is careful in analysis, clear in his reasoning and logical in
his deductions and has ever conformed his practice to the highest ethics of the
profession. His initiative spirit and powers of organization have led him into
important relations and he is now president of the Transatlantic Estates &
Credit Company of Portland and of the Oregon Investment & Mortgage Company, also
of Portland, engaged in a general financing business. He is likewise an officer
and director in the Portland Marine Ways & Boat Company and the Oregon Asbestos
Mines, with offices in Portland. He is a keen and intelligent business man, with
a rapid grasp of details and a shrewd discrimination in investment and in the
management of his extensive interests he has been most successful. He has also
become well known in journalistic circles of the northwest, owning and
publishing, in partnership with A. E. Kern, the "Nachrichten" of Portland, the
"Staats Zeitung" of Seattle and the "Washington Post" of Spokane, which are also
proving a most judicious investment. He is a man of resolute purpose, carrying
forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and his connection with
any enterprise insures a prosperous outcome of the same.
     In St. Patrick's church at Portland, Oregon, on the 5th of April, 1905, Mr.
Woerndle was united in marriage to Miss Cecilia V. Sherlock, a daughter of John
J. Sherlock, a resident of this city and of Irish descent.  Three sons have been
born of this union:  Joseph A., John K., and Thomas F. Woerndle.
     In his political views Mr. Woerndle is a republican and in religious faith
he is a Roman Catholic.  He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic
Order of Foresters, the St. Joseph Benevolent Society and the General German Aid
Society.  As a business man his standing is of the highest and in all matters of
Citizenship his influence is on the side of progress and improvement.  Resolute
and energetic, he has made steady advancement, each forward step bringing him a
broader outlook and wider opportunities.  As the architect of his own fortunes
he has builded wisely and well.  His record is a most creditable one and should
serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when one
has the will to dare and to do.  He is a man of high principles and substantial
qualities and Portland numbers him among her most valued citizens.
 
 
 
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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.