Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 128.
 
RICHARD TEMPLE DABNEY

     Richard Temple Dabney was born September 11, 1855, in Vermilion county,
Illinois, a son of Henry and Maria (Stanfield) Dabney. He was descended from
Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne of France. The name has undergone many changes,
having been written, de'Bony, de'Beny, Daubeney, Dabnee and finally Dabney.
Early in the eighteenth century, probably sometime between 1715 and 1720, three
Huguenots, brothers, John, Cornelius and Robert D'Aubigne, came to America from
England and Wales, whither they had fled from France at the time of the
revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, Robert settling in Massachusetts and
Cornelius and John in Virginia. They also claimed descent from Sir William
Daubigne (Knight), who went over to England from France with William the
Conqueror, whose name appears on the Battle Abbey Roles, with shield and
armorial bearings quite like the Dabney coat of arms, John and Cornelius went to
Virginia from Wales. John settled on the north side of the Pamunky river, in
King William county, at what has since been known as Dabney's Ferry, and this
became the original nest of the Dabneys of King William and Gloucester
counties. Cornelius settled on the south side of this river. Cornelius
D'Aubigne, or Dabney, was married in 1721, in Virginia, to Sarah Jennens, or
Jennings, it being his second marriage. To this union were born three sons and
six daughters. Their eldest son, William Dabney, married Miss Philadelphia
Gauthmey. Of this union were born six sons and three daughters. Their fourth
son, Richard Dabney, married Diana Gauthmey.  To this union were born seven boys
and three girls.  Their sixth son, Henry, married for his second wife Miss Maria
Stanfield. Of this union there were nine sons and three daughters, including
Richard Temple Dabney, whose name introduces this record. His father, Henry
Dabney, was born December 81, 1795, in King William county, Virginia. At the age
of sixteen he served in the War of 1812. He and some thirty students of the
academy he was attending volunteered in a body and selecting their teacher as
captain had quite a skirmish with the British on the Rappahannock in King and
Queen county, Virginia. There he was made sergeant. After the war he returned to
the old home near Richmond, Virginia, and resided there until 1828. This
plantation was well equipped with fine horses and carriages and slaves. Being
convinced that slavery was wrong he set his slaves free and sold the plantation,
giving to each slave a portion of the proceeds. Later on he removed to Terre
Haute, Indiana, where he organized the First Methodist Sunday school. While in
Terre Haute he met Miss Maria Stanfield, a charming young lady of Nashville,
Tennessee, whom he afterward married in Vermilion county, Illinois, October 21,
1830. In later years he purchased a small tract of prairie land in Madison
county, Iowa, and moved his large family, consisting of his wife, nine sons and
three daughters, to that farm, there to make a home. Mrs. Henry Dabney, who in
her maidenhood was Maria Stanfield, was born October 11, 1813, in Greene county,
Tennessee. It was said of her that she was a true Christian, a devoted wife and
mother, always doing deeds of kindness and lending a helping hand to those in
need. She passed away April 10, 1889. Her parents John Stanfield and Sarah
Dillon were married October 20, 1790, in Greene county, Tennessee.
     Richard Temple Dabney moved with his father's large family to Iowa, when a
small boy. They settled on a farm in Madison county, near Winterset, the county
seat, and he attended a school a mile and a half distant from his home. The old
log schoolhouse had a shake roof and rough floor. The seats were made from Linn
logs, split in half, with the flat side turned up to sit on and wooden pegs for
legs. The school year consisted of two terms of three months each, summer and
winter. When Richard T. Dabney was thirteen years of age, his father, Henry
Dabney, passed to the Great Beyond. At that time many of the elder children of
the family had married and established homes of their own. Mrs. Dabney, the
mother, being unable to keep up the farm, removed with her two youngest sons,
Richard and Joseph, to Winterset, where Richard attended high school. Being of
an active disposition he greatly assisted his mother in many ways. During the
latter part of his residence in Winterset he studied law in the office of an
older brother, Albert R. Dabney. He also attended commercial college in
Davenport, Iowa, where he afterward graduated, but wishing to follow a
professional career he took up the study of medicine in Kansas City, Missouri,
and worked to defray his expenses. His studies and work were very arduous there
and not having financial help from any source he felt compelled to make a change
whereby he hoped to be benefited.
     In the spring of 1881 Mr. Dabney went to Montana with his younger brother
Joseph. This was before there were any railroads in that section and at the time
the country was wild and sparsely settled. However, there were plenty of
Indians, cowboys and wild animals. Mr. Dabney bought and sold lands in the
beautiful Yellowstone valley, near where the town of Livingston now stands. When
fall came he found he had been so successful in this endeavor that he concluded
to give up his medical course and remain in the great west, where, with
prophetic vision, he saw the making of a great empire. He spent several years in
Montana, where he was successful in raising fine cattle. During the years he
lived in that state he visited the Pacific coast and made investments in various
parts of the then territory of Washington and also in Oregon. Later, disposing
of his business interests in Montana he renewed his activities on the Pacific
coast, first in California, then in Washington and Oregon. This was during the
years 1881 to 1887. He was a heavy investor in timber lands and other real
estate along the coast and was one of the early pioneers of the growing and
prosperous city of Aberdeen, on Grays Harbor, Washington. In 1905 he purchased
what was known as the Old Hansen Home in east Portland, an old landmark of the
earliest days. This was already a beautiful home, but Mr. Dabney greatly
improved and beautified it. Here he established a pleasant and happy home for
his family and his hospitality was extended to all of his friends. He was one of
the most enthusiastic advocates of the Columbia River Highway improvement in
Portland. He it was who suggested the establishment of hotels along the scenic
boulevard to provide for the comfort of tourists. Quoting from one of the
leading Portland newspapers at the time of his death: "Mr. Dabney was the
originator of the plan to build a large hotel and summer resort on the Columbia
River Highway at Crown Point. His business affairs, which were extensive, are in
the hands of his two sons, Clifford R. and Henry R. Dabney, who have been
associated with him in the real estate business for the past few years. He was
the owner of a beautiful summer home on the Sandy river, known as Dabney Park,
which now borders the Columbia River Highway."
     Mr. Dabney was only a child at the time of the Civil war in 1861, but
several of his elder brothers served during that crisis. His nephews served in
the Spanish war and his son, Clifford R. Dabney, served eighteen months in the
late World war. The D'Aubignes or Dabneys, it is stated, planned with other
Huguenots, the American Revolution in 1776, as the history ot the family in
Virginia amply proves and with the aid of the Covenanters they fought it through
successfully. Mr. Dabney's friends often tried to prevail on him to accept
positions of trust in the city and state government, but being engaged in more
rugged lines of business, he declined them. He was an ardent and strong
supporter of the government of this country and was affiliated with the
republican party.
     While living in Aberdeen, Washington, Mr. Dabney joined the Knights of
Pythias lodge. He was a member of the Portland Chamber of Commerce and in early
life was a member of the Methodist church.
     Mr. Dabney was married October 12, 1887, at Winterset, Iowa, to Miss Martha
Amanda Renshaw, a daughter of Leonidas and Angeline Renshaw. Mrs. Dabney was
born in Madison county, Iowa, September 30, 1868, and was one of the leading
school teachers of her county, a young lady highly respected and an active
worker in all the various organizations of the community in which she lived.
With her older sister, Effie Renshaw, she attended Simpson College at Indianola,
Iowa, of which her two brothers, Byron and Oscar, were graduates. Her father,
Leonidas Renshaw, was born in Pennsylvania in 1839, of hardy Scotch and English
parentage. He was a member of a large family of four boys and five girls, who
early immigrated with their father, G. S. Renshaw, to Iowa. This family all grew
to manhood and womanhood, possessing the sterling qualities that make good
citizens. Leonidas Renshaw passed away at his home in Portland, Oregon, at the
age of eighty-one years. Mrs. Dabney's mother, who was Miss Angeline Howard
Alger, was a native of New England and of Puritan parentage. She was born in
Cochesett, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, November 25, 1846. She taught school
in Clayton county, Iowa, where her parents and also Mr. Renshaw's parents at one
time resided. Mr. and Mrs. Renshaw were married at Elkader, Clayton county,
Iowa, March 14, 1867. Mrs. Renshaw's father, the Rev. Simeon Alger, was born in
Plymouth county, Massachusetts, April 27, 1817, and went to Iowa in the early
'50s, where he was one of the pioneer preachers of the Methodist Episcopal
church in the eastern part of the state. He established the first Methodist
class in Manchester, Iowa, and passed away April 9, 1894. The mother of Mrs.
Leonidas Renshaw was Miss Mary Amanda Howard, who was born in Cochesett,
Massachusetts, May 2, 1823. She was an estimable woman and greatly beloved by
her family and friends.
     Eight children were born to Richard Temple and Martha Amanda Dabney, five
daughters and three sons. One daughter passed away in infancy. The third son,
Howard Leonidas Dabney, passed away February 12, 1914, at the age of nineteen
years. He won high honors at Culver Military Academy of Indiana, of which he was
a student. The six remaining children are: Clifford Richard, Henry Renshaw,
Doris Martha, Virginia Evelyn, Charlotte Ellen, and Eleanor Esther Dabney.
Clifford Richard and Henry Renshaw Dabney received their education in the high
schools of Portland, Oregon, Culver Military Academy and Stanford University,
after which they were associated with their father in business and are now
making their home in Los Angeles, California, where they are successfully
engaged in the oil industry. Clifford Richard Dabney married Miss Alice May
Mosier of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and they have one daughter, Marjorie Alice;
Henry Renshaw Dabney married Miss Florence Westengard of Portland, Oregon, and
they have two sons, Richard Westengard and Robert Henry Dabney; Doris Martha
Dabney received her education, musical and otherwise, in the graded schools and
in Miss Catlin's Private school in Portland, Oregon, also in Cumnock School of
Los Angeles, California; Virginia Evelyn, Charlotte Ellen and Eleanor Esther
Dabney are industrious pupils of the graded and music schools of Portland,
Oregon, where they now reside with their mother, who is occupying the old home
in the Rose city.
    "Richard Temple Dabney passed from the activities of a strenuous life
February 3, 1916, at his home in Portland, Oregon, at the age of sixty years. To
Mr. Dabney this passing was only a revelation of the certainties of the
wonderful and beautiful life which he had always ascribed to the unseen spirit
world beyond. To him every flower, however meek and lowly, the swaying of the
big pines, the fragrance of every shrub and plant, the carol of the earliest
songsters and the soft good-night chirp of the tiny bird under its mother's
wing, were all voices from the Great Spirit that had given him existence. These
were his religion. He would often say, "Here and among the great heavenly
planets is where I see God." He did not hesitate when the call came, to lay his
hand in that of the Master, and pass on to his reward. Though Mr. Dabney's
health had been impaired for some time, he always manifested a rare mental
vigor, abundantly evidenced in his business activities and in the depth of
thought given to religious, civic and other subjects. He was exceptionally fond
of literature, art and music, the study of astronomy, birds and animals. He was
considered an authority on flower and tree culture, and from many different
sections of the land he brought to his city home and his country place rare
plants, shrubs and flowers. We quote from a letter received by Mrs. Dabney, at
the time of her husband's death: 'I believe that it is Edwin Markham who has
said,
 
                     'Gone is the city, gone the day,
                     Yet still the Story and the meaning stay.'
 
These few words seem to express to me so clearly that although the physical of
Mr. Dabney and the day of his death have passed, yet he still remains with us, a
guiding light for a noble, clean-lived life, a life that his friends are honored
by having known, either in the family circle or in business."

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

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in July 2010 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.