"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 520.
 
SAMUEL COAD

     Typical of the safe, solid, and substantial element which has contributed
to the upbuilding of Oregon is Samuel Coad, a pioneer of  1853, and at times
interested in many of the enterprises represented on the coast. For some years
he has been a resident of Dallas, where he is engaged principally in the real
estate business, and where he owns considerable valuable property. Mr. Coad was
born in Westmoreland county, Pa., February 19, 1833, a son of John and Jane
(Jeffrey) Coad, natives of England, the latter dying in Minnesota. John Coad
entered the English army at the age of nineteen, and in the war with France was
taken prisoner and retained until exchanged. Some of his children were born in
England, and accompanied him to America, settling in Westmoreland, Pa., where he
engaged in farming and canal boating. In 1842 he removed to near Burlington,
Iowa, where he lived on a farm for some years. His death occurred in Allegheny,
Pa., at the age of eighty years. The original spelling of the name was Coade,
but for convenience the terminating letter has been abolished.
     The second of the eleven children born to his parents, Samuel Coad is the
only one of his family to come to Oregon. He was nine years old when he went to
live near Burlington, Iowa, and he there attended the public schools and served
an apprenticeship to a carpenter. In 1853 he joined the overland train which had
as fellow-travelers John Wolverton and Mr. Nealy, and on the way drove an ox
team, five months elapsing between the start and the arrival at Foster's.
Arriving in due time at Salem he worked at his trade, but the same fall located
in Spring Valley, Polk county, where he built and contracted for a couple of
years. Afterward he continued his occupation on the Luckiamute, and also tried
his fortune at prospecting for gold in the Rogue river district. Not being very
successful, he returned to carpentering as a surer means of livelihood, and
about this time the government was beginning to erect blockhouses for protection
in dealing with the Indians. Mr. Coad helped to build these primitive defenses,
and in 1855 became an active participator in the great Indian struggle. As a
soldier in Company B, First Oregon Volunteer Infantry under command of Captain
Burch he served for about four months, and during that time participated in the
engagement on Snake river, and was also disabled by an accident. Later he built
more defenses for the government, among them being the fort in King's Valley.
     On the Luckiamute Mr. Coad worked at carpentering after the war, and in
1853 married Henrietta Gilliam, youngest daughter of General Gilliam, recalled
as one of the intrepid pioneers and Indian fighters of Oregon, and mentioned at
length in another part of this work. After marriage he settled on a farm on the
Peedee for about seven years, and then, having sold his property, bought another
farm three and one-half miles east of Dallas. However, he rented out his farm
and engaged in building in Dallas, and also built the woolen mills at Ellendale,
returning after a couple of years to the farm. Three years later he sold his
farm and came to Dallas, the better to educate his children, and that he might
start a drug business on Main street, in partnership with his brother-in-law, B.
F. Nichols. His health failing at the end of a year, he sold his interest in the
store and clerked for a year in the dry goods store of W. C. Brown, thereafter
purchasing four hundred acres of sheep land west of Dallas, which he traded at
the end of three months for a farm containing the same amount of land. At the
end of a year this also was sold, and Mr. Coad returned to clerking in the town,
where his life was saddened by the death of his wife in April, 1875. The
following year he married Anna McNeal, who was born in Dodge county, Neb., a
daughter of Abram McNeal, who removed from his native state of New York to
Michigan, and from there to Dodge county, Neb., of which he was an early
settler. His farm was located on the military road, and here Mrs. Coad and her
twin sister were born, the first white children of the county. In 1860 Mr.
McNeal crossed the plains with a four horse team to San Francisco, and the
following year came to Salem, where he built and contracted until removing to
Tacoma, Wash., where he died at the age of sixty. His wife was Annie Beebe, who
was born in Michigan, a daughter of Walter Beebe, who was accidentally killed on
the way to the coast, his wife surviving him until ninety-two years of age. Mrs.
McNeal died in Nebraska in 1858, and her daughter, Mrs. Coad, was reared by Mrs.
E. G. Emmens from her fifth year, or from 1862. Mrs. Emmens proved a mother
indeed to the young girl, and the association begun thus early has gained in
intimacy and affection to the present time. Mrs. Coad was educated in the public
schools and at La Creole Academy, and when very young evinced that decided
talent for oil painting which has placed her among the foremost artists of this
class in the county. She is the mother of two sons, of whom J. E. is a resident
of Portland, and George R. is in Dallas.
     After his second marriage Mr. Coad settled on a farm of three hundred and
twenty acres, and after a year he purchased a drug store in the town, of which
he was manager and proprietor for two years. For the following seven years he
lived on the old Grant place, since disposing of which he has lived in Dallas,
and has in the meantime managed a great deal of town and city property. He is
the owner of large real estate interests, including both business and residence
property, and is the owner of the Odd Fellows Building. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and for more than thirty years has been a welcome member of
various lodges. Politically he has ever espoused the Republican cause, and was
one of the organizers of the party in this county. He is a member of the
Presbyterian Church and of the Oregon Pioneers' Association. Mrs. Coad is a
member of the home chapter of the Eastern Star. Five children were born of the
first marriage of Mr. Coad, and of these, Frank J. is engaged in the sash and
door manufacturing business; C. G. is postmaster of this town; Maggie is the
deceased wife of T. B. Rowell; Mary is the wife of J. B. Stamp of Monmouth ; and
Henrietta died at the age of seventeen.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.