Carey, Charles Henry. "History of Oregon." Vol. 2. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer Historical Pub. Co., 1922. p. 328-331. Includes portrait. VESTAL HAUL ABRAHAM, M. D. Dr. Vestal Raul Abraham, a well known and successful physician residing in Hood River, is descended on both sides of the house from a long line of ancestors whose names have been prominent in American history for several generations. John Rolston, his great-great-grandfather on the maternal side, was born in Virginia in 1755, to which colony his father had immigrated with a party of English who left England to seek religious liberty abroad. John Rolston was a soldier in the war of Independence, having volunteered in 1778 as a private in the regiment of Colonel Neville and served directly under the command of Captain Wallace until the close of hostilities. After the war he removed to Kentucky, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying in 1842, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His descendants, full of the pioneer spirit of their ancestors, have drifted farther west as the country has grown, and it was in Iowa that Vestal S. Abraham, father of the subject of this sketch. was born. Vestal Raul Abraham was also born in Iowa, the year being 1885. His mother, who bore the maiden name of Rose lams, belonged to a family who were among the prominent early settlers of Iowa. With the pioneer spirit still dominant, the Abraham family moved to Nebraska when Vestal H. was a mere child of four years, and it was in the graded schools of Keith county that he received his early education, later attending Franklin Academy in that state. Following his graduation from that institution his parents removed to Oregon in 1906 and took up their residence at Forest Grove. While living in that place he entered the Pacific University and later took a course at the University of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1911. He then matriculated at Rush Medical College in the same city, receiving from the latter institution his M. D. degree in 1913, after which he returned to Oregon and served as an internee at the Good Samaritan Hospital at Portland. Feeling himself equipped to take up the practice of his profession, he opened an office at Hood River and had built up a good practice when the World war caused him to offer his services to his country. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the medical corps and in May, 1917, was sent to Fort Riley, where he served for a year as medical instructor of the officers training camp. He was promoted to captain in December, 1917, and ordered to Camp Devens late in 1918, when he was made director of the ambulance corps of the Twelfth Sanitary Train. In October, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of major and ordered to France. While Dr. Abraham was at the army sanitary camp in Langres, the armistice was signed. He was soon ordered home, arriving here, December 22, and on December 24 he was discharged, coming out of the service as major of the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States army. The Doctor at once returned to Hood River and resumed the practice of his profession, and some few months after his return he became associated in the practice with Dr. J. W. Sifton, under the firm name of Abraham & Sifton. This mutually agreeable partnership still continues, their medical services being in much demand throughout the Hood River valley. In 1908 Dr. Abraham was united in marriage to Miss Maverne Templeton, a daughter of John Templeton, a retired farmer of Forest Grove, this state, who was born in Pennsylvania and removed to Minnesota, where he engaged in farming. On coming to Forest Grove, Oregon, he became identified with the First National Bank. Dr. and Mrs. Abraham have three children, namely: Virginia, Glen and Kenneth, the two eldest attending the grade schools. Dr. Abraham's practice embraces surgery but it is more of a general character. He is a member of the State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He held the office of coroner of Hood River county for two terms, resigning during his second term to join the American army. He is at present county physician and county health officer. He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a Woodman of the World, and is a charter member of the American Legion, being the delegate from Oregon to the first national convention of that patriotic body. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.