"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1476.
 
W. O. HECKART

     A leading contractor and builder of Corvallis, Benton county, is W. O.
Heckart, who stands high in the estimation of the people with whom he has so
long been associated, his prominent and influential position having been won
through a successful prosecution of his work. He was born near Ottumwa, Wapello
county, Iowa, February 5, 1860, the son of Michael Heckart, a native of
Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in the neighborhood of Harrisburg,
Dauphin county. He was the representative of an old Pennsylvania family, an
ancestor having settled in that state early in the eighteenth century, whose
descendants served in the Revolutionary war, while the grandfather of our
subject, W. O. Heckart, participated in the war of 1812. This ancestor
subsequently removed from a farm in Pennsylvania to Missouri, Michael Heckart,
who. was then only sixteen years old, accompanying his parents to the latter
state, where he grew to manhood and learned the trade of a carpenter.
Subsequently, he entered land in Wapello county, Iowa, and improved and
cultivated the same in conjunction with his trade, the first Presbyterian Church
of Ottumwa being the work of his hands. He remained a consistent member of this
faith until his death, while in politics he adhered to the principles
promulgated by the Democratic party. He married Mary Mayer, who was born in Ohio
and died in Iowa. Of the eleven children which blessed this union ten attained
maturity and nine are now living, another son, Charles L., also a carpenter,
being located in Corvallis.
     W. O. Heckart was the fourth child in his father's family, and was reared
in Iowa, on a farm eight miles south of Ottumwa, where he attended the public
schools and acquired a common school education. He was early bred to the use of
carpenter's tools, learning the trade when a mere lad. At sixteen he entered
actively into the work, remaining so engaged until 1883, when he went to Holt
county, Neb., and took up a tree claim and proceeded to improve it for the
period of six years. In addition to the farming interests with which he was
engaged during these years he also engaged in contracting and building in Holt
county. In 1889 he sold his property and located in Corvallis, Benton county,
Ore., where he has since remained, becoming a prominent figure in the industrial
life of the place. Among the buildings which he has erected in this county are
the Masonic Temple, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and Christian Church of
Corvallis, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of South Corvallis; the
Methodist Episcopal Church of Harrisburg; many of the largest and finest
residences in this city, as well as the court house of Toledo, Lincoln county,
the government hospital in the Siletz Indian Reservation, the Beckwith building
in Eugene and also several residences in that city, among them being the
Patterson and Kaufman residences.
     Mr. Heckart was married to Miss Carrie Hawk, a native of Wapello county,
Iowa, his own residence being built at the corner of Fifth and Monroe streets.
In political circles Mr. Heckart has been prominent since his arrival in this
locality; a strong Democrat, he has been chosen at different times to represent
those of like convictions, from 1900 to 1903 serving as a member of the city
council from the second ward and acting on several important committees. In 1902
he was a candidate for state senator, and though he never canvassed the county,
in a district two hundred and nineteen Republican lie was defeated by only one
hundred and nineteen votes. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen
of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and religiously is a member
of the Presbyterian Church, in which he officiates as elder and trustee.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2007 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.