"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1499.
 
WILLIAM W. SHORTRIDGE

     Identified with the agricultural interests of Lane county William W.
Shortridge has also taken a broad view of other pursuits, having served for
fourteen years as postmaster of Wallace. He was born in Muscatine, Iowa, March
31, 1836, the son of Samuel B. S. Shortridge, a pioneer of 1852, who was born in
Bourbon county, Ky., in 1798, a relative of Daniel Boone. At a very early age he
accompanied his parents to Indiana, where they made their home for many years.
He early learned the trade of a blacksmith and followed this in addition to
farming. In his young manhood he married Emily A. Heath, also a native of
Kentucky, and after locations in Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, they crossed the
plains with ox-teams and came direct to Lane county, where he took up a donation
claim of one hundred and sixty acres, located seven miles south of Cottage
Grove, which he improved and cultivated until 1858, when he took up his
residence with J. H. Shortridge, where he lived the balance of his life. Besides
William W., of this review, he had five children, of whom James H. is a resident
of Lane county, and Caroline D. became the wife of Hiram Stewart, of Goshen, the
others being deceased. The mother died in Iowa. Samuel B. S. Shortridge was
always active in politics and also as a member of the Church of Christ.
     William W. Shortridge grew to the age of sixteen years in his home in the
middle west, receiving his education in the district schools, and after the
journey west he remained at home until he married and located on Coast Fork, six
miles south of Cottage Grove, where he lived three years. He then removed to
Pass Creek near Divide and remained for a period of two years, when he bought
one hundred and sixty acres of land eleven miles south of Cottage Grove, upon
which he has since made his home. The improvement and cultivation of these
broad, rich acres have been the pleasure and profit of Mr. Shortridge in the
passing years, and he has bent every effort toward bringing his farm to a high
state of perfection. He has a comfortable home, one of the best south of Cottage
Grove, and has also erected other buildings which go to improve the value and
facilitate the operation of the farm. In 1883 Mr. Shortridge built a saw-mill on
his place and has since conducted it with success. He now has two hundred acres
of land, eighty of which are under cultivation, carrying on general farming and
stock-raising. In the midst of his pursuits Mr. Shortridge, like many others,
was called upon to defend his home and adopted state against the depredations of
the savages in the Rogue River war, enlisting February 13, 1856, in Company A,
under the command of Captain Ladshaw. During his service of four months and
nineteen days he participated in the battles at Cow creek and Big Meadow, and
many minor engagements. Upon his discharge he returned to his work on the farm.
     The marriage of Mr. Shortridge united him with Miss Ellen Jane Kyes, a
native of Illinois, and to them have been born eleven children, all of whom are
now living and named in order of birth are as follows: William C.; Silas S.;
Samantha J., the wife of William Brown; A. W.; Gilbert L.; Samuel P.; Emily L.,
the wife of Edward Adams; Lillie S. married George Sutherland; Lucy Ann married
Lyman Adams; Carrie F.; and Lester A. The two last named still make their home
with their parents, while the others reside in the vicinity. In political
preference Mr. Shortridge is a Populist and has always taken an active part in
public affairs, holding at various times the minor offices of this vicinity.
     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in March 2007 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.