"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1140.
 
ALBERT D. HALL

     The third generation of the Hall family in Oregon is ably represented by A.
D. Hall, one of the progressive and very successful agriculturists of the
vicinity of Willard. He was born on the old Benjamin F. Hall donation claim near
Woodburn, September 6, 1857, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary Ann (Johnson) Hall,
natives respectively of Missouri and Illinois, the former born at Liberty, Mo.,
October 19, 1826. His mother was born in Tazewell county, Ill., July 2, 1829.
     James E. Hall, the founder of the family in the northwest, and the
grandfather of A. D., was born in Virginia in 1798, and by trade was a
stonemason. He was reared on a farm and educated in the early subscription
schools. In his native state he married Cynthia Grooms, who was born in the Old
Dominion state in 1804. At a very early date these young people removed by horse
teams to Missouri, the journey being a long and tiresome one, but they finally
found a fertile farm in the wilderness of Clay county, where they made a home
and lived in comparative comfort until crossing the plains to Oregon in the
spring of 1845. In the spring of 1846 they settled at Champoeg, Marion county,
where the grandfather took up a donation claim, upon which he lived for many
years. He was one of the familiar figures in his neighborhood, a good farmer,
excellent man, and the personification of industry and frugality. During the
latter years of his life his wife and himself lived with their children, he
attaining the age of eighty, and she the age of ninety-four years. They raised a
family of nine children, to whom they gave every advantage in their power,  and
whom they taught to lead upright and worthy lives.
     Benjamin F. Hall crossed the plains with his parents in 1845, and assisted
in clearing the pioneer farm near Champoeg. In 1848 he went to California, where
he prospected and mined with indifferent success for a. few months. Returning to
Oregon he took up a claim near Woodburn. In 1853 he married Mary Ann Johnson,
who crossed the plains with her parents in 1851, her father, Rev. Neill Johnson,
being one of the pioneer and best-known ministers in Oregon. Mr. Hall has up to
the present time lived on his original farm, where he has since engaged in
general farming and stock-raising. From his first voting days he has been a
Republican, and has taken a keen interest in the undertakings of his party in
this state. The following children have been born to himself and wife, A. D.;
Sophrona, wife of G. W. McLaughlin, of Buena Vista, Ore.; Elmer N., of Buena
Vista; Edwin T., of Salem; William W., of Salem; Charles C., of Woodburn; Edith
E., the wife of John Haller, of Woodburn; and James J., of Woodburn.
     The youth of A. D. Hall was uneventfully passed on his father's farm, but
after his marriage in 1886 with Julia S. Smith, a native of Columbia, Mo., and a
daughter of Jacob Smith, he located on a farm near Woodburn, which continued to
be his home for about fifteen years. He then bought his present home of two
hundred and two acres in the Waldo Hills, twelve miles east of Salem, where he
has more than realized his expectations as a general farmer and stock-raiser.
For the past fourteen or fifteen years he has interested himself extensively in
Jersey cattle, and for many years has derived additional income from the
management of a threshing-machine during the harvest season. Mr. and Mrs. Hall
are the parents of six children Hubert N., Annie M., Agnes S., Oren, Alice,
(deceased), and Alma F.  Mr. Hall is affiliated with the Republican party, and
has several social connections, among them being the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, in which he has held all of the chairs., and the Grange at Macleay. In
religion he is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and contributes
liberally towards its general support. Mr. Hall is a broad-minded and well
informed agriculturist, and keeps abreast of the times on all topics which
appeal to wide-awake and progressive members of the community.

     
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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.