"History of Southern Oregon, Comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and
Coos Counties.  Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources."  A. G. Walling,
Publisher.  Portland, OR.  1884.  pg. 526.

HON. CHARLES DRAIN

     Whose portrait, together wit that of his estimable wife, very appropriately
finds a place in this history, was born near Lancaster, Lancaster county, Penn.,
December 28, 1816, and was the second son of Charles and Esther Wilson Drain. 
When Charles was but five years old his parents moved to Shelby county, Indiana,
with the intention of embarking in agricultural pursuits.  But on entering the
then almost wilderness of Indiana, little did they dream what a few short months
would bring forth, for at the end of the second month in Shelby county the head
of the family was taken suddenly with a congestive chill and a few days
thereafter died.  And six short weeks from the death of her husband the mother
of our subject passed away.  Thus the home circle was broken up, and the
children, three sons and one daughter, found homes among strangers, and from
that time the recollections of the one living (our subject) are of a transient
dwelling place, separated from each other and of an early necessity to look to
their own resources for that which other children, more fortunate, instinctively
seek through the affections of another.  Charles first found a home for two
years with a Mr. Mitchell and then was adopted by Mr. John Duncan, and with him
went to reside in Marion county, same state, where he lived until sixteen years
of age.  Then on account of his guardian not being disposed to allow him to
attend school, he concluded to leave and first found employment on a farm which
he followed for the three succeeding years.  He then in 1836, went to Quincy,
Ill., and here learned the trade of plasterer and resided until 1838.  He then
returned to Shelby county, Indiana, and the scenes of his early childhood, and
in February, 1839, was married, and then leased land and engaged in farming
until the spring of 1842.  We next find him with his family in Van Buren county,
Iowa, engaged in farming.  In the spring of 1850 Mr. Drain, like many hundreds
of others, concluded to brave the dangers of a trip across the plains, to seek
his fortune in the gold fields of California, and set out from his home in Van
Buren county, Iowa, with some fifteen companions and with good outfits and an
abundant supply of provisions, but being of generous disposition, qualities
which he still retains, he was too free to give to the needy whom he met on the
plains, and consequently, on arriving at the sink of the Humboldt our little
party found their supply of provisions exhausted, and then began suffering and
privations which only those who have been placed in like situations can
understand.  Mr. Drain then followed mining at Hangtown, now Placerville, for a
short time and then engaged in mercantile business in Nevada county, which he
continued until 1851, when he returned , via Panama, to his Iowa home.  But
being so favorably impressed with the climate of the Pacific coast, he concluded
to make his future home on her shores.  April 20, 1852, found him with his wife,
two daughters and one son, again on the road across the plains, this time to
seek a home in one of the fertile valleys of Oregon, and arrived in Marion
county, September 20, 1852, and settled on a farm some ten miles from Albany,
and there followed farming for eight years.  Mr. Drain, in 1854, was elected a
member of the territorial council, and re-elected in 1867, and on the admission
of the territory into the Union as a state, Mr. Drain was elected to the state
senate for four years, he having drawn the long term.  While a member of the
senate Mr. Drain was elected by his colleagues to the responsible position of
president of the senate.  In 1860 he leased his farm in the Willamette valley
and resigned his seat in the state senate and selected Douglas county as his
future home, at that time locating on his present valuable farm, then consisting
of 320 acres to which he has since added by purchase some 1,700 more.  In 1871
Mr. Drain donated sixty acres to the Oregon and California Railroad Company for
depot purposes and at that time laid out the beautiful and thriving town which
now bears his name.  Mr. Drain has many warm personal friends throughout the
state, and no man stands higher in all those principles required to mark the
true man, and now after an active life of almost three-quarters of a century, he
is prepared to take the comforts of a well spent and prosperous life.  Mr. Drain
was united in marriage in Bartholomew county, Indiana, February 12, 1839, to
Miss Nancy G. Ensley, a daughter of John and Catherine Gates Ensley, and was
born in Venango county, Penn., May 20, 1817, and when eight years of age moved
with her parents to Indiana, locating in the county in which she was married. 
By this union they have had eight children; five of whom are deceased.  Those
living are John C., the leading merchant of Drain, and who has already been a
member of the assembly for Douglas county, and while there filled the honorable
position of speaker of the house; Catherine A., now Mrs. Simon R. Lane; and
Charles D., also in the mercantile business with his brother.  In conclusion, we
would say that Mr. and Mrs. Drain have raised a family of children in a manner
that reflects credit upon them as person possessing practical sense.  Each and
every one of their children has been educated to look upon life, not as the idle
drones upon the honey stored for them by the working bees in the hive; but as a
period blocked out of time in which they are to accomplish something by their
own acts that will not be a discredit to themselves and the name they bear.  To
Mr. Drain and men of his kind Southern Oregon owes its present prosperity and
future success.
     

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in July 2005 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.