"Portland The Rose City, Pictorial and Biographical." Vol. 1. S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 111. EARL C. BRONAUGH, SR. Earl C. Bronaugh, Sr., whose name is inscribed high on the list of Portland's honored dead, became a resident of Portland in 1868 and remained thereafter to the time of his death a prominent and distinguished member of the Oregon bar. The family of which he was a representative comes of French Huguenot ancestry. At the time of the revocation of the edict of Nantes members of the family sought refuge from despotic religious persecution in Scotland and later representatives of the name came to America during the colonial epoch in the history of this country. The patriotism of the family was manifest by active support of the American cause on the field of battle. Jeremiah Bronaugh, the father of him whose name introduces this review, was born in Virginia and about 1846 became a pioneer of western Tennessee, while his later years were passed in Arkansas. While he followed merchandising in early manhood much of his life was devoted to farming. He married Miss Elizabeth Clapp, a daughter of Dr. Earl B. Clapp, of Abingdon, Virginia, who was a native of Massachusetts and during the war of 1812 served as a surgeon with the Virginia troops. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Robert Craig, of Abingdon, Virginia, who was a native of Pennsylvania and became a resident of the Old Dominion in 1787. He served under Washington during two campaigns in the Revolutionary war and was very active in promoting patriotic societies, organizing many in different portions of the country. He died in Abingdon in 1834 at the age of ninety years. Through the Psalmist's allotted span of life of three score years and ten he was an active member of the Presbyterian church. The ancestry of Dr. Clapp was traced back to Thomas Clapp, a native of Dorchester, England, who, in 1633 became a resident of Massachusetts, where his descendants remained until some time prior to the war of 1812, when Dr. Clapp removed to Virginia, being the first one of the family to leave New England. Of the four children born to Dr. and Elizabeth (Craig) Clapp, Elizabeth became the wife of Jeremiah Bronaugh, and their children were seven in number. Of this family Earl C. Bronaugh was born in Abingdon, Virginia, March 4, 1831, and at the age of twelve years went with his parents to Shelby county, Tennessee, where his youthful days were spent amid the environment of a wilderness home, during which period he assisted his father in work in the forests and in the fields. He further supplemented his early education, acquired in the schools of Abingdon, by devoting his leisure hours to study, and from early life was imbued with a determination to make the practice of law his life work. He began preparation for the bar as a law student in the office of his uncle, J. W. Clapp, of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and after reading for two years was admitted to the bar in 1849. He recognized the fact that advancement in the law is proverbially slow and knew that he must have funds with which to tide over the first few years of his connection with the profession. Accordingly he took up teaching in Tennessee and Arkansas and in time became a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, where he served as clerk of the chancery court. After living for two years in Brownsville, Arkansas, he removed to Helena and in 1860 was elected judge of the circuit court, serving on the bench until the outbreak of the Civil war. He gave his support to the Confederacy and for a year was a member of the southern army, but ill health then compelled his discharge and he returned home, where he remained until the close of hostilities. The opportunities for professional advancement in the northwest led him to leave the south and in 1868 he became a resident of Portland, where he at once opened a law office. He was practically penniless when he arrived in this city, but he possessed far better capital than wealth -- strong mentality, invincible courage and unabating energy. These qualities carried him to a foremost position at the Oregon bar and his name is enrolled with those whose records have reflected credit and honor upon the legal history of the state. He practiced for three years as a partner of John Catlin and for ten years as a member of the firm of Dolph, Bronaugh, Dolph & Simon until 1882, when he removed with his family to Santa Clara, California, for the benefit of his health. Returning to Portland two years later he was one of the organizers of the law firm of Whalley, Bronaugh & Northup and became senior member of the firm in 1889 on the retirement of Mr. Whalley. He remained thereafter one of the strong, capable and successful members of the Portland bar to the time of his death and his standing among his fellow practitioners was indicated in the resolutions passed by the Portland bar at the time of his demise and which included the following: "As a lawyer, Judge Bronaugh had few if any superiors at the Oregon bar. Some might excel him in eloquence, others in powers for skilful cross examination, but no one in the knowledge of the law or accuracy of statement. No case entrusted to him was lost through his want of care, research or ability. It has been said of him that no man could make a better record in a cause for appeal to the supreme court, and no lawyer saw the controlling questions in a case with more clearness than he. Before a jury he was an exceedingly dangerous antagonist. Always in earnest himself in what he did, he never failed to impress those whom he addressed with the sincerity of his views. Persuasive in speech, logical and forceful in argument, with a play often of quiet and graceful humor and gentle with which he used to please and not to wound, it was not surprising he should have been a great verdict winner. Those whom he vanquished in forensic contest never felt the sting of their defeat intensified by any boasting on his part or the detraction of the abilities or conduct of his adversary. In defeat he was always calm, courteous and brave; fertile in resources but fair in action. It is not the language of mortuary panegyric, but the plain simple truth, which everyone in the community in which for thirty years he has lived and labored, will attest, to say of him that his name was the synonym of uprightness and honor, and that he was in the estimation of everyone whether client or adversary, esteemed and respected as an honest man. Priceless indeed is that legacy of a good and honored name that he bequeathed to his family which he loved so well, and for whom he so cheerfully labored. He was a devoted husband and father, a kind and generous neighbor, a plain and simple gentleman of the old school, unaffected in manner, speech and dress, sincerely devoted to his profession and unmindful of the strife and contentions of public life. He did not mingle much in public, was retiring and modest, and preferred the quiet home, the grave decorum of the court room and the desk and library of his office. He was a man of strong religious convictions, and deeply sensible of the sufferings of the human race. The loss of seven children in their childhood and youth gave a touch of sorrow to his face and the gravity of life and its issues made a profound impression upon his whole career. And yet he was a most hopeful man in the promises of the faith he professed. The hope of a simple, sincere Christianity animated his life and efforts. To him this life was but a preparation for that to come. It was therefore doubly earnest to him, for as Longfellow wrote, he felt -- 'Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest Was not spoken of the soul.' "Although his star of life is no longer seen, yet it has set as sets the morning star in beauty, which goes not down behind the darkened clouds of the west but melts away in the pure radiance of heaven." Transcriber's additional notes: This same biography appears in: "Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders." Author: Joseph Gaston S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago-Portland, 1911 Vol. 2, Page 182 ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in April 2006 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.