Lockley, Fred. "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea." Vol. 2. S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. p. 65. FREDERICK EGGERT Courage, self-reliance, intelligence and determination were the youthful patrimony of Frederick Eggert, and with these assets he hewed his way through a forest of difficulties, becoming one of the foremost merchants of Portland. A broad-minded man and a good citizen, he was respected for his talents, admired for his strength of character, and honored for his integrity. He came of sturdy religious parentage. His father, John Heinrich Eggert, was born April 18, 1811, in Lippe-Detmoldt, Germany, and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Sophie Wilhelmene Freitag, was born January 12, 1811, in Hanover, of the same country. Coming to America as young people, they were married in Detroit, Michigan, February 12, 1837. Frederick Eggert was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 30, 1843, and died in Portland, Oregon, April 26, 1918. In his early childhood his parents settled in the vicinity of Freeport, Illinois, where at the age of three years he had a long and severe attack of cerebro-spinal meningitis, which left him with the handicap of a frail body, a weak heart and very limited physical strength. In the spring of 1856 his parents went to Kansas, settling on a farm near Lawrence, the first "free-state" town in that commonwealth, and there his limited strength was strained to the uttermost in working on the farm, while he had less than the average meager opportunity of the youth of that day in obtaining an education. At the age of seventeen Mr. Eggert's active brain, and determined will led him to decide upon a different career, and with that degree of resolution that always characterized his long and useful life, he secured employment in a general merchandise store at Lawrence. There his unfailing courtesy and genial spirit won for him many life-long friends and through tireless energy and the exercise of sound business judgment he laid the foundation for future success. He was thus employed on August 21, 1863, and was sleeping in a room over the store when at daybreak Quantrell, with his fierce Confederate raiders, fell upon the town, which he sacked and burned. He left one hundred and sixty-five citizens lying dead in the streets and among his victims was one of the owners of the store in which Mr. Eggert worked. Frail and unprotected, he was about to be shot, when one of the raiders for some unknown reason interposed, saved the boy's life and did not desert him until he had maneuvered him out of harm's way. Having decided to establish a dry goods business of his own, Mr. Eggert boarded a railroad train for the first time on November 2, 1865, when he went to Chicago to buy his first stock of goods. His abstemious habits, stern self-denial and rigid economy, coupled with his business ability, sterling worth and friendly nature won for him success, honor and influence in the mercantile world, while at the same time he was a leader in religious affairs. He contributed generously toward the support of the First Methodist church, of which he was a faithful member, and he served on its official boards. Mr. Eggert was married, September 1, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Avery, M. D., a homeopathic physician, who was born in Oxfordshire, England, April 7, 1848, and her parents, Thomas and Selina (Slater) Avery, were also natives of that country. In September, 1853, the family went to Connecticut and in that state Mr. and Mrs. Avery spent the remainder of their lives. They had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. Their daughter Elizabeth was reared in Connecticut and became a pupil in a boarding school. She attended the Ipswich Female, Seminary, founded by Mary Lyon, and was graduated, February 24, 1870, from the Homeopathic Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio. At that time very few women were connected with the medical profession and Dr. Avery was the first of her sex to be admitted to membership in the Kansas Homeopathic Medical Society. For a short time she practiced in Ohio and later following her profession in Illinois, and had an office in Chicago at the time of the fire which destroyed the business section of that city. On May 1, 1872, she became a member of the Kansas Medical Society and her ability placed her with the leading physicians of Lawrence. In that city she met Mr. Eggert and continued to practice there until she left the Sunflower state. Theirs proved an ideal union and for nearly forty-five years they were permitted to enjoy unalloyed wedded happiness. Mrs. Eggert makes her home at Hotel Mallory in Portland and a useful, well spent life has earned for her a secure place in the esteem of all with whom she has been associated. Seeking broader opportunities than those afforded by a university town, Mr. Eggert turned to the west and after a visit to Oregon during the rainy season in order to determine its effect upon his health, he decided to locate in this state. He closed out his business in Lawrence and on February 22, 1876, returned to Oregon. The late L. Z. Leiter, of the wholesale house of Field, Leiter & Company of Chicago, gave him a letter of introduction to Murphy, Grant & Company, the largest wholesale dealers in dry goods in San Francisco, and over his own signature he wrote: "Mr. Eggert's credit is good for all the goods you can persuade him to buy," thus proving his confidence in a man who, as it were, had only fairly started on his business career. Settling in Albany and finding trade conditions somewhat different from those in the east, he secured employment with the late Samuel E. Young, at that time the leading merchant of Linn county, and took charge of the dry goods department. During his six and a half years in that position his business qualifications made a lasting impression upon the pioneer residents of that place. In the fall of 1882 Mr. Eggert came to Portland and on November 11 of that year formed a partnership with Mr. Young and Walter E. Turrell, then in Mr. Young's office but now associated with Turrell Brothers, of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The firm of Eggert, Young & Company embarked in business at No. 109 First street as the successors of the Pacific Boot & Shoe Company and thus became the proprietors of the oldest store, of the kind in the Pacific northwest. It was started by Champlin & Hollabaugh and the firm of Cardwell & Bennet were the next owners of the business, which was later the property of S. M. Barr, who sold it to Mr. Eggert and his associates. At first he found himself facing the most disheartening conditions but his indomitable courage and enterprising business methods enabled him to overcome all obstacles and win success. After three years he acquired the entire business, retaining the firm name by mutual consent, and held the lifelong friendship of both of his former partners. Afterward he was engaged in the retail shoe business in Tacoma and Seattle in partnership with Walter E. Turrell and his brother, George J. Turrell, and subsequently became associated with J. F. Kelly, A. Staiger and E. Rice, employes, with whom he shared his prosperity until each in turn was able to engage in business for himself. From time to time he joined with leading business men of Portland in various enterprises. In 1889 Mr. Eggert formed a partnership with Messrs. Treen and Raymond, of Seattle, Messrs. Turrell, of Tacoma and Seattle, and his youngest brother, Charles F. Eggert, who for several years had resided on a farm in the Waldo Hills district of Marion county, and under the firm name of Treen, Raymond, Turrell & Company they established a wholesale shoe business in Seattle. Three months later the great Seattle fire reduced their store and stock to ashes. Mr. Eggert lost heavily, not only directly, but also through his interest in a local insurance company, which this and quickly following fires in Ellensburg and Spokane swept out of existence. Immediately after the fire Mr. Eggert established his brother in the retail shoe business in the unburned district and thus founded the Eggert Shoe Company of Seattle. To his brother's four sons, who from boyhood were connected with the business, Mr. Eggert sold his interest as fast as they were fitted to assume responsibilities. During a period of illness in 1897 Mr. Eggert found the climate of the Hood River valley of great benefit and from Hon. E. L. Smith he bought a portion of Beulah Land, to which he added by subsequent purchases one hundred and forty acres, and built a summer home upon what is conceded by many to be the most picturesque spot in the valley, naming the place Eggermont. He planted one of the first commercial orchards, if not the first, in the Hood River valley and was a pioneer in Hood River apple culture. The yield from his trees was so large that he found it demanded too much of his time and in February, 1911, he sold the place to the Eggermont Orchard Company. On November 1, 1892, the Eggert, Young Company moved to the Hamilton building on Third street in Portland, occupying the store room planned for Mr. Eggert by Hon. H. W. Corbett, now deceased. Retail centers were gradually moving westward and the firm's increasing business and clientele required more spacious and modern quarters. In the course of time three employes, Jordan Purvine, W. B. Brazelton and Miss N. B. Townsend, had become stockholders and since Mr. Eggert's demise have succeeded to the management. As far as possible they have continued along the lines instituted by Mr. Eggert, who during the nearly thirty-six years of his business life in Portland had made for himself and his firm an enviable place as an influential factor in the solid structure of Portland as a mercantile center. The following tribute to Mr. Eggert's worth was paid by one who had been associated with him in his office for seventeen years: "Those who knew Mr. Eggert best were impressed by his democracy. Every man coming in contact with him in a business way was given a hearing and if his proposition was economically sound, he was received in a friendly spirit. "A man seeking employment found in him a sympathetic listener whether or not there was a vacancy in the corps of helpers. And to any boy˜struggling with poverty and trying to make for himself a place˜it gave Mr. Eggert the keenest pleasure to give a helping hand. His plan for doing that was to teach him the value of money and the need for industry˜two branches of knowledge seemingly neglected in this day. Once interested in a boy, his movements were closely watched, and great was Mr. Eggert's disappointment if his teachings were disregarded. He frequently quoted Lincoln's saying that God must have loved the common people because he made so many of them. "Another characteristic was his cheerful and sunny disposition. Blues did not find an encouraging glance from him, and they speedily took flight from any company of which he was a part. His friends came to him with a fund of funny stories and they usually took with them an equal number in exchange; good, wholesome, laugh-provoking stories˜this always in spite of failing health and ofttimes in the face of serious weakness. "Mr. Eggert stood for inflexible uprightness˜requiring the same of himself that he expected in others. Nothing less than right characterized his dealings with men. Having struggled with poverty himself and retained his integrity, he knew whereof he spoke when he counseled men that honesty was not only the best policy but the only policy. His frequently expressed wish was that the race could realize the truth of the old Book's saying˜`The wages of sin is death.' "His very presence created a clean atmosphere in business, for he would not tolerate or excuse a deviation from the principles he believed in and knew to be right. Possessed of good judgment and keen business insight, his advice was frequently sought and always freely given. Many a widow and orphan have felt his loss as a counselor and friend; without realizing it himself, he was instinctively the friend of the friendless. "And to those he called friend he was unswervingly true. Sometimes he was imposed upon because he never believed ill of those to whom his allegiance was given until he was forced to believe it. For those who betrayed a trust he had only contempt, and the wrongdoer saw himself in a new and unflattering light after an interview with Mr. Eggert. "Those most closely associated with him in business miss his guiding hand. His decisions were quickly made, his judgment unerring and his spirit kind. He was a type of what might be called the 'old school' of business men˜those who forged ahead in spite of handicaps˜and who conducted affairs of today on the solid foundations learned in the early day. 'Continue thou in the things which thou has learned,' was a text he found helpful both in material and spiritual things, and so he built a life and a business upon that which would stand." Another friend said of Mr. Eggert: "His success from every standpoint was founded on character. He was a man of clean life and sterling integrity; his yea was yea, and his nay, nay. In spite of frail health he was optimistic of soul and cheerful in spirit. His cheery smile and kindly greeting were always helpful and encouraging and after a little talk with him the world always seemed a brighter place and life a little more worthwhile. He loved Portland and its people; he loved Oregon, its snow-capped mountains, God's alabaster towers,' its beautiful scenery and equable climate. He loved his country, and dearly prized the honor of its flag. Less than two hours before he passed onward he held pen in hand for the last time to subscribe for a very considerable amount of Liberty bonds, of which he had previously taken an amount very large in proportion to his resources. "He loved his church. On coming to Oregon circumstances led him and his wife to unite with the Congregational church, and no exigency of its needs ever failed to receive from him a response to the limit of his means. He was deeply religious by birth, training and temperament, and many ministers of the Gospel were among his dearest life-long friends. "He loved life, made the most of its sunshine, dispelled its shadows by his optimism, bore its burdens with fortitude, scattering seeds of kindness' all along the way. During his last days he had expressed gratitude for having been granted five years of borrowed time beyond the allotted human span of three score years and ten.' Even in declining health Mr. Eggert had with rare exception spent a portion of each day at his office. Three days before the end came his physical strength failed him and gradually waned until he entered into rest and at the age of seventy-five years closed an unusually successful career, leaving an unblemished record and a name honored at home and abroad." ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in April 2007 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.