"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon." Authors: "a compilation of this work....by a number of writers". Chapman Publishing Co; Chicago, 1903. p. 281. CAPT. GEORGE ANSON PEASE Not a few of the fortunes which have been made in the great northwest have come from the waters of its many rivers, for steamboating has not been the least of the remunerative employments of this section. Capt. George Anson Pease is one of the pioneers who realized the possible profit of such work, his early observation having taught him as much, for his mother had six brothers engaged in boating on the Hudson river, and almost immediately after his arrival here in 1850 he became so employed and continued so throughout his entire business career. It is a self-evident fact that he has been successful in a financial way, and the general esteem and respect of his fellowmen bespeak that greater one which can only be won by years of trustworthiness. In 1861 Captain Pease rescued forty people from a flood, proving those qualities which have always distinguished his life. The father of Captain Pease, Norman Pease, was an architect and builder of New York state and said to be the best in his trade throughout the state. He was born in Ohio and after his removal to New York he married Harriet McAllister, a representative of a Scotch family, and he died January 4, 1847, at the age of forty-three years, while she came to Oregon in 1862 and made her home in Oregon City until her death in 1890, in her eighty-fourth year. She was the mother of seven children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being as follows: George Anson, of this review, the oldest child, and the only son, born in Stuyvesant Landing, Columbia county, N. Y., September 30, 1830; Maria A., now the wife of Alexander Warner, of Mt. Tabor; Martha E., the widow of John Howser, at the time of her mother's death being in Portland, but now living in New York City; Jane, who became the wife of A. M. Cannon and died in Spokane Falls, Wash., in 1893; Harriet E., the widow of Capt. C. W. Pope; and Pamela, who became the wife of Alfred Herring and died in Portland, in 1887. Captain Pease and his sisters were all educated in the subscription schools of his native state, but at the age of fifteen years he became connected with his father to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade, and at the death of his father he finished his apprenticeship with another man. He remained at home until 1849, when he set out for the west, his trip being made by way of the Horn, his arrival safely accomplished September 30, 1849. He remained in Sacramento for a time and spent the winter in the mines, where he met with success, which was turned into failure through his trust of the man with whom he was working. Having lost all that. He had gained he decided to go north and try his fortune in Oregon, arriving here in July, 1850, where he has ever since remained. He purchased a couple of boats and ran them from Milwaukee to Oregon City and later from Portland. In 1851 the first steamboat was brought to the Willamette river and Captain Pease secured a position as clerk and deck-hand, remaining for six months, the first boats being the Hoosier, Oregon, Canemah and Franklin. With others Captain Pease bought The Elk in 1858 and Onward in 1860, and became pilot and captain of the steamer Hoosier in 1851. In 1863 he built a boat which he called the Enterprise and ran on the upper river, which proved a profitable undertaking and later it was put into The People's Transportation Company. For some years the captain was a member of the board of directors, but later they sold the Benjamin Holliday and he remained in his employ as superintendent of the river lines. Mr. Holliday afterward sold out to the Oregon Steamer and Navigation Company and Captain Pease still remained as master in the employ of that company until he resigned and became a pilot in 1879, after some years going to work for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. In 1896 he was appointed captain of the. United States government dredge, W. S. Ladd, and remained successfully until May. 1903, when he resigned and quit active work. In Linn City, in 1857, Captain Pease was united in marriage with Miss Mildred A. Moore, who was born in Illinois and came to Oregon when she was five years old. She died in Portland, whither the family had removed in 1868, in October, 1889, when thirty-seven years old, the mother of four children, of whom two, Francis A., aged six, and George E., aged two, are deceased, while the living are Archibald L., who is married and has two sons, George Norman, a student of Cornell University, and A. Leroy, a student of Hill Military Academy; and Harriet M., residing in San Francisco, the wife of T. J. Colbert, manager of the carpet department of the Emporium, and they have two children: Mildred Grace, now Mrs. Peters, and George Pease Colbert. The children of Captain Pease were all educated in the public schools of Oregon City and Portland. Fraternally the captain is a prominent man, having been made a Mason in 1855, in Oregon City, and having acted as master of Multnomah Lodge, which is the oldest on the Pacific coast. He is a charter member of Portland Lodge No. 55, and belongs to the Chapter, R. A. M., charter member of Scottish Rite and member of Al Kader Temple. He belongs socially to the Pioneers' Association of Oregon and Historical Society, and in the line of his business belongs to the Masters and Pilots' Association of Untied States Steam Vessels Captain Pease is a self-made man and the success which he has achieved may be traced to that decision of character which impelled him to grasp a difficulty as soon as presented and use every strength and purpose of his intellect to overcome it and lift himself to a higher position among his fellow men. Transcriber's additional notes: This same biography appears in the following book "Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley, Oregon" A compilation of work by a number of writers Chapman Publishing Co.; 1903 ******************* 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.