"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1475.
 

HENRY A. SKEELS

     One of the solid, progressive, and able business men of Springfield, Lane
county, is Henry A. Skeels, who, although a comparatively new resident of this
place, is prominently identified with its leading interests, and is conspicuous
in the management of its public affairs, being at the present time mayor of this
thriving little city. A native of Illinois, he was born February 16, 1849, in
Iroquois county, a son of Nelson Skeels, and the descendant of a well known New
England family.
     Reuben Skeels, grandfather of Henry A., was born and bred in Vermont,
growing to a sturdy manhood among its green hills. He served for a brief time in
the war of 1812, and afterwards removed to Ohio, becoming a pioneer farmer of
Columbus. Going from there to Iroquois county, Ill., in 1837, he took up a tract
of land from the government, and again engaged in the pioneer labor of improving
a homestead, living and laboring as a general farmer until his death, at the age
of seventy-four years. Deeply religious by nature and training, he was a valued
and active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was one of the
organizers of the church of that denomination at Onarga, Ill., in which he was
the first deacon. As one of the seven men, four of them being named Skeels, that
were instrumental in the establishment of this church, his name appears on its
records, and the fact that the first meeting of its first congregation was held
in his house is written in its annals.
     Removing from Ohio, the state of his birth, to Illinois when a lad of
sixteen years, Nelson Skeels subsequently lived in Iroquois county until 1865,
when he removed with his family to Montana. Locating in Boulder valley, near
Helena, he carried on stock-raising and dairying for five years, meeting with
fair success. He was subsequently engaged in the same industry at Bozeman,
Mont., until the fall of 1873, when he settled near Walla Walla, Wash., where he
was employed in stock-raising ,and general farming for five years. In 1878 he
located near Palouse, Whitman county, and there continued in his chosen vocation
until his death, at the age of sixty-four years. He married Lucinda A. Fargo,
who was born June 21, 1823, in West Virginia. Her father was born in Vermont,
but removed to West Virginia as a young man, locating on the Conaway river, near
Mount Pleasant, where he remained, a successful farmer and a citizen of
prominence, until his death. He was of French ancestry, being descended from one
of two brothers that came from France to America in colonial times. One brother,
the ancestor of Mrs. Skeels, located in Vermont, while the other brother settled
in Canada. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Skeels, seven sons and four
daughters were born, and of these four sons and one daughter are now living.
     The eldest child of his parents, Henry A. Skeels obtained his early
education in the common schools of Illinois, afterwards assisting his father in
farming and stock-raising until 1871. In that year he established himself in
business as a butcher at Bozeman, Mont., being in partnership with his father,
however, and continuing thus associated until the death of the father. In 1894
Mr. Skeels located at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he was employed in getting out
timber for the mines, and also in running a general store for four years. Coming
to Springfield, Ore., in 1898, he leased the old saw-mill, which he operated
successfully until the fall of 1901, when he sold out to the Booth-Kelley
Company. Purchasing a store of general merchandise, he managed it profitably for
a year, when, in 1902, he traded it for a fruit ranch in California. This ranch,
advantageously located in the Santa Clara valley, contains thirty-five acres of
land, and is devoted chiefly to the raising of prunes, apricots and cherries.
Mr. Skeels has likewise valuable property in Springfield, owning houses and
lots, and is a man of wealth as well as of political and social position.
     At Walla Walla, Wash., Mr. Skeels married Elmyra Oglesby, a native of
Illinois, and they have six children living, namely : Nelson A., George W.,
Laura, wife of I. L. Smith; Harry A., Isaac L. and John Robert, all residents of
Springfield. For two years prior to his election as mayor of the city, Mr.
Skeels served as a member of the city council. In his political affiliations he
is a Republican, and fraternally is a Mason.
     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2007 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.