"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. 285.
 
COL. HENRY E. DOSCH

     In noting the history of the Dosch family we find they were prominent in
military affairs in Germany, where Col. John B. Dosch and his father, Col.
Ernest Dosch, were officers in the army; and the former had two brothers who
also held high rank in the service of their country.  At the close of an
honorable career in the army he entered the diplomatic service, and
subsequently, with a record of which he might well be proud, he retired to his
large estate adjoining Kastel-Mainz, and there his last years were passed.  His
wife, Anna, was a daughter of Ulrich Busch, a large and wealthy lumber merchant
of Kastel-Mainz; her brother, Adolphus Busch, has since become on the most
prominent residents of St. Louis, Mo.  In her family of seven children one son
and one daughter survive, the former being Col. Henry E. Dosch, of Portland,
proposed director-general of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and commissioner of
the board of horticultural commissioners of Oregon.
     In his native town of Kastel-Mainz, where he was born June 17, 1841, Col.
Henry E. Dosch received excellent educational advantages.  On the completion of
the regular course in the School of Commerce and Industry in Kastel-Mainz, he
was apprenticed to a large importing oil house, where he served for three years.
In March of 1860 he came to America and secured employment as bookkeeper in St.
Louis.  At the opening of the Civil war he enlisted as member of General
Fremont's body guard, serving as such until November, 1861, when the one hundred
and fifty-one men composing the guard were honorably discharged.  At the battle
of Springfield, Mo., these valiant guardsmen met and routed three thousand
Confederates in a desperate conflict that lasted from three in the afternoon
until dark.  During this engagement Mr. Dosch was wounded in the right leg.  It
might have been supposed that this baptism of fire would discourage Mr. Dosch
from further efforts to enlist; but not so.  On the expiration of his time he
endeavored to secure admission into the volunteer service, and in March of 1862
was accepted as a member of Company C, Fifth Missouri Cavalry.  Later, on
account of losses in the Fourth and Fifth, these regiments were consolidated and
he then resigned.  A later office was that of sergeant of Company C, after which
he was promoted to be sergeant-major of the regiment and then adjutant, and for
the last three months he was acting colonel.  On the consolidation of the two
regiments, in 1863, he resigned his position and retired from the service.
     The first experience of Colonel Dosch with western life and environment was
gained in 1863, when he crossed the plains with ox-teams and after two weeks in
Salt Lake City continued his journey to Virginia City, Nev.  For a time he was
connected with the Wells-Fargo pony express, and at one time he walked from
Omaha to Sacramento and thence to San Francisco.  In April of 1864 he became
bookkeeper and cashier for a firm dealing in miner's supplies at The Dalles.
The next year he embarked in the mercantile business at Canon City, Ore., and
continued until the loss of his stock and store by fire led him to come to
Portland in 1871.  In this city he conducted a wholesale business in the boot
and shoe line for nineteen years, having his establishment of Front street.  The
mental and nervous strain incident to the building up of a large wholesale
business proved very trying and he was finally obliged to retire, in order that
his health might not be permanently injured.  Being of too active a temperament
to enjoy complete rest, he turned his attention to horticulture, a science which
has always possessed the keenest fascination for him.  In 1889 the governor of
Oregon appointed him a member of the board of horticultural commissioners and
each succeeding governor has re-appointed him to the office.  During his term of
service five volumes of biennial reports have been issued.  Those published in
1899 and 1901 have been adopted as text books at Cornell University, University
of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Stuttgart University in Germany, and
various colleges in England.
     Perhaps in now way has Colonel Dosch more materially aided in the progress
of Oregon and in bringing before the world a knowledge of its resources, than
through his connection with exhibits of the products of the state.  During the
World's Fair in Chicago an exhibit was inaugurated that attracted much attention
fro people who previously had been wholly unacquainted with the state's
possibilities.  Through his efforts the legislature was interested in the
exhibit and an appropriation was made, thereby enhancing the success of the
enterprise.  A later project which he superintended was the exhibit of the
products of Oregon at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha.  So successful
was he in this work that he was appointed to the same position in connection
with the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y., and the Inter-State and West
Indies Exposition at Charleston, S. C.  One of the highest honors of his life
came to him with his appointment as director-general of the Lewis and Clark
Exposition, to which he is now giving much time and thought.  During 1903 he
will have charge of an exhibit at Ozaka, Japan, and while visiting this
International Exposition it is his hope to arouse an interest on the part of the
Japanese and induce them to make an exhibit at Portland during the Lewis and
Clark Exposition.
     There is probably no citizen of Portland whose knowledge of horticulture is
broader and more thorough than that possessed by Colonel Dosch.  In his office
as commissioner of the state board of horticultural commissioners, he has
directed its operations and headed its work in the direction of bringing to the
people of the state, as well as elsewhere, an accurate knowledge of Oregon soil,
its possibilities as a horticultural center, and the special fruits suited to
various localities.  Often he has accepted invitations to contribute to
horticultural journals, and the articles appearing therein over his signature
always command a wide reading.  His association with the board of horticultural
commissioners has been productive of the greatest good to the fruit-growing
interests of the state, and to those having a knowledge of his contribution to
the success of the board's reports the accepted value of the reports is a
tribute to his accuracy and judgment.  It may be doubted if any measure has
contributed more to the development of Oregon's horticultural resources than the
act of legislature, approved February 25, 1889, for the creation of a state
board of horticulture; and it may also be doubted if any one member of the board
has contributed in so great a degree to its success as has Colonel Dosch.  As
originally created, the board of horticulture consists of six members, appointed
by the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer.  One member represents
the state at large, while the others represent five districts, namely:  first
district, Multnomah, Clackamas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clatsop and
Tillamook counties; second district, Marion, Polk, Benton, Lincoln, Linn and
Lane counties; third district, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Josephine, Coos, Curry
and Lake counties; fourth district, Wasco, Sherman, Morrow, Gilliam and Crook
counties; and fifth district, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Malheur, Harney
and Grant counties.  The members reside in the districts for which they are
appointed are selected with reference to their practical experience in or
knowledge of horticulture.  Appointment is for a term of four years.  The
present officers of the board are E. L. Smith, president; L. T. Reynolds,
treasurer, and Henry E. Dosch, secretary, while the representatives of districts
are as follows:  W. K. Newell, first district; L. T. Reynolds, second district;
A. H. Carson, third district; Emile Schanno, fourth district; Judd Geer, fifth
district; and E. L. Smith, state-at-large.
     The marriage of Colonel Dosch was solemnized at Canon City, Ore., in 1866,
and united with him Marie Louise Fleurot, who was born in France and received
her education in Portland.  They are the parents of six children now living,
namely:  Ernst, who is a merchant at Skagway, Alaska; Lillie, Camelia, Arno,
Roswell and Marguerite.  The family attend the First Presbyterian Church of
Portland, in which Colonel Dosch for a time officiated as treasurer.
     For several terms he was commander of Lincoln-Garfield Post No. 3, G. A. R.
During his residence in Canon City in 1867 he was made a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is now identified with Minerva Lodge in
Portland.  During 1887-88 he was grand master of the grand lodge of Oregon.  In
politics he has always been allied with the Democratic party, but during the
campaigns of 1896 and 1900 connected himself with the gold wing of that party,
not being in favor of a sixteen-to-one standard.  During the long period of his
residence in the west he has kept in touch with the progress in the world of
thought and action, and while especially devoted to the great northwest, yet has
no narrow spirit of prejudice, but is loyal to the welfare of our country, and
interested in world progress.  Frequent trips to the east, as well as several
voyages across the ocean to the old home land, have brought to him an intimate
knowledge of the development of our nation and the influence of modern thought
in the old world; but, while loyal to the land of his birth, he believes the
history of the future ages is to be written by the United States and especially
by that portion thereof lying beyond the Rockies.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2006 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.