Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 550.

JOHN D. WILCOX

     a retired farmer, residing in Grass Valley, Oregon, is one of the leading
business men and citizens of Sherman county. He was born in Marion county,
Oregon, on August 18, 1853. Thomas J. Wilcox, his father, was a native of
Kentucky and came from an old American family of English ancestry. His death
occurred at Monmouth, Oregon in 1894. He married Elizabeth Johnson, a native of
Tennessee and of German parentage. She died in Marion county, in 1873. They were
married in Missouri and crossed the plains with ox teams in 1853, arriving at
Silverton, three weeks before the birth of our subject. They took a donation
claim three miles out from Silverton and lived there until 1865, when Mr. Wilcox
sold and moved to Mill Creek, Marion county. Later, he sold the property there
and came to Monmouth, where he died. He was a stanch Republican, a leading man
and a very successful stockraiser and farmer. Our subject grew up on the farm,
received his education from the district schools and when twenty years old went
to Walla Walla, where he wrought on the farm as teamster and breaking horses for
some time. Then he returned to the Willamette valley and farmed for some years
and afterwards wrought in a shingle and lumber mill in Clackamas county. In the
spring of 1882, he returned to Walla Walla and the fall of the next year, came
to Sherman county, locating at what is now Wilcox station on the Columbia &
Southern Railroad. First he took land there and farmed until 1898 then he rented
and in the fall of 1903, sold his estate of one-half section. In 1898, he had
come to Grass Valley and here opened a feed store and also bought and sold
grain. A year later, he retired, although he still owns an interest in the
mercantile firm of E. E. Porter & Company which is a large dry goods and gents
furnishing establishment.
     On October 4, 1874, Mr. Wilcox married Ella S. Van Nuys, the wedding
occurring at the residence of the bride's parents, ten miles east from Salem.
Mrs. Wilcox was born in Marion county and her parents crossed the plains from
the east in 1852. Mr. Wilcox has one brother, Alva R., a stockman in Wasco
county and two, sisters, Margaret, the widow of Sidney Blackerby of Tygh Valley
and Emma, the wife of Albert Stewart of Wathena, Kansas. Mrs. Wilcox has two
brothers, Ralph W. and Charles, both in Marion county, and one sister, Ada, wife
of John H. Porter, also in Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have one child,
Hollis, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. 
     Mr. Wilcox is a member of the I. O. O. F., being past noble grand, and of
the Encampment, being past C. P.  He has been delegate to the grand lodge
several times. He and his wife also belong to the Rebekahs. Mr. Wilcox is a
stanch Republican, is often delegate to the county and state conventions and for
eight consecutive years was a leading figure in the state conventions. He takes
an active interest in politics but never aspires to office himself. He has
labored assiduously not only to gain a good competence but to build up the
county, to advance educational interests, and to forward every movement for the
general good of the people. Personally, Mr. Wilcox is a genial, public spirited
and generous man who has hosts of friends and is looked up to by all.


*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2010 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.