Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 108.
 
ROSCOE RUSH GILTNER

     Roscoe Rush Giltner, who about the close of the nineteenth century was
reputed to be the most able trial lawyer in Portland and who maintained his
position of leadership at the bar of the city to the time of his demise, was
born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1857, his parents being
Dr. Jacob S. and Martha M. (Hause) Giltner.  The father was born in
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1824, and passed away in
Portland, May 18, 1910.  His parents were Conrad and Rebecca (Snyder) Giltner
and his ancestral line was traced directly back to the Prince of Orange.  Conrad
Giltner was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and he became a prominent and
highly respected farmer of Pennsylvania where he owned a large tract of land.
His son, Dr. Giltner, had but limited educational opportunities but his desire
for knowledge is shown in the fact that when plowing in the fields he often had
his book with him and his evenings were devoted to study.  His mother,
sympathizing with his ambition to secure an education, sent him to college upon
inheriting a little money and thus gave to him the wished for opportunity that
constituted a step toward his later success.  He was graduated from the medical
department of the University of Pennsylvania when twenty-one years of age and in
1846 he wedded Miss Martha M. Hause, of Germantown, Pennsylvania.  They began
their domestic life near Harrisburg, that state, and afterward returned to his
home county, where he engaged in the practice of medicine until the outbreak of
the Civil war.  He then took a competitive examination and thereby won the
appointment of commander and medical director of the hospital of the Army of the
Cumberland at Nashville, Tennessee, with the rank of major.  He enlisted at
Milton, Pennsylvania, and was mustered in at Washington, D. C., doing splendid
service for the cause, both in field and hospital work.  The valuable experience
which he gained during his military career made him later a specialist in the
field of surgery in his private practice.  When the war was over he went to
Pithole, Pennsylvania, and in June, 1866, started for Oregon, remaining a
prominent member of the medical profession in Portland until about seventy-eight
years of age.  About 1875 he returned to Pennsylvania for post-graduate work.
For several years he was county physician of Multnomah county, was also city
physician and visiting physician to the insane asylum before his removal to
Salem.  His contributions to the literature of the profession were many and
valuable.  It was on the 9th of March, 1846, that he wedded Martha M. Hause, a
daughter of Abraham and Mary Hause, of Philadelphia.  Mrs. Giltner was born in
Chester county, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1826, and by her marriage became the
mother of ten children, four of whom died in infancy.
     Politically Dr. Giltner was a stanch republican and while never an office
seeker he was appointed a member of the school board about 1872 and served for
several years, being instrumental in the establishment of the Portland high
school and instrumental in securing the passage of a bill allowing colored
children to attend the public schools.  In early life he became a Mason and
while reared in the Society of Friends, to which belief he always adhered, he
afterward became a member of St. James' Lutheran church in Portland.  He died
May 18, 1910, while his wife passed away March 2, 1905.  He was a man of
scholarly attainments, of most kindly nature and generous spirit, giving a tenth
of his income to the support of the Gospel for the benefit of local hospitals
and the poorer classes.  His life was largely blameless and it is said that
there was no one who could be found in Portland to say aught against him.
     His son, Roscoe Rush Giltner, obtained his early education in the schools
of Portland, for he was a lad of only about nine years when the family home was
established in this city.  He was prepared for Yale by Professor Johnson,
completing his course within the classic walls of the old New Haven institution
in 1881.  He had also pursued a preparatory course in the Hopkins grammar school
in New Haven before entering Yale.  He prepared for the bar as a law student
with Richard Williams and the late Governor W. W. Thayer and was admitted to
practice in the courts of Oregon in 1884.  Ten years afterward, or in 1894, he
was elected city attorney and was the first incumbent in that position to occupy
the offices in the new City Hall building.  During that year he formed a
partnership with Russell E. Sewald, an association that was continued until his
death.  Mr. Giltner was the chief deputy prosecuting attorney from 1898 until
1900, during which time he conducted some of the most important criminal trials
in the history of the county.  He convicted the famous outlaw, Harry Tracy, and
caused him to be sent to the Oregon penitentiary.  He also handled the famous
McDaniel murder case and was the prosecutor in various other cases of note, in
all of which he displayed marked ability in handling the evidence and in
presenting the points in law to the court.  In connection with his partner, Mr.
Giltner equipped and operated a logging road for five years, the line extending
to a large timber tract which he owned.  The road was sold for three hundred and
twelve thousand dollars.  The land, thirty-one miles from Portland, is still
owned by the family and yet has upon it a large body of timber.  Mrs. Giltner is
likewise the owner of all of Manhattan beach, a section of the Tillamook beach.
The lumber tract comprises three thousand acres of land and the family is also
interested in farm lands.
     In 1892 Mr. Giltner was united in marriage to Miss Fronia Wallace, of
Cottage Grove, Oregon, a daughter of John Calvin and Harriet (Veach) Wallace,
the former a native of Kentucky, while the latter was born in Iowa.  Her parents
came to Oregon in 1865, settling at Cottage Grove where the father was engaged
in the brick and stone contract business.  Mr. and Mrs. Giltner had no children
of their own, but the kindness of their hearts prompted them to rear and educate
six children, all receiving college training.
     Mr. Giltner was particularly liberal in helping young boys through college
and in other ways preparing them for life's practical and responsible duties.
He was prominent in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, also in the Knights
of Pythias and was a life member of the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club.  He
passed away December 14, 1918, being then sixty-one years of age.  He was not
only a representative of one of the prominent pioneer families, but his personal
worth had given him high position in professional and social circles.
Throughout his entire career he was never content to choose the second best.
His ideals of life were high and he at all times attempted to live up to them.
He recognized his duties and his opportunities in relation to the public just as
fully as he recognized his professional opportunities and he utilized the former
as earnestly and effectively as the latter.  Of him it might well be said, when
one considers the good that he accomplished in assisting the young to prepare
for life:
                         
           "His life was noble and the elements so mixed in him
            That nature might stand up and say to all the world
            This was a man."
 
 
 
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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.