"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1140.
 
HON. W. H. HOBSON

     The family of which Hon. W. H. Hobson of Stayton is a representative was
established on the Pacific coast in 1847 and since 1848 has been closely
identified with Oregon. His father, Hadley Hobson, was born in the state of
North Carolina September 6, 1811, and was the son of a brick manufacturer. In
his youth he learned the brickmaking business under the direction of his father,
and was also apprenticed to a mason. Until he reached the age of twenty-four
years he remained at home and worked at his trades with his father. Fortified
with an abundance of practical experience, he then went to Missouri, locating
in, Jackson county, where he worked at his trade of brickmaking with his
brother, who had preceded him there. Eventually they entered into a partnership
for the purpose of conducting a contracting business, in which their efforts met
with success. They erected some of the important buildings of that county and
vicinity, including the historic Chapel Hill Seminary, located in Lafayette
county, Mo. While a resident of Missouri he married Emily S. Speinhauer, a
native of South Carolina, whose parents came to the United States from Germany
about 1812.
     With his wife and children, and his brothers, George and Alfred, Mr. Hobson
crossed the plains in 1847, with an outfit of ox-teams and wagons, bound for
Oregon. During the journey they encountered many experiences of an interesting
and not always agreeable nature. At times they were subjected to many hardships.
It had been their original intention to go to Oregon, but they lost their way
and entered California by mistake. Determined to make the best of the situation,
Mr. Hobson at once engaged in gold-mining in that state, to which work he
applied himself until the fall of 1848, when, with his family, he started for
Oregon by way of the Pacific, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia river after
a journey of five weeks. Coming to Marion county he took up a donation claim of
six hundred and forty acres a mile north of the site of Stayton, all of which
was wild land, densely covered with timber for the greater part, and the home of
game hitherto undisturbed, except by the roving Indian. In a little clearing
this hardy and determined pioneer erected a round-log house containing one room.
It will surprise people unaccustomed to the hardships of the early days to know
that there was not a nail in the entire house. There were puncheon floors, and
all the finishings were of the most crude, nature; but the place was a paradise
to the little family so far from their old home and so pitiable in their utter
loneliness. Their neighbors were remote and their resources most meagre, but
they managed to make themselves comfortable and to transform their wilderness
home into a semblance of order, peace and comfort.
     Soon after seeing his family well established in their home, accompanied by
William Waldo, Henry Smith, Rufus Smith and Frederick Taylor, Mr. Hobson
returned to the mining district of California, succeeded in gathering enough
gold to pay a goodly percentage of the cost of his claim, and returned home.
Soon he was free from debt, and from that time forward his possessions
increased. From time to time he added to his original claim until he owned about
fifteen hundred acres of land, most of which was very fertile and easily
cultivated after the removal of the timber. He engaged in cattle and sheep
raising and general farming on a large scale, and he took an active part in the
general improvement of his county, aiding in the building of good roads, the
erection of schools and the promotion of all worthy enterprises. He was a man of
sterling traits of character, inherited principally from Quaker ancestry, in the
principles  of whose religion he was thoroughly and conscientiously schooled in
his youth. The ten children in his family were as follows : Mary Ann, the widow
of John Barker, of Heppner, Ore.; W. H.; George and Francis M., deceased ;
Lemuel, a rancher near Mehama ; Amanda, wife of Dr. John Parker, of Salinas,
Cal.; Emily and Amelia, twins, the former of whom is deceased, and the latter
the wife of Eugene Warner, of Ukiah, Cal.; Jeanette, of San Jose, Cal.; and
Hadley, a rancher residing near Mill City, Ore. The noble mother of this large
family of children lived to the age of eighty and one-half years, her death
occurring at San Jose, Cal., in February, 1894.
     Hon. W. H. Hobson, lawyer, merchant and distinguished public citizen, was
barely two years of age when his parents brought him to Oregon, and he grew to
early manhood on the claim upon which he spent many years in hard labor. When
the duties of home permitted he attended the school conducted in the little log
cabin in the neighborhood, his first and best remembered teacher being Samuel
Denney. By the time he had reached his twentieth year the town of Sublimity had
been founded. Thither he repaired as the nearest and most promising center of
activity, and conducted the store owned by his father for a time. Subsequently,
in Aumsville, he managed the business of Simpson, Hunt & Co., and then went to
Sublimity and started a small grocery store. Upon the expiration of a year he
located in Stayton, where he engaged in the grocery business until 1871. From
that time until 1874 he enjoyed a general trade at Stayton in partnership with
Uriah Whitner. After disposing of this store he and his former partner bought
another in Aumsville. After disposing of this in 1876 the partners built the
Gardner grist-mill at Stayton, and in connection therewith operated a general
store. Mr. Whitney withdrew from the association in 1883, after many years of
amicable and satisfactory business, and thereafter Mr. Hobson took as his
partners Messrs. Shaw and Simms. The building was afterward enlarged to meet the
demands of an increasing trade. In 1888 the partners and Lee Brown went to Mill
City and organized the Santiam Lumber Company, in connection with which they
built a large saw-mill and engaged in a flourishing business. In keeping with
the demands of that somewhat isolated section they started a general store and
logging railway, and their combined energies resulted in the establishment of a
very remunerative industry. In 1898 these combined interests were disposed of to
the Curtis Lumber Company, after which Mr. Hobson returned to Stayton and
resumed the conduct of his merchandising business. In 1897 he sold out and
established a dry goods business at Salem, continuing the same for four years.
Subsequently he started a similar enterprise at Stayton, which concern he still
owns and manages.
     Mr. Hobson's first marriage united him with Ella Gibson, who was a native
of Marion county, Ore., and a daughter of Hon. Guyan Gibson. She died January
10, 1878, leaving a daughter, Pearl, now the wife of E. C. Peery, of Scio, Ore.
December 12, 1880, he married Annie Thomas, who was born in East Portland, the
daughter of Mrs. Arminda Thomas, of Stayton, Ore. She is the mother of two
children, Alta and Everett.
     A stanch supporter of Republican principles, Mr. Hobson has been
prominently before the public for several years as a promoter of his party's
interests, and has held important offices within the gift of his fellow-townsmen
and the citizens of the county. In 1894 he was the nominee of his party for the
state senate, was elected, and upon the expiration of his term was re-elected
joint senator for Linn and Marion counties, both terms of service giving the
greatest satisfaction to all interested. During the first session he was a
member of the committees on claims, commerce, navigation and federal relations.
     Fraternally Mr. Hobson is a member of Santiam Lodge No. 25, A. F. & A. M.,
of Stayton, of which he is past master. In the Grand Lodge he has filled nearly
all the offices, including that of Grand Master in 1897-98. He is a member of
Multnomah Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., and De Molay Commandery, No. 5. He is also a
member of Stayton Lodge No. 64, I. O. O. F., and has passed all the chairs in
the grand lodge.
     Mr. Hobson has well interpreted and acted upon the possibilities at hand in
the great northwest, and his various commercial enterprises have contributed,
beyond the possibility of estimating, to the general upbuilding of the
localities in which he has operated. He is a man of strict integrity. No
question as to the motives which have actuated him in any of his undertakings
has ever arisen. In his public life he has always aimed to conserve the best
interests of his constituents and the state at large. Probity, broad-mindedness,
liberality of views, good fellowship, and a sincere and unselfish desire to
assist in the promotion of all enterprises looking to the betterment of the
public welfare, are the most pronounced traits in his character, as understood
by those who know him best. The record of his life, both public and private, has
been above reproach. The outline of the principal events in his career presented
here shows how, closely he has been identified with the rise and progress of the
state of Oregon, and forms, in itself, an interesting chapter in the annals of
the northwest.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.