"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chicago:
Chapman Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1428.
 
WILLIAM M. RENSHAW

     That congenial work means successful work is demonstrated anew in the
career of William M. Renshaw, the genial proprietor of the Hotel Smeede at
Eugene. Of Scotch-Irish ancestry, long identified with the south, he was born in
Springfield, Mo., November 7, 1850, his father, W. D. Renshaw, having settled
there in 1837. The elder Renshaw, who was born near Nashville, Tenn., in 1823,
had a large farm in the vicinity of Springfield, Mo., property which he disposed
of after acquainting himself with the prospects in the far west.  Outfitting
with ox-teams and provisions he crossed the plains with his wife and two
children in 1851, encompassing the intervening distance between Missouri and
Portland in six months to a day. He had comparatively little trouble with the
Indians, although some more courageous than others helped themselves to some of
his stock. In the spring of 1852 he settled on a donation claim six miles south
of Eugene, composed of three hundred and twenty acres of uncultivated land, and
there built a small log house and began to prepare for such crops as could be
planted on short order. He was quite successful from a financial standpoint, and
was popular in his neighborhood, his death, at the age of sixty-five, which took
place in 1888, being regretted by a large circle of friends and, well wishers.
He was a Republican from a political standpoint, and in religion was a
Presbyterian. In his youth he married Mary J. Walker, born in either Georgia or
Tennessee, and who removed with her parents to Greene county, Mo., before coming
to Oregon. Mrs. Renshaw was born in 1828 and died in 1887. Of the eight children
born into the family, Theodore M. is living in Grant's Pass; W. M. is the
subject of this sketch; Hugh A. lives in Lane county; Elmer L. lives in Eugene;
Samuel I. is in Virginia; Sarah L. is the wife of Charles Mayhew of Eugene; and
Hattie, wife of Jefferson Gwin of Salem.
     William M. Renshaw was less than a year old when he came to Oregon, and he
practically remembers nothing of his former home, or the incidents leading to
the family emigration. He was educated in the public schools and remained on the
home farm in Linn county until nineteen years old, when he turned his attention
to surveying, being employed by the government for five years to survey the
public lands. He was associated as surveyor, first with J. H. McClung, then with
Mr. Evans, and still later with Messrs. Perkins and General Odell. Having
finished his contract for surveying he engaged in the meat market business for
six years, and in 1878 removed to Grant county, eastern Oregon, and engaged for
two years in the cattle business. Returning to the Willamette valley in the
spring of 1880, he continued the butchering business for a couple of years, and
then engaged in the liquor business for over twenty years. In September, 1902,
Mr. Renshaw leased the New Smeede Hotel, and opened it to the traveling public
September 24, 1902. This is the leading hotel in the city, and compares
favorably with the hostelries in much larger and older cities. The proprietor is
eminently fitted for the many duties which devolve upon him, and is possessed of
the qualities of tact, consideration, courtesy and geniality so necessary in the
make-up of the successful hotel man. The hostelry is substantially and
artistically furnished, has large and airy rooms, and ample accommodation for
guests.
     A Republican in political affiliation, Mr. Renshaw has never been an
aspirant for public office. He is a member of Eugene Lodge No. 11, A. F. & A.
M., Eugene Chapter No. 10, Royal Arch Masons; the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks; and the Ancient Order United Workmen. He married, in 1878, in
Eugene, Eleanor Cochran, a native of Lane county, and a daughter of James
Cochran, who crossed the plains from Indiana to Oregon in 1853.

     
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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.