"Illustrated History of Lane County, Oregon." Portland, Oregon: A. G. Walling, publisher, 1884. pg. 475. WILLIAM WILSHIRE BRISTOW (Deceased) Was born in Kentucky, July 18, 1826, but when quite young accompanied his parents to Illinois, from whence he came across the plains to Oregon in 1848, settling at Pleasant Hill, Lane county. Like all other young men in Oregon, at that time he went with the rush to the California gold-mines in the spring of 1849, but returning from there the same fall he commenced the improvement of a land claim. In the spring of 1850 or 1851 he taught the first school at Pleasant Hill -- and in fact the first school within the county. In 1853-3 he was the justice of the peace for the precinct, and for a number of years was post-master at Pleasant Hill. In 1857 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention which met a Salem, August 3, 1857, for the purpose of framing a state constitution, and participated in the deliberations of that body until its close. In June, 1858, he was elected one of the first state senators from Lane county, and was a prominent actor in all the scenes incident to setting in motion the machinery of the new state government. In 1872 he was re-elected to the same position, serving with credit to himself and constituency through the two sessions of 1872 and 1874. In 1865 he sold his farm at Pleasant Hill, and going to Eugene City, bought a one-third interest in the mercantile business of Bristow & Co., in which he continued until his death, which occurred at his home in that town, on December 8, 1874. He was stricken down in the prime of manhood and in the midst of his usefulness, leaving behind him an untarnished name and regretted by all who knew him. He was a long member of the Masonic fraternity, by which order he received due recognition and burial. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in May 2005 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.