OREGON CITY COURIER-HERALD NEW YEAR NUMBER.
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SOME PROMINENT CITIZENS
SENATOR OliO. C. BROW NELL.
No resident is better known to the citi
zens of Clackamas County than Hon. George
C. Browncll. His voice has been heard in
every hamlet, precinct and schoolhouse
throughout the length and breadth of the
entire county, and it is safe to say every
man, woman and child in this community
has seen and heard Senator Brownell.
He was born in Kelseville. Essex County,
New York, in 1858, where he studied law
and was admitted to the bar at the age of
21 years. Upon admission to his chosen
profession he moved to Atchison, Kan., and
entered the office of W. W. Guthrie, general
attorney of the Atchison & Nebraska Rail
road. He was elected Mayor of the City of
Frankfort, Kan., in 1884, and re-elected in
1885. The folowing year he was appointed
attorney for the Fitzgerald-Mellory Con
struction Company, which built 1000 miles of
railroad through Kansas and Colorado. In
1888 he was elected attorney of Ness County.
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Kansas. Mr. Brownell came to Oregon in
June, 1891, locating in Oregon City. The
following March the Republican convention
tendered him fhe nomination for the State
Senate, which fy- declined. The same con
vention matte him its chairman and chair
man of the county central committee. In
1894 he was nominated by acclamation and
elected to the State Senate over Hon. W. A.
Starkweather. In 1808, after one of the
fiercest political fights ever waged in Clack
amas, County, he was again the choice of the
convention by acclamation for the Legisla
ture, and again elected, this time defeating
Hon. V. S. U'Ren at the polls. In 1899 the
Republican county convention indorsed him
for Congress. Mr. Brownell has a wide po
litical influence and ranks among the first
lawyers and orators of the state.
GILBERT L. HEDGES.
Gilbert Lawrence Hedges was born in
Canemah, Or., January 19, 1874. When 15
years of age his parents sent him to An
dover, Mass., to attend Phillips Academy.
He remained there for three years, complet
ing the prescribed course of study and grad
uating in 1892. In the Fall of this year he
entered Yale University and four years later
was graduated from that institution, receiv
ing his B. A. degree in June, 1896. Desiring
to prepare for the practice of law, he decided
to enter the law department of the univer
sity. Completing the law bourse in two
years, Mr. Hedges returned to Oregon. For
a time he was with Hedges & Griffith, a
well-known law firm of Oregon City, and af
terwards opened offices of his own in the
Weinhard block, Oregon City, Or. The clean
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and bright career of young Hedges has
forced him to the front, both legally and po
litically. In April. 1900, he was made the
choice of the Union party to represent
Clackamas County at the State Capital, and
the following June he was elected with a
handsome majority, being the only success
ful candidate of his party for the Legisla
ture. During the last Legislative session he
championed several worthy measures, one
of which was the reduction of railway fare
from four to three cents per mile. He is
building up a splendul law practice and the
future holds much in store for him.
HON. A. S. DRESSER.
A. S. Dresser was born in 1858 at Blue
Hill. Me., and received his education in the
schools of thafTstatc. He began his career
as clerk in a large general merchandise store
and later took up the vocation ot school
teaching, constantly increasing his education
by his own efforts and industry, and later
began the study of law in the office of B. T.
Sowl, one of the leading lawyers of Han
cock County, Maine, and was admitted to
the bar in 1885. While practicing at Ells
worth, Me., in the same year, he gained his
first fame as attorney in the successful de
fense of a person accused of arson of a
dwelling house in the night time, the pen
alty in that state being imprisonment for life.
Mr. Dresser came to Oregon in i88s, and
kept books for a large lumber firm at Rai
nier. In June, 1888, he moved to Oregon
City and formed a law partnership with Hon.
T. A. McBride, which continued until the
latter was elected Circuit Court Judge, when
he became a law partner of Hon, George C.
Brownell, which partnership continued three
years, since which time he has conducted an
office alone. Mr. Dresser is a life-long Re
publican, and in June, 1900, was elected by
that party as Joint Representative of Mult
nomah and Clackamas Counties, in which
position he served his constituents with
honor to them and himself. He is an able
lawyer and a man of strict integrity and pos
sesses a splendid character that can be uni
versally vouched for.
JOHN R. SHAVER.
Was born in Marion County, five miles
above Silverton, December 14, 1854. His
father was a pioneer of 1851. He moved to
Portland, when 5 years of age and lived
there until 1880, when he came to Molalla,
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his present place of residence. Mr. Shaver
was in the livery stable business in Portland
for three years and was elected Assessor of
East Portland for two years. He was road
supervisor of his precinct for three years,
school director for over three terms and
constable for two terms. He is one of the
most prominent stockraisers and stock buy
ers of Clackamas County. A picture of
some of his Hereford stock, which he ex
hibited at the State Fair, appears elsewhere
in this publication. Three of the cows shown
came from England. He has 25 head of
full-bloods, most of them registered.