L. Curry was elected chief clerk of the council, assisted by James D. Turner. Herman Buck was sergeant-at-arms. Asahel Bush was chosen chief clerk of the house, assisted by B. Genois. William Holmes was sergeant-at-arms, and Septimus Heulat doorkeeper.
The assembly being organized, the governor was invited to make any suggestions; and appearing before
H. Bellinger, who died after election; W. T. Matlock, Benjamin Simpson, Hector Campbell, of Clackamas; William McAlphin, E. L. Walters, of Linn; John Thorp, H. N. V. Holmes, of Polk; J. C. Avery, W. St Glair, of Benton; Aaron Payne, S. M. Gilmore, Matthew P. Deady, of Yamhill; Truman P. Powers, of Clatsop, Lewis, and Clarke counties.
Of Wilcox I have spoken in another place; also of Shaw, Walter, Payne, and McAlphin. William M. King was born and bred in Litchfield, Conn., whence he moved to Onondaga county, New York, and subsequently to Pennsylvania and Missouri. He came to Oregon in 1848 and engaged in business in Portland, soon becoming known as a talented and unscrupulous politician, as well as a cunning debater and successful tactician. He is much censured in the early territorial newspapers, partly for real faults, and partly, no doubt, from partisan feeling. He is described by one who knew him as firm friend and bitter enemy. He died at Portland, after seeing it grow to be a place of wealth and importance, November 8, 1869, aged 69 years. H. N. V. Holmes was born in Wythe county, Va., in 1812, but removed in childhood to Pulaski county, emigrating to Oregon in 1848. He settled in a picturesque district of Polk county, in the gap between the Yamhill and La Creole valleys. He was a gentleman, of the old Kentucky school, was several times a member of the Oregon legislature, and a prosperous farmer.
B. F. Harding, a native of Wyoming county, Penn., was born in 1822, and came to Oregon in 1849. He was a lawyer by profession, and settled at Salem, for the interests of which place he faithfully labored, and for Marion county, which rewarded him by keeping him in a position of prominence for many years. He married Eliza Cox of Salem in 1851. He lived later on a fine farm in the enjoyment of abundance and independence. John Thorp was captain of a company in the immigration of 1844. He was from Madison county, Ky, and settled in Polk county, Oregon, where he followed farming. Truman P. Powers was born in 1807, and brought up in Chittenden county, Vt, coming to Oregon in 1846. He settled on the Columbia near Astoria. William Parker was a native of Derby county, England, born in 1813, but removed when a child to New York. He was a farmer and surveyor. Benjamin Simpson, born in Warren county, Tenn., in 1819, was raised in Howard county, Mo., and came to Oregon in 1846, and engaged in merchandising. Hector Campbell was born in Hampden county, Mass., in 1793, removed to Oregon in 1849, and settled on a farm in Clackamas county. William T. Matlock, a lawyer, was born in Rhone county, Tennessee, in 1802, removed when a child to Indiana, and to Oregon in 1847. Samuel M. Gilmore, born in Bedford county, Tenn., in 1814, removed first to Clay and then to Buchanan county, Missouri, whence he emigrated in 1843, settling in Yamhill county. W. St Clair was an immigrant of 1846.
Joseph C. Avery was born in Lucerne county, Penn., June 9, 1817, and was educated at Wilkesbarre, the county seat. He removed to Ill. in 1839, where he married Martha Marsh in 1841. Four years afterward he came to Oregon, spending the winter of 1845 at Oregon City. In the following spring he settled on a land claim at the mouth of Mary's River, where in 1850 he laid out a town, calling it Marysville, but asking the legislature afterward to change the name to Corvallis, which was done.
