King-Statewide County WA Archives Biographies.....Doane, M. D., O. D. March 10, 1851 -
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 23, 2009, 2:02 pm
Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 76-83
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
A pioneer physician, well known to the older residents of Wasco county
and other sections of the state, was the subject of the following article,
written by Fred Lockley for the Oregon Daily Journal of November 27, 1927:
"A few days ago, while eating breakfast in a restaurant at The Dalles, I
saw a man who looked as though he might be a pioneer. As he paid his bill and
started for the door, I hailed him and said: 'Do you mind sitting at my table
while I finish my waffle? I want to ask you a few questions.' As he sat down,
I said: 'When did you come across the plains?' He shook his head, and said: 'I
didn't come across the plains. I was born in Portland on March 10, 1851.' I
shoved my waffle to one side, cleared the table, took out my notebook and
said: 'I don't know what your name is, but you're the man I've been looking
for.' ‘My name is Dr. O. D. Doane,' he said. ‘My father, the Rev. Nehemiah
Doane, was the first minister sent to a foreign mission from an American
Methodist theological school. He came out as a foreign missionary to the
Oregon country in 1849. Father was born January 22, 1818, in Barnstable
county, Massachusetts. He was a Cape Codder and died in 1904 at the age of
eighty-six. He was a descendant of Deacon John Doane, who settled at Plymouth
in 1621 and at one time was acting governor of Massachusetts. Father was born
at Eastham, a place selected by Deacon John Doane as his home some time after
his arrival in America. This old-time ancestor of mine lived in Plymouth until
1644, at which time he moved to Eastham, on Cape Cod. He died in 1685 at the
age of ninety-five. My grandfather, Nehemiah Doane, for whom my father was
named, followed the sea, as did most of those who were born on Cape Cod.
" 'My father was graduated from the common schools at Eastham, after
which he taught school for a while. He attended Holliston Academy at
Holliston, Massachusetts, for two and a half years and was then appointed a
teacher. Later he opened a school at Cadiz, Ohio. In 1847 he became a student
at the Boston School of Theology at Concord, New Hampshire. This was the first
school of theology established by the Methodist church in the United States
and my father was one of its first students. Professor Baker, who later became
a bishop in the Methodist church, secured for my father the appointment as
superintendent of the Oregon Institute at Salem.
" 'Father was married at Springfield, Vermont, on September 10, 1849, to
Matilda Draper, a native of that state. At the time father married her she was
a student in the Springfield Seminary. On October 16, 1849, father and mother
started on their wedding journey, aboard the Empire City, for the isthmus of
Panama. My father delivered the first sermon preached at Panama by a Methodist
minister. After crossing the isthmus they went aboard the Oregon, bound for
San Francisco. In that city they bought tickets on the Mary Taylor for
Astoria, paying one hundred dollars for each ticket. The steamer encountered a
heavy gale and was driven far to the north. They finally cast anchor in an
inlet near Vancouver island, and when the storm was over they went to Astoria.
Eight of the passengers hired three sailors to row them in a whaleboat from
Astoria to Portland. Father paid fifty dollars for himself and my mother for
the trip in the whaleboat to Portland. It took them nine days to make the
voyage, and as it was January and they encountered lots of rain in the open
boat, they did not have a particularly pleasant journey.
" 'Father and mother went to the home of J. S. Smith in Portland, where
they stayed for a few days, and then took passage in a Hudson's Bay Company
boat, reaching Milwaukie in the evening. Next morning they started out again,
but the current was so strong, the river being high, that they only made four
miles. They tied up to the bank and an Indian agreed to guide them to the home
of a settler. The Indian ran away without fulfilling his promise, so father
and mother sat on a log all night. The next day they went on to Oregon City,
where they had to stay three weeks until word could be sent to the
superintendent of missions at Salem, which they reached on February 15, 1850.
" 'My father was at once placed in charge of the Oregon Institute, which
at that time had nearly one hundred pupils. Father and mother both taught.
They were paid five hundred dollars a year. The gold excitement in California
had made provisions almost prohibitive in price. For example, sugar was sixty
dollars a sack, and other things in proportion. In 1851 the Rev. F. S. Hoyt
took charge of the Oregon Institute and father went to Portland, where he
taught school. That fall father was appointed pastor of the church at Oregon
City.
" 'I was about six months old when my parents moved from Portland to
Oregon City in the fall of 1851. Father served as pastor of the church and
mother taught school there. During the next few years father filled pastorates
at Yamhill, Dallas, Corvallis and Albany, Oregon. In 1859 he was appointed
presiding elder of the Puget Sound district, his headquarters being at
Olympia, Washington. Father was presiding elder there for four years. In 1863
he was called to the Methodist church at Seattle. Two years later he became
presiding elder of the Portland district. His next appointment was as
presiding elder of the Salem district, where he was stationed for four years.
Afterward he was pastor of the church at The Dalles, going from there to East
Portland, and thence in succession to Shedds, McMinnville, Dayton, Port
Townsend and Salem. Later father was appointed professor of theology in
Willamette University. When Portland University was established my father was
elected to the chair of systematic theology. He attended the Oregon annual
conference of the Methodist church, which was organized March 17, 1853, by
Bishop Edward R. Ames, who had just come out from Boston. This meeting was
held at Salem. In 1876 father was sent to the general conference of the church
at Baltimore and in 1891 was a delegate to the conference at Washington, D. C.
He was also the author of several theological works.
" 'My parents had six children and I am the oldest. All are deceased
except my brother, Prince Albert Doane, who is engaged in contracting in
Portland, and myself. My brother, Orville L., lived for many years on Vashon
island. My brother, Quinn T. Doane, was also a well known contractor and
resided for several years in Spokane. My sister Mary was the next of the
family and then came Prince Albert. The other child a girl, Evalyne, died in
infancy.
" 'My father took up a donation land claim about six miles from Fort
Yamhill. Lieutenant Phil Sheridan, who fought in the Indian war of 1855-56,
used to visit our home frequently and many a time held me on his knee and
played with me. This was about 1859 and in 1876 Sheridan, who then bore the
title of general, revisited Oregon. I met General Sheridan at the train in
Eugene and he remembered me and also my father.
" 'The first school I attended was at Corvallis and my teacher was Lavina
Draper. When we lived in Olympia my father was presiding elder of a district
which extended from the sea to the Cascades and from the British Columbia line
to the Columbia river. He covered his field afoot, by canoe and on horseback,
frequently camping out where night overtook him. I attended school in Olympia
from 1859 to 1863. My teachers were Professors McElroy and Lippincott. In 1863
father took charge of the church in Seattle and I went to school there for two
years. We lived on the bluff, above what is now Pioneer square. Clarence
Bagley, now an employe of the city of Seattle, and I were boyhood friends. I
worked for a while in a sawmill at what was then called Freeport but is now
West Seattle.
" 'When news came of the end of the Civil war Seattle had a big
celebration. They put candles in most of the windows and many of the
residents, as well as the residences, were lit up. Every anvil obtainable was
brought into requisition and salutes were fired. I was working in the sawmill
at the time we received the news of the assassination of President Lincoln. I
became a student of the territorial university the year after it opened.
Daniel Bagley, John Webster and Edmund Carr were the university commissioners.
A. A. Denny, who was a member of the legislature, succeeded in having the
university get under way. He gave eight acres toward a campus. Asa Mercer was
principal of the university when it was started.
" 'I attended Willamette University in 1865, 1866 and 1867. L. T.
Woodward was president and L. J. Powell was professor of mathematics.
Sylvester Simpson had charge of the department of languages and F. H. Grubbs
was principal of the academy. C. B. Moores, now of Portland, was one of my
schoolmates.
" 'In 1868 I taught school on Mormon Hill, ten miles east of Salem. Later
I taught at Wheatland and for several terms I was principal of the East Salem
school. From Salem I went to Shoalwater bay and clerked in a store at
Oysterville for about six or eight months. From there I came to The Dalles.
That was fifty-five years ago and all of the people who were then here have
gone with the exception of about ten. Lulu Crandall was here at that time and
so were Mrs. Sarah Mitchell and her daughters, Mrs. Schenck and Albert
Bettingen. Sim Bolton, the postmaster, was a pupil of mine. During 1872 and
1873 I was principal of the public school here.
" 'When I first came to The Dalles I had a peculiar experience. I cast my
first vote here. When the judges of the election board learned that I was
going to vote the republican ticket they challenged my vote. Joseph G. Wilson,
whose son, Fred Wilson, is circuit judge here at The Dalles, said, "I believe
this young man has a right to vote." He said, "Did you give up your residence
at Salem and remove to Shoalwater bay?" I said, "No. I consider Salem still my
home." Judge Wilson replied, "Then you have a right to vote for state
officers, though not for county officers." The judges grudgingly conceded this
right, but refused to let me vote for the members of the legislature. Judge
Wilson said, "They are state officials, as they are paid by the state." So I
won out all along the line. When I was seventeen years old I went to the polls
in Salem. Sam May said to me, "The polls are about to close; you had better
vote." I had a heavy beard that came down pretty well over my chin. He
said, "I suppose this is your first presidential vote." When I did not step
forward to vote, he said, "What are you waiting for?" I replied, "I am waiting
until I am twenty-one; I am only seventeen now." He gave me a scandalized
look, and said: "Well, go home and shave off that beard, and don't come around
the polling place masquerading as a man."
" 'After putting in a year as principal of the school at The Dalles I
went back to Salem and began the study of medicine. To earn my way through the
medical college I worked in the drug store owned by Cyrus Woodworth and Dr. C.
H. Hall. In 1874 I went to Albany and ran a drug store for Fred Hill, the
brother of W. Lair Hill. I returned to Salem and put in the winter in the
medical department of Willamette University. The next summer I went to Eugene,
where I worked, and also studied with Dr. A. I. Nicklin. I graduated from the
medical department of Willamette University in 1877. Among my fellow students
were Dan W. Cox, A. J. Geisy, Harry Lane, S. C. Stone, Thomas Mann, founder of
the Mann Home in Portland, L. W. and Jonathan Brown, I. N. Cromwell, L. L.
Davis, Reece Holmes, G. J. Hill and others.
" 'I went to Dallas, in Polk county, where I practiced until 1879, when I
returned to The Dalles and opened an office. Here I was married in the fall of
1877 to Emma L. Harman, who died in September, 1903, and on the 2d of June,
1908, I married Ida May Freeman, whose son, Loy Van Norden, is engaged in
dairying in Tillamook county. Loy Van Norden was born in Lakeview, Oregon.
" 'When I started my practice in The Dalles I had to travel on horseback
as far as Arlington and Grass Valley, and even up into Yakima. Among the old
pioneers that I knew were Governors Gibbs, Grover, Woods, Whittaker, Chadwick,
Moody, Geer, Withycombe and Pierce, Asahel Bush, Dr. W. L. Adams, and most of
the old-time politicians and ministers.'" For more than forty-five years Dr.
Doane continuously followed his profession, never hesitating to respond to the
call of duty, and endured many hardships in the exercise of his beneficent
calling. Efficient, dignified and well poised, he inspired confidence and
trust in his patients and was long regarded as one of the foremost physicians
of this part of the state. His practice was drawn from a wide area and his
knowledge and skill were in constant demand. In 1923, when seventy-two years
of age, he laid aside the arduous work of the profession and has since lived
retired at The Dalles.
For a half century Dr. Doane has been identified with the Masonic order,
which he joined in 1878, becoming a member of Wasco Lodge, No. 15., A. F. & A.
M., and is its oldest past master. In the York Rite he has filled all of the
chairs and is one of the Nobles of Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His
affiliation with Columbia Lodge, No. 5, of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, dates from 1872 and in this organization he has filled important
offices. In 1880 he entered the Grand Lodge and has since attended all of its
sessions. He was made grand master in 1889 and in 1893 was grand
representative of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. In 1894 he was again grand representative of the Grand Lodge,
attending the session on Lookout mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and
since 1903 he has served continuously as grand treasurer of the Grand Lodge.
He also belongs to The Dalles Camp of the Woodmen of the World and the local
Kiwanis Club. An ardent advocate of good roads, he is one of the public-
spirited citizens who are responsible for the building of the Sarosis Park
Scenic drive, a beautiful highway overlooking The Dalles. Dr. Doane is a broad-
minded man of unselfish nature, esteemed by a host of friends, and his life
has been upright and serviceable.
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