Bramwell Christie Altman (1862-1941)

From the April 30, 1908, Sunday Oregonian.

   A transplant to Multnomah County, Oregon from Ohio, Bramwell Christie Altman served in the Oregon House of Representatives for one term. The son of James Henry and Mary (Butler) Altman, Bramwell Christie Altman was born in Clermont County, Ohio on May 14, 1862. Little is known of his early life in the state of his birth, and by the late 1890s had relocated to Oregon, where he married in December 1898 to Amy Eveline Stephens (1881-1967), who was nearly twenty years his junior. The couple would have two sons, James Wilbur (born 1902) and Dale Ellis (1908-1993), the latter being a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force.  

  Following his establishing roots in Oregon, Altman became a teacher in the Portland school system while also devoting himself to farming. In 1900 he purchased the "old Spiller ranch" in Pleasant Home, which he planned to convert to a large dairy farm. The succeeding years saw Altman's name become prominent in Multnomah farming circles, and as a breeder of Jersey cattle won awards for his stock, which by 1916 consisted of 55 head, several of whom were lauded for their extensive milk, cream, and butter production. Altman was also a member of the Multnomah Grange, and in August 1907 took part in the founding of the Multnomah County Fair Association, where he was a speaker and member of the committee on dairying. 

  In March 1908 Bramwell Altman made his first run for political office, announcing his candidacy for the Oregon House of Representatives. Following his legislative win that November, he was named to the committees on Education and the Public Library and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910. In 1914 he would run for the Oregon state senate on the Prohibition Party ticket but again went down to defeat. 

  After leaving office Altman and his family resided in Gresham, Oregon, where he died on November 7, 1941, aged 79. Both Altman and his wife (who survived him by nearly thirty years) were interred at the Pleasant Home Cemetery in Gresham.