Steele Lemoyne Moorhead (1852-1948)

From the August 15, 1900 edition of the Morning Oregonian.

   Oregon political figure Steele Lemoyne Moorhead receives a write-up today, and although he was born a Pennsylvanian, Moorhead became a notable figure in Lane County, Oregon, making a name for himself as a newspaper publisher, city recorder, mayor, and state legislator. During a long life that extended 95 years, Moorhead resided in several different states, and during that time left an imprint in each of them.

  Steele Lemoyne Moorhead's birth occurred in the small town of Indiana, Pennsylvania on May 11, 1852, a son of Joseph McCloud and Margaret MacFarland Moorhead. The Moorhead family later removed from Pennsylvania to Missouri, where Steele began learning the trade of printing at the Atchison County Journal in the village of Rockport. Moorhead rose to become both business manager and editor of the Journal for several years and married in Missouri to May Rebecca Bonham (1864-1930) with whom he would later have the following children: Harriett May (1885-1977), Josephine Bird (1886-), Bishop Thompson (1892-1959), Steele Lemoyne Jr. (1898-1975) and Verneita (born June 1902).

   In 1888 the Moorhead family relocated to Ness City, Kansas, where Steele founded the Ness City Times. He managed the affairs of this paper for three years until removing once again, this time to Junction City, Oregon. Within a short time, Moorhead had established roots in the community and founded the Junction City Times, the first newspaper to be published in the city. In 1892 he won election as recorder for Junction City and in the following year was elected as the city's Mayor "with only three votes against him, and one of those his own." Prior to his tenure as mayor, Moorhead had served as a Junction City Councilman and school director, his dates of service in those offices being unknown at this time.

   Moorhead served a one-year term as Junction City mayor and continued his political ascent in 1894 when he was elected as a Republican to the Oregon State House of Representatives. As one of Lane County's legislators, Moorhead is recorded by the 1895 Official Directory of Oregon as being "a jolly good fellow, ''all wool and 60 inches wide"", and helped to introduce two important pieces of legislation, the first being a measure "providing for a majority verdict of nine on juries in civil cases" as well as a bill "to prevent corporations (especially railroads) from blacklisting employees." Moorhead chaired the house committee on Mileage and Per Diem and was later appointed as chairman of a special committee that was to revise, correct and publish the Oregon Legislature's 18th Biennial Session Journal and Calender. After the conclusion of his term, Moorhead continued to serve the Oregon legislature in a slightly different fashion, holding the post of Chief Clerk of the Oregon Senate for a decade.

   In addition to his involvement in politics and journalism, Moorhead maintained memberships in many local fraternal organizations, being a longstanding member of the Junction City Lodge #58 of Free and Accepted Masons, as well as the Knights of Pythias. While Steele Moorhead gained a reputation as one of Junction City's premier citizens, May Rebecca Moorhead also made a name for herself in local women's groups, being elected as President of the Women's Improvement Club of Junction City in November 1914. A portrait/article on her election appeared in the November 8, 1914 edition of the Morning Oregonian and is shown below.

May Rebecca Moorhead as she appeared in the Nov. 8, 1914 Morning Oregonian.

   After many years of residence in Junction City, the Moorhead family removed to Washington in late 1915, where Steele "assumed the business and editorial management of the Mount St. Helens Mist." After some years of being connected with this paper, Moorhead purchased the Cowlitz County Advocate and resided with his family in the city of Castle Rock. 

  In 1930 May Rebecca Moorhead died in Castle Rock at age 66 and sometime afterward Steele Moorhead moved back to Oregon, settling in Marion County. A 1940 census listing notes that at age 88, Moorhead was residing with his daughter Josephine and her husband Frank Lilburn. Steele Lemoyne Moorhead celebrated his 90th birthday in 1942 and died six years later on February 15, 1948, three months short of his 96th birthday. He and his wife were interred at the Rest Lawn Memorial Park in Junction City, Oregon following their deaths, as were Hattie Moorhead and Steele L. Moorhead Jr. after their respective deaths in 1977 and 1975.

Baskin Eply Rhoads (1834-1895)

                         From the Biographical Sketches and Review of the Bench and Bar of Indiana, 1895.

   Endowed with an unusual first name that will immediately bring to mind the famed Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream parlor, Indiana legislator and judge Baskin Eply Rhoads was a truly learned man in his day, being well known as an amateur geologist and academic in addition to his service in state government. A Pennsylvanian by birth, Baskin E. Rhoads was born in the small settlement of Coatesville on May 1,1834 and removed to Indiana with his family at age two, first settling in Park County. The Rhoads family would later move to Montgomery County, where Baskin attended the Waveland Academy for a time. He became a tanner's apprentice under one David Mann around the same period and later went on to enroll at the Wabash College, graduating in the class of 1860.

   Both before and after his graduation Rhoads was a teacher in the Montgomery and Vermillion County school systems, serving as a principal in the latter county. Sometime in the early 1860s, he migrated to Clinton County, where he took on a teaching position at the Farmer's Institute for a few months. Around this same time, he began the study of law under Judge Samuel Maxwell of Park County, and while thus engaged also served as school superintendent for the Rockville, Indiana schools. 

  After being admitted to the state bar in 1862 Rhoads set up a law practice in Newport in Vermillion County. In November 1864 he was elected as that county's representative in the Indiana General Assembly, taking his seat in January 1865. During his term, he held a seat on the education committee and is remarked by Theophilus Wylie's history of Indiana University as helping to draft "the present School Law, which was passed, and was presented by himself to Governor Morton, who signed it in his presence. The law was passed with but little alteration from the original draft."

Baskin E. Rhodes, from the 1865 Indiana House of Representatives photo composite.

   Many sources of the time note Rhoads as a fervent proponent for public education in Indiana, and during his one term in the state legislature was instrumental in the creation and drafting of the bill that led to the establishment of the Indiana State Normal School (now known as Indiana State University). With the introduction (and eventual passing) of this bill, Rhoads is justly referred to as the "founding father" of the Indiana State Normal School. He remained connected to the school for many years afterward, and three years after leaving the legislature was elected as a University trustee. He served in this capacity until 1874, and earlier, in 1870, had been appointed as a Professor of Law. His professorship extended several years and in July 1874 he married Ida Moffatt (1850-1936) with whom he had two children, Sarah (1876-1918) and Daniel, who died aged 17 in March 1897.

Baskin E. Rhoads, from the archives of the Vigo County Historical Society.

   Rhoads continued to be involved in educational affairs for the remainder of his life, journeying to Europe in the late 1870s "where he studied Civil Law, modern languages and general literature." After returning to the United States, Rhoads became politically active once more, being named by Indiana Governor Albert G. Porter as a Judge for the Vigo County Court in 1881. He served on the bench until December 1882 and two years later became a member of the first board of trustees of the newly established Coates College of Women in Terre Haute.

   For the last decade of his life, Rhoads was engaged in the practice of law in Vigo County, being a member of the firm Rhoads and Williams with Terre Haute native Elmer Williams. The Biographical Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Indiana notes that Baskin E. Rhoads "was stricken with apoplexy" and died shortly thereafter at his home in Terre Haute on January 15, 1895. He was 60 years old and was survived by his wife Ida Moffatt Rhoads, who died forty-one years after her husband in July 1936. Both Baskin, Ida, and their children are interred in a family plot at the Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Indiana. In an interesting side note, several decades after his death, Baskin Rhoads received the honor of having Rhoads Hall (on the campus of Indiana State University) named after him in a 1965 dedication ceremony.

Death notice for Baskin E. Rhoads from the Logansport Reporter, January 15, 1895.