J.
B. CONGLE.--Mr. Congle was one of the then of wealth who
contributed largely to the early growth and prosperity of
our state, and especially of Portland. He was born December
9, 1817, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. In the year 1832
he went to Philadelphia to learn the harness and saddlery
trade, and in the spring of 1838 removed to Virginia, thence
to Missouri, and in the year 1841 was at Lafayette, Indiana,
where he resided ten years thereafter. On May 21, 1844, he
was married to Miss Ellen H. Gray, of the place last named.
He came as an argonaut to California in 1849, and returned
two years later to his home in Indiana. In 1853 he came to
Oregon and located at Corvallis then known as Marysville,
and esteemed the head of permanent navigation. Here he lived
eight years, and was the first mayor of the city. In 1857 he
was elected sheriff of Benton county, but resigned the
position after three months. In 1861 he removed to Portland,
and made that city his residence until his death. Positions
of trust and honor he was frequently called upon to fill,
and served the public faithfully. He was elected councilman
of the second ward in 1870, and in 1872 was chosen
representative to the state legislature from Multnomah
county. He became a member of the Masonic order in Indiana,
and in 187475 was grand master of this order in Oregon, and
in 187980 was grand high priest.
Mr. Congle's two daughters, one of whom
is the wife of Honorable Richard Williams, ex-representative
to Congress from Oregon, and the other, Mrs. J. B. Wyatt,
are leaders in the best and most refined society in the
state. For nearly twenty-five years Mr. Congle was a leading
business man of Portland; and his death in 1887 was
universally deplored. His funeral was very largely attended;
and his multitude of friends brought to his grave their last
tokens of respect, expressing their sympathy for Mrs. Congle,
who still survives as one of the leading residents of that
city.
[source: History of the Pacific
Northwest: Oregon and Washington. Portland, Oregon.
North Pacific History Company, 1889.]
