Collection is open for research.
Gift of Gwilym Jones, April 1963 (Lib. Acc. 9958).
Melvin Clark George, known in his life as M. C. George, was born in 1849 in Noble County, Ohio. In 1851, he emigrated with his family to Oregon, and grew up near Lebanon. He attended Willamette University, and in 1875 was admitted to the Oregon bar. He served as an Oregon state senator for the Republican Party from 1876 to 1880, and from 1881 to 1885 was a U.S. Representative. Following his political career, he served as a circuit judge from 1897 to 1905, after which he practiced law in Portland, Oregon. George also served on the Portland Public Schools board, was active in promoting the construction of jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River, and in the 1890s was on a committee for building bridges in Portland, Oregon.
George married Mary Eckler in 1873; the couple had three children. George died in February 1933.
Sources: Corning, Howard McKinley, editor, "Dictionary of Oregon History," second edition, 1989; "George, Melvin Clark, 1849-1933," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,
M. C. George papers, Mss 680, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was titled "Melvin Clark George papers" prior to 2022. Clippings in the collection were photocopied on acid-free paper and the originals discarded for preservation purposes prior to 2022.
Plans for M. C. George's residence are located in Justus F. Krumbein architectural papers, Mss 3123, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Additional papers of M. C. George are housed at the University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections and University Archives, Eugene, Oregon.
The collection consists of correspondence and ephemera of and relating to M. C. George, who was a lawyer, politician, and judge from Oregon. Notable correspondence includes an 1882 note from Benjamin Alvord that accompanied a map titled, "Rough Sketches from Notes of the Marches by Expeditions in the Summer of 1864," an 1884 letter from Edward R. Geary about Henry Villard and the Northern Pacific Railroad, and a 1905 letter from U.S. Senator Louis E. McComas recommending that George be appointed as a U.S. District Court judge. Other correspondence includes an 1860 letter from J. P. Eckler to Mary Eckler, who would later marry M. C. George; correspondence and related documentation regarding a landslide on George's property; letters from engineer P. W. Marx about a highway extension that would cut through George's orchard in The Dalles; a 1900 letter from C. S. Nickerson about family history; and a 1933 letter from Albert Tozier about Provisional Government Park at Champoeg, Oregon.
Other materials in the collection consist of clippings about George, including obituaries; biographical and family history materials; financial notes; a treatise by an unidentified author about how to remain healthy into old age; and the text of a 1913 speech that George gave to the Columbia and Snake River Waterway Association, titled, "The Commercial Future of Portland and the Great Columbia Basin."
Photographs were separated to Photograph Collections, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.