Ralph Carey Geer
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ralph Carey Geer
| image = Ralph C. Geer.jpg
| imagesize = 125px
| caption =
| office = Member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature
| termstart = 1854
| termend = 1855
| constituency = Marion County
| nominator =
| appointer =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| office2 = County Clerk
| constituency2 = Marion County
| termstart2 = July 1868
| termend2 = June 1870
| nominator2 =
| appointer2 =
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| birth_date = March 13, 1816
| birth_place = Willimantic, Connecticut
| death_date = {{death date and age|1895|1|9|1816|3|13}}
| death_place = Waldo Hills, Oregon
| party =
| spouse = Mary Catherine Willard
| relations = Homer Davenport
}}
Ralph Carey Geer (March 13, 1816 – January 9, 1895) was an American farmer and politician in what became the state of Oregon. A native of Connecticut,
{{cite book
|url= https://archive.org/details/genealogyofgeerf00geer
|title= Genealogy of the Geer family in America from 1635 to 1914
|last1= Geer
|first1= Walter
|last2= Youngs
|first2= Florence Evelyn
|year=1914
|location= New York, New York
|publisher= T.A. Wright
|page= [https://archive.org/details/genealogyofgeerf00geer/page/217 217]
|ol= 7219211M
|isbn= 133433398X
|oclc= 981208381
}}{{open access}} he lived in Ohio and Illinois before taking the Oregon Trail west to Oregon where he started a nursery and later raised livestock and grew flax. At times a Republican and later a Democrat, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives and as the clerk for the county. He was related to both Homer Davenport and T. T. Geer.
Early life
Ralph C. Geer was born to Joseph Carey Geer, Sr. and Mary Johnson Geer on March 13, 1816, in Willimantic, Connecticut, a former city now located in the town of Windham in Windham County, Connecticut.
{{cite book
|url=
|last= Corning
|first= Howard M.
|title= Dictionary of Oregon History
|publisher= Binfords & Mort
|location= Portland, Oregon
|year= 1989
|page= 97
|isbn= 0832304492
|oclc= 906535706
|ol= 2223038M
}} The family moved to Madison County, Ohio, when he was still a boy.Marion County Record, January 11, 1895, 8:3. On January 8, 1837, he married Mary Catherine Willard in London, Ohio, and later moved to Farmington in Knox County, Illinois. In 1847, Geer and his family immigrated to the Oregon Country over the Oregon Trail.
{{cite book
|url= https://archive.org/details/OregonPioneerAssociationTransactionsFor1879
|title= Transactions of the Seventh Annual Re-union of the Oregon Pioneer Association for 1879
|author= Oregon Pioneer Association
|publisher= E. M. Waite, Steam Printer and Bookbinder
|location= Salem, Oregon
|year= 1880
|pages= 32{{hyphen}}42
|chapter= Occasional Address for the Year 1847
}}{{open access}} The couple had six children in all with two of them born in Oregon. Mary Geer was born September 8, 1851, and the youngest of them Angeline, was born on October 8, 1853, dying at two and half years of age on March 23, 1856.
Geer settled east of Salem in the Waldo Hills and began building a nursery using the apple and pear seedlings he carried with him across the plains to Oregon.
{{cite web
|url= http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/HCD/OHC/docs/marion_salem_historiccontext.pdf
|title = Historic Context Statement for the City of Salem, Oregon
|author= Marianne Kadas
|publisher= Marianne Kadas Consulting
|department= State Preservation Office of Oregon
|agency= Partial funding: U.S. DOI
|year= 1992
|location= Portland, Oregon
|accessdate= April 14, 2018
}}{{open access}} Geer spent time as a teacher, imported English sheep to Oregon in 1858, and was a pioneer of flax growing in the Willamette Valley.
Cayuse War
The Whitman Massacre contributed greatly to the environment that resulted into what is known as the Cayuse War with Native Americans. Several companies of men were organized in response to the war and in 1848 Geer served as Captain of one assigned to protecting the Willamette Valley. In March of that year, he led his troops into the Battle of Abiqua Creek.
{{cite book
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=N5CwJQAACAAJ
|title= A History of the Silverton Country
|first= Robert Horace
|last= Down
|publisher= The Berncliff Press
|year= 1926
|location= Portland, Oregon
|oclc= 517722421
{{cite book
|url= https://archive.org/details/brownspolitical00unkngoog
|title= Brown's Political History of Oregon
|first= James Henry
|last= Brown
|year= 1892
|publisher= Wiley B. Allen
|location= Portland, Oregon
|pages= [https://archive.org/details/brownspolitical00unkngoog/page/n396 374]
|oclc= 77608505
|isbn= 1333181817
}}{{open access}}
Political career
In 1854, he was elected to the Oregon Territorial Legislature to represent Marion County. He served during the 1854 to 1855 session in the lower House of Representatives.
{{cite web
|url= http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordpdf/6785251
|title= Territorial Government Legislators and Staff 1854 Regular Session {{hyphen}} Oregon Provisional Government
|publisher= Oregon State Archives
|website= sos.oregon.gov/archives
|accessdate= April 12, 2018
}}{{open access}} In July 1868 he was elected Clerk of Marion County and served a single two{{hyphen}}year term, leaving office in June 1870.
{{cite news
|url= https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042452/1869-11-13/ed-1/seq-2/
|title=Proceedings of the County Court of Clackamas County, for the November term 1869
|newspaper=The Weekly Enterprise
|date= November 13, 1869
|location= Oregon City, Oregon
|editor= D. M. McKinney
|volume= 4
|issue= 1
|page= 2
|accessdate= April 14, 2018
{{cite news
|url= https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022643/1870-03-19/ed-1/seq-1/
|title= A Journey from Albany, Oregon to Oberlin, Ohio |newspaper=The Albany Register
|date= March 19, 1870
|location= Albany, Oregon
|editor= Coll. VanCleve
|volume= 2
|issue= 28
|page= 1
|accessdate= April 14, 2018
}}{{open access}}{{citation needed|reason=Sources verify position held but do not contain any reference to dates specified|date=April 2018}}
Later years and family
Ralph Geer was the uncle of Oregon Governor Theodore Thurston Geer.Geer, Theodore Thurston. [https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsinore00geergoog/page/n444 Fifty Years in Oregon: Experiences, Observations, and Commentaries Upon Men, Measures, and Customs in Pioneer Days and Later Times]. The Neale publishing company, 1912. p. 235. He was also the grandfather of political cartoonist Homer Davenport. Ralph Carey Geer died in the Waldo Hills on January 9, 1895, at the age of 79 and was buried at Mt. Hope Pioneer Cemetery east of Salem in the Waldo Hills.[http://marioncountycemetery.com/mthope/records/display_record.php?id=180 Geer, Ralph Carey.] Mt. Hope Pioneer Cemetery. Retrieved on December 22, 2008. Geer's house, still located on his original Donation Land Claim is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the R. C. Geer Farmhouse.
See also
- {{section link|Theodore Thurston Geer|Family history and legacy}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web |url=http://www.theragens.com/history/Geer%20-%20Recollections%20of%20Ralph%20Geer.htm |title= Transcription: Occasional Address for the year 1847 |website= www.theragens.com |accessdate= April 12, 2018}} (Many additional links and sources)
- {{cite web |url= http://www.theragens.com/history/Geer%20-%20Abiqua.htm|title= Transcription: The Battle of the Abiqua: March 5{{hyphen}}6, 1848 |website= www.theragens.com |accessdate= April 12, 2018}} (Many additional links and sources)
- {{cite web |url= http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMJA51_R_C_Geer_Farmhouse_Salem_Oregon |title= R.C. Geer Farm House Photos (1952,2013) |website= waymarking.com |accessdate= April 13, 2018}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geer, Ralph C.}}
Category:Members of the Oregon Territorial Legislature
Category:People from Windham, Connecticut
Category:People from Marion County, Oregon
Category:People from Madison County, Ohio