JAMES F. CROPP, M. D.
For almost forty years Dr. James F. Cropp has successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Walla Walla, where he was also the promoter and founder of the Walla Walla Hospital, an institution of which the city has every reason to be proud. He has ever occupied a prominent position in professional circles and has been instrumental in maintaining the highest standards of activity in his chosen field, recognizing fully the duties and obligations which devolve upon the physician. He was born in Virginia, April 16, 1854. His father, Silas F. Cropp, was also a native of the Old Dominion, where he followed the occupation of farming. He married Maria Katherine Martin, born in the same state, and both have passed away. They had a family of four children, of whom two have departed this life.
Dr. Cropp pursued his early education in a little log cabin school in the state of Washington, which at one time was headquarters of the army that went to rescue General Steptoe on Steptoe Butte. The family had come to Washington in 1872. They made their way westward to American Falls, Idaho, driving a team of oxen across the country. They then proceeded by stage to Portland and on to Albany and from that point walked to Walla Walla across the Cascade mountains. From this city they proceeded to a point near the Farmington country and there plowed the ground upon which Farmington is built. From that point they proceeded to Dry creek, near Walla Walla, and Dr. Cropp of this review secured employment in the hay fields, working for Sergeant Smith during the summer. He obtained a dugout near there and gathered a few common school books, and in company with E. H. Nixon, now of Walla Walla, prepared himself as best he could for educational work, after the hours of harvesting were over. He at length secured a school, of which Sergeant Smith was a director, and taught through the winter months. This was a large school and he proved capable in its management and conduct. Later he taught in various other schools through the valley, being thus engaged until 1876, when he walked the greater part of the distance to Portland and there secured passage on the old steamer Ajax, on which he worked his way to San Francisco. This step was actuated by his laudable ambition to prepare for the practice of medicine, which he had determined to make his life work. He there entered the medical department of the University of California, which at that time was only a summer school. At the close of the session, in company with Charles E. Levitt Sajous, now a famous medical practitioner and author of Philadelphia, he started for the east. They worked their way on freight trains and walked part of the way until they reached Philadelphia, where they matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College, from which institution they were both graduated in March, 1878. The determination with which he pursued his education, making his way in spite of seemingly almost insurmountable difficulties, is characteristic of Dr. Cropp. He has never faltered in the performance of a task to which he has set himself and throughout his entire life he has ever carried his well defined plans forward to successful completion. Following his graduation he returned to Walla Walla and in the intervening years has continuously and successfully practiced medicine and surgery. During this period he has also served in various official capacities of a professional nature for the city, county and the state. He has been physician and surgeon to the state penitentiary for six years and since the building of the Odd Fellows Home he has been physician to that institution. In 1890 he built the Walla Walla Hospital, which has since been successfully conducted and from which numerous nurses of very high standing have been graduated, doing important duty in their professional capacity through the city, county and surrounding states, many of them occupying most important positions in other hospitals. While many years have elapsed since Dr. Cropp was graduated, he has by broad reading and thorough study kept in touch with the trend of modern scientific thought and investigation and with the progress that is being continuously made by the profession. His ability is pronounced and he stands not only as the dean of the medical profession in Walla Walla but as one of its most distinguished representatives in the northwest.
In 1879 Dr. Cropp was united in marriage to Miss Ida Hungate, a daughter of H. H. and Mary (Duncan) Hungate and a native of California. They have become parents of a daughter, Hallie H., who is at home. She is connected with the Daughters of the American Revolution, for the ancestors of Dr. Cropp served in the struggle for independence. Dr. Cropp is thoroughly familiar with the history of pioneer development in the northwest. On the trip across the plains, when the family were making their way to the Pacific coast, they encountered considerable trouble with the Indians. He has seen this entire section of the country reclaimed for the purposes of civilization, while the work of development and improvement has been carried steadily forward. His aid and influence have ever been on the side of progress and improvement and his work has had far reaching and beneficial results. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Commercial Club and cooperates heartily in all of its well defined plans and measures for the welfare and upbuilding of the city. Along strictly professional lines he has connection with the Walla Walla County Medical Society and the Washington State Medical Society. He is interested in their proceedings and contributes in no small measure to the success of some of the meetings, for his judgment is accepted as an authority upon many questions of vital importance to the profession. He has ever held to the highest professional standards and anything that tends to solve the intricate problem which we call life is of interest to him.
EDWARD WILSON CLARK.
Edward Wilson Clark, one of the leading attorneys of Columbia county, practicing at Dayton, was born in Morrow county, near Heppner, Oregon, on the 15th of November, 1865, his parents being Oscar F. and Mary A. (Allen) Clark, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Ohio. They were married, however, in Oregon, Mr. Clark having crossed the plains as a young man of twenty-one or twenty-two years in 1846. The mother's parents died when she was but a little child and she made the long trip to the west with her brother, Charles Allen, who arrived in Oregon about 1850. She continued to reside with her brother in this section of the country until her marriage. Oscar F. Clark took part in the Cayuse Indian war and in 1848 made his way northward and settled on what is now the city of Walla Walla in Walla Walla county, Washington. The previous year the Whitman massacre occurred. He became familiar with every phase of pioneer life and bravely met all of its hardships and privations. He was married about 1850 and for some years lived in Corvallis, Oregon. He had been engaged in teaching in the east and was identified with educational work for several years after his removal to Oregon. In later years he was elected county superintendent of schools of Benton county, Oregon, and he was also appointed the first probate judge of that county. In 1866 he became a member of the board of county commissioners of Umatilla county, Oregon, and he was one of those who were most earnest and effective in securing the establishment of the county seat at Pendleton. Indeed he was recognized as a very prominent and influential citizen of Oregon, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to Columbia county, Washington. Taking up his abode in Dayton, he was soon thereafter elected justice of the peace and served in that office for many years. His decisions were strictly fair and impartial, being based upon the law and the equity in the case, and that he enjoyed the full confidence of the public is indicated by his long retention on the justice bench. Death called him in 1898 and his widow, surviving for about a decade, passed away in 1908.
