Francis A. Chenoweth (May 24, 1819 – November 29, 1899) was an American lawyer and politician in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. A native of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, he lived in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

before immigrating to the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

. There he served in the legislature of the Oregon Territory and then the

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

, including serving as Speaker of the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

. A Democrat, he then served on the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retir ...

before returning to

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

where he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives and was selected as Speaker of the body for one session.

Early life

Francis Chenoweth was born in

Clark County, Ohio Clark County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,001. Its county seat is Springfield. The county was created on March 1, 1818, and was named for General Ge ...

, on May 24, 1819, to Rachel Morgan and Thomas C. Chenowith.Benton County Genealogical Society
Pioneers of South Benton County Oregon.
RootsWeb.com. Retrieved on December 17, 2008. He moved to

Grant County, Wisconsin Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,938. Its county seat is Lancaster. The county is named after the Grant River, in turn named after a fur trader who lived in the area ...

, where in 1842 to the age of 22 passed the Wisconsin

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 52. That year he also married Maud S. Hannah Logan of

, and had two children while living in both Iowa and Wisconsin. In 1849, he moved to the

and the next year settled on the north side of the Columbia River. Before moving he married Elizabeth Ann Findley in Oregon City on March 27, 1850, and they had eight children. Chenoweth and family settled at the new community of Cascade, located at the lower set of rapids on the river. There he operated a business portaging cargo and passengers around the set of rapids. This consisted of a mule powered train pulling cars over a two to four mile (6 km) track. Opened in 1851, it was the first railroad in what is now the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Political career

In 1852, Chenoweth was elected as a Democrat to the

Oregon Territorial Legislature Oregon's Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory. The upper chamber Council and lower chamber House of Representati ...

representing

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

and

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

counties.1852 Regular Session (4th Territorial).
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on December 18, 2008. Both counties were north of the Columbia, and while in office from late 1852 to early 1853 he advocated to create a new territory on that side of the river. On March 2, 1853,

was created out of the northern and eastern portions of Oregon Territory, eliminating those counties. The following year Chenoweth was elected to the

, again representing Clark County.Levesque, Ellen
"Members of the Territorial Legislature 1854 – 1887"
, Washington State Library, Olympia, WA, October 1989. That session he served as the Speaker of the House. In Spring 1854, he was appointed by United States President Franklin Pierce to Washington Territory's Supreme Court to replace Victor Munroe. Chenoweth served as judge on the high court until 1858. He moved north to Island County after leaving the court and in 1859 was again elected to the House. In 1863, Chenoweth returned south to what was then the state of Oregon, settling in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

at Corvallis in Benton County. He helped to incorporate the Oregon Central Railroad in 1865 as a shareholder. Now a Republican, he was elected to the Oregon House in 1866 representing Benton County.1866 Regular Session (4th).
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on December 18, 2008. That session he also served as Speaker of the House. Chenoweth served as the district attorney of Oregon's second judicial district (Benton County) in 1872.

Later life and family

Chenoweth continued to practice law in Corvallis and live there until the 1880s. He helped organize and later served as the president of the Corvallis & Yaquina Bay Railroad. By 1885, he moved to the Kings Valley part of Benton County. His children were Ella, Lloyd, Elizabeth, William Preston, Lindus, Ross Francis, Heber, Somerville Samuel, Mary Theresa, and Robert Ulysses S. Grant Chenoweth. Francis A. Chenoweth fell ill in the summer of 1899 and died on November 29, 1899, at the age of 80 in Kings Valley and was buried at Kings Valley Cemetery.

References

External links

Court History
– Clark County {{DEFAULTSORT:Chenoweth, Francis A. Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Members of the Washington Territorial Legislature 1819 births 1899 deaths People from Clark County, Ohio People from Grant County, Wisconsin People from Clark County, Washington Politicians from Corvallis, Oregon Speakers of the Oregon House of Representatives Members of the Oregon Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians District attorneys in Oregon Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Wisconsin lawyers People from Island County, Washington 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers

Early life

Political career

Later life and family

See also

References

External links