Theodore Thurston Geer (March 12, 1851February 21, 1924) was the tenth Governor of Oregon (the first born in the territory of the state), serving from January 9, 1899, to January 14, 1903. The Republican politician was in office when the legislature adopted the " Oregon System", Oregon's system of initiative and referendum. He also served in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

, including time as its Speaker.

Biography

Early life

Theodore Geer was born on March 12, 1851, in the

Waldo Hills The Waldo Hills are a range of hills in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States. Encompassing an area of around , the hills are located east of Salem.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. The ...

east of Salem, in what was then 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 United States, Union as the Oreg ...

.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. His parents, Heman Johnson Geer and the former Cynthia Ann Eoff, separated when Theodore was 14 years old. Geer was educated in the Salem schools and at

Willamette University Willamette University is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college with locations in Salem, Oregon, Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United ...

in Salem. After his parents separated he began working, and in 1866 he moved to the

Grande Ronde Valley The Grande Ronde Valley is a valley in Union County, Oregon, Union County in northeastern Oregon, United States. It is surrounded by the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Mountains and Wallowa Mountains, and is drained by the Grande Ronde River. La Gr ...

with his father. While living in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost countie ...

, Geer wrote letters to the ''Blue Mountain Times'' newspaper. In 1877, he returned to the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a 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 east, the ...

and the Waldo Hills where he farmed.

Political career

In 1880, Geer was elected to the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...

, representing Marion County in the House of Representatives. He returned to the House in 1889, serving through the 1893 legislative session, and serving as Speaker of the House in 1891. He served as a

Presidential Elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

in 1897. Theodore Geer was elected as the 10th

Governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

in 1898 to replace

William Paine Lord William Paine Lord (July 20, 1838February 17, 1911) was an American Republican politician who served as the 9th governor of Oregon from 1895 to 1899. The Delaware native previously served as the 27th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, includin ...

, defeating Democrat and Populist party nominee W. R. King.Theodore T. Geer.
Oregon State Library, Accessed September 10, 2007. A Republican governor, he served one term from January 9, 1899, until January 14, 1903. Geer was the tenth governor since statehood, but the first native Oregonian to hold that position. Geer supported the first amendment to the 1857

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

that instituted the initiative and referendum system of legislation in Oregon. The amendment was passed by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1899 and 1901, and approved by the Oregon voters in 1902. Geer did not win re-nomination for a second term and left the office in 1903.

Bicycling

Geer was known for being an enthusiastic participant in the 1890s bicycle craze, and the governor-elect signed the 1899 "cycle path" legislation passed by the State Legislature that was to create a statewide network of

bicycle path A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. ...

s. Governor Geer regularly bicycled from his home in Macleay to the Capitol.

Final years

After leaving political office, he worked as the editor of the ''Oregon Statesman'' newspaper from 1903 to 1905, and then owned the ''Pendleton Tribune'' from 1905 until 1908. In 1908, Geer moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, where he published ''Fifty Years in Oregon'' in 1911. Theodore Thurston Geer then worked in real estate before dying on February 21, 1924, in Portland.

Family history and legacy

In 1870, Geer married Nancy Batte Duncan, and they had three children together. Geer was married a second time in 1900, to Miss Isabelle Trullinger. There are several places in Marion County named for the Geer family, who settled in the Waldo Hills and on Howell Prairie. The "" off the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

railroad's main

line once ran from the Salem station to

Geer Geer (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Geer had a total population of 2,854. The total area is 23.62 km² which gives a population density of 121 inhabitants per km². Geer ...

station on the prairie. The line was later used by the

Willamette Valley Railway The Willamette Valley Railway (reporting marks WVR, WGR) is a short-line railroad that operates in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. It leased a line from Woodburn to Stayton from the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in February 1993, as w ...

. The Waldo Hills home of

Ralph Carey Geer 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, he lived in Ohio and Illinois before taking the Oregon Trail west to Oregon where he started ...

, an uncle of T. T. Geer and a member of 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 Represent ...

, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the R. C. Geer Farmhouse. It is located on R. C. Geer's original Donation Land Claim. For 155 years, Geer ancestors have lived on the same farm pioneered by R. C. Geer, who in 1847 was among the first people to travel to the

via the

Barlow Road The Barlow Road (at inception, Mount Hood Road) is a historic road in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. It was built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, with authorization of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon, and served as the ...

portion of the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

.
The farm, known today as GeerCrest (formerly Vesper Geer Rose Ranch), is now run as a agricultural education, teaching farm. The farm is also known as the childhood home of Silverton political cartoonist Homer Davenport, whose mother, Florinda, was a member of the Geer family. GeerCrest is the location of a large

black cottonwood ''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. The t ...

tree, known as the "Riding Whip Tree", which grew from a stick used as a horseback-riding whip and later pushed into the ground by 15-year-old Florinda Geer in 1854. It is listed as an

Oregon Heritage Tree Oregon ( , ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much ...

. Geer Community Park in Salem is also named for the Geer family, and is located near a former section of the Geer Branch that was abandoned and later decommissioned.

Footnotes

Works

''Fifty Years in Oregon.''
New York: Neal Publishing Co., 1912.

External links

*
Historic images related to the Geer family
from Salem Public Library
1911 biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geer, Theodore Thurston Republican Party governors of Oregon Willamette University alumni 1851 births 1924 deaths Speakers of the Oregon House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives American Unitarians Journalists from Oregon 20th-century Oregon politicians 19th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly