"History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea"

Author: Fred Lockley

S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.; 1928

Vol. 2, page 495

NORRIS A. LEACH

The story is here told of an Oregon boy who grew up with the wheat business in Oregon, after first having grown into it. He is now doing big things in a big way for and with a big firm of grain exporters, serving as vice president and a director of Kerr Gifford & Company Inc., of Portland. Said Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal:

"The first time I ever heard of N. A. Leach was in 1889, thirty-nine years ago, when I was a fellow student at the Oregon Agricultural College with his sister Altha and his brother, W. E. Leach. the first time I ever saw N. A. Leach was June 15, 1903 at Heppner. On the previous day a cloudburst had swept through the town, drowning scores of people and wrecking a good part of the city. Mr. Leach lived at Lexington a few miles away, and when word came of the disaster he was selected as leader of the relief party from Lexington. At that time I was living at Pendleton, and W. D. Matlock, Lester Swaggert, Dr. W. G. Cole, myself and one or two others secured, through C. S. Jackson's influence with the officials of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, an engine and boxcar, and this special train ran like a scared coyote to Echo, where we hired a livery team and drove to Heppner. Though I saw Mr. Leach and his fellow townsman and my fellow student, 'Pop Hayseed' McAllister, they were too busy in their relief work, and I was too busy getting my story for the Oregon Journal and the East Oregonian, to do much visiting. The next time I saw Mr. Leach was at lunch at the old Commercial Club her in Portland many years ago.

" 'Yes, I am a native son or Oregon,' said Mr. Leach a day or so ago when we were discussing old-time members of the Chamber of Commerce. 'I was born at Harrisburg, January 2, 1867. My father, James Leach, was born in Iowa. My mother's maiden name was Isabel Brown. Her parents started for Oregon in 1847. Her father, Elias Brown, died on the plains. Her widowed mother came to Oregon with her three small children, and not long after her arrival in Salem my mother was born. My grandmother, whose maiden name was Lucinda Cox, had a twin sister, Melinda. These twin girls were born in Ohio on Christmas day, 1816. On February 25, 1838, these twin sisters, Lucinda and Melinda, married two brothers named Brown. On the way across the plains the Cox wagon train joined the train commanded by General Joe Palmer. My grandmother, with her little children, went to live with her father, Joseph Cox, who started the fist store at Salem and who propagated and introduced the Cox cling peach. My mother's brother, J. Henry Brown, is the author of Brown's Political History of Oregon.

" 'I was named Norris A. Leach for Dr. Norris A. Cox, of Portland. My mother was married in 1866 on the Big Muddy, near Carrolls, to James Leach, of Harrisburg. I was their oldest child and my sister Altha was the next child. My brother, W. E. Leach, later a well known merchant of Morrow county, came next. The fourth child was Mark A., now a dentist at Pendleton. Amy, the next of the family, married Charles Standish and they live at Salem. My brother John has a drug store on the Foster road at East Sixty-seventh street and Ralph lives in our old home town, Lexington.

" 'When I was four year old, that was in 1871, my parents moved to Centerville, Umatilla county, now known as Athena. Father bought a quarter section of land a mile north of the town, intending to grow wheat. People told him he was crazy to try to raise grain there, as that country was and always would be a stock country, so he sold his one hundred and sixty acres for five hundred dollars and took up a homestead on Dry creek, near Blue Mountain station, not far from Weston. He decided to go into the stock business. The farm he sold near Athena is now considered the very cream of the Umatilla wheat-growing section. Among our neighbors in the Dry creek district were George Sargent, who ran the stage station at Blue Mountain; the Downings, Waldrons, Staggs, Winns, O'Haras and Ridenours.

" 'In 1880, when I was thirteen years old, we moved to Weston. Father and some other neighbors bought a separator, one of the first brought into that district. Father was an expert separator tender, so he threshed grain all over hat part of Umatilla county. In the spring of 1884, when I was seventeen, father bought three hundred and twenty acres nine miles north of Heppner, not far from where Lexington was later located. I still own this old farm. A relation of mine, William Penland, started the town of Lexington. One of the Penlands from Halsey married my mother's sister, Martha Jane. They had two sons and two daughters. One of these boys, Elzie Penland,moved to Helix and later to Pendleton. His sons are now leading business men of the Round-Up city.

" 'One of the first industries located at Lexington was a planing mill, of which S. B.Hope was the owner. I went to work for him and was employed in his mill for two years. When I was twenty-three I started a grocery store at Lexington. In 1893 my brother-in-law, R. A. Nichols, and I became partners in a store at Lexington. Later my brother, W. E. Leach, bought Mr. Nichols out and the firm name was changed to Leach Brothers. In 1905 I sold my interest in the store to my brother.

" 'I shall have to go back a little, for twelve years before this, in 1893, I took the agency Kerr Gifford & Company Inc., to buy wheat from the Lexington farmers. I paid thirty-five cents a bushel. This job was a side issue to my work in the store. After a year of so I was given the Heppner branch and handled all of Morrow county for Kerr Gifford & Company. In June, 1903, I sold my interests in Morrow county to my brother and shipped my goods from Lexington to Walla Walla. A few days later, on June 14, a cloudburst swept Heppner pretty well off the map. I had been appointed buyer and traveling agent for Kerr Gifford & Company Inc., for the Inland empire and maintained my headquarters at Walla Walla. I covered Oregon, Washington and Idaho. I had general supervision of one hundred and twenty-five agents and warehouses in the Pacific northwest. I lived at Walla Walla from 1903 to 1908. In the summer of 1908 we moved to Portland and I was given charge of the country department. On November 1, 1917, when our firm was incorporated, I secured an interest in the business and became vice president and a director of the company.' "

For thirty-four years Mr. Leach has been identified with this corporation, to which he gives the services of an expert, and had aided materially in establishing the present status of the firm. He is one of the directors of the Merchants Exchange of Portland; vice president and director of the Diamond Flour Mills at The Dalles; vice president of the Irving Park Association; and a director of the North Pacific advisory board.

On September 16, 1888, Mr. Leach married Miss Charity B. Nichols. Veva, their oldest child, resides at home. Her sister Fairy is the wife of Harry Miller, of Newberg, and they have one of the largest poultry farms in Oregon, specializing in White Leghorns. Dewey Leach, who was born shortly after the battle of Manila bay, is manager of the Spokane office of Kerr Gifford & Company Inc.

In Masonry Mr. Leach hold the thirty-second degree and is one of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Formerly he was chairman of the house committee of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, of which he is now a director. He casts his ballot for the candidates of the democratic party but has neither sought nor held public office. His interest centers in his work, and his success is the merited reward of fidelity to duty and proven ability. Movements for Portland's upbuilding and betterment receive his hearty cooperation and support, and his genuine worth is recognized and appreciated by his fellow citizens, who speak of him in terms of high regard.

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1900 Census OR Morrow Lexington ED 33 Pg 1B

Line 61

15 16 Leach Norris A Head WM Jan 1867 33 M 11 OR IA OR Grain Dealer

----------, Charity C Wife WF Dec 1868 31 M 11 (3 Children 3 Alive) MS MS AL

----------, Veva E Daughter WF Aug 1889 10 S OR OR MS

----------, Fairy O Daughter WF Oct 1891 8 S OR OR MS

----------, Dewey U Son WM Sept 1898 1 S OR OR MS

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1910 Census OR Multnomah Portland Ward 8 ED 208 Pg 4B

Line 60

686 71 82 Leach Norris Head MW 43 M1 OR OR OR Manager Warhouse

-----------, Charity Wife FW 41 M1 20 (3 Children 3 Alive) MS AL AL

-----------, Veva Daughter FW 20 S OR OR MS

-----------, Fairy Daughter FW 18 S OR OR MS Student

-----------, Dewey Son MW 11 S OR OR MS Student

Myland Ida Servant FW 21 S Sweden Sweden Sweden Servant Housekeeper

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1920 Census OR Multnomah Portland ED 143 pg 8A

Line 21

653 168 168 Leach Norris A Head MW 53 M OR IA OR Mays Warehouse Grain Co

----------, Charity B Wife FW 51 M MS MS MS

----------, Veva E Daughter FW 30 S OR OR MS

----------, Dewey A MW 21 S OR OR MS Grader Grain Co

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1930 Census OR Multnomah Portland ED 420 Pg 5A

line 13

653 108 110 Leach Norris A Head MW 62 M 22 OR IA OR Vice President Wholesale Grain Kerr - Gifford exporters

----------, Charity B Wife FW 60 M 20 MS MS AL

----------, Veva E Daughter FW 38 S OR OR MS

Miller Helen A Servant FW 18 S OR OR NE

Census 1: 1870, OR Benton Subdivision 5 Pg 86(See Father)

Census 2: 1880, OR Umatilla Weston ED 111 Pg 33C(See Father)

Census 3: 1900, OR Morrow Lexington ED 33 Pg 1B

Census 4: 1910, OR Multnomah Portland Ward 8 ED 208 Pg 4B

Census 5: 1920, OR Multnomah Portland ED 143 pg 8A

Census 6: 1930, OR Multnomah Portland ED 420 Pg 5A

Census 1: 1900, OR Morrow Lexington ED 33 Pg 1B(See Husband)

Census 2: 1910, OR Multnomah Portland Ward 8 ED 208 Pg 4B(See Husband)

Census 3: 1920, OR Multnomah Portland ED 143 pg 8A(See Husband)

Census 4: 1930, OR Multnomah Portland ED 420 Pg 5A(See Husband)

Marriage: 16 Sep 1888