User:Peteforsyth/Failing

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Henry Failing (January 17, 1834–1898-11-08) was a banker, and one of the leading businessmen of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He was one of Portland, Oregon's earliest residents, and served as that city's mayor for three two-year terms. He was a Republican.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Family business in Oregon 3 Mayor of Portland 4 Expanded career in banking and business 5 Later life and legacy 6 See also 7 References 8 Papers at the OHS 9 NYT 10 From History of Portland, Oregon 11 From Hist. of Columbia Valley 12 River View Cemetery on Josiah and sons

[edit] Early life

Henry Failing was born in New York City^[1] on January 17, 1834,^[2] to Josiah Failing and Henrietta (Ellison) Failing.^[3] His ancestors were considered, by one biographer, "substantial citizens of the east."^[3] Henry had ten siblings.^[3] He was educated in New York's public schools until the age of 12. He began his business career in a French importing and shipping house, where he learned the French language and business accounting.^[3] He then became the junior bookkeeper for Eno, Mahoney & Co., one of the largest wholesale dry goods houses in the city, a few years later. He was also in charge of their foreign business.^[1] In April 1851 he accompanied his father and younger brother John in a move to Portland.^[3][1] Mr. Eno, Failing's former boss, would later describe the loss of Henry Failing as a business contact as a mistake.^[3]

[edit] Family business in Oregon

Henry Failing left New York on April 15, 1851 with his father and younger brother.^[3] They traveled via steamer to the Chagres River in Panama, by boat up the river, across Panama by mule train, and then to San Francisco aboard the Tennessee.^[3] The final leg of their journey, aboard the Columbia, took them to Portland on June 9.^[3] Henry befriended C. H. Lewis, later a business associate, on the last leg of the journey.^[3]

At the time, Portland was merely a hamlet, with fewer than 500 residents.^[1] He and his father established a general merchandising business, J. Failing & Co.,^[1] on Front St., one door south of Oak St.^[3] The business grew rapidly in its first few years; Josiah retired from the business in 1864.^[1] Henry narrowed the business's focus to hardware and iron supplies in 1868.^[1] He would remain associated with the business until January 1893.^[3]

On October 21, 1858 Failing married Emily Phelps Corbett, sister of U.S. Senator-to-be Henry W. Corbett, who was a neighbor of the Failing family business. Emily died of "consumption"^[2] on July 8, 1870, leaving three daughters.^[3]

[edit] Mayor of Portland

Failing was elected to the first of his three terms as mayor of Portland in 1864.^[1] It was said he hadn't aspired to political office, but that the people of Portland admired his apparent immunity to typical partisan politics.^[1] The Oregon Legislative Assembly approved a new city charter during his first term, and progress was made on street and sewer planning.^[1] He was elected to a second two-year term in 1865,^[1] with only five votes cast against him.^[3]

Failing was later elected to a third term as mayor in 1875, after which he retired from professional politics.^[1] He was appointed a member of Portland's water committee in 1886, and later served as chairman of the committee. The committee purchased and enlarged the old water works, and developed plans for a new system of water supply.^[1]

[edit] Expanded career in banking and business

The First National Bank was the first bank established in Oregon (1966^[3]) under the National Banking Act, and for a number of years the only one west of the Rocky Mountains.^[1] Failing and Henry Corbett purchased nearly all its stock in 1869, and Failing became the bank's president.^[1][2] The bank prospered under their joint management, becoming one of the most successful banks in the Northwestern U.S.^[1] Failing maintained an interest in other business enterprises, and held valuable real estate both in and on the outskirts of Portland.^[1]

In 1871 Corbett joined the Failing family business, and two of Failing's younger brothers (Edward and James) later joined as well.^[1] The business was renamed to Corbett, Failing & Co.^[1] The business turned exclusively to wholesale merchandizing,^[1] and became the largest of its kind in the northwestern United States.^[2]

Failing was elected director of Oregon Railway and Navigation Company in June 1888, along with Corbett, Henry Villard, Christopher Meyer, John Hubert Hall, Sidney Dillon, Charles S. Colby, Colgate Hoyt, C. H. Lewis, W. S. Ladd, C. A. Dolph, W. H. Holcomb, and S. B. Wiley.^[4] Contemporary elections for the Oregon and Transcontinental and the Northern Pacific Terminal Company installed many of the same men on the boards of those companies as well.^[4] The elections were understood to signal no change at ORNC, underscoring their intent to extend the Farmington Line to the Coeur D'Alene Mines, and were viewed as a defeat of Villard and his initiative to jointly lease property of the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific.^[4]

[edit] Later life and legacy

Both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly endorsed Failing to succeed William Windom as the United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1891.^[5] President Benjamin Harrison, however, appointed Charles Foster, a former Governor of Ohio, to the post.

Failing Street in Northeast Portland is (presumably) named after him (or his father.)

[edit] See also

• List of mayors of Portland, Oregon

[edit] References

Category:Mayors of Portland, Oregon Category:Oregon businesspeople Category:1834 births Category:1898 deaths

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[edit] Papers at the OHS

with biographical note: http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv78331

[edit] NYT

(NOTE: Hoyt and Colby later had a bank on Wall St. Sources may be scarce.)

[edit] From History of Portland, Oregon

<snip>

For several years Mr. Failing was a regent of the State University; first having been appointed by Gov. Thayer and re-appointed by Gov. Moody. He is also a trustee of the Deaf Mute School at Salem; trustee and treasurer of the Children's Home, and of the Portland Library Association.

During nearly forty years Mr. Failing has been in active business life in Portland and has built up a large and rapidly growing fortune. It is needless to say that he has been a tireless worker. Such results as have crowned his life come to no dreamer of dreams and to no mere luxurious dilettante. He scarcely had a boyhood. At twelve he was at work and at seventeen carried upon his shoulders responsibilities fit to test the power of a mature man. His time from this period to the present has been almost completely engrossed in business, and although he has always lavished his energy upon his work he presents the appearance of one much younger than his years. This comes from an inherited robust constitution, an evenly balanced mental organization and a life free from excesses of any kind. He is keen and sagacious in business and possesses the highest order of financial ability, united to the power of apparently unlimited application of mind and body upon any project he undertakes. He has achieved a position in the financial affairs of the Northwest second to none in power and influence, but his naturally restless activity, buoyant spirit and physical vigor still urge him onward with all the force and energy associated with men many years his juniors.

[edit] From Hist. of Columbia Valley

Lockley, Fred. "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea." Vol. 2. Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. p. 18.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/hfailing.html

There Failing carried on business for many years, being associated with the enterprise until January, 1893. Josiah also took a prominent part in affairs relating to the development and progress of the city and was steadily growing into prominence. He became a member of the first city council in 1852 and the following year was chosen mayor of the little municipality. In 1854 he retired from active business, but Henry Failing continued under his own name.

It was in 1869 that Henry Failing became an active factor in financial circles of Portland, at which time he and his father and brother-in-law, H. W. Corbett, purchased a controlling interest in the First National Bank, which had been established in 1866 by A. M. and L. M. Starr and others. Henry Failing was elected to the presidency of the institution, which at the time he and the others assumed ownership increased the capital stock from one hundred to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1880 this amount was doubled and in that year the surplus and undivided profits exceeded the capital. In January, 1871, the mercantile interests of Mr. Failing and Mr. Corbett were consolidated under the firm style of Corbett, Failing & Company, an association that was maintained for twenty-two years, when Mr. Failing withdrew, the partnership being dissolved.

While no history of the mercantile and financial development of Portland would be complete without reference to Henry Failing, neither can the history of the state be fully given without mention of his political activity. In the campaign of 1862 he was chosen chairman of the state central committee of the Union party, which was composed of republicans and war democrats and which carried the election of that year. He was thirty years of age when in 1864 he was chosen mayor of Portland and during his term of office a new city charter was obtained, a system of street improvements was adopted and much good work was done along the lines of progress and improvement.

snip

He studied closely the needs and the opportunities of the city and he embodied his high ideals in practical effort for their adoption. Through legislative enactment of 1885 he was made a member of the water committee and upon its organization was unanimously chosen chairman, so continuing to serve until his death. He was a man always clear in his opinions, earnest in purpose and thoroughly reliable in every connection. Concerning his activity as a member of the water commission, a contemporary writer has said : "His marvelous judgment and powers of exact calculation are well illustrated by his service as chairman of the water committee. For many years he, substantially unaided, annually made the estimates required by law of the receipts and expenditures of the committee for the year next ensuing. These estimates are, under the varied circumstances necessarily considered in making them, characteristic of him, and some of them are marvels of exactness. His estimate of the cost of operation, maintenance, repairs and interest for the year 1893 was one hundred thousand dollars, and the actual outlay was one hundred thousand, two hundred and eleven dollars and ninety-one cents. His estimate of receipts for the year 1892 was two hundred and forty thousand dollars, and the receipts actually collected were two hundred and thirty-seven thousand, three hundred dollars and eighty-five cents. His estimate of the receipts for the year 1897 was two hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars. The amount actually collected was two hundred and thirty-one thousand, eight hundred and sixty dollars and ninety-five cents. The magnitude of the task of making these estimates is emphasized when the fact is considered that not only the fluctuations in the population of a city must be considered, but climatic conditions anticipated, and the amount of water consumed in irrigation based thereon; the amount of building and the volume of trade considered, and an estimate made of the amount of water consumed in building and in the use of elevators. These various sources of revenue were all carefully considered and estimates made which were in excess of the actual income in but trifling amounts."

Even a detailed description of his service in public office and his activity in business fails to cover the scope of his life work. No plan or project promoted by Portland or the state for upbuilding and improvement sought his aid in vain. He served for a number of years as regent and president of the board of the University of Oregon and was also a trustee and treasurer of the Pacific University, the oldest educational institution of the state. No good work done in the name of charity or religion failed to receive his cooperation. He was an active, earnest and helpful member of the First Baptist church of Portland and of the Baptist Society, acting as president of the latter for many years, and he was also treasurer of the Children's Home. He was associated with William S. Ladd and H. W. Corbett in purchasing land and laying out Riverside cemetery, and this beautiful city of the dead in which he now rests was largely the result of his labors. He was called to the presidency of the Portland Library Association and his efforts largely furthered that organization, while he also gave most generously for the purchase of books. He never forgot the men who were pioneers with him in the upbuilding of Portland and the state and he proved his friendship and loyalty in a financial way and also through other. avenues which indicated his intellectual hospitality. His life was crowned with successful achievement in business and was fraught with good deeds and actuated by high purposes. He came in close contact with those forces which were ennobling in the life of the community and contributed to its intellectual and cultural progress. While his own educational advantages were limited, he was always an apt student in the school of experience, constantly broadening his knowledge through association with his fellowmen and through study of conditions and situations bearing upon the thought and activity of the times. Thirty years have been added to the cycle of the centuries since Henry Failing passed away on the 20th of December, 1898, but his name remains an honored one in Portland and his memory is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him. What Portland would have been without his cooperation it is impossible to determine, but all who study history know how closely, helpfully and prominently he was associated with the activities which have made the Rose City what it is today. He was prompt and efficient in the discharge of duty, faithful in friendship and loyal in every relation of life. Of him it was written : "In every home of the city where he was knownËœand his acquaintance was wideËœthe news of his demise was received with sorrow and regret. He had attached himself closely to his fellow townsmen not only by reason of his public activities but by those personal qualities which win warm regard and enduring friendship. He was a man of fine personal appearanceËœan index of the larger life and broader spirit within."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A07E4D9143AE033A2575AC1A9609C94699FD7CF

[edit] River View Cemetery on Josiah and sons

http://www.riverviewcemetery.org/bio_failing.html

• find-a-grave

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=45982754&GRid=6254140&