| William Henderson Packwood | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention | |
| In office 1857–1857 |
|
| Constituency | Curry County |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 23, 1832 Mount Vernon, Illinois |
| Died | September 21, 1917 Oregon |
| Spouse(s) | Johanna A. O'Brien |
William Henderson Packwood (1832 – 1917), was an American politician who served at the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. A United States Army veteran from the state of Illinois, he was also a school superintendent and acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early resident of Baker City in Eastern Oregon.
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William Packwood was born near the community of Mount Vernon, Illinois, to Larkin Canada Packwood and Elizabeth Cathcart on October 23, 1832.[1] Packwood received two years of formal education and later moved to Springfield, Illinois where he knew future United States President Abraham Lincoln.[1] In 1848 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with Company B of the U.S. Mounted Rifles.[1] The following year Packwood and the company were sent to the newly created Oregon Territory and stationed at Fort Vancouver.[1]
Packwood went to California when gold was discovered there, returning to Oregon in 1851 where he was transferred to Port Orford, Oregon to fight Native American uprisings.[1] In 1853 he was discharged from the Army and became a gold miner for several years.[1] In 1855, Packwood served as captain of the Coquille Guards during the Rogue River Wars against Native Americans in Southern Oregon.[1] In 1857, he represented Curry County in southwestern Oregon at the Oregon Constitutional Convention that met in Salem during August and September, and framed a constitution in anticipation of Oregon becoming a state.[2] He was the youngest of the delegates at the convention.[3]
Packwood then moved east of the Cascade Mountains to Eastern Oregon where he was involved with establishing the town of Auburn in 1862.[1] Auburn was a gold-mining boomtown that was briefly the county seat of Baker County, and Packwood helped plat the town.[4] There he served as the first school superintendent of Baker County in 1862.[1] During the 1864 presidential election he campaigned for Lincoln in that county.[1] Soon after, he was responsible for another Baker County town receiving the name of Sparta.[5] In that town he and his family built and operated a boarding house until 1867.[5]
In later years Packwood mined, was an assistant postmaster, clerk for Baker City, and a police judge before retiring in 1910.[1] In 1862 Packwood married Johanna A. O'Brien, with whom he would father five children.[1] He is the great-grandfather of former United States Senator Robert Packwood.[3][6] William Henderson Packwood died on September 21, 1917 in Baker City[1] with interment at Mount Hope Cemetery.[6] He was the last living member of the constitutional convention at his death.[1]