Van B. DeLashmutt

Van B. De Lashmutt was born on July 27, 1842, in Burlington, Iowa.[2] His family journeyed over the Oregon Trail in 1852 and settled in Polk County, Oregon.[2] He then worked as a printer in Salem, Oregon, for Asahel Bush before moving to California.[2] At the start of the American Civil War he was in California and joined the Union Army in 1861, serving in the Third California regiment guarding the mail routes.[2] After he left the Army he returned to Oregon and settled in Portland.[2]

In Portland, he joined The Oregonian newspaper in June 1865 as a compositor.[2] De Lashmutt married Maria Kelly in 1868, and they had four children, with their residence at Fourteenth and Columbia.[2] He established a farm near Hillsboro, the Witch Hazel Farm, which became famous for his horses and race tracks.[2] There he raised thoroughbreds and raced them on both a .5 miles (0.80 km) and 1 mile (1.6 km) track, which eventually became the community of Witch Hazel.[2] In business, he helped start the Oregon National Bank and the Metropolitan Savings Bank, and he served as president of both banks.[2]

On May 2, 1888, De Lashmutt was appointed as mayor of Portland after the death of Mayor John Gates.[3] He was then elected to the position on June 18, 1888, and served until 1891, when William S. Mason took office.[1] He became the Bank of Albina's first president in 1892.[4]

De Lashmutt left Portland for Spokane, Washington, to mine.[2] He died there on October 4, 1921, at the age of 79.[2] At the time of his death, he had been living in Spokane for more than 20 years.[4]

• Hines, Harvey K., An Illustrated History of Oregon (1873), Volume I, pages 430-432.
• Scott, Harvey W., History of Portland (1890), pages 533-535.
• Bancroft, Hubert Howe, Chronicles of Builders of the Commonwealth (1892), Volume II, pages 644-649.
• "The DeLashmutt Story: Elias DeLashmutt of Frederick County, Maryland and His Descendants"; Virgil Close, pg.82