Representative John Whiteaker

John Whiteaker (May 4, 1820 – October 2, 1902) was an American politician, soldier, and judge who became the first state Governor of Oregon and later represented the state in the United States House of Representatives. A Democrat, he served as Governor of Oregon from 1859 until 1862, as Oregon’s Congressman from 1879 to 1881, and held leadership positions in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature, including president of the Oregon State Senate and Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. His public career unfolded during a formative period in Oregon’s transition from territory to statehood and amid the national tensions leading up to and during the Civil War.

Whiteaker was born on May 4, 1820, in Dearborn County, in the southeast corner of Indiana, to farmer parents John Whiteaker and Nancy (née Smales). He was one of five children and grew up in modest circumstances on the family farm. His formal education was limited to approximately six months of schooling, and he was thereafter largely self-educated, relying on reading and practical experience. As a young man in Indiana he worked at various odd jobs, including carpentry, and volunteered for military service during the Mexican–American War. Although he joined the army during that conflict, his unit was never called into battle, and he returned to civilian life with the experience of military organization but without combat service.

On August 22, 1847, Whiteaker married Nancy Jane Hargrave, with whom he would have six children. In 1849, drawn by the opportunities of the California Gold Rush, he traveled west to California to prospect for gold. His efforts there were sufficiently successful to allow him to move his family farther north to the Oregon Country. In 1852, he brought his family to the Oregon Territory and settled on a farm in the southern portion of the Willamette Valley in Lane County, near what would become Eugene. There he established himself as a farmer and became increasingly active in local affairs and Democratic Party politics, aligning with the dominant Democratic faction in the territory.

Whiteaker’s public career began in local judicial office. In 1856 he was elected judge of the Probate Court for Lane County, a position that gave him experience in administering estates and local legal matters. The following year, in 1857, he was elected to the Territorial Legislature, representing Lane County in the House of Representatives. At that time Oregon was preparing for statehood, and voters had just approved a state constitution. Within this context of political reorganization, Whiteaker emerged as a prominent Democratic figure. In the first state gubernatorial election, held in June 1858, he was selected as the nominee of a major Democratic faction and won the governorship by a margin of 1,138 votes. He was inaugurated on July 8, 1858, but did not formally assume the full powers of office until after Congress passed the Oregon statehood bill on February 14, 1859. During the interim, Territorial Governor George Law Curry remained legally in charge, so that Oregon technically had two governors until the state government-in-waiting was empowered to take control.

As Governor of Oregon from 1859 to 1862, Whiteaker focused on resolving the complex web of land claims and counterclaims that had arisen over public lands in the new state, seeking to bring order and clarity to property rights. He promoted economic policies aimed at fostering home industries and encouraging Oregonians to produce goods locally to achieve greater self-sufficiency. Nicknamed “Honest John,” he nonetheless became a controversial figure because of his pro-slavery views at a time when most of Oregon’s population opposed slavery. As the United States descended into the Civil War, his stance on national issues was used by political opponents to attack him as disloyal or sympathetic to the Southern cause. During his tenure, in 1859, he proclaimed the fourth Thursday of December as Oregon’s Thanksgiving holiday, at a time when individual states still chose their own dates for the observance. In 1861, after Republican U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker was killed in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Whiteaker exercised his appointment power by naming Democrat Benjamin Stark to fill the remainder of Baker’s term in the United States Senate. Whiteaker was not renominated by the Democratic Party in the 1862 gubernatorial election and left the governor’s office that year.

After leaving the governorship, Whiteaker remained active in Oregon politics. He returned to the Oregon House of Representatives, winning election as a state representative and serving three terms from 1866 to 1870. During the 1868 legislative session he was chosen Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, reflecting his continued influence within the state Democratic Party. He later won election to the Oregon State Senate in 1876 and served there during the 1876 and 1878 sessions, during which he was elected president of the Oregon Senate. These legislative leadership roles solidified his reputation as a central figure in Oregon’s Democratic politics in the post–Civil War era.

Whiteaker advanced to national office when he was elected as Oregon’s Representative-at-large to the United States House of Representatives in 1878. His single term in Congress ran from 1879 to 1881. As a member of the Democratic Party representing Oregon, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in debates and votes in the Forty-sixth Congress and representing the interests of his constituents at a time when issues of reconstruction, economic development, and western expansion were prominent. His arrival in Washington became the subject of national attention in what came to be known as “Whiteaker’s ride.” In early 1879, Democrats in the House, weakened in numbers, needed one additional vote to secure the election of their nominee for Speaker of the House by March 18. Whiteaker, already en route to Washington, received word of the urgency while aboard a steamer between Portland and San Francisco. When the ship docked in San Francisco on March 12, he was met by a railroad agent and rushed to a special Central Pacific Railroad express train at Oakland. The regular transcontinental train was already 25 hours out of Oakland, but his special train managed to catch up with it. He arrived in Washington on the morning of March 18, in time to be promptly seated by Congress and cast his crucial vote. The special trip cost $1,500, an expense that drew sharp criticism from Republican opponents and the press, who derisively labeled the episode “Whiteaker’s ride.” In the 1880 election he sought re-election but was defeated by Republican Melvin Clark George by 1,379 votes, ending his congressional service after one term.

Following his defeat for re-election to Congress, Whiteaker retired initially to his farm near Eugene, Oregon, resuming his agricultural pursuits and remaining a respected elder statesman in state Democratic circles. He was called back into public service in 1885 when President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, appointed him as Oregon’s Collector of Revenues at the U.S. Customs House in Portland, a federal post concerned with the collection of customs duties and related revenues. He held that position until 1890, when he left federal service and returned to Eugene. There he invested in local real estate, purchasing ten city blocks in the central part of the city. This tract, platted as Whiteaker’s Addition, became known as the Whiteaker neighborhood, a name that endures in downtown Eugene.

In his later years, Whiteaker continued to reside in Eugene, where he remained a notable figure in the community. He lived there until his death on October 2, 1902. John Whiteaker was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Eugene. His legacy in Oregon is reflected in several local commemorations, including Whiteaker Elementary School and the Whiteaker neighborhood in Eugene, both named in his honor.