Francis Chenoweth was born in Clark County, Ohio, on May 24, 1819, to Rachel Morgan and Thomas C. Chenowith.[1] He moved to Grant County, Wisconsin, where in 1842 to the age of 22 passed the Wisconsin bar.[2][3] That year he also married Maud S. Hannah Logan of Iowa, and had two children while living in both Iowa and Wisconsin.[1]
In 1849, he moved to the Oregon Territory and the next year settled on the north side of the Columbia River.[3] Before moving he married Elizabeth Ann Findley in Oregon City on March 27, 1850, and they had eight children.[1] Chenoweth and family settled at the new community of Cascade, located at the lower set of rapids on the river.[4] There he operated a business portaging cargo and passengers around the set of rapids.[3] This consisted of a mule powered train pulling cars over a two to four mile (6 km) track.[5] Opened in 1851, it was the first railroad in what is now the state of Washington.[5]
Political career
In 1852, Chenoweth was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon Territorial Legislature representing Clark and Lewis counties.[6] Both counties were north of the Columbia, and while in office from late 1852 to early 1853 he advocated to create a new territory on that side of the river.[3][6] On March 2, 1853, Washington Territory was created out of the northern and eastern portions of Oregon Territory, eliminating those counties.[7] The following year Chenoweth was elected to the Washington House of Representatives, again representing Clark County.[8] That session he served as the Speaker of the House.[2]
In Spring 1854, he was appointed by United States President Franklin Pierce to Washington Territory's Supreme Court to replace Victor Munroe.[2][9] Chenoweth served as judge on the high court until 1858.[3] He moved north to Island County after leaving the court and in 1859 was again elected to the House.[8]
In 1863, Chenoweth returned south to what was then the state of Oregon, settling in the Willamette Valley at Corvallis in Benton County.[3] He helped to incorporate the Oregon Central Railroad in 1865 as a shareholder.[10] Now a Republican, he was elected to the Oregon House in 1866 representing Benton County.[11] That session he also served as Speaker of the House.[3] Chenoweth served as the district attorney of Oregon's second judicial district (Benton County) in 1872.[3]
Later life and family
Chenoweth continued to practice law in Corvallis and live there until the 1880s.[1] He helped organize and later served as the president of the Corvallis & Yaquina Bay Railroad.[3] By 1885, he moved to the Kings Valley[12] part of Benton County.[1] His children were Ella, Lloyd, Elizabeth, William Preston, Lindus, Ross Francis, Heber, Somerville Samuel, Mary Theresa, and Robert Ulysses S. Grant Chenoweth.[1] Francis A. Chenoweth fell ill in the summer of 1899[12] and died on November 29, 1899, at the age of 80 in Kings Valley and was buried at Kings Valley Cemetery.[1]
