membered with gratitude the sterling qualities of the pio neers and of the community which reared him. Other Sil- vertonians who have achieved success in art or literature are Frank Bowers, a cousin of Homer Davenport, and, like him, a cartoonist of note. In drama, Margaret Mayo, a Sil- verton girl, is well known as a playwright. Marguerite Fischer, another Silverton girl, was for many years starred in the moving pictures.
22 J. B . HORNER
Dr. J. B. Horner was a personal historian who marked the first advance from the pioneer recollectors. He tried his best to get an aloof and unified view, but the events and persons that he knew first hand still unduly affected the proportion and emphasis of his work. He deserves great credit, however, for his interest and labors in a wholly neglected field. He was the first and for 36 years has re mained the only literary historian of Oregon. The Indian wars, Champoeg, the missionaries, the railroads, and all the familiar topics, have been done over and over again, but, with the exception of a few articles by Frances Fuller Victor, no one took the trouble to give an account of Oregon's literary accomplishments until he pro duced his first thin little book on the subject in 1899. This was fol lowed in 1902 by his 300-page illustrated edition, which, with the reinforcement of his lectures and articles, has done a tremendous amount of good. Would that all books could have such a beneficent record. It was the first Oregon history to deal entirely with a cul tural theme. Its importance is not that he failed to do it better but that he did it at all.
He was born at La Grande, Texas, on August 4, 1856. His father was a pioneer circuit rider, with whom he came to Walla Walla in 1862. He attended school at Whitman Seminary and Blue Mountain University, and was graduated from Philomath College, where he probably first knew Louis Albert Banks, whose fecundity he re corded to the full extent of 55 flowery titles, though there is not a complete bibliography of another author in his book. He was prin cipal of schools at Albany, Roseburg and Brownsville, and came to Oregon State College in 1892 as professor of English and literature. Ten years later he was made registrar and professor of history. When he died on September 14, 1933, he was 77 years old and had been on the faculty of Oregon State College for 41 years. He was in wide demand as a speaker, especially at pioneer meetings, and was per
