Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders/Volume 2/P. C. Schuyler
PHILIP CHURCH SCHUYLER.
The name of Philip Church Schuyler is closely interwoven with many of the events which stand prominently forth upon the pages of Portland's history. Moral and musical interests of the city, the cause of intellectual development and many municipal projects profited by his cooperation, and thus his life work became an integral chapter in the annals of the city. New York numbered him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Ithaca, on the 4th of December, 1835. He was descended from Philip Schuyler, who came from Amsterdam, Holland, prior to 1650, and who married Margarita Van Schlictenhorst and lived in Albany, New York. His parents, Philip Church and Lucy M. (Di.) Schuyler, lived for a time on a farm near Ithaca, New York, where his grandfather, John H. Schuyler, had resided. Later his father engaged in the drug business in Ithaca, where he remained until 1855, when he removed to Kansas with his family and there became deeply interested in the struggle to make Kansas a state. He was a devoted adherent of the anti-slavery cause and therefore cast the weight of his influence in favor of its admission as a free state.
The youthful days of Philip Church Schuyler of this review were passed in his native city, where his attention was largely given to the acquirement of his education in the public schools. At the age of seventeen years, however, he left the Empire state to cross the plains to Oregon in the year 1852. with his uncle, the Hon. William H. Gray, who first came out with Marcus Whitman as a missionary and who married Mary Dix, the sister of Philip Schuyler's mother. James C. Van Renssalaer also accompanied the party to the northwest and the long, tedious journey across the continent, fraught with many hardships and dangers, was completed in the fall of that year. Here Mr. Schuyler engaged in the drug business in connection with Smith, Davis & Company until the firm dissolved, after which he turned his attention to the insurance business, in which he continued with success for many years.
At the same time Mr. Schuyler found opportunity for cooperation in many public affairs and was ever deeply interested in any (Project relating to the city's welfare or betterment. He served as a member of Governor Gibbs' staff in 1863, and became connected with the first fire department of the city—a volun-
On the 5th of June, 1867, Mr. Schuyler was married in the First Presbyterian church of this city to Miss Lucy S. Hurd, and unto them were born three children: Genevieve, the wife of William C. Alvord; Lucy, the wife of Frederick G. Wheeler, and Emily, who died in 1885.
In politics Mr. Schuyler was ever a stanch republican from the time when age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He took the chapter degrees in Masonry and was a life member of the Portland Library Association from the time it was started. He also sang in the Presbyterian church choir from the time the church was organized in 1854 until his death, which occurred October 28, 1889. He was always identified with musical societies and musical matters generally and did much to foster a love of and taste for music in this city. His nature was one to which only that which is uplifting made appeal, and his cooperation was always given to those things which promoted intellectual, social and moral progress, and to those public movements which were matters of civic virtue and civic pride.
CHARLES A. MACRUM.
Dr. Charles A. Macrum, one of the oldest and best known homeopathic physicians of Portland, devoting his attention to general practice, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, December 28, 1861. He is the eldest of six children, all of whom are living, whose parents are I. A.. and Westana (Grubbs) Macrum. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Portland in 1871, spending three years in Oregon City, after which he located in Portland in 1874. He practiced his profession for about ten years as a member of the firm of Johnson, McCown & Macrum, one of the most prominent law firms of the city in its day. Then with others he organized the Merchants National Bank, of which he was the manager for ten years. He afterward resigned to become railroad commissioner, filling the office for six years. His death occurred in 1902, when he was sixty years of age. He was one of the best known men of the state, prominent and active in the development of Oregon, advancing many ideas the practical worth of which was proven in their adoption and utilization. His wife, who is still living in Portland at the age of sixty-seven years, was a daughter of Willam Grubbs, who came to this state from Pennsylvania in 1870.
Dr. Macrum was a lad of about ten years when the family arrived in Portland, and in the pursuit of his education he completed the high school course with the class of 1879, when seventeen years of age. Five years later he took up the study of medicine and was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1889 with the M. D. degree. Returning to Portland he has since followed his profession in this city as a general practitioner and is one of the oldest and best known homeopathic physicians here. He has always made his professional duties his first consideration, being most thorough and conscientious in the performance of the work that devolves upon him in this connection.
Dr. Macrum belongs to the Oreeon State Homeopathic Society, the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Oregon State Medical Association, the Multnomah County Medical Society, the Portland Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is identified with the building of the new hospital now nearing completion and is well known in other professional connections. He has been assistant surgeon and surgeon of the First Regiment of the Oregon National Guard for about five years, having previously been a private of Company K for two years.