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WlLLIAM WICK COTTON.
The great part which William Wick Cotton took in the industrial and commercial development of the northwest is
reflected to a considerable extent and is available in permanent and tangible form in the record and in the history
of the great transportation company - the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company of which he was so important
a factor for nearly thirty years. Throughout this period he was the secretary and attorney for the company, the
success of which is attributable in large measure to his sound judgment and progressive methods. Withall he was
a man of kindly deeds who recognized and met the duties and obligations of life not merely from a sense of duty,
however, but because of his deep interest in his fellowmen, based upon broad humanitarian principles.
While Mr. Cotton was born in the great empire of the west this side of the Mississippi, much of his early life
was spent on the Atlantic seaboard. He first opened his eyes to the light of day at Lyons, Iowa, December 13, 1859,
his parents being Aylett R. and Laura (Wick) Cotton, the former a descendant of John Cotton who came from Barnston,
England, to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1633. Aylett R. Cotton was a lawyer and judge in Iowa. William Wick Cotton's
early educational training was received from his mother and he was then sent to the east, where he entered the
Pennsylvania State Normal School at Millersville, from which he was in due time graduated and then taught for a
time in the same institution. He afterward became a law student of Columbia University of New York and there completed
his course in 1882, during which he read law in the offices of John F. Dillon, chief counsel of the Union Pacific
Railroad. He was admitted to the bar of New York state and there began his practice. He displayed special aptitude
in his studies and after several years of practical application of the lessons which he had learned under some
of the greatest instructors of the country, he became in 1887 assistant to the general solicitor of the Union Pacific
Railway Company at Omaha, Nebraska.
The year 1889 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Cotton in. Portland, at which time he was made general attorney for
the Pacific division of the Union Pacific Railway Company and when the line passed into the control of the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company he became connected with the latter organization. He was widely recognized on
the Pacific coast as a brilliant lawyer and in 1901 was appointed as an associate of Judge C. B. Bellinger of the
United States district court, to prepare a new edition of the laws and codes of Oregon and with marked ability
discharged the duties of that appointment. His chief life work, however, was in connection with the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company of which he was made attorney and secretary. In 1915 he was named to direct valuation
of the Union Pacific and its affiliated lines. In these connections he bent his powers to constructive effort and
administrative direction, while his comprehensive knowledge of the law enabled him to pass upon every involved
and intricate legal point. In 1905 he was appointed by President Roosevelt United States district judge for the
district of Oregon which he accepted but later resigned.
On the 29th of August, 1888, Mr. Cotton was married to Miss Fannie R. Collingwood, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and for nearly thirty years they traveled life's journey most happily together, being separated by the hand of
death on the 13th of March, 1918.
Mr. Cotton was a well known clubman of Portland, belonging to the Arlington, Commercial, University and Waverly
Golf Clubs. His political endorsement was given to the republican party, yet he was never active in politics as
an office seeker. He preferred that his service to mankind should be of a different character and it is said of
him that he was instrumental in aiding many young men now prominent members of the Oregon bar in making their first
step across the legal threshold. His assistance was most quietly and unostentatiously given but proved him the
friend indeed. His own boyhood had largely been a period of strife against obstacles and difficulties and he realized
just what timely assistance would mean to others. Through his own inherent force of character and developing powers
he had risen to a place preeminent among the attorneys of the northwest and was one of the most widely quoted and
consulted legal figures of the railway world.
Mr. Cotton largely turned to agricultural interests for recreation and relaxation. He became the owner and operator
of three farms in the vicinity of Portland, one of these being at Gresham, where he maintained his country home,
one at Newberg and one on Bachelder's island, in the Columbia river. He was especially interested in dairying and
took a leading part in organizing the Oregon Dairymen's League, acting as directing adviser. He indeed made valuable
contribution to the advancement and Progress of the northwest and the record which he left is both tangible and
prominent. His life was fraught with good deeds, with considerate actions toward others and by charity quietly
bestowed. During the European war he was made the head of the railway valuation committee in Portland and he stood
for all those forces which contributed to the successful prosecution of the war. Wherever William Wick Cotton was
known he is spoken of in terms of the highest regard. His life in every respect measured up to advanced standards
and the world is better for his having lived. At the time of his demise he was the president of the Boy Scouts
of Portland.
From:
History of Oregon Illistrated
Vol. 2
BY: Charles H. Carney
The Pioneer Historical Publishing Company
Chicago - Portland 1922
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