-------------------------------------------
NOTE: If you double click on the images twice they should grow larger so that they can be more easily seen and read. There are several images here that are hidden. Please, look at them.
-------------------------------------------
Walter was a "kind husband and father". This was written by his wife, Constance in her family journal. He was an honest business businessman, but, not terribly good at it.
He married his wife, Constance Phelps Montgomery Burrell in Portland, Oregon. They had three boys Alden, Robert, Douglas, and two daughters Virginia, and Louise. They also lost a twin girl and boy that were born in 1912, at three months old they were not able to survive.
Their first home was at 404 Madison Street, Portland, Oregon. Later, Walter had a very large home built at 2610 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., in Portland. It can be seen still there today. It stands with the finest architecture in the city. Today it is the home of Holman's Funeral Services. It was built with the best methods of the time. It had the first electric elevator in Portland and Walter drove the first all electric car in Portland. The roof stands true today because it's trusses were made of three layers of laminated wood.
When Martin S. Burrell died on 12 Apr 1885, Walter and his mother were given control over his father's great estate holdings in four states. But, he did not have the same gift for business that his father did. Martin Strong Burrell, had built a financial empire with a very broad base. He was invested in large farming operations, mining interests, personal loans and a group of regional banks that served parts of Oregon and Washington. Also, there was the Knapp-Burrell Company and it's system of stores selling farming, mining, logging equipment and vehicles and goods up and down California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The reader must remember that the Knapp brothers and Martin Strong Burrell were first of all cousins. They had a blood tie among honorable men and honorable families that were anchored in Ohio, Washington, Oregon and California.
The 1930's deep and long Great Depression was the undoing of the estates remaining interests. WWII came just too late to save the extended families large estate trust. The failure affected other Portland families [Voorhies', Montgomery's and Burrell's]. Walter tried to hang onto the Portland docks and warehouse that the estate trust owned and then it too was lost.
With bankruptcy surrounding Walter and his wife in Portland. Much of their treasures and holdings were lost and they had to leave town. Walter F. Burrell worked hard to pay off every last debt he could. This took years and Walter and Constance had moved to Santa Barbara, California for the remainder of their days. Virginia, Louise, Alden and Douglas would also visit them in that beautiful coastal town with it's great weather. They all found the climate wonderful. After Walter's death, Virginia, moved in with her mother. Later, Louise lost her dear husband and moved to be closer to her mother.
The Santa Barbara home was three stories, a large home with a large entry, living room and den. Many of the room I never got to see. It had a carriage and unused horse facility in the backyard and citrus fruit trees surrounded the home. Evan a banana tree that grew on the side of the house with no fruit ever ripening. Then there was the large living room that was full of things a boy would want to touch and a grandfather clock with a rotating dial to show the moon as it changed through the month. The clock was the one thing that I wanted from Aunt Virginia's estate but it had already been sold when I was asked to visit and look at the remainder of the estate. The one thing my father had been promised was a silver punch bowel that had been awarded to James Boyce Montgomery upon completion of a railroad contract. That went to Peter Voorhies and now resides in Washington, near Seattle. I was given a view lot on the beach north of Santa Barbara that had been left for my father. It was near the University of California Campus. It was quite valuable an one of the last undeveloped beach lot for some miles. My, Aunt Virginia made me promise to 'give it to' to a civic group for a public park. It was about 5 years before I saw any money. It was valued at about $100.000 and the group had contracted with Virginia to pay $15, 000 minus the taxes. The contract had been signed by, Virginia Burrell. Peter wanted me to break the contract. But, I had given my word not knowing the truth that it was really mine.
I remember the Santa Barbara Spanish Mission was near the Burrell's three story home. The Spanish had enjoyed Santa Barbara long before the United States owned it. The weather there is exceptionally fine.
I never knew if my aunts and grandmother Burrell loved me. At least I think they did. I know they liked the Burrell name. My father died in his late 40's. The Santa Barbara Burrell's at first tried to get my mother to give me up to live with them. It was for her own good they told my mother. My brother and I were the only Burrell children to carry the name forward. My father was the only child to have blood related children. Louise and her husband adopted two children as young children. Later, when they were grown their mother separated her ties with them. Then the daughter died and the son remarried and lived in Arizona. .... It is presently, 2022, and the son recently died. But, after his mother's death her remains were cremated and sat in the living room of her beautiful coastal home in Carpinteria with an unhindered 270 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel from her front patio. The back yard was a Japanese Garden that was kept up several days a week by two gardeners at the yearly cost of well over $30,000. Her gardener removed the ashes from the living room and hid them from the son trying to force him to pay the back wages due them. The son did not care about the lost ashes and settled his adopted mother's estate and left, California.
Years later, when it came to inheritance they sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit the Burrell sisters and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about .... it was to be left to a university in Oregon, Virginia said. But, I believe that it was destroyed.
Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home in Carpinteria, on several occasions while posted nearby at Fort Ord in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children, or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. They had spoken of marriage and she was set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and "life was not fair" and she was in great pain. Her first husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seems to almost have destroyed her. She said, "life so not fair"....for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment and his families trust.
Louise found purpose in her garden and friends. The first homes she lived in near Santa Barbara was both large, white, and a California Ranch Style and spectacular to a young boy my age. It sat on a small knoll. Her lawn was of special moss and could not be walked upon and had to be watered several times a day with sprinklers. Aunt Louise seemed to get along well with my mother during our short visit in the 1950's. A few years later she found a very real fault running below her home and became most anxious to sell before the whole neighborhood learned of it. Being afraid the home's value would dive once neighbors learned of it's placement.
Her new home was in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. It was the high rent district of Santa Barbara. It was just acrossed the road from the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular 170 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel. At night off shore oil wells could be seen as well as several of the channel islands. Here she built a very special Japanese Garden in the back yard. Several days a week she had gardeners working in the gardens. Louise made a point of telling me how many thousands it cost to keep her gardens in good condition. Her adopted son reports that she failed to give her gardener a large payout after her death. So, he walked into her home and took her ashes away forever. As her adopted son would not pay for their return.
Years later, when it came to inheritance the sisters sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit them and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long, hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about because it was to be left to a university in Oregon. I have not found this to be true. I believe it referred to items that were to be left to me as inheritance. Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home on several occasions while I was posted nearby in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children. Or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. [Louise's young family had lived there several years as her husband's family had their wood products headquarters located downtown.] They had spoken of marriage and she was all set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and life was not fair and she was in great pain. Her husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seemed to almost destroy her. She said that was so not fair for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment in the family lumber businesses some years before.
Each of the Burrell children were given unique strengths to succeed in life. They were not made from a common mold and followed no leader through life. My father wanted no part of the wheeling and dealing that was part of his father's everyday life. They wanted both their surviving son's to become great businessmen. Neither one ever sought out that life for themselves. Both surviving son's saw much trouble and stress in their father's life and so went another way in life.
******************************
Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 3. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 281. [Open source publication.]
WALTER FRAZAR BURRELL has been recognized throughout the years of his manhood as a stalwart and enthusiastic supporter of every movement and project instituted for the benefit and up building of the city of Portland. His business associations have brought him into active connection with its wholesale and manufacturing trade and at the same time he has been a factor in the agricultural progress of the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. His judgment is sound, his discrimination keen and penetrating. He seems to see from the circumference to the very center of things and so coordinates forces that unified and harmonious results are achieved and the utmost possible for the attainment of success seems to have been reached. His days have been unmarked by events of special importance, save such as come to those reared on the western frontier, in a district where a spirit of enterprise is rife and where nothing seems to deter successful accomplishment.
His father, Martin S. Burrell, was a man of conspicuous business ability, who came to Portland to work for a cousin at Knapp&Sons Company, in the year 1855. [First he had visited a relative in California to see his work prospect there.] [I]t was in this city that Walter F. Burrell, entered upon life's journey. [He was born] on the 13th of February 1863. His education was acquired in the schools of Portland and Oberlin, [Ohio] and when his school days were over, he entered the business house of Knapp-Burrell &
Company, of which his father was the head and applied himself to mastering the details of a business that included the handling of vehicles, agricultural implements, sawmill machinery, mining equipment and was the largest of its kind in the northwestern [United States]. The trade grew to very extensive proportions, but the father's interest in the business was sold immediately after his death in 1885.
Walter F. Burrell, who was then but twenty-two years of age, took charge of the management and development of the other properties that were features of his father's trust estate and included large tracts of unfilled land in Whitman county, Washington, all of which the son brought under cultivation in the production of splendid crops [wheat was grown on large tracks near Colfax and Garfield]. While he has given much attention to raising wheat and other crops of
grain, Mr. Burrell has also engaged in the extensive growing of apples and pears [near Medford, Oregon. Which he later sold for one million dollars. It was the largest sale up to that time], not only in Oregon but also in the states of Washington and Idaho.
In 1895, Mr. Burrell was married to Miss Constance Montgomery, a daughter of James B. Montgomery, a prominent citizen of Portland, and they are now the parents of five children, Alden Frazar, Louise, Douglas Montgomery, Robert
Montgomery and Virginia.
Mr. Burrell is a republican in his political belief. He belongs to the Arlington Club, Commercial and Multnomah Clubs, and served under Mayor Henry Spoor Rowe on the board of public works of the city of Portland but has had no
ambition for office, preferring to devote his efforts to furthering the interests of Portland through its commercial bodies, and also to managing the extensive business interests, belonging to himself and associates, in the
control of which he displays marked ability and energy, regarding no detail as too unimportant to receive his attention and at the same time controlling the larger factors in his interests with notable assurance and power.
NOTE: If you double click on the images twice they should grow larger so that they can be more easily seen and read. There are several images here that are hidden. Please, look at them.
-------------------------------------------
Walter was a "kind husband and father". This was written by his wife, Constance in her family journal. He was an honest business businessman, but, not terribly good at it.
He married his wife, Constance Phelps Montgomery Burrell in Portland, Oregon. They had three boys Alden, Robert, Douglas, and two daughters Virginia, and Louise. They also lost a twin girl and boy that were born in 1912, at three months old they were not able to survive.
Their first home was at 404 Madison Street, Portland, Oregon. Later, Walter had a very large home built at 2610 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., in Portland. It can be seen still there today. It stands with the finest architecture in the city. Today it is the home of Holman's Funeral Services. It was built with the best methods of the time. It had the first electric elevator in Portland and Walter drove the first all electric car in Portland. The roof stands true today because it's trusses were made of three layers of laminated wood.
When Martin S. Burrell died on 12 Apr 1885, Walter and his mother were given control over his father's great estate holdings in four states. But, he did not have the same gift for business that his father did. Martin Strong Burrell, had built a financial empire with a very broad base. He was invested in large farming operations, mining interests, personal loans and a group of regional banks that served parts of Oregon and Washington. Also, there was the Knapp-Burrell Company and it's system of stores selling farming, mining, logging equipment and vehicles and goods up and down California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The reader must remember that the Knapp brothers and Martin Strong Burrell were first of all cousins. They had a blood tie among honorable men and honorable families that were anchored in Ohio, Washington, Oregon and California.
The 1930's deep and long Great Depression was the undoing of the estates remaining interests. WWII came just too late to save the extended families large estate trust. The failure affected other Portland families [Voorhies', Montgomery's and Burrell's]. Walter tried to hang onto the Portland docks and warehouse that the estate trust owned and then it too was lost.
With bankruptcy surrounding Walter and his wife in Portland. Much of their treasures and holdings were lost and they had to leave town. Walter F. Burrell worked hard to pay off every last debt he could. This took years and Walter and Constance had moved to Santa Barbara, California for the remainder of their days. Virginia, Louise, Alden and Douglas would also visit them in that beautiful coastal town with it's great weather. They all found the climate wonderful. After Walter's death, Virginia, moved in with her mother. Later, Louise lost her dear husband and moved to be closer to her mother.
The Santa Barbara home was three stories, a large home with a large entry, living room and den. Many of the room I never got to see. It had a carriage and unused horse facility in the backyard and citrus fruit trees surrounded the home. Evan a banana tree that grew on the side of the house with no fruit ever ripening. Then there was the large living room that was full of things a boy would want to touch and a grandfather clock with a rotating dial to show the moon as it changed through the month. The clock was the one thing that I wanted from Aunt Virginia's estate but it had already been sold when I was asked to visit and look at the remainder of the estate. The one thing my father had been promised was a silver punch bowel that had been awarded to James Boyce Montgomery upon completion of a railroad contract. That went to Peter Voorhies and now resides in Washington, near Seattle. I was given a view lot on the beach north of Santa Barbara that had been left for my father. It was near the University of California Campus. It was quite valuable an one of the last undeveloped beach lot for some miles. My, Aunt Virginia made me promise to 'give it to' to a civic group for a public park. It was about 5 years before I saw any money. It was valued at about $100.000 and the group had contracted with Virginia to pay $15, 000 minus the taxes. The contract had been signed by, Virginia Burrell. Peter wanted me to break the contract. But, I had given my word not knowing the truth that it was really mine.
I remember the Santa Barbara Spanish Mission was near the Burrell's three story home. The Spanish had enjoyed Santa Barbara long before the United States owned it. The weather there is exceptionally fine.
I never knew if my aunts and grandmother Burrell loved me. At least I think they did. I know they liked the Burrell name. My father died in his late 40's. The Santa Barbara Burrell's at first tried to get my mother to give me up to live with them. It was for her own good they told my mother. My brother and I were the only Burrell children to carry the name forward. My father was the only child to have blood related children. Louise and her husband adopted two children as young children. Later, when they were grown their mother separated her ties with them. Then the daughter died and the son remarried and lived in Arizona. .... It is presently, 2022, and the son recently died. But, after his mother's death her remains were cremated and sat in the living room of her beautiful coastal home in Carpinteria with an unhindered 270 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel from her front patio. The back yard was a Japanese Garden that was kept up several days a week by two gardeners at the yearly cost of well over $30,000. Her gardener removed the ashes from the living room and hid them from the son trying to force him to pay the back wages due them. The son did not care about the lost ashes and settled his adopted mother's estate and left, California.
Years later, when it came to inheritance they sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit the Burrell sisters and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about .... it was to be left to a university in Oregon, Virginia said. But, I believe that it was destroyed.
Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home in Carpinteria, on several occasions while posted nearby at Fort Ord in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children, or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. They had spoken of marriage and she was set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and "life was not fair" and she was in great pain. Her first husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seems to almost have destroyed her. She said, "life so not fair"....for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment and his families trust.
Louise found purpose in her garden and friends. The first homes she lived in near Santa Barbara was both large, white, and a California Ranch Style and spectacular to a young boy my age. It sat on a small knoll. Her lawn was of special moss and could not be walked upon and had to be watered several times a day with sprinklers. Aunt Louise seemed to get along well with my mother during our short visit in the 1950's. A few years later she found a very real fault running below her home and became most anxious to sell before the whole neighborhood learned of it. Being afraid the home's value would dive once neighbors learned of it's placement.
Her new home was in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. It was the high rent district of Santa Barbara. It was just acrossed the road from the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular 170 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel. At night off shore oil wells could be seen as well as several of the channel islands. Here she built a very special Japanese Garden in the back yard. Several days a week she had gardeners working in the gardens. Louise made a point of telling me how many thousands it cost to keep her gardens in good condition. Her adopted son reports that she failed to give her gardener a large payout after her death. So, he walked into her home and took her ashes away forever. As her adopted son would not pay for their return.
Years later, when it came to inheritance the sisters sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit them and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long, hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about because it was to be left to a university in Oregon. I have not found this to be true. I believe it referred to items that were to be left to me as inheritance. Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home on several occasions while I was posted nearby in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children. Or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. [Louise's young family had lived there several years as her husband's family had their wood products headquarters located downtown.] They had spoken of marriage and she was all set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and life was not fair and she was in great pain. Her husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seemed to almost destroy her. She said that was so not fair for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment in the family lumber businesses some years before.
Each of the Burrell children were given unique strengths to succeed in life. They were not made from a common mold and followed no leader through life. My father wanted no part of the wheeling and dealing that was part of his father's everyday life. They wanted both their surviving son's to become great businessmen. Neither one ever sought out that life for themselves. Both surviving son's saw much trouble and stress in their father's life and so went another way in life.
******************************
Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 3. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 281. [Open source publication.]
WALTER FRAZAR BURRELL has been recognized throughout the years of his manhood as a stalwart and enthusiastic supporter of every movement and project instituted for the benefit and up building of the city of Portland. His business associations have brought him into active connection with its wholesale and manufacturing trade and at the same time he has been a factor in the agricultural progress of the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. His judgment is sound, his discrimination keen and penetrating. He seems to see from the circumference to the very center of things and so coordinates forces that unified and harmonious results are achieved and the utmost possible for the attainment of success seems to have been reached. His days have been unmarked by events of special importance, save such as come to those reared on the western frontier, in a district where a spirit of enterprise is rife and where nothing seems to deter successful accomplishment.
His father, Martin S. Burrell, was a man of conspicuous business ability, who came to Portland to work for a cousin at Knapp&Sons Company, in the year 1855. [First he had visited a relative in California to see his work prospect there.] [I]t was in this city that Walter F. Burrell, entered upon life's journey. [He was born] on the 13th of February 1863. His education was acquired in the schools of Portland and Oberlin, [Ohio] and when his school days were over, he entered the business house of Knapp-Burrell &
Company, of which his father was the head and applied himself to mastering the details of a business that included the handling of vehicles, agricultural implements, sawmill machinery, mining equipment and was the largest of its kind in the northwestern [United States]. The trade grew to very extensive proportions, but the father's interest in the business was sold immediately after his death in 1885.
Walter F. Burrell, who was then but twenty-two years of age, took charge of the management and development of the other properties that were features of his father's trust estate and included large tracts of unfilled land in Whitman county, Washington, all of which the son brought under cultivation in the production of splendid crops [wheat was grown on large tracks near Colfax and Garfield]. While he has given much attention to raising wheat and other crops of
grain, Mr. Burrell has also engaged in the extensive growing of apples and pears [near Medford, Oregon. Which he later sold for one million dollars. It was the largest sale up to that time], not only in Oregon but also in the states of Washington and Idaho.
In 1895, Mr. Burrell was married to Miss Constance Montgomery, a daughter of James B. Montgomery, a prominent citizen of Portland, and they are now the parents of five children, Alden Frazar, Louise, Douglas Montgomery, Robert
Montgomery and Virginia.
Mr. Burrell is a republican in his political belief. He belongs to the Arlington Club, Commercial and Multnomah Clubs, and served under Mayor Henry Spoor Rowe on the board of public works of the city of Portland but has had no
ambition for office, preferring to devote his efforts to furthering the interests of Portland through its commercial bodies, and also to managing the extensive business interests, belonging to himself and associates, in the
control of which he displays marked ability and energy, regarding no detail as too unimportant to receive his attention and at the same time controlling the larger factors in his interests with notable assurance and power.
-------------------------------------------
NOTE: If you double click on the images twice they should grow larger so that they can be more easily seen and read. There are several images here that are hidden. Please, look at them.
-------------------------------------------
Walter was a "kind husband and father". This was written by his wife, Constance in her family journal. He was an honest business businessman, but, not terribly good at it.
He married his wife, Constance Phelps Montgomery Burrell in Portland, Oregon. They had three boys Alden, Robert, Douglas, and two daughters Virginia, and Louise. They also lost a twin girl and boy that were born in 1912, at three months old they were not able to survive.
Their first home was at 404 Madison Street, Portland, Oregon. Later, Walter had a very large home built at 2610 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., in Portland. It can be seen still there today. It stands with the finest architecture in the city. Today it is the home of Holman's Funeral Services. It was built with the best methods of the time. It had the first electric elevator in Portland and Walter drove the first all electric car in Portland. The roof stands true today because it's trusses were made of three layers of laminated wood.
When Martin S. Burrell died on 12 Apr 1885, Walter and his mother were given control over his father's great estate holdings in four states. But, he did not have the same gift for business that his father did. Martin Strong Burrell, had built a financial empire with a very broad base. He was invested in large farming operations, mining interests, personal loans and a group of regional banks that served parts of Oregon and Washington. Also, there was the Knapp-Burrell Company and it's system of stores selling farming, mining, logging equipment and vehicles and goods up and down California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The reader must remember that the Knapp brothers and Martin Strong Burrell were first of all cousins. They had a blood tie among honorable men and honorable families that were anchored in Ohio, Washington, Oregon and California.
The 1930's deep and long Great Depression was the undoing of the estates remaining interests. WWII came just too late to save the extended families large estate trust. The failure affected other Portland families [Voorhies', Montgomery's and Burrell's]. Walter tried to hang onto the Portland docks and warehouse that the estate trust owned and then it too was lost.
With bankruptcy surrounding Walter and his wife in Portland. Much of their treasures and holdings were lost and they had to leave town. Walter F. Burrell worked hard to pay off every last debt he could. This took years and Walter and Constance had moved to Santa Barbara, California for the remainder of their days. Virginia, Louise, Alden and Douglas would also visit them in that beautiful coastal town with it's great weather. They all found the climate wonderful. After Walter's death, Virginia, moved in with her mother. Later, Louise lost her dear husband and moved to be closer to her mother.
The Santa Barbara home was three stories, a large home with a large entry, living room and den. Many of the room I never got to see. It had a carriage and unused horse facility in the backyard and citrus fruit trees surrounded the home. Evan a banana tree that grew on the side of the house with no fruit ever ripening. Then there was the large living room that was full of things a boy would want to touch and a grandfather clock with a rotating dial to show the moon as it changed through the month. The clock was the one thing that I wanted from Aunt Virginia's estate but it had already been sold when I was asked to visit and look at the remainder of the estate. The one thing my father had been promised was a silver punch bowel that had been awarded to James Boyce Montgomery upon completion of a railroad contract. That went to Peter Voorhies and now resides in Washington, near Seattle. I was given a view lot on the beach north of Santa Barbara that had been left for my father. It was near the University of California Campus. It was quite valuable an one of the last undeveloped beach lot for some miles. My, Aunt Virginia made me promise to 'give it to' to a civic group for a public park. It was about 5 years before I saw any money. It was valued at about $100.000 and the group had contracted with Virginia to pay $15, 000 minus the taxes. The contract had been signed by, Virginia Burrell. Peter wanted me to break the contract. But, I had given my word not knowing the truth that it was really mine.
I remember the Santa Barbara Spanish Mission was near the Burrell's three story home. The Spanish had enjoyed Santa Barbara long before the United States owned it. The weather there is exceptionally fine.
I never knew if my aunts and grandmother Burrell loved me. At least I think they did. I know they liked the Burrell name. My father died in his late 40's. The Santa Barbara Burrell's at first tried to get my mother to give me up to live with them. It was for her own good they told my mother. My brother and I were the only Burrell children to carry the name forward. My father was the only child to have blood related children. Louise and her husband adopted two children as young children. Later, when they were grown their mother separated her ties with them. Then the daughter died and the son remarried and lived in Arizona. .... It is presently, 2022, and the son recently died. But, after his mother's death her remains were cremated and sat in the living room of her beautiful coastal home in Carpinteria with an unhindered 270 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel from her front patio. The back yard was a Japanese Garden that was kept up several days a week by two gardeners at the yearly cost of well over $30,000. Her gardener removed the ashes from the living room and hid them from the son trying to force him to pay the back wages due them. The son did not care about the lost ashes and settled his adopted mother's estate and left, California.
Years later, when it came to inheritance they sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit the Burrell sisters and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about .... it was to be left to a university in Oregon, Virginia said. But, I believe that it was destroyed.
Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home in Carpinteria, on several occasions while posted nearby at Fort Ord in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children, or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. They had spoken of marriage and she was set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and "life was not fair" and she was in great pain. Her first husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seems to almost have destroyed her. She said, "life so not fair"....for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment and his families trust.
Louise found purpose in her garden and friends. The first homes she lived in near Santa Barbara was both large, white, and a California Ranch Style and spectacular to a young boy my age. It sat on a small knoll. Her lawn was of special moss and could not be walked upon and had to be watered several times a day with sprinklers. Aunt Louise seemed to get along well with my mother during our short visit in the 1950's. A few years later she found a very real fault running below her home and became most anxious to sell before the whole neighborhood learned of it. Being afraid the home's value would dive once neighbors learned of it's placement.
Her new home was in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. It was the high rent district of Santa Barbara. It was just acrossed the road from the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular 170 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel. At night off shore oil wells could be seen as well as several of the channel islands. Here she built a very special Japanese Garden in the back yard. Several days a week she had gardeners working in the gardens. Louise made a point of telling me how many thousands it cost to keep her gardens in good condition. Her adopted son reports that she failed to give her gardener a large payout after her death. So, he walked into her home and took her ashes away forever. As her adopted son would not pay for their return.
Years later, when it came to inheritance the sisters sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit them and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long, hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about because it was to be left to a university in Oregon. I have not found this to be true. I believe it referred to items that were to be left to me as inheritance. Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home on several occasions while I was posted nearby in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children. Or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. [Louise's young family had lived there several years as her husband's family had their wood products headquarters located downtown.] They had spoken of marriage and she was all set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and life was not fair and she was in great pain. Her husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seemed to almost destroy her. She said that was so not fair for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment in the family lumber businesses some years before.
Each of the Burrell children were given unique strengths to succeed in life. They were not made from a common mold and followed no leader through life. My father wanted no part of the wheeling and dealing that was part of his father's everyday life. They wanted both their surviving son's to become great businessmen. Neither one ever sought out that life for themselves. Both surviving son's saw much trouble and stress in their father's life and so went another way in life.
******************************
Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 3. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 281. [Open source publication.]
WALTER FRAZAR BURRELL has been recognized throughout the years of his manhood as a stalwart and enthusiastic supporter of every movement and project instituted for the benefit and up building of the city of Portland. His business associations have brought him into active connection with its wholesale and manufacturing trade and at the same time he has been a factor in the agricultural progress of the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. His judgment is sound, his discrimination keen and penetrating. He seems to see from the circumference to the very center of things and so coordinates forces that unified and harmonious results are achieved and the utmost possible for the attainment of success seems to have been reached. His days have been unmarked by events of special importance, save such as come to those reared on the western frontier, in a district where a spirit of enterprise is rife and where nothing seems to deter successful accomplishment.
His father, Martin S. Burrell, was a man of conspicuous business ability, who came to Portland to work for a cousin at Knapp&Sons Company, in the year 1855. [First he had visited a relative in California to see his work prospect there.] [I]t was in this city that Walter F. Burrell, entered upon life's journey. [He was born] on the 13th of February 1863. His education was acquired in the schools of Portland and Oberlin, [Ohio] and when his school days were over, he entered the business house of Knapp-Burrell &
Company, of which his father was the head and applied himself to mastering the details of a business that included the handling of vehicles, agricultural implements, sawmill machinery, mining equipment and was the largest of its kind in the northwestern [United States]. The trade grew to very extensive proportions, but the father's interest in the business was sold immediately after his death in 1885.
Walter F. Burrell, who was then but twenty-two years of age, took charge of the management and development of the other properties that were features of his father's trust estate and included large tracts of unfilled land in Whitman county, Washington, all of which the son brought under cultivation in the production of splendid crops [wheat was grown on large tracks near Colfax and Garfield]. While he has given much attention to raising wheat and other crops of
grain, Mr. Burrell has also engaged in the extensive growing of apples and pears [near Medford, Oregon. Which he later sold for one million dollars. It was the largest sale up to that time], not only in Oregon but also in the states of Washington and Idaho.
In 1895, Mr. Burrell was married to Miss Constance Montgomery, a daughter of James B. Montgomery, a prominent citizen of Portland, and they are now the parents of five children, Alden Frazar, Louise, Douglas Montgomery, Robert
Montgomery and Virginia.
Mr. Burrell is a republican in his political belief. He belongs to the Arlington Club, Commercial and Multnomah Clubs, and served under Mayor Henry Spoor Rowe on the board of public works of the city of Portland but has had no
ambition for office, preferring to devote his efforts to furthering the interests of Portland through its commercial bodies, and also to managing the extensive business interests, belonging to himself and associates, in the
control of which he displays marked ability and energy, regarding no detail as too unimportant to receive his attention and at the same time controlling the larger factors in his interests with notable assurance and power.
NOTE: If you double click on the images twice they should grow larger so that they can be more easily seen and read. There are several images here that are hidden. Please, look at them.
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Walter was a "kind husband and father". This was written by his wife, Constance in her family journal. He was an honest business businessman, but, not terribly good at it.
He married his wife, Constance Phelps Montgomery Burrell in Portland, Oregon. They had three boys Alden, Robert, Douglas, and two daughters Virginia, and Louise. They also lost a twin girl and boy that were born in 1912, at three months old they were not able to survive.
Their first home was at 404 Madison Street, Portland, Oregon. Later, Walter had a very large home built at 2610 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., in Portland. It can be seen still there today. It stands with the finest architecture in the city. Today it is the home of Holman's Funeral Services. It was built with the best methods of the time. It had the first electric elevator in Portland and Walter drove the first all electric car in Portland. The roof stands true today because it's trusses were made of three layers of laminated wood.
When Martin S. Burrell died on 12 Apr 1885, Walter and his mother were given control over his father's great estate holdings in four states. But, he did not have the same gift for business that his father did. Martin Strong Burrell, had built a financial empire with a very broad base. He was invested in large farming operations, mining interests, personal loans and a group of regional banks that served parts of Oregon and Washington. Also, there was the Knapp-Burrell Company and it's system of stores selling farming, mining, logging equipment and vehicles and goods up and down California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The reader must remember that the Knapp brothers and Martin Strong Burrell were first of all cousins. They had a blood tie among honorable men and honorable families that were anchored in Ohio, Washington, Oregon and California.
The 1930's deep and long Great Depression was the undoing of the estates remaining interests. WWII came just too late to save the extended families large estate trust. The failure affected other Portland families [Voorhies', Montgomery's and Burrell's]. Walter tried to hang onto the Portland docks and warehouse that the estate trust owned and then it too was lost.
With bankruptcy surrounding Walter and his wife in Portland. Much of their treasures and holdings were lost and they had to leave town. Walter F. Burrell worked hard to pay off every last debt he could. This took years and Walter and Constance had moved to Santa Barbara, California for the remainder of their days. Virginia, Louise, Alden and Douglas would also visit them in that beautiful coastal town with it's great weather. They all found the climate wonderful. After Walter's death, Virginia, moved in with her mother. Later, Louise lost her dear husband and moved to be closer to her mother.
The Santa Barbara home was three stories, a large home with a large entry, living room and den. Many of the room I never got to see. It had a carriage and unused horse facility in the backyard and citrus fruit trees surrounded the home. Evan a banana tree that grew on the side of the house with no fruit ever ripening. Then there was the large living room that was full of things a boy would want to touch and a grandfather clock with a rotating dial to show the moon as it changed through the month. The clock was the one thing that I wanted from Aunt Virginia's estate but it had already been sold when I was asked to visit and look at the remainder of the estate. The one thing my father had been promised was a silver punch bowel that had been awarded to James Boyce Montgomery upon completion of a railroad contract. That went to Peter Voorhies and now resides in Washington, near Seattle. I was given a view lot on the beach north of Santa Barbara that had been left for my father. It was near the University of California Campus. It was quite valuable an one of the last undeveloped beach lot for some miles. My, Aunt Virginia made me promise to 'give it to' to a civic group for a public park. It was about 5 years before I saw any money. It was valued at about $100.000 and the group had contracted with Virginia to pay $15, 000 minus the taxes. The contract had been signed by, Virginia Burrell. Peter wanted me to break the contract. But, I had given my word not knowing the truth that it was really mine.
I remember the Santa Barbara Spanish Mission was near the Burrell's three story home. The Spanish had enjoyed Santa Barbara long before the United States owned it. The weather there is exceptionally fine.
I never knew if my aunts and grandmother Burrell loved me. At least I think they did. I know they liked the Burrell name. My father died in his late 40's. The Santa Barbara Burrell's at first tried to get my mother to give me up to live with them. It was for her own good they told my mother. My brother and I were the only Burrell children to carry the name forward. My father was the only child to have blood related children. Louise and her husband adopted two children as young children. Later, when they were grown their mother separated her ties with them. Then the daughter died and the son remarried and lived in Arizona. .... It is presently, 2022, and the son recently died. But, after his mother's death her remains were cremated and sat in the living room of her beautiful coastal home in Carpinteria with an unhindered 270 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel from her front patio. The back yard was a Japanese Garden that was kept up several days a week by two gardeners at the yearly cost of well over $30,000. Her gardener removed the ashes from the living room and hid them from the son trying to force him to pay the back wages due them. The son did not care about the lost ashes and settled his adopted mother's estate and left, California.
Years later, when it came to inheritance they sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit the Burrell sisters and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about .... it was to be left to a university in Oregon, Virginia said. But, I believe that it was destroyed.
Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home in Carpinteria, on several occasions while posted nearby at Fort Ord in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children, or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. They had spoken of marriage and she was set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and "life was not fair" and she was in great pain. Her first husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seems to almost have destroyed her. She said, "life so not fair"....for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment and his families trust.
Louise found purpose in her garden and friends. The first homes she lived in near Santa Barbara was both large, white, and a California Ranch Style and spectacular to a young boy my age. It sat on a small knoll. Her lawn was of special moss and could not be walked upon and had to be watered several times a day with sprinklers. Aunt Louise seemed to get along well with my mother during our short visit in the 1950's. A few years later she found a very real fault running below her home and became most anxious to sell before the whole neighborhood learned of it. Being afraid the home's value would dive once neighbors learned of it's placement.
Her new home was in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. It was the high rent district of Santa Barbara. It was just acrossed the road from the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular 170 degree view of the Santa Barbara Channel. At night off shore oil wells could be seen as well as several of the channel islands. Here she built a very special Japanese Garden in the back yard. Several days a week she had gardeners working in the gardens. Louise made a point of telling me how many thousands it cost to keep her gardens in good condition. Her adopted son reports that she failed to give her gardener a large payout after her death. So, he walked into her home and took her ashes away forever. As her adopted son would not pay for their return.
Years later, when it came to inheritance the sisters sought out Peter Voorhies to come visit them and he was given much from what Aunt Virginia, told me. I asked her for the long, hand written letter that was from her father to his children shortly before his death. That never came about because it was to be left to a university in Oregon. I have not found this to be true. I believe it referred to items that were to be left to me as inheritance. Louise, invited me to stay in her beautiful beach home on several occasions while I was posted nearby in the U. S. Army. She had little good to say about her children. Or, myself. Louise had come close to remarrying. There was a very dear friend who had lost his wife in Minneapolis. [Louise's young family had lived there several years as her husband's family had their wood products headquarters located downtown.] They had spoken of marriage and she was all set to go and they would become one. Her heart was ready and then he died very suddenly and life was not fair and she was in great pain. Her husband had destroyed himself with drink and it seemed to almost destroy her. She said that was so not fair for him to have left her alone. The drink had cost him his employment in the family lumber businesses some years before.
Each of the Burrell children were given unique strengths to succeed in life. They were not made from a common mold and followed no leader through life. My father wanted no part of the wheeling and dealing that was part of his father's everyday life. They wanted both their surviving son's to become great businessmen. Neither one ever sought out that life for themselves. Both surviving son's saw much trouble and stress in their father's life and so went another way in life.
******************************
Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 3. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 281. [Open source publication.]
WALTER FRAZAR BURRELL has been recognized throughout the years of his manhood as a stalwart and enthusiastic supporter of every movement and project instituted for the benefit and up building of the city of Portland. His business associations have brought him into active connection with its wholesale and manufacturing trade and at the same time he has been a factor in the agricultural progress of the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. His judgment is sound, his discrimination keen and penetrating. He seems to see from the circumference to the very center of things and so coordinates forces that unified and harmonious results are achieved and the utmost possible for the attainment of success seems to have been reached. His days have been unmarked by events of special importance, save such as come to those reared on the western frontier, in a district where a spirit of enterprise is rife and where nothing seems to deter successful accomplishment.
His father, Martin S. Burrell, was a man of conspicuous business ability, who came to Portland to work for a cousin at Knapp&Sons Company, in the year 1855. [First he had visited a relative in California to see his work prospect there.] [I]t was in this city that Walter F. Burrell, entered upon life's journey. [He was born] on the 13th of February 1863. His education was acquired in the schools of Portland and Oberlin, [Ohio] and when his school days were over, he entered the business house of Knapp-Burrell &
Company, of which his father was the head and applied himself to mastering the details of a business that included the handling of vehicles, agricultural implements, sawmill machinery, mining equipment and was the largest of its kind in the northwestern [United States]. The trade grew to very extensive proportions, but the father's interest in the business was sold immediately after his death in 1885.
Walter F. Burrell, who was then but twenty-two years of age, took charge of the management and development of the other properties that were features of his father's trust estate and included large tracts of unfilled land in Whitman county, Washington, all of which the son brought under cultivation in the production of splendid crops [wheat was grown on large tracks near Colfax and Garfield]. While he has given much attention to raising wheat and other crops of
grain, Mr. Burrell has also engaged in the extensive growing of apples and pears [near Medford, Oregon. Which he later sold for one million dollars. It was the largest sale up to that time], not only in Oregon but also in the states of Washington and Idaho.
In 1895, Mr. Burrell was married to Miss Constance Montgomery, a daughter of James B. Montgomery, a prominent citizen of Portland, and they are now the parents of five children, Alden Frazar, Louise, Douglas Montgomery, Robert
Montgomery and Virginia.
Mr. Burrell is a republican in his political belief. He belongs to the Arlington Club, Commercial and Multnomah Clubs, and served under Mayor Henry Spoor Rowe on the board of public works of the city of Portland but has had no
ambition for office, preferring to devote his efforts to furthering the interests of Portland through its commercial bodies, and also to managing the extensive business interests, belonging to himself and associates, in the
control of which he displays marked ability and energy, regarding no detail as too unimportant to receive his attention and at the same time controlling the larger factors in his interests with notable assurance and power.
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Kind husband and father. Written by his wife.
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