Alonzo Gesner

Alonzo Gesner (March 2, 1842 – March 6, 1912) was an American land surveyor, Indian agent, and politician in the state of Oregon. A native of Illinois, he immigrated as a boy to the Oregon Country with his family where he became a deputy surveyor for the United States government. A Republican, he also was appointed as an Indian agent to the Warm Springs Reservation and later was a member of the Oregon State Senate.

Early life Alonzo Gesner was born in Coles County, Illinois, to Reuben A. Gesner and his wife Mary V. Bailey on March 2, 1842. His father was a native New Yorker who moved to Illinois in 1834 where he married Bailey of Kentucky.

Career Gesner left teaching after a single year to pursue manual labor and spent a year chopping firewood to enable him to buy a farm near his parents' property.

Public service In 1872, when he started surveying land he was elected as Marion County's surveyor. Serving a four-year term, he represented District 4 that included both Clackamas and Marion counties. Gesner was in both the 1895 and 1897 sessions of the legislature, with the 1897 session fruitless as the Oregon House of Representatives failed to organize.

Later years and family Gesner had three children with his wife Rhoda; Leroy, Rhoda and Stella. Both a brother and nephew also worked as surveyors.