Joseph Kellogg

Joseph Kellogg was a well-known steamboat captain and businessman of Portland, Oregon.

Early life Joseph Kellogg was born in Canada on June 12, 1812. His father Orrin Kellogg (September 4, 1790 – February 14, 1872) was born in St. Albans, Vermont, and his mother Margaret Miller Kellogg was Canadian. After the War of 1812, his family moved first to New York and then to Ohio. Kellogg was trained as a millwright.

In 1847 the Kellogg family crossed the plains to Oregon. They left Wood county, Ohio, November 24, 1847, with horse-drawn wagons. At Cincinnati, Ohio they shipped by steamer to St. Louis, and from there drove to St. Joseph, Missouri where they wintered. Kellogg, Whitcomb and Torrence loaded the schooner with provisions from the adjoining farms, took it to California, and there sold both vessel and cargo, and with the proceeds they bought the brig Forest, which they used in the lumber trade between Oregon and California. Lumber in Sacramento was at that time worth $200 for 1,000 board feet. The firm soon made money enough to purchase the bark Louisiana, which was fitted with engines and boilers and the complete outfit of a steamship.

Personal life Kellogg's son Charles H. Kellogg became a successful steamboat captain, but died before his father on August 7, 1889. Kellogg's other son Orrin lived much longer, and was also a successful captain. Kellogg died November 30, 1903, and is buried at the Greenwood Hills Cemetery, Portland, Oregon along with his wife Estella. Kellogg had a child, Harvey, who died in infancy. Kellogg lived to the age of 91, and at his death was the senior river pilot. Kellogg was also a prominent Mason.