Ralph Carey Geer

Ralph Carey Geer (March 13, 1816 – January 9, 1895) was an American farmer and politician in what became the state of Oregon. A native of Connecticut, he lived in Ohio and Illinois before taking the Oregon Trail west to Oregon where he started a nursery and later raised livestock and grew flax. At times a Republican and later a Democrat, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives and as the clerk for the county. He was related to both Homer Davenport and T. T. Geer.

Early life Ralph C. Geer was born to Joseph Carey Geer, Sr. and Mary Johnson Geer on March 13, 1816, in Willimantic, Connecticut, a former city now located in the town of Windham in Windham County, Connecticut. The family moved to Madison County, Ohio, when he was still a boy. On January 8, 1837, he married Mary Catherine Willard in London, Ohio, and later moved to Farmington in Knox County, Illinois. The couple had six children in all with two of them born in Oregon. Mary Geer was born September 8, 1851, and the youngest of them Angeline, was born on October 8, 1853, dying at two and half years of age on March 23, 1856. Geer spent time as a teacher, imported English sheep to Oregon in 1858, and was a pioneer of flax growing in the Willamette Valley.

Political career In 1854, he was elected to the Oregon Territorial Legislature to represent Marion County. He served during the 1854 to 1855 session in the lower House of Representatives. In July 1868 he was elected Clerk of Marion County and served a single twoyear term, leaving office in June 1870.

Later years and family Ralph Geer was the uncle of Oregon Governor Theodore Thurston Geer. He was also the grandfather of political cartoonist Homer Davenport. Geer's house, still located on his original Donation Land Claim is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the R. C. Geer Farmhouse.