Theodore Thurston Geer

Theodore Thurston Geer (March 12, 1851 – February 21, 1924) was the tenth governor of Oregon (the first born in the territory of the state), serving from January 9, 1899, to January 14, 1903. The Republican politician was in office when the legislature adopted the "Oregon System", Oregon's system of initiative and referendum. He also served in the Oregon House of Representatives, including time as its Speaker.

Biography Early life

Theodore Geer was born on March 12, 1851, in the Waldo Hills east of Salem, in what was then the Oregon Territory. His parents, Heman Johnson Geer and the former Cynthia Ann Eoff, separated when Theodore was 14 years old. Geer was educated in the Salem schools and at Willamette University in Salem. He returned to the House in 1889, serving through the 1893 legislative session, and serving as Speaker of the House in 1891. He served as a Presidential Elector in 1897. A Republican governor, he served one term from January 9, 1899, until January 14, 1903. Governor Geer regularly bicycled from his home in Macleay to the Capitol.

Final years

After leaving political office, he worked as the editor of the Oregon Statesman newspaper from 1903 to 1905, and then owned the Pendleton Tribune from 1905 until 1908. The farm, known today as GeerCrest (formerly Vesper Geer Rose Ranch), is now run as a teaching farm. The farm is also known as the childhood home of Silverton political cartoonist Homer Davenport, whose mother, Florinda, was a member of the Geer family.

GeerCrest is the location of a large black cottonwood tree, known as the "Riding Whip Tree", which grew from a stick used as a horseback-riding whip and later pushed into the ground by 15-year-old Florinda Geer in 1854. It is listed as an Oregon Heritage Tree. Geer Community Park in Salem is also named for the Geer family, and is located near a former section of the Geer Branch that was abandoned and later decommissioned.

Footnotes

Works

Fifty Years in Oregon. New York: Neal Publishing Co., 1912.