William Packwood

William Henderson Packwood (October 23, 1832 – September 21, 1917) was an American politician who served at the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. A United States Army veteran from the state of Illinois, he was also a school superintendent and acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early resident of Baker City in Eastern Oregon.

Early life William Packwood was born near the community of Mount Vernon, Illinois, to Larkin Canada Packwood and Elizabeth Cathcart on October 23, 1832. Packwood received two years of formal education and later moved to Springfield, Illinois where he knew future United States President Abraham Lincoln.

In 1855, Packwood served as captain of the Coquille Guards during the Rogue River Wars against Native Americans in Southern Oregon. He was the youngest of the delegates at the convention.

Packwood then moved east of the Cascade Mountains to Eastern Oregon where he was involved with establishing the town of Auburn in 1862. There he served as the first school superintendent of Baker County in 1862. In that town he and his family built and operated a boarding house until 1867. William Henderson Packwood died on September 21, 1917, in Baker City with interment at Mount Hope Cemetery. He was the last living member of the constitutional convention at his death.