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Note: H00076
Note: Bill was only 12 yrs old when his father died. With 5 mouths to feed, his mother couldn't manage without help so Bill assumed the responsibilities of the father, running the farm and getting the brother's educated. Big Bill (as he was known by family) rode the train to the end of the line with his brothers when he was about 16yrs old. They ended up in North Dakota and set up housekeeping. Bill worked supporting all his brothers through college to become doctors & lawyers and eventually ended up in banking. Through his banking in Tagus, ND he acquired the BB Ranch in 1915. When Rose Hooley was sent to the town as a teacher, Bill was the next up to marry the teacher so he got her. Rose & Bill ran the BB Ranch and had Mary Margaret, Margaret, Jeri, and Pat. Bill entered the Army Aviation Forces during WWI. He was sent to the Northwest to scout out Spruce trees to be used for aircraft for the war effort. He left the service as a Major. After seeing the Northwest during his service, Bill wrote home telling all his family to move to Oregon because the plants grew as big as the seed catalogues pictured. He went home from the war effort and packed up Rose and the girls and moved to Portland, Oregon. They spent some time camping in the Blue Mountains before they got to Portland because the girls told stories about life in the camp. Bill got into lumber brokering and lumber insurance while in Oregon and Eileen and Mary were born here. During the Depression, Bill was responsible for the survival of several of the major hotels in Portland. Around 1940 he built the Uptown Shopping Center (which was the first mall built West of the Mississippi with parking visable from the street) which he owned until 1950. Bill was an avid sportsman catching many record game specimans all over the West as well in Mexico.
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