Lewis Linn McArthur

Lewis McArthur was born on March 18, 1843, in Portsmouth, Virginia.[1] His father was a US naval officer and hydrologist, Lieutenant Commander William Pope McArthur, and his mother was Mary Stone (Young) McArthur.[2] McArthur's father died at sea in 1850 while returning from a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey mission to survey the Oregon Coast.[2] His father was the nephew of Missouri Senator Lewis F. Linn.[3] Lewis McArthur grew up in Portsmouth and Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but did not graduate.[2] He transferred and completed his degree at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.[1] In Rhode Island he passed the bar in 1864; he moved to Oregon to set up a practice in the developing state.[1]

Once in Oregon, Mcarthur began working for various newspapers in Eastern Oregon before founding the Bedrock Democrat in 1870 at Baker City.[1] He was the first city recorder for Umatilla, Oregon, after its incorporation.[2] During this time, McArthur conducted some mining and also practiced law.[1]

In 1870, McArthur won election to the Oregon Supreme Court.[4] He was re-elected in 1876 to the state’s high court, but the term ended in 1878. That year the legislature reduced the number of sitting justices from five to three.[4] Prior to 1878, Supreme Court justices rode circuit and sat on the Supreme Court bench.[4] In 1878, the legislature split off the circuit court, and Supreme Court justices were given separate responsibilities.[4]

McArthur returned to the bench as a circuit court judge in 1883, serving until 1886.[1] In 1886, he was appointed as the United States Attorney for the state of Oregon, serving until 1890.[1]

McArthur married Harriet K. Nesmith in 1878.[1] Harriet was the daughter of Oregon Senator James W. Nesmith.[2] They had two sons, Clifton Nesmith McArthur and Lewis A. McArthur.[2] From 1890 until his death, Lewis Linn McArthur practiced law in Portland, Oregon.[1] He died in Portland on May 10, 1897.[2]

Clifton McArthur became an attorney and a politician, being elected to the US Congress from Oregon. He was the namesake for McArthur Court at the University of Oregon.[2] Lewis A. McArthur started the Oregon Geographic Names series.