| Life Story
|
Charles Pleasant Bishop in partnership with his father-in-law Thomas Lister Kay and Squire Farrar, founded the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in 1889. The mill began operation March 1890. The following year he purchased the Salem Woolen Mill Store, an outlet for the sale of woolen goods produced at the mill, and men’s clothing.
Charles P. Bishop was born 23 Sep 1854 in Contra Costa, California. He was the oldest child of Reverend William R. and Elizabeth Jane [Adams] Bishop. The family came to the Lebanon, Oregon area in 1856 and then moved to Brownsville, Oregon in 1861. The Reverend William was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and schoolteacher whose duties required him to be away from home much of the time. As the eldest of the family, Charles or C.P. as he later preferred, naturally assumed many of the responsibilities of the family.
He stayed on the farm until the age of 20, when in October 1874 he took a position as clerk in the store of Kirk & Hume in Brownsville. After two years he moved to the Brownsville Woolen Mill store. While in Brownsville he met and married Martha Ann “Fannie” Kay. They married on 8 Oct 1876; the perfect marriage of textile manufacturing (Fannie) and merchandising (C.P.) for Fannie had grown up assisting her father at the Brownsville Mill and knew the business inside and out. They would become the parents of three boys: Clarence Morton, Royal Thomas, and Robert Chauncey.
In 1882 C.P. purchased a store in Crawfordsville with partner Robert Glass. After two years he sold his interest to Glass and moved his family to McMinnville where he opened a clothing store with his brother-in-law Thomas B. Kay. Then in 1889 an opportunity arose to partner with his father-in-law Thomas Lister Kay to build a woolen mill in Salem, Oregon. C.P. joined his father-in-law as a founder/director along with local Salem businessman Squire Farrar. The mill opened at full operation in March 1890. It became a family enterprise with Fannie assisting her father in the day-to-day business of mill operation, their three boys working in the mill first as bobbin boys, then rotating between each department to learn all the aspects of the business. C.P. turned his attention to the marketing and retail sale of the fabric and blankets produced by the mill. To this end, in 1891 he purchased the Salem Woolen Mills store, an outlet for mill products and men’s clothing.
In the spring of 1900, events began to take place that would shape the family business and future, beginning with the death of Fannie’s father, woolen mill owner Thomas Lister Kay. Despite the years Fannie had spent at her father’s side running the mill, her brother Thomas B. Kay was chosen and elected president and general manager. Shortly thereafter C.P. resigned as a director in the business, though he and Fannie continued to hold stock in the mill. They maintained ownership and management of the Salem Woolen Mills store but changed the name to Bishops.
In 1908 the Bishop family began negotiations for the purchase and revitalization of a mill near Pendleton, Oregon. It was a good business opportunity for their enterprising sons, a guaranteed future supply of woolen goods for their rapidly growing retail outlets, and the chance to build a family legacy that had been denied them at TKWM. After the transaction was completed on 16 February 1909 and the mill incorporated under their ownership, the two oldest boys Clarence and Roy moved to Eastern Oregon to manage the project. Chauncey, the youngest remained in Salem to help his father run their retail business.
Of interest to note during this period of Bishop family history, is the parallel rise of C.P.’s political career. He served as the mayor of Salem for three consecutive terms (1889-1905) and later two terms in the Oregon legislature. Both C.P. and Fannie were staunch Republicans, members of the Presbyterian Church and active in local civic organizations. In the 1920s they purchased a beautiful home at 765 Court St. which would later be willed to Willamette University for use as a president’s residence.
C.P. Bishop died 18 Nov 1941 in Salem, the result of burns suffered when he fell into a tub of water he was drawing for a bath. He was buried in City View Cemetery with son Chauncey who was killed in a hunting accident fifteen years prior. Fannie survived her husband by three years. She died 31 Dec 1944 in Salem. The couple’s business legacy continued under the leadership of their surviving sons Clarence & Roy. |
| Salem City Directories |
1893 Bishop Charles P, prop Salem Woolen Mills Store, 299 Commercial, res Cottage s e cor Chemeketa
1905 Bishop Charles P, prop Salem Woolen Mills Store, r 302 Church
1909 Bishop Charles P, propr Salem Woolen Mill Store, res 425 N Liberty
1913 Bishop Charles P (Fannie) propr Salem Woolen Mills Store, res 340 N Liberty
1915 Bishop Charles P (Fannie), propr Salem Woolen Mills Store, res 340 N Liberty
1917 Bishop C P (Fannie), Salem Woolen Mills Store, res 340 N Liberty
1921 Bishop Charles P (Fannie), prop Salem Woolen Mills Store, h 340 N Liberty
1924 Bishop Charles P (Fannie), prop Salem Woolen Mills Store, h 340 N Liberty
1926-27 Bishop Chas P (Fannie K), Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store, h 765 Court
1930-31 Bishop Charles P (Fannie K), Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store, h 765 Court
1932 Bishop Charles P (Fannie K), Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store, h 765 Court
1934 Bishop Charles P (Fannie K), Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store, h 765 Court
1935 Bishop Charles P (Fannie K), pres Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store Inc, h 765 Court
1940-41 Bishop Charles P (Fannie K), pres Bishop’s Clothing & Woolen Mills Store Inc, h 765 Court |
| Federal / County Census Records |
1870 Charles Bishop. Age: 16. Birth: abt 1854 in California. Single, son to HOH. Address in 1870: Brush Creek Precinct, Linn, OR. PO: Brownsville. Occupation: Farm Laborer. Additional household members: William Bishop, age 43 (father). Elizabeth Bishop, age 33 (mother). Mary Bishop, age 14 (sister). Jay A. Bishop, age 12 (brother). Clara Lee Bishop, age 9 (sister). Saunders E. Bishop, age 7 (brother). Effie Bishop.
1880 Chas. P. Bishop. Age: 25. Birth: abt 1855 in California. Married, HOH. Address in 1880: Crawfordsville, Linn, OR. Occupation: Merchant. Additional household members: Fannie Bishop, age 22 (wife). Clarence M. Bishop, age 2 (son).
1895 Marion County, OR Census. Charles Bishop. Age: 40. Birth: abt 1855 in California. Residence: Salem, Marion, OR. Religion: Protestant. Occupation: Merchant.
1900 Charles P. Bishop. Age: 45. Birth: Sep 1854 in California. Married, HOH. Address in 1900: 350 Capitol St. Salem Ward 2, Marion, OR. Marriage year: 1876. Years married: 24. Occupation: Clothing Merchant. Additional household members: Fannie E. Bishop, age 42 (wife). Royal T. Bishop, age 19 (son). Chauncy Bishop, age 17 (son). Carrie Munson, age 20 (servant).
1905 Marion County, OR Census. C.P. Bishop. Age: 50. Birthplace: Missouri [incorrect]. Residence: Salem, Marion, OR. Occupation: Merchant.
1910 Charles P. Bishop. Age: 55. Birth: 1855 in California. Married, HOH. Address in 1910: Main St. Pendleton Ward 2, Umatilla, OR. Occupation: Merchant. Industry: Clothing. Additional household members: Fannie Bishop, age 52 (wife). Clarence M. Bishop, age 32 (son). Roy T. Bishop, age 29 (son). Ethel M. Horn, age 14 (servant).
1920 Chas. P. Bishop. Age: 65. Birth: abt 1855 in California. Married, HOH. Address in 1920: 340 Liberty St. Salem Ward 2, Marion, OR. Married, HOH. Occupation: Retail Merchant. Industry: Woolen Mills. Additional household members: Fannie Bishop, age 62 (wife). Clara Starr, age 58 (sister), Jennie E. Davis, age 59 (servant).
1930 Charles P. Bishop. Age: 75. Birth: abt 1855 in Colorado [s/b California]. Married, HOH. Address in 1930: 765 Court St. Salem, Marion, OR. Age at first marriage: 23. Occupation: Merchant. Industry: Men’s Clothing. Additional household members: Fanny K. Bishop, age 72 (wife). Rachel A. Patton, 66 (maid). Mariano V. Ramos, age 28 (gardener). Edna Garfield, age 54 (roomer). Elizabeth Bishop, age 18 (roomer).
1940 Charles P. Bishop. Age: 84. Birth: abt 1867 in California. Married, HOH. Address in 1930: 765 Court St. Salem, Marion, OR. Occupation: Proprietor. Additional household members: Fannie Bishop, age 81 (wife). Florence B. Coe, age 51 (niece). Beulah Miller, age 59 (servant). Rodney Meyers, age 27 (chauffeur). |
| Additional References |
History of the Columbia River Valley from The Dalles to the Sea, Fred Lockley, Chicago, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. Vol. III, p. 717-718.
History of Oregon, Charles Henry Carey, Chicago, The Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., 1922. Vol. II, p. 503-504.
Later Woolen Mills in Oregon, Alfred L. Lomax, Portland, Binfords & Mort, 1974. P. 103-139, 273-301.
Bishop Clothing and Woolen Mill Store, Willamette Heritage Center, https://www.willametteheritage.org/bishop-clothing-and-woolen-mill-store/ |
