Lucien Heath

Lucien Heath was born on May 10, 1819, in the state of New York near Buffalo to a merchant father.[1] The family moved to Michigan when Heath was young where he farmed.[1] In 1849, he married there to Jane Edwards of Ohio, and they had two sons and a daughter.[1][2] In 1852, the family of Jane, Lucien, and son Henry (the daughter Lina had already died), moved to the Oregon Territory over the Oregon Trail.[1][2]

Heath and the family settled in Polk County in the Willamette Valley where he started a farm.[3] In 1854, he was appointed as the clerk of the territorial court.[1] He later became a trustee of the La Creole Academy that was started in 1856 in Dallas.[3] Heath then served as clerk of Polk County.[1] After Heath moved to Salem he became a merchant.[3] He also served as the recording secretary for the State Agricultural Society in Marion County where Salem is located.[4] In this position, Heath became the first financial secretary of the Oregon State Fair, held at Oregon City.[3]

In 1858, he was elected as a Democrat to serve as Secretary of State once Oregon was admitted to the Union.[5] Oregon became a state on February 14, 1859, with the news of acceptance arriving in Oregon weeks later. Heath took office on March 3, 1859, replacing outgoing territorial secretary Benjamin F. Harding.[5] He moved to Salem and served in office until leaving on September 8, 1862.[5] He also was mayor of Salem, the state capitol, in 1861.[6] He then served as the clerk to the Oregon Supreme Court from 1862 to 1864.[4] He served as a Republican legislator in the California State Assembly twice.[1] Heath was elected in November 1882 and re-elected in 1884 to represent district 50.[7]

In 1866, Heath moved south to Santa Cruz County, California, where he continued to farm.[1] He also was a hardware merchant and then president of the Santa Cruz County Bank.[1] The hardware store was on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz and partly owned by John Byrne.[2] Later he entered the real estate business as a partner with Samuel Drennan.[1]

Heath died on December 19, 1888, at the age of 69 while on a trip to the East Coast and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Santa Cruz.[1][2] Heath’s brother Albert was a captain for the Union Army during the American Civil War, and son Frank was a landscape artist while the other son Henry followed in his father’s footsteps as a merchant.[2]

• Portrait of Heath – Oregon State Library