Vitus, Augustus J.F. Jr.

From Lane Co Oregon

AUGUSTUS J. F. VITUS JR.

Yet another of the sons who are helping to maintain a standard established by an earnest and capable pioneer is Augustus J. F. Vitus, Jr., the namesake of his sire, and in many respects the counterpart of the older man. Mention having been made elsewhere of the ambitious man who brought his family to Oregon in 1878, and who has given to his adopted state sons of whom she may well be proud, it is necessary only to say that in his home he enforced obedience, and reared his children to improve and use the faculties with which they had been endowed. Augustus J. F., Jr., was born near Springfield, Ill., August 8. 1867, and was therefore eleven years of age when he came to this state.

After coming to the west Mr. Vitus completed the education begun in the public schools of the middle west, and with his brothers and father conducted their large stock raising and milling business. He then identified himself with his brother, Robert, leaving his other brothers and father sole possessors of the former enterprise. The two brothers own about a thousand acres of land, six hundred of which are given up to grain cultivation, and the balance to stock and general farming. No more enterprising or successful young men are contributing to the upbuilding of this section, nor are any more enthusiastic in their praise of the state which has given them an assured income, as well as a pleasant home and genial friends. Mr. Vitus was happily married to Laura Westrope, the ceremony having taken place November 19, 1902. From her native Sonoma county, Cal., Mrs. Vitus seems to have brought a disposition and character tinged with the brightness and cheerfulness always expected of the daughters of California. This young couple are well educated and progressive, alert to the happenings in the outside world, and by no means confining themselves to the borders of their farm. Both are members and workers in the Baptist Church, and Mr. Vitus is a stanch Republican, although he is never troubled with official longings, and would in all probability refuse tendered offices. He has many friends in the neighborhood and county, and is destined to take an important part in the development of agriculture and stock-raising.

"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon." Chapman Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1122.

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