Background
Henry Winslow Corbett, the son of Elijah and Melinda (Forbush) Corbett, was descended from seventeenth-century English settlers of Massachusetts. He was born on February 18, 1827 at Westboro, Massachusetts, United States.
banker merchant politician railroad promoter
Henry Winslow Corbett, the son of Elijah and Melinda (Forbush) Corbett, was descended from seventeenth-century English settlers of Massachusetts. He was born on February 18, 1827 at Westboro, Massachusetts, United States.
Corbett spent his boyhood on a farm in Washington County, New York, where he enjoyed the advantage of a common school. He then attended an academy at Cambridge, New York, during parts of two years, at the same time working in a store. Later he received a few months more of formal schooling and another year of apprenticeship in the mercantile line.
In 1843 Сorbett entered the dry-goods establishment of Williams, Bradford & Company in New York City, remaining until 1850. During his seven years’ service he so completely won the confidence of his employers that they were prepared to fit him out with an extensive line of merchandise for the far West, and in October 1850 he sailed “round the Horn, ” arriving, March 4, 1851, in Portland, Oregon, then a small river town of some four hundred inhabitants. The venture proved highly successful and made the beginning of Corbett’s business career in Oregon which was to continue for more than half a century. In company with Henry Failing, he established a large wholesale hardware business, and also secured control of the First National Bank of Portland. He promoted the building and operation of river steamboats; he assumed important responsibility in the work of completing the Northern Pacific Railroad; he was deeply interested in the Oregon-California Railroad; he was, for a time, the contractor for carrying the United States mail between Sacramento, California, and Oregon.
He was a great builder, having at the time of his death more structures to his credit in Portland than any one else. He was always ready to invest in worthy business enterprises in his home city and finally, as a crowning service to Portland and the Pacific Northwest, he took the lead in working out plans for the Lewis and Clark Exposition to which he also contributed a large sum of money. He was first president of the exposition but died before the work was completed.
Corbett was always interested in politics, transferring his allegiance early from the Whig to the Republican party, and taking a prominent part in insuring the triumph of Republicanism in Oregon. In 1862 he was urged to become a candidate for governor but refused. In 1866 the legislature, in order to break a deadlock, elected Corbett to the United States Senate where he served a single term, from March 4, 18C7, to March 4, 1873.
He was a member of the Committee on Finance, of which John Sherman was chairman, and his work centered in that committee’s activities. The records show that Corbett spoke almost exclusively on financial questions, such as resumption, the repeal of the tax on raw cotton, and the tariff. His speeches were always informal, usually brief, but often crammed with statistics. It cannot be said that he exhibited remarkable qualities as a debater, a tactician, or parliamentary leader. His forte was business rather than statesmanship; he had the gifts of the executive, not those of the legislator.
Corbett was a Whig and follower of Henry Clay but when the Republican Party was founded on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, he was one of its early and enthusiastic supporters.
Corbett was a man of extraordinary personal force. He was of conservative temper, and of rare business acumen.
Corbett was married twice: in 1853 to Caroline E. Jagger of Albany, New York, and in 1867 to Emma L. Ruggles of Worcester, Massachusetts.
