Sylvester Pennoyer

Sylvester Pennoyer was born in Groton, New York, on July 6, 1831. His parents were the former Elizabeth Howland and Justus P. Pennoyer, a New York state legislator and a wealthy farmer. Mitchell sued and received a default judgment against Neff, with Neff's property sold at auction to pay the bill. Pennoyer purchased the land from Mitchell, who had purchased the land at the sheriff's auction, and later Neff became aware of the forced sale. Neff then sued Pennoyer to regain the property in a case that became the U.S. Supreme Court case of Pennoyer v. Neff that defined legal jurisdiction for citizens residing in different states. At the trial, federal judge and Pennoyer adversary Matthew Deady ruled in favor of Neff, with the Supreme Court affirming the decision in 1877. Pennoyer was compelled to give the land back to Neff, and the property became a part of the Willamette Heights neighborhood in later years. ==Political career==

Pennoyer was a Democrat most of his political career, but became a Populist in the early 1890s. In 1885 he ran for mayor of Portland, but lost to John Gates, partly due to his record of sympathy for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was re-elected in 1890 and served in the office until his second term ended on January 14, 1895. He refused to leave his office to meet Harrison at the state border. When Harrison came to Salem, Pennoyer kept him waiting in the train station (in the rain) and arrived 10 minutes late. That year the Oregon Legislative Assembly created the Oregon Attorney General office, and Pennoyer appointed George Earle Chamberlain to that post. Pennoyer refused another request from Cleveland, who asked him to intervene when a group of unemployed workers, part of "Coxey's Army", hijacked a train to travel east and join a mass march on Washington, D.C. Pennoyer stated, "let Cleveland's' army take care of Coxey's army." His term as governor ended on January 14, 1895. Previously, while governor, he had opposed the Bull Run Water Project, and at one point he vetoed a request for a $500,000 bond to finance its construction, claiming the water, because it originated in glaciers, would "cause goiter to the fair sex of Portland." The legislature came within one vote of overriding this veto, but it stood, and Judge Matthew Deady—who had drafted it—was so put out that he called the governor "Sylpester Annoyer." Ironically, during Pennoyer's term as mayor it fell to him to take the ceremonial first sip at the new water system's dedication ceremony. He took his drink of Bull Run water, set the goblet down and said, "No flavor. No body. Give me the old Willamette." He was the second mayor to sit in the new City Hall that was completed in 1895. Pennoyer described the building as "expensive, unseemly and unhealthful." He served as mayor until June 1898 when his successor W. S. Mason took office. ==Death and legacy==

Pennoyer donated land to Portland to serve as a park, originally known as Pennoyer Park and now known as Governor's Park. ==References==