{{short description|American pioneer and orchardist}} {{Infobox person |name = Joseph Hamilton Lambert |image = Josiah H. Lambert.png |image_size = 175px |alt = |caption = Lambert in his later years |birth_date = {{Birth date|1825|12|1}} |birth_place = Vigo County, Indiana |death_date = {{Death date and age|1909|11|12|1825|12|1}} |death_place = Portland, Oregon |death_cause = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> |citizenship = |known_for = Lambert cherry |alma_mater = |occupation = |title = |term = |predecessor = |successor = |party = |spouse = Clementine Miller |children = Albert W., Henry M., Carrie (Mrs. E. L. E. White), Mary (Mrs. A. B. Graham), Nellie, Elizabeth (Mrs. W. L. Wood), Lucy (Mrs. D. G. Woodard), and Grace<ref name=PDXHistory>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EPcUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA574 |pages= 574–579 |volume= 3 |year= 1911 |title= Portland, Oregon: Its history and builders: In connection with the antecedent explorations, discoveries, and movements of the pioneers that selected the site for the great city of the Pacific |author= Gaston, Joseph |publisher= S. J. Clark |location= Chicago |oclc= 1183569}}</ref><ref name=Hines>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_15234|title= An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon |author= Hines, H. K. |publisher= Lewis Pub. Co. |location= Chicago |year= 1893|isbn= 9780665152344 }}</ref> |parents = |relations = }} '''Joseph Hamilton Lambert''' (December 1, 1825 – November 12, 1909), was an American pioneer of Oregon and an orchardist who developed the Lambert cherry. A native of Indiana, he also served as a county commissioner in Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon.
==Early life== Lambert was born on December 1, 1825, in Vigo County, Indiana, a few miles northeast of Terre Haute.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He was raised on a farm by his parents, Hugh and Nancy (''née'' McClain) Lambert.<ref name=Oregon/> At the age of 20, Lambert left Indiana for Iowa, where he worked and went to school until 1849, when he headed west again.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He traveled on the Oregon Trail, arriving at the Philip Foster Farm at the end of the Barlow Road in Oregon Country on September 14, 1850.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He spent the winter in Salem.<ref name=PDXHistory/> In the spring of 1851, he traveled to Yreka, California, for the California Gold Rush, but he soon returned to Oregon's Willamette Valley, where he worked in a sawmill and for William Meek & Henderson Luelling in Milwaukie hauling logs.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Next he joined the surveying team of a Mr. Ives.<ref name=PDXHistory/><!--need to find out who Mr. Ives is. Valfontis--> He helped lay out the Willamette Meridian north from Portland to Puget Sound, and the Willamette Baseline, the first standard parallel in Oregon. He also surveyed a few tiers of townships, including Salem.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He returned to working in sawmills and as a log hauler until 1853, when he was again employed by Meek & Luelling, this time in their orchard business.<ref name=PDXHistory/> In 1854, Lambert married Clementine Miller and they took up a {{convert|320|acre|km2|adj=on}} Donation Land Claim in Powell Valley.<ref name=PDXHistory/>
==Orchardist== [[File:Cherries 38450lg.jpg|thumb|200px|Lambert cherries, from the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection]] Henderson's brother Seth Lewelling later bought out Henderson's share of the business. In 1859, Lambert and his father-in-law, Henry Miller, bought half of Meek's interest in Meek & Luelling's orchard.<ref name=PDXHistory/> The venture did not start out well, because of a drop in the price of apples and the poor yield from the formerly productive trees.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Lambert introduced new horticulture methods that in two years restored the health of the trees and again allowed them to produce "mammoth" crops of apples.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Lambert became the sole owner of the orchards, which are notable for being the first to produce cultivated fruit in Oregon.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Former owner Henderson Luelling later became a prominent orchardist in California.
===Lambert cherry=== Lambert developed what became known as the '''Lambert cherry''', by grafting a volunteer seedling, found in 1848 under a Napoleon cherry tree to the rootstock of a May Duke cherry.<ref name=PDXHistory/><ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofhar00hedr |page= [https://archive.org/details/cyclopediaofhar00hedr/page/146 146] |quote= J. H. Lambert cherry. |title= Cyclopedia of hardy fruits |publisher= Macmillan |author= Hedrick, U. P. |year= 1922}}</ref><ref name=Pom>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yV3XAAAAMAAJ&q=%22J.+H.+Lambert%22+cherry&pg=PA150 |title= Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Session of the American Pomological Society |year= 1895 |publisher= American Pomological Society |access-date= 2021-04-03 |archive-date= 2024-05-01 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240501065403/https://books.google.com/books?id=yV3XAAAAMAAJ&q=%22J.+H.+Lambert%22+cherry&pg=PA150#v=snippet&q=%22J.%20H.%20Lambert%22%20cherry&f=false |url-status= live }}</ref> The crown of the tree died in 1880 and a new tree grew from its roots that was not a May Duke, nor was it identical to the original seedling.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/plants.htm |title= Local Plant Makes Good:World-Class Plant Introductions from the Pacific Northwest |work= Pacific Northwest Garden History |access-date= 2009-11-10 |archive-date= 2008-05-11 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080511201825/http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/plants.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref> The resulting cherry was large, richly colored, flavorful, and had a small pit, and it immediately became popular.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Lambert introduced his cherry to the Oregon Horticultural Society in 1896 and it became one of the most important cherries grown in the early Oregon orchards, along with Royal Anns, Bings, and Black Republicans.<ref name=Pom/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.salemhistory.net/commerce/cherries.htm |title= The Cherry City |work= Salem Online History |publisher= Salem Public Library |access-date= 2009-11-10 |archive-date= 2007-08-11 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070811051110/http://www.salemhistory.net/commerce/cherries.htm |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name=Standard>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uZMDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22J.+H.+Lambert%22+cherry&pg=PA2283 |title= The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |year= 1916 |author= Bailey, Liberty Hyde |access-date= 2021-04-03 |archive-date= 2024-05-01 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240501065328/https://books.google.com/books?id=uZMDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22J.+H.+Lambert%22+cherry&pg=PA2283#v=snippet&q=%22J.%20H.%20Lambert%22%20cherry&f=false |url-status= live }}</ref> In 1916, it was called the "finest cherry grown in America".<ref name=Standard/>
==Other work== While living in Multnomah County in 1858, Lambert was elected to serve on the county commission.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He served as a Clackamas County Commissioner in 1864.<ref name=PDXHistory/>
In 1887, Lambert was a founding member of the Oregon Horticultural Society.<ref name=PDXHistory/> In 1890, he helped establish the Citizens Bank of Portland and became its president.<ref name=PDXHistory/> Lambert managed to keep the bank open during the financial Panic of 1893, when over 500 banks failed.<ref name=PDXHistory/> He also served as president of White Publishing Company.<ref name=Oregon>Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 140.</ref>
==Death and legacy== Joseph and Clementine Lambert had ten children, eight of whom survived into adulthood.<ref name=Hines/> Their two sons and six daughters included author Elizabeth Lambert Wood.<ref name=PDXHistory/><ref name=Oregon/> Clementine died in the early 1890s, and Joseph Lambert died in Portland, Oregon, on November 12, 1909, at the age of 83.<ref name=PDXHistory/><ref name=Oregon/>
J. H. Lambert is one of the 158 names of people who are notable in the early history of Oregon painted in the friezes of the House and Senate chambers of the Oregon State Capitol.<ref name=CN>{{cite book| last = Cogswell| first = Philip Jr. | title = Capitol Names: Individuals Woven Into Oregon's History| publisher = Oregon Historical Society| year = 1977| location = Portland, Oregon}}</ref> Lambert's name is in the House chamber. His former employer Seth Lewelling (formerly Luelling), developer of the Bing cherry, is so honored on the Senate side.<ref name=CN/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Joseph Hamilton}} Category:Multnomah County commissioners Category:People from Milwaukie, Oregon Category:Oregon pioneers Category:Agriculture in Oregon Category:People from Vigo County, Indiana Category:Bankers from Oregon Category:American horticulturists Category:1825 births Category:1909 deaths Category:American orchardists Category:Farmers from Oregon Category:19th-century American politicians Category:People who traveled the Oregon Trail Category:People from Oregon Territory