John Franklin Calbreath (1854-1939) was a physician, farmer, Oregon State Senator, and superintendent of the Oregon State Insane Asylum. He was born in Weston, West Virginia, the son of a planter whose lands were ruined during the Civil War. In 1864 the family moved to Iowa, and the following year they traveled overland to Oregon, settling at first in Benton County. John remained in the area when his family moved to Eastern Oregon, and after starting a farm he began studying medicine in 1872. He married Irene Smith of Yamhill County in 1874, and the couple eventually had two daughters, Helen and Evelene.
After receiving his degree from Toland Medical College (later part of the University of California, San Francisco) in 1875, Calbreath entered a medical practice with a Dr. Littlefield in Lafayette, Oregon. In 1886 he moved to McMinnville and entered a partnership with Dr. E. E. Goucher. After a course of study in New York City in 1896, he returned to Oregon and moved to Salem in 1900, where he became the superintendent of the state insane asylum. Calbreath was active in Republican party politics and served in the Oregon State Senate in 1895 and 1897. He went to St. Louis in 1896 as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, supporting William McKinley for the presidency. He moved to Portland around 1910 and died there in 1939.
From the guide to the John F. Calbreath papers, 1839-1931, (Oregon Historical Society)
