Theodore Geer was born on March 12, 1851, in the Waldo Hills east of Salem, in what was then the Oregon Territory.

[2] His parents, Heman Johnson Geer and the former Cynthia Ann Eoff, separated when Theodore was 14 years old.

[2] While living in Eastern Oregon, Geer wrote letters to the Blue Mountain Times newspaper.

[2] Theodore Geer was elected as the 10th Governor of Oregon in 1898 to replace William Paine Lord,[1] defeating Democrat and Populist party nominee W. R.

[9][10] After leaving political office, he worked as the editor of the Oregon Statesman newspaper from 1903 to 1905, and then owned the Pendleton Tribune from 1905 until 1908.

[2] There are several places in Marion County named for the Geer family, who settled in the Waldo Hills and on Howell Prairie.

[13] The farm is also known as the childhood home of Silverton political cartoonist Homer Davenport, whose mother, Florinda, was a member of the Geer family.