USA > Washington > King County > Seattle > A volume of memoirs and genealogy of representative citizens of the city of Seattle and county of King, Washington, including biographies of many of those who have passed away > Part 14
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Mr. LaFarge was born in Rhode Island, on the 10th of July, 1869, and is of French and English ancestry, who were among the early settlers of Massachusetts and were active participants in all the early history of the country. His paternal grandfather. John LaFarge, was born in France, but in 1806 eimgrated to the new world, taking up his abode in New York city, where he became well and prominently known as a merchant and banker. His death occurred in that city at the age of seventy-five years. His son,
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John LaFarge, claimed the Empire city as the place of his nativity and he became an eminent artist, standing at the head of the profession in America. His brother, Alphonse LaFarge, served as colonel of a New York regiment of volunteers during the Civil war. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Margaret Perry, and she is a native of Newport, Rhode Island. Her ancestors came to America as early as 1634, and her great-grandfather, Chris- topher Raymond Perry, was an active participant in the colonial struggle for independence. She is a granddaughter of Commodore Perry, of the United States navy, whose fame goes down in history as the hero of Perry's victory, while her granduncle. Commodore Matthew C. Perry, opened by treaty the ports of Japan to this country. Mr. and Mrs. John LaFarge, the parents of our subject, are still living in New York city, the father having attained the age of sixty-five years, while the mother is sixty-one. He has the honor of being president of the Academy of Designe and is an officer in the Legion of Honor, of France. They became the parents of nine children, seven of whom are still living.
Oliver H. P. LaFarge, the immediate subject of this review, is a grad- uate of the School of Mines of Columbia University, of New York, of the class of 1891, and, and after completing his studies he engaged in the profession of engineering, in the employ of the Metropolitan Street Rail- way Company, of New York city, and expert on fire proof construc- tion for the New York Fire Underwriters' Tariff Association. In 1898 he made a business trip to Alaska, during which he visited Seattle, and be- coming convinced of the great future which lay before this city he decided to make it his future place of abode. In 1900 the present firm of Bond & LaFarge was organized for the purpose of doing a general real-estate and insurance business. They have made many investments in both city and coun- try property, and this enterprising firm now occupy a leading position in the business circles of Seattle. Mr. LaFarge is a man of business capacity and resourceful ability, his resolute purpose and keen discrimination enabling him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and he has gained for himself an enviable reputation in social and business cir- cles. He is a Republican in his political preferences.
FRANCIS M. GUYE.
From an early period Francis M. Guye has been identified with the history of the Pacific coast, being a pioneer of California, Oregon and Wash- ington, and he has done efficient service in developing the mineral resources
FRANCIS M. GUYE
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of this commonwealth. His birth occurred in Greene county, Indiana, on the 7th of January, 1833, and he is of Scotch and English descent. His ancestors were among the early settlers of Virginia and Tennessee, and were active participants in the early history of the colonies and in the Revolutionary war. Samuel Guye, the father of our subject, was born in Tennessee, and was there married to Miss Susanna Bidwell, a native of Virginia and a member of a prominent old family of that state. The mother was called to her final rest at the comparatively early age of forty years, and Mr. Guye was a second time married, becoming the father of ten children, five sons and five daughters, of whom but three of the sons and one daughter sur- vive. He reached the psalmist's limit of three score and ten.
Francis M. Guye, the only representative of the family on the Pacific coast, was reared to years of maturity on the farms which his father owned in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, and in the public schools of the three states he received his education, attending school during the winter months, while in the summer seasons he assisted his father in the work of the fields. Re- maining at home until his twentieth year he crossed the plains to California in 1853, his party consisting of about a dozen people, and in order to defray the expenses of the trip hie drove a large herd of cattle. At that time the trail was lined with emigrants as far as the eye could see, and they made a safe journey, arriving at Hangtown, now Placerville, California, in Sep- tember, 1853. For a time after his arrival there he received sixty-five dol- lars a month and his board in compensation for his services, but he left his money with the firm by whom he was employed and on account of their fail- ure he lost his entire earnings. For some time afterward he was profitably engaged in freighting from Sacramento to the mines and was also engaged in placer mining. In 1858 he went to the Frazier river gold fields, but his mining venture there was not crowned with success, and after a year thus spent he came to Seattle, arriving here in June, 1859. For a short time thereafter he worked on the military road then being constructed to Belling- ham Bay, after which he was successfully engaged for a number of years in lumbering. cutting, selling and delivering logs at Salmon Bay. The money which he thus made was invested in Seattle property, on Yesler way. Com- mercial street and Washington avenue, and he also built several bridges at these places, but when the great fire of 1889 swept over the city he was a heavy loser. Since that time Mr. Guye has devoted the greater part of his time and attention to prospecting, and has discovered large quantities of iron and coal. He has developed much mining property in different parts of the state, and is now the owner of one thousand acres of valuable mining
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land. Among his rich mines is the Industry, located on Guy's Mountain, at the head of the south fork of the Snoqualmie river. near Snoqualmie Pass, in the Cascade mountains, which covers an area of two hundred and forty acres and contains bodies of magnetic iron ore from fifty to one hundred feet in depth. On the same property is found large quantities of white and mottled marble of great beauty and value. His Bessemer mine, on the middle and north forks of the Snoqualmie river, covers an area of one hundred and sixty acres and contains large deposits of the very best magnetic and red hematite iron ore. At the Bald Hornet mine he owns sixty acres of land, on which is located rich deposits of gold and silver, and this property is located in the vicinity of the Bessemer mine. His Washington coal mine, in the Squak mountains, about eighteen miles southeast of Seattle, extends over an area of six hundred and forty acres and contains large deposits of semi- anthracite, cannel and bituminous coal. In the development of these prop- erties he has discovered several veins from three to nine feet in thickness and extending to a great depth, at an angle of forty degrees. Mr. Guye has made a close study of geology and mineralogy, and his opinions are considered as authority on the subject.
In the year 1872 Mr. Guye was happily married to Mrs. Eliza (Dunn) Plympton. She is a native of Maine and a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Jor- don ) Dunn, of Oxford, Oxford county, that state, and of Scotch and English descent. Her grandfather, Joshua Dunn, arrived in America at the com- mencement of the Revolutionary war, and although but eighteen years of age he joined the colonial forces and espoused the cause of the colonies. He lived to the age of seventy-eight years. Josiah Dunn removed to Massachusetts in 1840, and died in Maine at the age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Guye was first married in Boston, when a young girl, to Josiah Ingalls Plympton, by whom she had four children, two sons and two daughters, but only one of the number, Charles Edward Plympton, is living. He was reared by Mr. Guye, and still lives in Seattle. During the Civil war Mr. Plympton en- tered the Union service as a captain, but on account of meritorious service on the field of battle he was soon promoted to the rank of colonel and was soon to have been made a general. He had expected to return home on a furlough in a few days, when with his regiment he was ordered into battle at Deep Bottom, and in that engagement, on the 16th of August. 1864, while in command of his regiment, he laid down his life on the altar of his country. Ile was a brave and loyal soldier, and his loss was deeply felt by his little family and friends. Mrs. Guye is a lady of culture and refinement, and she, too, has made a close study of minerals. When sixty years of age
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she took the Chautauqua course of study with a large class of ministers and teachers. and at the close of the course she stood at the head of the class, with an average of ninety-five in each study. She has a large and well assorted library, and spends many happy hours among her books. Mr. Guye is a life- long Republican, and, although at all times a public-spirited and progressive citizen, he has never been an aspirant for political preferment, preferring io give his entire attention to his business interests. He is an enthusiast on the mineral wealth of the state, and during the World's Fair at Chicago lie shipped at his own expense three thousand pounds of mineral exhibits, in- cluding marble, iron, coal, fine clay and moulding sand, to the Exposition. Mr. and Mrs. Guye reside in a pleasant home at No. 1627 17th avenue, south, where they extend a gracious hospitality to their many friends.
SYLVESTER B. HICKS.
As one of the representative business men of the city of Seattle, where he has maintained his home for nearly a decade and a half, contributing in no small measure to its development and material prosperity through his well directed enterprise and public spirit, and as one whose ancestral record be- speaks long and prominent identification with the annals of American his- tory, there are many points which render particularly consonant a specific and prominent mention of Mr. Hicks in this compilation, and it is a work of satisfaction to thus perpetuate a record of worthy and useful life.
Mr. Hicks was born on a farm near the city of Rochester. in Monroe county, New York, on the 18th of June, 1846, and is a descendant of dis- tinguished English stock, the ancestry being traced back in direct line, from records still extant, to Sir Ellis Hicks and to the date of September 9, 1356. This ancestor was knighted by Edward, the "Black Prince." of England, for great bravery and gallantry displayed in capturing the colors of the French in the battle of Poictiers. His lineal descendant, and the progenitor of the American, sailed from England in the good ship "Fortune" and landed at Plymouth, in the Massachusetts colony, on the IIth of November. 1621. one year after the arrival of the "Mayflower." Our subject's ancestors in the direct line continued to reside in the state of Massachusetts until his great-grandfather. Samuel Hicks, removed to Parma, Monroe county, New York, becoming one of the pioneers of that section. His son and namesake, Samuel, Jr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, had located in that county about two years previous to the arrival of his father and had the distinction of being the first white settler in Monroe county, and two years
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elapsed before any other white person made settlement there. Samuel Hicks, Sr., was a valiant soldier of the Continental line during the war of the Rev- olution, and the same intrinsic loyalty was manifested by his son Samuel, who was an active participant in the war of 1812, in which he held the im- portant office of commissary. His grandson, to whom this sketch is dedi- cated, has in his possession the gun carried by this honored patriot, together with a pewter plate which had been used in his household, while he also owns eighty-nine acres of the extensive farm on which his grandfather re- sided for so many years and which was owned by him during the long period of his residence in Monroe county, New York, where he became one of the prominent and influential farmers of the state. He departed this life in 1849, at the age of sixty-nine years. In his early life, amid the pioneer wilds of that section of the state of New York, he devoted his attention largely to hunting and trapping, and later he reclaimed the farm previously mentioned and placed it under effective cultivation. His wife, whose maiden name was Sherwood, was likewise of English lineage, and the second white woman to cross the Genesee river, the first having been Aneka Janes, and the two were well acquainted. She attained the age of eighty-four years. Grandfather Hicks left his fine farm to his two youngest sons, and in course of time their affairs became involved and the property passed out of their hands, with the exception of eighty-nine acres which was bequeathed to an aunt of our sub- ject, this, too, being incumbered. In 1899 Sylvester B. Hicks, our subject, purchased this portion of the old farm and cleared off the obligations, and he finds satisfaction in there providing a home for his venerable aunt, to whom the property had been given, but who had no means of freeing the place from the mortgage resting upon it. The property near the city of Rochester, which had been purchased by Grandfather Hicks for seven York shillings per acre, is likewise still owned by members of the family.
John Hicks, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born on the old homestead farm in Monroe county, New York, in the year 1811, and was there reared to maturity. He married Miss Elsie Olmsted, who was born at Burnt Hill, Saratoga county, New York, in 1813. and they became the parents of eight children, of whom only three are now living. John Hicks passed away in 1866. in the fifty-fifth year of his age. his death being the result of an organic disease of the heart. He had been a successful merchant in the city of Rochester for many years and was a man of sterling character and marked ability. His widow long survived him, passing away at the venerable age of eighty-three years. Both were devoted members of
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the Baptist church and to them was ever accorded unequivocal respect and esteem by all who knew them.
Sylvester B. Hicks was the seventh in order of birth of the eight chil- dren of John and Elsie (Olmsted ) Hicks, and he received his early education in the excellent public schools of the city of Rochester. In 1864 he took the position of accountant in the service of the government, and as such con- tinned to be employed, in Tennessee, for a period of two years. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for a manufacturing house in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, and in this capacity visited all the larger cities in the Union, continuing to remain in the employ of this concern until 1883, thus gaining a valuable business experience and an exceptionally wide circle of acquaintances. After leaving his position as a traveling rep- resentative Mr. Hicks engaged in the hardware business in Aberdeen, South Dakota, this line of enterprise being that with which he had familiarized himself as a commercial traveler, and he continued at the point noted for a period of about five years, his efforts having been attended with a due measure of success. He disposed of his interests there in 1889 and came to Seattle, where he arrived on the Ist day of July. For a few months he was in the employ of the hardware firm of Campbell & Atkinson, and was then tendered a position and a stock interest in the Schwabacher Hardware Com- pany, of which he became vice-president and also acted as manager until 1899, at which time he resigned, for the purpose of engaging in business on his own responsibility, inaugurating the new enterprise by organizing the firm of S. B. Hicks & Sons. The establishment of the firm is one of the most important of the sort in the northwest, the stock handled comprising all lines usually carried in a metropolitan house of the kind, and a branch store is also maintained by the firm in the city of Portland, Oregon. Mr. Hicks is familiar with every detail of the business and his long experience makes him a particularly careful and discriminating buyer, so that he is able to handle his business with great facility and to offer the best service to his patrons. The house of which he is the head has gained a high reputa- tion and is recognized as one of the leading business concerns of the city, a specially extensive trade being handled in the line of heavy hardware. Mr. Hicks is also a large stockholder in the Z. C. Miles-Piper Company, a prominent hardware and house-furnishing concern of this city. Our sub- ject is thoroughly public-spirited and progressive and has ever taken a deep interest in all undertakings and enterprises projected for the benefit of the city and its people. He came here at the time when the ever memorable fire of 1889 had left the major portion of the city in smoldering ruins, and
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he has not only been a witness of the splendid rehabilitation of the place, but has also contributed a due quota to the upbuilding of the city and to insuring its advancement along normal and legitimate lines of industrial cu- terprise. His political support has ever been given to the Republican party and he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church, of which they are liberal supporters.
April 21, 1868, Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta West, who was born in New York city, the daughter of Beer West, a prom- inent jeweler of the national metropolis at that time. Of this union three children have been born, namely: Adelbert M. and Frederick W., both of whom are associated with their father in the hardware business, while the latter of the two is also a member of the directorate of the Z. C. Miles- Piper Company; and Elizabeth Alice, who is the wife of Arthur L. Piper, one of the interested principals in the company just mentioned.
JOHN M. FRINK.
The industrial activities which have given the city of Seattle such marked prestige and precedence within the lapse of comparatively few years, have been fostered and pushed forward by men of business capacity, sterling char- acter and progressive spirit,-men who have had appreciation of the natural advantages here afforded and prescience as to what the future would bring forth. Among the honored and representative business men of Seattle is Mr. Frink, president and manager of the Washington Iron Works, one of the leading industrial concerns of the Evergreen state.
Mr. Frink claims the old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, having been born in Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 21st of January, 1845, the family being of stanch Norman French ancestry and having been established on American soil in the early colonial epoch. The original American progenitors located in the Carolinas in 1667, and later the family became one of prominence in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, while in each successive generation have been found men of ability and honor and women of refinement. Rev. Prentiss Frink, the father of the subject of this review, was born in Madison county, New York, in the year 1815, and was a clergyman of the Baptist church. devot- ing his life to the work of his noble calling and being a man of high intel- lectuality and lofty ideals. He married Miss Deidamia Millard. who was about his own age and who was born in Schenectady county, New York. In their early married life they lived for a number of years in Pennsylvania,
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thence returning to New York, where they remained until 1858, when they removed to Kansas, of which state the father of our subject became one of the pioneer clergymen, and there he passed the residue of his life, passing away in 1861, at the age of forty-six years, and leaving his widow and eight children, of whom six survive at the present time. The devoted wife and mother long survived her husband, being summoned into eternal rest at the old home in Fairview, Kansas, in 1897, at the venerable age of seventy-six years.
John M. Frink, who was the eldest son, was but sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death, and thus the care and maintenance of the family devolved upon him to a very large extent while he was still a mere youth. The texture of his character was shown at that time, for he valiantly assumed the responsibilities which were placed upon his shoulders, contin- uing to work the homestead farm and to care for his mother and the younger children until all became able to assume personal responsibilities and provide for their own maintenance. He thus continued at the homestead for a period of ten years, and has never regretted his devotion to the welfare of those near and dear to him, considering his labors at the time as having consti- tuted a privilege rather than a burden. His father had been in ill health for a number of years prior to his death, and this necessitated our subject's with- drawal from school at the immature age of twelve years, in order that he might take up the work which he so ably continued after the demise of his father, and from that early age he received no farther specific scholastic train- ing save for two terms of study in the preparatory department of Washing- ton College, at Topeka, Kansas. That to one of such alert and receptive mentality this technical deprivation practically constituted only a slight handi- cap, needs scarcely be said, and he effectively supplemented his school disci- pline by personal reading and study in the evenings, at the noon hour and on Sundays, making each moment of leisure count for definite development. Though he may thus be said to be self-educated, it can not be gainsaid that the subjective proved an able instructor, for Mr. Frink is a man of broad and exact knowledge and is keenly appreciative of the intellectual elements, while his powers of absorption have ever been of pronounced type.
In 1870 Mr. Frink was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Phillips, who was born in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and shortly after this import- ant event in his career he removed to southern Kansas, where he secured a farm of his own, and there continued to devote his attention to agricultural pursuits for a period of eight years, his energy and discriminating methods being so directed as to result in a gratifying and unequivocal success. While
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residing in the Sunflower state Mr. Frink enlisted in the Twenty-second Kansas Home Guards, at the time of the Indian massacre of 1863, and he also served in defending the country against the invasion of the Confederate General Price during the war of the Rebellion, and also in repelling Quant- rell at the time of the burning of the city of Lawrence, in that troublous epoch in our national history, when the state of which he was a resident con- sistently gained the sobriquet of "bleeding Kansas."
Mr. Frink was reared in the west, and is typically western in spirit and sentiment, being dominated by that progressive energy which has brought about the magnificent development of the great western section of our na- tional commonwealth. In the year 1875 he disposed of his interests in Kansas and removed to San Francisco, California, where he remained but a short interval, coming thence to Seattle and casting in his lot with this city of destiny. He began his career here in a most obscure capacity, and his progress has indeed kept pace with that of the beautiful metropolis of Wash- ington, and the one is to be viewed with as great satisfaction as the other. Ile secured work by the day on the streets of the ambitious little western town, which at that time gave slight evidence of its future prestige, and also worked in the coal bunkers, later turned his attention to carpentry and finally entered upon a notably different sphere of endeavor, becoming a successful school teacher. He has ever had the deepest appreciation of the dignity of honest toil and is signally free from that false pride which has proved the undoing of many a man. In his pedagogic work Mr. Frink served as prin- cipal of the Belltown school and later was similarly incumbent in the public schools of Port Gamble, Kitsap county, where he remained two years. In 1881 he engaged in the foundry business in Seattle, beginning operations upon a most modest scale, but giving inception to an enterprise which was to develop into one of the leading industries of the city and state. He en- tered into partnership with L. H. Tenny, under the firm name of Tenny & Frink, and they equipped their plant in such a way as to meet the demands placed upon it at the time. In the year 1882, such had been the success at- tending the first year's operations, it was deemed expedient to augment the scope of operations by the enlargement of the facilities of the enterprise, and this was duly accomplished by the organization of the Washington Iron Works Company, which was duly incorporated under the laws of the terri- tory of Washington. Mr. Frink was at once made president and manager of the company, and in this capacity he has served to the present time, his fine executive and administrative powers, his marked business discrimination and his indefatigable energy having been the factors in accomplishing the
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