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 17
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In 1856 Mr. Rowe returned to New Hampshire and entered the employ of Abbott & Downing, carriage manufacturers, and remained there five years and in April, 1861, again went to California, sailing on the steamer North Star from New York. The vessel encountered a severe storm, in which it lost a mast and was then obliged to put into port for repairs. Upon his return to San Francisco Mr. Rowe secured employment with Kilbourne & Bent, carriage manufacturers, at the corner of Third and Market streets. At first he was paid five dollars per day and was then put in charge of the shop, working by the piece. In this way he made from sixty to seventy dol- lars per week. In 1862 he went to Honolulu to take charge of a carriage shop there, but did not like the place and after three months returned to San Francisco. Afterward he went east to Topeka, Kansas, and remained there one year, then going to Newton, Kansas, and started the first store in that town, hauling the lumber for thirty miles with which to build his store. There he secured an extensive business and when the Santa Fe Railroad was built he shipped his goods by the carload, but Newton became a very hard town. Drunken Texas cowboys and railroad men, engaged in building the Santa Fe, were continually fighting and while Mr. Rowe was in Newton thirty-seven men and one woman were killed. A ball crashed through his store window, passed over his head and lodged on the shelves behind him. Soon afterward he closed out his business there and went to Pueblo, Colo- rado, and was in business there for two years, after which he returned to California, where he was ill for some time.
In 1875 Mr. Rowe came to Seattle and started a small store on Front 10
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avenue, at the foot of Cherry street, having a small stock of groceries worth two hundred and thiry dollars. He had lost almost everything he had made and on account of his illness had been reduced in weight to one hundred and fifteen pounds. He sold his goods at a small profit and soon built up a fine trade. Mr. Yesler built a store for him and he continued the business with success for nine years. In the meantime he had invested in city property when realty was very cheap and it was considered very foolish to put one's money in property here. Mr. Rowe sold out his business and was very ill for two years, but his health improved and he turned his attention to his prop- ·erty interests. Where his fine residence now stands in the midst of a beauti- ful and populous city, there was a timber tract. He obtained five acres for four hundred dollars, has a splendid residence thereon now and the property is very valuable. On Front street he built six stores, which brought him good rental. Ile also became engaged in the carriage business and had a large repository and sold many carriages. He has lately built fifteen flats on Union street, at a cost of over twenty thousand dollars. In this enterprise he was associated with the Hon. C. P. Stone, and they were very success- ful, purchasing their carriages in car lots. They had control of the goods of the Cortland, New York, factory and other factories and did a large busi- ness. He bought his partner's interest in the business and gradually closed out the stock, retiring from active business except for the supervision of his city propery. Ile has property which he purchased for six hundred dollars, which is now worth forty thousand. He now has at Port Orchard a town site of forty acres, which he has platted and is selling, having named it Veneta, in honor of his daughter of that name. The place joins Bremerton, the government navy yard, and the property is selling rapidly at good figures. In 1893 he went to the Colville reservation and located the Veneta gold mine. It is capitalized for $700,000 and is a fine property. Mr. Rowe is the president and treasurer of the company and has a controlling in- terest in the stock.
Mr. Rowe has been twice married. In 1856 he wedded Miss Cynthia Clifford, and they had one daughter, Lizzie Ella, the wife of C. F. Dean. Mr. Rowe afterward married Miss Miranda F. Hummel and they have a daughter, Veneta, who is now the wife of Edward Maxwell.
Mr. Rowe has always had firm faith in Seattle, believing that it would be- .come a great city and time has proven the wisdom of his opinions. He has made the golden rule the leading principle of his life and has risen from a lowly position to one of affluence in financial and social circles.
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FREDERICK H. HURD.
Frederick Henry Hurd, of Seattle, is one of the representative business men of the city, where he is engaged in dealing in hay, grain, flour and feed. He has made his home here since 1887, coming from Missouri. He was born in Clinton. Middlesex county, Connecticut, on the 7th of October, 1843. and is of English lineage, his ancestors having emigrated from England to America at a very early epoch in our colonial history. There were three brothers who came together, and one of them, Nathaniel Hurd, the great- grandfather of our subject, became a resident of Pennsylvania. His son, Nathaniel Hurd, the grandfather of our subject, was captain of a brig en- gaged in trade with the West Indies, and at the time of the Revolutionary war he and his vessel were captured by the English. He lost the brig and was himself held as a prisoner at Calais until the close of hostilities, after which he continued the life of a sea captain. In religious faith he was a Universalist, was a man of upright character and lived to the age of seventy- nine years.
Nathaniel Albert Hurd, the father of Frederick H. Hurd, was born in Clinton, Connecticut, and after arriving at years of maturity married Miss Mary Wright, who was born in the same county-Middlesex. They became the parents of seven children. The eldest son, Edwin Albert, was a volunteer in the Union Army, was wounded in the battle of Fort Henry and died in the hospital at Quincy, Illinois. Another son, Alva A., is a Presbyterian min- ister, now acting as pastor of a church in Portland, Oregon. One of the daughters, Mrs. Mary Dudley, is county superintendent of schools in Iowa. while her brother, George Benjamin Hurd, has been principal of the schools of New Haven, Connecticut, for fifteen years, and for nine years filled a similar position in Bridgeport, Massachusetts. He is also connected with a boot and shoe business in New Haven.
Frederick Henry Hurd pursued his education in the public schools and the academy of his native city and put aside his text books in order to enter the Union army in answer to President Lincoln's call for troops. He be- came a member of Company G, Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry, in July. [862, participated in the battle of Antietam, in several skirmishes and in the battle of Fredericksburg. He was with the Army of the Potomac until after the battle of the Wilderness, fought under command of General Hooker, when his health failed him and he was forced to remain in the hospital for a short time. He was once slightly wounded by a shot that killed two an 1 wounded five others and on another occasion his canteen was pierced by a
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bullet. At the close of the war it was his good fortune to participate in the grand review, a memorable occasion, as it was the most celebrated military pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere. In June, 1865, he was mus- tered out and gladly returned to his home, for though he had been a brave and loyal soldier, like others throughout the north and south he felt great relief when the long contest was over.
Mr. Hurd remained in his native town for about eight months after the war and then went to Michigan, but scon afterward located in Quincy, Illi- nois, where he learned the miller's trade and was for some time engaged in the milling business, rising to the position of head miller in a mill having a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour per day. Subsequently he removed to Clarksville, Missouri, where he successfully engaged in milling on his own account for eight years, but his mill was then destroyed by fire and he lost all that he had made. He then established another mill, of which he was superintendent, but being troubled with malaria he determined to seek another climate and removed to Lewis county, Washington, in 1884. Three years later he came to Seattle, arriving in the month of August. He has since conducted a good business here in grain, flour, feed and hay, securing a good patronage and winning public confidence by honorable methods and dealing.
In 1868 Mr. Ilurd was united in marriage to Miss Julia Catherine Lit- tlejohn, a member of the prominent family of that name, Bishop Littlejohn, the renowned divine, being her uncle. Mr. and Mrs. Hurd were accom- panied on their removal to the west by their three children: Jessie Emmal, who is now the wife of R. G. Holly, of Seattle; Mary Grace, who is now acting as her father's bookkeeper; and Leroy, who is also associated with his father in business. The family have many friends in the community, the members of the household occupying an enviable position in social circles.
Mr. Hurd has been a life-long Republican, having firm faith in the prin- ciples of the party as conserving the best interests of the national govern- ment as well as local welfare. From 1894 to 1898 he was a member of the city council of Seattle, and was re-elected for a term of two years, which indicates his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. He was chairman of the important committee on finance, also of the committee on fire and water, and has been instrumental in pro- moting many measures of value to the city. He assisted in securing the splendid water system, unsurpassed in any city of the size in the country, and was also active in securing the paving of Pike street, which is in his own ward. He and his family are valued members of the Plymouth Congrega- tional church, in which he has served as deacon, while now he is a trustee.
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He is also a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was inspector general for the department of Washington and Alaska. He also served as district deputy and aided in organizing a number of posts in Mis- souri. As the years have passed Mr. Hurd has invested in city property and now has some very valuable realty in Seattle. His trade relations, too, have been an excellent source of income, and from the time of his return from the war Mr. Hurd has steadily advanced in the business world, overcoming diffi- culties and obstacles and working his way upward to a position of affluence and honor.
RICHARD C. JOHNSTON.
Nature has seemed to designate the kind of business which shall be the dominant industry of different localities. The great forests provide occupa- tion for the lumbermen, the broad plains and rich prairies make agriculture the logical occupation of the settlers and the mineral resources of still other divisions of the country seem to indicate that mining shall be the chief labor of the people there. The rich ore deposits of central Washington leave no question as to the principal pursuit of those who inhabit this section of the state, and one of the leading representatives of mining interests here is Richard C. Johnston, of Seattle.
A native of the state of Iowa, he was there born in Dubuque on the 13th of January, 1847, and is of old English ancestry, who were among the early settlers of New England. His paternal grandfather became a prominent factor in the early history of Ohio, and in that commonwealth his son, Charles B. Johnston, was born. The latter was married in the state of his nativity to Miss Catherine Smith, also a native of the Buckeye state, and they be- came prominent farming people and the parents of seven children. From Ohio they removed to lowa, and in 1852, with his wife and seven children. Mr. Johnston set out on the long and ardnous journey across the plains to California, with two ox and two horse teams, five months being spent on the way. As the father had previously fought in the Black Hawk war he was able to protect himself and family from the Indians, and the journey was therefore made in safety. On their arrival in the Golden state they took up their abode at Lakeport, Sierra county, and in that commonwealth the parents continued to reside until their labors were ended in death, the father passing away in 1883, in his seventy-third year, while his wife survived him many years, dying in 1901, at the age of eighty-six years. Six of their sevett children are now living.
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Richard C. Johnston was but five years of age when he was taken by his parents to the Pacific coast, and in the public schools of the Golden state he received his educational training. At the early age of eighteen years he engaged in mining pursuits, while later his attention was claimed by the livery and stock business, and in both lines of endeavor he met with success. In 1880 he visited the state of Washington, and in 1897 he took up his perma- nent abode in Seattle. In addition to his extensive holdings in this state he is also interested in oil and coal mines in Alaska, the property being bonded to an Englishi company for two million and a half dollars, and they are now developing the claims. Mr. Johnston is interested in a copper, gold and silver mine at Darrington, Snohomish county, Washington, where the ore yields an average of twenty dollars a ton, and this is considered a very valuable property.
The marriage of Mr. Johnston was celebrated in Humboldt county, Cali- fornia, when Miss Clara C. Runyon became his wife. She is a native of Wis- consin, and this union has been blessed with four children,-Frank P., Ray C., Pearl J. and Carrie Ann. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are Chris- tian Scientists. Politically our subject affiliates with the Republican party, in the councils and work of which he is active and influential, and while re- siding in California he served for some years as a deputy sheriff. He has filled all the offices in the Knights of Pythias fraternity and is also a member of the order of Foresters. As a citizen he is esteemed for his public spirit and his helpfulness toward all worthy measures.
SHERWOOD GILLESPY.
Sherwood Gillespy, the general agent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, came to Seattle in his present capacity in 1896 and has since had jurisdiction over the territory of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and Alaska, He is a man of excellent business and ex- ccutive ability and the company which he represents finds him a valued factor in the control of their business in the northwest.
Mr. Gillespy was born in Saugerties, New York, on the 4th of Novem- ber. 1853, and is of Scotch lineage, although at an early day in the history of Ulster county, New York, the family was established in Saugerties. The great-grandfather. John I. Gillespy. the grandfather. John Gillespy, and the father. Peter Gillespy, as well as the subject of this review, were all born on the old family homestead there, and there Peter Gillespy is still living in the ninety-third year of his age. This property has been in pos-
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session of the family for two hundred and fifty years. John I. Gillespy, the great-grandfather, joined the American army at the time of the Revolu- tionary war and served with the rank of captain in the struggle for inde- pendence, while John Gillespy, the grandfather, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Peter Gillespy was for many years engaged in merchandising in New York city, and later turned his attention to the banking business, but is now living a retired life. He married Miss Caroline Nering, of Catskill, New York. They were valued members of the Dutch Reformed Presbyterian church and very prominent people in Saugerties. In their fam- ily were four sons and a daughter, of whom three are still living.
Mr. Gillespy of this review is the only one on the Pacific coast. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, after which he was engaged in the dry goods business in Albany, New York, for five years, with John G. Meyers. He then turned his attention to the life insurance business, becoming connected with the Northwestern Life Insurance Com- pany, of Milwaukee, with which he was connected for five years. Since that time he has been with the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York, covering twenty years. As their general agent he came to Seattle in 1896, taking charge of their extensive business in the northwest, with headquarters at Seattle, and has met with very gratifying success here, liis service being highly satisfactory to the company and profitable to both the company and himself. When he came to Seattle he purchased for the company the Mutual Life Building, which he had remodeled and fitted up with all the latest im- provements, making it one of the most elegantly equipped office buildings in the northwest. He recently purchased the adjoining property for fifty thou- sand dollars and will erect a seventy-thousand-dollar building. It has proved for the company a paying investment. Mr. Gillespy is regarded by the com- pany as one of its best and most capable general agents and he also enjoys the confidence, good will and esteem of the business public of Seattle.
In 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gillespy and Miss Maria Z. Simpson, a native of New York city and a daughter of Wilson Simp- son, of that place. They now have three children : Ella L., Robert S. and Carrie N. He and his family are members of the Episcopalian church and are people of prominence in the community, the hospitality of many of the best homes of Seattle being extended to them. Mr. Gillespy has become deeply interested in Seattle and its welfare since becoming identified with the city and has contributed to its upbuilding. He was one of the organizers of the Independent Telephone Company, a long-distance line of this city, and is found as the champion of many movements for the general good.
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URSULA WYCKOFF.
Mrs. Ursula Wyckoff, who has made her home in Seattle during the past fifty years, has the credit of being the first white woman to locate in what is now South Seattle. She nobly bore the trials and hardships incident to a life on the frontier, and now in her declining years is blessed with the love and respect of all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance. She was born in Clarksville, Missouri, on the 25th of June. 1827, and is the daughter of John Hughes. He was of North Carolina nativity but became an early set- tler of both Kentucky and Missouri, where he reared a large family of eight children, two sons and six daughters. He departed this life in the fifty-fifth year of his age, passing away in the faith of the Methodist church, of which he was long a worthy and consistent member.
Mrs. Wyckoff, the only survivor of this once large family, was reared to young womanhood in Missouri, and on the 11th of June, 1846, she there gave her hand in marriage to George N. McConaha, a native of Ohio. In 1850 they crossed the plains to Sacramento, California, and during the long journey their second child was born, its place of nativity being near Fort Henry, and they gave her her mother's name of Ursula. The journey was accomplished in safety, and after their arrival in the Golden state they set- tled in the then new town of Sacramento, where Mr. McConaha resumed the practice of law. His ability as a leader soon became recognized, and he was made a member of the state legislature. In 1852, with his wife and little family, he started for Portland, Oregon, going by way of Seattle, where his wife and children remained while he continued on his journey: He had previously been promised the high office of judge on his removal to Portland, but from some cause did not receive the appointment and he accordingly re- turned to his family in Seattle, where he again took up the practice of his pro- fession. During the following winter he was elected a member of the ter- ritorial council, of which he was made president, and while returning to his home after the close of the session he, with Captain Boston and two Indians that were with them in the boat, were drowned, and Mr. McConaha's body was never recovered. His widow and her three little children suffered a sad bereavement, but after partially recovering from the terrible shock of her loss she took up the battle of life with the courage and fortitude which has ever characterized her course. She worked at any occupation that presented itself in order to support her little family, thus laboring in their behalf for seven years. On the 29th of August. 1859, she was united in marriage to Lewis V. Wyckoff, a native of New York, and at the time of their marriage
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he was serving as head sawyer in a large mill. After a time, however, he was elected sheriff of King county, in which position he continuously served for twenty-two years, and the efficiency with which he discharged the duties incumbent upon him in this important office is attested by his long continu- ance therein. During the riot of 1882 his duties were very exciting and dan- gerous, and from the effect of his arduous service he died suddenly of heart disease on the 20th of February, 1882. He was a trustworty and reliable official, a loving and indulgent husband and father and a kind and considerate neighbor, and his loss was felt by the entire community. He left to his widow a good property, which has increased in value as the years have passed by, until she is now able to enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
Mrs. Wyckoff's eldest son, George M. McConaha, was born in 1848. and his education was received in the schools of New York city and in the Washington University. After completing his literary education he began the study of law under the preceptorage of Hon. John J. McGilvery, and was admitted to practice when but twenty-one years of age. In the same fall he was elected a member of the territorial legislature, and on the expiration of his term of service he was made the prosecuting attorney of King county. While thus serving Judge Hanford read law in his office. Mrs. Wychoff's second son, John Vandyne Wyckoff. was born in 1862, and on attaining to mature years he was made deputy sheriff under Hon. John H. McGraw, and he also served in that capacity under Sheriff Cochran. He was later appointed and served as custom house officer, but has also been a member of the city fire de- partment and now resides with his mother. Her daughters have passed away. Eugene McConaha resided with her mother until the 21st of March, 1890, when she was called to her final rest. passing away at the age of forty-four years. Mrs. Wyckoff became converted to the Christian faith very early in life, and is now the only surviving member who joined the first Presbyterian church at its organization, and in which she has ever been a faithful and val- ned member. Her life has been filled with many privations and hardships, but through all her Christian fortitude has sustained her, and she is now one of the loved and esteemed pioneers of Seattle.
JOHN R. WILLIAMSON.
John R. Williamson, a worthy pioneer of Seattle, who crossed the plains in 1852 and has since made his home on the Pacific slope. is a native of Al- bany county, New York. born February 14, 1826, and is descended from good old Revolutionary stock, his paternal grandfather, John Williamson,
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having fought through the entire war for independence. He was one of the fifteen hundred men who volunteered to attack the English in their camp at twelve o'clock at night. They were at first repulsed, but the army soon afterward landed and were victorious. It was in this engagement that Ar- nold lost his leg. Mr. Williamson was present at the surrender of Lord Corn- wallis and his army. He was of Quaker ancestry and lived to the advanced age of ninety years.
Peter Williamson, the father of our subject, was born within sixteen miles of Albany, New York, and on reaching manhood married Miss Sarah Olin, who was a native of Montgomery county, New York, and was also a Quaker by birthright. By occupation he was a merchant. He died at the age of sixty-six years and his wife was seventy-eight at the time of her death. In the family of this worthy couple were five children, three of whom are still living, namely: John R., of this review; Mary, now the widow of James Visher ; and Susan, wife of M. R. Maddox. All make their home in Seattle.
After the death of his father John R. Williamson went to live with his grandfather. He had little opportunity to attend school, but, possessing a genius for mechanics, he soon mastered the blacksmith's trade. In early life he became a subscriber for the Scientific American and has since been a con- stant reader of that magazine. He is thoroughly posted on steam engines and engineering, of which he has made somewhat of a hobby, and is consid- ered authority on everything pertaining to steam engines and combustion. Because of his great knowledge of these subjects he is familiarly called "Old Combustion," at which title he takes no offense, and it is believed that on the laws of combustion he has no equal in the great northwest. To the Scien- tific American he gives the credit for his extensive knowledge on these sub- jects.
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