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 20
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that they would relieve him of much of the task devolving upon him. They offered to give him railroad passes to go wherever he liked if he would only direct the operations of the enterprise. Finally he consented and remained with them for two and one-half years, receiving good remuneration for his work but he had no use for the railroad passes. All his labors brought about one very important result-the checkmating of the Northern Pacific and in making Seattle the greatest shipping and commercial city of the Sound which we find it to-day. On severing his connection with the business in- terests before mentioned, Mr. Colman made a trip to Europe, accompanied by his wife and two sons, in order to visit many points of modern and his- toric interest in the old world and also to see again Scotland, his native land. After his return he engaged in coal mining, but soon abandoned that enterprise in order to give his attention to the improvement of his Seattle property. He was the builder of the Colman block which extended from Front street to the water and of which he was the sole owner, but all this was swept away in the great fire which cost him a loss of two hundred thou- sand dollars, on which he only had forty thousand dollars insurance. He also lost a brick block at the same time. Before the fire he had an income of three thousand dollars per month from his property and it was reduced to one hundred dollars. Again his indomitable energy, resolution and strong force of character were manifest. He did not repine but with resolute pur- pose started to work to obliterate the traces of the fire and built a fine three story and basement brick block, one hundred and eleven by two hundred and forty feet. He also erected a block of buildings where the Union depot now stands and built the court building, also a fine business structure on Main street. In 1884 he erected his splendid residence on Fourth street, located on a beautiful hill surrounded by tasteful grounds upon which has been lavished the art of the landscape gardener. There he is now residing with his family; a fit home in which to spend the evening of a life of great activity and usefulness. He is still one of the extensive property owners of the city, and though he has met with many reverses and discouragements, he has to-day valuable realty holdings which make him one of Seattle's most substantial residents.
Mr. Colman was happily married in Waukesha. Wisconsin, to Miss Agnes Henderson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland. They had but two sons, Lawrence J., who is married and resides in the family residence above men- tioned, and George A., who is also at home. The sons are now managing the business. The father has taught them the trade which he mastered in early youth and in which he still retains great interest, having a shop of his
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own. He built a number of steam yachts for his own pleasure and is now building a very splendid one, eighty feet in length. He began his yacht building when his boys were approaching manhood in order to find some- thing to interest them and to induce them to stay with him. In this he has succeeded and father and sons have together continued their work in yaclit building and in superintending his investments. He has the strong filial love and devotion of his "boys" to whom he has been not only a father, but companion and friend as well.
Mr. Colman has been a life-long Republican, casting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, the first standard bearer of the party. He has never been an office seeker, but served for five years on the civil service com- mission. He belongs to the Plymouth Congregational church and for many years was one of its trustees, while to its support he has been a most liberal contributor. Nor has his aid been confined alone to this one organization. but has benefited many church societies and benevolent institutions. His has been a practical life in which his business career has been marked by nothing visionary. Endowed by nature with excellent mechanical genius, he has improved his talents and by his unfaltering industry he has advanced to a conspicuous position in the business world. Few men connected with the northwest have been more important factors in the development of this section of the country and the work which Mr. Colman accomplished in con- nection with railroad building is of itself sufficient to class him among those whose enterprise has been the foundation of the prosperity and the prog- ress of Seattle.
CHARLES E. FOWLER.
Charles Evan Fowler, president of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredg- ing Company, has a wide reputation as a bridge builder in the United States. His knowledge of the scientific principles which underlie the work, together with a thorough understanding of the practical construction, has enabled him to advance to a position prominent in civil engineering circles, particu- larly in the line of his specialization, that of bridge building and engineering construction.
Mr. Fowler is a native of Washington county, Ohio, having been born near the city of Marietta, on the 10th of February, 1867. The family is of English origin, and was established in America at an early day in the history of the colonies where representatives of the name took up their abode. Ben- jamin Fowler, the great-grandfather of our subject, lived in Maryland, and subsequently his descendants took up their abode in northeastern Ohio in the
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early part of the nineteenth century. Caleb Fowler, his grandfather, settled in Washington county in 1838, being one of the first settlers of that part of the Buckeye state, and there improved a farm in the midst of the forest, thus reclaiming the old hunting ground of the Indians for purposes of eivili- zation. He and his ancestors were identified with the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and were people of the highest moral eliaraeter.
C. T. Fowler, his son, and the father of our subject, was born in Ohio in 1840, and in 1872 removed to Marietta, that state, near which place he was engaged in the manufacture of lumber and in bridge building. He con- tinued in business in Ohio until his removal to the Pacific coast, sinee which time he has been connected with the lumber trade in Seattle. He married Miss Phebe Hobson, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, who is also living, and the members of the household enjoy the high regard of all with whom they are associated in their western home. In the family were four children, three of whom are living: J. Ernest Fowler, who is deputy county auditor of Chillicothe, Ohio; Ella M., a successful teacher, of Seattle; and Charles Evan.
The last named was reared in the state of his nativity, and after acquir- ing his preliminary education in the common schools completed his course in the Ohio State University, where he mastered eivil engineering as taught in that institution. After leaving college he accepted a position with the Hocking Valley Railroad Company as bridge engineer, and during his con- nection with that company he completed several large bridges. He was afterward with the Indiana Bridge Company as engineer of construction. In 1890 he went to Los Angeles, California, where he engaged in eivil engi- neering and contracting along that line. While residing there he was mar- ried, and after his marriage he removed with his young bride to Youngs- town, Ohio, where he accepted the position of chief engineer with the Youngstown Bridge Company, and for several years had charge of their work. While thus engaged he constructed a large number of bridges for highways and for railroad companies. He did work in every state and terri- tory in the Union, and superintended the construction of several very large bridges, including one at Youngstown and one over the Tennessee river at Knoxville, Tennessee, one third of a mile in length and one hundred and ten feet above the water. He resigned his position at Youngstown because the company went into a trust.
Mr. Fowler then removed to New York city, where he opened an office as consulting engineer, and there he made numerous plans, ineluding those for the erection of the Manhattan portion of the new East River bridge, be-
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tween New York and Brooklyn. In 1900 he came to Seattle to take charge of the work and business of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company, and is now engaged in executing numerous large works of public improve- ment. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; is a member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and is one of its trustees and chairman of its committee on railroads, and a member of the committee on Lake Washington canal; is first vice-president of the Pacific Northwest So- ciety of Engineers; and an active member of the Seattle Park Commission.
On the 4th of December, 1890, Mr. Fowler was united in marriage to Miss Lucille H. Doyle, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, and a daughter of R. J. Doyle, then a resident of Los Angeles, California. She is also a niece of General Samuel H. Hurst, of Chillicothe, who served with distinction in the great Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler have two sons and two daugh- ters, Harold D., Robert C., Louise and Margaret E. They reside on Ma- drona Heights, one of Seattle's most beautiful suburbs.
Mr. Fowler has written extensively for the technical journals and maga- zines, among his contributions being "The Cofferdam Process for Piers," a treatise on ordinary foundations, published by John Wiley & Sons, of New York city. He is also the author of "Engineering Studies," a work in twelve parts, giving views of notable masonry engineering structures, and "Gen- eral Specifications for Steel Roofs and Buildings," both published by the Engineering' News of New York city.
JACOB FURTH.
Among those who have come from foreign lands to become prominent in business circles in Washington is Jacob Furth, the president of the Puget Sound National Bank, of Seattle, and a man whose varied business interests have contributed in large measure to the substantial upbuilding of the city with which he has allied his interests. His success in all his undertakings has been so marked that his methods are of interest to the commercial world. He has based his business principles and actions upon strict adherence to the rules which govern industry, economy and strict and unswerving in- tegrity. His enterprise and progressive spirit have made him a typical Amer- ican in every sense of the word and he well deserves mention in this volume. What he is to-day he has made himself, for he began in the world with noth- ing but his own energy and willing hands to aid him. By constant exertion, associated with good judgment, he has raised himself to the prominent posi- tion which he now holds, having the friendship of many and the respect of
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all. He has been identified with business interests on the Pacific coast since 1858 and his enterprises are of mammoth size and of a very important char- acter.
Mr. Furth was born in Schwihau, Bohemia, Austria, on the 14th of November, 1840, a son of Lazar and Anna (Popper) Furth, both of whom were natives of that land and were of the Hebrew faith. The father was a merchant, successfully following that line of business throughout the years of his manhood. Both he and his wife spent their entire lives in that coun- try and he attained to the very advanced age of ninety-six years. They were the parents of ten sons and two daughters, and eight of the number came to the United States. The eldest son served as a captain in the Austrian army for fourteen years and afterward held an important government posi- tion in Vienna.
In the schools of his native land Jacob Furth pursued his education and when eighteen years of age he bade adieu to home and friends in order to try his fortune in California-the Golden state, where he arrived in 1858. He had only ten dollars in his pocket when he reached Nevada City, but scorning no employment which would yield him an honest living he ac- cepted a clerkship in a store and soon gained a good knowledge of Amer- ican business methods. His industry and economy enabled him soon to engage in business on his own account and he established a store at North San Juan, where he conducted a successful business until 1870, at which time he removed to Colusa, California. There he conducted a general mer- cantile store for twelve years, his business constantly growing in volume and yearly adding to his income. He prospered greatly but his health be- came impaired and hoping that he might be benefitted by a change of climate he came to Seattle in 1882.
Here Mr. Furth established the Puget Sound National Bank and acted as its cashier until 1893, when he was elected its president. The bank has always been managed by him and its almost unparalleled success is attributa- ble almost entirely to his financial ability and keen discernment, he being recognized as one of the ablest financiers not only of the city but of the state. He is a gentleman of marked executive force, sagacity and unfaltering deter- mination and his aid and counsel have been of the greatest value in the suc- cessful conduct of many other enterprises of magnitude and importance. He was one of the organizers of the extensive street railway system of Seattle, controlling one hundred miles of street railway now in operation here and doing a paying business. He is president of the company which is now build- ing an electric line to Tacoma and is also president of the Vulcan Iron Works,
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now a very extensive enterprise which has grown from a small beginning. He is likewise president of the California Land & Stock Company, owning thirteen thousand acres of choice farming land in Lincoln county, Washing- ton, where they are engaged in farming and stock-raising on a mammoth scale. Mr. Furth is also quite extensively interested in real-estate in Se- attle and in the erection of buildings has contributed to the improvement of the city. He stands very high in the esteem and confidence of business peo- ple throughout the state.
In 1865 Mr. Furth was united in marriage to Miss Lucy A. Dunton, a native of Indiana and a representative of an old American family. Her grandfather was a veteran of the Mexican war and her father was a mer- chant of Indiana. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Furth has been blessed with three daughters . Jane E., now the wife of E. L. Terry, of Seattle; Anna F., who married Frederick K. Sturve, of Seattle; and Sidonia, who is at home with her parents.
Mr. Furth arrived in the United States just before the organization of the Republican party and from its formation has given to it an unwaver- ing support, although he has taken no part in its work as an office seeker. Everything pertaining to the welfare and improvement of Seattle, however, elicits his interest and co-operation, and for several terms he rendered effec- tive service to the city as a member of its council. He has also had the honor of serving as president of its chamber of commerce for two terms. He still holds to the religious faith of his ancestors but is broad minded and liberal and has been most generous in his contribution to various church and benev- olent enterprises. He was made a Master Mason in Colusa county, Cali- fornia, in 1870, and became so interested and proficient in the work that he was elected and served as master of his lodge. He is also a Royal Arch Mason and in his life exemplifies the teachings of the craft which is founded upon the principles of the brotherhood of mankind. In many respects his has been a remarkable carcer. Coming to this country a young man of eighteen years, without capital, without knowledge of the language or of the customs of the people, he has steadily worked his way upward until he has few peers in the business circles of the state. What he has accomplished in the world of commerce and industry cannot be told in words. It is cer- tainly not asserting too much to say of one who can direct and control busi- ness interests of such magnitude as those with which he is connected that his must be a master mind, that he must possess, aside from commercial fore- sight and sagacity, the happy faculty of reading and judging men, com- bined with unusual powers of organization and executive ability. And yet
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if one will seek in his career the causes of his success they will be found along the lines of well tried and old-time maxims. Honesty and fair-dealing, promptness, truthfulness and fidelity-all these are strictly enforced and ad- hered to, and thus he has advanced to a position prominent in the business and financial world.
CHARLES K. JENNER.
Charles Kirkham Jenner is one of the distinguished representatives of the legal fraternity in Seattle, making a specialty of the department of land and mining law. Professional advancement in the law is proverbially slow. The first element of success is, perhaps, a persistency of purpose and effort as enduring as the force of gravity. But, as in any other calling, aptitude, character and individuality are the qualities which differentiate the usual from the unusual; the vocation from the career of the lawyer. For twenty-five years he has been a representative of the legal fraternity of this city, and the qualities which insure success are his and have met their just reward. He is likewise extensively engaged in real-estate dealing and has prospered in this department of activity.
Mr. Jenner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 15th of September, 1846, and is descended from English ancestors who became early settlers of Connecticut. His grandfather, Edward H. Jenner, was born in Rutland, Ver- mont, and served in the war of 1812. He was a distinguished mathematician and successful teacher, and among his pupils who have attained marked promi- nence was Stephen A. Douglas "the little giant of Illinois." In 1850 Mr. Jenner's father crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining. He also possessed remarkable inventive genius and when searching for gold on the Pacific coast in pioneer times he invented a pump to force water up to the mine, one hundred and ten feet. He made a model of his invention in pure gold, the first and only one of its kind ever sent to the patent office in Washington. As soon as he had completed one invention he started to work upon another, his mind being completely occupied with such work. About 1854 he invented the system of Browning gun barrels, and many other evi- dences of his genius in this direction were found upon the market, but he did not possess ability as a business manager and therefore never secured the financial returns which he deserved for his labors. For some years he was also a successful dentist in San Francisco. He spent the greater part of his life in that city but also resided for a time in Sonoma county, Cali- fornia. Prior to the Civil war he gave his political support to the Democ- racy, but at the time the south attempted to overthrow the Union he joined
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the Republican party. He was united in marriage to Ann Jane Wilby, of Rochester, New York, and with her family of four children she accompanied her husband to San Francisco in 1850. Three years later she departed this life at the age of thirty-three years, while the father of our subject was called to his final rest on the 14th of January. 1879, at the age of sixty-seven years. All their four children are yet living. Sylvester, who learned the printer's 'trade in California, is now on the force of the San Francisco Examiner.
Charles K. Jenner was only four years of age when he arrived in Cali- fornia with his parents. He pursued his studies in San Francisco and at the Sotoyome Institute in Sonoma county, read law with Colonel L. A. Nor- ton, in Healdsburg, and was admitted to the practice on February 21, 1871. Since that time he has been admitted to all the courts of the United States and has had a large number of cases tried in the supreme court of this coun- try. He practiced law in Healdsburg, California, until 1876, at which time he came to Seattle, where he has resided for more than a quarter of a century. For a short time he was employed in the office of Judge Orange Jacobs, and then entered into partnership with him-an association that was maintained for fourteen years, during which time they enjoyed a large and lucrative legal business. Subsequently Mr. Jenner was for some years in partnership with his son-in-law, Louis Henry Legg, and Solon T. Williams, but is now alone in business. His clientage is of a distinctively representative character and he has been associated with some of the most important litigation tried in the courts of this district and state, and also in the United States courts. During his residence in Seattle he has had much to do with real-estate interests and has been a partner in the platting of a number of additions to the city. The first ten acres was called the Brawley addition, after which he was associated in the platting of forty acres on Queen Ann Hill, which is now one of the finest residence portions of the city. The Comstock addition, containing forty acres, was named in honor of his wife's mother, a lady whom he held in very high esteem because of her amiable disposition and beautiful character. He has handled much city property and has done his full share in the up- building and improvement of this splendid metropolis of the northwest which, almost as if by magic, has grown to its present extensive proportions. One of the most notable works with which Mr. Jenner has been connected was the entering of the school section through which the New Castle coal veins now run. He had the honor of establishing the precedent of securing that kind of land from the government and subsequently he sold it to the New Castle Company, which has operated its coal mines thereon for many years. In the legal points concerned in this matter he differed from the opinions of
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eminent jurists and displayed a profound and deep knowledge of the land laws of the United States, carrying his point and establishing an important precedent. He is counsel for the Forty-five Consolidated Mining Company, which owns a valuable mine that has already produced twenty thousand dol- lars. He was also at one time the manager of the Denny iron mine, but has sold his interest. That was the first mineral entry made on Puget Sound and proved to be a very valuable mine, containing the finest Bessemer steel ore in the United States. This mine will ultimately prove of great value.
On the 9th of June, 1870, Mr. Jenner was joined in wedlock to Cornelia E. Comstock, a native of Tioga county, New York, born near the city of Oswego. They became the parents of five sons and a daughter, namely : Helen, the wife of Louis Henry Legg; Earl Robinson, who has charge of the court work for the Boothe Whittlesey Abstracting Company; Ernest Comstock, who is the twin brother of Earl, and is a sketch artist for the Post Intelligencer; Theodore, who is a clerk with the Osborn, Tremper Abstract Company; Herbert and L. G., who are both in Seattle. Ernest served in the war with Spain and was for two years in the art room of the San Fran- cisco Chronicle. November 4, 1891, the mother of this family, a most estima- ble lady of broad charity and humanitarian principles, was called to her final rest. She served as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. was one of the organizers of the Woman's Relief Corps and was chairman of the Advisory committee to investigate needy cases and furnish them with supplies. In her home she was a devoted wife and mother and was a con- sistent Christian woman whose loss was deeply felt. November 14, 1892, Mr. Jenner was again married, his second union being with Clara J. Hough, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and they have a son and a daughter, Cor- nelia E. and Edward Hough. In politics Mr. Jenner was long an active Republican, but differing from his party on the money question he is now independent, for he believes that both gold and silver should be used as the money standard of the country. While he is one of the distinguished mem- bers of the bar of this city he is entirely free from ostentation or self-laudation and this fact has made him one of the most popular citizens of Seattle, with whose history he has been long and prominently identified.
EDGAR BRYAN.
Edgar Bryan, who is secretary and ex-president of the Pioneer Associ- ation of the state of Washington and makes his home in Seattle, was born in Lawrence county, Illinois, on the 24th of February, 1841. His father. Eli
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Bryan, was a native of North Carolina and after arriving at years of maturity married Nancy Laws, a native of Illinois. The former died when our subject was only seven years of age and the mother married again and reached the advanced age of seventy-three years. By her first marriage she had six children, and her second marriage was to a gentleman who had nine chil- dren. Our subject and his eldest sister, Mrs. Esther Perkins, now of British Columbia, are the only survivors of the first family.
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