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 30
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Frank Arney, the junior member of the firm of Arney Brothers, was born near Bristol, England, on the 14th of May, 1872, and he was there reared and educated. Removing 'with the family to the new world in 1888, he resumed his studies in Illinois for a time, and after completing his educa- tion he was employed at farm labor until he became established in business with his brother William. He was married at Kent, in 1896. to Carrie Reed, and they have two children, May and William Rodney.
The other members of the Arney family are: John, the manager of the dairy farm at Blaine; Rodney Jesse, an Episcopal minister at Seattle; Edward, a civil engineer at Perth, Australia; and George, a minister in the Methodist church and now located at Bremerton, Washington.
AUSTIN P. BURWELL.
Austin Peck Burwell, who for several years has been the president of the Scattle Cracker & Candy Company, occupies a foremost position in com- mercial circles in this city, having achieved splendid success through business methods that will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. He is a na- tive of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in the city of Mercer, in Mercer county. January 31, 1848. He is of English ancestry and the line of descent in this country can be traced back to John Burwell, who came to Massachusetts when the Mayflower made its second voyage. He located near Middletown, Connecticut, and Elias Burwell, the grandfather of our subject, was born in New Haven, Connecticut. When he had arrived at
Austin Burwell
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man's estate he married Miss Amy Platt, of Milford, Connecticut. In the Charter Oak state he engaged in business as a manufacturer of clocks. He held membership in the Congregational church and lived an upright life, but was called to his final rest at the early age of thirty-three years, dying of pneumonia. His wife long survived him and attained the advanced age of eighty-two years. Their son, Austin Smith Burwell, the father of our sub- ject, was born on the 12th of February, 1814, and married Miss Susan Peck, of Orange. Connecticut. He, too, engaged in the manufacture of clocks and also conducted a cabinet-making business in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In 1847 he removed to Mercer, that state, where he opened a large general mer- cantile establishment. continuing in business there until 1871. when he was succeeded by his two eldest sons, A. P. and A. S. Burwell. In 1885 he came to Seattle, where he remained until his death, which occurred on the 23d of March, 1901, when he had reached the age of eighty-seven years. He was a most public spirited gentleman, taking a deep interest in every measure and movement calculated to advance the general welfare. For two terms he served as mayor of the city and was a most honorable and upright officer. Both he and his wife were consistent Christians and the influence of their characters is seen in the lives of their children. They had four sons and three daughters, all of whom became identified with Christian work at an carly age. They lost one son, Harvey, when only seven years of age.
Austin Peck Burwell obtained his early education in the public schools of his native town and supplemented it by a five years course in Oberlin College, where he was graduated with the class of 1870. He then engaged with his brother in the conduct of the business which their father had estab- lished and in which they met with gratifying success. After conducting the enterprise for eighteen years they sold the store, and in 1885 came to Seattle, which was then a city of about ten thousand population. Here the three brothers, Austin P., Anson S. and Edward, became identified with business affairs. They organized the Seattle Hardware Company, carrying on a whole- sale and retail business which grew to very large proportions. In fact, this is now the most extensive enterprise of the kind in the state of Washington. Mr. Burwell remained in the firm for nine years and then sold his interest to his brothers who still continue the store. In 1894 he aided in organizing the Seattle Cracker & Candy Company and was elected its president and man- ager, continuing in control of its affairs with marked success until 1899, when the business was sold to the Pacific Biscuit Company, a large corporation which now controls the greater part of the business in this line for the state, Mr. Burwell being retaincdi as manager of the branch in Seattle and also of
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the business throughout the state of Washington to western Idaho and to Alaska. They manufacture all their own goods, including a very large line of confectionery of every description. Mr. Burwell gives his entire atten- tion to the management and operation of the important and extensive busi- ness which is under his control, yet has various other investments which ma- terially increase his annual income. He is a member of the chamber of com- merce of the city and for two terms served as one of its trustecs.
On the 3d of August. 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Austin P. Burwell and Miss Anna Nourse, who had been one of his classmates at Ober- lin College. They have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth, now the wife of G. F. Waterhouse, of Honolulu, and Susan B., who is with her parents. All are valued members of the Congregational church, of which Mr. Burwell is a deacon. He is also active in the work of the Sunday-school, teaching one of the adult Bible classes and for several terms has served most acceptably as Sunday-school superintendent. He contributes liberally to the support of the church and does all in his power to promote the moral progress of the con- munity with which he has allied his interests. His political support is given the Republican party but he has never been an office seeker. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend, and for a number of terms he has served as one of the school directors, several of the fine school buildings of the city having been erected during his official connection with educational interests here. He has never neglected an opportunity to do his city a good service. Mr. Burwell and each of his brothers have built expensive and beautiful homes which stand side by side, their lawns being undivided by fences. The business relations between them have ever been of the most harmonious character and all are regarded as upright and honorable men who have deservedly won a score of friends in the city of their adoption. Surrounded at his home by a large circle of friends who appreciate his true worth, and admired and esteemed by the citizens of the community, the name of Austin P. Burwell will be honored for many generations as that of one of the most enterprising business men of Seattle-a man who has acted well his part and who has lived a worthy and honorable life.
JAMES H. TITUS.
The name of James H. Titus is inscribed high on the roll of King county's honored pioneers and eminent men, and the part which he took in founding and developing the county well entitles him to prominent mention in this volume. He established the town of Kent. in which he has long made his
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home, laboring for its promotion and welfare. He is honored and estecmed by his many friends and acquaintances, and the influence of his life upon the community has been most beneficial.
Mr. Titus was born in Kennebec county, Maine, on the 26thi of Septem- ber, 1823, and his ancestors settled in that locality when the territory was known as Massachusetts. They are of English descent. His father, James Titus, was born in the same house in which he first saw the light of day, his birth there occurring in 1792, and he died at old family home in 1880. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Gould, was of Scotch and Eng- lish descent, and was born in Kennebec county, Maine, March 3, 1799. She passed to her final reward in 1870.
James H. Titus received his education in the district schools of his native county, and until his fourteenth year remained under the paternal roof, after which he spent one year as a shoemaker, while for a similar period he was em- ployed in an oil-cloth factory. He next served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade at Augusta, Maine. In 1844 he left the ancestral home and removed to Michigan, where for a year he worked at the blacksmith's trade in Kalamazoo and Marshall, and for the suceeding four years made his isome at Springfield, Massachusets. Returning to Maine in 1849, he pur- chased a farm in Kennebeck county, but in that year the gold excitement in California attracted him, and selling his possessions in the old Pine Tree state he made the journey, via Cape Horn, to the Pacific coast in the fall of 1849. During the first four years in the Golden state he worked at his trade in Marysville, while for the succeeding ten years he was the proprietor of a hotel at Oroville, and in 1872 he came to Seattle, Washington, purchasing and making his home on a farm on the Dwamish river for two years. In 1874 he took up his abode at Maddoxville, on the White river, where he followed the dual occupation of farming and blacksmithing for five years, on the ex- piration of which period he became the owner of one hundred acres of land, and on a portion of this place the town of Kent was afterward built. When the Northern Pacific Railroad was constructed through this section, in 1884, Mr. Titus disposed of a part of the farm on the east side of the track to parties who laid it out into town lots, but he has since held the remainder, con- sisting of about thirty lots, on which he has erected many residences, and the property is situated on the west side of the railroad track. He is practically the founder of the town of Kent, which stands as a monument to his enter- prising spirit. In its infancy this place was given the name of Titusville, but at the request of the post office department the name was afterward changed to Kent. His political support has ever been given to the Republican party
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and on its ticket he was made the second mayor of Kent, being elected to that position in 1892. While a resident of California he held the office of justice of the peace for a number of years. In his fraternal relations he is a charter member of Titusville Lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has been identified since its organization in 1886.
The marriage of Mr. Titus was celebrated in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1846, when Miss Sarah Ketchum became his wife. She was born in Brownhelm, Lawrence county, Ohio, on the 26th of June, 1828, and in the maternal line she is of English and Irish descent, while her paternal ancestors were of Dutch descent and were among the early settlers of Massachusetts. Eight children were born unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Titus, but the family circle has been broken by the hand of death, George Henry, who was born in 1848, having died in California at the age af twenty-two years, while a daughter, Carrie L., born in 1857. died in Whatcom county, Washington, in 1893. The living children are: James Arthur, a resident of Kent : Edward Everett, a farmer near that city: Melvin, who is engaged in agricultural pur- sttits in Whatcom county; Edith M., the wife of James G. Jones, also of Kent ; Lillie E., the wife of James Shoff, of Ladner, British Columbia; and Leroy C., at ho.ne. For many years this worthy couple has lived and labored to goodly ends among the people of King county, and they are leaving the im- press of their individuality upon the public life, the substantial growth and material development of the region.
WILLIAM BREMER.
So composite is the social fabric of our republic that we can as yet scarcely be said to have developed a national type, and among the many ele- ments that have entered into the makeup of our populace there is none which has been of more vital and valuable order than the German, from which America has had much to gain and nothing to lose. From the great German empire have come many of our most progressive citizens,-men of sterling worth of character and endowed with that pragmatic ability which has pro- moted advancement along all lines of material industry and has ever stood for social stability. Among the representative young men of German birth who have attained distinction in connection with the industrial life of the state of Washington is Mr. Bremer, who has maintained his home in the Pu- get Sound district for the past fourteen years and who has attained marked precedence as an able and enterprising business man,-one who has con- tributed in no small degree to the work of development and improvement
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through legitimate lines of endeavor. He is well deserving of representation in this publication as one of that progressive type of men who have made the Evergreen state what it is to-day. He is the owner of the town site of Bre- merton, was one of the founders of the village of Sidney and through his real-estate operations and well directed enterprise has done much to forward the material development of this section of the state, maintaining his home and business headquarters in the city of Seattle, where he commands unequivocal confidence and esteem.
William Bremer was born in the town of Seesen, duchy of Brunswick. Germany, on the 12th of June, 1863, being a son of Edward and Matilda ( Mader) Bremer, representatives of stanch old families of the German father- land. Edward Bremer was a man of prominence in his locality, having been engaged in the banking business and having attained considerable wealth and exercised notable influence in local affairs. He passed his entire life in his native land. He and his wife became the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this review was the fifth in order of birth. He received his educational discipline in his native land, having completed a course in the Jacobson Institute, at Seesen, the same being an institution of more than national reputation. In his youth Mr. Bremer became identified with the banking business, which he learned in all its details, this training having proved of inestimable value to him in his subsequent business career. After serving what may be termed an apprenticeship in a banking house in his native town he went to the city of Hamburg, where he was identified with a similar line of enterprise for a period of two years. When in his twentieth year Mr. Bremer bade adieu to home and native land and came to America, whither his elder brother, Charles E., had preceded him, being now a pro- minent capitalist and business man of Aberdeen. South Dakota. Our subject passed about one year in Minnesota and the following three years were spent in South Dakota. When but twenty-one years of age he was appointed state agent for the John Gund Brewing Company, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and was incumbent of this responsible position for a term of two years, and since that time he has never worked on salary, having attained a position of inde- pendence and conducted operations on his own responsibility,-a fact that is significant, as indecatory of his exceptional business and executive ability. and the more notable by reason of the circunistance that when he came to the United States he had but slight knowledge of the English language. He was for a year engaged in agricultural operations in South Dakota, and at the ex- piration of that period, in January, 1888. he came to Washington. Here. associated with three others, he purchased the land upon which the town of
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Sidney, Kitsap county, is now located, and they became the founders of the town, platting the same and placing the lots upon the market. The village is now in a prosperous and thriving condition and its further advancement is assured. It should be noted in this connection that Mr. Bremer has bought and sold land in nearly every section of Kitsap county, being one of the prime factors in its development and his straightforward and honorable course is shown by the fact that he has never been compelled to enter into litigation with any person to whom he thus sold property. Ever since his arrival in Washington Mr. Bremer's principal field of business operations has been in Kitsap county, which is on the western shore of the Sound, and he has been conspicuously identified with the development of its resources, the building up of its towns and the advancing of its material interests. It is a recognized fact that in his real-estate transactions in that county he had done more busi- ness than that representing the aggregate of all other operators in this line, and he is well entitled to the distinction of being designated as one of the founders and builders of that section of our great commonwealth, while the statement made affords an idea of the great scope and importance of his work. In 1891 Mr. Bremer platted the town of Bremerton, in the county men- tioned, and through his energy, discrimination and far-sighted policy the de- velopment of this attractive village was brought about, while the town has an assuredly bright future before it, since he continued to be actively identified with its interests. At that point he sold to the federal government eighty- six acres of land at a sacrifice to himself of fifty dollars an acre, in order to insure the location of the naval station there, thus indicating his public spirit and showing his confidence that the future would justify his course, for a more eligible location for the navy yard on Puget Sound could not be found, and while he lost forty-three hundred dollars on the immediate transaction he firmly believed that his action was politic from a personal as well as general standpoint, and time is proving the wisdom of his attitude. This station has the only dry dock on the Pacific coast that will accomodate the largest type of war vessels, and the significance of this statement can not fail of appreciation even at a cursory glance. Mr. Bremer has not only thus brought about the development of town property, but he has also been extensively engaged in the handling of farming and timber lands in the county, usually buying the property outright and then placing it upon the market, while in numerous instances he has made valuable improvements before selling. He passes Wednesday and Saturday of each week in Bremerton, but maintains his home in the city of Seattle and has his office headquarters in the Bailey building, suite 404. In politics Mr. Bremer gives a stanch support to the Republican
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party, but he has never had personal ambition in a political way and has taken no active part in public affairs of this nature. His success has been of pro- nounced type and he is known as one of the representative young business men of the state, in whose future and greater precedence he has the utmost confidence, while a more loyal and enthusiastic citizen of the commonwealth cannot be found.
On the 25th of March, 1891, in the city of Seattle, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bremer to Miss Sophia Hensel, who was born in Portage, Wisconsin, a daughter of William Hensel, a well known business man of Seattle, and of this union three children have been born, namely: Matilda, William and Edward.
LYMAN B. ANDREWS.
To the energetic natures and strong mentality of such men as Lyman B. Andrews, is due the success and ever increasing prosperity of the Republi- can party in this state, and in the hands of this class of citizens there is every assurance that the best interests and welfare of the party will be attended to, resulting in a culmination of the highest ambitions and expectations enter- tained by its adherents. Given to the prosecution of active measures in political affairs, possessing the earnest purpose of placing their party beyond the pale of possible diminution of power, the Republican leaders in Washing- ton are ever advancing, carrying everything before them in their irriesistible onward march. Certainly one of the most potent elements in the success of the Republican movement in Washington has been exhibited in the personality of Lyman B. Andrews, who throughout his life has been a loyal citizen, imbued with patriotism and fearlessness in the defense of his honest convictions. He is now filling the position of receiver in the land office at Seattle. Other positions of trust have been filled by him with marked capability. Most loyally he has advocated the cause of the party whose principles he believes will best advance the welfare of the Nation.
Mr. Andrews was born in Ontario county, New York, February 10, 1829. His father, William Andrews, was a native of Connecticut, born April 17, 1804. The ancestral line can be traced back to John and Mary Andrews, who emigrated from England to the new world, settling in Connec- ticut in 1640. The line comes down from John and Mary through Daniel, Daniel, Joseph, Joseph, George and William to our subject. George An- drews, the grandfather, was born in Connecticut and on leaving the state of his nativity took up his abode in Rutland county, Vermont, whence he after-
18
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ward went to western New York. He was a ship carpenter, and also a house carpenter and joiner. William Andrews, the father of our subject, was mar- ried in the Empire state and was engaged in agricultural pursuits there but by trade was a brick layer and plasterer. He wedded Hannah Pierson who was descended from one of the old Holland Dutch families of New Jersey, whence representatives of the name came to the Empire state at an early day. Henry Pierson, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born May 16. 1752, and died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, on the fifteenth birthday of his grandson, Lyman B. He was one of the heroes of the Revo- lutionary war who fought for the independence of the nation and was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware on the bitterly cold Christmas night, surprising the troops at Trenton, and winning one of the glorious vic- tories of the war. William Andrews died at his home in Seattle in 1871, at the age of sixty-nine years, the family residence standing on the present site of the Lincoln apartment building, corner Fourth and Madison streets, His wife survived him about seven years, passing away in 1878.
In the public schools of his native state and later in an academy in Mich- igan, Lyman B. Andrews pursued his studies, the family having removed to the latter state in 1832, but in 1841 returned to New York in order to care for the maternal grandfather of our subject. The year 1844, however, again witnessed their arrival in Michigan. Mr. Andrews, of this review, was reared upon the home farm in the usual manner of lads of the period and afterward entered a machine shop where he learned the trade, being for a number of years thereafter employed as a machinist and railroad engineer on what is now the Lake Shore Railroad. He spent four or five years in Minnesota and in 1859 the entire family came to the Pacific cosat, journeying by way of New York and thence by steamer via the Isthmus of Panama to California.
In 1860 Mr. Andrews decided to go to a newer country and made his way to Seattle where, in connection with another man, he took contracts from the government for the surveys of public lands. He did considerable work of this character at a time when it was very hard to do surveying because of the dense timber growth. In 1863 he made the discovery of the coal prop- erty, now in possesion of the Pacific Coal & Iron Company, near Gilman. He homesteaded and secured four hundred acres of land which he owned and operated for several years and then sold the property for forty thousand dol- lars. His work in this direction led to investigations as to the richness of the coal deposits in this section of the country and subsequently to the discovery of other coal mines near Gilman and Newcastle.
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With the exception of the time spent upon the homestead at Gilman, Mr. Andrews has maintained his residence in Seattle and has seen it grow from a small place of one hundred and fifty white persons to its present extensive metropolitan proportions. He has also been a prominent factor in its indus- trial and commercial life and has contributed in no small degree to its im- provement and upbuilding. In early years he conducted a repair shop, his mechanical ability enabling him to do any kind of repair work, from that needed to repair the mechanism of a clock, up to that in demand in placing in order the most intricate and enlarged machinery. He had brought with him ยท many tools which he used in the conduct of his shop here. Mr. Andrews also built two residences in the city, but he spent twenty years at the corner of Fourth avenue and Madison street, the present site of the Lincoln apartment building. In 1890-91 he erected a fine residence on Queen Ann Hill, the grounds and house together costing about eighteen thousand dollars; which after four or five years he sold. He has purchased and sold considerable vacant and also improved property, both for himself and other parties, and in his real estate dealings he has met with creditable success.
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