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 53
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his adopted country. He followed the Union Pacific Railroad to Ogden, selling goods along the line and meeting with fair success in his undertaking. He then opened a store in Fremont, Nebraska, where he conducted a success- ful mercantile business for twenty years. The enterprise constantly grew in volume and importance until he found himself at the head of a large whole- sale drygoods business, and he left Fremont with a comfortable fortune. From there he came to Seattle in 1890 and invested in Seattle real estate, pur- chasing an undivided half interest in one hundred and sixty acres of land on Lake Union. The Denny-Fuhrman addition was then platted by our subject and Mr. D. T. Denny, and Mr. Fuhrman still has a large amount of the property, which has greatly increased in value since he made the original in- vestiment. From the time of his arrival in Seattle he has been engaged in the improvement and sale of his property and his interests are now valued at two hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Fuhrman was married in Chicago in 1873 to Miss Carrie Mayer. a native of Germany. He has erected one of the nicest homes in Seattle, where he now resides in the enjoyment of deserved peace and plenty. In politics he is a Republican and is a citizen of high integrity of character. In youth and manhood many a man has been buffeted by fortune, and almost unsurmount- able obstacles have seemed to stand in his path, but perseverance has over- thrown these and the man has gone forward to success. Such has been the history of Henry Fuhrman, who, at the time he attained his majority, came to the new world empty-handed and to-day is classed among the substantial citizens of the northwest.
FRANK A. HILL.
The lineage of the subject of this review, who is superintendent of the Renton mine, bespeaks long and prominent identification with the annals of American history, while representatives of the name have shown that intrin- sic loyalty and patriotism which has led them to take an active part in the great conflicts through which the republic was established and has been per- petnated. Mr. Hill has been conspicuously identified with the development and management of industrial enterprises in this state and elsewhere, is an expert in the line of his profession and is one of the distinctively representa- tive citizens and business men of Renton, being thus peculiarly entitled to definite consideration in a work of this character.
Mr. Hill is a native of lowa, having been born in the city of Muscatine, on the 29th of June, 1852. He comes of old Puritan stock, the original
J. Outiel
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American ancestors having taken up their abode in the New England colonies long prior to the war of the Revolution and being of English lineage. Mem- bers of the family rendered valiant services as soldiers in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution, and the name has been one of prominence in New England for many generations. The maternal grandfather of our subject was a sea captain, and he was lost at sea while on active duty as an officer of a sailing vessel. Sylvester G. Hill, the father of Frank 1. was born in the state of Rhode Island and married Martha J. Dyer, a native of Maine. He was a millman and cabinet-maker by vocation, having been the owner of a sawmill and a door and sash factory in Iowa, where he had taken up his residence about the year 1849. At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion he was one of the first to tender his services in defense of the Union, in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, enlisting as a private in an Iowa regiment and being elected captain of his company. Later he was appointed colonel of the Thirty-fifth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the Red river campaign and the siege of Vicksburg, and was with General Banks in pursuit of General Hood through Missouri. He was brevetted major general for brilliant services and met his death in the bat- tle of Nashville. His cherished and devoted wife survives him, having now attained the venerable age of eighty-four years, and at the time of his death she was left with eleven children, all of whom are living except one and all of whom give their loved and noble mother that deep filial solicitude which is her just due. The only representatives of the family in the state of Washington are the subject of this sketch and his sister Susie, who is the wife of Her- bert F. Clough, of Seattle.
Frank A. Hill was but twelve years of age at the time of his father's death, and his early education was obtained in the public schools of his native town, after which he took up the study of mining and civil engineering, in which he became thoroughly qualified, and he has successfully followed his profession in Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and Washington, gaining marked prestige by reason of his exact technical and practical knowledge and his ex- cellent administrative ability. He was the civil and mining engineer for the Oregon Improvement Company at the time of the Seattle fire and had charge of all its construction, having come to Washington for the purpose of taking charge of its work. In Iowa Mr. Hill was superintendent of mines for the American Coal Company, and later held similar relations with the Oregon Improvement Company, the Western American Company and Eureka Com- pany, finally entering the employ of the Seattle Electric Company, which now owns the mines at Renton. His experience has been wide and varied and his
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efforts have been attended with the most satisfactory results in the various connections where his able services have been enlisted. He became superin- tendent of the Renton mine in September. 1900, and during his regime he has increased its output from fifty to five hundred tons per day. This was the first coal mine to be opened in the state of Washington and it is still one of the most important in this section of the Union, having two veins,-one of six and one-half and the other of eight feet, and the product is a fine lignite coal.
Mr. Hill, who is familiarly known as "Captain Hill," is a worthy and appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, having been raised to the sub- lime degree of Master Mason in St. Andrew's Lodge No. 35. A. F. & .A. M1 .. of Renton, and taking a deep interest in its affairs. He has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for the past twenty years, while his political proclivities are indicated in the staunch support which he accords to the principles and policies of the Republican party, though the honors and emoluments of public office have never appealed to him and lie has never held political preferment in this line.
January 29. 1874. Captain Hill was united in marriage to Miss Mary Martin, who was born in Ohio, and departed this life in March, 1890, leaving one daughter, Clara A., who is now the wife of U. S. Personus, of Seattle. Mrs. Hill was a devoted wife and mother and had won the warm regard of a wide circle of friends, having been a woman of gentle and gracious refine- ment. In 1891 Mr. Hill consummated a second marriage, Miss Ella Martin, a sister of his first wife, being his choice, and they are the parents of four chil- dren,-Frank A., Hester, Leonora and Hobart W. Mrs. Hill presides with gracious dignity over the attractive home in Renton and taken a prominent part in the social activities of the city, being also a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Captain is honored for his sterling characteristics and his marked ability and is recognized as one of the most prominent citizens of Renton and as one whose efforts have contributed not a little to the industrial prosperity of the city and county.
CONFUCIUS L. WAYLAND.
In a rapidly growing country like the United States the term pioneer is subject to changed conditions, and can only be correctly used in a com- parative way. In long settled communities like many in Virginia and the New England states the pioncer is necessarily a thing of the past. There are none living, and those who first settled figure only in tradition or history.
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As advance is made into such states as Ohio and Kentucky eitlier the first settler lias passed away or he is apt to be an old man. Not so in new cities of young states like Washington. There the pioneer may see himself hon- ored at the "old settlers' meetings" though still a young man. These re- flections were suggested by the transcription of the name at the head of this paragraph. Although Mr. Wayland is still in middle life and though he first came to Seattle only twenty-two years ago, he is entitled to rank as an old settler. When he arrived Seattle had a population of only thirty-six hundred. There was but one street, and it was only cleared as far north as Pike, and Second avenue was only a wagon trail. . Everything was new and raw, and while with zeal characteristic of pioneers all looked forward to the time when Seattle would be a great metropolis, there was as yet little on which to base such a prediction. Mr. Wayland, therefore, has during his residence of a little over a score of years seen substantially the whole growth of Se- attle from a country town to the dimensions of a bustling capital, already en- joying the title of Queen City of Puget Sound and promising to reach pre- eminence in the oriental trade over all the cities of the Pacific coast.
Mr. Wayland is a native of what they call over in Indiana "the state of Boone," a locality celebrated in the dialect poems of James Whitcomb Riley under the pseudonym of "Benjamin F. Johnson." He is descended from a family which produced Francis Wayland, author of a political economy, whose father emigrated with a brother to this country from England and were of German descent. The last mentioned of these brothers was the great-great-grandfather of Confucius I .. The latter's great-grandfather, though the son of a slave holder, was opposed to the "peculiar institution." and in order to get rid of the infamy removed from Virginia to Kentucky. refusing to inherit any slave or slave-made wealth. During the subsequent conflicts over this question leading to the Civil war the Waylands were all found on the side of the abolitionists and the Union. George W. Way- land, grandson of the Virginia emigrant above mentioned, was born in Kentucky and followed the trade of harness-making, though he sold books and stationery in his later years. In 1858 he crossed the Ohio into Indiana. which was at that time decidedly raw and wild for a place of abode, as none of the splendid internal improvements which afterward gave the state such pre-eminence had as yet materialized. The newly arrived Kentuckian lo- cated in Boone county, where he took a strong stand against the upholders of slavery, copperheads, secessionists and all this kind of disloyal citizens. He served as postmaster of the town, and during the war. being physically incapable of going to the front, did good service as enrolling officer for the
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government. Ile was a religious man and active as a leader in the Metho- dist church, in which he was usually one of the members of the board of trustees. He married Nancy Kelley, daughter of a veteran soldier of the Civil war, by whom he had four children.
Confucius L. Wayland, youngest of this family and the only son, was born at Jamestown, Indiana, January 4, 1859, and besides the "little log schoolhouse" had the benefit of attendance at the Normal Institute in Dan- ville. His first venture on his own account was as teacher of a school in northwestern Illinois, which occupation he continued until his mind had been made up to try his fortunes in the northwest. It was in 1881 that he first appeared at Seattle, and shortly afterward he became a student in the' law office of Struve, Haines & Leary. This novitiate was followed in due time by courses at the National University in Washington, D. C., and the post-graduate law course in Georgetown University, D. C., his degree of Bachelor of Laws being received in 1889. In 1885 he had taken the civil service examination and was the first to receive a position in the classified service from Washington territory. In 1886 he was appointed as one of the clerks in the First Assistant Postmaster General's office, and since then has been connected with the postoffice department in one capacity or another. As postoffice inspector he began traveling from Washington, D. C., over Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, in 1890, then from Helena, Montana over Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota until 1897, then from Spokane, Washington, which last division comprises Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. He has visited nearly every locality in the states of the Helena and Spokane divisions which has a postoffice, and many which are without that indispensable agent of civilization. For seven years he averaged fifty thousand miles annually in Montana, North Dakota and Idaho, about three thousand of which were traveled in stage coaches. He has made nine round-trips to Alaska and visited seventy widely scattered offices in that remote territory. In 1899 he went from Valdez, Alaska, to the Yukon river on horseback, the first horse- back trip made from tide water to the Yukon on American soil. An evidence of the rapid growth of Seattle is furnished by the fact that when Mr. Way- land first carne here he for a while relieved the former postoffice clerk and carried on the business of the office during the afternoons without assistance. At the present time this same postoffice has one hundred and sixty employes.
On June 28. 1882. Mr. Wayland was married to Miss Helen, daughter of the late John K. Hall, member of the surveyor general's staff. at Olympia. and by this union there are three children : Russell G., a student at the State
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University ; George Hall, in Seattle high school; and Margaret. Aside from his official business Mr. Wayland has made considerable investments in real estate, some of which has been improved by building, and he also owns farm- ing property in King and Whatcom counties.
ALVIN M. HEMRICH.
Practical industry wisely and vigorously applied never fails of success. It carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character and powerfully stimulates the actions of others. It is this unflagging spirit of industry that has laid the foundations and built the commercial greatness of the northwest, and the career of him whose name intiates this paragraph illus- trates most forcibly the possibilities that are open to a young man who pos- sesses sterling business qualifications, and it proves that ambitious persever- ance, steadfast purpose and indefatigable industry, as combined with the ob- servanee of sound business principles, will eventuate in the attaining of a defi- nite and worthy success. Mr. Hemrich, who is president and manager of the Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company, an important industrial enterprise in thic city of Seattle, is a young man of singular force of character and one who stands representative of that insistent and well directed energy which has brought about the development of the magnificent metropolis of the north- west. That he should be accorded specific mention in a work of this nature needs not be said.
Alvin M. Hemrich was born in the town of Alma, Buffalo county., Wis- consin. on the 14th of February, 1870, a son of John and Catherine ( Koep- pel) Hemrich, both of whom were born in Germany. The father was for many years engaged in the brewing business at Alma, Wisconsin, and he was seventy-three years old when he died, while his wife is still living. Alvin passed his boyhood days in Wisconsin and secured his early educational dis- cipline in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he assumed charge of the business founded by his father in Alma and conducted the same for two years, becoming thoroughly familar with all details pertaining thereto. . \t the ex- piration of the period noted he engaged in the brewing business on his own responsibility in the town of Durand, Wisconsin, and there he successfully continued operations until the year 1890, when he disposed of his interests and came to Seattle, where his parents had located some time previously. After his arival in Washington Mr. Hemrich proceeded to Victoria, British Columbia, where for two years he held the position of manager of the Vic- toria Brewing Company. He then returned to Seattle and became foreman
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for the Albert Braun Brewing Association, retaining this incumbency one year, when the business was closed out, and he then took a similar position with the Bay View Brewing AAssociation, in whose employ he continued for four years, being finally compelled to resign by reason of failing health, and he then passed some time in travel. principally in California. After recuper- ating his energies through this period of rest and recreation Mr. Hemrich re- turned to Seattle and here purchased the plant and business of the old Slorah brewery, located on Howard avenue, between Republican and Mercer streets, and there he conducted business for six months, at the expiration of which he became associated with his brother Louis, of whom mention is made on an- other page, and with Julius Damus, in the organization of the Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company, which was duly incorporated under the laws of the state on the 4th of February. 1899, and under the effective management of these interested principals the business has been built up to a most success- ful standpoint. the equipment of the plant being of the most approved modern type. while every detail of manufacture receives the most careful and discrim- inating attention on the part of our subject and his brother, both of whom are experts in this line of industry. The result is that the products of the brew- ry, including lager and porter, are of exceptional excellence, thus gaining a popularity which augurs for the increasing expansion and growth of the busi- ness. From the brewery are sent forth each year about thirty-five thousand barrels. and in the prosecution of the business in its various departments em- ployment is afforded to a corps of about seventy-five capable workmen None but the best material is utilized in the processes of manufacture, the malt being secured from Wisconsin and California, and the hops being the most select products from Bohemia and from the state of Washington, whose prestige in this line is well known. The present company have made import- ant changes in the equipment of the plant, having installed the latest im- proved accessories and having greatly augmented the productive capacity. Alvin M. Henrich has been president of the company from the time of its organization, and the success of the enterprise is in large measure due to his able and well directed efforts. In November, 1901, Mr. Hemrich effected the purchase of the property of the Aberdeen Brewing Company at Aberdeen, this state, and he began the operation of the plant shortly afterward, having organized a stock company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars, he himself being president of the company.
Mr. Hemrich is well and most favorably known in connection with the business activities of the city of Seattle, and is esteemed as a straightforward. capable business man. He has made judicious investments in local real estate
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and is one of the most loyal adinirers and enthusiastic citizens of his adopted city. His beautiful residence, which he erected in 1898, is located at 503 Melrose avenue, and is one of the most attractive of the many fine homes for which Seattle is justly noted. Fraternally Mr. Hemrich is identified with the Sons of Hermann, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles, the Red Men, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. while his wife is a member of the Rebekah lodge of the Odd Fellows. Mr. Hemrich enjoys marked popularity in both business and social circles, being a man of genial presence and unfailing courtesy in all the rela- tions of life, and his home is one in which a refined hospitality is ever in dis- tinctive evidence. On the 8th of May, 1890, Mr. Hemrich was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Rutschow, who was born in Germany, being the daughter of Charles and Minnie (Benecke) Rutschow, both of whom were born in Prussia. Mr. and Mrs. Hemrich have two sons, Elmer E. and Andrew L.
THOMAS E. JONES.
Seattle is proud to name as one of her citizens Thomas E. Jones, who is engaged in contracting, pile-driving and wharf-constructing on a large scale, having successfully done work for some of the largest concerns in that city. He was born in Livingston county, Illinois, August 2. 1856, a son of Thomas A. and Minerva (Darnall) Jones, natives of New Jersey and Ken- tucky, respectively. The maternal grandfather of our subject was one of the early pioneers of Illinois, Van Buren M. Darnall, and he had the dis- tinction of being the first white settler in Livingston county, having re- moved to that county some years before the Black Hawk war. Here he lived for many years, and at the time of his death was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens in that portion of the state. Thomas A. Jones removed to Livingston county in his youth, and here grew to man- hood. Successful in business, Mr. Jones also turned his attention to poli- tics, and became well known and honored among the politicians of the coun- ty. In 1883 he moved to Seattle, where he invested in real estate. and in partnership with his son. Thomas E., engaged in the wholesale ice business. This proved to be amply remunerative until his death, which occurred in October. 1895. Mrs. Jones died November 11, 1902.
Thomas E., the only son in a family of four children, was reared in his native county, and received his education in the schools there, later attend- ing the state normal school. He early became associated with his father in
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business, and it is to this close intimacy with his father both in business and private life that Mr. Jones attributes his business success. .A relationship existed between them which is as rare as it is sweet, and which could not but insure a strong and noble character. Mr. Jones is extensively engaged in contracting for pile and wharf work, and has performed a great deal of the important work in that line for the Centennial Mill Company, the Stetson Post Mill Company, the Seattle Electric Company. He built the Yesler wharf both before and after the disastrous fire of 1889, and in fact has done a great majority of the work in that county, not excluding Moran's work.
Mr. Jones is as well known in political circles as in business life, and this is saying much. In 1888 he was elected to the city council, serving until 1890. He served as chairman of the street committee, and for four years was one of the fire commissioners. He has always followed the time-lion- ored customs of his fathers in voting for the Democratic candidates in na- tional affairs, but is liberal and independent in matters of local significance. Mr. Jones purchased his present residence at 315 Blanchard avenue in 1886. where he has a comfortable, modern home, in which much taste and good judgment are displayed in the plain though comfortable furnishings. He also owns several fine farms in different portions of King county, which are well improved and highly cultivated. December 25, 1876, was a fitting day to celebrate the marriage of Thomas E. Jones to Clara Vincent, daughter of Mrs. T. D. Vincent, of Livingston county, Illinois. To them have been born five children, as follows: Lilla V., Olive E., L. Dee. Carl H. and Thomas C. Mr. Jones' popularity is evinced by the many friends he has made, and his home is the center of a cultivated and refined circle, which widens daily.
WILLIAM STANLEY.
William Stanley is the senior member of the firm of William Stanley & Company, in which he is associated with his son, Samuel L., and they are prominent and well known railroad contractors and brokers. They also have large mining interests in Alaska, and are numbered among the successful business men of the northwest.
William Stanley was born in county Limerick, Ireland, in 1844. being a son of John and Catherine ( Lochlin ) Stanley, both also natives of the Ein- erald Isle and devout members of the Roman Catholic church. In 1850 they emigrated to America, bringing with them their three children, two sons and a d'unghter, and a location was made at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New
Nom Stanley
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York. The father was a prominent educator and also a musician of ability. His life's labors were ended in death in 1859, when sixty years of age. and he was survived by his loving wife until 1874, when she, too, was called to the liome beyond.
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