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 61
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His first teaching was done at Lisbon, and later he had charge of a school at Lexington, Illinois, but meantime he assisted in the publication of an educational work in Chicago. At an early period in his career Pro- fessor Anderson exhibited that talent. as rare as it is useful, for taking hold of run-down institutions and rehabilitating them by expert executive man- agement, coupled with thorough instruction. This happened not once but several times, and it was in such crises as these that he found use for the business knowledge early acquired, which is seldom united in the same per- son with the talent for teaching. . When. in 1861. he took charge of the Fowler Institute at Newark, Illinois, it had but six pupils, but this number
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had been increased to three hundred when Professor Anderson resigned after an arduous experience of six years.
But after many years of successful teaching in Illinois Professor Ander- son decided that it was his duty to come to the northwest and give this com- paratively new section the benefit of his experience as an educator. It was a decision, however, which cost a great sacrifice, as he was to get but twelve hundred dollars in his new field as against eighteen hundred dollars already being received in his home state, and an increase to two thousand dollars if he would agree to remain. He had made up his mind, however, and in 1869. upon the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, he abandoned the field of his former labors and turned his face toward the setting sun. His first charge in the northwest was as principal of Tualitin Academy, an endowed Congregational institution at Forest Grove, Oregon, and the pre- paratory department of the Pacific University. Marked success was achieved in this position, but after four years as principal and one as pro- fessor of mathematics in the university he accepted a call to Portland. At this capital he served two years as principal of the Central school and the fol- lowing one as principal of the high school, all the time adding to his reputa- tion both as an instructor and executive official. About this time Professor Anderson had an opportunity to display his genius for renovating decayed institutions, heretofore mentioned as one of his marked characteristics. The university established by the territory of Washington was in a languishing state, having failed several times and then been tried as a private school, but
never proving a success. Though the largest building in Seattle it had been ciosed some time when, in 1871, Professor Anderson was invited by the re- gents to become president and endeavor to revive this moribund establish- ment. At first he and his wife were the only teachers, but at the end of six months they were joined by their son. Charles M. As pupils increased new teachers were added in the various departments and soon signs of life began to be manifest in this lately enfeebled institution. Owing to former failures the legislature was reluctant to extend pecuniary aid, but by herculean effort in Olympia at the winter session Professor Anderson, assisted by some of the regents, prevailed upon the legislature to lend a helping hand. An annual appropriation of two thousand dollars, extending for two years, was granted. but this was coupled with a promise that by the first of March there should be in attendance thirty free scholars to be appointed by members of the legis- lature. It took the hardest kind of work to comply with this feature of the act, but the effort was successful and two years at least provided for. The next legislature, however, adjourned without making a continuing appropri-
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ation, and Professor Anderson was at his wits' end to devise some scheine to keep his school going. At this point of desperation, however, as often hap- pens in the affairs of men, the "good angel" appeared with timely assist- ance. The superior nature of the work done in reviving the collapsed in- stitution had attracted the attenion of many, and, among others, of Henry Villard, the then powerful president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- pany. This enterprising gentleman kindly came to the rescue, and for the next two years gare his personal check for the same amount previously given by the legislature. In the meantime President Anderson had got the courses of instruction up to the regular collegiate standard, and the institution was well upon its feet. so that the next legislature did not hesitate to furnish the necessary funds. Pupils were in attendance from all sections of the terri- tory and some from the state of Oregon. Normal and business classes were graduated in 1880 and college classes in 1881 and 1882. When President Anderson resigned at the end of this school year there were over three hun- dred pupils, and the institution had been re-established upon a permanent basis.
Whitman Seminary was the scene of Professor Anderson's next and, as it proved, final labors in the field of practical education. This institution had been established by Cushing Eells in honor of Marcus Whitman, whose his- toric journey over the Rocky mountains to Washington in the winter of 1842-43 is regarded as the main factor in saving Oregon to the Union. Upon his advent, in 1882. as presiding genius of this institution Professor Anderson had the name changed to Whitman College, and the freshman class of that year constituted the first graduates in 1886. The second year was marked by the erection of a large building, at the present time called Old College Hall, but for years it was the place where all of Whitman's educa- tional work was conducted. The same year brought from the legislature the amended charter, which vastly enlarged the scope, facilities and oppor- tunities of the college. Under President Anderson's quickening touch the institution grew apace, increased steadily in prosperity, and its graduates were in demand both in business and professional circles. The great educa- tional institutions of the east set their approval upon the thorough training received at Whitman, and by general concensus the extraordinary merit of its revivor was warmly acknowledged. After nine years of hard. conscien- tions and faithful labor performed as its president Professor Anderson re- tired from the control of Whitman College, and thus ended his active edu- cational career of thirty-five years' duration. Though cherishing most pleasant recollections of all the schools he has had in charge, Professor An-
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derson reverts with especial fondness to the days spent at "Old Whitman," which he regards as the special child of his creation. This sentiment on his part is freely reciprocated by the alumini and students who enjoyed the rare advantages of his administration and learned to love him as the head of their alma mater.
In the fall of 1856 Professor Anderson was united in marriage with Miss Louisa M. Phelps, whose birth occurred on the shores of the lovely Lake Chautauqua, seat of the famous school of learning that bears its name. Mrs. Anderson is of distinguished lineage, her ancestors having come from England and settled in Massachusetts a few years after the founding of Boston. The six children are as follows: Charles M., president of the An- derson Engineering Company at Seattle; Oliver P., president of the Ander- son Supply Company of Seattle; Louis F., professor of Greek in Whitman College, being the first graduate from the classical course in the University of Washington; Alexander Jay, Jr., deceased; George P., principal of a pri- vate school in Seattle; Helen H., wife of F. N. McCandless, state agent of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. It might be well to add in conclusion that among the honors conferred upon Professor Anderson was the degree of A. M., in cursu, by Knox College before he left Illinois, and the honorary degree of Ph. D. by the Pacific University in 1883. after his fame had been established in the northwest.
MORITZ THOMSEN.
The business development of Seattle has been almost phenomenal. Comparatively few years have passed since the establishment of a railroad here to bring the city into closer connection with the outside world, but the country abounded in splendid resources and there came to this district men of enterprise and ability who recognized the possibilities here and have labored for the general good as well as individual prosperity. There have sprung 11p industries and enterprises of all kinds, utilizing the resources of the country, and to-day Seattle takes its place among the leading manufacturing cities not only upon the Pacific coast but of the country. Mr. Thomsen is a rep- resentative of the manufacturing interests here, being extensively engaged in the operation of the Centennial Flouring Mills. In addition to these at Se- attle he owns another large mill at Spokane, the combined product being forty-five, hundred barrels of flour per day. He has established a large trade with the Orient, having shipped over two million sacks of flour to the far east.
Mr. Thomsen is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in
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Tondern, twenty-five miles from Hamburg, on the 28th of July, 1850. He comes of one of the old families of the fatherland, and his parents were Chris- tian and Maria (Nissen ) Thomsen, who were farming people of Germany. respected by reason of their genuine worth. They held membership in the Lutheran church, and the father died in 1880 at the age of fifty-seven years, while his wife. surviving him for some time, departed this life in 1895. at the age of sixty-four years. They were the parents of eight children, of whom six are living, but Mr. Thomsen is the only one in the state of Washington.
In the schools of his native country Moritz Thomsen acquired his early education, and in 1864, when fourteen years of age, he went to sea. From that time forward his knowledge was gained in the school of experience, but the life which he chose brought to him much information. He sailed for fourteen years, visiting every country upon the face of the globe, and as the vessel stopped in different ports he learned much of interest concerning differ- ent countries, their peoples and the manners and customs followed there. An active and intelligent young man, faithful to duty and applying himself closely to the work entrusted to him, he won promotion from time to time until at the age of twenty years he became mate of the vessel. His sea ex- periences. however, ended in 1870, for he determined to become a resident of the land of the free. He sailed to California and for about nineteen years remained in the Golden state. In 1889 he went to Spokane. Washington, where he engaged in the milling business and inet with marked success there. This led him to extend the field of his operations and in 1897 he came to Seattle to construct the Centennial Flouring Mills. He secured six acres of land here, formed a company and incorporated the Central Milling Company. of which he is the principal stockholder and the president. Since he em- barked in his milling enterprises he has been four times to the Orient. spend- ing four years in all in eastern countries. There he won a wide acquaint- ance, and a splendid demand for his flour has since been made. He makes extensive shipments there and has also secured a good sale for his products in Seattle. His milling interests have been of the greatest benefit to the cities in which they are located, promoting the commercial prosperity and giving em- ployment to many operatives in the mills. Such is the business capacity and enterprise of Mr. Thomsen that he does not confine himself wholly to inilling interests, but is a stockholder in the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company and also in the Spokane Brewing & Malting Company, both of which con- cerns are doing an extensive and profitable business.
In 1875 occurred the marriage of Mr. Thomsen and Miss Maria Nisen, a native of Germany. They now have five children. as follows : Anna,
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Ing, Minnie, Theresa and Charles. Mr. Thomsen is not only a successful business man but is also a genial and social gentleman and this had led to his connection with the Masonic fraternity. He has become a member of the organization in all of the various branches, including blue lodge, coun- cil, chapter and commandery, and in the Scottish rite he has attained the thirty-second degree. Having decided to make a home in Seattle, he has purchased one of the finest residences in the city. It is notable in a city which is famous for its beautiful homes, standing in the midst of splendid grounds. It is located on the corner of Madison and Terry avenues within a few min- utes' ride on the Madison street-car line to the center of Seattle's business section. Mr. Thomsen's career is but another evidence of what the Teutonic race is accomplishing. It has ever been a most important element in carry- ing forward the work of civilization in the new districts. In introducing measures and methods resulting in progress and improvement, his unremit- ting diligence directed by sound intelligence, his methods at all times in har- mony with the strictest commercial ethics these have been the salient features in his splendid prosperity.
GEORGE C. CARMAN.
George C. Carman is a well known and reliable business man of Seat- tle, Washington, now enjoying a large trade as a dealer in fruit and vege- tables. A Canadian, he was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, on the 2d of December, 1832, and is a son of Richard Carman, who was born in Eng- land and emigrated to New Brunswick when a young man, but his last days were spent in New York, whither he removed with his family. He was an honest and industrious farmer and an active member of the Episcopal church. in which he led the singing for many years, being possessed of considerable musical talent. In early manhood he married Miss Elizabeth Scott, who was of Scotch ancestry, and to them were born four children. Of these our subject was the youngest, being only two weeks old at the time of his mothi- er's death. He has one brother still living, James, a resident of New Jersey.
In his native province George C. Carman was reared and educated, as- sisting in the work of the home farm during the summer season and attend- ing school during the winter months. In 1860 he went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and located in Mariposa county, where he was employed in one of General John C. Fremont's quartz mills. Later Mr. Carman engaged in placer mining on his own account but with only very moderate success.
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In 1862 was celebrated his marriage to Miss Abby L. AAbbot, a daughter of Stephen Abbot, a native of Wilton, New Hampshire, who was one of the California pioneers of 1850. Mr. Abbot was joined by a part of his family in 1854, and two years later Mrs. Carman arrived on the Pacific coast. Iler niother bore the maiden name of Nancy W. Beede and was a daughter of Rev. Thomas Beede, a Unitarian minister of note in the east. The Beedes were an old New England family. To Mr. and Mrs. Carman were born three children; Edwin, the eklest, died in early childhood. The surviving children are Elizabeth, now the wife of J. W. Swope, and 'Stephen .\. Car- man.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Carman resided in Hunter's valley, Mariposa county, removing to Antioch, Contra Costa county, in 1864, where Mr. Carman engaged in general merchandising. In 1889 he came to Seattle, just after the great fire at this place, and after a time engaged in his present business at the Fulton Market, where by honorable methods and close atten- tion to the wants of his customers he has built up a very successful business, and numbers among his customers many of the best citizens of Seattle. In politics Mr. Carman is a stanch Republican, and is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an upright, honorable business man, and well merits the high regard in which he is uniformly held.
PAUL HOPKINS.
Among the important industries of the young but growing city of Bal- lard is the boiler works of Hopkins & Son, which were started on a very modest scale about fourteen years ago but have so increased in dimensions as to rank among the largest establishments of the kind in the state. The founder and principal proprietor is an expert iron worker and machinist who had an extensive training in positions of responsibility in the east and brought to his adopted home a ripened experience which has proved of value both to himself and others. He is a fine type of the kind of men whose energy and genius in the mechanic arts have brought about that wonderful development of the United States in manufactures that has astonished the civilized world. While Mr. Hopkins has not done it all. of course, he has done his part, and it is the aggregate of the results such as he has accom- plished which gives the nation its pre-eminence in all that relates to the metal trades. What he has done for himself and what he has done for Ballard will appear as the details of his career are unfolded.
William Hopkins was formerly a man of means in England and was
Paul Hofterms
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extensively engaged in transportation on the river Thames. He owned numerous teams and employed a large number of workmen, features of his work being the handling of coal used by the college of Oxford and furnish- ing timber for the government's ship-building yards. But he was overtaken by ill fortune, and, having lost all his property as the result of adverse finan- cial circumstances, he determined to cross the ocean and make a new start in the United States. This resolve was carried out in 1849, and after his arrival he made his way to the west and engaged in boating on the Illionis river. This occupation he followed without change until his death in 1877. He married Susannah Riddle. and when he left his native land was accom panied by a number of children, which by subsequent increases amounted to ten, consisting of seven sons and three daughters. It is with the youngest member of this family that this sketch is especially concerned as he is the gentleman aow so prominent in industrial circles at Ballard.
Paul Hopkins was born in England in 1843, and was consequently but six years old when the parental emigration was made to America. Owing to the straightened circumstances of his father, but little time could be de- voted to books, and at a very early age the hoy found it necessary to work for a living. His first juvenile venture was entered upon in the eleventh year of his age and consisted of a job of firing for a planing mill at LaSalle. Illinois This novitiate lasted about three years and gave place to a posi- tion on a tug boat on the Chicago river, which Paul considered himself as quite fortunate to have secured. He spent several years in the grimy work of firing for the fussy tug, but by another fortune chance succeeded in get- ting employment at the McCormick Reaper Works. The experience ob- tained there enabled Mr. Hopkins to step still a little higher, and next we find him with a good situation as boiler-maker in the shops of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. This place was retained seven years. during which Mr. Hopkins made steady advances in his knowledge of metal. work- ing. and when he left Chicago it was only for the purpose of continuing in the same ime of employment at Milwaukee He remained. however, but a short time at the Wisconsin metropolis, and after working for awhile as boiler-maker in an establishment at Manitowoc he returned to Chicago. Subsequently he did repair work for the South Side Rolling Mill Company. and later took a position as machinist in the steel works at Joliet, which he retained about eight years. His next venture was on his own account as proprietor of some iron works at Manistce. Michigan, which he operated eight years, and this ended his career in the eastern states. Having heard much of the Puget Sound country and the possibilities of the great north-
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west Mr. Hopkins decided in 1887 to cast his lot with this "bloonung" sec- tion of the Union. His first intention was to stop at Tacoma, but later he decided to go on to Seattle, and after arriving there he secured work as a journeyman, but at the same time conducted a small grocery store as a side line. In the spring of 1888 he purchased three lots on the bay and erected thereon a small building, the lumber for which Mr. Hopkins and his assist- ants carried on their backs. At that time there were but few buildings at Ballard, which then gave little promise of its subsequent development. But the modest Hopkins shop grew rapidly, both in dimensions and patron- age, until eventually it became an extensive and valuable plant. It was soon found necessary to put up larger buildings, and those in which the firm's business is now carried on are quite imposing both in size and area occupied. The boiler shop is sixty by ninety-eight feet and the foundry and machine shop is sixty by one hundred and five feet, frontage on the rail- road. The establishment gives employment to thirty-six persons and does a large amount of work for Seattle and other towns in the vicinity. They build gas works, tanks for paper mills, boilers for boats, and other machin- ery of a costly character. Some notable jobs have been turned off by this establishment, including a burner for the Stimsons, which was thirty feet in diameter, sixty-one feet high and required sixty-four tons of iron for its construction. They made the large boilers put in the Tilicum, the Rapid Transit and the steamer Dode, besides marine boilers for many other boats. This firm did the work in their line for the Grand Opera House at Seattle and that of the Diamond Ice Company plant, which consumed seventy-five tons of iron. Many of the residences in Ballard, especially those near their works, were erected or finished by this firm, and Mr. Hopkins himself owns a fine house of fourteen rooms on Ballard avenue.
In 1866 Mr. Hopkins was married at Milwaukee, to Isabelle Highland. a lady of English nativity and of excellent family. Her father. John High- land, served as an engineer during the Civil war, and was awarded a medal for spiking the enemy's guns in one of their ports under circumstances of . exceptional danger. Six of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hop- kins are living. Edward J .. a partner of the Ballard Iron Works Company. married Marcia Alma Sprague and has three children. Eliza Isabelle, who is bookkeeper at the works, is serving her second term as president of the Epworth League. Paul G., who resides at Fairhaven, married Sarah Ward and has one child. Frank Frederick, who is one of the boiler-makers in the boiler works, married Agnes Marie Faber Hannah Maud is a teacher in the Ballard schools. John Arthur is a student at the State University.
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where he is taking a course in civil engineering and is preparing for a course in mechanical draughting. Mrs. Hopkins is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah and the Woman's Relief Corps, while her husband's fraternal connections are with the Odd Fellows and Maccabees. Mr. Hopkins is in- dependent in his political views, and the only office he has held was member- ship for a short time in the city council.
GEORGE U. PIPER.
History concerns itself mostly with the men who have had to do with the political and military interests of the country, but biography treats of those busy toilers in the affairs of life who form the true strength of the nation. It is the men who are successful and enterprising in the business world that bring prosperity and advancement to a community, and of this class Mr. Piper is a worthy representative. He was born in Warsaw, Indi- ana, on the 2d of May, 1866. and is of Scotch-Irish and Dutch ancestry. His paternal grandfather was born in Scotland, but when a young man he left his home across the sea and came to America. He was here married to the daughter of Thomas Buck, who nobly served his country in the Revolu- tionary war, and he, too, was of Trish descent, while religiously he was an Episcopalian.
Mr. and Mrs. Piper made their home for a time in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where their son, William G., was born on the 8th of August, 1830. He married Miss Hattie Droud, a native daughter of Washington county, and she was of old Holland Dutch ancestry, who were early settlers of Pennsylvania and participants in the early history of the locality. William G. Piper became a prominent member of the legal profession. In 1876 he removed with his family to Albany. Oregon, and thence to Salem, that state, where for several years he held the office of prosecuting attorney. Later he took up his abode in Moscow, Idaho, where he was made judge of the dis- trict court in 1888, and 1896 was again elected to that important office. . \f- ter his retirement from that position he came to Seattle, and in this city he continued his law practice until his life's labors were ended in death, on the 21st of September, 1899, after a long and useful career. Upon the organiza- tion of the Republican party he became an ardent supporter of its principles. and when the great Civil war burst upon the country he was one of the first to offer his services to the Union cause and was made a colonel of an Indi- ana regiment which he assisted in organizing. By his fiery eloquence he induced many to volunteer in the defense of the starry banner, and in many
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