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 7
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Returning to his home in Adams county, Ohio, Mr. Taylor was elected sheriff of the county on the Republican ticket in 1863, and creditably filled that office for four years, after which he was engaged in mercantile business in West Union, the county seat of Adams county, until 1873, when he was again elected sheriff. He also served as master commissioner and deputy United States marshal, and acquired a wide and favorable reputation throughout his section of the state. He entered upon the duties of his office as sheriff in January, 1874, and this time served most acceptably for two years.
In 1875 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Clara S. Mullon, who was also born in Adams county and is a daughter of T. J. Mullon, a member of the bar of Brown county, Ohio. Unto them were born three children, namely: Anna S., John L. and Louis Hicks.
At the close of his second term as sheriff, Mr. Taylor resumed mer- chandising at West Union, and also served as postmaster of that place dur- ing President Arthur's administration. He continued in business there until 1890, when he sold out and came to Seattle, Washington, arriving here on the 6th of January, that year. He at once became connected with James H. Wilson in the pension agency, but has now been alone in that business for some years. In 1894 he was appointed license inspector for the city and elected a member of the city council, to which office he has since been re- elected on three different occasions. He is now filling a four years' term. and is very active in promoting the best interests of the city of his adop- tion. He took a very prominent part in securing the municipal ownership of the splendid water system of Seattle, whereby the city now has an inex- haustible supply of pure mountain water, there being no better system in any city in the Union. For the past seven years Mr. Taylor has been actively identified with all the improvements that have made Seattle the delightful city which we to-day see. Politically he has been a life-long and ardent Re-
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publican, and fraternally is an honored member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Legion, and the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been a very prominent and influential member of the post at Seattle since its organization, has taken an active part in all of its work and for the past five years has been chairman of the relief committee. Public-spirited and enterprising, he is recognized as a valued citizen of the community, and well merits the high regard in which he is universally held.
FRANK H. RENICK.
The rapid growth of Seattle in recent years, the introduction of vast and undaunted. John Hamilton Renick. the grandfather, removed from made a great demand for property and has enlisted in the real-estate field many business men of marked ability and keen discrimination. As a mem- ber of the firm of F. H. Renick & Company, his partner being John C. Wat- rous, Frank Hamilton Renick is successfully conducting real-estate opera- tions, placing investments and selling property. He is also doing a loan and insurance business and his efforts are bringing to him creditable pros- perity.
A native of Hartford, Connecticut. he was born August 4. 1864, and is of English and Welsh ancestry, the family having been established in Pennsylvania at a very early period. Robert Renick, the great-grandfather, was a soldier in the war for independence and served through the Mad River campaign, in which he won the reputation of being an intrepid fighter. brave and undaunted. John Hamilton Renick, the grandfather, removed from the Keystone state to Springfield, Ohio, and there took up government land, becoming one of the first settlers in that portion of the state. Subsequently he removed to Bellefontaine, Logan county, where he reared his family of seven children. He was a Presbyterian in his religious belief and a Whig in political faith in early life, but when that party ceased to have an exist- ence he joined the ranks of the new Republican party. His death occurred when he was seventy-four years of age.
James Henry Renick, his son and the father of our subject, was born in Huntsville, Ohio, in 1832, and when he had reached adult age he married Josephine Sophia Dunklee. a native of Plymouth, New Hampshire. She was of English descent, her ancestors having come to America during the colonial epoch in our country's history. Mr. and Mrs. Renick removed to Hartford, Connecticut. and later to Brooklyn, New York, where they re- mained tintil our subject was eight years of age, when they went to Port
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Huron, Michigan. Some years afterward they removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where the father died in 1874. He had for many years been prominently engaged in lumbering and had sold large amounts of lumber to the govern- ment, doing an extensive and prosperous business. In religious faith he was 2. Presbyterian, was an excellent citizen and an upright, reliable business man. His wife still survives and is now in the fifty-ninth year of her age. She resides in Detroit, Michigan. In the family were four children, three of whom are living: Grace is the wife of S. T. McGraw, of Detroit, Mich- igan, a member of a very prominent family of that city. Carrie has become the wife of Frank W. Osborne, a prominent citizen of Detroit and descended from one of its oldest families.
In the schools of Concord, New Hampshire, and Buffalo, New York, Mr. Renick of this review pursued his education. For her second husband his mother married Egbert C. Bradford, the partner of her first husband. There was one child by that marriage, Walter G. Bradford. The family resided in Detroit and our subject attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College of that city, after which he became very active in the manufacture of lumber, also acquiring a practical and intimate knowledge of the business in all its departments from the purchase of the logs to the operation of the mills, the bookkeeping and the sales made.
On the 13th of April, 1888, Mr. Renick arrived in Seattle with the intention of continuing in the lumber business, but an outlook over the busi- ness opportunities of the city decided him to turn his attention to real-estate dealing, in which he has since been successfully engaged. He was here during the great fire of 1889 and since that time has been an active factor in the rapid and substantial growth of the city, which emerged from the ashes to take its place as the queen city of the northwest. He passed through the financial panic successfully and has platted and sold several additions to the city. The business of the firm has grown constantly since its organize- tion and they have become investors for prominent eastern business men and have acquired a high reputation for ability and trustworthiness.
In 1889 Mr. Renick was married to Miss Alice Caldwell, a native of California and a daughter of Dr. Robert G. Caldwell, now deceased. This union has been blessed with two children: Josephine Bradford and Grace Frances. The parents are valued and helpful members of the Baptist church. In politics Mr. Renick takes quite an active and influential part and is now treasurer of the Republican city central committee. He belongs to St. John Lodge. No. 9. F. & A. M .: Scattle Chapter, No. 3. R. A. M., and is a mem- ber of the Order of Foresters. While an enterprising and active business
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man, he is also interested in scientific research and investigation, especially along the line of ornithology, and has made a large collection of the eggs of Washington birds. His study in this direction has resulted in furnishing to the United States valuable information on the subject and he was the means of correcting a mistake made in the Smithsonian Institute, proving to them that the eggs which were labeled those of the black swift were the eggs of the purple martin. His varied interests have made Mr. Renick a well rounded character. He is not so abnormally developed in any one direc- tion as to be called a genius, but his business life, supplemented by study and research, by political work and the pleasures of social life, have made his a strong manhood. His business reputation is unassailable and among his many friends he is popular because of his genial and courteous manner.
JOHN H. CLOSSON.
John H. Closson, of the drug firm of Closson & Kelly, of Seattle, has been a resident of this city since April, 1889, and during all this time he has held the respect and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. He claims Vermont as the state of his nativity, his birth there occurring on the 14th of August, 1866, and he is descended from English ancestry, who for about six generations have resided in the United States. His father's mater- nal grandfather, Ichabod Safford, served as a member of the Vermont mili- tia during the Revolutionary war. His great-grandfather Closson was a prominent divine, while his paternal grandfather followed the legal profes- sion as a life occupation, and his granduncle, H. W. Closson, was a graduate of West Point and rendered his country valiant services as a soldier during the great Civil war. For generations the family have been identified with the Con- gregational church, and they have ever been people of the highest respectability and worth. The father of our subject, Gershom Closson, has for many years been numbered among the leading business men of Springfield. Ver- mont, and he has now reached the age of sixty-three years. He married Miss Lina Loveland, a native of the Empire state, and also a member of an old English family, who were among the early settlers of Connecticut. Her fa- ther was a prominent manufacturer. She had now reached the age of sixty years, and is the mother of two sons, the elder being Gershom, who is now preparing for the medical profession.
John H. Closson received his primary education in the public schools of Springfield and Hartford, and when the time came for him to choose a life occupation he began learning the drug business in West Lebanon. New
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Ilampshire, while for four years he was in Boston, two years of the time being spent in the city hospital and in the College of Pharmacy. After his arrival in Seattle he was employed by the large drug house of Stewart & Holmes until the 15th of December, 1890, when he opened business at his present location and with his present partner. His store is located at the corner of Occidental and Washington streets, where they carry a complete line of everything to be found in a first-class drug store. The business ca- reer of Mr. Closson is indeed creditable. Strong determination, persistence in the pursuit of an honorable purpose, unflagging energy and careful man- agement,-these are the salient features in his career, and his life stands in unmistakable evidence that success is not a matter of genius, as held by some, but the outcome of earnest and well directed effort. In his political views he is an unswerving Republican, and socially is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
The marriage of Mr. Closson was celebrated in 1894, when Miss Mil- dred Blair became his wife. She is a native of Wisconsin. They reside in a delightful home on Queen Ann Hill, and the household is noted for its charming hospitality, while its inmates have the warm regard of a large circle of friends.
FRANK A. TWICHELL.
In 1885 Frank A. Twichell became a resident of Seattle and by his life exemplifies the true western spirit of enterprise and progress. He was born in Washington county, Minnesota, on the 15th of November, 1860. A family of English lineage of the name of Twichell was early established in New England and to that line our subject traces his ancestry. Soin Twichell, the grandfather of our subject, was born in New Hampshire in 1775, the opening year of the Revolutionary war. He became a well known and respected farmer of the "Old Granite State." His son, Ebene- zer C. Twichell, the father of our subject, was born at Pulaski, Oswego county, New York, in 1818 and after arriving at years of maturity he married Miss Polly Twichell, a native of his own county and descended from another branch of the family, so that she was a very distant relative. In 1850 they removed to Illinois and in 1854 became residents of Wash- ington county, Minnesota, where the father acquired the ownership of a large farm. Ile spent the remainder of his life there as an industrious and honorable citizen-one whose well spent life commanded for him the con- fidence and good will of many friends. An earnest Republican in politics
P.A. Iwieluce.
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he never wavered in his allegiance to the party, yet he never sought or desired office for himself. He departed this life in 1887, at the age of sixty- nine years. His good wife survives him and now resides with her sons at Seattle, in the seventy-eighth year of her age, honored and respected by all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance. The family numbered eight children, five of whom reached years of maturity. The eldest son, Newton Twichell, at the age of eighteen years, volunteered for service in the Union army and was in numerous hard-fought battles. On one oc- casion he was wounded and as a result of his injury he died in 1864.
Frank A. Twichell attended school in his native town and was also a student in the high school at Hastings, Minnesota. During the months of vacation he knew what it was to work hard upon the farm. He began earning his own livelihood as a teacher in the district schools and in early manhood also engaged in clerking in stores and to some degree mastered the carpenter's trade. For three years he was employed as a salesman in a grocery store, after which he accepted a similar position in a wall paper and notion store. Later he learned the trade of paper-hanging and decor- ating.
Believing that the far west offered excellent opportunities because of its rapid growth, he determined to establish his home in Seattle and arrived in this city in 1885. For two years he engaged in the wall-paper busi- ness and was then, in 1887, appointed deputy county auditor under Lyman Wood and was continued in the same position under W. R. Forest. On his retirement from the office in the fall of 1890 he received the unanimous nomination of the Republican county convention and was elected county auditor by a good majority. The duties of the office then included those which are now performed by both recorder and clerk of the board of King county commissioners; also those of the purchasing agent for King county public institutions. The clerical work of the office was so great that it demanded a force of from fifteen to forty men. He performed the various duties with such ability, superintending the work of the office with such fidelity that in 1892 he was again the unanimous choice of his party for re-election and received the largest majority of any candidate on the county ticket. He was also elected and for two terms served as a member of the city council of Seattle, filling the office during the period of the re-organiza- tion of the city after the great fire. From 1894 until 1896 he was manager and part owner of the Cedar Mountain Coal Company. He then sold out and in 1897 went to Skagway, Alaska, as agent for the Oregon Improve- ment Company. In January, 1899. he became the general storekeeper for
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the Pacific Contract Company which constructed the White Pass Railway and upon the completion of the road he returned to Seattle. At that time he was given charge of the government work at Everett Harbor in the employ of the Seattle Bridge Company, this work being completed in April, 1902.
In Hastings, Minnesota, in 1884, Mr. Twichell was united in marriage to Miss Estella M. Stanley, a daughter of William P. Stanley, and their marriage was blessed with one child, Marjorie A., who is now the wife of Walter Cuir. After fourteen years of happy married life Mrs. Twichell was taken from her home by death in 1898. Three years later in April, 1901. Mr. Twitchell was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Nellie Johnson, a native of Petersboro, Ottawa, Canada. They have a pleas- ant home which Mr. Twichell erected at No. 513 Thirtieth avenue south. He was a valued representative of the Independent Order of Odd Fellow's in all of its branches and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a past master workman and past grand master workman of the state of Washington and also past supreme representative. He belongs to the Degree of Honor, to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in these various societies is a popular member because of his good fellowship and his fidelity to the teachings and principles of the fraternities. He was one of the delegates from Seattle to the Republican state convention held at Tacoma in 1902, and his influence is widely felt in political circles, as well as in various fraternities and in business life. He is a man of much knowledge, of high ability and of unquestioned integrity and he and his family have a warm circle of friends among the best citizens of Seattle. Many positions of trust and responsibility have been conferred upon him and in all he has discharged his duties in a manner that has gained him commendation, respect and confidence.
ALVA C. SANDS.
Alva C. Sands is the district manager of the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company, with headquarters at Seattle. He has resided in Wash- ington for the past eighteen years, having come here when it was still a ter- ritory, the year of his arrival being 1883. Mr. Sands is a native of Ohio, l:is birth having occurred on a farm near Cadiz, in Harrison county, on the ist of January, 1851. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on the paternal side and Scotch on the maternal side. Ilis paternal grandfather emigrated from county Kildare, Ireland, and settled in the city of Philadelphia at a very
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early date in the development of that place. He was the progenitor of the family in America. His son, Robert Sands, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was born in Philadelphia, and became a farmer, following agricultural pursuits throughout his life. He was an old-school Presbyterian of the strictest kind and his life was ever in harmony with his religious belief. He died in 1879, at the age of eighty-four years. In his family were two sons and a daughter and one son is still living, namely, John Sands, a resident of Fairfield, Iowa, who is now eighty-one years of age.
Edmund Thomas Sands, the father of our subject, was born in Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, in 1822. He married Miss Mary A. McFad- den, who was born in Cadiz, Ohio. They were members of the United Presbyterian church and the father was a successful agriculturist, devoting his attention to the work of farming through many years. He was also very prominent and influential in public affairs and was one of the organizers of the Republican party in his part of the county. He loved liberty and de- spised oppression and in ante-bellum days was strongly opposed to the intro- duction of slavery into the land of the free. An upright, useful and influ- ential citizen, he commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. He died in 1880, at the age of fifty-eight years, and his wife, long surviving him, departed this life in April, 1900, at the age of seventy-six years, being then a resident of Tacoma, Washington, making her home with the subject of this review. By her marriage she had four children, three sons and a daughter, and the sons are yet living, namely : R. G., who resides in Whitmore county, Washington; B. M., a resident of Ta- coma. Washington ; and Alva C.
The last named was educated in the public schools of Iowa, whither the family had removed in 1855, the father having developed and improved a farm in that locality. During the summer months our subject aided in the work of the field and meadow, laboriously attending to the duties of farm life, while in the winter season he pursued his education in the common schools during a term of three months. He was also for one year a student in a school of De Witt, Iowa. He remained at home until he attained his majority, after which he became connected with the theater business as a manager, and in that capacity traveled all over the country, spending six years in that way. Returning then to the old farm in Iowa he made it his home until 1883, when he came to Washington, settling in Tacoma. Since that time he has been continuously connected with the telephone business and has hield various positions, being promoted from time to time until he is now the manager of the largest telegraph office in the state, it being head-
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quarters for the whole Puget Sound district, which includes all west of the mountains and Yakima and Kittitas counties east of the mountains. Five hundred employes are found in the offices and Mr. Sands has entire super- vision, being in charge of the work in all of the counties of the state. In the control of the extensive business which this implies he has developed excellent executive force, keen discernment and superior powers of man- agement.
Mr. Sands has been twice married. In 1879 he wedded Miss Mary King, a native of Syracuse, New York, but after nine years of happy mar- ried life she was called to the home beyond, in 1886. In 1890 Mr. Sands was again married, his present wife having borne the maiden name of Miss Nellie Clayton. She was a native of Evansville, Indiana, and like her hus- band attends the Unitarian church. Mr. Sands belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in his political affiliations is a Republican. Dur- ing his residence in the northwest he has built several homes in Tacoma and owns property in different places in Washington, thus judiciously investing his capital so that it returns to him a good income. He has the entire confi- dence of the corporation which he serves and is regarded as the right man in the right place in the position which he is so capably filling.
MOSES REDOUT MADDOCKS.
Moses Redont Maddocks, a representative pioneer settler of the state of Washington, came to this territory in 1858. He was born in Bucksport, Maine, on the 13th of November, 1833, and is of Welsh ancestry. His grandfather, Ezekiel Maddocks, was born in Wales and on crossing the At- lantic to the new world took up his abode in Massachusetts, but later came to the Pine Tree state, where his son, Ezekiel Maddocks, Jr., was born in 1789. Later he married Esther Blood, of English and Puritan ancestry, her people having located in New England at an early epoch in colonial history. The grandparents of our subject were members of the Congregational church. The grandfather died in the fifty-third year of his age, leaving a widow with four children, but she only survived him seven year and was laid to rest by his side in the cemetery at Bucksport, Maine. The old homestead there is still in the possession of their descendants. After the death of the parents. „Abigail Maddocks, the eldest daughter, performed the duties of the household and made a home for the younger members of the family, the sons operating the farm. Mr. Maddocks' father was the youngest member of the family. He was only seven years of age when his father died, while
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at the age of fourteen he was left an orphan. After the death of his mother he spent two years with his uncle, John Boyd Blood, continuing to work on the farm in the summer, while in the winter months he attended the dis- trict school. Desiring to attain a more advanced education he went to Bucks- port and for two years was a student in the seminary, working for his board in the Bucksport Hotel, attending the stock and also acting as chore boy on the place. In 1851 he joined his brother, M. B. Maddocks, and engaged in farming and lumbering near the town of Brewer, where he continued until the fall of 1856, when he became imbued with the desire to go west and see more of the country.
Mr. Maddocks then started for Minnesota, traveling by rail from Port- land, Maine, to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. There he met two men by the name of Smith, who had formerly lived in Maine and who had come to the west on an errand similar to his own. They traveled together up Wolf river to Gill's Landing, where they purchased a team and then crossed the divide to the Mississippi river, proceeding on to St. Paul, and to St. An- thony, where Mr. Maddocks secured work in the timber and logging camps. In the spring of 1857, in partnership with two others, he purchased a port- able sawmill at the mouth of Rum river, where every prospect seemed pro- pitious, but shortly afterward the grasshopper plague swept through Minne- sota and destroyed crops and crippled their line of business. Mr. Maddocks continued his business under adverse circumstances until August and then came to the conclusion that he had not profited by his removal to the west, therefore he decided to sell out and return to his native state. He sold his business for what he could get and took his pay in western money, which he disposed of at a heavy discount. He then returned to Portland, Maine, after one year, though he had left with the intention of remaining for five years. Dreading the ridicule of his acquaintances he turned about and went to New York city to take passage for California. After writing a letter to his sis- ter, he started as a steerage passenger by way of the Isthmus of Panama and landed safely in San Francisco on the Ist of October. 1857. He thence proceeded by steamer up the Sacramento river to the city of Sacramento and on by stage to Oroville, where he engaged in placer mining at eight dollars per day and board, sleeping on a rude bunk in the open air. He there con- tinued to work until the fall rains and high water made further mining im- possible. In partnership with two others he then purchased a claim and one mile of ditch, and there mined for several months, but meeting with poor success they sold out their ditch for irrigation purposes and abandoned the claim. He then decided to try some lumbering country and returned by way
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