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 70
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WILLIAM COCHRANE.
Ireland has sent many of her worthy sons to the new world, and they have become important factors in advancing the interests of the various com- munities with which they are connected. A representative of this class is William Cochrane, a native of county Cavan. Ireland, where he was born on the 15th of December. 1845. In the old home in which he first saw the light of day his father and his grandfather were also born, and thus the same roof covered the family for at least three generations. Adam Cochrane, the fath- er of our subject, followed the tilling of the soil as a life occupation, and his death occurred at the okdl ancestral home in 1870. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth MeRibbon, was born at King's Court, county Cavan. Ireland, and her death occurred at the Cochrane home in 1881. To this worthy couple were born sixteen children, ten daughters and six sons.
William Cochrane received his education in the Hibernian School in his native county, and he remained at home until his eighteenth year. dur- ing which time he assisted his father in the work of the farm. In 1863 he crossed the broad Atlantic to the new world, and after his arrival here he was emploved for two years in an architect's office in New York city. Going to the lumber regions on the Muskegon river in Michigan, he there spent three years in the employ o. Harry Barton, after which, in 1860, he returned to
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New York city and was placed in charge of the beautiful summer resort and farm owned by the noted New York criminal lawyer, A. P. Clarke, located at Mount Claire, New Jersey, and consisting of one hundred acres. Thus he was employed for a year and a half, and during the following few months he had charge of the farm owned by L. M. Flernoy, a New York banker, the property being located at Paducah. Kentucky. Mr. Cochrane arrived in Seattle, Washington, in March, 1873, the journey having been made via Salt lake. During his first two years here he worked by the month for John Burns and William Powell, after which he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of timber land at Houghton, on Lake Washington, which he still owns. At that time his supply of ready money was extremely limited, but he found a valuable friend in Bailey Gatzet. one of the enterprising pioneers of Seattle, who furnished him with the means necessary to embark on a large scale in the logging and lumbering business, and during the fifteen years in which he was thus engaged he crossed Lake Washington fifteen times on rafts, this being before the advent of boats on its waters. Forming a part- nership with Michael Day, these gentlemen went to the Skagit river in Wash- ington in 1879, where they secured a contract to build a wagon road from Godell to the Ruby creek mines, a distance of nine miles, and after much diffi- culty, on account of deep snows, the road was completed in 1880, but the mines proved a failure and the money thus expended proved a total loss, leaving the firm of Cochrane & Day in a state of bankruptcy. In 1880. in order to retrieve their lost possessions, they purchased cattle from David Needy. which they took to the Dwamish valley, and there in connection with their cattle business they also furnished piles for the market. After two years Mr. Cochrane sold his interest therein to Michael Day's brother and embarked extensively in the logging business, operating three large camps on Squak Slough and Lake Union, continuing thus for three years, on the expiration of which period, on account of a disagreement with the Western Mill Com- pany, he abandoned the business. This mill company was amply paid, how- ever, when Mr. Cochrane lobbied the lien and scale law through the legis- lature in 1883.
In 1885 Mr. Cochrane became the owner of his present fine farm of one hundred and seventy-four acres, located on the White river fifteen miles from Seattle, between the stations of Orillia and O'Brien, on the Union Pa- cific Railroad. In 1894 he purchased eighty acres adjoining, and he now has one of the best improved farms in the valley, on which is located an elegant residence and many substantial outbuildings. For many years he has also been extensively engaged in the hop business, sixty acres of his place being
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devoted to that crop. and in addition he is the owner of a large and well equipped dairy, milking about sixty cows. To carry on so many enterprises requires the assistance of about twenty-four men. His place was purchased from the heirs of Patrick O'Brien, one of the early pioneers of the valley. In 1885 our subject was a candidate on the fusion People's ticket for the office of sheriff of King county, his opponent being John H. McGraw, who represented the Republican party. Mr. Cochrane was successful in the elec- tion, and proved a competent and able official. In his social relations he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Kirkland, Wash- ington.
On the 9th of .April, 1890, he was united in marriage to Katie .\. Modi- gan, who was born at Kilkee, county Clare, Ireland, on the 10th of July, 1870. She came to this country in 1887. and for a time made her home with a sister in Connecticut and a brother in Dakota. She came to Seattle. Washington. in 1886, accompanied by her brother, and four years later gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Cochrane. Their marriage was celebrated in the Catholic church near their home; the ground on which this church is located was donated by our subject.
.An interesting incident in the life of Mr. Cochrane occurred in 1888. when Cleveland made the second race for the presidency. A bet was made with George W. Tibett, our subject advocating that Cleveland would be elected, and the wager was that the loser should play a hand organ on one of the public streets of Seattle for four hours, while the proceeds from this en- tertainment were to be given to the Orphans' Home and the Ladies Aid Society. Mr. Cochrane was the loser, and he performed his share of the wager of the great entertainment of the citizens of that city, the proceeds therefrom amounting to four hundred and sixty dollars.
FRED H. HARKINS.
Fred HI. Harkins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 27. 1831, and is now living a retired life in Seattle. His has been a somewhat eventful career. in which there are many points of interest. His parents died during his infancy and he was reared by his paternal uncle, Godfrey Har- kins, who conducted a meat business in the old French market of New Or- leans. Fred attended a privated school until he was about fourteen years of age, when his uncle apprenticed him to S. V. Barrett, who conducted a whole- sale wine and liquor store at No. 28 of the old Levee, one block from the custom house on old Levee street. Young Harkins remained with that man
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until the spring of 1848, when he had some trouble with his employer. He was told to copy a letter to an agent in Matamoras. The letter was written in French, of which language Mr. Harkins had but little knowledge, and be- cause of a mistake made in the copying his employer abused him, and our subject resolved to leave. His uncle insisted upon his returning to Mr. Barrett but the nephew was just as resolute and refused to do so.
In the summer of 1848 the United States troops were returning home from Mexico, going up the Mississippi river. Mr. Harkins then began selling books. Ile would take books on board a steamer bound for some port up the river, place them upon the table in the cabin and sell them to the officers and men. His profits amounted to an average of twenty-five dollars a day, but instead of making a good use of his money, on Sundays he woukl visit the bull fights which were held across the river. Outside the enclosure were gaming tables and Mr. Harkins usually left the greater part of his week's profit there. However, he soon learned from experience that this was not a wise course to pursue and he has since let gambling alone. In the latter part of the summer of 1848 he went to St. Louis on the steamer Illinois and tried to engage in book peddling but found that he could make nothing at it. He therefore went up the Illinois river as far as La Salle. At that time the locks on the canal were just being completed. He returned to Peoria and afterward went to Knoxville. Illinois, where he secured work as a farm hand in the employ of Cyril Woods at thirteen dollars a month. Ife was thus engaged for three years and in the spring of 1851 went to St. Louis, where he took pasage on the steamer War Eagle, bound for St. Paul. Min- nesota. The latter city was at that time a mere hamlet compared to what it is to-day. St. Anthony Falls were still smaller and there was no Minne- apolis, the present site of the city being still a part of the Fort Snelling reser- vation. Mr. Harkins went to Stillwater, eighteen miles east of St. Paul, at the head of the St. Croix. That place was the headquarters for the logging industry. There was but one mill for cutting lumber, but this was a small affair, the motive power being furnished by an overshot water wheel. The logs were cut and hauled to the stream above the mill and were floated and caught in booms, then were rafted and floated down the river to the mills as far as St. Louis, where they were cut into lumber. Mr. Harkins was em- ployed in the logging camps during the years 1853-4-5.
111 1856 occurred the marriage of Mr. Harkins, and he then secured a team of his own and began the logging business for himself, his wife acting as cook for the crew. He made a successful drive, but after having his log's in the boom for a time there came a freshict, and the rush of the water broke
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the boom and scattered the logs as far down as Lake Pepin. The expense of picking them up would have exceeded the value of the logs, so he let them go, and the winter's earnings were thus wiped away. Mr. Harkins then began business life anew. He took up a pre-emption claim and began the develop- ment of a farm, but the financial panic of 1857 made it a very hard matter to gain a start to fortune. However, there was plenty of game such as deer and pheasants, and these furnished many a meal for the pioneer home. The mink, otter and martens were also numerous and there were many musk- rats in the marshes, so that in the seasons of 1857-58-59 Mr. Harkins made considerable money in hunting and trapping. In the fall of 1860 he went with his wife and two children to visit her people in Butler county, Pennsyl- vania, and then returned to his old home in New Orleans. His people were very much surprised to see him as they believed him dead, having heard nothing from him since he left his native city in 1848. They gave him a cordial welcome, but he differed from them so radically on the slavery ques- tion that it engendered bitter feeling, and he decided to return to the north. In the early part of March, 1861, shortly before the blockade of the river, he. took a steamer going north as far as Dubuque, Iowa, where he had friends living. He enlisted in the Third lowa Independent Battery in September. 1861, and sent his wife and children to her people in Minnesota. He served ont his term of three years and was discharged at Davenport in October. 1864, returning to his home with a most creditable military record.
The following spring Mr. Harkins removed to Brown county, Minne- sota, ten miles form New Ulm, on the Minnesota river in the Sioux reserva- tion. He built a shingle mill near the river, and purchased and broke and fenced one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land on the rise back of the bot- tom land; the bottom land was covered with timber, while the upland was prairie. He also established an apiary of three hives which was increased in five years to one hundred and thirty-two hives, and from these he woukl extract one barrel of honey of forty gallons, between nine o'clock in the morn- ing and three o'clock in the afternoon of each day during the three weeks while the basswood trees were in blossom. In connection with his shingle mill and the care of his apiary Mr. Harkins engaged to a considerable extent in the raising of horses and cattle, but in the winter of 1872-3 there came one of the fearful blizzards which are the terror of the western country. In that storm there perished within a radius of one hundred miles from the Harkins home seventy-five people. Mr. Harkins was out in the storin for a time, ou liis return home from New Ulm, a distance of ten miles from the farm.
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That blizzard was the direct cause of the removal of the family to Seattle, for they did not wish to go through any more such experiences.
In the fall of 1873 Mr. Harkins came on an inspection tour to the north- west over the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads to San Fran- cisco. He went as far south as Watsonville and then returned to San Fran- cisco and took passage on the steamer Princess bound for Victoria. Leav- ing that steamer. he became a passenger on the steamer Goliah at Port Town- send, and proceeded to Seattle. On the night of the earthquake which shook up the Collins Hotel, he went to Tacoma. which at that time was but a small settlement, containing only the Hanson mill and its yard, with only a small space cleared out in the woods. The Northern Pacific Railroad was only finished as far as Tenino, eighteen miles south of Olympia, from which place to Tacoma there was a stage line. After two weeks spent upon the Sound Mr. Harkins proceeded to Olympia by steamer, and on to Portland, Oregon, by rail. He went as far south as Albany, thence returned to Portland and took a steamer for San Francisco, whence he returned to Minnesota. There he sold his stock, his bees, his home and some of his real estate, and with his family started for Tacoma in the fall of 1874. He invested in some real estate in Tacoma, which he still owns, but he remained in that city for only eleven months, going thence to Seattle, where he purchased his present home on West and Vine streets. He has never yet had occasion to regret his loca- tion in Washington. Since coming here he has engaged in job carpentery work, in bridge building and logging. He also conducted a stave factory in connection with G. W. Harris and W. C. Reveal. The business was closed out in 1884, and since that time Mr. Harkins has lived retired, having acquired a handsome competence which enables him to rest from further labors.
On October 2, 1856, Mr. Harkins was married to Mary AA. Kriedler. She was a daughter of Daniel and Polly (McCollough) Kriedler, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and the former was of German descent and the latter of Scotch lineage. In 1853 they removed from Butler county, Pennsylvania, to Stillwater, Minnesota, and there Mr. Harkins met the lady who became his wife. To this marriage were born the following children : Fred, who was born in Stillwater, October 2, 1857, is now engaged in busi- ness in Tacoma: Harry, born in Stillwater, February 4. 1860, is chief en- gineer on the steamer Farrollon, running between Alaska and Seattle, and his family reside at Port Townsend: both of these sons married in Seattle and each has two children, a boy and a girl. Willie, the third son, born in Brown county, Minnesota, in April. 1866, died in Seattle, August 4. 1880;
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May Annie, born in Brown county, Minnesota, October 23, 1871. died in Tacoma November 18, 1874: Bertie, born in Seattle, November 2. 1875, died in this city July 30, 1880; Ivy Myrtle, born in Seattle. June 17, 1880, was married in November, 1901, to B. W. McIntosh, and is now living in San Francisco, California.
In politics Mr. Harkins has always been independent. When the par- ties place their respective candidates in the field he considers the fitness of the different office seekers, casts his ballot as he thinks best and then abides the vote of the majority. He has never held, nor would he accept a public office and has always advised his sons to follow the same course. Mr. Harkins has had many experiences in his life, in New Orleans, in the logging camps of Minnesota, amid the pioneer farms of that state, and in the development of the lumber regions and the productive industries of the northwest. He has made and retained many friends, and his sterling worth has ever gained for him the respect and confidence of those with whom he is associated.
SAMUEL F. RATHBUN.
Samuel F. Rathbun can be called one of the representative citizens of Seattle. His term of office as city treasurer has but recently expired. he hav- ing been elected to that postion in March, 1900, the result of the choice of his fellow townsmen. He has resided in Seattle since February, 1890. He was born near Fishkill on the Hudson, in Dutchess county. New York. April 17, 1858. The family came to America from England prior to 1650, and settled in Connecticut. Samuel R. Rathbun, the father of our subject. was born in Pittsfield. Massachusetts, and was a well known woolen mannfac- turer carrying on business along that line throughout his life. In his poli- tical views he was a Whig and afterward became a Republican, he and his son Samuel being the only ones of the family connected with the Republi- can party. The father was a warm personal friend of former United States Senator George F. Edmunds, and in 1856 did campaign work throughout Vermont with that gentleman. This was the only time that he ever actively engaged in political work. He was a man of influence and prominence. however, in business circles, and his opinions were considered as authority on everything pertaining to woolen manufacture. His brother Milton was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion and died in France in 1864 from disease contracted in the army. Samuel R. Rathbun was united in marriage to Mary L. Hawley of Colchester, Vermont. in the year 1830. She is descended from Revolutionary ancestry. Her grandmother, as is recorded in the his-
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tory of Vermont. refused to give bread to a number of English soldiers who demanded of her what she was cooking, and when they threatened to take the bread she seized an axe and drove them all from the house, after which she was unmolested by the British troops. Samnel F. Rathbun is the eighth in order of birth of a family of nine children. His sister, Mrs. C. W. Smith, is the wife of the city librarian of Seattle, and she and her brother are the only representatives of the family in the northwest. The faher died at the age of seventy-six years and the mother's death resulted from an accident when she was fifty-one years of age, although her family were noted for their longevity.
Samuel F. Rathbun pursued his studies in his native state and was grad- uated in the high school of Auburn, New York. He was afterward asso- ciated with banking interests for ten years and when he first came to Seattle continued in the same line of business activity. In 1886 he began to work his way westward and visited the greater portion of the central part of the country from Manitoba south to Oklahoma. He was one of the parties who participated in the first city election held in Oklahoma City. Elreno had but five people within its borders at that time. His destination, however, was the coast. and at last he started for the Sound country, arriving in Seattle in February, 1800. During the first three years which he spent in this city he was connected with the Washington Bank, after which he returned to the east for his wife. Shortly after his marriage he brought his bride to Seattle and turned his attention to merchandising. He carried on business until appointed deputy city treasurer in 1896, and in rooo he became city treas- urer, so that he was connected with the active management of the position for six years. When he assumed the office there were only three men em- ployed in the department, but owing to the rapid growth of the city, business has steadily and constantly increased so that ten men are employed regularly, and so great is the volume of business that it is almost impossible for them to attend to it. the increase being more than three hundred per cent. Under- standing every detail and department of the work, Mr. Rathbun carefully superintended everything connected with the office and controlled affairs in a way that indicated his excellent business ability and executive force, and made his services of the greatest value to the city. No more faithful cus- todian of the public exchequer could be found. and he well deserved the honor which was conferred upon him by his election to the office. He is one of the active workers in the Republican party in this city and has at- tended many of its conventions and been a prominent factor in Republican councils for twenty-three years, both in New York and in Washington.
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On the 3Ist of March, 1891, Mr. Rathbun was united in marriage to Lnella Wilkinson, a daughter of V. B. Wilkinson, a merchant of Auburn, New York. He erected his own residence here on Fourteenth avenue north, and has become interested in other real estate investments and dealings. He belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters and the Chamber of Com- merce. He attends St. Mark's and St. Clement's church, his wife being a member of the latter. Mr. Rathbun is a popular and valued representative of the Elliott Bay Yacht Club and is an ex-commodore of the Northwest International Yachting Association. Ile also belongs to the Seattle Kennel Club and has been connected with all matters of interest in the athletic line. being an ardent sportsman and appreciative of the need of such relaxation from business cares as an aid to health. He has carried on scientific investi- gations in natural history and is one of the best ornithologists of the north- west. He is a member of the American Ornithologists' Union, a high dis- tinction, and is authority concerning everything in this line on the Pacific coast. He has contributed to the literature of the association, being the author of the first list of land birds of western Washington ever compiled, and is a correspondent of the Smithsonian Institute. While in New York he was volunteer fireman for eight years and was foreman of a crack com- pany. He is a man of distinguished and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and most mature judgment, and is leaving his impress upon the scientific world as well as upon the public life of his adopted city. During the years of his residence in Seattle he has become a factor in its development and upbuilding and in the promotion of enterprises which add not alone to his individual prosperity but also advance the general welfare and prosperity of the city which he makes his home. In manner he is most cordial and genial. and has a deep and abiding interest in his fellow men. These quali- ties render him a most popular citizen. and it would be difficult to find one who has more friends in Seattle than Samuel F. Rathbun.
REV. ALEXANDER BEERS.
There is nothing in the world more beautiful to contemplate than the spectacle of a life rich in the harvest of good and unselfish deeds on behalf of humanity. The man who has lived for others and has brought into potent exereise the best energies of his mind that he might make the world brighter and better from his being a part of it, cannot fail to enjoy a serenity of soul that will reveal itself in all the relations of his life. The life of the subject of this sketch has been one of signal activity and devotion as a laborer in the
Alexander Beers
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vineyard of the Divine Master and in the field of education, and he has borne the heat and burden of the day unfalteringly and with that zeal which lias made his life one worthy of emulation. He is at the present time pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Seattle and also has the additional responsibilities implied in his incumbency of the office of president of the Seattle Seminary.
Alexander Beers is a native of the state of Iowa, having been born at Bloomfield, Davis county, on the 4th of March. 1802, a son of Ezekiel and Sarah (Underwood ) Beers. Ezekiel Beers was left an orphan in his child- hood and was reared by an uncle. He came in an early day to the state of Kansas and there endured the trying experiences and vicissitudes of pioneer life and the peril incidental to the border troubles through which the state gained its sobriquet of "Bleeding Kansas." At the time of the war of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Union army and assisted in driving Price from Missouri. He thereafter retained his residence in Kansas until 1879. when he became one of the pioneers of Multnomah county. Oregon. locating in Powell Valley, about fifteen miles cast of the city of Portland, where he still resides, being one of the prominent farmers and stock-growers of that sec- tion, while in politics he is a stalwart Republican. His cherished and de- voted wife was summoned into eternal rest in the year 1896 and is survived by nine of her ten children, Alexander being the only one of the number now residing in Washington.
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