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 71
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Rev. Alexander Beers attended the public schools until 1884. when he went to New York and became a student in the A. M. Chesbro Seminary, an institution maintained under the auspices of the Free Methodist church. near the city of Rochester. Here he completed a course of study. after which he took the regular divinity course prescribed by the church, and was duly ordained elder. During his course of study he served for a time as pastor of the Virginia Street Free Methodist church of Buffalo, New York. He also served as pastor of the First Free Methodist church of Rochester, New York. He was married in the fall of 1889 to Miss Adelaide Newton, daugh- ter of Randolph Newton, a wealthy and influential farmer of Chenango county, New York. Miss Newton was for a number of years one of the leading teachers in the _1. M. Chesbro Seminary.
At the earnest request of Bishop Roberts, he resigned his position as pastor and went to Virginia to assume the position of principal of Virginia Seminary at Spottsylvania Court House, Mrs. Beers becoming preceptress at the same time. He continued his effective labors in this institution for a period of three years, when he was called by the board of trustees of Seattle
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Seminary to become the principal. He has been connected with the Seattle Seminary, as principal or president, for ten years, and under his manage- ment the institution has become one of the most flourishing of its kind in the state of Washington. At the time he took the management the seminary was burdened with an indebtedness of fifteen thousand dollars. This incubus he has entirely removed and has made various improvements in the buildings. equipments and facilities. He has a strong faculty and the institution of learning is strictly up to date. \ ladies' hall was erected in 1899. adding greatly to the accommodations of the seminary, which is in a flourishing condition, with a constantly increasing patronage. Rev. Beers has been not only president of the institution but has served as pastor of one of the Free Methodist churches during the greater portion of the time he has been in Seattle. During his pastorate Mr. Beers has succeeded in building a church and parsonage, said to be the best on the coast of the denomination to which he belongs, and has succeeded in raising a considerable indebtedness which encumbered the denomination and impaired its functions, and has shown himself a capable administrator, an indefatigable worker, as well as a popu- lar pastor. He was reared a stanch Republican, casting his first vote for James G. Blaine, but is now a most enthusiastic temperance worker, always casting his vote for the prohibition of the liquor traffic.
GEORGE E. SACKETT.
Success in any line of occupation, in any avenue of business is not a matter of luck but the legitimate result of effort which utilizes the means at hand. In view of this condition the study of biography becomes valuable, and it is a practical advantage to trace the history of a successful life, be it in the world of business, where competition is rife, in the intellectual field, where devotees open up the wider realms of knowledge, in a public sphere, where is directed the course of government and the policies formed that sway nations, or in the calm and peaceful pursuits of agriculture. The at- tention of the reader is here directed to the life of a man well known in busi- ness circles in Seattle by reason of his keen discrimination, untiring activity and executive power. and who occupies the position of secretary and treas- urer of the Diamond Ice & Storage Company and also the Mutual Light & Heat Company.
Mr. Sackett was born in Lanesville, Harrison county, Indiana, March 10. 1843. The family is a very old one in America and Sackett Harbor is named in honor of its early representatives. The record can be traced back
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to Colonel Sackett, who constructed ships for the government during the Revolutionary war. The grandfather and the father of our subject both bore the name of Charles. The latter was born in Massachusetts in 1820, went with his family to Indiana, becoming a very active and influential miem- ber of his community, and settling in Floyd county as one of its early pio- neers. There he took an important part in public affairs and served for ten years as county commissioner and for eight years as county auditor. He was also a member of the city council of New Albany, and his political support was given the Whig party in early life, while later he became a Democrat. In Indiana he was united in marriage to Miss Joyce, a daughter of William Gresham, an uncle of the Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, who served as secretary of state under President Cleveland. Thirteen children were born of this marriage, of whom our subject is the fourth in order of birth and the only one now living in Washington. The father still resides in Indiana and is now eighty-nine years of age, but the mother passed away at the age of sixty-three years.
In the public schools of his native state George E. Sackett pursued his education and when fifteen years of age entered upon his business career. He served for eight years as deputy county auditor under his father and from that time until 1802 was connected with the iron manufacturing interests in the rolling mill of New Albany. Thence he came to the west, and after looking over the country decided to locate in Seattle, bringing his family to this city in June, 1802. He and Charles E. Crane and others became the owners of the ice plant, which was then but an insignificant affair, but they have developed this industry until the plant now has a capacity of thirty tons a day. They are also doing an extensive cold storage business and have lately developed a steam heating industry, furnishing heat for many homes in the territory lying between Madison and Pike streets. In the electrical department of their business they furnish light and power for the same terri- tory. This has been accomplished only by the most carnest and active effort, but they have succeeded in building up a fine business and devote their entire attention to the work, which has now proved to them a profitable source of income.
In Charleston. Indiana. on the 25th of October. 1876, Mr. Sackett was united in marriage to Miss Mary K. Van Hook, a daughter of William Van ITook, a druggist of that place and a representative of an old and prominent family of Indiana. Their union has been blessed with one son and two daugliters, Errett Van Hook, who is now in the electrical department of the business of which his father is secretary and treasurer: Martha J. and Mar-
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garet J., who are at home. While residing in Indiana Mr. Sackett took an active part in the work of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias fraternities, but has not been connected with either since coming here. He has given his attention in an undivided manner to his business affairs. He possesses most excellent organizing and managing capacity and in the successful operation of the industries with which he is connected displays superior executive power.
G. WARD KEMP.
G. Ward Kemp, who is engaged in the practice of law in Seattle, occu- pying a pleasant office in the Burke building, was born at Northeast, Mary- land, at the headwaters of the Chesapeake bay, on February 11, 1867. He was called Ward after his relatives in Rochester, New York, Ferdinand Ward, the noted Wall street financier, who operated there with Grant in the early eighties, being his second cousin. George Kemp, his grandfather, who married Elizabeth Miller, was a native of England and about 1835 came to America and declared his intention of surrendering his title of "gentleman" for that of "American citizen," and settled at Mount Morris. New York, where he became largely interested in farming. The maternal grandmother of Mr. G. Ward Kemp was an Ashley, and a descendant of the Johnstones, whose ancestry could be traced back in direct line through an old Connecti- cut family to an emigrant who came to the new world on the Mayflower, and she was also related to the Bristols of Ohio. Mr. Potter, the maternal grand- father, was a cousin of Potter Palmer, the millionaire hotel man of Chicago: he was a Presbyterian missionary and long labored among the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians of Arkansas; he had a soldier's claim in Minnesota where St. Paul now stands, and in 1850 took up his abode in Augusta, Michigan, and spent his last days at Niles, Michigan, where his death occurred at the age of seventy-five years. His widow still survives and is now eighty-five years of age, and both these worthy people were educated together at Ober- lin College. George Kemp, the paternal grandfather, also located at Au- gusta. Michigan, where he died when about eighty years of age, and his wife died there soon after at the age of seventy-nine.
Edward Kemp, the father of G. Ward, was born in England and was about two years of age when his parents came to America. He was edu- cated at Olivet College, Michigan. and in 1860 married Jennie A. Potter. who had been educated at home by governesses. Mr. Kemp turned his at- tention to agricultural pursuits in the Wolverine state, but in 1865 moved
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to Maryland, where, owing to his abolitionist tendencies, he did not receive a very cordial welcome. But he bought a farm on the eastern shore of Chesapeake bay and engaged in farming there until 1884, when he sold out and took up his abode at Lansdale, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1892, owing to the cold climate, the family came west, and both parents lived near El Paso de Robles, California, until January, 1903. when Mrs. Kemp died. In their family were seven children, of whom six are living : Elizabeth, at home: Ellen G., who is teaching in New Jersey: G. Ward; Laura Evangeline, who is also teaching in New Jersey: Effie J .. the wife of John Hudson, at Templeton, California; and Bowdoin P., who is a den- tist at Suisun City, near San Francisco, and in 1901 married Louise Piau.
G. Ward Kemp pursued his early education in the public schools, and for one year was a student in the Dansville Seminary, at Dansville, New York. At the age of nineteen he went to Salida, Colorado, and learned the machinist's trade in the shops of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, where he remained four years and saved several hundred dollars, which he de- termined to spend for a college education. Accordingly he went at once to the University of Missouri, where he remained four years, and in 1801 re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws and in 1892 that of Master of Laws. He was a popular student in the school and served as president of one of the literary clubs and was also one of the founders of the Bliss Lyceum, named in honor of Judge Bliss, the dean of the law department of the university and a noted law writer. Mr. Kemp was the only one of his class and the first person to win the degree of Master of Laws from the university. As soon as his college education was completed he went to California and began practice in San Luis Obispo, where he remained till the fall of 1898. when he came to Seattle. He made this move because the former field was limited. and he decided to locate in a large city, where the volume of legal business would be greater. In 189; he had made a trip to the north, in which he visited Portland. Tacoma. Seattle and. later. Spokane and even Alaska, and came to the conclusion that because of the natural resources and surround- ings of Seattle it had the brightest prospects of a brilliant future and accord- ingly he established his home here. On the ist of January. 1899. he opened the office at 430-2 Burke building, where he has since remained. A leading case with which he was connected was that known as the Brabon, or firemen. case, in which he established a new point of law, namely, the liability of the city for personal injuries on an ungraded street. This case also established the fact that firemen are not servants of the city. He won his suit here for the widow and upon appeal argued the case in Olympia, and the opinion
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which was given in July. 1902. sustained him. The judgment of eleven thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars was the largest for personal in- juries ever given against the city of Seattle. While in California Mr. Kemp largely engaged in the practice of corporation and land law, but he has not made a specialty of any particular branch here except of patent law. He has conducted a number of damage suits, in which he has been very success- ful, and has had some noted cases in bankruptcy in the United States courts. He has tried nine cases in the supreme courts, and of the four tried in Cali- fornia he won three and of the five tried in this state he has won all. This is a remarkable record and shows that he is possessed of very superior ability in the line of his chosen profession.
Believing firmly in the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Kemp gives to it his political support, and delivered many campaign addresses in the first year in which William McKinley was a candidate for the presidency. Ilis professional duties, however, prevent him from entering actively into politics. He belongs to St. John's Lodge No. 9, F. & A. M., in which he served as junior steward. He is past grand of Seattle Lodge No. 7. I. O. (). F., and is also a member of Camp No. 69, W. of W. He belongs to St. Mark's Episcopal church. is director of St. Mark's chapter of the Brother- hood of St. Andrew, and attended as one of its delegates at the convention in Boston, October. 1902. He is one of the lay readers and has been a mem- ber of the church choir almost continuously during his residence here. He lias taken an active part in the work of both church and Sunday-school, and in the latter long served as assistant superintendent. He was confirmed when fifteen years old by Bishop Lay, of Easton, Maryland, and since that time has labored earnestly to extend the influence and promote the growth of the church. Although well grounded in the principles of common law at his ad- mission to the bar, he has ever since been a diligent student of the legal science. and this knowledge has served him well in many a legal battle before superior and appellate courts. He always prepares his cases with great care, and if there is a close point involved in the issue, it is his habit to thoroughly examine every authority bearing upon the question, and this makes him a very dangerous adversary.
On November 12, 1902, Mr. Kemp was married in St. Mark's church to Miss Charlotte Leslie Shannon, who was born November 15. 1880, near Des Moines, Iowa, and received her educaion at the public schools of Omaha, Nebraska, and Jacksonville, Florida, later attended the Young Ladies' Semi- nary at Salt Lake City, Utah. graduated from the high schools of both Grangeville, Idaho, and North Yakima, Washington, completed the normal
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course at Lewiston, Idaho, and finally attended Whitman College at Walla Walla, Washington; she has been an interested student of Greek, Latin and the modern Romaic languages, mathematics and music, and, above all these accomplishments, she has a charming personality. Her father is James W. Shannon, the son of Isaac Shannon and his wife, formerly a Miss Endsley, both from Ohio. Mr. Shannon is a cousin of Stephen Glover, the musical composer, and also of James Shannon, the owner of a fine stud of racing horses at Chicago. For the past twenty years Mr. Shannon has been en- gaged as a civil engineer and mining expert in Wyoming and Idaho, for the last seven years holding the positions of United States deputy mineral sur- veyor for Idaho and county surveyor of Idaho county, Idaho. Prior to coming to the west he was clerk and treasurer of Warren county, lowa: he brought his family to Seattle in 1902. His wife's maiden name was Clara Eugenia Bateman, whose mother was a Marks, of Pennsylvania, and whose father was the Rev. A. L. Sampson Bateman, a relative of former Governor Sampson of Vermont and a direct descendant of Lord Bateman, who, like one of the ancestors of Mr. Kemp, came to America on the Mayflower; he was also an uncle of the inventor White, well known for his sewing ma- chines, and was first cousin of Columbus Delano, secretary of the interior under President Grant. In 1849 Rev. Bateman was sent by the general Methodist conference to California, where he worked as a missionary among the Mormons, and was an active minister for forty-five years, till his death. After the death of his first wife, the mother of Mrs. Shannon, he married the widow of the noted evangelist John Inskip. Mrs. Shannon was the first white child born in Carson City, Nevada. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp are now residing in their own home. corner of Boylston avenue and John street. a situation which commands a fine view over part of the city and Puget Sound. and here they delight to entertain their numerous friends.
WILLIAM H. LORD.
In the early days of the country the forefathers of this gentleman came from Freland and settled on the New England coast. William Lord, the father, was born at Vassalbora, Maine, about the year 1795, and followed farming in that state until 1867, when he went to Wright county, Minne- sota, where he lived with one of his sons till his death in 1887; his wife. Eunice Gardner, was born on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 1705, and died at China. Kennebec county. Maine, in the autumn of 1863. her people being Quakers and coming from England.
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William H. Lord, the son of the above parents, came into the world at Vassalbora. Maine, on the 23d day of July, 1835. and when he was three years old went with his parents to China, Maine, receiving his education in the schools of that village. At the age of nineteen he left home and worked for one summer in a sawmill at Gardiner, Maine, the following summer in a ship-yard at Damariscotta, Maine, and during the winter of 1855-56 was engaged in getting out ship timbers in Virginia, later working in a ship-yard in Thomaston, Maine. In the fall of 1836 he was married, and till 1859 worked on a farm near China ; he then moved to Wright county, Minnesota, where he worked in a sawmill until 1862. In the fall of that year he enlisted in the Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; his first service was on the western frontier under General Sully: in October, 1864, the regiment was sent south to Murfreesboro. Tennessee, serving in the Twenty-third Army Corps under General Thomas and going through to Charlotte, North Caro- lina, where they were discharged in August, 1865. Ile went through the entire war without wounds or sickness.
After leaving the army he clerked for six months at Monticello, Minne- sota, and in the fall of 1867 established himself in the general merchandising business at Buffalo, the same state, where he lived for six years, and for four years acted as sheriff of Wright county; in the fall of 1873 he sold out, and. moving to Minneapolis, took a position as traveling salesman with Post & Davis, confectioners, remaining with them for three years; for the next three years Mr. Lord was working at the carpenter's trade in Wright county. It was in the fall of 1884 that he came to Washington, locating on a section of railroad near Tolt. King county: three years later, selling the improvements on the land, he went to Seattle, where he was a member of the police force for a year. then spent six months in the real estate line, and in March of 1889 returned to Tolt, buying a general store and hotel located on the banks of the Snoqualmie river : this he conducted three years. He then built the Tolt Hotel and has ever since catered to the wants of the traveling public, his wide experience of affairs and men making him an ideal host. At the same time he cultivates a forty-acre tract of land in the valley.
His politics are Republican, and for many years he has been influential in his party, in 1901 being a member of the county central committee and for many years having been a delegate to the state and county conventions. He is a member of the Falls City Lodge No. 66. A. F. & A. M. Mr. Lord has been twice married; in 1856, at China, Maine, he became the husband of Rosella Hall, who was born in that village in 1839 and died at Monticello. Minnesota, in the spring of 1877. leaving four children: Winslow H., a
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contractor at Ballard, Washington; Lissett, living at Buffalo, Minnesota, the widow of V. H. Cody, who died there in Igor: Eunice, the wife of Charles Harvey at Monticello, Minnesota; and Augusta, who died in 1880 at the age of ten at Buffalo, Minnesota. As his second wife he took, at Al- bion, Minnesota, Eugenia Jouanne, born in Paris, France, in 1860, and coming to this country with her parents when she was ten years old. She is the mother of six children: Rose, the wife of John Ogilvie, living on a farm near Tolt: Eugene, I eon, Myrtle, Roy and Violet.
BENJAMIN C. LEVY.
The Republican party is always glad to welcome into its ranks men of intelligence, energy and loyalty, and there is no one in Washington to whom these attributes could be more aptly applied than to Mr. Levy, one of the representative citizens of Seattle. He has taken an active part in the politi- cal work of the city, and for more than eleven years has capably filled the position of cashier and deputy county treasurer, having entered upon the duties of that office in August. 1891. He has also been a witness of most of the growth and development of Seattle, as he arrived here immediately after the fire in 1889, when it was a city of tents.
Mr. Levy was born at Metz, France, on May 1. 1847, but the family came to this country when he was only six months old. so that he is practi- cally a native American citizen. He pursued his education in the schools of Milwaukee and New York, and also in the College of New York in the latter city. He was only sixteen years of age when he enlisted as a member of Company A, Fourteenth United States Infantry. The regiment was as- signed to the Army of the Potomac as a part of the First Brigade, Second Division, Fifth Army Corps, and he participated in the battles of Kelly's Ford and Mine Run, after which he was sent back to the hospital at the headquarters at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut; after recovering his health he served for three months as provost guard in Richmond. At the close of the war the regiment was recruited at Hart's Island in New York harbor and was sent by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California, arriving at San Francisco on December 10, 1865. His discharge papers followed him, how- ever. and on the 17th of the same month he left the service.
Mr. Levy is an ardent Republican, and in August, 1891. he was ap- pointed deputy county treasurer of King county, and no higher testimonial of his worth could be given than that he has been retained in this position ever since, although during six years of this period the Democratic party
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was in control of the office. Socially he is connected with St. John's Lodge No. 9, F. & A. M., Seattle Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., and is a charter member of Rainier Council No. 1399 of the Royal Arcanum. He is likewise a mem- ber of John F. Miller Post No. 31, G. A. R., of which he is commander.
WILLIAM BEATTIE.
For more than a score of years this sterling citizen and honored busi- ness man of Seattle has been a resident of this city, and his fortunes have varied with her epochs of prosperity and depression, but his steadfastness of purpose, indomitable energy, stanch integrity and thorough knowledge of the line of enterprise to which he has devoted his attention have proved adequate to enable him to overcome obstacles, recoup losses and win prece- dence as one of the successful and representative business men of the city. He is the senior member of the wagon manufacturing and general black- smithing firm of Beattie & Son, whose well equipped establishment is located at Nos. 1612-14-16 Fourth avenue.
William Beattie is a native of the state of Michigan, having been born in the town of Dexter, Washtenaw county, on the 9th of February, 1832, the son of William and Dorothea ( Robson) Beattie, the former of whom was born in the highlands of Scotland and the latter in England. William Beattie, Sr., emigrated to America when a young man, about the year 1825. locating in the state of New York. In Ontario county, that state, he married Dorothea Robson, who had come with her parents to America when a child. Soon after their marriage they started for the wilds of Michigan, making the journey by means of team aud wagon. He located in Livingston county. where he secured a tract of eighty acres of heavily timbered land, subse- quently adding to the same until he was the owner of two hundred acres, which, with the assistance of his sons, he cleared and placed under cultiva- tion. There he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits, his death occurring about the year 1876. His first wife died in 1850, and he subsequently married Charlotte Emmett, who is likewise deceased. The father of our subject was a man of unassuming character, of inflexible in- tegrity and was one of the world's earnest workers, commanding unquali- fied confidence and esteem. In his political proclivities he was a Democrat. and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal church. By the first marriage there were six children, of whom four lived to attain years of maturity, and of these three survive. Of the four we may record that Archi- bald, who was born in New York, died in Michigan in 1899, having attained
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