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 77
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FRANK E. ADAMS.
Frank E. Adams, a registered patent attorney, a mechanical engineer and manager of the Electric Blue Print Company, has been engaged in this line of trade longer than any other man now residing in Seattle. He is an expert in preparing patent drawings and specifications, and through his dili- gence, perseverance and business ability has won for himself a name among the representative men of the city, while at the same time he has contributed to the general prosperity through the conduct of enterprises which furnish employment to many.
Mr. Adams was born in Bristol, England, in 1870, and was but two years of age when he was brought by his parents, Isaac and Sarah ( Bryant) Adams, to America, the family locating first in Duluth, later in Brainerd and finally in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The father was a mining engineer, and both he and his wife died at about the age of seventy years. Of their six children, Frank E. is now the only one residing in this city, but he has two brothers in Tacoma, this state. After attending the schools of Minne- apolis and the State University of Minnesota, Frank E. Adams served an apprenticeship as a machinist and draughtsman in the North Star Iron Works at Minneapolis, and after completing his term of service there he was employed as draughtsman and mechanical designer by different firms in many of the largest cities of the United States, thus gaining an experience which has proved of inestimable value to him in later life. He came to Seattle
Frank 6. adams.
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in 1890 and entered the city engineer's office, where he worked for some time, and then opened an office for the general practice of his profession. For a time he devoted his earnings to the study of patent law, and he is now capable of designing all classes of machinery and skillfully preparing and prosecuting applications for patents. He is now a registered patent attorney in both the United States and Canada, and also conducts the prosecution of patents throughout the foreign countries.
In political matters Mr. Adams has ever been a loyal supporter of Re- publican principles, and has many times served as a delegate to city and county conventions, while in 1895 he was elected a fire commissioner, receiv- ing the largest majority of any candidate on the Republican ticket. In 1891 he became a member of the National Guards, entering Company D, which soon afterward was sent out to quell the Franklin and Gilman coal riots. Later he was made first sergeant of his company, and in that capacity, in 1894, he participated in the Northern Pacific strike. From the rank of first sergeant he rose at one step to that of captain, in which capacity he had charge of a detachment on the Columbia river during the fishing strike, in which he was out for ninety days, and he received the highest praise for this service from the adjutant general of the state in his biennial report covering that period. During the Spanish-American war he volunteered at the first call for troops, and his company was the first ever mustered into the service from the state of Washington, and was known as Company D, First Wash- ington Infantry, United States Volunteers. They were sent immediately to San Francisco, where they were stationed at the Presidio until the following October. and thence went to the Philippines, Captain Adams serving dur- ing the greater part of the time with the rank of major and received mention for distinguished service in battle. One month before the regiment left the island he was ordered to San Francisco for treatment on account of ill health, and after receiving his discharge at San Francisco with the remainder of the regiment he returned to Seattle and again took up the duties of a busi- ness life.
In the year 1890 occurred the marriage of Mr. Adams and Miss Emily A. Hewitt, a daughter of I. B. Hewitt, residing at Snohomish, Washington. They have one child. Viviane. Mrs. Adams accompanied her husband on his ·trip to the Philippines. She is a registered patent attorney and assistant to her husabnd. Captain Adams is an active member of the Congregational church, in which he served as an officer prior to his removal to the Philip- pines. Wherever known he is held in high regard, and in the city of Seattle, where nearly his entire life has been passed, he has a host of warm friends.
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RICHARD JEFFS.
It is always a pleasant task to trace the history of a man who has won a high place in the respect and esteem of his fellow men by his own intrinsic worth and merit. Such a man is the sterling citizen above mentioned, one who has worked his way upward from a humble position by unflagging attention to business, by fidelity to the interests of his superiors and due regard to the rights of others. For a number of years he has been a resident of King county, has made its advancement and prosperity one of his ruling principles and glories in the wonderful progress it has made.
Mr. Jeffs was born in Weschester county, New York, on the 24th of December. 1827. His father, William Jeffs, was born in Scotland, and when thirty years of age came to the new world, locating in Westchester county, New York, where he was engaged in farming and teaming throughout the New England states, this being before the advent of the railroads in that section. He died in Westchester county in the early forties, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Gray, was also a native of the land of hills and heather, and her death occurred in Westchester county, New York, about 1852.
To the district schools of his native county Richard Jeffs is indebted for the early mental training which he received, while later he attended a boarding school at New Haven, Connecticut. At the age of seventeen he left his parents' home and went to New York city, where for two years he was employed as bookkeeper for a large contracting firm. The year 1850 witnessed his arrival on the Pacific coast, at which time he made the journey to San Francisco, California, landing in that city with a cash capital of two dollars and fifty cents. He first secured employment at unloading ships, for which he received one dollar an hour, and at the expiration of three days he had saved sufficient money to enable him to go to the mining districts, in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. In 1858 he joined the tide of emira- tion on its way to the Fraser river gold district in British Columbia, where he spent the following year, and in June, 1859. he arrived in Seattle, Wash- ington. After a residence of two years in that city he removed to the White river valley, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of farming land two miles from the present town of Kent and adjoining the village of Pialschie, on the Union Pacific Railroad, where he has since made his home. When he located on this farm forty years ago the place was a wilderness. and it required many years of hard and persistent toil to transform it to its present high state of cultivation. As prosperity has rewarded his efforts,
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he has added to his landed possessions until he is now the owner of one thousand acres of rich and fertile land, three hundred and seventeen acres of which he cultivates, while the remainder is rented.
Mr. Jeffs was among the first in the White river valley to engage in the cultivation of hops, and unlike many other residents of this section he has continued in that industry, undaunted by the many obstacles which have from time to time obstructed his path, until his identification with that in- dustry now covers a period of thirty-five years. He usually devotes about twenty-five acres to that crop. He also conducts a dairy of fifty cows, carries on general farming on an extensive scale and raises sheep, hogs and horses, and thus it will be seen that he is one of the progressive and wide- awake citizens of the county. In 1878 he organized the company which purchased a hop farm of twelve hundred and seventy acres at Snoqualmie, Washington, in which he originally owned a one-sixth interest and for a number of years was the president and manager of the company. Under his wise administration the company was exceedingly prosperous, and he de- voted most of his time to its interests from 1878 until 1890, when a new manager was selected and he disposed of his interests therein. A few years later the great hop farm was abandoned. In the meantime Mr. Jeffs had accumulated a large amount of valuable property in Seattle, much of which he still owns. Owing to his varied resources he was one of the few who passed through the terrible panic of 1893-4 without being financially crip- pled. Throughout the years of his active business career he has been a gen- erous friend, and there are many people in King county to-day who have reason to thank Richard Jeffs for the valuable assistance which he rendered them in their early struggles. During the past few years he has affiliated with the Republican party. He was a member of the consitutional conven- tion which met to form the state of Washington in 1888. and in this assemb- lage he made a stubborn and successful fight to save for the new state the valuable tide lands on the Puget Sound, adjacent to Seattle, the property owners insisting on the title to the property running to low water mark, and it was to this Mr. Jeffs objected. It developed in after years that his suc- cessful opposition resulted in a revenue of many millions of dollars to the state.
On his White river farm, in 1863, Mr. Jeffs was united in marriage to an Indian woman, who has proved to him an able assistant in his subsequent career. They have one child, Alexander, who received an excellent educa- tion and for a number of years has been engaged in the practice of law in Seattle. In his youth he attended the public schools of Kent, after which
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he spent two years in the academy at Forest Grove, Oregon. For a similar period he was a student in the Portland Academy, after which he entered the Stanford University of California, remaining in that institution of learning for four years. After leaving school he devoted three years to the study of law, in the office of Lewis, Hardin & Albertson of Seattle, and he is now a valued legal practitioner in that city. He is now but twenty-five years of age. The career of Mr. Jeffs, of this review, proves that the only true suc- cess in life is that which is accomplished by personal effort and industry. It proves that the road to success is open to all young men who have the cour- age to tread its pathway, and the life record of such a man will serve as an inspiration to the young of this and future generations, and teach by incon- trovertible facts that success is ambition's answer.
JAMES WEIR.
Scotland 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 James Weir, who was born twelve miles from Glasgow, Scotland, February 27. 1850. His father, Thomas Weir, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and during his lifetime was engaged in agricultural pursuits. His death oc- curred at Kilmarnoch. His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret Campbell.
James Weir received his education at Irving, Ayrshire, and after put- ting aside his text books he worked for several years in the coal mines there. .After attaining to young manhood he determined to try his fortunes in America, believing better opportunities were afforded to young men in the new world than in the more thickly settled countries of Europe. Accord- ingly he crossed the Atlantic in 1868, and for a short time after his arrival here worked in the coal mines at Barton, Maryland, later securing employ- ment in the iron mines at Independence and Fairmont, Virginia. In 1871 he returned to the land of his birth, but after a short visit there again crossed the briny deep to the United Staes, and from that time until 1876 was an employe in the coal mines at Harmony, Indiana. In the meantime, in 1873, he had again returned to his childhood's home in Scotland. The 15th of February, 1876, witnessed the arrival of Mr. Weir in the state of Washing- ton, and he came to the present site of the city of Seattle, but at that time this now flourishing city consisted of only a few buildings scattered along the water front. He has been one of the determined workers who developed the
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coal and timber resources of the surrounding country. From the time of his arrival here until 1880 he worked in the Newcastle mines, mining coal on contracts, and in the latter year he assisted in opening the first coal mine at Carbonado, Pierce county. From 1881 for the following eight years he followed the varying fortunes of a miner at Renton, on Lake Washington, and during the same time he was also engaged in the hotel business in that city and Seattle, having erected the Cottage Hotel at Renton in 1882, while for fifteen months, from 1887 until the fire of 1889, he was proprietor of the Actna Hotel on First avenue, Seattle. In 1890, after the rebuilding of the city, he opened the New England Hotel, at the corner of First and Main streets, which he has ever since conducted with success. His patronage is of the best class, and by straightforward business methods he has won an enviable reputation, his efforts to please each guest being the keynote to his success. In 1896 Mr. Weir organized the Renton Co-operative Coal Min- ing Company, of which he was president until the property was sold to the Seattle Electric Light & Power Company in 1900. In 1898 he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres, located at South Park, six miles from Seattle, which he has greatly developed and improved.
At Brooklyn, New York, in March. 1872, Mr. Weir was united in marriage to Martha Preistly, who was born on the Emerald Isle in 1850, and they have four children, James, Julia, Martha and Grace. Mr. Weir gives his political support to the Republican party, and is an active worker in the ranks of his chosen party. His character is marked by sincerity and firmness, his manner is ever courteous and genial. Careful and painstaking, exact and conscientious, he has. from year to year, prospered deservingly.
DAVID McVAY.
Twenty years ago the census reports showed no such place as Ballard, Washington, but to-day it is one of the thriving and prosperous cities of the state. And this is true of the majority of the places in the west ; they have existed only a short time, but what they lose in the way of antiquity they make up in progressiveness and as far as stability is concerned they have as good grounds for confidence in this regard as many places which have be- come hoary with age. The relationship between this city of Ballard and the gentleman who is the subject of this biography has been a close one, and one cannot speak of the growth of Ballard without mention of David McVay.
The McVay family is of Scotch descent, but has resided in America for many generations. Grandfather John was a native of Pennsylvania and
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did his part as a soldier in the war of 1812. The father was also named John and was a native of the same state. He was a cooper by trade and was prominent in the community, having served as justice of the peace for several terms. He married Mary O'Neal, and they were the parents of seven children.
David is the only one of these seven who resides in the state of Wash- ington. He was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, in October, 1840. For three or four months each year he attended such schools as the vicinity afforded, and while he was still a boy began work in a sawmill. Beginning, as he did, at this early age and having followed the lumber business all his life, he has learned it in every detail, and there is practically nothing about it which he is not able to do. When he was nine- teen years old he left his native state and went to Cattaraugus county, New York, where he followed his chosen pursuit for three years. He then went to Michigan and engaged in lumbering and logging there for eighteen years. After this extensive experience he decided to come to the undeveloped re- gions of the Pacific coast, where his knowledge of the timber would be very valuable to him. He made the trip in 1883 and located first in Oregon, but four years later came to Washington. In Chehalis he built the first shingle mill erected in that county, in 1886, and he then went to Buckley and built a mill of his own, which he operated from 1887 to 1889. He had been casting his eye about for a good permanent location, and his foresight told him that Ballard was an ideal place for a manufacturing center, so he came here in 1889. He built a shingle mill of a daily capacity of three hundred thousand, and he added to it and improved it as the demand warranted until 1902, when a disastrous fire destroyed all the plant with the exception of the dry kilns and the office. When he started his mill he had to take green hands and educate them to the business. The ashes were hardly cool when he and his men began the erection of a new plant, and in a short time a complete modern saw and shingle mill was finished, which had a daily capacity of two hundred thousand shingles and seventy-five thousand feet of lumber. This company was incorporated at first with a capital of twenty five thousand dollars, but this has been increased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars: they do their own logging and give employment to one hundred and fifty men.
Mr. McVay has been thoroughly interested in the welfare and upbuild- ing of his adopted city. and was for some years an active factor in local affairs. He is Republican in his political views, and has been in the city council several terms and has been elected to the office of mayor : during his
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administration he did all in his power to secure a better water and light sys- tem for the town. He has been interested to some extent in real estate, and he erected a nice residence soon after coming here. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias. By his first wife he had one daughter, Lulu, who is the wife of L. H. Johnson, a member of the company. He married his present wife in Seattle on December 24, 1896, her maiden name being Emma Edwards.
ROBERT HICKINGBOTTOM, D. V. S.
The profession of veterinary surgeon is one of the latest and yet one of the most valuable pursuits, for as man's dependence upon the lower animals increases so is it important that he should be able to protect and care for these. One who has gained especial prominence in this line is Robert Hick- ingbottom, whose office is now located at the corner of Fifth and Pine streets, Seattle, Washington.
In the record of his family's history it is known that the parents were George and Ann ( Ogilvil ) Hickingbottom, the father a native of Yorkshire, England, and the mother of Edinburg, Scotland. In his youth George came to America with his brothers and was among the first settlers of Ontario county. Canada : there he erected the first stone residence in the province and became extensively engaged in the raising of fine stock: he was an importer and breeder of Clydedale horses, short horn cattle and Berkshire hogs; he was probably the best known and the most extensive breeder of high grade stock in the province, shipping to the United States and throughout the pro- vinces. He was equally well known in public affairs, and as a worker and a power in the conservative party he did much good, although he was no aspirant for political office. His death occurred in 1800, while his wife passed away in 1900: the father of George Hickingbottom remained in England all his life, but the mother, at her husband's death, came to Canada and spent the remainder of her life with her son. George and Ann Hicking- bottom were the parents of twelve children, of whom ten are now living. all engaged in worthy occupations: John and James are engaged in farming and in raising fine stock in Huron county, Canada; Elizabeth is the wife of W. Ward. engaged in the fine stock business in Balsam, Ontario: Joseph was engaged in mining in Colorado until he met his death by an accident in the mines in 1882: Jessie is the wife of W. H. Bryant, a farmer and stock- man of Ashburn, Ontario: George died in Ashburn, Ontario: William is in the lumber and sawmill business in Santa Cruz county, California : Thom-
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as is a traveling salesman of Toronto, Canada; Dr. Richard is a veterinary surgeon at Dawson, Northwest territory; Andrew is a horse dealer and fancier in Toronto, Canada; Annie, who remams single, resides at the old home at Whidby.
Robert R., the twelfth and youngest child, was born at Whidby, On- tario, February 16, 1864; was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the Whidby Collegiate Institute and in the University of Toron- to. He graduated at the Toronto Veterinary College in 1888. He at once began practice at Brooklyn, Ontario, under Hon. John Dryden, the minister of agriculture of Ontario, with whom he was associated for a number of years and through whose recommendation he was appointed to a position under the British government at Vancouver in 1894. He remained liere until 1897, when he received an appointment under both the British and American governments as inspector of animals, and lie located at Roslyn, British Columbia, where he remained for seven years. In 1900 lie began the practice of his profession and in connection carried on a business of buy- ing, shipping and selling horses at Roslyn. In 1902 he resigned his govern- ment position and removed his place of business to Seattle. No one in the northwest possesses better credentials or a better record in his profession than does Dr. Hickingbottom, as the important positions which he has filled would indicate; during the brief period of his residence in Seattle he has established a large and lucrative patronage.
During the Doctor's short residence in the states he has maintained an independent position in political affairs. In November, 1884. he was mar- ried at Port Perry, Ontario, to Susan H. Huburtus, a native of Ashburn, that province, and a daughter of George and Isabelle ( Nichols) Huburtus ; the father is of German, and the mother of Scotch extraction. The Doctor and wife have two children, Fred Huburtus and Isabelle.
JOHN J. McGILVRA.
An enumeration of the men of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have lion- ored the state to which they belong would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to the one whose name initiates this paragraph. He holds distinctive precedence as a statesman, a's a lawyer, as a distinguished pioneer, and although he has reached the evening of life, he is yet an active factor in Washington. His labors have been so beneficial and his influence
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so extended that along many lines of improvement, advancement and up- building his work has contributed to the general good.
Judge McGilvra was born in Livingston county, New York, on the 11th of July, 1827, and in his life he has exemplified many of the sterling char- acteristics of his Scotch ancestry. From the land of the heather in the year 1740 came representatives of the name, founding the family in Waslungton county, New York. The original progenitor in America was the great- grandfather of our subject. The grandfather was born in Washington county, and there spent his entire life of seventy years as an industrious and energetic farmer. His son, John McGilvra, was also born in Washington county and was married there. He and his wife removed to Livingston county, where they owned a farm. upon which they reared their family of seven children, only three of whom are yet living.
Judge John J. McGilvra obtained his early education in western New York, and in 1844, when seventeen years of age, accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he became a student in an academy at Elgin. For some time he engaged in teaching, and in 1850 entered upon the study of law in Elgin, under the direction of the Hon. Edward Gifford, a graduate of Yale Col- lege and of the Cambridge Law School. Judge McGilvra finished his pre- paratory studies for the legal profession in Chicago under the preceptorship of Ebenezer Peck, afterward one of the judges of the court of claims, and was admitted to practice in 1853. He then opened an office tliere, and while residing in that city had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. As the result of this acquaintance, when Mr. Lincoln became presi- ident he appointed Mr. McGilvra United States attorney for Washington in 1861. While a practitioner at the Chicago bar our subject also became in- timately acquainted with Chief Justice Fuller, whose law office was on the same floor of the building as Judge McGilvra's.
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