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 79
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AARON T. VAN DE VANTER.
The term "captains of industry" is now a familiar one in the parlance of the day. It has sprung into existence as the result of business conditions which are shaping the history of this country and of the world. History is no longer a record of war and conquest, but is an account of business achieve- ment and accomplishment, and the men who are prominent in public life are they who are conducting extensive and important enterprises in the business world. Mr. Van De Vanter is one of tlie representative citizens of Seattle,
G.J. Van DE Vante
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closely and actively associated with many lines which have contributed to the substantial upbuilding and improvement of the city as well as to his indi- vidual prosperity. He may well be classed among the "captains of industry" in Seattle, for he seems the personification of the term, his life being indeed busy and useful. He is now manager of the King County Fair Association, which is of great worth to the locality, stimulating business activity and bringing to the public notice the many lines of labor which are represented and the many natural resources which the country offers to its citizens.
Mr. Van De Vanter was born in Sturgis, St. Josephi county, Michigan, February 25, 1859, and is a son of John F. Van De Vanter, who was born in Penn township, Delaware county, Ohio, in May, 1819. The family is re- corded as among the settlers enumerated in the first census taken in Hunt- ington county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, in which year Peter Van Deventer (as the name was then written) was named as the head of a family of five sons and two daughters. He was the great-grandfather of our subject and one of the earliest settlers on the Juniata river, having removed to Pennsylvania from New Jersey. Although too old to serve in the Revolutionary war, he was an ardent patriot. He married Margaret Miller and they became the parents of eleven children, of whom the second, Jacob, is the grandfather of our subject. He was born in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, and fol- lowed farming throughout his life. In 1831 he removed to Indiana, locating there when the Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers. He became quite prominent in public affairs and served as one of the commis- sioners who erected the court house of Wayne county at a cost of two hun- dren thousand dollars, and his name is inscribed in that building. He mar- ried Lydia Fee, a daughter of John and Patience (Kelly) Fee, of Hunting- ton county, Pennsylvania. John Fee was a loyal soldier in the Revolution- ary war and his widow was afterward granted a pension. His name is also on the census report of Huntington county of 1790. After the death of his first wife he wedded Jane Jackson. His previous military service as a Rev- olutionary soldier made him a valued fighter in the early Indian wars of his adopted state.
Hon. John F. Van De Vanter, the father of our subject, is the only sur- viving member of his father's family. He was educated in the district schools and in a branch of the state university. and for two or three winters engaged in teaching school. He followed farming in both Indiana and Michigan, removing to the latter state in 1857. There he resided for twenty years and took an active part in political affairs not because he desired public office but because he believed it the duty of American citizens to thus support
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the principles of good government. He served as justice of the peace and superintendent of the poor, and his early political support was given to the Whig party. Later he became a stanch Abolitionist and subsequently joined the ranks of the Republican party. In 1887 he came to Washington and lo- cated on the farm which is now owned by his son Aaron T. After two years he retired from active life and now makes his home in Kent. He is a member of the Masonic order of that place and has taken the Royal Arch degrees. He belongs to the Presbyterian church of that place, is one of the elders and represented the church of Puget Sound at the general assembly at Saratoga Springs in 1896. In Greenfield Mills, Lagrange county, Indiana, on the 25th of April, 1842, Mr. Van De Vanter married Elizabeth Dayton Thomp- son, a daughter of Aaron Thompson, a farmer of the Hoosier state. They became the parents of four children : William, of Chicago; Edward, a phys- ician of King county; A. T., of this review; and Lizzie, the wife of W. W. Watson, of Kent. In 1892 the parents celebrated their golden wedding, on which happy occasion three of the children and many friends and relatives were present. In February, 1898, however, Mr. Van De Vanter lost his wife after a most happy married life covering fifty-six years. She was an earnest Christian woman, and in her family was a devoted wife and mother.
Aaron T. Van De Vanter pursued his education in the public schools and spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, where he remained until 1883. He then made his way to Washington, for he had heard of the hops grown here and realized that the industry might be a profitable one. Ac- cordingly he settled in the White River valley and purchased a farm near Kent which was but slightly improved. To-day, however, he has three hun- dred acres of richly cultivated land there, and his agricultural interests have been of an important character. He enjoys the reputation of being the larg- est shipper of asparagus on Puget Sound, and his annual sales of this vege- table bring to him a good financial return. In his dairy business he is also prospering, and has a herd of one hundred head of fine cattle. He has al- ways been a lover of fine horses and has bred some very valuable ones. He owns the stallion Erect, a full brother of Direct, bred by the stallion Monroe Salisbury. He also has the stallion Pathmark, with a record of 2:1514. This horse has been on the road for three years and has taken many prizes. Mr. Van De Vanter continued to reside on his farm until his removal to the city in order to take charge of the county fair. He was one of the incorpo- rators of the King County Fair Association, which was organized in 1901. His idea is to make this a great and permanent exhibit of the resources of the community. In it are represented one hundred and ten classes of manufac-
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tures, beside its mineral and fishing industries and all of the various depart- ments of agriculture and horticulture. The exhibits already made have awakened wide interest and have been creditable to the city and surrounding country. Mr. Van De Vanter deserves great credit for what he is accom- phishing in this respect. Such an institution always stimulates effort and causes the different representatives of business enterprises to do their best in securing for such exhibits the finest products of which they have control. It becomes a matter of local pride which reflects directly upon the business activity and prosperity of a locality. In connection with James F. McElroy Mr. Van De Vanter purchased and subdivided three hundred acres of the old Page farm at Black River Junction into five-acre tracts.
On the 24th of June, 1900, Mr. Van De Vanter was married at Kent to Miss Martha May Triplett, a daughter of F. A. Triplett. of that place. Mr. Van De Vanter is very prominent and popular in social circles and his name is on the membership roll of many social and fraternal organ- izations. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the uni- formed rank of Woodmen of the World. the Royal Arcanum and holds an honorary life membership in Seattle Lodge No. 92. Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of which he is past exalted scribe. He takes a very active part in Masonry and is a prominent member of Verity Lodge No. 59. of Kent, in which he is a past master. He likewise belongs to Seattle Chapter No. 3. Royal Arch Masons, Seattle Commandery No. 2. Knight Templars, and Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Tacoma. In the first grand lodge of which he was a member he was one of a committee to expose the noted swindler Fleming. He has ever endeavored to uphold the dignity of the order and in his life exemplifies its beneficent principles.
In his political affiliations Mr. Van De Vanter is a stalwart Republican. unswerving in his allegiance to the party. He served as mayor of Kent, and he was later elected to the state senate. He served during the first full term of four years and was chairman of the committee on appropriations He was widely recognized as one of the active working members of the upper house and his keen insight into public questions, his loyalty and patrotism were manifest in many important acts of legislation. Before his term as senator had expired he was nominated to the office of sheriff and later was re- nominated, but was defeated by the combination of Populists and Demo- crats. Two years later, however, his name was again placed upon the county ticket for office and he was chosen sheriff, although every other Republican candidate on the ticket was defeated except the assessor. He handled suc-
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cessfully the greatest jail-break in the record of the county. He took charge of the office on the 14th of January and on the 17th of March twenty-three prisoners broke jail, but he succeeded in capturing them all without the loss of life. Mr. Van De Vaniter was president of the first live-stock board of the state, being chosen to that office on the organization at Ellensburg. He de- serves to be classed among the substantial builders of the great northwest, and has performed his part nobly in establishing and maintaining the ma- terial interests, the legal status and moral welfare of his community.
EDWIN A. STROUT.
Edwin A. Stront belongs to the little group of distinctively representa- tive business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the busi- ness foresight to realize Seattle's future growth and importance, and acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment he has prospered with the growth of Seattle and of the state of Washington. He is now con- nected with many extensive and important business interests. At the pres- ent time he is secretary of the Brick Exchange, representing nearly all of the brick manufacturing interests of this section; secretary and a large owner in the Seattle Brick & Tile Company: vice president of the Seattle Ice Com- pany; and senior member of the firm of E. A. Stront & Company, fire, marine and liability insurance agents. His business interests are extensive and such as demand his active attention.
Mr. Strout is a native of New Hampshire, having been born at Conway, July 26, 1862. His father, Bennett P. Strout, was born in Maine and led an active business life until about fifteen years ago, when he retired from busi- ness and went to Philadelphia, where he now lives. During the greater part of his business career he remained in New Hampshire. He has now attained the age of eighty-three years and is still active and well. In public affairs hc has been an active worker. He served as county commissioner and in other local official positions and for several years was a member of the New Hampshire house of representatives. While living in Maine he was united in marriage to Abbie Woodruff, daughter of Erastus Woodruff, of Lyndon, Vermont. They had two children, the elder being Charles H., a resident of Philadelphia and proprietor of St. Luke's School for Boys. On both sides of the family the ancestry can be traced back in this country to the seven- teenth century. The father is a descendant of John Strout, who came to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1630. from England. On the Woodruff side the
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lineage runs back to 1604, when Matthew Woodruff came from England and was one of the original eighty-four settlers of Farmington, Connecticut.
Edwin A. Strout of this review pursued a portion of his education in Conway, New Hampshire, and afterward became a student in an academy at Wolfboro, in the graded schools at Dover and in the business college at Manchester, New Hampshire. In 1879 he entered upon his active business career, becoming connected with the subsistence department of the army. He was first sent to Fort Leavenworth?, Kansas, where he remained for some months, acting as clerk for his uncle, Captain C. A. Woodruff, commissary of subsistence, United States Army. From there he went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he acted as chief clerk for Captain Woodruff until the fall of 1884. During this time he saw a great deal of active service in the Apache Indian troubles of that period. In 1884 he came with Captain Woodruff to Vancouver barracks, Washington, where he was stationed until he came to Seattle. In 1885 he made up his mind to engage in business for himself, and with this end in view investigated the prospects offered in the various cities of Oregon and Washington, making a trip in that year to Tacoma and Seattle. Deciding that Seattle offered the best prospects for a young man he came here in January, 1887. He then organized the Puget Sound Ice Company for the manufacture of artificial ice, and erected a plant at West and Seneca streets in the spring of 1887. This was the first ice plant ever operated on Puget Sound. He was connected with this company until the plant was destroyed in the general conflagration of 1889. He then assisted in the organization of the Seattle Ice & Refrigeration Company, which erected a large plant at Yesler. This company was later changed to the Seattle Ice Company, and the plant was removed to its present location in this city. In 1889 Mr. Strout was one of the organizers of the Washington Territory Investment Company, was elected its first vice president and later was made president. This company bought the lot on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Cherry street and erected. in 1889-90, the building now known as the Post-Intelligencer building. Mr. Strout retained the management of this building until it was sold in 1902. In 1888 he was as- sociated with George Il. Heilbron in the organization of the Seattle Brick & Tile Company and has acted as its secretary continuously since that time. These enterprises have furnished employment to a large number of men and have contributed greatly to Mr. Strout's success as well as aiding in the up- building of Seattle.
At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1889, Mr. Strout was united in mar- riage to Cora Taylor, a daughter of Major Frank Taylor, of the United
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States army, and they have two children, Edwin A. and Helen. In 1884 he erected his residence on Marion street. between Summit and Boylston avenues. In politics lie is a Republican. He is a member of St. Mark's Episcopal church, and of Mt. Hood Lodge No. 32, F. & A. M. He has always taken a prominent part in the social and club life of Seattle, being one of the organizers of the Rainier Club, Country Club and Golf & Country Club. He is a man of strong individuality and perseverance and is justly entitled to rank with the prominent men of Seattle.
CLARENCE W. COULTER.
There is more than ordinary interest attaching to the career of the gen- tleman whose name initiates this paragraph, for not only is he a native son of the state of Washington and a representative of one of its sterling pioneer families, but he has also personally been conspicuously identified with the great idustrial interests and activities which have brought about the mag- nificent development of this favored section of the northwest; while his youth was passed amid the scenes and environments of the pioneer epoch. so that his memory forms a chain linking the period of inception with that of latter-day opulence and prosperity. Thus it will at once be seen how con- sistently may a review of his life history be incorporated in a publication of this nature. Mr. Coulter maintains his home and business headquarters in the city of Seattle and is here secretary and manager of the Excelsior & Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company, agent for the Burke building, one of the finest business blocks in the city, and also has other interests of marked importance.
Mr. Coulter traces his lineage, on both sides, to stanch English origin, the respective families having been established on American soil in the early colonial epoch, while it is a matter of record that his paternal great-grand- father was an active participant in the war of the Revolution, while he sub- sequently removed to what is now the middle west, then the very frontier of civilization, and took part in the Black Hawk Indian war. Samuel Coulter, the father of the subject of this review, came to Oregon as one of the pioneers of 1850, and within the following year took up his abode in that part of Oregon territory which is now comprised in the state of Washington. He was born in West Virginia. whence he went to Ohio, and when eighteen years of age started on the long and perilous overland trip across the plains to Oregon, starting from the city of St. Louis, Missouri, with a large company, the wagon train wending its way over the weary stretches of plain and
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mountain, and the party being sufficient in number to repel the attacks of the hostile Indians, who menaced the train on several occasions while enroute. He came to Oregon City, which was at that time the principal settlement in the territory, arriving at this point after having passed six months on the journey. He there became identified with the lumbering business, contin- uing operations until 1852, when he went to Colorado on a mining expedi- tion, being quite successful in his efforts, and returning to Oregon in the spring of the following year. He then turned his attention to the cattle busi- ness, his branding corrals being located where the thriving little city of Ellensburg, Washington, now stands, the site being unmarked by a single dwelling at that time. He continued very successfully in that enterprise until 1877, when he removed to the city of Portland and purchased the land on which the Edmond Hotel now stands, that building having been erected by him. He leased the hotel property and gave his attention to dealing in timber lands upon an extensive scale, having become the owner of about five thousand acres of valuable land of that character, and having acquired other desirable realty all up and down the Sound. In 1880 he took and com- pleted the contract for the building of the line of the Northern Pacific Rail- road between Cheney and Spokane Falls, and in the fall of that year he again returned to the Sound and engaged in the cattle business. In addition to continuing this enterprise. in 1883 Mr. Coulter resumed the logging business, constructing for the purpose a standard-guage railroad six or more miles in length and utilizing on the same the first donkey engine brought into requisition in connection with the lumbering business in this section of the Union. The line was at the head of the North bay, and the logs handled on the same were sold to various mills operated on the Sound. In 1886 he disposed of his cattle business, but he continued to be prominently identified with the lumbering industry until 1893, since which time he has devoted his attention to general trading operations, maintaining his home and business headquarters in the city of Seattle. Mr. Coulter has been promi- nent in political affairs from the early territorial days of Washington, and at one time he owned and published a paper in the capital city, Olympia, in the interests of the Republican party, of whose principles he has ever been a stanch advocate. President Grant appointed him to the office of internal revenue collector for the territory of Washington, and he was in tenure of the same at the time when the districts of Washington and Oregon were combined, and he was then tendered the position as collector for the entire district. But the demands of his private business affairs rendered it inex- pedient for him to continue in the office, whose duties would have required
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his absence from his headuqarters too great a portion of his time. Mr. Coulter has ever been known as a public-spirited, loyal and progressive citi- zen of the Evergreen state, giving his aid and influence in the support of schools and churches and all other worthy enterprises fostering development and conserving the general welfare. During the Indian war of 1855 he was first lieutenant in the militia raised to repel the attacks of the savages.
In Oregon, in 1853. Samuel Coulter was united in marriage to Miss Harriet E. Tilley, who had accompanied her father, Judge Abraham Tilley, to Oregon in the year prior to her marriage. Mir. and Mrs. Coulter became the parents of three sons, namely: Clarence W., the immediate subject of this sketch; Esmond, deceased; and Alvah S., who is identified with mining enterprises, and who resides in the city of Seattle.
Clarence W. Coulter was born on the prairie farm in Thurston county, Washington, about twenty miles from the city of Olympia, the date of his nativity having been December 6, 1856. His early educational discipline was received in the public schools of the capital, while in 1872 he went to Oregon, where he continued his educational work for a period of five years. After leaving school he became identified with the operation of steamboats. and thus continued about two years. He then returned to Olympia and became associated with his father in the cattle and lumbering business, this relation existing until 1893. In 1888 he also became interested in mining and prospecting enterprises, and became a prominent operator. He erected a ten-stamp mill near Juneau, Alaska, and had mining interests from that distant division of our national domain to California, and, as he had charge of the cattle business. he made Seattle his headquarters. He disposed of the Juneau mines and mill in 1892, and in the following year went to Cali- fornia, where he remained until the spring of 1896, when he went to Cook's Inlet, at the time of the gold excitement in that district. In the following year he joined the stampede to the Cariboo country in British Columbia, and there remained during that summer. In 1898, under the contractor D. . 1. Robinson, Mr. Coulter had charge of the construction of the elevators and clocks of the Great Northern Railroad at Smith's Cove, and since that time he has given more or less attention to speculating in timber lands, in which line his operations have been successful, for not only is he an excellent judge of values, but he also has that keen business sagacity which enables him to handle the various projects with the best results. In April, 1900, Mr. Coul- ter effected in Seattle the organization of the Excelsior & Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company, which enterprise is the only one of the sort in the state and he has been secretary and manager of the company from its incep-
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tion. He is also secretary of the Wenatchee Development Company, which owns the town site and large tracts of land contiguous thereto. of Wenatchee, Chelan county. This company platted the town and has done much to further its development and progress. In April, 1901, Mr. Coulter took the ageney of the Burke building, and has charge of rentals and other details of management of this fine structure, which contains four stores and one hundred and fifty-nine modern office rooms, the building being six stories in height and located on Second avenue.
In polities Mr. Coulter gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has never sought official preferment he was elected a member of the city council in 1883, serving efficiently and laboring to ad- vance the best interests of the municipality. He is alert and progressive, fully typifying that spirit which has brought about the magnificent develop- ment of the great northwest, and his course has ever been such as to retain to him the unequivocal confidence and esteem of all who know him. In the city of Seattle, in August, 1882, Mr. Coulter was united in marriage to Miss Helena B. Smith, and of this union two children were born, Clarice, who died at the age of one year; and Chester, who remains at the parental home.
JOSEPH L. JENOTT.
If the history of Joseph Lachapelle Jenott was written in detail it would furnish many a chapter of more thrilling interest than any book of fietion. He has undergone all of the experiences of life amid the mining regions of Alaska. He came to Seattle in April, 1888, and from this point went to the cold northern region. He was born in New Glasgow, Canada, on the 19th of April. 1863. and comes of French lineage. His father, Frank Jenott, was also born in Canada and was a carpenter by trade, following that pur- suit continuously for more than sixty years. He now lives retired in Seattle. He was but fourteen years of age when he removed from Canada to Massa- chusetts and there learned the carpenter's trade in Pittsfield. but later re- turned to Canada, in which country he was married. The family has re- sided for many generations in America, and the father is now living retired in a pleasant home which was erected for him by his son Joseph in 1901.
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