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 9
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CALVIN E. VILAS.
Among the best citizens of Seattle, esteemed alike for his sterling worth of character and his activity in the business world, is Calvin E. Vilas. the vice-president and manager of the Washington National Building. Loan & Investment Association, of Seattle. He is a native of Ogdensburg, New York, where he was born on the 4th of November. 1856, and is of old English ancestry. His descendants were among the early settlers of New Hampshire, and there his grandfather, Nathaniel Vilas, was born. He served as a sol- dier in the war of 1812, and was afterward a pensioner of that war. He was a prominent manufacturer and also postmaster of his town. where he attained to the ripe old age of eighty-three years.
Erastus Vilas, his son and the father of our subject, was born in .Ant- werp, Jefferson county, New York, in 1824, and now resides in Ogdensburg, that state, at the age of seventy-four years. He married Miss Emma Lake, a native of Chautauqua county, New York. Throughout his active business career he has been a manufacturer of and dealer in leather, and has long been recognized as one of the leading citizens of his town, in which he has held many positions of honor and trust. For many years he was a member of the board of education, was at one time a water commissioner, and has been the recipient of many other honors within the gift of his fellow townsmen. Hc is a prominent and worthy member of the Baptist church, and since the form- ation of the Republican party has been an active worker in its ranks. Mrs. Vilas was called to the home beyond in 1883, at the age of fifty-one years, and she, too, was a devoted Christian, and was a faithful and devoted wife and mother. Two sons were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Vilas, the brother of our subject being George B., now a freight agent for the Northwestern Rail- road at Milwaukee.
Calvin E. Vilas received his elementary education in the public schools of his native place, and later supplemented the knowledge there gained by
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a course in the State Normal School, in St. Lawrence county, New York. His business training was received under the careful direction of his father, and he continued to devote his attention to the leather business until 1890, in which year he came to Seattle, and has since been identified with the best interests of this city. He is engaged principally in loaning money and is also the vice-president and manager of the Washington National Building, Loan & Investment Association. Throughout his residence here he has taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community, and is a progressive and public-spirited citizen who gives a loyal support to all measures for the public good.
Mr. Vilas was happily married in 1882, when Miss Jennie L. Vilas, his third cousin, became his wife, and they have had two chikiren, but the little son died at the age of seven and a half years. The surviving child is Helen L. The family reside in a beautiful home in Seattle, where they extend a gracious hospitality to their many friends. Throughout the years of his manhood Mr. Vilas has given his political support to the Republican party. and while a resident of St. Lawrence county, New York, he held the office of supervisor, and was also city clerk of Ogdensburg, the place of his birth. He is an active and valued member of St. Mark's Episcopal church and in ali the relations of life he has won the high regard of his fellow citizens.
CHARLES BAKER.
Forty years have passed since Charles Baker took up his residence in Seattle. When he arrived here he found a very small town, giving little prom- ise of rapid future development, yet it had natural advantages which Mr. Baker recognized and he therefore believed that he would take a wise step by casting in his fortunes with the new and growing town. Through all these years he has been interested in every measure for the general good and has been a wide awake and progressive citizen, who from pioneer times down to the present has labored earnestly and effectively for the advance- ment of the northwest.
Mr. Baker is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, his birth having occurred there on the 18th of November, 1840. He is of English ancestry and his parents were John O. and Charlotte Helen ( Hopewell) Baker, the former a native of Portsmouth and the latter of London, England. They emi- grated to the United States when young people and located at Cleveland. Ohio, where they were married. He devoted his energies to the practice of medicine and surgery, as a representative of the regular school, being
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first located at St. Stephens, New Brunswick, and later a member of the medical profession at Collis, Robbinston and East Machias, Maine. In 1875 he came to the northwest, locating in Seattle and for twelve years was a prominent member of the medical fraternity of this place, continuing as an active practitioner up to the time of his death, which occurred in Octo- ber, 1887. He was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was very devoted to his profession and attained eminence in his chosen calling, botlı because of his remarkable ability in the diagnosing of diseases, and also because of his skill in applying correct remedies and in the use of surgical imple- ments. He was a gentleman of broad humanitarian principles and his deep human sympathy made it a pleasure to him to carry on his professional work and alleviate the suffering of his fellow men. He never stopped to consider whether his patients were poor or rich but gave his services to the former as to the latter and many a family had reason to bless him for his helpfulness in the hour of need. His wife departed this life some time previous to the death of her husband, being forty-three years of age when called to her final rest. Both were members of the Episcopal church and their Christian faith was exemplified in their noble and helpful lives. They were the parents of a son and daughter. but Charles is now the only sur- viving member of the family. He was called Charles John Frederick Beverly, in honor of friends who bore those names, but Mr. Baker says he never finds time to write all of the lengthy name and has dropped cach one of the Christian names except that of Charles. He obtained his early edu- cation in the Washington Academy of Marine and when fourteen years of age went to sea, following the life of a sailor for nearly seven years. during which time he visited many of the ports of the civilized world and gained broad and interesting knowledge concerning foreign lands and the manners and customs of various peoples.
In December, 1862, when not quite twenty-one years of age. Mr. Baker arrived at Seattle, becoming engaged in the lumber business, getting out logs for various saw mills. He afterward went to Cariboo. British Columbia, at the time of the mining excitement there, but has spent the greater part of his life since attaining to his majority in the Puget Sound country. For a number of years he was engaged in the grocery business at Lowell in Snohomish county, successfully conducting his enterprise until 1880, when he sold his business there and established a grocery store in north Seattle. Here he prospered from the beginning and continued in the business for fourteen years or until 1894, when he sold out and re- tired from active business. He is now enjoying a well merited and well
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earned rest. In later years he has built a commodious dwelling at 2344 East Lake avemie and had made other investments in Seattle city property which have returned him a good income.
On the 8th of February, 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Baker and Miss Emma Seavey, of East Machias, Maine, a daughter of Sylvanus and Cynthia Seavey, both of whom were of English ancestry, but several generations have resided in this country and representatives of the family were participants in events which form the early history of Amer- ica and in the Revolutionary war. Her father attained to the ripe old age of 'eighty-five years and his wife reached the extreme okl age of ninety- one years. They were honest and industrious farming people and followers of the Christian religion. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have had six children: Ed- ward H., who was born in Seattle; Charlotte H., whose birth occurred in Snohomish; Cynthia Elma, who was born in the same place and is now the wife of R. G. McCausland; and Julia, who is attending the city high school. Two sons are now deceased: Charles, born February 8, 1873. died March 25. 1877; Albert, who died December 9, 1879. The family attend services at the Congregational church and members of the house- hold have the highest respect of the best citizens of Seattle. Mr. Baker has been a life-long and stanch Republican and in 1902 was the candidate of his party for the office of supervisor of King county. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having received the sublime degree of a Master Mason of Warren Lodge, No. 2, F. and .A. M., of East Machias, Maine. He now holds membership with the Eureka Lodge, No. 20, F. and .A. M. of Seattle. Ilis record is that of a man who through earnest and honor- able endeavor in business life attains success and also achieves a character that is above reproach.
ANDREW CHILBERG.
Andrew Chilberg, president of the Scandinavian-American Bank of Se- attle. Washington, is one of the leading bankers of the city and rapidly work- ing his way to a foremost position among the prominent financiers of the state. He has made an enviable reputation in business circles and occupies a position of no little prominence in connection with public affairs, although He has never sought political preferment. His life demonstrates what may be accomplished through energy, careful management, keen foresight. and the utilization of the powers with which nature has endowed one, and the oppor- tunities with which the times surround himn.
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Mr. Chilberg was born in Sweden March 29, 1845, but was only a year old when brought to America by his parents, Charles John and Hannah (Johnson) Chilberg, who were also born in that country of Swedish ancestry. They were farming people and members of the Lutheran church. In 1846 the parents, accompanied by their four children, James P., Nelson, Isaac and Andrew, took passage on a sailing vessel bound for the new world and were eleven weeks in crossing the Atlantic. They located on a farm southwest of Ottumwa, Iowa, where the father pre-empted and homesteaded lands, and there he successfully engaged in farming for many years. Other children were added to the family. these being Benjamin A .. Joseph, Charles F. and Jolın H., but Charles F. died in the thirty-second year of his age. The father is now ninety years of age and the mother died July 3, 1902. In 1882 this worthy couple celebrated their golden wedding, and they traveled life's journey together for the remarkable period of seventy years, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows. its adversity and prospeity. In 1872 they came to Seattle and the father now resides at La Conner, honored and respected by all who know him.
Andrew Chilberg was principally reared near Ottumwa, Iowa, and is indebted to the schools of that city for his elucational privileges. In 1800, at the age of fifteen years, he went with his father and brother Nelson to Pike's Peak during the gold excitement in that locality. . There our subject worked on a farm while his father and brother engaged in prospecting and mining until the winter of 1863, when they returned to Iowa.
The following spring Andrew Chilberg crossed the plains to California, driving horses, for which service he was boarded and permitted to go with the company. During that arduous journey he acquired indigestion from the poor food he was given, and from its effects he has never fully recovered. His fine constitution is all that has carried hint through. The company with which he traveled was four months on the road from Omaha to Sacra- mento. His brother James P. had preceded him to California and was farm- ing in Yolo county, and for some time our subject worked for him and other farmers, at twenty-five dollars per month. He subsequently went to Stock- ton, where he worked in a large nursery for sometime, and also attended school at that place.
Owing to ill health Mr. Chilberg finally returned to Iowa by way of the Nicaragua route and New York city, and again attended school in Ottumwa. Subsequently he engaged in teaching school for three years, and also clerked in a wholesale and retail dry goods house in Ottumwa for four years. In 1874, at Ottumwa, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary, daughter of
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John and Hannah ( Swenson ) Nelson, now both deceased, and born at Bishop Hill, Illinois. The following year they came to Seattle, Washington. In the fall of 1875 he embarked in the grocery business with his brothers, James P. and Nelson, and together they conducted the store until 1882, when he sold his interest to his brothers, having been elected assessor of King county on the Democratic ticket.
Mr. Chilberg creditably filled that office for two years. While engaged in the grocery business he has been appointed by the Swedish government vice-consul for Sweden and Norway, and has since satisfactorily filled that position. He was also a member of the city council two years, and in 1884 was appointed city treasurer, in which capacity he also served two years. In 1885 he was appointed city passenger and ticket agent for the Northern Pacific Railway, and held that position until 1892. when he resigned to accept the presidency of the Scandinavian American Bank. of which he was one of the organizers. This bank was opened for business on the Ist of May, 1892, with a paid-up capital of forty-five thousand dollars, which was increased in IgoI to one hundred thousand dollars, while its deposits now amount to over two million dollars. In the past nine years it has had an unparalleled growth and is to-day one of the sound financial institutions of the state. Much of its success is due to Mr. Chilberg. the safe and conservative policy which he inaugurated having conimended itself to the judgment of all, and secured a patronage which makes the volume of business transacted over its counters of great importance and magnitude. In 1895 he was elected a school director, in which capacity he served for three years, and was president of the school board one term. Socially he is a charter member of Columbia Lodge, .A. O. U. W., and politically has always been a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. He is a man of prominence in the business world, his upright, honorable life having gained for him the confidence and high regard of his fellow citizens, and his popularity is justly deserved. He has one son, Eugene Chilberg, who was born October 29, 1875, who has been in Nome for three or four years and is secretary and treasurer of the Pioneer Mining Company, also interested in the Hot Air Mining Company.
WALTER SHEPARD FULTON.
The name of Fulton has long figured conspicuously on the pages of American history, and he of whom we write has become an eminent citizen of Seattle. Although but a young man he has already attained distinction at the bar and is now serving as prosecuting attorney of King county, making
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his home in Seattle. He was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the roth of August, 1873, his ancestors having come to this country from the north of Ireland. Robert Fulton, the first of the name here, took up his abode in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, at a very early epoch in its history. He was the great-grandfather of our subject, and fought in the Revolutionary war on the side of the colonists. William P. Fulton, the father of Walter S., was born in Pennsylvania in :840, and after arriving at years of maturity married Martha White, a native of Wellsburg, Virginia. Throughout the greater part of his business career he carried on merchandis- ing but is now living retired, his home being in Akron, Ohio. He has always been a stanch advocate of the Republican party and in religious faith is a Presbyterian.
Since the age of eight years Walter Shepard Fulton has resided with his uncle, Judge William H. White, now justice of the supreme court of Wash- ington. He acquired his carly education in the public schools of this city and afterward attended the University of Washington. In one year's time lie completed a two years' course in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. and was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of that state in 1894. He then returned to Seattle and began his law practice. He has succeeded because his equipment was unusually good, because he has applied himself closely, because he has been most diligent in his work and devoted to the interests of his clients. For three years he served as deputy prosecuting attorney under Mr. McElroy and was then nominated by the Democratic party for the office which he is now filling. He made a brilliant campaign, delivered many stirring campaign addresses and was triumphantly elected. He ran far ahead of his party ticket and the signal victory which he won indi- cates his great popularity in the county in which he was reared and educated, and was also a tribute to hiis professional skill. Since entering upon the duties of the office he has tried a number of very noted criminal cases which he has prosecuted successfully, among those being the Nordstrom murder case, which resulted in the punishment of the criminal, notwithstanding the very able defense and untiring efforts of the opposing counsel.
In November, 1898, Mr. Fulton was mited in marriage to Miss Etta Nugent, of Port Blakely, Washington, a daughter of Captain Joseph Nugent; now of Seattle. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and! of the legal Phi Delta Phi fraternity of the University of Michigan. Both our subject and his wife have a large circle of friends and are held in the highest regard in the city and state in which they have so long made their home, spending almost their entire lives here. The hospitality of the best
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homes of Seattle is cordially extended them. In professional ranks Mr. Fulton is also widely known and his strong mentality, laudable ambition and force of character indicate that his will be a successful future.
JAMES LEE.
For a number of years an active factor in the industrial interests of Seattle. James Lee, through his diligence, perseverance and. business ability, has acquired a handsome competence and has also contributed to the general prosprity through the conduct of an enterprise which has furnished employ- ment to others. Reliability in all trade transactions, loyalty to all duties of citizenship, fidelity in the discharge of every duty reposed in him-these are his chief characteristics and through the passing years have gained for him the unqualified confidence and respect of his fellow men.
Mr. Lee is a native of Canada, being born in Woodstock, Ontario, on the 25th of .August, 1865, and he is of English ancestry. His father, James Tee, emigrated to this country from England in 1840. and after his arrivai took up his abode on a farm in Ontario. He was accompanied on the jour- ney by his wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma Cholcraft. They were members of the Episcopal church, in which he was an active worker for many years, and his death occurred in Canada in 1884, his wife joining him in the spirit world in 1898. They became the parents of eight children. seven of whom are still living.
James Lee, the only representative of the above family on the Pacific coast. received his literary education in the schools of Woodstock. Canada, while his business training was received in the Ontario College of Pharmacy, in Toronto, in which he was graduated in 1886. For a year thereafter he served as a clerk in a drug store in that city, and then came to Seattle, where a similar period was spent as a drug clerk. In 1890 he embarked in the drug business on his own account, at his present location, at the corner of Second avenne and Columbia street, where he has a storeroom twenty-four by one hundred feet, filled with a complete stock of such goods as are usually kept in a first-class city drug store. ile is recognized as one of the most straight- forward, energetic and successful business men of Seattle, and in trade cir- cles he is an important factor. He is public spirited and thoroughly inter- ested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material wel- fare of the city, and is numbered among its valued and honored citizens.
The marriage of Mr. Lee was celebrated on the 24th of February, 1896. when Miss Elizabeth Paddock became his wife. She is a native of the Golden
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state, her birth occurring in San Francisco, where her mother, Mrs. Nathaniel C. Paddock, is now residing. Two children have been born of this union,- Beatrice E. and Edith C. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are members of the Episcopal church, and he is also identified with the Masonic fraternity, exemplifying its beneficent principles in his every day life. He also holds membership relations with the National Union and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In po- litical matters he affiliates with the Republican party, but has never been a seeker for political preferment, choosing rather to give his undivided time to hs business interests.
ELMER E. CAINE.
Prominently connected with the shipping interests of the great north- west. Elmer E. Caine makes his home in Seattle, where he superintends his extensive business interests as the president of the Pacific Clipper Line. Na- ture has made this portion of America rich in resources, but it remains for man to utilize these, and one of the most important clements in the business development of any section is transportation facilities, whereby products and manufactures may be sent to markets. The gold fields of Alaska, which are being so largely worked at the present time, have made a demand for means of transporting passengers and freight to and from that country, and it is to this enterprise that Mr. Caine is now giving his attention, his splendid business ability and executive force being manifest in his capable control of the vessels which now constitute the Pacific Clipper Line.
Mr. Caine is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred at White Lake, near Muskegon, on the 31st of May, 1863. He is a son of Alfred .A. Caine, who was descended in the maternal line from one of the Harpers of the famous family of that name at Harpersburg, New York. The father was a man of considerable means. After leaving school Elmer E. Caine went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was employed in a notion house for four years. Ile afterward went with the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. accepting the position of passenger agent at Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spending three years in that city. In 1889 he arrived at Seattle, where he became connected with the steamboat business on his own account as the senior member of the firm of E. E. Caine & Company, operating freight and tug boats on the Sound. He carried this on until he organized the Pacific Clipper Line in 1898, for the Maska trade. The company owns some of its own vessels, but is mostly acting as agent for other owners. They reach Skagway, Cape Nome and other Alaska points during the summer season.
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In 1890 they built the steamer G. W. Dickinson, with a capacity of sixteen hundred tons, which has since been sold to the government for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The company has also built two sailing vessels, of seventy-five thousand dollars value, which were completed in 1901. They now operate ten vessels in the Alaska trade and receive a liberal patronage, so that the business, while proving a profitable source of income to the stock- hoklers, is also of the greatest value as a means of advancing the develop- ment and progress of the extreme northwest.
Captain Caine is a man of resourceful business ability, enterprising and far-sighted, and in addition to controlling his navigation interests, he has made judicious investments in real estate in Seattle. He has erected a 11111- ber of residences, now owning nine or ten good properties of that class, and in addition has other city realty.
The Captain was married in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Miss Minnie A. Roberts, and they have an attractive home in Seattle, which is celebrated for its gracious hospitality. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks as one of its life members. A man of great natural ability, his success in business from the beginning of his residence in Seattle has been uniform and rapid. He possesses untiring energy, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution, and has demonstrated the truth of the saying that success is not a matter of genius, but the outcome of clear judgment and experience.
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