An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 112

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146

USA > Washington > Kittitas County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 112
USA > Washington > Yakima County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 112
USA > Washington > Klickitat County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 112

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GEORGE W. ALEXANDER is a prosperous farmer and stockman residing four and one-half miles southeast of Bickleton, Washington. He was. born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, February 19, 1846, the son of George and Martha V. (Knapp) Al- exander. George Alexander, the elder, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1816. When twenty-four vears of age he went to Wisconsin, settling in Kock county, but later he moved to Whitewater, Wal- worth county. At this time the localities mentioned were but sparsely settled and the elder Alexander was obliged to meet the many adverse conditions in- cident to the settlement of a new country. His death occurred at Whitewater in 1888. Martha V. (Knapp) Alexander was born in Sandusky, Ohio,

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:سيحهار

WM. A. McCREDY.

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in 1822, and died in 1890. From his father, George W. derives German blood, and from his mother, Scotch-Irish. He grew to young manhood in Wis- consin amid surroundings that contributed more to his knowledge of pioneer customs and the robust elements so active in the promotion of undeveloped enterprises than to his store of book-learning. In 1864, he enlisted in Company H., Thirteenth Wis- consin volunteers, and he was in active service till the close of the Civil war. Then he returned to the Wisconsin home and took up farming, following this vocation till 1869, at which time he went to Cali- fornia. In Nevada and Colorado he remained for ten years, engaged principally in stock raising and mining. His final move was to Klickitat county, in 1879. At the time of his arrival the region about Bickleton was a great stock range controlled by stockmen who discouraged any attempt of settlers at home-seeking. Nevertheless, Mr. Alexander took up a quarter section of land and began farming, his re- sources to begin with consisting of seventy-five dol- lars and two horses. Later, he devoted considerable attention to the raising of cattle and horses, though not to the exclusion entirely of strictly agricultural pursuits. During his residence at his present loca- tion he has experienced reverses which made more difficult his task of home-building, but during recent years of good health, hard work and favorable cir- cumstances have contributed toward making him one of the most happily established residents in his community.

On September 16, 1878, Mr. Alexander married Miss Beatrice E. Thacker, who died in 1882, after she had become the mother of two children, Frank E. and Hattie. The latter died in infancy. Frank is now living at home with his father, and is said to be one of the steadiest young men of the com- munity in which he resides. Mr. Alexander's sec- ond marriage occurred January 10, 1886, the lady being Miss Lucy A. Embree, a native of Cass county, Missouri, born February 28, 1852. She was the daughter of Thomas and Phoebe E. C. (Butler) Embree, who were among the early settlers of Klick- itat county. During the continuance of his present residence Mr. Alexander has been actively interested in the municipal affairs of his community. He has served fourteen years as road supervisor, and during this time has assisted to make the greater part of the principal roads of his locality, among which was the road from Coyle's Landing on the Columbia river to Fort Simcoe. His farm comprises three hundred and twenty acres of land, all of which is in a high state of cultivation. This ranch is reputed to be one of the most valuable farming properties in the coun- ty, and its increasing valuation promises to make excellent returns for the years of toil that have been spent in its improvement.

SAMUEL A. BULLIS, a Klickitat county farmer and stock raiser, resides on his farm of one

hundred and sixty acres, six and a half miles south- east of Bickleton. He is a native of Wisconsin, born in Rock county, on the IIth of August, 1862. His father, Samuel Bullis, is a native of Ohio, born De- cember 16, 1836, and by occupation a farmer. He served throughout the Civil war in the Twenty-first Wisconsin volunteers, and now draws a pension on account of such service. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Crosby, was born in the middle west, February 7, 1846, and lives with her husband in Oregon. Samuel A. Bullis, of this review, re- moved to Iowa with his parents when seven years old and received his education in the common schools of Butler county, that state, assisting his father out of term time and out of school hours with the work about the farm. When eighteen years old, he left the parental fireside and from that time until he reached the age of twenty-four worked at various places as a farm hand, though part of the time he farmed places of his own. Removing to Minneapo- lis, Minnesota, in 1886, he lived there for a period of six years, engaged continuously in the transfer business. He then spent two years in Prince- ton, Idaho, a town of Latah county, there- after removing to Eugene, Oregon, a pretty little Willamette valley town, which he made his place · of residence for an additional six years, farming all the time. In 1901, on the 3d of June, he came to Bickleton county and took up the home- stead upon which he has since lived. He has im- proved and fenced the land, gaining a livelihood the while in the dual pursuits of agriculture and stock raising, principally. A good orchard, about ready to bear, and many other improvements testify to his industry, progressiveness and thrift.

In 1887, Mr. Bullis married Ida E. Newby, a native of the state of New Jersey, born February 7, 1869. Her father died when she was but an infant, and her mother, Madeline, married again, becoming Mrs. Osborn. She now lives in New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Bullis have a family of five children, as follows: Jarvie, Mattie, Melville, Lydia and Cora. Mr. Bullis has five brothers living in the Willa- mette valley, Oregon, namely : William, Charles, Tesse, Harvey and Frank, while a sister resides in Minnesota. In politics, Mr. Bullis is a Republican. Although he has not lived in the locality long, he has already won a place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, and already given earnest of his ability to contribute his full part toward the general development.

WILLIAM A. McCREDY, a farmer and hotel man of Cleveland, was born in Richland county, Ohio, February 20, 1830. His father, Alex. McCredy, was a native of the Quaker state, but of Scotch descent. He settled in Ohio about 1820, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of that state. He died in 1834. Our subject's mother, Effie (Van Nostrand) McCredy, also a

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native of Pennsylvania, came with her parents to Ohio when she was a young girl, and in that state grew up and married. She died the same year that her husband passed away, after having become the mother of six children. Thus it happened that he whose name forms the caption of this article was left an orphan when four years old. He was brought up by an uncle, David Urie. At the age of twelve he began attending school in Ohio, and his education was completed in the public schools of Missouri. When twenty years of age, he left his uncle's home, began farming on his own account, and for two years he was thus employed, but on April 25, 1853, he started across the Plains with an ox team, and five months later was in Yamhill county, Ore- gon, where he took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres. He lived upon this property for twenty-seven years, devoting his time to farming and stock raising. In the fall of 1880, he moved to Klickitat county, and took a timber culture claim, but this he later abandoned, after having made it his home for two years. However, his son, John T., filed a pre-emption on it, complied with the law and secured his patent and later sold it to our subject. In the spring of 1892, Mr. McCredy moved to Cleve- land, and two years after his arrival he bought the townsite from the original locator, R. Dodge, who had taken it up as a homestead.

Mr. McCredy has been twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth R. Beaman, was born in St. Charles county, Missouri, January 19, 1834. She was educated in the common schools of that state, and married there in 1851, being a little over seventeen years old at the time. She died on the 6th of August, 1894. Her father, Enos Beaman, a native of North Carolina, born August 10, 1808, was a farmer. He moved to Missouri in the early days and there resided until his death in 1851. He was of German parentage. His wife, Paulina (Butler) Beaman, was also born in North Carolina, March 27, 1810, married there, but later moved to Missouri, where she raised a family of six children and where she died in 1866.

The second marriage of our subject took place on January 12, 1896, at which time he took to wife Mrs. Sarah A. Van Nostern, a widow. Her father, Thomas Hooker, was born in North Carolina, in 1821, and in due time became a mill man. He later moved to the state of Georgia, where he passed away September 28, 1884. Her mother, Delana (Harris) Hooker, was born in Liberty county, Georgia, October 21, 1841, and was educated and married in that state. She died in 1882 after having raised a family of eleven children. The present Mrs. McCredy was a native of Georgia, born November 1, 1857. She was educated for a school teacher, and taught for some time, but came to Washington

Territory in 1882 and there married David Van Nostern, two years after her arrival. Three children were born to this union: John, October 22, 1884; Rodell, February 7, 1891, and David, January 28, 1888. Mrs. McCredy has a number of brothers and sisters, namely: Mrs. Julia A. Strickland, born September 7, 1861, now living in Georgia ; Jane M., born December 7, 1859, who died when nine months old; Mary E., born April 14, 1866, deceased at the age of eight; Thomas H., born November 8, 1864, now in Klickitat county ; Joseph J., born June 14, 1869, residing at Cleveland ; William F., born September 8, 1871, at present in Klickitat county ; James H., born November 9, 1873, now in Florida ; Charles O., and Robert L., born on the respective dates of August 30, 1878, and Febru- ary 18, 1882, both in Klickitat county; and Travis E., horn on the 4th of February, 1876. The names of Mr. McCredy's children are as follows : Paulina Varner, a married daughter, born in Missouri, December 20, 1852, now living in Ore- gon ; George, born in Oregon, February 22, 1855, living at Bickleton ; A. Jackson, born in Oregon, January 24, 1857, died April 13. 1859; Benjamin J., January 20, 1861, died November 22, 1884; William R., May 9, 1859, died January 17, 1862; John T., May 6, 1863; Alexander E., May 3, 1868; and Leland N., June 23, 1872. Mr. Mc- Credy is a member of the Christian church; in politics, a Democrat, taking an active interest in all political matters. A very early pioneer of the Northwest, he has witnessed events and conditions such as can never again happen or exist; the narration of which would be interest- ing indeed. He tells us that when he first came to Yamhill county he paid twenty dollars a bar- rel for flour, thirty cents a pound for bacon, and a dollar and a half a bushel for potatoes. He has all the virtues of the honored class to which he belongs, and his declining years are rendered happy by the fact that he enjoys in an unusual measure the fullest confidence and hearty good will of those of his own generation who still live and all of the younger generation with whom he is associated. It is his pleasure to witness the splendid financial success that his sons are achieving in the goodly land that he and his fel- low pioneers have redeemed from savagery to civilization.

HENRY C. HACKLEY, an engineer and car- penter by trade, residing at Cleveland, Klickitat county, Washington, is an Oregonian, born in Linn county, September 4, 1854. His father, Dewitt C. Hackley, a minister of the gospel and a teacher, was a native of Indiana. He moved to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1839. living there until 1852, at which time he crossed the Plains by ox team to Linn county, Cre- gon, where he spent the next four years. He was seven months on the way to Oregon, and soon after

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his arrival, took up a donation claim of three hun- dred and twenty acres. In 1856, he removed to Piety Hill, California, and spent nine years in that locality, mining and preaching, also giving some attention to raising cattle. He then removed to Mendocino county, in the western part of the state, and engaged in the hotel business, remaining there until 1873. He then moved to Sonoma county, and there farmed for another two years, at the end of which period hie again returned to Mendocino county, where he spent the succeeding four years in the hotel business. In 1879, he moved to Klickitat county, Washington, and took up a homestead, mak- ing his home thereon for a space of four years, but did not prove up on his claim. He also engaged in the sheep business. In 1889 he sold out his interests, and the next year built the Cleveland grist-mill, operating it for three years. In 1901 he again re- turned to Mendocino county, California, where he still resides. He is of Scotch-Irish parentage. His wife, Sophia W. C. (Vangorkon) Hackley, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1827. She came to this country in 1844, married two years later, and died in Klickitat county, Washington, September 12, 1888. Mr. Hackley was educated in the com- mon schools of California, his parents having re- moved to that state when he was two years old, and he remained at home with his parents until reach- ing the age of thirteen. He then started to fire an engine in a mill, and there learned the engineering trade, devoting four years to the work in the mill. He next worked three years in a smelter located near the city of Oakland, and then entered the em- ploy of the Western Union Telegraph Company, working for them two years, being employed at line building. The following four years were spent in various positions with threshing outfits, etc., in the capacity of engineer. He came to Klickitat county in 1879, and started to run the engine in a saw-mill owned by E. McPharland, remaining in his service for two years. He next put in three years in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- pany, this time being mostly occupied in bridge building at various points. After his mar- riage at Seattle, in 1884, he returned to Klick- itat county, and since that time he has made it his home, following various lines of work. His brother Millard lives in California, and his father resides with him. Another brother, Edwin S. Hack- ley, now lives in Alaska, and a married sister, Laura M. Betts, lives at Wilcox, Whitman county, Wash- ington.

His marriage in Seattle on November 5, 1884, was with Effie L. Twichell, daughter of Hiram and Maria (Dodge) Twichell. Her father was born in New Bedford, Maine, in 1821, and followed farming for a living. He moved to Wisconsin in 1842, and thence to Minnesota, and in 1876 went to Oregon, located in Linn county, and after three years' resi- dence there removed to Klickitat county, Wash- ington. The years 1882 to 1884 were passed at Seat-

tle; then he again returned to Klickitat county, where he died in 1895. Her mother was also born in the town of New Bedford, in the year 1822. She married in Maine and died in Klickitat county in 1898. Mrs. Hackley was born in Pine Island, Min- nesota, on the 17th of September, 1862. She was educated in that state, and married at the age of twenty-three. She died December 18, 1903, at Cleveland, Washington. She has a married sister now living at Zillah, Washington, Mrs. Malinda Mason; and Mrs. Mary Mason, another sister, now resides at Cleveland. Her brother William makes his home at Elmira, Washington, and Mrs. Annie Wilson and Mrs. Helen Merton, also sisters, re- side at Goldendale and Zillah, Washington. She was the mother of five children. Nina, the old- est, was born June 12, 1888; Harold F., now dead, born on July 11, 1890; Bessie, also dead, born May II, 1892; Vivian, born May 30, 1898, and the youngest boy, Edwin, born September 27, 1903, all the children being born in Klickitat county. Mr. Hackley is a member of the Presbyterian church and an active Republican in politics. His real estate comprises four lots and a dwelling house in Cleve- land, and he is a substantial citizen of that town.

WILL G. FAULKNER, United States Land Commissioner and justice of the peace at Cleve- land, where he also runs a mercantile establish- ment, was born in Waupaca county, Wisconsin, March 10, 1860. His father, George L. Faulk- ner, who was born in Broome county, New York, in 1832, was a mechanic. He moved to Wiscon- sin in the carly fifties, was married there, and made his home in that state for a number of years, afterward going to Minnesota. Twelve years were passed there, then four in Nebraska, and in 1881 he moved again, this time to Yel- lowstone valley, Montana. In the spring of 1882, however, he proceeded to Klickitat county, Washington, and took up the land on which he now resides. He was of English descent, and his wife, Albertine (Gruhlkie) Faulkner, was of German birth. In 1845, when but four years old, she was brought to this country and was edu- cated in the schools of Wisconsin. At present she and her husband reside at Cleveland. The subject of this review was educated in the pub- lic schools of Minnesota. His father early taught him the carpenter's trade, and he followed it all the time he remained in Minnesota, as a contractor. Coming to Klickitat county with his father when he was twenty-two years old, he imme- diately took up a homestead four and a half miles south of Cleveland, upon which he made his home for the next half decade, at the same time taking a timber culture and a pre-emption claim and acquiring other tracts. During this period. he combined the pursuit of his handicraft with the stock business. He opened his present store

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in the spring of 1895, and has conducted it suc- cessfully and profitably since.

At North Yakima, Washington, October 24, 1894, Mr. Faulkner married Lettie M. Mason, whose father, George W. Mason, was a native of Pennsylvania. He came to Yakima county, Washington, in 1888, and now lives near Zillah. He is of Scotch extraction. Her mother, Ma- linda (Twitchell) Mason, was reared in the state of Maine, but moved to Wisconsin, and thence to Minnesota, where she met and mar- ried Mr. Mason. She now lives with her hus- band near Zillah. Mrs. Faulkner was born in Minnesota, and finished her education in the pub- lic schools of Washington. She was married at the age of twenty-five. She and Mr. Faulk- ner are parents of four children: Reita E., born February 1, 1897; Mildred B., born two years later; George P., born in July, 1900, and Luella M., born in 1902, also in the month of July, all natives of Cleveland. Mrs. Faulkner has the fol- lowing brothers and sisters: Mrs. Belle Sprague, in Zillah; Ralph and Jesse, both married and living near that town; Bertie and Ethel, living with their parents; and Artemus, residing at Cleveland and clerking for Mr. Faulkner. Mr. Faulkner has one brother and three sisters: Bert H., a farmer near Cleveland; Ida L. Blair, of Chicago; Carrie L. Krause, of Albion, Ne- braska, and Ellen E. Lilly, of Hot Springs, Washington. Fraternally, Mr. Faulkner is con- nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- low's and the Order of Washington, and in re- ligion he is a prominent Presbyterian, being an elder in the local church and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is also school director of district number thirty, and he holds a com- mission as a notary public. He is one of the directors of the Bank of Bickleton. An upright, energetic business man, he is thoroughly respected by his fellow citizens.

DANIEL C. COURTNAY, a mining man, residing two and a half miles from the town of Cleveland, was born in Warren county, Illinois, September 2, 1837. John B. Courtnay, his father, was a carpenter and farmer, born in Indiana in 1797. He removed to Illinois when thirty- two years of age and in 1845 crossed the Plains from that state to Oregon, where he died two years after his arrival. Agnes B. (Ritchie). Courtnay, our subject's mother, who was two years her husband's senior, was also born in Indiana, and married there. She died in Ore- gon in 1880, after having become the mother of twelve. Daniel C. Courtnay was educated in the common schools of Oregon, having been only eight years old when he came to that state with his parents. He remained at home until nine- teen, learning the carpenter's trade from his

father, then went to Walla Walla, from which city he made two trips into the Frazier river country. Returning to Oregon in 1863, he ran a saw and grist-mill there for two years, then followed mining in Grant county for two years, then spent a twelvemonth in Linn county. For the ensuing twenty-seven years, he traversed all parts of Josephine and Douglas counties in min- ing pursuits, a part of this time being spent at Coos Bay, Oregon. He came to Klickitat county in 1900, rented the farm on which he is now living and engaged temporarily in agriculture. It is, however, his intention to remove to Mexico soon and resume his mining.

Mr. Courtnay has been twice married. His first wife, the widow of Dr. Colwell, a Jackson county physician, he wedded in 1876. Her father, Ben McCormick, a native of Alabama and a farmer by occupation, crossed the Plains to Ore- gon in the year 1863, and later died in that state. Her mother was also a native of Alabama, born September 2, 1832. She died in Jackson county, Oregon, after having become the mother of two children, Hugh and Luella, both born in Linn county. Both are dead. Our subject's second marriage was performed in Douglas county, Ore- gon, in 1885, Mrs. Daily then becoming his wife. She was a daughter of William G. Woodard, a native of Ohio and a saddler by trade, now liv- ing at Roseburg, Oregon, having crossed the Plains in 1863. Her mother, Sela (Shaw) Wood- ard, died in Oregon. Mrs. 'Courtnay is a native of Virginia, born in 1852. She spent her early youth there and was educated in the local com- mon schools. Mr. Courtnay is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a Democrat in politics. Like most miners, he has had a varied and inter- esting career, the details of which, could they be told, would make an interesting story. He has won many friends since coming to Klickitat county, and should he carry out his intention of leaving, many will be sorry. to see him go.

JAMES D. VAN NOSTERN, postmaster in the town of Cleveland, where he also runs a mer- cantile establishment, was born in Oregon on the 20th of April, 1874, the son of David and Elizabeth (Thompson) Van Nostern, natives of · Missouri. David Van Nostern, father of our subject, who was born in 1841, was of German descent. Left an orphan at the tender age of six or seven, he was taken charge of by his sis- ter, who took him to West Virginia. Crossing the Plains to Oregon at an early age, he ac- quired his educational discipline and grew to manhood there. In 1883, he came to Klickitat county, where he resided until his demise in 1891. His wife, Elizabeth (Thompson) Van Nostern, was educated and married in Oregon, and died in that commonwealth in 1882. Our

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subject was educated in the Oregon and Wash- ington schools, having accompanied his parents to the latter state when ten years old. He re- mained at home until his father's death in 1891. Then, being only seventeen years old, he went back to Oregon, and for four years attended school there. Upon completing his education, he returned to Cleveland and learned the black- smith's trade. Later, however, lie engaged in the stock business. In 1901, he opened a store for Clanton, Mitty & Company at Cleveland, and the succeeding year he purchased the business. He had charge of it alone for seven months, then took his brother, Isaac, into partnership with him, and the establishment has ever since been under the control of the Van Nostern Brothers. Mr. Van Nostern is also interested in the business of stock raising.

At Bickleton, Washington, in 1901, Mr. Van Nostern married Laura Moorehead, whose father, James, was a farmer, born in Ohio in 1825. He also lived in Iowa, and that state. was his start- ing point when he came to Klickitat county. He died here in 1901. His wife, Mary (Palmer) Moorehead, is a native of New York, but she now resides at North Yakima. Mrs. Van Nos- tern was born in Iowa in 1876. Coming to Wash- ington with her parents at the age of eight, she attended the schools of that commonwealth. She married at the age of twenty-four. Two chil- dren have been born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Van Nostern: Arvilla, May 5, 1901, and James, October 10, 1903, the birthplace of both being Cleveland. Fraternally, Mr. Van Nostern is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Loyal Guard and the Order of Washington, while in politics, he is a Republican. A public-spirited man, he has never evaded the responsibilities of citizenship, but is cheerfully performing the duties of such unremunerative offices as school director, school clerk and constable. His duties as postmaster are always discharged conscientiously and witlı painstaking care. Besides his mercantile estab- lishment he has a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, with nearly seventy head of horses thercon. With experience and commer- cial ability his, he can hardly fail to win abun- dant success in life's conflict.

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An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 112

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146