An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 128

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 128
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 128
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 128

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1888, Dr. Hill's wife died and Dr. Owens- Adair gladly received into her home and heart her only grandchild, Victor Adair Hill, then less than three years old. A few years later, when Dr. Hill again married, his mother prevailed upon him to permit her and Colonel Adair to adopt Victor and make him their heir at law. In 1891, Dr. Owens-Adair again manifested her kindness and benevolence of spirit, by taking upon her- self, at the request of his mother, the care of , a little baby boy, at whose birth she officiated as

physician. With her husband's consent she named him John Adair, Jr. The names of her family she has perpetuated in the plat of her "Sunnymead" addition to Astoria, one street of which is known as Hill street, another is Victor street. Through the farm and plat run three beautiful streams, to which she has given the names Adair creek, Mattie Belle creek and Vera creek, respectively.

The present writer has been privileged to chronicle the early struggles and some of the triumphs of this strenuous, useful, all-conquer- ing life. It is to be hoped that he who records its end will do so at a date now far in the future. It is Dr. Adair's ambition to live `until both her younger boys and her granddaughter, Vera Owens Hill, are grown and settled in life, and the chances seen good that she will be per- mitted to do so, for she now has excellent health. Seldom is she guessed to be more than forty-five years old. She stands erect, has a quick, firm step, and drives and handles her horse as easily and as well as she did twenty-five years ago. Day or night she obeys the call of suffering humanity, never sparing herself. She still lives the old strenuous life, rising at five in the morning, win- ter and summer, and taking exercises immedi- ately upon rising to call every muscle in her body into vigorous action. She is her own ac- countant. She reads much to keep well abreast of the times and in the summer of 1900, she took a severe post-graduate course in the Chicago clinical school for physicians only, attending lec- tures from nine o'clock a. m. until six o'clock p. m. and from eight until nine p. m., notwith- standing the extrenie heat. She also finds time to write many family and social letters and to contribute frequently to papers and medical jour- nals. Certainly her fine constitution, her talents and her invincible energy have been assiduously devoted to the welfare of suffering humanity and it is just as certain that they always will be until she shall have drawn her latest breath.

GEORGE E. PIERCE. Althoughi still a young man, George E. Pierce, contractor and builder, is one of the leading business men of Nortlı Yakima. He was born in Renovo, Penn- sylvania, December 14, 1867. His father was D. W. Pierce, a native of Vermont, who came to Klickitat county in 1880, and at one time was his county's representative in the state legisla- ture. Belinda B. (Laythe) Pierce, our subject's mother, was also a native of Vermont. George E. went to school in his native state until he became eleven years of age, when his family removed to Albany, Oregon. Here he remained only a year, when the family came to Goldendale, where George attended school. He later took a business course in Salem, Oregon, affording

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him a good, practical education. Returning to Goldendale, he worked in his father's saw and planing mill at that point, and in July, 1899, he came to North Yakima and began working at the trade of carpenter. He worked independently until January 1, 1903, when he formed a partner- ship with W. T. Stewart, under the firm name of Stewart & Pierce. They do a general contract- ing business, and the firm is one that everyone feels he can trust. Stewart & Pierce constructed the recent addition to the hospital, and have worked on other public buildings, besides having erected many structures for private individuals. At North Yakima, May, 1902, Mr. Pierce was married to Miss Mary E. Shaw, a native of England, and daughter of Edward and Mary Shaw, both of English birth, and came to the United States when a child. She lived in Port- land, Oregon, for eighteen years, when she came to Goldendale, where her father died. Her mother still lives in North Yakima. Mr. Pierce has two brothers, D. W. and E. E., and two sisters: Mrs. Ella D. Adams and Mrs. Ruth Enderby, and one other sister now deceased. Mrs. Pierce has two brothers, Fred E. and Charles R. Shaw; the former with the North Yakima Furniture Company. Mr. Pierce is a member of Yakima lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 22, and of the Woodmen of the World. In politics, he is a stanch Republican. He enjoys the reputation of being a first-class workman, and the services of the firm of which he is a member are in flattering demand. Besides this he is looked upon as an honest, industrious and, in all ways, an exemplary man.

JOHN M. MURCHIE. John M. Murchie, proprietor of the Fashion stables, of North Yakima, was born in the state of California, August 30, 1860. His grandfather, on his father's side, went to Nevada City in 1849 and located the Murchie Gold and Silver Mining Company's claims, which developed into, and are still, the greatest producing mines of Nevada City. The subject's father was Andrew Murchie, who went to California in 1856, where he was superin- tendent of a quartz mill until 1880, when he removed to Wasco, Oregon. Here he passed away in 1893. John M. Murchie's mother was Mary A. (Nisbett) Murchie, a native of Maine, as was also her husband. She is now living in North Yakima. Mr. Murchie was educated in California, where he received a high school edu- cation, and he was also a graduate of Heald's Business college. He was an expert accountant, and during his career in his native state was bookkeeper for a mercantile and mining firm. After resigning his last position he came to Oregon, in 1880, and followed farming for ten years. He then removed to The Dalles, where

for four years he conducted a livery business. He next entered construction work in the employ of the Columbia Southern Railroad, superintend- ing the building of ten miles of that line. In 1899, he came to North Yakima and built the Palace bakery building, a one-story brick block, which is now occupied by two general stores. Here he conducted a bakery for a period of eighteen months, when he sold out his stock, but he still retains the building and fixtures. His next ven - ture was in the livery business, when he bought his present barn and equipment, which he has been conducting in a successful manner up to the present time. His is the largest business of its kind in the town, requiring the constant employment of eight men to carry it on. Be- sides this property, Mr. Murchie owns consider- able valuable town property and a handsome home. .

Mr. Murchie was married at Wasco, Oregon, in 1883, to Miss Annie M. Pearson, who died in 1888; two children were born to that union, Les- ter and Bessie. At Wasco, in 1892, he was again married to Miss Isabel Pullian, a native of Kansas City, Missouri. Socially, Mr. Murchie is an active member of the Woodmen of the World, and in politics, he is an interested Repub- lican. He attends practically all the conventions of his party, and while a citizen of Oregon he was given the nomination for county clerk, but later withdrew his name from the ticket. He is regarded as being a man of ability and honor, and takes a leading part in all the affairs of the city of his choice.

WILLIAM T. STEWART. William T. Stewart, a well-known contractor and builder of North Yakima, was born in New Brunswick, October 9, 1861 ; the son of William and Mrs. Stewart, both also natives of New Brunswick, where the mother died in 1876. In earlier life William Stewart was a lumberman, but is now living on a homestead near North Yakima. Mr. Stewart had eight brothers and one sister. Two of the brothers, Robert F. and Frederick C., are deceased. Those living are: James S., Andrew, Charles H., foreman for a lumber company at Buckley, Washington; Irvin A., a resident of Minnesota ; Hiram A., a miner in the LeRoi mine of Rossland, British Columbia, and Marv E. Donovan, proprietress of a hotel in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Stewart was educated in Canada and worked with his father in the lumber busi- ness until he became sixteen years of age, when he removed to the state of Maine, where he worked in the woods, and was also employed in various lumber camps as cook. He then came west as far as Minnesota, in which state he worked in the woods and at the carpenter's trade. He spent in all ten years in this state, when, in

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1889, he came to Tacoma, and engaged in carpen- ter work, in which he continued unitl 1893, when he came to North Yakima. In the spring of 1895 he went to Trail, British Columbia, and con- ducted a hotel for three years. Again returning to North Yakima, he engaged in, and has since followed, contracting and building. Among the notable structures of his town that were built under Mr. Stewart's supervision are the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows' building, the Sloan building, and others. During his residence in North Yakima he has acquired considerable town property, besides having proved up on a homestead. In Warsaw, April 2, 1884, Mr. Stew- art was married to Miss Annie R. White, a native of New Brunswick. She received a liberal edu- cation in her native country, after which she taught school, and later was bookkeeper for D. L. Moody in his seminary for two years. She then came to Warsaw and was married. Her father was Henry White, now deceased, of New Bruns- wick, a carpenter and boat builder. Her mother was Esther (Wiggins) White, a native of the same country ; she died in Duluth, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have been parents of three children, Stanley Earle, born November 5, 1895, and a pair of twins, who died in infancy. Mr. Stewart belongs to Yakima lodge, No. 22, I. O. O. F., and to lodge No. 53, Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor. Both he and Mrs. Stewart are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Stewart has the reputation wher- ever he has lived of being a man of sober and industrious habits, public spirited and generous. He is universally regarded a good workman and an upright man.

E. E. BUTLER, with J. M. Murchie, is en- gaged in a profitable livery business in North Yakima. He was born in Clinton county, Iowa, January 18, 1852. He is the son of John P. and Mary (Shields) Butler, both natives of In- diana. John P. Butler was a contractor and builder in his native state and later in Iowa, until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he en- listed in the Twenty-sixth Iowa infantry, com- pany H; went to the front and was killed at the siege of Vicksburg. The subject's mother died in California in 1894. Mr. Butler attended school in his native state and followed printing and farming until arriving at the age of twenty years. In 1872, he went to California, where for a time he followed lumbering and two years later he came to Yakima county, Washington, located at Yakima City (Old Town) and during the same year went to the Wenas valley, where he followed the lumber business for a few years and located a homestead. On this homestead he farmed until 1890. For the past two years he has been engaged in his present business. He

was married in 1877, in Yakima county, to Mag- gie O'Neal, daughter of A. and Minerva O'Neal, who crossed the Plains in an ox wagon in 1853. Mrs. Butler was born the following year at what is now Yelm, Thurston county. Both her par- ents are dead. Mr. and Mrs. Butler have seven children: Clarence E., Nellie M., Eugene C., Maud M., Walter L., Iverna . E. and Arthur W. Mr. Butler has one brother, Eugene, in the stock business in Glenn county, California, and two sisters, Mrs. E. Chambers, of North Yakima, and Mrs. Ellen Nielson, of Willows, California. Mrs. Butler has brothers and sisters as follows : Charles, in the lumber business in Yakima county ; . William, also engaged in lumbering ; John, a farmer; Mary, who resides with Mr. But- ler, and Anna, wife of Eugene Butler, in Cali- fornia. Mr. Butler is a member in good stand- ing of Yakima lodge, No. 22, I. O. O. F., in which order he has held continuous membership for twenty years. He also at one time was a member of the Home Guards. He is considered to be a man of honor and integrity and is one of the reliable business men of his city.

W. WALLACE FELTON, an architect and builder of North Yakima, was born in Grundy county, Illinois, May 22, 1850. His father, Samuel Felton, a native of New York state, was a ma- chinist by trade, and died in Houston county, Minnesota, in 1873. Mr. Felton's mother was Martha M. (Bowers) Felton, born in Ohio, and died when the subject was but four years old. Mr. Felton has two half-brothers, James B. and Clarence E., both engaged in the orange busi- ness in Florida. After receiving his education in the public schools of Minnesota, Mr. Felton engaged in the photograph business for three years. He then went to Illinois, took up car- pentering and building, and after mastering the trade he returned to Minnesota and took a course in architecture. In 1877 he removed to Iowa and for two years was engaged in the grain business, after which he returned to Min- nesota and resumed contracting and building. In 1883 he went to Florida and engaged in the saw- mill business with his brothers. The climate not agreeing with Mrs. Felton, Mr. Felton sold out at the end of one year and removed to Iowa; after a residence of one year in Iowa, again re- turned to Minnesota and resumed contracting and building. Three years prior to coming to Washington he resided in St. Paul, in which city he followed contracting and building. He came to Walla Walla in 1890, where he followed con- tracting for five years. In 1895 he came to North Yakima, bought a farm and put out an orchard. The following year he took up the practice of his profession in town and has remained in that work since. Since coming to North Yakima, Mr.

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Felton has erected some of the principal build- ings of the town; among them being the Miller block and residence, the Presbyterian church, the Episcopal rectory, the residences of W. B. Dud- ley, E. B. Moore, and others. He now holds the contract for the construction of the Summit View school building, of which he is architect, the cost of which will be approximately ten thou- sand dollars. He has a handsome home on Nob Hill, and is part owner of the anthracite coal mines near Cowlitz Pass, which certainly are promising properties. He also owns a tract of land between the Yakima and Columbia rivers.

In Caledonia, December 25, 1872, Mr. Felton was married to Miss Lucy C. Pope, a native of the state of Minnesota. She was the daughter of Dr. T. A. and Mary Pope, and died on the 12th of July, 1876. From this union they have two children, Lucius A. and Maude L., who is a graduate of the Minnesota State Normal School, and was a successful teacher in the public schools of that state for several years. She was married to H. M. Helenick in 1902. Both Lucius A. Fel- ton and Mr. Helenick have positions with the Chicago, St. Paul & Minneapolis Railway Com- pany. In Lime Springs, Iowa, July 2, 1878, Mr. Felton was married to Miss Priscilla M. Fessen- den, a native of the state of Wisconsin. She is the daughter of James and Mary Fessenden, the former a farmer, born in Vermont. Both her parents are now dead. She has three brothers: Joel Fessenden, of Cresco, Iowa; Dr. E. S. Fes- senden, Wisconsin; Sylvenus Fessenden, Indi- ana. Her sisters are: Mrs. Sarah Willhelm, Lime Springs, Iowa; Rebecca Turck, in Michi- gan, and Laura Phelps, in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Felton have been parents of four children: Vera B., who died when about six months old; Edith M., wife of Charles E. Druse, North Yakima; Pearl V., wife of C. H. Wimer, a North Yakima farmer, and Ray, who is a student of the high school, and is now living with his parents, at home. Mr. Felton is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen fraternity, his membership being in a Minnesota lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. Felton are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Felton is an adept in his profession, and his services are much sought after. He bears the best reputation in and about his town, and in all circles, financial and social, his standing is of the highest order.

FRANK J. TICKNER. The prosperous and skillful photographer whose name initiates this paragraph is a native of Linden, Genesee county, Michigan, born May 1, 1872, the son of Rev. J. J. and Lydia A. (Ripley) Tickner, both of whom are now actively engaged in religious work in North Yakima, the former as pastor of the Bap- tist church, the latter as his efficient helper. Mr.

Tickner is a native of New York state and his wife of Wisconsin.

Frank J. Tickner, of this review, began the study of the art of photography at the age of eighteen. After having assiduously devoted himself to it for a time, he left it temporarily to attend Kalamazoo College, Michigan, where he received his secondary and advanced educa- tion. After graduation he took up again the. practice of his art, first in Linden and later in Bronson, Michigan. Coming west eventually, he purchased the interests of E. E. Jones, a photographer of North Yakima, on the Ist of January, 1903, and his professional skill and busi- ness abilities have enabled him to build up an excellent business. In his gallery are to be found many of the most modern and improved equip- ments that the manufacturer of photographic supplies is able to furnish and he is well pre- pared to do all kinds of work in his line.

Mr. Tickner has one sister, Mrs. Cora Jones, residing at Castle Rock, near Portland, Oregon. A competent man in all branches of photography and related arts, his services are sought by all who desire the best work. Many of the photo- graphs from which the illustrations in this vol- uine were made were furnished by him. As a man and a citizen, he has a very enviable stand- ing in his community, and he is looked upon by those who know him as possessed of an honor- able, generous nature and sterling integrity of character.

GEORGE A. GANO is one of the most favorably and widely known of Yakima county's farmers and business men. Until quite recently he made his home in Moxee valley, but at the present time is living in North Yakima, still, however, retaining his ranch. He is the son of James H. and Rhoda (Gardner) Gano, whose bi- ographies will be found elsewhere among these chronicles. They were natives of the state of Ohio, where they lived for half a century before immigrating to Yakima county in 1892. The father served in the Civil war as a member of the Tremont Light Guards; the mother had three brothers in the same conflict, Joel, Benjamin and George. In Ohio the subject of this biography spent his youth and early manhood, having been born in Clark county, April 13, 1864, where he lived four years and was then taken to Hardin county. His early industrial training was on the farm and in the car shops. When twenty-five years old, however, he decided to seek his fortune in the far Northwest and selected Yakima county as the place to cast his lot. This he did in 1889, his first work in Washington being with Gard- ner & Hall, civil engineers. He then engaged successively in teaming, collecting. selling sew- ing machines and finally in ranching, taking a

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homestead claim in the Moxee valley in 1896. In all these occupations he was successful and by dint of hard work and economy added from time to time to his worldly possessions. In order to irrigate his farm he found it necessary to bore an artesian well more than 900 feet deep, from which flows a fine, large stream of warm water the year around. In the summer of 1903 Mr. Gano formed a partnership with I. B. Turnell and under the firm name of Gano & Turnell opened the Pacific hotel on South First street, North Yakima. Subsequently, however, Mr. Gano re- tired from the business, though not until the hostelry had been firmly established. Mr. Gano and Eliza Spahr, a resident of Ohio at the time, were united in marriage October 2, 1889. She lived only a few years, passing into the valley of the shadow in 1896, April 14th, leaving, besides her husband, three children, James, Delbert and Arden, to mourn the loss of a devoted mother. Mr. Gano was again married September 17. 1900, the bride being Martha Gano, of Clinton, Illinois, the daughter of George and Susan (Ward) Gano. Her parents were born in the Buckeye state; the father served in the Civil war and is now a prosperous farmer of Illinois. To this marriage has been born one child, Georgia. Mr. Gano has eight brothers and sisters: William, Mrs. Elva Heffelfinger and Mrs. Estella McElree, living in Ohio; and Ira J., Wesley E., Avenell Patterson, Mrs. Ida Benson and Mrs. Emma Purdy, resi- dents of Yakima county. Mr. Gano is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and po- litically, is a stalwart Republican, attending all caucuses and conventions held in the county. He has never sought political preferment, but has been elected constable for two successive terms. His principal property holdings consist of a ranch in the artesian district of the Moxee valley, sixty acres being well improved. All who know Mr. Gano personally will testify to his congenial qualities and, as a prosperous farmer, a capable business man, and a man of his word, he is highly respected and popular.

NICHOLAS McCOY, pioneer and stockman, was born in Austria, January 14, 1831, and at the age of sixteen left home and went as a cabin boy on a vessel bound for Africa. Starting out so early in life to do for himself, he has had many varied and interesting experiences that have proven valuable to him in later years. Profiting by the store of general knowledge so gained, he has made a success of life in a business way.

After making the trip to Africa he remained there two years, then took passage for Cuba in a slave trader, and made the port of Havana in safety. From there he sailed for New York, then to New Orleans. Here he lived for seven years, until 1858, when he went to California. He next

took a vessel for Victoria, British Columbia, and thence to the Fraser River mines, where he re- mained a short time. In 1861, he came up the Columbia river to The Dalles, and later to the Yakima valley, settling, or rather camping, near where the town of Sunnyside is now located. At this time, Mr. McCoy says, the only settlers in the valley that he knew of were Charles Splawn and Mortimer Thorp. Here he engaged in the cattle business, which he has continued to follow ever since with varying fortune, but ultimate success, proving that perseverance at any one thing is almost sure to win success and fortune in the end. Mr. McCoy served as guide to the settlers and scout for the government, in the early days of the country, and has been in all of the Indian troubles that have arisen since his arrival in the Northwest. He served as scout with General Howard and was personally acquainted with Chief Moses. He has a vast fund of infor- mation regarding the general Northwest, having driven cattle into the mine regions of British Columbia, Idaho and Montana, and having trav- eled through various other sections of the coun- try. He pre-empted his present home in 1884, and has since purchased a number of other tracts of land in the county. He now lives in Old Yakima. He is fraternally identified with the Masonic order, being a member of Yakima lodge, No. 24. He is admitted to be one of the earliest pioneers of Yakima county and one of its most worthy citizens.

JEFF D. McDANIELS, the liquor dealer of North Yakima, and also interested in mining, is a native born Pacific Coaster and a pioneer of 1865 in Yakima county, where he came with his parents at the age of seven years, and where he has continued to reside the principal part of the time since. He is not only a pioneer himself in the great Northwest, but he comes of the very earliest pioneer stock. His father, Elisha Mc- Daniels, was born in Kentucky in 1824, and pioneered it in both Illinois and Missouri. In 1844 he crossed the Plains from the latter state, to Oregon, when it required indomitable courage to face the extreme hardships and dangers which beset the way on every hand, both by day and by night. In the sixties he drove stock through to the Cariboo mines in British Columbia, and it was by this means that he came to settle in the Yakima country in 1865, where he eventually died. Subject's mother, Lettie J. Cormack, was a native of Pennsylvania and with her parents, crossed the Plains to Oregon in the year 1844, later meeting Mr. McDaniels in the new El Do- rado, where they were married, and where subject was born, August 22, 1858. At the age of seven his parents moved to Yakima county, and here he grew up. He remained at home, working with

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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 128

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