An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 167

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 167
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 167
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 167

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ELBERT L. GRAVES is postmaster at Blue- light postoffice, located some fifteen miles south of the city of Mabton, in Yakima county. He is a prosperous farmer, being born in Knox county, Tennessee, in 1848. His father, William W .. Graves, was also a native of the same state, and by trade a mason, although a farmer by occupa- tion. He was born in 1818, and moved to Iowa when thirty-six years old, there taking up a homestead ; in the following spring going to Mis- souri, and in 1858 returning to Iowa. Two years later he again moved, this time to Nebraska, where he took up farming for the space of seven years, finally returning to Missouri, living there another year, and once more returning to Ne- braska, where lie died in 1892. His mother, Mahala P. Graves, a native of Tennessee and the mother of eleven children, is still living in Ne- braska. Both father and mother were of German extraction. Mr. Graves lived at home with his

parents until twenty-three years of age; during this time receiving his education in the public schools of Nebraska and Iowa. When eighteen years old he learned the brick mason's trade, al- though he never followed it as an occupation. Two years after becoming of age, he started in to farm for himself and continued in this life for the next twenty-four years. In 1898, he became restless, and removed to the state of Washing- ton, settling near Bickleton, Yakima county. Here he filed on a homestead, which he has made his home until the present time.

He was married when twenty-three, to Ella Carrell. Her father, John Carrell, one of the pioneers of the state of Iowa, and a farmer by occupation, was born in Tennessee, and departed this life in Nebraska. Her mother, Margaret (Smith) Carrell, was a native of Michigan, and the mother of a family of eight children. She is now living in Nebraska. His wife was born in Cass county, Nebraska, in 1858, and received her education in the common schools of that state, being married when only fifteen. To this mar- riage were born seven children, of which five are living, as follows: Pearl Smith, born May 21, 1876, living in Yakima county; John W., Mark S., M. Vangie and Lulu, a girl of ten years, are all living at home with their parents. George and an infant are deceased. Mr. Graves is a prominent member of the Baptist church, in poli- tics, a Democrat. He has served as postmaster at Bluelight for over three years, receiving his appointment March 23, 1901. His official position takes up a greater part of his time, but he is still improving his farm of a hundred and sixty acres, all of which is in cultivation. He is cour- teous in the discharge of the varied duties of his position, and is in consequence well esteemed by his neighbors and patrons.

SAMUEL B. LODGE, a farmer residing two and one-half miles northeast of Bluelight post- office, in Yakima county, is a native of the state of Delaware, where he was born in the year 1852. His father, John W. Lodge, was a wealthy mer- chant-farmer, born in Delaware also, removing to South Bend, Indiana, in the spring of 1856. Later, in 1892, he moved westward to Oregon, and with but a short stay there, went to North Yakima. Washington, where he died. His mother, Mersa (Gaunt) Lodge, was a resident of New Jersey, and a descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers, who came to this country in the May- flower. She was married in her native state when twenty-five years old. Samuel B. was educated in the common schools of the state of Michigan, remaining at home until twenty-three years of age, following farming as an occupation. When twenty-five years old he taught school two terms in a town in the Black Hills, and one term in

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Kansas. In 1880, he went to the Black Hills, at the end of twelve months removing to Kansas, and again teaching school a season. He con- tinued for twelve years to make Kansas his home, leaving there in 1890 for Whatcom, Washington. Remaining there but a short period, he removed to Oregon, where he continued to reside for ten years. At the beginning of this century he canie to Yakima county, Washington, and that fall filed on a homestead, which is his present home. He now has over a hundred acres of this land under cultivation.

While living in Kansas, he was married to Martha E. Geyer, on January, 26, 1884. Her father, Nicholas Geyer, was a Kansas pioneer of German parentage, who came to this country when eight years of age. He is now living at Clyde, Kansas. Her mother, Martha (Rake- straw) Geyer, was also of German descent, and died in Kansas. Mrs. Lodge was born in Indi- ana in 1863, and received her education in the public schools of that state, later attending school in Kansas. She was married at twenty-one, and is the mother of five children, four boys and one girl: Maud A., born in Kansas, February 7, 1885; Harry L., born in Kansas, in 1889; Ralph N. and Roy S. B., both born in Oregon, and Walter E., born in Kansas. Fraternally, Mr. Lodge is associated with the Woodmen of the World; religiously, he is a member of the Christian church, and politically, is a Republican. He is a re- spected member of the community.

WILLIAM WOMMACK, a young farmer in Yakima county, living about eight miles north- east of Bickleton, was born in the state of Illi- nois on the 27th of March, 1871. His father, Will- iam Wommack, was also a native of Illinois, and a farmer by occupation. He lived for some time in the state of Missouri, then returned to his home in Illinois, whence, after a short stay, he moved to Kansas. In 1879, he migrated to Colo- rado, where he spent the two years following in various kinds of work, then visiting the states of Utah and Idaho. and also making a short trip to Oregon. In the summer of 1882, he came to Klickitat countv, Washington, and established his residence in the town of Bickleton, where he lived for the next two years. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1862, and served through the entire conflict. He spent one year at the Soldiers' Home, located on the Sound, but at this writing is living at Mabton, Washing- ton. The mother of our subject, Matilda (Ren- ner) Wommack, was of German parentage, born in St. Louis, Missouri, and married in Illinois.

Mr. Wommack, whose career is to be out- lined in this article, received his education in the public schools of Kansas and Washington, hav- ing come to the latter state when thirteen years

old. For a number of years he rode the range for his father. Upon attaining the age of twenty- four he filed on a homestead in Yakima county, two miles east of Mabton, where he lived until 1900. He then took up another piece of land six miles north of Bickleton. For the past nine years he has devoted his attention to farming.

On February 1, 1903, Mr. Wommack married a daughter of Thomas and Emma Zyph, Mrs. Emma Dawdy, who had been previously married to Charles Dawdy, in Illinois, and who had, as the fruit of that union, one daughter, Luda M., born April 10, 1902. Mrs. Wommack was edu- cated in the common schools of Illinois, in which state she was born on the 13th of December, 1883. She and Mr. Wommack are parents of one child, born in Yakima county, February 2, 1904. Mr. Wommack has one hundred and thirty acres of his land under cultivation, the balance of the four hundred and eighty acres being used at present as grazing land. He is, however, determined to cultivate every arable acre he owns as soon as possible, for he is too energetic and thrifty to allow any to continue producing less than it is capable of. He has already an excellent start for so young a man and it is not too much to pre- sume that as years pass, he will achieve a still more enviable success in his chosen occupation.

ADAM F. WATTENBARGER, living a lit- tle over a mile north of Bluelight postoffice, in Yakima county, Washington, is a native of Cali- fornia, born on the 15th of November, 1880. His father, Conrad Wattenbarger, is a Missourian, born in the year 1849. He moved to California in the early part of 1862, crossing the Plains in company with other settlers, and at this writing he is living in the city of Bickleton, Klickitat county. The mother of our subject, Mary ( Bro- phy) Wattenbarger, was born while her parents were crossing the Plains to the Golden state, in the year 1854.

Mr. Wattenbarger came to Klickitat county with his parents when a young boy, and at- tended the public school of Bickleton, complet- ing his education there, and residing in the im- mediate neighborhood with his parents until he became of age. He early manifested a liking for horses and the freedom of outdoor life, and rode the ranges in the vicinity of his home until the spring of 1901, when he took up a homestead in Yakima county, in the locality known as the Glade. There he has since lived.

Mr. Wattenbarger was recently united in mar- riage to Gussie Williams, the ceremony being performed in North Yakima in the fall of 1903. His wife's father, Harrison Williams, was a trav- eling man, and now lives in the Glade, as does also her mother, Nora (Pitman) Williams. Mrs. Wattenbarger was born in the state of Ohio, and

740

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

lived for some time at Davenport, and later at North Yakima, Washington, receiving her educa- tion in the common schools of those places. She was married at the age of sixteen. Mr. Watten- barger adheres to the principles of the Republican party, although he does not take a very active interest in local politics. His homestead consists of one hundred and sixty acres of land, all of which has been brought, by the exercise of tire- less energy, to a high state of cultivation.

JOHN T. ROBERTS, who is engaged in gen- eral farming and in raising horses, resides ten miles southwest of Kiona. He is an early pio- neer of Yakima county, having established a feed yard at Yakima City in 1883. During his first four years in the county he was thus engaged; but in 1887 he entered the stock and farming in- dustries with A. G. McNeil, on a ranch situated on the Yakima river. Mr. Roberts was successful and, purchasing land near the McNeil place, him- self began operations. That he has met with uniformly encouraging results, his present valu- able holdings indicate. Born in Benton county, Iowa, in 1861, he is the son of two native pioneers of that state, Charles E. and Elizabeth (Hayes) Roberts. In 1865, Charles E. Roberts removed to the Kansas frontier and there married and made a home on the virgin prairie. John T.'s mother died when he was but six years old and four years later he suffered another irreparable loss, his father being killed by a falling tree, but an uncle took the orphan lad under his charge and cared for him until he was able to go out into the world with a fair equipment. By working summers, he was able to attend school winters and thus acquire a fair education. At the age of sixteen, he commenced working for different farmers in the community, still keeping up his winter school attendance. In 1880, he went to Texas, where he lived eighteen months, then he worked on Colorado railroads a year and during the two years previous to his advent into Wash- ington, he was employed in Idaho.

Mr. Roberts and Miss Emma Norling, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Efik Norling, natives of Sweden, were married in North Yakima in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Norling came to Washing- tou twelve years ago and are at present resid- ing in Franklin county. Mrs. Roberts was born in Sweden in 1881, and received her education in the schools of her native country and in Yakima county. She and Mr. Roberts have one child, Eugene T., born in Yakima county, February 13, 1903. Mr. Roberts takes an active interest in political matters and, where national issues are involved, votes the Republican ticket. His prop- erty interests consist principally of ninety-eight acres of farming land, two hundred and fifty head of horses and a small band of cattle. Mr. Roberts

is a successful farmer and stockman, and as an industrious, public-spirited man and citizen, he stands well in his community.

MARTIN L. SEE, one of the Yakima coun- try's successful ranchmen, whose home is ten miles east of Kiona, is a native of Missouri, born in the year 1869 to the union of William and Jane See. They were Kentuckians, whose families be- came pioneers of Missouri. Martin L. was left an orphan at the age of seven, his father having died the year previous at the age of thirty-seven, and his mother in 1876. Thus left adrift upon the world, he was very early compelled to assume the serious responsibilities of life. His grand- parents cared for him three years; then he com- menced working for neighbors and others, get- ting what little education he was able to secure. Such was his industry and thriftiness that by the time he reached his majority, he had saved about one thousand four hundred dollars. From Mis- souri he went to Indian Territory and worked seven months for Captain Seavers; then he vis- ited Texas, after which he returned to his native state and farmed four years. Later he spent nine months in Colorado, lived in Nebraska one winter, and in 1889 came to Anacortes, Washing- ton. He worked in the Puget Sound region dur- ing the next three years, but in 1892 crossed the mountains and settled in the Yakima wheat belt. For the first three years he was employed by other farmers, or until 1895, when he bought three hun- dred and sixty acres. He successfully cultivated his farın until the fall of 1903, then bought. Nelson Rich's interests in the stock firm of Brown & Rich and removed to the Rich ranch on the Yakima river, where he now resides.

September 26, 1900, Miss Louisa Pollan, of Goldendale, became the wife of Mr. See. Will- iam C. and Elenora (Baugh-Lambert) Pollan, the parents of Mrs. See, were born in Missouri and California, respectively. Mr. Pollan crossed the Plains to California in 1850 and was there married and lived until 1882, when he settled in Klickitat county. He is now living in Golden- dale, but Mrs. Pollan died since the family came to central Washington.

Mrs. See was born in California in 1879, and received her education in the public schools of Klickitat county. She has three brothers: George, Carl and Benjamin, and one sister, Ruby, all of whom are living in Klickitat county. Her father is a farmer by occupation. Mr. and Mrs. See are the parents of two children: Iva E., born Au- gust 15, 1901, and Wiliam M., born January 3, 1903, both in Yakima county. Mr. See's fraternal associations are with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. He is an active Republican. While in the Horse Heaven district, he was ap- pointed a road supervisor, serving with credit.

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

He is in a prosperous financial condition, being the owner of a half interest in six hundred cattle and seventy-five head of horses, besides other interests. As a man of industry, integrity and stability, he enjoys the good opinions of his neigli- bors and fellow men.

JACOB GIEZENTANNER, postmaster in Kiona and a pioneer settler of the eastern portion of Yakima county, was born in Switzerland, 1842, and is the son of Swiss parents, Phelix and Bar- bara (Wimersberger) Giezentanner. His father was a school teacher by profession. In 1850, the family came to the United States, settling in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the father was en- gaged as a clerk in one store for twenty-five years ; his death occurred in 1877. Jacob received his early education, in the German language, from his father, but after coming to America at- tended the common schools until sixteen years old. At that age he began learning the carpen- ter's trade, serving four years as an appren- tice. He was living in Tennessee when hostili- ties between the North and South commenced and decided to join the Union army. In order to accomplish this object, in the spring of 1862 he traveled five successive nights, hiding daytimes in the woods, before reaching the Union lines, and enlisted in the Sixth Tennessee infantry. A severe illness disabled him at the end of a year's service, which resulted in his honorable dis- charge. After his discharge he lived in north- ern Kentucky for a time and then returned to Tennessee, where he followed farming five years. In 1868 he became employed in a sash and door factory in Knoxville, worked there two years, then went to work in a machine shop, and re- mained there until 1879. In that year he immi- grated to Oregon, locating first in Albany. The next year he settled upon a homestead west of Goldendale and conducted a sash and door fac- tory in the present city. Four years later he removed to Ellensburg and thence to North Yak- ima to take charge of W. Webb's furniture store. Mr. Giezentanner later bought the store and per- sonally conducted it two years. In the spring of 1888. he filed a timber culture claim to a quar- ter-section of land near Kiona's site and also purchased three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land. Upon this place he made his home between the years 1889 and 1899, removing to Kiona in the latter year to take charge of the postoffice. Since that date Kiona has been his home.

He was married in Tennessee, December 30, 1863, to Miss Mary Wright, daughter of Ire- dell D. and Abigail (Ragan) Wright, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Ire- dell D. Wright was a lawyer by profession. He practiced in Madisonville, Tennessee, and was a

member of the state legislature one or two terms, and a colleague of President Andrew Jackson. The grandfather, Doctor Isaac Wright, was one of Tennessee's earliest and most prominent pio- neers. His son Iredell died in 1866. Abigail (Ragan) Wright's father was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Giezentanner was born in Tennessee and educated in that state. She was sixteen years old when married. Their children are: William H., born October 24, 1864, a Chi- cago traveling man; Charles T., March 17, 1868, editor of the Pasco News-Record; Mrs. Molly E. Gerry, January 12, 1870, living in Pasco; Walter, May 1, 1872, managing Robert Gerry's Kenne- wick store ; Conrad, November 19, 1874, living at home; Thomas D., July 28, 1877, clerking in Ger- ry's Pasco store, and Gertrude, August 14, 1882, preparing herself for teaching music. One daughter, Bertha R., born August 25, 1866, died in 1868. All except Gertrude were born in Ten- nessee, she having been born in Klickitat county, Washington. The subject of this article has always been deeply interested in religious work, and in 1895, in Spokane, was ordained a Method- ist minister by Bishop Bowman. He was organ- izer and originator of all religious work in Kiona ; organizing the first Sunday school, and preach- ing the first sermon in town. Mr. Giezentanner is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a public-spirited citizen, of force in the community, and, as a pioneer of the Yakima and Klickitat valleys, a business man and a farmer, has done his full share in upbuilding that region.

LEONARD C. ROLPH, living in the Kiona canal district, two miles west of Kiona, Wash- ington, is a native of Minnesota, born in 1870. His father, Osborn J. Rolph, was born in New York state in the year 1829. In 1852 he crossed the Plains with an ox team to the gold fields of California. After spending several years in the far West, he returned to Minnesota and there married Rosinah Putnam Porter, a direct de- scendant of Israel Putnam of Revolutionary war fame. In answer to his country's call for volun- teers, at the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted in Company M, First Minnesota volunteers, and served until the close of the struggle. In 1886 with his family he inimigrated to Oregon, and thence to the Horse Heaven region on the Colum- 'bia river. He died at Kiona in 1899.

Leonard C. Rolph, the fourth in a family of six, attended the common schools of Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington until fourteen years of age, then began working among the various farm- ers of Yakima county, gradually gaining invalu- able experience which stood him in good stead later in life. When the Yakima Irrigation and Im- provement Company constructed its canal through the lower Yakima valley, Mr. Rolph came to

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CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

Kiona with his father and brothers and purchased land of the company. In 1898 he went to the Alaskan gold fields, making Dawson City his objective point, and for more than two years and a half delved for the precious metal. He returned to Washington in 1901, and is now suc- cessfully engaged in farming a vast tract of Horse Heaven wheat land.

Mr. Rolph was married at Kiona in 1894 to Ellen Ketcham, a daughter of Augustus C. and Lydia F. (Thurston) Ketcham. Both parents were born in New York state. Mr. Ketcham went to Wisconsin when a boy and in that state enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin volunteers, ' serving in the Union army until the close of the war. He arose, through skill and bravery, from the rank of a private to that of a captain. After the war he followed farming in Wisconsin sev- eral years, then removed to Missouri, and in 1884 settled in the Horse Heaven region, Yakima county. His death occurred at Kiona in 1892. Mrs. Ketcham was born in 1844, her parents being natives of Vermont. She was married at the age of twenty-three. Mrs. Rolph was born in Missouri, and educated in Yakima county; she was nineteen years old when married. She is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Rolph are parents of three children: Glen, Clif- ford and Velma, all of whom were born at Kiona. Mr. Rolph is connected with two frater- nal organizations, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America ; politically, he is a Republican. He is a man of excellent standing among his neighbors and fel- low men on account of his integrity, energy and progressiveness in all lines.

FRANK S. HEDGER, M. D. The well-known and esteemed physician and horticulturist who forms the subject of this biography has been a resident of Yakima county since 1894, in that year settling near Kiona, where he has since lived. In those ten years he has established a lucrative and perma- nent professional practice and has reared a most comfortable home in one of the garden spots of Yakima county. He was born, October, 1860, in Illinois, the son of Dionysius and Martha (Mas- sey) Hedger, both of whom are natives of New York; they were married in that state. They settled in Illinois after leaving New York, then in Iowa, but in 1878 crossed the Plains to the Walla Walla valley. The following year the father founded a home on government land and since that date has been successfully engaged in rais- ing wheat, still living on the old place. Frank S. was five years old when his parents removed to Iowa and entered the mercantile business in the city of Oskaloosa. In that city he received a common and high school education. Upon arriv- ing in Washington, he studied medicine in Walla

Walla two years and then went to Philadelphia, where he was graduated by the Hahnemann Med- ical College in 1883. Having secured his degree, the young physician returned to Walla Walla for a short period, then established an office in Mis- soula, Montana, remaining there eleven years. In March, 1894, he came to Kiona. Noting the richness of the farming country, he purchased thirty-eight acres of irrigated land and set out an orchard, vineyard, berry bushes, vines, et cetera, and has devoted himself to his profession and horticultural pursuits ever since.

In Missoula he was married to Miss Ama Scothorn, that important event in his life taking place in the year 1884. Her parents, John and Matilda (Glick) Scothorn, were natives of Ohio; her father was a merchant. They removed to Kansas in an early day, and in that state lived the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Hedger was born in Ohio, 1862, was educated in the common schools of Kansas and also in a convent, and became a resident of Missoula in 1883. There are two children in the doctor's family: Clifford C., born in Missoula, March 22, 1885, and Frank, also born in Montana, May II, 1887. The elder son has attended the State Agricultural College in Pullman three years and expects to finish his course this year. Dr. Hedger is affiliated with two fraternities, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen. He is a stanch Democrat and has served as coroner of Missoula county, Montana ; also as a member of the Montana State Medical Board. Of his farm, six acres are devoted to orchard and berries of various varie- ties, two and one-quarter acres are producing strawberries exclusively, nearly an acre is set out in vineyard and eight acres are in alfalfa. Doc- tor and Mrs. Hedger are popular among all with whom they come in contact, while Mr. Hedger enjoys the confidence of his fellow men and is active in all public matters pertaining to the upbuilding of his community and county.

DAVID McALPIN, farming in the district irrigated by the Kiona canal, is of Scottish and English descent, his paternal grandparents having immigrated to the United States in the early part of the last century. His father, Robert McAlpin, was born in Tennessee, 1816, and in early man- hood became a settler in Indiana, there marrying Jane Thomas. a native of that state. In 1839 the son David was born. While still a child he was taken by his parents to Missouri and when twelve years old, in 1851, the family crossed the Plains to Oregon, settling in the Willamette valley. The elder McAlpin lived in Oregon thirty years ; then returned to Iowa and lived in that state until his death. David remained with his parents on the farm until the age of twenty-one, farming and raising stock. At that time he was married and

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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 167

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