An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 174

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 174
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 174
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 174

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).

Mr. Wilson and Miss Elizabeth Lee were mar- ried in Northı Yakima, September 10, 1900. The biography of her parents, John H. and Sarah (Tay- lor) Lee, who live near Mr. Wilson, will be found elsewhere in this work, they being pioneers of the lower Yakina valley. They were born and mar- ried in England, where, also, Mrs. Wilson was born, August 24, 1879. She was nine years old at the time her parents came to Washington and was, therefore, educated and reared in the Yakima coun- try. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson: Florence E., April 15, 1901, on the Horse Heaven ranch, died in infancy; and Nor- man R., born at the same place, December 21, 1902. Mr. Wilson is connected with two frater- nities, the Masons and the Odd Fellows; politic- ally, he is a Democrat who takes an active inter- est in all political affairs. His farm contains sixty acres, fifty-five producing alfalfa, and three being devoted to a fine orchard. Mr. Wilson's labors have not been in vain, for he has amassed a comfortable holding, is happily situated, and he and Mrs. Wil- son enjoy the esteem and best wishes of the com- munity in which they have erected their homes.

JOHN CAMERON, horticulturist and farmer, living eight miles west of Prosser, has led an event- ful life since he came, in 1847, to gladden the hearts of his parents in distant Scotland. Duncan and Christina (McLane) Cameron left their native country in 1850, bringing their family to Canada, where they lived the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1869. The son, Jolin, commenced learning the shoe business when he was thirteen and worked as an apprentice several years. At the age of seventeen, the young Scotchman enlisted in the army and assisted in the suppression of the Fenian outbreak in 1866, for which loyal service notice has been sent him he is soon to receive a gold medal and one hundred and sixty acres of land from the Canadian government, the land to be selected by him any time prior to 1906. In the fall of 1866 he went to Chicago, remained there ten months, and became foreman of a shoe factory

771

BIOGRAPHICAL.

at Lawton, Michigan. Following this he entered business for himself and successfully conducted it until 1870, when he returned to Canada. In May, 1873, he became a brakeman on the Great Western Railroad, subsequently rising to the po- sition of conductor. However, in 1884 he re- turned to the United States and accepted a po- sition in North Dakota on the Northern Pacific railroad. Four years later he was transferred to the Cascade division and until 1896 was engaged as a conductor between Tacoma and Pasco. He then removed his family from Tacoma to the farm upon which he is now living, having pur- chased it in 1893 and improved it. He has made this place his home since that time, with the ex- ception of six months in 1899, when he was em- ployed as a conductor in Old Mexico, the City of Mexico being his headquarters.

In 1872 Mr. Cameron was married to Miss' Mary E. Coates in Canada. Her parents, George and Elizabeth (Langdale) Coates, were natives of England, who came to America on the same ship in 1842. Three years later they were mar- ried and in 1847 Mary E. was born. Mr. Coates was a stonecutter by trade and assisted in the construction of the magnificent parliament build- ing in Ottawa and Trinity College in Toronto, working upon the finest part of the stone cutting. He died in 1861 at the age of forty-three. Mrs. Cameron received a good education in the Cana- dian schools. To this marriage were born the following children : Mrs. Alice E. Hickman, De- cember 8, 1873, now living at Wardner; Robert G., January 17, 1875, a Northern Pacific con- ductor on the line between Portland and Tacoma ; Christina, October 7, 1876, a graduate of the Ellensburg normal, who is now teaching in Ta- coma; and Mrs. Mabel K. Stringer, December 21, 1883, a graduate of the Tacoma Business Col- lege, who is living in Belma. Mr. Cameron is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, is connected with the Presbyterian church and as a Republican takes an active interest in the political affairs of his county. Of his forty- acre farm, all in cultivation, fifteen acres are in a full bearing orchard, twelve acres in alfalfa, five acres in timothy, and half an acre in grapes, small fruits and berries. In 1902 lie sold off this place two cars of prunes, a car of pears and peaches, two thousand three hundred and thirty boxes of apples at an average price of between fifty and sixty cents a box, four hundred and eighty sacks of culled apples at fifty cents a sack, and hay to the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, be- sides a great quantity of grapes and berries, veg- etables, etc. These figures are eloquent testi- mony of the Yakima country's fertility and to Mr. Cameron's ability. He is among the most prosperous orchardists in the county and one of Yakima's progressive citizens of the best type.

CHARLES R. GILLETT, engaged in general farming eight miles west of Prosser, was born in Wisconsin, 1862, the son of Rodney and Mary (Roblee) Gillett. The elder Gillett was born in Pennsylvania, removed to Illinois in early life and when sixteen years old immigrated to Wis- consin and entered the lumber industry, with which he is still identified. Mrs. Gillett, who died in 1892, was a native in Illinois, the daugh- ter of early pioneers of that state. . The subject of this biography was educated in the common schools of Wisconsin and at the age of eighteen was taken into partnership by his father, remain- ing with him ten years. In 1890 he came to the Northwest, locating first in Portland. There he was occupied two years in the lumber business; then came to Pasco and during the next two years followed railroad work for the Northern Pacific. Realizing the fine opportunities presented by the Yakima country to farmers, Mr. Gillett decided to engage in agricultural pursuits, and accordingly he and his brother-in-law purchased the land upon which Mr. Gillett is now living. Mr. Gillett has developed an excellent property and his farm is now considered to be one of the best under the Prosser canal.

Miss Maria Tustin became the bride of Mr. Gillett at Prosser in 1896. Andrew and Margaret (Weekely) Tustin, the parents of Mrs. Gillett, were natives of West Virginia, where they were married. They immigrated to Minnesota and subsequently came to Prosser, where Mr. Tus- tin died. Maria Tustin was born in West Vir- ginia, 1877, received her education in the Ellens- burg and Prosser schools and was married at the age of eighteen. There have been two children born to the marriage: Myrtle, L., in Prosser. July 16, 1897, and Rodney A., in Prosser, November 20, 1899. Mr. Gillett is a thorough believer in the benefits of fraternal association, and is a member of three orders: Masons, Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. Mrs. Gillett is a member of the Rebekah lodge. Both are united with the Methodist church. Politically, Mr. Gil- lett is a loyal Republican. He has sixty acres of irrigated land, of which ten are in orchard and the balance in alfalfa, clover and timothy ; besides farming, he is paying considerable attention to stock raising on a small scale and has fifteen head of cattle, forty hogs and a number of horses. Prosperous, thrifty and respected by his neigh- bors, he is a typical Yakima citizen-farmer.

EPHRAIM STRINGER. The honored Northwestern pioneer whose biography we shall now chronicle in these pages dates his residence in this section of the United States from the joy- ful arrival of the emigrant train of which his father and family were members in Oregon terri- tory, fifty-three years ago, after a six months'

---

772

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

weary journey with ox teams. His father, Blew- ford Stringer, was a Kentuckian by birth and de- scent, who combined the preaching of the Gospel with the labor of a farmer, a not unusual combi- nation in this Western country. From Kentucky he went north into Illinois, served in the Black Hawk war of 1841 and then crossed the Plains. He lived forty years in the Willamette valley, being eighty-four years of age at the time of his death. In Illinois this Kentucky pioneer met and mar- ried Miss Almira Carroll, a daughter of very early settlers of the Illinois plains. Her parents came to Oregon in an early day and there her death occurred. Ephraim Stringer secured what little education he was able to get from the dis- trict schools of a frontier region and when twenty years old learned the carpenter's and wheel- wright's trades, following these occupations together with those of farming and stock raising for fifty- one years in Oregon. In July, 1902, he left the state which had been his home for more than half a century and settled in the Horse Heaven region, Yakima county. However, he remained there only one year, in 1903 purchasing his pres- ent farm eight miles west of the city of Prosser, upon which he has since been successfully en- gaged in general farming.

Mr. Stringer and Miss Lucinda R. Beeler, then a girl of seventeen, celebrated the nation's birthday in 1865 by joining their fortunes as hus- band and wife and beginning life's journey to- gether. Her parents, John and Jane (Powell) Beeler, were natives of Tennessee, who crossed the Plains to Oregon in 1852 and there lived until their death, the father's demise occurring in 1865. The mother was married at the age of sixteen and rcared a family of seventeen children. In Mis- souri, 1848, Mrs. Stringer was born, crossing the Plains when a very small girl. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Stringer was blessed by a large family of children: Mrs. Robertie Grant, born April 22, 1866, the wife of a Baptist minister in Oregon ; Mrs. Rhoda A. Williams, born 1868, deceased ; Perry P., August 25, 1871, living in Yakima county ; Mrs. Ledona Cyrus, born in 1873, de- ceased ; Mrs. Eva R. Hanson, October 12, 1875, living in Oregon; Gilbert G., September 2, 1878, living in Yakima county; Chester A., November 1, 1880, at home: Cortis D., March 20, 1885. at home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stringer are devout members of the Baptist church. Mr. Stringer owns a quarter section of wheat land south of Prosser, eighty acres irrigated by the Sunnyside canal, two acres of which are in orchard and twenty-five in hay, and a considerable number of horses and cattle. Mr. and Mrs. Stringer are lield in high regard by all who have become ac- quainted or intimate with them, and as coura- geous, energetic pioneers of an ever-receding fron- tier have done their full share in transforming the erstwhile Northwestern wilds into one of the

thriftiest and most progressive portions of the American Union.

HORATIO W. WELLS. The successful and widely known Yakima stockman whose life forms the subject of this sketch was born and reared in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and is the son of two pioneer families of that region, his parents being William A. and Emma T. (White) Wells. They removed to Maine at an early age and were there married, she being twenty years old at the time. Subsequently they returned to Canada and engaged in farming and stock raising until their deaths. Horatio W. at- tended the common schools of New Brunswick and assisted his father until the spring of 1880. Then, in his twenty-first year, he sought his for- tune in distant Oregon. Arriving in his newly adopted home, he entered the employ of his uncle, G. F. Wells, and L. Corbett, on their sheep ranch. Sixteen months later the young man rented the ranch and took the sheep on shares for a period of three years. At the end of that time the energetic Canadian purchased Corbett's inter- ests, and the business proceeded under the name of Wells & Wells. This copartnership lasted nine years, the junior partner then disposing of his interest and removing to Portland. In 1897 he purchased the ranch five miles west of Prosser, upon which he now makes his home. Although the Prosser ranch is his home, Mr. Wells spends the greater portion of his summers in The Dalles. His stock interests still continue to demand most of his attention.

In 1890 Mr. Wells returned to his old home and claimed for his bride Miss Hattie E. Allen, the daughter of Harvey and Alice (Thompson) Allen, pioneers of New Brunswick. Mr. Allen is a successful stockman and farmer. Mrs. Allen was married when twenty years old and reared a family of five children; she died in 1903. Mrs. Wells was born in 1879, educated in the common schools of New Brunswick, and was married at the age of twenty-one. Four children blessed the union, the eldest of whom is dead: Alice T., born February, 1892, drowned in the Yakima river. 1898; Lloyd W., born October 6, 1894; Chlorinda, December 23, 1899; Charlotte, Octo- ber 3, 1903 ; all of whom were born at The Dalles. Mrs. Wells is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Wells takes an active interest in the political affairs of the country and is a thorough believer in the principles advocated by the Republicans. His ranch near Prosser consists of one hundred and seventy acres, all supplied with water; forty acres are devoted to raising Yakima's king crop -alfalfa-while there is an excellent four-acre orchard upon the place. In 1900 he purchased eight thousand acres of land in the Horse Heaven region, four thousand acres of which are good

773

BIOGRAPHICAL.

wheat land. This investment is sure to prove an extremely lucrative one, as the wheat belt is rap- idly being settled. Mr. Wells owns about five thousand sheep ranging in Oregon and Washing- ton. In all his business dealings he has been quite successful, due in most part to his straight- forward methods of dealing with others, his keen foresight and his indomitable energy and perse- verance. He commands the highest esteem of his neighbors and associates and is a loyal, public- spirited citizen of his adopted country. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the fortunate possessors of a wide circle of warm friends and well-wishers.

EDWARD O. WILSON, engaged in the meat business in Prosser, and one of that city's popular young citizens, is one of Yakima's native sons, hav- ing been born, November 5, 1878, near Tampico, the postoffice of the upper Ahtanum valley. Nearly his entire life has been spent in Yakima county, whose wondrous growth into one of the leading sec- ticus of the west he has witnessed. In its progress he has taken an active part. His father, William T. Wilson, of Scotch descent, was born in Mis- souri in 1852, and at the age of twelve crossed the Plains with his parents. On the journey his mother was killed, and her mortal remains lie buried in the desert. Mr. Wilson settled on the Ahtanum about 1870, purchasing a farm near Tampico, and later filing a homestead claim to a portion of what is now known as Knob Hill. William Wilson's death occurred in 1890, on Knob Hill. In 1876 he married Ada Hawkins, born in Oregon in the year 1856, and to this union Edward was born. Mrs. Wilson, after her first husband's death, was united in marriage to Benjamin Miller, and is now a resi- dent of North Yakima. The subject of our sketch received his education in the common schools of the county, and in the well known Woodcock academy near his home. From the time he was fourteen years old he rode the range for George Taylor and Zach Hawkins. Following this occu- pation he worked a short time with Burbank & Miller, contractors, but in 1898 went to British Co- lumbia, where he worked in the mines two years. Upon his return to Washington in 1900 he wintered in Spokane. In the spring he returned to Yakima county and commenced ranching. The next year he purchased the meat market of A. J. Chambers, situ- ated in North Yakima, conducted it a year, sold the property, and came to Prosser, opening his present market in the summer of 1903. The ven- ture has proven a most satisfactory success, due to the aggressive industry and careful attention given it by its owner. Mr. Wilson has one brother dead, Claude G., killed in 1902, on the Sound, and three brothers and sisters living: Ray, Mrs. Ella L. Hawkins and Gracie, all living in Yakima county. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of

United Workmen, and politically is a stanch Re- publican. Mr. Wilson stands high in the regard of Prosser's citizenry, and is a young man in whom the Yakima country, as his birthplace and home, may well take pride.

THORPE ROBERTS, one of Yakima's pros- perous wheat growers, residing in Prosser, is a native of Nova Scotia, born May 8, 1863, to the union of Matthew and Roseanna ( Travis) Roberts, also natives of that famous peninsula. Matthew Roberts came of a sea-faring family, and himself was a sea captain, engaged in the fishing industry ; he died in 1872 at the age of fifty-two. The Travis family is an early pioneer family of Nova Scotia. Ann Travis, who was quite young when married, is the mother of nine children. She is still living in her native country. Thorpe Roberts was obliged to enter life's struggle while yet a lad of twelve. Leaving home, he worked in various lumber camps and on various farms until he reached the age of seventeen. He then went to New Hampshire and worked in the logging camps of that state a year and a half. In the summer of 1881 he went to California. He followed the lumber business among the redwood forests awhile, spent a short time in the camps of western Oregon, and in 1882 settled in Dayton, Washington, where he followed lumbering seven and a half years. Some time prior to 1887 he visited the Horse Heaven region and decided to locate there, choosing his land. In 1887 he filed a homestead claim upon the tract chosen and removed his family thereto, and since that time he has been steadily improving and cultivating his fine ranch until it is now one of the valuable places in that district. He and his family spend the win- ter in their Prosser home, but in the summer they live on the farm.

Mr. Roberts and Emma Bishop were united in marriage at Pendleton in 1887. She is the daugh- ter of two early pioneers of the Northwest, Bolliver B. and Luna (Palmer) Bishop, natives of Con- necticut and Illinois respectively. The father, who was a lawyer, came to Oregon in 1852, and he and Putman Bradford, her uncle, owned and operated the first steamboat on the lower Columbia, between the Cascades and Portland. He died in 1897. Mrs. Bishop was nineteen when she crossed the Plains with her parents in 1849, being a member of a very noted emigrant train. She is living in Pendleton. Mrs. Roberts was born at the middle cascades of the Columbia. After attending school at Pendleton a short time, she began teaching, though only fourteen years old, and she taught until she was twenty-one, then married R. Burk. Two children were born to that union: Roy, deceased, and Mrs. Luna Fisk, living in Yakima county. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have had two children: Leon, horn at Pendleton, in 1891, died in infancy; Her-

774

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

man B., born March 30, 1895, is still living. Mr. Roberts is an Odd Fellow, and belongs to the Re- bekahs, as does also his wife, and Mrs. Roberts is a member of the Women of Woodcraft Order, and the organizer of the Prosser lodge. Mr. Roberts lost his brother, Everett, while harvesting wheat, the unfortunate man being run over by a combina- tion harvester. Everett Roberts and a man named Traver had the distinction of having brought the first gang-plow into the wheat belt.

WILLIAM H. HAYDEN, residing eight miles east of Prosser, follows the lucrative voca- tion of raising wheat, and is one of Yakima's most prosperous and esteemed farmers. The Empire state is his native state. He was born in 1855. His parents, Robert B. and Maria D. (Snover) Hayden, were born in New Jersey and Pennsyl- vania respectively. The family removed from New York to Illinois, thence to Minnesota, later to Iowa, and in 1860 crossed the Plains by ox con- veyance to California. Three years later they came to Washington Territory and settled in Clarke county. A little later they settled near Portland. living there until 1877, when they removed to Yamhill county. In September, 1893, Mr. Hay- den and his wife took up their permanent abode in Everett, and there they reside at present, the father at the advanced age of seventy-five. The subject of this biography was five years old when he crossed the Plains, and eight when he entered the precincts of Washington. He remained with his father on the farm and attended school until his sixteenth year. Then he left the old home and followed various occupations in the Walla Walla valley until 1883, the date that marks his settle- ment upon a homestead in the Yakima wheat belt. Since that time he has devoted himself assidu- ously to the development of this fertile region with creditable success.

At Bickleton in the year 1891, Miss Wilhel- mina Phipps, a daughter of William and Sarah (Boone) Phipps, was united in marriage to Mr. Hayden. Both parents of Mrs. Hayden are na- tives of Missouri, and crossed the Plains with that heroic emigrant band of 1849, rescued from the jaws of destruction only through the generous services of Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver. These honored pioneers are now living in the Moxee valley, Yakima county. Mrs. Phipps is a niece of Daniel Boone, the great frontiersman. Their daughter Wilhelmina was born in Yamhill county, Oregon, in 1873 and received her educa- tion in the public schools of her native state. Mr. and Mrs. Hayden have five children-Robert, Benjamin H., Mamie B., Walter and Laura, the oldest of whom is twelve and the youngest three years of age. Mr. Hayden is an ardent advocate of Republican principles and an active member

of his party. His ranch, one of the most valu- able in the region, contains 1,200 acres, all pro- ducing wheat, and is completely equipped with modern machinery and a select number of draught horses. It is such farms as his that lend per- manency and value to the country. Mr. Hayden is an energetic, capable and public-spirited citizen who belongs to the state's most substantial class of settlers.

GUSTAVUS A. RYDHOLM is one of the Yakima wheat region's Swedish farniers, who came to Yakima county in 1884, settling upon pre- emption and homestead claims in the Horse Heaven district, about eighteen miles southeast of Prosser. He was born in Sweden, 1860, his par- cnts being Lars and Morea (Mongnus) Ryd- holm, also natives of that country. The father is still living, but Mr. Rydholm's mother died when he was a child. Gustavus attended the public schools of Sweden and remained at home on the farm until he was nineteen years old. In 1880 le came to the United States, locating first in Illinois, where he followed farming pursuits three years. He then went to Portland, Oregon, and after having lived there a year moved to Pendle- ton. While in Umatilla county he was attracted by the opportunities offered wheat growers by the as yet almost virgin wheat region of Yakima county, and determined to settle there and devote himself to that industry and to stock raising. So he became a resident of Yakima county, and as rapidly as possible brought his land under culti- vation and improved it with buildings. His en- deavors have met with most satisfying results, and at present he has about five hundred acres in wheat. Mr. Rydholm and his brother Andrew are partners. Andrew Rydholm was born in 1863 and came to America in 1881. They have another brother living with them, Axell, born in 1870. He came to this country four years ago. The broth- ers are all mienibers of the Lutheran church, and in politics are Republicans. They command the respect and esteem of all with whom they are associated either in a business or a social way. In the ranch are 640 acres of land, all under cul- tivation, producing wheat. Of this tract the eld- est brother, the subject of this biography, owns half. The brothers have a small band of horses and stock, and have equipped their farm with mod- ern machinery. Upon it also are a number of shallow wells which furnish sufficient water for all their needs.

IRA W. CARTER. Among the energetic sons of Illinois who, by taking advantage of the oppor- tunities offered by the far West, have made theni- selves independent, the young man whose name

775

BIOGRAPHICAL.

initiates this review is certainly to be numbered. Commencing at an early age to fight the stern battle of life, he soon acquired a knowledge of men and affairs and a development of the hardy virtues which, applied under the favorable con- ditions obtaining in the Yakima country, have made him one of the most substantial and exten- sive tillers of the soil in the famous Horse Heaven region, noted as it is for large farnis.

The enterprising young man with whom this article is concerned was born in Edwards county, Illinois, August 31, 1868, the son of John and Margaret (Mercer) Carter. The former had in his veins the blood of that hardy race whose ster- ling virtues are so well set forth by the pen of James Lane Allen, for his parents were pioneers of the Blue Grass state, and there, too, he was born and reared. In 1867 he moved to Illinois. Later he went thence to Eureka, Kansas, where he lived for three years, then going to Okla- homa, where he died in 1889. His family was of English and German origin. The mother of our subject, Margaret (Mercer) Carter, also has the honor of being able to claim Kentucky as her birthplace, and the place where her youth was spent. She was five years younger than her hus- band, whom she has outlived now for a decade and a half, and whom she still survives, her pres- ent home being the town of Gas, Kansas.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 174

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