An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 200

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 200
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 200
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 200

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. Schormann was married in Ellensburg, November 16, 1894, to Mary P. Miller. Her father, Peter Jensen, was born in Denmark, where he still resides. He was a soldier in the war of 1864. The mother, Christina Jensen, was also a native of Denmark. Mrs. Schormann has one brother, Jensen Petersen, living in Denmark. Mr. and Mrs. Schormann have one child, Olga S., born Aug. 20, 1899. Mr. Schormann is affili- ated with the Modern Woodmen of America, with membership in the Ellensburg camp. He and wife are members of the Lutheran church. He is a thrifty, prosperous farmer and a breeder of fine French Percheron horses, of which he makes a specialty. He has a well improved farm and, with his demonstrated business abil- itv, it is not presuming too much to predict a prosperous future for him.

MARGARET E. CLYMER was born in Crawford county, Ohio, December 6, 1848. She is the daughter of Andrew P. and Hanna (Shoemak- er) Smith, both natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Smith was born about the year 1825, coming of old Quaker stock. Early in life he was a builder and contractor, but later turned his energies to farming. He moved to Crawford county, Ohio, when a child, and spent the major portion of his life there. He is of German ancestry. Mrs. Clymer received her early education in the dis- trict schools of her native state, and on March 31, 1864, was married to Joseph C. Clymer. Mr. Clymer served his country during the Rebellion, principally in the regimental band of the Sixty- fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he en- listed in 1862, and in the hospital corps. It was his desire to serve as a regular soldier, but he was incapacitated on account of defective eye- sight. His war record was replete with deeds of kindness, patience and daring, and in every particular was a credit to himself and to his country.

Following his discharge he settled and remained for seven years at Galion, Ohio, where he had charge of a nursery belonging to his father. Sub- sequently he removed to Lima, Ohio, where he conducted a nursery of his own. After four years in this business he abandoned it that he might take up work on the railway. He began his railroad career as a fireman on the B. & O. railroad, which station he filled three years, then to engage with the Erie & Western as engineer, remaining in this position for about five years. He came west as far as Fargo, North Dakota, to attend the convention of locomotive engineers held in that city. Being favorably impressed with the country, he decided to remain, at once securing a position with the Northern Pacific railroad, in the construction department. He re- mained so occupied until the line was completed, his last construction work being done on the bridges spanning the Columbia at Pasco. He left the Northern Pacific in 1894, and three years later died near Ellensburg. Mr. Clymer was born in Ohio, 1840, and was a descendant of the Clymer family of Revolutionary fame. This fam- ily included the Hon. George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the first to settle in the colony of Pennsylvania, and afterwards closely identified with the history of that commonwealth. At the time of his death, Mr. Clymer was a member of David Ford Post No. II, G. A. R., at Ellensburg. He was sur- vived by Mrs. Clymer and two sons-John P., born in Galion, Ohio, 1868, and who is now a conductor on the Northern Pacific railroad, and Albert B., also a native of Galion, born in 1870, and now inspector for a transcontinental rail- road. Mrs. Clymer is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, David Ford Post No. 19, of Ellens- burg, which post she has served several times as president. She also holds membership in the Rebekah Lodge, No. 25, and in the Women of Woodcraft. Her church home is with the Pres- byterians. She is an ardent lover of flowers, of which she has probably the finest collection in the valley. She is a lady exceptionally well in- formed on all leading topics, is energetic and public spirited, and as a consequence is re- spected and loved by all who know her.

HENRY M. BRYANT, the subject of this biography, is a native of South Bend, Indiana, where he was born September 13, 1841. His father, Alfred Bryant, was one of the early mis- sionaries of the Presbyterian church to northern Indiana and southern Michigan. The father was a man noted for his piety and for his effective preaching as well as for his literary ability, the fifth edition of some of his books being now in circulation. His ancestors settled in Springfield, New Jersey, about the middle of the seventeenth

892

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

century. His father was a captain in the War of the Revolution. He was born in New Jersey in 1808. During his missionary life he built thir- teen churches in southern Michigan and north- ern Indiana. He spent many years in that sec- tion, and was esteemed both by Indians and whites for his sterling qualities as man and min- ister. He died in 1882. The mother of our sub- ject was Adrianna (Greene) Bryant, a native of Hanover, New Jersey. Her ancestors went froni England to Holland on account of religious per- secution, and eventually came to America that they might enjoy religious freedom. She died in 1854 at the age of forty-four. The early life of Henry M. Bryant was spent in southern Mich- igan, where his education was received. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted, in 1861, in Com- pany F, Twelfth Michigan infantry, under Captain Reeves, as third sergeant, his company serving with the Army of the Cumberland, in Tennessee. At the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was taken sick and was sent to St. Louis, where he was reported dead; when his father went for the body, however, he was found still living and was taken home. His physical condition was such that he could not return to the army, and until 1864 his time was spent in various efforts to recover his health. For a while he conducted a store for a lumber company near Fillmore, New York. In the year named, after visiting home, he crossed the Plains to Salt Lake City, leaving Atchison, Kansas, in the spring with a freight outfit and an ox team, which he drove through without serious loss, occupying ninety days on the journey. Here for a time he was associated with Bernard Gray, a son of Captain Thomas Gray, of the quartermaster's department, Washı- ington, District of Columbia, in the newspaper busi- ness. Disposing of his interests in this business he went to East Bannock, Montana, in April, 1865; from there to Virginia City, and thence to Helena. At Virginia City he was connected for a while with the Montana Post as collector and solicitor. In October, 1865, he entered the mercantile busi- ness in Helena, becoming one of the firm of Gil- patrick & Bryant, dealers in books and notions, and, at the same time, writing for the local pa- pers. At this time flour sold in Montana for one dollar and twenty cents per pound and news- papers at from one dollar to three dollars per

copy. In 1867 the building and stock of merchandise were destroyed by fire; the busi- ness was re-established but, a few months later, was closed out. December 4, 1870, he took up a homestead in the Kittitas valley which he com- muted in 1872. During this period he was vari- ously engaged as hotel clerk, assistant postmas- ter and proprietor of a notion store; acting also as agent for the Lewiston and N. W. Stage Com- pany at Walla Walla. Mr. Bryant came to Kit- titas county in 1874, where he had previously be-

come interested in stock; from here going to Se- attle and, while en route, casting a vote at Van- couver for Hayes for president. Until 1879 he acted as Wells, Fargo & Company's agent at Seattle; returning at this time to Ellensburg, where he formed a partnership in the merchandise busi- ness with Austin A. Bell of Seattle. He put up the second trading post in Ellensburg, selling out to Thomas Johnson in 1882 and going to his ranch.

In the fall of 1883 Mr. Bryant was married to Miss Lillie May Peterson, a daughter of W. H. Peterson, county auditor. Mr. Peterson and daughter are natives of West Virginia, where the latter was born in 1863. The father is a pioneer of the county and has held several county offices. Mrs. Bryant died in 1885. Mr. Bryant has been prominent in business circles; was county auditor one term ; is a member of the K. P. lodge and of the G. A. R .; is an active and influential Republican, and one of the most suc- cessful and respected citizens of Kittitas county.

GEORGE E. SAYLES, police judge and city clerk of Ellensburg, was born and reared in the west, and has seen a great country develop in the past thirty years. Educated for the profes- sion of a teacher, he turned to law and politics, which he finds more congenial. He was elected city clerk of Ellensburg in 1900 and has twice been re-elected to the office. He is also justice of the peace and police judge, the latter appoint- ment coming from the city council. Mr. Sayles was born in Olympia, Washington, December 20, 1872. His father, Oscar Sayles, was an Illinois farmer, and crossed the Plains into Oregon at an early day, settling in the Grande Ronde val- ley. Later he moved near the capital city of Washington. He was exempt from duty as a soldier on account of disability. His ancestors fought for America in the Mexican war and were Scotchmen of sturdy stock. Mr. Sayles' mother, Sarah (Mills) Sayles, is of Irish descent and a native of Illinois. Her father, George Mills, lives in Olympia. Her brother, Jesse T. Mills, was appointed a member of the state board of con- trol under Governor McBride, and also served as sheriff of Thurston county. Her father held a captain's commission in the federal army dur- ing the Civil war. George Sayles grew to man- hood at Olympia. He received a thorough edu- cation in the common schools and high school, finishing with a course at the state normal in Ellensburg after a preparatory course in the El- lensburg high school, which he entered at the age of sixteen years. After completing his edu- cation he went to Montana and tried his hand at mining, traveling over much of the state dur- ing his stay there. A severe attack of sickness made him an invalid for eighteen months. After

893

BIOGRAPHICAL.

recovering he returned to Ellensburg and, find- ing the genial Washington climate much more conducive to good health, he has since made El- lensburg his home. Mr. Sayles is a Republican and a most active worker in the party. He is a well known figure in primary work, also in conventions. He holds membership in the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Eagles. He has two brothers and two sisters: Anna Sayles Poland resides at Ellensburg; Alta and the brothers, Roy and Chester, live in Seat- tle. Mr. Sayles' uncle, George G. Mills, is a prominent business man and politician of Olym- pia. He recently married a daughter of Judge J. M. Gordon, supreme court justice, retired. Mr. Mills was in the government land office at Seattle for a number of years, afterwards en- gaging in business. Two other uncles of Mr. Sayles-James Mills and John Mills-are prom- inent farmers of Thurston county, which is also the home of his three aunts-Fannie, Mary and Laura Mills. In political, fraternal and social life Mr. Sayles is a representative citizen of El- lensburg, and it is not presuming greatly to pre- dict that the future holds for him a successful career.

JOHN H. CAROTHERS, born in Shelby county, Missouri, in 1859, the son of John C. and Louisa M. (Henninger) Carothers, is a leading stock raiser and mining man of Ellensburg. His father, a native of the state of Pennsylvania, was born in 1820 and was a pioneer of Shelby county, Missouri, where he settled with his family as early as 1828. Here he lived and labored quietly on his farm until the outbreak of the Mexican war, when he joined the army, with which he remained until peace had been declared between the two warring nations. Again, in 1860, he en- listed in the army as a private and went forth to do battle with the Confederate forces. He was a good soldier, and his valor was rewarded by his being commissioned a captain before the end of the war. During the latter part of his service Captain Carothers served under the com- mand of General McNeil. In 1874 he removed to the far west and took a stock ranch in eastern Oregon, where he with his sons engaged in the cattle and sheep business, making his home the while in the Willamette valley. He also acquired land in the Kittitas valley, where he brought his family to live in 1888, and where in 1902 he passed away. Louisa M. (Henninger) Carothers was born in Gordon City, Virginia, in 1827. She numbers among her direct ancestors some of the earliest pathfinders and history makers of that state. She now is living with her sons in Ellens- burg.

At the time of his advent in Oregon, John H. Carothers was a youth of sixteen years, hav-

ing spent his boyhood in the state of his birth, where he had acquired a grammar and high school education. Having been raised to the stock business he took to it naturally upon com- ing west, continuing in it with his father and brothers, William and Andrew. They turned their attention to sheep principally, though they kept a large herd of cattle. The brothers still own the old farm in eastern Oregon, which is being operated by Andrew. It was upon this farm that was grown the fruit thirteen varieties of which took prizes at the Omaha Exposition. The brothers exhibit with warranted pride a $200 gold medal as the prize awarded them upon this occasion. For years after coming to Kittitas county the Carothers were the most extensive raisers and shippers of sheep in that section of the country, during which time they held almost the ex- clusive trade in mutton of the entire coast line of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Their shipments of mutton at times amounted to eight and ten train loads in a single consign- ment. About the year 1900 the Carothers broth- ers began to close out their sheep business, since which time they have confined themselves to buying and selling sheep and of late years turned their attention largely to mining. Their mining interests consist of gold, copper and coal mines in the vicinity of Cle-Elum, Washington. Here they are developing what promises to be one of the most valuable semi-anthracite coal mines in the Northwest, for from this deposit has been taken some of the highest grade coal ever found in the state. Mr. Carothers has two brothers and two sisters-William H., of Ellensburg; Andrew, of Olex, Oregon; Anna M. Knight, living in the Willamette valley, and Ella Kocker, of Canby, Oregon. He was for a number of years a mem- ber and an officer of the Sons of Veterans order, but is now out of that society altogether. He is a stanch Republican, and takes an active part in the caucuses and conventions of that party.

LEANDER W. BELDIN, member of the firm of Beldin & Beldin, painters and paper hangers, was born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1872. His father, Leander W. Beldin, also a painter, was born in 1846. He was an early pioneer of Comanche county, Kansas, and was in the woolen mill business for thirteen years in Iowa, Wis- consin and Illinois. Mr. Beldin Senior's grand- father was a Frenchman, his mother a German, his father a Yankee. The mother of L. W. Beldin, Junior, Harriet (Varona) Beldin, was born in New York state, in 1850, and was of Yankee parent- age, her ancestors being originally English. When Leander W. Beldin was two years of age his parents began a series of migrations, first to Wichita, Kansas, then to Colorado, and thence to Comanche county, Kansas, establishing them-

894

CENTRAL WASHINGTON.

selves, in 1884, at Harper, Kansas, where Mr. Beldin grew up and received his education. In the year 1890, when he was eighteen years of age, his parents removed to Tacoma, Washing- ton, where Mr. Beldin learned the painter's trade, which he followed there for seven years. He then went to Portland, Oregon, where he re- mained for two years, and in 1901 came to El- lensburg. Here he has established a good busi- ness and bought a home. Subject was married in May, 1902, to Charlotte Belle Wright, a na- tive of Nebraska. Her father, Archibald Wright, died in 1892. Her mother, Ida (Randall) Wright, was born in Iowa, and still survives. Her uncle, Amasa Randall, is the editor of The Localizer, published at Ellensburg. Mr. Beldin has one brother, Fred Grant Beldin, of Portland, Oregon.

He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, this being the only organization he is connected with. He belongs to no political party, preferring rather at elections to be free to vote for the man irrespective of the candidate's party.

CYRENUS E. STEVENS is a farmer and stockman living seven miles northeast of Ellens- burg. Illinois is his native state, where he was born in Kane county, August 25, 1866. His father, D. W. Stevens, a farmer, was born in Onondaga county, New York, in March, 1843. D. W. Stevens was an early settler in Illinois. He served three years and nine months in the Civil war in a New York regiment. At the second battle of The Wilderness he was severely wounded by being shot in the arm, on account of which he receives a heavy pension from the government. He is originally of English de- scent. One of his ancestors was a member of the historic "Boston Tea Party," and for his services in behalf of the cause of freedom re- ceived a large grant of land in the state of New York. Amelia (Hayden) Stevens, mother of Cy- renus E., is a native of New York, born in 1843, of Holland Dutch parentage. Both D. W. and Mrs. Stevens are still living in the state of New York. Subject was reared in Illinois, working on the farm and attending the common schools. At the age of twenty-two he decided to "go West," and the spring of 1889 found him located in the Kittitas valley. Here he bought and cul- tivated a farm in partnership with his brother- in-law, H. Ames. This partnership continued until the fall of ninety-two, when he bought his partner's interest in the farm, since which time he has conducted it alone. He was at Ellensburg at the time of the great fire, but was not a loser. In 1894 he assumed the management of the county poor farm, and for six years he conducted that in connection with his own place, giving it up only in 1900. In the year 1887 Mr. Stevens

was married to Katie Ames, daughter of Avery A. and Esther (Davis) Ames, born in Illinois in the year 1870. Her father, a Civil war veteran, was born in Vermont, in January, 1828. He is now living in the state of Illinois. Mrs. Stevens' mother was born in Vermont, 1837, and died in 1890. Mrs. Stevens has one sister, Annis McDiar- mid, and four brothers: H. Ames, a farmer of Kittitas county; Edwin, of South Dakota ; Charles and Fred, both of whom are living in Illinois, Mr. Stevens' brothers and sisters are: John and Perry, of Illinois; Fred, of Wisconsin, and Mabel, Edith, Lottie and Clara, living in Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have been born six children, only three of whom, Amy, Avery and Margaret, are living. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Odd Fellows fraternities; of the latter he was a charter member of the lodge at Thorp. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are members of the Baptist faith. In politics he votes for the man of his choice, not confining himself to any party's candidates. However, he is an ardent ad- mirer and supporter of Theodore Roosevelt. His holdings in real estate consist of eighty acres of im- proved and cultivated land all under irrigation, upon which he has a valuable orchard, and has filed a claim to a tract adjacent to his home place.

SAMUEL W. FARRIS, a farmer, stock raiser and dairyman of the famous Kittitas valley, is lo- cated two and one-half miles northeast of Ellensburg. He was born in San Jacinto county, California, in 1863, the son of Franklin and Sarah M. (Hall) Farris. The father, a veteran of the Mexican war, farmer and teamster in early days, was born in the state of Missouri in 1829, and died in Kittitas county, Washington, December 24, 1902. Subject's grandfather played an important role in the reclaim- ing of the vast wilderness out of which have grown the populous central states, and the subduing of tlie hostile tribes of aborigines that then inhabited it. With no less a personage than Daniel Boone he helped blaze a trail through the wilds of what is now Missouri, and together they, with other pioneers, built the town of Boonesboro, Kentucky. Later in his career he, with a brother and one other companion, a young boy, was captured by Indians on the Plains between Leavenworth and Santa Fe. For fifteen days they were held prisoners, when he and the boy companion managed to escape and found refuge in an Indian mission. Franklin Far- ris crossed the Plains to California in 1850, where he followed farming and teaming. In 1898 he came to the Kittitas valley to join his son, Samuel. The mother of Samuel Farris was born in Missouri and still lives in Kittitas county. Mr. Farris, of this article, spent his younger days in California, where he worked on the farm and attended school as a boy, and later worked some at the blacksmith's trade, though in the main he followed farming and

895

BIOGRAPHICAL.

stock raising. At the age of twenty-one he formed a business partnership with his father, in which relation they continued until the son was twenty- eight. In the fall of 1892 he came to the Kittitas valley, where he farmed for five years on the west side of the river. In 1897 he removed to the south- eastern section of the valley, where he again con- ducted a farm for four years, then located on his present farm, which is known as Poplar Grove. In 1901 he was married in Kittitas county to Frankie Neona Fuller, born in Illinois, in 1872. Being a woman of education, she, for a number of years, taught in the public schools of the state of her nativity, and in Douglas and Kittitas counties, Washington. She is the daughter of A. A. and Frankie (Ballard) Fuller, both natives of Illinois, in which state her father followed the vocation of blacksmitlı. She has two brothers, Alonzo and Milo P. Fuller, and one sister, Sarah Bittinger. Mr. Farris has one brother, George W., and two sisters, Mrs. Clara J. Noel and Mary E. Prater, all of whom reside on farms in Kittitas county. Mr. and Mrs. Farris have but one child, Lavina Ruth, one year old.

Mr. Farris holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America, and the family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. A Republican in politics, he has been in times gone by an active party worker, but in recent years he has devoted but little time to the affairs of his party. He owns forty acres of choice irrigated land, which yields large quantities of excellent fruit. He also con- ducts a dairy of a dozen well-bred Holstein and Jersey cows. He finds a ready market for the products of his orchard and dairy, from which each year he derives a substantial income.

THOMAS B. GOODWIN, living one and one- half miles west of Thorp, is among the most suc- cessful farmers and stockmen in the Kittitas valley. As a pioneer of the county and of other portions of the west, he has experienced all the hardships inci- dent to the development of a new country and has lived to triumph over all difficulties and force from his surroundings a degree of success that comes only to the courageous and determined few who found the country in its primitive state and braved its dangers and crude conditions, with unchanging faith in its future. Mr. Goodwin has realized his expectations and now has one of the most valuable ranches in the county. Born in Putnam county, Indiana, July 24, 1846, he was taken by his parents to Jowa when he was six years old and there, until he was seventeen, he attended school and worked on his father's farm. In 1864 he joined a brother and a neighbor in a trip with ox teams across the Plains. Reaching Omaha, the party continued up the Missouri river through Nebraska and Montana, mining for a short time in the latter state, Mr. Goodwin also herding cattle for a few weeks in

the Galiton valley. He then joined a return party for the states and, after a long and toilsome jour- ney, during which they suffered many privations, he succeeded in reaching the homestead farm in Iowa. After two years on his father's farm he bought a home in Wayne county, sold it later and invested in cattle, losing eventually all that he had. Returning again to his father's place he remained until 1873, when he went to California, arriving . there with a family of four children and with eight dollars in cash. He afterwards spent some time in Portland, going thence to the Washington side of the Columbia, and engaging in the dairy business, but eventually settling in the Willamette valley, where he remained until 1877, coming then to Kitti- tas county. With his cousin, Thomas Goodwin, he brought from The Dalles the first header used north of the Columbia river. From W. D. Killmore he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, pay- ing $16 an acre for the quarter section, erected a house in 1877 and the following year had eighty acres fenced and twelve acres in wheat. He paid Charles Freeman one hundred and twenty dollars for a team of mules, giving his note at twenty-four per cent interest ; bought water rights of Herman Page and at once went to work improving his farm. Later he bought two hundred and forty acres of George O'Hair, going in debt for the full value, ten thousand dollars, besides borrowing three thou- sand dollars to pay on the first farm purchased, and following this by a purchase of two additional farms, one of two hundred and eighty acres, par- tially under a ditch, and another of three hundred and twenty acres, the latter pasture land. In twelve years all his obligations were canceled and he had quite a sum of money in the bank.

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 200

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