An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 102

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 102
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 102

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The brothers then associated themselves in the purchase of a quarter section of undeveloped land which they improved and worked during the succeeding four- teen years. In addition to their former holdings, they added by purchase in 1892 the James Dunlap place upon which John C. Nelson now resides. The long, successful partnership of the brothers came to a close in 1902, by the terms of which dissolution the younger brother received a tract of 100 acres, including the house in which he has made his home since 1892, his portion consisting entirely of cleared and improved land.

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Mr. Nelson was married in 1895 to Mrs. Ida Dalquist, the ceremony taking place in Skagit coun- ty. Her father was Farth Norby, a Swedish farm- er, who followed that occupation in the old coun- try, where also the daughter was born in 1864, and educated. She married Mr. Dalquist in Seattle, and to this union came one daughter, Alma. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have one child, Harold, born in Skagit county, July 25, 1900. Mr. Nelson is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World, is affiliated with the Lutheran church, and in politics is an active Democrat. He is a member of the school board of his district, taking as deep an interest in education- al affairs, as he takes in public affairs generally. As a fariner, he ranks among the most successful in the Swinomish country, which is recognized as one of richest spots on the American continent and one of the world's leaders in oat production. A feature of this farm is a select herd of Durham cattle, which, while numbering less than fifty, is looked upon as one of the finest herds in the north- west by breeders of that stock. Almost needless to say it is a source of great pride and delight to its owner.

The Skagit Valley recognizes in Mr. Nelson one of its foremost Swedish-Americans-successful farmer, public-spirited citizen, a man who has won his position of influence strictly upon his merits.

WILLIAM HAYTON, though less than thirty years of age, is one of the pioneers of Skagit coun- ty and one of the successful farmers of the south- western part of the county. He was born near Fir in 1828, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Sanders) Hayton, who settled in Skagit county in 1876. The elder Hayton is a Kentuckian by birth, who in early life went to Missouri. In the Centennial year he crossed the plains to Washington, consuming seven months on the trip, and bought a farm near Fir on which he has made his home ever since, spending the winter of 1904-5 in California. Mrs. Hayton was a Virginian. She died in Skagit county in 1896. William Hayton received his education at Fir and remained at home and in the employment of various farmers until when twenty years of age he went to California for a year. The year 1900 found him in Seattle, employed by the Spokane Grain Company, where he learned the feed busi- ness. Six months were spent at Fir and the old home, when he returned to Seattle and engaged in the feed business on his own account. On dis- posing of this venture he returned to Skagit county and in the fall of 1902 leased his present farm and has made his home on it ever since, meeting with excellent success in the vicinity of his birthplace.

In 1901 at Fir Mr. Hayton married Miss Emma Pryor, the ceremony taking place on Christmas day. Mrs. Hayton's father was a native of Vermont, a stone mason by trade, who went to Dakota and

clied there in 1898. Mrs. Pryor was Hannah Heis- ler, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, who came to Washington with her daughter when the latter was but seven years old. Mrs. Hayton has been edu- cated in the schools of Skagit county. She has one child, Dortha, born near Fir, in August, 1904. Mr. Hayton is a Republican in politics, a member of the Baptist church and a Yeoman. On his present place he has sixty head of cattle and fourteen horses, doing quite an extensive business in live stock. In addition to his interests in Skagit county, he owns a timber claim in Oregon. Mr. Hayton is a young man who enjoys the respect of the com- munity centering about Fir and has already estab- lished himself as a successful agriculturist and stock raiser.

JOHN W. KAMB is one of the self-made men of Skagit county. Born in Finland in the closing days of our American Civil War, he is to-day one of the type of adopted American citizens whom the native born citizen is proud to greet as brother. John W. Kamb first say the light in April, 1865, and fourteen years later, his father, John E. Kamb, died in the old home across the Atlantic, leaving eight children, of which the subject of this sketch was second. The mother, Lena Kamb, died in her native Finland. John W. Kamb, after receiving his education in the Finnish schools, came to the United States at the age of twenty-one years and settled in the state of Michigan, where he lived for two years, engaging in various lines of work. The spring of 1888 found him in Seattle, wide awake for opportunities in the country of the Puget sound. For a time Mr. Kamb worked at railroading in Snohomish county, later doing similar work at Olympia. Eight months in a saw-mill at Utsalada followed, with subsequent work as a member of a pile driving crew. In 1889 he was building dikes on La Conner flats at some scasons of the year and at others turning farm hand. It was during this period of his life that he learned the first principles of operating a farm, which he has so successfully put into practice during recent years. In the fall of 1894 Mr. Kamb rented a small farm and com- menced operations on his own account. That was the small beginning of his present farin of over 100 acres of meadow, grain land and orchard, much of which he cleared with his own hands. Mr. Kamb has augmented his original purchase of eighty acres and now has seventy acres in timothy, thirty in oats and a small orchard. The oat land is marvellously rich in the elements which make for large crops, the yield on this section of the Kamb farm sometimes being 100 bushels to the acre. Mr. Kamb has a fine eight-room house. He takes pride in his farm buildings, the main barn being a structure 66x114 feet in dimensions.

In February, 1900, Mr. Kamb married Miss Sadie Rutter, a native of Pennsylvania, born in

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1870. Her father, Robert Rutter, was born near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. in 1847, of Welsh-English parentage. The early years of his life were spent in his native state and in 1878 he removed to Kan- sas, taking up a homestead on the plains. Eleven years were passed in Kansas and in 1889 Mr. Rut- ter came to Washington and settled at Bay View, Skagit county, where he has lived ever since. Mrs. Rutter was also a native of the Keystone state, her parents being of German and English descent. She was the mother of seven children, two of whom are still living. She died in Kansas in 1889. Mrs. John W. Kamb was educated in Kansas and came to this state with her father in 1889, marrying when thirty years of age. Of the union there are two children, both born in Skagit county, Oscar F., born in April, 1902, and Leona, born in March, 1905. Mr. Kamb is a Lutheran in religious faith. As a farmer, he is a firm believer in the advantages of stock raising on a small farm, and is an enthusiast on the subject of fine cattle and horses. He is at present making a specialty of Durham cattle and heavy draft horses. Essentially a self-made man, Mr. Kamb, who had little of the world's goods to start with, has become one of the prosperous and respected citizens of Skagit county, of which achievement he may justly feel proud.

BENJAMIN F. SNOWDEN came to the Skagit valley in 1890 and is now one of the well- to-do small farmers of the county. His farm of twenty acres of good land is two and a half miles west of Mount Vernon. Mr. Snowden is a native of Missouri, born in Andrew county in 1862. His father, John Snowden, was the son of an Indiana farmer who moved to Missouri in 1840, where he is still living. Mary (Carson) Snowden, the mother of Benjamin F., was a native of Missouri also, a cousin of the famous scout of the plains, Kit Carson. Benjamin Snowden spent his youth on the farm, alternately gaining an education in the Missouri public schools and helping his father. On attaining his majority, he rented a neighbor's farm and operated it for five years, at the end of which time, having married. he removed to Colo- rado and engaged in farming for two years. In 1889, his attention having been called to the rapid- ly growing commonwealth of Washington, he came to this state, and after spending a year in Seattle, decided to settle in the county of Skagit. There he rented the farm of Mr. Brewster, the post- master at La Conner, and operated it successfully four seasons. Mr. Snowden purchased ten acres of land in 1892 and cleared it. Later he bought ten more acres, and these holdings, well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs, now constitute the Snowden farmstead in the Skagit valley.

Mr. Snowden was married in Andrew County, Missouri, to Miss Mary Stout, daughter of Wil- liam Stout, son of one of the early settlers of the

state. Mr. Stout owns the farm on which he was born. Mary ( Stout) Snowden was born in Mis -. souri on New Year's day, 1870, and received her education in the schools of her native state. Her marriage took place when she was eighteen years of age. She is the mother of five children, Charles, Daisy, Edith, James and Theodore R., all of whom were born in the Skagit valley, except Charles, who was born while his parents were residents of the Centennial state. In politics Mr. Snowden is a Republican. The Snowden farm is one of the thriftiest places in the Skagit valley and affords an excellent illustration of what energy and economy will accomplish in the course of a comparatively few years.

NELS POLSON. Few families have been as prominent in developing the northwestern part of the state or are as well known in the current life of this section to-day as the family which bears the name standing at the beginning of this chronicle. As pioneers upon the famed tide lands at the mouth of the Skagit river, the Polsons were among the very first; as farmers they have operated upon an extensive scale with marked success, and in the mercantile world they have attained a high posi- tion, especially as hardware dealers.

The founder of this family, Olof Polson, emi- grated to the United States from his native land, Sweden, in 1869, taking up his residence first in Illinois. His wife, Gunhild (Nelson) Polson, also a native of Sweden, where they were married, ac- companied him across the ocean. Illinois did not satisfy them, however, so they shortly pushed across the Mississippi into Iowa and there spent two years. Still they were not contented with the opportuni- ties presented, but, with that aptitude which is so characteristic of the race, sought the rugged fron- tier and found it upon the banks of the Skagit river. Land was taken along what is known as Brown's slough and here, out of the salt marsh and tangled thickets which covered the flats was ulti- mately reared one of the finest farms in the state. What this remarkable farm has cost in labor, money, hardship, and heartaches cannot be set down in cold type, but it has cost much. The old folk retired to a less active life in La Conner in 1900, and there the father passed away three years later, honored by all who knew him. Mrs. Polson is still residing at La Conner. Of the eleven children, Nels is the third eldest ; he was born July 29, 1857, in Sweden. In that country and in Iowa and Washington he re- ceived his education, coming to Skagit county when a lad of fourteen. Upon reaching his majority, he assumed the full responsibility of making his own living, engaging in farming. One year, that of 1885, he spent in British Columbia. but the inter- vening time between 1878 and 1887 he remained in Skagit county. That year he entered the employ of his brother, who had established a hardware bus-

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BIOGRAPHICAL

iness at La Conner. A year afterwards, Nels join- ed his brother as a partner, the firm becoming Perry Polson & Brother. Again in 1889 the title was changed, this time to the Polson Hardware Con- pany, Inc., another brother, John, having entered the business. Albert and Robert Wilton purchased a block of stock in the spring of 1892, which re- sulted in the name again changing, this to the Pol- son-Wilton Hardware Company. Late the same year, Nels Polson sold his interest, withdrawing from what is now one of the leading hardware and implement firms on the coast, and purchased his present place, justly noted as among the leading farms in the county, though not a large one. Of his original quarter section he has sold forty acres, but the remainder he has placed in a fine state of cultivation. A modern dwelling was built by him in 1901, which has greatly added to the value and comfort of the farm.

Mr. Polson's marriage to Miss Anna Luth, daughter of Albert and Alice (Campbell) Luthi, of Columbus, Nebraska, was celebrated at La Conner March 10, 1891. On her paternal side, she is of German descent and on the maternal of Irish lin- cage. The father was born in Germany October 14. 1839, and came to this country when a boy eleven years old, his parents first residing in New York state. There he was reared, subsequently married in Rockland county and when the outbreak of the Civil War came, enlisted in the army. At present he is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Nebraska. Mrs. Luth was born January 12, 1838. She was seventeen years old when she came to the United States and five years later was married. In Rock- land County, New York. September 14, 1868, Mrs. Polson was born. Her education was obtained in the common and high schools of Nebraska, to which she came when only a year and a half old. At sixteen she began teaching. pursuing that pro- fession in Nebraska for five years. In 1890 she ac- cepted a position in the schools of La Conner, but taught only until her marriage the spring following. The Polson home has been blessed by the advent of three children; all born in Skagit county: Albert W .. . April 16, 1893; Nellie I., December 8, 1895; and Robert N., March 11, 1902. The family church is the Lutheran. Mr. Polson is one of the most active men in his party, the Republican, and is a public spirited man in every sense of the word. He has creditably performed the duties of director in his school district and has contributed not a little toward placing that school on the high plane it now occupies. Success has crowned his efforts in every line of activity he has engaged in, private or public, which, together with his sterling character and gen- ial traits, has justly elevated him to the position of influence and affluence he occupies among his fel- low's.

DENNIS STORRS. Among the men whose names are destined to retain a permanent place in the

history of this locality, stands Dennis Storrs, born in Yorkshire, England. September 8, 1815, the son of Charles E. Storrs, a carpenter. His father hav- ing died when Mr. Storrs was very young, he made his home with an uncle after his mother's re-mar- riage. At the early age of fourteen, having secur- ed his education in the schools of England. he en- tered the shops of the Great Northern railroad at Doncaster, where he acquired the trade of car mak- ing. His skill soon secured him a position in a private car shop, which he held until he determined to find an opening in America, which he did May 1, 1810. Locating first in Mount Vernon, Iowa, he removed a year later to Benton county, and there spent two years. In the fall of 1814, he came to Washington, then a territory, stopping a month in Seattle, and later taking up his residence on Whid- by island, where he followed farming. The enstt- ing fall, he took out his citizenship papers and in that same year, 1815, filed on his present home near Mount Vernon, then a dense forest, and moved there in the spring of 1816. He also took up a tim- ber claim which he has since sold. It was here that he was identified with the undertaking that insured the memory, for generations to come, of all those who participated in it. Originating far back of the memory of the oldest Indian, perhaps as a tiny ob- struction that a child's hand might then have re- moved, there had formed in the bend of the Skagit river an immense log jam. Increasing year by year, it caused the river to overflow its west bank, and was thus a constant menace to the lives and prop- erty of those residing on that side of the river, and so gigantic seemed the task of removing the jam. upon whose surface tall trees had grown, that it had never been attempted. At last in 1826, a band of men among whom Mr. Storrs was prominently mtuinbered, decided that it must be done, and began work at once, regardless of the discouraging proph- ecies heard on all sides. After three years of ardu- ous toil in the face of grave danger, their task was consummated and the river rushed unimpeded on its way, mutely witnessing to man's power of achievement.

Mr. Storrs was married in England, November 10, 1866, to Mary Dobson, the daughter of Joseph and Naoma (Hewitt) Dobson, both natives of England where the father was a seafaring man to the time of his death, and where the mother still resides. Mrs. Storrs, who has five brothers and sisters, also claims England as her birthplace, and there she was educated. Mr. and Mrs. Storrs have seven children: Arthur and Florence, born in Eng- land: the latter now Mrs. Fred Siegel, wife of the present master of the government snag boat, Skag- it: Charles E., born in lowa : Albert E., now de- ceased ; George and Grace, born in Mount Vernon. In politics, Mr. Storrs adheres to Democratic prin- ciples, while fraternally he affiliates with the Odd Fellows, of which order he has been past grand for a number of years. During his residence in Mount

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Vernon of almost thirty years, he has witnessed wonderful transformations. Other homesteads be- sides his own have responded to the magic influ- ence of cultivation, orchards and grain fields re- placing the forests. Not one, however, surpasses his own farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. with its fine four-acre orchard, and its thorough- bred cattle and horses. Surrounded by all these ma- terial evidences of his industry and skill, he is one of the substantial citizens of Mount Vernon, and is held in highest esteem.

J. MADISON SHIELD is one of Skagit county's leading citizens, whether as educator or as agriculturist. Turning in recent years from the profession of teaching, in which he was eminently successful, he has proved himself a man of equal ability as husbandman. Mr. Shield was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1857, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, James Shield, was a native of Pennsylvania and is still living in the Keystone state. Mr. Shield's mother, whose maiden name was Amanda Smith, is also a Penn- sylvanian by birth. Of her nine children Professor Shield, of this article, is the third. He early de- veloped the characteristics of a student and after preparatory courses in the graded and higher schools entered Grove City College in his native state, graduating with the degree of bachelor of science in 1883. One year of teaching in Pennsyl- vania followed, when he came to the Pacific coast, taking up his profession of teaching in eastern Ore- gon. At the close of his first year he decided to re- turn to his Pennsylvania home and to resume teach- ing there. He remained, however, but a single year. In 1888 he came to the Puget sound coun- try, obtaining a position as principal of the La Con- ner schools. Three years later the people of Skagit county chose him as superintendent of their school system, though he continued to devote a part of his time to teaching in La Conner. He was reelected county superintendent and at the close of his term of office, being ineligible by law for a third term, he moved to Mount Vernon and became principal of the schools of that city, which position he filled with eminent satisfaction for five years. In the fall of 1899 Professor Shield was elected to the prin- cipalship of one of the public schools of Seattle and removed to that city. After a successful career of three years in Seattle, though reelected for another year, Professor Shield decided to return to Mount Vernon and take up agriculture. Following this de- termination he tendered his resignation in 1902. and moved to his present farm of eighty acres three miles west of Mount Vernon, which he had purchased in 1899. At that time the land was cov- cred with a heavy forest. It was not until 1902 that sixty acres had been cleared and the old house reconstructed into a modern residence. In 1892, while serving as county superintendent of schools,

Professor Shield married Miss Maggie D. Calhoun, daughter of Dr. George V. Calhoun of Seattle. Dr. Calhoun is a native of New Brunswick. He se- lected the profession of medicine and obtained his degree at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. For a time he practiced his profession in New Brunswick and then entered the service of the Unit- ed States during the Civil War as army surgeon. In 1865 Dr. Calhoun was placed in charge of the marine hospital at Port Angeles, a year later rec- ommending the removal of the institution to Port Townsend. Dr. Calhoun practiced his profession for three years in Seattle and in 1875 came to La Conner where he remained, a successful practition- er until 1896 when he returned to Seattle, where he still lives. Mrs. Calhoun was Miss Ellen Mein, born in England. She was married in Halifax, Nova Scotia, became a resident of the United States after 1863 and of Washington when her husband located in this state. Her death came in 1898. Mrs. Shields was born during the residence of her par- ents in Port Townsend. She attended the schools of Seattle and finished her education at the Annie Wright Seminary in Tacoma. Following her grad- uation from that institution of learning. she became a school teacher. Her marriage took place in 1892. Of this marriage there is one son, George Calhoun Shield, born at Mount Vernon on March 13, 1895. Professor Shield is a Republican in politics. The retirement of Professor Shield to his farm by no means completed his interest in matters educational or placed him out of touch with all that pertains to the highest culture. He has carried to his farm all that was best in his scholastic attainments and his varied experiences, whether on the Atlantic or the Pacific coast. With his cultured wife he is pur- suing the avocation of a farmer because he finds it congenial as well as remunerative, the days of out- door life mingling in excellent proportion with the hours devoted to study and the betterment of the intellectual man. The home is one of the best cul- ture and refinement.

AHLERT H. EGBERS. From German lad, through the successive stages of man-o'-warsman and able seaman to a dairy farmer in the Skagit valley, is the life story of Ahlert H. Egbers. He was born in Germany early in the year 1853. His father, Henry Egbers, a farmer, died in 1869 when the subject of this sketch was but sixteen years of age. The mother, Gretchen (Hargen) Egbers, had eight children of whom Ahlert is third. Mrs. Egbers died in her German home twelve years ago. Ahlert Egbers pursued the course of studies pre- scribed by the German schools and remained with his mother after his father's death. At twenty years of age he enlisted in the German navy and served two years, eight months and five days, following that experience as sailor on a merchantman. Find- ing himself in San Francisco in 1877 he left his

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ship and made his way to Washington Territory, settling in Island county. For seven years he worked for wages and then rented a farm. In 1885 he came to Skagit county and leased a farm for three years. Leases followed, of Mr. Ball's place on La Conner flats and of Thomas Barrett's farm, until in 1899, he bought his present farmstead of thirty acres three miles west of Mount Vernon. Then it was virgin forest land, now it is a well kept farm.

Mr. Egbers married Miss Annie Mahler, daugh- ter of Gustave Mahler, who emigrated from Ger- many when a young man and settled in New York. It was in New York that Mrs. Egbers was born. Her mother, Annie (Snakenberg) Mahler, was a native of Germany, but spent her last days in Skagit county, dying at the home of her daughter in 1902. Mrs. Egbers received her education in the schools of New York. She came to Washing- ton and was married when thirty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Egbers have three children, all of whoni were born in Skagit county : Henry F., Milton L. and Alice M. Mr. Egbers is a Republican in poli- tics and a member of the German Lutheran com- munion. The Egbers farm is well stocked, especial attention being paid to dairying.

JEREMIAH THOMPSON is a native of the north of England. He was born in the latter part of the year 1859, his father being Jeremiah Thomp- son, a farmer, and his mother Anna ( Mason) Thompson, also of English birth. There were eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was fifth. The elder Thompson died in England in 1887. Jeremiah Thompson received his education in the common schools of England and at the age of eight- een years left home for the life of a farm hand, con- tinting at that occupation for three years. At the end of that period Mr. Thompson left England for Canada, reaching there in 1881. Two and a half years were passed in Canada then Mr. Thompson returned to England for one winter. Returning in the early spring to America hic started for the Pa- cific coast, Tacoma being his destination. On his arrival he obtained employment in the Puyallup hop fields. Later he went to Sumner, Washington, and passed four months as a saw-mill hand. Captain R. J. Yates, who owned a farm on the White river, offered him employment and Mr. Thompson passed two years on the Yates farm, leaving there for Skagit county, where he bought his present farm of eighty acres three and a half miles west of Mount Vernon. At the time of purchase the place was covered with the heaviest of timber. Now all but twenty acres has been converted into a modern farm with thirty acres in oats and forty-two in grass, as well as more than an acre in orchard.

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 102

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172