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 110

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 110
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 110

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On the last day of the year 1893 Mr. Dunlap married Miss Winifred Lockhart, daughter of Sam- uel Lockhart, long a prosperous farmer in Iowa, who removed to Washington and is still living near La Conner. Mrs. Mary (West) Lockhart is still living at La Conner. Mrs. Dunlap was born in Iowa and received her early educational training there. completing her studies after her arrival in this state. Four children have been born of this union : Stella, Percy, Loree and Leland. In poli- tics Mr. Dunlap is a Republican but devotes little attention to the activities of politics, finding 'himself pretty closely demanded in running the farm. In the seventeen years that he has managed the well- known farm of his father. Mr. Dunlap has gained an enviable reputation as a young business man of integrity and force of character. Under his hand the farm has not deteriorated and is keeping in ad- vance with all improvements under modern farming system.

THOMAS GATES is one of the men who after participating in the War of the Rebellion found peace and prosperity in the rich farming land of the Skagit valley. He was born in Cole County. Missouri, on November :, 1841, the son of Abel and Mary (Burns) Gates. The father was born in the old Bay state, July 4, 1787, and had reached the stature of manhood when the impressment of American seamen precipitated the War of 1812. Into this cause young Gates threw himself with a will joining Company A, Fifth Rifle Regiment. in which he was chosen lieutenant, and saw some of the hardest fighting engaged in against the British at New Orleans, White Plains and elsewhere ; his record on being mustered out showing many deeds of individual gallantry. The elder Gates was one

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of the early settlers in Missouri, where he engaged in the packing business and farmed. He passed through the stirring times when that state was the battle ground of the slavery question, when the alignment of sentiment between the North and the South was first becoming drawn, and closed his life there November 2, 1810. Mrs. Gates died in Mis- souri, in 1888, leaving five sons : James, Thomas, Samuel, Jasper and Asaph. Her father also fought in the war of 1812. With the exception of the time he was in the army, Thomas Gates lived with his parents on the farm, attending school and working until he came to Skagit county, in 1873, following his brother Jasper, who had come on to the Puget sound country. Young Gates enlisted in the Thirty- ninth Missouri infantry as a private. This regi- ment was in the massacre at Centralia, Missouri, in which four entire companies were wiped out by the attacking force, with the exception of four men and one officer. The command did not participate in any of the great campaigns of the war, but was kept in reserve in its home state, except once they were taken down into Tennessee and back to home. Mr. Gates was mustered out in July, 1865. On his arrival in Skagit county, Mr. Gates went to work for a short time on Whidby island, but returned and worked in the only logging camp which at that time existed in the Skagit valley. In 1882 he pre- empted a place and homesteaded it later. With the assistance of his children, he cleared forty acres and sold the remainder of the one hundred and sixty contained in his original filing. When Mr. Gates commenced operations on this land he had the only wagon in that section of the country, and no roads to use that on. Those were the days of hard struggles on the part of the settlers.

In 1869, in Adair county, Missouri, Mr. Gates married Miss Martha J. Walters, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and Betsey (Day) Walters, natives of Tennessee, who passed the greater part of their lives in Missouri. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gates, Mary Elizabeth, Nellie May, Ira Braxton and Thomas J. Gates. The Gates farm contains forty acres of land, all under cultivation and devoted to a general farming proposition, amply stocked with horses and cattle. Mr. Gates is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and says that he is not ashamed to be called a Jef- ferson Democrat. His life has been one of earnest- ness and endeavor, and as he recalls the vicissitudes through which he has passed, it is with a feeling, of deep satisfaction and gratitude that he has been permitted to accomplish as much as he has amid such varied conditions.

FRANK A. JEWETT comes of the stock of which pioneers are made, and of the stock which makes the best pioneers. In fact, for generations the Jewetts have been men who opened up new sections of their country and withstood the hard-

ships incident to the work of subduing the wilder- ness. Mr. Jewett was born in Sullivan County, Missouri, in the stirring days of the summer of 1861. His father, Johnson W. Jewett. left the green hills of his native Vermont when fifteen years of age, and with his parents went into the Illinois country not so many years after General George Rogers Clark and later hardy sons of the Ohio val- ley had saved the country from the British for the young republic. Married at the age of twenty- three, the elder Jewett followed the trail of the early settlers into the Northwest, then but recently reclaimed from Indian and foreign trappers, and located in Minnesota. He spent two years in that state, then he went to Missouri, be- ing one of the pioneer farmers, and resided there until his death in 1888. Frank Jewett's mother, a native of New York, transplanted to Illinois until marriage and, accompanying her husband to Minnesota and Missouri, is still living in Missouri, the mother of ten children, as fol- lows: Charles, Joseph, William, Cynthia, Lon, Ada, Alden, Minnie, Alvin and Frank. Until eighteen years of age, young Jewett remained at home, at- tending school and working on the farm. Until 1883 he worked among the farmers of his native state and spent some time in Kansas. Before com- ing to Skagit county, in 1887, he made a brief visit to his relatives and the old home. His first work in the Puget sound country was clearing up land. He continued at this for two years and bought twenty acres five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, to which he has added ten. About half of the thirty is cleared, the remainder being in slashing.

In 1881 Mr. Jewett married Miss Angie McAl- lister, daughter of James R. McAllister, a Missouri farmer in those days, but now a resident of Okla- homa. Mrs. Jewett was born in Indiana and re- mained with her parents until marriage. Of this union have been born eight children, of whom the living are: Cland, Edith, Ray, Ira, William, Jesse and Gladys. Mr. Jewett is a Republican in pol- itics. Having a large family of children, he has naturally been deeply interested in the welfare and betterment of the public schools of his com- munity, and to this end has served for nine years as a member of the school board. The thirty acres of his home place are excellent land. Dairying is the chief element of work, fourteen cows furnish- ing the milk and seven head of young stock grow- ing up. The Jewett home is an eight-room modern house, well furnished. The barns and ontbuildings are well built and ample for the purposes of a dairy ranch.

CHARLES E. BECRAFT is one of the suc- cessful farmers of the Mount Vernon district of Skagit county and one of the type of men who cx- changed mining for agriculture. Ile was born in Plumas county. California, in October of 1855, the

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son of James Becraft, a native of Kentucky, born in the days soon after Daniel Boone had opened up the Ohio valley and called the attention of the Vir- ginians to its fertility and attractiveness. The elder Becraft was born near the old Boone place, and as a boy knew the famous old pioneer and hunter. In 1853 lie crossed the plains to California and en- gaged in mining. In 1890 he came north to Ore- gon and commenced to raise cattle. He is still living there. Mrs. Rebecca ( Holmes) Becraft, the mother, was a native of Indiana and was living in Missouri when married. She was the mother of nine children. Charles E. Becraft received his edu- cation in the schools of Plumas county, though when nine years of age he commenced to alternate school with work in the underground mines. Hear- ing of good mining prospects along the Skagit river, he came here to prospect. Mining did not repay him for his efforts and he worked at logging and farming. In 1889 Mr. Becraft took up a pre-emp- tion at McMurray lake and resided there for three years, when he came to Mount Vernon and bought forty acres of land. After clearing seven acres of it and putting out three in orchard, Mr. Becraft sold out and purchased his present farm of ten acres about a mile northwest of town, where he has made his home since 1899.

In Seattle in 1883 Mr. Becraft married Miss Annie B. Snyder, daughter of John W. Snyder, a Pennsylvania farmer, who went to California in 1849. He later returned to the East, but in 1862 was back in California, coming to Skagit county in 1890. In 1903 he returned to California and passed away there a year later. Mrs. Narcissa ( Murphy) Snyder was also a native of Pennsylvania, now living in California. Mrs. Becraft was born in Plumas County, California, in 1863, and there at- tended the schools. She came to Washington with a brother-in-law in 1883, met and married Mr. Be- craft. Mr. Becraft is the father of eight children, all born in Skagit county. They are John E., Re- becca, Rachel, Ruth, Archibald, Leo, Irene and Ethel. In politics Mr. Becraft is a Democrat. His small farm is all under cultivation and in excellent condition. He has a small herd of good cattle. Though not one of the Skagit farmers who are enjoying large estates, he is recognized as one of the good citizens of the community and of unim- peachable integrity.

JAMES H. MOORES, one of the 1816 pio- neers of Skagit county, at the time of whose advent there was no Mount Vernon and only a few primi- tive homes marked the invasion of civilization upon the vast forest wilderness, has seen the community of his choice developed from those wild and inhos- pitable conditions to its present prosperity and wealth, and has himself kept pace with its rapid strides. Mr. Moores is a native of Quebec, born in 1850 to the union of Nathaniel and Margaret A.

(Sutherland) Moores, the former a native of Mira- michi, New Brunswick, and a pioneer of Que- bec ; the latter a native of Nashwack, New Bruns- wick. In the home family were thirteen chil- dren to provide for, and James, who was third in number, joined his efforts with those of his parents to supply the needed clothes and pro- visions, and so diligently did he apply himself that he had little time to devote to matters of educa- tion, to his sore regret in after life. Not until his majority was reached did young Moores start for himself in life, seeking first employment in a local logging camp and later spending four years in Min- nesota. In the year 1876 he was taken with the northwestern fever and came to the Puget sound country, via San Francisco, traveling from the latter place to Port Townsend by boat, thence to Whidby island, and then to Utsalady, where he landed with- out a friend or acquaintance, a stranger in a strange land. He here negotiated for passage to the main land in a row boat and was landed within Skagit county's borders for the sum of fifty cents. The only highway at that date was the water, and the common means of transportation the Indian canoe and the dugout. He took passage with a mail car- rier up the Skagit river to the logging camp of his uncle, Thomas Moores, and secured employment with him, continuing to work with the uncle and in other logging camps for four years. In the in- terim he selected his present place adjoining the town site of Mount Vernon, which at the time was railroad land. It having reverted to the govern- ment later, he took it under a homestead filing, and he has continued to make it his home since that day. Years of unceasing labor in clearing the dense forest and diking against the floods of the erratic Skagit eventually won their merited reward in a good home, pleasant surroundings and a com- petency for the years to come when old age shall step in and forbid the continued struggle.

In 1878 Mr. Moores was united in marriage to Sarah E. Thompson, a native of Marysville, Cali- fornia, born June 13, 1858. She was educated in California and Port Townsend, Washington, to which latter place she removed with her mother at the age of fourteen. Her parents were William and Martha (Smith) Thompson, natives of Iowa, who crossed the plains by ox teams to California in 1849 on what might be termed their bridal tour. Here the former died, but the latter passed away in Skagit County. Mrs. Moores departed this life February 13, 1893. In 1894 Mr. Moores and Mary Wilson were joined in marriage. Mrs. Moores, a lady of exceptional educational attainments, has followed teaching for many years and holds a life diploma. She is at present one of the in- structors in the government school at Harlan, Montana. Mr. Moores' children are : Mrs. Alma LaFond, living near Mount Vernon ; Mrs. Pearl Good, near Fir; and Cora, Innes. Leona, Claire and Gladys, living at home. In fra-

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ternal circles, Mr. Moores is a Yeoman. in pol- itics a Republican, and in church connections a Bap- tist. On his well-kept farm of eighty-five acres he has a nice herd of cattle, and horses sufficient for his farm requirements. Here he lives in comfort, respected as an honorable citizen and esteemed as a kind and considerate neighbor.

PETER MCKINNON is one of the farmers on the outskirts of Mount Vernon, who in a quiet way is an examplar of what may be accomplished in a few years by energy and hard work in a new coun- try. . Mr. Mckinnon was born in Nova Scotia in 1847, of Scotch ancestry. His father, Henry Mc- Kinnon, a Nova Scotian farmer, died in 1885. Mrs. Lexie ( McDonald) Mckinnon was a native of Scot- land, and is now hale and hearty at the advanced age of ninety years. Of her eight children Peter is third in order of birth. Peter Mckinnon attended the schools of Nova Scotia until he was twelve years of age. when he left home apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmith. On becoming master, he went to work at blacksmithing for a railroad and gradu- ally made his way to Montreal, where he remamed for three years. At Tarribone he put in another three years at his trade, and in 1885 he came to Washington and settled at Mount Vernon, in a short time purchasing of James H. Moores a tract of twenty acres of land. He has cleared it and put it all under cultivation, making his home there. When not needed on the farm, he employs himself at his trade in different parts of the nearby coun- try.

In 1812 Mr. Mckinnon, while at Montreal, mar- ried Miss Satira J. Moores, daughter of Nathaniel Moores and sister of James H. and Nathaniel Moores, Jr., who is now living near Mount Vernon. The elder Moores was a native of Miramichi, New Brunswick, but early in life settled in Quebec. His wife, Margaret A. Sutherland, a native of Nash- wack, New Brunswick, was the mother of thirteen children. Mrs. McKinnon was born in New Bruns- wick in 1860 and educated in the schools of that province. She was married at the age of twenty- seven and is the mother of four children, Henry, Margaret, Harvey and Daniel. In church circles, Mr. Mckinnon is a Baptist and in politics a Re- publican. On his twenty-acre farm he has twenty licad of cattle and a team of horses for farm work. He has the proverbial thrift of the Scotch. from whom he is descended. and though his place is not large. he is in good circumstances and enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him.

LAWRENCE HERRLE is one of the produce farmers who is accumulating a fortune out of sup- plying the needs of the residents of Mount Vernon and other centers of population in Skagit county. Ile was born in 1852 in Elses, that territory which

was so long held in dispute by Germany and France, and which has since been awarded by the fortunes of war to the German emperor. His father, Anton Herrle, was born and died in France, having been born in the year of the battle of Water- loo. Mrs. Margaret ( Dannimeiller ) Herrle was born in Germany, and was the mother of nine chil- dren. Lawrence Herrle was educated in the schools of Elses and came to the United States in 1822. Soon after landing in New York he went to Cin- cinnati and was employed in a butcher shop for nearly a year, when he went to Stark County, Ohio, and worked there for a farmer for five consecutive years. Ten years on a farm at Tiffin, Ohio, fol- lowed, and in 1887 Alr. Herrle came to Mount Ver- non. He farmed for six months and then worked a year in a logging camp. In 1889 he purchased his present place of forty acres, two and a half miles northwest of Mount Vernon, and at once com- menced the task of clearing it of its big growth of forest. In 1900 he bought forty acres more adjoin- ing his original purchase on the northwest, and now has fifty acres of excellent soil under close cultivation, the eighteen years of his life on the place working wonders in the appearance of the land.

While a resident of Ohio in 1877, Mr. Herrle married Miss Sarah Masser, whose father died when she was an infant. The mother, Mrs. Mary (Lauderberg) Masser, reared her daughter care- fully, giving her the very best training, thus early in life equipping her for the useful career of worthy helpmate and considerate mother, which she has led. She was cighteen years of age when married. Of this union there are thirteen children, William A., Louie, Frank, Emile, John, Mary, Celia, Armenia, Agnes, Martin, Clarence and Martha. Mary is at present attending college in Coventry. Kentucky. The Herrles are communicants of the Catholic church. In politics Mr. Herrle is a Democrat, but does not overlook a good candidate on an opposing ticket. In his livestock department Mr. Herrle has twenty head of Durham cattle and five horses. In addition to the usual crops of a Skagit county farmer, Mr. Herrle raises produce for the markets, especially potatoes. He is a man who has always been a hard worker and thrifty, and to-day Mr. Herrle is one of the highly respected citizens of Skagit county.

GEORGE A. MORRIS. Few residents of Skagit county have had a more varied and inter- esting career than he whose name initiates this bi- ography, a retired farmer residing two miles west and one-half mile north of Mount Vernon. Ile was born in Huntingdonshire, England, February 6, 1814, and his parents were Daniel and Frances ( Holdrich) Morris. His father was a native of Peterboro, Huntingdonshire, England, born Febru- ary 2, 1805. After attending the common schools

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he learned his trade of journeyman miller, follow- ing it till his death, in August, 1866. The mother, born in Dog's Thorp, near Peterboro, received her education in the schools of her native town, where she spent her entire life, her death occurring in 1895. She was married in 1831 and was the mother of twelve children. Like many of our great men, George A. Morris carly assumed the practical duties of life, working with his father on the farm, and in the meantime, by diligent study. acquiring an education. At the age of twenty-one' he was married and followed various occupations for the next ten years, until he became organizer for the National Association of Farm Laborers, at that time presided over by the late Joseph Arch. A personal friend and conferee of John Burns, he at one time, together with the Right Honorable W. E. Gladstone, Charles Bradlaugh and others, addressed a meet- ing at the memorial hall in Farringdon street, Lon- don. In 1867 he was brought to Mobile, Alabama by Mr. Murdock, at that time president of the Mo- bile and Ohio railroad, as a special delegate to the National Association of Farm Workers, that he might investigate that locality and determine its suitability as a location for immigrants. This trip of about a month was a very delightful one. Ac- cepting a position in the warehouse of S. E. Hack- ett, wholesale paper dealer in Nottingham, England, he remained there for six and a half years, estab- lishing for himself a reputation for faithfulness and ability that was the envy of his associates in the business. He has still in his possession recommenda- tions yellow with age, signed by Mr. Hackett, that would bring a thrill of pride to any man. Favor- ably impressed with this country on his previous visit, in 1887 he came to the United States, landing at Avon, Washington. The following August he took up a homestead at Mount Vernon, comprising eighty acres, all of which were densely timbered. After clearing off thirty acres of it he sold the prop- erty, and is now living on a rented farm.

Mr. Morris was married in 1865, to Sarah O'Donnell, a native of Boston, England, born April 11, 1844. Her parents were Roger and Sarah (Chandler) O'Donnell, the father born in Donegal, Ireland, and the mother in Huntingdonshire, Eng- land. The date of her mother's birth was 1819. Both are long since deceased. Eleven children were born in Nottingham, England, to Mr. and Mrs. Morris, as follows: Elizabeth Spink, Amos, Harry and Hugh, all of whom died in youth ; John Charles, born July 23, 1871 ; Mrs. Sarah Esther Mondham, born April 13, 1873, and George O'Donnell, born March 13, 1876, now residing in Avon, Washing- ton ; Mrs. Emma M. K. Allen, of Arlington, Wash- ington, born May 10, 1878 ; Mrs. Gertrude Axelson, of Fir, born August 14, 1882 ; Nellie Frances, born August 5, 1885, at home, and William.

Mr. Morris is a member of the Order of Yeo- men, and a staunch Prohibitionist. The Salvation Army claims him as a loyal member. Earnest,

thoughtful, always true to his convictions, Mr. Mor- ris enjoys the unbounded confidence of his associ- ates.

LAFAYETTE EPLIN, a thrifty and industri- ous farmer residing two miles west of Mount Ver- non, was born February 20, 1856, the son of Wil- liam and Luana (DeFoe) Eplin, both born in Cabell County, West Virginia, the father, January 25, 1819, the mother, April 16, 1833. Removing to Mecker County, Minnesota, in May, 1864, the fa- ther there engaged in farming, continuing in the business until 1889, when he located in Colfax, Washington, where he still lives. He was married in 1852, and he and Mrs. Eplin became parents of eight children. After having attended the schools of West Virginia, as his parents had done, LaFay- ette Eplin completed his education in Minnesota upon the removal of the family to that state when he was a mere lad. He remained at home assisting his father on the farm until he reached his majority, going then to Dassel, Meeker County, Minnesota, to accept a position offered him by the Great North- ern railroad. He followed railroading for eight years, then returned to Meeker county and devoted his entire time to farming. Three years later, hav- ing decided to find a home in the great Northwest, of which he had read so much, he sold his farm, and started for Washington, arriving in Mount Ver- non September 23, 1887. After farming near Avon for a year and a half, he went to Yakima, where he was employed by the Northern Pacific railroad for three years. Returning to Mount Vernon he purchased a ten-acre tract, all heavily timbered, and he began at once the arduous task of clearing it. He brought three acres into an excellent state of cultivation, and at the time of his demise, November

16, 1905, was making a specialty of raising garden products, at the same time giving attention to stock and poultry. He had three brothers, John, Charles and one other, also a sister, Mrs. Ella Massey, living at Missoula, Montana ; likewise a sister, Mrs. Jane Clay, at Duncan, Oregon, and another, Mrs. Way- zetta Ernsberger, in Colfax, Washington.

Mr. Eplin married at Litchfield, Minnesota, Sep- tember 6, 1882, Mary King, a native of Columbia County, Wisconsin, born March 25, 1861. Her father, David Wilson King, born in Illinois, mi- grated to Wisconsin in the early days, and thence to Meeker County, Minnesota, where he took a home- stead. He was born May 19, 1824, and died August 1. 1895. The mother is Frances A. (Frost) King, a native of the Buckeye state, born June 13, 1832, and now living in Meeker county. Both parents trace their ancestry back to England. Mr. and Mrs. Eplin have one child, Mrs. Edith Lindamood, born in Meeker County, Minnesota, July 21, 1883, now living at Avon, Washington. Mr. Eplin was a mem- ber of the Masonic lodge, number one hundred and thirty-four, at Cokato, Minnesota, in politics a loyal

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Republican, in church membership an Episcopalian. A man of strict integrity, he was respected by all who made his acquaintance.

JOHN SCANLAN, a prosperous and well- known farmer of Mount Vernon, was born October 16. 1851, in Bayham, Ontario. His father was James Scanlan, a native of Langford, Boon County, Ireland, born March 12, 1805. Having received a thorough education in his native country, he came to the United States in 1830, locating in Cleveland, Ohio, of which he was the pioneer drayman. At the time of the Empire Loyalist movement he went to Ontario, being employed as lighthouse keeper at Port Burwal, on Lake Erie. Thence he moved to Bayham, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying June 6. 1826. The mother, Susan ( Start- weather) Scanlan, was born in New York state in 1814, there receiving her education. Her death oc- curred in March, 1852. The youngest of a family of six children, John Scanlan spent the early years of his life on the farm, acquiring his education in the schools of Ontario, and laying the foundation for the sturdy manhood that was to follow. Thrifty and industrious, he was able at the age of twenty- six to purchase a fifty-acre farm, which he cultivated for eleven years, meeting with the success that his untiring efforts merited. Being persuaded that the rich resources of Washington offered a much larger reward for earnest toil, he sold his property and moved to Palouse, where he farmed for three years. Later he disposed of this farm, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in Cowlitz County, Washington, remaining there for five years, after which he came to Mount Vernon. He purchased there a forty-acre tract, upon which he made his home, cultivating fifteen acres and rearing fancy Durham cattle, Berkshire hogs and other thorough- bred livestock on the place, until the fall of 1905, when he sold out to purchase thirty acres near Bur- lington.

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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 110

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