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 112

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 112
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 112

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THOMAS J. McCORMICK, an industrious farmer living one mile west and three miles north of Mount Vernon, was born near Saginaw, Michigan, in Midland county, February 22, 1867. His father, John McCormick, a native of Dublin, Ireland. was for thirty-five years a sailor, and is now residing with his son in Avon. Mary (Manson) McCor- mick, his mother, was the first white child born in Saginaw, Michigan, the date of her birth being No- vember 17, 1832. She still lives in the city of her birth. Like most young men. Thomas McCormick spent the carly years of his life at home acquiring an education, starting out for himself at the age of twenty-three. Deciding to begin his business ca- reer in the Northwest, where wonderful possibili- ties were waiting for carnest, ambitious inen, he came to Hamilton, Skagit county, and worked in the woods for the first six months, after which he took up a pre-emption claim on Grandby creek. and a timber claim near Hamilton. Three years later, having suffered an injury that necessitated the use of crutches for a year. he became proprietor of the stage route from North Avon to Mount Vernon. Prospering in this business he then bought a livery barn in Mount Vernon, owning and operating it for two years. Disposing of his timber claim, he purchased his present property, five acres, which he

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has greatly improved, erecting a neat and commodi- ous house upon it. Later he became the owner of ten acres of timber land adjoining his farm, and though still conducting a livery and dray business in Avon, he has lived on his farm since December, 1903, in- tending to make it a permanent home. He has about an acre of fruit trees, raising oats on much of the remainder of the land. Ile owns a number of driv- ing horses, several head of Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs. His half brother, F. E. Wymen, is in business in Hamilton. All the other surviving brothers and sisters live in Michigan.

Mr. McCormick and Elnora Noble were united in marriage June 19, 1900. Fremont Noble, the father of Mrs. McCormick, was born in Iowa in 1860, and for many years was captain on a govern- ment steamboat running from Sioux City, Iowa. His home is now in Rampart, Alaska. Her mother, Jane A. (Langley) Noble, born in England in 1860, came to the United States in childhood, and now resides in Marysville, Washington. The oldest of four chil- dren, Mrs. McCormick was born in Iowa, July 24, 1884. Her three sisters are as follows : Mrs.

Amelia McDougall, of Avon; Elva, attending the business college at Everett, taking a course in short- hand, typewriting and German ; Charlotta, at Avon. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick have two children, George Fremont, born October 15, 1901, and Arthur Wil- liam, born May 30, 1904. Mr. McCormick is a Yeo- man. Though loyally adhering to Republican prin- ciples, he has never desired any political office. He and his family attend the Baptist church, contribut- ing to all its benevolences. An active, industrious citizen, of strict integrity, Mr. McCormick is mak- ing a success of his various undertakings, while en- joying the confidence and esteem of those with whom he comes in contact.

BERNT J. FINSTAD is one of the energetic and prosperous sons of Norway who have been markedly successful since coming to the land of their adoption. Of a family which had been established for generations in central Norway, Bernt was born September 25, 1860, and was the seventh of his father's children to take up their abode in the United States. His parents, Jens Anderson and Bertha Hanson (Verlin) Finstad, passed their entire lives on the home farm, dying, respectively in 1887 and 1870. They had eleven children, of whom Bernt was next to the youngest. Until fifteen years of age Bernt Finstad went to school. At that time he was apprenticed to the tailoring trade and served for five years. When he was about to establish himself in his native land, he learned of the offerings of the United States, where he had five brothers and a sis- ter. At their solicitation he came here in the spring of 1880, being but twenty years old. He located at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and remained at the tailoring trade there for seven years. Three years

in a general merchandise venture at Washburn, Wis- consin, followed. On December 16, 1889, Mr. Fin- stad arrived in the city of Tacoma, and the following spring started to work at tailoring, working one year for F. Wollun and nine years for Dean & Cur- tiss, leaving then for Skagit county. At Mount Ver- non he decided to join farming with his trade work, and purchased forty acres of land two and a half miles northwest of the city. He at once took up his home in the country and has greatly improved the farm. He supplemented his farm income by work- ing at his trade in the shops of Rings & Kendall in town.

In 1887 Mr. Finstad married Kathinka, daugh- ter of Bernt and Julia (Johansen) Arneson, natives of Norway. Mrs. Finstad was born in the old country in 1868 and has two sisters in Washington, Mrs. Louise Carlson, of North Yakima, and Mrs. Otto Johnson, of Tacoma. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Finstad, Barnold Martinius, in Ta- coma, May 5, 1896. Mr. Finstad is an independent in politics, but is a man who considers it his duty to take an active interest in the public affairs of his community, regardless of party affiliations. Recog- nizing the advantages of education, he is a firm be- liever and an earnest advocate of the betterment of the schools. Mr. Finstad takes an especial pride in his farm, in which neatness and attractiveness are always apparent. His especial delight is in his small dairy establishment, the cream from his private sepa- rator having a reputation second to none in the val- ley. At the present time he milks but ten cows, but is developing his farm into meadow and pasture land, with a view to enlarging his dairy. Mr. Fin- stad has been essentially successful in life, whether viewed as an artisan in his tailor shop, a business man competing in the markets, or as a dairy farmer. He is a good neighbor, a patriotic citizen and a man of integrity.

GEORGE M. KNISLEY. Energy and the ability to readily and successfully adapt himself to whatever is at hand, and at the same time to exel - cise his powers of observation, are the chief char- acteristics of this young man. In the space of a very few years Mr. Knisley has been printer, sol- clier, street car man, museum proprietor and rail- road bridge carpenter. Mr. Knisley was born in Mitchell County, Kansas, in August, 1878, the son of Reuben Knisley, hotel proprietor, and Myra (Veatch) Knisley, both of whom are still living in the middle West. As a young man Mr. Knisley learned the trade of printer and pressman between his terms at school. When seventeen years of age he enlisted in Company E of the Twentieth United States infantry at Fort Leavenworth in his native state. After two years of garrison duty the regi- ment was ordered to Cuba at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, young Knisley having trans-

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ferred to Troop E of the Seventh cavalry, under Captain Dent, a relative of Mrs. Julia Dent Grant, wife of the famous hero of Appomattox. Mr. Knis- ley saw active service at El Caney and Santiago. His first enlistment having expired when his com- mand returned to the States, young Knisley re-en- tered the Twentieth infantry and went with it to the Philippines for two years and a half, often being ou the line with the late General Henry W. Lawton, whose untimely death is universally lamented. As fighter and as a member of the hospital corps, young Knisley was in the skirmish near Paco, at the as- sault and capture of Malabon, Polo and Jolo, as well as a participant in some of the expeditions of lesser note in the Philippines, later being detailed to trans- port hospital duty between Manila and San Fran- cisco. He received his discharge at the Presidio late in the year 1901. For a time he operated a street car in 'Frisco, and was in the big strike then going on. Having collected while in the Philippines a large assortment of native curios, he started a muse- um, continuing the exhibitions for a number of months. His first work in Skagit county was at shingle bolts, but he left that employment after a short time to join a bridge crew on the Great North- ern railway in July, 1903. In the following Septem- ber he was offered the place of bridge watchman cn the same road, and having previously purchased a tract of land near Anacortes, settled down to a quieter life.

Mr. Knisley, in October of 1903, married Miss Lou J. Gilman, daughter of George B. and Florence J. (Brooks) Gilman, who had settled in Skagit county after coming from Mazomanie, Wisconsin, where Mrs. Knisley was born. Mr. Gilman conducts a merchandise and farming business in Skagit coun- ty. In politics Mr. Knisley is a Republican.

SAMUEL E. KERR, manager of the Fairview Dairy Farm, two and a half miles north of Mount Vernon, was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1852, but has been a resident of Skagit county for fifteen years. Mr. Kerr's father, Robert Kerr, came from a long line of Scotch-Irish people who were suc- cessful as bankers, professional men or agricultur- ists. The elder Kerr was born in Pennsylvania, and was early trained to the business of stock raising and farming. When nineteen years of age he went to Ohio and later to Illinois, where, in Montgomery county, he acquired large landed interests and was prominent in politics and in financial circles until his death in 1889. The mother of Samuel Kerr, Jane Hughes, was of Scotch descent. She died twenty years before her husband. As a lad young Kerr was not physically strong, and while at Asbury college was compelled to forego completion of his course because of ill health. On Icaving college he took up the open air life on the farm and among the stock. In 1875 he went to California and passed

two years in various occupations, returning to Illi- nois and joining with his father until the death of the latter. Settling up the estate of his father as executor, Mr. Kerr came to Skagit county and set- tled at Anacortes for the four years following 1891. Hle then came to the vicinity of Mount Vernon and took charge of the estate of B. L. Davis, as man- ager. Joining with W. R. Williams, W. J. Henry, Thomas Smith and County Clerk W. B. Davis, Mr. Kerr bought the farm belonging to the Davis estate and commenced the operation of the dairy farm busi- ness, which he still conducts with marked success. In addition to the dairying business, the company conducts a department given to stock raising and another to fruit shipping and evaporating, in some years handling many tons of dried prunes.

In 1884, while yet a resident of Illinois, Mr. Kerr married a daughter of that state, Miss Alice Todd, born near Hillsborough in 1862. Mrs. Kerr's father was Willard Todd, now deceased, the father of ten children: Alice (Mrs. Kerr), Sarah, James P., Mary J., Isabella, Caroline, Anna, Mattie and Eliza (twins), and Alexander Harvey. To Mr. and Mrs. Kerr have been born three children. The old- est, Edna, is in the State Normal school at Belling- ham, fitting herself for the profession of teacher ; George is in the High school at Mount Vernon, and Hollis E. is at home. Mr. Kerr is a member of the fraternal order of Yeomen and of the Presbyterian church. He is an independent in politics and an ac- tive worker in the interests of the school system, giving his time and energy and, whenever neces- sary, of his means, for the betterment of the schools and in behalf of higher education. The Fairview dairy property comprises over fourteen hundred acres of excellent land, and under the shrewd and experienced management of Mr. Kerr is fast devel- oping into one of the best stock, dairy and fruit ven- tures in the entire state.

JOHN FREDERICK AMSKOLD is a native of Sweden, but he has been in this country for over twenty years. His birth occurred in 1865, and he was the son of Nels and Sarah (Helgra) Amskold, both of whom lived and died in their native land. Mrs. Amskold was the mother of four children : Mary, Christine, Nels and John. The last named lived at home and attended school until he was fif- teen years old, when he left home to work on farms in the vicinity of his birthplace. On coming to this country in 1884, he located in Kansas and there took up a homestead. He resided there and oper- ated it as a farm for ten years, but did not prosper. Selling out, he came to Skagit county in 1892 and bought twenty acres a mile west of Avon and five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, paying $35 per acre therefor. It was covered with timber, a part of which was valuable for lumber purposes. He at once set about clearing his land, at first getting

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about five acres into condition for cultivation ; he has since been gradually clearing the remainder.

Before leaving Sweden he was married to Miss Ingebor Edholm, daughter of Daniel and Lisa Ed- holm, who have never left Sweden. The father died four years ago, but the mother still is living. Mrs. Amskold is one of three children and is the mother of six: Daniel, Nels, Betty, Gust, Hetty and Emmus. Mr. Amskold is a Republican in politics and a Lutheran in religious faith. The family home is a well-built five-room house. While doing a gen- eral farming business, Mr. Amskold devotes some attention to dairying. He is developing his place rapidly and will soon have his entire farm under cultivation and be able to increase his products along all lines.

SOLOMON OLSON, a dairy farmer living five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, is a man who has great capacity for hard work and the faculty of mak- ing his labor increase his possessions. In his life he has farmed in the dry belt of Kansas and in the moist region of Puget sound. His father, Ole An- derson, lived in Sweden all his life, dying there forty years ago, before the subject of this sketch had grown to manhood. The mother, Annie (Olson) Anderson, likewise lived and died in the old coun- try. She was the mother of five children. After the death of his parents, Solomon resided with his brothers and worked in timber until he came to the United States in 1880. He spent one year in Ne- braska, employed along various lines, and then moved to Kansas, where he conducted a farm for ten years. Drouth interfered with his prosperity, his crops not arriving at fruition, and the consequent losses offsetting what gains had been made in years of plenty. Mr. Olson came to Skagit county in 1892 and leased a farm for one year, at the close of that period purchasing twenty acres of land which he still owns. This land was all stumps and trees, but Mr. Olson cleared and prepared it for cultivation. At a later time he added twenty adjoining acres, and now has under cultivation and producing crops one- half of his holding.

Before leaving Sweden Mr. Olson married Miss Engla Gustina, daughter of Daniel and Lisa Gus- tina. farmers. Mrs. Gustina still lives in the old country, the mother of eleven children. Mrs. Olson lived at home until her marriage. The Olson home is a pleasant one, the house containing ten rooms and the barns being large and ample. The chief in- dustry of the Olsons is dairying, twelve cows sup- plying the milk, with an equal number of head of young cattle growing up. Mr. Olson is a Repub- lican and a member of the Swedish Baptist church. He is well thought of by his neighbors and has earned the reputation of being a hard worker, in- dustrious, frugal and strictly honest and honorable in all his dealings.

FRED W. BENEDICT springs from the fam- ily of that name, well known in Niagara county and other sections of western New York. His father, Alfred M. Benedict, was born near Lockport, New York, in 1834, and was one of the saw-mill men who successfully followed that occupation in that state before the forests were cut off. He moved to Can- ada in 1859, the year of the birth of the subject of this sketch, and followed saw-milling for eight years, when he was attracted to Michigan by the gradual turning of the lumber world to that state. After a time he took up farming in the Peninsula state, and has been very successful ever since. Mrs. Mary (Lewis) Benedict was also a native of the state of New York, the mother of eight children: Hiram A., Sarah A., Fred W., Libby, Frank H., Willis G., Grace M. and Bertha L., the last named having died. Fred Benedict received a common school education and worked at home until, at ninteen years of age, he drove a team in the woods of northern Michigan. Then for a number of years he followed various avocations, until in 1891 he went to Missouri, where he remained until he came to McMurray and Skagit county. Here he worked for several months in a shingle mill and, in company with his brother, bought the establishment. They operated it for a few months and then moved the outfit to Rockport, but before getting the mill set up for business sold it out, with a profit of $2,500 on the deal. Mr. Bene- dict then went to the Clear Lake timber district and sawed shingles until, in the spring of 1904, he bought his farm of forty acres four and a half miles north- west of Mount Vernon. Here he has lived ever since, clearing his land and establishing a dairy farm which promises to grow to large proportions.

In 1882, while in Michigan, Mr. Benedict mar- ried Miss Elma E. Allor, daughter of Martin V. and Lucinda (Fistler) Allor, who still live in the state of peninsulas. Mr. Allor is a veteran of the Civil war, having served four years as a member of Com- pany E of the Twenty-second Michigan Volun- teers. Mrs. Benedict is one of eight children, three of which are living, and was born in Michigan, Sep- tember 20, 1864. She received her education in the Michigan schools and remained at home until her marriage. She has three children: Earl M., Harry A. and Mildred E. The Benedict home is one of the pleasant places of the Skagit valley, with commodi- ous farmhouse and convenient outbuildings ample for the rapidly increasing stock. Mr. Benedict at the present time does general farming on the eight- een acres of land he has under cultivation and has embarked in the dairy business, having a bunch of young stock which will soon be added to the dairy herd. In fraternal circles Mr. Benedict is a mem- ber of the Knights of the Maccabees and of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a man of energy, a respected citizen and the exemplary head of a representative country home.

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BENJAMIN FLAGG, after a life of hard work and the best endeavor in behalf of his family, is living as a retired farmer on his holdings four miles northwest of Mount Vernon. In Mr. Flagg's case, retirement from the activities of farm life does not mean loss of activity in the interests of the con- munity in which he makes his home. He is one of the public-spirited citizens, modest and taking little credit to himself for good deeds done and good works accomplished. He was born in New Bruns- wick in 1835, the son of Winslow Flagg, who died while his son was quite young, and Haddasa (Woodbury) Flagg, a native of Maine, near the New Brunswick border. Mrs. Flagg passed away in 1898, having brought three children into the world, Benjamin being the only one now living. Mr. Flagg lived with his mother until twenty years of age. His life in Skagit county commenced in 1882, when he came there with his family, settling in the solitudes of the forest, a part of which he has con- verted into cultivated farm land.

In New Brunswick in 1862 Mr. Flagg married Miss Mary Daggett, daughter of Mark Daggett, a native of Maine, who lived until a few years ago. Mrs. Flagg was born in New Brunswick and lived with her parents until her marriage. She died in 1900, the mother of four children, one of whom is dead. The surviving are Arthur W. and Annie, the latter living with her father in his Skagit county home. Mr. Flagg has retained but five acres for the home of his declining days, but still holds title to ten acres elsewhere. He has in recent years sold an eighty-acre tract of fertile land for $10 per acre. One of the chief characteristics of Mr. Flagg's later years is the interest he manifests in the development of his community and the activity along directions of uplift to all with whom he comes in contact. IIe is recognized in the community as a man of the best public spirit and of the most honorable private life. As such he is a power in the neighborhood. In politics he is a Republican and in church circles a Methodist.

NAPOLEON FORTIN. The thrift, industry and other sterling virtues which seem to be the legitimate result of work at the anvil and forge have been developed in a very high degree in the worthy gentleman whose life history is the theme of this article, although now no longer one may hear his bellows blow or listen to the measured beating of his heavy sledge, for he has deserted the craft of his father, the craft he learned in his boyhood. for the equally honorably and ofttimes more remuner- ative and independent occupation of agriculture. In this latter pursuit he is achieving a high degree of success, the habits of industry and carefulness which made him a success in the shop also bearing much fruit when applied to the tilling of the soil and the rearing of livestock.

The father of our subject, Napoleon Fortin, Sr., was born in Canada and spent there his entire life following the blacksmith's trade. Through his mother he could claim relationship-blood relation- ship-to the sturdy Swiss race, whose passionate love of freedom impelled them to bear such a noble part in European affairs, and to evolve and estab- lish the most nearly perfect system of government on earth. The mother of the subject hereof, Angel (Seymour) Fortin, is likewise a native of Canada. Her other children are: Thomas, Daniel, Patrick, Morse. Xavier and Joseph. Young Napole- on Fortin lived with his parents and attended school until he was nineteen years old, then. in 1884, went to Marinette, Wisconsin, where he became the pro- prietor of a blacksmith shop. Four years later he decided to try his fortune in the far West, so came to Seattle, where he spent six months canvassing the situation and looking for a suitable opening. Even- tually deciding on the then hustling town of Mount Vernon. he opened a shop there, which he continued to operate until about seven years ago, when, at- tracted by the possibilities of agriculture as he saw them in Skagit county, he decided to turn farmer, so purchased a timbered tract of fifteen acres two and a half miles north of Mount Vernon, and began clearing the same. He now has most all of it in shape for cultivation and the whole converted into an attractive place, with evidences of the thrift and taste of its owner visible on every hand. The house is a commodious eight-room structure, and all the outbuildings are convenient and well suited to their various purposes. Six cows and a number of young cattle constitute the livestock maintained on the little farm at present, but Mr. Fortin overlooks no source of profit, and numerous stands of bees are to be seen about his premises, the product from which con- tributes not a little to his gross income. His fine crchard furnishes cherries, pears, apples and many other varieties of fruit in their season for the local market, of the requirements of which he is so well aware that he is able to increase his profits very considerably by purchasing eggs and butter from his neighbors and selling them again to residents of the town. As might be expected, his worldly pos- sessions are increasing, and he now owns, besides his home farm, a five-acre tract on Guamish Island, a lot in Anacortes, three houses in Mount Vernon, etc., while the good will and respect always accorded to those who win success by their own thrift and well directed effort are also his in abundant measure.

Early in the year 1893 Mr. Fortin married Miss Effie Pickens, whose father, Michael Pickens, a native of Tennessee, came to Seattle in 1884 and died there eleven years later. Her mother, who was born in Illinois in 1849, is still living, residing at present in Seattle. Mrs. Fortin was born in 1874. She and Mr. Fortin have three children, namely, Clement. Vernon and Joseph G., the last mentioned born July 4, 1905.

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JOHN J. PETI1. The career of the gentleman whose life history it is now our task to outline, fur- nishes a striking illustration of what energy, contin- uity of purpose and intelligence can accomplish under the favorable conditions presented by Skagit county's abundant resources. Coming to Washing- ton with very little in the way of worldly goods. he applied himself with great assiduity to the task of winning his way to independence and fortune, with the result that he now has both, and he has with them the respect always commanded by those with force enough to conquer every obstacle which may lie in their pathways and to press forward un- ceasingly until a worthy goal is reached.

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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 112

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