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 120

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 120
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 120

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SKAGIT COUNTY

in the state legislature, which he was able to do most efficiently because of his intimate knowledge of the needs of his constituency. In 1900 he was a delegate to the national Republican convention which placed in nomination Mckinley and Roose- velt.

In August, 1898. Mr. Conner married Miss Alma I. Grunkranz, whose father, John Grunkranz, lived for a time in Nebraska and later was well known over the state of Washington as a Seattle banker ; his widow, nee Zingre, still resides in Seat- tle. Mrs. Conner was born in Fremont, Nebraska ; she was educated in the schools of that state and in the Academy of the Holy Name, at Seattle, be- ing graduated from the latter institution. Mr. and Mrs. Connor have two children.

RICHARD H. BALL is one of the men who thoroughly believes in Skagit county, and the suc- cess which he has achieved since he settled in that county in 1876, certainly justifies that opinion. Mr. Ball was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, of English ancestry. His father, Samuel Ball, who came to the United States in 1820, first located in Cincinnati, but later moved to Harrison, Hamilton county. His wife, Mary (Wyatt) Ball, was also of English birth. She became the mother of nine children of which Richard is the youngest. In the stirring days before the Civil War, young Ball had few opportunities to go to school. However, he had thoroughly mastered the trade of carpenter under his father's directions, when, at the age of eighteen he responded to the call of his country, enlisting in Company D of the Eighty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, then rendezvoused at Camp Dennison. During General Grant's operations in

penning up Pemberton in Vicksburg, young Ball was severely wounded on May 22, 1863, and was taken to the Washington hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was confined for a number of weeks. When in condition for duty, he prompt- ly rejoined his command in the field and continued in active service until mustered out at Galveston, Texas, with the chevrons of a sergeant. Fully re- alizing his educational deficiencies, this war vet- eran, upon his return home, entered the high school at Manchester, Indiana, diligently applying himself to his studies while he remained there. He later went to Harrison, Ohio, where he resumed his trade of carpenter which he followed until 1876. At this time, he was taken with the Western fever, and turned his face toward the territory of Wash- ington. Ile came direct to the town of La Conner, where he landed in August with three dollars, three children and a wife. The following spring he filed on a pre-emption claim to forty acres and a home- stead of one hundred and twenty acres on the tide ! lands. This had to be diked, and he begun work

on it as soon as he was able, working little by little until in 1880 he had fifty acres protected from the water. For nine years he had to use a boat to get to and from his land, but perseverance and hard labor at last met their reward and he was able to devote his time and attention entirely to his place, with the satisfying feeling that his labor had been well spent. With the exception of the winter of 1897-8, which he spent in Alaska, Mr. Ball, since his first arrival in Skagit county, has resided upon his ranch or in the town of La Conner.

In 1866 at Harrison, Ohio, Mr. Ball married Miss Amanda Horney, daughter of Perry Horney, a native of Tennessee, who for a portion of his life was a painter and farmer in the state of Indiana. Mrs. Ball was born in Nashville, Tennessee, receiv- ing her education there and in Indiana. She and Mr. Ball are the parents of six children, of whom only two survive : Mrs. Hattie A. Dunlap of Mount Vernon, and Samuel Ball. Mr. Ball is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, in the latter of which he is especially prominent, being past grand and the oldest member of his home lodge. Mrs. Ball is a member of the Methodist church, in which she has held the office of president of the ladies' aid society for many years. Always an active Re- publican, Mr. Ball has for years served his party with faithfulness and zeal either as chairman or member of the county central committee, which lat- ter position he now holds. Mr. Ball has added to that original three dollars with which he landed in Skagit county, until he now has three hundred and twenty acres of the rich lands of Swinomish flats under cultivation and growing good crops, a tim- ber claim in Oregon, a herd of Durham cattle, a band of good horses and other personal property. His record is certainly one of which he may well be proud. Like all the pioneers of the flats, he has had difficulties to contend with which would have overwhelmed less resolute men, but Skagit county has its rewards for the vigilant and the brave, and Mr. Ball is now enjoying those rewards. The same qualities which made him a worthy wearer of the blue, has enabled him to win in the stern battles of later life. He has the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, who have attested their faith by electing him mayor of La Conner.

HON. WILLIAM E. SCHRICKER. If dili- gence and ability in private business, a deep, public- spirited interest in the welfare of the community and faithfulness in the discharge of the duties of responsible offices of trust entitle a man to be ranked as a leader in his section of the state, then certainly William E. Schricker is entitled to such a rank. In the state legislature, in the courts of the county, in banking and business circles generally and even in

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BIOGRAPHICAL

the administration of the local municipal govern- ment and the local schools his influence has been felt and everywhere it has been on the side of pro- gressiveness and efficiency. His town, county and state are certainly all indebted to him and there is evidence that, in part at least, they realize and ac- knowledge the obligation.

Like thousands of others who have been forceful in the life of American communities, Mr. Schricker comes of sturdy German stock, his parents, Lorenzo and Mary ( Hansen) Schricker, being both natives of Germany. They came to America early in life and from 1842 to 185: the elder Mr. Schricker was engaged in the mercantile business in Iowa, but at the end of that extended period he turned his atten- tion to the lumber business, organizing the Missis- sippi Logging and Lumber Company in 18:1.

William E. Schricker, of this article, was born at Davenport, Iowa, in 1863. Ile received his early education in the public schools of his native town, spent three years at the Iowa Agricultural College, and then entered the Iowa State University, from which he was graduated in 1883. Being ambitious for a still higher education he then took a post- graduate course in the celebrated Columbia College of New York, also studying law. As soon as he had gained admission to the bar he determined to seek his fortune in the West, and the year 1885 found him in Seattle, where he and I. W. Adams together opened an office. Next year he removed to La Con- ner and established himself in the practice of his profession there, also as a negotiator of loans. By fall he had become interested in a general banking business and two years later he took in L. L. An- drews as a partner in the Skagit County bank (which he had previously organized and named). an institution which has continued in active opera- tion ever since, holding rank among the solid mone- tary concerns of the state. But Mr. Schricker never abandoned the practice of his profession. On the contrary he has pursued it with great diligence and success, building up a very large business, especially in probate matters, of which he makes a specialty. As heretofore intimated, he has taken much time from his dual occupation to devote to public inter- ests. He was elected on the Democratic ticket to membership in the second state legislature, and so satisfactory was his service that he was offered the nomination for a second term, but pressure of pri- vate business forced him to decline. For fifteen years he has been a member of the La Conner city coun- cil, but perhaps his most valuable services to the community are those which he has rendered to the cause of public education. A firm believer in the necessity of thorough training for the young, he has devoted himself with assiduity and zeal to the im- provement of the local schools, and the efficiency of the La Conner educational system is due to his ef- forts more perhaps than to those of any other one

man. He has been a member of the school board for fifteen years and is now chairman of that body, also president of the high school governing board, and until very recently he was president of the board of regents of the State University, hence was connected with the educational system of Washing- ton from bottom to top.

In 1884 Mr. Schricker married at Waverly, Iowa. Miss Josephine, daughter of Nathan and Saralı Beals. She was a native of Iowa, a graduate of Cornell College, located in that state, and by pro- fession a teacher. She died in 1892, leaving two children. Florence Il., now attending school in Massachusetts, and Ottilie Iona, a student in the La Conner high school. In 1900 Mr. Schrieker was again married, the lady being Miss Adah Theresa, daughter of Edgar A. Wright, of San Diego, Cali- fornia. Born in Missouri, she was reared and edu- cated there and she belonged to the teaching force of that state until a short time before her marriage. In fraternal affiliation Mr. Schricker is a Mason and in politics an active Republican. Being a diligent and successful man.he has naturally accumulated a goodly share of worldly wealth, his holdings includ- ing not a little realty in Skagit county and valuable interest in Pennsylvania coal land.

HONORABLE LAURIN L. ANDREWS, banker of La Conner and one of the oldest residents of Skagit county, has spent nearly all of his life in the basin of the sound and has won recognition as one of the eminent citizens of the northwestern sec- tion of the state. He was born in the famous old" town of Bucksport, Maine, on the fifth day of Janu- ary, 1849. His father, Peter Andrews, was a native of Quebec, but when a young man crossed the line into Maine, where he remained for a few years fol- lowing lumbering and farming. In the year of 1858 he came to Washington via the Panama route, stop- ping first at Seattle, then a mere trading post. IIe shortly afterward took up a claim on Cedar river, opposite the present site of Renton, on which he proved up and later sold, moving to the mouth of Black river where he continued to live for several years. Returning to Seattle in 1880 he continued to make that place his home until his death in 1885. Mrs. Mary (Carr) Andrews, mother of our subject, was a native of Maine. She was the mother of five children, of whom only Laurin L. is now living. It was in Seattle that young Andrews gained his edu- cation, first in the public school and later in the Ter- ritorial university. At the age of nineteen he se- cured the position of clerk in a general merchandise store in Seattle. Having secured an insight into the mercantile business, he severed his connection with this firm at the end of a year and a half and established a store on the Tulalip Indian reservation in Snohomish county. Selling out this business at

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the end of the first year, he opened a general mer- chandise store on the Swinomish reservation at a point immediately opposite La Conner, which busi- ness he successfully conducted for five years, at the end of which time, 1876, he crossed over to La Con- ner. Here he built up a lucrative business which he continued for ten years. In 1888 he became inter- ested in the Skagit County bank with W. E. Schricker. This was the first and only bank estab- lished in the town of La Conner, and it still bears the original name with which it was christened, having, under the guiding hand of its capable head, passed safely through the many vicissitudes common to such institutions in pioneer communities, together with the great financial crisis of the early nineties, and to-day stands recognized as one of the solidest banking institutions in the upper sound country, a veritable monument to the sagacity, wisdom and business ability of its founders and managers.

In the latter part of 1875, in Whatcom county, Mr. Andrews and Miss Sarah E. Allen were united in marriage. Mrs. Andrews' father, George W. L. Allen, was a farmer in Virginia in early life, but desiring to seek a new home in the undeveloped sec- tion, he, with other bold and fearless pioneers, crossed the plains in 1852 and took up his home among the very first on Whidby island. He later came to the mainland and took up a pre-emption ten miles north of La Conner. Mrs. Hattie (Packwood) Allen, mother of Mrs. Andrews, was born in Mis- souri and is still living, at present making her home in Tacoma. Mrs. Andrews was born at Oak Har- bor, Whidby island, in 1856. She received her edu- cation in the schools of Coupeville and in the high school at Seattle. Three children of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are living, namely: George L., born in 1876, now a grain buyer at La Conner, represent- ing Seattle and San Francisco mills; Mary L., born in 1878, living at home, and Mrs. Ada B. Nicholas at La Conner, where her husband is principal of the public schools. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are Episcopalians, while fraternally he is connected with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has the distinction of hav- ing occupied high official positions in each of those orders. Mr. Andrews has been a lifelong and ac- tive Republican, and participates with zeal in the conventions and councils of his party. In 1877 he was called to serve for two years in the territorial legislature, during which time he was instrumental in passing the measure which established the first court in Whatcom county. He has also served one term, 1887-8, as sheriff of the county and four years as member of the board of county commissioners. Honest and upright in business, faithful and effi- cient in his services as legislator and county official, a leader in organizations of a benevolent and fra- ternal character, ever public spirited, and withal a man of affable and social qualities, Mr. Andrews de-

servedly ranks among the foremost of Skagit coun- ty's distinguished citizens.

CHARLES E. GACIIES is connected with one of the pioneer mercantile establishments of the county and by his successful management of the business has carned for himself the reputation of being one of the brightest young business men of Skagit county. He was born at La Conner in No- vember, 1882. His father, James Gachies, the founder of the business, is a native of England, who, when fourteen years of age, left home and went to Australia. He obtained employment on a cattle ranch and during the last nine years of his stay in that country was manager of the largest cattle ranch in Australia. In 1869 the elder Gaches came to San Francisco and two years later located at La Conner, where in 1873 he opened a general store and soon built up a large business, which is now partly under the management of his son. Just at present Mr. Gaches is visiting his old home in Eng- land. Mrs. Rhoda (Francis) Gaches, mother of Charles, came from England when a young woman and was married at La Conner in 1877. Charles E. Gaches received his early education in the common schools of La Conner and later grad- uated from the State University at Seattle, continu- ing for a year after graduation as instructor in civil engineering. In the summer of 1902 he went to Korea and China to examine a mining property and make report to the owners. On his return he con- nected himself with his father in business and is now in the management of the same. The Gaches fam- ily is one of the best known and most highly cul- tured families in Skagit county. Samuel F. Gaches, brother of Charles, is a graduate of Leland Stan- ford, Jr., University and from 1900 to 1904 was in the government postal service. Another brother, George H. Gaches, is manager of the Seattle-What- com Transportation Company, with offices at La Conner. He is a graduate of the State University and served with the First Washington Volunteers in the Philippine war. The sister, Mrs. Eva Rich- ardson, lives in Oakland, California, where her hus- band is connected with the Japanese consulate. Mrs. Richardson is a graduate of the Boston Conserva- tory of Music. The Gaches family is Republican in politics and Baptist in church affiliation. Aside from their interests in the store and the transportation company they own a fine tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land, all under cultivation. The en- tire family is one which enjoys and merits the es- teem and confidence of the business community of Skagit county.

EDWARD BRISTOW, the efficient sub-agent in charge of the Swinomish Indian reservation, is a

James. Gaches

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

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BIOGRAPHICAL

man of varied career and experiences and of many accomplishments. A veteran of the Civil War, he is also a veteran of the Indian service. He was born in Polk County, Missouri, in 1844, the son of Edward Bristow, a Pennsylvania farmer who moved to Missouri in 1833, and served in a regiment which drove the Indians from that territory for the settlers. His wife, Mrs. Sarah ( Ashenhurst) Bris- tow, was a native of Kentucky, of Irish descent. She died in Missouri, the mother of cleven children, of whom Edward is the youngest. Facilities for edu- cation were not common in the days when Edward Bristow was young and much of his education was acquired in the stern school of experience and by observation and reading. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in a short-term regiment, but at the close of the period of enlistment went into Company M of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry and served through the war, being mustered out with the chevrons of a sergeant. Young Bristow was in the battle of Prai- rie Grove and numerous cavalry engagements about Little Rock, Arkansas. At the battle of Miller's Lane, White river, Arkansas, his brother was fatally wounded by his side ; and here, as at Ashley Station, where his own horse was killed under him, he es- caped unwounded, like fortune attending him to the close of the war. Returning home from the serv- ice, Mr. Bristow taught school for. one year and for the following two years acted as constable. Still later he served as deputy sheriff. In 1822 Mr. Bris- tow went to California and entered the government Indian service as assistant blacksmith at the Tule River reservation. Nine months later he was pro- moted to be head farmer on the same reservation. In 1880 he resigned and moved to Umatilla County, Oregon, where for a decade he engaged in farm- ing. On selling out in Oregon, he came to Snoho- mish county and took charge of a lumber yard. In 1891 MIr. Bristow again entered the Indian service, taking charge of the Swinomish reservation. He left the service again in 1899, but a year later re- turned and was sent to the Lummi reservation for two years and then transferred to his original post in the Indian service, which he still holds.

In 186% in Cedar County, Missouri, Mr. Bris- tow married Miss Martha Samsel, daughter of Jo- seph and Ellen (Wilson) Samsel, natives of Ten- nessee, who went to Missouri, soon after their daughter was born. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bristow of whom but one is living, Mrs. Stella Osberg of La Conner. In politics Mr. Bristow is a Republican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Good Templars. The family are Methodists. Mr. Bris- tow is the owner of a two-acre plat in La Conner and also of a house and lot. He makes his home on the reservation and is one of the efficient em- ployces of the government's Indian service.

W. AXEL CARLSON of La Conner is a stock- holder in the Mail Publishing Company, owner of the Puget Sound Mail, La Conner's representative in the newspaper world of the Northwest, and is in charge of the mechanical department. He is a news- paper man of experience, having known all the changeful incidents of a country newspaper man's life from printer's devil to editor.

Mr. Carlson was born in 18:5, on a farm near the town of Olsburg, Kansas, the fourth of six chil- dren, his parents being John A. and Charlotte (Daniels) Carlson. The father is a native of Swe- den, who came to America thirty years ago, settling ultimately upon the farm where the subject of this sketch was born. Mrs. Carlson was born and mar- ried in Sweden, accompanying her husband to this country. Of their six children, but one, Hilda, the youngest, is dead. The children living, aside from WV. Axel, are: John, living in Alberta, Canada; Augustus, Fred and Anna, all of whom make their home in Marysville, Snohomish county.

WV. Axel Carlson after spending his early years upon his father's farm, and attending the common schools, entered the office of the Olsburg News-Let- ter as printer's apprentice. He remained there for several years, steadily advancing as he gained ex- perience in the business until he became editor and owner. After making the paper one of the best in Pottowatomic county, he sold out, moving to Skagit county and farming near La Conner for two years. But Mr. Carlson has not lost interest in newspaper work. He returned to Kansas and became a part- ner in the firm which published the Enterprise at Randolph. In 1898 he came once more to Skagit county and worked with the News-Herald at Mount Vernon for three years. During the last year of that period, with a partner, A. L. Sebring, he pub- lished the paper under a lease.

In May, 1901, Mr. Carlson moved to La Con- ner and bought the interest of A. J. Morrow in the Puget Sound Mail, which he holds at the present time, F. L. Carter being his partner. A sketch of the Mail appears elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. Carlson is popular and highly respected in his community, a man of probity of character and of intellectual attainments. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Good Templars, and is affiliated with the Methodist church. He is a believer in the principles of Republicanism and is active in the local councils of his party.

FRED LEROY CARTER has been for eight- cen years editor and proprietor of the Puget Sound Mail of La Conner, and during that time he has built up the circulation and established the paper on a substantial footing. Mr. Carter was born in Dav- enport, Iowa, in 1864, the son of Dr. George W.

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Carter, who came to this country from England when a lad of nine years and settled in Genesee County, New York. Dr. Carter was graduated at the head of the class of 1853 in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He went to Iowa to prac- tice and followed his profession at Davenport until 1868, when he removed to Marshalltown. After twenty-five years of practice there he retired and is now living at Geneva, Ohio. Mrs. Cordelia ( Parks) Carter, mother of Fred L., was a native of Genesee County, New York. She died in Iowa in March of 1886, leaving one child, the subject of this sketch. Editor Carter was educated in Marshall- town, Iowa, graduating from the high school. He was a member of the baseball and football teams of that institution, both of which were strong in those days. In 1881 Mr. Carter took up newspaper work. serving a year and a half on the Times-Republican. He came West at the end of that period on account of his failing health and passed several months at La Conner. Returning eventually to his old home, he worked on various papers at Marshalltown for two years. He then came again to La Conner and in 188% in conjunction with June Henderson bought the Puget Sound Mail, which was at that time being run by Henry McBride and R. O. Welts, the former of whom later became governor of Washington. Mr. Carter has been editor of the paper continuously since.

In Marshalltown, in August, 1888, Mr. Carter married Miss Georgia E. Hughes, daughter of Charles Hughes, who was a native of Maryland and a prominent mathematical authority in his day. He lived until 1903. Mrs. Carter's mother, Mrs. Lydia (Nichols) Hughes, was born in Virginia in 1828 and passed away in La Conner in 1889. Mrs. Car- ter was born in West Liberty, Iowa, in 1870, re- ceived her education in the schools of Marshall- town, Iowa, and taught until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have had two children : Leona M., who died of diphtheria in 1899, at the age of ten years, and Nellie C., born in La Conner on October 1, 1892. Mr. Carter is a member of Camp 449, Woodmen of the World, one of the strongest lodges in La Conner, also belongs to the Baptist church, of which he is clerk at present. During his long career as a newspaper man in Skagit county Mr. Carter has always held a position in the fore- front of the profession. Possessed of the public spirit so characteristic of the journalist, he has ever watched with a vigilant eye the interests of his com- munity and state, and his influence has always been for progressiveness along every line.

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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 120

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