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 129

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 129
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 129

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SYLVESTER BURNS, proprietor of the Sed- ro-Woolley steam laundry, owns a thriving business in that city which he has built up by his own energy, He was born in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa, in

1859, the son of Jerome S. Burns who was born in Missouri in 1827. The elder Mr. Burns was a pio- neer farmer in Jasper county and crossed the plains to California in 1859 but soon returned to his old Iowa home. In 1888 he went again to California and now is living at San Jose, where he owns a farm. Mrs. Mary (Kuhns) Burns, the mother, is a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch ancestry, who was taken by her father and grandfather by ox- team to Iowa. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Burns, eight of whom are living, Sylvester being fifth. Until twenty-two years old he remained on the farm in Iowa, attending school and passing the life usual with farmers' sons in Jasper county. In 1882 he went to Nebraska and remained two years, accompanying his father to San Jose and farming there for a year. He. went to Lake View, Oregon, one hundred and sixty miles from railroads, where for two years he was in charge of sheep camps. He then went to Port- land, then to Seattle and Port Townsend. In 1891 he came to Sedro-Woolley and started a laundry, having the valuable assistance of Mrs. Burns, who was a laundress by trade. He built his laundry, operated it for a year and a half, and went to Pull- man, Whitman County, Washington, where he es- tablished another laundry. He sold out after ten months and farmed four years near Portland. 1896 he was in the laundry business eight months In in San Jose, was in Seattle a short time, then re- turned to Sedro-Woolley, where he still held his property, which he reopened in 1900. He sold his laundry, but the purchasers were burned out, and Mr. Burns bought what was not destroyed in the fire and erected his present building in 1903. He has built up an excellent business, being ably as- sisted by the practical knowledge of Mrs. Burns who is fully conversant with all branches of the work.

In 1889 Mr. Burns married Miss Emma Taylor Knepp, a native of Pennsylvania, one of the best laundresses in that state. She was active in her husband's business until 1902 when she was injured by a kick from a horse. Mrs. Burns is a member, of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics Mr. Burns is a Republican and while living in Oregon was justice of the peace. Since living in Sedro- Woolley Mr. Burns has been unusually successful and claims to have the best paying business in the city, with the exception of the bank and one mer- cantile establishment. He is highly respected and enjoys the confidence of his fellow men.

CHARLES WARNER. Foremost among the men who have taken advantage of the splendid bus- iness openings afforded by the great forests of the Northwest, is Charles Warner, born in Whatcom county, Washington. February 6, 1867. His fath- er. Captain John M. Warner, was a native of

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Maine, born in 1827, who spent his early life on the Great Lakes until 1857, when he left his boats and took a prairie schooner for California. He mined near Sacramento a year and went to the Fraser river mining district in British Columbia when the excitement there was most intense. He made a stake at Spencer Bridge and then went to the present site of Bellingham, Washington, where for six years he was engaged in timbering the coal mines. Hle moved to Samish and took a home- stead where he resided twelve years, being one of the first five settlers in that district. He disposed of his property at Samish and was the first man to take land on Warner's prairie, building a twelve mile road in order to reach his property. Con- vinced that it was a region of great fertility, he endeavored, but in vain, to induce others to come. Five years later, after the real estate boom had commenced, he was offered ten thousand dollars for his one hundred and sixty acres. His death occurred December 9, 1903, on the prairie which bears his name and which for so many years was his home. Ellen Warner, the mother, was born in British Columbia in 1837 and after a long and itse- ful life died on Warner's prairie in 1881. She was the mother of eleven children. Remaining at home until twenty-two, young Charles Warner ably as- sisted his father in the support of the family, but was able to spend but nine months in school. He applied himself diligently to study at home, how- ever, and was able to acquire a good business edu- cation. When he left home he did logging for Mortimer Cook on the ground now occupied by Sedro-Woolley. He has followed logging much of his life.

Mr. Warner and Louise Yates were married October 9, 1884. She is a native of British Co- lumbia, the daughter of William Yates of Scotch nativity. He went to Hope. British Columbia, in 1859, and was employed by the Hudson Bay Com- pany. He still resides there. Mrs. Elizabeth Yates, the mother of Mrs. Warner, was born in British Columbia, where she still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Warner have one child, Nellie, born in Brit- ish Columbia, September 16, 1887. Mr. Warner is a Forester and a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters. He is a loyal Democrat but never has cared to take an active part in politics. After his father's death. Mr. Warner sold the home place on Warner's prairie and bought his present home in Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Warner is ambitious and energetic, a man of much worth, popular in his community.

ADAM W. DAVISON has spent his entire life in the atmosphere of logging and lumbering and now is one of the stockholders and active men in the management of the Green Shingle Company of Sedro-Woolley. He is a man greatly admired for his excellent business qualities. He was born

in Pennsylvania, August 17, 1857, the son of Daniel Davison. a lumberman of that state. His mother, Mrs. Mary ( Pickard ) Davison, a native of New York, is still living in Pennsylvania, the mother of tweive children, of whom Adam is fourth. The Davisons are of German extraction but this branch has been in America many years. Adam Davison acquired his education under difficulties in the common schools of the state, walking seven miles to school, but since those days he has picked up, by observation and reading, a large amount of gen- eral information. When fifteen years old he went to the Michigan woods and worked three years, then returned to Pittsburg and stayed a year. Two years more were spent lumbering in Michigan and in 1818 he came to San Francisco, later to Port- land, and in the fall of that year he entered the em- ploy of Stetson & Post in their mill at Seattle. He soon after went to San Juan island, where he was employed by James McCurdy two years working in and around a lime kiln. He then worked two years on Vashon island in the woods for Saywood & Meigs, then was made foreman of the logging camp of William Cochran where he remained two years more, thereupon returning to San Juan is- land, where he quarried limestone until July, 1890, He then came to Sedro where Mortimer Cook had already established a small store and had secured a postoffice. Under contract he took out lumber for the Fairhaven Land Company for two years; then built a saw-mill on the Seattle & Northern railroad at Woolley which he operated for two years more; then he moved his plant to a location on the Seattle & Lake Shore road where he operated it half a decade longer, eventually selling out to Shrewsbury & McLane. He later entered the logging business in partnership with W. W. Caskey, and after three years, both he and Caskey went into the Green Shingle Company.

On San Juan island on Christmas eve, 1882, Mr. Davison married Miss Betsy Firth, daughter of Robert Firth, a Scotchman who had entered the employ of the Hudson Bay Company and had come to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1851, later taking up his residence on San Juan island. Mrs. Firth, whose maiden name was Jessie Grant, came to Vic- toria on her wedding tour, being six months on the overland journey. Mrs. Davison was born and ed- ucated on San Juan island. She and Mr. Davison have nine children : Roche L., born December 21, 1884 : Irthamore R., August 24, 1886 ; Lexie, Octo- ber 12, 1887; Olive C .. October 8, 1891 ; Bessie G .. November 27, 1893 ; Inez R., August 1. 1895 : Hazel E., July 14. 1892; Mary I., March 12, 4901, and Adam W., May 14, 1903. Mr. Davison is a Mason, which order he joined when twenty-one years old ; he also is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In re- ligion he is a Presbyterian and in politics a Re- publican. lle is not especially ambitious politically,

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though taking always the interest in the public affairs of his community that a good citizen should, and at times manifesting his public spiritedness by accepting such offices as school director and city councilman. In the realm of industry his ambition has had its chief field of activity and there his hard work and faithful endeavor have won an abundant reward.

FRANK BRADSBERRY, logger of Sedro- Woolley, has firmly established himself in the busi- ness community of Skagit county in a little more than twenty years and has formed for himself a large place in the estimation of the public as a man of spirit and energy. He was born in Missouri in 1860, the son of John B. Bradsberry, a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch descent who began life as a shoemaker and later went to Missouri and became a farmer. Mrs. Nancy (Tucker) Bradsberry, the mother, was born in Indiana, but died in Missouri in 1896. Young Bradsberry was trained and brought up by his mother, the father having died when he was but a year old. He attended the schools at home and remained on the farm with his mother until he was fourteen years old, at which time he went to Kansas. A year later he engaged to accompany a man who was taking a band of horses and mules to Texas, and so well did the young man carry himself in his part of this work that the owner gave him entire charge of the ex- pedition and left the outfit in western Kansas. Young Bradsberry delivered the stock at Stevens- ville, Texas, without a mishap. He then made a trip across the international border into Mexico, but remained there only a short time, returning home by horseback from Alma, Texas. to Wichita. Kansas, a distance of about a thousand miles, and at one time experiencing the unpleasant predica- ment of having his horse stolen at night while he slept. He spent a year at the old Missouri home and in 1879 went to Colorado, where for a year he operated a logging camp for Joseph Lamb. The mining excitement was running high, and Mr. Bradsberry put in two years at prospecting in Utah and Arizona. In 1881 he passed five months in Cal- ifornia, but went back to Colorado to work in a saw- mill. He was there a year this time, then returned to California for what proved to be a short stay before coming to Washington in 1884. In March of that vear Mr. Bradsberry located in the Skagit valley. and began working in a logging camp at Sterling. After three years of this he engaged in logging on his own account in the Sauk valley and he has since been in the logging business in this county, forming the Bradsberry Logging Company in 1901.

March 30, 1890, Mr. Bradsberry married Miss Marinda Kelley, daughter of Leander Kelley, who came from Ireland to the sound country in 1865 and has since died near Fir. Mrs. Bradsberry is a na- tive of Skagit county, born in 1873, and educated in

the local schools. Three children have been born of this union, Emerson, George and Ernest Q. In fra- ternal circles Mr. Bradsberry is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoo. A Republican in politics and active in the councils of that party, he has even been called upon to attend some of its state conventions. The Bradsberry Logging Company, of which he is the president and manager, owns four thousand acres of timber land, which is rapidly being converted into farms as the forest is removed, also the mill whichi it operates in Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Bradsberry is a very public-spirited man, a hard worker at anything he undertakes and one of the substantial citizens of the community.

JOHN LLOYD is one of the natives of the Province of New Brunswick who have prospered in Skagit county. He was born in 1868. His father, Michael Lloyd, of Welsh extraction, crossed from Ireland and engaged at first in lumbering in New Brunswick, but late in life took to farming. He died in 1894. Mrs. Lloyd, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in New Brunswick of Irish parentage, and died in that province in 1881. She was the mother of four children, Mrs. J. P. Collins of Portland, Maine; William and Daniel, living on the old farm in New Brunswick, and John, logger and real estate owner of Sedro-Woolley, Washing- ton. The early life of John Lloyd was like that of other lads on Eastern farms. He attended school some, helped with the crops during harvest, and worked in the woods in winter. When nineteen he left home and went to the Rice Lake district of Byron County, Wisconsin, where he spent one season logging and driving. He then passed some time in the lumber town of Stillwater, Minnesota, but was working westward and reached Seattle in July, 1888. Having been connected with the lum- bering industry, he naturally looked for an engage- ment in that line, so went to the Skagit valley, land- ing at the mouth of the river in the days when there was nothing there but a logging camp dignified by he name of Fir. The nearest mill, however, was Decatur's at Mount Vernon. Mr. Lloyd found a half brother, Michael, at Fir, and for him he began working, logging off the brother's claim. He also took up a homestead near Arlington in Snohomish county, upon which he proved up six years later. His homestead adjoined that on which James Cay- anaugh had filed and the two men decided, while improving their places, to combine their efforts, working part of the time on one homestead and part of the time on the other, Mr. Lloyd making his home with Mr. Cavanaugh and wife in a shack they had erected. Mr. Lloyd worked at logging in Skagit county mostly until 1892. when he went to Alaska, with a partner, Eugene Taylor. They each packed eighty-five pounds over the White Pass from Skag-

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way to Lake Bennett, and that summer they put in whipsawing lumber, receiving six hundred dollars per thousand for their product. With a new part- ner, Fitzpatrick, they went the next spring to Daw- son City, but returned to Mount Vernon in 1898. Mr. Lloyd has done a varied business, dealing in any kind of property which gave promise of legiti- mate profit. He has bought much timber and from it furnished bolts to shingle mills.

In the summer of 1900 Mr. Lloyd married Miss Ida Villeneuve, who was born near the mouth of the Skagit river in 1877. She is a daughter of Charles and Bridget Anna (Tracy) Villeneuve, pio- neers of Sedro-Woolley and now proprietors of the St. Charles hotel in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd have one child, Frances, born September 15. 1902. Fraternally, Mr. Lloyd is a member of the Knights of Pythias; in religion he is a Catholic; in politics a Republican. Mr. Lloyd's holdings now consist of one hundred and sixty acres of timber and forty acres of farm land between Edison and Bay View together with a number of lots in Anacortes, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley. He is recognized as one of the substantial citizens of the county, a man who has won success because of the possession of those sterling qualities so characteristic of many of the privates in the great army of settlers that has subdued the forests of the Northwest and estab- lished its commercial and industrial institutions.

SAMUEL E. SHEA, liquor dealer of Sedro- Woolley, one of the most successful business men of the place, has prospered by buying and selling Skagit county realty. He was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, August 2, 1852, the son of Wil- liam Shea, also a native of Woodstock, and of Mrs. Margaret ( McCauley) Shea. who was born in Springhill, New Brunswick. Both parents of Mr. Shea died in the province where they were born. fifth. They had ten children, of whom our subject was the Samuel Shea remained at home until 1826, then he went to Wisconsin, where two years were passed in the woods. He then spent two years more at the old New Brunswick home, then a brief period in Minnesota, whence, in 1883, he came to Seattle. After a short stay in the Queen City, he went to Edison and worked in the woods a few months, re- turning eventually to Seattle, but in 1884 he was again in Edison, this time in the employ of D. Storrs & Company, for whom he worked two years. Thence he came to Mount Vernon and for three years was with Clothier & English in the lumber, real estate and mercantile business, occasionally dealing in land on his own account. During this period he bought forty acres of land at Burlington, an interest in land at Avon, one hundred and twenty acres on Walker prairie and located two timber claims. Hle sold these holdings to good advantage and when Sedro was platted purchased property

there. He also homesteaded the land where Rock- port now is and by another deal acquired part of the Charles Martin ranch at Clear Lake, which he still owns. Later Mr. Shea ran a camp for Kane, Shrewsbury & McLean, was in the employ of Parker Brothers, spent a year with the Lyman Lum- ber Company, worked for Hyatt & McMaster and built the road for the Hightower Company at Sedro- Woolley. All this time he kept his eyes open for bargains in real estate and was shrewd enough to recognize and seize them when they came. In May, 1902, he erected a building on the lot bought earlier in the history of Sedro and established his present business, opening one of the finest establishments of its kind in the city.

Mr. Shea never has married. In 1903 he re- turned to his childhood home in New Brunswick and renewed old acquaintances, also spent two months visiting at Houlton, Bangor and Milo in Maine and Woodstock, Frederickton, Hartland, Marysville and Stanley in his native province. In politics Mr. Shea is a Republican but has firmly re- fused all requests to accept public office. He has engaged in many lines of business both before and since coming to Skagit county and has had the abil- ity to prosper in all his ventures. At present he is erecting a modern six-room house in the western part of Sedro-Woolley.

EMMETT VAN FLEET, living one mile east of Sedro-Woolley, is one of the carly pioneers of Skagit county who knew no neighbors but them- selves and counted the later settlers as one by one they came into that wilderness of trees. Mr. Van Fleet was born in Lackawanna county, Pennsyl- vania, January 23, 1849, his father, George Van Fleet, being one of a family long established in that section of the Keystone state. James Van Fleet, father of George and grandfather of Emmett, was well known in the community and in his honor the postoffice at his home was named Fleetville. The Van Fleets originally came from Holland. Mrs. Lexa (Thacher) Van Fleet, mother of Emmett Van Fleet, was a native of Pennsylvania of Scotch de- scent. She died two years ago at the age of seventy- seven. Emmett Van Fleet attended school and grew to manhood on his father's farm, learned the car- penter's trade and followed it five years in Scranton, Pennsylvania. After this he leased and ran his father's farm until he came to his present home in 1880. Not a white woman or a white child was then in all the section from Lyman to Sterling, then called Ball's logging camp. His nearest neighbor was Dan Benson, well known as a pilot on the Skagit river. Messrs. Woods, Dunlop, Hart and Batey were further down the river. His brother, Luther Van Fleet, who had preceded him to Skagit county, was to the north, on what was called the "fern land," a name given to land burned over by

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Indians where an abundance of ferns grew. There were no roads and few trails in those days, and the river constituted the chief highway. Mr. Van Fleet commenced clearing his land and bought cows with which he started dairying. He was much troubled by bear and cougar, and killed many of them.

December 23, 1874, before leaving Pennsylvania, Mr. Van Fleet married Miss Eliza Farnham, who was born in Lackawanna county, the daughter of Granville and Harriet ( Sprague ) Farnham. The Farnhams are well known in Pennsylvania, having lived there on land granted by the government to Captain Eliab Farnham, for his services in the Revolutionary war, when he served as captain of a company of the Green Mountain Boys. On this land now stands the city of Hawley, Pennsylvania. Cap- tain Farnham's son, Eliab, was born in August fol- lowing the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by the Green Mountain boys under Ethan Allen, and his son, Stephen, was the father of Granville Farnham, who still is living. On her mother's side, Mrs. Van Fleet traces back to the Spragues of Rhode Island, who held eighty acres of the city site of Providence. The noted war governor of Rhode Island was a cousin of Mrs. Van Fleet's mother. Mrs. Van Fleet is the oldest of four children and is the only one in the west. The others are Eliab, Charles and Robert Farnham. She came west with her husband and was the first white woman in this vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Van Fleet have three chil- dren : Eva, born in Pennsylvania on the last day of the Centennial year; Ethel, born in Skagit county, August 17, 1887, and Earl, born here, March 30, 1889. Mr. Van Fleet is an Odd Fellow, member of Truth lodge at Sedro-Woolley, and he and Mrs. Van Fleet are Rebekahs. She is a mem- ber of the Methodist church. In politics he is a Democrat and active in primaries, and often is sent to county and state conventions. The Van Fleet place contains 140 acres, is worked as a general and stock farm, and has a highly productive orchard. Mr. Van Fleet also has a large colony of bees, his stand last year producing over a ton of honey. On this pioneer farm was erected, years ago, the first schoolhouse in that part of the country, its owner donating liberally towards its construction. He is greatly interested in the schools and has served as school director. Mrs. Van Fleet has many interest- ing reminiscences of pioneer life, some of which she published in the School Journal, when Mrs. Currier Ornes was superintendent. The article received much praise for its literary merit. Mr. Van Fleet is a loyal American citizen who is entitled to unlim- ited credit for the part he took in opening one sec- tion of the great west.

FRANK R. HAMILTON .- Although there are a few men in Skagit county whose advent long ante- dates that of Mr. Hamilton, yet that gentleman has

probably seen as much of pioneering and pioneer conditions as any one, and he has certainly done his full share toward blazing trails, beating back the forests, overcoming the obstacles and ushering in the better day. His pioneer experiences include the management of Indians disposed to be unfriendly, for the home of the Hamiltons was claimed by the red men, their presence in the upper valley was dis- tasteful to the members of the inferior race who foresaw defeat in the irrepressible race conflict, and at one time the white settlers had good reason to fear an uprising, but the privations of the carly days were bravely endured, the dangers were safely passed and surrounded by the blessings of the civ- ilization which they helped to establish, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are spending the evening of their lives near the thrifty town of Sedro-Woolley, in the enjoyment of abundance of everything which can add to their material comfort, and none the worse for the pictures of trying experiences which hang on memory's wall.

Mr. Hamilton was born in Wapello county, Iowa, in 1857, the son of William Hamilton, a native of Ohio and a wheelwright and carpenter by occupation. The elder Hamilton, a native of Ohio, was left an orphan at an early age, and was bound out and raised by a strange family. He eventually moved to Iowa, whence, in 1862, he crossed the plains with ox teams to California, accompanied by his family, and he died in the Golden State in 1873. Our subject's mother, Mary E. ( Prather) Hamil- ton, who was born in the year 1832, is still living in Oakland, California. Though a native of Iowa, as heretofore stated, Frank R. Hamilton became a resident of the Pacific coast very early in life, cross- ing the plains, as heretofore stated, with his father in 1862. After spending short periods of time in Petaluma and Santa Rosa, he moved, at the age of thirteen years, to Nevada, and he finished his edu- cation and took his first lessons in the art of selling goods behind the counter in Virginia City, that state. He resided in Nevada until 1880, though making frequent trips to California, but in the year mentioned he put into practice a resolve to leave both states permanently, and with his newly wedded wife to make a home in the wild, undeveloped but rich and promising Skagit valley. He chose as the scene of his home-building venture a point far up the Skagit river, where it receives the waters of the Baker, beyond the outmost bounds of settlement at that time. His only neighbors were Mrs. Ham- ilton's half-brother, Theodore Sunter, Mr. Sunter's mother, Mrs. Emily Glass, who was the first white woman to go that far up the river, Amasa Everett, Orrin Kincaid and a man named Anderson. The family had much ado to obtain subsistence at first. Mr. Hamilton traded with the Indians and miners and when logging camps began to be established that far up river sold them the products of his farm,

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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 129

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