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 130

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 130
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 130

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FRANK R. HAMILTON

MRS. FRANK R. HAMILTON

GEORGE G. ARNOLD

SAMUEL S. TINGLEY

MRS. SAMUEL S. TINGLEY

AMASA EVERETT

JOIIN SUTTER

WILLIAM BARRATT

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ISTOR, LENEX

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BIOGRAPHICAL

in this manner supporting his family. The battle with natural conditions was severe enough to try the sturdiest, but its rigors were aggravated by fear of trouble with the Indians, who strenuously ob- jected to surveyors and settlers. At one time a party of surveyors, with Amasa Everett and Willard Cobb, had some difficulty with the Indians and two of the red men were shot and wounded. but the dis- pute was settled without further trouble, much to the relief of all the whites, though real security was not had till soldiers entered the country.

Mr. Hamilton kept steadily at the task of devel- oping and opening up his farm until by 189; he had it in condition to produce five hundred sacks of grain and one hundred tons of hay; then disaster came. That was the year of the memorable Hood which did so much damage throughout the length and breadth of the Skagit valley. The rampant wa- ters surrounded his house and outbuildings, com- pelling him and his family to seek safety in a canoe, while the excellent crops of hay and grain went to destruction, as well as his forty head of cattle and fifteen fat hogs. After the waters subsided Mrs. Hamilton and the family went to live on land they owned near Sedro-Woolley; later Mr. Hamilton disposed of his up-river farm and joined them, and they have been farming and stock raising in that lo- cality ever since. Their farm contains 105 acres of land in excellent condition for the maintenance of stock, and they give much attention to the rearing and care of high-grade cattle, especially of the Jer- sey strain.

Though he has battled with the wilderness dili- gently and with great assiduity, Mr. Hamilton has always taken time to discharge well the duties which have devolved upon him as a good citizen, his public spirit finding expression principally in efforts to promote the cause of popular education so far as he was able. For a number of terms he served on the school board of his district. He also, several times, consented to accept the office of justice of the peace of his precinct while living in the upper valley. He is prominent in Odd Fellowship, having passed through all the chairs in his home lodge and being now a member of the grand lodge. In politics lie is a Republican.

In 1880 Mr. Hamilton married Miss Adelaide S. Glass, a native of lowa and a daughter of James and Emily ( Provost) Glass. Mrs. Hamilton takes a just pride in her family history, for her ancestry can be traced in this country back to 1624, when the first Provost established himself on American soil. He was a man of unusual ability, a deep stu- dent of the Latin language and very thoroughly versed in classic lore. Ile belonged to that famous class of Frenchmen known as the Huguenots, the flower of France, in expelling whom from her bor- ders, it is said, France slit the veins of her own national life. The family is well known in the his-

tory of Massachusetts, and it is worthy of mention that the first Episcopal bishop of New York was a Provost. One of Mrs. Hamilton's brothers enlisted in 1861 for service in the Civil War as a member of the Sixteenth lowa, and he continued to follow the flag until the last disloyal gun had been silenced. He spent two months in Andersonville prison. In 1848 he settled near Baker river in Skagit county, becoming the first settler in that locality, and on the 10th of April, 1881, he passed away at La Con- ner. Three of Mr. Hamilton's brothers were also veterans of the Civil War. Mrs. Hamilton's father, James Glass, was born in the north of Ireland, but early in life came to New York and engaged in the mercantile business there. Ile was a relative of A. T. Stewart, the well-known multi-millionaire mer- chant. In 1855 he migrated to Iowa and purchased a thousand acres of land. He was preparing to go into the mercantile business there when he was caught in one of the blizzards which are so common in some parts of the middle west and lost his life. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have two living children, namely. James B., the first white child born so far up the river, now bookkeeper in the bank of C. E. Bingham & Company at Sedro-Woolley, and Frances A., attending the high school at present. One of their children died October 17, 1901, at the age of nine years.

GEORGE G. ARNOLD, farmer, stock raiser and dairyman, seven miles east of Sedro-Woolley, is a man whose days have been filled with the excite- ment which attends a succession of reverses and successes, and now in the evening of life he is en- joying the smiles of fortune. Mr. Arnold was born in Harrison county, West Virginia, November 14, 1836, and inherits from both sides of his ancestry the blood of patriots and pioneers. His father, George Arnold, was born in West Virginia, moved to Missouri late in life. and ultimately settled in Oregon, where he died fifteen years ago. He was of Scotch-English parentage, his mother's people having settled in Albemarle county, Virginia, in the early days of the colony. His father was a veteran of the War of 1812. Alrs. Rebecca (Green) Arnold, also of English descent, was born in Penn- sylvania. Members of her family served both in the Revolution and in the War of 1812. George G. Arnold is the third of her family of ten chil- dren. The early years of Mr. Arnold's life were spent on a farm and as was often the case in fami- lies living in the states along Mason and Dixon's line, he disagreed with his brothers on the issues of the Civil War. He stood alone in his family for the union canse. At the outbreak of the war he was working on a road building contract near Charleston, West Virginia. An argument arose about the size of the ball a nearby cannon would throw. Hle stepped to the muzzle of the piece and was measuring the bore when he was placed under

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SKAGIT COUNTY

arrest and conveyed to General Wise's headquar- ters as a spy. He made his escape and had enlisted in Company A of the Fourth West Virginia Vol- unteer Infantry before the close of 1861. He saw service under General Ewing, was with Grant's victorious army at Vicksburg, endured the hard- ships of hunger and participated in the glories of Sherman's operations around Atlanta and on the march to the sea. After four years of service he was mustered out at Wheeling. All this time three brothers were wearing the Confederate gray- James S., Floyd and William Pitt, the last named being killed in the battle of Winchester. At the close of the war Mr. Arnold returned for a time to Gilmer county, West Virginia, and after marriage went to Cass County, Missouri. In 1842 he came to Seattle, which at that time did not number over 1,000 inhabitants, with bears plentiful within the city limits. For twelve years he followed the log- ging business at Seattle, and in the latter part of the seventies was interested in the Ruby creek min- ing development. Mr. Arnold and Al. Spalding conceived the idea of building a saw-mill on Granite creek and with the help of a third man they car- ried a shaft weighing 400 pounds sixty miles to the site of their mill operations. The venture proved a flat failure and only one log was sawed. Mr. Ar- nold secured mining property in company with Colonel Larrabee, but after financial losses with- drew from the district to recoup in the logging business. His attention had been directed during his experiences in the Skagit valley to the possi- bilities in this county, and in 1883 he moved here and settled near Lyman, then only a trading post for barter with the Indians. He filed on a home- stead, which he developed into a farm. One of his early ventures was in hop raising, leasing the hop ranch of Alvin H. Williamson, formerly of New York, later a partner of Ezra Meeker in hop grow- ing at Puyallup. Mr. Williamson was the pioneer hop grower of Skagit county, if not of the entire state. When Mr. Arnold settled here there were no roads, and the one trail in that section passed directly in front of the spot on which the present Arnold house stands. Since coming to Skagit county Mr. Arnold has done no logging except on his own farm. His early clearing was done with cattle, six yoke of which he brought with him from Seattle. He it was who had the first team of horses in this section. After he had become settled. he turned his own place into hops and became one of the big producers of that product in this county. twice harvesting a crop worth $15,000. In some years reverses would sweep away the profits of pre- ceding years and for that reason Mr. Arnold quit hop raising several years ago. Mr. Arnold for- merly owned 160 acres of land, but he has disposed of half of it. He has a fine herd of selected milch cows and engages in dairying.

April 5, 1866, in West Virginia, Mr. Arnold

married Mrs. Mary Nutter, born in the Old Do- minion, daughter of Thomas and Martha McDaniel, natives of that state, of English descent. Mr. Mc- Daniel was a colonel in the Civil War. Mrs. Arnold was a widow with three children at the time of her marriage to Mr. Arnold, and by him she is the mother of three others, Olive, Laura and Albert. By her former husband her children are William, Thomas and Mary, the first named being dead. The name of her first husband was Davis. In fraternal circles Mr. Arnold is a member of the Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is an active and ardent Democrat. He has served as committeeman and has attended every county con- vention of his party, save one, since coming to Skagit county. Mr. Arnold served as member of the school board for many years, but retired in 1904. He always has been activein work for the schools and has contributed liberally toward building schoolhouses. Mr. Arnold is one of the leading citizens of Skagit county, honored and respected by all who know him. He is just such a man as one would picture who knew of the vicissitudes through which he has passed.

SAMUEL SIMPSON TINGLEY, farmer and stock rasier, located across the river from Lyman, is one of the very earliest settlers of Skagit county and a man who has had a remarkably active career. Mr. Tingley was born at Violet Brook, Aroostook county, Maine, February 12. 1836, the son of John C. Tingley, a native of New Brunswick. He be- came a farmer and shipbuilder in the Pine Tree State, whence in later years he removed to Skagit county, and he died in Skagit City in 1896. The elder Tingley had three brothers in the battle of Lundy's Lane, in the War of 1812, one of whom was on the side of the British. Mrs. Sophia (Boline ) Tingley, mother of Samuel, was also a native of Maine. Samuel S. Tingley lived on the home place until ten years of age, when he was bound out to learn the trade of machinist. He worked two years in the shop, then spent a like period on a boat, learning to handle steam; then he shipped for deep water work, and in 1859 was on Puget sound helping to build the revenue cutter, I. I. Stevens. After working a year and a half, he started home in 1861 to attend a military school, and while on his way fell in with the Tenth Maine Infantry at Eastport en route to the front for serv- ice in the Civil War. The ardor of young Tingley was so fired that he at once enlisted in the com- mand. A short time later, in company with some 400 others, he was transferred to the engineer corps and he continued in that line of duty and in the secret service until the close of the war. After spending some time in Pennsylvania he came around the Horn on the old Continental, and landed at San Francisco, later coming to Puget sound on the George Washington, and going to Port Orchard.

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where he was engaged in shipbuilding. In 1867 Mr. Tingley went to the mouth of the Skagit river, on the south side of the north fork, and took up a claim. Messrs. Abbott and Sartwell were the only men on the south fork at that time, though up by La Conner were Mike Sullivan and Sam Calhoun, both of whom had some land diked in. Mr. Ting- ley went to diking, soon had a small farm in cul- tivation, and lived there until, in 1879, the Ruby creek excitement lured him away. In the winter of 1880-1 he came to Mount Vernon, built a black- smith shop and moved his family to that town. Three years later he came up to his present place. which he had taken in 1880 while timber cruising for Clothier & English, and commenced clearing and raising stock. Mr. Tingley has done consider- able logging and has also been in demand for build- ing ferries, having had a hand in the construction of nearly every boat of that character on the river. His experience in the army engineer corps also makes him almost indispensable in raising boats which sink on the Skagit.

In 1867. at Portland, Oregon, Mr. Tingley mar- ried Miss Maria Kinney, a native of Canastota, New York. She was one of the seventy-five school teachers who came around the Horn through the influence of A. S. Mercer in behalf of the schools of the Northwest in 1868. It so happened that Mr. Tingley met her on the trip of the Continental com- ing to San Francisco on the same boat. Mrs. Ting- ley died in 1874, leaving two children, Ida and Oliver. The present Mrs. Tingley was born in Pennsylvania in 1840, the daughter of Dr. Herman and Elizabeth ( Easterbrook) Knapp, and received an excellent education, not the least part of which was a thorough knowledge of the use of drugs and medicine. Mrs. Tingley was a widow at the time of her marriage to Mr. Tingley and had one son, Warren Taylor. She had come west in 1822. To Mr. and Mrs. Tingley have been born five children : Mary Elizabeth, graduate of the Whatcom Normal School and for six years a school teacher; Hiram B., Henry, Martha, now acting matron of the Sedro-Woolley hospital, and Lillian, a trained nurse by profession. In fraternal circles Mr. Tingley is a Mason. In politics he is a protection Republican, sufficiently active to attend all local conventions and to serve as committeeman. The present Ting- ley farm consists of 200 acres, ten of which are in

fine orchard. The house is a homelike structure built in Southern style, and suggestive of hospitality and comfort, with fireplace, fur rugs, literature in abundance and musical instruments of many kinds. The Tingley family is one of culture and refine- ment, possessing especial aptness in music. During her residence in Skagit county Mrs. Tingley has frequently been called upon to administer to the suffering and her knowledge of nursing and medi- cines has proven of great assistance to the settlers,

especially in the early days, when no call upon her skill and sympathy went unheeded. Among the Skagit county pioneers few antedate Mr. Tingley in point of arrival, and few have been more active in affecting the many changes making for develop- ment and progress, and few are better known throughout the county.

AMASA EVERETT, now farmer and stock- man and town site owner at Baker, Washington, is a pioneer of Skagit county and one of the men who discovered the agricultural value of the upper val- ley and also its mineral deposits. He is one of the men who, coming here in the early days, have con- tributed much to the laying of foundations in Skagit county. Mr. Everett was born in Washburn. Aroos- took county, Maine, June 3, 1849, the son of Lyman Everett, a native of New Hampshire, born in 1803, of English descent, who died in 1865. His mother. Mrs. Regina (Sperry) Everett, was a native of Switzerland, of German parentage, and came to the United States when a child. She died in 1890, the mother of eleven children, of whom Amasa was the ninth in order. Young Everett grew to man- hood in the woods of Maine and followed lumber- ing in that state. On the death of his father he took charge of the logging camp and operated it successfully, but at the age of nineteen left for Minnesota, where he was engaged in humbering for three years. The summer of 1824 he spent at La Conner, Washington, and that fall commenced prospecting in the upper Skagit valley. It was Mr. Everett who discovered the coal deposits at Hamil- ton. Finding his first bits of coal on the high hill, he carried the samples out in his hat. While on this ex- pedition Mr. Everett met with the misfortune which cost him the loss of a leg. He was drinking from a creek when a landslide occurred and a large boul- der struck and broke the bones of the limb. An Indian was with him at the time and the red man was sent for Lafayette Stevens and Orlando Gra- ham, the other members of the prospecting party. On their arrival they tore up a shirt and splinted the member, but later Seattle surgeons had to am- putate it. The prospectors, in company with J. J. Conner, who had grubstaked them, formed a com- pany for developing the coal find and spent severa! thousand dollars in sinking a shaft. They went down 120 feet and sent a quantity of the coal taken from the excavation to San Francisco for a test, which proved it to be excellent for blacksmith pur- poses. Mr. Everett finally abandoned the work after having given James O'Laughlin a half interest in his share. In the fall of 18:5 Mr. Everett came further up the valley on a prospecting tour. He had no intention of taking up land, but built a cabin at the mouth of Baker river and put in a garden, which so prospered that he did not care to leave

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it. For five years he prospected and worked at the trade of carpenter during a part of the year, in order to maintain himself, at the same time clearing a little of his land at intervals, until the place finally developed into proportions large enough that it might be denominated a ranch. In 1879, in com- pany with William Cobb, Mr. Everett grubstaked a party consisting of Charles von Pressentin, Jack Rowley, John Sutter and John Duncan to look into the Ruby creek district. The prospectors brought out large nuggets, but big boulders in the ground interfered with anything like success in the develop- ment of the placer mines. Mr. Everett did not travel into the mining country, but remained at home ranching, at which he made money, but his profits were all consumed by the miners, who stam- peded ont from Ruby creek after the boom broke. In 1880, after government surveyors had arrived in the upper valley and had had trouble with the Indians, who broke the instruments, Mr. Everett advised the surveyors to kill a few red men if they did not let the whites alone. Two Indians heard this statement and advice of Mr. Everett, and in a spirit of vengeance entered his house and attacked him with knives. He stopped one with a bullet in the jaw and shot the other, "Bill" by name, in the body. The savage continued to advance and Mr. Everett shot him the second time, after which both he and the other Indian lay apparently dead, but both recovered. The surveyors sent to Port Town- send for soldiers and Mr. Everett gave himself up to the authorities at Mount Vernon. On the trial he was acquitted, many of the Indians testifying to the bad character of those who had attacked him. A big powwow was held, and on Mr. Everett's pay- ing $20 for each of the Indians shot matters were patched up and he was on friendly terms with them ever after ; they in their turn reimbursed him for depredations committed. In the aftermath of the incident numerous agents were sent out by the gov- ernment to investigate the occurrences, one of whom, a Colonel Pollock, bragged considerably of his bravery and aggressiveness. To try him Mr. Everett and an Indian agent assembled some In- dians behind an ambuscade on the river bank as the brave colonel passed down the river in boats. A volley from the ambuscade, directed to the rear of the boats, was sufficient to send the doughty colonel hustling down the river out of range. Mr. Everett continued to work his ranch and in 1885 discovered a ledge of marble on his place which he considered was valuable for lime manufacture. He also found a deposit of clay from which he built two brick fire- places. In 1904 an expert, examining the marble and clay, said that the elay was more valuable for cement than for brick. The upshot of this incident was that E. C. Miller, acting for what is now known as the Washington Portland Cement Company, re- cently bought forty-five acres of the land, and he is

now arranging for the erection of a large plant at the point. Mr. Everett has platted a town site called Cement City and is soon to put lots in it on the market.

October 21, 1891, at Seattle Mr. Everett mar- ried Miss Mary Seeger, a native of Germany, daughter of Frederick and Charlotte (Harding) Seeger, the latter of whom is still living in the old country, the mother of eight children, of whom Mrs. Everett is next to the youngest. She came to this country in 1888 and settled in Wisconsin. She and Mr. Everett have five children: Leonard, born in 1892: Nina, in 1893; Elva, in 1895; Ed- ward, in 1898, and Ruth, in 1904. In politics Mr. Everett is an ardent Republican and an attendant at most conventions. He has long been a member of the school board and is an earnest advocate of the betterment of schools. He owns and operates eighty-five acres of land and is in very good circum- stances, financially, and also enjoys the respect of the community in which he has played so active a part.

JOHN SUTTER, of Sauk, has had much to do with the opening up of the upper Skagit valley, and by reason of years spent in the hills prospecting for mineral wealth probably is more familiar with the Cascade mountains and their western foothills than any other man now living. He has been a pioneer in every line of activity known to the upper part of the Skagit. Mr. Sutter was born in Maine January 12, 1849, the son of James and Catherine Sutter. Of his mother he knows little. His father was a native of New York, born in 1797, who went to Maine when a very young man and led the life of a lumberman and farmer there until his death fifty-two years ago. John Sutter is the only child of his par- ents who is now living. He left home at the age of fourteen, going to Pennsylvania, where for four years he followed the lumber business. In 1870 he went to Florida and he was connected with the lum- ber industry of that state for the next two years. He then went to Dakota and started for the Black Hills, but the government, owing to Indian troubles, stopped the wagon train and refused it permission to go on. Mr. Sutter then went to California, whence after a short time he came on to Washing- ton. He first stopped at Port Townsend, but soon went thence to Port Gamble, where he put in two years working on a logging boom. He moved to Sauk in the centennial year and lived there for the ensuing twenty-seven years, coming to his present place, five miles east, in 1903. He was, however, absent in Alaska for a time in 1898 and had some experience in mining and logging there. Though he has always made his home in the upper part of the valley, he has put in much time prospecting. In 1876, in company with John Rowley, George E. Sanger and Will Cobb, he went into the Baker river

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BIOGRAPHICAL

district and located some quartz mines, and it was during one of his trips to this region that Mr. Sut- ter explored Baker lake, gaining the distinction of being the first white man to do this. Of the quar- tette of men mentioned, who did much prospecting together, Mr. Sutter and Will Cobb only are living. the latter in Seattle. Sanger lost his life on Porcu- pine creek, Alaska, and Rowley died in Arizona. 1n company with Rowley and Frank Scott Mr. Sutter prospected in the Ruby creek district in 1846, four years prior to the excitement which later attracted many to the diggings. Rowley, Cobb and Sanger had come up the river just a few days before Sutter got there and the four men were almost insepar- able for years afterward. Mr. Sutter has not been active in prospecting since 1892, having settled down to the life of a farmer. Ile owns 160 acres of land, of which forty are cleared, and on which he has built a fine seven-room house. He has thirty head of cattle, an equal number of sheep and horses enough for the operation of his farm. An incident of Mr. Sutter's early days on the upper Skagit was the piloting of the steamer Chehalis from Sauk to the portage sixteen miles above Marblemount. Captain Brannon had brought his steamer up as far as Sauk, but being unfamiliar with the channel of the river above that point hesitated about con- tinning. He eventually sent for Mr. Sutter, who pointed out the channel and showed the way safely to the destination. Mr. Sutter enjoys the reputa- tion of being reliable in all ways and is highly re- spected by the people of his community. Probably no man is so familiar with the trailless country around the head waters of the Skagit and its tribu- taries as this old-time pioneer and prospector.

In 1897 Mr. Sutter married Alice Wilson, daughter of Joseph Wilson, one of the very oldest settlers in Skagit county, having come to the region during the Fraser river excitement of 1858, and having located in the county two years later. He died there in 1893. Mrs. Sutter was born on the Skagit river in 1875 and acquired her education in: the schools of the county.

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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 130

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