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 134

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 134
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 134

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:23

BIOGRAPHICAL

Vernon and on Whidby island. The family gener- ally are Methodists, though David has embraced the Catholic faith. John B. Gates' widow is still living on the land which her husband wrested from its na- tive state to become one of the farm homes of the Puget sound country. She vividly remembers her early days on that ground. the woods alive with wild beasts, and recalls with distinctness the cir- cumistances under which many of her domestic ani- mals were carried off under her very cyes by the bears. She has lived to see the wilderness of trees turned into human habitations, the wild creatures disappear, and to note the work done by herself and her husband in effecting the transformation from forest to family fireside.

FRANKLIN BUCK transplanted to the shores of Puget sound the traditions of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and the hardihood which is given the Pennsylvania Dutch. His present home is three miles southwest of Mount Vernon, where he has developed from a homestead a fine farm of more than half a hundred acres. Mr. Buck was born in the Keystone state on September 5, 183%, his father being Henry Buck, son of the Buck of Penn- sylvania who in the years of the American Revolu- tion gave his name to the famous county. Judice (Wetcel ) Buck, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was also of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. She gave the workl ten sturdy children, of whom Frank- lin is seventh in order of birth. Franklin Buck re- ceived his education in the schools of Pennsylvania and did not leave the parental roof until after he had attained the age of eighteen years and had be- come thoroughly acquainted with the tobacco trade. He left home then to enter the government service as teamster, in which he continued for two years, to later re-enter the tobacco trade in Chicago and St. Louis. After two years in the tobacco business Mr. Buck decided to try his fortunes on the Pacific coast and started overland by ox team in 1855 across the plains on a trip that consumed four months before San Francisco was reached. Reach- ing California in the wake of the "Forty Niners," he spent eighteen months pursuing wealth in the gold districts in the fall and winter of 1856-7. The following year, while in San Francisco, he learned of the Puget sound country in "Old Oregon" to the north of the Columbia. Mr. Buck's first stop on the sound was at Steilacoom, where he entered a logging camp and remained until 1861. Tiring of the life of a logger he went to the Snohomish river, where he took a pre-emption claim on unsur- veyed land, remaining there until 1868. His name appears on the census roll of that county taken in 1862. In the year 1868 he returned to his native state, traveling via the Panama route, but stayed at the old home only eight months. The spirit of the

West called him and he spent the summer of 1869 in Kansas. Puget sound drew him further west the following spring, when he took up the homestead which is now his farm home.

Mr. Buck married a native of Skagit county and to the union there have been ten children, all but one of whom are living: Martha Jane Fellows and Sarah A. Church, of Clear Lake: Emma A. Payne, of Mount Vernon, and Mamie, Dora, Joseph, Frank, llenry and Edward, living at home. A married daughter, Elizabeth, is dead. Mr. Buck is a Re- publican and in an early day served as justice of the peace and county commissioner of Snohomish county. Fraternally, his affiliation is with the Ma- sonic order. His farm is an illustration of what may be carved out of the woody wilderness of the western slope of the Cascades, having its dairy, or- chard and general sections, a typical Skagit county farmstead. Mr. Buck stands high in the esteem of his fellows as a successful business man and an ex- emplary exponent of American civilization and American energy.

GEORGE J. HANSON has transplanted the ideas of Maine to the country of Puget sound, and much of the thrift of the most easterly state in the Union is to be seen about his place in the country of the great gulf of the Pacific coast. Much of this is the result of the first transplanting of Maine tradi- tions by the father, James Hanson, who was born in Ripley and lived there until he came to Sno- homish county more than twenty years ago. The mother of the subject of this sketch was also a na- tive of Maine. George J. Hanson was born in Maine in 1860, and was a lad of very few years when his father entered the ranks of the Thirteenth Maine infantry in the war of the Rebellion, sery- ing for thirteen months. The son came with the father to Snohomish county, and his mother, Mrs. Emiline ( Whitney) Hanson, resided with him until her death in 1895. She was the mother of ten chil- dren, six of whom are living, namely, Eliza, Emma, May, George, Charles and Frank. For a time after coming to Snohomish county George J. Hanson joined with his father in leasing a farm. At the close of that lease period he took with his brother a similar lease and they remained together until they came to Skagit county in 1896. Then George bought forty acres, which with one hundred and twenty since purchased constitutes the Hanson home of the present time.

In 1890 Mr. Hanson married Miss Lena Gordon, daughter of Stephen and Nancy Gordon, both na- tives of Maine, the former still living, the latter having passed away there twelve years ago. Mrs. Hanson was herself a native of Maine, born in 1823. One child was the fruit of this union, a son named Guy. Mrs. Hanson passed away in 1895 and

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seven years later Mr. Hanson married Miss Anna Snook, a native of Kansas, the daughter of Mrs. Ellen Snook, and one of a family of five, her brother and sisters being Bert Snook, Mrs. Nellie Dean, Mrs. Rita Johnson and Mrs. Cora Dean. Mrs. Hanson's mother is still living at Mount Vernon. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Han- son, Vesta and Marie. The Hanson farm is well improved, fifty-five of the one hundred and twenty acres being under cultivation. The house is a mod- ern eight-room structure, with all up-to-date im- provements. On the home place are twenty-five cows, forty-three head of stock cattle, horses and colts, hogs and other live stock. In addition to this place Mr. Hanson operates rented land, raising about three thousand sacks of oats per year in Skagit county. He is the inventor of a dike-build- ing machine with which he has built one hundred and fifty rods of dike on his own property. He is a raiser of hay and has baled more of that com- modity than any other man on Snohomish county land, in one year having put up as many as two thousand two hundred and twenty-two tons. In all the years since he left his native state Mr. Hanson has lost none of the Maine idea of public spirit. With all the weight of management of his affairs he does not forget his duty to the community at large, and is one of the most publie spirited citizens in the Skagit valley. He is one of the reliable men of the community and is large hearted and liberal in his dealings with his fellow men. In politics he is an advocate of Republican principles.

WALTER S. BURTON, one of the active busi- ness men of Burlington, was born in Lapeer county, Michigan, October 16, 18:0, the son of Esquire D. Burton, a veteran of the Union army and now a resident of Skagit county. The elder Burton is a native of New York, but had gone to Michigan be- fore the breaking out of the Civil war. Responding to Lincoln's call for volunteers, young Burton en- listed in the Eighth Michigan infantry and saw some rough service while his regiment was with the Army of the Potomae and General MeClellan, and in later campaigns. Notwithstanding his many exposures, chief of which was when the Eighth Michigan was badly cut up at Bull Run, Mr. Burton was never wounded. After the war Mr. Burton returned to Michigan and remained there until 1816, when he moved to New York and was there until February, 1882, when he crossed the continent, going first to San Francisco and thence coming to Skagit county, where in August he located at Mount Vernon and engaged in market gardening. He later took up land at Avon, but is now residing on land of which he has a life lease from his son, the subject of this sketch. The elder Burton's first wife was Sylvia Burton, the mother of one child, Walter

S. She departed this life in 1872, and the husband remarried. Walter S. Burton was only twelve years of age when he began life for himself, working in California for a few months prior to his arrival with his father in Washington. His first work in Skagit county, as a mere boy, was greasing skids for log- gers below Mount Vernon. He "logged" on the site of Burlington before there was any settlement, and the trees were thick upon the land. He fol- lowed the woods and timber until he was nineteen years old, attending school whenever he had the chance. His first venture in business for himself was the purchase of a hay baling outfit, which he snecessfully operated on the Olympie marsh for twelve seasons, during which he bought one hun- dred and seventeen acres of land on the marsh. About this period Mr. Burton erected the first build- ing in Burlington, in which for a year he operated a general mercantile business which he later sold to Thomas Wilson, now of Anacortes, returning to his farm. During the days of his connection with logging. Mr. Burton worked for such well- known men as William Gage, Ball & Barlow and William McKay. He was one of the stockholders in the Burlington shingle mill and for three years sup- plied it with bolts. Early in 1905 Mr. Burton formed a partnership with Mr. Knutzen and opened the City meat market in Burlington, since which time he has purchased the entire business and has also become interested in the Burlington electric light plant, of which he is a trustee.

In 1899 Mr. Burton married Miss Sarah M. Ward, born in Hartland, Niagara county, New York, in 1881, June 3, the daughter of Jabez and Mary J. (Vanorman) Ward, both of whom were of English descent. Mr. Burton is one of the Knights of the Maccabees and an Odd Fellow, while Mrs. Burton is a member of the ladies' auxiliaries to those orders, being secretary of the Rebekahs and record keeper in the Maccabees. In politics Mr. Burton is a Republican. In addition to his meat business Mr. Burton has a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres three-quarters of a mile west of Burlington.

SANDS C. PETTIT is one of the successful contractors and builders of Burlington. He was born in Orleans county, New York. September 21, 1855, the family name being one well known in that part of the Empire state. His father was Charles P. Pettit, born in New York in 1818. The father went to New York city when a young man and con- ducted a successful business as a commission mer- chant, later going to Orleans county, and in 1867 to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he remained until his death in 1897. The mother, Mrs. Elizabeth (Schofield) Pettit, a cousin of Major General J. M. Schofield, was born in New York city June 16,

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1831. She was the mother of three children, two of whom are living. She died June 14, 1885. Young Pettit, at sixteen, began to learn the car- penter's trade, working in the summer and attend- ing school during the winter. He was graduated when eighteen from the state normal school at Lake City, Minnesota, and a few months later completed a business course at the Minneapolis Commercial college. Leaving school he worked a short time at his trade, then went to Dexter, Minnesota, where he opened a grocery and drug store. He also con- ducted a lumber and wheat buying business with his brother-in-law, Alexander Stewart, who is now president of the Monarch Elevator Company. He continued in this business three years, when he dis- posed of his interests and went to Australia. After remaining almost a year, he returned to San Fran- cisco; then went to Eureka, where he stayed a year and a half; then moved to Seattle and secured three building contracts, upon which he was en- gaged six months. Ile was afterward in La Conner for five months, and has resided in this county con- tinuously since that time, with the exception of about sixty days, in 1898, while on a trip to the East.

Mr. Pettit was married October 2, 1876, to Miss Mary Arnold, who was born June 16, 1857, and who died December 2, 1886. She was a graduate of the Minnesota Normal school, and taught in sev- eral schools of that state. Her parents, J. Wesley and Harriet ( Hyde) Arnold, both were natives of Ohio, the father born in 1825, the mother ten years later. Mr. Arnold, a farmer by occupation, died in 1902 in Minnesota, where Mrs. Arnold still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Pettit have two children. Lee, the elder, was born June 4, 1875. He graduated at Carlton college at Northfield, Minnesota,, and now is studying law at Pasadena, California. Charles Wesley was born October 27, 1872. When sixteen he graduated from the state normal, at seventeen from the state university, and a few months later from Carleton college, He received his diploma from the Minnesota State Medical college in 1902 and now is practicing medicine in Minneapolis. In 1892 Mr. Pettit purchased eighty acres of timber land on San Juan island, which he has leased to A. C. Brown. S. C. Pettit has made Burlington his home for ten years. IIe is a Royal Arch Mason, being a member of Spring Valley lodge, No. 57. North Star chapter, at Chatfield, Minnesota. He is a staunch Republican and in Minnesota held the offices of county assessor and county commissioner. Ile is a man of genial disposition and sound judg- ment, popular with all who know him. .

DAVID KOCH, millwright and carpenter as well as successful small farmer, is one of the pio- neers of the city of Burlington. He was born in

Stark county, Ohio, March 22, 1835, and resided there until he reached his majority. He was the son of John and Mary ( Buchtel) Koch, natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born in 1292 and 1195 respectively. The father in early life removed to Ohio and in 1842 to Indiana, where he died in 1814. Mr. Koch, his wife, died in 1865, the mother of twelve children, of whom David was the tenth. When he reached the age of twenty-one David Koch selected the trade of millwright and apprenticed himself, receiving fifty dollars a year for the two years of his service. He followed this calling until the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company D of the Twenty-third Missouri infantry, under Captain Robertson. Ilis first fight was at Shiloh, where he was captured by the Confederates; he was released on parole and exchanged after six months. He im- mediately returned to his command. Young Koch fought bravely at Iron Mountain and at Rawley, his regiment later being joined to General Sherman's corps, participating in the operations around At- lanta and in the famous march to the sea. He was in twelve of the hardest fights connected with the siege of Atlanta, His last battle was at Jonesboro, and he was mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, De- cember 30, 1864. He returned to Missouri at the close of the war, resumed his trade and followed it for twelve years. He then went to Hastings, Neb- raska, where he resided thirteen years, leaving there for the state of Washington. On his arrival at Burlington he found it to be "merely a hole in the woods," as he expresses it. He took a pre-emption claim and relinquished it to his son, later taking a homestead in the vicinity of Burlington, which he still retains, having cleared a small part of it. A five acre tract and one of twenty acres also are among the holdings of Mr. and Mrs. Koch. Mrs. Koch owns the five acre place, which she paid for by the earnings of two cows, purchased in 1893.

Mr. Koch married Miss Sarah Garl April 1, 1860. She was born in November, 184?, the daugh- ter of John and Saralı (Buchtel) Garl, natives of Summit County, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Koch have been born six children, of whom four are liv- ing. John B. Koch, Mrs. Sarah A. Cressey, Abra- ham A. Koch and Mrs. Rose E. Hamilton. Mr. Koch is a member of W. T. Sherman post, No. 97, Grand Army of the Republic, at Sedro-Woolley. He is a Republican and served in the first city coun- cil of Burlington. Mrs. Koch is a Congregation- alist. There are nine head of Jersey and Holstein cattle in the Koch dairy and White Wyandotte and Leghorn chickens are raised. Mrs. Koch is a lover of flowers and has a great variety of beautiful ones in her garden. She has a dozen varieties of cactus, some of them of giant size. The flower beds at this home have a reputation which extends all over Skagit county. Mr. Koch's life record is one of

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which any man may be proud-a rich legacy to his posterity.

THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY, of Burlington, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, November 11, 1845, one of the two children of Michael Shaughnessy and Annie ( Burke) Shaughnessy. Of his parents Mr. Shaughnessy has little record, he having left home at the age of ten years to find support for himself. For five years the lad made his living by cioing odd jobs in different parts of his native isle. In 1860 he set out for Liverpool, England, where he worked for about two years, leaving for New York in 1862. The young man was anxious to see the world, preferring not to remain in one place, so alternately traveling and earning his livelihood, he passed the years until 1880 in different parts of the Southern and Western states, arriving in the Pacific Northwest in that year. For seven years he followed railroad work in British Columbia, and then made his headquarters in Seattle. It was about this time that a big development boom was on at Anacortes, and thither Mr. Shaughnessy went and remained until 1891, but did not lose any money in the speculations. He was the representative of the Oregon Improvement Company for a time. After leaving Anacortes Mr. Shaughnessy took the con- tract for clearing the timber from the town site of Burlington. There were only three houses there when he commenced operations. When his con- tract was completed he decided to remain in Bur- lington and embarked in the meat business, opening a market there and continuing to run it for several months. He then took up the liquor trade and opened the World's Fair saloon, which he has con- ducted until the present time. He has been away from Burlington for an extended stay but twice since he located there. In 1903 he made a trip to Ireland, remaining three months on his native island. A year later he crossed the continent to Fall River, Massachusetts, where he visited his daughter, Mrs. Mary A. Murtagh, in her home there. Mr. Shaughnessy is a member of the For- esters of America. In politics he is a Democrat and of the type which has never held or desired public office ; in religious faith he is a Catholic. During his residence in Burlington Mr. Shaughnessy has accumulated valuable property, including five acres of land a half mile southeast of the town, his saloon property, a hotel and two store buildings. The suc- cess that has come to him is evidence of his ability as a business man, and of the possession of other traits of character necessary in anyone who success- fully courts prosperity.

JAMES M. NORRIS, after a number of years of construction work in connection with the es-

tablishment of two of the transcontinental railway systems, has settled down to the life of a farmer on the outskirts of Burlington. He was born near Belleville, Hastings county, Ontario, September 29, 1864. His father was a native of New Foundland. born in 1821. Matthew Norris spent many years of his early life as a sailor on the great lakes. but eventually settled down in the province of Ontario, where he died in 1885. His wife, Rhoda ( Freder- ick ) Norris, was born in Ontario in 1825, where she is still living. She is the mother of ten. children, of whom James M. is the youngest. Young Norris left home when he was twenty-two years of age and engaged in the work of constructing snowsheds for the Canadian Pacific railway. This work ultimately brought him to Donald, British Columbia, where he built warehouses and helped put up snowsheds in the Selkirk mountains. The fall of 1886 found him in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he went to work for the Lake Shore railroad. He continued with this company until the following July, when he engaged with another road, with which company he had charge of the construction of bridges for more than a year. Mr. Norris then spent some time at Esca- naba, Michigan, in the employ of the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul road. A few months later he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there engaged himself to the Great Northern road. the scene of his operations being at Minot, North Dakota. He was transferred to Teton. Montana, and remained with the Great Northern for two years. A little later he was in Spokane, Washington, and assisted in the erection of the Auditorium theater, at that time the largest structure in that city. He next went to Portland, Oregon, and after a short time to Seattle, where he made his headquarters for a number of months, during which he was connected with the San Francisco Bridge Company. He then came to Skagit county and Burlington, where he bought five acres of land which to-day constitute a part of his home farm. He worked for a time for the Great Northern on the portion of the road be- tween Everett and Spokane. Mr. Norris was at- tacked by the Alaskan fever and put in two and a half years there, doing fairly well. In the days of 1896, when Rossland, British Columbia, was boom- ing, Mr. Norris went there and engaged in timber- ing the property of the C. & K. Mining Company. Upon the completion of that work. he spent some time in the Cariboo mining country, returning home to Burlington in 1900. He made a purchase of land adjoining his former holding and has now forty-five acres of cleared land, with five acres of orchard and considerable meadow. Mr. Norris does a dairying business. thirty-five head of Dur- hanı cattle constituting his present supply. He has horses and raises pigs, also paying attention to poul- try, having black Minorcas and buff Leghorns in his chicken yards.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

TIL !!

WM. JIENRY HARRISON CRESSEY

ALEXANDER D. FRASER

WILLIAM H. ITALPIN

JOHN LEWIS

THOMAS D. THORNE, D. D.

WOODBURY J. THORNE

MRS. ADELIA LATHROP THORNE

729

BIOGRAPHICAL

November 19, 1881, Mr. Norris married Miss Mary A. Stewart, a native of the province of On- tario. Her father, Alexander Stewart, died during the year of her birth, 1863. Mrs. Eliza ( Crosby) Stewart was born in County Down, Ireland, Decem- ber 26, 1836, but in childhood went to Ontario, where she still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have six children: Murny E., Grace B., Stewart M .. Pearl R., Guy J. and Ross H. Mrs. Norris is a member of the Ladies of the Maccabees and of the Rebekahıs. Mr. Norris is a Democrat in politics. The family is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The Norris home is one of the pleasant ones of Skagit county, having all modern conveniences to be seen in any suburban farmhouse. Mr. Norris is making a success of life and is well esteemed by all his associates.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON CRESSEY was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 30. 1839. His parents, William and Jane ( Borman ) Cressey, were natives of Lincolnshire, England. who came to the United States within two years after the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo. By occupation the older Cressey was a pattern and model maker in iron foundries. After a short stay in New Jersey he moved to Philadelphia, where he had the distinction of introducing into this country through his employers, Morris & Tasker, the use of the small pipes so familiar at the present time for conveying gas for the purposes of illumination. The idea he had brought from England, and he in- troduced it while he was constructing the first fur- naces for the manufacture of gas in Philadelphia. The first gas system in Cincinnati, Ohio, was in- stalled by him. During the Kansas excitement Mr. Cressey went to that state and he resided for a time at Lawrence, but left there just before the raid of the famous guerrilla leader and bandit, Quantrell. He returned to Lawrence in 1868 and died there a few months later. The Cresseys are an ancient fan- ily in Lincolnshire, tracing their ancestry for two and a half centuries in English history. Mrs. Jane Cressey died in 1861. Nine children were born to this couple, of whom the living at present are Mrs. Rachel P. Mills of Philadelphia, George G. Cres- sey of Philadelphia, and William H. H. Cressey of Burlington, Washington.

William H. H. Cressey, of whom this is written. followed the movings of his parents while a youth, going to school and working in the foundries. He also accompanied his father to Kansas. In 1860, when twenty years old and a resident of the Quaker city, he heard the first call of Lincoln for vohm- teers, and less than two days after he had entered the ranks of the Twentieth Pennsylvania Infantry, sometimes known as the "Scott Legion." A month

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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 134

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