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 140

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 140
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 140

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SKAGIT COUNTY

EUPHRONEOUS E. WATKINSON, who lives four miles south of Bow, is one of the agricul- turists of that section who are making a success of diversified farming. He was born in Linn county, Oregon, the son of Robert Watkinson, who crossed the continent to Oregon in pioneer days, and later contributed to the development of commin- nities in that state and Washington. On coming to this commonwealth, the elder Watkinson located in Mason county. A somewhat fuller sketch of his career and that of his worthy helpmeet will be found in connection with the biography of another son, Melbourn Watkinson, which precedes this bio- graph.

Euphronious E. Watkinson, of this review, was brought by his parents to Mason county, Washing- ton, in 1869, when about four years old, and was educated in the public schools there established. When he was sixteen, in 1880, his parents removed to Skagit county and he accompanied them here, though for two years previous he had been earning his own living. After locating in Skagit county, he followed logging and other work in the woods un- til the year 1900, when he decided to engage in farming. He had previously purchased a place of ten aeres, all in timber, and had cleared and other- wise prepared it for cultivation, but he preferred to locate on the old home of his parents in the vicinity of Bow, and the parental place has been the scene of his operations since.

In 1900 Mr. Watkinson married Miss Lena Lonsdale, a native of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Ole Lonsdale, her father, who is a native of Norway, born July 28, 1846, came to the United States in early manhood and engaged in farming in Minne- sota, but in 1888 came to Washington and is now living at Edison. Mrs. Mary ( Christianson) Lons- dale, mother of Mrs. Watkinson, was born in Nor- way in 1845, came to the United States in 1868 and lived for a time with her brother in Minnesota before marrying Mr. Lonsdale. She passed away in 1887, the mother of nine children, of whom Mrs. Watkinson is fourth. Mr. and Mrs. Watkinson are the parents of three children: Georgie May, born September 26. 1901; Walter, March 15, 1903, and Herbert M., January 18, 1905. In fraternal circles Mr. Watkinson is an Odd Fellow and in politics a Democrat. He is engaged in general farming, in- cluding stock raising, and now has nine head of cattle, horses sufficient to cultivate the place to ad- vantage, and other live stock. Mr. Watkinson is a man strong in character and capable of hard work, and his success is the legitimate result of his earnest endeavor and good business ability.

WILLIAM J. BROWN, retired farmer at Bow, is one of the pioneer men of Skagit county, who is intimately connected with the opening up of the country. He probably knows as much about the I

topography of Skagit county from actual experi- ence as any other man now resident here. Before he came to this country Mr. Brown had been through experiences in the world which do not usually fall to the lot of the average man. Mr. Brown was born at the Bow in London, England, October 15, 1850, the son of William M. Brown, who was born in 1815, became a civil engineer in the employ of the British government, and who is still living. Mrs. Louisa ( Wisbey) Brown, also a native of London, born in 1812, of Irish extraction, is also still living.

William J. Brown, of this review, left home when he was fourteen years of age, his father hav- ing bought him a commission on board a man-of- war sailing from Plymouth. During his service on the seas he visited Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, Angie Point at the southerly extremity of India, Singapore and Penang. From the latter point he went to the Nicobar islands, near the Phil- ippines, thence to llong Kong and back to Bombay. He was in the Red sea at the time of the war be- tween Abyssinia and Great Britain, and was one of the expedition against King Theodore under Lord Napier. Another trip was made through the straits of Malacca and up to Yokohama, crossing from Japan to Victoria, British Columbia. At the last named place Mr. Brown severed his connection with the Queen's navy, then he came to Utsalady and commeneed to tally lumber for shipping. re- maining at that work for about two years. He then came to Fidalgo island and bought 160 acres of land on Similk bay, which he later sold, in the fall of 1821. Mr. Brown then came to Samish island and located on the place where he now resides. During these years he was also engaged in sailing, running a sloop, the "True Blue," on the waters of the sound. After two years of this traffic he sold the vessel to John J. Conner, one of the founders of La Conner. Between his trips on the sloop Mr. Brown had been careful not to allow his rights ashore to lapse. Since leaving the shipping busi- ness, he has done mich cruising on timber lands, eighty per cent. of the timber locations between Samish and the Prairie having been made by him. He has also been deputy county surveyor and in this capacity surveyed the first road between Edi- son and Lake Samish and between the county line and Wickersham. During his lumber cruising days Mr. Brown located the first claim for Patrick Mc- Cov. was in charge of the holdings of W. H. Miller of Wisconsin, and did all the location work for Clothier & English. Mr. Brown is also the founder of Bow, named by him and platted on his land in iceent years. . Its history is given elsewhere.

Iii 1822 Mlr. Brown married Miss Jennie Tahati, who is now the mother of seven children: Mrs. Kate Lonsdale, living near Bow ; William, Minnie, Joseph, Louisa, Jennie and Mary. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican. He is the owner of two

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hundred and ten acres of land, including a large proportion of the town site of Bow. Mr. Brown is now devoting most of his time to his orchard of four hundred trees and his seventy stands of bees. He is one of the old-timers in the county, a man of force of character and respected by all.

WILLIAM A. DAWSON, a pioncer of 1877, has participated in the development and progress of Skagit county, beginning his individual opera- tions in the days that preceded the removal of the famous Skagit river log jam, over which as a young man he made his first crossing of the Skagit. Mr. Dawson was born in Gordon county, Georgia, June 2, 1859, the son of Ratliffe Boone Dawson, named after the famous old pioneer of Kentucky, Daniel Boone, who was a cousin of his mother. The elder Dawson was a farmer in his early days, but es- poused the cause of the Confederacy during the Civil War and served through the great conflict with the Third Georgia Volunteers, closing his army career under Lee at Appomattox, and return- ing to his Georgia farm after the surrender. In 1817 he came to Washington and he remained here for eight years, ultimately going back to Georgia, where he still resides. Mrs. Mary ( Terrell) Daw- son, mother of our subject, is one of the old Talt Terrell family, well known in Georgia, and is still living, the mother of nine children, of whom Will- iam A. is the oldest. William lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age, coming to Wash- ington with his parents, but declining to return with them. They had bought two hundred and twenty acres of land here, and after they had sold out he determined to remain. Ile bought an acre of ground a half mile west of Bow, on which he is still living. and from which, as a center, he conducts his log- ging operations. Soon after his parents returned to Georgia, Mr. Dawson commenced logging, and during two later years he conducted logging opera- tions in a camp of his own near Edison. He has followed logging ever since, his yearly output some- times reaching as high as three million fect.

In 1881 Mr. Dawson married Miss Jennie Walker, a native of Canada and the daughter of Andrew P. Walker, who was of Scotch birth. and all of whose brothers became officers of the British army. Mr. Walker was but a lad when his parents removed to Canada. He grew up there, but spent some time in Minnesota, and ultimately came to Washington, where he died in 1881. Mrs. Eliza J. ( Bingham ) Walker, mother of Mrs. Dawson, is a native of Canada, and at present is residing in Ana- cortes, having since the demise of her first hus- band married B. C. Ranous of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson have five children : D. Ray, Rex- ford P., Maxwell B., Ruby E. and Ralph F. Mr. Dawson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, he and Mrs. Dawson belonging also to the

Pioneer Association. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a man respected in the neighborhood and rec- ognized by his business associates as one who has business ability and business integrity. During a residence in Skagit county of more than a quarter of a century he has applied his energies almost ex- clusively to the development of the one industry in which he is now engaged. He has demonstrated his ability not only to master the details of his business, but so to manage it that it will yield its largest returns. His name must ever be linked with those of the pioneers of this section who found it a primeval forest and have converted it into a habit- able region, with its homes, farms, towns, cities and innumerable industries.

JOHN L. DALE, postmaster of Edison, came to Skagit county several years after his parents, being attracted West by the possibilities of the country as represented to him by his father. Hc has prospered since coming and to-day is not sorry that he joined his fortunes with those of the Skagit county pioneers. Mr. Dale was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1854, the son of John L. Dale, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1814, an attorney at law, who practiced his profes- sion for twenty years in River Falls, Wisconsin, then moved to Tennessee. The elder Dale came in the centennial year to Edison, where he died in 1848. Ile saw long service in the Civil War, and at the time of his discharge was a second lieutenant in the Thirtieth Wisconsin. Mrs. Massey (Jordan) Dale, a native of the Keystone state, born in 1833, shared the fortimes of her husband until his death. She passed away in Skagit county on Independence day of 1887, leaving five children, of whom John L. is third. Mr. Dale attended the schools of Wiscon- sin and worked on his father's farm in that state until twenty years old, then accompanied his parents to Tennessee, where he leased land and operated farms for twelve years. lle remained in that south- ern state when his parents moved to Washington, hut ten years later he followed them. For four years after his arrival here he worked in different places in the vicinity of Edison, and in 1890 he bought land which he sold to advantage in 1900. Ile then purchased the house and lot in Edison where he now resides. July 16, 1897, he was ap- pointed to the postmastership of Edison, a position which he still holds at this writing. lle was chosen county commissioner in the fall of 1892 and served four years, all of the time as chairman of the board.

December 28, 1875, Mr. Dale married Miss Lucy J. Brown, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and a daughter of Aquila Brown, a prominent citizen, at one time sheriff of Davidson County. Tennessee. for eight years. He is still living at the advanced age of eighty. Mrs. Martha J. Brown, the mother of Mrs. Dale, was a native of Tennessee and was

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rcared and married there. She died in Nashville in 1884, leaving six children, of whom Mrs. Dale is third. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dale: Annie L., Robert I., Jennie C., John L., Jr., and Edna M. In fraternal circles Mr. Dale is an Odd Fellow and Mrs. Dale and her oldest dauglı- ter are Rebekahs. In political faith Mr. Dale is a Republican. He is one of the prominent and influ- ential citizens of Edison, a man of energy, whose attainments are the results of earnest endeavor, as- siduously continued, and in no degree of fortuity.

WILLIAM GILMORE. To the man whose life work it is now our task to treat of in brief out- line, it was not given to move in those larger affairs of life which call forth elements of greatness, if such exist, but pioneer conditions in Skagit county furnished abundant opportunity for the exercise of one element of greatness, and by universal consent a very essential element, namely: self-abnegation, with its necessary concomitant, an enlightened phi- lanthropy. This splendid quality William Gilmore possessed in a high degree and its exercise in the days when the struggle for existence was to most people a hard one rendered many of the pioneers his debtor for numerous and much needed benefac- tions. He undoubtedly stands out as one of the most prominent figures in the early days of Skagit county. His faith in the future of that section never wavered, hence he feared not to forge ahead boldly in industrial and commercial ventures and he was always in the forefront of the progressive move- ments of his day. Later developments have justified his faith. His ventures proved as successful as he anticipated and as a reward for his strenuous and prolonged endeavor he acquired for himself and his descendants a splendid fortune, not a dollar of which came to him by other than legitimate means. He bequeathed to his progeny the noblest heritage that it is possible for any man to leave behind, the memory of a life well spent, a work well done, a name untarnished.

Mr. Gilmore, like many other forceful men in the development of American communities, was a na- tive of the Emerald isle, born in 1840, and his edu- cational training was acquired in the excellent public schools of that land. In early manhood he decided to seek his fortune in America, and in 1870 emigrated to the United States. His first home in the new world was in Lucas County, Iowa, where he farmed continuously for six years, thereupon embarking in the mercantile business, to which he devoted himself assiduously and uninterruptedly until 1882, when he sold out and changed his place of residence, coming to Edison, Washington. Short- ly after his arrival he purchased the merchandise stock of Captain A. J. Edwards, the pioneer mer- chant of the little town, and indeed the only mer- chant who had established himself there up to that

time. This business he carried on successfully for many years. In many other ways also he took a leading part in the transformation of the struggling little town into a thriving business center and in the development of all the country tributary to it. The magnitude of his agricultural operations may be estimated from the fact that at the time of his death April 4, 1900, he was one of the largest land- owners and one of the heaviest taxpayers in all Skagit county, where so many wealthy men dwell. And though this wealth was acquired by his own un- aided effort, the struggle for its possession did not warp any of the finer sentiments in the man, nor had it any tendency to develop miserly qualities in him, as such a struggle so often does in smaller men. On the contrary, he was always remarkably generous with his means and no worthy cause ap- pealed to him in vain. It frequently happens that a community fails to recognize its debt of gratitude to great, public-spirited men until death has claimed them, but fortunately this was not so in Mr. Gilmore's case. It was given to him to enjoy the appreciation and honor of his fellow-citizens while he was yet among them, the best reward that it is in their power to give for a life replete with unselfish and kindly deeds.

In 1870, before leaving Ireland for the new world, Mr. Gilmore married Mary McCullough, also a native of the "Little Green Isle," born at Grey Abbey, County Down, in 1844. She accom- panied him across the waters and made his path in the new continent a pleasant one, sharing in his successes and burdens up to January 10, 1883, when she succumbed to a short illness and was buried in the cemetery at Edison. They became the parents of five children, two of whom are still living, Will- iam N. and John A.

Later in life Mr. Gilmore remarried, from which union one child was born, Hugh J., who now re- sides in Olympia. Though active in so many other lines, Mr. Gilmore never manifested political am- hition, but during a period of residence at Olympia he served on the city council there.

William N. Gilmore, eldest son of William Gil- more of this article, was born in Lucas County, Iowa, February 10, 1872. Upon completing his ele- mentary education, which he did in the public schools of Edison, Washington, he attended the col- lege at Olympia for a year. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk in his father's store, and as soon as he attained his majority the elder Gilmore re- warded the faithfulness and aptitude for business which he had displayed by making him a partner in the establishment. To his strict adherence to sound business principles and careful study of the requirements of his patrons, the reputation of the house is in no small measure due. He is a young man of industry, integrity and ambition, a worthy son of his worthy sire, destined, if indications are to be trusted, to win for himself a splendid success

WILLIAM GILMORE

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LÊNOK TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

THE NEW YOPY PUBLIC LIEF

TILDI

PATRICK McCOY

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BIOGRAPHICAL

in the commercial world. His land holdings con- sist of a half interest in an eleven hundred-acre farm, of which five hundred and sixty acres are in cultivation.

In his home town, Edison, in 1899, Mr. Gilmore married Minerva Butler, a native of Pennsylvania, where she received a careful and thorough educa- tion. Her parents were Andrew and Rebecca (Moore ) Butler, both natives of the Keystone state, the former of whom, a lumberman, was killed while she was yet a child, the latter of whom died in Edison. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have two chil- dren, Reba J., born July 2, 1901, and Helen W .; December 24, 1904. The family are regular attend- ants of the Congregational church, and in politics Mr. Gilmore is a loyal Republican, while his frater- nal affiliations are with the Masonie order.

John A. Gilmore, another of the sons of the sub- ject hereof, is likewise a native of Lucas County, Iowa, the date of his birth being March 21, 1877. His common school education, acquired in Edison, was supplemented by a course in the Olympia high school and another in the state university at Seattle, and that he might be still better fitted for a business career he spent a twelvemonth in the Acme Busi- ness college, which is likewise located in the Queen city. Upon returning to Edison he entered his father's mercantile house, and in 1898 he, too, be- came a partner. After his father's demise the firm name was changed to Gilmore Brothers & Com- pany. An upright, energetic and ambitious young man, he is contributing his full share to the sue- cess of the establishment, at the same time taking the first steps in a career which gives promise of much to be realized in the future. Like his older brother, he is a Republican in politics and in re- ligion a Congregationalist. His marriage was sol- emnized in Bayview October 31, 1900, when Mary MeKenna, daughter of the well-known W. J. Me- Kenna, became his wife. Mrs. Gilmore is a native of Eureka, California, born in 1878, but was edu- cated in the public schools of Bayview and Ana- cortes. She and Mr. Gilmore are parents of two children, both born in Edison, J. Wayne, September 29, 1901, and Constance M., July 20, 1903.

PATRICK McCOY of Edison, one of the most widely known lumbermen of the Northwest, was born in Quebec, Canada, April 24, 1854, the son of Walter and Ann ( Burk) MeCoy, both natives of Ireland. The father was one of the pioneer settlers in the southeastern part of Canada. The youngest of a family of ten children, Patrick McCoy attended the common schools, diligently making use of every opportunity to seeure an education. At the age of fifteen years he began work in the woods, follow- ing it till 1878. After working on a farm for a time he went to the woods of Michigan, and two years later to Butte, Montana, still engaged in lum-

bering. After stopping at Wood river, Idaho, a few months, he went to Seattle in 1882, thence to Stanwood, and that fall filed on a timber claim and a homestead near Edison. The next fall he and F. E. Gilkey became proprietors of a hotel, which they owned for two years, at the end of which time Mr. MeCoy returned to his former occupation. After logging in the Me. Vroy, now known as Blan- chard slough, two years, he moved his camp to the Samish river, in 1887, remaining there for the next six years. In 1893, however, he located on the Nooksaek river, in Whatcom county, but two years later he again made Skagit county his home. He was employed by the Atlas Lumber Company from that time until 1898, then resumed work on the Samish river, and since that time has been a resi- dent of Edison. In 190? he put in between six and seven miles of standard gauge railroad for logging purposes, which was thoroughly equipped with roll- ing stock, etc. Ile is a very large operator in tim- ber, among the largest in this section of the state.

Mr. McCoy was married in Edison, January 20, 1889, to Gertrude Butler, a native of Pennsylvania, born June 3, 1862. After completing her educa- tion in the schools of her native state, she came with her mother to Washington in 1887, and for sev- eral years after her arrival she was one of the suc- cessful and popular teachers of Skagit county. Her parents were Andrew and Rebecca ( Moore) Butler, both born in Pennsylvania. Her father, a well- known lumberman, was killed when she was a small child. Mr. and Mrs. MeCoy have the following children: Annie, born in Skagit county April 28 1890; Edna, in Edison, February 11, 1892, and Wade, also a native of Edison, the date of his birth being July 8, 1894. Mr. MeCoy is a member of the Catholic church, and in polities is a promi- nent member of the Democratic party. He was elected representative of Skagit county in 1902 and served two years, and for four years he was post- master of Edison, during Cleveland's second admin- istration. Mr. MeCoy is a man of splendid business abilities. He is a recognized authority on all mat- ters relating to the lumber industry, to which he has devoted the best energies of his life. The large incasure of success attending his labors has come as a reward for years of unremitting toil. Few men in the county can claim so large a eirele of ad- miring friends as can he, for his frank, manly bear- ing and sterling character attract all who are thrown in contact with him, either in business or society.

THOMAS CAIN, one of the wealthy and in- fluential citizens of Edison, Washington, was born November 15, 1847, in Port Calborn, Canada. His father, John Cain, a native of Ireland and by occu- pation a shoemaker and farmer, was brought by his parents to New York state at the age of eight years, becoming a pioneer of Erie county. He died there

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at the age of ninety-eight. Mrs. Bridget (Quinn) C'ain, the mother, also born in Ireland, died in Can- ada in 1862. She was the mother of ten children. After receiving his education in the public schools of Canada, Thomas Cain, at the age of fifteen, went to work in the lumber camps of Michigan, where he remained ten years. In 1823 he located in Colo- rado, but soon moved to Texas to accept a position with the Baltimore Bridge Company, engaged in constructing railroad bridges. One year later he migrated to Wisconsin and took charge of a logging camp. In 1816 he came thence to Washington. He was in Tacoma a few months, then came to Seattle and for two years managed a logging camp at Port Ludlow, owned by Arthur Phiney, who at that time had the most extensive lumber business in the state. At Mr. Phiney's death Mr. Cain was appointed one of the administrators of the estate, which was closed up in eight months. He then assumed the manage- ment of a logging camp on Whidby island, owned by Edward Oliver, but three months later he broke the bone in his hip and for nearly a year and a half afterward he was disabled. He entered the custom service at Port Townsend under A. W. Bash, in 1881, and continued there until the spring of 1884, when he resigned, and entered into partnership with Messrs. Churchill, Boyce & Sweeny, to put in the second store in the town of Edison. Later he built the first hotel, which he owned and operated seven- teen years. During this time he purchased five hun- dred and thirty acres of land near the town, all heavily timbered, and he now has two hundred and twenty-five acres of it cleared and in cultivation, the cost of clearing a part of it being $100 an acre. Recently he has let a contract for clearing the trees and stumps from one hundred acres of his timber tract. He gives special attention to raising cattle, keeping some fine Durhams.

In Edison, in 1894, Mr. C'ain married Miss Eliza M. Duffy, who was born in Canada in 1862, the daughter of James Duffy, a native of Ireland. Her father is a well-known pioneer, now residing in the province of Ontario. Her mother. Mrs. Mary ( Kelly) Duffy, was born in Canada and died there in 1888. Mrs. Cain received a thorough education in her native country, graduating from Brandford university, and for a number of years she was one of the most popular and successful teachers of Ska- git and Whatcom counties. Two children have come into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cain, Arthur T., born in Edison February 24, 1896, and Engene, born in Edison December 16, 1899. Mr. Cain is prominent in the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and he and his family attend the Catholic church. He adheres loyally to the principles of the Republican party, always attending county and state conven- tions and giving his influence to every movement that he considers promotive of good government. For many years he has been importuned to accept office, but has refused, contenting himself with ef-

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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 140

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