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 142

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 142
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 142

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BIOGRAPHICAL

turned to his Tennessee home and operated his father's farm there until he was thirty years of age, at which time his attention was called to the re- sources of Washington, and in 1888 he came to Skagit county. He leased land on the Samish at first, but a little later purchased eighty acres of Samish land, cleared it and placed it entirely under cultivation. He, however, rents the place on which he now lives, though he still has land of his own.

In 1888, in Louden County, Tennessee, Mr. Martin married Miss Letcia Kerr, daughter of James C. and Harriet ( Newell) Kerr, natives of Tennessee, where the father is still living. Mrs Martin was born there in 1862 and received her education in the schools of her native state. To this union have been born eleven children : Celia (deceased). Ora. Clinton, Rosa, Gracie (deceased ) , Ruby, Everett, Mary E., Iva and Ida, twins, and Lida J. The family are attendants of the Metho- dist church. Mr. Martin is an Odd Fellow and a past grand in the order. In politics he is a Re- publican. He owns sixty-five acres of land. and though he makes a specialty of oat raising keeps considerable live stock, having at the present time twenty-four head of cattle and nine horses. In his early years in Skagit county he taught school at both Mount Baker and Edison. He is a thorough- going farmer, a man of attainments and highly re- spected by the members of the community, where his influence is always exerted for the betterment of general conditions and for the elevation of the standard of citizenship.

EUGEN DANIELS, a farmer, residing four miles southwest of Edison, came to Washington with his parents in 1883, and has ever since resided in Skagit county, where he enjoys the respect of a wide circle of acquaintances. Ile was born in Crawford County, lowa, September 11, 1861, the fifth of eleven children of John R. and Lenora ( Lupton ) Daniels. The ckler Daniels, who was a native of Ohio, went to lowa in the early days, married in that state and followed farming there until 1861, when he moved to Brown County, Kan- sas. He later returned to lowa and farmed in Crawford and Howard counties until 1883, when he came to Washington, settling first on La Conner flats, but moving after two years to the Samish fats, where he died in 1885. Mrs. Daniels, the mother, was a native of Illinois, but when two years of age removed with her parents to lowa and acquired her education there. Her children are James N., a carpenter : Alice L., William A., Josiah 11 .. Eugen, Charles ( deceased ), Ellis Q., Mrs. Rosa Stump, wife of a farmer near Edison : Marion and Mahlon, twins, and Mrs. Eva Streeter, wife of a farmer on the Samish flats. Eugen Daniels was educated in the Kansas schools, being only three years of age when his parents left lowa for the

first time. He lived with his parents until after they came to Washington, but eventually purchased the farm that is now his and began making a home for himself and family. The forty acres constitut- ing his place were bought in 1892. They were then covered with timber and brush ; but he has cleared and brought under cultivation every acre of his land. A small orchard upon it forms the begin- ning of a venture in the direction of horticulture.

In 1898, at Mount Vernon, Washington, Mr. Daniels married Miss Margaret Duren, daughter of Marion and Emalie ( Allen) Duren. The father, a school teacher by profession, served during the Civil War in the Southern army. He and Mrs. Duren are still living in Arkansas, of which state Mrs. Daniels is a native, and in which state she received her education. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, namely. Raymond V. In politics Mr. Daniels is a Republican. He is highly esteemed in his neighborhood, as a hard working, industrious man, successful in his business and ef- ficient in promoting the general progress. Ilis mental and moral traits are such as will make him a man of influence and one who will be found always on the right side of questions that have to do with the forward march of county, state or na- tion.

NICHOLAS BESSNER, engaged in farming three miles south of Edison, is one of the most prosperous agriculturists of that section, a man of energy and application, popular in the community because of his innate good qualities. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio, December 17, 1859, the son of John Bessner, who was born in Germany Novem- her 5, 1829, and came to the United States in 1857. settling in the Buckeye state. In 1860 he (John Bessner) moved to Minnesota, and for the next fifteen years he farmed there, but on coming to Washington in 1815 he engaged in mining in what is now Bellingham. After spending two years at that, he moved to La Comer. He was there a year, then leased the Williamson place, three miles north, remaining upon it for the next three years. In the spring of 1882 he bought land on the Skagit delta, which was the scene of his farming operations un- til February 12, 1905, when he died. His wife, Mary ( Berenger) Bessner, was likewise a native of Germany, born November 25, 1832. She died in Skagit county April 4, 1901. the mother of twelve children, of whom the subject hereof is the oldest.

Nicholas Bessner, of this article, secured his educational training in Minnesota. Coming west at the age of seventeen, he worked in the mines of Washington for a time, then found employment in the vicinity of La Conner for four or five years. In 1885 he moved to Samish flats and for the next four years was engaged in farming leased land

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there. He purchased his present fine farm in 1890, and to its cultivation and improvement he has ever since devoted himself with assiduity and success.

On the 20th of February, 1890, on the Samish flats. Mr. Bessner married Mrs. Mary Hoffman. daughter of Mathias 1lazer, a German by birth and a pioneer farmer of Iowa, in which state he died. Her mother, Mrs. Marie ( Nausbaum) Hazer, was also a native of Germany, and she, too, sleeps in Jowa. Mrs. Bessner was born in Jackson County. Iowa, December 29. 1859, and received her educa- tion in that state, remaining until 1883, when she came to Washington. She and Mr. Bessner have two children, both born in Skagit county : William, born April 22, 1891, and Viola, born June 11, 1894. In fraternal affiliation Mr. Bessner is a member of the Woodmen of the World; in church mem- bership a Catholic, and politically a Democrat. He was a member of the board of county commission- ers for the term 1902-4. Mr. Bessner's home place contains one hundred and forty acres, all under cul- tivation, and he also owns sixty acres on the Skagit river. His chief crops are oats and hay. He takes special pride in his horses, of which he has thir- teen head, four of them thoroughbred animals brought from Portland, Oregon. Mr. Bessner has made an unqualified success of farming in Skagit county. The qualities of his mind and heart rec- ommend him to all with whom he comes in contact, for he is a genial, whole-hearted man and public- spirited citizen.

JAMES T. SQUIRES. Among the younger farmers who are making a success of the business in the Samish country is James T. Squires, a man of ability and education and one who enjoys in abundant measure the esteem and regard of his fellows. Though compelled by opposing circum- stances to abandon the professional career he laid out for himself in boyhood, he is yet making his mark in the world as a man of ability and force of character. He is a native of Smith County, Tennessee, born August 9, 186%. the son of James M. and Amelia ( Jones ) Squires. His father. a man of unusual ability and force, was very ambitious to become a physician, so much so that he attempted to fit himself for the medical profession by study- ing at odd moments while plowing. He was ruined financially by the exigencies of the war, but was rapidly regaining his lost fortunes when death over- took him, December 24, 1875. The mother of our subject, who was a native of Nashville, Tennessee. died on the 3d of July of the year just mentioned. so young James T. found himself orphaned and adritt at the tender age of eight. For six years he re- mained around the old place, then an uncle, a prac- ticing physician, took charge of him, giving him support and an opportunity to attend school. This uncle, John L. Jones, intended giving his nephew

a professional education : circumstances prevented, but to this day Mr. Squires accords him filial rev- erence. At the age of nineteen young Squires was a common work hand on a Mississippi plantation, but he soon became foreman, and he passed two years in that capacity. He then went to Napa County, California, and worked in vineyards and wine cellars for a year, thereupon moving to British Columbia, but in 1891 he came to Edison, a town in which he had neither friends nor acquaintances, arriving with just thirty-five cents in his pocket and with no reserve bank account anywhere. Going to work on a farm, he spent the ensuing year and a half as a laborer, then he leased forty acres of land and began cultivating the soil on his own ac- count. He worked this land from 1895 to 1903. In 1898 he leased two hundred and forty-five acres of school land and went into the business of raising oats, for this purpose diking eighty acres of the marsh land included in the tract, and, like most other oat raisers, he is now rapidly accumulating a com- petence. A believer in diversified agriculture, he is giving some attention to live stock, keeping at the present time twenty head of graded cattle, eleven head of work horses, eight head of fancy South- down sheep, etc. He also owns a share in the im- ported stallion Duke of Illinois.

November 20, 1895, Mr. Squires married Miss Theodosia E. Giles, daughter of T. J. Russell Giles, a native of Tennessee, who came to Skagit county in 1891, and is now living at Rosario. Mrs. Squires' mother, Martha ( Best) Giles, also a native of Ten- nessee, is likewise living. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Squires three children have been born, namely, Theodora, James T., Jr., and Mary Gladys. Mr. Squires is a member of the La Conner Camp of Woodmen of the World and with his wife affiliates with the Fraternal Union of America. He belongs to the Democratic party, which in 1898 honored him by making him its candidate for county treasurer. In religion the family are Congregationalists. Mr. Squires is one of the popular men of his commu- nity, energetic, refined, well informed on all topics, progressive and ambitious.

WILLIAM WOOD, engaged in farming a mile and a half south of Fravel, is one of the pioneers of Skagit county, having come here in 1867, and it is noteworthy that he has not since been farther away from his original homestead than Olympia. In his early days he was a prospector and on one occasion nearly met death with four others while on a trip up the south fork of the Nooksack. The men started out with their provisions on their backs and camped the first night at Whatcom lake. From the lake they journeyed on, making but a single mile the first day owing to the thickness of the brush and the steepness of the mountain. That night they camped without water and were with-

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BIOGRAPHICAL

out it until the middle of the following afternoon, when they had to take their choice of bear-tainted pools or nothing. The sufferings of the men were intense, and Mr. Wood says he then came nearer death than at any other time in all his pioneer ex- periences. Mr. Wood was born in Liberty, Mainc. January 21, 1839, the second of five children of Phineas and Mary ( French) Wood, both of whom were natives of the Pine Tree state. They were of a sturdy, patriotic stock. Mr. Wood's grand- father left Admiral Cockburn's fleet in the Revolu- tionary War to espouse the cause of liberty.

At fourteen years of age William Wood of this article left home and came to San Francisco via Cape Horn. He remained there but a year, how- ever, then returned to New York, via Cape of Good Hope, but in 1859 he was once more in San Francisco. He remained a year there, then came on to Whatcom and made that place his home until 1867, when he came to Skagit county. During the time spent in Whatcom he followed fishing in the summers and working at different callings in the winters. On one hunting trip he saw a herd of twenty-seven deer, so plentiful was game in those early days. Mr. Wood left Whatcom dircet for the country where Edison now is, accompanied by Ben Samson, Captain John Warner and Watson Hodge, none of whom is now living. The four squatted on land near each other, and there Mr. Wood has since resided. He had to wait four years for a surveyor.

In 1863 Mr. Wood married Mary Wood, and they have had fourteen children, eight of whom are living: Mrs. Annie Smith of Fravel; Lucy, in Whatcom: John, in Alaska; Andrew, at Gray's Harbor ; Ella, at Whatcom; and James, Thomas and Fannie, at home. Onc daughter, Mrs. Nettie Crane, died at New Westminster, B. C., in Decem- ber, 1905. In politics Mr. Wood is a Democrat, but aside from serving as justice of the peace on Fidalgo island and as road supervisor, he has never held any office of a political nature. He has one hundred and twenty acres of land. all but twenty of which are cleared and devoted principally to raising hay and oats. In live stock he has six head of horses, fourteen head of cattle, a number of hogs. etc. Ile is one of the old-time citizens of Skagit county and has seen the country pass from a state of absolute wildness to its present condition of prosperous settlement, himself keeping fully abreast of all this progress. He enjoys the esteem of pio- neers and later comers alike.

ALFRED J. LAWSON is one of the pros- perous farmers of the Fravel region of Skagit county, his place being but half a mile from the town. Here, by energy and business ability, he has within a few years accumulated a small fortune and he still continues to increase his substance. Mr. Lawson was born in Henry County, Illinois, Feb-

ruary 19, 1862, the seventh of the ten children of Charles and Annie C. ( Wiren) Lawson, natives of Sweden, who came to the United States in early life and became prosperous farmers in Illinois. The elder Lawson came to Washington six years ago and is living in Seattle, where four of his daughters reside. He also has a son at La Conner. Alfred J. Lawson remained at home in Illinois until his mar- riage, then rented a farm for two years. On com- ing to Washington he spent a few months in Scat- tle, then bought seventy-five acres of timber land, a portion of which he cleared during the five years of his residence upon it. He came to La Conner in 1895 and leased six hundred and forty acres of land, two hundred and forty of which were under cultivation. He continued there until January 1, 1904, then bought the one hundred and fourteen acres where he now lives, all of which is in culti- vation, his specialty being hay and oats.

In 1888 Mr. Lawson married Miss Emily Peter- son, a native of Illinois, daughter of John and Mar- garet (Johnson) Peterson, who were born in Swe- den, but came to this country and settled in Moline, Illinois, where Mr. Peterson operated a wagon shop until his death in 1871. Mrs. Lawson is the young- est of five living children, her four brothers being now residents of Seattle. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have six children : Minnie M., Ruth M. A., George B., Maurice W., David J. and Willard A. In poli- tics Mr. Lawson is a Prohibitionist. He is serving at present as a member of the school board. The family are adherents of the Methodist faith, of which church Mrs. Lawson is a member of the aid society. While putting his greatest efforts in the direction of raising hay and oats, Mr. Lawson has considerable live stock, which includes ten head of horses, four of which are of Hambletonian stock and the remainder largely Percherons. Mr. Law- son is a man of energy and force of character, high- ly respected by all who know him, of recognized in- tegrity, successful in business and a commanding figure in his community.

GEORGE ECKENBERGER, whose farm is a mile and a quarter cast of Samish, was one of the first settlers on Samish island, and has experienced all the vicissitudes which come to the pioneer in the timbered country. He was born in Posey County, Ohio, December 23, 1843, the third of the six chil- dren of Leonard and Henrietta Eckenberger. The father died when the son was young during the cholera epidemic, and the mother subsequently mar- ried Captain Yocham of the union army. She lived until 1900. Mr. Eckenberger of this article left his home in 1860 and went to Alabama to follow steamboating. When the Civil War broke out he came north, enlisted in the Thirtieth Ohio under Captain Riley and served with that command at the second battle of Bull Run and in other engage-

SKAGIT COUNTY

ments. lle was at home on sick leave when the war closed, but soon after went to Indiana, and at Evansville, in that state, he worked twelve years at masonry. Hle then crossed the continent by rail to San Francisco and came thence to Seattle, dur- ing his two years' residence in which city he made a trip to Samish island and took up the land on which he now lives. Mrs. Eckenberger was the first white woman on the island. and preceded the second one by seven years. She held the place at intervals while he was in Seattle, and at one time passed eighteen months without once looking upon the face of a white woman. The claim was under heavy timber, and thousands of feet of good mer- chantable trees had to be destroyed to make way for the clearing and the crops. The third year that they lived here a forest fire swept the island, leaving them with only a sack of flour and a couple of blankets, and things looked so discouraging that Mr. Eckenberger then offered to sell his place for $300, but could not find a purchaser. Hard times were experienced until the boom commenced in 1881-2. then Mr. Eckenberger's knowledge of the country stood him in good stead in locating settlers. Until recent years he has held all his original land. but now has sold all but sixty acres. This remnant he devotes to cattle raising. dairving, hay and fruit, seven acres of it being in orchard of first quality.

In Evansville, Indiana, June 5, 1865, Mr. Eck- enberger married Miss Elizabeth Garis, who was born July 4, 1842, daughter of Benjamin and Alice ( Hayes) Garis, of whom little record exists to-day. Mrs. Eckenberger had two brothers in the union army. She and Mr. Eckenberger are the parents of eight children, of whom five are living : Fred C., Mrs. Lucy Rhodes, Mrs. Martha llopley. George and John. Mr. Eckenberger is a Democrat in poli- tics, interested in matters of public concern, as a good citizen should be, but not an office seeker. He has. however, served as road supervisor and mem- ber of the school board. Though he has passed through the extremes of hard times, he has always rallied and is now in good financial circumstances. He is respected in his community as a man of many sterling qualities of character.

GEORGE DEAN, a shipwright by trade. for many years postmaster at Samish, one of the early comers to Samish island, has made a success in business, though at times he has had trying experi- ences. He was born in Banffshire, Scotland. Jan- tiary 15, 1850. the fourth of the ten children of Will- iam and Catherine ( Ilorn) Dean, both of whom lived and died in the old country. When a lad of fourteen years George Dean left home to serve a five years' apprenticeship to the trade of shipwright- ing. On receiving his papers he worked at Aber- deen, Dundee and Glasgow, Scotland, and New-

castle, England, each time changing location on ac. count of labor troubles. In 1875 he came to the United States, landing in New York, and started on a tour of the country, which was finished at Seattle in the fall of 1815, Mr. Dean arriving there on the first iron steamer which entered that port. The city boasted of but two hotels then, the Occi- dental and the New England.

After looking over Seattle for two weeks, Mr. Dean came to Samish, where a brother was keeping store and postoffice at the steamboat landing. Sam- ish was then the chief distributing point for the whole valley back as far as Warner's prairie, but there was but one white family on the Samish flats. Mail came by the steamer "J. B. Libby" once a week and the steamer "Dispatch" from Port Town- send also stopped once in seven days. It was not an unusual sight to see a band of one hundred Samish Indians about the store and postoffice, and Mr. Dean soon became able to converse with them. Much of the water front around Edison had been taken up. but no one lived there until about 1880, when settlement began in earnest. Soon after his arrival Mr. Dean built a saw-mill. using wind as motive power, and with lumber turned out from that mill he built a schooner which he sailed for nine years ; then he built the steamer "Mary Pur- ley" and operated that for three and a half years, eventually selling out. On the death of his brother Mr. Dean took charge of the property. A difficulty arose with the shipowners and none would stop at his wharf or warehouse except the independent boats, but he did business with these for two years. He continued to be postmaster until 1892, when he went to Unalaska to build river boats, in company with J. F. T. Mitchell of Seattle, for the Boston & Alaska Trading Company. On his return Mr. Dean worked out the details of a new fishing device which combines the qualities of the purse seine with those of the pile trap, and is adapted for work in either deep or shallow water. The device has been pat- ented, and the authorities consider it the most val- uable thing of the kind developed in this state for a decade and a half. Mr. Dean has never married. In politics he is a Republican. He is a man of en- ergy, wide awake, thorough in business and posses- sing traits of personal character that win for him the confidence of his associates and the respect of all whom he meets.

CHARLES W. HODGE, farmer of Samish, is a native of the Puget sound country and one of the large poultrymen of Skagit county. He was born in Bellingham. October 22, 1868. the fifth of the nine children of Watson and Jennie Hodge. The elder Hodge, a native of Burlington, Connecticut, started for the Pacific coast when a young man. He came around the Horn and was shipwrecked on the coast of Panama some three hundred miles

BIOGRAPHICAL

from a shipping point. In company with another man he purchased a horse for the transportation of their belongings, but the partner stole the horse and Mr. Hodge's boots as well, forcing the unlucky traveler to cover the remaining distance in his sock feet. That was not the only unpleasant experience of this eventful trip, for at one place Mr. Hodge was arrested as a suspicious person by the Mexicans and held for a month. Eventually, however, he arrived safely in California, but was soon drawn into the gold excitement at Cariboo, British Colum- bia, where he spent six years, doing well. He then came over to Bellingham and engaged in business there, later, however, moving to Edison and pre- empting one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he held for six years, and upon which the town was built. On selling out he went to Samish island and took a homestead of eighty acres, which is now held by his heirs. He died in 1905.

Charles W. Hodge attended school until he was fourteen years of age, then went to work in a log- ging camp in the vicinity of Edison. He followed logging at various points along the sound for twen. ty-two years and ten years ago took up farming.

In 1895 Mr. Hodge married Miss Alice Hansen, daughter of William and Jennie Hansen. The father was born in Norway, but came to the United States in 1853 and soon after took up his residence in the Pacific Northwest. He lived in Skagit county until 1898, farming on the Samish river, and is now a resident of Tacoma. Mrs. Hansen, a native of British Columbia, was the mother of fourteen chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Hodge is the tenth. Mr. and Mrs. Hodge have six children: Herbert E., W. Douglass, Lydia M., Ivan Roosevelt, Stanley W. and Glenn L. In politics Mr. Hodge is a Repub- lican. He has been road supervisor of his district, but aside from that has not held any public office. Most of his land is devoted to the poultry busi- ness, his yards containing at present a magnificent and numerous flock of Brown Leghorns. He is also well provided with horses and cattle of the best grades for the operation of the farm. Mr. Hodge is one of the representative citizens of his community ; a wide-awake, active man, who enjoys the esteem of all who know him, and ever shows himself an aggressive influence in the progress of its people and its industries.

FRITZ JOHNSON, a farmer, stock raiser and dairyman just outside of Belleville, though born in Sweden in 1869, is in reality a pioneer of western Skagit county. He is the son of John S. and Han- nah (Carlson) Johnson, neither of whom ever left their native country, and both of whom have passed away. They were parents of five children: Mrs. Lena Olson, wife of S. P. Olson of Brown's slough; Fritz, Gust, Annie and Carl, the last three of whom live in Seattle. Up to the time he was

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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 142

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