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 155

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 155
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 155

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

846

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

serving an apprenticeship of three years the young man went to Pierce county, Wisconsin, in 1853, being one of the pioneers who took up a preemp- tion claim in the Badger state. In 1862 Mr. Pack- ard enlisted as a private in Company A, of the Thirtieth Wisconsin volunteers, and served three years, being mustered out as a quartermaster ser- geant at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 5, 1865. He returned to Wisconsin and entered a general store as clerk. In 1870, after having been a resident of the Badger state for a period of seventeen years, save his service as soldier, Mr. Packard came to the Puget Sound country. His first year in this region was passed as a storekeeper on the White river not far from Seattle. In August, 1871, Mr. Packard came to Snohomish county and for two years was in the grocery business in Snohomish, when he sold out his store and for two years fol- lowed ranching. In 1875, in company with D. B. Jackson, Mr. Packard returned to the mercantile life, opening a general store in Snohomish, which was continued until in 1879 Mr. Jackson acquired the entire business. Mr. Packard then returned to Wisconsin, and again entered the same store which he had left in 18:0 as clerk. He remained in his old state for three years and then once more set out for Washington. In June of 1883 Mr. Packard came to Skagit county and passed three years with his son-in-law. In September of 188? Mr. Packard and his son opened their well known store for gen- eral merchandise which they operated for thirteen years and until the retirement of the elder Packard.

In December, 1855, in Wisconsin, Mr. Packard married Miss Cynthia Flint, daughter of Parker and Sarah A. Flint, natives of Vermont and subse- quently residents of Wisconsin. Mrs. Packard was born in the Green Mountain state, where she also received her education. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Packard, one of whom, Dan- iel D., died while a child. The living are: Clayton, a resident of Everett ; Mrs. Lorie M. Jackson, liv- ing in Seattle; Myron L., Sarah A., at home ; Charles F., living in Copeland, Idaho, and Mrs. Nellie P. Wetherill living in Bridport, Vermont. In politics Mr. Packard is a Republican. He was deputy county treasurer in 1872 and was elected auditor of Snohomish county in 1843. He served several terms as probate judge, in the early days, and was a member of the first council of the city of Snohomish, receiving his appointment to that body at the hands of the governor. Mr. Packard's life has been one of conscientious service in public life: consistency and integrity being his distinguish- ing characteristics. He is a man of large public spirit and is held high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, and more especially among his old pioneer friends, who are more familiar with his sterling qualities.

WILLIAM WHITFIELD, retired logger and merchant of Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of the city and county and a man received in the high- est degree of respect by old and young alike. Mr. Withfield has had a curious career and a curiously active one, but whether as sailor, farm hand, public official or business man he has commanded the at- tention of his intimates as a man of forceful char- acter. He was born in London, England, in Sep- tember of 1846, the son of Thomas and Susan ( Mid- dleton) Whitfield. The elder Whitfield was a coop- er by trade, who in middle life left England for New Zealand, where both he and wife died in the carly eighties. Young Whitfield attended the English schools until he was thirteen, at which age he engaged in the coasting trade on vessels bound out from London. For six years Mr. Whitfield fol- lowed this kind of work, but in 1864 he shipped aboard a deep sea vessel, sailing from Liverpool. She was the Knight Bruce, bound for Victoria, Van- couver Island, British Columbia. The voyage around the Horn was completed in six months and two days. On the 9th of January, 1865, Mr. Whit- field left the vessel and on the same day made his way across the strait of Juan de Fuca and landed in Port Angeles. From there he walked to Dun- geness and went to work on the farm of Alexander Rawlings. Until April of that year he worked for Mr. Rawlings and Ilenry Grey, going then to Port Ludlow. Failing to find work he crossed the sound to Mukilteo, where he engaged to the logging camp of McLane & Jewett, remaining with that firm for two years. The years until 1869 were passed in different logging camps on the Snohomish river, and in that year Mr. Whitfield experienced a long- ing for the sea and late in the fall shipped as third mate of a vessel bound from Burravid's Inlet, Brit- ish Columbia, to Melbourne, Australia. He was eighty-four days en route, and soon after reaching Australia went to Christ Church New Zealand. He remained in the antipodes for a period of six months, ultimately returning to the United States at San Francisco, landing there in the fall of 1870. Mr. Whitfield's next move was to Evansville, Indiana, where he passed two years as engineer in a flouring mill. In August of 1872 he was at Lowell on the Snohomish in charge of E. D. Smith's logging camp. He continued there for three years and in the fall of the Centennial year was elected county commissioner of Snohomish county and removed to the city of Snohomish. Two years later he was elected sheriff and was chosen for a second term. Mr. Whitfield lived in the city until 1888, when he purchased a farm a mile and a half east of town. In 1891 in company with Samuel Vestal he opened a store in the city, walking to and from his work and his farm home. He continued thus until in 1904 the business was closed and Mr. Whitfield moved his family into the city, where he has since resided.

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BIOGRAPHICAL

In 18:1 at Evansville, Indiana, Mr. Whitfield married Miss Alwine Geue, daughter of John F. W. and Wilhelmina Geue, natives of Germany. Mr. Gene was a cabinet maker by trade, coming to the United States in 1848 and settling in Indiana. In 1826 he came to Snohomish county and has since made his home here. Mrs. Geue passed away in this county some years ago. Mrs. Whitfield was born in Evansville and received her education there. To her have been born five children : Mrs. Susan Nerdrum, living at Sedro-Woolley: Mrs. Minnie Nickerman. a resident of Bellingham : William Whitfield, also of Bellingham, and Guy and George, who are still at the home of their parents. In politics Mr. Whit- field is a Republican, and in addition to the offices he has held, as previously mentioned, he received the appointment of tide land commissioner from the late Governor Laughton. In fraternal circles he is a Mason and of the royal arch degrees. Mr. Whitfield has considerable property in the county, consisting of timber land and holdings in the city of Everett. Mr. Whitfield is singularly popular in his home town with young and old alike. He is a man of kindly disposition, yet of forceful character. He is an interesting conversationalist and draws from a large fund of personal experiences for the entertainment of his friends.

HIRAM D. MORGAN is one of the few men in Snohomish county from whom the younger genera- tion may hear first handed the story of experiences in crossing the plains in the days before the people in the nation at large understood very much about the Puget Sound country. In 1853 he commenced his life in the present state of Washington, and he has been intimately connected with the progress and development of the territory and state ever since that October day when he dismounted from his horse at Olympia and went to work finishing the first legislative hall in the historic old town by the Tumwater. Mr. Morgan modestly styles himself a retired mechanic, but his friends claim for him the title of one of the makers of the state of Washing- ton. Mr. Morgan was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the first day of October, 1822, the fifth of six children of Calvin and Nancy (Craig) Morgan, both of whom were born in New York state about a year after the signing of the Declaration of In- dependence of the American colonies. The elder Morgan removed from New York shortly after marriage and became a pioneer of Ohio in the days soon after General George Rogers Clark had saved that part of the country to the union. Both of the parents of Iliram D. Morgan passed away in Ohio. As a lad young Morgan had few advantages by way of schooling, but in later years his powers of observation and grasp by intuition have stood him well in hand, more than counterbalancing the lack of formal educational training. When fifteen

years of age he took up the trade of carpenter at home and followed it at irregular intervals until he had attained his majority. The trade of car- penter in the pioneer days of Ohio included a knowl- edge of work along more special lines than are carried by the craft in these days. Many are the spinning wheels which Mr. Morgan fashioned for the housewives of the old Buckeye state and many are the pieces of cabinet work which have come from his hands.

In,his twenty-second year Mr. Morgan married Miss Ann M. Van Arsdale, who passed away with- in two years of her wedding, one child blessing the brief union. In 1846 Mr. Morgan removed to Os- kaloosa, Iowa, and two years later united in mar- riage to Miss Mary J. Trout, daughter of John and Sarah Trout. For a number of years Mr. Morgan followed the trades of carpenter and cabinet maker in Iowa. In 1853 he determined to leave the middle west and cast in his fortunes in the country then attracting attention because of the struggle going on for its possession after Dr. Whitman had told the statesmen at Washington that the United States could not afford to lose Oregon to the British. Cross- ing the plains and the continental divide by ox team Mr. Morgan reached the Dalles on the 25h of Aug- ust, 1853. His first days were employed as car- penter in the construction or finishing of sailing vessels and flat boats plying on the Columbia. When the autumn season came on he went to Portland, from which he took steamer to the mouth of the Cowlitz river in Washington, thence by canoe and horseback, up river and across land, reaching Olym- pia on the 18th of October, 1853. Announcing himself as a carpenter, he found that the work of building the first legislative hall in Olympia had not been completed. Mr. Morgan took the contract and completed the structure. He then announced himself as a cabinet maker and soon had the con- tract for making the desks for the legislators, the first articles of their kind known in the legislature, some of which are still in existence in the state capi- tal and last winter did service in the committee rooms of the legislative bodies. Mr. Morgan also did all the fine interior finishing work in the state library and in the old state house. Mr. Morgan's work in Olympia was interrupted by the breaking out of the Indian war of 1855-56. In the latter year Governor Isaac I, Stevens appointed Mr. Mor- gan head carpenter on the Squaxon reservation, in which capacity he served until he undertook a contract for erecting houses on the reservation. This work was followed by the erection of thirteen houses on the Puyallup reservation, the lumber used in the construction of which was manufactured from tim- ber growing on the site of the present city of Ta- coma. On completing this latter contract Mr. Mor- gan returned to Olympia, then the chief town of the territory, remaining there until the opening of the year 1858. He then decided to visit Iowa. Ilis

848

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

route lay through Portland and San Francisco. At the latter city he took steamer for the Isthmus of Panama, whence he took passage to New York, arriving in Iowa on the 20th of February. In the following spring Mr. Morgan removed to Kansas, but remained in that state only a year. The Puget Sound country appealed to him strongly, and in May of 1859 Mlr. Morgan was once more behind his ox teams and traveling via Denver for Olympia, his family accompanying him. During the winter of 1859-60 he cleared the ground where stood the first capitol building, which should not be con- founded with the first legislative hall. Some months followed at the carpenter trade, when Mr. Morgan accepted the position of agent at the Tulalip Indian reservation. In July of 1862 he returned to Olympia and a year later took up a homestead on Mud Bay, an arm of Puget Sound some four miles west of Olympia and Budd's Inlet. Mr. Morgan lived on this place until 1875, improving it and putting it under cultivation. In that year he passed six months in search of health in California. On his return from San Francisco he brought with him a stock of goods and opened up a grocery store at Olympia, which he sold in the spring of 1876 just before he came to Snohomish county and city. He reached here in the month of March, and in the fall of that year in company with E. C. Ferguson he purchased a small sawmill. Mr. Ferguson sold his interest and the mill soon passed into the hands of Mr. Morgan's sons who still operate it. Mr. Morgan has lived in retirement since turning the mill over to his sons.

In politics Mr. Morgan has been a Republican. In Kansas he was postmaster. Since coming to Washington he has been county commissioner, pro- bate judge and justice of the peace. In fraternal circles he is a Mason, the organizer of Centennial lodge of Snohomish. He is a communicant of the Christian church. The children of Mr. Morgan who are living are: Mrs. Lucetta Ferguson, wife of E. C. Ferguson ; Benjamin H. and Alonzo, pro- prietors of the Morgan Bros. mills in Snohomish. John, who at one time owned an interest in the mill, has died, leaving a widow. Charles D., Lillian M. and Marshall B. died during childhood. Full of years and going gently down the sunset side of the mountain of life, Mr. Morgan is a reminder of the days when it was necessary to be a man of sterling parts to carve a commonwealth out of the forest. His recollection of the early days of the territory are among the pleasantest of a long life of great activity and abundant worth.

HON. BENJAMIN H. MORGAN, mill man of Snohomish, is one of the native sons of Washington, a man who has passed his adult life in Snohomish county and who has always been identified with one of the great industries for which the Evergreen state is famous the world over. Mr. Morgan is one

of the most successful business men of Snohomish and a man of influence throughout the entire coun- ty and state as a member of the legislature. Mr. Morgan was born in Olympia in 1861, the son of Hiram D. and Mary J. (Trout) Morgan, pioneers of Washington in the early fifties. The elder Mor- gan is one of the prominent pioneers of the terri- tory, a complete sketch of the life of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Benjamin H. Morgan received his earlier education in the Olympia schools, finishing in Snohomish county to which he came when eighteen years of age. Mr. Morgan's early days were intimately associated with his father's milling business and he thoroughly learned the principles of lumber trade and lumber material work. When twenty-two years of age Mr. Morgan in company with his brother, purchased the interest of the elder Morgan in the pioneer mill of Snohom- ish. Up to this time the father and a brother John, the latter of whom had earlier acquired the interest of E. C. Ferguson, had operated the mill. On the death of John Morgan, Benjamin HI. and Alonzo Morgan obtained complete control of the establish- ment and have conducted the business to the pres- ent time under the name of Morgan Bros. Much of the timber near the city found its way to the Morgan mill. To the original saw-mill has been added a shingle mill, the capacity of the establishment now being 30,000 feet of lumber and :5,000 shingles a clay. Mr. Morgan devotes his entire time to the mill business.

In 1885 at Snohomish Mr. Morgan married Miss Nettie Foss, daughter of Fred and Almira ( Deer- ing ) Foss, natives of Maine who came to Washing- ton in 1815 and are still living in Snohomish. Mrs. Morgan was born in the Pine Tree state in 1868. To Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have been born two chil- dren: Maud, in 1886, and Benjamin, in 1889. In politics Mr. Morgan is an ardent and influential Republican. He is a member of the city council and has been for ten years in that body. In the campaign of 1902 Mr. Morgan was elected to the legislature and re-elected two years later. As a mem- ber of the legislature he has been one of the leading men and during the last session was chairman of the committee on commerce and manufacture. In fraternal circles Mr. Morgan is a member of the Masonic order, having taken the Royal Arch degrees ; an Odd Fellow. being a past grand, mem- ber of the Encampment and of the Rebekahs. He is also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees. In addition to the mill plant and his share in it, Mr. Morgan owns about 600 acres of land, some of which are timber and some logged off. Mr. Mor- gan is a man of attainments and force of character, easily one of the foremost citizens of Snohomish.

ALONZO W. MORGAN, prominent business man of Snohomish and one of the proprietors of the

849

BIOGRAPHICAL

Morgan Bros.' mills in this city, is one of the in- fluential citizens of the county, a man of integrity, of force of character and those qualities which make for success in any walk of life. Mr. Morgan is a native son of Washington, having been born in Olympia in September 24. 1863, the son of Hiram D. and Mary ( Trout) Morgan, pioneers of Wash- ington in the early territorial days. The elder Morgan is one of the few remaining pioneers of the first movements of immigration to the Pacific northwest. A sketch of his remarkable life appears elsewhere in this work. Alonzo W. Morgan at- tended the schools of Olympia until he was thir- teen years of age, his parents at that time moving to Snohomish. It was here that his education was completed. At eighteen he entered the service of his father in the pioneer saw-mill in this part of the country. An older brother, John. had purchased the interest of his father's partner, E. C. Ferguson, and after John's death Alonzo and another brother. Benjamin. assumed the entire business, the father retiring from active life at that time. In the old days the mill was known as that of H. D. Morgan & Son; Morgan Bros. Company is the name it now bears. The Milling Company is incorporated and $25,000 of capital stock has been paid in. Benjamin Morgan is president ; Alonzo W. Morgan, secretary and treasurer. In 1885 the brothers added to the saw and shingle mills already existing a sash and door factory, which is still in successful operation in connection with the other two branches of the business. Mr. Morgan's time is occupied with milling.

In 1891 at Seattle Mr. Morgan married Miss Agnes C. Newhall, daughter of Captain William and Margaret ( Liddell) Newhall. Captain Newhall was born in Maine and early took to the sea, be- coming skipper of a vessel at twenty and continuing the life of a sailor for half a century. lle came around the Horn in 1847 and is now living in retire- ment with the subject of this sketch. Mrs. New- hall was a native of Scotland and married in South America. She passed away when Mrs. Morgan was four years old. Mrs. Morgan was born in Maine, but coming to the Pacific coast with her father, received her education in the schools of Seattle, finishing with the State University at Seattle. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan ; Kenneth who died in infancy, Mil- dred. Iloward and Clifford A. In politics Mr. Mlor- gan is a Republican. In fraternal orders he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the Knights of Pythias and of the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoos. Mr. Morgan's favorite form of recreation is hunting, being an ardent admirer of game fowl of all kinds. He is a man of sterling personality, of genial disposition and of much popu- larity,

FRED V. FOSS, cigar and confectionery mer- chant in Snohomish, has had a long and honorable career in different lines of business activity in va- rious parts of the land. He has suffered reverses, endured hardships and undergone privations, yet he is to-day recovered financially and is one of the prosperous business men of his home city. Mr. Foss was born in Aroostook county, Maine, Jan. 29. 1845, the eldest of three sons of Elias and Betsy ( Niles) Foss. Christopher Foss, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a soldier of the War of 1812, a man of the hardy principles of New England stock. Fred V. Foss at the age of eighteen entered upon business for himself, farming and lumbering constituting his chief lines for a number of years. Until he attained his majority he turned over a part of his earnings to his father, but on his arrival at twenty-one he formed a partnership with Leavitt Moss in operating a stage line between Bradley and Bangor, Maine. The firm also conducted a grocery business in Bradley. The coming of the railroad put the stage out of business, but Mr. Foss con- tinned the mercantile establishment until the com- mercial panic of 1813 put him also out of business. Mr. Foss returned to work in the pine forests of his home state, determined to retrieve his fortunes. He was tireless in his efforts and honest in his dealings with his employers, with the result that he was successively advanced to positions of trust in the establishment. In 1889 Mr. Foss decided to come to Washington and at the invitation of Black- man Bros., formerly saw and grist mill men of Bradley, he accepted the position of tallyman in their saw-mill at Snohomish. He remained with that firm for some time, leaving to take a position in a grocery store. He was three years with that establishment and on the completion of the water works of Snohomish became superintendent and treasurer of the new venture, which positions he held for two years. Mr. Foss then went to San Francisco and passed seven months as motorman on the street railways of the California metropolis. On his return he entered mill work at Everett, ulti- mately entering the work of bridge construction for the Great Northern railway. In 1901 he established his present business which has been constantly growing in volume and profit.

In 1820 while living in Bradley, Maine, Mr. Foss married Miss Flora B. Blackman, a native of the Pine Tree state, who passed away in this county in 1895. In 1901 Mr. Foss married Miss Alice Day, a native of Vermont. In politics Mr. Foss is a strong Republican and an active worker in the party councils. In fraternal circles he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Foss feels that the days of his reverses are passed and that for the remainder of life Fortune will deal kindly with him. He is one of the respected and influential citizens of Snohomish, whose determina-

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tion to do has not been broken by a succession of misfortunes.

In politics he is a Republican since the fusion movement drove him from the Democratic party.

CHARLES HAWKINSON, until recently one of the successful merchants of Snohomish engaged in the cigar and confectionery lines, now a pros- perous logger, has been in Snohomish county for a decade and a half, during which time he has stead- ily advanced by economy and energy from the posi- tion of a laborer in the lumber business first to the proprietorship of a prosperous commercial business of his own and then to logging on his own account. Mr. Hawkinson was born in Sweden March 23, 1854, the son of Hawkin and Maria ( Tryls) Swen- son, farmer folk, whose entire lives were passed in their native land. They had ten children, of whom Charles is the fifth. He attended the schools of Sweden only during the years of boyhood, early in life being compelled by necessity to support himself. Ile had few educational advantages because of this fact, but this disadvantage has been greatly offset by his keen powers of observation and ability to learn the lessons of whatever experience he under- went. When thirty years of age he left Sweden and came to the United States, settling in Cass county, North Dakota, in 1884. Ilere he engaged in farming for five years, then coming to the Puget Sound country and taking up a homestead thirteen miles northeast of Snohomish. He conducted farm- ing operations and engaged in lumbering up to 1902 when he moved to town, thinking it would be to the advantage of his children to furnish them with bet- ter educational facilities. He then established the confectionery business in which until the fall of 1905 he was steadily engaged with credit and with profit. Upon selling out his store he joined forces with others in purchasing a tract of timber land near Tolt about ten million feet in all, which they are now logging. Their firm name is the Novelty Logging Company.

In 1878 before leaving his native land Mr. Haw- kinson married Miss Inga Jensen, also a native of Sweden. To Mr. and Mrs. Hawkinson have been born four children: Hilma, Thekla, Oscar and , Commercial bank of Snohomish : Carl W., Walter

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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 155

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