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 179

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 179
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 179

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Mr. Eide was married April 16, 1892, to Christa Wald, born May 24, 1869, in Norway, in which country she was educated. She came to the United States in 1890. The following children have been born to this union, all natives of Snohomish county : Erick, January 18, 1893: Iven, April 10, 1895; Ingeborg, December 16, 1897: Anna O., February 22, 1899; Martha O., January 23, 1901; Christina,. April 4, 1903. Mr. Eide and his family are faith- ful attendants at the Lutheran church, and Mr. Eide is a loyal Republican. He has been road supervisor for two years. Known throughout the community as a thrifty, industrious man, who has reached his present prosperous condition by his own unaided efforts, he holds the respect of all who are acquainted with him.

OLE S. MATTERAND, one of the honored pioneers of the Stanwood country, is, like many others who have contributed very largely to the in- dustrial development of that favored portion of Snohomish county, a native of Norway, born July 10, 1847, the son of Syver and Karew (Olsen) Matterand. The former died in his Scandanavian home in 1896, but the latter still lives there, though now about eighty-eight years old. She is the mo- ther of twelve children of whom Ole S. is fourth.

Our subject received a common school educa- tion in his native land, also learned blacksmithing and received many valuable lessons both in the art of farming and in sustained industry on the par- ental farm, where he remained until nineteen years old. Upon reaching the age of twenty-one he de- cided to follow the example set him by many of his ambitious countrymen and come to the new world, the land of opportunity and plenty. His first per- manent abiding place in the United States was Chi- cago and his first employment was that of a steve- dore, but he did not remain at that arduous work long for in July 1868. he accepted employment in the Wisconsin forests as a logger. That fall he entered the service of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which stationed him at Green River, Wyoming. Taking up the work of a prospector in the spring of 1869, he went in turn to Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California, and in the winter of 1870 was devoted to carpentering in San Francisco. He came to Washington in the spring of 1871,

THE NEW YORK Dr.

- · RY

H. Anderson

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worked for a time in a logging camp at Port Gam- ble, then returned to San Francisco, where he re- mained a short time, going thence to Sacramento and spending the winter of 1813 there, engaged in boiler making. The ensuing summer was spent at work in the woods in California. In 1875 he started upon an extended trip through Europe lasting two years. Independence day, 1877, found him once more in Seattle, and the next fall he came to Stan- wood flats, took a pre-emption just across the river from Stanwood and began diking and clearing the same. He has been thus engaged ever since, and as a reward for his great labor, now has a fine produc- tive and highly valuable farm. At present he is cultivating about eighty-five acres. He gives some attention to the rearing of Durham cattle, keeping a herd of about thirty head in his pastures always.

In Norway, in the year 1876 Mr. Matterand married Emelis 1. Gaaken, who was born in that country May 18, 1854, the daughter of Isaac and Ollie (Olsen) Johnson, both now deceased. She acquired a common school education in the public schools of her fatherland, also learned the trade of a glove maker there, but her industrial career was cut short by her marriage at the age of twenty- two. The following children have been born to this union, namely, Clara, a native of Norway, now the matron in Dr. Allen's hospital; Mrs. Maggie C. Maller : Mrs. Sophia G. Joergensen, whose hus- band is the well known bookkeeper in the Union store and who is also herself a bookkeeper ; Ilaton O., at home ; Simon, deceased: Amel, Peter MI .. Ruth and Aaron, all of whom but the first two were born in Washington. The family adhere to the Seventh Day Adventist church, and Mr. Matterand is a loyal member of the Republican party. While he enjoys the abundance which has come to him as a reward for long years of strenuous endeavor, it is also his privilege to enjoy that grander meed of well spent years the esteem and honor of those who have known him since pioneer days and of those whose acquaintance is of more recent inception.

entered the Lutheran college, from which he was graduated six years later. He took his theological course in Saint Louis, completing it in 1818. Thus equipped for his life work, he was sent by the synod of his church as an assistant to the regular pastor at Stanwood, Washington, who also had charge of the work throughout the western part of this state and western Oregon. Soon after, the regular pastor being called to a church in Idaho, Rev. Joergenson was appointed to fill the vacancy. The following fourteen years were thus employed in caring for the interests of this wide field. Only those who have had experience in pioneer work of this kind can understand the arduous demands made upon time and strength, and the many trials and hardships encountered. Having taken a home- stead near Stanwood in the 'eighties, he found re- laxation from the mental strain of his profession in the pursuit of agriculture. Leaving behind him a record for faithfulness and fidelity to the sacred work to which he has devoted so many years of his life, he has now retired from the ministry, and intends spending his remaining years in the quiet walks of life.

Mr. Joergenson was married in Dane county, Wisconsin, September 18, 1878. to Christine Field, the daughter of John Field, a well known Lutheran minister who for many years prior to his death was stationed at Black Earth, Wisconsin. Mrs. Joer- genson was born in Norway May 1. 1858, and came with her parents to the United States when but two years oldl. After receiving a common and high school education in the schools of Wisconsin, she took a course in the Lutheran University at De- corah, lowa. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Joergenson as follows: Johan, Gustad, Petrine, Herman, Hannah. Maria, Berthe, Axel and Adolph. In political belief, Mr. Joergenson is a Populist, and loyally abides by his convictions at whatever cost. His is the type of manhood that insures the stability and strength of our govern- ment. Naturally a leader of men. it was largely through his influence that the Stanwood Co-opera- tive Creamery Association was formed, of which association he was the first president. He was also instrumental in opening the People's Union Store and Butcher Shop at Stanwood. In 1896 he was elected county commissioner. for a two year term. His holdings consist of a 125-acre farm where he resides, and 320 acres of unimproved land in Snoho- mish county. He is largely interested in the dairy industry. Broadly intelligent. possessed of the ster- ling qualities of mind and heart that irresistibly draw and hold men. Mr. Joergenson is one of the most influential members of the community.

REV. CHRISTIAN JOERGENSON, for many years one of the widely known ministers of the Lutheran church in the Northwest, now resides on his extensive farm near Stanwood. He was born in Parish of Land, Norway, in 1847, the son of Joergen and Bertha (Swenson) Peterson, both of whom spent their entire lives in their native coun- try, Norway. Christian Joergenson spent his boy- hood years in acquiring an education in the com- mon schools, and at the age of fourteen was con- firmed. Six years later he crossed the ocean to find a home in the United States, and after a brief stay in Illinois went to Wisconsin in 1868. remain- HENRY C. ANDERSON. Among the sons of ing one year. Going thence to Decorah, lowa, he | the Northland who have won distinguished success

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in the new world by persevering industry and dili- gence Henry C. Anderson is certainly to be as- signed a not inconspicuous place, for which with simple weapons he has conquered life so far, win- ning in the industrial sphere a success which many men, more favored by fortune to start with, would be proud to have achieved. Born in Norway in 1865, he was brought by his mother to Wisconsin when he was but a year old, his father having died in the homeland. As soon as he had acquired a good common school education he went to work on the parental farm and he continued in this em- ployment until 1885, when he moved to Kansas, thence to Texas and from that state to Colorado, remaining in the different commonwealths men- tioned for two years. Coming to Stanwood in 1887. he spent a couple of years at work in sawmills and on the farm of N. P. Leque, but in the fall of 1889 he moved to Seattle to accept a clerkship in a com- mission house. He was thus employed for a period of two years. at the end of which time he returned to Stanwood, and took up the occupation of farm- ing and for several years thereafter he was num- bered among the thrifty agriculturalists of that re- gion. In 1895, however, he resolved to seek the smiles of Dame Fortune in the far north, so moved to Fort Cudahy, Alaska, where the ensuing twelve- month was spent in the employ of the North Ameri- can Transportation & Trading Company. He then moved to the Klondike mining district, remaining until 1897. The next year early in the spring on the ice with a dog team he went in again, taking with him all the private mail for the North Ameri- can Transportation & Trading Company, and he has since made a couple of trips in and out of that far away mining district. It is a pleasure to record that his labors and privations in Alaska did not go unrewarded as have those of many another fortune seeker there, but on the contrary he was able to bring out a considerable sum of money with him.

In 1898 Mr. Anderson purchased his present home of four hundred aeres near Stanwood, and of this he has since cleared and brought under the plow about a fourth part. He is giving attention to the rearing of high grade Durham cattle for beef, being the owner at this writing of 150 head of these splendid animals.

In August, 1904, in company with the late Peter Leque, S. A. Thompson, Alfred Densmore, W. C. Brokaw, and Francis Girard, Mr. Anderson organ- ized the Bank of Stanwood, of which institution he has ever since been president. Under the capable management of him and his worthy associates it has already established an enviable reputation as one of the solid and progressive institutions of its kind in the state. While Mr. Anderson has admittedly been fortunate in his Alaska ventures his success in the world of industry and finance is but the

logical outcome of well laid plans, well directed industry and unconquerable persistence, and with it has come the respect always commanded by those who prove their worth in the stern struggle of life.

ERLEND LARSON, whose farm is three quar- ters of a mile southeast of Stanwood, is one of the pleasantest men to meet, genial, a hard worker, energetic and successful in running his bachelor farm. He was born in Norway in 1858, the seventh of the eleven children of Lars and Magnhild (Ras- mussen) Larson, natives of the land of fjords who never left there. Mrs. Larson lived until 1899. Er- lend Larson received his education in the old coun- try, remaining there with his parents until he was nineteen years of age. At that time he left home for the sea and he followed its fortunes for the en- suing seven years. In 1886 he came to the United States, settled in Minnesota and farmed there for a year. The subsequent two and a half years were passed in farming in Wisconsin, but in the spring of 1889 he came to Washington and for a year after his arrival he worked at various occupations in and around Gray's Harbor. He then took a contract for putting in railroad culverts between Montesano and Aberdeen. On completion of this work, which cov- ered about sixteen miles of the road, he went to Seattle and remained until 1892, when he bought land near Milltown in Skagit county. He was there for ten years and cleared part of his land, but in 1902 he moved onto his present place of ten acres. He is doing a general farming business, living alone on the farm much of the time with only his stock and his work for companions. He has eleven head of cattle. He says that he does not find it lone- some, as he is constantly occupied with his business, but he receives visitors with kindliness and welcome. While his farm is not large and he is not ambitious to become one of the magnates in agricultural cir- eles, he is liked by all, popular and recognized as a man of energy and sterling worth. In politics he is a Republican and in religion a Lutheran.

JOHN C. HANSEN, farmer near Stanwood, is a Scandinavian-American citizen who, after becom- ing an expert in the trade of cabinet maker in the old country, late in life turned his attention to agri- culture in the new land and has been successful in hiis more recent line of activity. Mr. Hansen was born in Norway in 1838. the son of Hans and Seuvana Johnson. The father lived and died in the old country, but the mother came to the United States and passed the closing years of her life in Minnesota. Young Hansen attended the common

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schools of Norway until he was sixteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the trade of cabinet maker, in learning which handicraft he passed four and a half years. The next two and a half years were spent at his trade in the city of Bergen. In 1861 he went to Hougensind and for twenty years operated a shop on his own account. In 1881 he closed this out, came to the United States and com- menced farming in Grant county, Minnesota. Six years were passed there, then he came to Washing- ton and preempted a piece of land in Snohomish county. Until 1901 he lived on this land, but in that year he sold out and purchased his present place of ten acres on the outskirts of Stanwood, where he has since resided.

In 1862, while living in Norway, Mr. Hansen married Miss Helen S. Hamilton, daughter of Mr. Hermanson, a shoemaker of Bergen, where Mrs. Hansen was born in 183; and where she grew up and obtained her education. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hansen, four of whom are living : Hans H., Mrs. Kittie Holsey, of Snoho- mish county ; John C. and Gilbert. In politics Mr. Hansen is a Republican, and the family is affiliated with the Lutheran church. Mr. Hansen is a popu- lar, energetic man, enjoying the respect and confi- dence of the community.

is remembered with greater feelings of kindliness at this date. In 1876 he again married, the lady being Carrie M. Crane, a native of Ohio, of the truest American blood, for she could trace her an- cestry back to those who came over in the May- flower. A highly educated lady, and by profession a school teacher, she became identified with the cause of education in Snohomish county during its pioneer days, presiding over the Florence school throughout its second term. She is now a resident of Seattle.

Our subject. George T. Ovenell, was born in Stanwood July 2, 1877. He acquired his education in the common schools of Colorado, also in the state university located at Denver, and in 1895 took a special course in bookkeeping there. Returning to Stanwood in 1896, he has since followed farm- ing in that vicinity continuously, except that he was in Alaska a couple of years during the gold excite- ment. The place where he is now living was se- cured by his father in October, 1882, at which time only about a third of it was under cultivation, the rest having since been cleared and subjected to the plow. It consists of one hundred acres of excellent land. well located, and brought by judicious and skillful tillage to a high degree of productivity. Like many other up-to-date farmers of the lower Stilla- guamish, Mr. Ovenell is making a specialty of dairy- ing and dairy cattle, though not to the exclusion of other forms of agriculture. His herd at present numbers thirty-five.

GEORGE T. OVENELL. Several times in the historical portion of this work reference has been In the town of Stanwood, in October, 1901, Mr. Ovenell married Miss Martha Gunderson, a native of Stanwood, born October 26, 1879. She is a daughter of the well known pioneer of the country, Peter Gunderson. She and Mr. Ovenell are par- ents of two children, namely, Theodore. born De- cember 31. 1902, and Winifred, February 21, 1904, both in Stanwood. In politics Mr. Ovenell is a Republican, in fraternal affiliations a Woodman of the Work and a blue lodge Mason. Mrs. Ovenell adheres to the Lutheran church. made to Thomas Ovenell, as a pioneer of the pioneers in the Stillaguamish valley and as one prominently identified with the history of Snoho- mish county. The young man whose life record is the theme of this article is a worthy son of that dis- tinguished citizen and is faithfully carrying forward the work which his father so well began. An edu- cated, bright, progressive young man, he has al- ready won for himself an honored place in the in- dustrial life of the community and in the confidence and regard of those with whom he is associated either in business or socially. His father, a native of England, born in 1836, left his home when twelve years old and crossed the sea to California, in which ALBERT S. HOWARD. The challenge which the excellent timber of the Puget sound country offered to industry has received many takers, not the least energetic and successful among whom is the man with whose life record this article pur- poses to deal. A pioneer in the shingle industry of the county and among the early sawmill men who established themselves and their industry on the eastern side of the sound, he has continued for many years to contribute his share toward the proc- ess of preparing for the uses of man the stately firs and cedars which characterize this part of the state, concomitantly bringing to the country some state he was engaged in mining, during the olen, golden days of 'forty-nine. In 1850 he went to Nova Scotia, where he remained a short time, com- ing thence to Whidby island, Washington, in 1851. There he took one of the first homesteads ever lo -. cated in that country, and there he married Miss Marcia Kelley, who bore him two children. 1874 he came to the Stanwood country, and iden- tified himself with the pioneer developments there. as already stated. He was one of the prominent farmers of the valley until 1884, when he died in California. None of the pioneer men of the Stillaguamish was more popular than he and none , of the wealth of other regions to eastward and

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withal adding his mite toward the general develop- ment.

Mr. Howard was born in North Carolina, De- cember 16, 1861. His father, Laffayette Howard, spent his entire life in that state, passing away in 1902, and his grandfather was one of the early pioneers of the same commonwealth. The mother of our subject, Mary ( Wikle) Howard, was like- wise a daughter of North Carolina and a member of a worthy pioneer family. She died there in 1904.

After acquiring the customary common school education and enjoying the benefit of a two year course in a high school, Mr. Howard spent a couple of years in practical pedagogy, after which he worked in a general store for six months. March 17, 1884, he adopted the slogan of "Westward Ho" and a little later he reached Seattle, where lie re- mained a short time. Going thence to Edison, Ska- git county, he took a piece of land where the town of Bow now is, but though he made that his head- quarters for several years, he did not give his at- tention to agriculture ; indeed he worked four years in taking out hemlock bark. In 1886 he built a shingle mill on that place, the first, as he thinks, in Skagit county. This he operated one year. In 188t he built a sawmill in the same locality, which mill he continued to operate until 1896, feeding it with logs which he himself took from land in the vicinity of Bow and in other parts of the county. In 1896 he moved his plant to Milltown and en- larged it materially, also opened a logging camp at Sedro-Woolley. The mill was run under the firm name of Howard & Butler. In 1899, Mr. Howard came to Stanwood and established there a sawmill, and the operation of this has engaged his energies ever since. In 1903 he took in D. G. Bennie, and the two incorporated under the firm name of the Stanwood Lumber Company, of which Mr. Howard is president and manager and Mr. Bennie secretary and treasurer.

In Prairie, Skagit county, in 1888, Mr. Howard married Miss Hattie F., daughter of Amariah and Mary E. (Heck) Kalloch. The father, a native of Maine, came to Washington in 1883. settled at Prairie and engaged in farming there. He died in Seattle in 1889. The mother was born in Kansas and died in that state. Kansas is also the birth- place of Mrs. Itoward, and February 19, 1869, the date of her advent upon the stage of this life. She was, however, educated in San Francisco, to which city she accompanied her parents while still a small girl. The children of her union with Mr. Howard are Lela, Nina. Frank, Maud, Fred, Ida, Mabel, Helen, and an unnamed baby. Mr. Howard is a public spirited man. ready always to bear his share of the publie burdens and at present expressing his interest in the cause of education by serving as school clerk. In politics he is a Democrat ; in fra- ternal affiliation an Odd Fellow. He is a past grand

in the order and he and his wife are both Rebekahs, while the latter is also a member of the Degree of Honor.

ALONZO LINCOLN WILLILITE is one of the self-made men of Snohomish county. By shrewdness in investment and by hard work he has gathered a competence in the Puget sound coun- try. He was born in Missouri in the early summer of 1865, the son of Conaway and Louisa Jane ( Chandler) Willhite, natives of Tennessee. The elder Willhite was born in 1826 and lived until 1895, leading a life of more than the usual activity. When nine years of age he was taken to Iowa, where he lived until twenty years old, then lie enlisted as a private for the Mexican war and fought under General Winfield Scott through the entire trouble with Mexico. After the peace treaty was signed Mr. Willhite went to the gold mines of California in 1849. Naturally a speculator, he went East and returned with a large band of cattle, which he had driven across the plains, and sold them in California at a good profit. In 1853 Mr. Willhite returned East and became a farmer in Missouri until the breaking out of the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in the Union army and served throughout the war. On his return he was commissioned captain in the Seventeenth Missouri militia and upon his discharge went back to his farm, remaining there until his death. Besides our subject, the living children of Mr. Willhite are : Lillian. Alta M., Dollie V., Claudius Grant, Thomas. Sherman and Clyde Harrison. Their mother is still living in the old Missouri home.

Alonzo L. Willhite, of this article, was educated in the schools of Missouri and took courses in two of the colleges of his native state when a youth. In after years he returned and took a business col- lege course at Chillicothe. Leaving his parents when twenty-two years of age, he came West with a good record for successful teaching in his native state. He arrived in Washington in 1888 and spent his first six months in Colfax. Coming to Stanwood in 1889, he worked at farming and in logging camps in the vicinity of that town until December, 1894, when he returned to Missouri to. take a course in a business college there. Upon completing this he embarked in the hardware busi- ness, and operated a store successfully until 1896, selling then to engage in farming. A year was thus spent, then he returned to Snohomish county, where he had bought, previous to going back to Missouri. a tract of eight acres situated near Stan- wood. To this he added fifty-five acres adjoining his own land, secured by purchase, and to the cul- tivation of his excellent sixty-three-acre farm he has devoted himself with assiduity ever since. He has one of the finest places of its size in the famed Stanwood country, well cultivated and prolific.

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with a handsomely furnished six-room modern house upon it. In addition to his farming oper- ations, Mr. Willhite is giving much attention to handling real estate securities, in which he has con- siderable money invested. The fact that he has ac- cumulated the capital with which to purchase mort- gages is itself a very high tribute to his frugality and thrift as well as his constructive ability as a business man.

In 1897, while in Missouri, Mr. Willhite mar- ried Miss Nellie Moser, daughter of Frederick Moser, who came from Germany, settled in Mis- souri and remained there till his death in 1874. The mother. Mrs. Katherina ( Watson ) Moser, a native of Canada, died in Springfield, Missouri, in the Centennial year. Left an orphan at an early age. Mrs. Willhite lived with a Mrs. Kelly as foster mother until fifteen, when she took up her resi- dence in the home of an uncle, with whom she re- mained until her marriage. She is an unusually well educated lady, having taken a course in the well known Drury college in Missouri. She and her family adhere to or are communicants in the Christian church. Fraternally Mr. Willhite is an active Mason, being secretary at present of his home lodge; in polities he is a Republican. His proved abilities as an agriculturist and business man and his integrity and fairness in all his deal- ings have won him the respect and esteem of all the residents of his community.

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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 179

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