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 180

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 180
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 180

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ANDREW J. BRUE-The citizens of any com- munity, state or nation, who form its real strength, its real backbone, are not the professional classes. nor the manipulators of stocks and bonds, nor the politicians, nor the men whose names are most in the public ear, but rather those sturdy toilers, un- known to fame, who apply brain and brawn vigor- ously to the making of industrial history, the con- quest and appropriation of natural resources, the making of two blades of grass to grow where one grew before. Such a man is Andrew J. Brue, who is engaged in farming and the dairy business a mile north of Stanwood. Like multitudes of others of the same worthy class, he is a son of Norway. Ile was born in 1833, one of the four children of John and Annie (Drage) Brue, both of whom were like- wise natives of the land of fjords and died there many years ago. Mr. Brue has two living brothers. He lived with his parents until he had reached the age of twenty, when he commenced life for him- self as a sailor on a trading vessel along the Nor- wegian coast. After being thus engaged for many years he came, in 1872, to Uncle Sam's domain. lo- cating first in Minnesota, where he worked at farm- ing and at the carpenter's bench for four years. Coming then to Snohomish county, he operated farms under leasehold for four years longer, meet-

ing with good success in his ventures, but naturally he desired something more permanent and to be de- pended on than leased land, so he purchased, as soon as he saw his way clear to do so, an eighty- aere tract near Stanwood. Upon this he has ever since lived, though he has sold twenty acres of his original purchase and is now farming only sixty acres. In addition to his home place Mr. Brue is the owner of thirty acres of very desirable bottom land. He is somewhat interested in the dairy busi- ness, keeping a few head of milch cows and owning some stock in the co-operative creamery at Stan- wood. He also has an interest in the co-operative store there. Since coming to this country he has had occasion to use the skill acquired in earlier life on the decks of Norwegian craft, for for five years he sailed the waters of Puget sound as master of his own vessel.

In his home land of Norway in 1868, Mr. Brue married Miss Helen, daughter of Thomas and Hoer- berg ( Uglehus) Berge, who have long since died in their native country. Mrs. Brue has one brother, Ole, and two sisters, Annie and Molena. She was born in 1838 and lived at home in Norway until her marriage. She and Mr. Brue have five living chil- dren, namely, John, Thomas, Elias, Ole and Annie, who, with their parents adhere to the Lutheran church. In politics Mr. Brue is a Republican, but further than to keep posted on matters at issue, local and general, and to vote intelligently upon them, takes little active part in governmental affairs, though he acted at one time as deputy county as- sessor. Though a plain citizen, he is recognized as a man of business acumen, and enjoys in abundant measure the esteem and confidence of those who know him most intimately.

FRANK L. CONNERS is a successful farm operator in the Stanwood district of Snohomish county, owning one hundred and twenty acres of high land of excellent agricultural quality a short distance east of town and also a five-acre plat just outside the city limits, on which he makes his home. Mr. Conners is a native of Washington County, Maine, born in 1868. His father, John Con- ners, was also a native of the Pine Tree state and lived there until 18:5, when he came to the Puget sound country and located on the Stanwood flats. By occupation he was a teamster until his retire- ment ten years ago. He died in March of 1901. Mrs. Phoebe ( Kelley) Conners was also a native of Washington County, Maine, and died in that state in 1815, the mother of six children, of whom the liv- ing are John, William, Frank L. and Gertrude. Frank L. Conners attended the Maine schools, but after his mother's death, which occurred when he was seven years old, he lived with an uncle until he was fourteen. He then came to Washington and

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joined his father at Stanwood, living with him until 1887, in which year he married and entered upon an independent career as a general farmer, in which line of activity he has been markedly successful.

On Christmas day of 188; Mr. Conners mar- ried Miss Cora Wheeler, daughter of Frank Wheel- er. a native of Ohio and a wagon-maker by trade. Mr. Wheeler enlisted in the Twelfth Ohio Volun- teers at the first call of President Lincoln for troops but was discharged several months later because of disability. He died in 1868. Mrs. Margaret (Evans) Wheeler was born in Ohio. After the death of her parents, when she was quite young, she lived with an aunt until her marriage. She is still living in Indiana. Mrs. Conners was born June 24, 1867. in the city of Cincinnati and lived with rel- atives until her marriage. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Conners: Edna in 1888; Olive in 1891; Orilla in 1893, and Frankie in 1898. Since 1895 Mr. Conners has served as road super- visor of district No. 1. In politics he is a Repub- lican, in religion Methodist, while Mrs. Conners ad- heres to the Baptist faith. Mr. Conners has pros- pered in his farming ventures and his home plot and his farm land are both valuable pieces of property. He is a man of force of character and of energy and enjoys the respect of the entire community.

STEFFEN FLOE is one of the substantial Scandinavian-American farmers of the Stanwood section of Skagit county, also one of the pioneers of the vicinity, having come to this county in 1885. He was born in Norway August 8. 1831. one of the six children of Iver and Brita ( Skaar ) Floe, neither ; of whom ever left their native land. The father. born in 1806, lived the life of the Norwegian farmer until 1874, when death claimed him : the mother was born in 1810 and died in 1895. The living children of that union. aside from Steffen, are Mrs. Agnes Jacobson and Lewis and Martha Floc. Steffen re- mained with his parents until he was fifteen years old, then commenced the struggle of life on his own account, making his home with those at the old farm for eight more years, however. When twenty- three years of age he entered the Norwegian army and for four years thereafter he served as one of the life guards of King Carl XV .. the period of this service being embraced between the years 1855 and 1859. Having in early life learned something of farming, on his return from the army, Mr. Floe commenced again the pursuit of agriculture and he continued therein until in 1865 he left his native land on the very day on which President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Wilkes Booth. Mr. Floe settled in Minnesota, where he remained at . farming for a space of fifteen years. The subse- quent five years were passed at farming in Iowa ; then in 1885 Mr. Floe came to Stanwood. Washing.

ton. He purchased a small place in Highland and lived there for two years. In 1887 he bought his present place of sixty acres, about a mile distant from town in a southeasterly direction. The land was not cleared of its timber and Mr. Floe worked at carpentering for a number of years until he had gained a start in agriculture. He has now forty acres cleared, with a ten-room house erected on the premises, and is actively engaged in raising oats and hay, operating a dairy and raising live stock.

Mr. Floe has been twice married. In 1861 he was united in wedlock to Miss Brita Sanvik, daugh- ter of Tolen and Clina Sanvik, natives of Norway. who were the parents of three children. Mrs. Floe was born in 18441 and passed away in Minnesota, after becoming the mother of seven children, of whom four survive: Iver, Olina, Brita and Bertha. In 1814, while still a resident of Minnesota, Mr. Floe married Miss Laura Erdahl. whose parents, Martin and Marie (Grenfor) Erdahl, passed their entire lives in Norway, leaving four other children : Brita, Rasmus. Marie and Elizabeth. Mrs. Floe came to the United States in February of 1874, when twenty-two years of age. making the voyage alone. She went to Minnesota and was married there in the year of her arrival in America. To Mr. and Mrs. Floe have been born eleven children, the sur- viving ones being Martin, Mary. Charles, Anna, Steffen. Josephine. Emma, Lewis and Ida. In politics Mr. Floe is a Republican, while in church adherence he is, with his wife and the members of his family. a Lutheran. On his sixty-acre farm, two-thirds of which is cleared and under cultivation. Mr. Floe maintains fourteen head of dairy cows, an equal number of stock cattle, and other live stock. He enjoys a reputation in his home community and in other parts of the county for the highest integrity and industry.

CHRIS HANSEN, whose farm lies two miles east of Cedarhome, is one of the successful men of this community and one who enjoys the respect and well wishes of his friends and neighbors. Genial and affable, he has many friends. Mr. Hansen was born in Denmark on the first day of November. 1852, the second of the four children of Rasmus. and Anne Marie (Christiansen) Hansen, farmer folk. who passed their lives in the Danish kingdom, the father dying thirty years ago and the mother surviving until two years ago. Mr. Hansen has two brothers. Hans and George, and one sister, Mrs. Bertha Moore. Mr. Hansen lived in Denmark until he had attained his majority. In 1873 he came to the United States and settled in Connecticut. where he worked at farming for a year and a half. At the end of that time he crossed the continent to California and he remained in that state for five years afterward, working at various occupations. Coming to Snohomish County. Washington. in

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1890, he purchased his present place. For the first few years of his residence in this country, Mr. Han- sen made it a custom to go to Seattle and work for a brother several months each year. He now has half of his place of twenty acres under cultivation and is doing a general farming business. In politics Mr. Hansen is a Republican ; in lodge circles a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his church affiliations are with the Lutherans. He has never married, has no one dependent upon him and. as a result, is not forced to a life of hard work or of great endeavor. He is one of the good citizens of the community, wide awake and abreast of the times.

LEVI LEVISON, living two miles cast of Cedarhome, has resided upon his present farm since he took it in 1888 as a preemption. Previous to his advent into Snohomish county he had been engaged in farming in the middle western states. Born in Norway May 15. 1848, he is one of the four children of Levi and Marit (Gulickson) Levison. The elder Levison was a shoemaker by trade, who came to the United States in 1869, and here lived until his death in 1903 ; Mrs. Levison is now a resi- dent of Wisconsin. The children in the family are Mrs. Jennie Warren, Gulick, Mary, and Levi of this review. He attended school in Norway and worked with his parents until 1869, when, having attained his legal majority, he immigrated to the American republic, settling eventually in the Badger state. The first eighteen months he spent at work on farms in that state, then he went to Illinois, where he worked three years. In 1844 he pushed west- ward to Nebraska, traveling by team, and in that frontier state he operated farms during the suc- ceeding nine years. Devastating cyclones at last discouraged him so that he returned to Illinois, ex- pecting to make a visit there, but the visit length- ened into a four years' stay, at the end of which he removed to the Pacific Northwest, taking up his pre- emption claim near Cedarhome.

In 1874, while living in Illinois, Mr. Levison was united in marriage to Miss Turgon Kittelson, daugh- ter of Kittel and Marie (Christopherson) Stabach. The father was a blacksmith who came from Nor- way in 1850, when fifty years old, in a sailing ves- sel. seven weeks being consumed in the trans- Atlantic voyage. He settled in Illinois, where his death occurred two years later. Mrs. Stabach sur- vived until 1881. Two children besides Mrs. Levi- son are living, namely, Ingebar and Thurston Kit- telson. Mrs. Levison was born in Norway June 4, 1836, and came to the United States with her par- ents, living with them until the death of her father. after which she was employed in various occupa- tions until her marriage. Three children have been born to the union. Kittel, Tosten G. and Levi, the last named of whom is deceased. In political mat-

ters, Mr. Levison takes his stand with the Repub- lican party. He has filled several minor offices, hav- ing been a constable in Nebraska and road super- visor in Washington. The home farm now con- sists of eighty acres, half the original claim, on which Mr. Levison carries on a general farming and live-stock business. One of the substantial citi- zens of the community, he is active in promoting the development of the rich region in which he has cast his lot.

PETER Il. LANGSAV is one of the energetic and wide-awake farmers of the Cedarhome section of Snohomish county, his farm lying one mile to the north of town. Here he has been doing a success- ful farming, dairy and poultry business for several years. He was born in Norway early in the year 1854, the son of Ilans and Christiana (Neilson) Hanson, both of whom passed away in the old coun- try about thirty years ago. Mr. Hanson was a car- penter and builder by trade. His other children are Mrs. Anna Nelson, Hans E., Nels and Nellic. Peter H. Langsay remained at the old home until he was nineteen years of age, when, on the death of his parents, he commenced to work for himself at the trade of carpenter. He continued at this work for ten years, then came to the United States, locat- ing in Portland, Oregon, in 1882. He remained there for seven years, working at the carpenter trade, but in 1889 came to Snohomish County, Washington, and purchased his present farm. He operated it for seven years, then having determined to try his fortune in Alaska, went to the northern country, via Seattle. Mr. Langsav remained in Alaska but four months, however, during which time he worked at his trade. On his return he worked at his trade for a time in Seattle, later en- gaging in the hotel business at Ballard. In 1900 he gave up running the hotel and returned to his Ce- darhome farm, where he has since remained.

In 1881, while living in Portland, Mr. Langsav married Miss Betsy Lunda. daughter of Ingebrit and Marta ( Halvorson ) Lunda, farmer folk of Norway. Her mother, who is still living, has four children be- sides Mrs. Langsav, Christopher, Halver, Carl and Thea. Mrs. Langsay was born in Norway in Janu- ary, 1856, and lived with her parents until reaching the age of twenty-five years, when she came to the United States and thereafter she fought out the industrial battle for herself until her marriage. In politics Mr. Langsay leans toward Socialism. Twen- ty of the fifty-two acres constituting his farm are now cleared and under cultivation. His dairy herd consists of seven cows, and he also has eight head of other neat cattle.

WILLIAM B. MOORE-It is, indeed, regret- able that no modern Virgil has appeared to sing in

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immortal verse of the heroic deeds and heroic suf- ferings of the people who braved the dangers of boundless plain and snowy, forbidding, misty mountain, traveling in caravans, camping under the open canopy of heaven at night, fording streams, guarding families and property from the onslaughts of predatory savages, dreading much but pausing for nothing, obedient always to that westward mov- ing impulse which has been a controlling passion with the Anglo-Saxon race. The actors in this epic of the West were men of deeds, not of words. They have left few records of those eventful days when they were grouped into organized towns and vil- lages, but villages of canvas and villages on wheels, villages whose sites were always a little further west each day than on the day preceding. They have, however, written their history all over the face of the country itself. Empires founded, wealth unearthed, resources developed, civilization's do- main extended, a broad land subdued, cities built, homes established-these are the abiding monu- ments to the memory of the men who crossed the plains, and it may be that enough details of their experience have come down to our day or enough may be gathered from those of the argonauts who still survive to furnish some romancer of the future with inspiration and a theme.

A typical representative of the class which in those days became nomads of the desert that they might become builders of empires is William B. Moore, to whom the call of the West came when he was less than twenty-two. He had earned a log school-house education in his Michigan home by walking three miles to school, had had four years' experience in railroad work, starting in at seventy- five cents a day and increasing his stipend by dili- gent application, and had returned to his birthplace, the great metropolis of the Empire state. While there he met a brother who had just returned from California, and the stories told of the wild free life on the sunset slope soon fired his adventurous spirit. On the 10th of April of the following year he set out with horses for the trans-continental trip. He had but two to start with, but in Iowa he purchased a third. In Ogden, Utah, one of these was stolen and in Thousand Spring Valley he lost another, so he substituted oxen and pushed on. In Carson valley, Nevada, one of his oxen succumbed and the rest of the trip was made behind a pair of horses. Arriving in the land of promise on the 20th of Au- gust he at once began digging for gold, but in De- cember following he determined to rejoin a brother in Portland, who was then in the volunteer service against the hostile Indians. After remaining with him till the fall of 1856, he went once more to Cali- fornia and he spent the winter in the Shasta dis- trict, at work in the mines. The summer of 1858 found him en route to the Fraser river country, the fever having seized him as it did thousands of others. The trip was made by the schooner Osceola

to Whatcom, thence on foot to the Fraser river, provisions being transported on the backs of ponies, for which a trail had to be cut. Finding the pros- pects there discouraging he continued his journey northward to the vicinity of the Caribou country, but as provisions were getting low he was compelled to beat a retreat back to Fort Yale. There he accepted employment in a saw-mill, at eighty dollars a month, and later, below that place, he got out some large timbers for boat purposes, at which he made three hundred dollars in five days. When the cold weather came in December he joined a party for a return to civilization and it was on this outward trip that he passed through some of the most trying of all his pioneer experiences. While he and his companions were descending the river in a canoe, following a narrow channel between banks of ice, they came upon an ice-bound vessel deserted. Further down they came upon another ice-locked vessel, in which were about three hundred persons, the passengers from both vessels, almost destitute of provisions and about to starve. The men in the canoe and those in the vessel soon concluded to strike out post haste for the nearest point at which succor could be secured, and for three days they pushed on, enduring in- credible hardships, struggling against Nature's barriers to progress, insufficiently clad and without food. Fifty-eight perished by the wayside, the first to succumb being the husband of the one woman who was in the company. Assisted and favored in every way possible by the gallant miners, she made the forty-mile trip in safety.

From the Fraser river Mr. Moore came to Vic- toria by the steamer Otter, and there he remained a short time engaged in getting out timber for a saw- mill. but he soon was once more on Puget sound, em- ployed as a logger by Captain Thorndike of Port Ludlow. He was there about a year, then, in the spring of 1860 began driving oxen in the woods at Port Discovery, whence four months later he went to Utsalady. Purchasing an outfit there, he em- barked in logging on his own account in Holmes harbor, and he was thus engaged till the spring of 1865, when he became identified with the Stanwood country.

It will be seen that Mr. Moore is one of the very earliest pioneers of the Stillaguamish valley, and that he was one of the most forceful is evident from the fact that within one year after his arrival he had diked in one hundred and sixty acres of tide marsh land. For more than a decade he ran a logging camp in the vicinity. getting out great numbers of spars for vessels; indeed, he says that he has sup- plied this class of timber to every civilized nation on the entire earth. He has the distinction of having put in the first skid road in the Puget sound country, in which the skids were arranged across the road, thus contributing much to the ease with which timber might be gotten out of the woods.

While all this logging was in progress, Mr.

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Moore, with wonderful energy, was pushing agri- cultural developments also. He invested in the rich tide marsh of the valley until he was at one time the owner of five hundred and forty acres, much of which he cleared, diked and prepared for cultiva- tion, but he has since sold it off until he now has only eighty acres of the original place. He is en- gaged in general farming, but makes a specialty of high-grade cattle and horses.

Of the family to which Mr. Moore belongs it may be said that his father, James Moore, was born in Dublin, Ireland, about the year 1800, came over to Boston, Massachusetts, while a youth and spent a year there, then going to New York, where he em- barked in the general merchandise business and where he married. In 1834 he went to Detroit. Michigan, by steamer, the trip lasting three weeks. He located on government land some eight or nine miles from the city of Detroit and three miles from his nearest neighbor, and the remainder of his days were passed there. His death occurred in 1824. Alice ( Marsh) Moore, mother of our subject, was born in England about 1800, and was educated there, but came to New York as a young woman. She died August 13, 1812. Mr. Moore is himself a native of the Empire state, born April 10, 1833.

On the 13th of August, 1822, Mr. Moore mar- ried Miss Lavinia, daughter of George and Agnes (Eaton) Gage, both of whom were natives of the north of Ireland, and both of whom died in Skagit City, Washington, to which they had come in 1871. Mr. Gage had spent much of his life in Canada, en- gaged in farming. Mrs. Moore was born in the Dominion, October 2, 1843, and was educated in the excellent public schools there established. She and Mr. Moore are parents of the following children : Lillie M., born June 13, 1823, now Mrs. James Keenan ; George, February 22, 1815 : William T. B., October 2, 1817 : Anna Alice, July 22, 1879, now wife of Ed. McKean, and Mary J., March 10, 1881, now Mrs. Joseph Ford. In fraternal affiliation Mr. Moore is a Mason ; in politics a Republican. He had the honor of serving as county commissioner for two years from 1866, thus leaving his impress upon the carly political history of his section. A typical pioneer, he has, well developed, all the best char- acteristics of that honored class, self-reliance, in- dustry, resourcefulness and a great versatility of talent. He has, from the earliest days, been one of the progressive forces of his community and de- serves rank among the men who have been promi- nent in making Snohomish county what it is.

PETER OLSEN, dairy farmer, a mile and a half north of Cedarhome, has made a name for him- self in the community as an energetic man of con- siderable independence of thought and freedom of action. Mr. Olsen is a native of Denmark, born in

1851. His parents were Ole and Metta (Carlsen ) Nelsen, both of whom died when he was an infant. The father was a weaver by occupation. Three other sons of Mr. Nelson are living, Carl, Hans and Nels. After the death of his parents Peter Olsen was cared for by an uncle until he had attained the age of fourteen, then he left his foster father's home for Copenhagen, where he worked as a laborer until he was twenty-five. He then shipped as a sailor and followed the sea for three years. In 1882 he came to the United States, locating in New Jersey. After three years of work in that state, Mr. Olsen went to Nebraska, where he remained until 1887. During these years he had been working for others, but on coming to Snohomish county in 1888 he pur- chased his present farm and at once commenced to operate it. In 1897 he caught the fever for Alaskan gold and passed the subsequent three years in the far North, returning in 1900. His experiences in the North were not fascinating or very remuner- ative. At the time Mr. Olsen purchased his place only seven of the eighty acres had been cleared, but now he has sixteen under cultivation, and much of the remainder in condition to furnish pasture for his stock.

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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 180

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