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 94

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 94
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 94

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in the county. A visit to this well-equipped farm and the well-appointed, hospitable home is evidence sufficient, not only of the thrift and industry, but the taste and refinement of its owners.

J. GUY LOWMAN, one among the progressive and popular educators of the state of Washington, who in his short life of thirty-three years has won a measure of success that would satisfy many a man of threescore and ten, was born near the old battle field of Tippecanoe in the vicinity of LaFayette, Indiana, February 13, 1872. His father, Jacob W. Lowman, of German ancestry, born in West Vir- ginia in 1837, came when a boy of fourteen to the state of Indiana, and thuis secured for himself the honor of being one of the pioneers of that state. At the opening of the Civil War, he enlisted, but stricken with fever, was unable to render any ac- tive service. Later, still longing to lift his hand in defence of his country's honor, he attempted to re- enlist, buit was rejected on account of ill health. In 1893. he settled in Anacortes, where he still resides, ably filling the office of police judge and justice of the peace. He also served one term as mavor of that city. His parents came to the United States in 1813, locating in Rock Creek County, Virginia. The mother, Nancy A. (Shigley) Lowman, is a native of the Buckeye state, born in Jamestown, in 1839, of German parentage, her family being close- ly related to the famous Captain Mahan, the naval author, whose ancestors settled in the United States before the Revolution. Having received a careful education, she was for a number of years a teacher. She is still living, at Anacortes, the mother of three children. Her son, William A. Lowman, owns and operates the White Crest creamery at Anacortes ; Effie L. is the wife of Adam M. Dilling, a prominent contractor in Anacortes. Coming with his parents to Iowa when five years old, Mr. Lowman there remained six years, when they returned to the grandfather's old home near LaFayette. where he was born, his parents having been there on a visit at that time, though their home was then at Canton, Illinois. In this atmosphere of historic associations he grew to manhood, working on the farm and at- tending the little country school, there laying the foundation for a lifetime of usefulness. He began his career as a teacher in his home county at the age of twenty, removing to Anacortes in 1893, where he served as substitute for a few months, and later taught in country schools, employing all his leisure moments in diligent study. He has thus se- cured a splendid equipment for his life work, dem- onstrating the possibility of securing this higher ed- ucation outside of college walls, given the requisite amount of ambition, energy and perseverance, alf of which he possesses in abundant measure. For three years he was principal of the Avon schools, tendering his resignation when, in 1902, he was elected county superintendent on the Republican ticket. Two years later, he was re-elected by a ma-

jority of fifteen hundred votes. Believing that greater advantages, at a minimum cost, may be se- cured through the consolidation of country schools,' Mr. Lowman has been an earnest advocate of the system, which he has secured in one locality, while in others, the thorough agitation of the question promises to bear fruit in the near future. Former- ly the wages of teachers in Skagit county were far below that of the surrounding counties; now through his influence they have been raised to as high a seale as is paid in any county of like charac- ter in the state, and he is justly proud of the fact. Another progressive idea which he has carried out is the establishment of district association meetings throughout the county, having for their aim the more intimate acquaintance of teachers with their patrons and with each other. Still another example of his untiring zeal may be cited : the extension of school district lines to take in taxable land of non- residents, not hitherto within the district boundaries, to the value of five hundred thousand dollars. He has also secured the adoption of free text book sys- tem in a majority of the schools of the county.

Mr. Lowman was married August 29, 1900, to Dixie M. Hawkins, daughter of William and Tali- tha (Miller) Hawkins. Her father is one of the pioneers of Skagit county, coming here in 1882 and taking up the homestead on which he now resides. A southerner by birth, he was for many years a cattle ranger in Texas. Both parents are still liv- ing. Mrs. Lowman is a native of Arkansas. To them has been born one child, Vivien G., on October 8, 1901. Mr. Lowman, as may be inferred, is a prominent Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the Odd Fellows ; in religious belief, a Presby- terian, of which church he is an active member. Though devoting so large a proportion of his time exclusively to educational matters, he has yet, by his wise investments become the owner of a ranch near Avon, on which he is making extensive im- provements, and of numerous lots in Anacortes.

THOMAS P. HASTIE, president of the Skagit County Pioneers' Association, belongs to that type of pioneer citizenship to which the Republic owes most and which it most honors. With befitting mod- esty, yet with persistent aggressiveness and unfal- tering courage, these men have grimly led the way across plain, mountain and water, vanquished the hostile aborigines and erected new states in the sub- ' dued wilderness. To-day bustling cities and thriv- ing industrial and agricultural communities, peopled by a happy, prosperous population, dot these erst- while frontiers,-glorious monuments to their he- roic founders.

Both the elder Hastie, Thomas, and his son Thomas P., are citizens of the United States by choice, but justly may they be classed as true Amer- icans, as this record will show. Born in Scotland, five years after the dawn of the nineteenth century, the father became a resident of England when a

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BIOGRAPHICAL

boy. There he learned the stone cutter's trade, married and lived until 1845. While the family re- sided in Liverpool, Thomas P. was born, March 2, 1835, and was, therefore, ten years old when the Hasties crossed the Atlantic to establish a home in the new republic beyond the sea. On the maternal side, Mr. Hastie carries in his veins the blood of Welsh ancestors. His mother was an exceptional woman. Educated in England to follow the profes- sion of a trained nurse, after she came to America she followed it with unusual success and is said to have never lost a single case placed under her charge. Her work as a pioneer of the profession in the Northwest won for her an enviable place. Upon arrival in this country, the family settled in Wisconsin, where the father engaged in farming and followed his trade during the next five years. Dane county was their home, the farm being situ- ated eighteen miles north of Madison, the state cap- ital. However, Wisconsin did not satisfy, and in 1850 father, mother and two sons joined the small band of immigrants going to seek new abodes in far off Oregon. With ox teams and the customary prairie schooner they took up the trail, bidding farewell to the rapidly settling middle West to meet whatever fortune might await them in a new land, surrounded by savages who did not view with con- tent the invasion of their domain, and isolated by hundreds of miles of trackless wilderness. The long, tedious journey was made in safety, owing not a little to the noble McLoughlin's aid. Sauvies is- land in the Willamette river near its mouth became their home in the spring of 1851, only three years after the admission of Oregon as a state. The same year that the territory of Washington was created out of northern Oregon, 1853, the Ilasties became residents of Whidby island, being among its earliest pioneers. One of the memorable incidents in the history of that frontier community was the brutal assassination of Col. Isaac N. Eby by the Northern Indians in 1857, with the details of which Thomas P. Hastie is perfectly familiar. This event was an im- portant one in the history of the state, and at the time created great excitement all over the West. After the mother's death on the island, February 19, 1863, the elder Hastie returned to Wisconsin and there lived until he, too, was overtaken by death. As a young man Thomas P., shortly after his arrival in Wash- ington, employed himself at farming with his father and cooking at different saw-mills, but, on the out- break of the Yakima Indian War in 1855 he enlisted in Company I, First Washington Volunteers. This regiment saw service all over the region now em- braced by King, Snohomish and Skagit counties, extending its operations eastward to the headwaters of the Nisqually and Snoqualmie rivers. After three months' service in that company and regiment, he enlisted in Company G, Second Washington Vol- unteers, and fought the warring redskins another six months. The winter of 1856 -? he stayed at home, but when spring arrived he went to Oregon

and engaged in farming and driving stock for three years. The year 1861 he spent as a sailor on the sound under command of Captain Barrington. When news of the famous gold discoveries in the Salmon river country, Idaho, reached Washington the following winter, young Hastie joined the thou- sands streaming eastward and all through the sum- mer and fall of 1862 wooed fortune in the gold fields but without especial success. In November he was again at home and there assisted his father and worked in a saw-mill at Utsalady. However, the army fever again caught him and the first of the year 1864 he joined Company E, Ninth United States Infantry under whose colors he served a full enlistment of three years, being honorably dis- charged January 26, 1862, with the rank of duty sergeant. This brought to an end his military ser- vice, giving him the distinction of being a veteran of two wars in both of which he left a most hon- orable record.

From the army he went back to Whidby island and engaged in agricultural pursuits at Oak Har- bor, which was his home for nearly ten years. His connection with Skagit county dates from the year 1820, when he filed a homestead right upon 160 acres of the Skagit delta. By using the privilege conferred by the government upon soldier appli- cants, he was able to prove up on this claim in 1872, though he did not bring his family to the Skagit until 1877. Since that year he has resided contin- uously upon the place. From a quarter section of marshy, timbered bottom land, which one could hardly penetrate, it has grown by degrees into a highly improved estate of 240 acres of as rich land as can be found on Puget sound, well stocked and easily accessible. Here one may find an oat field so dense that only by trail can it be easily traversed and with grain so high that the stalks tower high above the heads of tall men. Mr. Hastie's place is noted for its fertility and the able manner in which it is operated. He still exercises general manage- ment over his estate, but with increasing age is turn- ing over the more active work to younger hands and taking the rest he has so well earned.

Mr. Hastic and Mrs. Clara (Taylor) Scott were united in marriage in Island County, Washington, December 10, 1867. She is a native of Deadford. England, born Christmas Day, 1839, and when a girl of ten years was brought by her parents to San Francisco. In that state she received her edti- cation, finishing at the Sisters' Academy, of Benicia. To her tion with Mr. Scott, three children were born : Georgia, James B. and Henry W., the latter of whom is at present serving as first assistant city engineer in Seattle. Mrs. IIastie is a woman of ed- ucational attainments, a leader among those of her sex in Skagit county. Mr. and Mrs. Hastie are the parents of four children, all of whom are esteemed members of society. Thomas G., the eldest, is living at Grand Forks. B. C .. in the employ of the Great Northern Railway Company; Margaret R. is the

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wife of E. D. Davis, a prominent hardware mer- chant of Mount Vernon ; Laura M. resides at home ; and James WV. is also living at home. All were born on Whidby island. In fraternal circles, Mr. Hastie is a prominent Mason. For thirty-three years he has been a member of the order and was the first master of Skagit county's pioneer blue lodge, that organized at Skagit City. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Lar- abee Post at La Conner.

In public life Mr. Hastie has creditably fulfilled every duty with which he has been entrusted, and has sacrificed his personal interests whenever nec- essary. His first official service was as sheriff of Island county. Then, shortly after becoming a resi- dent of Whatcom county, he was elected county commissioner and was on the board when Skagit was created, taking a prominent part in that mo- mentous action. Subsequently he served several years as chairman of the Skagit board. In fact he has for thirty-five years been closely identified with the political, commercial, and educational progress of the Skagit county and for more than half a cen- tury with the growth of the Northwest. His has been a life of usefulness and unselfish purpose, gaining for him universal esteem and widespread popularity in addition to a permanent place in his- tory's records.

HON. THOMAS HAYTON. In this notable career, we see exemplified the true type of Ameri- can, the type which has led in nation building from the rock-bound Atlantic coast across a continent to the more hospitable waters of the Pacific. Coming of colonial American stock, his inspiration and patriotism are a heritage. He has courageously ad- vanced settlement as a frontiersman, in development of the natural resources he has been among the fore- most, and as a public spirited citizen and a gentle- man by instinct and training he has done his duty by his fellows. The history of Skagit county or of Puget sound would be incomplete without mention of the part he has taken in making it.

Born in Pike County, Kentucky, June 23, 1832, he is the scion of a pioncer family identified with the establishment of that commonwealthi. Jacob .Hayton, the paternal ancestor, was a native of the Keystone state and traced his lineage back to old England. The mother bore the maiden name of Rebecca Wedington ; slie was a native of Virginia of German descent. Both long ago passed to the great beyond, the father's death occurring in 1864 on the old Pike county homestead. Early in the last century these hardy pioneers had crossed the Alleghanies and in the blue grass valleys of the western slope the better portion of their lives was spent. Upon the farm young Thomas grew to man- hood, receiving his first lessons from his mother and later attending a private school, where his educa- tion was completed. During the latter years of his

youth he began asserting his independence by as- sisting various neighboring farmers in gathering the crop, thereby gaining valuable experience as part of his remuneration and by the time he was twenty he was able to command a share in the crop for his labor and spent four years working on this plan. In September, 1862, he answered his country's call for assistance in preserving the Union, and, follow- ing Kentucky's flags, he served faithfully until the close of the struggle, mainly in Kentucky and West Virginia. His enlistment was made in Company D, Thirty-ninth Kentucky Volunteers; he was honor- ably discharged in October, 1865, with the rank of corporal. Libby prison was among the horrible ex- periences he underwent in the army. After the war he returned to the pursuits of peace in Pike county, but in the spring of 1868 moved to Cass county, Missouri, and there tilled the soil during the suc- cceding eight years. But Missouri was only a tar- rying point, for in 1876 he and his family crossed the plains and mountains to Washington territory, making the first stop after reaching the promised land, at Walla Walla. There he heard more vividly than before of the wonderful region that lay on the shores of Puget sound, so determined to continue his journey. He was so well pleased with the Skagit country that very shortly after his arrival he purchased two hundred acres of marsh land at the river's delta and immediately began its reclamation. Diking and clearing and farming the tract soon produced substantial results but it required many years of unremitting toil and the expenditure of much money to transform it into its present beauti- ful, improved condition. Later he added a quarter section of adjoining land, and now this immense oat and hay farm is one of the finest on the lower sound. a high testimonial to the thrift, perseverance and skill of its owner, who has, however, retired from all work but the management of his rich es- tate. It is indeed fitting that he should be allowed in his declining years to garner the rewards that should come to the successful pioneer farmer, and enjoy peace and comfort instead of struggle and privation.

Sarah E. Sanders, a native of Monroe County, Virginia, the daughter of two prominent Virginia pioneers, William and Elizabeth Sanders, became the bride of Thomas Hayton in August, 1852. Like the women of her type, she was a devoted help- meet, mother and companion during the entire span of her life, which ended November 21, 1896, in her sixty-third year. Besides her husband she left six sons and two daughters to mourn their irreparable loss and perpetuate her memory : Jacob, engaged in agricultural pursuits near Milton, Oregon ; Thomas R., the well-known hardware merchant of Mount Vernon : Henry, farmer and stockman in British Columbia ; George W., farming near Brem- erton : James B., operating his father's place at Fir ; William, another prosperous Skagit farmer living on the Swinomish flats; Louisa, the wife of L. P.

THOMAS HAYTON, SR.

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BIOGRAPHICAL

Hemingway, now operating one of the Hayton farms ; and Cora, the wife of Alfred Polson, also engaged in farming near Fir. All are widely and favorably known as among the most substantial citizens of this section. Mr. Hayton is, of course, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a dis- tinction which is growing less and less common as the final roll call is answered.

As a life-long Republican Mr. Hayton has ever been active in political matters and a leader in his party. For many years he has attended every coun- ty convention in an official capacity and has served at various times as a territorial or state delegate. His greatest public service, one that has forever re- corded him as one of the real founders of the state of Washington, was as one of Skagit's three representatives in the constitutional convention of 1889. Comparatively few men secure such a rich opportunity to leave their impress upon history and be it said to Mr. Hayton's credit, he has made the most of it. In years to come his descendants will re- member this service when all else is forgotten. Mr. Hayton has witnessed with his own eyes the truly remarkable development of the great Northwest during nearly three decades of time, a portion of it from its primitive condition, and best of all, with all due modesty, he himself has taken a leading part in the wonderful transformation. Universally es- teemed and honored, he is among northwest Wash- ington's foremost citizens.

THOMAS R. HAYTON, founder and proprie- tor of the extensive hardware house which bears his name, is one of Skagit county's eminently suc- cessful business men, and also one of its early pio- neers. He has been one of the real builders of the county, hence is especially deserving of a place in these chronicles.

Both the Hayton and the Sanders families, from which the subject of this sketch draws his blood, are numbered among the prominent pioneers of Kentucky and West Virginia. Their very first rep- resentatives came to America in 1643, settling in Rhode Island. The earlier Haytons and Sanders formed a part of that courageous, hardy vanguard of Americans that forged westward across the Al- leghanies in the fore part of the nineteenth century, and gave their lives to the subduing of the fertile valleys of the sunny South and to the establishing there of new homes and new states. On this fron- tier, in June of 1832, Thomas Hayton, the father of Thomas R., was born. When he grew to manhood he entered actively into the further building of Ken- tucky ; later he fought for the preservation of the Union under the banners of his native state; later still he moved to Missouri and thence across the plains to Washington, becoming one of Skagit coun- ty's distinguished pioneer citizens. At the state con- stitutional convention in 1889 he represented Skagit county, and in fact he has always been identified

prominently with its public life ; at present he is re- siding upon the old homestead on the Skagit delta. A more detailed sketch of his life appears elsewhere in these pages. The devoted mother, only a year younger than her husband, laid down life's burdens in the fall of 1896. She was the mother of fifteen children.

Thomas R., the seventh child was born while the family resided in Pike county, Kentucky, the date of his birth being January 7, 1863. Soon, however, he bade Kentucky farewell, the Haytons removing to Missouri, where the lad received the rudiments of his education. Then, only when thir- teen years old, came the greatest event of his boy- hood, the emigration of the family from Missouri to Puget sound. The events of that memorable trip across the plains with prairie schooner and stock, during which they were continuously facing hard- ships while passing through numerous regions still in their primitive condition and infested by dan- gerotts Indians, will ever be fresh in his memory. Reaching Seattle, September 28, 1876, the family tarried there a few days, then pushed northward to the delta of the Skagit river, near Fir, where the father settled. In the converting of this tract of marsh and brush land into a cultivated, diked farm of ample dimensions Thomas R. Hayton manfully took his part. For the first eleven years the place could not be reached by wagon. From the farm and public schools at the age of twenty the young pioneer went again to Seattle, this time to attend the territorial, now the state university, supporting him- self largely during this period by teaching while not in school. Eventually having been graduated with the class of 188;, he returned to Skagit and engag- ed in teaching as a vocation. \ year later he was called upon by those among whom he had grown up, to serve them in the capacity of superintendent of the county's schools, which position he filled with fidelity and credit for two years. At the close of his term in 1891, he formed a partnership with Thomas Hurd and opened a hardware store at La Conner. Two years later A. I. Dunlap was admit- ted to the firm and as the La Conner Hardware Company it was continued until Mr. Hurd sold his interest to his partners, the firm name then becom- ing Hayton & Dunlap. In the spring of 1899 Mr. Ilayton absorbed the Dunlap interest. The business was moved to the county seat in November, 1901, and two years afterward Mr. Hlayton's brother George became a partner, the name of the house becoming the Hayton Hardware Company. Hlow- ever, the junior partner retired in the spring of 1905, again leaving the business solely in the hands of its founder. Step by step the business has pro- gressed until it is recognized as one of the solid in- stitutions of the county.

On New Year's day, 1890, Mr. Hayton was unit- ed in marriage to Miss IJattie E. Marshall, at El- lensburg, the daughter of Alexander and Christena (Shaffer) Marshall. One child, Gladys, born

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August 11, 1893, has blessed the union. Mr. Mar- shall was one of the gold seekers of California in the days of '49, going there in 1848. He had been a soldier in the Mexican War, serving two years. He died in California a few years after the birth of his daughter, leaving her to be reared by her inoth- er. Mrs. Hayton was born in California, March 4, 1869. When five years old she was taken to Seattle by the mother, and there received her education, fin- ishing it with a course at the University of Wash- ington. Her mother now resides at Mount Vernon with the Haytons.

Mr. Hayton is among the leaders of the Republi- can party in his section of the state, following in the footsteps of his father in this particular. While liv- ing at La Conner he served five years as city treas- urer and was also a member of the council. In fraternal circles he is likewise active, being a Royal Arch Mason and a Woodman of the World. He is a deacon and member of the board of trustees of the Baptist church of Mount Vernon. In the course of his long, unusually active career, but yet only fairly entered upon, he has gathered around him a host of warm friends and admirers who have un- bounded faith in his sterling qualities and rare busi- ness talents.

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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 94

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