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 96

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 96
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 96

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Mount Vernon, the county seat, and here makes his home while attending to the duties of his office. Of a sociable disposition and an excellent "mixer" with all classes, Mr. Harmon counts his friends by the number of his acquaintances, and all, from the smallest to the greatest, while recognizing in him the typical border sheriff, who usually gets his man when he goes after him, approach him without fear or formality, knowing that they will get from Char- lie Harmon a respectful and friendly hearing.

CHARLES W. STEVENSON, deputy sheriff of Skagit county under Sheriff Harmon, has been a resident of the Puget sound country since he was but twelve years of age, and has taken an important part in the development of the community in which his lot has been cast. He was born September 20, 1862, in Cass County, Illinois, his parents being George W. and Emiline ( Hamilton) Stevenson. The father, a Kentuckian, removed to Illinois in the early fifties and there followed farming until 1874, when he immigrated to Washington territory, be- coming one of Snohomish county's early settlers. His claim lay near Snohomish City and upon it he resided twelve years at the end of which period he sold out and moved to Fidalgo island. There he died in 1894 at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Stevenson was a native of Illinois and passed away in that state. Charles W., the sixth of a family of nine children, worked on the farm in Snohomish county during his boyhood and attended its pioneer schools, obtaining as good an education as was pos- sible under the circumstances. When he was nine- teen years of age his father commenced paying him wages. He remained at home until twenty-seven, then rented a place and cultivated it a year, there- upon going to Anacortes, where he and Lance Bur- don opened a feed store and boat house. A little later he withdrew from the business and formed a partnership with Charles March in running a con- fectionery, a business which was shortly afterward removed to Everett. Mr. Stevenson soon sold his interest and entered the logging camps of Skagit county. In 1893 he returned to Anacortes to accept an appointment as city marshal. which position he filled three years. A year in the fishing industry followed. The winter of 1898 he spent at Skaga- way, Alaska, in the gold fields, but returned to Se- attle in the spring of 1899 and was there employed until the spring of 1900, when he again visited Alas- ka, going to Cape Nome. In the fall he came back to Washington, and he was engaged in the lumber industry continuously thereafter until March, 1905, when he accepted the deputy marshalship of Ana- cortes tendered him by Mayor Odlin. A month later he resigned to take the more responsible position that he is now so acceptably filling.

At Victoria, British Columbia, in 1893, Miss Nellie Dodds became the wife of Mr. Stevenson. Her parents died when she was an infant, after

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which she was reared by an uncle. She and Mr. Stevenson have one son, Lea L., born in Anacortes September 19, 1895. Mr. Stevenson is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a Republican. His record as an officer is a highly creditable one, and in all the affairs of life his bear- ing as a man and member of society has been such as to win him the esteem of those with whom he has been associated.

WARREN SHEA, of the well known firm of Dale and Shea, Abstractors, of Mount Vernon, was born in Holton, Maine, July 26, 1868, the son of Charles and Maria (Tompkins) Shea, both of Eng- lish descent. The father was a native of Wood- stock, New Brunswick, to which section his parents had moved from Nova Scotia. He came to Seattle, Washington, in 1876, here following his life occu- pation, that of lumbering. Later he removed to Whatcom county, where he died in 1895. His ma- ternal ancestors crossed the ocean and settled in New York long before the Revolution. Loyalists during the war, at its close they bought up large land grants from the soldiers, owning at one time nearly the entire county of Tompkins. Charles Shea, likewise an extensive investor in real estate, owned a large part of the town site of Woodstock ; while to his father belonged the large "Shea Flat," about the only level flat in that locality of New Brunswick. The mother came also of an old pio- neer family of distinction, residing in Canada at the time of her birth. Moving with his parents to Canada when five years of age, Warren Shea there spent his early years, securing his education, later joining his father, who had come after his wife's death, in 1885, to the coast. His first venture was in the lumbering business at Lynden, and here he remained two years. His mill was destroyed by fire in 1891. When the wonderful discoveries of gold in the Alaskan fields were made in 1897, he was one of the first to sail for the land of prom- ise, and he assisted in loading the first shipment of gold from Dawson which created such wild ex- citement when it reached Seattle. Dawson was then only a little mining camp numbering fifty people who, like himself, had packed their outfits and entire stock of provisions on their backs over sixteen weary miles. Subsisting entirely on canned goods, most of the miners suffered from scurvy. After spending six years in Alaska, during which he had been quite successful, Mr. Shea returned to his native country in 1903, locating in his present home, Mount Vernon, where he engaged in the abstract and real estate business, forming a co-partnership with William Dale, his present partner.

Mr. Shea was married February 12, 1903, to Bella B. Soules, the daughter of Thomas W. and Eliza ( -) Soules, both born in Canada.

Her father was one of the founders of the town of Burlington, Washington, and since his residence

in Skagit county has devoted the greater part of his time to milling. He is now the manager and secretary of the Cedardale Lumber Company, of Mount Vernon, a business man of large influence. Her mother is also living. Mr. and Mrs. Shea have one child, Ruth B., born February 6, 1903, in Mount Vernon. Mr. Shea's brothers and sisters are as follows: John G., Smith S., Alice Bolan, Helen M. Guiberson, Charles E., Sarah McKee, Frank, and Pauline B. Stevens. He is a member of the Ma- sonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and in political beliefs, an adherent of the Republican party. In- deed there are few in this part of the state who are more enthusiastic in political matters than is Mr. Shea, always in attendance at the Republican con- ventions, in which he takes a prominent place. Realizing the advantages to be gained by united effort, he lends the strength of his influence to the Commercial club, of which he is a member. Of Episcopalian parentage, he is an attendant at that church, of which his wife is a member. Interested in every advance movement in local matters, the owner of a fine home, he is justly esteemed as one of the most progressive citizens of Mount Vernon.

WILLIAM DALE. To the chronicler of his- torical events, nothing lends more zest to his work, nor superinduces a more ready action of mind and pen than personal contact with the genuine pioneer, who has passed through the real experiences of sub- duing nature in all its primitive and unmolested forms of wild forests, wild beasts and wild men, and who has imbibed the spirit of his surroundings and had his mental as well as physical being broadened and deepened by the free life, untrammeled by con- ventionalities and social restrictions. In the sub- ject of this brief review these happy conditions meet in an unusual degree. Born in Elk County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1852, of one of the old fami- lies of that prominent commonwealth, he was, at the early age of six years, transplanted to the then almost undeveloped state of Wisconsin, where dur- ing his boyhood and youth he became inured to the health producing and muscle developing ways of farm and lumber camp life, thus establishing in phy- sical development and mental training, the founda- tion for future success in the great Northwest, which later was destined to become his field of pio- neer operation. John Dale, the father of our sub- ject, a prominent lawyer, was born in Center Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, in 1816, of Welsh and Irish par- ents, who were pioneers of that state. He became a pioneer of Pierce County, Wisconsin, in 1858, and there practiced law and also became an extensive land owner. In the practice of his profession he became acquainted with Senator Spooner, and this acquaintance later grew into a warm and lasting friendship. In 1873 he moved to Tennessee, and in 1877 became a resident of Skagit county, where he died in 1878. During the war he held a com-

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mission as colonel, serving as recruiting officer and also as provost marshal in Wisconsin, but was never in active army service. The mother, Massie (Jor- dan ) Dale, also a native of Pennsylvania, was of German descent, and belonged to one of the oldest families of the Keystone state. She survived her husband eleven years, passing away in 1889. In July, 1874, after closing a year in the Wisconsin pineries, young Dale, at the age of twenty-two, turned his face westward, and soon had his first introduction into Skagit, then a part of Whatcom county. Without undue delay he took up work in the lumbering camps of that region, which he fol- lowed continuously for eight years, working at first for others, but later engaging in the same business for himself. Here he soon built up a name and business known throughout a wide section of the coast country, and won the distinction of being one of the first extensive lumber operators on Fidalgo island, thus inseparably connecting himself with the early development and progress of that section of the country. During this period Mr. Dale took up a homestead in the Samish country, and in the course of time transferred his attention to agricul- tural pursuits and the development of his homestead. The tract he had taken was what is known as "tide lands," and had to be redeemed from the overflow of salt water from the sound, by extensive diking, entailing great expenditure of time and labor. This was accomplished, with the gratifying result that he became the possessor of an expanse of land rich and productive almost beyond belief. The pleasure of pursuit, in Mr. Dale's case, seemed to outweigh that of possession, for no sooner had he overcome the almost insurmountable obstacles which had at first opposed themselves to his mastery of natural conditions, and had gratified his desire for conquest, than he forsook farm life, leasing his land, and gave his attention to the manufacture of shingles. estab- lishing a mill at the town of Burlington in 1890, and later, in 1893, erecting a second mill in Mount Ver- non. The mill at the latter place was destroyed by fire in 1894 and the business at Burlington was sold. In 1889 Mr. Dale was nominated by the Repub- lican party for county assessor, and the choice of his party was ratified by the voters at the polls that fall by a handsome majority. Ile served throughout two successive terms of four years with success, at the same time keeping a guiding hand on his busi- ness interests outside. Again, in 1898, he was called by a goodly majority to fill the same position of trust, serving to the close of the double term of four years with that distinguishing faithfulness which has ever marked his course through life, whether in public or private affairs. At the close of his official duties in 1902, he formed a partner- ship with Warren Shea in the abstract, real estate and insurance business, which they are at present successfully conducting, having established it on a solid business basis. Ever in close touch with the agricultural interests of the county, and an owner

of farm lands himself, Mr. Dale has for a number of years owned and had operated two first-class steam threshers, which as an investment have proven any- thing but unprofitable.

In 1814, while following the lumbering industry, the union of William Dale and Mary A. Stevens was celebrated in Skagit county. Mrs. Dale is from one of the earliest pioneer families of that county. Iler father, Edwin Stevens, a millwright by trade, and native of New York, came to Skagit with his family in 1822, and after an active life of seven years in his newly adopted home, he laid down the burdens of life, greatly regretted by all who knew him. The mother, Rachel (Herbernson) Stevens, still survives her husband. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Dale have been born four children, William Edwin and James Arthur, now farming in British Columbia : Annie Adelaide Hunt and Ella R. Fredlund. Politically, Mr. Dale is a staunch Re- publican and ranks among the foremost in the coun- cils of his party and the shaping of its policies ; fra- ternally he is a Knight Templar and Past High Priest in the Masonic order, and in the Knights of Pythias holds the position of Keeper of the Seals. In the Commercial club of his town Mr. Dale is recognized as one of the most active factors, and is ever at the forefront of every enterprise that makes for the public weal, or carries on its banner the insignia of progress ; which broad-minded, pub- lic-spirited course has won for him the deepest re- gard, as well as respect and confidence of the com- munity which claims him as a citizen.

GEORGE W. MARBLE, of Mount Vernon, well known as a real estate and insurance agent, was born in Auburn, Maine, August 13, 1870. His father, a shoemaker by trade, now living in Oak- land, California, is an Easterner, his ancestors hav- ing lived for generations on the Atlantic coast. The maternal ancestor. Emma (Stewart) Marble (now Mrs. Cook) was born on the Eastern coast, and is at present living in Tacoma. Mr. Marble came with his parents to Oakland, California, in 1874, he be- ing only four years old when they crossed the con- tinent to find a home in that land of flowers, which must, indeed, have seemed a wonderland after the severe climate of Maine. Here and in San Fran- cisco he spent the carly years of his life, in the lat- ter city being for some time employed in the Resi- den iron works, in the department of boiler mak- ing. The following three years he was a baker in Oakland, at the end of which time he was engaged in the hotel and restaurant business, as cook and waiter, in that city and later in San Francisco and Eureka. In August, 1891, he came to Tacoma there entering a department of the business that has since claimed his entire time. After five years experi- ence in fire insurance, he came in 1896 to Mount Vernon, making this his home while he divided his time between the four counties of Skagit, Whatcom,

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Island and Snohomish, of which he had the general agency. Three years ago he opened up an office in Mount Vernon in the insurance and real estate busi- ness, continuing in that line to the present time.

Mr. Marble was married in Mount Vernon in 1900, his bride being Miss Margaret Golden, who came from Ireland, the land of her birth, to the United States at the age of nine. Mr. and Mrs. Marble have two daughters, Eva Marie and Mar- garet L. Mr. Marble is a member of the Yeoman order in Mount Vernon. Having served as justice of the peace by appointment for a time, he was elected to that office, in 1904, by the Republican party, of which he is a loyal member ; he resigned this office in September, 1905. By industry and wise management Mr. Marble has built up a good busi- ness, owns an excellent residence in Mount Vernon and is one of her earnest, active citizens.

JAMES S. BOWEN, a respected citizen of Mount Vernon, was born in Tioga county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1841, the son of William and Elizabeth (Thorp) Bowen. The father, of Scotch descent, was born in Rhode Island, but later moved to Wis- consin, where he engaged in farming till the time of his death, at the age of thirty-eight. The mother, who traced her ancestry back to Revolutionary stock, died in Kansas. Coming with his parents to Wisconsin at the age of two, Mr. Bowen remained there for six years, then returned to Pennsylvania where he lived with an uncle, and there received his education. Returning to Wisconsin, he served an apprenticeship of three years learning the car- riage making trade. Thrilled with zeal for his coun- try, he answered her call for volunteers when the war broke out, enlisting December 12, 1861, for three years, assisting in the defeat of the famous Price raid in Missouri. He was discharged February 25, 1865. only to re-enlist in Hancock's veteran corps, in which he served one year, receiving his final dis- charge in Washington, D. C., in 1866, after which he returned to Wisconsin and there pursued his former occupation until the fall of 1862, when he moved to Cloud County, Kansas, and took up a homestead. Here he spent the next two years, and then located in Concordia, the county seat, that he might the better discharge the duties of the offices to which he had been elected, that of clerk of the court and register of deeds. Here he remained till 1875, when, after serving his third term as regis- ter of deeds, and having also occupied the office of under sheriff and United States marshal for a number of years, he retired from public life, came West and settled in Seattle, Washington, where he engaged in various occupations. In 1879 he started on a trip east, made a brief visit in Kansas, and then went on to Washington, D. C., to accept a position in the Pension Department, which he held for fourteen months, at which time he resigned on account of his health. After spending some time 28

visiting points in the east in search of health, he located in Emporia, Kansas, where for two years and a half he was employed in the Pacific express office, and then moved to Shoshone, Idaho, and was there connected with the Oregon Short Line as ex- press messenger. Desirous of changing both his place of residence and occupation, he went to Pen- dleton, Oregon, and there for a time worked at the carpenter trade, but later resuming the trade of his early manhood, carriage making, which he also fol- lowed when he later located in Whatcom, Washing- ton. In 1890 he purchased a farm on the Samish river and resided there till in 1899 he came to his present home. Mount Vernon. After an extended trip to California for his health, he engaged in his present business, that of real estate and insurance. Mr. Bowen was married, in Wisconsin, in 1860, to Clara Russell, to which union five children were born, three of whom are now living; James M., Benjamin W. and Walter G. In 1882, in Pendle- ton, Oregon, he was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Rebecca J. Conley, the daughter of Joseph Rob, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Tacoma at the age of ninety-five. She was born in Ohio, November 21, 1846, but came with her par- ents to lowa when quite young, and there secured an excellent education. She taught for several years prior to her marriage to Mr. Conley, a prominent lawyer of Pendleton. Of their three children, two are now living, Cleora F. Smith and Alberta A. Curry. Mrs. Bowen is a member of the Presbyterian church. Always an active Republican, Mr. Bowen is at pres- ent police judge and justice of the peace of Mount Vernon. He is a honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in business and political and social circles is held in the highest esteem.

RALPH C. HARTSON, the editor and pub- fisher of the Skagit News-Herald, is a native of Skagit county, born on the okl Hartson homestead, one of the oldest places in the valley, across the river from Mount Vernon, December 20, 1880, the eldest of four children of George E. and Matilda (Gates) Hartson. The others are Mrs. Grace Earl, of Anacortes, Clifford, clerk in the Mount Vernon postoffice, and Earl Stanley, still living with his parents. The elder Hartson came to Skagit county in 1871 and is one of the oklest pioneers in point of residence in the valley. He is the present post- master of Mount Vernon. When Ralph was six

years of age his parents moved from their farm into town, his father having purchased the Skagit News from William H1. Ewing. Young Hartson obtained his education in the local schools, being graduated from the ninth grade in 1895 ; later upon the addition of two other grades he resumed his studies until the course was completed. As a lad he studied the types in his father's printing office and soon advanced himself far enough to stand on a box in order to reach the cases. He learned from

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experience the mechanical end of a country news- paper and then entered the editorial department. On completing his course in school he took charge of the composing and press room, which position he left to become assistant postmaster. In 1902 he was mail weigher for three months on the Great Northern railway, resigning to accept a place as substitute clerk in the postoffice at Seattle. In Sep- tember of 1902 he took entire charge of the Skagit News-Herald, the oldest publication in the Skagit valley, which he has since conducted through the vicissitudes of newspaperdom.

In September, 1904, the union of Mr. Hartson and Miss Edna Hadfield, of Ridgeway, was cele- brated. Iler father, George W. Hadfield, was born in England and came to the United States when a lad. In after years he became proprietor of a crockery store on Fulton street, Brooklyn, New York. He subsequently located in Seattle, and pros- pering, built a large store for his crockery and fur- niture business, but his fortune was wiped out in the monetary distress of the early nineties. He saved from the wreck his farm of eighty acres near Mount Vernon, to which he retired in 1898, since which time he has successfully carried on farming and dairying. The mother, Isabella ( Evans) Had- field, a native of Ireland, came to this country when a girl, and marrying in Brooklyn, came west with her husband. Their union was blessed with seven children, five of whom are living: Carrie, Belle, Harry, Gilbert and Mrs. Hartson. She was edu- cated in the schools of Brooklyn, Seattle and Avon. Mrs. Hartson is an accomplished musician. Fra- ternally Mr. Hartson is connected with the Knights of l'ythias, Odd Fellows, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Rebekahs and Rathbone Sisters. Politically he is an unwavering Republican.

GEORGE E. HARTSON is one of the pioneers of western Washington, having accompanied his parents to that territory in 1868, before Skagit coun- ty had existence. Mr. Hartson was born in Troy, New York, in July, 1855, the son of Augustus Hart- son, a native of Sharon, just over the New York state line into Connecticut. The elder Hartson was a machinist by trade. He followed his trade in Troy and in the early days of the settlement of Wiscon- sin was a pioneer blacksmith at Lodi. Pushing on to the Puget sound country, Mr. Hartson arrived at Coupeville on November 8, 1868. He came to that part of Whatcom county from which in later days Skagit county was formed, taking up a pre- emption claim one mile and a half southwest of Mount Vernon in 18:1. Mr. Hartson followed farming and died in 1892. Mrs. Rebecca (Me- loney) Hartson was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and accompanied her husband across the con- tinent passing away near Mount Vernon in 1892. George E. Hartson was but thirteen years of age on his arrival in Washington and at once com-

menced preparation for teaching. Without all the advantages at his hand, he made up in hard study what was lacking in facilities in the early pioneer days. When but seventeen years old he was granted a certificate and taught in Skagit county for six years, two terms each year. In 1885 he bought the Skagit News, a Democratic paper (changing its politics upon purchasing to Republican), published at Mount Vernon, and was its editor and publisher until 1900, when he leased his plant and accepted the appointment as postmaster at Mount Vernon, which position he still fills. Mr. Hartson has watched Skagit county and Mount Vernon grow from nothing into their present populous and in- fluential positions, he himself contributing much of private energy and public spirit to that end. Mr. Hartson has not been without the ups and downs always present in pioneer days and knows the ins and outs of varying fortunes.

In 1879, in Skagit county, Mr. Hartson mar- ried Matilda, daughter of Jasper and Clarinda Gates, pioneer settlers of Skagit, who still live on a farm near Mount Vernon. It was Mr. Gates who took up as a homestead the land on which that city now stands, later selling it out in lots and buying his present place. Mrs. Hartson was born in Missouri and came to Skagit county with her parents when she was very young. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hartson : Ralph C., who succeeded his father in the newspaper business and still con- ducts it; Gracie ; Clifford, a clerk in the postoffice ; and Earl Stanley. Mr. Hartson has twice served as county superintendent of schools, one term in What- com county and the other in Skagit after the divi- sion was made. In politics he has always been a Republican and active in the councils of his party. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as the social organization of lumbermen, the Concate- nated Order of Hoo Hoo. Mr. Hartson owns his Mount Vernon home and has invested in real estate in Seattle and other towns. His deputy in the post- office is Mrs. Hartson. Mr. Hartson was secretary of the old pioneers' association which was aban- coned several years ago, and is now a member of the present organization which held its first meet- ing at Sedro-Woolley in the fall of 1904.

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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 96

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