USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington > Part 54
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earliest pioneers of Waitsburg, in fact, he was on the site of the town as early as 1861, long before the establishment of an organized and incorporated town had been thought of.
He grew to manhood in this locality, re- ceiving his education in the Waitsburg schools, and when he engaged in business for himself he naturally drifted into the enterprise which his father had followed before him and in which he had been reared. He is a man of energy and good judgment, thoroughly inter- ested in everything pertaining to his business and ready to profit by any new method or improvement which his own experience or that of others may bring to light. At the present time he is the owner of a fine farm of about a thousand acres, also an elegant brick resi- dence in Waitsburg. He is quite prominent in fraternal circles, being an active member of the United Artisans and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On November 17, 1885, was solemnized, in Columbia county, Washington, the mar- riage of our subject and Miss Addie L. Har- mon, the latter being a native of lowa, born October 23, 1864. Three children were born of this marriage: William E., on September 18, 1886: Zula E., on Janury 31, 1888; and Hobart O., on November 4. 1895. Mr. Bruce had been previously married to Miss Lottie M. Seward, the date of their union being in August, 1874, and the issue one daughter, Carrie B., now wife of Ralph Lloyd.
Our subject's father, William P. Bruce, was a very old pioneer of the west, having crossed the plains to Oregon in 1850. In 1861 he became identified with Waitsburg, of which he continued to be a respected and rep- resentative citizen until his death, which oc- curred November 17, 1888. He was long an active worker in the political campaigns of
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the county, and for some years served on its board of county commissioners. His widow, Caroline Bruce, ncc O'Neal, survived him un- til January, 1891, residing on the old home. The couple became parents of five children, namely: Mary E., widow of the late II. J. Abbey, of Waitsburg; J. W .; Dora E., wife of E. L. Powell, of Spokane; also Edward, who was drowned when two years old, and John H., who died near Vancouver, Wash- ington, in 1898.
To Mr. William P. Bruce belongs the honor of pioneership in Waitsburg, he having been the man who secured from the govern- ment by homestead the place where that city now stands, the date of his homestead entry being 1863.
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PERRY C. PERKINS, a drayman in Waitsburg, was born in Iowa December 13, 1868. Ile attended the local public school, and worked betimes on his father's farm until about nineteen, then decided to try his fortune in the west. Accordingly he came to this county, located at Waitsburg, rented land, and began farming. For the ensuing five years he was a successful tiller of the soil here, then he tried the same occupation in Idaho for a year. In 1893, however, he went to Cali- fornia, where for about four years he worked on the John Bidwell farm, near Chico. Re- turning then to Waitsburg, he engaged in the transfer business, and to that he has devoted his energies ever since. By his careful atten- tion to the interests of his customers and strict application to business he is building up a very good trade. He is one of the solid and substantial men of Waitsburg, and enjoys an enviable standing among the people of that city
Mr. Perkins was married in Waitsburg June 15, 1896, to Miss Iny Mitchel, a native of Washington, and a member of a pioneer family. They have three children, Voyle L., Eklon M. and Ethel M.
DENNIS LA GRAVE, a retired farmer residing at College Place, a pioneer of the val- ley of 1873, was born in Massena, New York, on May 29, 1844. He resided there, attending school after he became old enough, until sev- enteen years old, then enlisted in Company A, Ninety-second New York Infantry. He remained in the service until 1864, as a men- ber of that company, then re-enlisted in Com- pany F, One Hundred and Ninety-third New York Infantry, serving with them till the close of the war. He was in the thickest of the fight from the first year of the war till the last disloyal gun was silenced, and naturally participated in some very stubbornly contest- ed and sanguinary engagements, among which may be mentioned the battles of Mud creek, Fair Oaks, Kingston, Whitehall, Goldsboro, Richmond, Petersburg, Cold Harbor, the cap- ture of Fort Harrison, and the seven days' fight at Malvern Hill under General McClel- lan. He was wounded in the terrible battle of Cold Harbor, where the Union forces lost ten thousand men in twenty-two minutes, and he was again injured in the blowing up of the mines after the capture of Petersburg. His eyes also were permanently injured in the service, and have never been strong since.
Upon being mustered out, in Jannary, 1866, Mr. La Grave returned to New York state and engaged in farming. He followed that industry there four years and in Wiscon- sin four years more, afterwards coming to
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the Walla Walla valley. He took a home- stead and pre-emption in what is now Columbia county, and farmed there for twenty consecu- tive years, but in 1893 sold out, moved to College Place, bought a lot containing an acre and a quarter, built a comfortable home and retired. He is, however, indulging to some extent his fancy for mining and has some very promising gold and silver claims in the Okanogan country.
Mr. La Grave has long been one of the solid and substantial men of the west. He is a good citizen in every respect, thoroughly loyal to the flag for which he fought so long and so well, and ever ready to do what he can for the promotion of the general welfare of his locality. He is a member of Excelsior Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Day- ton. He was married in Eau Claire, Wiscon- sin, in April, 1873, to Miss Mary E. Palmer, a native of Pennsylvania, and to them have been born five children: F. Leslie; Cora E., wife of Edward Miley, a mining man in the Okanogan ; Verna E .; Verta E., wife of James Granger, of Sumpter, Oregon; and Myrtle. Verna and Myrtle are still at home with their parents.
J. M. BALDWIN, formerly superintend- ent of the Union Publishing Company's job office, at present a partner in the Inland Em- pire Printing Company, is a native of the west, having been born in Walla Walla in 1870. He is the son of David S. Baldwin, a pioneer of 1858. He attended the public schools until about sixteen years old, then went to The Dalles, Oregon, and engaged in the printing business. He worked at his trade continuously there until 1892, in which year he returned to Walla Walla to accept the po-
sition on the Union above referred to. This he retained until the beginning of 1901, when he severed his connection with that paper and, in partnership with Messrs. Harris and Arm- strong, established an extensive job printing concern on the corner of Alder and East streets, the firm name being the Inland Em- pire Printing Company. They have every facility for turning out first-class work with quickness and accuracy. In fact, the combina- tion of energetic, progressive young men is looked upon as one of the strongest in its line in the state.
Mr. Baldwin is a very skilled tradesman and a thoroughly reliable young man, one whose influence in the future will be very sensibly felt. In fraternal affiliations he is identified with the Woodmen of the World.
GEORGE A. RULAFORD, a carpenter and builder at College Place, a pioneer of the valley of 1875, was born in Clark county, Ohio, on December 7, 1848. He remained in his native town until about eighteen years old, acquiring his education in the public schools, then learned the trade of a carpenter, serving his apprenticeship at Columbus, Ohio. lle afterwards followed his trade in different parts of the state until 1868, in which year he removed to Colorado City, Colorado, where he clerked and worked at his handicraft for a couple of years. Returning to Ohio in 1870, he followed his trade |there for five years longer, then enlisted in Company L, First United States Cavalry. He was sent to Fort Walla Walla and remained there three years, going thence to Fort Klamath, Oregon, where he remained during the rest of his en- listment. During the war of 1878 the com-
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pany to which he belonged fought many bat- tles and sustained heavy losses in killed and wounded, but he was not permitted to partici- pate, having been selected to remain in charge of the company's property at the fort.
Upon being discharged Mr. Rulaford set- tled in Walla Walla. He worked at his trade there until 1884, then removed to Medical Lake to reap the benefit of the boom. He continued in the pursuit of his handicraft there for seven years, coming tlience to College Place, where he has since resided. When he came there were only two houses in the vil- lage, and he has witnessed its growth from that time to the present day. Nor lias he been in any sense a passive spectator of this development, for by far the greater part of the houses in the town were built by him. He is one of the progressive forces of the place and is esteemed as one of its representa- tive citizens.
In Walla Walla, on June 18, 1880, Mr. Rulaford married Miss Martha Ford, a na- tive of Walla Walla valley and the first white girl born in it. They are parents of three children, Cecil C., Burnham S. and Ernest E., all students in Walla Walla College. The family own and occupy a comfortable home in the town.
MARTIN H. HAUBER .- This respected pioneer and successful ranchman of the vicin- ity of Waitsburg is a native of Indiana, born May 7, 1837. He, however, spent most of his life before coming west in Missouri, to which state his parents moved when he was about three years old and in which his educa- tion was obtained. In 1854 he crossed the plains with ox-teams to Benton county, Ore-
gon, and before he was there a year his serv- ices were required in the Rogue river Indian war. He continued with the army in volun- teer service for about eight months, then re- turned to Benton county, whence in 1857 he came to Walla Walla. Finding the valley an excellent place for cattle raising, he re- turned the following year to Oregon, bought a number of cattle, brought them here and en- gaged quite extensively in the stock business. He met with excellent success for several years, but the severe winter of 1861-62 caught him unprepared for its rigors and he lost prac- tically all his herds. He then bought a bunch of sheep and turned his attention to that in- dustry, continuing in the same for a period of fifteen years.
In 1858 he took a homestead on the Touchet river about three miles west of Waits- burg, and this afforded him a home and a base of operations during the many years in which he followed cattle and sheep raising. After disposing of his sheep he again engaged in the business from which he had been compelled' to retire on account of liis bad fortune in 1862, and he continued for many years to raise and handle large numbers of cattle and horses annually, gradually retrenching in this direction and giving more and more attention to agriculture as the country began to settle up, and the range became correspondingly di- minished.
He now has a fine farm of about six hun- dred acres, well improved and cultivated, its natural fertility fully developed by his skillful husbandry. Evidences of his thrift and care- ful management are everywhere visible on his premises, and he justly ranks among the lead- ing farmers in that community. As a man and a citizen his standing in the neighborhood is of the highest, his life being in all things
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so ordered as to compel respect and win es- when peace again visited our land, he returned teem.
The marriage of our subject was solem- mized in Walla Walla county in 1865. when Miss Phebe A. Saylor, a native of Indiana, became his wife. The issue of their union was seven children: Charles, a physician in Cali- fornia: Kate, wife of E. Allen, in Idaho; Dora and Henry, living; also three deceased.
E. F. BABCOCK .- Prominent in the de- velopment of an industry, the importance of which to the future of the county is as yet scarcely realized, is the man whose name gives caption to this review. A nurseryman and fruit grower from the time he left the parental roof to inaugurate independent action, he thor- oughly understands everything pertaining to the business, and the county of Walla Walla is especially fortunate in having within its borders a man so eminently qualified to give an impetus to the fruit raising industry.
Born in New York on the 8th of January. 1831. he passed his early youth in that state, but upon the advent of young manhood he removed to Washington, D. C., but it was in Rochester, New York, that he took his initial lessons in the nursery business. In 1857, he migrated to St. Louis, Missouri, and thence to Illinois, where he established what is known as the St. Clair nursery. He busied himself in connection with this until the outbreak of the Civil war, when, obedient to the voice of pa- triotism, he rallied to the support of the flag.
Enlisting in Company E. Second Illinois Cavalry, he served a year at the front as first lieutenant. but he was thereupon sent home on recruiting service. He was connected with the federal army until the close of hostilities, but
to liis former home and to his former business. He subsequently established nurseries at Mem- phis, Tennessee, and in Arkansas.
While serving as pomologist in the World's Fair. in 1893. he became so impressed with the excellent fruit on exhibition in the Washington state building and from other Pacific states that he decided to try his fortune in the rising young commonwealth. Accordingly, he came out to Walla Walla county. In due time he located near Waitsburg and began to employ his herculean energies in the establishment and upbuilding of the Columbian orchard and nur- sery. He has about ten thousand trees, bearing all the leading varieties of fruits, especially high-grade apples, and his nursery stock covers fifteen acres of land. We are pleased to record that experience has only served to strengthen the good opinion he had formed of Washing- ton as a fruit country, until he has come to re- gard it as without a peer in the world for the production of apples.
Mr. Babcock has for twenty years been re- garded as an expert in the art of preparing fruit exhibits for expositions. He selected the fruit from this state which won second and third premiums at the Paris Exposition, also made a shipment from his own orchard to Paris in September last. Thus he is performing a great work for the future of this valley not only in assisting to build up the fruit industry directly, but in advertising the possibilities of the country to the outside world. He also won two gold medals for fruit produced in the year 1900.
FRED O. COX. a dairyman and fruit grower, residing in Waitsburg, is a native of the state of Washington. born May 22, 1870.
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
He was educated in the schools of this county, then accepted a position with the Preston- Parton Milling Company, for whom he worked for six consecutive years. He then engaged in the business in which we now find him. He gives most attention to small fruits, his crop of blackberries in the current year, 1900, exceeding five thousand pounds, and of straw- berries twenty-five hundred pounds. He has, however, a choice lot of pears, apples, plums and prunes. His dairy stock consists of fif- teen head of Jersey and Durham milch cows.
Mr. Cox is an energetic man and a suc- cessful farmer. He is quite comfortably cir- cumstanced for a young man, being the owner of ten acres of fruit land within the city limits of Waitsburg, a fine residence, and other city property, in addition to his farm and stock. He was married in Waitsburg February 28, 1893, to Miss Ada Harmon, a native of Ore- gon, born April 28, 1874, and they are the parents of one son, Merrill, now five years old. Mr. Cox is a member of the A. O. U. W., Occidental Lodge, No. II, and Mrs. Cox belongs to the Degree of Honor.
ROBERT H. JOHNSON, hay and grain dealer, 105 North Third street, was born in Liverpool, England, in 1861. He received his education in that country, but early emigrated to America, being only fourteen years old at the time of his arrival in the United States. He came via Cape Horn in a sailing vessel to Portland, Oregon, where for the ensuing ยท five years he followed steamboating. He then came to Walla Walla, entered the employ of Marshall, Jones & Roberts as a hand in their machine shops, and established a connection with that firm which lasted fourteen years.
Since retiring from their service he has been engaged continuously in the business in which we now find him. He handles large quanti- ties of grain annually, and keeps constantly in operation the electric feed mill, in which all kinds of cereal products are ground for fodder.
Mr. Johnson is an active, enterprising and successful business man and the leader in his line in Walla Walla. As a citizen his stand- ing is of the highest, and though not ambi- tious for political honors, or personal prefer- ment of any kind, he is one of the great body of men who work unostentatiously, but none the less effectively, for their own and the com- munity's welfare. Fraternally he affiliates with the Elks. He was married in Walla Walla in January, 1892, to Kate McGeary, daughter of Mrs. Margaret McGeary, one of the carly settlers of Walla Walla. Their union has been blest by the advent of three children, Marguerite, Robert and Helen.
PHILIP A. WILD, farmer, a pioneer of the Pacific coast of 1880, is a native of Ray county, Missouri, born January 13, 1834. When two years old, he was taken to Grundy county, Missouri, where his father followed farming and stock raising as a business, and where he learned his first lessons in that in- dustry. He was educated in the public schools and in Grand River College. In 1861, he en- listed in Company C. Thirty-fifth Cavalry Mili- tia of Missouri for six months' service. At the end of his term of enlistment, he returned home and raised one crop, then, on September 10, 1862, again enlisted, becoming a member of Company C. Thirty-fifth Missouri Infantry, which was in the regular United States service. From that time until the close of hostilities he
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was engaged constantly in active campaigning. He participated in numerous skirmishes and battles, among which was the fierce conflict at Helena. Arkansas, July 4, 1864, in which four thousand Federals were pitted against twelve thousand Confederates. The battle lasted nine hours and resulted in a glorious victory for the "Boys in Blue."
After being mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 10, 1865, Mr. Wild returned to his old home and to his former occupation, farming, continuing in that until 18So, when he came to Umatilla county, Oregon. He filed on a homestead there and busied himself in rais- ing stock until 1895, when he sold out and moved to the vicinity of Starbuck, Columbia county, where he farmed until 1897. In that year, however, he moved to College Place, pur- chased a home, and became a resident of the town, and is now one of the reliable and sub- stantial men of that neighborhood, highly es- teemed and respected by all.
Our subject was married in Grundy county, Missouri, on August 20, 1857, to Miss Mary E. Sandlin, a native of Boone county, Indiana. who was taken by her parents to Iowa, while still a young child. They have seven children living : Elsie, now Mrs. James Power, of Pen- dleton, Oregon: John, a farmer in Mercer county, Missouri: William H., at Pendleton; Sallie, now Mrs. John Montgomery, of Pendle- ton : Eddie, Rebecca and Charlie M., at home with their parents; also two deceased.
HENRY J. ABBEY, deceased, was one of those sturdy pioneers who have changed the primeval Walla Walla valley into well-culti- vated fields, and caused its naturally fertile soil to "blossom and the rose." Ile was born in the
state of New York June 8, 1835. In 1843 his parents moved to Michigan, where they both died, leaving him an orphan at ten years of age. He was therefore compelled to support himself as best he could without the aid of anyone upon whom he had a natural claim, and to acquire unassisted what education he might.
Of those early struggles but little specific information can be given, but certain it is that they developed in him a strong, self-reliant character, and a resourcefulness which made him the equal of every emergency.
In 1861 he crossed the plains, traveling in the usual primitive fashion of those days, namely, with ox-teams. Locating in the Walla Walla valley, he engaged in freighting as a business, and it fell to his lot to haul the lum- ber used in the construction of the first store ever erected in Walla Walla, which was built by the noted Dr. Baker.
Subsequently he spent three years in the Warrens mining region, then ran a ferry at Lewiston for two years, after which he re- turned to the valley and settled on a homestead three and a half miles northwest of Waitsburg. Being a thrifty. enterprising man, he naturally extended his realty holdings as time passed. eventually becoming the owner of six hundred acres, all of which is excellent wheat land. In 1897 he moved into Waitsburg, where he had a fine home, but he was not permitted to long enjoy the luxury of retirement, for on .Au- gust 19 of that year he died, and his remains lie buried in the city cemetery.
Mr. Abbey was married in Waitsburg. No- vember 25. 1871, to Miss Mary E. Bruce. an early pioneer of the county, and to their union eight children have been born. namely: Perry 11 .. a merchant in Waitsburg. Oscar W., Caro- line M. and Bruce, living: and Jennic, Fred- eric, Lillian and Henry, deceased.
4
HENRY J. ABBEY.
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
Mr. Abbey was a communicant in the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and Mrs. Abbey also belongs to that denomination.
WILLIAM R. JONES, a retired school teacher and merchant, a pioneer of the coast of 1864, was born in Green county, Kentucky, on November 25. 1840. He was taken by his parents to Gentry county, Missouri, in 1846, and there acquired his public school education. Upon completing his course he engaged in farming, which industry he followed contin- uously until 1864, when he crossed the plains with ox-teams to Eugene, Oregon. He taught in the public schools a year. then went to Linn county, and engaged in the pursuit of the same profession. He taught there twenty-one terms, afterward removing to Whitman county, Washington, where he was engaged in public school teaching until 1885. He then homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, and resumed the business he had followed in early manhood, namely farming.
In 1891 Mr. Jones sold out and the fol- lowing year came to College Place that his children might enjoy the advantage of the school which was just being established there. He was one of the first settlers in the town and helped to survey it and build it up from the very foundation. In 1892, the first year the college was in operation, he had seven children in attendance. In the spring of 1901 the fam- ily removed to their farm of one hundred and sixty acres eight miles southeast of Dixie, where their home now is and where they are again engaged in tilling the soil.
Mr. Jones was married in Scio, Oregon. September 9. 1873. to Miss Mary R. Ethel, 25
a native of St. Louis, Missouri, who died in September, 1880, leaving two children. On . November 25, 1885, he was again married, the lady being Mrs. Sarah A. Thornton, and to this union have been born two children. Mrs. Jones also had seven children by her former marriage. Her daughter, Miss Minnie Thorn- ton, is a medical missionary nurse, having completed the course in the Medical Mission- ary Training School of Chicago. Mr. Jones is a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist church, to which he has belonged since 1881, and he was clerk of the Farmington church for seven years. For the past two years he has served as deputy county assessor.
JACOB F. WEAVER, secretary and treas- urer of the Upper Columbia Tract society, re- siding at College Place, was born in Illinois, March 21, 1865. He attended school there from the time he reached school age until he was fifteen, then moved with his mother and brothers and sisters to Caldwell county, Mis- souri, first, however, selling the old homestead which his grandfather, Louis Weaver, had taken up six years before Springfield, Illinois, was founded, and upon which his father, Sam- uel, had raised fruit and nursery stock until his death, which occurred October 10, 1879. Upon arriving in Missouri, Mr. Weaver en- gaged in farming and stock raising, remain- ing in that industry until 1885, when he re- moved to southwestern Kansas. He followed the same occupation in the latter state, except that in winter he also taught school. Event- ually coming west, he located at Portland, Oregon, where he accepted a position as super- intendent of the large stone quarry. He spent a year in that, then in 1892 came as a student
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