USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington > Part 59
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Mr. Mangan's mother, Mrs. Mary Mangan, was born in New Brunswick, August 19, 1819. She became identified with Walla Walla in 1880, after spending a great many years in Wisconsin. When her family was quite young, she was deprived of her husband by death, but, by judicious management and great effort.
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
she succeeded in rearing and educating the young people and in bringing them up to be- come useful and esteemed members of society. Mrs. Mangan was a devout Catholic, and all her children are also members of that church. At the time of her death, which occurred on March 12, 1000, at the home of her son Joseph, she being then eighty years and six months old, she had twenty-three grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.
HON. JAMES M. LAMB. deceased, a pioneer of 1850, was born in Logan county. Kentucky, February 10, 1835. He was reared and educated in his native state and in Oregon, Missouri, but in 1854 came with his parents over the long trail to Cali- fornia, traveling with ox-teams. They lived where the present Woodland is for five years, then came to Walla Walla county. and located on a farm on Dry creek, one mile south of Dixie, where Mr. Lamb's home was continuously thereafter until his death, which occurred in Lodi, San Joaquin county, Califor- nia, March 5. 1808. He was the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of land in the vicinity of Dixie and was engaged in farming and stock raising. also in general blacksmithing during all the years of his residence there.
Mr. Lamb was a prominent man in political circles, and a leader of the Democratic party. which elected him to the territorial legisla- ture in 1Soy. He was active, energetic. industrious and public-spirited, ever ready to do what lay in his power for the advancement of the general welfare and the cause of good local SIVerement. Religiously. he was identified with the Christian church.
Mr. Lamb married, in Sonoma county, Cali-
fornia. December 17. 1856, Miss Jane Pearce. a native of Kentucky, who came with her par- ents to California by the overland route, shortly before her wedding. To their union were born eleven children. John D .. in Walla Walla : Georgia Ann, wife of G. W. Howard, of Oak- land, California: Martha E., wife of A. H. Johnson, of Potter valley, California: Cora. widow of James Cation, Walla Walla: and William T. and Daniel W., living: also five deceased. The family still own and farm the land near Dixie, and they also have title to some valuable residence property in Walla Walla.
RASSELAS P. REYNOLDS, city clerk of Walla Walla, was born in Fort Wayne. In- diana. January 23. 1843. He was reared there and in Whiteside county, Illinois, whither his family moved in 1854. He received his edu- cation in the public schools, and in the State Normal University of Bloomington, Illinois. from which institution he would doubtless have gra luated had not the call of patriotism sum- moned him to fight the stern battles of the re- public. To that call he, with most of the teach- ers and other students. responded promptly. On August 21. 1861. he enlisted in Company .A. Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. and frem then until December 24. 1865, his connection with the army of the Union was never severed. He participated in the Vicks- burg campaign, the siege of Mobile and other great operations of the war, being present in numerous engagements.
In the spring of 1800 Mr. Reynolds started for Washington with a government surveying party, and in the fall of that year he reached Walla Walla. In 1860 he was appointed clerk of the United States district court, a position
RASSELAS P. REYNOLDS
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which he retained for the ensuing three years. He then became bookkeeper in Reynolds and Day's bank, and was employed by them until 1879. The next year, 1880, he moved to Al- powa, Washington, where for the following six years he kept a general store and a ware- house. Returning to Walla Walla he engaged in the business of painting roofs with a special material of his own manufacture. In January, 1899, he was appointed city clerk to complete an unexpired term : in July of the same year he was elected to that office, and in July, 1900, he was re-elected.
Mr. Reynolds is one of the leaders in the local politics of the city and county. He is public spirited and enterprising, and has earned an honored place among the progressive men of that section. Fraternally he is a charter member of A. Lincoln Post, No. 4. G. A. R., of which he is past commander. He was mar- ried in Walla Walla, on October 28, 1888, to Miss Carrie M. Baker, a native of Maine.
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FRANK VILLA, a gardener residing one mile south of the city limits of Walla Walla, was born near Genoa, Italy, in May, 1837. He remained in his sunny fatherland until eighteen years old attending the local public schools, then decided to try the more rigorous New York, so emigrated to that city. . After a residence of only fifteen days, however, he embarked on a vessel bound for the south, and came via Nicaragua to Calavera county, Cali- fornia, where he worked in the placer mines for seven years. He then followed market gar- dening in East Portland, Oregon, about eight years, after which he took a trip to his native land.
In November, 1878, Mr. Villa came to 27
Walla Walla, and bought a place of thirty-five acres, upon which he now resides, his business being to raise fruits and vegetables for the supply of the local markets. He is an indus- trious, thrifty man, possessed of the skill in gardening and fruit culture for which men of his nationality are noted. He took his first citizenship papers in California in October, 1858, and at the time of the Snake river Indian war, he testified his willingness to defend the country to which he then swore allegiance by offering his services to the government. He participated in the battles at Camp Crook and Camp Warner, also in the last fight near the mouth of Malheur river, where the Indians surrendered, but he escaped without a wound. He endured a great deal of hardship in this campaign, the winter being unusually severe, but his excellent constitution prevented any serious effects upon his health.
Mr. Villa was married in Portland, Ore- gon, April 2. 1872, to Miss Marie Reible, a native of Switzerland, and they have five chil- dren. Frank G. R., an attorney, now at Cape Nome: Mamie, residing with her parents ; Amelia C., a trained nurse : Harriet, a school teacher ; and Eleanor, a student in St. Paul's Academy. Mr. Villa and his children are members of the Catholic church, but Mrs. Villa belongs to the German Lutheran church.
EDWARD H. MANGAN, a contractor residing at 115 North Fifth street, a pioneer of 1880, was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, May 13. 1854 He received a public school education, then worked on his father's farm until twenty-six years of age, after which he came direct to the Walla Walla valley, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres,
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
situated between Dry creek and the Touchet. He resided on it three years, then proved up, paying the government price. Shortly after- wards he sold out, and went to Montana to become an employe of the N. P. R. R., helping to construct its track through that state and Idaho.
After remaining with the company ten months. Mr. Mangan took service with the O. R. & N. Company, in Washington and Oregon, as a carpenter. He assisted in building numerous depots for that company, and put in the first turn table at Pendleton, also the first turn table at Blue Mountain station, after the road was changed to a broad gauge and con- tined through to Pendleton.
After serving that company about twenty- two months, he returned to Walla Walla, and went to work as a journeyman carpenter, which was his business for about four years, during which time he assisted in the construction of the Catholic church and many other imposing structures. But since 1887 he has been con- tracting for himself. He has erected many of the finest buildings in the valley, among them. Mr. John Martin's elegant residence on Dry creek. Mr. Ryan's residence, Mr. Joseph Fal- lon's residence, and Mrs. Fasset's brick binld- ing. in which is Prendergast Bakery, also Mr. McCool's beautiful residence. During the wheat season, Mr. Mangan busies himself in building elevators, using on an average four hundred thousand feet of lumber in that indus- try per annum. He is a very enterprising. ener- getic man, and one of the most skillful and successful builders in this section of the North- west. His time and attention for many years have been devoted almost exclusively to his handicraft and to contracting, with the natural result that he is now able to succeed where others less experienced would fail.
Mr. Mangan is identified with the Y. M. I. and the I. O. E., of Walla Walla. He mar- ried in this city, on June 18. 1888, Mrs. Katic Smith, a member of the Roman Catholic church, to which he also belongs.
ROBERT E. LYNCH .- An enterprising young business man, a mechanic of no mean ability, and a citizen who commands the res- pect and confidence of the community in which he was born and in which his home has always been, the man whose name forms the caption of this article is deserving of representation among the forces which have made and which will continue to develop the county with the history of which our volume is concerned.
Mr. Lynch was born in this city in 1872. and in the public schools here established he acquired his education. Shortly after gradna- tion, he succeeded in passing the teachers' ex- amination, receiving the highest grade certifi- cate which could be lawfully awarded to one without experience in teaching. He then learned the plumbing trade, taking his initial lessons uncler a firm now out of business and com- pleting his apprenticeship in Portland, Oregon, to which city he went for the purpose in 1889. After an absence of eighteen months he re- turned to this part of the country, whence he shortly afterward moved to Moscow, Idaho. He was in charge of a plumbing establishment there one year, then returned to Walla Walla to accept a position with G. H. Sutherland, by whom he was employed for a period of three years.
Desiring then to see more of the country. he started on a trip cast. going as far as Chica- go, and working in different towns on the road. A year later, he returned to Walla Walla and
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
opened a shop, equipped with all things neces- sary for an effective business in plumbing, steam and gas fitting, etc. He was alone in this venture for three years, after which he took Mr. O'Rourke into partnership and con- solidated his business with that of W. J. Mc- Graw. They have enjoyed an excellent patron- age, and have been instrumental in bringing about many valuable improvements in the sani- tary condition of the city.
Fraternally, Mr. Lynch is identified with the Catholic Knights, and the Young Men's Institute, and he also belongs to the volunteer fire department.
NICHOLAS SEIL, proprietor of the shoe store at No. 20 Main street, a pioneer of 1878, was born in the province of Luxemburg, August 19, 1846. He was brought by his parents to the United States when eight years old, but had the misfortune to lose his father by death shortly after their arrival in New York state. He was kindly cared for by an uncle, who took him to Massillon, Ohio, educat- ed him in the parochial schools of the Catholic church, and also taught him the trade of a shoemaker. When he became about twenty- three years old, he emigrated to Oregon. For the two years following his arrival, he resided in Portland, but in 1873 he returned to Mas- sillon, Ohio, and purchased an interest in a shoe establishment. his partner being Mr. Nich- olas Hanson.
to Walla Walla, where, in 1876, he opened a custom-made shop. His business increased until he was soon able to keep six men em- ployed. He later added ready-made shoes, and gradually built up and extended his trade until his quarters became inadequate and he moved to the quarters in which we now find him, and which have been occupied by him for the past sixteen years. In business, Mr. Seil is careful and conservative, yet progressive, and to these qualities, together with an untir- devotion to the mastery of details, his success is largely due. He is public-spirited and ever ready to contribute his share toward the fur- therance of worthy public enterprises or to charity, but is especially active in the affairs of the Catholic church, to which he has always belonged.
In fraternal affiliations, he is identified with the C. K. of A. and the German Maennerchor. In May, 1886, he married Miss Susan Schrantz, a native of Wisconsin, whose home was in Portland, Oregon, at that time. To their union have been born two children, Emma C. and Edward F.
WILLIAM H. HAYS, a farmer at Pres- cott, is a native of Missouri, born May 3. 1858. He grew to man's estate there, his busi- ness after he became old enough being farm- ing. In 1886, he went to Colorado, and after a very brief residence there removed to Wash- ington. He passed one winter in this state, the cast. He seems to have been pleased with the west, however, for in the spring of 1889 he sold the old Missouri home, and returned to the Inland Empire.
After being in business there for a year, .but in the spring returned to his old home in our subject sold out to Mr. Hanson, and worked at his trade there about three years, afterward returning to Scio, Oregon, where he became foreman of a shoe shop. He later pur- chased all the tools and equipments, and moved Locating at Prescott. Mr. Hays was en-
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gaged as a laborer there for a year, but he subsequently went to the Big Bend country, and took a homestead. The next year, how- ever. he returned to Prescott, rented land and engaged in farming, an occupation which he has ever since followed. In 1898, he purchased a fine tract of 494 acres, two and a half miles northeast of Prescott, where his home now is. He is one of the thrifty and substantial citi- zens of that neighborhood, and bears an en- viable reputation wherever he is known. He has served for the past two years as road su- pervisor of his district, and in numerous other ways has at all times manifested his interest in the general welfare. He is, in fraternal connection, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In August, 1877, Mr. Hays married Miss Mary A. Wheatly, a native of Missouri, and to their union have been born two children, IJenry A., and Minnie M. Mrs. Hays is a member of the Degree of Honor, the ladies auxiliary to the United Workmen.
J. H. MORROW, of the firm of Morrow & Son, proprietors of the Waitsburg Department Store, was born in Randolph county, Mis- souri, in 1853. He resided in the state of his nativity until twenty years old, acquiring his education in the public schools, and in McGee College, where he took a complete classical course. In 1874. he removed to California, and for the ensuing three years he was en- . gaged as a teacher there. He then came to Walla Walla and accepted the principalship of what is now known as the Baker district. his assistants being Miss Martin and Miss John- SOI. In July, 1878, he accepted a position with Preston Powell & Company, of Waits-
burg, by whom he was employed for five or six years. He then engaged in the notion business, but in 1887 he embarked in his pres- ent line, namely, general merchandise.
Mr. Morrow has always met with good suc- cess in his business ventures, being a man who combines industry and strict attention to de- tails with shrewdness and sagacity. He is. moreover. a public-spirited citizen, ever ready to do his share for the general welfare, and for the progress and development of the town in which he resides. For several years he was a member of the city council. Six years ago he served a term as mayor, and at present he is again serving in that capacity. He belongs to all branches of Masonry up to and includ- ing the Commandery, also affiliates with the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Morrow married, in California, in 1876, Miss Emma C. Glotzbach. a native of that state, and they had three children, Platt Preston, Calla and Clara.
JOHN C. STOREY, a farmer at Dixie, a pioneer of 1870, was born in Pennsylvania. December 24, 1841. He grew to man's estate and was educated there, but no sooner was he ready to start in life for himself than the voice of patriotism summoned him to fight the battles of the republic. Enlisting in August, 1861. - as a member of Company H. 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteers, he served from that time until the close of hostilities, participating in almost all the battles and campaigns of the famous Army of the Potomac, including the Wilderness and those preceding the downfall of Richmond. Ile was in the firing line when the Confederate capital hung out the white flag. In all these battles, he escaped without injury, except at Petersburg, where he received a bullet wound in the right thigh.
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HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
After being discharged on July 3, 1865, Mr. Storey returned to Pennsylvania, where for two years he worked in the oil regions. He then went to Missouri and followed school teaching for a couple of years, then to Mon- tana, whence, in 1870, he came to Walla Walla county. He taught school here for fifteen years, spending fifty-four months in one dis- trict in Spring Valley. At length, however, he decided to try farming, so took a homestead 011 Pataha prairie, near Pomeroy, where he resided for a number of years. He also farmed for some time, five miles east of Dixie, but finally sold out.
Mr. Storey was a very active man in former years, and has done an incalculable amount for the cause of education in this part of the state ; indeed, he ranked among the most successful educators of the early days. He has been twice married. In 1877, in Dayton, Washington, he wedded Miss Ione White, a native of Oregon, who died in 1879, leaving one son, Mark. He was again married in 1881, the lady being Georgie E. Look, a native of California. They have five children, Flora, Carl, Clarence, Ralph and Dewey.
FRANCIS M. CORKRUM, a farmer, a pioneer of 1865, was born in Kentucky in October, 1834. His father died when he was an infant, and his mother moved with him to Spring Garden, Illinois, where he grew to manhood on a farm with his uncle. When twenty years old, he tried farming in Jeffer- son county one year, after which he worked for wages a while, but soon went onto a place for himself again, and the next year bought a farm.
Mr. Corkrum lived on this place for a num-
ber of years, but finally decided to come west, so sold out and started across the plains with a team consisting of oxen and cows. He at first intended to locate in either Oregon or California, but changed his plan and came to Walla Walla valley. He purchased a squat- ter's right to a claim on the Spring branch for $20 in greenbacks, then worth about fifty cents on the dollar. He afterwards added to this three tracts of forty acres each, and the entire farm sold fourteen years later for eleven thousand and two hundred dollars. Of course much of the increase in value was due to the improvements which Mr. Corkrum made, and it testifies to his industry and enterprise as much as to the development of the country.
After selling his first home, our subject purchased Mr. Kennedy's ranch of five hundred and twenty acres, and this he still retains, to- gether with one hundred and sixty acres on Dry creek, and one hundred and sixty acres of timber in the mountains, purchased later. Mr. Corkrum also bought a farm for each of his three boys. He now resides in a fine home in Walla Walla, and owns the house and lot ad- joining. Few of the early pioneers of the county have had more to do with the develop- ment of its industrial resources than has Mr. Corkrum and few have shown greater acumen in discerning how best to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new and fer- tile valley.
About twenty-three years ago, hie and his wife and two children were converted in the school house he had helped to build, and since that time he has had the pleasure of seeing all of his children, except one, become members of the same church to which he belongs, and in which he has been an active worker for so many years. He has also demonstrated his in- terest in the cause of education in a very sub-
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stantial way, serving as director and helping to organize the district in which he lived and to build and equip the first rude school building.
In Spring Garden, Illinois, February 11. 1857, our subject married Miss Mary Killebrue, a native of Jefferson county, Illinois, and to their union have been born ten children: William J. : Rosalie, wife of William York, of Walla Walla: Nora, wife of Thomas Wil- son, a farmer near Dayton; Uriah, Eva and Leo, at home with their parents: Sarah, after- wards Mrs. Jeff Jennings, deceased; David, deceased, and two that were taken away by death before being named. Mr. and Mrs. Corkrum are also the proud possessors of twenty-four grandchildren. The couple are enjoying excellent health and are fine specimens of well preserved old age.
A. S. DICKINSON, postmaster at Waits- burg, was born in Walla Walla county, in 1868. He received a thorough education in the public schools and in Waitsburg Academy, then took a business course in the Empire Business College at Walla Walla. In 1892. he embarked in the hardware business at Waits- burg, and for two years thereafter he followed that branch of commerce, but in 1894 he turned his attention to farming. One year was spent in tilling the soil and one in a grain ware- house. In 1897 he received an appointment as postmaster of Waitsburg and he has been serving in that capacity ever since. He is also interested in mining. being the owner of stock in Republic and Sumpter camps. For some time he acted as local treasurer of the Equi- table Loan & Savings Company, of Portland, Oregon, and of the Aetna Loan and Trust Com- pany, of Butte, Montana.
Mr. Dickinson has always manifested a lively interest in local affairs, and may be fairly counted among the progressive forces of the town. He served one term as a member of the city council. In fraternal affiliations, Mr. Dickinson is identified with the Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married in Waitsburg, in 1896, to Miss Addie E. Denny, a native of the state of Washington, who received her early education in the public schools here and later graduated from the San Jose, California, Normal school. She has been teaching in the public schools of Waitsburg ever since com- pleting her educational discipline.
HARLAN D. ELDRIDGE, a farmer one and a half miles southeast of Dixie, a pioneer of 1880, is a native of lowa, born April 6, 1858. He grew to manhood and was educated there. following teaching as his profession for some time after attaining years of maturity. In 1880, he came out to Walla Walla county, took a homestead near Starbuck, and engaged in farming. He resided there for several years. but in 1890 removed to the place upon which we now find him. He owns at present over five hundred acres of land and is one of the most extensive and successful farmers in the vicinity of Dixie.
Mr. Eldridge is quite active in the affairs of his community, and takes an intelligent in- terest in politics, local, state and national, but displays no ambition to become particularly prominent in political circles and has never been a candidate for any office. He is an ac- tive member of and one of the elders in the Christian church of Dixie. In fraternal affilia- tions, he is identified with Welcome Lodge.
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No. 117, I. O. O. F., and with the Rebekahs. He is very prominent in the subordinate Odd Fellows' lodge, having passed through all the chairs. Mr. Eldridge was married in this coun- ty. September 14. 1884, to Miss Etta Barnes, a native of the county, and they have become parents of five children : Whipple, Taylor B., Earl, Geneva M., and Bonnie G.
ALFRED F. PERRY, a retired farmer and contractor, residing at 525 North Sixth street, is a native of St. Benoit, province of Quebec, Canada, born on June 7. 1853. He was early taken to California, whither his father had gone in 1849, becoming so enamoured of the country that he could be content nowhere else. They lived a short time in San Jose, then moved to Oroville, in Butte county, where the father engaged in mining.
When Mr. Perry arrived at the age of seven years, he severed his connections with the re- mainder of his family, and accompanied a number of miners overland from Los Angeles. He passed through the famous Death Valley, and had the pleasure of seeing the wonderful petrified ship, as it is called, which is a large rock the exact shape of a ship, and is supposed by some to have been an actual ship at one time and to have been sunk in the days when the valley was an inland sea. There are also other curious remains such as (ap- parently ) petrified cities and even the form of a man with a pen behind his ear, and a bunch of papers in his hand. The company of miners to which Mr. Perry belonged located in the White mountains eighty miles from the present Tucson, Arizona, and our young hero learned to read and spell as best he could with the news- paper and such other literature as might chance
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