USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington > Part 64
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But it is not alone in material things that Mr. Dacres' interest in the general well-being has found expression. He has ever manifested iruch concern for the social advancement of the city and taken an active part in promoting the cause of good local government, himself serv- ing at one time for two years as a member of its city council. Mr. Dacres has been twice married. In Walla Walla, in September, 1864, he wedded Margaret Russell, a native of Ire- land, who died in this city in 1887, leaving two children, James and Mary. In 1889 he was again married, the lady being Margaret Don- nelly, also a native of Ireland, and she, too, passed away, after having borne him his third child, George.
ROBERT THOMPSON, a retired farmer, was one of the early pioneers of the Walla Walla valley. He was born in Ireland, July 17, 1827, but when he was but four years old his parents brought him to the United States, arriving in 1831. They located in Center coun- ty, Pennsylvania, where his father engaged in iron mining. Here Robert spent his boyhood life and was educated.
In 1846, with his parents, he removed to what was then the far west, settling on a claim near Dubuque, Iowa, which claim, when it was surveyed and placed on the market, they pur- chased from the government. In those early days of pioneer life in that country, they en- dured the privations common to early settlers. Their first cabin was built of logs, with the old fashioned, puncheoned floor and clapboard roof, the entire structure being of oak, with- out a single nail to hold it together and the roof being held in place by ridgepoles.
The gold excitement in California lured Robert in 1853 to the Pacific coast. He crossed the plains with a four-horse team, making the trip from Omaha, Nebraska, to Beckwith val- ley, California, in a little less than three months, going over the Truckee route. In the "76" camp on Jamieson creek, he worked in the mines for a month and nine days, for which he was not paid. Later he located in Deadwood camp, nine miles from Yreka, where for three years lie was engaged in placer mining, on his own account, with good results. He then de- cided to visit his parents in lowa, so returned via the Panama route.
After his arrival in Iowa, he followed lead mining in that country, until 1864, when the attractions of the Pacific Coast country again induced him to cross the plains. This time he came via Salt Lake and the "Oregon trail," and settling in the Walla Walla valley, pur-
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chased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres below the army post and within a mile of the city of Walla Walla. Mr. Thompson lived on this farm for seventeen years, then sold out and removed into the town, building for himself and family a cozy home at No. 630 South Ninth street, where they have since resided. Mr. Thompson has always manifested a deep inter- est in the public schools and was school clerk of his district for several years, in that and other ways aiding largely in the creation of the present splendid school system of Walla Walla.
Mr. Thompson was married in Dubuque, Iowa. April 19. 1860, to Miss Mary H. Mal- low, who was born in New Madrid county, Missouri, and has accompanied her husband in all of his travels since their marriage, cross- ing the plains with him in 1864. They have four children living : Sarah E., wife of James Johnson, of Caldwell, Idaho: Emma J., wife of Marshall J. Lowden, a farmer on lower Dry creek; Esther J .; George H., a resident of Walla Walla : also Mary C., deceased. Mr. Thompson and wife are members of the Con- gregational church of Walla Walla.
CHARLES B. RICHARDSON, a car- penter and builder at Waitsburg, is a pioneer of 1874. He was born in Maine in Decem- ber, 1854, and remained in the Pine Tree state until eighteen years old, acquiring a public-school education and also learning the trade of carpenter. In 1872 he came to Cali- fornia, and, settling in San Francisco, began the pursuit of his handicraft there. After re- maining two years he moved north to Tacoma to become one of the builders for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, by which he was
employed steadily for several years. He after- wards worked for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, helping to build their road from Wallula Junction to Dayton.
Quitting their service in 1881. Mr. Rich- ardson came direct to Waitsburg, bought a quarter section four miles west of the town and began farming. But, though he was a farmer for three years. he did not give up his trade entirely, but worked at it betimes, erecting the public school building and many other of the finest structures in the town. For several years he has followed his handi- craft exclusively, having sold his farm in 1884.
Mr. Richardson enjoys an enviable stand- ing in the city with which he has been identi- fied so long and in which he has ever taken a deep interest. He was once called upon to represent his district in the city council. and while in that office he used all the power that was vested in him for what his judgment told him was for the highest welfare of the town. In the state of Michigan, on October 15. 1884. Mr. Richardson married Miss Martha E. Towsley, a native of Michigan, born April 6, 1861. Mrs. Richardson is one of the leading ladies in her neighborhood, and for fifteen years was a successful milliner here. She is affiliated with the Artisans, and the Women of Woodcraft, and Mr. Richardson is identi- fied with the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the Woodmen of the World. The family live in an elegant home of their own in Waitsburg.
JOHN P. SEITZ, a farmer near Walla Walla, is a native of Germany, born in 1826. Ile spent his early youth in the land of his nativity, receiving a common-school educa- tion, but when nineteen years old emigrated to
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America. He located first in New Orleans, where for a brief period he followed the trade of a blacksmith. Subsequently, however, he came north to Illinois, and worked at his han- dicraft there for two years longer. Thence he went to Gentry county, Missouri, where the ensuing fourteen years of his life were passed. He afterwards moved to Jackson county. in the same state, and farmed there uninterruptedly for twenty years.
Mr. Seitz then came out to Walla Walla, arriving in 1887, and settled first on Birch creek, but before long he negotiated the pur- chase of a three-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm three and a half miles southeast of Walla Walla, and upon this he has ever since lived. He is engaged principally in the production of wheat and alfalfa. He is one of the most highly esteemed men in his community, and enjoys the confidence and good will of all his neighbors. In 1867, while still in the state of Missouri, he was married to Miss Lydia Chambers, a native of that state, and they have three children, namely: James P .; George G .; and Minnie, now Mrs. John C. Martin.
CHARLES W. PHILLIPS, a florist and nurseryman of Walla Walla, is a son of Will- iam and Pauline (Roland) Phillips. He was born in Salem, Oregon, May 27, 1855, and at the age of five years was brought by his parents to Walla Walla, where he grew to manhood and has since resided. He was edu- cated in Whitman Seminary and later attended the Bishop Scott Grammar School, of Port- land, Oregon, where he took a preparatory course with the intention of entering Yale College, but was prevented from doing so by
his father's sickness and death. He finished his education in 1873.
After his father's death Mr. Phillips as- sisted his mother in managing the deceased's estate until 1881, but he then engaged in the hardware business in La Grande and Island City, Union county, Oregon, in which he con- tinued four years. Selling out then, he re- turned to Walla Walla, where he entered into the business of landscape gardening and foriculture, an industry which he has fol- lowed ever since. He has splendid green houses, a large garden and several acres of ornamental nursery stock. He has re- cently shipped very largely from Port- land and has the largest florist establish- ment in the county. He has done all of the landscape gardening for the finest homes in the city and adjoining towns, and will have charge of laying off and ornamenting the city park.
Mr. Phillips was married at Meacham Toll Gate, in the Blue Mountains, to Miss Nellie S. Rockfellow, a native of Oregon, and they now have eight children. William R., Charles F .. Pauline, Harriet. Edgar H., Es- ther F., Richard B. and Rodney M. The six older ones are in school in Walla Walla. Mr. Phillips and his entire family are members of St. Paul's Episcopal church, of Walla Walla.
In the Nez Perce Indian war of 1877 Mr. Phillips and his brother Frank E. were scouts and couriers under General O. O. Howard. They never failed in a mission or received a wound, which speaks well for their knowledge of the country and of Indian character and methods of warfare. Mr. Phillips was one of the first to respond to Governor Ferry's call for volunteers in 1878, after the beginning of the Bannock war. He was a member of the company of volunteers commanded by
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Captain Charles Painter, which, together with a company of regulars under Major Cress, pa- trolled the Columbia river and repeatedly pre- vented the Indians from crossing the river from the south, joining Chief Moses' band and getting into Briush territory. They had several severe engagements with the Indians, capturing their horses and driving them back south, where they were finally captured.
Mr. Phillips decorated the Spokane Indus- trial Exposition in 1899 with fruits, grains and grasses. He gathered and arranged the Walla Walla county exhibit for the Paris Ex- position in 1900, and is to furnish the fruits, grasses and grains for the Pan-American Ex- position in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. Ile also gathered the county exhibit which at- tracted so much attention at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, and is acknowledged to be one of the most thorough and reliable men in that line in this country.
Mr. Phillips will soon have published a book of poems which he has compiled under the nom de plume of Jo Keon, and on which he has the endorsement of Joaquin Miller, who recently visited lim in his home and read his work.
The father of our subject was one of Walla Walla's most respected and progressive citizens, arriving as early as 1860. when he engaged in the hardware business. In 1865 he built the Walla Walla foundry and machine shops, which he operated in connection with his hardware business until the time of his death. Ile also had branch hardware stores in Bannock City and Placerville. Idaho, where he did a lucrative business with the mines. lle was frequently urged to accept official po- sition, but always refused. He was always liberal in his gifts to all worthy enterprises, both religious and charitable, and was noted
for his broad-minded public spirit. His death occurred March 2, 1873, and Walla Walla then lost one of her most enterprising. far- seeing and worthy citizens, and one who had friends among all, enemies among none ex- cept the lawless element which he was always active in suppressing.
REV. OBADIAH OSBORN, a preacher and farmer, residing seven miles northwest of Walla Walla, on Dry creek, was born in Exe- ter. Scott county, Illinois, in 1835. Ile ac- quired his early education in the public schools of his native town, where the first seventeen years of his life were spent. In 1852 he crossed the plains with ox-teams to the Willamette val- ley, and there the ensuing thirteen years of his life were passed. He spent two years in Will- amette University as a student and two in the ministry, but the remainder of the time was devoted to farming.
When, in 1865, our subject came to Walla Walla valley he did so for the purpose of taking charge of a circuit as its pastor. and he has preached a great deal of the time since. He now has charge of the United Brethren work in Walla Walla and at other places through- out the county. but such is his capacity for labor that he is also able to supervise his man- moth farm, and to take a lively interest and a leading part in political campaigns. In 1869 he purchased four hundred acres between Mill creek and Russell creek, also added one hun- dred and twenty acres to a tract he had pre- viously bought in Oregon, a short distance southeast of Walla Walla. These interests he sold in 1875, only to purchase a five-hundred- and-twenty-acre tract where his place of resi- dence now is. He has bought adjoining places
OBADIAH OSBORN
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from time to time until he is now the owner of one thousand six hundred and eighty acres. For years he has handled a large number of horses, and at present he has about two hun- dred head, besides one hundred and fifty head of cattle.
Few men in the county have manifested their interest in the public weal in so many ways. Mr. Osborn has been for years a leader in politics. in religion and in the material de- velopment of the county. For two terms he served his denomination in the capacity of pre- siding elder. and twice he stumped the county in political campaigns. Once he was the can- didate of his party for the legislature, but was defeated. And with all these interests he has yet found time for local duties such as serving as road supervisor, etc.
Mr. Osborn has been twice married. In 1857. in the state of Oregon, he wedded Sarah Ann McCain, who died in 1859. Of this union one child was born. but it died when only nine months old. In 1864 he was again married. the lady being Mary C. Mayfield, a native of Tennessee, who crossed the plains in 1862. and they have one child. Dollie Frances, now Mrs. Charles I. Dean.
WOODSON CUMMINS. a farmer and stock raiser two miles west of Touchet. a pio- neer of 1862. was born in Iowa July 6. 1855. He was, however, practically reared in the northwest, having been brought here by his parents when only seven years old. His first home in the new country was located seven miles southeast of Walla Walla, where his father was engaged in farming and stock rais- ing until 1870. Mr. Cummins received the advantages of the local public schools. then
engaged in farming. an occupation which he has followed exclusively since. though he is also the owner of a store in Touchet.
When he was about fifteen years old his father and family left their original abiding place and procured land in the vicinity of Touchet, where Mr. Cummins now lives. and has lived ever since except for a period of three years spent in Oregon. He is now the owner of the old home place of six hundred and forty acres. besides considerable other land in the county. He is unquestionably one of the very best and most prosperous farmers in the valley. and evidences of his thrift and energy are everywhere to be seen about his premises. He has a fine dwelling house and commodious and capacious barns and outbuild- ings, and a goodly supply of machinery and implements essential to convenient and suc- cessful farming. He keeps about sixty head of cattle. but makes a specialty of producing alfalfa hay. fourteen car-loads of which he this year ( 1900) shipped to Idaho.
Mr. Cummins has always taken an active interest in the affairs of the county, and is ever ready to exert his influence for what he deems the best interests of the general public. He was married in Union county. Oregon, Sep- tember 12, 1880. to Miss J. J. Weaver. a na- tive of Missouri, whose father was one of the earliest settlers on the Touchet river, near Waitsburg. They have five children. Hettie J., Clarence E., Walter R .. Lela M. and El- mer R.
WILLIAM P. RESER, a farmer four miles southeast of Walla Walla, was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1843. When two years old he was taken by his parents to Missouri. where he grew to man's estate and received
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his education. In 1863 he crossed the plains to Walla Walla, making the six months' trip in the customary primitive fashion of that period, and for ten or twelve years after his arrival he followed the dual occupation of farming and freighting. Ile then devoted his energies to farming and sheep raising, in which two industries he has been employed ever since. In 1867 he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, where he now resides, and to this he has been adding at different times since until he now has a tract of sixteen hundred and twenty acres, on which he is raising wheat and barley principally. though he also keeps about one hundred head of cattle and one hun- dred and fifty head of horses. He also has ten thousand sheep, which he pastures on the Touchet and Snake rivers, on each of which he has about seven thousand acres of land. Ile is also the owner of about six thousand acres of mountain land in Umatilla county, Oregon, where he summers his flocks.
Mr. Reser is one of the most thrifty and progressive farmers of the county, and one who has contributed no sinall share to the in- dustrial development of this portion of the In- land Empire. He has also for many years taken 'a leading part in the political cam- paigns of the county and state, and ranks as one of the representative men of his party. He served one term as county commissioner, and in the campaign of 1900 was the nomi- nee of the Democrats for the state senator- ship, to which he was elected with a plurality of about five hundred votes, winning the dis- tinction of being the only Democrat in the county successful in the last campaign.
Mr. Reser married, in Missouri, in 1863, Miss Emma Gray, who died May 16, 1895, leaving four children: Clara: Annie; Frank, who died .August 28. 1896; and Philip. He
was married again in Umatilla county, Ore- gon, in 1897, to Miss Linda Davis, a mem- ber of a pioneer family of this county, and to them has been born one child, Byron.
MRS. ANNIE McC. MIX .- In the con- pilation of the biographical department of this history of Walla Walla county there is manifest propriety in incorporating a review of the life of Mrs. Mix, who is one of the honored pio- neers of the city of Walla Walla and the widow of one who was for many years one of the representative citizens of this place, where his demise occurred. Mrs. Mix, whose maiden name was Anna Dwight, was born in the famed old Crescent city, New Orleans, Louisiana, in the year 1831. At the age of six years she entered the excellent school at Bethlehem, Louisiana, where she continued her studies for about six years, after which she returned to her home, and there continued her educational discipline under most favorable auspices.
There also, in the year 1849, was solem- nized her marriage to James D. Mix, who was born in Georgetown, Virginia, in 1818, being. like his wife, a representative of sterling old southern families. He accompanied his parents to New Orleans in his early childhood, and there he was reared and educated, preparing himself for the legal profession and engaging in the practice of law in New Orleans until he had attained the age of thirty years. Dur- ing the Mexican war he was engaged in con- tracting in that country, being successful in his efforts along this line. At the close of hostil- ities he returned to New Orleans, where he was married and where he remained four years, after which, in company with his wife, he made the long journey to San Francisco, California,
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by the isthmus route, the vessel landing at the Golden Gate in due course of time, the date of arrival in the new Eldorado being about May, 1854, this being at a time when the gold excitement was still at its height.
Mr. Mix was engaged in the practice of his profession in San Francisco for a period of two years, after which he removed to Shasta, that state, where he was in practice for a nun1- ber of years, being one of the leading attorneys and representative citizens of the locality and being accorded marked preferment in the gift of the public, having served in the offices of dis- trict attorney and probate judge.
In the year 1863 Mr. and Mrs. Mix be- came residents of Walla Walla, with whose history both were destined to be conspicuously identified, aiding materially in its progress and material upbuilding. Here Mr. Mix remained until the hour of his death, which occurred on the 6th of June, 1881. He was a man of irarked ability and distinct individuality. im- pressing himself upon the community and gain- ing precedence in public affairs and in the work of his profession. He was for many years one of the leading members of the Democratic party in the territory, being frequently the standard- Learer of the same. He was twice a member of the territorial legislature, and in 1870 was the Democratic nominee for delegate to con- gress, his defeat being primarily due to the opposition of the citizens of the Puget Sound district, who spared no effort to elect a candi- date of their own section for many years, as is previously noted. Mr. Mix also served as city attorney and as a member of the city council of Walla Walla, and after his term had expired in the latter office he became extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising, having become the owner of much valuable agricultural land in the vicinity of his home. He left to
his family a very comfortable competency and the heritage of a good name.
To Mr. and Mrs. Mix three children were born,-Sallie, who is now the wife of Major O. I. Converse ; and William A. and Stonewall W., who are largely interested in mining op- erations. Mrs. Mix still retains her residence in the attractive family home in Walla Walla, where a gracious hospitality has ever been ex- tended, and over which she has presided with grace and dignity for a long term of years. She owns much valuable realty in Walla Walla, including a business block at the corner of Birch and Second streets, and the Palace Ilotel property, a substantial brick building of mod- ern architectural design. She is well known and highly esteemed in the city where so many years of her life have been passed, and, while a true daughter of the sunny south, her deepest and most hallowed memories cluster about the old home here. In an incidental way it is interesting to recall the fact that Mrs. Mix had the distinction of being the owner of the first family sewing machine brought into the city of San Francisco.
A. J. FIX, a pioneer of the west of 1857. at present a farmer living four and a half miles southeast of Walla Walla, is a native of Ohio, born in 1840. He was, however, reared and educated in Claire county, Illinois, whither he was taken by his parents when five years old. In March, 1857, he started across the plains to the west, traveling with ox-teams. Ile stopped a brief period in Livingston county, Missouri, but in May set out again, making the journey without casualties, though a train only six miles ahead of him was massacred, only three persons escaping alive, and one of these, a woman, had been scalped.
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Mr. Fix remained a while in California, then came north to Hillsboro, Oregon, where for the ensuing four years he was engaged in farming. In 1862 lic made a trip into the Florence mining region, in Idaho, but returned in time to pass the winter in Hillsboro. Dur- ing the summer of 1863. however, he came to Walla Walla county, whence, for the next three or four years, he made freighting trips to different outlying districts. In 1865 he took a pre-emption near Dixie, and this was his home till the spring of 1890. when he pur- chased a four-hundred-and-eighty-acre farm near Walla Walla, and began farming there. He is a thrifty, progressive man, and one of the most enterprising farmers in his section. He is also a thresherman, and keeps a machine at work on his own wheat and that of his neighbors during the harvest season. Public- spirited and ever ready to contribute his mite to the general welfare, he has served for sex- eral years as road supervisor and as a member of the board of school trustees.
Mr. Fix was married in Walla Walla county in the fall of 1866. to Nancy MI. San- ders, a native of Indiana, and a pioneer of 1865. They have had eight children: Roder- ick R., deceased; Wayne W .: AArminda L .; Milam R., deceased : Weldon T. : Mande : Ma- bel, deceased : and Jake E.
JOHN SINGLETON. now deceased, was a pioneer of the Walla Walla valley, coming here in 1857. He was born in county Cork. Ireland, in 1824, and received a private-school education. April 22. 1847. in Queen's county, Ireland, he married Miss Frances Jane Gowan. and in 1849 they came to America and settled
in New York. He at once enlisted in the United States army and was sent to Texas as quartermaster's clerk under Major Belger. The command was stationed in the Alamo, at San Antonio, Texas, his office being in the very room where Colonel Davie Crockett was killed. He remained in Texas in the United States service six years, then was discharged and re- turned to Washington, D. C., where he served for six months as a clerk in the old arsenal.
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