USA > Washington > Lincoln County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 55
USA > Washington > Adams County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 55
USA > Washington > Douglas County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 55
USA > Washington > Franklin County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 55
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John L. Camp received a liberal education, though he was raised on a farm, and in 1863 he enlisted in Company K, Thirtieth Georgia In- fantry, confederate army, and served during the remainder of the Civil War. He enlisted as a corporal but was promoted to third lieutenant of his company. During one of the numerous engagements in which his command was in- volved all his superior officers were either killed or taken prisoner, so Mr. Camp was placed in command of his company as captain. Near Atlanta he was engaged in several skirmishes and was slightly wounded. He had numerous bullets pierce his clothing, and nearly every member of the company was either killed in battle or else captured. All of his army life was spent in Georgia.
In 1872 he went to California, and from there to Utah and to Arizona, as a bookkeeper for a mining company. Prior to coming to the coast, however, he taught school for four years, as he did also near Salt Lake City after return- ing from Arizona. From Utah he returned to California, and from that state came to the Big Bend country in a wagon during the summer of 1879 at a time when the country was very sparsely settled. Here he took a homestead and timber, culture which land he still owns. He came to the country with limited means and found many obstacles to overcome before gain- ing a start here.
On June 9, 1886, occurred the marriage of John L. Camp to Belle L. Merrill, a native of Minnesota and daughter of Charles E. and Margaret (Flint) Merrill. The mother is dead, but the father still lives in Anoka county, Min- nesota, at the age of sixty-nine years. Mrs. Camp has one brother living at Lind, Adams county, Washington.
To Mr. and Mrs. Camp have been born eight children, Aleta B., Alice E., John L., Ce- cil C., Edith M., Blanche M., Benton P., and Georgia L.
Mr. Camp's present property interests con- sist in four hundred and eighty acres of good agricultural land where he lives and a separate quarter section partially improved ; a small herd of cattle : a sufficient number of horses to suc- cessfully carry on his business of farming : a
good residence; barn ; outbuildings; et cerera. He also has a first class orchard, and an abun- dance of water, which is pumped from a well by means of a windmill. Although coming to the country without capital he has been industrious and saving, so that at this writing he is rated as one of the well-to-do farmers of the Big Bend.
ALBERT D. STROUT was born in York county, Maine, December 26, 1846. His father was Albert D. Strout, a native of the same county and state, a'merchant both in Maine and in Boston, Massachusetts, who died at the early age of twenty-six years. The mother of Mr. Strout was Hanna J. ( Kimball) Strout, also a native of Maine, in which state her father and mother were pioneer settlers. Her ances- tors came to Maine with the Pilgrim fathers.
Albert D. Strout was reared through boy- hood by his grandfather on a farm in York county. In 1863 he went to the state of New Hampshire and for four years worked in a bed- stead factory. Then he went to Canada and engaged in the sash and door manufacturing business. Returning to New Hampshire he re- mained until the spring of 1870, when he came to California. Here he remained eight years working at the carpenter's trade, and from there came to Lincoln county. He came overland with a four-horse team and wagon, and took a homestead ir 1879 four miles southeast of Day- enport, where he still lives. He made the first wagon trail down Crab creek and camped where Davenport now stands when the nearest house was distant several miles. These were truly pioneer days in the Big Bend.
Mr. Strout came to the country with limited means indeed, and now is the owner of a thou- sand acres of improved land and a large amount of all domestic animals customarily found on the up-to-date farm.
On October 25, 1874. while a resident of California, Mr. Strout was married to Addie E. Kirk. Her father was Joseph Kirk, a na- tive of Virginia, who crossed the plains with an ox team in 1850 and died in northern Califor- nia; and her mother was Samantha ( Frost) Kirk, born in North Carolina and crossed the plains with her husband. The brothers and sis- ters of Mrs. Strout are, Daniel, Jiles, William,
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deceased, Mrs. Laura Coats, Mrs. Annie Grif- fith, and Ella, deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. Strout have been born six children; Albert in Spokane, married to Lena Sawyer; Addie V., married to George Lowery; Elena, married to Nelson Selde, of Spokane; Mabel, a student of Davenport ; Everet who died in infancy; and Nellie, who died when an infant, also.
Mr. Strout is a prominent Mason and a member of the order of Foresters of Davenport. He is ranked among the most prominent citi- zens of his county. He is, indeed, entitled 10 great praise for the progress he has made since coming to the country a man absolutely with- out means, from which condition he has become one of the wealthiest farmers of eastern Wasl .- ington.
An incident illustrative of the hardships through which Mr. Strout made his way in pioneer days is that he borrowed a Mexican dollar, a keepsake of his child, from the child to buy a sheep with since the family had had no meat for many days. It was paid with the un- derstanding it would be redeemed in the fall, but when fall came he was utterly unable to re- deem the dollar.
JOHN C. SMITH. Few men now living have had more varied, and at times hazardous, experiences than the rugged pioneer whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He lives on a farm one and one-half miles east of Egypt post office, Washington.
John C. Smith was born on March 19, 1835, in Holmes county, Ohio, of which county his father, John A. Smith, a native of Virginia, was an early pioneer. The father was born in 1800 and died in Butte county, California, in 1889. He was the son of Christian Smith. Our subject's mother was Eliza ( Pickerel ) Smith, born in Virginia and died in California in 1877, aged sixty-two years. The brothers and sisters of Mr. Smith who are still living are, Lewis C., Buchanan, and Mrs. Caroline Hetherington. all of California.
At the age of four years, John C. Smith was taken by his parents to Clay county, Illi- nois, and six years later to Lee county, Iowa, After three years the family again removed, this time to Warren county, Iowa, where the sub-
ject farmed a tract of land jointly with his father.
On September 22, 1856, he took as his wife, Sarah J. Barlett, who was born in the same county as was himself, May 26, 1836, and who was a friend and playmate of his childhood. Her father was Paul Barlett, a native of Penn- sylvania, who removed to Lincoln county, in 1885 and died the same year at the age of ninety-seven. Mrs. Smith's mother died in Iowa in 1856.
In the spring of 1862 Mr. Smith and his father fitted up ox teams and started with their families across the plains in company with a train of fourteen wagons. Upon arriving at a point near Salt Lake City the train was beset by Indians, the stock stampeded, and the com- pany generally demoralized. All the oxen with the exception of two yoke escaped, and with those remaining the emigrants, about thirty men, women and children, started on their jour- ney, taking with them their provisions, and so forth and leaving the other, wagons behind. During the evening of the same day they were again attacked by about two hundred and fifty Indians. Some of the men of the company fled, leaving only a few to fight for their lives and their families. During the conflict, which was fierce and long, three of the men were killed early in the fight, the elder Mr. Smith was shot through the hand, John C. Smith's brother Johnathan now deceased, who was captain of the train, was shot through both legs, and an- other brother, Buchanan, was wounded in the hand. Captain Smith's wife was shot through the lungs, and her little daughter was so badly wounded that she died on the road six days later. For her interment our subject dug a grave with a knife,-the only implement at hand. Mrs. Captain Smith is still living in Cal- ifornia. For six days after the fight the com- pany, having made a hasty retreat leaving be- hind the dead, and all their provisions, made its way on foot, as the remaining cattle had been killed. During this time the members of the company subsisted entirely upon herbs that grew by the wayside. Thus they finally reached the city of Salt Lake, where they found food and shelter, and attention for the wounded. Here our subject's parents remained until the following spring, but he, with his brother Lewis, procured a team and drove on to the Star
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City, Nevada mines, passed the winter in Washo, and came on to Sonoma county, Cali- fornia in the spring. After three years Mr. Smith removed to Monterey county, in 1867 to Oregon, and thence back to Nevada. In 1871 he took his family by rail to Red Willow, Ne- braska, where he took a pre-emption. Here he farmed with poor success until 1875, when he returned to California, where he lived at vari- ous places until driving overland to the John Day country in Oregan two years later. In the fall of 1878 he removed to the vicinity of Col- fax, Washington, and two years afterward came to his present locality. He arrived here a poor man so was compelled to work for wages in order to earn money with which to improve his homestead. Subsequently he sold one half of his homestead, leaving him now the owner of eighty acres of improved agricultural land. He has prospered since coming here, and is now considered well-to-do, and lives a life of retirement.
Mr. Smith was so unfortunate on March 4, 1904, as to lose by death his wife, who had been his wedded companion forty-eight years.
MFr. and Mrs. Smith were devoted members of the United Brethren church. They were parents of four children ; Audry S., who lives at home: Lavina M., wife of John Collins, of Morrow county, Oregon; Lillie A., wife of Charles Randall, Egypt, Washington ; and Net- tie, wife of William S. Blake, who farms near Larene. Washington.
JAMES D. HANSEN is a prominent farmer residing two and one half miles south- east of Davenport where he has one of the most complete homes in the county. He was born in Bonholm, Denmark, May 23. 1853, the son of Diderek and Maren Christain ( Han- sen) Hensen, both natives of Denmark. The father, though a shoe and harness maker by trade, followed farming most of his life. He spent his entire life in the vicinity of his birthplace and died at the age of sixty-eight in 1894. The mother also is dead. The brothers and sisters of Mr. Hansen are, Mrs. Julia Jensen, Mrs. Leno Olsen, Marcus. Hans, Mrs. Christina Cass, and Mrs. Martha Morgan.
Mr. Hansen grew to manhood on a farm in his native country and attended school until fourteen years of age. In the spring of 1873 he with his brother Marcus, who is his twin, sailed from Copenhagen and landed at Castle Garden, New York. From there they came di- rect to Oshkosh. Wisconsin, where they pro- cured work on a farm. In 1875 he proceeded westward to Red Bluff. California, whither he had been preceded by his brother, and there the two did farm work until the fall of 1879, when they started for Washington. They came to the state overland by means of a wagon, stopping first at Walla Walla and from that point pro- ceeded on to the Palouse country to the present site of Pullman. In the spring of 1880 they came to Cottonwood Springs, the present town of Davenport. At that time there was but one small house at that point and the surrounding country was very sparsely settled. Here Mr. Hansen took the homestead where he still lives.
On August 7, 1898, James D. Hansen took for his wife Hanna L. Hansen, a lady of his own name but of no connection. She was born in Lolland. Denmark, the daughter of Hans Christian Jensen and Anna Marie Jensen, both of whom are still living in the old country. Mrs. Hansen had one sister, the deceased wife of her husband's brother, Marcus, and one brother, Martin Hansen, a resident of Lincoln county.
This union has been blessed with three chil- dren : Agnes H .. and Lilly M., both living ; and one son. James D., who died in infancy.
Mr. Hansen has three hundred and twenty acres of choice grain land the improvements upon which are of the most modern and elabor- ate type. He has an excellent water system for his house, barn, garden and orchard, and his buildings are large and substantially built. He has farm machinery and live stock in abundance to carry on his business and he makes a spe- cialty of the culture of grain. He has in addi- tion to his farm an interest in a forty-acre tract of timber near by.
Mr. Hansen is a devoted member of the Lutheran church.
When our subject arrived here he had only a half interest in a team and wagon, the other half being owned by his brother. Marcus. He was forced. like the other pioneers to go to other portions of the state to harvest to earn money
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for the necessities and for improvements on his farm. Supplies had to be hauled in from Col- fax or Spokane and the times were trying, in- deed.
DAVID FLORIN is another of the well-to- do, we were about to say wealthy, farmers of Lincoln county whose all has been extracted from the fertile hills of the Big Bend. He was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, October 12, 1860. His father, Lorenz Florin, was born in Switzerland, October, 25, 1825, and in that country was married in 1849. He was reared on a farm and in early manhood joined the regular army of his country. Some years later leaving the life of a soldier he again took up the work of a farmer, and also did some carpenter work, that trade being another of his acquisitions. In the spring of 1856 he brought his family to New York, thence proceeded to the county and state where our subject was born, where he set- tled on a farm and again worked some at his trade. He is the father of five children, George, David, John L., Jacob and Mary. In 1878 the family removed to Buffalo county, Wisconsin, and in 1882 came to Cheney, this state, thence to Medical Lake, and in the fall of the same year to Lincoln county. Here the father took a homestead where he still lives with his son, the subject of our sketch, and his daughter Mary, four miles south of Hondovi.
The family was bereft of wife and mother while in Minnesota, and the father married a second time, his wife being Mary Schneider, also a native of Switzerland. The daughter Mary, four miles south of Mondovi.
Their home is one of the most beautiful and valuable farms in Eastern Washington, im- proved by the family with the object in view to make the improvements of the most practical and convenient sort, not forgetting the pictur- esque. The farm is all under cultivation, and annually produces bountiful crops of all classes of cereals and fruits. Mr. Florin had an early choice of the available lands in the county and the homestead he selected verifies his excellent judgment. He is now living a life of retire- ment.
David Florin now has the management of his father's farm, and he owns five hundred and
eiglity acres of his own, two hundred and sixty acres of which adjoins the homestead of his fa- ther. The remainder is six miles north of Dav- enport. In addition to this, which is all agri- cultural land, he has four hundred and eighty acres of timber land northwest of Davenport. He has horses and machinery in plenty, also a large herd of cattle.
Mr. Florin took a homestead in 1882. He worked for a time in a sawmill and on the rail- road to earn money with which to improve his land, and in consequence he has had a taste of the hardships of the pioneer. His sister also has a homestead and a quarter section of timber land.
Our subject has never married. He is just- ly proud of the fact of his coming to the coun- try without money, and now being so comfort- ably situated.
Since the above was written, the death of Mr. Florin has occurred. The date of that sad event was April 12, 1904, and the cause was be- ing thrown from his horse. He was just enter- ing the prime of life, had made a splendid rec- ord and won hosts of friends and his untimely taking off was a day of general mourning among all who knew him. His remains were interred with becoming ceremonies and he rests in the country which he had assisted materially to improve and make prosperous.
MATTHIAS C. LANGE is a farmer resid- ing three and one-half miles southeast of Day- enport. He was born November 30, 1835, in Ringsted, Denmark, the son of Christian M. and Maria Lange, both natives of Denmark, the father of Copenhagen. Both parents are dead. The only relative Mr. Lange ha's in this country is a nephew, W. Rossing.
Mr. Lange grew to manhood in his native country, where he was a soldier during the war with Germany in 1864. In the spring of 1872 he set sail from Copenhagen for New York. From the latter city he came on to Chicago, thence in turn to Tennessee, Iowa, and Minne- sota. Leaving the latter named state he re- turned to Iowa, where he lived until the spring of 1879, when he came to Walla Walla, Wash- ington. In the fall of 1881 he went to Sprague where he worked in the construction of the
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Northern Pacific car shops, and the following spring he located his present homestead. He continued in railroad work, however, for some time in order to earn money with which to im- prove his farm, which now is one of the finest and most up-to-date homes in the county.
In the spring of 1893 Mr. Lange started on a visit to his old home in Denmark, and while away visited the World's Fair at Chicago and other points of interest, returning home during the fall season of that year.
The subject of this sketch is a member of the Lutheran church and is generally recog- nized as a man of honor and stability in the community.
HERMAN A. MAURER is a native of Bay county, Michigan, born August 30, 1876, the son of George and Anna ( Stengle) Maurer. both native Germans and both now living near Rocklyn, Washington. Herman A. is the youngest of a family of thirteen children, eleven of whom are living. He spent his boyhood on a farm, and came to Lincoln county with his parents in 1889. He remained at home until arriving at his majority, when he went to Spo- kane and worked for some time in a hardware establishment. Upon his return to Lincoln county he resolved to cease working for others, and as he was without the necessary means, he borrowed money with which to buy three hun- dred and twenty acres of land in one body, and the homestead right to an adjacent quarter sec- tion, making him in all four hundred and eighty acres of grain land. It is all now under culti- vation and well improved with well-constructed modern buildings, a choice orchard and an abundance of water, which is pumped with a windmill, and piped to various portions of the farm. He has plenty of implements and horses, with a small herd of cattle, and is now complete- ly unincumbered by debt.
On November 18, 1900, Mr. Maurer was married to Bertha C. Mielke, a native of Wa- basha county, Minnesota. Her father and mother were Goettlieb and Minnie (Kruger) Mielke, both born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Mielke came from Germany to Minnesota, and from there to Lincoln county in 1883. Here the father died about ten years ago. The
mother is still living in the county. Mrs. Maurer has one brother, Edward Meilke.
Mr. and Mrs. Maurer have one child, Wal- lace L., who was born on the wedding anniver- sary of his parents.
The family affiliates with the German Meth- odist Episcopal church, and is one of the most highly respected in the community.
PHILIP HEIN is a farmer and stockman residing seven miles east and two miles south of Davenport. He was born in Bavaria. Germany, May 1, 1849. His parents were George and Catherine Hein, the former dying in Germany and the latter in Wisconsin. Mr. Hein has two brothers, William and Wenstlin, both liv- ing in Wisconsin.
In the spring of 1861 Mr. Hein with his mother and brothers sailed from Bremen, Ger- many, for New York. They made their home in New York for a few years, and while here our subject learned the cabinet maker's trade. During the spring of 1866 he went to Sheboy- gan county, Wisconsin, where he worked at his trade and farmed for a number of years. In 1874 he went to Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, and engaged in the stock business. He came to San Francisco in 1879, and to Port- land soon afterward. In the autumn of 1879 he came to the Palouse country and in the fol- lowing spring to Lincoln county, where he lo- cated his present home as a homestead.
On March 1, 1899, Mr. Hein was married to Anna Proff, a native of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, and daughter of Peter and Catherine Proff, who were born in Germany. The Proff family came to Oregon in 1874, and to Rosalia, Washington, in 1878, where the parents are still living.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hein have been born three children, Ralph W., Albert M., and an infant.
Immediately after coming to this country Mr. Hein engaged in raising stock and im- proved his farm, which at that early stage of the country entailed great hardship and labor. Ilis means were decidedly limited when he set- tled here, but he is now one of the substantial and well-to-do farmers of the Big Bend. He has five hundred and thirty acres of agricul- tural land. good buildings and improvements, including a first class water system, and three
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acres of orchard. The old Seattle & Lake Shore railroad cuts off one corner of his land.
The visitor to his farin must needs be im- pressed with the thrift and courage of the man when he compares his present modern and com- modious residence with the primitive dugout in which he started life here.
PETER SETTERS is a retired farmer now making his home in Reardan. Born in Marion county, Indiana, June 26, 1831, he was the son of Captain John A. and Elizabeth (Shrout) Setters, the former a native of Vir- ginia and the latter of Kentucky. The father in early life migrated to Kentucky, thence to Indiana. being an early pioneer in Marion county. A portion of the city of Indianapolis stands on his old homestead. He was a captain in the state militia, was generally known as one of the ablest and bravest Indian fighters in the section, having participated in the early Indian wars of his state. He died in Mason county, Illinois, in about the year 1842. The family originally came from Switzerland. Mr. Setters' mother died in Missouri. Although the family originally was a large one, only one of the children besides the subject of this sketch is living, Mrs. Elizabeth Garrett, of Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri.
While a boy, Mr. Setters removed with his parents to Mason county. Illinois, where the family was among the first settlers. He was reared on a farm, and attended district school held in a primitive log cabin. He later went with his mother to Sullivan county, Missouri. where he acquired a fair all-round education and entered the ministry in the Baptist church since which time he has preached more or less wherever he has been. In the spring of 1862. he responded to his country's call for soldiers by enlisting in Company E, Sixty-sixth Regulars of the state militia. and was soon commissioned captain of his company. He led his command through many sharp skirmishes with the bush- whackers, upon many occasions placing his life at a great risk. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company E. Forty-fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in the Sixteenth army corps. With this command he took part in the capture of the Spanish fort. Fort Blakely near
Mobile, Alabama, and in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Although in many battles and numerous skirmishes in which he saw men fall dead and wounded on all sides, he himself was never injured. Altogether the military career of Captain Setters extended over a period of three years, much to the credit of himself and his company. He recived an honorable dis- charge, and is now drawing a pension from the government.
After the war he returned to his home where he taught school for two years, preaching some in the meantime, and also followed farm- ing. May 1, 1879, he started with his family, consisting then of a wife and eleven children, one of the children, however, remained at home, and came to this state, arriving at Walla Walla, July 26. The whole of the distance was trav- eled in a "prairie schooner," so familiar to early settlers. He settled first on Coolie creek near where Reardan now stands, and later took a homestead five miles farther north on Spring creek. He has also since acquired 160 acres of railroad land. His land is all suitable to agriculture with the exception of about twenty acres of timber. His land is all in a high state of cultivation and improvement.
Mr. Setters was married, June 10, 1855, to Elizabeth Ellen Warren, a native of Monroe county, Indiana. Her parents were Hugh G. and Mary ( Carr ) Warren, natives respectively, of North Carolina and Indiana. Mrs. Setters is a half sister of ex-chief of police, Joel War- ren, formerly of Spokane This union has been blessed with thirteen children : Francis M .. Sarah L., Olive E. Olson, and Henry G., all now dead: John M., married to Emma Byrd, near Reardan : Mary E., wife of William Kitt, Reardan ; Peter W., Spokane; Nancy A., wife of Lewis Cone, near Reardan: Esther J., now Mrs. John Smith, near Reardan; Charles, at Reardan : Dr. M. F., a prominent physician of Spokane, married to Josephine Thomson : Ora B., an attorney and newspaper man, who founded the Reardan Gazette, and later was owner and editor of the Palouse Republic, but is now engaged in the practice of law at Pa- louse ; and Flora, wife of Earnest Carsten, near Reardan.
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