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 63
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 63
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 63
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 63
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In June, 1875. occurred the marriage of Mr. Proulx and Miss Amelia Dumas, a native of Canada. Her parents were wealthy agri- culturists of that country. To Mr. and Mrs. Proulx the following named children have been born : Joseph A., farming on his father's estate in the Big Bend; Napoleon W., a plumber in Spokane: Arthur A., farming with his brother on the father's estate: Peter, attending college in Spokane; Alixma, and Alma. The latter
one is about to graduate from one of the lead- ing educational institutions of Spokane. Alixma graduated at the convent in Portland, then returned to Spokane, where she took charge of the choir in the St. Joseph's Catholic church. Later she took the veil and is now known as Sister Mary Clotildis in the order of the Holy Name.
Mr. and Mrs. Proulx are highly respected people and have not only made a great success in gaining finances, but have won hosts of admiring friends wherever they have resided.
THOMAS M. SNYDER, a farmer living two miles north of Egypt, Washington, came to his present home in the fall of 1887 with noth- ing of value except the team and wagon with which he came. He now is a man of plenty and to spare, and enjoys the trust and good will of a wide circle of social and business friends.
Mr. Snyder was born in Clinton county, Pennsylvania. October 5, 1844, the son of Peter and Sarah ( Rogers) Snyder, also natives of Pennsylvania, both of whom are dead. The paternal family came originally from Germany.
In 1853 the family removed to Warren county, Illinois ; and August 11, 1862, Thomas M. enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Second Illinois Infantry, under General Sher- man, and went to war. At a battle near Ben- tonville he was shot in the hand, which together with sickness, so disabled him that he was un- able to participate in the many battles of his regiment, yet he was not discharged until the close of the war. Upon leaving the army he returned to his home, and in the spring of 1866 started across the plains, and drove a freight team from Nebraska City to Salt Lake. The following spring he went to Nevada, where he spent some time among the mines, then crossed the mountains on horseback to Visalia. Cali- fornia.
Mr. Snyder was married November 8, 1871. to Sarah !\. Keener, a native of Texas, and daughter of John 1). and Eleanor ( Bolinger) Keener. The family of Mrs. Snyder came to Whitman county, Washington, in 1879, and to the Egypt country one year later, where it was the second family to locate. In 1900 the father and mother returned to California, where the former died and where the mother is still living.
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Mr. Snyder was engaged in farming in Cali- fornia until 1878, when he came in a wagon to Portland, Oregon, and to Whitman county, Washington, the year following. He settled on a homestead near Tekoa, which in 1887 he sold to come to his present location, where he owns four hundred and eighty acres of ground, three hundred acres of which are suitable for raising grain. He has good modern improve- ments, plenty of stock, and a first class orchard. Mr. Snyder belongs to the A. O. U. W., of Davenport, and he and Mrs. Snyder are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.
They have six children ; Regina, wife of J. H. Moore, of Egypt ; John H., a student in the state normal school at Cheney; Edna N., wife of Lovie Brooks, Lincoln county ; LeRoy R., married to Meta Knappant, also of Lincoln county ; Charles H., and Maud E., wife of J. L. Mints, near Larene. Mrs. Brooks was at one time a school teacher in this vicinity.
Mr. Snyder is thoroughly satisfied with this locality, after having traveled over a great por- tion of the United States, and expresses himself as being content to spend the remaining years of his life here.
HARRY C. KATSEL, a farmer residing one and one half miles northeast of Davenport, is a native of Moultrie county, Illinois, born October 26, 1865. His father, Christian Kat- sel, was born in Germany and came to the Uni- ted States in his early manhood and lived in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas prior to his coming to Lincoln, Washington, where he died in his eighty-first year, Septem- ber 5, 1900. Our subject's mother was Eliza- beth (Mann) Katsel, a native of Ohio. Her father, Isaac Mann, served in the War of 1812. She died in Spokane county, 1892, at the age of seventy years. Mr. Katsel has one brother and one sister : George C., near Reardan; and Mrs. Mollie Walton, of Spokane.
At the age of thirteen Harry Katsel re- moved with his parents to Kansas, and while in that state lived in the counties of Greenwood and Bourbon. He was married, December 19, 1886, to Cynthia A. McNeil, who was born and raised in Bourbon county. Kansas. Her fa- ther and mother were George and Matlida ( Harris) McNeil, natives, respectively, of Ohio
and Indiana. Mr. McNeil was a Civil War veteran, and died on September 28, 1897, at Medical Lake, Washington, whither he came in 1891. Mrs. McNeil is still living in Spokane. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Katsel are; Albert E., a merchant of Spokane: Oscar, at Baker City, Oregon ; and Lovey J., wife of Or- ville Holderby, of Lincoln county.
Two years following his marriage, Harry C. Katsel came to Spokane, and soon afterward engaged in the grocery business in partnership with his brother George. Selling out in Spo- kane, he, in 1895, removed to Medical Lake, and the following spring came to his present location. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of fertile land, good improvements with an abundance of water, and makes a specialty of raising grain. In addition to his own farm he lias rented nearly eighteen hundred acres of ground, which he farms. He has plenty of stock, implements, and so forth, including a threshing outfit and headers, with which to carry on his extensive operations.
Socially, he is identified with the M. W. A. fraternity, and both he and Mrs. Katsel are members of the Baptist church. They are also both active workers in school affairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Katsel have had born to them two children ; Orlie A., on March 15, 1893 ; and George O., on December 8, 1897. The last named died December 30, 1902.
Mr. Katsel is a prosperous and up-to-date farmer, a man of truth and honor, and of the highest moral as well as business standing in his community.
VALENTINE FRANCIS, a farmer re- siding two miles northeast of Davenport, was born March 1, 1848, in Somersetshire, Eng- land, the son of Daniel and Eliza Francis. He was reared on a farm in his native country, and spent much of his young manhood in traveling about from one place to another in England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1867 he came to Canada, and the following year to Chicago in which city he was engaged for a time in survey- ing and in the draying business. He was a resi- dent of Chicago at the time of the great fire of 1871. About one year after the fire he went to Point Lookout, Louisiana, where he raised cot- ton two years then went to Navarro county,
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Texas, where he raised one crop of cotton. He traveled a great deal over the state buying horses, mules and hogs which he took to Louis- iana and Mississippi for sale. He also rode the range as a cowboy to some extent, and spent some time in hunting buffalo. Prior to leaving the state he had one thousand head of hogs which he was preparing for market when the cholera got among them. After the greater. per cent of his herd had died he exchanged the remaining few for a yoke of oxen. He after- ward went to Leadville, Colorado, and soon after that to Boise City, Idaho. From the lat- ter point he came on to Walla Walla, arriving there in July, 1880. In the fall of the same year he came to Lincoln county and settled on a homestead near where Larene postoffice now stands. There were only a few scattering set- tlers in the county at that time, and Mr. Fran- cis experienced a great amount of hardship and inconvenience in getting a start. After living on his original homestead for over twenty years, Mr. Francis sold it and bought his pres- ent farm of six hundred and forty acres, five hundred acres of which are good grain land and in cultivation. He has a first class orchard, fine stock, with improvements and implements of the most modern types. He has retired from activity himself, having rented his land, and does nothing besides take care of his own busi- ness affairs. At the time of his coming to the county he had nothing besides a wagon and a span of mules which he drove all the way from Texas, so that all he has now he has accumu- lated since 1880, and he is rated as a well-to-do farmer.
Politically Mr. Francis is and always has been a believer in the doctrines of the Repub- lican party.
CHARLES A. LEVEL is a prosperous farmer residing on his five hundred and sixty acre farm three miles east and three and a half miles north of Davenport. Practically the whole of Mr. Level's life has been spent on a farm. At the age of sixteen years he began working for a salary on a farm in Iowa county, Wisconsin, and in 1887 he removed to the state of Iowa, and to Lincoln county, Washington, in 1888. After coming here, Mr. Level worked for a time for wages among the various farm- ers, then bought a piece of land which he cul-
tivated for himself. Like many another farmer, Mr. Level lost heavily during the panic of 1893, and for a time was completely bankrupt, but later on he regained his footing to the extent of being able to continue the operation of his farm, and in 1897 he raised a large crop which gave him another, start. Since that time he has con- tinued to prosper and is now rated as being one of the wealthy farmers of his county. He has his land in a high state of cultivation, well im- proved and well stocked. All that he has has been accumulated since 1897 and by the efforts of none other than himself.
Charles A. Level was born in Iowa county, Wisconsin, March 13, 1867, and was the son of William and Mary ( Dickinson) Level, the former a native of England, and the latter of Poughkeepsie. New York. The father was one of the pioneer settlers of Iowa county, having come there from England as a boy, and re- mained there until his death. The mother is now living at Hillyard, Spokane county, Wash- ington, with her daughter, and sister of our sub- ject, Mrs. Annie S. Carter.
January 19, 1898, Charles .\. Level was married to Bertha Wilke, a native of Shelby county, Illinois; and two children, William A. and Burton, are the issue of this marriage. Mrs. Level was the daughter of August and Minnie Wilke, both of whom are natives of Germany. They came from their native country first to Illinois, and to Davenport in 1892.
ISAAC P. MICHAEL came to Lincoln in the spring of 1893 broken in health and with only ten dollars in his possession. His present holdings include three hundred and twenty acres of choice agricultural land, with good buildings, up-to-date improvements, and all the stock required to successfully carry on the busi- ness of farming his land. He has regained his health, is able to live in comfort and ease and so considers his locality the best in the United States. His home lies six miles northeast of Davenport.
Mr. Michael was born June 2, 1843, near. Rockford, Illinois. His parents were John and Mary ( Watkins) Michael, who were pioneers of Winnebago county, Illinois. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and the mother, who was of English ancestry, was born in the south. Our
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
subject has one brother, his twin, Munson Michael, of Kane county, Illinois. The family removed to the county just named when Isaac was a lad of fifteen years. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry, under General Sherman, who at that time commanded the army in the west. Soon after enlisting, however, he was taken ill with the measles, from which he suffered through a long siege of sickness in an army hospital and finally was discharged on account of the state of his health, and returned home.
On December 25, 1869, Isaac P. Michael married Mary J. Whitney, a native of Kane county, Illinois, born June 23, 1852. She was the daughter of Javis and Mary C. ( Rimmer) Whitney. natives, respectively, of New York state and England, both of whom are now dead. She has four brothers, Mark J., William, Frank W., and John. The first three were soldiers during the Rebellion. She had one sister, Mrs. Maria Pingree, who died in Minneapolis.
Prior to their advent in Lincoln county, Mr and Mrs. Michael spent their time in Johnson county, Nebraska, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have three children: Jessie B., wife of Frank T. Larabee, a hardware mer- chant of Edwall, Lincoln county ; John F., and Pearl C.
Mr. Michael is a member of the G. A. R. and of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Since the above was written, Mr. Michael has been called from the scenes of earth to the world beyond. It was on the eleventh day of September, 1904, that his demise occurred, and he left many sorrowing friends. His remains were laid to rest with becoming ceremonies and all knew that a good man had been called from their midst.
PHILIP W. GODWIN, whose residence is two and a half miles north of Mondovi, was born February 3, 1850. in Randolph county. Indiana. His father, Nathan Godwin, was a native of Ohio and a pioneer of Randolph coun- ty. Our subject's mother was Mary (White) Godwin. He has one sister, Mahala J. Godwin, still living in Indiana, and three brothers: John T., a carpenter of Davenport; Daniel W., of Guthrie county, Iowa; and James H., of In- diana.
Mr. Godwin in 1854 was taken by his par- ents to Guthrie county, Iowa, and five years later to St. Clair county, Missouri. In 1869 the family returned to the old home in Indiana, where the parents both died.
In 1876 Philip went to Sutter county, Cali- fornia, where he found employment on a ranch. In the fall of 1881 he came by steamer to Port- land and thence to the present site of Reardan, where he purchased a tract of railroad land. He filed on his present homestead in 1883, since which time he has applied himself to the culti- vation of his land upon which he raises chiefly grain. He came to the state with little capital, but now is quite well off, and has six hundred and forty acres, three hundred and fifty acres of which are good grain land, the remainder pasture and timber.
In fraternal circles Mr. Godwin is identi- fied with Accacia lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Davenport.
Mr. Godwin was married to Mabel Car- penter, a native of Springfield, Vermont. Feb- ruary 22, 1889. Mrs. Godwin is the daughter, of C. M. and Elizabeth (Clark) Carpenter, who came to Oregon in 1881, and to this locality a few years subsequently, and are now living on Spokane river. Mr. Carpenter served all dur- ing the Civil War under General McClellan, was a participant in many hard fought battles, and at the close of the war was mustered out with an honorable discharge.
To Mr. and Mrs. Godwin have been born six children, Mary E., Henry Emil, Lucy Ellen, Lulu Viola, Leona May, and James Wyman, the first named of whom is now dead.
Mr. Godwin has ever been a hard working and honorable man. He has seen his share of the misfortunes and reverses of this life, but by dint of hard toil and perseverance he has placed himself in a position to enjoy the fruits of his labor and end his busy career in comfort and ease.
PETER TRAMM is living the life of a re- tired farmer in his modern cottage in the town of Reardan, where he has extensive real estate interests. besides owning, in partnership with his sons, nine hundred and sixty acres of good grain land near town. He was born in Ger- many, November 5, 1845, the son of Peter and Mary Tramm. He has a brother, Fred, in the
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
dairy business in Germany, and another brother Henry, is dead. He has had two sisters ; Dora Berlav, still living in Germany ; and Mrs. Chris- tina Jassen, who recently died in this county.
Mr. Tramm was reared on a farm in Ger- many, received a good education, and served his time in the German army. In the spring of 1869 he sailed from Hamburg to New York City. From the latter city he came to the vi- cinity of Milwaukee, and while there was mar- ried, October 15, 1869, to Mary Friderichsen, to whom he had become engaged in Germany and with whom he came to this country. Mrs. Tramm had one sister who came to Lincoln county previously, and is still living in Rear- dan. Mr. Tramm and his bride remained in Wisconsin until 1881, when they came, via San Francisco, to Walla Walla, thence to Cheney and from there to this vicinity, where Mr. Tramm located a homestead two miles east of where Reardan now stands. He and his sons have made a specialty of grain raising, have two up-to-date houses and good outbuildings on their land, and a herd of choice cattle.
He has always taken an active interest in school matters, having for twelve years been one of the trustees of his district. He is a prom- inent Odd Fellow, being a member of Reardan lodge, No. 84. Both he and his wife are mem- bers of the Lutheran church in Reardan.
They have been parents of four children ; Peter N., married to Gertie Buckman: Henry C., married to Iva Raké ; Bertha, wife of Will- iam Schultz, in Reardan; and Emma, wife of Thomas G. Stevenson, also of Reardan.
In 1898 Mr. and Mrs. Tramm took a trip to their old home in Germany, and a more recent one to California. Although coming to this county with little means they have applied their energies to advantage so that they are now able to live a life of ease and freedom from worldly cares in their well appointed home which is one of the finest in the town in which it is located. Having traveled extensively over the globe, Mr. Tramm votes this the best section of country he has ever visited, and is content to spend the remaining years of his life here.
JOSEPH SESSIONS, an attorney of ex- cellent reputation, was born January 16, 1857. in the old and historic city of Georgetown, South Carolina. He grew to manhood in his
native city, where he received a thorough gram- mar school education, and also was graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, in the same state. Returning home after his gradua- tion, he applied himself to the study of law, and two years later, in 1879, successfully passed an examination before the supreme court of his state which admitted him to the bar as a full-fledged attorney. The following year he took a course of lectures in the Sumner law school of the University of Virginia at Char- lottesville, returned to Georgetown and em- barked upon the practice of his profession. He remained here until 1884, when he went to Tuc- son, Arizona, and continued in the law in that city until returning to South Carolina in 1885. He next went to Bartow, Florida, remained un- til 1888, then removed to Decatur, Alabama. On account of a yellow fever epidemic, which seized that country, he left the south for Wash- ington and arrived at Tacoma, January 23, 1889. He opened an office in Tacoma and there practiced his profession until 1892, when he came to Colfax, where he later became deputy prosecuting attorney of Whitman county. In April, 1896, he came to Davenport, practiced before the Lincoln county court for five years, then removed to Redding, California, where he practiced in partnership with Judge Edward Sweeney. January 1, 1904, he returned to Davenport with the intention of making this city his future and permanent home and field of labor. He has formed a partnership with Judge N. T. Caton, recognized as being one of the ablest members of the Washington state bar.
Mr. Sessions has been identified with some of the leading cases of Pierce, Whitman, and Lincoln counties, and has successfully prac- ticed before the supreme court of this state and of California. A staunch Democrat politically, he has been an active factor in his party where- ever he has lived. In fraternity circles he is identified with the W. W.
Joseph Sessions was the son of Thomas R. and Jane Elizabeth ( Davis) Sessions, who were born, reared, and died in Georgetown. His pa- ternal ancestors were of okl New England stock, and early settlers in South Carolina. His father was a merchant and leading citizen of his native city, where he served a number of terms in county offices. He served in the Con- federate army during the Civil War, and died at the age of eighty-five, December 12, 1896. The
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
mother died in December, 1902, in her seventy- ninth year. The brothers and sisters of Mr. Sessions are: D. R. and C. B., both attorneys for the Southern Pacific railroad, with offices in San Francisco; Thomas S., a merchant of Georgetown, S. C .; Mrs. J. Z. McConnell, Georgetown county, South Carolina; and Mrs. George Nesmith, of Williamsburg county, in the same state.
May 19, 1895, occurred the marriage of Jo- seph Sessions to Miss Blanche B. Bellinger, daughter of the late Hon. Jacob H. Bellinger and Hannah A. Bellinger. Mr. and Mrs. Bel- linger were early pioneers in Colfax, Washing- ton, coming from Ogdensburg, New York, which city was the place of Mrs. Sessions' birth.
CHARLES H. HUGHES resides with his family on a farm ten miles north of Daven- port. He came to Lincoln county in the fall of 1886, purchased some railroad land near Mon- dovi, and in the fall of 1894 he took as a home- stead his present farm. He now owns in all three hundred and twenty acres of land, one hundred and seventy-five acres in a first class state of cultivation, a part of which is in an exceptionally favored locality for the growing of fruit and vegetables, to which Mr. Hughes devotes especial attention. The balance of the estate·is pasture and timber. He has an abund- ance of farm implements and among his herds may be found some of the finest bred horses, cattle, and hogs in the county.
Charles H. Hughes was born January 6, 1859, in Franklin county, Kansas, the son of of Irwin C. and Eliza (Clark) Hughes, early Franklin county pioneers. The father was a native of Tennessee, coming to Kansas in days when the country was practically under control of the Indians. He served through the Civil War, and made Kansas his home until his death, in 1888, when he was in his sixty-third year. He was a prominent attorney, and was widely known throughout the eastern part of his state. The mother also is dead. Mr. Hughes has three brothers and one sister: Thomas B., a Kansas City physician ; Benjamin E. ; William F. ; and Mrs. Sarah C. Crane, all of Franklin county. Mrs. Crane enjoys the distinction of having been the first white child born in the county of Franklin.
Mr. Hughes grew to manhood in his home county, and was married there February 12, 1882, to Alice Hopkins, a native of Boone coun- ty, Indiana. Her father is Albert Hopkins, a native of Kentucky, who is now living in St. Louis in his eighty-seventh year. Mrs. Hughes mother in maiden life was Margarette A. Cald- well, also born in Kentucky. She is still living and in her seventy-fifth year. Wallace WV. Hopkins, a brother of Mrs. Hughes, is a Chris- tian minister of some note, and was for years assistant editor of the Christian Evangelist. Other brothers are : Edgar T., a mechanic of St. Louis ; and Hubert, and Frank O., machinists of the same city. They have one sister, Myra V., wife of the county treasurer, I. J. Mennick, of Davenport.
Mrs. Hughes is a woman of finished edu- cation and has taught school. After their mar- riage they removed to Clark county, Kansas, where they were early pioneers, and Mrs. Hughes was the second white woman in that locality. They have two children: Cecil Al- bertie and Mildred Margueritte. Each member of the family belongs to the Christian church of Davenport.
THOMAS G. STEVENSON is one of the most widely known pioneers of eastern Wash- ington. In the fall of 1879 he came with a team and wagon from Nevada to Spokane Falls, now the city of Spokane, which at that time contained only a few primitive frame and log houses. He came thence to Lincoln county, then practically unsettled, and located a home- stead one and a half miles east of the present Reardan townsite. He has now four hundred and eighty acres of choice grain land, good buildings and improvements and a fine orchard. Upon his advent here he engaged at once in farming and stock raising. Having at that time only $2.50 in money and three horses, he of necessity started in on a small scale, and nat- urally experienced many hardships and diffi- culties in gaining a foothold. However, he worked hard and to advantage, so that he now lives a life of ease and retirement, devoting his time to the collection of rents from his farm and city property, the latter consisting of five tenement houses and one brick business block in Reardan, and in the general management of his business affairs.
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Mr. Stevenson was born June 5. 1852, in Quebec, the son of Robert and Isabella (Gray) Stevenson, both now dead. He grew to man- hood on a farm and acquired a good education. In the spring of 1869 he went to New York, and from there sailed to San Francisco, by way of the Panama route. After spending some time among the various mines in California he went to Nevada where he was employed in the Comstock and other famous mines, of one of which he was for a time foreman, remaining there until coming to this state.
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