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 81
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 81
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 81
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 81
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March 9, 1903, occurred the marriage of Major, A. M. Anderson to Ella Reuner, of Spokane, the daughter of Jacob and Fredericka Reuner. Mr. Reuner was formerly a promi- nent business man of Ohio, but is now de- ceased ; his wife is still living in Ohio.
Major Anderson is conceded, even by his political enemies, to be a man of marked execut- tive ability, and of high moral principal.
GEORGE HEID. who lives about two miles northeast from Larene postoffice, is one of the representative farmers and citizens of Lincoln county. He has a choice estate of five hundred and twenty acres, all in a high state of cultivation and well improved with comfort- able dwelling, good barns, orchard, and so forth. The whole property is the result of his own thrifty labors, and while he has been blessed with this prosperity, he has also won the esteem of his fellows, and he is known as a good man, upright and substantial.
George Heid was born in Baden, Germany, on March 21. 1858, the son of John and Eliza- beth ( Munch) Heid, also natives of Germany. The father died in 1870, and the mother in 1891. George was educated in the common schools of his native country and served three
years in the regular army when twenty-one. On October 20, 1882, he landed in New York and went thence direct to Cass county, Mis- souri, where a brother lived who had come to this country previously. On April 4, 1883, . our subject left Missouri and came on west to Spokane, where he worked for a salary for six years. Then his well husbanded earnings justi- fied him in purchasing a quarter section of land, which is his home place at this time. He has added by purchase since until he has a fine estate of nearly one section. Since settling here. Mr. Heid has given his attention closely to the cultivation and improvement of his estate and the result is that he has one of the choicest places in this section. All the improvements show marked wisdom and good taste and Mr. Heid is to be congratulated on the success he has won and the good results of his labors.
On February 14, 1898, Mr. Heid married Mrs. Emma P. Medlock, a native of Missouri, and the daughter of M. S. and Phoebe E. Smith. To this marriage three children have been born, Luther Conrad, George Elmer, and Hattie Anna. Mr. and Mrs. Heid are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church and are highly respected people.
CHRISTEN K. WEISMANN has shown, without doubt, that he is a man possessed of re- markable ability to handle funds. He came to the Big Bend country a poor man in 1886. Discerning the future of the country, he at once started to work and the result of his la- bors is that he owns an estate of seven hundred and twenty acres, well improved and well stocked, besides much other property and se- curities. All this is the result of his careful management and continued industry.
Christen K. Weismann was born in North Schleswig, Germany, on March 10, 1855, the son of Knud C. and Maren ( Andreasen) Weis- mann, natives of the same place. The father served in the war between Denmark and Ger- many in 1848-50 and was one of the worthy and prominent men of his community. The public schools of Germany gave our subject his education and after that, he went to work for wages. A short time thereafter, he was ap- prenticed to a farmer and learned scientific farming. In 1875, he enlisted in the Danish
GEORGE HEID
CHRISTEN K. WEISMANN
MRS. CHRISTEN K. WEISMANN
4
FREDERICK JENNE
MRS. FREDERICK JENNE
ROBERT TELFORD
MATTHEW SCHEUSS
DAVID VINYARD
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
army and served the term required by law. He was then appoined an officer in a custom house between Germany and Denmark and continued three years. Next he was on the police force in Copenhagen for three years. In 1884 he landed in the United States and spent sometime in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. It was 1886, when he came to his present location and took a homestead. He bought other land later and his entire estate is well improved, while a fine orchard, beautiful shade trees, commodious buildings, and an elegant brick residence are among the things in evidence that show his taste and thrift. The estate is one of the finest in the country.
In 1881. Mr. Weismann married Miss Maren Peterson, who died in 1886. Mr. Weis- mann's second marriage was celebrated with Miss Bodel M. Peterson, a sister of his first wife. Mr. Weismann has the following chil- dren; Peter C. T., born in Copenhagen and now completing an extended post graduate course at the Grandview College at Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. Elna B. Lyse; and Olga I .. a stu- dent. Mr. Weismann has come to be one of the representative men of Lincoln county and has gained his distinction, his wealth, and his po- sition hy reason of his worth and his labors, having started in life a poor lad, with no friends, in a new country.
FREDERICK JENNE came to the United States in 1881 from Baden, Germany. where he was born February 27. 1852, and set- tled on a farm in Kankakee county, Illinois. From there he removed to Minnesota, and thence, in the spring of 1889 he came to Day- ton, Washington. After a brief time he came to the vicinity of Rocklyn where he purchased a homestead filing for eight hundred dollars. He now owns 1, 160 acres of land here and lives one mile south and one-half mile east of Rocklyn. About one-half of his land is suit- able for agricultural purposes and is well im- proved and fittingly equipped for carrying on the business of farming. He owns in addition a block of lots in the city of Davenport and has his farm well stocked with all domestic animals. He came here in embarrassed circumstances financially, and was compelled to endure much, and work hard for a start, but is now well-to-
do, and greatly in love with his chosen country. He is universally liked, and regarded as a farmer of exceptional business judgment.
Mr. Jenne's parents are Frederick and Susan (Sweigert ) Jenne, both natives of Baden, where the father is now living a retired life on a farm in his eighty-fifth year. The mother is dead.
The sisters of our subject are, Mrs. Cath- arine Bender, Mrs. Christine Zahn, Mrs. Mar- garet Fleck. Mrs. Anna Fleck, Mrs. Mina Ihrig and Susan, all living in Germany. He has no brothers.
Mr. Jenne grew to manhood on a farm in his native country and was there married, July 15, 1875. to Kate Laber, born in Baden. No- vember 3. 1857. Her father. George Laber, is now living in Germany, aged seventy-four, while her mother, Susan (Grab) Laber, is dead. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Jenne are; Christine Laber ; Phillip, at Creston, Washing- ton : Mrs. Elizabeth Saueressig : Susan. Emma, Paulina and Carl.
Mr. and Mrs. Jenne are members of the German Evangelical church. To them have been born four children: Conrad F., married to Minnie Miller, a harness dealer at Creston ; John W .: Matilda C., wife of George C. Ray- mond. a farmer of the vicinity of Davenport. and Emil P.
In the fall of 1903, after an absence of twenty-two years from his native country, Mr. Jenne visited the home of his childhood and saw his kindred and early friends.
ROBERT TELFORD. a farmer residing one mile south and a quarter of a mile west of Rocklyn, Washington, was born in Roxburg- shire, Scotland, on the old Telford homestead, which was also the birth place of his fathers for many generations. The date of Mr. Tel- ford's birth was March 24. 1852. His father was Maxwell Telford, whose father lacked only a few months of being a centenarian at the time of his death. Our subject's mother was Grace Douglas ( Hall) Telford, who was named after Grace Douglas, the last of the clan of Black Douglas, a familiar clan of fighters in Scotch history. She was a daughter of the noted Robert Hall. of Scotland, and her mother was at one time lady's maid to Grace Douglas.
474
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Robert Telford is a member of a family originally comprising seven children, only four of whom are now living: Mrs. Ellen Win- throp, living in New Zealand; Robert; Max- well, in Oregon, and Joseph, in California.
Mr. Telford, until eighteen years of age, attended the parish school in his native country, and in 1870 he came to the United States with his parents, settling at Great Falls, New Hamp- shire. From there he went to Boston where he ran a stationary engine, and in 1880 went to Pembina county, North Dakota, and filed on a homestead. Previous to this, however, he spent five years in Canada, and while there was mar- ried, December 26, 1877, to Jane Crawford, who died in Dakota on March 19, 1887, leaving the husband and two children, Maxwell H., and John C., both living near the home of our subject. Maxwell has since been married to Barbara McCully.
Mr. Telford was married a second time, to Ellen Melville, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and daughter of Adam and Isabella (Fergu- son) Melville. The father is dead, and the mother is living at the age of seventy in North Dakota. Mrs. Telford is the eldest of a family of twelve children, eleven of whom are still living.
Mr. Telford's parents removed from New Hampshire to North Dakota, and from there to Oregon City, Oregon, where the father died four years ago at the age of ninety-nine years, seven months and three days. The mother is still living there, aged ninety-eight years.
From North Dakota, Mr. Telford removed to Puget Sound, where he divided his time among different points, and in 1898 he came to his present locality where he purchased a farm of 320 acres, all good land, and all now fenced and well improved. He has plenty of stock and farm implements and makes a specialty of grain raising.
Mr. Telford is a member of the Foresters, and his wife of the Royal Highlanders. They have four children, William Wallace, Grace Douglas, Maggie M. and Ellen Isabella.
MATTHEW SCHEUSS was born in Blackenburg, Prussia, on April 6, 1850, the son of Christian and Margaret (Quart) Scheuss, natives of Germany. They both died when our subject was small. Matthew was educated in
his native country and when seventeen years of age, learned the blacksmith trade. He fol- lowed it there until twenty then came to the United States to avoid being conscripted for the Franco-Prussian war. He landed in the United States in 1870 and went to Pittsburg where he followed his trade and later worked in the oil refinery until 1873, then he enlisted for the Modoc war, being enrolled in the regu- lar army at Pittsburg, on September 25, 1873. He was discharged on September 25, 1878, at Boise, Idaho, at the close of his term. His enlistment paper shows his name correctly, but by error the discharge has it Schultz. During this enlistment he served at Forts Vancouver, Walla Walla and Camp Harney. He par- ticipated in the Nez Perce and Bannock war and took part in the Pilot Rock battle, and at Umatilla, near Pendleton, where seventy-five soldiers thrashed three hundred and seventy Indians. Following the war, he bought land near Walla Walla and farmed it until 1881, the year in which he took his present home- stead, which lies about six miles northwest from Sprague. Since that time, he has de- voted himself to general farming and now has five hundred and twenty acres of good grain land besides forty acres of timber and meadow. He bought one hundred and twenty acres this year at twenty-five dollars cash per acre. The place is well improved with a fine two-story residence, barns and so forth and he has a very valuable farm. Mr. Scheuss experienced con- siderable hardship during the hard times of 1890 but was enabled by careful management to winter through without leaving his property. The farm is supplied with plenty of running water and well equipped with all stock and ma- chinery necessary. Mr. Scheuss may well take pride in his labors as a soldier in quelling the Indians on the frontier as well as in his labors of development and upbuilding since. He has three sisters, Mrs. Katherine Mueller, Mrs. Agnes Lave, and Christine.
Mr. Scheuss married Miss Maggie Jensen. at Walla Walla on October 19, 1880. Her parents are Peter and Ingeborg ( Peterson) Jensen, natives of Denmark, now deceased. Mrs. Scheuss has one brother. Harry, and two. sisters, Mrs. Dawell and Mrs. Sophia Ander- son. To Mr. and Mrs. Scheuss seven children have been born, Christian, Grace, William, Hannah, Lillie, Harry, all at home except
475
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Grace who is deceased. One other, Christina, is now the wife of Jake Hays, who is in the creamery business at Sprague.
DAVID VINYARD is now enjoying a good livery business in Sprague. He has suit- able buildings, a good stock of horses and rigs and enjoys a good patronage. He is a man popular in the community where he resides and he has been thrice elected city councilman, also city marshal one term. In these capacities, Mr. Vinyard has manifested the same wisdom and good judgment that characterizes him in his private enterprises.
David Vinyard was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, on May 16. 1858. He was the son of J. H. and Mary ( Howell ) Vinyard, also natives of Roanoke county, Virginia. The father followed contracting and met his death as a prisoner of war during the Rebellion. The mother died in November, 1901, in Virginia. Owing to the deprivations of the war, our sub- ject had little opportunity to gain an education, but improved what he had with a diligence and very early in life went to work to support himself. While still young, he went to Mary- land and then in 1877 went to Nevada. There he rode on the stock range, drove stage, handled stock and did various other things. His ad- vent to Washington was made while driving a band of horses north, and soon thereafter he came to Spokane. He wrought at various occupations and for a time did a transfer busi- ness in Sprague. After that he operated a transfer line in Spokane, then in 1900 started his present business. He has succeeded very well in his enterprises and is still handling his patronage in the line named.
On February 5. 1893. Mr. Vinyard mar- ried Mrs. Mary Conlee, the nuptials occurring in Sprague. Mrs. Vinyard has two children by her former marriage. Roy and Edna. The family home is a nice cottage at the corner of First and E streets, which is surrounded by a beautiful lawn. Mr. Vinyard has always been a very active participant in politics in every sense of the word as it is usually understood and is always prominent in the campaigns. The Democratic party is his political home and he well knows how to expound the principles of his faith. Mr. Vinyard was the leader of
the men who took the county records from Davenport during the struggle for county seat. He was in Nevada during the Piute uprising in 1897 and in company with Jack Berry took a dangerous journey of inspection right into the Indian country. Mr. Vinyard is classed as one of the early pioneers of Sprague and is well and favorably known.
JAMES BEHAN is one of the best known pioneers of the Big Bend and eastern Washing- ton. In company with his firm friend Mathew Scully, now a prominent resident of Lewiston. Idaho, he came to Walla Walla late in the year 1878, and May 18, 1879, he filed upon his pres- ent homestead, two and one-half miles east of Mondovi. At that time Spokane Falls was the base of supplies for that section, and also con- tained the nearest postoffice. The nearest rail- road was the old "Doc Baker" narrow gauge to Walla Walla. Mr. Behan began in the ter- ritory of Washington with little capital, and had many hardships to pass through before get- ting a start. He spent his first winter in split- ting rails with which to fence his land. He later did some freighting, and the two follow- ing seasons sought employment in the Walla Walla harvest fields. There were very few settlers near him, and his life was a lonely one, but as the country became populated and times better the condition of our subject improved with the times. Having had his choice of the country, he got a good location and good land. He now owns four hundred and eighty acres of grain land, and a half interest in three hun- dred and twenty acres of pasture land near Reardan. He also owns a half interest in a good business block in the town just named : sufficient stock and implements to successfully carry on the cultivation of his land. and makes a specialty of raising grain.
Mr. Behan was born in Louisiana, just op- posite New Orleans, January 1. 1847. His fa- ther, whose name he bears, died while the son was still a child. He was a native of Ireland, as was also his wife, Mary (Collins) Behan. They were married in ,Ireland and came soon afterward to Lonisiana. The mother was mar- ried subsequent to her former husband's death. to John Johnston, in the town of Biloxi, Mis- sissippi, and at this place the young manhood
476
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
of James was spent. Mr. Behan has three half brothers: John Johnston, Biloxi; Alexander, New Orleans, who has a son, George, now a soldier in the 28th United States Volunteers in the Philippines; and Mathew, of New Or- leans. The mother and step-father both died at Biloxi.
James Behan came to St. Louis and later to Omaha, in 1867, in the employ of the U. P. railroad. He enjoys the distinction of having witnessed the driving of the golden spike of the C. P., and the silver spike of the U. P. rail- roads, the latter event taking place in May, 1869, at a point eighty miles east of Ogden, Utah. After this he removed to Wichita, Kan- sas, where he conducted a butcher shop until coming to San Francisco in 1873. He spent five years among different places in California, then came to Washington territory.
Since coming to his present locality Mr. Behan has held the office of school director of the old Mondovi district for a number of years. He is a prominent member of Reardan lodge. No. 84, I. O. O. F., and a most highly respected citizen.
JOHN I. DOTSON lives on a farm seven miles north of Mondovi. He was born March 5. 1853, in Louisa county, Iowa, the son of Bazzle and Mary (Davidson) Dotson, early day settlers in Iowa. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and the mother in England, com- ing to America with her parents as a child. They raised a family of fourteen children, all of whom grew to maturity on a farm and re- ceived good business educations.
Mr. Dotson was married December 3, 1885, to Alice Sprinkle, also a native of Louisa coun- ty, the daughter of John and Mary (Johnson) Sprinkle.
The couple lived in their native county and state until coming to Davenport in the fall of 1890. Mr. Dotson has one sister in Davenport, Mrs. Sarah J. Turner, with whose son, Mark, he is in partnership in a farm of one hundred and sixty acres where he makes his home. The land is all good grain land and is well improved and equipped with regard to buildings, orchard, farming implements, stock, and so forth. A good well and windmill are on the place, the water from which is pumped into the house and barn. Mr. Dotson also owns a quarter
section of agricultural land six miles southwest of Almira.
Mr. and Mrs. Dotson have two children : Maud, wife of Walter Peters, of New Rich- land, Minnesota; and John B. Dotson, living with his parents. They are members of the United Brethren church.
Although coming to the county without means, and since having to labor under heavy expense, Mr. Dotson built up his affairs until he is no longer a poor man, but is so situated as to be able to live and keep his family in com- parative ease and comfort, and he enjoys the trust and respect of his neighbors due to a man of his honor and genuine character.
JAMES H. POWERS is a native of New York City, born March 15, 1853. He is now proprietor of a stock ranch five miles north of Egypt on the Spokane river, has about one hundred and seventy head of cattle, of which animals he makes a specialty of buying and sell- ing.
The parents of Mr. Powers, John and Dora (Bolen) Powers, were born in Ireland. The father was a veteran of the Civil War.
James Powers grew to young manhood in the city of his birth, and at the age of nineteen enlisted in Company B, Fourth Infantry, of the regular army. His company was ordered, soon after his becoming a member of it, to Wyoming, and in 1886, to Fort Spokane. While in the army Mr. Powers had a great amount of experience in fighting Indians, both in Wyoming and in farther western states. He left the army in 1887, took a homestead and engaged in the cattle business, which he has successfully followed to the present time. He has an exceptionally fine stock ranch, consist- ing of three hundred and fifty acres, most of which is hay producing land, a good house, barns, corrals, and so forth, and is in a highly prosperous condition.
On January 28, 1877. James H. Powers was married to Miss Margaret Rotton, a native of the state of New York, born on the banks of the River St. Lawrence, and married in the city of New York. This union has been blessed by three children : James, Jolin and Etta.
Mr. Powers is identified with Davenport lodge, A. F. & A. M.
477
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Our subject is a man who has wide experi- ence and has seen a great deal of the United States. He is contented in his present locality. which he regards as the most favorable spot in America for the poor man to get a start and grow.
FREDERICK McLIN, a native of Linn. county, Missouri, born February 26, 1843, is a farmer residing three miles northeast of Mon- dovi, Washington. His father, Henry McLin, was a native of Kentucky, whence he came to Missouri in 1833. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and died in Sullivan county. Mis- souri, in 1848, in his sixtieth year. His mother Susan (Guyser) McLin, also a native of Ken- tucky, died in Missouri.
Mr. McLin was the youngest and is the only surviving member of a family of seven children. He was raised on a farm, and en- tered the army, as a member of Company E. Forty-second Missouri Infantry in 1864. Hc served under General Thomas in Tennessee, was in several skirmishes, and received an hon- orable discharge upon leaving the army. He is a member of W. H. Bentley Post, No. 60. G. A. R., of Reardan, and receives a pension from the government.
In 1882 he came to the state of Washington and located on a homestead near Crescent, one- half mile east of the dividing line of Lincoln and Spokane counties. He was a pioneer of this section, where he has a farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres, all under cultivation and in an advanced state of improvement, contain- ing a good house, barn, outbuildings, orchard. and so forth.
EDWIN O. SPRINKLE, farmer and stock man residing three fourths of a mile west of Mondovi, was born in Louisa county, Iowa. January 19, 1863, the son of John and Mary (Johnson ) Sprinkle, early pioneers of lowa. Both his parents are native Virginians, and are still living at the ages of eighty-five and eighty- one, respectively, on the old homestead upon which they settled over sixty years ago. The father was a blacksmith, and worked at his trade in conjunction with that of farming, but is now living a retired life. They both are members of the Protestant Methodist church.
They are parents of nine children, all of whom are still living : Erasmus M., Iowa ; Germalia, M., Benjamin F., Mrs. Alice Dotson, our sub- ject, Charles M., and Calvin C., all of Lincoln county, Washington ; and Mrs. Emma M. Huff and Millard M., of łowa.
Mr. Sprinkle came to Davenport in the spring of 1891 and entered the vocation of farming. In 1898 he bought his present home of one hundred and sixty acres, all of which is choice grain land, well watered and well im- proved with a select orchard, good house, barn and other outbuildings.
August 10, 1896, occurred the marriage of Mr. Sprinkle and Sarah Williams, a native of Utah, who prior to her marriage was a profes- sional school teacher. Her parents were John and Anna Williams, the father being dead, and the mother still living in Davenport.
Mr. and Mrs. Sprinkle are members of the United Brethren church.
STEPHEN ENGLE is a farmer residing three and one half miles northeast of Mondovi. He drove an ox team across the plains in 1862. coming with a large train of immigrants, and stopped at Aurora, Nevada, where he engaged in teaming. In the spring of 1865 he went to Placer county, California, and worked for a number of years in the mines. In 1877 he came to Lane and Linn counties, Oregon, and two years later, came to this state, and with J. H. Young & Company engaged in a stage route between Spokane and Fort Spokane. In 1882 he bought the railroad land where his present home is, near the old town of Mondovi. He abandoned the stage enterprise in 1886, since which time he has confined himself exclusively to the cultivation of his excellent farm. His present realty holdings consist of two hundred and forty acres of grain land, all tilled and well improved, with comfortable and commodious house and outbuildings, orchard, and so forth. with all necessary stock and implements to suc- cessfully carry on his business. Ile came here with meagre captial, and had a hard struggle at first in getting a start, experiencing the hard- ships and disappointments of the ordinary pio- necr. Spokane Falls was his nearest town and trading point. Mr. Engle is a native of Van Buren county, Iowa, born January 15.
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