USA > Washington > Douglas County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 2 > Part 48
USA > Washington > Adams County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 2 > Part 48
USA > Washington > Franklin County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 2 > Part 48
USA > Washington > Lincoln County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 2 > Part 48
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Mr. Kennedy is a devoted member of the Congregational church, as is also Mrs. Ken- nedy.
CLINTON STASER. Among the prominent lawyers of Adams county is Clin- ton Staser, who was born in Indiana, January 15, 1842. His father, John C. Staser, who was a native of Germany, came to the United States in 1817, settling in Vanderburg county, Indiana, where he became a well-known and in- fluential citizen. He died on the old Indiana homestead in March, 1886. Mr. Staser's mother, Margaret (Clinton) Staser, an Ohio- an by birth, was a lineal descendant of De Witt Clinton. She died in Indiana in April, 1866.
Mr. Staser was raised in Indiana and lived there until 1894, when he came to Ritzville. His early education was received in the district schools of his native state. At the age of twenty he began the study of law in the office of Peter Maier, county judge, and a prominent attorney of Indiana. At twenty-four he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession in Evansville. Here he remained twenty-six years, devoting his time principally to civil practice, and also engaged to some extent in the real estate business. Since com- ing to Ritzville Mr. Staser has been more or less prominently identified with politics. He is a staunch Democrat, at the hands of which party he has been made a member of the city council, police judge, member of the school committee, county delegate to his party's con- ventions, while at present he is filling the posi- tion of court commissioner, to which position he was appointed in 1896 by Judge Wallace Mount.
Mr. Staser has the following named
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
brothers and sisters, all living in Indiana : Fred- erick, Franklin, John C. Letitia, wife of James W. Lauer, and Anna, wife of George H. Stock- fleth.
On October 25, 1870, occurred the mar- riage of Clinton Staser to Clarissa E. Willey, a native of Delaware county, Ohio. Her fa- ther, Henry Willey, a farmer, and her mother, Elizabeth (Weiser) Willey, were natives of Pennsylvania, and came of Pennsylvania Dutch families. Mrs. Staser has two brothers: Eph- rain and Samuel, both living in Ohio; and two sisters, Mary, wife of Dr. Mathew Loy, founder of the Lutheran college at Columbus, Ohio, and Elizabeth, widow of Dr. Morrison, living in Boston, who was an officer in the Civil War.
Mr. and Mrs. Staser have seven children living : Walter, his father's law partner ; John C., ex-county clerk, who is now with the North- ern Pacific railroad survey, as is also J. Loy, the third child ; Eva, wife of Oscar R. Holcomb, mentioned elsewhere in this book; Edith, Eleanor and Eloise.
On September 2, 1903, Edith was married to Mr. Otto L. Hanson, a civil engineer and manager of the Northern Pacific irrigation ditch at Kennewick, Washington. Mr. Hanson is mayor of Kennewick and a prominent man.
An interesting point of family history is that Samuel Willey, the grandfather of Mrs. Staser, was a patriot in the Revolution.
Mr. and Mrs. Staser, together with their children, are members of the Episcopal church.
Mr. Staser owns some uncultivated land in Adams county, besides the block in Ritzville upon which his house is situated.
FRANKLIN PIERCE FRENCH, real estate and insurance man of Ritzville and one of the most extensive wheat farmers of Adams county, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, No- vember 4. 1854-the day upon which Franklin Pierce, for whom he was named, was elected president. His father, James French, was a native of Connecticut, as were also his parents, though the family originally came from Eng- land. They were early New England settlers, and prominent in the Revolution and the War of 1812. The mother of Mr. French was Eliza- beth (Cronk) French, born in New York of old Knickerbocker stock. The father of our sub-
ject was a carriage maker by trade, and died in 1888 in Eaton county, Michigan, where also the mother died.
Until five years of age Franklin P. French was reared in Ohio, from which state the family removed to Michigan, where Mr. French re- mained until twenty-five years of age, acquir- ing a common school education. He went to California in February, 1877, and worked at contracting and building eight months, then removed to Klickitat county, Washington, where he remained three years, employed mean- while, by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation company as a carpenter. He also fought In- dians in this county, and was made deputy sheriff, which office he held for two years. He then returned to Michigan on a visit and just prior to starting on this trip he was married to Mary F. Mescher, born near Silverton, Oregon, daughter of William and Ann (Moores) Mescher, both of whom are dead. The father and mother were natives of Mis- souri and crossed the plains to Oregon in an early day,- about 1850.
Upon his return from this visit Mr. French rented a farm near Silverton, and also followed his trade there for four years, after which he came to Ritzville in April, 1886. He filed on a homestead fifteen miles west of town and en- gaged in the cattle business, but owing to the severity of the winters following this venture he lost so heavily that he abandoned the busi- ness after three years of poor success. He was elected sheriff of Adams county on the Repub- lican ticket in 1889, served his term and also took the census of his county in 1890. In 1891 he was elected assessor of the county. After completing his term he retired to his farm and commenced raising wheat. After harvesting one crop he rented his land, removed to town and was appointed United States court com- missioner, which office he held eight years. He now gives most of his attention to farming. He has three thousand acres of land. two-thirds of which is sown to wheat. The principal por- tion of his land is rented to others. In Ritzville he has a lot upon which his one-story frame office stands, and one of the handsomest homes in the city on Knob Hill.
In January, 1888, Mr. French lost his wife by death. One daughter was left: Edna A., aged sixteen, an exceptionally promising high school girl.
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
On March 17, 1892, Mr. French was again married, his wife being Alice C. Cunningham, daughter of William R. Cunningham, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this book. Mrs. French was born in Kentucky, August 17, 1869, and was educated principally in Lexing- ton, Missouri. She is now United States court commissioner of Adams county, being the only lady commissioner in the state.
To this union has been born one child; Elsworth C., aged six years.
Franklin P. French is a member of the Republican party, and has at different times been delegated to state and county conventions. He is a charter member of the Ritzville lodge of Odd Fellows; and is the only charter mem- ber in the county at this time. There were only five members in the county at the time of the lodge's organization. Mr. French has been through all the chairs of the order and has represented his lodge in grand lodge. Both he and Mrs. French are Rebekahs, of which lodge the latter is present noble grand. Both are ardent and liberal members of the Church of Christ.
After a long: litigation, Mr. French has finally secured the title to the old homestead in Ohio, where he was born. Aside from his children, Mr. French is the only member of the family that now bears the name.
JOSEPH M. COMPARET is one of the best known business men of Ritzville, and is now the general manager of the King Mercan- tile Company. He was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, June II, 1863. His father, Joseph J. Comparet, was a native of the same place. The grandmother of Joseph J. Comparet was a niece of General McIntosh, who was in com- mand of Fort Detroit during the French and Indian War. An interesting bit of history connected with the family of our subject was the escape of Frank Comparet, the grand- father of our subject, when ten years of age, with an elder brother and sister, in a canoe from Fort Monroe to Detroit at the time of the famous Monroe massacre, in which both his parents were murdered by the Indians. The grandfather of Joseph J. came to America from France as a contractor and builder in the employ of the French government to erect forts on the
frontier. This grandfather-the great-grand- father of our subject-was the father of three sons, two of whom, with himself, while return- ing to America from a visit to France, were drowned in a shipwreck. The other son had remained at Monroe, Michigan, and it is, from him that the present generation of Comparets is descended. The grandfather of Joseph M. went to Fort Wayne in the employ of the Astor Fur Company, where he lived several years and died. His son,-our subject's father-was for a number of years a member of the firm of Comparet & Hubbel, grist mill and steam and canal boat owners, which firm was also a leader in many commercial enterprises. The first loco- motive ever brought to Fort Wayne was put together in his warehouse. Joseph J. Com- paret died in Stevens county, Washington, April 11, 1895, having come west with the sub- ject of our sketch in 1884, with whom he re- mained until death.
The mother of Mr. Comparet was Marion R. (Alexander) Comparet, a native of Ireland who came to the United States with her parents in childhood. They first settled at Utica, New York, and later removed to Paulding county, Ohio, where her father died. He was a retired British army officer, who at one time was knighted for signal bravery displayed in quell- ing a certain riot. Mrs. Comparet died Novem- ber 4, 1878, at Kentland, Indiana.
At the age of six years, Joseph M. Com- paret left Fort Wayne and removed with his parents to Kentland, Indiana, where he attended school, while his father engaged in the com- mission business. After passing through the grammar school he took a business course in the Northwest Normal and Commercial school at Kentland, and later occupied positions with Kent & Company, and other merchants of the city. Upon attaining his majority he came with his father to Sprague, where he worked in the railroad shops and fired a locomotive until 1889, when he went to Adams county and filed on a pre-emption and timber culture. Subse- quently he sold his interests here, removed to Stevens county and engaged in mining. In 1896, returning to Adams county, he worked at various occupations until the following year, when he took a position with Thiel, Dorman & Company, with which firm he continued until it became Thiel, Dorman & King. In 1898 he entered into partnership with Jared M. Harris,
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
whose life is sketched elsewhere in this history, with the firm name of Harris & Comparet. Later the two firms-Thiel, Dorman & King and Harris & Comparet- were consolidated, and reincorporated under the firm name of the King Mercantile Company, since which time our subject has held his present position.
Mr. Comparet is also president of the Blue Point Marble Company, Stevens county ; man- ager of the Keystone Mining Company, Ferry county, and is otherwise heavily interested in mining propositions with his partner, Mr. King.
At Ritzville, on July 6, 1890, occurred the marriage of Joseph M. Comparet to Laura E. Harris, daughter of his present partner, Jared M. Harris, in whose biography her life is briefly dwelt upon. The issue of this marriage is a son, Kenneth, aged eleven years.
While a man of close connection with the business life of his city, Mr. Comparet has been equally prominent and actively identified with its fraternity circles. He is now a member of the F. and A. M., and of the K. of P. of Ritz- ville, and major on the Brigade Staff of U. R. K. of P. of Washington, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen.
Politically, he affiliates with no party, leav- ing himself free to cast his ballot for what he deems the most deserving candidate and the one best fitted for the position to which he aspires, but he is not what could be called an active man in political affairs.
ยท
CLAUDE A. HARRIS, engaged in the livery business at Ritzville with his brother, Jesse R., whose biography is published in an- other place in this history, is the son of Jared M. Harris, who also is sketched in this book. He was born in South Dakota, near Canton, July 23, 1874, and lived at the place of his birth until three years of age, when the family came to Walla Walla, Washington. He at- tended school at Walla Walla only one year when he came to Ritzville, where he finished his education in the graded schools. He lived at home until his marriage, which event oc- curred at the home of the bride, Minnie B. Heater, twenty miles south of Ritzville, June 15, 1898. Mrs. Harris is the daughter of Ed- ward and Lizzie (Snyder) Heater, both now living on a farm on Rattlesnake Flat, Adams
county. She has four brothers and two sisters, mentioned elsewhere in this history.
Two issues have come of this marriage; Vera and Harold-a bright and promising little pair.
Mr. Harris is politically a Republican, though an inactive party man, and a member of Prairie Queen lodge, Ritzville, K. of P.
Claude A. Harris is a young man of the highest ideals of honor, and a business man of much promise and enterprise.
JOHN C. SHORNO came to Ritzville in 1896 and erected a livery and feed barn. He conducted this business for six months when he sold out, and in July, 1897, was appointed city marshal and served in this capacity for eight- teen months. In 1900 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of sheriff of Adams county, and in 1902 was re-elected by the greatest majority of votes ever polled for any candidate in the county, and he carried every precinct.
John C. Shorno was born in Michigan, May 24, 1854. His father, Anton Shorno, a native of Switzerland, came to the United States in 1836, remained a year in the state of New York and came to Michigan where he was a pioneer farmer in Allegan county. He was a prominent and influential citizen, and a stanch Democrat. While here he served as a school director and as county treasurer, and died on the old home- stead in March, 1879, at the age of seventy- five years. Our subject's mother was Phoebe C. (Fixley) Shorno, a native German, who was married in her native country came to the United States with her husband, and died in Michigan in 1860.
The first twenty-three years of Mr. Shor- no's life were spent in his native state, where he grew up on a farm and received a district school education. In 1877 he came to the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, where he worked on a farm for eighteen months then came to Colfax, in the vicinity of which city he lived on a farm for eleven years, then removed to Colfax where he conducted a bakery for two years. In 1890 he disposed of his homestead in Whitman coun- ty. purchased a drove of horses, removed to a ranch ten miles northeast of Ritzville, Adams county, and entered the stock raising business.
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
His next move was to the city of Ritzville. He has since disposed of all his improved land, but still owns four sections of raw land in Douglas county, thirty acres of unimproved but irrigated land in Yakima county and two hundred acres of grazing land on Cow creek, Adams county, which he took as a desert claim. His city pro- perty includes a one story brick business block and a handsome home in Ritzville.
Mr. Shorno has four brothers and three sis- ters living: Andrew D .; Lewis C .; Oscar S .; Millard F .; Maria, wife of J. R. Smith; Alice, wife of J. H. Purdy; and Tabitha, wife of Charles A. Granger.
On June 19, 1881, Mr. Shorno was married at Moscow, Idaho, to N. Evaline White, a na- tive of Engene, Oregon, and daughter of Cor- nelius G. and Mary F. (Boydston) White. Her father crossed the plains to Oregon in 1851, later removed to Whitman county, Washington, where he was a pioneer, a prominent citizen, county commissioners and the first superintend- ent of schools. He died at Colfax in the winter of 1901, aged seventy-five. Mrs. White was a native of Kentucky, who crossed the plains in an early day with her parents and was married in Oregon. Mrs. Shorno has three brothers and three sisters: John; Edwin G .; Warren; Lulu, wife of J. R. Richardson; Anna, wife of T. D. Conner, mayor of Wallace, Idaho; and Myrtle, wife of August Paulsen, one of the principal owners of the Hercules mine, Wal- lace, Idaho. Mrs. Conner has served two terms as treasurer of Shoshone county, Idaho.
Mr and Mrs. Shorno have one child, Clyde, aged twenty, now a student.
Mr. Shorno is a past grand of Ritzville lodge, I. O. O. F., and a member of the Wood- men of the World.
JESSE R. HARRIS, of Harris Brothers, a Ritzville livery firm, was born in Wisconsin, February 26, 1869, son of Jared M. Harris, a sketch of whose life is printed elsewhere in this history.
During his first year of life Jesse R. Harris' parents moved with their family to Canton, South Dakota, where the principal part of our subject's life was spent prior to his coming to Ritzville in 1880. While there he attended the district school, thus receiving a good working
education, and in 1877 the family crossed the plains with teams to Walla Walla, where they remained until the fall of 1880. During this time Jesse spent some time in the Walla Walla schools, and after coming to Adams county, he engaged with his father and brother in the cattle and horse raising business. In 1892 they disposed of the principal part of their stock, and Jesse took the position of foreman on the well known "J. S." horse ranch of A. L. Davis on Crab creek, in which capacity he was em- ployed for six years when he came to Ritzville and engaged in his present business with his brother, Claude A., whose life is sketched on other pages of this volume.
Mr. Harris was married at Ritzville, Feb- ruary 3, 1895, to Alice E. Bailey, born in Wis- consin, daughter of Harry and Rose (Davis) Bailey, both now living in Wisconsin. Mrs. Harris has three brothers, James, Galusha A. and Burt. To this union have been born two children, Virgil and Jared.
Jesse R. Harris is a member of Prairie Queen lodge, Ritzville, Knights of Pythias, and affiliates with the Republican party, though he is by no means an active party man.
MRS. CHRISTENA BENNETT. One of the most interesting personages in Adams county is the lady whose name appears at the head of this sketch, and whose beautiful home, Woodland Heights, is situated one and one- half miles north of Ritzville. Mrs. Bennett comes of a historic Scotch family, her grand- mother on her father's side being a Sutherland for which family Sutherlandshire, Scotland, is named. This grandmother was a refined and gifted woman, well educated, with the com- mand of seven languages. She enjoyed the distinction of having served as a nurse at the battle of Waterloo, in which battle, also, her husband, Hector McKay, served and was wounded, dying some years after from the hurt received. On her mother's side Mrs. Bennett numbers a long line of seafaring men, some of whom were captains. To this family belongs Mary Johnston, author of "To Have and to Hold," "Audrey," and so forth, who is third cousin to our subject.
Mrs. Christina Bennett was born in Scot- land, April 18, 1845, the daughter of William
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
and Margaret (Johnston) Mckay, whose lives are briefly touched upon on another page of this volume, with whom she came to America in 1851. Mrs. Bennett's life in the United States was spent in the states of Pennsylvania and Minnesota with her parents until May 13, 1865, when she was married at St. Charles, Minnesota, to James Gordon Bennett, born in Canada, January 18, 1841.
Mr. Bennett's father was a farmer and teacher for many years, and died at Clinton, Iowa, when the son was a lad of five years. His mother was Cynthia (Kinnard) Bennett, a native of Canada, born near Toronto, the daughter of a farmer, who removed to Canada from New York, where he was married. Dur- ing Mr. Bennett's infancy he was taken by his parents to Iowa, where he lived until arrived at his majority. He was educated in the Clinton high school, while he lived on a farm with his mother and brother, and with them later re- moved to St. Charles. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett lived at St. Charles for four years when they emigrated to Canton, South Dakota, filed on a homestead and re- mained eight years. In 1879 they came to Walla Walla, Washington, where they lived two years, during which time Mr. Bennett pre- empted the present home of Mrs. Bennett and purchased railroad land. Upon the formation of Adams county he was one of the first county commissioners, and Mrs. Bennett was the first superintendent of schools. She first served by appointment for one year, then was elected on the Republican ticket twice to succeed herself, her entire term in office covering a period of five years. They assisted in the organization of the first Congregational church at Ritzville, and Mr. Bennett was the first Sunday School superintendent.
Mrs. Bennett was a graduate from the Winona, Minnesota, high school and taught school both in Minnesota and at Walla Walla, in all, five years.
A brother of Mr. Bennett, Creighton, was a soldier in the Civil War, engaging in the fa- mous Minnesota massacre. He died from fever while home on a furlough. Mr. Bennett enlisted in time to serve the last half year of the war. For a number of years he was the sole support of his mother who died here, December 2. 1889, aged ninety-two, prior to which time she possessed remarkable vigor, mentally and
physically. The mother was a member of a family of ten, all of whom lived past ninety years.
Mrs. Bennett has living, two children; Van V. and Clinton S. Bennett, the former a farmer near Ritzville, and the latter a student at Bel- mount, California. She had one daughter, Bessie M., wife of O. H. Green, a Ritzville banker, mentioned elsewhere in this book, which daughter died at San Francisco, October 28, 1899.
Mrs. Bennett has six hundred and forty acres of grain land upon which her husband ordinarily raised fifty bushels of wheat per acre, and the most handsome and modern home in the vicinity of Ritzville.
James Gordon Bennett passed away at St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, Oregon, August 31, 1902, and was laid to rest in the Ritzville cemetery. His funeral was the largest ever held in that city, the entire community realizing the greatness of its loss in such a progressive, liberal, honorable, and public-spirited man.
WILLIAM J. LANSING is superintend- ent of schools in Adams county, having been elected to that office in the fall of 1902. He was born in Ontario, Canada, December 12, 1871, the son of William and Minerva J. (Hart) Lansing, both also natives of Canada. William Lansing's parents were of Canadian birth and of Holland descent. The original family settled first in New York state, and later, some of the second generation removed to Canada. The family is a prominent one both in New York and Canada. Mrs. Lan- sing's father was a native of Vermont and her mother of Canada. Both of Mr. Lansing's parents died in Michigan, the father June 25, 1894, and the mother October II, 1902.
William was reared principally in Michi- gan, where the family migrated when he was five years of age. He was educated in the grammar and high schools of Clare, Michigan, in Ferris Institute, at Grand Rapids, and in the state normal at Ypsilanti. In 1896 he com- menced teaching at Elmhall, Michigan, where he was principal of the graded school for two years, which position he held later at Coopers- ville, Michigan. He came to Adams county and for four years was principal of the Lind
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
public schools at Lind, which position he re- signed in order to qualify for the office he now holds.
Mr. Lansing has two brothers and four sisters : Dr. John W., in Ritzville, a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere in this book; Henry S., a book-keeper of Boyne City, Mich- igan; Margaret A., wife of Henry N. Cleve- land, a farmer of Clare, Michigan; Catharine; wife of Joseph DeGeer, also a Clare farmer ; Anna, in Michigan; and Minnie, a teacher at Hillyard, Washington.
Socially, Mr. Lansing is a member of the Masonic lodge of Coopersville, Michigan, and of Lind lodge, I. O. O. F., Lind, Washington.
He is a man of many friends, and of pro- nounced ability as an educator. He is an ad- herent to the principles of the Republican party, and although he has for years been an active worker in the ranks of his party he has never manifested greed for office.
HON. ISRAEL B. LAING, who is engaged in the general merchandise business at Washtucna, Washington, where he is also as- sistant postmaster, was born at Front Royal, Warren county, Virginia, September 27, 1857. His parents were I. H. and Alla ( Hambaugh) Laing, also natives of Virginia, the father of Scotch and the mother of German descent. In 1867 they removed to Pike county, Illinois, where the remainder of their lives were spent. Mr. Laing has had four brothers and five sis- ters ; Matilda, deceased; Mrs. Amanda Goodin ; Mrs. Virginia Swagger, whose husband is now dead; Jefferson; Mrs. Ella Ward; Gustavus; Ferdinand; Edward; and Mrs. Isabel Buress.
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