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 53
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 53
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 53
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 53
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In 1860 Mr. Seely was married to Miss Louesa A. Huffman, daughter of Barney and Lucretia Huffman, natives of Virginia. The parents of Mrs. Seely came west in 1888 and located in Adams county, where they still live, the father at the age of eighty-two and the mother one year his junior.
On June 24, 1888, Mrs. Seely departed this life, leaving a family of nine children, Albert A., Henry B., Ed M., L. L., Mary A., Emma, Belle, George, and William. Another child died during infancy.
JAMES R. BANNON is a brickmason and plasterer residing in Washtucna. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, May 9, 1869, the son of Richard and Henrietta (Kelsey) Bannon, both of whom were born in North Carolina and early in life settled in Kentucky where the father died in 1881. The mother still lives. The parents were of Irish descent, and reared a family of seven children, W. P., J. R., Ettie, Hugh H., Arthur, Kate, and Rose. They also had two children who died in infancy.
In the public schools of his native city, Mr. Bannon received a good grammar school education, and at the age of fifteen he left home and went south. He spent two years in the southern states then went to Minnesota, where he remained one year. In 1888 he
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
came west to Montana, and there lived two years, then returned to his native state where he lived the following eight months, after which he came to Spokane. His father was a brickmason and plasterer, and from him our subject learned his trade during his early life. After coming to Spokane he worked at his trade in the city and in the surrounding towns, until locating in Ritzville in 1901. He has done the plastering in most of the largest buildings of the town, as well as in Wash- tucna, where he located in 1903. Here he took charge of the large hotel which he now conducts. . He also owns several town lots in this place.
On April 10, 1898, Mr. Bannon was mar- ried to Stella Archambault, daughter of John and Lumina (Louis) Archambault, the father a native of France and the mother of Canada. The parents of Mrs. Bannon came to the United States when young and settled in Mon- tana, where they continue to reside. Mrs. Bannon's brothers and sisters are, Albert, Mabel, Ray and Event. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bannon are two in number, Mabel and Stella.
Mr. Bannon is a Deniocrat, is a member of the Plasterers' Union, and has been secre- tary of the Builders Trades union for several years. He is an Odd Fellow, of which order he is past grand master, and which he has represented in the grand lodge.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Bannon are members of the Catholic faith.
JOHN C. HUFFMAN, a farmer and one of the most extensive fruit growers in Adams county, resides one and one-half miles south- east of Fletcher, which place is his post office. Mr. Huffman has been doing for himself since he was twenty-five years of age, and all his life he has been a farmer. He lived for the most part in the state of Indiana until coming to Washington in 1883. He came west with T. WV. Martin and located a homestead and tim- ber culture where he now lives, each tract con- taining a quarter-section. In 1894 he had all of his land under cultivation, when he pur- chased a half-section, plowed the greater por- tion of it and later sold eighty acres. In 1890 he began raising fruit on a large scale and has
continued in the business since that time. His orchard contains all the varieties of fruits adapted to this latitude and annually yields great revenue to its owner. The farm of Mr. Huffman is in a capital location, and is well supplied with water for all purposes.
John C. Huffman is a native of Virginia but at an early age his parents moved to Indi- ana, where he received a common school edu- cation and made his start in life. He was born on August 8, 1846, and is the son of Bar- ney and Lucretia ( Williams) Huffman, whose lives are touched upon in the sketch of Daniel Huffman, a brother of our subject, which ap- pears elsewhere in this volume. The parents are both now living with the subject of this sketch, and although the father is eighty-three and the mother eighty-two, they are enjoying remarkably good health.
Mr. Huffman is a member of a family or- iginally comprising twelve children, two of whom, Levina and Louise, are dead. The brothers and sisters of our subject who are liv- ing are Phillip, James, Robert, Daniel, L. C., Mrs. Ruby Purcell, and Hannah.
Mr. Huffman is an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party. His church home is with the Christian denomination.
LINCOLN LAUGHLIN was born in Yamhill county, Oregon, January 17, 1862, the son of John Laughlin, a native of Illinois. The father crossed the plains with ox team to the Willamette valley in 1850. He had a wife and two children at that time, and at once set- tled on a donation claim where Lincoln was born. Here the father died when our subject was fourteen years of age. Mr. Laughlin's mother, Susan (McCoy) Laughlin, was born in St. Charles county, Missouri, her parents being early pioneers to that state, and now lives in Bellingham, Washington.
Lincoln Laughlin was reared on a farm in Oregon until shortly after his father's death, when with his mother and two sisters, he re- moved to Dayton, Washington, remained there a year, then returned to Forest Grove, Oregon. He then entered the Pacific University at Forest Grove, remained in that institution three years, after which time he rented a farm near town which he managed for three years. He next
1
LINCOLN LAUGHLIN
FRED E. ROBBINS
ROBERT C. KENNEDY
CHARLES F. JOHNSON
MRS. CHARLES F. JOHNSON
ALEXANDER F. ROSENOFF
SEBASTIAN OTT
MRS. WILHELMINA H. KELBER
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
entered the butchering business here, having a partner who managed the shop while he did the buying of the stock. Mr. Laughlin's next move was to a homestead and timber culture near Hatton, Washington, whither he drove a team across the mountains, bringing with him about five hundred dollars worth of horses and ap- purtenances and an equal amount in cash. He filed on his land in May, 1888, and the follow- ing spring returned to Oregon and bought a herd of young cattle. During the winter of 1890-91 he suffered heavy losses and five years later met with a distressing accident which necessitated the amputation of a limb. After his recovery he commenced teaching school and buying wheat. He taught two terms in Oregon and three years in Adams county, bought grain one season for the Tacoma Grain Company, and in 1900 was elected county auditor of Adams county, and re-elected in 1902. He ran both times on the Democratic ticket, and at his last election he ran far ahead of the Con- gressional ticket in his county. Formerly he was a Populist but when they came in line with Democrats, he identified himself with them.
Mr. Laughlin owns twelve hundred and eighty acres of wheat land near Lind, which he rents, and a handsome home at Ritzville. He has one brother living and four sisters : Thomas M .; Nancy J., wife of A. Lee ; Isabel, widow of Daniel Davis; Sarah, wife of Warren Merchant ; and Lela B., wife of J. T. Smith.
At Ritzville, September 15, 1901, Mr. Laughlin was married to Martha M. Stone, a native Nebraskan. Her parents were Norman M., a native of Michigan who died in 1893, and Elizabeth (Baronet) Stone, a native of the Isle of Man, who died in 1891. Mrs. Laughlin has one brother and two sisters: Henry C .; Carrie, wife of Frank Jones; and Deborah, wife of Olbie Rucker.
Our subject is a member of the W. O. W. and of the I. O. G. T., as well as an active and influential Democrat.
FRED E. ROBBINS, vice president of the White River Lumber Company's Ritzville branch, was born at Vassalboro, Maine, August 25, 1866. His father is Oliver P. Robbins, a native of Maine, in which state the family has been since 1710, coming there from Cape Cod,
Massachusetts. During the Civil War, Oliver P. Robbins was a member of Company I, Twenty-first Maine Volunteers for nine months. He is now living on the old homestead in Maine which has been in the family for several gener- ations. Our subject's mother was Martha (Pierce) Robbins, also a native of Maine, and a member of the old Pierce family prominent in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, as well as the Civil War, and in the commercial circles of Boston, and throughout New Eng- land generally. She now lives with her hus- band in Maine.
Fred E. Robbins lived on the farm in Maine until he attained his majority, was educated in the district school and Oak Grove Seminary at Vassalboro, and came to Oregon at the age of twenty-one. He was at Gardener, on the Umpqua river, where he worked fifteen months in a saw mill. He spent three years in placer mining on Forty Mile creek, in Alaska, with fair usccess after which he returned to Wash- ington and worked for a time in a saw mill at Hoquiam. He took a trip to the World's Fair at Chicago and a visit to his old home, which vacation consumed eight months, after which he returned to Washington, and in 1894 en- gaged in the general merchandise business at Cumberland, King county, which he followed there for three years, then two years at Black Diamond, Washington. In 1899 he came to Ritzville to assume charge of his present busi- ness. He owns some mining interests in Brit- ish Columbia and Idaho, and a handsome home in Ritzville.
Mr. Robbins has two brothers and four sis- ters living: Frank; Payson; Mabel, wife of E. A. Morrill; Alice, wife of Leslie Young ; Lena, wife of Clarence Pierce ; and Ethel.
At Seattle, March 12, 1891, occurred the marriage of Fred E. Robbins to Emma Man- sell, a native of Iowa, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mansell, both born in Eng- land. Mr. Mansell is now living a retired life at Castle Rock, Washington, his wife having died sometime since. Mrs. Robbins has four brothers, John, Charles, William, and Enoch.
The issues of this marriage are, Norman, Martha, Mabel and Fred, Jr.
In fraternity circles, Mr. Robbins is identi- fied with Ritzville lodge number 101, A. F. and A. M., Sprague chapter, R. A. M., Sprague, Washington, and the Concantanated Order of
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Hoo Hoos, Spokane. In the first named order he is the senior warden.
Politically, he is a Republican, although not an active party man, and enjoys the honor of being the present mayor of his city.
ROBERT C. KENNEDY is one of the promising young business men of Ritzville, where he occupies the responsible position of cashier of the First National Bank. He was born in Iowa, on March 4, 1877, and is the son of William K. Kennedy, a sketch of whose life we give on another page of this history.
When he was a lad of nine years, the Ken- nedy family moved to the vicinity of Ritzville, and here he has lived ever since. He was edu- cated in the graded schools of his home town, at the Olympia high school, and passed through one semester in Whitman college, Walla Walla.
In 1898 Robert C. Kennedy entered the Adams County Bank as bookkeeper, and when that bank was converted to the First National he was elected to his present position. He is also a stockholder in the institution.
In fraternity circles, Mr. Kennedy is a mem- ber of Prairie Queen lodge, K. of P. Polit- ically, he is a stanch, though not an active, member of the Republican party, for which party he was a delegate to its last county con- vention.
Mr. Kennedy is a young man of the highest social and moral standing, is an apt and hon- orable business man, and his future prospects in the world of affairs and business are of the brightest.
CHARLES F. JOHNSON came west and settled on a homestead in Adams county in 1885. Later he purchased a tract of railroad land and the first year he broke eighty acres of native sod. Later on, from time to time, he has added to his holdings in Big Bend real estate until he now owns fifteen hundred and forty acres, twelve hundred acres of which he has under cultivation. All his land is fenced and improved in the best modern style, with a fine orchard, good buildings, etcetera, and he keeps fifty head of livestock on his farm. His home lies three miles south of Ritzville.
Mr. Johnson was born in Varmland,
Sweden, December 14, 1854, and was the son of Charles and Charlotte ( Bast) Johnson, both natives of Sweden who came to America in 1868 and located in Iowa. They lived in Iowa until 1894, when they removed to Portland, Oregon, and from that city to the state of Washington in 1903. They now live in Ritz- ville. They have been parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one surviving. Those deceased were, Sophia, Annie and Emma.
Until coming to America with his parents, Charles Johnson attended the public schools of his native country. He lived with his father and mother until arriving at the age of twenty- seven, when he married and started in life for himself. Prior to his coming to this state he rented the farm of his father in Iowa four years.
In the year 1892, Charles Johnson was mar- ried to Louise Carlen, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Olson) Carlen, who came from Sweden, their native country, to the United States in 1881. Here the family located in Iowa, where the father died in 1898, after which the mother came west and is now living in Ritzville. The family originally numbered eight children, of whom only five are still liv- ing: Louise, Anna, Albertine, Gustave and Elizabeth.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four children living, F. W., Emma E., David A., and Ralph C., all at home, and one deceased, George.
The family maintains a church home with the First Congregational church of Ritzville. In political affairs Mr. Johnson works in har- mony with the Democratic party. He has ever been an active man in all affairs pertaining to upbuilding the educational facilities of the country, and at this writing he is a member of his local school board.
ALEXANDER F. ROSENOFF, of the firm of Rosenoff & Company, Ritzville, Washı- ington, was born in Russia, October 15, 1873. His parents, Fred and Catherine (Tant) Ros- enoff, were born in Russia though of German extraction one generation removed. The fam- ily has always spoken the German language, conformed to German customs, and in no sense were they Russians except in legally being sub-
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
jects of the czar. They came to the United States from Russia in 1877, settled in Ne- braska, thence to Walla Walla, Washington, and thence, in the fall of 1882, to Adams county, where they filed on land four miles northwest of Ritzville. The father, now a re- tired farmer, was in his youth a wagonmaker by trade, and is a man of clever mechanical genius. Both parents are now living in Ritz- ville.
From his seventh year Alexander F. Ros- enoff has lived in Washington continuously barring the time spent by him in acquiring his education at eastern schools. At the age of eighteen he entered the German theological seminary at Crete, Nebraska, remained there two years, then enrolled in the German and English college at Wilton, Iowa, graduating with the class of 1896. Three years later he entered the state normal school of Indiana at Valparaiso, registering in the pharmaceutical department, from which he graduated the same year. Before taking this course, however, he had engaged in the drug business with W. L. Olmstead as partner, at Ritzville, who con- ducted the business while our subject was in school. John F. Rosenoff bought Mr. Olm- stead's interest when our subject returned from school. The firm is well established and owns a two-story brick of large dimensions in the heart of the city. It carries an eight thousand dollar stock and is fully as well equipped as any high class metropolitan pharmacy.
Mr. Rosenoff has three brothers and one sister, John F., Henry, Jacob, and Lizzie, wife of John Kanzler.
On April 15, 1900, at Ritzville, occurred the marriage of Alexander F. Rosenoff to Daisy W. Clark, a native Iowan, whose fa- ther, also a native of Iowa, comes of an old American family, which for many generations has lived in Tennessee. Mr. Clark now lives at Moscow. Idaho, while Mrs. Clark is dead. Mrs. Rosenoff has one brother, Claude B., who lives with his father.
Mr. Rosenoff in fraternity circles is identi- fied with the Prairie Queen lodge, K. of P., is a Republican in politics, though not an active party man, and both he and Mrs. Rosenoff are members of the Congregational church. They have one child, Donald, who was born on November 10, 1903. Mr. Rosenoff has va- rious other property and business interests,
among which may be mentioned stock in the Golden Monarch Mining & Milling Company of British Columbia and in the Ballard Coffer mine near Newport.
SEBASTIAN OTT is the proprietor of the Hotel Ritzville, Ritzville, Washington. He came to this county in 1895, direct from Ger- many, where he was born on February 24, 1856. He was reared in Bavaria and for forty years of his life he was a citizen of that coun- try, where he lived on a farm and in younger life was educated in the common schools. He was a non-commissioned officer in the German cavalry at one time, the Fifth Chevauxlyer Reg- iment, and was a soldier in that branch of the service for three years.
The parents of Mr. Ott were Geoerge V. and Barbara ( Reis) Ott, both native Bavarians. The father died in 1881 and the mother in 1859.
In 1895 , Mr. Ott came to the United States and to Ritzville, bringing with him one son, and later he was followed by a brother who brought the remainder of the family. The brothers brought with them capital to the extent of twenty-seven thousand dollars. They at once invested ten thousand, five hundred dol- lars of this in the grist mill formerly owned by George Benninghoff. They conducted this mill, and made a success of it until January 29, 1901, when they sold it to the Centennial Mill Company. Mr. Ott upon arriving at Ritz-
ville, built his present hostelry, and conducted it as a lodging house for two years, then leased it for three years, and again in November, 1901, he commenced running the house himself. His building includes forty-four bed rooms, a pri- vate dining room for commercial travelers and other apartments. Besides his hotel, Sebastian Ott owns a residence in town, and with his brother, Andrew, his only brother outside of Germany, he owns two sections of wheat land near Irby, Washington.
Another brother of Mr. Ott's is Jacob, a German farmer. He has one sister, Margar- etha, wife of Jacob Schmitt, a Bavarian farmer.
On November 10, 1883, occurred the mar- riage of Sebastian Ott to Christina Hege, born in Eppstein, Germany, August 4, 1860. Her
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
parents were both native Germans, named Jo- hannes and Maria (Yotter) Hege, and both are now dead, the father dying in 1893. Mrs. Ott has one brother, Heinrich Hege, a German farmer.
To this union have been born six children, whose names and ages are as follows: Elise, eighteen : Jacob, seventeen ; Johannes, fifteen ; Amanda, thirteen; Maria, twelve: and Rich- ard, six years.
Mr. Ott was so unfortunate as to lose his wife by death, August 21, 1897.
Sebastian Ott is a member of the Brother- hood of America. He is a genial character, and a man of many friends. Politically, he is a stanch Republican. He and his family at- tend the Congregational church.
MRS. WILHELMINA H. KELBER is a native of Osswo Kreis Friedland, Prenszen, Germany, born February 27, 1857, the daughter of Christian and Wilhelmina ( Kleinschmidt ) Redetzke, both native Germans. The parents lived and died in the country of their birth.
Mrs. Kelber's father was twice married and was the father of nine children-three by his first and six by his second marriage. Our subject was a daughter by the second marriage. Until arriving at the age of eighteen years she lived where she was born, after which she re- moved to Berlin. While in that city she was married to August Bogk, who departed this life during November, 1899, leaving the widow with two children. Mrs. Bogk did dressmak- ing, which trade she mastered early in life, until coming to America in 1893. She located first at Winona, Minnesota, where she worked at her trade five and one half years. Eleven months after arriving there she married Henry Kelber, from whom she secured a divorce on April 9, 1900. She came to Washington in 1898, and settled at Lind, where she worked at dressmaking and invested her savings in real estate. She also filed a homestead in 1901 five miles north of Lind. She made commutation proof in December, 1903, and removed to Lind where she has eight lots, a comfortable home, and some acre property. Her land is all fenced, well improved and in cultivation.
Mrs. Kelber has two children; Mrs. A. C. Jansen, a sketch of whose life is elsewhere
printed; and George C., telegraph operator at Badger, who makes his home with his mother.
Mrs. Kelber is a prominent member of the Royal Neighbors of America, having member- ship in the Lind lodge of that order, and her religious affiliations are with the Lutheran church.
L. N. SHOPSHIRE is a dealer in coal and wood in the town of Washtucna. He is a native of Pike county, Ohio, born on June I, 1855, the son of Thomas and Saralı ( Hanken) Shopshire. The parents settled on a farm in Ohio during the early days, where they reared a family of ten children, Sarah, John, Gilbert, Jefferson, Robert, Charles, Mary, Newton, our subject and Alice.
Mr. Shopshire received a good grammar school education in his native state and at the age of twenty-one he went to Iowa. Going to Nevada two years later, he engaged in work on a stock ranch, which he followed one year, then went to Idaho, where he engaged in min- ing. He remained in that business three years, after which he spent a year in travelling over the states of Oregon and Washington, finally locating a homestead and timber culture in Whitman county, Washington. Here he re- mained as a farmer seven years, then went to Dayton, Washington, where he engaged in the saw milling business. Returning to his farm he three years later sold it and came to Wash- tucna and engaged in his present business. At the same time he purchased one and one-half acres of land in the town of Washtucna, where he has a beautiful home, and owns besides sev- eral additional town lots.
In 1887 Mr. Shopshire was married to Ma- tilda Kerby, daughter of Morgan and Sarah (Ayers) Kerby, natives of Missouri who re- moved in an early day to Oregon, having crossed the plains with team and wagon. They came to Washington in 1874 and settled at Dayton.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Shopshire has been blessed with seven children, Verlie, Roy, Gladis, Goldie, Scott, Marguerite and . Morgan.
Politically, Mr. Shropshire is a Democrat, and active in the affairs of his party. He was appointed deputy sheriff in 1902, which posi- tion he fills at the time of this writing. He is
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
also the city marshal of Wachtucna. In fra- ternity circles, he is known as a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge. Mrs. Shopshire is a mem- ber of the Adventist church.
DANIEL B. HUFFMAN is a farmer re- siding two and one-half miles southeast of Fletcher, where he has four hundred and eighty acres of choice agricultural land. Born in Pike county, Illinois, May 13, 1864, Mr. Huffman was the son of Barney and Lucretia ( Williams ) Huffman, natives of Virginia, who came to Illinois early in life, to Washington in 1888 and are now living in Adams county.
Mr. Huffman received his schooling in his native state, and at the age of twenty-one started in life on his own responsibility by en- gaging in farming. He farmed in Illinois un- til 1887. then came to Adams county and took a homestead where he now lives. This he at once began to cultivate and improve, and in 1898 purchased three hundred and twenty acres adjoining his homestead. He has all his land under cultivation, well improved and well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs.
In 1892 Mr. Huffman was married to Lillie B. Collier, daughter of James F. and Mary (Hunter) Collier, the father a native of Wis- consin and the mother of Indiana. In early life Mr. and Mrs. Collier settled in Illinois and re- mained engaged in farming in that state until coming to Adams county in 1883, where they are now living.
Mr. and Mrs. Huffman are the parents of five children, Wayne L., Sylven L., Mildred L., Wallace J., and Homer L.
In political affairs Mr. Huffman works and votes for the interest of the Democratic party. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. fraternity, and Mrs. Huffman belongs to the Christian church.
HINER DORMAN is a farmer residing on four hundred and eighty acres of land six miles north from Ritzville. He is a native of Indiana, born on January 27, 1842, the son of William and Eleanor (Morgan) Dorman, both natives of Tennessee. Early in their married life the parents settled in Indiana, where, at the age of forty-two the father died. The mother
then removed with her family to Iowa, and there, at the age of seventy-two, died, leaving a family of four grown children, Jesse, Eliz- abeth, Martha, and the subject of this sketch. The mother was a descendant of General Mor- gan of Revolutionary fame. The father was a farmer all his life.
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