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 63
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 63
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 63
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 63
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82
In 1883, after an absence of thirty years, Mr. Kennedy took a trip to his old Kentucky home. There the transition' that had taken place was enough to bewilder the most wildly imaginative. The mother was still living, but the father had long since departed this life; what thirty years before was little better than a wilderness of forest and plain, was a thickly peopled commonwealth, and almost every one to him was a total stranger.
Mr. Kennedy is a Democrat politically, but his political belief rests on a broad plain and he is decidedly liberal and conservative in his views. He is one of the most highly respected and substantial citizens of Adams county.
ROWEN LUCY resides about six miles southeast from Fletcher where he gives his attention to grain farming. He handles about eight hundred acres upon which he has a lease for five years and harvests annually more than eight thousand bushels. He has a good large stock of horses, farm implements and so forth and is prospered in his labors.
Rowen Lucy was born in Galena, Kansas, June 25, 1881, the son of H. and Thula ( Dav- idson) Lucy, natives of Missouri. They re- mained in that state until 1889, then settled at Fletcher, Washington, where they now live. They are the parents of four children besides our subject, Eugenia, Ethel, and Ralph and Anna, twins. Rowen received a good educa- tion in his native place and at the age of six- teen began to work out. He, however, made his home with his parents until twenty-one when he began independent operation entirely. His first venture was to buy six head of horses and rent some land. He has bought more horses and farm implements and now handles the large estate of four hundred and eighty acres mentioned above.
Mr. Lucy has shown himself an energetic and progressive young man and bids fair to become one of the property owners of Adams county.
57
898
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
In May, 1904, Mr. Lucy filed on a home- stead seven miles southwest from Washtucna, which he expects to develop into a fine farm.
JOSEPH S. MILAM, a pioneer of the Pacific coast of 1852, is now an extensive stock man, fruit grower and farmer residing ten miles east of Washtucna. Born in Greene county, Indiana, September 5, 1835, he was the son of William and Elizabeth (Case) Milan, the father a native of Kentucky and the mother of Indiana. Until 1840 the parents settled in Indiana, then removed to Iowa, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They reared a family of four children : Francis A., Joseph S., Mary E. and George B.
When seventeen years of age the subject of our sketch left school and home to cross the plains to California. He drove a team through -. out the entire journey, which consumed five months, and stopped at Los Angeles and from that point he went to San Diego to engage in coal mining. He met with a severe accident while thus engaged, and upon his recovery he engaged in teaming. Later, he spent two years driving team in Tulare county, then five years in Santa Cruz county. In the latter men- tioned county he was engaged in farming, but in the end lost his property, whereupon he came to Walla Walla, Washington, in 1861. Going from Walla Walla to Lewiston and Oro Fino, Idaho, he freighted among the mining camps until 1867, traversing meanwhile the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana. In 1868 he traded his freighting outfit for a start in cattle, and located near Dayton, Washington. Here he also engaged in farming for three years, when he traded his holding for property near Pataha, Garfield county, where he farmed until 1885. He also conducted an extensive stock business here, and for two years he was deputy sheriff under R. P. Steen, then sheriff of the county. He came to Adams county in 1885 and settled where he still lives. He has six hundred and forty acres of land, upon which is an orchard of one thousand bearing fruit trees, besides a considerable tract devoted to the raising of wheat. He also owns a quarter-sec- tion of wheat land six miles from Washtucna. Mr. Milam keeps a herd of three hundred head of horses and one hundred head of cattle.
He has his land all well improved, and is one of the well-to-do men of his county.
In 1868, occurred the marriage of Joseph S. Milam to Mary E. Ousley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ousley, natives, respectively, of Tennessee and Kentucky. The parents of Mrs. Milam settled in Garfield county in 1861, and in that county the father is now living in his eighty-fifth year.
Mr. and Mrs. Milam have two children living, Georgea and Kate, both living in Adams county.
Mr. Milam has always been an active work- ing Democrat, having cast his maiden vote for Buchanan and his second for Stephen A, Douglas. For two years he was justice of the peace at Pomeroy, and in 1888-89 he was deputy sheriff of his county. Since coming to . Adams county he has held the offices of county commissioner and member of the house of re- presentatives, having been elected to the latter office in 1900. He also has served repeatedly as a member of his local school board.
He has always been a public spirited citizen and a man to whom the business interests of his county have learned to look for assistance in furthering any proposition that has for its purpose the upbuilding and betterment of the community at large.
WILLIAM H. PHILPOTT is a prom- inent farmer and stock man residing ten miles northwest of Lind. He came to the state in 1889 and filed a homestead on his present home. Being in rather cramped financial circumstances at that time he found it necessary to spend a great deal of his time in working for wages in order to make improvements on his claim. He went to the Walla Walla harvest fields and worked during the fall following his advent into the country, and the next year he rented a farm near his own and purchased a header, since which time he has manipulated a great amount of harvesting machinery,-headers, threshing outfits and a combined harvester- employing large numbers of men. For years his was the only harvesting outfit in a section of country miles in extent. Prior to 1891 Mr. Philpott farmed but little, devoting his time principally to his machinery and working for others, but during the year mentioned he set-
-
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM H. PHILPOTT
899
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
tled down to the cultivation of his land. Owing to drouth and the squirrel pest, his farming operations netted him practically nothing, so that he lived almost solely upon what he and his machinery earned during the harvest months, until in 1897 he harvested a large crop and received a high price which set him on his feet, so to speak. In 1899 he purchased two sections of railroad land and in 1901 another quarter-section and his brother's interest in the machinery and stock which the two hitherto owned jointly. All of his land is fenced and under cultivation. Mr. Philpott lives in a farm house costing two thousand five hundred dol- lars, has other improvements and out buildings to correspond and keeps thirty head of work horses. He is in decidedly comfortable cir- cumstances, and is a man of well-known re- liability.
William H. Philpott is a native of Chariton county, Missouri, born October 7, 1858. He was the son of H. R. and Sallie E. (Lee) Phil- pott, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Virginia. Soon after their marriage the par- ents settled in the county of our subject's birth and there spent the remainder of their lives doing farming. Our subject had four uncles in the Civil War. The mother was distantly connected with the far-famed Lee family so familiar to the student of American history. Her half-brother and two full brothers were soldiers in the Civil war. Mr. Philpott's great- grandfather, Ellington, served during the Rev- olutinary War. Both the ancestral families of our subject originally sprung form England.
Mr. Philpott received his early education in the old Lee school house in his native county, and upon attaining his majority he started life *independently by working a farm in partner- ship with an uncle. After one year he and his brothers, D. E. and L. M., rented a farm for one year after which Mr. Philpott himself con- ducted a farm in his native state unitil coming to Washington. In the year 1901 he was mar- ried to Letitia B. Potter, widow of Sanford Potter, deceased. At the time of this marriage Mrs. Philpott was the mother of three children, George O., Laura M. and Leona D. Potter, and her second marriage has been blessed with one issue, Martha Elizabeth Philpott.
Mr. Philpott is one of the most persistent and active members of the Democratic party in Adams county. Ever since coming to his
present locality he has been a member of the county central committee of his party, and chairman of his precinct committee. He also takes a deep and active interest in educational affairs, having for many years been a member of his local school board and one of the organ- izers of his district as well as of three others in his vicinity. He is now clerk of his district. For two years he was superintendent of a Sun- day school in Lind. He subsequently organized a Sabbath school class in his home distict and is now superintendent of his local Sunday school. He is a member of the Southern Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1894 Mr. Philpott's name was proposed as the nominee of his party for the office of county commissioner, but he refused to make the race, using his influence for the nominee of the Populist party. He is president of the Farmers' warehouse, the largest warehouse in Lind, and the one which handled more wheat than any of its competitors in the fall of 1903. .
MARTIN L. STALEY was born in Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, May II. 1840, and is now a prosperous farmer residing three and one-half miles northeast from Washtucna. He was the son of John A. and Catherine ( Black) Staley, who, early in life, settled in Harris- burg, where the mother died in 1844. The father came west in 1850, and was for some years engaged as a trader in New Mexico and Texas. He died in the latter named state in 1866. The father during his life was twice married, our subject being an issue of the first marriage, and was the parent of three children.
At the age of eighteen, Mr. Staley started life for himself, having prior to reaching that age attended school in St. Josephi, Missouri. He owned a half interest in a coal mine which he operated until coming west in I888. Immediately upon coming to this state in 1888 he located a homestead where he now lives. He also at the same time filed a timber culture claim on an adjoining quarter-section, and now has one of the choicest farms in that locality-well improved and con- taining a first-class orchard. He also raises more or less live stock for market.
In 1870, Mr. Staley was married to Mary E. Carroll, daughter of William and Delila
900
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
(Knee) Carroll, natives, respectively, of Ten- nessee and Ohio. Early in life the parents of Mrs. Staley removed to Illinois and later to Missouri, in 1855, in which state both died, the father in 1872 and the mother in 1880. The father of Mrs. Staley had buried a wife prior to his marriage to Delila Knee, and was the father of fifteen children-ten by his first and five by his second marriage: Manda, Jerry, Jake, Napoleon, Nancy, Margaret, Lizzie, Francis, Alexander, another dying in infancy, Sarah, Mary, Benjamin, Esther and Charles.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Staley are five in number : C. Albert and Benjamin A., both deceased; Minnie, married to L. C. Huffman, Adams county ; Harvey C. and Archie D., who live with their father.
In political affairs, Mr. Staley is an active Democrat. The only office he has ever held is that of school director, which position he has occupied for twelve years.
PETER BAUER, a native of Serdoff, Russia, born February II, 1870, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Koch) Bauer, is a farmer residing five miles west from Ritzville. A brief sketch of the family is incorporated with the sketch of Henry Bauer, a brother of our sub- ject, in another place in this history.
Mr. Bauer received his education in the states of Nebraska and Washington. He came to America at the age of seven years, and at the age of twenty-six he purchased a quarter- section of land and engaged in farming. Later he added another quarter-section of land to his farm and has continued adding to his hold- ings until he is the owner of five hundred and sixty acres, all of which is under cultivation and well improved with good buildings, a good water system, orchard, and in fact, all the in- provements to be found on the modern up-to- date farm. He is also engaged to some extent in the stock raising business.
In 1892, Mr. Bauer was married to Ann Adler, also a native of Russia, who came to America during the year in which she was mar- ried. To this union have been born six chil- dren : Lavine, Susie, William, Rosetta, Lillie, and Kora. Politically, Mr. Bauer is a Repub- Jican. Both he and Mrs. Bauer are members of the Congregational church.
WALTER C. REEDER. Foremost among the enterprising and prominent young business men of Ritzville is Walter C. Reeder, a native of Woodford county, Illinois, born October 31, 1863. Although born in Illinois Mr. Reeder may be classed as a thorough west- erner, for he was a lad of only ten years when his parents, Daniel A. and Eliza K. (Crosley) Reeder, migrated- with their family to Linn county, Oregon. Five years later they removed to Umatilla county, where the boy attended the graded schools of Weston and Athena. In the fall of 1886 Walter C. left the family home and came to Adams county where he filed on a homestead and purchased a section of railroad land eighteen miles south of Ritzville. He tilled the soil until the fall of 1899, when he rented his land, came to Ritzville and purchased from O. R. Haight that gentleman's harness and furniture business'and his one-story brick business building. In the spring of 1901 he purchased the adjoining lot upon which he built an addition to his store, giving him a double building fifty feet by ninety feet,-one side devoted to harness, saddlery, and so forth, while the other is taken up with furniture. He car- ries a combined stock of about ten thousand dollars, and employs continuously two harness makers, besides his necessary clerks and sales- men.
In addition to the property interests already enumerated, Mr. Reeder owns twelve hundred acres of land in Douglas county near Quincy, also eighteen hundred acres of land eighteen miles south from Ritzville which is well im- proved and all in a high state of cultivation. He has recently purchased a beautiful and palatial residence at the corner of Boone and Lenox streets in Spokane, which cost six thousand dollars. Mr. Reeder is also heavily interested in various mining properties in Washington, Idaho and British Columbia.
Mr. Reeder's father was a native of Penn- sylvania, coming of an old Pennsylvania Dutch family of farmers, and died in 1892; while his mother, descending from an old American family of many generations, was born in Ohio, and now lives at Tacoma. He has three broth- ers and two sisters, William H., Levi B., Jo- seph E., Rhoda E., wife of John K. Bott, and Flora E., wife of Charles M. Ely.
Walter C. Reeder was married to Anna L. Whitaker, a native of Michigan, at Athena,
WALTER C. REEDER
901
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Oregon, February 7, 1886; and to them have been born four children, two of whom are liv- ing. They are; W. Ceryl and A. Loy, aged re- spectively, seven and four; Lela D., died Sep- tember II, 1898, aged nine years and eleven months; and Vera May, died May 12, 1895, aged four months. Mrs. Reeder's parents were James B. and Ann (Davis) Whitaker, the for- mer a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and the latter of New York state. The father was born in 1830 and died in 1900, while the mother was born in 1835, and is now living at College Place, Washington. Mrs. Reeder has two brothers and one sister, Ceryl J., Giles H. and Ada A.
Mr. and Mrs. Reeder are devoted members of the Christian church, and Mr. Reeder is a member of the Good Templars, Masonic, Mac- cabees. Workmen, and Woodmen of the World fraternities, in each of which he is a man of influence and distinction. Mr. and Mrs. Reeder are favorites in society and are the cen- ter of an extended circle of admiring friends.
CHRISTIAN VOGT is a native of Hoch- dorf, Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, born October II, 1859. He is now a prosper- ous farmer residing three and a half miles northeast of Lind. His father was John F. and his mother Katherine (Reichart) Vogt, both lifelong residents of Germany. Mr. Vogt's grandfather, Jacob Reichart, served in four different wars as a soldier : those of 1803, 1806 and 1809 with Austria and with Napoleon, and the war of 1812 with Russia.
Our subject is one of only two surviving children of a family of seven. He has a sister, Mary, married to Jacob Koch, living in Lind. Early in his boyhood Mr. Vogt attended school, but at the age of fourteen he left school to learn the stone cutter's trade. He worked at his trade continuously until arriving at the age of twenty, when he entered the German army. He remained in the army two years, and in 1882 came to America, located in Michigan where he lived five years then came to Ritzville in March, 1887. From Ritzville he went to Walla Walla, where he worked on a farm until October of the same year. Then he returned to Ritzville and took a homestead eight miles southwest of town, which seven years later he
sold in order to purchase his present home. Here he has five hundred and forty acres. four hundred and fifty of which are under cultiva- tion, well improved with good buildings, a fine orchard, et cetera, and an abundance of water.
Mr. Vogt is an active Democrat, and an energetic worker in matters of education. He has assisted in organizing two school districts in his county, and is at the present writing director of his school district. He is a member of the M. W. A. fraternity, and a lifelong fol- lower of the Lutheran faith.
In 1895, occurred the marriage of Christian Vogt to Mary Krehbiel, daughter of Christian and Magdalena (Dester) Krehbiel, natives of Germany, who came to America in 1882. The parents lived first in Illinois, later in Kansas, and finally, in 1891, came to Washington, where they farmed until they died and were both buried in Adams county. They were parents of ten children, eight of whom are liv- ing, Katherina, Jacob, Christian, John, Daniel, Mary, Magdalena and Susana. Mr. and Mrs. Vogt have five children, Susana, Waldemer, Oscar, Magdelina, and Luise. Mr. Vogt is a member of the Mennonite church.
LOUIS PFLUGRAD, a farmer residing six miles north of Lind, is a native of Russia, born eighty miles south of Odessa, March 7, 1854. He was the son of Frederick and Dora (Apple) Pflugrad, natives of Germany. The father removed to Russia at the age of fifteen years. He is now living and is an extremely rugged old gentleman, as hearty and active as scores of men twenty years his junior.
Mr. Pflugrad is a member of a family originally comprising eight children, Samuel, Carolina, Godlys, Julia, Dora, Christina, Louis and one who died in infancy.
Until twenty-three years of age Mr. Pflu- grad lived with his parents in Russia, then en- gaged in farming. In 1883, the entire family came to the United States, settling in Kansas, where our subject remained four years, then came to Adams county, Washington, in 1887. He took a homestead and a timber culture of one hundred and sixty acres each, and engaged in tilling his land, but met with poor success with his first few crops, owing to the drouth and the squirrel pest. He thus was compelled
902
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
to go to the harvest fields of Walla Walla in order to make a living. In 1894, he broke three hundred and twenty acres, or all the land he then had, and the same year he acquired a small start in cattle. In 1895, he purchased one section more of land, and in 1901 three quarter-sections, all of which, with the excep- tion of one half-section, he has under cultiva- tion. The remainder he uses for pasture land for his large herd of stock. His land is well improved in all respects. He has two handsome residence houses and large barns, granaries and other out-of-door buildings. He raises as high as twenty-one thousand bushels of wheat annually.
In 1877, Mr. Pflugrad was married to Louise Meserle, daughter of Jake and Christina (Bromburg) Meserle, native Germans who re- moved to Russia when young, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were parents of five children, Elizabeth, Christina, Louise, Jacob and Magdalena. Mrs. Pflugrad de- parted this life on August 3, 1902, leaving seven children, Jacob, Christina, Regina, Dora, Hanna, Maria and David. Mr. Pflugrad is a Democrat in politics, and is a devoted member of the German Lutheran church.
JACOB DEWALD lives on a three hun- dred and sixty acre farm three miles north of Paha. He was born in Russia, June 14, 1870, the son of G. J. and Katherine Dewald, natives also of Russia, who came to America in 1879. They lived three years in the state of Nebraska, after which time they came to Walla Walla, Washington, thence to Bickelton, Klickitat county, where they lived eight years, then came to where they now : reside in Adams county. They have been parents of eight children, five of whom are living : Dora, Anna, George, our subject and John.
Jacob Dewald came to America with his parents. He began attending the common schools prior to coming to this country, and since coming here he attended school until he became a man, thus acquiring a good grammar school education. He came to Adams county with his parents and remained with them until 1888, when he purchased his present farm. He has all of his land fenced and in an ex- cellent state of cultivation. His buildings are
up to the standard found on the up-to-date Bi. Bend farms, and his farm is especially well supplied with water.
In 1903 Mr. Dewald was married to Mag- gie Swartz, which union has been blessed with one child, Clara.
In politics, Mr. Dewald is a Populist, and is active in his party's affairs. Both he and Mrs. Dewald are members of the M. E. church.
CLAUS H. CLODIUS. One of Ritzville's leading grain merchants is Claus H. Clodius, who was born in Illinois, September 19, 1871. His father, Christopher F. Clodius, a native German, who came to the United States in 1868, is now living the life of a retired farmer and land owner near Ritzville. His mother, Gretje (Hoyt) Clodius, is also a native of Ger- many, and married the elder Clodius in Illinois.
In his fifteenth year Claus H. Clodius came with his parents to Ritzville, where, for some years he attended the Ritzville graded school, afterward taking charge of the farm while his father engaged in the lumber and grain busi- ness. In 1894 he entered into partnership with F. G. Spanjer and D. Von Holt in the mer- chandise business, in which the three continued as partners until the year 1899 when the firm was changed to Clodius & Von Holt, which endured until 1901, when they sold out to Ken- drick & Company, and Mr. Clodius engaged in grain buying until May, 1904.
In addition to his grain business, Mr. Clodius is interested with his brothers and his father in mining property in Ymir, British Columbia, in the development of which they have expended a considerable amount of money. They are interested also in a marble quarry in Stevens county, besides which our subject has a large share in the Washington Monumental & Cut Stone Company, of Spokane, and holds the office of vice president. He is also the presi- dent of the Tenino Sandstone & Townsite Com- pany of Tenino, Washington. Mr. Clodius possesses one-quarter section of land near Ritz- ville, thirty-five acres of which is devoted to hay culture, while twenty acres is platted into town lots; five sections of raw land in Douglas and Adams counties ; a fine home where he lives ; besides extensive interests in conjunction with his father and brothers.
1
CLAUS H. CLODIUS
903
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Mr. Clodius has two brothers, P. Fred and John C., both of Ritzville, and three sisters; Tena M., wife of J. G. Vehrs, a farmer living near Ritzville; Mary A. and Sena, both at home.
At Ritzville, in December, 1894, Mr. Clodius was married to Minnie Pfannekuchen, a native of Wisconsin. The father of Mrs. Clodius, Otto Pfannekuchen, who died in Ritz- ville in 1896, was a native of Germany. The mother, Caroline Pfannekuchen, also a German, lives on a farm near town.
Mrs. Clodius has four brothers and one sister, William E., John F., Henry, Fritz, and Emma, wife of Jacob Schott, of Ritzville.
Mr. and Mrs. Clodius have four children, Carl C., Arthur O., Clara C., and H. Theodore.
Both Mr. Clodius and wife are members of the German Congregational church. Politic- ally, our subject is a Republican, and has served his party as delegate to both county and state conventions.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.