An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 95

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056

USA > Washington > An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 95

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Mr. Kirby located in Walla Walla county, Washington, in 1860. Ilis home property con- sists of sixteen acres, two acres of which are devoted to a variety of fruits. In his political views Mr. Kirby is a Republican, and he takes an active interest in public affairs. For two years he was County Commissioner, and he has represented his party at both county and State conventions. He is now a member of the County Central Committee. He also takes an active interest in edneational and other public enterprises, having the welfare of the com- munity at heart. He belongs to Waitsburg Lodge, No. 5, I. O. O. F.

F RANZ SIGEL ROMAINE, a citizen of Columbia county, was born in Fond du Lae county, Wisconsin, near the town of Jersey, September 1, 1862, his parents being Garrett and Martha L. (Harbough) Romaine. Ilis father was a native of New Jersey and of Pennsylvania origin, and his mother was a native of Ohio. They moved first to Wiscon- sin, in 1874 to San Jose. California, next to Harrisburg, Linn county, Oregon, and finally in 1879 to Columbia county, Washington, where the father entered land six miles from the city of Dayton. on the Texas ferry and wagon road. In 1892 he removed into Dayton.

Therefore our subject grew up and obtained his education in three States,-Wisconsin, Ore- gon and Washington. After attaining the age of twenty one years he began business upon his own responsibility, taking care of cattle for other parties for about four years; next he was with the engineer corps of the Oregon River

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and Navigation Company, until their interests went into the hands of the Union Pacific Com- pany. He then, in 1886, bought a farmn of 160 geres two miles from Dayton. Ile also pur- chased 240 acres of deeded land seven miles directly south of Dayton, and he has a school section of 160 acres. The home place at present is "summer-fallowed." On the other place lie has 163 acres in grain, while the remainder is pastured. Ile has a mimber of horses and a few cattle. Mr. Romaine has been identified with the growth and prosperity of the county ever since he became a resident.

He was married in Columbia county, Decem- ber 25, 1887, to Miss Lizzie A. Knight, who was born on the plains, as the family were on their way West. Iler parents were William and Damie (Ward) Knight, natives of Missouri, who settled in Walla Walla county, Washing- ton, and died there when Mrs. Romaine was a young child. Mr. and Mrs. Romaine have three children: Amy, Loren Earl and Cecil Louisa.

M W. WILLIS, pioneer of 1850 to the Pacific coast, was born in Bridgewater, Vermont, June 4, 1828. The progenitor of the name in America came from England and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. He was a conjuror of great skill and reputation. The parents of our subject, James and Nancy (Morey) Willis, of Scotch-Irish de- scent, were born in Vermont, where James Willis followed farming and in later life was a prominent stone mason, engaged quite exten- sively in railroad work in the building of stone enlverts and bridges.

Educational facilities in those early days were exceedingly limited and M. W. Willis began his studies in the little, old, log schoolhouse, at- tending the short winter terms and spending his summers in labor upon the farm. Subse- quently he attended a higher school at Wood- stock, Vermont, and at the age of sixteen years was apprenticed to Marshman D. Lull of Wood- stock to learn the trade of gunsmith. This line of work he followed up to 1849, then, learning of the gold excitement in California, he declined a generous offer and started for that El Dorado of the West. He sailed from Boston November 22, 1849, ou the ship Reindeer, which was among the first five-yard clipper ships. Loaded

with a general cargo and 212 passengers, the voyage was rapidly and successfully completed, and they landed in San Francisco on April 2, 1850. Young Willis was one of the Vermont mining company of sixteen, who had a com- plete outfit of mining tools, and they proceeded at once to Sntter's creek, where there was gold in great abundance. Being unfamiliar with the work and not knowing how to save the gold in their zeal to work rapidly, the gold was largely washed away, and, not being able to make more than $30 per day where they expected hundreds, the mine was soon condemned and they went to the Stanislaus river at the foot of Mormon Gulch, spent three months in attempting to turn the course of the river, and made a complete failure of the enterprise. They then went back into the gulch and were meeting with fine suc- cess when one Dr. Woodward appeared on the scene, gave startling news of the richness of mines at Gold lake, where it was only necessary to shovel up the gold into sacks. They listened to his story with credulity and all started for the richer diggings. After following him forty days through a wild, unbroken country they ar- rived in Walker's valley, there held an indigna- tion meeting and drove the doctor out of the .camp at the point of the bayonet. The party remained to recruit, then crossed a ridge into Carson's valley and by the emigrant trail re- turned to Ilangtown, where the company dis- banded and our subject left the mines and went to Stockton, where he purchased a horse and dray and followed trucking, bis income averag- ing about $30 per day. The city was wild with gambling and lawless depredations, and in Janu- ary, 1851, he started with horse and dray and drove to San Francisco, the journey taking seven days. On arrival he bought another team, ex- press wagon and water cart, then sold water about the city and conducted a general dray- ing business for about one year, making money rapidly. During the winter of 1851-'52, as eggs were selling at $4 per dozen, he started a chicken ranch, paying $48 per dozen for his fowls, in- ereasing his flock to abont 800, when disease settled amongst the fowls and carried away all but 150, which he sold at a great sacrifice. This misfortune about " broke him np" financially. As music was in demand and as he had given some attention to violin-playing in the East, he then resorted to the violin as a means of sup- port, playing at dances and fandangos, receiv- ing $4 per hour and often making six to eight

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ounces of gold per day. Ile rapidly gained notoriety and gradually secured assistants, creat- ing a band known as Willis' Brass Band which became famous and gained for him the sobri- quet of the " Gilmore of the Pacific Coast," his services being in great demand at the swell cn- tertainments of the " Bonanza Kings." This occupation he continued np to 1878, when he retired from the business and came to Olympia, Washington, and then engaged in the oyster business, shipping to San Francisco. This was continued for two years, when the oysters gave out. IIe had handled 15,000 sacks. In 1881 he engaged in the hotel business at Olympia as proprietor of the Pacific Hotel, which had been known as "Aunt Becca's Hotel." To provideeggs, milk and vegetables for his table, he purchased near town a farm, which he stocked and man - aged, but with the depression of 1885 he again " broke up." He then removed to Victoria and opened a fine restaurant, but being a foreigner could not work up a trade, so sold out and went to Portland and opened a hotel and there con- tracted disease, and was obliged to seek rest and recuperation in the drier climate of San Fran- cisco.

Learning of the possible " boom " in Seattle over the construction of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad, he came to this eity, arriving in July, 1887; and after waiting five months for a house to be finished he again started a hotel in a twenty-one-room honse on the corner of Front and Seneca streets. The demand was sneh that in a few months he opened a second and made money rapidly, and after one year sold out and rented . Squires' Paeitie " of seventy-two rooms on Second and Maine streets, which he named Willis Hotel. Here he built np a large patron- age, continuing to the fire of June, 1889, when he was burned out, not possessing even a place to sleep. As soon as order was evolved from the existing chaos he returned to hotel life, and with the completion of the present building in 1890, he leased the property and opened the Occidental Hotel, which he has continued to conduct with marked success, this being the sixth hotel he has furnished in his six years' residence in Seattle.

He was married in Portland, Oregon, in 1885, to Miss Ruth L. Wilson, a widow with one son.

Mr. Willis is a member of the Territorial Pioneers of California, and of the Washington Pioneer Society. He was a charter member of the Musicians' Mutual Protective Union of San

Francisco and took great interest in that organ- ization. In polities he is Republican and takes an active interest in the success of that party. He was elected Councilman of Seattle in the spring of 1890, and is thoroughly enlisted on the side of progression and in advancing the in- terests of his adopted city.

S ABINE ABBOTT, one of the many suc- cessful farmers of Whidby island, Wash- ington, is a native of Windsor county, Vermont, born January 31, 1837. His father, Elam Abbott, was born at Stockbridge, Ver- mont, February 26, 1805. Ile was united in marriage, February 24, 1829, to Roxy Ellison, who was born in Springfield, Vermont, Febru- ary 24, 1806. These good people resided on their farm in the Green Mountain State until 1879, when they disposed of their property and removed to Kansas, making their home with their son, in Parsons. Two years later they came to the coast, residing with their son, Sa- bine. Although Elam Abbott is now past eighty-eight years of age, he is often seen in the woods with cross-eut saw, which he uses with the vigor many a younger man might envy. He has never been confined to the bed from ill- ness a day in his life. He east his vote for An- drew Jackson, and takes a pride in the fact that he has ever since voted at every presidential election, giving his suffrage to the Democratic party. His wife died February 14, 1885.

Daniel Abbott, paternal grandfather of Sa. bine Abbott, was born in Connectient in 1760, and lived to the age of 100 years and three days. Sabine Abbott remained a member of . the household in Vermont until 1861, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In the spring of that year he emigrated to Victoria, British Columbia, and for two years did carpentry work, having mastered this ealling while a youth in his 'teens. In 1865 he lett Victoria and came to Whidby island, where he located on a farm, which he cultivated six years. At the end of this time he returned to his eastern home; remained in New England twelve years, and during that time hekl several county offices. A second time he made the journey to the West, having previously disposed of all his interests in Vermont. He came back to his old farm on Whidby island, and has taken a prominent

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place among the agriculturists of the State. From the heart of the forest a fertile garden spot has grown, and adjoining flourishes a vil- lage wherein, times past, Nature had covered the earth with a luxuriant growth of giant trees. Mr. Abbott has laid out two additions to Coupeville, the same being known respect- ively as the Chicago and the Admiralty addi- tions. He has aided very materially in the growth of the place, and has given substantial encouragement to many important enterprises.

He was united in marriage, January 2, 1859, to Lucy Green, a native of Bethel, Vermont, born February 26, 1840. They are the parents of one living child, Mrs. Laura E. Cawsey. Mr. Abbott had the misfortune to be in a rail- road collision near Jackson, Michigan, in which twenty-three persons lost their lives, and many others injured. He was seriously hurt at the time, and has never recovered.

C IIARLES D. KING, Prosecuting Attor- ney of Island county, is a native of the State of Washington, born in Cowlitz county, December 5. 1859. His father, W. D. King, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and emigrated to America with his parents in his youth. They located in St. Joseph county, Michigan, where he grew to manhood. He was married in 1851, to Cordelia Hawley, of Niles, in the same State, one of the most popular young ladies. About a year after his marriage he started West, taking the overland route. He arrived in Washington in the autumn of 1852, and settled on a donation claim of 320 acres on Grand Mound prairie, near Olympia. Ile soon abandoned this land, and going to the Cowlitz river bought another claim of 320 acres four miles from Monticello. In 1855 he sent for his wife to join him, and she came by way of the Isthmus to San Francisco, and thence to Rainier, Oregon, from which point she traveled up the Cowlitz river in a canoe to her husband's new home. Soon after her arrival the Indian war broke out, and they were obliged to seek refuge in the old Fort Cowlitz, where their oldest son, H. S. King, was born, in 1556. When hostilities ceased they returned to the claim, and Mr. King was engaged in the culti- vation of his land until 1863. Within this time he served four years as Auditor of Cow-

litz county. He then removed to Swan island, near Portland, but as the location proved un- satisfactory he went to a point in Clackamas county near Oregon City, and thence in 1869 to eastern Oregon, settling near Weston. There he bought a farm and once more occupied him- self with cultivating the soil. In the fall of 1870, with his eldest son, H. S. King, he made a visit to his old home in Michigan, where shortly afterward he lost his life in a railway accident. He was a man of education and en- terprise. In politics he was a Democrat, and always took an active interest in public affairs. The family were separated several years; H. S. King was in the East, and the mother and other son, Charles D., remained in the West. Shortly after Mr. King's death Mrs. King re- moved to Idaho, traveling by horse team, and there she arrived with Charles in April, 1871. She afterward was married a second time, being united to Captain G. C. Chase.

Charles D. King then started out to make his own way in the world. For several years he had no opportunities of attending school, but occupied his leisure time in reading and study. In 1875 the family removed to California, and he drove a herd of cattle from Idaho to that State. Mr. Chase settled on a farm in El Do- rado county. Charles attended the district school a few months each year, and between times worked at farming and mining. He remained there until 1878, and then went to Nevada, stopping at Winnemucca, where he spent one year. During this time he formed a partner- ship with his stepfather in cutting and selling wood. At the end of twelve months he went to Cassia county, Idaho, making the trip with a team of horses. Arriving there he took a squatter's claim, as he was not of age and conld not enter land. He worked on the claim, raised live-stock, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1885 and was engaged in the practice of his profession during the balance of his residence in Idaho. He was City AAttorney of Weiser, Idaho, and was Deputy Distriet At- torney of Washington county under his brother, II. S., who is also a self-made lawyer. They purchased the Weiser Leader, a weekly paper, which they owned and edited for two years. Charles practiced law in Albion and Weiser, Idaho, and is known in Boise and all the larger towns in this part of the country.

Hle came to Olympia in 1890, and opened a law office; a year later he removed to Whidby

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island, and has since been practicing his pro- fession and acting as Prosecuting Attorney of Island county. He is a man of excellent busi- ness ability, a well-read lawyer, and is taking a leading place among the members of the bar of Washington. In politics he is strongly Repub- lican. He is a member of the Masonic order, and belongs to the Unitarian Society of Olym -. pia. He is unmarried and resides with his mother and stepfather, who are living in Conpe- ville.

W ATSON ALLEN, resident of Seattle, and actively connected with her origi. nal water-front improvements, was born in Sussex county. New Jersey, August 26, 1842, and was the only son of Samuel and Mahala (McKain) Allen, who were natives of the same county and descended from pioneer settlers of the State. Watson Allen was educated in the schools of Sussex county and in the Methodist Conference Seminary at Charlotteville, New York. At the age of seventeen years he gave his attention to learning the carpenter's trade, and served a three years" apprenticeship at Lynn, Pennsylvania. He then returned to his home, and, with the call for nine months' troops in 1862, he enlisted in Company K, Twenty- seventh New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was then attached to the Ninth Corps. Army of the Potomac, under General Burnside, and they took an active part in the battle of Fredericksburg, and closed their service in Ken- tncky, where they were engaged in driving out General Forrest's band of guerrillas. Receiving an honorable discharge, Mr. Allen then entered the Quartermaster's Department at Nashville, · Tennessee, and was employed at his trade in rebuilding bridges and doing other necessary work in the line.

In the spring of 1865 he returned to his home and was married at Newton, New Jersey, in May following, to Miss Garphelia King, of the same State. Mr. Allen then settled in Newark, New Jersey, and for one year was en- gaged as superintendent of wood-work in the erection of the first factory for the Clark's Thread Company, the building being of brick, 110 x 600 feet, five stories high. After the com- pletion of this work, Mr. Allen engaged in con- tracting and building, up to 1868, then removed to Port Oram, New Jersey, and continued in

the same occupation until the spring of 1872, when he closed up his business and moved to Seattle, Washington Territory, having learned of the grand opportunities and wonderful tim- ber resources of the Sound country, securing his information from Richardson's book entitled " Beyond the Mississippi."

On arrival in Seattle, Mr. Allen was first em- ployed in building wharves and docks at the portage between Lakes Union and Washington, preparatory to moving coal by that route. In the summer of 1872 he went up the Snoqual- mie river to the mouth of Tokul creek, and there located a claim by pre-emption, and erected a small sawmill, riving out all the timbers from the log. Ile transported his mill equipment from Snohomish to his camp on the river, a distance of forty miles, in small canoes. In like manner all supplies were brought into camp, and there he resided for nearly ten years, engaged in milling and in reclaiming a small farm. In 1879 Mr. Allen was deeply afflicted by the death of his good wife, who left three small children: Lillian, who is now Mrs. James Newman, of Seattle; Lena and Annie.

In 1880 Mr. Allen was elected to the Terri- torial Legislature by the Republican party, and served during the session of 1881. He then returned to his ranch, closed it out, and placing his children in the Sisters' school he accepted a position with the Oregon River and Naviga- tion Company of Oregon, in building bridges between the Dalles and the Cascades. In the spring of 1883 he was appointed superin- tendent of construction of bridges between Puyallup and Seattle, on the Puget Sound shore line, and in the fall of 1883 he formed a co- partnership with Albert L. Nelson, organized the firm of Allen & Nelson, and engaged in contracting for the building of piers, wharves, bridges, and other work connected with the water front. They built the first line of rail- road along the water front of Seattle, and were the first to engage extensively in the pile- driving business, executing the principal large contracts between Tacoma and British Colum- bia. Continuing until April, 1889, they sold their interests to the San Francisco Bridge Company. They also owned and operated the old Donnelly sawmill on Sammamish lake. They have since moved the plant to Monohan, on the Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad, and the same is now in operation, with a daily capacity of 50,000 feet. The firmn also have extensive

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interests in tide lands at Seattle, and Mr. Allen owns a valuable timber tract of 1,260 acres in Snohomish county.

Mr. Allen was married in Olympia, Novem- ber 30, 1883, to Miss Cornelia Newton, and one child, Eva, has been born to them. Mr. Allen is prominent in the Masonic brotherhood, being a member of the blue lodge, chapter, com- mandery and Mystic Shrine.

I SAAC BURLINGAME, manager of the Fremont Mill, was born at Gaines, Kent county, Michigan, in April, 1850. His father, Esek Burlingame, was born in Canada, of English ancestry. He subsequently removed to the United States, married Miss Clarissa Turner, of New York, and, in 1832, located in Michigan, where he followed the trade of ma- son, and also engaged in farming. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common- schools of Gaines, and at the age of nineteen years entered the machine shops of Lietalt Brothers at Grand Rapids, and spent five years in learning the business of machinist. In 1874 he removed to San Francisco and followed his trade in the Hope Iron Works and at the United States Mint up to April, 1877, when he came to Seattle. Finding little business in his line, he went to Tumwater and began work as master mechanic for the American Pipe Company, manufacturers of wooden pipe. In May, 1878, he was appointed superintendent of the factory and so continued np to March 1, 1880, when he leased the shop and plant and manufactured under a royalty for the use of the patent, up to May, 1883, when he put up a portable sawmill with a capacity of 10,000 feet per day, and, with planing machinery, engaged in the manufacture of lumber. In November, 1885, he organized a company which was incorporated as the Wash- ington Saw and Planing Mill Company, and, as president, operated the mill up to May, 1888, then bought up the stock of the company and moved the plant to Seattle. He then became associated with L. H. and L. A. Griffith and Dr. E. C. Kilbourne, and together they organized and incorporated the Fremont Milling Company, with a capital of $25,000, and with L. H. Griffith as president, and subject as manager. The company were then subsidized with about six acres of land on the shore of Lake Union,

upon the provision that they would erect a mill with a capacity of 20,000 feet per day. The agreement was perfected; the mill was erected amid the brush and timber, and, on the 14th day of August, 1888, they began cutting lum- ber. The small mill was operated until Sep. tember, 1889, when the old equipment was thrown aside; extensive improvements were perfected, and with new mill and machinery the capacity was increased to 50,000 feet per day, improved facilities being afforded for saw- ing, planing and finishing lumber. The mills and yards are lighted by electricity, from the company's own electric system, and are con- veniently located on a switch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. While the mill turns out finished lumber in all sizes, the company have such facilities for procuring choice fine timber that they make a specialty of long pieces (seven - ty-five to one hundred feet) for bridge and car building. Though this mill was erected in the timber, the enterprise of the proprietors have converted the wild lands into a prosperous set- tlement, now known as Fremont, the same be- ing within the city limits of Seattle and con- nected with the business center by the Consoli- dated Electric Railroad System.

The prosperity of the mill company is largely due to the scientific knowlege and executive ability of Mr. Burlingame, who personally su- perintends the mechanical and manufacturing departments. Ile has made several notable im- provements in mill machinery, one only of which has he patentend, the same being known as the Burlingame Patent Indicator- a device which is used in counection with the setworks on a sawmill carriage. Mr. Burlingame also developed the water-works system of Fremont, and the same has become a profitable enter- prise.

He was married in San Francisco, in 1876, to Miss Margaret Eaton, of Downieville, daughter of one of the pioneers of California. Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame have one child, Eva.

D IEDRICH ROHLFS, of the firm of Rohlfs & Schoder, manufacturers of fur- niture and office fixtures at Seattle, was born in Bremen, Germany, September 29, 1846. He was educated in the schools of Bremen, and at the age of sixteen years was apprenticed for

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four years, without salary, to learn the trade of cabinet-making. Completing his apprenticeship, he was asked to make a piece of furniture to prove his ability and then received a certificate as a finished workman. He thereafter contin- ued in the same factory, under engagement, for about six months, when, to escape the military service of Germany, he decided to come to America and left the country of his birth in the spring of 1867. Duly landing in Baltimore, Maryland, he proceeded thence to Cincinnati, by reason of its being a manufacturing center, arriving on the 5th of July, without friends in the city, unable to speak the English language and with but $3 in cash. Business being dull, there was little opportunity for employment, but with small wages and strict economy he worked along until the spring of 1868, when he secured a position in the furniture factory of Mitchell & Rammelsberg and remained four years, securing good wages and laying up money. In the spring of 1872 he visited the land of his nativity, spending four months among old and familiar scenes. Then return- ing to Cincinnati he continued at his trade.

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An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 95

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902 Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1056

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056