USA > Washington > Thurston County > Early history of Thurston County, Washington : together with biographies and reminiscences of those identified with pioneer days > Part 23
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
While living in Missouri B. F. Yantis was Judge of the Superior Court of Saline County, and after reaching the West, served in the first Territorial Legislature. He was an un- swerving Democrat and a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, and was the first Entered Apprentice initiated in Ma- sonry north of the Columbia River. A man of high ideals of honor and justice, Judge Yantis was held in great esteem by his fellow pioneers.
His children were: Mrs. W. H. Pullen. who in later years became Mrs. Richard Wood, and the mother of Oscar and Addie Wood; Sarah, who was made a girl widow when her husband of a few months, was killed at the beginning of the Indian war. It was for the killing of Moses that Chief Leschi was hung, after peace was declared. Sarah afterwards became the wife of George C. Blankenship, and the mother of George E. and Robert L. Blankenship; James H. Yantis, the lad who died on Bush Prairie; Wm. M., Robert L., John
274
THURSTON COUNTY
V., Mary, who died in infancy, and Frances L., wife of Capt. J. J. Gilbert. Of this goodly family of sons and daughters the youngest son, John V. is left-the last leaf on the tree. His living children are George, Annie, Robert, Hope, and Faith.
REESE A. BREWER
Reese A. Brewer, a well known pioneer of Thurston County, was born in Arkansas, in 1835. He came across the plains with his mother, two brothers and two sisters, and settled near Eugene, Oregon, and lived on a farm there until 1860, when he came to Washington and settled on Grand Mound prairie. in the southern part of Thurston County. Here he lived until his death in 1909.
Mr. Brewer was a member of the Territorial Legislature in the early eighties; also a Justice of the Peace at Grand Mound for six years; postmaster seven years, and served two terms as County Commissioner, and was Chairman of the Board when the Thurston County court house was built, which is now the west half of the present state capitol building.
Reese A. Brewer was married to Eliza A. Johnson, the daughter of another Thurston County pioneer family, she hav- ing crossed the plains from her native state, Iowa, in 1852 Mrs. Brewer died at the early age of 27 years.
275
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
WILLIAM BILLINGS
Among the documents and papers from which facts re- garding Thurston County's pioneers were found, none were of more service to the compiler than the scrap book formerly belonging to Theodore L. Brown and loaned to the writer by his wife, Martha. Mr. Brown realized that the actual pioneers were rapidly being called, that soon there would be none left to tell the story, so he made an effort to collect brief sketches of as many of his old friends as he could reach. Among those who complied with Mr. Brown's request for a life his- tory was Mr. William Billings.
With characteristic modesty, Mr. Billings related only the baldest facts concerning a life rich with experience and ad- venturc. A man who had been repeatedly honored by his gov- ernment, and his fellow citizens, by appointment and election to important offices, a man who had always stood for the right, and who had never betrayed the trust of his fellow men, what an opportunity for self laudation was afforded him by Mr. Brown's request.
The compiler, respecting Mr. Billing's memory, deems that no words of hers can be more eloquent or expressive than his own, written but a few months before his death :
"Olympia, May 25, 1908.
"Mr. Brown,
"Dear Sir: In compliance with my promise, I will give you a short account of my life.
"I was born in the town of Ripton, Addison County, Ver- mont, October 27, 1827, where I lived until I was 19 years old. Then I left home and came around Cape Horn on a whaling vessel as a hand before the mast.
"I arrived at Sandwich Islands in 1848, when I left my ship and stayed there till June, 1849, and while there I learned
276
THURSTON COUNTY
of the discovery of gold in California. I then came to San Francisco, arriving on July 4. 1849.
"I stayed but a short time in California. Came to Ore- gon, landing at Portland on the 8th of September, 1849. Re- mained in Portland till July, 1851, when I came to Olympia. then a part of Oregon. Olympia has been my home ever since. When the Indian war broke out in 1855, I joined the volunteers.
"In 1860 I was elected Sheriff of Thurston County and re- mained as Sheriff between twenty-three and twenty-four years. I have held the position of Deputy U. S. Marshal under United States Marshals C. E. Weed, Huntington, Hopkins, Phillip Ritz and E. S. Kearney.
"I kept all the convicts in the Territory on a contract with the Territory for nine years and was in charge of the Indians on the reservation for about five years, living among them with my family, and must say I always found the Indians good, kind neighbors.
"Now, this is all I have to say and I am glad to be done, for I am shaky, half blind and feel that my time now is very short.
WILLIAM BILLINGS."
Although Mr. Billings did not elaborate on any of the events of his life, some of the incidents are too closely con- nected with the early history of Thurston County to be ignored.
In 1877 he contracted with the Territory to build a jail at his own expense, take all the prisoners as soon as convicted, care for, board, clothe and protect them during their confine- ment at the price of seventy cents each, per day, he being per- mitted to use their services in any way he saw fit. He built his jail at Seatco, started a cooper establishment, developed a coal mine and organized the Seatco Manufacturing Company for making sash, doors and blinds, continuing this contract pabor for a term of nine years.
At the time he served as Superintendent of the Puyallup Indian reservation there was not a white resident between that reservation and Fort Steilacoom, and for weeks at a time his family were alone among 600 Indians. That he found these Indians "good, kind neighbors," is an eloquent tribute to Mr. Billings' kindly management of the affairs of the reservation.
Mr. Billings was a volunteer in Company B, First Regi-
277
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
ment. Capt. Gilmore Hays, during the Indian war and took part in the engagements of Green River, White River and South Prairie.
From 1869 to 1891 Mr. Billings was Sheriff of Thurston County, being continuously elected and re-elected on the Re- publican ticket, being the first man elected in Thurston County on that ticket.
Mr. Billings was married in 1861 to Miss Mary Ann Kandle of Tumwater, who died in 1868, leaving two children, one of whom is Charles A. Billings, one of Olympia's promi- nent residents.
In 1873 Mr. Billings was again married, this time to Miss Jeannette M. Ballentyne. Five children were born to them : Frederick D., John Alden, Eunice Cleora, Laura Alice, de- ceased, and Laura Blanche.
The widow, with her daughter, Laura Blanche, live in their home on the corner of Ninth and Franklin Streets. Blanche being a stenographer in the State Industrial Insurance Commission.
278
THURSTON COUNTY
R. H. MILROY
While General Robert Houston Milroy and his wife cannot be counted among the original pioneers who fought their way. step by step, through the wilderness, their arrival in Olympia as early as 1869, to take up the important duties of Superin- tendent of Indian Affairs in the rapidly developing Territory of Washington. and the respect and honor with which the memories of General Milroy and his wife, Mary Armitage Milroy, are cherished in the minds of the early Olympians. surely entitle them to a prominent niche in this collection of pioneer sketches.
General Milroy's name is remembered with the respect due to a patriot, a brave soldier and a public spirited citizen. Mrs. Milroy, with her lovely character, Christian life and womanly graces, was an inspiration towards all good to her devoted family and wide circle of friends. R. H. Milroy was a native of Washington County, Indiana, and was born in the year 1816.
His ancestry and parentage were from an aristocratic Scotch family. Indeed, the Milroys could trace their ancestry in a direct line back to Robert Bruce.
R. H. Milroy was educated in the Military Academy of Norwich. Vermont. where he graduated in 1843. Master of Arts, of Law and of Civil Engineering and of Military Sciences. He was valedictorian of his class. In 1850 he received a diploma from the law school of Bloomington, Indiana, which institution conferred on him the degree of B. L.
He was engaged in the practice of law when he was called upon to take part in the war with Mexico, where he rendered his country gallant service as Captain of the First Indiana Regiment. After this war he was commissioned Judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Indiana. At the breaking out of the Civil war Capt. Milroy was commissioned Colonel of the Ninth Indiana Volunteers, serving under Gen. Mcclellan in Western Virginia, and taking part in the battles of Grafton, Philippi and Laurel Hill.
He was later commissioned Brigadier General, and placed
279
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
in command of the mountain department and put an effective stop to guerrilla warfare in Western Virginia. President Jefferson Davis made Milroy's order in regard to punishment of guerrilla warfare the subject of a special message to the Legislature and that body offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for General Milroy, dead or alive. Milroy and General Butler were the only Union Generals thus honored by the Southern Congress. For his gallant actions in the battles of McDowell and the second battle of Bull Run, he was made Major General of the second division of the Eighth Army Corps, nine thousand strong, and with MeReynolds' brigade, occupied Winchester, July 11, 1863. He fought his last battle in the war against Generals Forrest and Bates on the field at Murfreesboro, and defeated their combined forces.
General Milroy resigned his command July 26, 1865. after having served valiantly in the great struggle for the upholding of the Union. After the war General Milroy was appointed trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal Company, and from 1869 to 1874 he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Wash- ington territory.
From this date to the time of his death, General Milroy was identified with Olympia and took an active interest in the growth and development of the city. He built the house on the corner of Eleventh and Main streets, which was the Milroy home until after the family was broken up by the death of Mrs. Milroy, and where General Milroy ceased his earthly labors on the 29th of March, 1890.
Of the seven children born to General and Mrs. Millroy only three are still living, Robert Bruce, Valerius A. and Walter J. The son Valerius or Val, as he is commonly known in Olympia, has remained faithful to his boyhood home. Com- ing here when but a lad of 18 years, he became a clerk in his father's office, and from there spent a few years in surveying, and learning the printers' trade. He was at one time engaged in the livery business with Mr. M. O'Conner, and was ap- pointed postmaster of Olympia by President Harrison. After the expiration of his term of office he was elected city clerk, and has since held positions of honor and trust. Val is still unmarried. Of the other sons, Robert Bruce, with his family, lives in Yakima, and Walter J. and wife live in Victoria, B. C.
280
THURSTON COUNTY
JOHN BEARD ALLEN
John Beard Allen was born at Crawfordsville, Montgom- ery County, Indiana, May 18, 1845.
He was the son of Joseph S. Allen, a prominent physician and surgeon of that town and Hannah (Beard) Allen, daughter of Hon. John Beard of the same place.
John Beard was called "the father of Montgomery Coun- ty" from the fact of his having represented it for some twenty odd years in the Legislature. He was a strong figure in the early political annals of Indiana.
John Allen received his education in the common schools of his native town and at Wabash College, located there. He showed at school a great fondness and attitude for mathe- matical studies, also for history, especially political history.
He cared, apparently, but little for the languages and literature. During the "Morgan Raid" into Indiana and Ohio. one of the exciting episodes of the Civil war, John Allen served as a "Minuteman" until the capture of Morgan. He also en- listed in the 135th Indiana Infantry, under a call for five months service in 1863 and served over seven months. He was honorably discharged from both these enlistments.
In 1865 the family removed to Rochester, Minnesota. Here after a year spent in business, principally in buying wheat. he entered the law office of Hon. C. C. Wilson, as a student, later attending a course of law lectures at the University of Mich- igan.
In 1868 he began legal practice at Goshen, Indiana. in partnership with the late Hon. J. J. Brown, of Spokane, who had been a schoolmate at Wabash and Ann Arbor.
He was recalled to Rochester by the last illness of his mother, who died in December of that year.
Yielding to the persuasions of his family. he determined to remain at Rochester. Here he was elected City Attorney in 1869, when barely twenty-four years of age.
Early in 1870 he came to Washington Territory. bring- ing with him a very considerable sum of money, which had been intrusted to him for investment by his father and busi- nessmen of Rochester.
The money was invested with remarkably good judgment,
281
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
considering the then undeveloped state of the country and his entire lack of experience in that line of business.
After looking over the "Sound" country he selected Olym- pia as his home, considering it likely to be selected by the Northern Pacific Railway Company as its western terminus.
He opened a law office in the old "Good Templars Hall." paying office rent, by acting as janitor of the building. He did not remain long in this location for in the early fall of 1871, he was found in the Cushman Land Office building with a pretty fair office equipment and a considerable law prac- tice. This progress seems quite remarkable when we recall the great strength of the Olympia Bar, which at that time carried such names as Selucius Garfielde, O. B. McFadden, J. E. Wyche, Elwood Evans, B. F. Dennison, Elisha P. Ferry and Henry G. Struve, all strong men and some of them giants in the law.
In September. 1871, he was married to Miss M. Cecelia Bate- man, of Lamont, Michigan, a woman of great intellectual ability and unusual force of character. He continued to reside at Olympia until 1881, when he removed to Walla Walla. In 1875 he was appointed U. S. Attorney for Washington Territory, which office he held by successive appointments, for ten years.
In 1889 he was elected delegate to Congress on the Re- publican ticket and the Territory having been admitted as a State before he took his seat as delegate, he was elected the first U. S. Senator, drawing a four year term. Ex-Gov. Wat- son C. Squire was the other Senator elected. He was a can- didate for reelection to the Senate in 1893, but by a strange combination of circumstances and political factors, the session was deadlocked and there was no election. He was appointed by Gov. McGraw to fill the vacancy, but the appointment was unavailing. under the rule and precedents of the Senate.
Mr. Allen was the overwhelming choice of his party both in State and Legislature. but a sufficint number of Republicans refused to go into caucus to prevent his election. On the ex- piration of his Senatorial term in 1894, he removed to Seattle. where he practiced his profession until his death, January 28, 1903, from an attack of angina pectoris.
He was a member of the firm of Struve, Allen, Hughes & McMicken during all this time.
282
THURSTON COUNTY
RECOLLECTIONS OF A NATIVE SON
A peculiar charm hovers about the scenes of one's early childhood; an atmosphere surrounds them that ever appeals to the adult, and no matter how far removed from the place of birth and boyhood, in later years, the call to return, even for a short period, to renew fond recollections, becomes irresist- able.
Especially is this true with a western born boy, whose earliest recollections are of a social condition that was crude. and of a people, though not of the caste of Vere de Vere, were honest, chivalrous and generous to a fault. To the boy whose lines were cast in the Puget Sound region in the late 50's and early 60's, the development of the country from a peopleless wilderness to populous towns and cities is to him almost in- credible, encompassed in so comparatively short a time.
I was born in Olympia before the great Civil war was de- clared. The Capital City was then the metropolis, Steilacoom had an existence stimulated by an army post located where the asylum now is, and Seattle, the present giant of the Northwest. was a hamlet composed of a few people living upon their original pre-emption claims.
Olympia's means of communication in those days was by a stage line to the South, coaches leaving every other morn- ing and returning every second day, providing the axles were strong enough to withstand the awful roads. To the north, on the Sound, the Eliza Anderson, a side-wheeler, with a walking beam, plied, leaving the head of the Sound Sunday night at 12 o'clock and returning some time during the latter part of the same week. It cost one $15 to make the trip one way to Victoria, berths and meals extra. Each trip the old steamer would go out loaded with passengers and freight, many cattle being driven in and shipped this way, which made the route a very profitable one, together with a mail contract, and during the many years of her service the old Anderson probably earned her weight in gold. When the Alaska gold discovery was made she was sent up to run on a northern route and was wrecked.
MR. AND MRS. G. C. BLANKENSHIP
1
UBLIC LABBRAAY
NYON, LEACK AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONE.
283
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
An incident of my early life occurred, beyond my recol- lection, but of which I was told by my parents. My father being Sheriff of Thurston County, he held in custody an In- dian named Yelm Jim, who was held for murder. In those days domestic help could not be had. Any woman arriving in the country could be married in fifteen minutes if she so chose, and it was generally noticeable that Barkis was willing. The housewife was thus dependent solely upon the squaws. To supply this deficiency in our own household, on especially hard days for my mother, my father would heavily iron Yelm Jim and bring him to the house as a playmate for me and thus relieve a tired housekeeper of the added care of a trouble- some child. To the day of my departure from home at the age of eighteen, Yelm Jim was my firm friend.
Among the boys of those days still resident in the state were Harry McElroy, well and favorably known, still a resi- dent of Olympia ; the Percivals, Sam and John, well known in Thurston County; Sam Woodruff. Superintendent of the Home for Feeble Minded at Medical Lake; Sam Crawford, of the firm of Crawford & Convery of Seattle, a pioneer real estate firm; Gilmore Parker, who was long a steamboat man on the Sound, and who recently died in Seattle; James P. Ferry, son of Governor Ferry, now a resident of Seattle; the McFaddens, Frank, James, Cal and Rob, sons of Judge O. B. McFadden, all of whom are still living except James; James Frazier, still a surveyor in Olympia; the Garfieldes, William and Charles, the former dead and the latter living in Alaska; H. E. Allen, a young brother of Senator Jno. B. Allen, who was a promis- ing lawyer in Spokane, but whose poor health caused his retire- ment from the profession before his death; Charles Evans, now employed in the city hall in Tacoma; C. S. Reinhart, Clerk of the Supreme Court; Henry Murphy, son of Editor John M. Murphy, who long was in charge of the mechanical work on the Washington Standard, now dead; Theodore Brown, who died a few years ago; Clarence and Alvin Coulter ; the Moores, Schooley and Waldo, the latter of whom died a few years ago; the Reeds, Thomas and Mark, sons of Thomas M. Reed, the former a resident of Alaska, a lawyer, and the latter managing a large logging interest in Mason County. All more or less my companions in the days of real sport.
284
THURSTON COUNTY
Our education was undertaken by several teachers, at different periods employed to teach the district school, held in a two-story building occuping the northwest corner of Sixth and Franklin. Among these educators were a Mr. Boynton. C. B. Mann, who long since deserted the profession to become a business man and a successful one; L. P. Venen. Miss Gid- dings, later wife of Thomas M. Reed; Miss Slocum, now the wife of W. E. Boone, a retired architect of Seattle; a Mr. Kaye, a better scholar than disciplinarian, who was succeeded by Freeman Brown, both scholar and disciplinarian, who took no pains to conceal an iron hand in a velvet glove, and when remonstrating with a refactory pupil was a cyclone in action.
Then, too, some of us attended private schools. L. P. Venen long taught in the old Odd Fellows' building, on the east side of Washington street, between Fourth and Fifth. Miss Lord for a time taught a private school. She came to this country with her mother in the old Continental, the ship chartered to bring a large number of women from New Eng- land, when they were a drug on the market, to the Territory of Washington, where they were in demand and were known as the Mercer girls, a man by the name of Mercer having con- ceived and executed the undertaking. Many estimable girls accompanied this expedition and were later married here. Miss Mary O'Neil, still a resident of Olympia, was a primary teacher, as was, also, Jacob Hoover, who was later a success- ful lawyer and banker in Spokane.
There were no graded schools then and the now expen- sive luxury, the high school, was unknown. All were con- tained in not to exceed two rooms, where the a b c's and Caesar's Commentaries or Virgil were pursued with more or less vigor. It was not found necessary then to furnish play- grounds and gymnasiums, the former we boys found when- ever wanted and gymnastics were furnished by the parents on the woodpiles or in gardening, where youthful exuberance of spirits was worked off in a way at once beneficial to the youngster and profitable to the ancestor who boarded him.
Two of Olympia's boys, brothers, who received the rudi- ments of their education here, and desirous of higher educa- tion, were graduates of the University of California, in a way very creditable to themselves, and worthy of being mentioned.
285
PIONEER REMINISCENCES
In order to save their means for school purposes, they walked part of the way to California, and each, on graduation, was valedictorian of his class, the younger brother one year later than the elder. These boys were Harry and John Whitworth, sons of Rev. Geo. F. Whitworth. Harry Whitworth is now a civil engineer in Seattle, and John, who was a lawyer in San Francisco, died all too young.
The simple pleasures of those days were ample. The hunting grounds for the boys of that time are built up with residences now. The Des Chutes at Tumwater Falls was ex- cellent fishing grounds, and salmon, salmon trout, and tom and rock cod were plentiful in Budd's Inlet. There were no restrictions in those days and it was common for the expert shots to take stations on the Marshville bridge (to the west- side) and Swantown bridge (to the eastside) and shoot the ducks on the wing when passing over in flocks. Then one could even dig clams whenever or wherever desired without being embarrassed with a trespass sign.
The "public square." what is now Capital Park, was donated by Edmund Sylvester for park purposes, was a base- ball grounds. Upon the southeast corner, for many years. stood an old blockhouse which served as city bastile and county jail. This, as a place of retention, was exceedingly popular with the prisoners, as any one desirous of taking leave, tired of confinement, could easily do so without the aid of officer or habeas corpus, relying only on his own personal efforts.
Swimming was indulged in promiscuously without the formalities of bath houses or bathing suits. Above the Swan- town bridge, back of the old Barnes residence, was well patronized, as was also a little wharf in the rear of the old Olympic hall, where the K. of P. hall and the Bolster & Barnes business block are now located. Ladies, desiring to cross the bridge for Marshville, were well aware of the in- formality prevalent among the boys, and accepted as estab- lished the fact that at any hour of the day and until early candle light in the Summertime, there was spread out for her gaze an exaggerated September Morn scene which she could pretend to ignore and go her way, or she could take a boat and cross the bay lower down. The boys' prerogatives in
286
THURSTON COUNTY
this respect were never interfered with until later regulation forbade bathing in the city limits without a bathing suit. The tideflats were left as bare in those days as now at low tides. and the impatient boy would strip and lie wallowing in the soft mud like a hog, until the tide came in and washed him off. At any time during the summer, one could make any young hopeful cringe by making a show to touch him upon the back, so raw was the average youngster from exposure to the sun's rays.
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.