USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 31
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DAVIS, G. W. H .- The subject of this sketch is one of the young and enter- prising men who have done and are doing so much for the advancement of the new Northwest. He was born November 29th, 1866, on his father's farm in Freeborn County, Minn. His father, C. A. Davis, and mother, Ann Davis, were among the early settlers of Minnesota, and from their arrival in the then Terri- tory until their son, G. W. H., had reached twelve years of age, continued to re- side on and manage a farm. The subject of this sketch at the age of twelve years removed with his parents to the village of Alden, in the same county, where he attended school and worked in his father's general store ; from Alden the family moved to Pelican Rapids, Otter Tail County, Minn., where the son continued his schooling and assisted his father in his store at that place.
At the age of eighteen his long-cherished plan of entering the profession of law began to be realized ; he entered the law office of Henry Dressler, and later the office of Hon. Charles L. Lewis, now Judge of the District Court at Duluth, then the County Attorney of Otter Tail County, at Fergus Falls, Minn. Except- ing the time occupied in teaching two terms of school, young Davis studied in the office of Judge Lewis until his admission to the Bar in 1887. In June, 1888, he arrived at Tacoma, Wash., and secured a position in the firm of Carroll & Coiner, who were at that time the legal counsellors for both the city and county. His services were so satisfactory that at the end of a year he became a member of the firm of Carroll, Coiner & Davis. This firm was recognized as one of the lead- ers in its locality, and Mr. Davis contributed in no small degree to its success. In the summer of 1891 the firm dissolved by mutual consent, and each continued the practice of his profession.
Mr. Davis ranks well in his profession ; is active, careful, and conscientious in the performance of his duties as an attorney ; and if the past and present are of value in judging the future, he has a much more than ordinary career before him. He has been associated with some of the most important litigation of the State, and has shown himself a safe adviser and good advocate. He is an en- thusiastic Republican in politics, but has carefully avoided allowing his position in politics to inferfere with his business.
WOODHOUSE, CHARLES C., JR., was born in Beaver, Utah, February 14th, 1858. His father conducted a mercantile business in mining camps of Utah and Nevada. Young Woodhouse developed early in life a liking for the profession of
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mining engineer. At the age of sixteen his parents sent him to Knox College, Illinois, where he took a special course in chemistry, mineralogy, geology, natu- ral philosophy, surveying, mathematics, and mechanics. At twenty-one years of age he engaged with the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company, at the Horn Sil- ver mine, Utah. There, under the tuition of Frank Godbe, he learned practical assaying. At the end of two years he removed to Marysvale, Utah, and there was Assayer and Assistant Manager for the Pluto Mining and Milling Company. In 1882 bustling Butte City, Mont., attracted his attention, and now, at twenty- five years of age, he went there, and on February 15th assisted in blowing in the Bell Smelter. After a successful run, which smelted all the ore on hand, the manager of the Bell Smelting Company secured him a position as Assistant Chemist at the Parrott Silver and Copper Company, Butte City. During three years' residence in Butte City Mr. Woodhouse was a hard student, and took ad- vantage of the favorable opportunities offered by the numerous mills and smelters of Butte City to learn practical ore reduction. While not engaged in the laboratory, and believing in theory and practice combined, he would don his working clothes and engage in practical work with the workmen in the mills and smelters. In the year 1885 he was called to his old home, Beaver, Utah, on temporary business, and there detained three years. Although a Republican, he was appointed Postmaster at Beaver by Postmaster-General Vilas, for loyalty to the general Government during Mormon troubles. Believing Puget Sound basin to be the future centre for ore reduction, he settled in the Evergreen State in 1889, following his profession of mining engineer and economic geologist. He has been successful and gained the confidence of all with whom he has had deal- ings, and built up a good trade in Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia, and it is safe to predict for him a successful career in his chosen profession.
COINER, B. W., one of the prominent young lawyers of the city of Tacoma, was born in Leon, Decatur County, Ia., December 20th, 1857. His father, Rev. E. T. Coiner, a Methodist clergyman, enlisted September 25th, 1861, in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, and died in the service of his country, July 3d, 1862, at Batesville, Ark. The early years of our subject were passed in Mount Pleasant, Ia., to which place the family removed in 1861. Here he attended the public schools until 1870, when he removed to York, Neb., and engaged in farm work. In the fall of 1874 he returned to Mount Pleasant and entered the preparatory de- partment of the Iowa Wesleyan University, from which institution he was gradu- ated in 1879. During his college course he entered the office of Woolson & Bott as a law student, and in the fall of 1879 was admitted to the Bar. He remained with Woolson & Bott until the fall of 1880. On November 1st of that year he was married to Miss Ida Hare, of Mount Pleasant, and shortly afterward went with his bride to Maranhao, Brazil, as teacher of English in the Government Lyceum. At the end of one year ill health compelled him to relinquish this posi- tion, and he returned to Mount Pleasant in January, 1882, and entered upon the practice of his profession. His abilities were at once recognized, and he soon had a lucrative practice. Successful management of private business is sure of public appreciation. In the spring of 1882 Mr. Coiner was elected Mayor of Mount Pleasant, and filled that position with marked ability during the remainder
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of his residence therc. In April, 1884, he removed with his family to Tacoma, Wash., where he formed a law partnership with Hon. Thomas Carroll.
In the fall of 1886 he was elected by the Republican Party as Prosecuting At- torney for the Eleventh District of Washington Territory, and discharged the duties of that position until March, 1889. Mr. Coiner possesses in an eminent degree the qualities that go to make up a successful lawyer, and he has a large and varied practice. His professional career has been distinguished by untiring industry, strict integrity, and fidelity to his clients. Both as a lawyer and a citi- zen he enjoys the confidence and esteem of the entire community, and is regard- ed as one of the substantial characters upon whom the present and future pros- perity of the city so largely rests. Notwithstanding his numerous professional duties, he has found time to take an active interest in military affairs, especially in the order of Sons of Veterans, and is now Colonel in command of the Division of Washington.
ESHELMAN, J. F .- Among the active and enterprising men who in the early history of Seattle organized its institutions and gave character to its government and commercial affairs, none are entitled to more of honor than Mr. Eshelman. He is a most worthy representative of Seattle's business community, and is recog- nized as one of its most valuable citizens. He has won an enviable name for cnergy, reliability, and integrity, while his efforts have largely contributed to the prosperity of the city and State.
Mr. Eshelman was born at Springville (now Florin), Lancaster County, Pa., August 10th, 1852, and at the age of three years removed with his parents to Canton, O. He received his early education in the common school and academy, and at the age of seventeen became a clerk in the bank of Isaac Harter & Sons, whom he served faithfully for nine years. At the expiration of this time he joined other capitalists in the organization of the banking house of Zollars, Eshel- man & Co., which afterward became the Lake County Bank of Leadville, Col. Mr. Eshelman was made President of this institution, and continued as such after it was succeeded by the First National Bank of Leadville. During the period of the great mining excitement at Leadville Mr. Eshelman severely taxed his strength by overwork, and he was compelled to resign the presidency of the bank on ac- count of failing health. After engaging for a time in the lumber business with indifferent success, he sold out and started for New Tacoma, Wash. Terr. Hardly had he arrived in this part of the country, however, when he determined to settle in Seattle, where he located in 1882. Coming to the place before it had out- grown the proportions of a good-sized hamlet, he had the business sagacity to foresee that its geographical position and natural advantages would ultimately cause it to become a great and populous commercial centre. Forming a partner- ship with W. H. Llewellyn and others, he embarked in the real estate business under the firm style of Eshelman, Llewellyn & Co., in which Mr. Eshelman and Mr. Llewellyn are now the sole partners. The business of the firm has from the beginning been conducted on a large scale, and many of the most important real estate transactions in the history of the city have been consummated by them. They are the acknowledged leaders in their line, and the prosperity Seattle now enjoys is in no small measure due to their enterprise and the assistance they have rendered to promote the general welfare.
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During his whole business career Mr. Eshelman has borne a high reputation as an honorable, straightforward business man. Every obligation he has assumed he has faithfully and fully performed. His business operations have brought him into close contact with men in every part of the State and have given him a wide and intimate acquaintance. He is an active factor in Seattle's prosperity, and takes a lively interest in everything calculated to advance the public good. Be- sides lıis real-estate business he is extensively interested in cable and electric street railways, banks, and numerous other business projects. In all of his enter- prises he has achieved a high degree of success, while as a citizen he deservedly holds an honorable position in the community. Mr. Eshelman has now retired from the real-estate business to devote all his time and energy to the Eshelman- Llewellyn Mortgage and Trust Company, a company recently organized, of which he is President.
BELLINGER, JACOB HERKIMER. - It is a noteworthy fact that many of the pub- lic men and men of affairs of the Pacific Northwest come of that sterling stock which has made American history. The descendants of our Pilgrim fathers and the good old Dutch stock of New York and Pennsylvania are fitting foundation stones for the building up of the great West and establishing the Pacific Coast. There is as much romance connected with the settlement of the Pacific Coast as there was of the landing of the Pilgrim fathers on Plymouth Rock, the hard- ships of the plains, the Indian massacres, and the discovery of gold in California. The Indian wars and hardships endured by the pioneers of the State of Washing- ton will throw a halo of glory and romance that will not be equalled by similar records of the settlements and civilizations of the world, although it needs the hoary finger of time to throw its mantle gradually over the whole and the pic- ture is complete.
The subject of this sketch, Jacob Herkimer Bellinger, is a direct descendant of General Herkimer, of New York, of colonial fame, and was born in Black Lake, Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence County, N. Y., April 15th, 1841, and was edu- cated in the district school, and afterward attended the academy at Gouverneur, N. Y. He was brought up on a farm. His father engaged in dairying and diversified farming. At the age of twenty he went to Boston, Mass., where he engaged in wholesale produce and commission with King, Hovey & Co., where he remained until 1865, and then travelled for that concern until 1867. In this year he married Miss Hannah A. Smith, at Salem, Washington County, N. Y., and removed to Ogdensburgh, where he resided until 1877, principally engaged in farming. In 1877 he made up his mind to come West and locate in Portland, Ore., and upon arrival there he accepted a position with the firm of Knapp, Bur- rell & Co., with whom he remained until 1889. During this time one of the firm, Mr. Martin S. Burrell, died, and the individual company was incorporated into a stock company known as Knapp, Burrell & Co., in which company he was a stockholder. From the year of 1879 until the year 1889 he was Manager for that company in Colfax, Wash., for the territory north of the Snake River. February 1st, 1889, he resigned his position with that company and sold his stock and directed his attention to cultivating land, dealing in real estate and money loaning, etc.
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Mr. Bellinger, with Mr. M. S. Burrell, organized the First National Bank of Colfax, and was Vice-President and still retains that position. Mr. Bellinger is also connected with the Farmers' and Traders' Bank of Pullman, and the Farm- ers' and Traders' Bank of Johnson, of which Mr. D. P. Thompson, of Portland, is President. He is the owner, in connection with Mr. W. F. Burrell, of over three thousand acres of land in Whitman County, all improved and under culti- vation. He also manages the Burrell estate agency in Whitman County. Mr. Bellinger is one of the Regents of the State Agricultural College and School of Science. He is also a stockholder in the First National Bank of Colfax, the Col- fax Hardware Company, the Colfax Electric Light Power Company, Whitman Abstract Company, besides conducting a real estate, loan and brokerage business under the firm name of J. H. Bellinger. He is prominent in the fraternal orders, and in 1891 was Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Washington, of Royal Arch Masons, and one of the charter members of Colfax Lodge, Ancient Order United Workingmen, of which he is one of the three residents now alive.
Mr. Bellinger has been eminently successful in his adopted State, and has reached a prominence as one of its foremost men. He is public-spirited and is identified with nearly every enterprise tending to the building up of the town and county in which he lives. He received no extensive education in his youth, and owes his success largely to his own efforts. He certainly may feel proud of the position he has won as one of the leading business men of Eastern Washing- ton. He has been Mayor of Colfax and member of the City Council a number of terms.
ANDERSON, DAVID F., of Rosalia, Wash., was born in Cincinnati, O., in 1849. His father was a native of Scotland. Fourth in a family of nine, young Anderson was taught in the common schools of Iowa and Kansas. A sterner school, how- ever, awaited him, from which he was to graduate with honor, for he enlisted in the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and immediately went to the front, receiving his " baptism of fire" under Grant and other commanders in numerous engagements of the Civil War. Being honorably discharged, he located at Emporia, Kan., where he engaged in stock-raising until 1868, when he re-enlisted in the Eight- eenth Kansas Volunteers, and served under Custer during the Cheyenne War, holding the rank of Sergeant. He was engaged in business in Kansas from 1870-73, tlien back to stock-raising till 1879, when he removed to Washington and located on a farm near the present site of Rosalia. Coming to Rosalia in 1887, he established the hardware, grain and lumber business, in which he is still engaged. Has held the post of County Commissioner, Mayor of Rosalia, and various other offices with credit and acceptance, besides being a delegate to all the State conventions. In 1892 he was elected Representative of the Sixth Dis- trict to the State Legislature, and served with credit and distinction. He intro- duced House Bill No. 93, known as the Anderson Bill, reducing freight rates on grain. Of the seventy-one bills passed by the Legislature of 1893 three were in- troduced by Mr. Anderson. He married, in 1873, Miss Mary Roberts, of Illinois. They have five children. He is a large property-holder, a Director of the Spo- kane Bank, and the President of the Rosalia Bank, a member of the Odd Fellows and Grand Army of the Republic. He is a man of marked ability, faithful in
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office, courteous in manner, esteemed by his fellows, a safe counsellor, and a reli- able friend.
MILLER, DR. FRED C., was born in Minetto, Oswego County, N. Y., March 31st, 1857. He lived in Oswego County until November, 1868, when he moved with his parents to Kendall County, Ill. He received a public school education in Aurora, Ill .. and in the fall of 1876, with his parents, moved to Maryville, Mo., where soon after his parents both died. He studied medicine with Dr. S. V. Campbell, of Maryville, Mo., and later with Dr. R. Rice, of Council Bluffs, Ia. He attended a medical college in St. Louis during 1881 and 1882, and was married in March of the latter year to Miss Jennie Gaunt, of Maryville, Mo. He attended lectures in Bennett Medical College, of Chicago, Ill., where he graduated in the spring of 1883. He began the practice of medicine with Dr. S. V. Campbell, of Maryville, Mo., continuing until the spring of 1884, when, owing to the sickness of Mrs. Miller, he removed to Hot Springs, Ark., where they spent the most of the summer without much benefit to the invalid. Having heard glowing accounts of the climate of the Pacific slope, on September 8th, 1884, he took his wife and eight-months' old baby, and went to Tacoma, Wash., where Mrs. Miller soon regained her health, and where, by hard work and strict attention to business, the doctor soon established a lucrative practice. By judi- cious investment he has acquired what in his boyhood home would be considered a fortune. The doctor is devoted to his profession, but for the past year has only devoted a few hours each day to office duties, the balance of his time being spent with his family and friends in his elegant home at 610 North G Street.
His family now consists of his wife and two boys-Tom, aged nine, and Thad, aged five years. To all young men of energy and push who wish to attain health, wealth, and happiness, the doctor's advice is, " Come to Western Wash- ington, where you will find the best climate, the best people, and the best oppor- tunities in the world."
RINGER, L. M .- The subject of this sketch is one of the leading business men of the town of Pullman, Wash. During his brief residence here he has devoted himself largely not only to his extensive private business affairs, but to every- thing which concerned the material growth and development of the town. By strict integrity, good judgment, and close attention to business he has accumu- lated a competency and gained for himself a high position in financial and com- mercial circles. He was born in Hagerstown, Md., June 17th, 1834, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Ringer, both natives of Maryland. His early education was acquired at the Hagerstown Academy. He removed with his parents to Am- herst County, Va., where he remained until he was nineteen years old. He tlien removed to Bloomfield, Mo., and obtained a position as clerk in the office of the Clerk of Wayne County. Later he embarked in the mercantile business at Bloomfield in the firm of Ringer & Leach. After two years he sold out to his partner and removed to Arcadia, Iron County, Mo., where he carried on a gen- eral store business until the breaking out of the Civil War. During the war he lost all of his property, went North, and was Clerk in the Commissary Depart- ment under Colonel Van Frank, in General Davidson's Division for about six
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months. He then returned to Bloomfield, and was twice appointed Sheriff of Stoddard County, and was once elected to the same office. He was appointed Adjutant of the federal post at Bloomfield, and had command of a detachment of cavalry of forty-two men until the close of the war. In 1870 he moved to Eugene City, Ore., where he remained for two years. During his residence there he was interested in the Eugene City Guard, a Democratic newspaper, and was a silent partner in the saddling business with his brothers-in-law, George J. Buys and L. P. Bragg.
Determined to locate in Washington Territory, he came to the Palouse coun- try in the summer of 1873, and settled on a ranch three miles from Colfax, taking up a pre-emption claim. Here he engaged in sheep-raising. Two years later he sold out and removed to Almota, where he built a flouring mill, and later en- tered into partnership with Adams Brothers, of Walla Walla, in the general mer- chandise business, under the firm name of Adams Brothers & Co. He afterward sold his flouring mill to his partners and bought of them their interests in the mercantile business, which he successfully conducted alone for fourteen years. In 1890 he moved his stock to Pullman and organized the Pullman Mercantile Company. This company, incorporated November 1st, 1890, of which Mr. Ringer is President and Manager, does a large and profitable business. He is also President of the Pullman Land and Investment Company, and President of the Empire Opal and Onyx Mining and Milling Company, whose works are located in Garfield County, and whose business office is in Pullman. Mr. Ringer was a member of the Lower House of the Legislature in 1875 and 1877 and a member of the Territorial Council in 1879. He was married September 22d, 1859, to Miss Sophie W. Owen. Ten children have blessed their union, six of whom are living. The eldest daughter is the wife of F. D. Richardson. Mr. Ringer is eminently a self-made man, inheriting from his ancestors only those qualities of mind and heart that have enabled him to command success. Throughout a life of constant activity and frequent change he has ever maintained an enviable reputation for honesty and fair dealing.
RICHARDSON, F. D .- Among the energetic young business men who are creat- ing industrial enterprises upon which the future development and prosperity of the State must depend, Mr. F. D. Richardson, of Pullman, is deserving of notice. He was born in Monticello, Lewis County, Missouri, March 17th, 1860. When he was about three years of age the family removed to Quincy, Ill., where they remained until 1866, thence to Newark, Knox County, Mo., and six years later to Monroe City in the same State. In the latter place the subject of our sketch re- ceived a common school education and learned the trade of harness-making. The family subsequently went to Dunklin County, Mo., where young Richardson en- gaged in the harness business on his own account. He continued there for one year and a half, when failing health compelled him to give up the business. Disposing of his interests in Missouri, he came to Washington in the spring of 1879. Locating at Colfax, he found work at his trade as journeyman. Four months later the shop where he was employed was shut down on account of de- pression in trade, and he was obliged to seek other employment. After working for William H. Bishop for a short time as cleik in a small general store in Colfax,
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he was engaged by Mr. L. M. Ringer to take charge of the latter's store at Almota during the owner's absence at Olympia as a member of the Legislature. In the following spring he returned to Colfax, and was employed as bookkeeper by Bishop & Burgunder. He remained with them until the firm was dissolved and with their successors, Burgunder & Schwabacher, one year. He left them to accept a position as bookkeeper with L. M. Ringer, his former employer, witlı whom he remained until July, 1890, when the business portion of Pullman was burned.
Previous to this occurrence Mr. Richardson had himself organized a general merchandise business under the firm style of Richardson & Wilkinson, and after the fire the latter firm purchased the stock of Mr. Ringer, who became a silent partner in the firm, and removed it from Almota to Pullman. In November of the same year Messrs. Richardson, Wilkinson & Ringer were incorporated as a joint stock company. Their business has steadily grown, necessitating an in- crease of the capital stock to $50,000. They carry a stock of goods averaging $70,000 in value. Their merchandise sales in 1892 exceeded $200,000 and their grain business $250,000.
In addition to his mercantile business Mr. Richardson is interested in the Pullman Land and Investment Company, which was organized by himself and Mr. Ringer, with a paid-up capital of $20,000, and does a general investment and real-estate business. Mr. Richardson was married January 1st, 1884, to Miss Effie Ringer, the daughter of his partner. Two children, Frank W. and Lula, have blessed their union.
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