USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 36
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BALLARD, W. R., banker and capitalist, of Seattle, Wash., was born in the State of Ohio, August 12th, 1847, and is the son of Dr. Levi W. and Phæbe (McConnell) Ballard. He received an excellent academical education at Wilbur and Umpqua College, Oregon, and removed with his father in 1865 to Puget Sound, settling near the present site of Slaughter. Here he worked on his father's farm until 1868, when he entered the University of Washington. He remained there until 1869, then for two years following taught school in various locations, being especially noted for excellence in mathematics. In 1873 he turned his attention to surveying, in which he soon became so proficient as to re- ceive a contract from the Government to survey the Yakima Indian reservation. A business visit to Washington, D. C., was followed on his return to the Territory by his taking a position as mate on a steamer owned by his brother, running be- tween Olympia and Seattle. A few months found him Captain and finally sole owner. It was through the operations of this steamer (the Zephyr) that Captain
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Ballard laid the foundation of the handsome fortune he now possesses, for she did a large and most profitable business in his hands until he sold her in 1887. In the beginning of his steamboat career he began speculating in real estate. One of his most fortunate investments was in 1883, when, with Judge Burke and John Leary, he purchased seven hundred acres, the present site of Ballard, a suburb of Seattle. This land, which then cost but a few dollars per acre, has since sold as high as $6000 per acre. They still own the greater portion of it, which is held by a corporation known as the West Coast Improvement Company, of which Captain Ballard has been the Manager since its incorporation. He was also one of the organizers of the Seattle National Bank, whose original capital was $250,000. Of this institution he is now President and Manager. They have erected one of the finest bank buildings on the Pacific coast. He is also Presi- dent of the First National Bank of Waterville, Washı., and a Director in others. He is largely interested in local electric roads and elevators. He is a man of fine business judgment, progressive ideas, and great public spirit. No man stands higher in the commercial circles of Seattle. He was married in 1882 to Estelle Thorndyke, of Maine. They have had four children, of whom only one, an in- fant son, survives.
BAKER, J. E., banker, of New Whatcom, was born in Illinois, February 5th, 1857. After the usual rudimentary instruction he entered the Illinois Wesleyan University, graduating with the degree of B.A. He then busied himself with telegraphy, and was an Operator for five years, devoting his leisure moments to study. Settling in Logan County, Ill., he became a stock-raiser, a pursuit which he followed profitably in connection with speculating in real estate. The fall of 1888 found him travelling westward. After spending six months in Helena, Mont., he journeyed to Spokane, and thence to New Whatcom, where he has set- tled permanently, and is interested in banking, being the Cashier of the Colum- bia National Bank of Whatcom, a position which he very creditably fills. He was married in Logan County, Ill., in 1880, to Miss Olive E. Clark, of that locality. They have two children. Mr. Baker is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the President of the Fair Haven and New Whatcom Electric Street Railway, and a stickler for political purification and greater integrity in official life.
BARLOW, BYRON, of Tacoma, a man of many occupations, but displaying rare executive abilities in all, was born in Plymouth, Wayne County, Mich., June 5th, 1838, and received a common school education in his native place. In 1852 he made the slow and tedious journey of those days across the plains, locating in Portland, Ore. Here, after a sojourn of a year and a half, he removed to Rainier, Ore., where he remained till he reached his majority, finishing his education in Vancouver in the Catholic school. Returning to Rainier, he entered into part- nership with A. P. Minear, establishing a dry-goods and grocery business, which he continued four years ; thence to Idaho and Montana, where he engaged in mining and packing for two years. He was appointed, in 1865, First Lieutenant of Company K in an Oregon Infantry Regiment, serving for one year till mustered out at Vancouver, Wash. Mr. Barlow was married in December of 1864 to Miss Frances Bartlett, of Du Page County, Ill. They have one child, a son, who grew
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to manhood. After marrying, Mr. Barlow located in Cowlitz County, and occu- pied himself for two years in farming. In 1869 he was elected to represent the people of Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties in the Lower House, in which capac- ity he served one term. In 1870 he was appointed Farmer in charge of the Puy- allup Indian Reservation, and so continued for four years. He came to Tacoma. in the spring of 1875, and engaged in various pursuits-lumbering, merchandis- ing, milling, real estate, etc. - in which he still continues to interest himself. He is at present the contractor for the Port Orchard Dry Dock. Few men can equal him in versatility and power of adaptation in all that he undertakes.
BARNES, SARAH A., a pioneer resident and farmer of Dixie, Walla Walla County, Wash., was born in Indiana in 1835. Her parents were also natives of that State, and her father was a soldier of the War of 1812. Mrs. Barnes received her early education in the " subscription schools" of that then primitive region. In 1849 she became the wife of William T. Barnes, of Missouri. She lived and farmed with her husband in Holt County, Mo., until 1852, when they removed to Oregon, took up a farm in the Willamette Valley, and continued to reside in Washington County, Ore., until 1864. They then came to Walla Walla County, Wash., and settled on Dry Creek, twelve miles east of Walla Walla City, where Mr. Barnes died in 1892. Mr. Barnes had the reputation of having been an im- portant factor in the progress and substantial improvement of the neighborhood where he dwelt, a good man and a true. The widow has eight children, some of whom are married. She herself sustains a high character in the community. Her journey across the plains was full of adventure and much disaster, the party with which she travelled being attacked with fever and cholera in addition to the ordinary difficulties and dangers of the way. It is to the sterling courage, energy, and patient endurance of women like Mis. Barnes that the Northwest owes its prosperous and highly civilized condition of to-day.
BARNES, S. W., collector and loan and mortgage negotiator, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Richmond, Va., fifty-one years ago. He is the son of Jacob F. and Sarah A. (Osgood) Barnes of the same State. Educated in the public schools of Virginia, with some additional academical advantages, young Barnes began the business of life by enlisting, in 1861, in the Confederate artillery, serving under Stonewall Jackson. He was in the battles of Big Bethel, seven days' fight around Richmond, Seven Pines, and nearly all the great battles of the Civil War up to the time of Lee's final surrender, an event at which Mr. Barnes was pres- ent and an interested observer. After the war he engaged in farming ; went to the oil regions in West Virginia in 1869, remained there until 1880, then removed to Kansas to engage in merchandising. After various changes of location, he reached Ellensburg, Wash., in 1886, and began the prosecution of his present business, in which he has been eminently successful. He has been a member of the City Council, and was for three years Secretary of the Board of Trade. He was married in 1878 to Miss Fannie L. Thompson, a native of West Virginia. They have one child. Mr. Barnes owns a pleasant city home and other valuable property. He is a Democrat in politics, and a public-spirited and upright citizen.
Conbrakeman
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BARTHOLET, JOSEPH, a citizen of North Yakima, was born in Germany, in 1814. Though of humble origin, Mr. Bartholet has worked his way up- ward until he finds the evening of his days crowned not only with positions of honor which he has been called upon to fill by his fellow-citizens, but blessed with a sufficient competence to render him independent of pecuniary anxieties. The subject of our sketch received his early education in the public schools of his native land. He came to the United States in 1845, locating in Wisconsin. en- gaging in farming for eight years. In 1854 he removed to Minnesota and kept a hotel for twenty-two years. Coming to the Pacific Coast in 1875, he first settled in Oregon, but after four years' pursuit of the same business he migrated to North Yakima, when the town was just emerging from the wilderness. He is, in fact, one of its oldest surviving pioneers. Mr. Bartholet married in 1850 Miss Annie M. Mechtel, a German lady, who died in 1887, leaving a family of seven children, all of whom are prominent and highly respected in the positions they have been called to occupy. Mr. Bartholet filled the office of Assessor in Minne- sota, was at one time Mayor of Yakima City, and is one of the Board of Directors in the Yakimna National Bank. Notwithstanding his advanced life, he takes great interest in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of Yakima and the State at large. He has a handsome residence in the city, and is also pos- sessed of valuable country property.
BARTHOLET, JOHN, hotel-keeper, of North Yakima, was born in Port Washing- ton, Wis., in 1852. His father, Joseph Bartholet, was a native of Germany and one of the oldest settlers of Yakima County. His mother, Annie Mary (Mechtel) Bartholet, was also an emigrant from the " Fatherland.". Educated in the pub- lic and Catholic schools of Minnesota, he began life in the hotel business, and followed it for nearly two years in that State. Coming to Washington in 1879, he located at Yakima City and became a farmer and freighter until 1885, when he removed to North Yakima, and returned to the hotel business, which he con- tinues to carry on, being the proprietor and sole owner of the Bartholet Hotel, a fine house, well located, which he manages personally. He was married in 1874, at Jordan, Minn., to Miss Mary C. Lee, a native of Wisconsin. They have an interesting group of five children. He is the owner of valuable city and country property, and is connected with various associations, both religious and secular.
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BARTLETT, E., rancher and hop-grower, of Puyallup, was born January 17th, 1853, in Manchester, N. H. At the age of fourteen he removed to Providence, R. I., with his parents. His early education was obtained through the medium of the excellent New England common schools, supplemented by a course in Bry- ant & Stratton's Business College, which he attended evenings while working during the day as an apprentice to a machinist. Having completed his time, he followed contracting until 1875, when he removed to San Francisco, Cal., where he remained until 1878, when he settled at his present location at Puyallup. Here he engaged in the manufacture of barrels for eleven years, but relinquished it to devote himself to hop-growing. general ranching, the raising of fancy stock, and similar avocations. Mr. Bartlett was married in May, 1881, to Miss Millie Ross, of Puyallup. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities.
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BARTLETT, NELSON, a farmer, of Latah, Wash., was born in the State of New York in 1868, his parents being Thomas B. and Samantha (Perley) Bartlett. His father was an English farmer who came to America and located in Ohio, after- ward removing to Missouri, where he remained for a number of years. The sub- ject of our sketch came to Latah in 1880. Mr. Bartlett married Miss Sarah Ayrs, by whom he has nine children, of whom seven are living. He is a careful and painstaking agriculturist, having a fine farm, good orchards, and all that goes to making cultivation a success. Himself and wife are efficient members of that de- nomination (the Methodist) which has done so much for the religious advance- ment of the Far West.
BASSETT, HENRY W., contractor and builder, of Palouse, Wash., was born in Minnesota in 1857. His father, I. S. Bassett, was a Pennsylvanian, his mother being a native of New York. Ninth in a family of ten children born to his parents, young Bassett gained his early education in the common and higher schools of his native place, and then for five years became a teacher himself in Minnesota and Wisconsin, his wife having been one of his pupils. Leaving this occupation for railroading, he was employed until 1888 in the service of the Canadian and Northern Pacific. Coming to Washington, he located at Palouse City, where he devoted himself to contracting and building, in which he is still engaged. The best buildings in the city of Palouse stand as monuments and ex- ponents of Mr. Bassett's faithfulness and professional skill. He married in 1886 Miss Emma McLean, a native of Minnesota. They have one child. Mr. Bassett owns the electric light plant of the city, and also conducts a sash and door fac- tory. He has a pleasant city residence, is half owner of the First National Bank building, the handsomest structure in Palouse, and lias a similar interest in the Sunnyside real estate addition. In politics he is a Republican. He has served as a member of the City Council, and is in all respects a valuable and progressive citizen of the town he has done so much to beautify and enrich.
BEAN, CHARLES W., of Wawawai. Wash., a past master of that most difficult, and, in many respects, thankless profession, school-teaching, was born in Indi- ana in 1854. He was the eighth of a family reaching the patriarchal number of eleven born to his parents, his father being an Indiana farmer, and his mother a native of Tennessee. His parents moved to Kansas while he was yet in his in- fancy, and thus he grew up with only the very meagre educational advantages offered in a frontier territory during the troublous times of the early history of that State. Notwithstanding these disadvantages of environment, he was pre- pared, largely by his own effort, to enter the freshman class of Lane University at the age of eighteen, and graduated from that institution with the degree of A.B. in 1878. Adopting the calling of a teacher, he followed his profession in the public schools of Kansas, occupying the position of Superintendent of the Schools of Nortonville, and later of Meriden, which latter position he resigned in 1882 to accept the Principalship of Washington Seminary in the State of Wash- ington, where he continued till 1885. Removing to Whitman County, he en- gaged for a time in fruit-growing and stock-raising, but in 1888 was recalled to the educational field by liis election to the office of Superintendent of Common
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Schools of the county. He was re-elected in 1890, and in 1892 was elected on the Republican ticket as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Mr. Bean was married in 1880 to Miss Sarah E. S. Wenrich, of Iowa, a daugh- ter of Rev. David Wenrich, of that State. They have three children, and have a pleasant home on their fruit farm in the valley of the Snake River. Popular and efficient in his arduous work, he has every reason to congratulate himself on his well-deserved success and abundant appreciation. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World, a close student, a genial gentleman, and a ripe scholar.
BEAN, JOHN .W., M.D., a leading physician and accomplislied surgeon of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Oregon in 1858. His father was a Missouri farmer, and his mother, Julia A. (Sharp) Bean, was a native of Ohio. Receiving his rudimentary education in the common schools, supplemented by a scientific course in the State University at Eugene, from which institution he graduated in 1880 with the degree of B.S .. he entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Phila- delphia, from which he graduated as an M.D. in 1882, and began the active practice of his profession at Dallas, Polk County, Ore. Two years later he re- moved his office to Salem, Ore., and after a stay of one and a half years there located at Ellensburg in 1887, where he has since remained, building up a large and constantly increasing practice. Dr. Bean was married in 1885 to Miss S. L. Lee, at Dallas, Ore., she being a native of that State. They have one child. He has a handsome city residence and considerable stock range. He is a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity (is now Grand High Priest of the Grand Chap- ter of Royal Arch Masons of Washington), a Republican in politics, a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners. and a gentleman whose marked abilities and genial character adorn the circles in which he moves.
BELL, CHARLES R., farmer, of Latah, was born in Hardwick County, Ind., the youngest of the eight children of Charles C. C. and Catherine (Reid) Bell. His father was a Democratic politician, on which ticket he was elected to office in Indiana. His mother was a native of Kentucky, the daughter of a pioneer made prisoner by the savages during the Virginia Indian War. He afterward moved with his family to Davis County, Ia , where he died. The early life of our subject was passed upon a farm. Coming to the front, he served three years with the Third Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War. Mr. Bell was one of the very early settlers of Latah, coming to that then wild and dangerous region in 1876. He had many adventures, which he is still fond of relating, with the savages, then more or less troublesome. The first school-house built in Latah still stands upon his farm, and is known as the old Bell school-house. It was a rude structure of logs. The new one now occupies a corner of his land. Mr. Bell married Miss Mary Ann Scholds, of Wayne County, Ia., by whom he has had eight children. He is a Methodist in his religious and a Democrat in his political faith ; a man honored and respected by his neighbors, with all the regard which should be accorded to a worthy " old pioneer."
BELL, THOMAS, of Latah, Wash., whose fine farm the cessation of savage war- fare that so disturbed the early settlers of Washington and Oregon territories now
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permits him peacefully to till, was born in Canada in 1848, being the son of Rob- ert and I-abella (Morrow) Bell. His father, a Scotch farmer, was reared in that thrifty school of careful and painstaking agriculture which well fitted him to in- struct, both by precept and example, the son who was to make his way in the world by the same vocation. Coming to the Territory in 1875, he finally settled at Latah, where for a time he suffered from the fear and reality of Indian assaults and depredations. In 1884 Mr. Bell married Miss Etta Bartlett, by whom he has three children. His farm and improvements show what patient labor can extort from the unwilling wilderness, making the domain of primitive nature to " blos- som as the rose."
BELLAMY, FRANK C., banker, of Ritzville, Wash., was born in Connecticut in 1857. His father, Cornelius Bellamy, was a Superintendent of Mills in that State, of which his mother, Adelia (Pritchard) Bellamy, was also a native. He received his education in the public schools, and then entered a factory in the town where he was born. Coming westward in 1877, he located at Ritzville, Wash., and engaged in general merchandising until 1891, when he entered the employ of the Adams County Bank as bookkeeper and teller, a position which lie continues to fill. Mr. Bellamy was married in 1890 to Miss Minnie J. Munson, of Winsted, Conn. He is a Past Master of the Masonic fraternity, and has real estate interests in various parts of the State. He is a Republican in politics, genial in manner, and enjoys as a business man the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.
BENNETT, BURTON ELLSWORTH, attorney at-law, of Seattle, Wash., was born at North Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y., April 17th, 1863. After passing through the common schools of his native town he entered the Brookfield Acad- emy, the seventh in rank in the State of New York, graduating therefrom in his seventeenth year. Thereafter he received the diploma of the State of New York admitting him to the rank of Academic Graduate. In the fall of 1881 he matricu- lated at the Cornell University at Ithaca, N. Y., and graduated therefrom in 1885 with honors for general excellence, being one of three in his course to obtain so high a standing. He was elected Orator of his class, and delivered the class-day oration at commencement. In 1884 and 1885 he was editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, and during his senior year was President of the Irving Literary Society. Leaving Cornell with her honors lavished upon him, he began the study of law, and in 1887 was admitted to practise as an attorney and counsellor-at-law in all the courts of the State of New York. He thereupon entered upon the practice of his profession in Utica, N. Y., but the same fall came to Seattle with his younger brother. Byron L. Bennett, who was in poor health. The climate not agreeing with him, they both went to California. In the fall of 1889 his brother's health had improved so much that he returned East to enter upon a course of medical study. Mr. Bennett thereupon returned to Seattle and entered upon the practice of law. In 1891 his brother, too, came to Seattle, but his health was too far gone to be recovered, and on December 10th, 1891, he died.
In politics Mr. Bennett is a staunch Democrat. In 1892 he was made a mem- ber of the Board of Park Commissioners of the city of Seattle, being appointed for a five years' term. He was a member of the Democratic city convention and
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of the two county conventions in 1892 ; he also sat in the State convention at Olympia in 1892, being elected a delegate from the Forty-third Representative District. The same fall he was elected a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of King County for a two-year term. A thoroughly educated, gifted, and equipped man, Mr. Bennett takes pride in his descent from one of the old New England Puritan families, whose deeds in our struggle for independence are matters of history. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Eastern Star. He is recognized as an effective speaker both on the stump and before a jury, and as a lawyer stands high in his profession. A man still young and so eminently fitted for the battle of life cannot but succeed.
BENNIGHOFF, GEORGE F., hotel-keeper, of Sprague, Wash., was born in Ger- many in 1851. His father, George, and mother, Annie Maria (Roth) Bennighoff, were natives of Rhinefalz, in the "Fatherland." Our subject emigrated to America in 1868, and located at Philadelphia, working as a mechanic until 1870, when he went to sea as ship carpenter. After a three years' cruise he returned to New York and subsequently removed to Massachusetts, where he followed his trade until 1875, when he removed to California. He left the Golden State to return to the sea, taking service on the State of California school ship. He reached Washington Territory in 1879, settling at Walla Walla, and then at Col- fax. He visited Idaho, and made a trip to Europe in 1880, returning the same year. After a brief sojourn at Portland and at The Dalles, he finally settled at Sprague, where he engaged in the hotel business, having one of the largest and best equipped houses in that section of the State. It represents an invested capi- tal of $30,000. Mr. Bennighoff has other property interests, is counted a thriv- ing man, well adapted both by tact and enterprise to succeed in that most diffi- cult calling, keeping a hotel.
BENSON, EDWIN F., real-estate broker and attorney-at-law, of North Yakima, was born in Maine in 1861. His father, Freeland H. Benson, a seafaring nian, and his mother, Elizabeth H. (Sadler) Benson, were also from the Pine Tree State. Educated in the public schools of Boston, noted for their thorough-going training, young Benson supplemented their teaching with a law course in the uni- versity of that city, graduating in 1881, and being admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in the year following. He began active practice in Boston, but after a few months' experience concluded to remove to California, from whence he migrated to Washington Territory, locating in the city of Spokane. Going to Lincoln County, he engaged in stock-raising and other pursuits, remaining in that section of the State until 1891, when he became the first Agent of the Land Department of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Yakima City, a position which he still holds, discharging the important duties committed to his charge, which are very large in this section, to the entire satisfaction of that corporation. Mr. Benson was married in 1884 to Miss Eppia Kimball, a Boston lady. They have one child. Mr. Benson was elected Probate Judge of Lincoln County, being the first to fill the position in that county. He has a pleasant home, is the owner of valuable realty and stock in various localities, including six hundred acres under cultiva- tion in one body. He is a Democrat in politics, and withal a shrewd, prompt,
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