USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 56
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MACREADY, JOHN, hardware merchant and well-esteemed citizen of Tacoma, Wash., was born in Newark, N. J., April 15th, 1856. He removed with his parents to Cloversport, Ky., where his father was the first manufacturer of coal oil in the United States ; from there to Council Bluffs, Ia., in 1857, and then to Sioux City, where his family resided for eighteen years, and where the subject of our sketch received his rudimentary education-leaving school at an early age to become an office boy for E. W. Skinner, of Sioux City, with whom he remained for six years, and then engaged as General Manager of the whole- sale paper house of J. M. Pinckney in Sioux City, continuing in his employ for three years. Three more were passed as General Agent and Manager of the Sioux City Button Manufacturing Company. Coming to Tacoma in 1882, he bought into the firm of I. P. Chilberg, but was burned out in the fire of 1884, losing everything. He, however, built, put in a fine stock of hardware, and has con- tinued in the same business ever since, under the firm name of John Macready & Co. A thoroughgoing business man, he has been very successful, a self-made man of the pushing, ever-growing Northwest. Mr. Macready married, September 8th, 1887, Miss Mary J. Harris, of Sioux City, Ia., a niece of Governor Lewis of Wisconsin, the celebrated war governor of that State. Two children grace their union. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Commercial Club. He has never sought, but rather declined all political honors.
MARTIN, BENJAMIN, Cashier of the Adams County Bank, of Ritzville, Wash., born November 15th, 1868, in Wisconsin, was the son of John Martin, a Presby-
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terian clergyman of Ohio, and Sarah E. (King) Martin, also a native of that State. Third in a family of four, young Martin received his first instruction in the com- mon schools of his native State, then entered Silver Ridge Seminary, where he took a classical course and graduated in 1881. Returning to his parental home at St. Helena, Neb., he remained for a few months. then removed to Hartington, Neb., where he engaged in the printing business for eighteen months. He then learned telegraphy, becoming an operator in the employ of the C. & W. W. R.R., with whom he remained until 1889, when he returned to Nebraska and entered the Cedar County Bank, Hartington, where he thoroughly familiarized himself with the banking business. Coming to Washington in 1891 he took charge of the Adams County Bank of Ritzville as Cashier, a position he still holds. It is a thriving institution, with a paid-up capital of $25,000. Mr. Martin was married September 1st, 1892, to Miss Mattie E. Greene, a native of Pennsylvania, her father being a leading merchant of Ritzville. Mr. Martin is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a Republican. His paternal grandfather was a district judge in Ohio for a score of years. His father was twice mayor of a city in that State. On the maternal side seven uncles died in the war for the Union, and were with Fremont when he raised the flag on Pike's Peak. A truly patriotic ancestry, whose reputation Mr. Martin seems not likely to diminish.
MASON, MARTIN, farmer and stockman, of Kittitas Valley, Wash., was born in New York in 1848. His father, born in 1825, and his mother, in 1824, were also natives of the Empire State. The family removed to Michigan, where the father engaged in lumbering in 1862. He was a soldier of the Civil War, having enlisted in a Michigan, regiment. He returned to his farm after the war, and removed to Washington in 1875, where he now lives. The subject of our sketch is the eldest of three children. He received his early education in Michigan and began life there. Coming to Washington in 1886 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of fine land two and a half miles west of Ellensburg, but followed lum- bering for the first two years. He was first married in Michigan in 1869, to Miss Anna Silsby, who was born in Michigan in 1854, and died in 1889, leaving two children. In 1890 Mr. Mason married Mrs. Mary Harrison, a widow, who was born in New York in 1848. Mr. Mason is much interested in the breeding of fine stock, making a specialty of Durham cattle, Hamilton horses, etc.
MATKIN, RUSSEL FINLEY, grocer, of Starbuck, Wash., was born in Appanoose County, Ia., in 1858. His father, John Russel Matkin, was a farmer of Putnam County, Ind., and his mother, Elizabeth Matkin, was a native of that State. Educated at the public schools and at Seymour College, Seymour, Ia., young Matkin began life on a farm in that State, where he worked until 1883, and then removed to Washington Territory, locating five miles west of Starbuck, Columbia County, on a farm, where he remained until about a year ago, when he moved into Starbuck and engaged in the general grocery business with growing success. He was married in 1877 to Miss Laura Jane McGee, a native of Appanoose County, Ia. They have a family of three children. Mr. Matkin owns, besides his private residence, valuable farm and city property. He has been Justice of the Peace, and is in all respects a representative man in the city where he dwells.
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MCAULAY, MALCOLM, a business man of Spangle, Wash , was born in St. Ann's, Victoria County, Nova Scotia, August 10th, 1860. His parents, August and Isabel (McIver) McAulay, were both natives of Stoneway, Scotland. They emigrated to Nova Scotia about 1840 ; here they fished and farmed. The father died about 1872 ; the mother still survives and lives upon the old homestead. After four years' schooling at St. Ann's, young McAulay was apprenticed for two years to a barber. Turning his face westward, he journeyed to Wisconsin, Duluth, Minn., Winnipeg, and Lethbridge, at which latter place he worked two years at his trade. After many wanderings, during which he was present at the Chinese troubles in Wyoming at Rock Spring, he reached Walla Walla, Wash., and after making the tour of the Sound finally settled at Spangle. Mr. McAulay was married to Miss Phæbe Richardson, of Oregon, daughter of E. T. Richard- son, August 28th, 1891. He is a Democrat in politics, and owns, besides his city property, a good ranch in its vicinity.
MCCANDLY, J. D., of Centralia, Wash., was born in Iredell County, N. C., May 8th, 1845, and when two years old moved with his parents to McDowell County, in the same State. Our subject was reared upon a farm and received a common-school education. He enlisted May 20th, 1862, in Company C, Forty ninth North Carolina Regiment, and joined the Army of the Potomac. He was in active service at the battles of Gettysburg and the Wilderness and at Richi- mond. He was stationed at Petersburg, and on March 25th, before the surrender, he was one of seventy men who volunteered to break the lines in front of the city, which they did and held the same from 4 o'clock in the morning until 10. At this engagement our subject was shot through with a minie ball and was carried off the field for dead. He was sent to the hospital at Richmond, where he stayed for eighteen months before he was able to walk. Returning to McDowell County he followed farming for four years, then moved to Richmond, Ind., where he remained five years, engaged in carpentering. His next move was to Francis City, Mich., where he spent one year. Then going to Asheville, N. C., he engaged in contracting and building, which he successfully continued for eight years. Then coming to Portland, Ore., he remained there three years, building and dealing in real estate, after which he located at Centralia, Wash., where he has since resided. Here he is actively and successfully engaged in real estate and building. His reliability is a distinguishing characteristic of his nature, and in the possession of this substantial faculty he enjoys the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. He is a careful, thorough business man, punc- tual in the discharge of every duty, and his success has been won by earnest and persistent effort.
MCCARTHER, J. T., Manager of the J. T. McCarther Investment Agency, was born in Rockland, N. Y., September 15th, 1849. His early education was acquired in the old-fashioned log school-house. When he was six years old his parents removed to Wisconsin, where he attended the public schools in winter, spending the summer months in work upon the farm. At the age of fourteen he left the parental roof and went into the lumber regions in Michigan, where in .the course of a few years he accumulated sufficient means to purchase a small
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farm in Illinois, and settled in that State. During the period of the mining ex- citement at Black Hills, Mr. McCarther was seized with the fever and tried his luck in that region for awhile, making considerable money in real estate and mines. In 1877 he located at Fargo, Dak., and was engaged in the real estate business there for the next six years. Mr. McCarther came to Spokane, Wash., in 1883, with a view to working the territory thoroughly for opportunities of profitable investments. He became convinced at once that Washington was destined to become a great trade and industry centre in the near future, and after making several very profitable investments for Eastern parties, a company was organized in Washington, D. C., with a capital of $100,000, which was placed in charge of Mr. McCarther, and by him carefully invested in Washington State, with most profitable results. Mr. McCarther is now located at Everett, where he is engaged in making investments for non-residents. He is a man of sound busi- ness judgment and remarkable firmness of character, which, added to his large experience and accurate knowledge of the State, render his opinions in regard to real estate investments of great value. He is the oldest and one of the best known investment agents on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Mr. McCarther was married in 1880 to Miss Priscilla Mason, of Cleveland, O. They have no children.
McCLAIR, M. S., photographer, of Seattle, Wash., was born in Eastport, Minn., January 15th, 1858, accompanied his parents to Redwood, Cal., at the age of six, attended school until fifteen years old, when he was apprenticed to a car- riage and sign painter. Serving out his time and possessing a natural taste for the æsthetic, young McClair became an art student in the California School of Design at San Francisco, under Virgil Williams, for nearly two years. He then engaged in various avocations, but the artistic taste which still dominated him induced him to devote himself to photography, and he became Manager for Abel's Gallery in Portland, Ore., a position which he retained for six years. In 1884 he removed to Seattle, Wash., and opened a gallery, which he continued to conduct up to the time of the great fire of June 6th, 1889, when he was burned out, but reopened his place as soon as he could obtain a suitable studio. He is a very conscientious and painstaking operator, infusing into that which is supposed to be purely mechanical a poetry and pose which only the true artist can success- fully secure. Mr. McClair was married in November, 1881, to Miss Annie H. Armstrong, of Plymouth, England. They have four children.
McCONIHE, LUCIEN FORREST, City Clerk, and Superintendent of the Water Works of Roslyn, Wash., a position which he has filled since the organization of that city, was born in Illinois in 1858, and is the son of Lucien H. and Isabel W. McConihe. He received his early education in the public and high schools of Prince- ton, Ill., and began life as a clerk in the post-office in that place for two years. He travelled widely through the United States during his younger days with his father, who was a large cattle dealer, He came to Washington Territory about five years ago, locating at Roslyn, and soon became identified with the interests of the community where he dwells, and which interests he has consistently en- deavored to advance, both in his official capacity and as a private citizen. Mr.
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McConihe was married in 1885 at Chicago, to Miss Julia S. Charbonnel, a lady whose family are prominent in Montreal. They have three children. He is the owner of a city residence and other valuable improved property. He is an active Democrat, being Vice-Chairman of the County Central Committee, and bears an enviable reputation as a businesslike and honorable man,
MCCORMICK, WILLIAM W., M.D., a physician and surgeon of North Yakima, was born in Wisconsin in 1865. His father, Wesley McCormick, was a native of Scotland, by profession a farmer and stock-raiser ; his mother, Lucinda McCormick, being from Pennsylvania. After the usual common-school prepara- tion, Dr. McCormick studied medicine at the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, supplementing it with a course at a similar institution in Denver, from which he graduated in 1888 with the degree of M.D. He remained a year in Denver, re- ceiving his diploma as a director in the People's Tabernacle Free Dispensary and the College Clinic ; he was also Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, Surgeon to the Arapahoe Company and Denver City Hospital, and Visiting Physician to the Colorado State Woman's Hospital. Coming to Washington in 1889, he settled at Tacoma and was engaged in active practice in that city, being also a member of McCormick Bros., wholesale meat company, one of the largest on Puget Sound, operating the Union Stock Yards and numerous retail markets at Tacoma. Dis- posing of his interests there in 1892, he removed to North Yakima, where he is now a leading practitioner, making surgery a specialty. He is a member of the Sons of America, Knights of Pythias, of the Arapahoe County Medical Society and Denver Medical Association, as also of the Pierce County Medical, Tacoma City Medical, Yakima County Medical Society, and others of a like character, and Health Officer of the city of North Yakima. He has a fine library, is a close student, and has declined various offices to which he has been nominated. . He is devoted to the People's Party in politics, but far more to the profession of his choice.
McCORNACK, J. K., banker, of Palouse, Wash., was born at Eugene City, Ore., in 1863. His father, Andrew McCornack, was a farmer and a native of Scotland ; his mother, Maria Eaken, was a Scotch woman. The subject of our sketch was the tenth child in a family of twelve. Educated at the public schools of Oregon, he became at the age of sixteen a student in the State University, but did not graduate, though nearly finishing the full course. Locating at Salem, Ore., he became a clerk in the State Land Office. Here he remained two years, removing to Mendocino, Cal., taking charge of important work along the coast, Going to San Francisco, he took a business course at Heald's' College, which he finished in 1880, and returned to Oregon, re-entering the State Land Office at Salem. He was transferred to The Dalles as Chief Clerk in the United States Land Office, and remained a year in that position, then filled three years as clerk in The Dalles National Bank. Coming to Washington in 1889, he organized, in partnership with Mr. Cooledge, of Colfax, the Security State Bank, with a paid- up capital of $60,000, and since that time has acted as Cashier and Manager of this bank. Mr. McCornack was married in 1887, and has two children, He has held the office of City Treasurer, is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Knights
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of Pythias, and in politics a Republican. He is reputed to hold a high place in the esteem of his fellow-townsmen as a capable and reliable business man.
McCOY, J. I., merchant, and Postmaster of Elberton, Wash., was born in Oregon, April 24th, 1857. His parents, John and Sarah (Junkin) McCoy, were natives of Ohio. They were early emigrants to Oregon, crossing the plains in 1845. The father served as a member of the Territorial Legislature for several terms. Educated in the public schools of Oregon, young McCoy's first employ- ment, after completing his schooling, was upon his father's farm until the spring of 1879, when he removed to British Columbia. A brief stay in that region determined him to go to California, and from thence to Nevada, in both of which he engaged in various occupations, for the most part that of bookkeeper. Migrat- ing to Washington, he finally settled at Elberton in 1886, opening a store in part- nership with W. N. Smith. They erected their own building and have a pros- perous trade. Mr. McCoy has invested considerably in town property. He was appointed Postmaster in 1887, an office which he is well qualified to fill. He was married in 1889 to Miss Martha Long, who was born July 22d, 1870. They have two children. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity and votes the Prohibition ticket.
McCOY, MASON C., farmer and breeder of fine stock, of Walla Walla County, Wash., was born in Iowa in 1825. His father was a Kentucky pioneer. Young McCoy received such limited education as the district schools of Texas could in that early day supply, and began life for himself at the age of fourteen. In 1857 he emigrated to California, having a hard time of it in crossing the plains, having stock stolen and some of their party killed by the Indians. After working in a lumber mill in the Golden State for three years, he went to Idaho in 1861 and engaged in mining with indifferent success, Going to Oregon, he entered the Government employ under Captain Drake, of the Oregon Volunteers, and. was in the engagement on Crooked River, in which Lieutenant Watson was killed. As chief scout under General Crook, he saw service in Arizona against the murderous Apaches. Leaving the service, he became a stock-raiser in Southern Oregon, but afterward removed that business to Walla Walla Valley, where, after several years of success, the hard winter of 1884 destroyed one thousand head of his cattle. He is now the owner of a farm of three hundred and twenty acres eight miles southeast of Waitsburg, which has proved very productive. He is also proud of his success in raising Morgan horses of a superior breed.
MCCROSKEY, J. P. T., a retired farmer, of Colfax, Wash., was born in Rock- ville, Tenn., October 8th, 1828. His father, John McCroskey, the first Sheriff of Monroe County, Tenn., was born in Virginia in 1792. His mother, Lucinda (Grant) McCroskey, was a North. Carolinian, born in 1802. His education was received in the common schools and a collegiate institution of Tennessee. After serving an apprenticeship at the tanner's trade, he remained at home until 1852, then went to California. He made a visit to Panama, and, returning, remained in the Golden State until 1858, when he went to Texas and Tennessee. He re- visited the Pacific Coast in 1879, and after a short stay in California settled in
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Washington and took up a claim about five miles west of Elberton. Since then he has been adding to his farm by purchase, until he has about six hundred and forty acres. He was married in 1858 to Miss Mary M. Gallager, a daughter of George and Lucinda (King) Gallager, a descendant from one of the old Irish families. They have ten children. Mr. McCroskey was a member of the Wash- ington Constitutional Convention in 1889 from the Sixth District, is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, votes the Democratic ticket, owns town property in Gar- field, Oaksdale, and Elberton, but resides at Colfax, renting out his farm.
MCCROSKEY, HON. R. C., farmer and banker, of Garfield, Wash., was born in Monroe County, Tenn., March 10th, 1845. His father, John McCroskey, was a Tennessee farmer, his mother, Priscilla (McCray) McCroskey, being a native of the same State. Sixth in a family of eight, young McCroskey was educated in the common schools, supplemented by a classical collegiate course in the section of his nativity. Graduating in 1868 with the degree of A.B., he located in Tennessee, and after teaching school for a year, removed to California, where he engaged in farming and teaching. In 1873 he was elected on the Democratic ticket School Superintendent of Monterey County, an office which he filled for three consecutive terms. Other positions were tendered him, but refused on account of ill health. Returning to Tennessee in 1882, he married Miss Blanche Huston, a native of that State. After a period of farming in California he sold out and migrated to his present location, where he occupies himself in cultivating his land and banking. He is the owner of six quarter sections of very valuable land adjoining the site of Garfield. He has a fine residence, a special system of irrigation, is a director in the local bank, and a stockholder in that and other financial enterprises, including the Warehouse Association of Eastern Washing- ton, of which he is President. He was a Captain in the Confederate Army, and in this capacity was present and engaged in many battles of the war. A man of marked ability and great individuality of character, Mr. McCroskey has been spoken of as the possible Governor of the Evergreen State, but the condition of his health disinclines him to accept office. He is a member of the State Senate of Washington.
MCCROSKEY, ROBERT L., born in Monroe County, East Teun., in 1863, was the son of a planter. Educated in the public schools of his native State, and as a student of the Monroe High School, in which he took a thorough course, he enjoyed exceptional advantages, laying a good foundation for the important life- work before him. He came West with his parents, who settled in Whitman County, Wash., in 1879. Here he taught school and worked on his father's farm till he went to California and became a student in the office of his uncle, a dis- tinguished attorney of that State ; was admitted to the California Bar in 1885, and in 1887, having moved to Colfax, was authorized to practice in that of Washington. Entering the office of one of the leading law firms, he became a. partner in 1888, but upon its dissolution some six months afterward founded the firm of Hanna & McCroskey, which still exists. (Mr. Hanna was the Democratic nominee for Judge of the Supreme Court of Washington.) In 1890 Mr. McCroskey was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Whitman, carrying, though
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a Democrat, through his personal popularity what had always been considered a strong Republican district. He is the owner of a pleasant home in the city of Colfax and the possessor of some valuable farming land ; is a worthy member of the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic Order ; has one of the best private libraries in the county, and is on intimate terms with the treasures thus collected. A man of genial disposition and rare mental attainments, District Attorney McCroskey is universally esteemed. He married in 1890 Miss Kittie Mabel Bragg, a native of Oregon.
MCEWEN, J. H., farmer and stockman, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Indiana in 1832. His parents were North Carolinians, his father having been a popular Baptist preacher in that State, while his grandfather figured as a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Young McEwen received his early education in Indiana and moved to Iowa in 1850, where he began working for himself. In 1860 he journeyed across the plains by ox-team to Puget Sound in a company of twenty wagons, being so fortunate as to escape an encounter with the Indians, though six months on the road. Settling in Olympia, he engaged in stock-rais- ing, but migrated to the Kittitas Valley in 1871, where he took up a homestead claim, and now owns four hundred and eighty acres of largely fertile land. He was married in Iowa in August, 1850, to Miss Juliana N. Morrow, an Illinois lady, born in 1837. Five children have been the result of their union. Mr. McEwen is a representative man of his class, of those who make the real wealth and strength of any country-the tillers of the soil.
McEWING, S. S., was born in Scotland, September 6th, 1843. His parents emigrated to Canada in 1844 and settled in the Province of Ontario, where young McEwing received such rudimentary education as the common schools could afford. He began life as a farmer at the age of eighteen, and continued his agricultural work to twenty-five. In 1868 he removed to Sacramento, Cal., where he remained until 1881. During this period he was variously employed in farming, mining, and contracting. Attracted by the superior advantages of Washington, he visited South Bend in that State and devoted himself to the hotel business for eighteen months, after which he moved to his present location in the Willapa Valley, where he bought the farm of four hundred and twenty-five acres he now cultivates, a portion of which is included in the limits of Willapa City. Mr. McEwing was elected a Commissioner to the World's Fair from Pacific County in 1891, a choice which was universally endorsed by his fellow- citizens of that region. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the best sense of the word a self-made man, full of pluck, energy, and business ability.
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