USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 62
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PETERS, JOHN R., capitalist, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Tennessee in 1857, and was educated in the public schools of Illinois, to which State he re- moved with his parents some ten years later. He took a commercial course also in the Gem City Business College, of Quincy, Ill., and began active life as a rail- road man in that State, where he labored for four years. He then removed to Oregon, where for two years he found similar employment. He next engaged with the Northern Pacific Railroad as bridge-builder, and remained with them in that capacity for nine years. He then became a bridge-builder and contractor on his own account, but finally engaged with the company of which he is at present the head, being the President of the Wenatchee and Okanogan Trans- portation Company, one of the leading enterprises in this section of the State. He came to Ellensburg in 1886, where he has invested largely in city property. He is a man of enterprise, of sound business judgment, and generally esteemed in the community.
PETERSON, WILLIAM H., capitalist, of Ellensburg, Wash., born fifty-six years ago in West Virginia, was the son of William B. Peterson, an early settler and native of that State, and Margaret (Lowther) Peterson. Educated in the public schools of that locality, and a close student withal, he followed various callings, mostly teaching, until his removal te Sullivan County, Mo., in 1869. In 1876 he removed to the Pacific Coast and travelled extensively through the Northwest. In September, 1879, he removed to Washington Territory, locating in what was thien the county of Yakima, but is now Kittitas. Here he returned to his occupation as an educator, to which he devoted himself for two years, when he was elected County Superintendent of Public Instruction, an office which he filled to general satisfaction for two years. . Upon the organization of Kittitas County he received the appointment of County Auditor, which he held for two terms, as also that of County Clerk from the organization of the county until the admission of the Ter- ritory as a State. He was a member of the second State Legislature. He is also President of the Washington State Irrigation Association. He was married in 1863, at his home in West Virginia, to Miss Annie E. Roach. They have one
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child, Virginia, who is a graduate of the State Normal School of Washington. Mr. Peterson is the owner of a city home and other realty, both urban and sub- urban. He is a Democrat in politics and a public-spirited citizen, keeping well up with the progress of the day. Personally he is a courteous and genial gentle- man, and is held in warm esteem by his many friends.
PETTYJOHN, JOHN, farmer and stockman, of Prescott, Wash., was born in Ohio. His rudimentary education was of a very desultory kind, and he is for the most part a self-taught man. His first occupation was that of a farmer, and he followed that business in his native State until 1838, when he removed to Illinois. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, where he mined for one year, having some trouble with the Indians. In 1857 he migrated to Oregon, where he worked at carpentering with considerable success. He gave his vote for and took great interest in the transfer of Oregon and Washington Territories into the sisterhood of States. In 1859 he came to Washington Territory, where he took up a homestead, and now owns a large farm four miles west of Prescott, which produces largely, averaging twenty bushels to the acre. In the hard winter of 1861-62 he lost two, hundred head of horses and cattle. He was married in 1853, and has nine children. The foregoing is only another wit- ness to the truth that energy, pluck, and perseverance will sooner or later override all difficulties and turn defeat into victory. Here we have a man without early education and devoid of capital, working his slow but certain way to financial independence and competency. Mr. Pettyjohn is evidently a representative American.
PHILIPS, ALFRED W., was born in Washington County, Pa., January 1st, 1836. His father was one of the pioneers of Western Pennsylvania, and early learned the art of war, as they constantly had to protect themselves from the raids of the Indians who inhabited that country in those days, being for many years Captain of a local military company, and later served in the War of 1812 as Major. Alfred W. received his early education in the public schools of Ohio, and later was a student of the State University of Indiana. In 1859 lie commenced his business life in the Territory of Kansas as a farmer and stock-raiser. By close attention to business he succeeded quite well, yet not without some hindrances and misfortunes. In 1883 he, with his family, removed to Walla Walla County, Wash. Here, with his four-hundred-acre farm well stocked with fine horses and hogs, it is evident that he has not mistaken his calling. In 1866 he was married to Miss Martha Harbison, of Bloomington, Ind. She was a true helpmate and a woman of noble Christian character. She died of lung disease in January, 1893. They had five children, all of whom except the youngest are or have been in attendance at the Waitsburg Academy, and are active members of the Church and Christian Endeavor Society. Mr. Philips is a Ruling Elder in the United Presby- terian Church, and is an active, energetic worker in the Church and in the educa- tional interests of his community.
PHILLIPS, FRED S., County Clerk of Stevens County, residing at Colville, was born in Kalamazoo County, Mich., September 16th, 1859. His father, Edgar E.
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Phillips, was born in Syracuse County, N. Y. ; his mother, Almira A. Knapp, was a native of Albany, N. Y. His ancestors on his mother's side were mostly ministers, while his paternal grandfather took part in the Revolutionary War. Young Phillips lost both parents at an early age-his mother when he was five years old, and his father seven years later. He was educated in the State Nor- mal School at Cedar Falls, Ia., having moved there with his father at the age of seven. He then became a clerk in a store. For four years he bought grain, prin- cipally in South Dakota, for D. R. Pitman & Co., of Minneapolis. In 1888 he removed to Chewelah, Wash., working at his trade as a carpenter and elerking in Oppenheimer's store. In 1891 he was elected on the Republican ticket as Clerk of Stevens County and went to Colville, the county seat, to reside. He has always taken a warm interest in politics, and was a Deputy Sheriff in South Dakota. He was married Christmas Day, 1881, to Miss Mary E. Whelom, of Mar- shall County, Ia. Her father was one of the first settlers in that county, and is practising to this day, being a well-known physician throughout the State of Iowa. Mr. Phillips is a candidate for re-election, a popular and highly respected citizen of the city where he resides, widely known and well liked throughout the county.
PICKARD, J. A., farmer, of Elberton, Wash., born in Indiana, December 22d, 1824, is a son of John P. Piekard, of North Carolina, who was County Treasurer and Justice of the Peace for twenty years, and Elizabeth (Cooper) Piekard, a native of Georgia. Young Pickard's early education was confined to a year's tuition in an Indiana district school. His first occupation was working on his father's farm, with whom he remained until he had reached the age of forty years. He then went to Iowa, buying a small place in 1864 and living on it for five years. He tlien removed to Oregon, and after a brief sojourn there came to Washington, settling first at Waitsburg and then in the Palouse country near Colfax. Here he remained for a few years, took up a homestead, farmed for a time, but finally rented his place and transferred his interests to Elberton, where he has invested in town property. He was married May 5th, 1850, in Clay County, Iowa, to Miss Sarah Luther. She died in 1862, leaving four ehil- dren. Mr. Piekard was married again, October 26th, 1865, to Miss Mary Hunt, daughter of Benjamin Hunt, of Kentucky. They have seven children. He is the owner of a eity residenee, has an interest in the town site, is a member of the Good Templars, and votes the Prohibition ticket.
POLAND, G. C., farmer and dairyman, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Illinois in 1844. His father was a Tennessee farmer, born in 1816, his mother a native of the same State, and born in 1824. They still reside in Illinois, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and have a family of five children, of whom our subjeet is the eldest. He received his education in the common schools of his native State, where he afterward farmed. He came to Washington in 1882, where he purchased land one mile northwest of Ellensburg, and now owns three hundred and twenty acres averaging thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. He was married in Illinois in 1869 to Miss Ruth Barringer, who was born in Illinois in 1849. Four children have been born to them. Mr. Poland was a
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soldier in the late war, having enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Seven- teenth Illinois Infantry. He served for three years, saw a great deal of active duty, but escaped without a wound, though ofttimes exposed to shot and shell. He is another evidence of the peculiar fitness to all conditions of the average American citizen-a soldier in the field for three long years of strife and battle, he returns without loss of time or friction to the fields he tilled, exchanging the musket for the plough, and, like Cincinnatus of old, resuming the peaceful pur- suits of agriculture as if war and war's alarms had been but the vision of a heat- ed fancy, a troubled dream of the midnight hour.
POOLE, MARTIN M., farmer, of Latah, Wash., was born in Iowa in 1838, being the fifth of nine children born to Micajah and Rebecca (Rolson) Poole. His father was an American farmer. Young Poole went to California in 1859 and re- sided there until his migration to Washington Territory in 1877. He was mar- ried in 1871 to Miss Rebecca Lathram, a native of Indiana. Six children are the result of this union, all of whom are living. Mr. Poole is a fine example of that class without whose ministry the land would be poor indeed, for he represents those who are in a double sense the truest breadwinners, who most directly fulfil the divine injunction to till the earth, and who do indeed make the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
PRATER, S. M., deceased, farmer and stockman, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in Missouri in 1846. His father was a Kentuckian, born in 1813, his mother a daughter of Virginia, born in the same year. His parents were married in Mis- souri in 1831 and came to California in 1859, where the father died in 1884. The mother died at Ellensburg in 1887. They were both members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. S. M. Prater came to Walla Walla in 1876 and to the Kittitas Val- ley in 1878, where he bought land five miles west of Ellensburg ; here he died November 5th, 1878, leaving a widow and two children. Mrs. Prater still carries on the farin of one hundred and sixty acres. She was educated in California, and in 1861 married Mr. F. Faris, a farmer and a soldier of the Mexican War. He was born in Missouri in 1830 and died in 1872, leaving four children. His widow married Mr. Prater in California in 1873.
PREECE, JOSEPH, farmer and stockman, of Ellensburg, Wash., was born in England in 1852. His father was a well-to-do wagon-maker, born in 1819, his mother being two years younger. They had a family of six children, of whom our subject was the third. . Mr. Preece received his early education in England, came to America in 1873, and located on Puget Sound. He made the journey as a sailor before the mast by way of Cape Horn, and was a year in making the trip. His first employment on the Sound, which lasted for seven years, was working in the lumber business. He then removed to Oregon, where he spent nine months steamboating. He revisited the Sound, then went back to Portland in 1880, and became a bridge carpenter on the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1881 he came to the Kittitas Valley, took up land, and now cultivates one hundred and sixty acres in that fertile region, which gives an average yield of thirty-six bushels and cuts three tons of hay to the acre. He is justly proud of its yield of vegetables.
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He was married in the Kittitas Valley in 1891 to Miss Mary McDonnell, who was born in Scotland in December, 1868, and accompanied her brothers to America in 1888. They have one child. Mr. Preece furnishes an excellent example to all thrifty and really energetic men of his nationality who desire to better themselves by emigrating.
PRESCOTT, DAVID S., Treasurer of Spokane County, was born in Minneapolis, Minn., June 11th, 1859. He was reared in Minneapolis and attended the public schools of his native place until the age of eleven, when he removed with his parents to Northfield, Minn., and completed his education at Carleton College. He engaged in farming near Northfield until his twenty-first birthday, when he returned to Minneapolis and became clerk for T. K. Gray, a druggist of that city, and so continued for a year and a half. Migrating to Glendive, Mon., he opened a general merchandise store at that place, which he continued about three years. He then opened a drug store in Glendive, which he carried on until his removal to Spokane, Wash., in 1887. At the latter place he accepted a position as drug clerk for Charles McNab, with whom he remained until March, 1889, when he was appointed Deputy Auditor of Spokane County. In January, 1890, he re- signed and became Secretary and Book-keeper for the Ross Park Electric Street Railway Company, which position he continued to fill until August, 1891. Dur- ing this time he was appointed Deputy County Treasurer, and continued as such until November, 1892, when he was elected County Treasurer. He was married to Miss Laura R. Betsworth, of Le Mars, Ia., November 16th, 1881. Four chil- dren grace their union-two sons and two daughters. Mr. Prescott served as a member of the Board of Education of the city of Spokane for one year. Person- ally Mr. Prescott is a genial and pleasant gentleman, and is deservedly popular. He has won an enviable name for energy, reliability, and integrity, and his efforts have largely contributed to the prosperity of the city he has chosen for his home.
PRESTON, PLATT A., of Waitsburg, Wash., was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1837. His father, Calvin Preston, was a native of Jefferson County, that State, and by profession a physician ; his mother, Margaret McAlister, was also born in the Empire State. Fifth in a family of seven, young Preston was educated in the public schools of his native State and at Princetown Academy. Removing West in 1855, he located at Omaha and engaged in ferrying for four years for the Council Bluffs and Omaha Ferry Company. In 1860 we find him mining in Colorado, and two years later in Washington Territory, or, rather, in that part of it now included in Idaho, still digging for the hidden treasure of the mine. In 1866 he reached Waitsburg and bought an interest in the milling con- cern owned by Mr. Wait, the city's founder. He was married in 1869 to Miss Laura Billups, of Iowa. They have four children. He owns one of the hand- somest residences in the city and some valuable farm property, having, in part- nership with his brother, no less than two thousand acres under cultivation, worth at least $30 an acre, and averaging thirty bushels to the acre. Mr. Preston was a member of the last Territorial Legislature, and for four years State Sena- tor. He was appointed Penitentiary Commissioner by Governor Ferry, and is also a member of the City Council and the School Board. Indeed, his offices and
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occupations, all exercised not only with credit to himself but advantage to the community at large, would fill a much greater space than we are able to accord in this brief biography. He is a Republican and Past Grand Master of the Masonic Fraternity.
PRESTON, WILLIAM G., of Waitsburg, Wash., flour mill, general merchan- dise, and farming, was born in Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., November 23d, 1832 ; was educated at the Galway Academy ; lived with his uncle, Rev. A. W. Platt, Presbyterian minister, in Tompkins County, N. Y., during 1850-52 ; went to sea from Boston to New Brunswick, New Orleans to Liverpool, returning to Galway by way of Boston in 1854, the year the Territory of Nebraska was opened for settlement. Went to Nebraska that fall by the way of Chicago and Rock Island, down the Mississippi to St. Louis and up the Missouri River, there being no railroad across Iowa, and located at Bellevue, Neb., where the executive offi- cers opened offices in the Bellevue Mission, and the Government called the first Legislature. Mr. Preston was Captain of Colonel Sarpce's large steam ferry-boat at Bellevue in 1855, and when the capital was located at Omaha and the boat sold to the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company he went with it to Omaha, and in 1857 went to Steubenville, O., and built the Omaha City, a double engine, large side-wheel boat, which at times ran as high as Sioux City in the freight business. In 1858, leaving the ferry business in charge of his brother, P. A. Preston, he went to Pike's Peak, and was one of the first on the ground at Denver, building one of the first houses there. In 1862, in company with P. A. Preston, he went to what is now North Idaho, to the Florence and Elk City Mines, and on down to Lewiston (it was then Washington Territory) ; went in by the way of Upper Snake River, crossing in a wagon bed as a boat, and by old Fort Lemhi, on the head of Salmon River. Locating in Waitsburg in 1866, he bought a half in - terest in the Washington Flouring Mills, with S. M. Wait, adding a general mer- chandise business, and with his brother, P. A. Preston, bought Mr. Wait out in 1871, and has continued in the business, at times having other associates in milling and merchandise. He is a director of the First National Bank of Waits- burg, also in the Puget Sound Dressed Beef and Packing Company, and is largely interested in farming lands and stock. He was Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Territorial Legislature of 1881. He is a Republican. He was married in 1869 to Miss Matilda Cox, daughter of Hon. Anderson Cox, who was prominently identified with the early history of Oregon and Washington. They have three sons-Herbert, Charles, and Dale.
PRICE, JAMES H., the popular Sheriff of Pierce County, residing at 712 D Street, Tacoma, was born in Oregon City, Ore., June 8th, 1847. He is a son of John B. Price, who was born in England in 1814, and was a merchant until about ten years previous to his death, when he retired from active business. Our subject's mother was born in Syracuse, N. Y., in 1819, and is still living in Oak- land, Cal. James H. attended the district schools of Clackamas County, Ore., and at the age of sixteen entered the Bishop Scott Grammar School, Oswego, Ore., which he attended some years. He then took a course of study at a Portland business college. After graduating from the latter institution, Mr. Price began
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life for himself. He came to the Sound country about twenty years ago, and has been engaged in various kinds of business. He owns considerable real estate in Tacoma besides his beautiful home. In political preference Mr. Price is a stanch Republican, and is actively interested in the welfare of his party. During his residence in Washington he has filled various positions of public trust, and four years ago was elected Sheriff of Pierce County, which responsible position he still fills. November 8th, 1892, he was elected Secretary of State for Washington for the term of four years. In every capacity in which he has figured prominently, either as a public officer or as a private citizen, he has been recognized as a most useful member of the community with which he has been so long identified. He was married at Steilacoom, Wash., June 11th, 1876, to Miss Annie Stevenson, and they have four children, Guy A., John B., Fannie G., and James H., Jr. Mr. Price is a member of the orders of Free and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Grand Army of the Republic.
PUTNEY, FOREST L., Republican representative from Pacific County District, an eminent example of what persistent effort can accomplish in attaining success, notwithstanding a lack of early educational advantages, was born at Strawberry Point, Clayton County, Ia., in 1857, and attended the common schools of his na- tive town until reaching the age of thirteen, when he removed with his father's family to the Elkhorn Valley in Nebraska. While thus living on a farm in a sparsely populated neighborhood, where there were no public schools, he obtained sufficient teaching from his father to teach in the school, where he taught five terms with great acceptance. In 1885 he purchased the Oakdale Journal, his county paper. Two years later he studied law and was admitted to practice in October of 1889. Coming to Oysterville, Mr. Putney formed a partnership with J. W. Philips in the publication of the Pacific Journal, and opened a law office. He then sold out his interests in that paper, and in the spring of 1890 purchased, and, in fact, founded the Willapa Republican. There is something peculiarly Amcrican in this progression of Mr. Putney's-self-taught scholar, schoolinaster, editor, and lawyer-a fit representative in more respects than one of the citizens of Washington.
RAMM, EDWARD H. C., farmer, of Davenport, Wash., was born in California in 1862. His father, John Ramm, farmer and distiller, was a native of Germany ; his mother, Johanna (Swartz) Ramm, being also a German. Young Ramm was cducated at the Berkeley Gymnasium, and also took a thorough course at Heald's Business College. Coming to Washington in 1882, he located at Davenport, set- tling on railroad land and engaging in farming, raising for the most part barley and wheat, in which occupation he is still engaged, having four thousand acres under cultivation. He is also the owner of valuable city improved property. He was married in 1884 to Miss A. Selde, a native of Utah. They have two children. Mr. Ramm is a Republican, a student, and a man of education ; self-taught, bus still devoted to his books.
RAMSEY, WILLIAM B., of Latah, Wash., a veteran of the Civil War, was born . in Illinois in 1834. His father was a Pennsylvanian, his mother a native of Ohio.
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Young Ramsey gained his rudimentary education in Des Moines, Ia., and then learned thoroughly the potter's trade, when the breaking out of the war sent him to the front as a trooper of the First Iowa Cavalry. Here he joined the Western Army under Fremont, was present at Nelson's Creek, where General Lyon was killed, at Pea Ridge, and many other battles of the struggle for the Union. Being honorably discharged in 1865 with the rank of First Lieutenant, he located in Iowa, where he remained until 1869, when he left for California. After a sojourn of a year in the Gold State he went to Oregon, where he remained for five years. Coming to Washington, he located first at Walla Walla, then at Col- fax, but finally removed to his present home near Latah, and engaged in the pot- tery business. Selling out in 1890, he established himself in Spokane. He re- turned to Latah in 1890. He is still in the same business. He is a Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of General Milroy Post, No. 63, Grand Army of the Republic. He is one of the oldest settlers of Latah, a leading citizen, and universally respected for his many good qualities.
RANCH, E. M., real-estate broker, of Pomeroy, Wash., was born in Ohio in 1861. His father, G. W. Ranch, was a native of Pennsylvania and by occupation a farmer, his mother being born in Ohio. Educated in the public schools of the Buckeye State, young Ranch came West in 1875 and located in Missouri, where he became a telegraph operator for seven years, and then removed to Kansas to engage in the same occupation. Coming to Washington in 1882, he became a real-estate broker, in which business he continued for seven years. In January, 1892, he organized a firm to engage in the grain commission, real estate, loan and insurance agents, which is still the leading firm in that line in Pome- roy, their annual business exceeding $300,000, and constantly increasing. Mr. Ranch was married in 1886 to Miss Pauline Long, a native of Oregon, a daughter of Jolin Long, a prosperous miller and stock-raiser of Columbia County. They have one child. Mr. Ranch is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias. He is a Demo- crat in politics. A thoroughgoing and prominent business man, Mr. Ranch takes not only a warm interest in politics, but in all that tends to the material, moral, and educational advancement of the city. He is, moreover, a large property owner, and prides himself on his handsome collection of books.
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