USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 36
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DRUMHELLER, D. M .- The 25th day of March, 1841, was a very gracious day to the State of Washington. On that day was born Daniel Montgomery Drum- heller, the mature part of whose half century of life has contributed so materially to the growth and development of the Evergreen State. To Sumner County, Tenn., belongs the honor of furnishing to the State of Washington this progressive and important factor in her growth and progress. In very early youth Mr. Drumheller accompanied his parents from Tennessee to Southwestern Missouri, where, until he was about fifteen years of age, he lived with his mother, his father having dicd when the subject of this sketch was five years old. In 1856, at the early age of fifteen years, responding to those qualities of lead and heart which, in later lifc, have so distinguished him, he turned his face toward the then comparatively unknown regions of the Republic, crossing the plains to Cali- fornia. Hc remained in California until 1859, during the first year and a half of which time he herded cattle, and the money thus earned laid the foundation of the future success of this intrepid pioncer. In 1859 Mr. Drumheller cast his for- tunes in that portion of Utah which is now a part of the State of Nevada. Here he remained until the spring of 1861. During this period Ben Holliday, always on the alert for men of steadfast stamina and approved courage, employed Mr. Drumheller in connection with his pioneer Pony Express, the duties of which employment he discharged with the same unflinching zeal and faithful attention which have always characterized him in discharging the duties of every position to which he has been called.
On June 16th, 1861, Mr. Drumheller rcached the pioneer town of Walla Walla, in the then Territory of Washington, where he resided until the year 1865. From 1865 to 1875 he resided in the State of Oregon, during which time he reprc- sented the people of Umatilla County in the House of Representatives in the legis- lature of that State. In 1877 this sturdy member of the advance guard of civili- zation established himself in the Crab Creek country, in Eastern Washington, and at once became engaged, on an extensive scalc, in the cattle business, with which business he was for many years successfully identified. In 1880 he moved to the city of Spokane, to the imperial and astounding progress of which city he has most substantially contributed. In 1884 he was elected to the first City Council ever elected in Spokane, and by his wisc, fearless, and patriotic labors assisted in laying, in this formative period of the city's career, deep and strong, the foundations of her subsequent unequalled advancement.
Realizing the sterling qualities which have adorned Mr. Drumheller's career from youth to middle life, the people of Spokane, in the spring of 1892, in the face of an overwhelming Republican majority, elected him, an uncompromising Democrat, Mayor of the city, which position he now occupies. His administration of this important trust has been signalized by a stern and aggressive adherence to those steps which lead to the greatest good to the greatest number, and his cvery official act has been dictated by a wisc and progressive forethought.
The Insane Asylum at Medical Lake stands as a monument to Mr. Drum- heller's business capacity and integrity. As one of the Commissioners, under whose management this splendid institution was erected, he still further justified the universal esteem in which he is held. In 1885 the Traders' National Bank was organized in the city of Spokane, and to day is regarded as one of the most
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substantial financial institutions in the State of Washington. From the date of its organization Mr. Drumheller has been its Vice-President and one of its heavi- est stockholders. The same is true of the Big Bend National Bank of Davenport, Wash. He is also largely interested in many of the public-spirited enterprises of the State of Washington and Idaho, and by his wise counsel and unerring busi- ness judgment he has been a tower of strength to every enterprise with which he has been identified.
In 1868 Mr. Drumheller was married, and there resulted from that union two boys and one girl. The two sons of this marriage, Jerome L. and Albert S., are successful and honored business men of Spokane. Mrs. Drumheller died in 1888, and in 1890 Mr. Drumheller was married again, and two boys have come from that marriage to follow in the footsteps of their distinguished father.
Of Mr. Drumheller, in every relation of life, it may be truly said he is sans peur et sans reproche.
ESPEY, ROBERT HAMILTON, was born February 10th, 1826, in Allegheny County, Pa. His mother was left a widow when he was four years old, and his opportunities for gaining an education were very meagre. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the tailor's trade, at which he worked until 1845. In that year he went West with his brother-in-law, Elias Medley, who bought him a piece of land in the woods near Platteville, Grant County, Wis .. Here young Espey made his headquarters, while he worked in the lead mines and at other employment, as occasion offered. The winter of 1849-50 was spent in tlie woods near the Big Bull Falls of the Wisconsin River, and in the spring he embarked on a lumber raft down the Wisconsin and Mississippi to St. Louis, where he was paid off, and then returned to Platteville. In the spring of 1852 he determined to cross the plains to the Pacific Slope. The trip, an arduous undertaking at that time, was fraught with great danger and many hardships. He engaged to make the journey to California with another man named Whitlock. Espey was to drive the ox-teams one half the time, and another young man, Henry McClurg, the other half. Full of hope for the future they started from Platteville April 21st, and on May 21st the little band of brave-hearted emigrants crossed the Missouri at Council Bluffs. Proceeding on their way, sometimes alone and some- times in company with larger trains, they reached Little Horn, where they found a large train trying to effect a crossing. Here they were confronted by a band of Indians who demanded tobacco, flour, and other things, but did not molest them. They remained near the larger train a few nights for protection, and reached Fort Laramie in safety, where they stopped a few days to rest the teams. Resuming their journey, they proceeded up the Platte River and over the Black Hills. About this time McClurg was taken ill, and for six weeks the whole care of the teams devolved on Espey.
On arriving at Hot Springs, Utah, Mr. Whitlock decided to go to Oregon, and leaving the Salt Lake road, started toward Fort Hall, Ida. Arriving at the latter place young Espey left the train and set out alone on foot. He soon fell in with three other boys named Hakes, who had left their own team, and with packs on their backs were journeying on foot toward the land of promise. Soon after- ward word came to the camp that a poor woman, Mrs. Boils, had lost her hus-
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band on the way and needed help to care for her stock. Espey was left to help her, and the other boys went on, promising to meet him at Milwaukee, Ore. After a toilsome trip, varied with many exciting and interesting incidents, he reached Grand Round Valley, where Mrs. Boils left one wagon. Shouldering his blanket again, Espey took his course over the Blue Mountains, and arrived at The Dalles, Ore., August 27th. Taking the trail down the Columbia he reached the Cascades September 5th. Here he hired out to a Mr. Hamilton to drive ox-team, hauling freight from Lower Cascades to Upper Cascades, a distance of five miles. He spent the following winter in a logging camp, and in the spring of 1853 went to Astoria. There he found employment in a saw-mill until June, when he came to Pacific County, Wash., where he worked for a Mr. Brown, getting out piles for the San Francisco market, and afterward helped a Mr. Watkins build a saw-mill on North River. That fall he built a cabin on the Palix River, and returning to Astoria spent the winter beach combing at Gray's Bay. In the spring he returned .to Shoalwater Bay with Mr. I. A. Clark, and they settled in Oysterville, April 12th, 1854, and built the first house there. They began oystering, picking oysters into a canoe, which was their only means of conveying them to market across the bay, a distance of eight or nine miles. Mr. Espey continued the oyster business until 1859, when he was taken ill. For some time his life was despaired of, but his rugged constitution pulled him through. In 1861 he became light- keeper at Shoalwater Bay Lighthouse, and filled that position until April, 1862. After an unsuccessful venture at mining in the Blue Mountains, he returned to Oysterville and again engaged in oystering.
In 1867 he formed a partnership with J. F. Warren, W. C. Doane, H. S. Gile, John Hunter, and I. Y. Doane, under the firm name of Espey & Co., at Oyster- ville, and Warren & Co., at San Francisco. They chartered schooners and shipped oysters to the San Francisco market, and soon afterward purchased a schooner and placed it on the line. Mr. Warren soon withdrew from the firm, and a few years later Mr. Hunter retired. The remaining four menibers of the firm, after continuing their operations for several years, united their interests with the Morgan and Swanburg Oyster companies, and formed the Morgan Oyster Com- pany of San Francisco. Mr. Espey is still interested in this company. In 1877 tlie Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company was organized, in which he was an owner and sometimes a director. In a few years the company changed its name to Ilwaco Railroad and Navigation Company, and built the railroad from Ilwaco to Sealand. It also built the steamers General Canby and General Miles, as well as other vessels. Mr. Espey has taken a deep interest in public affairs, and has materially aided in many projects for the advancement of the community with which he has so long been identified. He is a man of conservative judgment, and his opinions concerning business matters are generally found to be wise. In politics he is an earnest Republican, and has served the public in various capaci- ties. He was one of the first two Republicans to cast their votes in Pacific County. In 1889 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated dele- gates to the Constitutional Convention of Washington.
Mr. Espey was married in 1870 to a Miss Jefferson, of Salem, Ore., a school- teacher at Oysterville. Eight children have been born to them : Delos, Dora J., Robert Edwin, Harry A., Susie M., Thomas W., Cecil J., and Laura I. V.
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LATHAM, DR. MARY A .- Of the women of Washington, none, perhaps, deserves wider recognition and honor for intellectual attainments and moral worth than the subject of this sketch. Besides holding a conspicuous place among the suc- cessful medical practitioners of the State, she is a public-spirited citizen, and her influence has been felt in every direction which promised to advance the material and social welfare of her adopted city, and her labors have been entirely devoid of purely selfish desire to advance her personal interests.
Dr. Latham was born in New Richmond, O., the daughter of James and Jane W. Archer. Her father was a native of England and a son of one of the early settlers of Ohio. The preliminary education of our subject was acquired in the district schools and at Claremont Academy, Ohio. In 1884 she graduated from the Cincinnati (Ohio) College of Medicine and Surgery. While a student she was one of the first class of women who were, as students, admitted to the clini- cal wards of the Cincinnati General Hospital. Dr. Latham entered upon the practice of her profession in the city of Cincinnati, but failing health compelled her to seek a more congenial climate, and she came to Spokane in 1887, with which city she has since been identified. Here her learning and skill in her pro- fession soon found recognition, and she has steadily and rapidly advanced to the foremost ranks of medical practitioners. The field in which she has especially gained her laurels is the treatment of the diseases of women and children, and her record is full of notable cases. Thoroughly devoted to her profession, an indefatigable worker and student, she has ever kept pace with the wonderful progress that has been made in her profession during the period of her practice. The confidence with which she is regarded by the members of her profession causes her opinion to be sought in all matters pertaining to the sanitary and medical interests of the city. She is actively identified with various societies pertaining to her profession, and is a prominent member of the Humane Society, which she has served as Secretary and Treasurer. Dr. Latham undoubtedly enjoys the largest practice of any female physician on the Pacific Coast, and has made for herself an enviable place in a most difficult profession. She is naturally kind-hearted and sympathetic, and has many charity patients who bless her, if they cannot pay her.
It has been said by a popular French writer, with much truth, " that profes- sions are narrowing ; that when too closely followed they contract instead of expand the intellect ; so that outside of professional knowledge many lawyers, physicians, and clergymen dwarf their minds by too close confinement to the subtleties and technicalities of their profession." Hence distinguished profes- sional persons of all ages have liberalized and enlarged their minds by seeking other fields of intellectual culture, and by directing their attention to matters of relaxation from the strain and confinement of their calling.
Dr. Latham seems to take this view of professional life, and relieves the tedium, labor, and confinement of her large practice by directing her attention during her leisure moments to literary work, in which field she is fast gaining a reputation as a newspaper and magazine writer. Her varied contributions to popular journals show great originality of thought and fancy, and justify the prediction of future literary fame.
While on the professional side full attainments, intelligence, a ready capacity
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for business and patient investigation have placed the doctor at the head of her profession, her prudential qualities, liberal civic and social relations in domestic life, her cultivation, manners, and bearing render her a favorite in the society of Spokane, and it is no affectation to say that no member of her profession main- tains a more enviable position in that society.
Dr. Latham has erected a pleasant residence at Lidgerwood Park, Spokane, and she owns a half section of land just outside the city, as well as twelve hun- dred acres in the Palouse country, and possesses valuable mining interests. She is a director of the Library Association of Spokane, and her private library is one of the finest collections in the city. She had the honor of being elected Chair- man of the Washington Branch of the Queen Isabella Association (medical de- partment), with headquarters at Chicago, to represent her State at the World's Fair Columbian Exposition.
She was married in 1870 to E. H. Latham, M.D., a native of Columbus, O., a gentleman of ability and culture, and a graduate of Miami College, Cincin- nati, O. He is at present in the employ of the Government, being physician for the Indians on the immense body of land known as the Okanogan Indian Reser- vation. He has learned to speak the Indian language, and is a personal friend of Chiefs Moses and Tonascutt, while all of the tribes in this region regard him highly and would be loth to have him leave them. Drs. E. H. and Mary A. Latham have three sons, Frank A., James A., and Warren, the elder two of whom are just entering manhood. While the boys love their parents, their affec- tion for their mother is almost devotional, which shows that the mother, while proud, ambitious, and anxious to occupy a high position in her profession, as everywhere, did not for a moment lose sight of the loved ones given her, and that she made the duties of home and mother paramount to all others. Thus in Dr. Mary A. Latham we find a conscientious wife, a loving mother, a true friend, and a woman who stands second to none in the success of her chosen profession. Truly if success means happiness hers is the acme of human happiness.
MONAGHAN, JAMES, was born in the town of Belturbet, County Cavan, Ireland, February 2d, 1840. His father was John Monaghan, a stone mason, and his mother was Mary Ann O'Reilly, of the celebrated County Cavan family of that name. Mr. Monaghan received his education in the national and church schools of his native country. At the age of sixteen he emigrated to America, landing at Castle Garden in the spring of 1856. His first year in this country was spent in the store of his brother, who was a practising physician and druggist in New York, and his second year was spent as clerk in a grocery. Naturally imbued with a love for adventure and a desire to see the world, he determined to follow the course of the empire to the far West, and in May, 1858, started for California via the Isthmus. After a short stay in California he went to Vancouver, Wash. Terr., and remained there awhile. He then went to the Des Chutes River, near Celilo, Ore., and engaged in keeping a toli-bridge. In December, 1859, he began work on the steamer Colonel Wright, Captain Leonard White. They left Des Chutes December 3d, with a company of recruits under Lieutenant Reno, bound for Fort Walla Walla, Wash. After proceeding up the Columbia for about thirty miles the steamer was caught in the ice, from which it was not extricated
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until the following February. In the fall, Mr. Monaghan leaving the stcamer, went to the Spokane River, twenty miles below the present city of Spokane, arriving there September 20th, 1860, and took charge of the ferry at the crossing of the Government wagon road to Fort Colville. At this time there were no white settlers between Spokane and Palouse Ferry, his nearest neighbor being six miles north at Walker's Prairie. Having purchased an interest in the ferry, Mr. Monaghan built in 1865-66 the bridge at that point, which is still standing, and which he operated as a toll-bridge until 1869. In the latter year he removed to Walla Walla, where he remained until November, 1870. In 1868 he was awarded a four years' contract for carrying the United States mail from Cowley's Bridge to Colville.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1870, he was married to Miss Margaret McCool, of Walla Walla, and removing to Chewelah embarked in the mercantile business with C. H. Montgomery. He took up the present town site of Chewelah, and still has large interests there. In 1873 he removed to Colville, and was engaged in mercantile business there until 1879. In the fall of that year he had a con- tract for the transportation of military supplies, and started with the troops under Colonel Merriam to build a post at the foot of Lake Chelan. Reaching the mouth of Foster Creek, the troops went into the winter quarters, and Mr. Mon- aghan engaged in transporting supplies, etc., from Colville to the camp, also putting in a mail service. Most of the freighting was done by means of scows floated down the Columbia River. With a crew of Indians, two rafts of lumber and four bateaux, with a capacity of four tons each, were loaded with supplies and started down the river. They reached Hell Gate, a point just above the mouth of the San Puell River, without accident ; but here onc of the rafts was caught in a whirlpool, from which it was extricated with great difficulty. About five miles farther down, at the mouth of the Grand Coulee, one of the rafts struck a sunken rock and stuck fast. All of the freight was taken ashore, and Mr. Monaghan decided to take two of the bateaux with light loads through the Nespalene Rapids. He finally reached the camp safely with all the freight, and later made several successful trips, having constructed strong scows, and was able to run the rapids without serious difficulty. In the spring the troops proceeded to Chelan, and Mr. Monaghan continued carrying supplies to them until August, 1880. He accompanied Colonel Merriam and party in their search for a suitable location for a post (now Fort Spokane), at the mouth of the Spokane River, and afterward took the contract to move the troops and supplies from Chelan to the site of the new fort. In 1882 he established a suttler's store at Fort Spokane in partnership with Mr. C. B. King, and they purchased the one at Fort Sherman. They operated both stores for four years, Mr. King having charge of the one at Fort Sherman and Mr. Monaghan remaining at Fort Spokane. In the spring of 1884 they with others formed the Cœur d'Alene Steam Navigation and Trans- portation Company, and established the first line of steamers between Cœur d'Alene City and the Mission, Ida., which was afterward sold to D. C. Corbin, and is now a part of the Northern Pacific system.
In the business affairs of Spokane Mr. Monaghan occupies a position of re- sponsibility and prominence. In 1891 he was appointed one of the City Com- missioners. Hle assisted in the organization of the First National Bank, of which
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he is a director, is Vice-President of the Spokane Savings Bank, and a stockholder in other banks, besides having large interests in real estate and mining properties. During a life of incessant activity and frequent change he has maintained a repu- tation for sterling integrity that has gained for him the absolute confidence of a large circle of influential friends. Full of energy, he is ever ready to lend aid to any project to promote public good. His success has been honestly won, and his place among the foremost business men of Washington is universally conceded. He has five children. The eldest, John Robert, aged nineteen years, in 1891 entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., being the first cadet admitted to that institution from the new State of Washington.
PERKINS, HON. JAMES ALLEN .- It is a pleasure to be the biographer of a man who has led such an honest and unassuming life as that of James Allen Perkins, and withal to be held in the highest esteem by his fellow-men. He has been honored time and again by political preferment, and his name is known throughout Eastern Washington for integrity, sound counsels, and justice to his neighbor and fellow-citizens. Mr. Perkins was born in Bellplain, Marshall County, Ill., September 7th, 1841. His father was Joel B. Perkins, and his mother was Margaret Burt, who came from Kentucky to Illinois prior to the Black Hawk War. His father was one of the earliest pioneers to the Pacific Coast, having crossed the plains in 1852 with an ox-team, being five months on the road. The family first settled in the Willamette Valley, near Oregon City, and later moved to Benton County, Ore., where they resided until 1861, when they moved to Walla Walla. County, in Washington, and bought a place adjoin- ing the present town of Waitsburg, residing there for nine years. James took up a pre-emption claim adjoining his father's place, but sold out his right and bought a place upon which the town of Huntsville is now located. In July, 1870, Mr. Perkins and Thomas J. Smith, both unmarried, settled at the junction of the North and South Palouse Rivers before the Government had surveyed the land. After putting in thirty tons of hay and getting material on the ground for each a house, Mr. Smith concluded to quit, and left Mr. Perkins alone, except as to one or two employés. In the spring of 1871 H. S. Hollingsworth took up the land vacated by Smith, and they soon began the erection of a saw-mill, being the first north of Snake River, east of the Columbia, and west of the Rocky Moun- tains. In 1872 the first school was organized and a school-house built, and Mr. Perkins was elected first clerk of the first school district organized in the county.
In the same year a small part of what is the present town was laid off, platted, and named Colfax, in honor of Vice-President Colfax. There were then three families residing at the junction of the rivers. The county-seat was then at old Fort Colville, Stevens County, one hundred and seventy-one miles distant. Whitman County was organized by the Territorial Legislature in 1872, and Mr. Perkins was appointed one of the three commissioners to locate the county-scat. Colfax was decided upon, and the choice was sustained by the people at the next regular election. Previous to this, in 1870, Mr. Perkins received an offer from Superintendent Ross, at Fort Simcoe, to look after Indian matters in the Yakima country, but declined, casting his lot with the town in which he was to become so important a factor. Mr. Perkins's name has never been presented to the
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