USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 37
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people of Whitman County to serve them in public capacity, but it meant a straightforward and honest administration of affairs. Although a Republican, he has many warm friends in the opposition party. He has declined many politi- cal honors, but whenever duty called him the trust was discharged with a fidelity and earnestness which endeared him to all classes. He was chosen by the people of Whitman County to represent them in the Legislature in 1879, and served one term, declining re-election. He has been a delegate to Territorial Conventions, Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, a member of the Terri- torial Committee, a charter member of the Town Council of Colfax, and was four times elected Mayor, once without an opposition vote. He was also an alternate to the National Convention which nominated James A. Garfield. Mr. Perkins was one of the delegates at large to the National Republican Convention which met at Minneapolis, June 7th, 1892, to nominate a successor to President Harrison.
As to his business relations, in nearly every public enterprise in the town of Colfax his name is connected and nearly always at the head of the list. He was one of the incorporators of the Washington and Idaho Railroad, which has been instrumental in developing the agricultural and mineral resources of Washington and Idaho. He is engaged at present in the banking business as a member of the firm of Perkins & Williams of the Bank of Colfax. In 1881 he bought out Mr. C. C. Linnington and ran the business until 1886, when A. L. Mills came into the partnership, and in 1890 Mr. Mills was succeeded by Mr. O. E. Williams.
Mr. Perkins was married to Miss Jennie Ewart, daughter of Captain James Ewart, of Whitman County, in 1873, and has three daughters and a son : Minnie B., Myrtle M., Stella, and Sumner E.
Mr. Perkins is a man of kind and genial disposition, temperate in all things and not given to extremes, a good citizen, neighbor, father, and husband. His education was limited to the public schools, but he has improved his time by self-help, and it may be fittingly said that lie is a self-made man. He is a good speaker and a logical reasoner. He was urged by many leading men through the State to allow his name to be presented to the Republican State Convention in August, 1892, as a candidate for Governor. It is said that had he consented he would have received the nomination, which would have been equivalent to an election, but he positively declined to accept any office.
MATTHEWS, ALEXANDER G., son of Archibald and Jane Matthews, was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., May 1st, 1848. His father, a prosperous farmer of Pennsylvania and a veteran of the Civil War, is still living at the age of seventy-eight years. His mother is also living, aged seventy-seven. Our subject received the benefits of a common-school education in his native county, and at the age of nineteen removed to Sanilac County, Mich. After spending three years in the latter place in the lumber business he went to Ringgold County, Ia., and engaged in freighting with mule and horse teams. This was before the advent of railroads. He continued freighting with profit for about two and a half years, and in 1871 he removed to Northern Minnesota, and again engaged in the lumbering business, continuing for about three years. At the expiration of that time he removed to Southern Kansas and settled upon a farm. There he remained until the spring of 1877, when he came to Seattle, Wash. After work-
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ing at contracting until August of the same year he came to Puyallup, where he has since resided, engaged in farming. When he reached Washington in 1877 with wife and baby Mr. Matthews had but 25 cents. He was greatly befriended by John H. McGraw, who advanced him money without security. He was able to return the loan from the proceeds of his first crop of hops. Mr. Matthews has diligently devoted himself to the work and cares of his farm, which he has so prudently managed that his labors have been well repaid. By his consistent and earnest course of life, the integrity and uprightness of his conduct, he has entitled himself to the respect and esteem of the entire community. A man of public spirit and progressive ideas, he lends his aid and influence to every undertaking of a public character to advance the general good. Although actively interested in political matters, he never accepted public office until the fall of 1892, when he was nominated and elected Sheriff of Pierce County.
Mr. Matthews was married October 31st, 1876, to Miss Ida A. Chase, of Clin- ton County, Mich., daugliter of I. Chase, a veteran of the Mexican War. Four sons and three daughters have graced this union.
MERCER, THOMAS .- Among men now living there are few around whom clus- ters so much of the history of Seattle as the one whose name heads this memoir. He is one of the strongest links between the infant days and the stalwart man- hood of our city. For forty years he has exerted an influence upon political and business forces eminently beneficial, while his whole career has been singularly free from personal or selfish motives.
Mr. Mercer was born in Harrison County, O., March 11th, 1813. He was the eldest son of Aaron and Jane (Dickerson) Mercer, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter a descendant of an old Pennsylvania family. The father was a woollen manufacturer, and at an early age Thomas began work in the mill and thoroughly mastered the trade. In 1834 he removed with his parents to Bureau County, Ill., and settled on a farm near Princeton. In April, 1852, he left Illinois with his wife and four children, and began the tedious and dangerous journey across the plains to Oregon. His wife was taken sick at The Dalles, and upon arriving at the Cascades died, an affliction which, under the peculiar cir- cumstances, was a very severe loss. The following winter was spent at Salem, Ore., and in the spring of 1853, with Mr. Dexter Horton, one of his companions of the plains and now a well-known banker of Seattle, he came to the present site of Seattle, where he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining that of D. T. Denny. All of this tract is within the present city limits and cov- ered with business houses and private residences. Mr. Mercer brought to his new home the same team of horses with which he had crossed the plains and the first wagon that had been brought to Seattle. There were no wagon roads at that time, but the settlers turned to and widened the trail so that his wagon could pass to his claim on Lake Union. This wagon afterward proved of great service to the pioneer settlement for moving wood and lumber. In 1854 Mr. Mercer built upon his claim the residence which is still standing, in marked con- trast to the many elegant dwellings surrounding it and a suggestive monument of the pioneer days. The entire farm of Mr. Mercer has been laid out into city lots, the sale of which has brought to him a large fortune. He still owns a portion of
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the original claim. Union and Washington lakes received their names at his suggestion, in an address which he delivered at a picnic in 1855. From its start Mr. Mercer has had unbounded faith in the future of the city, and he has ever been ready to co-operate to the extent of his ability with Seattle's most public- spirited citizens in any project for the benefit of the city, and during his life here, according to his ability to do and to give, the city has had no more helpful friend. He is a man of perfect integrity of character, and possesses the confi- dence and respect of the entire community. He built in 1883 his present resi- dence, where he is passing the evening of a quiet, well-spent, and prosperous life. In 1858 he was elected Probate Judge of King County, a position which he con- tinued to fill for ten consecutive years. He was also a member of the first Board of Commissioners for King County. As a friend and neighbor he has endeared himself to the people of Seattle. Being naturally of a broad, sympathetic nature, the needy have ever found in him a kind friend and generous helper. Never did an acquaintance or neighbor in distress appeal to him in vain. His hand has ever been outstretched and his means used to assist and encourage the honest toiler in his endeavor to secure a home and provide for his family. The widow and orphan have found in him a faithful friend and a substantial giver. In short, Mr. Mercer has always been a stanch friend of the oppressed and unfortunate.
Mr. Mercer was married in 1859 to Miss Hester Ward, his present wife. Two of the four children by the first wife reside near the old homestead ; one lives near Olympia and one is deceased.
McGILVRA, HON. JOHN J., of Seattle, one of the most prominent attorneys of the State of Washington, has for many years held a leading place among the most distinguished legal practitioners of the Pacific Coast. His high professional attainments have been matched by a life of conspicuous rectitude and of great public usefulness. He was born in Livingston County, N. Y., July 11th, 1827, and secured his elementary education in his native place prior to reaching the age of seventeen years, when he removed to Illinois. Here he taught school for several winters, and attended an academy at Elgin during the summer months. Becoming imbued with a desire to read law he entered the office of Edward Gif- ford, at Elgin, in 1850. Subsequently removing to Chicago he finished his pre- paratory study for the legal profession in the office of Ebenezer Peck, afterward one of the judges of the Court of Claims, was admitted to the Bar in 1853, and immediately began practice at Chicago. He soon established a reputation as an attorney and counsellor which was highly creditable, and continued with gratifying success until 1861, when he was appointed by President Lincoln United States Attorney for Washington Territory. He arrived with his family at Olympia in June, 1861, in the spring of 1862 removed to Walla Walla, and in the fall of the same year to Vancouver, on the Columbia River, where he remained until the fall of 1864, when he settled at Seattle, where he has ever since resided. His able administration of the duties of the office of United States Attorney was eminently satisfactory to the people, but at the end of five years' service he declined a reappointment because the duties of the position kept him most of the time from his family, his wife being in poor health. With the same energy which liad been so conspicuous in his earlier career, he not only at once turned his atten-
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tion to building up a legal practice, but became an active factor in every impor- tant public movement for the welfare of his adopted city.
He served for one term in the Territorial Legislature in 1866-67, and through his efforts a bill was passed appropriating $2500 for the opening up of a wagon road through the Snoqualmie Pass. King County raised a like amount for the same purpose, and with this sum a good road was opened up through the Cascade Mountains, which has been used more or less ever since. Judge McGilvra also aided in securing a second appropriation in 1868-69, which was used in improv- ing the road. Small contributions have since been made to keep the road open. Until the completion of the Northern Pacific this road was the only means of communication between Eastern and Western Washington north of the Columbia River.
July 23d, 1873, after the location of the Northern Pacific terminus at Tacoma, Judge McGilvra with others, as has been mentioned elsewhere, organized the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company, for the purpose of building a narrow-gauge road through the Snoqualmie Pass to the Yakima country and Walla Walla. Judge McGilvra was the attorney for the company, drew the articles of incorporation and by-laws, and transacted all the legal busi- ness of the company for several years. He labored zealously in securing subscrip- tions to its stock in money and lands, and in two months stock to the value of half a million dollars, mostly in land, was subscribed. In this way the company acquired a large amount of real property in and about Seattle, now worth several million dollars, and mostly still held by the successor of the original company. Judge McGilvra was indefatigable in his efforts to secure the success of this undertaking.
" Through the spirit he and others evinced the people of Seattle became en- thused as never before or since. Some two miles of road were actually graded by picnic parties, on which occasions, as elsewhere related, the whole population. of the town, men, women, and children, turned out and did good work. There were no idlers about Seattle in those days."
Judge McGilvra was City Attorney of Seattle in 1876-77, and spent the winter of that year in Washington, D. C., where, in addition to other important busi- ness, he argued the case of the City of Seattle vs. Hugh McAleer and other claim- ants of the eastern half of the Menyard Donation Claim before the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and secured a decision favorable to the city, estab- lishing its right to enter the land under the town site act. While engaged in this affair he learned that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was attempting to change its branch line from the Skagit to the Natches Pass, and to that end had filed with the Cominissioner of the General Land Office an amended plan of the branch via the Natches Pass. Judge McGilvra immediately called tlie attention of Hon. Orange Jacobs, then Congressman from Washington, to the matter, and they at once entered their joint protest against the change unless the withdrawn lands on the original line were restored to settlement. These lands, amounting to some five million acres, had been withdrawn from settlement in 1872, and the people of King County and the counties to the north demanded that they be re- stored to settlement, and employed Judge McGilvra to assist Delegate Jacobs in ยท securing such restoration. He spent the winter of 1877-78 in Washington, and
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notwithstanding the powerful influence of the corporation with which he had to contend, succeeded in securing the restoration of the lands to settlement, a result which has been of incalculable benefit to this portion of Puget Sound. For the important part which he bore in this struggle Judge McGilvra is justly entitled to a high meed of credit.
Of late years Judge McGilvra has been gradually relinquishing the practice of his profession, and at the present time has practically retired from legal work, his extensive private interests demanding all of his time and energies. He was until recently, however, a member of the law firm of McGilvra, Blaine & De Vries. He is the oldest member, both in years and practice, of the Seattle Bar, and for many years was employed in nearly every important case in the Seattle court. During all the years of his residence in Seattle his record has been such as to win the confidence and respect of his fellow-men. He has been a hard worker in the profession and eminently successful. As lawyer, counsellor, or legislator he was alike at home in each capacity. He has also been an industrious worker in other departments than those pertaining to judicial and legislative affairs. He has always been known as a public-spirited citizen, ever ready to forward any enterprise that promised good to the city or State.
.Judge McGilvra was married in 1855 to Miss Elizabeth M. Hills, a native of Oneida County, N. Y. They have three children living.
SCOFIELD, THOMAS DONALDSON, was born in Ontario County, N. Y., April 27th, 1833. His parents being poor and having a large family to support, he only secured such educational advantages as the common schools in his State at that time afforded. From twelve years of age up to his majority he worked out by the month and day, and applied the most of his earnings to the maintenance of his father's family. Being of a roving disposition and his health becoming somewhat impaired, he concluded to make a sea voyage, and June 20th, 1857, shipped before the mast on the bark Mary and Susan, a whaling vessel which sailed from New Bedford, Mass. He made one season north in the Arctic Ocean on this vessel, and when she came down to discharge her cargo at Honolulu, Oahu, he ran away from his ship. He remained some time on that island, and came back to the United States in the bark Mary in June, 1859. During his juvenile years, and while at sea, he wrote a large volume of poetry, which he in- tended for publication, but he left the manuscript in the Mary and Susan when he ran away from that ship, and it was lost and never appeared in print, save a few pieces which were printed, when they were composed, in the newspapers of his native State. The following is a copy of one of his minor poems :
A DREAM OF EARLY LIFE.
The sun had sunk beneath the west,
The busy world was lulled to. rest, The placid moonbeam's silvery light Fell on my pathway calm and bright, As lone I wandered o'er the sod Where once my youthful footsteps trod,
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To view the scenes that brightly shone Enshrined within my early home.
The mountain towered sublimely high, Pierced with its top the azure sky ; Within the vale the cottage stood O'ershadowed by the neighboring wood ; Along the walk the roses grew, Besprinkled with the evening dew ; The streamlet kissed its silent shore, Just as it had in days of yore ; And all beneath the lunar rays ' Proclaimed the joys of early days.
I just had traced the garden o'er And stopped a moment near the door, To pluck the flowers which lingered there, Fanned in the moonlight's balmy air, When low within a voice I heard Sweet as the carol of a bird ; It came but once, and all was still As night shades on the distant hill. I paused to catch the pleasing sound, Transfixed upon that spot of ground, And hear the voice which charmed me so In those blest hours of long ago.
I lingered still a moment more, Eager to press the yielding door ; But why I stayed I cannot tell, Unless some superhuman spell Had chained me there that I might hear What next should greet my list'ning ear And fill my soul with strange delight, To waft it on its heavenward flight. Again that voice with accents low In soothing strains did seem to flow, And smoothly glide upon the air As joyful as that angel choir Which lulled the shepherd's soul to rest While pillowed on a Saviour's breast.
With trembling hand the door I pressed, It opened wide at my behest, And stepping on the cottage floor I gently closed the open door, And close within the flickering rays Which ushered from the chimney's blaze
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I saw my mother sitting there Within the family rocking-chair ; ' My little sister on her knee, With laughing eyes to welcome me. The Bible lay upon the stand, A hymn-book rested in her hand ; Her amber locks in ringlets hung, Just as they did when I was young . Her features glowed with fervent love, Lit by the Maker's joys above ; And when on me she sweetly smiled, And welcomed home her wayward child, I thought the toils of life were o'er And we had met to part no more.
My father came my heart to cheer, Brothers and sisters, too, were near- All had returned there to abide. My mother sat me by her side ; My hand in hers she gently took And pointed to that Holy Book, And asked me how my days had flown Since I had left the joys of home. With faltering tongue I tried to tell What joys and woes had me befell ; How everywhere I tried to go My path was gorged with sin and woe, And when I tried the blessed way, Some evil genius led astray. And as I told, with falling tears, What had befell those many years, My mother clasped me in her arms And banished all those felt alarms ; And there I sat in her embrace, Still gazing on her cheerful face, And talked with her in converse sweet, My face upturned her glance to meet, Till streaked the morning cold and gray, And dawn had chased the night away.
'Tis true the bubbling brook no more Flows gently by the cottage door ; The garden where the roses grew Is washed away from human view ; The cottage where we used to stay With ruthless hands was borne away ; The famous mountain, tall and grand,
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Frowns down upon a desert land ;
My brother perished in the wave, My father slumbers in the grave ; My sisters, too, have gone before And anchored on the other shore ; That mother dear has long been dead, Her noble spirit early fled, And I am left a wanderer here
Through life's dull way my course to steer ;
But oft when gloomy thoughts oppress, Her angel voice comes back to bless ;
And let me go where'er I will, Her spirit hovers o'er me still, To guide me through life's dreary hours" And strew my path with fragrant flowers.
In the fall of 1859 he migrated to Ionia County, Mich., where he became acquainted with Frances Mary Way, whom he married April 10th, 1861. When the Civil War broke out he entered the volunteer service as corporal in the Ninth Regiment, Michigan Infantry, August 5th, 1861, and served in that company and regiment until he was honorably discharged for disability on September 10th, 1862. On receiving his discharge he returned to his home in Portland, Mich., and after recovering his health obtained a permit from the War Department to recruit an additional company for the Twenty-seventh Regiment, to be known and designated as the First Company of Sharpshooters attached to the Twenty- seventh Regiment of Michigan Volunteer Infantry. After raising this company he was commissioned as First Lieutenant thereof on February 15th, 1864. On April 8th, 1864, he conducted the company out of the State as its commander, and joined the regiment at Annapolis, Md., which was then in the Ninth Army Corps under General Burnside. He commanded the company during the cam- paign of 1864 under Grant and Meade, and participated in the battle of the Wilderness, May 5th, 1864 ; the battle of Spottsylvania, May 12th, 1864 ; battles of Cold Harbor, June 1st and 3d, 1864 ; battles before Petersburg, June 17th and 18th, 1864 ; and battle before Petersburg at the mine explosion, July 30th, 1864. At the last-mentioned battle he was captured by the enemy, conveyed to Columbia, S. C., confined in Richmond Jail until February 17th, 1865, when he made his escape and entered Sherman's lines. He served with General Sherman in the march from Columbia to Goldsborough, N. C., and went from Goldsbor- ough to Washington City, where he obtained a leave of absence to visit home, and before his leave of absence had expired he was discharged from the service by a general order of the War Department discharging all officers home on leave of absence, which order was issued May 15th, 1865. He was in the grocery busi- ness from the close of the Civil War to 1867, when he commenced the study of law in the office of Harvey Bartow, at Portland, Mich. He was admitted to the Bar in January, 1869, and practised in the federal and State courts of Michigan until December, 1875, when he migrated to Hastings, Adams County, Neb., where he practised law until 1882. In 1878 and 1879 he was District Attorney of
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the Fifth Judicial District of Nebraska, and tried a large number of important criminal cases in that district, among which was the celebrated I. P. Olive case for the murder of Mitchell and Katchan. In May, 1882, he migrated to the city of Montesano, Chehalis County, Wash., and entered into the practice of law, which he has continued to the present time.
THOMPSON, WALTER J., was born in Spring Prairie, Wis., January 25th, 1853. In 1857 the family went to Burlington, Wis., where the subject of our sketch spent his childhood. While obtaining his education at the public schools he employed his vacations and spare time lathing, becoming an expert, and later mastered the carpenter's trade. The monotonous life of a carpenter illy suited the naturally adventuresome disposition of young Thompson, and at the age of eighteen he started West, spending several months in Iowa, finally settling at Hebron, Neb., in the fall of 1871. With characteristic earnestness and energy he soon won the esteem and confidence of the community, and after a short resi- dence he was appointed Deputy County Treasurer, serving two years. Important events followed in quick succession. In 1875 he was admitted to the Bar, and in the same year organized a bank, and both as lawyer and banker prospered. His attention having been long directed to the then Territory of Washington, and being impressed with its prospective future developments, he severed his business relations in Nebraska in 1883 and went to Tacoma, then a town of only a few hundred inhabitants. Soon after his arrival he purchased the bank of A. J. Baker, and in 1884 organized the Merchants' National Bank, of which he is still the President. This is the oldest bank in the city, and is acknowledged to be one of the great financial institutions of the Northwest. He is President of the Tacoma Public Library, and has already donated over two thousand volumes to that institution. He was a member of the first committee on organization of the Chamber of Commerce of Tacoma, and served several years on its executive staff and as its Vice-President. He was the founder and for several years President of the Tacoma Trust and Savings Bank.
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