USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 40
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JONES, HON. W. C .- Among the younger men of Washington none is more widely or favorably known than Hon. W. C. Jones, the popular Attorney-General of the State. In the numerous public positions which he has filled, he has dis- charged his duties in a manner highly creditable to himself and to the fullest satisfaction of those who called him to service. Mr. Jones was born in Oneida County, N. Y., April 5th, 1855, and at the age of three years removed with his parents to La Crosse, Wis. His preliminary education was acquired in the com- mon schools of La Crosse, after which he took the regular law course in the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, at Madison, graduating in 1876. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Madelia, Minn. He continued there until March, 1883, when he came to Washington and located at Cheney, Spokane County. As soon as he became eligible by residence he was appointed City Attorney, and held that position until 1887, when he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the county, and removed his residence to Spokane. The following year he was re-elected Prosecuting Attorney, which position he resigned in October, 1889, when he was elected the first Attorney-General of the new State of Washington. His admir- able administration of the duties of this responsible office received emphatic en- dorsement by his re-election for a second term by a highly gratifying plurality.
During his incumbency he has had ample scope for the exercise of his rare abilities in many important matters affecting the interests of the young State in both State and national courts. Mr. Jones is a man of remarkable energy and untiring industry, and throughout his public career has been distinguished for keen discrimination and quick grasp of great and intricate questions. He is well equipped by training and experience for high public station. He is a successful lawyer in every branch of that most difficult profession. His forensic abilities are of a high order. He is always clear and forcible in speech ; and when occa- sion demands it he uses language ornate and persuasive, while his delivery and manner are peculiarly fitting and appropriate. Whole-souled, sympathetic and generous in his nature, and true as steel in his friendships, he has surrounded
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himself with a host of admiring friends whose loyalty he-warmly reciprocates. Indeed, it may be said that no man in public or private life ever had a more de- voted personal following. With his activity, youth, and physical vigor, with a thorough knowledge of his profession and an experience of the most varied and valuable character, it is not too much to expect that in the years to come At- torney-General Jones will add new laurels to a reputation which even now places him in the front rank of Washington's most successful public men.
MURPHEY, ALONZO M .- Though but thirty-four years of age, the subject of this sketch has attained a position of eminence in financial and mercantile com- munities, and during his residence in Spokane has made hosts of admiring friends. He is a descendant of one of the first Quaker families who settled in Indiana, and was born in Middletown, that State, in 1859. His father was M. M. Murphey, a prominent merchant of Middletown. When Alonzo was nine years of age the family removed to Des Moines, Ia., and there he attended the high school and the Des Moines College. He began his business career at the early age of thir- teen, and by persistent, well-directed effort rose to the responsible position of Assistant Secretary of the Iowa Loan and Trust Company. He was Assistant Postmaster of Des Moines, under General Clarkson, then Postmaster of that city. Desiring the benefits of a more liberal education, he entered Amherst College, from which institution he was graduated in 1887. After his graduation he entered the office of the New England Loan and Trust Company, in New York City, as Assistant Manager, remaining in that position for one year. In October, 1888, he came to Spokane, and associating himself with Hon. John L. Wilson, after- ward member of Congress from this State, and J. F. McEwen, Cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, established the banking firm of Alonzo M. Murphey & Co. This firm has from the start done a large and profitable business and has attained an enviable position in financial circles. Mr. Murphey is a man who en- joys to the fullest extent the confidence, esteem, and respect of his fellow-citizens.
BURNS, CYRUS R .- Among the interesting characters in the State, and one who has filled as important a position in shaping her destiny as any, may be found Mr. Cyrus R. Burns, of the firm of railroad contractors, Messrs. Burns & Chapman, of Spokane.
Born in Highland County, O., February 21st, 1849, a son of Andrew Burns, of sturdy Scotch extraction, Mr. Burns started out in life, as thousands of others have done, on a farm. Acquiring his early education in the public schools of the district, he removed, after arriving at the age of twenty-one, to Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1872. In that year he undertook a contract to build a small portion of railroad on what was then known as the Chicago and Paducah, now a part of the Wabash system. Succeeding in this, he built an- other section on the same road, and then embarked in the grain business, in which he continued for several years, until 1878, when he retired from that voca- tion and again turned his attention to contracting, taking charge of the working forces under Collins, then building branch lines for the Union Pacific Railroad in Nebraska and Colorado, where he assisted in the constructing of the Julesburg branch, and also the branch from Greeley to Fort Collins, completing this in
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1880. In 1882 he associated himself with Mr. J. W. Chapman, and embarked in the contracting business as the firm of Burns & Chapman. Their first contract was on the Oregon Short Line, building about twenty miles in 1882 and 1883.
In 1883 they then took a contract on the O. R. and N. Railroad between Pendle- ton, Ore., and Blue Mountain Post-Office, finishing this in 1884, and also another section on the west side of the Cascades for a number of miles east of Tacoma on the Northern Pacific. In 1886 they took the contract, in connection with another firm, on the main line of the Northern Pacific, to construct the line from Ellens- burg to Weston, Wash., across the Cascade range, building what is known as the Northern Pacific Switchback. This contract covered sixty-two miles of the heaviest and most expensive road on the entire Northern Pacific system.
In 1887 Mr. Burns came to Spokane, and having secured some valuable real estate, in 1888 this firm built the Spokane end of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad from Spokane to Davenport. In 1889 they built the Spokane Falls and Northern Railroad from Spokane to Marcus, on the Columbia River, one hundred and four miles. In 1890 the firm erected two five-story and one four-story brick blocks in the city-the Mohawk Block, the Spokane Furniture Company Building, and the Spokane Drug Company Block-all three of which they still own. After completing these buildings in 1891 they took a contract to build fifty-five miles of the Great Northern Railroad from a point near Kootenai Falls to sixteen miles west of Bonner's Ferry. This was completed in March, 1892, involving an expenditure of over a million and a quarter dollars.
Mr. Burns was married on December 23d, 1880, to Miss Maryetta T'ilsley, of Greeley, Col., their union being blessed with five children.
The example of Mr. Burns is one of the most marked in the whole State. Rising through his own efforts from a poor farmer's son, he has, through his genius and energy, acquired for himself a position among the foremost men of the State. He is now Vice-President of the Washington Water-Power Company, President of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, one of the heaviest stockholders in the Spokane Drug Company, and has been prominently and actively identified and associated with nearly all the enterprises of the city of Spokane.
The life of Mr. Burns has been an active one, full of ups and downs, and varied with failures and successes which fitted him to fill the position he now holds with a feeling of having earned it ; and it is with pride that he now can ride through the fertile fields of grain and view the thousands of homes, the cities with their beauty and prosperity, and meet and see in every direction the thou- sands of glad hearts who have come to share with him the benefits of the new country which he has been so instrumental in bringing into its present condition.
COCHRAN, JESSE F., was born in Henry County, Ind., March 15th, 1827, and received the rudiments of a common-school education. At the age of ten years he ran away from home, determined to make his way to New York. This was a large undertaking for a child of his age ; but he set bravely out on the long jour- ney. Sleeping in haystacks or wherever night overtook him, and receiving an occasional friendly lift from stage-drivers and farmers, at the end of three weeks he arrived in the great metropolis, weary, barefooted, footsore, and penniless. He was at first bewildered by the glare and noise of the great city ; but coming
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to a painter's shop, boldly entered and asked for work. In reply to inquiries he said, "I must have work ; I am away from home and without money or friends." He was engaged as an apprentice by the painter and remained with him two years, when, fearing he was making but slow progress, he entered the shop of another painter. Under his new employer he soon became skilled in the trade, and remained with him two years. He then removed to Cincinnati, O., where he worked at his trade until the breaking out of the Mexican War. After a brief visit to his old home in Indiana, he enlisted in Company I, Second Regi- ment Indiana Volunteers, under Captain Colton, and served under General Scott for twenty-three months. He then returned to Indiana, and a short time later went to New York. He remained in that city until 1853, when he determined to seek his fortune on the Pacific Coast.
Crossing the plains to California, he engaged in mining for two years, meet- ing with but moderate success. He then removed to Oregon, where he remained until 1857, when, with six companions, he purchased a boat and went to Puget Sound, intending to locate there. Abandoning this enterprise, they sold their boat and returned to Oregon, where the party separated, Mr. Cochran going to Idaho, thence to Utah, from there to New Mexico, and finally to New Orleans. After a brief stay at the latter place, he embarked on a river steamer for St. Louis, from whence he made his way to his old home in Indian . His next move was to Virginia, where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil War. Returning to his native State, he enlisted in the Ninth Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, and served until honorably discharged in 1864. After a brief rest at home, he again started across the plains with an ox-team. After many thrilling adventures with the Indians, he reached Salt Lake City, where he introduced himself to Brigham Young, by whom he was cordially treated. Mr. Cochran was anxious to make a trade for a wagon, but being un- successful, he resumed his journey, and finally reached Montana. There he met an old friend from New York, who offered him a mining claim if he would work it. He accepted the offer and worked the claim for a while until he was attacked by the typhoid fever. After an illness of about six months, he finally recovered, but the expenses incidental to his sickness had exhausted his means, and he found himself for the second time without a dollar. For a short time he resumed work at his trade, and in the fall of 1864 started with a prospecting party for the Black Hills country.
While fishing one day, Mr. Cochran and a companion were surprised and taken prisoners by a band of Cheyenne and Sioux Indians. His clothing was taken from him ; he was securely bound and compelled to walk barefooted over many miles of prickly pears and subjected to many indignities, finally reaching the Indian camp with bleeding feet and almost exhausted. When he remon- strated at the cruel treatment, his captors would amuse themselves by running a sharp knife up and down his back. It is impossible to narrate all the horrors he underwent during his twenty-two days of captivity. He finally managed to loosen the thongs with which he was bound, and crawling on his hands and knees for three miles in total darkness through the prickly pears, evaded his cap- tors. Reaching the mountain, he hid himself in a friendly cave, and was passed unnoticed by the Indians who, were in hot pursuit. After a long and weary jour-
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ney of two hundred miles without clothing, and only a stick with which to de- fend himself against the wild animals, he reached the Yellowstone River. Although weak and exhausted, his only course was to plunge in and swim to the opposite shore, which he did. Being fearful of recapture, he was obliged to travel by night and rest during the day. He finally came across a party of miners, and after convincing them that he was a human being and not a wild beast, they took him to their camp, gave him clothing and food and cared for him.
Upon reaching Virginia City he was taken ill and remained so for three months. He then resumed his business, and seeking out the young lady who had faithfully ministered to him during his first illness, he was married, after a brief courtship, to Miss Jessie C. P. Walker. Their union has been blessed with four sons and four daughters. Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Cochran removed to Cheyenne, Wyo., and after a brief residence there returned to his native State. After extended travels throughout the United States, he finally, in 1871, settled in Seattle, Wash. In 1873 he removed with his family to Oakland, Cal., where they remained three years. Returning to Seattle, he has since made that city his home, following his trade until he was appointed a member of the Board of Pub- lic Works, in which position he is now serving his second term.
So much for a bare outline of the career of Mr. Cochran. It leaves untold very many interesting adventures ; it gives only a few salient facts in a life crowded, as few lives are, with events and changes. ยท Enough has been told, however, to prove that he is a man of undauntable will and perseverance and of remarkable energy. In the city of his adoption he has won an honorable position in business and social circles and is universally respected by all classes.
TILTON, HOWARD, is a son of James and Isabella H. Tilton. His father was Washington Territory's first Surveyor-General, being appointed, upon the organi- zation of this Territory in 1853, by President Pierce, and reappointed by President Buchanan in 1857, resigning in 1861. He died in Washington, D. C., November, 1878. His mother is still living and resides in Victoria, B.C. The subject of this sketch was born at Olympia, Wash., May 25th, 1858, and in 1865 removed with his parents to Wilmington, Del., where he was educated. In 1879 he re- turned to his native Territory and entered the service of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Resigning in 1880, he accepted a position on the Canadian Pacific Railway, in British Columbia, in which employ he remained until the spring of 1893, when he resigned to embark in the wholesale grocery business at New Westminster, B. C. Closing out this business in 1885, he moved to Victoria, B. C., engaging in the wholesale flour, feed and grain business. Selling out in 1888, he removed to Seattle, Wash., and in 1889 entered the employ of Risdon Cahn Company, wholesale grocers, as book-keeper, purchasing an interest in the business in the fall of the same year. In 1890 this company reorganized under the style of Webb & Co., in which firm he still retains his interest.
Mr. Tilton was married in New Westminster, B. C., in 1884, to Anne M. Smith. Five children-four daughters and one son-have been born to thom. The son and one daughter are deceased.
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DENNY, JOHN B .- One of the most active and prominent of the younger busi- ness men of Seattle is the subject of this sketch. Though but thirty-one years of age, he has gained a controlling position in the business affairs of the city and is an active factor in many important enterprises. Mr. Denny is a son of Hon. D. T. and Louisa Denny, pioneers of 1851 and founders of Seattle. He was born in Seattle, January 30th, 1862, and received the benefits of a common-school and university education. His business life began in 1883, and from that time until 1891 he was actively engaged in real-estate operations. Having pursued a course of legal studies, he was admitted to the Bar in June, 1891, and has been in active practice ever since. His legal education was acquired at the Willamette Univer- sity. Mr. Denny has extensive interests in lumbering and manufacturing. He is an active factor and stockholder in a number of street railway enterprises, among which are the Rainier Power and Railway Company, the Consolidated Street Railway Company, and the Front Street and North Seattle Cable Railway Com- pany. In addition to these interests he is also active in the Lake Washington Canal enterprise, and is the Secretary of the Washington Improvement Company, which owns the canal and the franchises thereto. The career of Mr. Denny is a valuable lesson to those desirous of achieving success by honest, straightforward methods. He is keen and sagacious in business, and possesses a high order of financial ability united with rare executive ability. Lively, energetic, and am- bitious, he is still climbing the ladder of success. He has hosts of friends, and is a popular and widely esteemed citizen.
Mr. Denny was married in August, 1892, to Miss Carrie Z. Crysler, of New York.
DENNY, D. THOMAS .- Among the many keen-sighted and energetic young business men of Seattle, Mr. D. Thomas Denny is deserving of special mention. Although but twenty-six years of age, he has already achieved a position of well- defined power in business circles. Mr. Denny was born in Seattle, May 6th, 1867. His education was acquired in the public schools of his native city, sup- plemented by a course of study at the Puget Sound Academy, Coupeville, Wash. At the age of nineteen he began life on his own account in the electrical business, which he has ever since continued to follow. He is also extensively engaged in the lumbering industry, being interested in the Western Mills at Seattle, which are controlled by the Rainier Power and Railway Company, of which he is a stockholder and the manager. He is manager of the Front Street Cable Railway Company, and is also actively interested in the Seattle Consolidated Street Rai !- way Company. He was married December 9th, 1892, to Miss Nellie E. Graham, of Seattle. A man of genial and affable manners, Mr. Denny has a large circle of warm friends, while his perfect integrity has won the respect and confidence of the entire community.
LLEWELLYN, W. H., was born in Youngstown, O., August 4th, 1861, and when quite young removed with his parents to Western Pennsylvania. His early boyhood was passed in the latter State, where he acquired the rudiments of a practical common-school education. At the early age of fifteen he left home to make his own way in the world. It was the period of the Leadville mining ex-
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citement, and our young subject joined the crowds that were then flocking to Colorado. At Leadville he found employment as a clerk in the First National Bank, of which J. S. Eshelman, his present partner, was president. He after- ward became Cashier of a bank at Robinson, Col. Here he displayed such a high order of executive ability and such rare judgment in financial matters that be- fore lie attained his majority he became the active manager of the institution, and continued to discharge the duties of that responsible position until his re- moval to Seattle in 1882. Here he formed a partnership with Mr. Eshelman, established the firm of Eshelman, Llewellyn & Co., and engaged in the gen- eral real-estate business. The transactions of this widely and favorably known firm assumed large proportions at the start, and no firm has a higher standing in their line in the State. They have done much to attract the attention of capi- talists and others to the wonderful advantages and resources of this section of the Pacific Northwest, and their work in this direction has done much to promote the general development and progress. Besides his real-estate business, Mr. Llewellyn is interested in many other important business enterprises. He is a large stockholder in cable and electric street railways, and is a director in two of Seattle's banks.
Coming to Seattle at a period of rapid changes and growth, Mr. Llewellyn became in many ways thoroughly identified with its progress, and every project for the material advancement of the city has had his warm support. It is need- less to say that he has been a tireless worker. Such results as have crowned his life come to no dreamer of dreams and to no mere luxurious idler. His time from early boyhood to the present has been almost completely engrossed in busi- ness. He is keen and sagacious, and possesses the highest order of financial ability united to the power of apparently unlimited application of mind and body upon any project he undertakes. At an age when most men have barely commenced their business careers, he has achieved a position of power and influence in the financial affairs of the Northwest ; but his naturally restless activity, buoyant spirit and physical vigor still urge him onward with all the force and energy of youth.
Mr. Llewellyn was married in 1888 to Miss Jeanette George, daughter of J. W. George, of Seattle.
STINSON, ULMER .- Of the many men who have contributed toward giving Snohomish the position which she now holds, Ulmer Stinson stands among the first in regard to the extent and result of his exertions and influence, and the eager, unselfish good-will with which they were given. No man has done more than he for the growth of the town in business, wealth, population and reputation, and in establishing them all on a firm foundation. Mr. Stinson is one of the most successful lumbermen on the Pacific Coast, his operations being carried on principally on the Snohomish River and its tributaries. Born in Clinton, Kennebec County, Me., September 8th, 1836, his early experience as a lumberman was acquired in the logging camps of his native State. In 1863 he determined to seek a fortune in new fields, and started for the Pacific Coast in September of that year, reaching San Francisco in the following month. After working in the mines of Nevada County, Cal., nearly a year, he started north
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for Puget Sound and reached Port Gamble in 1864. Here he went into a logging camp, and in various capacities has been identified with the logging and lumber- ing interests ever since. After serving others some eight years he embarked in business for himself, which he has continued uninterruptedly to the present time. As his means increased he gradually extended his operations, and finally, by thrift and diligence, he accumulated a fortune. His lands embrace some fifteen hundred acres, and he gives employment to about twenty-five men.
From the founding of Snohomish in 1871 to the present time, Mr. Stinson has been actively interested in the growth and development of city and county. He was one of the three pioneer citizens of Snohomish (the others being Messrs. E. C. Ferguson and Isaac Cathcart) who, when the excitement at other points on the Sound was greatest, stuck to Snohomish and never lost faith in the town of their adoption ; and to these three, more than to all others combined, is due the existence of the present prosperous city. Mr. Stinson is a large stockholder in the First National Bank of Snohomish, and is extensively interested in other enter- prises in the county. He served in the City Council one year. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Stinson was married at Clinton, Me., in 1856, to Miss Christina Stewart, a native of Maine. They have three children-George Edgar, Charlotte E. (Mrs. James B. Cole), and Merritt E. Blessed with a rugged constitution, strengthened by an active out-door life, Mr. Stinson, in his fifty-eighth year, is still in the prime of a vigorous manhood. In public and private life he is an unostentatious and genial man, plain in his tastes and domestic in his habits. He has a high reputa- tion as a business man, and his firmness, perseverance, honesty and integrity are worthy of emulation.
RHOADES, LEWIS HENRY, was born in Fulton County, Ill., August 20th, 1844. He crossed the plains with his parents by ox-team when he was but four years of age, in 1848, arriving at Oregon City in September of that year, after a trip of about six months. He remained in that city until the following spring, when his father took up a claim on Pudding River, in Clackamas County, and occupied it for one year. He then abandoned that claim and took up another at French Prairie, where he remained until 1862, farming, stock-raising, and milling. In 1861 Lewis rented his father's mill, but after running it for about three months the great flood of that year so damaged the mill that he abandoned that enter- prise, rented a farm, and engaged in agriculture. In the fall of 1862 he moved to Shoalwater Bay, Wash., and located on the Willapa, where he rented a saw- mill. After operating it for three months he went to the Palix and began the erection of a saw-mill there. After the mill was built he disposed of his interest therein and moved to Bruce Port in September, 1863. He engaged in the oyster business and remained there two years, when he moved to Sandy Point, two miles distant from Bay Centre, where he took up a homestead and located. He lived there for nine years, cultivating and oystering, then moved to Bay Centre and built himself a fine residence there, to which he moved his family in order to be able to send his children to school. He resided there for five years, during which time he rented his place at Sandy Point. After that he lived on the Sandy Point property during the summer and at his Bay Centre home during the winters.
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