USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 48
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SMITH, WILLIAM H., dry-goods merchant, of Farmington, Wash., was born in Vermont in 1854. His father, Napoleon Smith, was a native of the same State, and by occupation a dairyman ; his mother, G. D. (Hitt) Smith, being also born in the Green Mountain State. She was a member of the Society of Friends. William was the youngest born in a family of eight children, and received his early education in the public schools and Black River Academy at Ludlow, Vt., where he took the ordinary course, but did not. graduate. Upon completing his studies he located at Boston as clerk in a wholesale clothing house at a small salary. Removing to the West, he first visited Wisconsin, where ill-health pre- vented his engaging in trade. Going next to Gibson, Ill., he tried the lumber business, and followed it for four years. We find him next in Mitchell, Kan., in dry goods with Kohn & Co., with whom he remained one year. In 1881 he migrated to Washington Territory and engaged with Hanson & Co., whose em- ploy he left to come to Colfax, and from there to Farmington in 1892. Here he became the manager of the Farmington Trading Company, a position which he. still occupies, giving great satisfaction to his employers. Mr. Smith was married in 1886 to Miss Annie M. Steele, of Tacoma, a lady of excellent family. He is a brother of the Masonic fraternity, and politically a Republican. Personally lie is
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genial and popular, and during his brief residence in Farmington has made a host of friends.
SNYDER, CLARENCE G., druggist, of Davenport, Wash., was born in Warren County, O., in 1863. His father, Philip A. Snyder, was a native of Vermont and a master workman ; his mother, Barbara E., being a native of Strasburg, Ger- many. Eighth in a family of eleven children born to his parents, young Snyder received his early education in the public schools of the Buckeye State, and on the completion of his studies, located at Blanchester, O., where he took a posi- tion as clerk in a drug store, remaining five years. Removing thence to Clay Cen- tre, Kan., he spent two years in similar employ. In 1889 he came to Washington and established himself as a druggist, having the largest store of the kind in the city, with an invested capital of $10,000. His location and the building which he occupies are most excellent for the purpose. Fraternally he is a Mason, and in politics a Republican. He is one of the youngest and most energetic business men in Davenport, and will undoubtedly make his mark.
SOMERINDYKE, G. W., attorney-at-law, of Seattle, Wash., was born in May, 1857, in New York City, and went to San Francisco with his parents at an early age. Educated in the common schools, he removed to Walla Walla, Wash., in 1868, and attended Whitman Seminary, from which he graduated, and then en- tered the Law Department of Columbia College, New York, graduating in 1877, at the age of twenty, with the degree of LL.B. He was admitted to the Bar, and began active practice in New York City, where he continued to follow his profession for five years. In 1883 he located at Walla Walla, Wash., and imme- diately resumed practice, remaining there until 1889, when he transferred his business to Seattle. He has charge at present of the legal department of the firm of Somerindyke & Livermore. He was married in August, 1889, to Miss Emma R. Caulking, of Elmira, N. Y. They have one child, a son. Mr. Somerindyke is too busy a man to give much attention to politics, but is an occasional contributor to the press on questions of public concern.
SOUTH, H. A., of Dayton, a farmer, was the youngest of a family of eight chil- dren born to David and Naomi (White) South, and first saw the light in Ohio in 1833. His parents were natives of Delaware. Leaving home in 1852, he made the then adventurous journey across the plains by ox-teams without molestation. Arriving at Oregon City, he worked a winter for one of the oldest settlers of the Webfoot State ; then removed to Olympia, Wash. Terr., where he engaged in saw- milling. Returning to Oregon, he visited the Selah Mines in the southern part of the State, and until the breaking out of the Indian War occupied himself with packing and freighting. He had his animals destroyed by the Indians on Rogue River in 1855-56, at Moony Mountain. He packed for the Government during the Indian War in California, then in 1857 engaged with the California Stage Company. He next returned to Benton County, Ore., and remained there two years. He was married to Miss Maria Graham, daughter of W. Graham, a farmer of Oregon. Two children have been born to them. Mr. South removed to Santa Clara County, Cal., lived there six years, returned to The Dalles in 1865, was a
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stock-raiser in various localities, and in 1888 migrated to his present location, where he has ever since resided. He cultivates two hundred and forty acres with excellent results. He is also a stock-breeder, dealing in fine cattle.
SPANGLE, WILLIAM, retired farmer, of Spangle, Wash., was born in Illinois, December 4th, 1834, the son of Henry and Margaret (Jacobs) Spangle, both natives of Ohio, the father being born in 1803 and the mother in 1812. The school days of young Spangle were spent in the subscription schools of Jersey County, Ill. He completed his studies at the age of fourteen and went to work upon a farm. He afterward learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in connection with farming until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlist- ed in the Thirtieth Illinois Infantry. He was present at the battles of Kingston and Nashville, was taken prisoner, held for eighteen days, and then paroled. He was honorably discharged July 9th, 1865, and returned to Illinois. Migrating to Washington Territory, he stopped at Walla Walla, but finally located in 1872 at what is now known as Spangle. Taking up a squatter's claim at first, he waited until the Government land was surveyed and then took up a soldier's claim for his acres. He ran a stage station, kept the post-office, and farmed. No one could accuse him of being idle. He located the town site which bears his name June 3d, 1886. He was married April 3d, 1856, to Miss Christena E. Burger, of Prussia, a daughter of John and Christena Burger, of that nationality. Six chil- dren were born to them, of whom four survive. Mr. Spangle is of German descent. His great-grandfather, with his brother, were from Switzerland, and settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. His great grandfather spelled his name Spangle in English, and his brother spelled his, name Spangler.
SPAWR, LEWIS, H., furniture dealer, of Prescott, Wash., was born in Oregon in 1868. His father, Isaac Spawr, was a Kansas farmer, his mother Eliza B. (Mason) Spawr, being a native of Illinois. Third in a family of four children born to his parents, Lewis was educated in the common schools of Oregon and Washington, and began life for himself as a stockman near Waitsburg, an avocation which he followed for seven years. He then removed to Prescott and engaged in the fur- niture business, building up the leading trade in that line in the city. He has invested a considerable capital, and finds its returns eminently satisfactory. He was married in 1888 to a daughter of Samuel Wilson, a well-known citizen of Prescott. They have a family of two children. Mr. Spawr has a comfortable home, takes pleasure in books, is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in politics a Republican. It is such men as these who give real strength and vitality to the infant cities and rising towns of Washington ; who are making the present, and will well assure the greatness of the future.
SPENCER, W. W., farmer, of Waitsburg, Walla Walla County, Wash., was born in Kentucky in 1832. His parents were natives of North Carolina, and his father served as a soldier in the War of 1812. Young Spencer received his early educa- tion in the public schools of Missouri, and worked on a farm until he came to Oregon in 1852, crossing the plains by ox-teams. He next removed to California, where we find him mining with success, which, however, did not prevent him
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from discovering the superior charms of Washington Territory, to which he migrated and took up a homestead claim. Here he has a large farm, which pro- duces an average yield of forty bushels to the acre. He takes a pardonable pride in his small but fruitful orchard. He was married in Oregon in 1860 to Miss May Jasper. Three children have been born to them, all of whom are well married and pleasantly placed in life.
SPINNING, WILLIAM N., banker, of Puyallup, Wash., was born at Fort Phela- guato, Lewis County, Wash., February 2d, 1857. He removed with his parents in 1859 to Thurston County, and again in the summer of 1860, when they took up a claim within five miles of where Tacoma, the City of Destiny, now stands. The early education of this son of the Evergreen State was obtained in the public schools of Pierce County, now excelled by none, with the exception of one year spent in Monmouth College, Polk County, Ore. In 1883 Mr. Spinning took en- tire charge of the setting out of the largest hop field in Washington for the Sno- qualmie Hop Growers' Association, and served as their superintendent for two years. In the spring of 1883, in partnership with Mr. Frank H. Gloyd, he wrote up the first abstract books of Pierce County. The firm is now incorporated, and Mr. Spinning is one of its directors. He was elected in 1892 Vice-President of the First National Bank of Puyallup. He was married November 12th, 1888, to Miss Adassa Terry, of Minnesota. One child, a boy, blesses their union. Of this gentleman the biographer can speak from personal knowledge when he declares that no more reliable, genial, and courteous man graces the social and commercial circles of Pierce County.
SPRIGGS, J. W., attorney-at-law, of Seattle, Wash., was born in Noble County, O., February 9th, 1847 ; was educated in the common schools of that section until he removed with his parents, at the age of ten, to Guernsey County, Ill. There he renewed his studies until he reached the age of seventeen, when he began teaching in the common schools, a vocation which he followed in the State of Illinois for six years. He studied law while teaching, and attended school dur- ing vacations of teaching ; practised law three years in Xenia, Ill., before enter- ing the ministry. He then entered the ministry and preached in Illinois until 1882, when he removed to Salem, Ore., and preached there three years. He then began the practice of the law, having been admitted at the age of twenty-one. In the spring of 1890 he was appointed United States Commissioner, with head- quarters at Seattle. He was married March 20th, 1870, to Miss Kate Gibson, of Xenia, Illinois. They have five children. Fraternally Mr. Spriggs is a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters of America, Ancient Order of United Work- men, and Knights of Pythias.
STABLER, W. L., farmer and stockman on the Atahnam, near North Yakima, Wash., was born in Pennsylvania in 1835, being the fourth child in a family of eight born to John and Catherine Stabler, both of whom were natives of the Keystone State. Young Stabler had the misfortune to lose his father when but eight years of age, and after receiving a common school education left home at fourteen, went to Illinois, and remained there until 1852, when he crossed the
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plains with a train of only four ox-teams. They had no trouble with the Indians, but counted no less than five hundred and twenty-two new-made graves beside the trail, victims of the cholera then scourging that whole section of country. After much difficulty they succeeded in crossing Green River, and reached Portland, Ore., safely late in the year, having been eight months on the road. Mr. Stabler went to Yakima, returned to Clark County, Wash., thence to Puget Sound, tried the timber business, than stock-raising on the Columbia, and finally in 1870 set- tled down in Yakima County upon the farm of two hundred acres, which he owns and still continues to cultivate. Here he has a fine orchard, good buildings, gar- den, and all other agricultural conveniences, and raises blooded stock, both horses and cattle. He was married in 1882 to Miss Harriet Millican. They have two children, both boys. Mr. Stabler is a Republican.
STAFFORD, THERON, merchant, of Cle Elum, Kittitas County, Wash., was born in the Dominion of Canada. His father, Edward Stafford, was a native of Pennsylvania, his mother, Alice (Waite) Stafford, being from the State of New York. He was but an infant when he came to the United States with his parents, who located in Michigan. There he was educated, and lived upon a farm until he was twenty-one. His tuition, the ordinary teaching of the public schools, was obtained at his own expense. His active business life was begun as a lumber- man in the woods of Michigan. He next engaged in teaching for several years, then went to New Jersey and worked for four years in a saw factory, which he gave up to return to farming and to attend to the settling of his father's estate in Michigan. We next find him a successful druggist in Ravenna, Mich. After five years in this business he sold out and came to Washington Territory in 1885. He tarried for a year at Teaneway, and from thence moved to Cle Elum, where he established himself in the drug and grocery business-a rather unusual com- bination-but which proved, under the able management of Mr. Stafford, a great success. His store is centrally located, and is well adapted to his trade. He owns other property both in Cle Elum and on the sound. He was married in 1882 at Casnovia, Mich., to Miss Jennie Fuller, by whom he has two children. Mr. Stafford is a Mason, and in his political faith a Democrat. He takes a warm interest in educational matters, which is not surprising, as he at one time held the office of Superintendent of township public schools while residing in Ravenna. Mich.
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STAIR, DAVID W., attorney-at-law and farmer, of North Yakima, Wash., was born in Wayne County, O., his father, John Stair, being a Pennsylvania farmer, and his mother, Sophia (May) Stair, being from the same locality. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Ohio, and took his degree of B.L. in the Normal University of that State, with the degree of L.B. at Ann Arbor. He was ad- mitted to the Bar of the States of Michigan and Nebraska in 1874, and to that of Washington in 1877. He began practice at Detroit, where he remained a year, and then removed to Nebraska ; practised there a year, then travelled for three years, finally coming to the then Territory of Washington, where he located for a time at Tacoma. In 1878 we find him in Yakima County, where he opened an office and built up a satisfactory practice, in which he is still engaged. Mr. Stair
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was married in 1877 to Miss Ella S. Parker, of Iowa, whose parents were pioneers of that State. They have a family of three sons. While in Nebraska Mr. Stair was a civil engineer for various corporations, and in Pawnee County of that State. He was elected Probate Judge of Yakima County in 1888, and has held other offices of a loeal nature. Besides owning city property he may well call himself a farmer, as he is possessed of a section of valuable land upon whieli he has already expended $5000 in improvements. It is under a high state of cultiva- tion, and has a fine orchard of forty acres. Mr. Stair is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, having enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry in 1861, and served for four years with the Fourteenth Army Corps. He did his duty gal- lantly, being present and actively engaged in many of the most important battles of the war. He was honorably discharged at Louisville in 1865 and mustered out at Cleveland. He is a Trustee of the Atahnam Academy Association, located at Atahnam, near North Yakima, of which Mrs. Stair is Assistant Prineipal. She is a graduate of the Nebraska Norman Sehool, and is considered one of the best educators in the State. She is a lady of many accomplishments.
STALEY, D. FLETCHER, banker, of Pullman, Wash., was born in North Caro- lina July 26th, 1866. His father, D. L. Staley, was a farmer of that State, his mother being from the same loeality. He lived in Missouri two and one half years, where he removed with his parents at an early age. In 1873 he accom- panied them to Oregon and located in the Willamette Valley. He removed to the Palouse country in the summer of 1874. After completing his education at Colfax College in 1890, he accepted a position in the Bank of Pullman as Assistant Cashier, which he continued to fill till January, 1891. He was then made Deputy Assessor of Whitman County under Assessor W. B. Pendell, and was also em- ployed in the Auditor's and Treasurer's offiees. In 1892 he organized the Pull- man State Bank with a paid-up capital of $75,000. The business of this insti- tution is steadily increasing with the growth of the surrounding country. Mr. Staley owns valuable farm and city property, including that on which the bank building is erected. The officers of the bank are : J. J. Staley, President ; W. V. Windus, Vice-President ; D. F. Staley, Cashier ; Directors, E. H. Letter- man, J. F. Fariss, D. F. Staley, J. Squires, and L. C. Staley. Mr. D. F. Staley is a Democrat and a clear-headed, pushing business man, well posted in finan- ciering.
STANDLEY, JOHN BENNETT, was born in Rochester, Cedar County, Ia., Feb- ruary 8th, 1848, and died in Colton, Wash., January 30th, 1891. He was brought up in his native State, and received the benefits of a common school education. When he was sixteen years old, with his mother and the rest of the children, he emigrated to the Pacific Coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and joined the husband and father, who had gone across the plains to Portland, Ore., the pre- vious year. In Portland John attended the National Business College, from which institution he received a diploma. January 23d, 1869, he was married to Miss Hannah E. Maynard, of McMinnville, Ore. Four sons and two daughters were born to them. After his marriage Mr. Standley embarked in the grocery business at McMinnville, and one year later went to North Yamhill, Ore., and
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engaged in the milling business with his father, continuing the same until his re- moval to the Palouse country, Washington, where he took up a pre-emption claim. He afterward moved to Colton, built the third house in that town, and engaged in the general merchandise business, which he continued up to the time of his death. He built the Colton Steam Flouring Mill, and was an important factor in the building up of the town generally, taking an active part in all mat- ters of public interest. He was an industrious and upright citizen, and at his death left for his family a considerable inheritance, accumulated by his own un- aided efforts. He was a member of the order of Knights of Pythias.
STEARNS, CLAY M., attorney-at-law, of Pullman, Wash., was born in Cambria County, Pa., in 1858. His father, Josiah H. Stearns, was a native of Maine, as was also his mother, Sarah (Russell) Stearns. Our subject was the eldest in a family of nine, and received his education first in the Fryburg Academy, at Fry- burg, Me., an institution of which the celebrated Daniel Webster was at one time a professor, and afterward at Bowdoin College, where he took the scientific course, but did not graduate. He read law with Judge Walker at Bridgeton, Me., and with Hon. Charles Libby, finishing his legal studies with J. B. Allen, at Walla Walla, Wash. He was a member of the Maine State Legislature in 1884 and 1885. He was admitted to the Bar in 1886, located at Farmington, and began practice. A year and a half later he removed to the Palouse Country, and in 1891 settled at Pullman. He is the junior member of the law firm of Neill & Stearns, a partnership formed in May of that year. They do a general law busi- ness, and are fast growing into a large and remunerative practice. Mr. Stearns was married in 1887 to Miss Etta E. Laird, of Walla Walla, and has one child. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Sons of Veterans, and a Free and Accepted Mason. He comes of a fighting family, his ancestors having figured gallantly in the old French and Indian War, the Revolution, the Mexican, and last but by no means least, in the struggle for the union. We regret that our space does not permit us to give the particulars of their interesting experiences.
STEARNS, J. W., banker, of Tekoa, Wash., is an eminent example of adapta- tion to many pursuits coupled with that persistent energy which finds success in all. He was born in Oceola, Mo., in 1854, being the fifth child of a family of nine. He received his early education in the common schools of his native State and Arkansas, entering as a student in the university of the latter, but did not finish the classical course there begun. He then became a teacher, in which pur- suit he continued for two years, but relinquished it to take the management of F. M. Threadgill's stage lines, which position he held till the completion of the railroad cut off the business ; then he entered the employ of a large hardware house, and remained with it till in 1884 he came to Washington, locating at Day- ton ; he became Manager for the Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Company, held this till 1887, when he connected himself with the Lombard Investment Company as General Inspector of Loans for Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. In 1890 he removed to Tekoa, and organized the First Bank of Tekoa, which is to- day one of the strongest institutions in the State. Mr. Stearns married in 1887
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Miss Mattie Prather, of Portland, Ore. Miss Prather was the daughter of one of California's pioneers, and a true type of the bright, intelligent. Western woman. They have one child, Glenn Warwick Stearns, born December, 1889. Mr. Stearns is a member of the Masonic, Knights of Pythias, and other fraternities, has been a member of the National Guard of Washington since 1885, and now holds the rank of Captain of Company K of Tekoa. He is an active Democrat, and was one of the candidates on the electoral ticket in 1892. He was appointed one of the Regents of the Washington Agricultural College and School of Science in March, 1893, by Governor McGraw, and was elected Treasurer of the Board at its first meeting. Few men can boast of a more varied and still honorable and suc- cessful business career than the subject of our sketch.
STEDMAN, LIVINGSTON B., attorney-at-law, of Seattle, was born in Boston, Mass., February 2d, 1864. He received his early mental training in the Roxbury Latin School at Boston, entered Harvard, and graduated with the Class of 1887, taking the degree of B.A. He then attended the Law Department of the same university for two years, and in 1891 he received the degree of M.A. In 1890 he removed to Seattle, and was admitted to the Bar in September of that year. He entered the office of the universally beloved and deeply lamented Colonel J. C. Haines, a distinguished lawyer of that city, and upon the death of the latter he became a member of the firm of Hughes, Hastings & Stedman, and now is the junior member of the firm of Hastings & Stedman. Mr. Stedman was married in Chester, Pa., April 29th, 1891, to Miss Ann B. Leiper, of that city. They have one child, a son.
STEINBACH, EHRENFRIED, real-estate, loan, and insurance broker, of Tacoma, Wash., than whom the City of Destiny boasts no more honest, capable, and thoroughly reliable business man, was born in Sweden June 14th, 1848, where he also received his early education, graduating at the Polytechnic School of that country, in which he took the engineering course with distinguished success. In 1870 he came to America, locating in Philadelphia, and going from thence to Kansas. Later on we find him in Colorado, where he was employed for some years as a mining engineer. He next removed to Illinois, and finally, as we re- serve the best wine for the last, he settled at Tacoma in 1885. Here he engaged in the real-estate business, first in partnership with Mr. Stamm, and then as the senior member of the firm of Steinbach, Noble & Smith, after the dissolution of which he entered into the real-estate, loan, and insurance business for himself, in which he still continues. Mr. Steinbach is one of the city fathers of Tacoma, and a leading spirit among the wisest of her councilmen. It is not often that it falls to the lot of the general biographer to speak from personal knowledge of those whose record he is called to prepare for the press, but in this instance your editor pays the tribute of intimate acquaintance to a personal friend, whose genial nature, kind heart, thorough probity and gentlemanly instincts deserve and should receive at the hands of his historian those words of unstinted admira- tion and deep regard which are fairly earned and undoubtedly due to the subject of our sketch. Tacoma is fortunate in numbering Mr. Steinbach among her most valued citizens, and still more so in having called him to assist in her municipal government.
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