History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 55

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 55
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 55
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 55

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Like most of the other denominational academies of the state, this institu- tion gave way to the public high school. The old building at Ahtanum at the present time is doing its bit in the world's greatest war as headquarters of the Ahtanum Auxiliary of the Red Cross.

FENN B. WOODCOCK

One of the genuine builders of all that has been of the best in the business, in the intellectual, the social and the religious life of early Yakima, was Fenn B. Woodcock. And with him in labor, and faith, and achievement, history must preserve the name of his wife, Frances E. Taylor Woodcock, who with him laid enduring foundations upon the Ahtanum, which are worthily maintained by the son, Ernest Woodcock, now one of the leading business men of Yakima.

Fenn B. Woodcock was born in Massachusetts in 1834. Mrs. Woodcock was a native of Connecticut. Both were descended from a long line of New England ancestry, Mr. Woodcock tracing his lineage to John Woodcock who came from England in 1635.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Woodcock had the best of early education, both being graduates of Hines College, Connecticut. Both engaged for a number of years in the profession of teaching.

Mr. Woodcock felt the lure of the great west, which drew so many of the active spirits of the older states, and in 1857 he removed to Minnesota. There he engaged for four years in farming. With the outbreak of the Civil War he, like most of the young men of the country, heard the call for service in the preservation of the Union, and responded to President Lincoln's first summons for a volunteer army, and enlisted in the Fourth Minnesota Infantry. His service continued throughout the four years of the war and he bore his part

ت٢ ١٢

Jenn. B. Woodcock

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

in some of the greatest battles of the war, as Vicksburg and the march through Georgia to the sea.

Upon the expiration of the war Mr. Woodcock returned to Minnesota, where he resumed farming operations. In 1871 he returned with Mrs. Woodcock and their two sons, Charles and Ernest, both born in Minnesota, to his old home near Williamstown, Massachusetts. There he remained engaged in farming for six years. During all that time he was craving a location in the west with its wider opportunities and freer conditions. A visit to the Philadelphia exposition in 1876, where he saw the products of the Pacific Northwest, led him to the decision that Oregon or Washington was the place for him. His first tentative location in 1877 was Forest Grove, Oregon, but within a few months he sought a permanent place on Puget Sound. A colony of people connected with the Congregational church was just then in process of establishment at the mouth of the Skagit river and Mr. Woodcock joined himself to the company for a time.

The tremendous difficulties of reclaiming the land from the huge timber and entangling undergrowth induced him to make inquiries in regard to the new lands east of the Cascade mountains. Mrs. Woodcock, when a girl, had known Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Tanner, who had immigrated to Oregon in early days and who had located on the Ahtanum in the early seventies. With a view to another location, Mr. and Mrs. Woodcock entered into correspondence with Mr. Tanner, as a result of which they went to the Ahtanum in October, 1878. They there established their permanent home. Mr. Woodcock acquired a large body of land and entered into the stock business. Of the noble part which Mr. and Mrs. Woodcock bore in all the activities of the growing region, many now living can testify.

Mr. Woodcock was a versatile man and his energy and philanthropy were manifested in many directions. During his first winter in Yakima he taught the school in old Yakima, in the little one room structure of the first days. In 1879 he, in conjunction with Messrs. Shipley and Bailey of Forest Grove, Oregon, appraised the lands of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Yakima and Kittitas counties. Two months were devoted to this work, and at the end of the examination they made a very optimistic report, especially as to the lands of what was then known as "Lower Yakima," that is, below Union Gap. The great possibilities in that section, now so abundantly fulfilled, were clearly forecast by Mr. Woodcock and his associates.

Mr. Woodcock was one of the original incorporators of the joint stock company which established the first, in fact, the only, flouring mill in North Yakima. The mill was so successful and the stock reached so high a figure within a year that Mr. Woodcock sold his shares.

We have given under other captions the history of Mr. Woodcock's share in building the Ahtanum church and the Ahtanum academy, subsequently and fittingly known as Woodcock Academy. The academy was indeed his most dis- tinctive monument. Although conditions led to the final absorption of the academy by the public school system, the outlay of time and labor and money which Mr. Woodcock and his family so devotedly and unselfishly made was by no means lost. The academy fulfilled a great mission in upbuilding the educa-

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tional forces of the community, it left a precious heritage to the Ahtanum, and the building is now a rallying point for every sort of progressive and patriotic enterprise.

Mr. Woodcock's family consisted of the two sons already named. The elder, Charles, died February 25, 1890.

The younger, Ernest, is engaged in several forms of active business enterprise with his office in Yakima. His home, however, is one of the old places of Ahtanum. His mother, still in vigorous health, lives in the beautiful home of her son, and it is indeed one of the fitting examples of due recompense in this world that Madam Woodcock, after her years of pioneer toil and deprivation, is now sur- rounded by all the comforts of modern life.

Mr. Woodcock, while still in the greatest activity and at an age when he might have expected many more years of service, reached the limit of life on January 25, 1897.

In his passing on it may be truly said that the Yakima lost one of her ablest builders and one of her noblest men. Of him, as of many whose lives we are here recording, it may be said, "His works do follow him."

THE CHURCHES

The Yakima churches sprung to some degree from the Missionary age. In an earlier chapter devoted wholly to that heroic age we traced the passage over from the missions to the modern churches. As noted in missionary history the Catholic Church was especially prominent in Yakima. St. Joseph's Catholic Church grew out of the mission on the Ahtanum. It was founded on the site of the old mission in 1871. Two years later a new organization was made at Yakima City. In 1885 the church was moved to North Yakima. With it went the main body of members. In 1905 the present magnificent stone edifice was erected, perhaps the finest of the several fine houses of worship for which Yakima is conspicuous. Upon the completion of the new building the former, which had come up from Yakima City, was utilized for Marquette College, until the erec- tion of the school building in 1910. A notable auxiliary of the church is St. Joseph's Hospital. This was established in 1889, and in 1913 a splendid hospital building was built and equipped with the finest appliances and with efficient nurses. St. Joseph's Parish numbers fourteen hundred members, being the largest church membership in central Washington, and, outside of Spokane, the largest in the Inland Empire.

Although St. Joseph's Church is the oldest in the city, it antedated but slightly the Congregational Church on the Ahtanum. That oldest of all the Protestant churches of Yakima after the missionary era recently celebrated its forty-fifth anniversary. So much of interesting history gathers around the rec- ords of that pioneer church that we know many readers will be glad to read an article prepared by Mrs. Frances E. Woodcock, who with her husband, Fenn B. Woodcock, came to the Ahtanum in 1877. Mr. Woodcock died in 1897, and Mrs. Woodcock is still living at the beautiful residence of her son upon the home place. Mr. and Mrs. Woodcock were known to all old-timers as among the foremost of the builders of the Valley. They reached the Ahtanum four years after the found-

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, YAKIMA

ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, YAKIM.A

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ing of the church and did their part nobly both in church and secular affairs. The founders of the church, however, were the members of one of the noblest and best of the pioneer families of old Yakima. These were Elisha S. Tanner and his family. At the forty-fifth anniversary referred to above, an article prepared some years earlier by Mrs. M. A. Elliott of Walla Walla was read. This article gives so clearly some of the essential facts about not only the church, but the pioneer days that we are including here a number of extracts.

This paper was prepared for the Woman's Missionary Meeting at the Ahtanum Academy building on May 23, 1911, at the time of the Yakima Asso- ciation, by Mrs. M. A. Elliott for Mrs. F. B. Woodcock and Mrs. Alice Vivian, who were appointed to speak upon "Pioneer Days in Yakima Valley."

AHTANUM

The pioneers of this valley were obliged to come by way of the Dalles over the old Government road across the Yakima Reservation-a three days trip. And it is said that on the way, in the descent of a long, steep hill, it was necessary to fasten a log or tree to the back wheels of the vehicles to serve the purpose of brakes. This was over fifteen years before the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. All provisions and dry goods had to be purchased at The Dalles.

In 1870 Mr. Elisha Tanner and family came to this valley for a home. They found but a few families there. The names of Bland, Stabler, Filkins, Crosno and Wiley, with one or two others are given. Feeling the need and importance of having religious services on the Sabbath, Mr. Tanner and his young daughter Alice (now Mrs. Vivian) went on horseback from house to house, consulting the families concerning the starting of a Sunday School, which resulted in such an organization in Mr. Tanner's house in June, 1873. It was afterwards held in the schoolhouse. Miss Alice was the fortunate owner of a small melodeon, which she still has in her home.

I find in the minutes of this church the following record made in 1874: "It has been a great help to the Sabbath School and preaching services to have the loan of Miss Alice Tanner's melodeon and her free services as chorister and player upon the instrument, which for the most of the time Deacon Tanner has conveyed to and from his home when able to do so."

I have learned a little more about that melodeon which interested me much. In 1878, eight years after the organization of the Sabbath School, the people were warned of an expected outbreak of the Oregon Indians, who threatened to exterminate the whites. The men of the valley at once prepared a place of protection and defense, by enclosing a half acre with a thick high sod wall with holes here and there through which they would place their guns. And into this fort the families gathered and remained until all danger was passed. They had hidden many of their household goods in the thick brush. The first Sabbath in the fort, some young men slipped out and brought in the melodeon from its hiding place in the bushes. One day, while in the fort a thick cloud of dust seen on the reservation terrified the people, who thought the Indians were coming down upon them, but later it was learned from a Yakima Indian who, when seen coming towards the fort, Mr. Tanner went out and interviewed, that the dust

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was caused by the flight of the Yakima Indians to the mountains, fearing the Oregon Indians and unwilling to make war against the whites.

Three years after the organization of the Sabbath School on April 19, 1873, these workers held a meeting to consider the expediency of organizing a Con- gregational Church in this valley. They corresponded with Dr. G. H. Atkinson, superintendent of mission churches in Oregon and Washington, and acting upon his advice they met together May 11, 1873, and organized a church of nine men- bers, viz: Mr. Elisha S. Tanner, Mrs. Lucey C. Tanner, Mr. J. R. Filkins, Mrs. E. C. Filkins, Mr. Eben Pratt, Mr. Albert J. Thompson, Mr. T. C. Humphrey, Mr. H. M. Humphrey, Mr. A. J. Pratt. On June 1st, Mr. James Kesling and Mrs. Jane Kesling united with the church and June 29th Mrs. Hanna Pratt, Mrs. Mary Reed and Mrs. N. H. Allen became members. The deacons were E. S. Tanner, James Kesling. Trustees were N. C. Goff, J. R. Filkins, H. M. Humphrey. Treasurer, A. J. Pratt. Of the first members, four, Mr. and Mrs. Kesling, Mr. Eben Pratt and Mrs. Hannah Pratt were residents of Yakima City (now Old- town). The church called a council, inviting the churches of Astoria, Salem, Forest Grove, Albany, Oregon City, The Dalles, Portland, East Portland, Seattle. and Olympia, to meet at the Oregon Association at The Dalles, June 15, and recognize the formation of this church. Deacon E. S. Tanner was sent to this Association and after presenting his statement of the organization of the Ahtanum Church-its distance from other towns, prospect of permanence, articles of Faith and Covenant (taken from the Tabernacle Church, New York City-Dr. Thompson), the Council, satisfied with the wisdom of the action, voted to send Dr. Atkinson and Rev. T. Condon to Ahtanum to extend the right hand of fellowship of the sister churches, which they did on June 29 when Dr. Atkin- son gave the charge to the church and the deacons, Mr. E. S. Tanner and Mr. James Kesling were ordained. This was in the schoolhouse where the Sabbath School was organized and where they continued to worship eleven years, until the erection of a church building in 1884, having the occasional services of Father Eells and Father Wilbur as they visited the valley.

In the church records of 1879, Doctor Atkinson wrote: "Many immigrants came into this valley and -several ministers preached in the schoolhouse as they passed through. The union of Christians in the Sabbath School work formed a visible bond of Christian friendship and fellowship."

In 1879 Deacon Tanner set aside five acres of land for the men of the church to cultivate and plant, and the income of the crops to be used for church purposes.

April 26, 1879, Mr. F. B. Woodcock and wife were admitted by letter and ofur dismissed to go into the proposed organization of a church at Yakima City, which organization was effected the next day, October 27th.

On the church register is the following sad record: "Deacon Elisha S. Tan- ner was drowned in the Naches River when attempting to cross at Nelson's Ferry, while on his way to assist in the ordination of Deacon George S. Taylor of the Wenas Congregational Church." "This tragic event was a crushing blow to the church who thus lost a most wise and faithful leader." June 16, 1883, the site for the church building and parsonage was selected, Deacon Woodcock and

FIRST M. E. CHURCH, YAKIMA

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wife giving the two acres upon which the church was built and Mrs. Tanner donating five acres adjoining for the parsonage property.

The church was dedicated September, 1884. The church bell was pre- sented by friends and relatives of Mrs. Woodcock and Mrs. Tanner, in Connec- ticut, through the efforts of Mrs. Tanner's brother, Mr. Samuel Carter.

The Woman's Missionary Society was organized July, 1887, with sixteen members, by Mrs. Rev. William Dawson. At the present time, May, 1911, about five hundred dollars has been contributed by this Woman's Missionary Society to Home and Foreign Missions.

The ministers who have served this church are: Rev. A. Kelly, Father Wilbur, Father Eells, Doctor Atkinson, Revs. Ellis W. Dixon, L. E. Pang- burn, William E. Dawson, John E. Elliott, F. McConaughy, J. Cheadle, D. W. Wise, L. W. Brintnall, William L. Dawson, A. J. Smith, O. Olmstead, B. D. Moon.

The Ahtanum church was the fourth Congregational church in Washington Territory. The first was at Walla Walla in 1865; the second at Seattle, 1869; the third at Olympia, 1873, and the fourth at Ahtanum, May 11, 1873. At the present time (May, 1911) there are about two hundred churches in the statc.

November 19, 1895, the Yakima Association was formed at the Ahtanum church.

As the mantle of Elijah fell upon Elisha, so the mantle of Elisha Tanner fell upon Deacon Fenn B. Woodcock. All who knew him were impressed with his Christ-like spirit, and his entire consecration to the service of his Divine Master and the good of his fellowmen. He showed his faith in God by his works, and his devotion to Christ by his life of self-denial, that the coming set- tlers of this Ahtanum Valley might have the privileges of a house of worship and the services of a Christian minister. The church and the academy building are memorials of his generosity and loving interest in the future good of this community. "Blessed are those who die in the Lord-their works do follow thine."

Friends in Waverly, Illinois, contributed $67.50 for the pulpit, and pulpit chairs. The pulpit Bible cost four dollars. The Sabbath School gave $2.50, the Bible agent gave $1.00 and the church paid the rest. The cost of the church was $1,894.75. The house was dedicated free from debt. The chandelier and lamps were bought with money from a Sabbath School in Waterbury, Connec- ticut, and an aunt of Mrs. Woodcock in West Winfield, New York.

Mrs. Tanner loved and served this church faithfully until God took her to the better world. The above was read by Mrs. Elliott, and the article by Mrs. Woodcock was read at the same anniversay. As may be seen it follows more the line of personal reminiscence, while the article by Mrs. Elliott is more of a his- torical narrative. We give here Mrs. Woodcock's paper.

AHTANUM, May 26, 1918.

There have been many changes since my husband, myself, and our two sons, came by the way of The Dalles, over the old Government road to this valley forty years ago. The valley was mostly covered with sage, and the dry,

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treeless hills were anything but inviting. Hardly any roads and very few houses.

In those days goods and groceries had to be purchased at The Dalles and drawn here by teams, a six days' round trip. Five dollars was the price of a five-gallon can-of kerosene oil, and much of it leaked out before it got here

When we arrived we found the church and Sabbath School holding services in the schoolhouse which was then on the back road near Mr. Westley Gano's. For several years we went every Sunday to the little schoolhouse. Settlers kept coming in and filling up the house until it was thought advisable to build a church. The American Congregational Union offered to loan us five hundred dollars, if we could raise the rest. Nearly every one helped a little and some helped bountifully. To our great joy the house was built and dedicated Sep- tember 18, 1884. Then was when the ladies of this church put forth their best efforts to pay the five hundred dollar loan to the union. We raised money mostly by giving dinners, with none of the conveniences which we have at the present day. Instead of automobiles and telephones now used in soliciting food for the dinner it required a whole day to ride in a lumber wagon, up and down the valley, and instead of the church kitchen and dining-room which we now have (as a result of the skillful leadership of Mrs. L. B. Palmer at a later date) we used a part of the vestibule and this room. Chairs, tables, dishes and all things necessary for the dinner had to be brought from their homes. With much labor but with willing hearts we succeeded in paying the debt. Then our thoughts turned to a place for the minister to live. There were no houses to rent. Cities were not so plentiful then as now.

We were looking for a man to come from the east and we must find some place for him to live. So we concluded to build a parsonage. Again the Con- gregational Union came to the rescue and loaned us three hundred dollars. Mr. Tanner, before he died, had given the proceeds of five acres to the church to help pay the minister's salary, the men of the church to do the work of taking care of what grew upon it. Mrs. Tanner concluded that instead of the pro- ceeds of the five acres she would buy five acres, where the parsonage now stands, of Mr. Woodcock, and give it to the church. We took what she gave and made the first start in the way of a fund to build the building. The lumber was bought from a mill up in the mountains. That Fall there were quantities of rain and the roads got pretty icy, so much so that people did not like to go with their teams after the lumber. So my oldest son took a team and drew the lumber past the steep slippery places, then the others went after it and brought it down, but the lumber was too wet and the weather too cold to build until Spring.

In the meantime the minister (Mr. Dawson) with his wife and son had come. What was to be done with him? There seemed to be only one way and that was for the Woodcocks to move out and let the minister in. We were living where the Shockleys do. We moved into the back of the house and gave them the front. We lived that way until the parsonage was completed, the first of June. Then there was plenty for every one to do. Besides paying for the second loan, they put out small fruits, fruit trees and shade trees, both for the church and parsonage. The smaller fruits are gone but many of the fruit and

CHRISTIAN CHURCH, YAKIMA

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, YAKIMA

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shade trees are there to bear witness to our labors. This work went on with willing hearts that we might have God's house and God's people in our midst. Nearly all those who were then the active workers in the start have passed away and we who are here are enjoying the fruit of their labor.

MRS. F. T. WOODCOCK.

At the present date all the leading Christian denominations are repre- sented in Yakima. None of the others has had the historic background of the St Joseph's Catholic Church or the Congregational Church of Ahtanum. Without undertaking to relate the history of any of these churches in full we may note the churches and pastors at the opening of the century and at the present date. In 1902 they were as follows: Congregational, Rev. H. P. James, pastor ; St. Michael's Episcopal, Rev. H. M. Bartlett, pastor ; First Baptist, Rev. J. J. Tick- ner, pastor; Christian, Rev. A. C. Vail, pastor; First Methodist, Dr. Henry, D. D., pastor; Lutheran, Rev. J. Gihring, pastor; Presbyterian, Rev. F. L. Hayden, pastor; St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, Rev. Father B. Feusi, pastor ; Mennonite, Rev. J. A. Persell, pastor ; Dunkard, Rev. G. E. Wise, pastor. There were strong Christian Science and Salvation Army organizations. At that date most of the churches had comparatively small and inexpensive edifices.

A great change has taken place during the period following the time just noted. Yakima has become conspicuous for the number and excellence of her church buildings. At the present time the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Catholic, Christian and Christian Science denominations have houses of worship of conspicuous architectual beauty as well as interior com- fort and adaptability to the varied needs of a church home. The following is the complete list of churches with their pastors at the present date :

CHURCHES AND PASTORS OF YAKIMA AT PRESENT DATE

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, Rev. Father Conrad Brustin.

First Baptist, Rev. L. J. Sawyer. Calvary Baptist, Rev. F. C. Whitney. Dunkard, Rev. George A. Wise.

African Methodist, Rev. S. E. Bailey.

Episcopal, Rev. S. J. Mynard. Congregational, Rev. W. D. Robinson.

Methodist Episcopal, Rev. W. F. Ineson.

Swedish Lutheran, Rev. W. J. Jansen. German Evangelical, Rev. Huntsinger. First Christian, Rev. S. G. Buckman. Mennonite Brethren in Christ, Rev. J. G. Grout Presbyterian, Rev. Edward Campbell. Church of God, Rev. D. M. Clemens. English Lutheran, Rev. Andrew Engeret.

Evangelical, Rev. H. J. Bittner. Nazarene, Rev. A. M. Bowes. German Lutheran, Rev. F. H. K. Soll.

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FRATERNAL ORDERS

Yakima is and has been well supplied with lodges of the usual orders. These seem to have come in with the town and grown with its growth. We find named in the various books and papers and records of many kinds, the following orders: Elks, North Yakima Lodge No. 18; Masons, Yakima Chap- ter No. 21, Royal Arch Masons; Eastern Star, Syringa Chapter No. 38; Knights of The Maccabees, Yakima Tent No. 26; Ladies of The Maccabees, Yakima Hive No. 24; Order of Odd Fellows, North Yakima Encampment No. 7, Yakima Lodge No. 22, Isabel Rebekah No. 22; Knights of Pythias, North Yakima No. 53; Rathbone Sisters, North Yakima Temple No. 31; Woodman of the World, Yakima Camp No. 89; Women of Woodcraft, Rustle Circle No. 268; Modern Woodmen of America, North Yakima Camp No. 5580; Fraternal Order of Eagles, North Yakima Aerie No. 289; Ancient Order of United Workmen, North Yakima Lodge No. 29: Degree of Honor, North Star Lodge No. 52; Foresters of America, Court Florine No. 50; Improved Order of Red Men, Yakima Tribe No. 24: Fraterial Brotherhood, North Yakima Lodge No. 266; Royal Neighbors, Sunshine Camp No. 1520. Most of the lodges named above have continued from their founding to the present. One of the orders to which special attention and honor should always be given is the Grand Army of the Republic. The Yakima Post has been a strong one, but the great ma- jority have passed on. We learn from a record prepared by a post commander that there have been 148 members.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 55

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1134

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134