History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 10

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 10
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 10
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 10

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William L. Shearer, having acquired a public school education, started in the business world as a messenger boy for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company and was thus employed from 1876 until 1890. He then came to Wash- ington and for fourteen years was in the service of the Northern Pacific Rail- way Company. In 1896 he arrived in Toppenish, having been appointed to the position of station agent, in which capacity he continued until 1904, when he left the railroad employ and in 1905 opened the first drug store of the town. This he conducted for about a year and then sold ont. It was in 1906 that he organized the Yakima Produce & Trading Company in connection with A. W. McDonald and George Plank. They began the development of a large farm, having seventeen hundred acres of land which they have transformed into rich and productive fields, annually yielding very substantial harvests. This is devoted to diversified farming and stock raising and both branches of the business are proving profitable. In the meantime Mr. Shearer had served as postmaster of the city, having been appointed in 1898 and continuing in the office until September, 1913. He took the office when it paid but seven dollars per month and remained with it until it was paying twenty- three hundred dollars a year. With the substantial development of the Yakima Produce & Trading Company, they bought ont the Richey & Gilbert hardware store in 1914 and now conduct an extensive business in the line of shelf and heavy hardware and implements. Mr. Shearer was one of the pioneer business men of the town and since his earliest connection with its commercial interests has been a most active factor in its growth and upbuilding. His activities have been of a character that have contributed to public progress as well as to individual success and his worth as a citizen is widely acknowledged.

On the 1st of January, 1890, Mr. Shearer was married to Miss Emma Hoffman, a native of Eagleville, Missouri, and a daughter of Robert and Rebecca Hoffman,

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of Illinois, who removed to Missouri in pioneer times. Mr. and Mrs. Shearer have become parents of four children: Paul, who is manager of the implement business owned by his father; Preston, who is now with the United States army, having been examined six times in order to get into the service before he was accepted; Fred, who is a student in the University of Washington; and Helen, a little maiden of eleven summers, who completes the family.

Mr. Shearer is an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Toppenish Lodge, No. 187, A. F. & A. M., and he has also taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite, He belongs to the Toppenish Commercial Club, of which he formerly served as president. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and for three years, from 1914 until 1916 inclusive, he was mayor of Toppen- ish, giving to the city a businesslike and progressive administration in which he introduced many improvements and brought about various reforms. He has also been school director for twenty years. He made the first boundary lines for the first school district in the Yakima Indian reservation in 1898 and has served on the school board continuously since save for a period of three years. The cause of education finds in him indeed a stalwart champion and one whose labors have been most effective and beneficial. He is constantly reaching out along lines that look beyond the exigencies of the moment to the further development and upbuild- ing of this section of the state and he has accomplished much of great worth to town and community.

MRS. ANN E. SYKES.

Mrs. Ann E. Sykes is the first and only postmaster that Grandview has had. She was appointed to the position with the founding of the town in 1906 and has continuously served, making a most creditable record in the office. She is a native of Keithsburg, Illinois, and a daughter of George and Eliza Jane (Osborn) Pitman, the latter a daughter of Alexander Osborn, who was the third white settler in Knox county, Illinois, and the first white man to be married in that county. George Pitman, the father of Mrs. Sykes, was a native of Indiana and cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Illinois, where he was married. Thus two of the old families of the state were united. The maternal grandfather served in the Black Hawk war, which occurred in 1832 and settled the question of Indiana supremacy in that state. He lived there at the time when deer and other wild animals haunted the forests and both the Osborn and Pitman families participated in the work of re- claiming the region for the purposes of civilization. George Pitman was a farmer and live stock dealer and his daughter Ann was reared under the parental roof upon the old homestead farm in Illinois.

At Cadillac, Michigan, she became the wife of Noah Sykes, who was a mill- wright and turner by trade. They removed from the Mississippi valley to Everett, Washington, where Mr. Sykes operated the Everett Turning Works, continuing active in the business there until 1904, when he met death by accident. He was a leading member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also a prominent and influential member of the Congregational church, in which he served as deacon and was also a tenor singer in the choir. He was a man of many admirable traits of character and his sterling worth endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. The best traits of his character, however, were reserved for his own fireside and his loss came as a telling blow to the members of his household.

In 1906 Mrs. Sykes came to Grandview. The town was established in that year and she became the first postmaster. She had had previous experience along this line at Coledale, Illinois, where she and her husband conducted a country store and had the postoffice for five years. She has remained continuously as postmaster of Grandview, covering a period of more than twelve years, so that her connection with postoffice affairs has extended over more than seventeen years. She erected the building which is now occupied by the postoffice and she at first had to carry the mail from Mabton. In order to supplement the postoffice salary in the early days she took in roomers. She was supporting her mother, who still lives with

HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

her at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. Mrs. Sykes conducted the postoffice for two years before it paid anything and she did not receive a salary for five years. The business of the office, however, has continually grown with the develop- ment of the surrounding country. Mrs. Sykes lived at Grandview for a year before a general store was established. She has therefore witnessed the entire upbuilding of the town and has been deeply interested in everything pertaining to its progress and development. She has given her political support to the democratic party and her religions faith is that of the Congregational church. She has been a brave, self- reliant woman, capable and resourceful, and is very popular among the people of the community.

HOWARD GARRISON.

Howard Garrison, who after four years' connection with the office of sheriff is resuming the practice of law in Ellensburg, was born in Centralia, Illinois, January 25, 1875, a son of S. C. and Elizabeth Garrison, the former a farmer by occupa- tion. The son obtained a public school education and through the period of his boyhood and youth engaged in farming with his father and continued to assist in the development of the fields until he had reached the age of twenty-five. He was desirous, however, to concentrate his efforts and attention upon a professional career and with that end in view became a law student in the Northern Illinois College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1902. He practiced in Centralia from 1903 until 1906 and afterward in Springfield, Illinois, from 1906 until 1909. In the latter year he came to the west and after living in several places removed to Ellensburg, Washington, in August, 1910, and entered upon the practice of law, in which he continued successfully until 1912. He was then appointed deputy sheriff and thus served until 1914, when he was elected to the office of sheriff and again was chosen for that position in 1916, so that he was associated with the sheriff's office altogether for six years. With the close of his term in 1918 he is now returning to the practice of law.

On the 14th of February, 1906, Mr. Garrison was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Levesmeier, of Carbondale, Illinois. Their children are Howard B. and Mildred May. Mr. Garrison belongs to Elks Lodge No. 1102 of Ellensburg. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, which he has always faithfully supported, being a firm believer in its principles. He has acted as chairman of the local exemption board and he has been greatly interested in everything that has had to do with the promotion of war activities and the support of the federal govern- ment during the great crisis in the world's history.

HERBERT P. PRESTON.

Herbert P. Preston, actively engaged in the milling business at Toppenish, was born in Waitsburg, Washington, December 21, 1874. His father, William G. Pres- ton, came to this state in 1861, when it was still a part of the territory of Oregon. He made his way to Walla Walla and was there engaged in the freighting business until 1865. He afterward established the first flour mill in the west in Waitsburg, Washington, in 1866, bringing the machinery around Cape Horn. The new venture proved a successful one and he continued the operation of the mill until his death, which occurred February 20, 1916. He was also interested in mercantile business; was director of the Merchants Bank of Waitsburg and the Schwabacher Company of Walla Walla: was identified with the Puget Sound Dressed Meat Company and was much interested in farming and stock raising. In 1869 he wedded Matilda Cox, who survives him and now makes her home in Walla Walla.

Herbert P. Preston, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, acquired a public school education and assisted his father in the mill until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he entered into connection with the grocery trade as

HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

an employe of the Schwabacher Company at Walla Walla. He continued there for many years and afterward went to Baker City, Oregon, where he conducted a grocery store for four years. He then went upon the road as traveling salesman for the Cudahy Packing Company, which he represented in Oregon, Washington and Idaho for five years. On the expiration of that period he turned his atten- tion to the brokerage business in Seattle, where he remained for six years, and in 1917 he built a flour mill at Toppenish, which he is now successfully conduct- ing. This mill has a capacity for one hundred tons of alfalfa chopped for stock feed, that amount being turned out every twenty-four hours. He also makes other kinds of stock feed and manufactures rolled oats and barley, together with barley, oat and corn flour. The business is one of the substantial productive industries of the section and employs twenty-five men.

On the 21st of December, 1912, Mr. Preston was married to Miss Corinne C. Hays, of Baker City, Oregon. He is well known as a member of the Elks lodge in Walla Walla and he belongs to the Commercial Club of Toppenish and to the Chamber of Commerce at Seattle. His business activity in various places has made him widely known and his enterprise has placed him among the leading and repre- sentative citizens of Washington. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is conversant with all the vital questions and issues of the day, but he does not seek nor desire office, preferringto concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs. From time to time he has extended his activities, which have brought him into connection with many important interests. He is now a director of the American Savings Bank & Trust Company of Seattle and he has large farming interests at Walla Walla. He is also interested in a number of flour mills, including such plants at Waitsburg, Washington, and Athena, Oregon, and he is a stockholder in a number of banks. He has displayed sound judgment in his invest- ments and in all business transactions has quickly discriminated between the essential and the non-essential. Fortunate in possessing character and ability that inspire confidence in others, the simple weight of his character and ability has carried him into important relations with large commercial and financial enterprises.

JOSEPH THEODORE STEENBERGEN.

Joseph Theodore Steenbergen is the owner of one of the valuable ranch prop- erties of the Selah valley, having forty-seven acres of rich and productive land, largely devoted to the raising of apples. He comes to the northwest from Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Barren county on the 27th of August, 1868, his parents being William and Elizabeth (Gillock) Steenbergen, both of whom were natives of the Blue Grass state. The father was a son of Joseph Steenbergen, who was also born in Kentucky. William Steenbergen followed the occupation of farming for many years but is now living retired, still makng his home in his native state. His wife, however, has passed away.

Joseph T. Steenbergen, after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools, took up farming as a young man and later was engaged in the lumber business in California in 1889. He afterward became identified with the hotel business in that state and in 1900 went to Alaska, devoting his attentions to mining in vraious sections of that country. Three times he made and lost a fortune, but with undaunted courage he persisted and eventually discovered the Engleside mine at Nome. A month later he was offered seventy-five thousand dollars for this prop- erty but he worked it out. In 1910 he left Alaska with the money earned in his mining operations in that country and came to the Yakima valley, where he pur- chased forty acres of land in the Selah. Subsequently he added seven acres to the original tract and he has the place all in orchard, largely devoted to apples and pears. His land is also seeded to alfalfa and an air of neatness and thrift pervades every part of the ranch and indicates the supervision of a practical and progressive owner. He has a fine home upon the place, also a large and substantial barn and every needed facility to promote his fruit raising interests.

On November 27, 1912, Mr. Steenbergen was married to Miss Sue Dobson, who

JOSEPH T. STEENBERGEN

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was born in Kentucky, a daughter of John Dobson. Their marriage was celebrated in her native state and they have become parents of two daughters; Helen, born September 27, 1915, and Ruth, born November 17, 1917.

Mr. Steenbergen is a well known Mason, holding membership in Yakima Lodge, No. 24, F. & A. M., while in the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty-second degree, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine of Seattle. His name is like- wise on the membership roll of Yakima Lodge, No. 318, B. P. O. E., and of the Yakima Commercial Club. His wife is a member of the Baptist church. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party but never has he been an aspirant for office. In matters of citizenship he is not remiss but prefers that his public service shall be done as a private citizen. His life's experiences have been broad and varied. He has visited many parts of the globe and many lands. During 1911 he went to South America, spending some time in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where he engaged in prospecting and also in touring the country generally. He crossed the Andes to the headwaters of the Amazon, traveling on pack mules for eight hundred miles. He made the trip over Mount Sarata at an altitude of seven- tecn thousand feet. His extensive travels have convinced him that he prefers the Yakima valley to any other section that he has visited and, concentrating his efforts and attention upon the development of his business affairs, he is now engaged in the raising of very high-grade fruit and is the owner of one of the finest fruit ranches of the valley, fitted with splendid modern equipments.

CHARLES H. NEWELL.

It is a trite saying that there is always room at the top, yet there are few who attain leadership. The great majority are content to remain in a mediocre condi- tion, lacking the ambition or the energy that would bring them to the front. Charles H. Newell, however, does not belong to that class. He is a man of marked enterprise and keen sagacity in business affairs and, moreover, his record is that of unwearied industry. Starting out in life, he has eagerly utilized the opportunities which others have passed heedlessly by and in the course of years he became the fore- most dealer in horses in the state of Washington. Eventually he became a resident of Toppenish and with its upbuilding and development has since been closely asso- ciated, while at the same time his business interests extend to various other districts.

Mr. Newell was born in Holmesville, Ohio, September 20, 1847, a son of Samuel and Mary Newell. The father went to California in the year 1849, attracted by the gold discoveries in that state, and there passed away. In 1859 the family left Ohio for Lawrence, Kansas, later went to Linn county, that state, and subsequently crossed the plains by team to Colorado, where Mrs. Newell became the wife of E. A. Hopkins. In 1864 they resumed their westward journey, traveling across the country to The Dalles, Oregon. In the same fall they settled in Washington county, Oregon, where they lived until 1871 and then removed to Klickitat county, Washington, where they took up a homestead claim which included the present site of the city of Goldendale. There both Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins passed away, the former in 1878, while the latter died in 1897.

Charles H. Newell obtained a public school education in Oregon and after- ward entered the live stock business, in which connection his name has become widely known throughout the northwest and in other sections of the country. At times he has owned more horses than any other man in the state of Washington. He shipped the first train load over the Northern Pacific Railroad and as a member of the firm of Hoxter & Newell owned an extensive ranch near Goldendale. He has owned, bought and sold over one hundred thousand head of horses and has been doing business over the Yakima valley since 1871. He rode the ranges in this district when there were practically no settlers in this part of the state. He leased land from the Indians on the Yakima reservation as early as 1879 and has had lands in the district continuously since. In 1901 he came to Toppenish and built the first livery barn in the town. In 1902 he built the first hotel here and in 1908 he com- pleted a modern hotel, which is a fine cement structure containing fifty-five rooms.

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It was erected at a cost of fifty thousand dollars and is one of the best hotels in the valley. Mr. Newell and his partner, R. J. Davis, of Tacoma, own more than five hundred acres of land on the Yakima Indian reservation, devoted to general farming, and also have a large hay ranch. In addition to that property they lease several hundred acres beside. Their business interests are of a most extensive and important character and place them among the men of affluence in the district.

In 1876 Mr. Newell was united in marriage to Miss Mary Wren, of Washington county, Oregon, a daughter of Michael Wren, who settled in that state in the '40s. To Mr. and Mrs. Newell has been born a son, Harold, who is now on his father's ranch in the summer seasons, while in the winter months he attends school.

Mr. Newell has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since attaining his majority and he also has membership with the United Artisans. His political endorsement is given to the republican party. He does not seek to figure in any public light outside of business, concentrating his efforts and attention thereon, and as the years have passed he has developed his business affairs to mammoth proportions. Carlyle has said, "The obstacles in the paths of the weak become stepping stones for the strong," and this has been proven in the case of Mr. Newell, who has regarded difficulties in his path as an impetus for renewed effort on his part-effort that has brought him continually nearer and nearer to the goal of desired success.

ERNEST WOODCOCK.

Ernest Woodcock, who has been prominently identified with land development in the Yakima valley and is now well known as a leading fruit grower and capital- ist of the city of Yakima, was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, October 23, 1871, a son of Fenn B. and Frances (Taylor) Woodcock, who in 1876 removed westward from New England to Forest Grove, Oregon. They lived on Puget Sound for a year and in 1878 came to the Yakima valley, locating seven miles west of the city of Yakima, the journey being made by wagon. The father purchased land the following year and a brother of Ernest Woodcock took up a homestead adjoining that place two years later. The father continued to devote his atten- tion to agricultural interests upon his claim to the time of his demise, which oc- curred in 1897, making a specialty through that period of dairying and the cattle business.

Ernest Woodcock was but five years of age at the time of the removal to the northwest and in the public schools of this region he pursued his early education, which was supplemented by a course in Whitman College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1895. He afterward attended Columbia College for a year and then returned to Washington. He was married in 1896 to Miss Mary Hunt, of Walla Walla, after which he conducted Eeles Academy at Colville, Wash- ington, for a year. His wife died that year and Mr. Woodcock returned home after the death of his father and conducted the ranch, also teaching in the Wood- cock Academy at Ahtanum, a school which had been established by his father. He afterward became principal of the academy and was thus closely and actively identi- fied with educational interests for seven years. On the expiration of that period he turned his attention to the land business in connection with Charles H. Hinman and organized the Yakima Realty & Investment Company, which is still in existence and which his been one of the potent forces in the development and improvement of this section of the state. They planted six hundred acres to fruit, after which they sold some of the tract and kept the remainder. Mr. Woodcock has since engaged in land development work and has developed a large acreage for various purposes. The firm established the town of Ahtanum and has conducted business under the name of the Ahtanum Lumber & Produce Company for a time.

In 1896 Mr. Woodcock was married to Miss Mary Hunt, of Walla Walla, who passed away in March, 1897, and in 1900 he wedded Etha Henderson, who was a graduate of Woodcock Academy and for one year was a student at Whitman Col. lege. Her father was James Henderson, of Yakima. By his first marriage Mr.

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Woodcock had a son, Marion, now twenty-one years of age and manager of the Ahtanum Lumber & Produce Company. He is a graduate of the high school of North Yakima.

Fraternally Ernest Woodcock is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in politics he is a progressive republican. His religious faith is indi- cated by his membership in the Congregational church of Ahtanum, which held its forty-fifth anniversary on the 29th of April, 1918. His has indeed been an active and useful life, characterized by laudable ambition and actuated by high and honor- able purposes, and the worth of his work is acknowledged by all who know aught of his career.

LEONARD E. SMITH.

Leonard E. Smith is the owner of forty acres of land on the Cowiche. He was born in Will county, Illinois, January 26, 1872, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Sampson) Smith, both of whom were natives of Nottinghamshire, England. They came to the United States about 1853 and cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Will county, Illinois, where the father engaged in farming to the time of his death. The mother afterward made her home with her son Leonard and there passed away.

In the public schools of his native county Leonard E. Smith pursued his educa- tion and through vacation periods and after his school days were over assisted in the work of the home farm until he had reached the age of twenty-four, when he left Illinois and removed to Iowa. He was then engaged in farming in Winne- bago county of the latter state, until March, 1902, when the opportunities and ad- vantages of the northwest attracted him and he made his way to Washington. Ar- riving in Yakima county, he purchased forty acres of land on the Cowiche and now has two acres planted to fruit. He conducts a dairy business and is engaged in the raising of hay and cattle, specializing in graded Jerseys. The various branches of his business are carefully conducted and his enterprise and energy are bringing to him merited success.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 10

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138