USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume II > Part 11
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this office he engaged in the real-estate business and was instrumental in introducing the first foreign capital to Oregon. In 1872 he went to Washington, D. C., on a special political mission to secure public appropriation for Oregon and was suc- cessful even against the influence of congressional representatives, Oregon being then a democratic state. In 1874 he was appointed deputy collector of customs for eastern Washington and northern Idaho, with headquaters at Fort Colville, a position which he held until 1880, when he was appointed clerk of the United States circuit court of Colville. While serving as clerk he filed upon a tract of land near Colville, which he disposed of a few years ago at a very handsome figure, thus rounding out his declining years in comfort. In 1883 Mr. Stitzel was elected to the territorial legislature and served four years in the senate. At the conclusion of his legislative term he was again commissioned as clerk of the United States court and remained in that position until the admission of Washington as a state in 1889, when he was elected clerk of the superior court, serving one term. Owing to his great efficiency in handling government business he was appointed United States court commissioner in 1892, a position which he filled for nearly twenty years, per- forming his duties in a manner that secured the very best results for the public service.
Mr. Stitzel was married in Clackamas county, Oregon, to Miss Mary W. Hal- prunner. Of their children four survive. Martha A., the widow of the late General Evan Miles, of San Francisco; Mary E., who is the wife of A. H. Moor, of Ta- coma; Kathrine S., who married Gilbert S. Ide, of Colville, a record of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work ; and James H., of Colville.
Mr. Stitzel died January 22, 1911, having arrived at the age of four score years. In politics he adhered to the republican party, and was one of the most prominent workers in its behalf in Stevens county. He was chairman of the state republican convention in 1883 and presided over many important political gather- ings. He was offered the post of minister to China by President Grant but de- clined it. For three years in the early '70s he was chief of the mounted police in Washington, D. C. Fraternally he was identified with the Odd Fellows and Re- bekahs, being a member of the former fifty-three years, and of the latter for fifty- two years. His only request in his last days was that he should be buried by those organizations. He assisted in organizing the Stevens County Pioneer Association and was its first president. He was for many years an active member of the Con- gregational church and was a man of pronounced tendencies though not given to· in- truding his opinions upon others.
The funeral services of this good man and citizen drew the largest attendance known in Colville. Rev. G. H. Wilbur, who had been pastor of the church of which Mr. Stitzel was a member, had charge of the exercises and in the course of his re- marks he said :
"Thus passes from our midst a man beloved by all, whose life was worth while and whose memory must be preserved. His home, his heart, his very life was wrapped up in this section. He believed in Stevens county and spread the doctrine. His innate kindliness won the hearts of newcomers. His counsel won the respect of residents. His life was a tribute to the principles of honesty, truthfulness and helpfulness. It avails nothing to mourn his death. The fact that he has ceased to be is not nearly so important as that he has been-that he has lived to a purpose -that he has worked and his work has been found good. This country was a wilder-
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ness when he first viewed it, but before his death he saw the portals of time swing open and disclose a country born of freedom and teeming with healthful life and industry-partly the result of his own efforts. This country-his country-bears the impress of his activities. Let his name be carried down to succeeding genera- tions as one to be revered. Let him be remembered as a master builder."
The following resolution adopted by the bar association of Stevens county elo- quently expresses the sentiments of the legal fraternity as to the work and character of Mr. Stitzel:
"Inasmuch as one of the oldest and most honorable citizens of Colville has passed from our midst and gone to join the other pioneers of the west, who have journeyed on to that great unexplored country, from whose bourne no traveler re- turns ;
"And inasmuch as this citizen, whose loss to the community can hardly be estimated at this time, has lived among us, honored and respected for so many years, it seems right and proper that this court, the bar of Stevens county, and the officers of the court should take cognizance of the passing of one of our foremost citizens:
"Resolved, That we as members of the bar of Stevens county, together with the judge and officers of this court should and do seize upon this opportunity to honor the character and memory of our departed friend, and in token of our appreciation of the life and character of Jacob Stitzel, in token of the respect with which we have ever regarded him, in token of the sympathy which we feel for the bereaved family who mourn his loss and in consideration of his services as one of the earliest officers of this court, that the members of the bar of this county and the officers of this court stand while his honor adjourns the labors of the court for a season to enable all to pay their respects to the memory of the departed."
JOHN B. TAYLOR.
Since coming west twenty-five years ago, John B. Taylor has been closely asso- ciated with his brother, Marshall M. Taylor, in various business enterprises meeting with like success as a reward for steadfast application and competent management. He is four years his brother's junior, having been born April 22, 1866, in Jackson county, Iowa. His parents were Stephen L. and Cecelia (Dupuy) Taylor, who lived in Iowa where the father operated a grist mill near Fulton. He obtained his educa- tion in the schools of Jackson county, Iowa, and at Valparaiso University, in Val- paraiso, Indiana, after which he took a commercial course in a business college in Chicago. In 1886 he came west with his brother, Marshall M., and located for a short time in eastern Oregon. Later he engaged in the clothing business in Cheney, Washington, removing from there to Wallace, Idaho, where they conducted a similar business for nine years. In 1904 he came to Coeur d'Alene and with his brother or- ganized the Coeur d'Alene Hardware Company, selling this after a year and a half in order to engage in the real-estate business. They have been very prosperous in this venture and have platted a large number of new additions in Coeur d'Alene, sell- ing city lots, and ten-acre tracts for fruit-raising purposes. Mr. Taylor is interested in various other financial enterprises in addition to his real-estate business. He is
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vice-president of the Exchange National Bank of Coeur d'Alene, and also of the Bank of St. Joe, of St. Joe, Idaho, and is a stockholder in the Bank of St. Maries, of St. Maries, Idaho.
Fraternally Mr. Taylor is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of that lodge at Wallace, Idaho. He is also a member of the Commercial Club of Coeur d'Alene.
WILSON C. KIPP.
Wilson C. Kipp, president and treasurer of the Pohlman-Kipp Company, pro- prietors of a confectionery, ice cream parlor and tea room, is in this connection at the head of one of the popular business enterprises of Spokane. Moreover, he has important landed interests as secretary and treasurer of the Interstate Irrigation Company. He was born in Cresco, Iowa, November 30, 1869, a son of Wilson D. and Elizabeth J. (Turner) Kipp. The father was the proprietor of a general mer- cantile store in Cresco and was one of the pioneer residents of Iowa, where he con- tinued to make his home until the spring of 1888 when he came to the coast, residing at Healdsburg, California, for about six months. On the expiration of that period he came to the Spokane country, settling on a homestead claim in Lincoln county in 1899. Since that time he has been identified with the agricultural development of the Inland Empire. His family numbered four sons and a daughter, Harold T., Robert H., Charles T., Emma J. and Wilson C., all now residents of Spokane.
In the public schools of New Hampton, Iowa, Wilson C. Kipp pursued his edu- cation and through his boyhood days worked with his father, thus receiving a thor- ough business training and early learning the lesson that industry wins, so that in- dustry has been the beacon light of his life. He was a young man of about nineteen years when the family came to the west and soon after the removal from California he went to Davenport, Washington, entering the employ of Knapp-Burrell & Com- pany, an agricultural implement house, whom he represented as a traveling salesman throughout the Inland Empire for six years. In 1895 they retired from this field and Mr. Kipp together with W. W. Redhead who had been their general agent here, took over the business under the firm name of Redhead & Kipp. After three years Mr. Kipp sold out to his partner and in 1898 joined J. V. Pohlman in establishing their present business in the Whitten block, at the corner of Post street and Sprague ave- nue. In 1900 they removed to their present quarters, at No. 720 Riverside avenue, an estimate of the volume of the business is indicated in the fact that they serve about five thousand persons daily. Of the company Mr. Kipp is the president and treas- urer and the progressive methods which he has instituted have been one of the salient factors in the continuous and substantial growth of the business. Moreover, he is the secretary and treasurer of the Interstate Irrigation Company, which owns over two thousand acres of irrigated land at Hayden Lake, Idaho."
Mr. Kipp belongs to Spokane Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M .; Spokane Lodge, No. 228, B. P. O. E .; to the Spokane Club; and he is a life member of the Spokane Ama- teur Athletic Club. His unfeigned cordiality and social nature render him popular not only in the immediate circles of his friends but also in business circles. In his business life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker, keeping his hand
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steadily upon the helm of his commercial interests and strictly conscientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike. Keenly alive to the possibilities of every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of trade, he has passed over the pit- falls into which unrestricted progressiveness is so frequently led and has focused his energies in directions where fruition has been resultant.
WALTER J. SULLIVAN.
Walter J. Sullivan has worked his way steadily upward to a position of promi- nence in business circles, being now president and manager of the Wallace Produce Company, the only concern of its kind in the Coeur d'Alene district. His birth oc- curred at Orillia, Ontario, Canada, on the 5th of January, 1882, his parents being John and Mary (Cosgrove) Sullivan. He supplemented his early education by a two years' academic course in the Toronto University and in 1900, when a youth of eight- een, entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company as a clerk in their office at Moorhead, Minnesota. Six years later he was acting as their ticket agent at Fargo, North Dakota. In 1906 he went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as city ticket agent for the Soo Line, there remaining for about a year and a half. Late in the year 1907 he came to Wallace, Idaho, as the Wallace agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, serving in that capacity for twelve months. In 1908 he entered the ser- vice of the Wallace Produce Company, then under the management of Fred J. Day, acting as bookkeeper for one year. In 1909 having demonstrated his fitness for the position, he was made manager of the concern and on the 1st of January, 1911, was chosen president, the other officers being as follows: J. W. Tabor, vice president; and R. T. Dillworth, of Spokane, secretary and treasurer. The Wallace Produce Company, an incorporated concern, handles produce of all kinds and is the only enterprise of this character in the Coeur d'Alene district.
On the 18th of August, 1906, Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage to Miss Jane Christianson, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Columbus at Wallace, being now the deputy grand knight. His life record is an excellent illustration of the fact that in America there is opportunity for all and that labor is king in this land, for his untiring diligence has been the key which has un- locked for him the portals of success.
HARVEY NEIL STRONACH.
The position of secretary of the Cheney Normal school calls for sound judgment and good business capacity as well as knowledge of human nature and practical ex- perience in the world. These qualities are possessed by Harvey Neil Stronach, hence his marked success in connection with the school. He is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, born December 29, 1879, being a son of William P. and Jessie (Ray) Stro- nach both of whom are deceased. The family originated in Scotland and ancestors of the subject of this review were early settlers of Nova Scotia. The grandfather and one other person received as a reward for services five hundred acres of land
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apiece near Margaretsville, Annapolis county, Nova Scotia. The mountains of that region still bear the name of Stronach. The father and great-grandfather were engaged in the general mercantile business and shipbuilding. They became wealthy but loss most of their fortune through the great depression in sailing- ship values.
Mr. Stronach, whose name stands at the head of this review, received his prelim- inary education in the public schools of Nova Scotia and later became a student of the Middleton high school, from which he was graduated in 1897. He attended the Truro Agricultural College and the National Business College, graduating from the latter in 1904. Believing that conditions were more favorable for an ambitious young man in the United States than in Canada, Mr. Stronach came to Spokane and from 1905 to 1909 filled the position of principal of the Commercial department of the Northwestern Business College of that city. He then went to Lewiston, Idaho, and taught for one year in the high school. At the end of the time named he came to Cheney and has since served as secretary of the normal school, discharging his duties in a manner which has been highly acceptable to the trustees and patrons of the insti- tution. He is also purchasing agent for the school. He is greatly interested in the development of eastern Washington and is owner of a tract of irrigated land near Hayden lake.
Politically Mr. Stronach supports the candidates and principles of the republican party. He is a valued member of the Masonic order and also of the Order of the Eastern Star. While at Spokane he was connected with the Amateur Athletic Club and the Business Men's Club of the Young Men's Christian Association. Being a man of unusual energy and great perseverance in anything he.undertakes, he has won his way to the front in the state of his adoption and is known as one of the wide-awake and responsible citizens of Cheney. That the circle of his influence will be greatly enlarged in years to come is the confident prophecy of his friends.
WILLIAM J. NICKERSON.
William J. Nickerson, while conducting a general real-estate business, largely handles his own properties. While he is now developing and conducting an extensive business in the purchasing and sale of realty he has also been most active as a factor in promoting the progress and advancing the civilization which has taken Spokane and this section of the state out of the pioneer class, placing the city with all of its advantages, opportunities and improvements on a par with the cities of the older east. His birth occurred near Coburg, Ontario, Canada, August 8, 1843. His father, Ephraim Andrew Nickerson, also a native of that country, was descended in the maternal line from a family represented in the Revolutionary war. His mother's ancestors were from Amsterdam, Holland, and in the early colonial epoch settled on the Hudson river where the Van Rensselaers also located. She was taken prisoner by the Indians and held in captivity for a long time but was afterward released. Her father, however, was kept as a prisoner by the Indians for seven years and her adopted brother, when captured, was killed and unjointed from his toes to his hips, the pieces of his body being thrown down before his foster father. Ephraim Andrew Nickerson, born and reared in Canada,
W. J. NICKERSON AND FAMILY
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resided for a number of years in Iowa, where he filled the office of justice of the peace and school director and held other positions of public trust. It was in 1855 that he became a resident of Manchester, Delaware county, Iowa, where he en- gaged in farming and in following that pursuit he provided a comfortable living for his family. He died in 1892 but is still survived by his wife, who is living in Spokane at the advanced age of ninety-one years. She bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Ash and was born in Canada, where she was married though she was reared in the United States.
William J. Nickerson was a young lad when the family left Canada, going first to Illinois and thence to the vicinity of Manchester, Iowa, where the father purchased land, the family there residing until 1863. On the 1st of June, 1864, they went to Oakland, California, making the long trip across the plains, and William J. Nickerson attended school in Alameda and afterward became a col- lege student at San Jose and Santa Clara, being graduated in the latter city in 1865. In that year he went to San Francisco, where he engaged in the shipping and forwarding business, first being employed as porter for the firm of Moss, Beadle, Goodall & Perkins. From that position he was advanced through inter- mediate positions to that of chief bookkeeper and had general charge of the busi- ness in the office until 1874. For a short time he engaged in the commission busi- ness on his own account in partnership with a man named Danzell. In 1883 he made his way to Washington and afterward to Plaza, Washington, and during the succeeding eighteen years was closely connected with mercantile interests of that place. He also served as postmaster there for sixteen years, from 1892 until 1908. Seeking a still broader field of labor he removed from Plaza to Spokane where he has since engaged in real-estate and mining interests. Like most of the men who have lived in the northwest he had at different times been closely associated with mining and the life of the camps in all of its different phases was familiar to him. He went to Idaho in 1883, going over the "Jackass" trail and digging a way through the snow, being thirteen days on that trail. He pur- chased what was then known as the Charles Dickens mine but is now called the Idaho Knickerbocker mine, a very fine property which is now shipping its product. He also purchased placer mining ground on Trail creek and was very successful in working it. In the fall of 1884 he was there joined by his wife. Conditions seemed very crude at times and yet there was a hospitality which made life enjoyable. At the first dance held there the men dressed in miner's clothes with long-topped boots, but everybody greatly enjoyed the ball. There was no school in the district and to meet this need Mr. Nickerson and others organ- ized a school, getting up entertainments in order to meet the expenses. They pro- duced such plays as "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and it is said that "dollars fairly rained upon the stage" until they had money enough to build a schoolhouse and pay. the teacher. The town was then called Beaver but the name has since been changed to Delta. While at Plaza Mr. Nickerson filled the office of justice of the peace.
With advancing years and the changes in conditions Mr. Nickerson wished to become a factor in the city life with its broader business opportunities and re- moved to Spokane, where he has since conducted a general real-estate business al- though much of the property which he handles he purchased outright. He is still interested in the Idaho Knickerbocker and the Royal Copper Mining Companies, of which he is secretary-treasurer. He is also interested in the Valley Mining Vol. II-6
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Company and other mining property near Valley, Washington, and he likewise owns property near Princeton, British Columbia, comprising twenty-four claims.
In 1872, in Solano county, California, Mr. Nickerson was united in marriage to Miss Alice E. Patterson, a daughter of Robert Patterson, of Solano county, formerly of Pennsylvania, and a representative of one of the old American fam- ilies. They have become parents of three children: William Harley; Claude Robert; and Pearl E., who is the wife of John Moore, of Mount Vernon, Wash- ington.
While residing in California Mr. Nickerson served in the state militia for five years as a member of Company A, of the First Regiment of the California Na- tional Guards of San Francisco. He was also made a Mason in San Francisco lodge. In politics he is a republican and has been a delegate to various county and state conventions of his party. At different times he has held local offices and was very active as a political leader in Idaho during the early days. He is now identified with the Chamber of Commerce and has ever kept in touch with the trend of modern progress, becoming a cooperant factor in the projects and move- ments which have brought about the present day civilization and prosperity.
JOHN RICKEY.
John Rickey, who has been successfully identified with the dairy interests of Col- ville for the past sixteen years, has also been a factor in public life here, having served an unexpired term, to fill a vacancy, and two full terms as treasurer of Stevens county. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, on the 19th of October, 1844, and is a son of Foster and Nancy (Bowles) Rickey. The father, who was one of the pioneer agriculturists of Ohio, passed away in 1851 and the mother survived until 1863.
The common schools of Ohio and Illinois equipped John Rickey for the responsi- bilities of life by providing him with a good, practical education. At the age of eight- een years he left Illinois and went to Iowa, engaging as a farm hand. Two years later he again started westward, locating in California, where he spent a similar time, working in a flour mill. In April, 1866, he came to the Colville valley and engaged in prospecting in the mines, devoting the majority of his time to this occupation dur- ing the next ten years, two of which he spent in British Columbia. In 1872 he took up a homestead in the vicinity of Colville, operating his land in connection with his other activities for twenty years and set out the first orchard in Stevens county three miles below Kettle Falls, in 1874. It was this orchard that revealed to the settlers the suitability of the land and climate for that purpose and it has been resultant in the present large acreage in this district devoted to that pursuit. In 1887 he em- barked in the general mercantile business in Colville, continuing in this line for about eighteen months. He was appointed county treasurer in 1889 to fill an unexpired term of one year, at the expiration of which period he was elected to the same office, being reelected in 1892. When he withdrew from public life in 1894, he engaged in the dairy business, which he followed for three years. At the end of that time he retired but the following year again resumed the operation of his dairy and has ever since been identified with the business. He has a fine place, well equipped with all modern appliances and conveniences for the work of dairying, in which he is meeting with good returns.
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On the 9th of October, 1882, Mr. Rickey was united in marriage to Miss Delphine Jeanette, a daughter of Frank Jeanette, a resident of Stevens county. Of this union there have been born nine children, seven of whom are living, as follows: Foster, who married Hazel Jameson; Ida; Meta; Iona; Nora; Bertha, and Orpha. Those de- ceased are Walter, and an infant who was not yet named.
In his political views, Mr. Rickey is a republican, and besides filling the office of treasurer he served for several years as justice of the peace while a resident of Kettle Falls precinct, when living on his homestead. He has also been a delegate to a nuni- ber of county conventions, always having been prominent in his party. Mr. Rickey is a member of the Stevens County Pioneers Society, and has always taken an active and helpful interest in all matters pertaining to the public welfare and the development of the community.
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