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 19
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Miss Theo Hall obtained her education in Monroe, Wisconsin, and after her graduation in 1881 taught school in her home town during the following two years. She then went to Nebraska where she lived upon a preemption claim for six months. Later she went to the far west and bought out the Medical Lake Ledger, which she edited for one year when she received the appointment of postmaster at Medical Lake, in 1893, and has occupied this position ever since. Miss Hall is a woman of unusual strength of character, possessing initiative, determination and executive ability, qualities which are in keeping with the spiirt of the west. Just in her judgments of others and always charitable she has a host of friends who are proud of her success and are sincerely devoted to her interests.
GEORGE A. FELLOWS.
One of Cheney's pioneer citizens, who has tirelessly devoted his energies to the development of the town along the various lines of community welfare is George A. Fellows, who first located here twenty-nine years ago. During the long period of his residence he has been in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the greater part of the time in the capacity of station master, but despite the exac- tions of his position has always found time to give most efficient service in various public offices. He was born at Snow Point, Nevada county, California, on the 23d of January, 1860, and is a son of George and Ann Marie (McCabe) Fellows.
His father was one of the early pioneers of California, having crossed the plains to the gold fields in the vicinity of Sacramento in 1848. There he engaged in pros-
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pecting and mining until 1852, when he returned to St. Joe, Missouri, by way of the isthmus of Panama. He remained there but a few months, however, joining a party of eighteen and coming back to the coast the same year. They brought with them a large herd of horses and returned by way of the isthmus, the journey consuming nine weeks. The animals required much care and attention and this undertaking was connected with great risk, but turned out well worth while finan- cially, as they were able to sell for one thousand dollars a span upon their arrival in Sacramento. Mr. Fellows resumed his mining operations again, meeting with excellent success, having soon acquired a capital of more than a half million. He had extensive holdings in quicksilver mines, but after the Langley failure disposed of his interests to a French syndicate. Having the most implicit faith in the future of the state, both as an industrial and agricultural center, owing to its innumerable natural advantages, he invested heavily in real estate. After disposing of his mining interests, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and was successfully en- gaged in farming until 1879. He then sold his property interests in California and came to Washington, buying six sections of railroad land that he operated until 1903, when he withdrew from all active work and retired to Mount View, California. There he and his wife continued to live until they passed away in 1905, the father dying in May and the mother in the July following. They were the parents of fifteen children, thirteen of whom are living and reside either in the state of Washington or California.
George A. Fellows was reared in his native state and completed his education in the University of California, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1879. Immediately after leaving college he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in the capacity of traveling auditor between San Fran- cisco and El Paso, Texas. In 1880 he took up station work, being located at San Francisco, Stockton and Los Angeles during the succeeding two years. He withdrew from the service of this company, in 1882, and entered that of the Northern Pacific, coming to Cheney as night telegraph operator. The following year he was pro- moted to the position of day operator and cashier, while in 1885 he became agent, which position he has ever since held. Mr. Fellows has large interests in the Shonee Mining & Milling Company, of which he is president, and is a stockholder and di- rector of the Security National Bank of Cheney. He has always actively partici- pated in affairs pertaining to the public welfare, particularly those of his immedi- ate community, and is now acting as president of the board of trustees of the State Normal school located here. It is very largely due to his efforts that Cheney is now rated as a city of the third class, the advanced rating having been secured while he was serving as mayor in 1909 and 1910. Mr. Fellows was again elected mayor of Chency, on December 5, 1911, on the Good Government ticket, for a one-year term. His majority was two hundred out of a total vote of three hundred and fifty-nine, and a total registration of five hundred and twenty-nine.
This city was the scene of Mr. Fellows' marriage on the 28th of September, 1898, to Miss Mabel J. Harris, a daughter of John A. Harris. They are the parents of two children: Irwin, who is deceased, and Arthur, who is attending school.
The family affiliate with the Congregational church and fraternally Mr. Fellows is a worthy exemplar of the Masonic order, of which he is a past master. He has taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite and is identified with the consistory, Knights Templar and the shrine. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and
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has passed through all of the chairs in that lodge. In his political views Mr. Fel- lows is a republican, giving his unqualified indorsement to the principles of that body for whose candidates he always casts his ballot. Mr. Fellows is descended from a long line of American ancestors, his forefathers having emigrated to this country from England and located in Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1638, and he considers this to be the greatest country in the world, but having been born and reared on the Pacific coast, he naturally deems the west to be the best part of this great country. He is loyal in his allegiance to the interests of both his town and county and is one of the active and enterprising members of the Commercial Club, the efforts of which he most enthusiastically champions on all occasions.
THOMAS REDDING TANNATT.
Thomas Redding Tannatt, now living retired in Spokane, was born at Verplanck Point on the Hudson river in New York, September 27, 1833. His father, James S. Tannatt, died in 1843 and was long survived by his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary C. Gilmore and died in 1891. The grandparents of Thomas R. Tan- natt came from Scotland, near Lake Dunbarton. At the time of the Stuart rebellion all their lands were confiscated and in return they were given large tracts of land in Canada, near Ottawa. Accordingly they came to America and the grandfather named the town of Paisley, Canada. He lived to the very venerable age of one hundred and two years. James S. Tannatt was at one time a partner of Chauncey Depew's father in the ownership and operation of steamship lines on the Hudson river. He was a prominent whig during the Clay campaign and for four years he filled the position of purveyor at the Brooklyn navy yard.
In the absence of public schools Thomas R. Tannatt attended an academy at Peekskill, New York, now known as the Peekskill Military Academy, and while there was a schoolmate of Chauncey Depew. He was only ten years of age when his father died and at that time he was sent to New Hampshire, where he worked on a farm during the summer months and attended school during the winter seasons for six years. The next three years he served as an apprentice at bridge building and large construction work in Salem, Massachusetts, and during his three years apprenticeship for three evenings of each week during the last two years, he at- tended an evening school for instruction in mathematics, drawing and civil engin- eering. He then accepted a position as assistant resident engineer on the water works at Jersey City, New Jersey. He filled that position until nearly twenty-one years of age, when he was tendered an appointment to the West Point Military Academy from the Essex district of Massachusetts and was there graduated in 1858, being the seventh in rank in his class. While at West Point he rose to the captaincy of Company D, Cadets Battalion. Upon graduation he was commissioned as brevet second lieutenant, unassigned, and ordered to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, as instructor in use of the Ballistic pendulum and, by war department order, made a member of an artillery board, with the late Generals Barry and Ord, "to revise and establish a new table of ranges, for all guns in service, and others submitted by the secretary of war." This board was the first to determine ranges for the "Par- rott," "Hotchkiss" and "Hexagonal guns" not then in service. Subsequently he
GEN. THOMAS R. TANNATT
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acted for one year as judge advocate of court martials and on special duty was then appointed second lieutenant of Battery M, Fourth United States Artillery. He joined his regiment at Fort Randall in South Dakota in June of 1860.
In April of 1861 three of the five batteries at Randall were ordered east under the command of the late General Getty. On June 5, 1861, Lieutenant Tannatt found himself the only commissioned officer at his post, save the surgeon; his com- manding officer declining to renew his oath of allegiance to the United States, de- serted the post, to join the Confederate army with rank of Brigadier General. On Christmas day of that year Lieutenant Tannatt crossed the Missouri river with two batteries and made a twenty-eight-day march to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he joined Major General Buell and moved with him to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was placed in command of Artillery Park at the fair grounds and also appointed inspector and assistant chief of artillery on General Buell's staff. He remained with that commander until they reached Huntsville, Alabama, when he was ordered to report to Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, after which, upon the request of Governor Andrew, General Barnard, chief of U. S. engineers, and General Barry, chief of artillery, he was transferred to the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery and assumed command of his brigade consisting of his own regiment and the Second New York Heavy Artillery, occupying five forts on the south side of the Potomac. He had been made colonel of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and this regiment had been previously raised by Lieutenant Tannatt as colonel. The appointment made Mr. Tannatt a senior colonel in the Army of the Potomac. He engaged in the battle of Malvern Hill and other engagements up to the battle of Fredericksburg. While there he supervised the construction of Fort Whipple (now Fort Meyer), and also Fort C. F. Smith.
During the Gettysburg compaign Colonel Tannatt was in command of forces south of the Potomac, extending from Chain bridge to near Alexandria, and had under him five regiments of heavy artillery and three regiments of one hundred day men from Pennsylvania. When General Grant took command Colonel Tannatt was ordered to select a brigade and join the Army of the Potomac, doing so on the third day of the Battle of the Wilderness. Three days after the engagement he was given a new brigade, consisting of the First Massachusetts, Third and Fifth Mich- igan and Fourth Wisconsin Regiments. These were known as the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps, and in command General Tannatt took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, North Anna, Spottsylvania Courthouse, Plank Road and several others. On the 14th of June, 1865, he was wounded in the battle of Petersburg, was sent to a hospital and later sent home. While he was convalescing, the war closed and he sent his resignation to Washington. His had been a splendid military record, both before and through the period of the war, and he was well entitled to release from further service.
In 1866 General Tannatt went to Colorado and engaged in making reports con- cerning mines for New York parties, which resulted in his return to the eastern metropolis and entering upon a three years' contract with six New York companies to act as resident engineer and general manager of their mines. He continued in that connection for five years, when his health failed and he returned to Massa- chusetts. Later he went to Tennessee, where he leased a state railroad thirty-five miles long and engaged in constructing thirty-five miles additional. When that was completed he returned to Massachusetts, where he met Henry Villard and in the
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fall of 1877 came to the Pacific coast as Mr. Villard's confidential man. After seven months he returned to New York, where he continued with Mr. Villard for a year and then again came to the Pacific coast, where he invested in one hun- dred and fifty thousand acres of land for eastern capitalists. Some of this was purchased from the Northern Pacific in Whitman county. He also invested at Seattle and likewise purchased large tracts of land in the Grand Ronde valley of Oregon. General Tannatt was representing a company of which Mr. Villard was the head and which built and still owns the lines of the Oregon Railway & Navi- gation Company. All this land was controlled under the company name of the Oregon Improvement Company, with General Tannatt as manager and agent for eleven years. He then resigned his position to give his attention to fruit-raising at Farmington, having eighty-one acres in trees. He continued to develop and im- prove that property until 1907, when he retired, having the year previously pur- chased a home in Spokane, and in 1909 he sold his land at Farmington.
General Tannatt was the organizer and for four years the president of the East Washington Horticultural Society and for six years was regent at the Washington State Agricultural College. He owns considerable stock in the Trustee Company of Spokane and has attractive investments which return to him a good income.
At Manchester, Massachusetts, April 17, 1860, General Tannatt was married to Miss Elizabeth F. Tappan, a daughter of Colonel Eben and Sally Tappan. Their two children are: Eben T., an engineer by profession, who has an office in the Empire State building; and Miriam, the wife of Dr. C. K. Merriam. General Tannatt and his family are prominent socially and are well known on the Pacific coast. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in 1886-7 was commander of the Loyal Legion of Oregon. He was for two consecutive years mayor of Walla Walla. He also holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of All Saints Cathedral. He is today one of the eight oldest liv- ing graduates of West Point. His has been indeed an eventful career, in which many exciting and interesting incidents and events have occurred. Since the war his efforts have been an important factor in the development and progress of the northwest, the value of his service being recognized by all who know aught of the history of this section of the country.
ALPHONSO C. EDWARDS.
In a perusal of the history of men whose lives have been spent on the Western frontier, one cannot but appreciate the force of the statement that truth is stranger than fiction. No tale of the novelist could present a character delineation more varied or more eventful in experiences than have come to Alphonso C. Edwards, who in the course of an active life has traveled extensively over the United States and Mexico. He knows the care-free life of the Western cowboy, has shared in the dangers of warfare with the Indians and at times has taken part in the less spec- tacular but usually more remunerative business interests which constitute the foun- dation for commercial stability and prosperity in well organized communities.
Mr. Edwards started upon life's journey in Wisconsin on the 10th of June, 1851, his parents being Amos H. and Eliza C. (Grant) Edwards, both of whom
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were natives of New England, the former having been born in Vermont in 1814, while the latter's birth occurred in New Hampshire. Mrs. Edwards was a first cousin of General Grant and was descended from ancestry that came to America from Scotland during the colonial days. The family of Edwards is an old and prominent one of New England and traces its lineage back to Wales. Amos H. Edwards devoted his life to educational work and reached the venerable age of ninety years, passing away in 1904. The brothers of Alphonso C. Edwards are Altaire H., who was a member of the First Wisconsin Cavalry and lost his life during the Civil war; Charles P., who became a judge in one of the Nebraska courts and died in San Diego, California; Eo. R., a contractor living at Kearney, Ne- braska; S. E., who is engaged in the hotel business at Ainsworth, Nebraska; Bert E., a contractor of Portland, Oregon; and Ivers C., who is engaged in the contract- ing business in Denver, Colorado. There was also one sister, Ella C., widow of Isaac Henthorn, who, during his life, was a fruit grower of Bentonville, Arkansas.
During his early boyhood days Alphonso C. Edwards left his home in Wisconsin and went to Kansas, and his education, begun in the common schools of the former state, was continued through the opportunities afforded in the public-school system of the latter. He afterward took up the printing business and subsequently spent three years as a cowboy on the plains, riding the range from Texas, Kansas and the Indian Territory. During this period he had considerable experience in fighting the Indians and tells some interesting tales of his encounters with the red men, which appealed to him as pleasurable at that day, for he little thought of the seri- ousness of the situation. Tiring of cowboy life, he returned to the printing busi- ness which he followed in Arkansas and Tennessee and later went to Nebraska for one year, there devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits. He then reentered the journalistic field, becoming publisher of the Kearney Gazette, a strong Demo- cratic paper, at the same time publishing the Shelton Clarion, an independent paper, and also the True Citizen of Kearney, which was published in the interests of the temperance movement. His initial step in merchandising was made in partnership with John D. Seaman in the wholesale shipping of hay from Kearney to Denver and later he became engaged in mining, being for two years associated with Brick Pomeroy. On the expiration of that period he went to Stout, Colorado, where he conducted a sutler's store for the Union Pacific Railroad, and later at Belknap, Montana, he conducted the business of the Belknap and Eagle City Transfer Com- pany, making trips from Belknap to the mines.
Mr. Edwards' identification with Spokane began on the 29th of January, 1884, and soon afterward he established a grocery store on Sprague and Howard streets, conducting it for a year. He then took charge of the circulation department of the Old Review, under Frank M. Dallam, occupying that position until the Review was purchased by Hon. Patrick Henry Winston, Willis Sweet and associates. It was then that Mr. Edwards turned his attention to the real-estate business, insurance and mining, all of which have claimed his attention more or less since that time. In 1894 he was appointed commissioner to Alaska by President Cleveland and re- mained in that country for three or four years, his headquarters being on the Island of Kodiak, just across the Alaskan peninsula from Behring Sea, when in August, 1907, he retired from the office and returned to Spokane. While on the return trip as a passenger on the steamer Mexico he was shipwrecked and for twenty-four hours was in the life-boat without food or water. Afterward he was for three days on an
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island and was finally taken up by the steamer City of Topeka and brought to Seattle. It was an awful experience and one never to be forgotten. The compass which he and his companions had was so rusty that the needle would not revolve. The Mexico went down in five hundred feet of water when the fog was so thick they could see nothing and their only guide was the waves of the sea to tell them which way they were drifting. At length, however, Mr. Edwards found him- self once more in Washington, and came from Seattle to Spokane where he has since been speculating in real estate and mining, his operations in the fields of min- ing having been largely in Chelan county. He is also interested in mining in a general, way, operating and promoting, buying and selling mining property, his holdings being in Chelan, Stevens and Ferry counties, Washington, and in the Seven Devils of Idaho. His real-estate transactions in Spokane have been of an impor- tant and extensive character. He purchased property one hundred by one hundred and forty-two fect, at the corner of Riverside and Bernard streets, for eight hun- dred dollars, and afterward sold this for eighty thousand dollars. The corner lot at Brown and Riverside streets which he purchased for one thousand dollars he afterward sold for twenty-seven thousand dollars. His attention is now principally given to the purchase of property and the sale of houses on the installment plan, thus assisting many people in getting homes when they could not do so if the entire purchase price had to be paid outright. He has erected over two hundred houses which he sold in this manner, a number of them being at Hillyard, and among his purchasers have been many men employed in the railway shops.
In Helena, Arkansas, on the 29th of January, 1871, Mr. Edwards was married to Malinda Jayne MeWhorter, a ward of John M. Palmer, of Illinois. She died March 31, 1899, leaving a son, Chester, who was the first newsboy on the streets of Spokane and is now one of the city detectives. On the 24th of December, 1901, at Tacoma, Washington, Mr. Edwards was again married, his second union being with Permelia Johnson McCoy. Mr. Edwards is one of the oldest members and the present treasurer of the Pioneer Society and has continuously held office in the or- ganization, serving at different times as secretary, treasurer and trustee. He was one of the founders and is still a director of the Spokane Humane Society. It has ever been characteristic of Mr. Edwards that he has sought justice in every rela- tion of life and that at many times this has been tempered with the higher attri- bute of mercy. He is called the father of Samaritan Lodge No. 52, I. O. O. F., which is the largest and financially the strongest lodge in the state of Washington. He acted as its first noble grand and was its first representative to the grand lodge of the state. He is also a past president of the Local Aerie and a member of the Grand Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, in which he still has his member- ship. He is numbered among the progressive men who in the Chamber of Com- merce are laboring through united effort to promote the upbuilding of Spokane. In politics he has ever been a democrat, and in the fall of 1910 was a candidate for lieutenant governor, his opponent being Governor Hay. Although defeated he ran far ahead of his ticket, a fact which indicates his personal popularity and the con- fidence reposed in him by the voters of the state. In early days he served on the state central committee and at different times has been a delegate to county and state conventions of the democratic party. The religious faith of Mr. Edwards is manifest in his attendance at the services of the Christian Science church.
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There are few men today who can speak with better authority concerning the history of the west and its upbuilding than can Alphonso C. Edwards. He saw this district when the seeds of civilization had scarcely been planted on the Pacific coast, and he has traveled from Point Barrow, the most northern point of land belonging to the United States in the Arctic Ocean, through to the City of Mexico and all through the mountains of the coast and Rocky ranges before the railroad was built. He has traveled on horseback throughout the Rocky Mountain mining districts, camping along the way, and has visited over thirty states of the Union. Before the railroad was built he started from Spokane with Charles P. Oudin, making his way downward through Idaho, and went from Lewiston a distance of one hundred and fifty miles south on horseback, through an unexplored country, with nothing but the course of the rivers for their guide. Such a trip into the wilds has always been a source of delight and interest to him. He loves to get into close touch with nature and never seems to feel the loneliness which often impresses a city man when he travels into the wilds. Mr. Edwards rejoices, however, in what has been ac- complished in the development and improvement of this section, and has lived to see property in Spokane and this district increase in value from a few dollars per acre to many thousands. His own prosperity has come to him in a measure through this advance in land values and it also is the tangible evidence of his judicious in- vestments and keen business discernment.
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