USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume III > Part 7
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Halban, Tandler, Ziegler and Christofoletti and in London he continued his work under Drs. Freyer. Harrison and Fenwick. Dr. Klussman was greatly benefited by the courses he pursued while abroad and also by the hospital experience, but nevertheless he felt that there were many physicians in his native land who could assist him still further and in 1907 he spent some time in the Post Graduate School and also the Polyclinic School and Hospital of Chicago, receiving certificates from both institutions. He has an unusually fine equipment, particularly for a man of his age, and is meeting with unqualified success in his practice. During the period of his residence here he has had ample opportunity to demonstrate his ability both as a physician and surgeon, and has effected results in both that have created for him much more than a local reputation. He is frequently called out of the city on consultations and also to perform operations, while patients come to him from all over the northwest and even as far away as British Columbia. Genito-urinary troubles have always engaged much of his time and attention, and he has pursued various courses under the best specialists in this country and Europe on diseases of this nature. while the past year he has specialized in abdominal surgery. Dr. Kluss- man has a very lucrative practice and has succeeded in acquiring quite extensive property holdings since locating here. He is the owner of one hundred and thirty- tive acres of valuable orchard land, planted in apples, twelve miles south of Kettle Falls on the Columbia river, all of which is under irrigation, and he also owns other real estate, his different holdings aggregating about seventy-five thousand dollars.
Dr. Klussman was married in 1897, to Miss Elda A. Rice. a daughter of Frank I. Rice a prominent contractor of Shelby, Ohio, who has constructed many miles of macadam roads through his state of such excellence that he has become widely known in this connection, being regarded as one of the best men in this line in the country. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Klussman, Richard MI., whose birth occurred in 1898; and Helen V .. who was born in 1899. The family reside at No. 511 South Bernard street, where Dr. Klussman owns a most attractive property.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Order of Foresters of Spokane, and al- though he takes an active interest in all public and municipal affairs, the greater part of his time and attention is absorbed by his large practice, the development of which has undoubtedly been largely promoted by his conscientious devotion to the interests of his patients to the exclusion of all personal considerations.
WILLIAM H. PANNON.
William II. Pannon, present mayor of Hillyard who for the past three years has been traveling engineer for the Spokane division of the Great Northern Rail- road, was born in Buffalo, New York, October 31. 1863. a son of Thomas and Mary (Corcoran) Pannon. The father, who was a veteran of the Civil war, sery- ing under General Hancock, passed away in 187t. The mother. however, sur- vived for twenty-five years thereafter. her demise occurring in 1896.
The boyhood of William H. Pannon was spent in his native city in whose public schools he began his education, completing it in the high school of Rochester, New
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York. from which he was graduated with the class of 1878. Immediately there- after he became self-supporting, and during the succeeding four years followed various activities in his endeavor to find something that he was by nature qualified for and cared to adopt for a life vocation. In 1882 he went to St. Paul, Minne- sota, and there entered the employment of the Great Northern Railroad Company. The next five years he worked as a fireman on an engine running out of Crookston, Minnesota, in which capacity he served with such a degree of efficiency that he was promoted to the rank of engineer. with headquarters at Breckenridge, Minne- sota. At the end of twelve years he was sent by the company to Hillyard, con- tinning to discharge the duties of an engineer until 1908, when he was promoted to the position of traveling engineer, in which capacity he is still serving.
At Breckenridge, Minnesota, on the 13th of January. 1887. was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Pannon to Miss Mary Daly, a daughter of Bartholomew and Mary Daly, and they have become the parents of three daughters: Mabel, Louise and Florence.
The family are communicants of the Roman Catholic church and Mr. Pannon is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He also belongs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and has twice been the delegate from the local order to the national conventions, once when they met at Los Angeles, California, and again at Memphis, Tennessee. His political support Mr. Pannon gives to the democratic party, the policy of which receives his full indorsement. He has high ideals of the responsibility of citizenship and has always given much attention to municipal affairs, having represented his ward in the city council for seven years just prior to his election to the mayoralty chair. Possessing keen foresight and business sagacity Mr. Pannon long ago recognized the wonderful agricultural pos- sibilities afforded in the northwest and has accordingly invested his earnings as he was able from time to time in farming lands. He now has a one-third interest in eight hundred aeres of irrigated land in the vicinity of Lewiston, Idaho, that is being operated under the name of the Pannon-Buekley Company. Mr. Pannon is highly regarded in Hillyard, where he has many friends, having in both his public and private relations manifested the loyalty. trustworthiness and efficiency that have characterized him during the twenty-nine years he has served the com- pany by whom he is still employed.
FRANK D. GARRETT.
Frank D. Garrett. engaged in the real-estate business with offices in the Hyde block, is one of the extensive landowners of Washington. He was born in Hardin county. Iowa, on the 12th of October, 1861, his parents being Frank and Mary J. (Strahorn) Garrett, both of whom are prominent among the pioneers of Iowa and are still living.
Mr. Garrett of this review received his education in the public schools of Iowa until he was fifteen years of age. At that time he left his native state and removed west to Pendleton, Oregon, where he accepted employment on a large ranch for seven years, during the greater part of which period he acted as foreman. He thus be- came acquainted with many of the essential features of the cattle business and
F. D. GARRETT
THE NFA KURK PUBLIC LIBRARY
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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subsequently he engaged in that enterprise near Sprague, Washington, for three years. The winter of the last of these three years was a particularly severe one and he had the misfortune to lose the greater part of his stock, when in two nights ten thousand sheep disappeared. But his determination and grit were undaunted and he immediately engaged in agricultural pursuits and for seven years success- fully cultivated his farm near Sprague. Again he exercised the same diligence and careful application to the duties at hand which he had displayed in his previous undertakings and the success with which he met was more than compensatory. He disposed of this property and since 1901 has engaged in the real-estate business in Spokane. His various undertakings have proved so lucrative that he has been able from time to time to purchase considerable land in Washington. At present he is the owner of four thousand acres in the Palouse country and of several valuable holdings in Spokane. He has further extended his activities by associating himself with the Coeur d'Alene Empire Mining Company, of which he is at present serving as president. Since becoming a resident of Spokane eight years ago, he has well proven his worth as a business man, as a judge of real-estate values and as a trusted adviser in business circles.
In Medical Lake, Washington, on the 3d of July. 1889. Mr. Garrett was mar- ried to Miss Anna Teal. a daughter of David H. and Rachel Teal. To them two children have been born: Forest, who is attending college at Pullman, Washington ; and Hazel, who is a student at the Lewiston Normal School at Lewiston, Idaho. Mr. Garrett exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party. He holds membership in Spokane Lodge, No. 228. Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks. He has attained notable success and this has fol- lowed as the logical sequence of his Jabors, his careful study of the development of a rapidly growing country and his integrity. His record may well serve as a source of inspiration and courage to others, showing what may be accomplished by one who has determination and energy. He has proven his worth as a factor in the business world and the position which he occupies is a creditable one and one in- volving much responsibility.
JOHN B. BLALOCK.
In the year 1879 the firm of Cannon & Warner were freighting through the Spokane country, and as a passenger upon one of their wagons, John B. Blalock arrived in the city of Spokane. which has since been his home. The city. however, at that time was in its embryonic stage- its inhabitants being engaged in trade with the Indians, or busy with the task of developing land. Since that day he has been an interested witness of the growth and progress of this section and success has attended him, making him now the owner of considerable valuable property in the city, where his first place of business was a little one-story building, only four- tecn by twenty-eight fcet.
Mr. Blalock was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, July 21, 1856. His father, J. M. Blalock, was a native of South Carolina and died in the year 1906. He removed from Charleston. his native city, to Tennessee and reared his family, but at the time of the Civil war the household was broken up. His wife, who bore the Vol. 111-4
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maiden name of Massie Carr, was born in Tennessee and died soon after the close of the war, in 1868.
John B. Blalock was reared to manhood in his native county, receiving such educational advantages as the common schools of the day afforded but at the age of twenty-two years, or in 1878. he started for the west. He journeyed by rail to san Francisco, thenee made his way by boat to Portland and by rail to Walla Walla. after which he came to Spokane with a freighting team, as previously stated. Soon afterward he purchased for one hundred and fifty dollars a lot on Front street, just west of Howard, upon which he erected a small one-story building. fourteen by twenty-eight feet. There he condueted a shoe business, his first stock of goods being that of a firm which had failed at Colfax. In 1880, he invested four hun- dred and thirty dollars in a site forty feet square on the northwest corner of Howard and Riverside. and the following year he ereeted on his lot on Riverside a one- story frame building, twenty by forty feet, into which he moved his stoek of shoes. In 1882 he erected a store building for rental purposes on the remainder of his property, and soon afterward he purchased the lot and building adjoining him on the west for six hundred and fifty dollars. Moving his stoek into that build- ing, he afterward razed the building at the corner and in 1886 there ereeted a four-story structure, with basement. This was the first four-story building in the city and was soon leased to the First National Bank. the rental being three hundred dollars per month.
The success which Mr. Blalock won in his real-estate operations caused him in 1887 to dispose of his shoe business to N. B. Dolan, and concentrate his entire attention upon his real-estate operations in partnership with R. C. Hyde. They purchased and handled a large amount of city property, making many improve- ments thereon and erecting numerous buildings. They purchased of Mrs. H. T. Cowley a tract of land, which they platted as the Cazenovia addition, so named after Mrs. Cowley's daughter. In the great fire of 1889 Mr. Blalock's losses amounted to about twenty-five thousand dollars. The year following he built the Blalock block at the southwest corner of Stevens and Sprague streets. a six-story briek structure, costing, with the ground upon which it stands. two hundred and nine thousand dollars. His prosperity continued until about 1893. when. like many others, he lost much of his holdings during the wide-spread financial panic that swept over the country. However, with resolute spirit he continued his efforts and has since continued to deal in real estate. largely handling farm lands. In this suceess has again attended his labors. He next located a tract of land near Twin Falls, Idaho. all of which is planted to alfalfa. He is also heavily interested in the W. & B. A. Investment Company, holding real estate in Spokane and vieinity, including the Metropole apartment house. Of this company Mr. Blalock is the manager. He is likewise the owner of property at Prince Rupert. British Columbia.
On the 27th of October. 1884, in Spokane. Mr. Blalock was united in marriage to Miss Martha Hyde, a daughter of Mrs. S. S. Hyde and a sister of former Con- gressman S. C. Hyde and of R. C. Hyde of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Blalock have one son, Shirl H., who is looking after his father's interests in Idaho.
Fraternally Mr. Blalock is a Mason, holding membership with Oriental Lodge No. 74, and he also belongs to Oriental Consistory, No. 2. S. P. R. S. While he has never been an active worker in political eircles, he votes with the democratic party believing that its principles are most condneive to good government. He has
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always been prominently identified with matters pertaining to the welfare and progress of the eity, has been a liberal contributor to railroads and to public int- provements generally and has also given generously to churches and projects for the social and moral advancement of this section. His long residence in Spokane enables him to speak with authority relative to anything concerning the history of the city and he is one of the most favorably known of her residents, his good qualities having won him the kindly regard of a large circle of friends.
J. A. TALKINGTON.
J. A. Talkington, the present mayor of Harrington, is one of the well known pioneer ranehmen of Lincoln county, having located here in 1889. He was born and reared on his father's farm in the vicinity of Jenny Lind, Arkansas, his natal day being the 6th of November, 1861. In the paternal line Mr. Talkington is de- scended from New England colonial ancestry, his forefathers having been numbered among the early English settlers in that section. His great-grandfather. Stephen Talkington, in his early manhood moved from his New England home to Kentneky, whence his son, Edward Talkington, removed in 1827 to Arkansas. In the latter state in 1831 occurred the birth of Joseph Talkington, the father of our subject. who there engaged in farming during his entire active life. For his wife he chose Miss Rebecca A. Kirk, a native of Tennessee, her birth there occurring in 1838. Although the Talkingtons had long been residents of the south at the breaking out of the war. they were northern sympathizers, and Joseph Talkington valiantly gave his services in defense of his country's flag.
Born and reared on his father's farm, J. A. Talkington pursued his education in the public schools of his native state, and such times as he was not there en- gaged, assisted his father in the operation of the homestead. Upon attaining his majority he left school and spent a year traveling through the south. When he returned home he again resumed his agricultural pursuits and for two years there- after gave his undivided attention to the cultivation of the fields. In common with many other young men he was strongly drawn to the west, his long line of pioncer ancestors having bred in him that spirit of conquest. characteristic of those, who form the advance guard of civilization in the development of the nation. There- fore, he left the parental roof in 1887 and in January of the next year located in Los Angeles, California, where he engaged in the feed business until April, 1889. when he came to Lincoln county. Feeling that he desired to become a permanent resident of the country he filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. ten miles south of Davenport, that he cultivated for five years. He subsequently disposed of this and thereafter engaged in the buying and selling of real estate until 1901. when he purchased a ranch of seven hundred and eighty acres a mile east of Harrington. During the ensuing five years he resided there with his family. giving his undivided attention to the operation of his fields. Although it is still cultivated under the personal supervision of Mr. Talkington since 1906 he has been living in Harrington. having removed here in order to give his children the benefit of the schools. He is meeting with most excellent success in ranching, his fields being given that careful attention that always assures an abundant harvest. the quality being fully equal in every respect to the quantity.
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On the 23d of December, 1886, Mr. Talkington was united in marriage to Miss S. V. MeMillian, a daughter of W. A. MeMillian, a native of Florida. who subsequently beeame a well known educator of Arkansas. Of this union there have been born the following children: Brant, Pleas. Leonard, Floyd. Willard, Em- mett and Jessie, all of whom are still in sehool.
ยท Mr. Talkington is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and in pol- ities he is a republican. He has always taken a prominent interest in local govern- mental affairs and in 1900 ran for representative but was defeated. He was elected to the office of mayor in December, 1910, and during the period of his service has discharged his responsibilities in a manner to meet with the commendation of the municipality. In common with the majority of the citizens of this section of the state, Mr. Talkington has the most unbounded faith in a great future for his county. to the interests of which he is ever loyal, enthusiastically championing every move- ment that he feels at all likely to redound to the development of its resources.
A. G. AVERY.
Mr. A. G. Avery. of the law firm of Post, Avery & Higgins, was born in Moravia, New York, June 6, 1860, an only son of Benjamin L. and Ruth (Pickens) Avery. both natives of New York, and is the present-day representative of an anecstral line which runs back through Averys of Groton, Connecticut, of Revolutionary fame and Captain James Avery of colonial days, to good old England.
Mr. Avery's acknowledged faculty of always being one of the leaders of the professional and social life of the community in which he lives, had its origin in a similar trait in his father, who was at different times, postmaster, president of Genoa, New York, and president of the Civil war veterans of the counties of Cayuga, Seneca and Wayne in that state, he having served in the Ninth New York Heavy Artillery in that war.
After some years at the academy at Genoa and at home under a private tulor. he entered the office of Richard C. Steel, of Auburn, New York, in 1883. to study law, whenee he went to the law school of the University of Michigan. where he was graduated in 1886, being admitted to the bar the following year at Buffalo. He then returned to Genoa. where he successfully survived the first twelve months of a young lawyer's practice. Here he married in February of 1888 Miss Evelyn Young, the daughter of a prominent citizen of the home town and one of his old sehoolmates. Leaving his father, mother and sister at Genoa, he and his bride came to Spokane, where he opened an office in 1888.
He later practiced two years, from 1891 to 1893, in partnership with Frank T. Post. From 1893 to 1900 he was again alone: but combined his practice, in the latter year, with Mr. Post and Thomas B. Higgins, having meanwhile served two terms as corporation counsel of Spokane from 1897 to 1901, at the time when Spokane began its first paving local improvements.
The profession of the law has rightly been said to be a jealous mistress since those who would gain her favor must give her their undivided devotion. Mr. Avery's recognition of. and compliance with, this demand have won the goddess' unhesitating and unqualified approval. This is in part evidenced by the fact that
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he, when alone, and his present firm, have enjoyed the professional confidence and employment of a goodly number of the northwest's best citizens, among which are found both the rich and the poor, the corporated and the unincorporated. The federal government in 1905 recognized the results of his devotion to the law by his appointment as United States attorney for the castern district of Washington. which place he held till 1910 when, from the increased business of the firm, he felt compelled to ask the government to appoint some one in his stead.
Mr. Avery's ability, his professional achievements, his genial personality and his reputation for sterling character have been recognized by numerous public acknowledgments. At different times he has been chosen president. of the Wash- ington State Bar Association, of the Spokane County Bar Association, of the Wash- ington State League of Republican Clubs, of the Spokane Club. of the University Club of Spokane, of the Spokane Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion, and governor of the Washington Society of Colonial Wars.
Finally, his home life has not been less happy, since Mr. and Mrs. Avery, their daughter Ruth, and their hospitable home on West Sixth avenue have long enjoyed the warmest regard of all their wide acquaintance among that class of the com- munity's citizens who represent its best thought and life.
ALBERT P. WOLVERTON.
This has been termed the age of commercialism and the record of the present indicates that it is an age of notable business enterprise and achievement. Espe- cially is this true in America where the great national resources of the country are by no means exhausted and the ambitious, progressive man can therefore tind opportunity to gain through his labor those things which nature has provided for his use, or in the field of manufacture and of purchase and sale secure equal chance for successful business activity. Albert P. Wolverton was one of Spokane's resi- dents who gave substantial evidence of industry, persisteney and capable manage- ment in the conduct of real-estate transactions. He was a native son of the north- west, having been born in Polk county, Oregon, September 17, 1855, and came of a family of English ancestry that was established in America early in the eighteenth century. Ilis father, John B. Wolverton, was born in Mount Pleasant. Ohio, De- cember 4, 1822, and having arrived at years of maturity was married. November 25. 1817. to Mary J. Nealy, whose birth occurred May 1, 1825. For a time they were residents of Iowa and in 1855 started from that state for the Pacific coast. He became one of the pioneers of Polk county, Oregon, where for many years he devoted his attention to farming and eventually lived retired in Monmouth. There on the Ith of December, 1901, his seventy-ninth birthday anniversary was eclebrated, at which time he was still a hale and hearty man. He lived to celebrate one more birthday anniversary, passing away December 29, 1902. His wife sur- vived him for about seven years and died September 20. 1909. In their family were seven children of whom Albert P. was the fourth in order of birth. Of these Charles. Bruce, Otis, Grant and Mrs. Josie C. Byrd are all living. while Albert P. and William have passed away.
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Albert P. Wolverton was reared upon the home farm, there remaining until twenty-four years of age, after which he pursued a college course and was grad- uated from the seientifie department of Monmouth College. In 1880 he came to Spokane aecompanied by his brother William Marshall Wolverton, and after look- ing over the situation, which they believed held forth good promises, they pur- chased a fifty-six foot lot where the Holland block now stands. This oeeurred February 22, 1882. and the purchase priee was but three hundred and fifty dollars. Spokane was not then a eity of modern improvements but was a frontier town just emerging from villagehood. The brothers erected a two-story brick bloek thirty by sixty feet where the Wolverton block now stands and opened there a stoek of hardware. Theirs was the first briek structure erected in the eity. After two years Albert P. Wolverton sold his goods to his brother and two years later pur- chased the property and organized the Spokane Hardware Company of which he was manager for two years. Ill health then caused him to sell ont, after which he operated quite largely in real estate. In Mareh. 1884, in connection with M. Conlan, he purchased one hundred and fifty-five acres and platted Wolverton & Conlan's addition. In 1889 he ereeted the Temple Court, also the Grand Central Hotel and several residences, and his purchase and sale of property at different times added not only to his own ineome but also to the business development of the city. All of his undertakings prospered by reason of his sound judgment and capable management. He became one of the original stockholders of the Ross Park Street Railway and assisted in every way possible in the upbuilding of the city.
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