USA > Washington > Asotin County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Washington > Columbia County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Washington > Garfield County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 60
USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 60
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The first crop of wheat in the Touchet Valley was raised on the land of Israel Davis on Whiskey Creek. He was leaving for the Willamette to buy sheep and Mr. Gilbreath harvested the wheat by cradling, and threshed it out by horses tramping on it. One night a wind came up and Mr. Gilbreath and hired man got up out of bed and began the work of cleaning the wheat by pouring pails full of it from a scaffold to the ground. In this manner over a thousand bushels were cleaned. This was intended for seed for the coming year, but the hard winter of 1861 and 1862 followed when food for man and beast became so scarce that most of it was sold to the needy for food, and to keep the teams from starving. Some of the settlers ground the wheat in coffee mills and used it as porridge. We sold our wheat for $2 a bushel. We could have sold at any price but Mr. Gilbreath would not take advantage of their great need.
This was the most terrible winter ever experienced in the valley. The snow drifted so deep that many of the cattle were frozen standing up. Out of 300 of ours two cows and a calf, which we fed, were left. The timber wolves killed a good many cattle that winter. One day a wolf attacked a calf and the mother heard the cry of distress coming from some distance. When she reached it, the wolf was starting to devour the body. The cow fought it from the calf for a day or two, making the most piteous cries. Other cattle smelled the blood and came bawling for miles around. The sound of hundreds of frenzied cattle bawl- ing will not soon be forgotten.
We were fortunate in having plenty of supplies that winter, as we had pre- pared to send a small pack train to the mines at Elk City. The deep snow made it impossible to get supplies, so the neighbors called on us, and our stores were opened to feed them. Our stock of food was divided among thirteen families. The snow was so deep that only a narrow trail could be kept open to Walla Walla
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by miners coming to and from the Idaho mines. The snow lay on the ground until March, and in shady places until June. We had to go to Walla Walla in the spring and buy barley for seed.
Miller and Mossman who ran a pony express to the mines, stopped at our cabin for meals, and for exchange of horses. Their saddle-bags were often loaded with gold dust. Joaquin Miller, who is now known as one of our best western poets, was then a rough frontiersman, dressed in buckskin.
Having moved to a new log house, school was held in our cabin in the spring of 1862. Five or six children attended. Mr. Harlin, an Englishman, was the teacher, and he stayed with us.
Another school was taught in 1863 in the Forrest brothers' cabin. These men were brothers-in-law of Jesse N. Day, who later founded Dayton. Frank Harmon was the teacher and A. W. Sweeney of Walla Walla was the first county superintendent.
Reverend Sweeney organized a Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Waits- burg. Among others, Mr. and Mrs. Long and daughter and Mr. Gilbreath and I were charter members.
Our first child who died in infancy was the first white child born in the terri- tory now included in Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties. The oldest living person born in this territory is Mrs. John Steen, daughter of George Miller.
I was the only white woman in this territory for two months, until Lambert Herren and family came and settled near. Mrs. Robt. Rowley, who was two months old at that time, is the only living one of the Herren family of eight children.
Mrs. Herren was a typical pioneer woman, fearless and kindhearted, nursing me and others in times of sickness, in the absence of a physician. When the Indians threatened me, I sent for her and she came with shotgun and indignation, and rescued me.
Great changes have taken place since those early days, and many incidents of vital interest to us then have been forgotten, but the kindness and simple liv- ing of the early settlers are not easily forgotten.
We have had occasion in this volume to make frequent reference to Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Pomeroy, founders of the town named from them.
One of their daughters, now Mrs. Peter McClung, living still in her home town, was the "first child" in Pomeroy now living there. She has kindly given us a short sketch of what might well be called the atmosphere and the feeling of her child- hood home.
We are pleased to include it here as the closing contribution of this chapter of memories.
RECOLLECTIONS OF POMEROY
By Mrs. Peter McChing
To write a story of my experience as a child on the land now occupied by the town of Pomeroy will not require extended space. Days were much the same with the three children of the Pomeroy family isolated from neighbors by distance measured in many miles. Being the youngest of the three children my
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amusements were in large measure directed by my brother, who was my senior by four years, and my sister, the oldest of the trio.
My earliest recollections recall the counting of the election ballots at our home which was the precinct voting place for the half dozen votes then polled here. It was my great privilege and delight to sit beside my father, for many years one of the members of the election board, and listen to the hundrum tones of the men's voices as they uttered the words that made for the success of some doughty pioneer with political ambitions, or the defeat of one who had fallen a victim to the solicitations of over-zealous friends.
For several years my father cast the only republican ballot in the precinct. I soon reached an age that enabled me to comprehend that fact and know its significance. Our voting precinct contained many thousand square miles- bounded on the south by the Blue Mountains, on the north by the Snake River, on the east by Idaho and on the west by the Touchet River. I sometimes wonder if the deep interest I now feel in all elections and campaigns is not in part due to my early experiences wherein the heat of the neighborhood contests centered about me.
My play time was long and often lonesome, the same, I suppose, as that of other pioneer children reared in the interior of this semi-arid region. Great was my pleasure when I was allowed to ride my pony over the hills after cattle, or to follow my brother on a hunt for prairie chickens or ducks. When my father's two greyhounds, "Peggy" and "John," made one of their frequent raids on the then ever-present coyotes, with the rest of the family my cup of happiness was near the point of bubbling over. Old "Rero's" peculiar bark warned us of the near approach of predaceous animal or bird.
The Pataha Creek then teemed with fish and angling occupied much of my time. The great birds' nests in the trees that fringed the streams, the cubby- holes of the animals along its banks, the caverns in the granite-ribbed Pataha hills, in the fancy of a child, contained wonders impenetrable, yet much there was revealed. With the beginning of the town began a new life for me.
We insert at this point a notable speech upon a notable occasion by one of the most distinguished citizens of Walla Walla, who is also one of our Advisory Board, and whose support and suggestions in the preparation of this work have been of utmost value.
This is Governor Miles C. Moore, last Territorial Governor. Upon his retirement on November II, 1889, he delivered the following address, one eminently worthy of preservation in the literature of the State of Washington.
ADDRESS OF EX-GOVERNOR. MOORE
Ladies and Gentlemen : A custom has grown up here at the capital city and crystallized into unwritten law, which requires the retiring governor to deliver his own valedictory, and also to salute the incoming administration. In accordance with that custom I am here as the last of the race of territorial governors to say "Hail and farewell." Hail to the lusty young State of Washington, rising like a giant in its strength; farewell to old territorial days. It is an occasion for reminiscence, for retrospection. To those of us who have watched at the cradle
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of Washington's political childhood, this transition to statehood has its pathetic side. It stirs within us memories of the "brave days of old." The past rises before us.
We see again the long line of white canvas-covered wagons leaving the fringe of settlements of the then western frontier, through tear-dimmed eyes we see them disappear down behind the western horizon, entered upon that vast terra incognita, the great American desert of our school days. At last we see them emerge, after months of weary travel upon the plans of eastern Washington, or, later, hewing out paths in the wilderness, striving to reach that "Eden they call Puget Sound." Hither year after year came the pioneers and builded their homes and planted the symbols of their faith upon the banks of your rivers, in the sun-kissed valleys of your inland empire, under the shadows of your grand mountains, and upon the shores of this vast inland sea.
Very gradually we grew. The donation act passed by Congress in 1850, giving to each man and his wife who would settle thereon a square mile of land in this fertile region, attracted the first considerable immigration. It also probably saved to the United States this northwest territory. The entire population, which at the date of organization as a separate territory, in 1853, was 5,500, had grown to only 24,000 in 1870, and to 67,000 in 1880.
Still with an abiding faith in the ultimate greatness of Washington, and the attractions of her climate, when her wealth of resources should become known, the old settler watched through the long years the gradual unfolding of these resources, the slow increase in population. At last the railroad came, linking us with the populous centers of civilization. They poured upon us a restless stream of immigration. A change came over the sleepy old territory. These active, pushing emigrants, the best blood of the older states, are leveling the forests, they are delving in the mines, they are tunneling the mountains, they are toiling in the grain fields, they are building cities, towns and villages, filling the heavens with the shining towers of religion and civilization.
The old settler finds himself in the midst of a strange new age and almost uncomprehended scenes. The old order of things has passed away but your sturdy self-reliant pioneer looks not mournfully into the past. He is with you in the living present, with you here today, rejoicing in the marvelous prosperity visible everywhere around him, rejoicing to see the empire which he wrested from savage foes become the home of a happy people, rejoiced to see that empire, emerged from the condition of territorial vassalage, put on the robes of sovereignty.
We are assembled here to celebrate this event, the most important in the history of Washington, and to put in motion the wheels of the state government. Through many slow revolving years the people of Washington have waited for their exalted privileges. So quietly have they come at last, so quietly have we passed from political infancy to the manly strength and independence of state- hood, that we scarce can realize that we have attained the fruition of our hopes.
Let us not forget in this hour of rejoicing the responsibility that comes with autonomy. Let us not forget that under statehood life will still have woes, that there will still be want and misery in this fair land of ours. To reduce these to the minimum is the problem of statesmanship. The responsibility rests largely with our law-makers now assembled here. A good foundation has been laid in the adoption of an admirable constitution pronounced by an eminent authority
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"as good as any state now has and probably as good as any will ever get." Upon this you are to build the superstructure of the commonwealth by enacting laws for the millions who are to dwell therein.
You have the storehouse of the centuries from which to draw, the crystallized experience of lawmakers from the days of Justinian down to present times. To fail to give us good laws will be to "sin against light." "Unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required." The eyes of all the people are upon you. It is hoped and confidently expected you will bring to the discharge of your duties wisdom, industry and lofty patriotism; that when your work is done it will be found to have been well done; that capital and labor will here have equal recogni- tion and absolute protection ; that here will arise an ideal commonwealth, the home of a race to match our mountains, worthy to wear the name of Washington.
Now that I am about to surrender my trust and return to private life, I desire to testify to my grateful appreciation of the uniform kindness, forbearance and courtesy accorded me by the people of Olympia, and by all the citizens of Wash- ington, it has been my good fortune to meet during my brief term of office. I shall always cherish among the pleasant experiences of my life the seven months passed here as Washington's last territorial governor.
To your governor-elect you need no introduction; if not a pioneer, he is at least an old settler. It is a graceful tribute to this class that one of their number was selected to be the first governor of the state. It affords me pleasure to testify to his thorough and absolute devotion to its interests. His every thought is instinct with love for the fair young state. I bespeak for him your generous co-operation and assistance.
With Governor Moore's address as last Territorial governor, this volume may fittingly close. The development of the Territory there so vividly summarized by him, has continued and has indeed exceeded all forecasts during the twenty- eight years of statehood, from 1889 to 1917.
BIOGRAPHICAL
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOK TILDEN G .NCATIONS
W. T. Winany
Old Walla Walla County BIOGRAPHICAL
WILLIAM PARKHURST WINANS.
No history of Walla Walla would be complete without extended reference to William Parkhurst Winans, who was an octogenarian at the time of his demise. He had long been identified with the northwest and his life was one of great use- fulness and activity. He was of Holland ancestry, descended from an ancient family belonging to the Holland nobility. The ancestral line is traced back to Jean Winants, who was a lawyer at Antwerp, living in 1580. The line comes down through Goswin Wynants, who was born March 22, 1630, and was pensionary adviser for the province of Limbourg in 1666 and was afterward a member of the high council of Brabant by letter patent April 16, 1668. Goswin Arnould, Comte de Wynants, was born July 20, 1661, was a member of the council of Brabant by letters patent August 20, 1692, and in 1716 became a member of the council of the privy council.
The following year he was called to Vienna as president of the supreme council of the affairs of the Lowlands. He was created a viscomte by letters patent December 24, 1721, then comte by letters patent Sep- tember 23, 1727. He passed away in Vienna, March 8, 1732. He had married Catherine Christine Van-den-Broeck, who was born September 23, 1667, and died December 19, 1746. Ten children were born to them. The coat of arms is de- scribed as follows :
"On a field argent, three bunches of grapes; a chevron azure, surmounted by a cheif gules. A helmet with a mantle azure and gules, and the crest, a Moor holding a bunch of grapes." The motto-"Fors Non Mutat Genus," the liberal translation of which is "Fortune cannot change the race."
When the Dutch colonized the new world in the beginning of the seventeenth century, their descendants modified their name, adapting it to the English orthog- raphy and pronunciation-Winans.
John Winans, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, born in Holland, 1617, was married in 1664 to Susanna Melyn. He was one of the eighty "associates" who bought land from the Indians. He died in December, 1694, and his will
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is now on file with the secretary of state at Trenton, New Jersey. His wife was Susanna, daughter of Cornelius Melyn, the famous patron of Staten Island, who led the popular party against Stuyvesant, "central figure of his day." In 1640, Cornelius Melyn had a grant of all of Staten Island.
The records show nine children born to John and Susanna Winans; and Isaac, the youngest, 1684-1723, was the direct ancestor of the Winans family as represented in Walla Walla. To him and his wife, Hannah, were born six children : Hannah, Phebe, Isaac, Abraham, William and Elias.
The third of this family, Isaac Winans, was born in 1710 and died in 1780. He served as a member of the committee of safety during the Revolu- tionary war and for loyalty to the colonies was taken prisoner by the British and died from cruelties in the Sugar House in New York. He was married twice and the children of Isaac and Margaret Winans were Isaac, Mathias and Abigal. To him and his second wife, Magdalene Winans, there were born five children, namely: Jane, Margaret, Moses, Susanna and Elizabeth.
The sixth member of the family whose record has just been given was Moses Winans, who was born November 9, 1753, and who departed this life January 28, 1822. He served during the Revolutionary war in Captain Squire's company of the Essex County Militia. His wife, Ruth, was born August 5, 1758, and died January 26, 1817. They were the parents of eight children.
The youngest one of these children was Jonas Wood Winans, who was born January 19, 1802, and died October 1, 1878. He married Sarah Stiles and they became the parents of William Parkhurst Winans, whose name introduces this review. It was on the 20th of December, 1827, that Jonas W. Winans wedded Sarah Stiles, who was born July 23, 1806, and who departed this life January 8, 1858. They had a family of eight children. Isaac, the eldest, was born October 20, 1828, was married December 20, 1851, to Sarah Webster and died August 31, 1907. Ebenezer Connett, born May 5, 1830, was married October 29, 1857, to Margaret B. Rose. Meline was born February 15, 1833, and died January 12, 1845. William Parkhurst was the next of the family. Sarah Jane, the fifth child, was born July 7, 1839, and on the 30th of November, 1866, became the wife of Augustus Dow. Her death occurred May 17, 1870. Jonas Wood, who was born November 1I, 1840, was married September 13, 1876, to Alice E. Jones and died September 2, 1899. Elizabeth Magdaline, born June 3, 1843, became the wife of William A. Hubbard, and died March 21, 1895. Mary Stiles, born January 23, 1846, was married January 31, 1877, to Dorus E. Bates, who died August 15, 1880, and on the 25th of February, 1896, she became the wife of Augustus Dow.
William P. Winans lived to reach the age of eighty-one years and the long period was one of great usefulness and activity, characterized by rapid and sub- stantial advance in business and by devotion to the general good. He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on the 28th of January, 1836, and was a little lad of ten years when his parents removed with their family to Pittsfield, Illinois, where he continued his education in the public schools. He had started on a business career in that state when ill health caused him to cross the plains. In his early boyhood he had worked on his father's farm and at the age of eighteen had be- come a clerk in a store, being thus employed through the succeeding five years.
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At the doctor's orders, however, he was forced to "get outdoors" and, attracted by the Pike's Peak excitement, he joined three companions, and with a prairie schooner and four yoke of oxen they started for Colorado. When within ten days of their destination they met a party of miners who were returning home and who had had an encounter with the Indians, some of them being wounded. The next day they met scores of other wagons with their owners retracing their steps and in one day passed over seven hundred wagons eastward bound. All told the same story-that it was not a poor man's district, for the gold was in quartz formation instead of being placer gold. One night when Mr. Winans and his companions camped he noticed that the wagon was headed east instead of west.
The next morning his partners, who were older than he, told him that they had decided to return, but Mr. Winans refused to go back, whereupon his com- panions unyoked his two oxen, turned them loose, put his blankets and his share of the provisions by the side of the road and left him. Next day, at noon, a wagon westward bound halted and the driver asked Mr. Winans why he was camped there and which way he was headed. Mr. Winans replied "westward." He joined forces with this man and eventually they reached Cherry creek, now the city of Denver, then containing about six or seven houses. One day a man by the nanie of George Grimes, who had previously lived in Oregon, said: "I am through here. I am going to Oregon. Do any of you fellows want to go along ?" Mr. Winans responded, "I'll go," and selling his oxen, he bought a good saddle and two horses, one for a pack horse and the other for a riding horse. One plan which the party pursued on their way westward was to camp at night, build a fire, get supper and then move on in the dark for a mile and camp, so the Indians would not surprise them, learning of their whereabouts by means of the fire. At length Mr. Winans arrived in Oregon in September, 1859, and located on the Umatilla river, stacking the first grain in that vicinity. He also taught school in Umatilla county in the winter of 1860-61 and he served as a clerk of the first election in Oregon, which was held in 1860, the year in which Lincoln was elected president. In July, 1861, he removed to Fort Colville, Washington, and upon the organization of Spokane county was appointed deputy county au- ditor.
The next year he was elected to the position of auditor, in which capacity he served for two terms. He was afterwards appointed clerk for the United States district court for the district comprising Spokane and Missoula counties under Judge E. P. Oliphant. At a later period Mr. Winans engaged in mer- chandising and in 1866 he was again called to office, being elected county super- intendent of schools. He aided in building the first schoolhouse north of the Snake river in a district that was two hundred by four hundred miles, lying between the Cascades and the Rockies and extending from Snake river to the Canadian border. With all of the early events which aided in shaping the his- tory and developing the country he was closely associated. In 1867 he was called upon to represent Stevens county in the territorial legislature, serving during that and the succeeding year and again in 1871. In 1870 he was appointed sub-agent of the six non-treaty tribes of the Colville country, thus having to do with a group of Indians who had refused to make peace with the government. He Vol.1-31
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took the part of the settlers against a proposed change of boundary of the Indian reservation and saved some valuable lands for the settlers-lands which they had been using for years and which they had brought under a high state of cul- tivation.
All during these years Mr. Winans was engaged in merchandising, but in 1871 disposed of his commercial interests in Colville and removed to Walla Walla, where he formed a partnership with Major R. R. Rees, thus establishing and conducting the largest store in Walla Walla in the early days. The business was originally carried on under the firm style of Rees & Winans and afterward was Johnson, Rees & Winans. Mr. Winans remained very active in the conduct of the business, which was developed to extensive proportions, but in 1890 he withdrew from mercantile interests and became president of the Farmers Savings Bank, which had been organized in September, 1889. The bank was opened at Second and Main streets, where it has since been located. In 1890 the bank was in temporary quarters while the old building was torn down and the new Rees-Winans building was erected. Mr. Winans remained president of the bank and active in the management of its affairs until his death. He was always found at his desk and seldom took a vacation. His life was one of in- tense and well directed activity and he never stopped short of the successful accomplishment of his purpose, while at all times the methods which he followed were those which would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. He had extensive interests other than his connection with the Farmers Savings Bank and for thirty years he was one of the directors of the First National Bank of Walla Walla. His activities were ever of a character that contributed to the progress and prosperity of the community in which he lived as well as to the ad- vancement of his individual fortunes.
On the 6th of October, 1869, Mr. Winans was married to Miss Lida Moore and to them were born three sons who are yet living, sketches of whom follow this. Mrs. Winans passed away December 4, 1876, and on the 20th of November, 1879, W. P. Winans was married to Miss Christine McRae, who survives him. They were the parents of three children. William Stiles Winans was born May 6, 1881, and died December 16, 1891. Freeman Earl Winans was born February 19, 1883, and married Miss Florence Ladd, November 23, 1908. He is department manager of the United States Rubber Company at Seattle. He is also a member of various fraternal orders. Sarah Jean Winans, born Sep- tember 19, 1885, was married in 1909 to Major George Leroy Converse, Jr .. Fourth Cavalry, U. S. A. She is the mother of two children, George Leroy IV and William Parkhurst Winans.
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