USA > Washington > Asotin County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 17
USA > Washington > Columbia County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 17
USA > Washington > Garfield County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 17
USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 17
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
Mr. Edmiston was born in Washington county, Arkansas, March 29, 1849, a son of Alexander E. Edmiston, who was a native of Virginia and removed to Arkansas early in the nineteenth century. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, serving as a lieutenant in his company under Colonel Yall. A forceful man of unquestioned integrity, he won a substantial financial success and left a valuable estate to his widow and four children, of whom James E. Edmiston was the eldest. A few years prior to his death, becoming convinced that the principle of slavery was wrong, he liberated all of his bondsmen. During the Civil war the vicinity of his home was the scene of great atrocities by both northern and southern renegades. He died in the year 1858.
James E. Edmiston, when a lad of fourteen years, enlisted in 1863 in the Confederate army, in which he had five uncles fighting for the cause. After the close of hostilities he returned to his home in Arkansas and remained long enough to assist in putting the plantation again into shape. He then went to Bentonville, Arkansas, where he attended the Bentonville College for two years, and while a student there he also taught school. In 1870 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, whence he made his way to the Pacific coast. He taught school for a time in Oregon and also pursued a course in the Corvallis College, from which he received his degree in 1873.
On the 13th of March of the same year Mr. Edmiston was united in marriage to Miss Helen E. Lacey, a native of Clackamas county, Oregon, and a daughter of Lewis A. Lacey, who was of French-Huguenot stock, his ancestors having fled to the new world because of religious persecution early in the seventeenth century. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Edmiston was an officer under Wash- ington and Lafayette in the Revolutionary war and he lost two of his fingers in the battle of Bunker Hill. His son, Lewis A. Lacey, came to the northwest in
JAMES E. EDMISTON
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1852, making his way to Oregon accompanied by his wife, Leonora ( Herring) Lacey, who was a naitve of Swansea, Wales, their marriage ceremony having been performed at Mount Morris, New York. The services were completed about fifteen minutes before they started on their westward journey to Indiana and from there they traveled with ox team and wagon to Oregon. Mr. Lacey's brother, his brother's wife and child died of mountain fever while en route and many other members of the party were buried by the side of the trail. They suffered on account of hostile Indians and the journey was a most hazardous and difficult one. On reaching the Willamette valley Mr. Lacey took up a dona- tion claim and gave his attention to farming and stock raising, spending his remaining days upon the old homestead at Springwater in Clackamas county, where he passed away in 1899, at the notable old age of ninety-four years. His widow died on the Ist of March, 1900, at the age of seventy-one years.
Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Edmiston removed to Colfax, Wash- ington, where for three years he was engaged in teaching school. In 1876 he took up his abode in Dayton, where for some years following he devoted his attention to teaching and then engaged in selling farm machinery. He also operated a large sawmill and was identified with various other business interests which have contributed to the material development and progress of this section of the state. Mr. Edmiston had been educated with a view to entering the ministry but subsequently turned his attention to law and pursued his reading under the preceptorship of John Y. Ostrander. In 1885 he. was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession, becoming one of the promi- nent lawyers of Columbia county. He then continued in active practice until a short time prior to his death, which occurred on the 8th, of May, 1900. In his law practice he was long associated with Judge C. F. Miller and their friendship relations were very close. Their practice was extensive and of an important character. Mr. Edmiston was remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepared his cases. At no time was his reading ever confined to the limitations of the questions at issue. It went beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but also for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His legal learning, his analytical mind, the readiness with which he grasped the points in an argument all combined to make him one of the capable attorneys at the bar of Columbia county and the public and the profession acknowledged him the peer of the ablest regarding him as a jurist of exceptionally rare ability.
Aside from his professional connections Mr. Edmiston figured very promi- nently in the public life of the community. At one time he served as superin- tendent of schools of Columbia county. He first came prominently into public notice when elected a member of the upper house of the Washington territorial legislature and for many years he was a member of the state central committee of the democratic party. In 1894 he was offered the nomination for governor but refused to become a candidate. While undoubtedly not without that laudable ambition which is so valuable as an incentive to public service, he nevertheless regarded the pursuits of private life as in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts and with remarkable fidelity he labored for the interests of his clients. It is said that he never lost a case which he appealed to the supreme court. In 1886 he was prosecuting attorney of Columbia county.
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Mr. Edmiston was considered the highest authority on Masonic jurispru- dence in the state and was chairman of that committee in the grand lodge for ten years. He was past grand master of the state of Washington and past grand patron of the Eastern Star. There was a close relationship between him and Dr. Van Patten, who was his family physician from 1884 until his death and has continued as such to Mrs. Edmiston. They were the best of friends and while not associated together in business often consulted one another on busi- ness matters. Mr. Edmiston was leader of the choir in the Presbyterian church for many years and in this work was also associated with the Doctor and together they often took vacation trips. It was the earnest desire of Mr. Edmiston that Dr. Van Patten allow himself to be put in line for higher Masonic honors, which eventually resulted in the latter becoming grand junior warden in 1901 and grand master in 1904.
For a long period Mr. Edmiston was collecting data for a history of south- castern Washington but died before the completion of the work. He was presi- dent of the board of regents of the Washington State College at Pullman and on the day of his burial the college was closed in respect to his memory. Every business house and the schools of Dayton were also closed and the day was given over to sincere mourning by the entire community. He was buried with Masonic honors and the Grand Lodge of Washington took charge of the funeral services, the HIon. Levi Ankeny, past grand master of the state, officiating. The bar of Dayton passed appropriate resolutions and every mark of respect that could be shown, both in a public and a private way, was evidenced. He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church and was a teacher in its Sunday school for many years. Much more might be said in eulogy of this man, who was loved by all who knew him and whose influence was always for the better- ment and uplift of mankind. His memory is enshrined in the hearts of those who knew him and remains as a blessed benediction to those who were his asso- ciates while he was still an active factor in the world's work. Mrs. Edmiston still lives in the old home in Dayton. She is a past grand matron of the Order of the Eastern Star and is now in charge of the Dayton Branch of the Red Cross, in which work she is very active, giving freely of her time and energies as well as her means and efforts to improve the conditions under which the young men of the country must serve in a military capacity. She was formerly president of the Monday Reading Club and has long been foremost in social circles and in welfare work in the northwest. Both Mr. and Mrs. Edmiston belong to that class who shed around them much of the sunshine of life.
JULES DE RUWE.
Jules De Ruwe is the owner of one of the best improved farms of his sec- tion of the country, having an extensive acreage near Turner, Washington. He was born in Belgium, July 17, 1885, and is a son of Peter and Julia De Ruwe, who were natives of that land. Educated in Belgium, Jules De Ruwe acquired a good education there and in 1905, when a young man of twenty years, crossed the Atlantic to the new world, making his way direct to Washington, where he
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became identified with the sheep industry, conducting business on a large scale in connection with his brothers, prominently known as leading sheep men of this section of the state. They finally dissolved partnership, however, and each is now conducting his business interests individually. In the fall of 1917 Jules De Ruwe purchased his present ranch, comprising eleven hundred acres of land twelve miles north of Dayton on the Tucanon river. This is one of the best improved ranches in his part of the county and Mr. De Ruwe is now equipping it with a thoroughly modern set of buildings, in which he is installing electric light and running water. In fact, he is adding every modern equipment and com- fort and his farm work is being conducted along progressive and scientific lines. His sheep are of the Rambouillet breed and are among the best to be found in the state of Washington.
On the 17th of October, 1917, Mr. De Ruwe was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Davidson, a daughter of Daniel and Ethel Davidson, of Starbuck, Wash- ington, who were also ranch people. Mr. De Ruwe is a member of the Catholic church, while his wife holds membership in the Christian church. While he has been on this side the Atlantic for only a few years he is thoroughly American in spirit and interests, having a strong attachment for the government and the in- stitutions of the new world. It often seems that native born citizens come by the privileges of American life too easily to appreciate them in the fullest degree. At least some of those who have sacrificed and suffered to obtain them value their blessings more highly than those to whom they come as a matter of course. Mr. De Ruwe is among the loyal residents of the northwest and in the utilization of the opportunities which have come to him he has made for himself a very creditable position among the successful business men of Washington.
F. E. MOJONNIER.
F. E. Mojonnier, a prominent and representative business man of Walla Walla county, is conducting his interests under the name of the Walla Walla Hothouse Vegetable Company. He is engaged in growing and wholesale ship- ping of hothouse and garden vegetables. He established this business in 1909, with no previous experience along this line to aid him, but he bent every energy toward acquainting himself with every phase of the business, studying the methods of the most successful houses of similar character in the east, and through this method and through study he has developed an enterprise of exten- sive and profitable proportions. He was born at Highland, Madison county, Illinois, on the 4th of October, 1874, and is a son of Samuel and Clara (Robert) Mojonnier, both of whom were natives of Switzerland and were of French descent. They came to the United States in childhood with their respective parents, the families establishing their homes in Madison county, Illinois. The father was a carpenter by trade but gave his attention largely to agricultural pursuits in Illinois. In 1886 he removed with his family to Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, where he engaged in carpentering up to the time of his death, which occurred about 1892. His widow is still living in that city.
F. E. Mojonnier was reared at home, acquiring his education in the public
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and high schools of Los Angeles. He was a youth of but twelve years when the family removed to California. After his textbooks were put aside he worked for some time in a grocery store in Los Angeles and in April, 1895, came to Walla Walla. Washington, where he entered the employ of the Walla Walla Produce Company. In 1900 he became a stockholder of the company and was identified with the conduct of the business until 1914, when he sold his interest in order to give his sole attention to his present business, which he had established in 1909. At that time he had no practical experience to assist him in its conduct, but he closely applied himself to the work and visited the largest plants of similar nature throughout the east, and since then he has built up one of the most inod- ern establishments of the kind in the country. He has three acres under glass and he is producing high grade vegetables and, in fact, he is known as one of the leading hothouse vegetable growers in the northwest. His business has been thoroughly systematized, carefully managed and wisely conducted and his patron- age has grown to extensive and gratifying proportions.
On the Ist of January, 1900, Mr. Mojonnier was united in marriage to Miss Mathilde Delepine, of Walla Walla, who was a student in the State College at Pullman at the time of her marriage. To them have been born three children, Claire. Harold and Elaine.
Mr. Mojonnier gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues. of the day, but has never been an aspirant for office. He is regarded as one of the representative citizens of Walla Walla county, actuated by a spirit of enterprise and progress in all that he does. Well defined plans and purposes have carried him forward and each step in his career has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He has ever been actuated by a laudable ambition that has caused him to reach out along still broader lines and his position in business circles is now a most credit- able and enviable one.
HON. FREDERICK STINE.
Hon. Frederick Stine, who passed away in Walla Walla in 1909, had been a resident of the city for more than four decades and was most widely and favor- ably known. He was one of the early settlers of his section of the state and was largely instrumental in promoting the development and upbuilding of his city. He thus gained a wide acquaintance and was esteemed by all who knew him. He was a recognized leader in many lines and his strength of character and ex- cellent judgment were features that brought beneficial results. A man of action rather than of theory, whenever opportunity called he made ready response.
Mr. Stine was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1825. His father was a blacksmith by trade and in 1839 removed with his family from the Keystone state to Greene county, Ohio, settling in Fairfield, where he en- gaged in farming and also followed blacksmithing. With those pursuits Frederick Stine became thoroughly familiar, as he assisted his father in the work of the fields or of the smithy. In the spring of 1852, in company with his brothers, John and William, he started for the Pacific coast. Their departure was a great
MRS. FREDERICK STINE
FREDERICK STINE
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event to the family, which numbered eight sons and six daughters. Travel at that time to the western coast was by means of wagon or by way of water route and many months elapsed ere the journey was completed. It was indeed a serious undertaking, much more difficult than a trip around the world at the present time. The three brothers left St. Louis, Missouri, on the Ist of May, 1852, and on the 2d of July arrived in Sacramento, California. This was a record trip at the time. The train with which they traveled numbered twenty-six men, of whom Frederick Stine was chosen captain. The three brothers went to Marys- ville, California, where they began work, but after a few days Frederick Stine was prostrated with typhoid fever and for sixty days had a great struggle for his life. Eventually, however, the disease reached its crisis and it was said that he would live. When he recovered he began business for himself, but in 1854 met with losses through fire and the following year he removed to Yreka, Cali- fornia, where he concentrated his efforts and attention upon farming and black- smithing, thus returning to the occupations to which he had been reared.
Selling his Yreka property on the 6th of February, 1862, Mr. Stine then started for the north and on the 12th of May arrived in Walla Walla, where he afterward made his home until called to his final rest. Within four days of his arrival he had opened a place of business on Main street and as the years passed he prospered. On the 3d of November, 1863, he went by way of Portland to San Francisco, traveling by stage to the latter city and thence by boat and the Panama route to Ohio on a visit to his family and his old home. 'On the 18th of April, 1864, he started again for the Pacific coast and this time made the trip by stage to Walla Walla, where he resumed blacksmithing and wagon making, maintaining a first class shop of that kind until September 1, 1873, at which date he re- tired from business. He had spent about a third of a century at his trade and was always industrious and conscientious in his work. In 1872 he erected the Stine House, which was the first brick hotel in Walla Walla, and in 1880 he purchased a farm of five hundred and sixty acres in Umatilla county, Oregon, about six miles south of Walla Walla. This he extensively improved and culti- vated and to his holdings he added from time to time as his financial resources in- creased until he held in that vicinity over nineteen hundred acres of choice land. In 1905 his wheat crop was thirty-seven thousand bushels, raised upon one-half of his land, the other half being summer fallowed. His business affairs were wisely and carefully controlled, his investments most judicionsly made and his enterprise brought to him a very substantial measure of success. The most envi- ous could not grudge him his prosperity, so honorably was it gained, so worthily used.
In 1870, in Walla Walla, Mr. Stine was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary ( Megrew) Silverthorn, a widow, and to them was born a daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Casper, of Walla Walla. Mrs. Stine was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1836, a daughter of Archibald Megrew. In 1836, when Mrs. Stine was three months old, the father removed with his family to Ohio and when she was a little maiden of thirteen she lost her mother. In 1852 the father removed with the children to Iowa and there his last days were passed. It was in Iowa that Mary Megrew became the wife of John Silverthorn and they, with others, crossed the plains in 1864, making the trip with mules and horses and spending three months en route. They settled in Walla Walla, where the Vol. 11-9
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death of Mr. Silverthorn later occurred. Mrs. Stine now resides in a fine home on Catherine street, where for more than ten years she has lived.
Throughout the period of his residence in Walla Walla, Mr. Stine was an active worker for the upbuilding and development of the city. In politics he was an active democrat and in 1869 was chosen to represent his district in the lower house of the territorial legislature, while in 1873 he was elected a member of the senate. He made his presence felt there by his earnest support of all well devised plans and measures for the improvement of the commonwealth. His keen judg- ment was of great benefit in many instances. In 1865 he was chosen one of the members of the city council of Walla Walla and during the following year was made chairman of the council and thereafter was reelected many times. He exercised his official prerogatives in support of various plans and measures for the general good and his work was of great worth to the city. Many important measures for the benefit of Walla Walla originated with him and were carried forward to successful completion because of his endorsement and labor. In 1868 he succeeded in having established a Masonic lodge at Walla Walla and for ten years thereafter acted as its master. He was also a member of the chapter and was always an earnest worker and he labored untiringly for the advancement of Masonic interests in this locality. When death called him in 1909 he had been a resident of Walla Walla for more than forty-five years. His personal qualities were such as won for him the warm regard of many and there was sincere grief felt throughout the city at his passing.
WILLIAM THOMAS PETTIJOHN.
William Thomas Pettijohn has since 1905 resided upon his present farm on section 2. township 9 north, range 35 east, in Walla Walla county, and here has six hundred and fifty acres of valuable land, constituting one of the fine farms of this section of the state. Long before, however, he had become a resident of the county and in fact was one of the earliest settlers. He arrived here in 1859, when but five years of age, having been brought to Washington by his parents.
Mr. Pettijohn was born in Linn county, Oregon, July 26, 1854, a son of Jonathan and Hannah (Warner) Pettijohn. The father was a native of Ohio, while the mother's birth occurred in Indiana. In 1850 Jonathan Pettijohn crossed the plains to California and after spending a year or more in the gold fields of that state he went to Oregon, settling in Linn county, where he was employed for some time in the sawmills and also worked at barn building. He became familiar with all of the hardships and privations incident to life on the frontier. He had encountered also many difficulties while crossing the plains. The cattle with which the party started on leaving the east died en route and much of the distance during the latter part of the trip, their provisions having run short, they lived for days upon flour and water. Mr. Pettijohn traveled much of the distance on foot. After living for a number of years in Oregon he sold his interests there in 1859 and came to Walla Walla county. He first visited the county in the summer of that year, bringing with him some cattle, after
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which he returned for his family. He entered a homestead in townships 9 and 10, range 35 east, Walla Walla county, and thereon built a log cabin. His remaining years were spent in that immediate neighborhood and he was very successful. While he experienced many of the difficulties incident to the settle- ment of the frontier prosperity attended him as the years went by and he ac- quired three thousand acres of valuable land. From 1860 until 1866 or 1867 he was engaged in freighting with ox teams to the Idaho mines and later he gave his attention most successfully to the raising of cattle and horses. His business affairs were most wisely and successfully managed and he became the possessor of a very handsome competence, passing away June 13, 1913. His wife had crossed the plains with her parents in 1852, at which time the family home was established in Linn county, Oregon, where her marriage to Mr. Pettijohn after- ward occurred. She passed away in January, 1893, and in the death of these two worthy people Walla Walla county lost an honored pioneer couple. They were respected and esteemed by all who knew them and most of all by those who knew them best, a fact indicative of their well spent lives.
William T. Pettijohn spent his youthful days upon the old homestead and acquired a district school education. In 1877 he went to Idaho, where he used both his preemption and homestead rights in the Potlach country, filing the first homestead right in that section. There he remained actively identified with farming and stock raising until 1905, when he left Idaho and returned to Walla Walla county, taking up his abode on his present home farm, which now com- prises six hundred and fifty acres of rich and productive land. In addition he owns five hundred and sixty acres in another township. His landed possessions are thus extensive and he is actively and prominently identified with the farming interests of Walla Walla county. His business affairs are carefully directed and wisely managed. He utilizes the most modern methods carrying on the farm work and upon his place he has put many improvements which rank his farm with one of the model farm properties of the twentieth century in this section of the state.
On the 12th of December, 1883, Mr. Pettijohn was united in marriage to Miss Ella Humphrey, of Idaho, and to them have been born five children, four of whom are still living, namely: Ada, the wife of Frank Davis, who is operating one of the farms belonging to his father-in-law ; Jonathan N., who is now operat- ing the home farm; Ollie, the wife of Robert L. Temple, of Prescott. Wash- ington ; and Harry Elbert, who is in the United States army. For some time the two sons operated the home farm together and proved progressive young business men by their capable direction of the interests which have come under their charge.
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