USA > Washington > Asotin County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Washington > Columbia County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Washington > Garfield County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 5
USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume II > Part 5
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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. Rees was married March 12, 1865, to Miss Augusta Ward, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Michael V. Ward. She was born near Chicago, in De Kalb county, Illinois, in 1843 and in 1853 accompanied her parents to Oregon, the journey being made by ox team. The family settled near Lebanon, in Linn county, but the long wet season proved unhealthful and Mr. Ward developed serious throat trouble. On the advice of a physician he removed to Walla Walla county, bringing with him three hundred head of cattle. That winter, however, Vol. 11-3
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there was an unusually heavy snowfall and owing to the unfavorable weather conditions he lost all of his cattle but forty-four. However, the increase in prices enabled him to realize so much from the remaining cattle that his net loss was inconsiderable. He bought the Lewis MeMorris ranch a few miles south of Walla Walla and operated that place for some time but at length disposed of it. He then removed to Walla Walla and erected there the most pretentious home in the city at the corner of East and Poplar streets. At the time of the visit of President Ilayes and party the president and his wife were entertained at the home of Mr. Ward, as there were no suitable hotel accommodations to be found in the city. Mrs. Hayes insisted in helping with the house work and at her request fried apples were served at breakfast. The democratic spirit manifested by the president and his wife made their visit a genuine pleasure as well as an honor. To Mr. and Mrs. Rees were born three children: Frank W., a well known dentist of Walla Walla; Elma R., the wife of II. H. Turner, cashier of the Baker-Boyer Bank of Walla Walla ; and Lora R., the wife of Paul Compton, of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Compton is a son of General Compton, who for years had command of the garrison at Walla Walla.
Mr. Rees was a prominent democrat and for many years took an active part in politics. He represented his district at two different times in the state legisla- ture; for several years served as county treasurer, and his record as an official was highly creditable alike to his ability and his public spirit. He was always called upon with a certainty of response for aid in carrying out projects for the development of Walla Walla city and county and his demise, which occurred July 12. 1880, was recognized as a great loss to his community.
His widow survives and resides in one of the handsomest residences of the city, in which she takes great pride, for it was built in accordance with plans drawn by herself. After the death of her husband she carried on the business of the estate. She is one of the honored pioneer settlers of Walla Walla and her reminiscences of the early days when the present rapidly growing city was a little frontier settlement are much appreciated by the younger generation, who find it hard to realize that conditions have changed so radically within a half century. When she came to this region there were not more than twenty white women in the valley and she is one of the very few of the number now living.
JOHN H. ROMAINE.
John H. Romaine, who has been engaged in farming in Columbia county, was born in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, April 15, 1857, a son of Garrit Romaine. a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Our subject grew to manhood in his native state and there received a good common school edu- cation. When twenty years old he accompanied his parents to Washington and not long after his arrival in this state took up a homestead on section 25, town- ship 11 north, range 38 east. He brought his land to a high state of develop- ment, and gained recognition as a progressive and capable farmer. He raised both wheat and stock and his annual income reached gratifying proportions. Fle added to his holdings as the years passed until he owned fourteen hundred
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acres of fine land but sold out in the fall of 1917 and purchased a ranch of seven hundred and fifty-five acres in Umatilla county, Oregon, nine miles south of Walla Walla, Washington, on which he expects to locate.
In 1882 Mr. Romaine was united in marriage to Miss May Mckellips and following her death married Miss Ella Davis, a daughter of Cyrus and Nancy (Holly) Davis, natives respectively of Vermont and Ohio. They removed to Old Walla Walla county and here her father passed away in 1910. Her mother survives and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Romaine. The latter have become the parents of four children: Jean M., deceased; one who died in in- fancy ; Garrit ; and Jean Henry.
Mr. Romaine gives his political allegiance to the republican party but has never sought office, his farming interests requiring his undivided time and atten- tion. His wife belongs to the Congregational church and takes much interest in its work. During the forty years of his residence in Old Walla Walla county Mr. Romaine has witnessed a remarkable transformation and has kept pace with the development of the county, at all times giving his support to progressive measures.
ZIBA DIMMICK.
For a quarter of a century Ziba Dimmick has been a resident of Walla Walla county and is now numbered among its most prosperous farmers, being extensively and successfully engaged in the growing of wheat. His place is sit- uated on section 27, township 8 north, range 34 east of W. M. He is a west- ern man by birth, by training and by preference, and the spirit of western enter- prise finds exemplification in his life. He was born at The Dalles, Oregon, on the 8th of March, 1868, and is a son of H. R. and Ann (Cooper) Dimmick, the former a native of Illinois, while the latter was born in Scotland. It was in the year of 1853 that the father crossed the plains with ox teams, meeting all the hardships and privations of that strenuous trip in the early days. He located first on the Umpqua river in southern Oregon, where he lived with his parents until the spring of 1862, when he and his wife moved to The Dalles. His re- maining days were spent in that state, and his widow, who still survives is now a resident of Hood River county, Oregon. In her family were ten chil- dren, of whom Ziba is the eldest son and six of the number are now living.
Ziba Dimmick was reared and educated in Oregon, no event of special importance occurring to vary the routine of life for him in the days of his boyhood and youth. At the age of sixteen years he started to work for the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, where he learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked until 1892. When a young man of about twenty-four he came to Walla Walla, Washington, and commenced his career as a farmer, working for different men, until 1900, when he invested his savings in the farm upon which he now resides. He today owns seven hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive wheat land and has always made a specialty of raising that crop, for which the soil and climate are particularly adapted. Success has therefore attended his efforts, for in all of his methods
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he is practical and progressive and through the summer months the broad fields of waving grain give promises of abundant harvest in the autumn. In addition to this property Mr. Dimmick owns one hundred and ten acres of valuable land in Hood River county, Oregon, where he is engaged in raising alfalfa and clover.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Dimmick is a Woodman of the World and an Odd Fellow, politically a republican. His energy and determination have made him what he is today-one of the prosperous farmers of Walla Walla county, and his substantial traits of character have won for him the warm regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact. Walla Walla county gained a substantial citizen when he removed from Oregon to this state, for his labors have contributed much to its agricultural development.
FRANK S. DEMENT.
It was in the quaint and picturesque little city of Oregon City, Oregon, that Frank S. Dement, prominent miller and grain dealer of Walla Walla, was born November 3, 1853, a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families upon the Pacific coast. His father, W. C. Dement, came to Oregon from Virginia in 1843 in the train with Marcus Whitman. He engaged in merchan- dising at Oregon City, the little town that was founded above the falls of the Willamette river, and he was one of the four who built the railway around the falls at Oregon City, which was one of the first, if not the first railway on the Pacific coast. With many events which shaped the pioneer development and later progress of that section of the country he was closely associated. He served as captain of volunteers in the Rogue River Indian war in 1856 and there was no phase of frontier development with which he was not thoroughly familiar. He became a resident of Oregon before the city of Portland was established and he lived to witness many remarkable changes as the work of settlement was carried forward. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Olive Johnson, came to Oregon in 1845 and was a daughter of the Rev. Hezekiah Johnson, a Baptist missionary of that state.
Frank S. Dement, spending his boyhood days under the parental roof, acquired his education in the Oregon City Seminary and in carly life took up the printing business, learning the trade, after which he engaged in general printing and in publishing of the Oregon City Enterprise. He figured prominently in public affairs in that locality and served as county treasurer of Clackamas county, Oregon, which position he resigned in 1879 and removed to Walla Walla on account of his health. In the following year he organized the Dement Brothers Company and has continuously served as its president. He and his partners purchased the Eureka flour mills of the firm of Welch & Schwabacher Brothers in 1880. These mills had a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels daily and something of the growth of the business is indicated in the fact that the present capacity is six hundred barrels daily. In a word they have developed one of the most important milling industries of this section of the state and they are also well known as extensive grain dealers. It was Frank S. Dement
A.S. Dement
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. INOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
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who in 1882 imported the first bluestem seed wheat from New Zealand to the Pacific northwest and it is today the leading wheat grown in this section of the country. Through this channel and his other business activities he has contributed in marked measure to the material development and consequent prosperity of his section of the state. In the conduct of his business affairs he has amassed a considerable fortune, much of which he has invested in Walla Walla real estate, thus indicating his faith in the future of this district.
In Oregon City, Oregon, on the ist of August, 1877, Mr. Dement was married to Miss Frances Miller, a daughter of Captain J. D. Miller, who was a pioneer steamboat operator on the Willamette and Columbia rivers. To Mr. and Mrs. Dement have been born two sons: Charles F., who is county auditor of Walla Walla County ; and Frank Bingham, who is now in the National army at Camp Lewis. He was graduated from the Shattuck Military School of Minnesota in 1914 and was a student in Whitman College with the class of 1918.
Frank S. Dement has long been a recognized leader in republican circles in liis county and was chairinan of the county republican central committee. He has done much to further the interests of his party, believing firmly in its principles and recognizing the duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship ; yet he has never sought nor desired office as a reward for party fealty. Frater- nally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a prominent Mason, having taken the degrees of both the York and Scottish Rites. He is a member of Oriental Consistory, A. & A. S. R., of Spokane and of El Katif Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. For the past thirty years he has been a very active and prominent member of the Commercial Club of Walla Walla and is now one of its directors and the treasurer. He stands for progressiveness in all public affairs and his efforts in behalf of general progress and improvement have been practical, farreaching and effective. Men who know him-and he has a wide acquaintance-speak of him in terms of the highest regard both as to his rela- tionship with business affairs and in matters of citizenship.
JOSEPH LEDGERWOOD.
Joseph Ledgerwood, deceased, spent the last years of his life in honor- able retirement from business in Pomeroy, enjoying the fruits of his former labor. For many years he had been identified with farming in southeastern Washington and his well directed business affairs brought to him a very sub- stantial competence, enabling him to enjoy all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life and also to leave his family in very easy financial circum- stances. He was born in Clay county, Missouri, July 17, 1836, and was a son of Joseph and Rachael Ledgerwood, who were natives of Tennessee and after- ward became pioneer settlers of Clay county, Missouri.
Joseph Ledgerwood acquired his education in the common schools of Clay and Daviess counties of Missouri and on reaching manhood took up the occu- pation of farming. In 1864, with little money to outfit him for so hazardous and extended a journey, he started across the plains for the Pacific coast country, and while he endured many hardships and privations while en route,
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he ultimately in safety reached the Umpqua valley, where he made a home for his family and continued to reside until 1877. He then disposed of his property in that region and removed to Garfield county, Washington, settling about nine miles east of Pomeroy. There he prospered and from time to time, as his financial resources increased, he added to his land until at his death he was the owner of about one thousand acres of valuable farm property. In the later years of his life he retired from active farm work and removed to Pome- roy, where he spent his remaining days in the enjoyment of the fruits of his many years of successful labor. For a long period his life had been one of untiring industry and perseverance, during which he was watchful of every opportunity and indication pointing toward success. At all times he based his advancement upon the sure foundation of industry and persistency of pur- pose.
In 1859 Mr. Ledgerwood was united in marriage to Miss Louise O'Keef, a native of Illinois, who was a faithful helpmate to him and shared with him in all of the hardships and privations of pioneer life, when Oregon and Wash- ington were still frontier states. She still survives her husband and cherishes his memory, for he was most devoted to the welfare and happiness of his family. To Mr. and Mrs. Ledgerwood were born nine children, seven of whom are yet living, as follows: William T .; J. Joseph ; John T .; Lou Emma, who is the wife of W. A. DeBow, a grain dealer of Pomeroy; Martha R., who is the widow of James B. Carter and resides in Pomeroy; Rosa, who gave her hand in marriage to Lou Jurgens, of Asotin county, Washington; and Clara B., the wife of Edward Davis, of Okanogan county, Washington.
Mr. Ledgerwood was a very progressive man, public-spirited in all that he did, and his aid and cooperation could ever be counted upon to further public progress. He aided many movements for the general good, and while he was never a politician in the commonly accepted sense of the term and never would consent to hold office, he gave earnest support to the democratic party because of a firm belief in its principles. He belonged to the Masonic fra- ternity and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a consistent Christian man, both he and his wife being lifelong members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Ledgerwood occupies a handsome home in Pomeroy, surrounded by all the comforts and conveniences which make life worth living.
REME DE RUWE.
Among the successful sheep raisers of Columbia county is numbered Reme De Ruwe, who was born in Belgium, September 15, 1882, a son of Peter and Julia De Ruwe, also natives of that country, where their entire lives were passed. To them were born fifteen children. The subject of this review is indebted for his education to the schools of his native land, and remained at home until he was about twenty years old. Then, in 1902, he decided to try his fortune in the United States and located in Walla Walla county, Washing- ton, where he at once turned his attention to raising sheep. He has since con- tinued in that occupation on an extensive scale. He pastures his sheep on a ranch comprising twelve hundred acres of land in Columbia county. The suc-
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cess which he has gained in fifteen years is quite unusual, demonstrating his ability to adapt himself to a new condition, his sound judgment and his enter- prise. His ranch is well improved and is a very valuable property.
In 1914 Mr. De Ruwe was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Kregger, and they have a son, Marvin, and have also adopted three children. Mr. De Ruwe casts his ballot in support of the republican party, whose principles accord with his political beliefs. He was reared in the Catholic faith and consistently gives his influence on the side of moral advancement. He has gained many friends since coming to eastern Washington, his salient characteristics being such as never fail to command respect and win regard.
CHARLES L. WHITNEY.
Charles L. Whitney, who is living retired on section 6, township 6 north, range 36 east, Walla Walla county, is now enjoying a period of well merited leisure made possible by his former successful labors as a nurseryman and hor- ticulturist. He was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1857, of the marriage of William G. and Marcia M. (Pettis) Whitney, the former a native of Onondaga county, New York. They removed to California in 1879; two years before their son Charles L. had made his way to the Pacific coast, and after residing there for one or two years they came to Walla Walla county, Washington. Here the father, in partnership with his son Charles L., bought the farm where the latter still resides. This place was the site of the Sims mill, which was the first mill built in the state and possibly the first in the north- west. The date of its erection was 1858 and there was also a distillery operated within the limits of the farm. In the early days pack trains, numbering one hundred animals were sent to the outlying camps loaded with flour, bacon and whiskey, and the farm is indeed one of the historic places of the state. The father established the Home nursery and the son the North Western nurseries, and both proved successful in that business. The father remained active in the management of his affairs both as a nurseryman and as a farmer until his death in 1912. The mother passed away in 1910.
Charles L. Whitney was reared in Pennsylvania and after attending the com- mon schools became a student in the Edinboro (Penn.) State Normal school and in Austinburg College at Austinburg, Ohio. Later he took up the study of medicine at the Eclectic Medical College at San Francisco, California, but left that institution a year before the completion of his course. It was in 1877 that he removed to California and he was one of the first settlers of the town of Whatcom. He devoted some time to timber cruising and for a number of years he traveled through California, Oregon and Washington, becoming famil- iar with practically every part of the Pacific coast. In 1880 he came with his parents to Walla Walla county and established the North Western nurseries, which he conducted for years. He was one of the first men to enter that line of business in this section and his success in the growing of fruit trees deter- mined the possibilities of this region in the production of fruit. He also engaged in general farming to some extent and found that likewise profitable. For
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four years he was county fruit inspector and later was for a similar length of time state fruit inspector and was generally recognized as an authority on everything pertaining to fruit and its production. About 1907 he gave up the nursery business and has since rented his land for gardening, although lie still resides upon his farm, which comprises one hundred and fifty-two acres two miles south of Walla Walla, in the most fertile part of the valley. His home is a handsome country residence, provided with all modern conveniences.
In 1883 Mr. Whitney was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth McCaslin, who was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, but was teaching in the schools of Omaha, Nebraska, at the time of her marriage. They have become the parents of five children, of whom four survive, namely: Elizabeth May, the wife of Ned Mclean, of Walla Walla; Bertha, who married L. F. Turman, of Willows, California ; Charles B., who is first sergeant with the Washington Field Artillery, under Major Weyrauch; and Marguerite, the wife of Fred Houghton, of Attalia, this county.
Mr. Whitney's political views accord with the principles of the republican party and he gives it his stanch support but has never taken a very active part in politics. However, he has always felt the keenest interest in the upbuilding of his county and his influence has been felt in its development along horticultural, agricultural and civic lines. He was a member of the board of commissioners that had charge of the Walla Walla exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Exposition held in Portland in 1905 and took a great deal of pride in the fine showing that the county made. He has a number of fraternal connections, belonging to Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 13, F. & A. M .; Walla Walla Chapter, No. I, R. A. M .; Walla Walla Commandery, No. I K. T .; El Katif Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Spokane; to the Shrine Club at Walla Walla, of which he is president ; to Alki Chapter, No. 25, O. E. S., of which he is past patron and of which his wife was the second matron; to Enterprise Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand; to the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B. P. O. E. His high standing in the Odd Fellows society is further indicated by the fact that he holds the lodge jewel.
EDWARD H. NIXON.
Edward H. Nixon, one of the earliest of Walla Walla's pioneers now living and for many years a dominant factor in civic affairs, was born in Guyandotte, West Virginia, on the 26th of May, 1842. When he was ten years of age his parents removed to Jackson county, Iowa, settling on a farm about eight miles west of Sabula. He was there educated in the district schools and at his mother's knee, she having been educated for a teacher in the Massachusetts schools in early life. Subsequently she went west to teach in the West Virginia schools and it was there that she was married. After mastering the early branches of learning Mr. Nixon continued his studies in the high school at Maquoketa, Iowa, and at the age of twenty years he was elected to the office of constable in his district, but the commissioners refused him a commission because he was not of legal age.
EDWARD H. NIXON
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He began reading law at Maquoketa, Iowa, and advanced sufficiently to try cases before a justice of the peace.
In sentiment he was strongly anti-slavery at the beginning of the Civil war and as his sympathies were with the north, he determined he would not fight for any country that would uphold slavery, but after the Emancipation -Proclamation he offered his services to the country and was accepted in December, 1863, being mustered into the service as a member of Company A, Ninth Regiment of the Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for one year, five months and eleven days. He then received an honorable discharge, the war having been brought to a close. He had participated in the battles of Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Dallas and New Hope Church, Ackworth or Big Shanty, and the seven days' siege of Kenesaw Mountain and many skirmishes. He was also in the battle of Atlanta on the 22d of July, 1864, in the battle of Ezra Church and many others, taking part in every engagement in which his regiment partici- pated until the fall of Atlanta. At close of the war he received an honorable dis- charge and returned to his home with a most creditable military record, having nobly done his part to preserve the Union. He afterward pursued a course in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, and subsequently he engaged in farming until 1873, when he started for the far west with Walla Walla as his destination. He arrived here on the 16th of March of that year and took up the profession of teaching. He also engaged in farm"work and in fact ac- cepted any employment that would yield him an honest dollar:
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