USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement, Volume I > Part 8
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Wilbur Simpson Dearslep
and together they organized the Palouse Land Company, which they operated until 1906. In August, 1907, together with David J. Ham, Donald Ryrie and Shirley S. Philbrick he incorporated the company of Ham, Yearsley, Ryrie & Philbrick for the purpose of a general investment business but in 1908 Mr. Philbrick retired to look after personal business. Since then the firm has been conducted under the name of Ham, Yearsley & Ryrie, with D. T. Ham, president; Wilbur S. Yearsley, vice president; K. Murray, secretary; and D. Ryrie, treasurer. They do a general fire, liability and indemnity insurance business and they also handle land, loans and investments and col- lectively and individually they are financially identified with various local enterprises. Mr. Yearsley has quite extensive interests and at the present time is president of The Inland Empire Paper Company, vice president of The Liberty Lake Land Company and Interna- tional Power Company, while he is also president of The Industrial Development Company and The Klickitat Columbia River Irrigation Company. He is one of the enterprising and progressive business men of the city and is meeting with excellent success in his various undertakings.
Political activities have always engaged much of the attention of Mr. Yearsley, although he has never been an office seeker, and his support is given to the democratic party. He was on the democratic electoral ticket of this state during the Palmer and Buckley cam- paign and while residing in Whitman county he was chairman of the democratic central committee. Fraternally he is identified with Thompson Lodge, F. & A. M., of eastern Pennsylvania, and his con- nection with organizations of a more purely social nature is confined to his membership in the Spokane and Inland Clubs of this city. Mr. Yearsley has never married and makes his home at 2017 Mallon street. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the northwest and has un- limited faith in the marvelous possibilities it offers, commercially, industrially and agriculturally, owing to its many natural advantages and the spirit of energy that characterizes its citizens. He avails himself of every possible opportunity to advance its interests by championing every progressive movement inaugurated in Spokane and giving his cooperation to forwarding the development of the various public utilities.
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William J. C. Wakefield
ILLIAM J. C. WAKEFIELD, who ranks high W among the prominent lawyers of the Spokane bar, has engaged in practice in this city since May, 1889, and his constantly increasing ability has brought him continuous recognition in a large and distinctively representative clientage. He has concentrated his time, energies and attention upon his professional duties and the work that he has done as advocate and counselor indicates clearly his fam- iliarity with the principles of jurisprudence and an analytical power that enables him to correctly apply those principles to the question under consideration.
While a resident of the west for more than a quarter of a cen- tury, Mr. Wakefield is a native son of New England, his birth hav- ing occurred in Ludlow, Windsor county, Vermont, on the 4th of September, 1862. The family was founded in Massachusetts dur- ing the early colonial epoch in the history of this country, and the great-great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Wakefield, of Sutton, Mas- sachusetts, took up arms in defense of his country during the French and Indian war, serving in the expedition under General Amherst against Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759. That the spirit of liberty was strong within him and that the same spirit was inculcated in his family is indicated by the fact that six of his sons were soldiers in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. One of these, Samuel Wakefield, was a member of the Lexington company that at the first alarm marched on the 19th of April, 1775, out upon the little green in the center of the town to meet the British forces that demanded immediate surrender. He was a member of the com- pany commanded by Captain John Putman, attached to Colonel Ebenezer Larned's regiment, and he continued in the service until September 17, 1779. The line of descent to William J. C. Wake- field is traced down from Samuel Wakefield, through his son Samuel, who removed from Massachusetts to Newport, New Hampshire, Alpheus Wakefield, who was a resident of Ludlow, Vermont, and Luther F. Wakefield. The last named spent his entire life in Lud- low, where he followed the pursuits of mechanic, miller and farmer.
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William J. C. Wakefield
He married Lorinda L. Place, a native of northern Vermont, and also a representative of an old New England family.
Their son, William J. C. Wakefield, acquired his early education in the district schools of Chittenden and Windsor counties, Vermont, and afterward attended the Black River Academy of Ludlow, where he prepared for college, then entering Dartmouth College, from whichi he was graduated with the class of 1885. The west with its limitless opportunities attracted him and on the completion of his college course he became a resident of Austin, Nevada, where he engaged in teach- ing school. The hours which are usually termed leisure were devoted by Mr. Wakefield to the study of law under the direction of Judge McKenna of that place, and he completed his legal studies in the office of Archer & Bowden, following his removal to San Jose, Cali- fornia. Early in 1889 he was admitted to the bar in San Francisco and then turned to the northwest Pacific country, deciding upon Spo- kane as a favorable location. Accordingly, in May, he arrived in this city, which has since been his home and the scene of his profes- sional labors and achievements. In November, 1889, he formed a partnership with Judge L. B. Nash, which was maintained until the spring of 1892, when Mr. Wakefield succeeded Colonel W. W. D. Turner in the firm of Turner & Forster, the style of Forster & Wake- field being then assumed. In 1905, following the death of George M. Forster, Mr. Wakefield organized with A. W. Witherspoon the present firm of Wakefield & Witherspoon, which is today regarded as one of the most prominent and successful in the city. Mr. Wake- field has largely represented clients who have been prominently con- nected with the development of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. He is well versed in all departments of the law and upon his professional service has concentrated his attention to the exclusion of all political activities. Since 1890 he has held the office of master in chancery of the United States court. He is an officer or director in many corporations that are active in the develop- ment of this section of the country and his relations to the northwest is that of contagious enthusiasm which has led to his support of many projects and measures of public benefit.
On the 10th of June, 1896, Mr. Wakefield was united in marriage to Miss Louise Ammann, a daughter of Arnold and Caroline Am- mann, formerly of Springfield, Illinois. They now have an inter- esting family of two daughters and three sons, Louise, Channing, Helen, Newton and Willian. The family are prominent socially
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William J. C. Wakefield
and Mr. Wakefield is also well known in athletic circles and is equally interested in educational projects which have for their object the intellectual progress of the community. For years he was identified with the National Guard of Nevada and Washington, retiring from the latter with the rank of lieutenant colonel and chief signal officer. He is recognized as a man of well rounded character whose interests are varied and who at all times keeps in close touch with the trend of modern thought and progress.
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Danston
Edward James Cannon
ELL versed in all departments of the law and espe- W cially proficient in corporation law, Edward James Cannon by the consensus of public opinion is placed in a foremost position among the distinguished at- torneys of Spokane and at the same time is active in control of important invested interests. He was born on a farm near Warnerville, Juneau county, Wisconsin, February 21, 1866, a son of James and Eliza (Noonan) Cannon, both of whom were of Irish lineage. The maternal grandparents were both natives of Ireland and Michael Noonan, the grandfather of Eliza (Noonan) Cannon, was a civil engineer and overseer of public works in the south half of Ireland during the famine times. His wife reached the re- markable old age of one hundred and nine years. James Cannon has devoted his life to farming and now makes his home in Cresco, Iowa. His family numbered eleven children, the brothers of Ed- ward James Cannon being: Harry, who is a prominent physician and surgeon of St. Paul; John M., an attorney of Ritzville, Wash- ington; George, who is practicing law in Minnesota; and James, who is engaged in the insurance business in Minneapolis. The daughters of the household were: Mary, the wife of M. A. Montague, who is engaged in the land business in Iowa; Lyda, the wife of P. M. Daly, in the interior department of Washington, D. C .; Marcella. the wife of Thomas Gerraghty, an attorney of Valdez, Alaska; Mar- garet, the wife of Frank J. O'Rourke, of Freeport, Illinois, who is assistant editor of a daily paper there; and Theresa and Katherine, at home.
When Edward J. Cannon was a lad of eight years the family removed to the Hawkeye state and following the acquirement of his more specific literary education he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, in the fall of 1887 and there entered upon the study of law in the office of Thompson & Taylor, who directed his reading until his admission to the bar on the Ist of June, 1890. He then entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in St. Paul, where he remained until January 1, 1906, when he came to Spokane, having received the appointment of division counsel for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company for that
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Edward James Cannon
portion of the line extending from Paradise, Montana, to the Colum- bia river and including all of its branches. In this capacity he still continues and at the same time is counsel for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad from Pasco eastward. In addition he practiced in partnership with Arthur B. Lee, the firm pursuing a general prac- tice and enjoying a high reputation for ability in the profession. Since that time changes have occurred in the firm and there are now six lawyers in the office. They represent seven of the casualty com- panies doing business in Spokane and Mr. Caunon is also attorney for the First National Bank of Hillyard and the National Bank of Commerce of Spokane. As division counsel of the Northern Pacific he has twelve hundred miles of road under his legal direction and is legal adviser for altogether two thousand miles of road. In ad- dition to his other railway connections he is attorney for the Camas Prairie Railroad and the Washington, Idaho & Montana Railroad. In the field of corporation law his work has been of a very impor- tant character. He is also attorney for the Stanton Packing Com- pany and attorney for various irrigation companies, and probably no firm in Spokane has a more extensive corporation practice. They employ their own court stenogapher and their own claim agent. Out- side of the strict path of his profession Mr. Cannon has extended his efforts into other fields and is now president of the First Na- tional Bank of Hillyard and a director of the National Bank of Com- merce of Spokane. He is also president of the New World Life Insurance Company and acts as its counsel. He is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, on Half Moon prairie, which is devoted to the raising of fruit.
On October 9, 1890, at St. Paul. Minnesota, Mr. Cannon was mar- ried to Miss Helen I. Appleton, a daughter of James B. and Louise (Walker) Appleton, of Osage, Iowa. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cannon, Louise Marie, Helen Eliza and Marcella. At 416 East Rockwood boulevard is situated the family home, over which Mrs. Cannon graciously presides and where she dispenses cor- dial hospitality to the numerous friends of the family who are wont to gather there for many a pleasant hour.
Mr. Cannon is well known in social connections as a member of the Spokane. Spokane Country and Inland Clubs, and is a life mem- ber of the Spokane Athletic Club. He likewise belongs to Spokane Lodge, No. 228, B. P. O. E .. and the Knights of Columbus, in which he has held all the chairs. He is also connected with the Chamber of Commerce and his cooperation is given to every movement instituted
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Edward James Cannon
by that organization for the benefit and upbuilding of the city. His entire life has been characterized by continuous advancement. Every step in his career has been a forward one and the thoroughness with which he has mastered every task and performed every duty consti- tutes the secret of his success. In the law he has never failed to give careful preparation and a keen analytical mind enables him to readily determine the salient points in a case and apply legal prin- ciple and precedent correctly. In the field of business, too, his sound judgment has manifested itself in judicious investment and the wise control of his interests.
IR Jamiatt.
Thomas Redding Cannatt
HOMAS REDDING TANNATT, now living re- T tired in Spokane, was born at Verplanck Point on the Hudson river in New York, September 27, 1833. His father, James S. Tannatt, died in 1843 and was long survived by his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary C. Gilmore and died in 1891. The grandparents of Thomas R. Tannatt came from Scotland, near Lake Dunbarton. At the time of the Stuart rebellion all their lands were confiscated and in return they were given large tracts of land in Canada, near Ottawa. Accordingly they came to America and the grandfather named the town of Paisley, Canada. He lived to the very venerable age of one hundred and two years. James S. Tan- natt was at one time a partner of Chauncey Depew's father in the ownership and operation of steamship lines on the Hudson river. He was a prominent whig during the Clay campaign and for four years he filled the position of purveyor at the Brooklyn navy yard.
In the absence of public schools Thomas R. Tannatt attended an academy at Peekskill, New York, now known as the Peekskill Mili- tary Academy, and while there was a schoolmate of Chauncey De- pew. He was only ten years of age when his father died and at that time he was sent to New Hampshire, where he worked on a farm during the summer months and attended school during the winter seasons for six years. The next three years he served as an appren- tice at bridge building and large construction work in Salem, Massa- chusetts, and during his three years apprenticeship for three even- ings of each week during the last two years, he attended an evening school for instruction in mathematics, drawing and civil engineering. He then accepted a positon as assistant resident engineer on the water works at Jersey City, New Jersey. He filled that position until nearly twenty-one years of age, when he was tendered an appoint- ment to the West Point Military Academy from the Essex district of Massachusetts and was there graduated in 1858, being the seventh in rank in his class. While at West Point he rose to the captaincy of Company D, Cadets Battalion. Upon graduation he was com- missioned as brevet second lieutenant, unassigned, and ordered to
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Thomas Redding Cannatt
Fortress Monroe, Virginia, as instructor in use of the Ballistic pen- dulum and, by war department order, made a member of an artillery board, with the late Generals Barry and Ord, "to revise and establish a new table of ranges, for all guns in service, and others submitted by the secretary of war." This board was the first to determine ranges for the "Parrott," "Hotchkiss" and "Hexagonal guns" not then in service. Subsequently he acted for one year as judge advo- cate of court martials and on special duty was then appointed second lieutenant of Battery M, Fourth United States Artillery. He joined his regiment at Fort Randall in South Dakota in June of 1860.
In April of 1861 three of the five batteries at Randall were ordered east under the command of the late General Getty. On June 5, 1861, Lieutenant Tannatt found himself the only commis- sioned officer at his post, save the surgeon; his commanding officer declining to renew his oath of allegiance to the United States, de- serted the post, to join the Confederate army with rank of Brigadier General. On Christmas day of that year Lieutenant Tannatt crossed the Missouri river with two batteries and made a twenty- eight-day march to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he joined Major General Buell and moved with him to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was placed in command of Artillery Park at the fair grounds and also appointed inspector and assistant chief of artillery on General Buell's staff. He remained with that commander until they reached Huntsville, Alabama, when he was ordered to report to Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, after which, upon the request of Governor Andrew, General Barnard, chief of U. S. engineers, and General Barry, chief of artillery, he was transferred to the First Massa- chusetts Heavy Artillery and assumed command of his brigade con- sisting of his own regiment and the Second New York Heavy Artil- lery, occupying five forts on the south side of the Potomac. He had been made colonel of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and this regiment had been previously raised by Lieuten- ant Tannatt as colonel. The appointment made Mr. Tannatt a senior colonel in the Army of the Potomac. He engaged in the bat- tle of Malvern Hill and other engagements up to the battle of Fred- ericksburg. While there he supervised the construction of Fort Whipple (now Fort Meyer), and also Fort C. F. Smith.
During the Gettysburg campaign Colonel Tannatt was in com- mand of forces south of the Potomac, extending from Chain bridge to near Alexandria, and had under him five regiments of heavy artil- lery and three regiments of one hundred day men from Pennsyl-
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Thomas Redding Cannatt
vania. When General Grant took command Colonel Tannatt was ordered to select a brigade and join the Army of the Potomac, doing so on the third day of the Battle of the Wilderness. Three days after the engagement he was given a new brigade, consisting of the First Massachusetts, Third and Fifth Michigan and Fourth Wis- consin Regiments. These were known as the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps, and in command General Tannatt took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, North Anna, Spottsylvania Courthouse, Plank Road and several others. On the 14th of June, 1865, he was wounded in the battle of Petersburg, was sent to a hospital and later sent home. While he was convalescing, the war closed and he sent his resignation to Washington. His had been a splendid military record, both before and through the period of the war, and he was well entitled to release from further service.
In 1866 General Tannatt went to Colorado and engaged in mak- ing reports concerning mines for New York parties, which resulted in his return to the eastern metropolis and entering upon a three years' contract with six New York companies to act as resident en- gineer and general manager of their mines. He continued in that connection for five years, when his health failed and he returned to Massachusetts. Later he went to Tennessee, where he leased a state railroad thirty-five miles long and engaged in constructing thirty- five miles additional. When that was completed he returned to Massachusetts, where he met Henry Villard and in the fall of 1877 came to the Pacific coast as Mr. Villard's confidential man. After seven months he returned to New York, where he continued with Mr. Villard for a year and then again came to the Pacific coast, where he invested in one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land for eastern capitalists. Some of this was purchased from the North- ern Pacific in Whitman county. He also invested at Seattle and likewise purchased large tracts of land in the Grand Ronde valley of Oregon. General Tannatt was representing a company of which Mr. Villard was the head and which built and still owns the lines of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. All this land was con- trolled under the company name of the Oregon Improvement Com- pany, with General Tannatt as manager and agent for eleven years. He then resigned his position to give his attention to fruit-raising at Farmington, having eighty-one acres in trees. He continued to develop and improve that property until 1907, when he retired, hav- ing the year previously purchased a home in Spokane, and in 1909 he sold his land at Farmington.
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General Tannatt was the organizer and for four years the presi- dent of the East Washington Horticultural Society and for six years was regent at the Washington State Agricultural College. He owns considerable stock in the Trustee Company of Spokane and has at- tractive investments which return to him a good income.
At Manchester, Massachusetts, April 17, 1860, General Tannatt was married to Miss Elizabeth F. Tappan, a daughter of Colonel Eben and Sally Tappan. Their two children are: Eben T., an engineer by profession, who has an office in the Empire State build- ing; and Miriam, the wife of Dr. C. K. Merriam. General Tannatt and his family are prominent socially and are well known on the Pacific coast. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic and in 1886-7 was commander of the Loyal Legion of Oregon. He was for two consecutive years mayor of Walla Walla. He also holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of All Saints Cathedral. He is today one of the eight oldest living graduates of West Point. His has been indeed an eventful career, in which many exciting and interesting incidents and events have oc- cured. Since the war his efforts have been an important factor in the development and progress of the northwest, the value of his serv- ice being recognized by all who know aught of the history of this section of the country.
Har Barthi
Harry S. Martin, A. D.
I N A thorough preparatory course and later in post- graduate work, Dr. Harry S. Martin laid the foun- dation for the success and progress which he has at- tained as a practitioner of medicine and surgery. For fourteen years he has followed his profession in Spokane, at all times keeping in touch with the ad- vancement that is being made by those who are regarded as leaders in this field. He was born, April 30, 1856, in the city of Guelph, On- tario, his parents being Peter S. and Elizabeth (Hall) Martin, both of whom were natives of England. The father's birth occurred in Nottinghamshire, while the mother was a native of Berkshire. She was descended from one of the old families of central England but Peter S. Martin represented a family that came originally from Normandy with William the Conqueror, at which time the name was spelled Martyne. Peter Martin was a farmer and stockman and in the year 1851 crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel to Canada, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits and also took a somewhat active part in public affairs, serving as councilman and registrar of Wellington county. He died in 1888, while his wife passed away in 1893. The two brothers of Dr. Martin are: Frank M., M. D., who is a graduate of Toronto University and now resides at Dundalk, Ontario; and George Martin, who is managing a farm at Valleyford, Washington. He wedded Mary Gerrie, two of whose brothers married daughters of the Martin family. The three sisters of Dr. Martin are: Ada, the wife of James McKee, who is engaged in the real-estate business in Vancouver, British Columbia, their daughter, Mrs. Hindley, being now the wife of Spokane's mayor; Emma, the wife of the Rev. Andrew Gerrie, residing in Torrington, Connecticut; and Martha, the wife of Rev. John P. Gerrie, who is now editing a newspaper at Stratford, Ontario.
Dr. Martin devoted his youthful days largely to the acquirement of an education, attending the high school at Fergus and at Mount Forest, Ontario, and later the Ottawa Normal School. His medical education was obtained in Victoria University at Toronto, Ontario, where he won his professional degree. His first appointment was that
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Darry S. Martin, ftl. D.
of resident physician in the Toronto General Hospital and subse- quently he embarked upon an independent practice near Guelph, Ontario, where he remained for eleven years. He next went to Chicago, where he spent nine months in pursuing post-graduate work in the Northwestern and Rush Medical Colleges and in a post-grad- uate school of medicine on Dearborn street. In May, 1897, he ar- rived in Spokane and in July of the same year took the state board medical examination, after which he at once entered upon active practice, in which he has since continued. He is ever careful in the diagnosis of cases and his judgment is sound and reliable. His work has commanded the respect of his professional brethren, who appre- ciate his close conformity to a high standard of professional ethics and the ability which he displays in the administration of remedial agencies. He is now secretary of the staff of the Sacred Heart Hos- pital, which is the pride of Spokane, and has occupied the position for several years. He was also the first city bacteriologist of Spo- kane, instituting the movement for the establishment of the depart- ment and made a fine record as the incumbent thereof.
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