USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement, Volume II > Part 3
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Leander H. Prather's interest in the law and its interpretation was early aroused and with the completion of his literary course he at once directed his energies to the mastery of legal principles. He had been a pupil in the public schools of his home town and in the Vernon (Ind.) Academy, which he entered with the intention of further continuing his studies at Asbury University in Greencastle, Indiana. With the outbreak of the Civil war, however, all further thought of school days was put aside and on the eighteenth anniver- sary of his birth he enlisted as a private of Company I, Sixth Indiana Infantry. He was afterward promoted to the rank of first sergeant of Company B, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Indiana In- fantry, and subsequently became second lieutenant of Company I, One Hundred and Fortieth Indiana. He was next detailed as chief of ambulances of the Third Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps and when mustered out, July 11, 1865, was acting assistant quartermaster on the staff of General Carter.
When the war was over Judge Prather at once resumed his stud- ies, entering Asbury University, where he completed a three years'
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Don. Leander Damilton Prather
classical course. His preparation for the bar was made in the office of his brother, Colonel Allen W. Prather, of Columbus, Indiana, and in May, 1868, he was admitted to the bar at Columbus, where he engaged in practice for a year. He was afterward located for a brief period in Fort Scott, Kansas, and in 1871 opened a law office in Huntsville, Arkansas, where he followed his profession until 1879 and also acted as superintendent of schools for that district, which then embraced six counties. During a period of three years he re- sided in Abilene, Kansas, and then removed to Leadville, Colorado, where he spent the succeeding two years in the practice of law. In February, 1884, he came to Spokane and was superintendent of schools during the first two years of his identification with this city. He was also appointed during that period as a member of the terri- torial board of education by Governor Squires and acted in that capacity for two terms.
On again taking up the active practice of law Judge Prather soon demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with the complex and involved legal questions and enjoyed a large practice until his election to the bench as judge of the superior court, entering upon the office on the 1st of January, 1897. He was elected as the candi- date of the people's party, of which he has been an ardent and influen- tial champion for many years. In 1901, when a third judgeship was created, he was appointed by Governor John R. Rogers to fill that position until the regular election should be held and on this occasion he received the following letter from the Governor with the appoint- ment :
JANUARY 29, 1901.
Hon. L. H. Prather, Spokane, Washington.
MY DEAR JUDGE: It gives me pleasure to enclose to you the within appointment.
I am glad to be able to appoint a man in whom I have entire con- fidence.
Yours very truly, J. R. ROGERS, Governor.
JANUARY 29, 1901.
Hon. L. H. Prather, Spokane, Washington.
MY DEAR SIR: You are hereby appointed a Judge of the Supe- rior Court of the State of Washington, for Spokane County, until the next general election to be held in the State of Washington in the
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Don. Leander Damilton Prather
year nineteen hundred and two, and until your successor is elected and qualified.
This appointment is made under the provisions of an Act ap- proved January 28, 1901.
Enclosed please find oath of office which execute and file in the office of the Secretary of State.
Yours very truly, J. R. ROGERS, Governor.
He has great respect for the dignity of judicial place and power and no man ever presided in a court with higher regard for his envi- ronment than did Judge Prather. As a result of that personal char- acteristic the proceedings were always orderly upon the part of everyone-audience, bar and the officers from the highest to the lowest. His opinions were fine specimens of judicial thought, always clear, logical and as brief as the character of the case permitted. Since his retirement from the bench Judge Prather is giving his attention wholly to the practice of law and his varied legal learning and wide experience in the courts, together with the patient care with which he ascertains all the facts bearing upon every case, are among the salient features of his success, giving him high standing as a representative of the legal profession.
In August, 1889, Judge Prather took up the cause of about five hundred families, who had settled in a part of Spokane called "Shanty-town" and excerpts of the following letter, which he pre- pared for publication in the Chronicle and which on further thought, he omitted to send to that paper, will explain the facts and some- thing of which he undertook to do, to save the property of the five hundred or more families who had located on this land. This case is known as the "Shanty-town Case."
"The grant of land to the Northern Pacific Railway Company was of odd sections of land on both sides of its track, and was to take effect at the time of the final and definite location of the road, which was on the 4th day of October, 1880, so far as the said land was concerned. All lands then claimed by a competent entryman, which claim could ripen into a patent, were excluded from the opera- tion of said grant. On that date and for many years prior thereto, Indian Enoch was located on said land, being the NW one quarter of Section 19, Tp. 25, N. of Range 43, EWM, and during all said time was entitled to homestead, said land under the Indian Homestead law, which was enacted in 1875 and in 1879 went to the U. S. Land
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office at Colfax, Washington, to make his homestead entry of the same, but was refused the right because the land officers there said that said land was railroad land. He then came back and continued to reside on said land and refused to leave it until the said railroad company, in 1882, pretended to buy his land for the sum of $2,000, when Indian Enoch gave the company a deed for the land and moved off and abandoned. It will be seen that said Indian was living on said land on the 4th day of October, 1880, claiming it as his home- stead, having a homestead right, the same as any other squatter on government land having a right to enter the same; and it also ap- pears and is made plain that his said occupancy and claim of said land excluded it from the operation of said grant, and that when the Indian abandoned it, it was still government land, and remained such, the railroad company having no more right to buy it of the Indian than you or I would have to buy government land from an Indian. In fact, the pretended purchase of said land from said Indian by said company was a confession that it was not railroad land.
"Knowing these facts many families moved onto said land, be- lieving it to be government land, subject to entry by them under the Townsite act. In August, 1889, there were about three or four hun- dred families, or about fifteen hundred people settled on said land, claiming the same under said act, and I was employed as their attor- ney to petition the Secretary of the Interior to be allowed to enter said land under said act, which allowed two lots to each competent entryman, and I then so petitioned the Secretary, setting up all of said facts, and asked that these people be allowed to enter said land under said act. The petition was before the Secretary, due service thereof having been made on said company, until March, 1890, when the Secretary held and so notified the said company and the said settlers, that according to the facts stated in said petition the said settlers were entitled to enter said land under said act, and ordered a hearing as to said facts before the local land office in Spokane at a time to be fixed by said office. This decision made all said settlers happy, and they thought that they were about to become benefici- aries of the government's liberal benevolent disposition of its lands as well as the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Their wives and children were glad, and I was glad, too. We all had a great meeting congratulating each other on the good fortune in store for them.
"But the railway company moved the Secretary of the Interior for a review of his decision and the hearing was set for the 20th day
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Đon. Leander Damilton Prather
of April, 1890, before the Honorable Secretary of the Interior at Washington, D. C. It became my duty to go to Washington to argue said motion for review, and the settlers raised the sum of $200 to pay my expenses on said trip. I went. When I appeared before the Secretary on said occasion, there I met our two United States Senators, Watson C. Squires and John B. Allen, and our member of Congress, John L. Wilson, and a committee of five bankers from the city of Spokane, all of whom were advising with and assisting J. H. Mitchell, Jr., son of Senator Mitchell of Oregon, who was then attorney for the western division of said road and James Mc- Naught, the attorney general of said road. I was depending on the law of the case, which only could rightly and legally be argued on a motion for review, but there I found ex parte affidavits from divers persons to me unknown to the effect that the Indian had never aban- doned his tribal relations, which was a question of fact, not to be heard on a motion for review, but before the local land office only, the same as any other question of fact alleged in the petition. I was confident in believing that, in as much as the facts alleged in the peti- tion with no other influence had induced the original decision. There was no additional argument in the presence of the senators, the rep- resentative and the bankers, and I came back to those settlers with that belief. Within a month after said hearing the Honorable Sec- retary of the Interior, Mr. John N. Noble, rendered his decision to the effect that Indian Enoch had not at any time abandoned his tribal relations and hence was not a competent entryman, and there- fore the land passed by the grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and the settlers were moved off under the state restitution act which was passed by the legislature of the state in March, 1890. "This case is entitled 'E. R. Spicer and others vs. The Northern Pacific Railway Company,' and the papers and all the public pro- ceedings in it are on file in the office of the Secretary of the Interior. "Now, I have told all I know about the case, and I know for myself that it received my best attention, and that I did everything I possibly could do to get for said settlers the right to enter said land; and that I did nothing to the contrary. Contemporaneous dis- cussions of the case may be found in the daily papers of the dates referred to. The land in question lies south of Sprague avenue and west of Division street in the city of Spokane.
"Respectfully,
"L. H. PRATHER."
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Don. Leander Hamilton Prather
On the 6th of May, 1879, at Little Rock, Arkansas, Judge Pra- ther was married to Miss Edna Letcher Rice, a daughter of Judge Milton L. and Catherine (Cronly) Rice, of that city, and a direct descendant of the famous Letcher family of Virginia and Kentucky, which included Robert Letcher, at one time governor of Kentucky and afterward minister to Mexico. Judge and Mrs. Prather have become parents of three daughters and two sons: Rose, now the wife of Adrian P. Judson, of Tacoma, Washington; Edna, the wife of H. C. Strahorn, of Hayden Lake, Idaho; Mary, who is a teacher in the public schools of Spokane; Lee, who has charge of the office of the Federal Mining Company at Wallace, Idaho; and Rice, who died in January, 1911, at the age of nineteen years.
Judge Prather is a member of Sedgwick post, G. A. R., of which he served as commander, and through this connection he maintains pleasant associations with his old army comrades. He also belongs to Imperial Lodge, No. 134, I. O. O. F., and he holds membership in the First Methodist church and the Spokane Pioneer Society. His activities have had their root in high and honorable principles. He has been identified with this city since the days of its villagehood and has done important service in his support of progressive educational methods and in upholding the legal and moral status.
Bob Matry
Bob Alabry
M INING and the lumber industry constituted for many years the chief sources of revenue for the northwest and the rich mineral resources of this section of the country still offer splendid inducements to the men whose judgment is keen enough and whose in- dustry is persistent enough to seek success in that field. Bob Mabry is well known in this connection as the head of the firm of Bob Mabry & Company, operating in various mining districts. He was born in Jefferson, Texas, August 7, 1867, and is a son of H. P. and S. A. (Haywood) Mabry, of that place. The father was a distinguished lawyer of Texas, one whose record was a credit and honor to the bar of the Lone Star state. He was born in Georgia in 1824. The progenitors of the Mabry family in the United States came from England about 1700, first settling in Georgia and Virginia. During the war of the Revolution many of the family took active part on the side of freedom. H. P. Mabry removed from Georgia to Texas when young. During the Civil war he enlisted as captain and was afterward commissioned brevet briga- dier general of the Third Cavalry of Texas, where he served with distinction in the Confederate army throughout the war. He after- ward served as district judge of Texas and was a member of the legislature and also of the state senate. He died in March, 1884. General Mabry was married in Jefferson, Texas, to Miss S. A. Haywood, who was a direct descendant of the Haywoods of Ten- nessee. Mrs. Mabry was born in that state in 1838 and went to Jef- . ferson, Texas, when young. She is now living in Spokane with her son, Bob Mabry. Seven children were born of this union but only two are now living. H. Mabry is associated with his brother Bob in the mining business. Another brother, W. H. Mabry, now deceased, was at one time adjutant general of Texas. He was also colonel of the First Texas Regiment during the Spanish-American war and died in Havana, Cuba, during the war with Spain.
Bob Mabry supplemented his early education by a course in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas, from which he was graduated in 1889. Soon after the completion of his studies he accepted a position as traveling representative for a large
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Bob Mabry
chemical house, with which he remained for a number of years, traveling all over the United States in the interest of that business. His extensive travels brought him knowledge of various parts of the country and, believing that the northwest had the most promising future, he determined to locate permanently on the Pacific coast. Accordingly, leaving the road, he spent a short time in California and then came to Spokane in 1902. Here he engaged in the mining and promoting business and among some of the best known and most successful properties which he has handled are those located in the Republic Camp of Republic, Washington, the Slogan country of British Columbia and Eureka Camp, Nevada. Judicious and prudent investment has been the source of his advancement in busi- ness, winning for him a prominent position in industrial and finan- cial circles. During Mr. Mabry's experience in mining proposi- tions and business, he has found that the majority of mine failures have not been due to lack of paying ore but to insufficient capital and poor management, and he has demonstrated that mining can be conducted on a legitimate business basis and be made to return ex- cellent results. By his system of first securing capital and never over-estimating the value of a property he has been successful from the start. However, the first year was a hard struggle, but he gained confidence of the men with whom he became associated in the many mining projects which he promoted without a failure, and all such mines have paid satisfactory dividends to the investors.
On the 21st of May, 1898, Mr. Mabry was married to Miss Katherine Hope, a daughter of Colonel W. B. and Katherine Hope, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father held a commission as colonel in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Mabry have one daughter, Hope Mabry. The mother is a prominent member of the Cultus Club and Mr. Mabry is equally well known and popular in the Spokane Club, the Spokane Amateur Athletic, the Spokane Country, the Inland and the Rotary Clubs. He also belongs to the Oriental Lodge, No. 74, F. & A. M., having attained the thirty-second degree, and El Katif Temple of the Mystic Shrine and to Spokane Lodge, No. 228, B. P. O. E. He is a man of marked personality and has the genial qualities which make him a favorite with all. He is ever approachable yet possesses that meas- ure of dignity which prevents familiarity. Business has never held out to him elusive promises, for his sound judgment leads him to place correct valuation upon opportunities for investment and his powers of organization have enabled him to so coordinate and direct interests as to bring forth a harmonious whole, productive of desired results.
· His. Margaret Haterheller
S. L. P. Waterhouse
Leonard P. dalaterhouse, M. D.
N THE list of Spokane's physicians there probably O appears the name of no other who has been so long an active representative of the medical profession in this state as Dr. Leonard P. Waterhouse, a pioneer of 1877. He was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1832, and after passing his first decade in that city accompanied his parents to Indiana, where he remained for more than a third of a century or until 1876. He supplemented his public school education by study in the La Grange Collegiate Institute, from which he was graduated when seventeen years of age. Subsequently he studied medicine for two years and then pursued a course in the University of Michigan. After teaching school for a time with a view to securing money with which to complete his medical educa- tion, he went to Cincinnati and there won his professional de- gree in 1855. He located for practice in Indiana, where he remained for a number of years, and then crossed the plains to the northwest with Oregon as his destination. For nearly three years he engaged in practice in that state and in 1877 arrived in Spokane, then a small village containing less than two hundred in- habitants. He subsequently took up land on Deep creek near the falls and in 1884 removed to Deep Creek Falls, where he not only en- gaged actively in practice but also conducted a drug store. About 1906 he became a resident of Reardan but after a brief period estab- lished his home in Spokane, where he has since been located. He is one of the earliest of the pioneer physicians in this county and one of its best known and most highly esteemed citizens. Throughout all the years he has kept in close touch with the scientific truths which medical research and investigation are bringing to light and he aided in organizing the first medical society in the county.
In Michigan in 1855 Dr. Waterhouse was united in marriage to Miss Margaret John and unto them were born a daughter and two sons: Amarilla, who was for three terms teacher of Spokane's first school and is now the wife of L. K. Boissonnault, customs collector at Everett, Washington; Frank Leslie, deceased; and Charles Leonard.
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Leonard P. MWaterhouse, M. D.
In his fraternal relations Dr. Waterhouse is connected with both the Masons and the Odd Fellows. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party and he was the first coroner ever elected in the county, his faithful service being indicated by the fact that he was reelected for a second term. He belongs to that class of representative men who brought to the west the learning and culture of the older east and intelligently met the conditions that were here found, utilizing them to the best advantage not only in the attainment of individual success but also in the upbuilding of the great western empire, which within the space of a few years was placed upon a par with the east.
Suncan JMs Filliway
Duncan J. Mac Gillibray
HE term a "self-made" man is perhaps trite but is also T expressive and in its best sense it finds exemplifica- tion in the life of Duncan J. MacGillivray, who, starting out in life with only the asset of a common- school education, has won for himself a creditable name and place in business circles, now operating largely in real estate in the northwest with offices in Spokane. He was born in Ontario, Canada, February 5, 1866, and is a son of Dun- can A. and Mary (MacLellan) MacGillivray. The father was born in Canada, representing an old Scotch family, whose genealogy is traced back to 1251. They were one of the leading clans of Scotland and won fame on the battlefield of Culloden. In many other con- nections the name figures prominently as representatives of the fam- ily took active part in defending the interests of the country or in upholding the name and honor of the clan. Duncan A. MacGilli- vray became a pioneer farmer and lumberman of Canada, being ac- tively connected with the lumber business on the Ottawa river for a number of years. He also held different offices and positions of pub- lic trust in Canada. He died in 1902. His wife, who was born in Ontario, died in 1892. She represented one of the early families of Canada of Scotch lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan A. MacGillivray were parents of four sons and three daughters. Andrew, residing at Ottawa, Canada. Dan, who is engaged in the lumber business in Wisconsin. Duncan J., and Kenneth who was drowned in the Ot- tawa river in 1888. The daughters, Christy Ann and Mary died in childhood. Adeline, now Mrs. MacIntyre, resides in Montreal, Canada.
Mr. MacGillivray's connection with the northwest dates from the fall of 1897, when he arrived in Lewiston, Idaho. The following year he embarked in business there as a dealer in furniture and house furnishings. He began with a small store and stock, but such was his energy and capable management that when he sold out in 1909 he was the foremost representative of this line of trade in that state. He had improved and enlarged his establishment until it was the best furniture store in Idaho and his success was known throughout the northwest. While he won success in his commercial undertaking he
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Duncan 3. MacGillibray
also found time and opportunity to cooperate in movements for the general good, taking an active part in the upbuilding of the com- munity, serving for eight years as a director of the Chamber of Com- merce and as its president during the last year of his residence there. He also served as a director of the fair association for six years and then as president for one year, taking part in all of the projects for its development, giving largely of his time, energy and money in promoting the interests of the community.
In the spring of 1910 Mr. MacGillivray came to Spokane, where he has since engaged in the real-estate business, buying and selling property for himself and others. He is connected and represents, in the northwest, several of the largest Canadian companies, who are promoting and developing the unlimited resources of western Can- ada, especially British Columbia. He believes and is enthusiastic about the future of the Inland Empire and since coming to this city, has invested heavily in Spokane real estate. He is thoroughly ac- quainted with real-estate values in the northwest and the outlook of the real-estate market, and the spirit of progressiveness which he brings to his business is contributing not only to his individual suc- cess but also to the development of this section of the country.
On the 26th of December, 1900, at Spokane, Mr. MacGillivray was married to Miss Schaeffer, who was a daughter of an Iowa mer- chant, now deceased, and is a descendant of Captain Wadsworth's family. They have become parents of three children, Marion, Dun- can John, Jr., and John Duncan, the eldest being nine years of age. The family attend the Presbyterian church and Mr. MacGillivray is identified with various fraternal organizations, being now a chapter Mason (his membership in lodge and chapter being in Wisconsin), and a Knight Templar of Lewiston Commandery. He is also con- nected with the Elks lodge and belongs likewise to the Woodmen of the World. In politics he is connected with the progressive wing of the Republican party but has declined all political advancement, pre- ferring that his public service shall be done as a private citizen and in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce. He stands today a strong man-strong in his honor and his good name, strong in his ability to plan and perform, and is regarded as one of the influential residents of Spokane.
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