Colfax Washington

Biography of John Pattison

JOHN PATTISON. – The subject of this sketch was born in Albany, New York, in 1859, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Pattison. His father was a Union soldier during the war of the Rebellion. He lived at home until he was fourteen years old, being educated in the city public schools. In 1873 he went to Silverton, Colorado, and engaged in mining for six years with varying though reasonable success. he went from there through Arizona and New Mexico, looking for a better mining location, and spending about two years in that country, making money, but at … Read more

Lee, Bertha Pearl Armfield – Obituary

Mrs. Bertha Pearl Lee, 58, wife of Harvey Lee, for more than 50 years a resident of the Diamond and Colfax communities, died at 12:45 a.m. Thursday [October 26, 1939] at her home, N210 Mill Street, following an illness of 19 months. Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Baptist Church here, the Rev. Mrs. E. M. Leisher and the Rev. E. C. Newham officiating. Members of the Pythias Sisters Lodge will attend in a body. Burial will be in Colfax Cemetery. Mrs. Lee was born to Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Armfield at Winston, N.C., … Read more

Hart, Charles Leroy – Obituary

Charles L. Hart, 77, of 6810 South J St., a former McChord Air Force Base employee, died Friday [February 29, 1980]. Born in Colfax, Mr. Hart had resided in Tacoma since 1932. He had been a boiler plant operator at McChord and had been employed at Weyerhaeuser Co. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Steve (Michelle) Hull of Gig Harbor; two sons, Duane L. of Grey Eagle, Calif., and James A. of Bend, Ore., a brother, Ira of Santa Rosa, Calif.; five grandsons and five granddaughters. Mountain View Funeral Home is in charge. Tacoma News Tribune, March 1, 1980 Contributed by: … Read more

Lee, Maxine Campbell – Obituary

The funeral service for Maxine C. Lee, Colfax resident, will be Friday, Aug. 6, at 4 p.m. in the Chapel of the Bruning Funeral Home with the Reverends James E. Doak and Charles Lyman officiating. Burial will follow at the Colfax Cemetery. Mrs. Lee died Aug. 2, 1993 at the Whitman Convalescent Center. She was 72. Born May 9, 1921 at Troy, Ida. to Harry and Fern Campbell, she graduated from Troy High School in 1939 and attended the University of Idaho. She married Robert (Bob) Lee at Moscow Jan. 25, 1942, and they lived in Colfax most of their … Read more

Hart, Charles Henry – Obituary

Charles H. Hart, 76, veteran Spokane apartment house owner, died at a hospital here [August 24, 1950] yesterday. He was a farmer in the Thornton area at the turn of the century. He later moved to Colfax for a short time and came to Spokane in 1925. He lived in the Hart Apartments, W1621 Sixth. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Colfax. Mr. Hart is survived by his wife, Ada, at the home; four sons, Ralph, Thornton; Ray, Gig Harbor; Roy, Tacoma, and Ira Hart, Atlanta, Ga., and a brother, Oce Pointer, Spokane. The body is at … Read more

Lee, Nancy Ann Pointer – Obituary

Lee–In Stockton, September 7, 1932, Mrs. Nancy Ann Lee, widow of the late Jay Right Lee, mother of Sarah Anna Thomas of Walla Walla, Wash., Rosalie Shinkosky of Stockton, Ethel Delano of Hooper, Wash., Addie Thomas of Bremerton, Wash., Goldie Nickerson of Stockton, Jessie Day of Sacramento, Manuel Lee of Colfax, Wash., Clarence Lee of Fairfield, Wash., Jay Right Lee, Stockton; sister of William Pointer of Los Angeles, Sarah James of Dayton, Wash., Ossie Pointer of Spokane, Wash.; a native of Walla Walla, Wash., aged 65 years, 8 months, and 29 days. Friends are invited to attend the funeral services … Read more

Palmer, Katie Lee – Obituary

Katie Lee Palmer, 85, Corvallis, passed away Wednesday, November 13, 1968, at a local nursing home. Private services will be held on Friday at 10:00 a.m. with Rev. Fred Knickrehm officiating at the DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home. Interment will be in the Colfax Cemetery at Colfax, Washington. Those wishing may make memorial contributions in memory of Mrs. Palmer to the Oregon 4-H Club Foundation for the 4-H center. These may be sent to the DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home. Contributed by: Shelli Steedman

Biography of David Marsh

DAVID MARSH. – This excellent gentleman and popular public officer, whose untimely death of recent occurrence was widely noted in the papers of this coast, exemplified in a large measure the frank and amiable qualities which make life happy; and to these he added the rugged force of character and keen intellect which served to make a community prosperous. He was born in East Tennessee in 1844. When a child of two or three years, his parents removed to Iowa, in which state his aged mother now resides. In 1862 Mr. Marsh, having reached the age of eighteen years, joined … Read more

Biography of W. H. Mastin

W.H. MASTIN. – As a lien upon the gratitude of his fellow-men, one writes a book, another opens a mine, a third builds a house. Each one may do the work for himself, but nevertheless, in recognition of the wants and needs of others, suiting his operations to their tastes and necessities, and finding his chief satisfaction, not so much in the profit that he reaps from his industry, as from the position which he fills in the world of business and society, making himself, his skill and his work, a necessary part of the great whole. It is in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. M. Kinnear

E.M. KINNEAR. – The mercantile house of Mr. Kinnear is one of the largest and most patronized in this part of the territory. Its owner and founder is a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1856. He came to Washington Territory in 1871 and located on the Touchet, engaging in merchandising. From 1878 to 1880 he was in business at Colfax, but removed in the latter year to Sprague for his permanent home. There he has bought quite a property, conducts a large business and is one of its most prominent citizens. He has served as city councilman … Read more

Lee, Harvey – Obituary

Funeral services for Harvey Lee, 75, who died Aug. 30 [1954] at the E. W. Johnson farm home, were held Wednesday at 3:30 p.,. in the Bruning Funeral Home Chapel. Burial was in the Colfax Cemetery. Mr. Lee had lived in the Colfax-Diamond vicinity all his life, and served on the police force and as court bailiff. He was a retired farmer. Surviving are his widow, Gertrude, at Colfax; a son, Burton Lee, Colfax; two daughters, Mrs. Ralph Rose, Pullman and Mrs. Dillard Anderson, San Bernardino, Calif.; a brother, Louis Lee, Colfax.; a brother, Louis Lee, Colfax; and two sisters, … Read more

Raymond, Ida Lee – Obituary

Mrs. Ida Raymond aged 49 of Kalotus who died in Colfax, Friday September 14 [1923], was buried Saturday afternoon at Colfax. Services were held at the Baptist Church at 2:30. Rev. W. P. Osgoo officiating. Mrs. Raymond was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Lee, Colfax pioneers. She is survived by her husband, Ernest Raymond, her parents, three children, two brothers, and sisters, Mrs. Katie Palmer, Walla Walla, Mrs. Ollie Schuldt, The Dalles Ore., and Harvey and Louis Lee, Diamond. Contributed by: Shelli Steedman

Pointer, William Mack – Obituary

William M. Pointer, 68, of 3552 SE 65th Avenue, died at his home Thursday following a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held Friday at 8 PM in the Bruning & Lundberg Chapel, 1521 SW Salmon Street. The body will be forwarded to Colfax, Wash., where the Elks Lodge will conduct burial services Sunday. Mr. Pointer was born in Walla Walla, Wash. He came to Oregon from Colfax in 1914 and worked for sometime as a highway engineer, having been associated with the construction of Columbia River Highway. Surviving relatives include his widow, Calanthe; a son, Robert W. Pointer, 7707 … Read more

Biography of Anderson Cox

ANDERSON COX. – There has never lived a man in the Northwest more worthy of commemoration than that pioneer of 1845, Anderson Cox. He was born near Dayton, Ohio, in 1812, of Quaker parentage, and moved with the family to Indiana in 1830, and claimed a share in the home formed on the Wabash river at Attica. He was married in 1836 to Miss Julia Walter, and in 1840 removed to New London, Iowa. In 1845, with his wife and four children, he made the journey to Oregon, and was in the company of immigrants who endured the privations and … Read more

Curtis, Albert L. – Obituary

Funeral services were held last week at Colfax for Albert LeRoy Curtis, 65, of Thornton, Wn., son of Lyman and Martha Curtis, pioneers of Ellensburg, and a nephew of the late Mrs. Rose Carver and James Curtis. Burial was at St. John. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Catherine Curtis; four daughters, Mrs. Grace Gibb of Spokane, Mrs. G. W. Bateman of Boise, Mrs. Alice Keith of Moscow and June Curtis of Spokane; three sons, Mark and Lynn of St. John, and James of Thornton; a brother, B. A. Curtis of Steptoe; and five sisters, Mrs. Inis Good of … Read more

Biography of Wylie A. Lauder

Among those who have been distinctly conspicuous in connection with the substantial up-building and legitimate progress of the attractive little city of Moscow, the county-seat of Latah county, very definite recognition must be given to him whose name initiates this paragraph. It was his fortune to be on the ground when the town practically had its inception, and with every advance movement he has been prominently identified, being recognized as one of the leading and most enterprising business men of the place and as one who has contributed liberally and with enthusiasm to every cause which has had as its … Read more

Biography of Rev. Cushing Eels, D. D.

REV. CUSHING EELS, D.D. – Dr. Eells was born at Blandford, Massachusetts, February 16, 1810, and was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Warner) Eells. He was descended from Samuel Eells, who was a major in Cromwell’s army, and who came to America in 1661. Cushing Eells was brought up at Blandford, became a Christian when fifteen years old, prepared for college at Monson Academy, Massachusetts, entered Williams College in 1830, and graduated four years later. The distance from his home to college was forty-five miles. Twice he rode the entire distance, – when he entered and after he graduated, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Baker

THOMAS BAKER. – Mr. Baker was born in Bullitt county, Kentucky, in 1832, being the son of George C. and Elizabeth Miller Baker. When he was eighteen months old his parents moved to Hancock county, Illinois. He remained in that country until the spring of 1852, being employed on his father’s farm. In the spring of this year, he started with his older brother across the plains to California, and arrived in the Golden State in August, 1852. For ten years he was actively engaged in mining, and was among the number who made the stampede to the Florence mines … Read more

Biography of Sidney S. Benton

SIDNEY S. BENTON. – This pioneer of Illinois, California and Washington is one of those facile, multiplex characters that give to our Western life its buoyancy. He was born in the first-named State in 1838, while Chicago was yet in her swamps, and his father was at that city in 1831, when it was a mere Indian trading post, and also at Galena, the home of the Grants, in 1832. His father came out to California with ox-teams amid Indians, and over the usual sage-brush plains, and the iron-stone rocks in 1849. He mined on Feather river in Yuba county, … Read more

Biography of Hon. J. A. Perkins

HON. J.A. PERKINS. – It is a pleasure to see that this widely known and universally respected citizen of Colfax, Washington, the father of the place, is an Oregon man, having crossed the plains to his Western home in Benton county when but eleven years of age. He thus received his education and the impetus of his life on this coast, although he was born in Illinois. In 1861 he came to Walla Walla county, and in 1870 to the Palouse, taking up a claim upon unsurveyed land at the site of Colfax; for the whole region was yet a … Read more