Ferguson, Lula D. – Obituary

Lulu D. ‘Lu’ Ferguson, 81, of Selah died Tuesday July 3, 1984 in St. Elizabeth Medical Center. She was born Nov. 12, 1902, in Surgoinsville, Tenn., but was raised and educated in Ellensburg. Mrs. Ferguson graduated from Ellensburg High School in 1921. She married Lester J. Ferguson in 1924 in Prosser. In 1932, the couple moved to Yakima, where Mrs. Ferguson worked as a bookkeeper for several years. In 1965, the family moved to Lynnwood, but returned to Yakima in 1978. Mrs. Ferguson was a past president of the Yakima and Edalyn business and Professional Women’s Clubs. She is survived … Read more

Wheeler, Abraham Lincoln – Obituary

Death came here yesterday [April 1, 1937] at noon to Abe Wheeler, seventy-three, whose 66 years of residence in the Kittitas Valley covered almost the entire period of white men’s settlements in this vicinity. The last of six children who came to the Kittitas with their pioneer parents in 1871, he died at the Ellensburg General Hospital after an illness of three weeks and following an operation performed on Tuesday. His death not only took another from the ranks of the valley’s pioneers, but separated that community’s oldest living married couple, as well. Surviving him is the widow, Mrs. Laura … Read more

Fix, Earl George – Obituary

Earl George Fix, 50, of 1417 So. 44th St., died Friday [March 25] en route to a local hospital. He was born in Steilacoom and had lived in Tacoma for 23 years. He was a carpenter and a member of Carpenters’ Union No. 470. In addition to his wife Alice R., he is survived by a daughter, Linda Jane; three sons, Leslie W., Randal R. and Dennis W., all of the home, and his mother, Mrs. Olive A. Fix, Sumner. Services will be held Monday at 1 p.m. in the C. C. Melinger memorial Funeral Church, Charles Summers officiating. Burial … Read more

Seattle, New Tacoma and Olympia, Washington

Map of the Railroads of Eastern Washington

Seattle, the metropolis of Washington, in 1880 had 7,000 inhabitants, and property valued at something over four millions. Its manufactures comprised three ship-yards, three foundries, two breweries, one tannery, three boiler-shops, six sash and door factories, five machine-shops, six sawmills, three brick yards, three fish packing factories, one fish cannery, one barrel factory, one ice factory, one soda water factory, besides boot and shoe shops, tin shops, and other minor industries. The commerce of Seattle with the coastline of settlements was considerable; but the chief export is coal from the mines cast of Lake Washington. There were few public buildings … Read more

Biography of David Lister

DAVID LISTER. – David Lister of Tacoma, Washington, belongs to that class of men who have done so much for the material prosperity of our country by being the first to go into new places and build up new industries. He was born in England in 1821, and came to New York in 1847. He worked for steamboat companies in that city until 1854, when he went to Philadelphia and connected himself with the Delaware Canal Company, where he remained ten years. He then went to Pestico, Wisconsin, a town located among the pineries on Green Bay. In that place … Read more

Biography of John Flett

JOHN FLETT. – Among the schemes of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in 1839 and 1840, to acquire occupancy and secure British title to the territory on the north side of the Columbia river, was an immigration to the Cowlitz and Nisqually Plains from the Selkirk settlement in the valley of the Red river of the North. It will be remembered that the Hudson’s Bay Company was present in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains by virtue of a license of trade from the British Crown, which precluded it from acquiring landed possessions. Its right was a mere tenancy for … Read more

Bork, Leonard – Obituary

Leonard Bork, 39, of 3571 East L St. died this morning in a local hospital after a week’s illness. Born in Flora, OR, Mr. Bork came to Tacoma 12 years ago. He was an operating engineer for the Lige Dickson Co. and a member of the Operating Engineers Local 612 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He served with the Army Engineer Corps in World War II. Mr. Bork is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; three sons, David, Terry and Dennis of the home; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Bork of Walla Walla; a sister, Mrs. Wanda Esposito of … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Brown

BENJAMIN BROWN. – Mr. Brown was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1831, and remained at his native place until 1857, receiving a common-school education. In this year he emigrated to American and settled in Michigan, remaining until March, 1858, when he came to California by way of New York and the Isthmus. From San Francisco he found his way to the Siskiyou mines, and operated until July of 1868, and thence came to the Frazer river mines. In the autumn of that year, he brought his journeyings to a close at Steilacoom, where he remained a year. Being favorably impressed … Read more

Gray, Nellie Frances – Obituary

Nellie Frances Gray, 91, formerly of Union County, died Tuesday, May 25, 1993, of natural causes in Spanaway, Wash. A funeral service will be held Wednesday at Unger Funeral Chapel in Silverton. Interment will follow in Belle Passi Mausoleum in Woodburn. Mrs. Gray was born Sept. 25, 1901, in Lenox County, Iowa, to George Washington and Alice Mae Wiley Lemon. The family moved to Lynden, Wash., when she was very young. Her father died there when she was six, and her mother moved the family to Union, where she received her education. She married Ernest Merrell Gray on May 28, … Read more

Karp, Sister Clare Inez – Obituary

Sister Clare Inez Karp, 88, a resident of St. Ann Convent at Tacoma, Wash., and a former longtime Baker City resident, died Aug. 12, 2007. Father Julian Cassar will offer a Memorial Mass at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center Chapel. A rosary will be said at 8:45 a.m. Sister Clare Inez had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 69 years. She was born in Baker City. Although she left Baker City for about 20 years, she returned to the community for ministry and was a Baker City … Read more

Bratton, Sophia R. – Obituary

Bratton Rites Set Saturday Funeral services for Sophia R. Bratton, 56, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in Ellensburg. Mrs. Bratton, a former Ellensburg resident, died Wednesday in Seattle. She was born January 16, 1909 in Tacoma and spent her childhood years in Ellensburg. She had lived in Seattle and Tacoma the past 43 years. She is survived by a son, Frank Frost of Chicago, Ill., a brother, W. R. Johnston, Tacoma; a sister, Mrs. Fred Lundstrom of Ellensburg; two half sister, Mrs. Margaret Hinkle of grand Coulee and Mrs. Dorothy Buroker, Renton; a granddaughter, Miss Deborah Frost, Seattle; and … Read more

Biography of Bedford L. Martin

BEDFORD L. MARTIN – In the features of Mr. Martin we see another of those who passed through the fire and hardships of our Civil war. Born in Arkansas in 1847, he was bereft of both parents at the age of four years, and was taken to Indiana and brought up by an uncle. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Company A, Tenth Indiana Cavalry, and served in the hard campaigns subsequent to 1863. At Hollow Gap he was in the charge where two hundred and fifty men were shot down from his regiment. At Nashville, he was … Read more

Briggs, Edwin J. – Obituary

Edwin J. Briggs passed away on October 2, 2001. He was born in Perry, Oregon on August 23, 1912, the son of Willie J. and Harriet Watson Briggs, both deceased now. He was raised in LaGrande, Oregon, and it was at college there that he met and married his first wife, Helen Teed. They were married 56 years. Helen died in 1990. Ed entered active military service in September, 1940 as a 2nd Lt. with Co. E., 186th Infantry Regiment, 41st Division. He served in New Guinea during the first Papuan Campaign. He then volunteered for service in Burma with … Read more

Biography of Hon. Dolphes Brice Hannah

HON. DOLPHES BRICE HANNAH. – This gentleman is the son of Brice and Celia Tade Hannah, and was born in Gallatin county, Illinois, October 11, 1822. His father, who was a substantial business man engaged in trade and forwarding, died in the spring of 1823, leaving a wife and two children, one boy and one girl. He left considerable estate, consisting of personal property. John McLaughlin and the widow were appointed to administer the estate; and, as usual, McLaughlin did the work, pocketed the entire proceeds of the estate, and then left for parts unknown. About two years after the … Read more