Skagit County WA

Biographical Sketch of Michael McNamara

MICHAEL McNAMARA. – This prominent resident of Skagit county was born in Woodstock, Canada, in 1848. His early years, however, were spent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at Chicago, where he completed his growth and education at Chatham, Canada. In 1865 he came overland to California, and the next year reached Puget Sound, finding employment ten years in the logging camps. In 1876 he was able to set up a business of his own, keeping a hotel at Stanwood, and three years later building his present commodious hotel, the Ruby House, which is first class in every respect. His own residence … Read more

Biography of Hon. John McGlynn

HON. JOHN McGLYNN. – This influential resident and proprietor of the well-known hotel that bears his name in La Conner, Washington, and whose portrait appears in this history, is a man fitted by nature with qualities that insure success, and which are held in especial esteem among men. With manners suave, a disposition to accommodate, and generous promptings towards his fellows, he greets the stranger, the customer of the friend in a manner indicating the kindness of his own feelings, and which seldom fails to leave with the recipient a desire to do a favor. This is a happy faculty … Read more

Biography of William Munks

WILLIAM MUNKS. – Mr. Munks, an excellent portrait of whom is placed in this history, is a veteran of several wars, as well as a pioneer, trapper and scout in the early days of the Pacific coast. He is to-day one of the most widely known men on Puget Sound, being often called “king of the Fidalgo Island” as he was the first white man to locate on its shores. It was then a part of Whatcom County, Washington Territory, but is now included in the boundary of Skagit. Mr. Munk was the first white man that lived within the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward K. Matlock

EDWARD K. MATLOCK. – This young gentleman, a leading druggist of Mount Vernon, Washington, was born in Ohio in 1858. His father was a Methodist minister. The son traveled with him extensively; but at the age of eighteen, beginning to do for himself, he went South and found employment at a sugar refinery at Bellevue, Louisiana, and there, and at another sugar town, spent four years. The Southern climate, however, becoming disagreeable, he determined to try the famous atmosphere of Washington Territory. Coming as far as San Francisco on his way, he stopped at the metropolis of our coast a … Read more

Biography of James O’Laughlin

JAMES O’LOUGHLIN. – This gentleman, whose portrait adorns the opposite page, is one of the representative men of Skagit County, Washington. He is a native of Ireland, thus making Skagit, as every county in the United States indebted to the emerald Isle. County Clare was the region of his birth; and the time was April 9, 1844. Before he was three years old, his parents crossed the ocean to this land of liberty, bringing their nine children with the. They located at Lyons, New York, but in 1856 went to Lapeer, Michigan. There the boy James learned the tinsmith’s trade. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Patrick Halloran

PATRICK HALLORAN. – The map makers are kept busy by the geographical changes of the Pacific Northwest; and the general public is often far behind the times in learning of the new towns springing up everywhere. The corner postoffice becomes a city; and the old farmhouse suddenly becomes a small town with store, and hotel. The water front of Puget Sound begets a new village almost every day. One of these places is Edison; and one of the principal men in the place is Mr. Halloran. He came as a logger in 1876 to the Sound, but in 1879 took … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Myron W. Packard

MYRON W. PACKARD. – This leading citizen of the lower Sound was born in Madrid, St. Lawrence County, New York, in 1830. At the age of twenty-three he left his native place, where he was in the mercantile business, coming as far west as Illinois, and in the same year journeyed on to River Falls, Wisconsin. That was his home for seventeen years, three of which were spent in the Union army, from which he was mustered out as a quartermaster-sergeant. In 1870 he came to Washington Territory, bringing his wife and family of five children, and located on White … Read more

Biography of Hon. Harrison Clothier

HON. HARRISON CLOTHIER. – The subject of this short sketch was born in Corinth, Saratoga county, New York, on the 9th of July, 1840, and is the son of Ebenezer K. and Lucy Clothier. He remained in the place of his birth until 1868, with the exception of three years spent in New Jersey and in Troy, New York. Then he put into execution the advice of Horace Greeley, and emigrated to Wisconsin. After a short time there he journeyed on to Minnesota, where he devoted his time to farming in the summer and teaching in the winter. In 1872 … Read more

Biography of Hon. Orvin Kincaid

HON. ORVIN KINCAID. – Mr. Kincaid’s life has embodied very much of the rough romance of an untamed and mining country, and in its entirety would read like a tail of Arabia. He is a native of the granite state, having been born in Grafton, New Hampshire, in 1821. His father, a man of powerful physique, a blacksmith of Scotch-Irish parentage, gave him a training both at school and at the forge, and took the boy with him on his removals to Massachusetts and Vermont. Upon reaching his majority young Kincaid spent eighteen months in Ohio and the old West, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Fred D. Cleaves

FRED D. CLEAVES. – Although among the young men, Mr. Cleaves has for a number of years held responsible public positions. He was born in Stockbridge, Wisconsin, in 1852, residing in that village and at Fond du Lac until ten years of age, and coming in 1864 to this coast with his father’s family. Here is one of the few cases in which we find one of the early settlers returning to the East. After a year’s residence at Whidby Island, and two years at Albany, Oregon, the elder Cleaves recrossed the plains to his old home in Wisconsin. The … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George E. Hartson

GEORGE E. HARTSON. – The subject of this sketch, editor and proprietor of the Skagit News, was born in Troy, New York, in 1855. While but an infant his parents made a new home in Wisconsin, and nine years later in Iowa. In 1869 they came to California, but almost immediately continued their travels up the coast, coming to a final halt at Coupville, Washington Territory. Young Hartson accompanied them, and at this place made such good use of the public school as to be able at the age of seventeen to engage as teacher; but in 1872 he made … 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

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Horace P. Downs

DR. HORACE P. DOWNS. – Doctor Downs is one of those highly educated gentlemen who have deliberately chosen a new country in which to exercise abilities that are ever in demand in the older communities. He was born in Freedom, New Hampshire, in 1840. The family made a number of removals. It was at great Falls that he received his first comprehensive instructions; and at Exeter he pursued his academic course, and graduated from the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1865. Entering at once upon the practice of his profession, he chose a location at Tamworth, New Hampshire, and … Read more

Biography of John O. Rudene

JOHN O. RUDENE. – This owner of a very productive farm two miles from La Conner, Washington, on the Swinomish flat, whose name appears above, is a native of Sweden, having been born there in 1850. At the age of twenty-three he came to America, locating in Iowa, until his removal across the continent to the Pacific coast in 1876. He selected a farm near La Conner, buying one hundred and eighty-one acres, to which he has since added two hundred. This fine body of land he has reclaimed from its original wild growth, and has reduced to cultivation. The … Read more

Hovde, Judith Ann Robertson Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Judith Ann Hovde, 60, of Baker City, died Sept. 22, 2004, at her home. There will be a celebration of Judy’s life at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Calvary Baptist Church, 2107 Third St. Pastor Ed Niswender will officiate. Friends are invited to join the family for a time of sharing in the fellowship hall after the service. Judy was born on Feb. 20, 1944, at Mount Vernon, Wash., to Walter and Viola Andersen Robertson. She was a 1962 graduate of Eisenhower High School at Yakima, Wash. She went on to earn her nursing degree from Emmanuel Hospital … Read more

Skagit County, Washington Cemetery Records

Most of these are complete indices at the time of transcription, however, in some cases we list the listing when it is only a partial listing. Union Cemetery partial (hosted At Skagit County, Washington Tombstone Transcription Project)  

Biography of George B. Calhoun, M.D.

GEORGE B. CALHOUN,M.D. – There are but few men better known or more highly respected in the medical profession on Puget Sound than Doctor Calhoun, an excellent portrait of whom appears in this history. He is a native of New Brunswick, and was born October 19, 1837, his parents being John and Mary (Brewster) Calhoun. When he was but a small boy, he moved with his parents to the sunny South, locating in Maryland. His father, being a shipowner and seafaring man, was stricken, while on a voyage to the Bermudas, with yellow fever, from which he died. Our subject, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Jesse B. Ball

HON. JESSE B. BALL. – Twenty miles up the Skagit river, in the heart of one of the richest timber sections of Washington, is Sterling, a thriving young city, with high hopes for the future. The founder of the place is the man whose name appears at the head of this sketch. Mr. Ball is a pioneer of 1853, having crossed the plains in that year and stopped at Downieville, where he worked a short time for a company of miners, – his only work for anybody but himself on this coast. His career has had the restless activity and … Read more

Thomas, Thelma Gwendolyn Erdman Mrs. – Obituary

Thelma Gwendolyn Thomas, 92, of Baker City, died Feb. 1, 2005, at her home. Private family interment will be Friday at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Mount Vernon, Wash. She will be laid to rest next to her husband, Bus. Thelma Gwendolyn was born on Sept. 25, 1913, at St. Louis to Alexander and Clair Erdman. She was raised and educated at Denver. Thelma met and married Louis “Bus” Thomas in 1935. Shortly after that they moved to Los Angeles. They had one son, Ron. Thelma and Bus owned and operated a printing and calendar binding business. She was always known … Read more