Spokane Falls Washington

Biography of Edgar J. Webster

EDGAR J. WEBSTER. – Mr. Webster not only has a claim upon our interests as a citizen of Washington Territory, but also as a veteran of the war. Born in Michigan in 1847, he was of an age, at the commencement of hostilities, to enter the army, whither his father and three brothers had already gone. At the battle of Cold Harbor, he was shot through both legs, and after a year’s confinement in the hospital returned home and pursued the legal and special literary course at the State University. During the last year of his course, he was appointed … Read more

Biography of W. H. Taylor

W.H. TAYLOR. – The subject of this sketch was born in Michigan in the year 1851. He was a farmer boy of that new England stock which has enriched so many of our American commonwealths. His parents removed to Iowa, and afterwards to Kansas, while he was a mere lad. At the age of twenty he abandoned the life of a farmer boy for a place where his talents would have broader field of usefulness, and entered the office of the Commercial, the leading paper in his section, where he learned the trade of a printer. Before the expiration of … Read more

Biography of Paul F. Mohr

PAUL F. MOHR. – Perhaps to no man is Spokane Falls under so deep a debt of gratitude for the early completion of the diverging lines of railroad, tapping the richest parts of the surrounding territory, as she is to Mr. Paul F. Mohr. To this gentleman’s persistent efforts, coupled with a thorough knowledge of his undertaking, is directly attributable the completion, in the year 1886, of the Spokane & Palouse and the Spokane & Idaho Railways, both of which roads will exert a powerful influence on the future of the city. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 28, 1849, Mr. … Read more

Biography of Rev. Thomas G. Watson

REV. THOS. G. WATSON. – To the ministry more than to any other class of men does a community owe its moral progress; and with such development opportunity is given for progress in other directions. This is strikingly illustrated in the life of the minister whose name appears above. He was born in Geneva, New York, in 1836, and was educated in his native place, graduating in 1857 from Hobert College. He took his theological course at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and entered upon missionary work at Cayuga county, preaching eight years at Cato, Fair Haven and Victory, and assisting … Read more

Biography of Frank Johnson

FRANK JOHNSON. – The career of this well-known contractor is a clear case of the promotion of merit. He has acquired an enviable position in the business world from simple integrity and excellence of worth. He was born in Holland in 1844, and came with his widowed mother to New York in 1852. He went soon to Buffalo, and there began to learn the trade of a carpenter and joiner. The war breaking out, and an appeal being made to the patriotic young men of the city, he volunteered as a soldier and served gallantly until the close of the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. N. Gilbranson

J.N. GILBRANSON. – There is no European country to which the United States is more in debt than to the Scandinavian peninsula. From there we had Ericsson, whose invention of the Monitor is deemed by many to have turned the tide of war in 1862. From the country of Ericsson we have also many of our best citizens. One of these is Mr. Gilbranson, who was born at Christiana, Norway, in 1834, and came to Chicago in 1854. He resided in Missouri until the war broke out, being actively engaged in his business of contracting and building. Returning to Chicago, … Read more

Biography of Dr. John H. Kennedy

DR. JOHN H. KENNEDY. – Doctor Kennedy was born in Iowa in 1850. His father, John K. Kennedy, was born in Tennessee in 1811, and figured in the Mexican war as well as in local politics. In 1862 the parents crossed the plains to Union county, Oregon. They had given their children the advantages of a good early education. In 1865 his father’s house and personal effects were destroyed by fire; and the Doctor was obliged to assist his parents, as well as to care for himself. In 1871, having studied at Whitman Seminary and taken a course in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George F. Schorr

GEO. F. SCHORR. – The Northwest Tribune is the oldest newspaper in Eastern Washington north of the Snake river, having been established at Colfax in 1879. It has moved to Cheney in 1883, and to Spokane Falls in 1886. It gives its readers a full telegraphic summary of public events, and has a special department devoted to agriculture and stock-raising, thus making it of great value to the farming population, among whom it enjoys a large circulation. It avoids the stale old party cries and affiliations, giving the news, valuable information, and advocates right and justice without fear or favor. … Read more

Leading Citizens of Spokane Falls Washington

Among the leading citizens of Washington, in addition to those mentioned elsewhere in this volume, the following residents of Spokane Falls are worthy of note: J. N. Glover, a Missourian by birth, and, it may he said, the founder of the city, settling there, or rather on its site, in 1873, and purchasing from two squatters named Downing and Scranton the tract of land on which their shanties were then the only buildings. First as the owner of a saw-mill, next as a contractor, then as the leading organizer and president of the First National Bank, and finally as mayor … Read more

Biography of Chester D. Ide

CHESTER D. IDE. – This prominent citizen and real-estate dealer of Spokane Falls, Washington, was born in Vermont in 1830. His first home in the far West was in Wisconsin, where he lived thirty years, and came to the Pacific slope in a wagon, following the line of construction of the Union Pacific, and being four and one-half months on the way. At Dayton, Washington Territory, he found work at his trade as carpenter and builder, and the next season took up a claim at Mondovi, then a wilderness, now a flourishing village. He remained four years on his farm, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of H. W. Stratton

H. W. STRATTON, the subject of this sketch, after a number of years spent in business in Ohio, was ordained to the ministry in 1866 over the same church of which his father had been pastor nearly a quarter of a century. Soon afterwards he began preaching in Kansas, continuing five years, and in 1871 came to Oregon, ministering to the Presbyterian and Congregational churches united at Albany. Leaving that field at the instance of his presbytery, he served a church as synodical missionary for one year, among other things organizing the first Presbyterian churches east of the Cascade Mountains … Read more