History

Old Marblehead Sea Captains

shipfranklin1

This volume is intended to be a fairly accurate list of the Old Sea Captains of Marblehead, and the vessels in which they sailed, going to and from foreign ports. The information contained in this volume has been obtained by careful and persistent research from widely distributed sources viz: the Marblehead and Salem and Beverly Custom House Records, original books of the Marblehead Marine Insurance Company, covering five thousand policies running from 1800 to 1840, list of Marblehead Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War (compiled in 1912-13 by the author), old log books, old letter books, old newspapers, list of Privateersmen of 1812 made up by Capt. Glover Broughton in a memorial to the 34th, 35th and 36th Congresses asking for grants of land for services rendered, and from the descendants of the men mentioned.

Early Settlers of Washington State

Haro Archipelago Map

Of the three judicial districts into which Washington is divided, the first comprises the counties of Walla Walla, Whitman, Stevens, Spokane, Columbia, Yakima, Lincoln, Garfield, Kittitas, and Klikitat; the second, Skamania, Clarke, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Thurston, Lewis, Chehalis, and Mason; the third, Pierce, King, Snohomish, Whatcom, Island, San Juan, Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap. Walla Walla County, in 1880 had an area of 1,600 square miles, a population of 6,212, and taxable property to the amount of $2,971,560. New Tacoma N. P. Coast, Feb. 1, 1880. Whitman County was established by setting off the southern portion of Stevens, Nov. 21, 1871. … 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

Settlers in King County, Washington from Oregon

In the spring of 1853 there arrived from the Willamette, where they had wintered, David Phillips and F. Matthias from Pennsylvania, Dexter Horton and Hannah E., his wife, and Thomas Mercer, from Princetown, Illinois, S. W. Russell, T. S. Russell, Hillery Butler, E. M. Smithers, John Thomas, and H. A. Smith. They came by the way of the Cowlitz and Olympia, whence they were carried down the Sound on board the schooner Sarah Stone, which landed at Alki, where the six last mentioned remained for the summer, removing to Seattle in the autumn. J. R. Williamson, George Buckley, Charles Kennedy, … Read more

Other Resources and Industries of Washington

Of manufactures from native resources, flour is one of the most important. The first flouring mill in the territory was erected at Vancouver in 1830 by the H. B. Co., and was a set of ordinary millstones run by ox power. In 1832 a mill was erected seven miles above Vancouver, on Mill Creek, to run by waterpower. Whitman built a small flouring mill at Waiilatpu, which was in use about 1840. The first American colony on Puget Sound erected a rude gristmill at the falls of the Des Chutes, in the village of Tumwater, in 1846. This sufficed to … Read more

History of Railroads in Washington

From the day the people of Washington learned that congress had appropriated money for a survey terminating on Puget Sound, their constant expectation was fixed upon a transcontinental railway. The territorial charter of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was granted by the legislature Jan. 28, 1857, to 58 incorporators, the road to be commenced within three and completed within ten years after the passage of the act; the capital stock to be fifteen millions of dollars, which might be increased to double that amount. It does not appear that the company took any immediate steps to raise the necessary capital. … Read more

Historic Schools of Washington

A school was opened in Olympia, Nov. 22, 1852, by A. W. Moore, first teacher and postmaster on Puget Sound after its settlement by American colonists. Moore died in 1875, aged 55 years, having always labored for the best interests of society. The first schoolhouse, it is claimed, was on the Kindred farm, on Bush prairie, and was erected by the Kindred family and their neighbors. Phillips first taught in this place. During the winter of 1852-3 a tax was levied on the Olympia precinct, and money collected to erect a public schoolhouse, which was demolished by the heavy snow … Read more

Governor Stevens, Washington Legislature, Building a New State

Washington State Seal

Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the man who had been sent to organize the government of Washington, was one fitted by nature and education to impress himself upon the history of the country in a remarkable degree. He was born at Andover, Massachusetts, and educated in the military school of West Point, from which he graduated, in 1839, with the highest honors. He had charge for a few years of fortifications on the New England coast. He had been on the staff of General Scott in Mexico, and for four years previous to his appointment as governor of Washington had been an … Read more

Growth of Washington Territory, Constitution Ratified

From 1880 to 1888 the progress made in Washington was phenomenal, and was felt in every direction in commerce, manufacture, banks, corporations, schools, growth of towns, improved styles of building, construction of railroads, mining, agriculture, and society. New towns had sprung up among the firs and cedars, the Puget Sound country, and out of the treeless prairies almost in a night; and hitherto unimportant villages had become cities with corporate governments, grand hotels, churches, colleges, and opera-houses. The board of trade of Tacoma in 1886 declared that “the commercial independence of Washington territory accompanying the completion of the direct line … Read more

Farming in Washington

Map of Eastern Washington

The total amount of land surveyed in Washington down to June was 15,959,17 out of the 44,796,160 acres constituting the area of the state. For many years the fortunate combination of soil and climate in eastern Washington, whereby all the cereals can be produced in the greatest abundance and of the highest excellence, was not understood. The first settlers in the Walla Walla Valley went there to raise cattle on the nutritious bunch grass, which gave their stock so round an appearance with such glossy hides and gold crusade carried thither merchants and settlers of another sort, arid it war … Read more