Washington

Biographical Sketch of John H. Shields

JOHN H. SHIELDS. – The reader of this sketch can find elsewhere within these pages an excellent view of the mill and lumber yard of the gentleman named above, and upon glancing at its proportions will not dispute the assertion that Mr. Shields stands well to the fore among the more prominent of the lumber merchants of the Pacific Northwest. Being attracted with the location of Sprague, Washington Territory, he established himself there in 1882. His business grew to such proportions that in 1885 he found it necessary to add to his equipment a large planing-mill. His enterprise occupies one … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ulmer Stinson

ULMER STINSON. – Mr. Stinson is among the most successful of the lumbermen of the Snohomish, and like the most of his compeers in this business is a native of Maine, having been born in Kennebec County in 1836. He lived, was educated and gained his business head in his native town, leaving it only at the age of twenty-seven. From his youth he was a lumberman and logger. But in 1863 he determined to try business upon a somewhat larger scale, and selected this coast as his field. He mined a year in Nevada county, California, but tiring of … 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

Biography of Hon. James P. Stewart

HON. JAMES P. STEWART. – In a notice of the Honorable James P. Stewart by the local press, when his name was presented for the suffrages of his fellow-citizens for a seat in the legislature of Washington Territory, it was most truthfully said: “he is a man of affairs, – a big, bronzed, broad-shouldered man, who moves about among his fellow-men with that quiet consciousness of strength that carries conviction and wins. He has been a winner all his life; and people applaud his winning. He has been as honest as he has been progressive. Mr. Stewart is a native … Read more

Biography of Hon. Charles T. Stiles

HON. CHARLES T. STILES. – One who has enjoyed the advantages of education, and has been the recipient of wealth left him by fond and indulgent parents, is surely worthy of the encomiums due to success thereby attained. but how much more so is the one who, without this pedestal of fame and fortune, attains an equal eminence by his own un-aided exertions. As an example of this latter career, there was none more notable than the gentleman whose name appears above, whose late untimely demise has removed from the scene of activity one of our most valuable and honored … Read more

Biography of Hon. Eugene D. Smith

HON. EUGENE D. SMITH. – This pioneer of the logging business of the Snohomish river, a portrait of whom is placed in this history, is a representative man of the Puget Sound country, and almost a typical American. Of large and fine proportions physically, self-reliant, capable of taking a hand at any business, even at politics or war, or, with a little brushing up, at almost any profession, he at present contents himself with being proprietor and patron of the handsome town of Lowell, Washington, and conducting large logging operations, on his own estate of four thousand acres in Snohomish … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Henry A. Smith

DR. HENRY A. SMITH. – Doctor Smith was born in Wooster, Ohio, April 11, 1830, and is the son of Nicholas and Abagail (Teaff) Smith. His father, who was a Baptist minister, died when he wa but nine years of age, and left his mother a widow with eleven children, Henry being the youngest son. When he was about sixteen years old he moved with his mother and one sister to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Soon afterwards he entered Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine. In the spring of 1852, in company with his mother and one sister, he started west … Read more

Biography of Hon. Isaac Ingalls Stevens

HON. ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS. – Governor Stevens was born at Andover, Massachusetts, March 18, 1818. He graduated from West Point in the class of 1839, of which he stood at the head, and immediately thereafter was commissioned second lieutenant of engineers. In 1840 he was promoted to a first lieutenancy. In the war with Mexico (1846-1848) he served on the staff of General Scott and for gallant and meritorious services at Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec earned the brevet rank of major. He was severely wounded in the capture of the City of Mexico from the effect of which he suffered … Read more

Biography of Joseph M. Shelton

JOSEPH M. SHELTON. – “Present misfortune is our future weal,” wrote the old homilist; and in human experience it has been well enough proved that in adversity is the power of a man’s character developed. Joseph M. Shelton, the subject of this sketch, had lived in comfort and prosperity on the family plantation in Caswell County, in North Carolina; but, in common with so many of the foremost Southern families, the Sheltons sustained heavy losses in the war, and by the liberation of the slaves of which Joseph’s father was a large owner. It was then that Joseph showed the … Read more

Biography of Sigmund Sichel

SIGMUND SICHEL. – America is made up of the most intelligent and energetic people from all parts of the world. It is those who are alert and keen in the pursuit of information who learn of the advantages to be found in this country. And it is those who feel the impulse to stretch their limbs and operate upon a larger scale of life than the opportunities the old world afford who undergo the labors and take the risks involved in a removal across the Atlantic. This rule, which is not without its exception, is exemplified in the career of … Read more

Biography of Edward S. Smith

EDWARD S. SMITH. – The death of Edward Slade Smith, at San Francisco, California, on December 31, 1885, and incidents relating to his life gathered from recollections of Judge Charles H. Berry, Honorable John A. Mathews and Doctor James M. Cole. Edward Slade Smith was born in what was then Chemung, now Schuyler county, in the State of New York, February 28, 1827; and hence at his decease he was nearly fifty-nine years old. His parents were Joel and Anna Smith, both early settlers in Winona, Minnesota, and both of whom are now dead. There were born to them six … Read more

Biography of John F. Sheehan

JOHN F. SHEEHAN. – The gentleman whose name heads this brief memoir, an excellent portrait of whom appears in this history, has been a leading business man and resident of Port Townsend, Washington for almost thirty years. Mr. Sheehan is a native of the Sunny south, and was born in Baltimore Maryland, in 1840. When but an infant he suffered the irreparable loss of his father by death. His widowed mother then, with her two sons, our subject being but eighteen months old, paid a visit to Ireland, and at the end of one year returned to Baltimore. John F. … Read more

Biography of Hon. David Shelton

HON. DAVID SHELTON – Mr. Shelton, one of the very earliest of the pioneers of Washington Territory, who with Mr. L.B. Hastings and F.W. Pettigrove became a founder of Port Townsend, was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, September 15, 1812. His father, Lewis Shelton, emigrated to the territory of Missouri in the year 1819, and settled in Saline county but kept on the advance wave of settlement, ever moving westward as the state settled up, and died in Andrew county in 1847. In this frontier life young David came to maturity, and on May 30, 1837, was married to … Read more

Biography of C. A. Sander

C.A. SANDER. – This is one of those redoubtable men from Prussia who have helped to make our country great. He was born in 1840. At the age of twenty-five he came to America. He first engaged in milling in Florida. He followed the same business in New York and Kansas. He followed the same business in New York and Kansas. In 1868 he was in Arizona at work in the quartz mines for about fifteen months. He was next prospecting in British Columbia in the Peace river country. He then came down to The Dalles in Oregon, and worked … Read more

Biography of Frederick D. Schnebly

FREDERICK D. SCHNEBLY – Our subject was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1832, and was educated in the Franklin and Marshall College of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1854 he started for California by way of Nicaragua. In passing up the Pacific, the steamer, Star of the West, on which he had taken passage, took fire; but the horrors of a burning ship tragedy were avoided by the timely and effective labors of the crew and passengers. After stopping for a time in San Francisco, he visited the Sandwich Islands, but, returning to the Golden state, spent two unsuccessful years in mining. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Matthias Spurgeon

MATTHIAS SPURGEON. – This pioneer of Clarke County is a native of Iowa, having been born in Cedar County in 1838. In his childhood he was bereft of his parents, and found a home in the family of an uncle, Mr. George Spurgeon. With this relative he came to Oregon while but a boy of fourteen, and found a home in the household of Mr. William H. Dillon. Soon after becoming of age, he spent two years in the mountains and gorges of Idaho prospecting for gold, meeting, however, with but little success. Returning to Clarke county he took up … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. John H. Stahl

MRS. JOHN H. STAHL. – This lady is a native of Niederklein, Prussia, and came to San Francisco in 1858. In 1860 she was married to John Stahl, and in 1862 came to Cañon City, Oregon. There Mr. Stahl engaged in the brewery business in 1863; but, upon the burning of the city and the loss of their property, they removed to Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Indeed, Cañon City saw rough times in those days, having once burned and twice washed away, and often invade by the Indians. still pursuing the same business in Walla Walla, they again met with … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Splawn

CHARLES A. SPLAWN. – This veteran of Indian wars was born in Clay County, Missouri, in 1831. He went from there to Davis County, near Galiton, and was there during the Mormon trouble. His mother, in the absence of his father, was compelled to leave her home by the “saints” who threatened to burn the house over her head if she remained another night. In 1844 he moved with his father’s family to Hold county, and in 1851 crossed the plains to Oregon. After reaching this territory he became alternately trader, miner and packer, until in 1853 he joined the … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Helen Smith

MRS. HELEN SMITH. – There survives within the limits of the old Oregon no person whose life possesses more universal interest than the lady whose name appears above, and of whom we present an excellent portrait. The widow of a pioneer whose first operations upon this coast belong to the antique days of Wyeth and Kelly, her own memory extends to the remote times of the Astor expedition of 1811; and her infant life was contemporary with the explorations of Lewis and Clarke in 1805. The entire panorama of the occupation and settlement of our state has therefore passed before … Read more

Biography of D. W. Small

D.W. SMALL. – The career of this gentleman and his brothers, who have been associated with him in most of his enterprises, well illustrates the fact that Western life peculiarly develops versatility and adaptability. The Western man must encounter sudden and unexpected obstacles. He must adapt himself to unusual conditions. Precedent is of little use to him. He has to make his own precedents. Hence the population of the Pacific slope is peculiarly noted for a variety of talents. The people learn to go across lots to conclusions. In the fierce struggle for existence which comes in a new country, … Read more