Washington

Biography of William Rice Dunbar

W.R. DUNBAR. – The mold in which a place is first cast is a great determining force in its future development. A quarter of a city which begins with mean buildings invites a class of neglectful or impecunious residents, and seldom outgrows its tendency towards squalor. The new settlers which come into a thriftless community sink more easily to the habits of their neighbors before them than they succeed in inciting those lax individuals to more industrious methods. On the other hand, also, thrift, vigor, a high level of public spirit and morality, leave a stamp which sets the tone … Read more

Biography of James S. Dysart

JAMES S. DYSART. – The subject of this sketch, a portrait of whom is placed in this work, was born in Delaware county, New York, March 22, 1838. His parents were Duncan and Elizabeth (Shaw) Dysart, natives of Scotland. James resided at the place of his birth until he was seventeen years old, when he went via Nicaragua to California to join his brother Alexander, who was living in San Francisco. He reached that city in 1855. His first location was at Placerville, where he engaged in lumbering. That point he made his home till 1862. In that year he … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Matthew Bartholet

MATTHEW BARTHOLET. – This active merchant, a member of the firm of Bartholet Brothers, was born in Minnesota, of German parentage. He secured the advantages of a common-school education, and moved with his parents to Oregon in 1875, assisting them in the hotel business for four years. Coming then to Yakima City, he found employment with his uncle, Nicholas Hoscheid, he bought and conducted a remunerative business for two years; but consequent upon the building of the railroad, came to the new place and associated himself with J.C. MacCrimmon, and with him secured a very flourishing custom. In the fall … Read more

Biography of Hon. William R. Downey

HON. WILLIAM R. DOWNEY. – There are few men who are more familiarly and favorably known to the old pioneers of Puget Sound than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. His father was a Revolutionary hero, having followed General Washington in the battles waged by the colonists for freedom from the oppression of Great Britain. Mr. Downey was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, March 6, 1808. At the age of three years he accompanied his parents to Hopkins county, and while living there received his education. On February 12, 1829, he was united in marriage to Miss Emily S. … Read more

Biography of William H. Dillon

WILLIAM H. DILLON. – Mr. Dillon, a pioneer of four states of our union, and a perfect example of the frontiersman, whose life story has been recounted in other pages also, was born in Kent county, Delaware, July 4, 1818. His parents were of English and Irish descent, and in 1823 moved west across the Alleghany Mountains to Ohio, then upon the very outposts of civilization. Eight years later they came on to Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe county on the Wabash. The desire, however, of owning and farming his own lands took possession of the elder Dillon, and he pulled … Read more

Biography of Hiram Doncaster

HIRAM DONCASTER. – No one seems to operate so much in the capacity of a creator as the shipbuilder. The products of his brain and hand have a life of their own, are given a name, and have their own personality. Shipbuilding on the Sound is, moreover, an important business; and the masters of this craft are men of distinction. One of these is the man whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1838, and first came to this coast via Panama in the year 1856, mining in Plumas county two … Read more

Biography of Sir James Douglas, K. C. B.

SIR JAMES DOUGLAS, K.C.B. – The first governor of British Columbia is worthy of more than a passing notice in this work. With a peculiar though undesigned poetical fitness, he first came to the land of his fame on the famous old steamer Beaver. On her he came to Esquaimalt harbor in the summer of 1849. He had gone from Fort Vancouver, where he had been head clerk, to be chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in British Columbia. Having founded the city of Victoria, he made his home there, conducting with great ability the work of the company. … Read more

Biography of Rev. John F. Devore, D. D.

REV. JOHN F. DEVORE, D.D. – Doctor Devore was a native of Kentucky, being born near Lexington, December 7, 1817. He was of French descent, as the name indicates, and owed very much to the pious example of religious parents, who urged him with their last words to be “faithful to his God.” The “Life of Bramwell” fell into his hands at an early date, was read with great relish, and had much to do in molding the shape of his after life. Entering the ministry, he joined the Rock river conference in 1842, Bishop Roberts presiding. He was ordained … Read more

Biography of George A. Davis

GEORGE A. DAVIS. – This pioneer in the lumber and flouring business of Portland, and indeed of other points throughout the union, is a native of Maine, having been born in Hallowell in 1832. In 1851 he was one of the argonauts, sailing to the Golden state via Nicaragua, and remaining there until 1865 occupied in mining, lumbering and other sorts of business. Returning home in that year, he soon left for Iowa, making his home there for ten years, engaged in stock-raising and farming. He was married there to Miss Hannah C. Dudley. In 1875 he came again to … Read more

Biography of James S. Davis

JAMES S. DAVIS – Mr. Davis is one of the most interesting and progressive men of our country. The tragic events of Steptoe’s expedition in 1858 are described in the body of this work, and need no repetition here. One of the most conspicuous landmarks in the region traversed by that ill-fated troop is the spire-like pinnacle of basalt which has ever since received the name of Steptoe. It lies in the midst of one of the richest and most productive farming regions in the world, the far-famed Palouse country. Long a solitude, it has lately been occupied by a … Read more

Biography of Arthur A. Denny

ARTHUR A. DENNY. – With the history of the early settlement of Puget Sound no name is more intimately blended than that of Arthur A. Denny, the pioneer, the founder of one of its chief metropolitan cities, the volunteer in the suppression of Indian outbreaks, the legislator, the politician, the office-holder, the congressman, the successful banker, the liberal philanthropist, the honest man and good citizen. Like many more of those who were his contemporaries in rescuing Washington Territory from the wilderness, he has seen the newcomers who are enjoying those comforts of life, not to say luxuries, to which his … Read more

Biography of David Thomas Denny

DAVID THOMAS DENNY. – Mr. Denny was the first settler of Seattle, Washington. He was born in Putnam county, Indiana, on March 17, 1832, of sturdy pioneer stock, his parents having settled in Indiana as early as 1819. His father, John Denny, lived in Indiana till 1835, when he removed to Illinois, and in 1851 to Oregon. He was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and served under William Henry (Tippecanoe) Harrison at the Battle of the Thames. David T. Denny was a lad of only nineteen years when he joined a party of emigrants with his older brother … Read more

Biography of Col. Walter Crockett, Sr.

COL. WALTER CROCKETT, SR. – The lineal representatives of many of the distinguished families of the Atlantic states have become the builders of our own communities. Such was Colonel Crockett, who was in the line of the old Virginia family that went out West to settle in the early days of Braddock’s war. The father, Colonel Hugh, was of Norman-Irish descent, and earned his rank in the Revolutionary war. His mother, Rebecca Larton, was a Knickerbocker, born at Jersey City, New Jersey. It was near Shawsville on the upper Roanoke, whither the Colonel had gone to settle, that his son, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Clanrick Crosby

HON. CLANRICK CROSBY. – This gentleman, of whom an excellent portrait appears in our work, was born in East Brewster, Massachusetts, January 6 1838. He is a son of Captain Clanrick and Phoebe H. (Fessenden) Crosby. In 1849 he came with his parents via Cape Horn on board the brig Grecian, of which his father was captain and part owner. The father was a sea-faring man until his arrival in San Francisco in the above year. After a short stay there, he brought his vessel to Portland, and there selling her quit the sea. The family remained in Portland, Oregon, … Read more

Biography of Capt. James J. Crow

CAPT. JAMES J. CROW. – Mr. Crow, a portrait of whom will be found in this work, is one of the early pioneers of Oregon, as well as one of the early and substantial residents on White river. He was born in Lincoln county, Missouri, April 5, 1842, and is the son of George and Mary E. (Howdeshell) Crow, both of whom were pioneers of the above state. In the summer of 1848 his parents, with their family of five children, started to cross the plains to Oregon; but, on reaching the Missouri river, it then being late in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Levi H. Cyphers

LEVI H. CYPHERS. – Mr. Cyphers, who occupies a very prominent position in Snohomish county, having served as sheriff by the choice of the Republicans as well as democrats, is a native of the Keystone state, having been born in Monroe county, Pennsylvania, in 1849. He engaged in business at his early home, but at the age of twenty-six acted upon the belief that there were better opportunities for young men at the West. He accordingly set out for the Black Hills in the fall of 1875, with the expectation of digging gold, but, upon arriving at Cheyenne, found that … Read more

Biography of Capt. J. D. Dammon

CAPTAIN J.D. DAMMON. – This pioneer of the Kittitass valley was born in Seabeck, Maine, June 22, 1825. In 1843 he removed to Wisconsin, then a territory, living in Dane and Monroe counties. In the spring of 1859, he went with others to Colorado. Denver was then a small place of a few tents and log huts. At Arrapahoe and on Clear creek he engaged in blacksmithing; then with his partner, R.S. Kingman, he bought the Bob Tail Lead in Gregor’s gulch, from which millions of dollars have since been taken; but his partner sold it for $300 during Mr. … Read more

Biography of Anderson Cox

ANDERSON COX. – There has never lived a man in the Northwest more worthy of commemoration than that pioneer of 1845, Anderson Cox. He was born near Dayton, Ohio, in 1812, of Quaker parentage, and moved with the family to Indiana in 1830, and claimed a share in the home formed on the Wabash river at Attica. He was married in 1836 to Miss Julia Walter, and in 1840 removed to New London, Iowa. In 1845, with his wife and four children, he made the journey to Oregon, and was in the company of immigrants who endured the privations and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Richard Corbaley

RICHARD CORBALEY. – In a city so flourishing as Spokane Falls, Washington, the business of finding and placing loans and the transfer of real property in the town, in the adjoining farming regions, and in the mines, has attained proportions of considerable magnitude. The firm of R. Corbaley & Co., located at the northeast corner of Howard and Riverside avenues, is one of the most important of the houses thus engaged. Their interests are largely in agricultural lands in the Big Bend country near Badger Mountain, where choice locations and exceptionally productive soils, even for this favored territory, may be … Read more

Biography of Col. T. R. Cornelius

COL. T.R. CORNELIUS. – In view of the prominent part sustained by Colonel Cornelius in the Indian wars of our early history, as well as in our political history since, it seems best to give at length the interesting picture of his connection with those wars. This is done mainly in his own language, and hence preserves the vividness of his own recollections. T.R. Cornelius was born November 16, 1827, in Howard county, Missouri. At an early age he moved with his parents to Arkansas, and in 1845, then a youth of nineteen, came with them to Oregon. The company … Read more