Washington

Biography of William H. Fife

WILLIAM H. FIFE. – This gentleman is a native of Otonabee, Petersburg county, Ontario, and is the third child of William and Mary Beckett Fife. He was born on the first of October, 1833. His father was a native of Kincardine, and came to Canada in 1820, following farming in that country. His mother was born January 20, 1811, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and came with her parents to Canada about 1820, and is still living with her youngest son on the old homestead in Petersburg county. Our subject resided on his father’s farm until he became sixteen years of age, … Read more

Biography of John Flett

JOHN FLETT. – Among the schemes of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in 1839 and 1840, to acquire occupancy and secure British title to the territory on the north side of the Columbia river, was an immigration to the Cowlitz and Nisqually Plains from the Selkirk settlement in the valley of the Red river of the North. It will be remembered that the Hudson’s Bay Company was present in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains by virtue of a license of trade from the British Crown, which precluded it from acquiring landed possessions. Its right was a mere tenancy for … Read more

Biography of Peter Dewar Forbes

PETER DEWAR FORBES. – In the gentleman whose name heads this brief memoir, and whose portrait appears in this history, we have one of the very earliest settlers of Tacoma, as well as one of her prominent business men and capitalists. Mr. Forbes was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, February 18,1845, and is the son of William and Jesie Dewar Forbes. After his school days were passed, Peter learned the trade of a carpenter and shipbuilder, becoming a master mechanic. In 1868 he came to the United States, locating in Minneapolis, where he became a well-known architect and builder, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Ford

DAVID FORD. – This highly esteemed citizen, a portrait of whom is placed in this history, was born in Indiana July 27,1837. After his marriage to Miss Mary Medler, October 11, 1857, he was occupied at his home until the war of the Rebellion, in which he served as a soldier in the Union army, bearing an honorable part, and making a brave record up to the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, where he received a wound which made him unfit for service. He belonged to Company A, Eighty-fourth Indiana Volunteers. In 1872 he came to Missouri, and five years later … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Joseph Foster

HON. JOSEPH FOSTER. – Mr. Foster was the fourth child in a family of eleven children, and the son of Thomas and Rosetta J. Larsky Foster. He was born near Hamilton, Ontario, April 10, 1828, where he lived until six years of age, when his parents moved to Geogy county, Ohio. When old enough he learned the tailor’s trade, and when twenty-one years of age went to Wisconsin, locating in Sheboygan, where he followed his trade for three years. He then, in 1851, started overland to the Pacific coast, and reached Portland in July, 1852. He went to the Shasta … Read more

Biography of Capt. Enoch S. Fowler

CAPT. ENOCH S. FOWLER. Mr. Fowler, a portrait of whom appears in this work, was one of those Argonauts who came to this country at an early day, and has since made himself a name known as a household word all over Puget Sound. Captain Fowler was born in Lubec, Maine, November 19, 1813, and died in Port Townsend November 27, 1876, being sixty-three years of age. He came to the Pacific coast in 1849 as master and part owner of the brig Quoddy Bell, which he sold in San Francisco, joining the brig George Emery as mate, and made … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Fred Furth

FRED FURTH. – One looks for saddles and harnesses in Spokane Falls under the sign bearing the name of the above. The gentleman thus designated is from Germany, where he was born in 1839. He came to America in 1855. Stopping but a short time in St. Louis, he came to San Francisco in 1856 via Panama, and went thence to Washoe and Virginia City, Nevada, merchandising. He located in Colusa county, California, in 1869, and came thence to Spokane Falls, engaging in his present occupation. Mr. Furth is of the opinion that Spokane Falls is, and will be the … Read more

Biography of S. R. Geddis

S.R. GEDDIS. – Mr. Geddis, a portrait of whom, together with a view of his beautiful home farm, appears in this history, is a leading and wealthy citizen of Kittitass county. He is one of the men whose success in life has been mainly achieved in the county in which he now lives by the exercise of economy, industry and business integrity, guided by intelligent financial ability. He is now a rich man, while but a few years ago he came to the Kittitass valley with nothing but an unblemished reputation as his entire capital. Mr. Geddis was born in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. W. George

J.W. GEORGE. – This gentleman is the second son of Presley and Mahala George, and was born in Ohio November 11, 1835, but removed to our state at so early an age as to receive his education at the Santiam Academy in Linn county. He became well known as one of the most promising young men of our state, and early developed unusual business capacity. In 1873 he made a permanent home at Seattle, Washington Territory, and entered actively into the business and social development of this metropolis of the Sound, acquiring also extensive real estate and property interests. July … Read more

Mobley, Floyd William – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Floyd William Mobley, 99, of Baker City, died June 12, 2003, in his home at Meadowbrook Place. His graveside funeral will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Mount Hope Cemetery, with Pastor Jon Privett of the First Church of the Nazarene in Baker City officiating. A potluck picnic at Geiser Pollman Park will follow the ceremonies. Floyd was born April 21, 1904, in Booneville, Ark., and lived there until the age of 3 when his parents, Pearlie and Lemuel Henry Mobley, brought the family by train to Hood River. They homesteaded in Benge, Wash., and later near … Read more

Tigli, Marjorie Irene Foster Mrs. – Obituary

Marjorie Foster Tigli, 73, died Nov. 18, 2002, at her daughter’s home in Fairview. There will be a celebration of life graveside service at 11 a.m. Saturday at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. She was born Marjorie Irene Foster on July 3, 1929, at Halfway, to James and Phyllis Canaday Foster. She lived there until the age of 13, when the family moved to Vancouver, Wash. After attending Shumway Junior High in Vancouver, Marjorie moved back to Halfway and attended Northwest Nazarene Academy where she met her first husband, Bill Sullivan. They were married on Sept. 5, 1945. This marriage … Read more

Dixon, Grant DeGrey – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Grant DeGrey Dixon, 84, of Halfway died June 4, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Halfway. Vault interment will be at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception afterward at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall. Grant was born on April 11, 1919, at Provo, Utah, to Arnold Dixon and Letitia May Banks. He attended high school at Provo. He attended college at UCLA, Brigham Young University and the University of Oregon. … Read more

Biography of Clinton P. Ferry

CLINTON P. FERRY. – Clinton P. Ferry was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, May 24, 1836. Having lost his father, an uncle became his guardian to a great extent. At the age of seven years he removed to Indianapolis, where he attended a preparatory school and business college. For a short time, he engaged in learning the art of printing, and devoted his seventeenth and eighteenth years as a telegraph operator. He was a nephew of W.G.& G.W. Ewing, a firm then largely interested in trading posts on the then Western frontier of the United States. They had branches at … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Alvin T. Ferriss

HON. ALVIN T. FERRISS.- This representative citizen of Eastern Washington was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1852, being the son of James R. and Mary Worth Ferriss. He resided at his birthplace until fifteen years old, at that date removing with his parents to Northwest Missouri. In the spring of 1872 he came west to Denver. After a short stay among the Rocky Mountains, engaged in mining and other operations, and at one time as railroad contractor on the Oregon Short Line, he crossed the continent in 1883 to Washington Territory, and, after looking over the country, selected Pullman … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Clark Ferguson

CLARK FERGUSON. – This gentleman was born in Putnam county, New York, October 13, 1835, and lived at his birthplace until the age of twenty. In April, 1855, he came with his brother Yates via the Nicaragua route to the land of gold, arriving in San Francisco in May. After two years of life in California, he returned to his Eastern home, but one year later again came west via the overland route. On reaching Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and receiving the intelligence of the Mormon troubles, he located in that place, remaining two years. He then came to the mines … Read more

Biography of Judge James H. Fee

JUDGE JAMES H. FEE. – The present judge of the circuit court of the sixth judicial district, although having attained an eminent position is still a young man, having been born in Wisconsin in 1858. His early opportunities were of the best character. At the upper Iowa University of Fayetteville, and at Waterloo, Iowa, he laid the foundations of his education. Coming to California in 1873, he completed his course at San Jose’, and began the study of law, enjoying in his preparatory work the instructions of a priest of that city; and in 1880, at Walla Walla, he concluded … Read more

Biography of Hon. Emory C. Ferguson

HON. EMORY C. FERGUSON. – Mr. Ferguson, whose portrait is placed in this history, was born on a farm in Westchester county, New York, March 5, 1833, and is the son of Samuel S. and Maria (Haight) Ferguson. He resided in his native county and learned the trade of a carpenter until reaching his majority. April 5, 1854, he with his brother Yates (who came to California in 1849 and had returned East) started via the Isthmus of Panama for the Golden State, arriving in San Francisco in May. Our subject immediately proceeded to the mines on the middle fork … Read more

Biography of Hon. H. W. Fairweather

HON. H.W. FAIRWEATHER. – Mr. Fairweather was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, May 20, 1852. Here he received a common-school education. His father was from Essex county, New York, pure English. His mother’s parents were from Ireland, pure Irish. Our subject went to Boston in 1868, and found work as brakeman on the Old Colony Railroad. He spent 1869, ’70 and ’71 in Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota in the same line of work. He came to Washington Territory in 1871, and was employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company as locomotive engineer, and subsequently as chief clerk. In … Read more

Biography of George Harvey Emerson

GEORGE HARVEY EMERSON. – It is ever with peculiar interest that we observe the career of one who has been a soldier of the union. It was noticed that in the England of 1670, if any man was an exceptionally industrious and sober mechanic or man of business, it usually proved that he was an old soldier of Oliver Cromwell. In much the same way the severe discipline and the exercise of elf-devotion in our great war educated the soldier and prepared him for large and difficult enterprises. The subject of this sketch was born in Chester, New Hampshire, in … Read more

Pisquow Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Camiltpaw (‘people of Kamilt’; so named from their chief). A band of the Pisquows, formerly living on the East side of Columbia River. One of the original treaty tribes of 1855, classed with the Yakima but really Salishan. They are now on Yakima Reservation, Washington.