Umatilla County, Oregon - Chapter 40: Umatilla County, Oregon, 1882 (part 5 of 5)

JOHN SCOTT lives upon a farm seven miles east of Walla Walla, W. T., just at the base of the Blue mountains.' It is a pleasantly located home among the hills, where a large family has grown or is growing up, to remember in time that the sad, pathetic little song by Howard Payne, has a lodgment in the human heart that grows stronger with each passing year of life. In the life of the writer it has never been his experience to have met, in another nook of the world, a family so large with so little discord, so much of all the qualities that make home happy ; a place to each more attractive than strange lands, the glitter of a city life, or the gilded enchantment lent by distance to the outside world. The father of this family was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 13, 1816. In 1828 he removed with his parents to Monroe county, Ohio, where in 1836, on the 28th of April, he was married to Miss Mary Edwards, of Washington county, in the same State. In the fall of 1849 he removed to VanBuren county, Iowa, from there to Corydon, Wayne county, and in the spring of 1857 to Paris, Linn county, Kansas. At Paris he became a hotel keeper, and for a year made money, when the Kansas troubles started afresh between the Republican and Pro-Slavery parties, and there followed a season of incipient war that was the forerunner or initiation of the Great Rebellion, which followed in 1861. Keeping a hotel, on occasions, became a busy life, more exciting than profitable. As a sample : Montgomery, the Republican leader, came to Mr. Scott's place and ordered breakfast for a company of sixty men, and paid for the same by neither hanging the proprietor, nor burning his property, the honor of their presence being his only reward. When the time approached for the election of i860, Mr. Scott concluded he would seek for his family a section less liable to political convulsion, and consequently moved to Clay county, Missouri, calculating to return when the impending storm had passed. The election, instead of biinging quiet, inaugurated the Civil War ; and he, being a Union man, was obliged to leave Missouri in the fall of 1861, in the night with his family, abandoning his property to whoever chose to takepos session of it. His next temporary home was in Corydon, Wayne county, Iowa, from where the next May (1862), he started to cross the plains, and after a six months' journey arrived in Grand Ronde valley, where he wintered, and reached Walla Walla in the spring of 1863. The journey across the continent was a long, tedious, exhausting one, and when Grand Ronde was finally reached, Mr. Scott found himself forced to begin life anew in a strange land. To help him at the outset he had neither money nor provisions, but had bad health, a sick son, a ready helpmate, a willing and industrious family of children, energy, and ability. With these the future was brighter with hope than was the past with its misfortunes. A homestead claim was soon taken up within a mile north of his present residence. Success crowned their efforts, and with the years came prosperity, until the homestead has grown to an 800-acre farm. It is all fenced and all under cultivation, except 40 acres of timber land. The improvements can be best appreciated by reference to the view of same accompanying this work.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Scott are all living, except their daughter Margaret E., who married George Wagoner and died in Benton county, Oregon, in January, 1880. Their living family consists of Harriet R., married to Seth Ferrel, living in Tehama county, California ; Rachel, married to John S. Mann, living in Kansas ; Minerva A. , married to William Mahar, living in Walla Walla county, W. T. ; Mary F., wife of Bennett Witt (See view of his farm). Their boys are William J., Isaac N., Sardine C, Abijah Byron A., and Charles W. All of these live, either at home or near by, the first and third named being married. In 1878 four of them raised 15,000 bushels of wheat and 2,000 bushels of oats, besides doing enough work with their machinery for neighbors to leave them $300 more than enough to pay for all their hired help. All of them work together as one family, keeping no account of time, nor thinking of asking from the others pay for what they do. Mr. Scott has twice been elected by the Democrats to represent Walla Walla county in the Territorial Legislature.

WILLIAM STANFIELD, who lives on a farm six miles north east of Walla Walla, was born in Illinois, near the Wabash river, January 13, 1835. His father, James Stanfield, was a minister, lived on a farm, and was a native of Tennessee. He moved from Illinois, when William was about three years old, to Mahaska Co., Iowa, and in 1862 across the plains to Walla Walla, where he died in March, 1876. At twenty two years of age, William left home, and was married to Sarah De Witt, an Ohio lady, May 29, 1857. In 1864, Mr. and Mrs. Stanfield crossed the plains to Walla Walla, where he for a time engaged in day labor, and then became a teamster, in which capacity he visited nearly all the mountain mining camps, until 1868, when he settled on the 160 acres of land where his home now is, and has since increased the original amount to 280 acres, all of which is fenced and under cultivation. In addition to this, he has 40 acres of timber in the mountains. The early life of Mr. Stanfield was passed in the country, at a time when life was a constant struggle to sustain itself, and the advantages now within the reach of all American youths, such as an education and the hundreds of conveniences and opportunities for pleasure common to all, was an elysium, where he was permitted to stand at the gate, but could not enter. How little the youth of this generation appreciate the advantage they possess, over the one that saw their fathers enter upon the great plain of life's struggle. The names and dates of birth of Mr. and Mrs. Stanfield's children are as follows: - Emma R., June 24, 1858, married to Levi Malone in September, 1873; Charles H., April 6, i860; Thomas J., September 10, 1862; Carrie M., July 24, 1865; Alice, November 24, 1867; Frank E., September 24, 1870; Edward, January 6, 1873; Dolly, November 8, 1876, died, August 6, 1878.

GEORGE STARRETT lives on a farm two miles south of Walla Walla City in Washington Territory. His occupation is that of a seed grower and dealer, having made this business a specialty since he first arrived in the Territory, in 1870. His business is assuming large proportions, having commenced sales in 1872 that have doubled each year since. That success should crown his efforts is not strange, when it is taken into consideration that seeds, to be the germ of greatest production, must be acclimated; that is, seeds ripened in a certain class of soil and conditions of climate will produce most abundantly in a similar soil and climate, therefore, grass, garden, flour, tree, and hedge seeds raised at the base of the Blue mountains are better for the country east of the Cascade and west of the Rocky mountain ranges, than those imported from abroad. This fact becomes known each year more extensively and with the spread of this knowledge arises increased demand for his products. He has three small farms in the neighborhood that contain, all told, 152 acres of land; the object in having them separate being to prevent seeds getting mixed in growth. He lives on one of these farms, and a view of the homestead may be seen by reference to sketch of it in this work, All his land is fenced and under cultivation.

Of his past we would say, in brief, that he is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was born October 15, 1832. At ninteen years of age, he left home and commenced railroading, eventually becoming a passenger conductor on the Philadelphia and Columbia road. At twenty-two years of age, he was placed in charge of the experimental department of the Philadelphia gass works, where he remained nine years. He then tried operations in the oil regions of Ohio and Virginia, from where he went to Philadelphia and entered into the mercantile business, and in 1870 came to this Territory for the purpose of opening the business that now engages his attention. In 1853 he was married to Miss Harriett H. Groff, who died Aug. 5, 1866, leaving two children, named William G., and Mary J. In 1870 the son came to the Pacific coast with his father, and the daughter is living now in Maryland. May 17, 1870, Mr. Starrett was married to Mrs. Leah L. Keylor, a widow lady and sister of Philip Ritz, in Philadelphia Penn. Mrs. Keylor had one child a son named Howard R. Keylor, who is now a physician in Bayview Asylum, Baltimore, Maryland.

WILLIAM STEPHENS, now retired from active pursuits, was one of the first and leading business men of Walla Walla. His father. Stephen D. Stephens, was a native of New York, and William was born on Staten Island, October 24, 181 2. He attended the common schools, and then began to learn the carpenter trade, but met with an accident that caused him to relinquish that intention and take a position in a store. At the age of twenty-five he went to Des Moines county, Iowa, for his health, and three years later returned to New York for two years. He then spent two years more in Iowa, and in 1846 went to New Orleans. The following spring he ascended the Mississippi river and started across the plains from St. Joe, Mo, He reached Oregon in the fall, and settled in Linn county. In the fall of 1849 he went to California, and returned in the spring of 1850, bringing a cargo to Portland from the Sandwich Islands. He opened a store in Portland, but soon sold out because of ill health, and took up a land claim on Lewis river, W. T. In 1853 he went to the Umpqua valley, and farmed until 1859. In June of that year he came to the infant town of Walla Walla for his health, and took charge of a store for Dr. D. S. Baker, He built the log warehouse on Second street, between Main and Alder, now. occupied by Chinamen. He paid several visits to the mines, furnishing outfits and supplies to a number of prospecting parties, and discovered some well known di^crings in Montana in 1865. He afterwards was engaged in business with George McCully, Paine Bros. & Moore, and others. He sold his business a few years ago and invested his capital in the Walla Walla and Columbia River R. R. Company, and was one of the gentlemen who built that important factor in Walla Walla's prosperity. He was Treasurer of the road until he sold out to Dr. Baker. When the U. S. Land Office was estabiished in Walla Walla in 1871, Mr. Stephens was appointed Register, which position he resigned four years later, to devote his time to the railroad. Mr. Stephens is now living in quier enjoyment of the fruits of a long life of labor and usefulness, surrounded by friends who respect him for his integrity and honot him for his untiring efforts to promote the welfare of the country in which he is passing the declining years of his life.

DANIEL STEWART : William Stewart was a native of Vermont, and Patience Denton, his wife, of Rhode Island. They belonged to the sect of Quakers and early settled in Ohio. Their son Daniel was born April 26, 1825, in Marion (now Morrow) county, but when five years of age moved to Warren county, near Lebanon. He attended the public schools there until seventeen years of age, when he went to Marshall county, Illinois, and engaged in farming with his brother. In the spring of 1845 he came to Oregon with General Palmer, and settled in Oregon City, having aland claim three miles from town. His first introduction to this valley was in 1848, when he served as a sergeant in Captain Maxon's company during the Cayuse war. In the fall of 1848 he went to California in the brig Honolulu, that vessel having brought news of the gold discovery, and returned in the spring. From 1851 to 1853 he lived in Portland. He then went East and drove out a band of 200 cattle. From that time until 1859 he lived on the North Umpqua, when he took stock to Wasco (now Umatilla) county. In 1861 he moved to Walla Walla county, two miles below the city. His cattle all died in 1861, and the following spring he went to the Boise mines. He soon returned, and in July, 1863, was elected Joint Councilman from this district by the Democrats. He served one session, and again went to Boise. In 1865 he came back, a vacancy having been declared in his office and a Republican was likely to secure it. He prevented this, but did not take his seat that session. He then engaged in farming and stockraising on his farm. In 1870 the Democrats again' elected him to the Council. In 1874 he was candidate for the same position on the ticket of the Granger and Anti-Monopoly party, but was defeated by E. Ping. In 1876 he was again elected by the Democrats to the Territorial Council. In 1877 he built a saw mill in Whitman county, but sold out that business and is now permanently residing in Walla Walla. He owns a farm of 800 acres on Dry creek.

He was married in Monroe county, Mo., March 16, 1853, to Miss Margaret Fruit. His family consists of eight children: Kate (Mrs. E. H. Nixon), born January 16, 1854; Crassus, September 17, 1855 ; Charlemange B., October 20, 1856; Thales B., July 14, 1859 ; Irene B., (Mrs. Wm. H. Goodman), September 6, 1861 ; Ella, March 20, 1864 ; Ida, July 20, 1866 ; Robert Lee, June 26, 1868. During the session of 1876, Mr. Stewart introduced and carried through the Council a bill regulating freights and fares on all railroads in the Territory. It was lost in the House by a small majority. He is now strongly opposed to both political parties as at present organized, and is devoting his energies to building up a new party based on an opposition to monopolies, which he firmly believes to be the great issue of the present day.

HARRY St. GEORGE is proprietor of the St. George hotel, Pomeroy, W. T. Henry St. George, his father, came from England to the United States in 1840, He afterwards sent back for Henrietta Bauman, whom he married upon her arrival in this country. Their son Harry was born in New York City, November 15, 1 850. He attended school in that city until seventeen years of age, and then clerked and kept books for six years in Springfield, Mass., and in Hartford, Union City, and Portland, Ind. He returned to New York, and in 1873 enlisted in the regular army, being annexed to the 2d Infantry. He was stationed in the Southern States and on the Gulf of Mexico ; was in New Orleans during the election troubles in 1 876 ; came to Idaho during the Nez Perce war in 1877 5 received his discharge at Fort Lapwai in December, 1877. He remained in this country engaged in various pursuits, spending considerable time in the Idaho mines. He came to Pomeroy and took charge of the Pomeroy hotel, now the St. George, September I, 1881. September 8, 1881, he married Martha J. Pomeroy. The house has been enlarged and furnished the past summer at considerable expense. There are now thirty-six rooms and a large dining hall. A view of this hotel is given in this book. Also a view of the block in which it stands, from another point.

WILLIAM STINE, the popular Postmaster at Walla Walla, is an old pioneer of the coast. John and Sarah (Darr) Stine were natives of Pennsylvania, and their son William was born in Union county, Penn., February 24, 1828. When he was eleven years of age the family moved to Fairfield, Ohio, where William worked on the farm until 1852. He then crossed the plains to Sacramento with his brothers Fred and John. Their train arrived June 30, 1852, the first of the season. He spent two months at Rose Bar, on the Yuba, and then commenced packing from Marysville to the mines. In the spring he went to Rich Bar, Middle Fork of Feather river, and opened a store. In 1856 he sold out his business and returned to Ohio. In the fall of 1858 he again came to California, and settled near Yreka, in Shasta valley. In 1861 he moved into Yreka, and was a prominent business man of that place for nearly twenty years. In 1879 he moved to Walla Walla and invested in real estate. He was appointed Postmaster of the city in 1 88 1, an office he still holds. Mr. Stine has always been a leader and energetic worker in the councils of the Republican party, devoting time and money to uphold its power and spread its principles. He was married in Ohio, in November, 1856, to Mary J. Miller, a native of Green county, Ohio, and has a family of seven children : William, Samuel, Julius, Sarah, Fred, Emma, and Libbie. His sons are engaged in business in Walla Walla and manage the post office. Mr. Stine's beautiful residence may be seen on another page.

ANDREW J. TASH was born near Greencastle, in Putnam county, Indiana, January 15, 1839. His father, John Tash, wasafarmer, and a native of North Carolina, where he was born in Rowan county, October 25, 1797. While Andrew was but a year old his mother died, and in 1848 his father moved to Mercer county, Missouri, and to Decatur county, Iowa, in 1853, where he now lives. In 1859 Andrew went to California, where he remained two years engaged in mining in Butte and Yuba counties. In 1 861 he came to Walla Walla, and spent his summers from that time until 1866 in the Oro Fino and Florence mines. In 1866 he settled on the place now occupied by him, a sketch of which accompanies this work. The farm is nine aud a half miles east of Walla Walla, on Mill creek, and contains 480 acres. Besides this he owns 54 acres on Blue creek and 80 acres of timber. Mr. Tash was first married to Mary E. Brooks, on the sixteenth of September, 1866, who died April 30, 1874, leaving one child, Frank E., born December 12, 1871. His second marriage was to Lucy M., daughter of P. C. Klemgaard, September 16, 1876, and the children of Mr. and Mrs. Tash were born and are named as follows: Harry A., October 13, 1877 ; HattieE., October 5, 1879 ; Elmer E., November 19, 1881.

ALFRED THOMAS was born in Hardinsburgh, Breckenridge county, Kentucky, on the sixteenth of April, 1828. His father was the proprietor of an extensive tannery in that place, and the tanner's trade, consequently, was that learned by Alfred before leaving home, which occurred in 1849, when he emigrated to Linn county, Iowa. In 1850, on the tenth of December, he was married to Miss Elizabeth E. Lewis, of Linn county, in that State. In 1870 he rented his Iowa farm and moved with his family to Walla Walla, and settled the same year on the place now occupied by him as a homestead. A view of the improvements and the east end of his farm accompanies this book. There are 660 acres of it, situated three miles east of Walla Walla city, through which, for one and one-fourth miles runs Mill creek. All is enclosed with fence, 360 acres are under cultivation, and the balance is timber and pasture land. There is an orchard with 2, 100 bearing fruit trees including apple, peach, 'pear, plum, prune and apricot. In 1876 sixty acres of it produced 78 bushels of barley to the acre, and 125 acres produced 48 bushels of wheat to the acre. There are 80 acres of that farm upon which barley has been grown for nine consecutive years, and the last year it yielded 60 bushels to the acre. Nothing further need be said in regard to its productiveness. Mr. Thomas makes a specialty of growing hogs, and has at this time about 300 head. His crop of fruit in 1882 was sold by him for $3,000. To this add the grain product and it would seem to be enough business for one man to excel at. At the time of his purchasing the place, many considered it an exhibition of deficient knowledge of agriculture. But the years that he had spent in new countries in varied climes and upon different soils, had proved a school of experience that caused him to take as a choice what he has, and the result has proved the wisdom of the selection. Yellow Hazuk, the Cayicse chief, after whom the creek is named, is buried upon this farm, where he lived in the time when the Indian was "monarch of all he surveyed." Mrs. Elizabeth E. Thomas died October 8, 1878, leaving the following children : Sarah E., Ellen S., John G, Carrie E., Joseph Guy, Mary K., Eugene, Bertie, and Eliza. September 24, 1879, Mr. Thomas was again married, this time to Mrs. Margaret Lewis, a cousin of his former wife, who has one child, Lewis H., born July I, 1880.

WALLACE B. THOMAS, a farmer living on Mill creek five miles northeast from Walla Walla, first moved to Washington Territory in June, 1 87 1. Upon his arrival, he purchased the 320 acres of land which are included as a portion of the 590 acres constituting his present home farm. He had twice crossed the plains previous to this, but perhaps it would be a better way to go back and trace in brief the events of his life as they occurred. He was born in Hardinsburgh, Breckinridge county, Kentucky, March 3, 1839; and while a lad learned the tanner's trade from his father, Joseph H. Thomas, who was an extensive manufacturer in this line. In 1852, after his father's death, the family moved to Linn county, Iowa, where Wallace purchased a ranch, and his mother lived with him until her death. December 17, 1861, he was married to Miss Rebecca C. Lewis, of Benton county, Iowa. In 1863 he became impressed with the fact that the West might contain a locality where, if he should go to it and settle, his condition in life would be materially improved, and following this prompting crossed the plains to Walla Walla in Washington Territory. He remained in this Territory over winter, found people generally of opinion that the country was not good for farming purposes, and returned to Iowa by way of Willamette valley, overland to California, and around by the Isthmus and New York. In 1865 he came again to Washington Territory, by way of the Isthmus to California, thence to Nevada, and through Boise City to Walla Walla; and went home the next year by way of Salt Lake. As he left this region in 1866, it was with the determination of selling his Eastern property and moving with his family to this Territory, which he did as indicated by us at the beginning of this sketch. The birth and names of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are: Ada E., October 30, 1862; Lucy R., May 12, 1865; Charles W., April 6, 1867; Denney G., July 12, 1869; Esther M., March 31, 1872; Melissa J., July 18, 1876; James B., August 27, 1878. Mr. Thomas is one of the active, energetic, and succesrful business farmers of the county, and is respected by those who know him. In politics he is on the order of independent, but believes strongly in the policy of a united grange movement.

E. A. TORRENCE, of Dayton, is among the prominent business men of Eastern Washington. Although but thirty two years of age, he has accomplished more than a majority of men do in a lifetime. His father was a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, emigrated to Illinois, and in 1847 to Oregon, where he married Mary J. Whitcomb. She was a native of Vermont, had emigrated to Illinois and also to Oregon in 1847. Her father, Lot Whitcomb, was well known for years on the coast as a prominent steamboat man and miller. E. A. Torrence was born in Milwaukee, Oregon, January 17, 1850. He is the oldest of eleven children, the others being William, Charles, Dale, Richard, Irene, Kate, Carrie, Hattie, Emma and Adda. His education was confined to what could be obtained in the common schools of Oregon in those days, and he attended them and worked on the farm until nineteen years of age. June 8, 1871, he married Martha Wright, who died on the twentieth of March, 1872. The same year he established a blacksmith shop in Whitman county, W. T. In 1874 he married Mary E. Phillips, of Portland, and the same year established a large wagon and blacksmith shop in Dayfon, W. T. He followed this business until 1880, when he turned his attention to land and stock. Six miles from Dayton he has a fine grain farm of 160 acres, and on the Palouse river, in Whitman county, a fine stock ranch of 900 acres, on which are 170 head of good horses. He built a handsome residence in Dayton, which forms one of our illustrations. It is much finer than one would expect to see in a town but ten years old. His family consists of three children - Esther, born March 10, 1875; William, January 27, 1877; Carrie, January 10, 1879. Mr. Torrence is strictly a self-made man, his present affluence being the fruit of his own labor and energy. He is a member of Columbia Lodge, No. 26, F. & A. M. Politically he is a Republican, and in no sense an officeseeker.

JOHN TRACY, who lives on Mill creek, about seven miles from Walla Walla, was born in Portumna, Galway county, Ireland, on the ninth of April, 1825. In 1849 he emigrated to America, and the succeeding six years were spent in various localities as a laborer, until he enlisted in the Ninth U. S. Infantry, April 6, 1855. His regiment under Colonel Wright was ordered to the Pacific Coast, and reached Fort Vancouver in January, 1856. The country was in the midst of an Indian war at the time, and Mr. Tracy served under that famous commander of the Ninth Infantry during all its campaign against the savages in Washington Territory, until discharged, at Walla Walla in July, i860. He participated in those thrilling events that marked the Wright campaign of 1858, which spread terror among the evil-disposed red skins, who had driven Colonel Steptoe to disaster and out of their country. After his discharge from service, he located land on Mill creek, where he now resides, but spent a portion of 1861 and 1862 in the mines. In 1865, October 26, he was married to Eliza J. Hendricks, a native of Tennessee, and their children's names and dates of their birth are as follows: John Tracy, Jr., July 6, 1867; Mary Lucinda, April 5, 1869; Lawrence, January 16, 1870; Thomas, October 16, 1872; Catherine, May 27, 1875; Eliza, January 1, 1876; Edward, October 16, 1878; Ellen, April 24, 1880. Mr. Tracy's ranch consists of 440 acres, all of which is inclosed and most of it under cultivation. The improvements can be best appreciated by referring to a view of the same in this work.

SEWELL TRUAX was born in Missisquoi county, Canada, April 23, 1830. His parents were citizens of the United States, and have resided in Franklin county, Vermont, since 1831. He was educated at Norwich University, in Vermont, in the prolession of civil engineer. At the age of twenty-one he started upon his rambles in the West, stopping a short time in Buffalo and Cleveland, and then spent the summer of 1852 in the survey of a railroad line from Marquette, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Superior to an iron mine twenty-five miles distant in the wilderness. In the fall he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and entered the law office of Mr. Bissell, since Governor of that State. Two weeks convinced him that he would make a better engineer than lawyer, and he resumed his old profession. In the spring of 1853, on his return from a serveying trip along the Missouri, between Big and Little Sioux rivers, he encountered a large number of emigrants at Council Bluffs, caught the Oregon fever, and the next day, May 4, 1853, was on his way to Oregon. He arrived at his destination in August. Until 1861 he was U. S. Deputy Surveyor in Southern Oregon, had a little experience with Indians in Rogue River valley in 1855-6, and in 1861 entered the United States volunteer service as Captain of Company D, First Oregon cavalry, of which regiment he subsequently became Major. In 1862 his regiment was ordered to Walla Walla and for a time in 1863 Major Truax was in command of that fort, but the greater portion of 1863-4 was in command at Fort Lapwai, Idaho Territory. For several years after the close of the war he was engaged in mercantile business at Lapwai. In 1870 he returned to Walla Walla, which he has since made his residence, most of the time engaged in his profession of engineering. For two years he devoted his time and means to the construction of the W. W. & C. R. railroad from Wallula to Walla Walla, being the first Vice President and Superintendent of construction. In 1877 he was one of the first to locate upon the high bluffs of Snake river, which owes its early and successful development largely to that fact, and to the grain chute which he invented, for transporting the grain from the top of the bluffs to the river. Major Truax was married February 13, 1 861, to Sarah E. Chandler, of Missisquoi county, Canada, born April II, 1839. Their children are: Mary P., born June 3, 1862, married to B. D. Crocker in July, i88o> (Little son, Porter Truax Crocker, born September 27, 1881); Harmon C, born in 1864, died February 27, 1867; Edward Holden, born March 25, 1866; Elenor Hibbard, born January 12, 1868; Henry Chandler, born in 1870; Harlow Elias, born in 1874; Sewell, Jr., born in February, 1876.

NICHOLAS C. WILLIAMS' parents were natives of Virginia and moved to North Carolina before their marriage. They were Stephen Williams and Nancy Clemens, The result of their union was two boys and three girls - Williamson, Joanna, Tabitha, Nicholas C, and Mary, of whom all but Joanna are still living. Nicholas C. was born in Rowan county, North Carolina, April 15, 1826. October 31, 1848, he married Linda C. Martin. In 1851 they went to Jackson county, then Cass county, and then to Johnson county, Missouri, where they resided for twelve years. In August, 1862, he volunteered in the army, but was mustered out nine months later. It was then impossible to own property there because of the bands of raiding guerrillas, and so Mr. Williams moved his family to Iowa in 1863, and lived in Hardin county ten years. His health being impaired, he decided to go to the far West, and in the fall of 1873 he came Washington Territory, stopping in Waitsburg. The following fall he took up his present ranch on Pataha Prairie, being one of the pioneers of that region. He now possesses one of the finest, if not the best, farms in Garfield county, with a good residence, farm buildings and fences. A view of this place is given on another page. Mr. Williams is a man who possesses the full confidence and respect of his neighbors, being admired for his integrity, energy of character and intelligence, characteristics that have combined to place him in a position of comfort and prosperity. In 1878 he was elected a Commissioner of Columbia county, which office he filled in a satisfactory manner. He has been a member of the Baptist church from his youth, but as no organization of that church exists here, he joined the Presbyterians a few years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have reared a family of eleven children - Sarah A., Ruth J., J. Moffit, Millie, Daniel B., Sanford F., Maggie C, Jasper E., Mary D., Nettie R., and Luther N. They are all living and four of them are married. Mr. Williams is a genial gentleman, and takes pleasure in extending the hospitalities of his beautiful home to both friends and strangers.

WILLIAM P. WINANS of the firm of Rees, Winans & Co., one of the wealthiest merchandising houses in Walla Walla, was born in the town of Elizabeth in New Jersey, January 28, 1836. His parents lived on a farm, and in 1846 they moved to Pittsfield, Illinois, where both have since died. In 1859, William P. crossed the plaius and for the two succeeding years worked on a farm during the summer and taught school in the winter near the Umatilla river in Eastern Oregon. In 1861 he went to Colville in Washington Territory, where he clerked for three years and then entered the mercantile business upon his own resources. In 1870, early in the year, he became Sub-Indian Agent for six tribes who had never made a treaty with our Government, and were known as the non-treaty Indians. In 1872 President Grant set apart a reservation for those tribes that included the Colville valley, in which were all the farmers and the only town in Stevens county. Those farmers had settled on their land under the laws providing for pre-emption and homestead rights, and the same had been surveyed. In common with the entire population, not including the Jesuit mission, Mr. Winans protested against this attempt at destruction of vested rights, claiming that the President had no power to annul a title already acquired. He represented the matter in this light to the authorities at Washington, and described by boundary lines what he thought would be a just reserve, that would not include what the whites possessed. His recommendation was approved, and the reservation boundries were changed to include its present limits, north and west of Colville. This act on his part was hostile to the interests of the Jesuit mission, and his character was assailed in a manner so absurdly false that it excited upon his part only contempt for those who were guilty of the slanders. In 1874 he came to Walla Walla and became one of the firm of Johnson, Rees & Co. that recently has been changed to Rees, Winans & Co., a firm that commands the confidence of all with whom they have business relations. Mr. Winans was married to Miss Lydia Moore of Olympia, Washington Territory, October 6, 1868, and the names and dates of birth of their children are: Gilbert P., January 25, 1870; Philip M., December 10, 1874; Allen L., April 25, 1876. Mrs. Winans died December 4, 1876. In 1879, November 20, he was married again, this time to Christine McRae, and their only child is William S., born May 6, 188 1.

BENNETT B. WITT was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, April 5, 1853. With his parents he came to the Pacific Coast in 1858, and with them moved to the various sections of country as narrated in the biography of Philander S. Witt. In 1866, for the first time, he came to Walla Walla valley, where his parents settled upon a farm in the neighborhood of where the subject of this sketch now resides. In 1875, September 21, he was married to Miss Mary F. Scott, daughter of John Scott, one of the substantial farmers of Walla Walla. They have three children: M. Wallace, born December 16, 1876; Stephen D., July 20, 1879; and Jessie V., June 13, 1881. The farm on which they reside contains 160 acres of land, and was taken up by his brother as a homestead. It is all under cultivation, except possibly ten acres, and is all fenced. The improve- ments are all new, and can be seen by reference to sketch of the same, in this work. There are ten acres of timber land in the mountains, that are a part of the property. As to productiveness, it does not differ materially from any of the other numerous farms in the foothills. Its elevations are better than the low land, because of ferns that choke out the grain in the latter. The view of the place is towards the north, looking out over a grain-growing section of some twelve miles in extent. The face of the country is uneven and hilly, and the farm in question is situated six miles east from Walla Walla.

PHILANDER S. WITT is a native of Dublin, Wayne County, Indiana, and was born February 21, 1845. His father was physician, and there were eight brothers and sisters of them in the family, of whom five are now living, four of them, brothers, being now residents of Walla Walla valley, The sister, Sarah J., resides in Kansas at Lecompton, her husband's name being J. H. Bonebraek. The father, Caswell Witt, was possessed of a nature that made him essentially a rontiersman, although a physician he was more anxious to reach some, to him, new country, in the 'advance of civilization, than to settle down to the practice of his profession. This disposition made of him an almost constant traveler; and among his wanderings the following became some of the temporary homes of his family: Cincinnati, Ohio; Marion, Indiana; Keokuk, Iowa; Fort Riley, Kansas; and Taylor county, Iowa. In 1858 he came to the Pacific coast by way of the Isthmus, and made Benton county, Oregon, his first stopping place. From there he went to Steilacoom, W. T., thence to Russian River; California, back to Douglas county, Oregon, and thence to Benton county, where he was residing at the time the mines were discovered in Washington Territory and Eastern Oregon. In the spring of 1862 the subject of this sketch, P. S. Witt, in company with his two brothers, Caswell J. and Miles O., left home and started for the Elk City mines with a pack train. They passed through Walla Walla valley, which they saw then for the first time, little imagining they were passing the place that was to be the future home of them all, from where one, at least, was to seek the shores of that silent river beyond which lies the dark unknown.

For two years Philander S. was occupied in packing to the mines, after which, he returned to his father's home in Benton county, Oregon. In the fall of 1864 the home was changed to Marion county in that State, where Philander was mar-- ried to Miss Ellen Hall near Butteville on the sixteenth of March, 1865. The name of the bride's father is James E. Hall, he was a pioneer of 1845, ar*d one of the substantial farmers of that country. In 1866 Caswell with the father removed to Washington Territory and settled in Walla Walla valley, where he died November 7, 1870. Philander S. followed his father to the valley in 1867, where he took up a homestead claim on which his brother, Bennett B., now resides; and in 1876 he purchased the place that is his present home. [See illustration.] The farm consists of 220 acres, and he also has ten acres of timber land in the mountains. It is all under cultivation and fenced. The character of the soil is the same as all the foothill lands, being very productive. An exceptional yield was of a crop of wheat in 1872, consisting of 25 acres, that produced 61 bushels to the acre. In 1881, a field of no acres, lying north of the house, produced 38 bushels of wheat to the acre.

They have had four children, but one of whom is now living. The cemetery has claimed for its own the other three, Effie E., Corwin E., and little William. The two former died of diptheria within six hours of each other Sept ember 30, 1879.

DAVIS WOOTON, a farmer by occupation, lives on Dry creek, eleven miles by road a little north from east of the city of Walla Walla. Including a railroad claim he has 400 acres of land of which 240 are enclosed and eighty of it timber: The improvements around his house can be seen by referring to a view of the same in this work. There is a small orchard of a variety of fruits; 100 acres of the farm are under cultivation, and in 1874 twenty acres of it yielded fifty bushels of wheat to the acre. To his farming he adds the raising, in limited numbers, of different kinds of stock, such as cattle, horses, hogs etc. Hardin Wooton, the father of Davis, was a native of Kentucky, where he was born in 1806, and married in that State Miss Mary McGee, in 1827. Davis Wooton was born June 23, 1832, in Clay county, Kentucky, and removed with his parents to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1837. In 1854 the subject of this sketch left his home in Johnson county and crossed the plains with en ox team to California, where he lived in Sonoma county on Russian river, for about five years. In 1859 he went to Yamhill county, Oregon, and remained there until 1861, when he came to Washington Territory and Walla Walla county. In 1872 he settled on the ranch where he now lives. In September, 1876, he was married to Mrs. Annie, widow of John Largent, the daughter of Mica Mathena, now deceased. Mrs. Wooton's father was also a native of Kentucky, where he was born in 1809. He was married to Miss Mahala Pennington, of Illinois, in 1828, where they lived until 1852. This last year they crossed the plains to Oregon. Mrs. Largent was born in 1842, was first married in 1857; came in 1871 with her husband to Walla Walla, where he died in 1874, leaving her a widow with four girls and two boys, whose names and dates of'birth are as follows- Jane, September 14, i860; Richard E., June 22, 1863; Idelia, March 12, 1865; Rose E., September 6, 1866; William D., October 26, 1868; Mary M., July 8, 1870. Mr. Wooton's children are: Hardin C, born January 2, 1879; Arthur, born September 16, 1880; infant child, born February 7, 1882. In politics Mr. Wooton is a Democrat, but is not an active politician and never seeks preferment in this line.

PHILIP YENNEY is a native of Germany, and was born in Baden October 22, 1834. His parents were farmers, and he remained at home with them in the fatherland until he was sixteen years of age, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York July 18, 1850. He spent four years in Virginia and Maryland, and then went to Iowa. It had been his intention, if he did not like the country, to return to Germany; but the years and the traveling combined, had given the New World an attraction that caused him to determine to make of it his future home. While in Iowa he resided near Oskaloosa, in Mahaska county. In October, 1857, while living in Iowa, he was married to Rachel Wennett. The father of Miss Wennett was one of the pioneers of Iowa, and now lives near Dayton, W. T. In i860 Mr. Yenney, in company with Mr. Wennett, crossed the plains with an ox team to Walla Walla, W. T., where he took up an eighty-acre homestead a little north of where he now lives. In July, 1 871, he purchased the property where he now resides, of which there is a view in this book. Since that time, he has added to the original farm, until at present it embraces 560 acres. To this is added an eighty-acre school tract that he will have the first right to when the school land is in market, making 640 acres, all of which he has inclosed with fences and all under cultivation. For the building improvements see the view in this work. Since coming to Walla Walla his business has been farming and stock-raising.

He has six children: Sarah M., the wife of James W. McKee, resides in Garfield county near Pomeroy; John F., aged 24 years; Robert C, 13 years; William H., 11 years; and Lewis O., 8 years; little Margaret O., 6 years. There are three orchards on the place, containing about 500 trees, apples, pears, etc. There are eighty acres of timber land in the mountains belonging to Mr. Yenney. He has been a school director since the first organization of the district in which he lives. John F. owns 200 acres on Whiskey creek.

J. M. LAMB lives twelve miles east of Walla Walla City, where he has a farm containing 280 acres of land, through which Dry creek runs. He also has 80 acres of timber in the mountains, and another ranch of 200 acres on the north fork of Dry creek, one and a half miles away from his homestead. The 200 acre farm is all inclosed, 150 acres of it are under cultivation, and it has a small orchard, and house. The home farm is all inclosed, 150 acres of it are cultivated, and the improvements can be best appreciated, by re/erring to sketch of the same accompanying this book. Mr. Lamb was born February 19, 1835, m Logan Co. Kentucky. In 1854, he came with his parents to California, and they lived for two years near what is now Woodland in Yolo County, from where they removed to Russian river in Sonoma County of that state. In 1856, December 17th, the subject of this sketch was maried to Miss Jane Pearce of Sonoma County, California, who had recently come with her parents from Atchison County, Missouri. After the marriage, Mr. Lamb started in business for himself, and in 1859, removed to Walla Walla in Washington Territory, and settled on the place that is now his home.

The record of births and deaths in the family of Mr. Lamb (including his parents) is as follows: - Parents: Downing Lamb, born September 5, 181 1 ; Elizabeth Lamb October 8, 1814 ; J. M. Lamb, February 19, 1835 ; Jane Lamb, October 3, 1835; Children: George W., February 12, 1859; John D., March 8, 1861 ; Georgia A., February 21, 1863; Martha E., March 12, 1865; Cora A., April 12, 1867; William T., January 18, 1869; Daniel W., February 19, 1872; Sarah J., March 19, 1874. Of these children, George W. and Sarah J., have been laid in the silent city of the dead, and Georgia A , was married in 1881 October 12th, to George W. Howard, who now lives in Spokane Co., Washington Ty. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb are members of the church of Christ, and he of the Democratic party. In 1867 and 1868, he served as a member of the Territorial Legislature, having been elected to that position by a Walla Walla constituency. In 1881 he attended as a delegate from Washington Territory, the assembly of the State Grange in Oregon. It will thus be seen that confidence and appreciation are awarded Mr. Lamb by his neighbors and those who have come to know him best.

W. G. LANGFORD'S parents were Charles and Fannie (Mansfield) Langford. He was born in 1831, in the State of Ohio, and when still an infant was taken by his parents to Chatauqua Co., N. Y. where his mother died when he was nine years of age. The family then went to Jackson Co. Iowa. At the age of ninteen he started across the plains, and arrived in Oregon in August 1850. He went to work for wages, and attended school at Forest Grove from 1854 to 1856, teaching in the neighborhood to defray his expenses. He commenced the study of law under Judge E. D. Shattuck, served four months as a volunteer in the Indian war then raging, and then resumed his studies. He afterwards went to Portland and entered the office of Judge P. A. Markquam. with whom he formed a partnership when admitted to the bar. He later practiced in Vancouver until the spring of 1862. He spent that summer practicing in Florence, Idaho, and in the spring of 1863 was appointed by the Governor of Wasington Prosecuting Attorney for the First Judicial District. He attended court at Walla Walla, spent the summer at Warren's mines, and then settled at Walla Walla, where he was successively a partner of Judge J. H. Lasater and Judge J. D. Mix. In 1864 was elected a member of the Territorial Council. In 1868 he went to the Eastern States, and practiced law in Washington City, Mississippi and Texas, and then a year in San Francisco. He then returned to Washington City, where he married Mrs. Emma R. L. Norris. A year later he removed to Lewiston, Idaho, where he was elected to the Territorial Council, and served in the session of 1877-78. He then returned to Walla Walla, where his wife died in 1879. Mr. Langford has since his last settlement in this city been engaged in the practice of his profession with good success. He has been City Attorney for the past two years. Politically he has alvvays been a democrat of the kind known once as a war democrat, but has become thoroughly disgusted with politics and professional politicians. His religious ideas are so extremely liberal that they can find no definite platform to stand upon. Twenty five years of practice in so many dfferent localities have given Mr. Langford a fund of legal knowledge and practical experience that is highly valuable in his profession.