ALBERT E. ANDERSON

Albert E. Anderson, a veteran of the World war, is now dealing in automobiles and is one of Bellingham's enterprising young business men and loyal sons. He was born May 30, 1889, his parents, Andrew and Augusta Anderson, having been residents of the city since 1888. The father was engaged in the hotel business for several years, gaining a wide acquaintance among the traveling public, and is now living retired.

Albert E. Anderson received a public school education. In 1918 he responded to his country's call to arms, and he served until the close of the World war, never faltering in the performance of duty. Since 1923 he has owned and conducted the business of the Standard Automobile Company, which was formed in 1914. He was one of the organizers of the corporation, his associates in the undertaking being A. W. Knight and Henry Hansen. The business is located at No. 1215 Cornwall avenue and occupies two floors of a building fifty-five by one hundred and twenty-five feet in dimensions. The repair shop is equipped for first-class service, and Mr. Anderson has surrounded himself with a force of skilled mechanics and experienced salesmen, having twenty employees in all. He has the local agency for the Overland and Willys-Knight machines and his annual sales amount to a large figure. He is alert to every new development in the automobile trade and brings to his executive duties enthusiasm, initiative, foresight and mature judgment.

Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Helen Byles, a native of Bellingham and a daughter of Lee N. and Mabel (Hancock) Byles. The father was born in Elma, Chehalis county, Washington, in 1864 and for many years was prominently identified with logging operations in Whatcom and Skagit counties. His father, David F. Byles, was a native of Madisonville, Kentucky, and in 1853 crossed the plains with an ox team and wagon. He located near Olympia, Washington, and was one of the early surveyors of that district. Afterward he operated a farm on Grays Harbor and subsequently moved to Elma. He married Mary J. Hill, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of a Presbyterian minister. She came to Washington territory in the year of its separation from Oregon, and she held a secure place in the affections of many of the native sons and daughters of this state.

Mrs. Anderson is a graduate of the Bellingham high school, the University of Washington and the State Normal School, and previous to her marriage she was a teacher in the Lowell grammar school of this city. Mr. Anderson is a republican in his political views and belongs to the Rotary and Country Clubs. He is a member of the American Legion and along fraternal lines is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. The growth and advancement of his city is a matter in which he takes much personal pride, and that he is a young man of worth and ability is indicated by what he has accomplished.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 80-81.

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JORGEN O. ANDERSON

One of the most progressive and up-to-date dairy farmers of Whatcom county is Jorgen O. Anderson, whose fine farm is located three and a half miles southeast of Sumas. He comes of a people who are noted the world over for their industry, thrift and wholesome living, qualities which he has exemplified in his own career here, and no man in his locality is held in higher esteem by the people generally. Mr. Anderson was born in Norway on the 9th of October, 1870, and is a son of Anders and Annie Marie Anderson, both of whom were lifelong residents of Norway, where the father followed the occupation of a sailor. Of the seven children born to this worthy couple, two are living, Jorgen O. and Thomas.

Jorgen O. Anderson received his education in his native land and then, following the example of his father, went to sea as a sailor. In 1893 his ship touched at Fairhaven, and there Mr. Anderson left his ship. During the following seven years he worked in the mines of the Blue Canyon Coal Company at Lake Whatcom. In April, 1900, he bought one hundred and seventy one acres of land three and a half miles southeast of Sumas and proceeded at once to clear the tract, which was heavily covered with timber. He built a small house, which was destroyed by fire about a year later, but he immediately rebuilt a better house. In 1904 he sold eighty acres of his land to his brother Thomas, and at about the same time he embarked in the dairy business, buying a few cows. He was successful in this enterprise and in 1910 acquired a herd of pure bred Guernsey stock. This breed of cattle has proven its value, and he has built his herd up to one hundred head, about fifty of which are registered pure bred stock. Among these animals are a number of unusually good ones, chief of which are two which hold the highest test record in the state, aside from Holsteins. He retails all his milk and cream in Bellingham and has met with a very gratifying measure of success in his chosen line. He has bought more land, adding forty acres in 1908 and sixty-seven acres in 1922, so that he is now the owner of one hundred and ninety-eight acres, one hundred and seventy of which are under cultivation, the remainder being in pasture. His principal field crops are hay, grain, oats and vetch, with enough corn to fill his silos, and five acres of sugar beets. The land, which is tile drained, is fertile and well cared for, Mr. Anderson following twentieth century methods in all his operations.

The records of the two cows referred to above are as follows: "Summers Sequel Francesca," from March 20, 1921, to March 19, 1922, produced seven hundred and nine and eighty-nine hundredths pounds of butter fat, the highest production of any senior three year old cow in the state of Washington (Holsteins excepted), her daily average test for the year being four and ninety-eight hundredths pounds. A half sister of this splendid cow, "Francesca of Hillview Farm," from December 4, 1921 to December 3, 1922, produced six hundred and three and ninety-one hundredths pounds of butter fat, with a daily average of five and six hundredths pounds, a record for junior three year old cows in the state (Holsteins excepted).

Mr. Anderson was married August 29, 1896, to Miss Hilda Lind, who was born in Sweden, a daughter of Nels and Johanna (Welin) Lind, both of whom also were natives of that country, where they died. They were the parents of ten children, of whom five are living, namely: Mrs. Carl Swenson; Mrs. J. J. Booman, who lives at Lynden, Whatcom county; Hilda, (Mrs. Anderson); Mrs. H. Erholm, of Anacortes, Washington; and Nelson A., of Ruskin, British Columbia. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have been born three children, namely: Mrs. A. G. Elliott, who lives at Elliott, Washington, is the mother of three children - Aneta Louise, Andrew George and Robert James; and Norman D. and Victor H., both of whom are at home and are giving their father valuable assistance in the operation of the farm. Mr. Anderson has also been ably seconded in all his work by his wife, who has been to him a true helpmate in the best sense of the term. The farm is equipped with all modern labor saving machinery and devices, and the buildings are of substantial construction and so arranged as to best expedite the work, the general appearance of the ranch indicating the owner to be a man of good taste and excellent judgment.

Mr. Anderson is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association. He has taken a commendable interest in the public affairs of the community and has rendered effective and appreciated service as a member of the school board and as township supervisor, having served for three years in the latter capacity. He is a good business man, exercising discrimination and discretion in all of his affairs, and has long been recognized as one of the leading men of his section of the county. Quiet and unassuming in manner, he nevertheless possesses the essential qualities of good citizenship and stand deservedly high in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 570-571.

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ARTHUR J. BLYTHE

Arthur J. Blythe, one of Bellingham's well known business men, has made his home in the city for more than twenty years and throughout this period has been intimately associated with building operations, enjoying an enviable reputation as a plumber. A native of England, he was born in 1881 and is a son of Arthur J. Blythe, Sr. He left the land of his birth when a boy of eleven, going to Canada, and lived for seven years in Montreal. He attended the public schools of that city and in 1903 came to Bellingham. He served an apprenticeship to the plumber's trade and in 1909 was able to start a business of his own, opening a plumbing shop on West Holly street. His trade increased rapidly and in 1920 he sought more commodious quarters, moving to his present location at No. 1313 Railroad avenue. His establishment is twenty-seven and a half by one hundred feet in dimensions, and he employs fifteen experienced men in the busiest season. He carries a full line of plumbing, heating and oil burning equipment, which he has installed in many of the best buildings of Bellingham, and is considered an expert in his line. Mr. Blythe has ever recognized the fact that true commercialism rests upon the foundation of integrity, and on this basis he has developed the largest business of the kind in the city.

In 1905 Mr. Blythe married Miss Stella Shumway, of Bellingham, and the children of this union are Stewart Steward and Helen. Mr. Blythe is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner and is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He belongs to the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce and exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party. Possessing intelligence, a self-reliant nature and the capacity for hard work, Mr. Blythe has attained his objective, and in winning success he has also gained the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens, for his record is unblemished.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 198.

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WILLIAM H. BROOKS

Among those who have by their indomitable energy and perseverance aided in the splendid development which has taken place in Whatcom county in the past forty years or more, and whose labors and accomplishments have entitled them to more than passing notice, is W. H. Brooks. His early years were characterized by hard and continuous labor and he owes his success to no train of fortunate circumstances but solely to the application of mental qualifications of a high order to his personal affairs.

Mr. Brooks was born in Carroll county, Illinois, on the 28th of September, 1857, and is a son of W. H. and Esther (Marr) Brooks, who were married January 21, 1835. The father, who was born in West Flamborough, Ontario, Canada, July 26, 1816, was a pioneer settler of Illinois. His wife was born in Norfolk county, Ontario, Canada, and her death occurred in Iowa, September 9, 1874. When our subject was but a baby, the family moved to Jackson county, Iowa, and later lived in Wisconsin and Indiana, where the father followed farming and also followed the trades of a stone mason and a general mechanic. Our subject secured his education in the public schools of Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana. After his mother's death he was practically thrown on his own resources, and he worked on farms most of the time until his marriage. In 1877 he located in Iowa, where he was engaged in farming on his own account for two years, and from there he went to Minnesota. On December 12, 1887, he came to Fairhaven, where he remained during part of the winter, and he then located near his present farm, proving up on one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which he lived until 1902, when he went east of the mountains.

A year later Mr. Brooks returned and bought his present place, which was known as the Roeder farm, comprising one hundred acres of land. It had been occupied once before but had been vacant for some time and had fallen into a bad condition, being covered with undergrowth, while part of the land was under water. Mr. Brooks now has the land well ditched and drained, and the fields are producing excellent crops. He carries on general farming, raising hay, grain, potatoes and beets, having twenty acres in the last-named vegetable, and he also keeps six cows and a few hogs. In the days when he first located here he traded at the old Roeder store, which was but a stone's throw from his present home. There were then no roads in this immediate locality, a few trails being the only highways.

In 1877, in Hancock county, Iowa, Mr. Brooks was married to Miss Mary Church, who was the first white child born in that county, of which her father's three brothers were the organizers. She was a daughter of O. D. and Nancy (House) Church, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Canada. Both parents died on the old homestead in Hancock county. To Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were born two children: Ivan H., who died in 1922, was married to Miss Ethel Warner, to which union was born one child, Mrs. Esther Duncan, who now makes her home with the subject. Mrs. Goldie R. Schuschman resides at Snoqualmie and is the mother of a daughter. Mrs. Brooks was clerk of the school board of her district for about ten years prior to 1902, and Mr. Brooks served as road overseer for seven or eight years during that same period. He has taken an active interest in the advancement of his community, and he assisted in the starting of the C. S. Kate [Kale] Canning Company, of which he became a stockholder. He was also one of the organizers of the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company and installed several sets of telephone poles near his place. After his wife's death, Mr. Brooks rented out his farm for a number of years, but in the spring of 1925 he again occupied it. During the World war he worked in shipyards and was in many places in Canada and California. He is a man of splendid character and has long held an enviable place in the esteem and confidence of all who know him, for he has proven himself worthy in every respect.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 86-87.

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CHARLES G. BURNET

Charles G. Burnet has achieved success in the contracting business, and Bellingham is indebted to him for its finely built streets and other improvements. A son of James and Emma (Ferguson) Burnet, he was born in 1880 and is a native of Scotland. The father was engaged in farming and stock raising and was a lifelong resident of the "land of hills and heather." The mother is now living in Bellingham.

Charles G. Burnet received a public school education and spent his boyhood on his father's farm. He was first connected with the wholesale tea and coffee business and remained in Scotland until 1901, being the first member of the family to leave that country. Going to Canada, he spent a year in the province of British Columbia and in 1902 crossed the border into the United States. He located in Bellingham and for some time was engaged in railroad construction work. He entered the contracting business in 1907 and when he had become well established sent for his mother, two sisters and two brothers, who joined him in Bellingham in 1910. He specializes in highway paving, street construction and the building of sewers and sidewalks and is unexcelled in this line. He has a central plant on C street and during the busy season operates fifteen trucks, furnishing employment to one hundred men. He has paved the main highways leading into Bellingham and has built and paved the following streets: North Elk, Champion, Garden Young, James, Magnolia, Maple and Sixteenth. He is thoroughly dependable in executing contracts and by hard work and judicious management has developed a business of extensive proportions.

In 1915 Mr. Burnet married miss Mabelle Louise Parshall, of Illinois, and they have two daughters; Mary and Bettie. Mr. Burnet was one of the first trustees of the Bellingham Country Club and aided in laying out the golf course. He is identified with the Masonic order and exercises his right of franchise in support of the candidates and measures of the republican party. He is a man of forceful personality, of broad views and progressive spirit, and exemplifies in his life the admirable qualities of the Scotch race.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 594-595.

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CHARLES BYLSMA

A fine type of the modern business man, Charles Bylsma is the recognized leader of the hardware trade in Lynden and represents one of its most prominent families, exemplifying in his life the many admirable qualities of his ancestors, who lived in the "land of the dikes." He was born in 1896 and is a native of Orange City, Iowa. He is a son of Otto J. and Bessie Bylsma, the former of whom was born September 12, 1861, and is a native of the kingdom of Holland. When a young man of twenty-two he responded to the lure of the new world and in 1883 arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He spent five years in that state and in 1888 started for the west, journeying to Orange City, Iowa. He embarked in the real estate business and bought and sold many farms in that region. In 1912 he came with his family to Washington, settling in Lynden, and turned his attention to the hardware business, also dealing in farm implements. The venture proved a success from the start and in 1913 he erected a two-story building, fifty by one hundred and forty feet in dimensions. He adopted the most progressive methods in the conduct of the store and drew his trade from a wide area, enjoying an unassailable reputation for probity and reliability. He remained at the head of the concern until January, 1925, creating a business of extensive proportions, and has since lived retired in Lynden.

Charles Bylsma attended the public schools and completed his education in the Northwestern Classical Academy of Orange City, Iowa. He entered the service of his country in 1918, becoming first sergeant of Company Seven Hundred and Thirty-seven, M. T. C., and was honorably discharged in 1919. He returned to Lynden and became associated with his father in the conduct of the store, purchasing the business January 1, 1925, when the latter retired. The keen sagacity, progressive spirit and executive force displayed by Otto J. Bylsma in the upbuilding of the undertaking are qualities which his son has inherited in full measure, and under his able guidance its continued expansion is assured. This is the leading implement store of Whatcom county, in which the name of Bylsma is synonymous with business enterprise and integrity, and the institution is a matter of pride to Lynden's citizens.

On May 14, 1917, Mr. Bylsma was married to Miss Nancy Meenderink, of Lynden, a daughter of Bernard Meenderink, a prosperous agriculturist, now deceased, who settled in this district in 1905. To this union three sons have been born, namely: Otto John, Bernard Charles and Peter Francis. Mr. and Mrs. Bylsma are earnest members of the Christian Reformed church and in politics he follows an independent course, casting his ballot for the candidate whom he considers best qualified for office, without reference to party affiliations. He is a young man of pleasing personality, thoroughly imbued with western energy and determination, and his record reflects credit upon the honored name he bears.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 178.

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EDMUND N. CADWELL

It is a well authenticated fact that success comes only as the result of well applied energy, unflagging determination and the exercise of sound judgment along definite lines of action. These commendable qualities have been prominent in the career of the subject of this sketch, who is now numbered among the enterprising, energetic and popular citizens of Ferndale township. E. N. Cadwell was born at East River, New Haven county, Connecticut, on the 26th of March, 1875, and is a son of Walter P. and Agnes (Pettigrew) Cadwell. All of his grandparents were natives of Connecticut and his mother of Rhode Island. The paternal grandfather, William H. Cadwell, who was a shipbuilder by occupation, came to Port Ludlow, Washington, in 1878, by way of the Isthmus of Panama.  Here he established himself as a shipbuilder and followed that business up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1887. His wife long survived him, passing away in 1921, at the age of ninety years. In 1878, when but three years of age, our subject came with his father and grandfather to Port Ludlow, where they lived about two years. They then moved to the San Juan islands, off the coast of Whatcom county, where the father homesteaded three hundred and twenty acres of land on Crane island. He farmed this tract for a number of years and in 1905 sold it and bought fifteen acres on Lopez island, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there September 3, 1919.

E. N. Cadwell secured his education in the schools on the islands and lived with his grandfather at Deer Harbor, Orcas island. When he reached the years of young manhood he went to work as a clerk in a grocery store on the island, following that occupation until 1910, when he established a general merchandise store at Friday Harbor, San Juan island. He ran it for about a year and then sold it and came to Bellingham, where he lived until July 31, 1925. Mr. Cadwell then bought thirty acres of land in section 39, Ferndale township, on which he and his wife at once located. It is a fine old place, with a large and commodious house, which they remodeled and greatly improved, and it is now a very comfortable and attractive home. There are also on the place substantial and well arranged barns and chicken houses, and it is a very desirable piece of property. Mr. Cadwell keeps seventeen head of cattle and a thousand hens, as will as a good team of horses. He leases adjoining farm land, which he cultivates, raising hay and grain principally.  He has applied himself diligently to the proper operation of his ranch and is achieving very gratifying success. He is thorough in whatever he undertakes and exercises sound common sense in his plans and operations.

On May 10, 1911, Mr. Cadwell was married to Miss Helena Everson, who was born in Clinton, Iowa, a daughter of C. E. and Mary Josephine (Packer) Everson, the latter of whom was a native of Pennsylvania. Her father was born and reared in Denmark, whence he came to the United States about 1870. He located at Clinton, Iowa, where he carried on contracting and building until 1888, when he moved to Bellingham, Washington, and engaged in the same line of business, to which he devoted his energies practically up to the time of his death, which occurred December 19, 1913. His wife died December 22, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Cadwell were the only children in their respective families. Mr. Cadwell is a member of Puyallup Lodge No. 38, Free and Accepted Masons. He and his wife have been witnesses of and active participants in the wonderful development of the Puget Sound country and have great faith in the still further growth and greater prosperity of this section. In every relation of life Mr. Cadwell has shown a true and loyal spirit, carrying on his business affairs on the highest plane of business ethics, and taking a public-spirited interest in everything affecting the welfare of the general public.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 929-930.

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JAMES O. CALHOON

James O. Calhoon, a well known and progressive dairyman and poultryman of Mountain View township, having a well kept place of fifteen acres near Blaine, is a Hoosier by birth but has  been a resident of Washington long enough to feel himself thoroughly at home here and is quite content to regard this as his permanent place of dwelling. Mr. Calhoon was born on a farm in Putnam county, Indiana, May 4, 1878, and is a son of Marion C. and Elizabeth (Trail) Calhoon, the latter of whom, also a native of Indiana, is now making her home with her daughter. M. C. Calhoon, who died at his home in Oklahoma in 1902, was born in the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina, became a resident of Indiana in his youth and was there married. He engaged in farming in Putnam county, that state, and there resided until 1884, when he moved with his family to Montgomery county, Kansas, settling on a farm. In 1900 he moved to Oklahoma and in the latter state died two years later.

J. O. Calhoon was six years of age when he went with his parents from his Indiana home to Kansas and was reared on a farm in the latter state. For five years after his father's death he continued farming and then became connected with a feed and poultry business at Shattuck, Oklahoma, and was thus engaged at that place until in 1909, when he came to Washington and located at Walla Walla. After less than a year in that city he came to Whatcom county and bought a tract of twenty acres in Custer township, which he later traded for his present place of fifteen acres in Mountain View township and has since made his home on this latter place, where he is very well established and where he has built up a good little dairy plant. He also is largely interested in poultry raising, having now about five hundred hens, and is doing well in his operations, which are carried on in strict accord with modern methods. Mr. Calhoon is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and of the Poultry Association and in the affairs of these two progressive and helpful organizations takes an interested part.

Mr. Calhoon has been twice married. In 1900, in Kansas, he was united in marriage to Miss Flora Parret, a member of one of the pioneer families of that state, who died in 1907. To that union were born two children, twins, Marion J. and Florence, but the latter died when three months old. Marion J. is now an assistant to his father on the dairy farm. In 1909, in Oklahoma, Mr. Calhoon married Miss Elsie Wagner and to this union one child was born, but lived only a few hours. Mrs. Calhoon was born in Kansas and is a daughter of A. H. Wagner and wife, the latter of whom died in 1916. Mr. Wagner is now living in the city of Chicago.

Mr. Calhoon is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of the World and he and his wife attend the Congregational church. In their political views they reserve the right to independence of expression at the polls.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 810-811.

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DANIEL CAMPBELL

The fruits of victory are for those who dare, and possessing the requisite courage, stamina and ability, Daniel Campbell has passed far beyond the ranks of the many, taking his place with the successful few. For more than a quarter of a century he has been a dominant figure in business circles of Bellingham and the Pacific northwest and his operations in connection with the salmon industry have constituted a vital force in the development and progress of this region.

Mr. Campbell is one of the valuable citizens whom Canada has furnished to the United States. He is a native of the province of Nova Scotia and came to this country in 1889, during his boyhood, spending the period of his youth in Oregon. He was connected for some time with the fuel business and in 1899 came to Bellingham. In the same year he aided in forming the Astoria & Puget Sound Canning Company, of which he was elected vice president. M. J. Kinney was the first president and George M. Hawes, of Portland, acted as secretary. They became the owners of the plant of the Bellingham Bay Canning Company situated on Chuckanut drive, and early in the history of the organization Mr. Campbell purchased the stock of his partners. He has since controlled the business, carefully studying every phase of the trade, and an extensive industry is the visible expression of his well formulated plans, broad vision and executive power.

The plant has been enlarged from time to time and now has a capacity of forty-five hundred cases per day. It is supplied with the most modern equipment and is in every respect a model institution. The company has also established a branch in Alaska and this plant is capable of turning out three thousand cases per day. It has a force of one hundred operatives, and the Bellingham cannery furnishes employment to two hundred persons. The corporation maintains a large fleet of fishing boats and scows and ships its output all over the world, selling through brokers, and it has aided in making Bellingham the salmon center of the world. The product of the firm has always been maintained at a high standard and is unsurpassed in quality and flavor. In 1923 the Astoria & Puget Sound Canning Company purchased the interests of the Ainsworth & Dunn Packing Company at Blaine, Washington, acquiring the cannery, traps, boats and pile-drivers of that concern, and has greatly increased the scope of the business. In 1917 Mr. Campbell and associates organized the Royal Dairy Products Company, which installed the first powdered milk plant at Bellingham, and he was president of the business in 1923, when it was sold to the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association. He is a director of the First National Bank of Bellingham, and he is constantly expanding the scope of his activities as opportunity offers, typifying the progressive spirit of the west.

Mr. Campbell is married and has one daughter, who resides at home. He is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and has taken the thirty-second degree in the order. He is an adherent of the republican party and was serving on the city council at the time of the consolidation. He is an influential member of the Chamber of Commerce and for four years has been president of the Bellingham Golf & Country Club. Mr. Campbell has been a leader in all public developments and is entitled to classification with America's "captains of industry," for he represents that class of men who are capable of controlling the forces of trade and commerce and directing them for the benefit of the majority. The Golden Rule has been his guide throughout life, and few careers in Bellingham have matched his in service to the city.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 546-547.

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PATRICK COLLOPY

Patrick Collopy, one of the real "old timers" of this region, is a substantial farmer and landowner of Mountain View township, being the proprietor of a well improved place on rural mail route No. 2 out of Ferndale. He is supervisor of the Butler drainage district and was formerly justice of the peace in and for Mountain View township, and he is widely known throughout the county. Though a New Englander by birth, a native of the old Nutmeg state, he has been a resident of the coast country for more than forty years and is thus accounted one of the pioneers here, having arrived in Whatcom county in the early '80s of the past century.

Mr. Collopy was born on a farm in Litchfield county, Connecticut, January 27, 1856, and is a son of Timothy and Catherine (Kennedy) Collopy, both natives of Ireland. Timothy Collopy came to America in 1849 along with thousands of energetic young Irishmen who were seeking relief from the distressing conditions then existing in the island by reason of famine and onerous political exactions, and in the next year he sent for the girl to whom he had plighted his troth before leaving the old sod. They were married in Connecticut and settled down there until their departure for Illinois in 1866.

Patrick Collopy was ten years of age when he went with his parents to Illinois, and he grew up on a farm in Kane county, that state, finishing his schooling there. He remained at home until he attained his majority, and in 1877 he struck out for himself, his first trip being to San Francisco, in which city one of his uncles had located. At that time he was not particularly impressed with conditions on the coast and after a year he returned east and became employed on railway construction work in Wisconsin, a line which, with occasional periods of farming, he followed for some years thereafter, working in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory, eastern Texas, Arkansas, Montana and the Dakotas until 1883, when he returned to the coast, Seattle being his objective. In that same year he made his initial trip to Whatcom and also investigated conditions at Mount Vernon, returning to Seattle before the end of the year. From that place he presently started out on foot for British Columbia and for a time, working out of Vancouver and New Westminster, was engaged in construction work on the Canadian Pacific railroad. Not being greatly impressed with conditions there he presently went back over the line, his objective being the Ferndale settlement on the Nooksack, where he arrived with but twenty-five cents remaining of such wages as he had earned. This he spent for breakfast and then went down to Sehome and secured work on the Carter building which then was under construction, a building which is still standing. Mr. Collopy went to work at a wage of a dollar and a half a day, but it was soon found that he was an experienced carpenter and mechanic, and before the week was over his wages had been advanced to two dollars and a half a day. That was in 1884. With the exception of the two years he spent at Dawson during the time of the Alaska gold excitement in the late '90s, he has ever since been identified with local activities.

In 1887 Mr. Collopy took up a timber claim in this county, which he presently sold to advantage. He also preempted a tract in the neighboring county of Skagit and then spent two years trying to sell it after he had proved up on it. Upon his return from Alaska in 1899 he bought another tract in Whatcom county. Some time later he bought a tract in the Roseburg neighborhood in Oregon and after a while disposed of it to advantage. Then, in 1910, he bought the "eighty" in Mountain View township, on which he since has been living, and there he and his family are comfortably situated. When Mr. Collopy bought that place a clearing of about three acres had been made, and all the other improvements have been made by himself. Dairying is the chief activity on this farm and Mr. Collopy has a well selected herd of dairy cattle. He is a member of the Whatcom County Dairy Association and conducts his operations in accordance with approved methods.

In 1890 at De Kalb, Illinois, Patrick Collopy was united in marriage to Miss Frances Pobstman, who was born in New York and who is that year had come to his county with her parents. To this union have been born six children, namely: Fred, who was killed by a falling tree when he was a small child; George, who was accidentally drowned in his youth; Edward, who married Carrie Janitscheck and has one child, Albert; Joseph, who married Irma Sansregret; Margaret, who is at home with her parents; and Mary, who is now a resident of Seattle.

Mr. Collopy is independent in politics and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civil affairs, while his religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. For about twelve years he was a member of the Grange. From 1915-25 he served as justice of the peace in and for his home township and for four years has been rendering service as district drainage supervisor. By reason of his long residence in this county he is one of its well established citizens, and there are few who have a wider of better acquaintance here than has he.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 85-86.

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ALFRED B. COLYER

The self-made man invariably commands our highest respect, and the struggles by means of which he rose from comparative obscurity to honorable success cannot fail but enlist our sympathy and excite our admiration. On the roster of names of those who have been identified with the development and improvement of Whatcom county is that of A. B. Colyer, whose life here has been characterized by persistent and untiring industry, while his private life has been such as to earn the respect of all who know him. Mr. Colyer was born at Albion, Edwards county, Illinois, on the 7th of October, 1866, and is a son of George and Clara (Prichard) Colyer, both of whom were born and reared in that locality. The family has long been identified with that section of country, our subject's paternal grandfather having located there in 1798 and engaged in farming.

A. B. Colyer secured his educational training in a little one room country school near his father's farm, and he remained on the paternal farmstead until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1887 he came to Klickitat county, Washington, and homesteaded what he was led to believe was government land but which he later discovered belonged to the Northern Pacific railroad. He finally bought the land from the railroad company but subsequently found that the location was subject to constant high winds and disposed of the place. He then came to Lynden, Whatcom county, and was employed at various occupations for about a year, in the meantime carefully inspecting the country. In 1891, in partnership with his brother, he bought eighty acres of land comprising his present farm, and at once began clearing the tract, which was covered with timber and brush. The only improvement on the place was a small log cabin, which provided him with temporary shelter, while the only highway in the vicinity was a trail which passed close by. For thirteen years after coming here Mr. Colyer was employed during the spring months in shearing sheep in the mountains. He also worked at other tasks during the winters, devoting the summers to clearing and improving his land. Eventually he cleared the entire tract and sold part of it, being now the owner of forty-five acres. He gives his attention principally to dairy farming, keeping sixteen good grade cows, and his fields are devoted to the raising of hay and grain. He has made many splendid improvements on the farm, which he has developed into a very desirable ranch.

In 1905 Mr. Colyer was married to Miss Ina B. Taylor, a native of Savanna, Illinois, who came to Whatcom county in 1898. Her parents, Frank R. and Lottie I. (Brooks) Taylor, are both deceased, her father dying in 1896 and her mother in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Colyer are the parents of two children, Everett P. and Lloyd F., the latter of whom is in high school, while the former is assisting in the operation of the home farm. Mr. Colyer has taken an active interest in the public affairs of his community, having served for three years as supervisor when the township was first organized, and he also served on the school board, of which he was clerk for many years. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, having become a charter member of the latter order before coming west. His actions have always been the result of careful and conscientious thought, and he has done his full duty in all the relations of life. He has stood earnestly for such measures as have been advanced for the betterment of the community, and he maintains a generous attitude toward all benevolent or charitable organizations. His sterling traits of character have commanded the uniform confidence and regard of his fellow citizens.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 153-154.

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THEO DODD

Theo Dodd, head of the Dodd Lumber & Shingle Company of Bellingham, proprietors of a fine mill plant at Silver Beach, Lake Whatcom, at the junction of the railways, is one of the best known and most energetic young manufacturers in this section of the state. He is a native of the Dominion of Canada but has been a resident of Washington since the days of his boyhood and has been established in business at Bellingham long enough to be included among the prominent business men of that city. Mr. Dodd was born at Nanaimo, British Columbia, in 1894 and is a son of John and Mary Louise (Mullick) Dodd, both natives of England, who came into Washington from British Columbia in 1908, locating at Seattle, whence a year later they came into Whatcom county, establishing their home at Blaine, where Mrs. Dodd died in 1911. John Dodd, a machinist of many years' experience, is now living in California.

Theo Dodd was about fifteen years of age when he came to this country with his parents in 1909. After further schooling at Blaine he went to Vancouver and there, during the years 1911-13, pursued a course in civil engineering. Upon his return to Blaine he was employed in the shingle mill there and became a thoroughly skilled craftsman in that line, continuing thus engaged at Blaine until 1917, when he transferred his connection to the shingle mill at Wickersham, going into the office of the plant there as bookkeeper. In the next year he was made manager of the mill and after a year of executive and administrative experience there came to Bellingham in 1919, organized the Dodd Lumber & Shingle Company and bought the plant of the Upright Shingle Company, a concern that was established here in 1902, the year before Bellingham adopted its present corporation name. Upon taking over this old established mill Mr. Dodd entered upon a course of reconstruction and rehabilitation and has succeeded in bringing the plant up to the highest standard of modern requirement, the mill now being up-to-date in every respect. This company has a three hundred foot frontage on Silver Beach, at the junction of the three railways, and is admirably situated. The plant operates full time, running three shifts, and employs around fifty persons. A specialty is made of fancy and dimension shingles, the latter being cut in standard sizes, and the company's products enter the market from Texas to Baltimore, the quality both of material and workmanship recommending them highly to the trade.

In 1915, at Blaine, Mr. Dodd was united in marriage to Miss Runie Barderson of that place, and they have three children: Theo, Jr., Larus and Betty. Mr. and Mrs. Dodd are republicans and take a proper interest in the general civic and social affairs of the community. Mr. Dodd is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 937.

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RALPH P. DUXBURY

R. P. Duxbury, one of the well established farmers, dairymen and poultrymen of Whatcom county, is the proprietor of a well kept place of forty acres on rural mail route No. 1 out of Blaine, his place overlooking majestic Mount Baker. When he arrived there in 1915 the highway ended at the place just east of his tract, and in moving in he made his entrance through the courtesy of his neighbor, moving his goods in through the latter's land. When he took possession of the place the representation was made to him that fifteen acres of the tract had been cleared, but he found it was considerable less than that, and his task of clearing was thus more extensive than he had planned for. He now has thirty acres cleared and the farm improved in good shape. In addition to his dairy operations he is quite extensively engaged in poultry raising, having a flock of no fewer than five hundred White Leghorns of Hollywood breed. His dairy cattle are mostly registered Jerseys and his herd is led by a registered Jersey bull. Mr. Duxbury enjoys the distinction of having been one of that plucky party of four that made the ascent of Mount Baker from the Baker Lake side, the first successful attempt to scale the mountainside from that approach. Unfortunately, when almost to the summit he was stricken with snow sickness and was thus unable to scale the top with his companions, but he gained the credit for his hardihood nevertheless. It is needless to say that the hours spent by Mr. Duxbury laboriously crawling on hands and knees on this perilous climb will never be effaced from his memory.

Mr. Duxbury was born on a farm in Jackson county, Wisconsin, August 23, 1882, and is a son of J. H. and Emma (Price) Duxbury, the latter of whom, a native of Kansas and a member of one of the pioneer families of that state, is still living, having been a resident of Whatcom county for the past quarter of a century. The late J. H. Duxbury, who died at his home in this county in 1921, also was born in Jackson county, Wisconsin, and was a son of John Duxbury, a native of England, who had settled in that county upon coming to this country and who became one of the substantial pioneer farmers of that region. In 1901 J. H. Duxbury disposed of his holdings in Wisconsin and came to Washington, locating at Bellingham, where he was for some time engaged in the real estate business. He then retired to a small farm he had bought in that neighborhood and there his last days were spent. R. P. Duxbury was eighteen years of age when he came here from Wisconsin. For some time after his arrival he was employed in the service of the street railway company in Bellingham and then transferred his services to the local agency of the Standard Oil Company. For fifteen years he made his home in Bellingham and then, in 1915, bought the tract above referred to and has since been living there, now having one of the best general farm and dairy plants in the neighborhood. Mr. Duxbury gives a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs and for some time rendered efficient public service as supervisor of highways in his district. He is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and of the Poultry Association and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Duxbury likewise is alert to the needs of the public and has rendered service as a member of the local school board.

On May 12, 1907, in Bellingham, Mr. Duxbury was united in marriage to  Miss Grace Burnett, and they have one child, a son, Lloyd Duxbury. Mrs. Duxbury was born in Michigan and is a daughter of James and Margaret (Small) Burnett, who were married in Michigan and who after residing there for some time became residents of Bellingham. The Duxburys have a pleasant home and take an interested and helpful part in the general social activities of their community.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 925-926.

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WILLIAM EDWARDS

A man who has stamped the impress of his individuality upon the minds of the people with whom he has come in contact since coming to Whatcom county is William Edwards, whose well improved farm is located in Lynden township. Faithfulness to duty and a strict adherence to a fixed purpose have been dominating factors in his life, which has been crowned with success worthily attained, and he has also gained the unbounded respect of his fellow citizens. Mr. Edwards was born in Lockport, New York, in 1865, and is a son of Javez Jabez and Rebecca (Harvey) Edwards, both of whom were born in England, the father in 1835 and the mother in 1837. Both are now deceased, the father dying August 23, 1910, and the mother November 4, 1915. Jabez Edwards came to the United States in 1854, at the age of nineteen years, in order to evade military service, and, stopping in New York, became a citizen of the United States. Eventually he returned to England to be married, and on his return to this county again stopped in New York state, where he engaged in farming. In 1866 he moved to Missouri, where he also engaged in farming. He bought a tract of wild railroad land, which had to be cleared before it could be cultivated, and which was a dozen miles from the nearest neighbor. There he created a good home and there he and his wife spent the remaining years of their lives, celebrating their golden wedding anniversary before they passed away.

William Edwards secured a limited education in the district schools of his Missouri home neighborhood, including three months of attendance at summer school and four months of winter school. However, he has been a close and thoughtful reader all his life and a keen observer of men and events, so that today he is a well informed man. He remained on the home farm until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Colorado and for four years was engaged in the drayage and transfer business. While there he also preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he later sold, and then returned to Missouri for a visit. He next went to Utah and engaged in mining at Park City, where he remained several years, and also mined for silver and lead at Sunnyside about four years. Leaving Utah, Mr. Edwards went to Wyoming, where for four years he mined for the Kemmerer Coal Company, after which he again paid a visit to his parents in Missouri. In 1902 Mr. Edwards came to Everson, Whatcom county, and engaged in logging, continuing that line of work about three years. He then rented a farm in Lynden township, which he operated for seven years, at the of which time, in 1911, he bought his present fine farm of forty acres in Lynden township, and has since devoted himself indefatigably to its improvement and cultivation. When he secured the land it was uncleared, but he now has about thirty acres of it cleared and the remainder slashed. He is giving his attention mainly to dairy farming, keeping fifteen good grade cows, of the Guernsey breed, and is constantly improving the grade. He raises his own roughage and some grain, and is operating his place along up-to-date lines, meeting with well deserved success.

In 1905 Mr. Edward was married to Miss Emma Roberts, who was born in Utah, a daughter of George and Maria N. (Dallimore) Roberts. Her father was born at Grantham, England, September 10, 1848, and came to the United States when sixteen years of age. He was located at Rock Springs, Wyoming, for a time but is now living in Utah. He was a blacksmith during his active career and worked for the mines there for many years. He was a blacksmith during his active career and worked for the mines there for many years. His wife was both at Bath, England, January 29, 1847, and her marriage to Mr. Roberts occurred at Salt Lake City, October 11, 1868. To Mr. and Mrs. Edward have been born four children: Fae, Mary, Harmon and Audrey. Fraternally Mr. Edwards is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and has served as road overseer of his district. Because of his success and his splendid personal character, as well as his genial disposition, he has won a high place in the esteem and good will of the people of his community.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 933-934.

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CHARLES ERHOLM

The late Charles Erholm, one Bellingham's most useful and progressive citizens and widely known in northwestern Washington, was the founder of the Pacific Steam Laundry on Ellis street and had been continuously engaged in the laundry business for thirty-seven years when death terminated his labors. His birth occurred in Aland, Finland, on the 25th of September, 1868, his parents being John and Maria (Lindell) Erholm, who also were natives of that country. The father was a sea captain and sailed for years on the briny deep.

Charles Erholm was reared and educated in Finland, attending the public schools. Yielding to the lure of the new world, he crossed the Atlantic and in 1886 reached Merrill, Wisconsin, in company with his oldest brother, John. In the fall of 1887 he arrived in Seattle, Washington, and at once sought employment, working for two years in that city. In 1889 Mr. Erholm came to Sehome, now a part of Bellingham, and in the spring of that year joined Olaf Udness in a business project, opening a hand laundry in a basement. In the fall of 1889 they started the Pacific Steam Laundry, the first of the kind in Whatcom county. They secured a small building, two stories in height, and began business with ten employees. In the spring of 1908 Mr. Udness entered the Northwestern National Bank, selling his interest in the laundry to Mr. Erholm, who controlled the business throughout the remainder of his life. He remodeled the building, which now has a frontage of two hundred and forty feet on Ellis street and extends to Franklin street in the rear. The property includes nine lots, each forty by one hundred and twenty-five feet in dimensions. Mr. Erholm installed the latest machinery in the laundry, which is operated by electric power, individual motors being used. He constantly added improvements to the building until his became one of the best equipped plants in northwestern Washington. He had five delivery routes and used the Dodge, Nash and Ford cars for this purpose. The plant now furnishes work to about sixty persons and the payroll amounts to fifty-seven thousand dollars per year. Mr. Erholm was just and considerate in his treatment of those who served him and nine of his employees have been connected with the business for two hundred and nine years collectively, averaging more than twenty-seven years each. The business has increased from year to year, keeping pace with the growth of the district, and in 1924 the laundry cleaned eighteen thousand curtains. In its operation Mr. Erholm displayed notable foresight as well as superior executive ability, and the quality of service rendered to patrons is indicated by the fact that the firm has retained many of its customers for a period of thirty years.

On June 11, 1892, Mr. Erholm was married in Bellingham to Miss Elise Sviberg, also a native of Finland and a former schoolmate. They became the parents of three children: Casper Uno, manager of the Pacific Steam Laundry; Thelma Elizabeth, who is a graduate of Head's School of Berkeley, California, and assisted her father in the conduct of the business; and Geneva Lenora, who is attending school.

Mr. Erholm was a trustee of the Whatcom Building & Loan Association, to which his name lent prestige, and belonged to the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. He held membership in the National and State Laundry Owners Association and fraternally was identified with Bellingham Lodge, No. 194, of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Bethlehem Lutheran church. A republican in his political views, he took a very active interest in the welfare and advancement of Bellingham, and his cooperation was felt as a potent factor in the city's progress. Mr. Erholm was in the fifty-eighth year of his age when called to his final rest on the 18th of February, 1926, and in his passing Bellingham sustained the loss of a good citizen and a business man of the highest integrity, who had fought and won in the great battle of life.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 154-157.

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CORNELIUS E. FITZGERALD

One of the men who have stamped the impress of their strong individualities upon the minds of the people of Whatcom county is C. E. Fitzgerald, who in his special field of effort has attained distinctive eminence throughout this section of the country. Faithfulness to his vocation and a strict adherence to a fixed purpose will do more to advance a man's interests than wealth or advantageous circumstances, and these have been the dominating characteristics of his career, which has been replete with honor and success worthily attained.

Mr. Fitzgerald was born at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 16th of February, 1860, and is a son of James and Mary (Geoghegan) Fitzgerald. His parents were born and reared in Ireland, the father coming to this country in 1830 and settling in the state of Maine. After living there a few years, he went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where for a number of years he was successfully engaged in the lumber business. Subsequently he bought eighty acres of land along the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, and later added forty acres more. He was a pioneer of that locality and the railroad station Fitzgerald was named in honor of the family. Mr. Fitzgerald also had two brothers, Daniel and Maurice, who bought adjoining land, there being between four and five hundred acres of fine land in the family at that place. A few months before his death, James Fitzgerald went to the home of his son Albert, at Tomahawk, Wisconsin, where he died in February, 1912, at the age of ninety-four years. His wife passed away in 1904. They were the parents of the following children: William, deceased; Mary and Maurice, both residents of Wisconsin; C. E., of this review; Albert, also a resident of Wisconsin; and Mrs. Jennie Davis, who lives in Minnesota.

C. E. Fitzgerald secured a good, practical public school education, which he supplemented by a course in a business college in Oshkosh. He then engaged in the lumber business, which commanded his attention for ten years. He was married in 1889 and soon afterward came to Whatcom county, Washington, buying forty acres of land in Mountain View township. This land was densely covered with timber and brush and a vast amount of labor was required in clearing it, but, this accomplished, he found himself the possessor of a fine tract of land. He later added forty acres adjoining, and devoted himself to the operation of the eighty acres until 1905, when he sold it and bought forty-two acres one mile north of Ferndale in Ferndale township, the land being located on the Blaine road. He has twenty acres of this land in fruit, principally apples, cherries, pears and prunes, in the cultivation of which he has met with extraordinary success. The remainder of the land is devoted to general crops, including sugar beets. Mr. Fitzgerald has made a close study of fruit raising, in which he has become an expert and on which he is generally recognized as an authority. His orchard is in fine bearing and during the gathering season he employees from forty to fifty men in the picking and packing of the fruit. For many years he has exhibited his fruit at all the provincial exhibitions in British Columbia, where he made a fine display of box and plate fruit. In 1921 he took over forty first and second prizes at fairs where the entries were open to the world, and in 1909, at the Alaska-Yukon exhibition at Seattle, he took the grand prize and sweepstakes for the best exhibits of cherries, of which he showed twenty-one different varieties. During that exposition he had fresh cherries on display for three months continuously.  He also exhibits at all the local fairs, where he is equally successful as a prize winner.

Mr. Fitzgerald was married October 29, 1889, to Miss Catherine Webster, who was born and reared at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the daughter of David and Sarah (Cushing) Webster, the father a native of Scotland and the mother of Ireland. Mr. Webster came to the United States about 1850 and made his home in Oshkosh. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army and served until the close of that conflict. He then returned to Oshkosh and spent his remaining years there. To Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald have been born two children, namely: Cecelia Mary, who is the wife of Vincent Zeramba, of eastern Washington, and they have two sons, John Vincent, born May 12, 1918, and Robert James, born September 17, 1919. Leo Cornelius, born in Mountain View township, is a veteran of the World war, having enlisted on August 6, 1917, in the Wagoner Battalion of the Sixty-fifth Field Artillery. He saw about one and a half years of active service overseas and was honorably discharged and mustered out February 28, 1919.

In 1908 Mr. Fitzgerald erected a fine residence with modern conveniences and beautifully located on high ground, commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding country. He is a member of the Pomona Grange, as well as the subordinate Grange, and for seven terms served as master of Ferndale Grange, No. 180. In 1907 he was elected president of the Whatcom County Fruit & Produce Association which was the first organization of the kind in Whatcom county, and in one year they shipped more than forty carloads of fruit to the east besides selling ten thousand crates of berries to the local trade and many tons of fruit to the canneries in Bellingham and Seattle, while thousands of boxes were also sold in Vancouver, Seattle and Bellingham. In 1924, Mr. Fitzgerald was elected president of the Western Washington Horticultural Association at Everett and the following year presided at their meeting in Bellingham. He takes a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his community, being specially interested in education and good roads and serving for three years as road supervisor in Whatcom county. He has rendered effective and appreciated service for eighteen years as a member of the school board. He is unostentatious in manner but possesses a forceful personality that leaves its impress on those with whom he associates, he being recognized throughout his locality as a man of high ideals and sound principles, to which he is faithful in all the relations of life. Because of his splendid character, his pronounced success in business, his fine public spirit and his genial disposition, he has attained an enviable place in the confidence and esteem of the entire community and is clearly entitled to specific mention among the other representative men of his county.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 226-231.

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CAPTAIN THOMAS R. GAWLEY

Each man who strives to fulfill his part in life is deserving of recognition, whatever may be his field of endeavor, and it is the function of works of this nature to prepare for coming generations a record of the representative citizens of the community, recognizing the fact that true history is made of biographies. After a long and honorable career on the high seas, Captain T. R. Gawley is now comfortably situated in his attractive home in Ferndale township, and has won the respect and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 7th of April, 1863, and is a son of Robert and Josephine (Reid) Gawley. The father was born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1833, and in young manhood went to sea as a sailor, proving a worthy and able seaman and eventually becoming captain of seagoing vessels. Later in life he engaged in gold mining at Deming, New Mexico, to which he devoted his attention for ten years. His death occurred suddenly in 1883, when he was fifty-two years of age. In 1863 he had made a trip through the state of Washington, coming this way from Canada. His wife was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1841, and died in 1911. Their daughter, Josephine Gawley, was the first girl graduate from the Whatcom high school.

T. R. Gawley attended the public schools of Detroit, Michigan, and on the completion of his education he, too, went to sea, following the example of his father, and he worked his way up through the various positions on a boat until, in 1903, he received his master mariner's papers. He also attended and graduated from the government navigation school at Bellingham, Washington, in 1917. He made his last trip on the United States steamer "Roosevelt," which carried Admiral Peary to the North Pole, and the boat was condemned as a government ship on Captain Gawley's judgment after the last trip that he made to Alaska on it. He was in the coastwise trade from Panama to Cape Nome, Alaska, and was with the Alaska Steamship Company for one season. He was also with the Thlinket Packing Company, of Portland, Oregon, three years, in charge of tugboats, and was one season with the Umnack Livestock Company, of Portland, taking cargoes of sheep to the aleutian islands, as captain of the "Dorothy B."  The venture proved a decided success, as the sheep industry on those islands has now grown to an annual business of a million dollars.

On February 15, 1924, Captain Gawley retired from the sea and located on a forty acre ranch which he owned in Ferndale township. The farm, of which about thirty acres is cleared, is called "Arcadia." The Captain keeps two thousand chickens and four pure bred Jersey cows, sired by "Robin Hood."  He devotes himself closely to the operation of his ranch, and raises very satisfactory crops of hay, grain and fruit. He is very comfortably situated in his attractive home, and is enjoying a comparative rest from the strenuous life of the sea to which he devoted so many of his active years.

In 1886 Captain Gawley was married to Miss Mattie Baldwin, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Amaziah and Caroline (Farley) Baldwin, both of whom were also natives of the Buckeye state. Her father was for many years a locomotive engineer, but is now retired. Her mother is deceased. To the Captain and his wife have been born two children: Blanche, who was born in Nebraska, received a fine education and was a successful school teacher for five years, died August 23, 1919; and Robert Amaziah, born at Lincoln, Nebraska, is now a marine engineer on the Pacific coast, having evidently inherited from the two preceding generations a love for the sea. Mrs. Gawley is also a lover of the sea and accompanied her husband on a number of his trips, visiting Alaska and other places. They possess many curios from the various places to which they sailed, some of them being of extraordinary interest.

Captain Gawley is a member of Bellingham Lodge, No. 44, Free and Accepted Masons, and is also a member of the Masters, Mates and Pilots Association of the Pacific Coast. Since becoming identified with this community, he has taken an active and effective interest in everything that relates in any way to the welfare or prosperity of the locality, giving ardent support to educational affairs and advocating road improvements wherever possible, thus giving evidence of his progressive and public-spirited disposition. He is a very interesting conversationalist and describes in a very entertaining way the things of unusual character or interest that he has seen in foreign lands. He is a kindly and genial man, easily makes friends and enjoys to a marked degree the esteem and good will of all who know him.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 590-593.

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FERDINAND F. GERARD

The business career of F. F. Gerard, a popular and successful merchant at North Bellingham, is one that should encourage others to press on to greater achievements, for when but a boy he started out on his own account, by persistent industry and indomitable perseverance surmounted all obstacles in his path to success, and his present high standing in his community is the logical result. Earnest labor, a laudable ambition and able management are the elements by which he has ascended the ladder of success. Mr. Gerard was born at Ludington, Michigan, on the 23d of December, 1881, and is a son of William and Ida A. (Lux) Gerard. The father, who was a native of Michigan, died in 1922, and the mother, who was born in Germany, passed away in 1905. William Gerard was a lumberman and farmer for many years in his native state, remaining there until 1895, when he came to Whatcom county and settled in Bellingham, where he spent his remaining years. His wife died on her son's ranch.

F. F. Gerard received his educational training in the district schools of Michigan and at the age of fourteen years accompanied his parents on their removal to Washington. Three years later he left home and was employed at various occupations until 1905, when he bought a cigar store at Concrete, Whatcom county, to the operation of which he applied himself for two years. He then went to Friday Harbor and bought a business, which he ran for six years, at the end of which time he sold out and went to Coos Bay, Oregon, where he lived a year, going from there to The Dalles, Oregon, where he engaged in business. About a year later he came to North Bellingham, Whatcom county, and opened a general merchandise store, and his ten years experience here has been very satisfactory from every viewpoint. He carries a large and well selected stock of such merchandise as is demanded by the local trade, and he is courteous and accommodating in his relations with all who have dealings with him, so that he has won the general confidence and good will of the community. He is favorably located in a thriving and growing community and also operates an automobile service station, carrying gas, oil, and a good line of accessories. He has prospered since locating here and is numbered among the community's progressive and successful men. He and his wife own eight and a half acres of land adjoining the store on which they have erected a fine, modern bungalow, and on this tract they have established an auto parking space, which is very greatly appreciated by the traveling public. They also own forty acres of land in Ferndale township, five acres near the city of Bellingham, and a fourteen-acre subdivision near Coos Bay, Oregon.

On January 25, 1916, Mr. Gerard was married to Miss Caroline Miller, who was born and raised in Wisconsin, the daughter of John and Margaret (Richley) Miller, the former of whom came to Washington in the '80s. To Mr. and Mrs. Gerard have been born three children: Edward F., born February 28, 1917; Margaret, born October 15, 1918, and Phyllis, born January 25, 1922. Mrs. Gerard was educated in the district schools of Whatcom county and the State Normal School at Bellingham, which she attended three years. Prior to her marriage she taught school for three years, being the first primary teacher of the North Bellingham school. Fraternally, Mr. Gerard is a member of Bellingham Lodge, No. 194, B. P. O. E. He is a gentleman of genial and friendly manner, frank and candid in all his personal relations, and enjoys a well-deserved popularity among his associates.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 608-609.

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GEORGE H. GRIFFITH

Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Whatcom county, George H. Griffith, owner of the "Orchard Poultry Farm," in Lynden township, holds a place in the front rank. Sound in his business judgment, farsighted in his vision of future demands and possibilities, prompt and energetic in action along well defined plans and an expert and authority in his special line of business, he has long wielded a large influence in business circles and is today a leader of men and a promoter of worthy enterprises. He was born on the 24th of October, 1858, in Cambridge City, Indiana, and is a son of H. C. and Hannah (Hambleton) Griffith, the former a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of New York state. His father, who was a lawyer by profession, was a veteran of the Civil war, serving throughout that struggle, and was so severely wounded that he never afterward walked without crutches. His death occurred in California. Our subject attended the public schools of his native city and then went to Denver, Colorado, where for about a year he was employed as a machinist in the round house of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Later he went to New Mexico, where for three years he worked for the Sante Fe Railroad, first in the shops, then as a locomotive fireman and finally as an engineer. He then started for the northwest, walking from American Falls to Walla Walla and thence to Seattle. He next went to California, on the lookout for a small farm that suited him, and while there he was employed as superintendent by C. W. Reed & Company.

In 1887 Mr. Griffith came to Whatcom county and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, comprising his present ranch, all of which was in timber and brush. He at once entered upon the task of clearing the tract and now has seventy acres cleared, thirty of which are in cultivation. He has devoted his attention primarily to the chicken business, in which he has met with pronounced success, the "Orchard Poultry Farm" being one of the most widely known poultry establishments in the state. He keeps three thousand White Leghorn hens and plans to double the number as quickly as it can be done. For the accommodation of his flocks he has two buildings, three hundred and twenty  and four hundred feet long respectively, and his shipment of eggs averages twenty cases per week. He has plans in process of construction which when completed will enable one man to care for three thousand hens. Running water, most essential for the proper care of poultry, is piped to all parts of the houses. He has installed a mono-rail carrier, which will convey eggs, feed and fertilizer the full length of the houses. The stored feed on the second floor of the hen houses falls by gravity to the feeding cars and is hauled up to the storage floor by machine power, so that a maximum amount of work is accomplished with a minimum amount of labor. In addition to the laying houses, Mr. Griffith also has a forty-five thousand egg capacity hatching plant on the place, which is electrically operated.  Practically all the machinery and other labor-saving devices have been constructed by Mr. Griffith, who is a genius along that line. On his farm he also has five acres of gooseberries and two hundred and fifty cherry trees, a part of the product of which is shipped east, the remainder being sold to canneries.

On January 1, 1900, Mr. Griffith was married to Miss Anna J. Dorr, who was born in Florida, a daughter of W. H. and Ida (Frost) Dorr. Mr. Dorr, who was born and reared in Iowa, was a pioneer in the Weiser lake section of Whatcom county, where he homesteaded land, created a good farm, and there died. He is survived by his widow, who spends her time around among her children. To Mr. and Mrs. Griffith has been born a son, Lawrence E., who was born here November 11, 1903, and who was recently married to Miss Florence Johns, a native of Canada. They have also adopted a girl, Mary Griffith, nee Mathes, who is still at home.

Fraternally Mr. Griffith is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he also belongs to the Whatcom County  Dairymen's Association.  To him more than to anyone else is due the credit for the organization of the Whatcom County Poultry Association, which is now generally recognized as the most successful and efficient organization of its kind in the United States. The organization was first established in 1916 as the Washington Co-operative Egg and Poultry Association, and to the success of the venture Mr. Griffith devoted himself heart and soul, giving liberally of his time and means, in the beginning performing most of the official duties of the association. It now has two million dollars of capital stock and Mr. Griffith is the present vice president. He has been a member of its board of directors ever since its organization. His actions have always been the result of careful and conscientious thought and when convinced that he is right no suggestion of policy or personal profit can swerve him from the course he has decided upon. This consistency of motive and action has made a favorable impression upon his associates, among whom he is held in the highest confidence and regard. He is an energetic and indefatigable worker, doing thoroughly and well whatever he undertakes, and he takes a justifiable pride in the splendid property which he has developed here. He is genial and friendly in his social relations and enjoys a well merited popularity.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 225-226.

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JOHN B. HILMES

Though two decades have come and gone since John B. Hilmes was called to his final rest, he is still remembered by many of Bellingham's older residents as a citizen of high standing who owned and controlled valuable realty interests here. Prior to coming to Washington he had attained success as a lawyer and a journalist. He was fifty-eight years of age when he passed away June 26, 1906, his birth having occurred at Riedenburg, Germany, June 4, 1848. His early education was acquired in the schools of his native country, where he remained until he reached his majority, when he immigrated to the United States and joined a brother who was preaching the gospel in Illinois as a minister of the Methodist church. Subsequently he spent four years as a student in the Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton, Missouri, after which he was engaged in teaching school at Chester, Illinois, for one year. At the same time he read law and eventually opened a law office in association with the firm of Johnson & Horner, well known attorneys of Chester, where he was engaged in the practice of his chosen profession for three years.

On the expiration of that period Mr. Hilmes removed to Perryville, Missouri, where he resumed law work and was also the owner and publisher of a weekly paper, The Sun, which he subsequently lost by fire, together with his law office. Immediately afterward, by reason of the persuasion and assistance of a very dear friend, William Furth, he purchased a new printing office equipment and in less than a month The Sun was welcomed by the many appreciative subscribers. At the end of seven years of residence at Perryville Mr. Hilmes followed the advice of Horace Greeley to "go west" and made his way to Saint John, Kansas, where he devoted his attention to law practice for a period of seventeen years, and there he filled the offices of probate judge and county attorney, also serving as a member of the school board. He was likewise identified with journalistic interests as editor and publisher of the County Capital, a weekly newspaper, and as publisher of the Democrat-Populist, the organ of the party formed by the fusion of the democrats and the populists. Leaving the Sunflower state in 1902, Mr. Hilmes came westward to Washington and took up his abode at Bellingham, then known as Whatcom. Here he owned and managed the Sunset block for a time and after selling that property purchased the Maple block.

On March 10, 1879, at Alton, Illinois, Mr. Hilmes was united in marriage to Mary J. Medlen, whose birth occurred at Pilot Knob, Missouri, in 1859, her parents being George Washington and Jennie (McBride) Medlen, natives of England and Scotland, respectively. She was left fatherless and motherless at the tender age of five years and thereafter spent seven years in an orphanage, for all of the property belonging to the children of the family was stolen by unscrupulous persons. Subsequently she made her home with a sister at Decatur, Bunker Hill, Chester and Alton, Illinois. For a period of six years she directed the major portion of the newspaper work connected with her husband's publishing enterprises. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children, but the three sons of the family are deceased. Those who survive are as follows: Anna Mae, who owns stock in the Bellingham American, a daily paper; Lillian C., who is employed as bookkeeper by Newton's Incorporated, a women's clothing establishment of Bellingham; Sarah A., who is assistant treasurer and private secretary in the service of the Metropolitan Building Company of Seattle; Abigail M., who is the widow of G. L. Crews and mother of one son, Jack Hilmes Crews, and who now has charge of the circulation department of the Bellingham American; and Ruth Fay Amelia, the wife of Raymond W. Kidwiler, superintendent of the electrical department of the Metropolitan Building Company of Seattle. Mr. and Mrs. Kidwiler are the parents of two children, Jean Helen and William Wayne.

Mr. Hilmes gave his political support to the democratic party, was a Methodist in religious faith and held membership in the Fraternal Aid Union. His widow has the same political, religious and fraternal connections and also belongs to the Tribe of Ben Hur. Mr. Hilmes never regretted his determination to seek a home in the new world, for here he found the opportunities which he sought and through their wise utilization won both prosperity and an honored name. 

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 143-144.

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JOSEPH HOLLINGSWORTH

Joseph Hollingsworth, one of Deming's venerable citizens and honored pioneers, has made his own way in the world, receiving his training in the hard school of experience, and his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits. A native of Ireland, he was born in 1845, and his parents, Samuel and Henrietta (Hopkins) Hollingsworth, both died when he was fifteen years of age. He has since depended upon his own resources for a livelihood, and when a young man he sought the opportunities of the United States. He spent four years in California and in August, 1885, arrived in Seattle, Washington. In October of the same year Mr. Hollingsworth came to Whatcom county and entered a homestead, securing a tract on which a portion of Deming now stands. He was one of the earliest settlers in this district and with courageous spirit entered upon the arduous task of hewing a farm out of the wilderness. He devoted much thought to his work, and his intelligently directed labors have been rewarded by abundant harvests. He has eight cows of pure-bred stock and owns one of the most valuable ranches in this part of the county, but the burden of its operation now rests upon younger shoulders.

In 1895 Mr. Hollingsworth was united in marriage to Miss Frances Belding, and Violet, their only child, is now the wife of Walter Harniger, a resident of McNeil's island. Mrs. Hollingsworth was reared and educated in Michigan and came to the Pacific coast early in the '90s. Her parents were Edmond and Lucy (Vedder) Belding, the latter a native of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth have four grandchildren: James, Mary, Paula and Josephine Harniger, in whom they renew their youth. Mr. Hollingsworth is a democrat but not a strong partisan, standing at all times for clean politics and for measures of reform and improvement. He served on the first school board formed in Deming, and the welfare and advancement of the community is to him a matter of vital importance. He has reached the ripe age of eighty-one years and is spending the sunset period of life in ease and comfort, surrounded by many sincere friends, who appreciate him at his true worth.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 594.

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WILLIE HOLM

An earnest and enterprising man whose depth of character has gained him a prominent place in the community and the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens, is Willie Holm, farmer and dairyman of Ferndale township. A man of decided views and laudable ambition, his influence has always been exerted for the advancement of the community in which he lives, and in the vocation to which he is applying his efforts he ranks high, his fellow citizens having long ago recognized in him a man of excellent character and sound ability as a farmer. Willie Holm was born in Minnesota on the 20th of November, 1887, and is a son of Otto and Eliza Holm, both of whom were born and reared in Sweden. Otto Holm emigrated to the United States in 1881, locating in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he lived for a number of years, being employed as a carpenter in a sash and door factory. In 1889 he came to Washington, locating first in Seattle, where he lived for about six months, and then came to Whatcom county and bought ten acres of land near Ferndale. The tract was densely covered with timber and underbrush, but he cleared this off and developed a good farm, on which he spent the remainder of his days, his death occurring January 18, 1921. His wife had passed away December 11, 1917. They were the parents of nine children: Emma, Ernest, Adolph, Fritz, Godfrey and Willie, and three who died in infancy.

Willie Holm attended the public schools at Ferndale, and he remained on the home farm with his father until his marriage, in 1915. He was then employed at farm labor until 1918, when he bought twenty-four acres of land, located about one and a half miles west of Ferndale. To clear this tract and get it in shape for cultivation demanded a good deal of hard labor, but eventually he found himself the possessor of a very desirable and valuable farm, to the operation of which he has devoted himself to the present time. He keeps good grade Holstein cattle and six hundred laying hens, and he has a nice bearing orchard and raises hay and grain. He has met with very gratifying success in the operation of his ranch, which is a very attractive place. Mr. Holm also has an unusually fine vegetable garden, from which he gathers a vast amount of marketable truck. He knows no such word as idleness, and he is justifiably proud of what he has accomplished since coming to Whatcom county.

On September 14, 1915, was consumated the marriage of Mr. Holm to Miss Hilda Swenson, who was born in North Dakota, a daughter of Charles and Cecelia Swenson, both of whom were natives of Sweden. Her father came to the United States in 1882 and located at Joliet, Illinois, where he lived for five years, and then went to North Dakota, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, to the cultivation of which he devoted his attention for a number of years. He then came to Tacoma, Washington, where he remained but a short time, going from there to Preston, where he was employed as a blacksmith for six years. In 1906 he came to Ferndale, Whatcom county, and bought twenty-five acres of land in Mountain View township, where he is now living. His wife died May 22, 1921. They became the parents of seven children, two of whom are living: Edd and Mrs. Holm. Mr. and Mrs. Holm have two children: Fred William, born June 30, 1916; and Alice, born May 13, 1923. Mr. Holm is a member of the Whatcom County Poultry Association and take a good citizen's interest in everything relating in any way to the welfare of the community. He is a genial and companionable man, courteous and accommodating in his relations with his neighbors, and throughout the community where he lives he enjoys a high measure of confidence and esteem.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 934-935.

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JOHN HOLTROP

In touching upon the life history of John Holtrop, well known farmer of Delta township, Whatcom county, it is desired to avoid fulsome and extravagant praise; yet it is purposed to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honorable life - a life characterized by perseverance, energy, broad charity and well defined purpose. To do this will be but to repeat the estimate of the man given by the people who have known him long and well. John Holtrop was born in Holland on the 10th of April, 1863, and is a son of Ralph and Tressie (Van Loo) Holtrop, both of whom were also natives of Holland, where they passed away, the father dying in 1905 and the mother in 1920.

John Holtrop received his education in the public schools of his native land and was engaged in farming there until the spring of 1898, when he came to the United States. He came direct to Whatcom county and bought forty acres of land in Delta township, five and a half miles northwest of Lynden, about half of which was cleared and on which was a house and barn. He finished clearing the land and has devoted himself indefatigably to the cultivation of the soil, in which he has met with very gratifying success. He also gives considerable attention to dairying, keeping seventeen good Holstein cows and a pure-bred bull. He is wide-awake and alert, neglecting nothing that would contribute to the success of his work, and he has gained a high reputation as an enterprising and progressive farmer. He is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and the Whatcom County Poultry Association, his interest in the last named organization arising from the fact that he carries a large run of laying hens, for which he has erected a fine chicken house. Other improvements on the place consist of a milk house and a substantial garage, and the house that was on the place when he bought it has been thoroughly remodeled and is now a very comfortable and attractive home. He and his family are members of the Dutch Reformed church at Lynden, to which they give generous support, as they do to all worthy benevolent and charitable objects.

On November 15, 1888, Mr. holtrop was married to Miss Fronwje Bosma, who was born in Ondwonde, Friesland, Holland, a daughter of Haring and Grietje (Visser) Bosma, both of whom were lifelong residents of that county, where they passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Holtrop have been born nine children, all of whom excepting the youngest were born in Holland. They are: Harry B., who was born september 23, 1889, is married and has three children, Floyd, John and Joseph; Mrs. Grietje Dykeman, born April 1, 1891, who is the mother of five children - Herman, born October 22, 1915; Florence, born March 9, 1917; John, born April 16, 1920; Fred, born January 16, 1923; and Dick, born September 12, 1924; Ralph, who is the next of the family and was born July 29, 1894; Egbert, born in December, 1897; Mrs. Trientje Schluk, who was born November 4, 1901, and is the mother of a daughter, Dora Joyce; Ernest, born June 1, 1904; Garret, born May 30, 1906; Willie, born April 24, 1908; and George W., born July 17, 1910, in Lynden, Whatcom county. Mr. Holtrop is a broadminded and public-spirited citizen, giving earnest support to every movement for the advancement of the community along material, civic or moral lines. Kindly and genial in manner, he has formed a wide acquaintance throughout this part of the county and is held in the highest esteem in his community.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 151-152.

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ELMO T. HURLEY

Elmo T. Hurley, well known and progressive young merchant of Bellingham, is head of the Ekho Drug Company and proprietor of a well stocked and admirably appointed drug store on Cornwall avenue. He was born in the Fairhaven section of what now is the city of Bellingham, December 20, 1891, more than ten years before Bellingham adopted its present corporate name, and is a son of J. C. and Rose A. (Mooney) Hurley, who had settled there in 1889, J. C. Hurley becoming established as a building contractor in that year. He was born in Oregon, a member of one of the pioneer families of that state. His wife was born in Missouri but was reared in Oregon, her parents having come into the northwest with their family when she was but a child.

Reared in Bellingham, Elmo T. Hurley was graduated from the high school and supplemented this by a course in the State Normal School, majoring in chemistry. He also carried on special work in pharmacy and in 1910, when in his nineteenth year, passed the state examination and become a registered pharmacist. From the days of his boyhood Mr. Hurley has been interested in chemistry and pharmacy, having begun as a clerk in a drug store during the vacation periods when but fourteen years of age, and he has long been recognized as a thoroughly competent pharmacist and an expert chemist. After he secured his license he was employed as a pharmacist in local drug stores until 1917, when he opened a drug store of his own in the Fairhaven section of the city. In 1921 he opened a branch cigar store at his present location on Cornwall avenue and in 1923 organized the Ekho Drug Company, of which is the head, and he set up at that point a thoroughly equipped and completely stocked drug store and has since been engaged in business there. Mr. Hurley is an active member of the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce and takes an interest in all movements and measures looking to the advancement of his home town and the community at large.

In 1913, in Bellingham, Mr. Hurley was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Stillwell, and they have three sons: Thomas, James and Joseph. Mrs. Hurley also was born in Bellingham. Her mother was daughter of Ozias D. McDonald, a veteran of the Civil war, who came to Washington in 1883 and a few years later, in 1887, became a resident of Whatcom county. In 1889 he was appointed to the customs service and in 1908 was made collector of customs for the port of Bellingham. Mr. and Mrs. Hurley are members of the Roman Catholic church and Mr. Hurley is one of the active members of the local council of the Knights of Columbus. He also is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Loyal Order of Moose. He and his wife are republicans. Mr. Hurley is one of the most ardent sportsmen in this section of the state and has a statewide reputation as a dog fancier, with particular reference to hunting dogs. He is the founder of the Whatcom County Sportsman's Club and as a wing shot has few, if any, superiors in the state.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 932-933.

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JOHN X. JONES

During his youth John X. Jones followed the hazardous occupation of a miner, contributing his share toward the development of the mineral resources of both the eastern and western sections of the United States, and in later life he has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, owning one of the fine ranches of Marietta township, in which he has made his home for more than thirty years. A native of Wales, he was born December 25, 1852, and his parents, William and Ellen (Hughes) Jones, were lifelong residents of that country. He received a public school education and his boyhood was spent on his father's farm.

In 1868 Mr. Jones severed home ties and as a youth of sixteen came to the new world in search of a fortune. He obtained work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and was later employed in the coal and quartz mines of Colorado. Subsequently he was engaged in mining in the states of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. He came to Washington in 1875 and for a time was connected with mining operations near Whatcom. He was foreman of a mine at Newcastle and also became a mining contractor. His work was very arduous and dangerous, and as the years passed he acquired an expert knowledge of the mining industry during the pioneer epoch in the history of the west. In 1895 he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a large tract of land in Marietta township, and he was the third settler in his district. His property was covered with a dense growth of trees and there were no trails through the forest, which abounded in game. Undaunted by the difficult task confronting him, Mr. Jones exerted every effort to clear his land and prepare it for the sowing of seed and the growing of crops. He literally hewed a farm out of the wilderness and is today the owner of a fine ranch of two hundred acres, on which he has installed many conveniences to lessen the labor and expedite the work. His cattle are of high grade and the products of his dairy rank with the best in the township.

In 1879 Mr. Jones married Miss Annie Slater, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Slater, pioneer settlers of Ferndale, Washington, and a sister of John Slater, whose sketch is published elsewhere in this volume. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, but one died in infancy and John Clifford has also passed away. Those who survive are: Ellen, who married Sylvester Curtice, a farmer and educator; Evelyn, the wife of Carl Ridderbjelke, who is operating rented land; Sidney W., at home; George Bertram, who is cultivating the home farm and has a wife and four children; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Theodore T. Hovde, who cultivates his mother-in-law's farm near Ferndale, a part of the old Slater homestead; and Margaret, at home. Mr. Jones is a republican in his political views and has been a member of the local school board. He has reached the ripe age of seventy-three years and is now living practically retired, enjoying the ease and comfort purchased by a life of industry and thrift. He has witnessed remarkable changes as the work of civilization has been carried forward in the Pacific northwest, and his conversation spans the past in interesting reminiscences.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 157.

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JOSEPH LEWIS La POINTE

Among those who are shaping the commercial growth of Clipper is numbered Joseph Lewis La Pointe, a merchant of more than local reputation and also a prosperous agriculturalist. He was born May 28, 1871, in Michigan, and his parents, Lewis and Cecelia (Mason) La Pointe, were natives of Quebec, Canada. The father, who is of French lineage, was long connected with the lumber industry, filling the position of sawyer. He now resides with the subject of this sketch. The mother is deceased.

Joseph L. La Pointe received a public school education and also learned the sawyer's trade, which he followed for some time, becoming a skilled worker. In 1912 he sought the opportunities of the Pacific northwest and embarked in the grocery business at Portland, Oregon. He afterward revisited Michigan but in 1917 returned to the coast and engaged in merchandising at Seattle, Washington. He prospered in  his undertaking and in 1923 came to Whatcom county, purchasing the W. E. Jones store at Clipper. He also bought a ranch of fifteen acres, formerly the property of Anthony Cook, and in the cultivation of the soil he utilizes the most advanced methods. His land is very fertile and yields rich harvests. He is an astute business man, possessing executive force and mature judgment, and he has won gratifying success in the field of merchandising. He handles dry goods, groceries, hardware, feed and grain, and in 1924 he erected a new store building which is sixty-two by thirty feet in dimensions, while the wing is twenty by twenty feet in extent. He carried a large stock of merchandise and enjoys a liberal patronage, which he has won by up-to-date methods and strict adherence to a high standard of commercial ethics.

In 1896 Mr. La Pointe was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Hoisington, of Iowa, and during the period of their residence in Clipper they have gained many true friends. Mr. La Pointe maintains an independent course in politics, voting according to the dictates of his judgment, and along fraternal lines he is connected with the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Order of Foresters. His probity, enterprise and ability are well known to the residents of Clipper and his support can be counted upon to further every measure for the general good.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 485-486.

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ALEX LEWIS

The demise of Alex Lewis, one of the sterling pioneers of Whatcom county, was greatly regretted by all who knew him, his tragic death, on August 2, 1898, removing from the community one of its foremost and best liked citizens. He possessed a splendid personality, was a man of kindly and generous nature, exercised sound business judgment in all of his affairs and took a public-spirited interest in everything relating to the welfare of the community in which he lived. Genial and friendly in his social relations, he won a host of warm and loyal friends, among whom his memory still remains as a blessed benediction. Mr. Lewis was a native of the state of Maine and a son of Cyrus Lewis, whose ancestors came to this country from England in the Mayflower and settled in New England. He was educated in the public schools of his native state, and at the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in *Company A, Thirty-sixth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the battle of Gettysburg, where he was captured. He was for some time a prisoner in the notorious Andersonville prison pen, suffering from hunger and other privations, and was exchanged and sent home at the close of the war. Afterward he became a ship carpenter, which vocation he followed until 1880, when he came to Washington, locating in Cowlitz county, where he bought a small ranch and also served as postmaster. In 1883 he came to Whatcom county and took up a homestead of eighty acres in Delta township, seven miles northwest of Lynden. He cleared off and ditched thirty acres of this land, onto which he moved after his marriage, in 1890, and remained there until his death. He was hard-working, energetic and persevering and created a good home, in which he took justifiable pride. On August 2, 1898, he and his eldest son, Perley A., were killed in a railroad accident at Blaine.

Mr. Lewis was married, in 1890, at Bellingham, Whatcom county, to Miss Dora B. Osborn, who was born in Kansas, a daughter of William and Mary A. (Lower) Osborn, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Missouri. Her father emigrated to Kansas in 1861 and took up a homestead, being a pioneer of his locality. He continued to operate his farm there until 1883, when he came to Bellingham, Washington, and took up a preemption claim in Ten Mile township. He later sold that place and moved into Bellingham, where his death occurred April 28, 1898, at the age of seventy-seven years. Mrs. Osborn passed away in 1875. They were the parents of six children, all of whom are living, namely: Mrs. Magdalena Hungerford, John H., Randolph, Oliver, Dora B., and Mrs. Cora C. Whittington, who lives in Oklahoma, all of the other children being residents of Washington. To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were born five children, namely: Perley A., Columbus and George W., all deceased; Marietta, who was graduated from the Lynden high school and from the State Normal School at Bellingham, afterward taught school for five years and is now attending college at Corvallis, Oregon; and Mrs. Martha B. Gustavson, who is the mother of a son, George, born October 21, 1923. In June, 1901, Mrs. Lewis became the wife of Robert A. McLeod, who was a native of the isle of Lewis, Scotland, born in December, 1859, and whose death occurred April 18, 1923. To this union were born four children, namely: Hugh R., born June 30, 1902, who is at home; Jessie C., born August 5, 1904, who lives in Bellingham; James H., born November 17, 1907, also at home; and William D., born November 14, 1910, who is a student in high school.

In 1895 Mrs. McLeod had purchased forty acres of land in Delta township, about ten acres of which were cleared, and about twenty-five acres of this land are now in cultivation. A good barn was built in 1895 and in 1913 a fine, modern home was erected. Mrs. McLeod has eight good grade Jersey cows and farms the land mainly to hay and grain, a part of the tract being reserved for pasture. She is a woman of tact and sound business judgment and manages her affairs in a manner that has gained for her the commendation of all who know her. She is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association, the Whatcom County Poultry Association and the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company. She is friendly and hospitable and is a very popular member of the circles in which she moves.

*Civil War pension lists service as  Sgt.,Co. I, 3rd Maine Inf.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 936-937.

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EDWIN P. LUCAS

Men of efficiency and high character are the type of workers the business and industrial worlds of today are eagerly seeking, and in this classification belongs E. P. Lucas, widely known throughout the Pacific northwest as general manager of the Bellingham Coal Mines. He was born at Topeka, Kansas, in 1885 and is a son of Henry and Isabel Lucas, the former of whom is auditor of the Rock Island Railroad Company.

E. P. Lucas attended one of the high schools of Kansas City and was also a student at Bayview College in Texas. For several years he was a railroad employee, working in the operating department. For two years he operated silver mines in that country and after his return to the United States [from where?]came to Concrete, Washington, as manager of the Baker River & Shuksan Railway. He remained with that line for seven years, ably discharging his duties, and for one and a half years was manager of the Eburne Steel Company of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1919 he returned to Washington and has since been general manager of the Bellingham Coal Mines. Mr. Lucas is a business man of broad experience and marked executive force and his services have been highly satisfactory.

The Bellingham Coal Mines are located on the Pacific highway, about a mile from the city hall, and seven years ago the property now occupied by the company was in pasture land. The business was incorporated in 1918 with John C. Eden as president, Michael Earles as vice president and Joseph G. Earles as secretary. Following the death of Michael Earles on June 15, 1919, James Kane was elected vice president, while the other officers have remained the same. The corporation employs two hundred and fifty miners and owns the largest single commercial producing coal mine in Washington. In September, 1918, the first coal was taken out and the daily output now amounts to thirteen hundred tons. To produce this daily tonnage vast underground development was required, and the accomplishment of this development work while daily producing is a record few mines can touch. In 1925 the total production was three hundred thousand, two hundred and thirty-five tons, or an average of twenty-five thousand tons per month. During that year the Bellingham Coal Mines put approximately one million dollars into the stream of commercial activity for payroll and mining supplies, including power, powder, mine timbers, etc., and outside of repair parts for mining machines all of their supplies are purchased locally.

The vein is eight feet thick and the coal is sub-bituminous and non-coking. It contains eleven thousand, four hundred British thermal units and is known throughout the state for its excellent preparation. To secure this preparation requires elaborate screening and washing facilities, and the mine is supplied with the latest equipment. In order to secure lump coal electric machines are used to cut the coal, which is then loaded in cars and transported to the surface. It is next placed in a rotary dump and fed to shaking screens, where it is sized. The lump coal passes over a three and a half inch round perforation, then goes over a picking table, where it is hand picked and discharged on to a loading boom which transfers it to a railroad car with minimum breakage, or direct to storage bins. The coal that passes through the three and a half inch screen opening is put through jig washers, which eliminate the clay and other impurities, and from the washers is elevated to storage bins. To wash the coal requires the use of one thousand gallons of water per minute. At this writing there are approximately forty-two miles of underground workings, and the mine is down three thousand feet, on a slope of five working levels, and at a vertical depth of seven hundred feet. To produce the daily tonnage fourteen miles of track are necessary, and twelve mules keep this tonnage moving to the main slope, where cars are started to the surface by the main hoist.

In 1915 Mr. Lucas was married, in Bellingham, to Miss Florence G. Christie, a native of Maine, and they have a son, John. Mr. Lucas is a Knight Templar Mason and in the consistory has taken the eighteenth degree, while he is also a Shriner. He belongs to the Kiwanis, Country and Arctic Clubs and the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce, and is a republican in his political convictions. Mr. Lucas has attempted only those things which are of importance in the world's work and has risen to the top through merit alone.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 927-928.

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JAMES MITCHELL

The history of Whatcom county reveals the handiwork of many a great and noble soul who wrought heroically and unselfishly. Her smiling fields and splendid homes, her high grade institutions and happy, prosperous people speak volumes of someone's steadfastness of purpose, of someone's strength of arm, courage of heart, activity of brain - of someone's sacrifice. However, beneath the blighting touch of time even memory fails and too often a life of glorious achievement is forgotten in a day. "Lest we forget," then, this tribute to the late James Mitchell is preserved in the permanent record of his county, for he was one of that splendid band of pioneers who contributed immeasurably to the development and settlement of the Deming district and laid the foundation for its present prosperity and advanced civilization.

Coming to the new world with no resources save youth, ambition and energy, James Mitchell "made good," and as one of Deming's pioneer settlers he was widely known and highly esteemed. He was born September 4, 1853, and was a native of Ireland. His parents were Joseph and Margaret (McGowan) Mitchell, the former of whom followed the occupation of farming for several  years and in later life engaged in draying in the city of Belfast.

James Mitchell was educated in the schools of his native land and earned his first money by clerking in a store. In 1871, when eighteen years of age, he followed the example of many of his fellow countrymen and came to the United States. He lived in New York city until 1872 and then became a sailor. For nearly six years he followed a seafaring life and was thus enabled to visit many parts of the world, greatly broadening his knowledge. About 1876 he went to Illinois and for some six years was employed on steamboats navigating the Mississippi river. He spent three years in the lumber woods of Wisconsin and then went to Minnesota, where he was engaged in the same line of work for a like period. Mr. Mitchell then came to Whatcom county and squatted on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, which later became the townsite of Deming. As a homesteader he afterward secured a title to the land, which was virgin soil. It was covered with a dense growth of timber, and narrow trails penetrated the forests, which were filled with game. In this isolated region he experienced all of the hardships of frontier life, but through patience and industry he succeeded in clearing the place and cultivating the land, on which he resided for forty-three years. He was thoroughly familiar with agricultural conditions in this locality and knew the best methods of coping with them. Mr. Mitchell acquired that expert knowledge of his occupation which resulted from years of experience and developed one of the best farms in this part of the country. With clear vision, he early realized the possibilities of the dairy industry and was one of the first to introduce pure bred cattle into this section. He had a fine herd of Jersey cows, later specializing in Guernseys, and the products of his dairy were of high quality.

In 1888 Mr. Mitchell married Miss Katherine Beaton, who was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and passed away in 1919. Three children were born to them: Margaret, who is the wife of Karl E. Carlson and is now living in Los Angeles, California; Joseph, who makes his home in Deming; and Sadie, who married Noble Foss, also living on the home place in the city limits of Deming.

Mr. Mitchell was a stanch adherent of the democratic party and was formerly active in politics, serving at one time as election judge. He was a member of the school board for nine years and was always one of the "boosters" of the town, donating the land on which its first shingle mill was built. He was an interested witness of Deming's growth and bore his share in the work of development and improvement, his wife being equally active and very popular in the community. Mr. Mitchell shot bears on the present site of the new union high school and remembered the time when the road to Bellingham was only an Indian trail. He was summoned to his reward in the silent land on March 28, 1926. His long, upright and useful life made of him a worthy example in all that constituted true manhood and good citizenship and none stood higher than he in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. His career was characterized by duty faithfully performed, by faithfulness to every trust reposed in him, and by industry, thrift and wisely directed efforts, which resulted in the accumulation of a liberal share of this world's goods, besides earning for him a reputation which was never clouded by unworthy acts, and his memory remains as a blessed benediction on all who knew him.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 579-580.

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HARVEY A. MULLER

H. A. Muller, of the firm of Muller & Block, proprietors of the Cascade Laundry & Dye Works at Bellingham, and one of the well known and progressive business men of that city, came to the bay country in 1919 and has never had occasion to regret the choice which turned his steps in this direction. He was born in the city of Chicago, December 11, 1881, and is a son of Charles G. and Emma L. Muller, both now deceased and the former of whom was a building contractor. Reared in Chicago, H. A. Muller was graduated from one of the high schools there and also from a business college and was for some time thereafter employed as a bookkeeper in mercantile establishments in that city. He then went to Minneapolis and after two years of clerical service there established himself in the hardware business at Duluth, where he remained for eight years, at the end of which time he closed out his affairs there and moved to the village of Bennett, Douglas county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the general mercantile business and where he remained until 1919, when he took up his residence in Bellingham, which has since been his home.

Upon his arrival in Bellingham Mr. Muller, in association with Robert F. Block, bought the Cascade Laundry & Dye Works at No. 300 Lottie street, a consolidation of several local laundries effected in 1916, and the industry has since been carried on under the firm name of Muller & Block, though retaining the old trade name "Cascade." This concern occupies a building fifty by ninety feet in ground dimension, with a full basement, and is equipped in thoroughly up-to-date fashion. Thirty or more persons are employed in the establishment and four service wagons are used in the local trade.

In 1914, during the time of his residence in Duluth, Mr. Muller was united in marriage to Miss Rose Block, a daughter of Albert F. Block of that city, and they have two children: Harvey A., Jr., and Hazel Mae. Mr. and Mrs. Muller are republicans and have ever taken an interested part in civic affairs, as well as in the general social activities of the community. Mr. Muller is a member of the Kiwanis Club, and since becoming a resident of Bellingham he has exercised his energies earnestly and wholeheartedly in behalf of all movements dealing with the extension of the general interests of his community. He is a Royal Arch Mason and is also affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 938-939.

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VICTOR E. NELSON

Victor E. Nelson is head of the Nelson Electric Company and proprietor of a well established and well stocked electrical supply house on Elk street in Bellingham, a general electrical contractor whose operations cover the two counties of Whatcom and Skagit. He is a native of Washington, born on a pioneer farm in Skagit county, June 13, 1889, and is a son of Olaf and Cecelia Nelson, both now deceased, who had become residents of that section of what then was included within the greater county of Whatcom, in 1873.

Reared on this pioneer farm, Victor E. Nelson attended a school seven miles away, walking that distance back and forth, and finished his education in Wilson's Business College. As a young man he worked as a clerk in a general store in Mount Vernon, county seat of his home county, and was there employed in mercantile operations until 1914, when he opened a store of his own at Everson in Whatcom county. For eight years Mr. Nelson was engaged in business at Everson and then sold out and moved to California, where he spent two years, at the end of which time, in 1924, he came to Bellingham and bought the establishment of the Hanson Electric Company, which he has since been successfully operating, doing business under the name of the Nelson Electric Company, with a well stocked and amply equipped place of business at No. 1242 Elk street, and is prepared to take care of all calls in his line throughout the fine trade area centering in Bellingham. In the handling of certain lines of electrical supplies and house equipment Mr. Nelson is the exclusive dealer in and for the counties of Whatcom and Skagit, and he is widely known in the trade in the territory he thus covers. These lines especially apply to the sale of electric washing machine, refrigerators and individual lighting plants, and he has created a wide demand for certain special products. The volume of business done by the establishment of which he is the head has been doubled since he took it over two years ago.

In 1919, in Bellingham, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Miss H. Lou Whitemarsh, a member of the teaching staff of the Bellingham city schools, and they have a son, Jack Nelson. Mrs. Nelson was for eight years a teacher in the Bellingham schools and has long been a helpful factor in the cultural activities of the community. She is a daughter of Charles E. and Edith Whitemarsh, who came here from Wisconsin in the days of the homesteaders and settled in Whatcom county. They later moved to the southern part of the state but in 1899 returned to Bellingham, and Mrs. Whitemarsh has since resided here. Mr. Whitemarsh is deceased. Mr. Nelson is a member of the locally influential Kiwanis Club of Bellingham and gives his attention to all movements and measures designed to advance the general interests of the city. He is a York Rite (Knight Templar) Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 935-936.

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JENS PETERSEN

Among those who have by virtue of their strong individual qualities earned their way to a high standing in the esteem of their fellow citizens is Jens Petersen, of Ferndale township, who has by persistency and sheer force of character won a place of prominence in the community. He is a man who would have won his way in any locality where fate might have placed him, for he has sound judgment, combined with great energy, business tact and upright principles, all of which make for definite success. Mr. Petersen is a native of Denmark, born on the 21st of April, 1874, and is a son of Nels and Maren Petersen. Both parents also were natives of Denmark, where the father died in 1883, while the mother is still living there, at the age of eighty-two years.

Jens Petersen attended the public schools in his native land and at the age of fourteen years was confirmed in the Lutheran church. He was employed at farm work for eight years, but in 1896 he turned his attention to other pursuits, going to work in a sugar factory at Nujkoburg, Falster, where he was employed for three years, receiving several promotions in the factory. He became at the same time an expert wood worker, making and exhibiting many specimens of his work, on which he took prizes. In 1906 he exhibited a collection of various specimens and won a silver medal against strong competition. In that year Mr. Petersen came to the United States, locating at Ferndale, Whatcom county, where for about three years he worked for his brother, Peter, after which for three years they were in partnership on a dairy ranch. In 1910 Mr. Petersen bought forty acres of land, two miles northeast of Ferndale, but before he could begin its cultivation he was compelled to clear it of a dense growth of brush and timber. He has developed this place into a valuable and well improved ranch, which he still operates. He built a good barn in 1913 and a fine, modern house in 1917, while in 1924 he built a fine chicken house, seventy feet long. He keeps five hundred laying hens, twelve good cows and seven head of young stock. The cultivated land is devoted to hay, grain and root crops, of which he raises abundant crops. Mr. Petersen is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association, the Whatcom County Poultry Association, the Grange, the Whatcom County Farm Bureau and the Non-Partisan League. He has worked hard to bring his farm up to a high standard of excellence, and he has over four thousand feet of drain tile on his land, a part of which was swamp land when he acquired it.

On July 10, 1921, Mr. Petersen was married to Miss Anna Hornum, who was born in Denmark, a daughter of Niels Chris Jensen and Johanna (Anderson) Hornum, both of whom were natives of Denmark. The father is still living, but the mother passed away in 1887. They were the parents of three children: Anna, Chris and Johanna. Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have two children: Mary J., born March 3, 1922, and Nina Catherine, born January 9, 1924. Mr. Petersen is a man of fine personal qualities, genial and friendly in his social relations, and has long held an exalted place in the esteem of all who know him.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 941-942.

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MARTIN L. SCUTVICK

One of the model farms of Lawrence township is the property of M. L. Scutvick, whose life has been spent chiefly in the west, and diligence and determination have shaped his career, which has been crowned with worthy achievement. A native of Norway, he was born July 24, 1872, and was a child of seven when his parents, A. Larson and Christina Larsen, made the voyage to the United States, settling in Big Horn county, Montana, in 1879. About 1886 they migrated to North Dakota and the father entered government land, proving up on his claim. He still lives in that state, but the mother passed away in 1922.

M. L. Scutvick attended the public schools of North Dakota and at a the age of eighteen years started out in life for himself. He worked for two years in Montana and for a similar period in North Dakota. In January, 1900, he came to Whatcom county, Washington, and in 1902 purchased a quarter section in Lawrence township. He cleared the land, which was covered with timber, and has built a good home. He has sold a portion of the ranch, which now comprises eighty acres of fertile land, and raises the crops best adapted to this region. He is thoroughly conversant with the details of his occupation and has profited by his years of experience in tilling the soil, making every effort count. He has carefully systematized the work and his place is neat and well improved.

In 1899 Mr. Scutvick was united in marriage to Miss Anna Hoffos, a native of Minnesota, and twelve children were born to them, but two are deceased. Those who survive are: Aleta; Myrtle, who is living in Raymond, Washington; Ellen, now of Bellingham; and Martin, Hazel, Arthur, Helen, Elinor, Agnes and John, all of whom reside at home. Mr. Scutvick owes allegiance to no party and casts his ballot for the candidate whom he considered best qualified for office. He has never allowed personal interests to monopolize his attention, and for three terms he was a member of the board of township supervisors, of which he was chairman for a year. He is a strong advocate of the cause of education and during his nine years of service on the school board much constructive work was accomplished. Unselfish, broadminded and progressive, Mr. Scutvick has wrought effectively for the general good, and at the same time has won the merited reward of industry, perseverance and integrity.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 554; Surname spelled "Scutwick".

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RAY C. SHUMWAY

Not only does R. C. Shumway represent one of the old and well known pioneer families of Whatcom county, but he himself has had a hand in the development and improvement of the county and is now numbered among its enterprising and successful dairy and poultry farmers. Mr. Shumway was born at Anoka, Minnesota, on the 7th of September, 1887, and is a son of S. T. and Maggie (Fleming) Shumway, the latter of whom was born in Nova Scotia and died in 1922 at Lynden.

S. T. Shumway was a native of the state of Maine, whence he moved to Minnesota, where he followed farming until 1889, when he came to Whatcom county, locating at Blaine. There he engaged in logging for a time, and he then came to Lynden and bought the Sam Force place. While engaged in clearing and improving this tract he also worked out in order to earn money to carry him through until his land should become productive. Eventually he developed a good farm there, to which he devoted himself until he retired, when he moved to Lynden, where he remained for a couple of years, but he is now living with his daughter, Mrs. C. O. Thomas, in Bellingham. To him and his wife were born five children, namely: R. C., the subject of the sketch; William, of Omak; Stella, the wife of A. J. Blythe, of Bellingham, and the mother of two children; Minnie, the wife of C. O. Thomas, of Bellingham; and May, the wife of George Elder, of Lynden.

When Mr. Shumway bought his homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Lynden township it was practically uncleared, the land being densely incumbered with timber and brush, and the only highways of travel were trails. At that time he did most of his trading at Bellingham, to which place he carried his eggs, butter and other farm products. There was then plenty of wild game, including bears, deer and wild cats, and ducks and geese were also plentiful. He cleared eighty acres of his land, much of which was also ditched and drained, and he made other improvements of a permanent and substantial nature.

R. C. Shumway came to this state with his family in 1889, at which time he was but two years old, and here he was reared, securing his education in the Roeder public school and the high school at Everson, also attending the State Normal School at Bellingham for a short time. In partnership with his brother-in-law, he then engaged in the plumbing and steam fitting business, in which he continued for about two years. At the end of that time he came to his father's farm, which he rented, and he remained there about six years, clearing a considerable part of the land. Mr. Shumway then came to his present farm of ninety acres, part of which was cleared when he bought it and all of which is now in cultivation. Here he is devoting himself mainly to dairying, keeping thirty to thirty-five high grade milk cows and a full blooded Guernsey sire, all of the young stock on the place being full bred. He is likewise giving some attention to the chicken business, which he has found to be a profitable source of income, and he is preparing to increase his flocks materially. His fertile fields produce good crops of hay and grain and an excellent vegetable garden keeps the table well supplied in season.

In 1910 Mr. Shumway was married to Miss Louise Muerer, who was born at Rock Springs, Wyoming, a daughter of Fred and Lizzie (Endart) Muerer, natives of Germany and both of whom are now deceased, the father dying in 1905 and the mother in 1922. The Muerers are numbered among the early settlers of Lynden, having come here about thirty-two years ago. Mr. Muerer immigrated to the United States in the early '80s, and he was for many years employed as an accountant, finally turning his attention to farming. To Mr. and Mrs. Shumway have been born four children, namely: Ione Geraldine, Lois May, Howard C. and Ray C., Jr., all of whom are in school.

Mr. Shumway is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and the Whatcom County Poultry Association, while fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a man of sterling qualities of character, and his career in this locality has been marked by indomitable energy, his operations being conducted along up-to-date and progressive lines, so that the splendid success which has crowned his efforts has been well merited. He gives hearty support to all measures for the advancement of the general welfare of the community and generously supports all worthy benevolent objects. Socially he is genial and friendly and enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the county.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 87-88.

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JOHN W. MACRAE SMITH

John W. Macrae Smith, veteran florist at Bellingham and for years recognized as something more than a local authority on bulb culture, is a native of Scotland and has been a resident of Whatcom county since the days of his young manhood, having settled here in 1888, the year after he attained his majority. He was born in 1866 and was fifteen years of age when he crossed the water with his parents, Andrew and Elizabeth (Macrae) Smith, the family settling on a farm in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Mr. Smith is an elder brother of Dr. A. M. Smith (q. v.), who has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Bellingham since 1901.

John W. M. Smith left Canada at the age of eighteen years, and in 1888 he came into what was then the Territory of Washington and settled at Bellingham, becoming employed in that section of the bay settlements known as Whatcom. He presently bought property here and became an established resident of the town. Gradually he began to turn his attention to floriculture, with particular reference to the bulb plants, tulips, narcissuses and the like, being the first person in the community thus definitely to become engaged in the propagation of these growths. In 1897 he bought a tract of fourteen acres along the shore at the site of old Fort Bellingham (numerous relics of which stronghold remain on his place) and there started his now extensive plant of greenhouses. As the years have passed and as the demand for hothouse flowers has increased Mr. Smith has extended his operations along this line until he is now the proprietor of one the best floricultural establishments in the northwest and the propagator of some of the finest flowers grown in this particularly favored section of the world. Though all varieties of the choice flowers and plants desired in the trade are found in his greenhouses, Mr. Smith has never lost his early love for the bulbous plants, and his bulbs are sought by discriminating growers in all parts of the country, the fame of the Smith greenhouses having long ago spread far and wide.

In 1905 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Edith Percy, who was born in England, and they have five children: Elsie, William, John, Jean and Fred. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are republicans and have ever given their earnest attention to local civic affairs and to such movements as have been designed to advance the common welfare throughout this region. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church and has ever been attentive to local parish affairs.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 158.

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CHARLES M. TABOR

A fine type of the virile American business man, Charles M. Tabor has achieved noteworthy success as a dealer in automobile accessories and occupies a place of leadership in commercial circle of Bellingham. He was born May 13, 1888, is Spokane, Washington, and is a son of John Wesley and Mattie (Fisher) Tabor, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Memphis, Tennessee. They settled in Spokane, Washington, in 1886 and in 1891 came to Bellingham, which was then known as Whatcom. The father was connected with the logging business and also engaged in teaming but is now living retired.

Charles M. Tabor was but three years old when his parents came to Whatcom county, and his education was acquired in the public schools of Bellingham. He was connected with the drug trade for a number of years and in 1915 embarked in the wholesale tie business in partnership with Norman P. Cruikshank. They continued in that line until 1917 and have since specialized in automobile accessories. The business was started on Elk street and a year and a half later was moved to its present location at No. 1327 Cornwall avenue. The firm of Tabor & Cruikshank occupies one floor of a building forty-two by one hundred and twenty-five feet and employs three traveling salesmen, who cover the territory north of Everett, Washington. The house carries a full line of automotive equipment, and this is the only wholesale organization of the kind in Bellingham. The members of the firm are men of enterprise and ability and as a result of their combined efforts the business has enjoyed a continuous and healthful growth.

On September 15, 1918, Mr. Tabor married Miss Gertrude Marsh, of Bellingham, and to this union has been born a son, John McVey. Mr. Tabor is a Rotarian and along fraternal lines is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, while in politics he is a republican. He heartily indorses (sic) every movement for the betterment of the community and his moral worth is established by the high place which he holds in the esteem of Bellingham's citizens, among whom his life has been passed.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 221.

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GOMER THOMAS

Gomer Thomas, a lawyer of broad experience and marked ability, has practiced in Bellingham for fourteen years with gratifying success, and is widely and favorably known in Whatcom county owing to his activities in behalf of the dairy industry. A son of T. B. and Margaret (Davis) Thomas, he was born April 30, 1867, and is a native of Ohio. In 1881 his parents migrated to Nebraska and in that state his father followed the occupation of farming for several years. The latter passed away in Nebraska in 1890, and his widow is now living in Ohio.

Gomer Thomas was a pupil in the public schools of Ohio, and his higher education was received in the schools of Nebraska. He mastered the fundamental principles of jurisprudence and in May, 1890, was admitted to the bar. In 1892 he located at Alma, Nebraska, and there resided for two decades, handling much important litigation. His fellow townsmen showed their appreciation of his worth and ability by selecting him for the office of county attorney of Harlan county, of which he was the incumbent for twelve years, securing a large percentage of convictions. He came to Bellingham in 1912 and is now a member of the well known law firm of Peringer & Thomas, which has established a large and lucrative clientele. Mr. Thomas is attorney for the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association, which he aided in incorporating, and his work has been of inestimable value to the organization. He takes a keen interest in cooperative matters and is a stanch ally of the farmers of this district, doing all in his power to promote their interests.

In 1893 Mr. Thomas married Miss Ella Kletzing, of Nebraska, and they have become the parents of five children: Lenore, who is the wife of Rudolph Brandenthaler, a geologist in the employ of the United States government and at present engaged in work in Oklahoma; Irene, who was united in marriage to Neville O'Neil and resides in New York city; Margaret, the wife of Lee Thomas, residing in Seattle; and Lloyd and Naomi, both at home. Mr. Thomas is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and his political views are in accord with the principles of the democratic party. He is a talented attorney and a good citizen who has won and retained a high place in the esteem of the residents of this locality.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p. 485.

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ABRAHAM L. TYLER

Abraham L. Tyler, the owner of a fine ranch in Lawrence township, is one of Whatcom county's most progressive agriculturists and brings to the cultivation of the soil the knowledge and ability which result from years of practical experience and constant study.  He was born November 16, 1860, and is a native of Broome county, New York. He is a scion of one of the old families of the east and traces his ancestral record to the colonial epoch in American history. His parents, John and Sarah (Thompson) Tyler, were natives of New Jersey, and the father learned and followed the cooper's trade. They went to Kansas in 1872, settling in Nemaha county, and the father was one of the pioneer farmers of that region, while he also figured prominently in political affairs. He died while on a visit to the subject of this sketch and was buried in Kansas, in which state his wife's remains were also interred.

Abraham L. Tyler was twelve years of age when the family migrated to Kansas, and his education was completed in the public school of the Sunflower state. He aided his father in the operation of the ranch and remained at home until he attained his majority, when he went to Colorado. A year later he located in Butte, Montana, and in the fall of 1883 returned to Kansas. There he followed the occupation of farming for five years, and in 1887 he completed a course in a business college. He came to Washington in 1888 and for a few months canvassed for books in Seattle. In the spring of 1889 he arrived in Bellingham, then known as Whatcom, and for three months was connected with the insurance business. He was next employed in a brickyard and saw the industry develop rapidly after the Seattle fire in 1889. In 1890 he became bookkeeper in a sawmill and in 1891 accepted a position with a surveying party. He was thus occupied for a short time and then did office work and outside work for several years at Sedro Woolley. Meanwhile, in 1893, he attended the World's Fair in Chicago and also paid a visit to his old home in Kansas.

In 1894 Mr. Tyler returned to the Pacific coast, going first to San Francisco, California, and thence to Whatcom county. He was employed for a number of years in the coal mines near Bellingham and after they were closed he was placed in charge of the property, acting in that capacity until 1905.  He then moved to Sedro Woolley, where he had previously acquired realty, and purchased land near the town, cultivating the farm for three years. He then sold the place and in 1911 bought his present ranch of thirty-five acres in Lawrence township. He has twenty-five acres under cultivation and the remainder of the tract is used for pasture. He is engaged in dairying and specializes in blooded Holstein cattle. He has always given deep thought to his work, each detail of which is carefully planned, and he was the first man in the county to raise alfalfa, of which he now has a field of thirteen acres. He planted his seed in 1912, sending to the Columbia river for the fertilizer, and his notable success in growing this forage plant has brought him widespread prominence. He cuts three crops each year and has a fine full pasture besides. In 1922 he produced one alfalfa stalk which was ten feet, eight inches high and measured five feet in diameter. It was placed on exhibition at the Whatcom County Fair and was undoubtedly the largest single stalk of alfalfa ever grown in the world.

In 1896 Mr. Tyler married Miss Eva Warner, a native of Edison, Washington, and a daughter of John Warner. Her father left his Michigan home in 1849 and joined that intrepid band of men who sought their fortune in the mines of California, making the long and perilous journey across the plains and over the mountains. Mr. Warner came to Washington in 1858, taking up a homestead near the present site of Edison, and there spent the remainder of his life. He was one of the earliest settlers in that district, and Warner prairie was named in his honor. To Mr. and Mrs. Tyler were born eight children: Harriet, who is the wife of Thorval Sorensen, of Mount Vernon, Washington; Eva, who married Oren Fry and is living at Snohomish, Washington; Charles, who married Susan Cassel and makes his home at Friday Harbor, this state; Geraldine, who follows the profession of teaching; Mazie and Elizabeth, at home; Arthur, who is attending high school; and Harold, a grammar school pupil.

Mr. Tyler is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and has no political affiliations, supporting the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office. He is an earnest and untiring worker for the good of his locality and served for many years on the school board. He is a recognized leader of agricultural advancement in Whatcom county, and his life has been crowned with successful achievements.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 586-587.

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DUEFFORT ELIS WIEDMAN

Dueffort Elis Wiedman, who has served as superintendent of the city schools at Bellingham since 1920, has been engaged in educational work from the age of nineteen years and has gained an enviable reputation in this field. His birth occurred at Panora, Iowa, on the 8th of May, 1883, his parents being John A. and Mary Magdalina Wiedman, natives of Alsace-Lorraine and Paris, France, respectively. They immigrated to the United States in 1848, locating first at Buffalo, New York, and thence removing to Iowa. The father, who was a shoemaker by trade, served in the Iowa State Guard during the period of the Civil war.

Dueffort E. Wiedman spent his boyhood in the town of his nativity. Following the completion of a high school course in Iowa he made his way westward to Colorado and for two years attended the Colorado State Teachers College at Greeley. Though he took up the profession of teaching at the end of that time, in 1902, he has continued his education training at intervals, spending two more years as a student in the Colorado State Teachers College, one year in the University of Colorado at Boulder and one year in Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois. It was in 1902, as above stated, that he became an instructor in Morgan county, Colorado, where he served as grade school principal for four years. He next spent three years at Central City, Colorado, as science instructor and athletic coach in the high school. Subsequently he took charge of the county high school system at Montrose, Colorado. His service covered four high schools and seven grade and rural schools, and he remained there for nine years. During the period of the World war Mr. Wiedman joined the United States army as a volunteer and spent two years in psychiatric service. He came to Bellingham, Washington, in 1920 and has since served as superintendent of the city schools, making a most creditable and commendable record in that capacity. His career as an educator also covers seventeen summers' experience as an instructor in normal and teachers' college.

In 1904 Mr. Wiedman was married to Susan Kram, who is a native of Evan, Colorado, and whose parents were also born in this country. She was graduated from a commercial college and attended the Colorado State Normal School at Gunnison as well as Dick's Normal College at Denver in preparation for the profession of teaching, in which she was engaged at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Wiedman are the parents of a daughter and a son namely: Harriet, a university student; and Robert, who is attending high school. Mr. Wiedman is a stalwart democrat in politics and has membership in the Rotary Club. In religious faith he is a Methodist, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Masons, belonging to the blue lodge, the Royal Arch chapter, the Knights Templar commandery and the Eastern Star. He enjoys high standing in fraternal and social as well as educational circles in Whatcom county and has made many warm friends during his residence here.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 132-133.

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EDWARD MORRIS WILLIAMS

Edward Morris Williams is a member of one of the old and highly respected families of Deming township and has long been a leader of agricultural progress in this section of the state. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, June 21, 1862, of the union of Edward A. and Lydia (Owen) Williams. The latter was born in New York state in 1828, and the father was a native of Wales. He came to the United States as a young man and followed the trade of a blacksmith, also working as a machinist. He passed away in 1865 and was long survived by the mother, whose demise occurred in Deming township in May, 1901. In their family were five children, three sons and two daughters. John F. Williams, a brother of the subject of this sketch, came to Whatcom county in 1883 and preempted land one and three-fourths miles north of Deming. The place was situated near the homestead of J. V. Smith, of Illinois, who had located here a short time before. There were no roads in the district and the dense forests contained game of all kinds. Mr. Williams cleared the greater portion of the tract, which he later sold, and as one of the first settlers in this part of the county he was widely and favorably known. He afterward lived on the homestead which his mother had taken up, and while working on the farm he succumbed to an attack of heart disease, responding to the final summons October 10, 1925, when seventy years of age. His brother Thomas also settled in Deming township in 1883 and homesteaded the land on which Edward M. Williams is now living. He afterward sold the place and spent several years in the mining district of California, prospecting for gold. One sister died in Ohio, and the other, Mrs. W. T. Barnum, is living in Deming.

In 1886 Edward M. Williams came to Whatcom county with his mother, who proved up on the homestead abandoned by her son Thomas, while the subject of this review preempted land on Carney island near Deming. He now resides on his mother's homestead, a portion of which has been sold. He has forty-two acres of fertile land and has built a good home, also adding other improvements which have enhanced the value of the property. He operates a well equipped dairy, keeping pure bred Jersey cattle for this purpose, and is also engaged in the poultry business. He has an expert knowledge of agricultural pursuits, acquired through years of experience and study, and his work is performed in a systematic manner, being productive of the best results.

On August 24, 1902, Mr. Williams married Miss Elizabeth Williamson, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Williamson. She was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, and followed the profession of nursing at Dublin. She spent one year in Canada and then crossed the border into the United States, coming to Whatcom county in 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have a family of four children: Edward Thomas, at home; Griffith S., who is attending college at Moscow, Idaho; Lydia D., a high school student; and William George, a pupil in the eighth grade. Mr. Williams is identified with the Masonic order and belongs to the Whatcom County Dairymen's and Poultry Raisers Associations. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and in 1905 was called to the office of school clerk. He has lived to witness notable changes in this district as pioneer conditions have been replaced by the advantages of modern civilization, and in the work of progress and improvement he has borne his full share.

History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, pps. 585-586.

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