Part 26

Fred M. Young had the benefit of educational training in the public schools until sixteen years of age, when he left the parental roof and went to Council Bluffs, entering the employ of his brother-in-law, J. F. Wilcox, a florist of that city. It was under his instruction that he acquainted himself with the florist business, gaining comprehensive and accurate knowledge in every department and in every connection. After three years he went to Chicago, where he was identified with the firm of Bassett & Washburn, well known florists, with whom he continued for a year. He next went to Denver, Colorado, where he was in the employ of the Colfax Floral Company for three years and on the expiration of that period he went to Pueblo, Colorado, as manager of the George Fleischer Floral Company, in which capacity he served for eighteen months. He was afterward in Salt Lake City, where he occupied the position of manager of the Huddard Floral Company, with which he remained for three years. He then spent a short time in San Francisco and still later went to Seattle, where he became head gardener at the Bremerton navy yards, occupying that position for about six months. At that time his sister, who was living in Walla Walla, persuaded him to come to this city and he arrived here with the intention of going into business but was disappointed in raising the necessary capital. He went to work for James Wait, a florist with whom he continued for ten months, and later removed to Portland, Oregon, where he was in the employ of Martin & Forbes, with whom he remained for about a year and a half. In November, 1907, he resigned this position and returned to Walla Walla, opening a small flower store at No. 7 East Main street known as Bedell's Bazaar. On the 1st of May following Hampton Huff, who had a small greenhouse property on the present site of the Young & Lester greenhouses and who had become too old to work proposed to Mr. Young to go into business with him. Their capital was limited and Mr. Young gave Mr. Huff his note for seven thousand dollars for a half interest in the business. Thus he started out independently. They made enough money that spring to build another greenhouse and put in a new boiler. The following year they were able to build three more greenhouses and in the succeeding year Mr. Huff retired and Mr. Young secured a lease on the whole property with an option to buy. In 1913 he sold Clyde Lester an interest in the business and the present firm of Young & Lester was thus formed. The business has developed rapidly. Their plant is strictly modern and up-to-date. They have eight and three-fourths acres of land under cultivation, with about twenty-five thousand square feet under glass. Their city store is at 19 East Main street and is one of the most modern and attractive florist establishments in eastern Washington. There is no phase of the business with which Mr. Young is not thoroughly familiar. He has made a close study of plant development and propagation and everything in the line of growing plants and blooming flowers that can be raised in this section of the country is found in his establishment.

In 1914 Mr. Young was united in marriage to Miss Effie Morrison, of Walla Walla, and in the social circles of the city they are widely and prominently known. Mr. Young is a stalwart republican, giving unfaltering allegiance to the party and its principles. He belongs to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B. P. O. E.; to Enterprise Lodge, No. 121, I. O. O. F.; and to Columbia Lodge, No. 8, K. P. He is also identified with Alki Temple of the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan at Walla Walla and the Knights of the Maccabees and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He belongs to the Commercial Club and is interested in all of its plans and purposes for the upbuilding and development of the city. His wife is a member of the Christian church and Mr. Young gives his aid and influence on the side of all those forces which work for the upbuilding and progress of Walla Walla along material, social, intellectual and moral lines. In an analyzation of his life record it will be seen that concentration of purpose along a single line of business has been one of the salient features in his success. He started out as a florist and has continued in that field of activity. He has never allowed difficulties nor obstacles to bar his path but has overcome these by determined effort and has ever recognized that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement. He has sought earnestly to please his customers and his establishment, presenting everything that is most attractive, unique and beautiful in the line of floral culture, has been most liberally patronized.

THOMAS P. GOSE.

Thomas P. Gose, attorney at law practicing in Walla Walla as senior partner in the firm of Gose & Crowe, was born in Sullivan county, Missouri, May 11, 1855, a son of John M. and Hannah J. (McQuown) Gose. The father is a native of Kentucky, while the mother's birth occurred in Virginia. They were married, in Missouri, to which state they had removed with their respective parents in childhood days. The father was among the argonauts who started in search of the golden fleece to California in the year 1849. He made the overland trip by way of the Santa Fe trail and spent five years in the Golden state. He then returned to Missouri in 1854, crossing the plains, after which he continued his residence in Missouri until 1862, when he went to Denver, Colorado, again making a trip in quest of gold. He spent about one year there, after which he once more took up his abode in Missouri. The lure of the west, however, was upon him and in 1864 he removed with his family to Boise City, Idaho, where he arrived in August. The city was at that time a frontier village, far removed from civilization to the eastward or to the westward. Prices were so high that during that winter he was obliged to pay about fifty dollars for a fifty-pound sack of flour. In July, 1865, he came to Walla Walla and began farming in the vicinity of the city. Both he and his wife are still living, Mr. Gose having reached the notable old age of ninety-two years, while his wife is enjoying good health at the age of eighty-six years. They now make their home with their son, Thomas P. Gose, who is looking after their comfort and welfare and thus with filial devotion is repaying the love and care which they bestowed upon him in his youth.

Thomas P. Gose was a lad of about ten years when the family arrived in Washington and much of his education was therefore acquired in the public schools of Walla Walla, supplemented by study in the Whitman Academy. In the spring of 1886, having determined to engage in a professional career, he took up the study of law and in 1889, after a thorough reading of the principles of jurisprudence, he was admitted to the bar. In the fall of 1890 he opened his law office in Walla Walla and in the intervening period, covering twenty-seven years, he has had several law partnerships, being now senior member of the firm of Gose & Crowe, which was formed in August, 1914. This firm ranks with the foremost at the Walla Walla bar. Mr. Bose is devotedly attached to his profession, is systematic and methodical in habit, sober and discreet in judgment, diligent in research and conscientious in the discharge of every duty. An earnest manner, marked strength of character and a thorough grasp of the law, with ability to accurately apply its principles, make him an effective and successful advocate and he is also a safe and wise counselor.

On the 20th of December, 1893, Mr. Gose was united in marriage to Miss Clara Crowe, of Freewater, Oregon, by whom he has five children, as follows: Cecile, who was graduated from Whitman College with the class of 1916 and is now a teacher in the high school at Kalama, Washington; Gladys and Marjorie, both of whom are attending Whitman College; Vera, a high school graduate; and Thomas P., who is a high school student.

Mr. and Mrs. Gose are members of the Congregational church and are interested in all that pertains to individual uplift and community betterment. Mr. Gose votes with the democratic party and has served as deputy prosecuting attorney, while for four years he was a member of the Walla Walla board of education. He is the present chairman of the democratic county central committee and for years past has been a dominant factor in the affairs of his party, doing much to mold public thought and opinion and putting forth earnest and effective effort to secure party success. The limitless possibilities of the west have ever stirred his ambition and his energy, intelligently directed, has carried him into important professional relations.

BREWSTER FERREL.

Brewster Ferrel now occupies an attractive home at 336 South Palouse street in Walla Walla, where he is surrounded with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. For many years he was prominently and actively identified with farming, taking up that work in Walla Walla county in early pioneer times and meeting with all of the hardships and privations which were incident to the settlement of the frontier. He was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, August 22, 1838, a son of Edward and Rosella (Fish) Ferrel, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Ohio. They were married in the Buckeye state and in 1854 removed to Iowa, where both resided up to the time of their death.

Brewster Ferrel was a lad of sixteen years when his father removed to Iowa and in the public schools of that state he supplemented the educational training which he had already received in Ohio. He was trained to farm work, early becoming familiar with the tasks of plowing, planting and harvesting, and he early developed habits of industry and perseverance which later constituted very important elements in the attainment of his present-day success.

In 1861, Brewster Ferrel was united in marriage in Iowa to Miss Caroline Bott, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, whose parents had removed to Iowa when she was a little maiden of ten summers. The young couple began their domestic life in the middle west but in 1864 left their Iowa home and started across the plains with a team of mules and a prairie schooner. They joined a wagon train and, traveling after the slow and tedious method of that period, at length arrived in Walla Walla on the 3d of August, 1864. For some time after reaching the northwest Mr. Ferrel, like many other of the pioneers, engaged in freighting and continued in that business up to the advent of the railroad, when freighting by team was no longer profitable. He then concentrated his energies upon farming. It was in 1864 that he had homesteaded and secured the farm property which he still owns. The first year after his arrival there was little wheat raised and so great was the demand for it in the mining regions of the Rocky Mountains that he sold all he had for a dollar and a quarter per bushel, which was considered a very high price in that day. The following year, however, the eastern demand fell off and the farmers were obliged to market their product in Portland, where the wheat brought only sixty cents per bushel. Stock could be ranged easily in the mountains and for a time Mr. Ferrel engaged in raising stock, driving his cattle to the different mining camps, where he would sell them. Eventually, however, he disposed of his live stock interests entirely. To his original farm of two hundred acres he gradually added four hundred acres and finally more and more, paying for his last tract a hundred dollars per acre--a tract that could have been bought at the time of his arrival for a dollar and a quarter per acre. Mr. Ferrel has always been actuated by a spirit of enterprise and progressiveness in anything that he has undertaken. He was among the first to build a barbed wire fence in Walla Walla county. Up to this time he had hauled rails from the mountains and tied them to posts by means of rawhide, thus using the otherwise useless hides to help fence his crops from the ranging herds. For the first barbed wire he paid eighteen cents per pound and it was a very crude article compared to that manufactured at the present time at that. The most improved farm machine was the old McCormick reaper, bearing little resemblance to the binders and headers of the present time. Mr. Ferrel even cradled large portions of his wheat crop in those early years and all the farmers would unite to harvest and thresh. At that day many believed that the Walla Walla valley would be abandoned as soon as the mines to the eastward were exhausted and many refused to take up land and settle. At times Mr. Ferrel may have become discouraged but with stout heart he pressed on and his diligence and determination have at length secured a substantial reward. His crops today bring ten per cent on an investment rated at one hundred dollars per acre and he and his sons have built up a grain growing business that is as carefully, methodically and successfully managed as any mercantile establishment. The old homestead is located on Russell creek, about eight miles east of Walla Walla, and thereon Mr. Ferrel resided until 1902, when he took up his abode in the city, where he has one of the most handsome homes to be found in southeastern Washington. In the meantime he had added to his possessions until he became the owner of three thousand acres of farm land, which make him one of the county's most substantial and prosperous citizens. All that he has acquired in the course of an active and busy life has been won since he came to Washington and most of it has been made in the past twenty or twenty-five years.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferrel became the parents of eight children, seven of whom survive, as follows: Thomas J., who is engaged in farming in Walla Walla county; Rosella E., the wife of Walter Barnett, an agriculturist of Walla Walla county; Seth A., David B. and Joseph W., all of whom follow farming in Walla Walla county; Fidelia C., the wife of Charles Maxson, who is a farmer residing in Walla Walla; and Myrtle M., who gave her hand in marriage to Thomas Jones, an agriculturist of Walla Walla county.

Mr. Ferrel gives his political allegiance to the republican party, which he has continuously supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church and have ever been loyal to its teachings, while to its work they have been generous contributors. They are among the most highly esteemed citizens of Walla Walla, where they have resided since early pioneer times, and there is no phase of the county's development and improvement in all the intervening years with which they are not familiar. In his business affairs Mr. Ferrel has ever displayed indefatigable energy, close application and persistency of purpose and his record indicates that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously.

FRANK FITZGERALD.

Frank Fitzgerald, who is devoting his time and energies to the operation of an excellent farm on section 34, township 13 north, range 42 east, Garfield county, was born in Tennessee, April 17, 1855, a son of Alford and Temperance (Bradshaw) Fitzgerald, natives respectively of Virginia and North Carolina, who were married, however, in Tennessee. In 1860 the family removed to Missouri and later in the same year the father passed away. The mother continued to reside in that state until her death in 1906. All of their four children survive.

Frank Fitzgerald passed the greater part of his boyhood and youth in the state of Missouri, as he was but five years of age at the time of the removal there, and his education was that afforded by the public schools. In 1887 he removed to Garfield county, Washington, and for thirteen years operated rented land but in 1900 bought his present farm of three hundred and twenty acres on section 34, township 13 north, range 42 east. His success has been based upon the sure foundation of hard work and the most rigorous attention to the task in hand.

Mr. Fitzgerald was married September 23, 1880, to Miss May Temple, who was born in Wisconsin, and they have eleven children, namely: Pearl, the wife of S. E. Fanning; Harold, Frank and Justin, all now in the United States army; Letta, the wife of Emery Dye; Alford; Otto; Opal; Louise; and two deceased.

Mr. Fitzgerald supports the republican party at the polls and for years has been a member of the school board, in which connection he has been instrumental in securing gratifying progress in the educational system of his locality. He is well known and highly esteemed and his personal friends are many.

LEE BARNES.

Lee Barnes, who is now filling the position of sheriff in Walla Walla county, was born in Boone county, Missouri, July 20, 1866. His father, John S. Barnes, is a native of Sangamon county, Illinois, born in February, 1828, and is still a resident of Oregon, having reached the ninetieth milestone on life's journey. His life has been devoted to the occupation of farming. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Lucinda J. Sims, was born in Kentucky and is deceased. In their family were seven children who are still living: M. C., who is a resident of Boone county, Missouri; J. T., living in Touchet, Washington; C. H., a resident of Yakima, Washington; Lucy J., the wife of John W. Parks, of Freewater, Oregon; W. W., also a resident of Freewater; Lee, of this review; and Joseph S., of Kansas City, Missouri.

Lee Barnes largely obtained his education in Saline county, Missouri, and afterward became a barber, following his trade at various places in his native state for seventeen years. On the expiration of that period he turned his attention to the confectionery business in Touchet, Washington, and has since made his home in Walla Walla county. He served for four years as deputy sheriff under Michael Toner and in 1914 was elected to the office of sheriff, in which position he is now serving for the second term, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity and without fear or favor.

In 1859 Mr. Barnes was married to Miss Ollie N. Doty, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Lyman Doty. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have become the parents of two children: Walter S., who married Vela Burns and has two children, Mildred and Audrey; and Lottie, the wife of Elvin Galloway, of Touchet, Washington, by whom she has one child, Elaine. On March 6, 1902, Mrs. Barnes passed away, sincerely mourned by her family and her many friends.

In politics Mr. Barnes has always been a stalwart advocate of democratic principles and has given earnest support to the party. He holds membership in the Baptist church and his life has been guided by its principles. Those who know him esteem him highly, for his marked characteristics of manhood and citizenship are those which commend him to the warm regard, the confidence and the goodwill of those with whom he has been brought in contact.

ROY ROBERT CAHILL.

Well qualified for his chosen calling, Roy Robert Cahill has made for himself a creditable position among the able attorneys of Dayton. Moreover, he deserves representation in this volume as one of the native sons of Columbia county, where his birth occurred June 19, 1884. He is a son of Alph P. and Irene M. (Starr) Cahill. The father is now cashier of the Broughton National Bank and a leading and influential business man of this section of the state.

Roy Robert Cahill was educated in the public schools of Dayton, after which he attended Whitman College at Walla Walla, there winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon the completion of a classical course in 1909. He thus laid broad and deep the foundation upon which to build the superstructure of professional learning. After his graduation from Whitman he entered the law department of Columbia University and there won his law degree as a member of the class of 1912. Following his graduation he returned to Dayton, where he opened an office and entered upon the practice of his chosen profession, which he has since followed independently.

In 1913 Mr. Cahill was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Criffield, a daughter of W. R. Criffield, of Walla Walla. He belongs to Dayton Lodge, No. 26, F. &. A. M. and he gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is widely known as a representative young business man, possessing marked ability and enterprise, and that his has been a well spent life is indicated in the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present time.

REV. ALEXANDER WALTER SWEENEY.

After a useful and well spent life Alexander W. Sweeney passed away on the 28th of November, 1903, honored and respected by all who knew him. He was born in Savannah, Hardin county, Tennessee, January 25, 1825, but before he was five years of age accompanied his parents on their removal to Arkansas, the family locating near Fayetteville, which was then a frontier settlement with no educational advantages. Being unable to attend school he was taught the elementary branches by his father until the latter's death, which occurred in 1833 when our subject was still quite young. The father had a contract with the government to carry the United States mail and during his illness the son often took the mail.

After his father's death Alexander W. Sweeney started out to make his own way in the world and was apprenticed to a tanner, whose cruelty soon forced him to leave and seek the protection of an older brother. During the autumn of 1839 while attending a camp meeting near Fayetteville, he joined the Cumberland Presbyterian church and desirous of becoming a minister, was received under the care of the Arkansas Presbytery as a probationer when about eighteen years of age. A school of academic grade had been established in the community and Mr. Sweeney became a student there, in the meantime working for his support and doing his studying at night.

When in his nineteenth year he was licensed to preach and according to the custom of his church was put on the circuit to preach a part of each year. During a period of six months of continuous service on the circuit he received only two dollars and forty cents in money, one pair of home knit socks and had his horse shod free. For four or five years he continued to attend school as opportunity afforded while preaching and in that time made sufficient progress in his studies to enable him to enter the sophomore year in college. Accordingly he went to Princeton, Kentucky, where he attended Cumberland College until 1850, and then returned to the Arkansas Presbytery, where he was at once ordained to the ministry at the age of twenty-five years, having spent eight years in preparation for his chosen work.

Soon after his ordination Rev. Sweeney joined a company of gold hunters who with ox teams crossed the plains and arrived at a gold camp on the American river in California, August 26, 1850. The following Sunday he preached to a company of miners that collected under the shade of a live oak tree, thus beginning a ministry on the Pacific coast which lasted until his physical health failed him. In 1851 he went to the Willamette valley in Oregon and was present as a visitor at the organization of the Oregon Presbytery, November 3, 1851. For seven years he preached throughout the Willamette valley, exerting a strong moral influence wherever he went.