Part 7

In September, 1901, Mr. Barnhart was united in marriage to Miss Bessie A. Wright, of Starbuck, and they have become parents of two daughters, Grace M. and Blanche L. Mr. Barnhart is a loyal representative of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Tucanon Lodge, No. 106, F. & A. M., of which he is now worshipful master. He is also identified with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and has served as chief engineer in the order. In politics he is a stalwart republican and is now mayor of Starbuck. He had previously served for several years as a member of the town council and his fitness for further and more responsible public duties led to his election as chief executive. His wife and two daughters are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Barnhart is serving on its board of trustees. His aid and influence are always given on the side of progress and improvement as related to the material upbuilding and also the social, intellectual and moral advancement of the community. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, esteem him as a man of genuine worth who well merits the success that has crowned his efforts since he started out in business life empty-handed.

IRA D. BRUNTON.

Among the native sons of Walla Walla county who have elected to continue residents thereof is Ira D. Brunton, who is engaged in farming on section 30, township 8 north, range 36 east. He was born in that township, May 11, 1876, and is a son of W. H. H. and Sarah A. (Lewis) Brunton, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. He was reared upon the home farm, and his boyhood and youth were spent in the acquirement of a district school education and in helping his father. He further pursued his studies in Whitman College and at the old Empire Business College at Walla Walla, thus fitting himself for his later life.

After his marriage Mr. Brunton began farming for himself, operating a part of the homestead in partnership with his father, this relation being continued until his father's death, after which Mr. Brunton of this review and his brother Frank managed the entire estate of seven hundred acres for five years. At the end of that time Ira D. Brunton took over the operation of four hundred acres and his brother Garfield became responsible for the cultivation of the remaining three hundred acres. In 1903 our subject purchased one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the home farm and he now operates both places and also four hundred acres of rented land, or nine hundred and sixty acres in all. It is thus evident that his interests are extensive and make heavy demands upon his time and energies, but he is industrious, progressive and systematic in his work and his affairs are kept well in hand.

Mr. Brunton was married October 10, 1897, to Miss Bessie L. Ramseur, a daughter of David W. Ramseur, who removed to Walla Walla county from North Carolina in 1892. To Mr. and Mrs. Brunton have been born five children: Elsie M., the wife of Clyde Garland, of Walla Walla; and Reese R., Lucille B., and Miles and Melvin, twins, all of whom are at home.

Mr. Brunton's political views are in accord with the principles of the democratic party and he supports its candidates at the polls. In 1908 he was his party's nominee for sheriff and polled a large vote. Fraternally he is connected with Mountain Gem Lodge, No. 136, K. P., and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is held in high esteem as a citizen and as a man, and his success as a farmer entitles him to rank among the leaders in the agricultural development of the county.

JOSEPH CLARK FAIR.

Joseph Clark Fair, an independent grain buyer and one of Dayton's foremost business men and representative citizens, was born in Benton county, Arkansas, February 26, 1874, a son of Joseph A. and Martha Ann (Russell) Fair, the former born in Sullivan county, Tennessee, and the latter in Barry county, Missouri. The parents were taken by their respective parents to Benton county, Arkansas, and there grew to manhood and womanhood. They continued to reside there following their marriage, with the exception of four years spent in Texas, up to the time of the mother's death, which occurred in June, 1899. The father devoted his active life to farming but is now a resident of Centerton, Benton county, Arkansas, where he is living retired. He is a local Methodist minister and was often importuned to join the conference but refused, saying he knew he could make a living farming but did not know whether he could as a minister or not. His parents, Ellis and Nancy Hamilton (Easly) Fair, were representatives of old families of Tennessee. Mr. Fair was killed by Indians at the time of the Civil war. The parents of Mrs. Martha Ann (Russell) Fair were Elijah and Louisa (Bell) Russell, natives respectively of Missouri and Tennessee. Mr. Russell went to the California gold mines in 1849, crossing the plains with ox team, and returned to the east in 1852 by sailing vessel. At the time of the Civil war he was killed by bushwackers.

Joseph Clark Fair was reared at home, and in the acquirement of his education attended the common schools of Arkansas and the Elm Springs Academy, in Washington county, that state. For two terms he engaged in teaching in Benton county, Arkansas, but because of the low salary paid teachers gave up the profession. In 1898 he decided to try his fortune in the far west and located at Condon, Gilliam county, Oregon, where he was connected with lumber interests. He remained there for five years and during the last year helped to build the courthouse. During that time he acquired title to seven hundred and twenty acres of land, which he has since sold at a profit. In 1903 he became a resident of Dayton, Washington, where he has ever since remained, and he is well known throughout Columbia county as a grain-buyer. He is expert in judging wheat and keeps in the closest touch with the grain markets and has been very successful in his business affairs.

Mr. Fair was married in 1908 to Miss Nellie Virginia Gregg, who was born in Washington county, Arkansas, but at the time of her marriage was county superintendent of schools of Columbia county. To them was born one child, who, however, is deceased. Mr. Fair is a stanch democrat in politics and has served with ability as a member of the town council. He is well known in fraternal circles, belonging to Alki Lodge, No. 136, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand; Franklin Encampment, No. 13, I. O. O. F., of which he is past chief patriarch; Dayton Lodge, No. 26, F. & A. M., of which he is now worshipful master; and Dayton Lodge, No. 3, K. P., of which he is past chancellor. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Congregational church, and in his business dealings, as well as in the private relations of life, his conduct measures up to high moral standards. He feels that his decision to come to the west was one of the wisest that he has ever made and he is confident that a greater future is in store for this section.

CHARLES CLAGUE.

Charles Clague, a prosperous farmer residing on section 2, township 9 north, range 36 east, Walla Walla county, was born on the Isle of Man in March, 1860, a son of Richard and Isabella (Quirk) Clague, also natives of that island, where their entire lives were passed. Our subject's education was received in the public schools and he remained in his native country until he attained his majority but in 1881 came to the United States. For six months he worked in a grocery store in Olean, New York, after which he decided to see the west. There for a month he worked in Colorado and then continued his journey, arriving in San Francisco on Christmas day, 1881. He only remained in that city for two days, however, and then came to Walla Walla county, Washington. He took up a homestead two miles south of Prescott and for twenty years lived upon that place, which he operated successfully. He also purchased other land, becoming the owner of seven hundred and eighty acres. In 1902, in partnership with T. F. Dice, he bought five hundred acres of land and later they purchased the old Samuel Erwin home farm, where both have since resided. Mr. Clague has sold his homestead and the land adjoining and has also disposed of the equity of the five hundred acre tract but retains his interest in the farm of eighty acres, where he and Mr. Dice reside. He also is the owner of fifty-two acres of irrigated land near Patterson, Stanislaus county, California. He has gained financial independence and, having disposed of the greater part of his holdings, is now enjoying a period of comparative leisure.

Mr. Clague is a progressive republican in politics and has always been most loyal to the interests of his adopted country. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and in its teachings are found the principles which guide his life. For thirty-six years he has resided in Walla Walla county and has done his part in bringing about the wonderful development that has taken place during that time. He has a wide acquaintance and a large number of warm personal friends.

FRANK W. PAINE.

Frank W. Paine is a capitalist of Walla Walla whose name is inseparably interwoven with the history of city and state. Coming to the west in pioneer times, he is familiar with every phase of frontier life and with the processes of development which have brought the state from pioneer conditions to its present stage of progress and prosperity. His individual labors have contributed much to the results achieved, and no account of Walla Walla's development would be complete without extended reference to him.

Mr. Paine was born August 31, 1839, in Mercer, Somerset county, Maine, and has therefore passed the seventy-eighth milestone on life's journey. His father, William Paine, was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, September 5, 1801, and died December 4, 1883, while the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Wentworth Pike, was born in Somersworth, New Hampshire, December 29, 1804, and passed away February 14, 1872. Both parents were of English Puritan stock. Among the early representatives of the Paine family were men of title who belonged to the nobility of England, and in New England representatives of the name loyally served their country in the struggle for independence and as statesmen aided in formulating the policy of the commonwealth with which they were connected. In religious faith the parents of Frank W. Paine were Congregationalists. In political faith William Paine was first a whig and afterwards a republican, and by occupation he was a farmer. To him and his wife were born six children, who were reared more in the fear than in the love of God, but for their day they were on the firing line, both in good works and exemplary lives.

Frank W. Paine began his education in a little unpainted schoolhouse of one room, which stood at the forks of the road on Beech Hill, in the town of Mercer, Somerset county, Maine. He at first had the opportunity of attending school for about eight weeks in the summer and ten weeks in the winter season until he was ten or eleven years of age, when he no longer found it possible to continue his studies through the summer but was enabled to attend school through the winter until his eighteenth year. He then began teaching in the country districts through the winter months, while the summer was devoted to farm work. On leaving the schoolroom, however, he did not consider his education complete, for his strong desire for learning has led him to read and study systematically and he always has near him good books on history, literature, science and poetry. Such books have also constituted a part of his continuous reading and thus he has obviated his lack of early training and become a most well informed man. Moreover, in the various positions of public trust which he has filled he has always found it to be of the greatest assistance to resort to the most reliable authorities treating on the matters in hand and in these ways he has been able to accomplish something of what a liberal education might have done for him. He has many times so keenly felt his deficiency in the lack of school and college training that upon an analysis of his educational shortcomings he determined that his most serious lack was a fuller understanding of history, literature and Latin, and he has wherever possible urged young men to prepare along those lines.

As school teaching and farming seemed to offer small opportunities in Maine, Mr. Paine resolved to go west and chose California as his objective point, arriving in that state in October, 1861, with a letter from the late Judge E. D. Sawyer of San Francisco to an old friend of his at Mokelumne Hill. He was soon on the ground of the "Jumping Frog of Calaveras county" and found the addressee of his letter to be the proprietor of a provision store and his affairs much run down at the heel. Early in the spring of 1862, therefore, Mr. Paine went to Dogtown, in Shasta county, to join two friends who were preparing to go to the newly discovered mines on Salmon river in Idaho. He became the third member of the party, whose route, as contemplated, lay over the Siskiyou mountains to southern Oregon, then to Portland and on by way of Walla Walla, but at Jacksonville they were advised to cross the Cascade mountains down the east side to Klamath lake and on to Walla Walla. After many days of weary walking they arrived in Walla Walla late in June 1862, and there met the returning tide of miners from Salmon river and Florence, which discouraged the three young men from going further in that direction.

Under the stress of necessity Mr. Paine made haste to find employment and after two or three months by precarious work of different kinds he secured a situation in the Baker-Boyer store but was soon detailed to take charge of the Spray warehouse at Wallula under Dr. Baker's direction. In the spring of 1863 a mad rush for the Boise mines carried Mr. Paine along. As a measure of economy he engaged with a mule pack train owned by the firm of Johnson & Stratton, serving as off side packer and learning to "throw the diamond hitch." The wealth which Mr. Paine accumulated in that mining venture consisted mainly in experience. In the fall of 1864 he returned to Walla Walla and at once was reinstated in his former position with the Baker-Boyer firm, there remaining until the spring of 1866, when another attack of mining fever took him to Montana with a stock of clothing made for the California miners' trade, which stock of goods was readily sold at a good profit. After enjoying a few weeks of summer on the summit of the Rockies he returned to the land of his adoption, and to be safeguarded against another "call of the wild," on his return he accepted the proffer of a partnership made by William Stephens, a merchant conducting business at the corner of Main and First streets. The business prospered and at the end of a year Mr. Paine purchased the interest of his partner and admitted his brother John to a partnership, removing the stock to the corner of Second and Main streets, where they conducted a very substantial business. After about two year opportunity enabled Mr. Paine to succeed by purchase to the Baker-Boyer business, then located on the present site of the Baker-Boyer Bank. Miles C. Moore joined him as a partner under the style of Paine Brothers & Moore, which firm soon became widely known for its business enterprise and also for its local political influence. During the existence of the firm they established branches at Waitsburg and at Dayton and built a fine steamboat, The Northwest, to ply in wheat carrying on the Columbia and Snake rivers. The war department, however, leased the steamboat to transport troops and munitions during the war with the hostile Willowas, under the notable Chief Joseph, in 1878. Soon after the boat was taken over by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. After nearly ten years of pleasant and profitable partnership Mr. Moore withdrew from the firm. In the meantime they had concentrated their attention upon farm implements and machinery and this business was conducted under the style of Paine Brothers. In 1879 they built the three-story brick building, which was then the finest business block in the northwest outside of Portland. Upon its completion and upon the organization of the First National Bank it took up its home in this building, where it has since continued.

While for many years Mr. Paine figured most prominently in commercial circles, he also became a leader in the public life of the community as well. His first public office was that of councilman, which he filled in 1878 and 1879. He afterward served as city treasurer in 1883 and 1884 and was mayor of Walla Walla through the two succeeding years. All of these offices came to him unsought. During his mayoralty term he signed the ordinance prohibiting stock from running at large in the streets and this executive act lost him his reelection. He recognized, however, the value of such a course to the city and followed the dictates of his judgment and his conscience notwithstanding the contrary advice of his friends who desired his reelection. In 1880 Mr. Paine was elected school director in District No. 34, the western part of the city. In 1882, by act of the legislature, Districts No. 34 and No. 1, the latter the eastern part of the city, were united in one and the two boards of directors acted as one until the next election, when Mr. Paine was elected one of the three directors for the combined district. He was reelected at each succeeding election until 1906 and during his incumbency, covering more than twenty-five years, he was chairman of the board, which from time to time had to meet increasing requirements by the erection of two frame and three brick schoolhouses. To do this the legal maximum levy of five per cent was not exceeded. The educational work done and the standing of the schools was equal to the best in the state.

In 1887 Governor Watson C. Squire, at the request of many of Mr. Paine's friends, appointed him superintendent of the new state penitentiary which had been recently erected at Walla Walla, with orders to establish rules and regulations and to conduct the institution on a similar plan to that of the Oregon state penitentiary. After some hesitation he accepted the appointment, and as the legislature, after providing an appropriation to erect the buildings, had neglected to make any appropriation for its maintenance, it became necessary to secure a citizens' pledge of five thousand dollars on which to draw for incidentals for the ensuing year or until the next legislature should meet. This done, he took six good men as guards with him to Seatco, where the old contract prison built of logs was located and where the convicts divided their time between working in a sash and door factory, working their way out of prison and being worked back by a reward or a bloodhound. Governor Squire met Mr. Paine at that place and after getting a record of the convicts, as a measure of economy for the state, he pardoned sixteen whose terms were nearly completed, leaving ninety-seven to be transferred to Walla Walla, which was accomplished without loss of any member. The next problem was to produce work for the prisoners and Mr. Paine soon succeeded in establishing and operating successfully a brickyard, which proved greatly beneficial to the prisoners. At the close of his term and on the convening of the legislature he reported to the governor, then Governor Semple, giving account of the amount required to cover all indebtedness incurred. The legislature readily made the appropriation, supplemented by a complimentary resolution. Two years later, under a new legislative enactment, Mr. Paine was made chairman of a commission of three members appointed by Governor Elisha P. Ferry, consisting of P. A. Preston, F. M. Lowden and Mr. Paine. With the ready compliance of his colleagues, Mr. Paine proceeded at once to establish a jute mill, having at his personal expense visited and investigated the San Quentin and Oakland jute mills, where he learned of their methods and was advised of their profits, thus becoming convinced of the economy of the measure and of what was of much greater moment, the providing of employment for the inmates of the institution. The establishment of the mill was strenuously opposed by the labor element, as had been the brickyard, but the objection to convict labor has been largely overcome in view of the importance to the health and morals of the inmates of all such institutions. With the advanced views of the day Mr. Paine gladly sees the passing of another most degrading abuse from which this particular institution suffered at times in its earliest history--that of making it a base for political operations of a most scandalous character and its offices a reward for political jobbery.

Another field of activity into which Mr. Paine entered was that of the Building Loan & Trust Association, which he was largely instrumental in organizing in February, 1890. It was called the International Building Loan & Trust Association of Walla Walla and soon built up a prosperous business. It has continuously paid its patrons a good rate of interest, has built many comfortable homes in and around the city and is today one of the leading institutions of the kind in the state. It is strictly mutual, makes money only for the stockholders and the only salary paid is that to its secretary, together with a small fee to its board members for each regular monthly meeting. The business methods are highly commended by the state examiner. Of this association Mr. Paine has been the president since its inception, covering a period of more than twenty-seven years. One of the most greatly appreciated honors that has come to Mr. Paine has been his appointment on the board of overseers of Whitman College and he is further honored in the position of chairman on the college loaning board.

In the late '70s Mr. Paine assisted in organizing the first Board of Trade at Walla Walla. At that early date it was thought to be of questionable value to the business community, so that it was with difficulty that funds could be secured to pay a secretary. In fact the body's activities and even its existence was at times of an intermittent order. In time the Board of Trade became the Chamber of Commerce and eventually the Commercial Club, and it fell to the lot of Captain P. B. Johnson of the Walla Walla Union and to Mr. Paine to keep alive the last named organization, the former acting as secretary and the latter as president. They answered correspondence, mailed descriptive circulars and other literature and in this way induced at least some settlers to come to the valley. All this occurred long before the inception of the present very much alive commercial body.